May - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

Lydia’s Conversion 151
are conscientious and devout according to their light, but ignorant or unbelieving,
or imbued with strong prejudice against the gospel, just as Nathaniel, of
whom the Lord said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”. He
was so influenced by prejudice as to say, in answer to what he first heard of
the Messiah, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” If divine agency
is necessary in such cases to open the heart to receive the truth, how much
more in the vast majority, who are utterly irreligious and unconcerned!
2. The means by which her conversion was effected. We shall find that
there was no miraculous accompaniment of any kind, but it is an example of
what takes place in the experience of every genuine convert. It is simply
said: “A certain woman heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul”.
But this statement brings before us two things which are usually essential
to a sinner’s conversion. The first is the agency of the Spirit; the second is
the instrumentality of the Word. The Spirit worked directly on the heart of
Lydia; He removed those obstacles which might otherwise have obstructed
the entrance of the truth. It was not Paul who effected this. Paul preached,
but though inspired with supernatural wisdom and endowed with miraculous
powers, and especially with the gift of tongues, he says, “Paul may plant,
and Apollos water; but God giveth the increase. Who then is Paul, and who
is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, according as the Lord gave
to every man?” God alone can open the heart.
That change consisted in opening the understanding to discern the light
of God’s truth, the conscience to feel its convincing power, and the heart to
receive its sanctifying influence. Heart-work belongs to the office of the Holy
Ghost; it has two parts: the opening of the Scriptures and of the mind – as we
learn from the case of the disciples after Christ’s resurrection. They exclaimed,
“Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and
while He opened to us the Scriptures?” It is also said: “Then opened He their
understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures”.
But while only the Lord can open the heart, He employs the truth as the
instrument of conversion to the careless, and of edification to the devout
inquirer. The Spirit’s agency does not supersede the use of the Word; on the
contrary, the truth read or heard is still the wisdom of God, and the power
of God, unto salvation. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia, but He did so
in order that she might attend “unto the things which were spoken of Paul”.
This great change is wrought through the truth contained in the Word – the
instrument which the Spirit of God renders effectual.
Hence, while we are said to be “born of the Spirit”, we are also said to be
“born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of