Revival Forum 89 - Part 4 — Leonard Ravenhill

Faithful Surrender in the Face of Martyrdom

There's a verse there that staggers me and it says what? It says, they did by faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, and then one verse says, not accepting deliverance.

What does it mean? I'd rather die than fail Christ. You can't imagine it, can you? There's a woman standing over there, feeding a baby, and the judge says to her, look, listen preacher, you take three grains of incense to that, at the feet of Caesar, and all you do is say, Caesar is Lord, you can go back to your darling wife and precious baby.

If not, those lions are going to release them, the next thing you'll find a lion chewing your baby up, another one tearing the breasts off your wife. Do you love your wife? You didn't tell me you're going to love a god you can't see, to the wife, and he stands there and watches it.

Historical Examples of Costly Christian Faith

We've forgotten all about that. There's a book called Fair Sunshine, it's about the young men that were put to death in Scotland until 1665, and if you read them waving their hands and saying, have three more days before I see the king in his beauty.

You see, what our generation of preachers have managed to do, we've failed to make sin diabolical, we've failed to make sin offensive, and we've failed to make sin attractive, Christ attractive. You know, the only time you can sing the hymn of Wesley, thou O Christ art all I want, the only time you can say, Christ is all I need, is when Christ is all you have.

We're propped up with everything, our refrigerators are full, I don't have many clothes, but I have at least, I have two suits at least, and I have at least two pair of shoes, and twenty-one preachers praise him, he had thirty-five sportscoats, and twenty-five pairs of shoes, in nearly as many books.

Does the devil care what we have? All he's worried about is that you catch fire, and then your church catches fire. Another thing I need to say is, I've gone round a bit I know, but I've got to get wound up and say what I want to say.

Revival Beyond Church Buildings

You see, the great revivals of Methodism were not in buildings, they were in the streets, the Salvation Army set England on fire, wow, not by buildings. The Bishop of Gloucester said, don't ever let John Wesley or Charles Wesley in any of our churches.

They were both certified men of impeccable morality, scholars, read the Hebrew and Greek, don't let them in the churches, and don't let that man, George Whitfield, in the church at all. Tell me who was the bishop at that time, nobody knows, don't care a hill of beans, but we know the men that got kicked out.

You know, some of you guys, if you're faithful, you'll be kicked out, at least that's my prayer. I pray you'll all get fired for being fired, but God's going to do it, don't lose sight of that with all I've rambled on.

You see, God used the same material before, they were flesh and blood, many of them were fallible, Paul was saying this morning, some of them made great mistakes, but God looks on the heart, and they were able to see great movings of the Spirit of God.

Recovering Biblical Theology and the Holiness of God

America is harder today than she's ever been, we've no vocabulary anymore, nobody commits adultery now, they just have an affair, there's no fornication, it's premarital sex, nobody's messing with spiritism, it's just channeling.

We've taken the sting out of all the words, we don't talk about hell, we've got to get back to biblical theology, and listen, we've got to do the essential thing. Jesus says, if I be lifted up, we're not preaching Christ, we're preaching drugs, we're preaching abortion, we're preaching crime, we're not preaching Christ.

Our fathers, I've been reading very much lately again, well partly the apostolic fathers, and the men up in the Puritans, and the other people in that area, how they exalted Christ, it was Christ first, Christ last.

You see, we've lost sight of the majesty and holiness of God. We don't tiptoe out of the sanctuary, subdued by God's almightiness and power and mercy, it's just a ritual, it's a formality, people know where we're going to start, now we're going to start.

A Church That Vibrates With Holy Fire

But let's go back to the main issue again, the main issue, the church should vibrate. Boy, if I lived within a hundred miles of this place, I'd be here every, I'd be here every week at least once to pray with these guys.

I wouldn't pray in the day when it's coming to them, I'd pray at nine o 'clock till three in the morning, and see how men would come, they'll come. There's nothing more attractive on this earth than fire, whether it's physical or spiritual, fire is the most attractive, our God is a consuming fire.

And the only answer to hell fire is holy ghost fire.

The Greatest Hindrance to Revival: Easy Evangelism

Brother Leonard, let me ask you another question, and you make interviews very easy, this is my third question now. What do you believe is the greatest hindrance to genuine revival in the church here in the West?

The number one hindrance to revival in America is evangelism. We've made it easy for people to come forward and say a little prayer and go out. Stop them and ask, ask, you ask teenagers in your church, number one are you saved, yes, from what?

Oh from hell. Are you saved from lust? Are you saved from pride? They don't know, talk about the witness of the spirit that John Wesley preached on more than anything else, they don't know what you're talking about.

They've seen blessed assurance and they've no assurance. The hindrance, number one, is we've made it so easy for people to come forward. They go out at the door, I watched some recently, they had to get out of the door, they were lighting cigarettes.

They weren't going home under anguish, do you not, dear, what's his name again, Spurgeon said when he was 15, he was under conviction of sin for weeks and weeks and weeks, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat.

When do you get conviction like that? Dear God, our people, they're a bit upset in a meeting, they go out, they go back to sin, they go back and sit before TV till midnight. There's no concern, there has to come an awakening in the church to the peril.

Revival's Call to Family Discipleship

Those loved ones of yours at the end of the table, they don't go to church, no, they're going to hell. Why don't you say it? My boy's a good boy, he's quarterback, who cares a hell of beans if he's quarterback or fullback or any other back.

Where are your children? What's your ambition for your boy? I have three boys, two of them, two of the best preachers in America today, the other one's the head of one of the new sects in that multi-million dollar, what do you call it now, Smithsonian Museum, and these boys, they got prayer lives, two of them got tremendous prayer lives and they're my joy.

I would be totally unhappy if they were anything else, they'd never be millionaires, they'd never be rich, but they know God, they're laying up treasure in heaven. And our young people, you see, it's not a case of getting the family, getting the Bible back in the schools, get the Bible back in your home.

Duncan Campbell and Revival in Gaelic

We were talking, I was talking to your brother Bill here about, what's his name now, Duncan Campbell. I spent many hours in prayer with Duncan Campbell, he used to pray and weep and groan. The amazing thing, Bill, he never had revival except when he preached in Gaelic.

Personal Memories of the World Wars

I remember the first day of World War I, it was the 4th of August, my cousin went to the army, he came back crippled, I remember the first day of World War II, I was to preach at the head church of the Nazarene Saturday night, in the afternoon I went to a mission.