Thou Gavest Me No Kiss - Leonard Ravenhill

“…You see, we think that if we read a lot of books about the deeper life, as good as they are, they will make us a saint. I’ve got news for you. Even reading the Bible won’t make you a saint! You’ve got to get it in your blood stream.

I believe I could line the altar, indeed I’ve seen the altar lined with hundreds, night after night in mass meetings, and yet I believe, at the end of the day, Jesus Christ could say to me,

“Thou gavest Me no kiss.”

Why?

Because I was so busy serving Him, I forgot to worship Him.

The priority that God wants in our life is that we worship Him in spirit.

You can be a cantankerous, bitter, rough, edgy, stiff, resentful, almost cruel kind of Christian, work yourself to death, say, “I guess I give out more tracts than anybody around here. I labor harder than anybody else” …and miss the bus!

Friend I’ve been round the world a few times, it doesn’t give me any standing with God. I happen to write a best seller or two, it doesn’t give me any prestige with God.

God seeks those who worship Him. And I say again, I like what Wesley said, “Let me kiss Thy bleeding feet and bathe and wash them with my tears.”

When did you last seize Him by His feet and say,
“Master, I can’t go another inch without meeting You this morning.”

Dr. Tozer told me as a mature man in his sixties that there where times when he lay on the rug for an hour, two hours, three hours, four hours and never uttered a word of prayer, and never uttered a word of praise. He said, “I’m lost in adoration, I see Him in His glory, in His majesty, in His beauty. I can hear those holy beings crying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.'” And he said, “I’m silent in adoration before Him. I had no language, it is beggered.” And he had a vocabulary as good as any man I know, and he had read more of the mystics, I think, than any man I know, and he had some of the closest encounters to God of any man I know.

When you came in this morning God Almighty didn’t see if you had a ring on your finger worth ten thousand dollars, or if you had a hairdo or not. God never saw you this morning externally. The Bible makes it clear, “God looketh not on the outward appearance, but on the heart.” But most churches I go to today I would imagine that, that is reversed, that God looks on the outside and not on the heart.

Some of us are beautifully dressed this morning and we’ve got rags on the inside. We’ve got expensive cars or jewelry and we are poverty stricken within for the simple reason that we’ve never developed this wonderful area of worship. Worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth and in the very beauty of holiness.

If you leave this sanctuary saying, “Well, I enjoyed the choir.” Or just the singers, or just the preacher… we’ve missed it entirely! If you remember us then we’re failure number one!

You should remember something God communicated to you through us.
You shouldn’t remember the chalice whether it’s made of gold or clay, you should remember what came out of that chalice.

…You took time to get ready for church this morning, but listen, did you get down and worship Him this morning? Because the greatest thing you could do is not bring your tithe and your offering and sit and look pretty and smell nice. Did you get alone with Him this morning? Not in a crowd of people, but did you say alone, “My Jesus I love Thee I know Thou art mine.” It’s a bit late to say, “I’ll say when the death dew lies cold on my brow, My Jesus if ever I loved Thee ’tis now.” Did you get alone and worship Him this morning?

… Ah, we have the idea that just doing this or that make us spiritual… No, no. A lot of it makes us happy! A lot of it isn’t even spiritual, it’s soulish! It touches the emotions and stirs us.

But there’s nothing really exciting unless you get to know the wonder of pure, divine, holy love, and get down on your face and say, “Lord, I can’t even go to a meeting maybe this morning. I am overwhelmed with Your Glory… Your Majesty… Your Beauty.”

God is seeking that we worship Him.
Worship in spirit,
Worship Him in truth,
Worship Him in the very beauty of holiness.

You know, at the end of this day, however much I preach, however much you sing, however much you serve, the Lord is going to get a record.
And I try to do this: I try to say at the end of the day,
“Lord, it’s not what I preached over TV, or radio, to millions. Or two, or three,
or one person I visited who was sick…But, Lord, did I kiss You today?
Or did You look down and say,
‘Son, you were very busy, very active, you made some new friends, people
said you preached well, but listen son,

Thou Gavest Me No Water,
Thou Gavest Me No Oil,
Thou Gavest Me No Kiss.'”