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Pure of Heart Shall See God
Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill (1907 - 1994). British-American evangelist, author, and revivalist born in Leeds, England. Converted at 14 in a Methodist revival, he trained at Cliff College, a Methodist Bible school, and was mentored by Samuel Chadwick. Ordained in the 1930s, he preached across England with the Faith Mission and held tent crusades, influenced by the Welsh Revival’s fervor. In 1950, he moved to the United States, later settling in Texas, where he ministered independently, focusing on prayer and repentance. Ravenhill authored books like Why Revival Tarries (1959) and Sodom Had No Bible, urging the church toward holiness. He spoke at major conferences, including with Youth for Christ, and mentored figures like David Wilkerson and Keith Green. Married to Martha Beaton in 1939, they had three sons, all in ministry. Known for his fiery sermons and late-night prayer meetings, he corresponded with A.W. Tozer and admired Charles Spurgeon. His writings and recordings, widely available online, emphasize spiritual awakening over institutional religion. Ravenhill’s call for revival continues to inspire evangelical movements globally.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the speaker discusses the current state of the world and how spiritual things are often overshadowed by worldly and sensational things. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and surrendering everything to Him. The speaker also mentions the judgment seat of Christ and the need for individuals to watch their steps and be prepared to stand before God alone. He shares a story of a young girl in China who faced persecution for her faith but remained steadfast in her witness for Jesus.
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Sermon Transcription
Turn now to the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, and chapter 5. In the 27th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, there's a story of the Apostle Paul on board a ship. When he got on the ship, he was the prisoner. When he got off the ship, he was the pilot. When he got on the ship, they scorned him. But remember, the ship ran into what they call in those days Euroclidan, which is about the greatest storm you could ever be in at sea. I crossed the Atlantic about 20 times, and about 16 times on boats. And once in mid-Atlantic, we got caught in a storm. When I got on that ship, the Queen Mary, it's a football field and a half long, 82,000 tons. I didn't think the thing would ever move. But when we got into mid-Atlantic, the Atlantic tossed about just like a cork. Everybody was sick and everybody was distressed. When Paul got onto that ship, it says they ran into a storm that lasted 14 days and 14 nights. There were no stars visible, no sun in the day, no moon in the night. Panic struck them. The seas were boiling, the sails were ripping, the spars were breaking, the women were screaming, the children were sick. Can you imagine 14 days? What would happen if in America the sun didn't appear for 14 days? There were no stars in the sky. Well, that's what they went through. All the toil and tribulation and all the navigation stunts that we have today. But remember, it says that because of the distressing situation, and because they couldn't do anything else, they threw the cargo overboard. And then they cut the lifeboats off. And then they threw all the possessions overboard. And then it says of the Apostle Paul, when all hope was gone, it was then he stood up and said, There stood by me an angel of God this night, whose I am and whom I serve. You see, they rejected a prophecy at the beginning of the voyage. He told them it was a disaster. What does a crazy preacher know? Listen, you better get with it if God talks with you. One of the most charming young men I've met in years, I met this past week. He'd been going to a Presbyterian church. Not everybody's like him, I guess. Anyhow, his dad is a multimillionaire. He has his own private car. He has a phone in it. He has everything he could desire. Got a wonderful wife. He's married to a multimillionaire. The wife, the father of the wife is a multimillionaire too. So they've got everything. Well, they have three lovely children. A fourth came along. And the sonogram showed that the new baby that was coming had no kidneys. It had Down's syndrome. It had a hole through its heart. The doctor said, Give up. Forget it. Now, he's one of those folks who don't believe in healing. You won't need till you need it. You'll ridicule it. Your seminary professor will tell you it isn't for the day. But boy, if he's dying, he'll ask for prayer. Forget it. Don't pray for him. What's good in contradicting God's will? He doesn't believe in healing. So what happened? They prayed for the child. Took it back to the doctor. He examined it again. No change. The child can't live. It has no kidneys. The child can't live. It has a hole through its heart. If it lives, it would be a freak. Forget your faith. You're nice people, sure enough. But don't stretch it too far. It's amazing they're afraid to overburden God. As though you can put a strain on omnipotence. Everybody said, listen, you're disgracing us. We're Presbyterians. We're not those fanatical Pentecostals or, you know, those half-Pentecostals called charismatics. They went back for the third time. The doctor came out from checking the baby up. He said, listen, I don't know what happened. He said, the baby's perfectly normal. The kidneys are there. The hole is healed. The child looks different. Have a baby. Boy, he never had the most beautiful baby. Of course, Lee's had one since. That's the latest edition. I mean, I don't say it's the last one with them, but it's the latest. But the baby's perfectly healed. The doctor said, I don't understand this. Listen, if you worship a God, then you can understand you're in trouble. God owes me no explanations. He's going to work everything out to the counsel of his own will. And sometimes when we won't believe, he takes us through the most painful ways. Oh yes, the Lord's my shepherd. He leadeth me by still waters and green pastures. That's okay, but when he leads you in the valley of the shadow of death, how do you stand it? That's the test. Anybody can live by green pastures and still waters. But what do you do when the walls go out, the roof comes in? Well, this is what this is all about. Let me hurry and read this, or you'll be here till breakfast time. Okay, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, chapter 5, pardon me. I mentioned the, the apostle being on that ship when all hope was gone. And he says, we threw out four anchors. And this is a day in which we're sailing into a storm. I had three different prophecies from people that don't know each other, that said, when Mr. Bush comes into power, there's going to be a period of four years of intense evil and trial, particularly for Christians. My neighbor was with, Billy Graham, no, our neighbor was with Dave Wilkerson two weeks ago. And the last prophecy David has made is that by October this year, the whole market is going to collapse. We're going to go into a state of chaos beyond anything we've ever known. So then if you don't have an anchor, you're in trouble. This fellow says, Paul says, we cast out four anchors and we wished for a day. Let me take the first anchor in chapter 5 verse 1. We know if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a doing of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. So you see, he has assurance. He has a home in heaven. He doesn't say that. He says, we have a home eternal in the heavens. So come hell or high waters, the point says. What does it matter? We have a home eternal in the heavens. You know, once you've got into heaven, five minutes after you've been in heaven, you'll wish you'd been more sacrificial, you'll wish you'd been more prayerful, you'll wish you'd been more spiritual, you'll wish you'd been more worldly. Do you know, do you know a place better than heaven? If you do, stick up your hand. I thought you were ignorant. Nobody raised their hand. What place is better than heaven? Earth. This hell hole, for this reason, while you're like this in mortality, at this side of the barrier, you have a chance to repay your life, you have a chance to sacrifice more, you have a chance to fast more, you have a chance to pray more. Once the thread of life snaps, whether it's on the narrow way that leads to destruction, or the broad way, that leads to destruction, or the narrow way. Once the thread of life breaks, between here and the judgment seat, there's no U-turn. You're making your score right now. Oh, heaven is beautiful. There's no tears. Who says so? The book of Revelation. It doesn't. Yes, it does. Give me the verse. You give me the verse. Okay. But what do you do with the other verse that says, He wipes away all tears from their eyes. When is that? Is it embarrassed believers, who suddenly wake up in eternity and say, Oh God, if you give me ten years on earth, I'd pray as I've never prayed, as fast as I've never prayed, I'd ask for vision I've never had. Is it appalling? I know these rascals who've been on TV and got messed up with women. Okay. Do you know what happened? The devil took them to the top of the pinnacle and said, jump down. And they did and crashed. They thought they could ride the storm on popularity and they can't. You see, the greatest minister, the greatest work this side of eternity, is ministering the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the most painful and it's the most profitable. It will give you more joy, it will give you more sorrow. You see, you've got the thrust in your hand. You are just as spiritual as you want to be. I know you've made vows you won't watch football. Did you watch it? Come on you guys, stick your hands up if you feel guilty. How many of you watched the whole, what do you call it, Superbowl? How many watched the Superbowl? Come on. One hand. Two. Come on the rest of you sinners. Three. Come on, be honest. You be honest. There's a judgment seat. Preacher, did you watch it all? Did you watch? Did you watch the Superbowl? Good for you. He's grown in grace since last year. Pardon? Oh, he checked the final score. What, 50 minutes before it finished? He said, we know if this earthly house were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Wait a minute. If you read through the writings of Paul, you discover that over and over again, he talks about that the ministry be not blamed. And he talks about the discipline that's needed in the ministry as well. Okay. Nobody suffered more than the Apostle Paul. What does he say in his catalog of sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11? He says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. Now, here's what he got. These are his wages. Five times I receive 40 stripes save one. What's 5 times 40? 200. Minus 5, 195. Well, look, the first time they put him into a whipping post, tied him to that post, there was a lictor's lash, which was a main piece of leather with at least five strands at the end. On the end of every strand, there was a pin, not made of metal. Yes, I mean, it was made of metal. It was made of copper. And copper is the most tearing sharp thing. Imagine, he gets 40 stripes and all the time that's happening, do you know what he's saying? Under his breath. Every time that lictor's lash came and clawed his back. And by the time he'd done, his back was like a massive jelly, like a ploughed field. And every time that rotten devilish thing came on him, do you know what he was saying under his breath? None of these things move me. He didn't say none of these things hurt me, but he said they don't move me. I don't change my attitude to God because things have gone bad. 195 times his lash. Well, the first time he had 40 stripes, I'm sure he counted down. But the second time his back was more tender, the third time he was worse. And each time he went, his back was more sore, and more sore, and more sore. So what? He'd already written to the Corinthians and said, at the end of the fourth chapter, We look not the things that are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. And every moment that thing tore his back, he was saying, this is going to pass. I have a home eternally in the heavens. Tear my body apart if you want, nor do I care. It's only temporary, it's only a few minutes. It won't last very long. You see, the last thing we want to talk about, particularly in America with all our comforts, is suffering. You know, it's one thing to get a good dose of salvation, and a good dose, if you like, of sanctification, get the anointing of the Spirit. But it's maintaining the fire that matters. This week I was turning it over in my mind. I love to go to the old Methodist hymn book. And here is the greatest man that ever lived after Jesus, as far as I'm concerned. The Apostle Paul, and yet he has the greatest catalogue of sufferings. John Wesley and Charles Wesley. Two of the most brilliant men that ever lived. They came onto the scene in a time of absolute death in Christianity in England. Every other shop was a gin shop. There was open immorality in the streets, when they had voting and so forth. And a bloody revolution swept over France. And the French people tossed the monarchy into the garbage can. They put up their standard liberty, fraternity and equality. And Leckie, a secular historian, not a Christian historian. And Leckie, a secular historian says, that terrible river of blood was going to engulf England. And then two men stood up. There weren't two, there were three. And the first wasn't Wesley, it was George Whitfield. And they proclaimed the everlasting gospel. They didn't talk about issues. They didn't talk about adultery. They didn't talk about drugs. They were opium men. What did they do? They preached the everlasting gospel. Today we're preaching trivia. We're preaching drugs. We're preaching about divorce. We're preaching about other things. But it's the eternal verities. Paul preached the whole counsel of God. And I say again, when Wesley came on the scene, it was a dramatic thing. Remember, he was the most religious man you could find in England. He's a reproduction of Nicodemus. He's a scholar and a gentleman. He belongs in the next highest family to the royal family. And he's already a very expert in religion. He could have recited the Apostles' Creed, the Belgian Creed, every other creed you like. He could have recited the 39 articles by Pearson, which is basic in the Church of England. There was hardly a thing he couldn't do. But he was still unsaved. He was still unborn. And Mrs. Wesley, that amazing woman, that had what, 29 children? No, 19 children. 29, it's gone up, inflation. 19 children. And they became one of the most amazing families in history. And one day she had a little book, and she gave it to Charles. She said, you read this thoroughly. Then pass it to John. And John read it, and it set him on fire. And then, after John read it, and Charles got it, and he said to a man sitting in the base of a window there, in Christ Church at Oxford, he said, George, read this. This is the best thing you'll ever read. If you want to know the life of God in the soul of man. You're not a Christian because you gave up smoking, because you joined a church, because you were baptized. All that happened when you got baptized was, you went in that tank of wet, a dry sinner, and you came out a wet sinner. You need more than that. You need to be born again of the Spirit of God. A supernatural working of the Spirit of God. So, it came to George, it came to John Wesley, it came to Charles Wesley, and it came also to George Whitfield. But listen, you've got John Wesley. Dear God, that man had more zeal when he wasn't saved, than we have when we are saved. Do you know he went to, he came to, he came over the Atlantic. It took him, you can do it in three hours now, if it's a good English play. Not American, they fall apart. If you're going to England, go in the Concord, it'll take you three hours. It took Wesley three months to come. In a ship, they wouldn't allow up a river these days. He came to Georgia, because he heard about Indians, who were deprived and forgotten and neglected. So, he came there to preach the Gospels, a very, very sincere Church of England minister. What happened? Well, there were no hotels, even McDonald's wasn't there. So, he ate what he could, he ate off berries, he slept in the mud, woke up in the morning, with his hair fastened in the mud, pulled one arm loose, pulled the other arm loose, pulled one leg loose, pulled the other leg loose, then stood up, brushed the snow off his body, he said, and I stood up and rejoiced, and sang the doxology. That's the man before he's saved. He had a zeal, and a compassion for those who are lost, and have such great need. But what does he do when he gets the anointing of the Spirit of God? That's the whole secret. How many times have you been to an altar and get a stir of it, and then a week after it's gone. You see, what Charles Wesley did was, set his brother's theology to music. So, Charles Wesley wrote to him, and it became a favourite of Wesley's, Give me the faith which can remove and sink the mountain to a plain. Give me the faith, which can remove and sink the mountain to a plain. Give me that childlike praying love, which longs to build thy house again. Thy love, let it my heart o'erpower, and all thy simple soul devour. Listen to him. Here's a man with a colossal intellect. Here's a man who has more genius about him than any man in England. Here is a man, who read his Bible in Spanish, read his Bible in English, read his Bible in French. He memorized scriptures, memorized so many things, he wasn't wasting time at all. He redeemed the time. Then he says, Enlarge, Enflame, and fill my heart. I had in the last five years, if you hit the devil, he will hit you back. In the last five years, about three strokes, and two heart attacks. They took me into a ward in the hospital, took me into a, I don't know what they did with me, all kinds of stupid things. And anyhow, the doctor came in, he said, you know that pain you had in your head, he said, we checked, and we thought maybe you had a growth in your head. But he said, don't trouble preacher, there is nothing in it. Well, that wasn't very nice. He took another test a few days after, and he said, pastor, preacher, you've got an enlarged heart. I said, praise God. What do you mean? I said, the psalmist was crying for one country, enlarge my heart, enlarge my heart. So I got one. So Wesley says, this man of vision, this man who had already crossed the Atlantic a couple of times at least, this man who sacrificed, sold what he had and gave it to the poor, sure he made money, just before he left England. Well, it was before that, it was 1942, when the Germans bombarded London, the whole of the Admiralty, the aristocrats, moved out of London to a city called Bath, which was founded in 55 BC by Julius Caesar. It's a very beautiful city. And, I forgot my connection there, what was I going to say? Okay. Oh, when I went to a school, the Admiralty were in a, in a very wonderful old grey granite building, big marvellous place. All the officers were there with a gold braid and all the rest of it. But you know, that was the building that Wesley put up in the 1700s. He built almshouses, he built homes for the poor, he put his money into Bibles, he put his money into hymn books, he put his money into supporting preachers. Listen, do you know what? In Wesley's day, when a man went home and said, well darling, I want to tell you something. What are you looking so happy about? I've been in a Methodist meeting. They were singing that hymn, the joyful news of sins forgiven, of health subdued and peace with heaven. And do you know what? No, no, don't tell me, don't tell me. Tell you what? Tell me you joined Wesley's travelling preachers? Well darling, I had to do. The way he presented the need and told me I'm a link between an eternal living God and a damnation of sinners. I told him, I'll sell my farm if need be, I want to be a preacher. But she said, darling you know that none of Wesley's preachers live to be more than 32 years of age. Dear God, our preachers don't get their mouths open till they're that age. And they're all looking forward to a pension. Most of them, I'll pension them off tomorrow. But you see, this man was a holy father. Enlarge, inflame and fill my heart with boundless charity divine. So shall I all my strength exert and love them with a zeal like thine and turn them to a pardoning God and quench their brands in Jesus' blood. You see, that's 200 years ago. Before we left Ireland, I went to a mission hall that may not be standing after the bombing in Belfast. It was about the size of the middle of this room. It was made of tin. When I went in the door, there's a picture behind the desk of a lady with lovely little curves and a lace choker collar. And it looked exactly like my mother. It was one of the most amazing women that Ireland's ever had. Amy Wilson Carmichael. A woman who got a one-way ticket to India. There's a new life on Amy Wilson Carmichael by, come on, where's my Irish wife? Yes, Elizabeth Elliot has written it and it's fabulous. You need to get it. Anyhow, she went, thank you dear, she went out to India. Do you know when she went, she had a curvature of the spine? Do you know the last three years of her life they lifted her in and out of bed? Come on you lazy guys, what do you do? I hear Tyson was fighting last week. I saw just one comment, somebody asked him, when you're not fighting what do you do? And he said, I do the same thing I do every time. When I'm fighting and not time, I'm up at four in the morning, I run so many miles and I just keep up the same diet. I must keep in condition. Come on dear God, do you keep in condition or do you keep alive because you come to meetings? Lots of Christians are not living in Christ, they're living on meetings, particularly sensational meetings. But Paul says, it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. You see this man on the Damascus road had an encounter with Jesus. You can listen to preaching and die listening to it. But nothing will happen till you have an encounter with Jesus. And that's why this man is so bold. You see a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. So that's why he throws this text to the people that I didn't read yet, but there it is. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away and all things have become new. He doesn't alter this, what I was saying here, let me go through it a minute. He says, of the Jews, five times received the eye for the stripes. And when they're tearing the flesh off his bag, he's saying, a light affliction? Dear God, let me read this to you for a minute. Here's what he suffered. Of the Jews, five times received the eye for the stripes, save one. Three times I was beat with rods. Once I was stoned. Wait a minute. He stood and said nothing. When young Stephen was stoned to death, he didn't interfere. But it's a moral universe. When he was being stoned, nobody helped him either. Can you imagine the first rock that hit young Stephen? We don't believe he was 20 years of age. And there is suffering for Christ's sake. And nobody went to help him. So when he comes back on Paul, nobody comes to help him. Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice or three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I was in the deep. In journeyings often. In perils of waters. In perils of robbers. In perils by my known countrymen. In perils by the heath. In perils by the city. In perils in the wilderness. In perils of the sea. In perils amongst false brethren. You know if that guy had been smart, he would have said, now look out, I've got seven books coming out on perils. Number one, perils of the deep. Perils of something. Isn't it amazing this guy wrote twelve, fourteen epistles if you give him Hebrews? And he never got a dime of reward? Can you imagine what he's going to get in eternity? And for all this suffering? It's easy to read Jesus led his lamb to the slaughter in church. But supposing persecution will come to America unless there's a revival. I'll guarantee you that. So young people, you better get anchored to something. Because before too long, well the option right now for America is concentrating prayer or praying concentration camps. If you hang on to Acts 4.12 that neither is there salvation in any other, you'll suffer for it before long. Isn't it amazing a guy's written, what did he write, these Satan's letters, what are they called? I can't hear. Satanic verses. The whole world is talking about it. The whole Islam world is raging mad against it. But dear God, when they sent a filthy, devilish, diabolical picture of Jesus, the last temptation, you didn't march the streets. Oh well, it's the last days. Come on, you are cowards. You should have marched through the street protesting. This is our redeemer. This is our savior. I don't think you have to get violent about it, but dear you God, you have to get vocal about it. Oh, you stand in church and sing, we're the whole realm of nature, mind, forget it. You won't give them an hour out of bed every morning. You won't give God his own day. You spend that Saturday or Sunday afternoon as if it was some other day. We're going to get narrowed down out of this. There's going to be circumstances before long that will divide the sheep from the goats. There will be more backsliding than any period in history. It doesn't matter what you do. This man hangs on to a piece of wood in the Mediterranean. He's bashed up against a rock. He says, I'll lie to affliction which is but for a moment. This isn't much. I've got a home eternal. I'm not going to heaven. I have a home eternal in the heavens. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to heaven for the weekend. I'm going to stay there forever and ever and rejoice in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that's not all. Then he adds this. In weariness, often in perils, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings, hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, nakedness. But either of those things is without. That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. You see, it doesn't matter what you do to his body. You can afflict him. You can tear his flesh. You can half starve him. He says, in weariness, in hunger, in painfulness. And he says, add them all up together. They're nothing compared to the agony of loving the church of Jesus Christ. You know again, I'm sorry that these wretched men have got the, they tell me, and I don't watch TV at night. They tell me that the comedians have had a great time joking about the wickedness of the PTL leader with that woman and Oral Roberts or Swaggard. And they've scorned and ridiculed and now, talk about evangelism. I have preachers come in my office. I say, what denomination are you? They burst into tears. I'm embarrassed to say I'm a Pentecostal. I said, some of the best saints I know are Pentecostals. But listen, when you finish arguing about pre-trib, post-trib, and mid-trib, nearly everybody agrees that we're living in the day of the Laodicean church. Listen fellas, if you're not happy, go out. If you're not serious, I am. I don't sweat and pray in blood to be laughed at. Kids in the streets in China today, a girl 14 years of age, I have a document on this. She went and was witnessing to people in the streets. She's 14 years, how old are you? 14? Yeah. Not far off. What about your buddy? Oh, he's 11, I should think. 15. Well, you should act as though you've grown up. So what, this girl's on the street. I've got a document on my desk that shows me about this girl, 14 years of age, witnessing. And the police came along in China and got all of her and gagged her and carried her to a place. And they beat her up and threatened her. And they cut the ropes and let her free. And she went back and witnessed on the same spot with tears pouring down her face. I'm glad to suffer for Jesus. At 14 years of age? It's staggering what's happening these days. That's not going to come on TV. It's not sensational enough. The spiritual things are not projected, only the carnal things. Paul says, well, here's one of these anchors. We have a home eternally in the heavens. It's not difficult to surrender everything when you really get a concept of the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died. Again, to go back to Amy Wilson Carmichael, for 30 odd years, she never went home to Ireland after she got out to India. And for the last 3 years of her life, they had to lift her out of bed because of her weakness. So what? Here she is with hundreds and hundreds of children that were going to be thrown in the rivers and she becomes mother to them. And Wesley said, give me the faith which can remove. Amy Wilson Carmichael says, give me a love that leads the way. A faith which nothing can dismay. A hope, not disappointments tired. A passion that will burn like fire. Let me not sink to be a cloud. Make me thy fuel, flame of God. Oh, what a good exciting meeting. Life is not just exciting, it's more than exciting if the indwelling Christ is there. And you get up each day with the presence of the Spirit of the Living God. Makes all the world of difference. So I'm going to skip over this now. Because he said, we have a home, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He's saying emphatically, he's emphasizing points in his life, but he brings us into it. In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 6, he says, we are confident, I say, to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord is better. Wherefore we labor, that whether we are present or absent, we are accepted of Him. Now listen to this awesome thing. He says, we must all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. I think it's, is it Montgomery Boyce or Boyce Montgomery, I have the book. Where is history going? I'll tell you where history is going. It's going to the judgment seat of Christ. And Paul says, knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord. You see we don't talk about that. Everything is loving and sweet and sugary. But there's no anger like the anger of God. Oh I like to sing Wesley's lovely hymn, gentle Jesus meet, forget it. That Jesus has come in, he's not gentle. It says in 2 Thessalonians 5, 2 Thessalonians in chapter 1, it says that Jesus is coming how? I can't find it here. He says he's coming from, to earth with 10,000 of his saints. Pardon? Yeah. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 7. Well can you imagine that? Wesley has a hymn in which he says, lo he comes with clouds descending, once for favour sinners slain. Thousand, thousand saints attending, swell the triumph of his praise. Listen, Jesus may talk to your heart tonight, you'll turn him off. You've got your own life. You're going to do something else. It's my life. It isn't if you're saved. The moment you are saved, you lost rights to your life. You lost rights to your career. You've no right to plan the future without him. He's coming once for every favour. You may obey or disobey Jesus Christ. I've got news for you. If you die and go to the grave, at the voice of the Son of God, everybody who's lived since Adam, is going to rise. No disobedience, no postponing it, no holding off, no saying I'm rich or wealthy, or I've done a lot of good, forget it. I'll tell you the last thing that Teddy Kennedy thinks, is he's going to stand before Jesus Christ. I give an account of the girl, that he was with that night, when she was drowned at Chappaquiddick. She didn't drown. For the simple reason, at the autopsy, there was no water in her lungs. She had air there. She died of asphyxiation. She had nothing in her lungs. She had a baby in her belly, whoever put that there. Do you think that this man, who paid off his religion, and got to the Pope, and got an absolution for his sin, does he ever think he's going to stand there, not as a Kennedy, but as a sinner, with a billion, billion people watching him. And every sin he's ever committed, is going to be read out to the record of God. And the same for everybody. Al Capone, it makes no difference what the Mafia's done, it's going to come up at the end. I'll tell you one thing, I'm not very smart, but I'll make a guess. I guess, there isn't one evangelical in the Mafia. Take the inference. What was it saying? We must all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. That we may give an account. You see, that's for a believer. The judgment seat of Christ, is for the believer. The great white throne of Revelation 20, is for the sinner. But in both cases, doesn't it say in Revelation 20, that heaven and earth passed away? Doesn't it say in the sixth chapter of Revelation, the kings of the earth, the great people, the merchants, the capitalists, the governors, everybody. It's the last round up, the cowboy said. I've been trying for ten years, to write a book on the judgment seat. I haven't got through the first part. But I cancelled all preaching this year, except maybe one place. And I'm going to give my time, to this awesome aspect, of the judgment seat of Christ. Listen fellows, you better watch your step. I may sound rude to you, but I'll tell you this. You won't have your daddy, you won't have your preacher, you won't have your wife, you won't have your husband. You're going to stand there. You say, I couldn't stand up before. Crowd, this is no crowd. When you talk about millions, and billions, and trillions, in the awesome majesty, the theatre of the universe. Not with gentle Jesus, meek and mild, but Jesus the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Jesus, the judge of judges. Jesus who needs no books of reference. Jesus who will give a total account, to you, reminding you, of the deeds that are in the body. Whatever they are. The great white throne, the father is there. Or some say, both will be there. But this is an aspect, that we don't hear much of, very often, do we? When did you last hear your preacher, preach on hell? When did you last preach on, what shall be the end of those, who obey not the gospel of God? You see, man has made such a hell of this world. God isn't going to let man into heaven. You know, people say, oh, oh, so and so died. That man has been a pain, in the neck of the last three preachers. He suddenly goes to heaven. If he got five minutes too long, in the sermon, Sunday morning, he sent a letter, or he called the pastor. How is that guy going to live in heaven, for a billion years, in the presence of God? He'd be brought to death. If you can't enjoy God in a meeting, you sure won't enjoy him after you die. His holy presence will be so stunning. It's going to be awesome. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. As in verse 18, Christ has given unto us, the ministry of reconciliation. And now in verse 20, he says we are ambassadors for Christ. In verse 3 of the next chapter, chapter 6, he says, giving no offense, that the ministry be not blamed. But we approve ourselves as ministers of God. Read that when you go home. By suffering, and long-suffering, and kindness, and so forth. And he goes through that awesome list again. But wait a minute. Paul says, listen to it. If any man be in Christ. Who is this? Is he a rookie? This is a man who's been in death oft. There may be another death worse than this. We read that in that eleventh chapter there, didn't we? He's not trying to show you how much he's suffered. You say, do I have to take this? No, but listen friend. There are some people in Russia today are taking this. There are young men your age, dying every day in Russia. You may come to, oh it won't happen in America. Listen, I happen to be a few years older than you. I happen to remember that Mussolini, no Stalin came up as the first of modern dictators. And it's said in Stalin's time, he liquidated about 6 million Jews, 6 million of his own people. Well, right after Stalin, Mussolini came. And folk began to preach about Mussolini, the revival of the Roman Empire. After Mussolini came in, then came Hitler. No, no, we're a military people, the people said in Germany. We'll never follow some dumb guy like Mussolini. But they got a man who was infinitely worse. And all these dictators have had their day. I don't know what the apostle meant altogether, and neither does anybody else for that matter. But I like what he says this. I skipped over it when we were reading. He says, I was in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, prisons more frequent, in dead soft. Look, I tell you in God's name, that covers acres of suffering. Many times in prison, many times facing death. Rescued at the very last moment, when he was gasping his words. And he didn't worry about it. He said, none of these things move me. And why do I worry? I have a home eternal in the heavens. If I die here, it's gain. I've nothing to lose. If I stay here, I'll explore more of the possibilities of grace. Why does he say, if any man being Christ, is throwing it in the face of the mightiest machine, military machine in the world, the Romans, the greatest intellectual powers in the world, the Greeks, the greatest religious groups in the world, the Jews. And he throws it in the face of all of them. Not only that, he throws it in the face of the world, the flesh and the devil. I don't care how corrupt a man is, he can be cleansed. I don't care how impure he is, he can be purified. I don't care how devilish he is, he can be made a saint. He says, if any man, anywhere, at any time, be in Christ. And there are two things he uses so often, in Christ, and Christ in you. If you come to my office, and you start telling me, you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or something else, I'll say, look me in the eye, and tell me this, does Christ live in you? Do you know not one person, not one preacher in 50 says yes? He tries to tell me the day was saved, and who preached, and what the text was. Forget it. If any man be in Christ. You see, Paul made up his mind, that the biggest, if I dare say, the biggest headache God ever had, the biggest challenge to God, was a man who was going down the Damascus road, breathing out threatenings. Read his record in Acts 26, where he's before a gripper, and he says, the man you're looking at, I persecuted the church of God, I tore families apart, I drove them out, I was totally evil. I hated this. Is it to the Galatians he said, I preach the faith now, that once I destroyed, he was the devil's best agent on earth, and he became Christ's greatest lover. No, he didn't end up in Romans 7. Forget what your preacher says. Oh, we make an excuse. You see, we're born depraved, and we've this, and we've that, and we've the other. Listen. I know what he says in Romans 7, but when he comes to the end, he says what? Who shall help me? Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? He has a sentence of death in himself. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Okay. The Romans were a pretty wicked crowd. I can't find any record, if you know any, Brother Jack, tell me. I don't find anywhere, where they ever crucified children. They crucified people. Sometimes they crucified them on a letter X, stretching a man's arms and legs on an X. Sometimes they crucified him on a tree with a big spike through it. They stuck him on it, and turned him round, and left him hanging. Sometimes they put him on a cross, the traditional cross like this, where his head was supported. Sometimes it was like a letter T, there was no support. But listen, when there's a malefactor going to be crucified, a wicked, then it was reserved only for the most wicked men. I preached to maybe 1600 people the other night, and I said to men, why don't you let God put to death that darling lust of yours, the pride, laziness, covetousness, sexual lust, put it to death. I said, in this congregation there's maybe 50 men, and you know that inwardly you're defeated. Oh, in the church you're a good guy. You give money, you're an officer in church. But when you're by yourself, and when you're in the world, you're a coward, and when you're alone, you're defeated, because of inward impurity. I said, I'm not going to sing, and ask you to come forward. I said, listen friend, and I said to you guys again, remember guys, you young guys, you're going to stand here before billions of people, with everybody looking on. I said, you won't be able to say, please, Lord Jesus, before you sentence me, ask them all to close their eyes. I'm very nervous and embarrassed. I said, listen, Jesus didn't say when he was going to go, go to close your eyes. You see that thief in front of me? You see this thief behind me? I'm embarrassed in this company. I said, I'm not going to ask you men. I said, right now, you know your inward defeat, you know appetite for God, you know passion for the Lord. The world can go to hell fire. You'll shriek and shout and get excited, a ball match. And you're deaf and dumb when it comes to the house of God. I said, I'm not going to sing. Right now, I won't move you emotionally. Go to hell if you want to go. I'll answer the opportunity now to get cleansed, delivered, be crucified with Christ and live. We're not going to sing, get up and come. Do you know there must have been a hundred Martha, well a hundred came or more. They came almost tramping on each other to the front and began to weep and seek God. You see the Bible says, behold, this is the accepted time, behold now, this is the day of salvation. If God knocks on your heart tonight and you don't invite him in, you'll knock at him and he won't answer. You don't have God on a string. You can't give up your dirty living when you want and skip into heaven on the prayer of somebody else. Jesus Christ gave all and therefore he demands all. So he says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. You get a new personality, you get a new heart, you get a new vocabulary, you get a new mind, you get new emotions. That is if he's born again of the Spirit of God. He doesn't get that by decision, coming to the front and going out and living as he likes. He has to let Jesus Christ take total control of his personality. Okay, so I say, you could be crucified on an axe, you could be crucified on a straight pole with a big spike through and thrown that way. There was another crucifixion which was worse of all and that was, if you murdered a man, they took that murdered man and tied him to the man who murdered him, strapped him, so then they stood him up and said, look, off you go. So there he is staggering with a body tied to him. He wakes up in the morning looking into those fishy eyes. By the end of the day the body smells. By the second day, it's worse. And he keeps going on like that and gradually, that stinking body takes over and it killed him. And he said, I have a body of sin in me. Oh no, we say, you get everything when you're born again. Well then, why did, why did Toplady, he wasn't a holiness preacher, Toplady wrote the hymn, Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me and you sing it often. Be of sin, the double cure. What's the double cure? Cleanse me from its guilt and power. You get Charles Wesley. Forgot the hymn he wrote. I know Toplady wrote that one. Oh love divine, oh love excelling, he wrote. Finish then thy new creation. There's hymn after hymn that we've sung and they, we sing them as easy as that, don't we? We don't think twice about them. They tell me almost every time a film wants a hymn, it's Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me. They sing one stanza. They don't sing the last stanza, while I draw this fleeting breath. When mine eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see beyond thy judgment throne. One of the most exciting hymns ever written, was written by a woman in America. It's called the Battle Hymn of the Republic. What does it say? My eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord. He's trampling what? Out the what? The grapes. Do you believe he's trampling out the grapes of wrath? Do you think we're going to stand there? He's going to draw his terrible sweep. He's going to stand before his judgment seat. We sing it at football matches or anywhere. We don't believe the half of the hymns we sing. And therefore, every meeting is an opportunity to escape from the wrath to come. And after that, let him victory. OK. I'm walking around with a body tied to me. A wretched, stinking body. I've had it a month. I wake up every morning. And there I look into the glassy eyes. I wake at night. There's that stinking corpse. I see a friend. Oh, I see my friend Jack. And he says, well then I'll cut you loose. So he cuts the ropes off my legs and hangs from the corpse. And just then a Roman centurion comes up and he says, what are you doing? Oh, I'm delivering my friend. Is that legal? He said, yes. On one condition. What is it? That we tie the body to you. You can't let him go because you like him. He was a good neighbor. Or he's a relative. The only way you can cut that stinking corpse from him is that we tie it on to you. Do you love your friend now? Oh, no, no, no, no. So Paul says, what do I do? I've kept the law blameless. I've observed the Sabbath. I've made the sacraments. I've made all the sacrifices. But this wretched thing hangs on. What shall I do? Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me? There is no deliverer. No, wait a minute. He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. And He is the only one who can deliver. Your good will won't do it. Your hatred of sin won't do it. Your resolve to lead a better life. How many times have you been to meetings, young meetings and others, and vowed you'd read your Bible more, vowed you'd pray more, vowed you'd give more tuition, and all your vows are at your feet in ashes tonight. I'll tell you what, once a man goes to the cross, really surveys that wondrous cross, something very glorious happens. I'm going to close quickly. I've quoted characters in history. Change history. When Wesleyan took over, England was born again. Everything was transformed. Do you know what cost, do you know why your tax took to your ears tonight? Because of one thing. S.I.N. Sin. We have to have jails, not for Christians. We have wars and rumors of wars, not by Christians. The most expensive thing in the world is sin. Selfishness. One of the young guys I was with this week, Martha, precious Martha and I got the last half hour. If I'd known Martha dearly at the beginning of the week, I'd have made a point of seeing that young guy. He's a brave young American. He made up his mind. Everybody's criticizing, what do you call him, Dan Ortego, is it? Nicaragua? In Nicaragua. I'll go and see him. He went to see him. And he said, I don't know how I got in, but God just opened the door and I got to spend an hour with him. And he said, he talked to me for a while, he said, listen, we watch your TV from America, it doesn't mean that much to us. You're Christian, you're evangelist, we're not interested in that stuff. Come here. He took him in a room, about thirty feet long, it was black, and on the wall were written names, all these Spanish names, maybe a hundred and fifty of them. And, I always forget names again. Dan Ortego, Dan Ortego said, look young man, you see all those names there, every one of those is a close personal friend of mine. And everyone with a line through us has died already for his country. You'll never win Central America until you're afraid to die for your country. There's an awful lot of truth in that, isn't it? Don't you say, I'd die for Jesus, you won't even fast for Him. You won't even turn off that damnable TV, you can watch it for hours, and you don't worship Him. Do you think that makes Him happy? Because you put an extra buck in the missionary offering? Last night I talked with our precious son in South America, David, Paul. I think one of the greatest guys living today. He's living in that hell hole which is a combination of Roman Catholicism and Voodooism. He's a thousand hardships we don't think about. And I said to him, Arthur said to him, what about so and so? Oh, he said, that young, brilliant young man, I think he's a, is he New Zealander? Anyhow, he's been in England for a few months. And he said, he came back, and while he was in England, I think he actually met this lady, what's her name? Jackie Pullinger. Have you ever heard of her? Well, in Tokyo, you know about the Great Wall of China. I went to Tokyo once, didn't stay that long, three or four days. But in Tokyo, there's a walled area, which is still an original part of England. But now it's taken over by the gangsters, the crime. Everything is, that you have in America and London, is intensified, it's deeper, it's filthier, it's more arrogant. It's a bloody area. It's an area where almost every man you meet has killed somebody. And here's this precious English lady. She got tired of conventional Christianity. Do you ever get sick of it? But here's a little brave woman, living inside that wall, in that closed area around Hong Kong. I call her the Mother Teresa of the Evangelicals. Mother Teresa. And I've been in that lousy, wicked, vile city of Calcutta. You can see kiddies in the street, lepers in the street. Going to the train station, you have to tip to all the bodies, because that's their hotel. If you don't get protection, there's no protection. So Mother Teresa, at least 12 times a day, maybe 20, she cradles a dying, stinking form, where people have hardly any cheeks. There are lepers there. And bless the woman, Mother Teresa gets down and cradles them in her arms and talks to them, and talks about Jesus. But what good does it do? This woman is leading people to Christ. She's not comforting them the last five minutes before they die. She's given her life for that. Forget about going to a foreign country. Young people come to my office. We're just back from the Philippines, one young lady said. 20 of us went from our church. What did you do? Could you speak the language? No, but we smiled and told them Jesus loved them and he gave them a track below me. Go live there. People are not waiting for a guidepost that points the way. They're looking for a guide to lead them. You see that's why I like this blessed man, the Apostle Paul. He glories in tribulation. What does he say? I glory in tribulation, in necessities, in reproaches, in that sinning. Everything everybody else runs away from, he embraces it. That's what I call worship. When you can take something that's so objectable to others, and it's pure and good, and you can embrace it, that's worship. It's more than clapping your hands and gazing up in the sky, vacantly. It's taking up your cross and following him. It's easy isn't it, to stand and sing. Were the whole realm of nature mine, that would have present far too small. You're not impressing anybody, neither God, nor anybody else. You see, what it's going to take to turn America around, is some role models. That's why I love that team of men I was with last week. Boy, when you look at those guys, could all be earning vast sums of money, and they're living in a poor state. They've taken vows almost of poverty, vows of discipline, vows of purity, and they're not in a monastery. They're rubbing shoulders with the world, during the week. I tell you that, that's the most enjoyable week I've had for a number of years. That these young guys, on the edge of a career, that could make them multi-millionaires, say no, we're going to spend our time in prayer. Do you know, one pastor there, I've told you, they have three prayer meetings every day. Three hour, three two hour prayer meetings. And they're going to start having a night of prayer. And one of the pastors there, for five years, has not missed one day of prayer in that sanctuary. So they're getting welded together. I believe they're going to see the glory of God. I believe they're going to see resurrection life, and resurrection power. This much is very sure, without trying to be a prophet, or the son of a prophet. What we've had of so-called Christianity in America, in England, in the last five years, 25 years, that's another thing for us. This young man from England this week says, boy, you think things are bad here. In England, they smoke, they drink. I had a woman, a man came in my office not long ago. I said, how's your sister? My sister, she's furious. She's blazing mad. Well, that's a change. She was only mad last time I heard about her. She's angry, she's blazing mad. Why? She's trying to join the Jehovah's Witnesses, and they won't let her. She's been for three years knocking on their door. You can't come in. Why? You stink. She smokes. You can't be a Jehovah's Witness and smoke. You can be a Baptist and smoke. Maybe a Pentecostal and smoke, I don't know. Isn't it amazing that lots of these people have more discipline than we have? More concern? If any man being Christ, that includes you, it includes me. I'd love to write a book on people I've seen transformed by the power of God. Come from death unto life. When you're dead, this book doesn't mean a thing. But when you come alive, it's a series of love letters. You're brewed over them. He means me. Christ loved the church, gave himself for the church, but he loved me and gave himself for me, says Paul. And because of that, what can I do? I like the great American hymn, My faith looks up to thee. One stanza says, As thou hast died for me, so may my love to thee pure, warm and changeless be. People in love don't have a world called sacrifice in their vocabulary. You don't sacrifice if you love a person. You see, true love thinks of the ultimate pleasure of the one it loves. And the only reason you're on earth tonight is to give pleasure to God. How much pleasure do you give him every day? Ask it at the end of the day. Lord Jesus, have I given you pleasure today? Haven't I spent time? And he says, How many hours do you spend before TV? Three or four hours. How much time in prayer? Three minutes. So does that make God happy? Where do you get your pleasure? Oh, I laughed at some stupid half-witted guy on TV. You know, these girls with faces like angels and models like alley cats. They're our heroes today. They get millions of dollars. And the devil's got the whole world in his grip. And it's not preaching alone that's going to transform it. It has to be that your life and mine is so possessed by God that we live and move and have our being. We're new creatures. You don't curse anymore. You don't think evil anymore. You don't do wrong anymore. You're a new creation. And once that happens people will ask, Why are you different? Why is your temper gone? Why is your pride gone? Why are you so different? Oh no, I'm not going through some regimentation of church. Christ is invading my personality. He dwells in me. And because of that I'm a new creation. I have a new heart, a new spirit, new desires. And life is so joyous. Sure there'll be more tears. Jesus is a man of sorrows. And he'll give you the joy of the Lord. He'll also give you the burden of the Lord. You see, you young folk can do more than us older folk. There's not much respect for old age anymore. Not that I care a hill of beans about that. But you see, you've got these young people like this woman there in China. Pardon me, in Hong Kong. This young girl, 14, in China. Other countries are sending us stories now that simply raise my hair. You see, we're trying to evangelize. A guy today said, Send us money, we want to evangelize the world. His own city's going to hell. He's just being caught in immorality. Send me money to evangelize China. Listen brother, turn your own city upside down, then tell the people what to do in China. We've got our people blazing with the love of God that sacrifice isn't even mentioned. It's a privilege to carry the burden of the Lord. Paul says, That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. It's more than having my back skinned. It's more than suffering a night and a day in the deep. It's more than weariness and painfulness. And then I do it joyfully as unto the Lord. Were the whole realm of nature mine, it were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, and my all. I could say some more, but I won't. And I'm certainly going to sing and get you all emotional. You know your failure. You know that besetting sin. You know that pride in there. You know that secret lust. You know that laziness after God. You're just a nice little calm Sunday school teacher, decent guy, gives an offering. That isn't what Christ wants. He wants the sum total of your personality, your spirit, your soul and your body. And he wants to be in control of the whole thing. I remember as a youth leader, I'd read David Brainard's life, I got excited about it. I lived on the edge of Sherwood Forest, the northern part in England. I took my mother's doggy at night and tied it to the stump of the tree and I spent hours in prayer alone. I got up Sunday morning and I lived furthest from church than anybody else. I lived on the perimeter of the city. I went into the woods to pray. Then I went to a team of young people that met Friday nights at seven and prayed till nine. We met Sunday morning at seven and prayed till eight. And that really set us going. It ignited us. When I read about this young American who could kneel in the snow up to his chin and pray and weep and travel. When he sneezed, your thing sort of spread the snow with blood and it was his sneezing. He'd broken a part of his lungs. If he coughed, he spit out what looked like a rosebud. It was a part of his lungs. He died almost at 28 years of age. What happened? Why does God waste a life like that? He didn't. Let me read the sentence in a minute. Okay, here's a man dying. His darling sweetheart looks at him. His diary is written by his prospective father-in-law, Jonathan Edwards. Okay. Almost 200 years afterwards, there's a young man in England by the name of William Carey. He read the life of David Brainerd. Because he read the life of David Brainerd, he gave his life to God and he became the first missionary, the first Baptist missionary too, to go to India. To go to India. Right after that, there was a young Englishman, the most brilliant student in England, by the name of, let me see, Henry Martin. Henry Martin was a senior wrangler in the university. He carried off the Smith Prize at 20 years of age. He had a colossal intellect. If he stayed in politics, he would have become the Prime Minister of England. If he stayed in religion, he would have become the Archbishop of Canterbury, no doubt. Well, he was a product of a man by the name of Charles Simeon. The revived Londoner Wesley's didn't do a thing for Cambridge University. Did something for Oxford, not Cambridge. Why? Because Charles Simeon was in a church there and he so preached the gospel and so made people realise it's not a case of confessing sin, get rid of your lousy sins, let Christ invade you, take full control and do as he likes with you. So what happened? The deacons, under this intense preaching, the deacons ripped all the seats out of the church and stored them up in the churchyard and Simeon went on preaching till God came, the glory came. They'd boarded the church up, they had to take the boards down. Simeon went on preaching. Students began to come. One of them was Henry Martin. He listened to this God intoxicated man. This man who wept over the students, you're wasting money, you're wasting your time, you're wasting your life. You may as well not have eyes. And he was marvellously changed by the power of God. So what happened? When God got hold of him, he left Cambridge, he went to India, he got a Bible, I think it was the Greek New Testament, translated it, used his brains for God, he translated the Greek New Testament into Hindustani. And when he finished that, he took a boat half way across the world, went to Cairo in Egypt and he worked on the same Greek Testament and translated the New Testament into Arabic, a more difficult language. Alright, the last thing. I should have said a bit before. Okay. People are criticising the church today. The church, she's got nothing. She's a preacher's stink. The people are just as worldly, the women are just as worldly. People belong in clubs. People are selfish as anybody else. They're greedy for money. They're bad tempered. I don't see any difference in the Christian. Wait a minute. I don't care a hill of beans what the world says in one sense. But Jesus died to save us. I love that hymn. We'll sing it sometime maybe. The church is one foundation. Remember that hymn? Is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water and the word from heaven he came and sought her to be his holy. What? Bride. With his own blood he bought her and for her life he died. Okay. And that same Jesus says of the church in the Laodicean period that you and I are living in. This is what he says of the church he died for. She is poor, wretched, naked, blind and miserable. Okay. Our princes in England want to get married in Westminster Abbey. Three thousand people in the world have chosen out of all the billions. And they sit in that place. Above the, what they call the high altar there's an organ there, multi-million dollar organ. There's a guy there and he's sitting there he's going to pip pip pip here comes the bride, here comes the bride. You know some of you ladies heard that and enjoyed it. But he says listen I can't see when the royal carriage comes. What happens? Well there are men there with big trumpets a fanfare. Six of them. And when the royal carriage pulls up in front of the cathedral they'll pipe and as soon as you hear that you press those keys here comes the bride, here comes the bride. So the trumpets sound. This fellow suddenly starts speaking out here comes the bride. At that very moment a woman comes through the gates the doors of Westminster Abbey she's stark naked she hasn't a stitch she hasn't been bathed for weeks. She stinks. And she's stark naked and she's blind. And she rushes and crashes into a pew and cuts her leg she's all bloody and she rubs it and then oh dear. And then she goes tearing down the aisle and one of the soldiers grabs her and says what are you doing here you stinking wretch? She says I'm the bride. Bride? Can you see what you're doing? No I'm blind. And you're stark naked lady and you stink like a hog. Are you telling me Jesus Christ the Son of God went through the agony of Gethsemane and the hell of the cross and descended into the depths and came back again is that the bride he's coming for? What if you were in that dirty movie house last night? Or somewhere else? Do you think he's going to search the city to find out where you are? You're not going to get one minutes notice to get cleaned up? If you really believe in the immediate rapture it means you're living in purity because he that hath this hope in him purifies himself. If you're not living in purity you don't live it. It doesn't mean a thing you're contradicting it. That's why I cried day and night Dear God Jesus you can't come tonight. Sure you can come to the church in South America. People go to a youth meeting Friday night they stay all night pray all night pray all Saturday pray all Saturday night and the house is filled with the glory and these are teenagers some of them ten and twenty thousand they don't need some stinking Christian rock music rot music should be they're so in love with Christ they've been so transformed they've been so delivered from heathenism they're so marvellously liberated from bondage they want to stay all night and worship. Jesus Christ is coming I'm sure of that. But he's not giving America a month's notice. Look either we have a Holy Ghost revived in the next ten years or you forget all about the future of America and England there won't be one. The destiny of America is not hanging on the White House it's hanging on the God's house. He that hath this hope in him purifies himself. Are you pure tonight? Only the pure in heart see God. Not just when we die but even now. Fellowship with him is supersedes anything you've ever dreamed of. What's the body of sin? Is it a bad temper? Is it secret lust? Is it lust for money? Is it lust for power? What is it? What's the body of sin that's tied to you today? I can't do a thing. There's no magic in coming here though if it held true it's worth coming. You can go home and I was going to say have it out with God let us read together. Read Romans chapter 6 tell him you want to enter and to be crucified with Christ. You see it all happened when Paul said I am crucified with Christ. He didn't die saying it is sin that dwelleth in me. He died saying it's not I it's Christ that liveth in me. And Christ does not live in some lousy dirty heart dirty mind, dirty spirit. He wants to live in the hearts of those who are pure. The only way to get purified is to get rid of the dirty old man that lives in there. And let him come and live in all his purity. Father I thank you for the privilege of sharing these thoughts with these dear people tonight. Lord we are very conscious all of us are clamming for our finals. Before long we are going to have to stand and give an account for the deeds that are in the body. We realize at that moment it won't be any excuse that we were too busy to pray too busy to testify too busy to sacrifice. We look so ridiculous at your throne when we stand there with the martyrs with the apostle Paul Lord God have mercy on us. You've been so patient with us we've made our vows and we haven't kept them. We started all sorts of things spiritual and never finished. Lord I pray that somewhere in some bedroom tonight somebody will get through to victory get totally delivered abandon themselves cancel their own plans and let Jesus Christ be Lord of all and Lord in all.
Pure of Heart Shall See God
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Leonard Ravenhill (1907 - 1994). British-American evangelist, author, and revivalist born in Leeds, England. Converted at 14 in a Methodist revival, he trained at Cliff College, a Methodist Bible school, and was mentored by Samuel Chadwick. Ordained in the 1930s, he preached across England with the Faith Mission and held tent crusades, influenced by the Welsh Revival’s fervor. In 1950, he moved to the United States, later settling in Texas, where he ministered independently, focusing on prayer and repentance. Ravenhill authored books like Why Revival Tarries (1959) and Sodom Had No Bible, urging the church toward holiness. He spoke at major conferences, including with Youth for Christ, and mentored figures like David Wilkerson and Keith Green. Married to Martha Beaton in 1939, they had three sons, all in ministry. Known for his fiery sermons and late-night prayer meetings, he corresponded with A.W. Tozer and admired Charles Spurgeon. His writings and recordings, widely available online, emphasize spiritual awakening over institutional religion. Ravenhill’s call for revival continues to inspire evangelical movements globally.