Erwin Lutzer explains the significance of Hanham Mount:
Every once in a while you have the opportunity of standing somewhere that you’ve read about all of your life and you begin to understand the significance of the place and somehow it even becomes a very reverent place because you know that something very significant happened right here.
I’m actually standing at a place where John Wesley and Whitfield preached the gospel out of doors. Now this, of course, was remarkable because the Church of England, the Anglican Church, believed that the gospel should only be preached within the walls of a church. And so many of them despised these outdoor preachers. They believed that the gospel was limited and should be preached only there. But John Wesley, he said that the entire world is my parish.
And if you could see here on this particular platform, there’s the words of scripture, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. And you and I standing here thinking about the miners which would have come up on the hill behind me, It is said by a chronicler that as they came with their faces filled with soot, they began to weep and those tears streamed down their faces and you could see the streaks even as their tears washed their cheeks. They came here looking for hope. And in their tears, as they responded to the message that they heard, in their tears they found that Jesus Christ would come to them despite their need, despite their poverty, despite their trials. Jesus assured them there was an eternity waiting for them that they could count on.
We’re living at a time when, of course, people are no longer interested in the gospel to the same extent that they were back then. It was a very needy time. It was a time of poverty. It was a time of plenty of injustice. But Wesley and Whitfield had a message that touched their hearts.
Even though their outer circumstances might not change, the fact is that the gospel of Jesus Christ could give them hope, not only in this life, but in the life to come. So, what we have to do in our own age is to ask ourselves this question, how can we be motivated by those who have gone before us, and what can we do to get the gospel to the entire world? Let’s never forget the words of scripture, blessed are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. So even as we stand here today, let us be sobered, let us be humbled, and let us remember that even for us, the people that we meet in the common experience of life, may we be able to say with John Wesley, the world is our parish. Everyone that we meet needs the same message of hope, the same message of transformation. And let’s never forget, that message comes only through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
It’s so important for us to realize that the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout history has come to us through many different forms, certainly the Word of God, but also different preachers. And even though Whitefield and Wesley had their theological differences, they agreed on this, that Jesus Christ was central to the gospel and he should be proclaimed to as many people who would listen. The secret of Whitefield and Wesley was not simply knowledge.
What motivated them is an emotional experience with God that assured them that they belonged to God forever. Because after all, the Bible does say that the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And it was that conviction that they wanted others to have. that made them overcome all the obstacles, all the objections, the criticism of the press in that day, the criticism of the Anglican Church. And they said, we have to do what God has called us to do, regardless of the price tag. And they knew that the price tag, no matter how high, was worth the cost.
There are so many lessons that these men teach us. And that is simply this. We may have our theological differences. There may be many trials that we have to overcome to get the gospel to people. But no matter the cost, they believed that it was worth it. Because as far as they were concerned, and of course, we understand that this is what the scriptures teach, that a single soul is worth the whole world, so to speak. Jesus said, what do you gain if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul?
Whatever we may say about John Wesley and George Whitefield, we can agree on this. They believed that eternity was more important than time, and they were convinced that the message that they preached were preparing people for eternal life. And you and I have the privilege of looking back on their lives, being inspired, being hopeful, and being faithful to the end. Of course, immediately, I think of what John Wesley said just before he died. Best of all, God is with us, and we take that with us as we go into our own world.
Why did God use Whitefield & Wesley?
If you want to ask the question, why did God use George Whitefield and John Wesley in such a great way? What we always must understand is this, they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And you know, the Bible teaches us that that is a privilege of every single believer.
Now let me explain. When we receive Christ as Savior, He comes within us and He is resident but he longs to be president. He longs to be able to take our gifting and to use it in ways that are unpredictable and much greater than any human ability might be able to have. And so we’re thankful for these men, not only because of what they did, but we are thankful for who they were in their own life, in their own character, and in their own motivation.
In a world in which we have so many different options, and oftentimes so many different reasons for people to go into the ministry, let us always remember there’s no substitute for the call of God in evangelism. But that call, thankfully, is extended to us all.
From Seedbed:
George Whitefield (1714–1770), evangelist and former Oxford junior colleague of the Wesleys, had just returned from preaching in America. Soon barred from London pulpits, he set off for Bristol. There on February 17, 1739, he preached for the first time in the open air to about two hundred colliers (coal miners) at Kingswood. Within three weeks the crowds had mushroomed to ten thousand, and Whitefield called on Wesley for help.3 Whitefield had been drawn to Bristol for three reasons. His home was nearby Gloucester on the Welsh border north of Bristol.
Photo from https://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/visit/hanham-mount/
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