{"id":18486,"date":"2018-07-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-027-spiritual-gifts-7\/"},"modified":"2018-07-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-027-spiritual-gifts-7","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-027-spiritual-gifts-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 027: Spiritual Gifts 7"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18486","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-corinthians","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 027: Spiritual Gifts 7","sermon_date":"20180701","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5890,"sermon_slides":5889,"sermon_mp3":5894,"sermon_id":"71181032112","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":91,"chapter_and_verse":"13:8-13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 27, Spiritual Gifts 7\n\n7-1-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 27\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 364-377\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, grateful for this time of the year where we commemorate the freedoms that we have.\u00a0 We also know Father, and acknowledge that freedom isn\u2019t free, somebody paid a price to give us our political freedoms, just as Jesus paid the ultimate price to give us our spiritual freedom.\u00a0 So we\u2019re mindful, Father, this morning of grace that we have in you but we\u2019re also mindful of the price that was paid to procure the grace for us.\u00a0 And I do ask, Father, that\u00a0 You\u2019ll be with us in Sunday School as we look at a difficult subject and in the main service that follows as we continue on in the Book of Revelation and as we partake this morning of the Lord\u2019s table and then fellowship with the fellowship meal after the service.\u00a0 I do specifically ask, Father, that people would leave here changed, something eternal would be an eternal seed would be sown into their lives and they would think differently or perhaps somebody would believe on Christ unto salvation but only You can do that, Father, so I humbly beseech and ask You to do that today here at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift up these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said Amen.\n\nIf you could take\u00a0 your Bibles and open them to 1 Corinthians 13, we\u2019re going to look at verses 8-13 today as I\u2019ll be explaining.\u00a0 And you should have two handouts, we have the regular power point handouts and also there\u2019s another handout of a paper that I wrote on the revelatory gifts and so the teaching that we\u2019re going to be doing beginning today and the next few weeks is going to follow along with that paper so you can see which direction we\u2019re headed in by consulting the paper which I hope you\u2019ll read (not right now but when you get home).\u00a0 And don\u2019t read it while you\u2019re driving either, just like don\u2019t text either when you drive, amen.\n\nAs you know, those of you that have been following along with us in Sunday School we\u2019re continuing to study the doctrine of the church, Ecclesiology, and we\u2019re sort of at that section of our study where we\u2019re dealing with the purposes of the church and we\u2019ve gone through those very carefully.\u00a0 But one of the very purposes of the church, according to that middle bullet point there is to edify the saints.\u00a0 So one of the great purposes of the local church, and of course, even before I get moving I want to thank Jim McGowan for filling in last week.\u00a0 I trust that you all enjoyed his teaching.\u00a0 I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and it was hotter there than it is here, can you believe that?\u00a0 I felt like I\u2019d stepped into a blow dryer when I got off the plane.\u00a0 So we did a conference on marriage there at Hoffman Town Church and then I spoke in their main service.\n\nBut one of the purposes of the church is to equip the saints for their ministry.\u00a0 Then it asks an interesting question, well what is my ministry, I mean, if the church is equipping me for my ministry what is my ministry.\u00a0 And the big hint on how\u00a0 you answer that question is the issue of spiritual gifts.\u00a0 Whatever gifting God has given you defines predominantly your ministry, not that you don\u2019t do things outside of your giftedness.\u00a0 I just got finished, we just got finished at this church with Vacation Bible School where I was a crew leader, can you believe that?\u00a0 And I was working with kids all week long and I can guarantee you this much, that is not my area of giftedness.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019ve been working with kids so much I might say a few things during the sermon to let you know that I\u2019ve been working with kids all week; if you guys get noisy I\u2019ll say okay, if you can hear me touch your nose.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nJust because you have a gift in a certain area doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t do anything else but your primary focus is whatever your area of giftedness is.\u00a0 That\u2019s your defining trajectory in the local church.\u00a0 So that raises a very interesting question, so we sort of took a detour and started to talk about this issue of spiritual gifts.\u00a0 And basically what we\u2019re doing in this little detour is asking and answering four questions about spiritual gifts.\n\nNumber one, what are some general observations about spiritual gifts, and I think we gave those, there\u2019s about 19 or 20 basic observations about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 And then that leads to another detour, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 This is why this subject is so difficult to talk about because one trap door leads to another trap door.\u00a0 Are all the spiritual gifts for today? \u00a0And that is a very divisive subject in the body of Christ.\n\nSo here is sort of the outline that we\u2019re following as we\u2019re talking about are all the gifts of the Holy Spirit available today.\u00a0 And as you go through different chapters of the Bible that deal with spiritual gifts you\u2019re going to see these seven gifts: apostle, prophet, workers of miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, the gift of healing and something called the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 I mean, are these things in full operation today.\u00a0 They\u2019re right there in your Bible and you might be saying well how come Sugar Land Bible Church doesn\u2019t practice these gifts along with all of the other gifts mentioned in Scripture.\n\nAnd the reason this is sort of a divisive issue and the reason it\u2019s easier just to duck the issue rather than talk about it is because when you talk about it it divides the body of Christ almost in half.\u00a0 We have what are called charismatics or continuationists, and their basic premise is every gift you see in the New Testament is in operation today.\u00a0 Then you have those of us at Sugar Land Bible Church who are what we would call selective cessationists meaning we believe most of the gifts are in operation today but some of them ceased back in the first century.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve tried to articulate that that\u2019s basically the teaching position of our church.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to believe this to join the church but you have to understand that when this church teaches it teaches from the vantage point of selective cessationism.\n\nAnd so a lot of people have the question, well how come you do that?\u00a0 How come you just go through the Bible and\u00a0 you say these gifts are for today, about sixteen of them, or fifteen of them, and seven of them ceased.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that kind of arbitrary?\u00a0 And I\u2019m trying to sort of explain the biblical logic of why we think the way we think on this.\u00a0 And it really starts with taking the gifts of the Holy Spirit and dividing them into four categories.\n\nCategory number one are the foundational gifts.\u00a0 There are certain gifts that God brought into existence to start the church and we\u2019ve made reference to the fact that you lay a foundation one time.\u00a0 And those two foundational gifts are given in Ephesians 2:20.\u00a0 It says, \u201chaving been built\u201d that\u2019s the church, \u201con the foundation,\u201d laid once, \u201cof the apostles and prophets, [Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,\u201d] so we believe the apostles and prophets properly defined represents a foundational gift that God used in a very selective way to inaugurate the church.\n\nThen there\u2019s a second section of gifts called confirmatory gifts and we have noted, and by the way, those confirmatory gifts would be workers of miracles, tongues, and the gift of healing.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve carefully documented the fact that God starts to perform miracles, not continuously in the Bible, but miracles have a tendency to cluster around eras when God is doing something new.\u00a0 And that is basically how we understand, and we\u2019ve done past teachings on this so it\u2019s just a matter of going into the archives and reviewing what we\u2019ve studied.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s basically the way we think of the workers of miracles, tongues, which is better translated languages, and healing.\u00a0 And we were also very clear on this that while the gift of healing does not exist today we\u2019re not saying God never heals.\u00a0 When God heals today He heals directly, when He chooses to.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very different than Him doing it indirectly through a gift of healing back in the first century.\u00a0 And so in prior sessions we\u2019ve carefully delineated those two ideas.\n\nAnd the last time I was with you we spent a lot of time on this idea of automatic healing.\u00a0 And talked about it is not a guarantee in the present age that every single child of God will be healed\u00a0\u00a0 and why that\u2019s such an important issue. God does heal today, we believe, when it\u2019s His will but we do not hold out healing as the automatic guarantee that every child of God.\u00a0 And so we spoke in depth about that.\n\nSo we\u2019ve dealt with the foundational gifts.\u00a0 We\u2019ve dealt with the two foundational gifts, we\u2019ve dealt with the three or so confirmatory gifts and now we\u2019re moving into letter C, the revelatory gifts.\u00a0 \u00a0Now what do I mean by revelatory gifts?\u00a0 What I mean by revelatory gifts is someone is a conduit of divine revelation, a channel of divine revelation and what they say is on equal par with Scripture itself.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I mean by revelatory gifts.\n\nI am not here talking about the gift of knowledge as defined as understanding what God has already disclosed.\u00a0 I am not here talking about the gift of proclamation or the gift of preaching where prophesying is defined as proclaiming something God already disclosed.\u00a0 I think there are gifts of knowledge where God gives people abilities today to understand what He\u2019s already written and also to proclaim what He\u2019s already said.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what I\u2019m talking about here with these revelatory gifts.\u00a0 If you define knowledge, and preaching or prophesying that way then I believe there is knowledge and prophesying today.\u00a0 What I\u2019m talking about is people that receive a word of knowledge from God directly and what they receive is authoritative, it\u2019s got to be authoritative because it comes from God.\u00a0\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 And it\u2019s held with such dogmatism that you could literally make that revelation in chapter 23.\n\nAnd what I mean by prophesying is people that prophesy truths, not proclaim what God has already said but are a conduit of direct revelation from God on equal par with the Scripture itself.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to say is those gifts, which we call the revelatory gifts, were functioning in the first century and they stopped functioning that way at the conclusion of the canon of Scripture back in the first century.\u00a0 That\u2019s basically what I mean by revelatory gifts.\u00a0 So when you look at the gift list you\u2019re going to see these gifts: prophets, tongues and interpretation of tongues, and also knowledge.\u00a0 So here are the revelatory gifts that we believe passed in the first century.\u00a0 Number one, the gift of prophet.\u00a0 Number two, the gift of knowledge, not understanding what God has said but receiving a direct word of knowledge from God.\u00a0 And number three, tongues and the interpretation of tongues.\u00a0 So let\u2019s sort of look at these real quick so we get the definitions down.\u00a0\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll move to \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01 Corinthians 13:8-13 which is really the key passage you have to analyze to figure out, are those gifts for today or not.\n\nThe first one is the gift of prophet and when somebody throws the word \u201cprophet\u201d around the Bible, what you have to understand, has a very high definition of what a prophet is.\u00a0 A prophet is a conduit of divine revelation.\u00a0 You might want to hold your place there in 1 Corinthians 13 and when you go over to the Book of Deuteronomy 18:18 it has a test of a prophet.\u00a0 God, through Moses says, \u201c'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s the biblical definition of a prophet.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a preacher behind a pulpit teaching from the Bible or preaching from the Bible, it\u2019s someone that\u2019s receiving direct revelation from God.\u00a0 That is not just the Old Testament definition of a prophet; that is also the New Testament definition of a prophet.\n\nIf you go over to 2 Peter, you say where is 2 Peter?\u00a0 It\u2019s right after what?\u00a0 1 Peter, that doesn\u2019t help very much, does it?\u00a0 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, \u201cBut know this, first of all that no\u201d what? \u201cprophecy of Scripture is a matter of one\u2019s own interpretation, [21] for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.\u201d\u00a0 So what is a prophet?\u00a0 A prophet is someone who is carried along by the Holy Spirit to such an extent that they\u2019re actually a mouth\u00ad\u00adpiece for God; their word is God\u2019s word because God put His words into their mouth.\n\nThe word here in 2 Peter 1:20 and 21, the verb, it says, \u201cfor no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.\u201d\u00a0 The word\u00a0 translated \u201cmoved\u201d is the Greek word phero<\/em> which is the same verb used in Acts 27 verses 15 and 17 concerning wind that comes upon a sail boat, fills the sail of the sail boat thereby propelling the boat.\u00a0\u00a0 [Acts 27:15, \u201cand when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along.\u201d Acts 25:17, \u201cAfter they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s what a prophet was in the New Testament sense of the word, and the Old Testament sense of the word; the Holy Spirit came upon them in the same way and propelled them along so that when they spoke God was speaking, when they wrote, God was writing.\u00a0 \u00a0And that\u2019s how the twenty-seven books of the New Testament came into existence, through this gift of prophecy.\u00a0 That is a revelatory gift.\n\nOver in the Book of Ephesians, chapter 3 and verse 5, Paul, the apostle, talks about the gift of prophet and prophesying where he makes this statement.\u00a0 Ephesians 3:5, \u201cwhich in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;\u201d he\u2019s talking about the mystery nature of the church here, something that\u2019s never been disclosed before, and God used the gift of prophet to disclose the mystery nature of the church.\n\nWhen you go over to 1 Corinthians 14:29-30 you learn of a practice that was taking place in very early Christianity, before the canon of Scripture closed, where people were standing up and they were prophesying, meaning that they were looked at as direct conduits of divine revelation, direct channels of divine revelation.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 14:29-30 says, \u201dLet two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. [30] But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, you don\u2019t have dueling prophets, where they\u2019re interrupting each other with their ecstatic utterances.\u00a0 Paul says when this gift is being used one prophet is to prophecy, then another prophet is to prophecy and the others are to sit and pass judgment.\u00a0 So this is not the kind of sermon you would get at Sugar Land Bible Church, where we\u2019re proclaiming what God has already said.\u00a0 This would be a scenario where someone stands up and they\u2019re basically a direct conduit of God.\u00a0 And prophecy was a very much a reality in first century Christianity.\n\nOver in Acts 11:28, see the reason I\u2019m having you turn to these verses is I want us to understand how the Bible is using the word \u201cprophet\u201d because a lot of people are throwing the word \u201cprophet\u201d around today and most of the time I don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re talking about.\u00a0 What do you mean when you call yourself a prophet?\u00a0 Well, biblically if you call yourself a prophet you\u2019re a direct channel from God is basically what you\u2019re saying.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see a prophet named Agabus over in Acts 11:28, and Acts 11:28 says, \u201cOne of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world.\u201d\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice what Luke in the Book of Acts says, \u201cAnd this took place in the reign of Claudius.\u201d\n\nSo one of the tests of a prophet is you can\u2019t be right 75% of the time because God is not right 75% of the time.\u00a0 Your prophecies have to be 100% accurate and Agabus was recognize as a prophet of God because his short-term prophecies came to pass with absolute 100% consistency.\n\nOver in Acts 21:10-11\u00a0 you\u2019ll also see Agabus in action and it says, \u201cAs we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.\u00a0 [11] And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, \"This is what the Holy Spirit says: \u2018In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now what\u2019s interesting about that prophecy is we have no record of how it was fulfilled.\u00a0 The Bible never says it wasn\u2019t fulfilled that way so I would assume that somewhere in Paul\u2019s life it happened exactly as Agabus predicted because Agabus has a track record of 100% accuracy or else he wouldn\u2019t be designated a prophet in the Scripture, because he made an accurate prediction in Acts 11 about the famine and we would assume that the prophecy he made over Paul\u2019s life happened as well.\n\nSo what am I trying to get at?\u00a0 I\u2019m just trying to get us to understand what a prophet is.\u00a0 A prophet is not a preacher behind a pulpit like we see today.\u00a0 It\u2019s not someone proclaiming divine truth; it\u2019s not someone understanding divine truth, it\u2019s someone who is actually a channel or a conduit of divine truth.\u00a0 Now that was a revelatory gift which was in operation, as you can see, in the first century.\n\nThe second revelatory gift is the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about understanding the Bible, I\u2019m talking about receiving a direct word of knowledge from the Lord.\u00a0 Now why would I call \u201cknowledge\u201d\u00a0 a \u201crevelatory gift\u201d?\u00a0 If you look at 1 Corinthians 13:2 notice where Paul mentions the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 The Apostle Paul says, \u201cIf I have the gift of prophecy, \u201c didn\u2019t we just get finished teaching that, \u201cand know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You see how Paul connects knowledge with prophecy there?\n\nSo if prophecy is a revelatory gift and he mentions knowledge right in the next clause, then knowledge itself has to be a revelatory gift.\u00a0 So this is not just knowledge of a closed canon; this is a revelatory gift on equal par with Scripture.\u00a0\u00a0 You are a conduit directly of\u201d what? \u201cprophecy\u201d we just got finished defining that, didn\u2019t we, \u201cthey will be done away; if there are tongues,\u201d we\u2019ll talk about tongues in just a minute, \u201cthey will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.\u201d\u00a0 You see how Paul links all three, prophecy, knowledge and tongues.\u00a0 So if prophecy is a revelatory gift (and it is), if tongues, as I\u2019ll explain to you in a minute, is a revelatory gift (and it is) then knowledge also must be what?\u00a0 A revelatory gift.\n\nAnd then just one more for good measure.\u00a0 If you\u2019ll look at 1 Corinthians 14:6 Paul mentions knowledge again.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBut now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues,\u201d a revelatory gift which we\u2019ll define in just a minute, \u201cwhat will I profit you\u201d now there profit is p-r-o-f-i-t, not\u00a0 p-r-o-p-h-e-t. \u201cwhat will I profit you\u00a0 unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy [or of teaching]?\u201d\u00a0 So you see how Paul is connecting there revelation, knowledge and prophecy.\u00a0 So if revelation is a revelatory gift (and it is), if prophecy is a revelatory gift, and it is, then so is knowledge.\n\nSo knowledge, the way I\u2019m explaining it is revelatory gift number two.\u00a0 And then what is revelatory gift number three?\u00a0 It\u2019s something we\u2019ve actually already talked about called \u201ctongues\u201d and the interpretation of tongues.\u00a0 Over in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, we learn that tongues, better translated as languages, was actually a sign gift for who?\u00a0 For the unbeliever.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:21In the Law it is written, \u201cBY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,\u201d says the Lord. [22] So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign,<\/em> not to unbelievers but to those who believe.\u201d\n\nSo in Acts 2 as we worked through that passage we saw that tongues basically was an ability to speak in a language you\u2019ve never studied.\u00a0\u00a0 It was not a mystical language, it was not a secret language, it was an actual known language and that you have never studied it and you were able to break out.\u00a0 You know, if the only thing you all spoke here was Spanish and the only thing I spoke was English, if I was able to break out in perfect Spanish, having never studied it, you would say that must be a miracle of God.\n\nSo that\u2019s basically how tongues functioned in the first century world.\u00a0 It was a sign to the unbeliever that God was doing something new.\u00a0 However, having said all that it does seem to me that there was a use of tongues, not for the non-believer but also for the Christian.\u00a0 And you see a record of this, not in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22 but a few verses later in 1 Corinthians 14:26-27.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cWhat is the outcome<\/em> then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for\u201d what? \u201cedification.\u201d Here it\u2019s talking about something not taking place amongst the unbelievers (as it was taking place in Acts 2, but the way I\u2019m reading this is this is talking about something that takes place within the church, and was taking place in the church.\u00a0 [27] \u201cIf anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be<\/em> by two or at the most three, and each<\/em> in turn, and one must interpret.\u201d\n\nSo it seems to me that there was something very interesting going on in first century Christianity where someone would step up and they would be given a word from God and they were able to sort of express that in a known language.\u00a0 And then there was someone else with another gift; let\u2019s say I expressed a thought in Spanish, having never learned Spanish, but someone else with another gift could take what I just expressed in an unknown language and interpret it for the benefit of who?\u00a0\u00a0 The Christians listening.\u00a0 And through this process what was happening is God was directly revealing truth to His infant church.\n\nSo tongues, the way I\u2019m understanding it is did take place amongst unbelievers, we talked about that, but there was another phenomenon taking place amongst the church, within the church, and therefore that second use of tongues, the way I\u2019m describing it would be a revelatory gift on par with prophets and knowledge.\n\nSo what have we talked about?\u00a0 We\u2019ve talked about the division of the gifts; foundational gifts, we\u2019ve talked about those, confirmatory gifts, we\u2019ve talked about those, but these three gifts that we\u2019ve just gone over, prophet, knowledge\u00a0 tongues and their interpretation we\u2019ve put in a third category.\u00a0 These are called revelatory gifts where God is revealing things to early Christianity directly as these people were exercising their gifts God was speaking directly to first century Christianity.\u00a0 So the question becomes, we\u2019ve explained why the foundational gifts have ceased, we\u2019ve explained why the sign gifts have ceased, the big question becomes have the revelatory gifts ceased.\u00a0 That\u2019s the big debate amongst continuationists and people like ourselves who are selective cessationists.\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice what the Sugar Land Bible Church Statement of Faith, Position Number Seven says, it talks about temporal gifts given by the Holy Spirit solely to authenticate both the apostles and their message,\u201d look what our statement says, \u201cbefore the close of the canon of Scripture\u201d and notice what verse we quote there, 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, and then our statement goes on and says, \u201cWe do not believe that these gifts are active today.\u201d\u00a0 So the position of Sugar Land Bible Church is this: when the perfect, otherwise known as the telion<\/em>, which we believe represents the completed canon of Scripture, when that telion<\/em>, when that perfect came into existence at the close of the first century with John penning the Book of Revelation, once he got to Revelation 22, the very last verse in the chapter, I think it\u2019s verse 21, once he penned those words God silenced, or God stopped the revelatory gifts.\n\nWhat are the revelatory gifts?\u00a0 Knowledge, prophecy and the use of tongues and interpretation within the assembly.\u00a0 Now before I defend why it is we believe it the way we do I just want\u00a0 us to understand number one, what the revelatory gifts are, and number two, what the position of Sugar Land Bible Church is on this.\n\nSo to get biblical proof for what it is we\u2019re arguing we have to very carefully study a paragraph in the writings of the Apostle Paul, it\u2019s the paragraph I had you open up to initially, it\u2019s 1 Corinthians 13:8-13.\u00a0 So now that you know what the revelatory gifts are and what the position of our church is.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 13:8-13, \u201cLove never fails; but if there are gifts of<\/em> prophecy, they will be done away; if there are<\/em> tongues, they will cease; if there is<\/em> knowledge, it will be done away. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part; [10] but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. [11] When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. [12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. [13] But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d]\n\nNow the next step is to understand why it is we believe the way we do and to get the picture on that you have to understand this paragraph in the writings of Paul and you have to be able to interpret this paragraph correctly.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the reasoning of the paper that I gave you to study.\u00a0 And so I\u2019m sort of taking the summation of that paper and I\u2019m presenting it to you over the next several weeks in this particular Sunday School class.\n\nSo here we go: we have in Paul\u2019s writings 1 Corinthians 12-14.\u00a0 What is Paul talking about in 1 Corinthians 12-14?\u00a0 He is talking about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 Now one of the things to understand is all the way through 1 Corinthians Paul is dealing with the issue of divisions.\u00a0 I have some verses there at the top of the screen where he\u2019s taking aim at issues within the church that are causing disunity.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see him dealing with that in chapter 1, verse 11, chapter 3 verse 22.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 1:11, \u201cFor I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 3:22, \u201cwhether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you.\u201d]\n\nOf course it\u2019s the whole point of chapter 6 where they\u2019re suing each other, these Corinthians.\u00a0 There\u2019s divisions related to how they\u2019re practicing the Lord\u2019s Supper. There\u2019s divisions because some of them are even denying the doctrine of the resurrection. So all the way through Paul is attacking divisions, divisions, divisions, that are\u00a0 unnecessary.\u00a0 And he\u2019s promoting unity, unity, unity, unity, unity.\u00a0 That\u2019s how to understand chapters 12-14.\u00a0 The only reason he brings up spiritual gifts in chapters 12-14 is the way the Corinthians were\u00a0 using these revelatory gifts; they were using them in a way that was sort of narcissistic, self-serving, and it was causing divisions within the assembly.\n\nSo Paul\u2019s point in chapter 12, 1 Corinthians 12 is there are many gifts for the use in what?\u00a0 One body.\u00a0 Many gifts, one body!\u00a0 So he\u2019s getting them to understand that you\u2019re using the gifts in a divisive way although these gifts are multifaceted they were always intended by God to be used in one body.\u00a0 They were to be used in an atmosphere of unity.\n\nAnd then he continues his discussion into chapter 14 where he talks about two things; priority and order.\u00a0 If you have to choose between tongues and prophesying Paul says pick prophesying because when the prophet prophesies in a language everybody understands the whole church can be built up.\u00a0 If you have tongues taking place with no interpretation no one is edified.\u00a0 How can you be edified listening to something in a language you don\u2019t understand if no one is present with the gift of interpretation of tongues.\n\nSo he\u2019s getting at the issue of priority and he\u2019s getting at the issue of order because what was happening is prophets were standing up and interrupting each other; people were speaking in tongues and they were claiming, you know, this ecstatic utterance comes over me and I just can\u2019t control myself.\u00a0 And Paul says the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, you have complete control over whatever it is God has given you but you need to express yourself in an orderly way and that\u2019s why He starts to lay out rules two to three at most should be prophesying, they should be done in order, and don\u2019t start rattling off in an unknown language, a language that\u2019s known perhaps that you\u2019ve never learned and the folks in your block have never learned,\u00a0 unless you have someone there to interpret what\u2019s going on, because who can be edified through that process of no interpretation.\n\nSo that is the big idea in chapters 12-14 and what does he sandwich into the middle of that discussion? It\u2019s something that\u2019s in all your cards, Christian cards, it\u2019s the love chapter.\u00a0 Now doesn\u2019t that seem kind of odd?\u00a0 I mean, he\u2019s dealing with spiritual gifts in chapter 12, he\u2019s dealing with spiritual gifts in chapter 14, and almost out of the clear blue he inserts this whole discussion about love.\u00a0 And we say well what in the world is that chapter doing here?\u00a0 Well obviously this chapter is inserted because the Corinthians were using the revelatory gifts in a what kind of manner?\u00a0 Unloving manner, a narcissistic manner, a self-serving manner, and thus Paul, in the midst of his discussion about spiritual gifts starts talking about the nature of love.\n\nAnd you know, these chapter divisions, as I\u2019m sure you know, were not put there by the Holy Spirit, man put those chapter divisions in the Bible and sometimes I think the chapter divisions are helpful, other times I think they do more harm than good.\u00a0 And this is a case where I think they do more harm than good because most people are totally focused on the love chapter because it says some wonderful things about love and the nature of love and they don\u2019t really understand why Paul is talking about this.\u00a0 Paul doesn\u2019t start talking about love until he first deals with the subject of spiritual gifts, and the reason he starts talking about love is because of the self-centered way that the Corinthians were using their various gifts.\n\nSo chapters 12-14 is all one connected unit; there\u2019s not three parts to this.\u00a0 The chapter divisions give you the impression there\u2019s three separated ideas here, in fact, these are not separate ideas, these are all related.\u00a0 So having said all that we need to focus for just a minute on the so-called love chapter.\u00a0 That chapter has three parts.\u00a0 Number one, the necessity of love, verses 1-3, and that\u2019s where Paul says what good is it if I have faith and move mountains and fathom all mysteries but don\u2019t have love, I am but a what?\u00a0 Clanging going.\n\nSo after he deals with the importance of love or the necessity of love then he deals with the nature of love.\u00a0 I mean, what is love exactly?\u00a0\u00a0 Our culture throws the word love around all of the time; after all we have a series on television called\u00a0 The Love Boat, so we all think we understand what love is.\u00a0 And we have Valentine\u2019s Day and a young woman will marry a\u00a0 young man because he says he loves here.\u00a0 What exactly is love?\u00a0 Paul explains what the nature of love is; love is not rude, it is not impatient, it doesn\u2019t seek its own, love certainly should not be equated with lust.\u00a0 Lust can\u2019t wait to get; biblical love on the other hand can\u2019t wait to give.\u00a0 So he explains to us verses that we\u2019re very familiar with on the nature of love.\n\nThen in verses 8-13 which is really the key paragraph to come out correctly on why the revelatory gifts had ceased he starts to talk about the endurance of love and how love is actually going to\u00a0 outlast everything.\u00a0 Love is actually going to outlast faith and hope, I\u2019ll talk about that in just a second, and love is actually going to outlast the revelatory gifts because after all, when the perfect comes the revelatory gifts will cease.\u00a0 So now we\u2019ve got to figure out what is the perfect; unless you understand what the perfect is you can\u2019t understand why we believe the way we believe today at Sugar Land Bible Church, that those revelatory gifts ceased.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why we\u2019re moving into\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, a very important paragraph. You already have\u00a0 your Bibles open so let\u2019s read these verses.\n\nVerses 8-13,\u00a0 again dealing with the subject of the endurance of love.\u00a0 Paul having already discussed the necessity of love, and the nature of love in the context of the church, using the revelatory gifts in a narcissistic manner.\u00a0 Paul says, verse 8, \u201cLove never fails; but if there are gifts of<\/em> prophecy, they will be done away; if there are<\/em> tongues, they will cease; if there is<\/em> knowledge, it will be done away.\u201d These are all revelatory gifts.\u00a0 [9] \u201cFor we know in part and we prophesy in part;\u201d now look at verse 10, \u201c but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.\u00a0 I mean, our first order of business is to figure out what is he talking about here when he says \u201cwhen the perfect\u201d because how you define \u201cthe perfect\u201d determines your view on how the revelatory gifts ceased or not.\u00a0 Do you follow me?\n\nHe continues on in verses 11-13, and he says, \u201cWhen I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. [12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. [13] But now faith, hope, love, abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d\u00a0 Love is never going to stop; faith and hope will stop and the revelatory gifts will stop when \u201cthe perfect\u201d comes.\u00a0 So the big question is what does He mean by \u201cthe perfect.\u201d\n\nYou can take verses 8-13 and you can sort of put them into the following outline.\u00a0 What is he saying there in verses 8 and 10?\u00a0 Unlike love, the revelatory gifts will cease with the manifestation of the telion<\/em>, which is a Greek neutered adjective\u00a0 translated in most Bibles as a perfect.\u00a0 And what he\u2019s telling these Corinthians is you guys are all infatuated with these revelatory gifts that you possess; you\u2019re not\u00a0 using them in a very loving manner and in fact, what you\u2019re doing is you\u2019re majoring on the minors because when the perfect comes those gifts are going to disappear.\u00a0 Love will never disappear but your gifting will disappear.\u00a0 So instead of focusing on your gifting, how important it makes you feel, you ought to focus on love because love will never cease.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he\u2019s saying there in verses 8-10.\n\nThen in verses 11-12 he gives two illustrations. What is it going to be like when the revelatory gifts cease?\u00a0 It will be the transition from immaturity to maturity.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the transition from childhood to adulthood.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he\u2019s getting at there in verse 11.\u00a0 And then he gives a second illustration as to what it will be like when the revelatory gifts cease; it will be like moving from limited sight to full sight.\u00a0 And then he says something absolutely astounding, I mean, for years in my Christian life, it took me many, many years to try to metabolize and understand these verses. Verse 13 just blows my mind.\u00a0 He gives sort of a concluding statement and he says, \u201cBut now faith, hope, love, abide,\u201d three things, \u201cfaith, hope, love \u2026 but the greatest of these is\u201d what? \u201cis love.\u201d\u00a0 Now don\u2019t we preach faith all the time, \u201cfor without faith it\u2019s impossible to please God.\u201d\u00a0 Did you know that there\u2019s coming a time in history where faith itself won\u2019t even be needed.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 What is faith?\u00a0 It\u2019s hoping in what\u00a0 you can\u2019t see, right, Hebrews 11:1.\u00a0 [Hebrews 11:1, \u201cNow faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.\u201d]\n\nBut when you see Jesus Christ face to face there\u2019s no need for faith any more, is there?\u00a0 See, you get an opportunity now to exercise faith, because you don\u2019t see Christ face to face, but when you see Him face to face even the need for faith disappears.\u00a0 I have in parenthesis there 2 Corinthians 5:7 where the Apostle Paul says, \u201cfor we walk by faith, not by sight.\u201d\u00a0 One of these days though I\u2019m going to see Christ so even the need to trust Christ will no longer be necessary because I won\u2019t be walking in the dark, I\u2019ll be walking by faith.\n\nOne of the things my wife says to me all the time when we have a little issue going on in our family or some sort of crisis coming in from the outside, she always says to me, \u201cwell you know what, we really need to trust the Lord through this because the day is going to come when we won\u2019t have to trust the Lord any more.\u201d\u00a0 So we\u2019re being given a unique opportunity to trust Christ at this moment in history that we won\u2019t always have.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that a wonderful perspective there, because the day will come when you won\u2019t need to trust Christ anymore because what is there to trust in when you see Him face to face?\n\nAnd He says faith will disappear, hope will disappear.\u00a0 What is hope?\u00a0 It\u2019s certainty of what you can\u2019t see.\u00a0 And when you look at the Book of Romans, chapter 8 and verse 24, there\u2019s coming a day when even hope itself won\u2019t exist anymore. Romans 8:24 says, \u201cFor in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?\u201d\u00a0 So hope is something I get to enjoy now but one of these days hope itself won\u2019t even be needed.\u00a0 But of the three, faith and hope, which are very important, and love, which one will never disappear?\u00a0\u00a0 Love will just keep on going throughout eternity, throughout the eons of time.\n\nSo what is Paul doing here with the Corinthians?\u00a0 He\u2019s basically saying you guys are majoring on the minors; I mean, you\u2019re completely enthralled with your revelatory gifts, you don\u2019t understand that when the perfect comes those gifts will disappear.\u00a0 And what you ought to be focusing on is love and using those gifts while they exist in a loving manner because the day will come where love will even exceed the great triad of faith, hope and love.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why the love chapter is inserted where\u2019s inserted in Paul\u2019s writings.\n\nSo that is just the context of the paragraph that we\u2019re now entering into.\u00a0 So what, then, becomes the twenty dollar question?\u00a0\u00a0 If the revelatory gifts, verses 8-10, cease when the perfect comes we\u2019ve got to figure out what the perfect is, because this passage says, \u201cLove never fails, but if there are gifts of<\/em> prophecy, they will be done away; if there are<\/em> tongues, they will cease; if there is<\/em> know\u00adledge, it will be done away with.\u00a0 [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part; [10] but when the perfect comes,\u201d now the Greek word for perfect is teleios<\/em>, that is a Greek adjective and listen to me very carefully, it is not masculine, it is neuter.\u00a0 You say well who cares?\u00a0 It\u2019ll become a very big, BIG deal, I\u2019m think next week when I finally get to what I want to say about the teleios<\/em>, \u201cbut when the perfect\u201d or the teleios<\/em> comes,\u201d just write down, Greek neuter adjective, when you see teleios<\/em> or perfect in your Bible you should circle perfect and you should put an arrow into the column and you should put Greek neuter adjective teleion<\/em>, that\u2019s what the perfect is.\n\n\u201cBut when the perfect\u201d or the teleion <\/em>comes the partial,\u201d what\u2019s the partial?\u00a0 The revelatory gifts; what are the three revelatory gifts?\u00a0 Prophecy, as we\u2019ve defined it, knowledge as we\u2019ve defined it, tongues and the interpretation of tongues as we\u2019ve defined it.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the perfect comes\u201d those revelatory gifts, which are very active in the first century, although they were being used in a narcissistic way, those gifts will be done away with.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve got to figure out what is \u201cthe perfect,\u201d teleios,<\/em> because how you define the perfect lands you on the theological landscape concerning whether the revelatory gifts are here today or not.\n\nAnd you say well, gee, Andy, don\u2019t all Christians agree on this?\u00a0 If all Christians agreed on this and if this was an easy thing to understand then there would be absolute unity in the body of Christ on it, right?\u00a0 But this is not the easiest thing to understand and that\u2019s why I had to write\u2026 how long is that paper, 30 pages, 40 pages, trying to defend the view.\u00a0 There are three views on what the teleion<\/em> is.\u00a0 The first view is that the teleion<\/em> or the perfect\u2026 and this is the view that most of you know because this is the view that, for whatever reason, has the greatest market share; most of your study Bibles take this view, even my beloved Charles Ryrie in his study Bible takes this view.\u00a0 The view is the teleion<\/em> is the eschaton<\/em> or the end typically defined as the rapture, the second coming of Christ or even the eternal state.\u00a0 Some would say death but teleion<\/em> is referring to something that happens in the future, either you die or the rapture occurs, or the second advent occurs, or we\u2019re ushered into the eternal state and that\u2019s what the teleion<\/em> is.\n\nBut I\u2019m here to tell you, beloved, that that\u2019s a very popular view but it\u2019s got some major holes in\u00a0\u00a0 it; in fact, there are loopholes so big in this view you could probably drive a Mac truck into the loopholes.\u00a0 And most people are never taught what the problems are, they\u2019re just taught this is what the Bibles says, believe it.\u00a0 When you get into the Greek languages, which we\u2019re going to be getting into in this study, you\u2019re going to see there\u2019s major problems with that view.\u00a0 But that\u2019s the most popular view.\n\nThe second view out there is the teleion<\/em> represents the maturity of the church.\u00a0 And the maturity of the church is sort of defined a lot of different ways, the death of the apostles where the new infant church could become independent, a completed canon of Scripture where the infant church can now become independent of the apostles.\u00a0 Some define it as A.D. 70 when the church was no longer Jewish because Rome sacked Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and therefore the church had made a final break away from Judaism and so you find this second view kind of floating around out there, which I think is a lot closer to the truth than the first view.\u00a0 But they define teleion<\/em> as the maturity of the church, therefore the church and the revelatory gifts ceased when the church became mature.\u00a0 That\u2019s a less known view, that\u2019s view number two.\n\nWhat we think, based on our doctrinal statement and more importantly based on our study of the Word of God, what we think is the correct view is view number three, the teleion<\/em> is not the second coming, it\u2019s not the rapture, it\u2019s not death, it\u2019s not the eternal state, it\u2019s not when the infant church became mature, it\u2019s when this book was completed, this book here.\u00a0 Once you get to book sixty-six and John pens Revelation 22, I think the last verse in that chapter is verse 21, once that happens God took the temporal revelatory gifts, which are prophecy, knowledge, tongues and their interpretation, and stopped those gifts.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because there was no longer a need for direct communication from God because God had disclosed to us an all sufficient Scripture.\u00a0 See that?\n\nEach of these views has some problems with them but what I\u2019m going to try to demonstrate is view number three has a lot fewer problems than the others, and I think view number three is the correct view.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice position statement number seven in the Sugar Land Bible Church teaching positions and we define the teleion<\/em> as the close of the canon of Scripture, and you see what verses we\u2019re quoting there?\u00a0 1 Corinthians 13:8-10.\u00a0 So you are basically in a church that believes that the revelatory gifts ceased with the concluding of the canon of Scripture, Book 66, Book 27 of the New Testament back in the first century.\u00a0 So there are no tongues today the way they\u2019re described here.\u00a0 There is no prophecy today the way it\u2019s described here.\u00a0 There is no word of knowledge today the way it\u2019s described here.\n\nWhat you have today are people in the body of Christ that are gifted and understanding what God has disclosed and proclaiming what God has already revealed but that is completely different than saying so and so is some sort of direct channel, direct conduit of divine truth.\u00a0 And let me tell you something, if you believe this view, put your battle gear on because this view is totally dismissed.\u00a0 In fact, when you bring up this view in charismatic circles this is the answer you\u2019re going to get: well, that\u2019s ridiculous.\u00a0 I\u2019m not kidding, I\u2019ve brought up this view many, many times, even in my own household, not my immediate household but my uncle and my cousin who love Jesus just as much as I do, we don\u2019t agree on this.\u00a0 They think all of the gifts are in operation today; I don\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I bring up 1 Corinthians 13 and immediately what comes out of their mouth is that\u2019s ridiculous.\n\nNow you might be familiar with Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, he was the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London for about thirty years, he is very influential in Reform circles. He\u2019s passed on now but he inherited this church from some greats, one of them in the lineage was a guy named G. Campbell Morgan, you might be familiar with him and his writings from the past.\u00a0 And this is the attitude (and I respect many of the things Martin Lloyd Jones said and taught) he is about as reformed as the day is long, very Calvinistic, very sort of amillennial if I\u2019m understand his eschatology correctly, I may be off on his eschatology, but very Reformed.\u00a0 I\u2019m not!\u00a0 But I still have a lot of respect for some of the ideas that he promoted, like the sufficiency of Scripture and those kinds of things.\u00a0 He\u2019s a very interesting guy, he was trained as a medical doctor and then I believe God used him very strategically in London for the thirty years he was at Westminster Chapel in London.\n\nAnd he says of the Canon view:\u00a0 \u201cIt means that you and I, who have the Scriptures open before us, know much more than the apostle Paul of Gods truth....\u201d\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to be answering these objections as we go.\u00a0 \u201cIt means that we are altogether superior...even to the apostles themselves, including the apostle Paul! It means that we are now in a position which . . . \u2018we know, even as we are known\u2019\u00a0 by God . . . indeed, there is only one word to describe such a view, it is nonsense.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Prove All Things<\/em>, ed. Christopher Catherwood (Eastbourne, England: Kingsway, 1985), 32\u201333.]\n\nThis is a great scholar here I\u2019m quoting.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to show you is this is common; this is how rapidly in our modern day society the canon view is just dismissed out of hand and so we have to sort of understand how to argue for our position.\u00a0 I will say this, very interestingly, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, when he passed, his church was basically Westminster Church chapel in London was basically taken over by the charismatic movement.\u00a0 He passed and one of his successors down the chain was a guy named R. T. Kindle.\u00a0 If you study the works of R. T. Kindle he\u2019s very charismatic, a Pentecostal, continuationists.\u00a0 In fact, my best friend in high school who is serving the Lord in the military visited this particular church and he told me that this church is completely open to all the manifestations of the Holy Spirit; there\u2019s a total emphasis on personal prophecy gifts and tongues.\u00a0 And I can\u2019t help but think that if the late Martyn-Lloyd Jones really didn\u2019t believe in those practices had taken a more aggressive stand on what the teleion<\/em> is then his church would not have gone in the direction that it has gone into.\n\nSo we\u2019re going to be arguing for the canon view and what I\u2019ll be doing as we progress is I\u2019ll give you the other views first, I\u2019ll show you their inadequacies, and then finally we\u2019ll be progressing to the Canon view, I will make you completely aware of the problems with the completed canon view but I will show you that there are answers to all the objections.\u00a0 That\u2019s sort of the trajectory that we\u2019re going to argue that the revelatory gifts have ceased.\u00a0 I did talk a little bit over today, what s shock\u2026 right?\u00a0 And so we\u2019ll be opening up to Q & A as we progress in the study, but let\u2019s pray.\n\nFather, I pray You\u2019ll give us clear minds and hearts as we look at a difficult issue in this Sunday School class and help us to come down correctly on this and have Your mind and why it\u2019s important and we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. 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