Conversion To God

Conversion To God

CONVERSION TO GOD.
By W. D. CAMPBELL
Conversion is a Bible theme; it has to do with our peace of mind here, and our eternal peace and happiness in the life to come: It is a most important subject: We want to be sure, that we make no mistake about it, for our sal­vation from sin depends upon whether we are converted to God or not: Jesus said ''Except ye are converted, and become as little children ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven": Those who are converted are in the Kingdom of God's dear Son, and saved; and those who are not are lost: You may consider this an uncharitable statement. But Jesus taught it. Conversion means a turning, conver­sion to God a turning to God; implying certain changes of which I shall speak: Not every turning is a conversion in the Bible sense; man may turn many times, from one religious position to another, from one denomination to another without becoming a convert to Christ in a New Testament sense: Paul said of the Thessalonians, "Ye turned to God, from idols to serve the living and true God": There was a previous life turned from—and a new course of life turned to: In conversion the true convert has turned from wrong things, and is busy doing what God has commanded: Conversion then, is the turning of the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, head, heart and lift- to God, as his word directs.

Let me at this point, quote these inspired words, and place them at the head of my address on "Conversion to God". "Brethren, if any of you, do err from the truth, and one convert 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." Jesus said to Peter: "When thou art converted strengthen the brethren." David by the spirit of God wrote: "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul". Again we read of Paul and Barnabas "being brought on their way by the Church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles". Here are five words, which stand out, and are full of meaning: convert, converted, converteth, converting, conversion: Convert is the primitive or first word and it means to turn, and all the other words grow out of it. ft therefore controls the meaning of the others. Converted, describes an action, or process as completed, and past. Converting, an action in process of completion. Converteth, the agency by which the work is done, and conversion describes the work when it is finished. There is of course, a divine and human side to the work: A part which God does in turning man kind, and a part, which the man himself must do. The divine side is perfect, and finished: Man now must do the turning himself, and not wait for some mysterious power to turn him. Mark you, man is not a mere machine to be turned; but as a sovereign over his own will, God appeals to him to turn: '"Turn ye, turn ye, for why-will you die." Such language puts all the responsibility on man—God has given to man the power to turn, and has provided all the means, and has given all the divine motives necessary to induce him to turn: Indeed the idea is set forth clearly in the chapter which has been read as our lesson, that is in the R. V. : "Repent and turn again that your sins may be blotted out".

Let me say to you my friends, that it is a grand thing to be a man or woman, even a lost, and ruined man or woman; for it is possible by God's grace, and mercy, that we can turn to God, be brought back into his favor, his fellowship and family in this life, and in the world to come, vet nearer to the throne, and sing a song that angels can never sing: The song of redemption unto him, that loved us, and washed us in his own blood. Angels never were redeemed, they never can sing this song; but the redeemed sons and daughters of men, shall be permitted to sing this song of triumphant praise in the coming crown­ing day—What do we know of this earth life? We know that there are good men and women here. This earth would not stand if it were not for the good that is in it; the good people of earth are the salt, which preserves the world from general corruption. But while we have good people about us, there are many had people here, men and women not tit for the society of earth, to say nothing about the society of heaven. This we know. Now what do we know about heaven? Only the good and pure go there, nothing that is sinful and defiled entereth there. Then it follows, that before we can go from this sinful world, to that sinless summer land, the home of God and angels, we must he changed, and that change in the Bible is called conversion. I have no sympathy for that mild form of infidelity called Universalism, which teaches that every­body will he saved. It is unreasonable to think that the blasphemous Ingersol will ever stand side by side with the Christian Paul in the Kingdom of My Father, or that the profane Tom Paine will he seated with the loving John in the New Jerusalem. No, my friends, before we can go from earth to heaven, we must lie changed, made meet for heavenly society; without this preparation, we would not he happy there, even if permitted to enter the city of God.

We have already learned, that conversion means a turning. "Convert" is really a Latin word in English dress. The root part of the word is "vert'', and it means turn, as may he seen in the following words: "advert", to turn to; "revert", to turn back—"subvert" to turn under or upside down; "pervert", to turn in the wrong direc­tion; "convert", the prefix "con", denotes company, together with; thus we have the idea of turning in company with some one. A stranger traveling along a road, asks some one, whom he meets, the way to a certain place, he is told that he is going the wrong way. you must turn and go with me, replies the man, and I will take you to your destination, as I am going there—the stranger turns and goes along with his newly-found guide. This is a physical conver­sion according to the primary meaning of the word convert. It is a turning round to go in company with another. Here is a sinful, hut honest man, who meets Jesus of Nazareth in his word on the highway of life; he is going the down­ward way to ruin. Jesus says, will you not turn and go with me heavenward, and Godward, and the love of Christ constrains him, wins him, and he turns in company with Jesus, from his old life of sin, to walk in newness of life— It is a conversion to God. Jesus said: "No man cometh unto the Father but by me". And I say to you, that a man is known by the company he keeps; you can not keep the company of Jesus, and his apostles, and the pure and good of earth very long, without the world knowing it, for you become epistles known and read of all men. The sweet peace of God will shine in your face. The theory that conversion is an instantaneous act performed for you, by a direct power from above is not taught in the Sacred Text. That is, that God converts men by some mysterious operation of the Holy Spirit; that the sinful man is passive, and must wait, until God by his Spirit regenerates the heart, before he can turn—I say to you my friends this teaching is not from God. Where do you read anything like it in his word? If this theory is true, why is it, that in a heathen land where the Bible has never gone, where the gospel has never been pro­claimed, the sweet story of a Saviour's love never told, I ask why are there no conversions to God, why, my friends? If God ever converts men by a direct operation of the Holy Spirit, you would think that the heathen land without the Bible would be the place for him to do it. But where the word of God has not gone, conversions to God have not taken place. Again, if God converts one man by some direct, immediate working of the divine spirit upon his heart, and the man beside him is not converted, because the Spirit has not operated upon him would not that make God a respecter of persons; and this good Book says: "God is no respecter of persons." Once more Jesus said of the Holy Spirit: "Whom the world cannot receive''—this should be final with all that believe the Lord Jesus. Now do not for a moment think that I am teaching, that the Holy Spirit has nothing to do in man's conversion. There never was a conversion to God, and never will be without the Spirit's work. The Holy Spirit will do his work in the conversion of a sinful man, whether we understand just lour he does it or not. Just as God sends the rain upon the just and the unjust, whether we understand the theory of the rainfall or not—there can be no failure on the divine side. God and Christ have done their part in making man's conversion possible. The Holy Spirit has done, and is now doing his work in the conversion of men and women. It now remains for man to do his part in turn­ing to God. He is responsible for his own conversion.

Conversion then is a process; in which certain changes take place. By way of illustration: Bread making is a process. We first have the wheat in its natural state, converted into flour. The good housewife converts the flour into dough, but it is not fit for use; the dough is put into the oven, and baked, and it is then fit for the table. Can you not see how bread making can be just half completed. The wheat can be converted into flour, and the flour into dough, and if you stop there, you have not the completed product. In the light of New Testament teaching, no conversion is complete until the individual is in Christ Jesus. "There is therefore no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit". To this I am sure you will agree. In every conversion to God there are three distinct changes; through which we pass. Converted or changed in heart, changed in life, and changed in state of relation. And many an honest, sincere man has been converted in heart and life, and left there; has never been changed in his state or relation, because he has not been properly taught at that point: His conversion is incomplete—He needs to be taught the way of God more perfectly; If we can learn from the Sacred Test, how man went away from God, we can know beyond the possibility of a doubt, how a man can turn again to God. In Eden's fair garden, man stood perfect before his Maker. The first bad preacher of which we have any knowledge approached him. He knew that God made man like himself a thinking reasoning being. He talked to the first man, reasoned with him, and filled his mind with unbelief, persuaded him to disbelieve God; to revolve to do what God said he must not do, and to disobey God. These were the downward steps taken and as a result man stood a sinner, subject to sorrow covered with shame, and exposed to death. Now if unbelief in the heart, a resolve to go away from God, or repentance from God, and disobedience to God ruined man: Then I submit to you that faith in the heart repent ance, and obedience to God are the steps a man must take to turn again or turn back to God. In conversion the Lord begins with the heart. He changes the heart. If the heart is made right, we may reasonably expect every other change to follow: But if the heart is wrong, everything is wrong, and our religious pretentions amount to nothing. But what is the heart? "The hidden man of the heart", the Bible heart. It is that part of man, that thinks, and reasons, and loves. All mental qualities are attributed to the heart. Paul said "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness", and Jesus said: "Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts"; again "Why reason ye these things in your hearts". It is recorded of Absalom, David's son, that he stood in the gateway, and as the people came un for judgment, he met them with fair speeches, and said: "Oh, that I were made judge in the land; what would I not do for you." and he kissed them. The inspired writer said, "So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel." What did he steal? their affection and confidence. We now understand the inspired statement, " My son give me thine heart'". In God's own divine arrangement he has appointed faith to change the heart. The Apostle Peter said: "God put no difference between us and them (i. e., Jew and Gentile) purifying their hearts by faith". Faith is a mighty factor, it accomplishes great things. It changes a man's mind, views, feelings. Should a stranger move in next door to you—you receive a letter from your friends, who have known him, and who say that you have made a favorable impression upon your next door neighbor, that he is kindly disposed toward you, and would like to be neighborly with you. As you believe the testimony of your friends concerning the stranger, you feel a wonderful change coming over you. Your heart warms up to the stranger, and you say to him I am glad to have you as a neighbor, and to be on friendly terms with you—we are strangers no longer—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have given us testimony concerning the heavenly stranger who has come into the world, lived for us, loved us, died for us—Do you believe the testimony given? If you do. how can you fail to love supremely the Saviour of men; and give to him the allegiance of your heart. To further illustrate the change of heart, let us suppose, that a wealthy man, and a successful man of the world, a man who has given his whole thought to the things of the world; and has given no thought to the things of the Kingdom of God; A man who has amassed great wealth and intends to leave it all to his only son, a bright little lad. The rich father has planned for his boy; he intends to put him through the high school, send him to some university, give him every advantage, and then leave him everything. Let him begin life, where the wealthy father leaves it. Sud­denly sickness comes, the little fellow is dangerously ill. The rich man says to the physician, do all you can for my boy—but the Doctor says, "I fear that no human power or skill can save him". The father remains by the bedside until he closes the eyes of the little sufferer. His heart is breaking in his great sorrow; his whole life was bound up in that little fellow—now serious thoughts come to him a little casket, a grave, some preacher to conduct a service— these things must be attended to. In the service the preacher quotes the words of Jesus—"What is a man pro­fited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" When the little body is laid in the quiet resting place for the dead: that man returns to his home: he feels a strange emptiness there; his heart aches; every thing seems so still: He says to his wife, I wonder where that passage is that the preacher quoted; after a long search they find it, and through their tears they read '"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul"; and he says, "Mother, this is what I have been doing, in my eagerness to get the things of the world; I have been neglecting my soul. The next Lord's Day, he and his wife go to the church house and among other things he hears these words: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." Again he remarks to his wife, that he feared, that he had been working for just such wages. He now approaches Christian men, in whom he has confidence, and asks for help to read his Bible aright: wants them to tell him what they know about the place to which his precious child had gone,—and the way there, what he must do to go there: My friends, a wonderful change is taking place in this man's heart. Some of his former worldly friends ask him if he will attend the races the following week. He had always attended them. But he says no I will not he there; when asked if he and his wife would be at the coming ball. He firmly answers no, we will not be there; and further explains, my mind has undergone a wonderful change in the past few months; ever since I laid the mortal body of my darling boy in the grave. I have been thinking about things of greater moment to me. I want to live so that I can go to my little boy. The things I used to enjoy, have no charm for me now. If this man would stand up and relate this ex­perience and give it as "a testimony"; he would be re­ceived as soundly converted by about nine-tenths of the churches in the land, to-day; and yet he would not be converted in the New Testament sense; he would only be in the fair way to conversion; he would be converted in heart, to be followed by a conversion of life.

Now God has appointed repentance to convert or change the life; Jesus said "except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish". Without repentance there is no salva­tion for the human soul. Paul said "Godly sorrow work- eth repentance unto salvation". And the Harbinger of Jesus said to the Pharisees and Sadducees "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." That is show by your changed lives that you have repented. It follows that repentance takes place between sorrow for sin on one side, and a reformation of life on the other. It is the change of that stubborn will of ours; which is the seat of all rebellion and disobedience to God. This is why it is hard for men and women to repent. It is hard for the human will to give up, and acknowledge wrong. Now repentance has to do with the life; the future life. It says I am sorry for the past life of sin and wrong. God helping me I am going to change my life for the better: I am going to cease doing wrong; and live right. Repent ance cannot change the past; if we were to weep tears of blood we could not change the past; when we do a wrong thing, it remains done so far as we are concerned, and when we say an unkind thing, it remains said. We cannot change it; God in his mercy does that for us when he forgives. A little boy explains repentance by saying my father used to come home every night drunk and abuse my mother—but one night he came home sober; he put his arms about mother and said: "I am so sorry that I have been cruel to you and treated you as I have done in the past, I shall never drink again; and he has not, I guess he has repented." In conversion there is one more change—a change of state: A change of state or relation is effected not by faith, not by good intentions, not by repentance, but by an act of faith, which the Lord himself has or­dained. You cannot by believing, no matter how strongly you believe, believe yourself into a new relation. In be­coming a Christian the whole man is changed, body, soul, and spirit, heart, life, and relation. Thus the believing penitent takes upon himself new relations and obligations, lie must have some formal way of doing this; some overt act appointed by the Law Giver. It takes a constitutional act to change relation, or state. This is seen in the case of marriage and naturalization. In every true marriage contract, there are three distinct changes, heart, life, slate. Here is a young man worth a million, who meets a girl in very moderate circumstances; her handsome face, pure, sweet spirit, and winsome manner attract the young mil­lionaire; their mutual faith in each other changes their hearts. They love each other; their purpose to be one in life to share each other's joys and bear each other's sorrows changes their life toward each other; but it takes a marriage ceremony, a certain form appointed by law to change their relation. If one hour before the marriage ceremony is performed, he suddenly drops dead; notwith­standing the fact that the young couple had been changed in heart, and life; it would leave the young woman in poverty. But, if he would drop dead an hour after the marriage ceremony had been performed, the law of the state would give her a third of a million, and why? Did that ceremony cause them to love each other more—cer- tainly not. It changed their relation. It made her a bride. She put on his name—there is something in a ceremony, a mere form. Now in conversion we become the bride of Christ. The Lamb's wife: We are married to Christ.

Faith changes the heart; repentance the life; the Lord has made Christian baptism the marriage ceremony; the insti­tution by which the believing penitent puts on Christ. Paul said: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ—have put on Christ." Baptism has nothing to do with the heart or life, but it is the divinely appointed means to change the state, because God so arranged it. It is the consummating act in coming into Christ, and you have agreed already with me, that no conversion is com­plete, until the individual is in Christ Jesus. The author of the "Bonnie Brier Bush", Enon McLearn, a Presby­terian minister said, as recorded in one of his latest works: "The Mind of the Master": "In baptism the candidate for God's Kingdom disappears into water, and appears again with another name". Mr. Watson has set forth in a few words most clearly the purpose of baptism in con- version—the change of heart may be the work of weeks or months, but the change of state is the work of a moment. This is seen in the official oath, which the successful candi­date to the Presidency of this great nation is required to take on the fourth day of March.—On the inauguration day at Washington the elected candidate stands before the Supreme Justice, and in the presence of the people, just a man among men, without any authority. But when he takes the official oath, his relationship to the people is changed: He stands clothed with the authority of a President; now the official oath will not make him a good President, if he has not the qualifications of head, and heart, and life before taking the oath of office. The oath will not give them to him. But if qualified, the oath changes his relation and makes him a President in authority.

Now I think we understand. Unless a person is converted —changed in heart and life, a believing penitent person, baptism will do no good—but if the heart is purified by faith, and the life changed by repentance, baptism will change the relation, and it is in this sense that an inspired apostle said: "Baptism doth also save us". It is the in­stitution by which we put on Christ. The believing peni­tent alien takes the oath of allegiance to the Prince of the Kings of the earth in his baptism, when the divine sublime names of God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit are called upon him—This being true, it follows that it is possible to be converted in heart and life, and remain un­changed in state or relation; we should make sure that we are converted all round; that we are in Christ Jesus accord­ing to his law. Much confusion exists on the subject of a change of heart. So much mystery has been connected with it, that many good people are in doubt whether they have ever experienced this change. At the close of one of Knowles Shaw's meetings, an intelligent man, who was under conviction, approached the preacher and said: "If I had the assurance, that I have had a proper change of heart I would become a Christian". Bro. Shaw at once understood his case, and asked him if he believed in God and Christ. And he answered Yes. Well said the preacher, that part of your heart which believes is all right, you do not want it changed, for then you would not believe in (rod and his peerless Son. "For with the heart man be- lieveth unto righteousness", said an inspired apostle. The man saw the point and agreed that it was well taken. He then asked him if he loved God and the dear Saviour, and the man replied that if he knew his own mind be­loved Jesus supremely. The preacher said, can you not see that you do not want that part of your heart, that loves; your affections changed, for, then you would not love the Saviour who died for you. The change of heart is simple, beautifully simple. Should a mother see her little child going around the room with a dangerous knife in her hands, she would not run after the child, that might prove very serious. The mother knows the power of a motive—she picks up an apple or an orange and says: "Baby, see what Mama has, baby give mama that ugly knife, and mother will give baby the orange." See how soon the little chubby bands go out—the baby cannot hold the knife and orange too, as she takes the orange, she lets go the knife. Jesus is better, lovelier than sin; as we take Jesus in the heart by faith, sin goes out, and the more completely we enthrone the Saviour in our heart, the purer the heart becomes: "Faith that worketh by love" purifieth the heart. No better Saviour, than Jesus will ever be offered to you. He is God's last gift to the world. He loved you, died for you; he still loves you, and his sweet voice comes down the centuries, pleading with you dear friends to believe, love, confess, and obey him, and make him the Lord of your heart and life: Who will do the noble thing of making a surrender to a Saviour like Jesus of Nazareth.

"Let youth in its freshness, and bloom come,
Let man in the pride of his noon come,
Let age on the verge of the tomb come,
Let none in his pride stay away."

You cannot afford to stay away. Christ can get along without you, or me: But we cannot get along with­out Him—We need just such a Saviour to help us in life's journey, and to sustain us when we are called upon to pass through the valley of the shadow of death.