A Conversion Hymn

I Once Was Dead in Sin and Strife
M. Justin Wainscott, 2008

I was once was dead in sin and strife,
And knew no will but mine;
But God has quickened me to life
By sovereign grace divine!

To base desires I was a slave,
And under their control;
But Jesus Christ is strong to save;
He freed my shackled soul!

Although my heart was hard as stone,
And vile with ev’ry beat;
For all my sins Christ has atoned.
In Him I stand complete!

My blinded eyes were shut by sin,
The dark my only sight;
But God, in mercy, opened them,
And flooded me with light!

My lifeless tongue was resting lame,
No words my mouth could bring;
Till on my lips God put His name,
And loosed my tongue to sing!

And sing I shall to Christ my King,
My Savior and my God;
Loud praises I will ever bring.
I’ll glory in His blood!

And when from earth I shall depart,
And when it’s time to die;
I’ll join the saints and sing my part
In songs of praise on high!

Old Truth, New Effects

Richard Baxter, the renowned Puritan pastor, spoke of his own conversion in the following way:

The same things which I knew before came now in another manner, with Light,and Sense and Seriousness to my heart.

It seems to me that this ought to be the sentiment of most believers who grow up in a Christian home and who are brought up in a church that preaches the gospel. It's not so much that in conversion they are learning new truth as it is that the truth they know affects them in a new and profound way.

Praise for Conversion

Come, Ye That Fear the Lord
Samuel Stennett, 1727-1795

Come, ye that fear the Lord,
And listen, while I tell
How narrowly my feet escaped
The snares of death and hell.

The flattering joys of sense
Assailed my foolish heart,
While Satan with malicious skill
Guided the poisonous dart.

I fell beneath the stroke,
But fell to rise again;
My anguish roused me into life,
And pleasure sprung from pain.

Darkness and shame and grief,
Oppressed my gloomy mind;
I looked around me for relief,
But no relief could find.

At length to God I cried;
He heard my plaintive sigh;
He heard, and instantly He sent
Salvation from on high.

My drooping head He raised;
My bleeding wounds He healed;
Pardoned my sins, and, with a smile,
The gracious pardon sealed.

Oh, may I never forget
The mercy of my God;
Nor ever want a tongue to spread
His loudest praise abroad.

Four Costs of Becoming a Christian

Erik Kowalker's great site, J.C. Ryle Quotes (which I have mentioned on this blog before), has a series of posts this week regarding the four things Ryle said a person must be ready to give up if he/she wishes to become a Christian (all of them from Ryle's classic work, Holiness). They are well worth pondering.

1. Your Self-Righteousness
2. Your Sins
3. Your Love of Ease
4. The Favor of the World

And check the Ryle site tomorrow for a summary post, "Contemplating the Four Costs."

Packer on the Puritans as Ministerial Midwives

"God breaketh not all men's hearts alike" (Richard Baxter). Some conversions, as [Thomas] Goodwin said, are sudden; the preparation is done in a moment. Some are long-drawn-out affairs; years may pass before the seeker finds Christ and peace, as in Bunyan's case....No rule can be given as to how long, or how intensely, God will flay each sinner with the lash of conviction. Thus the work of effectual calling proceeds as fast, or as slow, as God wills.

The Puritan minister viewed his part in the process of conversion as that of a midwife, whose task was to see what was happening and give appropriate help at each stage. They also realized they could not foretell, let alone fix, how rapid the process of birth would be. Since God convinced, convicted, and converted a sinner through His Word, the Puritan preacher saw as his task in evangelism the declaration of God's mind as revealed in the passage they expounded, the showing of the lost the way to salvation, and the exhortation of the unbelievers to learn the law, to meditate on God's Word, and to humble themselves before God by praying that God would show them their sins and give them the grace necessary to enable them to come to Christ.

--J.I. Packer, "Puritan Evangelism"