Paul had been speaking of the
church being one body. There's one church. That's the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the body of Christ. The whole
idea of denominations is purely man-made. There's one church,
the church that Christ loved and gave himself for. the General
Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. That's the church, the one body.
He says in verse four, 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 everyone members one of another,
members of the same body. Now in verses six through eight,
He lists the seven gifts that are given to the church for the
edification of the body. And if you or I are believers,
we have at least one or probably more than one of these gifts
that he mentions that are to be used for the edification of
the body. As the Lord enables me, I want
to bring a message on each one of these seven gifts. And I want
to preach the gospel in preaching these messages, but I'm going
to bring seven messages on the seven gifts to the church for
the edification of believers. Now let's read them once again,
beginning in verse six. This is true regarding every
believer, having then gifts. Gifts of grace, actually, that's
the word, gifts of grace. Differing according to the grace
that's given to us, where the prophecy, let us prophesy according
to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our
ministry. Or he that teacheth on teaching. Or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Now there we have the seven gifts
to the church given for the edification of the body. Now, the first gift
he mentions is the gift of prophecy. Once again, in verse six, having
then gifts differing according to the grace that's given to
us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion
of faith. Now, what is prophecy? We need it. Prophecy is thus
saith the Lord. Prophecy is speaking by divine
inspiration. If I'm a prophet, I'm making
the claim that God himself is speaking through me. Now that
is the gift of prophecy. It's speaking from divine inspiration. It's declaring the purpose of
God, whether spoken to believers or unbelievers. It is a word
of reproof, a word of comfort, a word of revealing things that
are hidden, or even foretelling future events. It's the speaking
forth of the mind and the counsel of God. That's what prophecy
is. Exodus chapter 4, I think, gives us a beautiful illustration
of what a prophet is. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
4. And this is the gift given to
the church for the edification, for the building up of the body.
You and I need prophecy. We need a prophetic word. We
need the word of God. And look what he says, beginning
in verse 10. This is after God had commissioned
Moses to go to Pharaoh, and Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord,
I am not eloquent, neither here to ford, nor since thou hast
spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a
slow tongue. I can't speak. Why would you
want me to be a prophet? And the Lord said unto him, Who
hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore
go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt
say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand
of him whom thou wilt send. Send somebody else. Verse 14,
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he
said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can
speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth
to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will
be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him.
and put words in his mouth. I will be with thy mouth, and
with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do, and he
shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be, even
he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to
him instead of a God." Now that tells us what prophecy is very
clearly. Now the Bible speaks of the Old
Testament prophets. Moses was a prophet, given the
very words of God to Israel. Elijah and Elisha were prophets. David was a prophet. They all
spake with a, thus saith the Lord. From Isaiah to Malachi,
all the Old Testament prophets, they were speaking under divine
inspiration, giving the word of God. Now, in the New Testament,
the prophets did not yet have the canon of scriptures. They
didn't have the New Testament the way we have it. And when
they spake, they spake with a, thus saith the Lord. They spake
under divine inspiration. I mean, you have the example
of Agabus in the book of Acts. He comes up several times, and
he would even foretell future events. But there were prophets
in the New Testament. Now, after the full canon of
scriptures, you still have prophets, but they are preaching from this
book. Now, I claim to be given this
gift. I wouldn't be standing up here
if I didn't. I claim to be given this gift
of prophecy, of preaching the Word. And you can judge as to
whether or not I'm preaching the Word by seeing if I'm preaching
what this book says. That's all you've got to do.
It's one thing to claim to be a prophet. It's another thing
to preach what this book says. A lot of people claim to be prophets.
A lot of people be will claim to be preaching under inspiration,
but you and I have a way of judging whether or not they really are
preaching under inspiration. Isn't that a blessing? I'm not
left to just some man telling me I'm a prophet and I've got
to listen to what he says. No, I have the scriptures to
judge whether or not they're true prophets. And notice what
Paul says in our text in verse 6. Having then gifts differing
according to the grace that's given to us, where the prophecy
let us prophesy according to the proportion or it's where
we get the English word analogy from, according to the analogy
of faith. Now, if I'm preaching, if I'm
prophesying, I better be speaking according to the faith, according
to the analogy of the faith, according to the scriptures.
1 Corinthians 14.32 says the spirits of the prophets are subject
to the prophets. It was said of the noble Bereans,
I love this passage of scripture, when they heard Paul preach,
it was said they were more noble than those in Thessalonica in
that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched
the scriptures daily whether these things were so. Now they
heard wonderful things. They heard things like salvation
is utterly by grace. It doesn't have anything to do
with your works. And they thought, is that too
good to be true? And they searched the scriptures
to see if that was true. They heard about the full forgiveness
of sins, how salvation begins. with the forgiveness of sins.
It's not the end of a process where you've done something and
now you've achieved it. No, it begins with God, for Christ's
sake, forgiving you. They heard of justification,
how a sinner can actually be justified before God to where
they actually have no guilt before God. They stand before God righteous.
And they said, is this what the Bible actually teaches? They
searched the scriptures daily whether these things were so. And the only verification that
they were so was that they were actually taught in the Bible.
First Corinthians chapter 15, verse three, where Paul described
the gospel, he said, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel. And he said in verse three, it's how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Old Testament scriptures. Now
you can see if I'm telling the truth by whether or not I preach
according to the Old Testament scriptures. And we have so many
examples of that. The Passover. The Passover. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Now what was God looking for?
He didn't say, when I see your faith or your works or your sincerity. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Wherever God sees the blood,
he passes by in mercy. Everybody in those houses with
the blood over the door was secure. Everyone outside of the houses
were judged. Now that's how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. You listen to a man.
He claims to be a prophet. Does he preach this? How does
he preach Christ? Now, I'm not asking you to believe
something because I said it, but because it's what the Word
says. Paul said to Timothy, Timothy,
preach the Word. Don't try to dress it up. Don't
try to make it more appealing. Just preach the Word. Whatever
God says in His Word, declare it. Don't worry about what people
think. Preach the Word. Whatever God says, preach it.
That's what the job of the preacher or the prophet is to do. It's
to preach the Word. Now, when Paul says, if you're
going to prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of
faith, There are two views as to what Paul meant when he said,
prophesy according to the proportion of faith. And I think there's
truth in both. One view is that he means, Timothy,
don't go beyond the faith that God's given you. Don't try to
prophesy something you don't know anything about. Don't go
beyond. You can't preach, really. You
can't preach what you haven't experienced. What you haven't
really, what you really believe. Don't go beyond that. Don't go
beyond what the scripture says. Prophesy according to what God's
Word actually says and don't go an inch beyond it. Make sure
you're prophesying according to the analogy of the faith,
according to the faith. The same faith of which Paul
said, I've fought a good fight. I finished my course, I've kept
the faith. Now would you turn with me to Titus chapter one. Titus the first chapter. Verse 1, Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ. Now look at this next phrase. According to the faith of God's elect and the
acknowledging, the recognition, the full embracing of the truth,
which is after godliness. Now, when Paul said, prophesy
according to the analogy of the faith, and the definite article
the is in there, in the original, the faith, there's only one faith. And that is the faith of God's
elect. It's the faith that all of God's
elect possess. Who are the elect? Those God
chose before time began to be saved. In time, He gives them
faith and they share in this same faith. And it's seen as
an acknowledging, as a recognition of, as an embracing of the truth. Now, regarding all God's elect
when they hear the truth. Something in their heart says
that's the truth. They recognize the truth. They
perceive the truth. If I say from the word of God
that men are dead in sins and without the ability to save themselves. All of God's elect say, yep,
that's the truth. That's the truth. I know it.
I know it. I know that's so. When you hear that God is sovereign
and controls everything, you say, that's so. I know that.
That's God. When you hear that God elected
a people, you say, it'd have to be that way. It'd have to
be that way. It couldn't be any other way.
When you hear that Christ is the Savior, that He accomplished
salvation, that when He said, it is finished, it was finished.
You say, yes, it's finished. You recognize, you perceive,
you embrace the truth. All of God's elect do this. It's
the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. You know where it comes from?
It comes from godliness. You see, when God saves somebody,
they're given a new nature, a godly nature. And this nature hears
and embraces and receives and loves the truth. Now, that's
what the faith is. The faith is the acknowledging
of the truth. It's a supernatural thing. It
comes from godliness and it leads to godliness. You know, I love
this. In preaching, I don't have to
argue or talk somebody into anything. I just declare the truth, and
I know God's elect respond to it. They believe. They say, yes,
yes, like that woman when the Lord said, It's not right to
take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. You don't know
what response was? Yes! Yay! That's the truth. That's the truth. And that's
the way God's people respond to the truth. This thing of prophecy
is so important. The prophet's not the issue.
He's nothing. He's nothing. He doesn't even
count. It's what he says. That's what counts. Turn with
me for a moment to Revelation chapter 19. Or even while I'm trying and
attempting to preach this message, my heart is crying, Lord, bless
this word. If it's just my word, it's not doing any good. Bless
this word, for Christ's sake. And I trust He will. Now look
in Revelation chapter 19, verse 10. John says, And I fell at
His feet to worship Him, a created angel. And He said unto me, See
thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant, and
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now do you want
to know what prophecy is? It's the testimony of Jesus.
That is the spirit. of prophecy. Now, I could use
so many examples as to what that means, but the first thing that
came to my mind is, here's the testimony of Jesus. Christ is
all. Colossians chapter 3, verse 11. Let's read it together. You know,
I like to quote scriptures, but sometimes I just as soon as I
see them written down. Colossians chapter 3. Paul says in verse 9, lie not
one to another, seeing that you've put off the old man with his
deeds and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, born nor
free, but Christ is all in all. Do you know that Jesus Christ
is all that God is? I love saying this. Jesus Christ
is God. That's one of my favorite things
to say. Jesus Christ is God. He's all that God is. He's all
that's in this book. He's all in salvation. That means
if you're saved, you're saved wholly for Christ's sake. It's
not God's response to you. It's his response to him. He's
all in every doctrine of the Bible. He's all in election.
I was chosen in Him. He's all in redemption. I was
redeemed by Him. He's all in righteousness. He
is my personal righteousness before God. He's all in our preaching. Paul said, I've determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
He's all in our motivation for obedience. Not I obey in order
to keep from getting out of trouble, For Christ's sake. That's all
that's needed. For Christ's sake. Jesus Christ is all. He's all in my salvation. All
God requires of me. In every area, in every aspect,
He looks to His Son for. Now is that good news? Is that
good news? That's the testimony of Jesus. That's the spirit of prophecy.
That Jesus Christ is all in my salvation. Oh, how thankful I
am for that. If I'm a prophet, I'll have the
testimony of Jesus. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 1.
2 Timothy 1. Paul says to Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. Now here's the significance of
this. This is the testimony of Christ himself. This is the spirit
of prophecy. This is the testimony of Jesus.
This is the message of anybody who claims to be a true prophet
of God, called of God to preach his gospel. You can judge him
by this. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. I think
that's an interesting thing to say to Timothy. But be thou a
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power
of God. Now remember, he's talking about
the testimony of Jesus, what it is, the testimony of our Lord.
He said, Timothy, don't be ashamed of this, but you be a partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel. Now, when Paul was writing this
epistle, he was writing from a cold Roman prison cell. And he was in this prison cell
because of this testimony that he maintained. Now when you preach
the gospel, you're going to take away people's hope if they're
hoping in their works. And they're going to get upset.
I was listening while Paul was reading that passage of scripture
in Acts chapter 16. And as long as that girl talked,
they were okay. But when they saw that their
hope of gains was gone, That is when they started to persecute
Paul. When they saw their hope of gains was gone. And if I preach
in such a way, or if you preach in such a way, as it takes somebody's
hopes away, if they're hoping in their works, they're going
to get upset. And that is why Paul was in prison. But he said,
don't you be ashamed of this testimony of our Lord. nor of
me his prisoner, but you be a partaker, a sharer in the affliction to
the gospel." Don't you want to identify with anybody who's being
persecuted for the gospel of Christ? I want to be right there
with them. I want to be somebody. It's not
that I want to be persecuted, but I want to be persecuted.
See what I mean? I don't want to be persecuted,
but I want to be persecuted because if I'm not, I'm not preaching
the gospel. Now, Paul said, you don't be ashamed of this testimony,
but you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Now
listen real carefully as we hear just what this testimony is. Here we go. Verse 9. He saved
us. Who hath saved us. This is everything we believe.
He saved, He hath saved us. And it's already done. He saved
us. We didn't save ourselves. We
didn't contribute in our salvation. He didn't make us savable. He
didn't give us the potential to be saved. He didn't open up
a window of opportunity for us to be saved. He saved us. When he said, it is finished,
every believer was saved, completely saved. That's what he did. He
hath saved us. He hath saved us from our sins.
That's what I need saved from is my personal sin. Matthew 121
says, I should call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. And that's exactly what he did.
My sins were paid for. I was given perfect righteousness.
They were all put away. He hath saved us. But look what it says next. He
hath saved us and called us with a holy calling. Now my first
question is, which came first? The saving or the calling? which came first, according to
this passage of Scripture, of the testimony of our Lord. And
this is so important because human religion gets the order
mixed up and messed up. They always do. If you call,
He'll save you. If you repent, He'll save you. If you believe, He'll save you. And you know that's half true.
If you call, He will save you. If you repent, He will save you.
If you believe, He will save you. But what does this passage
of Scripture say? It says, He saved us, then He
called us. You see, my salvation was accomplished
outside of my personal subjective experience. As a matter of fact,
I saved before time began. Let's go on reading. 2 Timothy 1.9, who hath saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, didn't
have anything to do with our works, good or bad, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus, when? Before the world. began. Now in the divine order, the
saving came first, and this salvation was accomplished before the world
began. Everything I have was given to
me in Christ Jesus. The justification, the redemption,
the regeneration, the acceptance, everything I have was given me
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Isn't that amazing? Romans 9,
11 says, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Now, if I'm giving the testimony
of our Lord, I'm declaring a salvation that was accomplished before
I was even born. And that's how much it doesn't
have anything to do with my works. I didn't have any works to do.
He did them all. And we rejoice in that. We rejoice. Aren't you glad it's that way? He saved us and he called us.
He did call us. called by the gospel according
to his own purpose and grace. I love this thought of God's
purpose. Did God save you or did you do
it yourself? Well, you say, God saved me.
Well, did he do it on purpose or was it an accident? He did
it on purpose, didn't he? He saved us, He called us by
the gospel with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. But, verse 10, we're not
finished. This is still a part of the testimony
of our Lord, but is now, this holy calling, this salvation,
is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That which was accomplished in
eternity has to be accomplished in time as well. Now, don't anybody
think, well, if I'm eternally saved, I don't need to worry
about anything in time. It's already done. No, if you
don't believe, you won't be saved. If you don't repent, you won't
be saved. If you don't come to Christ, you won't be saved. Both
of those things are true. They're both equally true. And
He has come in time to manifest His salvation. Now, what did
He do? Let's read. now is made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's what he did. He abolished
death and has brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. He abolished death. Now the wages
of sin is death. And he paid the debt. And by doing that, he abolished
death. He rendered death inactive. He
made death unemployed. He deprived it of its force,
its power, and its influence. And he's made death the best
day of the believer's life. The best day of your life is
going to be the day when you die, and you're rid of this sinful
body, and you're in the presence of Christ without sin, justified,
perfect in His sight. Best day of your life. And he
hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
You and I have seen that. My life is the life of Jesus
Christ. That's my personal life. That's
my justification. That's my acceptance. That's
everything. My life is the life of Jesus
Christ. when Christ who is our life shall
appear. He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Now I look over my life and I
don't see anything I'm proud of. But I look over my life and
I see nothing but that which I'm proud of. The life of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His life is my life before God. And that can only be understood
through the gospel. You see, our Lord is a representative.
He came into this world as a representative man. He came as an us. I love
that passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 3 verse 15, when
He said to John the Baptist, Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. When Jesus Christ fulfilled all
righteousness, I did too. And His life is my life before
God. That's why I'm not afraid of
judgment. I'm not afraid of standing before God in judgment. You know
why? Because the life of Christ is my life before God. And that's
brought to light through the gospel. That's my only life.
But what confidence we have in his life. Now that is the testimony
of Jesus. Now let's go on reading. Verse
11. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and
a teacher of the Gentiles. What am I supposed to do? I'm
supposed to preach the gospel. That's, that's my job. That's what I'm
supposed to do. That's what every believer is supposed to do. Preach
the gospel, the gift of prophecy. And he says in verse 12, for
the witch cause I also suffer these things. There's a reason
I'm in prison right now. You know, you go on reading in
this book, he said, he said, bring me my coat to Timothy.
When you come, bring me the books and bring me my coat. He was
cold and that old ribs, uh, Roman prison cell, hard telling what
all he'd gone through, but he says to Timothy while he's writing
to him, here's why I'm suffering these things, because of my preaching
of the gospel. And then he gives us what I believe
is the clearest definition of faith in all the word of God. And did you hear what it just
said? I believe this to be the clearest definition of faith
in all the word of God. If you want to know what faith
is, according to the scriptures, here it is. Paul said, I know
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed to him against that day." Now,
Paul begins with this statement, I know. I know. I love the I knows of scripture. I know. And the next word he
uses, I know whom. You see, what we believe is predicated
on who we believe. What we believe is determined
by who we believe. Now knowing Him, I know that
He must be successful at whatever He does because of who He is. Now I believe in effectual redemption
because I know the scripture teaches it. The Lord loved the
church and gave himself for it that he might present it to himself
a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing
but it should be holy and without blame before him. I know that's
what the scripture teaches. But I also know this because I know
who He is. Because of who He is, He can't
die for you and you end up in hell. That's impossible. If He
paid for your sins, they're paid for. Because of who He is. What we believe is completely
predicated upon who we believe. I know whom I have believed. Beloved, I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded. Who persuaded
him? God did. God did. I'm persuaded. I'm convinced.
And here's what I'm convinced of. He doesn't say I'm convinced
that I'm saved or I'm a Christian or I'm, he said I'm convinced
that he is able. I'm convinced that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to Him. And here's what faith
is. It's being persuaded that He
is able to save you without any contribution from you. He said
to those blind men, do you believe that I am able to do this? You know what their response
was? Yay, Lord. Do you believe He's able to save
you? And notice the language. I know
whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him. Now, in faith, there's
a knowledge, there's a persuasion, but there's a committal. And
you know, men think when they hear that word, they think, well,
how committed are you to Christ? How committed are you to Christ?
Well, I hope I'm committed, but that doesn't have anything to
do with what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, I've committed the
entire salvation of my soul to him. My hands are off. If what he did is not enough,
then I won't be saved because I'm completely relying upon what
he has done. I've committed the entire salvation
of my soul to him. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. And look what Paul says in verse
13, hold fast the form of sound words. This is the form of sound
words. This is the testimony of our
Lord. This is the spirit of prophecy. This is what the prophet has
to say. And if his words are not according
to these words, it's because there's no light in him. Isaiah
said to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, It's because there's no light in them. Now I'd like
to close by reading a passage from 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. Paul says in verse 19, Quench not the Spirit. My, I don't want to do that. You know, when he's quenched,
his influence is not what it would have been if he were not
quenched. I don't want to quench the Spirit.
How many times have you and I quenched the Spirit or grieved the Spirit
of God? Like he said in Ephesians chapter 5, grieve not the Spirit
of God by which you're sealed into the day of redemption. Quench
not the Spirit. Look what he says next, and this
is the quickest way we can quench the Spirit. He says, despise
not prophesying. Listen to what God says. Listen to what God says. Don't
despise prophesying. This is God's way of speaking.
Despise not prophesying. Prove All things. Test what you're hearing and
see if it's so. I never say, just believe what
I'm saying. No. Try it and prove it according
to scriptures. See if what I'm saying is according
to God's holy infallible word. I'm not, that's all I want you
to do. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. You see it's true? Hold on to
it. Hold on to it. Don't let it go.
Rejoice in it. It's yours. Hold on to it and
abstain from all appearance of evil. Now, I realize that it's
a good practice to not go to a place where you probably ought
not go. and stay away from that, or not do something that appears
evil. I realize that, but that's not what Paul's saying here.
When you hear something, if it smells bad, stay away from it.
If it doesn't seem right, you hear preaching, you hear preaching,
you hear somebody claiming to be a prophet, and somehow it
doesn't feel right, it seems contrary to the gospel, abstain
from it. Stay away from it. It's poison. Stay away from it. And the very
God of peace, sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I love this scripture. Faithful
is he that calleth you who also will do it. All he requires of
you he will do for you and in you. Faithful is he that calleth
you who will do it. So I am thankful for the gift
to the church of prophecy. It's a word from God, a word
from his word. It's a word from the word that
reveals the word. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, and Lord, we're so thankful for your written
word.