John Wesley on Family Religion
"What will the consequence be, if we do not adopt this resolution? —if family religion be neglected? —if care be not taken of the rising generation?"
In Noah’s day, everyone was wicked. All were sinners going to festivals, getting drunk, and living in great immorality. No one paid any attention to God. No one even tried to keep God’s commandments. No one . . . except Noah.
Noah was a good man. God spoke to Noah because He knew Noah would listen and believe what He said. “By faith Noah, being warned of God . . . prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Hebrews 11:7).
The world was wicked and full of darkness.
But Noah believed God and was saved.
After the flood, many of Noah’s descendants returned to idol worship. They made gods of stone and clay. These idol worshipers gathered in the plain of Shinar (modern-day Iraq) until God scattered them “upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9). But in the midst of all the idolatry of Shinar lived an upright man: Abraham.
God spoke to Abraham because He knew Abraham would listen and believe what He said. By faith Abraham obeyed God. By faith he lived as a stranger in the promised land (Hebrews 11:8–9). “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3).
The world was wicked and full of darkness.
But Abraham believed God and was saved.
Abraham’s descendants became the children of Israel. At times the Israelites believed God and walked in His ways. But more often they showed their unbelief by sinful, rebellious living. Wickedness, witchcraft, disputes, and greed governed their lives until God Himself (in the person of Jesus) came to earth to speak with them.
A few of them, those that followed Jesus, paid attention to what God said. They believed God, and because of their faith, God adopted them into His family (Galatians 3:26). By faith they became children of God and as children, heirs; “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17)
The world was wicked and full of darkness.
But Jesus’ followers (the early Christians) believed God and were saved.
When the church of Jesus was still young, many of her members forsook their faith and fell back into sin. In the Name of Jesus, millions of false Christians killed their enemies, stole from the poor, persecuted the true Christians, blasphemed the truth, and finally plunged Europe into the Dark Ages.
During this dark time there were a few who kept their faith in God. There were a few who passed the light of the Gospel from generation to generation.
At the time of the Reformation, the church of Jesus grew and flourished again. Those who believed God during the Reformation also obeyed Him. They lived holy lives and baptized with water those who believed on Jesus. Because of this, they were nicknamed Anabaptists (rebaptizers).
The Anabaptists were faithful in the midst of great persecution. Because of their faith, many of these brethren were beheaded, burned alive, and cut in pieces. The faithful sisters were drowned and buried alive by the enemies of the faith. But by faith these martyrs were freed from “the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Faith opened their eyes (Acts 26:18). Faith gave them an inheritance among the sanctified (Acts 26:18). Because of their faith, they did not draw back unto perdition but received the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls (Hebrews 10:38–39 and 1 Peter 1:9).
The world was wicked and full of darkness.
But the Anabaptists believed God and were saved.
More than four hundred years have passed since the Reformation. Many of the Anabaptists’ descendants, along with the descendants of the reformers, have become lukewarm and indifferent about their religion.
We live in a “Dark Age,” in a very evil and sinful time. Our generation is bound for hell. But God is still speaking. Do we actually believe what He is saying? Are we paying attention to it?
Do not forget this:
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). How can we show that we believe God?
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3). But Abraham not only believed. He showed his faith Introduction 9 by his works (James 2:21–22). If we believe God, we are the children of Abraham and heirs with him (Romans 4:13; Galatians 3:28–29). Like Abraham, we show our faith by the works that we do.
Many people think that if we believe God we can continue to live in sin and be saved. But this is a lie from the devil. God has said that all who sin are going to hell. If we believe in God, we will not continue in sin.
The Bible says that our good works will not save us (Ephesians 2:8–9). But the Bible also says that we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? . . . Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? . . . Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:14, 21–22, 24, 26).
Noah showed his faith in God by building the ark.
Abraham showed his faith in God by giving up his son.
The early Christians showed their faith in God by evangelizing the world.
The Anabaptists showed their faith in God by choosing death instead of disobeying God.
How do we show our faith in God?
Content used by permission. Bible Correspondence Course: Faith Worth Dying For by Dallas Witmer
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