Conversion.
Confession leads to true conversion, and there is no conversion at all until these three steps have been taken.
Now the word “conversion” means two things. We say a man is “converted” when he is born again. But it also has a different meaning in the Bible. Peter said: “Repent, and be converted.” The Revised Version reads: “Repent, and turn.” Paul said that he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but began to preach to Jews and Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God. Some old divine has said: “Every man is born with his back to God. Repentance is a change of one’s course. It is right about face.”
Sin is a turning away from God. As someone has said, it is aversion from God and conversion to the world: and true repentance means conversion to God and aversion from the world. When there is true contrition, the heart is broken for sin; when there is true conversion, the heart is broken from sin. We leave the old life, we are translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Wonderful, isn’t it?
Unless our repentance includes this conversion, it is not worth much. If a man continues in sin, it is proof of an idle profession. It is like pumping away continually at the ship’s pumps, without stopping the leaks. Solomon said:—“If they pray, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin . . .” Prayer and confession would be of no avail while they continued in sin. Let us heed God’s call; let us forsake the old wicked way; let us return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon us; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
If you have never turned to God, turn now. I have no sympathy with the idea that it takes six months, or six weeks or six hours to be converted. It doesn’t take you very long to turn around, does it? If you know you are wrong, then turn right about.
Confession of Christ.
If you are converted, the next step is to confess it openly. Listen: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.”
Confession of Christ is the culmination of the work of true repentance. We owe it to the world, to our fellow Christians, to ourselves. He died to redeem us, and shall we be ashamed or afraid to confess Him? Religion as an abstraction, as a doctrine, has little interest in the world, but what people can say from personal experience always has weight.
I remember some meetings being held in a locality where the tide did not rise very quickly, and bitter and reproachful things were being said about the work. But one day, one of the most prominent men in the place rose and said:
“I want it to be known that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ; and if there is any odium to be cast on His cause, I am prepared to take my share of it.”
It went through the meeting like an electric current, and a blessing came at once to his own soul and to the souls of others.
Men come to me and say: “Do you mean to affirm, Mr. Moody, that I’ve got to make a public confession when I accept Christ; do you mean to say I’ve got to confess Him in my place of business, and in my family? Am I to let the whole world know that I am on His side?”
That is precisely what I mean. A great many are willing to accept Christ, but they are not willing to publish it, to confess it. A great many are looking at the lions and the bears in the way. Now, my friends, the devil’s mountains are only made of smoke. He can throw a straw into your path and make a mountain of it. He says to you: “You cannot confess and pray to your family; why, you’ll break down! You cannot tell it to your shop mate; he will laugh at you.” But when you accept Christ, you will have the power to confess Him.
There was a young man in the West—it was the West in those days—who had been more or less interested about his soul’s salvation. One afternoon, in his office, he said:
“I will accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”
He went home and told his wife (who was a nominal professor of religion) that he had made up his mind to serve Christ, and he added:
“After supper tonight I am going to take the company into the drawing-room, and erect the family altar.”
“Well,” said his wife, “you know some of the gentlemen who are coming to tea are skeptics, and they are older than you are, and don’t you think you had better wait until after they have gone, or else go out in the kitchen and have your first prayer with the servants?”
The young man thought for a few moments, and then he said:
“I have asked Jesus Christ into my house for the first time, and I shall take Him into the best room, not into the kitchen.”
So he called his friends into the drawing room. There was a little sneering, but he read and prayed. That man afterward became Chief Justice of the United States Court. Never be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: it is the power of God unto salvation.
A young man enlisted and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him.
So it went on the next night and the next, and finally, the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place and asked what he should do.
“Well,” said the chaplain, “you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right in the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them.”
For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked—
“By the way, did you take my advice?”
“I did, for two or three nights.”
“How did it work?”
“Well,” said the young man, “I felt like a whipped hound, and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down, and prayed.”
“Well,” asked the chaplain, “how did that work?”
The young soldier answered: “We have a prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest.”
Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world wants to call us fools, let them do it. It is only a little while; the crowning day is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.
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