Interpret → Preach
For the service
John Wesley’s own Explanatory Notes Upon the Old and New Testament on the day’s readings — his verse-by-verse commentary, not a summary of it. Read the full edition ↗
first Zephaniah 3:14-20
- v.15Taken away — Abolished, and put an end to the judgments thy sins brought upon thee. Thine enemy - The Babylonian. Is in the midst - He is returned to redeem and govern thee. Any more - While thy carriage is as becomes my presence with thee, thou shalt neither fear, nor feel the like evils.
- v.18Sorrowful — That mourn their distance from the solemn worship of God. Who are of thee - Thy children. Reproach - The taunts of their enemies.
- v.19Undo — I will break their power and dissolve their kingdom. That halteth - Who is in trouble and ready to fall. Driven out - Into remote countries.
- v.20A praise — So the universal church of the first-born will be, in the great day. And then the Israel of God be made a name and a praise to all eternity.
psalm Isaiah 12:2-6
- v.2God — My salvation hath not been brought to pass by man, but by the almighty power of God.
- v.3With joy — Your thirsty souls shall be filled with Divine graces and comforts, which you may draw from God, in the use of gospel-ordinances. God's armies, ver. 1-5. The destruction of Babylon by the Persians and Medes, their great distress, anguish, and utter desolation, ver. 6-22.
second Philippians 4:4-7
- v.5Let your gentleness — Yieldingness, sweetness of temper, the result of joy in the Lord. Be known - By your whole behaviour. To all men - Good and bad, gentle and froward. Those of the roughest tempers are good natured to some, from natural sympathy and various motives; a Christian, to all. The Lord - The judge, the rewarder, the avenger. Is at hand - Standeth at the door.
- v.6Be anxiously careful for nothing — If men are not gentle towards you, yet neither on this, nor any other account, be careful, but pray. Carefulness and prayer cannot stand together. In every thing - Great and small. Let your requests be made known - They who by a preposterous shame or distrustful modesty, cover, stifle, or keep in their desires, as if they were either too small or too great, must be racked with care; from which they are entirely delivered, who pour them out with a free and filial confidence. To God - It is not always proper to disclose them to men. By supplication - Which is the enlarging upon and pressing our petition. With thanksgiving - The surest mark of a soul free from care, and of prayer joined with true resignation. This is always followed by peace. Peace and thanksgiving are both coupled together, Colossians iii, 15.
- v.7And the peace of God — That calm, heavenly repose, that tranquility of spirit, which God only can give. Which surpasseth all understanding - Which none can comprehend, save he that receiveth it. Shall keep - Shall guard, as a garrison does a city. Your hearts - Your affections. Your minds - Your understandings, and all the various workings of them; through the Spirit and power of Christ Jesus, in the knowledge and love of God. Without a guard set on these likewise, the purity and vigour of our affections cannot long be preserved.
gospel Luke 3:7-18
- v.8Say not within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father — That is, trust not in your being members of the visible Church, or in any external privileges whatsoever: for God now requires a change of heart; and that without delay.
- v.10He answereth — It is not properly John, but the Holy Ghost, who teaches us in the following answers, how to come ourselves, and how to instruct other penitent sinners to come to Christ, that he may give them rest. The sum of all this is, Cease to do evil, learn to do well. These are the fruits worthy of repentance.