Leonard Ravenhill emphasizes the importance of measuring our lives by what we pour forth in service and sacrifice rather than by what we gain. He illustrates that true Christian ministry is rooted in love and sacrifice, not in success or recognition. Ravenhill challenges the modern church's focus on forgiveness and peace, urging believers to seek a deeper relationship with Christ that leads to true transformation and holiness. He highlights the necessity of separation from worldly influences and the call to live a sanctified life, which is marked by character and spiritual maturity. Ultimately, he calls for a return to offering Christ to the world, rather than mere religious experiences.

Now don't measure your life necessarily. If God gives you something, he gives you it as a stewardship, whatever it is. So you measure your life by loss and not by gain, not by the wine drunk. If you had a hundred guests and you had a costly French wine, I guess you don't drink wine, I don't, maybe you do, I don't know, but if you drank wine and you poured out a hundred cups of wine and some only sipped, some they coughed a whole lot, and one thing which you should never do, I understand. But if all the other people leave their wine half drunk, you don't measure the wine by the wine drunk, you measure it by the wine poured forth. You wanted them to have all that. If they don't take it, that's their responsibility, not yours. By the same token, if you have a ministry and they reject it, that's their responsibility, not yours. Gilmore went to Mongolia, he worked seven years and never saw a convert. Judson went to Burma and had about the same reaction. But you measure your life by loss and not by gain, not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth. For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice. I learn things very slowly, I admit that. But I've realized, really, the crux of the Christian life, the crux of Christian ministry, is not brilliance, is not knowledge, is not success as we know it, the crux of the whole thing is sacrifice. That's the center of God's love, sacrifice. He loved and he gave. God so loved the world, he gave. Christ loved the church and he gave himself for the church. We love the world, we'll give ourselves for the world. You can't do it theoretically, it has to be worked out. And you know what? When you make a sacrifice, you're the only one that feels the pain. Somebody else will pat you on the back and say, well done Joe, oh that was good Mary, I'm glad to go this. And maybe you go with a broken heart. God takes the very treasure out of your hands. And they say amen and you do all the suffering, that's all right. If you tell, look here, here are three people, this is Mary and this is Jill and this is Peggy, all right. And so, Mary, Jill and Peggy. Jill is in a meeting and they're singing a hymn. You know, draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord. And she starts weeping and she, yes Lord I mean that, if ever I meant it, I mean it, draw me nearer, nearer, nearer. And she discovers a couple of weeks after that Peggy that she's drunk coffee with every Tuesday morning for the last five years suddenly says, hey don't come today, it's not convenient and she drops her. And then a friend at the other side a few weeks after drops her off and she's just by herself. And then she wants to know why. Dr. Tozer said to me once, Len, Christians don't tell lies, they just go to church and sing them. And often we do. I mean, can God take, I mean, am I just standing up with a bunch, is there a herd instinct when we come to worship? You know, you sing a hymn like Charles Wesley, Jesus, lover of my soul. There's a phrase in there that always gets to me, thou, O Christ, art all I want. Is that right? Have I got my priorities as straight as that? Thou, O Christ, art all I want. Or a hymn that I think is maybe richer than that, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, I love that hymn, I fain would take my stand. And in the middle of it it says, I ask, nor the sunshine and the sunshine of thy face. You mean that? Do you mean you can stand up when everybody else frowns at you because he's smiling on you? And you'd rather have his smile and everybody's frown, and everybody's smile and his frown? I mean, am I really singing this? Am I really, in my heart, am I, or am I borrowing somebody's language to give me an emotional stir or make me feel good? Am I swearing my allegiance afresh to him? I ask, nor the sunshine, than the sunshine of thy face. Because that's just one level of a sanctified life. I bring nothing of the garbage of the world into this. I have so long been contaminated, my body, my mind, my spirit. I've so long been an agent of sin, that he says, now you make free from sin and you have your fruit unto holiness. Now I hear a lot about gifts of the Spirit. I don't hear too much about the fruit of the Spirit. I hear less about Romans 6, fruits unto holiness. I hear less of the great language of John the Baptist when he said, bring forth fruit, meat for repentance. You see, we don't stress that. We say to people, you just come up here and weep and tell the Lord you're sorry and say, Lord, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was in a meeting a while ago where a woman came to the altar, big, blonde, lovely lady, and she just fell down like a sack of potatoes. And somebody dealt with her for an hour and could get nowhere. And they said, Brother Ravenhill, can you help this lady? And as soon as I turned around, she said, I want to tell you something, Mr. Ravenhill. This is the fourteenth time I've come to an altar. And I've never been born again the way you talked about it this morning. I went to a famous Bible school, and in that Bible school, every year they had at least two revivals, and every revival I went to the altar, but I never got anywhere. Somebody just put their arm around my neck and said, Jesus loves you. Just say this, Lord be merciful to me. I said, everything's alright, He loves you. She said there was never any inward transformation. I'm convinced that modern evangelism does not preach being born again. It preaches forgiveness. It preaches heaven. It preaches peace of mind. If you read John Wesley's journal, and you should, you'll discover that he says over and over again, I went to so-and-so, and I offered men what? Forgiveness? No. Heaven? No. Peace of mind? No. Joy in the Lord? No. What did he offer them? He says, I went to so-and-so, and I offered men Christ. His brother Charles says in one of his hymns, my heart is full of Christ. I've quit asking people if they're saved. Everybody's saved these days. From Mr. Carter to Johnny Jenkins down serving liquor. Graham at his crusade the other week, and they said that many of the people who serve at the crab tables, and gambling, they're born again Christians. They see it as a way of life. Oh well, then people in massage parlors see it as a way of life. What's the difference? Sin's sin? You see, one thing about the sanctified life, it surely demands separation from the world, the flesh, and the devil in every way. Look what it's going to cost. What are you suggesting? It costs Jesus nothing to come from heaven? I've never heard anybody preach on the loneliness of God. Have you? Or have you even thought of it? God gave his son for 30 years. God was lonely. Had to pay a long while. Many times I've crossed the Atlantic and the boat hadn't left the dock before I was wishing I was back. In one sense, wishing I was back with my wife and children, though I knew I was going on a divine mission. It didn't alter the fact of my loneliness, my separation. And God has separated from his son for 30 years. Pretty long time. And God asks for separation. Don't take them out of the world, keep them from the evil one. John says, if a man loved the world, the love of a father is in him. Now you've got saved movie stars, you've got saved this, saved the others. Well, where in God's name is the separation? Come out and touch not the unclean thing. Well, then somebody says, you're trying to be a goody-goody. Well, I'd rather be a goody-goody than a rotty-rotty, wouldn't you? I mean, after all, if we're going in for the spiritual life, let's aim for the highest. Who wants to be? I never wanted to be the lowest in class at school, did you? Maybe you were there, you didn't want to be there, you struggled and strove and had some mental sweat and effort. God only had one standard. He says, the very God of peace sanctify you. Supposing I change the accent and say, sanctify you. See, we've got strange ideas of saints. You know, some people say, you know, I've been filled with the Spirit so long and walking with God. And one day they wake up and say, oh, oh, what's this on my pillow? Oh, my halo, it's come at last. I thought it would be here one morning when I woke up. You try and put your dress on, it won't fit. Say, oh, my wings are sprouting. My, I'm going to be an angel or a saint before long. I have ideas of saints that are so strange. Some of the greatest saints I know are the poorest. Some of the greatest saints I know are the richest. Some of the greatest saints I know are ignorant. Some of the greatest saints I know are just geniuses. I don't rate people according to all these little satellite things that we have, you know. As though you had a, where's my, my rubber, my eraser. Here's a man and let's say he is a saint, he's a saint and I know some saints. Now, this area here, all these satellites here are what usually we, we, we fix people in our mind. This people, man's extremely wealthy. This man's a genius. This man is a famous author. This man is something else. You know, that's, that's all pure nonsense. I want to know about the man's character. You see, that's all God is after in your life. That's why I said you can be sanctified, holy. It's your character is after. Now, now, charisma is all right, but charisma without character equals zero, nothing. You wouldn't get me go five yards to hear some of the modern charismatic men. Not when they're living with another man's wife. Or at least they've dumped the wife and living with another woman. I can give you a list of a whole bunch of them if you like. I'm not interested. I don't want to go hear a religious philosopher who spins a lot of yarns and gets me excited. And then you say, no, that's not his wife. I mean, no adultery, but they're incompatible. Well, isn't that what the sanctified life is all about? Look, you say, Miss Redding, can you tell me what really, give me a definition of really being filled with the spirit. What is the spiritual life? Well, number one, you're easy to live with. No amens, but it's still true. Maybe that guy heard me walking down the field there, but anyhow. Isn't that the proof of it? Now ask my sweetheart if I'm easy to live with. If I'm not, she'll tell you. And if my children were not walking with God, I would not want to rescue other people's children from hell. If mine were not right. The whole rottenness in the nation is due to this fact that the daddy and mummy in the home are not sanctified, and the home is not sanctified, and therefore corruption is spread. God is wanting sanctified fathers and mothers. You see, the idea to many people is this. Look, here we are, we're all together. Let's say this here, this is the, these are the steps. Going where? Well, let's put it this way. This is the upper room. All right? Here are the men. There are about 120 in the upper room. Now, with all the knowledge you have, tell me where six of them went. And when you've told me about six of them, where did the other 114 go? One, one, four. Did they all become apostles? Did they all become evangelists? Did they all become teachers? Did they even all speak in tongues? Did they all do miracles? But you'll hear from Tom Dicker Harry telling you in some meeting, praise God, you can be, I went to a banquet in New York, and the preacher says, Brother Abel's here, we're going to have a great meeting. I'm sure he'll preach on this or the other. And he said, I want you to know this. Listen, brother, you can go out of here another Wesley. You can go out of here another Finney. You can go out of here another somebody. Boy, he was handing, you know, five deck of crowns out before we ever started preaching. I said it was no good preaching now. They've all got a crown. Send them home. But this is what you can be. In 30 minutes or 50 minutes of preaching, you can be this, that and the other. That's pure nonsense. Everybody in the upper room did not become a superman spiritually. Well, if you disagree, prove it. Tell me where they went. You can tell me about Peter and John and one or two others, and after that you're finished. You can't even tell me where the 12 went. Never mind the rest of the bunch. You say, well, can you give me an answer? Yeah, I just found it about two weeks ago. I found it about two weeks ago. Aren't I dumb? You found this years ago maybe. Because there was a fellow, a very wonderful young man, only young. And his name was T-I-N-O-T-H-Y. A remarkable young man. Do you know what Bible school he went to? Do you remember what Paul says about him? He says, I remember the unfeigned faith, in other words, the pure faith which is in thee, which dwelt first in what? Thy grandmother who? Lois. All right, G. I don't mean the thousand dollars. That G is, thy grandmother Lois, and thy M, I'll just spell Eunice. E-U-N-I-C-E. It means you're nice. Eunice. So he says, the reason you're the young man you are is the godliness that was in your mother which has become spilled over. You see, so often we say, listen, remember this, whatsoever you sow you reap. But we always give it a rotten connotation. Don't we? Ooh, if you do that bad thing, it'll come back worse than ever. Well, that is what Jesus said. Whatsoever a man soweth, if you sow good, good will come back. Used to sing a hymn in Sunday school in England, sow truth if thou the truth would reap. You don't put carrot seeds in the ground and expect cabbages to come. You put one little seed in the ground and before long it's a stalk and then you get a long, long ear of corn. You didn't put one seed expecting one seed to come back. That would be nonsense. You expect at least, the very minimum production in your life and mine is what? Thirtyfold. And sixty, and eighty, or a hundred. No twenties, no tens. You get right up there with what the Lord expects. The very minimum is thirty percent anyhow. But you see, this young man had so listened to his mother Eunice and maybe he'd slip round the corner like I used to to my granny who sat in a corner by the chimney and she rocked and swayed and she was a real rock and roller and she used to sing, take time to be holy, speak off with thy Lord. All trust and obey. She was like a phonograph, you know. The old phonographs only had two hymns, one on each side and granny turned it over every day and I'd sneak in the back of the house and I'd sit and listen to her. She built a tabernacle. She had one of those enormous skirts, you know, aprons, you remember those great big coloured aprons and she'd take it and I don't know, she threw it over her head and then she used to get her arms in like this and she shut everything up and dear old Annie, her name was Annie, and my dear old granny Annie, she would sit in a chair and rock and for hours she'd sing, take time to be holy or some of those other great hymns. The influence of my grandmother came on my mother. The influence of my mother came on me. My daddy was a hellfire preacher. He wasn't an ordained preacher but he was a hellfire preacher and I thank God for my daddy but my mother's life influenced me more than my father's life. The mother has more time in the home. The husband goes in and out. My wife had a profound influence on our three boys. I'd be away six months at a time, sometimes ten months, sometimes, well, at least as long as ten months but her influence was so great on the family. So again, God isn't going to make you a superstar because you're filled with the spirit. Maybe he's going to drive you off here somewhere. You might become the wife of a farmer or some other thing. It doesn't alter the fact you need a holy life. It doesn't mean your life will be ineffective. We're to be sanctified and meet for the Master's use if that's the word of God said. But let's remember this, that this sanctified life, we get confused about it because you see people when you talk about holiness of life, they think, they say, well, watch, you know, you can't be faultless. Well, maybe you can't but on the other hand you can cure a lot of faults you have. I went to a church. I inherited a church. There was a woman who claimed to be the most spiritual woman in the church. She came in before I was there, before the previous pastor was there and when I was there, she came in at 20 minutes past 11 on the Lord's Day morning, Sabbath morning, just as I was getting up to preach. She's a big fat lump of a woman and she'd come down the aisle and we had chairs there, movable chairs, and she never sat on the thing. She pushed it over somehow and she disrupted every meeting. Somebody says they've talked to her and she won't answer it. I said, next Sunday morning, lock the doors. As soon as we stand up and sing the hymn before I preach, lock the doors. They did. When we went down to sanctification, it flipped a bit. She was quite angry. She said, the doors were locked. I said, sure, I ordered them locked. You ordered them locked, why? I said, it's the only way to teach you a lesson. You've been asked to come at the right time. You live by yourself. You only live up the hill. You don't have to take a bus. It's a convenience. You're lazy. And do you know what? It's going to be locked next Sunday when you come, and the Sunday after if you don't put things straight. It was merely a habit. Now, there are some habits that we can correct. There are some that we can't. Let's say about the sanctified life. Look, it is spiritual maturity. That's what it is. And spiritual maturity is, number one, it is a crisis and it is a process. Now, I outlined for you from the word of God to substantiate my argument. I outlined the beginning of this epistle to the Thessalonians. All these qualifications they had, elective of God and much assurance and missionary hearted and having joy in the Holy Ghost and suffering affliction. And yet, despite all those amazing qualifications which would make them saints in our eyes, the Apostle says, I'm still praying the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And to show it's not possible, impossible, in the next verse he says, faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Now, so sanctification is a crisis after a born again experience. You see, the weakness of modern interpretation of Pentecost is this, that their accent is power. With the holiness people, it is purity. They all need to come together for sure. But when Peter goes to the house of, pardon me, when Peter goes to Jerusalem, he's reporting about the working of God, the Spirit of God came on the Jews on the day of Pentecost, it came on the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. And Peter goes to Jerusalem to report to the big shots there who were in authority, and he says, let me tell you what happened about the house of Cornelius. Acts 15, 8 and 9 is the text, verses 8 and 9. Acts 15, verses 8 and 9. And he said, and God who knoweth the heart, and he knows yours and mine the same, God who knoweth the heart, bear them, that he means in the house of Cornelius, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us. And everybody says, well then they spoke in tongues. That's not what he's arguing about. He put no difference, he says, God who knoweth the heart, bear them witness there, in their room, just what he did in the upper room. God who knoweth the heart, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did to us in the upper room, and put no difference between us and them. Purifying their hearts by faith. You don't find Peter backsliding after Pentecost. His heart was pure. Now people say, let me condense it this way, I have five minutes to go, and I need another fifteen, but anyhow. I was in a certain meeting not long ago, and a man came in a beautiful, beautiful Cadillac, he was leaving the meeting, and a fellow said to me, you see that man leaving just now? I said yes. Do you know a few years ago, he ran round the town with women, he was a drunkard, he beat his wife, he gambled, he smoked, he drank, he did everything, and then God marvelously saved him. Somebody said to his wife, it must be very different living in your house now with your husband. He isn't out till two in the morning, he isn't chasing women, drinking, using his money on gambling, smoking, doing this, doing that, doing the other. Isn't it wonderful? The woman paused for a moment and said, let me put it this way, his habits have changed, but his disposition hasn't. Now, sanctification changes the disposition. Justification is legal, it changes my standing with God. Adoption changes my relationship, I'm brought into his family. Regeneration works on my heart. Sanctification again, you see, we've separated them unfortunately, they're two sides of the same coin. The argument of the holiness people is that the children of Israel were in Egypt, when they were in Egypt. Look, this is a fantastic thing. Listen, I only discovered this about two weeks ago. It hit me just, as we say, like a two by four. When the children of Israel were in Egypt, poor, lonely, despised, forgotten people. Here they were in Egypt. For argument, let's make it this way. Here's Egypt. Here's a promised land God wants them to have. They were in Egypt for 400 years, and yet God never gave them a tabernacle. He never gave them a priest. He never gave them a revelation. God wasn't going to set up his tabernacle in lousy, filthy, dirty, immoral Egypt. Come out and be separate. And yet somehow we think that we can just ask God to baptize us with the Spirit, make me a missionary, when I'm plagued inside with uncleanness, with vile temper, with secret lust, with ambition, with pride, with anger. God doesn't use polluted things. See, so many people can't fight the good fight of faith. We don't wrestle against principalities because we're wrestling with problems inside all the time, that we should have got rid of years ago. They had to come out of Egypt, and when they got out of Egypt, God said, now look, I'll tell you what, I'll give you a tabernacle, I'll give you a priesthood, I'll give you the message of redemption, but it didn't give them a thing for 400 years. That must have been a heartbreak. Now look, everybody here, whether I teach or somebody else, if you all sat under the same teaching for the next four years, you won't be all as mature in four years, because some of you don't have any ears, so you can't hear. Some of you have a ear, but you've got a stubbornness.