Except You Be Converted

(Article for publication week of 11-26-2008 AD)

“…Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18: 3). Our Lord spoke these words to His disciples when they were squabbling about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. By these words our Lord warned them that the important thing is to be sure we are in the kingdom. Striving about preeminence is not of the spirit of Christ and we must ever be on guard against such a spirit in ourselves. So our Lord told His disciples they better search their hearts if they were really converted men. And of course we know one of them, Judas Iscariot at last proved he had never been converted and had never been part of Christ’s kingdom. If our Lord’s twelve needed such warnings, how much more do you and I!

“Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” First of all let us be sure we understand what the Lord means by being in the kingdom of heaven. Some have come up with fanciful ideas concerning what the kingdom of heaven is. Some have advanced the idea that the kingdom is the visible church state. Others have speculated such things as the millennial reign of Christ on earth and other unscriptural ideas. By comparing parallel passages in the gospels we will see that the “kingdom of heaven’ (generally used by Matthew) and “ the kingdom of God” (generally used by the other evangelists), is the kingdom that our Lord told Nicodemus in John 3:1-8 that we must be reborn to see or enter. It is the kingdom that we must be translated into by the sovereign, irresistible power of the Lord (Colossians 1:13). Every one of us are in one of two kingdoms, the kingdom of Christ or the kingdom of darkness. Simply put, to be in the kingdom of heaven is to be saved. If you are not in the kingdom of heaven you are in the power of darkness and lost, unconverted and unsaved.

Now, the Lord says here that the kingdom must be entered by true conversion. Theologically, conversion is the human response to regeneration. In regeneration, we are passive, but in conversion we are active. To enter the kingdom, you must be regenerated (John 3:5). But the regenerate person does indeed actively and consciously enter into the kingdom. Jesus spoke in John 10:1 and following of Himself as the door of salvation. Friend if you will be saved you must enter through the door of Christ Himself. Again, in Matthew 7:13 the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that to be saved we must enter in at the strait gate. You see dear ones, if you will be saved, you must actively and consciously enter through the door. Some of you have seen the door, but you have yet to get through. Unless you get through the door of conversion you must be forever lost. And be sure you understand that Christ is that door, the only door that will get you into the kingdom.

And I want you also to notice that our Lord tells us that to be converted is to become as little children. What does he mean by this? Well , we know He cannot possibly mean anything like infant purity. Psalm 51:5 makes it clear that we have a sin nature as soon as we are conceived. But our Lord does teach an important lesson about salvation by the little child He took in His arms on this occasion. Little children are very trusting of their parents. So, a converted person is a person who has trusted Christ for everything he needs for salvation. We also see a kind of simplicity in a child that is indicative of those who are Christ’s children. Let a person be brought to know Christ in salvation and he will give up his grandiose ideas of Himself and be like a little child in the presence of Christ and His children. We note also the smallness of the little child as a picture of how Christians feel themselves to be small. Those who still have grand ideas of themselves are not giving much evidence of being saved. I urge you to become like a little child and come to Christ for salvation this day.

Repent and be Converted

(Article for publication week of 11-19-2008 AD )

“Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord “ (Acts 3:19). In previous articles we have been showing forth the evidences of regeneration. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught in John 3:8 that when a person is born again you will see the evidence for “the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof.” We set forth that the first and indispensable evidence of the new birth is faith in Christ (I John 5:1). Then we set forth another indispensable evidence is repentance (II Corinthians 7:10; Matthew 5:4; Luke 13:5). Now we come to consider another vital evidence of regeneration, and that is conversion. Our text says that the repentant person is a converted person.

Now we live in a generation that is so dead spiritually that few ever have heard of true conversion, much less have experienced it. We hear a little bit about people “accepting” Jesus or “deciding” for Jesus, but we seldom hear of any who have been converted to Christ, and even more seldom do we find any who give evidence that they have been genuinely converted.

By conversion we mean the inevitable turning of one who has been regenerated by the sovereign , irresistible, immediate work of the Holy Spirit. In my text this week here in Acts 3:19, the Apostle Peter was preaching and calling on sinners to repent and be converted. He was calling on them to turn from their sins and bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ Whom they had killed , but He was now risen and was at the right hand of God. The Greek word translated “converted’ in my text this week is translated “turned” in I Thessalonians 1:9 where Paul said he knew the Thessalonians to be of the elect for they had “turned from idols to serve the living and true God.” conversion is the turning of a sinner from his sins , renouncing his sins and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as the rightful owner of himself and all that is his.

Now, no person ever turns to Christ of his own free will, but mark it down friend, when the Lord turns a sinner that sinner surely turns (Jeremiah 31:18). Conversion is the certain and inevitable turning of an elect sinner that has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. In regeneration the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life; In conversion the elect sinner lives. In regeneration the Holy Spirit gives faith; in conversion the elect sinner believes in Christ. In regeneration the Holy Spirit grants repentance; in conversion, the elect sinner repents. In regeneration the Holy Spirit draws an elect sinner to Christ; in conversion that sinner comes to Christ. The Lord turns, and we turn. That is conversion concisely stated.

Regeneration and conversion are two sides of the same coin. Where there is one, there will of necessity be the other. The scriptures speak nowhere of a person being regenerated without also being converted. By the same token, the scriptures speak nowhere of sinners being converted unless the Holy Spirit works antecedently in them. We may think of regeneration as the Divine side of salvation and conversion as the human side of salvation. No sinner is ever saved apart from the Sovereign power of God. But be sure you understand, the sinner who has that great power wrought in him will inevitably be converted.

Friend, have you been converted? I am not asking you if you ever decided for Jesus . I am asking you has the Lord turned you so that you were turned to Him? I as the Apostle Peter call on you today to repent and be converted. Turn from your idols and serve the Living God. May the Lord turn some of you today.