Why John Wesley Matters to Me

Why John Wesley Matters to Me

The testimony of a retired United Methodist Preacher


By Walter D. Edwards

Introduction

I have given lecture series at churches and Christian enrichment events from time to time. Often they either allude to John Wesley and our Methodist heritage or are directly about him and it. Lately I have begun asking myself if it is right for me to talk about him the way I do in these semi-official United Methodist settings.


Two Incidents that Made Me Raise the Question and Write This Essay

In January of 1971 I went with my wife Iris to New Orleans to attend the annual Congress on Evangelism of The United Methodist Church. That year the Denman Lectures were delivered by Dr. Albert Outler. Dr. Outler had recently published a monumental study of John Wesley for the Oxford Library of Protestant Thought, and was serving on the editorial board of the Wesley's Works Project. The lectures he gave that week would later be published under the title of Evangelism in the Wesleyan Spirit. Naturally John Wesley, his preaching, his writings, and his spiritual history were the subject of much discussion by all the speakers and all of us who attended the congress.

Two of our friends, a fellow member of the Florida Conference Board of Evangelism, and his wife, were our buddies as we attended the sessions, tried the New Orleans restaurants, went shopping, strolled the French Quarter, and talked about John Wesley. Suddenly his wife said to me, "Why do you people worship John Wesley?" I tried to explain that it wasn't worship but something else. I don't think I satisfied her concern, and I decided that her problem was because she grew up in another denomination.

Many years later while participating in a Conference Table, I shared the context of Mr. Wesley's "think and let think statement," from The Character of a Methodist, as my proposal for a common ground of the very serious theological and pastoral concerns we where about to discuss.

“all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God;” ...We believe the written word
of God to be the only and sufficient rule both of Christian faith and
practice...We believe Christ to be the eternal, supreme God;.... But as to all
opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let
think. (cf. The Character Of a Methodist, Works, Jackson edition)

One of the young ministers there that day said to me in a mocking tone, "Walter Edwards the Wesleyan scholar," which I took as a rebuff.

The young pastor's wife's question, and the disparaging remark of the young minister trouble me, so I am asking myself, "Why does John Wesley matter to me?" Is it idolatry, as the pastor's wife suggested? Is it an irrelevant intellectual hobby as the young pastor implied? Or is it a reality that I am blessed to be able to see, and to which I am called to testify?

A Disclaimer and a Claim

I do not have any special academic qualifications, other than a Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology. However, I have read all 14 volumes of Wesley's Works, at least once; and the Sermons and Journals many times. And I have had an experience I believe is like Wesley's at Aldersgate. That experience and more than half a century of living, thinking and reading what the professional scholars have to say, is where the following thoughts come from as I try to explain why John Wesley Matters to Me, and why I think he matters to us all.

My Experience: The Plant City Florida Revival of March 1951

In March of 1951 I was a junior in high school, an officer in the MYF (union with the EUB was still years away), and I was working toward a diploma in Science and Math with the goal of becoming a chemist or physicist. I was living at home as the last of my parents’ five children who was still in the nest, when a series of Revival services was announced for our church, First Methodist of Plant City Florida. The Evangelist for that week was a man from eastern Kentucky. My parents were from western Kentucky but this preacher didn't sound like my family, his accent was from the mountains. He set the “char” by the “far”. But even more different was his message about having been a drunk and a gambler who had run from God until a life in chaos drove him to surrender to God. Now he was able to tell of a wonderful peace that had filled his life when he "surrendered all." He was Rev. Ford R. Philpot.

He was invited to preach to the public High School assembly, unthinkable today but unremarkable then. It was early in the week, a Monday or Tuesday. As an officer in our church's youth group I introduced him to the audience of more than three hundred students and faculty. While he spoke I felt a little embarrassed because he spoke very frankly about his life before he surrendered to Jesus Christ.

Each evening that week many of my friends and I attended the services at our church. On Wednesday night I didn't go. Later I learned that one of the girls in my class had responded to the altar call that night. It was the first night he gave an altar call and she was the only one who responded. She went home so moved by what she experienced that she spent the entire night praying for all of us, her friends.

On Thursday night when the call was given and the hymn of invitation sung, I was there, sitting by a boy with whom I had attended school and church from infancy, Robert Trinkle, later Chancellor of the Florida Annual Conference. We looked at each other and he said, "Let's go." We did. Kneeling at the communion rail where I was baptized as a baby, received the Lord's Supper, and had taken the vows of church membership at about the age of ten, I told God that I wanted to be His boy.

We who had come to pray, there were more than 20 of us, many young like me but some of all ages, stood and began to sing, "Thank you Lord for saving my soul..." As I sang the Holy Spirit bore witness with my spirit that I was then and there a child of God by a new birth. What I felt then was joy unspeakable and full of glory. I testified that night to the congregation what I felt. And I lived in that joy for many days.

As time went by I experienced the unfolding of this new life in the way Wesley describes it in The Scripture Way of Salvation. At first it seemed that spiritual victory was perfect and complete, but then temptations came; there was confusion over things I feared were sins but are not. In time I came to see that God and I are in a covenant relationship, like marriage. God has made promises to me and I have to God, so I am His and He is mine, no matter the state of my emotions. In time I learned about Wesley's Aldersgate experience and came to identify mine with his.

Dr. H. Carter Hardin and Wesley's Standard Sermons

My pastor, Dr. H. Carter Hardin, soon approached me with the suggestion that God was calling me. My parents, fearing that I was becoming fanatical and moving too fast, vetoed a plan for me to become a Licensed Exhorter i.e. a lay preacher. Never-the-less Dr. Hardin handed me The Wesleyan Standard Sermons, and I began to read them. I was exposed to the way Methodism was in the late 19th century and pre-WWI years because Dr. Hardin, whose ministry began in Dania Florida in 1911, was from those times. On at least one occasion he even read the General Rules to our congregation, as was the custom when he began his ministry, and was a requirement of Wesley's from the beginning of Methodism in England. As I read those Standard Sermons, I recognized people I knew in "The Almost Christian," and myself in "Salvation by Faith." "The Witness of the Spirit" described my own new-found experience of God's presence in my life. And in "Justification by Faith" I saw the difference between hoping I am saved because of my works, and knowing I am because of God's.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes On The New testament (ENNT)

In order to help establish our faith and instruct us in the Christian life, Rev. Philpot had encouraged us to become subscribers to the Herald newspaper with its articles by preachers in the Methodist holiness camp meeting movement. One of the publications advertised in The Herald was John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on The New Testament , which I purchased. Thus I had in my hands, while not yet out of high school, the two source books of Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition. I not only had them, I read them. So from a teenager, I was exposed to the Methodism of John Wesley mediated through the Methodist Holiness Movement. In addition because my father was a member of the Board of Stewards, there was a copy of the Book of Discipline in the bookcase at my home. There I saw and read the "Articles of Religion." So I was exposed to the theology of the Anglican/Methodist tradition as well. Why would a relatively normal teen age boy be reading such material? Because of what happened at that revival.

Dr. Hardin's Gifts

Over the years I have often tried to help someone by giving them a book. I have also been afraid that it was not helpful because the person wasn't comfortable with books or maybe what they needed was conversation with a person. But as I record these memories I know that I was helped by books my pastor gave me, and that is probably why I do the same.

The Way, by E. Stanley Jones. I first encountered the writings of E. Stanley Jones when my pastor gave me a copy of The Way. I read it first as a daily devotional because it was formatted that way. Later I read it strait through because it was an explanation of Christian believing and living. That book remains fundamental to my own theology and ministry. It was a great satisfaction to me to learn that The Way, rather than Abundant Living, which was the more popular book, was Dr. Jones choice as his best book. Of his many other books I regard Christian Maturity, which is a study of the first epistle of John, as most important.

Anointed To Preach, by Clovis Chappell. As my call to preach became more evident,
Dr. Hardin gave me another book, which I cherish along with The Way, it is Anointed to Preach by Clovis Chappell. It is the published version of the Sam Jones Lectures delivered by Dr. Chappell at Emory University's Candler School of Theology. He defends the Divine choice of the "foolishness of preaching" (not foolish preaching), and tells in a straight forward way how to go about doing it. One of his observations that has liberated me from a quest for novelty is, "If you get up to preach next Sunday and say something completely original, the chances are it will not be true." Basically he said to read the Bible systematically and preach what speaks to you. Not that different from Richard Baxter's, "I preached as never to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." Another gift from Chappell was the freedom to preach about money. Chappell said "He loved to preach about money because he enjoyed watching the generous enjoy it and seeing the stingy suffer.

About Preaching: What It Is.

The word "Preaching" as used by most people is like the Madonna song, "Papa Don't Preach." a complaint against having your morals corrected. But the word "Preach" in The New Testament is an announcement of news. Sometimes it is good news, sometimes bad, but it is telling something that people need, and may even want, to hear. As a preacher I have struggled to "get it right" so my preaching will be the telling of the news God wants people to hear. As of now I think that what I am commissioned to announce is, to troubled people and a troubled world, "I know what the problem is, it is sin; personal (my own sins), corporate (the sins of our society), and systemic, (the sins of the social and economic systems under which we live), against God and our fellow human beings."

Because I also know what the cure is, Jesus Christ crucified and risen again, even the bad news is good, as when the Doctor says, "You are sick but we can heal you." I have cherished for many years the words of Queen Eleanor to King Henry in The Lion In Winter movie, when she sarcastically replies to his promises, which she does not believe, "I suppose, in a world where a carpenter rose from the dead, anything is possible." My announcement (Preaching) is, "we do live in a world where a carpenter rose from the dead so the kingdom of God is here and every good thing is now possible. Look for the signs and you will see."

What Dr. Paul Fletcher Taught Me about Prayer.

In June of 1952 Dr. Paul Fletcher, who was the pastor at First Methodist in Plant City from 1930-1935, moved back there in retirement. One Wednesday evening he gave the message at prayer meeting. He told how he prays (not just says) the Lord's Prayer. He emphasized the slow dwelling on each part, especially "hallowing the name" and worshipping God. I came away wanting to pray that way and experience what he did.

To the south of our house there is a tract of land that had been farmed by my older brother. When he went into service at the start of WWII our Dad took it over and he and I planted it with pine trees. By 1952 the trees were tall enough to have created a pine straw covering on the ground. It was there I lay down to pray in secret and begin to experience the prayer Jesus taught us. In time I discovered what John Wesley said about this prayer, "It contains everything we need to pray for and every thing we lawfully can pray for."

In later years it has given me a way to pray for my "list." I read over the list I keep remembering all the friends, fellow servants, parishioners, enemies, situations, and leaders I am asking God to bless. Then I picture all of US together praying OUR prayer (he gave it to us) and so I pray with and for us all. It is as close to the perfect will of God as I know how to get.

Annual Conference 1951 and Dr. Harry Denman

Full of this new experience of a personal, felt, relationship with God, I was eager for spiritual food. So when it came time for Annual Conference I attended, as a visitor, along with boys I knew from MYF Sub-district, who were sons of area pastors. Being old enough to have a Learners Permit Drivers License, I was able to drive the 11 or 12 miles to Lakeland. We met in the Mayhall Auditorium, then the civic auditorium for the City of Lakeland.

The conference preacher that year, who preached five times, was Dr. Harry Denman, a layman. He was Executive Secretary of the General Board of Evangelism. No clergy person who has headed it since has had anything like the impact he had on me and, I suspect, on the denomination as a whole. Having consecrated his every asset to the task of bringing the Good News to people, he combined an eccentric simplicity with a holy zeal. He owned no watch, so he could ask strangers the time and create the opportunity to begin conversations which might lead to giving his witness, thus "exhorting all with whom he came in contact". He spent holidays in jail so he could witness to those in prison. He owned only one suit and traveled the world packed in a briefcase.

Dr. Denman's preaching to the Annual Conference that week challenged us to rededicate ourselves to Jesus Christ and to the work of spreading His message and ministry to the world. Dr. Denman's message was Jesus, and his model was John Wesley. His one suit resembled Wesley's one preaching cloak, and for him the airplane was just a faster horse. I was inspired and more committed to the ministry than ever.

Christmas 1951-Aunt Elizabeth's Gift of Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

My aunt Elizabeth Chadwick Beal Edwards, wife of my father's brother Colonel Basil Duke Edwards, was a devout Episcopalian from New England. She always sent Christmas presents to her nieces and nephews until they reached teen age. Having learned that I was feeling called to the ministry, she extended the custom for another year by sending me C. S. Lewis', Mere Christianity. It is difficult to express my feelings about this book because it introduced me to a quality of reasoned discourse about Christian faith that makes so much other writing seem trivial. It nourished my heart as well as my mind and introduced me to Lewis' many other writings, fiction for adults and children, literary criticism, medieval philosophy and science, Christian apologetics, lay pastoral caring (The Problem of Pain), and preaching. In 1951 I had never heard of Lewis but my aunt had and graciously introduced me to him. As I write this I am preparing a series of lectures; "What We Believe," to be delivered at Morrison UMC in Leesburg, and in preparation I am re reading Mere Christianity.

License to Preach and Bishop Paul Kern's Methodism Has a Message
Having become fully convinced that God was calling me to preach, I enrolled in the correspondence course of study for License to Preach in the Fall of 1951. In addition to The Bible and The Book of Discipline, there were four books to study: one by Harris Franklin Rall; Understanding the Christian Faith by Georgia Harkness; A Young Man's View of the Ministry by Sam Shoemaker; and Methodism Has a Message by Bishop Paul B. Kern. I still remember some of what Sam Shoemaker wrote, but the one that had the greatest impact on me, and that I still have after more than half a century, is Bishop Kern's book.

Bishop Kern related the story of Aldersgate and how Wesley, who was an obedient servant of God, became a joyful son of God, conscious of "an assurance that God had taken away his sins and delivered him from the wrath to come." I saw myself, faithful church attender, MYF'er, choir member and "boy around the church," as a servant who was now consciously a son, and Wesley as the authority who affirmed my experience.

Bishop Kern told of the incident when Mr. Wesley, riding to an appointment, fell in with a little gentleman from St. Just who spoke harshly about a Methodist named Edward Greenfield. When Wesley asked him what was wrong with Greenfield, the man said, "The gentlemen cannot stand his impudence; he says he knows his sins are forgiven."

The doctrine of assurance, the possibility of new birth through faith, and the joyful witness to these resonated with my experience and made me want to tell this good news.

The committee on the ministry of the Lakeland District of the Florida Annual Conference, chaired by Rev John Stradley, D.S., examined me and granted me a Local Preacher's License on September 11, 1952, a few days before I left home to enter my freshman year of college.


Asbury College

In the fall of 1952 I enrolled as a freshman at Asbury College. I immediately found myself in company with young men and women who shared my kind of spiritual experiences and aspirations. The faculty members were confessing Christians who witnessed to the same sort of experiences and convictions that had come in my life. They taught that this was what original Wesleyan Methodism was and is about. I believe they were correct. When someone asks me what Methodists believe, I have to say this is what I believe and teach. I know there are other opinions, but this is mine.

The Holy Spirit In The Whole Bible: Trying to Understand

There was so much being said about The Holy Spirit in Chapel, in classes, in prayer meetings, and in informal conversations that I began to hunger for more knowledge and understanding of the Third Person of The Holy Trinity. So I went to the College book store and bought three loose leaf notebooks, several packages of notebook paper, and put them together. I then went to the library, found Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and wrote, one to a page, every passage in the Bible that mentions spirit (or Spirit). My plan was to study these passages, record what I learned and come to know everything the Bible has to tell us about God the Holy Spirit. Why? Because The Holy Spirit is God in us (in me), or as Wesley puts it, "The Life of God in the Soul of a man (person)."

Those notebooks are long gone now, but the fruit of that study lives on in the course I still teach called The Holy Spirit, The Bible, and You.

The Discovery of the Prayer without Words

During my years as a student at Asbury College there were a number of future Salvation Army officers among my fellow students, one of the classmates was Paul Rader, later international head, that is General, of the S.A. Some of them invited me to go with them to nearby S.A. Corps on the weekends. This meant playing in the band (trumpet) and preaching on the streets Saturday nights, teaching Sunday School, and sharing in morning and evening worship services. I was given many opportunities to preach and was confronted by hearers who were the obviously needy (we all know, of course, some of the very neediest people are less obvious).

On one occasion as I was praying for power to reach the hearts of those I would preach to that evening, I began to experience a deep emotional burden. Because I knew the scripture in Romans 8:26, I identified what I was experiencing as The Holy Spirit praying through me in a way that overcame my ignorance of what to say, or what should be asked in true wisdom, or what is God's best for us. That experience of prayer beyond verbal expression has grown into something that affects all aspects of worship for me. Sometimes the feeling is one of awe and adoration that cannot be expressed and causes me to "be still and know that God is God." When I let myself groan and cry and rejoice in this state, I believe I have found what C. S. Lewis calls The Prayer Without Words, (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer) and perhaps, the prayer language of the charismatic Christian. The hymn "Prayer Is the Souls Sincere Desire, Unuttered or Expressed", also says what I mean.

So, did Mr. Wesley know the "Prayer Without Words"? Here are his ENNT notes on Romans 8:26-27, which convince me he did know.
.
26. Likewise the Spirit — Nay, not only the universe, not only the children
of God, but the Spirit of God also himself, as it were, groaneth, while he
helpeth our infirmities, or weaknesses. Our understandings are weak,
particularly in the things of God our desires are weak; our prayers are
weak. We know not — Many times. What we should pray for — Much less
are we able to pray for it as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession
for us — In our hearts, even as Christ does in heaven. With groanings —
The matter of which is from ourselves, but the Spirit forms them; and they
are frequently inexpressible, even by the faithful themselves.
27. But he who searcheth the hearts — Wherein the Spirit dwells and
intercedes. Knoweth — Though man cannot utter it. What is the mind of
the Spirit, for he maketh intercession for the saints — Who are near to
God. According to God — According to his will, as is worthy of God. and
acceptable to him.

Candler School of Theology, Dr. John Lawson, and What is Evangelical?

It was 1958. The word Evangelical did not have a political association as it does now. Dr. John Lawson was teaching the required classes on Methodist doctrine and polity. He taught us from the Works of John Wesley; in fact he ordered from England for us used copies of the "Works" and the great source books on The Sermons and Journals by Sugden and Curnoch. Here I began to read those documents and become more than ever convinced that Wesley understood the Bible and the way to salvation better than any other writer since St. Paul. It was in Dr. Lawson's class that I first heard the term Evangelical, and that it meant this message of salvation by faith apart from works of the law, accompanied by the assurance of the Holy Spirit crying in our hearts, Father My Father, and confirmed as faith working through love. It is a tragedy that this word has been turned into a politico/ecclesiastical label that contributes nothing to the communication of the Good News it conveyed in its origin.

Also at Candler I studied under Dr. William R. Cannon, later a Bishop of the United Methodist church. Dr. Cannon was a preeminent Wesleyan scholar, author of The Theology of John Wesley: With Special Reference to the Doctrine of Justification by Faith. Because he was also a great Church Historian he was able to help me appreciate Wesley's devotion to Primitive Christianity and why we still need the church fathers, especially Macarius, whose insight into Christian experience and the progress of the vital Christian from new birth to perfection is captured in Wesley's sermon "The Scripture Way of Salvation "

Dr. Theodore Runyon came to Candler a year or two after I graduated. So what I have learned from him about Wesley has come from his lectures at Florida Conference Pastor's School, Ministers Week at Candler, and in his book, The New Creation. Dr. Runyon has added to and confirmed my conviction that John Wesley Matters to me and to us all.

Servants of God and Sons of God

Because of the thrill of my spiritual awakening I was seduced into thinking that the church members I knew, who showed none of the passion and joy that I now felt, were no Christians at all, or at best only the "Almost Christians" of Mr. Wesley's sermon. I easily came to think of their good works by which they expected to have a positive balance in God's account book as "splendid sins." Gradually a sense of fairness began to make me question this attitude. Then I noticed a very short footnote in Wesley's account of his Aldersgate experience. Where he had written that before Aldersgate he was no Christian at all, he now wrote simply, "I think not." This he added when making the corrections to later editions of "The Works."(Jackson Edition with Wesley's own final corrections, The 14 Vols.).

Here I began to look again at the sermons and now I saw the places where he distinguishes between the Servants of God and the [Children] of God.

Thus he gave me the distinction between the servants who "fear God and do what is right," and the friends (Sons, Children) who "know what God in Christ is doing," and "have the Spirit crying in their hearts, Abba Father." I believe that this is a key part of our Wesleyan heritage that should be proclaimed urgently. It is my contention that the many faithful servants of God in our congregations who have served in the church's offices, taught in its Sunday Schools, contributed to its finances, or been faithful in so many other ways should be given the good news that they can know their sins are forgiven and enjoy the witness of God's Spirit that they are God's own beloved children in whom He is pleased.

Some of these who were faithful servants in times past have testified that through such ministries as Lay Witness Missions, Laymen's and Laywomen's retreats as well as Walk to Emmaus or Revivals, (like me), they came to know the assurance of faith. Sadly, some of them feel that they were not taught that this was possible in their local church and they are angry. I teach this and always have, but I have also been charged with failing to "tell" them. While I believe that some were not listening, or not ready to receive or not in the timing of God while I was their pastor. Have I said too little about it? Have I been too shy about saying that these servants of God, fine as they are, lack something important?

I challenge my fellow clergy to search our hearts and ask if we are neglecting it, or if we have failed to receive what God has for us; the gift he wants us to have so we can pass it on.

Having the Form and Seeking the Power of Godliness

So how are we to counsel these servants of God so they can receive this promised blessing? Ask them these questions:

Do they have a desire to flee the wrath to come and be saved? This is the one and only condition for membership in the Methodist society, a people who have the form and are seeking the power of godliness. (Form equals Servant; Power equals Child)

Do they understand that this salvation is the gift of God, that it is not the result of, or reward for, any works, even the ones mentioned here, and is freely given to those who simply ask and believe.

THE FORM:

Are they willing to be part of a small group (about 12) who they will meet with regularly and with whom they will covenant to watch over one another in love, so as to work out their salvation and keep the following rules?

Will they avoid every kind of evil behavior as we are taught in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount? And especially avoid careless words: things that are most common, such as profanity, and evil speaking of people not present.

Will they do all the good they can, to people's souls by encouraging them to remember their Creator, and to their bodies by feeding the hungry, watering the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoner and welcoming strangers?

Will they use the means of grace, such as, public and private worship, searching the scriptures, The Lord's Supper, fasting and abstinence, and Christian conversation?

THE POWER:

So then, being obedient in these things and praying patiently to receive power from on high, God will grant these Servants of God the assurance of Children of God in His good time, He will not tarry long. Trust and obey!

And as they walk in faith and seek to love the Lord their God with ALL their heart, and their neighbors as themselves, God will perfect them in love in this life.

It will be plain to Methodists, some at least, that I have simply paraphrased Mr. Wesley's counsel embodied in The General Rules. Recently Bishop Ruben Job has written a book on The General Rules called, Three Simple Rules. Personally I think Wesley doesn't need that much modernization, but I am glad attention is being given to that part of The Book of Discipline.

A Conclusion

Through the ministry of Dr. Ford Philpot I experienced the grace of God that started it all.
That experience of salvation by faith and the witness of God's Spirit is explained by Wesley. My pastor, who identified my call to preach, introduced me to Wesley's Standard Sermons. Dr. Harry Denman exemplified to me a modern Wesleyan ministry of evangelism. The candidacy for Local Preacher's License taught me about Wesley's life and ministry. Asbury College gave me an education in an atmosphere that honors classic Methodism. My deepening walk with the Holy Spirit is confirmed by Wesley's ENNT. I have been given, by Wesley, the meaning of Evangelical Christianity without the political baggage. From Wesley I see a way to open the path to a life of "joyful obedience" for the many faithful servants of God in our churches.

This is why John Wesley is important to me and why I believe he is important not only to United Methodism, but to the whole Christian church and the whole human race. And so, whenever and where ever I can, I will continue my teaching ministry and its witness to the relevance of John Wesley.

Addendum

Wesleyan Soteriology in four sentences given to me by Dr. George A. Foster
my Senior Pastor and Mentor at Trinity UMC Tallahassee, 1966-68

All people need to be saved. (See the writings on Original Sin.)

All people can be saved. (See the Wesley Hymns and sermons against Calvinism.)

All people can know they are saved. (See sermons on the Witness of the Spirit.)

All people can be saved from all sin. (See The Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and the sermon on Repentance in Believers)