Conversion

Conversion is necessary for everyone, both old and young. As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor a leopard his spots, so a sinner cannot convert himself by his own power. A person who is spiritually dead cannot convert himself any more than a corpse can raise itself from the dead. A stone which is rolling down a hill cannot by its own efforts reverse its course, so fallen man cannot by his own strength return unto God. Therefore, the Lord must turn us and then we shall be turned. Do not forget: we are born with our backs turned away from God and our faces toward sin and hell until sovereign grace converts and turns us. My dear reader, conversion is not a repairing of the old building, but the old is torn down and a new structure erected. The Lord has to take away our stony heart and give us a heart of flesh.

In conversion, the process begins with light, by letting light shine in upon the godlessness and ignorance of the heart. We are fallen children of Adam, and we have lost what we had in Paradise and have become enemies of God. Let us not forget that free will in conversion is a downright lie. Like the woman in the gospel, the more we attempt the cure by physicians, the worse it is made. The miracle is that the Lord can make the unwilling willing. He can turn us, and we shall be turned.

Conversion is more than an external reform. A man who is “externally” converted is like an empty vessel. When struck, such a vessel will make a great noise, but it is without content. It is therefore most necessary that the Lord opens our ears, our eyes, yea, our hearts. Conversion is not a change of habits but a total change of heart. A lion does not become a lamb when he has lost his teeth. That is why we must learn that conversion is not merely an outward reformation; it is an inward transformation.

If we still have a speaking conscience, then we know that it is very dangerous to postpone repentance until our deathbed. One who delays conversion is like a man stricken with a deadly disease; the longer he delays to call a physician, the harder it is to cure him. He is like a bird whose feet are caught in a net. We must all learn that conversion is a work of God. We are not like the animals; we are human beings. We are responsible before God. Was there ever a time that you could not sleep because you saw how awful your state was for eternity? Has there ever come a time that you had to beg, “Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned”? Or are we still indifferent, are we still careless? Do not forget, we only have one soul, and soul lost, all is lost.

Oh, parents, God grant you to pray for your children who are growing up in such a sinful age. The Lord will hear the cry from a father or a mother, if by grace we might learn to pray for the well-being of our off-spring. Monica, a devout Christian woman in the early centuries of the Church, incessantly prayed for the conversion of her ungodly son, Augustine. Years elapsed before God answered her ardent prayers. It was in the spring of the year 372, when her son, who was then in his thirty-first year, entered his garden in great distress of soul. The sins of his youth spent in sensuality and impiety weighed heavily upon his soul. Lying under a fig tree, moaning and pouring out abundant tears, he heard from a neighboring house a child’s voice saying, “Take and read! Take and read.”

Regarding this as a divine admonition, he procured the roll of Paul’s epistles. He describes what followed. “I opened it and read in silence the chapter on which my eyes first lighted (the 13th chapter of the Book of Romans): ‘Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.’” In a moment, by the grace of God, Augustine came to repentance, and by faith he saw Christ as the only Saviour. After the Day Star had thus risen in his heart, he not only began to walk in newness of life but also became one of the most gifted ministers of the ancient church.

My dear reader, beg that the Lord might give us to cry unto Him, “Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned.”

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