We are, in the midst of a series,
studying spiritual gifts.
We want to consider particularly those gifts that
have created so much confusion and about which
there is so much question today.
Gifted tongues and the gift of healing.
In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise and will bring to
nothing the understanding of the prudent.
There is the wise, there is the scribe,
there is the disputer of this world.
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of
this world?
For after that, in the wisdom of God,
the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to
save them that believe.
For the Jews require a sign, the Greeks
seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews
a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men.
May God add his blessing to the reading
of this portion of his word.
In the study of the important teaching in
the scripture on spiritual gifts, we've seen in
past studies that there is one class of
gifts that is called edifying gifts.
These are gifts which God gives to men,
that they in turn may become gifts to
the church.
But as they exercise that for which they
have been gifted by God, the church is
built up for edifying.
There are those who bring the truth to
a new area and establish people in their
newfound faith.
These were apostles.
There were prophets who received and proclaimed revelation
from God to man.
There were evangelists who brought the gospel to
those who were in darkness.
There were pastor-teachers who shepherded those who
had come to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ.
There were those who had gifts of oversight
or administration who could supervise the flock of
God.
There were those who could show mercies, could
meet and could respond to the needs of
people.
There were those who had gifts of discernment
and could detect when a false teacher or
false doctrine was being propagated.
There were those who had gifts of giving
so that the Lord's work should be supported.
There were those who had gifts of teacher
to communicate the truth of God that had
been communicated to them to others.
And through the operation of this multiplicity of
gifts, the needs of an assembly of believers
were met, and God's people grew in grace,
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
came out of spiritual infancy to maturity.
The apostle is very much concerned, as he
writes, for instance, in Romans chapter 12 or
in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that these churches
should avail themselves of the ministry of these
gifted men of God who, as they exercised
their gifts, contributed to the welfare of the
body.
But in these translations that deal with spiritual
gifts, we find there is a second class
of gifts.
They are what would be called sign gifts.
The apostle refers to some of these in
1 Corinthians chapter 12.
After he has mentioned some of the different
gifts, he says in verse 9, to another
faith by the same spirit, to another given
the gifts of healing by the same spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another
prophecy, to another discerning spirit, to another different
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of
tongues.
But in the same chapter, in verse 29,
he asks, Are all apostles, are all prophets,
are all teachers?
Then he asks this question, Are all workers
of miracles, have all the gifts of healing,
do all speak with tongues, do all interpret?
We see that Paul has clearly in mind
a second classification of gifts when he introduces
these Corinthians to what we call the sign
gifts.
We find as we look into the closing
portion of Mark's gospel that the coming of
such sign gifts or miracle gifts was anticipated.
For our Lord said in Mark 16, 17,
These signs shall follow them that believe.
In my name shall they cast out demons,
they shall speak with new tongues, they shall
take up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly thing it shall not fit them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover.
There, anticipating these gifts of the Spirit, our
Lord told those assembled on that occasion that
they would be given this capacity to perform
miracles.
The gifts that we call sign gifts were
miracles, and the same power that Christ demonstrated
when among men would be given to them
so that they could duplicate in large measure
the miracles that Christ had performed.
We find, as Paul writes in the first
chapter of 1 Corinthians, that the Jewish people
with whom the church began, to whom the
message was first preached, had come to require
signs before they believed.
Paul refers to that fact in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 22, when he says, The Jews
require a sign.
Now, there is historical background for this, for
there were certain periods in Israel's history when
God sent men with power to perform miracles.
We have called attention to this line of
teaching before, but I think it is necessary
to point out certain facts about it again
in connection with our study here.
When we go back into the book of
Exodus, in the early chapters we find the
children of Israel in bondage in Egypt.
They were God's people.
They had been related to God by the
covenant that God made with Abraham.
Yet, God had predicted they would be out
of the land for an extended period of
time.
The time had come for God to deliver
that people and to bring them into their
own land.
The people cried unto God for deliverance because
their oppression was so great, and God raised
up a deliverer, the man Moses.
Moses was sent back to Pharaoh's court with
a message to Pharaoh that he would deliberate
the children of Israel from their bonding.
Moses knew that the children of Israel would
be reluctant to accept him, for although he
had been born among them, he had been
separated from them.
Soon after his birth, he was taken from
his parents and was put into the household
of the Pharaoh, and he was brought up
as Pharaoh's own son by Pharaoh's daughter.
For 40 years, he had been considered Pharaoh's
heir or Pharaoh's son.
Then, after he had slain an Egyptian, he
had to flee in the wilderness, and for
40 years he again was separated from his
own people.
He was now 80 years of age, and
he was a stranger to his own brethren
and to the nation to which he was
being sent as a deliverer.
Moses anticipated that the people would be unwilling
to accept him.
He also knew that Pharaoh would reject his
message when he came as God's spokesman to
command Pharaoh, let my people go, that they
might be delivered from bonding.
So, when we come into the fourth chapter
of the book of Exodus, we find Moses
in a discussion with God, and Moses answered
and said, Behold, they will not believe me,
nor hearken unto my voice, for they will
say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.
Moses is anticipating the fact that his own
people will not know him, will not accept
him as a deliverer, will be unwilling to
follow him.
Now, he said, How can I be authenticated
before my people?
And so God said to him, What's that
in thine hand?
And he said, A rod.
God said, Cast it on the ground.
He cast it on the ground, and it
became a serpent.
Moses fled from before it.
The Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine
hand, and take it by the tail.
And he put forth his hand, and caught
it, and it became a rod in his
hand, that they may believe that the Lord
God of their fathers, the God of Abram,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
hath appeared unto thee.
Do you notice what God said to Moses?
You will have the power to perform miracles,
so that the children of Israel may believe
that I have sent you unto them to
be their deliverer.
That's only the first problem.
He has the means now by which he
can convince Israel that he is God's representative
with God's message.
But what about that godless man, Pharaoh?
How will he come to believe that Moses
is God's man?
And so we look into chapter 5, and
we read there, Afterward Moses and Aaron went
in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Let my people go, that
they may hold a feast unto me in
the wilderness.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that
I should obey his voice to let Israel
go?
I know not the Lord, neither will I
let Israel go.
You see, Pharaoh challenged both Moses, and he
challenged Moses' God.
And so in chapter 6, verse 1, the
Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see
what I will do to Pharaoh, for with
a strong hand shall he let them go,
and with a strong hand shall he drive
them out of the land.
God sent unto Moses, and said unto him,
I am the Lord.
And God gave Moses miracles to perform in
the presence of Pharaoh, to convince Pharaoh that
he was God's representative, and that his command
was God's command, and he was obligated to
obey it.
You see, the nation Israel had been born
in the midst of miracles, and their deliverer
authenticated himself to them by miracles, and he
accomplished their deliverance from Egypt by the miracles
that he performed.
From that time on in Israel's history, when
there was a new messenger with a new
message, Israel had been skeptical, and they said
to the messenger, You prove to us that
you are God's man.
They asked for signs.
Then I turn to another period in Israel's
history, that is, into the period of Elijah
and Elisha.
The nation of Israel had gone into apostasy.
They had been led into a culminating apostasy
as a result of the marriage of Ahab
and Jezebel, and Jezebel had introduced the worship
of a heathen god and goddess into the
religious life of Israel.
God sent Elijah with a message of judgment,
a message of warning that God would deliver
his people into bondage if they did not
forsake their idolatry.
And when I turn into 1 Kings chapter
17 and verse 1, I read, Elijah the
Tishbite, who is of the inhabitants of Gilead,
said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of
Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall
not be dew nor rain these years according
to my work.
And for three and a half years there
was not a drop of moisture that came
on the land.
And Elijah was vindicated before the king as
God's man by the miracle of shutting up
the heavens, just as Moses was vindicated before
Pharaoh by the miracles that he performed.
But then Elijah turned from his ministry to
the king, and he began to minister among
the people.
And if you read the succeeding chapters in
1 Kings, you will find a record of
a number of miracles that Elijah performed.
Those miracles were to the nation Israel to
convince the nation that he was God's man,
and that he had God's message, and that
the nation must heed the warning, the upcoming
judgment that he brought to them from God.
And even though the nation repudiated the message
of Elijah and his successor Elisha, they had
testimony from God by the miracles that these
men were God's men with God's message.
So Israel in the Old Testament had been
given signs to prove that the messengers were
God's messengers, and that the message that they
brought was God's message to the nation.
Now, when we turn into the New Testament,
we find in the Gospels that our Lord
performed a multiplicity of signs, and these signs
were performed before the nation Israel for the
same purpose that the miracles of Moses and
of Elijah were performed in the days that
had preceded.
Our Lord came to the nation Israel with
a message.
This message is given to us in Matthew
chapter 4 verse 17, "...repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand."
The nation Israel was guilty of sin.
They were far from God.
God had to turn his back upon them
and set them aside from the blessings that
he had promised to bring to them.
The only way they could receive blessing from
God was to turn back to God and
seek his face and confess their sin and
turn to the ways of righteousness.
Our Lord appeared to say to them, "...repent,
turn to me, and the kingdom of heaven
is at hand."
All the blessings that had been promised to
Israel through a coming King would become theirs.
So, our Lord had appeared as a man
from God, as God's prophet with God's message.
Why would the nation Israel believe him?
For there were, so the historians tell us,
no less than 60 men who appeared at
approximately the time our Lord appeared who claimed
to be God's Messiah, the one who would
bring blessings to the nation Israel.
Ah, but it was one great difference, for
not one of those 60 who claimed to
be the fulfillment of prophecy could do what
the Lord Jesus Christ did.
For I look in verses 23 and 24
of Matthew 4, and I read Jesus went
about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease among the people.
And his fame went throughout all Syria, and
they brought unto him all sick people that
were taken with divers diseases and torments, those
which were possessed with demons, and those that
were lunatic, and those that had palsy, and
he healed them.
Our Lord authenticated his call to repentance and
his offer of blessing to the nation Israel
by the signs that he performed.
And multitudes in the nation Israel who saw
his signs came to the conclusion that he
must be the son of David, he must
be the Messiah, he must be the one
whom the prophets had foretold would come to
redeem and to raise.
We find, then, that the signs as they
occurred in the gospels through the life of
Christ had the same purpose as the signs
in the Old Testament.
They were signs to the nation Israel to
authenticate a messenger as having come from God,
and to authenticate his message as a divine
message which necessitated obedience.
We come now into the book of Acts,
and we find throughout the book of Acts
many, many signs occurring.
These signs were performed by the apostles, or
those who ministered on several occasions by special
apostolic authority.
We look again into Mark, chapter 16, and
recall that our Lord, speaking to the eleven
as we read in verse 14, had said,
"'In my name they shall cast out demons,
they shall speak with new tongues, they shall
take up serpents.
If they drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover.'" As we open the book
of Acts, we find the apostles to whom
this word was given were engaged in a
ministry to the nation Israel, and they are
calling Israel to repentance as Peter did in
Acts, chapter 2 and verse 38.
In Acts, chapter 3 and verse 19, when
Peter said, "'Ye men of Israel, repent, so
that the seasons of refreshing shall come from
the hand of the Lord,' Peter stood there
on that occasion as God's man, as God's
prophet with God's message, and he asked the
nation Israel to believe on him.
But as we move through the book of
Acts, we find that the very men who
announced this message to Israel performed miracles, so
that the nation Israel might be convinced by
the signs that they performed that they were
God's men with God's message, and that the
nation ought to respond to the message that
God was delivering to them."
May I point you out to what Paul
writes in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12 and verse
12.
Throughout these epistles, Paul's authority was being questioned,
and there were those who repudiated his doctrine
who came and said that Paul had no
right to teach and to introduce such a
doctrine as he proclaimed, because he was not
God's man, he was not God's message.
When I come to 2 Corinthians 12, I
find Paul using a climactic argument to confirm
that he was God's man and the gospel
he preached was God's message, for Paul said,
"'The signs of an apostle were wrought among
you in all patience, in signs and wonders
and mighty to
prove to the nation that he was God's
man with God's message.'" The thing that I
want you to understand as we come to
the New Testament, and particularly to the book
of Acts, is that all of the signs
that were performed were performed by apostles, or
by their special representatives to confirm their apostolic
message as they preached Christ as the Savior
from sin.
Now, when we go into 1 Corinthians chapter
14 and verse 22, we find that Paul
refers there to signs that were wrought among
the Gentiles.
In 1422, Paul says, "'Tongues are for a
sign.' The so-called sign gifts are to
be contrasted with the edifying gifts, for the
edifying gifts were to be used for believers
to build believers up in the faith.
Sign gifts were not to be used in
reference to believers.
The sign gifts were to be used before
unbelievers to convince unbelievers of the genuineness of
the message and the authority of the messenger.
There was no place for using the sign
gifts before believers, for Paul says, again I
read 2 Corinthians 14.22, "'Tongues are for
a sign, not to them that believe, but
to them that believe not.' Now, what were
some of these sign gifts that the apostles
used to convince unbelievers of their authority as
proclaimers of God's truth and the genuineness of
their message?
Well, let's look in the book of Acts,
and we will see that what our Lord
predicted in Mark 16 was fulfilled in the
apostles in the early church.
I go into Acts chapter 3, and there
I find in the first verse that Peter
and John went up together into the temple
at the hour of prayer, being the ninth
hour, and a certain lame man from his
mother's womb was carried whom they daily at
the gate of the temple, which is called
beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered
into the temple.
And this beggar saw Peter and John, they
evidently looked prosperous, so that he asked them
for a gift.
And Peter said, "'Silver and gold have I
none, but such as I have, give I
thee in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth.
Rise up and walk.' And he took him
by the right hand and lifted him up,
and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength, and he leaping up stood and walked
and entered with them into the temple, walking
and leaping and praising God."
The result of this miracle is all the
people praised God.
The sign had convinced the people that these
two who had performed this were God's men
with God's message, and our Lord had said
you would heal the sick, and the lame
man was healed.
For I look in Acts chapter 9, and
there in verse 40, I find Peter coming
into Joppa where a woman by the name
of Dorcas had died.
And word was brought to Peter concerning the
death of Dorcas.
Verse 39, "'Peter rose and went with them.
When he was come, they brought him into
the upper chamber, and all the widows stood
by him, weeping, showing the coats and garments
which Dorcas made while she was with them.
But Peter put them all forth and kneeled
down and prayed, and turning him to the
body, said, "'Survivor, arise!' and she opened her
eyes.
When she saw Peter, she sat up, and
he gave her his hand and lifted her
up.
When he had called the saints and widows,
he presented her alive, and it was known
throughout all Joppa, and many believe in the
law.
Peter authenticated his authority as God's messenger by
raising one who was dead, and the message
of that went through Joppa, and many believe,
not only because Peter preached, but because he
authenticated his preaching by the miracle that he
performed.
And Christ had said, "'You will raise the
dead.' Peter raised the dead."
Or look at it again in Acts chapter
12.
I'm sorry, I want to go back to
Acts chapter 5.
We read there, "...by the hands of the
apostles."
Notice he didn't say, by the hands of
the believers or by the hands of the
members of the church in Jerusalem, but by
the hands of the apostles were many signs
and wonders brought among the people, and the
result of this, verse 13, "...the people magnified
them as believers, were the more avid under
the Lord, both multitudes both of men and
women, insomuch that they brought forth the sick
into the streets, and laid them on beds
and couches, that at the least the shadow
of Peter passing by might overshadow some of
them.
There came also multitudes out of the cities
round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folk and
them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and
they were healed every one."
Miracle of healing, regardless of the sickness, and
without exception.
They were all healed.
Peter didn't have to send some away unhealed,
saying, "'You didn't have the faith to believe,
that's why you weren't healed.' They were all
healed.
It was an apostolic sign to confirm their
authority and authenticate their message.
We'll look at it again back in Luke
10.
We'll use this as a reference when Christ
sent out the Seventy.
He gave them power to perform miracles, and
we read in verse 17, "'The Seventy returned
again with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons
are subject unto us through thy name.' Verse
19, "'Behold, I have given unto you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over
all the power of the enemy.
Nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Now, withstanding in this, rejoice not that the
spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice
because your names are written in heaven.' These
apostles would be given this authority preceding the
authority invested in them as apostles, and the
day of Pentecost were able to deliver people
who were demon-possessed.
They could go into the realm of sickness,
into the realm of death, into such crippling
deformities as blindness and lameness, and they healed.
They could call those who had died back
to life again.
These were the signs that Christ gave them
the power to perform, to authenticate to men
that they were apostles, and to convince unbelievers
that their message was a genuine message.
When we turn to the second chapter of
the book of Acts, we find another kind
of miracle or sign that they could perform.
Those that we have mentioned thus far have
been in the realm of physical healing, and
it had to do with the body.
But here is a different kind of sign
in Acts 2.
In verse 4, on the day of Pentecost,
the apostles were all filled with the Holy
Ghost and began to speak with other tongues
as the Spirit gave them uttering.
These other tongues were known languages, for before
the apostles on that occasion were men from
a multitude of nations, as described in verses
9-11.
These people had come together to observe the
Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem.
They were not able to communicate with each
other because of a language barrier, but Peter
was enabled to speak so that each one
of these, from these many different nationalities, heard
in their own mother tongue the glorious message
that Peter had been sent to deliver.
As a result of this miracle, we read
that on this day, from verse 41, there
were added unto them about three thousand souls.
This was a miracle.
It was a sign to prove Peter's appointment
as God's prophet, God's spokesman, and to convince
them of the genuineness of his message.
And when these who knew not Christ heard
the message and saw the sign, they believed
in Christ.
They didn't believe in Peter to the salvation
of their souls, they believed in Christ, and
they joined themselves not to Peter, they were
joined to Jesus Christ by being baptized in
his name.
They were saved.
What I want you to see, beloved, is
this fact that when God had a new
message, a message of deliverance to bring to
the nation Israel when they were in bondage,
he raised up a deliverer, a prophet, and
that prophet delivered a message and authenticated the
message by miracle.
When God approached that nation in judgment, he
warned of impending judgment, and he sent a
prophet, and that prophet authenticated his message and
his warning by miracle.
When the Lord Jesus Christ came with the
good news that God had sent the Savior
into the world and men were invited to
put faith in him, that prophet, the Lord
Jesus, was authenticated by miracle.
When after the death and resurrection of Christ,
God had a new message of salvation to
deliver to man through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, God sent messengers and he
authenticated those prophets by miracle.
When the apostles covered their world with the
message of salvation by the grace of God
through the death of Christ, based on the
blood of Christ, they gained a hearing, and
men were convinced of their message because it
was authenticated by miracle.
These signed gifts were given to the apostles
to be exercised before unbelievers, to bring believers,
to bring unbelievers to a knowledge of Jesus
Christ.
Because the word of God has been authenticated,
it no longer became necessary for these miracles
and these signs to continue.
Abundant evidence was given to the fact that
these men were God's men, and this message
was God's message, and we find that these
signs began to diminish, to decline, and ultimately
to disappear.
We're going to consider in subject and study,
are these signed gifts for today?
Do we look for men to perform miracles
of healing?
Do we look for men to speak in
tongues?
Or are these movements an attempt to revive
what was temporary and transitory, and no longer
serves a useful function?
I trust that through this study this evening,
you will see that God in this grace
to convince men of the genuineness of his
offer of salvation empowered the apostles to perform
some.
They did then not to attract attention to
themselves, not to create a following by doing
something spectacular.
The signs they performed were designed to attract
men to Jesus Christ, to attract men to
a person that people might hear words from
him as he said, I am no other
in the way, I am no other in
the sea, I am no other than the
light, no man cometh under the fathom but
by me.
This sign points to a person instead of
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They cannot be ignored signs.
I point you to him, the one who
was authenticated by signs and miracles, who invites
men to himself as a saint.
We pray our Father that the Spirit of
God may direct our understanding of these things
to which we have been looking, that we
might be instructed in the plan and purpose
of God for signs.
We might be able to fit them into
the right place, the unfolding of revelation.
We thank thee that the message was a
message that was authenticated, which we have believed
to the salvation of our souls.
We thank thee for the person whose death
provided the basis for our salvation, that we
might be drawn to thee.
Dismissed are the riches of thy grace and
mercy and peace upon us, we pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Maybe something that you heard in this message
has prompted a spiritual need in your life,
and you would like to talk with someone
about that.
We have someone here ready to take your
phone call, and we invite you to call
our counseling line at 1-800-888-7077.
Again, that's 1-800-888-7077.
I'd like to invite you to join us
again tomorrow evening before the conference opens.