The Kingdom of God Is at Hand

1This is a listening version of John Wesley's sermon, The Kingdom of God Is at Hand. It is the sermon as printed in John Wesley's 1771 Works. Rendered in modern English.

The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15.

2These words naturally lead us to consider, first, the nature of true religion, here called by our Lord the kingdom of God, which, he says, is at hand. And secondly, the way to it, which he points out in those words, Repent, and believe the gospel.

3We are, first, to consider the nature of true religion, here called by our Lord the kingdom of God. The same expression the great apostle uses in his letter to the Romans, where he likewise explains his Lord's words. He says, The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). That chapter and verse belong to the letter he has just named: Romans 14:17.

The kingdom of God, or true religion, is not meat and drink. It is well known that not only the unconverted Jews, but great numbers of those who had received the faith of Christ, were nevertheless zealous for the law, even the ceremonial law of Moses. Acts 21:20. Whatever, therefore, they found written in it, either concerning meat and drink offerings, or the distinction between clean and unclean meats, they not only observed themselves, but pressed the same thing hard, even on those among the Gentiles, or heathens, who were turned to God.

Yes, they pressed it to such a degree that some of them taught, wherever they came among them, Except you are circumcised, and keep the law, the whole ritual law, you cannot be saved. Acts 15:1, 24.

In opposition to these, the apostle declares, both here and in many other places, that true religion does not consist in meat and drink, or in any ritual observances. Nor indeed does it consist in any outward thing whatever, in anything outside the heart. The whole substance of it lies in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

4Not in any outward thing, such as forms or ceremonies, even of the most excellent kind. Suppose these to be ever so decent and significant, ever so expressive of inward things. Suppose them ever so helpful, not only to ordinary people, whose thought reaches little farther than their sight, but even to men of understanding, men of stronger capacities, as no doubt they may sometimes be. Yes, suppose them, as in the case of the Jews, to be appointed by God himself. Yet even during the time in which that appointment remains in force, true religion does not principally consist in them. No, strictly speaking, it does not consist in them at all.

How much more must this hold concerning such rites and forms as are only of human appointment? The religion of Christ rises infinitely higher, and lies immensely deeper, than all these. These are good in their place, just so far as they in fact serve true religion. And it would be superstition to object against them, while they are used only as occasional helps to human weakness. But let no man carry them farther. Let no man dream that they have any intrinsic worth, or that religion cannot exist without them. That would be to make them an abomination to the Lord.

5The nature of religion is so far from consisting in these, in forms of worship, or rites and ceremonies, that it does not properly consist in any outward actions, of whatever kind. It is true, a man cannot have any religion who is guilty of vicious, immoral actions, or who does to others what he would not want them to do to him, if he were in the same circumstance. And it is also true that he can have no real religion who knows to do good, and does it not. Yet a man may both abstain from outward evil, and do good, and still have no religion.

Yes, two persons may do the same outward work. Suppose it is feeding the hungry, or clothing the naked. In the meantime, one of these may be truly religious, and the other have no religion at all. For the one may act from the love of God, and the other from the love of praise. So plain it is, that although true religion naturally leads to every good word and work, yet the real nature of it lies deeper still, even in the hidden man of the heart.

6I say, of the heart. For religion does not consist in orthodoxy, or right opinions, either. Although these are not properly outward things, they are not in the heart, but in the understanding. A man may be orthodox in every point. He may not only hold right opinions, but zealously defend them against all who oppose them. He may think justly concerning the incarnation of our Lord, concerning the ever blessed Trinity, and every other doctrine contained in the oracles of God. He may assent to all the three creeds, that called the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian. And yet it is possible he may have no religion at all, no more than a Jew, Turk, or Pagan.

He may be almost as orthodox as the devil, though indeed not altogether. For every man errs in something, whereas we cannot well conceive the devil to hold any erroneous opinion. And he may all the while be as great a stranger as the devil is to the religion of the heart.

7This alone is religion, truly so called. This alone is, in the sight of God, of great price. The apostle sums it all up in three particulars: righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And first, righteousness. We cannot be at a loss about this, if we remember the words of our Lord, describing the two grand branches of it, on which hang all the law and the prophets. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment, the first and great branch of Christian righteousness. Mark 12:30.

You shall delight yourself in the Lord your God. You shall seek and find all happiness in him. He shall be your shield, and your exceeding great reward, in time and in eternity. All your bones shall say, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside you. You shall hear, and fulfill, his word who says, My son, give me your heart. And having given him your heart, your inmost soul, to reign there without a rival, you may well cry out, in the fullness of your heart, I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my strong rock and my defense: my Savior, my God, and my might, in whom I will trust; my buckler, the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge.

8And the second commandment is like this. The second great branch of Christian righteousness is closely and inseparably connected with it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love. You shall embrace him with the most tender goodwill, the most earnest and cordial affection, the most inflamed desires of preventing or removing all evil, and of procuring for him every possible good.

Your neighbor. That is, not only your friend, your kinsman, or your acquaintance. Not only the virtuous, the friendly, the one who loves you, who prevents or returns your kindness. But every child of man, every human creature, every soul which God has made. Not excepting the one whom you have never seen in the flesh, whom you do not know either by face or by name. Not excepting the one whom you know to be evil and unthankful, the one who still despitefully uses and persecutes you. Him you shall love as yourself, with the same unchanging thirst after his happiness in every kind, the same unwearied care to screen him from whatever might grieve or hurt either his soul or his body.

Now is not this love the fulfilling of the law? The sum of all Christian righteousness? Of all inward righteousness, for it necessarily implies bowels of mercies, humbleness of mind, seeing love is not puffed up, gentleness, meekness, long-suffering, for love is not provoked, but believes, hopes, and endures all things. And of all outward righteousness, for love works no evil to his neighbor, either by word or by deed. It cannot willingly either hurt or grieve anyone. And it is zealous of good works. Every lover of mankind, as he has opportunity, does good to all men, being, without partiality and without hypocrisy, full of mercy and good fruits.

9But true religion, or a heart right toward God and man, implies happiness as well as holiness. For it is not only righteousness, but also peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. What peace? The peace of God, which God only can give, and the world cannot take away. The peace which passes all understanding, all merely rational conception. It is a supernatural sensation, a divine taste of the powers of the world to come, such as the natural man does not know, however wise he is in the things of this world. Nor indeed can he know it, in his present state, because it is spiritually discerned.

It is a peace that banishes all doubt, all painful uncertainty, the Spirit of God bearing witness with the spirit of a Christian that he is a child of God. And it banishes fear, all such fear as has torment: the fear of the wrath of God, the fear of hell, the fear of the devil, and in particular the fear of death. He who has the peace of God desires, if it were the will of God, to depart and to be with Christ.

10With this peace of God, wherever it is fixed in the soul, there is also joy in the Holy Ghost. Joy worked in the heart by the Holy Ghost, by the ever blessed Spirit of God. He it is who works in us that calm, humble rejoicing in God, through Christ Jesus, by whom we have now received the atonement. He sets a Greek word beside that line. It means the reconciliation with God. And that same Spirit enables us boldly to confirm the truth of the royal Psalmist's declaration. Blessed is the man, or rather happy, whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered.

He it is who inspires the Christian soul with that even, solid joy which arises from the testimony of the Spirit, that he is a child of God, and who gives him to rejoice with joy unspeakable, in hope of the glory of God. Hope, both of the glorious image of God, which is in part, and shall be fully, revealed in him, and of that crown of glory which fades not away, reserved in heaven for him.

11This holiness and this happiness, joined in one, are sometimes called, in the inspired writings, the kingdom of God, as by our Lord in the text, and sometimes the kingdom of heaven. It is called the kingdom of God because it is the immediate fruit of God's reigning in the soul. As soon as ever he takes to himself his mighty power, and sets up his throne in our hearts, they are instantly filled with this righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is called the kingdom of heaven because it is, in a degree, heaven opened in the soul. For whoever they are that experience this, they can declare, before angels and men:

Everlasting life is won. Glory is on earth begun.

According to the constant tenor of Scripture, which everywhere bears record: God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son, reigning in his heart, has life, even life everlasting. 1 John 5:11-12. For this is life eternal, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3. And those to whom this is given may confidently address God, though they were in the midst of a fiery furnace.

You, Lord, safe shielded by your power, you, Son of God, Jehovah, we adore, in form of man descending to appear. To you be ceaseless hallelujahs given. Praise, as in heaven your throne, we offer here. For where your presence is displayed, is heaven.

12And this kingdom of God, or of heaven, is at hand. As these words were originally spoken, they implied that the time was then fulfilled, God being made manifest in the flesh, when he would set up his kingdom among men, and reign in the hearts of his people. And is not the time now fulfilled? For see, he says, I am with you always, you who preach remission of sins in my name, even to the end of the world. Matthew 28:20.

Wherever, therefore, the gospel of Christ is preached, this kingdom of his is near at hand. It is not far from every one of you. You may this hour enter into it, if you listen to his voice: Repent, and believe the gospel.

13This is the way. Walk in it. And first, repent, that is, know yourselves. This is the first repentance, previous to faith, even conviction, or self-knowledge. Awake, then, you who sleep. Know yourself to be a sinner, and what manner of sinner you are. Know that corruption of your inmost nature, by which you are very far gone from original righteousness, by which the flesh lusts always contrary to the spirit, through that carnal mind which is enmity against God, which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Know that you are corrupted in every power, in every faculty of your soul, that you are totally corrupted in every one of these, all the foundations being out of course. The eyes of your understanding are darkened, so that they cannot discern God, or the things of God. The clouds of ignorance and error rest upon you, and cover you with the shadow of death. You know nothing yet, as you ought to know, neither God, nor the world, nor yourself. Your will is no longer the will of God, but is utterly perverse and distorted, turned away from all good, from all which God loves, and prone to all evil, to every abomination which God hates.

Your affections are alienated from God, and scattered abroad over all the earth. All your passions, both your desires and your aversions, your joys and your sorrows, your hopes and your fears, are out of frame. They are either undue in their degree, or placed on undue objects. So that there is no soundness in your soul, but from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, to use the strong expression of the prophet, there are only wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.

14Such is the inbred corruption of your heart, of your very inmost nature. And what manner of branches can you expect to grow from such an evil root? Hence springs unbelief, ever departing from the living God, saying, Who is the Lord, that I should serve him? Tush! You, God, do not care for it. Hence independence, aspiring to be like the Most High. Hence pride, in all its forms, teaching you to say, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing.

From this evil fountain flow forth the bitter streams of vanity, thirst of praise, ambition, covetousness, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. From this arise anger, hatred, malice, revenge, envy, jealousy, evil surmisings. From this come all the foolish and hurtful lusts that now pierce you through with many sorrows, and, if not prevented in time, will at length drown your soul in everlasting perdition.

15And what fruits can grow on such branches as these? Only such as are bitter and evil continually. Of pride comes contention, vain boasting, seeking and receiving praise from men, and so robbing God of that glory which he cannot give to another. Of the lust of the flesh come gluttony or drunkenness, luxury or sensuality, fornication, uncleanness, variously defiling that body which was designed for a temple of the Holy Ghost. Of unbelief comes every evil word and work.

But the time would fail, should you reckon them all up. All the idle words you have spoken, provoking the Most High, grieving the Holy One of Israel. All the evil works you have done, either wholly evil in themselves, or at least not done to the glory of God. For your actual sins are more than you are able to express, more than the hairs of your head. Who can number the sands of the sea, or the drops of rain, or your iniquities?

16And do you not know that the wages of sin is death? Death, not only temporal, but eternal. The soul that sins, it shall die, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. It shall die the second death. This is the sentence: to be punished with never-ending death, with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

Do you not know that every sinner stands under a heavier word than danger? He quotes a Greek line to prove it. The sinner is not, properly, in danger of hell-fire. That expression is far too weak. Rather, he is under the sentence of hell-fire, doomed already, just dragging to execution. You are guilty of everlasting death. It is the just reward of your inward and outward wickedness. It is just that the sentence should now take place. Do you see this? Do you feel this? Are you thoroughly convinced that you deserve God's wrath, and everlasting damnation? Would God do you no wrong if he now commanded the earth to open and swallow you up? If you were now to go down alive into the pit, into the fire that never shall be quenched? If God has given you truly to repent, you have a deep sense that these things are so, and that it is of his mere mercy you are not consumed, swept away from the face of the earth.

17And what will you do to appease the wrath of God, to atone for all your sins, and to escape the punishment you have so justly deserved? Alas, you can do nothing. Nothing that will in any way make amends to God for one evil work, or word, or thought. If you could now do all things well, if from this very hour, until your soul should return to God, you could perform perfect, uninterrupted obedience, even this would not atone for what is past. Not increasing your debt would not discharge it. It would still remain as great as ever.

Yes, the present and future obedience of all the men upon earth, and all the angels in heaven, would never make satisfaction to the justice of God for one single sin. How vain, then, was the thought of atoning for your own sins by anything you could do? It costs far more to redeem one soul than all mankind is able to pay. So that, were there no other help for a guilty sinner, without doubt he must have perished everlastingly.

18But suppose perfect obedience, for the time to come, could atone for the sins that are past. This would profit you nothing, for you are not able to perform it, no, not in any one point. Begin now. Make the trial. Shake off that outward sin that so easily besets you. You cannot. How then will you change your life from all evil to all good? Indeed, it is impossible to be done, unless first your heart is changed. For so long as the tree remains evil, it cannot bring forth good fruit.

But are you able to change your own heart, from all sin to all holiness? To quicken a soul that is dead in sin, dead to God, and alive only to the world? No more than you are able to quicken a dead body, to raise to life the one who lies in the grave. Yes, you are not able to quicken your soul in any degree, no more than to give any degree of life to the dead body. You can do nothing, more or less, in this matter. You are utterly without strength. To be deeply sensible of this, how helpless you are, as well as how guilty and how sinful, this is that repentance not to be repented of, which is the forerunner of the kingdom of God.

19If to this lively conviction of your inward and outward sins, of your utter guiltiness and helplessness, there are added the affections that suit it, then hear what follows. Sorrow of heart, for having despised your own mercies. Remorse, and self-condemnation, having the mouth stopped. Shame, to lift up your eyes to heaven. Fear of the wrath of God abiding on you, of his curse hanging over your head, and of the fiery indignation ready to devour those who forget God, and do not obey our Lord Jesus Christ. An earnest desire to escape from that indignation, to cease from evil, and to learn to do well.

Then I say to you, in the name of the Lord, you are not far from the kingdom of God. One step more, and you shall enter in. You do repent. Now, believe the gospel.

20The gospel, that is, good tidings, good news for guilty, helpless sinners, in the largest sense of the word, means the whole revelation made to men by Jesus Christ. And sometimes it means the whole account of what our Lord did and suffered while he tabernacled among men. The substance of all is this: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Or, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end we might not perish, but have everlasting life. Or, he was bruised for our transgressions, he was wounded for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Believe this, and the kingdom of God is yours. By faith you attain the promise. He pardons and absolves all who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel. As soon as ever God has spoken to your heart, Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven, his kingdom comes. You have righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

21Only beware that you do not deceive your own soul with regard to the nature of this faith. It is not, as some have foolishly imagined, a bare assent to the truth of the Bible, of the articles of our creed, or of all that is contained in the Old and New Testaments. The devils believe this, as well as I or you, and yet they are devils still. But it is, over and above this, a sure trust in the mercy of God through Christ Jesus. It is a confidence in a pardoning God. It is a divine evidence, or conviction, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their former trespasses. And in particular, that the Son of God has loved me, and given himself for me. And that I, even I, am now reconciled to God by the blood of the cross.

22Do you believe in this way? Then the peace of God is in your heart, and sorrow and sighing flee away. You are no longer in doubt of the love of God. It is clear as the noonday sun. You cry out, My song shall be always of the loving kindness of the Lord. With my mouth will I ever be telling of your truth, from one generation to another. You are no longer afraid of hell, or death, or him who once had the power of death, the devil. No, nor painfully afraid of God himself. Only you have a tender, filial fear of offending him.

Do you believe? Then your soul magnifies the Lord, and your spirit rejoices in God your Savior. You rejoice that you have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. You rejoice in that Spirit of adoption, which cries in your heart, Abba, Father. You rejoice in a hope full of immortality, in reaching forward to the mark of the prize of your high calling, in an earnest expectation of all the good things which God has prepared for those who love him.

Do you now believe? Then the love of God is now shed abroad in your heart. You love him, because he first loved us. And because you love God, you love your brother also. And being filled with love, peace, and joy, you are also filled with long-suffering, gentleness, fidelity, goodness, meekness, temperance, and all the other fruits of the same Spirit. In a word, with whatever dispositions are holy, are heavenly, or divine. For while you behold, with open, uncovered face, the veil now being taken away, the glory of the Lord, his glorious love, and the glorious image in which you were created, you are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

23This repentance, this faith, this peace, joy, and love, this change from glory to glory, is what the wisdom of the world has voted to be madness, mere enthusiasm, utter distraction. But you, O man of God, do not regard them. Be moved by none of these things. You know in whom you have believed. See that no man take your crown. What you have already attained, hold fast, and follow on, until you attain all the great and precious promises.

And you who have not yet known him, do not let vain men make you ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Be terrified in nothing by those who speak evil of the things which they do not know. God will soon turn your heaviness into joy. Oh, let not your hands hang down. Yet a little longer, and he will take away your fears, and give you the spirit of a sound mind. He is near who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes, rather, who rose again, who is even now at the right hand of God, making intercession for you.

Now cast yourself on the Lamb of God, with all your sins, however many they are. And an entrance shall now be given to you, into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.