{"id":18487,"date":"2018-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-028-spiritual-gifts-8\/"},"modified":"2018-07-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-028-spiritual-gifts-8","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-028-spiritual-gifts-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 028: Spiritual Gifts 8"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18487","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 028: Spiritual Gifts 8","sermon_date":"20180708","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5899,"sermon_slides":5898,"sermon_mp3":5907,"sermon_id":"7818101774","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 28, Spiritual Gifts 8\n\n7-8-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 28\n\nI\u2019m going to open us up in a word of prayer so let\u2019s pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for today, grateful for this morning, grateful for Your Word, grateful for the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 I do ask, Father, that You\u2019ll be with us in Sunday School particularly as we deal with sort of a delicate issue and be with us in the main service as we study the Book of Revelation together.\u00a0 I do pray, Father, specifically that You would do something eternal here today, either change someone\u2019s mind about something so that they can apply it to their lives as a Christian, or if they\u2019re unsaved we pray, Father, that people would trust in Christ and Christ alone today for salvation.\u00a0 And we ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.\n\nGood morning everybody, I hope you all are enjoying this cool weather, Texas plus July does not equal cold weather, Amen!\u00a0 Praise the Lord for the rain.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles in Sunday School and let\u2019s open up to 1 Corinthians 13:8, and for those that are tracking in with us in Sunday School for the first time you might feel like you\u2019re getting hit with a sledge hammer because we\u2019ve been inching into one of the most difficult and controversial subjects in the body of Christ and that has to do with the charismatic movement.\u00a0 The reason we\u2019re going into this is it\u2019s part of our study on ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve talked about how one of the great purposes of the church is to equip God\u2019s people for their area of service, depending on their area of gifting.\n\nSo consequently one of the great discoveries you have to make as a Christian that God has in front of you is the discovery of your spiritual gift or gifts.\u00a0 And it is a terribly exciting thing to discover that God has gifted you and we\u2019re all gifted to do different things. So we\u2019ve been doing a study on spiritual gifts, as it relates to the subject of the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 And so we\u2019ve made some general observations about spiritual gifts and then we have to address the big elephant in the room, are all the spiritual gifts for today because when you examine the various places in the Bible that speak of spiritual gifts, and there\u2019s basically four chapters that enumerate the various spiritual gifts, you\u2019re going to run into these gifts.\n\nThere\u2019s probably about twenty-two gifts total, maybe a little more, but you\u2019re also going to run into these seven:\u00a0 Number 1, apostle, Number 2, prophet, Number 3, workers of miracles, Number 4, tongues, Number 5, interpretation of tongues, Number 6, the gift of healing, and Number 7, the gift of knowledge.\n\nAnd you might be saying to yourself well how come we don\u2019t practice those here at Sugar Land Bible Church?\u00a0\u00a0 Where is the tongues, where is the miracles, and those kinds of things.\u00a0 Now I go to the church down the street and all those things are in full operation, you might say, but I don\u2019t see them in operation here at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 So what\u2019s the deal?\u00a0 How come you guys are holding out on us?\u00a0 And what you have to understand is within Christianity today, within Christen\u00addom today there\u2019s two ways of approaching this subject.\u00a0 You have what are called the charismatics or continuationists, and they basically believe that every gift you see in the New Testament is fully in operation today, including tongues, apostles, laying on of hands and people immediately being healed, and that kind of thing.\u00a0 So that\u2019s group A.\n\nGroup B is where we fit on the theological orbit, where we call ourselves not cessationists necessarily but selective cessationists.\u00a0 In other words, we believe that those seven gifts that I just had on the screen ceased back in the first century.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve explained that this is basically the doctrine position of Sugar Land Bible Church, and more important than understanding the doctrine of the position of Sugar Land Bible Church is the following issue: does the Bible really teach this?\u00a0 I mean, does it really teach that some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are very active in the Book of Acts, for example, somehow ceased with the death of the apostles back in the first century.\n\nAnd most people have never heard the case for selective cessationism, so that\u2019s why I\u2019ve been trying to sort of gradually walk through this and sort of explain our thinking on this and why we believe the way we do here at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 And it really relates to taking the gifts of the Holy Spirit and putting them into four categories.\u00a0 The first category is what\u2019s called the foundational gifts, and as we have explained in prior studies these are the gifts of apostle and prophet, and these are gifts that the Lord used to lay the foundation of the church.\u00a0 And we all know that you lay a foundation how many times?\u00a0 ONE time.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve done teaching on those two gifts and why we think they ceased.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m doing right now is just reviewing a little bit.\n\nThen there\u2019s a second series of gifts called sign gifts or the confirmatory gifts and we noted that in the Word of God, and these would include workers of miracles, tongues and healing.\u00a0 Miracles have a tendency to cluster around time periods when God is inaugurating something new.\u00a0 And so miracles in the Bible cluster around six basic errors, including when the church started.\u00a0 And once the church got off the ground those sign gifts ceased because God was not doing something new.\u00a0 When He started the church in Acts 2 He was reversing 1,500 years of history where God was dealing with the nation of Israel. Suddenly in Acts 2 He did something new, the body of Christ is formed and started at that point.\u00a0 And so God testified to it through various signs and miracles.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why we believe that certain sign gifts, such as workers of miracles and tongues and healing ceased in the first century, because those were signs that God used to authenticate what He was doing that was brand new, the age of the church.\n\nWe\u2019ve also been very clear that although the gift of healing has passed we still believe God heals today.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 It\u2019s just when He does so He does it directly according to His will, rather than indirectly through someone that claims they have the gift of healing.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve also spent a lot of time explaining that God doesn\u2019t necessarily heal everybody today and why that\u2019s true.\u00a0 So you can go back into the archives and catch the teachings on that.\n\nThen there\u2019s a third category of gifts that we started talking about last week in Sunday School and these are basically what you call the revelatory gifts.\u00a0 Revelatory gifts would include prophet, tongues and their interpretation, and also the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 And we were very careful on how we defined these revelatory gifts.\u00a0 These are gifts that were in operation in the first century where God, through a prophet, and here we\u2019re talking about New Testament prophets, they were revealing truth as a direct channel on equal par with Scripture itself.\u00a0 We also believe, based on the teaching last week, that the gift of knowledge is one of those revelatory gifts, not knowledge in terms of understanding what God has revealed already but knowledge, a gift of knowledge in effect where somebody was basically a conduit of divine revelation.\n\nAnd then a little, I don\u2019t want to say gimmick but a little linguistic device that was given to me this week by a former charismatic, is the following: tongues plus interpretation of tongues equals prophecy.\u00a0 So there is a particular use of tongues or languages in the New Testament, you\u2019ll see it in 1 Corinthians 14:26-27, where someone would speak in a language that they\u2019ve never learned and then it would be interpreted for the congregation.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:26-28, \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 edification. [27] If 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; [28] but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.\u201d]And then through that process God was revealing new truths that His church\u2026, very similar as to how the gift of prophecy was working.\n\nSo we have explained in detail that these were basically what you call revelatory gifts; these were gifts where actually new truth was being revealed on equal par with Scripture itself.\u00a0 And we\u2019re trying to make the case that just as the foundational gifts ceased, just as the confirmatory gifts ceased, we also believe that the revelatory gifts have ceased as well.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of where we are in our study and the key chapter on this is 1 Corinthians 13 and the key paragraph on this is 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, which we introduced last time.\u00a0 So let\u2019s sort of review what 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 says.\n\n[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,\u201d now here it\u2019s talking about the revelatory gift of knowledge, \u201cif there<\/em> is knowledge\u00a0 it will be done away. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part;\u201d and here\u2019s the key phrase or verse, \u00a0[10] \u201cbut when the perfect comes,\u201d that\u2019s the Greek word telioin<\/em>, \u00a0the partial\u201d what\u2019s the partial?\u00a0 Prophecy, tongues and knowledge will be done away with.\u201d And then it goes on and it says,\u00a0 [11] \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\n\nSo last time I sort of gave you this outline about paragraph and it\u2019s a three part outline; verses 8-10 say unlike love the revelatory gifts will cease.\u00a0 And the reason Paul is bringing this up is because the Corinthians in their carnality were using these revelatory gifts in a self-serving manner.\u00a0 And Paul says instead of being focused on those gifts you ought to focus on love because love will never cease but your revelatory gifts will cease when the perfect comes.\u00a0 That\u2019s verses 8-10.\u00a0 Then he illustrates his point through basically two illustrations, as the church transitions from the revelatory gifts to the perfect, it will be like the movement from immaturity to maturity, verse 11.\u00a0 \u00a0It will be like the movement from limited sight to full sight, verse 12.\u00a0 And then he says finally in verse 13 but love will never cease.\u00a0 In fact, the day will come when faith won\u2019t be necessary because you\u2019ll actually be with Jesus, you don\u2019t have to exercise faith in the presence of Jesus Christ because faith is the substance of things that are not seen, right?\u00a0 And hope itself will disappear; hope is confidence of the future but when you\u2019re with Jesus in the future\u00a0 your hope will be realized so hope will become unnecessary at that point.\u00a0 But what will never cease?\u00a0 Love will continue on.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he says love, faith and hope but the greatest of these things is love.\u00a0 So he\u2019s trying to get the Corinthians to focus on the issue of love because love will transcend, number one the revelatory gifts, verses\u00a0 8-10.\u00a0 And love will actually transcend faith and hope, verse 13.\n\nSo that\u2019s sort of the context of our paragraph.\u00a0 Now what then is the key issue?\u00a0 Well, the key issue in this whole discussion is what in the world is Paul talking about there in verse 10 when he talks about \u201cthe perfect,\u201d the Greek word telioin<\/em>, what does that even mean, because he specifically says that when the perfect comes the revelatory gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge will disappear. So there\u2019s been sort of a battle taking place within evangelicalism concerning what in the world is the perfect or the telioin<\/em> in verse 10 because how you define the telioin<\/em> or the perfect in verse 10 will shape your view on whether the revelatory gifts have ceased or now.\u00a0 Does that make sense?\n\nAnd as you can imagine this is not an easy subject to deal with because there\u2019s three views on it.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m going to do is walk you through these three views and make the case for the last view.\u00a0 But I\u2019m kind of one of those teachers where I don\u2019t just come out and tell you what the right view is, what we think the right view is, I\u2019d rather you first see why the other views are inadequate.\u00a0 And once we tear down that stronghold (if you will) then we\u2019ll be in a position to present the right view.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why that paper that I wrote that hopefully was passed out to you either last week or this week is helpful because I try to argue this position in the form of an academic paper and so if you want to go deeper into the subject you have the paper where you can go deeper into it.\n\nThe first view on the telioin<\/em> is telioin, <\/em>or the \u201cperfect\u201d verse 10, is something that takes place in the eschaton<\/em>, now eschaton<\/em> means last or end.\u00a0 And this is probably the most popular view out there.\u00a0 This is a view that shows up in most of the study Bibles and basically what they mean by the eschaton<\/em> or the end is they sort of connect it with something related to the second coming of Christ.\u00a0 So the telioin<\/em> could be the rapture, when the rapture happens tongues and prophecy and knowledge will cease.\u00a0 Some say well, it\u2019s the second advent of Christ where Jesus comes back and His feet touch the Mount of Olives, that\u2019s when tongues, prophecy and knowledge will cease.\n\nOther people say it\u2019s the eternal state and if you look at verse 12 very carefully, Paul says, \u201cFor now we see dimly in a mirror, but then face to face,\u201d and when you cross reference that (1 Corinthians 13:12) with the last chapter in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 22:4, it says, \u201cthey will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.\u201d\u00a0 And so a lot of people connect Revelation 22:4, which is talking about the eternal state, they connect it with 1 Corinthians 13:`12.\u00a0 And so they argue that the telioin<\/em> is the eternal state.\u00a0\u00a0 Once the eternal state comes then prophecy, tongues and knowledge will cease.\n\nNow let me just give you a little clue here without revealing all of my arguments.\u00a0 When you look\u00a0 at verse 12 does it say there we\u2019re going to see God face to face?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that, does it?\u00a0 The word God has to be completely read into the passage of verse 12 to make that point.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to be making the case that what you\u2019re going to see face to face is your own reflection through the completed canon.\u00a0 So just sort of tuck that back in the back of your mind for a few weeks and God willing we will get there, hopefully before we actually do see Jesus face to face.\u00a0 Amen.\n\nSo the first of the views is that this is really something that relates to the end times, that\u2019s what the perfect is.\u00a0 So they will argue that the telioin<\/em> is basically something ideal, perfect or unblemished, because that\u2019s what the return of Christ is, it\u2019s perfection, right?\u00a0 And they will argue it\u2019s the rapture, it\u2019s the second coming, it\u2019s the eternal state, some people believe it\u2019s referring to death because to be absent from the body is to be what?\u00a0 Present with the Lord.\u00a0 And so that is probably the majority position that\u2019s out there, it\u2019s related to something, what we would call in the eschaton<\/em>, or the end.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice in verse 12 the\u00a0 now\/then language.\u00a0 If you look at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says, \u201cFor now we see dimly in a mirror, but then face to face, now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.\u201d\u00a0 So how do they interpret the \u201cnow\/then\u201d language according to the first view, the eschaton<\/em> view.\u00a0\u00a0 The \u201cnow\u201d is when the revelatory gifts are in operation; the \u201cnow\u201d is tongues, interpretation of prophecy and knowledge being in effect.\u00a0 The \u201cthen\u201d (verse 12) is those revelatory gifts ceasing after Jesus comes back.\u00a0 That\u2019s how they handle the now\/then language.\n\nAnd as I\u2019ve mentioned before this view, the eschaton<\/em> view or the end view is the most popular view today within Christianity.\u00a0 How do they handle the illustrations, there\u2019s two illustrations.\u00a0 Verse 11 the immaturity to maturity, so they would say the church is in immaturity today and won\u2019t be in full maturity until Jesus comes back.\u00a0 And Paul talks about knowing in part and knowing in full, verse 12, so now we know in part but when Jesus comes back then we will know in full.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s probably the most popular view out there, is the eschaton<\/em> view or the end view.\u00a0 In fact, most of my Christian life and walk that\u2019s the only view that ever knew.\u00a0 It\u2019s not until you actually begin to get into the literature and explore the debate you learn that this is a hotly contested issue.\u00a0 But most people think that it\u2019s a slam\/dunk, the perfect coming is something related to the second advent of Christ and if that\u2019s true then the revelatory gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, knowledge and prophecy you can expect them to occur and continue until Jesus comes back.\n\nAnd what I\u2019d like to show you is that view has some major problems with it.\u00a0 These are problems very significant but you probably would never become aware of them unless someone that studied the issue told\u00a0 you about these problems.\u00a0 So what I have on this slide are six basic problems with the eschaton<\/em> view.\n\nThe first problem is the telios<\/em> or the telioin<\/em> in verse 10 never means perfection, EVER, because what people believe is the perfect is absolutely perfect, no flaw, no blemish, no sin, and it\u2019s related to the kingdom, it\u2019s related to the eternal state, it\u2019s related to the rapture, it\u2019s related to the second coming, it\u2019s related to seeing Jesus at death, and they define telios, telioin<\/em> as something that is completely and totally unblemished.\u00a0 And when you study this word out in its use in the Bible telioin<\/em>, what you\u2019ll discover is that word never means that.\u00a0 Well, what does it mean? It means a lot of different things but not perfection.\u00a0 Sometimes it refers to a grown man; a grown man is not a perfect man, right?\u00a0 He\u2019s not a person that is sinless but a person that sins less.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see the use of telioin<\/em> that way even in this book and chapter.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 14:20, Philippians 3:15, Ephesians 4:13.\u00a0 \u00a0[1 Corinthians 14:20, \u201cBrethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.\u201d\u00a0 Philippians 3:15, \u201cLet us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 4:13, \u201cuntil we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.\u201d]\n\nSometimes telios<\/em> means maturity.\u00a0 Now just because you\u2019re mature doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re perfect. Colossians 4:12.\u00a0 [Colossians 4:12, \u201cEpaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.\u201d]\n\nSometimes telios<\/em> means complete; now complete doesn\u2019t mean perfect.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that usage in Romans 12:2.\u00a0 [Romans 12:2, \u201cAnd do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.\u201d]\n\nAnd what\u2019s very interesting about this is Paul, in this whole metaphor, uses himself as an example.\u00a0 You see how he says when I was a child, when I became a man I did away with childish things, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, now I know in part, Paul says if you want to see what telioin<\/em> looks like he points to himself.\u00a0 Now Paul was a terrific guy, right\u2026 amen!\u00a0 Where would we be without the Apostle Paul?\u00a0\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is as mature as Paul became he never became sinless.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because he had his own struggles with the flesh.\u00a0 You can read about them in Romans 7.\u00a0 He actually says in Galatians 5:16, that within him the new nature and the old nature were at war with each other.\u00a0 [Galatians 5:16, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.\u201d]\n\nPaul frequently calls himself \u201cthe least\u201d and the last of the apostles, someone that\u2019s not even fit to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find those references in\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01 Corinthians 15:4, Ephesians 3:8, 1 Timothy 1:5. \u00a0[1 Corinthians 15:9, \u201cFor I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 3:8, \u201cTo me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,\u201d\u00a0 1 Timothy 1:5, \u201cBut the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.\u2019\u201d]\n\nPaul explains in Philippians 3:12 not that I\u2019ve arrived, speaking of his final resurrection, not that I\u2019ve arrived. \u00a0[Philippians 3:12, \u201cNot that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.\u201d]\u00a0 So when Paul takes the concept of maturity and applies it to himself he can\u2019t be talking about something unblemished, flawless, ideal, and perfect because Paul certainly made great strides in his progressive sanctification, but he never reached a point of sinlessness.\u00a0 In fact, if you want to see an example of Paul getting in the flesh, kind of acting like I would act and you would act normally, it\u2019s over in Acts 23:3 where\u2019s struck in the face, I mean, what would you do if you were struck in the face?\u00a0 We know what our natural reaction would be, right?\u00a0 I mean, I can\u2019t even keep my sanctification under control when someone bumps into me in the airline and that\u2019s a crowded flight, you know, I get flustered over that little thing.\u00a0 You can imagine what it\u2019s like to get hit in the face.\n\nIn Acts 23:3 it says, \u201cThe high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 3 says, \u201cThen Paul said to him,\u201d blessed are the peacemakers\u2026 actually he didn\u2019t say that, did he, He said, \u201cGod is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! [Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?\u2019]\u00a0 Now that\u2019s something I can identify with because that\u2019s how we\u2019re like in our natural flesh.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to denigrate the Apostle Paul at all; what I\u2019m trying to say is the guy was flesh and blood with a sin nature just like the rest of us.\u00a0 So for Paul to use himself as an analogy in this whole thing can\u2019t mean that telioin<\/em> is something ideal, unblemished, and perfect.\u00a0 That\u2019s the first problem.\n\nThe second problem is telios<\/em>, the word translated perfect, is never used in the entire Bible for an end time event.\u00a0 It\u2019s never used for the eternal state; it\u2019s never used for the millennial kingdom, it\u2019s never used for the second advent of Christ.\u00a0 In fact, in my paper I quote the great Greek scholar, Gary Gromacki, who taught many, many years at Cedarville University and he makes that very point.\u00a0 I mean, if\u00a0 you want this to be the second coming then that\u2019s a use of the word that\u2019s found nowhere else in the entire Greek New Testament.\n\nAnd here is a third problem that many people just sort of kind of skip over this but I think it\u2019s a big deal.\u00a0 The perfection \u201cyou\u201d is pitting two ideas that don\u2019t go together.\u00a0 The perfection idea is pitting a quality against a quantity.\u00a0 Perfection and unblemished is a quality and when you look at what Paul says here he\u2019s not dealing with the subject of quality, he\u2019s dealing with the subject of quantity.\u00a0 Why would I say that?\u00a0 Because he says, \u201cNow I know\u201d what\u201d?\u00a0 Verse 12, \u201cin part.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s not comparing something ideal to something in part, that really wouldn\u2019t make any sense.\u00a0 What he is doing, as I\u2019ll try to explain, is he\u2019s trying to compare the full revelation of Scripture with the closing of the canon to sporadic partial revelations that the church was receiving through the gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, knowledge of prophecy. So if you move into the second coming eschaton<\/em> view you\u2019re pitting two ideas together that don\u2019t go together.\n\nSo the ideal or perfection view is talking about a quality which does not provide a suitable antithesis to impart, which is the Greek word, ek merous<\/em>, \u201cin part, of verse 12 which is not a quality idea, it\u2019s a quantity idea.\u00a0 I realize these are concepts that you may have never thought about so just kind of let that rattle around a little bit and we\u2019ll be returning to that.\n\nThe fourth problem with the first view is that eschatological events of the end time, whether it\u2019s the rapture, the second advent, the dissolving of this present heavens and earth and replacing it with the new heavens and new earth, are those events that are a process or are those events that are instant\u00adaneous?\u00a0 See, those events are things that are going to happen suddenly.\u00a0 Jesus talked about the establishment of the kingdom suddenly.\u00a0 He talked about the rapture, at least Paul did, taking place in a moment, \u201cin the twinkling of an eye.\u201d\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t need billions and billions of years to wrap things up. \u00a0So when the end time events happen they\u2019re going to happen suddenly.\n\nSo if that is the case then how in the world can telion<\/em> be referring to a sudden event when Paul, in verse 11, analogizes it to the maturing of a child.\u00a0 I mean, how do your children mature?\u00a0 Suddenly?\u00a0 Now we may want that to happen but as we all know maturity is a gradual process that someone goes through.\u00a0 So the second coming view really doesn\u2019t fit the analogy of gradualness that Paul is dealing with here because second coming events, events in the eschaton<\/em> happen instantaneous.\n\nAnd here\u2019s another problem, this is number five, the fifth problem with the telion<\/em> view is in this passage, 1 Corinthians 13:10, telion<\/em> is neuter, it\u2019s a neuter adjective.\u00a0 Now in English we\u2019re not really sensitive to gender as much in our language as the Greek language was, but in Greek gender was a big deal and the gender here, at least in verse 10, is telion<\/em> is a neuter adjective.\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s not described as masculine \u201che,\u201d it\u2019s not described as feminine, \u201cshe,\u201d it\u2019s described as neuter.\u00a0 Now quite frankly that is a very strange way to describe the personal return of Christ, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 The personal coming of Jesus Christ to the earth, Jesus always being referred to in the masculine, is a very odd way to describe His personal return through a neuter adjective. So that\u2019s what I would consider to be a fifth problem with the eschaton view.\n\nAnd then let me take you to a sixth problem, and this is the part that I think is very important for the proper functioning of the church.\u00a0 If you believe that tongues and their interpretation, prophecy and the gift of knowledge as revelatory gifts continue until the second coming of Christ, then what you have just created, without even being aware of it, is an open canon.\u00a0 We believe that the canon of Scripture was shut in the first century.\u00a0 But if someone can come into a church and give a prophecy or give a word of knowledge directly from the Lord, then you might as well take what they have said and you might as well add to\u00a0 your Bible Revelation chapter 23.\u00a0 We all know Revelation ends with chapter 22, so if someone comes in with a word of knowledge about something and they\u2019re a direct conduit of God, as they claim, then I should be able to take their message, write it down and tuck it into my Bible as Revelation chapter 23.\u00a0 That is the logical outcome of saying prophecy, knowledge, tongues and their interpretation are continuing on today and they will continue on today right up into the second coming of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd that, beloved, cannot be because the Bible is clear that the canon of Scripture is shut.\u00a0 Notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, he talks about prophecy, tongues, knowledge.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1 Corinthians 13:8-10, \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.\u201d]\n\nHe says those things are going to continue right on into the coming of the perfect, which many people incorrectly believe is something related to the second coming of Christ, and if that\u2019s true until the second coming of Christ comes then you can expect prophecy, tongues and their interpretation of tongues and knowledge to be just part of ordinary Christianity, basically meaning that the canon of Scripture is wide open.\u00a0 And that is not how the New Testament portrays the closing of the New Testament canon, twenty-seven books, thirty-nine books already revealed.\u00a0 And when John completed Revelation 22 and I think verse 21, isn\u2019t it the last verse in chapter 22, when he got to verse 21 the canon was shut.\u00a0 No open canon.\n\nWhat does Jude 3 say?\u00a0 Jude says that we ought to \u201ccontend earnestly for the faith\u201d notice the definite article in front of the word \u201cfaith,\u201d so he\u2019s talking about a body of knowledge.\u00a0 And then he specifically says, this faith \u201cwas\u201d what? :once for all handed down to the saints.\u00a0 [Jude 1:3, \u201cBeloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.\u201d]\u00a0 In other words, the truth that God has wanted to disclose has been disclosed.\u00a0 If it was continuing to be disclosed then He wouldn\u2019t say truth was once and for all handed down.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So the canon is something that we would call shut. And when\u00a0 you go to the very last chapter in the Book of Revelation there is a very solemn warning against either adding to or subtracting from these sixty-six books.\n\nWhat does John write here.\u00a0 He says, \u201cI testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him\u201d WOW, \u201cthe plagues which are written in this book;\u201d I don\u2019t know if I even now what all of that means.\u00a0 I know it isn\u2019t good though.\u00a0 And verse 19 says, \u201cIf anyone takes away from the words of this book of this prophecy God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book.\u201d\u00a0 And we could get into the nuances of what all that means and I don\u2019t think we want to get into that particular discussion this morning. I just want to show you that the testimony of the Word of God is the canon of Scripture has been closed.\u00a0 And God has revealed to us an all sufficient word, the canon is not only complete but it is absolutely sufficient for all matters of faith and practice.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll be explaining to you what the sufficiency of the Scripture means as we progress through the various weeks of this study.\n\nBut for the time being I\u2019m just trying to get us to understand the logical implications of saying \u201cthe perfect\u201d is the second coming.\u00a0 If the perfect is the second coming that changes everything. That changes your definition of divine knowledge.\u00a0 It changes your definition of how a church ought to function and operate, because if a \u201cthe perfect\u201d is the second coming then you can fully expect prophecy, knowledge, tongues and their interpretation where people are revealing things on equal par with Scripture to continue right on up to the second coming of Christ, meaning that the canon of Scripture is not shut.\u00a0 See this is why we need to think about this very, very carefully.\u00a0 This is why in my opening remarks, when we started down this road a few Sundays back I said look, this is not a heaven or hell issue.\u00a0 There\u2019s lots of people I plan to share heaven with that may disagree with Sugar Land Bible Church on this subject.\u00a0 However, even though it\u2019s not a heaven or hell issue this is an important issue because if affects so many ways of Christian life and practice in the twenty-first century and beyond.\n\nNow as a lot of you may know I\u2019m not exactly what you would call John MacArthur\u2019s poster boy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I, from this pulpit, have been very critical of some of the teachings that have come forth from John MacArthur over the years, particularly on the subject of what\u2019s called Lordship salvation.\u00a0 If you want to know what Lordship salvation is I would encourage you to go back into our soteriology course, we taught fifty-eight lessons on this, (don\u2019t you think fifty-eight is a pretty sizeable number) explaining what Lordship salvation basically is.\u00a0 It\u2019s a mixture of faith and works to be justified before God, which according to the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:6-9 is a heresy.\u00a0 It\u2019s an anathema to teach that.\n\n[Galatians 1:6-9, \u201cI am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; [7] which is really<\/em> not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! \u00a0<\/strong>[9] As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!\u201d]\n\nAnd some of the MacArthurites, they come to our church because we teach verse by verse and John MacArthur teaches verse by verse, therefore Sugar Land Bible Church equals John MacArthur, are very disappointed to learn this.\u00a0 We part ways with John MacArthur on this subject which is our right to do as an independent Bible Church.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 This is not a John MacArthur satellite campus. \u00a0We\u2019ve had a lot of people come here and want to turn our church into that and that\u2019s not who we are, that\u2019s not our DNA, that\u2019s not our genetics, it\u2019s not in accord with out statements of faith because we don\u2019t believe that his teaching on this is true.\n\nHowever, that doesn\u2019t mean I just throw out everything John MacArthur has ever said or written.\u00a0 You have to have some maturity on this and I believe that John MacArthur wrote, what I would call an excellent book back in the 80\u2019s, and you know it\u2019s an excellent book because it [can't understand word] against him a lot of antagonism.\u00a0 So to me that\u2019s the work of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He wrote a book called Charismatic Chaos, which I would encourage you to read with a warning that because his presentation of the gospel is inaccurate.\u00a0 And on pages 66-84 of the edition that I used he documents how heresies have come into modern day evangelicalism through a mindset that says the canon of Scripture is open.\n\nYou can track major heresies coming into the church through a belief that says tongues and their interpretation, prophecy and knowledge are in full effect until the second coming of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 One of the heresies he documents coming into evangelical Christianity, what we would call evangelical Christianity, very early on is a heresy called Montanism of the second century and he explains what that heresy is.\u00a0\u00a0 Another heresy is neo-orthodoxy, and one of the heresies is Roman Catholicism.\u00a0 I mean why in the world are we here in a Protestant church and not worshipping down the street with Roman Catholics?\u00a0 What are we doing?\n\nDo we just want to do things our own way?\u00a0 No, it has to do with the issue of the closed canon; that\u2019s the issue.\u00a0 We, as Protestants believe that our authority comes from these sixty-six books called the Bible.\u00a0 The Roman Catholics do not believe that.\u00a0 What they believe is the Pope speaks ex-cathedra which basically means from the chair.\u00a0 So they will take the church traditions, the statements of the Popes, and they will put them equal with the Bible.\u00a0 In fact, the Roman Catholics, very late in the sixteenth century, long after the apostles were dead, added the Apocrypha Books to the Bible. And so the reason that you\u2019re on a different page with your Roman Catholic friends, and I would encourage you to have Roman Catholic friends because it\u2019s a great way to evangelize.\n\nBut the reason you\u2019re always talking past each other is because they\u2019re operating from a different authority base than you are.\u00a0 You\u2019re operating from an authority base of sixty-six books; their authority base is bigger.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they believe things that you don\u2019t believe.\u00a0 And why is that?\u00a0 Because they believe in an open canon; we do not.\u00a0 See that.\n\nAnd then, it\u2019s interesting that John MacArthur talks about how Mormonism itself, now we\u2019re getting outside of what we would call Christendom and the cults, how many cults started because somebody thought they had some kind of private revelation from God that\u2019s on equal par with Scripture.\u00a0 There was a man named Joseph Smith, very early in his lift thought he had a visitation from an angel named Moroni, and he believed that what that angel revealed to him, what that angel disclosed to him, which today we call the Doctrines of Mormonism, found in The Book of Mormon, The Pearl or Great Price, <\/em>and The Doctrines and Covenants<\/em> I think is what it\u2019s called.\u00a0 The Mormons, they\u2019ve got this book, but they\u2019ve got three other books.\u00a0 And they believe those three other books supposedly revealed to Joseph Smith, which supposedly revealed Jesus North American appearances\u2026 did you guys know that, that Jesus showed up in this country a couple of hundred years ago, a hundred, a hundred and fifty years ago?\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Mormons believe.\n\nIt\u2019s sort of interesting, they have at BYU University one of the greatest archeological departments academically on the face of the earth and they can\u2019t find a shred of evidence for Jesus\u2019 appearance in North America.\u00a0 Now we go to the land of Israel, we go back to the first century and almost every time an archeologist puts his shovel into the dust you\u2019ve got some sort of archeological remnant that appears that corroborates the stories of the Bible.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting?\u00a0 But what is the deal with Mormons?\u00a0 Well, the bottom line is they don\u2019t believe like we do because their canon is open.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That\u2019s why you\u2019ve got to think very carefully about this issue of an open canon, because as John MacArthur, at least in this chapter, beautifully documents, and you can find all the footnotes and the history in this particular chapter, explains very, very well that the open canon introduces massive heresies, inside and outside the church.\n\nNow I\u2019m not saying that a closed canon person can\u2019t introduce heresies either; a closed canon person can twist the Scripture.\u00a0 But the opportunity to introduce wild teachings accelerates dramatically if you believe that this book is an open canon, because the teleion<\/em> is the second advent and therefore, knowledge, prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues is alive and well.\u00a0 I was sitting in a class in Dallas Seminary, the professor\u2019s name was\u00a0 Doug Cecil, and it was one of those classes where they had different professors do the teaching, and I only got to hear Dr. Cecil teach once and I don\u2019t remember what he was talking about quite frankly, but I remember this comment; he says you guys better get this figured out before you leave this school, what you believe on this, because the issue is authority; that\u2019s the issue.\u00a0 The issue is whose authority, the whole debate about\u00a0 modern revelation is an issue of who\u2019s in charge and what the authority base is going to be.\n\nAt another school I had another professor, Dr. John Beck, who\u2019s now with the Lord, and he recounted this story where it was a Bible church, like the one we\u2019re in here, elder rule, and one of these elders allegedly started having these private revelations from God\u00a0 and it\u2019s interesting, when people have these private revelations from God, you look at Jack Deere who brought a lot of this into Dallas Seminary, he wrote a book called, I think it\u2019s called Surprised by the Power of the Spirit<\/em>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why this is but he\u2019s always in Europe when he gets these visions and he\u2019s out walking with his wife or his wife is out walking in Europe and she gets a vision and she tries to change his mind.\u00a0 So I told my wife number one, you\u2019re never going to Europe by yourself, [laughter] and if we take a walk we should go together, amen!\n\nBut one of these elders starts to get this idea that God is giving these private revelations.\u00a0 Well what happens is that elder convinces all of the other elders, including the senior pastor, to acquiesce to this and once that is acquiesced then the elders say oh, we just had a revelation from God, pastor,\u00a0 you\u2019re not the pastor any more.\u00a0 Well how can you argue with that?\u00a0 If it\u2019s from God and you just acquiesce it\u2019s from God then what these private revelations are revealing are just as binding and authoritative as the Word of God.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to get at is heaven and hell issue\u2014No, important issue---Yes, this becomes a big deal.\n\nAnd not always but many, many times in my experience what I\u2019ve discovered is this: the more a church opens itself up to private revelations, private visions, private dreams, the more this Book gets discarded.\u00a0 Think about this for a minute.\u00a0 Why would I want to read the old version that\u2019s 2,000 years old, or 3,500 years old in the case of the Old Testament, why would I want to read that version when I can get version 2, the upgrade today.\u00a0 I mean, why would I want to bind myself to an antiquated book when I can get the fresh new insights today from someone allegedly with the gift of prophecy.\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 And so this has an effect on how we do church and it has an effect on really, the authority and the sufficiency of the Word of God in our lives.\u00a0 So a major problem in my mind with this open canon view with the eschaton view is it creates a scenario where the canon is wide open.\u00a0 There\u2019s no logical way to shut it down.\n\nSo that takes care of number one, why do I not think that the teleion<\/em> is the second coming?\u00a0 Number one, teleios<\/em> never means perfection, ever!\u00a0\u00a0 Number two, teleios<\/em> is never used of eschatological events anywhere else in the Bible.\u00a0 Number three, you\u2019re pitting against one another quality versus quantity which is very awkward.\u00a0 Number four, the analogy of verse eleven becomes very, very difficult because Paul describes the transition from the imperfect to the perfect as something gradual taking place, the maturity of the child, and the eschatological events of the end times are like lightning that happens immediately. \u00a0That was number four.\u00a0 Number five, teleion<\/em>, at least in 1 Corinthians 13:10, is neuter, it\u2019s not masculine which to me would be a very, very strange description of the personal return of Jesus Christ, which is so personal.\u00a0 And really, my sixth problem with it is the open canon says it allows, and the implications of an open canon.\n\nSo that would take care of view number one, why I would not embrace it.\u00a0 Now let me very briefly, I won\u2019t be able to get into this but at least let me introduce view number two.\u00a0 In fact, let me not introduce view number two because I only have six minutes left and I\u2019ve been saying all this time I\u2019m going to open the canon for questions\u2026 that\u2019s supposed to be a joke by the way.\u00a0\u00a0 And so I haven\u2019t been doing that and I\u2019ve been derelict in my duties so we\u2019ll get into view number two next week and we could spend the last six minutes or so asking questions.\u00a0 If you ask a question I\u2019m going to be answering down the road I\u2019ll just make you aware of that.\u00a0 Any thoughts, comments, questions.","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