Centennial Anniversary - A Backward Glance

The tabernacle started in 1896 in a chapel in Montague Street. Charles Douglas Crouch did so for several reasons. It would have been really good to have had the opportunity to ask Pastor Crouch himself.

Good morning, young man. Have we met before? I think not. Good morning, Pastor Crouch.

Well, let me welcome you to my church. We welcome all who love Christ and believe the Bible. I don't think we've met before because I retired before you were... you retired before I was born.

And I was only six years old when you died. Well, what year is it? Ninety-seven. Eighteen ninety-seven.

So I'm 44 years of age and I've been a pastor for more than 20 years. And this is my fourth pastorate. Do you know I've built three church buildings? Amazing.

As we have the privilege of your company this morning, sir, may I ask you what principles you had in mind when you established the tabernacle? Well, I resigned from Christ Church Road Baptist Church at the end of 1895. My one aim was to follow Christ and unite with all who knew him by faith. I wanted to follow the doctrines and practices of the early church.

I wanted to break with all denominationalism. I believe that all followers of the Lord should reject all human names and authorities and recognize no head but Christ and accept no rule but the faith of the Bible. In this town, there is room for another church and people will always come to hear the preaching of the gospel.

I have never been without an audience when I've preached the gospel. You think that preaching is important then? Indeed I do, like my teacher Charles Spurgeon. The Bible has the most important message for the people during this generation.

I also believe that we should meet every week for a communion service to remind ourselves of the centrality of the death of Christ. Let me quote from one of my own sermons about the communion service. There are those that say that the bread and wine becomes the actual body and blood of Christ at the Lord's Supper.

I say to them that according to the Bible, we remember that Christ died for us and we take communion as a public memorial of the benefits which we have received through his broken body and shed blood as a declaration to the world of our sense of his infinite love and mercy to us. The broken bread represents the Redeemer's broken body. The wine symbolizes his shed blood.

The act of eating and drinking thereof testifies at once our personal belief in the fact of his death for us and our participation in its saving benefits. Thus it becomes both a precious means of grace and a permanent memorial of a great truth. The truth can never be forgotten for it shows forth the Lord's death till he comes.

So the death of Christ is central to our belief in life, is it? Yes, indeed. The Bible sets forth Christ as crucified for us, giving himself up for our redemption. The cross was the place where the Saviour made his one, all-perfect offering for sin.

Thank you very much, Pastor Crouch, for joining us this morning. Well, I can see Mr. G.J. Atwood. Come and join us, Mr. Atwood, in the pulpit.

You're quite familiar with it. Good morning, sir. Good morning, brother.

How nice to have you with us today. We're so pleased to welcome you to this service of celebration. You know how the tabernacle was established, on the truths of the gospel and the fellowship of all believers.

Yes, and how I agree with that. It is important in these days that we do maintain the truth of the gospel. People were very troubled by the millions of deaths in the Great War and have come back asking many questions.

Some have openly expressed doubts in the Bible. What sort of questions did they ask? A journalist calling himself Therax has been writing a column in the New Worthing Herald. It began in 1921.

He said, for example, that it was no good quoting from the Bible because the Bible is full of myths. Dear, dear. What sort of things? Well, I had to do something about it, so I decided to write a letter to the editor so that the evangelical position could be put before the people of the town.

So you believe that as pastor of the tabernacle, you should preach the truth from the pulpit and let the town know that the Bible is to be trusted. Yes, very much so. I'm grateful to God that the church grew during the years that followed.

There were nearly 400 members by the time I retired. Several people went to be missionaries in China and other places, including my own daughter. You yourself toured the Belgian Congo, didn't you, for six months? Yes.

And do you know that when I told the congregation at the tabernacle that I wanted to go to the Congo, they all stood up. That was genuine affirmation and a real expression of support. Thank you, Mr. Atwood.

Mr. Lant, I'm very honoured to meet you today. Good morning. Thank you very much.

Good morning, Mr. Hanson. Please call me John. May I call you Eric? No, I think not.

The pastor occupies a position which calls for respect. It's a very high calling to proclaim the gospel. Mr. Lant, you're right.

The gospel is God's truth. Now, Mr. Lant, you became a pastor of this church at a very difficult time, didn't you? Yes, it was at the beginning of the Second World War. Soon after I became pastor at the tabernacle, a bomb dropped one Sunday morning on the foyer.

It was before the service had started and, fortunately, nobody was hurt. The mess had to be cleared up before we began and it was difficult too because of the blackout and shortage of fuel to heat the church. A number of church members were away in the army and in the air force.

There were no visitors to the town and it was a very hard time. Well, after six years, the war ended and I suppose everybody was very pleased and things were much better. Of course, we were very glad that the fighting had stopped.

But the world was a frightened and confused place. Why was that? There were a number of things. Communism seemed to be spreading across the world, especially Eastern Europe.

The atom bomb was a great threat to the peace and the United Nations seemed to be without any genuine purpose or power. I was skeptical of the value of space exploration by Russia and the United States. The normal, the moral condition of the people called for a clear message from the Bible.

What did you see as the answer to all that? There is only one answer and that is for people to turn to Christ. You believe that preaching is important then? I do. From my heart and with every fibre of my being do I believe in preaching.

It is the chief function, I believe, of the pastor to preach from the Bible and to help the members of the congregation to understand it. Let me share briefly one of my sermons with you. One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return.

You and I as Christians are living in the blessed expectation of the coming of the Lord Jesus. Some of us will be alive when he comes. What is going to happen to this old body? We shall not sleep but we shall all be changed.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. How quick is the twinkling of an eye! Even though we be alive when the Saviour comes, the old body will not do. It is a new body, the gift of God to a redeemed people.

When God comes to wind up his purposes, he will do it in terms of Christ. Jesus is the centre of it all. It will be the coronation of the Lord Jesus.

I believe that the scriptures reveal that before God finishes with the planet of ours, he is going to give one final manifestation of Jesus. In that day the whole church will be there, revealed. The time is coming when Russian communism will be as outdated as feudalism.

But the church will never be outdated. The whole church in its resurrection body will be gathered together, the church of Christ worldwide and of every age, right down to the time of the apostles. The whole church worshipping him and saying, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.

Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and for ever. And he shall reign for ever and ever. Jesus on the throne and the whole church glorified, immortal and incorruptible.

Do you know yourself as a personal, as a redeemed person? Are you in the church today? And if you are in the church, what kind of a Christian are you? What kind of a witness are you in the world or in the home? What kind of ambassador am I now of the King of Kings? When did I last speak to another about Christ? Is my life at the behest of the King? Does Jesus reign completely in my life? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Van, for that very challenging word. Thank you for being with us this morning.

Now, Mr. Eric Land, in addition to being a fine preacher, had many talents. He was a musician. He played.

He sang. He was a very good sportsman. He won at everything he played.

He played for Sussex, not in cricket, but in bowls. And he was also a poet. And Miss Sheila Land, Mr. Eric Land's daughter, is going to read a poem to us called The New Jerusalem.

The poet tells of the wonder of the New Jerusalem, the glory of God who is there, and the longings of the believer to be there with their Saviour. The title of this poem is The New Jerusalem. We hail thee, New Jerusalem, fantastic to us yet.

No pain or death, no heaving sigh, no eyes with dew are wet. Dream city of the ages past. Thy wonder holds our gaze.

Angels keep guard before thy gates. Thy walls with jasper blaze. We seek thee, New Jerusalem.

We long to tread thy street, transparent as the purest glass, like gold beneath our feet. Foundations full of precious stones, sapphire and emerald green. Jacint, topaz, and amethyst, in which the Christ is seen.

We love thee, New Jerusalem, holy and full of light. The glory of our God is there. The Lamb dispels the night.

They are its temple. There we cease the fight for right and wrong. Its citizens are perfected, and sing the victory song.

We hail thee, New Jerusalem, come down from heaven, we pray. Break in upon this scene of death. Oh, come, eternal day.

We hunger for thy presence, Lord. We praise thee for thy grace. Now come and reign, triumphant king, and let us see thy face.

Now, after Barbara's read from the scriptures to us, our very own Tony Sargent, who's really alive, and he's not impersonating anybody. He's going to be himself, and he's going to lead the rest of the service. Well, I've been given the privilege of reading two glorious praise psalms for our 100th birthday of this beautiful church.

I don't think we've had a telegram from the Queen, but we have had a personal message from the king of kings in these psalms. Our first psalm is 150. Let us enjoy reading this, and will you join me in the last verse? Psalm 150.

Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power. Praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet.

Praise him with the harp and lyre. Praise him with tambourine and dancing. Praise him with the strings and flute.

Praise him with the clash of cymbals. Praise him with resounding cymbals. Verse 6. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Our second psalm is written up for you here. Psalm 100.

At the top, you'll notice it says, a psalm for giving thanks. We have many thanks to give our Lord today. So that as this is our motto text for the year, will you join me in the last verse again together? Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and praise his name. Verse 5. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thank you. ♪ All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him serve with merciful praise, For tell of him before his great joy.

Verse 6. That our aims in daylight we are his, For he doth us feed and for his sheep we die. Oh, enter then his gates with praise, Approach with joy his courts undue. Praise, Lord, and bless his name always, For it is in his own to do.

Verse 7. For while the Lord our God is good, His mercy is forever sure. His truth at all times firmly stood, And shall for ages endure. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, That are in heaven afar, Come, let earth from thee be praised, And glory evermore.

Amen. Do be seated. I'm sure when the last trumpet sounds, they'll be calling on one or two of the trumpeteers of the Tabernacle also to enhance the noise.

Psalm 100. One of the great psalms of the Old Testament and a fitting psalm for us to have placarded in front of us on this great and memorable Sunday as far as our church family is concerned. It's referred to by Charles Spurgeon as a psalm of universal praise.

Nothing can be more sublime this side of heaven, says the great preacher, than a large congregation singing this psalm. Isaac Watts and the people who compiled the Scottish Psalter, they too gave their own renderings so that whether you go north of the border or throughout England or to the Principality of Wales or on to the Emerald Isle, it has been the case that Psalm 100 has had quite an impact and influence on British Christian history. And if you were to read as I was earlier on this morning from one old Puritan preacher, he says that the 100th Psalm is like going into one of the vineyards of Eshcol and you stop and you take one of the clusters of grapes and you fondle it and you recognize the beauty of its texture.

But there's nothing to prohibit you from taking this food and from eating it for in this psalm there's good stuff, there's nourishment for you and for me. This is not forbidden fruit. This is something that is good for the soul.

It's a psalm of praise for the Lord is happy, the Creator is happy, the creation is happy and creatures like you and I can be happy because of the goodness of God. It's a psalm of poetry for it speaks of the Lord as a shepherd and you as sheep. It talks of the gates of the house of God and His courts ringing with praise.

It's also a psalm of prophecy for it bespeaks of a time in the Messianic era in which we live when all the earth shall glory in the salvation which God offers to the sons of Adam, Jew and Gentile. Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth worship the Lord with gladness. Well, I say it's appropriate for us today to stay our minds particularly upon this psalm because, well, as the authorized book of common prayer puts it as opposed to the updated one, it is meet, right and our bounden duty at all times and in all places to give thanks unto Thee, O Holy God.

And that's what we're doing, thanking the Lord for ten decades, for a century of unbroken witness in this hallowed sanctuary. One hundred years, it's a long time for a nonconformist church. Just before the turn of the century, Douglas Crouch who came here to Worthing advised not to do so by his senior pastor who he trained under in London, Charles Spurgeon, nonetheless came along.

And because the Baptist churches were going through a very critical time in their history at that particular stage, he stood alongside Charles Spurgeon who asked the Baptist pastors to sign a creedal statement acknowledging their indebtedness to the word of God and accepting its total inspiration. The conflict was known as a downgrade controversy, the downgrading of scripture. Spurgeon didn't like the ideas that were coming in from the continent and so he took his stance.

And down here on the south coast, Douglas Crouch came alongside Spurgeon, took his stand too and established an evangelical church as you've seen narrated and also presented to us visibly that is committed to its belief on the authority, in the authority of God's word. So, Douglas Crouch, if it was possible for us to plug into your convictions right now and ask us what to do as we reflect back upon your ministry, I'm sure that we could anticipate Crouch's reply would be, go to the old 100th and put the praise where it should be and give the credit where it is due. Worship the Lord.

Know that the Lord is good. Enter into his courts with thanksgiving and enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. And if you were to have contacted that gracious, somewhat deferential figure of the Reverend Atwood, a man who later in his life like Billy Graham would contract Parkinson's disease, a man who gave the tab a global vision, if you were to ask him where to go on an occasion like this, he too undoubtedly would say take them to the old 100th and praise the Lord.

And as for Eric Land, of whom I can make reference more personally, who would, when he wanted to show his pleasure towards you, call you boy, he would say, boy, the 100th, give the glory that is due to the Lord. Concentrate on him. And so it's quite right that this morning we should look at what has become the motto text of the tab for this year.

And there are three staccato statements made in that final verse. One, the Lord is good. Two, his love endures forever.

Three, his faithfulness continues through all generations. One, two, three with me. One, the Lord is good.

Two, his love endures forever. Three, his faithfulness continues throughout all generations. Well, because I'm a modern and not an ancient, I shift the metaphor from the grapes or from the vineyard of Eshkol.

And I suggest that you make this little phrase contemporary in terms of an illustration. For what it seems to me we have in front of us as we move into this day and move towards the end of the day is an opportunity for giving thanks, yes, but if you like in your mind to send up a few fireworks. You've seen them on Worthing Beach from time to time every year when the council thinks it can afford it.

We send our rockets into the sky. And when the rocket has reached its peak, that little flame from the end of the rocket bursts into 10,000 bits and pieces and the whole of the skyline is illuminated. So we light the blue paper and we send up the rocket.

The Lord is good. And you watch the word diffuse into a thousand blessings. Good? Well, the psalm will tell you the Lord is good in His providential dealings.

It is He who has made us. The Lord is good in His pastoral care. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

God was good at the beginning. He made the heavens and the earth and He said it is good. God was good when He sent Jesus into the world born as an infant in Bethlehem.

I speak with hesitancy in my voice not because of a lack of conviction but because it's something I can scarcely credit with my intellect. God was good at Calvary. When turning His back on the sun, He made it possible for your sins to be dealt with.

God was good in the resurrection. God was good at Pentecost. Oh, the goodness of our God, an ample goodness.

No wonder Isaac Watts, when he gave to the church new hymns in his day, a church which was not disposed towards receiving things that are new. No wonder when he translated this psalm, when he paraphrased it, he said of labor for God, hymns serve with mirth. God is happy.

The creation is happy. The creature is happy. Created men and women, born again of the Spirit, happy because of the goodness of God.

You see the firework? It's exploded. Now identify one of the colors. Identify one of the pieces yourselves with blessings you have received here.

Some of you 20 years ago, 30 years ago, you walked down this aisle, you made your vows to your husband, to your wife. Thank God for His goodness, for your children, for so many things that He has done for us down this last century. The goodness of God.

We light the touch paper. We see the rocket in the sky and we're amazed like Noah was amazed when he saw the rainbow, that the rocket leaves a trail of color and light, the blessings of God. The Lord is good.

His love endures forever. That word. However, in the original language is not the word agape, for that's Greek in any case and you would find that in the New Testament.

Here in the Hebrew, it is the word keseth and the authorized version is more accurate in one sense than the NIV. It is the mercy of the Lord that we look upon today and we thank God for it. We watch the rocket go into the sky and we see that trail of color and flame ablaze and we are grateful that there's a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea.

Do not glory in that attribute above every other attribute. A merciful God. Here comes a king who shuffles into the presence of the Lord from whom's pen many psalms have come.

But he's a different king. He's ashamed of himself. He's brought discredit to his nation.

But the Lord is merciful and deals with David in great grace. Here is a pig-smelling prodigal who comes back to his familiar homestead and you see a picture of a father rushing down the mountainside embracing the smelly boy and you get a picture of the kindness, the mercy of God. There's a wideness in his mercy.

There is infinite pardons granted for people who come with repentant hearts to the Lord. And that has ever been the gospel proclaimed from this pulpit. The goodness of God.

The mercy of God. It endures forever from vanishing point to vanishing point. You never encounter God apart from encountering him with this great attribute of mercy.

And we thank the Lord for the depths of his love. For the riches of his mercy. For the wonder of his compassion.

The goodness of the Lord. The mercy of the Lord. The faithfulness of the Lord.

Isn't that a wondrous thing to send up into the sky and to watch at night as it diffuses into a thousand interpretations? The faithfulness of God in every situation that confronts you. You may not always understand his providential dealings but behind even the frowning countenance there is a smiling face. He knows your sickness.

He knows the problems of advancing years. He's aware too of your unfaithfulness. But he remains the same.

The consistent, reliable God. Here are the synonyms from the Hebrew. Fidelity, firmness, stability.

But the best, speaking of faithfulness, his set office. His set office. You can't shift him from it.

This is where he glories in being. The faithful God. With him, says James, there is no shadow caused by turning.

The antonym of faithfulness in the biblical context is fickleness. And you don't find that in God. You find it in Old Testament characters even the greatest for the best of men are only men at best.

You find it in Abraham. You find it in Job. You find it in Peter when you move into the New Testament.

You find it in Paul. You find it in all these men and all these women. There is an essence of fickleness about us all.

We don't like the trait but it is there. But over against your fickleness is God's faithfulness. Over against your unreliability is his reliability.

And it's on the attributes of God that this pulpit has ever taken as its foundation to launch its message. The faithfulness of God to this church. Unbroken have been the Sundays this gospel has been proclaimed.

Year after year. Decade after decade. And what about the unity in this church? If not unique, it has been an unusual facet of the story of this Christian community.

The faithfulness of God to us in this respect. Sometimes in more recent years I speak of them not because they're better than others but because obviously I know them. And if Crouch or Atwood or Land were here they would speak of their years too for you can only speak of those that you have gone through.

We have known incredible examples of the faithfulness of God. Some of you remember Jim Skinner. I recall that man with tears in his eyes come out of that room.

One church meeting and give me a piece of paper and on the piece of paper was written a sum of money telling how in one fair swoop on a Sunday we had provided sufficient resources for our treasurers to buy up this land and these buildings alongside. I remember not so long ago challenging our elders that it would be a disgrace if the church at Maybridge which was in such a sorry condition should just move into obscurity. And in God's grace you enabled us to take the challenge and contemporaneously or consecutively rather with this service this morning if you'd gone out there you'd see a full church and a building that's paid for.

I give you two examples at the material level there are infinite numbers more at the spiritual level at the physical level of the faithfulness of our God. You see we sent up the rockets we see the diffusion of the colour at night as we are reminded of God's mercy towards us His goodness His faithfulness and you know the beloved Christ on what occasion in circumstances different from this but the principle is the same in as much as He was speaking to people who ought to be rejoicing in God and He said in His winsome fashion to those who were listening to Him if these children were not to cry out and praise God the very stones of the temple would take over and I feel that that's the same here today if we were in any sense reluctant to praise the Lord this building with this unique roof which is one of the reasons why there is a preservation order on this building would have to stand up cry out this inanimate building material to praise the Lord because within this sanctuary so many answers to prayer so many indications of God's grace have been witnessed Brothers and sisters I raise a triple toast to the God of heaven the inexhaustible fount the goodness of God we thank Him for it the overflowing stream the love of God we're indebted to Him for it the fathomless ocean the faithfulness of God how we bless Him let those refuse to sing who never knew our God but favorites of the heavenly King must spread His praise abroad so there we are three rockets which we send up into the heavens and we see their colors as they cascade into many many sub-indications of God's grace the Lord is good join me in saying it the Lord is good His love endures forever His faithfulness continues through all generations so within that goodness and that faithfulness and that example of almighty God we look from the past to the future but more of that this evening let's just bow our heads as we move into a period of devotion and further reflection for a little while time when we'll be bringing bread and wine to you and recollecting afresh the greatness of our God in sending our Lord Jesus into the world to die for us bread and wine not because you're members of the tab that's not that important in this context but because you love Jesus as your Lord and Savior you're grateful for His fidelity to you and the breath of God's mercy which has covered you and your sins so as these brothers bring this trace to you take the bread and wine retain them for a little while and then we'll eat and drink together in remember of our blessed Redeemer all the ladies singing and now the brothers