One of my favorite writers is Loren Eiseley. He is an anthropologist and naturalist who can blend scientific knowledge and imaginative vision, and record his findings with the perception of a painter, the words of a poet, and the heart of a prophet. I share one of his stories in his own words, because the way he puts words together is powerful and inspiring.
“The sound that awoke me was the outraged cries of the nestling’s parents, who flew helplessly in circles about the clearing. (A raven had raided their home to eat their babies.) The sleek black monster was indifferent to them. He gulped, whetted his beak on the dead branch a moment and sat still. Up to that point the little tragedy had followed the usual pat tern. But suddenly, out of all that area of woodland, a soft sound of complaint began to rise. Into the glade fluttered small birds of half a dozen varieties drawn by the anguished outcries of the tiny parents.
“No one dared to attack the raven. But they cried there in some instinctive common misery, the bereaved and the unbereaved. The glade filled with their soft rustling and their cries. They fluttered as though to point their wings at the murderer. There was a dim intangible ethic he had violated, that they knew. He was a bird of death.
“And he, the murderer, the black bird at the heart of life, sat on there, glistening in the common light, formidable, unmoving, unperturbed, untouchable.
“The sighing died. It was then I saw the judgment. It was the judgment of life against death. I will never see it again so forcefully presented. I will never hear it again in notes so tragically prolonged. For in the midst of protest, they forgot the violence. There, in that clearing, the crystal note of a song sparrow lifted hesitantly in the hush. And finally, after painful fluttering, another took the song, and then another, the song passing from one bird to another, doubtfully at first, as though some evil thing were being slowly forgotten. Till suddenly they took heart and sang from many throats joyously together as birds are known to sing. They sang because life is sweet and sunlight beautiful. They sang under the brooding shadow of the raven. In simple truth they had forgotten the raven, for they were the singers of life, and not of death.” (Loren Eiseley, The Immense Journey, page 174-175).
Now that’s a lesson from nature about two Christian realities which were distinctively emphasized by John Wesley: Assurance, which is the privilege of all believers, set in the grim reality that sin can and often does persist in the life of a believer.
Loren Eiseley’s story is a bridge between our sermon last Sunday on Christian perfection or sanctification, and our sermon today. The birds “sang under the brooding shadow of the raven. In simple truth they had forgotten the raven, for they were the singers of life and not of death.” It is a revealing image of the style of a Christian. How beautifully and with what power did Paul express it in our scripture from Romans 8? Listen to him:
Verse 2 —“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.”
Verse 5 —“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
Verse 11 — “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit which dwells in you.”
Verses 15-16 — “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of Sonship. When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”
Now to be true to our situation we have to admit one fallacy in the image. The birds may have forgotten the raven as they sang; Christian sings - but he does not forget the raven. The presence of sin and evil is always an ominous awareness for the Christian. Sin abounds – but we sing – because Grace does much more abound.
So we talk today about sin in the life of the believer, and then about that song - inspiring Gospel of assurance which is a central belief of a Methodist Christian.
I
First, sin in the life of the believer. Does even the possibility sound completely out of sync with the Wesleyan teaching on Christian perfection which we enunciated last Sunday? Well it does, and that’s the reason we must face it head on and talk about it.
We affirmed last week that one of Wesley’s primary claims was that sanctifying grace gives us power over sin. Recall what we emphasized about that point. Paul said in Romans 6:11: “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ Jesus.” In our scripture lesson today, Paul contended that “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.”
A saving perspective on these radical claims is gained when we ask the right question. Our usual question is, “Does a Christian sin?” And the immediate response is “of course!” But the more important question is “Does a Christian have to sin?” And the answer is a resounding “NO”.
Here is the key: In any given situation, God’s grace is more powerful than the lure of temptation. That’s where we must begin - that’s the bedrock truth, and it is the witness of scripture over and over again.,
This is one of the strong in Wesley’s theology and we talked about it last Sunday – regenerative and sanctifying grace keeps man so long as man keeps it. In our scripture lesson today from Romans 8, Paul uses the terms “flesh” and “Spirit” to designate our dual nature. In the preceding 7th chapter he shared his own classic witness of the conflict that continues to rage in the life of the Christian : “For the good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not, that I do - 0 wretched man that I am.”
In Galatians 5:17, Paul puts it this way: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would.”
When he writes to the believers in Corinth, those whom he designates as “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (I Corinthians 1:2) Paul says: “Brethren, I could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ for you are still of the flesh. (I Corinthians 3:1, 3)
This passage gives us a clear clue to understanding the fact that sin persists in the life of the believer. These Corinthians are brothers and sisters in Christ with Paul, yet he sees sin in their lives the envy, the strife; but he does not see them as having lost their faith.
Note the big point of Scripture and of Wesley: Paul sees these persons in Corinth as “babes” in Christ. Now we need not get tied up with how long we may remain “babes” in Christ. To some degree, we may all always be thus designated. But Paul and Wesley would not be cavalier about this. Sin and our struggle against it must always be seen as serious business. Wesley made the point clearly by asking the question: “But can Christ be in the same heart where sin is?” He responded: “Undoubtedly he can; otherwise it never could be saved therefrom.” Where the sickness is, there is the physician.
“Carrying on his work within,
striving until he cast out sin.”
“Christ indeed cannot reign where sin reigns; neither will He dwell where any sin is allowed. But He is and does dwell in the heart of every believer, who is fighting against all sin; although it be not yet purified, according to the purification of the Sanctuary. (JOHN WESLEY’S 53 SERMONS, page 665).
So here is the truth in one sentence: “sin remains but no longer reigns in the Christian. Get that -Sin remains but no longer reigns in the Christian. We need to note this particular Wesleyan position because it is the foundation for Wesley’s conflict with those who believe in eternal security, or what some Christians today label the “Doctrine of once saved, always saved.”
Listen carefully to this succinct word of Wesley: “A man may be in God’s favor though he feels sin; but not if he yields to it. Having sin does not forfeit the favor of God; giving way to sin does. Though the flesh in you “lusts against the Spirit,” you may still be a child of God; but if you “walk after the flesh,” you are a child of the devil.
So get the matter straight. It is not a question of whether God is able to keep us from falling; of course he can.
Now this doctrine does not encourage one to obey sin, but to resist it with all our might. (“Sin in the Life of the Believer,” Ibid., pages 671-672).
Now here is what separates a Methodist understanding from those who believe in eternal security — whether we yield to sin in our lives to the point that we forfeit our salvation.
So get the matter straight. It is not a question of whether God is able to keep us from falling; of course he is able! Whether we can or can’t fall is not as important as whether se do or don’t. It is a matter of whether we are constantly vigilant in responding to God’s Grace — whether we allow the Holy Spirit to sensitize our consciences, making us aware of the “new sins” that spring up in our lives, and the sinful abuses of innocent human aspirations. Being kept by God is dependent upon whether we will listen to His voice and not allow His love to grow cold within us.
The case is clear. We may “fall from grace” and forfeit our justification, but we don’t have to. There are two major principles of which we must be aware.
We don’t have to, and we won’t, provided we stay in relation ship with Christ. The Cokney soldier had it right when he said,
There ain’t no throne and there ain’t no books,
It’s ‘im you’ve got to see,
It’s ‘im, just ‘im, that is the judge,
of blokes like you and me.
And boys, I’d rather be frizzled up
In the flames of a burning ‘ell
Than stand and look into ‘is face and ‘ear ‘is voice say,
“Well!”
(From Sorrows of God by G. A. Studdert-Kennedy, copyright by Harper & Brothers, quoted by Leslie Weatherhead in Over His Own Signature pages 154-155)
You see, abiding in Christ, we are kept from allowing temptation to move us into intentional sin.
It is a matter of whether we are constantly vigilant in responding to God’s grace - whether we allow the Holy Spirit to sensitize our consciences, making us aware of the “new sins” that spring up in our lives, and the sinful abuses of innocent human aspirations. Being kept by God is dependent upon whether we will listen to his voice and not allow his love to grow cold within us.
Don’t you get it? We may “fall from grace” and forfeit our justification, but we don’t have to. There are two major principles of which we must be aware. One, there is the principle of the abiding potentiality of evil within our lives — the old sinful nature which remains latent even in regenerate persons.
Then secondly, there is the principle of our absolute dependency on God. Even after we have been converted, we can do no good of ourselves but must rely completely on the Spirit of God which performs the good in us and through us.
Aware of these principles, we must give ourselves to moral and spiritual discipline. As Christians, we repent daily, and cast ourselves on God’s grace. We grow in that grace and move from the threshold of faith our justification by God toward the fullness of grace — our sanctification. And all along that journey, we can be kept from falling from grace, kept from forfeiting our justification by the glorious assurance of our salvation.
Charles Wesley didn’t write it, Fanny Crosby did – and it’s great Wesleyan theology:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood
And the third verse of that hymn states it clearly:
Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest....
II
That leads to our next big point - ASSURANCE.
And this brings us back to our scripture lesson. Wesley’s favorite text for this central theme of his theology was Romans 8:16:
“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
Early in his ministry, Wesley taught that there was no authentic salvation without assurance. By the mid—1740’s, he had modified his position, believing no longer that assurance was necessary for salvation, but that it was the “common privilege of all believers”. (Note for book: Letter to Mr. Melville Horn, page 199 of tuttle).
Here we must tell Wesley’s story of his conversion at Aldersgate, May 24, 1738. We’ve waited until now in this sermon series to tell of his conversion experience because the core of that conversion was the gift of assurance. Rehearse the bare outline of Wesley’s life.
You, will recall that he was a priest in the Church of England. He was a very religious person who from earliest childhood had been taught all the doctrines of the church. His mother, Suzannah, was one of the rarest persons in history. She had 19 children – all of the children who survived were given two hours of religious instruction by their mother each week. What a task, and what a commitment on the part of a mother.
In 1725, having been nurtured by his mother, and also by his father, Samuel, who was also a Priest in the Church of England, Wesley, while a student at Oxford University, had a conversion to the “ideal of holy living.” We’re going to come back to that conversation later because it played a significant role in Wesley’s life. There are few examples in history of a more disciplined religious person rising at four in the morning to read his Greek New Testament for an hour, praying for an hour with others who had joined him in what was called the Holy Club. Visiting prisons, giving to the poor all of his money except that which was absolutely necessary for his own living, almost neurotically preoccupied with the right use of his time.
He was a man desperately seeking salvation and an assurance of his salvation. He was tirelessly bent upon achieving that, and drove himself as a merciless taskmaster in all the religious disciplines and services that could be imagined. He even came to America as a missionary to the Indians — serving for a time in South Georgia near Savannah. But all of that was a failure — and it seemed to Wesley that his whole life was doomed to failure.
He went home from Georgia, downcast in mind, despondent in spirit pierced to his heart with the futility of all his efforts, and the emptiness of his soul.
On the ship, returning to London, Wesley came in touch with some Moravians, and they impacted his life tremendously. A storm battered the ship to the point that even veteran seamen panicked. Everyone was terrified except the Moravians. They were calm and assured; they gathered together, prayed and sang hymns, apparently oblivious to the storm. Wesley saw in them the peace that he desperately longed for and he learned that they called that inner peace “assurance.”
He knew he didn’t have it, but when he got home, he visited his brother Charles who was sick in bed with pleurisy. And Charles confided to him that in the crisis of the illness, when his life was in peril, he had experienced the assurance of God’s love and felt that no matter what happened, everything was going to be all right. Charles was able to accept each day as a gift from God and enjoy it.
John couldn’t understand that. He had labored as diligently as Charles had. He had struggled for that assurance of God’s love probably harder than anyone in the whole of England. And you can imagine that when he saw that Charles had received what he himself had so struggled for he experienced profound discouragement and despondency.
It was in that despondent mood that he went to a prayer meeting that involved some of the Moravians — on May 24, 1738. There in that prayer meeting, some lay person read Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans and Wesley witnessed later as to what happened in his own life.
“I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
(Note: My friend, Mark Trotter, has imaginatively suggested that when Charles Wesley shared his experience with John, and John told Charles about his experience with the Moravians on the ship, that was the inspiration for the first verse of Charles’ hymn, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”.
Jesus, Lover of My Soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, 0 my Savior, hide,
‘Til the storm of life is past;
Save into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last!
This Aldersgate experience was the watershed — it transformed Wesley from a slave to a son —- he knew - that s a key word. He knew that in his words, “Christ had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
In Paul’s word, he did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the spirit of sonship — the sonship that enables us to cry ‘Abba, Father.’
Now once the Spirit makes that witness to us, the witness of assurance is continually verified. It is verified in at least four ways:
One, we know that we’ve repented of our sins, and will continue to repent daily.
Two, we are aware of change in our lives and the awareness of assurance grows within us if we see changes continually happening.
Three, assurance is ours if we are aware of a new character being produced in us — if the fruits of the Spirit are growing in our lives.
And four, if we find joy in the service of God.
There are a few experiences that can provide more power in our lives than to have assurance of our salvation. Think what it could do for any one of us. Our timidity and tentativeness about witnessing would be dissolved.
We would not be intimidated by those “buttonhole witnesses” who come on like gangbusters – we would know that we know, and we might be able to teach those overzealous witnesses that tenderness, patience, and understanding are authentic testimonies as well as words.
We would not get overwrought with our Christian friends who insist on future security for we would be assured of our present relationship with Christ.
We would be joyous in our service for God, but not driven in our works or mistaken in the notion that our works would save us.
We would be delivered from frantic preoccupation with taking our spiritual temperature minute by minute, because we could be relaxed in our trust of the Lord.
And all of that would help everyone of us, wouldn’t it? It certainly helped Wesley.
On Thursday morning, May 25, the day after his conversion, he wrote, “The moment I awaked, ‘Jesus Master’, was in my heart and in my mouth; and I found all my strength lay in keeping my eyes fixed upon him, and my soul waiting on him continually. Then at St. Paul’s in the afternoon, I could taste the good word of God in the anthem which began, ‘My song shall be always of the loving kindness of the Lord: with my mouth will I ever be showing forth thy truth from one generation to another.’ Yet the enemy injected fear, ‘If thou doesn’t believe me, why is there not a more sensible change?’ I answered ‘That I know not, but this I know, I have now peace with God.’ And I sin not today, and Jesus my Master has forbid me to take no thought for tomorrow.’” (works, Volume 1, page 104).
That can be my experience and your experience – with the assurance given us that we are no longer slaves but sons – and that we’ve not been given the spirit of fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.” We can sin not today and know that Jesus forbids us to take any thought of tomorrow. And we can keep singing that hymn that Charles wrote in a celebration of his and his brother’s conversion.
Where shall my wandering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise?
Or sing my great deliverer’s praise?
Two challenges now to go on:
This day, and every day, rejoice in the salvation that is yours.
This day, and every day, repent of every sin and renew your faith commitment to Jesus Christ.
And the Holy Spirit will keep your hearts and your minds in the love of Christ Jesus the Lord.
