Cry To The Christian

Recently I read George Whitefield's sermon "The Method Of Grace" and was struck by his passion and urgency of style in writing it. I could almost imagine him at the pulpit earnestly delivering the words to his congregation and was as gripped by it as much as if I had been there.

Jeremiah 6:14 - "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace."

The words, then, refer primarily unto outward things, but I verily believe have also a further reference to the soul, and are to be referred to those false teachers, who, when people were under conviction of sin, when people were beginning to look towards heaven, were for stifling their convictions and telling them they were good enough before. And, indeed, people generally love to have it so; our hearts are exceedingly deceitful, and desperately wicked; none but the eternal God knows how treacherous they are.

These are words of sin and wickedness not often preached in Churches today!

First, then, before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the law of God. According to the covenant of works, `The soul that sinneth it shall die;' cursed is that man, be he what he may, that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.

Here he speaks of the need to be in grief over sin. Yes we rejoice in the salvation of the Lord, but how often do we lose ourselves in the monotony of day to day life, and forget our great need for our savior amidst our riches and our comforts?

Did you ever see that God's wrath might justly fall upon you, on account of your actual transgressions against God? Were you ever in all your life sorry for your sins? Could you ever say, My sins are gone over my head as a burden too heavy for me to bear? Did you ever experience any such thing as this? Did ever any such thing as this pass between God and your soul? If not, for Jesus Christ's sake, do not call yourselves Christians; you may speak peace to your hearts, but there is no peace. May the Lord awaken you, may the Lord convert you, may the Lord give you peace, if it be his will, before you go home!

America desperately needs to be awakened from our pride. In the middle of our blessings and prosperity we become stiff necked and forget how to cry out to God in agony of our sin and need for Christ.

We can do no good thing by nature: `They that are in the flesh cannot please God.' You may do many things materially good, but you cannot do a thing formally and rightly good; because nature cannot act above itself. It is impossible that a man who is unconverted can act for the glory of God; he cannot do anything in faith, and `whatsoever is not of faith is sin.'

Yes! No more should lies by told in our Churches and our schools that goodness can be found apart from Christ. No longer should those unbelieving be flattered by our attempts to escape rebuke when we do not speak the Word.

I am persuaded the devil believes more of the Bible than most of us do. He believes the divinity of Jesus Christ; that is more than many who call themselves Christians do; nay, he believes and trembles, and that is more than thousands amongst us do.

Our hearts are so cursedly wicked, that if you take not care, if you do not keep up a constant watch, your wicked hearts will deceive you, and draw you aside. Let me, therefore, exhort you that have got peace to keep a close walk with Christ. That time has been when you had something to say for your dear Lord; but now you can go into company and hear others speaking about the world bold enough, and you are afraid of being laughed at if you speak for Jesus Christ. Take care, then, not to be conformed to the world. What have Christians to do with the world? Christians should be singularly good, bold for their Lord, that all who are with you may take notice that you have been with Jesus. I would exhort you to come to a settlement in Jesus Christ, so as to have a continual abiding of God in your heart.

How easy it is to be conformed to the styles, ideas and expectations of the world around us! It is a very hard thing to be different and stand out for the truth in a world of sin. But we need to be bold for the Lord, that others may notice. How else can we expect to spread the good news but to surrender our pride to the Lord and trust Him to guide through those difficult things?

Most of you, if you examine your hearts, must confess that God never yet spoke peace to you; you are children of the devil, if Christ is not in you, if God has not spoken peace to your heart. Poor soul! What a cursed condition are you in. I would not be in your case for ten thousand, thousand worlds.

Awake, then, you that are sleeping in a false peace, awake, ye carnal professors, ye hypocrites that go to church, receive the sacrament, read your Bibles, and never felt the power of God upon your hearts; you that are formal professors, you that are baptized heathens; awake, awake, and do not rest on a false bottom.

While we are quaking and shaking in fear of what man will do to us should we speak the gospel, souls are lost and men led astray by the devil. We need to be those who awake the false professors, the hypocrites in our congregations. We need to be the ones to go to our neighbor and boldly proclaim the saving Word of God. May God forgive us for holding our peace at the sight of so much sin and complacency around us!

Come away, my dear brethren _ fly, fly, fly for your lives to Jesus Christ, fly to a bleeding God, fly to a throne of grace; and beg of God to break your hearts, beg of God to convince you of your actual sins, beg of God to convince you of your original sin, beg of God to convince you of your self-righteousness _ beg of God to give you faith, and to enable you to close with Jesus Christ.

Come away with me brothers and sisters! Is the walk you are walking a close one with God? Do you seek earnestly for truth in His word, to know Him and trust Him? Are you courageously proclaiming the word by His grace?

May we have a passion for sharing and knowing the power of God as George Whitefield had in his address to his congregation.

Jennifer

Read the entire sermon here