Bible Study - 01/22/2023

The Great Awakening

1. Why study Church History?

To see how God has worked in his church in ages past, and how Christ has fulfilled his promise in Matt 16:18 that he would build his church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against her

To be encouraged and warned with the successes and failures of God’s people in the past

To further ‘grow in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God’ as Paul states in Ephesians 4:13 as we grow in our understanding 'of the faith once for all delivered to the saints’ Jude 3

Ultimately, we study church history to help us live as God’s people in the present.

If this study would be profitable to our own souls, we must ask the following questions, and not let it become simply an intellectual exercise:

What do these events reveal about God, Christ, and the building of His church in the earth?

What does Church History reveal about the many successes and failures of the church?

How does this study encourage, rebuke, and warn me as I seek to obey Christ and love EBC in the present day?

“I want to say that the Word as ministered in the manner and setting of other ages, without contemporary application, is doubly unsuited to our age, in that it speaks to a bygone age and therefore fails to speak to our own.” (page 61)

“The Word of God to have effect must be preached and taught contemporarily, not as an old-fashioned thing.” (page 65)

“We must not live in any other century, year, month or day than the present.” (page 66)

“The last thing in the world the Spirit of God will do is bless those living out of their own age.” (page 72)

“The truth is not the truth, however sound it be, if it is not made molten, fluid fire flowing into hearts by the living, present Spirit of Grace.” (page 72)

“The second principle is that the whole Word must be saturated in the living, up-to-date grace of God by His Spirit. For even if we teach the whole Word, but do so through the eyes and mind and outlook of other days, refusing to allow the living Spirit of God to make it shine in contemporary colours, then our teaching or preaching will be stale, flat and unprofitable. It will be the letter that kills, and our sermons will deserve to be the dullest things on earth.” (page 78)

Quotes from William Still in The Work of the Pastor, Chapter 3: Complete and Contemporary

Make a few brief comments that this does not negate our Confessional Standards. Rather, his point is that unless we take the theology and Scripture we know and apply it to our lives in the present day, the Word of God has not been mixed with faith, and therefore has not profited our souls.

2. How should we define ‘revival’? Is it Scriptural? How does it relate to the ‘ordinary’ means of grace? What are its attendant blessings and dangers? What should be our attitude to it?

Revival - a special work of God’s Spirit whereby He blesses the preaching of the Word to an unusually great degree, which results in painful searchings of conscience, great resistance from unbelievers, greater amounts of conversions, increased sanctification of believers, and subsequent growth of the Church; and this all to the glory of God through the Mediation of Jesus Christ.

Revival in this sense is Scriptural and historical. Perhaps the best example of it is Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. After being baptized or filled in a special measure by the Holy Spirit, he preaches in such power that Luke writes the hearers were ‘cut to the heart,’ and cried out, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And three thousand souls were converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revival is also historical. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote: ‘This is why I have always maintained that next to the reading of the Bible itself, to read the history of revivals is one of the most encouraging things that one can ever do.’ I would heartily recommend buying ‘Preaching and Preachers’ by Lloyd-Jones and reading the final chapter in the book, which recounts some of those remarkable stories.

Read Q&A 93 of our Baptist Catechism. The means of grace are called ‘ordinary’ because they do not involve mystical, inexplicable exercises to somehow discern the will of God ‘out there.’ Rather, they are ordinary means: reading, praying, partaking of the sacraments, preaching. Although they are ordinary, the Holy Spirit supernaturally accompanies them to regenerate and sanctify.

The nature of the case itself teaches us that revivals are unusual occurences. They do not occur regularly, and they are determined solely and chiefly by the Lordship of the Holy Spirit. Revivals cannot, and should not, be superficially created by man. We should not partake in ‘revival weeks’ as if we can manipulate God the Holy Spirit.

Scripture reveals, and our Confession teaches, that we are to avail ourselves of the ordinary means of grace with a diligent faith if we wish to know God more, love His people better, and serve our neighbors. Yet, God does not forbid us petitioning Him to send revival to His people. In fact, it is proper and necessary to pray for such in our own day. Who of us would not welcome a fresh breath from God the Spirit in our churches and in our land?

3. Dr. Godfrey spoke of the ‘triumph of the laity.’ What is the Scriptural relationship between a congregation and her pastor(s)? In other words, how does Scripture instruct us to treat one another in the context of the local church?

The congregation is to devote themselves to the Scriptural teaching and preaching, the administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of church discipline; all of which comes from or through our elders

The congregation is to give respect, honor, and cheerful obedience to the elders as they instruct our conscience in the gospel

Of course, the reciprocal of this is that elders are tasked with feeding, shepherding, and ruling the flock; and that in accordance with the Word of God

The congregation, as the result of the labors of our elders, is to be engaged in the work of the ministry. Ministry in the general sense is not confined to the pastorate. Rather, the pastors equip the saints for ministry (Ephesians 4:12)

In a church rightly ordered after the mind of Christ, the pastors will be on the lookout for false teachers and ravenous wolves who seek to devour Christ’s sheep. That work is specially given to the under-shepherds of Christ.

Nevertheless, Christ’s sheep always have a responsibility to be discerning. No pastor is exempt from the possibility of falling. When the Apostle Peter sinned in showing believing Jews preference to believing Gentiles, anybody would have been qualified to speak up and not follow in his sin. But, then again, who did? The Apostle Paul, who was specially tasked with caring for the flock of Christ.

Read LBCF 26.10