True and False Conversion

Q: What does the Bible say about true and false conversions?

The Bible teaches that true conversion is a divine work of God that transforms a person, while false conversion is merely a religious decision without true change. In Luke 11:14-26, Christ illustrates the distinction between true and false conversions. True conversion involves the power of God casting out evil, where the individual is set free from sin and truly transformed. Conversely, false conversion often occurs when a person merely makes a religious decision without an encounter with Christ, leading to an empty state where the individual may appear reformed but lacks true spiritual life. This distinction highlights that authentic conversion is characterized by the Holy Spirit's work, resulting in a genuine transformation of the heart and life.

Q: Why is understanding true conversion important for Christians?

Understanding true conversion is vital for Christians to discern genuine faith from false professions and to ensure they are anchored in Christ. Recognizing what true conversion entails protects believers from deception and false security. Ephesians 2:1-5 explains that true conversion is about being made alive in Christ—it is not just a profession or decision but a miraculous work of God. Understanding this helps believers evaluate their faith and ensures they have experienced the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. This discernment is critical as the consequences of false conversion can lead to a life of spiritual emptiness and ultimately, judgment. As Christians, we need to ensure that our trust is in Christ's completed work, not in our own decisions or actions.

Q: How do we know if our conversion is genuine?

Genuine conversion is evident through a transformed life marked by faith, repentance, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. The authenticity of one's conversion is evidenced by a changed life—one that reflects faith in Christ, a desire to live according to His will, and an awareness of one's need for grace. Ephesians 2:1-5 illustrates this by stating that believers were once dead in their sins but have been made alive in Christ. Additionally, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit's presence within a believer affirms their conversion, as seen in Galatians 5:22-23 where the fruits of the Spirit demonstrate a new nature. True conversion is not merely about claiming faith or making a decision; it is about being transformed and continually being sanctified through the work of God in the believer's life.

Now the title of my message tonight
is, True and False Conversions. I'm going to speak from Luke
chapter 11. Now let me say this, this is
a serious and a solemn message, and one that I'm hopeful Maybe
you'll get the tape and listen to it again, or maybe send it
to someone. I believe if you listen carefully
to what I have to say, a lot of questions will be answered
for you in regard to religious decisions. There are a lot of
those now. on television last night, and
he was told his congregation, the people that were listening
to him, he said, now, if you'll bow your head where you are and
repeat the words that I give you, God will save you. I promise you. He said, now say
these words, and he said the words, and he said, Amen. He said, now you're saved. Welcome
to the family of God. And how many thousands sat with
him, I don't know. But there are a lot of religious
decisions, there are a lot of religious professions, there
are a lot of religious conversions, and some of them last a good
while. And then there's true salvation. And our Lord gives
us, in these verses, the Master speaking. And he gives us some
vital information here about this business of conversion.
Now, let's start with verse 14. I always recommend that you read
the context. I've said that so many times,
and I'll say it again. Read the context. In Luke 11,
14, and he, Christ, was casting out a devil, and it was done. And it came to pass, when the
devil was gone out, the dumb spake, and the people wondered. Now here's a man who could not
speak. He had a, scripture says, a devil,
a demon, a dumb spirit, that had possessed him, put him in
bondage, held him in that bondage, till Christ came. Nothing the
man could do about it, nothing his parents could do about it.
nothing anybody could do about it, but our Lord said, come out,
and he came out. The man was set free, and he
spake, and the people wondered. Verse 15, but some of them said,
they insulted the master, they said, he cast out devils through
Beelzebub, the chief of devils. He cast out devils by the And
others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But
he, knowing their thought, said to them, Now, every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation, a house divided against
a house fallen. If Satan also be divided against
himself, how can his kingdom stand?" In other words, Christ
is saying, if I cast out the devil by the power of the devil,
That's the kingdom of Satan divided against Satan. That's Satan casting
out Satan. And that can't be. Satan's not
going to cast Satan out. A kingdom divided against itself
would not stand. He wouldn't last long that way,
casting himself out. That's not the way it's done.
In verse 19, if I, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your
sons cast them out? In other words, they had preachers
and prophets and men who said they cast out devils,
cast out demons. He said, by whom do they cast
them out? By the power of God or by the power of the devil?
Well, naturally the people said they cast them out by the power
of the devil, by the power of God. Our sons and our prophets
cast them out by the power of God. Therefore shall they be
your judges. In other words, he's saying here,
you judge my work by a different measure. You say your son's cast
out the devil by the power of God, I cast him out by the power
of the devil. Don't use different, a different
measure for my work as opposed to their work. But he says this
in the next verse, now watch it. But if I with the finger
of God do cast out devils, if I, if this now is the work of
God, Here's a man with a dumb spirit, powerless to do it, powerless
to speak. That dumb spirit had him in bondage,
captivity. Nothing he could do about it,
his parents or anybody else could do about it. He was in captivity.
That's the way sinners are. Dead in trespasses and sin, in
bondage to the law, in bondage and captivity to the justice
of God, powerless, unable to do anything about it. with men,
it's impossible. And Christ cast out this dumb
spirit and the man spake, immediately spake. In other words, it was
obvious the devil's gone at the word of Christ. It's obvious
that this man has been set free. Now, he said, if this is truly
the work of God, verse 20, 20, if no doubt the kingdom of God
is come upon It's evident, it's obvious. If it's true that I
cast out this demon and set this man free with the finger of God,
with the power of God, and the power of God and the kingdom
of God is here right now. Now then, this is a serious issue. This is a solemn truth that we
need to look at very carefully. If this preacher has been saying
and set free from the bondage of the law, from captivity of
justice, then it's Christ that's setting me free. If this man,
this woman, this woman, that couple, those people, you out
here, if down through these years truly we were in bondage to sin,
weren't we? Spiritually dead, without power,
you have to Let's read it, turn to Ephesians 2. This describes
us, now listen, this man with a dull spirit was no more under
the power of Satan than you were. He was no more in a helpless
captivity and bondage than you were. If the scripture is true
which says that in Adam all die. And it says here in Ephesians
2, 1, listen, and you hath he quickened who were dead. In trespasses
and sin, in times past, you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Same
devil that had this man in dumb bondage had you in dead bondage. the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
behavior, citizenship, conversation in times past, in the lust of
the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, quickened us together with
Christ by grace, so you say. You and I, like this man with
a dumb spirit, never spoken a word, Christ came by and Christ said,
leave him, set him free, and immediately the man spoke. In
the same way, but Christ, it wasn't us, it was him. He came
by in his grace and mercy and power and he said, live, and
we lived. Isn't that right? Now he says,
that's true. Is that true? Then the kingdom of God is right
here among you. Isn't that right? That's what,
did he do it by the power of the devil? Or did he do it by
the power of God? With the finger of God. He said,
if I, with the finger of God, set this man free, then the kingdom
of God is among you. Brethren, that's breathtaking,
isn't it? That's solemn. It's not a game. You see, conversion
is a divine work. Conversion is an act of God,
just like there's no body can make a devil do anything but
God. Isn't that right? It's a divine work. Satan was
defeated by Christ. Christ said, He came to me. He
didn't find anything in me. Now is the prince of this world,
Judge, Christ said. I did it. Conversion is an act
of God. Conversion is an act involving
His will, His Spirit, His power. It's a defeat of Satan. It's
making Satan relinquish what he's had hold of. Is that correct,
Cecil? We were children of wrath, walking
according to the Prince of the Power there, and Christ said,
turn him loose. Turn him loose. That's what he
said to this man, to the devil. Turn him loose. And when he heard
the words of Christ, he turned him loose. And only Christ's
words can make him turn you loose. That's right. The defeat of Satan,
the casting out of Satan, is the work of our Lord. Now, in
this next verse, he tells us what true conversion is. It's
a divine work. It's a powerful operation of
God, the Spirit of God. in which the forces of evil are
met by the power of God, and the forces of evil are dealt
a death blow by the hand of our God, and the prisoner set free. He said, I came to set what? The captive free. That's what
Christ said. Came to set at liberty them that
are bound. blind to see and set the captive
free. Now watch it, verse 21, when
a strong man, armed, keeps his palace, his goods are in peace.
Who's this strong man? It's Satan. It's Satan, a strong
man. You want to know how strong he
is, how subtle, how powerful? Ask Eve. She can tell you. He overcame
her. I read something beautiful today.
You know it said, Adam is a figure of him that was to come. Romans
5, Adam is a figure of him that was to come. I preached on that
and shown how that in Adam would die, imputation, representation,
all that. But you know I saw something
today I've never seen in 41 years. how Adam is a figure and type
of Christ in his love for Eve. The Scripture plainly says Adam
was not deceived. Doesn't it say that? Adam took
that whatever it was with his eyes wide open. He knew what
he was doing. He knew the results. That's right.
That's what Scripture says. He was not deceived. Why'd he
do it? He did it out of love for that
woman. After he fell, now he turned
against her. But at this time, with his perfection and holiness,
he loved her when he stood and she had fallen, when he was holy
and she was sinful, when he was clothed with perfection and she
was clothed with guilt. That's right. And that's the
type of Christ. He loved us when he stood and
we had fallen. When he was holy, perfectly holy,
and we were sinful. When he, in his perfection and
holiness, came down and took our sin in his own body. Why?
He loved us. He's a figure of him that was
to come. Satan's powerful. Our Lord came
down, met him on his ground. He humbled himself. How strong
is Satan? Ask Job. How strong is Satan? Asked Peter. How strong is Satan? Asked Michael,
the archangel. He had a little confrontation
with him, didn't he? But he wouldn't rebuke him. All right, what's this? A strong
man, Satan, armed. He's armed. You know, the Scripture
tells us to take on ourselves the whole armor of God. What
is the armor of God? Faith, the Word, It's not carnal
weapons, it's not everybody get him a gun, like John said, don't
have to sleep with a gun under your pillow if you got God on
the throne. That's not the weapons he's armed
with. Satan is armed, but I'll tell
you what he's armed with. He's armed with things we love,
things appealing to our flesh. That's his merchant, that's his
weapon. He's armed with the flesh. He
can make good appear bad and bad appear good. He can make
bitter taste sweet and sweet taste bitter. He can. He's armed
with lies. He's armed with pride. He's armed
with beauty. He's armed with the lust of the
flesh. He's armed with deceit. He's armed with religion. He's
armed with a message of righteousness. There he is. He's armed. All those things that appeal
to our old nature, He is an expert in them. He's an expert. He's armed. And watch what it
says. He keeps his palace. What is a palace? A palace is
where a king lives. That's right. Whose servant you
are, he's your Lord. That's what Romans tells us.
The one you serve, that's your Lord. This body, this flesh,
this man, at one time, was the palace of Satan, the king. Christ wasn't my king. Satan
was. Self. He's armed. He's armed with all
these tactical maneuvers, and he keeps his palace, and what's
this? His goods are in peace. People tell me, oh, I tell you
preacher, people are just clamoring for the gospel. I don't believe
that. They're in false religion and they're as comfortable there
as you are in grace. They're in peace. His goods are
in peace. Satan's territory is not in an
upheaval. They're not bucking their king.
They're bowing to him. They're doing his will. They're
walking according to the course of the world. Like it. That's
right. His goods are in peace. This
is a fearful sign. The man without Christ is resting,
peaceful, undisturbed in his state of seeing. Death doesn't
disturb him. Judgment does not confound him. Eternity does not upset him.
His goods, memory, affection, judgment, imagination, he's at
peace. Peace, when there's no peace,
but he's at peace. Turn to Psalm 73. David describes
him. Listen to this, Psalm 73. You know, you have been delivered
out of false religion and false doctrine and into the beauty
and glory of Christ and the precious peace of Christ and the rest
of His blood and His righteousness, and you have loved ones who are
still in false religion, and you think, boy, they're just
dying to hear what I've got to say. No, they aren't either.
They think you're a nut. They really do. They're at peace. They're not upset. Nobody's upset
until the Holy Spirit upsets him. That's right. Listen to Psalm
73, beginning with verse 4. There are no bands in their death.
Their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men. They're not plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth
them as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than their heart
could wish. They're corrupt. They speak wickedly concerning
oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens. Their tongue walking through
the earth. That's the way they are. They're comfortable. Did
you know that? His goods are at peace. The rebel, the unbeliever is
enjoying his life. He laughs loud and long. It's not a heart peace. It's
an outward peace, but it's peace. They have strong delusions and
believe a lie, don't they? It's an ignorant peace. A man
said to a missionary one time, He said to the missionary, he
said, I'm not afraid to die. I'm not interested in your gospel
and your Christ. I'm not afraid to die. And he
meant it. And the missionary looked at
him and got his attention. He said to
the man, he said, do you see that old mule over there in the
field? The man said, yeah. He said, well, you've risen about
as high as that old mule. He's not afraid to die either. So the old mule's not afraid
to die. So it's a dead peace. It's a lifeless peace. It's an
ignorant peace, and it's a superstitious peace. What did Joab do when
Solomon, when, you know, he sided with the wrong people. Joab sided
with the wrong people against Solomon, King Solomon. King Solomon issued a a call to kill him, didn't he?
To kill Joab. You know what Joab did? He ran
to the tabernacle, ran to the temple, and went in and took
hold of the horns of the altar. You remember? And he said, he
won't bother me here. They came in and killed him up
there wrapped around the horns of the altar. So people got a
superstitious piece that, God, I'm in church, I'm in religion,
I've been baptized, You know, he won't hit me with his Bible
in my hand, surely. He won't get me in church. He
won't put his judgment upon me if I've got the Ten Commandments
on my wall, or a picture of Jesus, or old Joab got ahold of the
horns of the altar, and he said he won't bother me here. They
came in with their swords and whopped his head off out there
on the altar. Let it roll over the altar. Let his blood spill
all over it. I'm safe here. No, they think
they are. But now verse 22, I've got to
move on. See, this strong man Satan, armed
with lies and deceit and subtlety, he keeps his palace, he reigns,
his goods are at peace, but God, now that's what I'm talking about,
but, but, when a stronger than he, you name me one person stronger
than he, One person, not Michael, not your preacher, not the Pope,
not a priest, not Mary. You name me one person stronger
than Satan. Just one. You can't name but
one. That's my Lord. That's the only
one that can be met here. But when one stronger than He,
and I guarantee you there's not but one stronger than He. Is
that right, John? Am I telling the truth? Just
one. one in a thousand. I was reading
that today over there in Job. If one in a thousand, if a messenger
can be found one in a thousand, he can say I found a ransom,
set him free. Is that the one? One in a thousand. So the scripture says 999 liars
and one truthful person. 999 false prophets and one true,
that's Christ. Stronger than he shall come upon
him. Come upon him. But I tell you this, salvation
is not a decision, it's Christ coming upon Satan's territory,
coming upon his palace, coming upon him personally, coming upon
him in you, coming upon him and overcoming him. Taking away his armor, taking
away his lies, taking away his subtlety, taking away his his
allies of flesh, revealing the truth, taking away the fear of
Satan and giving faith, taking away that sword of rebellion,
taking away that self-righteous garment, taking away all my decisions
and professions back there that I've been holding to. Paul says,
I count it all but done. Taking it away. One mightier,
stronger than he comes on him. He willed to do it, he purposed
to do it, he decreed to do it, he set out to do it, and he'll
do it. He's going to find his sheep, and he comes upon him,
and he takes away, he takes away, he taketh it away, all his armor
wearing, he trusts it, everything you trust it in, he'll destroy
it. Everything you rest it in, he'll
sweep it out from under you. Everything, your works and deeds
and all these things Satan lied about. He said, if you do this,
God will save you. If you do this, God will take you to heaven.
If you do this, God will have mercy on you. Oh, he takes it
all away. Takes away all his lies and divides his poor. Oh, sovereign Lord, my heart's
subdued. I would be led in triumph too. Drive that old dragon from his
seat with all his hellish crew. Get rid of all of it. Clean. When the Lord comes on a sinner,
He don't patch up an old garment and He doesn't put wine in old
bottles, new wine in old bottles. He takes the whole outfit and
throws it away. That's right. That's what that's saying. Isn't
that what that's saying? Satan, it's his palace and he runs it
with all his subtleties and lies self-righteousness, and all the
decisions you made, and the rededications, and going to the altar, and paying
your tithe, and doing all these things. He's armed you with those
lies, and we've been trying to bribe God with them all these
years, and one stronger than Satan comes and drives him out. He empties the house of Satan,
drives him out, takes away all of his goods and armors, and
spoils his goods. Christ sits on the throne. And
he says in verse 23, he is not with me, one thousand percent
is against me. You see, this house don't rent
any rooms out to Satan. This is the Lord's palace now.
He's the Lord. He comes in and runs. He doesn't
rent out any rooms. He doesn't take in boarders.
That's right. He doesn't leave the... You know,
when God told Abraham, get rid of Ishmael, I bet you a dollar
and a half to a cow and a calf. Abraham said, Lord, why don't
you let O Ishmael just move down there? There's a piece of land
down by the river that he won't bother anybody. He won't bother
a soul. Just let him move down there
and raise his wife and children, and I'll look in on him every
once in a while and make sure he's alright, you know. And after
all, he's been a good boy. No, he said, send him to the
wilderness. Get rid of him. See, the son of the bondwoman
and the son of the free woman can't live on the same property.
When our Lord comes upon this palace ruled by Satan, He's going
to drive out everything and everybody that would rob Christ of His
glory. He's not going to hold on to one thread of that old
garment of self-righteousness. But I just saved one thread so
I can remember what it was. I just hang on to one little
pocket, you know, so I can tell everybody how deceived I was.
No, he's going to wipe her out. I believe it, because he that's
not with me, and what he said, he's against me, and he that
gathers not with me, he divides and scatters. He's going to cause
trouble. He that doesn't bring it all to the feet of Christ,
lay it there, he's going to cause trouble sooner or later. Sooner
or later, if you let him hold on to anything, akin to what
he was, he'll cause trouble. That's conversion. All right,
what about false conversion? Well, he tells you about it here
in verse 24. Now, when the unclean spirit
is gone out of a man, and he wasn't driven out, the strong
one didn't come upon him. There was no conflict, no overthrowing
of his power. He just voluntarily walked out. He just left. The evil spirit,
the unclean spirit left for a season. And the man's reformed now, he's
got religion. The man's religious. No repentance,
no new birth, no conflict, no wrestling, no driving out of
Satan, no defeat of the evil one, just a decision. He made
a decision. Helped by Satan. He said, Satan,
why don't you leave? Satan said, alright, I'll leave.
I'll let you have it for a while. I'll let you clean her up. And
he left. Made you a decision for Jesus.
And he cooperated with you. He'll do that. He's a mean rascal.
He doesn't care how much religion you get as long as you don't
meet Christ. He'd just send you to hell, the religious road,
as the As the rebel wrote, he doesn't care, same destination,
he just went out. No change of ownership here,
same person that he was, he just got religion. So the unclean
spirit went out and he walked around through dry places seeking
rest, finding none. He said, I'll return to my house. It was his house when he was
there, it was his house when he left, it was his house while
he was gone, it's his house now. Isn't that right? He says, it's
my house. Well, this one over here that the Lord came upon,
he took over the ownership. He ran Satan out and he moved
in. See? It's the Lord's house now. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost. But this fellow here made his
decision and Satan said, it's my house. It always has been
my house. And he decided to come back.
Isn't that what it says? And so he came back, and what
did he find? He found it swept and garnished.
Turn to Matthew 12. When Matthew told this story,
he added another word, Matthew 12, 44. He found it, Matthew 12, 44,
you got it? Then he said, I'll return to
my house from whence I came out. And when he came, he found it
empty. Now brethren, this can't be a believer, this can't be
a converted man, because a converted man's not empty, he's filled
with the Spirit of God. If any man had not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. A false religionist, a man who
makes a decision for Jesus on his own, by his own volition,
by his own decision, without the power of God coming upon
him, Satan just cooperates with him. and goes out, but the house
still, it's empty. That's the reason so many religious
people don't have any peace, they're empty. They don't have
any rest, they're empty. They don't have any joy, they're
empty. God's not in there, it's empty. They weren't happy when
they were in the world, they're not happy in the church, they're
empty both places. And Matthew says he found it
empty and he found it swept, not washed. It wasn't washed.
Christ washes his people in the blood. He doesn't whitewash you,
he washes you white. It was swept. I tell you this,
don't ever try to clean a house just sweeping it. You just move
the dirt from one side to the other. You might sweep the floor,
but the dirt's up on the windowsill. You've got to get a bucket of
water. or something and wash it. And Christ doesn't sweep
us clean, he washes us in the blood of the Lamb. And look at
this, he found it garnished. What is the word garnished? He
found it decorated. A fella got him a cross and put
it in his lapel. Got him a Bible about the size
of a wash tub with a cross hanging from it, you know, it won't look
real religious. Went down to Do you know that an art dealer
told Bob Coffey that more religious pictures are sold than all other
pictures in the world? Did you know that? One of them
told Bob, he said, if you'll handle my religious pictures,
I'll make you rich. People are buying them all over
the world. Decorating. See, this fella got religion.
Satan moved. The unclean spirit just walked
out, Charlie. And when he walked out, it was
empty, clean, swept up, you know, and empty and garnished, decorated. They had pictures of Jesus on
the wall and crosses and candles burning, you know. When you don't
have anything in here, you've got to have something outside.
And the less you have in here, the more you've got to have outside.
That's the reason all this waving of the hands. If your hands are
lifted to God in your heart, you don't need to do this. That's
right. That's the reason people are
whooping it up. There's no joy in here. You've
got to have joy somewhere. I'm telling you the truth. The
more you have in your heart, the less chin-dig you have to
have in the flesh. Y'all don't need these windows
turned into pictures all over the windows and candles burning
up here and great big Bibles open here to look religious.
We don't have to make this place look religious. Christ is in
the heart. That stuff's distracting when
Christ is in the heart. It's distracting. You go into
a home for a Bible study and they got crosses and pictures
and candles and all that. That's distracting from the study
of the Word, from the worship of God, is it not? The less of
that you have. This house was empty, swept and
garnished, religion everywhere, slogans. So Satan did this, look
at verse 26. So then goeth Satan and takes
to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they
enter in and dwell there. And the last state of the man
is worse than the first. For a man to get false religion
is the worst thing to happen to him. Somebody said, well, you know,
my cousin, He was a wicked man, and I know he didn't hear the
gospel, but at least he's cleaned up his act, and he's better off.
No, he's not. I know that's hard for you to
understand what I'm saying, but he's not better off. He's got a false
refuge, and he's going to hide in that false refuge, and only
one thing will bring him out, and that's hell, judgment. That's
when God calls him to the judgment. That's when he's going to realize
that he's in the false refuge. And I'll tell you what happens
when he gets tired of this profession, when he gets tired of it. Now,
he may have made his profession under what we call the gospel
of grace. There are people who do that too. They make false
professions here as well as they do anywhere else. He may have
made his false profession under free willism or Catholicism or
Southern Baptist or Nazarene or Independent Baptist or whatever. But he gets tiresome. He gets
wearisome. Something happens. There's a
conflict or a trial. It's like when he sowed the seed
on the rocky ground, it sprang up and the sun came out and the
deceitfulness of riches and all these things and he quit. That's
when Satan brings in those seven demons. And I'll tell you what
the seven demons are. Let me tell you. I'll take just
a few minutes. Let me tell you about this person. who has had
some sort of religious experience, whether under grace or works,
it doesn't matter, whether under truth or error, but he's made
a religious profession, and he's left it, and he's quit. Let me
tell you what he's got. He's got seven demons. The first
one is the demon or spirit of pride. Seven other spirits, and
he's worse off. He's got the spirit of pride.
He's a proud man. And he resents anyone questioning
his spiritual condition. Now you know some people like
this. They've been in the church. They've been leaders in the church.
They've been in religion. And now they don't worship God
anywhere. They don't support, not identified
with the gospel. Don't you talk to them. They don't want you
talking to them. They'll have you know they're alright. They'll
have you know they're alright. There's no way that he will admit
he's a sinner who's missed Christ. He will not admit it. He's too
proud. He's too proud. That's what's
bad about a false profession. John, you've been in this thing
a long time. Is that not true? You meet them all the time. They're
too proud. Too proud. It's impossible to
renew them to repentance. That man that's come and got
a look at it and turned away. Secondly, you've got another
spirit. You've got the spirit of criticism. His condition, he's in a mess. But it leads him not to repent,
not to seek the Lord, not to admit his loss, not to seek Christ,
but it leads him to find fault with people who are faithful. The most critical person in the
world of preachers and churches is the fellow that used to be
a Sunday school superintendent, or used to be a preacher, or
used to be a Sunday school teacher, or used to be something else.
Boy, he's critical. He's critical of people, especially
those faithful to the gospel. He resents their faithfulness,
and so he must tear them down. That's right. And if you talk
to him about where he is, you say, I'm good as so-and-so. I'll
tell you something about him. I knew him back when. That's
right. I know him. It's that devil of
criticism. And then thirdly, they have the
spirit of intellectualism. They learned a little doctrine.
A little knowledge is the worst thing a man can get. A little
bit. He's got a head knowledge of
some doctrine. He knows the five points. Or he's memorized some
scripture and he's a theologian without heart. He never found
Christ, but he found the doctrine. And he enjoys talking about doctrine,
he enjoys talking about church history, he enjoys a religious
discussion, but don't talk to him about repentance toward God
and faith in Jesus Christ and identification with the gospel.
He'll talk to you about church, because he thinks he's a pretty
good authority on it. Got it up here. That's that demon. Satan is subtle. I know what
I'm talking about. He's got a fourth demon and that's
the spirit of covetousness. You see, he's usually fairly
successful in what he's doing now. God will let him prosper. Send him strong delusions. You
say a man who has a false religious profession and quits it, God
will punish him. No, He won't. He'll bless the
tire out of him. That's right. You'll send him
strong delusions, you'll believe a lie and be damned for it. Read
it in Thessalonians. They receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. Wherefore God will send
them strong delusions. What he puts his hand to will
prosper. He's got more than he ever had. Fairly successful in what he
does now, unusually prosperous, and he loves to show you what
he has. He loves to brag about it. He
loves to tell you what he knows. In fact, you won't get many words
in around him. He talks a lot. He's proud of what he knows and
what he has and what fun he's having. That's right. He's a prosperous man. He doesn't
need your Jesus. That's right. That's the demon.
I'll tell you the fifth demon is that spirit of self-justification.
Most everyone has a reason for what they are and where they
are. I got a reason for being where
I am right now. I love this book. I love this
Savior. I love this gospel. I love you.
I got a reason for being here. Who was it said here the other
night? Charlie Pennington, I believe it was, the one who said, I'd
rather be here than anywhere in this world. Somebody said
that the other time. You've got a reason for being
where you are. You believe Jesus Christ died for you, don't you?
You believe he loved you before you loved him, and gave you his
life, and gave you a righteousness, and you're not here out of duty,
you're not working your way to heaven, are you? You're here
because you love him. And that fellow has a reason
for where he is. Somebody offended him. That justifies
him. Somebody made him mad. And that
justifies him. And he tells it over and over
again. He'll tell you. If you hang around him long enough,
he'll tell you why he's not in the church. He'll tell you why
he's not following Christ. He'll tell you why. And he's
going to justify himself. That's that devil. And he's happy
with that reason, too. Oh, he's got a lot of reasons.
Christ said, you're they that justify yourselves before men.
You're out here, out in left field somewhere, And somebody
asks you why, and you tell them why. You justify yourself before
me, and that man goes away satisfied with your reason. God ain't satisfied
with it. He said, God looks on your heart.
And what is highly esteemed among men is abomination to God. Your
reasons are an abomination. There's no reason for any man
to be outside of Christ. There is no self-judgment. If
I justify myself, Job said, my own mouth, the damned thing. If I justify my failure to pray
like I ought to, my own mouth would damn me. If I justify my
reasons for not studying like I ought to, my own mouth would
condemn me. I can't justify anything I do. Can you? Not anything. I've got to be justified by Christ.
One thousand percent by Christ. But that man justifies himself
or that woman. And I leave them alone. I leave them alone. That's what
our Lord said about the Pharisees. I'm not going to leave a sinner
alone. I'm looking for sinners. I'll crowd him. I'll try to crowd
him to Christ. But if a man starts talking about
what he is and what he has and what he knows, I'll move on down
the road. Because I'm looking for somebody
that knows nothing, has nothing, can do nothing. If I ever find
one, I'm going to tell him who did everything. That's right. These are demons. And the last
one, or sixth one, is the spirit of a false peace. Lord, we cast out devils in your
name, did many wonderful works. A false peace. And then the seventh one is a
gospel-hardened spirit. Turn to 2 Peter. I'll quit with
this. 2 Peter, chapter 2.

True and False Conversion

What does the Bible say about true and false conversions?

Why is understanding true conversion important for Christians?

How do we know if our conversion is genuine?

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True and False Conversion

What does the Bible say about true and false conversions?

Why is understanding true conversion important for Christians?

How do we know if our conversion is genuine?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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