God's Compassion by Leonard Ravenhill

Lord we lord we are evidence of the wonderful hymn that we have sung we know it's to centuries old but your love is longer than that longer than that older than that we we're the proof that Jesus Thou Art all compassion and pure unbounded love thou art when there was no arm long enough and no arm strong enough to lift us we thank you that your arm reached us as the old hymn says from sinking Sands he Lifted Me with tender hands he Lifted Me from shades of night to days of light oh praise His name he lifted me how blessed we are to be here tonight What If thy form we cannot see we know and feel that thou art here we're never sure when we come here who will be here except yourself circumstances often hinder our best desires but you thank we thank you that you never break your promises you've no reason to we thank you for your amazing track record if we dare use that phrase that never in the history of the world have you failed to keep for promise you've never let your people down whether they were individuals in prison or a million coming out of Egypt wandering through the Wilderness you led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of Fire by night we thank you for the pillar of fire you've given us your holy word a servant of yours in the Old Testament said your word is like a fire that burns in my bones we thank you for this book we know it's not of human construction we know there's no alternative to Jesus Christ we know there's no alternative to your word it's not a book of imagination it's a book of inspiration and Revelation holy men of God some were very poor clothing some were shepherds some were Kings some were colossal intellects like the Apostle Paul others were very ordinary men but they wrote Under divine inspiration never dreaming that 2,000 years after men and women all over the world would be reading their writings I think just now of the day when Vol a contemporary of wetley said that within a 100 years from the day he said it the Bible would not be found except in museums now he he's buried and gone to ashes and we thank you your word is indeed A Mighty Fortress change and decay in all around we see but we thank you your word is Incorruptible you've already guaranteed it Thy word oh God is forever and ever just like your kingdom is an eternal Kingdom just as our as as our King cannot abdicate his kingdom cannot be destroyed he cannot be overthrown he cannot die we thank you tonight that the head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with Glory now the cheek that once was smitten the face from which the hair was pulled the face into which some ungodly Rascal spit that sh face is shining in eternity brighter than a Noonday Sun H we think of the Revelation that Isaiah had centuries before Jesus came when he said he saw him in all his majesty in all his glory high and lifted up and his train filled the temple even the cherubims used their wings to filter the Blazing glory of the King on his throne we come to worship you tonight we come to hear your voice through your word through the simple expression of the preacher we would be still and know that thou art God we come from a world of turmoil speak peace in this meeting particularly to any heart excessively troubled speak a word of comfort to that person who's been wounded and G we thank you there is a b in Gilead there is a physician there beyond all human Physicians a miracle working God whether you work visibly or invisibly we care not again we thank you for this word which is a lamp to our feet and I light to our path we've sung finish then thine New Creation may this service helped to finish that New Creation in US you have begun a good work in US you know we won't give us up we may stumble and stagger at times maybe we rest too long maybe times we rush too quickly but you bless you we bless you for the Holy Spirit who's given to us to be our guide open your word we pray and open our eyes and then open our mouths to tell what great things God has done for us we give you praise in Jesus name all right we're going to look at the gospel as recorded by John in the one of the best known chapters chapter 17 since I only live inside my own personality I don't know how you think and I guess there are some things which are very common to us and one to me is that how often I read the word of God and suddenly it explodes I wonder why it didn't explode 50 years ago I was too dull well the fact was I knew so much then that nobody could teach me you see but a lot of that St I've put it in my head so I've got it in a nutshell you see it will be correct to say that this 13 pardon me this 17th chapter actually begins in the 13th chapter in this 13th chapter of the Gospel this same gospel we move move into a new dimension Jesus is speaking particularly to his disciples now before the Feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should should depart out of this world unto the father having loved his own which were in the world he loved them un the end now then there's a gap actually and we could really pick up the story here in this 17th chapter I say the 13th chapter is Introduction to the 17th I was reading that story what in the 46th of uh Ezekiel today you remember the man with a measuring line there's a river of water take it as a type of the Holy Spirit he measures a th cubits and there's Waters to the ankles he measured another thousand and there's waterers to the knees I take that to mean this or it's my interpretation the river is a type of the Holy Spirit if we water to our ankles we must be walking in the spirit we can't walk in the spirit very long before we get to our knees and start praying in the spirit that is praying with the w wisdom of the spirit and the authority of the spirit then the next measuring line he measures 1,00 cubits and its water to the loins now if you've been a wrestler you know that the strength is all here in the loins remember when Jacob wrestled with the Lord what did he get for wrestling you may say I want to pray life you really do really sincerely want to prayer life you mean you'd like the Lord to you so you have to pray what did Jacob get the Lord touched him where he was too strong he hung on to the angel the angel hung on to him but then he wrestled until the angel touched him in the hollow of his thigh where he was strongest and ever after that he dragged a withered leg I'm not saying this is the right thing to do but I do know people who have actually ruined their physical lives and some who have actually ruined their business lives because they asked for a life of prayer and God took them at the word sometimes this is called as being called the longest prayer of Jesus if you do your homework and go through the New Testament you'll discover there are 19 prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ do you know through the Bible there are 650 prayers they make an interesting study wouldn't they this is not the longest prayer of the Lord Jesus I don't believe it is anyhow it's the longest recorded prayer some of said it's the most beautiful prayer I disagree I believe the longest prayer Jesus prayed was in Gethsemane I I believe it was a most awesome prayer so awesome that no one heard it these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father I heard Paul talking to somebody a few days ago and he said my father he didn't know what a kick I got I that was so lovely to me sometimes my wife calls me the old man but I still love the old lady even if she does but when my thought my son said I heard someone say my father have you ever really tried to digest this or think of it I confessed you I haven't I've read the Bible for 70 years and just this week this thought came to me meditating on this chapter which shows how new things can come that Jesus began his life without a father and he ended his life without a father he did his life without a physical father and on the cross he said my father my God why hast Thou forsaken me think of all this amazing history between those two awesome events these words spake Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven now we always close our I don't know why I I think I do know why let me save my S there to save us from distraction I remember walking to Dr to one day he always came out with something that leveled me to the ground anyhow one day he said Len remember none of us will go up to Jesus at the Judgment seat and look him straight in the eye not one of us you know people talk as though we're going to say oh Jesus oh I love you you'll be so terrified when you see him you will be speechless oh I've only seen one portrait of Jesus as given in Revelation his eyes is me his hair is white as snow Mary Antonette you may remember in history was a young lady at 21 who got the heart of the king of France and she man manipulated him she was the most beautiful woman in the world they said but she graved him and he put her in the Basel it's been destroyed now the walls were 30 ft thick nearly I guess about the length of this room they put her there one night with this fantastic hairstyle she had this face that looked as though it was enameled those Flawless blue eyes they put her there in her cell told her she would die in the morning with the executioners you know that horrid Guillotine chopping ahead of they put her in that cell smiling when she went in gorgeous she heard the bell at Notre Dame Cathedral toll out night hour after hour 5 6 7 and then at 8 they took her out to chop a head off but before when they went in the prison cell that gorgeous young lady was 100 years old her skin had all shrunken her hair was as white as snow why because she'd been living in Terror these words spake Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven and said father the hour is come I believe I didn't check today I'm working on memory here but I think this is a seventh time that John mentions the hour you remember Jesus came to his the mother of Jesus came to him and said perform a miracle here at the marriage in can of gal he said my hour is not yet come remember the seventh chapter of John he said to his disciples you go up to the feast I'm not going up but three verses after it says he went up he was saving time it's one thing that you young folk have to beware of I think you should have a clock in your room in every room in every College in every house redeem the time it won't forgive you the Lord will forgive you the clock won't people say faith can do anything if you believe that I'd like to kneel there and you pray over me and say Lord make Len R change him from 77 to 27 wouldn't I get up joyful I don't believe any of you have faith to do that Faith can't do anything I want he can do anything God wants but God isn't there to manipulated Mary antonet was 100 years of age in the morning she'd gone through hell and torment she' heard that Bell told him say would you like somebody to bring you a prophecy your grandmother made when you were say 6 weeks old and she said when you're 17 you're going to have a major accident that will you when you're this when you're that when you would you like to read your future I believe Jesus had be reading his future for many many years as far as I remember he's the only person that came in the world with a specific intention of dying his hair was as white as snow his feet like burnish brass that's why drct to I said none of us would look him straight in the eye I was reciting to myself one of the great hymns of the Charles wer today Lo he comes with clouds descending once for favored Sinners slain L the tokens of his passion though in glory still he Bears when he was resurrected what did he do he show them his hands and his feet how prake why in the world didn't he go down the street and Shout over the cemetery wall and raise the dead as he said he would do why didn't he go to the river or the lake and turn it into into blood and show his Majestic power no he showed them the tokens of his passion L the tokens of his passion though his glor in glory still he Bears cause of endless exaltation to his Ransom worshippers Hallelujah Christ the son of God Appears I say Jesus had been uh oh let me say this what What was a Supreme desire of the Lord Jesus right what did he say lo I come to do thy will in the volume of the book it is written of me he's saying here he wants to glorify the father glorified crucified I think he mentions Glory about seven times in this chapter again I didn't read them today the only way God can be glorified is when he is crucified and all the end things that follow after of course his Supreme Joy he said was I always does those thing that please the father never once in those 33 years did he back off from the will of God he was never intimidated go back for a minute here into the seventh chapter of uh the Gospel of Luke I'll go back yes okay into Luke let's go back into the second chapter sorry his parents had been to the feast remember one of the greatest feasts in the history or in the record of that marvelous people the Jews verse 43 says when they had fulfilled their days they returned to and to return the Child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother knew of it that's the most incredible story in the New Testament incredible why that they' hadd been given the privilege of esorting Jesus out of a womb right to the Cross to the tomb womb to the tomb and they lost him I thought they'd have had a bodyguard there day and night when did they lose him they lost him immediately they came out of church just like you do Sunday morning you'll have forgotten the sermon before you've gone 100 yards out of church particularly if the Cowboys were playing I think that's the greatest religion in Texas football they lost him why they suppos supposed he was in the company and he wasn't there remember the resurrection Maring she supposed it was the garden she thought he wasn't there and he was there they thought he was there and he wasn't there some people think if you build a gorgeous church and put stained glass windows have a big pipe organ and all the trimming is that the Lord is there not so not necessary they supposed You' been in the company and they sought him among their kin folk and they turned again after 3 days you know you do pretty good if you backslide and you make a recovery in 3 days you're doing pretty good course don't backslide anyhow they lost him and rediscovered him in three days where in the temple I imagine they searched every room it was an enormous Place one part was the upper room there were other rooms they sought him with Despair and his mother went to bed what do you think she did the first night what would you do if you lost a 12y old boy cry yourself to sleep think it would justifi you think you'd do it the next night too and the next night too he's not here or maybe those men that you know come every time down by the pool of silom selling goodly pearls they've taken him away stolen him finally they found him where I imagine Joseph pushing the door of the Sanctuary up saying he's there where isn't amazing a 12y old boy's up on the front row asking the wise heads questions it says hearing does that imply he answered hearing and asking them questions if you don't have a 12y old you haven't yet discovered how ignorant you are oh he you people need to pray for extra wisdom I mean your boy's going to have a computer you don't know what that means anyhow it's like buying your husband a sewing machine for Christmas I would have loved to have been eavesdropping to what questions he was asking would be very Wonder they' be very wise questions I'm sure of that do you think those wise heads ever forgot that youngster see that's a boy that came in the temple that day and got had us all puzzled and embarrassed us I wish they'd lose him I felt like that about some church members too but sorry I lost the verse here go from on that incident to another incident just as embarrassing more embarrassing in the fourth chapter verse 16 as his custom was he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read why that wasn't his job it was the rabbi or the chief Rabbi one of the best of the uh priests they delivered up to him the book of the prophecy Isaiah and he found a place he found the place I like that he wasn't going to read anything you know that would not mean anything so he wrote from the 61st chapter the spirit of the Lord is upon me do you wonder it closes the verse by saying and the eyes of everybody there were upon him I don't know what his voice was like I'm sure it was Majestic maybe it was that even at that day like the sound of many Waters what did he say say the spirit of the Lord verse 18 is upon me because Heath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor something they didn't do he sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach Deliverance to the captives recovering the sight of the Blind and set at Liberty them that are bruised you know that upsets a lot of people today all they say in one Pious phrase Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever you mention healing to think you're an idiot well I happen to think that Jesus isn't crippled I happen to believe that Jesus Christ has more power and authority now than he had in the days of his flesh and he had dominion over death he had dominion over lunatics he had dominion over py do you want to embarrass them oh yes they said very piously you know they read the 35th chapter of Isaiah when he is come the eyes of the blind shall be open the ears of the death unstopped then shall the lame man leap as a heart the tongue of the dumb shall sing he didn't read it he did it so embarrass them the spirit of the Lord is upon you know there's no greater thing this side of Eternity I'm sure Paul you believe in that too then a man can say the spirit of the Lord is upon me I won't give you two Hoots for all the decrees the preachers have you can have 32 and still be frozen anyhow I'm glad money can't buy this there's no man can lay hands on you and give you the spirit of wisdom I don't believe so you can't buy it you can't get it by climbing the intellectual ladder of Education getting some great degree in a university God Almighty doesn't happen to read diplomas and I'm not fous in saying that if you're going to be a preacher covet this whatever it cost you if you have to fast one day a week if you have to miss two nights in prayer so what when I was in my 20s many times I wouldn't go to bed for three or 4 days stayed in the church after Sunday night service went to church Saturday night had a street meeting till midnight went to the church and wrapped up wrapped up in a cloth and lay at the sight of my books my library there to wait on God some of you have read I'm sure old Dr JT he was a good Englishman of course but anyhow he coined a phrase I've thought of thousands of times you have to bleed to bless you have to bleed to bless if the Son of God couldn't be a real true blessing as God wanted without bleeding how can we he came to do the will of his father a century back in Scotland there were three famous brothers Han uh Andrew I think one was Andrew borer and the other was uh what was he called herio boner he wrote this lovely hymn go labor on spend and be spent thy joy to do the father's will it is the way the master went should not the servant tread it still toil in honor and in thy toil Rejoice for toil comes rest for Exile home soon shalt thou hear the bridegroom's voice the Midnight Cry behold I come men die in darkness at your side I don't care if you live working with the most most fashionable upto-date computers the man across the other computers D without God and without hope as much as the Heathen up the amazon it's much more Stirling to see Stark naked people and Indians isn't it dying in some rotten CI uncivilized country people in the world off for story are dying without God tonight they can't spend their Millions people in Washington trying to solve problems for the world can't solve their own marriage problems can't solve their own drinking problems can't solve their own gambling problems we're led by idiots this world will never be put straight till the Prince of Peace does it you can be sure about that the spirit of the Lord is upon me because Heath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach Deliverance to the captives recovering the sight of the blind to set at Liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable years of the Lord and He CL the book and gave it to the minister and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened upon him I don't wonder well if the ungodly people said he speaks with authority and not as the scribes preaching can be as empty as beating a drum and that needs Authority Define it if you like as unction Define it if you like as anointing as the old up preacher says I don't know what it is but I know when it isn't when I don't have it he said I know when I haven't had it it's that mysterious something that God is pleased to put upon those who will travel and wait for that anointing without which preaching has no power and has no Authority I'm going to read this again the spirit of the Lord no I read the first 17 chapter 1 chapter 17 verse1 these words spake Jesus and lifted his eyes to heaven and said father I say when I heard my son Paul say the other day to someone he didn't know I was listening say my father I felt such a joy I know what kind of a son I have an anointed man a preacher a Pioneer in a one of the most difficult fields in South America doesn't look so old but he's been there about 25 years anyhow can you remember Isaiah looking up into the face of God and saying father can you remember Jeremiah looking up into the face of God and saying father or any of those starart giants we think of take all the men if you like in Hebrews 11 any one of them ever call the creator of heaven and earth Isaiah doesn't do it he calls him the high and lofty one who inhabited eternity he sits upon the the circle of the earth he fall speechless before God here Jesus has come through this long long period I suggest you tonight disagree if you like that right up to this point Jesus had been in training for what's coming as I say would you like to read your own biography before um you die knowing it is accurate that little fellow sat there puzzling the high priests and the distinguished people there was possibly like some of the Jews that there are in New York today and I have great admiration for them there's a SE there I don't know what you call them hedc is it something they wear flat hats and theyve big black curls coming down to their shoulders and I understand every one of those men can recite the first five books of Moses isn't that right P oh I see thank you now you got that straight I don't know what it was but it's straight can you imagine Jesus reciting all those books can you imagine him reading uh again about the Virgin should bear a child can you think of him reading through Isaiah 53 who have believed our report to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed he should grow up before him as a tender plant he should be like a root out of a dry ground there's no Beauty about that there's no beauty that we should desire him I say Jesus up to this time has been preparing for this awesome thing that lies ahead of him we can break this chapter up into many areas I don't want to do that I want you to notice if you will when you read through John I think about 33 times he he mentions the world you know one of the tragedies of the world is today is the early church the world couldn't get on with the early church he can get on with we're not a thorn in its side we don't cause it any trouble if we displayed some of the power of God they might take some notice but we don't do that out is all theology it's all paperwork I looked up these things this today just to go quickly through them in First Corinthians and chapter 1 the Apostle Paul talks about the wisdom of this world which is foolishness with God do you think God's interested that we've got a thing floating up in the sky right now a machine full of technology and it can spy on the Russians do you think that troubles God in eternity the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God friendship with the world is enmity against God how friendly with the world H what secret society do you belong some of you guys Masons wesle used to kick the Masons around a lot I clashed with one in Ireland he said it's not a religion I said well why do you go to a temple they meet in a temple who meets in a temple except the fol they go to worship the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God the friendship with the world is enmity of go with God 1 Corinthians 7 says the fashion of this world passeth away John in his first verse epistle says if you love the world the love of the father isn't in you you forfeit God's love as soon as you get F Fant fascinated with the with the love of the world read an article recently where the preacher was saying you know so many people lose their first love that's not what the Bible says the Bible says Thou Hast left thy first love you don't lose it I got an old coat was about it 20 years I lost it this week boy was I upset it's out of style it's but it's good to me keeps me warm I was glad when I found it I lost it but the address to the people there in the book of the revelations to people who left their first love something out got them and they gave all their consuming passion and desire to that one thing that they got hold of again love not the world neither the things of the world we talk about the lust of the Flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life which all belong to this world when I'm wanting to say now really which which has been in the back of my mind for days I haven't got hold of it as I should I'm sure of that chapter 13 we're introduced Jesus introduces his disciples to the Lord's Supper then immediately he introduces them to the washing of feets which has gone out with most people that's chapter 13 chapter 14 in verse 26 he mentions there for the first time the comforter which is the holy ghost that always reminds me of my dear old teacher in England Old Samuel Chadwick he said remember he's the comforter but he is not these are his exact words because I heard them say so many times and I've quoted them many times since myself the comforter which is but the comforter the holy spirit is not a nursing mother to spiritualist spiritual sick children that word comforter in English in Latin is Comfort it's k u m- f o r t i with strength what did Jesus say when the Holy Ghost is come what you shall receive what in other words you shall receive strength the holy ghost coming upon you back in the 1600s one of the giant stalwarts of that day that was the period of Puritans like John Owen and all that crowd John Owen was maybe the greatest of them he said the sin of men in the Old Testament was against the Father the sin of men in the New Testament was against the sun well I think we can say nowaday the sin of the church very much is against the Father the sin of the church against the Son and the sin of the church against most churches is the Holy Ghost they want the Holy Ghost if they can lay a track and he run down their theology but he says forget it now this may be a pretty stiff yard stick you can beat me up next time you come but I'm going to say it anyhow I believe every church is either Supernatural or superficial I don't believe in any Middle Ground I'm not interested merely in seeing healings I've seen many and I thank God for them seen blind people get the sight seen people leap out of of chairs it's not I've not I've not any compassion for that but the least emphasis that's put on the Holy Ghost today is that when he is come he convinces the world of sin the church is comfortable with sin I hear of churches now that have special classes for young Co for young couples or young divorce couples 50 years ago you never heard of a divorce in the Christian chrisan Church you never heard of marriage counseling in the Christian church the meetings were so breathed upon by the Holy Ghost I dreaded to go in some meetings even when I was 14 or 15 years of age in those days if you went to a healthy spiritually healthy church if it was a Holiness Church preaching the baptism of the spirit is Purity sanctification or whether it was Pentecostal preaching the baptism of the Holy Ghost with gifts whenever he went to either of those churches Sunday night if the service started at 6:00 at half 5 the altar was filled with people praying the power down we had one old boy took his coat off boy did he shout as so Lord was de come down tonight I used to tremble I was scared H I'm not factious I imagine the Lord would come down I'd be terrified if he came you hear people saying Church Lord you're welcome if the Holy Ghost came to some Churches there'd be a stampede to the door David Wilson was telling me not long ago he said Len you know I know God has given me certain gifts but they work more in the open air in the street meetings and in churches last year in New York he pointed to a big fell £350 boy you better be watch what you're saying he said you're running away from your wife and he ran away from David up the street came back back 15 minutes after with his well I won't say anything about the wife but anyhow he was about 350 pound and she was a little less and all the paninis were running out of that there were about five or six children coming he said I was running away from my wife I've been living an evil life when he went this year that man met him and told him how Christ transformed his life pointing out people in the crowd like that doesn't make church too comfortable does it we'd rather go to the church you know what it says as you enter the door it says everybody keeps silent and they sure do if you said amen they turn the fire holes on you so John 13 is or let's say it again repetition is good John 13 is where he introduces his disciples to the Lord's Supper then he washes their feet 14 he says let not your heart be troubled verse 26 he tells about the Holy Ghost coming come force with power chapter 15 The incomparable story of the vine chapter 16 The Marvelous introduction of the Holy Spirit chapter 17 this marvelous marvelous prayer then you go into chapter 18 I will say this is disastrous I said Jesus has been in training up to this point for the most horrendous experiences that a human being could ever know when Jesus spoken these words let me go back a minute and think of this so many people say that Jesus spoke this 17th prayer this prayer in the 17th chapter with a sense of gloom and doom I don't believe that for a moment I believe he said it joyously why well look at the last verse of chapter 16 these things I have spoken unto you you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I've overcome the world do you think a man is going into Gloom when he knows he's already conquered the world hasn't he prayed in the 15th chapter that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves doesn't he say in this 17th chapter verse 13 now I come to thee that these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy my joy to do the father's will let that Joy dominate your life he's not talking about happiness happiness and joy are as different as night and day happiness depends on happenings everything happens to go right you go up with them everything happens to go down you go down with them but joy is a stable thing it do not depend on happen stance happenings you know usually when the King dies he disos OS of a castle to this person and horses to that person and money to that what did Jesus the King of Kings what did he leave well it says he says am I peace I leave with you gave them peace that passeth all understanding and if you've got it right all misunderstanding not just peace my peace the peace that dominated him when they tried to push him over the cliff the peace that dominates him now when he goes into Gethsemane they may have my joy and again in the 15th chapter he has prayed that their Joy may be full but we want it on the platter don't we what does the Lord gives he gives Beauty for what what does ashes mean something's being burned to a sinder maybe that's where we're afraid to be consumed because God will reduce us to ashes all our plans when God's fire upon the altar of my heart was set a blaze my ambitions plans and wishes at my feet in ashes lay that's an old hymn but you know God can do more with the ashes than you can do with the whole thing that they may have my joy a joy unspeakable and full of Glory a joy that can let him look from the cross all the igny of the cross a piece that passes understanding misunderstanding too when he's there on the cross but this is the Gateway the most horrible thing is here in this 18th chapter we go from the sublime Majestic you know I'm wondering why because of a certain book I read not too long ago I'm wondering why never no one ever emphasizes the moral Majesty of Jesus in that seventh chapter of John he walks into a crowded place they're all murmuring because of him that's him he raises the dead that's him he does Miracles that's the man he torments people with his teaching the Pharisees are ashamed of him and embarrassed saw the Sadducees saw the the priest and yet he stands up in the middle of the feast with more than a thousand people in the temple clothed on in moral majest he went and read read in the scripture there well when he was even 12 he read there in the listened on the front seat I believe there he had a moral Majesty in other words he had a God created character in the seventh chapter with all the murmuring there he's not embarrassed to say you poured out water every day and he stands in the place where the priest has stood and he says listen you come unto me I am the Water of Life he said he is the bread of life he says he is the light of Life do you think they took that sitting down kind of thing who does he think he is he is the bread of life if you eat of him you have life he is the Water of Life if you drink of him you don't thirst again he is the light of life that will guide you he makes all these stupendous claims of things that we can't live without we can't live without bread we can't live without water we can't live without light and we can't live without God we without Christ you can exist and again there are no alternatives to Jesus Christ the only wise thing I know HG well said was that there's a god-shaped blank in all of us I think he borrowed anyhow from Augustine this Augustine says we'll never be satisfied until God takes up his in us you and I are supposed to be the the God is supposed to be in residency in our beings I didn't read the verse I'm going to read it here John 18 verse1 when Jesus had spoken these words words of wisdom and comfort in the 17th chapter he went forth with his disciples over the book kedron where there was a garden into which he entered and his disciples and Judas also which betrayed him knew the place for Jesus often resorted there if you want to know the prayer life of Jesus you'd have to read this account of the go gospel given by Luke Luke says he was in the river being baptized and as he was praying the spirit descended upon Him Luke says he was on the Mount of transfiguration and as he prayed if you want a new personality I'll tell you this the only way to get it is to have a prayer life because you can't pray and be unclean you can't pray and have a grudge you can't pray enough viers we blame the devil so often most of us sabotage our own prayers who shall Ascend into the hill of the Lord the man that received the decree the man that wears his collar backwards with the man that has Priestly garments the man that stands beside behind an ornate desk with stained glass window no a man can be plowing a field and Ascend into the hill of the Lord he that ha Clean Hands that's our relationship with the world and a pure heart our relationship to God again those old Methodist used to sing a great him no condemnation now I dread oh I was going to read a verse from here forgotten know I don't know whether Charles Wesley based this on this John 17 but I like it he says Arise My Soul arise shake off thy guilty fears the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears Before the Throne my short is stands and my name is written on his hands he ever lives above for me to intercede he's on the way to do this through this Garden his all redeeming love is Precious Blood to plead his blood are ton for all our race and sprinkles now the throne of grace five bleeding wounds he Bears two in His Feet Two In His Hands one in his side five bleeding wounds he Bears received on Calvary they po effectual prayers they strongly plead for me forgive him oh forgive he cries now let that Ransom sinner die the father hears in prayer his dear anointed son he cannot turn away the presence of his son his Spirit answers to the blood and tells me I'm born of God my God is reconciled his pardoning voice I hear he owns me for his child I can no longer fear with confidence I now draw n and father AB father cry made possible only because of this Jesus who knew p me Judas also which betrayed him knew the place for Jesus often resorted here I'm going to suggest to you disagree if you like that Jesus had to approximate up to this horrible experience he was going to have in Gethsemane again I say you'd have to read Luke to find the prayer life of Jesus he's praying as the love descends upon him he's praying there on the Mount of transfiguration come on in a quick don't don't answer audibly how many people were there on the Mount of transfiguration six you got it six Peter James John Jesus Moses and who else Elijah who did did God speak Tod no to only one person Jesus we say sing lovely American hymn Blessed Assurance you know God gave Assurance to Jesus in his pilgrimage in the older crisis periods and there on the Mount of transfiguration the father answers from heaven or call from Heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased if I die conscious I don't know whether I will or not but if I die conscious I'd like to die conscious the Lord saying to me this is my beloved Son I have a very dear friend who says his one ambition in life is to hear God say you are my beloved Son not a son but the son in other words you're a chosen vessel unto me how many minut your Geth semes do you think that would be Jesus has prayed for his disciples he's prayed for himself in the first five verses of the 17th chapter verses 1 to5 he prays for himself verses 6 to 19 he prays for his disciples verses 20 to 26 he prays for the world read it and emphasize how many times as you read it I have kept them in thy name he has prayed for unification for them that's about the most common thing used out of this chapter everybody sees Jesus prayed that we all may be one he did not not in the way you think of it what did he pray for that they may be one even as we one it's vertical before it's horizontal Charles Wesley again gave us that lovely children's him I used to sing it to my my mother's knee every night till it about 10 years of age gentle Jesus Meek and Mild look upon a little child taking I guess from is it second Peter where it says Peter talks about the gentleness and meekness of Christ but you see in these days we think gentleness means softness and we think weak weakness is weakness the very opposite Jesus was meak but he got angry was he soft I'll tell you how softy what he said he said to some people that were usurping Authority in his father's house you're a bunch of Hypocrites you white it seers that's not very loving language is it he loved his own I don't ever read where he loved his where he loved Pharisees or publicans he loves Sinners we're supposed to love everybody these days only do is throw your Bible over the worldall and accept from church Dogma but that's not consistent with this ep finans the 17th chapter I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love where with thou has love me may be in them and I in them and then later he says he loved them right to the end so now he's going into Gethsemane I can't recall the him but I remember we used to sing a hym in England go to dark Gethsemane ye who feel the tempter's power your redeemer's conflict see and watch with him one little hour turn now from the world away learn from Jesus Christ to pray I guess you heard hundreds of times people say I remember the day I was saved if you're a Nazarene of the old Holiness folk you'd H him remember the day I was Sanctified if you go to a Pentecostal Church you'll hear them say I remember the day that I was born again I remember that I was filled with the Holy Ghost I've never yet heard a person say I remember the time when I went to Gethsemane you ever heard Gethsemane in the Hey Day of His preaching in the Welsh Revival and he was only 23 years of age Evan Roberts who was an oversized man for a Welshman that a small race of men but he was a kind of a giant 12 or 1300 people there and suddenly he crumbled you know like you see those I'm not forious here you see them Dynamite those buildings and they go down like that and he just fell flat and he groaned and he roared on the platform in front of 12 or 1300 people somebody was going to lay hands on him and somebody wise enough said the spirit is upon him leave him he's having a Gethsemane it's an awful price to pay but God gives Beauty for ases the oil of joy for mourning we want the joy but not the morning the garments of praise but not the spirit of heaviness Jesus has prayed this awesome prayer magnificent prayer Majestic prayer call it what you will again he's clothed in moral Majesty he has a of unity with his father the creator of the universe but he's going into most horrendous unimaginable horror the world has ever known by himself you sing of him Earthly friends May Fail and leave us one day soothe the next day griev us but our Lord will never deceive us he's going into that mockery that foolish beses of a trial that he had before Pilate and before a Roman King he doesn't tremble what is he guarded with he's guarded with the righteousness of God he's GED with the fact this is the way that God has chosen for me again as bonus says this is the way the master went should not the servant tread it still you know most of us If we're honest we want to go to heaven on Easy Street don't overburden me don't talk to me about sacrifice don't talk to me about fasting don't talk to me about anguish he's going into this horrible experience of Gethsemane read about it when you go home read the 22nd chapter pardon me the 22nd Psalm he talks about the dogs are waiting for him and the lions are waiting for him the devourers are there the unimaginable darkness that there is there all thy Billows have gone over me if I can use it because I don't know any better language from that nerve-wracking experience that tortous experience on his body his mind and his Spirit he goes from there to something even darker it would seem to me what's darker than Gethsemane what's darker than Gethsemane well the Judgment Hall again is deserted he's alone then he goes on his way to the Cross I've read that over and over again this afternoon in Hebrews 13:13 let us go go with him outside the camp bearing his reproach here he is the Holy One Of God who's of holy RIS and to behold iniquity he's given his back to the smiters all the horor of Isaiah 53 becomes real we're told that by one man's sin dis Disobedience sin entered into the world and because of that every grave side testifies to the sin of Adam every broken life every jail that's filled with wicked men tonight every broken home testifies to the sin of Adam but then we're told by one man's obedience many were made righteous you have this almost word perfect picture of Jesus there in Isaiah 53 he's wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities I've often wonders why the disciples didn't leave the Judgment Hall behind in him cheering him Master you told us this was coming up you said that wicked men will put you to death time and again you've read Isaiah 53 he goes down from the place of judgment to where to golgatha he was always an outsider to them he was born outside of marriage when he becomes a young aggressive young man he's put outside of his own family they call him a Madman that's hard when your family do that later they put him out of the synagogue usually a great American evangelist not oftenly quoted called Alexander his wife was English she wrote a Hy a children's hym we had sang almost every week at home when I was a child there is a green hill far away without a city wall I wonder why it was without a city wall which means of course outside the city wall where our dear Lord was crucified that is staggering under his cross and he's going to where well whether you like it or not I'll tell you where he's going he's going to the sewage Farm read Leviticus read numbers where is he going he's going outside of the city why because all malefactors go outside of the city all lepers go outside of the city all the unclean go out of the city all the filth of the city is poured out there and there he goes Nobody applauding nobody cheering him men scorning him all the way down I'm sure they shut out the lip they laughed him to scorn and and God is silent this is his beloved Son and then mystery of mystery says it pleas the Lord it pleased the Lord to bruise him the lord has laid on him every sin you would anyone else ever committed some people make a lot of the cross of Jesus wasn't the cross that killed him Sur it was our sin that killed him there used to be a teacher in in Edinburgh University new College Edinburgh years ago a century ago he was a Scotsman but he had a fantastic knowledge of Hebrew he taught Hebrew every morning to those University students in the Divinity class and he always used a Hebrew text Bible as his textbook he went through Isaiah 53 and one morning he stopped in his lecture and he said listen to this he quoted it in Hebrew then in English his soul not his body his soul was made an offering for sin I'll tell you what he said how he interpreted that he said gentlemen it was damnation and he took it joyfully he tasted the pangs of hell why I say he was born without a father he finished without a father why because he says my God why has Thou forsaken me I can understand Peter he was always vacillating I can understand Thomas he was always doubting I understand the fra to but God here I am in the crisis moment If Ever I needed you it's now and I'm deserted it's as black as hell there's a him in this hm book we might try and sing it we've never sung it Man of Sorrows what a name for the Son of God who came ruined Sinners to reclaim hallelujah what a savior bearing shame bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemn ye stood have you ever figured those three crosses here the central cross with Jesus here's a thief and there's a thief and all the crowd are going there laughing mocking scorning and Barabas comes up and says to a bud you know I should have been on that cross that was mine that that Miracle working fellow took it oh what a marvelous man I'm glad he took my place I'd be riding in agony when did last you see him ring in agony for you how in God's name do you get get through your prayers without breaking down at time I could have wa the whole day today CU modern preachers don't it's too embarrassing it's in for dig to preach have to weep when you preach don't get a hell beans the man who does preach who doesn't weep for the L should not ask people to come and expect people to come and weep for their sins the reason they don't come and weep for their sins he never weeps for them that's why the Billows of Hell broke over him before he gets to Gethsemane he can stink The horri Wretched drainage for the drainage of the city went there all the corpses went there all the lepers only would allowed to walk there anybody deranged that to go and be put outside the city wall everybody they thought was unclean and undesirable was put there come on now you say that's a horrible figure well friend let me tell you tonight you may be a church member you may have paid your dues and your tithes and Heaven Knows that'll get you to heaven in some Churches but honestly let me say this if you're not born again of the spirit of God you go to hell anyhow and it will it will be the misery of that place I've described a million times worse when some of these proud preachers get there and discover the girl they passed a 100 times at the end of the block while they were preaching salvation she selling a body every Sunday are the people in the tabn within a few hundred yards of this building just yesterday I think it was a precious man 56 years of old shot himself I wondered why I hadn't knocked at his door I admit that I wonder if anybody ever did I think the greatest tragedy in the world tonight is not uh Ethiopia as terrible as it is is not Afghanistan being raped and devoured every day by the wicked vile Russians disagree with if you like I believe the greatest tragedy in the world tonight I believe the greatest tredy in the world tonight is is a sick Church in a Dying World We dare to bear his name and we're destitute of power with' all the Blessed excuse the modern and liberals have given us for not believing in the Old Testament for not believing the miracle of working power I many said many times to D and betting a few others I'd be happy to go to heaven tonight I preached over 60 years and I've I've had some wonderful meetings but I want to see God do something in this Garden valary before I die the the devil's kicked us around like a football we were going to have a great church we got a great building down the road there and it dissolves somehow we had another great group up the road and they've gone what are we going to do run away and let the devil have the whole place I remember the first time I heard people in the uh Christian Missionary Alliance Church singing a a himm ought to be like the Blessed Redeemer made me think I wonder if I really wanted to be like him he was never popular he was never very well accepted do I come on do you really want an intimacy with God that he shows you the world as he's sees it I preached in a big church in Canada a few years ago two lovely girls there school teachers in England they're actually Welsh one of them came forward she's a brilliant scholar I think she studied in some universities Oxford and wherefore she came to the Altar and she wept and wept I mentioned a name I knew her daddy well and known her for some years and when she got saved she said please God said please God will you show me the world as you see it I said do you really mean that you like to the Lord to cut the world into like sometimes you take your rosy cheek t cut it into and find it all rotten and corrupt inside would you like God to show you the fallacy and hypocrisy of modern Christianity would you like to God expose to you the power and awesomeness of a devil devilish colony called Russia here Jesus is lonely that's hard to take isn't it hey it's harder to take we're in a state of Anguish and a state of confusion when you feel the whole world is breaking to pieces and God isn't doing much about it I think the most awesome thing in the world tonight is for a person to dare to say they're a Christian it makes me tremble I'll tell you that you want to know the key to preaching it's in the words of Jesus Jesus that we read tonight Isaiah 61 in which it says to this man will I Look to Him that trembleth at my word I don't tremble at crowds I used to my knees used to knock I don't tremble at crowds anymore I don't even tremble at the power of the devil I don't think but I tremble at the awesomeness of delivering God's word I believe in every meeting where God is somebody is Born Again by the same token I believe in every meeting where God is somebody dies when they reject the message of Salvation you could go to hell from this meeting where God is Jesus had his miniature Gethsemane I'm sure before that final Gethsemane he had his repeated audiences with the father I think maybe he even had miniature as it were transfigurations where he communicated with the father and saw the glory and Holiness of God do you wonder he was as strong as a lion that he didn't tremble before Kings he didn't tremble before rulers he didn't tremble before the antagonism of hell when Hell broke loose on him he says this is the will of God that I'm here for this hour he says I came into the world everything up to here has been preliminary everything's been an exercise in my spiritual life and now father I'm ready I believe some of you can have a death when you're in a class meeting you make a decision about a certain thing but there comes a time when you to make the final decision to die die to your career maybe die to a courtship die to your plans there's a moment when you die and then comes the awful Revelation as to why God has caused you to be saved and filled with his Spirit not just to be easy to live with or we should be easy to live with if we filled with the spirit I'm sure Jesus is easy to live with go labor on spend and be spent thy joy to do the Master's will it is the way the master went should not the servant tread it still toil on and in thy toil Rejoice for toil comes rest for exiled home soon shalt thou hear the bridegroom's voice the Midnight Cry but before them men die in darkness at your sight I don't know why this came to me but in the 1930 1932 if I remember correctly I met Norman grub for the first time he was a son-in-law CTI that amazing missionary they had a school in England later they had and I think they still have a school at Washington just outside of Philadelphia there I was wondering why today they turned out men of such tremendous spiritual quality seemed every man that went out of the classroom was a Pioneer I think first book that moved Paul was Fenton Hall's life written by CD stud and written by Norman grub they remain they produce such a race of spiritual at that time constantly they had fresh information people were coming in from around the world they didn't used to go out loaded with cameras and all the stuff they take today they didn't go for a weekend giving tracks out in gu Mal and think they'd done God's service the original missionaries went out on a one-way ticket no return trip they had men again like SE they had men again like Fenton Hall a little family in isand where a lady has two little shops one she runs to pay the family bills and the other one she runs to raise children for Missions she has four children on the mission feed she's paid all their fees and supported them all their lives you know what the reason was because they got sunk in the word of God every morning though they were busy people every morning that breakfast was 8:00 it was 9:00 they had an open service every every morning in the year met around the word of God from 9:00 till 12 I was privileged to share some of those mornings I felt I could hide down a mouse hole sometimes when I hear those mature missionaries not just telling of their achievements in going and pioneering in fields where it seemed as hot as hell and as dark as hell but their intimacy with God and they will tell you the only reason that they went as they did and carried their load they did was because they had such revelation of the awesomeness of God and of Eternity the hour has come all the years of preparation all the years of opposition by the devil all the opposition by demons all the opposition by the church and he's come to the final hour he says glorify your son as the father glorifies the son the son glorifies the father I know it's a dark way it's a bloody way it's a lonely way it's a hard way I don't know you can't imagine it I can't the lord has laid on him that precious sheep of God the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all wounded so I could be healed rejected so I could be accepted Cast Away and forgotten by the father for a while so you and I could enter the kingdom of heaven and yet we talk about our dry days our hard days I'm determined this year more than ever to know Jesus Christ in a new way that I haven't known him before I want to discover his majesty I want to discover that Glory had with the father if I have to be B with tears so what it's a short Journey From Here to Eternity once you get through it's an awful long way after that when we get inside the gate we wish we'd ask God for heavier burdens we wish we'd ask God for more difficult tasks we will We wish we'd ask God for give us something nobody else wants to do there's a world to be one a more difficult world I don't think there's ever been there was a meeting last week and I'm through with this and Dave Wilkinson brought about 50 of his really all all his converts who are now leading missions in different parts of America 50 of us are 60 gathered together there one of them are come from Guatemala he was there when the pope was there about what three months ago I remember they flashed on the screen here is the pope with an audience of 400 ,000 people but they didn't report what he said he said to those 400,000 people there is one great enemy of the church in South America it's Evangelical Christianity what do you think of that just before Christmas the headlines down in El Paso a man called me he said the headlines of our paper say tonight the Pope says to the 800 million Catholics you do not do not need to go to God for forgiveness just come to the church the usurper the liar has taken over there's never been as much opposition to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as there is today we don't go to a man on a cross he left the tomb empty he left the cross empty that we might be received to Glory the hour is coming for all of us before too long I beg you I intreat you find what is the will of God for your life and do it may not be exciting may tell you go be a businessman and get money and give it to people on the mission field he may alter the whole cause but I tell you this the Supreme Joy Of Life Is Knowing that you're in the will of God that's our number one problem number two problem is doing it when you know it but the thing is once we have qualified in his will he'll give us all the grace all the strength he prays that they may have my love not a mushy sentimental love that strong love of God the love that led him be nailed to the cross it was love that held him there not Nails those idiots that said if you're the Son of God come down and save yourself he could have done it easily and confounded them he could have breathed on them and destroyed them and he takes humiliation and slighting and ridicule and Scar again in that Garden where we shall never understand he was crushed will you understand it if I say Jesus didn't die on the cross he died in the garden to the will of God that's where he died if he hadn't died of there he'd never have died there the cross was an open manifestation that he had died in the will of his father there in the garden I come to do thy will oh my God if the cup can pass wonderful if not I'll drink it I know what you feel but I feel when I've I haven't said what I'd like to say altogether but I feel I live in Easy Street do you think youd D ask God tonight for yourself not your pastor for a baptism of compassion maybe from here till you die you'll weep every day so that other people don't weep in Hell you'll take time to call on God seek his face entreat him ask God to let you adopt a country or adopt a adopt a people in your heart that you're going to pray and travail for until he is glorified there forap what he's doing in the garden is travailing for your birth and mine the Pains of Hell got hold of me he said it's not an easy way it's a difficult way but it's a glorious way and ask that we pray for a few minutes anyhow uh feel free to pray maybe you want to pray for yourself s tonight maybe you do want to pray for your church that it's dry and unproductive nobody has any tears nobody has any grief we live in a city what's our city got 75,000 people nearly all of them lost nearly a million people may be over there in Dallas most of them lost despite all the churches thank you tell God you want to reveal his will to you ask him when the hour is going to be when you have to make a major crisis decision that will alter your lives and maybe who knows tens of thousands of me people on a lost country tonight let's pray for a season

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Leonard, Ravenhill, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: jmgUGYywNKE

Length: 84min 53sec (5093 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2010