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I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit….You must be born again. –John 3:5,7 (NIV)

We have been writing on the requirements the New Testament lays down for entering the kingdom of God—"Who Will Be Saved?" Jesus tells us that the new birth is a necessity. We have looked at other requirements and last month we began to look at the new birth. The new birth is more than just one of many requirements for entering the kingdom of heaven, however. In one sense, it is the requirement because most of the other things required flow from it. I am speaking now of a thorough conversion, not the shallow and superficial substitutes for it that prevail today among almost all evangelicals, charismatic, and Pentecostals.

Why is the new birth a necessity for entering the kingdom of God? For the simple reason that man by nature is the opposite of God, "enmity with God" as Scripture terms it:

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7,8).

God is infinitely pure and holy; man is depraved and sinful, even from birth. In order for

a man, to dwell where God is for eternity, he must undergo a thorough and supernatural change—a change of his nature and being.

God made man for the purpose of bringing glory and honor to Himself, but man in his natural state falls far short of this, and must undergo a thorough and supernatural change in order to accomplish this purpose.

My exposure to the writings of respected men of God of the past has radically altered my views of conversion and the Christian life. I am convinced that although we are totally blind to it, we have drifted into deep apostasy today through the influence of self-esteem psychology, humanism, and mind science, so that we don’t even know what true conversion or the true Christian life is any more. In this lesson, I will quote extensively from An Alarm to the Unconverted written by Joseph Alleine in the late 1600’s. This book has been printed more times than any others except the Bible and Pilgrim’s Progress. Over 300 printings have been made, possibly over 500 editions. It is now available from Banner of Truth under the title A Sure Guide to Heaven. It serves as another good example of what a great contrast there is between our modern view of conversion and how it was viewed a few hundred years ago. Try these excerpts from his chapter, "The Necessity of Conversion," for size:

Without conversion your being is in vain. Is it not a pity you should be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth, a mere wart in the body of the universe? Thus you are, while unconverted, for you cannot answer the end of your being. Is it not for the divine pleasure that you are and were created? Did not God make you for Himself? Are you a man, and have you reason? Then, think how you came into being and why you exist. Behold God’s workmanship in your body, and ask yourself for what purpose God did rear this fabric? Consider the noble faculties of your heaven-born soul. To what end did God bestow these excellencies? Was it to no other end than that you should please yourself, and gratify your senses? Did God send men into the world, only like the swallow, to gather a few sticks and mud, and build their nests, and rear up their young, and then away? The very heathen could see farther than this. Are you so ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’, and do you not yet reason with yourself—surely, it was for some noble and exalted end? O man! Set your reason a little in the chair. Is it not a pity such a goodly fabric should be raised in vain? Verily you are in vain, except you are for God. It were better you had no being than not be for Him. Would you serve your end? You must repent and be converted; without this you are to no purpose; indeed, to bad purpose…Unconverted man is like a choice instrument that has every string broken or out of tune. The Spirit of the living God must repair and turn it by the grace of regeneration, and sweetly move it by the power of actuating grace, or else your prayers will be but howling, and all your service will make no music in the ears of the Most Holy. All your powers and faculties are so corrupt in your natural state that, except you is purged from dead works; you cannot serve the living God. An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God…. Almsgiving is not a service of God but of vainglory, if it does not spring from love to God. What is the prayer of the lips without grace in the heart, but the carcass without life? What are all our confessions, unless they are exercises of godly sorrow and unfeigned repentance? What are our petitions, unless animated with holy desires and faith in the attributes and promises of God? What are our praises and thanksgiving, unless they spring from the love of God, and a holy gratitude and sense of God’s mercies in the heart? So that a man may as well expect that trees should speak, or look for motion from the dead, as look for any service, holy and acceptable to God, from the unconverted…. The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds (Rev. 18:2), a sepulcher full of corruption and rottenness (Matt. 23:27), a loathsome carcass full of crawling worms, and sending forth a most noxious stench in the nostrils of God (Ps. 14:3). O dreadful case! Do you not yet see a change to be needful? Would it not have grieved one to see the golden consecrated vessels of God’s temple turned into quaffing bowls of drunkenness, and polluted with the idol’s service? (Dan. 5:2,3). Was it such an abomination to the Jews when Antioch set up the picture of the swine at the entrance of the temple? How much more abominable, then, would it have been to have the very temple itself turned into a stable or a sty; and to have the holy of Hollis served like the house of Ball! This is just the case of the unregenerate. All your members are turned into instruments of unrighteousness, servants of Satan, and your inmost heart into a receptacle of uncleanness. You may see what kind of guests are within by what come out; for, ‘out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies’ (Matt. 15:19). This black troop shows what a hell there is within. O abuse insufferable! To see a heaven-born soul abased to such vileness; to see the glory of God’s creation, the chief of the works of God, the lord of this lower world, eating husks with the prodigal! Was it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately sit desolate in the streets; and the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, esteemed as earthen pitchers; and those that were clothed in scarlet embrace dunghills? (Lam. 4:2,5). And is it not much more fearful to see the only being that has immortality in this lower world and carries the stamp of God, become as a vessel wherein is no pleasure, and be put to the most sordid use? O indignity intolerable! Better you were dashed in a thousand pieces, than to continue to be abased to so vile a service….God has made all the visible creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man, and man only is the spokesman for all the rest. Man is, in the world, like the tongue to the body, which speaks for all the members. The other creatures cannot praise their Maker, except by dumb signs and hints to man that he should speak for them. Man is, as it were, the high priest of God’s creation, to offer the sacrifice of praise for all his fellow-creatures. The Lord God expects a tribute of praise from all His works. Now, all the rest do bring in their tribute to man, and pay it by his hand. So then, if a man is false, and faithless, and selfish, God is robbed of all, and has no active glory from His works. O dreadful thought! That God should build such a world as this, and lay out such infinite power, and wisdom, and goodness thereupon, and all in vain; and that man should be guilty, at last, of robbing and spoiling Him of the glory of all! O think of this. While you are unconverted, all the offices of the creatures are in vain to you. Your food nourishes you in vain. The sun holds forth its light to you in vain. Your clothes warm you in vain. The service of all the creatures that drudge for you, and yield forth their strength unto you, with which you should serve their Maker, is all but lost labor. Hence, ‘the whole creation groaneth’ (Rom. 8:22) under the abuse of unsanctified men who pervert all things to the service of their lusts, quite contrary to the very end of their being….To hope to see the kingdom of God without being born again, to hope to find eternal life in the broad way, is to hope Christ will prove a false prophet (An Alarm to the Unconverted, Joseph Alleine).

As we said last month, there are many substitutes people offer or mistake for the genuine new birth—"reincarnation," various false inner lights and witnesses, psychological changes, mere emotional experiences, water baptism, church membership, and going forward in a crusade or answering an "altar call." It is true that the Spirit does bear witness with our spirit in a genuine new birth, deeply effecting our emotions, and that truly born again people will be baptized in water and join in fellowship at a church. These things accompany a genuine new birth, but they must not be mistaken as substitutes for it—the new birth is more than these things. Many people substitute reformation of life for regeneration or the new birth. They reform much of the outward conduct in connection with some commitment to Christ such as water baptism or church membership and mistake this outward reformation for the new birth. Many also substitute or mistake the first workings of the Spirit of God upon them for conversion—some conviction of sin, a desire for Christ, an "assent" of faith, a wooing and drawing by the Spirit accompanied by emotion. A certain amount of peace and joy may accompany these without a thorough conversion to God. We have failed to recognize this as we should; as a result, multitudes fill our churches who remain unconverted. We suspect nothing amiss and neither do they.

Although the new birth does not perfect us (there is much room for growth and perfection in holiness following), it is a far more drastic and thorough change than what we modern evangelicals have made it out to be. This, as we have said, is evident from the very term Jesus used—"born again." Just as the natural conception and birth produces a person, the supernatural new birth by the Spirit of God produces a new person.

The Scriptures do not give us a complete definition of the new birth so much as they tell us the effects of it. But the information we do have is sufficient to construe a definition. The following are the primary verses on the new birth found in the New Testament:

John 1:12, 13. …which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 3:3-8. …Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit….That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit….

(Ezekiel 36:25-27. …I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you….And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments and do them.)

Titus 3:5-8. …the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost…that they which have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works.

James 1:18. …Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

I Peter 1:3. …hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

I Peter 1:23. Being born again…by the word of God.

I Peter 2:2,3. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby….

I John 2:29. …everyone who does what is right is born of him.

I John 3:6-10. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him…Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God….whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

I John 4:7,8. …everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God….

I John 5:1-4. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him….This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments….For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

I John 5:18. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not.

Then also there are the following secondary Scriptures on the new birth which do not specifically use the term "born again," but are referring to it:

Romans 2:28,29. For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

II Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Galatians 6:15. in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Ephesians 2:5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Ephesians 2:8-10. …for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works.

Ephesians 4:17-24. …That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Colossians 3:9,10. …ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

By these Scriptures you can see that the new birth is no metaphysical change due to the impartation of spiritual substance (as we once emphasized, following popular teaching), but it is a spiritual change that issues in a change in moral behavior—godliness, obedience, and holiness. It is a change of nature; however, not one from metaphysical death to metaphysical life, but from unrighteousness to holiness and love, a restoration of man to the moral (not metaphysical) image of God.

John Wesley defined the new birth thus:

We, as well as the Heathens, "are alienated from the life of God;"…"every one of us," by the corruption of our inmost nature, "is very far gone from original righteousness;" so far, that "every person born into the world deserveth God’s wrath and damnation;" that we have by nature no power either to help ourselves, or even to call upon God to help us: All our tempers and works, in our natural state, being only evil continually. So that our coming to Christ, as well as theirs, must infer a great and mighty change. It must infer not only an outward change, from stealing, lying, and all corrupt communication; but a thorough change of heart, an inward renewal in the spirit of our mind. Accordingly, "the old man" implies infinitely more than outward evil conversation, even "an evil heart of unbelief," corrupted by pride and a thousand deceitful lusts. Of consequence, the "new man," must imply infinitely more than outward good conversation, even "a good heart, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;" a heart full of that faith which, working by love, produces all holiness of conversation. The change from the former of these states to the latter, is what I call The New Birth (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 1, p. 214).

[Adam] "ate of the tree whereof the Lord had commanded him, Thou shalt not eat thereof." By this wilful act of disobedience to his Creator, this flat rebellion against his Sovereign, he openly declared that he would be governed by his own will, and not the will of Him that created him; and that he would not seek his happiness in God, but in the world, in the works of his hands. Now, God had told him before, "In the day that thou eatest" of that fruit, "thou shalt surely die." And the word of the Lord cannot be broken. Accordingly, in that day he did die: He died to God, --the most dreadful of all deaths. He lost the life of God: He was separated from Him, in union with whom his spiritual life consisted….And in Adam all died, all human kind, all the children of men who were then in Adam’s loins. The natural consequence of this is, that every one descended from him comes into the world spiritually dead, dead to God, wholly dead in sin; entirely devoid of the life of God; void of the image of God, of all that righteousness and holiness wherein Adam was created. Instead of this, every man born into the world now bears the image of the devil in pride and self-will; the image of the beast, in sensual appetites and desires. This, then, is the foundation of the new birth,-- the entire corruption of our nature. Hence it is, that, being born in sin, we must be "born again." Hence every one that is born of a woman must be born of the Spirit of God….From hence it manifestly appears, what is the nature of the new birth. It is that great change which God works in the soul when he brings it into life; when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. It is the change wrought in the whole soul by the almighty Spirit of God when it is "created anew in Christ Jesus;" when it is "renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness;" when the love of the world is changed into the love of God; pride into humility; passion into meekness; hatred, envy, malice, into a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all mankind. In a word, it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into the "mind which was in Christ Jesus." This is the nature of the new birth: "So is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John Wesley, "The New Birth," Vol.6, pp. 67,68,71.)

Notice that, in keeping with our Scripture texts on the new birth, Wesley argues for a far greater change in the new birth than what we do today. Consider also these remarks from his sermon entitled, "Marks of the New Birth:"

An immediate and constant fruit of this faith whereby we are born of God, a fruit which can in no wise be separated from it, no, not for an hour, is power over sin;--power over outward sin of every kind; over every evil word and work; for wheresoever the blood of Christ is thus applied, it "purgeth the conscience from dead works;"—and over inward sin; for it purifieth the heart from every unholy desire and temper…."Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: And he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (I John 3:9). But some men will say, "True: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin habitually." Habitually! Whence is that? I read it not. It is not written in the Book. God plainly saith, "He doth not commit sin;" and thou addest, habitually! Who art thou that mendest the oracles of God?—that "addest to the words of the book?" Beware, I beseech thee, lest God "add to thee all the plagues that are written therein!" especially when the comment thou addest is such as quite swallows up the text: So that by this [Greek], this artful method of deceiving, the precious promise is utterly lost; by the[Greek], this tricking and shuffling of men, the word of God is made of none effect. O beware, thou that thus takest from the words of this book, that, taking away the whole meaning and spirit from them, leavest only what may indeed be termed a dead letter, lest God take away thy part out of the book of life! (John Wesley, Vol. 5, pp. 214,215)

And so you can see why I have said that I am convinced from the Scriptures, church history, and reason that most of the people today who claim to be born again and on their way to heaven are, instead, lost and on their way to hell! We desperately need to reopen and reexamine the whole subject of conversion and the Christian life and who will and who will not enter the kingdom of heaven!

It is evident from our Scriptures on the new birth that it is a change of heart as well as a change of life. Therefore, evidence of it must not be sought in either the one or the other alone, but in both the heart and the life. The new birth produces a change of inward motives, desires, affections and characteristics as well as a change of outward conduct and behavior.

We return now to Joseph Alleine’s book for excerpts from his chapter "The Nature of Conversion:"

This change of conversion extends to the whole man. A carnal person may have some shreds of good morality, but he is never good throughout the whole cloth. Conversion is not a repairing of the old building; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure. It is not the sewing on a patch of holiness; but with the true convert, holiness is woven into all his powers, principles and practice. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric, from the foundation to the top-stone. He is a new man, a new creature; all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17). Conversion is a deep work, a heart work. It makes a new man in a new world. It extends to the whole man, to the mind, to the members, to the motions of the whole life….Conversion turns the balance of the judgment, so that God and His glory outweigh all carnal and worldly interests. It opens the eye of the mind, and makes the scales of its native ignorance fall off, and turns men from darkness to light. The man that before saw no danger in his condition, now concludes himself lost and for ever undone (Acts 2:37) except renewed by the power of grace. He that formerly thought there was little hurt in sin, now comes to see it to be the chief of evils. He sees the unreasonableness, the unrighteousness, the deformity and the filthiness of sin; so that he is affrighted with it, loathes it, dreads it, flees from it, and even abhors himself for it (Rom. 7:15; Job 42:6; Ezek. 36:31). He that could see little sin in himself, and could find no matter for confession, now sees the rottenness of his heart, the desperate and deep pollution of his whole nature. He cries, ‘Unclean! Unclean! Lord, purge me with hyssop, wash me thoroughly, create in me a clean heart.’ He sees himself altogether filthy, corrupt both root and branch (Ps. 14:3; Mt. 7:17,18). He writes ‘unclean’ upon all his parts, and powers, and performances (Is. 64:6; Rom. 7:18). He discovers the filthy corners that he was never aware of, and sees the blasphemy, and theft, and murder, and adultery, that is in his heart, of which before he was ignorant. Hitherto he saw no form nor comeliness in Christ, no beauty that he should desire Hip; but now he finds the Hidden Treasure, and will sell all to buy this field. Christ is the Pearl he seeks. Now, according to this new light, the man is of another mind, another judgment, than he was before. Now God is all with him, he has none in heaven nor in earth like Him; he truly prefers Him before all the world. His favor is his life, the light of His countenance is more than corn and wine and oil (the good that he formerly enquired after, and set his heart upon. Ps. 4:6,7). A hypocrite may come to yield a general assent that God is the chief good; indeed, the wiser heathens, some few of them, have at least stumbled upon this. But no hypocrite comes so far as to look upon God as the most desirable and suitable good to him, and thereupon to acquiesce in Him. This is the convert's’ voice: 'The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever’ (Lam. 3:24; Ps. 73:25,26). …The intentions of the will are altered. Now the man has new ends and designs. He now intends God above all, and desires and designs nothing in all the world, so much as that Christ may be magnified in him….His choice is not made in a fright, as with the terrified conscience, or the dying sinner that will seemingly do anything for Christ, but only takes Christ rather than hell. He deliberately resolves that Christ is his best choice, and would rather have Him than all the good of this world, might he enjoy it while he would (Phil. 1:23). Again, he takes holiness for his path; he does not out of mere necessity submit to it, but he likes it and takes God’s testimonies not as his bondage, but his heritage; yea, heritage for ever. He counts them not his burden, but his bliss; not his cords, but his cordials (I Jn. 3; Ps. 119:14,16,47). He does not only bear, but takes up Christ’s yoke. He takes not holiness as the stomach does the loathed medicine, which a man will take rather than die, but as the hungry man does his beloved food. No time passes so sweetly with him, when he is himself, as that which he spends in the exercise of holiness. These are both his ailment and element, the desire of his eyes and the joy of his heart. Put it to your conscience whether you are the man. O happy man, if this be your case! But see that you are thorough and impartial in the search.

Conversion turns the bent of the affections. These all run in a new channel. The Jordan is now driven back, and the water runs upwards against its natural course. Christ is his hope. This is his prize. Here his eye is: here his heart. He is content to cast all overboard, as the merchant in the storm about to perish, so he may but keep this jewel. The first of his desires is not after gold, but grace. He hungers for it, he seeks it as silver, he digs for it as for hid treasure. He had rather be gracious than great. He had rather be the holiest man on earth than the most learned, the most famous, the most prosperous….His cares are quite altered. He was once set for the world, and any scrap of spare-time was enough for his soul. Now his cry is, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:30). His great concern is how to secure his soul. O how he would bless you, if you could put him out of doubt concerning this! He fears not so much of suffering as of sinning. Once he was afraid of nothing so much as the loss of his estate or reputation; nothing sounded so terrible to him as pain, or poverty, or disgrace. Now these are little to him, in comparison with God’s dishonor or displeasure….It kills his heart to think of losing God’s favor; this he dreads as his only undoing. ….His hatred boils, his anger burns against sin. He has no patience with himself; he calls himself fool, and beast, and thinks any name too good for himself, when his indignation is stirred up against sin (Ps. 73:22; Prov. 30:2). He could once wallow in it with much pleasure; now he loathes the thought of returning to it as much as of licking up the filthiest vomit….He that before dishonored his body, now possesses his vessel in sanctification and honor, in temperance, chastity, and sobriety, and dedicates it to the Lord. The eye, that was once a wandering eye, a wanton eye, a haughty, a covetous eye, is now employed, as Mary’s, in weeping over its sins, in beholding God in His works, in reading His Word, or in looking for objects of mercy and opportunities for His service….

The sincere convert is not one man at church and another at home. He is not a saint on his knees and a cheat in his shop. He will not tithe mint and cumin, and neglect mercy and judgment, and the weightier matters of the law. He does not pretend piety and neglect morality. But he turns from all his sins and keeps all God’s statutes, though not perfectly, except in desire and endeavor, yet sincerely, not allowing himself in the breach of any….He breaks off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor (Dan. 4:27)….Here again you find the unsoundness of many that take themselves for good Christians. They are partial in the law (Mal. 2:9), and take up the cheap and easy duties of religion, but they do not go through with the work….When a man is converted, he is for ever at enmity with sin; yes, with all sin, but most of all with his own sins, and specially with his bosom sin. Sin is now the object of his indignation. His sin swells his sorrows. It is sin that pierces him and wounds him; he feels it like a thorn in his side, like a prick in his eyes. He groans and struggles under it, and not formally, but feelingly cries out, ‘O wretched man!’ He is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin. If God should give him his choice, he would choose any affliction so he might be rid of sin; he feels it like the cutting gravel in his shoes, pricking and paining him as he goes. Before conversion he had light thoughts of sin. He cherished it in his bosom, as Uriah did his lamb; he nourished it up, and it grew up together with him; it did eat, as it were, of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter. But when God opens his eyes by conversion, he throws it away with abhorrence, as a man would a loathsome toad, which in the dark he had hugged fast in his bosom, and thought it had been some pretty and harmless bird. When a man is savingly changed, he is deeply convinced not only of the danger but the defilement of sin; and O, how earnest is he with God to be purified! He loathes himself for his sins. He runs to Christ, and casts himself into the fountain set open for him and for uncleanness. If he fall, what a stir is there to get all clean again! He has no rest till he flees to the Word, and washes and rubs and rinses in the infinite fountain, laboring to cleanse himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit.

The sound convert is heartily engaged against sin. He struggles with it, he wars against it; he is too often foiled, but he will never yield the cause, nor lay down the weapons, while he has breath in his body. He will make no peace; he will give no quarter. He can forgive his other enemies, he can pity them and pray for them; but here he is implacable, here he is set upon their extermination. He hunts as it were for the precious life; his eye shall not pity, his hand shall not spare, though it be a right hand or a right eye. Be it a gainful sin, most delightful to his nature or the support of his esteem with worldly friends, yet he will rather throw his gain down the gutter, see his credit fail, or the flower of his pleasure wither in his hand, than he will allow himself in any known way of sin. He will grant no indulgence, he will give no toleration. He draws upon sin wherever he meets it, and frowns upon it with this unwelcome salute, ‘Have I found thee, O mine enemy?’….

Have you crucified your flesh with its affections and lusts; and not only confessed, but forsaken your sins, all sin in your fervent desires, and the ordinary practice of every deliberate and willful sin in your life? If not, you are yet unconverted. Does not conscience fly in your face as you read, and tell you that you live in a way of lying for your advantage? That you use deceit in your calling? That there is some way of secret wantonness that you live in? Why then, do not deceive yourself. ‘Thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.’…

There is no surer evidence of an unconverted state than to have the things of the world uppermost in our aim, love and estimation. With the sound convert, Christ has the supremacy….A man is never truly sanctified till his heart be truly set upon God above all things, as his portion and chief good….

All of Christ is accepted by the sincere convert. He loves not only the wages but the work of Christ, not only the benefits but the burden of Christ. He is willing not only to tread out the corn, but to draw under the yoke. He takes up the commands of Christ, yes, the cross of Christ. The unsound convert takes Christ by halves. He is all for the salvation of Christ, but he is not for sanctification. He is for the privileges, but does not appropriate the person of Christ. He divides the offices and benefits of Christ. This is an error in the foundation. Whoever loves life, let him beware here. It is an undoing mistake, of which you have been often warned, and yet none is more common. Jesus is a sweet Name, but men do not love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. They will not have Him as God offers, ‘to be a Prince and a Savior’ (Acts 5:31). They divide what God has joined, the King and the Priest. THEY will not accept the salvation of Christ as He intends it; they divide it here. Every man’s vote is for salvation from suffering, but they do not desire to be saved from sinning. They would have their lives saved, but still would have their lusts. Indeed, many divide here again; they would be content to have some of their sins destroyed, but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah, or divorce the beloved Herodias. They cannot be cruel to the right eye or right hand. O be infinitely careful here; your soul depends upon it. The sound convert takes a whole Christ, and takes Him for all intents and purposes, without exceptions, without limitations, without reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms; he is willing to have the dominion of Christ as well as deliverance by Christ. He says with Paul, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ Anything, Lord. He sends the blank for Christ to set down His own conditions….The heart that once was set against [the laws, ordinances, and ways of Christ], and could not endure the strictness of these bonds, the severity of these ways, now falls in love with them, and chooses them as its rule and guide for ever….The desire of the heart is to know the whole mind of Christ. He would not have one sin undiscovered, nor be ignorant of one duty required….The unsound convert is willingly ignorant, he does not love to come to the light. He is willing to keep such and such a sin, and therefore is loath to know it to be a sin, and will not let in the light at that window….The free and resolved choice of the will is for the ways of Christ, before all the pleasures of sin and prosperities of the world….While the unsanctified goes in Christ’s ways as in chains and fetters, the true convert does it heartily, and counts Christ’s laws his liberty. He delights in the beauties of holiness, and has this inseparable mark. He had rather, if he might have his choice, live a strict and holy life, than the most prosperous and flourishing worldly life….It is the daily care of his life to walk with God. He seeks great things, he has noble designs, though he fall too short. He aims at nothing less than perfection; he desires it, he reaches after it; he would not rest in any degree of grace, till he were quite rid of sin, and perfected in holiness (Phil. 3:11-14). Here the hypocrite’s rottenness may be discovered. He desires holiness, as one well said, only as a bridge to heaven, and inquires earnestly what is the least that will serve his turn; and if he can get but so much as may bring him to heaven, this is all he cares for. But the sound convert desires holiness for holiness’ sake, and not merely for heaven’s sake. He would not be satisfied with so much as might save him from hell, but desires the highest degree. Yet desires are not enough. What is your way and your course? Are the drift and scope of your life altered? Is holiness you pursuit, and religion your business? If not, you fall short of sound conversion.

And is this which we have described, the conversion that is of absolute necessity to salvation? Then be informed, that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life—that there are few that find it—that there is need of divine power savingly to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ….

Does not conscience carry you to your closet, and tell you how seldom prayer and reading are performed there? Does it not carry you to your family, and show you the charge of God, and the souls of your children that are neglected there? Does not conscience lead you to you shop, your trade, and tell you of some iniquity there? Does it not carry you to the public-house, or the private club, and blame you for the loose company you keep there, the precious time which you misspend there, the talents which you waste there? Does it not carry you into your secret chamber, and read there your condemnation? O conscience! Do your duty. In the name of the living God, I command you, discharge your office. Lay hold upon this sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, apprehend him, undeceive him. What! Will your flatter him and soothe him while he lives in his sins? Awake, O conscience! What meanest thou, O sleeper? What! Have you no reproof in your mouth? What! Shall this soul die in his careless neglect of God and of eternity, and you altogether hold your peace? What! Shall he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace? Oh, rouse yourself, and do your work. Now let the preacher in your bosom speak. Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Let not the blood of his soul be required at your hands (Joseph Alleine, An Alarm to the Unconverted [Now titled A sure Guide to Heaven, Banner of Truth Trust], chapter two, "The Nature of Conversion."

Notice that Alleine (and all the true gospel preachers of his day) includes many of the very same criteria for final salvation that we have already studied as marks or characteristics of the truly converted—they do the will of God; they obey Jesus and keep His commandments; they deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him; they forsake all; they follow holiness; their righteousness exceeds the Scribes’ and Pharisees’. Alleine includes all these as characteristics of the truly converted for the simple reason that he knows his Bible.

Dear reader, have you had this thorough change of heart and life called the new birth, or have you been short-changed of the real thing by one of its many substitutes? In these days when self-esteem has replaced self-abnegation and positive preaching has replaced searching sermons that expose sin, there is usually not enough conviction present to produce true repentance and a true conversion. Earthly benefits and dominion are offered to selfish, unrepentant sinners instead of a call to total surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord, obeying and following Him. Almost all of you reading this have had an unsound and inadequate conversion and are not prepared for the kingdom of God. This is at the root of our failure to please God and the corruption and chaos so widespread in the church today. There is only one thing to do—go back and find the strait gate Jesus told us about, the gate of deep sorrow and true repentance for sin, the gate at which we are so broken and moved upon by the Spirit of God that we surrender all and forsake all to follow Jesus. Thank God, He has brought me there.

This generation of false preachers have been so deceived themselves as well as corrupting the Word of God so totally that they have formed a new religion that bears little or no resemblance to the Christianity of the New Testament and the writing of the early fathers of the second and third centuries. Do as I have done and seek counsel outside this generation from men of God in the past. Labor to obtain a true sense of your sins and seek a complete change of heart and life by the power of God’s Spirit. Labor to have a genuine repentance and an unfeigned faith, a complete committal of your whole being and life to Christ, a true, full, sound conversion. Keep seeking until you find, because—

Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3).

God bless you.

Leon Stump, Pastor of Victory Christian Center

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