Lord, how we do rejoice to be in Your presence. And Lord, we thank You so much. You drew our hearts back to the blood of the Lamb and to the fullness of the provision that there is in that.
Lord, we thank You that Your great love was shown to us at Calvary, and for the magnitude of that love and the all-encompassing power of all You did at Calvary.
Lord, even considering some of these announcements, thank You that because of Calvary, we can hold our brother here before Your throne, that You would meet him this week and prevail within his household. Lord, for the Hetrick and the Ford families, we can hold them before the throne of grace and mercy, that You will meet them, Lord, and abundantly provide.
Lord, we thank You for Your love and how we are drawn back to that in all of our situations, the things that come upon our lives. Because of Calvary, we can be more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
And Lord, as we come to Your Word now, we thank You that You have opened this Book unto us. We pray that the precious Holy Spirit will be released within our midst today, to behold the freshness, Lord, of Your life.
Lord, as we see Your Word, it is the desire of our hearts to truly see You in a very fresh and new way. Lord, that we would be quickened in speaking and hearing, to behold the beauty of the Lord with an unveiled face. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Can we turn this morning to Matthew 16? We will start reading in verse 15.
But whom say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.—Matthew 16:15-19
Consider the phrase in Matthew 16:18: “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not overpower it.”
Now turn to Matthew 18. Here again the Lord is speaking of the church. There are only two times throughout the Gospels where our Lord uses this word, church: Matthew 16, and then again in Matthew 18, where He is speaking of the issue of discipline and prayer.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
—Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst,” speaking of the church.
Now let us look at Ephesians 5, starting in verse 25.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it;
that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word,
that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.—Ephesians 5:25-27
And one last Scripture, out of the book of Zechariah: Zechariah 4. We will start reading in verse 6.
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 headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, 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.—Zechariah 4:6-9
We are focusing upon two familiar phrases in this passage. One is in Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” Then, in verse 7, there is the phrase we all love to hear: “Grace, grace unto it.”
As we consider these verses today, what is upon my heart—and it was mentioned Wednesday night—is that, for a period and in different sessions, we would like to consider this matter of church history.
Now, as we look at church history, we are not going through an educational session of Church History 101. There are plenty of books out there that we can read for that. But what is really upon our heart during this time is that we can learn the lessons from church history.
What lessons, as we look back upon our great parentage that has gone before us these two thousand years, can we learn? One of the most famous quotes about any type of history—and we can use this as a warning unto us—is that there is one thing we learn from history: we do not learn from history.
And may, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we overcome that, friend. Because in these days, as we look upon this matter of church history, we will see how much the Lord is doing this work. We will see that it is not by the might or the strength of man, but by His Spirit. It is by His grace and by His mercy, all with His heart and His purpose in view.
Today, we would like simply to have a time of introduction into this matter. Then periodically in the future, we will have different sessions on different periods of church history. Toward the end of the day, I will give an outline of where we will be going. We will pass that out so that you can be looking ahead to some of the things we will be considering.
Some people have asked about books. We normally have three books out on the bookshelf. I am not sure if they are there now, but starting with the briefest and going to the most detailed:
Depending upon how you are feeling and the challenge of your heart, it might be good to look at one of those books. They will help us as we go through this.
As we said, we are not so much concerned about all the names, dates, and places. But within these different ones, what can we learn from those who have gone on before us?
Why do we look at church history? What is the purpose of it? Why should we spend time today going back and looking at church history?
I think there are three reasons.
First, it brings us back, settles us, and shows us in a very living way that our God is a God of purpose. The time that we are living in is not a time within a vacuum—an isolated time. What the Lord is doing in the twentieth century is part of what He has been doing throughout these two thousand years.
We can see throughout history how the Lord, from the beginning, had a burden upon His heart that a bride would be made ready for His Son, that the Lord would have a people conformed to His image. And we are those people. But we are just entering into the stream of the Lord’s heart. There are many who have gone before us throughout this time.
God is doing that work. He started that work, as we will see in the Scriptures, and He is continuing that work throughout this time.
One thing we can be encouraged by is that no matter how dark the darkest times are, God continues His work. As we look throughout history, we will see some pretty dark times.
If we look back through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, what is normally referred to in history as the Dark Ages, you have to look with a microscope to find those who were being faithful to the Lord. We see the Roman Papal Empire having dominance over the kings of this earth. They were sending crusaders throughout the Far East to try to conquer Jerusalem, killing thousands of people. The papal army was going forth as the greatest army of the world, while the kings of England, the kings of France, and the Holy Roman Empire bowed the knee before this man.
It was a pretty dark time.
But as we look, we will see that our God, being that God of purpose, has continued to keep those faithful ones who were still gathering in that precious name of our Lord Jesus, separated unto Him.
They do not get a lot of publicity. But, as explained in The Pilgrim Church, there is a silver line that runs throughout all of history: those who were ever faithful. Our God, in His purpose, always has those faithful ones.
We can be encouraged as we look upon the times in which we are living. At times, it might not appear that there is much hope. But our God is a God of hope, and He has a purpose, and He will complete that.
That is why I think the first time the Lord mentions the church, He says, “I will build My church.” He will build. He identifies whose church it is. He says, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
At times, through our eyes, it would appear that the gates of hell were prevailing. But in reality, they are not. “I will build My church.” May those words ring within our hearts as we look upon this matter of history.
As we see this God of purpose, we see that God has called us into the communion of saints. That communion of saints is not just what we had this morning, but it includes the saints who have gone on before for thousands of years: saints who were faithful unto death, the martyrs whose glorious stories we hear, and ordinary brothers and sisters whom the Lord enabled, by His grace—grace upon grace—to be faithful unto Him.
Some of them lived in pretty good times. We could say it was not too tough to be a Christian. They were faithful where they were. Some lived in hard times, where we would say it was very difficult to be a Christian.
It is interesting, as we look back through history, that we will see how the Lord uses difficult times to bring about a reviving of His work.
When people drift away during good times, I am afraid all of us have a nature that, when things are going pretty well, we kind of loosen up and get a little slack. Then some persecution or difficult times come along, and we get drawn back to the Lord. It is a cycle of history that repeats itself over and over again. May we learn the lessons of history.
Another reason we look at church history is that it shows us our great heritage. There is a tremendous heritage that we all have.
The psalmist says, “My heritage is beautiful to me.” Brothers and sisters, in this day and time, we see many people searching for their heritage. There are people who make a living researching your heritage so that you can find out where you came from.
We get letters once or twice a year from a group that wants to tell us all about the Grahams. They say they have this book, have sorted everything out, and can sell us a book to tell us all about the Grahams so that we can see our heritage. People are interested in their heritage.
Brothers and sisters, as we come to this, we have a great heritage. We have saints who have gone on before us and who have paid a price.
Our forefathers, because of the lives they lived, enable us to be here today. We freely have a baptism. We announce it publicly. We do not have to hide it. We encourage people to come and be publicly baptized.
That is because there were those who stood for the Lord’s heart concerning baptism. There were times when you could not publicly have a baptism. They sneaked around and did it quietly.
To be publicly baptized was literally to have a sentence of death upon your head. They said, “If you want to be baptized, we will baptize you.” They tied a rock around your feet with a rope and threw you into the lake, and you were drowned.
But it is because of those ones that we can stand here today. Just as we had last week, and as we look forward, we can have this testimony of what the Lord is doing.
Even as we look back through the Scriptures, probably some of what we would call the most boring parts of Scripture—and I say that very reverently, and I hope you will forgive me—are the genealogies. Yet we can see in the Bible how much the Lord is interested in genealogy and heritage.
Time and time again, He draws the people back and says, “I want you to tell your children of all that the Lord has done. Tell your children how the Lord brought us out of Egypt, how His faithfulness took us through this land.”
The Lord is always trying to drive home in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel, and in the New Testament as well, how important our heritage is. May that be important to us, that we can see the stream and see God’s purpose, what He is doing at this point in time.
I think a third feature of looking at church history is that it can keep us in balance. Christians are ones who love to get out of balance. Whatever is going on, if a new wind of doctrine comes along, we can get out of balance.
As we consider the lessons from church history, they can keep us in balance on two sides.
On one side, we should not think that this history of what the Lord is doing now is common. We can think, “Well, it is just going on. I got saved, and we are just entering into this, and this has been going on.” Somehow we think too lowly of it.
Brothers and sisters, as we see our history, we see the great faithfulness of the Lord. We see the shouts of grace upon grace. It is not just something that goes on. It is a very special work. It is His heart and His purpose, and He wants us to enter into the specialness of it.
If we do not treasure it, it can become common to us. We can fail to see that what the Lord is doing today is part of His heart and purpose, and we can undervalue it. But as we see more of all the Lord has done, it will increase within our hearts this recognition that it is not common, but a very special work that He is doing—and He has been doing it throughout this time.
But as soon as we start seeing that it is special, what is the other side? We can start thinking it is too special. All of a sudden, we are it. All these two thousand years, all these people have failed, but now today we are it, and this is really special.
If we see that this is not something new, or something God is doing just within this twentieth century, but that He has been doing it over and over, raising up those faithful ones, then we will have balance. Yes, it is special, but it is special because it is within His one heart and one purpose. It is not a novel thing of this day that we enter into.
One of the lessons we will see in church history is that brothers and sisters who all of a sudden think they are too special, or that they are it—that all others have failed and they have the answer—are doomed to failure.
There is a balance here: between it not being too common and not being too special in an exclusive way. There is a balance in the Lord, that we can go on and see this wonderful work that He is doing.
Now, as we consider this matter of church history, I think it is good for us to go back to the birth of it and consider the birth of the church and where it starts.
We all go back initially to the first part of the book of Acts. We know in Acts 1 and Acts 2 all that the Lord did there. But before we get to that, let us look back even further, because it will show us how much this matter of having a bride for His Son—one that answers to His name—is upon the Lord’s heart.
We know that as we look back into the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are a picture of Christ and the church. Adam was there alone, and the verse is there that it is not good for man to live alone. The Lord put Adam to sleep. Then, in the peacefulness of that sleep, He took something out of his side, and He made woman. He built woman.
Adam was created, but it says the woman was built. She was built out of what came out of Adam. When Adam woke up and looked upon her, he said, “This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,” because that which had come out of him was now in her. It answered to his heart. She was his counterpart, his helpmeet. The Lord blessed them to rule and have dominion.
As we look at the New Testament, we know that this picture of Adam and Eve is a picture of Christ and the church. There came that point in time at Calvary when Christ had to be put to sleep. But because of sin, it was not a peaceful sleep. It was a violent death, as we remembered this morning.
Out of His side—particularly as recorded in John 19—two things came forth: blood and water. The blood, as we remembered this morning, has cleansed us of all our sins. The blood settles the issue for the remission of sins. But also out of His side came water: the water of life.
The church, out of the Lord’s side, was produced. In spiritual reality, we can say that the church was born on the day our Lord was crucified. Out of His side, out of that travail, came forth the blood to answer the issue of sin and the water of life.
In that, the church was produced: one that answered to His heart, one that answered to His life. It was His life that was the life of the church.
Throughout all the centuries, when the Lord looks upon the church, what is He looking for? There is only one thing: His life—the life of His Son being formed within a people.
The Lord is simply looking for His Son. As has been said before, the church is simply His story. Once the church starts becoming someone else’s story, other than Christ’s, we start to deviate.
We can add things to it. We can say it is Christ plus a certain teaching, Christ plus a certain emphasis—even a good emphasis. We can have Christ plus the family. Now, there is nothing wrong with the family. But if we make the church Christ plus the family, we can start to get off.
We are simply called to behold His Son. One thing is necessary: the precious life of His Son. We will see that those who hold to the preciousness of the beloved Son are those who continue to go on and whom the Lord raises up.
Now, as we come to the book of Acts, we do see the beginning of the history of the church upon this earth. We see one hundred and twenty men and women—just ordinary men and women—who had spent years with the Lord and yet had not really seen. They did not understand.
But on that day of Pentecost, those one hundred and twenty believers, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, understood. They saw that they were no longer one hundred and twenty individuals, but through the coming of the Holy Spirit, they were baptized into one body.
As we look at the book of Acts, the title in my Bible says The Acts of the Apostles. We know that title was not in the original. But what we see in the book of Acts, truly, as Brother Kong shared when he covered the book of Acts, is the acts of the risen Lord. The Head is in heaven; His Body is upon earth. Those one hundred and twenty individuals were baptized into one Body.
I think that is one reason why, when we have a baptism like we had last week, and when we will be having one in a couple of weeks, it is not just for the individual. Certainly, baptism is a testimony of what the Lord has done within that individual for salvation.
But there is another aspect: it is also a public testimony that they have been baptized into the Body of Christ, that there is a work and purpose the Lord is doing.
That is why, when we see one being baptized, when we hear of it, our hearts are overjoyed. We might not realize why, but it is because it is a testimony of the purpose and work the Lord is doing—not only individually, but corporately, calling a people to Himself in one Body.
We can thank the Lord that we have these opportunities to participate in this. It is like when we have the Lord’s table. Each one of us partakes of it individually, but it is also that testimony of His Body, of the oneness and unity of the Body that we have in Christ. We can rejoice in that.
We know that on the day of Pentecost, these one hundred and twenty very simple brothers and sisters were made into that one Body. As we look throughout the church in the book of Acts, we see how much the Lord was blessing them and how much they were drawn forth.
The church in Jerusalem was having a wonderful time. The Lord’s presence was there. They were continually breaking bread together. It says day by day they were with each other. They went from house to house. They were really enjoying it.
What happened then? Did the Lord allow them simply to be content in the church in Jerusalem? We know that in Acts 8, the Lord brought a persecution to scatter them out of Jerusalem.
Why was that scattering necessary? Remember, in the first part of Acts, the Lord said, “Ye are to be My witnesses in Jerusalem.” They were that; there is no question of that. But where else were they to be His witnesses? Throughout Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
They were there in Jerusalem, and they had forgotten about those last three places. The Lord brought this persecution in and scattered them throughout. In that scattering, the gospel went forth to the Gentiles.
We know in Acts 10 and Acts 11 how the Lord worked through Peter, with the vision and Cornelius, and how we hear of the church in Antioch being raised up. The church in Antioch was composed of those who were there because of persecution.
It was because of the persecution that there ended up being believers in Antioch to share the gospel with the Gentiles and Greeks who were there. It is glorious to see how the Lord used this. What He had called His church to be was not just of Jews, but of all nations, of every tribe and tongue: a called-out people unto Himself.
As we look at the book of Acts, we know too that the book of Acts has no ending. It continues on until this day. It is the one book in the Bible that does not have an ending. The Lord is continuing to work through His church—the risen Lord through His Body upon this earth—preparing a people who will be made ready for His return. His bride is being made ready, and that work is being done in the church.
As we see the work that has been done in these two thousand years, our hearts can be encouraged and strengthened because we see those who have gone before us.
Now, what I would like to do is take some of the characteristics that we see within the church in Acts. We will see how these characteristics are found in those used by the Lord throughout history. Today we will focus upon Acts, but in future sessions we will see these characteristics over and over again in those whom the Lord used.
There are going to be seven characteristics. Most of us have heard these characteristics before, but I would like to bring us back into focus on how essential they are within the work of the Lord.
The first is that the Lord Jesus is the practical, living Head of those whom He has called apart unto Himself. He is not just a teaching. It is not just a name over the door. He is the practical, living Head of individuals and assemblies together, to lead them and guide them.
In His name they go forth. In His name they pray together. In His name the gospel is shared. Throughout the book of Acts, we see them going forth in His name.
Remember when Peter was going into the temple? They saw the beggar, and said, “Silver and gold have I not; but in the name of Jesus the Nazarene, rise up and walk.” It was in that name—the living Head—that the power of God went forth.
There is a story that after one of the popes had finished building St. Peter’s Cathedral, they brought in a very humble and faithful servant of the Lord. The pope was bragging and showing forth all the grandeur and splendor of St. Peter’s.
The pope was brought back to the thought of Peter and the beggar. He said, “Remember, Peter had to say, ‘Silver and gold have I not.’ Look around at all the grandeur and splendor. Look at all the silver and gold we have here. I am not like Peter. I cannot say we do not have silver and gold.”
The humble servant said, “That is right, you cannot say that. But neither can you say, ‘Rise up and walk.’”
They departed. What is the more important part? It is the living Head, our Lord Jesus. Going forth in a life laid down, saying, “Rise up and walk,” and we go forth.
We also see throughout the book of Acts how the Word of God is the sole authority for all their guidance and for matters of how they handle things. The Word of God is the sole authority.
Throughout church history, we see how the Word of God is the vehicle used to recover what the Lord is doing.
When we study the Reformation of the church in Scotland, the testimony is that the person used to recover and bring about the Reformation in Scotland was the Word of God. They said, “No person.” It was the Word of God, in a very powerful way, that was used to bring about this Reformation.
The third characteristic is that the Holy Spirit is given His rightful place. We have believers who are not only saved and have the Holy Spirit, but who are also filled with the Spirit. They are ruled by the Spirit.
As we look throughout the book of Acts, we see the Spirit setting apart Paul and Barnabas, the Spirit directing, and the Spirit providing comfort. The Holy Spirit was a very living Person within their lives.
Throughout church history, we will see those who, in a right way, are beholding the Holy Spirit. They are not distracted by the gifts of the Spirit. But because they allow the Person of the Spirit to have His rightful place, we see the gifts coming out of the Person of the Holy Spirit in very living ways.
Also throughout the book of Acts, we see the priesthood of all believers. As we said in Acts 2:42, they continued daily in the breaking of bread, fellowship, prayer, and the apostles’ teaching.
The one word I enjoy the most throughout those first chapters in the book of Acts is that little word, all. It says they were all daily going from house to house. There was not an elite group handling things; they were all doing this.
As we see the Spirit of God moving at different times in history, we will see the Lord raising up brothers and sisters who function, allowing the Lord to lead them through the Holy Spirit into the priesthood He has called us into.
Another characteristic is the love of the brethren. They loved all the brethren. There was no dividing wall and no partition. During the times when the Lord moves, as we see in the book of Acts, there is a love of the brethren.
They were first called Christians in Antioch. Now, it is interesting to note that, though the Holy Spirit ends all these different letters in various ways, the word love is never used in the book of Acts. You cannot find the word love in the book of Acts.
Maybe that is because, as the Lord says in 1 John 3:18, we are not to love in word only, but to love in deed. Maybe His love is being spoken in the book of Acts not so much in the word, but in the life.
Now, we do need to say we love each other. I am not saying do not say it. But more important is the life lived out: a life of love, not only of the Lord, but also of loving one another.
We also see one of the characteristics in the book of Acts: the work of the cross. We have been sharing on that.
Again, in the book of Acts, the only time the word cross is used is in a historical perspective, looking back at Christ at Calvary. In some translations, the word cross is not used; it simply says wood.
But what we see in the believers in the book of Acts are those living a life of the cross. In that life of the cross being worked out within them, they are being set free from the things that entangle them. They are liberated into all the glory and beauty that there is in the Lord.
They are being set free from pagan rituals. They are being set free from Jewish traditions. They are being brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The cross is working in the book of Acts.
As we see and learn different lessons in church history, we will see too how those whom the Lord uses are those willing to allow the cross to work within their lives.
Finally, one of the characteristics we see is this whole issue of separation from the world. This word for church, ecclesia, means “the called-out ones.” They are separated from the world.
As we look at them in the book of Acts, what is their standard for living? What is their basis for living? Is their standard the world’s standard, or is their standard the life of Christ?
So often, not only in Acts but throughout history, the people of God allow the standard of the world to become the standard by which we live.
We never go all the way over because we know how bad that is, but we find a happy medium where we can feel comfortable. We reject the bad things of the world, and we can accept the good things of the world.
But the Lord is calling a people separated unto Himself, that Christ and His life would be our standard for living.
As we look at these characteristics within the book of Acts, and then throughout church history, we see these characteristics—particularly the first three—primarily among those whom the Lord initially raises up at different points in time.
Then, as time goes on into the next generation and third generation, some of these things start to fade out, and tradition can set in.
We know that happened to the early church. Some of the initial zeal they had started to fade out, and tradition began to set in. These are some of the lessons we hope to learn as we consider this whole matter of church history.
Now, I would like to go over a brief outline of how we are going to approach this whole matter of church history. There is a handout that we will pass out.
As we look at this, we can turn over to Revelation 2 and 3. We know in these chapters we have the seven letters to the churches in the book of Revelation.
As we look at these seven letters to the seven churches, these were actual churches that existed during the time of John. John wrote these letters to each one of these churches.
There are three ways that we can look at them.
First, we can look at them as actual historical letters written to real churches at that point in time, because they were actually there. The church of Ephesus existed, as did the church of Smyrna. We know that Paul and John had been ministering among these churches, and these letters were penned to them.
These letters were going to actual brothers and sisters living around the end of the first century, around A.D. 90, and were addressing very specific things within their midst.
Second, each one of these letters has this phrase: “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says.”
Notice that it does not say to us today, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit said,” in past tense. It still says, “what the Spirit says.”
So we can look at each one of these seven letters in terms of how they apply to us today. The lessons in each letter show us what the Lord says when He looks upon the church at this point in history—or at any point in history.
He says, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” He puts this challenge within each one of us today, for us to look at these seven letters as a means of looking at ourselves through His eyes and according to His standard.
We can also look at these seven letters in the way we will be using them for church history: as representative of seven periods of church history. In a prophetic way, through John, they show how the history of the church until the Lord’s return was going to occur in seven periods of time.
We would like to use these seven letters as our framework and outline as we go through this pattern of church history.
As we look at each letter, we are not going to do a detailed study of every verse in the letter. The heart is that we will see what the Spirit is saying to the church and learn from that.
The first line under each item in the outline is simply a time period. In Ephesus, for instance, we have the early church, which existed during the first century.
There are two suggested meanings to the word Ephesus: “desirable” and “loosening.” Whenever we come to meanings of words, we cannot be exact or precise. These are suggested meanings and impressions that those who have studied the Greek have given us.
The church in Ephesus had desire, but the Lord’s accusation against them was that they had left their first love. There was a desire there, a desire to go on in the Lord, yet a loosening was starting to set in.
Unless you have desire, unless you have your first love, there can be no loosening. If something is never tight, it cannot be loosened. There was something there of the Lord’s heart and testimony, but it was starting to loosen.
Even though there are challenges—“You have left your first love,” which we might call the negative—there is always the positive. The Lord says, “Repent and return unto Me,” and He has a way for us to go.
As we look at the church in Ephesus, we are looking at the first century. There is nothing new under the sun.
At the turn of the first century, there was a brother named Barnabas—not the one in Acts—who wrote an epistle. It was probably written between A.D. 90 and 110.
One sentence in that long epistle shows that there is nothing new under the sun. In giving guidelines for holy living, he wrote:
Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion, nor shalt thou kill it when it is born, or abandon it after it is born.
That is first-century, not twentieth-century. There is nothing new under the sun. Just as the enemy has been working, so the Lord has been working to encourage His people and draw them unto Himself.
The second church we will look at is the church in Smyrna, generally referred to as the suffering church. This is during the second and third centuries.
Smyrna means bitterness, coming from the word myrrh. Myrrh was one of those fragrances that had to be crushed before it showed forth its beautiful fragrance.
During this time, there were the ten periods of persecution, when the Roman emperors were persecuting the church. We see many martyrs throughout this time—those who were faithful unto death.
One of them was a brother named Polycarp. He was eighty-six years old and was a bishop of Smyrna. The crowds had rioted and demanded that someone be martyred. He was brought into the amphitheater and given a chance to live.
They simply said, “Swear by the genius of Caesar”—in essence, worship Caesar. To swear to Caesar meant to deny the Lord, because Caesar was the head of the pagan church. Polycarp knew in his conscience that he could not do that.
He said, “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King, who saved me?”
With that, he was set on fire.
Sometimes they would nail people to the pole. Polycarp said he was not counted worthy to be nailed to the wood as his Lord. He said, “The Lord that has strengthened me for my martyrdom will strengthen me to stand upright.”
He stood there, tied by a rope, as they lit the fire. He is one of the martyrs who has gone on before us.
Eighty-six years old—what harm could this man do to the Roman Empire? But we will see how one hundred and twenty faithful ones, within a few centuries, brought down the Roman Empire. It was by His grace and by His mercy that He went forth.
As we come to the church of Pergamum, we see what we call the compromising church. This is from the fourth to the sixth century. This is when Constantine legalized Christianity and allowed it to become the state religion.
Pergamum means “united in marriage,” or “a high tower held in a place of honor.”
They were no longer called out of the world. Because Constantine had legitimized it, there was a marriage between church and state, and they were brought together.
It says that they held to the teaching of Balaam. As we look at the Old Testament, Balaam was that Old Testament prophet whose teaching was to unite the nation of Israel with the Gentiles. He was trying to bring about this uniting. He was a covetous one.
We will see in the church of Pergamum the deeds of the Nicolaitans—that whole clergy-laity system.
One of the things it says about the church of Pergamum is, “I know where you dwell.” We are not supposed to be dwellers upon this earth. We are called out; we are not here to dwell.
There is a constant battle between two extremes. We know the Scripture says that we are called to be in the world but not of the world. I think many of us wrestle with that: How are you in the world but not of the world?
Here we see how they had gone so far into the world.
One historian wrote that there is a tension between these two extremes of being in the world but not of the world:
The one extreme makes so much of the principle “in the world” that the church loses her identity. The other extreme makes so much of the principle “not of the world” that the church becomes irrelevant.
We always go to extremes. May we be a relevant church, balanced by the Holy Spirit: in the world, but not of the world.
A brother who lived at the turn of the century, A. T. Pierson, wrote:
If there is no accommodation to the current culture, Christianity is unintelligible and cannot spread. But if there is too much accommodation to the current culture, it will spread, but will no longer be Christianity.
There is this balance we need to learn: in the world, but not of the world.
As we come to the letter to the church in Thyatira, this is from the sixth century to the present century. This is generally referred to as the Catholic system, beginning when the papacy was firmly established in the sixth century and continuing through the present time.
Thyatira means “sacrificing continually,” or “full of sacrifices.” There was not just one sacrifice once and for all. We know there was one sacrifice, and that we are justified by faith. But there is not a need for sacrifices over and over again, or faith plus works, in order to achieve salvation.
Thyatira is accused of tolerating the woman Jezebel. As we consider Jezebel, we know how she seduced the people of God, brought in false teachings, and murdered the prophets of God.
She allowed the nation of Israel not merely to be idol worshipers, but instead of being a people of God, they became a people of Baal. They changed their god entirely, as Jezebel brought in all these false teachings.
But we see that during this time, in the Dark Ages, no matter how dark it gets, the Lord has those who are faithful. Just like during the time of Jezebel, there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. It was a small number, but we see that there are those who remain faithful.
After Thyatira, we come to Sardis. This is the Protestant system, starting in the sixteenth century with the Reformation and continuing up to the present.
Sardis may mean revival, restoration, or remnant. Different words are used regarding the meaning of Sardis, and we will go into much more detail when we look at these different periods.
The Lord says to the church in Sardis, “I have not found your deeds complete.” In a positive way, He says, “Repent.”
There was a quote from a brother—one of my favorite quotes throughout church history—that is appropriate for any time and era in which we are living.
John Robinson was a Puritan. Many within his assembly were getting ready to leave Europe, get on a ship, and sail to a new country. As they got on the ship called the Mayflower to sail for New England, he gave them one message:
I charge you before God and His blessed angels, that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
If God reveals anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as you were to receive any truth by my ministry. For I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His holy Word.
For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of those reformed churches which are come to a period in religion and will go at present no further—no further than the instruments of their reformation.
The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever part of God’s will was revealed to Calvin, the Lutherans would rather die than embrace it. And the Calvinists, you see, stick fast to where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things.
This is a great misery, much to be lamented.
It shows a beautiful truth: the progression of the Lord’s work, how He is always calling us to go on and to learn more of the Lord.
At the summer conference, we heard of recovery. We saw how the Lord was recovering much in this day and time. As we look at the lessons of church history, when the Lord brings a people out, will we be those who continue to go on?
This brother was not guarding his ministry. He really knew the Lord, and he was releasing the people, encouraging them to go further than he had gone, because he knew there was much more in the Word of God to be revealed.
Would that be our hearts as we learn these lessons? Just as they saw in Sardis, could we learn?
As we come up into the nineteenth century, we have the letter to the church of Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. There is no rebuke here. Their commendation is: “You have a little power, have kept My Word, and have not denied My name.”
Historically, this began in the nineteenth century through the Brethren movement. The Brethren movement is known as that movement of brotherly love.
One book we have here, I think, characterizes more the heart of that movement: the story of Robert Chapman called Brother Indeed. He was known as the Apostle of Love.
There was a brother in Australia who wanted to write a letter to Robert Chapman. He did not know Robert Chapman’s address. This was back in the eighteen hundreds, and the postal system was not that great.
He simply wrote on the letter:
Robert Chapman, Apostle of Love, England.
Robert Chapman was so known for his love that the letter got to him in a regular amount of time. What a testimony of brotherly love.
Would not the Lord have us, in this day and time, be known by our love? Is that not His desire for His people, to be known by His love and by what He has called us unto?
Sadly, as we see the church in Laodicea, we see the proud church—the twentieth-century church. They think they are rich, but actually they are poor.
Many times today, we think we are rich. That richness can be simply believing that we are saved, and that is why we think we are rich. But there is so much more that the Lord wants to show us. We think we have this; we think we have Him.
May the Lord, as we look at these lessons, really allow the Holy Spirit to work within our hearts, that we would not be a proud people, but that we would know the wonderful Lord who has loved us and given His life for us.
As we look at church history, one of the quotes I like from John Kennedy’s The Torch of the Testimony is that we know from Ephesians, and from partaking of the table this morning, that because of Calvary we have direct access to the Lord. Because of that, we are also in the Body of Christ; we are one with one another.
As we look back through the Catholic system, basically the Catholic system denied fellowship with God. A barrier was put between man and God.
But as we look at the Protestant system, we see that whereas Catholicism denied fellowship with God, Protestantism denied fellowship with fellow believers. Instead of this wall, we have these walls.
Neither one is acceptable to the Lord.
I want to make one more statement. When we are talking about this Catholic and Protestant system, we are talking about systems. We are not talking about the brothers and sisters within those systems.
Within each one of these letters, even Thyatira and Sardis, there were those whose robes were not defiled. There were those faithful to the Lord. We are not speaking of brothers and sisters; we are talking about systems, the powers behind these systems that would get us off.
So, as we come to this, may we really pray. Just as it says in those letters to the seven churches, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says.”
As the Spirit moves within our hearts in these days, may we give ourselves back to the Lord, that we can learn these lessons in a very fresh and new way.
Can we pray?
Lord, we do thank You that we are those who have so great a heritage. We thank You, Lord, for so great a love that You have shown unto us.
We just want to continue, Lord, to learn of You, to see Your great faithfulness, to see Your lovingkindness and tender mercy.
Lord, we thank You for that wonderful promise: “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” In Jesus’ name.