THE REAL PENTECOSTAL LIFE.

The Pentecostal Life is a lovely and beautiful life. Many people have wrong views and are afraid of it. They think it is fanatical. There is a fanatical life and it is doing much harm. The devil is trying to get earnest, dedicated Christians to go into extremes or after some gifts, no matter what; or some helpful fad — or conquest — and succeeds in some places with most disastrous results.

I. How can we Distinguish between the True and the False.

1. The Pentecostal life is a reasonable life and calls for a reasonable service.

The fanatical life is full of pride and self-will, excesses and extravagances.

2. The Pentecostal life is modest and humble and not puffed up with spiritual pride. Doth not behave itself unseemly.

The fanatical life is full of pride and self-will; denounces modesty and humility and is self-assertive.

3. The Pentecostal life is kind towards those who differ, and has long suffering with joyfulness.

The fanatical life is unkind, uncharitable and opposes everybody who will not follow; and then talks about “persecutions for Christ’s sake.”

4. The Pentecostal life is always teachable; ever ready to learn, willing to sit at the feet ol others and be instructed.

The fanatical life is unteachable, knows all that you know and then more. Goes as far as you go and then some.

Like the Mormons, they have our Bible and then they have another, a new revelation that discounts the old one.

Like the Burning Bush people, who claim to have the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and then they have another baptism with fire that burns out denominationalism and gives them liberty to denounce and ridicule and satirize all the rest of the Christian people.

II. What it is not.

1. The Pentecostal life is not the absolutely perfect life. That belongs to God — not to angels, Adam or us.

2. The Pentecostal life is not the angelic life. The angels are unfallen creatures, and obey God perfectly, having no need of the atonement.

3. The Pentecostal life is not the Adamic life; we come short of the intellectual and physical perfection of Adam — and will not gain that perfection till soul and body are in heaven.

4. The Pentecostal life is not a sinless perfection. That would take us out of probation. There is no sin in the soul, but through unavoidable blindness, various infirmities, defects of judgment, undue haste, overwhelming temptations, things may be done wrong — and we must have the blood of the atonement applied to us — all the time, to cleanse us from all sin. So that while it is not impossible to sin, it is possible not to sin. As it is not impossible for a truthful man to lie, but it is possible for him not to lie; so it is possible for a Christian not to sin.

5. The Pentecostal life is not a matured life, in which it is impossible to grow. It does not stop growth, but accelerates it by putting the soul in the best condition for growth, just as the removal of disease from the body, enables the child to grow.

6. The Pentecostal life is not above temptation, but it assures victory in temptation. The new birth by the Spirit brings pardon and peace with God. The Baptism with the Spirit brings purity and the power of God for victory over temptation.

7. The Pentecostal life is not just a good, religious experience, that is necessary to get the Pentecostal life. Xo one can be baptized with the Holy Spirit unless he is forgiven of all his sins.

III. What it is.

1. The Pentecostal life is a life of freedom. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty/’

There are hosts of people who have been quickened from the dead and brought out of the grave of their trespasses, who are like Lazarus, wrapped with napkins and bound with the cerements of death. They have life, but not liberty; they can breathe, but cannot talk; kick but cannot walk. They are like the colored people after Lincoln had signed the proclamation of Freedom. The Yankees said they were free, but their old masters said they were not free; they were dazed and sat around in idleness and dirt and did not help themselves, nor assert their liberty. So there are many Christians trying to get out of duty, tied up with fears, excusing themselves from duties that must be performed. God has provided a supply of the Spirit of Jesus so that a man can be what he ought to be and do what he ought to do, and go on in that life from grace to grace.

2. The Pentecostal life is a strong life. “Be strong, in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. They shall go from strength to strength. “Behold I have given you power above all the power of the enemy.”

We are commanded to be strong in the Lord, not preachers but the church. Not strong in our prejudices, not strong in our wills like the people that opposed Stephen. He said they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears and always resisting the Holy Spirit. Then they gnashed their teeth and rushed upon him, and stoned him to death. Not strong in theory, but strong in the Lord. Now, don't think of a house and you being in the house, but think of the hand or an arm in the body, so that all the power or life of the body can be used by the fingers or hand. God wants us to be strong. If a man is as strong financially as his financial backing, how strong we ought to be! As strong as our spiritual backing. So Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who empowers me.” For all things are possible with God, and all things are possible unto him that believeth.

3. The Pentecostal Christian is a well rounded one. He is a trinity of good things. He may be called lopsided, over-developed on one line, but he abounds in three things, fruit, leaves, and works. He brings forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The fig tree was not cursed because it had leaves, but because it had nothing but leaves. Just as a great many church members have nothing but the profession. We are exhorted to hold fast the profession of our faith. I like palm trees because they hold fast to their profession. The leaf tells the kind of a tree like the scale tells the kind of a fish. One summer in Minnesota the trees around our house were stripped three times of leaves. The worms ate the leaves so the trees were bare, and looked like they were dead, but three times the trees pushed out the buds and then the leaves. They had life in them and they kept up the profession. But fruit is the main thing. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, self-control. These also come with the leaves.

4. The Pentecostal life is a triumphant life. “Thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place”

Way back in the Old Testament God has promised to make us triumph. “I will cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” “Triumph in every place,” says Paul. What does he mean by triumph? He was whipped and stoned, imprisoned, insulted, betrayed, ship-wrecked and persecuted from one place to another. What was the triumph? Why none of these things moved him and every place he gave out the evidence that Christ lived in him. So many Christians are backing out and giving up the Christ life, a little loss of money, hurts their pride and they won't go to church any more. A little criticism and they refuse to testify. Now read Romans 8, 35-38: “Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribulation or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

5. The Pentecostal life is a joyful life. “Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see Him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

The disciples did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. They were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. The great difference between the heathen religions and Christianity is the joy of the Lord. Their religious people are all sad, long-faced, gloomy. When Dr, Mabie was in India he said to one of the old heathen priests: “You have lived long and studied hard what have you got to say?” And the old man answered through an interpreter: “I have lived long and studied hard, but I have nothing to say.” The Pentecostal Christian has something to say. He can sing,

“The Comforter is come, the Comforter is come, The Holy Ghost from Heaven, the Father’s promise given,

Oh, spread the tidings round, wherever man is found,

The Comforter is come.”

How we misrepresent Jesus Christ! When He was going to the cross He astonished his disciples by saying: “My Joy I give unto you that your joy may be full.” Don’t look down your noses. Don’t pull your faces out so long. Don’t be sad. Jesus went up from talking with Abraham. Jesus went up from the Mount. Look up. Lift up. Be joyful. Don’t sing “Down Life’s dark vale we wander till Jesus comes,” but sing “Joy to the world the Lord is come, Let earth receive her king.” The one characteristic that marked the face of the disciples was their joy. They were so joyful that some of the people said they were drunk. When Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress in the old Bedford jail he said: “So I was lead home to prison and I sat

me down and wrote and wrote because Joy did make me write.” That old dingy prison was like heaven to his soul. He has been praising God for Bedford jail for three hundred years. It was Joy that made Paul and Silas sing and shout till they were made free, and the Jailer and his family got saved. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” “Rejoice evermore and again I say rejoice.”

When you have the joy of the Lord you can shout coming down as easy as going up. When I was in Lincoln there were some of the saints there who were happy in the Lord. They gave liberally to the new church we were building. Then I went back to lecture during the drought. They were so poor they didn’t have twenty-five cents to spare and couldn’t come to the lecture, but you ought to have seen them in the prayer meeting and the class meeting praising the Lord in their poverty. The first time I ever saw this, was just at the close of the war. One of my neighbors who was a wealthy farmer during the war lost all he had and moved away. After the war I was preaching at Kentland and I saw a poor man under the gallery and after the sermon he invited me home with him. We went to a little unpainted building, no carpet on the floor, no table cloth, not a set of knives and forks. Poor but clean. He said “Return thanks,” and I began to cry and didn’t say a thing. After dinner he said: “I am the

happiest man in this town. Don’t pity me, but tell your father that if I could have my old farm and give up the joy I have in the Lord I wouldn't do it.”

6. The Pentecostal life puts the emphasis in the right place. “Then had the churches rest; and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit were multiplied.” Acts 9-38.

The word comfort means admonition or exhortation. The Holy Spirit will tell us where to put the emphasis of life. What constitutes good reading is to know where and when to put the emphasis and it is true of living as well as reading. We must put the emphasis in the right place.

When George Muller began his great work of faith, the Holy Spirit showed him that the great thing in his life was to be warmed and refreshed and anointed with the Holy Spirit every morning, by reading the scripture and prayer and then came his great work of faith. That was the secret of his power and victory. How many are putting the emphasis on the external life. They want a fine house, a great fortune, political honor; they want the appearance, the building, the numbers, but their inner life and communion with God has no value. I heard of a woman in Kansas whose cow was killed on the railroad and she put in a claim for $40 damages, and pressed the matter until she got her money. Soon after her husband was killed on the same railroad and the Manager was greatly concerned about the damages and went out to see what she thought it would be, when she put in her claim with great earnestness and “allowed her husband ought to be worth as much as the cow,” so she received a check for $40 and no sense. She didn't know where to put the emphasis.

When we see the greatness of eternity and the destinies that are opening up before us, we see the necessity of the right emphasis — putting our lives in harmony with the Holy Spirit. No one needs to know where to lay the emphasis so much as preachers. How can we preach without receiving the Holy Spirit? If the preacher is talking about love of God given unto us, he must say “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” If his theme is prayer, he must say “the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace and supplication and there is no real prevailing prayer unless the Spirit Himself maketh intercession in us.” If he is teaching his people to sing, they should sing in the Spirit. If he is urging his people to be joyful he must tell them of the joy in the Holy Spirit. If he is urging them into freedom, where the 'Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Does he want his people to be strong he must show them how to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man. Do you talk of full assurance that can only be realized by the Spirit of the Son crying, “Abba Father in our hearts.”