Nine Marks of a Healthy Church - Fourth Mark

A Biblical Understanding of Conversion

Romans 3:10-16 - "There is no one righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

As Pastor Dave explained Sunday, these verses describe every person born into this world, and it's not a very flattering picture of the human condition. We were all born corrupt and in need of change if we are to be declared righteous before God. But what does this needed change involve? It's not the mental assent involved in "making a decision for Christ" or walking an aisle in a church. It's not the moral resolve in deciding to live a good life. The needed change is a complete reliance on Christ to save us from our state of spiritual bankruptcy. Mark Dever writes: "If our conversion is basically understood to be something we do ourselves instead of something God does in us, then we misunderstand it. Conversion certainly includes our action --we must make a sincere commitment, a self-conscious decision. Even so, conversion is much more than that. Scripture is clear in teaching that we are not all journeying to God, some having found the way, while others are still looking. Instead, it presents us as needing to have our hearts replaced, our minds transformed, our spirits given life. None of this we can do. We can make a commitment, but we must be saved. The change each human needs, regardless of how we may outwardly appear, is so radical, so near the root of us, that only God can do it. We need God to convert us." (Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, p. 28)