Acts of the Apostles — Leonard Ravenhill

The Early Church Before Institutional Decline

But, permit me an indulgence for a minute, what I quoted last week again, what Philip said about this book, or the early chapters, or the early Church, if you like, this is the Church of Jesus Christ, before it became fat, uh, how do you put it, or fat and short of breath by prosperity.

This is the Church before it became muscle-bound by over-organization. This is the Church where they did not say prayers, but they prayed in the Holy Ghost. This is the Church that did not gather together a group of intellectuals to study psychosomatic medicine, they just healed the sick.

This is the early Church that didn't sign articles of faith. If you join a good Baptist, pardon me, a good Church these days, you have to go through the list and sign at the bottom, yes, I believe, you know, now you're one of us, that's the.

They didn't sign articles of faith, they acted in faith. Someone else has called it the only unfinished book in the Bible. I don't like to use the word exciting about spiritual things, because you can get excited at football matches and excited over lots of things.

I like to use the word inspiring. And I find this, uh, wonderful book a very, very inspiring book. We mentioned last week about the clove and tongues of fire that sat on them when they were in the upper room.

Again, it would have seemed to me, at least, it would be more convincing if a dove had come and settled on each of their heads, they'd have said, well, that's genuine, that's what Jesus had. Jesus did not have a tongue of fire, because the fire is a symbol of cleansing, and he did not need any cleansing.

Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate

The tongue of fire didn't sit on the heads of these men too long. Let's go into this, uh, third chapter here, and read from verse 1. Again, I'm reading from the King James Version, which I call the Living Bible.

Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer. Why in the world did they go? They didn't believe in a single formula or operation they had in the temple. They were still shedding the blood of bulls and goats and so forth and so on.

But they went together, notice. I think this is a good example that if two of you shall agree, two or three are gathered together in my name. A friend of Billy Graham's came to see me a while ago. He's a very brilliant, wonderful man.

And he said, you know, two or three million people pray for Billy every day. Wouldn't you like that? I said, no. You wouldn't? You mean that? Sure. Why not? Well, I said, oh, of course, there's a text that says if two or three million are gathered together in my name.

Oh, it doesn't say that. Well, then I said, why do I need two or three million? You know, it's going to be pretty disgusting to get into the other side of eternity and discover what we could have done if we'd really agreed together in his name.

Just twos and threes. I think it's another, I almost said exciting, so I won't say that. Let's think of it this way. Do you know what the Acts of the Apostles is? It's the church of Jesus Christ doing everything that Jesus did when he was in the flesh.

Did he heal the cripples? So did they in the early church. In the Acts of the Apostles. Did he cast out demons? Yes. Well, so did these other men in the Acts of the Apostles. The early church did everything in the air of the miracle except walk on the water, and that wasn't necessary anyhow.

Apostolic Succession and the New Testament Church

You know, the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the ordination of men in the Church of England. They have a monopoly, they say. We can go right back to Peter, which they cannot do. Because in the cathedral, you've got Westminster Abbey here, and across the corner you've got the Big Abbey, or really the central hall of the Methodist.

Around the corner you have the church where Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones preached and G. Campbell Morgan before him. And then across Victoria Avenue you had a great monolith there. It's in ugly brick. And it's the Roman Catholic Cathedral, excuse me.

It is an ugly looking building, honestly. And on the wall they have, you know, the present pope, and they go back, and then they get up here and there's a big gap. And the name at the top is the name of Peter.

But they lost the succession. In fact, there was a period in history when there were two popes that were reigning at the same time. There was a time when one of the popes was married. In fact, the first one was.

Peter was married, though he wasn't the first pope. It's like talking. People say, at our church we say the Apostles' Creed. I say, they wouldn't know it if they came. They never said it anyhow. Now, who's in direct line?

The Church of England is despised by the Church of Rome. The Church of England doesn't like the ordination of the Methodists. The Methodists don't like the ordination of the Pentecostals. The Pentecostals are not too keen on the ordination of the Holiness people.

We're all edging each other out of the way. Well, Mr. Ravner, do you happen to know the proof of apostolic succession? Yes. What is it? Apostolic success. There's no other way of proving it, is there?

I believe that the early church, the New Testament church, is the norm of Christianity. God never, never, never made any room, actually, for our backsliding and our failure. Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, seeing it's the ninth hour.

That was three o 'clock in the afternoon, actually. A certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, notice that, whom they laid daily at the gates of the temple, which is called beautiful, which actually, it's actually at the beautiful gate.

It was a big bronze gate, about 50 feet high. It was bronze again. It had an intricate pattern of the vine and the branches in it. And here is this man every day. I'm glad it says daily. He was carried from his house to the temple, the temple back home again.

Twice a day for 365 days a year is what? 730 trips he made. Don't you think when they carried him he knew every place where the birds lodged in the holes? He looked every year for the birds coming and the flowers that grew in the crannies there.

He was carried 730 times. Have you noticed how often in the scripture it doesn't mention the age of women? But it says in the next chapter that this man was over 40 years of age. Now if he was carried 730 times a year for 10 years, that was 7300 times.

And if he was carried for 30 years, which he was most likely, it's about 22 ,000 times he was carried. He was carried but he was never cured. He was helped but he was never healed. The richest of the priests threw him a piece of gold.

The other probationary priest didn't get paid so well so they threw him a piece of silver. And he looked and he says, well who in the world are these? Oh these are two of those great marvelous men that we call the, they're calling them apostles or something.

Oh they're loaded. I mean they preached yesterday and thousands were converted. They sure must have got a big love offering. And I'd like a slice of it. So he said, he asked for, what does it say? A-L-M-S.

How do you pronounce that? Arms. Isn't that what it said? A little girl said, why did he ask for arms when he needed legs? I think that's very much like us. We ask for things we don't need and we don't ask for the things we really need.

Divine Timing and the Healing of the Lame Man

But isn't it interesting that this man was met by Peter and John. But you know the thing that startles me about this is that Jesus Christ himself had passed this man a hundred times going into the temple and never spoke a word to him.

What do you think he thought of when somebody came and said, you remember that old cripple that begs at the other side of town there? Oh Jesus spoke the word, he got up and ran away. Well he hasn't been round here, he doesn't come to me.

Another day, oh that marvelous man that does miracles, the power of God is on him, he casts out demons. In fact there's a rumor around, he actually raised the dead. One great Englishman said that's what preaching is, 30 minutes to raise the dead.

Well anyhow, oh you'll get that on the way home. But he hasn't been round here. Peter and John passed him dozens of times. I believe they went to the temple every day in the year. They went there and back every day.

Passed him twice a day, over 700 times. And never once had any compassion or concern apparently. You see God answers prayer when he wants, not when I want. And keep in mind delays are not denials. God keeps things on file.

He's going to work everything after the counsel of his own will. Jesus could have healed this man maybe two or three years before. But there's going to be a moment when the healing of this man will do a most stupendous thing that's yet been done.

Here is the first manifest power, here is the first miracle after these men will fill with the Holy Ghost. Oh the other miracle of course as I said last week, Peter had a tongue on fire. You cannot divorce God from fire.

If you have a bumper sticker at one end of your car that says God is love, well put one at the other end, our God is a consuming fire. You maybe lose your car but anyhow try it. Our God is a consuming, he makes his angels ministering spirits, he ministers a flame of fire.

When God was in residence in the tabernacle there was a shaft of fire up in the sky, a pillar of fire by night, pillar of cloud by day. Elijah says if your God can do the things you say, if he's a sovereign miracle working God, let's build altars.

You build your altar. I'll build my altar. But you start the morning shift and you start praying. Start at sunup and pray and call. And they did and beat their breasts. But the criteria was the God that answers by fire let him be God.

And to show there was no trickery he had the water, 12 barrels of water saturate that sacrifice. You know we so often try to make it easy for God. God doesn't need easiness. Any more than he needs cheerleaders.

Gratitude, Humility, and the Power of God

I looked at a program this morning for a few minutes and some of the great athletes in the country have decided to be Christians. Boy won't that make angels excited. What's he got to do with a Christian message?

Keep this in your little mind or your big mind. No man past, present or future ever does God a favor. God does the favors. Why we're even favored to be in his kingdom. Why are some people in dirty filthy rotten taverns tonight telling dirty jokes and inhaling horrible tobacco juice and stale beer smell.

And we're here. What did you do yesterday? How, what was the height, depth, length and breadth of your Thanksgiving yesterday? Did you thank him first of all for saving your soul? Or just for a fat turkey?

Again the other side of the veil I think we'll be amazed how ungrateful we've been so often. The only reason I don't drop into hell every day is the restraining power of God, his love, his mercy, his long suffering.

But here's this man at the corner, at the beautiful gate of the temple, one of the most conspicuous places in the city. And he asked alms. Seeing Peter and John verse 3 going to the temple with, he asked alms say, Peter fastening his eyes on him with joints said, look on us.

And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something. Peter said, silver and gold I have none. I guess that stunned the fellow. Ever seen a poor evangelist? Silver and gold I have none. Now why didn't Peter heal this man years before?

Why didn't John heal him? They'd already gone out and had miracles. They came back and said demons are subject to us. We've cast out evil spirits. We've cured the sick. But there's a stop there. Because again in the divine program God is going to get more glory in this man being healed at this moment than he would at any other period in his life.

Silver and gold I have none. You know there's a story about Thomas Aquinas, the great Roman Catholic theologian, one day standing in the Vatican and the tribute money, the Peter's pens, that people pay you know for masses and so forth was being put down a chute that goes into the basement I understand.

And the Pope said to Thomas Aquinas, you know Thomas, Peter can no longer, look, look, look, look at this vast sum of money, gold, silver, precious thing. Peter can no longer say silver and gold have I none.

Good old Thomas Aquinas turned round and said, no your excellency, neither can he say such as I have given unto thee. You know when the church is poorest materially she's richest in God. Once we become an affluent society we can build gorgeous buildings and put gorgeous rugs on the floor and foam rubber seats like this so people can sleep easier during the sermon.

When we get to that state we're in a mess. When the church doesn't have to struggle and strive in faith and hope and expectation she's weak and ineffective. I have no silver and gold. Maybe under his breath saying you don't even need that.

But such as I have. He knew he had something and he didn't charge for it. I give to thee. Silver and gold I have none. Isn't it amazing that this man who's gone out maybe the morning, same morning saying, oh I keep hearing of miracles, I keep hearing of wonderful things but here I am crippled, helpless, I'll be carried back tonight to my little shack.

This is torment. And then come along to unusual, unpredictable, as you say unanointed, not unanointed, but certainly didn't receive what preachers get today when they talk about ordination. They were just two concerned, cleansed, compassionate Christians.

They didn't just look at him, Peter stretched forth his hand. And I guess immediately he touched that man, the man felt as though he'd had a thousand electric volts going through his body. Why? Because the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead was living in the heart and mind and life of that apostle.

And he was just transferring heavenly power like just a thin piece of wire can bring a current from somewhere and illuminate something or generate some power. He is the communicant between God and a needy man.

The Church as a Paralyzed Witness

You know, I don't see that man as a physical cripple at the gate of the church. I see him as a type of the church today, a paralyzed, ruined generation in which we live. But the world isn't saying to us, give me a hand up.

It has no confidence in us. When he saw that twisted, deformed body, I can imagine him saying, this is depravity. This is what the devil has done. God isn't in this thing at all. A young man called me last night from Portland, Oregon.

Said one of the strangest things I've ever heard in my life. He said, you wrote an article for the last day's magazine. I said, yes. He said, well, it's about the tongue. He said, it's really got hold of me.

It's really troubling me. I'm being torn apart. I said, well, that's good. And you know, he didn't agree for some reason. He said, no, no, no. I said, well, tell me a story. And he told me. And he said, would you like to pray for me?

I said, yes, I'll pray. And I prayed the Lord would clean up his life, straighten him out, purge his life, indwell him with the Spirit, give him courage to go from strength to strength and so forth and so on.

And he said, thank you. I said, well, thank you for calling. He said, can I pray for you? Oh, I said, anytime. Go ahead. I like people pray for me. So he prayed. Do you know what he prayed? He said, I thank you for the ministry of Brother Ravenhill, his writing and his tapes and so forth.

But Lord, I want you to give him a new anointing. I said, Amen. He said, I want every tear that Jesus ever shed over a lost world to come into the heart of Brother Ravenhill. I said, good, I agree with you.

I've been reading, turning over and over again, Lamentations 2 and verse 20, where that amazing man says when he sees that God has now become an enemy of the nation, they've had all the glory. God had divided the Red Sea.

God sent them angels food from heaven, sent manna. That must have been delightful. He split a rock. He did miracle after miracle after miracle. What did they do? Went to backsliding. As I said maybe a couple of weeks ago, remember that when that happened, when they got carried away into Babylon, into captivity, what did they do?

They said, by the rivers of Babylon, and there we sat down and wept. Well, because they remember the glory of God. And now there's no glory. The tabernacle is there, but there's no glory. The priests are there, they have no power.

So they sat down and wept. The same thing is there in Lamentations. In that second chapter, God has become their enemy. You remember in Hebrews it says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

A great Scotsman by the name of Robert Louis Stevenson wrote some beautiful children's stories. And he turned it round and said, it may be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There's only one thing worse and that's when you fall out of the hands of the living God, when he leaves you alone.

And that's what he was doing in the day of Jeremiah. What does it say? It says, my heart is torn, my liver is torn open. The only time it's mentioned I think in scripture. And my bowels are deeply moved.

I can't see through my eyes. I have curtains of tears on my eyes. Why? Because the glorious God. As I said, I believe that's one reason why Jesus stood and cried in the temple on the last day, the great day of the feast.

He was thinking of the glory that they'd had in that temple or the temple before it. But now their altars have no fire, their priests have no power, there are miracles being done but outside of organized religion, so to speak.

And Jesus stood and cried. He didn't shriek, he didn't shout, he cried. The implication of the Greek is, it was with great compassion and yearning over them. Why? There's hundreds of priests there that are paralyzed all over the place, the diseased are all over the place.

They don't see it, they don't feel it, they're not concerned about it. And they've had a gap between Malachi and Matthew again of four hundred years as dead as any cemetery you're ever in. No manifest power of God, no prophet.

Judgment on an Unresponsive Generation

But it never troubled them. Then in his infinite mercy God sent one of the most remarkable men in history. That unpredictable, unexpected, unusual man by the name of John Baptist. What did they do? Put him to death.

Another stretch of mercy, God sends his only son. What did they do? Put him to death. But you see, these people here with a four hundred gap from Malachi again here down to Matthew, they've no yearnings for God.

They're not fasting and weeping, they're not entreating God, they're not saying, oh take away our reproach, send us the glory that existed with our fathers. They're not doing that in any shape or form.

But I believe Jesus is not only concerned that they're thankless and unmoved and unconcerned and ungodly, he's concerned because he was already anointed of the Spirit. And what happened? He knew that just up the road this same people who had rebelled against God, forgotten the laws that God had given them, the ten commandments, forgotten that God gave them the greatest spiritual giants in world history, in Jeremiah and Isaiah and a bunch of others.

Because of this payday comes. I was reading again today in Luke 11 where Jesus says the blood from the day of Abel to the time that Zechariah was in the temple when they had a riot, and right down to this day he said, all the blood of the prophets will be required of this generation.

Which generation? The generation he lived in. What happened? Well, in A .D. 70, Anno Domini 70, there was a massacre, one of the greatest massacres in history, when blood were told ran up to the knees of the horses in the streets.

Nobody knows how many millions were slaughtered in that bloody holocaust. But Jesus knew that it was coming. They had been warned and warned and warned and warned. The last attempt again to awaken them was through John Baptist.

And then came Jesus. You see, unless you read this this way, if you forget that history, this doesn't seem as shocking and amazing as it should be. You think of all the accumulated privileges they'd had for centuries, millennia.

Then they go to sleep. The priests are fat, the beasts are driven to be slaughtered day by day, they keep up their sacrifices, their ritual, they still preserve Passover, it doesn't mean a thing to them.

They still talk about Pentecost, that's the historic Pentecost, it didn't mean a thing to them. And then the last great day of the feast was typifying a feast that we do not celebrate. We celebrate Pentecost, we celebrate, pardon me, we celebrate the Day of Atonement now on Good Friday in the Christian calendar.

Fifty days after we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. We do not celebrate the ingathering of Joel because it's not yet happened. But when you think of this nation again, asleep for 400 years, then comes a man like Haley's Comet flying over the sky.

And he stands there all by himself, no committee, asks no favors, no handouts, doesn't in any way try and get favor with the hierarchy, the priests, he just stands in splendid isolation anointed with God.

And has one of the biggest revivals in history. 400 years and nothing had happened and then this dynamic man comes. That's a cultural shock to them. It's a shock to their religion, it's a shock to everything.

They are just getting over that and up comes a man by the name of Jesus, more staggering, more amazing. He does everything that John didn't do. John did no miracle. He had no miracle ministry, no healing ministry.

As I say, he didn't raise the dead, he did more than that, he raised the dead nation. I would to God we had a John Baptist in every city in the nation tonight. Every city in the world needs a John Baptist.

But if the Christ is doing what he did, he lived in the wilderness amongst the wild beasts, he had no social life, he had no truck with the religion of the day, he's building up his faith, he comes with complete assurance and he steps right out into a wilderness again and has the anointing of God.

Then Jesus comes and shocks the nation even more. When that dies down, up come a bunch of fellows going in another room and there they are praying for some days and they come out like a an army of men with almost limitless power and the whole nation again is convulsed.

Why can these men do these things? Why does the high priest do it? He wears a helmet, solid gold round band and it says on holiness to the Lord. We never thought there was any holiness about him except on his forehead.

He stands and draws out Isaiah 35 When the years come, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, lamely beep as a hawk. Well you see the men that did it went into that temple with more than 2 ,000 people in it and stood there in the middle of the feast.

One of the most heroic things in history. In the first verse it says they said we'll kill him. In the middle of the chapter the people say well why don't you kill him? He's there, you said you'd kill him.

I think of this every day of my life. The moral majesty of Jesus. He under breastplate, he under bodyguard, he stands there. What do you expect him to get? That's in the 7th chapter of John. In the 2nd chapter, what did he do in the 2nd chapter?

He went to the temple and kicked over the tables and the money changers. In the account of that same story by Matthew it says that he said come on let me step out of here a minute. You know what my teacher used to tell me about the great characters famous men, heroes in the Bible.

Daniel in the lion's den, Samson pulling the house down. Wonderful. Daniel in the lion's den. Jesus isn't in the lion's den do you know what he said? He said you're a den of thieves. And then he walks in the midst of them.

Why didn't they slaughter him? Because again of the moral majesty, because of the anointing of the Spirit of God. When he stood there and trembled I'm sure he's not thinking of the departed glory. Again do you know why you and I do not sigh and cry and groan and fast for revival?

Because we've never seen it that's why. Oh we've been to a good meeting now and again. A few more people went forward. I think most churches have a door at each end. They come to the altar and walk straight out to the world.

Revival, Holiness, and the Witness of the Church

And there's two Russians that were in New York a few weeks ago they permitted, they got a permit to come to America for a few weeks. They wanted to go to a sanctuary on Sunday. They went. When they came out all the men lit up.

They staggered. What's happening? Oh well these what do you mean? Well these men are smoking. Don't they do that in your country? Nobody ever smokes in our country coming out of church. Well they go straight into restaurants not in our country.

They go to football matches not in our country. This is the country we're praying for, Russia. As I told you the other week Dave Wilkinson brought some men to my house from Poland. When he mentioned the gay communities they said, what?

What is a gay community? Oh we have colonies of homosexuals and lesbians in most of our big cities. Don't you have them in Poland? Never heard of any. Do you have homosexuals? Oh odd individuals. Don't you have shops selling nudity things?

Not in Poland. No nudity in Poland. No pornography in Poland. No homosexuals in Poland. No lesbians in Poland. Come on. How long do you think God is going to wink at the sin of America? There's nobody in this earth who's going to move this generation to God except the Holy Ghost.

Twice this week people have talked to me about expeditions. Bless her. Some lady last week got up and asked for prayer after the meeting for the skeletons they found of dinosaurs. If we can find human bones as well as the dinosaur bones it will prove the flood.

It will prove the Bible. Listen. Nobody proves God's truth. Nobody proves the Bible's truth. It's true because God says it. Not because science agrees. Let them go to hell. I don't care whether they agree or disagree.

When I was a boy the latest discovery was that somewhere in Siberia they found the skeletons of a whole host of mastodons. Remember those monsters? About twice the height of an elephant. They had long fur coats on.

And they found all these skeletons going in one direction and they all had hay in their mouths. They'd been frozen. And they were all running away from the area of the flood and then there was a change in atmosphere and they were all frozen there.

A proof of the flood. Did people repent by the thousand? No. They ridiculed the whole thing. Just now some wealthy Americans are trying to get up through Turkey to find the remains of Noah's Ark. And if they do of course the whole world will believe.

Come on. One of these boys on TV will buy a lump of it and he'll sell a piece for five dollars. It's amazing when you think what Peter and John could have done. They could have got an expedition. You know, people looking for Noah's Ark couldn't they?

Or the ark that came out of the tabernacle. Or would you like to stand in the place where Moses stood and viewed the landscape or I can take you up there, you know. Cost you fifty dollars each but it's wonderful.

I got an invitation last week to go with a party to study revival in the Alps. Of course in the Alps you see you're nearer heaven up there. But do you know what the pull was? Oh, we're going to study revival with some of the great men in the world.

Dr. So-and-so from London. Dr. So-and-so. We're going to study revival. And we're going skiing every day in the best skiing places in the world. You know, like Elijah did and Joel. I mean who's fooling with almighty God?

That's right. You don't want to go Patty. We're going to go and not only that but listen here's an added bonus. We can get on a train and go through the Alps to Austria. All the leather work there. The handbags you can buy and all the rest of it.

Oh, mercy on us. Isn't it nice to make it so comfortable you know. Doesn't talk about fasting and praying. Don't say we'll save all the money it will cost two hundred of us to fly over there and give it to missions.

And let's get in some back place there in somewhere around Garden Valley or somewhere and get on our bellies before God. You think God's going to answer prayer to folk who are panting and praying Lord help me to ski faster today.

What a foolish thing. The only reason we don't have revival is the price is too high. That's all. It means it's almost like cutting your throat physically. You cut your throat socially. You don't care whether you ever get invited to dinner.

You don't care a hill of beans about the pastor or what he says. You just get along with God and have a love tries to it. I'm trying to get to these young preachers down from Detroit this afternoon and warmer thought out talking.

Discipline, Worship, and Following the Word of God

Get a love relationship with the Lord. Don't substitute service for worship. Remember the secret is discipline. Take time to be holy. One thing you can do is throw your TV away or some other thing. If it's a hindrance it isn't to everybody.

I use mine for news. I like to know what's happening in the countries where my boys are before I go to bed at night. You don't know what's happening these days. But you see there's such a horrible mixture today.

Jesus said sell all you have and take up your cross and follow me. And take a cross means going across. Across public opinion. Across the opinion of your relatives. Maybe across the opinion of your pastor.

Well if he's wrong and the Bible's right kiss him goodbye and follow the word of God. Here are two simple men. Not one of them has ordination. Not one of them has any reputation. I think in the eyes of the rest of the world they were despised.

Peter? Oh that's the man that ran away. That girl put a finger up and he ran away from a girl there. They all forsook him and fled. As I said last week once Peter got talking with the anointing of the Holy Ghost his tongue was a sharp-twegged sword.

He severed all their conceit. He deflated them in their pride. And it says they were all amazed. They were dumbfounded that Peter should stand with that authority. When previously he'd been such a coward.

You know the more learned the church gets in just natural learning the less she knows of God. Don't confuse wisdom with knowledge. You can know all the knowledge in the world and not be wise. Knowledge in itself is not wisdom.

Wisdom is acting on the knowledge that you have and in this area in the power of God. You know in the days of Charles II you won't remember that. I don't except historically. But in the days of Charles II the early 1600s there were a group of men, massive men massive intellectually massive spiritually we call them Puritans.

And maybe the greatest teacher of them all was John Owen. He wrote about five huge volumes just on the epistle to the Hebrews. He was the outstanding preacher of the day. Down in England a bit further in the south of England there was a man in jail a preacher by the name of John Bunyan.

You remember he gave us the greatest classic maybe outside of the Bible Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. If you haven't read it you should. If you haven't read it you're cheating on your children. You should read it to children.

And read the second volume The Holy War which I think is better. Two of the greatest classics ever written. Here is this humble tinker for 15 years in jail because he wouldn't concede to the government.

Here is John Owen who had become a lot of a Presbyterian preacher. I think afterwards he became a Congregationalist. Here is this man with his towering intellect. Everybody listens aghast when he opens the word of God.

Oh wasn't he marvellous. Oh you should have heard him last Sunday. Oh you should have heard him so and so. He is awesome. He treads paths other men don't tread. He gets revelations other men don't get.

He reveals secrets of Scripture nobody else knows. What's his secret? Oh they say he lives with God. He does? Yes. Well do you know what he did one day? John Knox with his illustrious congregation he invited this poor tinker that didn't know much about theology but knew God.

Invited him to preach. The King Charles II sent for John Owen afterwards and he said Sir they tell me that you being the most learned man in the British Isles today invited a tinker to take your pulpit?