In This Issue:
B. C. — Before Christ
A Man Drank Up a Farm
A Notable Conversion
Volume: 944 February 12, 2024
Theme: Conversion
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B. C. — Before Christ
Bill Brinkworth
When Christ saves a soul, God does tremendous work in that person we do not always see. A new spiritual life will begin, and the old ways should be behind that person.
The old ways were before Christ. The new life results in much freedom and joy!
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” II Corinthians 5:17
Before people were saved, no matter who they were, they were enslaved. They may not have mindfully planned to be servants, but they were enslaved. They were:
Slaves to self.
People did whatever felt good to them. “Gimme, gimme, gimme,” was their selfish attitude. “Me first,” they lived. “Who cares what happens to others, just as long as I make out okay,” they believed.
Because of our selfishness, we are commanded: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: … 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” (Colossians 3:5-10)
“Die” (“mortify”, quit) your self-gratification and other acts of selfishness. Let the new creature in you live a life of freedom in Christ without self-centeredness!
Slaves to sin.
Before the Holy Spirit controlled one’s life, it was common to think:
- “Can’t live without that cigarette.”
- “I need a drink to think.”
- “I need to lie to cover up past lies…”
“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34
See in the following verses what the lost did and what he is expected to do now that he is on the Heaven-side of Calvary:
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24 With God’s help, we can put off our old ways and let the new person in us give us new freedom.
Slaves to sin’s fruits.
Do not be deceived; there is a price tag on all sins. AIDS and other diseases are often the wages of the sin of fornication, homosexuality, and adultery. Cirrhosis of the liver comes many times as a consequence of drinking. Lung cancer can come from defiling the temple with smoking. The sins of lying and dishonesty reap loneliness, being cut off from others, mental illness, and guilt. Consequences may be slow in coming, but there are often visual wages from iniquity.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7 Also: Romans 6:23.
Slaves to Satan’s whims.
Because an unsaved person is not a child of God, like many would have us believe, they obey their father, Satan.
“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: …Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do .…” John 8:41-44 Also: Ezekiel 11:19-21. When we become born-again, we are born into the family of God, and we can obey our new Heavenly Father and have more freedom.
Slaves without hope of an eternity in Heaven.
There is a price tag on our “slavery” without Christ as one’s Saviour. That cost is one’s eternal life in the Lake of Fire.
“For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:20-23 Also: Ephesians 2:1-6.
There can be freedom from the “slavery of sin” which ruins so many. By acknowledging one’s sinnership and accepting God’s only Son’s death on the cross as payment for our sin, we can have God’s promise of Heaven and freedom from sin’s hold.
Even after being saved, the hard part is listening to the new Master and not the flesh. When we do let our new Master have control, we can be free in a way the unsaved world cannot even imagine. We can have a new life better than the one we had before Christ saved and changed us.
“Walk by new rules towards new ends from new principles. Make a new choice of the way. Choose new paths to walk in, new leaders to walk after and new companions to walk with. Old things should pass away, and all things become new. The man is what he was not and does what he did not.” — Henry
A Man Drank Up a Farm
Excerpts from D. L. Moody
Years ago, I was going away to preach one Sunday morning when a young man drove up in front of us. He had an aged woman with him.
“Do you see that beautiful meadow?” said the young man, pointing to a nearby property, “and that land there with the house upon it?”
“Yes.”
“My father drank that all up,” said he. Then he went on to tell me all about himself. His father was a great drunkard, squandered his property, died, and left his wife in the poor house.
That young man is one of the finest young men I ever knew. He toiled hard, earned money, and bought back the land. He had taken his mother out of the poorhouse and was now taking her to church.
That is a wonderful illustration. The first Adam in Eden sold us for naught, but the Messiah, the second Adam, came and repurchased us. The first Adam brought us to the poorhouse, as it were; the second Adam makes us kings and priests unto God. That is redemption.
In Christ, we get all that Adam lost and more. Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.
“Conversion is separating ourselves from the course and custom of this world, and devoting ourselves to the conduct according to the word of God.”
— Henry
A Notable Conversion
Excerpts from a D. L. Moody Article
A jail chaplain once told me a surprising case of conversion in which the covenant of grace was the chief instrument of the Holy Spirit. My friend had under his charge a man most cunning and brutal. He was repulsive, even in comparison with other convicts. He had been renowned for his daring and the utter absence of all feeling when committing acts of violence.
Several times, the chaplain had spoken to him but had not succeeded even in getting an answer. The man was sullenly set against all instruction. At last, he desired a particular book, but it was not in the library.
The chaplain pointed to the Bible, which was placed in his cell, and said, “Did you ever read that Book?”
He did not answer but looked at the good man as if he would kill him. The question was kindly repeated, with the assurance that he would find it well worth reading.
“Sir,” said the convict, “you would not ask me such a question if you knew who I was. What have I to do with a book of that sort? It would do me no good,” he snapped. “I am past all feeling.” Doubling up his fist, he struck the cell’s iron door and said, “My heart is as hard as that iron. There is nothing in any book that will ever touch me.”
“Well,” said the chaplain, “do you want a new heart? Did you ever read the covenant of grace?” The man answered sullenly by inquiring what he meant by such talk.
The preacher replied, “Listen to these words, ‘A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.’” (Ezekiel 36:26)
The words struck the man with amazement. He asked to have the passage found for him in the Bible. He read the words again and again.
When the chaplain came back to him the next day, the wild beast was tamed. “Oh, sir,” he said, “I never dreamed of such a promise! I never believed it possible that God would speak to men in such a way as that. If He gives me a new heart, it will be a miracle of mercy. Yet, I think He will work that miracle upon me, for the hope of a new nature is beginning to touch me as I never was touched before.”
That man became gentle in manner, obedient to authority, and childlike in spirit from then on. He was a new creature.
When a preacher heard a convert bragging about his wicked past, he remarked, “Never mind what you did while you were asleep. Let us hear what you did when you were awake!” — Author Unknown