For it is with your heart that you believe and are
justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess
and are saved. Romans 10:10
This verse, in accordance with all of Scripture, reminds us that it is the heart that needs to
be in our religion. Wesley comments: “for with the heart, not the understanding only,
man believeth to righteousness - so as to obtain justification. And with the mouth
confession is made - so as to obtain final salvation. Confession here implies the whole of
outward, as believing does the root of all inward, religion.”
Eugene Petersen’s Message translation of the Bible conveys the exuberance of this verse:
“with your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right
out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!" ” What Petersen calls
“setting right” is what Wesley calls “justification.” Justification is the judicial act of God,
by which He pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accepts, and treats
them as righteous in the eye of the law and as conformed to all its demands. In addition to
the pardon of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in
respect of the justified. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled
in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the
advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law. It involves the
crediting to the believer by God Himself of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Justification is not the forgiveness of a person without righteousness, but a declaration
that the person possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law,
namely, Christ's righteousness. The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed
or credited to the believer is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Paraphrased from Easton’s
Bible Dictionary)
Believing this good news, not with your head but with a spiritually poor and mourning
heart is the beginning of inward, Sermon on the Mount type religion from which outward,
Sermon on the Mount type religion cannot help but flow.
Who in heart on thee believes,
He th’ atonement now receives,
He with joy beholds thy face,
Triumphs in thy pard’ning grace (340)
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John Wesley (1703 - 1791)
Was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield. In contrast to Whitefield's Calvinism, Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that were dominant in the 18th-century Church of England. Methodism in both forms became a highly successful evangelical movement in Britain, which encouraged people to experience Jesus Christ personally.Wesley helped to organise and form societies of Christians throughout Great Britain, North America and Ireland as small groups that developed intensive, personal accountability, discipleship and religious instruction among members. His great contribution was to appoint itinerant, unordained preachers who travelled widely to evangelise and care for people in the societies. Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social issues of the day, including the prison reform and abolitionism movements.
John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, with founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield. In contrast to George Whitefield's Calvinism (which later led to the forming of the Calvinistic Methodists), Wesley embraced Arminianism. Methodism in both forms was a highly successful evangelical movement in the United Kingdom, which encouraged people to experience Christ personally.
Wesley believed that this doctrine should be constantly preached, especially among the people called Methodists. In fact, he contended that the purpose of the Methodist movement was to "spread scriptural holiness across England."
Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the Church of England and insisted that his movement was well within the bounds of the Anglican tradition. His maverick use of church policy put him at odds with many within the Church of England, though toward the end of his life he was widely respected.
John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement which grew from the 'Holy Club' of his Oxford friends into a great religious revival. An indefatigable traveller, preacher and writer, Wesley averaged 8,000 miles a year on horseback and gave 15 sermons a week. The reluctance of the Anglican clergy to lend him their pulpits led him to give some of his sermons in the open air, a decision which enabled him to reach those among the poorer sections of society who were not accustomed to going to church.