Psalm 51. Psalm 51. My verse I'll start
with is verse 13. It's going to be my text. Verse 13. And I'm going to focus
a lot on just one word in this verse because it's very important. Very important. Psalm 51 and
verse 13. David the psalmist says, "...then
will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be..."
Notice this word, "...converted unto thee." Converted. And this is the title of my message,
True Conversion. conversion. Now here in this
psalm, to give you a background, David here is confessing his
sin. Remember, he had committed the
great sin of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah
the Hittite. He had conceived a child by her
and was okay for a time. But then God brought His prophet.
God sent His prophet Nathan to Him and convicted David of his
sin. The Lord convicted David of his
transgression. And you know that that child
was to die because of the transgression. And here David is confessing
his sin to God. He cries out against Thee, and
Thee only have I sinned. Do you realize that? That sin
is not against Uriah the Hittite, although he murdered him. It
wasn't against Bathsheba, although he committed adultery with her.
It was against God. Sin is against God. "...Against thee have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight." He confesses of his depravity
from birth. He says this, He was conceived
in sin. He said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. Now we know this. His parents
were not sinners in their conception. But what he's saying is from
his conception he was a sinner. From his conception he confesses. I was a sinner from my conception. I was born of sinful parents.
And this is true of every one of us. We by nature are sinners. We by nature inherited our father's
nature, Adam. We died in him. And when we were
born, we were born sinners. And he seeks then to be purged. He seeks to be washed. Look at
verse 7. He says, Purge me with hyssop. and I shall be clean." Hyssop
was a plant by which those priests sprinkled the blood on that Ark
of the Covenant. It was hyssop. And so he's desiring
to be cleansed, not by his works, but rather by a sacrifice, by
an offering, which is a picture of Christ. David desired to be
cleansed by an offering. And this is the only way any
one of us is ever cleansed, by an offering of Christ, by the
death and blood of Christ. Now then, who among the saints
of God cannot identify with this confession? If you're a child
of God, you most definitely can identify with this. We all by
nature have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We
all by nature could not obtain God's favor, but God, who is
rich in mercy, but God sent His Son in to die for our sins, but
God in grace called us to life and faith in Christ, and we believe
on Christ because of God's grace. But this does not ever say that
we do not sin. Believers, we are not without
this old nature of sin still. We still confess our sin. Like Paul, we say, "...in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?" experiencing
this. You believers in Christ, do you
not experience this? Do you not know this? This is
true of every believer in Christ. Every believer in Christ. When
we sin, we know it's against God and we repent. We desire
to be cleansed, to be made right with God, not by our doing, but
rather by what Christ did for us. That's the only way a man
can be made right with God, is through Christ. What can you
do to make yourself right with God? You hear that sometimes,
don't you? You need to get right with God.
Well, how can you do that? Well, you need to start going
to church, doing this, doing this, doing this. Nope. None of that
will get you right with God. None of it. What God requires
is not partial holiness. God requires perfect holiness.
Where are you going to find that? You're only going to find that
in His Son. His Son is the only righteousness God has accepted. His blood is the only offering
God wants. He doesn't want our best. He's
already got the best. His Son. And so we as believers,
when we sin, we confess our sins. And you know what? If we are
in Christ, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. God is faithful. And He's right
to forgive us our sins. He cleanses us. 1 John 1 and
verse 7 says, He cleanses us. The blood of Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. that word cleanseth, E-T-H. We don't use the E-T-H very much
in our language. We don't. But that has meaning. What it means is that He has
cleansed us, He is now cleansing us, and He shall forever cleanse
us. We who are washed in the blood
are perfectly cleansed and made right with God. And as he does
this, he is turning back to God. David's confessing his sin. He
is turning back to his Lord in faith. And listen to what he
says in our text. When you restore my joy, when
you restore the joy of my salvation, this is what will happen. Then
I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. Converted. Converted. Today I
want to speak to you As one who is by nature a sinner. I'm a
sinner speaking to sinners. I'm a sinner speaking to sinners. As one, like you, incapable of
saving myself. Incapable. And God in grace came
to me. He quickened my soul to life.
He made me to see my sin, my helplessness, my unrighteousness. He sent a preacher to do this.
He sent a man of God to declare to me His Word. That's what David
says here. He says, I will teach transgressors. Who's the gospel for? Sinners. Jesus said, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners. Who needs conversion? Who needs
to be turned from their sin? Only sinners need to be turned
from sin. You see, only sinners are saved.
Well, I'm not a sinner. Well, this gospel is not for
you. The gospel is for sinners. Sinners. You're looking at a
sinner. who has been saved by the very
grace and mercy of God. And as such, I desire to teach
you the ways of God, which is Christ. To teach you the gospel. To show you what it is to be
converted. Converted. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Jesus came to save sinners. Not people who have messed up
and made mistakes. A sinner is not one that just
made a mistake. A sinner is an out-and-out rebel. A sinner is one who willingly
defied God. A sinner is one who shakes his
fist in the face of God and said, I will not have your son to rule
over me. Now that's a sinner. Now am I
talking to any sinners? Because you got one here talking
to you. I know what I am by nature. I
know what I am. Sinner. But I can teach you the
ways of God because I know them. He's taught me the way. Jesus said this, I am the way. You want to know the way to God?
Only one way, Jesus Christ. You want to know how sinners
are saved? By Jesus Christ. They're saved not by their own
will, not by their own works, but by the power of God. Salvation
is a miracle of grace. It's not a decision. It's not
a work that you do. Salvation is something done by
God for you and in you. Have you been saved? Have you been converted? I was converted. The Lord changed
me. Not that He changed my flesh. It's still just as sinful as
it was. What do I mean by that? God gave me something that wasn't
there before. He gave me a new heart, a new
nature. Whereas my old nature was unwilling
to come to God, now then by grace I have a new nature that is made
willing, made willing to come to God. I've been created. And it is my desire and purpose that
I should preach the same message to you by which I was converted. I desire to preach with such
plainness of speech that nobody can misunderstand my words. I come here not to speak smooth
words to you. I'm not an orator. I'm just not. I don't need to be. I need to
teach you in a language that you can understand. That's what
a good preacher should be. He should teach someone with
plainness and simpleness of speech. Not with flowery words. And as a preacher of the Gospel,
it is my soul's desire to see every one of you know Christ,
to believe in Christ. That is my heart's desire for
every single one of you. Someone used this illustration.
If you had a child that fell into the fire, would you sing
him a lullaby? Or would you be zealous to reach
in and grab him and pull him out? This is the heart of preachers,
is that we desire to reach into the very fire and pull you out. That's what we long for. Recognizing
this, that I can't save anyone. I have no power to save any one
of you. No, no power to make you believe. No power to convert
you. Now today, I plead with you. Be converted. Be converted. And so in order of this, David
said that sinners will be converted unto thee. Conversion, listen,
is necessary. Is necessary. Without it, no
one's saved. Except you be converted. Our Lord said this, except you
be converted and become as little children, you shall in no wise enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Converted. Well then, if you've
got to be converted, then you've got to know what it is. Is that
right? You've got to know what conversion
is. What does that mean? So I've got five things about
conversion. First of all, what is conversion?
Second, why is it necessary? Third, what are the marks of
conversion? How do I know if I'm converted? And fourthly, what is the misery
of those that are unconverted? And lastly, what is the means
by which men are converted? So first, what is conversion? I'll answer this simply by telling
you what it's not. Let me tell you some things that
it's not. Listen, it's not a mere profession of Christianity. Conversion
is not a mere profession of being a Christian. Okay, let's just... 95% of this nation confesses
to be Christian. Most people call this a Christian
nation. But listen, it is Christian only
in name. Only in name. People just take
that name because it sounds good and it makes them feel good and
it makes people like them. You know, well they must be a
pretty good person that they say they're Christian. So, they
just take that name. They take it. And they say, well,
I'm a Christian. Listen, just because you say
you're a Christian don't mean you're a Christian. That don't
mean anything. I can say I'm an Indian. That
doesn't make me one, does it? I can put a little dot on my
forehead and that doesn't make me an East Indian. I can put
a feather in my hair and that doesn't make me a Western Indian.
So that's not conversion. So if that's all you got is just
a name, you're not converted. You're not converted. Second of all, true conversion is no mere profession of faith. Now then, some people, they think
conversion is making a decision. Not only do they take the name,
but they hear a preacher, and they're very emotional, and they
don't want to go to hell. A hundred percent out of a hundred,
a hundred people out of a hundred, don't want to go to hell. Okay?
So you've got a preacher, and he's preaching on hell, and they
get really, start getting hot. The first thing they do is they
run up to the front, and they make a decision. That's not conversion. That's not conversion. They're
like the dog that returns to his vomit. They get up there,
make a profession, next week they're right back where they
started. No change in the heart. No change in the heart. That's
not conversion. You remember the Lord preached
that message about the seed and the sower, right? The sower went
out to sow, and he sowed the seed, threw the seed, and some
fell on the hard ground, and that was just the birds come
and took it away. That's a man whose heart's hard. Here's a
gospel that doesn't have anything for it, doesn't want it. Then
you've got some people who are like the stony ground hearers.
They're the ones that have just a little ground on the top turned
up. The seed falls in there, but
underneath it's hard as a brick. Rocks all over the place. And
that thing shoots up so fast, they look like a Christian, they
start acting like a Christian, but man, just give them a little
bit of trial and a little bit of trouble and sure enough, they're
withered away. They're gone. That's not conversion.
You have another one that fell on those thorny grounds. This
is one who received the Gospel, and the world and the flesh choke
it. And there's no fruit, there's
no evidence, there's no faith, there's no love, there's no joy.
The Gospel is nothing to them anymore. They're the people that
say, well, I made a decision when I was ten, I was baptized
back when this, I got the date, I got the time. Listen, that's
not conversion. That's not conversion. It's more than a mere profession.
Listen to what Jesus said. Not everyone that saith to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Is that clear? That's clear as
a bell. Just because you call on Him,
just because you say, Lord, Lord, that doesn't mean you're going
to enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, who does? But he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven." What's the will of
the Father? To believe on the Son of God. To trust in Christ
alone. To forsake all your will and
all your works as nothing. And to believe solely on Jesus
Christ. That's the will of the Father. Well, true conversion
is not baptism. True conversion is not baptism.
A lot of people get baptized. That doesn't mean that you're
converted. People think that conversion is an outward thing
to affect a spiritual result. They put people in the water
thinking that the water has some power. There's no power in the
water. The power is in God, not the
water. Baptism is just a confession
of what's taken place already in our heart. So, you get baptized
a hundred times. That doesn't make you a convert.
That doesn't make you converted. Baptism is nothing but a confession
of our faith. It doesn't actually instill faith. Next, conversion is not an outward
conformity to laws and rules of the church. Some people say,
well, I'm a Christian because I'm joined to church. Again,
you're trying to take an outward thing and make it a spiritual
thing. You're taking something you're doing, you sign that card,
you take the bread, you take the wine, and you think because
you eat that bread and drink that wine that somehow you're
changed. No, that doesn't change a man.
That's an outward thing. That's not conversion. Well, so what is conversion? It is the work of the Holy Spirit upon the dead soul of the sinner. If you want to know what conversion
is, look at Lazarus. When Christ raised Lazarus from
the dead, that's a picture of conversion. We were dead and
God raised us from the dead. Now listen, have you been raised
from the dead? I'm not talking physical. Again,
these are spiritual things. Have you been spiritually raised
from the dead? Well, preacher, how do I know
that? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Because faith
in Christ is only a work of God. Faith in Christ is only something
God gives you. It is the power of God to give
life and faith. Jesus said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Well, who
gives life? Who gives life to the dead? Do
you give life to yourself? No. Jesus said, I'm the resurrection. I'm the one that gives life.
Has he given you life? Well, what's the evidence of
life right now? You're here. You're not dead. What's the evidence
you're not dead? You're breathing, right? As long
as you're breathing in and breathing out, you're alive. What's the
evidence of spiritual life? Faith. in Christ alone. That's the evidence. Conversion
is the work of God upon the heart. It's being born again of the
Spirit of God. You see, conversion with man,
it is impossible. It is impossible for you to convert
yourself. Conversion is a work of God alone. And what's the cause of this
conversion? The cause of any conversion is
grace. Grace. The grace of God is the
only reason any one of us are converted. In Titus chapter 3, in verse
5, it says, "...not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy He saved us." By the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Not by works
of righteousness, but mercy. Mercy. Now who needs mercy? Only the guilty, right? If you're
not guilty, you don't need mercy. One lady, her son had committed
treason against Napoleon Bonaparte. And he had done several evil
things. And he was condemned to death.
And she came crying to him, Have mercy, Lord. Have mercy. Have
mercy on my son. And he looked at her and said,
Your son does not deserve mercy. And she said, That's why I'm
asking for mercy and not justice. Mercy. Only the guilty need mercy. Do you need mercy? I need mercy. And so then what would be the
cause of God giving me life? Would it be merit or mercy? Mercy. The cause of conversion. How
can I appeal to God to give me conversion? Based on what? Is there anything in me that
would cause God to give me conversion? No, I'm a sinner. I'm guilty.
I need grace. I need mercy. That's good because
God is in the business of grace and mercy. He's in the business
of grace and mercy. And so what's the cause of conversion?
It's mercy. It's grace. And so now then,
secondly, what is this necessity of conversion? the beginning of true conversion,
we see the sinfulness of our sin. We see by the revelation
of God our absolute ruin. The sinner is made to look up
and see the perfections of God and His absolute ruin, His filth
of His soul, He is exposed and stripped of any self-righteousness. Where then should the sinner
turn? To one who is guilty, where should he turn? To one who feels his need of
conversion. Does anyone here need conversion? Then I should be able to tell
you where to turn for conversion. Now look, conversion in simple
language is this. I'm facing this way. I'm converted to this way." It's
a turning. Where are you going to turn?
Look around, sinner, where will you go? Where will you find peace
with God? Where will you find this mercy
of God? Will you find it in your friends,
in your neighbors, in your family? Will you find it in yourself,
in your works? No. No. You see, only sinners need conversion. Only sinners need conversion. To whom shall the sinner go to
be converted, pardoned? I tell you that there's only
one ordained object to which the elect sinners turn. Jesus Christ the Lord. I'm not telling you to turn to
a religion. I'm not telling you to turn to a denomination. I'm
not telling you to turn to yourself. I'm telling you to turn to a
person. The Lord Jesus Christ. Look and see the blessing of
God is only found in this one person. is only the Son of God,
that God put all of the spiritual blessings of His elect into that
one person. It says this, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. But where are these blessings
found? In Christ. according as He had
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love, having
predestinated us under the adoption of children, listen, by Jesus
Christ, to Himself, according to the good will of His pleasure,
according to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He
hath made us accepted, where? In the Beloved. This morning
I should tell you, sinner, look to the Son of God. Look to the
Son of God. Can you look? Can you look by
faith? Then look to the Son of God.
Do you need mercy? Look to the Son of God. I remember
Charles Spurgeon. He was a young man and unsaved,
and he was heading to a service to his church, and he couldn't
make it, so he got sidetracked. The snow came in, and he entered
into this little church, small church. And the pastor wasn't
even there, and the deacon was there, and he just stood up.
And he only had one message. Look. I think it was the serpent put
on the pole. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so was the Son of Man lifted up. And they
had one command to those who were bitten by the serpent, look
and live. And he said to Spurgeon, young
man, look. And God by grace came in and
saved him. He looked. And you know what
he got? He got life. He lived. He found
mercy. Why? He was converted. He saw
the necessity of it. And God, in grace, pointed him
to the one to turn to. And he turned and he was saved. It's a miracle of grace. This is conversion. It's to turn
to Christ. To look to Christ. To repent. Peter said this in Acts 3.19,
Repent ye therefore and be converted. For what? That your sins may
be blotted out. Who needs blotted out sins? I
do. Well, I'm looking to the one
who can blot them out. I'm looking to the only one who
can blot them out. Christ. His blood alone can blot
out my sins. You know what that means? Take
a ledger book. They used to do this. They didn't have erasers.
They just had ink blots. They'd write out a debt. And
when they paid the debt, they would blot it out with ink. And
you couldn't see it anymore. You know what God did with His
blood? He blotted out my sins so He can't see them anymore.
He won't see them anymore. This is what it is to be converted.
Who needs conversion? I do. I need conversion. Well, then how do you know if
you're converted? Jesus said, except you be converted. And
listen, become as a little child. What does that mean? None of
y'all can go backward, can you? And tell you the truth, who would
want to? Want to go back to being a little kid? No. Man, that's
hard. But he's not talking physical.
He's saying these are spiritual things. Be converted and become
as a little child. When a man is saved, he then
becomes like a little child in this. Humility and submission. You take a child, do you have
to coax him to be on his mother's breast? You have to coax him. No, you take him away from his
mom, boy, he is going to throw a fit. Why? Because he needs
her. He wants her. He is surrendered
to her ability to take care of Him. That's exactly what it is
in conversion. We surrender all to Christ. That's what conversion is, surrender. You and I were rebels. By the
grace of God, now we stack our arms, put them away, And we are
totally dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what?
If I'm ever going to heaven, I am dependent upon Him to get
me there. I am not dependent upon myself.
What a misery it is. And that's the next thing I want
you to see, is the misery of unconversion. You know how miserable
the unconverted are? Song of Ecclesiastes. Solomon
said this, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. In this world and under the sun
have you not found that to be so? Everything you've wanted,
everything you've worked for, you are always waiting for that
next big thing, right? My son, we were just talking
about him driving. I'm sure that's his big thing.
If I can just get my license, then I will be happy. If I could
just find a woman, a girl that would love me, then I would be
happy. If I could just get an education,
then I would be happy. If I could just get a family
and I could get a good job, then I would be happy. If I could
just retire, then I would be happy. You see what happens?
It's like Solomon said, it's chasing the wind. You never catch
what you're trying to get. The world is vanity. It's empty. It doesn't have any happiness. It's an illusion. It's an oasis
in the desert that's not really there. It's an illusion. Take a man in the desert. He
sees that out there and it's a mirage. And he goes out and
he starts trying to drink of the mirage. And when it comes
to him, all he's put in his mouth is sand. That's what the world's
got to offer. That's all it's got to offer.
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Education, marriage, life, love,
all the things of this world are nothing but chasing the wind. Misery. Misery. But to us who are converted,
I have something solid. I have something sure. I have
something yet to come that I am waiting for, sitting on the edge
of our seats, looking forward to the day when I shall see my
Beloved face to face. One day I shall experience all
the things that God has prepared for me. All of the things God
has ordained for us who are converted, one day we will rejoice, we'll
sing, we'll praise God in an incorruptible body, forever praising
God. Are you converted? Are you chasing
the wind? Religion's chasing the wind,
aren't they? If I can just do this thing, if I can just get
enough righteousness, if I can just get enough, they're chasing
the wind. They never get enough. Enough
is never enough. But I tell you, Christ is enough.
Why do you need more? In Christ we have everything.
In Christ is all. Are you converted? There's misery
outside of conversion. But there's joy in conversion.
Now, what is the means by which God converts sinners? Going back
to our text, Paul says this, When thou restored my joy, then
will I teach sinners, or transgressors, thy ways. And sinners shall be
converted. What's the means? Preaching the
gospel. This is the means God has chosen
to save sinners. I know religion tells you, plays,
theater, music, entertainment. By the foolishness of preaching,
God has ordained to save His people. This is the only means
by which God saves sinners. Preaching. It's a means that is to this
world outdated. I've heard that. I think one
of my relatives, I won't even name who it is, but one of my
relatives said, what y'all do is just outdated. There's better
ways. God said, no there's not. I think I'll believe God and
disregard whatever they say. God said preaching is the way
sinners are converted. One sinner talking to another. One man who's been converted
longing for you to be converted. Impossible thing. Yet this is
how God ordained it to be. Are you converted? Without it,
listen, without it, you'll never see the Kingdom of God. With it, you have everything. Everything. Not chasing the wind. I found the Rock of Ages. And
I'm built on Him. Are you? I pray that you are. Let's be dismissed in prayer.