Four Steps of Genuine Conversion

Nice to see everyone today. I know there's some under the weather because of this cold weather. It does lower a person's immune system, so I know of people with flu and bad colds. In the past weeks, I've had the opportunity to meet with someone that is preparing for baptism. And basically, after so many years in the ministry and visiting areas, many of them very isolated, especially in Latin America, where I don't have a chance to bring a lot of books along and bring a lot of material, I basically set up what are the 12 steps to baptism, which is to reduce the teachings to these 12 steps that I go through. Of course, I've had hundreds of people go through this same 12-step program to recover from their sins and past life. And one of those steps has to do with the four parts to a person's commitment before God. And the first of those four parts to this commitment you do is that you commit to genuinely repent before God. And then we go into what is genuine repentance? What is being authentic before God? I always bring this up because it's not the minister who is actually going to commit to you. No, you are committing before God. And he does have in the Scriptures that he looks to a person's heart to see if it's something genuine or not. And so when I mentioned this about that God looks at the heart, of course, I'm not talking about physically, but the Bible uses the heart as a symbol of a person's attitudes, motives, and actions. So today we would use the term more like what's on your mind. And sometimes we say, what truly is in your heart? And so the Bible uses this illustration of the heart. Now, the heart is, of course, the central part of our bodies pumping all the time. It circulates the blood around, and it can be affected by a person's emotions. That's why a person can say, oh, I'm heartbroken, or my heart is pounding like pistons, or my heart is melting like wax. So there are all kinds of figurative language for the heart. Notice one of those is in 1 Samuel 16, verse 7. God had chosen Saul. He had given Saul an opportunity to be the first king of Israel. He had high hopes for Saul. But God saw that Saul's heart was not really where it should be. His motives, his attitudes, his actions showed he wasn't up for the job. And so he was rejected, and then David was chosen. What a different person than Saul. Saul, the description of him was that he was about a head taller than the average Israelite. He was a teaming, a big man, impressive looking. And of course he commanded a certain amount of admiration, because you'd see Saul coming. You'd probably have to duck going under a doorway. Big, massive man. Powerful. And now he chooses this young man, maybe still in his teens. He wasn't impressive. They tried to put David in Saul's armor. Remember when he was going to fight Goliath? And David, the armor, just filled him. Probably couldn't hardly see David with the breastplate. When they put him, he could just look this way. He was just such a small guy. Pretty thin, wiry. And so he didn't take the armor. And so God wasn't looking for somebody, he was just impressively looking. No, he was looking at the heart. And so he sent the prophet Samuel over to David's home. And David had all these older brothers. And so there's this in 1 Samuel 16. It's pretty humorous how again Samuel looks, and he looks at David's oldest brother. Boy, he was impressive. He was much bigger. He was a man. And God said, no. Okay, well, second guy. He doesn't look too bad either. He's pretty big and manly. Nope, not him. So they went through all the way, number six. And God said, no. And it was humorous because Samuel didn't know what to do. And so he asked Jesse.

Just like Jesse Oppie here, but we have another Jesse in the Bible. He says, Jesse, do you have another son? And he said, yes, the youngest one, but he's out there tending sheep. He said, well, bring him. Because God had not told Samuel which of the sons. And so here comes David, just a lad, young man, really, at that time, not fully developed, not become even a man as far as physique. And God says, that is the one. He is the one. And so then God gave this lesson and this principle in the Bible.

In 1 Samuel 16, 7, he says, but the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. Talking about Saul. For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And today you see most presidents, oh, they've got to groom themselves. And usually the best looking have a big advantage over others and have been chosen more because they look debonair. They have this appearance and the way they talk and impress and the personality and the charisma and they're chosen. And then finally when they get to the position, sometimes, you know, they don't do too good of a job. But God does not make mistakes like human beings do. And so it says, for the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart, the inner person. He looks to see if the motives and actions are genuine and real. In other words, you can fool others. You can even fool a minister, but you can't fool God. And that also goes for true conversion. And I mention that to the person because God's looking at the heart. I can't see everything. I'm going by what the person is saying, by the fruits, where I can see them, but I don't have a crystal ball. I can't prognosticate things like God does. Notice in Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10, again about looking at the heart. Here's the way God describes human beings. Jeremiah 17, verse 9 and 10, says, the heart is deceitful above all things. The people have self-impressions. They have their own view of what they really are. But God says usually a person is not really a good evaluator of themselves and desperately wicked. There's a lot of wickedness in the person. Many times they don't want to admit it. They don't want to see it. And then God says, who can know it? Who can know this heart?

And then he answers, I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind. Again, equating one with the other. That here he looks at the heart and at the same time he searches and he tests the mind. Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So he's seen in the Bible, talks about fruits. Those are actions. Those are results. He wants to see the concrete evidence of what a person does and produces.

And so he chose this young man. Nobody really thought anything of David at the time. He was out there taking care of the sheep. Well, why were all the brothers at home? They were probably having a good time, letting the little runt do all the hard work out there. But that young man had the heart of a lion and he was so dedicated to God. Can you imagine all the compositions he wrote? 150 Psalms that are in the Bible. Not that he wrote all of them, but he wrote most of them. Praising God, loving God, exalting God. Just thinking, I would love to work under David in that coming kingdom of God. Boy, you talk of a man that had enthusiasm for God and for doing his will and getting things done. And let's go. We got the boss's instructions. Let's go and do it. He wasn't a guy that did things halfway. So what are the steps to Genuine conversion?

Genuine conversion is actually what God's plan to create this universe and to create human beings on this earth is all about. He wanted true conversion as a result. That's why he created everything else. Because he was hoping out of creating human beings there would be some that would answer his call and would start changing their lives to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. That he could bring forth sons and daughters into this coming kingdom because they got true conversion. They really got it. They really are practicing it. The Apostle Paul was inspired to reveal these four main steps of true conversion. This will help us understand this topic, especially as it's commented as the Passover nears when we should examine ourselves, and also to be able to explain it to others.

In Latin America, there are those twelve steps. Wherever they go, sometimes they don't have a Bible, but you've memorized those twelve steps. Guess what? You can prepare a person that has already been walking and getting them ready.

These are ways that you can memorize certain things. Here are four steps to genuine conversion. If we remember them, we are able to explain it to others. One day, if you endure to the end, if you make it into God's kingdom, if you work under Jesus Christ, there will be something similar to this that Christ will say, Go! Yes! Teach the nations about genuine conversion. And people will say, Oh, let's see. How do I do that? Well, here at least you can organize it into four easy steps to teach this. And we should all be enthusiastic.

Here we're such a small group. Where are the people in the world? Well, they're doing stadiums. They're out filling stadiums. And they're out there doing all these things. And, oh, they're enthusiastic about their teams. And they're enthusiastic about whatever they're doing. But how many are enthusiastic about doing our Father's business?

We should be so enthusiastic to learn these things, because one day you're going to be doing it. You're going to be teaching this to the nations. In Daniel 12, verse 3, I'd like to read this in God's word translation. The latter part of this verse says, Those who lead many people to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. Those who lead many people to righteousness. How are you going to do that? If you don't even know how to describe genuine conversion and how to go about it. How to teach this? The term lead here means that you're guiding, that you're teaching, that you're giving them an example for people to learn the way of righteousness that the world ignores. So again, this can be organized into four main steps. Paul covers these steps. Of course, there's an elaboration and there's more details, but I just want to reduce it to these four main steps, especially in the book of Romans, along with other New Testament writers and other epistles. But let's go to Romans 8 to 28, because this is where Paul summarizes how God gets a person to be converted. Romans 8, 28-30, it says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. So it doesn't mean for everybody. There's a condition here. You love God. You put Him first, just as it was mentioned in the first message about counting the cost. You do love God. God is going to work things out in your life. To those who are called according to His purpose. Here, the term purpose means a plan, something preconceived in time that was already prepared ahead of time. And so those that are called according to His purpose. So here's the first step. God's calling. God does it, not us. He goes on to say about this calling, For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So here you have God's plan to be conformed to his Son. This is something that he prepared before even the creation of the universe. He already had this plan in mind, how to reproduce himself, and to have Him and the Word work it out. And that there would be people that he knew that he would be calling in the sense that there is this need to fill the positions in his kingdom. And God has been filling those positions all the way from the time of Adam up to today. He's been filling positions in his kingdom. And he has given people opportunities. Sometimes he will call a person, and that person will not heed the call. So God will call someone else. Some people heed the call, but they don't remain faithful. Fall by the wayside. So God calls someone else in their stead. So the first step is that God has to call a person. He goes on to say in verse 30, Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Here's the term. Again, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. So these are different steps until you enter into the kingdom of God. And basically the next three chapters in Romans, Romans 9, 10, and 11, he basically elaborates on this plan. And basically you have the four steps. The first one, the calling. The second one, faith. The third one, justification. And the fourth one is persevering. Again, justification and sanctification can be inter-collated. Some they can be exchanged. But these are the four that I can glean from the Scriptures. So let's go to this first step, which is God's calling. The term in the New Testament for calling, actually there is the noun and there's the verb.

The noun is called clatus, from the Greek k-l-e-i-t-o-s. And then you have the verb form, which is kaleo. K-a-l-e-o. That's where we get our word for call. From kaleo. It actually is used in the English from this Greek word. The word study dictionary mentions about this term means called, invited, welcomed, appointed.

You can be called to a position. You can be called to be invited to God's church. You can be called to be welcomed. This is the beginning of God's grace toward a person.

When you are called, God begins to apply His grace to a person. That grace is unmerited, undeserved, not based on works, but God's will at the time, and it's God's favor and forgiveness that He offers the person. I'm calling you to be able to be forgiven and to find favor before Me. In Vine's dictionary, the New Testament, it says about calling, the term, a divine call to partake of the blessings of redemption. You can also put here salvation.

I don't want to get technical, but that term about clatus, actually, you're talking about being called, and what are God's people named as? The called out ones. The eclasia, part of a group, that is the clasia, those called out ones. These are all terms coming from that root word, kaleo and clatus.

There's a good description of this in Hebrews 6, 4, 5. What is being called? What is it all about? How can we know exactly? Not by man's terms, not by dictionaries, but by God's word. Here's a definition of being called. Hebrews 6, verses 4 and 5 give us a good definition. Very illustrative and very clear. It says here about a person.

Verse 4 says, He says it's impossible to renew them. God's calling is once, and it has to last a lifetime. There'll be bumps along the way, but if a person falls away, leaves the faith, turns their back on God, he's not going to have a second calling. So here it tells us that you are once enlightened. What does that mean? And that you have tasted the good word of God. Enlightened means that you had your heart and mind opened to the truth of God. You had your heart and mind opened to the truth of God, and you were offered unmerited favor and pardon. Notice in Luke chapter 24 verse 45 is an example of being enlightened. Luke 24 verse 45, it says, And He opened their understanding. He opened something that was closed, it was shut, it was darkened. Now He opened their mind that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Only God can do that. You can't do it on your own. There are people that have memorized the entire Bible, and yet they haven't been called by God. So they just became very intelligent parrots of the Scripture. God is the only one that can call, no matter how much you study, how much dedication, how much effort, how much you want it or not want it. If you're looking for it or not, it is God who ultimately chooses the person.

Notice in Romans chapter 9 and verse 15. Romans chapter 9, I mentioned Romans chapter 9 deals with faith. I don't have time to cover that, but it would be a good Bible study. Just try to see the importance of faith in this. We're going to cover it in the second point.

But first you have to be called to have faith, because it's God's faith. In Romans chapter 9 and verse 15, it says, He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. It is not of him who wills, who wants it, nor of him who runs, who puts in all the effort, but of God who shows mercy. He selects whom he wants to apply the mercy and grace toward that person.

If that were not the case, we would probably have a whole seminary full of people, right? They dedicated themselves studying God's Word and dedicated years of time. We'd just be filled with all these scholars, but it's not the way God calls. He's not calling the great, the mighty of the world, and so it's up to him. He says he's the one that chooses. He ultimately is the one that chooses. We have two parables in Matthew 13, the parable of the Pearl of Great Price and the parable of the unexpected hidden treasure that shows somebody, yes, was looking for that truth throughout their lives, just like millions of other people.

But God happens to call that person, and they were seeking it. But on the other hand, the parable of the unexpected hidden treasure shows that a person wasn't looking for God's truths, but he went across this field and noticed something had been dug up, and he went there, and he found this treasure. He wasn't looking for it. He stumbled across it.

And so in the church, we either have one category or the second one. How many would say we're the ones seeking for the Pearl of Great Price? Could I see the hands of the people? Boy, not too many. Just here up front. How many stumbled across the truth without looking for it? Can I see how many? It's a lot more. So most people stumbled across this church. They weren't looking for the truth. I stumbled across it, too. But the point is that God does the calling. Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 4, 6-7. This is, again, a good description of what the calling does to a person. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6.

It says, For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts. Remember? He brings the illumination. He opens our minds to this truth, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So it is through Jesus Christ that we understand more about God the Father.

And God the Father does the calling, but Jesus Christ does the working behind the curtains and starts working in our lives about that calling. So this also, the calling, includes having to choose. You might be invited. It doesn't mean you're going to accept the invitation.

You have to take that step forward. You have to say, yes, I want to go. I want to have this grace. I want to understand God's truth. I want to go this way. So God doesn't work with human beings as if they were robots that just are programmed. You've been called and you have no choice about it.

That's something that is taught in many of the Protestant churches, which have their roots in Calvinism, this predestined, that you already have been chosen from way at the beginning of creation and all of this. There's no real choice. God chooses, and if you're not chosen, too bad. You're destined to go into hellfire and there's nothing you can do about it.

And if you've been chosen to be the elect of God, then nothing you will do can remove that. It doesn't matter how evil or bad you can be. God's still working it out. You've already been chosen. So it's a system that doesn't appeal to human nature and how it works and also free will. You remove that element. Whereas here, the calling is being summoned before God, invited, an opportunity avails itself, but you can turn your back on it. It's not obligatory. So that takes us to the second step, which is faith. Once you're called, you need to have faith in God. There's a way of faith. In Hebrews 11, in verse 6, it says, So you build faith first by understanding who God is and what His attributes are.

That God is love, that He is goodness personified, that He has promises that He will not break, that He's looking out for our best interests. Those are things we have to trust God as we come before Him. Faith means trust in God and His attributes, that they are that way, and we can go to the bank with that.

No matter what the circumstances look like, we have a loving and good God who can not be anything else. He is involved in our lives. He wants the best for us and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He's not going to curse us, but sometimes He's going to have to discipline us. Chastise us, as it says in Hebrews 12. If we're disobedient children, well, we're going to be chastised, but in love because God wants to bring us back to Him.

And so this is part of the lovingness of God. This includes submitting to Him, yielding to Him. So faith comes also with obedience. Faith trusting in God, but then doing our part. He cannot do our part, just like we cannot do His. So faith and obedience go together. James said famously, you know, faith without works is dead.

So they go hand in hand. And then this phase of faith includes knowledge, where we want to know everything about God's ways, His laws, His plan, His future kingdom.

And God's Spirit is working with us. It is opening our minds, but it's only with us. It is not in us yet. In this second phase, we still do not have God's Spirit in us, but God is already working. He called us. We said, yes, Lord, we will submit. We will obey. We have faith in You. Help us. But we want this way of life. We were counting the cost, as it was mentioned in the first message in John chapter 14. John chapter 14 and verse 16. Christ said, If you love me, keep my commandments. Put in practice my teachings, in other words. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, and it should say that it may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees it nor knows it. But you know it, because it's not a person. It's the force of God in a person. For it dwells with you and will be in you. So God's Spirit is, first of all, guiding you, but then one day it's going to be in you.

And that takes us to the next stage, number three, the stage of justification, which basically means being made just before God, being justified, removing guilt, and being declared now pure, innocent through God.

Justification involves baptism and the laying on of hands to receive God's Spirit. So this is the third stage of genuine repentance. It's the step of full commitment when you sign the pact before God, the contract. Before that, it's a pilot program. It's just preliminary. Now you sign it. Just like when you are going to get married, you have the engagement period. But that's not legal. It's only when you sign that it becomes legal. So baptism and receiving of God's Spirit through the laying on of hands is when it becomes legal before God. Notice in Acts chapter 8 and verse 14. Acts chapter 8 and verse 14.

It says, Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, in other words, God was opening up minds, He was calling people in Samaria.

Of course, they never thought that was going to happen. He thought God would be calling all kinds of people. Jews. Now He calls Samaritans who were the pariahs of Judaism.

They weren't included. He says, And yet, it should be it, because it's not a person again. It had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. That's the first step. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. So you see the laying on of hands is a ceremony necessary to receive God's Spirit.

That's why people that come to church and they're interested, well, how's my baptism? Well, have you had hands laid on you? Because baptism is not enough. And it has to be done, too, by people that are keeping God's ways and His commandments. That's the general rule. I've seen a few where people have received God's Spirit. Always they had hands laid on them. And God opened their minds and then they found out they were in the wrong church. And so they looked until they came to our church and then became members.

And we recognize they already had God's Spirit. So those are exceptions, but that's the way God works, right? Many times He does the work, but He never goes against His own laws and principles in the Bible.

So in this stage is where in 2 Peter 3, 17, and 18 it says, you grow in the grace and knowledge of biblical truths about Jesus Christ and His ways. If we don't grow and apply these principles, God's Spirit can be taken away. You can quench God's Spirit.

We know of the parables of the talents and the pounds, which were also mentioned where God said, look, you have no growth. After all this time, there's no growth. And the person who had just that one talent or the pound, he had that removed from Him.

So God expects us to grow in grace and knowledge and the fruits of God's Spirit.

The final step is perseverance until the glorification is completed.

So, okay, you are justified before God. You've gone through baptism. You receive God's Spirit. But now there is this perseverance stage where you have to endure. You have to be tested. You have to continue to be faithful, remain loyal to God and His ways.

You never give up. You don't throw off God's Spirit. You yield to God. When you sin, you go before Him. You yield to Him. You don't resist. You don't get hardened. In Psalm 119 and 165, Psalm 119, 165, it says, having read this here for a long time, Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. So they will survive. They might have hard times, but they will not give up.

They will not let any stumbling blocks to remain. So basically it's saying here that you do have this peace. You're going God's ways. You need that patience, but you're not going to let anything get in your way and hinder your advancement.

We know God warns us time and time again that a person can fall away. The book of Hebrews has one after another warning. Just like the Israelites failed, don't you think that you can't fail either? Because time and time again, God is warning us not to get comfortable, not to think, well, we're in the church, so we're going to make it into the kingdom and not be aware that we can lose this heavenly gift. Let's finish in 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5.

It says, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Are we in the faith? Are we strong? Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified?

But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. So he's telling the brethren, test yourselves. We're coming up to that Passover time, and we need to examine ourselves and these four steps about genuine conversion.

We need to show God our hearts and minds that we have a genuine and a sincere faith. Nobody's perfect, but we're going to hang in there and we're going to persevere. We always need his help. We should never think we are self-sufficient, that we can do it all on our own. Without God's help, spiritually speaking, we are nothing. We have to show him that those four steps of real conversion are truly part of our lives and that we are living it.