{"id":18490,"date":"2018-07-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-031-spiritual-gifts-11\/"},"modified":"2018-07-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-031-spiritual-gifts-11","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-031-spiritual-gifts-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 031: Spiritual Gifts 11"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[50],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18490","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-deuteronomy","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 031: Spiritual Gifts 11","sermon_date":"20180729","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5949,"sermon_slides":5956,"sermon_mp3":5957,"sermon_id":"72918103434","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":50,"chapter_and_verse":"18:20-22","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 31, Spiritual Gifts 11\n\n7-29-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 31\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad \u00a0in it.\u00a0 I do thank You, Lord, for the grace You\u2019ve given us.\u00a0 I ask that You\u2019ll be with us today, particu\u00adlarly the Spirit\u2019s ministry of illumination will be active today as You seek to guide\u00a0 Your people into all truth through the teaching of\u00a0 Your Word.\u00a0 And I just pray You\u2019ll be with the teaching, give me the right phraseology So that I can communicate effectively.\u00a0 And I just pray that\u00a0 You\u2019ll be with our service today, I pray that fellowship would be sweet koinonia<\/em>, and I just pray for relationships in this church and bonding that You want to do with people and all of the things that go into a church.\u00a0 Be with us as we study the gifts of the Holy Spirit during the first hour and the Book of Revelation the second hour.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said.. Amen.\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 I hope you all are enjoying this cool weather.\u00a0 Pray for me, I\u2019m up here with a suit and tie on in the middle of July in Houston, Texas.\u00a0 So I\u2019m either conforming to tradition or I\u2019ve got a loose screw somewhere in my head, one of the two.\u00a0 It looks like we\u2019re having some problems with the PowerPoint, at least on the back side of the screen.\u00a0 But as long as it\u2019s up there I guess we\u2019re okay.\n\nOne thing we might ask is are there any questions that need to be answered that we haven\u2019t had a chance to answer.\u00a0 Most of you can\u2019t remember what we talked about last week.\u00a0 Any questions or comments.\u00a0 [someone says something, can\u2019t hear]\u00a0 Good question.\u00a0 How do we know what chapters of the Bible apply directly to us and which ones don\u2019t?\u00a0 I think it was Lauren that asked that and I just kind of gave a generic answer, just go to the Book of Acts, 2, and hang a right, really Acts 1 and hang a right.\u00a0 So Becky is asking aren\u2019t there passages, even in the Book of Acts, and in 1 Corinthians itself that don\u2019t directly apply to us and the answer is yes.\u00a0 So I gave kind of a superficial answer because I only had about 20 seconds.\n\nFor example in Acts 2 it says they sold their homes so that they would have proceeds on hand to help the out of towners there on the day of Pentecost.\u00a0\u00a0 Obviously there\u2019s things in the Book of Acts that don\u2019t directly bind us.\u00a0 So I guess a better answer would have been, a better rule of thumb to follow is to find something normative, you can\u2019t just find it in Acts because Acts is a transitional book.\u00a0 Where we look at Acts as a historical book but not necessarily a doctrinal book.\u00a0 So there are all kinds of things going on in the Book of Acts that are not normative today.\u00a0 So to find something normative today you can\u2019t just find it in the Book of Acts, you\u2019ve got to find it in the epistles.\u00a0 And even that rule needs to be qualified because we went through 1 Corinthians 14 where there was some things happening in 1 Corinthians 14 that we as cessationists don\u2019t deem as normative today. So it\u2019s just a general rule of thumb and it\u2019s a rule that has to be severely qualified.\u00a0 Does that help at all?\n\nLet\u2019s go to the Book of Deuteronomy, I think we\u2019re ready to start.\u00a0 Deuteronomy, what a surprise, he\u2019s taking us to the Book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0 I doubt many Christians have had their quiet time recently in the Book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0 But the Lord liked the Book of Deuteronomy, he quoted it three times in the wilderness, to Satan.\u00a0 And the Book of Deuteronomy was sufficient to ward off Satan\u2019s attacks.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll tell you why we opened up to the Book of Deuteronomy in just a second.\n\nBut Deuteronomy 18:20-22, and let me just remind you where we are in our study of Ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been talking about the purposes of the church.\u00a0 One of its great purposes is to edify the saints so that they can use their spiritual gifts, which means we have to have teaching on what are these gifts of the Holy Spirit anyway.\n\nSo we\u2019re asking and answering four questions on gifts of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Number one, what are some observations about spiritual gifts?\u00a0 I gave you about nineteen or twenty.\u00a0 Number two, the elephant in the room are all the spiritual gifts for today, because in Paul\u2019s gift lists you\u2019re going to run into seven of them and you say well wait a minute, I don\u2019t see those practiced at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 And there as, we\u2019ve talked about, two camps within Christendom trying to understand those seven gifts.\u00a0 The charismatics or Pentecostals, or what you would call continua\u00adtionists believe all of those gifts are active today.\u00a0\u00a0 We on the other hand are in the camp of selective cessationism where we believe those seven gifts ceased at the conclusion of the canon back in the first century.\n\nAnd just so you don\u2019t think that we just go through the Bible with whiteout saying well, we like this gift but not that one, and we\u2019re not being arbitrary enough, what I have been doing is I have been giving you the logic, the biblical explanation for selective cessationism. And it relates to organizing the gifts into four categories.\u00a0 Category number one is the foundational gifts that God used to lay the foundation of the church: apostles and prophets, Ephesians 2:20, and you lay a foundation once.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:20, \u201chaving been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,\u201d]\n\nSo we believe those gifts have passed because the foundation of the church has already been laid 2000 years ago.\u00a0 The second selection of gifts would be confirmatory gifts, workers or miracles, tongues and healing and there we\u2019re talking about the gift of healing.\u00a0 And we believe those are what you call sign gifts that God used to authenticate a change of rules for a new dispensation.\u00a0 In Acts 2 the rules changed; we\u2019re no longer dealing with Israel under the Law, as had been the case for one thousand five hundred years.\u00a0 We\u2019re dealing with the church age now.\u00a0 And so God authenticated that change of rules as He does many times throughout His Word when He changes the rules through various signs and wonders.\n\nThe third category of gifts are the revelatory gifts and those would include prophet, the gift of knowledge, tongues and their interpretation, where people are actually being used as a direct vehicle for divine truth.\u00a0 And we believe that those gifts ceased with the completion of the telion<\/em>, the completed canon back in the first century, because 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 tells us that those gifts in part will cease when the perfect comes and I\u2019ve tried to make the case that \u201cthe perfect\u201d there is the completion of the New Testament canon.\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 3:8, \u201cNow he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.\u00a0 [9] For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. [10] According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.\u201d]\n\nSo that\u2019s sort of where we\u2019ve been thus far in our study on spiritual gifts, which means that seven\u00a0 of those gifts no longer exist in the life of the church today if our understanding of this is correct.\u00a0 However, there are least sixteen gifts, by my count, that continue on.\u00a0 Those gifts are what are called the edificatory gifts; they are gifts which edify or build up.\u00a0 So we don\u2019t need foundational gifts today because the foundation has been laid.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need confirmatory gifts today because those are already went into existence and out of existence when God changed the rules in early Acts.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need revelatory gifts today because we have a completed all sufficient canon of Scripture.\n\nHowever, the church will never lose its need for edification or to be built up in the things of God.\u00a0 So consequently the edificatory gifts are in full operation, which means that we take most of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as in operation today.\u00a0 And in this study I\u2019m going to be walking through the edificatory gifts and I\u2019m actually going to give you some clues on how to define or identify what your particular gift is because every Christian, as we have studied, has at least one spiritual gift.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the direction we will be headed down the road.\n\nHowever, since I don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll ever get back into this subject, the charismatic movement I wanted to, before we move into the edificatory gifts to make some remaining comments on the charismatic movement, because no doubt at some point in your life you\u2019re going to encounter this movement because it\u2019s a huge trend within evangelicalism and you sort of have to know how to navigate\u00a0 your way through it.\n\nBut I have a section here, Roman numeral III called church history and selective cessationism.\u00a0 One of the ways to test whether your interpretation of the Bible is correct is to compare it to what the church has believed for two thousand years.\u00a0 Church history is not authoritative and binding the way Scripture is.\u00a0 However, if I\u2019ve got some view on something that no one in the last two thousand years has ever believed or taught then maybe it\u2019s time, in humility, to rethink my interpretation of the Bible.\u00a0 See how that works.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s possible that the whole church has been wrong about something for many, many centuries.\u00a0 Martin Luther proved that and stood on the authority of the Scripture. So we\u2019re not getting our authority from church history; we\u2019re getting our authority from the Scripture.\u00a0 However, Scripture is without error but my interpretation of it is not necessarily without error.\n\nSo one of the things to do is to sort of compare it, my interpretation, to church history to see if it\u2019s consistent.\u00a0 And if it\u2019s inconsistent I may need to prayerfully rethink my interpretation.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t hold it, you just have to sort of rethink it and be humble about it and say Lord, do I have this right because I can\u2019t find anybody in church history that\u2019s ever believed this.\n\nSo what am I trying to get at?\u00a0 If certain gifts ceased in the first century is that collaborated in church history. \u00a0In other words, has anybody else ever believed what we believe about selective cessationism.\u00a0 So I want to share with you three quotes that I think do not contradict selective cessationism but in fact affirm selective cessationism.\u00a0 I\u2019m getting these quotes from the little pamphlet I gave out several weeks ago called The Gifts of the Holy Spirit<\/em>, by Steven Waterhouse.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know if we have any of these left, however, if you didn\u2019t get one on the way out there\u2019s a thick book by Steven Waterhouse called Not By Bread Alone<\/em>, and if you go into the Holy Spirit study that he does you\u2019ll find the material in that pamphlet in that larger book called Not By Bread Alone<\/em>.\u00a0 We have it on the name tag table and the visitor sign up table and if you still didn\u2019t get one let me know, we have a ton of them that the church purchased in the back and I\u2019ll get you one.\n\nBut the first quote here comes from Chrysostom, he was someone very prominent in early church history, you see the dates that he lived, (A.D. 345\u2012407).\u00a0 He was known as Golden Throat or Golden Tongue because of his oratory skills.\u00a0 And he was the patriarch of Constantinople and he actually wrote a commentary on 1 Corinthians.\u00a0 1 Corinthians, as you\u2019ll recall, is where we\u2019re getting this idea that certain gifts ceased in the first century.\u00a0 And notice what Chrysostom says.\n\nHe says, \u201cThis whole place\u201d speaking of Corinth, \u201cis very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to\u201d the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in other words, that 1 Corinthians talks about, \u201cand by their\u201d gifts of the Holy Spirit, \u201ccessation, being such as then used to occur\u201d referring to these various gifts of the Holy Spirit that we have said have ceased, these \u201cused to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity has produced us again another question: namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no more?\u201d\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that Chrysostom, very prominent in church history, is basically acknowledging that certain gifts that the Book of 1 Corinthians talks about stopped happening, which is consistent with the interpretation that we\u2019ve been giving.\n\nHere\u2019s another quote from Agustin, Bishop of Hippo, and he says this of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 You can see when he lived, (A.D. 354\u2012430) end of the fourth century A.D., beginning of the fifth century.\u00a0 He says, \u201c\u201c\u201cIn the earliest times, the Holy Ghost fell upon them that believed: and they spoke with tongues, which they had not learned, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts\u00a02:4 These were signs adapted to the time. For there behooved to be that betokening of the Holy Spirit in all tongues, to show that the Gospel of God was to run through all tongues over the whole earth. That thing was done for a betokening, and it passed away\u2026. If then the witness of the presence of the Holy Ghost be not now given through these miracles, by what is it given, by what does one get to know that he has received the Holy Ghost?\u201d\u00a0 [[Augustine (A.D. 354\u2012430), Bishop of Hippo, Augustine, Homily 6:10 on the First Epistle of John<\/em>.]\n\nSo again you have a second statement by Augustine indicating that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased and were no longer functioning in the fourth century when he lived.\n\nAnd then here\u2019s this quote from Phillip Schaff.\u00a0 Phillip Schaff is not a church father like Augustine and Chrysostom were but he wrote what most people today believe is an authoritative classic, it\u2019s a multivolume set, on the history of the church. So if anybody wants to know anything about the history of the church you usually direct them to Philip Schaff\u2019s multivolume set.\u00a0 And volume 1, pages 236-237, based on his study of church history, he starts to make some statements about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.\n\nHe says: \u201cWe do not know how long the glossolalia, as thus described by Paul, continued. It passed away gradually with the other extraordinary or strictly supernatural gifts of the apostolic age. It is not mentioned in the Pastoral, nor in the Catholic Epistles.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t let that word \u201cCatholic\u201d disturb you, Catholic just means universal the way he\u2019s using it; there\u2019s eight letters that we call universal letters and that\u2019s what he means by the Catholic Epistles.\n\nHe says, \u201c`We have but a few allusions to it at the close of the second century\u201d through Iren\u00e6us.\u00a0 Iren\u00e6us was discipled by Polycarp, Polycarp was discipled by John so apparently Irenaeus spoke of the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we\u2019re talking about.\u00a0 He \u201cspeaks of \u2018many brethren\u2019 whom he heard in the church having the gift of prophecy and of speaking in \u2018diverse tongues\u2019, bringing the hidden things of men to light and expounding the mysteries of God. It is not clear whether by the term \u2018diverse,\u2019 which does not elsewhere occur, he means a speaking in foreign languages, or in diversities of tongues altogether peculiar, like those meant by Paul.\u00a0 The latter is more probable. Iren\u00e6us himself had to learn the language of Gaul. Tertullian (Adv. Marc. V. 8; comp. De Anima, c. 9) obscurely speaks of the spiritual gifts, including the gift of tongues, as being still manifest among the Montanists to whom he belonged.\u201d\u00a0 By the way, I won\u2019t go into it but there\u2019s some doctrinal problems with the Montanists.\u00a0 \u201c At the time of Chrysostom\u201d the quote I just read to you, \u201cit had entirely disappeared; at least he accounts for the obscurity of the gift from our ignorance of the fact. From that time on the glossolalia<\/em> was usually misunderstood as a miraculous and permanent gift of foreign languages for missionary purposes. But the whole history of missions\u201d see a lot of missionaries claim that they speak in tongues, but Schaff says that \u201cthe whole history of missions furnishes no clear example of such a gift for such a purpose.\u201d [Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 1 , p. 236-37.<\/em>]\n\nSo Augustine says they ceased, Chrysostom acknowledges that they ceased, Schaff, based on his study of church history indicates that they ceased as well.\u00a0 So therefore that makes me a little more comfortable with the interpretation I\u2019ve been giving because it\u2019s not inconsistent with the testimony of church history; in fact, it is consistent with the testimony of church history.\n\nSo having said all that we now move into Roman numeral V, and I really was debating whether to give you this section or not because as I start talking about this some of you are going to say why even get into this if these seven gifts ceased.\u00a0 So we\u2019re dealing here with the proper operation of\u00a0\u00a0 the sign and revelatory gifts when they were functioning as outlined by the Apostle Paul, primarily in 1 Corinthians 14.\u00a0 Paul, when those gifts were in operation, lays down rules.\u00a0 And you say well why are you giving us the rules if you think they\u2019ve ceased, isn\u2019t that a discussion that\u2019s sort of irrelevant.\n\nWell, here\u2019s the deal.\u00a0 One of two churches, I would guess, within Christianity today believes that these gifts are in operation, which means that at some point in your life you\u2019re likely to end up in a charismatic church, the reason being is your job will relocate you somewhere, and then\u00a0 you\u2019re going to have to pick a church to go to, and typically (not always) you\u2019re not going to find\u00a0 a Sugar Land Bible Church type church, unless you want to start your own church which may not be a bad idea, you\u2019re going to have to kind of settle with what\u2019s available and you might be in an environ\u00adment where the only churches available are like Calvary Chapel, and Assemblies of God, Vineyard, and so you\u2019re going to be in an environment where people don\u2019t agree with our doctrinal statement at all and they think the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in full operation.\u00a0 So what do you do then?\u00a0\u00a0 Well what I would do if I were you, if that\u2019s the scenario you find yourself in, I would pick a church that follows the rules of 1 Corinthians 14.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I would do.\n\nIn other words, let\u2019s just pretend hypothetically that these gifts are in operation; half of the body of Christ thinks they are.\u00a0 If they are, in fact, in operation then the rules have to be followed and I would not waste any time in any church that believes not only that these gifts exist but won\u2019t follow the rules.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of why I\u2019m going through this.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that what we say here in our doctrinal statement here at Sugar Land Bible Church, the last sentence, it says: \u201cWe believe that the majority of what is termed \u2018miraculous\u2019 within the contemporary\u201d that would be today, \u201ccontemp\u00ador\u00adary charismatic movement is something other than the Biblical gifts of tongues or healing.\u201d\n\nSo our view is those gifts ceased.\u00a0 Well, what if they haven\u2019t ceased?\u00a0 Our perspective on it is when you look at the contemporary charismatic scene what you discover is a lot of the things that are practiced have almost no correlation to the Bible at all because the rules of 1 Corinthians 14 are not being followed.\u00a0 Now there are some Pentecostal charismatic churches that do follow the rules.\u00a0 If I was all of a sudden going to become a Pentecostal or a charismatic, and at one time in my life I was very open to that idea, obviously much mores then than now, but if God all of a\u00a0 sudden showed me that I was wrong on the belief on cessationism and I was going to have to join a charismatic church which church would I pick.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019d pick the church that follows the rules.\n\nNow in my personal experience the group out there that\u2019s actually trying to follow the rules is the Calvary Chapels, not that every single Calvary Chapel is the same wherever you go, but my experience has been in general the Calvary Chapel churches try to follow the rules.\u00a0 In fact, I grew up in the Orange County area, where the Calvary Chapel movement, the Jesus movement, started and I would go to their teaching service and just to sort of see what in the world they were doing with these gifts I went to the subsequent service after the teaching service. Sometimes it was called Afterglow, where people would speak in tongues, they would give prophecies, and all of these kinds of things, and I noticed that it was not a pandemonium, it was not a free for all, and there was a conscious effort on the part of leadership, who believed in the perpetuity of these gifts, to follow the rules.\n\nSo if I found myself in a situation where I had to pick a church and the only churches available were of the charismatic variety I personally would gravitate toward the Calvary Chapel type church.\u00a0 Btu you have to make the call on that and you can\u2019t make the call unless you know what the rules are.\u00a0 Do you follow that?\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of why I\u2019m going into the rules.\u00a0 Even if these gifts are not in operation, which we don\u2019t even think they are, certain rules have to be followed.\u00a0 Paul is very clear about rules about prophecy, and rules about tongues.\n\nSo let\u2019s talk about the rules for prophecy.\u00a0 Four rules have to be followed if this gift is in operation.\u00a0 Rule number one, the prophets have to be 100% accurate.\u00a0 You say well where are you getting this from?\u00a0 The principle starts in the Old Testament Law.\u00a0 Take a look at Deuteronomy 18:20-22.\u00a0 Notice what it says; it says, \u201c\u2018But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall\u201d what?\u00a0 Lose his retirement account, I mean it\u2019s pretty severe, \u201cthat prophet shall die.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 And it says, [21[ \u201cYou may say in your heart, \u2018How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?\u2019\u201d Here\u2019s the answer to that question, verse 22, \u201cWhen a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.\u201d\n\nIn other words, if God is making forecasts through a prophet all of those predictions have to come to pass.\u00a0 Now when you understand that standard you can write off the Mormons and the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses because their history is littered with inaccurate predictions.\u00a0 You can also write off many of the things that happened in the contemporary Charismatic movement because during the time in my life, when I was open to the spiritual gifts I would go to some of these meetings and prophecies were given.\n\nOne particular prophecy that was given, as late as 1999, I recall it very specifically, which is really what soured me against most of what happens within the charismatic movement, it was a prophecy about Y2K, remember that?\u00a0 Y2K?\u00a0 And I was in a meeting where this particular prophet gave an utterance and the prophet said everybody needs to take water and bury it in their backyard because there\u2019s going to be a shortage of water, you\u2019ve got to buy gold because 9\/11, not 9\/11, 9\/11 hadn\u2019t happened yet, Y2K is going to bankrupt America and we\u2019re going to go back to a rural system.\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s what a lot of people thought, a lot of prophesies like that were given and you could automatically tell that\u2019s a false prophecy because Y2K came and went and absolutely nothing happened despite the hysteria.\u00a0 I mean, planes didn\u2019t fall out of the sky, we didn\u2019t get our electrical grid short-circuited, we didn\u2019t go back to horse and buggy days, and so I was in a meeting and I was listening to the prophetess in this case, and this is the prophecy that she gave and she made a specific prediction that failed.\u00a0 Well, the last time I checked God doesn\u2019t get things like 80% right.\u00a0 In this case it was zero percent right.\u00a0 So you automatically, if you\u2019re in that environment you dismiss it as it can\u2019t be true because it\u2019s a failed prophecy.\u00a0 That\u2019s a standard that goes all the way back to the Book of Deuteronomy.\n\nYou say well, is that a New Testament standard for prophets?\u00a0 Take a look at Acts 11:28, and you\u2019ll see the same type of phenomenon.\u00a0 It says in Acts 11:28, \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 A short term prediction, and notice what it says, \u201cAnd this took place\u201d with about 80% accuracy\u2026\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 it doesn\u2019t say that does it?\u00a0 \u201cAnd this took place in the reign of Claudius.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Agabus was recognized as a prophet in the first century, because he made a short-term prediction that came to pass.\n\nSo the standard of 100% accuracy continues on; maybe the penalties are not there in the church age where you stone someone to death if they get it wrong, but the standard is there.\u00a0 And that would make sense, wouldn\u2019t it, because God can\u2019t get things 75% right; I mean, God doesn\u2019t get C+\u2019s on His exams, right?\u00a0 God is omniscient.\u00a0 I mean, if someone is claiming to be a direct revelatory vehicle from God there can\u2019t be any wriggle room on this.\n\nThe reason this is significant is because when you get into the charismatic movement, and I\u2019ve had multiple conversations with people on this, including within my own extended family, my cousin and I have been disagreeing on this for the last thirty years. \u00a0They have a mindset where they say well, you have to kind of grow into your gift. So my cousin, who I love and loves Jesus just as fervently as I do, has told me, and I\u2019ve read it also in some of the Vineyard literature NAR type literature, they\u2019ll say well, take for example the gift of teaching, do you get everything exactly right in\u00a0 your teaching?\u00a0 And no I don\u2019t, I can mangle something or come up with the wrong interpretation.\u00a0 So they\u2019ll say that\u2019s exactly how it is with prophecy, I mean, maybe you\u2019ll get it right most of the time but as you grow you\u2019ll start to get more accurate as things progress.\u00a0\u00a0 And this is how they dismiss over and over again inaccurate prophecy.\n\nAnd you know, it\u2019s an interesting idea, it\u2019s completely foreign to the Scripture, I mean, Isaiah and Jeremiah and all of these guys that made these great predictions don\u2019t get out there and say well, I\u2019m about 75% right.\u00a0 I mean, you want to claim the mantle of a prophet\u00a0 you can\u2019t have any inaccuracies whatsoever.\u00a0 So this is sort of the problem that you have with the 700 Club, Pat Robertson, don\u2019t get me wrong, I appreciate the 700 Club, and like a lot of the things Pat Robertson says.\u00a0 I\u2019ve even read some of his books.\n\nI appreciate Pat Robertson but you can Google this and watch it for yourself, he very clearly predicted, through a word from the Lord, that Mitt Romney would defeat Obama in the upcoming election which was what, 2012, something like that.\u00a0 We\u2019re living in the You Tube age, the technology age where you can just push a few buttons and research what he said.\u00a0 So what do you do with that?\u00a0 He is completely wrong about that. Well what you do is\u00a0 you say whatever Pat Robertson is doing that is not a prophetic gift because if it\u2019s a prophetic gift it has to be 100% accurate. \u00a0See that?\n\nTake a look at Acts 21:10-11, back to the New Testament prophet, Agabus, and the charismatic movement gets a lot of mileage out of these verses here.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAs we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus\u201d now Agabus is the same guy that\u2019s called a prophet earlier in the Book of Acts because he made a prophecy about a famine in the reign of Claudius, So Agabus is at it again with his prophecy.\u00a0 \u201cAs we were staying there for some days, a\u00a0 prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. [11]And coming to us, he took Paul\u2019s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, \u201cThis 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\n\nAs you keep reading the Book of Acts you never have a record of how this prophecy was fulfilled.\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019m assuming it was fulfilled this way, it\u2019s just Luke in the Book of Acts doesn\u2019t tell us anything because Luke is highly selective in how he records history.\u00a0 So what the charismatics will do is they\u2019ll go to all the passages where Paul was arrested and they\u2019ll say it didn\u2019t happen, just like Agabus predicted.\u00a0\u00a0 And so they\u2019ll me, they\u2019ll say Brother Andy, and they\u2019re brothers and sisters in Christ, I\u2019m not their enemy, we\u2019re all going to the same heaven, \u00a0We just have a disagreement, I think it\u2019s an important disagreement, on this subject.\u00a0 You see, brother Andy, Agabus was growing into his gift, I mean as you grow into your gift you start to develop more accuracy as\u00a0 you go.\u00a0 And you see, that and logic is what you call an argument from silence.\u00a0 Silence is not the same as a contradiction or an affirmation.\u00a0 For all I know in biblical history, since the Book of Acts doesn\u2019t tell us everything there is to tell, I believe this prophecy was fulfilled exactly like it says because Agabus has already demonstrated his prophetic accuracy through the prediction of the famine in Acts 11.\u00a0 But because we don\u2019t have a specific verse that tells us that this is exactly how the prophecy was fulfilled the charismatics will take that as, well, Agabus was growing into his gift.\n\nI don\u2019t think that\u2019s a really good conclusion at all.\u00a0 That\u2019s building your whole argument from what isn\u2019t there.\u00a0 That\u2019s a logic called an argument from silence.\u00a0 That\u2019s the equivalent of me passing out a syllabus at the beginning of the semester and it says on the syllabus the final exam is on such and such a date and then as the class progresses I never make a reference to the final exam.\u00a0 So the student comes up at the end of the semester and says you know, you were silent about the final exam, I just assumed I didn\u2019t have to take it.\u00a0 Well, you\u2019re confusing my silence on something for a negation of something.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Now if\u00a0 I came out and said guess what, no final exam, that would be different, but I never said that.\u00a0 And so what you have to understand is the charismatic argument about growing into your gift and all these kinds of things is based on a logical fallacy called the argument from silence.\n\nBy the way, the open theists<\/em>, I don\u2019t know if you know who they are, and if you don\u2019t know who they are blessed be your ignorance, be glad you don\u2019t know who they are.\u00a0 And this was one of the reasons why I\u2019m not going to join, I\u2019ve never joined and will not join the Evangelical Theological Society, which is the elite group of scholars that meet every year, supposedly the best and the brightest within evangelicalism, well, they opened the door to the open theists.\u00a0 What are the open theists?\u00a0 The open theists are those that discount the exhaustive foreknowledge of God; they do not believe that God knows everything.\u00a0 What they believe is God knows all of the possibilities.\u00a0 So am I going to put on a gray suit with a red tie or some other arrangement, God doesn\u2019t really know what I\u2019m going to do.\u00a0 He knows I might put on this suit or I might put on that suit but God has to wait and see to determine which suit it\u2019s going to be because poor God doesn\u2019t know everything.\n\nOne of the best critiques against this whole blasphemy is Norman Geisler, who was very influential in the evangelical theological society.\u00a0 When he saw that they were opening the door to that he pulled out of the group and I\u2019m sort\u00a0 of the Norm Geisler mindset.\u00a0 I mean, what is there to talk about with a bunch of people that claim to be scholars and believe in inerrancy when they don\u2019t even believe in the exhaustive foreknowledge of God?\n\nI mean, if you don\u2019t believe in the exhaustive foreknowledge of God what have you just done?\u00a0 You\u2019ve created a golden calf where you\u2019ve created God in man\u2019s image.\u00a0 I mean, why do these open theists discount the exhaustive foreknowledge of God?\u00a0 What you start to figure out with people like this is they don\u2019t come to this conclusion from the Bible; they come to this conclusion because of some events of a personal nature that happen to them.\u00a0 In this particular case one of the progenitors of open theism, there was\u2026 I can\u2019t remember the exact situation but somebody\u2019s daughter was hit in a crosswalk or somebody was raped or something horrific, and so when that happened to this individual they said well there\u2019s no way God could have known that was going to happen, because if God knew that was going to happen He would have stopped it.\n\nSo what happens as a result is they begin to say well, maybe God didn\u2019t know what was going to happen, that\u2019s why He didn\u2019t stop it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s really how open theism started.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll find this a lot with people when they start these new doctrines and the Evangelical Theological Society, which supposedly was established to defend inerrancy of the Bible and inspiration of the Bible and all these things, they just opened the door wide open to the theist.\u00a0 They would not kick them out, which is what I wanted them to do.\u00a0 I wanted them to kick them out as heretics.\n\nAs much as I\u2019m sorry about personal tragedies in people\u2019s lives that\u2019s no basis for rewriting the Bible.\u00a0 I mean, what did Jesus say with Peter?\u00a0 You\u2019re going to betray me three times.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t He say that?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say well, it could be two, it could be four, I\u2019m not quite sure what you\u2019re going to do, I guess I\u2019ll have to wait and see, to see if it\u2019s going to be three or two or five.\u00a0 That\u2019s open theism; that is NOT the Scripture.\u00a0 Jesus said three, He didn\u2019t say seven or six or one or two because He has exhaustive foreknowledge.\u00a0 See that?\n\nSo the open theists, like the charismatics, love this verse here with Agabus because they say well, Agabus really didn\u2019t get it 100% right because God doesn\u2019t know everything, God is giving this prophecy to Agabus.\u00a0 And I\u2019m saying that\u2019s an argument from silence.\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s nowhere in the Bible that says it didn\u2019t happen this way.\u00a0 Luke doesn\u2019t record everything that has happened so by my way of thinking I think Paul was bound by the Jews, exactly like it says, it\u2019s just not recorded in the Book of Acts.\n\nSo all of this to say that if someone in a church is making predictions the first rule to follow is we need to see 100% accuracy.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to say is that\u2019s an Old Testament standard and it\u2019s a New Testament standard as well.\n\nRule number two for prophecy, take a look at 1 Corinthians 14, and this is really the chapter where Paul lays down the rules.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 14:29, rule number two is you can only have two or three prophets prophesying in a church service and the prophets can\u2019t talk over each other.\u00a0 You can\u2019t have a situation where you have dueling prophets.\u00a0 You know, one person stands up and gives their prophecy and another prophet interrupts what prophet A is saying, and anybody can just stand up and say whatever they want.\u00a0 Paul was very clear, if this is going to happen, two, three max, and the prophets have to prophesy in turn because if they\u2019re not prophesying in turn and shouting over each other then who can be edified through that, because God is not a God of confusion, 1 Corinthians 14:33, \u201cfor God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.\u201d]\u00a0 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 14:40, \u201cBut all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.\u201d\n\nNotice what it says, Paul is very clear, \u201cLet two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:29]\u00a0 Now why is it possible that two or three prophets can speak in order, rule number three, because the prophets are fully in control of their faculties, completely in control.\u00a0 Take a look at 1 Corinthians 14:32, look at what he says here, this is very important, \u201cand the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets;\u201d in other words, if you have the gift of prophecy and what the charismatics often to is it sort of comes over me in sort of an uncontrolled way and I have to just stand up and blurt it out, whatever prophecy I\u2019m given.\u00a0 NO, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.\u00a0 You can keep it in control, you can keep it in check, it\u2019s not some kind of out of control spiritual utterance.\n\nJohn MacArthur had a situation recently where some guy in the middle of the worship service,\u00a0 you can find it also on You Tube and those kinds of places, the guy rushes into the front of the church and disrupts the sermon because he has a prophecy and he spends this time, and John MacArthur I think who\u2019s had to deal with these situations quite a bit, he death threats quite frequently, and I talked to some of the people that go there, they have like full arm security for John MacArthur but until the security gets the thing under control what are\u00a0 you supposed to do?\u00a0 This guy is up there screaming and\u00a0 yelling at John MacArthur, condemning him about his doctrinal position on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and this particular person, before he\u2019s ushered to the exit, and frankly ought to be taken to the police station in my opinion, doing something like that, claims that the Spirit of God came over him and he couldn\u2019t control his utterance.\u00a0 And as all of this is going on you can hear John MacArthur, he doesn\u2019t give you the address but he quotes this verse right here, 1 Corinthians 14:32, \u201cthe spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.\u201d\u00a0 And I say on that position I think John MacArthur has it exactly right.\n\nSo this idea where you can\u2019t control what you\u2019ve been given is an unbiblical idea.\u00a0 And by the way, how come that never applies to any other gift of the Holy Spirit?\u00a0 I mean, I have the gift of teaching, I don\u2019t wake up at 1:00 o\u2019clock in the morning saying the gift has come upon me, and I don\u2019t place a robocall to everyone in the church and say we\u2019ve got to show up at 1:00 o\u2019clock in the morning because I\u2019ve got the gift of teaching and I can\u2019t control what I\u2019ve been given.\u00a0 And by the way, all these people that think they have some kind of out of control gift with prophecy, how come that never works with the gift of financial giving?\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, you want to start writing out of control checks\u2026 I just can\u2019t control myself, I\u2019ve got the gift of giving!\n\nThe thing to understand is there\u2019s so much that goes on in the contemporary charismatic movement that contradicts the Bible. See that?\u00a0 If it contradicts the Bible it can\u2019t be right because the Holy Spirit that\u2019s allegedly giving these people these utterances also wrote the Bible, Amen!\u00a0 How can God contradict Himself?\n\nThe fourth rule is that when a prophet prophesies the others, that are listening, are to judge carefully.\u00a0 So a lot of alleged prophets today have this mindset where don\u2019t you dare question me because I<\/strong> have an utterance from God and who in the world are you to question me?\u00a0 God has given me this prophecy!\u00a0 But if you look very carefully at what Paul says in verse 29, the second part of the verse, notice what Paul says, \u201cLet two or three prophets speak and let the others do\u201d what? \u201cpass judgment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t sit there and absorb every message a prophet has to say because there\u2019s a standard of Scripture, in this case it was the Old Testament because the New Testament was just being formulated at that time.\u00a0 If the prophet says anything that contradicts the Scripture you are to dismiss them as a false prophet. See that?\n\nAnd this is a standard that\u2019s as old as the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 13, verses 1-5, where Moses tells the children of Israel you\u2019re going to enter the land and inside the land of Canaan you\u2019re going to run into prophets who are actually going to be able to perform signs and wonders.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Deuteronomy 13:1-5, \u201cIf a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,[<\/strong>2] and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, \u2018Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,\u2019 [3] you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. [4] You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. [5] But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.\u201d]\n\nWell how are they able to do that?\u00a0 As I\u2019ll be showing you they\u2019re doing that through satanic power.\u00a0 And you are not to follow them, and so the question is well how do we figure out which prophet is true and which one is false.\u00a0 The standard in Deuteronomy 13:1-5, you can read that on your own, is if they contradict the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, they can\u2019t be from God because God in the first two commandments says no graven images, no other gods before Me, it\u2019s crystal clear.\u00a0 And these prophets are going to say come on, let\u2019s follow other gods, and the moment they do that is the moment they are a false prophet, it doesn\u2019t matter if they performed a miracle because Satan can give the illusions of miracles and actually miracles.\n\nNotice, if you will, Isaiah 8:19-20, I\u2019m just showing you the divine standard, Isaiah verses19-20, what does it say here.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cWhen they say to you, \u2018Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,\u2019 should not a people consult their God? \u00a0Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?\u201d\u00a0 Look at verse 20, \u201cTo the law and to the testimony!\u201d What is the law and the testimony?\u00a0 The established revelation of God.\u00a0 \u201cTo the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 Meaning they don\u2019t have the light of God in them.\n\nSo how do you determine if someone is a spiritist or a medium and is speaking false prophecies or false miracles?\u00a0 Because they\u2019ll contradict the law, that\u2019s the divine test.\u00a0 You all know about the Bereans, right?\u00a0 Acts 17:11, what do the Bereans do.\u00a0 In the Book of Acts Paul came into Berea giving doctrine and teaching, direct revelations from God as an apostle, and what did the Bereans look at?\u00a0 Well, let me see your educational credentials, Paul.\u00a0 Did you graduate from the right school?\u00a0 How big is\u00a0 your church?\u00a0 How many books have you written?\u00a0 No, they examined Paul\u2019s teachings by the Word of God.\u00a0 Act 17:11, \u201cNow these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the Bereans were more on the ball than the Thessalonians.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because \u201cthey received the Word with great eagerness,\u201d they weren\u2019t unteachable in other words,\u00a0 but they examined the what?\u00a0 The Scriptures frequently, once a month, once a week? \u201cdaily to see whether these things were so.\u201d\n\nThere is no brownie points in God for gullibility, everything you hear should be screened through the grid of His Word.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Bereans did with someone of no less station spiritually than the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 So the standard has always been you analyze prophecies and even what we do here, preach sermons, teach Bible studies, I hope you don\u2019t just sit, soak and sour but your mind is active during the communication of truth because I\u2019m not a prophet nor the son of a prophet.\u00a0 I\u2019m just a Bible interpreter and I\u2019m fallible, I can get things wrong, and have gotten things wrong.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve never been the standard in this church, the Word of God is the standard.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how it\u2019s to be with these prophecies.\n\nDo you remember Galatians 1:8-9?\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cBut even if we, or an angel\u201d wow, that\u2019s quite a manifestation, \u201cfrom heaven, should preach to you a different gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!\u201d \u00a0[9] As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man \u00a0\u00a0is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!\u201d]\u00a0 If I show up tomorrow, Paul says, or if an angel materializes at your bedside tonight and you can physically see the angel, you don\u2019t just sit there and say wow, great message because Mohammed received an angel, I believe it was an angel of light giving him the doctrines of Islam.\u00a0 Joseph Smith received an angel;\u00a0 I believe it was a counterfeit angel, an angel of light, giving him the doctrines of Mormonism.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if you see a miracle, it doesn\u2019t matter if you see an angel, it doesn\u2019t matter how many times you\u2019ve watched the television show \u201cTouched by an Angel.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s irrelevant, the experience is irrelevant because the devil comes as an angel of light.\u00a0\u00a0 You have to test it by what we\u2019ve already revealed to you, Paul says, as apostles.\n\nLook, if you will, at 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, this also represents a time period in church history where the gift or prophecy was functioning.\u00a0 You guys all know how to find the T\u2019s, right?\u00a0 I mean generally when you\u2019re going through the epistles, Romans is after Acts is the first one, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, then Acts, then Romans, and then the two Corinthian letters, and then just remember Go Eat PopCorn, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians Colossians.\u00a0 Or God\u2019s Electric Power Company, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.\u00a0 And then once you get past that then you\u2019ll find the T\u2019s, which would be the Timothy letters, Titus, the Thessalonian letters, and so now when the pastor says turn to such and such you\u2019ll be the first one there and everybody will think wow, they really know the Word of God.\n\nBut notice 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, and by the way, that order that I just gave you is the canonical order; it\u2019s not the order in which these books were written.\u00a0 But we\u2019re dealing with the canonical order in our Bibles so we have to learn how to find it fast.\n\n1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, it says, \u201cdo not despise prophetic utterances.\u201d\u00a0 So prophecy was part of the divine plan at this stage so let the prophets prophesy.\u00a0 Look at verse 21,\u201dBut examine\u201d what? 75% of what they say, \u201cexamine\u201d what? \u201ceverything\u201d what? \u201ccarefully; hold fast to that which is good.\u201d You examine what they say by God\u2019s truth that\u2019s already been revealed because God cannot contradict Himself.\n\nNotice if you will\u2026, I\u2019m just giving you the divine standard, 1 John 4:1, \u201cBeloved, do not believe every spirit but\u201d what? \u201ctest the spirits\u201d how do you do that?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You examine what is said by what God has already revealed because God can\u2019t contradict Himself.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God\u201d why is that? \u201cbecause many\u201d not a couple, \u201cfalse teachers have gone out into the world.\u201d\u00a0 So when somebody comes up to me and says I have God\u2019s word for you,\u00a0 has that ever happened to you?\u00a0 God has given me a word for you, and I always want to know well how come God never told me.\u00a0 I always say have you tested that spirit that allegedly came to you from God?\u00a0 Have you tested it?\u00a0\u00a0 And they usually say well what do you mean, \u201ctested it?\u201d\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s a biblical command, in fact when He says \u201ctest the spirits\u201d the verb there is in the imperative mood meaning this is not a suggestion, this is a command.\u00a0 So you \u201ctest the spirits.\u201d\n\nOne more, look at Revelation 2:2, which you already know because we\u2019re studying the Book of Revelation in the main service, we\u2019ve already covered the church at Ephesus, Jesus commends the church at Ephesus, \u201cI know your deeds and your toil and perseverance,\u201d He\u2019s commending them, \u201cand that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves\u201d what? \u201capostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;\u201d there ae people that came into your\u00a0 flock presenting themselves as prophets and apostles, you tested them by what God has already said, there was a contradiction and therefore you found them to be liars.\n\nSo let\u2019s just pretend that the gift of prophecy is in operation today and half of the body of Christ thinks it is.\u00a0\u00a0 Then I\u2019d better see these four rules in place and if a charismatic church is not going to practice these four rules then I\u2019m not going to join that church or have anything to do with it, even if it is the only church in town. There\u2019s got to be 100% accuracy, there cannot be pandemonium and confusion because you should only have two to three at a time, because the prophets are in full control of their faculties and people should not be made to feel as I\u2019ve been made to feel in some of these environments, that if you question something you\u2019re quenching the Holy Spirit, because that\u2019s what they\u2019ll say.\u00a0 They\u2019ll say you don\u2019t have child-like faith, you\u2019re quenching the Holy Spirit, you\u2019re resisting God.\u00a0 No, not so fast with that one because my Bible says, 1 Corinthians 14:29, which gives the standard that goes all the way back to Deuteronomy, that the others are to carefully listen to what is said.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:29, \u201cLet two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.\u201d]\n\nThose are the rules for prophecy and the next time I am with you we\u2019ll be given the rules for tongues and there are ten rules for tongues or languages and so we\u2019ll deal with that.\u00a0 I talked overtime, I prophesied too long today so I\u2019m going to close us in prayer.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for Your truth,\u00a0 Your church, grateful for the standard that Your Word gives us even to navigate our way through the contemporary charismatic movement.\u00a0 Give us humble spirits and teachable hearts as we look at this and we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!","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