MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN BY BRINGING BACK THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF EARLY AMERICA: GEORGE WHITEFIELD

Whoever reads the gospel with a single eye, and sincere intentions, will find, that our blessed Lord took all opportunities of reminding his disciples that his kingdom was not of this world; that his doctrine was a doctrine of the cross; and that their professing themselves to be his followers, would call them to a constant state of voluntary suffering and self-denial. The words of the text afford us one instance, among many, of our savior's behavior in this matter: for having in the preceding verses revealed himself to Peter, and the other apostles, to be “The Christ of God;” lest they should be too much elated with such a peculiar discovery of his deity, or think that their relation to so great a personage would be attended with nothing but pomp and grandeur, he tells then, in the 22nd verse, that “the son of man was to suffer many things,” in this world, though he was to be crowned with eternal glory and honor in the next: and that if any of them or their posterity would share in the same honor, they must bear a part with him in his self-denial and sufferings. For “He said unto them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself.”

From which words I, George WHITEFIELD shall consider these three things:

I. First, The nature of the self-denial recommended in the text; and in how many respects we must deny ourselves, in order to come after Jesus Christ.

II. Secondly, I shall endeavor to prove the universality and reasonableness of this duty of self-denial.

III. Thirdly, I shall offer some considerations, which may serve as so man motives to reconcile us to, and quicken us in, the practice of this self-denial.

In the following discourse, I shall,

First, Explain what is meant by “not knowing any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

Secondly, Give some reasons why every Christian should determine not to know any thing else. And

Thirdly, Conclude with a general exhortation to put this determination into practice. ALSO, IN THIS MESSAGE WE WILL HEAR OF THE TESTIMONY OF NATHAN COLE’S HEARTFELT EXPERIENCE OF HEARING GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

AMERICA IS KNOWN AS A PROTESTANT NATION AND YET WHEN WE ASK JOHN Q. PUBLIC WHO WAS THE KINGPIN OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION, WE GET A BLANK STARE. THEN WHEN WE ASK JOHN Q PUBLIC AS WELL AS OUR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS WHETHER OR NOT THE WILL IS FREE OR BOUND IN SALVATION: 9 TIMES OUT OF TEN, WE GET THE ANSWER THAT THE WILL IS FREE IN SALVATION. THEN WHEN WE ASK JOHN Q. PUBLIC AND OUR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS WHETHER OR NOT THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION WAS A FREEWILL MOVEMENT OR A BONDAGE OF THE WILL MOVEMENT, WE USUALLY GET A HESITATION AND THEN IT IS FREE. THEN WE ASK JOHN Q. PUBLIC AND OUR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS THE FOLLOWING: WAS THE DOMINANT DOCTRINE AT THE TIME OF THE WRITING OF OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AND OUR CONSTITUTION, A FREEWILL DOCTRINE, OR A BONDAGE OF THE WILL DOCTRINE AND AGAIN ANOTHER BLANK STARE. SO THEN WE ASK JOHN Q PUBLIC AND OUR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS WHICH DOCTRINE, THE FREEWILL DOCTRINE OR THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL DOCTRINE REPELS THE EXPERIENCE THAT ORIGINAL SIN IS SIN IN NEED OF REPENTANCE: SIMPLE QUESTION IS IT NOT. SO THEN WE ASK JOHN Q. PUBLIC AND OUR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS CAN WE AS AMERICANS BE SAVED APART FROM ORIGINAL SIN IS SIN DAMNING US EXPERIENTIALLY?THEN WE ASK JOHN Q PUBLIC AND OUR FREEWILL FRIENDS IF WE CAN BE SAVED APART FROM FAITH IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. MOST OF THE TIME THEY NEVER HEARD OF FAITH IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. THEY USUALLY GIVE A SHOTGUN ANSWER AND SAY FAITH IN CHRIST OR FAITH THAT JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS. THEN WE ASK THEM, DO WE HAVE TO BE HOLY TO GO TO HEAVEN AND IF SO, FAITH IN WHAT WILL MAKE US HOLY. DO WE HAVE TO BE HOLY LIKE ADAM WAS BEFORE HE WAS DRIVEN OUT OF THE GARDEN OF ESEN. WILL FAITH THAT JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS MAKES US HOLY? BY THE END OF THIS MESSAGE, HOPEFULLY THESE AND MANY OTHER QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED.

BETWEEN TRUE CHRISTIANITY AS OPPOSED TO NATURAL MAN CHRISTIANITY, IS AS WIDE A GULF, AS IS BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL. IN TRUE CHRISTIANITY, WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO FINGERPRINTS UPON BEING MADE A NEW CREATION: IT IS CALLED A NEW CREATION, BECAUSE THIS NEW CREATION IS CREATED SOLEY BY GOD WITHOUT ANY COOPERATION FROM US WHEREAS THE FORMALIST PARTICIPATES IN HIS CONVERSION WITH THE FREEWILL TO ACCEPT OR REJECT JESUS. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, WITH MUCH DOCTRINAL PRECISION ARTICULATES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FORMALIST AND GENUINE CHRISTIAN AND THEN MAKES A PLEA TO THOSE WHO FEEL THEIR UTTER DEPRAVITY TO COME TO A LOVING SAVIOUR THAT HE MIGHT IMPUTE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THEM, MAKING THEM HOLY AND FIT FOR HEAVEN.

STRUGGLING WITH ORIGINAL SIN, AS SIN, IS SO ABSENT IN AMERICA TODAY, THAT THIS MESSAGE, THOUGH IT BE LONG, SHOULD BE LISTENED TO OVER AND OVER, BY US NATURAL MAN AMERICANS, BECAUSE, AS OPPOSED TO OUR FASTFOOD FREEWILL FRIEND’S SALVATION, THIS MESSAGE PORTRAYS WHAT THE AGONIZING OVER ORIGINAL SIN STRUGGLES THE ELECT GO THROUGH IN ORDER TO FIND THE STRAIT IS THE GATE AND NARROW IS THE WAY AND BE SAVED BEFORE THEY DIE PHYSICALLY. ALSO THIS MESSAGE MAKES IT CLEAR, THAT ONCE WE COMMENCE ON OUR JOURNEY TO FIND THE WICKET GATE, WE ARE NOT TO LOOK BACK LEST WE FIND OURSELVES, ALTOGETHER, CUT OFF FROM HEAVEN. WITHOUT THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST, NONE OF US NATURAL MAN AMERICANS WILL BE SAVED, HOWEVER, THOUGH OUR FASTFOOD FREEWILL THEOLOGIANS, MAY MENTION THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN PASSING, THEY DO NOT PURPOSELY, IN MOST CASES, PUT IT ON THE FRONT BURNER BECAUSE IT CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ORIGINAL SIN IS SIN AND ORIGINAL SIN IS THE FOUNTAIN FROM WHICH ALL EVIL FLOWS IN THIS WORLD. IF THEY PUT ORIGINAL SIN AND THUS THE FOUNTAIN FROM WHICH ALL EVIL FLOWS ON THE FRONT BURNER THEIR FREEWILL GOES BYE, BYE. THIS MESSAGE WILL BE WORTH YOU TIME, FOR SINCE THE FREEWILL THEOLOGIANS HAVE CONTROLLED THE NARRATIVE OF SALVATION FOR SO MANY YEARS, IT TAKES TIME TO RESET THE NARRATIVE IN OUR OWN MINDS AND AMERICA’S MIND: THE NARRATIVE OF SALVATION HAS TO BE CHANGED IN AMERICA IN ORDER TO SAVE AMERICA.

THIS SERMON, IS GEORGE WHITEFIELD AT HIS BEST, BEAUTIFULLY AND ELOQUENTLY WRITTEN, AND THE READING THEREOF, IS LIKE LISTENING TO A SYMPHONY, AS HE PORTRAYS MAN’S DESPERATE PLIGHT, AND GOD’S ANSWER TO THAT PLIGHT. “First, I(GEORGE WHITEFIELD) shall undertake to prove, that every man naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, is in the sight of the all-seeing, heart- searching God, only as a “piece of marred clay.”

Secondly, That being thus marred, he must necessarily be renewed: and under this head, we shall likewise point out by whose agency this mighty change is to be brought about.

These particulars being discussed, way will naturally be made for a short word of application.

First, To prove that every man naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, is in the sight of an all-seeing, heart-searching God, only as a piece of marred clay.

Be pleased to observe, that we say every man naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, or every man since the fall: for if we consider man as he first came out of the hands of his Maker, he was far from being in such melancholy circumstances. No; he was originally made upright; or as Moses, that sacred penman, declares, “God made him after his own image.” Surely never was so much expressed in so few words.”

OUR FASTFOOD FREEWILL FRIENDS ARE ABOUT 1/2 INCH DEEP AND A THOUSAND MILES WIDE WHEN IT COMES TO DOCTRINE, BUT THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL DOCTRINE WITH MUCH CLARITY DIVES DEEP INTO UNDERSTANDING YET IS COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDABLE. TRUTH IS ALWAYS FIRST BASED UPON SIMPLE SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS AND THEN DEDUCTIVELY REASONED FROM THOSE SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS. FOR EXAMPLE, IS IT NOT A SELF EVIDENT TRUTH, THAT IF HEAVEN IS HOLY, THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO BE HOLY IN ORDER TO GO TO HEAVEN: PRETTY SIMPLE IS IT NOT. ANOTHER SELF EVIDENT TRUTH THAT IS UNDENIABLE, IS THAT WE ARE BORN INTO THIS WORLD WITH THE INERADICABLE EVIL PROCLIVITY OF LYING IN OUR HEART. THEREFORE SINCE WE ARE LIARS BY NATURE, WE ARE NOT HOLY, AND THEREFORE INADMISSIBLE TO HEAVEN. FORGIVENESS DOES NOT MAKE US UNHOLY AND THUS FORGIVENESS CANNOT GET US INTO HEAVEN ALONE. SO HOW DO WE BECOME HOLY? CAN JESUS GIVE AWAY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT DESTROYING HIS GODHEAD ETC. WE WE WILL TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THIS IN THIS MESSAGE ALONG WITH MUCH MORE. THE FOLLOWING QUOTE IS FROM BOOK TWO OF PILGRIM’S PROGRESS IN WHICH CHRISTINA, PILGRIM’S WIFE IS INTRODUCED. “ Now I saw in my dream, that they went on, and GREAT-HEART went before them; so they went and came to the place where CHRISTIAN'S burden fell off his back and tumbled into a sepulchre. Here, then, they made a pause; and here also they blessed God. "Now," said CHRISTIANA, "it comes to my mind what was said to us at the gate; to wit,

that we should have pardon

by word

and deed:

by word, that is, by the promise;

by deed, to wit,

in the way it was obtained.

What the promise is,

of that I know something;

but what is it to have pardon by deed,

or in the way that it was obtained?

Mr. GREAT-HEART,

I suppose you know?

wherefore, if you please, let us hear your discourse thereof."

Great-heart. Pardon by the deed done is pardon obtained

by some one for another that hath need thereof;

not by the person pardoned,

but in the way,

saith another,

in which I have obtained it.

So, then,

to speak to the question more largely,

the pardon that you and MERCY and these boys have attained was obtained by another:

to wit,

by him that let you in at the gate.

And he hath obtained it in this double way:

he has performed righteousness

to cover you; Chris. But if he parts with his righteousness to us, what will he have for himself?

Great-heart. He has more righteousness than you have need of, or than he needs himself.

Chris. Pray make that appear.

Great-heart. With all my heart; but first I must premise that he of whom we are now about to speak is one that has not his fellow.

He has two natures in one person--plain to be distinguished,

impossible to be divided.

Unto each of these natures a righteousness belongs;

and each righteousness is essential to that nature.

So that one may as easily cause the nature to be extinct, as to separate its justice or righteousness from it.

Of these righteousnesses, therefore, we are not made partakers so as that they, or any of them, should be put upon us that we might be made just, and live thereby. SO WHAT IS THE ANSWER TO OUR ORIGINAL QUESTION, HOW CAN JESUS GIVE AWAY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND REMAIN JESUS, OR IS THERE SOME KIND OF SEPARATE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT HE CAN GIVE AWAY: LISTEN TO THE MESSAGE TO FIND OUT ALONG WITH MUCH MORE.

ANOTHER SERMON BY THE GREAT GEORGE WHITEFIELD WHO CONFRONTS DR. TRAPP ON HIS IMPROPER DEFINITION OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION AND THE DANGER OF IT.

IN THIS MESSAGE, WE WILL FIND OUT WHAT CAUSES US TO BE A LUKEWARM CHRISTIAN AND HOW THE PROPER USE OF THE LAW IN OUR LIVES CAN HELP PUT US BACK ON TRACK TO BECOME A FERVENT CHRISTIAN.

WE CANNOT HAVE AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS IF WE ARE USING THE LAW IMPROPERLY.

OUR FASTFOOD FREEWILL THEOLOGIANS REALLY BEGIN TO SIDESTEP, AND RESORT TO THEIR ALTAR MODE, ETC. FOR IF THEY ANSWER DIRECTLY THE QUESTION, WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE LAW IN A BELIEVERS LIFE IT DESTROYS THEIR FREEWILL DOCTRINE, FOR IMPROPER USE OF THE LAW IN A BELIEVER’S LIFE MAKES FAITH VOID AND THE PROMISES OF NONE EFFECT.

The thing I have in view being to give a discourse, as the Lord shall enable, upon a weighty and a very important subject; I mean, walking with God. ‘And Enoch walked with God.' If so much as this can be truly said of you and me after our decease, we shall not have any reason to complain that we have lived in vain.

In handling my intended subject, I shall,

First, Endeavor to show what is implied in these words, walked with God.

Secondly, I shall prescribe some means, upon the due observance of which, believers may keep up and maintain their walk with God. And,

Thirdly, Offer some motives to stir us up, if we never walked with God before, to come and walk with God now. The whole shall be closed with a word or two of application.