Category: Classic Sermons in Modern English

God’s Goodness: Our Reason to Be Thankful

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Adapted from a sermon delivered by George Whitefield (C 1735)

Want to know one of the clearest signs that we’ve drifted from God? It’s how hard we find it to be thankful. Think about it – when things are going well, how often do we actually stop to say “thank you”?

When God first created humans and placed them in paradise, they were naturally filled with gratitude. They used every breath to praise God, recognizing that their very existence depended on Him. Even now, when we imagine heaven, we picture angels and perfected souls constantly praising God, acknowledging His worth and power.

What was natural for humans at creation, and what will be our joy in heaven, should be part of our life now. But let’s be honest – how rarely do we feel moved to praise God! Even when guardian angels watch over us, they must be amazed at how seldom we express gratitude for all we’ve been given.

We never lack reasons to be thankful, especially those of us saved by Jesus. We see God’s goodness everywhere – in sunshine, in daily blessings, in His care for all people. But few of us have reached the point where we can genuinely rejoice in others’ blessings as much as our own. That kind of perfect love will only be fully achieved in heaven, where every blessing given to others will give us new reasons to be thankful.

What usually moves us to gratitude is personal blessing – things that directly affect us. This makes sense – when something touches our own lives, it feels more real. When God shows us special favor or delivers us from trouble, it hits different. It’s like the Psalmist who kept saying, “If only people would praise God for His goodness and for the amazing things He does for them!”
The Psalmist’s passionate plea shows both how important gratitude is and how often we neglect it. It’s like the story Jesus told about the ten lepers – they all cried for help when they were sick, but only one came back to say thanks when they were healed. Sadly, that’s pretty typical of how most of us act.

For four months, we’ve been at sea together. We’ve seen storms that lifted waves high as mountains. We’ve felt our courage melt away in trouble. But we cried out to God, and He brought us safely through. He calmed the storms and brought us to our destination. Shouldn’t we praise Him for His goodness? Shouldn’t we tell others about what He’s done for us?

Don’t just say “thank you” with your lips while your heart is far away – that’s just pretending. God didn’t save us from storms just to hear empty words. He wants our lives to show our gratitude.
Give God your whole heart. Let His love draw you to honor and obey Him. You couldn’t serve a better master – His service brings freedom, His requirements become easy with practice, and His rewards are amazing: love, peace, and joy now, plus eternal glory later.

If we don’t respond to God’s kindness with changed lives, we’re in serious trouble. God is both merciful and just. The more blessings we receive, the more responsible we are for how we use them. Don’t let God’s blessings become reasons for greater judgment.

But I believe better things for you. I’ve seen positive changes among you. The cursing has decreased, and recent hardships have made you think more seriously about eternal things. Keep going in this direction. Nothing would make me happier than to hear you’re living according to truth.

Remember, you’re entering a new world with new challenges. Show by your lives that God’s mercy hasn’t been wasted. Let your gratitude show in how you live, not just in what you say.
May God bless you, guide you, and bring us all finally to that eternal haven where we’ll praise Him forever for His goodness and declare the wonders He has done for us.

Discover the Greatest Love Story Ever Told

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MODERN ENGLISH ADAPTION OF A SERMON FROM GEORGE WHITEFIELD (C.1750)

Let me tell you about the greatest love story ever told – one that’s still unfolding today. It starts with an ancient verse that speaks of a king and his beloved, but it’s really about something much deeper. The words come from Psalm 45: “Listen, daughter, consider this carefully: Forget your former life and family traditions, for your true beauty will capture the King’s heart. Honor him, for he is worthy of your devotion.”

I want to speak to you today about love – not the fleeting kind that fills romance novels or lights up social media, but a love so profound it can transform your entire life. I’m talking about the love Christ offers to each of us, a relationship more genuine than any you’ve ever known.

You might wonder how this kind of relationship works. Imagine meeting someone who knows everything about you – every mistake, every flaw, every hidden struggle – and loves you completely anyway. That’s what this relationship offers. It begins with a choice, but not just your choice. Before you ever think about this relationship, you’re already chosen, already loved, already valued beyond measure.

When this connection begins, something remarkable happens. It’s like watching a flower slowly open to the sun. Your heart starts to change. You find yourself drawn to this love not out of duty or obligation, but because it fulfills something deep within you that nothing else has ever satisfied. It’s as if you’ve been reading books in black and white all your life, and suddenly someone hands you a full-color edition.

This isn’t some distant, formal arrangement. It’s an intimate bond that nothing can break. Not failure, not doubt, not fear, not even the judgments of others. Think about the strongest relationship you know – this is stronger. Think about the deepest love you’ve experienced – this goes deeper. It’s a connection that transforms you from the inside out, yet somehow lets you become more truly yourself than you’ve ever been.

Let me be clear: this invitation isn’t just for people who have their lives together. You don’t need to clean yourself up first or reach some standard of worthiness. This love reaches into every circumstance, every background, every situation. Whether you’re successful by the world’s standards or struggling to get by, whether your past is relatively clean or filled with regrets, this invitation is for you.

What does it take to enter this relationship? Simply an open heart and a willingness to change direction. You don’t need to have everything figured out. You just need to be honest about wanting something more than what you’ve known before. It’s like standing at the edge of an ocean – you can keep playing in the shallow water of lesser loves, or you can dive deep into something real and lasting.

When you accept this love, everything shifts. Not all at once, perhaps, but steadily and surely. You discover a beauty within yourself that has nothing to do with external appearance. You find strength you never knew you had. You gain purpose beyond just getting through each day. Most importantly, you experience a peace that stays with you even when life gets difficult.

Why does this matter so much? Because we’re all looking for love that doesn’t fade, for purpose that doesn’t hollow out, for meaning that goes beyond the surface of things. We’re searching for something real in a world of artificial connections and temporary pleasures. This relationship offers what nothing else can – a love that’s both tender enough to heal your deepest hurts and strong enough to transform your greatest weaknesses.

I know some of you might be hesitating. Maybe you’re worried about what others will think. Maybe you’ve been hurt by relationships before. Maybe you’re not sure you’re ready for this kind of change. But consider this: what if everything you’ve been looking for, everything you’ve been trying to find in other places, has been waiting for you here all along?

This isn’t about joining a religion or following a set of rules. It’s about entering a relationship that will reshape your entire life while somehow making you more truly yourself than you’ve ever been. It’s about finding love that doesn’t demand perfection but empowers transformation. It’s about discovering that you’re more valued, more loved, and more capable of loving than you ever imagined.

The invitation stands open. You don’t need special qualifications or a perfect past. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to be willing to take the first step toward this love that’s been waiting for you all along. In a world that’s increasingly disconnected and superficial, this relationship offers something real, something lasting, something true.

I’ve seen this love transform lives over and over again. I’ve watched it heal deep wounds, restore broken spirits, and bring light to the darkest places. And I believe with all my heart that this same love is reaching out to you right now, offering you a relationship more genuine and more fulfilling than anything you’ve known before.

Will you consider this invitation? Will you open your heart to this possibility? The choice is yours, but know this: you are deeply loved, completely valued, and eternally welcome in this relationship. All you need to do is say yes.

Understanding the Importance of Religious Revivals

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Based on a writing by Rev. CHARLES G. FINNEY (1792–1875)

Let’s talk about religious revivals – what they are and why they matter. It all started with an ancient prophet named Habakkuk who, facing troubled times, prayed for God to “revive” his people’s faith. This idea of revival has been important ever since.

At its core, religion is simply about people choosing to follow God willingly and sincerely. But here’s the challenge: we naturally drift away from this commitment. Think of it like a New Year’s resolution – we start with good intentions, but slowly slide back into old habits. This is why revivals become necessary.

Throughout history, most religious growth has happened through revivals – periods of intense spiritual awakening. Imagine a sleeping person needing an alarm clock. People get spiritually drowsy, distracted by life’s many demands and entertainments. These distractions are like a strong current pulling us away from shore. To swim back, we often need a powerful burst of energy.

Looking at history, we see a pattern: God creates a period of spiritual excitement, people turn to Him, then gradually drift away as daily life takes over. Think of it like a family that grows closer after a crisis, then slowly drifts apart until another event brings them together again.

Ideally, we wouldn’t need these spiritual wake-up calls. In a perfect world, faith would grow steadily, like a well-tended garden. But reality is different. Just as political campaigns and advertising bombard us with messages that shape our thoughts, these worldly influences need to be countered by equally powerful spiritual experiences.

Here’s what’s important to understand: a revival isn’t a miracle that suspends natural laws. It’s more like waking up and using abilities you already had but weren’t using. Think of a couch potato – they have the muscles to run, they just need the motivation to use them.

When a revival happens, it starts with Christians rediscovering their original enthusiasm for faith, like couples remembering why they fell in love. This renewal then spreads. Spiritual truths that seemed dull become vivid and real. People develop genuine concern for others’ spiritual well-being. Often, the change reaches even those considered “hopeless cases” – the most unlikely people can have complete changes of heart.

The whole process involves three key players: God, someone sharing spiritual truth, and the person being changed. Think of it like helping someone learn to swim: there’s the designer of the pool (God), the swimming instructor (the teacher), and the swimmer (the person changing). The truth itself is like the water – essential to the whole process.

Even small actions can have big effects. Sometimes just seeing someone’s genuine concern can start a chain reaction in a community. It’s like how one person’s smile can brighten a whole room. The key thing to remember is that revival involves both God’s work and human participation. While God provides the truth and power, people must choose to share and respond to it.

That’s what revival is about – a return to spiritual health through a combination of divine influence and human response. It’s as natural as waking up from sleep, as practical as farming, and as personal as falling in love. It happens when people are deeply moved to make real changes in their lives and turn back to God.

Justification by Faith

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This is a simplified sermon based on a work by John Wesley

Based on Romans 4:5 – “To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”

Introduction

How can a sinful person be made right with God? This is one of the most important questions anyone can ask. Until we’re at peace with God, we can’t have true peace or joy in this life or the next. How can we find peace when our own conscience condemns us, let alone God who knows everything? What real joy can we have while God’s judgment hangs over us?

The Foundation of Justification

Let me explain how this all works:

Originally, humans were made in God’s image – perfect, holy, and pure. We were made to love God completely and live in perfect relationship with Him.

God gave humans a perfect law requiring perfect obedience. We were fully capable of following it.
But humans disobeyed God. Through Adam’s sin, death and separation from God entered the world. This affected all of us – we all inherited this broken relationship with God.

But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to save us. Jesus became human to represent all of us. He took our sins upon Himself, suffered the punishment we deserved, and died to make things right between us and God.

What is Justification?

Justification is God’s pardon – His forgiveness of our sins. It’s important to understand what this means:

It’s not about making us actually righteous – that’s sanctification, which comes later.
It’s not just about clearing us from Satan’s accusations.
It’s not God pretending we’re righteous when we’re not.

Simply put, justification means God forgives our past sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice. He treats us as if we had never sinned, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus took our punishment.

Who Can Be Justified?

Here’s the amazing part – God justifies the ungodly. Not the good people. Not the almost-perfect people. The ungodly. The sinners. The broken. The ones who know they need help.
This is crucial to understand: You don’t need to become holy before God will accept you. In fact, you can’t. That’s backwards. God accepts you first, then begins making you holy.

How Are We Justified?

There’s only one requirement: faith. But what kind of faith?

It’s more than just believing facts about God.
It’s a deep trust that Christ died for your sins personally.
It’s believing that God loves you and gave Himself for you specifically.

This faith is the only condition for justification. You don’t need to do good works first. You don’t need to clean yourself up first. You just need to trust in what Jesus has done for you.
Why Faith?
You might wonder why God chose faith as the only requirement. One reason is that it completely eliminates human pride. When you come to God by faith:

You must look only at your own sinfulness
You can’t claim any goodness of your own
You must come as a sinner needing mercy
You can only rely on what Jesus has done

If you’re reading this and feeling the weight of your sins, here’s the good news: You’re exactly the kind of person God is looking to save. Don’t try to make yourself better first. Don’t wait until you feel worthy. Come to God just as you are – broken, sinful, and needy. That’s when you’ll find His mercy.

Don’t plead your good works. Don’t plead your sincerity. Don’t even plead your humility. Plead only what Jesus has done for you. If you feel completely unworthy of God, you’re exactly where you need to be to receive His grace. Trust in Jesus Christ right now, and you will be reconciled to God.

The Comforter

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A modern adaptation of C.H. Spurgeon’s sermon delivered on January 21, 1855

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.” – John 14:26

The elderly Simeon called Jesus the consolation of Israel, and indeed He was. Before Jesus actually appeared, people looked forward to His coming like someone watching for the morning star that promises the dawn. When Jesus walked the earth, He must have been an incredible source of comfort to those lucky enough to be His companions. We can imagine how quickly the disciples would run to Jesus with their problems, and how His voice alone would calm their fears.

Like children with a father, they brought Him every need, every complaint, every sorrow, and every struggle. And Jesus, like a skilled doctor, had the perfect remedy for every pain and the right medicine for every problem. What a blessing it must have been to live alongside Jesus! Even sorrows then must have felt like blessings in disguise, since they gave people a reason to seek Jesus for help. Some of us might wish we had been born in that time, when we could have rested our tired heads on Jesus’s shoulder and heard His kind voice saying, “Come to me if you’re tired.”

But Jesus had to leave. Important prophecies needed to be fulfilled and crucial purposes accomplished. He had to die to take away our sins. He had to rest in the grave for a while to make death less frightening for those who would follow Him. He had to rise again so that we who will die believing in Him might also rise in glorious bodies. And He had to ascend to heaven to claim His victory, to defeat the forces of evil, and to show His power.

“It’s necessary for me to go,” Jesus said, “because if I don’t go, the Comforter won’t come.” Jesus had to leave. The disciples had to weep. His followers would be left without their comforter. But listen to Jesus’s kind words: “I won’t leave you alone like orphans. I will ask the Father to send you another Comforter, who will stay with you forever.”

Despite His enormous mission – a mission so huge it might have consumed anyone else’s attention completely – Jesus didn’t abandon His small flock of followers. Before leaving, He gave them words of comfort, like a Good Samaritan tending to wounds. He promised: “I’ll send you another Comforter – someone who will be what I’ve been to you, and even more. This Comforter will console you when you’re sad, clear up your doubts, support you in hard times, and act in my place on earth, doing what I would have done if I had stayed.”

Now, before we talk about the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, let’s look at this word more carefully. The original Greek word has several meanings. Sometimes it means “teacher” or “instructor.” Often it means “advocate.” But most commonly, it means “comforter,” which is what we’ll focus on today.

Let’s look at three main points:

  1. Who is the Comforter?
  2. What is the comfort He gives?
  3. Who receives this comfort?

First: The Comforter

Let me describe what makes the Holy Spirit such a perfect Comforter. First, He is incredibly loving. When we’re hurting and someone who doesn’t really know or care about us tries to help, their words just bounce off like rain on marble. But when someone who deeply loves us offers comfort, their words are like music to our ears. They know exactly how to reach our hearts.

The Holy Spirit loves you more than you can imagine. Try to measure heaven’s size, weigh all the mountains, count every drop in the ocean, or number all the grains of sand on every beach – and still you wouldn’t come close to measuring how much the Holy Spirit loves you. He has loved you for ages past, loves you now, and will love you forever.

He’s also completely faithful. Nothing hurts more than having a friend desert you when times get tough. But the Holy Spirit never does this – He stays faithful forever. You might be sick and unable to go to church, but He’ll visit you in your sickness. You might face overwhelming problems, wave after wave of trouble, but He remains faithful. You might sin and feel unworthy, but that doesn’t change His love. He knew all your faults before you were born and loved you anyway.

The Holy Spirit never gets tired of comforting you. Sometimes when we try to comfort others, we get frustrated because their problems keep shifting or they resist our help. But the Holy Spirit never gives up. Even when we run from comfort or refuse help, He persistently pursues us with His consolation.

He’s also infinitely wise in how He comforts. Human comforters often misunderstand the problem and give wrong advice. But the Holy Spirit perfectly understands what’s wrong and knows exactly how to help. He never makes mistakes in His comfort.

His comfort is completely safe. Some kinds of comfort are dangerous – like telling people to drown their sorrows in entertainment or pleasure. The devil sometimes offers false comfort too, telling people they’re fine when they’re not. But the Holy Spirit’s comfort is always true and safe.

He comforts actively – not just with words, but with real help. He prays for us, gives us promises, and provides grace. And He never fails in His mission to comfort – when He sets out to console someone, He always succeeds.

Best of all, He’s always present. You never have to send for Him or wait for Him to arrive. He’s always right there when you need Him.

Second: The Comfort

Some people misunderstand how the Holy Spirit works. They think He gives new revelations or messages. But that’s not how He comforts us. Instead, He reminds us of truths we already have – especially truths about Jesus. He helps us understand and remember what God has already said.

The Holy Spirit whispers to our hearts: “Remember, someone died for you. Look at Jesus on the cross. See His wounds, His sacrifice. That proves you’re secure and loved. God loves you eternally, and even this trouble you’re facing is for your good. Every hardship is helping you grow. God disciplines those He loves, just like a good parent.”

Sometimes the Holy Spirit pulls back the curtain a bit and lets us glimpse the glory of heaven. That’s when believers can say, “Let troubles flood in like a tidal wave – I know I’m heading home to God, and that’s all that matters.”

Third: Who Receives This Comfort?

Now, let’s be clear about who can expect this comfort. You can’t pick and choose which parts of God’s gifts you want. Some people want forgiveness but don’t want to change their lives. Some want heaven but don’t want holiness. It doesn’t work that way – God’s gifts come as a package deal.

You can’t have true comfort without first experiencing conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit first shows us our guilt and need for Jesus before He comforts us. Have you felt this conviction? Has your soul been humbled before Jesus? Are you looking to His sacrifice alone for your salvation?

If not, you shouldn’t claim His comfort yet. The Holy Spirit convinces us of our sin before He comforts us. You need His complete work in your life, not just the comfortable parts.

Conclusion

As you leave today, ask yourself: Do you know this Comforter? If not, remember this: if you don’t know Him as Comforter now, you’ll meet Him as Judge later. This isn’t a truth we can afford to ignore – we’re not guaranteed tomorrow.

But here’s the wonderful news: Anyone who believes in Jesus will be saved. Your sins, no matter how terrible, are no barrier. Your guilt, no matter how great, is no obstacle. Whether you feel like the worst sinner alive – if you believe in Jesus tonight, every sin will be forgiven, every crime erased, every wrong made right. You’ll be saved through Jesus Christ and stand secure in heaven.

That’s the glorious good news. May God help you trust in it today.

May these words find their home in your heart through the work of the true Teacher – God Himself.