Pure Heart, Pure Church - Part 9 — Leonard Ravenhill

Is the sports world as ugly to you, since you would say that it still mesmerises you? Do you spend more time watching ball games on TV than prayer itself? That's your God, that's your idol. The world is crucified.

Even the fascinating world of business, maybe, with all its allurements to profits and success, is crucified to me. And not only that, I'm crucified to the world. They said, of course, here's a man with the most colossal intellect in the world.

Paul's Intellectual Engagement and the Power of the Resurrection

He talked with the Epicureans and Stoics and poets and others, in what, the 16th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles? And they marvelled that he knew so much. He countered philosophy with philosophy, history with history, poetry with poetry.

And then finally, as Dr Stuart of Scotland said, he showed them, pardon me, he founded the trumpet blast of the Resurrection. What? A man once died and rose again. Yeah, that's a secret gospel. You see, we're not saved by the death of Christ.

We're saved by his life. If he's still dead, we're still dead. Buddha didn't die and rise again. Confucius didn't die and rise again. But Paul says, I'm an idiot to the world. Think of what that man could be doing in the world.

He could be the greatest philosopher, greatest in Socrates, greatest orator than Demosthenes. And here he is, huddled up with a bunch of people that have prayer meetings in back rooms. Look at his face, all scarred with stones.

Paul's Rejoicing Through Persecution and Tribulation

Notice he limps. He'd been in prisons more than any criminal. Are those the wages this glorious God gives you? Of course, he'd never heard, you know, of name it and claim it. That was his fault. All he knew was prisons and persecutions and hardship.

And do you know what he did? The poor insane man, this is what he said. You know, I'm glad God's given me grace to get through it at night. If it were 25 hours in the day, I'd never have made it. Well, I pray this morning, Lord, keep me from temptation, keep me from difficulties, and make me a jellyfish.

Do you know what he says? I glory in tribulation, in necessities, in reproaches. Come on, have you got so far? Huh? When your name is cast out as an evil thing, when you're ridiculed and despised? You see, once the heart is cleansed and the Holy Spirit of God comes to control, makes all the difference in the world.

Christ Living in the Believer

It's no longer I, it's Christ that lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. There is no joy in the world like the joy of God.

Rejoicing in the Lord Despite Adversity

And the man who wrote most about it was writing in a stinking, lousy prison cell. And he says, listen, I've got a word from God for you. Oh, you have? What is it? We're going to prosper, make more money?

No, he says, rejoice in the Lord. They should have been writing to him. He's writing to them. He hasn't had a square meal, he hasn't had a bath for weeks, months, maybe years. And here he is rejoicing in adversity, in tribulation, in distresses, in reproaches.

Everything that we shun, everything that would make character in us, make us strong, make us tough for God. Well, have you got that joy? Can we glory in necessities, in reproaches? Look, dear brother, thank you.

I'm going to ask you to sing. I don't know whether our choir mask can strike this up in the right place. Maybe it will. OK, 139, 139. Let's sing the first stanza. I think it's the third. The first and the third, let's stand and sing.

When peace like a river attendeth my way. Can you do it? Can you pitch it? First and third, yeah. When peace like a river attendeth my way. I imagine that we can say, like David, he brought me up out of a horrible pit.

Prayer for Purity, Holiness, and Spiritual Strength

And something even greater than that, you saved us from an eternal pit. You brought us out of darkness into light. And so we shall never go into eternal darkness. We thank you this morning for truth in the midst of a world that's staggering and stumbling over error.

We thank you for light in the midst of darkness. We thank you for life in the midst of death. God, we ask thee that we may crave this purity of heart. Be willing to let you dissect us and show us ourselves, horrid as it may be, to show us the secret corruption, the vileness, the sin, the secret lusts that hold empire over our souls.

We thank you the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, can cleanse us from sin and not only that, keep us from sin. He's able to say, we thank you for every voice which is the truthful voice in the world this morning.

Think of all the missionaries. Think of our precious brothers and sisters in Russia or China or other countries that maybe haven't been to a fellowship for years and yet maintain their integrity. And they can truly say what is poetry to us, though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

The Berean Model and the Global Church

God, make us like the Bereans to be noble. Let there be distinctiveness about us, the distinction of holiness, of spiritual health and life and power. We pray for all the ministries around and ask you to duplicate their power.

Strengthen all the branches that they have across the world. Keep us looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And may we be able to say like the apostle that we finished our course with joy.

I give you praise in Jesus' name. Thank you, bless you. Free.