Common Errors in Understanding Conversion | Clip from Salvation in Full Color: Conversion

Two things we want to warn you about before we look at these eight questions, and so Chuck, give us the first one.

Conversion Is Necessary

The first one is that conversion is necessary. You cannot skip conversion and all the parts, if you will, the various terms we're talking about under salvation, we've said they're necessary. God's described them all.

We don't get to pick and choose which ones we want to to know or to experience, and conversion is certainly one that we can't pass. So we can't not undergo conviction and sorrow for sin and understanding what the nature of our depravity is and seeing how desperate we are and that we need a savior and coming to him in faith and repentance.

We don't get to skip any of those steps and just, you know, kind of miraculously become mature.

Holy Christians. Yeah. Bunyan's book, The Pilgrim's Progress, pictures this where Christian meets men and on the path, so they look like, I mean, so they're on the path of religion. They look like Christians for a moment.

But when he begins to speak with them, he asks them, so did you come through that straight gate, you know? Did you come through that terrible stripping process where you are laid bare before God and, you know, and you have nothing but Christ?

And they said, no, we didn't come in through the gate. We live along the edge of the wall. We just jumped the wall and we're as good as you are. Here we are. But in the book, whenever someone skips the gate, skips true regeneration and conversion, they are only on the path of religion for a while and eventually they abandon it.

Regeneration and Conversion Are Not Enough

Another danger is thinking that regeneration and conversion, as important as they are, are enough. That if you get a good start, that's all that is required. And so, you know, you and I both probably grew up in kind of similar cultural religious situations.

I was up north and you were down south, but we were both in the same denomination where all the emphasis that I remember, and the church had many wonderful Christians, but our emphasis tended to be on can you remember exactly the day that you asked Christ into your life?

And I do remember, you know, revival services where we would sing a hymn and if you were saved on a Monday, stand up Tuesday. And then they did have a wonderful like safety net, like if you can't remember the day, you know, the eighth verse, you can stand up on that day.

And I remember I just would like pick one. I mean, I figured it was a Sunday. It had to be, you know, I walked forward. So let's pick a Sunday. So that kind of a thing where, look, I remember the day that Christ was merciful to me, or I remember when I asked him to my heart and I was sincere.

That's wonderful. But is that all you have? Because if that's all you have, then you don't have the Christianity that Christ gives. Well, let's look at some of these questions and see if we can give some practical answers to things that, you know, commonly plague Christians and maybe parents in particular, pastors, co-workers.

Here's the first one. What are two common errors in modern evangelicalism with regard to understanding the nature of conversion or in applying our understanding of true conversion? What are two errors that we need to avoid?

No Change Expected Versus Unbiblical Hypercriticality

One is that no change is expected. So as long as you have made a profession of faith or had some experience, that's enough. And there's no real need to look for fruit or to pursue holiness. It's just.

No change. Oftentimes, I mean, the thing that's brought up there, and it can be a legitimate complaint, is that it's easy for us to become judgmental or try to make a judgment in an area that we can't see.

We can't see the heart of a person. But Christ told us that the life will bear fruit, and we're not to be hypercritical. And that's the other error, that we say, okay, we are not for that easy believism.

Or even in Reformed churches, which have, you know, perhaps more careful about doctrine, a person might say, well, I think that they're a Christian because they know the truth. I remember a man in our church in the early days would see a person who had really good doctrine, you know, just walk away from a path of obedience to Christ and live a very bad life.

And this dear old man would say, I don't know how they can do that. They know the truth. And I used to think, but where in the Bible does this say, if you know these certain doctrines and you have the right balance of them and you can explain them and you agree with them, where does it say that that's all it took?

So, we don't want to say, look, if you have these great doctrines and you agree with them, that's all you need. And we're not looking for any changes in a person who wants to join a church, who wants to be baptized.

But also the other error, we don't want to set the bar so high, usually where we kind of feel that we're at right now. And we think, well, if you're below where I think I'm at, whether we're really there or not, then I'm not even sure you're a Christian.

If we did that, I think we would dishonor the Lord and run the risk of damaging baby Christians. You know, where's there room for growth? Can they not stumble? Can they not be confused about things? If we read the New Testament letters without rose-colored lenses, it's amazing how confused baby Christians can be.

And yet Paul doesn't say, I don't think you're even Christians at all. So we want to be merciful. We look for the biblical evidences of the changes, but we do so with a really a gracious, generous heart.

We really do appreciate being able to interact with you through the comments. So if you have questions or just comments you'd like to leave, leave them below and we'll get back to them as we have a chance.