This sermon emphasizes the importance of sacrificial living and true devotion to God over material prosperity. It challenges believers to focus on eternal impact rather than temporary gains, highlighting the significance of selfless sacrifice and obedience in the Christian walk. The speaker warns against complacency and the danger of living a life without actively pursuing God's will, stressing the eternal consequences of neglecting spiritual growth and service.

Some people love God because he gives. They've got this wretched prosperity stuff. Paul's very clear, isn't he? Doesn't he say, right into Timothy there, that you'll come a day when people think that gain is godliness. Some of God's choicest saints don't have a shirt to change. Peter said in his day that our son will make merchandise of you. That couldn't be more true than the day in which we're living. Somebody said to a friend of mine recently, you might be doing some building for God. He said, listen, let me give you a word of advice. Don't build anything that will embarrass you in a few years. That's a very good point. I see God's money going in state-lived buildings and swimming pools and tennis courts and I want to vomit. There was Dr. Matthew McMahon who was writing about the precisionist. Do you remember the Puritan who would cut the word finely and rightly? He asked the question. These men, these precisionists that so accurately cut the word, we remember them 500 years since they died. Will anybody be talking about you and your ministry in 500 years? In 200 years will they be talking about it? And if they are, will it be simply to point to you as an example as to how to not preach the gospel? With a world starving, with a mission field needing money, Paul never galorized the gospel. It's a big, gory gospel. It's a bloody gospel. It's a sacrificial gospel. I believe the cardinal ethic of Christianity is sacrifice, not success, sacrifice. The most precious thing we ever handle is the human soul. There is only one way to heaven. There are a million ways to hell. What do you do to go to hell? Nothing. Just do nothing, that's all. You don't have to thumb your nose at God. You don't have to blaspheme the name of Jesus. You don't have to be adulterer. Just coast on. But the greatest sin in the world is not adultery. The greatest sin in the world is I can manage my life without God. That's the greatest thing. You say sometimes, I wonder God doesn't burden me. You know why? Because he can't trust you. That's why. You're not strong enough to carry the burden. A lot of you here this morning, you don't need more light. This lullaby will make it worse for you at the judgment. What you need is more obedience. Some of you have known for years what you should do and you have to hold back. Do you remember some of those awesome words Jesus said to the disciples? I've many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them. I say reverend the almighty God, don't say that to me at the judgment seat. Don't let me stand before John Wesley and Finney and all the great saints of the ages and say, Ravening, I've many things to tell you. You're so preoccupied with this. I couldn't get through to you. And if I could, you weren't mature enough to handle it. Five minutes inside eternity. I believe every one of us will wish that we'd sacrifice more, pray more, love more, sweat more, grieve more, weep more. Leonard Ravenhill, with the exception of the Charles Finney lab, that was a wonderful present.