Reformation Part 1 - Forms of Renewal

[0:00] Good morning everybody. Good morning. Welcome to the first of these four talks on Reformation in all its many aspects.

[0:14] Since we're going to discuss the work of God, which is what Reformation is, we will be wise to begin with prayer.

[0:25] Let's pray together. Father, we are to handle holy things this morning in the speaking that I do and in the thinking that we shall all do in humility before you're through.

[0:41] We ask you to send the Holy Spirit to give us light of understanding and show us something of the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord as we explore this whole topic.

[0:53] Bless us now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Yes, the agenda item is Reformation and the subtitle for this morning is Types or Forms of Renewal.

[1:18] And the goal in these four studies is that we might, by God's grace, understand spiritual movements that bring new life a little better, perhaps, than we do at the moment.

[1:36] I think we could all agree that some form of new life is needed in that part of the church to which we belong.

[1:52] Here is Anglicans and New Westminster, members of St. John's Congregation, our thoughts about the sort of new life that we made and the way to it may not coincide at present and they may not coincide after I've given my four addresses.

[2:14] But my hope is that there will be convergence that all of us will find our horizons of understanding enlarged and as a result come to an even more common mind, let me put it that way, on this whole area of spiritual urgency, as we feel it to be, than is the case present.

[2:41] So, let me begin by saying, in these discussions of mine, three words, whose meaning overlaps, are going to be used freely.

[2:59] Two of them actually are in the title of this morning's talk, Reformation and Renewal, and the third word is Revival.

[3:09] All of those words, I'm sure, have been in your mind and on your lips during the last few years of upheaval in this diocese.

[3:22] And no single one of them is biblical, not directly biblical, and all of them are attempts to embrace realities of which Holy Scripture speaks, and speaks emphatically.

[3:41] However, there are stumbling blocks which keep us, in my judgment, from fully understanding the implications of any of these words.

[3:52] What are those stumbling blocks? Well, basically, it's the stereotypes attached to each of the words.

[4:08] They take you some distance, of course, into the truth, the reality, of the matter, but they don't take you all the way, and they become stumbling blocks by reason of what they leave out.

[4:24] Sometimes, also, they become stumbling blocks by reason of the fixity of some of the elements of the notion you have, which, by biblical standards, ought not to be as firmly fixed as they are in your mind and mine.

[4:44] So, what you're talking about, well, just think. The word Reformation, capital R, makes you think immediately of the Reformation in the 16th century in England.

[5:00] We, of course, here in Canada are heirs to all the benefits of that spiritual movement which shaped the Anglican Church the way that constitutionally it shapes still.

[5:15] But, question, is there more to Reformation than the 16th century story tells us? Well, that is a question. We mustn't assume that there isn't because our minds and hearts are so filled by the memory of what God did in England in the 16th century to put Christianity and the strength.

[5:40] And then take the word Renewal. For many, I guess, it immediately brings to mind what they have seen, perhaps I should be saying, what you and I have seen over this last 14 years and we've been around that long, some of us have, in the so-called Charismatic Movement.

[6:03] When we use the word renewal, we need a re-presentation of things that we've seen in the past in Charismatic circles and our thinking about renewal stops there.

[6:22] I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with our thinking as far as it goes, but I am saying that such thinking, it seems to me, stops short before the end of the thought has been reached.

[6:38] And then take the word revival. You constantly need nervous, and perhaps in this group we could meet folks for whom revival is a tremendous burden of concern.

[6:55] They're talking about it and praying about it constantly and saying revival is what the church today here in North America most urgently needs.

[7:07] Well, yes, but what do you mean when you say revival? And questioning some of the these, that the image of revival with which these folk are working is a stereotype of what happened both sides of the Atlantic in the 18th century.

[7:30] Some of that, of course, has happened again. My beloved Welsh wife, shouldn't put it that way because it makes sense as if I have a whole harleen, doesn't it?

[7:47] Well, let me address my grammar. My Welsh wife, whom I love, is here today and in any presence reminds me that in my circle, at any rate, there are people for whom the Welsh revival of 1904 has established the stereotype.

[8:08] And when they say revival, they are thinking of a renewal or the re-experiency of things that happened in Wales in 1904.

[8:23] And books that are written about stereotypical movements and reports that are offered often contribute to this stereotype of the stereotypical movements that go by the three names that are described because the books assume the stereotype and so confirm it.

[8:48] And that isn't always a disaster because assuming the stereotype a great deal of wisdom and light and insight into what really happened to be conveyed.

[9:04] Thus, thinking of the movements of the movements to which the name revival has regularly been attached, the Welsh revival, the 18th century revival and any other revival so-called of which you may be thinking, those movements of God have always, yes, always been presented by books and articles and the courts from the field when it's a contemporary movement of the movement.

[9:39] It's such the movement. There are revival movements in the church today, though not in North America. These things are presented to us constantly in the terms in which, in the year of grace, 1735, Jonathan Edwards told the story of a movement of the spirit in his own home church church in Northampton, Connecticut, or Massachusetts, if so.

[10:14] His revival narrative is a marvelous piece of insightful reporting, and so good is it that it has become the standard way of reporting movements of the spirit.

[10:30] A lot of people who follow this party don't realize that it's the Edwards' party, but the following that they are. And one realizes, well, a stereotype which Edwards established by his brilliant report book does take you a fair distance, but it doesn't actually tell you the whole story.

[10:53] Anymore than the work which you may or may not have heard of, stemming from the 16th century, John Fox's Acts and Monuments, which was abbreviated in the 19th century as Fox's Book of Martyrs, that tells you a good deal about the English Reclamation of the 16th century, though again it doesn't tell you anything.

[11:18] What it does tell you is that the 16th century movement of God in England took place against opposition from Roman Catholic theology and Roman Catholic personnel, and there were many five-year-olds of faithful Protestants connected with what was going on as part of the story.

[11:42] True, but if you concentrate on the book of the story that Fox highlights, there are other things that you need to know about the 16th century Reclamation which you're going to miss.

[11:57] So, I'm going to begin by offering you my concept of Reformation where you will have the Bibles.

[12:12] I am going to suggest to you that though these three words are not synonyms, they do overlap substantially at the points which are really important.

[12:27] and that we ought to hold all three together in our mind and get beyond the shallowness which I have met and perhaps you have too, the shallowness of those who say well, Reclamation is one thing that is putting the outward order of the church into shape and reviving and or renewal is something quite different that has to do with the quickening of spiritual life among those who worship God in terms of the reshaped structure.

[13:02] the Reformation movement historically involved a great deal of renewal of spiritual life in England in the 16th century.

[13:14] And renewal and revival conceived in a way which focuses entirely on individuals and doesn't bring in at all the thought of the church being brought back into shape.

[13:29] that notion too is misleadingly narrow and needs to be adjusted by bringing those two words into connection with the things that the notion of Reformation highlights.

[13:46] And my analysis, my concept of Reformation in the rule of the Bible tries to bring the three together in a biblical way.

[13:58] you will see when I open it up that I'm offering you something which is this I can manage is Bible based, God centered, and church centered.

[14:15] And I will tell you straight away any notion or any of the realities referred to by my three words which isn't Bible based, God centered, and church centered, is seriously distorted and misleading.

[14:35] And I better warn you again, such results can happen when all the focus in telling the story of Reformation, revival, the new, centers upon the individuals who are blessed through what God is doing, and doesn't abuzz to the further question of how what's going on enhances the glory of Christ and extends his kingdom and brings, in a real sense, order and vitality into the church.

[15:11] rich. Well, now here's the Packer concept. We are talking about the work of the triune God, God the team, as I would put it to you, in order to focus on the fact that this is a work of work in which the three persons share each given, which is a part of it.

[15:35] this is a work of God the team, of embrace, done through the word and the spirit together.

[15:47] That's a conjunction which you find in all 16th century Reformation theology. Word and spirit, the truth of God in scripture, and the light from God that the Holy Spirit imparts to our hearts, so that we may understand the scripture, this is a work of God done through the word and the spirit together, and it brings us into the situation, into the Christian circle, where it takes place, truth, life, and order.

[16:27] Truth, in the sense of gospel truth, as Savior heard it, by creeds and confessions and doctrinal bases, Bible truth, as Bible believers find it taught, in what we nowadays call the canonical interpretation of the Bible, that is the interpretation, which at every point is checked, by making sure that what you're saying from this text is in line with what's said by all the other Bible passages that deal with the same subject.

[17:06] It used to be called the analogy of scripture, now we call it canonical interpretation. It's the coherent and consistent way of understanding and synthesizing what the Bible teaches.

[17:20] As I said, the work of God, in renewal, brings in truth, and the truth that is brought in, truth of the Bible as a whole, centers on our Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:40] Let us never forget that. Doesn't center on the Holy Spirit, doesn't even center on God the Father. Oh yes, the Father and the Holy Spirit are in the picture of all that.

[17:52] that New Testament Christianity centers on the Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate, the mediator, the Savior, the head of the church, the one who now is Lord of the universe, because all authority has been given to him by his servant, and he is the one who is coming again, finally, to put things straight in this discerning world, and to receive his own people into the fullness of joy in his company, and he is the one whom we should be praising there in glory forever, as the book of Revelation shows very clearly.

[18:41] Worthy is the lamb that was slain, that's the song that we should be singing, and that's the thought that we should be celebrating all through eternity.

[18:53] Say it this way, the Lord Jesus Christ is meant to fill our whole horizon. The Father is there, as you might say, on one side of him, the Holy Spirit is there on the other side, but Christ is the same thing.

[19:10] That's New Testament Christianity at every level, and certainly it's New Testament and Christianity when you think of what God does in the renewal of spiritual life and understanding.

[19:25] So, the work of renewal brings in truth, Christ-centered truth, and it brings life through that truth.

[19:37] Life, you know, is a key Bible word, and I suppose that the part, at least, of what we are meant to think every time we meet it, is that it's the nature of life, in every shape or form, at every level, to respond to stimuli.

[20:02] Stones, rocks, they can be lovely, but they're inert, they don't respond to stimuli, they haven't got life. But if you think of plants, vegetables, trees, animals, human beings, there are stimuli to which they respond, and so we speak of there being life in them.

[20:27] Recently, my beloved wife charged me to keep watering a particular plant, which I'm afraid I missed, and it died. There it is, it's a new end, hot, and does it respond to the stimulus of water, or sunshine, or anything.

[20:48] Well, when I say spiritual life, what I'm talking about is responsiveness to the stimulus of God's approach with his word, God's movement in our conscience to make us aware of his presence, and of what he is saying to us, the response takes the form of worship, and prayer, and faith, and repentance, assurance, assurance, I mean by influence, God is a promise keeper, he has given me promises on which I now rest my hope for the future, because God is a promise keeper, my hope is assured, hallelujah, that sort of thinking is one of the responses, you see, of spiritual life, and joy, peace, and joy, as one moves into action for the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, all of that belongs to the reality of spiritual life, in us, responding, you see, to the stimulus of the word, the truth of

[22:07] God, which shows us Christ, salvation, and glory. And then thirdly, I said, this work of God that we're seeking to understand, brings order into the church.

[22:23] When I say that, I'm not thinking primarily of regimented order, order in the external sense, the kind of order that you have at a parade, where all the people on parade do things together.

[22:39] I am thinking of togetherness, but it's a togetherness of mutual acceptance, love, fellowship, and service. I'm thinking of community in communion, communion both with God, and with each other, together.

[23:01] Christianity is a corporate business. Togetherness is the way that we're all called to go. Individualism, not individuality, as the interviews the wrong word, individualism, which means that I go off on my own, as a lot of people have done, of course, in the name of Christ of the past, it's actually the wrong turning.

[23:32] You leave the fellowship behind in order to get closer to God? No, your agenda is a mistake. We are meant to get closer to each other, we who are in the law, as the enlivening work of God goes on within us.

[23:51] And there's something wrong if that doesn't happen. And just as the fellowship will be a community communion, so it will be a community in cooperation.

[24:04] We shall do things together, we shall go to serve the Lord together. We shall be serving in all sorts of different ways, but we shall be serving the Lord in company.

[24:19] Again, Christ, you see, will be filling our horizon as a community now, as the church in its formal worship will be a union of folk honoring the Savior, so in the life that we all live outside the church, there will be constant, I mean, I said the church building, there will be constant cooperation as we work for the Lord to extend his kingdom.

[24:52] I hope you're beginning to get the idea. There are variables, of course. If we study particular movements in which God has come to his people in a visitation that brings new life, we shall see that the quality of the leadership, the human leadership, is varied, and the theological emphases have not been identical.

[25:19] In that connection, if we look, we shall see that movements of this sort have taken place in the Roman Catholic Church, where there are some things believed that are, in my estimate, and that's particularly wrong, but nonetheless, there's been a renewal of spiritual life.

[25:40] The size of the movement also has been a variable. Sometimes it's been a story of God visiting a particular congregation, and sometimes, as in the 18th century movement in England, it has been the true case of God visiting the whole nation through the ongoing, outreaching work of a leadership that had the whole nation in its sense, and I'm thinking here of what John Wesley achieved through the method of societies.

[26:09] So these are variables, and the depth, too, to which the renewal of life has gone has varied from instance to instance.

[26:25] But there are always constant factors which, if you look at the situation, you recognize in every single case. when the visitation comes, the church needs it because the church is somnolent, harpisoned, blazing, settled on its knees.

[26:50] There may be doctrinal trouble, there may be trouble in the church's inner life, the congregation may be split, so it may be at odds with others.

[27:03] The visitation comes at a time when all these factors have created real need of something happening in the fellowship. Well, yes, that's a constant factor.

[27:18] It took one shape in the 16th century reformation in England, it took another shape in the 18th century movement, which we call Methodism. the other constant factor which one finds, if one looks, is that somebody has been praying.

[27:38] Somebody has been burdened by the low state of the fellowship, and has been praying that God, in his mercy, would visit us and put us straight.

[27:54] And I say somebody, usually it's a group of people, but somebody has been praying. These movements regularly come in answer to somebody's prayers. Now, the dimensions of the movement are beginning, I trust, to come clear from what I'm saying.

[28:13] It's biblical renewal, renewal by the study and love of the word, exploration of the word. It's theological renewal, constant thought and discussion and focusing on God's revealed truth.

[28:32] It's moral renewal. There's repentance, as I said earlier on, and a quest for holiness, which is new. Something is wrong if a movement of spiritual excitement, whatever use it may make for biblical slogans, doesn't focus on the need for repentance to go with faith, and for holiness to be sought as an expression of real repentance.

[29:03] It'll be renewal in worship, one way or another, a liturgical renewal, you could call it, although some of the forms of worship, which have emerged in renewal circles, don't fit the only definition of the word liturgical, as you know very well.

[29:24] It'll be a renewal of the whole community of the church, in piety and godliness and good works and outreach.

[29:34] There will be vitality and activity, all of this will be the gift of God, and over it all and through it all, there will be a vivid sense of the presence of God, the presence of Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, with us, his people, as we seek to respond to what he's doing by putting our lives in order and becoming what the people of God should be.

[30:11] This sense of the presence of God is witnessed, too, in many incidental references in the story of the Holy Spirit's ministry in Jerusalem in the early days of Christianity, the story in the opening chapters of Acts of what happened on and after the day of Pentecost.

[30:35] Consider then the to illustrate this, the implications of chapter 2, verse 37. Peter has preached the first Christian evangelistic sermon.

[30:51] It's still Pentecost morning, as a matter of fact. And the people listening, so we told, verse 37 of chapter 2, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

[31:11] The verb used for being cut to the heart is a word used in Greek, regularly, in connection with the splitting of wood with an axe.

[31:25] It's a word which implies a heavy blow in them. How was it that they were cut to the heart? I think, surely, it was the presence of God which they felt in the things that Peter was so boldly and clearly saying.

[31:41] When he goes on to verse 43, the converts were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul.

[31:57] Awe, read with the Greek word for fear. Fear of God isn't the fear that makes you tremble in your boots. It's awe in his presence, hence this translation.

[32:08] Awe came on everyone. What was the reason? Well, simply the sense of God's presence close to. In chapter 4, verse 31, you read that when Peter John had been arrested and then released, and the church had a prayer meeting celebrating the situation and asking God to take them along in the course that they should be following, we read that, first of all, that what they asked God for was look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand and heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

[33:05] That's verses 29 and 30 of Acts 4. And when they had prayed, this is verse 31, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

[33:22] Out of that, you can discern, I'm quite sure that there was a very strong sense of the presence of power of God operating in that young Christian community.

[33:35] In the next chapter, you read of Ananias and Sapphira, both of whom, when their deception was uncovered, fell down and breathed their last but sin.

[33:52] that's how Luke describes it. I would suppose that the sense of God's presence searching them and telling them that what Peter was saying about them having chosen to lie to God the Holy Spirit was indeed true, that's what they'd done.

[34:13] I imagine they both of them were overwhelmed by the realization and that that contributed to the fact that quite simply, they fell down dead. Where the sense of God's presence is very strong in a community whose things can happen, and indeed happen.

[34:34] And it goes on like this. Much later in the story, when you read about Paul's ministry, Ephesus, Acts now, chapter 19, verses 17 through 20, you read of a most violent expression of repentance on the part of some of the converts, these are Greeks now, this is Paul's mission to the Gentile world, and it says that fear, and Luke tells the story, this is part of the story, through which Luke was an eyewitness, he was traveling with Paul at the time, fear fell upon them all, this was following the exorcism of a particular fortune-telling spiritist woman, fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord

[35:34] Jesus was extolled, also many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices, and a number of those who practiced magic, magic arts, brought the books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them, and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver, a whole library, bad, you say, what's going on?

[36:02] Well, this extravagant, seeming gesture should, expresses the sense, which these folk had, that they must publicly parade the fact that they had done with sin, a particular sin in which they had been involved before conversion, and that they were now into a new life.

[36:28] I'm thinking of the minds from Macefield's narrative, first person simply narrative, that the conversion of Saul came, that is a heavily symbolic name, Saul King says, describing what actually happened when the Lord broke into his life, I did not speak, I did not strive, the deep peace burned my knee alive.

[36:59] I think that's a marvelous line to express what happens when the Lord breaks into a life, the deep peace burned my knee alive.

[37:11] I knew that I had done with sin, a bolted door had broken in, I knew that I had come to birth to brother every soul on earth.

[37:23] A bolted door had broken in, I knew that I had done with sin. And these folk who bought the textbooks of magic and both of them were expressing repentance in the violent way which that image of the bolted door breaking expresses.

[37:52] And why are they doing it? You ask what is it that makes them react so violently as they think back on their past? Well, it's the sense of God's presence with them, the sense of the sinfulness and the hatefulness of sin in all its forms.

[38:09] The presence of God does generate a sense of the hatefulness of sin in all its forms. I can't take that further.

[38:21] Last point, the effects of the movement. There are threefold there are the lap, but these are the three focal points it seems to me from Scripture as to how you can describe what's happening.

[38:41] First effect, loosing the chains, that is the chains of sin that are binding people in unbelief, in godliness, in spiritual insensibility.

[39:00] Charles Wesley verbalized this in a classic way which we all of us know. Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's nut.

[39:13] Fast burn. Thine eye diffused a quickening way. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. Echoes of Acts chapter 11 where Peter is miraculously saved out of prison.

[39:28] The dungeon flamed with light. my chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed. And when God visits, the besetting habits of sin are renounced and though less we never achieve perfection in this world, the realization of the sinfulness of sin means that we set ourselves against those besetting habits in a way that we've never done before.

[40:06] And in the church, substandard Christianity appears hateful sin and the Lord's people labor not to be substandard anymore.

[40:20] The chains of sin and folly are loosed. That's one thing that happens. The second thing that happens is the awakening of the heart.

[40:34] I can illustrate this by citing the opening words of Psalm 108. we know them very well, I think. This is the expression of the awakened heart.

[40:50] Listen. My heart is steadfast, O God, I will sing and make melody with all my being. Awake, O harp and lyre, I will awake the door with my music, with my singing, with my praise.

[41:06] I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the people. I will sing praises to you among the nations, for your steadfast love is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

[41:19] Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. Glorify your name, and so on. Look, that's how the awakened heart expresses itself.

[41:38] You are wholehearted, in the realization of the presence of God, the claim of God, the glory of God, the need for praise and adoration out of an enhanced sense of the presence of God.

[41:58] You express an enhanced love for the Lord who has loved and saved you. Not for nothing was the 18th century movement in New England, movement of which Jonathan Edwards was called the Great Awakening.

[42:17] Well, loosing the chains is one effect, and the awakening of the heart, this is the heart of individual Christian after individual Christian. these are effects of the visitation of God, of which I'm speaking, and the third effect is an accelerating of the work.

[42:39] What work? The work of gathering the Lord's sheep, winning the world, spreading the gospel, extending Christ's kingdom, kingdom, and so bringing to increasingly real reality the new humanity that God is creating as he draws one and another to Christ, and so brings up Christ's body.

[43:18] This is reflected when Paul, right into the Thessalonians, says, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 1. Finally, brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead, that's what the ESV puts it.

[43:37] It's actually the Greek word for run, that the word of the Lord may run and be honored, as happened among you. It is a bit, of course, Paul was only with the Thessalonians for less than three weeks, but he left a church behind him.

[43:53] At times of divine visitation, God works fast. And this is the third effect, third aspect of what happens when God visits in the way that I described.

[44:09] And the overall effect, I'll use a bit of the final effect, is to get God's people corporately, corporately, church, back into the main flow of the river of divine life.

[44:31] You may remember that in the Old Testament, the picture is used of the river of life-giving water coming out of the temple. In Zeku, you've got it in Zechariah, you've got Jesus, I think, alluding to it when he says, he who believes in me, out of his or her inner being, will float rivers of living water to enliven through the world, you see?

[45:01] Well, the sad thing is that the river of divine life, which has a steady flow at the center of its course, the river, which on either bank has places where it's easy to get becalmed, mudflats, reeds, bayous that lead nowhere, and the church of God, sections of the church of God, are constantly being becalmed through drifting onto these places of stagnancy at the side of the river, and the work of God in the formation renewal of the Bible brings them back, gloriously back, into the main flow.

[45:56] new Now, I hoped that I could, I hoped that I could spend a little time talking to you about the variety of God's work in renewal.

[46:14] I'm just going to compare the 16th century English reformation with the 18th century evangelical revival in New England, and perhaps then Old England too if I had time for that.

[46:29] I was going to contrast both with the renewal movement, the revival of 1904, early 20th century Wales, and I was going to make quick reference to the charismatic movement today.

[46:45] Because the time is going, I can't really tackle that in a way that I wish I could, so I'm going to offer you some very general generalizations, and that will have to suffice for today.

[47:03] But think, 16th century England, under Henry VIII, England declared independence of the Pope.

[47:15] The whole movement spiritual movement that sprang from that was anti-papal, anti-Roman Catholic. It was a top-down movement where a few scholars led by Thomas Cranmer and his associates grasped the opportunity which the new independence from Rome gave them to reshape public religion in England what the Bible translated and circulated.

[47:51] They produce a prayer book pretty much in the form in which we still have it, a new form of worship, a book of common prayer in English, where the main services are all of them structured around the sequence, sin detected, grace proclaimed, faith exercised, some of you have heard me spell that out in relation to the communion service, morning and evening prayer service, and you find it also, more clumsily, I must confess, more clumsily put in the baptism service.

[48:32] basically, though, it is the mindset that runs all the way through the prayer book, and to worship prayer book style, I believe, it is still wonderfully enriched, spiritually, well, it was a spiritual movement, a movement of light and understanding that the Holy Spirit gave in England in the middle of the 16th century to produce that prayer book, but also the movement, Reformation movement, was catechetical, you say, what do you mean by that?

[49:05] I mean educational. The Reformers were very concerned that all English folk should understand the gospel very well, so they produced a book of homilies in the year of Grace 1547, and the first homily written by Cromer is a superb statement on reading the Holy Scripture, and the benefit of the joy that will come to you if you do, and the second homily is on salvation through justification by faith.

[49:41] Again, this is a superb statement of which Cromer is the author. And there's a children's catechism in the prayer book, it's profound, and it's good for instructing adults, but it was designed for children, and in the middle of Elizabeth's reign, towards the end of the 16th century, out came the work that was intended to complement it and take people on from where the prayerful catechism met them.

[50:13] That was the catechism, just call that a catechism, 450 pages of question and answer instruction written by a man named Alexander Noel, who was dean of St. Paul's.

[50:30] And for quite a time, Noel's catechism was used by pastors in their parishes for instructing the faithful when the faithful had internalized what the prayer book catechism, children's catechism expresses.

[50:51] Well, that's the sort of movement that the 16th century reformation was, and I would like to talk in detail, in a way that I can't, about the way in which real faith, real life, real vitality, spiritually, spread amongst ordinary people in England, there's a lot of evidence about that, the marvelous way in which charitable donations flourished in the 16th century.

[51:23] You can always tell where a spiritual movement is going deep and touches people's pockets. And that's the hard evidence.

[51:35] They give. Of course, the flip side of that is that if the movement is shallow isn't in fact going deep, they don't give.

[51:45] And very much, they may enjoy the acceptance of singing the hymns and sharing of various activities that are going on. Well, that's the shape of the 16th century reformation to be contrasted with the way in which in the 18th century, when everybody was supposed to read the outlines of the gospel, although many didn't, and with a local church as the unit of renewal, God visited his people, both sides of the Atlantic, and through a tremendous ministry of preaching by a body of preachers, the lack of which I don't think the world has seen since the 18th century, men like George Woodfield, and women of Grinshaw, and John Berridge, and Jonathan Edwards himself, and many more.

[52:48] And through preaching, it all came to life, and local churches were enlightened in a very fascinating and encouraging way.

[53:02] But again, time doesn't allow me to go into that. then I was going to tell you about the Welsh revival. This had, as its lightning rod, actually, well, among its lightning rods, I should say it this way, because there were a number of people who gave the lead, though only one of them is big in the history books.

[53:27] Among the leaders who were lightning rods of the Welsh movement, there was a young theological student, a Welsh speaker, his name was Edward Roberts, he was in his early twenties.

[53:45] His message in the meetings, that is, the church services, chapel services, that he led during the revival time was very simple, confess Christ, put away sin, and acknowledge the sin you're putting away, pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you, and witness to the change in your life, the faith that you have, and the glory of God's grace as now you understand it.

[54:28] It was a singing revival, as a matter of fact. as is still the case when Welsh folk get together, the city was wonderful, and in those days it was spiritually very significant also.

[54:45] It was a lopsided movement, and in fact it became a seedbed of British Anticostalism, which may bother some may not bother others.

[55:00] But that's how it was. Again, I have a lot of stuff that I wanted to share with you on that, which I can't. And I should be doing a full presentation on the charismatic movement as my fourth talk, so I'm not going to say anything about it now, save only that in significant ways.

[55:20] It has been different from all these movements of renewal, new life, of which I've been speaking. and I expect that all have come in touch with people, sort of depressants, its distinctives, the same distinctives as the Pentecostal world affirms.

[55:46] God, in addition to doing the work of revitalizing that I've been speaking of, doing it in the terms in which I've been speaking of it, God is now, amongst those of his people who seek it, God is now reinstituting the spectacular gifts and ministries of the Apostolic Age, which for no reason the Church has lost touch with for 19 centuries.

[56:22] So, in the charismatic circles, circles, grace stress has been made on seeking a baptism in the Holy Spirit on the model of Pentecost, on speaking in tongues, on practicing healing and the reception of prophecy, and it has been a singing movement, same as the Welsh revival was a singing movement, but different stuff has been sung because a whole new era of, what are we going to call it, pop technology has been generated by the charismatic movement, and that raises questions for discussion, as to whether this is good and happy, or less than good and quite unhappy, different people say different things.

[57:15] But that's only me telling you what I was going to talk about in full, I can't do it, I have much more to say, but it can't be said today, so let me conclude. The overall concept that I have laid before you is of God renewing vitality and communion with himself and with each other within the fellowship of his people.

[57:38] There will be an evangelistic outreach, but first and foremost, it's God visiting his own people to enlighten them. And the distinctive marks of such a visitation, here I give you a profile which comes from Jonathan Edwards, and a little word titled The Distinguishing Marks of the Word of the Spirit of God, I haven't given you this series yet, but you'll see it runs off everything that I've been saying, The Distinguishing Marks whereby we know whether it's God at work, revitalizing his church at a time of great religious excitement, which may or may not be from the Lord, The Distinguishing Marks of the work of the Spirit of God, the signs of authenticity of the work, as Reformation, Revival, and Revival, are the following.

[58:42] The Bible and its doctrine, its truth, come to be honored as never before. Jesus Christ comes to be honored as never before.

[58:55] Love is poured out, love to the Father, Son, and Spirit, and love of the brethren, Christians, to each other, and then of all the Christians to the world outside, love is poured out, as never before, and sin is hated, as never before.

[59:16] Those are the marks of authenticity which we would be wise to memorize and apply to any form of spiritual excitement with which we're confronted and which claims to be from God.

[59:33] In the meantime, if we think that an authentic work of God, renewing his people at these points is needed, well, we are to use the means of grace and, first of all, to pray and melody for a hesitation of God, because this conjunction is observable right from the first chapter of Acts, before Pentecost, the disciples were together and they were praying, so-so, and Pentecost came in answer to their united prayers.

[60:18] This is a rather sudden conclusion, but as those of you who watches will see, I've had a full 60 minutes if I don't take any more time. So, let's chat, talk, think, reflect on these things that I've mentioned.

[60:36] This is an introductory talk, and we speak about specific movements in later presentations. Tractarian movement, it will be a sort of revival movement next week, and then it will be the Wesleyan revival, which is laid before you under the rather odd title, don't quite know in retrospect how we came to it, urban renewal, and then we'll look up a charismatic movement in detail.

[61:05] That's what's coming. But now, at last, Hunter, you shut off of the other people before. Please, respond.

[61:15] The very early part of the Pentecostal movement in Great Britain, was there any particular people that were starting it up?

[61:28] Well, people who had been blessed in the revival movement that was going on in 1904. They became the so-called Apostolic Church that was founded in 1905.

[61:43] Already, Pentecostalism had begun in Los Angeles at Azusa Street, and the Pentecostal perspective was winning its convicts all over North America.

[61:56] I was talking specifically about the British movement, which seems to have begun independently of anything that had happened in Los Angeles. And we must make of that what we will.

[62:10] Was this God doing something of vital importance, or was it not? Opinions different. Anyway, that's just a fact. A friend of mine, in fact, is the son of someone who was a major leader in the Apostolic Church, founded in 1905.

[62:30] So I do know a little bit of that. Yes? Sir, could you agree with those four marks, the distinguishing marks again? the Bible and its teaching are highlighted.

[62:48] Christ and his grace, his glory, are highlighted. Love to him and to each other and to the needy world is poured out into the hearts of those people, and sin is hated as never before.

[63:11] Wait a minute, somebody read the back. Yes, yes, please read. I think Mike, I'm not going to get started a little bit. You had a very interesting example of a public turning from magic, and I didn't catch the text.

[63:27] Yes. Acts chapter 18, verses 17, sorry, Acts chapter 19, verses 17 through 20, part of the story of Paul's mission at Ephesus.

[63:41] Pardon? Paul's mission. Paul's mission at Ephesus. Acts 19, verses 17 through 20. It interests me this notion of a public turning or public declaration.

[63:54] Could you say anything more about that? Well, simply that in revival conditions, or reformation conditions, it's not uncommon for people to feel so strongly that they've got to tell the world and so really convinced themselves that they've turned away from sins that helped them enthralled before, that they make these extravagant public gestures so that everyone will know, so that they themselves are able to feel where we burned our boats.

[64:39] We can't get back to that. the burning of the boats of course strengthens their resolve at that point, the very act of doing it. There were touches of renewal in the Oxford movement of the 1930s in England, the 19th century and a lot of this was done by people who were touched by the movement and a lot of the confessions of the sins that people were turning from were injudicious and involved others who were not to have been embarrassed by the way in which sins were being confessed.

[65:21] And so the whole practice became suspect and very soon people were back with people who originally had accepted it joyfully as a sign that there was at work they began back up front.

[65:37] And that danger was always there. But on the other hand people still feel that God has made my mouth real, that means saying goodbye to this, that and the other and I want you to be hello when I'm saying goodbye to this, that and the other and this.

[65:53] And this is incidentally why people who've been touched in the contemporary charismatic renewal constantly come to us clergy and say we want to be baptized again because we think of baptism as a way of witnessing to the fact that we're saying goodbye to the old life and embracing the new and if we were baptized as infants, well we weren't able then to tell the world that this is what our baptism meant as a witness and that's what we've had to tell the world now.

[66:30] There are different ways in which pastors have a bet. But I'm simply telling you, people want to do it for that reason, you see.

[66:42] It's a way of making a public declaration that I finish with all of that and I want everybody to know. See what I mean? Yes, I think there's a value when it can be twisted and things will come from a very value.

[66:58] Oh, sure. And everything without exception, everything in the world of spiritual ministry and truth can be twisted.

[67:11] This isn't unique. And do let's remember you hear me say that sometimes, I'm sure, Satan is still on the loose, within limits, but he's still on the loose, and he seeks to generate situations in which he scores the points because the Lord Jesus is disowned.

[67:34] That's what Satan is about in the church all the time until the press comes back. I think you had something to say again.

[67:46] Thank you, gentlemen. For all of you of the benefits and indeed the need for a reformation renewal from the Bible, I wonder if there are also some aspects of negatives.

[68:03] Clearly, to the extent that this is the work of God, it's entirely positive. By thinking of the correct effects, for example, that are produced in counter-reformation, encounter revival, the facts of the, sometimes the hierarchical effects that result in the way in which Christians who have not experienced the revival are somehow seen as less spiritual.

[68:33] A number of possible issues that we might discuss on the negative side. will, I think really, and if you've made your point by the way that you've stated the invitation, and straight away I will say, where you have heretical thinking going on in the church, any form of renewal is going to be violently rejected, and we can see one from recent events in New Muslims to Diocese, where, though we can hardly say that we're living in times of renewal, one can say that a reaffirmation of biblical orthodoxy has produced very negative results.

[69:27] That's one illustration of what you have in mind, and it's paralleled, I think, to the way in which, in the New Testament itself, you see Jewish theologians, Jewish authorities, resenting and rejecting the truth as it is in Jesus, up to the point of them martyring, that is, executing, a man like Stephen, who had told them straight that the history of God's dealings with the people was meant to lead to repentance and faith in Christ, and the folk to whom he's talking, had heart of their hearts, so that it wasn't having that effect on them at all.

[70:24] Well, other examples could be given, but there's just two. In the matter of Christian love, the folk who reject the revival of the New Movement, spectacularly failed, for the most part, to show love to the Christians in the New Life, and they're unresponsive when those Christians show them love.

[71:08] And so the agenda for the Lord's faithful souls, now rejoicing in New Life, becomes the demanding agenda, we must out-love these people.

[71:20] Not out-live, but out-love. And that's what we're called to do. That's what we're called to do in this diocese. That's what the saints are called to do everywhere.

[71:37] Satan's work is, or Satan's strategy is such that anything that God does, he will try straight away to spoil, one way or another. So we can think it through, and I'm sure, realize, as we do so, yes, here and here and here, I see Satan's fingerprints, both of the past and in the present.

[72:05] And again, I have to pull myself back, I'd like to go on talking about this request sometime. But that, I think, is the way to be, I think. Yes, when you stand up, it always means something.

[72:24] Thank you very much. Thank you, folks. Could you leave the chairs where they are, please?

[72:36] There's another group coming in. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. See you. We have another piece. We have a littleiese, talking, now, we host our healthy Monday, and talk.

[72:50] We will hook up our family. So you have another day to такое weio doánt the together does