The Holy Spirit's Role in Conversion

As I reflected upon yesterday's sermon on Ephesians 1:8-10, I was again reminded how utterly vital prayer is if we are to see true revival & true conversion in our land.

Unfortunately, because they have turned from serious study of the Word of God and the doctrines contained therein, many "churches" have made God's unique & sovereign work of salvation of unregenerate sinners "do-able" - if the right ambiance, mood, methodologies, & message are presented to the listener.

In essence, to borrow an illustration from Alistair Begg, the 'evangelical' church has replicated the salesman approach to how we do ministry, and thus consequently how people are "converted." Basically, there are 3 aspects that every salesman needs to be aware of: first, there is a product that needs to be sold. For many churches, the product that needs to be sold, or accepted, is the gospel of Jesus Christ; second, there are customers to whom the product must be sold; thirdly and finally, salespeople are required to make the deal, as the sole purpose of a company's existence is to sell their product.

Consequently, and unsurprisingly, we have in the last couple of generations seen the drastic reduction of true Biblical preaching from the pulpit. It's quite simple, actually, to understand why: unconverted people prefer non-convicting entertainment over & above convicting, faithful, monologue preaching. And since most pastors have believed the lie that his mission is to sell his product, he has removed any & every obstacle that impedes this. Unconverted people rarely make second appearances to a church that preaches the 'full counsel of God' on a regular basis, and so to ensure that they come back, they jettison any stumbling block that inhibits a return visit. For, they say, if such visitors don't come back, they won't be able to hear the gospel the next time they come, and thus be saved.

Unfortunately, and I agree 100% with Paul Washer on this, what such "churches" and "pastors" don't understand is this: that what we "win them with, we win them to." Put another way, if we win them with a non-gospel, we need to keep them "in" with a non-gospel. This is a deadly trap that I have seen many churches fall into, and to be honest, I have (often) been tempted to succumb to. But this kind of thinking is fatally flawed for this reason: if we are scared they will leave upon hearing about sin or Hell, then we can never ultimately preach such distasteful truths, whether on their first visit, or their tenth visit, since they will leave on their tenth visit just as assuredly as they will on their first. The result, preaching focuses more on things that are "receivable", on things that make them feel good, despite their desperate & damnable state before a holy God, who will only save them if they repent of their sins & trust in Christ alone for their sins (Acts 20:21), even if it is at great cost to themselves (Luke 14:25-35).

And thus, since the leadership of many churches has believed the lie that they are more like salesmen than a heralds, they consequently hold innumerable meetings to discuss & strategize how to entertain the goats, rather than devoting herself to prayer & the study the Word of God to feed the sheep (Acts 6:4). Worship songs are chosen not according to lyrical fidelity to the gospel & the Word of God, but instead according to how catchy & memorable they are to visitors. We add cafe bars loaded with espressos and lattes, spend wanton amounts of money on sound systems, and make our visitors feel that they are visiting a movie theater instead of a church, where Christ is supposed to be faithfully proclaimed. Have not we committed the same error as the religious people in Mark 11, where the House of God was transformed into a marketplace where products were sold? It is one thing when goats & sheep & bulls & pigeons are sold to Gentiles at exorbitant prices; but it is an entirely different thing when the precious & glorious gospel of Jesus Christ is treated with such indifferent contempt, as though it were a product to be "modified" and made palatable for the consumption of unbelievers!

I, with many pastors & churches, feel the pressure to equate success with the amount of people attending (or being entertained); I too am tempted to equate success with the size of the building that lodges those who come to our show. But is such thinking not unlike that of Jesus' deluded disciples in Mark 13, who boastfully exalted in the sheer magnitude & magnificence of their beloved temple, all the time not realizing that the true Temple was in their very midst (Mark 13:1-2).

All of these misconceptions & misunderstandings are rooted in a biblical doctrine that has in these last 100 years been forgotten & forsaken, largely in part to the distaste & disdain the church has developed for what has become a naughty, thing-not-to-be-spoken-in-church-or-'fellowship' concept: the theology of monergistic regeneration.

When Luther said, "Doctrine is life", he was absolutely & undeniably correct. Though those who espouse the necessity of having a right theology & expounding difficult-to-swallow doctrines are often labelled "unspiritual", or "legalists", or (my favorite) "Pharisees", they are actually in perfect congruity & accord with what the Bible actually says. (I always find it humorous how those who have a distaste for in-depth study of the Bible are absolutely consistent with their ignorant misinterpretation of the Bible they eschew, & subsequently label those who love, and thus study, the Word [e.g. Psalm 119] in such negative connotations. Apparently, at least in their (unfounded) opinion, those who study to show themselves approved of the Word of Truth are the unbiblical ones, where those who neglect the Life-giving Word, and yet offer their opinions on important issues are the spiritual ones [read the contrast in 2 Timothy 2:14-26]).

Rambling....

Anyways, I originally intended to expound upon the crucial, yet now-forsaken doctrines of (1) the radical depravity of man, and (2) the sovereign regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit. In the next post, I will - by God's grace - attempt to show that when these glorious doctrines are neglected & forsaken, the inevitable consequence is what we are seeing in most 'churches' in North America.

To sum up this initial post: if man is in and of himself able to make a decision for Christ, then such men can be coerced & manipulated by strategies employed by salesman to make his decision to be 'saved.' However, if all people are, as the Bible says, "dead in his trespasses & sins" (Ephesians 2:1-3), and naturally "unable" (1 Corinthians 2:14) to come to Jesus Christ unless He is sovereignly drawn (John 6:44), then our approach to doing evangelism is to be entirely different (i.e. derived from the council of Scripture & not the council of men).

However, before the church returns to God's methodologies to see the lost truly converted to Christ, she must first realize the helpless estate of unregenerate people. If by God's sovereign grace we are given eyes to understand this, we will see our prayer meetings filled with people who are pleading for the Holy Spirit to descend in power & accomplish what only He as God can do: apply the saving benefits of the gospel purchased by God the Son to those who are by nature "enemies of God" (Romans 8:7). Unfortunately, most churches have disposed of their weekly prayer meetings. Not surprisingly, this is because they have an exalted view of the natural man, and a diminished view of the sovereignty of God. Just as sad is that many prayer meetings have degenerated to the point where very little prayer actually takes place; moreover, any prayers that are lifted up are rarely for God to send revival to our godless nation that is under His wrath for rejecting His Son in all His fullness. Revival will only come as God's people plead for the Spirit to come in His fulness to accomplish HIS new covenant ministry: namely to point unbelievers savingly to Christ.

As we will see in my next post, true conversion will come when the Holy Spirit, in His sovereign prerogative, gives spiritual eyes to the spiritually blind, gives spiritual ears to the spiritually deaf, and gives a new heart to those who have hearts of stone.

If "salvation is of the LORD" alone (Jonah 2:2), then may we seek to accomplish the Great Commission of Christ as faithful heralds, not slick salesmen. We don't sell the product, we preach it, as Paul said when he was defending his apostolic ministry against the successful hucksters in Corinth:

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers (TNIV: "hucksters") of God's Word (i.e. the message of the gospel), but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2:14-17).

May God the Holy Spirit open & enlighten the eyes of our hearts to understand what Paul teaches in the next two chapters (i.e. 2 Cor. 3-4), that those who are blinded by the god of this world (Satan) can only see & gaze upon the glorious gospel of God in Christ when God the Holy Spirit grants us new life to do so (see the comparison of 4:4-6 to Genesis 1, where God sovereignly speaks life into existence).

Oh Jesus, may Your church understand her need of Your Spirit to do anything worthwhile in this world for Your glory. May You fill us with the spirit of prayer, and may we weep for those who are perishing, realizing that unless You in Your great power & might visit them & grant them eternal life, they will forever reject You, despite their enjoyment of entertainment & false-assurance that so many churches offer them.

For Jesus & His glory, to the ends of the earth, Lethbridge included,
Pastor Ryan