Will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 5?
We will begin with the latter part of Ephesians 5:25 through verse 27.
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.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, as we come to Thee this morning, we do want to hear Thy word. We ask Thee that Thou wilt open the word to us and speak directly to our hearts.
Lord, even though we are going through history, yet Thou canst speak through history and draw our hearts to that which Thou art after. Lord, we do want to follow Thee, follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. So we just commit this morning into Thy hands, trusting Thy Holy Spirit to bring home to us that which Thou art after. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
The church began gloriously. I do believe that everyone who reads, especially the first four chapters of the Book of Acts, cannot help but see glory there. We see the glory of our Lord Jesus in His people.
And how good it would be if this continued on from glory to glory, until that glorious church without spot and wrinkle, which our Lord Jesus is preparing for Himself, comes into being.
But unfortunately, because of the weakness of our flesh and also through the deception of the enemy, instead of growing into Christ from glory to glory, we find that the church began gradually to depart from the truth, from the word of God, and from the simplicity that is in Christ.
When we come to the end of the fifteenth century, we find that the church is in ruin. It is in the dark, and it is so dark that it cannot be any darker.
Why? Because instead of the church being a vibrant, living organism, it had become a gigantic religious organization. Faith had turned into creed—cold orthodoxy. Spiritual authority had become political authority and political power.
We find that the church had fallen. Darkness prevailed over Christendom. The Roman Catholic Church dominated the Western world. It became a kingdom above all kingdoms—worldly, powerful, and oppressive.
It persecuted all those who desired to return to the Scripture, to the truth in the word, and to the simplicity of Christ. These people were greatly persecuted, burned, and destroyed.
During such dark ages, we find all kinds of heresies coming into the church and all kinds of abominable dogmas being proclaimed and practiced: the infallibility of the pope, the immaculate conception of Mary, no salvation outside the Church of Rome, purgatory, indulgences, and the worship of Mary and the saints.
The ecclesiastical class held the souls of men in their hands, and they even determined the destiny of nations. The Bible was put in chains, and tradition was set on the throne. Salvation was based upon merit and works.
Christ was put outside the life of the church. It was the darkest of the Dark Ages. It seemed as if the ruin was complete.
Why did God allow such departure, such ruin, to come into the church? We believe He allowed this in order to show us the corruption and weakness of our flesh. At the same time, He wanted to demonstrate to us His wisdom and His skill.
He allowed these things to happen, but He had not given up what He had purposed even from before the foundation of the world. During those dark days, as we mentioned yesterday morning, God still had His testimony upon the earth.
Here and there were groups of believers. They called themselves Christians and nothing else. They wanted to follow the pattern of the Scripture and to keep the simplicity of Christ.
We do not know too much of their history because they were considered heretics in the eyes of organized Christianity. They were persecuted until their books were destroyed.
But if all that God had done in the midst of these people were revealed, I believe we would find that their influence was much greater than what we know today. In a sense, they prepared the way for recovery.
As a matter of fact, God was preparing for this work of recovery. Or perhaps I should say that in these people God had His recovery. But unfortunately, they were comparatively small groups. It was not universal.
Therefore, we do not consider them to be the real beginning of God’s recovery work in the church. But anyway, these were preparations for the recovery of the church.
In the fourteenth century, there was a Renaissance sweeping over Europe—a new interest in arts and classics. Because of this new interest, people began to investigate the very meaning of the word of God.
At the same time, we find that the printing press was invented. With printing, learning spread far and wide.
At the end of the fifteenth century, there was Erasmus. He was a very clever man. He desired to reform the Roman Church. He used sarcasm to try to arouse the people.
He was the one who produced a Greek edition of the New Testament with notes, together with the Complutensian edition.
We also find William Tyndale of England. At the cost of his life—he gave his life for it—he produced a New Testament in the English language.
All these were preparations for the recovery work of God that was coming at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Today we consider the sixteenth century the official beginning of the recovery work of God in history.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, God raised up a number of reformers: Martin Luther, Zwingli, John Calvin, and others. Martin Luther was in Germany; Zwingli and John Calvin were in Switzerland. God used these vessels to bring in the work of recovery.
We cannot go into the whole history of the Reformation. In a sense, Martin Luther represents the Reformation at that time, so we will talk a little about Martin Luther.
Martin Luther was a professor, but he began to be concerned with his soul to such an extent that he left his professorship and knocked at the door of an Augustinian convent. He sought for the salvation of his soul.
He tortured himself. He fasted, almost to the point of death, trying to seek salvation through works. But gradually, the Lord began to use different instruments to help him see some light.
Later, when he went back to teach as a monk, he was expounding Romans 1:17:
The righteous shall live by faith.
A light brighter than the sun shone into his dark soul. He began to see justification by faith, not by works.
Then, in 1510, he had the opportunity to go to Rome. He was so happy that he had the opportunity to go to the celestial city, the center, the city of God.
But as he traveled from Germany to Rome, the nearer he came to Rome, the more disappointed he became. He stayed in different monasteries and found that the monks did not care for spiritual things. They lived extravagant, luxurious lives, enjoying themselves. There was no piety and no seeking after the Lord.
It got worse as he came nearer to Rome. But still, at that time, he had not received the full light. So he went to Rome and visited different cathedrals.
He went to one cathedral that was supposed to have Pilate’s stairway, where the Lord Jesus was judged. They said that whoever climbed that stairway and offered prayers at the altar could receive indulgence for relatives.
So Luther, instead of walking up the stairway, climbed on his knees. His only regret was that the prayers at the altar could bring forgiveness only to those still living and could not do anything for those who had already died.
But as he was climbing, suddenly he heard a voice:
The righteous shall live by faith.
He stood up and walked down. He returned to Germany, to the University of Wittenberg, and began to teach earnestly the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In 1517, Pope Leo X wanted to build Saint Peter’s Cathedral. He needed money. He lived a very extravagant, luxurious life, had luxurious tastes, and needed money.
The easiest way to get money was to sell indulgences. Who did not want to escape purgatory? So he sent out salesmen to different places to sell indulgences.
There was a super salesman, Tetzel. He really could sell. He came to the vicinity where Luther was lecturing.
Wherever he went, he would tell people, “Do you not care for your relatives, for your fathers and mothers, who are now suffering in purgatory? You can deliver them and shorten the days of purgatory by buying these indulgences.”
“The more money you pay, the more indulgence you get. God forgives. If you sin a small thing, you pay a little. If you sin more, you have to pay more.”
“And when your money begins to drop into the box, the one you bought the indulgence for, his soul will fly out of purgatory and fly to heaven.”
He was such an expert in selling indulgences that he said you could even buy indulgence for the sins you were going to commit. Sure enough, some people bought such indulgences and then robbed a castle. When they were caught, they said, “We have the indulgences.”
People at that time were so ignorant. They believed in these indulgences. They believed whatever the pope said. They thought they could bring their relatives out of purgatory and save themselves from purgatory.
When Luther heard about it, he could not stand it. So he posted on the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg ninety-five theses. He challenged the Christian world to debate with him on the matter of indulgences.
In trying to refute indulgences, positively he brought in the truth of justification by faith.
This was just the beginning. When the news began to be known, it spread so fast. As a matter of fact, many people were questioning these matters. Luther was used by God as an instrument.
The more he entered into the conflict, the more he realized the error of the whole papal system—the false authority of the pope and of the church councils.
To make the story short, there was such opposition and pressure put upon him from Rome that he was called to the Diet of Worms to present himself before the emperor, the emissaries of the pope, and all the religious hierarchy and political powers of that day.
He was commanded to recant, to retract all the books and writings that he had produced. Listen to what he said:
I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the councils, because it is clear, as clear as day, that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other.
Unless, therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of the Scripture or by clear reason, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I will not recant.
For it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I take my stand. I cannot do otherwise. May God be my help. Amen.
But the greatest work of Martin Luther was that he translated the Bible into the German language. In 1522, he published the German translation of the New Testament, and shortly afterward, the Old Testament.
So now the Reformation was placed on its proper foundation: the word of God.
During the Reformation, two things were clearly recovered. First, the Bible. Before that time, people were not allowed to read the Bible. The Bible was chained, and because they did not have the Bible, they accepted everything that they were taught by the priests. Tradition substituted for truth.
The best thing in the Reformation was that the Bible was put into the hands of the people. Everyone was able to read for himself or herself what was in the word of God. That is the recovery of the word of God, the very basis of recovery.
Second, the truth of justification by faith was recovered. Today, to us, it is as clear as daylight. Of course, we are justified by faith, not by works.
But during those days, the Roman Church taught, and the people accepted, that salvation was by works. You had to work your way to salvation. But thank God, through the Reformation, justification by faith was recovered. That was a basic truth that had to be recovered in the church.
But the Reformation had its limitations. The reformers taught justification through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, yet when they taught, they said that Christ, by His death, reconciled God to us.
God was viewed as an angry God who had to be appeased and reconciled by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. The reformers did not see a loving Father. They did not see that God is love and that it is God Who loves us.
It is not God Who must be reconciled; it is we who must be reconciled to God. So you find that even in the Reformation there was some flaw in a very basic matter of the gospel.
They never went beyond personal salvation. Not because they did not know. As a matter of fact, Martin Luther and John Calvin knew the universal priesthood of believers. Martin Luther knew what the church ought to be.
But he thought the people he led were not ready for it. Because of that, national churches came into being. Instead of the international Roman Catholic Church, churches were formed according to different nations.
Martin Luther thought, “If I could get the right believers, then we would have the right church.” But he said they were not ready yet. They could not do it. So he ended with a national church. The Lutheran Church is a national church.
But thank God, during the time of the Reformation, and even before the Reformation, there were groups of believers here and there. They traced their origin back to the first century because they wanted to follow the pattern of the church in the New Testament.
These people were not happy with the reformers because the reformers did not go far enough. The reformers still believed in infant baptism. Martin Luther did. They still believed in baptismal regeneration.
But these people wanted to return to the word of God. They believed in believers’ baptism; that is to say, unless you believe, you are not to be baptized.
Because of this, these people were generally labeled Anabaptists. Of course, these groups were all different, but they were generally labeled as Anabaptists—that is, “baptized again.”
But to them, it was not baptism again, because when they were baptized as infants, it was not the baptism of the word of God. So they were baptized for the first time, yet they were all labeled Anabaptists.
Their history was discovered only recently, in our century, or even in recent decades. Why? Because they were persecuted not only by the Roman Church; they were persecuted by the Reformed churches and by the reformers.
Many were drowned. “You believe in baptism? All right.” They put a stone around your neck and drowned you in the water. Thousands were drowned. Many were burned by professing churches.
Their books were burned and destroyed. So we do not know much about that history. They were labeled as heretics. It was only in recent decades that we began to discover their history.
They were able to suffer not because of baptism, but because they were fully aware of their immediate communion with their Redeemer. They would not allow any man or any religious form to come between them, their souls, and their Lord.
Out of their fellowship with the Lord, they knew how to fellowship with other saints. Their churches had various beginnings and various histories. They differed according to the character of the persons in them, but they were alike in their desire to return to the pattern of primitive Christianity found in the New Testament.
Therefore, they rejected infant baptism and refused the help of the world. You know, the reason why the Reformation did not go further was because the reformers accepted the help of the world.
Some German princes supported the Reformation, and they helped Luther against the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church. When the reformers received the help of worldly power, they began to depart from the simplicity of Christ. Luther knew about it and regretted it.
But these Anabaptists refused to be helped by the world. Their own description of a Christian church was this:
A Christian church is the assembly of all believers who are gathered by the Holy Spirit, separated from the world by the pure teaching of Christ, united by divine love, and bringing to the Lord from the heart spiritual offerings.
That is the church. Some of the recognized leaders were Balthasar Hubmaier, Michael Sattler, Conrad Grebel, Menno Simons, Pilgram Marpeck, and many others.
What the reformers failed to do, these so-called Anabaptists went all the way to—the original purpose of God.
Now we come to the seventeenth century. In the seventeenth century, there was a Counter-Reformation in the Catholic Church: Ignatius Loyola and the Society of Jesus. But that has nothing to do with recovery, so we will leave it.
Even between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, mysticism characterized many people and gave rise to a vast literature. They left much literature to us.
The mystics emphasized inner life, communion with God, and union with God. Among them were Teresa of Ávila, Saint John of the Cross, Molinos, Madame Guyon, Archbishop Fénelon, and many others.
Without going into details, the book written by Molinos, called The Spiritual Guide, became a guide to many people at that time. The writings and life of Madame Guyon influenced many people to seek after a life of perfect love and absolute obedience to the will of God.
Archbishop Fénelon embraced the teaching of Madame Guyon. He defended her, and he sacrificed his fame and his position.
This was not only among the Catholics. During that time, among the Protestants, God also raised up people who were more or less mystics. The writings of Gottfried Arnold awakened the hope of separation from the world and communion with all saints.
There was a man by the name of George Fox. He was seeking spiritual reality. He heard a voice telling him that in Christ he would have all his needs satisfied.
He emphasized that there was no need for an outward ritual. Many people began to respond. They were called Friends, but they were labeled Quakers.
George Fox also emphasized the inner light. You know, when the Friends met, they just sat quietly there, waiting for the inner voice. Then they would speak as the Spirit operated.
Sometimes they could come together for an hour and quietly sit there. Nothing happened, and then they went out.
Through these mystics, one thing was recovered: the experience of the inner life. People at that time lived an outward Christian life—a form of piety without the power of it.
People lived outwardly. They did not know how to live inwardly, to commune with God, and to seek after God. Through these mystics, the seeking after God Himself and the inner life were recovered.
These mystics delved very deeply into what today you would call psychology, into the soul and into that intimate life with God.
But of course, the mystics sought for their individual blessing. There was a reason for it. They existed at a time when the Roman Catholic Church and also the Protestant churches were so dead.
They felt that there was no way to reform. You know, when a system is set, you cannot change it. So they knew they could not change the system. Therefore, instead of trying to reform the system, they concentrated on personal life with the Lord.
Just the other day, a sister asked me, “How about these mystics? How about reading their writings? Is there anything that we need to watch?”
I personally read a lot of their writings. I got help. But, brothers and sisters, we have to remember that the mystics emphasized experience greatly, but they were very much lacking in truth.
For this reason, you find that their experiences were very mixed. To me, they had four basic faults.
First, all these mystics believed there is a spark of life in everyone. That is unscriptural. Because through sin, man’s spirit was dead. There was no life in it, no spark of divine life in man.
But all the mystics believed there is a spark of divine life in man. That is where they began their searching.
Second, the way the mystics sought to commune with God and to know God was through self-effort. They were trying to reach God from earth.
Therefore, many of them tortured themselves, trying to ill-treat their bodies because they thought the body was evil. Through overcoming, ill-treatment, torturing, and suffering, they tried to reach God.
Today we know this is wrong, because it is God Who comes down to reach us, not we who try to reach Him.
Third, because of their lack of understanding of the truth, their experiences were very mixed. Some were counterfeit, some were mixtures of soul and spirit, but some were real.
Finally, their goal was to reach a state of union with God—that is, to be lost in God. But the Scripture never teaches that.
We are united with God only in life. We never become God. To deify man is an error, a gross error. We are united with God in Christ.
So you find that the goal is questionable, and because of weakness in truth, their experiences were very mixed. But, brothers and sisters, one thing we do learn from them is their intense desire for God.
Because of their intense longing for God, God had mercy on them and revealed Himself to them. This is what we can learn. So do not try to be a Madame Guyon.
Now we come to the eighteenth century. Under the influence of the Pietists, such as August Hermann Francke, Count Zinzendorf was instrumental in reviving the Moravian Church.
A little bit of history: Count Zinzendorf was brought up in a Pietist environment. When he was a little boy, he had such a love for God.
He used to sit at a window of his castle, write some simple love letters to the Lord, and throw them out of the window.
After he finished his education in school, as a nobleman he was to complete his education by traveling over Europe. So he traveled over Europe.
Young people at that time, when they came to Paris, lost their minds. But Count Zinzendorf cared for the Lord.
He visited a museum in Düsseldorf. He saw a picture: the head of Christ with a crown of thorns. Written underneath were these words:
I have done all this for thee. What hast thou done for Me?
There is a history to that picture, but I cannot go into it. Zinzendorf stood before that picture transfixed. He forgot the time until the custodian came and said, “You have to leave. We are going to close the museum.”
He returned to the hotel and gave himself completely to the Lord.
During that time, many who really wanted to return to the Scripture and to the simplicity of Christ were persecuted all over Europe—persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church and persecuted by Protestant churches, backed by political powers and nations.
They fled here and there, hid in the mountains, and had no place to go. They were refugees and wanderers, suffering greatly.
So Zinzendorf opened his estate and welcomed these refugees to come, giving them shelter and a place to live.
These people came from various parts of Europe with various backgrounds. They all loved the Lord intensely, but they could not live one with another. They held on to their special emphases, and they were divided.
Zinzendorf tried to help them. The Lord gave him a burden to bring these people together.
To make the story short, on May 13, 1727, for the first time, all these people from various backgrounds gathered together to break bread as one people.
While they were breaking bread, they partook of one bread and one cup. The anointing flowed through every person, and with inexpressible joy and love, they were baptized into one Spirit at the Lord’s table.
They confessed to one another. They embraced one another. They became one.
For over one hundred years, the members of the Moravian Church were involved in heavenly intercession. They had a twenty-four-hour watch of continuous prayer.
Some would pray from nine to ten, and then others would come from ten to eleven. Through the day and through the night, that continuous prayer went on for over one hundred years.
From 1732, they began to send out people to where the gospel had not been preached, to the most difficult places. Some even sold themselves to be slaves in order to work among slaves and preach the gospel to slaves.
Until one out of every four was a missionary. They sent out more missionaries than all the missionaries sent out by all the other churches.
A few points are worth noting about their missionary strategy.
I think these strategies need to be followed.
This was in continental Europe, but then in England, in the eighteenth century, as well as in this country, the dominating feature of the century was evangelical revival.
We will mention only one: the rise of Methodism through John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield.
John and Charles Wesley were brought up in a very godly family. They crossed the sea to this country, to Georgia, trying to convert the heathen.
Yet after a few years, they returned. Wesley said, “We went to convert the heathen, and we were not converted.”
But thank God, at a small meeting of Moravian brethren, when the preface to Martin Luther’s exposition of Romans was read, John Wesley went there and heard it.
Now you must remember that at that time people had to have a license to preach. If you did not have a license, you would be arrested. So the Moravian brethren were reading the passage written by Martin Luther on the Book of Romans.
When John Wesley heard it, he felt his heart strangely warmed, and suddenly he realized that he was saved. He did believe; he was saved. That was the beginning.
Through John Wesley’s preaching, Charles Wesley’s hymns, and George Whitefield’s preaching, the work began to spread both in England and in America.
Through the preaching of John Wesley and others, a clearer understanding of salvation came into being. In their preaching, the sense of sin became more evident. In other words, people were convicted of their sins.
At the same time, they presented to the people a better hope: not only sins forgiven, but that they could live a holy life. God calls us to live a holy life, and God has made provision for it.
In other words, through John Wesley, sanctification by faith was recovered. Not only justification by faith—we are sanctified by faith. John Wesley spoke of perfect love.
That is a tremendous recovery.
Before the meeting, I had permission from the authorities to speak overtime. But if anyone has to leave, feel free.
Now we come to the nineteenth century. We have two more centuries to go.
When it comes to the nineteenth century, it seems as if God was in a hurry in His work of recovery. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, we have what we today call the Brethren movement.
When this movement began, those who assembled together called themselves simply brothers. They laid down all their other titles—reverend, or whatever—and simply called one another brother.
It began in 1828 in Dublin, Ireland. A few brothers had their eyes opened by the Lord to see that they should not belong to any denominations, because they were one with all believers.
For instance, Dr. Cronin, because of his health, moved to Dublin. He loved the Lord and saw the oneness of God’s people.
When he arrived, he began to visit different churches. He attended different churches to fellowship with them, and he was very welcome. But after he had been there for a while, he was asked to join their church as a member.
He said, “I cannot join you as a member.” Why? Because he was a member of the body of Christ.
“Well, if you do not join as a member, you are not welcome.” So he went to another church, and the same thing happened. Finally, he had nowhere to go.
Sometimes on the Lord’s Day, he sat under a tree, read his Bible, and prayed. Nowhere to go. He wanted to have fellowship with all brothers and sisters, and he was refused fellowship.
Finally, God raised up a few of like kindred spirit. They came together, and it began with breaking bread in simplicity.
It is very interesting to find that in the work of recovery, very often it begins with the breaking of bread. Why? Because it brings us back to the Lord Himself and to the body.
At the same time, God began to raise up many others. It was definitely a move of the Lord. Among them were people with great spiritual gifts and great teachers.
Many truths that we know today were actually rediscovered by these brethren. They saw the heavenly calling of the church. They saw the unity of the church. They saw the universal priesthood of believers.
It was through them that the second coming of our Lord was rediscovered.
There were keynotes among them: the distinctive and heavenly calling of the church, and the consequent need for separation from evil.
They met together simply, and in a sense regained that simplicity and joy which the early church experienced: a return to the word of God—not to what Rome says, not to what the church fathers say, but to what the Holy Spirit says through the apostles and the prophets.
The first paper published by the so-called Brethren movement was written in 1828 by J. N. Darby, On the Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ.
Within twenty years, this movement spread far and wide. But unfortunately, their strongest point became the cause of their weakness.
In 1848, division began to come into their midst, and such division has been going on until today.
But anyway, we find that through these brethren much was recovered: prophetic truth, church truth, and the universal priesthood of believers. These things were rediscovered by this Brethren movement.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the Keswick Convention was raised up by God to promote practical holiness, higher-life teaching, and victorious life.
Many of the choice servants of God were involved in that work: Robert Pearsall Smith and his wife, Hannah Whitall Smith, who wrote The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life; Evan H. Hopkins, S. W. P. ?; Robert Wilson; H. C. G. Moule; Andrew Murray; and many others.
They taught practical holiness, higher Christian life, and victorious life. Put it another way, they added something to what Wesley taught.
Wesley taught sanctification by faith. These Keswick speakers told us that it is true that sanctification is by faith, but you need consecration. So they added consecration to sanctification by faith.
Through Andrew Murray, we came to see a clearer understanding of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Through his friend, F. B. Meyer, we came to understand more of the cross.
Aside from these people, we also have others, such as G. H. Pember, Robert Govett, and D. M. Panton, through whom the truth of the kingdom was recovered.
People talk about salvation, and by salvation they mean that today your sins are forgiven and, because of that, when you die, you go to heaven. That is it.
People do not know that between this age and eternity there is the age to come. People do not know there is a kingdom age. This truth was rediscovered by these people.
So much was recovered during the nineteenth century.
Now we come to the twentieth century. At the outset of the twentieth century, we have the Welsh Revival of 1904 and 1905.
The instrument used by God was a young man, Evan Roberts, a coal miner. He worked in a mine.
For eleven years he had prayed for revival. For thirteen years he had prayed for the fullness of the Spirit.
At a meeting of about twenty young people, while they were praying together, he said:
I fell on my knees, with my arms over the seat in front of me, and the tears freely flowed. I cried, “Bend me, bend me, O God.”
Then the Holy Spirit came and bent my whole being by a revelation of the love of God at Calvary.
Then a mighty work of the Spirit of God swept over Wales. Lives were transformed. There was a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and many lessons were learned.
One result was a book, War on the Saints. It was written by Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis in connection with Evan Roberts’ experiences and Mrs. Penn-Lewis’s understanding of truth.
During the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, many things happened—good and bad. So in the book War on the Saints, they dealt with spiritual warfare and these matters.
About the same time, in this country, we have the beginning of the Pentecostal movement. I will not go into details because this belongs to this country; you should know it.
There was a manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then, in the sixties, we had the charismatic movement. It all had something to do with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
To me, I often say that a touch of that is very healthy.
Again, you find that much was recovered early in the twentieth century. On the other hand, in the twenties, God raised up a very special vessel, Brother T. Austin-Sparks, to whom God gave much light.
In 1926, he wrote on resurrection. Our brother Watchman Nee said that the world did not know what resurrection was. Resurrection was spoken about, but the world never knew what resurrection really was.
It was not until Brother Sparks wrote and spoke on resurrection that you got the substance.
Around the thirties, Brother Sparks began to speak on the body, the body of Christ. Our brother was greatly used by God to share with God’s people on the eternal purpose of God.
I remember a story told to me. Our brother mentioned Lady Powerscourt the other night. Lady Powerscourt was a very wealthy lady. She was all alone, but she loved the Lord.
She lived in her marble palace in Italy, but every year she returned to England to attend the Keswick Convention. She was a friend of Jessie Penn-Lewis.
One year she returned to England. She went to the Swanwick Conference to find Mrs. Penn-Lewis, and she heard a young man speaking on the eternal purpose of God.
That transformed her life. She began to see that there is meaning to life.
Brothers and sisters, how important it is for us to see the eternal purpose of God. If you do not, life is meaningless, and you will live a life wasting time.
May the Lord really open our eyes to see, in these days, the eternal purpose of God. It is practical. It is transforming.
Brother Sparks showed us the spiritual nature of the church and the supremacy of Christ.
Almost at the same time, a little later, in China, God apprehended another young man, Watchman Nee.
Our brother mentioned Margaret E. Barber, how she seemed to waste her life in a little village outside of Foochow. But it was through her and her fellow workers’ prayer that they realized that, for the Lord to really have a testimony in China, He had to apprehend a group of young men.
They prayed, and in answer to their prayer there was a revival in Trinity College in Foochow. Many college students were saved. The best students in each class were saved, and the worst students in each class were saved.
God apprehended a number of young people and set them on fire. To our dear brother Watchman Nee, He gave special spiritual understanding.
In a sense, what God revealed to our dear brother Watchman Nee was a little different. The emphasis of our dear brother Sparks was on the spiritual principle of the universal church. We need to see that.
Brother Watchman Nee showed us the practice of the church.
Through these brothers, God recovered to us the supremacy of Christ and the oneness of the body of Christ—what the church really is, its spiritual principle, and how the church is to live out as a testimony to the Lord on earth.
Are there any more truths to be recovered? Are there any more experiences to be restored? God, I do not know.
But in our time, the recovery work of God seems to be reaching almost the end.
Now, brothers and sisters, the reason why we go through such history is not because we want merely to know history. It is because through history we see the hand of God.
We see that He has not forgotten His purpose. We see that He is steadily working toward His purpose. We see that He has not failed.
We see that He is going very soon to get what He purposed even before the foundation of the world: that all things will be summed up in Christ, and that the principalities and powers will be taught the wisdom of God through the church.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we do see Thy hand working through history to bring forth that which Thou hast purposed. O Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for the rich heritage we have.
We pray that we may, in the very recovery work of God, move on with our spirit. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.