Conversion is the turning of
God's elect to Christ by the power of his grace. I have a
very good friend who married a Roman Catholic girl and she
said to him, I want to convert. He said, it doesn't work that
way. You have to be converted. And that's exactly the case.
You must be converted. You must be turned to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Shelby's been witnessing to a
man, older man, He said to her yesterday, he said, I thought
I had just about turned the corner and then I read that paper. And
that paper, that preacher said, there's nothing I can do. And
I'm just in utter despair. She said, that's a good place
to be. There's nothing you can do. You cannot, of yourself,
turn yourself to God. You must be turned to God by
his grace. And yet, It is a willing turn
of rebels to Jesus Christ as their king. Willingly surrendering
to his dominion. Turning that is called by God's
free grace and yet turning that arises from a willing heart.
Now turn with me to Jeremiah 31. Let me show you two or three
scriptures as we move toward the text I want to expand this
evening. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 18.
This is exactly what we read in this passage. where the Lord
tells us of Ephraim bemoaning himself. Jeremiah chapter 31
and verse 18, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, thus
the Lord God is speaking. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Ephraim bemoaning
himself before God, you You've whipped me and whipped me and
whipped me like a bull unaccustomed to wearing the yoke and I've
been chastised. Turn thou me and I shall be turned. What a prayer. Turn thou me and
I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned.
You see that? Not before, not in order to,
but after that I was turned, I repented. And after that I
was instructed, when I learned the things of God, when God taught
me, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Then God speaks
for himself as Ephraim, my dear son. Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him,
I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled
for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. Now look in Psalm 80. Here we
have a prayer, a prayer of Aesop, or perhaps a prayer of David
written for Aesop and his sons to sing. But it is a prayer of
believing hearts, and yet equally a prayer suitable to unbelievers.
It is a prayer that is repeated three times each time with greater
earnestness in this one psalm. Psalm 80, verse three. Turn us,
O God, and call thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Oh, children
of God, pray just like that in this dark, dark generation. Turn
us, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Look in verse 7. Turn us, O God
of hosts. Notice the addition of those
two words, of hosts. Turn us, Lord God of Sabaoth. Turn us, O God of hosts, God
in charge of everything and everybody, and cause thy face to shine,
and we shall be saved. Now then, look at verse 19. Turn
us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine,
and we shall be saved. Now this is conversion. Unlike
regeneration and effects, we'll call it, conversion is not something
in which we are totally passive. Conversion is both God Almighty
turning us, and us willingly turning under the influence of
His grace to Him. Stephen Charnock, the Puritan,
expressed it this way. Regeneration is the motion of
God towards and upon the heart of a sinner. Conversion is the
motion of a sinner towards God. Conversion, then, is the willing
response of the newborn soul to the call, the effectual, irresistible
call of God's grace. When God the Holy Spirit calls
us by His grace, those who are called willingly turn to Him,
being turned by His grace. As John Gill expressed it, conversion
lies in a man turning to the Lord actively under the influence
of divine grace, being thoroughly convinced that there is salvation
in no other but in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now at your leisure,
read Luke chapter 15, the entire chapter. In that chapter, our
Lord gives us one parable in three sections. The parable is
of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In the parable
where he speaks of the lost sheep, the good shepherd goes after
the sheep who would never come after the shepherd. The good
shepherd finds the sheep, lays him on his shoulder, and carries
him all the way home. In the parable of the lost coin,
the woman loses a piece of silver, and she sweeps the house and
cleans the house, searching for that one piece of silver, just
as God the Holy Spirit comes after the soul valued of God
more precious than gold or silver itself, and seeks and finds the
soul that is lost. In the parable of the lost son,
that son being awakened in providence by God's grace comes to himself
recognizes the folly of his ways and says I will arise and go
to my father's house and arising and coming to his father his
father sees him while he's yet a great way off and runs and
falls on his neck and kisses him and receives him as a son
into his house that's a picture of conversion we are sort of
God thought of God, thought of God, and before we seek Him,
He sought us and called us to seek Him, and now we run after
Him. Now then, if you will, look in
Acts chapter 11. If you read the Scriptures carefully,
you will find that repentance, faith, and conversion always
go hand in hand. They are inseparable gifts of
God's grace. Here in Acts chapter 11, verse
18, The Holy Spirit gives us a description of exactly what
happened when Peter went down to the house of Cornelius and
preached the gospel to them, and also what happened when the
disciples, who were scattered because of persecution, went
everywhere preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here as we
begin in verse 18. And when they heard these things,
they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also
Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted, you see it, repentance
unto life. It's a gift of God. And now they
which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about
Stephen traveled as far as Venice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching
the word. There it is again, preaching
the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were
men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they came to Antioch, spoke
unto the Grecians. preaching the Lord Jesus. That's
what it is to preach the Word. And the hand of the Lord was
with them. And a great number believed and turned unto the
Lord. Notice once more what a great
emphasis is placed upon the instrumentality of gospel preaching and the gracious
operations of God toward and upon his elect. As in regeneration
and in effectual calling, so also in conversion, It pleased
God to save his elect through the foolishness of preaching.
You don't need to turn there, but listen carefully to James
chapter five, verse 19. Brethren, if any of you do err
from the truth and one converge him, let him know that he which
converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a
soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. I can't
give you an exposition of James epistle, But I do want you to
understand that this is as plain as the nose on your face, that
God, the Holy Spirit, is here telling us that God uses human
instrumentality to accomplish his purpose of grace toward chosen
sinners. And there's a beautiful picture
of this in John chapter 11 and verse 39. Our Lord is at the
tomb of Lazarus. He's come there specifically
to Bethany to raise this dead man who has been dead for four
days out of that tomb. And the first thing he does is
he said, take you away the stone. Now, it looks to me like if he
can speak and cause the dead to come forth, he wouldn't have
any trouble moving that rock. But those who stood by were incapable
of raising the dead. They were perfectly capable of
moving the rock. And that which they were capable
of doing, he gave them the honorable privilege of doing. You take
away the stone, watch me walk. Take ye away the stone. And that
which we are capable of doing, the preaching of the gospel,
the bearing faithful witness of Jesus Christ, the Lord God
gives us the honorable privilege of doing. God is pleased in his
infinite, inscrutable wisdom to work conversion in his elect
by the instrumentality of converted sinners telling others about
Jesus Christ the Lord and his salvation. Now the use of human
instruments is in no way a matter of necessity with God. Please
don't ever imagine that God had to do things this way. It's his
pleasure. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The employment of human
instruments in the work of saving his people is as honoring to
God as it could possibly be, both as an act of his amazing
condescending grace and as an act of his infinite wisdom and
sovereignty. Somehow people get the idea that
when we preach the necessity of gospel preaching, we tell
men that God saves sinners in this way, that somehow we're
taking something away from God's honor. Would you please tell
me Please tell me how on this earth it takes away from a man's
honor as he builds a house to use a saw and a hammer. How does
it take away from his honor? How does it take away from a
man's honor as he draws plans for the building of a city to
use the computer or to use his pen and his drafting instrument?
It doesn't take away from his honor, it only contributes to
his honor. The man takes that which is totally
unusable or unusable in itself and makes it an instrument by
which He does much good. And God Almighty, in using your
puny lips and mine, and using us as His witnesses, takes that
which is totally insignificant and useless in itself and uses
us for the building of His kingdom. Oh, what wisdom, what honor!
God takes that which is in itself destructive and makes it an instrument
of building up His church and His kingdom. Now, with those
things in mind, turn with me to Psalm 110 and just hold your
Bibles open as I try to explain to you some things taught plainly
in the scriptures about this matter of conversion. I'm fully
aware that when I get done preaching, there'll be a whole lot more
left unsaid than is said, but I want to talk to you this evening
for just a few minutes about what is taught here concerning
conversion. This is a coronation psalm. It describes the coronation
of our Lord Jesus Christ. as our king, having accomplished
our redemption by the sacrifice of himself, having fulfilled
his father's will in every detail, having fully done that which
he came here to do, the Lord Jesus ascended up into heaven. And as he did, the Lord said
unto my Lord, you see it? Set thou on my right hand. How
long? Till everything's under your
feet. Set on my right hand till thine enemies become thy footstool,
either by grace or by judgment, either in mercy or in wrath.
Every enemy of King Jesus shall become his footstool and bow
before him. Once our Lord Jesus was crowned
with glory and honor as the omnipotent Prince and King of the universe,
the scepter of righteousness was put in his hand. He was given
power, dominion and authority over all flesh. for the saving
of his people with this blessed promise. The Lord shall send
the rod of thy strength out of Zion. What is that? It's the
gospel of his grace. The power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. He will send the rod of thy strength
out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemy. And that's what he's doing right
now. He rules in the midst of his enemy. The Lord God is having
his way. Oh God help me understand that
and believe that. He's having his way everywhere
with everybody at all times. There are no mistakes happening.
There are no accidents going on. God Almighty my Savior is
ruling right now in the midst of his enemies just as much in
the White House as in your house. Just as much in Washington as
in heaven itself. Just as much in hell as upon
this earth. He rules in the midst of his
enemies. But now, where are his people? He's a king. But a king with
no subjects is no king. A king with no living kingdom
has a title that's just a mockery. It's just a plaything. It's less
significant than the crown that's sitting on the head of Queen
Elizabeth in England. It's utterly insignificant if
he has no people. Where then shall the Lord Jesus
have people to fill his kingdom, to be the fullness of him that
filleth all in all? Sometimes we preach and we witness
and we get a little despondent and despairing and we labor and
think, well, nobody's paying attention, nobody's listening. We try to count noses and nickels
and figure out what God's doing. We look and try to see for ourselves
what God's doing. We get upset if we don't see
what God's doing. Listen carefully and listen well.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. All fears ought to be laid to
rest. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. the
beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast
to do of thy youth. Now in that sentence we have
five promises made by God the Father to God the Son when he
said to him sit thou on my right hand until thy foes become thy
footstool. Let me give them to you one at
a time. First here is a promise people You will notice in this promise
from the father to the son, it really just concerns one group
of people. It's a reference to a specific
people, a very definite people. They are named Many ways in the
scriptures. Sometimes they're called as here
thy people. Sometimes they're referred to
as a sheep. Sometimes they're referred to as the hundred and
forty four thousand. Sometimes they're referred to
as the twelve tribes of Israel. Sometimes they're referred to
as a multitude which no man can number. But all when all said
and done, they are I. He shall be called Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sin. Now, I want you to
understand. that everything God does, everything,
everything, everything God Almighty is concerned about, everything
that is of any interest to the living God, everything that God
brings to pass, everything God allows to come to pass, whatever
language you want to use, is specifically for thy people.
The people of Jesus Christ. Who are they? Why, they're the
people of his choice. The people of his covenant. The
people for whom he stood as a surety before the world began and said,
I will be their God and they shall be my people. These people
are those for whom the Son of God said, I will go and give
my life a ransom for many. They are his called people, called
by his spirit in the time of his love. They are the people
preserved by his power, kept in his grace. They are the people
who at last shall be with him in glory. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power, because they are loved by him
with an everlasting love. Secondly, here is a promise persuasion. Thy people shall be good. Apostle Paul in 1st or 2nd Corinthians
5 said Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord he persuaded
me Now the meaning of that text 2nd Corinthians 5 11 Is that
we witness to men and preach the gospel to men? We strip them
we we do everything we can to lay them low and put pressure
on them on so that they are Squeezed and pressured to into the arms
of Jesus Christ the Lord But what Paul is really saying is
this, we do the best we can. We push them, all we can push
them. But persuading the hearts of men is another thing. We can't
make anybody with them. We can scare folks into religion.
We can buttonhole folks to get them to make a profession of
faith. We can get folks to walk out and say, I believe in Jesus
and repeat the sinner's prayer and get baptized and teach Sunday
school and be deacons and preachers and missionaries all over the
world. but we can't make folks willing to come to Christ. But
here, the Lord God makes this promise. He says, thy people
shall not, might be, not ought to be, but thy people shall be
willing. Several years ago, actually,
about 200 years ago now, there was an infamous Arminian by the
name of Adam Clark. In his commentary, this is what
he said. This verse has been woefully perverted. It has been
supposed to point out the irresistible operation of the grace of God
on the souls of his elect, thereby making them willing to receive
Christ as their Savior. Well, I wonder what else it possibly
could mean. If anybody understands English grammar, even in its
simplest form, When the scripture says thy people shall be willing,
it doesn't mean thy people won't be willing. Thy people shall
be willing because of the gracious operation of God Almighty. No sinner, our Savior said, can
or will come to me, except he is made willing by God's omnipotent
grace. And now he tells us here that
all who are thus made willing come to him in conversion. Grace
makes chosen, redeemed, called sinners willing to do what they
would never otherwise do. Grace makes sinners take their
place in the dung heap among the fallen ruins of humanity
as sinners and confess their sins to God. You'll never do that apart from
being made to do that. It'll never happen grace grace
makes proud Self-righteous sinners clean to the rags of their filthy
self-righteousness but grace takes those same centers and
strips the way the rags of rights of Self-righteousness and causes
them to flee to Jesus Christ alone for righteousness grace
causes sinners who would never trust the substitute to bow to
Christ as their Lord and King and Surrender all to him and
trust him as their substitute crying out to him the Lord our
righteousness Jehovah's begin you is his name grace makes proud
self-serving sinners Willing to the Son of God In this day and age when men
and women everywhere live by law. Most lawless age in the
world, but in the religious circles around us, they pretend to live
by law. And people, preachers everywhere put people under the
law. Now, if you don't, if you don't tell folks they have to
keep a Sabbath day, they'll never worship God. If you don't tell
folks they have to tithe, they'll never give. If you don't, if
you don't tell folks they, if they commit adultery, God's going
to kill their kids. They'll be, they'll be, vile, obligate, immoral
people. God's people are made willing
servants. Willing servants. Why don't you
chase folks down because they don't come to church? Because
if grace gets hold of you, you'll be willing to do it. Why don't
you coerce folks to give? If grace gets hold of you, it'll
make you a willing doer. Why don't you coerce folks to
behave right? If grace gets hold of you, you'll
behave right. Thy people shall be willing,
willing, willing, willing to serve Him, willing to deny all
and follow Him, willing to give up their lives to the rule and
dominion of Him who sits on the throne because He redeemed them,
willing to do so because they consider it just their reasonable
service. Now then, here is a promised
power. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. The Lord God here promises his
darling son a specific day when his power will be made manifest,
revealed, known, and experienced in the saving experience of each
of his people. There's a day appointed, the
day appointed, not when thy people shall be willing in the day of
their power, As if somehow everything resides in the power of their
will, or their decision, or their choice. Oh no! Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power, the Lord God says. What is that talking about? It's
talking about the day when his power comes upon the gospel preacher
as he speaks the word. And the word goes forth. He's
talking about the day when power, the power of God, falls upon
his people and he causes the blind to see and the deaf to
hear. He causes the dead to live and
he causes his people to call upon him in faith. Both Calvin
and Gill suggest that this text might be properly translated,
at the time of the assembling of their armies, thy people shall
be willing at the time of the assembling of their army. And
that is a proper translation of the text, I understand. But
what on earth does that mean? Some of you fellas can remember
when the Vietnam War was going on, especially at the early stages
of the war. Men were being drafted. But there
were some fellas who were willing. And they went and signed up because
they were willing. willing to serve a cause they
believed in, willing to die for freedom, willing to die for liberty.
When the assembling of the army came in the name of the USA,
they went to sign up and lay their lives on the line because
the army was needed. Now listen to what he says. As
the Lord God has a cause to accomplish in this world, and the gates
of hell cannot stand against his church in Jesus. as he assembles
his object. They're no one drafted, but they're
all volunteers. All volunteers. No conscription
here. These are willing servants of
the Son of God in the name and cause of Christ's glory, willing
to lay down their lives for his sake. Now then, look at the next
words. Remember, this is a continuous
sentence. He speaks of a promised purity
as well. The Lord God swore to his darling son a promised people,
a promised persuasion, a promised power, and here he says, thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties
of heaven. These who come to God, you who
have come to him, and you who now are coming to him, come to
him on the grounds of perfect holiness from God's Perfect holiness
that perfect holiness that comes only by the imputed righteousness
of Jesus Christ We come to him pleading for mercy and grace
not on the grounds of our promised repentance Not on the grounds
of our promise to do better not on the grounds of our of our
sorrow for all that we've done in the past Oh, no, we plead
for mercy and grace on the grounds of justice satisfied and righteousness
established in Jesus Christ God's darling son willing to cling
to him alone. And coming to him, trusting his
Son, the Lord God has imputed to us his righteousness and imparted
to us his righteous nature. Take one more look at the text.
Again, I remind you, it is a continuous sentence. At the end of that
word, holiness is a semicolon. It says, thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. in the beauties of holiness,
I'm sorry, from the womb of the morning and then a semicolon,
thou hast the Jew of thy youth. Now I looked at that, looked
at that, looked at that, what on earth does that have to do
with what's gone before? How's the connection made? Well,
this is a promise of praise. Those who are converted by the
grace of God are born again by his power and grace from the
womb of the morning. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the womb of God's everlasting purpose from which
all things have sprung. Born mysteriously, miraculously
from the womb of the morning. And then he has this semicolon
here, thou hast the dew of thy youth. In other words, this is
the explanation of what I'm talking about. Thou hast the due of thy
youth, refers to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in the
saving of his people, in the possession of his redeemed one,
shall have the due of his youth. An old man sits and looks over
his family. In our case, it's going to be
kind of small. We just got one child, no sons. But Rex would
look over his family one of these days and look at it. Oh, look
at my sons, my daughters. Grandson, granddaughter, great-grandchildren,
look at them. And smile with beaming happiness
and satisfaction, I hope. But concerning the Son of God,
He has the dew of His youth, a multitude. Like the sparkling
drops of dew in the morning, no man can number. And in His
eternality, complete happiness and satisfaction. by God's almighty grace, for
the glory of his name. Amen.