LISTEN ONLINEThe famous eighteenth-century evangelist, John Wesley, travelled 250,000 miles on horseback, preaching, mostly outdoors, in all weathers. So great was God’s power in his ministry that many thousands turned to Jesus.
But Wesley’s earlier years might not be so familiar. Rigorously, he’d attempted to earn salvation through his best efforts at living a righteous life. On 24 May, 1738, however, his “heart was strangely warmed”, and for the first time ever he understood the extent of his sinfulness, and how God’s grace, and His grace alone, could save him.
Wesley’s 40,000 subsequent sermons resounded with the theme of God’s grace. We were spiritually “dead” in our transgression (Ephesians 2:1), deserving of God’s wrath, while we gratified “the cravings of our flesh” (v. 3). “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (vv. 4–5), crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness. This is the wonderful gospel: “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” ( v. 8). Nothing we do can earn eternal life (v. 9).
Wesley was later described as “the best-loved man in England”. People didn’t just hear about God’s grace: they encountered it through him. We too can convey God’s amazing love, kindness and unmerited forgiveness (vv. 6–7) through how we serve and relate to others (v. 10).