Travailing — Leonard Ravenhill

Galatians 4:19 and Spiritual Travail

Chapter 4 and the verse is 19. My little children of whom I travel in birth. Notice again until Christ be formed in. You see the tenderness he has. He doesn't even say children. He says my little children.

And you think how much protection they need. And counsel and wisdom. Paul wrote the letter to the ephesians pardon me to the philippians four years before he wrote this letter to the galatians. And in his letter to the philippians he says.

I'm paul the aged. Paul the aged. Well he was older by four years at least when he wrote this epistle. I admit that paul is my hero after jesus himself. I was pondering about him today and wondered this what.

Where did he get his incredible courage. Where did he get his unshakable faith. Where did he get his unfailing. I believe he explained it all in this amazing epistle. One of the best known writings of paul showed his galatians 220.

Tell me what it is. Good. Very good. How many of you know that by memory. Come on let me see your hands. Good. How many believe it's really in your life. That's a bit tougher isn't it. I believe that the reason that paul had what i call incredible courage unshakable faith and undying love is explained by two things that he wrote in verse 14 of chapter 6 he says this.

But god forbid that i should glory save in the cross of our lord jesus christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and i unto the world. I believe there came a moment in his life which is explained again by galatians 220.

I am crucified with christ. I do not believe anybody enters unconsciously into an experience with god demands our intelligence and our will. And i believe again the reason. One reason is this. There came a place in his life where he wrote the world all the world systems off as corrupt as totally antagonistic to the gospel of the grace of god.

In plain language. He saw the world as a boneyard. He saw the world like his ego 30 watts 7 36 where the prophet is carried out into a valley full of bones. And paul sees every human system has been fallible and deathly.

Now one thing none of us have ever seen. I've seen a lot of things. I've never seen the crucifixion. I don't think i'd like to see one. I know when a man went out to be crucified as dear dr tose he used to say len when he when he went out with a cross you wonder.

One thing he wasn't coming back across was a one-way ticket. The other thing is at six o 'clock at night you could go to that crucifixion and throw anything you like on that man on the cross bucket of filth rocks rotten eggs rotten fruit.

Curse him. Kick him. Do it either. Once he was nailed to that cross he lost all his rights. Come on. Did that happen in your life and mine happening the life of jesus. Six o 'clock at night you could do as you like six o 'clock in the morning nobody went.

The first birds. There was something like these horrible things we have around here only a much larger edition vultures. I remember seeing a lot there in india. Huge horrible things about this height from the ground with seven or eight foot wings.

Span span. They hide their necks in their feathers. And so they should because when it comes out looks like a long string of meat. They've no feathers on their necks. They were there. They pecked at the eyes.

They pecked at the body. They pecked at the body until the guts hung out and the dogs came and licked the blood. Nobody went to see a crucifixion 12 hours after the person was crucified. Now look at that horrible picture.

You know that's the that's the place where jesus was crucified outside the city wall the dump where they put dead bodies where only lepers were allowed to live where all the garbage was. It stunk it smelled it was full of everything was crucifying.

And it was there. They crucified the most spotless man that ever lived. And all they had in the gallery were skeletons hanging from crosses. No a woman might rush up to the cross when the husband was being crucified.

But she didn't rush up to the cross in the morning when the birds had torn him apart. She didn't go two or three weeks after when he had no flesh at all. That's a figure that paul the world is crucified.

It's hideous. It's corrupt. It's so totally unattractive to me. You know very often in the heat of a meeting when the when the preacher knows the temperatures at the right degree he says how many of you will pray half an hour a day for the next year or something.

All the hands go. Okay. Oh the other thing he asks is how many people will give so much every week for the next uh period. Never make a vow in the heat of your emotions or the heat of a meeting. Paul didn't just scratch his head and say well i i think i'll be crucified with christ too.

He took the sum total of his life. And he says there in philippians chapter three what things were gained to me. He says in verse seven. Those i counted for loss for christ. Yea doubtless. And i count all things lost for the knowledge of the excellency.

For the excellency of the knowledge of the lord jesus christ my savior for whom i have suffered the loss of all things. It was a calculated deal he made elsewhere he said he lost all his tribal rights.

He was of the tribe of benjamin and the seed of abraham. He was one of the most cultured men in the world. And yet i think one of the few people who could really say with isaac watch my richest gain. I count that loss and pour contempt on all my pride.

You know it's easier to pour contempt on your pride. It's when somebody else pours contempt on it. You're in trouble isn't it. You know when somebody rubs you out and says you're only a zero anyhow you haven't much intelligence.

You've no social standing. You don't have this that. And boy you start going down down down till there's nowhere else to go. Then can we really put up our heads and say of this. Dear man said i rejoin i glory in affirmative in necessities.

In reproaches we run away from them all. Don't we lord i'm heading into trouble. Lord send an angel. Send anybody. But don't let me get into that situation. When that's the situation i need to prove my spirituality.

Not prove it to god. But god has to prove it to me. But he says all these things i suffered for the loss of all things and that i may win christ and be found in him. I said again that this man has an indestructible unshakable faith an unquenchable zeal and an unfailing love.

The Love of Christ as the Motive for Ministry

Think of his letter there to the second corinthians chapter five he gives us the nearest to his theological outline. I think he says in chapter five of second corinthians we know if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of god and house not made with hands.

Verse 10 he says we must all appear at the judgment seat of christ. Verse 11 he says. Knowing therefore the terror of the lord we persuade men. No no. Verse 14 he says. For the love of christ constraineth me now on the negative side he was crucified with christ.

On the positive he has this great driving force the love the agape love of john of john 3 16. God so loved the world. Is that love. Sacrificial love. I think the world around us is just about fed up of blackboard theology and notebook theology.

The world is not waiting for a new definition of christianity. It's waiting for a new demonstration of christianity. And it can only have that when that love of christ is constraining us now paul has a desperate love for these people.

That's an interesting word isn't it. And pardon me in the fourth chapter there verse 19 again my little children of whom i travel in birth again. The word again fascinated me. I pondered that today the greek word there is palin or palin p-a-l-i-n it means to restore to its original quality.

He says that they may be born again. Notice what he says in the in chapter three and verse one there all foolish galatians who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. So there they have become disobedient.

In verse three he says. Are you so foolish that having begun in the spirit you're now being made perfect in the flesh. Have you suffered so many things in vain. If it yet be in vain. He therefore that minister to you in the spirit and work of miracles among you.

So there you are. They've been embraced in truth. They've been surrounded with a miraculous net. They'd backslidden because in the seventh verse of chapter five he's speaking obviously in the past tense he did one.

Well he ran well. Who did hinder you. I heard someone quote that verse the other day. That's always misquoted. Anyhow saying about somebody he's lost his first love. Not. So is that what the scripture says.

No he's not the king's end version doesn't. What does it say. He left his first love. He didn't lose it. If you lose a thing you don't know where you lost it. If you left it you know where you said goodbye to that person down the road.

Or you know where you made a deliberate choice. And these people unfortunately have made a deliberate deliberate choice. They did run well but something or somebody hindered them. My little children of whom i travel in birth again.

Wouldn't it be something if every pastor in the nation suddenly realized how thick his congregation was and how far they backslid. And he began to travel in verb and ordered every deacon to come along and say we're going to have a week of traveling.

It would revelation the whole nation revolutionized the whole nation. He doesn't say we travel. He doesn't say all his buddies in the other revival party you know bless you. This man was so isolated that he says demons have forsaken me.

And somebody else has gone off there. And somebody else has gone off there. He stands in splendid isolation. And he says when when all men forsook me. Come on now come on. Have you been singing nearer nearer blessed lord.

Draw me nearer me nearer not us. Not last days me nearer blessed lord. Or agapio wherever you go and god starts doing it. What we do. We start squealing. The only way he can draw you nearer to god is to draw everybody else away from you.

Is that okay. A good deal. Is that what i want. My little children for whom i travel in birth. You know somebody has said in marriage if if if the wife had the first baby and the husband had the second there'd never be a third.

This is something we don't know. A thing about travel. And these days of course when everything's made easier even childbirth is made easier. In many cases. Some say they're sweated out these precious women and go the natural way which often can take take them to the very gates of death.

Travail, Revival, and the Burden for Souls

Now here's a man who does not depend on somebody else's prayers or somebody else's support. He has a hold on god. He's like the prophet bucks baton an old jewish commentator. In fact he lived in america until a few years ago.

He said maybe the most tragic figure in the world is a prophet. Some of you guys aspire to be a prophet. Get ready for pain. He said he's a tragic figure because he has a fierce loyalty to god and a consuming passion for his nation.

He's drawn in two directions. Come on. How many. Whether it's your daddy or does your pastor. Do you think you think he lays at night in traveling. Do you think he goes into the quoted unresolved scheme his scholarship his ordination or what.

There can be no birth without. There can be no revival without trouble. Little children for whom i travel in birth. What did he say about it. My little children whom i travel in birth again until christ be formed.

Where in you. On the damascus road he said jesus came and revealed himself to me. A few years later he said he revealed himself in me. That's why he says so often it's christ in you. You can't love a theological.

You can't love a textbook. You can't even love mr finney. He's gone away a long while ago. As good as you are. You can love me. I wouldn't mind that. But that's all right. You can only love a person. God is love.

The fruit of the spirit is love. Love is the most extravagant ridiculous thing in the whole world. And essentially sacrifice is tied up with love. And true love is tied up with sacrifice. I'm praying he said not that you may make a mental ascent.

Maybe they'd made that. Maybe the reason that they'd backslidden so easily was that they'd never come into a what he calls later elsewhere a full assurance of faith. He says you began in the spirit. Why have you gone back into the flesh.

You came out of judaism. Why are you going back to circumcision. Why are you leaning on physical things instead of the invisible one. Now this man knows something about anguish and pain. What are they saying philippians 2 that i may.

What know about the second coming. What did he say. Know him. And. And yeah. But you see actually as we go the other way around we have to know the fellowship of his suffering before you know the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his suffering.

The dearest friend is the one to whom you can go and pull out your broken heart. Anybody will listen to you when you're in the good weather and in a good situation. But what about when your world collapses when somehow something's gone desperately wrong.

Do you know somebody you could go to and pull out your heart. What is fault. You remember on the damascus road when he was intercepted by uh ananias was told to go and tell this man saw what he must suffer.

That's not what he said. The lord said tell me what great things he must. That's about psychology. I had a man chase me one day because i said true disciple to become a christian you have to renounce your sins repent restore what you can restore.

And then take up your cross. Oh no he said you mustn't tell young people to take up the cross. It will frighten them. Well you argue with the lord about that not me. That's what the word of god says. You take up your cross and you follow him.

Paul is i don't know. I was going to say well i'll say it anyhow must be right if i say it. But anyhow he wrote 14 epistle if you include hebrews by the way let me remember because i slipped so many times we were going to start the class next tuesday night.

We have to postpone it until a week next tuesday which is good it gives me breathing space. I didn't change it someone else did. It's going to be over in dave wilkinson's place as we call it. And we're going to stay with hebrews 11 approximately from next tuesday night until christmas.

Faith and the Suffering of the Apostle Paul

I said last week i've been in coal mines and gold mines and submarines and seen many things. But the most wonderful thing i just that i i find interesting is how god makes men and women. And that's what he shows us in hebrews 11 how he makes people.

They've only one common denominator and that is they all had faith. But boy their ministries were as varied as could be. Now this this man is tied to a whipping post. He was last 195 times. Well he says five times i received 40 stripes.

Save one. So it's 539 195 times. Thrice i suffered suffered shipwreck. Once i was stoned. I don't think i have any smart wonderful personality he says. Even to the corinthians they said that. What will this babbler say.

I think it's pretty ugly. I think he limped. I think his face was creased. He'd been stoned so many times his cheeks had been split his jaws broken in weirdness in fasting in painfulness in perils of the deep in perils of mine own countrymen.

Come on add them all up. What's the bottom line. He's filling up the sufferings of christ. But what does he say. Does he whine about it. No he says it's one thing to have a bleeding back and somebody rubs salt in your wounds and stick you in a stinking hole and leave you there for days and weeks and months and years.

But he says you know the most hurtful thing is this. Hmm. What did he say. I was that which cometh upon me. What is it. Remember that which cometh upon me daily. The what the care of all the churches.

You think you've got problems with your children. What about a man who has a whole string of churches. They've just come out of heathendom. Many of them are weak and vacillating. There's no revelation.

There's no bibles yet. God pitious. I preached to the what the first son spouting out here on elijah. And the more i see men like that and realize all he did. And yet he never had a bible. All the heroes in hebrews 11 not one of them ever had a bible.

And you and i have everything that god is ever going to say to the world. Boy we're in for trouble. At the end of the line i like the hymn our firmer foundation. Remember what more can he say than to you.

He has said that here is a man who has had the veil of eternity lifted up. That's why he says in the in the chapter that we read in 2nd corinthians 5. There the love of christ constraineth me. Why. Knowing the terror of the lord.

None of this sloppy sentimental love business. God is a just god. A holy god has a big investment in you. You parents have a big investment. They sent you to school. Maybe high school and college. They're paying your way here.

Or paying your way somewhere. Anyhow. But above all the precious blood of jesus christ was shed for you. I understand. There's a bit of a garment a bit of a girl's. Do you remember the old-fashioned penny flows.

You won't. But girls used to wear. You know a lot of holes in them. I don't know what you call that. You used to wear one. Didn't you betty. You didn't. Oh she didn't wear one. They didn't work. Okay.

But my sister used to wear them. They had holes in them. No i don't mean holes like you. When you rip a thing. I mean you know they used to stitch around them. They were beautiful. There's a piece of a girl's pinafore up in uh what they call the place there they um i just mentioned them.

You forgot what was it in washington. The museum smithsonian. It's not much bigger than my less than my handkerchief. It's got a brown stain on it. It's one of the great treasures of america. It's a chocolate stain.

It looks like it. But it isn't. What is it. When they were carrying uh the precious man that was murdered there abe lincoln carrying him out of the theater. He passed by a girl and somebody's blood dropped onto a pinafore.

They took that piece of that pinafore. And it's a national shrine. Almost the rockefellers can't buy it. Nobody can buy it. It's stained with the blood of one of the greatest men that ever lived. Never mind in america we could do with him now in the white house i'll tell you soon.

With the black house away some things are going. Why is it so precious. If the blood of a famous man just one or two drops of his precious blood. Nobody can buy it. And one drop of that precious blood.

Sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. That's a great hymn written in england by william calper contemporary a friend of john wesley. Can you imagine john wesley and calper and newton who wrote amazing grace.

And all that bunch of guys getting together every week for discussions and talks. It must have been wonderful to be there. I wish you could find a tape recording of it. So here you have this man with a comprehension of eternity that maybe nobody's ever had except himself.

He says that you may know the height the depth the length and the breadth of the love of god. And he's only touched the fringe of it. He admits that that that burning consuming love that never fails and he talks about in one isn't amazing.

The Love of God and the Cost of the Gospel

But the man who went down the damascus road bleeding out threatening carrying in his pocket a signed statement that he's permitted to liquidate every christian he can find. And then instead of burning with unholy anger he burns with an incomparable love.

They throw him outside of a city on the refuse seat and say that's the end of him. He gets up. He has a kind of a little private resurrection. They lash him 195 times. But they can't beat the grace of god out of him.

They starve it. But they can't starve it out of him. They send him to prison. They threaten him. They can't threaten it out of him. If we could get a baptism of that loving the church of jesus christ today we'd shake the world in less than a year.

Theology on ice is no good. I would have liked to have been a scholar. I'm not a scholar by any shape or form i'd like to have been. But paul was a scholar. I think he had the greatest intellect of any man that ever lived apart from jesus himself.

You know somebody called john john that gave us the uh as we call it the gospel. As i've said often there are not four gospels. There's only one gospel told by four different men all with a different accent.

And john somebody called him the play to of the new testament. Ninety-two percent of what he writes is his own. He doesn't borrow from like martin mark and luke borrow from each other. Ninety-two percent of what he says is entirely original.

Take the fifteenth of john. Nobody else talks about the true line. Take the sixteenth. Nobody presents the holy ghost like he does. Take the seventeenth. The most profound thing in prayer ever recorded.

Not the most profound prayer. The most profound prayer was never recorded. It was gethsemane. It was too holy. It would have shattered us if you and i had heard jesus. I'd love to have heard jesus. But i don't.

I'm sure i couldn't have taken it. But here is a man consumed. He sees the world hospital every system. If you want a picture of his courage turn for a few minutes here to the uh where will we go. Like the acts of the apostles.

Paul's Courage Before the Philosophers in Athens

Uh what chapter is it. Chapter 17. I was thinking about a certain message for sunday morning. I'm sure it was exactly what the lord wanted me to speak on. But the lord said it isn't so i've got to obey the master and change it.

But in connection with that message i've been thinking about one of the most famous poems ever i guess written by an unbeliever w .e henley. This is what he says. Out of the night that troubles me. Black as the pits.

From paul to paul. I thank whatever god there be for my unconquerable soul. It matters not how straight the gate how punishment the scope. No let me go on the next verse. Out of the night that troubles me.

Black as the pit. From paul to paul i thank whatever god there be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance i have not winced or cried aloud under the bludgeoning of chance. My head is bloody but unbowed.

That's the most quoted poem. I think crazy. All these points. Looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds and shall find unafraid and beyond this place of wrath and tears.

Looms but the horror of the shade or the gravy means. And yet the menace of the years finds until finally unafraid. Now listen to his arrogance. It matters not how straight the gate how charged with punishment the skull.

I'm the master of my faith. I'm the captain of my soul. Exactly go to hell. But that you're the master of your faith. You refuse to bow to god the laws of god the word of god the son of god the spirit of god.

You refuse the blood of the land. Well go to the wrath of the land. That's the only alternative for him of this generation. After him comes ac swinburne. Remember he's a famous phrase. Glory to man in the highest.

For man is the master of things he says from too much love of living. From hope and fear set free we thank thee with brief thanksgiving. Whatever gods may be that no life lives forever. The dead man rise up never.

And even the weariest river winds somewhere to the sea. Now paul in the 17th of the act here marches with his head unbowed marches with a holy confidence into the midst of most intellectual group of people in the world in that time.

This 17th chapter says. The stoics are there and the epicureans and the poets and all the rest of them. And paul goes in the midst of these people. Stoics epicureans their great leaning was on the natural primal fertility of man or faculty of man on individual self-sufficiency.

But all he could see when he went into that city he said it he said his spirit was stirred when he saw amidst all that massive intelligence they bowed down to the gods of stone and they sought for the unknown god.

He walks into the midst of them with all their philosophies and all their reasonings and everything else. And they listened intensely when they found. He knew as much philosophy as they knew as much poetry as they knew as much history as they knew.

But then suddenly he comes out with something they never heard of. He talks about a man called jesus christ who died and rose again from the dead. What did they do. He says i passed by and i saw your devotions.

And i found an author with this inscription to an unknown god there whom therefore you ignorantly worship him. I declare unto you god has made the world and all things therein seeing that he is lord of heaven.

They wouldn't accept that very well. He's the lord of heaven and earth. And he dwelleth not in temples with hands. All these temples you have down the side of the road the investment of millions of dollars.

All your philosophies all your writings they're nothing to him. He is the one god is the creator of heaven and earth. He dwelleth not in temple made with hands. Nor is he worshipped with men's hands as though he had need of anything.

Then he winds it up. Verse 31. Because he hath appointed a day to which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. He hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men that he hath raised him from the dead.

The message of the new testament was not the death of jesus christ. That was only half of it. They could understand men who died as martyrs but they did not understand was the resurrection of jesus that by one man's sin disobedience sin entered into the world and polluted the whole human race.

Moral Crisis, Abortion, and the Need for Revival

This debate has been a bit interesting not too much this week. I'm glad somebody really pulled one of the speakers up was it last night and said when they said about the uh abortion this is a very emotional issue.

Was that fierce ferraro that said that this is a very. It's not an emotional issue. It's a moral issue and it's a spiritual issue. Oh we don't want a nuclear war that would destroy a lot of our young people.

Oh doesn't that a lot of our people don't that sound very holy and and compassionate. They don't want young men to go to war. They want to murder them in the womb which is the worst. We should take care of our young people for the next generation.

There won't be any young people in the next generation. Their womb is their tomb. Is god going to wing it out. Iniquity much longer. If i were a protestant pope i would close every evangelical church in america or the world until after the election.

Not that we can buy it by our supplications and devotion. But at least let's get serious. There's more talk about the world series this week than about what's coming up onto the nation. There's more interest in football now.

We're in the football season. I don't believe we've ever as a nation been at the most serious situation than we're in tonight. One day would have backed the philosophy and ferrari too. They'd have backed the philosophy of these men there these epicureans and these stoics these men who want to rationalize everything and reason everything out.

Our only hope is god. Revival is not the best thing that can come to america to say that. It's the only thing. And you can't start it in washington. If you could i'd be up there right now. You know i think one of the horrors if i can use that when we get to eternity and we see the winding path from the throne of jesus christ right back to the moment you were born again and you see how near you came to supreme blessing and supreme deliverance and revival.

And we missed it by a hair's breadth. Almost i think that will be one of the sorrows. No sorrow in heaven. Of course it's all joy and peace. We go to funerals and say no more tears. But the same book that says right.

The same book revelation says god shall wipe away all tears. So where does he wipe them from. I consider at the judgment seat. No. The judgment is only for rewards. No. That's what paul said. Paul says in 1 corinthians 3.

There we shall suffer loss. You don't usually laugh if you suffer loss. When we look back and see the turn in the road the wrong choices we made. We didn't wait on god enough. We didn't obey him enough.

Repentance, Spiritual Burden, and the Church's Mission

I wonder what kind of compassion. No i don't. But i think if paul came back today he'd look generally over the church and say you know what i do. I don't sleep much at night. I don't eat much. My whole spirit is groaning.

I try the man that honors me. And too many come to my door. Almost. But the man that honors me is the man that honors me with his burdens. I've not come for money. I'm not coming. I've got such a burden.

I've got such a concern. I'm in such agony. I'm in this that. So what. What if god himself puts a burden on us. Do you know one sign of spirituality is when you ask god to give you a burden. Nobody else wants to carry unless you didn't say amen.

But it's true anyhow. Share your heart with me god. God says to whatever the church is there you know people say it goes to the great commission. What was the great commission. Going into all the world.

That was god's message to the church. Prove it from scripture. You can't. That was the message of jesus to the disciples. The last words of jesus are not going into all the world and preach the gospel.

Last words of jesus were to the church. Repent. And he says to one church i counsel thee to buy eye star from me. And that was the chief industry of that church that city. They didn't have glasses like we have to screen their eyes.

That i've got very sure sure saw going down dusty roads and seeing the white tan. And so they exported from that town. I saw that went all over that part of the world. And the irony is the lord says you need.

I saw yourself that you can't make and you can't back. I counsel thee to buy of me. I start remember that hymn that says open my eyes as i may see glimpses of truth our house for me. I used to like that till i found out.

It's the favorite hymn of so i don't sing it anymore. But there comes a moment. This blessed man on the damascus road was what blinded with the light. I've not read this anywhere else but i'm sure of it.

I don't believe he ever got his eyesight back again. This eyesight yet. Yes. But he never saw the world the same. He never saw men the same. He never saw eternity the same. He never saw heaven the same.

He never saw hell the same. He was born into the presence of god to see the lost world as god saw it to see eternity even caught up into the third heaven and never said a word about it. You know if you're going to a mission field whether the mission field is a hell of a hole in america ghetto or london or somewhere soho or to a foreign country.

If you don't have this love you'll break down. Within six months of going to mission field you'll be a casualty there you'll be a liability instead of an asset. The mission field isn't dying for want of miseries.

Most of them will be better come home. They malfunction after what. What. They went out of compassion went out of sympathy. We went to teach. We went to help the poor. Very good but not the primary object of the man of god or woman of god.