John the Baptist and the Fire of God # 7
Come on parent, are you living so your children will want something that is in your life, something that is beautiful? Something that they can't see in school, that they can't see in a magazine? And they can't see in church, maybe?
My mother was a role model for me, my daddy was a role model. The best thing he ever did, he took me to a prayer meeting when I was fourteen years of age. And I remember that night, it comes to me often, often.
See, we've got the idea that the only reason you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit is you are going to be a missionary. The greatest break down in America is not in brothels tonight, and it is not in abortion, the greatest breakdown in America is in the home!
It's not what YOU have to bring to God, it's what GOD can give you! We don't have men like we used to have. When Whitefield came from England the population of Boston was 12 thousand and he drew 14 thousand a night without black-topped roads, without restaurants. One man says, "I put my wife on the back of the old mare and I got up, the snow was so deep we struggled up hills and valleys, and finally I got off and just led the horse. And I was soaking wet. There were no pews, no shelter. I stood there in the snow and I heard a man who was blazing with God! I never realized till I moved that my trousers were almost stiff with frost, they were wet through and then they were stiff in the frost. We went home. The poor old mare was tired out the next day when we got home, but we turned round and we went back again." Why did they go all that way? Preachers don't have to do that now. You just get enough money and you get a TV program and poor swell-headed guys think they are turning the world upside-down. And we are as far lost down the pit as we were before we started.
God isn't looking for organizing. He is looking for agonizing. And he talks about praying in the Holy Spirit. And I want to learn more of that. It's praying in tongues. And I am not knocking tongues.
What we've had in the last 25 years with all the Pentecostal churches we haven't moved this nation to God. How is it that 120 turned the world upside-down? They'd no money, they hadn't the screen, they couldn't throw what they were saying into a million homes.
I'm sure in my own heart, what God is looking for is to take total possession of some men in their spirit, their soul, their mind, their will.
I went to a little college, Cliff College. It only had one revival. I wasn't there. A friend of mine, he was up in years in 1932, and 33. Had been in World War One. He was a drunkard, a blasphemer, and everything else. A very precious, gorgeous lady lead him to Christ and he fell in love with her, and they fixed a day for their wedding. One day they went to an old Holiness meeting and they were singing a hymn, but when he came to the stanza: "Here I give my all to Thee, Friends and time and earthly store, Soul and body, Thine to be, Only Thine for forevermore." And he sang it. "Here am I to give my friends," he thought. She is the only friend I have in the world; we are going to be married in three months, I've a house stored with new furniture." And the Lord Jesus said, "You want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, it will cost you everything. Postpone your wedding for three years. Give me all your time. Your earthly store is all the furniture you have for the future, sell it and use it to pay to go to Cliff College.
He went to Cliff College. There were about thirty-five students there, as there were when I went there, thirty-five men. He woke up one morning about two o'clock with a craving for God. Dan Philips, was his name. He came down in his pajamas into the lecture hall, between one and two o'clock in the morning and started crying to God. And he just roared: "Lord, I'm a preacher. Lord I win souls, but my heart is not full of Holiness, it's not full of love, it's not full of the power of the Spirit, it's not full of humility, it's not full of gentleness, it's not even full of peace. Send the fire down to this heart of mine." And he cried for about half an hour, and every man in the college left his bed and they were all there in that room in their pajamas crying to God. And the Spirit of the living God came on them. And the Holy Spirit swept through the College for weeks.
He didn't think when he yielded his life, and his future wife, and all he had in Manchester, the result would be that a whole college revived. We had some of the most brilliant preachers, Samuel Chadwick was there. Joe Brice was there. Some of the outstanding preachers of England were there, but it wasn't through their preaching. It was when a man obeyed God, and tossed the bedclothes on one side and went down in the room that was cold and said, "God I need just the fire of the Holy Spirit, not for tonight, but for all my life. I want to refill my life continually with the Spirit."
It is not enough to be filled with His Holy Spirit ten years ago. I don't care where you were baptized. The question isn't were you filled ten years ago but are you filled tonight? Are you filled with God tonight? Are you filled with love tonight? Are you filled with power tonight? Are you filled with passion for the lost?
Come on, in God's name. God is going to bypass us. You may scream if you've gifts, you don't scream for the fruit. It's not easy. God will wreck your career. Hell wreck you life style. But if He does if you let Him, He can use you to poor out His revival through you. One day the pillar of fire is going to come, and you know what? We won't need to advertise! There will be such a meekness, such a sweetness, such a holiness, such a gentleness, such a loving kindness the fruit of the Spirit.
We are going to sing Mr. Hatch's hymn (a brilliant English preacher), he had a packed church, he had stacks of money, he was the favorite preacher in town. "But one night," he said, "I went into my office, and said, "Lord I am not satisfied with popularity. I am not satisfied with the favor of men. I am not satisfied with my eloquence. "Breath on me breath of God." And he snatched a piece of paper and he wrote this hymn we are going to sing now.
Maybe you want to meet God in some new way. If you do, why don't you keel at your chair while we sing and let others sing it. Kneel somewhere and say, "Lord, I want something tonight that I've never had in my life. I want the destruction of my self-life, my self-interest, my temper, my pride, my fear of man, my fear of the future, my fear of what the relatives will think of me, destroy it!
All hell is looking into this meeting at this moment. All angels are looking in. And Jesus is waiting to see the fruit of the travail of His soul.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(The End)
Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: This file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced in its entirety as "Freeware" without charge. (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
The Perfect Faith # 1
The Perfect Faith # 1
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:16).
These words have always seemed to be the expression of the profoundest faith. When David sings, "I will sing unto the Lord because He hath dealt bountifully with me," it seems to be something which all men can understand. It is a gratitude and trust won by visible mercy. But when a soul is able to declare that even under the smiting, ay, even under the slaying, of God it is able still to trust in Him, everyone feels that that soul has reached a very true and deep, sometimes it must seem a rare, faith in Him.
And yet it is a degree of faith which we know that men have attained before they can be in any complete or worthy way believers to God. Merely to trust Him when He is manifestly kind to them, is surely not enough. A man's own soul cannot be satisfied with that. A man questions himself whether that is faith at all; whether it is not merely sight. Everywhere and always any lofty conception of trust has been compelled not to stop short of this: such an entrance into the nature and character of the trusted person that even when he seemed to be unreasonable and disappointing and unkind the faithful soul could trust Him still.
Always the man who really wanted to completely trust another man has been obligated to feel that his trust was not complete if it stopped short of that.
They are words that might be said almost in desperation. The soul compelled to realize that there was no other hope for it, that if this hope failed it every hope was gone, and feeling that it could not live without some hope, might say, "I must and will keep faith in God. No matter how He fails me I will cling to Him still; for I must cling to something still, and there is nothing else to cling to, and so, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." This is the spirit of a familiar hymn which always seemed to me doubtful as the expression of a healthy or even of a possible experience.
"I can but perish if I go.
I am resolved to try;
For if I stay away,
I know I shall forever die."
It is a question whether a faith as desperate as that is faith at all, but certainly it is not the faith expressed by these words out of our English version of the Book of Job. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." There is something far more cordial about these words. They are not desperate; they anticipate possible disappointment and pain; but they discern a hope beyond them. Their hope lies in the character of God. Whatever His special treatment of the soul may be, the soul knows Him in His character. And for the explanation of His treatment, for the cordial acceptance of His treatment even when it cannot be explained, the soul falls back upon its certainty concerning His character.
There is no desperation here. There is no more clinging to God because the soul, looking all about, can find nothing else to cling to. All is positive. God is just what the soul needs, and to its certainty of what God is the soul turns to every distress and perplexity about what God does. Behind its perception of God's conduct, as an illumination and as a retreat, always lies its knowledge of God's character.
The relations of character and conduct to each other are always interesting. Let us look at them in general for a few minutes. The first and simplest idea of their relation is that conduct is the mouth-piece of character. What a man is declares itself through what he does. I see a man steal, and I know he has a thievish heart. I see a soldier fling himself upon the spears of the enemy, and I know that he is brave and patriotic. We know how closely this relation between character and conduct is dumb and paralyzed. Its life is there but it is shut out from action, and all man's history bears witness that it is shut out from growth. Mere qualities which do not become conscious of themselves, and do not make themselves effective by contact with the world of things, lie stagnant, and can hardly be called live qualities at all. And on the other hand, conduct without character is thin and most unsatisfying. The pleasant deed which does not mean a kindly heart behind it, the dashing enterprise which is mere physical excitement, the steadiness in work which is merely weary and unsatisfactory all of these become. No; conduct is the trumpet at the lips of character. Character without conduct is like the lips without the trumpet, whose whispers die upon themselves and do not stir the world. The world has a right to disallow all claims of character which do not utter themselves in conduct. "It may be real, - it may be good," the world has a right to say, "but I cannot know it or test it; and I am sure that however good and real it is, it is deprived of the condition of the best life and growth which is activity."
~Phillips Brooks~
(continued with # 2)
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:16).
These words have always seemed to be the expression of the profoundest faith. When David sings, "I will sing unto the Lord because He hath dealt bountifully with me," it seems to be something which all men can understand. It is a gratitude and trust won by visible mercy. But when a soul is able to declare that even under the smiting, ay, even under the slaying, of God it is able still to trust in Him, everyone feels that that soul has reached a very true and deep, sometimes it must seem a rare, faith in Him.
And yet it is a degree of faith which we know that men have attained before they can be in any complete or worthy way believers to God. Merely to trust Him when He is manifestly kind to them, is surely not enough. A man's own soul cannot be satisfied with that. A man questions himself whether that is faith at all; whether it is not merely sight. Everywhere and always any lofty conception of trust has been compelled not to stop short of this: such an entrance into the nature and character of the trusted person that even when he seemed to be unreasonable and disappointing and unkind the faithful soul could trust Him still.
Always the man who really wanted to completely trust another man has been obligated to feel that his trust was not complete if it stopped short of that.
They are words that might be said almost in desperation. The soul compelled to realize that there was no other hope for it, that if this hope failed it every hope was gone, and feeling that it could not live without some hope, might say, "I must and will keep faith in God. No matter how He fails me I will cling to Him still; for I must cling to something still, and there is nothing else to cling to, and so, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." This is the spirit of a familiar hymn which always seemed to me doubtful as the expression of a healthy or even of a possible experience.
"I can but perish if I go.
I am resolved to try;
For if I stay away,
I know I shall forever die."
It is a question whether a faith as desperate as that is faith at all, but certainly it is not the faith expressed by these words out of our English version of the Book of Job. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." There is something far more cordial about these words. They are not desperate; they anticipate possible disappointment and pain; but they discern a hope beyond them. Their hope lies in the character of God. Whatever His special treatment of the soul may be, the soul knows Him in His character. And for the explanation of His treatment, for the cordial acceptance of His treatment even when it cannot be explained, the soul falls back upon its certainty concerning His character.
There is no desperation here. There is no more clinging to God because the soul, looking all about, can find nothing else to cling to. All is positive. God is just what the soul needs, and to its certainty of what God is the soul turns to every distress and perplexity about what God does. Behind its perception of God's conduct, as an illumination and as a retreat, always lies its knowledge of God's character.
The relations of character and conduct to each other are always interesting. Let us look at them in general for a few minutes. The first and simplest idea of their relation is that conduct is the mouth-piece of character. What a man is declares itself through what he does. I see a man steal, and I know he has a thievish heart. I see a soldier fling himself upon the spears of the enemy, and I know that he is brave and patriotic. We know how closely this relation between character and conduct is dumb and paralyzed. Its life is there but it is shut out from action, and all man's history bears witness that it is shut out from growth. Mere qualities which do not become conscious of themselves, and do not make themselves effective by contact with the world of things, lie stagnant, and can hardly be called live qualities at all. And on the other hand, conduct without character is thin and most unsatisfying. The pleasant deed which does not mean a kindly heart behind it, the dashing enterprise which is mere physical excitement, the steadiness in work which is merely weary and unsatisfactory all of these become. No; conduct is the trumpet at the lips of character. Character without conduct is like the lips without the trumpet, whose whispers die upon themselves and do not stir the world. The world has a right to disallow all claims of character which do not utter themselves in conduct. "It may be real, - it may be good," the world has a right to say, "but I cannot know it or test it; and I am sure that however good and real it is, it is deprived of the condition of the best life and growth which is activity."
~Phillips Brooks~
(continued with # 2)
John the Baptist and the Fire of God # 6
John the Baptist and the Fire of God # 6
Again, "make our weak hearts strong and brave." The only way you can get dross out of gold is put it in a crucible. Today they put it in an induction crucible. You press the button, the heat comes up, the gold sinks to the bottom of the crucible, and a man sits there with a sieve and he takes the scum off the top and throws it out. He is there half an hour, then he quits. "Are you tired?" "No." Why do you quit? "It's pure." "How do you know?" "Because I can see my reflection in it."
Doesn't Malachi say, "When He comes, He is a purifier of Silver?" Who shall abide the day of His coming? Dear God! We talk about one year revival. If we have Holy Spirit revival, maybe you won't sleep for the first ten days of it. God will do such a refining, such a purifying, maybe not on your husband or your wife, on you. Fifty years ago the most popular chorus was,
"Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity,
Oh, Thou Spirit Divine, all my nature refine;
Till the beauty of Jesus is seen in me,"
The refiner sits there. He has me in the furnace and He heats it, and he Heats it, and He heats it - and it feels like hell sometimes. He throws out what He doesn't like: my pride, my ambition, my secret lust; my temper, my unforgiving spirit, my stubbornness (we don't think much of that, but stubbornness is as the sin of witchcraft in the Word of God.) He purifies until He looks in me and sees His reflection. He won't be satisfied with less. He doesn't come to make me a great preacher, or a great writer, or a great singer, or a great organizer. He comes because He wants to reflect His beauty in my life. Gentleness and meekness and holiness. The self-life goes out. Self-interest goes out. Self-righteousness goes out. Do you think it's easy? We have lived with it so long that we like ourselves. And God long ago stopped liking us. And the Scripture talks about the Word of God being a mirror. You know, when revival comes He holds the mirror up and you see yourself.
Remember the old story of Cromwell? An artist begged could he paint him, and Cromwell had a great big wart on his chin. And the artist painted him minus the wart. When he went in he said, "What do you think?" Cromwell answered, "Paint the wart and all! It's part of me." "Lord paint me, but don't show me my wart. Don't show me I am basically selfish, full of self-interest and full of self-seeking.
I am full of pride, I am full of anger, I am full of bitterness, I have an unforgiving....don't show me that. I am as ugly as the devil!" The smart boys today tell you that your trouble is that your self-image is so poor, you have such a poor image of yourself. No, your trouble is that you've too good an image of yourself! "Paint me wart and all!"
He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. William Booth put up his slogan, "Blood and fire." Studebaker, the auto-maker, stood in New Castle, Pennsylvania one day, in the late 1890's. He was saying goodbye to a young man who was the most brilliant university orator in America. His name was Brengle. Studebaker shook hands with him and said, "Brengle, I wish I was as sure of becoming the president of the United States as I am that you'll become the Archbishop of Canterbury." Studebaker and this fellow had been buddies in college. Studebaker, poor soul, all he did was become a millionaire. This young man with his oratory, went and laid it at the feet of Jesus.
He got to London and to the Salvation Army head quarters tired out; it took four weeks to get there by boat. "Well, who are you?" William Booth asked. "I am Doctor Brengle." "Doctor Brengle?" They didn't need doctors; their theology wasn't sick. "What have you come for?" "I heard the Holy Spirit is here. I've crossed the Atlantic, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't depend on my theology, my learning. I have a lot of scholarship, but I need Fire, I need Fire, I need Fire!" William Booth said, "You'll get it. Tomorrow morning at five o'clock, you'll polish the shoes of fifty students." And none of them had one leg. A hundred big high-top boots! And not spray polish. But Dr. Brengle later said, "It is there God taught me a lesson of patience."
They did not open the door and say, "We were waiting for a talented man like you to teach on the book of the Revelation. We'd like you to lead the prayer meeting tomorrow morning." They said, "Stick your nose down there." Brengle did. And he waited on God and God filled him with the Holy Spirit.
Later, a deaf person was asked after one of Brengle's meetings why she had come to the altar if she didn't hear the message. She answered, "Because I could see what I never have seen in a preacher in all my life." "What was it?" "I saw the beauty of Jesus in him while he was preaching. I don't know what he was saying, but I knew there was something in him I did not have!"
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 7)
Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "Freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
Again, "make our weak hearts strong and brave." The only way you can get dross out of gold is put it in a crucible. Today they put it in an induction crucible. You press the button, the heat comes up, the gold sinks to the bottom of the crucible, and a man sits there with a sieve and he takes the scum off the top and throws it out. He is there half an hour, then he quits. "Are you tired?" "No." Why do you quit? "It's pure." "How do you know?" "Because I can see my reflection in it."
Doesn't Malachi say, "When He comes, He is a purifier of Silver?" Who shall abide the day of His coming? Dear God! We talk about one year revival. If we have Holy Spirit revival, maybe you won't sleep for the first ten days of it. God will do such a refining, such a purifying, maybe not on your husband or your wife, on you. Fifty years ago the most popular chorus was,
"Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity,
Oh, Thou Spirit Divine, all my nature refine;
Till the beauty of Jesus is seen in me,"
The refiner sits there. He has me in the furnace and He heats it, and he Heats it, and He heats it - and it feels like hell sometimes. He throws out what He doesn't like: my pride, my ambition, my secret lust; my temper, my unforgiving spirit, my stubbornness (we don't think much of that, but stubbornness is as the sin of witchcraft in the Word of God.) He purifies until He looks in me and sees His reflection. He won't be satisfied with less. He doesn't come to make me a great preacher, or a great writer, or a great singer, or a great organizer. He comes because He wants to reflect His beauty in my life. Gentleness and meekness and holiness. The self-life goes out. Self-interest goes out. Self-righteousness goes out. Do you think it's easy? We have lived with it so long that we like ourselves. And God long ago stopped liking us. And the Scripture talks about the Word of God being a mirror. You know, when revival comes He holds the mirror up and you see yourself.
Remember the old story of Cromwell? An artist begged could he paint him, and Cromwell had a great big wart on his chin. And the artist painted him minus the wart. When he went in he said, "What do you think?" Cromwell answered, "Paint the wart and all! It's part of me." "Lord paint me, but don't show me my wart. Don't show me I am basically selfish, full of self-interest and full of self-seeking.
I am full of pride, I am full of anger, I am full of bitterness, I have an unforgiving....don't show me that. I am as ugly as the devil!" The smart boys today tell you that your trouble is that your self-image is so poor, you have such a poor image of yourself. No, your trouble is that you've too good an image of yourself! "Paint me wart and all!"
He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. William Booth put up his slogan, "Blood and fire." Studebaker, the auto-maker, stood in New Castle, Pennsylvania one day, in the late 1890's. He was saying goodbye to a young man who was the most brilliant university orator in America. His name was Brengle. Studebaker shook hands with him and said, "Brengle, I wish I was as sure of becoming the president of the United States as I am that you'll become the Archbishop of Canterbury." Studebaker and this fellow had been buddies in college. Studebaker, poor soul, all he did was become a millionaire. This young man with his oratory, went and laid it at the feet of Jesus.
He got to London and to the Salvation Army head quarters tired out; it took four weeks to get there by boat. "Well, who are you?" William Booth asked. "I am Doctor Brengle." "Doctor Brengle?" They didn't need doctors; their theology wasn't sick. "What have you come for?" "I heard the Holy Spirit is here. I've crossed the Atlantic, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't depend on my theology, my learning. I have a lot of scholarship, but I need Fire, I need Fire, I need Fire!" William Booth said, "You'll get it. Tomorrow morning at five o'clock, you'll polish the shoes of fifty students." And none of them had one leg. A hundred big high-top boots! And not spray polish. But Dr. Brengle later said, "It is there God taught me a lesson of patience."
They did not open the door and say, "We were waiting for a talented man like you to teach on the book of the Revelation. We'd like you to lead the prayer meeting tomorrow morning." They said, "Stick your nose down there." Brengle did. And he waited on God and God filled him with the Holy Spirit.
Later, a deaf person was asked after one of Brengle's meetings why she had come to the altar if she didn't hear the message. She answered, "Because I could see what I never have seen in a preacher in all my life." "What was it?" "I saw the beauty of Jesus in him while he was preaching. I don't know what he was saying, but I knew there was something in him I did not have!"
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 7)
Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "Freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
John the Baptist and the Fire of God # 5
John the Baptist and the Fire of God # 5
So John moved the people. They say, "What shall we do?" The publicans cry out. They are a bunch aren't they? Stony-hearted rascals. And yet with the conviction of the Spirit they cry out, "What shall we do?" And John gives the answer in verse 16, he says, "I indeed baptize you with water, but One cometh after me, I am not even worthy to carry His shoes. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with Fire." Or with Holy Spirit Fire.
We talk about the baptism of the Spirit - its really the baptism of Jesus. There's nothing you can get this side of eternity that didn't come through Jesus Christ. My dear old principal used to call this coming of the Holy Spirit upon us, "The coronation gift of Jesus."
"His fan is in His hand. He will thoroughly purge His floor. But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And many other things did he". I wonder what they were. I wish He had left a list, don't you?
Here is a man with no financial backing. He has no program. He has the favor of nobody. He has the Roman army against him. He has the religious army of the Jews against him. He has the Pharisees against him. He has the Sudducees against him. He has no money (he doesn't need it) and he doesn't have a miracle ministry - it says very clearly: "John did no miracle" - Nobody ran after him pleasing: "Have mercy on my son he is a lunatic." Nobody cried, "Unclean, unclean, unclean" or "open my eyes," or "I'm deaf," or something. Nobody said that. He never unstopped deaf ears. He never opened blind eyes. He never cursed a withered leg or withered arm. He didn't raise a dead man.
He raised a dead nation, SINGLE HANDEDLY.
God has had this man in the school of silence. He's been talking to God and walking with God and weeping before God. He's lived with Jeremiah. He's lived with the prophets. He knew what Isaiah said that one day a man should come in the wilderness crying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isaiah 35 says that highway shall be called the way of holiness, and that a wayfaring man, though fool, need not err therein.
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." God always works with the minority. You've got a wonderful list in 1 Corinthians 15 of people who saw Jesus in His resurrection power. And then it ties the knot at the end of the cotton and it says He was seen of 500 brethren at once. And I am convinced in my spirit it was those 500 to whom He says, "Tarry til ye be endued with power." How many went? 120! 380 of them never bothered. It's always like that. God uses a minority.
There's only a few people that want to go outside the camp. There's only a few people that want to die with Him. The only freedom that lepers had was to walk outside the camp. It was a place where all the sewage of the city went. It was a place where they threw dead bodies and dead animals. It was s stink hole. And the Holiest man that ever lived went outside the camp that you may go inside of it! And yet you have to whip some people to church almost. If I went to the church they go to I would want a whipping too. Isn't it tragedy, almost blasphemy to go to a meeting and you say, "Oh, boy that meeting was cold"? "The meeting was so dead." How can you have a living Christ in a dead meeting? Or put it the other way, How can you have a dead meeting if the living Christ is there?! How can you go out? After all, our business is to know about eternity, is to talk about a time when there is no bonds and no other stuff materialistic, it's all vanished. We are going to a Kingdom that knows nothing of these material things, and yet, we are so slack and so careless about the eternal things.
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army, just about got kicked out of the Methodist church. That day he walked outside and put his arm around his wife's shoulder, and said, "Darling we are going to raise up an army." "From where?" "We'll take all the cast off, or drop outs from the churches, we'll go to the gutter." And he wrote a wonderful hymn:
"Thou Christ of burning cleansing flame, send the fire. (We ought to learn that.) Thy blood bought gift today we claim, send the fire. Look down and see this waiting host, give us the promised Holy Ghost. We want another Pentecost, (I am not sure if we do, but we need it.) To make our weak hearts strong and brave, send the fire. To live in a dying world, send the fire. Oh, see us on Thine alter lay our lives, our all this very day to crown the offering, now we pray, send the fire."
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 6)
Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
So John moved the people. They say, "What shall we do?" The publicans cry out. They are a bunch aren't they? Stony-hearted rascals. And yet with the conviction of the Spirit they cry out, "What shall we do?" And John gives the answer in verse 16, he says, "I indeed baptize you with water, but One cometh after me, I am not even worthy to carry His shoes. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with Fire." Or with Holy Spirit Fire.
We talk about the baptism of the Spirit - its really the baptism of Jesus. There's nothing you can get this side of eternity that didn't come through Jesus Christ. My dear old principal used to call this coming of the Holy Spirit upon us, "The coronation gift of Jesus."
"His fan is in His hand. He will thoroughly purge His floor. But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And many other things did he". I wonder what they were. I wish He had left a list, don't you?
Here is a man with no financial backing. He has no program. He has the favor of nobody. He has the Roman army against him. He has the religious army of the Jews against him. He has the Pharisees against him. He has the Sudducees against him. He has no money (he doesn't need it) and he doesn't have a miracle ministry - it says very clearly: "John did no miracle" - Nobody ran after him pleasing: "Have mercy on my son he is a lunatic." Nobody cried, "Unclean, unclean, unclean" or "open my eyes," or "I'm deaf," or something. Nobody said that. He never unstopped deaf ears. He never opened blind eyes. He never cursed a withered leg or withered arm. He didn't raise a dead man.
He raised a dead nation, SINGLE HANDEDLY.
God has had this man in the school of silence. He's been talking to God and walking with God and weeping before God. He's lived with Jeremiah. He's lived with the prophets. He knew what Isaiah said that one day a man should come in the wilderness crying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isaiah 35 says that highway shall be called the way of holiness, and that a wayfaring man, though fool, need not err therein.
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." God always works with the minority. You've got a wonderful list in 1 Corinthians 15 of people who saw Jesus in His resurrection power. And then it ties the knot at the end of the cotton and it says He was seen of 500 brethren at once. And I am convinced in my spirit it was those 500 to whom He says, "Tarry til ye be endued with power." How many went? 120! 380 of them never bothered. It's always like that. God uses a minority.
There's only a few people that want to go outside the camp. There's only a few people that want to die with Him. The only freedom that lepers had was to walk outside the camp. It was a place where all the sewage of the city went. It was a place where they threw dead bodies and dead animals. It was s stink hole. And the Holiest man that ever lived went outside the camp that you may go inside of it! And yet you have to whip some people to church almost. If I went to the church they go to I would want a whipping too. Isn't it tragedy, almost blasphemy to go to a meeting and you say, "Oh, boy that meeting was cold"? "The meeting was so dead." How can you have a living Christ in a dead meeting? Or put it the other way, How can you have a dead meeting if the living Christ is there?! How can you go out? After all, our business is to know about eternity, is to talk about a time when there is no bonds and no other stuff materialistic, it's all vanished. We are going to a Kingdom that knows nothing of these material things, and yet, we are so slack and so careless about the eternal things.
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army, just about got kicked out of the Methodist church. That day he walked outside and put his arm around his wife's shoulder, and said, "Darling we are going to raise up an army." "From where?" "We'll take all the cast off, or drop outs from the churches, we'll go to the gutter." And he wrote a wonderful hymn:
"Thou Christ of burning cleansing flame, send the fire. (We ought to learn that.) Thy blood bought gift today we claim, send the fire. Look down and see this waiting host, give us the promised Holy Ghost. We want another Pentecost, (I am not sure if we do, but we need it.) To make our weak hearts strong and brave, send the fire. To live in a dying world, send the fire. Oh, see us on Thine alter lay our lives, our all this very day to crown the offering, now we pray, send the fire."
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 6)
Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
John The Baptist And The Fire Of God # 4
John The Baptist And The Fire Of God # 4
When Nathan the prophet went to David, he didn't say, "You know, some of you are guilty." Did he? He said, "Thou art the man!"
Oh, people say, "I'd love to go to a Holy Spirit church." Would you? Will you love to hear somebody say, "Hey, fellows, listen, last night you committed adultery. You embezzled some money this week. You've got a spirit of hatred which God says is as bad as committing murder!" Again, Jesus came not to save us just from sins, but from sinning. When they heard these men, they were pricked in their hearts.
I go back into the third chapter, verse 7, he says, "Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruit meat for repentance." And quit saying "We have Abraham to our father." Isn't this nice. He called them vipers and now he says, "God can do as much through stones as through Abraham. Don't boast of Abraham; if God wants hell turn those stones into children to worship him." That's pretty much exhausting their theology, isn't it? In verse 9 he says, "The ax is laid unto the root of the trees, every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked Him," He didn't ask them! They were so conscious of guilt, they felt as though they had some serpent or scorpion stinging them. They didn't dare look back because of their sins. They didn't dare look forward because of judgment. They didn't dare look round about them, somebody might come pouncing on them. And so they cried out. This is revival!
It's not singing some sentimental chorus, then giving the invitation; "Would you like to come? Jesus is waiting, wringing His hands in heaven, He would be so upset if you don't come." Jesus doesn't care a hill of beans whether you come or not. He's done everything He can do for you. You have to do the rest! He is not going to whip you into submission. He is not going to demand, though you sing, "Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all." It's on your side to do it. But notice who they were. Verse 10 The people asked him, "What shall we do?" Verse 12, "Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, "Master, what shall we do?" Verse 14 the soldiers, they were Romans, they lived in a pagan society, they'd never seen a man on fire for God. They'd never seen a priest who didn't care a bit about his trimmings.
Remember how this man was born. His father went into the temple and as he got there to the altar, there was an angel on the right side. And he says to him, "Fear not your wife is going to bear a son." And God does a miracle to raise that child up. Zacharias did this once in his life only. There is a line behind him of at least two thousand priests, all waiting for the one time in their life when they'll go in long white garment and enter into the Holy Place. Which is awesome. When he get in there, there's a marvelous person by the name of Gabriel: "Fear not. I have a message from God for you."
If you haven't had it, if you walk with God, one day you will go to a meeting and you'll think God Almighty is talking to nobody in that congregation but you. Why is He singling me out? Because you have the ears to hear which you didn't have before. Because you have a hunger for God you never had before!
You've heard me say this and I say it again, I am scared that when I get to the judgment seat and there are a billion people looking on me that God will say to me, "Son I had many things to tell you, but you couldn't bear them. You weren't grown up enough."
A man leaves his son millions of dollars. He puts a caution in the will, he says, "You can't spend a dime of this until you are twenty years of age. This money is all tied up until you have enough sense to use it." - I believe Almighty God is saying that to the Church today. We've toiled, rather we've trifled with gifts of the Spirit. We are far more interested in the gifts of the Spirit than with the Holy Spirit Himself. And God has treasures beyond our comprehension.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 5)
When Nathan the prophet went to David, he didn't say, "You know, some of you are guilty." Did he? He said, "Thou art the man!"
Oh, people say, "I'd love to go to a Holy Spirit church." Would you? Will you love to hear somebody say, "Hey, fellows, listen, last night you committed adultery. You embezzled some money this week. You've got a spirit of hatred which God says is as bad as committing murder!" Again, Jesus came not to save us just from sins, but from sinning. When they heard these men, they were pricked in their hearts.
I go back into the third chapter, verse 7, he says, "Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruit meat for repentance." And quit saying "We have Abraham to our father." Isn't this nice. He called them vipers and now he says, "God can do as much through stones as through Abraham. Don't boast of Abraham; if God wants hell turn those stones into children to worship him." That's pretty much exhausting their theology, isn't it? In verse 9 he says, "The ax is laid unto the root of the trees, every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked Him," He didn't ask them! They were so conscious of guilt, they felt as though they had some serpent or scorpion stinging them. They didn't dare look back because of their sins. They didn't dare look forward because of judgment. They didn't dare look round about them, somebody might come pouncing on them. And so they cried out. This is revival!
It's not singing some sentimental chorus, then giving the invitation; "Would you like to come? Jesus is waiting, wringing His hands in heaven, He would be so upset if you don't come." Jesus doesn't care a hill of beans whether you come or not. He's done everything He can do for you. You have to do the rest! He is not going to whip you into submission. He is not going to demand, though you sing, "Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all." It's on your side to do it. But notice who they were. Verse 10 The people asked him, "What shall we do?" Verse 12, "Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, "Master, what shall we do?" Verse 14 the soldiers, they were Romans, they lived in a pagan society, they'd never seen a man on fire for God. They'd never seen a priest who didn't care a bit about his trimmings.
Remember how this man was born. His father went into the temple and as he got there to the altar, there was an angel on the right side. And he says to him, "Fear not your wife is going to bear a son." And God does a miracle to raise that child up. Zacharias did this once in his life only. There is a line behind him of at least two thousand priests, all waiting for the one time in their life when they'll go in long white garment and enter into the Holy Place. Which is awesome. When he get in there, there's a marvelous person by the name of Gabriel: "Fear not. I have a message from God for you."
If you haven't had it, if you walk with God, one day you will go to a meeting and you'll think God Almighty is talking to nobody in that congregation but you. Why is He singling me out? Because you have the ears to hear which you didn't have before. Because you have a hunger for God you never had before!
You've heard me say this and I say it again, I am scared that when I get to the judgment seat and there are a billion people looking on me that God will say to me, "Son I had many things to tell you, but you couldn't bear them. You weren't grown up enough."
A man leaves his son millions of dollars. He puts a caution in the will, he says, "You can't spend a dime of this until you are twenty years of age. This money is all tied up until you have enough sense to use it." - I believe Almighty God is saying that to the Church today. We've toiled, rather we've trifled with gifts of the Spirit. We are far more interested in the gifts of the Spirit than with the Holy Spirit Himself. And God has treasures beyond our comprehension.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 5)
Saturday, January 12, 2019
John The Baptist and The Fire of God # 3
John The Baptist and The Fire of God # 3
I say again, this man John the Baptist has no pattern before him. I believe this man walked up and down amongst the wild beasts, and there he is, he doesn't eat much. Some big flies, you know, a bit bigger than these horrible things that eat my garden up, grasshoppers. Big, big things, he caught them, put them on a rock and roasted them. Three times a day he had locust burgers. Nothing else to eat except locusts and wild honey. And yet the people come near to hear him. I'll say it again, for my comfort if not yours: You never have to advertise a fire. Whether its spiritual or a physical fire. The most self-advertising thing in this world is a fire.
I remember getting home between one and two o'clock one morning. I said to my wife, "Sweetheart, one of the big mills in town is on fire, lets go! It's nearly two o'clock, there'll be nobody there." Everyone in the city woke up with the same idea, so they all went. We couldn't get within three blocks of the place. I said, "Sweetheart, we'll go round..." We went around in our little car, you know, those tiny little things. Well, we got half way down the street and it was so fierce we could not even stand there, the fire was so terrible in its majesty. This huge mill burning.
I wonder how many of us have really seen a man who is on fire for God?
When the Holy Spirit came in the upper room, how did He come? Did He come as a dove? When Jesus received His baptism the Spirit came as a dove upon Him. There was nothing in Him to purify! He comes to us in fire because we need purification.
I remember a night in Gillingham, east of London. We rented a church. I'll tell you who came. If you've read "Gods Smuggler", he talks in there about a man called Uncle Hoppy. Well, Uncle Hoppy "hopped in the meeting that day. He came in the most broken down automobile I've ever seen. He was nuts, pardon the phrase, but he was sanctified nuts! He came in clothes that were almost worn out. He bought all his clothes at the Salvation Army. This old car came wheezing up the street, rheumatism in all the wheels and asthma in the motor. It was sobbing and groaning as it came up the hill...but he was giving thousands of dollars away to missions!! He stayed with us for a half night of prayer.
I'll never forget that night of prayer. There were surgings of blessings. There were times when God so came in power, I was afraid to open my eyes. We started praying at nine o'clock. Between one and two in the morning we were going out. There was an old lady at the back, sitting in a wheelchair; a white haired lady. "Oh brother," she said, (she didn't know any of our names.) "Wasn't it wonderful!" I said,k "It was." "One of the best I've been in many prayer meetings, this was one of the greatest, most powerful. Wasn't it wonderful!" I said, "Sure, I said that. Did you feel anything different about one o'clock?" I said, "Yes, I felt a hand or something came I felt a quickening in my spirit." "It was just then." "Just then what?" "You didn't see it?" No, no, I was with my head down praying." She said, "A tongue of fire came down on the head of the first, went to the next, went to the next, went to the next, right to the end. It was awesome." No wonder everyone of us felt a wonderful insurge of the life of God...Or the power of God, define it as you will.
You see, there is a great deal of difference between revival and evangelism. I am so sick to death, I hardly read any reports of meetings that come to me. Everybody is getting half of America saved. If you add all the lists of people saved, everybody in America, the whole population has been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit about six times in the last ten years. And yet we are as dumb and as dead and as damned as we were when we started off!
You want to know what preaching is? Study this third chapter in the Gospel of Luke, and when you've read that read the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where Paul is standing before a heathen king in a pagan court and says, "God called me to preach." And he summarizes what preaching is: its to open the eyes of the blind, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified.
People come to the altar, yes, but meet them at the door and ask what happened. "Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah. I confessed my sins." There is not one evangelist in fifty in America today preaching salvation. They are preaching forgiveness. "Just come and get forgiven." That is not salvation. Jesus came to do more than forgive us our sins. He came for something more. He came to rescue us from sin and sinning. Not just our past sin, but to stop this damnable business that makes God so sad. "He that is born of God does not - N-O-T" commit sin." You say its impossible not to sin. It is possible for us not to sin.
What happened when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? What does it say? They were pricked in their hearts. After that Stephen preached. And when he preached the same thing happened. Peter on the day of Pentecost says to the men he had ran away from: "You crucified the Lord of glory. You killed Him." Stephen says, "You murdered the Son of God."
That is preaching!
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 4)
[Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
I say again, this man John the Baptist has no pattern before him. I believe this man walked up and down amongst the wild beasts, and there he is, he doesn't eat much. Some big flies, you know, a bit bigger than these horrible things that eat my garden up, grasshoppers. Big, big things, he caught them, put them on a rock and roasted them. Three times a day he had locust burgers. Nothing else to eat except locusts and wild honey. And yet the people come near to hear him. I'll say it again, for my comfort if not yours: You never have to advertise a fire. Whether its spiritual or a physical fire. The most self-advertising thing in this world is a fire.
I remember getting home between one and two o'clock one morning. I said to my wife, "Sweetheart, one of the big mills in town is on fire, lets go! It's nearly two o'clock, there'll be nobody there." Everyone in the city woke up with the same idea, so they all went. We couldn't get within three blocks of the place. I said, "Sweetheart, we'll go round..." We went around in our little car, you know, those tiny little things. Well, we got half way down the street and it was so fierce we could not even stand there, the fire was so terrible in its majesty. This huge mill burning.
I wonder how many of us have really seen a man who is on fire for God?
When the Holy Spirit came in the upper room, how did He come? Did He come as a dove? When Jesus received His baptism the Spirit came as a dove upon Him. There was nothing in Him to purify! He comes to us in fire because we need purification.
I remember a night in Gillingham, east of London. We rented a church. I'll tell you who came. If you've read "Gods Smuggler", he talks in there about a man called Uncle Hoppy. Well, Uncle Hoppy "hopped in the meeting that day. He came in the most broken down automobile I've ever seen. He was nuts, pardon the phrase, but he was sanctified nuts! He came in clothes that were almost worn out. He bought all his clothes at the Salvation Army. This old car came wheezing up the street, rheumatism in all the wheels and asthma in the motor. It was sobbing and groaning as it came up the hill...but he was giving thousands of dollars away to missions!! He stayed with us for a half night of prayer.
I'll never forget that night of prayer. There were surgings of blessings. There were times when God so came in power, I was afraid to open my eyes. We started praying at nine o'clock. Between one and two in the morning we were going out. There was an old lady at the back, sitting in a wheelchair; a white haired lady. "Oh brother," she said, (she didn't know any of our names.) "Wasn't it wonderful!" I said,k "It was." "One of the best I've been in many prayer meetings, this was one of the greatest, most powerful. Wasn't it wonderful!" I said, "Sure, I said that. Did you feel anything different about one o'clock?" I said, "Yes, I felt a hand or something came I felt a quickening in my spirit." "It was just then." "Just then what?" "You didn't see it?" No, no, I was with my head down praying." She said, "A tongue of fire came down on the head of the first, went to the next, went to the next, went to the next, right to the end. It was awesome." No wonder everyone of us felt a wonderful insurge of the life of God...Or the power of God, define it as you will.
You see, there is a great deal of difference between revival and evangelism. I am so sick to death, I hardly read any reports of meetings that come to me. Everybody is getting half of America saved. If you add all the lists of people saved, everybody in America, the whole population has been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit about six times in the last ten years. And yet we are as dumb and as dead and as damned as we were when we started off!
You want to know what preaching is? Study this third chapter in the Gospel of Luke, and when you've read that read the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where Paul is standing before a heathen king in a pagan court and says, "God called me to preach." And he summarizes what preaching is: its to open the eyes of the blind, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified.
People come to the altar, yes, but meet them at the door and ask what happened. "Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah. I confessed my sins." There is not one evangelist in fifty in America today preaching salvation. They are preaching forgiveness. "Just come and get forgiven." That is not salvation. Jesus came to do more than forgive us our sins. He came for something more. He came to rescue us from sin and sinning. Not just our past sin, but to stop this damnable business that makes God so sad. "He that is born of God does not - N-O-T" commit sin." You say its impossible not to sin. It is possible for us not to sin.
What happened when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? What does it say? They were pricked in their hearts. After that Stephen preached. And when he preached the same thing happened. Peter on the day of Pentecost says to the men he had ran away from: "You crucified the Lord of glory. You killed Him." Stephen says, "You murdered the Son of God."
That is preaching!
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 4)
[Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
Realizing God's Plan In Life # 2
Realizing God's Plan In Life # 2
Paul changes his figure, but goes on with the same idea, "among whom ye are seen as lights in the world." These are the very people, the twisted and blinded by the darkness of sin, who need the light. Jesus is the real light of the world, but the followers of Christ also pass on the torch and so bear light to others. Here the Philippians are pictured as "luminaries" rather than as lights in the world of darkness. As the moon and the stars appear in the night, so the Christians come out to give light in the darkness. The gospel has the principle of life in it. John's gospel unites light and life as descriptive of the life that Christ offers to men "the light of life" (John 8:12). Thank God for the men and women who do take the light into the dark corners of our cities. What would our modern cities be like without our churches? The answer is the cities of Japan, of China, of India today. The word of life quickens to life and brings light to the darkened soul.
Paul's Pride (verse 16)
"For a ground of glorying in the day of Christ." This clause is related to all of verse 15 and the preceding part of 16. The day of accounts comes to figure more largely in Paul's mind as he grows older. The writer of Hebrews speaks of the sleepless watch of the shepherds of souls "as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief; for this were unprofitable for you." (Heb. 13:17). Paul longs to have "whereof to glory" in the day of Christ. The success of the Philippians will give Paul something tangible to present to Christ. They will be stars in his crown. He means by "day of Christ" the judgment day, commonly termed the day of the Lord outside of this Epistle. Paul does not wish to be saved "so as by fire" with all his works gone (1 Cor. 3:15). When that day comes and Paul looks back upon his work in Philippi, he does wish to feel "that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain." He has the metaphor of the stadium before him as in Galatians 2:2 when he expresses the same dread about the Galatians. He does not wish it all to come to nothingness. The word for labor here means the weariness of labor. Toil and sweat and weariness were all for naught. It is a pitiful case when the preacher has to see the people go back to the flesh-pots of Egypt and leave his work null and void. The Philippians will be Paul's jewels in the presence of Christ.
Paul's Sacrifice (verse 17)
"Yea, though I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith," Paul adds. He will not shrink from death in order to be of service to them and to help them in their efforts to press on in the Christian life. He hopes to live, but he stands in the constant presence of death, and he is not afraid. He had faced death at Philippi and often since. It will come some day. He is ready now. It is not his apostolic office, but his very life that he offers. The picture here is of their faith in the sense of their Christian life as a sacrifice and priestly service. The Philippians as priests lay down upon the altar their Christian lives (faith and fidelity). Upon this Paul is ready to pour out his own life as an additional sacrifice in their service. It is not necessary to press the point whether Paul has in mind the Jewish custom of pouring the drink offering around the altar. Paul is willing to spend and be spent in the service of the Philippians. One thinks of David Livingstone who gave his life for the healing of the open sore of the world of Africa.
Mutual Joy (verses 17-18)
"I joy and rejoice" with you all," says Paul. He is glad by himself to make the offering of his life, if this supreme sacrifice is demanded. He will not shrink back, but will meet it gladly, and all the more readily since he can share his joy with them. Fellowship is a blessed reality. Paul is glad on his own account that he has been the instrument in their salvation. He is still more joyful at the experience of grace which they have in Christ. Joy is not selfish, but wishes company. "And in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me." Play up to your part of the joy. Phutarch tells of the messenger from Marathon who expired on the first threshold in Athens with these words on his lips: "Rejoice and rejoice." Nowhere in the Epistle is Paul so insistent about joy as here. The Christian is rich in his joy in Christ. What joy it will be in heaven to tell the story of the triumph of Christ over sin in your life and in mine.
~Archibald T. Robertson~
(The End)
Paul changes his figure, but goes on with the same idea, "among whom ye are seen as lights in the world." These are the very people, the twisted and blinded by the darkness of sin, who need the light. Jesus is the real light of the world, but the followers of Christ also pass on the torch and so bear light to others. Here the Philippians are pictured as "luminaries" rather than as lights in the world of darkness. As the moon and the stars appear in the night, so the Christians come out to give light in the darkness. The gospel has the principle of life in it. John's gospel unites light and life as descriptive of the life that Christ offers to men "the light of life" (John 8:12). Thank God for the men and women who do take the light into the dark corners of our cities. What would our modern cities be like without our churches? The answer is the cities of Japan, of China, of India today. The word of life quickens to life and brings light to the darkened soul.
Paul's Pride (verse 16)
"For a ground of glorying in the day of Christ." This clause is related to all of verse 15 and the preceding part of 16. The day of accounts comes to figure more largely in Paul's mind as he grows older. The writer of Hebrews speaks of the sleepless watch of the shepherds of souls "as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief; for this were unprofitable for you." (Heb. 13:17). Paul longs to have "whereof to glory" in the day of Christ. The success of the Philippians will give Paul something tangible to present to Christ. They will be stars in his crown. He means by "day of Christ" the judgment day, commonly termed the day of the Lord outside of this Epistle. Paul does not wish to be saved "so as by fire" with all his works gone (1 Cor. 3:15). When that day comes and Paul looks back upon his work in Philippi, he does wish to feel "that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain." He has the metaphor of the stadium before him as in Galatians 2:2 when he expresses the same dread about the Galatians. He does not wish it all to come to nothingness. The word for labor here means the weariness of labor. Toil and sweat and weariness were all for naught. It is a pitiful case when the preacher has to see the people go back to the flesh-pots of Egypt and leave his work null and void. The Philippians will be Paul's jewels in the presence of Christ.
Paul's Sacrifice (verse 17)
"Yea, though I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith," Paul adds. He will not shrink from death in order to be of service to them and to help them in their efforts to press on in the Christian life. He hopes to live, but he stands in the constant presence of death, and he is not afraid. He had faced death at Philippi and often since. It will come some day. He is ready now. It is not his apostolic office, but his very life that he offers. The picture here is of their faith in the sense of their Christian life as a sacrifice and priestly service. The Philippians as priests lay down upon the altar their Christian lives (faith and fidelity). Upon this Paul is ready to pour out his own life as an additional sacrifice in their service. It is not necessary to press the point whether Paul has in mind the Jewish custom of pouring the drink offering around the altar. Paul is willing to spend and be spent in the service of the Philippians. One thinks of David Livingstone who gave his life for the healing of the open sore of the world of Africa.
Mutual Joy (verses 17-18)
"I joy and rejoice" with you all," says Paul. He is glad by himself to make the offering of his life, if this supreme sacrifice is demanded. He will not shrink back, but will meet it gladly, and all the more readily since he can share his joy with them. Fellowship is a blessed reality. Paul is glad on his own account that he has been the instrument in their salvation. He is still more joyful at the experience of grace which they have in Christ. Joy is not selfish, but wishes company. "And in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me." Play up to your part of the joy. Phutarch tells of the messenger from Marathon who expired on the first threshold in Athens with these words on his lips: "Rejoice and rejoice." Nowhere in the Epistle is Paul so insistent about joy as here. The Christian is rich in his joy in Christ. What joy it will be in heaven to tell the story of the triumph of Christ over sin in your life and in mine.
~Archibald T. Robertson~
(The End)
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