What is God Doing? – Up to and Including Reformation

[00:00:00] The fourth chapter of Zechariah. [00:00:06] And the angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. [00:00:13] And he said unto me, what seest thou? And I said, I have seen. And behold a lampstand, all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps of thereon. There are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof. And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, what are these, my lord? [00:00:46] Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, knowest thou not what these are? And I said, no, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the lord of hosts, who art thou, o great mountain? Before zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. And he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things, for these seven shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth. [00:01:57] Then answered I and said unto him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of the lampstand and upon the left side thereof? And I answered the second time and said unto him, what are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden spouts that empty the gold out of themselves? And he answered me and said, knowest thou not what these are? And I said, no, my lord. Then said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. [00:02:41] The teachin in July will remember that on the Saturday evening we took as our subject, what is God doing? We were talking about we've been talking over those days about the eternal purpose of God and the need, really, of vision, understanding, revelation as to it. And you will remember that on the Saturday evening we asked ourselves a question, what is God doing? And we said a few things. And then we surveyed a little of the history of the age in which we are found now, at the time I really wanted to say much more than I was able to say in that confined time. And I thought that this evening and next Thursday evening. I would devote two evenings to saying just a little bit about what lies behind us as the people of God. In the 20th century. I have noticed that those groups or companies or movements which very rapidly go off the rails. Have always had a very poor regard for all that's gone before them. [00:04:09] The attitude being that everything has failed. And now here is something which is absolutely marvelous. Self contained, isolated, able to do everything self sufficient. And God is going to do what he hasn't been able to do all through the age. Of course, this is nonsense. And is always held by folks who have no understanding of history, especially the history of the people of God. And one of the things that saves us from error and imbalance is a right understanding of what God has been doing through the age. And indeed, that little phrase in the apostles creed which some of you, no doubt, recited years ago, mine, I wouldn't mind reciting it again. [00:04:55] Where it says, I believe in the communion of saints. [00:05:00] There was a right understanding of that. I believe in the communion of saints. It will save us from an awful. It doesn't just mean, by the way, fellowship with those who are alive. It means the unity of all the people of God. In the whole age, both those gathered in the presence of God now. And those of us still alive on earth. God's been doing one thing. [00:05:22] We're not a little separate entity in the 20th century. But God has been doing one thing. It's all to do with this great purpose of his. Concerning the bride of his son. Or concerning, as we put it here, the city of God. Another title for the bride, the wife of the lamb. This amazing spiritual union between Christ and his redeemed people. [00:05:53] This formation, as it were, of a people for himself, to be his habitation. You will remember that one of the things we said, one of the points we made, which I will not dwell on this evening, but just to mention it. Was that the purpose of God has never been laid aside. [00:06:13] Jesus, our Lord Jesus, said in Matthew 1618, thou art Peter upon this rock. That is myself what I am. Upon this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [00:06:36] The Lord Jesus has not stopped building. [00:06:40] Even in the darkest era of church history, the darkest part of the age in which we are found, the Lord Jesus has not ceased for one moment to build. He has never laid aside this purpose of the father. [00:07:03] That there should be produced a city the eternal city as we speak of it sometimes. And this purpose of God has been neither annulled. It has not been brought to naught by Satan, nor has it even been frustrated right the way through the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ to present to himself a church without spot or. Or wrinkle or any such thing. He has not laid aside his purpose. So that's one thing we have to underline. God has not been deterred by men or demons, by apostasy, by error, by false teaching, by mixture in that which is of himself. He has not been deterred at all through this age. Not even the combined power and authority of hell has or could deter God from this purpose of his. You remember we read in Zechariah four about the rubber boom. His hands have laid the foundation. His hands will also finish it now. It was at Pentecost that the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ laid the foundation of the. The church of God. It was there that the foundation was laid. What is the meaning of Pentecost? It is not gifts. What is the meaning of Pentecost? It is not just that we be filled with the spirit. What is the meaning of Pentecost? The meaning of Pentecost is this, that the Holy Spirit has come in order that he might produce this building of God. [00:08:52] And that's exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost. These 120 units in a congregation suddenly became 120 members of a body. [00:09:03] They were no longer just individual units in a kind of very fine and united assembly. They became. They had a sense of belonging to each other. It's very beautifully put that when Peter stood up to preach, the eleven stood up with him. It was an inward sense of belonging. No ankling, no, none of that old spirit of rivalry or who's first and the rest of it all gone, there was a sense of belonging to one another in all that God was doing. [00:09:38] Now the Lord has his hand, has laid the foundation of this building, of this house, this temple, and his hand is going to complete it. And I understand, of course, from the book of Revelation, just this, that we have in the beginning the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation, an amazing vision of the church on earth, where seven localities are taken and we see the churches in those localities and we see the Lord in the midst of them. Now these are churches on earth. Theyre not the church in heaven or in eternity. This is the church on earth, and we see the Lord in the midst of them. And then before we see anything else, before we see all the great visions, all the great contortions, the battles, the conflict, the sort of going forward and the going backward that we have right the way through those chapters of revelation five, right through to the end of revelation 19. The first thing we see is that the risen glorified Christ is in the midst of his churches in the church on earth, and he's judging everything. And as it were, sorting out everything and seeking, as it were, to bring what is right in and to remove what is wrong. At the end of the book of Revelation, we have all the material which has been produced there on earth. We see it in the city of God. The two things are linked together. Well, now, we mustn't spend too much time there or we won't go any further. God has been working right through this age, and he has been working according to purpose. He has never laid that purpose aside. It's according to that purpose of building or producing the city of God, of producing the bride of Christ. God has been working right through this age. And the prophecy of job concerning the Holy Spirit, which we have in acts chapter two, which Peter says was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. We know from a careful study of this prophecy that in one sense it began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. It wasn't completely exhausted on the day of Pentecost, because if we look carefully at the prophecy, we see from verse 16 to 21 that he says, I will show wonders in the heaven above, signs on the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood before the day of the Lord come, that great and notable day, and it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, now we know that that great and notable day of the Lord is yet to come. And these signs in the sun and in the moon, we know from Matthew 24, are yet in the future. So we understand that this prophecy of Joel concerning the pouring out of the spirit of God, the coming of the spirit of God upon and into us, is that we might in fact, become the stones for the building work of God that the Holy Spirit might produce in us, if you like, the material out of which the city is to be built. Now we know that if we look at church history, we find that the Holy Spirit has never abdicated his responsibility. And this is one of the most wonderful things about the history of the church. Even in its darkest era, the Holy Spirit has never at any single time for one single hour, abdicated from his responsibility. [00:13:47] The Holy Spirit has been given the task of producing the bride. And the last chapter of the Bible, we have that wonderful word, the Spirit. And the bride say, come. [00:14:00] So the Holy Spirit has never given up. He has never abdicated his responsibility, he has never resigned from his position, from the work, the work which has been entrusted to him. [00:14:15] What we do find is this, that every successive move in which God has recovered something has been due to the coming of the Holy Spirit. And wherever you look in the whole of church history, you always find two, three things. One is that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes practical head, and the moment he becomes head in practical terms, that moment something starts to happen. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is given his rightful place, and you can't know the headship of Christ in practical terms, apart from the Holy Spirit as ministry. So the Holy Spirit is given his place. And the third thing, perhaps I should have put it first, I don't know, is that the word of God is given its rightful place as the sole guide for all matters of life. [00:15:22] Now, when those you had those three things, wherever you find them in every single move, you'll find those three things. There may be many other things that are not so good. There may be things that are not there, other things that are added, but you've got those three things, every single moving of the spirit of God in this egg. Furthermore, the depth of that movement and the quality of that movement and the time it lasts as a spiritual factor are determined by how long the Lord Jesus has his place. The Holy Spirit has his place, and the word of God has its place as soon as any three, any one of those three or altwy are contradicted or limited in any way, then starts the departure. [00:16:16] Well, now, I find this a great help. [00:16:22] Another thing I find very wonderful is if you turn to acts, chapter one and verse one, the former treatise I made, o theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which he was received up. Now, unfortunately, in some of the more colloquial modern versions, that little word began has been taken out, which is a great shame. [00:16:51] In fact, is exactly what the word says, began both to do and to teach. And the book of the Gospel according to Luke is what Jesus began both to do and to teach. And the Book of Acts is what the Lord Jesus continued to do and to teach, though the gospel according to Luke is the Lord Jesus personally. But in the book of Acts we have the Lord Jesus working through his body. [00:17:23] You have those two things together. Now, it is very interesting. It's always been a great point of debate as to whether the Book of Acts was ever finished. There are many New Testament scholars that say quite strongly that there is no proper finish to the Book of Acts. It's been the occasion of great debate. [00:17:45] Was, did something untoward happen to Luke so that he never really properly finished it? [00:17:52] Was it sort of left deliberately open ended? [00:17:57] It was Jay and Darby, of course, was one of them, as well as watchmen and others who believe very strongly that the Book of Acts is open ended. [00:18:05] In other words, the story has been continued to be the story of the Lord Jesus doing and teaching through his body, has gone on all through the age. Now, this is just simply wonderful. [00:18:22] It's really wonderful because it means that one day when finally we're all gathered together in the glory and this whole thing of the first things, former things, have passed away, and the new things have come in everything, not only inwardly to our heart, but outwardly as well. New heaven and new earth, we shall hear the whole story from heaven's point of view, just like the book of acts is from heaven's point of view. We shall hear the whole story related to us, of how the Lord Jesus went on doing and teaching right through the successive centuries of this age until the top stone was brought forth. [00:19:02] Now, this little picture of the lampstand, this lampstand is really a symbol of the testimony of Jesus. And what is the testimony of Jesus? The testimony of Jesus is that we together, as the people of God, are holding, as it were, something we have been entrusted with, something we've been made one with God. In our Lord Jesus Christ, we have eternal life. That's our testimony. [00:19:37] You understand? And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He that hath the. The son hath the light. That's the testimony of Jesus. And it says in revelation 19 that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And what does that mean? It doesn't just mean that the testimony of Jesus is that which has inspired the prophets. That is true. [00:20:01] All the prophets have been inspired in one sense by the testimony of Jesus, by what they've seen as the goal of God, for which our salvation is a means bringing us into it. [00:20:15] All God's grace and all his workings and energies are toward that. Yes, that's true, but it means much more. The testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy. It means this, that when we have the life of God corporately, we become prophetic, not just actual prophetic gift, but prophetic in our nature. And character. In other words, the church becomes the means by which all those principalities and powers are instructed. And that's what prophecy is. It is the mind of God on any given subject. [00:20:50] It is not just teaching, but the expression of the mind of God. It can be explanation, interpretation, prediction, but always it is the mind of God. And this is what we are. Now, wherever you look in church history, whenever God has been doing something, and it really has been the testimony of Jesus, it has been prophetic in nature and content. [00:21:15] Those people have become, as it were, the touchstone by which nations have been either made or destroyed. [00:21:24] Britain became great because she became a haven for the people of God. [00:21:31] Because of that, God lifted up Britain to great heights because she protected the word of God, guarded the word of God. And you find this in other nations, too, where there has been some concern for the rest of the earth, where there's been some, as it were, fear of God, where there has been some reverence for the word of God, when there's been some application of the principles of God's word to government, a national life. God has honored that nation. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Sin is a reproach to any people. [00:22:15] And when there's been any the other side, persecution, that nation has never been honored. And this is one of the reasons why we have some nations in Europe who did things to the people of God and have never recovered from it, never really recovered from it. [00:22:41] I could give you example after example, but I don't want to upset people. [00:22:45] But there are plenty of examples in Europe of nations who did the most terrible things to the people of God and have since then been poor and backward, never rose to the heights. [00:23:01] Well, there's such a lot one can say. But you see these people, these people of God, not just individual christians, but these children of God being built together, holding the testimonies. They become the touchstone of everything. [00:23:15] The way they're dealt with or not dealt with has become often the very judgment of that thing. You take the great roman empire, what it did to the christians. [00:23:30] It finally was overcome by the gospel it sought to destroy. [00:23:36] Well, now, that's a lot more, as you well know. And if we don't go on, we shall never, in fact, get anywhere. Now, after the. [00:23:46] After the first great outburst of glory and life at Pentecost and the next 40, 50, 60 years afterwards, there was a great reaction by Satan. [00:24:03] To begin with. It was an outward reaction began much earlier. Terrible persecution, mass martyrdom, much else along that line. And then when the enemy found that by taking that kind of action, he got nowhere, but rather more and more and more and more people got saved and the testimony became stronger and stronger. He changed his tactics and began an inward assault on this line. He all but won. [00:24:40] How did he sort of conduct this inward assault? Mass conversion. [00:24:48] Mass conversion in the third century, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people became christians. Why? Because it was popular to be a Christian. The great emperor Constantine had become a Christian. His mother, the dowager empress, she had become a Christian. She was the lady who went all around Israel deciding where these shrines should be that one so loves. And the fact is, these two, of course, by their conversion, we don't know how real their conversion was, but all we know is this, that suddenly overnight, it became popular to be a Christian, and because already the devil had been working from inside, so that priests, clergy were more bothered about the membership and the number of people and sort of prestige and everything else rather than spiritual principle. When the scrape, mass conversions started, they didn't bother too much about whether people were really saved. [00:25:51] And so into the church came huge crowds of people who were only Christian in name. [00:26:01] From that point, a political and religious union took place between state and church. [00:26:11] The church became a tool of the state and the state became a tool of the church. [00:26:21] And this unholy wedding took place, which was to produce child after child that was devilish. [00:26:32] All down through church history, everything then appeared to be lost. Nevertheless, although there was a marked and progressive decline, the testimony of Jesus was still held. In all the darkness. There were some remarkable movements which were bitterly persecuted. Now, one of the problems is this. I hope you well, I mean, if you do have a sleep, it do you good, but I'm going to start giving you a whole number of names which may appear to be rather mouthfuls, but all we can do this evening is just tell you a little bit about some of these remarkable movements which from the very beginning appeared in the history of the church. And I think you will see that there is a marked similarity between them and what God is doing in our home day, and indeed what God has done in every single part of church history. At the beginnings of all these great movements of the spirit of God from the reformation onwards. [00:27:46] One of our problems is, until the last century or so, we had to rely entirely for information about these groups upon those who martyred them. [00:28:02] And so we find the most extraordinary thing. We find that those who opposed them and persecuted these groups called all kinds of people. One thing, for instance, the term Nestorian was used for century after century after century, for anybody who the church felt was not quite on the mark, it wasn't strictly used or carefully used. [00:28:32] Now, this is a problem to us because we only have what the byzantine or catholic system says about these people. But when we read between the lines, we find some remarkable things. And where the answers of these people have been preserved, we find some even more remarkable things. Now, in the last century or so, an amount of literature, due to all the archaeological work that's going on all over the world nowadays, a good deal more has been discovered, and there are some very, very interesting facts beginning to emerge. [00:29:10] Well, now let's look at the story of the age in which we live in three periods. Look at it first up to the Reformation, then we will look at the actual Reformation, and then we will look at the period from the Reformation until now. Now, this evening we shall only go from the pre Reformation period night to us, we shall also end with the Reformation era. So you can see, it's a bird's eye view that you're getting. During the whole of this period, there were at different points, the centuries right up to the 15th century, remarkable movings of the spirit of God. [00:29:53] The first one that I'm going to speak about this evening are Montanists. [00:30:00] I'll put it up here and then anyone who wants to. Not that anyone really can read my writers, but it looks they lasted for four centuries, some 400 years. The Montanists lasted. They were given their name from Montanus, who was born in Phrygia, that central Turkey, in 156 after Christ. That's only 156 years after the birth of Christ. This movement began just at the point where real decline was starting. They themselves refused to call themselves Montanists, calling themselves only Christians. They refused any other label or name. [00:30:50] They stood for reform within the growing catholic system. [00:30:55] They were seeing the start of the whole system, which has developed into the Roman Catholic and on the one hand, and the Orthodox Church on the other. Now, these dear believers stood against all that they saw beginning to develop, and they stood for a complete reform within the whole, a return to what they called primitive principle. Now, they were only one century after the beginning, really, just over a century after Pentecost, yet they were already standing for a return to primitive principles, back to what they called primitive piety, primitive godliness, primitive purity and primitive methods. They emphasized particularly the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And they said that the miraculous presence of the Holy Spirit is given to us for the whole of this age. [00:32:04] They were therefore charismatic in nature. They spoke in tongues, they had prophecy they had all the gifts. [00:32:13] This is one of the reasons why they caused a tremendous rumpus, because most of it had disappeared. And therefore. And already at that time, there was the idea that it should die out. So when these godly people began to know the government of the spirit of God in their midst, leading them into his will, using whomsoever he would as he would, it naturally caused quite a concern. [00:32:45] They rejected the inclusion in the church of those who were not born again. [00:32:55] They resisted the growing control of the church by bishops. [00:33:00] And finally, after trying to stay within the system, they came out in clear, separate congregations in the third century, that was, of course, the time when the state union took place. So they resisted it all the way through until the union took place and finally came out in separate congregations. [00:33:23] Most of you, I should imagine, or many of you, have heard of one of the greatest of the church fathers. His name was Tertullian. [00:33:30] Tertullian is considered nearly by all to be the most spiritual of the church fathers. But what is not generally known is that Tertullian severed his link with the Roman Catholic Church and completely threw in his lot with what was called. What were the people called? Montanists. And these are his own words that he wrote concerning it. He said, where but three are? And they of the laity, that is, the congregation also. Yet there now in days, of course, when, of course, the thing had become systematized, you understand how remarkable that was. So we have the Montanists. The Montanists last for four centuries. [00:34:20] They began to die. Much became formalized in the end. Then we have another group called Cathars. [00:34:27] They're often called novations or they're called puritans. They rejected all three of these labels. They, from the beginning, went outside of the Roman catholic and orthodox system and formed companies of believers, insisting that they had unbroken succession of testimony from the apostles. They lasted three centuries, from the fourth to the 6th century. [00:34:59] They were named after or one of the names given to them as Novatians, after a man called Novatian, who was one of the leaders amongst them. But they themselves refused to call themselves Novatians or Cathars or puritans. [00:35:16] Then we have another group which is closely associated with the Cathars and the Novatians. [00:35:23] I'll put the Kathar up here for anyone who wants them. [00:35:29] The Catholic Church always was a little afraid of calling people Montanists because of Tertullian. [00:35:37] But they called everyone from there, right down to Luther Cathars. [00:35:44] It's one of the dirty words in church history Cathars, like Pentecostal, a real dirty word, donatists, very much like the Cathars, only they were very, very strong on discipline and they were very strong on the north african coast, the whole level. They were called donatists on that side, the coast, and generally speaking, Cathars in Europe. They were very numerous indeed. They took over nearly everything in the north african churches. They were named after two of their leaders, both called donatists, but they themselves refused to label themselves at all. They just said they were Christians. Then we have another very interesting, I'll put down the donatists. [00:36:36] We then have another very interesting group. [00:36:39] They are called Priscillianists. [00:36:44] Now these are really a very, very interesting group. They came out of a man who was a roman catholic priest called Priscillian who lived in Spain, whom God converted. And he began to read the word of God and study the word of God. The spirit of God came upon him. He began to understand something he'd never seen before and he began to teach it because he taught it. Literally hundreds of people where he lived got saved and then it began to spread all through southern France, Portugal and Spain. They gave them the name Priscillianists. In actual fact, they refused to call themselves anything other than a Christian. They said they were Christians again. [00:37:32] He was in the end martyred. This was in the fourth century and they lasted again for two centuries, right to the 6th. They believed that the word of God was the sole authority for all life and practice. Now this is long before the reformation, but here you have a group that went all over Spain, Portugal and south of France to believe what later was established in the Reformation. They believed in the priesthood of all believers, not only as a doctrine, but in practice. And in all their simple gatherings. The Holy Spirit could use any one whom he chose to use. [00:38:11] The movement, as I say, lasted for two centuries, right into the 6th century. It was another, it became another very dirty word in church history. Then we have the Nestorians named after a bishop called Nestorius who was deposed for so called heresy. We now know that this other gentleman, one of the church fathers called Cyril, was very, very jealous of Nestorius. That's now come to light. And it was due basically to his jealousy that Nestorius was deposed. Well, we know something of that kind of thing, that kind of mudslinging. In our own day he was deposed and went off to an egyptian oasis where he spent the rest of his days. But a movement spread all through the east and it was called nestorian. [00:39:04] They gave the name to every single believer or group of believers who would not join in with the Roman Catholic or orthodox system. They were called Nestorians. [00:39:16] They themselves refused such labels, saying that they were the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. These people were the great missionaries of this period. They carried the gospel right across central Asia to China and right the way into India. About 130 years ago, a great commemorative plaque was found in central China saying how missionaries had come preaching of a certain Jesus and how many, many people had been saved, all in that area, that there were bishops and others in the area and so on. It was hardly credible, you know, to most people at the time. But it was the Nestorians, and it was the first evidence we ever had that the Nestorians went so far as to China and were actually not only preached the gospel, but planted the church of God in China. This is in the 6th century. [00:40:12] It lasted, actually for quite a few centuries. Their work both in Central Asia, in India and China, it faded out for one simple reason. They never reduced the word of God to the spoken language of the people and therefore, gradually superstition took over. No one was able to read the word and it died. It lasted for many centuries. Then we come to our something nearer to most of you, anyway, celtic Christians. Now, you wouldn't think perhaps they've got much part in this, but they have a very big place. All through Britain, there were congregations of believers simply meeting together as believers in the fifth and 6th century. [00:40:53] Patrick, of whom there's so much trouble these days in Ireland, was born in Scotland, near Kilpatrick, and was captured by a band of irish pirates, marauders, and taken to Ireland, where he worked on a farm as a herdsman for some years. He had very godly christian parents, but he himself was not interested. But when he was taken away, he thought back to his parents and their teaching and was converted. After. So I think six years, he got his freedom and got back to Scotland to his own people. And when he got back, he heard God calling him in a vision when he was on the coast, he saw in vision, as it were, the irish coast, and he heard God calling him to come back to Ireland. So Patrick went back to Ireland. He had a very, very hostile time. They were all pagans of a kind of viking twist, and he had a very, very hard time of it indeed in Ireland. But due to his preaching out in the fields where everyone came to hear him, thousands upon thousands were converted until, in the end, the whole of Ireland was evangelized. [00:42:14] About a century later, Columba, we know him as St Columba converted through this movement in Ireland, sailed to Scotland believing that he was called by God to go back to Scotland and preach to the Scots. [00:42:30] He went to Iona where he found a native community already gathering but very weak. And there he founded one of the greatest centers for the propagation of the gospel that these islands have ever known. For Maona, they sent out missionaries all over Britain, the whole of Britain, into Europe, right up to central Europe and of course to Scandinavia. They brought the gospel to Scandinavia. [00:43:00] It was only in, let me see, I've got the date, 563. They established the community in Iona. Many people have got the idea, due to later literature from catholic sources, that the Iona community was a monastic community. It was nothing of the kind. It was a community true of monks, but they were married. [00:43:25] They didn't have to be married, but they were married. That's a slightly different thing to the catholic system. Secondly, their whole idea was very much, if you read the actual story of Iona, it's very much the kind of life we know. Bible study, prayer and the sending out of groups of men, particularly as missionaries. They went out to other parts, they built a meeting place, they built houses all around it and then they used to bring in the nationals, whoever they were, learn the language, teach them, reduce the scriptures to their tongue as far as they could. And then when they had established a church there of nationals, they sent out twelve, always twelve, to another place. And so started again. These are what we call the celtic Christians. Now most of you have probably heard, as I have, that much real Christianity began later with Augustine. [00:44:29] This Augustine is not the famous Augustine of. [00:44:37] Yes, of Carthage and the one who wrote confessions. The confessions. This was a wicked old man sent by the pope with 40 benedictine monks with a huge amount of money. He came to Kent, to Canterbury and bribed the king of the angles and so on to get him to go over to Rome. He went over to Rome and the whole of the anglo saxon community followed suit. [00:45:05] But the real Britons and the Celts, the Welsh, the Irish, the Scots, the Cornish, refused to accept the anglo saxon outlook. And there was much trouble, as most of you know, from british history. It went on for about two centuries until finally they lost, the celtic Christians lost out and the whole thing came under the sway of Rome. But it is an amazing chapter in church history, ancient british Christianity. [00:45:42] Then we have another group called Paulicians. [00:45:48] I'm sorry, I've taken up the wrong pen, so you've got it in blue now. [00:45:52] But these people called Paulicians, we don't know so much about. We don't know when they began, when the movement actually began. [00:46:03] Accept what they themselves say. It began right from the beginning. They claimed that they had an unbroken succession back through the Cathars, right back to the apostles. [00:46:16] How they got the name Paulicians is quite obscure, we don't know. Possibly because of their understanding of Paul's letters and their emphasis on Paul's letters. The roman church emphasized Peter very much, and so they may well have called them Paulicians because of the way that they emphasized the teaching of Paul. They were very numerous in Armenia and in Turkey, and they called themselves not Paulicians, but Christians or brothers. [00:46:47] They claimed to be the true apostolic church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They recognized the independence of each congregation. [00:46:56] They taught that spiritual unity is found not in teaching, but in life, in Christ. [00:47:05] It's got a ring that many of us would understand. [00:47:08] They repudiated infant baptism. [00:47:13] They said that the church ought to pray for children of believers in an especial way when they were born. [00:47:21] Baptism, for those who requested it, was by immersion, and it was a testimony of repentance and faith in Christ. [00:47:33] They also believed that elders should govern each church. Now you can understand just what a tremendous thing this is. You've got people who believe in baptism by immersion for believers only. You've got people who believe in dedication of children, people who believe in elders governing the church. These facts have been obscured for many centuries, but they're all there. [00:47:59] Paulicians. [00:48:01] It was another dirty word right the way down through church history. Then we have an extraordinary group that probably came out of the Paulicians. The Paulicians, as I've said, were very numerous in Turkey and Armenia. [00:48:14] This group were called Bogomils. Terrible name, Bogomils. And they were found mostly in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and Macedonia. [00:48:25] It's more than likely that they trace their beginnings from the politians, because many politians were forcibly moved by the emperor to Bulgaria. Bogomils is a very old slav word meaning friends of God, or those dear and acceptable to God. So that's the meaning of this awful name, Bogomil. [00:48:50] They flourished from the 9th to the 13th century, and indeed the greatest area that was a touch was Bosnia. In modern Yugoslavia. They so affected Bosnia that even today, the prosperity that they bought through hard work and conscientiousness is proverbial. [00:49:13] There were thousands upon thousands of them, so that the Catholic Church was quite unable to destroy them. There were so many of them. Now, I read just a little point here that you might be interested in in a church history. [00:49:29] This is just a little description of the bogomils. [00:49:34] There were no priests, or rather the priesthood of all believers was acknowledged. The churches were guided by elders who were chosen by lot several. In each church an overseer called grandfather and ministering brethren called leaders and elders who moved between the churches. Meetings could be held in any house and the regular meeting places were quite plain. No bells, no altar, only a table on which might be a white cloth and a copy of the gospels. A part of the earnings of the brethren was set aside for the relief of sick believers and of the poor, and for the support of those who traveled to preach the gospel among the unconverted. [00:50:14] Now when you think that that goes right back to the 9th century, you understand that there's another remarkable movement of the spirit of God. Then we come. Yes, we better put them down here, Bergamils. [00:50:29] Then we come to another group called, I think you've all heard of these waldenses, or even more awkwardly, all beginses these two groups. No one knows where or when they began. Possibly from the very beginning in roman persecution, the roman persecution of Nero, that is, so they could go right back such a time. The waldensian church is very very proud of the fact that it is not a separatist movement from the Roman Catholic Church. It never at any time had any union with it. It never came out of it. So we don't know where it began or how it began. We don't even know where it got its name from. [00:51:16] Some people suggest from a certain Peter Waldo, who was a businessman of Lyon, who preached the gospel and became a great leader amongst them. But we don't really know. The same with the Albigenses. They were most. The Waldenses are most numerous in the southern valleys of the Alps and the Albigenses in the south of France. They also were a very, very numerous movement of the spirit of God and especially numerous and influential. From the 12th to the 15th century they had simple gatherings of believers as believers. They put no circle around, had no membership. Anyone could come in so long as they were a believer. Even if they were a Catholic. As long as they were a believer, they were accepted as believers. Baptism was on testimony of their faith in Christ. The Lord's table was a remembrance of his death and not an actual sacrifice. Elders ruled the church. Apostles went among the churches due to this particular movement. Because it was so widespread and so spiritually virile. The Roman Catholic Church took the step of withdrawing the scriptures from the people so that they could they were no longer allowed to read the scriptures on pain of excommunication. This was because of the waldenses and the Albigenses. They were so afraid of what happened amongst these people. Now, in all this we see through all these years the spirit of God kept alive in the darkness all around the testimony of Jesus. I'd like to read just another little part which I think in this history of the church, which I think is a remarkable document. It was written in 404. Now listen to this. [00:53:04] It's preserved in Strasbourg. It is written by an enemy, but it contains a quotation from one of the brethren. And this is the quotation that is so remarkable. This is from a Christian, the quotation. [00:53:18] For 200 years our fellowship has enjoyed good times, and the brethren became so numerous that in their council, 700 and more persons were present, that is, of delegates, not a congregation, delegates from churches. God did great things for the fellowship. Then severe persecution broke over the servants of Christ. They were driven from land to land. And to the present time this cruelty continues. But since the church of Christ was founded, the true christians have never been so far reduced that in the world, or at least in some countries, some of the saints have not been found. Also, our brothers, on account of persecution, have at times crossed the sea and in a certain district have found brethren. But because they didn't understand the language of the country, intercourse with them was difficult, and they have returned. The face of the church changes like the phases of the moon. Often the church blossoms on account of the number of the saints and is strong on the earth. And again she seems to fall and to pass away entirely. But if she disappears in one place, we know that she is to be seen in other lands, even if the saints are only few who lead a good life and remain in the holy fellowship of Christ. And we believe that the church will be raised up again in greater numbers and strength. The founder of our covenant is Christ, and the head of our church is Jesus, the son of God. That person was martyred for that testimony. But you see, that shows something of the kind of spirit of these people all the way through this downward decline of the church right down to the 15th century, all the way through. You've got groups, not so huge in one sense, but who kept alive the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what can we say about the actual reformation era? [00:55:08] And this is this first point upwards here, in spite of all these amazing movements about which we must wish that we knew a good deal more, the darkness which had settled on Christendom was progressive a huge mountain of difficulty, impossible, insuperable, immovable, stood between the purpose of God and its fulfillment. Yet God had said, his hand laid the foundation. His hand shall also finish it. Jesus had said, I upon this rock, I will build my church, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. When we come to the 14th century, all appears as dark and as impossible as could be. Here, however, we learn one of the greatest and most wonderful lessons of all. It is Christ himself who said, I will build my church. [00:56:09] Nothing can or will stop him. When all seemed darkest, God stepped in and the miracle took place. The actual reformation is a miracle that very few of us, I think, down here, will ever understand. [00:56:30] Now, the first name. I'm just going to give you five names very briefly in connection with the Reformation. Because if we go on next week, if it really does prove to be helpful, and I want to speak about many fascinating things next week about different groups that we're all aware know better. [00:56:48] These five are the key, in some ways, at any rate, to the Reformation. [00:56:54] First of all is John Wycliffe. [00:56:57] John Wycliffe was born in 1320, the beginning of the 14th century. [00:57:03] He's been called the morning star of the reformation. He became an eminent Oxford scholar, fearlessly attacking hero and exposing hypocrisy in the church and government. [00:57:15] He denied the infallibility of the pope. [00:57:20] He denied the infallibility of the councils of the church. [00:57:26] He denied transubstantiation. [00:57:29] He declared that all, including the pope and the councils of the church must obey the authority of scripture. [00:57:40] Naturally, he aroused the fury of the church. Brought before the bishops of London with both Archbishop of Canterbury and the archbishop of York present on a charge of heresy. They had already decided to burn. They had already decided to burn him. In spite of his tremendous popularity not only with the common people, but with the nobility of the country, they had decided to burn him. When London had one of its only two earthquakes in recorded history, the bishops were so afraid that they adjourned the session, and they never reconvened it. Wycliffe died in peace many years later, having nearly destroyed the Catholic Church in this country. [00:58:28] After this, they forbade him to preach. So he gave himself to translation work and to writing tracts, not the kind of tracts you think of, but weighty tracts on the question of the origin of authority. And this kind, which all went to the root of things in the whole country. [00:58:52] He translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate to English. He organized bands of preachers who went out two by two over the whole of Britain. These people were called lollards. We don't know why they were called lollards. It could mean that they babbled. It's an old, very old english word. It could mean babbler. In other words, it was a term of derision. They were babblers. Or it could just mean that they seemed in their meetings to loll around a bit, probably, when worshipping the Lord. [00:59:28] Well, I must say, I can imagine we might be called lalaunce after a Sunday morning. I don't know. [00:59:35] They went over the whole land, preaching the gospel in contemporary style and language. [00:59:44] Their influence on the british nation was tremendous. [00:59:50] It was said by one enemy of the Lollards that two men could not be found together and one of them not be a Lollard in the whole realm. [01:00:05] Congregations of believers came into being in many places, and especially in East Anglia, congregations of believers, not just meeting in the Roman Catholic Church, but as congregations of believers, meaning they'd been saved through the preaching of the Lollards. They found each other in fellowship and so on. Many of them were burnt at the stake. I wish we had the time. I would take the little book, which has never been republished in the library, cloud of witnesses. Unfortunately, we've only got. It's alphabetical and we've only got from m to z. But in that I could read to you account after account after account of these lollards and their last words as they were cruelly murdered. [01:00:50] The Lollards suffered in this country, hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of them, burnt at the stake for their faith in Christ. [01:01:01] Wycliffe died in peace in 1384. [01:01:07] The church could not be outdone by him, and almost 60 years later, they condemned him as a heretic. In a special counsel, they dug up his remains, degraded them and then burnt them. That was in 1428, but it was said of him by he lit a fire which shall never be put out in the history of England. [01:01:35] Then the second man I want to just mention is John Hus. Jan Hus, born in 1369, Jeremy of Prague, heard Wycliffe in Oxford and caught fire. [01:01:50] He returned to Czechoslovakia, then Bohemia, and began to preach everywhere the gospel. [01:01:57] Jan Hus, or John Hus as we know him, caught fire listening to Jeremy. [01:02:04] As a result, a tremendous awakening and revival spread throughout Bohemia and especially amongst the czech speaking people. [01:02:15] And indeed, it went throughout central Europe. [01:02:18] Everywhere, people not only got saved, but began to gather together as believers in one place. In Tabur, they had huge conventions where they had the lord's table, both the cup and the bread. Now, you know the cup is forbidden by roman catholic practice to be given to the people. But there they met together. And down at the bottom is still called to this day a pool. It was called Jordan, where they baptized all those on profession of their faith. [01:02:50] It was a tremendous awakening and revival. [01:02:55] The Council of Constance convened in 1414, summoned John Hus to come to them to defend his teaching, and he decided to go when he was given a safe conduct pass by the emperor in order to preach the gospel before such a gathering of prelates and cardinals and nobles, kings and princes. [01:03:27] But when he arrived, he was given no opportunity of speaking. He was flung into a dungeon, where he was terribly tortured. And they tried all the way through to get him to recant, but he would not. He remained in peace to the end. And I haven't got the time to read you the last letter he wrote, which is perhaps one of the most beautiful documents in church history. Just before he died, finally, he was taken out, degraded publicly and burnt at the stake. In 1415, his martyrdom achieved much more than even his life. [01:04:07] Out of all this came the united Brethren. Unitas fratrum, the united brethren of Bohemia. [01:04:15] They were linked to the Lollards in England and linked to the Waldensians and the Albigensians everywhere else. There's this amazing link. You see how it's all linked together. Wycliffe to Jeremy, Jeremy to house, and then all that happened out of house, back to the Lollards, over to the Waldensians, to the Albagans, is the most amazing thing, isn't it? It's just a moving of the spirit of God. And this is all before the actual reformation leading up to it, they were to greatly influence Luther at the beginning. It's one of the great questions of church history. Luther was tremendously influenced by the United Brethren. Indeed, he was so influenced at one point that he thought that they had found the New Testament constitution of the church, and he was all for introducing it to Germany. Then, unfortunately, began the peasants revolt and the excesses of the prophets and what they called Anabaptists. And Luther shot back, being a great conservative, shot back in fear and reintroduced a more roman catholic form government. But it's very interesting that the united Brethren so deeply influenced the course of the Reformation. Now, there's a third person I just want to mention. Erasmus. He was born in 1466 at Rotterdam in Holland. He was educated in one of the schools of the United Brethren in Holland. The united Brethren, by the way, began a whole series of schools all over Europe. Wherever they could. And in one of these, Erasmus was educated and indeed himself said that he got his love of learning and of investigation from the school of the United brethren. [01:05:59] He published in 1516 his greek New Testament with a new latin translation. Now, this perhaps doesn't mean much to most of us, but it was like the first atom bomb being let off. Up to then, everything had been the Vulgate, the Latin Vulgate, which was the authorized version of the church. No one was allowed anything else. Now, for the first time, someone had gone right back to the fountainhead and had actually taken the text and had published it with a new Latin. The cheek of it. A new latin translation, unauthorized by the church. It was just like a bomb going off in Christendom. This one single event was to influence the course of history as little had done before. He took people back to the fountainhead and I just like to read things just so you should get some ideas. Some people think Erasmus was a compromiser because he never came out of the roman catholic church. These are his notes in the latin translation. Now, just a few of them. Listen to this. You understand why these people got burnt at the mistake. He didn't, but you can understand it. [01:07:09] Writing of the friars as the traveling monks, he says, those wretches in the disguise of poverty are the tyrants of the christian world. Speaking of bishops, he said, they destroy the gospel. They make laws at their will, tyrannize over the congregation and measure right and wrong with rules constructed by themselves, who sit not in the seat of the gospel, but in the seat of caiaphas and Simon the sorcerer. They are prelates of evil, of priests, he wrote. There are priests now in vast numbers, enormous herds of them, seculars and regulars. And it is notorious that very few of them are chaste. [01:07:51] Of the pope, he said, I saw with my own eyes Pope Julius II marching at the head of a triumphal procession, as if he were were pompey or caesar. St. Peter subdued the world with faith, not with arms or soldiers or military engines. St. Peter's successors would win as many victory as Saint Peter won if they had Peter's spirit of the singing of choristers in the churches. This is what he said in his notes. This is all published in his Greek New Testament, the latin version, the notes. Modern church music is so constructed that the congregation cannot hear one distinct word. [01:08:30] A set of creatures who ought to be lamenting their sins. Fancy they can please God by gurgling in their throats. [01:08:40] You can understand why some of these men got into trouble, can't you? It has been said Erasmus laid the egg which Luther hatched. [01:08:51] He died in his 70th year without a priest, which was absolutely remarkable, calling upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. [01:09:03] Now, here we should just mention three things which God was using. First, he was using the Renaissance. [01:09:11] This was a great revival in interest in greek and everything to do with the old classical world. And this is why, of course, because of the Turks invading Europe. Many greek speaking scholars came into Europe and with them they brought old ancient greek manuscripts. And so began a tremendous renewal of literature and interest. Now, that's how we got our Greek New Testament again. Erasmus was one of the leaders of what they called the humanists of his day. [01:09:43] In about 1450, the middle of the 15th century, came the invention of printing. God used, of course, printing. It was absolutely of God, because just at the point that the Greek New Testament came and there was the possibility of a translation into the mother tongues of all the different nationalities of Europe, so came printing, which gave the possibility of pouring out thousands upon thousands upon thousands, thousands of books. [01:10:11] And thirdly, of course, came a revival of nationalism. Now, God used all these three things in the Reformation. [01:10:19] The fourth person I just want to mention is William Tyndale. Born in 1494, it became his lifelong ambition to translate the Bible into good contemporary English. When spoken to by a learned theologian sent to convert him from the error of his ways, he said to this bishop, if God spares my life ere many years, I will take care that a plowboy shall know more of the scriptures than you evidently do. [01:10:45] He had to flee England for his life. A lonely exile. He went to Germany and worked on his translation of the New Testament, conferring with Luther. It was published in 1526. The greatest single influence upon the english speaking world. [01:11:04] William Tyndale was martyred near Brussels in 1536. 1st, he was bound by chains to a great crucifix, and then he was strangled. And then he was burnt. Before he was strangled, he cried out in prayer, O Lord, open the king of England's eyes. [01:11:25] Within two years, in 1538, by royal proclamation, by none less than that wicked man, Henry VIII, a bible was placed in every single church in the realm. And it was put there in the mother tongue, English, so that it could be read to all people who wished to hear it win. Tyndale's prayer was answered. The fifth group of men I want just to mention is Martin Luther and other contemporaries. He was born in 1483 with Luther. With Martin Luther, the day of the Reformation was fully come. [01:12:09] Fearless, robust, full of humor, very much down to earth, contemporary, with a great gift of putting profound matters simply. Luther was just the man, the Holy Spirit needed. [01:12:28] By 1517, three matters had become absolutely one, man is justified by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. Two, every believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ. Three, the Bible is the sole source of authority for faith and life. Now, these three things may not seem much to you because their household matters. So used have we become to this recovery of the spirit of God, that we all take this for granted. But these three things, each one of them constitute a tremendous, tremendous recovery. They undermined a whole system which was satanic. [01:13:19] Man is saved not by good works, nor by penances, nor by his own righteousnesses, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ. [01:13:38] Every believer has direct access to God through Jesus. You don't need pope or priest, or even church or confessional to get to God. Every believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ. That undermine the whole system. We have to understand that the whole authority of the clergy was very largely based on this matter of mediation. [01:14:12] And the third thing, the Bible is the sole source of authority for faith and life. Not the church fathers, nor the councils of Nicaea, or of any other council, but the Bible itself, the sole source of authority for faith and life. Thus the great foundation stone had been recovered and has never been lost again. [01:14:41] We have a flow, we have an ebb, go back. But that going back never, ever was what was regained in the recovery, lost in the subsequent era. [01:14:55] This is so wonderful. It's all the way right through, as we see. I trust next week we must also couple with Luther many others. Luther went so far. I have a letter in one of Luther's books, which I found very interesting because of the new honesty. Now, since the last world war, you know, up to then, there's not been a lot of honesty in our various denominations, because we've all been self protective, but now there's a much greater honesty. Lutheran wrote a remarkable biography of Luther and published for the first time a letter which has been suppressed, in which Luther himself said that he wondered about baptism. It was a letter to Philip Mellington, and he said, I believe that our brethren in Bohemia may have found the answer. We must keep, keep an open mind on the matter of baptism. [01:15:50] Then, of course, came the terrible excesses of the extremists, the fall back, and, well, he went back on that. We must also couple with Luther quite a few others. [01:16:06] Zwingli, Ulrich Zwingl. Unfortunately, Zwingli died on the battlefield when he was only 31 years old. If he had lived to the age that the others lived, I think Zwingli would have made a tremendous mark on the church. He already made it, of course, in Switzerland. And then John Calvin, of course, another of the great reformers. He also left. Now, these two went farther than Luther. They saw the spiritual nature table. They saw many other things. They were much clearer on certain things than Luther, the three of them together with many others. Or we could go through a whole list of names of those who were with them at the time. Suffice it to say, God had done a remarkable thing. [01:16:58] He had secured. He had recovered the foundation stone for the building, the house. [01:17:06] Justification by faith. The access, the direct access of every believer to God through Jesus Christ and the Bible as the sole source of authority for faith and life are really the foundational stones of the whole building, I must say. And if I had had the time, I would have done it for your benefit, all of you. I would have fished out a number of comments by Luther and Zwingli. But Jean Calvin was a little bit more of a gentleman than Luther or Zwingli. [01:17:47] Luther, in his commentary, some of you have ever ploughed through his commentary on Galatians, said the most terrible things. I shall never forget when I first studied it, and remember him calling bishops catholic prelates nipzigs. [01:18:02] You well understand the sort of horror that some of these reformers, with their down to earth type of preaching cause. I remember when I read the first time, the official biography of Ulrich Zwingli, remembering his marvelous comment in the Munster, in Zurich, to a packed congregation talking about unction, you know, the final anointing by oil that's supposed to get you into heaven in catholic and orthodox circles. And he said, he said, better keep the oil for your salad dressing. [01:18:46] The reason I tell you these things is simply, I want you to understand that people often get the idea that these reformers and others were all sort of very staid and correct, and some they weren't. [01:19:01] One can well understand the fury and the ire that was aroused, not only because what they said was true, but sometimes because of the way they said it. [01:19:12] I'm afraid that the treasure was in earthen lesson. [01:19:18] It always has been, and it's something we have to learn right through to the end. Nevertheless, I hope you're, I feel very inadequate when dealing with this, but a number of times folk have been to me and said, I wish you'd speak to us a little bit, just a little bit, about church history. Most people have got a horror of history because they've had dopey or drowsy old teachers of history at school, and that's given them an everlasting horror of history. But in actual fact, if we can learn from these things, and I can give you any number of books you can read for those of you who'd like to. [01:19:55] I think we learn tremendous lessons from what God has been doing in the age in which we're found. So we've covered up to the reformation, and we've covered just that reformation year, and next week we'll go on. We'll start with the Puritans, and I hope we shall go on right the way through to our present day, if the Lord leads us. Shall we that, Lord, we pray together that thou wilt thyself. Just write on our hearts any lessons, Lord, from all this. How we thank thee for the work of thy Holy Spirit. How we praise thee, Lord, for this one thing that thou hast been doing all the way through church history. [01:20:40] We thank thee for those, Lord, in every group, every grouping, Lord, who have been thine. And we especially thank thee, Lord, for those groups and those movements in which, Lord, something has been recovered which has now become for us households a household word. Lord, we thank thee and praise thee and give our thanks also to thee for helping us on this very hot evening, both in speaking and hearing. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.