of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and
how ye turned, _converted_, to God from idols to serve the living and
true God." 1 Thess., i, 8, 9. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," is
passive in our translation, but imperative active in the original. In
the Geneva text it reads: "_Amend_ your lives and turn. So conversion is
a commandment of God. If there is anything necessary to conversion that
is not in the power of the sinner, why should he be commanded to
convert? If the trouble is in his corruption, through inborn depravity,
why are _some converted_ and _others not_? If there is anything in
conversion that is not in the power of the sinner, then he must of
necessity be saved without it, or remain unavoidably in sin--_doomed to
misery_."

Webster defines the term _convert_ "to change from one state to another,
as to convert a barren waste into a fruitful field; to convert a
wilderness into a garden; to convert rude savages into civilized men; to
change or turn from one party or sect to another--as to convert Pagans
to Christianity, to turn from a bad life to a good one, to change the
heart and moral character from enmity to God and from vicious habits to
the love of God and to a holy life." Hence the ancient commandment:
"Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will you die." Eze.
xviii, 32. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Is this out of your
power? Then who is to blame? Does the blessed Father command you to do
what you can not? Are you thus lost without remedy? Does the Lord mock
you with commandments that you can not obey? The importance of
conversion is in the fact that it is the turning point or dividing line
between those who serve God and those who serve him not.

I. The Lord commands sinners to convert.

II. The Lord's commandments are duties that sinners owe to God.

Therefore, conversion is a duty that the sinner owes to God. It is the
sinner's duty; then he must perform it. We have seen that the Lord
commands it, and that sinners did perform it. Do you say it is a work
begun upon them and accomplished by them? Then sinners must be passive
in the beginning of this work, and the beginning is most essential, for
unless the thing is begun it will never be accomplished. Is this
beginning the work of God wrought upon the sinner by a special operation
of the Holy Spirit? If this be so it follows that the entire Christ