What Is Your Life - Part 5 — Leonard Ravenhill

Took a thousand mile journey, my daughter's having a baby, my daughter's having a baby, so what? Didn't make all that fuss when I was born, at least I don't remember it, but anyhow. But oh, when the baby came, you should have heard what they were saying about it.

It had everything except wings. It had a halo, but it got broken when they handed the baby over to the nurse. Oh, and this fellow said to me, hmm, isn't the birth a wonderful thing? It sure is, it sure is.

The New Birth Must Change the Life

I'm not asking you tonight, did you one night kneel down and make confession, and after that your life was no change, your lifestyle was no different, your appetites were no different, your prayer life was no different, come on.

Christ Living Within the Believer

Supposing we change the language. Paul says, Christ in you. If I were to start here tonight and go around the front row and everyone, and say to everyone, you stand up brother, and when you stood up I say, does Christ live in you?

What would you say? Would you say, oh yes, he lives in me, he rules my life, he controls me, he pulls me back when I would go too quickly, he urges me on when I would hesitate. The miracle of the new birth.

Human Intellect Cannot Give Spiritual Life

You see, the insulting thing about the bible is that, while you may have a colossal intellect, and you may invent so many things, and you may write great books, oh for some reason right here I think of Lord Byron.

He was a contemporary of John Wesley. Byron broke all records for writing poetry and publishing books. The rich people of England would have a whole row of books in pure leather binding. Lord Byron wrote it, Lord Byron.

He went into the homes of all the kings in Europe. He went to the palaces. People begged him to come and grace their home with his presence. He was an extremely handsome man, had a pale complexion, jet black hair, even curls down to his shoulders.

The Emptiness of Worldly Pleasure

And people swooned when he came in their presence. But he was dissipated. If I remember right, he died when he was 39 years of age. He died shivering on the coast by the waters lapping his feet there in Greece.

And he wrote this just before he died, my life is in the yellow leaf. The flowers and fruit of love are gone. The worm, the canker, and the grief are mine. What a summary! Wouldn't you like, I was going down Orange Grove in London some years ago, speaking at London Keswick.

I saw this swell place and flunkies there in knee breeches, you know. And oh, they looked so nice. Well, I'm glad I don't have to wear that. I've got such terrible legs. I have thin, thin legs. If I wore breeches like that, I'd be arrested for having no visible means of support.

But here was this flunky standing at the door and he had his beautiful velvet coat and a cravat there and his hair. And I stepped back and he says, good afternoon, sir. I said, good afternoon, could I come in there?

Oh, no, sir, no, sir. No, you can't come in here to eat. Well, yes, you can if his lordship, the Duke of Westminster brings you or the Duke of Argyll or Lord Tomash. But you see, well, it was just before the Queen, our Queen got married in England.

The Queen was here last Friday night and her sister was here too. They stayed until two. We close at two in the morning now, you know, like most church prayer meetings close at that time. And, thank you, they, you can't come in here.

Why not? I'm clean, I'm upright, I'm a preacher. I mean, I, I never been to, but, but, sir, you're not of royal birth, you're not a distinctive aristocrat. You can't come in. Why would you like to come in?

I said, I would like to see all the lords and ladies and dukes in society with a sparkling diamond. And I'd like to get my chair, turn it around and stand up and raise my voice and saying, she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Oh, sir, he said, you get thrown out. I said, well, that's what I expected. Isn't it offensive to say to people, listen, you may be a genius, you have a colossal intellect, you're, if you fall out of bed, you invent something, but do you know right in the center of you, you're dead because you've no living relationship with God.

Dead in Sin Versus Dead to Sin

Now, there are two kinds of people in the world, only two kinds, not black and white, not rich and poor. There are those who are dead in sin, and there are those who are dead to sin. If I say most people are half saved, you know what I mean?

I mean this, you go to the cross, but you never get on the cross. You go and get your sins forgiven and feel happy, and you go do the same lousy thing again the next day. Come on, what kind of a salvation is that?

I heard a famous preacher, and he's an Englishman, terrible, he shouldn't have said that. And he said, you know, the Lord is merciful. You come here tonight, he'll forgive your sins tonight, and he'll forgive your past sins, forgive your sins for today, and he'll forgive your sins for tomorrow.

Isn't that nice? Can you imagine a man going up to a judge, and the judge says, you've been found guilty of stealing a lady's purse. Did you steal it? Mm-hmm. Oh, you did steal it? Yeah, it had a hundred dollars in it.

Ever stole any other purse? Yes, I have a record. This is the 345th purse that I've stolen. Are you sorry? Yes, I'm sorry. Well, he says, you're forgiven. I forgive you for all the purses you've stolen in the past, all that you've stolen today, and all you're going to steal for the rest of your life.

Wouldn't that be wonderfully sane, or insane? You see, the miracle of the new birth is this, that when a man is really born, when he gets this life, he doesn't want that life. Oh, I don't think anybody gives it better than Paul.

The Believer’s New Desires in Christ

To wind this up, writing to the Colossians, he says, if ye then be risen with Christ, or as the literal translation is, if you've been raised with Christ, you seek those things which come about. You say to people, are you saved?

They say, well, I don't really know. Oh, supposing you're carrying a hundred pound sack on your back, and you're struggling up a hill, and your knees are going down, and somebody whips the sack off your back, and you get to the top of the hill without the sack, and the man says, hey, have you lost your sack?

You say, I don't really know. I kind of figured he'd know when somebody took a hundred pounds off his back. And by the same token, a man knows, because the miracle of the birth isn't some intellectual somersault.

Jesus says it is this, that we're dead in trespasses and in sin, and he brings us to life. So now we love the things we didn't like, and we hate the things we used to love. Okay, so Paul says, if you have risen with Christ, or you've been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not things on the... come on, come on, come on, you fellas now. Okay, you're saved. And yet, I guess you talk more about baseball than you talk about Jesus, is that right?

Hmm? In the last week, you've been more interested in the return of Jedi than you are in the return of Jesus. And you've talked to your buddies about it. As far as I'm concerned, the three little bits I've seen on TV, they show you'd have to be crazy to go watch it.

Set your affection on things which are above, not things on beneath, for ye are dead, and your life is head with Christ in God. Can you think of anything more wonderful than that? Here is your life. It's head in Christ, and it's head in God.

What are you going to do? Sneak out and drink a bit of the world's junk? Do you know how you need entertainment?