Christian Classics: Excerpt from Sermon “Awake, Thou That Sleepest” by Charles Wesley

Christian Classics: Excerpt from Sermon “Awake, Thou That Sleepest” by Charles Wesley
(Adapted from 20 Things You Should Read)

Yet on the authority of God’s word, and our own church, I must repeat the question, “Hath thou receives the Holy Ghost?”  If thou hast not, thou art not yet a Christian.  For a Christian is a man that is “anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power.”  Thou art not yet made a partaker of pure religion and undefiled.  Dost thou know what religion is? – that it is a participation of the divine nature; the life of God in the soul of man; Christ formed in the heart; “Christ in thee, the hope of Glory…”

…Thou hopest to be saved; but what reason hast thou to give of the hope that is in thee?  Is it because thou art not like other men; but wise, or learned, or honest, and morally good; esteemed of men, and of a fair reputation?  Alas! all this will never bring thee to God.  It is in His account lighter that vanity.  Dost thou know Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent?  Hat he taught thee, that “by grace we are saved through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast?”  Has thou received the faithful saying as the whole foundation of thy hope, “that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners”?  Hast thou learned what that meaneth?…

…O that  in all these questions ye may hear the voice that wakes the dead; and feel that hammer of the Word, which breaketh the rocks in pieces!  “If you will hear His voice today, while it is called today, harden not your hearts.”  Now, “awake, thou that sleepest” in  spiritual death, that thou sleep not in death eternal!  Feel thy lost estate, and “arise from the dead.”  Leave thine old companions in sin and death.  Follow thou Jesus, and let the dead bury the dead.  “Save thyself from this untoward generation.”  Come out from among them, and be thou separate. and touch not the unclean things, and the Lord shall receive thee.”

“Christ shall give thee light.”

“Free-Will”

Christian Classics: The Bondage of the Will (excerpt) by Martin Luther

Section 9

This therefore, is also essentially necessary and wholesome for Christians to know: That God foreknows nothing by contingency, but that He forsees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal and infallible will.  By this thunderbolt, “Free-will” is thrown prostrate, and utterly dashed to pieces.   Those, therefore, who would assert “Free-will,” must either deny this thunderbolt, or pretend not to see it, or push it from them.

Section 24

These things, therefore, are openly proclaimed for the sake of the Elect: that being by these means humbled and brought down to nothing they might be saved,  the rest resist this humiliation; nay, they condemn the teaching of self-desperation; they wish to have left a little something that they may do themselves.  Theses secretly remain proud, and adversaries to the grace of God.  This, I say, is one reason – that those who fear God, being humbled, might know, call upon, and receive the grace of God…

This is the highest degree of faith – to believe that He is merciful who saves so few and damns so many; to believe Him just, who according to His own will, makes us necessarily damnable, that He may seem, as Erasmus says, ‘to delight in the torments of the miserable, and to be an object of hatred rather than of love.’  If, therefore, I could by any means comprehend how that same God can be merciful and just, who carries the appearance of so much wrath and iniquity, there would be no need for faith.

Battling Wandering Thoughts

Christian Classics: The Practice of the Presence of God (excerpt) by Bro. Lawrence

YOU tell me nothing new; you are not the only one that is troubled with wandering thoughts.  Our mind is extremely roving; but as the will is mistress of all the faculties, she must recall them, and carry them to God, as their last end.

When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by reallocation, at our first engaging in devotion, has contracted certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome, and commonly draw us, even against our wills, to the things of the earth.

I believe one remedy for this is, to confess our faults, and to humble ourselves before God.  I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer; many words and long discourses being often the occasion of wandering; hold yourself in prayer before God, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate: let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the Lord.  If it sometimes wanders, and withdraw itself from Him, do not much disquiet yourself for that; trouble and disquiet serve rather to distract the mind, than to re-collect it; the will must bring it back in tranquility; if you preserve in this manner, God will have pity on you.

One way to re-collect the mind easily in the time of prayer, and preserve it more in tranquility, is not to let it wander too far at other times:  you should keep it strictly in the presence of God; and being accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings.

Decisions

It’s so easy to believe that what you think or say doesn’t matter. Like your perspective could never hold enough weight in this great big world to make any real difference. In fact it is the deceptive way apathy and moral decay slip into the fabric of our lives. We lose our hunger for the Truth that everything should be led by. Then all we’re left with is what makes sense to us in our own logic already tainted by a fallen world with media outlets feeding our every waking moment. The information age has brought many great things into our culture. However one deadly backlash has been that with so many voices battling for our attention we are no longer sure of where we should stand. We want to stand on the side of truth but every voice drips with passion and sincerity. Each one is truly dedicated to it’s own end.

The biblical principles that serve as the standard for Truth are far from uncontroversial. Today truth and rightness is seen not as a standard but as what brings the most health and happiness to the most people. God wants everyone to live happily and healthy right? He thought it important enough to say as much in the New Testament, (3 John 1:2) “Beloved, I pray that in all things thou may prosper and be in health…”. But then John adds “…even as your soul prospers.” The onslaught of voices in a fallen world have sickened the souls of believers and unbelievers alike. Now health and happiness seems to be illusive dreams. It may be because our Truth is centered around our collective health and happiness rather than God’s created order.