The fourth of five sermons on this text; it was preached in Edinburgh in 1857 and is taken, with editing, from Duncan’s Pulpit and Communion Table. The previous two sermons appeared in the February 2023 issue of this Magazine.
Psalms 51:13. Sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Sinners need conversion. Unless sinners are converted they will perish everlastingly. Whatever changes take place in the sinner that fall short of conversion, these changes leave the sinner still under sentence of everlasting condemnation. Unconverted sinners are away from God. Sinners cannot be holy away from God; sinners cannot be happy away from God. Holiness is good; happiness is good; God is better – better than either, better than both – and it is having God that makes us have either the one or the other.
Sinners may be converted with a real, saving conversion. Sinners may undergo a real and not a saving change. He who stole may become honest, as far as unconverted men who have never stolen are honest. The habitual liar may become truthful, as far as unconverted men of high principle who would scorn a lie are truthful. It is one fruit of the gospel, with some outward influence of the Holy Spirit accompanying it, that many are thus converted – converted not unto God but from the dominion of some sin. They receive another spirit, and are turned from some sins.
But “sinners shall be converted unto Thee”. It is therefore not sufficient that a conversion is really a conversion; it must be a conversion unto God. I am not going to inquire at the present moment what conversion is internally: outwardly it is unto God. God made man in His own image, after His own likeness. He was in the image of God, in favour with God, in communion with God – he was a godly man. Adam was not a justified man, for he was on his trial, but he was a godly man in his state of probation and trial; he was with God in a state of trial. But he left God, and so lost God’s image, lost God’s favour, lost communion with God.
Now the cause of our unholiness and misery is that we are godless. Not that all unconverted men – far from it – are atheists, in the sense of denying that there is a God. But they do not have this God for their God: friendly relations between God and them have been broken up. “The carnal mind is enmity against God . . . not subject to the law of God”; and “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”. On man’s part it is hatred, and on God’s part it is wrath; on man’s part causeless hatred, on God’s part well-deserved wrath. Well, if these two things be between a man and God, a sinner is a miserable being in the hands of an angry God. And the thought of that God must be to man the most terrible of all thoughts. Sinners away from God are therefore not disposed to return to Him, and they never would be disposed to return if there were not such a thing as conversion.
You see clearly that conversion presupposes something. It presupposes that God’s dealings towards fallen men are not the same as His dealings towards fallen angels. It is the devil’s duty to love God; but, in a certain sense, repentance is not the devil’s duty. We are sinners, and the devil is a sinner; but the difference between us is this: he is a sinner of the angelic family, and we are sinners of the human family. Now, to repent and keep God’s law is ever a command to Satan; but he has no call to return, because there is no Saviour – no way of return is provided – for angelic sinners. But a Saviour, a way back to God, has been provided for mankind-sinners; God has devised a way by which His banished may be brought back again.
We fear to speak of the way of the sinner’s return, because, in so doing, “we are unto God a sweet saviour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the saviour of death unto death; and to the other the saviour of life unto life”. And yet we must; we dare not shrink from it; it is God who places the responsibility upon us. Were it left to us to choose, we would not be a saviour of death unto death to any. We would be thankful if we were a saviour of life unto life to them that believe; and we would leave them that do not believe in their death as they were. But no, “we are unto God a sweet saviour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish”. that is, faithful gospel ministers – which we would aim at being, and pray God that through grace we may be – “to the one we are the saviour of death unto death, and to the other the saviour of life unto life,” because we preach the new and living way opened into the holiest of all, because we preach that Jesus has made peace through the blood of His cross.
Well then, sinners may be converted unto God. Sinner, are you converted? It is to be feared that a worse thing is true of some here than that they are unconverted – they see and feel no need for conversion, and they have a real fear lest God should convert them. Is there anyone here that has a fear of conversion – that has a distaste to it? Consequently, when you hear of conversion, you hear of it as a thing you wish to avoid. When you hear of it as your duty, you will not do it; and when you hear of it as the work of God’s grace, you wish God not to do it. You do not want to turn to God; so you do not want God to turn you.
God has appointed means for the conversion of sinners. Means will not of themselves effect it, but God employs means. God deals with us, in saving us, as lost sinners needing divine power; as rational creatures that have a mind, an understanding, a will, a heart, to be wrought upon. Now God and you, sinner – God and man – must have a meeting. Whether we are converted to God or remain unconverted, we must face God; God must and will deal with every one of us. He will deal with us about our individual sins, and specially about the spring of them – our carnal mind, which is enmity against God and not subject to His law. He will deal thus with all sinners of mankind who have heard of Christ, for preferring to remain in such a state rather than have Christ.
The sinner, when He turns to God in Christ, sees what? He sees a reconciled God. I do not say, at first, a God reconciled to him, but a reconciled God. He sees a God waiting to be gracious, and exalted to show mercy. He sees a God who is a just God and a Saviour. He sees a God who, in wonderful wisdom, has devised and provided a way of escape, even a plan of salvation, in which all His perfections – His holiness, justice, goodness, truth and mercy – meet harmoniously in the pardoning of the chief of sinners. Sinner, will you turn? Will you turn so far as to turn your face to look on a reconciled God? Do not say, I cannot call Him my God. Ah, do not confound faith with assurance; do not confound turning to God with what follows a return to God, and comes more and more after a return to God and close walking with Him. Will you seek to turn so as to behold the way into the holiest of all opened? Will you try to think where the dealing of God towards you, a sinner, distinguishes you from the devil, a sinner?
How is God’s dealing with you – who have sinned like Satan – different from His dealing with Satan? With you it is not only a dealing in long-suffering, it is a dealing in extended grace. And will you turn so far as to look at that? “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God.” Turn, turn, and behold a just God and a Saviour. You say, I cannot see Him. Do you believe His Word? He says He is a just God and a Saviour – that mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Do not call Him a liar, do not say, Mercy and truth have not met together; righteousness and peace have not kissed each other. Do not say, He is not a just God and a Saviour; if I were to look at Him, I should see a just God who is not a Saviour; if I were to look at Him, I should see no face but an angry face; I should not see – for it is not there – the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Let us endeavour now to look for a little at the covenant of grace. Is there a covenant of grace? What is the covenant of grace? Does it suit me? Does it contain all I need? Is it adapted to the like of me?
We shall look at the covenant of God’s grace as it is set forth in Hebrews 10:16,17: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”; and in Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
First then, are you a covenant-breaker?
Are you included in the guilt of Adam’s breach of the first covenant? Are you guilty of the breach of your baptismal, personal covenant? Are you guilty of the breach of many resolutions, vows and covenants which you have made with God? And are you now at a stand about covenanting with God, because you despair of ever keeping these covenants which you make? Well, this is a new covenant that is made with covenant-breakers; does that suit you? It is to be made with covenant-breakers; others must stand aloof. Not that they are excluded, but they exclude themselves; they will not come on these terms.
Then the covenant contains this, “I will write My law in their hearts”.
It is implied that the law is not there, that it needs to be there, and that neither you can write it there, nor can any other creature write it there for you. Well, this is a covenant of grace with lost sinners who do not have God’s law in their heart. If such is your case, then this covenant suits you. Whether you think it suits you or not, God has made it suitable.
Then the covenant contains this, “They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me”.
This does not mean that God will put away these means of teaching. No, “despise not prophesyings”. But it means that the great fundamental lesson of knowing the Lord is what God Himself must teach. He may employ other instruments; but concerning this great first lesson, as John says, “Ye need not that any man teach you”. This is therefore a covenant with ignorant creatures who do not have the knowledge of God. And they cannot get the knowledge of God; they are so ignorant that human teaching will not suffice? It is written, “Despise not prophesyings”; but are you so ignorant that the knowledge which you get from men, even from God’s Word, is not sufficient, but you have to say to God, Teach me Thyself?
Well, this covenant is for you. It is made with the ignorant; whether those who are without the knowledge of the truth externally, or a doctor of divinity in a carnal state who is outwardly well-informed. The Spirit of God convinces the sinner that he is so ignorant that he knows nothing. He knows words about it; he knows the form of it; but he does not know the things – as the Apostle says, “We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God”. The things – the Holy Ghost alone can teach us that. The doctor of divinity needs to be taught that; and the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein, if he is taught. God says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee . . . I will guide thee with Mine eye”. And he shall be a wise man some day to whom the all-wise God promises this, to whom He promises it in the sense of giving strength to lay hold of the promise.
Then the covenant contains this: “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”.
Well, what stands between you and this covenant? Is it that your sins are more than can be comprehended in it? No, it is not that. Well, it is easy to say, No; it is another thing to be persuaded of that. Do you think now, if all you have done since you were born were set before you by God – as He says, “I will reprove thee, and set [thy sins] in order before thine eyes” – that you could believe that God could pardon them? What estimation have you of God’s pardoning heart? Do you believe that God has a wide enough pardoning heart to blot out all your iniquities as a cloud? Look at the covenant containing this: “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. Will you then say, It cannot go so far as mine? What are you doing then? You are not simply excluding yourself; you are excluding yourself by limiting the mercy of God. It is downright unbelief to exclude your case, whatever God may do with your person.
Can you think so well of God’s pardoning mercy as to say, Whatever God will do with my sins and iniquities, He can forgive them all if He pleases; He has mercies and compassions sufficient for it; whatever is His purpose towards me, He has infinite compassions. The sacrifice of Christ did not beget these in God; it has only opened up an honourable channel for the flowing out of these mercies. God’s purpose to forgive is a definite purpose. His forgivingness belongs to His nature and is infinite.
Well, you say, this is a good covenant – that is, God’s part in it; but what is our part?
The blessedness of this covenant is this: it has no part on our side. Israel had a part in the Sinaitic covenant; they broke it, and God did not regard them. Such a covenant would not be a sure covenant. Faith is necessary, but faith is not a condition of the covenant. If God said, I will do it if they believe, it would be a covenant of works. No, faith is necessary, because the covenant can be grasped by faith alone; but this covenant of itself is a covenant of unmixed promise. There is a condition in the covenant of grace, and only one, a meritorious condition. It is this, “When [the Lord] shall make His soul an offering for sin”. This is the condition on which pardon is extended to the guilty.
Therefore the covenant is in the hands of a Mediator, as the Holy Ghost says of Christ:
“For this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance”. We are called to exercise faith, but we are not called to look in on faith as a condition; we are called to exercise faith in looking out on the unmixed promise of God, which can be received only by believing.
Now, if these things be true, everyone that refuses to take hold of this covenant does so because he says God is a liar.
He says, God will not write His law in my heart; God will not teach me; God will not be merciful to my unrighteousness, and remember my iniquities no more; He will remember them still. If you do not take hold of the covenant, you either say, It is all true, but I do not want it. That is rejection. Or you say, Though God has promised to do all this, I do not believe He will do it. That is unbelief. It takes either of these two forms: unwillingness to be saved by Christ, or disbelief that He will save you.