I've entitled the message for
tonight, The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts. You'll notice he says in verse
one of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, now concerning spiritual
gifts, and you'll notice gifts is in italics added there by
the translators. And I think it's a good addition
because this is what he's talking about. Now concerning the spiritual
gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. They were
demonstrating great ignorance in their use of spiritual gifts. They had these spiritual gifts.
There were people in this church that speak in other languages.
There were people in this church that had the ability to perform
supernatural miracles of some kind. There were people in this
church who could heal the sick. The Lord had given them these
gifts, yet these had been abused by the church, just like they
abused the Lord's table. They gathered together in a way
that it was never meant for them to gather with regard to the
Lord's table, and they abused it. They made it a feast, what
they called a love feast, and there were all kinds of horrible
things that they were practicing with regard to the Lord's table.
Now, this is how bad these people were. I don't know how else to
say it, and it mirrors all of us, what we could be and would
be apart from the grace of God. They were abusing. the Lord's
table, and they were abusing gifts. How so? Well, the Lord's
given me the gift to heal people. I've got something you don't
have. He's got the gift to heal people. I don't have it. And
this developed a spirit of competition in this church. People being
jealous of one another. Paul said in the third chapter,
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal. Even as unto babes in Christ,
I fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are you able, for you are
yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying. and strife
and division. Are you not carnal and walk as
men? And much of this envying and
strife and division centered around these gifts. I've got
this gift, you don't. He's got that gift, I don't.
And there would be a spirit of competition. And I know myself
enough to know that if you had a gift that I didn't have, I'd
think, why don't I have it? And if I have a gift that you
don't have, I'd think, I've got it. Spirit had crept into this
church. And that's why Paul says now
concerning spiritual gifts, I don't want you to be ignorant. They
were actually using these gifts for promoting themselves. And
that is where the trouble came from. So he says now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant. Now look in verse four. Now there are diversities of
gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of
ministrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of
operations, but it's the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man
to profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit, the word
of wisdom. To another, the word of knowledge
by the same Spirit. To another, faith. And he's talking
about miracle working faith by the same Spirit. To another,
the gifts of healing by the same spirit. To another, the working
of miracles. To another, prophecy, a prophetic word. To another,
the discerning of spirits. To another, diverse kinds of
tongues. To another, the interpretation
of the tongues. Now he is talking about these
gifts that these people were in fact practicing. God I love saying that. He's eternal. He's omnipotent. He's omnipresent. He's not bound
like you and I are by space and time. And being omnipotent, there's
nothing he wills that he's unable to perform. And we're talking
about miracles. In the creation of the universe,
a miracle. When he simply willed the creation into existence,
you think of the power, the wisdom involved in that. I think of
when the Lord told Abraham, Sarah, your wife's going to have a child.
She laughed. And the Lord heard her laugh.
He said to Abraham, why'd she laugh? She said, I didn't laugh.
She lied right before the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said,
no, you did laugh. And then he asked this question,
is anything too hard for the Lord? Is there anything beyond
his ability to perform? He made the laws of physics and
he can just as easily suspend. And the first miracle worker
we read of in the scripture was Moses. I don't read of any in
Genesis. Maybe there is some that I don't
know about, but I can't remember any miracles taking place in
the entire book of Genesis other than the miraculous birth of Isaac through Abraham and Sarah. That was a miraculous birth.
It wasn't something everybody could see. The way Moses throws
his rod down, it turns into a snake. Everybody saw that. When he performed
the 10 plagues and destroyed Egypt, everybody saw that. The
parting of the Red Sea. In the Old Testament, you have
Elijah and Elisha. They were both given miracle
working power. And do you remember when Elijah
was leaving and Elisha was with him and he said, don't leave
me. And Elijah said, what do you
want? He said, a double portion of
the spirit. Do you know he did exactly twice
more miracles than Elijah did during his earthly ministry?
Oh, a double portion of the spirit to preach the gospel. We want
that every time we preach. The Lord Jesus, when he walked
upon this earth, he did what only God can do. He controlled the weather. Now
you think about that, a raging sea, a storm, peace, be still. There was a great calm that can't
be duplicated. He created matter and brought
matter into the universe that was not there before. That can't
be done in a lab. We can't create matter. He raised
the dead. He raised himself from the dead.
He healed the sick as an act of his will, without the use
of means. He simply willed it. There they were completely healed.
He performed mighty miracles attesting to his divinity. And he walked on water. He was the one who enabled Elisha
to do the same thing in principle when he made the ax head float,
but he suspended the law of physics. He who made the laws can suspend
them whenever he pleases. He could read men's thoughts. He reads our thoughts right now.
He knows exactly what's going through our minds. Now, after
his resurrection, if you would turn to Acts chapter one, Verse four, and being assembled together
with them, this is the Lord Jesus, he commanded them that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,
which saith he, you've heard of me. For John truly baptized
with water, but you should be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Not many days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? You know, they were
still looking for a political kingdom, even at this time. They were thinking, we want a
kingdom, what's our position in it? And he said unto them, it's not for you to know the
times and the seasons, which the father hath put in his own
power. I love the way the Lord says,
it's none of your business. none of your business, but you shall
receive power after that the Holy ghost is coming to you and
you shall be witnesses unto me." What was the purpose of this
power he's speaking of that's going to come upon them? One
reason, you shall be witnesses unto me. That is the purpose
of those gifts. And we know about what took place
in Acts chapter two and the fulfillment of this promise takes place.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place. Isn't that a beautiful thing
to think about? They were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Sounded like a tornado.
I've never heard a tornado, but I've heard people who have heard
them and the sound they make is like a freight train in your
head. That's what they heard at this time. And it filled all
the houses where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues, like as a fire, and set upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Now, this
is speaking of other languages. This is not speaking of a heavenly
prayer language that you give to God, that you feel blessed
by, but you have no idea what you're saying. That's not what
tongues are. It's the ability to speak in
other languages. If I had this gift, I could go
into Africa. I could go into Asia. I could
go wherever I want. I would preach the gospel in
that language to those people and they would understand it.
What a gift. What a gift. He named 17 different tongues
in verse 11, Cretes and Arabians. Those are the last two he mentions.
We do hear them speak in our tongues. What do they talk about? The wonderful works of God. That's the purpose of these miracles,
that they might preach the wonderful works of God, the gospel. Now, in chapter three, we have
the uproar that took place about Peter healing that man who was
born a cripple. And in chapter four, we read
of him being arrested because of that. In chapter five, we
read of the death of Ananias and Sapphira. That was a miracle
of some kind. We read of Peter's miraculous
deliverance from the prison. And we read of the shadow of
Peter healing the sick Chapter six and seven, we read about
Stephen, his miracles and his stoning, and turn to chapter
eight, Acts chapter eight. Philip was one of the seven deacons. Verse five, then Philip went
down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. That's so powerful. He preached
Christ unto them. Now, any sermon that could not
be said and described like this is wrong. I don't care what is
said. He preached Christ unto them. This is not some cliche statement.
He preached Christ unto them and the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing, notice
the order, hearing, hearing the gospel and seeing the miracles which
he did. For unclean spirits, crying with
a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with him.
And many, taken with palsies, and they that were lame, were
healed. And there was great joy in that city." Wouldn't you have
loved to have been there? Great joy in that city after
this preaching and these performing of miracles. Now, look in verse
14 of this same chapter. Now, when the apostles, which
were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Now these were two
of the 12, who when they were come down, prayed for them that
they might receive the Holy Ghost. Now the question, and this is
very important, the question arises, why didn't Philip do
that? Because Philip couldn't. Only the apostles could transfer
these gifts. This is very important. Somebody
says, why don't we have these gifts now? Well, because only
the apostles could transfer them. And when the last apostle died,
no one had the ability to transfer those gifts anymore. And when
someone claims to have these gifts, They're phonies and they're
frauds. It is not real. Do they know
they're phonies and frauds? Sometimes they do, sometimes
they don't. But they are phonies and frauds. It's fake nonetheless. They're not truly speaking in
tongues. They're not truly healing. If they could heal, like I said
a few weeks ago, they'd go into a hospital. I'd go into the Markey
Cancer Center and start healing people with cancer and they'd
be healed. Peter and John came down who,
when they were come, they prayed for them that they might receive
the Holy Ghost for as yet he was fall upon none of them. Only
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They didn't
have these supernatural gifts yet. Then laid their hands on
them and they received the Holy Ghost and all the power that
comes with that. The ability to heal the sick
and work miracles and speak in tongues and drink poison and
handle snakes. That's what Mark 16 says they
were able to do. And when Simon saw that through
the laying on of the apostles hands, now that's so important.
And this debunks the entire charismatic movement that speaks of all their
gifts. It was only, and God, the Holy
spirit had this recorded for us. So we could see this, this
is God speaking. And when, when Simon saw that
through the laying on the, of the apostles hands, the Holy
ghost was given. He offered them money saying,
give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands, he
may receive the Holy Ghost. Simon wanted in on this. And
we know what Peter said to him afterwards. Now in the church
of Corinth, they were in fact speaking in tongues. They were
healing sick people. All kinds of things like that
were taking place, but they had changed this. They had changed,
there's nothing in the scripture about this, but they started,
just like they changed the use of the Lord's table, they started
trying to use the gift of tongues to pray in front of each other
and show everybody, I've got this gift. And they've developed
this heavenly prayer language. And that was never what tongues
were for in the first place, but they were becoming competitive
and trying to one up on each other. So back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. 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, you were in utter darkness. Wherefore,
I give you to understand." Now here is the purpose of miracles. It has something to do with what
is said about the person and work of Christ. Here's the place
of miracles. No man, speaking by the Spirit
of God, calleth Jesus accursed. And that no man can say that
Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now this is the key
to understanding gifts. How do they relate to the person
and work of Jesus Christ? No man can call Jesus accursed. if he's speaking by the Spirit
of God. It can't happen. And no man can say Jesus is Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost. These gifts all relate into what
is said with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, no man can,
no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus a cursed.
Now, that obviously includes blasphemous and precatory language.
You know, there were people who did call him cursed, cursed of
God, that believed him to be a criminal. I mean, the people
around the cross, they said, let his blood be upon us and
our children. We want to be held responsible
for it. We believe this man to be a wicked man, and we are glad
to be held responsible for his death. Let his blood be upon
us. Let our children be held accountable for it. We're glad
because we believe this is what this man deserves. They weren't
saying that about the Spirit of God, were they? Although,
in a sense they were, because what a prayer. Let his blood
be upon us and our children. The wrath of battle, praise thee. And there these wrathful men
were cursing him and saying his blood be upon us and our children.
And that's what I said, Lord, may his blood be applied to me
and my children and those people I'm associated with. But these
people were saying he is accursed. It goes a lot farther than that. What did Christ say to Saul of
Tarsus on the road to Damascus? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
my disciples? Didn't say that, did he? He said,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now he was seated at the
right hand of heaven. Saul of Tarsus couldn't get to
him, but in his persecution of his disciples, the Lord said,
why persecutest thou me? Do you remember when the Lord
said, in as much as you did it to the least of these, my brethren,
you did it to me. In as much as you did it not
to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to me. Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that
sanctified, that's the Lord, and they who are sanctified,
that's every one of his people, are all of one. Not closely joined together.
I love the illustration the Lord gives of the vine and the branches.
The same stem that runs through the branch runs through the vine. There is no connecting point.
And that's the illustration the Lord gives. one with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is one with his people
to this extent. What happens to them, happens
to him. That's why he said, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? And what happened to him? When
he went to the tree, I went to the tree. When he was punished,
my sins were punished. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. That's what we say in baptism.
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. My salvation is simply being
in Him. Christ is one with His people. Now, the Bible clearly teaches
this. Christ and His people cannot
be separated. For him to deny me would be for
him to deny himself. And he can't deny himself. I
love the scripture with regard to the husband. He that loveth
his bride loveth himself. And when Christ was loving his
bride, guess who he was loving? Himself. That's how close and
real and vital this union actually is. Now the great majority of preaching
says that Jesus Christ can live for you and die for you and you
may be accursed in hell anyway. What's that say? You're calling
Christ accursed. If he can live for you and work
out a righteousness for you and die for your sins and you wind
up in hell, someone says, well, I'm not saying that. Well, I
know you're not saying that, but that's what it means. That's
saying Jesus Christ is accursed. If He can love you, pay for your
sins, work out a righteousness for you, and you wind up being
cursed in hell anyway, that's the same thing as saying Jesus
Christ is accursed. And no one speaking by the Spirit
of God can do that. Somebody that's speaking by the
Spirit of God understands the gospel, and they understand the
power of his death, the power of his life, the power of his
resurrection, and they will not say something like that. Not
speaking by the Spirit of God, I love the way the Lord said
with regard to the Spirit of God, he shall glorify me. It
doesn't glorify Christ to say that he can die for somebody
and they wind up in hell anyway. Oh, the Holy Spirit, he shall
glorify me. So with these spiritual gifts,
remember, this is the bottom line, do they glorify Christ?
What do they say about the person and work of Christ? Do they say
that Christ can be accursed? Well, nobody speaking about the
Spirit of God can say that. And then he says, no man can
say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. I spent. one semester of my college
career in a Baptist college, Cumberland College, Baptist College. And there was a lot of men there
training to be preachers. And they would walk by each other.
I'd see them. I'd just wince when they'd sit. They'd look
at each other and smile and say, Jesus is Lord. And they're saying
by that, this proves I have the Holy Spirit. Jesus is Lord. A parrot can say Jesus is Lord. I'm sure there's been parrots
that have been trained to say Jesus is Lord. Satan can say
Jesus is Lord. When he's an angel of light,
he can articulate it. I guarantee you every false prophet
says Jesus is Lord. They're not gonna say Jesus is
not Lord. No, Jesus is Lord. They articulate it. You can say Jesus is Lord and
it's all inspired by the Holy Spirit. Here's when it is inspired
by the Holy Spirit. When you understand it and when
you love it. That is the difference. When you understand what Jesus
is Lord means. I listened to a preacher this
week and I've made, I've talked, make Jesus the Lord of your life.
If you think you can make Jesus the Lord of your life, you have
no idea of His Lordship. He already is the Lord of your
life, whether you know it or not. For to this end Jesus died
that He might be Lord both of the dead. That man dead in sins,
Jesus Christ is His Lord. He doesn't know it, but He's
His Lord nonetheless. That man is in His hands for
Him to do whatsoever He's pleased to do. and he's the Lord of the
living. He's everybody's Lord. You just
read about it in Philippians chapter two, Tom, where he said,
wherefore God hath exalted him and given him a name which is
above every name, the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow,
things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Thomas tells us what it means
when he had You know, he was one disciple that wasn't there
when the Lord appeared. You'll remember that. Thomas
was not there. And they'd come back and tell
Thomas about it. And Thomas said, I will not believe
except I stick my hand in his side and put my finger in the
print of the nails. Just a blasphemous way to speak,
really. And the Lord had told him he
was going to be raised from the dead. And Thomas said, I will
not believe. And the Lord appeared to him
and he said, Thomas, reach either your hand and place it in my
side. Put your finger in the holes in my hand and feet and
be not faithless, but believing. Do you remember what his reply
to him was? Thomas said, my Lord and my God. That's what it is to believe
that Jesus Christ is Lord. And I love what the Lord said
to him after that. Thomas, you've seen and believed. Blessed are they who have not
seen and believed. That's what faith is. It's believing
what you do not see. But think of this. This is what
it is to believe in His Lordship. My Lord and my God. If a man believes Jesus is Lord,
he believes he is the God of the Bible. In Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead. You believe that? I love it when
the Lord said to his disciples, you believe in God? You know when he says, believe
also in me, it's even so. Do you believe God's absolutely
sovereign? Even so, believe in me, I am
sovereign. Do you believe God is omnipotent? The one standing before you in
the flesh is omnipotent. Do you believe God is absolutely
sovereign in control of everything? The first cause of everything?
That's me. Every attribute of God that can
be named, He is. He's independent. He has no needs.
I love that. He doesn't need for something
to happen for His will to be done. His will is done because
He wills it to be done. He is immutable. He cannot change. Every attribute of God dwells
in his body. Can you say with regard to the
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God? You believe that Jesus
Christ is God. You believe he's the creator.
You believe it was him who said, let us make man in our own image. You believe that Jesus Christ
is God. But not only do you believe this, You love this. You love who he
is. I think of Peter's small, pithy demonstration of
what the gospel preaching he preached was. He said, he came
preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. Now there you have the whole
gospel in that statement. Peace by Jesus Christ. Having made peace by the blood
of His cross. He is our peace. The only thing that gives me
peace is that Christ took my sins and put him away. I didn't have anything to do
with that. He did it by himself. And that he gives his very righteousness
to me and that's my personal righteousness before God and
I stand before God having never sinned. Having the perfect righteousness
and obedience of Jesus Christ as my life before God. Peace. peace. He is Lord of all. Not only do you understand that
he's Lord of all, you love him being Lord of all. You wouldn't
want it any other way. You're so thankful that he is
Lord of all. Now someone that understands
what it means that he's Lord of all. That means he's the God
of glory. That means that he is the cause of all things. That means he's the successful
savior of sinners. He can't fail because of who
he is. He's Lord of all. He is my salvation. That gives
me peace. Now, do you Believe that he's
Lord? I do. I've heard this thing called
the Lordship Controversy. That's no controversy to a believer.
He's Lord. I think that's it. Lordship Controversy? What in
the world are you talking about? He is Lord of all. And I love him being Lord of
all. Now, perhaps The greatest example
of someone who believed he was Lord and was glad he was Lord
was that thief hanging on a cross. He heard his buddy cursing Christ
while he was hanging there. He had been cursing, but the
Lord did something for him. He saved him. And he said, don't
you fear God? He knew Jesus Christ was God,
didn't he? Don't you fear God? This one you're cursing is God.
Seeing you're in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. We're getting exactly
what we deserve. But this man has done nothing
amiss. He believed in the sinlessness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. You're not gonna stay on the
cross, you're the Lord. You're not gonna stay dead. He
believed in the resurrection of Christ. You're gonna come
back as a mighty reigning king. Lord, remember me. The only hope that I have of
being accepted is if you stand as my representative and remember
me. Would you remember me when you
return into your kingdom? Now that man was saying Jesus
is Lord by the power of God the Holy Spirit. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." No man speaking by the Spirit
of God calls him a person. And no man can say he's Lord,
but by the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Lord, would you Give us the grace to say from
our hearts, the hearts that you've given us, understanding who he
is and loving who he is. Lord, let us Cry from the housetops,
let us cry in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen. Matt, please close again.