Wake Up! - Charles Wesley's Standard Sermon (#3)

Out of all the standard sermons published by John Wesley, Sermon #3, “Awake, Thou that Sleepest,” is the only one preached by Charles Wesley. Even though Charles primarily wrote songs and poems, he still had a calling from God as a fiery preacher of the Gospel.

One observer of a sermon preached by Charles Wesley once wrote his experiences of the sermon:

“I never heard any man discover such evident signs of a vehement desire, or labour so earnestly, to convince his hearers that they were all by nature in a sinful, lost, undone state. He showed how great a change a faith in Christ would produce in the whole man; and that every man who is in Christ — that is, who believe in him unto salvation — is a new creature.” - (Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon)

The message of Sermon #3 is simple, profound, and core to Wesleyan theology: Wake up!

Wake Up!

It’s striking how many people seem perfectly content to plod through life without a vibrant connection with God. Some of these people even think they are close to God. They may attend church regularly, pray daily, give alms to the poor and a regular tithe — but the form of godliness is not the same as a life with God, in Christ. It is very possible to have the form of godliness without knowing the power of a born-again life.

Methodist preaching shakes us awake through a bold proclamation: Repent! And believe the Gospel! More specifically, Charles Wesley preaches:

“Wake up, you eternal spirit! Come out of your slumber of earthly contentment! Do you not know that God created you for himself? You cannot rest until you rest in him. Return, you wanderer! Fly back to the ark of your safety. This world is not your home. Do not consider building transient tents here on earth. You are only an alien and stranger upon the earth. You are only a created being, a temporary resident, just ready to slide into an unchangeable state of being. Act quickly. Eternity draws near, and infinite happiness or infinite misery hinges on what you do now.” - Charles Wesley, Standard Sermon #3, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest,” edited and updated language by Kenneth Kinghorn

This message of repentance and being spiritually awakened by God are so central to Wesleyan theology that this sermon is labeled the third sermon in the Standard Sermons of Wesley’s theology. To shy away from a bold proclamation of genuine repentance and true, saving faith (rather than half-hearted, therapeutic and deistic morality) is less than Christianity and contrary to the core of Methodist preaching.

Slumbering People Get Offended

But there’s a challenge for the Methodist preacher: People deep in slumber don’t particularly like to be jolted awake. Particularly for the early Methodist, many of these Standard Sermons would have been preached to religious people who thought they were doing the right things, but still lived far from God and far from true, saving faith. They often found the Gospel proclaimed through the Methodist preachers offensive. Indeed, Charles Wesley preaches these words in the sermon:

“It need not surprise you that the gospel should be almost everywhere denied, ridiculed, and driven from the stage as mere delirium. All who dare openly declare the gospel still are marked as madmen and fanatics! … We need to look no further than our own nation to consider the extent to which ungoldliness inundates our land! Day by day, people are committing deep depravities of every kind, all too often with impunity. … Even among those who have kept themselves pure from the most obscene abominations, how much we see in them anger, sloth, blandness, effeminacy, luxury, self-indulgence, covetousness, lust for preferment, thirst for flattery, materialism, and cowardice! Meanwhile, how little we see of true religion! Where are those that love either God or neighbor, as the Lord has commanded?” - Charles Wesley, Standard Sermon #3, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest,” edited and updated language by Kenneth Kinghorn

Kinghorn (2002) noted that Wesley preached this sermon in St. Mary’s Church on Sunday, April 4, 1742 as part of the chapel services for the University of Oxford. For context, Oxford was then, primarily, a seminary. In other words, Wesley preached this bold sermon about spiritual slumber to the pastors, preachers, theologians, and church leaders of his day! How striking to imagine hearing these words as a devoted member of the clergy back in Wesley’s day! Offensive!

But true…and that’s why it’s at the heart of both Methodist preaching AND (more importantly) Christian preaching more broadly. How will they know their need for God unless the preachers are proclaiming the whole truth of God’s Word? Therefore, Wesley gives this compelling exhortation:

“If God’s Spirit does not presently bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God, I pray that by his manifestation and power he would convince you, a destitute, sleeping sinner, that you are a child of the devil! I pray, as I preach, that just now there might be ‘a noise, a rattling sound’ and may ‘the bones come together, bone to bone.’ … Do not harden your hearts and resist the Holy Spirit, who even now is here to show you your sin ‘ because you have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.’” - Charles Wesley, Standard Sermon #3, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest,” edited and updated language by Kenneth Kinghorn

These are compelling words — offensive words … true words.

And the preacher will not always be liked or celebrated for proclaiming these words: Repent! Believe the Gospel! Be truly and actually saved by God’s grace through genuine faith in Christ! Awake, you who sleep!

As such, Wesley finishes the sermon with a call for preachers that echoes in my ear:

“Judgment will come if we do not return to the principles of the Reformation, the truth and simplicity of the gospel.” - Charles Wesley, Standard Sermon #3, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest,” edited and updated language by Kenneth Kinghorn

References

Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon, by a member of the houses of Shirley and Hastings, 2 vols. (London: William Edward Painter, Strand, 1844), 2:365.

Wesley, J. (2002). John Wesley on Christian beliefs (K. C. Kinghorn, Trans.). Abingdon Press.