We have a couple of questions, first of
all, today, and I'm glad that these questions
come in.
And the material we're going to be going
over in the days ahead, some of it's
rather controversial, and you might not agree with
what I say, so do feel free to
put in questions or to disagree.
I always say that any teacher worth his
salt can be challenged, and if he can't
sustain it from the Word of God, he
should drop it.
Here's one, in regards to confirmation in the
mouths of two or three witnesses, please tell
if you agree that the Holy Spirit and
the believer are two.
The point is, I said that we're entitled
to go to God, and when we're seeking
guidance, ask him to confirm it in the
mouths of two or three witnesses.
The question says, please tell me if you
agree that the indwelling Holy Spirit and the
believer are two.
Well, of course they are two, they are
two persons, two personalities, but that doesn't necessarily
mean that they're two witnesses.
I don't see how I can be a
witness myself, I see how the Holy Spirit
can witness in me and witness through the
Word of God and give me an inner
consciousness of his will.
But I would still seek two distinct witnesses
apart from myself, I think, if I were
seeking guidance.
Here's another question.
Paul speaks of a man's spirit in 1
Corinthians 14, 14.
You might turn to that 1 Corinthians 14,
14.
It says, for if I pray in a
tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is
unfruitful.
Paul speaks of a man's spirit in 1
Corinthians 14, his spirit prays.
Does a man's spirit become regenerated or is
it merely added to by the Holy Spirit?
Does the Holy Spirit alter in any way
our own spirit?
Is our spirit in need of regeneration?
Man is a tripartite being.
He is spirit, soul, and body.
Two parts of him are invisible, one part
is visible.
Sin affected all parts of man's being.
It affected our bodies, the very fact we
have sickness.
It affected our soul, our emotional life.
And it certainly affected our spirit, because it
says we're dead in trespasses and in sin.
When it says we're dead in trespasses, that
doesn't mean our spirit is dead.
For instance, an unsafe person, his spirit could
be very much alive.
He could be involved in the occult and
his spirit would be alive.
But when it says that when we speak
of our spirit as being dead, we mean
dead toward God.
And when you think of that expression, dead
in trespasses and sin, think of that.
We ourselves are very much alive, and our
spirits are very much alive, but as far
as God is concerned, they're dead.
You know, God is trying to speak to
us in response to the corpse.
Okay, in salvation, redemption affects every part of
man.
One part is still future.
Our souls and our spirits are already redeemed.
Our bodies will be redeemed when we go
home to be with the Lord.
So in answer to the question, our souls
are redeemed, our spirits are redeemed through the
work of the Lord Jesus, and our bodies
will be yet redeemed.
I think if this literal body wasn't raised
from the dead and changed, Satan would have
an accusation against God.
He could say, I affected three parts of
man, and you only redeemed two parts.
So all parts of man are going to
be redeemed ultimately.
I don't know that it speaks about the
spirit being regenerated.
I think that refers to the person as
such, spirit, soul, and body regenerated.
Does the spirit alter in any way our
own spirit?
Is our spirit in need of regeneration?
Yes, I think our spirit is in need
of, I would use the word redemption there.
Our spirit needs to be bought back by
the Lord Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 14, just let me, if
you have your Bibles open, just let me
comment on this.
It's a very difficult verse.
Let me see if I can tell you
what I believe it says.
For if I pray in a tongue, my
spirits pray it.
That means I know what I'm praying, but
my understanding is unfruitful.
That means nobody else knows what I'm praying.
That expression, my understanding, is capable of too
many things.
It means what I understand or the understanding
of me by others.
And that's what it means here.
When it says my understanding, it doesn't mean
what I understand.
It means what other people understand when I'm
speaking.
I don't want to confuse it needlessly, but
it's what they call a subjective genitive and
an objective genitive.
The subject, that's what I understand.
The objective genitive, what others understand of me.
Let me give you another illustration of it.
Isaiah chapter 53, it says, By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many.
Does that mean we're justified by what Jesus
knows?
It doesn't mean that at all.
It means we're justified when we come to
know Jesus.
Do you get that?
There's a difference.
It really means by the knowledge of him
shall my righteous servant justify many.
It's tricky, it's hard, isn't it, to get
that?
But that's what it really means.
By the knowledge of him, when we come
to know him, we're justified.
It isn't by what he knows that we're
justified, but by our, we say, whom to
know is life eternal.
You follow me?
Here, when it says, My spirit prays, that
means I know what I'm praying, but my
understanding is unfruitful, nobody else knows.
The understanding of me is unfruitful.
Say, how do you know that's what it
means?
Because it goes on to say, how can
you say amen?
How can somebody else say amen?
When you finish, they don't know what you're
saying.
Doesn't it say that?
I will pray, what is it then?
I will pray with the spirit and I
will pray with the understanding of.
That is, I will pray so as to
be understood.
I will sing with the spirit and I
will sing with the understanding of that, so
as to be understood.
Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit,
how shall he that occupies the room of
the unlearned say amen, at thy giving of
thanks?
What it's saying is that a man stood
up in the assembly and he spoke in
a tongue, he prayed in a tongue, he
sang in a tongue.
Nobody knew what he was saying, there was
no interpretation.
How could they say amen?
He might know what he's saying, but nobody
else knew what he was saying.
I hope that's clear, but isn't, maybe we'll
have a chance to clarify it more.
If you ask questions, that's a good way
of clarifying.
Okay, let's first of all just look at,
see what we've been over, and where we
are now.
Here's a little list, we're really getting down
the list, aren't we?
The ministries of the Holy Spirit, and we
closed last night with He Gives Gifts, 1
Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1 through 31.
Actually, we could have put there 1 Corinthians
12, 13, 14, but we'll catch up with
that too.
I think instead of just going over these,
we'll just pass on and move on to
the subject of gifts and ask ourselves the
question, what is a gift?
That's on the next, no, that's on the
next transparency, Brother Frank.
And you'll have to open up that big
sheet there.
There we go.
The gifts of the Spirit.
That's good, that's fine, the way you have
it there, that's very good.
What is a gift?
A gift is a supernatural ability given by
the Holy Spirit to a person when he
says he may have one gift, he may
have many gifts.
It does not have to do with natural
talents.
It's not the same as natural talents.
In fact, God likes to take a man
that doesn't have any talent in this direction
and give him a gift, so that people
looking on say, well, it certainly isn't the
man.
He doesn't have that ability.
It must be the Lord.
The Lord likes to do that.
He likes to choose nobodies to exalt somebody.
So I think, when I think of a
gift, I think of a supernatural power or
enablement or ability which the Holy Spirit gives
to believers.
You don't pray for it.
You receive it sovereignly by the Spirit of
God.
But we should know what our gifts are.
Everybody has a gift or gifts.
And it's very important for us as believers
to know what that gift is.
And I really do think that we fail
in this regard.
I think that in the assemblies we fail
in this regard.
How can I know what my gift is?
Well, there are several ways in which you
can know.
First of all, you have to expose yourself
to various forms of Christian service.
And that helps you to know what your
gift is.
For instance, a young man might engage in
various forms of evangelism.
God has given him the gift of evangelism.
He'll know it pretty soon.
People will come under conviction of sin.
People will trust the Savior.
He'll see it in the results that are
produced.
You can find out what your gift is
by people, older, godly, mature people, suggesting to
you that you have a gift in a
certain direction.
Bill Goffin said that you find out what
your gift is when you have the maximum
effectiveness with the minimum fatigue.
Well, that's very good.
The maximum effectiveness with the minimum fatigue.
Let me give you an illustration.
If Tulsa asked me to come for two
weeks of gospel meetings, you know, preach the
gospel for two weeks, I would be an
exhausted wreck by the end of two weeks.
You know why?
Because that's not my gift, preaching the gospel.
That's not my gift.
And I'm sorry to say there probably wouldn't
be much in the way of results either.
But I can't help that, and I don't
worry about that.
I can rejoice when I see a man
like Billy Graham preaching the gospel and throwing
out the net and drawing in the fish.
It's wonderful.
I rejoice at that.
It's just not my gift at all.
That's all.
And I know that.
So that's a good way, isn't it?
The maximum effectiveness with the minimum fatigue.
And I think as we expose ourselves to
various forms of Christian service, the Lord confirms
in our own hearts and in the lives
of others just what that gift might be.
Now, the gifts are named in Romans 12,
verses 6-8.
1 Corinthians 12, 8-10.
12, 28.
And Ephesians 4, 11.
If you put them all together, is that
a complete list of gifts?
Some people believe it is.
Some people believe the gifts are only suggestive.
Probably safer to say that when you put
them all together, those are the gifts of
the Spirit.
Let's look at some of them.
We won't go over all of them today.
If you have any questions about some, feel
free to put in a question.
But let's look in 1 Corinthians 12, verses
8-10.
It says, verse 7, But the manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal.
That means for the profit of all.
For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom.
The word of wisdom.
What is the word of wisdom?
It is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Well, what it really means is, let's say
in an assembly in a local church, a
very difficult problem arises.
And the brothers get together and they talk
back and forth and everything seems to be
cloudy.
And a brother speaks and he has a
solution to the problem and everybody sees immediately,
as soon as he says it, that that
is the right Spirit-given solution to the
problem.
I think that's a word of wisdom.
Wisdom means knowledge applied.
And when a man is able to speak
to a specific situation with that Spirit-given
wisdom, that is the word of wisdom.
To another, the word of knowledge.
In 1 Corinthians 13, it's spoken of as
the gift of knowledge.
People have trouble with this.
This means knowledge supernaturally given.
Doesn't it mean knowledge in itself?
Doesn't it say in 1 Corinthians 13 that
knowledge shall cease?
It says, whether there be knowledge, it shall
vanish away.
Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
You mean in heaven we won't know anything?
Will we know less in heaven than we
know here?
It doesn't mean that.
It means knowledge, the supernatural giving of knowledge.
Such as what?
Paul said, Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed.
Nobody ever knew that before.
That was a new revelation.
How did Paul get it?
Knowledge supernaturally given to him.
To another, the word of knowledge.
To another, faith by the same Spirit.
We all have faith, but there's such a
thing as a gift of faith.
And I think when most of us think
of the gift of faith, our minds go
to George Mueller of Bristol, don't they?
A man of tremendous faith in the living
God.
He started that orphanage, and in answer to
prayers saw millions come in without making a
need known.
You all know of how he'd come there
in the morning, children would all come in,
sit down for the meal, there was no
food.
And Mueller would say, let's give thanks for
the food.
They'd give thanks for the food and there'd
be a knock on the door.
The bakery, the local bakery, had had an
overproduction the day before, weren't able to sell
it, and they wanted to know if you
could use this bakery good.
Right after he'd given thanks for the food.
The gift of faith.
It's unusual and it's supernatural.
When you think of the gifts of the
Spirit, don't think about anything natural.
Think of what goes beyond the natural, where
it's God directly working.
To another, the gifts of healing, of healings.
It really says, it's plural gifts and plural
healings.
The gifts of healings.
This is something supernatural again.
And of course you see it in the
book of Acts, in operation.
Some people believe that gifts of healings means
that a certain person might have a gift
with regard to tuberculosis and another with regard
to allergies or something like, I don't know.
I really don't know.
To another, the working of miracles.
And we know what miracles are.
I should pause and say that just because
you see a miracle, however, doesn't mean that
God is at work.
Good to remember that.
Satan can perform miracles too.
So miracles to be of God must be
by the Spirit of God and must be
in accordance with the Word of God.
When the Antichrist comes, he's going to perform
miracles, isn't he?
So all a miracle means is a supernatural
power, but it doesn't necessarily mean God.
But here, it's miracles God performs through a
man, a gift of miracles.
To another, prophecy.
In its original meaning in the New Testament,
a prophet was a mouthpiece of God.
He was a spokesman for God.
And the utterances of the prophets and the
apostles gave rise to the New Testament.
They spoke the Word of God.
I personally don't believe we have prophets today
in the primary sense of the New Testament.
We don't need them because we have the
ministry of the prophets preserved for us here.
And if somebody arises and says, well, I
have a message from God.
It's an addition to the Word of God.
Well, we wouldn't accept it, would we?
Because this is the faith once for all
delivered unto the saints.
I don't believe we have prophets in the
original.
We have other men who speak and women
even who speak prophetic words in the sense
that they're built, they're based upon the Word
of God, prophetic in that sense.
I think Tozer was a prophet in a
sense, not in the primary sense of the
New Testament.
He lashed out against sin and called the
people back to God.
A prophet did that.
But of course he didn't give an inspired
utterance.
Prophecy today is based on the Word of
God that we already have.
To another discerning of spirits, this is a
separate and distinct gift of the Holy Spirit.
A man with a gift discerning of spirits,
he's able to detect a fraud, an imposter,
when he comes along.
Other people could be very gullible and often
aren't.
To another diver's kinds of tongues.
The gift of tongues, of course there's a
lot of different opinions about this.
Some believe that tongues were definite foreign languages
as they were in Acts 2.
Some people believe that tongues are the language
of angels.
Some people believe that tongues are ecstatic utterances.
That the human soul is capable of emotions
that cannot be expressed in human language and
so forth.
And we're not going to settle that problem
here.
There's just no agreement on the subject.
For me, the simplest solution is that tongues
were definite foreign languages.
And you have that in the book of
Acts, don't you?
On the day of Pentecost, they had come
together, Jewish people had come together from all
over the then-known Bible world, and they
heard these Galileans get up and speak in
the different languages.
They had never studied them, but they were
able to speak.
And the word that's used there in Acts
2 is dialectos.
It means even in their own dialect.
Wow.
It's almost as if somebody got up in
Italy and spoke English with a southern accent.
You all.
So I believe that's what the gift of
tongues is.
You can disagree and it's okay.
To another, the interpretation of tongues, this was
a separate gift.
In other words, if a man would get
up and speak in the assembly in Corinth,
and let's say he spoke in Italian, another
man would get up and interpret what was
spoken in that language.
But all these work at the one and
the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally
as he will.
And then, of course, if you go over
to the last part of that chapter, you
have other gifts mentioned.
Apostles, verse 28.
An apostle was a sent one.
It was a man commissioned by the Lord
Jesus.
He must have been a witness of Christ
in resurrection.
He had the ability to perform miracles to
confirm his message.
We're going to see that in Hebrews chapter
2.
I don't believe we have apostles today in
the primary sense of the New Testament.
I believe we have men whose work is
kind of apostolic.
For instance, somebody was talking with me about
George Campbell, a young brother from an assembly
in California years ago.
Went up to Labrador and Newfoundland.
I think he saw at least 17 assemblies
planted up there.
There's something apostolic about his work, but he'd
be the last in the world to claim
to be an apostle.
But what he did was similar to the
work of an apostle.
That's what I'm saying.
Home with the Lord now.
You might turn to Ephesians 2.20 in
this connection.
Do we have apostles and prophets today?
Ephesians 2.20. It says, "...and are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone."
This speaks of the new building of God.
And it says, "...upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets."
First of all, let me explain.
The apostles and prophets aren't the foundation of
the Church.
God forbid.
When it says here the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, it means they laid the
foundation in what they taught about the Lord
Jesus.
Other foundations can no man lay.
And that is laid, which is Christ Jesus,
the Lord.
Christ is the foundation.
But they laid, the apostles and prophets, laid
the foundation of the Church in what they
taught about the Lord Jesus.
And you have it right here in the
pages of the New Testament.
Now, how often do you lay the foundation
of a building?
Only once.
The foundation has been laid.
It was laid by the apostles and the
prophets.
From then on, it's a matter of building
on it.
Paul says that, doesn't he, in 1 Corinthians
3?
He said, I've laid another, I've laid the
foundation and another buildeth thereon.
Buildeth thereon how?
By ministry, by teaching.
1 Corinthians 3, 10.
According to the grace of God, which is
given me as a wise master builder, I
have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon.
But let everyone take heed how he buildeth
thereon.
So, it seems to me the foundation has
been laid once and for all by the
apostles and prophets.
They passed off the scene.
Their ministry is preserved for us here.
It's our responsibility as servants of the Lord
to build on that foundation.
Christ Jesus the Lord.
I just mention that because I don't think
we have apostles and prophets in the primary
sense of the Word.
Then teachers.
A teacher is a man who can take
the Word of God, explain the Word of
God, and apply the Word of God.
I think that's very important.
He can take the Scriptures.
He can open them up to people.
And then he can apply them home to
the hearts of people.
The application is tremendously important.
It would really be possible, for instance, to
give a lecture on prophetic matters and not
make any practical application.
I think a good teacher does make a
practical application.
Then there's the gift of helps, verse 28.
I've seen some people here at Ozark Bible
Camp who have been blessed with the gift
of helps.
It's just part of their being.
Every time you look at them, they're serving.
Keep your eyes open.
Some of the best sermons at Ozark aren't
preached from the pulpit.
They're preached in living color by the people
that you're rubbing shoulders with.
Government.
The gift of government.
Now this is distinct too.
And I link this somewhat with the work
of elders.
Elders are not said to be a gift,
but governments are a gift.
It really has to do with administration, I
believe, in the local church.
You either have it or you don't.
If you don't have it, don't weep.
You've got something else.
Then it says, and divers kinds of tongues.
We have the tongues listed.
We have them here.
We have them in Romans chapter 12.
We have them in Ephesians chapter 4.
I really believe in Ephesians chapter 4 that
these are what we might call special service
gifts.
Turn to Ephesians 4.
These are just a little bit different in
the way they're classified here.
Verse 11.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, it says, and
he gave some apostles, some to be apostles,
and some to be prophets, and some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting
of the saints unto the work of the
ministry, unto the edifying of the body of
Christ, the building up of the body of
Christ.
Now, I really believe that the reason these
gifts are here is because these are what
we might call special service gifts.
These gifts were given in a special way
to build up the saints to carry on
the work of service.
This is the very opposite of what is
known as the clerical system.
Under the clerical system, one man does all
the preaching.
He does the work.
The saints sit there and warm the pews
and put their money in the collection.
It was never God's intention.
Never God's intention that the saints should become
perpetually dependent upon a man, but rather that
the gifts should be used to build up
the saints.
Let me just say it this way.
The world will never be evangelized the way
God intended it to be as long as
there's a clerical system.
As long as the work of evangelism depends
on a few college seminary trained men occupying
pulpits, the world's never going to be evangelized.
It isn't until the church is mobilized that
the work can ever be done.
And that's what this passage is talking about.
Who is to do the work of ministry
here?
The saints.
It was for that reason that, for instance,
the apostle Paul never spent more than two
years in any one place.
He spent two years in Ephesus at one
time.
He spent a total of three years during
his ministry in Ephesus, but at one time
just two years in Ephesus.
And that's why Timothy and Titus, Paul's assistants,
they're sometimes spoken of as the bishop of
the church in Ephesus, the bishop of the
church in Crete.
Nonsense!
These men weren't bishops of a church.
These men were itinerating.
They were troubleshooters for Paul, moving around, building
churches, strengthening churches in the things of the
Lord.
So there you have the gift.
And we've defined the gift and we've listed
some of the gifts.
There are others that we haven't mentioned.
Okay, we go on.
Points to notice with regard to the gift.
First of all, just down a little, they
were given for the common good.
This is very, very important and I want
to emphasize this.
1 Corinthians 12, we've read it before several
times, but it needs to be emphasized.
In fact, I wish some brother that has
another version of the Bible would read it
for me because it will be clearer.
Anybody have the NASB?
Would you read it, Merlin, please?
Verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12.
For the common good.
Anybody else have a version that says something
similar?
Is that Darby?
Would you read, Darby?
For profit.
But it really means for the profit of
all.
It really means that.
Okay, anybody have the NIV or any other
version?
Okay.
Yeah, that's the same as the NASB.
Very good.
Okay, that's very important.
In other words, what was happening in Corinth
was using the gift for self-display or
self-edification.
I want you to see this.
In other words, a man, and this really
happened, a man would get up in the
assembly in Corinth, and let's say he'd speak
in German.
He had never studied German, never took a
course in it, and he'd get up and
he'd jabber away in German without interpretation, and
what he was really saying in his heart
was, I hope you people are impressed.
I never learned German, and here I am
speaking in German.
And incidentally, it was something that was given
miraculously.
It came instantly, and it never left.
Because the gifts and callings of God are
without repentance.
And Paul is correcting that here in verse
17.
He said, look, God didn't give you gifts
for selfish display or for self-edification.
He gave you gifts to profit others.
That's good.
You see, because we're a body, the body
of Christ, and everyone has a gift, and
we need one another, and we should use
what we have for one another.
That's where love comes in.
That's why 1 Corinthians 13 is sandwiched between
12 and 14.
Love.
Why love?
Because love thinks of others, not of self.
That's why.
And if you're really exercising a gift in
love, you'll be thinking of how others will
benefit, not yourself.
Very important, I think, to see that in
connection with this whole matter.
Okay, the gifts were given for the common
good.
We go on.
The Spirit divides gifts individually just as He
wills.
1 Corinthians 12, verse 11.
But all these work of that one and
the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as He wills.
That means that the giving of gifts is
a sovereign work of the Spirit of God.
Man doesn't have any part in it at
all.
And I believe when you were saying you
were given a gift or you were given
gifts, I don't see anywhere where we should
pray for a certain gift individually or wish
we had another gift individually.
That's not the point.
The point is, find out what your gift
is and use it for the common good.
The sovereign giving of gifts by the Holy
Spirit.
Okay, we'll go on.
Members of the human body are not all
the same, so the members of Christ do
not all have the same gift.
Well, certainly the members of the body are
not all the same.
And Paul is saying that very delicately in
chapter 12.
Well, think of a human body now.
Think of a human being and he just
has one member.
He doesn't have feet.
He doesn't have arms.
He doesn't have eyes or ears.
Let's say he just had a mouth.
Say, don't be ridiculous.
Well, that's really what Paul is saying in
a very polite way in chapter 12.
The body has many members?
Not one member.
You have a unity in the body, but
you have diversity in the body.
And so the members of Christ do not
all have the same gift.
Let's read it.
Verses 12 through 26.
For as the body is one and has
many members, and all the members of that
one body, being many, are one body, so
also is...
Now, actually, what it says in the original
language of the New Testament is, so also
is the Christ.
The Christ.
The only time in the Bible that that
expression is used, like this, the word Christ
in verse 12 means not just Jesus in
heaven, but it means the head in heaven
and all the members on earth.
Remarkable.
A remarkable use of the word Christ.
Does Darby have the Christ there?
I thought he did.
Is that clear what I'm saying there?
It says, for as the body is one
and has many members, and all the members
of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is the Christ.
And the Christ there means the head in
heaven and all his members on earth.
The only time I think you'll ever find
the word used that way in the New
Testament.
For by one spirit, were we all baptized
into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and
have all been made to drink of one
spirit.
But the body is not one member, get
it?
But many.
You see, in Corinth, they were creating the
idea that everybody should have one gift, the
same gift.
And you hear a lot of that today
too.
Paul is refuting that.
What kind of a monstrosity would such a
body be, he's saying.
If the foot shall say, because I'm not
the hand, I'm not of the body.
Is it therefore not of the body?
If the ear shall say, behold, because I'm
not the eye, I'm not of the body.
Is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where
were the hearing?
The whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
But now have God set the members, every
one of the body, as it hath pleased
him.
Not as it hath pleased you, as it
hath pleased him.
And if they were all one member, where
were the body?
Now are they many members, yet one body.
The eye cannot say unto the hand, I
have no need of thee, nor again the
head to the feet, I have no need
of you.
Nay, much more, those members of the body
which seem to me more feeble are necessary.
Those members of the body which we think
to be less honorable, from these we bestow
more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have
more abundant comeliness.
For our comely parts have no need, but
God hath tempered the body together, having given
more abundant honor to that part which lacked,
that there should be no schism in the
body, but that the members should have the
same care one for another.
Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer
with it.
Or one member be honored, all the members
rejoice with it.
So what it means in a practical way
is you and I should know what our
gifts are, gifts is, gifts are.
And when we see somebody else with a
gift, just rejoice there, it's marvelous.
I can't do that.
Now my cup of tea, I'm sure glad
to see him doing it.
All part of the body of Christ.
So it goes on to say in the
next two lines, no one should feel worthless,
and no one should feel independent of others.
And this really is a great thing.
This eliminates jealousy in the body of Christ.
When you see other people with gifts you
don't have, and you realize it's a part
of God's marvelous working in human life.
Okay, the next thing is it's wrong to
suggest that all believers should have any one
gift.
And I went over that last night, but
I'll go over it again.
In verses 28 and 29, all of those
questions require a negative answer.
Does anyone have a modern Bible where it's
given that way?
I think some modern versions do give it
that way.
But what it really says in the original
language of the New Testament says, verse 29,
all are not apostles, are they?
All are not prophets, are they?
And it goes right on down.
And it calls for a negative answer.
And we've already seen that it would be
quite a monstrosity if there were only one
gift and all had that same gift.
Okay, next point is, and I think I
went over that before, a local assembly should
earnestly desire the greater gifts.
1231, it says, but covet or desire earnestly
the greater gifts, and a still more excellent
way shall I unto you.
And I mentioned before that in that verse
it's not speaking to individuals, it's speaking to
you plural.
It's speaking to a local assembly.
In other words, a local assembly might feel
the need of, let's say, the gift of
government.
When they're entitled to get before the Lord
and say, Lord, send somebody to us with
real leadership ability.
We need strong spiritual leadership.
We need someone or ones with the gift
of government.
Send that person.
A local assembly can do that.
You can't do that as an individual.
You can't say, Lord, give me the gift
of government.
Either have it or you don't.
That's the way it's going to be.
But a local assembly can feel its need
for somebody with a pastoral gift, a shepherd
heart for God's people, and pray that God
will send somebody along like that.
I think that's helpful to see.
Just remember that it's plural there in verse
31, not singular.
And then, finally on this page, love thinks
of others, not of self.
Oh, I skipped one, haven't I?
Unless a gift is exercised in love, it's
useless.
Well, just leave those two on.
And that's what chapter 13 is all about.
Let's read it through verse 7.
A lot of people used to think that
chapter 13 was a parenthesis.
They thought that Paul had the mind of
a jackrabbit and he just jumped all over
the landscape.
Huh?
Paul didn't have the mind of a jackrabbit.
Everything he writes, he writes by inspiration of
the Spirit of God.
And they're the commandments of God.
And actually, the flow of thought here is
beautiful, beautiful.
And he goes on to say, Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of
angels and have not love, I'm become a
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
Though I have the gift of prophecy and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though
I have all faith so that I could
remove mountains and have not love, I'm nothing.
Though I bestow all my goods to feed
the poor and though I give my body
to be burned and have not love, profit
is me nothing.
Why all this fuss about love?
Because he's talking about the exercise of gifts
and gifts should be exercised in love.
And love thinks of others.
Love suffereth long in his kind.
Love envieth not.
There's a brother that has a gift and
you don't have it.
You don't envy him.
You thank God for him that you're acting
in love.
Love vaunteth not itself.
You know, spiritual pride is a terrible danger.
God gives a man such a gift that
he can hold an audience in the palm
of his hand and hearts are stirred beneath
the influence of the Word.
Very easy to become proud, isn't it?
Very easy.
Terrific snare in Christian life and service.
Love doesn't act that way.
And read this all in connection with the
matter of gifts.
It's not puffed up.
Doth not behave itself unseemly.
Seeketh not her own.
That's it.
Her own what?
Her own anything.
Her own welfare.
Her own edification.
Her own pleasure.
Seeketh not her own.
Is not easily provoked.
Thinketh no evil.
Rejoiceth not in iniquity.
Rejoiceth in the truth.
Beareth all things.
Believeth all things.
Hopeth all things.
Endureth all things.
That's real love.
And Paul is saying, look, dear friends, exercise
your gift in love.
They weren't doing that in Corinth.
They were abusing the gifts in Corinth.
They were using them for self, not for
others.
And Paul says, you've got it all wrong.