Sermons by Rev. Rob Henderson

Rev. Rob Henderson
https://www.angelfire.com/mi2/robhenderson/
robnaomi@oceana.net

There is no one since the days of Paul of Tarsus who has had such a strident impact on Christianity as John Wesley. I realize that in making this sweeping statement that I do so under the influence of the Wesleyan Church but with high admiration for a man who has been misquoted, misunderstood, and derided as not being Biblical enough. John Wesley never saw himself for who he was and that is why he remembered as he is. Church history and even secular history has looked back and seen a man used by God to not only save souls from the pit of hell but in doing so spare England the kind of revolution and dictatorship that France endured from Bastille Day through Napoleon.

John Wesley was born 1703 to Rev. Samuel and Susannah Wesley. He was the fifteenth child and second surviving son of this Puritan pastoral home. John’s dramatic rescue at age five from a fire that destroyed their home gave pause to John later in life when he referred to himself as “a brand plucked from the burning.”

John Wesley was nobody’s dummie. He was educated at the Charterhouse school in London, and Christ Church, Oxford. He received his Master’s degree in 1727. As a college student he was a part of a group who were referred to as Methodists: because of their strict conformity to the method of study prescribed by the university. However, they were also a Holy Club- challenging one another in good works for God. They ministered to the poor and helped the sick. These young men- who included Charles Wesley and Geroge Whitefield- strived together to serve God with all diligence.

And it is with that kind of zeal that caused John to begin to look inwardly. already God was beginning to put challenges in front of him.

In 1734 Wesley went to America to save the Indians. He fell in love and had a horrible ordeal over a young lady named Sophia who rejected him and married another. His work as a missionary was failing. Just before he left to return to England he was challenged by John Oglethorpe. let me share the dialogue from Wesley’s journal:

He said, “My brother, I must first ask you one of two questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your Spirit that you are a child of God?” I was surprised and knew not what to answer. He observed it and asked, “Do you know Jesus Christ?”

I paused and said, “I know he is the savior of the world.”

“True,” he replied, “but do you know he has saved you?”

I answered, “I hope he has died to save me.”

“Do you know yourself?”

I said, “I do” but I fear they were vain words.

I find it hard to believe that someone with the intellect of John Wesley would not understand whether or not he was saved. Wesley had begun to realize that all of the good works that he had strived to do, all of the great preaching and understanding would not and could not save him. He began to see that there was more to salvation.

He wrote in his journal: “I went to America to convert the Indians; but O! who shall convert me? Who, what is he that shall delvier me from this evil heart of unbelief? I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well; nay, and believe myself while danger is near; but let death look me in the face and my spirit is troubled. Nor can I say ‘To die is gain.’”

What about any of us here today? Do we know that we are saved? Do you have the witness of the Spirit that you are a child of God? How would you answer?

After his return to England Wesley writes in his journal these words: “I had many remarkable returns to prayer; especially when I was in trouble; I had sensible comforts... But I was still under the law not under grace. For I was only striving with not freed from sin. Neither had I the witness of the Spirit with my spirit and indeed could not; for I sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.”

You see, Wesley was making the same mistake so many Christians make: he was trying to save himself. While on the ship returning he was terrified that he would die. He realized that something was missing in his life. Oh, like so many christians perhaps he prayed the prayer of salvation at a young age but it is in the mayhem of life that the real decision for Christ is made.

Wesley also saw that the problem lay in his unbelief. He had not trusted by faith in the work of Jesus Christ. He had faith in God but not in the work of Christ.

And so on that fateful day of May 24, 1738 that John Wesley walked into a society meeting. Let me read what he wrote:

“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine. while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

John Wesley brought to Christianity a balance that no other theologian before. He was raised in a Puritan home and understood the Clavinist teachings. He was indoctrinated in the Church of England and understood the Roman Catholic roots. He ministered under the Moravians and was challenged in Christian perfection. He studied the Eastern Orthodox church and saw the high church worship order. And he was saved while hearing the preface of Luther’s commentary to the book of Romans. “The just shall live by faith.”

I suppose the question for us today is this: What does it mean to be saved and entirely sanctified? I give you three points from our scripture in Romans 8:12-17-

1. My sins are forgiven.

When I come to the cross that Jesus died on I must by faith believe that he died for me. It’s so easy to say that he died for the rest of the world but I must to come to the realization that he died for me.

Suppose I am a chicken thief and I have been caught stealing chickens. I stand before the judge and admit my guilt- with the chickens in my hands. I am deemed not guilty because the penalty has been paid and I have pleaded for Christ.

Each of us, to be a Christian, must believe that our sins are forgiven. We are no longer a chicken thief but now a Christian.

2. My sins are taken away.

Not only am I found not guilty but my sins are taken away. This was a basic truth that Wesley taught. As a chicken thief my sins are not only forgiven but now are taken away. The chickens are in my hand but now I let go of them. This is entire sanctification. When I surrender my complete will wholly to God. When I allow the Holy Spirit to lead my life.

3. My life is led by the Holy Spirit.

A sort of quantum leap seems to take place between justification and sanctification and the result must be being led by the Holy Spirit.

I have found it fascinating to observe those who have claimed to be entirely sanctified and yet show some of the most heinous attitudes towards their brothers and sisters in the Lord. When you are entirely sanctified you have committed to God you whole self and have offered your whole self as a living sacrifice. Your heart should be a heart that yearns for God daily. Your actions should be those that are expemplified by Jesus Christ. And your works are not those that earn favor with God but occur because of your love for Him.

John Wesley said this: “I desire to have both heaven and hell ever in my eye, while I stand on this isthmus of life, between two boundless oceans.”

Heaven and hell are in the balance. To Wesley the world was his parish and Jesus Christ was his focus. We will never fully appreciate what John Wesley has done in history because we will never really know how wide his influence has been.

I suppose if I were to choose a word to describe our fore-father the word would have to be “determination.”

John Wesley was determined to understand. As God’s Spirit moved to draw him to salvation Wesley was determined to find out what it meant to be saved by grace through faith. He was not content to lean on his own understanding but wanted to know the wisdom that comes from God. He was ever learning, reading voraciously and writing. Not only did he want to learn more about his relationship with God but he wanted to pass this on to even the most ignorant. He was determined to learn.

John Wesley was determined to preach. The Church of England- his church- did not appreciate or approve his teaching. They closed their doors to him so what did he do? He stood on his father’s tombstone in the churchyard and preached eight straight nights to the greatest crowds Epworth had ever seen.

John Wesley was determined to holy living. He discipled his pastors and laymen to live holy lives- not by works to earn salvation but out of a fullness of the Holy Spirit. He said this: “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire, nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth.” How can mere human creatures do this? He goes on to say: “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.”

Our holy living as Christians is in response to our determination to worship a holy God.

On February 23, 1791 John Wesley preached his last sermon from Isaiah 55:6- “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.” 250,000 horseback miles, and 42,000 books later John Wesley died after saying “Farewell” at 10am on March 2, 1791. John Whitehead preached “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?” Thousands passed his coffin and numerous memorial services were held all over England, Scotland, and Ireland.