To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says this: I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.
But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Let us have another simple word of prayer.
Lord, we want to thank You for speaking to us through this conference this week. For the words that have already been spoken, we want to thank You. May You protect and keep these words. May these words indeed fall on good soil.
We also want to commit this message this afternoon to You, that those who hear these words may be like those wise men, not returning the same way they came. We look forward to Your blessing. We look forward to Your presence. We look forward to an open heaven. Listen to our prayer. In Jesus’ precious name, amen.
Yesterday we saw, in Revelation 2 and 3, the seven churches. Indeed, these were churches in the first century, and the Lord spoke to them.
Now, we also know that these seven churches represent seven eras in the church. They represent the prophetic condition of the church.
The first three churches have already passed. We know that Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea speak of the Lord’s return, so they will remain until the Lord’s return.
We saw some teaching behind these churches, and it shows us the way of the church. The church has a way before the Lord’s return, and there is Laodicea.
Today, very clearly, the Lord shows that Philadelphia is the church with which He is satisfied. Not that it is perfect—maybe not a single church is perfect, because we are all sinners.
Here we see that Philadelphia stands on the ground of victory. It has a crown, and before its enemies the Lord says, “I have loved you.”
So we know that Philadelphia, indeed, is the way of the church. We desire to walk this way.
But before we see Philadelphia, we need to see that the entire church is victorious. The principle behind it is the principle of the overcomer.
You can find this condition in Thyatira and Sardis, but it is not complete. It is speckled here and there. In other words, the overcoming condition in Philadelphia has accepted the footsteps of those who have walked before them.
Yesterday we talked about the overcomers in Thyatira. They were not of the teaching of Jezebel, and they did not hold the teaching of the deep things of Satan, as they call them.
The Lord said, “What you have, hold fast until I come.”
Today we want to take a step forward. We are considering the church in Sardis.
If you look prophetically through the church of Sardis, those who study the Bible say that this prophecy was fulfilled after the Reformation of Martin Luther. This is the probable fulfillment of the prophecy.
When did the church of Sardis begin? Most people believe it began with Martin Luther.
When you speak of reformation or recovery, if you are writing history from the viewpoint of Protestants, of course you believe that the history of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli is most important. Naturally, they say this is the Reformation.
If you go to Germany, you are able to see the history of Martin Luther. When they talk about Martin Luther, of course, they have some memorabilia from him. But you also see Peter Waldo, and you also see Wycliffe from England, together with other reformers.
From the Protestant viewpoint, even though Peter Waldo was from the twelfth century, they recognize that he had already made much contribution to the Reformation.
When historians speak of the Waldenses, if you look back far enough, their history goes back to about the third century. The closer beginning is the time of Peter Waldo. These people were called Waldenses, or the followers of Peter Waldo, or the brethren in the valley.
No matter what, this history reaches back four hundred years—not merely to isolated individuals. This is from the Protestant viewpoint.
Some who study church history do not look at it from this viewpoint. They say that there was a first Reformation and a second Reformation.
They say the first Reformation was from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. After the sixteenth century, Martin Luther comes in. If you continue that line of thought, it also encompasses John Wesley.
But if we look at it from the biblical view, and set Pentecost as the standard, then the first Reformation was the first wave of revival, and from the sixteenth to the eighteenth or nineteenth century was the second wave of recovery.
Unfortunately, the word recovery has been misused. Maybe we can say it this way: from the twelfth to the sixteenth century was the first wave of returning to the beginning. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth or nineteenth century was the second wave of returning to the beginning.
If you speak of Sardis as recovery, you can go from the sixteenth century all the way back to the twelfth century. This has to do with the fulfillment of the prophecy of Philadelphia.
Yesterday we spoke of the brethren in the valley. We spoke of the Unity of the Brethren, which encompassed about four hundred years.
Historians tell us that, in this recovery, the Gospels and the kingdom were recovered. In the second stage, when Martin Luther arose, the Epistles in the New Testament were recovered, especially the revelation of the truth through Paul.
From the twelfth to the sixteenth century, their emphasis was church life. The second stage emphasized church order.
The entire recovery began with the life of the church. They especially paid attention to the Sermon on the Mount. Many children of God were drawn to this testimony. Their life was even admired by their enemies.
They indeed lived the life of the Sermon on the Mount, and they waited for the Lord. They knew the Lord was going to return.
From our understanding, they began with life. They did not speak much about the doctrine of the church, but they lived the life of the church.
Two by two they went out. Naturally, they broke bread together, and when they broke bread together, they had fellowship one with another. Naturally, they had the function of the Body.
Even though they did not preach much, they wanted and were willing to follow their Lord.
In this first stage, many people were drawn, even though they were simple people. Some were tailors, some were farmers, and some were potters—people from many different professions.
They wanted to serve God. They wanted to understand God’s Word. Even though they could not put all the words together, they were willing to follow the Lord.
However, if the Lord said, “I want you to obey,” they wanted to obey. What is the difference between here and there?
Only when Martin Luther and Calvin arose were they able to put the pieces together. They truly opened up the Epistles of Paul to us. Very clearly, there was the word regarding justification by faith.
They believed in justification, but they did not have much of the word. In the time of Martin Luther and Calvin, the word became more abundant. Justification by faith was placed on a very firm foundation.
When the Holy Spirit is working, of course Martin Luther’s work is the work of the Lord. But we know that when Martin Luther reformed the church, behind him was a political system that sustained him.
The generals, the noblemen, and those in Germany were sustaining him. Even though Martin Luther wanted to recover the simple church, he received help from the world.
He knew that all those who believed belonged in the church. He knew that the bread and cup were only for believers. But because he received help from the world, the situation changed.
If you were born in the Roman Empire, then you belonged to the Church of Rome. If you were born in Germany, then you would be a Lutheran. It was indeed recovery, but this is Sardis.
Martin Luther once said that he wished the day would arrive when, in the visible church, one could find the invisible church. That invisible church is the true church.
When he referred to the visible church, he meant the Lutheran church. There were believers, and some were not truly part of the reality of the church.
No wonder the Lord said, “I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.” Does this mean it was not God’s work? Does it mean it was not the Holy Spirit’s work? No.
Of course, Martin Luther was human. Those who stood beside Martin Luther were also human. Before the Lord returns, all of us have the blemishes of the flesh. So very easily the world enters the church.
When we see the work of the Holy Spirit, there can also be the work of the flesh. The same was true with Calvin and with John Knox in Scotland.
On one hand, there was the work of the Holy Spirit. The Scottish people saw the truth of God. But in the flesh, they used methods that cast out the nuns and so forth. On one hand, there was the work of the Holy Spirit; on the other hand, there were the efforts of the flesh.
If you look back to the first wave, the first true Protestant church, strictly speaking, was not the Lutheran church. One hundred years before that, in Czechoslovakia, in central Europe, there was a small place called Kunwald.
Seventy people gathered together because they saw God’s will. Maybe they did not see as much as we see, but in the darkest ages of the church, what they saw was very precious. They wanted to walk in the way.
They knew the price they had to pay in that dark age. When you think of what the Waldenses went through, you know what they had to endure. But for the Lord’s sake, they stood firmly and strongly.
There was another group in the southern part of Czechoslovakia. They felt that they needed to protect themselves, so they took up weapons.
When they took up weapons to defend themselves, these brothers and sisters had a problem in their conscience. They felt that if they were to truly follow the Sermon on the Mount, they could not do that.
For that reason, when the time came and the Lord raised up the Unity of the Brethren, there was nobody strong behind them. There were no dukes, no arms, and no weapons. From man’s point of view, there was no power from the world.
But thank the Lord, these very simple seventy people began in the forest. The Holy Spirit could do a work without encumbrance.
Of course, they were weak. Of course, they failed. But if you compare the work in their lives with Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, you see that it was all God’s work.
If you are to see what the Holy Spirit does, Philadelphia’s feature is that you have a little power. The church is like a mustard seed.
In the world, the church is but a small flock. “Fear not, little flock.” Of course, seventy people would be afraid, because the whole of Europe was against them.
They did not have the protection that Martin Luther had when he rose up to reform. But these people had nobody to protect them—except the Holy Spirit.
Do you believe the Holy Spirit can do that work? Thank the Lord.
We do not have to wait until the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the Lord did a mighty work in England, and it began with the Holy Spirit. There were no weapons or arms.
Some people tell us that this work was greater than the Reformation. Why? Because it was the work of the Holy Spirit.
When we study church history and see the footsteps of the flock, when we see the marks of the work of the Holy Spirit, we know where there was truly the work of the Holy Spirit. That is where it was closest to the will of God.
We know that this story began in Prague. Prague, in central Europe, is one of the most beautiful cities.
If you choose the most beautiful cities in Europe, the first, of course, is Rome. The second is Prague. All those who have gone to Prague know that it is indeed the most beautiful city in central Europe.
The reason is that there are stories behind it. If you go to the Alps and the valleys, you see that they are beautiful; but do not forget that the scenery has been scattered with the blood of the saints and the martyrs.
The same is true with Prague. The Lord remembers the story that happened there.
When you go to Prague, you see a square, and in the square there is a cathedral.
Before the Unity of the Brethren began, there was a great archbishop named Rokycana. In regard to the church, he had great light.
He gave many messages, and many people wanted to follow him. Even his nephew, Gregory the Tailor, loved the truth that was preached.
Now, when we see the truth and want to walk in the way, how do we walk in the way?
Rokycana loved his own position. He understood the truth and saw the truth, but he felt that he did not have the strength to walk in that way.
His followers wanted him to lead them. They had already seen the difficulties, failures, and corruption in the church. A hundred years before, they had already seen it.
Rokycana showed them the condition of the church, but when it was time to walk in the way, he retreated. He should have had the strength of a Martin Luther or a John Huss, but he was weak.
He told them, “I cannot walk this way, but one person can help you. This person is a farmer, but he has much revelation. He wrote over fifty books.”
They went south and found this person. His name was Peter Chelčický. This is a very important person when we speak of the Unity of the Brethren.
He indeed saw much, but he did not want to lead them. He felt that only the Holy Spirit could lead. During his life, he tried to help them, but he refused to be their leader.
Gregory the Tailor, with a number of brothers, felt that he had seen the light concerning the church. They went all the way to Kunwald, near Poland and far away from Prague, and courageously became a testimony for the Lord.
The Czech language is difficult to understand, so very few of Chelčický’s books were translated into English. But if we read certain books that have been translated, we are astonished.
He wrote a very famous book, The Net of Faith. He wrote what he had received.
He spoke of John mending the nets, and he said that the gospel net was broken. He spoke of the entire net of the gospel and told how that gospel net was broken.
He said there were two whales that came into the net. This story happened in the third century. The first whale was Constantine, and the second whale was the pope—or, actually, the bishop of Rome.
We see two great whales, and therefore the net was torn.
We know that when John wrote Revelation, the Epistles, and the Gospel, he wrote because the gospel net had been torn.
The brother wanted to show this net to the brothers and sisters. I will read one phrase.
Thus we of the latter day are like those who come after the burning of a house which has fallen down, making a pile of ruins. Here and there we see by some signs that there stood a chamber before, but everything has fallen onto the foundation, which is buried and grown over by a forest where animals graze and dwell.
Who will then find the buried foundation of the burned house that is in ruins, and which is deeply covered with debris, the top of which has long since been overgrown by defiant weeds?
The whole matter of finding the true foundation is made all the more difficult because these defiant weeds which have sprung upon it are called the true foundation by many. They point to the growth on top of the house ruins and declare, “This is the foundation and the way all should follow it.”
With many of them, we see that their new foundation sinks into soft ground, the floor settling at different levels. This shows the difficulty of finding the true foundation.
There are many who would like to dig in order to find the original foundation, in the manner of Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, and the prophets, who, after seventy years of Babylonian captivity, returned and built the temple of the Lord, which had been burned down by the Edomites.
You see that at that time our brother was able to see such light. There are many other words that astonish us.
Many times we may understand these words today, but a hundred years before Martin Luther, the Lord showed such light to them.
We believe this was because of the promise to the overcomers in Thyatira: He would give them the morning star.
Even though they were simple farmers and not professors in a university, the Lord revealed these things to them as to infants. Martin Luther was a professor; Calvin was a scholar. These were very different people.
They had little of what the world calls culture. They trusted what the Lord showed them. They understood the truth, knew what Babylon was, and knew that they had to return to Jerusalem and begin anew.
Throughout church history, we return to the first wave. There were no weapons or arms, but the Holy Spirit began to work.
As they went forward, they saw that the authority of Scripture was over the church. They wanted to return to the simple practice of the apostles.
They did not want to form a different sect. They wanted to find fellowship. They wanted fellowship with everyone.
Brothers and sisters, this word fellowship was very important to them. They wanted to seek out all brothers.
They sent people throughout Europe to seek their brothers. They said, “We want to seek our brothers. If we can find them, we will join them.”
Here we see a spirit—the spirit of unity.
They declared that they had separated from Babylon. They did not believe in indulgences, and they did not believe in auricular confession.
They followed this phrase: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.”
They broke bread and invited all believers to partake of the bread.
A hundred years later, they encountered the brothers connected with Martin Luther. In 1532, Martin Luther spoke of them and said that since the times of the apostles, no church had come nearer to apostolic doctrine and rites.
Even Martin Luther was amazed and praised them. Though they were scattered and pursued, and could not increase in number easily, at one time they had over 150,000 to 200,000 people in four hundred different meeting places.
This reminds us of the time of Zerubbabel, when the times were very small. We thank the Lord that He was indeed with them.
This is the story that happened in the first Reformation. When we come to the second Reformation, when the Lord raised Martin Luther and others, the Lord had a word for Sardis: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.
The seven Spirits speak of the Spirit of life. For the condition of the church in Sardis, the Lord says, “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”
As to name, you are alive; as to reality, you are dead. The matter is: do you have the reality?
“I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.” If these things are not complete, where are they incomplete?
Of course, the Lord raised overcomers so that they could become more complete. Brothers and sisters, there were some overcomers in Sardis.
What was their feature? They walked with the Lord in white garments, and they were worthy to walk with Him.
Not only did they walk with Him; they were clothed with the Lord. Therefore, they were alive, and the reality was true.
When the condition of the church falls into death, the seven Spirits speak. The Holy Spirit is life.
Those who had not soiled their garments did not allow the flesh to corrupt them. They did not allow the world to pollute them.
The world could help them. Weapons and arms could help them. But they refused. They wanted to wear white garments and walk with the Lord because they were worthy.
These people, those who were not complete, became more complete.
When we read this part of history, we see what the Lord did in the church. Thank the Lord, there was a group of overcomers during the time of Zwingli, especially in Switzerland.
God raised a group of people called the Anabaptists.
Why were they called Anabaptists—those who were rebaptized? Many people believe that they were against infant baptism and therefore were baptized again.
But if you really understand the Anabaptists, their issue was deeper than that.
There was a historian called Philip Schaff. He wrote eight volumes on church history, and the last volume spoke of the Reformation and the things after the Reformation. He stood on Protestant ground.
In the eyes of the Protestants and the Reformers, these brothers were radicals. They were not heretics, but they were radical. It was said that they overran their bounds.
Philip Schaff’s judgment was very detailed. Let us hear what he said.
The Swiss Reformation, like the German, was disturbed and checked by the radical excesses. It was placed between the two fires of Romanism and ultra-Protestantism. It was attacked in front and rear, from without and from within—by the Romanists on the ground of tradition, and by the radicals on the ground of the Bible.
The Reformers aimed to reform the old church by the Bible; the radicals attempted to build a new church from the Bible. The former maintained historic continuity; the latter went directly to the apostolic age and ignored the intervening centuries as an apostasy.
The Reformers founded a popular state church, including all citizens with their families. The Anabaptists organized, on the voluntary principle, select congregations of baptized believers, separated from the world and from the state.
I think it is very clear. When the Reformers dealt with the Church of Rome, it was on the ground of tradition. When they dealt with the Anabaptists, it was on the ground of the Bible.
When these brothers and sisters were raised up, what was their emphasis? Yes, the Lord had done a wonderful work, but the church should be separate from the world.
The Reformers did a work of reformation, but the church and the world were not separated. What the Anabaptists wanted was the purity of the church.
They did not want it to be contaminated with the world. They did not want the influence of the world in the church. They believed the church should encompass only believers.
They did not speak much of historic continuity. They followed the Bible and wanted to go back to the origin of the Bible.
If one is to be saved, it is a matter of believing. According to the Bible, only if you believe can you be baptized. Therefore, an infant cannot be baptized, because an infant does not know how to believe.
They believed that only believers could be baptized. For this, they were persecuted.
Their persecutors said, “If you want to be baptized, we will fulfill your wish and baptize you again.” Then they put them in sacks and threw them into the river. Many of them were martyred for the Lord.
They did not die at the hands of the Church of Rome. They were dying at the hands of the Reformers.
Why were they persecuted? Because they asked, “What does the church have to do with this world?”
Whenever the church joins with the world, that is the condition of the third century—the condition of Constantine.
In the time of Constantine, there was the Roman Empire and a universal church in Rome. Now the world had become a German world, and the church had become a Lutheran church.
All those born in Germany were considered Lutherans. Even Martin Luther did not agree with this, but he had no way to fix it.
These brothers rose up and boldly said that the church and the world cannot marry. A boat can be in the water, but the water cannot be in the boat. If the water is in the boat, the boat will sink.
They used their blood to testify. Do you see that? As long as it is the work of the Holy Spirit, the enemy tries to destroy it.
Many people died at the hands of the Church of Rome because they did not want to compromise. The Anabaptists were already influenced by the Waldenses and the Unity of the Brethren.
Even though they were persecuted, the Lord blessed them. They increased in number quickly, and they were persecuted from Switzerland to Germany, Austria, and even Holland.
They were rejected by the Lutherans, by Zwingli, and by the Church of Rome. They were persecuted and driven away by many.
There was one man named Henry Bullinger, the successor to Zwingli. When he spoke of these people, he said that people ran after them as though they were living saints.
Why did people chase after them? Because there was something admirable in them. They were living saints. They lived a saintly life.
Even Zwingli observed that many people followed them. On one hand he had to deal with the Church of Rome; on the other hand he had to deal with these radicals.
Compared with struggling against the Anabaptists, his struggle with the Church of Rome was like child’s play.
Let us hear what their enemies said. In 1531, Sebastian Franck said that the Anabaptists soon gained a large following, drawing many sincere souls who had zeal for God.
They taught nothing but love, faith, and the cross. They showed themselves humble and patient under much suffering. They broke bread with one another as an evidence of unity and love. They helped each other faithfully and called each other brothers. They died as martyrs, patient and humble, during all persecution.
Brothers and sisters, these are not the words of those who followed the Anabaptists. Yet they were able to testify concerning them.
According to Scripture, they did not soil their garments. They did not allow the world to soil them.
So they wore white garments and walked with the Lord. This is the story of the Anabaptists.
If you go to the United States, the Mennonites are among their descendants. The Amish are also their descendants.
These people do not love the world. They do not want the world.
The Amish even go to an extreme. They do not want any connection with the world. They do not have telephones, because the telephone connects them to the world.
If they want to speak to someone outside, they go outside and speak. They do not have electricity. They consider electricity to be of the world.
They use carriages, though behind their carriages they may have batteries. They use other things, but as long as they are not connected to the world, they feel that is fine.
They do not drive cars, so their young people do not go far away. They do not go to New York.
Even though they are extreme, do you understand? They do not allow the world to soil them, and they do not allow their garments to be soiled.
Brothers and sisters, through these overcomers, do you see? What was incomplete could be made complete. The church could be cleansed.
The cross can do away with the world. The cross can throw the world far behind us.
What is the church? The church has nothing to do with the world. That is the testimony of the Anabaptists.
But not only that. The Lord also said, “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” What is the name?
Martin Luther rose up to declare justification by faith. If you are justified by faith, there should be fruit.
As was mentioned this morning, there is one Body in Romans 12, but there is also Romans 5 through 8.
There was a group of people who did not merely believe in justification by faith in name. Brothers and sisters, did they actually bear the fruit?
That fruit comes from Romans 5 through 8. Justification by faith is such a tremendous gospel, but slowly it became a teaching and a doctrine.
By name, it was alive, but actually it was dead. Did they live through justification?
If you are justified by faith, you can stand before the Lord and walk with Him. But why can you not walk in this way?
We thank the Lord for Martin Luther and justification by faith. But here is the difference: even while Luther confessed this truth, he also spoke of another truth.
He said that all believers are priests. This is the universal priesthood of believers.
Martin Luther told us that believers are priests and can serve God. But brothers and sisters, where is the reality?
Everyone is a priest. Every member of the Body should be alive. But if only part of the Body moves, then the Body is paralyzed.
A hundred years after the Reformation, every Sunday they spoke on justification. They could say, “Everyone is a priest,” but if everyone is a priest, then the Lutheran church is the Body, and the Body should move.
Every time you went to church on Sunday, only certain members moved. The others did not. In name they were alive, but actually they were dead.
In name, it was the church of Christ. But in reality, how could unbelievers be included in it?
Even Martin Luther thought this was not good. He said, “One day, I want to see the invisible church in the visible church.”
Thank the Lord, his dream was fulfilled. In the Lutheran church, God raised a group of people: the Pietists.
When the Pietists rose up, they saw that the Word of God did not merely teach them. They felt that the Word was life. The Word was not only truth; it was also the way and the life.
For this reason, they opened up their homes. They gathered together as a family. They prayed together, lived a life of faith, and had orphanages.
By faith, they did not ask for money. By faith, they established orphanages.
Among the brethren, do we not know George Müller? Why did George Müller have orphanages? Because when he returned to Germany, he met these brothers.
Let us remember that a hundred years after the Reformation, God raised up all these different meetings. They prayed together, and when they read the Bible, everybody was able to share.
When they met that way, all the members were moving. Martin Luther said everyone was a priest, but that could remain only a theory, something you could say in a university.
What is the church? The world needs to see it. When they gathered together, some were not Lutherans, but they said, “We are brothers.”
Luther wanted to see the invisible church in the visible church. These brothers went forward again, as if the Reformers were left outside because they did not have the reality.
It was this group of people that revived the Lutheran church.
Brothers and sisters, do you see? They did not allow falsehood to soil the garment.
What is falsehood? It is when the outside says one thing and the inside is different.
In the morning, they go to church; in the afternoon, they play poker. What does that mean? That means a counterfeit.
But thank the Lord, they saw what Martin Luther saw, and they wanted to live the reality. They did not soil their garments.
They walked with the Lord in white garments. Through these brothers, it was very amazing: the entire church revived.
They read the Bible with their hearts, not merely with their minds. In the university, everything can become a matter of the mind. The mind may be great, but there may be no life.
We know of a university professor who understood the New Testament. His name was Johann Bengel. His teaching was admired by his students, and nobody could complain about his understanding of the Bible.
But people wondered how he could live such a pious life. People admired his life.
A student secretly climbed into his room and hid in a corner. He wanted to see how his teacher read the Bible.
If you are a scholar, perhaps you need many concordances and comparisons with the original text. But the student saw his teacher open up a Bible and pray.
He prayed, “Lord, once again we have a happy reunion. We are together again.”
He used the Word of God, wore the white garment, and walked with the Lord. No wonder he was alive.
Among those who studied the Bible was Matthew Henry. He wrote a set of commentaries.
Why did these commentaries become famous? George Whitefield read the entire commentary on his knees, from the first word to the last word.
If you read Matthew Henry’s commentary, when he expounds the Bible, he very rarely speaks only of doctrine. It is much more a matter of life.
When John Wesley had commentaries, in the Old Testament he used Matthew Henry, and in the New Testament he used Johann Bengel.
These German Pietists influenced John Wesley without his even knowing it. Spurgeon was influenced by this, Campbell Morgan was influenced by this, and many who read and studied the Bible followed that line.
Why? Because they read the Bible with their hearts.
When Zinzendorf was six years old, because he grew up in a Pietist family, he lived in a castle. Every day he would write a love letter to the Lord.
Whenever he finished a love letter, he would throw it out of the window and pray, “Lord, send Your angels to get that letter. This is the letter I am writing to You today.”
Brothers and sisters, do you see that? In those hundred years, when everybody was reading the Bible merely with their minds, some wanted to turn the church into a seminary. The words may all have been right, but where was the reality?
You can speak of justification by faith. You can speak of the universal priesthood. You can say the church is the Body, but the Body may be paralyzed on the bed.
Why are only certain members moving? The Lord raised this group so that they would not allow counterfeits to soil the garment.
Do you see? It became complete. Before, there was no life; now there was life. Before, there was only the name; now there was reality.
This is what the Lord did in Sardis. When the church was in the condition of Sardis, everything became external.
Those who followed Calvin were more advanced than Martin Luther in the order of the church. Martin Luther said that anything the Bible did not prohibit could still be retained.
Calvin was not like that. Everything with Calvin was very simple, even to an extreme. He said that if you were to sing a hymn, you could only sing from the Psalms in the Bible.
There was a hymn writer who helped us much: Horatius Bonar. He was an elder among the Presbyterians, who followed Calvin.
He wrote many hymns, and brothers and sisters everywhere sang his hymns. But those in his own congregation did not sing them.
Calvin indeed wanted to follow the example of the Bible. But no matter what you do, in the end it can become something external—a structure or an institution.
When you come into the church, there are programs and arrangements. These can all become external.
In the Roman Catholic Church, there were external things: great cathedrals and many idols. The idols may be gone, but the cathedral remains. Many things may be gone, but there can still be an order that says you must worship in a certain way.
Religious and Jewish things entered slowly into the church. Even though many things from Babylon had been removed, external religion remained.
Before, one might go to the Church of Rome for the Mass. Now one may go to hear a message. But as long as the meeting is merely a program and everyone is passive, the problem remains.
In name it is the church, but in reality the church is the Body of Christ. The church should be full of life. Traditions cannot be allowed to take over.
When the church arrived at such a condition, certain brothers and sisters were raised up by God. Why? Because they said, “Enough.”
They were seeking life. They wanted fellowship with the Lord. They visited many cathedrals and saw many luxurious edifices, but they could not find what they were seeking.
One of these was George Fox, the originator of the Quakers.
When we speak of Quakers today, we may think only of Quaker Oats because it is famous. But Quaker Oats has much to do with the Quakers. We are not telling that story today; we want to pay attention to the church.
These brethren were raised up, and they were the Quakers.
Why did the Lord raise them? There was a reason. When Sardis became merely an external structure, when it became a religion, everything had to be external. The greater the structure of the building, the better.
When you enter a cathedral, you see that the Lord is high up, and you need many programs to help you. This shows that we are not alive.
It is just like a flag: wherever you put it, that is how it is. At home, I am alive; but in the church, I become a chess piece. A chess piece can be put wherever someone places it.
These brothers had a conviction that they could follow the Lord by an inward leading. They called this inward leading the inner light.
This inner light is indeed the light of life, because the life is in us. Of course, this life has light.
They did not see everything clearly. The gospel was not very clear to them, but they lived before the Lord and indeed wore white garments.
They did not allow religious things to contaminate them. They felt that one who really entered into the Spirit had an inner light.
They said that you had to follow that light. For that reason, they rejected everything external.
They felt that in the church everything had to be internal, not external. When they gathered, they did not have a large structure.
If you follow the Holy Spirit, you can meet anywhere. Everywhere is heaven. Anywhere can be the presence of the Lord.
They did not feel it was important to have an external structure. When they gathered together, they did not have a program. They wanted the Holy Spirit to lead them.
Perhaps they were mystics, because mystics had communion with the Lord. But this was a collective mysticism.
Brothers and sisters, church life should be like this. If the Holy Spirit is working, then through a hymn or through a prayer, you can rise up and speak. You can give your portion from the light you see.
What were they fighting for? They were fighting for the authority of the Holy Spirit.
What is the church? Does the Holy Spirit have His authority in the church? We have to ask.
In a normal meeting, we know there are leaders in the church. But among the Quakers, you do not see human leadership in the same way. They wanted the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, they sometimes went to an extreme. But no matter what, what they saw was accurate.
When the church gathered together, the program came from the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit did not lead them to speak, they would not speak.
After forty minutes, there might be silence. If the Holy Spirit had not given them a word, they said, “The meeting is over.”
That is the impression the Quakers give. But do not forget that they had a desire: fundamentally, they wanted to come back because the church is inward.
They may not have used as many words as we use today, but they had the experience. Just like the Waldenses, they had experience and knew justification by faith, but they did not have the words. Martin Luther could later give them the words.
The same was true of these brothers and sisters. For the Lord’s sake, they kept the Word of God.
When they came before the Word of God, they trembled. They were called Quakers because they quaked before the Word of God.
Quaker Oats is very different from that. But no matter what, these were raised up by the Lord so that the church might turn from the external to the inward.
Of course, they were persecuted. They paid attention to conscience. If the Holy Spirit did not lead, they would not do something.
They were not speaking of democracy. Democracy means the majority rules. But when the minority had a different view, they feared that perhaps those in the minority were living before the Lord.
So it was not simply that the majority ruled. They said, “We have to pray. We are not clear. We have to wait.”
It was not democracy. They wanted the Holy Spirit to rule as Master. They wanted Him to be Master.
When they had a business meeting, they had to wait, and wait, and wait. Some people tell us that if you go to a Quaker graveyard, the people who lived the longest were the ones who waited the most!
Let us not laugh at that. They really loved the Lord.
They were persecuted. Another famous Quaker was William Penn. Pennsylvania comes from William Penn—Penn is his surname, and sylvania means woods.
William Penn was a very famous Quaker. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and he wrote a book there: No Cross, No Crown.
These people indeed suffered. They could not remain in Europe, so they fled to the United States, including Boston.
Those who came to Boston had fled from Europe for freedom’s sake. They were followers of Calvin and still believed in certain traditions and external things.
When these brothers came, they were persecuted. Some had their ears cut off. If you read their stories, you see why they were persecuted.
They believed that God had entrusted them with something. They believed God had given them a mission: to return all the way to the original condition of the church.
They said there were many types of Christianity, but only one goes back to the original. What type of Christianity? They discovered the New Testament type of Christianity. That was what they wanted to be.
They felt that in the first century there were not so many external things. There should be only the inward reality.
In their messages, they often spoke of the revival of primitive Christianity. They regarded Sardis as the reformation of the old church, but one which had failed to restore the power and authority of the Spirit.
These brothers were very simple. One brother told Robert Barclay that the Quakers had been misunderstood and asked him to write an apologetic book for them.
Do you remember that when Calvin was still in France, he wrote an apologetic work because of persecution? He wrote it at the age of twenty-six, and it became one of the most important books of the Reformation.
Robert Barclay was entrusted to write a book on behalf of the Quakers. When he wrote it, he was only twenty-seven.
I think there are three very important books in church history: Calvin’s book, Barclay’s book concerning the Quakers, and The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee.
Watchman Nee wrote The Spiritual Man at the age of twenty-five. Calvin was twenty-six, and Barclay was twenty-seven. Where are the young people today, between twenty-five and twenty-seven? They all know how to use computers, but they are always in front of the computer monitor.
The Lord raised these brothers to influence the church. Robert Barclay wrote his book very clearly.
At the very beginning, he said that man has fallen. We are so corrupt that we cannot be more corrupt.
If we are able to see some light, it is not because we have light in ourselves. It is not because there is in each one of us a spark from God.
Robert Barclay saw very clearly, according to the Bible, that all of us are evil to the very end. But when we are reborn by the Holy Spirit, then we have light.
From that point, everything is a new creation. That is how his book was compiled.
Do you remember that someone was in prison in the seventeenth century, and we may wonder why? This person was Madame Guyon.
Why was Madame Guyon in prison? A council studied her teachings to determine where her supposed heresy was. They divided her teachings into many different categories.
They said that most of her teachings came from Calvin. In other words, they said that she had been influenced by Protestants.
But when Madame Guyon was imprisoned, she had not learned these things from Calvin. She had learned them herself before the Lord.
She was persecuted. What she said was, in many ways, exactly the same as Robert Barclay, though they were separated by two hundred years.
The Protestant church was influenced by this. For this reason, they accepted the help of Madame Guyon.
The Church of Rome rejected Madame Guyon, but brethren in England accepted her, because Madame Guyon was correct.
Another sister from the Protestant world was Jessie Penn-Lewis. One day she was sick in bed, reading the writings of Madame Guyon, and she was touched.
She saw how Madame Guyon chose the cross. She said, “I cannot do this.” But through much struggling, she said, “I want this.”
Then she preached the cross very clearly.
Our brother Nee confessed that he was helped much by Miss Penn-Lewis. The same was true of T. Austin-Sparks. Sparks almost became her successor.
Why did he not become her successor? There were two differences. The Quakers did not baptize, nor did they break bread. They went to an extreme and threw away the commandments of the Lord.
But Sparks believed he could not do that. So he moved forward. Yet a portion of the richness he received came from the Quakers, and that richness had come from Madame Guyon.
Many people were helped. The help that the Quakers gave us opened many people’s eyes, even though they sometimes went to an extreme.
Brothers and sisters, the church has to be a spiritual church. The church needs to know the cross.
If the church cannot go through the cross, then when the flesh enters, it will be divided.
If we look at the external things, we see division. But if we turn from the outside to the inside, the Lord not only gains a spiritual individual; He also gains a corporate spiritual reality.
That corporate spiritual reality is the Body. It is the church.
This influence reached Brother Nee. When we see this history and turn back, all the richness of Philadelphia is the inheritance of the fullness and richness of those who went before.
Thank the Lord for these Quakers. They did not allow outward things to contaminate them. They wore white garments and walked with the Lord.
Even though they were martyred for the Lord, thank the Lord: the blood of the saints is the seed of the church.
Maybe this was not completely blossomed among the Quakers. But after we have been helped by them, we can be clearer regarding the church.
These are the overcomers in Sardis. Philadelphia has inherited the richness from the overcomers in Sardis and Thyatira.
May we thank the Lord for all of this.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we want to thank You. If You find these words useful, please use them, especially for our youth. Show us that we have a way.
You have not left us in darkness. You have not left us in confusion. We thank You that at this time we can truly see what You want us to see. We pray this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.