Psalm 51 is believed by some
to be a song which David penned after that the prophet confronted
him concerning Bathsheba. You remember the story. The prophet
came to him and told him that What had taken place, and David
was enraged. He was just enraged. And he said,
bring him here. Bring him to me. Show me who
he is. And I'll make this thing right.
And so here's what he told him. Thou
art the man. It's you. It's you. And David's heart was broken.
It was broken. Seeing himself afresh as the
sinner, seeing himself afresh as the wicked man that he was,
and recognizing to some degree the depth of his depravity and
vile nature, his heart was just laid open before God. He does
not plead his past life to God. I want you to notice that here
in the psalm. I'm going to read it for you
in just a moment. When David gives his plea to God, he does
not plead his past life, being chosen of God. I mean, this man
was a child of God. David. That's who we're talking
about. God said he was a man after his own heart. David was
chosen of God. They came in, looked at all of
his brothers, they didn't even consider David. And he said,
do you have any more sons? He said, I've got one little
ruddy boy out there tending the sheep. Bring him in. That's the
man. That's the man. Anointed him. Chosen of God. But David didn't
plead that. He didn't say, God, you chose
me, so help me. No, he didn't plead that. Think about his defeat as a young
man. He went out in that valley when
nobody from Israel would go out there and challenge Goliath.
They wouldn't even go down in the valley. And they were making
fun of the people of God, making fun of the armies of God and
just casting it back in their teeth. Pick you out a champion,
pick you out anybody you want, send them on down here. Here's
this man down there with a spear the size of a weaver's beam,
a sword that you couldn't even pick up. I mean, he was huge. Some people speculate that he
was nearly eight foot tall, probably weighed 300-350 pounds without
an ounce of fat on him. And here's this big giant standing
down there and here comes little David with a sling. Saul's armor
wouldn't fit him. He couldn't carry it. He went
down there with his shepherd's clothes on and a sling and five
smooth stones. Put one in there, slayed that
giant. slayed that giant. But David
didn't plead that. He didn't plead that. Now you
remember, Lord, you remember me out in that valley. You remember
what I did. No, he didn't even bring it up. He didn't bring up his faithfulness
during the reign of King Saul He was hounded like a hunted
animal. He was living in caves and just
eating whatever was handed to him. He was hounded by Saul.
Saul wanted to kill him. He didn't bring that up to God.
He didn't bring his faithfulness during the reign of King Saul.
He didn't bring his victories over the heathen nations when
he was anointed king and he went out and defeated those heathen
nations. that Israel might fully inherit
what God had given to him. He does not plead God's testimony
of him as a man after his own heart. He does not plead the
fact that he was a prophet and a writer of Scripture. He don't
even mention no such thing. Rather, he pleads for mercy. Now look at this, Psalm 51, verse
1. Have mercy. upon me, O Lord." Huh? O God, according to Your loving
kindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
When and if God ever convicts you of sin, you won't plead all
your good works. You won't bring them up. You'll
be ashamed of them. I mean your best work. Your best
work. Because you already know what
God thinks about it. He said man at his best state
was altogether vanity. All man's righteousnesses, all
of them, those things that he treasures, that trip down the
aisle, that hand that he shook, that offering that he gave, all
those treasures, all his righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So you're not going to bring
that up before God. No, you're going to come to God
as the sinner. As the sinner. And you're going
to cry unto Him, wash me throughly from mine iniquity. Verse 2. And cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin." Now, he's talking
about two things here. Transgressions is the breaking
of the law. And he did that. He committed
adultery with Bathsheba. He had her husband killed. He was guilty of murder. He had
transgressions here. And he said, I acknowledge my
transgressions and my sins, not sins, my sin, the cause of my
adultery, the cause of my being a murderer. My sin, the root
of the trouble, my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when
thou judgest." I want you to hear me. All sin, all of it,
all sin, though it can be against people, it can be against nations,
it can be against laws, all sin, no matter what, is a transgression
of the law, and therefore, against the lawgiver. That's what David's
talking about here. Against thee and thee only have
I done this sin and done this evil in thy sight. So that no
matter what we do, it can be rightly said against thee and
thee only have I sinned. With God looking on. That's what
David's talking about. With God looking on. with God looking on who is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, before
Him unto whom all things are naked and opened. I sinned with
God looking on. I sinned not just against law,
but against love. I repaid His mercy with rebellion,
His kindness with contention, His grace with self-satisfaction. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." Now watch this. Last
line of the verse. That. He's confessing this in order
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judgest. David confesses his sin and justifies
God in his own condemnation. Can you do that? Can you say
He's just? If God sends me to hell, He'd
be just. That's what David's doing here. That thou mightest be justified.
And then what's this? And clear when thou judgest. Now, he's not talking about his
judgments being discernible. That's not the sense in which
clear The word clear here means clear of all wrongdoing. That
is what David is saying. That you may be clear of all
wrongdoing. It means that every judgment
God was pleased to make against him was fair and right and fully
deserved. Verse 5, David further pleads
with the Lord. And he's telling him now, confessing
to God. He knows God knows who he is,
but he's confessing these things to God. He's telling the Lord,
I acknowledge these things. I now know these things. Behold,
he said, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. His person from infancy was a
depraved sinner. His very conception was by sinful
parents who were sons of Adam. Behold, verse 6, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. Now, purge me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me. Wash me, and I'll be
whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Now listen to this, that the
bones which thou hast broken, not the bones that I broke, the
bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and
blot out all my iniquities, Blot them out. That's how you pray. Blot them out. Make them not
to be seen in thy books forever. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. A spirit of discernment. A spirit of understanding. A
spirit of patience and long-suffering. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence,
and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free spirit." Now,
free spirit here is not talking about the Holy Spirit, or else
it would be capitalized. But rather, he's talking about
the effects of the Holy Spirit's presence, which is the spirit
of liberty as it's defined in the New Testament. The mind of
Christ, which understands how a wretched man can be delivered
from this body of death. That's that spirit of liberty.
That's that free spirit. That there is now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Uphold me with thy free spirit. Now here's my text. Then, then
will I teach transgressors thy ways. And sinners shall be converted
unto thee. I hear a lot of talk about conversion
today. I remember 29 years ago, it was
a revival meeting. It was the last night. And they
were singing the last line of the last hymn on the last night
of revival, and I gave my heart to the Lord. I came down the
aisle and prayed through, or I came down the aisle and confessed
my faith. And I was converted. Here's my
question. What is conversion? What's he talking about here?
What in the world is David talking about here? Having saw himself
the sinner, having poured his heart out to God, having looked
to the Lord to wash him from his sins, and now he says, then,
then I'll teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be
converted unto thee. What is conversion? Or whatever it is, it's plain
to see in this psalm that only those who are converted can teach
sinners what conversion is. Isn't that what he said? Then will I teach sinners Thy
ways and see them converted unto God. Now Augustine said this. I don't quote much by the old
writers, but I want you to hear this. I thought this was pretty
good. Augustine said there are two ways in which God's elect
are taught by God's ambassadors. First, they are taught by their
doctrine. I stand up here every week and
I proclaim to you the doctrine of Christ. John said, if any
come unto you and bring not this doctrine, don't invite them into
your house, don't even tell them God's feet. So first, by their doctrine they
teach. And secondly, he said, by their
fallings and their failings. That's how they teach. That's
how David taught. That's how David taught. Paul
said to the church at Corinth, now all these things happened
unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition,
for our learning, upon whom the ends of the world are come. What
is conversion? Webster's English Dictionary
said it is to be changed or turned. That's what it means, to be converted. Turned from one school of thought
to another, from one religion to another. Changed, changed
from one state to another. Sin to holiness, darkness to
light. God has called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. That's a different state. Aliens to fellow citizens with
the saints. Faith from unbelief. Life from death. Now the word conversion in all
of its various forms, converted, converting, converted, on and
on and on it goes. The word conversion in all of
its various forms appears 15 times in the Scriptures. It begins
here in Psalm 51 and it ends in James chapter 5. All of these
different forms of conversion. This morning I've selected four
scriptures to try and answer this question. What is conversion? Is conversion something that
happened 20 years ago and now we're not converted anymore?
Now we just go on and live our lives because the Lord saved
me back then. So it doesn't matter what I do
now. What is conversion? What's he talking about in Scripture? Well, let's begin over here in
Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 9. And he said, go and tell this
people. Talking about Israel. In the
Old Testament, he's talking about Israel. He said, go and tell
this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not. And see ye indeed, but perceive
not. Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert. Huh? And convert and be healed. This passage is quoted concerning
the Jews who rejected both Christ and His Apostles. And it's applied
to them both by our Lord and the Apostles. And if you're taking
notes, let me give you some passages here. Matthew 13, verse 15. Mark chapter 4, verse 12. John
12, verse 40, and Acts 28, verse 27. These are all places where
you can see what this passage is related to. Conversion is
the intervention of God to rescue religious man from reprobation. From reprobation. God does not
get this through your head. If you don't hear anything else
I've said this morning, you hear this. God does not use false
religion to convert. Get it down. Tell yourself over
and over, memorize it. He does not use the harlot that
sits upon the beast to convert His elect. Will not. Does not. I don't care how many
good things they have to say. He does not use them. Rather, He saves men and women
out of it. And you can read about it over
and over and over in the Scriptures. He saves them out of it. When men and women hear the truth
and see the glory of God in Christ, they convert. You'll never convert until you
hear the truth. When you hear the truth and God
the Holy Spirit burns it into your heart, you'll convert. You'll
turn. You won't think this way anymore.
You'll think this way. You won't believe this way anymore.
You'll believe this way. You'll convert. Convert. They turn from one religion to
another. They change their mind. They
turn from what they once believed And then the Holy Spirit of God
through the preaching of the gospel has destroyed their strongholds. He tears them down. He just destroys
those old imaginations that they had. He tears them down. Paul
said our weapons of our warfare are not carnal. You can carry
signs until you die. It ain't going to help anything.
You can go out here in the mass media and write this and write
that and say this and say that and organize and do all that
you can do. You're not going to change anybody
from anything. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. It's not in your numbers. It's
not in your might. It's not in your strength. It's
not in your gifts. But they're mighty through God,
God the Holy Spirit. And he destroys those old refuges. He just turns them inside out
and shakes you out like a bug out of the grass. He just shakes
you out. Tears down those old imaginations. Just destroys them. Just destroys
them. They change their mind. They
turn from what they once believed Because the Holy Spirit of God
through the preaching of the Gospel has destroyed their strongholds
and tore down their refuges and exposed their ignorance. And
these Jews were on their way to reprobation. Paul tells us
in Romans 11 about the election of grace. If God had not reserved
for Himself a remnant, Israel would have been like Sodom and
Gomorrah, he said, totally destroyed. Israel was on its way to reprobation,
but they weren't allowed wholly to continue. And so election
obtained the salvation of some, and Paul said, and the rest were
blinded. The rest ushered right into reprobation. Let them go on. To convert is
a changing course. They did walk according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience,
Ephesians chapter 2. But God was pleased to give them
the gift of faith and show them His kindness toward them in Christ
Jesus. Richard and I were briefly talking
here the other day and he was telling me about the preaching
that he's hearing in these places, and they're always appealing
for you to exercise your faith. My friend, you're not born with
faith. You can't exercise something you don't have. Brother Barnard
said you can't come back from somewhere you've never been.
How are you going to exercise faith? You're not born with it.
You don't have faith. By grace are you saved through
faith and not of yourselves. It is the what? Gift of God. It's given unto them, this repentance
and faith. What is conversion? Conversion
is the intervention of God to call out men. and stay their
reprobation. I'm telling you, you're sitting
there under that false preaching and under those men, you're on
your way to reprobation. That's where you're headed if
God don't intervene. Sooner or later you'll just be
satisfied and you'll just drink it in and you'll just revel in
it just like everybody else. But God's pleased to save His
people out of it. And they convert. They convert. Alright, here's the next thing.
Matthew chapter 18. Turn over there with me. What
does it mean to convert? What is conversion? Well, it's
the intervention of God. Saving me from reprobation. That's
the number one thing. But here in Matthew 18. Now listen
to this. At the same time, came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and He set him in the
midst of them. And He said, Verily I say unto
you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Conversion is a change in attitude
and character. That's what it is. That's what
it is. Knocks you down off your high
horse. Eliminates your self-reliance. Brings you as a little child
before Christ, fully dependent on Him. I tell you, when I was
little, I never thought about the next meal. I knew it was
going to be there. Did you? When you was a little
fellow toddling around, did you ever think about, oh, I don't
know if we're ever going to eat again? I never doubted it. I knew when a certain time come,
I'm going to say, come on supper. It's going to be ready, be right
there on the table. I never worried about money. I didn't know what
money was. It had no value to me whatsoever. I just soon had a good pocket
knife as money. I didn't know what money didn't
mean nothing to me. If my clothes wore out, they
bought me some more clothes. If I outgrew them, they bought
me some bigger clothes. I never worried about stuff like
that when I was a kid, did you? You can go on and on and on,
except you be converted Now watch this. Not act like a little child. That's not what this says. Become. Ain't that what the word is?
Become as little children. Become dependent on me. Rest
in me. Hope in me. Love me. Sit at my table and eat my food. Except you become, except you
be converted and become as a little child, you're not going to enter
the kingdom of heaven. Faith is that which is totally
dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. As a little child is
fully dependent on their parents, as a little child is at rest
in his daddy's house, as a little child does not worry about anything,
as a little child looks to be comforted, except you be converted
and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom
of heaven. Verse 4. Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven." I tell you, we look at men, and
man, they're generous, and they hand out money and offerings,
and they help, and they do all these things. Here's the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven, is that man who's fully, continually
dependent, and at rest with Christ. That's the greatest. That's the
greatest. So what is conversion? It's rescue
from reprobation. It's a change in attitude and
character. Paul said, put on the new man
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, nor circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all
and in all. Alright, turn with me to Luke
chapter 22. Now this passage is dealing with a saved man. about to go through some severe
trials. He wasn't there yet, but he was
about to. Luke 22, 31, you remember the
story. Our Lord said that all His disciples was going to forsake
Him, and He was going to go to the cross, and He was going to
die at the hands of His enemies, and on the third day, He was
going to rise from the dead. And Peter said, now wait a minute.
He said, the rest of them might leave you, but I'm not. The rest
of them may quit, but I'm not. I'll be with you till you die.
Now watch this. Luke 22, 31. And the Lord said,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may
sift you as wheat. But I prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not. Now watch this, "...and when
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Now wait a minute. This is the same man our Lord
called as an apostle, isn't He? That's Peter. This is the same man who accompanied
Him up on the Mount of Transfiguration. and saw Christ transfigured before
his eyes, and saw Moses and Elijah up on that mountain. This is the same man, when nobody
had anything to say, said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And our Lord replied, Blessed
art thou, Simon Bartholomew. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Peter, when you converted, strengthen
your brother. Whatever conversion it is, it
is the fruit of trials and tribulations. It is. Peter was about to go
through a severe trial, one which he didn't see coming, blindsided
him that he denied would ever affect him. One that he acknowledged
might get the rest of them, but not him. And yet before the rooster
signaled the dawning of another day, Peter had already three
times denied the Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord prayed for him that
his faith fail not. Peter's error was exposed. He
was turned again to his reliance upon the Savior. And by this
experience of grace, he gained knowledge and patience and an
attitude which enabled him to strengthen his brother." When
you be converted, every trial that you go through,
there is going to be a conversion at the end. There is going to
be a conversion. What is conversion? It is the
fruit of trials. It is the ongoing act of faith
and the maturing of God's elect. What is conversion? Fourthly,
turn with me to James 5. James 5. And verse 19. Brethren, if any of you do err
from the truth, and you're going to, you're going to. If any of you do err from the
truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth
the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from
death and shall hide a multitude of sins. Conversion is being
convinced of the error of your way and turning from it. Turning from it. Conversion. Now, I'm not even going to hint
that this is a work which men can do apart from the Spirit
of God. I can't convince you of anything.
But He can. He can. This is the primary work of the
Holy Spirit to reprove of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment
satisfied. And men are instruments of the
salvation of sinners, not the effectual cause or power behind
it. So what is conversion? It's the
work of the Holy Spirit through God's ordained means, to change
our present state and turn us from sin, false religion, and
the course of this present evil world. And it's not an isolated
act. Are you with me? It's a continual,
ongoing process. Now, we're not born again and
again and again and again. I'm not suggesting that. That
work of conversion is complete. But that's not the whole work.
There's other things involved in this conversion. There's a
converting of the attitude and spirit. There's a converting
of you from error. There's an intervention in your
life that saves you from that reprobation of antichrist religion. Conversion is an ongoing process. It includes all of these things
that's going on in your life. And I could give you even more
scriptures that go and take another detail or two. in this thing. But it's not an isolated act.
It begins in the new birth and continues on through trials,
through spiritual growth, and through correction and rebuke. Conversion is the present, active,
effectual salvation of the soul. May we all, by the grace of God,
experience this conversion and convert.