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True and
False Conversion
Tonight I want, by the grace of God, to share with you a teaching
called “True and False Conversion.” A
very sobering teaching, and a teaching that I believe is most
necessary within the contemporary church.
I have a teaching called “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” which deals with
the use of the Law in evangelism. In
fact, God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, was the essence of the gospel
proclamation of Wesley, Moody,
Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, all these men that God so greatly used.
They said that if you don’t use the
Law, you’ll almost certainly lead to false conversions.
I was reading in the American Horizons magazine, which is the
official magazine of a very large, or a
major, denomination of the United States which has 11,500 churches
throughout the US - in 1991, their
first year of what they called “the decade of harvest,” they got
294,000 decisions for Christ. They found
that only 14,000 remained in fellowship. That is, they couldn’t
account for 279,000 of their decisions for
Jesus. And this is normal modern evangelical statistics when it
comes to crusades and local churches.
Many converts don’t fall away. They get followed up and squeezed
into a local church where they’re
surrounded by a good social life, and they stay within the church
given assurance they’re saved when
there is no grounds for their salvation, because they do not have
the things that accompany salvation.
Now this has happened, this great tragedy has happened, simply
because we haven’t followed the Biblical
example and preach law to the proud and grace to the humble. Always,
when you see Jesus approach a
proud arrogant self-righteous person with the gospel, He gave law
before grace. Always. With the law
He broke the hard heart, with the gospel He healed the broken heart.
Why did He do that? Because He always did those things that were
pleasing in the Father’s sight. God
resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
We see this so often in Scripture, where Jesus resists the proud and
gives grace to the humble. The rich
young ruler, the arrogant self-righteous lawyer that stood up and
tempted Jesus. Both times, Jesus gave
the Law. He gave the Ten Commandments. When ones came with humility
with a knowledge of sin by
the Law, that is Godly Jews, he gave grace.
Paul says in Romans 7:7, “I had not known sin but by the Law.”
Charles Finney said, “Evermore the Law
must prepare the way for the gospel.” Now Finney had an 80%
retention rate. He said, “Evermore the
Law must prepare the way for the gospel. To overlook this in
instructing souls is almost certain to result
in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian
experience, and to fill the church with false
converts.” And then he said, “Time will make this plain.”
John Wesley said of those who failed to use God’s Law in evangelism,
“All this proceeds from the
deepest ignorance of the nature of the properties and of the use of
the Law, and proves that those who act
thus either know not Christ, or are the strangers to living faith,
or at least they’re but babes in Christ, and
as such unskilled in the Word of righteousness.”
Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, which is the book
which speaks of freedom from God’s
law, spoke of a sect that rose up in his day with a Satanic
doctrine. Listen to what that doctrine was. He
said, “Satan, the god of all dissention, stirs up daily new sects.
And last of all, which I should never have
foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach
that the Ten Commandments ought to be
taken out of the church, and that men should not be terrified by the
Law, but gently exhorted by preaching
the grace of Christ.”
He said that’s a sect, a new sect that’s risen up, a satanic
subtlety and one I thought would never ever
come. He was aghast at the thought that men would not use the Law
but instead they would gently exhort
one to come to Christ, preaching grace alone, which is the perfect
summation of the methods of modern
evangelism.
Charles Spurgeon said, “They will never accept grace until they
tremble before a just and holy Law.”
George Whitfield said, “That is the reason we have so many mushroom
converts.” That is, ones that
spring up overnight and disappear because their stony ground is not
plowed up. They’ve not got the
conviction of the Law. They are “stony ground hearers” or “false
conversions.”
Now with those thoughts, by way of reduction, let’s look at Romans
7:4. “Wherefore my brethren you
are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ; that you should be
married to another, even Him who
is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
In the book Hell’s Best Kept Secret, we give an illustration of a
speedster who drove through a town at a
dangerous speed of 120 mph. He was drunk, there was no law against
speeding, so the town council
gathered and passed a law stating that 60 mph was the maximum speed,
and any transgressors would be
fined $100 for every mph over the speed limit. The speedster comes
back. He’s apprehended by the law.
He stands in front of the judge, who was his own father, the town’s
only judge. He was proclaimed
guilty. He had no money, no words of defense, he couldn’t raise the
money for the $6000 fine, so he was
thrust into prison. As he waited in prison, his father arrived,
opened the door and told his son that he had
sold all his goods to raise the $6000, he paid the fine himself, and
that he was free to go.
Now, after such a display of love, such sacrifice on behalf of the
father, what would the son’s attitude be
to the law? Well, firstly, the law has been satisfied. As soon as
the fine was paid, he was free to go. He
could smile at the law. The judge could say, “you’re free.” The law
had no demand on him whatsoever
because of the sacrifice and payment of the father. The law was
satisfied.
And what’s his reaction to the father? What is his attitude? Well,
he’s filled with gratitude at such
sacrifice and a brokenness that his father would do such a thing for
him despite his transgression. And
now he lives in honor of the father. He wants to live for the
father’s will.
Listen to the attitude of a believer to the Law. Romans 7:4 again,
“Wherefore my brethren you also are
become dead to the Law by the body of Christ.” There was the
father’s sacrifice. That’s what appeased
God’s Law. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made
a curse for us.” “You are
become dead to the Law by the body of Christ.” The Law has no demand
upon the believer. “There is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh but after the Spirit.” “That
you should be married to another, even Him who is raised from the
dead, that you should bring forth fruit
unto God.”
So the true believer brings forth the fruit of a new lifestyle, a
lifestyle that is pleasing in the sight of
Almighty God. If we are rooted and grounded in Christ, it should be
evident. Jesus said, “I am the vine,
you are the branches. He that abides in Me and I in him, the same
brings forth much fruit.” Colossians 1,
speaking of the gospel, says “the gospel brings forth fruit in the
believer.”
Okay, what does the Bible mean when it speaks of fruit?
Specifically? Well, #1, the fruit of repentance
(Matthew 3:8). Zacchaeus had “more than tears.” He said, “Behold,
Lord, if I’ve wronged anyone I’ll
pay him back fourfold. I’ll give half my goods to the poor.” He knew
God’s Law. He was a Godly Jew.
That’s what brought him to Christ. It was the schoolmaster to bring
him to Christ as a Godly Jew,
knowing God’s Law. Or should I say, “a Jew that was humbled by the
Law.” He said, “Behold, Lord, if
I’ve wronged anyone I’ll pay back fourfold,” which is what the Law
demanded.
I remember reading some years ago about a store that said in a
newspaper they found a brown paper bag
outside their door on a Monday morning. They opened it up and there
was a pair of pants and a note that
said, “I stole these from you on Friday, became a Christian on
Sunday. Here’s the pants Monday. I’m
sorry.” That’s fruit of repentance.
Secondly, the fruit of good works. John Wesley said, it was
Colossians 1:10, John Wesley said, “Do all
the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can, to all the
people you can, as long as you ever can.”
Now if anyone was zealous for evangelism, it was John Wesley. He had
a zeal that turned the United
Kingdom upside down. But he said, “Do all the good you can” because
he saw in Scripture that good
works are a legitimate tool in evangelism.
Now the modern church, because of what’s happened to some fiery
Christian organizations over the years
that have got into social work, they’ve noticed they’ve become
lopsided, and they’ve steered away from
good works. And yet the Bible says in the book of Titus, “Let those
who of you who have believed in
God be careful to maintain good works.” Jesus said, “Let your light
so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”
When I was first a Christian, I was… I could be considered by the
world as a fanatic. I mean, really
fanatical. I haven’t changed at all. And I used to make leather
jackets and suede coats to order for people
for years. I made about 1500 over a ten-year period, and I followed
in my father’s footsteps. You know
who the first one was to make a leather jacket? Genesis tells us.
God made… clothed Adam and Eve in
the skins of animals. Not caveman stuff. Fully lined, with covered
buttons. I mean class. When God
does something, He does it properly.
And I actually had this in a brochure that I had, and it just said
that. “God was first to kill an animal and
clothe man in the skins of animals.” And I said I was following in
my Father’s footsteps, and led through
the covering that God offers through Christ.
But on the window of my store, I had about a 10 foot by 8 foot
window to let in the natural light. I had a
Hare Krishna guy got soundly saved. The thing that brought him to
Christ, I said “Was it the preaching,
what was it?” And he says, “It was the handshake.” Feel a Christian
shook his hand, he just felt a
genuineness, and gave some consideration to the claims of the
Gospel, gave his life to Christ, and within
half an hour he’s eating a T-bone steak. I mean, really set free.
And he said… I said, “Ron, what do you do for a living, what did you
do?” He said, “I’m a sign writer.”
I said, “Really?” And I got him to, on a 10 foot by 8 foot piece of
board, to sign write John 3:1-16. And I
put it on my window. Incredible amount of work for the poor guy. And
he said night after night he was
doing this sign. And one night he was very discouraged because it
was kind of half an hour per letter to
get it right. And he stood back, he felt quite discouraged, he stood
back and he read the words, “No man
can do these signs that you do unless God is with him,” and he was
greatly encouraged by the Lord.
Anyway, I put this sign up in the window, and I had on the door,
“Behold I stand at the door and knock,”
a lot of Scriptures. And I shared the entrance with a barber. And
this barber called me to him one day,
and he says, “Ray, I’ve got to tell you something.” He said, “Guys
come into my store, they sit down in
the seat, and they turn back here, and they just say with utter
disgust and contempt, ‘What a fanatic next
door.’ And they just couldn’t say anything more, and nausea consumed
them.”
But he said, “A number of months ago when you put out a book called
My Friends Are Dying and got into
drug prevention work, the same guys would come into the store, sit
down for a haircut, and say ‘Doing a
good job, that young man next door.’”
And all that was happening was the fruit of 1 Peter 2:15. Listen to
it. “For so is the will of God that by
your well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men.” “For so is the will of God that by
your well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men.” If you’re a Christian who is rich in
good works, people will say, “I don’t believe what he believes, but
boy I can see that he’s genuine.”
You’ll put them to silence, you’ll stop their mouth by your good
works.
And I saw this a number of years ago. So as an assistant pastor of a
local assembly, I said, “Let’s get into
good works.” So I went to a place that sold vegetables, I said
“Look, I want to give away 100 bags of
vegetables around our local church.” I said, “Can you supply us?”
They said, “Yeah. If you let us put
our name on the bag, we’ll give you a good deal. In fact, we’ll give
you double.” So what they did, is
they gave us a bag about three feet high packed full of carrots,
cabbages, all sorts, corn, all sorts of
vegetables, and they put their name on it.
And then we got on a truck, we put a letter on each bag that said
something like, “Dear friend.” It didn’t
say, “Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus,” there was nothing
Christian on it at all. “Dear friend or
neighbor, we’re concerned about you, we care about you, we’re a
local church in your area. If we can
help mow your lawn, trim your hedge, if there’s anything we can do
to help you, please call on us. We’re
here for your benefit. Yours, sincerely,” and just signed it. Put
that at the top of the bags, then put them
at the gates of 100 homes. Now I said to the guys putting them
there, “Don’t knock on the door, don’t get
into a conversation, don’t let anyone think you’re trying to get a
foot in their door.”
The reaction was incredible. We had people stop us on the street and
burst into tears. One woman burst
into tears of gratitude. Another woman said, “I have been in this
area 60 years, and this is the first time
the local church has done anything for me.” Another one said, “I’m
an atheist, but I just want to wish you
all the best in the community.”
Another guy, his girlfriend made a commitment to the Lord, and told
him. He put his fist into the wall
with anger because he was a professing atheist and he saw an evident
token of the love of God in those
vegetables, and he could not handle it. He just went “umph” like
that. I mean, it was just such a powerful
thing. One woman, as I said, she said, “I couldn’t believe these
vegetables were mine.” Two bucks, is
what that bag of vegetables cost. Two dollars. “For so is the will
of God that by your good works you
put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” “Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” The fruit of
good works.
Number three, the fruit of thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15). I mean, if
you’re soundly saved, there should
be a cry within your heart, “thanks be to God for the unspeakable
gift.” If there isn’t the fruit of
thanksgiving, if there isn’t a gratitude burning in your soul, you
may not be saved.
Number four, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It should be
evident in, “love, joy, peace, patience,
goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance.”
Number five, the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11). There
should be the fruit of that which is right,
the fruit of righteousness in your lifestyle. Remember Matthew 3:10
says, “every tree that brings not
forth good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire.” Therefore
as Christians, in our evangelistic
endeavors, we should do everything we can not just to get decisions,
not just to get church members,
youth group members, but to produce fruit-bearing commitments to
Christ, because “every tree that brings
not forth good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire.”
So what we’re going to do is look at Matthew 4:3 to get an insight
into what hinders and what produces
genuine fruit. Mark 4, should I say, Mark 4:3.
Now when the Bible says, “behold,” what it’s doing is blowing a
little trumpet and saying, “this is
important.” When Jesus said words like, “harken,” it was a little
trumpet. In verse 3 of Mark 4, Jesus
uses both words. This is a double trumpet, so this is incredibly
important.
He said, “Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it
came to pass, as he sowed, some fell
by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it. And
some fell on stony ground, where it
had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no
depth of earth: But when the sun
was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it wither away.
And some fell among thorns, and the
thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other
fell on good ground, and it did yield fruit
that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty fold,
and some sixty, and some a hundred.
And he said to them, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.”
“And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve
asked of him the parable. And he said
unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom:
but unto them that are outside, all
these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not
perceive; and hearing they may hear,
and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and
their sins should be forgiven them.”
“And he said to them, don’t you know this parable? How then will you
know all parables? The sower is
the sower of the word. And these are they by the way side, where the
word is sown; but when they have
heard, Satan comes immediately, and takes away the word that was
sown in their hearts. And these are
they in like manner which are sown on stony ground; who, when they
have heard the word, immediately
receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so
endure but for a time: afterward, when
affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately
they are offended. And these are they
which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of
this age, and the deceitfulness of
riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word,
and it becomes unfruitful. And these are
they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and
receive it, and some bring forth fruit,
some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.”
Verse 13, I think is one of the key verses in the entire Bible.
Jesus said to them, “Don’t you know this
parable? How then will you know all parables?” In other words, the
parable of the sower is the key to
unlock the mystery of all the other parables. When you and I get a
grip on the understanding that the
parable of the sower is about true and false conversion, stony
ground hearer, thorny ground hearer, good
soil hearer, two false, one genuine, then we begin to understand the
other parables, that there are true and
false conversions. The good fish, and the bad fish, the true and the
false. The foolish virgins, the false,
the wise virgins, the true. The man who built his house on rock, the
genuine convert. The man who built
his house on sand, the false convert.
See I used to think the foolish man who built his house on sand was
the unbeliever. No, you read what
Jesus said. He said, “he that hears my sayings and does not obey
them is like a foolish man who built his
house on sand.” The ungodly don’t hear the saying of Jesus. Most of
them know “judge not lest you be
judged,” and the golden rule, “do to others as you’d have them do to
you.” And both, they’re twisted,
they don’t understand them.
No, the church is filled with people who hear the sayings of Jesus
and don’t obey them. They don’t
evangelize, even though Jesus said, “you are my witnesses,” “let
your light shine before men,” “go unto
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” They don’t.
They are like the man who built his
house on sand.
Now using the harmony of the gospel, and the parable of the sower is
also Luke 13, sorry, Luke 8 and
Matthew 13, using the harmony of the gospel we’re going to look at
the six characteristics of a false
convert, the stony ground hearer.
Firstly, with a false convert, according to Mark 4:5, there are
immediate results. They don’t weigh the
issues. The gospel they hear is not a gospel that’s preceded by the
Law. They’re not made to tremble
before the throne of a holy God. They’re told they need to get
assurance they’re going to Heaven. They
think they’re already going to Heaven. Most people think that. Why?
They go about to establish their
own righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness which is of
God.
62% of Americans believe in a literal Hell, but they don’t believe
they’re going there. They think they’re
too good. Now that’s human nature. “Every man will proclaim his own
goodness.” “There is a way that
seems right to man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” The
modern gospel says, “You need to have
assurance that you’re going to Heaven. You shouldn’t go to Hell. You
need to come and give your life to
Christ. You must have faith in Jesus,” and they preach Christ
crucified.
So the sinner thinks he deserves Heaven anyway, comes and gives his
heart to Jesus, and gets assurance
he’s going to Heaven. He’s got no understanding of sin because Paul
said, “I had not known sin but by
the Law.” 1 John 3:4 says, “sin is transgression of the Law.” He’s
given assurance that he’s saved, he’s
followed up, he’s set in a church, he finds new friends, a new
lifestyle, gets ahold of his alcohol problem,
deals with it, and things go sweet.
And there’s still no repentance, and when there’s no understanding
of sin, there is no Godly sorrow,
which works repentance. And Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will
perish.” And the church is filled
with people who have assurance of salvation when it’s not Holy Ghost
assurance. These ones don’t
weigh the issues. It’s easy to get a decision from them because the
bait of eternal life is hung in front of
them.
Secondly, there is a lack of moisture (Luke 8:6). There is no thirst
for God, for the living God.
Thirdly, there’s no root in themselves (Matthew 13:6). There is no
depth of Godly character.
Number four, they receive the Word with gladness. Again, there’s no
Godly sorrow because the Law
hasn’t been brought to them that they might see themselves in truth.
God’s Law is like a mirror. When
there’s no mirror, you can go around the whole day, if someone
doesn’t tell you, and have a dirty face.
You’ve got no idea.
Each day, every one of us looks in the mirror to see the state. You
get up in the morning, look in the
mirror to see what damage has been done during the night. I mean,
there’s no greater evidence that we’re
in a fallen creation as looking in the mirror first thing in the
morning. I mean, we rest ourselves after a
hard day. So in the morning, you should be rested. No, the eyes are
puffy, you say, “Ugh… oh…”
They don’t look into the perfect Law of liberty and see themselves
in truth. God’s Law is like a mirror.
Therefore, they don’t go to the water of the blood of Christ to
wash, because they don’t see themselves as
in desperate need of God’s forgiveness. Paul said, “by the
commandment, sin became exceedingly
sinful.” (Romans 7:13). So they receive the Word with gladness (Mark
4:16).
Number five, they receive the Word with joy. Their laughter isn’t
turned to mourning, and their joy isn’t
turned to heaviness (Matthew 13:20).
And Number six, for a while they do believe. (Luke 8:13). There is a
genuine false conversion
experience. For a while they do believe.
Now let’s look on the overhead projector at this picture which is a
picture of two plants. The plant, or
plant, on the left is strong and healthy looking. The plant on the
right is kind of small. And if you had to
make room in your garden because you lack room, most of us would
probably make the judgment, “Well
the little fellow has to go because the big plant’s doing well.”
But then let’s look at picture number two. We see the sun has come
out and it’s causing our big, strong,
healthy plant to wither and yet the little plant seems to be “doing
quite well, thanks.” And let’s look at
picture number three, what we couldn’t see, and we see the reason
the big plant was withering and the
little plant was prospering, because under the soil beneath the big
plant was bedrock. The soil could not
find… the root could not find depth of root because there was a lack
of soil, it was rock. The little plant
was small because beneath the soil it was sending its roots in deep
searching for moisture.
Now can you see that is was the sunlight that revealed what you and
I couldn’t see, the soil condition of
the plants? Can you see that? It was the sunlight that was
instrumental in revealing what you and I
couldn’t see, the soil condition of the root system of the plants.
Now in the spiritual, the plant is the regenerate life of the
professing believer. The soil is his heart
condition. In the spiritual, the sunlight is tribulation,
temptation, and persecution. Matthew 13:21,
tribulation. Luke 8:13, temptation, and persecution, Mark 4:17. Just
as in the natural, it was the sunlight
that revealed the plants’ soil condition, what was going on where we
can’t see, in the spiritual the thing
that reveals what you and I can’t see in the life of the professing
believer, is tribulation, temptation, and
persecution.
Now, if you are seeking to have a house plant prosper and grow, the
worst thing you can do is hide it from
the sunlight. Okay, you’ve spent 15 dollars on a really nice house
plant, you say “boy this cost me a bit of
money. I’m going to look after this. It goes straight into the
cupboard.” Nice, warm, dark cupboard. No,
that’s the worst thing you can do. You don’t want to shelter a plant
from the sunlight. If it’s in good soil,
if it’s got plenty of room, and it’s got access to moisture, you
know the sunlight is going to prosper it. It
is not going to kill it.
Now in the same way, the worst thing that you and I can do with a
new believer is shelter him from the
sunlight of tribulation, temptation, and persecution. That is the
worst thing you can do. When we say,
“Well, so-and-so has just given his heart to Jesus in prison, he
comes out on Tuesday, let’s be there to
pick him up, to keep him from temptation, to keep him away from his
old friends. And when he has
trials, let’s make sure we look after him.” No, that’s the worst
thing you can do. If he’s genuine, he is
going to grow, if he’s false he’s going to wither and die.
A number of years ago when Russia was in persecution against
Christians, I heard there was a prayer
meeting among a number of professing Christians. And suddenly, the
doors burst open, there were two
fully armed Russian guards, and they said in Russian, “Get out of
this place if you’re not willing to die for
your faith.” And half of the professing Christians just got up and
left. They just ran. And then when the
doors closed, the guards put down their guns, took off their hats,
sat down and said, “Praise the Lord,
we’re just sorting out the sheep from the goats before we’d risk
fellowship.”
Now God doesn’t normally use the Russian guard method. He uses open
up the ground and swallow
them up method. You see, if there was severe persecution that came
to the church, what it would do is
that it would rid the church of murmurers and complainers. But more,
those that cause division, and those
that (?????) the Spirit. But more, and I think more importantly, if
severe persecution came to the church,
it would show the stony ground hearer the error of his ways.
Can you imagine the tragedy of leading someone to Christ, so you
think. You don’t give him Law before
grace. You don’t give him the knowledge of sin. You don’t show him
that he’s violated the Law of a
holy God, that he has sinned, and sin is transgression of the Law.
You just say, “Hey, you’ve got a God-
shaped vacuum in your life. Jesus can give you real peace and love
and fulfillment, you just give your
heart to Him, and He’ll help you with your problems, He’ll be with
you in trials, and you’ll have
assurance of Heaven.” And you lead him in a sincere prayer.
But there’s something lacking in this “believer.” He’s got no zeal
for the lost. He’s a stranger to holiness.
He’s got no hunger for the Word. He’s got no depth of prayer life.
So you see it as your job, because you
led him to Christ, to get him into fellowship. To make sure he’s
reading his Bible, to pray with him, etc.
That, you see, if your job. You follow him up.
And you actually prop him up right until Judgment Day, when the
sunlight of the eye of an omniscient
God proves him to be the hypocrite that he is. Whose fault was it,
if you propped him up until Judgment
Day? Wouldn’t it be better to let him fall? To not shield him from
the sunlight, but let him come under
the sunlight and reveal his soil condition. If he’s genuine, he’s
going to grow, if he’s false, he’s going to
wither and die.
For years I put my energies into professing Christians, people who’d
given their heart to Jesus. Those
who proved to be stony ground hearers, I’d say, “Are you reading the
Word” and they’d say, “I haven’t
really got time. I’ve got TV Guide, and I’ve got all these other
things I have to do.” “So are you going to
be at church,” “Man, I’ve got a golf tournament Sunday, I can’t be
here. I’ve got swimming next
Sunday.” Man, no, nowadays, I just leave them. If they don’t listen
after the first and second admonition,
I just say, “Okay, leave it,” and then put my energies into the
unsaved.
The Bible says, “Desire the sincere milk of the Word, if you’ve
tasted that the Lord is gracious.” A
healthy lamb will have a healthy appetite. You don’t have to
force-feed a healthy lamb. Someone who’s
soundly saved will desire the sincere milk of the Word. They’ll
discipline themselves. The first thing I
knew I had to do when I became a Christian was get myself a Bible
and read it and see what God wanted
me to do.
And I loved the brethren. And I knew that I’d passed from death to
life because I loved the brethren.
When I saw in Scripture, “forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together, as the manner of some,” I
thought, “okay, I go to church.” Surfing can take a second seat.
If a new convert even looks back, Jesus says he’s not fit for the
Kingdom. Luke 9:62, “No man, having
put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom.”
That word “fit” in the Greek is
“eusetto.” It means “ready for use.”
You see, if you take good seed, quality seed, and cast it on stony
ground, is it going to bring forth fruit?
Umm umm. It can’t. Now if you know what you’re doing as a farmer, or
if you’ve got substance
between your ears, you’ll say, “Hey, I’ve got to turn the soil, cast
out the stones, and then when I toss
some good seed in good soil it’ll bring forth good fruit.” Simple
farming.
God says the soil of the heart of man is like stone. It says in
Ezekiel 8, “I’ll take your heart of stone and
give you a heart of flesh.” You can take the pure gospel seed and
cast it on the unregenerate heart and it
will not bring forth fruit. It can’t. What we must do is turn the
soil of man’s heart using the spade of
God’s Law. Expose the stones of sin that are removed by way of
repentance. Then he can receive the
engrafted Word, which is able to save his soul.
You see, many great evangelists, men I respect, men like Greg Lorry,
men like Billy Graham who I
greatly admire and respect, don’t really get alarmed about an 80%
fall-away rate among their converts.
Billy Graham was interviewed on television by David Frost. David
Frost says, “What are you thinking
about when all those people are coming forward.” Billy Graham says,
“Well I’m thinking only one in
four is genuine.” And then he cited the parable of the sower.
But I don’t think the parable of the sower is given as a consolation
to disappointing evangelical results.
There are keys given to us to give us understanding. And if you
study the good soil hearer, you’ll see that
he hears and understands, and that he brings forth fruit because he
receives the seed into his good and
honest heart. So he has a good and honest heart, he has
understanding.
Oh, so that’s what’s going on. Out in secular society there are
those who have good and honest hearts and
understanding, and they are the ones that will receive the gospel
seed. That is not Biblical. Romans 3
says, “there is none that understand.” How many understand? None. It
says “there is none good, not
one,” the heart of man is “desperately wicked, deceitful above all
things.”
So the virtues of understanding and goodness must have come from
without the heart, not from within,
because it is not in the heart of man to have understanding and
goodness. What is it that produces
understanding? It’s the schoolmaster. The Law is our schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ. That’s the
function of a schoolmaster, to bring knowledge. “By the Law is the
knowledge of sin.” God said, “My
people are destroyed through lack of knowledge of my Law.” (Hosea
4:6)
What the Law does, is it brings the light of understanding. The
Commandment is a lamp, the Law is
light. And when a man comes under the sound of God’s Law, he sees
that he’s sinned against God, that
God requires truth in the inward parts and considers lust to be the
same as adultery, hatred to be the same
as murder, that if you just take one thing that belongs to somebody
else, irrespective of its value, you’re a
thief, and you’ll not inherit God’s Kingdom. If you tell one fib or
white lie you’re bearing false witness,
and all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire.
Transgressors of God’s Law, workers of iniquity.
Jesus said, “Many on that day will say ‘Lord, Lord.’” He’ll say,
“Depart from me you worker of
lawlessness, I never knew you.” When he understands he’s sinned
against God, when the soil of his heart
has been turned by the Law, the stones of sin exposed, he then
removes the stones of sin through
repentance, and is able to receive the seed that can save his soul,
which is the good soil hearer.
So the essence of what I’m saying is that God has placed within the
hands of the church weapons that are
not carnal, but mighty through God of the pulling down of
strongholds and under God with the help of the
Holy Spirit, you and I can determine the soil the seed is going to
fall upon, by using God’s Law as a spade
to turn the soil of an unregenerate heart.
Remember what George Whitfield said. “That is the reason we have so
many mushroom converts.”
Because their stony ground is now plowed up. They have not got a
conviction of the Law, they are stony
ground hearers.
A friend of mine, he once came to me, he said, “Ray, there’s
something wrong with my Christian life.”
He says, “I’m kind of lacking in the zeal you guys have got.” And I
say, “Hey, Richard, have you got
love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness,
and temperance?” He said, “Well, no, I
haven’t got eight of those fruits.” There’s only one that he had.
And I said, “Well, Richard, by your own
confession, I don’t see any grounds for you to call yourself a
Christian.”
Now he did actually have another fruit of the Spirit at that
particular time. He exercised the fruit of self-
control, because afterwards he said he wanted to re-arrange my face.
But he didn’t. He went home, he
examined himself to see if he was in the faith, concluded he wasn’t,
repented before Almighty God, and
within three months he was such a fruit-bearer our church put him in
charge of our coffee bar outreach
ministry.
That’s why the Bible says examine yourself and see if you’re in the
faith. Colossians 4:5 says, “Walk in
wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time.” Now I
used to think “them that are without,
that’s the ungodly. That’s the secular society.” No, a stony ground
hearer, a false convert can be within
your church, within your youth group, and without the body of
Christ.
The Bible says, “Walk in wisdom towards them that are without,
redeeming the time.” If anyone will
steal your time, it’s a false convert. He wants counsel, he wants
counsel, he wants counsel. He’s always
coming because he’s got problems, problems, problems. I’ve spent
many hours counseling people who
didn’t need counseled, they needed repentance.
Remember the big plant? What does it need? “Fertilizer! Needs more
fertilizer. Put fertilizer up to the
top of the plant. That’ll help it.” Umm umm. You can have a false
convert and say “we’re going to
follow him up. We’re going to follow him and follow him. We need
more follow-up.” No, that’s not the
problem. He doesn’t need fertilizer. The problem is the soil, his
heart condition. He needs repentance.
Follow-up is not Biblical. It’s not. You check it out. You won’t
find follow-up in Scripture. You can
find feeding, nurturing, discipling, but you’ll not find following
new converts. David Wilkerson, when he
heard the Hell’s Best Kept Secret teaching, the first thing he said
to me when he called me from his car
phone when he heard the tape in his car, he says, “I thought I was
the only one who didn’t believe in
follow-up.” It’s not Biblical.
Follow-up is merely a sad testimony of the confidence modern
evangelism has both in its message and in
the keeping power of God. If He is the author of their faith, He’ll
also be the finisher. “God is able to
save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him. He is able to
keep them from falling and present
them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”
If God has saved them, God will
keep them. The Ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up. Why?
Because if he’s genuine, he’s going to last, if he’s false, he’ll
wither and die. And the stony ground hearer
doesn’t need follow-up. By follow-up, I don’t mean just looking
after someone in the area of making sure
they go to Bible. I mean it’s when you have the job of following
someone who gave their heart to Jesus
in a crusade or at church. You go around to their place next week,
and knock on the door, and say,
“Excuse me, you should really get into fellowship now. Could you
open your door? I can see you hiding
under your bed.”
I mean, it’s the most disheartening job in the world following up
modern decisions for Jesus. They’re
always out when you call them on the phone. They don’t need
fertilizer, they need good soil.
A number of years ago, I had a pastor, a senior pastor, I was on
staff at a large church, who was the most
Godly shepherd you could imagine. Real Godly man. Now I want to tell
you about… how much he
weighed and how big he was for a reason. He was about 5’11”, maybe 6
feet, his name was Peter
Morrow, lovely man of God.
But he didn’t weigh too much. I think he weighed about maybe 120
lbs. He used to joke about his lack
of weight. He could eat and eat and eat and not put on weight. He
must have a glorified body or
something. But imagine, he only had one stripe on his pajamas. He
had to run around in the shower… he
had to run around in the shower to get wet.
A number of years ago, there was a knock on the door of his home. It
was 3:00 AM. Early hours of the
morning. His son went to the door. He says, “Yeah?” And this guy
says, “I want some counsel from
your father.” Now this teenage boy knew the heart of his father, he
knew he was a shepherd and he
wouldn’t mind rising at 3:00 AM to give counsel to someone, one of
his sheep. So he said to the guy,
“Just go into the living room and wait for him.”
He woke his father up, the father got up, walked to the living room,
and as he did so, from behind the
door came down a 14 inch machete blade across his face. Sliced his
fingers, cut his throat. His sons came
running into the living room because they heard him screaming, faced
with the blood of their father all
around the walls. It was such a horrific thing.
They grabbed the guy thought had murdered their father, and they
just about killed him. He was
screaming, “I can’t breathe,” and they said, “Die, die then.” He got
arrested. The father actually lived.
Just had literally hundreds of blood transfusions. He lived.
But the next day, another pastor called me. He said, “Did you hear
about last night?” I said, “Yeah. I
can’t believe that.” I said, “That’s heavy.” He says, “Well, you
won’t believe this.” He said, “The guy
that did it was in my church. He’s one of my flock.” I say, “You’re
kidding.” He says, “Man it’s heavy,”
he said, “that another Christian could do that.”
I said, “Hang on a minute.” I said, “If someone tries to decapitate
the pastor, you could probably
conclude that he lacks in the area of love, goodness, gentleness…”
I mean, we’ve got to start taking Scripture seriously. I do not
welcome people into the faith until I see
fruit. It doesn’t matter too much nowadays, in one sense, but wait
till severe persecution comes. Wait till
people have machetes, that Christians are actually preaching the
whole counsel of God, and we’re hated
for His name’s sake. They’re suffering persecution because they’re
living Godly in Christ Jesus.
You see, the Bible speaks of false brethren twice in Scripture. It
speaks of false apostles, false prophets,
false teachers, and false conversions. And hardly ever do we hear
teaching on them.
I wished a number of years ago I had a video camera when this
incident took place. I was going to cross
the street, and suddenly I heard “bzzt bzzt,” and I looked down the
road. There was this car in the middle
of the road and it sounded like there was no muffler on the thing,
and the guy was driving like an idiot.
So I jumped back off the road onto the sidewalk. I thought I might
get run down.
The car went past me, and suddenly the guy saw who it was. He
recognized me. The guy who was
driving the car was the classic stony ground hearer, a false
convert. I’d heard that this guy had already
threatened pastors in another assembly, so I had marked him. He saw
me, slammed on the anchors of his
car, backed up, jumped out, and says, “Hi, Ray.”
Now I wish you could have seen him. He had three Jesus stickers on
the front windshield of his car. He
had a big cross around his neck hanging in the forest of a hairy
chest, shirt undone to his navel, and he
was full of Christian clichés, and he wanted to see me for counsel.
I was busy that year.
You see, a false convert wants your time. He is a tool of the devil
to wear out the saints. Remember,
Satan wants to wear down the saints? They are hearers of the Word,
and not doers. And what they do is
because they lack inwardly depth of root, they have branches and
leaves.
Now I believe in Jesus stickers. If someone wants to wear a cross,
that’s fine. T-shirts are great. But you
will find that false converts, because they lack depth of root,
depth within their heart, within the soil of the
heart, they have lots of branches and leaves to impress you. I mean,
they’ll have a big Bible.
So you don’t feel intimidated, let me tell you what version this is
so there’s no confusion. This is a “New
Pharisee’s Bible,” authorized King James version. Widest Sepulcher’s
Publishing. “Each Bible has been
carefully soaked in a bath for one month and then dragged behind a
car for two weeks for that special,
spiritual look.”
A false convert will lack fruit, but he’ll have plenty of branches
and leaves to impress those that are
around them. Listen to Matthew 7:15-20. “Beware of false prophets
who come to you in sheep’s
clothing but inwardly they’re ravening wolves. You’ll know them by
their fruit. Do men gather grapes
from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears
bad fruit.”
Listen to this. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.” In other words,
if someone’s genuine, they’re
genuine, if they’re false, they’re false. “Nor can a bad tree bear
good fruit. Every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their
fruits you shall know them.”
Why should we know each other by our fruit? Well listen to Acts
20:29-30. “For this I know,” says Paul,
“that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock. Also from among
your own selves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw
away the disciples after them.”
From your own selves, men will rise up. And you look at all of the
cults and sects, and false prophets. It
comes from within the body. Not people who have known the Lord, have
known the way of
righteousness, and gone bad, but people who have had a false
conversion and then failed to bring forth
fruit worthy of repentance.
Wolves pick off weak sheep. That’s what they do. And if I was a
pastor and had my own assembly, I’m
an itinerant pastor of Hosanna Chapel, I travel most weekends. But
if I had my own church, I would
watch those who make decisions for Jesus. And I’d watch for fruit.
And if any young guys were a little bit too close to the young
girls, hold arms around her, etc., I’d just
grab him, have a good talk with him. Mark those. Keep an eye on
them. As I said, wolves go for the
weak sheep. That’s the way of a wolf.
As I said, a genuine convert will stand no matter how great the
adversity. Proverbs 12:3 says, “The root
of the righteous yields fruit.” The stronger the sunlight, the
deeper the roots will go.
Jesus sent his lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:3) That is so different
from the way we treat our new
converts. We try and shield them. No, he sent as lambs among wolves.
Why? Because the sunlight of
tribulation, temptation, and persecution will expose the false, and
cause the genuine to grow.
And it did so with Judas Iscariot. He was exposed. Judas was not a
Christian. He was never a Christian.
How do I know? Here’s a good clue. Jesus said, “One of you is a
devil.” That’s a good clue. I
remember hearing Winkie Pratney, a friend of mine, share about when
he saw pictures of Leonardo De
Vinci’s The Last Supper, with Jesus and the disciples. And he’d look
at the picture and say, “Where’s
Judas? Come on, where are you?” And he’d look for the guy with the
big hook nose, wringing his hands
in a corner like this.
But that is totally un-Biblical. Judas would probably be a real
smooth-looking guy. He was so trusted, he
was the treasurer of the disciples. He looked after them. He cared
for the poor. He was concerned for the
poor. When some woman did a lavish act of breaking an alabaster box
of ointment, expensive ointment,
over the head of Jesus, and washing His hair with her feet…
“Washing His hair with her feet…” You didn’t even notice. I could
have got away with it. It’s probably
on tape. At least I’m listening. Nobody else is.
When that happens, Judas said, “Why wasn’t this sold for
such-and-such amount, and the money given to
the poor.” He cared for the poor. No, the Bible says he looked after
the money. He was a thief. But he
was trusted by the disciples. When Jesus said, “One of you will
betray me,” the disciples didn’t sit there
and say, “Yeah. I know who he’s talking about. Old hook-nose over
there. I knew it was hook-nose.”
No, they didn’t say that. They said, “Is it I, Lord? Is it me?” He
said, “It is he who puts his hand in the
dish.” Judas did that. They didn’t say, “oh, yes.” No. When Judas
went out to betray Jesus, Jesus said,
“what you do, do quickly.” They thought he’d gone to give money to
the poor. Judas was such a good
guy. He fooled everyone but the Lord.
Turn to Colossians 4, sorry, Colossians 4:7. And let’s look at how
Paul put his seal of approval on those
who professed to be in the grace of God. Colossians 4:7. And watch
how Paul puts his seal of approval
on certain believers.
“All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved
brother, and a faithful minister and fellow
servant in the Lord: Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose,
that he might know your estate,
and comfort your hearts.” So Tychicus is a faithful minister and a
fellow servant of the Lord.
Verse 9, “With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one
of you.” You see, nowadays, it
doesn’t matter too much who comes into the faith and who we commend
and who we don’t. But then, it
did, when Christians were being thrown to the lions, being killed
for their faith.
“They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.
Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salutes
you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom you
received commandments: if he comes to
you, receive him;). And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of
the circumcision. These only are my
fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort
unto me. Epaphras, who is one of
you, a servant of Christ, salute you, always laboring fervently for
you in prayers, that you may stand
perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record,
that he hath a great zeal for you, and
them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved
physician [who didn’t need an
introduction], and Demas, greet you.”
There was no seal of approval upon Demas. And if you study 2 Timothy
4:10 you’ll see, “Demas has
forsaken me, having loved this present world.” And it’s as though
Paul looked at Demas and thought,
“Yeah, I really don’t know about you. There’s something not quite
right. I’m not going to say, ‘If Demas
comes to you, receive him.’” “Demas has forsaken me, having loved
this present world.” A false
convert. He didn’t just look back, he went back. He was not fit for
the Kingdom, and the word “fit” is
eusetto, which means “ready for use.”
So we have, very briefly, looked at the characteristics of a false
conversion. And now, very briefly,
before we close we will look at the characteristics of a genuine
convert.
According to Matthew 13:23, he hears the word and understands it.
This is why it’s so vital to use God’s
Law in witnessing and in preaching. Because without the Law, there
won’t be understanding of the true
state before God. There’ll be merely horizontal repentance, not a
Godly sorrow which works repentance.
They won’t understand they’ve sinned against God. They’ll think
they’ve sinned against man with their
lying and stealing, etc.
But when David sinned with Bathsheba, he said, “I’ve sinned against
You, and You only have I sinned.”
The prodigal son said, “I’ve sinned against Heaven.” Paul preached
“repentance towards God,” the
offended party. Godly sorrow works repentance. And without the Law
you cannot have the
understanding necessary to exercise Godly sorrow which works
repentance.
If you use God’s Law in witnessing, you’ll become familiar with
sinners saying things like, “I can see
what you’re saying. I can understand that. I’ve never heard it put
that way before.” That is the reaction
almost every time I go through the Ten Commandments one by one, and
show the reason they need a
Savior is to escape the wrath that’s to come. God has appointed a
day in which He will judge the world in
righteousness.
Listen to Matthew 13:15. “For this people's heart has become gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see
with their eyes and hear with their ears
and listen, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.”
You see, when there is an understanding of the heart, then comes
conversion. Remember the Ethiopian
eunuch was asked by Philip the evangelist, “Do you understand what
you are reading?” Remember the
lawyer that stood up and tempted Jesus and said, “How can I get
everlasting life?” Jesus said, “What is
your understanding of the Law? What is your reading of it?” Because
if there’s no understanding of the
Law, there can be no salvation, because sin is transgression of the
Law.
Paul said, “I had not known sin but by the Law.” Charles Finney
said, “I remark the Law is the rule and
the only just rule by which the guilt of sin can be measured.” D. L.
Moody said, “This then is what God
gives us the Law for, to show us ourselves in our true colors.”
I have been in evangelistic meetings where the usual psychological
manipulations are used, where the
preacher will teach on faith or some Biblical incident, and then
right in the middle of his preaching he
would say, “Just stop. Let’s just bow in prayer. There are people
here tonight who don’t know the Lord.
You need to give your life to Jesus.”
And he may preach Christ crucified, but I’ve been in meetings where
Christ crucified hasn’t even been
preached. No preaching of the cross. There’s just faith and then
“you need to yield your heart to Jesus
because you’ve got a God-shaped vacuum in your heart. Just slip up
your hand while every head is
bowed and every eye closed. Nobody is watching you.” And when their
hand is slipped up he says, “I
see that hand. God bless you.” And then, what he did, he says “I
want everyone to stand and I have seen
those of you that have raised your hand. I want you to come to the
front when the music plays, when the
counselors come.”
So the counselors come out as a draw card. That’s why counselors
come out, to make it easier when the
music’s playing. People get up the front. And as the pastor is up on
the platform, I could see the facial
expression of those giving their heart to Jesus. There was no Godly
sorrow, no contrition. And after the
meeting, one of the counselors said, “You should have been out in
the back.” And they were counseling
those that had just made decisions. There wasn’t an ounce of Godly
sorrow. People would just say,
“Hey, Bertha, fancy you being here.” “Oh, Fred, what are you doing
here?”
And the expression on the faces of those who come to the front was,
“How on earth did I get up here?
Really? Because I was sitting in my seat, I just went like that, and
suddenly I’m up the front,” drawn out
by psychological manipulation. That man had a 96… 96% fall-away rate
in his converts. That was the
last when I heard his statistics, and I don’t really think the other
4% would have hung in. Or they may
have stayed in the Christian social club, I don’t know.
The true convert says, “Woe is me. I am undone. God be merciful to
me, a sinner.”
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