Principles of Revival — D.A. Crossman

Fellowshiping until it's time to start. I tell you those of you that and the majority the overwhelming majority of you were here for these special lectures I gave and as you know it was very rushed and even so sometimes I went over the hour.

I'm not saying that by way of apology but just it was a long time to take in a lot of material and you see my mind was reeling. Mine certainly was by the end. And I covered the Old Testament period in analysis again reviewing it and the New Testament and went on to just look one for each century at least I tried to look at it couldn't even get that in of revivals in every century.

Revival as a Recurring Work of the Holy Spirit

What I think these lectures ought to do if the Holy Spirit applies his work. See how commonplace. Not commonplace in a rude sense and arrogant sense. But how often. How commonplace is God's program. Is God's plan to to revive his church.

It isn't. It isn't something that's so rare. I think a lot of Christians who say it's no good praying for revival. You've had the Wesley revival and hundreds of years later you had the 59 revival and Welsh revival and the Hebrides revival.

It's never going to happen again. It's happening all the time. You know this ought to inspire our prayer. But I realize there's a big lot of gaps. And then I dealt with the phenomena of revival that of silence noise prostrations trances and visions heavenly singing levitations convulsions the gift or jerks as they're usually known in the books gift of prophecy a visible glory that was seen and heightening of natural abilities periods of angels other phenomena.

And then I closed with 17 considerations the effects of revival. Now you've got this outline. All of you did anything come to your mind that I'd like to make a contribution or ask a question which we didn't have time for doing.

That have. I thought I'd open it up for just a moment if we may something and maybe necessarily say. I wasn't sure that's supposed to be the plan. It's supposed to become in print of a lot of other material that isn't included in the lectures.

That's a good easy question to answer. How do I know. I'm sure they would. I'm sure they would. Of course you see until you come to John Wycliffe 13th century you have the beginning of the Reformation.

You don't really have the Reformation to 1517 till Martin Luther. And I'd never even touched Martin Luther and his nailing of the 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg. So you have the beginning of the Reformation then.

Revival Before the Reformation

But between the death of the Apostles and 1517 the Holy Spirit wasn't retired. He wasn't inactive. It's interesting that so many of those that were used in revival. I didn't take this as a special study.

I wouldn't have a time here. They were almost all persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. But there was only one known church that was the Roman Catholic Church. And I would make this statement and leave it to you to follow it through.

In the reading these men there were many Martin Luther's before Martin Luther you know reformers and so on. So many of these I almost made the statement it could well be true. They all saw the authority of scripture.

So many of them attacked the structure of the church of their day. So many of them saw the the truth of justification by faith only the need of holiness of life. There was this kind of courage. I'm not doing it in the characteristic of revival.

Yes you're quite right it they were in a structure that today we look back. And in the Dark Ages there was only the Roman Catholic Church especially in that ninth and tenth century there they were very very black periods.

And yet you see among it all then you in that in that worst of all horrible times of the Dark Ages you have somebody like Bernard of Clairvaux you know absolutely Christ filled Christ intoxicated. You can have some of the hermits.

You have that great woman that was a hermit kind of person I'm trying to think of her name tremendously God intoxicated Richard Rowland his torrents of fire. This is another book we'd give that it would be the baptism of spirit.

Now I must sympathize for some of you Irish it must be very very difficult to see that in the Roman Catholic Church before 1517 there were powerful revivals. Not Roman Catholic revivals but revivals in the only church then of its time.

And you see I think the Church of Rome recognized that if this was unchecked if you get hold of Savonarola the books in the library the classical book is by Bellari. You'd never believe a man could be so and do a so much torture and still be alive eventually did take him out and hang him and then burn him.

That's the fate of so many of them. Your hand Clairvaux let me use another case because I think it answers your question. But even earlier you know at the very beginning I gave the illustration of sometimes he's known as Simon Stalites or Simon the pillar ascetic.

You know I did church history at London University and we all kind of laughed when the lecturer told us about Simon Stalites you know who built a kind of house on top of a 60-foot pole and lived up there.

We laughed at that you know see but that lecturer ought have told us why did he go up there. I didn't know that until I did my own studies. Simon you see had this experience of God that that that he had this that all he wanted to do now was live and breathe and pray fellowship with God.

But what happened. And he went into what we would call today a kind of monastery because we write back in the early centuries you know whatever you're going to call them. Then he went into retirement but thousands were flocking to him sometimes 10 ,000 a day they and when he prayed for them they were healed.

Demons were cast out of many according to some. And in so many of these they even seem to have the power of raising the dead. They're always associated with great supernatural miracles. And you see Simon Stalites wanted this communion with God but there were thousands flocking to him.

So what he did. He went into the Egyptian desert. He built this 60-foot pole with his house on top to get away from the crowds. But what I didn't have time to tell you thousands still followed him to Egypt to his pole still to ask for his wisdom and his help and his prayers and his healing.

But he wanted this just to have a life of food. All he wanted was communion with God. And that's the same with Bernard de Clairvaux. You see he had this holy life. Oh the need of being right with God.

Asceticism and the Imperfections of Revival Figures

That's right. That's right. Because these people felt to live they you see they wouldn't be the only ones that did that there are being. And Christians now who. When they read the Sermon of the Mount when they read the commands of the Lord Jesus.

And a CT stud that did this that when he inherited a fortune he read the command. If any man would be my disciples let him sell all that he has give everything away. Then come and follow me now. That's asceticism.

Yes. If you. Yes if you. Oh that all of these men and I would say you come right up. Even to John Wesley you'll find errors little points of errors. I suppose I must be but one of the first that's ever come along.

You know that's been right on every point. Now let me take that away. I'm being funny. Perhaps I shouldn't be. All these men had weaknesses. You know Luther had great weaknesses. You see you must never say the man doesn't have the fullness of truth as we interpreted it in 1993 the 20th century.

The Holy Spirit was never working. In those centuries there was an admixture. Yes. Well I tried to show it with the hymns. We're not sure if he actually penned them. We certainly put his name to them.

Some people think it may have been some of his disciples who actually wrote some of the verses. He simply put them together and published them. But take any hymn of Bernard of Clairvaux and I just quoted hymns like this.

Oh Jesus King most wonderful thou conqueror renowned thou sweetness most ineffable in whom all joy is found. When once thou visitest the heart then truth begins to shine. Then earthly vanities depart then kindles love divine may every tongue confess thy name and ever thee adore.

And then confessing in their own lives that others come to the same truth. That's what he was preaching the sweetness of Jesus. Now if you go right through his work and I'm not sure you could do this but say you could.

And I don't know if it's true or not. You may say look we made a reference to the Virgin Mary there. I think he might have don't know. If he did that wouldn't nullify. Well these thousands wanted the same experience of the Lord through him.

That's why they were coming. They say this man has a knowledge of God this man has an intimacy with God. And this man has a power with God. His prayers are being answered. You know the revival under Savonarola of Florence virtually all songs or singing songs ordinary worldly songs stopped.

They would only sing hymns. I somebody told me that even though the gates of one of the gates Florence today there's a there's a text about Jesus being king. And you know that soberly Savonarola wanted Italy to crown Jesus Christ as king of the whole of Italy.

Now that was political and you know some of us would say obviously he was wrong to got into politics. You can't serve politics and the king. But there'd be other ministers today who still think you can serve the state as well as Jesus so that he wouldn't be the first if what he's preaching is righteousness of life reconciliation to God the turning way of sin.

I say yes. I would say yes. Yes yeah that's right. Now you've got a problem with some of them whether it's Simon Stalite is Bernard of Clairvaux. By the time you've got years going by you'll find that within years of this being set up take the whole Cistercian movement.

It was the reading of the word of God and of life of prayer. But it doesn't take many years that that becomes worldly. But you see you could go to Wales today and you say look at that church it's being used.

There's a garage. Look at that church it's being used to store furniture. Say what kind of revival is it that turns churches into warehouses and mechanical workshops. That what happens in the next generation has nothing to do with the genuineness of the first movement.

Revival, Doctrinal Mixture, and Historical Decline

You know there was a great revival in Barbas the Hebrides under Duncan Campbell. Modernism was unknown on the island. The minister at Barbas who over strained himself with preaching and the attending of converts in the revival died rather suddenly.

The church called the first modernist minister to the island. But that doesn't mean that that wasn't a genuine move. Five years ago in the case of the children of Israel I'll be referring in a moment what a time they had of seeing the glory of God and hearing his voice the thunder the trumpet blasts.

But within days they worshipping a golden calf and yet they had that powerful movement. People's hearts are very fickle. They can they can within three days say we want to crown you king. And three days later they say away with him crucify him.

Well Luther did the same thing with the peasants revolt. He was quite wrong. I would say I would say Luther and his engagement with the peasant revolt was quite wrong. The bloodshed was horrific and the bloodshed of the crusades that Bernard of Clairvaux and he wouldn't be the only one.

Many of these people got politically involved and it was quite wrong of them. But that doesn't nullify what they were preaching about the finished work of Christ. When you say about the poverty you must remember that they only felt that poverty was the outworking of the faith that they had.

If you they believe these things you show it by following Christ in humility and poverty. Wouldn't that be true. Well I and that's your privilege. I was sharing this with the person I would call a great uh quite a scholar and revival.

I was going through my lectures with him and we spent quite a few sessions together. And you know we take this revival from the bible. Oh that was reformation not revival that was was a a street movement not revival.

That was religious fervor by the time you and as I did in lecture seven different distinctions. You're getting the modern books of revival. By the time you've narrowed it down you you'll find that these people some have no place for revival at all.

Peter Waldo. Yes we're not sure of the fact but it may have been true. Well it's very difficult for us with our enlightenment today. I think that professor James Orr is perfectly right that there's a gradual development of revelation.

I think if we view things now take the doctrines of justification by faith only the authority of scripture the priesthood of all believers. You must remember that we've had centuries of enlightenment as evangelicals.

On this you could you could go to parts of the world today where God is working quite mightily and you'll probably find that they haven't got that concept as richly and deeply as we have it hasn't had time to develop but that it's a work of God.

You see the work of God can be a very real work of God. But because of the weakness of human constitution and the ignorance of our mind and what we've come from it takes a long time for them to come out of that.

Yes the the differences there would be. I think your point would be a stronger one. It's very difficult and this is the strongest thing I think that can be held against Bernard of Clairvaux the evidence would seem to be two things.

I think that a great weakness is is that he was seemingly in favor of persecution. But then what are you going to do with John Calvin. I always believed until I started these lectures that it was only servitors one man that he put caused to be put to death.

There's quite a number I discovered now. I think all of us here say Calvin was quite wrong to have used the arm of the law but that was his doctrine that the magistrates were appointed by God for the punishment of evil doers and to deny the deity of Christ is an evil thing to do.

So is therefore the arm of the law was right in putting them to death. I don't think it's anybody here that would believe in that today. But Calvin did. But I still yes yes say I even put him. I didn't have time to refer to him.

I put him down as yes. You see there was some of these men that started off very well and undoubtedly I think the initial the first signs was that there was a powerful work of God and they went wrong afterwards.

The other thing I was going to say about Bernard of Clairvaux was not merely that it seemed he was a persecutor. And how could a person that's so filled with the sweetness of Jesus still do atrocities.

Or at least be in favor of atrocities like that. I think it's because of the hardness of the times. But the other thing was is that very soon that movement became very legalistic and separate. You know what you called asceticism.

And I think that legalism asceticism is the end of all righteousness of life. But that's something that goes wrong afterwards is when you read what happens at the time you say how why were these people drawn to go through the through such hardships willing to travel so far.

Listen so much. You know I came to the conclusion this is a work of the Holy Spirit. No not not at no people. If yes you've caught it now. Do you know the famous kind of hymn you wrote is treatise on I am the way the truth and the we sing it today in the church of course where there is the way.

Without what is it without the way there is no going with it. There's truth. There is no knowing without the life there is no living. That was Bernard of Clairvaux that wrote that 10th century. Well so he did so he did.

Well but I try to say that that he takes that as the fruit of your faith. What you could never do with Bernard of Clairvaux. I think an examiner is that 10 up sometimes 10 ,000 a day would be found outside the monastery.

They will not come in because a man said you know if you take follow a humble way you'll get to him. Because they didn't follow the humble way he was teaching more than that but that was part of his teaching.

But you'll find some kind of emphasis or over emphasis or a weakness or not even a mention of certain things that we take for granted. Yes. Well I think you I think if the hymns are any expression of this theology and usually what a man preaches is what a man writes and what he believes what he sings what he worships is what he is.

You you have it there. I think so clearly expressed. You see I have a big now I'm not referring to you as an individual with some of my friends that knew this position and they won't have that these movements virtually come to the conclusion.

You know that until you had the 1859 revival that God didn't care about the millions in the world and we didn't have any movements of the spirit. Well quite obviously God is more active than that. They were admixed with error.

That I'll readily grant. But even in ourselves today I think if you look if you look at the various systems of theology between Calvinism and Arminianism I think we've got a hodgepodge. You know if absolute knowledge of all the truth as it is in Jesus then you've got a problem.

Yes read the whole verse. Why would you say that that's. And he probably did believe transfer. Why would you read it into that verse. We taste you see the whole hymn is on communion with God not going not not celebrating mass.

We taste the all thou living bread and long to feast upon thee. Still we drink of thee thou fountainhead and long our souls from thee to fill. Why do you think that's transubstantiation. I don't see the mass there.

That may. That may be true. That may be true. I'm not sure that transubstantiation was a strong a doctrine in the 10th century as it did become by by by the 16th by Luther by Luther's day. But even if it was absolute knowledge of all evangelical truth wouldn't be a prerequisite for the blessings of God or God was silent and inactive through all the dark ages from the death of the apostles till the time of the reformation in the 16th century.

To me that would be unthinkable. But I would be many that would adopt that and I think that's their privilege. I agree that I agree or more than no I must be. I think I must even encourage you that I'll admit something else.

There wouldn't be many evangelicals that would agree with 90 percent of what I've said in these lectures. And that's what I think there. Yes. Yes. Yes. But you see this is true. During the crusades you know we had great mixtures of men that could be very saintly and very cruel at the same time you say that's a contradiction and so it is.

But it is a fact. Yes. Well I that does. I I've tried to encourage you don't. You can do your own studies and feel feel that you can. I think what you said there is something I should just admit very openly a great number the overwhelming majority of evangelicals today would say I'm heretical to teach that what the church needs is another outpouring of the Holy Spirit because the whole doctrine today generally held by evangelicals the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost has never been withdrawn.

A Further Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Therefore there has been no subsequent outpourings of the Holy Spirit and linked with that is the teaching and I was sharing one of the students and give him a little handbook on it is that you have all of the Holy Spirit.

What's true of the church there. You have it all at Pentecost and no subsequent work also identified that was the teaching that believers have all of the Holy Spirit in their regeneration and there's no subsequent work of grace of the giving of the Spirit and I differ from that.

I think the Bible is quite clear but I think you're probably right probably 90 of evangelicals wouldn't agree to that and therefore they have no place in their theology and no expectation and no prayer life for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And this is why I think the church is as it is. I recognize I'm in a very much of a minority but it doesn't worry me too much. I get very grieved about the majority view and I can quite sympathize when we're in the faith today and we see all the truth as it is in Jesus the perfection of his offices prophet priest and king the authority and inerrancy of scripture we hold for today many of these men that they knew nothing about those truths.

And it's true even today you can have a person that comes out of an admixture of things and yet when you speak to them you know is this person got a real love for the Lord Jesus. It's a pity they've been tainted with all that background.

But I wouldn't want to damn them to hell. I was traveling with two men that were sent the adventists on the plane coming from America. They knew their doctrine. Strange enough I came to this conclusion when I questioned them.

I had no doubt these men believed implicitly that through the shedding of the blood of Jesus they were going to hell. Because of that I believe they were saved men. And yet you see when we spoke about the place of the law what they couldn't see that if they were consistent and logical they were not saved because they didn't believe that the blood of Jesus alone was sufficient.

There was the need of obeying the law and keeping of the Sabbath on the Saturday. But I think you have to overlook that in this case. Now I think you could meet another assembly Adventist who saw convinced about the Lord.

There's no time for the cross in the finished work of Christ. You might well conclude I don't think this man is even saved. It would differ with each case. Any other burning question. Well I hoped I thought I finished to the to the return of the worship of Jehovah.

I'd hoped that but I hadn't. So I'll move on very quickly until nine o 'clock on these characteristics of revival. I may have made this statement I was reflecting tonight. I don't know whether I'd used a general term that all these Bible revivals have these characteristics in common.

If I did say that I meant that in the sense that we say an exception only proves the rule. You might well turn to some of these Bible revivals that are enumerated as a sum of the points I've given in that outline.

You won't find them clearly in all the revivals. But it's a general thing these things are true. So to refresh your memory I suggested that in these revivals generally speaking they always came see I've used that word again always came.

That's the general rule in times of deep moral darkness and national depression. Again as a general rule there was always a human instrument God uses a person in revival. And we could have looked in some of the various unusual characters that God is you.

That's why I have included people like Martin of Tours Bernard of Clairvaux and and others that that would have been defective in some of their full evangelical interpretation. There was that place of the Word of God.

It's amazing how many times the Scriptures of God the Word of God. It was because God had spoken to them that there was this return to God in the time of great blessing. So we come then to the fourth point where they tell where I say we should start tonight.

Revival Produces a Return to the Worship of God

It resulted in a return to the worship of God. Now we could spend a long time going through these revivals. I've said the first point they were in times of apostasy it was when the people had turned away from God that God brought them back to himself.

If I wanted a classic illustration I'd go to 1 Kings chapter 18 where the whole nation was confused as to whether Baal or Jehovah was God. And there was the conflict on top of Mount Carmel. But at when God answered by fire the whole nation fell on their face and cried God he is the Lord.

Now we could spend a great time going through these historical revivals. And if you do find any books on these list of revivals it's interesting to find you know this that you find this this thrilling thing to me and an inexplicable thing this turning up to God.

I was speaking after the lecture I think last week you know the man who takes you in music what's his name. The brother. Yes you know he was been for many years was for many years the organist of Charlotte Chapel and elder there.

And he was reminding me of Joseph Kemp that in 1904 went down to the Welsh revival. He was telling me how much how many church members there were at Charlotte Chapel when he was the minister and I'd never been much larger than that.

I think he said something like 36 members and he went down to Wales in 1904 the Welsh revival and he caught fire. I don't think he knew that anything really drastic had happened to him. And he comes back to Charlotte Chapel and the crowds that came for his ministry that within so many months James was telling me that membership was over a thousand.

Now a church that jumped from about 36 people to over a thousand. You've got to explain nobody is turning out in a thousand today to hear the preaching of the gospel. But this is revival this return to the worship of God.

And unless there is this change of attitude towards God and the worship of God I think you've got to doubt whether there is a revival but where you do see a turning to God providing that it is the things of God being presented to them.

And it linked to this question again even though there may be certain things defective in the things preached certain amount of error I mean Luther never did get away from the doctrine of transubstantiation.

He changed it to consubstantiation. But the only difference is that whereas before as a Roman Catholic he believed that in the prayer of elevation it was called the benediction the lifting up the elevating of the forced it became actually the body and blood of the Lord.

At that point he changed that it only became the actual body and blood of the Lord as it was appropriated by faith. But he still believed it did did take a physical change it became the body and blood of the Lord.

But it was the worship again generalizing each of these revivals. And you get the reference of it so many times they turned away from idols. There's something in the heart of man that draws him away from the worship of God.

But he's not content to neglect God and the worship of God. He always turns to idols. In Old Testament times they were they were literal idols. I think today we've got other kinds of worship of idols in our society.

Revival Destroys Idolatry and Immorality

But certainly I think that of wealth and of leisure and of fame and things like that materialism in our society. This is what people are prepared prepared to pay any go to any lengths in order to achieve.

And revival changes the whole attitude. They just want to worship God. And there's a great destroying of idols. I wish you knew the experience of Eileen's father who went to lease through land. Total rejection of the gospel.

I think it was certainly the minimum of 12 years. It may have been 14 years without one convent. Now they were with idol worshipers. He had a special time of prayer with God again said Lord I'm an engineer.

When I build a bridge it works and I build a road it works. And I've come out here to be a missionary. And the gospel is not working. I'll make one tour of the villages again. And if the gospel doesn't work I'm going back to Britain.

But having made that covenant with God I think he'd largely forgotten it. Until he came to the first village and two men were waiting and they said Fraser we so thankful you've come says why. So we wanted to come to our village and preach to us again.

And there they were. The whole village was willing to turn to the Lord Jesus. The proof of it is he says will you burn your idols. Dada. Is there much worship of idols today in Liberia. Do the any of your people have idols.

Yes. Would there be people who have idols. Would they easily turn from those idols. They have a tremendous power. And if they would be afraid if they destroy their idols they'd be exposed to destruction.

Right. They would be exposed to punishment to destruction. Yes. So if you heard Dada that village after village till some 14 ,000 burned their idol. What would you think as a Christian. But when that happens that he is now says I believe in Jesus and I'll burn my idols.

Is that a big thing a fantastic thing. Or a small thing big thing. And this is what happens all the time in revivals and now modern idols in our society linked with that I'm making a distinction always when you've got idolatry you've got immorality.

I hope Dada didn't mind me using him. But coming from a culture where he knows that some people have literal idols I thought it'd be interesting to have his viewpoint always where you have idolatry you have immorality.

Not only do they turn from idols they turn from immorality. You see the Holy Spirit. Listen to this profound statement the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. When you have a believer advocating sin what Charles Wesley called the sin pleaders excusing sin countenancing sin.

You can quite sure there's something very defective about their experience. I'm not saying that everybody has to come to the same interpretation of sanctification but that there has to be a radical change of living of lifestyle when the Holy Spirit takes full possession that is inevitable because he is the Holy Spirit.

This is what made RW Dale of Birmingham say of course that beware of any revival that hasn't got an ethical content. Now some of you may be charismatic and only say this lovingly. I think one of the things to me that shows we are not in revival in this country at any part of the church in Britain at this moment is that sin is not dealt with in our society.

When the Holy Spirit is in the society sin is changed. I quoted the experience of a modern revival of Richard Weaver. I think it's a powerful thing. You know it's marvellous to read it in his book. He goes to the red light district of Cardiff as I told you in that great 1859 revival.

And there he said he could see the prostitutes at their windows crying not saved but couldn't go out onto the streets. There was some power checking them. Someone was teasing me about whales and rugby and I'm gonna keep off this subject.

I'll talk a long time but you must remember this. Listen in 19 it may be 1904. It may be 1905. Can you think of Cardiff Arms Park. People who go they say you know there's an electrical atmosphere when whales is playing Cardiff at the Cardiff Arms Park in 1905.

It may be 1904 forgotten which date it was the final. The game was cancelled. Not enough players to go out on the field and nobody interested in watching the match. Normally the trains that brought them down from the Rhondda Valley in thousands singing thousands going to the Cardiff Arms Park trains were pretty well empty hardly any quiet stations the trains passing.

Nobody was interested in going to a football match. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that rugby is sinful but when the Holy Spirit and don't shout amen so loudly when the Holy Spirit kind of dominates a nation they're not interested in frivolities.

That's the difference. Can you imagine if that's true of leisure like sport what it must do about downright sin. See. But we've lost that Isaiah 6 I would use as an illustration of that war is me. I'm undone a man of unclean lips in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

Exodus 33 when they'd they'd seen God remember earlier giving the law with tremendous signs and manifestation and glory. And then within 40 days Moses see them dancing naked and drunk to the shame of the nations to that golden car.

When in chapter 32 and then in chapter 33 you've got that encounter with the Lord. He prays that the nations might see that they were indeed the people of the Lord. There's a great turning of them back to the Lord or get away from their immorality.

In Numbers chapter 8 you see how you've got this great loathing amongst the people of their sin because of what God has been doing. I can't help thinking of Isaiah 52 and verse 11 be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.

And then I got a whole lot of information here. You can see the evidence of it here in two pages and I'll get through it in three seconds. There was a great return in these revivals to the offering of sacrifices.

Revival and the Centrality of Christ's Sacrifice

Blood sacrifices for the remission of their sins. And I'm not talking now just for the one sacrifice in the morning 9 a .m. the morning sacrifice and in the evening another lamb for the sin of the people the evening sacrifice.

In 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 6 we are told that the number of sacrifices that were offered in one day were beyond number. They couldn't be counted. In 2 Chronicles 15 lamb. We read that in one day they offered 700 cattle and 7 ,000 sheep and goats.