All right, let's go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. 1 Corinthians 12. We're going to be turning quite
a bit this morning in this Bible study, so I thought I'd prepare
you. You can get your turning fingers
ready because we're going to look at some scripture this morning.
1 Corinthians 12 verse 1 says, Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I would not have you ignorant. This chapter we are
going through 1 Corinthians for our Bible study. And this chapter
is about the different gifts that God gives to his people.
He gives his people different gifts. And the theme of this
Bible study is this question right here. Why has God given
me the gift or the ability that he's given me? Why has he equipped
me with what he has? And I'm going to go ahead and
tell us all the answer. He gave it, number one, to be
used for the glory of God and for the good of His people. That's
the answer. Whatever He has given each one
of us, He gave it for the glory of God and for the good of His
people. Turn back a couple of chapters
to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. First Corinthians 4, look at
verse 7. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? What a good question that is.
If you think about what that's saying. Who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? I mean, that's everything. Every
single thing. We take our health for granted,
don't we? Just take your health for granted
long enough to get the flu, and then you'll realize I was taking
my health. God was giving me health every
single day, and I took it for granted. And as soon as it's
taken away in any way, shape, or form, we realize I don't have
control over my health. I don't have control over my
mind. I don't have control over my own salvation. And it says
in verse 7, who maketh thee to differ from another? And what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? That's
every one of us, isn't it? That's every single one of us.
Every ability that we have is a God-given ability. And we should never glory as
though we had anything to do with the strength of it, anything
to do with our mind in it. You know, we work, we have jobs,
and God sustains our mind, God sustains our health, every bit
of it. The Lord Almighty said, I wound,
I heal, I the Lord do all these things. Isn't that what he said?
I wound. When somebody gets wounded, Oh
man, God didn't want that to happen. No, God said, I did it.
I wound. I heal. I, the Lord, do all these
things. So every gift that we have is
from God. Every single gift. Look at James
chapter one with me. Just after Hebrews, James chapter one. Verse 17 says, James 1 17, every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down
from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning. So Paul in our text calls these
gifts spiritual gifts. And the reason he does is because
that's what they are. They're gifts given from God.
Now go with me back to our text, 1 Corinthians 12. Every spiritual
gift is manifested in a physical way. Every spiritual gift is
manifested in a physical way. When God moves, It's obvious. When God does a work, it's obvious. I remember hearing somebody say
one time, when God moves on the heart of a sinner, it's like
you were in a dark room, a pitch black room, and somebody turned
the light on. And that's true. It's obvious. When God moves,
it's obvious. When he calls a sinner out of
darkness, it's obvious. It's obvious. Others know about
it. He gives that sinner a heart to worship God, doesn't he? A
heart to worship God. He gives that sinner a heart
that needs to feed on the truth of his word. Not religion. Not just religion, which we'll
find out about in just a minute. He gives a sinner a heart for
the truth. I need the truth. Tell me the truth at all cost. And he changes that sinner's
vocabulary. That sinner quits saying I so
much. All his life he said I. It's
all about I. And he starts saying he. Doesn't
he? It's a change and it's obvious.
It's manifested in a physical way. Verse 1 says, now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know
that you were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols even
as you were led. Paul first wants to remind them
who they are and where they came from. He said, you know you were
Gentiles. He said, you were heathen. You
were strangers. Any person who is not a Jew is
a Gentile. We're all Gentiles. We were not
born Jews. Anybody who's not a Jew is a
Gentile. And Paul said, you were all ignorant, worshiping ignorant
idols. And is that not true? Is that
not so? Until God laid hold of us, you
know what we were? Lost. That's what we were. Lost. We were not worshipping
God. I was not worshipping God. I
tell you what we were all worshipping. Mainly the idol of self. We spend this life worshipping
ourselves. Verse 3 says, Wherefore I give
you to understand. I want you to understand this,
he says. that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed. No man who is speaking by God's
Holy Spirit calls the Lord Jesus Christ accursed. And no man can
say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. That verse
right there is saying this, but God, that's what it's saying. God gave a gift and that gift
was manifested. Look at 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians
9 verse 15 says, Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. I mean it's unspeakable. You
can't even, a sinner is not even worthy to speak of it. It's just
unspeakable. What was that gift? That was
the gift of His Son. The gift of His Son. It was the
death and it was the Spirit of His Son that He gave to sinners
like us. Isn't that unspeakable? What
Paul is saying in our text is this, when God sends His Spirit
to a sinner on purpose to tell that sinner, Christ died for
you. You know that's what God does.
He sends his Holy Spirit individually to a particular sinner and God's
Holy Spirit says to that sinner's heart, Christ died for you. For you. And whenever that happens,
when that gift is given, there is no way that that sinner
cannot believe. That's what he's saying in this
verse. When that happens, when God's Spirit is there, a sinner
cannot not believe. Try to not believe Jesus Christ
and His Word once God reveals it to you. Try. A sinner has no choice when God
sends that gift, no choice but to believe on the Lord Jesus.
Isn't that wonderful? Aren't you so glad for that?
I am so glad I don't have a choice. And the reason is because I'm
not a good chooser. I'm a really good sinner. But
God said there's no choice in the matter. If I send my spirit,
if I choose you and I send my spirit to you and my spirit reveals
to your heart Christ died for you, you have no choice. You
have to believe. You have to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. So back in the text in 1 Corinthians
12 verse 3 says, wherefore I give you to understand that no man
speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed." That's
what he's saying. When God gives the gift of His
Spirit, a sinner cannot say, I don't believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he goes on to say, no man can say that Jesus
is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. It is impossible for a man or
a woman to say Jesus Christ is Lord except that be given by God's
Holy Spirit." Alright, now, any man or woman who can speak can
say, Jesus Christ is Lord. That can roll off anybody's tongue.
If a man or woman has a tongue, they can say, Jesus Christ is
Lord. Alright, but listen to what the
word Lord means. It means supreme in authority. It means the controller. It means the owner. It means the sovereign. That's what the word Lord means
and no man can say from the heart, Jesus Christ is Lord. except that be given by God's
Holy Spirit. That must be a gift that's given. Verse 4 says, now there are diversities
of gifts but the same spirit. God has given different gifts,
different abilities to his people, but he's given all of us that
same spirit. This spirit he just told us about,
that when that spirit comes, a sinner cannot not believe,
and a sinner will cry from the heart in truth, Jesus Christ
is Lord. All of his children have been
given that spirit. But he said that these different
gifts have been given along with that. Look over with me at Ephesians
4. Ephesians 4 verse 4 says, there
is one body. There's one body of believers.
There are different congregations here and there, some on this
earth, some already in glory, but there's one body. And there's
one spirit. They're all given this one same
spirit. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling,
there's only one hope. There's one hope of eternal life.
And that's the blood of Jesus Christ. Verse five says, there's
one Lord. There is one faith. There's only
one thing to believe. You know that everybody believes
something different except for God's people. Everybody believes,
well, you know, that's all right. You believe that, that's fine.
We'll believe this, that's fine. No, this says there's one faith.
There's one thing to believe and it's whatever God put in
this book. Whatever He put in this book, that's what a child
of God believes. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. That's God's Holy Spirit coming
to that center and putting that center in the blood of Jesus
Christ. And then water baptism is just a confession of that.
That's all it is. Verse six says, there's one God and father of
all who is above all and through all and in you all. So we're
all called by the same spirit, all of God's children. We've
received the same Spirit of Christ, we all make up the same body
of Christ, but in that body we've all been given different gifts
and different abilities. Now look with me at Romans chapter
12. Romans 12 verse 4 says, For as
we have many members in one body, and all members have not the
same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every
one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according
to the grace that is given to us, Whether prophecy, let us
prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Some have been called
to preach. And if God has given a man that gift, may he do it
with whatever portion of faith God gives to preach. Verse 7
says, or ministry, that means waiting on other believers, serving
and doing for other believers. Let us wait on our ministering,
and he's saying again, with whatever proportion of faith the Lord
gives us. Or he that teacheth, we need teachers of children
and teachers of these Bible classes. He that teacheth on teaching,
he that exhorteth, some have been given the gift to encourage
others. He that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, some have been
given the gift to make money. He that giveth, he says let him
do it with simplicity. And if you have a center reference
in your Bible that says liberally. And that's not just giving money,
it's everything he's talking about. If you've been given that
gift that encourages believers, you spread that encouragement
like today's the last day. I'm gonna give it all, give everything
I got. He that ruleth, if somebody's
been put in a position of authority, with diligence, he that showeth
mercy. Some people are so good at forgiveness,
and we need that so badly. He says, do it with cheerfulness.
So back over in Romans, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 12, back in our
text, verse 4 says, Now there are diversities of gifts, but
the same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations. That word means ministries. They're
different ministries, but the same Lord. God gives His people
different ministries within the church, but it's all unto and
it's all for the glory of the same Lord. Verse 6, and there
are diversities of operations, But it is the same God which
worketh all in all. Now here's what I want to point
out. Same God is doing every bit of
this. Working all in all. What he's saying is the Lord
works on all of his people. The Lord works in all of his
people and the Lord works through all of his people. All of us
have a ministry given to us. all of us, every single one of
us. We ought to use the gifts and the talents that we've been
given, some in this way, some in that way. But none of us should
sit and just idly say, well, there's nothing for me to do.
That's just not true. That's not true. The Lord has
given all a gift for the sake of the ministry. Verse 7 says,
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man
to profit with all. God has given an ability to each
one of us for the profit of the entire church. Every single thing
is on purpose. Look with me quickly at 1 Peter
4. 1 Peter 4 verse 10 says, As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If a man is called on to speak,
may he stand up with the authority of God's word and preach God's
word. If any man minister, if any man
serves his brethren, let him do it as of the ability which
God giveth. What that means is whatever your
hand finds to do, do it with all your might. all your might. And he goes on to say that God
in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom
be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So God gives
every one of his children an ability, a gift, and it's to
profit the entire church. Go with me back to 1 Corinthians
12. Verse 8 says, For to one is given
by the Spirit the word of wisdom. Wisdom is Christ. Wisdom is Christ. There's one
source of wisdom. One thing is wisdom. It's Jesus
Christ and His word. That's it. Men and women both,
we all think we're wise. We've got some wisdom. And if
it's not God's word, it's not wisdom. If one man goes to another
man for advice, and the man giving the advice quotes scripture,
or if his advice is based on the word of God, he's giving
wisdom. And if he does not quote scripture and if his advice is
not based on the word of God, it's not wisdom. Wisdom is Christ
and wisdom is his word. And it's a great gift to a ministry
when God calls his men and women to first go to this word. Go to this word. What's the answer?
It is in this word. It's a great benefit to the entire
congregation. Verse eight says, for to one
is given by the spirit, the word of wisdom, to another, the word
of knowledge by the same spirit. Some have been around a while. Some have learned things, learned
a few things, learned by experience, learned through mistakes. Buddy,
we learn through our mistakes, don't we? And having that humble
knowledge can be a great help to a congregation from repeating
those mistakes. That's something we don't want
to do. Verse 9 says, to another faith by the same spirit. What
a blessing it is when somebody has the gift to say, it's going
to be fine. When something, it's great turmoil
just starts to sweep through the congregation and somebody
says, It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
It's going to be fine. Faith looks to Christ. That's
what it does. Wait on the Lord. It's going
to be fine. That's a great blessing. Great prophet to a congregation.
Verse 9 says, To another the gifts of healing by the same
Spirit. We don't lay hands on people
and heal sickness and death like the Apostle Paul did. Those gifts
are over. The Lord gave the apostles those
gifts. They transferred those gifts to men, but those men couldn't
transfer them again. And those gifts are over. But
I'll tell you how we can use the gift of healing. We can be
right there with a brother or a sister to heal a broken heart. Some people have that gift. We
can heal a broken relationship between two brethren. We can
be peacemakers. That's what we can do. Verse
10 says, to another the working of miracles. Do you know what
I believe is a miracle? I believe that we still to this
day see miracles. And you know what I believe is
probably the greatest miracle ever? It's when God saves a sinner. It's a miracle. I mean, it's
a miracle. Especially one who's caught up
in his own goodness. It's not so surprising to me
when the Lord brings somebody absolutely out of the gutter,
but when he calls one out of the pew, that is a miracle to
me. So you know what we can do? We
can invite people to come hear this gospel. Not me. Don't invite them to come hear
me. Invite them to come hear the gospel of the grace of God,
the gospel of Christ. God has given some people that
gift and it's a great profit to the congregation. Verse 10
goes on to say, to another prophecy. God has given some the ability
to preach. We have a few here. Verse 10
says, to another discerning of spirits. John wrote, try the
spirits whether they are of God. Because many false prophets are
going out into the world. Many, many, many false prophets
are in the world right now. And he's given some the ability
to say, something is not right about that man. Stay away from
him. Verse 10 says, to another diverse
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
I was listening to a message by Brother Darwin Pruitt and
he was talking about years ago, many years ago, he was preaching
down in Mexico and he was down in a very small village, very,
very small Pueblo. He was in a lady's house. It
wasn't a church building. It was a woman who had A preacher
come in and preached to her and whoever came to her house. And
he said the roof was so low. And if you've ever met Brother
Darwin, he's not the tallest man in the world, but he's tall
enough. But he said the roof was so low,
he said he felt like his head was in the rafters. This woman's
little humble house. And he was preaching in English. And Brother Walter Groover was
translating for him into Spanish. And then another man was translating
for Walter into Mayan. They were down with the Mayan
Indian. He said it's the hardest thing he's ever had to do. He'd
say something and wait on Walter to say what he had to say and
then wait on the other man to say what he had to say and then
he'd say something else. But that's tongues. Some have been
given, Walter had been given the gift of tongues and that
other man had been given the gift of interpreting tongues.
And what a blessing. Verse 11, this is our last verse. But all these worketh that one
and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he
will. God gives these gifts. He does
it by his spirit to his people as he will. It's all according
to his purpose and his work. It's all on purpose. Now, I believe
that the Lord has given me the gift and the ability to preach.
And I say that with humility, with fear, and with reverence. I'm just trying to state fact.
That's all. That's all. I believe that God
has called me and given the ability to preach. Now what if I didn't
do it? What if I didn't do it? God gave me the ability, but
I didn't do it. Are we going to have service
this week? I don't think so. What if I didn't do it? What would happen if God gave
me that gift and that's how I treated it? That's what I did with it. Really, what would happen to
me and my gift? What do you think would happen to me and my gift?
We don't have time to turn. I'm just going to tell you that
the Lord told us what would happen to me and my gift. He gave a
parable of a Lord who handed out talents. To this one he gave
five talents, to this one he gave two talents, to this one
he gave one talent. And the one that had five talents used them
and turned them into ten. This one he gave two talents,
used them and turned them into four. This one he gave one talent,
hid it in the sand, and didn't use it. And when the Lord came
back, this one said, you gave me five, now they're ten. He
said, well done, now good and faithful servant. This one said,
you gave me two, now I have four. He said, well done. This one
said, I knew that you were an austere man. You reap where you
didn't sow. And he said, I was afraid, so
I hid it in the sand and now here's your one talent back.
What did he say to that man? He said, take it from him and
give it to the one that now has ten. And then he said, bind him
and cast him out. Isn't that something? I told
you at the beginning of this, the theme of this Bible study
is why has God given me the gift or the ability that he has? The
answer is for the glory of God and the good of his people. May
God give us a heart to support his ministry. You know, we're
not talking about doing anything for salvation, are we? What do
we have that we have not received? We could start the whole thing
over and say every ability God has given me, I received it.
The blood of Christ that was given to me, I received it. I
didn't earn it. He was all given to me. He said,
why do you glory as if thou hadn't received it? We receive it, but
what we've received, may God give us a heart for his church,
his ministry. I thought about the fact that
everything that God has given here is such a blessing. Some
of us can cook really well. Let's cook it. Some of us can clean. Let's clean
it. Some of us can preach. Let's
preach it. Some of us can sing. Let's sing
it. Some of us can build. Let's build
it. All of us can give. Let's give
it. My prayer, honestly, is that
it might be said that the gospel poured from Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church. Kingsport, Tennessee was a place
where, man, those people were given to the ministry. Thankful for what God had done.
Thankful for their salvation. Oh, so thankful. And it poured
out of that place. Whatever our hand finds to do,
may God give us the ability to do it with all of our might for
the glory of God and for the good of His people. All right,
you're dismissed.