hi in the previous lecture I talked about Wesley's understanding of Salvation we talk about the different states of Salvation in Wesley and we look at particularly uh Wesley's house illustration whereby he talks about repentance faith and Holiness so I think this the stage has been set for us to talk now about repentance okay um so let me just quickly show my screen here and so yeah we'll begin with or without repentance and so when we're talking about repentance or what's in understanding repentance there is a an action from God okay or God's action and that leads to repentance and that action is actually God's Grace isn't it but there's actually a name for it that that Wesley assigned to this action of God or this manifestation of Grace by the way there is only one Grace but many manifestations depending on where we are on our journey and in this case when we are in the stage of repentance Wesley calls this Grace as convincing Grace okay so again that is the action of God that leads to repentance so so uh the best place to uh to kind of start this off is this quote or this verse from uh the hymns of uh that was written by Charles Wesley uh particularly uh hymn number 1185 uh in George Wesley's four teams on the left passages of the Holy scriptures uh and in this verse it captures what is meant by convincing Grace here he writes all with thou Lord reveal their sins and turn their joy to Greed the world the Christian World convinced of damning and belief see that see the word reveal O Lord reveal their sins so that's really uh you know we see in in Charles Wesley the understanding that it's God who reveal our sins got it and once that those sins are revealed uh we are awakened uh and that's why here he says and turn their joy to believe probably they're oblivious uh to the danger that they are in and they're very happy but then once they get convicted the Lord rebuilds their sins their Joy becomes grief why because now because they realize they have Greek god or that they realize that that their lives are in or their um yeah their lives are in danger unless their souls are in danger and then he writes in the world the Christian World convince see so he's not talking about the world he's talking about the Christian world that they be convinced of damning unbelief got it so here we see the word convince and you see that word uh recurring in in Wesleyan uh soteriology or in this writings uh even Charles was as shown here okay and and by the way uh this verse is really based on John 16 verse 8 to 9. um when Jesus introduced or talk about the coming Advocate or are you going to talk about the coming Holy Spirit to his disciples um in John chapter 16 he said and when he has come referring to the Holy Spirit what does the Holy Spirit do he will convict see that in other translations the word uses convince okay he will convict or convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they do not believe in me see that so we will get to this back to the steps later on uh but uh yeah but for this uh particular part of this lecture I'm just gonna focus on the word because it is the holy spirit it is God through Holy Spirit who convicts the world and not just of sin but also of righteousness and also of judgment um yes and so um so going back to our building blocks or the chart I've shown you a while ago uh now where does uh convincing Grace come into play when it comes into play at the beginning okay at the first block see uh Holy Spirit is representative of this convincing Grace because the holy spirit is the primary agent for this different manifestations of the grace of God got it um and this reminds me of Wesley's catechism on children when he wrote this book for training children in the Christian faith he reflected on his understanding of Grace and he said he defined the grace or he defined Grace as uh this way he said Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit okay so that's why uh uh we represent Grace here uh with a dog because it is the power of the Holy Spirit the convince us amen and so that convincing Grace convincing work of Holy Spirit leads to Once Awakening okay that that first that first verse of awareness okay uh that is Awakening okay from then from the Sleep state to the legal State the first verse of Awakening or awareness that is Awakening uh but then that's continued on with repentance okay um and so another place I like I really like showing this this code here because this is actually an account of a person uh who witnessed Charles Wesley preaching uh there at the Brickfield in Bristol uh the brixfield is a famous or was a famous uh Gathering area for Methodist preaching uh in Bristol uh and here let me just quickly read this this account by this eyewitness by the name of Joseph Williams of kidderminster so he's from killer Minister but his name is Joseph Williams uh and he's uh he was a businessman by the way uh and and so he visited Bristol and then he saw this people Milling around around Charles Wesley while he was preaching uh crowds of people gathered around him and so here is account he said next day I came to Bristol and hearing in the afternoon that Mr Charles Wesley was preaching in the Brickfield I found him standing on a table board in an Iraq posture with his hands and eyes lifted up to heaven in prayer surrounded by I guess more than a thousand people some few of them fashionable persons both men and women and women but most of them of the lower rank of mankind I know not how long he had been engaged in that service before my coming after which he continued there in scars a quarter of an hour during which time he prayed with uncommon fervancy fluency and variety of proper expression he then preached about an hour in such a manner as I have scars have ever heard any man preach now pay attention to this okay um uh this part is what he's talking about charges Charles preaching uh though I have heard many a final sermon according to the common taste or acceptation of sermons yet I think I never heard any man discover such evidence signs of a behemian desire or labor earnestly to convince see that because here is that they were all by nature in a simple loss and then and damnable state that notwithstanding there was a possibility of their salvation through faith in Christ see that so basically what was the topic uh of Charles preaching well he was he was talking about what total depravity remember in our module one as we talk about Originals in topical depravity but because of sin we are helpless uh and so what Charles was trying to drive that point across and look at the language used here uh uh from Joseph Williams I never heard any man discovers that's evident signs of a baham and desire or labor so earnestly to convince the church was really laboring earnestly to convince his hearers that they were all totally depraved so to speak see that uh he saw Charles was talking about totally property but then he doesn't leave them hanging because he also talks about the solution uh with us don't have said that notwithstanding there was a possibility of their salvation through faith in Christ well that's a reference to salvation by faith or justification by faith which we're gonna talk about in the next module got it but again let's just focus on the word convince because we're talking about convincing Grace here um and so because for Wesley the Main Avenue whereby God uh gives this convincing Grace A Way by where by Holy Spirit uh that's convincing it's through preaching okay and so that's why um although Wesley also said that this can be uh this can be gained through reading the word of God through holy conversations uh but he said the primary uh the primary Avenue whereby convincing Grace uh comes into play is through preaching so that's why it's no accident that Charles was preaching uh with a behama desire to convince his ears that they were eternally Damned uh and so that's why it's no accident that uh methodism would develop late preaching okay it would allow for Lay preachers because they were the ones who were going to be used by God uh to dispense the Holy Spirit convincing Grace or God's convincing Grace okay so that's why uh when they accepted laypersons to become preachers they have a criteria for accepting them uh and if you're a Methodist um in your book of discipline um you'll find this okay because as they say one of us is historic questions for accepting preachers uh here this is taken from the minutes of the early conference conference in England uh the question was asked how shall we try those who think they are moved by the Holy Ghost to preach in other words how are we going to test well how are we going to test those who think who are called to preach or who believe that they were called by the Holy Spirit to preach but look at number three see here have Bay fruit are any truly convinced of sin and converted to God by their preaching see that see are any truly convinced of sin and converted to God by their preaching in other words if a person is preaching and then people are awakened they become convinced of sin again that's a reference to John chapter 18. the Time chapter 16. remember that okay uh so if people are going to be convinced of sin while this person is preaching uh see here and the last line this will receive as sufficient proof that he is moved there too by the holy spirit amen because again Holy Spirit what convicts us or convinces the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment amen uh so that's so that's kind of just laying down some some quick history uh behind versus understanding of convince and Grace so that is God's action through Holy Spirit to convince to convince us that will lead to repentance um and so what is our response repentance okay repentance guys action convincing Grace our response is repentance so um and and we find this uh in Wesley's uh nature the nature design and general rules of the United societies uh by the way this this is what we call in methodism Wesley's general rules okay so basically this is a membership or membership handbook um to Define Methodist membership or membership in the Methodist battleships uh in the early meta this movement this was actually first released in 1743 uh out of the desire from Wesley to consolidate all the different uh all the existing societies uh in England at that time at that time there were only about four one in London one in Bristol in Kingswood and in Newcastle got it and so so he wrote this membership handbook and then in number four look at number four is that there's only one condition previously required in those who desire admission to the societies by the way when you look at the screen isn't it you look at the S it looks like letter f okay so don't be fooled by that don't don't be confused by that uh uh so sometimes s is written as F okay so there's only one condition previously required in those who desire admission into these societies so what is the what is the requirement basically what is the criteria for accepting a person to become a member of email this Fellowship here's the answer I desire to flee from the right to come to be saved from their sins see that so what's the requirement Awakening got it or uh or uh or to put it much more uh or in a broker sent broker sends repentance okay see the desire to flee from the right to come to be saved from their sins that's the only requirement people are not required to be converted yet or saved yet they're just required to be awakened that they have this this desire uh uh to begin pursuing salvation or to be saved from their sins amen uh uh and so so this is actually based from what is found in Luke 27 and also my chapter 3 verse seven uh remember this is the text that talks about John the Baptist and and if you recall this was really also an encounter between John the Baptists uh and the Pharisees and Sadducees uh who came to the Wilderness to listen to him okay and and when the services and parishes showed up uh What uh look at verse 7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him uh what did he say you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the Wrath to come or to remind you to flee from the coming round see that you brew the Bible pretty much a chapter three he is re-addressing the uh the sadnesses and the Pharisees you said you brew the Pipers who warn you to flee from the calming rat or the rat to have so that's the same language used by Wesley here the side to flee from the rat to come okay and as we know gender Baptist was preaching what repentance got it repent for the kingdom of God is near uh and so basically he's defining what preparations it is fleeing from the Wrath to come amen um so and so this brings us again to that uh to that chart uh and and look at this you have to be building blocks but then I put a line here okay uh in in early methodism there's this understanding that preaching or public preaching uh leads to Awakening and repentance correct so that happens here uh but then once a person is awake and that's when the person begins in a system of discipleship see that discipleship in The Bible Society through class meetings man meetings love peace and other activities okay so I think this breaks kind of what our our useful conventions about uh when to start people uh in discipleship today the conception is a person needs to accept this first a person's a person needs to be saved first that's a typical notion today isn't it a person has to profess faith in Jesus before that person is disciple but in in in early meta descent uh that's not the requirement a person only needs to be what awakened uh in that first stage of repentance uh and then that person becomes part of Methodist uh discipleship system okay or that person becomes that person is disciple okay uh so now that we have laid the um the definition of uh of convincing Grace okay and uh and also uh somehow of repentance there's also this term um that was the useful referring to repentance he he used the term or the phrase fruits meet for repentance in in Holland he also suppose it was this fruit suitable for repentance okay fruits made for repentance uh so so in other words uh for Wesley repentance is not merely about being sorry for sins it's not really about remorse it also involves fruits okay for for it to be truly genuine okay you cannot say a person is repentant and there's no fruit in that person's life you can say a person is repentant uh or or processing repentance if that person is merely sorry for what he or she had has done uh and so that's why Wesley said in that same membership rulebook or Guidebook uh see he said here I decided to flee from the right to come to be saved from their sins but then he said but wherever this really picks in the soul in other words if this is really present in the soul of a person who is uh decided to free from the right to come he said it will be shown by its fruits in other words this repentance we have to manifest through fruits got it and so that is fruits myth for repentance and then he said it is therefore expected of all who continue their end that they decided to con so that they should continue to evidence their desire of Salvation so in other words what is the evidence of repentance what is the evidence of a person Desiring salvation okay so that's the same thing repentance and Desiring salvation for Wesley so what's the evidence uh by the way I forgot to mention going back to Luke chapter 3 in verse 8 he said fruit uh Jesus said to the Japanese produce fruit fruit in keeping with repentance see that so if you're truly repentant you have to produce fruit your repentance has to produce produce fruits got it or produce fruit it has there has to be evidence so that's the same language being used by Wesley got it uh and what it defines a spider in a scripture way of Salvation uh again that ceremony referred to uh in that in that other lecture uh and uh and so I said but that's not God command us to repent also yay and to bring forth fruitment for repentance and then he defines that so so he said bring uh bring forth fruitsmith for repentance and then you see that see that uh m m Dash Okay that long line uh so what is fruit smooth foreign for instance from doing evil and learn to do well and it's not both the one and the other of the utmost necessity and so much that if we really neglect either we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all see that so basically for repentance what is to cease in other words to stop doing evil if you're harming other people you're hurting other people or your heart you're hurting your own self you need to stop doing that if you're doing that but then it doesn't end with stopping it also involves learning to do well in other words taking uh 180 degree uh turn okay not 360 Degrees turn Okay 180 degrees turn uh and you begin to walk uh a new fat got it uh so that's food Smith for dependence for Wesley um and then he defines a spider for example in a letter to Thomas Church in 1745. he said by repentance I mean conviction of sin producing real desires and sincere resolutions of amendment and by fruits made for repentance what did he mean by it for giving our brother does that ring a bell to you well that that's really found in the teaching of Jesus where he said if you uh we're going to offer your gift to the altar um before you do that you have to reconcile with with your brother okay so so you find that here that's number one and then he said ceasing from Evil look at that in that previous code in the same ceremony I said to cease see that to cease from doing evils so here he uses that again she sing from Evil and then he said number three doing good look at that previous quote see that learn to do well that's doing good got it uh and then but then he added number four using the ordinances of God who sing the art in other words a veiling of the different means of Grace like uh prayer reading of scriptures going to church uh a building of the sacraments uh particularly the Lord's Supper uh fasting and so on or a different spiritual exercises uh and so that's using the ordinances of God because these were ordained by God got it or Jesus himself and then finally obey him according to the measure of Grace which we have received in other words obedience um so that is uh Bruce Smith for repentance in his letter to Thomas Church and so then we also find that in this general rules because remember he said if this really fits in the soul if this repentance is really depicted so it will be shown by its fruits remember that see here wherever it is fits in the soul it will be shown by its fruit so what are these fruits to begin with well if you look at uh if you look at uh the same document versus general rules look at number four under that see that first see that by doing no harm doing no harm see that so they're alone you already see that he's talking about what he's talking about ceasing from evil see that cease from doing evil see here look at number two here kissing from Evil and then look at number two uh in the general rules see your second secondly by doing good see that going to that same code from uh Thomas Church look at number three doing good see that and then if you look at uh the third rule thirdly by attending upon the ordinances of God like public worship Ministry of the world summer of the Lord private prayers writing the scriptures fasting or abstinence see that attending upon the ordinances of God so that also is captured in that letter to Thomas Church see using the ordinances of God so in other words if you're gonna understand uh the general rules of Wesley to the United societies um he's actually defining for people who join societies uh what it means to truly remember is trying to help people to practice genuine repentance amen so in other words the early methodists were sort of like 10 attempts they join the societies because they through the societies they're being helped to practice through repentance or Genuine repentance through the fruits myth for repentance okay or fruits suitable for repentance um yeah and so that's fruit Smith foreign but there's also two types of repentance for Wesley and what are this uh well first it Wesley also thought about what is called Legal repentance okay legal in reference to the legal State remember the three states uh the Natural State the second state is legal State and the third state is evangelical State see that so there is a legal reference so that is the repentance that happens during the legal State once a person enters the legal state so it is for the newly awakened sinner it pertains to actual sins leading to that person's justification see that um take note this replenish that's not it's not the requirement for justification it only leads to justification and I'll clarify that later by the way so that's why it's legal State uh it's legal dependence because it's about the awakened sinner remember the legal State that's that state where the person is just awakened well from the realization of his own mortality uh this is a steeper by a person begins to think about eternity amen okay and so when that person is awake and that person is now because becomes aware you know of his actual sins okay the sins that he committed uh consciously that's right so the word actually is a reference to Consciousness actual sins um and so so for example a person is awakened okay uh he was awakened because of God's convincing Grace because of preaching that person is something and then this person realized oh no I am Doom I'm gonna go to hell uh and then he begins to ask the question what must I do to be saved okay uh and then he realizes his sins and so he begins to repent on that oh I'm a liar uh I'm a womanizer you know I'm I'm an adulterer I'm doing this I'm doing that so these are all the sins that he's conscious about so he becomes to what a repent of those things he begins to stop doing them and now it states now uh he begins to start taking and you back okay the right path got it uh so that is legal repentance uh so Wesley Define this in in the quest in the sermon the way of the Kingdom he said this is the first repentance previous to Faith uh even conviction or self-knowledge and when awake then thou that sleep has no thyself to be a sinner in what manner of Sinner Thou Art see that so this is the first reference with legal repentance okay so um so I have this uh this chart here that shows a person uh see the person here on the left and you see Christ so Christ is just great you know it's really not aware of uh uh uh of Christ yet this before justification but this person is already what being convicted by the Holy Spirit okay uh and and because of that this person is awakened and becomes aware of his conscious sins or actual sins and so uh he begins to repeat to to repent of those actual sins got it um through God's convincing grace through the holy spirit that is at work um and then so that's the legal repentance but there's also the Evangelical repentance see that's the sacrament state see that there's a natural state there's an Evangelical uh there's a legal State and there's a Evangelical I'm sorry this is the third state okay now legal state is the legal state is the um second state and Evangelical state is the third state so there's also a repentance on that Evangelical State and it's called Evangelical repentance so this is for the Justified and the regenerated so this is a person who's already Justified this person was already born again that's the word regenerated and instead of addressing instead of addressing the the actual sins or those uh conscious sins he begins to address uh uh a sin in a much deeper level okay the sinful nature uh and so uh so this is uh a deeper level of repentance that involves not merely the Consciousness but also the subconsciousness got it or what he would call the sinful nature so repenting from the sins uh is what we need one to entire sanctification got it I know there's a few questions about justification about entire sanctification but we'll get to those later okay we'll get to those uh in the next topics uh but you just I just want you to know that there are two types of repentance in West League uh and uh so that's why there's no accident Wesley wrote The Sermon the repentance of Believers look at that prototype itself that Believers even though you're a Believer you're still subject to repentance okay you are still subject to repentance uh see here but notwithstanding this there's also repentance and a faith that means sanctifying Faith with a rep which are requisite after we have believed the gospel yet yay and in every subsequent say the partition course or we cannot run the race we said before us and this repentance and faith meaning sanctifying Faith are full as necessary in order to our continuance and growth in Grace as the former Faith referring to justifying faith and repentance where in order to are entering into the kingdom of God well the repentance is talking about here he's talking about legal repentance okay but uh the but really he's talking about what the one in the world in the dark uh the one in dark files okay this he's talking about the repentance here uh he's talking about uh uh he's talking about legal repentance okay no no I'm sorry he's talking about Evangelical repentance which is a requisite after we have believed meaning after we have been Justified amen uh and so showing you that same chart this time this is evangelical dependence it happens after justification after one is born again so so this time this person is convicted not of Apple since but in brexit that is the sinful nature by the Holy Spirit uh and that leads to a person to recover uh the Imago day or the image remember the image of God in Wesley was distorted uh well at the fall but now there's a possibility for it to be restored uh and and what leads to that is uh this conviction this convincing Grace by the Holy Spirit uh that that we are convicted of or the sinful nature got it or in red Sin okay so so that's it uh um and and now the question is what about how about fruit smooth for repentance does it apply to Evangelical repentance yes it does okay and we find this uh in this term on the scripture way of salvation see that uh from the time of our being born again see he's talking about the time when we are already saved when we are already born again see that and then he said we are enabled by the spirit to modify the needs of the body of our evil nature and as we are more and more dead to sin we are more and more alike to God so and look at this next line here we solve on From Grace to Grace while we are careful to abstain from all appearance of evils look at that see look at the word abstain from all appearance of people what is he talking about that about there ceasing from evil or isn't it or uh uh doing no harm see and then number two energies of good words see that doing good and as we have opportunity doing good to all men while we walk in all these ordinances so what is that ordinances attending upon the ordinances of God so you find here the general rules in other words you find Bruce Smith for dependence even after being born again even after being justified that means for Wesley fruits with foreigners okay uh and so now going back to to summarize this through this chart so here we find convincing Grace leading us to Awakening again that's that's the first verse okay of awareness uh from the need from the natural state to the legal State a person now it becomes aware that that this person that he is or she is uh in danger uh upheld uh so that person is awakened then uh that begins the process of repentance this repentance starts off as legal repentance but see that it continues on once you reach the stage of justification or New Birth uh that repentance becomes deeper uh because legal representative about ethical sins but then once you cross that that state of justification then you work that repentance becomes much more deeper because now you begin to realize uh that sin it's much more deeper got it because before you repent of your Apple sins but once you are born again you realize what you you still end up messing up from time to time okay or maybe occasionally not the same as before but you still find yourself messing up and then you realize oh whoa uh this problem is much deeper you realize that and then that repentance becomes much more deeper as well because now you're dealing with the sinful nature so that's Evangelical repentance that's leading us towards entire sanctification got it so so and and therefore uh since uh repentance is ongoing there were God convincing Grace it's also ongoing see that it doesn't this end here and the first black it continues on because I'm sure you also know you know you can testify to this we can all testify to this that even now we're being convicted of our sins isn't it so that means holy spirit is still operative of holy spirit's convincing Grace it's still operative even now even now that we profess faith in Jesus convicted from time to time I got it because Holy Spirit convincing Grace is also applicable to us uh amen and so again going back to that Safeguard look at this John 16 verse 8. and when he has come he will convict the world of sin see that the Vista parts were the Nature State and the natural state but then once you cross the Natural State uh do the legal State uh you still are and even Evangelical State you're still being convicted by Holy Spirit of what this time of righteousness in other words holiness you're being convicted to live a holy life and then let's talk let's talking about here let's talk about here about judgment so this has time to do with what eschatology so so this is something has to do with uh in other words uh repentance is uh ongoing or the convincing Grace convincing work of the holy spirit is ongoing in that person's life amen so that's how uh so and so we end it here um and and so uh for next week we're gonna talk about we're gonna talk about that next week we're going to talk about justification okay uh so thank you so much for watching this I hope you uh uh you start working on the questions for this for for the essay for this momentum thank you so much bye-bye