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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Is Conversion Necessary (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: Section 2 of 4
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We prove this point by reminding you, first, that everywhere in Scripture men are divided into two classes, with a very sharp line of distinction between them. Read in the gospels, and you shall find continual mention of sheep lost and sheep found, guests refusing the invitation and guests feasting at the table, the wise virgins and the foolish, the sheep and the goats. In the epistles we read of those who are "dead in trespasses and sin," and of others to whom it is said, "And you hath he quickened"; so that some are alive to God, and others are in their natural state of spiritual death. We find men spoken of as being either in darkness or in light, and the phrase is used of "being brought out of darkness into marvelous light." Some are spoken of as having been formerly aliens and strangers, and having been made fellow-citizens and brethren. We read of "children of God," in opposition to "children of wrath." We read of believers who are not condemned, and of those who are condemned already because they have not believed. We read of those who have "gone astray," and of those who have "returned to the shepherd and bishop of their souls." We read of those who are "in the flesh and cannot please God," and of those who are chosen and called and justified, whom the whole universe is challenged to condemn. The apostle speaks of "us who are saved," as if there were some saved while upon others "the wrath of God abideth." "Enemies" are continually placed in contrast with those who are "reconciled to God by the death of his Son." There are those that are "far off from God by wicked works," and those who are "made nigh by the blood of Christ." I could continue till I wearied you. The distinction between the two classes runs through the whole of the Scriptures, and never do we find a hint that there are some who are naturally good, and do not need to be removed from the one class into the other, or that there are persons between the two who can afford to remain as they are. No, there must be a divine work, making us new creatures, and causing all things to become new with us, or we shall die in our sins.
The word of God, besides so continually describing two classes, very frequently and in forcible expressions speaks of an inward change by which men are brought from one state into the other. I hope I shall not weary you if I refer to a considerable number of scriptures, but it is best to go to the fountain-head at once. This change is often described as a birth. See the third chapter of the gospel of John, which is wonderfully clear and to the point, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." This birth is not a birth by baptism, for it is spoken of as accompanied by an intelligent faith which receives the Lord Jesus. Turn to John i. 12, 13, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." So that believers are "born again," and receive Christ through faith: a regeneration imparted in infancy and lying dormant in unbelievers is a fiction unknown to Holy Scripture. In the third of John our Lord associates faith and regeneration in the closest manner, declaring not only that we must be born again, but also that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. We must undergo a change quite as great as if we could return to our native nothingness and could then come forth fresh from the hand of the Great Creator. John tells us, in his first epistle, v. 4, that "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world," and he adds, to show that the new birth and faith go together, "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." To the same effect is 1 John v. 1, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Where there is true faith, there is the new birth, and that term implies a change beyond measure complete, and radical.
In other places this change is described as a quickening. "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Eph. ii. 1.) We are said to be raised from the dead together with Christ, and this is spoken of as being a very wonderful display of omnipotence. We read (Eph. i. 19) of "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." Regeneration is a very prodigy of divine strength, and by no means a mere figment fabled to accompany a religious ceremony.
We find this change frequently described as a creation, as, for instance, in our text, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" and this also is no mere formality, or an attendant upon a rite, for we read in Galatians vi. 15, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." No outward rites, though ordained of God Himself, effect any change upon the heart of man, there must be a creating over again of the entire nature by the divine hand; we must be "created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Eph. ii. 10), and we must have in us "the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Eph. iv. 24.) What a wonderful change that must be which is first described as a birth, then as a resurrection from the dead, and then as an absolute creation.
Paul, in Colossians i. 13, further speaks of God the Father, and says, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." John calls it a "passing from death unto life" (1 John iii. 14), no doubt having in his mind that glorious declaration of his Lord and Master: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John v. 24.)
Once more, as if to go to the extremity of forcible expression, Peter speaks of our conversion and regeneration as our being "begotten again." Hear the passage (1 Peter i. 3), "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." To the same purport speaks the apostle James in his first chapter, at the eighteenth verse: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."
My dear friends, can you conceive of any language more plainly descriptive of a most solemn change? If it be possible with the human tongue to describe a change which is total, thorough, complete, and divine, these words do describe it; and if such a change be not intended by the language here used by the Holy Spirit, then I am unable to find any meaning in the Bible, and its words are rather meant to bewilder than to instruct, which God forbid we should think. My appeal is to you who try to be contented without regeneration and conversion. I beseech you, do not be satisfied, for you never can be in Christ unless old things are passed away with you, and all things become new.
Further, the Scriptures speak of this great inner work as producing a very wonderful change in the subject of it. Regeneration and conversion, the one the secret cause, and the other the first overt effect, produce a great change in the character. Read Romans vi. 17, "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Again at verse 22, "Now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Mark well the description the apostle gives in Colossians iii. 9, when, having described the old nature and its sins, he says, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man." The Book swarms with proof texts. The change of character in the converted man is so great, that "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Gal. v. 24.)
And as there is a change in character, so there is a change in feeling. The man had been an enemy to God before, but when this change takes place he begins to love God. Read Colossians i. 21, "And you, that were some time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight."