Subtitled, “The applause of the world vs. the approval of God.”
Preached at the Stone Church communion service, November 5, 1922
Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, June 1923.

This is a very blessed time for us to gather together in remembrance of the Lord. I want to remind you of this fact, that this is the only service we render to the Lord. All other services we attend are for us to get blessing from the Lord, but Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of Me.” We have gathered together to commemorate that wonderful death, victory, and triumph, and the looking forward to the “glorious hope,” and I want you, if it is possible at all, to get rid of your religion. It has been “religion” at all times that has slain and destroyed that which was good. When Satan entered into Judas, the only people that the devil could speak to thru Judas were the priests, sad as it is to say it. They conspired to get him to betray Jesus, and the devil took money from these priests to put Jesus to death. Now it is a very serious thing, for we must clearly understand whether we are of the right spirit or not, for no man can be of the Spirit of Christ and persecute another; no man can have the true spirit of Jesus and slay his brother, and no man can follow the Lord Jesus and have enmity in his heart. You cannot have Jesus and have bitterness and hatred, and persecute the believer.

It is possible for us, if we are not careful, to have within us an evil spirit of unbelief, and even in our best state it is possible for us to have enmity unless we are perfectly dead and let the life of the Lord lead us. You remember Jesus wanted to pass thru a certain place as He was going to Jerusalem, because He would not stop and preach to them concerning the kingdom, they refused to allow Him to go thru their section of the country. And the disciples which were with Jesus said to Him, “Shall we call down fire from heaven upon them as Elijah did?” But Jesus turned and said, “Ye know not what spirit ye are of.” There they were, following Jesus and with Him all the time, but Jesus rebuked that spirit. I pray God that we may get this out of this service, that our knowledge of Jesus is pure love, and pure love to Jesus is death to self on all lines, body, soul and spirit. I believe if we are in the will of God, we will be perfectly directed at all times, and if we would know anything about the mighty works of Christ, we shall have to follow what Jesus said. Whatever He said came to pass.

Many things happened in the lives of the apostles to show His power over all flesh. In regard to paying tribute, Jesus said to Peter, “We are free, we can enter into the city without paying tribute; nevertheless, we will pay.” I like that thought, that Jesus was so righteous on all lines. It helps me a great deal. Then Jesus told Peter to do a very hard thing. He said, “Take that hook and cast it into the sea. Draw out a fish and take from its gills a piece of silver for thee and Me.” This was one of the hardest things Peter had to do. He had been fishing all his life, but never had he taken silver out of a fish’s mouth. There were thousands and millions of fish in the sea, but one fish had to have a piece of silver in it. He went down to the sea as any natural man would, speculating and thinking, “How can it be?” But how could it not be, if Jesus said it would be? Then the perplexity would arise, “But how many fish there are, and which fish has the money?” Brother, if God speaks, it will be as He says.

What you need is to know the mind of God and the Word of God, and you will be so free you will never find a frown on your face, nor a tear in your eye. The more you know of the mightiness of revelation, the more does everything in the way of fearfulness pass away. To know God, is to be in the place of triumph. To know God is to be in the place of rest. To know God is to be in the place of victory. No doubt many things were in Peter’s mind that day, but thank God there was one fish, and he obeyed. Sometimes to obey in blindness brings the victory. Sometimes when perplexities arise in your mind, obedience means God working out the problem. Peter cast the hook into the sea, and it would have been amazing if you could have seen the disturbance the other fish made to move out of the way, all excepting the right one. Just one among the millions of fish God wanted. God may put his hand upon you in the midst of millions of people, but if He speaks to you, that thing that He says will be appointed.

On this occasion, Jesus said to Peter and the rest, that when they went out into the city they would see a man bearing a pitcher of water, and they should follow him. It was not customary in the East for men to carry anything on their heads. The women always did the carrying, but this had to be a man, and he had to have a pitcher. One day there was a man preaching and he said it was quite all right for Jesus to go and arrange, for a colt to be tied there, and another preacher said it was quite easy to feed all those thousands of people, because the loaves in those days were so tremendously big, but he didn’t tell them it was a little boy that had the five loaves. Unbelief can be very blind, but faith can see thru a stone-wall. Faith when it is moved by the power of God can laugh when trouble is on.

They said to the man with the pitcher, “Where is the guest chamber?” “How strange it is that you should ask,” he replied, “I have been preparing that, wondering who wanted it.” It is marvelous when God is leading how perfectly everything works into the plan. He was arranging everything. You think He cannot do that today for you? People who have been in perplexities for days and days, He knows how to deliver out of trouble; He knows how to be with you in the dark hour. He can make all things work together for good to them that love God. He has a way of arranging His plan, and when God comes in, you always know it was a day you lived in God. Oh to live in God! There is a vast difference between living in God and living in speculation and hope. There is something better than hope; something better than speculation. “They that know their God shall be strong and do exploits,” and God would have us to know Him.

“And when the hour was come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him.” “When the hour was come”—that was the most wonderful hour. There never was an hour, never will be an hour like that hour. What hour was it? It was an hour of the passing of creation under the blood. It was an hour of destruction of demon power. It was an hour appointed of life coming out of death. It was an hour when all that ever lived came under a glorious covering of the blood. It was an hour when all the world was coming into emancipation by the blood. It was an hour in the world’s history when it emerged from dark chaos, a wonderful hour! Praise God for that hour! Was it a dark hour? It was a dark hour for Him, but a wonderful light dawned for us. It was tremendously dark for the Son of Man, but praise God He came thru it.

There are some things in the Scriptures which move me greatly. I am glad that Paul was a man. I am glad that Jesus was a Man. I am glad that Daniel was a man, and I am also glad that John was a man. You ask Why? Because I see that whatever God has done for other men, He can do for me. And I find God has done such wonderful things for other men that I am always on the expectation that these things are possible for me. Think about this. It is a wonderful thought to me. Jesus said in that trying hour—hear it a moment: “I have a desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Desire? What could be His desire? His desire because of the salvation of the world. His desire because of dethronement of the powers of Satan. His desire because He knew he was going to conquer everything and make every man free that ever lived. It was a great desire, but what lay between it? Just between that and the cross lay Gethsemane! Some people say that Jesus died on the cross. It is perfectly true, but is that the only place? Jesus died in Gethsemane. That was the tragic moment! That was the place where He paid the debt. It was in Gethsemane, and Gethsemane was between Him and the cross. He had a desire to eat this Passover and knew Gethsemane was between Him and the cross.

I want you to think about Gethsemane. There alone, and with the tremendous weight, the awful effect of all sin and disease upon that body, He cries out, “If it be possible, let it pass.” Oh could it be! He could only save when He was man, but here like a giant refreshed and coming out of a great chaos of darkness He comes forth: “To this end I came.” It was His purpose to die for the world. Oh brother, will it ever be said to pass thru your lips or your mind for a moment that you will not have a desire to serve Christ like that? Can you deign, under any circumstances to take your cross fully, to be in the place of any ridicule, any surrender, anything for the Man who said He desired to eat the Passover with His disciples, knowing what it meant? It can only come out of the depths of love we have for Him that we can say this morning, “Lord Jesus, I will follow.” Oh brother there is something very wonderful in the decision in your heart! God knows the heart. You do not always have to be on the house-top to shout to indicate the condition of your heart. He knows your inward heart. You say, “I would be ashamed not to be willing to suffer for a Man who desired to suffer to save me.” “With desire,” He says.

I know what it is to have the kingdom of heaven within you. He said that even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist, meaning those who are under the blood, those who have seen the Lord by faith, those who know by redemption they are made sons of God. I say to you, He will never taste again until we are there with Him. The kingdom will never be complete—it could not be—until we are all there at that great Supper of the Lamb where there will be millions and trillions of redeemed, which no man can number. We shall be there when that Supper is taking place. I like to think of that.

I hope you will take one step into definite lines with God and believe it. It is an act of faith God wants to bring you into; a perfecting of that love that cannot fail to avail. It is a fact that He has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and that He gives eternal life to them that believe. The Lord, the Omnipotent God, it is He that knoweth the end from the beginning, and has arranged by the blood of the Lamb to cover the guilty and make intercession for all believers. Oh it is a wonderful inheritance of faith to find shelter under the blood of Jesus!

I want you to see that He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” He took the cup, He took the bread, and He gave thanks. The very attitude of giving thanks for His shed blood, giving thanks for His broken body, overwhelms the heart. To think that my Lord could give thanks for His shed blood! To think that my Lord could give thanks for His broken body! Only Divinity can reveal this sublime act unto the heart! The natural man cannot receive it, but the spiritual man, the man who has been created anew by faith in Christ, he is open to it. The man who believes God comes in is inborn with the eternal seed of truth and righteousness and faith, and from the moment he sees the truth on the lines of faith he is made a new creation. The flesh ceases, the spiritual man begins. One passes off, the other passes on, until a man is in the existence of God. I say the Lord brings a child of faith into a place of rest, causes him to sit with Him in heavenly places, gives him a language in the Spirit and makes him know he belongs no longer to the law of creation.

You see this bread which represents His broken body? The Lord knew He could not bring us any nearer to His broken body. Our bodies are made of bread. The body of Jesus was made of that bread, and He knew He could bring us no nearer. He took the natural elements and said, “This bread represents my broken body.” Now will it ever become that body of Christ? No, never. You cannot make it so. It is foolishness to believe it, but I take it as an emblem and when I eat it, the natural leads me into the supernatural, and instantly I begin to feed on the supernatural by faith, One leads me into the other.

Jesus said, “Take eat, this is my body.” I have a real knowledge of Christ thru this emblem. May we take from the table of the riches of His promises. The riches of heaven are before us. Fear not, only believe, for God has opened the treasures of His Holy Word.

(Communion service)

As they were all gathered together, He looked on them and said right into their ears, “There is one of you which will betray Me.” Jesus knew who would betray Him. He had known it for many, many months. They whispered to one another, “Who is it?” None of them had real confidence that it would not be he. That is the serious part about it; they had so little confidence in their ability to face the opposition that was before them, and they had no confidence it would not be one of them. Jesus knew. He had been talking to Judas many times, rebuking him, and telling him that his course would surely bring him to a bad end. He never had told any of His disciples, not even John who leaned on His breast. Now if that same spirit was in any church, it would purify the church. But I fear sometimes Satan gets the advantage and things are told before they are true. I believe God wants to so sanctify us, so separate us, that we will have that perfection of love that will not speak ill of a brother, that will not, slander a brother whether it is true or not.

There was strife among them who should be the greatest, but He said, “He that is chief let him be as he that doth serve,” and then he, the Master said, “I am among you as one that serveth.” He, the noblest, the purest, He was the servant of all! Exercising lordship over another is not of God. We must learn in our hearts that fellowship, true righteousness, loving one another and preferring one another must come into the church. Pentecost must outreach everything that ever has been, and we know it will if we are willing. But it cannot be if we will not. We can never he filled with the Holy Ghost so long as there is any human, craving desire for our own will. Selfishness must be destroyed. Jesus was perfect, the end of everything, and God will bring us all there. It is giving that pays; it is helping that pays; it is loving that pays; it is putting yourself out of the way for another that pays. “I am among you as one that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto Me.” I believe there is a day coming greater than anything any of us have any conception of. This is the testing road. This is the place where your whole body has to be covered with the wings of God that your nakedness shall not be seen. This is the thing that God is getting you ready for, the most wonderful thing your heart can conceive. How can you get into it? First of all, “Ye have continued with me in my temptations.” He had been in trials, He had been in temptation. There is not one of us that is tempted beyond what He was. If a young man can be so pure that he cannot be tempted, he will never be fit to be made a judge, but God intends us to be so purified during these evil days that He can make us judges in the world to come. If we can be tried, if we can be tempted on any line, Jesus said, “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptation.” Have faith and God will keep you pure in the temptation. How shall we reach it? In Matt. 19:28, Jesus said, “Ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “Follow in regeneration”—every day is a regeneration; every day is a day of advancement; every day is a place of choice. Every day you find yourself in need of fresh consecration. If you are in a place to yield God moves you in the place of regeneration.

For years and years God has been making me appear to hundreds and thousands of people as a fool. I remember the day when He saved me and when He called me out. If there is a thing God wants to do today He wants to be as real to you and me as He was to Abraham. After I was saved I joined myself up to a very lively lot of people who were full of a revival spirit, and it was marvelous how God blest. And then there came a lukewarmness and indifference, and God said to me as clearly as anything, “Come out.” I obeyed and came out. The people said, “We cannot understand you. We need you now and you are leaving us.” The Plymouth Brethren at that time were in a Conference. The Word of God was with them in power, the love of God was with them unveiled. Baptism by immersion was revealed to me, and when my friends saw me go into the water they said I was altogether wrong. But God had called me and I obeyed. The day came when I saw that the Brethren had dropped down to the letter, all letter, dry and barren.

At that time the Salvation Army was filled with love, filled with power, filled with zeal; every place a revival, and I joined up with them. For about six years the glory of God was there, and then the Lord said again, “Come out,” and I am glad I came. It dropped right into a social movement and God has no place for a social movement. We are saved by regeneration and the man who is going on with God has no time for social reforms.

God moved on, and at that time there were many people who were receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost without signs. Those days were “days of heaven on earth.” God unfolded the truth, showed the way of sanctification by the power of the blood of Christ, and I saw in that the great inflow of the life of God. I thank God for that, but God came along again and said, “Come out.” I obeyed God and went with what they called the “tongues” folks; they got the credit for having further light. I saw God advancing every movement I made, and I can see even in this Pentecostal work, except we see there is a real death, God will say to us, “Come out.” Unless Pentecost wakes up to shake herself free from all worldly things and comes into a place of the divine-likeness with God, we will hear the voice of God, “Come out” and He will have something far better than this. I ask every one of you, will you hear the voice of God and come out? You ask, “What do you mean?” Every one of you knows without exception, there is no word for Pentecost, only being on fire. If you are not on fire you are not in the place of regeneration. It is only the fire of God that burns up the entanglements of the world.

When we came into this new work God spoke to us by the Spirit and we knew we had to reach the place of absolute yieldedness and cleansing, so that there would be nothing left. We were swept and garnished. Brother, that was only the beginning, and if you have not made tremendous progress in that holy zeal and power and compassion of God, we can truly say you have backslidden in heart. The backslider in heart is dead. He is not having the open vision. The backslider in heart is not seeing the Word of God more fresh every day. You can put it down that a man is a backslider in heart if he is not hated by the world. If you have the applause of the world you are not having the approval of God. I do not know whether you will receive it or not but my heart burns with this message, “changing in the regeneration” for in this changing you will get a place in the kingdom to come where you shall be in authority; that place which God has prepared for us, that place which is beyond all human conception. We can catch a glimpse of that glory, when we see how John worshipped the angel, and the angel said to him, “See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, of thy brethren the prophets.” This angel is showing John the wonders of the glorious kingdom and in his glorified state, John thought he was the Lord. I wonder if we dare believe for it.

Let me close with these words: As sure as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall have the image of the heavenly. It means to us that everything of an earthly type has to cease, for the heavenly type is so wonderful in all its purity. God, full of love, full of purity, full of power! No power only on the lines of purity! No open door into heaven only on the lines of the conscience void of sin between man and God, the heavens open only where the Spirit of the Lord is so leading, so that flesh has no power, but we will live in the Spirit. God bless you and prepare you for greater days.

Labels: 1922, 1923, Latter Rain Evangel

Subtitled, “Beware of deceiving voices.”
At the Union Pentecostal Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 3, 1922.
Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, December 1922.

I want to speak to you this morning on the subject of the Gifts. These are days when all the saints need to be furnished with the graces and the gifts of the Spirit and we must keep in mind that it is impossible to find the gifts of the Spirit made manifest without the graces; they always work harmoniously and the person filled with the power of the Spirit will find that the one will help the other to strengthen the person in the needy hour.

We need a clear knowledge of the Word of God; we cannot put too much emphasis on that. Then I want to say also that God demands of every believer who has been baptized in the Holy Spirit that he should have some “acts” and if you do not have them you had better get face to face with God and demand from Him your acts. When I was baptized in the Holy Ghost I received from God an utterance as all people do when they receive the Baptism; it was not an earthly language, but heavenly, and I was satisfied that God had granted unto me the Comforter, the Holy Ghost. But for nine months after that I never spoke in tongues and then God gave to me the gift of tongues. I cannot say that I was very anxious or very hungry in asking for this as I was longing more that I might speak as the Spirit gave utterance but God knew what I needed to be able to help others along this line.

The next evening after I had received the gift of tongues, I was walking down the road, loaded with bundles and God came upon me mightily and tongues began to come forth in terrific force. I walked down the road without stopping, but soon I began to realize that this had no intelligence in it for me and neither was it a profit to anyone else. There were some men working in a garden near by and as soon as they heard this peculiar noise they stuck their heads through the fence to find out where it was coming from. Right then I said to God, “I will not leave till You give me the interpretation. You have poured forth a language, now You must interpret,” and suddenly God gave the interpretation and that message has been fulfilled to the very letter over and over again. Since that time I have always claimed the right to have the interpretation. I believe God wants us to be definite and I don’t want you to run away with any wrong impression; if you come out on anything else but a definite side then God has not spoken. I am not here to make children but men and women of you, men and women after the mind of God; in spirit we must be children but in understanding we must be men and women. So if God says to us that we must understand spiritual gifts you put your name right under that “must” and apply it as your very own. I believe as long as you dwell in the Spirit it is impossible for you ever to become twisted. You never heard of a Roman Catholic being filled with the Spirit as long as he was a Roman Catholic;* the same is true of a Russellite,* or a man who believes in New Theology.* Scripture is clearly against it for it says that no man can call Jesus, Lord except by the Holy Ghost and every man who has the Holy Ghost believes all the Bible. The man who is filled with the Holy Ghost is filled with that which gave the Bible; he is filled with the very matter of the Bible for the Word is Christ and the Holy Ghost has come to manifest Christ.

You will always find that all the blessings and all the manifestations of the power, of God which you receive, come always on the line of faith; every saved person is saved by faith and saving faith is not something which you can take down and then hang up again. The saving faith of God is a permanent thing which God gave and which will remain with you. It is a gift and because of that I know that everyone in this place can choose that gift but you have to come into that blessing under the shadow of the blood and claim your rights in the Scriptures. I want to say, however, that no man can come to God and claim His blessings if he knows that God can put His finger on any sin in his life. God never will hear sinners and if you expect any blessings don’t come to Him with sin in your life. When a man repents God is gracious and full of mercy and forgives all sin and that man can begin from that moment with the knowledge that God has removed the past from him.

There are two points in this 12th chapter of Corinthians which have helped me more than anything else and I am sure they will help you; one is this—Paul prayed for a keen conscience and also that he might not have his conscience seared. Do you know that a keen conscience is the greatest blessing anyone can have? A keen conscience is one which is easily disturbed, one which is easily broken and brought to repentance before God, one which will not permit you to sleep until everything is made right with your brother; a keen conscience is the place where God reigns supreme as a Refiner of fire.

What is a seared conscience? It is a conscience which once was keen but the person got out of the will of God and failed to repent after committing a sin. God could not come in before that sin was undone and the person went on sinning until he got to the place where he thought he had a right to sin. This is the most horrible place to be in. I pray that God will keep us in the place where we may hear His voice and heed it.

I want you to notice that I am trying to show you, by the grace of God, that if you keep in the fulness of the Spirit you will have such a revelation of the Word of God in your life that it will save you and keep you from stumbling. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth him.” And, “The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.” He shall hide thee in the secret place, in the cleft of the rock, and in the time of adversity He shall raise up a standard against the enemy. It is the Lord who reigns supreme over His household whose House ye are, His establishment, and ye shall not be moved. This means that God establishes His Kingdom in you and in me. Oh how we need to be filled with the joy of the Lord which is our strength and to have a fresh inflow of His life and love!

A man who is filled with the Spirit must have three things flowing through him; the ministration, operation and manifestation of the Spirit. It is to your detriment if you have not these three working in your life. If you are to keep your path all clear and bright you must remain steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. We must abound in hope, rejoice in tribulation and then God will make straight paths for our feet. The man who has faith is never ruffled; he does not run off as if he had been shot but he is always resting, knowing that God is over all. We must understand these principles because faith is God. Faith is the knowledge of God. Faith is that which lays hold, which will not let go. Faith is inwrought God, faith is God inwrought; faith is that which brings heaven on earth and lives in it.

The word which God would bring before us this morning is found in the 10th verse of the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians: “To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.” The first we have to deal with is the discerning of spirits. Perhaps this is the most necessary thing in this present day. In connection with this we must speak on the different kinds of voices for so many people are disturbed by voices. They have an idea that it is the voice of God but begin to find themselves in difficulty as a result of obeying that voice. We are told in the 4th chapter of the Epistle of John that we must be able to discern the spirits. “Beloved, believe not every spirit but try the spirits, whether they are of God.” So God would have us know the difference between false prophecy and the spiritual, divinely appointed prophecy.

There are voices of all descriptions. I have for some time had to deal with people along this line. If ever you find a person under the power of the evil one you will find that that spirit will never acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh; so if you want to test any spirit you can tell by that, because often the voice will come right out and say, “No, Jesus did not come in the flesh,” and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus came in the flesh is not of God. In the 4th chapter of Luke we see how Jesus dispelled the power of Satan. If you test a false spirit by the inward presence it will disturb the peace of God and you will know it is of Satan. Make that thing worship the Christ within and the devil will flee. No person need be captured at any time with an evil thought, because we are to understand the wiles of the devil. Many people are disturbed with thoughts, evil thoughts which usually come early in the morning, but if these are tested the person will always find that they will deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Perhaps some will ask, “Is not that a gift of the Spirit to discern the spirits?” Yes, it is a gift, but I want to say right here that if you are living in the fulness of the Spirit you will have this gift at any moment when needed. It will not be an abiding gift, just a gift for the needy moment. Every one of you without exception will find that as you go on and on with God you will have to be in the Spirit of God or you will be a failure. It is not possible to love the present evil world and have the Holy Ghost within; you cannot love carnality and have the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost comes in, every evil power will be dispelled till your whole body is free from sin and death. Oh you need to be filled with the Holy Ghost to be ready at any moment for Satan’s power!

I want to show you how terribly deceiving these voices can be. One time when I was ministering in a certain place, two young ladies came into the room about five o’clock in the afternoon and instantly we perceived that something had taken place. One of them had on white kid gloves which were spotted with blood. The excitement of these two ladies was such that one could see there was no peace abiding within. If ever you get out of the will of God and Satan comes in you will find there is no rest. I have learned that if anything disturbs my peace it is always Satanic. Neither one of these girls was willing to tell us what had happened. Now that is another way to test voices; God never reveals anything that you cannot tell on the housetop; everything God says to you, you can preach out and if you feel you dare not tell what you have heard this voice telling you, you may be sure it is evil. I know people pride themselves that God speaks to them differently from everyone else; if ever you get to that place you are on the wrong track, you are going one notch downward. It is the false pride of the devil. Some people seem to believe that the devil comes around only with horns and a long tail, big ears and big eyes. Don’t you believe it; the devil was turned out of heaven because of his pride and you must never forget that he is called the “angel of light.” He has never lost that pride. And to you ministers I would say that whenever a person comes to you and says, “I never heard a man preach like you,” you can make sure that is the voice of the devil every time.

These two girls were working in a telegraph station and Satan came as an angel of light to one saying, “If you will obey me, I will make you the biggest and the best preacher in the world.” Now God never speaks that way. The girl became so excited about this and was sure it was the voice of God. She asked off from work for an hour and she became more excited as the voice repeated those words over and over; she got so worked up that she dug her nails into her flesh until the blood came. Then the voice further said to her, “You go to the station at 7:30 and, a train will come in. Buy two tickets. Don’t tell anyone what I have said except your sister. You will find a train leaving for Glasgow at 7:32. When you have purchased the two tickets you will have six pence over.” Sure enough after she had the two tickets she had the six pence left. “Oh,” you say, “that surely was the Lord speaking to her.” Then another part of the message came true for the train came in exactly at 7:32. She was to find in one of the coaches a gentleman sitting with his back to the engine and this man was to have all the money that the girl wanted and was to have it deposited in a certain bank. It needed only brains to think it out, but the people who get to that place do not use their brains and will not let anyone else think for them. They say, “Don’t you try to stop me for no one can stop me. You do not need to talk to me, you have not had the Lord speak to you.” This is a dangerous place. These two girls went up and down the coach, the full length of the railway train and failed to find anyone fitting that description. Someone said she had better come down for the next train, so they stayed there until nine o’clock. Then the voice said to her, “Now that I have found you will obey me, I will make you the best and biggest missionary in the world.” You have no idea what it took to get those two girls out of that awful delusion, but God prevailed and both are now on the mission field doing good work. Never be unwilling to take advice for God has other people who know His voice and you must be willing to learn.

While ministering in another place I had a letter from York, England, saying that they had about fourteen people who were seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They were asking me to come and give them a few addresses on this important subject. So I went and upon arriving I heard the best news anyone could wish to hear. The people said, “We have had one of the finest men to join us that you have ever seen; he is a fine teacher. We will just wait and see if he receives the Baptism and then we are thinking of keeping him here as pastor.” That was all very good. The preaching went on and God manifested Himself; the power of God came down and people began seeking. About 10:30 that night we saw this promising young man laid out under the power of God. The saints could hardly keep quiet, they rejoiced so over God’s dealings. They would say, “Now we have him; when he receives his baptism we will have the best man,” and they were so jubilant. Everything went well and then about 11:30 the power of God slew him and divine utterance came forth and we were all so glad and had a good time praising God. When he was getting ready to go home the saints came around and said, “Oh, we are so glad you got through! you certainly are the best teacher.” And then one woman went up to him and said, “I shouldn’t wonder if you were not the second John the Baptist.” That night, while on his way home, the devil came to this young man and said, “I shouldn’t wonder if you were the second John the Baptist.” But he was able to throw it off and would have nothing to do with the voice. But listen, in the middle of the night the devil awakened him, “You are John the Baptist. Arise.” He was unable to shake that off and the next day he went up and down the street shouting, “I am John the Baptist.” Who spoiled him? The saints. Who was to blame for his downfall? Those people who should have had more sense. Never tell a preacher how wonderful he is. He knows he is nothing if he is in the right place, and don’t you try to make him something. If you do you will get out of the will of the Lord and get him out, too. Is there deliverance for these people? Oh, how we need to distinguish the voice of God from that of Satan. We need to know that God the Holy Ghost has a better plan for us than that. I have met such wrecks. I came across one of the finest men in the ministry, such a good teacher who had been blessed to all the assemblies. It makes me weep now to think of it. You couldn’t teach him anything and if you spoke to him he would tell you that God had not spoken to you as to him, adding, “Don’t you know that God has made me a prophet?” You couldn’t move him.

The important point is, How can we tell the difference between the voice of Satan and the voice of God? It is very simple. If you don’t aspire to be something you will never get into that dangerous place; it is when your own heart desires it that the devil can switch you there. Never desire to be anything, for in the true Christian’s life no man wants to be anything but desires Christ to be his all and in all; it is to live only for the glory of God, to be filled with the power of God, to be kept at all times in that place where you know you are nothing and can do nothing but for the grace of God. If you ever think you are anything of importance consider Jesus and if you consider Jesus you will find there is no room for exaltation, only brokenness of heart and contriteness of spirit. The Kingdom of God is brought forth in righteousness and truth. What is truth? Truth says that Jesus is the Way; truth says that Jesus is the ideal for us, and we must be like Him; no man who truly follows Jesus and reads the words in Philippians can say any more about himself. Jesus who was the Son of God made Himself of no reputation, took on Himself the form of a servant and humbled Himself even to the death of the cross.

Discerning of Spirits. How much we need it! Sometimes I have been shut in for weeks with demon-possessed men and in the middle of the night-watches these evil spirits have jumped upon me but in the midst of it I have held my ground for God and prayed the man right into perfect deliverance. I am especially reminded of one man. I was shut in for weeks with him and every time an evil spirit was cast out of him it leaped on me. The last one to be cast but laid hold of me so that I had to deliver myself first before I could deliver any one else. In this case the evil spirits used to come out of this man and bind me so that I had to stand still. I couldn’t move and the man who was possessed would stand and look at me. As I commanded the evil spirit to leave I would be free again. That man today is perfectly delivered and preaching the Gospel. It took someone who would lay hold of God and not let go until the work was completed. I have learned many things by experience, and if I can make you see this morning that you never will be anything I will be able to get something done here. Anything that is not done for the glory of God is not worth having; God sees in secret and will reward openly; we will have to have secret power with God; we will have to meet God face to face in the closet and then we can come out strong for Him.

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