Well, for a few minutes, we're going to have
one of those good heart -to -heart talks again.
I don't think that you will consider this a sermon.
Every once in a while, I just bring you a bit
of teaching. And this shall be one of those times.
Just as together, you and I study the Word of
God. I want to make a very definite statement
before I begin our little heart -to -heart talk
together today. And I pray that after I will
have left your home and you will have forgotten
everything else that I may have said, remember
this one statement. Any truth, no matter how
good, Regardless of how good that truth, if emphasized
to the exclusion of other truths of equal importance,
is practical error. Know that. You will remember
that over and over again in my teaching. I have
told you that one cannot take a verse of Scripture
out of its setting. and make a doctrine out of
it. You can't do it. That is why we have false
doctrine today. It's because somebody has come
along and has just taken out one verse of Scripture.
Do you want to know something? Do you know that
I can talk with you five minutes? You and I can
have a conversation together, say, for just five
minutes. You can take... one sentence that I
may have spoken in our conversation, just one.
You may repeat just the one statement that I
make, and somebody else will pick it up and it'll
sound awful. It can be so misconstrued that it
would put me in the wrong light entirely. It
wasn't what I meant at all. Yet, in quoting me,
In that one statement, it has only been a partial
truth. If you're going to quote me, then take
my entire conversation. Don't take just the one
statement that I make out of its setting and
quote me in that one statement. So it is with
the Word of God when you study the Bible. You
cannot take just one statement. You cannot take
just one verse of Scripture out of its setting
and make a doctrine out of it. You must take
the entire truth, that which precedes and that
which follows. You must keep it in its setting.
Therefore, remember, any truth, no matter how
good, if it's emphasized to the exclusion of
other truth of equal importance, is practical
error. I'm going to give an example. what I'm
talking about. Take the incident that happened
during the ministry of Jesus. It's recorded over
there in the ninth chapter of John. Here's a
blind man, a man who was born blind, and he's
standing there in the presence of Jesus. And
what did Jesus do? The scripture says, when he
had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, made
clay of the spittle, and he anointed the... eyes
of the blind man with the clay. Now, get a better
picture of it. Here's Jesus. Before him stands
the blind man. And Jesus stooped down, spat on
the ground, made clay of the spittle, and then
he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the
clay and said to him, now you go wash in the
pool of Siloam. Now, there's another instance.
When blind Bartimaeus, a beggar on the dusty
highway, he too blind, calling unto Jesus, Jesus
turned to him, did not make spittle or betlay,
did not, methinks, even touch his blinded eyes,
but just spoke. and said, Bartimaeus, receive
thy sight. And he received perfect vision. Now,
knowing human nature the way I do, I am quite
sure that there were those in the crowd, even
after the man had received his sight, said, did
the master spit on the ground? Did he make clay
of the spittle? Did he anoint your eyes with
the clay? No, the man said he didn't. He didn't
even touch me. They said you couldn't possibly
be healed. Why you can't possibly see? We don't
believe it. We don't believe that you can see
because you couldn't possibly have received your
healing if Jesus had not made clay of spittle
and anointed your eyes. And there they were.
Sure. Now watch something. In one instance, Jesus
anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay.
In another instance, he did not. Perhaps he did
not even touch the second man. And yet in both
instances, Both men received perfect sight. Now
follow me. We find that God gave the gift of
the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost and again
at the household of Cornelius without any human
agency whatsoever of the laying on of hands.
You read in the second chapter of Acts that marvelous
time when the Holy Ghost came upon the believers
in the upper room. Oh, sure you know. But watch
something. It does not say that there was the
laying on of hands and they received the Holy
Ghost. No, ma 'am. Go to the household of Cornelius.
Read it carefully. And you'll find that they
received the Holy Ghost. They were filled with
the Holy Spirit without any human agency of the
laying on of hands whatsoever. None. But at the
Great Samaritan Revival, as recorded over there
in the 8th chapter of Acts, and again at the...
Ephesus revival, as recorded in the 19th chapter
of Acts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the
filling of the Holy Spirit, was given by the
laying on of hands. Sure, it's there. Read it.
In the 8th chapter of Acts, the 17th verse, Then
laid they their hands on them, and they received,
the Holy Ghost. Knowing human nature, as I know
human nature today, I dare say there were some
who turned to others who had been filled with
the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost and said,
did anybody lay hands on you when you were filled
with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost?
And they said, no, nobody laid hands on me. The
Holy Ghost just came upon us. Then you didn't
receive the Holy Ghost. You were never filled
with the Holy Spirit. You go right back and you
have hands laid on you. Hands were laid on me
and I received the fullness of the Holy Ghost.
And you can't receive the fullness of the Holy
Ghost unless hands were laid upon you. Watch,
I repeat. Any truth, no matter how good, if it's
emphasized to the exclusion of other truth of
equal importance, is practical error. Watch something
now. Both blind men received their sight with
and without clay. The believers were filled with
the Holy Spirit with and without the laying on
of hands. Therefore, we find that 50 % of the
scripture speaks of laying on of hands in the
receiving of the Holy Ghost and 50 % without
human agency. For anyone to press either way
or be dogmatic either way or make it an issue
is guilty of error before God and man. Are you
following me? All right. Here we go now. Stay
with me a little longer. Acts 2 -4. What did
they do? Oh, beloved in that upper room, that
marvelous experience. There was no laying on
of hands. But you and I cannot doubt the fact
that those believers were wonderfully filled
with the Holy Spirit. And the scripture clearly
states that they spoke in an unknown tongue.
The Bible says so. And they did. Go to the household
of Cornelius in the 10th chapter of Acts. Read
it. It's there. The 44th verse, what happened?
Again, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Ghost came upon them and they did speak
in an unknown tongue. But watch something. Go
to Acts 4, the 31st verse. The believers were
filled with the Holy Spirit and you can find...
No scriptures saying that they spoke in an unknown
tongue. Go to the 8th chapter back. There it
is. Read it. Read that account. It speaks of
the believers again being filled with the Holy
Spirit. But you can find nothing that says that
they spoke in an unknown tongue. Go further.
Go to the 9th chapter back. What do you find
in the 9th chapter back? Paul being filled with
the Spirit, that marvelous spiritual giant. Oh,
who can doubt the fact that Paul was not filled
with the Holy Spirit? He was. But what does the
Scripture say? Let me read it. And Ananias went
his way and entered into the house, and putting
his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord,
even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way
as thou comest, hath sent me that thou mightest
receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy
Ghost. And no theologian in the whole world can
prove that at that time time when Paul was filled
with the Holy Ghost that he spoke in an unknown
tongue. But beloved, watch it. On the day of
Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Ghost
with tongues. In the household of Cornelius they
were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke in
tongues. At that great Samaritan Revival. They
were filled with the Holy Ghost. But there's
no record that they spoke in an unknown tongue.
Oh, look at Ephesus. Read it. Read it when the
power of the Holy Ghost came upon them. No tongues.
But they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
Remember. For anyone to press either way or make
it an issue is guilty of error before God and
man. And I repeat, and I pray that you shall
never forget it, that any truth, no matter how
good that truth, if that truth is emphasized
to the exclusion of other truth of equal importance.
It's error. And it's just like that. Let me just
give you a little illustration and I'll show
you how it's very easy to become confused and
get off into error. I was tempted to fall into
another error of similar character. Oh, I was
so hungry to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I read the testimony of John Wesley. I read the
life of Charles Finney. I've read books on Dwight
Lyman Moody and others. And I noted that after
they were filled with the Spirit, they obtained
the gift of an evangelist. Do you want to know
something? I was tempted to think that anyone
filled... with the Spirit would receive the gift
of an evangelist. But I thought in error. I was
wrong. It is just as unscriptural to say that
everyone will speak in an unknown tongue when
he receives the fullness of the Holy Spirit as
to say that Everyone receives the gift of an
evangelist when he is filled with the Spirit.
Know that. Be careful about being dogmatic about
some things that are not the complete truth.
I appreciate something very much. Aletheia wrote
a very beautiful letter the other day. And these
are her closing words. She's a very intelligent,
a very marvelous woman. I quote from her letter.
With or without speaking in tongues. With or
without the laying on of hands. The church surely
needs the mighty Holy Ghost today. And it's just
like that. What you and I need today, what the
church needs today, is the power and the person
of the Holy Spirit. Power for service, and ye
shall receive power. With or without speaking
in the non -tongue, with or without the laying
on of hands, ye shall receive power. After that,
the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall
be witnesses. Make the word real to hearts, I
pray for Jesus' sake. Amen.