"Be Converted!"


TEXT: Acts 3:19 "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;"

 

INTRODUCTION--
  • The secular world concerns itself with temporal goals; riches, power, pleasure.
  • In imitation of the world, religious bodies busy themselves with "secondary" and vain goals--
    1. Ceremony and showmanship (going one-up on competitors).
    2. Social Reform and civil rights (some of these have a moral base).
    3. The bottom line is money (elaborate buildings, gymnasiums, etc.)
  • The church of our Lord has one main concern--the conversion of sinners. Ephesians 3:8-11 "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which for ages hath been hid in God who created all things; 10 to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:"
    1. God's eternal purpose in Christ is the salvation of sinners. 2 Timothy 1:8-9 "Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God; 9 who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal."
    2. Conversion, then, is the main goal of the church.
      1. The conversion of sinners who have never known the Lord.
      2. The conversion of those who believe in God, but have never been obedient to the Gospel of Christ in its fullness.
      3. The conversion of half-converted Christians, who need to see the importance of faithful service to Christ.
  • What is conversion? (It is best to go to the definition of Greek words.)
    1. strefw (strepho) is the base word, and is illustrated in....
      1. Matthew 27:3, "Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders..."
      2. John 12:40, "He hath blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart; Lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, And should turn, And I should heal them."
      3. Acts 7:42, "But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven...." (The KJV here also uses the English word "turned.")
    2. epistrefw (epistrepho) carries the idea of a "return," as in....
      1. Luke 8:55, "(To an apparently dead maiden, Jesus said, Arise), And her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately: and he commanded that something be given her to eat."
      2. Acts 15:36, "And after some days Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city wherein we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they fare."
      3. Luke 22:32, "(In a prayer for Peter, Jesus said) I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren."
  • FROM what should we TURN?
    1. From "vain things," Acts 14:15 "(Paul and Barnabas, to men about to worship them) Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain things unto a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is:" (Compare 1 Peter 1:18 "....ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers.")
    2. From "Idols." 1 Thessalonians 1:9 ".....ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God." (Remember, abstract things can also become idols, like covetousness, Colossians 3:5.)
    3. From "error." James 5:19-20 "My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins."
    4. From "darkness and the power of Satan." Acts 26:18 "(Jesus sent Paul to the Gentiles) to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me."
      1. This passage not only speaks of what we must turn from, but what we must turn toward....
      2. Let us see some other passages that have this theme.
  • TO what shall we return?
    1. To the innocence, humility, and spiritual receptiveness of little children. Matthew 18:1-4 "In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
    2. To the remission of sins, and "seasons of refreshing." Acts 3:19 "Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."
    3. To God, and the godly actions that accompany it. Luke 1:16-17 "(Speaking of the mission of John the Baptist) And many.....shall be turn unto the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him."

       

  • In order to RETURN to the Lord and His way, a turn in the wrong direction had to precede it. The same Greek words are used to show this wrong turn.
    1. Galatians 4:9 ".....but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?"
    2. 2 Peter 2:20-21 "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them."
    3. Acts 7:39 (Stephen said) "......our fathers would not be obedient (to Moses), but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt,"

       

      APPEAL-- There should be no yearning to turn back to Egypt, once we have escaped the bondage of slavery. The essence of conversion is seen in Paul's letter to the Romans. Romans 6:17-18 "But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; 18 and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness."