{"id":18483,"date":"2018-06-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-024-spiritual-gifts-4\/"},"modified":"2018-06-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-03T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-024-spiritual-gifts-4","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-024-spiritual-gifts-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 024: Spiritual Gifts 4"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[103],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18483","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-hebrews","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 024: Spiritual Gifts 4","sermon_date":"20180603","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5811,"sermon_slides":5810,"sermon_mp3":5813,"sermon_id":"63181034118","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":103,"chapter_and_verse":"2:3-4","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 24\n\nSpiritual Gifts 4\n\n6-3-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 23\n\nFather, I thank You for this morning, I thank You for today, and thank You for the opportunity to fellowship with Your people and to study Your Word.\u00a0 And I do ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would be with us today as we fellowship, as we take communion together and as we study Your Word.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!\n\nDo you still have a copy of this little Daniel test.\u00a0 Does anybody need one?\u00a0 [Someone says something, can\u2019t hear]\u00a0 Your online listeners have asked for it.\u00a0 We can accommodate them, I think, probably not this very second.\u00a0 But if you need this just put your hand up and we\u2019ll get it to you.\u00a0 And then if you need the test keep your hand up and Jim will hand you the test.\u00a0 You say this is a weird church, they give out tests, what\u2019s the matter with you guys.\u00a0 Well, we spent 62 lessons going through Daniel so I was afraid some cobwebs developed in your minds, I know some developed in my mind.\u00a0 And this little test is just a way, it\u2019s not a stump you kind of test, it\u2019s just a way to re-familiarize yourself with the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 And since we\u2019re leaving the Book of Daniel and moving into the Book of Revelation I wanted to give you this test and kind of go over it with you before the issue got stale and we got too far away from it.\n\nThere should be a page that says Match the Events With the Chapter They\u2019re Found In.\u00a0 You guys see that?\u00a0 So let\u2019s go through this.\u00a0 So what you\u2019re basically doing here is being tested on the different chapters of the book.\u00a0 How many chapters are in Daniel, anybody remember?\u00a0 Twelve.\u00a0 And do you know the big idea of each chapter?\u00a0 Number 1, The Times of the Gentiles Portrayed As a Giant Statue.\u00a0 Does anybody remember what chapter that\u2019s in?\u00a0 Chapter 2.\u00a0 So the answer would be B.\u00a0 Number 2, Daniel refuses to eat the King\u2019s food.\u00a0 Anybody remember what chapter that\u2019s in?\u00a0 Chapter 1, so the answer would be A.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of a big deal because Daniel took a stand for God in His teens.\u00a0 He was just 16 years old when he did that and so that sort of set the parameters for his whole life, a life without compromise.\u00a0 So this is a message we need to send to our young people because they think, just like we used to think, that we can go out and sow a few wild oats and get right with God later.\u00a0 But what you see with Daniel is he took a stand when he was young and that dictated the direction of his life when he was into his old age.\n\nNumber three, Media-Persia conquers Babylon, anybody remember what chapter that\u2019s in?\u00a0 Chapter 5, so the answer is E, that\u2019s the big political C-change that happens in the book.\u00a0 Number 4, the ram and the goat vision, that\u2019s the vision of Persia and Greece.\u00a0 Anybody remember the chapter that\u2019s in?\u00a0 Chapter 8, so the answer to that would be H.\u00a0 Now hopefully you guys know about the Seventy Weeks Prophecy because we spent about seventy weeks in that prophecy.\u00a0 That\u2019s the same as seventy sevens and what chapter is that in?\u00a0 Nine, so the answer would be I.\n\nGod humbles Nebuchadnezzar, He turned him into an insane man for seven years and that would be Daniel 4, so the answer is D.\u00a0 And then remember chapters 2-7 is organized as a literary pattern called a chiasm, so the outer edges of the chiasm are 2 and 7.\u00a0 So the times of the Gentiles are portrayed as a giant statue, Daniel2.\u00a0 Then they\u2019re portrayed as four ferocious beasts, what chapter is that in?\u00a0 Seven, so the answer would be G.\u00a0 And then the story of Daniel that most of us instinctively know from being little kids at Sunday School, Daniel in the lion\u2019s den, what chapter is that in?\u00a0 Chapter 6, so the answer is F.\u00a0 Number nine, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and the fiery furnace, chapter 3 so that would be C.\u00a0 The two resurrections, remember that?\u00a0 Chapter 12, so the answer would be L.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s a section of the Book of Daniel that gives you all those prophecies about the intertestamental time period between the end of Malachi and the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew\u2019s Gospel and where do we find all of those?\u00a0 Daniel, chapter 11 so the answer is K.\u00a0 And then the great spiritual warfare chapter, where the veil is pulled back and we can see spiritual warfare. Where does that happen?\u00a0 Ten, so the answer would be J.\u00a0 So the answers are real quick, B-A-E-H-I-D-G-F-C-L-K-J.\n\nThen you flip the page over and you have section 2 and this is also matching.\u00a0 And here you\u2019re just matching a concept sort of with a name.\u00a0 So the first question is: The non-inspired historical books that record historical events that took place in the intertestamental period, how do we know that Daniel\u2019s prophecies were fulfilled during that time period?\u00a0 Well, we have some books, anybody know the name of those books.\u00a0 1 and 2 Maccabees which we as Protestants don\u2019t accept as inspired but we believe that they do contain valid history in them, kind of like the writings of Josephus.\u00a0 So the right answer would be D for number 1.\n\nAnd then you\u2019ve got two chapters that sort of line up with each other in the literary pattern called a chiasm, that both highlight civil disobedience.\u00a0 Anybody know those two chapters?\u00a0 The answer is T, chapters 3 and 6.\u00a0 So apparently as a Christian it\u2019s appropriate to tell the government no under certain circumstances.\u00a0 So we\u2019re to have to think about that, aren\u2019t we, as believers, as the judicial system is sort of coming in and, you know, threatening conservative organizations and churches if they don\u2019t\u2026 you know, marry same sex couples, so probably one of the first times in my lifetime as an American Daniel 3 and 6 we have to really think about, when is it appropriate to say no to the government?\u00a0 So those chapters give us light on that.\n\nWhen do the liberals date the Book of Daniel?\u00a0 The second century, so the answer would be J.\u00a0 And then you have these three names, \u00a0Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, now are those their real names?\u00a0 No, those are their Babylonian names.\u00a0 So when Nebuchadnezzar took these guys into captivity he basically said I own you and he gave them four different names.\u00a0 And in the Bible when you name something it\u2019s a mark of ownership.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Adam was allowed to name the various animals.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s a big deal that Nebuchadnezzar did there.\u00a0 So the answer would be what?\u00a0 M, the Babylonian names of our four heroes in the Book of Daniel.\n\nThen you have the belly and thighs of bronze, remember the giant statue of Daniel 2. What empire was the belly and thighs of bronze be?\u00a0\u00a0 The empire of Greece, so the answer would be G.\u00a0 Then you have Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.\n\nNumber 6, an angel who interprets the vision in Daniel 8 and delivered the vision in chapter 9, who was that?\u00a0 That\u2019s our youth pastor, Gabriel\u2026 the angel Gabriel, sorry.\n\nAnd that takes us to 7, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, that\u2019s not their Babylonian names but their Hebrew names, so the answer would be A.\u00a0 And by the way, we looked at the fact that all of those names in Hebrew reflect the glory of God in some way.\u00a0 So they obviously had godly parents that mentored them and discipled them at home.\n\nNow when do we, as conservatives date the Book of Daniel, number eight, which century?\u00a0 The sixth century B.C. so the answer would be E.\n\nAnd then we have the desecration of the temple during the intertestamental period.\u00a0 Who did that?\u00a0 It depends on which syllable gets the emphasis, I call it Antiochus Epiphanes, if you want to call him Antiochus that\u2019s fine, or Epiphanies, that\u2019s fine, or Epiphanius, whatever but he\u2019s sort of a prototype of which coming figure?\u00a0 The antichrist.\u00a0 So what Solomon said, \u201cWhat has been will be again.\u201d\n\nAnd then that takes us to ten, right, the chest and arms of silver and the giant statue of Daniel 2 represent which empire?\u00a0 Medo-Persia so the answer would be B.\n\nAnd then we have that phenomenal Jewish holiday that\u2019s celebrated around the same time we celebrate Christmas commemorating the liberation and rededication of the temple from Antiochus\u2019 rule.\u00a0 And the answer would be what? Hanukkah.\u00a0 So you might have Jewish friends and neighbors and wondering what it is they\u2019re celebrating during Hanukkah and basically that\u2019s what they\u2019re celebrating, although a lot of them don\u2019t know their history so they do it culturally.\u00a0 But it\u2019s neat to know that that holiday has a basis in the Bible.\n\nAnd then you come to number twelve and you have the king who conquered Babylon.\u00a0 Who was that King.\u00a0 I call him Darius so the answer would be C.\u00a0 That conquest takes place in Daniel 5 you\u2019ll remember, that\u2019s the famous handwriting on the wall chapter.\n\nThen you have number thirteen, the legs of iron and the terrifying beast is which empire? Rome, so the correct answer would be S.\n\nNumber fourteen, the Babylonian king who was featured in Daniel chapters 1-4, who\u2019s that?\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar and so the answer would be L.\n\nThe handwriting on the wall, what was written on that wall?\u00a0 Mene mene tekel upharasin<\/em>, which basically means weighed, weighed, numbered and divided.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what was written on the wall by a mysterious hand, the hand of God, showing Belteshazzar that his days were up because he had taken the holy vessels from the temple and used them as a drunken bash and once he did that it was over for him and he died that night and the empire of Babylon would cease to exist that night.\u00a0 So the answer would be W for fifteen.\n\nNumber sixteen, Alexander the Great had four generals, that\u2019s how his empire was divided, so that would be Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy and Seleucus so the answer would be O.\u00a0 And so Daniel saw in Daniel 8 Alexander\u2019s empire divided into four and it\u2019s just amazing how accurate Daniel\u2019s prophecies were.\n\nThis takes us to number seventeen, he will desecrate the temple during the future tribulation period and that would be who? Antichrist, so the answer would be U.\n\nAnd then a title that Jesus frequently claimed for Himself is the Son of Man, so that would be Q.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s going on in Daniel 7, when the Son of Man returns, that\u2019s Jesus, and establishes His kingdom on the earth.\n\nAnd then that takes us to number nineteen, the period when no Davidic king is on the throne and the empire, or the nation of Israel rather, is being trampled down by various Gentile powers. What do we call that time period?\u00a0 The times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 And so the answer to that would be R.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find Jesus Himself using that expression, \u201ctimes of the Gentiles\u201d in Luke 21:24.\u00a0 [Luke 21:24, \u201cand they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.\u201d]\n\nBy the way, are the times of the Gentiles over?\u00a0 No, we\u2019re still in them right now.\u00a0 It\u2019s just God is working through the church in the midst of all of that but even though the Jews have been regathered to their land and Donald Trump has moved the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and all of that is very exciting to think about we shouldn\u2019t think the times of the Gentiles are over.\u00a0 The times of the Gentiles will go right on through the second advent at the end of the tribulation.\n\nAnd then we have the first King of Greece, and who was that?\u00a0 Alexander the Great, so the answer is V.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of a big deal because why is it that when you close the pages of the Old Testament, the Bible is written in Hebrew, and when you open the pages of the New Testament the Bible is written in Greek.\u00a0 I mean, why the language change? Well, you can thank an individual for that named Alexander the Great who brought in the Greek language, probably about 300 years before the time of Christ.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a big deal because, as you may know, the Greek language is one of the fullest dialects known to man.\u00a0 We have one word for love in English, I think there\u2019s at least four words for love in Greek.\u00a0 And so God was putting the right language in place, the deepest richest language, one of them, that we know of to record the revelation of His Son.\u00a0 So God uses bad instruments for His purposes, isn\u2019t that great!\u00a0 So the answer to 20 is B.\n\nTwenty one, the Babylonian king who saw the handwriting on the wall, who was that?\u00a0 Belshazzar, so the answer is I, not to be confused with Belteshazzar who was Daniel\u2019s Babylonian name.\n\nAnd then you have number twenty-two, a preincarnate appearance of Christ, Jesus may have made a guest appearance in Daniel 3, as the angel of the Lord.\u00a0 And there are many examples of this in the Old Testament where an angel of the Lord appears and it\u2019s obvious it\u2019s not just an ordinary angel because folks are worshipping the angel, as in John 5.\u00a0 As we\u2019re going to see today in the Book of Revelation a true angel will not receive worship.\u00a0 So if Jesus makes these guest appearances what do we call those?\u00a0 Theophanies or maybe Christophanies, Jesus before the manger. \u00a0And so the correct answer to 22 is N and that just leaves one more, right?\n\nThe head of gold in the statue represented who?\u00a0 Babylon, so the answer is F.\u00a0 So the answers are: D. T. J. M. G. P.A.E. H. B. K. C. S. L. W. O. U. Q. R. B. I. N. F.\u00a0 Make sure you put your name on it and turn it in and we\u2019ll have to decide if you\u2019re going to stay a member of Sugar Land Bible Church\u2026. NO, this is just for your own fun.\u00a0 Having said all that, I hope you enjoyed that; was that helpful\u2026 okay, good.\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Hebrews, chapter 2, verses 3-4, and we\u2019re going to spend the rest of our Sunday School class this morning dealing with the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 I think we\u2019re on Lesson four on Ecclesiology.\u00a0 Ecclesiology is the study of the church, what does the Bible reveal about the church.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:3, \u201chow will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, [4] God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.\u201d]\n\nAnd so we\u2019ve looked at many, many issues and we\u2019re there on Roman numeral VII where we\u2019re talking about the purposes of the church.\u00a0 The church, as we have studied, has three purposes, to glorify God, to edify the saints and to fulfill the great commission.\u00a0 How does the church edify the saints or build them up?\u00a0 Through the perpetual teaching of the Word of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the church\u2019s very high callings.\u00a0 And so this is why God, according to Ephesians 4, 2 Timothy 3, has put spiritual gifts into the church, to edify the saints or build them up.\u00a0 So one of the purposes of the church is to teach the Bible in such a way that people can understand it, people can apply it to their lives and as that happens they are being prepared for their ministry.\u00a0 So when I say \u201ctheir ministry\u201d you start to see that the church does not just have a minister but the church has within it ministers, all of us in some way, shape or form are called into the ministry to do something.\u00a0 We have different walks, some do it fulltime, some do it part time, but we\u2019re all called to the ministry.\n\nAnd how do you know what your ministry is?\u00a0 You know what your ministry is by the spiritual gift and\/or gifts that God has given you.\u00a0 So this gets into a subject called pneumatology, the doctrine of the Spirit, but I decided to cover this under ecclesiology since spiritual gifts are so important for the development and the growth and the maturity of the local church.\u00a0 So we\u2019re doing sort of an excursus, if you will on the doctrine of spiritual gifts.\n\nSo as we look at this we\u2019re trying to ask and answer four questions.\u00a0 Number one, what are some general observations about spiritual gifts?\u00a0 And I believe I gave you nineteen basic observations about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 And then I had to, and I hate to do it because whenever I do this it divides Christians, but I felt like it was something that had to be addressed, you get into the second question, are all the spiritual gifts for today.\u00a0 So what we did as we looked at are all the spiritual gifts for today is we made some sort of preliminary thoughts about that and I tried to explain that this issue of are all the spiritual gifts for today, this is an important issue, I don\u2019t mean to under sell its significance, but at the same time I don\u2019t think this should be an issue that divides the body of Christ the way it has, because when you look at our charismatic brothers and sisters in Christ who believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit are for today, what you\u2019ll discover is that they have the same beliefs we do probably on 99% of things.\u00a0 So we need to sort of keep that in mind; there\u2019s a lot more that brings\u00a0 us together than what divides us\n\nHowever, the issue of are all the gifts of the Spirit for today is significant because that sort of dictates what kind of church you\u2019re going to have.\u00a0 So if you wanted to go through your Bible and you wanted to figure out what sections of the Bible deal with the issues of spiritual gifts you just memorize the pneumonic device, 12\/12\/4\/4, that stands for Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 4, Ephesians 4 and that will take you to all the chapters in the Bible where the spiritual gifts are outlined.\u00a0 And by my count there are about twenty-two spiritual gifts specifically mentioned in the Bible, six of which are disputed in terms of whether they are in practice today.\u00a0 That\u2019s the big elephant in the room because when you go through those chapters you\u2019re going to see these, along with sixteen other gifts, these gifts.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to see the gift of apostle, prophet, worker of miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues and the gift of healing.\n\nWithin the evangelical body of Christ there are two schools of thought on those six gifts.\u00a0 You have what are called charismatics, sometimes they\u2019re called continuationists, and their basic belief is that every single gift you see in the New Testament is fully operational today, including apostle and prophet and something called tongues and other things like that.\u00a0 You have another school of thought called cessationists and I really don\u2019t like the word cessation because it makes us sound like we don\u2019t believe God is doing anything; I like the title selective cessationists; we believe in the Holy Spirit, we believe God is at work, however, those six gifts that I just mentioned are not in operation today.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the lines of demarcation.\n\nAnd we\u2019ve talked one of the things we do at our church is we don\u2019t hide the doctrinal statement from people.\u00a0 You go to a lot of churches today and you have to literally strangle someone to get a doctrinal statement.\u00a0 We\u2019re very up front about what we believe and what we teach.\u00a0 We believe that you could become a member of our church and not agree with us on certain issues, however, when we teach we teach from an angle, a theological angle and the theological angle that we teach from is there were temporary spiritual gifts very active in the first century which are no longer in operation.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve read our position statement number seven where we talk about.\u00a0 Does this sound familiar, we did this a couple of weeks ago didn\u2019t we?\n\nSo one of the things you get accused of if you move in the direction of selective sensationalism is you get accused of being arbitrary.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been accused of that by people, oh, well, you just go through the Bible and you like that gift so you keep it, I mean, you like the gift of pastor-teacher because that\u2019s the one you have so you get to keep that one, but the gift of prophet, you just put an X through it or a red line through it.\u00a0 And so people think we go through the Bible and say that one stays, that one goes, that one stays, that one goes.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a lot more complicated than that.\n\nAnd part of coming out correctly, I believe, on this issue of spiritual gifts is understanding the spiritual gifts are divided into four different categories.\u00a0 The first category is the foundational gifts and what I mean by that is the gifts of apostle and prophet.\u00a0 And when you go over to Ephesians 2:20 this is what the Apostle Paul says; \u201chaving been built\u201d that is the church, \u201con the\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cthe foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.\u201d\n\nSo in a construction project how many times do you lay a foundation?\u00a0 You lay it one time at the beginning and you build on that foundation.\u00a0 So the foundation of the church was laid two thousand years ago through the apostles and prophets. Today the Lord is not relaying the foundation.\u00a0 I believe as close as we\u2019re getting to the end of the age it seems to me like the Lord is not even building walls any more but He\u2019s putting on the roof.\n\nSo we believe that these two gifts, apostles and prophets, are foundational gifts.\u00a0 Speaking about apostles just for a minute, we saw in Acts 1:21-25 that \u201capostle\u201d has a technical definition.\u00a0 It\u2019s someone who has been a witness to the resurrection of Jesus and the earthly ministry of Christ. \u00a0[Acts 1:21-25, \u201cTherefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us\u2014 [22] beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us\u2014one of these must<\/em> become a witness with us of His resurrection.\u201d [23] So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. [24] And they prayed and said, \u2018You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen [25] to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.\u201d]\n\nSo when someone today tells me they are an apostle, as I like to say, give you your diet and exercise tips because you look really good for\u00a0 your age because you ought to be about two thousand\u00a0 years old by now.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll see that technical definition in Acts 1 where the disciples, the apostles, laid out a standard or a criteria, criterion, for replacing Judas who had committed suicide, with another apostle and they picked Matthias, not because Matthias won a popularity contest but he met the standard of an apostle.\n\nAnd the Apostle Paul lays out the standard for an apostle when he says, \u201cAm I not an apostle?\u00a0 Have I not seen our Lord Jesus Christ?\u201d\u00a0 Paul, the apostle, is the abnormal one in the group because he was not there during the earthly ministry of Christ, as the others were but he was converted in a vision in Acts chapter 9.\u00a0 And the Lord did appear to him, and you\u2019ll notice what Paul says about that; he calls himself untimely born, born out of due season.\u00a0 And then he uses the expression I\u2019m the last one. So when you say Paul was converted because of a vision he had then the guy down the street that runs the gas station could say he\u2019s an apostle too because he had a vision.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t really work because Paul says he\u2019s the last, so he was abnormally inducted in and\u00a0 you\u2019ll see his conversion in Acts 9.\u00a0 After Paul there are no more apostles; he\u2019s the last.\n\nAnd then prophets also is a foundational gift that began to disappear because to get a book included in the New Testament it had to have been written either by an apostle or someone who knew an apostle.\u00a0 So when you go through the twenty-seven New Testament books we have what you\u2019ll see is every single one of them was written by one of the apostles, or it could be corroborated by somebody who knew one of the apostles.\u00a0 For example, Mark was not one of the original apostles but Mark gives credence, is given credence through his relationship to Peter, etc.\n\nSo what does that mean?\u00a0 It means if all the apostles are dead and gone you can\u2019t have new books of the New Testament being written today.\u00a0 And so in that sense the gift of prophecy, the ability to receive something from God that\u2019s of such a high caliber that you would actually include it in the Bible, that gift is over.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the apostles are gone and if someone is writing new books of the Bible today how could the apostles now dead give credence to something that Joe Blow just wrote?\u00a0 So if you follow my logic and the end of the spiritual gift of apostle then by definition the gift of prophecy has to cease as well.\u00a0 So that would take care of the foundational gifts.\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s obviously two gifts (the way we think) that can\u2019t be in existence today because they are specifically called, in Ephesians 2:20, foundational gifts.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:20, \u201chaving been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.<\/em>\u201d]\n\nNow there is a second set of gifts called confirmatory gifts and those three gifts are workers of miracles, tongues and healing.\u00a0 Now don\u2019t\u00a0 hit the panic button yet, even though I\u2019m going to make the case that the gift of healing has past that is not to say that we don\u2019t believe God heals today.\u00a0 There\u2019s a big difference between healing and healers.\u00a0 When the spiritual gift of healing was in existence it was a gift given to a person where they could lay hands on somebody, and I\u2019ll show you some examples of it in operation, and they were healed immediately, no questions asked.\u00a0 The healing was of such a profound consequence that even the enemies of Christianity couldn\u2019t deny it.\n\nSo does God work like that today?\u00a0 Not really. What we do as elders is we lay hands on people, sometimes we anoint the head with oil if they\u2019re sick, and we leave the healing in God\u2019s hands.\u00a0 If God is going to heal this person we ask that he will, that\u2019s between them and the Lord.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something automatic, sometimes it\u2019s not something even instantaneous, sometimes it\u2019s gradual.\u00a0 And sometimes God can even\u00a0 use a physician and a hospital to fix somebody.\u00a0 We pray for that all the time, you know, someone is going into a surgery, \u2018Lord, we ask that You would guide the hands of the skilled doctor,\u201d etc.\u00a0 So don\u2019t hit the panic button, we\u2019re not saying God doesn\u2019t heal today.\u00a0 What we\u2019re dealing with here is the gift of healing.\n\nSo there are three gifts, workers of miracles, tongues and healing that we would call confirmatory gifts.\u00a0 One of the things to get clear on is this: miracles are not happening over and over and over again in the Bible.\u00a0 We think they are because the Bible is very selective history.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t tell you everything that happened in Bible history.\u00a0 It highlights the high points, including times when God is doing miracles.\u00a0 However, when you actually look at the Bible chronologically and look at the whole plan of redemptive history miracles actually are somewhat rare.\u00a0 They don\u2019t occur over and over again.\u00a0 And they have a tendency to cluster around eras when God is doing something brand new.\u00a0 Therefore, since God is doing something new how would the people know it was God?\u00a0 For example, they had been under the Law for 1500 years and all of a sudden this guy named Jesus shows up and He offers the kingdom to the nation of Israel, how in the world would anybody know that this guy, Jesus, who\u2019s doing something different, other than what the Jews had known for 1500 years, how would they know He\u2019s authentic?\u00a0 God testified to it through various signs and miracles.\n\nSo here are the six eras in the Bible where miracles cluster around those eras.\u00a0 The first one is the time of Moses, lots of miracles during that time.\u00a0 You don\u2019t really have a lot of miracles going back to patriarchal days, although there are some.\u00a0 But once you get to the Mosaic time period miracles really kick into high gear.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God is doing something totally new.\u00a0 He\u2019s offering the nation of Israel the Mosaic Law for starters.\n\nNumber two, you\u2019ll see miracles cluster around the time period of Joshua, just after the time of Moses, one generation later.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God is doing something new, He is bringing the nation of Israel into the Promised Land.\u00a0 And then after Joshua\u2019s day miracles sort of disappear, you don\u2019t see a lot of miracles taking place until the time period of Elijah and Elisha, suddenly miracles start to kick up into high gear again.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got floating axe heads and calling fire down from heaven and\u00a0 you\u2019ve got shutting up the heavens so that it won\u2019t rain for three and a half years and miracles really start to kick in again.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Because God is doing something new, He\u2019s raising up a brand new office called the prophet, because we already have the office of King, right?\u00a0 Who was the first king of the nation of Israel?\u00a0 Saul, and then David and then Solomon then the kingdom is divided and you have northern kings and southern kings.\u00a0 And so these kings would have a tendency to run off the rails, right?\u00a0 And reject the Mosaic Covenant, reject the Mosaic Law, so the function of a prophet was to call the wayward king back to the Mosaic Law.\n\nSo how would anybody know that these prophets are of God?\u00a0 Well, God testified to these prophets, particularly Elijah and Elisha where this ministry of prophet started with various signs and wonders.\u00a0 And then after the time period of Elijah and Elisha miracles sort of disappeared again and they really don\u2019t show up again until Jesus Christ\u2026 Jesus performs many, many miracles.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Because something new is happening.\u00a0 Jesus is offering the kingdom to the nation of Israel on a silver platter.\n\nAnd then the next major era of Bible history where miracles really come into focus is not long after, through the apostles, Peter, Paul, James, all these guys, and they\u2019re performing miracles left and right in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 Now why are miracles clustering around that time period?\u00a0 Because God is doing something new. What\u2019s He starting?\u00a0 A new man that we\u2019re in today called the church.\u00a0 And we believe that after the apostolic era ended these miracles sort of petered out; I\u2019ll give you some examples where they petered out, even in Paul\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 And the next signs and wonders movement on the horizon is the tribulation period and the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 You go into the Book of Revelation, which we\u2019re starting on this morning, why are there so many miracles clustering around that time period?\u00a0 Because once again God is doing something brand new; He is evicting Satan from this earth and he is establishing His own kingdom on the earth.\n\nAnd one of the things that\u2019s interesting is during that time period Satan is going to do his own miracle; he brings in a counterfeit signs and wonders movement.\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:9 talks about it, the counterfeit signs and wonders. [2 Thessalonians 2:9, \u201cthat is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,\u201d]\n\nSo this is sort of what has always disturbed me about so many Christians looking for a signs and wonders movement and their whole denominations that I could mention by name, I won\u2019t mention them but their primary emphasis is on a signs and wonders movement, a coming signs and wonders movement.\u00a0 And I\u2019m always thinking well, the next signs and wonders movement that I know of is through the antichrist, through counterfeit signs and wonders.\u00a0 So I mean, are these people getting ready for the antichrist without knowing it?\u00a0 Anyway, that\u2019s just something to think about.\n\nBut notice that in the Bible miracles cluster around certain eras. There\u2019s not\u2026 you don\u2019t have non-stop miracles taking place throughout biblical history.\u00a0 And we believe in that pattern, following the apostles and the foundation of the age of the church miracles primarily, at least the ones we read about in Scripture, although God can heal today and does, and God is providential and interferes in the affairs of men, if that weren\u2019t true why pray.\u00a0 But miracles of the nature that we see in the New Testament sort of ceased and will not reestablish themselves until the events of the tribulation period and the millennial kingdom.\n\nSo that\u2019s one of the main reasons why we are selective cessationists; we\u2019re just looking at that pattern.\u00a0 And I should say this, that even though miracles were very dominant in the days of Elijah and Elisha there were a lot of people that did not get healing during that time period.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Luke 4:25-27 is about.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus says, \u201c\u201cBut I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; [26] and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land<\/em> of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.\u00a0 [27] And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.\u201d\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that this was at the height of miracles authenticating the office of prophet.\u00a0 And we shouldn\u2019t even overstate what was happening there, there were many people that were bypassed by the Lord in terms of a miracle.\u00a0 So there were many widows that needed healing and God only focused on one widow.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 This is at the height of miracles.\u00a0 There were many lepers in Israel during the days of Elisha but God only focused on one leper, Naaman, and that\u2019s Christ\u2019s point.\u00a0 Even at the height of miracles we shouldn\u2019t think that there were miracles for everybody.\u00a0 That\u2019s overstating what the Bible actually teaches.\n\nAnd this is why I had you open up to Hebrews 2:3-4.\u00a0 So we\u2019re forty-five minutes into this and we\u2019re finally getting to the verse, okay!\u00a0 Hebrews, the author says, \u201chow will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed\u201d you should underline the word \u201cconfirmed\u201d if you\u2019re an underliner in\u00a0 your Bible, \u201cit was confirmed to us by those who heard, [4] \u00a0<\/sup>God also testifying\u201d and\u00a0 you should underline the word testifying, \u201cGod also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.\u201d\n\nSo what is being revealed here is a trajectory that goes from the Lord to those who heard.\u00a0 Now who would \u201cthose who heard\u201d be?\u00a0 That would be the apostles, right?\u00a0 So it goes from the Lord to \u201cthose who heard\u201d and then the author of Hebrews says it came to us, now who would the \u201cus\u201d be?\u00a0 It would be the generation of individuals that weren\u2019t necessarily apostles that received apostolic teaching.\n\nAnd as it traveled, \u00a0this new revelation, as it traveled from the apostles to us what did God do?\u00a0 How would I ever know that information coming from the apostles to us, if you\u2019re that generation, was true?\u00a0 God confirmed it and testified to it through what?\u00a0 Signs and wonders and miracles.\u00a0 So that is a very important passage because it reveals why God, in many cases in the first century did miracles; the miracles had the primary emphasis of confirming and testifying the truth of what the apostles were passing on.\n\nNow this verse, let me back up for a second, following this event, these events, we generally believe that miracles, the way they\u2019re described in the first century, ceased.\u00a0 But the verse that people will use is John 14:12. \u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019re in the charismatic environment there\u2019s no doubt that at some point someone will bring up John 14:12.\u00a0 John 14:12 Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.\u201d\u00a0 So your typical charismatic or Pentecostal will look at that verse and say well there it is, right there in the Bible, how can you say that miracles of Christ have ceased selectively when my Bible says I\u2019m supposed to do greater works and greater miracles than Jesus Himself did?\n\nWell, I would say this in response.\u00a0 John 14:12 is really not talking about miracles; I think what it\u2019s talking about is conversions and you look at the ministry of Jesus how many converts did Jesus really have?\u00a0 How many disciples did He have?\u00a0 You know, Jesus preached a sermon in John 6 and emptied the building, basically.\u00a0 I mean, everybody just wanted to go home after the things he talked about were so offensive and He finally turns to His disciples and He says well, you don\u2019t want to leave too do\u00a0 you?\u00a0 And I love Peter\u2019s answer, where else are we going to go, You\u2019re like the only show in town, You\u2019re the only one that can do things like this.\n\nAnd then Jesus says well that\u2019s great that the twelve have followed Me but really it\u2019s not twelve, it\u2019s going to be eleven because one of you is a devil, and he\u2019s referring there to who?\u00a0 Judas!\u00a0 So He really doesn\u2019t have this throng of conversions and this throng of this huge crowd.\u00a0 I mean what you see in the life of Christ is a lot of people gravitate towards Him for superficial reason.\u00a0 I think some of them were authentically saved but when He began to talk about discipleship suddenly his group kind of disappeared.\n\nNow compare that to the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost.\u00a0 I mean, this is the guy that walked out on the water and sunk, this is the guy that betrayed the Lord three times.\u00a0 This is the guy that Jesus said to Him \u201cget behind Me Satan.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s endued with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He preaches one sermon on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2, how many converts does he have?\u00a0 Three thousand. Wow!\u00a0 And beyond that\u2026 and by the way, look at how many converts we have today worldwide in Christianity?\u00a0 We don\u2019t have twelve, we have a global movement around the world called the church of Jesus Christ or the body of Christ and so in the sense of numerical conversions there\u2019s no doubt that we are doing greater works than Christ.\u00a0 Of course, we\u2019re not doing these things through human power but through the Spirit\u2019s enablement.\n\nBeyond that, when you look at the ministry of Jesus Christ the whole ministry of Jesus Christ takes place within the confines of the nation of Israel, a very narrow strip of real estate.\u00a0 You get into the Book of Acts and the church is going where?\u00a0 Southern Galatia, Asia, Europe, ultimately to Rome, and here we are in the twenty-first century on a completely different continent.\u00a0 That\u2019s what He means by the greater works; He\u2019s not talking about miracles, He\u2019s talking about number 1 quantity of authentic conversions, and number 2 he\u2019s talking about how His message, which during His life as confined to Israel, would go outside of the borders of Israel and all the way around the world.\u00a0 And certainly this has happened in the last two thousand years.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t think John 14:12 necessarily means that we\u2019re going to do miracles of a greater capacity than Christ did.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s a passage that\u2019s ripped out of context by a lot of people.\n\nSo let\u2019s take a look at some of these disputed gifts.\u00a0 There are three that I would call sign gifts: workers of miracles, something called tongues, and I think \u201ctongues\u201d is a lousy translation, it ought to be called \u201clanguages.\u201d\u00a0 And then the gift of healing or healings.\u00a0 What is signs and wonders?\u00a0 What is workers or miracles?\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re told what that was about.\u00a0 As the message traveled from the Lord to the apostles to the generation that heard the apostles the message was confirmed at the foundational stage of the church through various miracles and signs and wonders.\u00a0 And so there were those in the first century that had the ability, under the power of the Holy Spirit, to perform signs and wonders.\u00a0 And signs and wonders is a sign of who?\u00a0 An apostle.\n\nThe signs and wonders that I\u2019m talking about here that you find communicated in the pages of the New Testament is a sign gift, a confirmatory gift at the inauguration of God doing something brand new and that was a gift specifically given to an apostle.\u00a0 Paul says so in 2 Corinthians 12:12.\u00a0 \u201cThe signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles.\u201d\u00a0 And Paul said those specific gifts of \u201cwonders\u201d and \u201csigns\u201d and \u201cmiracles\u201d God gave to confirm the message of the apostles, including Paul\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 Otherwise how would you know back in the first century if what they were saying was true.\u00a0 They were reversing course, they were offering something brand new that had never been offered.\u00a0 So God authenticated it through a sign gift called \u201cworkers of miracles.\u201d\n\n[1 Corinthians 12:28, \u201cAnd God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various<\/em> kinds of tongues.\u00a0 [29] All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of<\/em> miracles, are they?\u201d]\n\nAnd you\u2019ll\u00a0 see in the Book of Acts when you look at signs and wonders you\u2019ll see it always comes from an apostle.\u00a0 It mentions apostles, it mentions wonders, that\u2019s the spiritual gift we\u2019re talking about.\u00a0 And you see the word \u201csigns\u201d there in Acts 2:43?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEveryone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.\u201d\u00a0 You see how \u201cwonders\u201d is connected with apostle as a sign gift?\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to connect all three words together.\u00a0 You see the same thing in Acts 4:30, it says, \u201cwhile You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 You see how \u201cwonders\u201d is connected to \u201csigns\u201d there?\u00a0 So working wonders or miracles was a sign gift to authenticate the apostolic age and the foundation of the church.\n\nYou see the same thing in Acts 5:12, \u201cAt the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord\u201d that\u2019s not speaking of an automobile by the way, \u201cin Solomon's portico.\u201d\u00a0 You see the pattern again in chapter 5, verse 12.\u00a0 See the word \u201cwonders\u201d?\u00a0 That\u2019s what we\u2019re dealing with here.\u00a0 You see how it\u2019s connected with the apostles?\u00a0 And you see how it\u2019s connected with the word \u201csigns.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, God was allowing this gift to authenticate the message of the apostles.\n\nYou see the same thing in Acts 14:3-4, \u201cTherefore they spent a long time there<\/em> speaking boldly with reliance<\/em> upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and\u201d what? \u201cwonders be done by their hands. [4] But the people of the city were divided; and some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.\u201d\u00a0 So again you see the spiritual gift of working wonders and miracles connected with an apostles and it\u2019s connected with the word \u201csign\u201d indicating that this spiritual gift was validating or authenticating what the apostles were teaching and saying.\n\nIf this weren\u2019t going on, why accept Paul\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 Paul is the guy that\u2019s going to take the gospel all the way to Rome.\u00a0 I mean, how would the people in Rome ever know that what Paul said was true?\u00a0 Because it was authenticated through signs and wonders, Paul says, through me.\u00a0 Romans 15:18-20.\u00a0 [Romans 15:18-20, \u201cFor I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, [19] in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. [20] And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already<\/em> named, so that I would not build on another man\u2019s foundation.\u201d]\n\nThis is the spiritual gift of working miracles that was completely in place in the first century to authenticate as a sign gift or a confirmatory gift what the apostles were saying who were bringing forward brand new truth.\u00a0 And by the way, when Paul did this there was no dispute what was happening.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a guy named Eutychus, Acts 20:7-10, Paul there, I think it\u2019s in Troas, is giving a sermon.\u00a0 He gets a little longwinded, he preaches all night long\u2026.\u00a0 you guys should be grateful that Paul\u2019s not your pastor, people get mad at me because we get out at 12:30, think if Paul was your pastor, you might never get out until the evening.\n\n[Acts 20:7-10, \u201cOn the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began<\/em> talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. [8] There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. [9] And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. ]\n\nBut some guy falls asleep, falls out of the window sill, survives, and what does this passage say, Acts 20:10, \u201cBut Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, \u201cDo not be troubled, for his life is in him.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 In other words, Paul raised this guy from the dead, resuscitated him right then and there.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how this gift of healing typically functioned; it was something that was done spontaneously on the spot.\n\nBut one thing I want to show you and I can do this very quickly is look at the order of Paul\u2019s letters.\u00a0 The final books that he wrote are 1 Timothy, Titus and 2 Timothy.\u00a0 According to 2 Timothy 4:6 he writes that book because his life is being poured out as a drink offering.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 4:6, \u201cFor I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.\u201d]\u00a0 And as you get into later Paul what you see is Paul seems to not have this ability any more to perform signs, wonders and miracles and healings, because he leaves certain people sick.\n\nLook at what he says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23, \u201cNo longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, why didn\u2019t Paul just heal Timothy on the spot like he did Eutychus in Acts 20?\u00a0 Well, the answer is the apostolic age is winding down.\u00a0 God gave certain gifts and abilities to authenticate the apostolic age but even towards the end of the apostolic age God seems to be gradually pulling back the sign gift that Paul had exercised without doubt throughout his life and ministry.\n\nAnd then you get to the very end of his ministry in 2 Timothy 4:20 and what does Paul say?\u00a0 \u201cErastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left\u201d what? \u201csick at Miletus.\u201d\u00a0 What do you mean you left him sick, I mean, you healed Eutychus earlier and now you\u2019re telling me at the end of your ministry you\u2019re leaving someone sick?\u00a0 See, what is happening is there\u2019s a gradual withdrawal, there\u2019s a gradual petering out of a certain sign gift called workers of miracles.\u00a0 Why is it gradually petering out?\u00a0 Because its purpose has been served.\u00a0 The apostolic age has been authenticated.\u00a0 The New Testament was coming into existence; the body of Christ was being formed.\u00a0 The foundation had already been laid.\u00a0 And since God has not been doing anything new, beyond that foundation for the last two thousand years, and since miracles cluster around time periods when God is doing something new we would sort of expect, wouldn\u2019t we, for certain gifts to sort of peter out.\n\nSo what I\u2019m trying to say is this: these gifts, at least the one we\u2019re talking about here, signs and wonders, are really no longer needed to confirm the apostles.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because we don\u2019t have apostles today.\u00a0 You say well how do you know that?\u00a0 Because the standard for apostle was already laid out in Acts 1.\u00a0 And if the gift of apostleship disappeared then so did the gift of prophecy, because a prophet was someone that received direct revelation from God and recorded God\u2019s truth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And every book of the New Testament under that gift was either written by an apostle or someone who knew an apostle.\u00a0 And so since that\u2019s the standard you can\u2019t have new books of the Bible being written today, can you?\u00a0 Because the apostles are all dead and there\u2019s no one there to confirm what was written.\n\nSo with the gift of apostle that sees things so did the gift of prophecy, and with the gift of apostle sees things so did the sign gifts, working miracles, because a sign gift was given to authenticate something brand new.\u00a0 And once the foundation is laid there\u2019s nothing new that\u2019s happening.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So what I\u2019m sort of trying to give you is the logic for being a selective cessationist.\u00a0 There\u2019s more to it than saying we like this gift, we don\u2019t like that gift.\u00a0 You like this gift but you don\u2019t like that gift.\u00a0 There\u2019s a logical reason as to why:\u00a0 number one, foundational gifts would cease and number two, certain sign gifts would cease as well.\n\nNow the next time we\u2019re together, next week, we\u2019ll be dealing with two more sign gifts, the gift of tongues, what is that exactly, and then the spiritual gift of healing, getting more specifically into the question does God heal today.\u00a0 So I went a little over, I apologize for that, so I don\u2019t have time for Q & A or the worship team will kill me and then you guys might have to resurrect me from the dead if that happens. So keep your questions in a notebook, we\u2019ll be doing Q & A as the series progresses, so let\u2019s pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re thankful for this morning, thankful for Your truth, thankful for Your Word and I just ask that the Holy Spirit would be with us as we seek to rightly divide what You have revealed and we\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t