{"id":18485,"date":"2018-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-026-spiritual-gifts-6\/"},"modified":"2018-06-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-026-spiritual-gifts-6","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-026-spiritual-gifts-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 026: Spiritual Gifts 6"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[93],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18485","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-galatians","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 026: Spiritual Gifts 6","sermon_date":"20180617","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5857,"sermon_slides":5858,"sermon_mp3":5864,"sermon_id":"61718114296","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":93,"chapter_and_verse":"4:13-14","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 26, Spiritual Gifts 6\n\n6-17-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 26\n\nHappy Father\u2019s Day everybody, I guess not everybody, Happy Father\u2019s Day to the fathers.\u00a0 I guess we can all celebrate it, Amen.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to open us in a word of prayer and then we\u2019ll get started. Father, we\u2019re grateful for this morning, grateful for Father\u2019s Day, and grateful for Your grace to us on an ongoing basis.\u00a0 And I just ask that\u00a0 You\u2019ll be with us during Sunday School this morning as we dive into a controversial deeper subject and also as we celebrate Your soon return to a study of the Book of Revelation later on in the second hour and I just ask that people would leave here really encouraged and uplifted with our minds off of the things of this earth and onto eternal things which is what\u00a0 You tell us to do, You tell us that our minds should be set on heavenly things, so I pray that You\u2019ll accomplish this reality today in the life of this church.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nIf you all can locate the Book of Galatians, chapter 4, verses 13-14.\u00a0 As everybody knows we\u2019re continuing our study on the doctrine of the church, still talking about the purposes of the church and one of the purposes of the church is the edification of the saints so the saints can become equipped for their ministry.\u00a0 And you say well what\u2019s my ministry?\u00a0 Well, that largely is between you and the Lord but I\u2019ll give you a big hint\u2014it\u2019s based on how He\u2019s gifted you.\u00a0 So consequently, we decided to cover the covenant the doctrine of spiritual gifts under Ecclesiology and basically as we\u2019re looking at spiritual gifts we\u2019re asking and answering four questions.\n\nNumber 1, what are some general observations about spiritual gifts, and we provided those.\u00a0 And it\u2019s sort of hard to talk about spiritual gifts without addressing the elephant in the room, are all the spiritual gifts for today?\u00a0 So we made some preliminary observations about that and then we\u2019ve moved on into an actual discussion of seven spiritual gifts, and you say wait a minute pastor, hold the phone, last Sunday we were in here and you said there\u2019s six disputed spiritual gifts.\u00a0 Well, I thought about it this week and prayed about it and I added a seventh and seven is a better number than six\u2026 amen, biblically.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll explain why I added a seventh a little bit later.\u00a0 But there are those that are brothers and sisters in Christ that believe every gift you see in the New Testament is in full operation today and there are others like ourselves, selective sensationalists, who basically believe these seven gifts ceased in the first century.\u00a0 We have explained that this is the doctrinal position of our church and I\u2019m really more or less trying to get us to understand why we think the way we think on this subject.\u00a0 It, as we\u2019re going to see, becomes an issue that doesn\u2019t determine heaven or hell but it is a very significant and important issue in our daily lives and in the function\u00ading of a local church, how a church is supposed to function.\n\nAnd one of the helpful things to do is to take the gifts of the Holy Spirit and divide them into four categories.\u00a0 The first category are the foundational gifts, as we have studied,\u00a0 these are gifts that the Lord used to lay the foundation of the church and you lay a foundation only one time.\u00a0 And those foundational gifts, as we have studied, are the gift of apostle and prophet.\u00a0 So those gifts, since the Lord is not re-laying the foundation today those gifts, the way the Bible describes them have passed in the first century.\n\nThen there\u2019s a second series of gifts called the confirmatory gifts; these would include workers of miracles, tongues, and healing, and we\u2019ve studied the fact that miracles in the Bible don\u2019t just happen in a continuous strain; they revolve around time periods where God is doing something new.\u00a0 So when God inaugurated the church He accompanied it with various signs.\u00a0 Workers of miracles is a sign gift that the apostles performed and that\u2019s why in Acts 2:43 you see the words wonders, signs and apostles underlined because I\u2019m trying to highlight that point.\u00a0 \u00a0Tongues, and I think we looked at tongues last time, tongues is better translated languages, we saw that tongues or languages is really a sign for the unbeliever.\u00a0 So it was a sign that God gave at a particular time in history to show national Israel that she was on the wrong side of the ledger and the church that had just started was on the correct side, which reverses 1,500 years of God\u2019s dealings.\u00a0 And so essentially what the Lord did is He accompanied that change in plans curve, if you will, or right turn or left turn or however you want to describe it, in the outworking of His plans through a sign gift called the gift of tongues.\u00a0 And we talked about that last time.\n\nAnd then last time we got into the subject of healing and we saw that healing also is a sign gift performed by the apostles, Acts 5:12, Acts 5:15-16.\u00a0 [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 in Solomon\u2019s portico.\u201d\u00a0 [15] to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.\u00a0 [16]Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.\u201d\n\nAnd we saw that when the gift of healing was in operation it was one of those things where it was obvious, it was self-evident, everybody was healed that came under this gift, and it was undeniable.\u00a0 And we saw that that gift also started to peter out even in the life of the Apostle Paul towards the end of his life. So healings\u2026 now I\u2019ve got to be very careful here, I\u2019m not saying healing, I\u2019m saying the gift of healing, BIG difference, passed also in the first century.\u00a0 And whenever you talk like this people get very nervous because they think you\u2019re saying God doesn\u2019t heal today.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll notice from out doctrinal statement that it says, \u201cwe affirm that God is sovereign and may heal today.\u201d\u00a0 So, communicating that, the sign gift of healing ceased, is not the same thing as telling people God doesn\u2019t heal today.\u00a0 So our primary que comes from the Book of James where if someone is sick we\u2019re to call the elders of the church to anoint the sick person\u2019s head with oil and pray if it\u2019s God\u2019s will that such a person be healed, waiting on God to perform the miracle directly if He chooses to rather than someone coming in with the alleged gift of healing, laying hands on the person and they automatically get up and walk.\n\nSo this chart, I think we were covering it towards the end last time, is basically describing the distinction between the apostolic gift of healing in the first century and healing today.\u00a0 The apostolic gift in the first century was often times accompanied by no prayer but today we believe prayer is a prerequisite for divine healing. The apostolic gift of healing was indirect, God healed through a man, an apostle who laid hands on somebody.\u00a0 Today when God heals He does it directly.\u00a0 The apostolic gift of healing was brought forth by the apostles; today God can use any means He wants to heal.\u00a0 Sometimes He uses physicians, sometimes He uses the natural design of our human bodies.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that when we get cut how rapidly our skin heals up?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0So the body itself is designed for self-healing.\u00a0 And so many times the Lord will use means outside of an apostle, in the first century, to heal.\u00a0 The apostolic gift of healing was instantaneous, I showed you Acts 3:7 where it says his ankles were made well.\u00a0 [Acts 3:7, \u201cAnd seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Today healing can take place more gradually.\u00a0 In the apostolic time period healings were common and undeniable.\u00a0 Today I think they\u2019re less common.\n\nAnd then it\u2019s this last point that I wanted to spend some time on this morning because there is rampant confusion in the body of Christ today concerning automatic healings.\u00a0 When the apostles, through the gift of healing, laid hands on someone, as best I can tell from the Bible, it was an automatic thing.\u00a0 Today when the elders of the church or when we pray for people to get well it\u2019s not automatic.\u00a0 In other words, some people get healed which I can testify to you of prayers that we\u2019ve seen at this church miraculously answered but there are other times at this church where we\u2019ve prayed with the same faith, we\u2019ve prayed with the same fervency, we\u2019ve prayed with the same expectancy and the person ends up dying.\n\nSo basically, healing is automatic in the apostolic time period; it\u2019s not automatic today.\u00a0 Listen to me very carefully\u2014God doesn\u2019t heal every Christian today.\u00a0 You say well, isn\u2019t that sort of common sense, isn\u2019t that self-evident?\u00a0 You\u2019d be shocked at how little people understand this.\u00a0 As you watch so-called Christian television, I don\u2019t mind naming the network, the Trinity Broadcast Network, TBN, years ago I quit calling them TBN, I now call them PCN, which I believe stands for Positive Confession Network.\u00a0 They have unleashed on that network, for decades, this is not something that happened last Friday, this doctrine where if you\u2019re a kids king then you are entitled to bodily healing, you just have to access it by way of faith.\u00a0 And of course, if you don\u2019t get your automatic healing then there must be something wrong with your faith.\u00a0 And to make matters worse, not only are you guaranteed automatic healing but you\u2019re guaranteed wealth; your bank account should be filled with resources and you should be able to jet set around the world at will.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re not experiencing those things, a life of luxury, then somehow you must be outside the will of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s called the positive confession concept.\n\nA lot of this stuff really has its roots in the charismatic movement in a lot of places I could name.\u00a0 It\u2019s called The Rhema Movement, sometimes it\u2019s called The Word of Faith Movement.\u00a0 I remember very specifically Fred Price, a very well-known prosperity gospel preacher saying God is not going to live in a house that\u2019s broken down.\u00a0 So He\u2019s not going to live in a house with banged out windows and a house that needs a new paint job.\u00a0 And I thought to myself I wonder how Joni Eareckson Tada<\/em> thinks about that. \u00a0As you know, Joni Eareckson Tada suffered an injury as a teenager and she remains paralyzed from the neck down in a wheel chair and yet she is one of the most devout Christian people that I know of and her story is an inspiration worldwide.\u00a0 But Fred Price is on the television telling people that God\u2019s not going to live in a house broken, so everybody is guaranteed a bodily healing.\u00a0 And this is the kind of thing that people are exposed to over and over again.\n\nAnd what I\u2019d like to communicate are about seven points, praise the Lord, I\u2019ve got seven, isn\u2019t that great how that keeps working that way.\u00a0 I want to show you that God does heal when He wants to.\u00a0 If we ask according to His will He hears us.\u00a0 But it is by no stretch of the imagination this side of eternity, by NO stretch of the imagination is it a divine guarantee nor is it a divine right.\u00a0 And my first point relates just to the Scripture itself.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I had you open up to the Book of Galatians, chapter 4, verses 13-14, where Paul says to the Galatians in Southern Galatia, \u201cbut you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; [14] and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.<\/em>\u201d\n\nNow I don\u2019t know how you interpret that?\u00a0 To me it\u2019s very self-evident, Paul had a bodily illness and he talks about a bodily illness in verse 13 and then in verse 14 he clarifies talking about a bodily condition. \u00a0\u00a0So if prosperity gospel is right what you have to conclude is Paul didn\u2019t know how to access his privileges as a child of God.\u00a0\u00a0 Or Paul didn\u2019t have enough faith.\u00a0 Or maybe Paul had some kind of unconfessed sin in his life.\u00a0\u00a0 And you see very quickly, by simply reading the Bible, how ridiculous this idea is, that every child of God is guaranteed some kind of healing this side of eternity.\n\nBy the way, I can name all the big names of people that taught this decades ago, when I was coming of age as a Christian.\u00a0 You know what all of them have in common?\u00a0 They all died!\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t it interesting that the mortality rate is still 100%.\u00a0 And I could go back on\u00a0 You Tube and I could watch the same sermons they gave, where they went on and on and on about this. Well, why are these people dead?\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s one disease you\u2019re never going to be able to confess away and that\u2019s\u00a0 your last one, because if the Lord tarries, the last time I checked the mortality rate is still 100%.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nAnd you know most likely the story of the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, where he experienced a thorn in the flesh.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:7-9, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014to keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. [9] And He has said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u201d Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.\u201d]\n\nNobody knows exactly what the thorn in the flesh was but the imagery of a thorn, doesn\u2019t that communicate pain?\u00a0 And maybe the thorn in the flesh was this very illness that he was talking about here in the Book of Galatians.\u00a0 And when you study 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 he pleaded with the Lord, not once, not twice, but three times to take it away and each time the Lord said no, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you.\u201d\u00a0 So is it okay to ask for God to remove bodily illnesses?\u00a0 Of course it is, Paul did; the problem is demanding that God make good on a promise that He never made.\u00a0 And I would challenge you to write down these Scriptures because these will help you in the midst of this false teaching.\n\n2 Corinthians 12:7-9 says, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,\u201d what revelations? He was caught up into the third heaven and heard things a man is not fit to hear.\u00a0 He had knowledge that other people didn\u2019t have.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you get a little bit arrogant if you had that kind of knowledge?\u00a0 And if you become arrogant can God use you?\u00a0 No, so God kept him humble by introducing some kind of pain, perhaps in his body.\u00a0 It says there in verse 7, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014\u201c I mean, \u201ctorment\u201d is strong language, isn\u2019t it, \u201cto keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cImplored\u201d is not a casual request, I mean, he\u2019s begging God to remove this adversity which I believe was likely in his body.\u00a0 And then it says, verse 9, \u201cAnd He has said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u201d In other words, Paul it\u2019s this, adversity that\u2019s keeping you in a place of dependency and as you\u2019re in that place of dependency you\u2019re in a place of usability.\u00a0 And what you need is not the illness to be removed, what you need is grace in the midst of the illness. See that?\n\nSo when we as elders pray for people we pray for people to get well all of the time but Lord, if the answer is no we pray that you give so and so or such and such grace in the midst of their problem.\u00a0 We don\u2019t come together as elders and demand God do anything.\u00a0 And this is what sort of bothers me about this positive confession, is it\u2019s taught as a divine right and you have a right to order God around like He\u2019s some kind of cosmic bellhop.\n\nAnd I remember taping some TV shows at a local TV station here and they were folks that were nice enough to let us use their studio and put us on their TV program and stuff, and I remember making the mistake when I was in there doing my shows they asked how are you feeling and I really wasn\u2019t feeling that well that day, I think I was dealing with a cold.\u00a0 And one of the guys running the studio says well, we\u2019re going to take care of this right now, and they laid hands on me and they said \u201cin the name of Jesus, we command this cold or this flu to disappear.\u201d\u00a0 And the whole time they\u2019re praying I\u2019m praying, I\u2019m saying Lord, please don\u2019t let them read the article that I wrote [laughter] which I\u2019ll be sharing with you, indicating that the gift of healing has ceased.\n\nAnd I\u2019m one of these guys, I really don\u2019t like to go into places and start fights with people so I kind of wimped out a little bit.\u00a0 They said well how do you feel now?\u00a0 And I said well, I\u2019m feeling much better, which was not a lie because 15 minutes earlier I had taken three Advil\u2019s.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t tell them the part about the Advil.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s like okay, we got that fixed and you can go up and do your thing.\n\nBut you know, this is sort of the mindset of people; they think that an illness is always an enemy.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice what Paul says here, he says, verse 9, \u201cMost gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my\u201d what? \u201cmy weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.\u201d\u00a0 See how Paul switched his thinking?\u00a0 The thorn in the flesh was no longer an enemy, he saw it as an ally or as a gift because it was a thing preventing his revelations from going to his head, turning him into an arrogant jerk and making him unhumble and making him unusable before the Lord.\n\nSome other Scriptures on this would be 1 Timothy 5:23 where Paul says to Timothy, \u201cNo longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of\u00a0 your stomach and your frequent illnesses.\u201d\u00a0 You notice how Paul didn\u2019t command a problem to leave Timothy any more than he commanded a problem to leave himself.\u00a0 And I think we\u2019ve already brought up 2 Timothy 4:20 where Paul says, \u201cErastus remained at Corinth but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.\u201d\n\nSo really the first refutation to this idea today of automatic healing, while we acknowledge God can and does heal, it\u2019s not automatic and you can tell it\u2019s not automatic simply by reading the Scripture.\u00a0 There are very key references that God, I believe, has strategically built into His Word because God knew that this heresy would arise one day and He\u2019s giving us ammunition as to why this heresy of health and wealth that\u2019s guaranteed is not biblical but is, in fact, a heresy.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really mind calling it a heresy.\u00a0 I know that there are issues in the body of Christ where good people differ and we should have a tone of grace on certain issues.\u00a0 But to me this is not one of those issues; this is absolute heretical, the reason I\u2019m going to explain in just a minute, this is destroying people\u2019s lives.\n\nWhy is that?\u00a0 Because of number 2, if you believe this\u00a0 you will be lulled into false guilt.\u00a0 You have to put\u00a0 yourself in the position of the person who\u2019s in the wheel chair or has the ailment or whatever it is, if they are taught over and over again that it\u2019s God\u2019s will for them to be well and if they aren\u2019t well it has to do with their own inability to confess their disease away, then what you\u2019ve done is you\u2019ve placed that person in double jeopardy.\u00a0 Not only do they have to go through life in the wheel chair or walking with a cane or whatever the case may be, that\u2019s hard enough, but now they\u2019ve got to go through life thinking it\u2019s their own fault.\u00a0 You see that?\n\nAnd here\u2019s something to understand.\u00a0 Ideas have consequences; every idea you introduce will have some kind of consequence. That\u2019s why we\u2019re so particular here about doctrine and teaching and rightly dividing the Word of God because we can let things just roll off our tongue not understanding the consequences of what\u2019s happening and what I\u2019m trying to communicate is a very real consequence here, false guilt; I\u2019ll call it double jeopardy.\u00a0 And if that weren\u2019t bad enough there\u2019s another consequence and that\u2019s a false view of God.\n\nThink about this for a minute, if you\u2019re told that it\u2019s your right to be healed, you just have to exercise faith and claim your promises because it\u2019s your right as a king\u2019s kid to be healed, and the healing doesn\u2019t come, not only will you start blaming yourself over time but who else are you going to blame?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re going to blame the Lord, the Lord is not making good on His promise.\u00a0 And if I can\u2019t trust the Lord here maybe I can\u2019t trust Him other places, like for salvation, like for provision and those kind of things.\u00a0 And so what happens is God and His abilities and His sovereignty starts to shrink in our minds and the fact of the matter is God never made the promise to begin with.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 I mean, if you build your life on a false promise you can\u2019t blame the promisor because the promisor never made the promise to begin with.\u00a0 But because people aren\u2019t taught correctly on the subject they think they have a promise, the promise never materializes so it must be God\u2019s fault.\u00a0 So God shrinks.\n\nOr maybe this, maybe God loves everybody else but He doesn\u2019t love me.\u00a0 How about that one?\u00a0 How\u2019s that going to do for your personal prayer life and study time and wanting intimacy with God?\u00a0 God just reneged on a promise, who would want to fellowship with a God like this.\u00a0 And so this doctrine, I think actually bifurcates, it destroys people\u2019s relationship with the Lord.\n\nSomething else, it can keep you away from legitimate medical attention.\u00a0 There are countless cases that I could cite, one of them my wife will tell you about, before we were married she was in a particular group, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s necessary for me to give the name of the group because I don\u2019t know everybody in that group, holds to this.\u00a0 But one of the doctrines that was floating around at that time was the prosperity gospel; someone within the group got sick and said you know, I need to go to the doctor to get proper medical attention and everybody said well, you don\u2019t need to go to the doctor, God\u2019s going to heal you.\u00a0 Well what do you think happened to the person?\u00a0 The person died.\u00a0 Now isn\u2019t that something that should open up that group for a lawsuit?\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019m a former attorney, that\u2019s like lawsuit territory as far I can tell.\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s just blatant negligence resulting in the worst form of bodily injury, death!\u00a0 And then if that wasn\u2019t enough this same group goes to the hospital where this person apparently died and they said now we\u2019re going to raise her from the dead.\u00a0 And they made a total scene of themselves in front of all of these unbelieving medical professionals.\u00a0 I mean, first you kill the person through bad theology and then you make a fool of yourself by saying we\u2019re going raise the person from the dead.\u00a0 Ideas have consequences is what I\u2019m trying to get at.\u00a0 So the Scripture doesn\u2019t support it, it leads to false guilt, it can lead to a false view of God.\n\nNow number four and five, we\u2019ve got to be very careful here, I want to make these two points.\u00a0 Watch my language very carefully; sickness is sometimes caused by sin.\u00a0 Let me give you some biblical support for that.\u00a0 Take a look at the Gospel of John just for a quick second.\u00a0 John 5:14, this was the paralytic who was in that condition for thirty-eight years.\u00a0 And Jesus healed him, as we know, and it says in verse 14, \u201cAfterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, \u2018Behold, you have become well, do not\u201d what? \u201csin anymore, so that nothing worse will happen to you.\u201d\n\nNow what you can glean from that statement is apparently this guy was in the condition that he\u00a0\u00a0 was in because of sin in his life and Jesus says don\u2019t go back to that sin or not only will you be\u00a0 back in the same condition but something worse could even happen.\u00a0 So is it true that sometimes unconfessed sin leads to diseases and sickness?\u00a0 Obviously that\u2019s true in certain occasions.\n\nLet me give you one other example of this.\u00a0 Look at 1 Corinthians 11:30, this is the Corinthians who were drunk and disorderly at the Lord\u2019s table.\u00a0 Paul says, verse 30, \u201cFor this reason many among\u00a0 you are weak and\u201d what? \u201csick, and a number have\u201d what?\u00a0 That \u201csleep\u201d there is a euphemism for death, some of you have died.\u00a0 So why were some of them weak, why were some of them sick, why were some of them dead?\u00a0 Because they were in sin.\u00a0 What was their sin?\u00a0 It was drunkenness and disorderliness at the Lord\u2019s table. So the Lord moved into that congregation with what I would call maximum divine discipline, and actually some people He took home early.\u00a0 Some people were placed in a situation of sickness and illness.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you as we move through the Book of Revelation where the Lord does that same thing in one of the churches there in Asia Minor.\n\nSo you put this verse together with John 5:14 and it\u2019s obvious that sin can lead to sickness.\u00a0 If you have a stomach filled with ulcers, maybe that\u2019s related to the sin of anxiety; sin can cause all kinds of problems, it can cause ulcers, it can cause problems in your blood pressure, if you\u2019re suffering from a venereal disease because of\u00a0 a very loose lifestyle then that\u2019s something that has been introduced into your life because of sin.\u00a0 I\u00a0 mean, countless examples we could give. If a person has most of their stomach eroded because of perpetual drunkenness and the intake of alcohol there\u2019s another example.\n\nThe problem is this: assuming that every single sickness people experience is because of sin and you see that\u2019s what the prosperity movement says.\u00a0 The prosperity movement says you\u2019re sick because (A) you don\u2019t have enough faith, and (B) even if you have enough faith maybe there\u2019s some sort of unconfessed sin in your life you need to confess.\u00a0 So the illness is always being put back on the person.\u00a0 And I\u2019m here to tell you that sometimes sin can make people sick, I\u2019ve given you two examples of that.\n\nBut notice number five, sickness is not always caused by sin.\u00a0 You remember Job, I think I made reference to this last time, that Job is the first book written in canonical biblical history, in terms of the date of writing, because I think God knew that we would always struggle with this issue of suffering.\u00a0 I mean, why do the righteous suffer?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that something that\u2019s always on our minds that bothers us.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that you have sort of an explanation of it, the theology of suffering in the Book of Job, the very first book that God wrote.\u00a0 And this is the error of Eliphaz,\u00a0 Bildad, Zophar and Elihu I think comes along later.\u00a0 And these are Job\u2019s counsellors, and if these people are counsellors then they ought to lose their license to practice counselling because they all told him it\u2019s your fault, Job.\u00a0 Remember what happened to Job, he lost his family, except his wife who said \u201cwhy don\u2019t you curse God and die?\u201d\u00a0 Job probably thought well, wish you\u2019d killed her too.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 Not\u00a0 you, I\u2019m just saying Job.\u00a0 My wife\u2019s sitting here in the front row acting as the restrainer on my sin nature.\n\nAnd then he had his property and his livelihood destroyed, and then what happened is he had a skin problem break out all over his body and it was of such a severity that he actually had to break pottery to scratch himself to alleviate the physical problem that he was under.\u00a0\u00a0 And here come all \u201chis friends\u201d (I put that in quotes) or \u201ccounsellors\u201d (in quotes) because these people weren\u2019t acting like friends that they weren\u2019t acting like counsellors and they said well the reason all this has happened to you is because of sin in your life.\n\nAnd we, as the reader, can see through it because we\u2019ve read the first two chapters of Job; we have an angelic perspective on it that the counsellors that Job himself didn\u2019t have.\u00a0 The whole thing related to a conversation between God and Satan in heaven that Job didn\u2019t even know anything about.\u00a0 Neither did his counselors.\u00a0 And so I think a lot of\u00a0 times we need to give ourselves to the Book of Job because we charge into people\u2019s life thinking we really understand what\u2019s going on and we have maybe a fraction of the knowledge.\u00a0 And in the process you can be very well-intentioned but you can put a heap of guilt on somebody that\u2019s unnecessary, in fact it makes things worse.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the Book of Job.\n\nAnd it\u2019s obvious that Job did not have some unconfessed sin in his life that caused this problem because when you read the first two verses it says,\u00a0 \u201cUz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright,\u201d wow! \u201cfearing God and turning away from evil.\u201d [Job 1:1]\u00a0 \u00a0And then it says,\u00a0 [Job 1:2] \u201cSeven sons and three daughters were born to him\u201d etc.\u00a0 And then you go down to verse 5 and this is what it says:\u00a0 \u201cWhen the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, \u2018Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.\u2019 Thus Job did continually.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, this is a guy that was so worried about sin, it wasn\u2019t in his personal life, then he started to worry, well, maybe my kids have committed some kind of sin that I don\u2019t even know about so I\u2019ll get up early in the morning and intercede for them and offer the appropriate sacrifices.\n\nSo it\u2019s obvious from a very surface reading of Job that the problems he went into had nothing to do with sin in his life and yet we know from the Book of Job that his problems were very severe.\u00a0 If you go over to chapter 2 and take a look at verses 7-8 it says, \u201cThen Satan went out from the presence of the LORD \u00a0and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. [8] And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. [9] Then his wife said to him, \u2018Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I\u00a0 mean, look at all of these problems the guy had, right down to relational problems, business problems, physical problems, and everybody is blaming Job for it and we learn from the opening chapter of the Book of Job that Job wasn\u2019t responsible for it at all.\n\nPsalm 34:19 says, \u201cMany are the afflictions of the righteous.\u201d\u00a0 Let me say that again: \u201cMany are the afflictions of the\u201d who?\u00a0 Not the sinners, not the people with unconfessed sin in their life, \u201cMany are the afflictions of the righteous.\u201d\u00a0 Paul would be an example.\u00a0 Are we going to sit and say Paul had some kind of unconfessed sin in his life because of his bodily illness?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know of a commentator or preacher or expositor on planet earth that would ever say something like that.\u00a0 Are we going to say that Timothy, who was promoted to the position of pastor-teacher over one of the most influential churches of that time period, called the Church at Ephesus?\u00a0 Are we going to say that he had some kind of stomach and frequent ailments because of some unconfessed sin in his life?\u00a0 That really doesn\u2019t make any sense at all.\n\nAre we going to say that Paul struggled with a thorn in the flesh because of unconfessed sin in his life?\u00a0 Of course we\u2019re not going to say that.\u00a0 So something very important to understand is balance.\u00a0 The devil, I think it was C. S. Lewis who put it this way: \u201cThe devil is trying to push us to one extreme or the other.\u00a0 One extreme says sickness is always caused by sin, every single time.\u00a0 You\u2019re off into an extreme when you use the word \u201calways.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s not balanced biblical teaching.\u00a0 The other extreme is sin doesn\u2019t matter and it won\u2019t affect your physical body.\u00a0 You\u2019re off to another extreme now teaching an unbalanced doctrine.\u00a0\u00a0 What we have to find in biblical teaching is balance and here\u2019s the balance: sickness is sometimes caused by sin, however sickness is not always caused by sin.\u00a0 It\u2019s very important to understand this, those of you that are training and counsellors and things like that, that we develop a biblical understanding of this very important subject of sickness and healing and those kinds of things.\n\nNow number six I\u2019ve got underlined, number six on my list is what is missing in the prosperity gospel movement is a theology of suffering.\u00a0 You go to prosperity churches and you watch prosperity preachers on TV, what you do not hear from them is the theology of suffering.\u00a0 What is the theology of suffering?\u00a0 Suffering is sometimes the design of God within the life of the child of God.\u00a0 If I had my way such a doctrine wouldn\u2019t be in the Bible but the fact of the matter is it\u2019s there, it\u2019s as clear as anybody that wants to study the Bible and investigate what you\u2019ll discover is God introduces problems into people\u2019s lives, sometimes of a bodily nature, that cannot be simply confessed away.\u00a0 They simply can\u2019t be prayed away.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God is accomplishing something through that suffering which He cannot accomplish any other way.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I mean by a theology of suffering.\n\nIt\u2019s very interesting that when you travel into foreign countries and they don\u2019t have all the infra\u00adstructure that we have, they don\u2019t believe such foolish ideas the way we do.\u00a0 We believe them because we have an economy and in many cases a medical system that caters to us but it\u2019s not going to work when you get outside the borders of Americana.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 The theology movement takes root in some cultures and not others because there\u2019s an economy and an infrastructure and a medical system to support their theology.\n\nBut that\u2019s not how you figure out if the theology is true.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t figure out if it\u2019s true by how it works in America; does this theology stand up worldwide?\u00a0 It obviously doesn\u2019t stand up worldwide, all you do is travel around and see where people are very, very godly, and they\u2019re living at standards way beneath ours, I can tell you that much.\u00a0 I can tell you this much, in certain countries of the world they\u2019re not meeting in an air-conditioned building.\u00a0 We\u2019re upset because God, the air conditioner wasn\u2019t turned on fast enough in the lobby\u2026 the lobby, not the sanctuary!\u00a0 People are upset about the lobby.\n\nI can take you to some places in the Sudan, I can take you to some places in the Philippines where there is no air conditioner at all and people are just sweating and that\u2019s daily life.\u00a0 And beyond that, my wife said where do you want to go out for lunch today.\u00a0 Oh well, let\u2019s go out to So and So, it\u2019s Father\u2019s Day.\u00a0 And I just kind of said that, forgetting that by just saying that and having the financial ability to do that I\u2019m enjoying something that is way above world standards.\n\nSo what does the Bible say?\u00a0 If we have food and shelter we ought to be thankful for that.\u00a0 That\u2019s what God promises.\u00a0 All this stuff about prosperity, healing, I mean, I\u2019m so tired of the whole thing I want to take my finger and jam it down my throat and vomit all over the place\u2026\u00a0 I will not be doing that today!\u00a0\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 But it, to me, is the most nauseous thing to see people teach this, and believe it, and send in\u00a0 their money to the TV station or whatever because they\u2019re told that if they don\u2019t send in their check they\u2019re not going to get their prosperity or their healing.\u00a0 And what is sadly missing is the theology of suffering.\n\nI have five reasons why Christians suffer and this is a very limited list.\u00a0 These are just the five that I could fit on the screen, but these are the ones that come to my mind.\u00a0 Why does God leave certain people sick and why does He not fix certain problems in people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 Number one, it creates sympathy in people.\u00a0 If you go over to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 you\u2019ll see this very clearly.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cBlessed be<\/em> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort<\/u>,\u201d how could you ever discover that God is a God of comfort unless you need comfort yourself?\u00a0 Well, how does God put you in a position where you need comfort\u00a0 yourself.\u00a0 He makes you uncomfortable!\u00a0 If that never happens in your life it\u2019s just a Sunday School awareness, that\u2019s all it is, but the walk of the Christian is experiential.\n\nAnd then if you look at verse 4 it says, \u201cwho comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to\u201d what?\u00a0 Look at this, \u201ccomfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.\u201d\u00a0 How would you know how to minister to someone who\u2019s going through a trial?\u00a0 Answer:\u00a0 you went through the same trial yourself and you exper\u00adienced the comfort of God in the midst of that trial.\u00a0 So consequently what are you qualified to do?\u00a0 Minister comfort to someone else who went down the same path that you went down a few years earlier.\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 I mean, you know what to say, how to say it, what not to say, how to be tactful.\u00a0 What does a person know that\u2019s never experienced that problem?\u00a0 They don\u2019t know anything.\u00a0 What they do is\u00a0 they come at people and they just spit Bible verses out of their mouths and our family went through some issues (which I won\u2019t go into) when we were living in the Dallas area and Anne will testify to this, more damage was done to my wife by well-intentioned Christians than any other single source, because they didn\u2019t have a clue what she was going through so they all came with their advice, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, spitting Bible verses out of their mouths, thinking that they were doing good.\u00a0 They were destroying her.\u00a0 How do you know?\u00a0 I was living with her at the time (by the way, I still am, Amen)\u00a0 Laughter.\u00a0 And I watched the destruction.\n\nWe need to really be careful about what we say, how we say it, when we say it when we don\u2019t have all of the facts.\u00a0 So you ask yourself why am I having this problem.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a possible answer: God is expanding your ministry horizons because He knows who is going to come down the road ten years down the line that you don\u2019t see, that will have the exact same issue.\u00a0 Who better to minister to someone in the midst of a bankruptcy than someone that\u2019s gone through it?\u00a0\u00a0 Who better to minister to someone in the midst of a divorce than someone that\u2019s gone through it?\u00a0 Who knows better to minister to someone in the midst of a health scare than someone that\u2019s gone through it?\n\nAnd see, a lot of times we\u2019re charging in trying to fix people and I think sometimes the best advice we could give is to just sit there and listen to them talk.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a lot of times what people need, they don\u2019t need another out of context Bible verse beaten over their heads.\u00a0 They sort of need a sounding board, just sort of listening. What does the Bible say, \u201cBe quick to hear and slow to speak.\u201d\u00a0 So sometimes God allows us to suffer because He\u2019s creating sympathy in us for ministry opportunities down the road.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes God allows us to suffer because of the development of Christ-like character in our lives.\n\nYou all know James 1:2-4 don\u2019t you.\u00a0 This is a go-to verse for us when we\u2019re going through something that we don\u2019t fully understand.\u00a0 \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren,\u201d wow, \u201cmy brethren\u201d that means these people must be Christians.\u00a0 \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,\u201d now that\u2019s the same word in Greek used to describe Joseph\u2019s multi-colored coat in the Septuagint, the rainbow coat that Jacob gave to Joseph that made his brothers jealous.\u00a0 So just as that coat was technicolor the trials of our lives are technicolor.\u00a0 The trials are multifaceted, there\u2019s not a one-size fits all thing because God is always sanding things, is He not, out of our character that need to be sanded off.\u00a0 \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, \u00a0[3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. [4] And let endurance have its<\/em> perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So may reading of this is as follows: without the trials (plural) of technicolor, verse 2, you can\u2019t have a development of faith in your life, or endurance, or maturity.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason why God is allowing trials.\n\nNumber three, sometimes trials are a testimony to the unsaved.\u00a0 The verse I would use for that is John 11 where everybody says to Jesus come heal Lazarus, and what does John 11:4 say?\u00a0 \u201cBut when Jesus heard this, He said, \u2018This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God, so that the Son of Man may be glorified,\u201d and it goes on and it says He didn\u2019t come immediately to heal Lazarus.\u00a0 He let him die.\u00a0 Wow, how unloving that is!\u00a0 In fact, Jesus probably could have healed this guy from a distance as He did other people.\u00a0 He let the guy die.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Jesus sees John 11, the rest of it, that not everybody else can see; he\u2019s going to be resuscitated from the dead.\u00a0 For what purpose?\u00a0 To glorify God.\u00a0 And as unbelievers watch this they\u2019re going to start to believe.\n\nJohn 12:10-11 says, \u201cBut the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also;\u201d we\u2019ve got to kill him again or else people are going to believe this man is the Messiah,\u00a0 [11] \u201cbecause on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 You see that?\u00a0 Jesus let a guy get sick, He let a guy die, He didn\u2019t come right away and help, He didn\u2019t perform a miracle.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Jesus saw conversions in John 12.\u00a0 Jesus, in John 11 saw what was coming in John 12.\u00a0 Could the crowd pressure Jesus to do that?\u00a0 No they couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 Could the sisters see that?\u00a0 No they couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 Jesus could see it.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of things we can\u2019t see; there\u2019s a lot of things that God is doing in the lives of people that we don\u2019t have a vision of and He\u2019s using a sickness, a problem, a setback, a heartache, something that you keep saying God, take it away, it never goes away, He\u2019s using that strategically in the lives of other people.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd then number four, suffering creates dependence upon God.\u00a0 Paul had a thorn in the flesh, \u00a02 Corinthians 12:6-9.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:6-9, \u201cFor if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from<\/em> this,<\/em> so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in<\/em> me or hears from me.\u00a0 [7] Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014to keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. [9] And He has said to me, \u2018My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u2019 Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.\u201d]\n\nHe pleaded with the Lord three times for it to be taken away, God said no, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you,\u201d well why all of that?\u00a0 Because of the surpassing revelations to prevent me from exalting myself.\u00a0 Every day he woke up in the morning and felt that pain, whatever it was, it put him in a place of dependency.\u00a0 You\u2019re in the place of dependency, you\u2019re in the place of usability.\u00a0 I would say this, we wouldn\u2019t even had the thirteen books that we have in the New Testament written by Paul, we wouldn\u2019t even have the missionary journeys were it not for this ailment that he kept asking God to remove and yet God never removed it.\n\nLet\u2019s just get real here folks, we don\u2019t see God on our own.\u00a0 I don\u2019t.\u00a0 When things are rolling along like I think they ought to roll along my heart is probably about as far from God as you can get\u2026 Lord, I\u2019ll check in you if I have a problem, until then leave me alone.\u00a0 But you start having an issue, perhaps in your physical body, isn\u2019t it interesting how we start checking in more with the Lord?\u00a0 And how the Lord will use this problem to override the natural pride that\u2019s within us?\n\nDeuteronomy 6:10-12 says, \u201cThen it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, [11] and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, [12] then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.\u201d\n\nWhen the grace of God is poured into a person\u2019s life and they get all this unmerited favor, which we\u2019re all recipients of, Amen!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting to forget that we got these things by grace.\u00a0 I got this job by grace.\u00a0 I\u2019m able to pay my bills by grace.\u00a0 I have the resources and riches of Christ by grace.\u00a0 We sort of start to take credit for these things.\u00a0 That\u2019s who we are in our fallen state.\u00a0 And what reverses that is a good old-fashioned difficulty, sometimes in the physical body.\n\nThe last reason I have as to why Christians suffer is because it increases prayer.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that our prayer life has a tendency to pick up instead of just going through the motions for Jesus, which is kind of what we\u2019re like normally, yeah Lord, I did my little prayer for the morning, I read my Bible verse, okay, I\u2019m done with\u00a0 You, now let me go out and live the life on my own power.\u00a0 We\u2019re like that when things are rolling along fine.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting, you get a problem in \u00a0your life you can\u2019t fix, isn\u2019t it interesting how the prayer life picks up.\u00a0 Or someone else has a problem and you start to pray for that person with a fervency that God may not have heard from us for the last six months.\n\nThis is why Paul started looking at his problems and his suffering, not as an enemy but as an ally, as a gift.\u00a0 You say well, pastor, where are you getting this from?\u00a0 It\u2019s right there in Acts 12:5, Peter is thrown into prison, now this is not a physical illness but you can analogize it to an illness, that\u2019s what an illness is, it\u2019s a prison of a certain sense.\u00a0 And Acts 12:5 says, \u201cSo Peter was kept in the prison,\u201d conjunction, \u201cbut prayer for him was being made\u201d what? \u201cfervently by\u201d who\u201d \u201cthe church\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Why is this church praying fervently for Peter?\u00a0 Because of his incarceration.\u00a0 And I\u2019m convinced that\u2019s why God allows a lot of things to go haywire from the human point of view, because He pretty much knows we\u2019re not going to talk to Him most of the time if things are moving along fine.\u00a0 I\u2019m certainly not going to come to Him with an attitude of energy and fervency and worship. I\u2019m just going to sort of go through the motions because that\u2019s who I am in my fallen self.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what I mean by a theology of suffering.\n\nThe last point, number seven, we\u2019ll have to postpone.\u00a0 The bottom line in number seven is just this:\u00a0 healing is guaranteed one day; it\u2019s not today because our bodies are groaning.\u00a0 Why are they groaning?\u00a0 Original sin, \u201cfrom dust you are, to dust you shall return,\u201d Genesis 3:19 teaches that.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:19, \u201cBy the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.\u201d]\n\nDid you know that healing is not even guaranteed in the millennial kingdom?\u00a0 Did you know that those who repopulate the earth following the tribulation period, I\u2019m not talking about us who will be in resurrected bodies at this time, but those who repopulate the earth, some of them are going to die?\u00a0 Isaiah 65:20 says that.\u00a0 [Isaiah 65:20, \u201cNo longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed.\u201d]\n\nBut the time in history comes where \u201cHe will wipe\u201d what?\u00a0 Revelation 21:4, \u201cevery tear from their eyes, there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.\u201d\u00a0 And people say well, pastor, do you believe that healing is a guarantee?\u00a0 Yes I do, just not today.\u00a0 What is guaranteed today, Isaiah 53:4, 1 Peter 2:24-25, is spiritual healing.\u00a0 [Isaiah 53:4, \u201cSurely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 2:24-25, \u201cand He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. [25] For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.\u201d]\n\nIf you get a bodily healing that\u2019s just an added measure of grace.\u00a0 The spiritual healing is guaranteed at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 The bodily guarantying is not guaranteed although God can heal and sometimes does heal when it\u2019s within His will, but there is coming a day in the life of the Christian where every disease will disappear and that\u2019s the eternal state; that\u2019s the final resurrection.\n\nSo hopefully those comments add some balance to the whole subject of healing and automatic healing.\u00a0 And I told myself to stop early for questions, I obviously didn\u2019t do that, but write them down in your notebook, we\u2019ll be getting to those in due course.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, help us to live balanced on this subject, help us to walk out Biblical balance and not be errant in how we think and interact with people.\u00a0 Give us Your mind on this subject of automatic healing and the gift of healing, and we\u2019ll be careful to give\u00a0 you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said, 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