A New Creature — Leonard Ravenhill

Becoming a New Creation in Christ

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, or he is a new creation. All things are passed away, behold all things are become new. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. I think that in our reading we should drench ourselves, it seems to me that it is the most complete list of theological things, if you want to put it that way, that Paul ever gave us.

Theology is a kind of frightening word to pew dwellers, I'm sure, but there's a very simple definition of theology, I think, that theology is a systematized knowledge concerning God as he has revealed himself to man.

I've said more than once that God gave us the Bible and men gave us theology to confuse it, and it sometimes seems a bit like that. But here Paul gives us, I feel I can get the pulse of the Apostle, I can get the heartbeat of the Apostle Paul as I read this tremendous chapter.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. I can prove that to you three, because it's written here in the word of God. Number two, how do you explain this congregation? How do you explain this, if God doesn't take anybody in, what are you doing here?

Paul's Conversion on the Damascus Road

He can take anybody, he can take nobody, he can take somebody, he can take everybody. This man was on a massive murder mission when he went down that Damascus road, again breathing out threatenings. You talk about zeal, you talk about vision, you may talk about enthusiasm, Paul had it all.

And he would have gone down in the history of the church as the, shall we say, as the Hitler of his day, after all the infant Christ had only just been born when Herod decided to liquidate him. The infant church had only just been born when Paul decided to liquidate it.

He couldn't for a minute understand the arrogance of a bunch of people that were worshipping a man who said he'd died and been crucified, which everybody knew, but that he'd risen from the dead, which nobody knew because he never showed himself to anybody.

You ever wonder why God doesn't show himself to sinners, he never did it, he never did it after he rose from the dead, he didn't bother with them. He'd spend all his life trying to persuade them, at least the years of his ministry, which is a combination of supernatural power from raising the dead to everything else and they wouldn't believe in him, so he didn't bother with them after he rose again.

He just came to his own. In the first time he came to his own, they received him not. The second time he came to his own and they were terrified when they saw him anyhow. But you see, this man has a massive intellect, he has a rich tradition, again, look at his pedigrees of the tribe of Benjamin, of the seed of Abraham, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, one of the upper crust, they sat in a house like this with different stages and he was on the top bench, he was one of the leading men, he was pure-blooded, he could trace his ancestry way back there, and he knew the law like no other man that ever lived.

I don't think Gamaliel knew it better than the Apostle Paul, he was a lawyer, that will interest a certain lady here, he was a very brilliant lawyer, and you know, I don't think ever seeing that lovely hymn, when I surveyed a wondrous cross without thinking of the Apostle Paul, my richest gain I count but loss, what did we bring to Christ?

Most of us, a lot of lousy sins. Some of us maybe a bit of money, a bit of intellect, but he had everything, he seems to me to be the almost perfect personality, and he'd invested it all, he loved Abraham, he had Abraham to his father, he loved the law, he loved the prophets, this bunch don't have any law and prophets, who are they?

Bunch of fishermen, don't have an intellectual amongst them, don't have a man with a degree amongst them, and they're setting up a rival system against a system that's been there for millenniums. And not only that, but they say that's false and this is true, they say they were right and we're wrong.

Well he decided to put an end to it, and you talk about the mercy of God, do you wonder that later, of course he did believe John 3, 16, that God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, and later he says Christ loved the church, but you know the supreme miracle was not that he loved the world or loved the church, he says he loved me and gave himself for me.

And the great old Saint Rutherford in Scotland said if there's ever a miracle which is greater to you than your own salvation, you'd better check up on it. Because you don't know where that other man was, you don't know his inmost being, his thoughts, his aspirations, you know the cesspool of your own heart, you know the pit from which he lifted you.

You can only guess about the pit from which he lifted somebody else. So Samuel Rutherford, from whom we got that wonderful hymn, the sands of time are sinking, the dawn of heaven breaks. The man may shut up in a prison.

When somebody came one day and said the walls are green with slime and the sea washes in and the wind blows, you've no window, just a grill there and you're even shivering now and you're ill fed and everything's bad isn't it?

Well he kind of says I hadn't noticed it. You mean you didn't know this wall, look at the green slime on it. You never noticed there's a hole that goes down? You've never noticed that filth? Well he says as a matter of fact just before you came in that stone was shining like a ruby and this was shining like an emerald and that was as brilliant as a diamond and the king was here in his majesty.

That's pretty sad when somebody tries to rub your nose out like that and you say brother you spoiled it all, it was great till you came, isn't that nice? I was banqueting with the king. So he says the bride eyes not her garments, I've never seen this happen, but he says the bride eyes not her garments but her dear bridegroom's face.

I will not gaze on glory but on the king of grace, not on the crown he giveth but on his pierced hand when throned where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. And later he says it were a well spent journey those seven deaths lay between and Paul would have said amen, amen, amen, amen, you know because he says I die daily.

Dying to Self and Obedience

Now there was a time when he went to the cross and he got onto the cross and he died to self but then you can die every day. How can that which is dead die? Well you see here's the thing that he died to himself.

But you see we're still alive, we still have emotions and choices and all these other things and every day there are things to which I can die. For instance somebody says do you want to go play golf? Now nothing wrong in playing golf.

I mentioned fishing one day and the preacher jumped on me. He said anything wrong with fishing? I said no, Peter did it when he was backslidden. But there's nothing wrong with fishing or golfing for a little season but if the Lord says listen you didn't spend enough time with me this morning I want you for the three hours you're going to spend on the golf course then golf becomes sin.

And so could shopping or any other thing. If I give something the preeminence above him and so Paul says I die daily. And not only that he didn't say it with his tongue in his cheek and a bit of anti-hero or self-pity he says I glory in this fact.

Isn't it wonderful that when he went down that Damascus road breathing out threatenings. Isn't it? I say this is why he's my third argument that this scripture is true. Number one because the Bible says so.

Number two because you're here and you encourage me. I mean he got hold of you Ben so he can do it with anybody. And number three the apostle Paul. You see he is the man who's breathing out threatenings.

There is no hatred like religious hatred. And yet that very man is the man who wrote the greatest hymn of love that's ever been written 1 Corinthians 13 and he says love dareth all things but he says if a man doesn't follow God let him be a curse.

Now there's love that's balanced. It's not some sloppy sentimental thing that gives you a hug and a kiss and says well that's nice and so forth that's all right. But you see he's so balanced that he says I not only love you but I love him and if you offend him then you'll be a curse.

If you won't follow the Lamb the curse of God it's only blessing or cursing there is no other way. What a shock it must have been on that Damascus road. He said I'm going down to Damascus I've got a law in my pocket here I've got the authority from the chief priests and elders to liquidate that church.

Christ’s Preparation and Paul’s Wilderness School

And you know what nobody's going to stop me. And the last thing he ever dreamed of was that Jesus would slip on his throne and block his way. And Jesus intercepted the mass murderer stopped him on the road with a fire and hatred in his heart.

And then you remember he says on that Damascus road it pleased God to reveal himself to me. But then he went to God's Bible school not God's Bible school in Cincinnati there is one there by that title but God's Bible school in the wilderness where he takes all his great men.

A lady asked me in one meeting what university did he go to? I said Bush University. She said Bush University. Bush University. Do I know anybody that went there? I said well Moses. He said Moses who?

Very learned lady. So I said it's that university in the silence where you can go for nothing though the fees are pretty stiff and it's a desperately lonely place. But it's where God takes all his men that he's going to use.

There are a lot of things we don't say about the heroism of Jesus and I think one of them is that he was prepared to make yokes for donkey's necks and caskets to bury people in and a piece of wood and shape it for a spoon and a fork.

For 30 years he did that. When did he know he was the son of God? I don't know but I'll tell you from that moment I don't believe there's any irritation and restlessness in him. Even when it dawned upon him that I'm equal with the Father.

Ah now I remember the glory I had with him before the world was and I think of the eternity I'm going to be with him but you know what that makes it all the easier for me to knock a nail in somebody's casket for me to repair a wheelbarrow for a little boy.

That's all right. 30 years of probation what's that? I'm going to have 3 years of ministry. I'd like to send all preachers to work for 30 years and let them work 3. Most of them would quit anyhow. That would be a blessing.

Because if the fire didn't burn by the time they'd finished their probation in a workshop they ought to quit. I'm glad I did 5 years in a factory. It was a rough factory. 8 ,000 people worked in it, 5 ,000 were Jews, many communists.

They ridiculed me, they scorned me. I told them the night after I was baptized, I was only 15 and I went in the factory and I said I got baptized last night, they said ho ho, John the Baptist back again.

And if they wanted a pattern they didn't say Leonard Ravenhill has it, my number was 102, they always said John Baptist just took it, John Baptist just took it. Crack a joke, play fun, John the Baptist.

I rejoiced in it. I thought it's great, at least they know who I am. I didn't have to tell anybody. I used to rejoice when I heard men testifying to other men who Leonard Ravenhill was. He's a Christian.

He's not that Jehovah Witness we had one over there, and he isn't just a Baptist or a Methodist, he's a Christian. I thought well hallelujah, they know you know, once you put your flag up, you've settled a lot of problems.

And the Apostle Paul is taken away into the university of silence. Here on the road God revealed himself to me, there he revealed himself in me. Herb, the Lord be with you, I love Herb very much, love you all, but some be a bit more nervous.

All right. But I see more of him anyhow, because there's more of him, but I see more of him. But you know what he prayed this afternoon is surely the desire of all our hearts, I want to know him. That was Paul.

Paul could raise the dead, drive devils out of people, but it never satisfied him. He never said, you want to see my track record, there isn't an Apostle, all Apostles together never did as much as I've done.

Never raised as many churches, never wrote as many books, look at my track over Europe, see where I established a church there and there and there and there, and I've been in more jails than any of you, all of you put together.

Do you know what he said after about 40 years, 35 years of ministry, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. Now the Apostle here I say is shut away with God.

Any of us want to go for three and a half years with the Lord, wouldn't that be something? Boy, I'd like to see us do that, honest to goodness I would. I'd like to see us all sell out and go in Arizona, you know, somewhere where it's warm, the Lord would never take us in the snow for sure, and just eat the communist food we could have and have four or five, six hours every day together in fellowship, not just because we want to become super saints, but we want to listen and listen and listen and get all the rotten world washed away and all its ambitions and all the things it tries to get hold of us again with, that must be something.

And you see when Paul came out from this experience, he was a transformed man. It's safe to say this, he knew more about the redemptive purposes of God than any man or maybe all other men that ever lived put together.

And I can give you a summary of what his thinking was after he'd been there for three years, after he'd rethought about the law, the prophets and everything else, after God had revealed, what did it reveal to him?

Oh my, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and somehow God was able to share a thousand if not a million secrets with Paul for three years. And you know what? He never shared one with anybody.

I've often said the Lord would never put a strain like that on a woman, but anyhow, the apostle Paul, he shut him up in heaven for years, or shut him in heavenly places, and he says, you can say what you like, but this revelation in the third heaven, not for anybody else.

I've reminded you before that while there were twelve disciples, they were not all the same. They did not all go to the Mount of Transfiguration, they did not all go into the Garden of Gethsemane, they didn't all go to every miracle.

Spiritual Gifts and Diverse Ministries

God is selective, he always has been. You get a common crowd of believers, fine. But in the ministry he made some apostles and some evangelists and some teachers and some prophets, they're very, very different ministries.

All healings are not the same. I have a friend, if he prayed for this thing, nearly it would heal. He has a marvelous touch of faith for people who are deaf. Another man has a, I know, has a remarkable gift of faith for people who have arthritis.

There are gifts, not a gift, gifts of healing, God distributes as he wills. Let a man find his gift, let him use it, let him operate it, so long as he gives the glory to God. But, but here is, here is a summation of all his thinking for three years.

It's from the Phillips translation of, of the second letter to Paul, of Paul to the Corinthians chapter four, and, well that's not the verse, it isn't that at all, I'm sorry, it's the first letter, his letter to the Corinthians, to the Ephesians, the first chapter.

Listen to this, please. For God has allowed us, he's talking to you, he's talking to me, one, the one in Ephesians one and verse nine, for God has allowed us to know the secret of his plan and it is this, he purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ.

I think that's superb. I'm going to get my friend that makes some steel plates with nice pictures of, I'm going to get him to, to put that on the plate. I think that's the whole answer, that, that, that is the ultimate of God for his beloved son, that God has purpose in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ.

In other words, whatever there is in the world right now, God has said that it's there for this supreme purpose that Jesus Christ ultimately may have full possession or as Isaac Watts puts it in that lovely hymn, Jesus shall reign wherever the sun doth its successive journeys run and his kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moon shall wax and wane no more.

God has designed that everything in creation is going to be to the ultimate glory of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, having seen that, I suggest to you this explains what's given to us in this chapter, it's a wonderful theological list if you like, but to me it explains the outrageous sacrifice of the Apostle Paul.

He had an outrageous sacrifice, he had an unquenchable zeal, he had a deathless compassion. You see, once he saw that wondrous cross, once he realized the biggest headache, and I use that word wisely, the biggest problem God ever had wasn't the Israelites, it was the Apostle Paul, because he said I'm the chief of sinners, well if he can take care of the chiefs, he can take care of the rest of the gang.

I was the chief sinner that God had to deal with, and once he settled that, he said everything else is easy for God. And so I say it explains his outrageous sacrifice, it explains his unquenchable zeal, it explains his own statement when he said, I'm a debtor.

Now really, has that gripped you as it gripped me? You're a debtor to every living soul this afternoon. There are more heathen in the world at this given point of history than any period in history. I remind you of Verber's words again, I don't know how they reacted on David, he was there, but when George Verber said Afghanistan, way up in the mountains there, above northern India, Afghanistan has 14 million people, only 14 known followers of Christ, Tunisia, I guess an Arab state, has almost 50 million people and only 50 or less than 50 known Christians, wow that's a serious situation isn't it?

But Paul as it were puts on his seven league boots and he strides there over Asia Minor he says, I'm a debtor, debtor to all men, whether he's a barbarian or a Sidon or a Bond or a Free, it makes no difference, I'm a debtor, I have the thing that he needs, he's dead, I have life, he's in darkness, I have light, he's full of sin, I have a message of redemption, he's crippled, I'm able to liberate him in the power of the gospel, I'm a debtor to all men.

You know one of the classic sermons they say of the Apostle Paul's was preached on, as I mentioned last week, in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles when he preached to all the intellectuals, the poets, the Stoics, the Epicureans and so forth, and it's classified, they've classified it, Paul preaching on Mars Hill, M-A-R-S, Mars Hill in Athens, a spot which is still revered and visited by of course Christian tourists, Paul preaching on Mars Hill.

It seems to me here in 1 Corinthians 13 he's not preaching from Mars Hill, he's preaching from a dung hill. It's the corrupt capital of the world. Everything that's vile and vicious and vulgar and vain is extolled, and yet there's no fear in his heart when he goes, I mean, look, you just think of this word, you kind of stretch it over the whole human race, this is what he says with a trumpet voice.

I wonder if the angels kind of shuddered when he said it, do you think angels have any reaction when we talk? They must wonder sometimes the junk we talk, but do you think sometimes when we're praising or when we give us a, do you think that angels kind of shudder?

Can you see this little man standing in the middle of the cesspool of the world and he says with a trumpet voice, if any man, do you know what the inference is? Any man anywhere at any time be in Christ, he is a new creation.

Well I think that's fabulous. I was moved to tears time and again as I meditated. Here's a little fellow, he's taking on the world, the flesh, the devil, the sewer houses round about, the flesh pots, the iniquity, the apostasy, the unbelief, and he says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation because all things pass away and all things become new.

I can imagine somebody there listening saying, you know, yeah, it's all right him saying that, but I wonder where he gets his authority. So would I if I didn't have my Bible. But do you remember that Jesus says the same thing on the last day, the great day of the feast.

Another heroic situation when Jesus goes in the middle of the temple which had about 6 ,000 people in and the Jews said they had a monopoly of God. And the Jews were celebrating historic events and Jesus smashed the walls of petition down and instead of saying if any Jew is thirsty, let him come unto me and drink.

That would have put the woman at the well right out of it, brother. But Jesus stood there in the middle of that bunch of arrogant people who said we have Abraham to our father, we have the law, we have the prophets, we have the commandments, and the lesser breeds, God has no interest in them.

Do you remember what Jesus said? I kind of think if you'd seen the corner of his mouth, he had a smile there. He said if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. The Jews must have been blazing mad.

Do you remember he stood at the door of the church of Laodicea and knocked and he says what? I stand at the door and knock and if any good Jew would like to come this way, if you'd like to transfer your membership out of the ecclesiastical group of Abraham and come to a bunch of nonentities like us, we'd certainly welcome you.

But Jesus knocks on the door and he says, hey, if any man, what, will open the door. My, my, what a scope the gospel has. If any man, anywhere, at any time, will come, well, I'll open the door and welcome him in.

I'll give him to drink of water of the well that never shall run dry. You see, here again, all the barriers are pulled down. He is made of one blood, all nations. Sin is the same wherever you go. It doesn't matter whether you wear jewels to do it in the Waldorf Astoria, or do it some lousy back street, or you go to the flesh pots in Las Vegas, or you go up into some cannibal area, sin is the same.

Examples of Radical Mercy and Conversion

Contrast is great. I like reading poetry and I think the greatest modern point, not because it was English by a long way, but the greatest modern point surely must have been John Masefield, the poet laureate.

And his poem is, I think, about 130, 140 pages long, not just stanzas, but pages long. And it's called Everlasting Mercy. And he begins it like this, from 41 to 51, I was my folk's contrary son. I bit my father's hand right through, I broke my mother's heart in two.

Sometimes I go without my dinner. Now when I think of times I've dinner. From 51 to 61, I cut my teeth and took to fun. I learned what not to be afraid of, and what stuff women's lips are made of. And then with what a rosy feeling, good ale makes the floor seem like the ceiling.

And how the moon gives shining light to those who go home singing by it. My blood did leap, my flesh did rattle. My soul was token to the devil. From 61 to 67, I lived in disbelief of heaven. I fought, I lied, I porched, I whored, I did despite unto the Lord.

I cursed till a man goes pale, and 19 times I went to jail. But friends observe and look upon me, see how the Lord took pity on me. That's quite a record, isn't it? He cursed until men went pale, and 19 times he went to jail.

I fought, I lied, I porched, I whored, I did despite unto the Lord. And then he says, one day in loving kindness, Jesus came and lifted me out of a horrible pit. That's why this man isn't ashamed to go to Corinth.

Sure, they love licentiousness. Sure, they worship the body. Sure, they were full of iniquity. Sure, they were just the greatest manifestation of devil-possessed men maybe the world ever. And yet he stands there and he says, listen, if any man hear my voice, I have authority to tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you can be a new creation.

Oh yes, you look at Saul Cain in the everlasting mercy. And at the other end of the spectrum, you see a man who is a gentleman, cultured, refined, impeccable morality, a scholar, belongs to the most influential family in England outside of the royal family.

And as I've said often, I've got problems with John Wesley. Do you know why? Because he fasted more when he wasn't saved than I do when I am saved. He got up at four o 'clock in the morning to pray before he was redeemed.

Bit of a rebuke, isn't it? And he stopped powdering his wig because he said that powder, I could use the money for poor people who have no money and have no bread. And he became a missionary when he wasn't saved.

He came to Georgia and he slept in a forest one night when the frost came. He said in the morning, I struggled, but I got one arm out of the mud. And then I reached over and I pulled the other out. And then he said, I got my hair and I pulled on that till I got it out.

He wore long hair to his shoulders, you know. And then he said, I released one leg and then I got the other up and I struggled out. I was all white with frost. And I got up and I shed the frost off my suit.

And then he said, I stood up and sang, Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. I think a guy had got victory and he wasn't even saved. I mean, if you can sleep until you're just one beat from being frozen to death and then start magnifying the Lord, I think he got a good head start on most people.

How different he is from this man who's at the bottom of the ladder that you see one day when they got in a storm and the ship wobbled like this and then like that. And he was sure they wouldn't make it.

There's a man there just praising the Lord. Magnify the Lord with me. Yes, he's there, high and lifted up. He's on the throne, all things. And Wesley says, say friend, how come you've got this piece and I don't have it?

Aren't you scared you're going to be swallowed up? He said, no. Aren't you scared you'll go down? He said, no, I wouldn't go down anyhow, I'll go up. But he said, you're not afraid? No, no, no. My time's in his hands.

Wesley said, when I saw a man with peace like that, I asked Peter Bowler, the old German preacher there, well, what's the secret? And that's where grace began to work on his heart. But you see the difference.

Here is a man crawling through the gutter, licentious, lustful, devilish, fighting men, fighting anybody, going to jail, breaking the law. And he slips in and God doesn't rebuke him. He says, come, you're welcome.

Wasn't it that old reprobate in New York? I remember, what was the bridge we went over out of New York that came to Fulton's? No, it didn't come to Fulton Street, did it? Where'd it come into? Canal Street, was it?

Brooklyn Bridge, right. And when we came over the bridge, there was a sign. Oh, they're doing such silly things. They've spoiled a nice old building, put a new face on it. But it says Water Street on the front.

Hadley rescued the perishing there. You know, the man that walked down the aisle 19 times. They baptized him 19 times. That's a record for anybody except a Mormon. And 19 times he got saved and 19 times he backslid and 19 times he was baptized.

One night he staggered to the front, you know, half drunk. And somebody says, pray with him. Pray with that bum? I prayed with him five times. You pray with him. I prayed with him four times. Would you like to pray with him?

Prayed with him a couple of times. His brain's gone. He's blown his mind. That man has lived in more sin than any man in New York. Somebody went one day, and if I remember right, an old bum himself that had been rescued knelt at the side of him.

They say it takes a thief to catch a thief. Sometimes it takes a bum to catch a bum, I think. Or an intellectual to catch an intellectual. And the old fellow knelt at the side of the grubby, smelly old drunk there.

And he says, well, are you saved? He says, yeah, I've been saved 19 times. No, are you really saved? I can't understand it. They talk about the blood and they've told me about the Passover. You may as well tell him three blind mice.

He didn't know a thing about Passover or anything else. And the old drunk says to him, hey, I'll tell you what. You know what Jesus says? He says, if any man comes to me, if he'll come and say he's sorry for his sins.

He says, it doesn't matter who you are. As lousy as you are, you can come. But let me tell you what he said. He says, him that cometh unto me, he will in no wise cast out. Now, he says, if he doesn't cast you out, what does he do?

Oh, man alive. He says, he takes me in. He takes me in. And he jumped up. He says, he took me in. He took me in. He took me in. All the theology in the world couldn't get him in. But it's as simple as that to that man.

Somebody may need an explanation of theology. All right. But this old drunken bum needed somebody who says, if he doesn't cast you out, what does he do? He takes me in. And as simple as that, he entered into eternal life.

Paul’s Contentment, Suffering, and Perseverance

Oh, I can imagine these men in Corinth saying, well, hold it a minute. You know, I've got to admit that man's got something. I've been watching his life. And you know, he could be a scholar. Did you hear what he did last week?

No. Well, he didn't do like they do in the church there. You know, the preacher's always saying, we need no money to put some gold on the last pinnacle of the temple. Or we need something for this. They tell me he had nothing to eat for about five days.

And he went down to old Isaac Smith's there. And he said, would you have room for a guy that can repair tents for three or four days? And he said, just the man. How much in all? I said, forget it. You'll get there.

And so Paul, the apostle, the brilliant man that wrote all these epistles in established churches, when he ran out of cash, he didn't send another circular letter out, you know, and say, I'll have to revise my mailing list.

He just got down and says, well, Lord, you give me some good fingers. And hey, let's do a bit of sowing. We'll do the reaping later. But anyhow, he said, let's do some sowing. And he was content to sow as much as to pray.

Isn't it great when you're in that state? Bobby blinked her eye. She didn't say anything. But anyhow, it is, isn't it? Paul says, I've learned whatever state I'm in to be content. Isn't that nice? Sue must have learned that.

One day she's on the floor. Next day, she's on a tractor. Someday she's on a roof. She's chasing silly sheep, which is a pastor's job, really. But anyhow, you know what the scripture says? Paul, the apostle, says, I have learned whatever state.

Listen, you can't do that unless your heart's being cleansed. Now listen, just for a minute. What does the scripture say? If any man be in Christ, he goes to heaven. Doesn't say that. If any man be in Christ, his name is well-reserved in a mansion.

Doesn't say that. If any man is in Christ, he'll never be tempted. If any man be in Christ, he'll never know what hardship is. If any man be in Christ, he'll never even have a headache. You know, there's a lot of silly interpretations of the Christian life like that these days.

Oh, if you have a headache, if you have stomachache, if you this, if you... Well, somewhere there's sin in your life. Well, the Bible doesn't say that, so forget what anybody else says anyhow. He doesn't mention any of those things.

He says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Because I'm in Christ, I've no exemption from temptation. I've no exemption from trial. I've no exemption from sickness. I've no exemption from hardship.

I put on this nice new suit, and as I put it on today, I said, Lord, I don't know why I've got two or three suits. Because a lot of the most gorgeous men in the world are in a lousy prison camp in Russia today.