I'm going to be very brief tonight
and very, as I said, candid and pointed in the things that I'm
going to say because I feel, number one, led to say them.
Number two, scripturally motivated. And number three, I have some
experience in this area and I feel at least by God's sustaining
power and grace capable of dealing with this subject. Now, number one, our Lord declared
that the supernatural, supernatural, unusual gifts performed by Him
were proof, evidence, that He is the Christ, the scent of God. Now turn, first of all, to Luke
7. This is a fact, this is truth, no question about it. Our Lord
declared openly, publicly, it's written in the inspired word
of God, that the miracles He performed, such as raising the
dead, giving sight to the blind, making the lame to walk, feeding
the five thousand and so forth, that all of these supernatural
miracles performed by His hand were for a purpose. They were
proof and evidence that He is the Christ, He is the Messiah.
That's why He did them. God doesn't have to prove He's
God. See what I'm saying? All right,
Luke 7, verse 19, And John the Baptist, calling unto him two
of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Are you, art thou
he that should come, or do we look for another? And when the
men were coming to him, they said, Now John the Baptist has
sent us to you, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look
we for another? Are you the Christ? Are you the
Christ? You know the Scripture. And in
that same hour, he cured many of their infirmities and plagues.
He cured them of evil spirits. And unto many that were blind,
he gave sight. And then Jesus answering said
to them, Now you go your way, and tell John what things you've
seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to
the poor, the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me." Now note the type of healing. Note the
type of healing. We're not talking about a sore
neck. We're not talking about a clogged artery. We're not talking
about a spasm in the back. We're not talking about somebody
with something that you can't see. Our Lord said the blind
see. The lame walk. Lepers are cleansed. Deaf people hear. The dead are raised. Now note
the type of healing and the completeness of it. It's like that. It's like
that. And these were witnesses of Christ's
deity. Now let me show you. And his
mission, he's sent from God. Turn to John 5. John chapter
5. And there were other witnesses concerning our Lord's words and
His office, His person, who He is. John 5, verse 31. Now this is a fact. The Scripture
says, Let every word be established by the mouth of two or three
witnesses. And Christ said in verse 31 of John 5, If I bear
witness of myself only, my witness is not true. I come to you saying
I'm the Christ, I'm sent of God, I have no other witnesses, no
other proof, you have no right to believe me." That's according
to the scriptures. Let every word be established
by the mouth of truth or a witness. And he begins to give the witnesses.
Now he said, you sent them to John. That's John the Baptist,
the forerunner. He was supernaturally raised
up, born, sent by God. You know, John the Baptist never
did a miracle. Was he sent from God? Was he
God's prey? Never spoke in tongues? Never
performed a miracle? And our Lord said there's never
been a man born a woman greater than John the Baptist. People keep talking about these
miracles and wonders and signs being evidence of your higher
spiritual life and attainment. Nobody climbed higher than John
the Baptist yet in the eyes of the Lord. greatest man born of
woman, never did a miracle, never spoke unto Him. But John did
what God sent him to do, he bore witness of Christ. And then,
but he said, verse thirty-four, I receive not testimony from
man, but these things I say that you might be saved. He was a
burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season
rejoicing in his light. But I have greater witness than
that of John. which the Father hath given me
to finish those works that I do, bear witness of me, that the
Father hath sent me." But they're far. In verse 37, the Father
Himself, which has sent me, He hath borne witness of me. He
said, God spake from heaven, said, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Again, He spake from heaven and
said, This is my beloved son, hear ye him." Again he spake
from heaven when Christ said, when he prayed, you know, Father,
glorify thy name. The Father said, I've glorified
it, and I'll glorify it again. He bore witness of me. You've
never heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape, and
you don't have his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent
him you believe not. Search the scriptures. In them
you think you have life. There they which testify of me. All these witnesses, David, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, they testify of me. All right,
no question now, our Lord declared that these miracles, these supernatural
miracles, which He performed, were proof and evidence that
He's the Christ. And then secondly, It is quite
certain that those early disciples, those early disciples who were
sent out, were given unusual gifts. I'm not denying that at
all. They were given unusual gifts,
power to work unusual miracles, the same kind of miracles which
Christ performed. The power and the ability to
work those miracles was given to these disciples, no question
about that. and for the same reason, as evidence and proof that they
were sent from God. I've often said, now, we go forth
in this, well, since the completion of the Bible, we go forth preaching
the Word. Paul said to Timothy, preach
the Word. Preach the Word. If they speak not according to
the Word, there's no light in them. But these disciples, when
they went out to preach, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans,
1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, these
things weren't written. The Word was not available. They
are the men who wrote the Word inspired by the Holy Ghost. Holy
men of God's faith because they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
They received the Word and they wrote it for the churches. But
these men went out into Judaism paganism, heathenism. They went
out simple, humble fishermen with no credentials, no PhDs,
no THDs, no master's degrees, no influence, no power, no government
center, no ambassadors behind. They went out as simple fishermen
to declare the glorious gospel of God's grace to a Jewish nation
steeped in tradition and custom and and ceremonial, and to declare
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and we're His ambassadors. And God gave them these gifts
and miracles as credentials and proof that He sent them. That's
exactly right. Turn to Mark 16. Mark 16. And listen to this. And our Lord
assembled these disciples about Him in Mark chapter 16. And verse 15, and he said to
them, well, let's look at verse 14. Afterward he appeared unto
the eleven, eleven apostles, as they sat at meat, and he upbraided
them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they
believed not them which had seen him after he had risen. And he
said to them, Now you go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. Do you realize, you know, I've
often sat and tried to consider this. Now, I've been in different
parts of the world. I've gone to Australia, gone
to Mexico and Canada and France and Spain and Africa, different
places. But everywhere I go as a preacher
of the gospel, they have the Word of God. I take the Word
of God with me. I have the backing of the church. I don't need to go and perform
any miracle. to introduce my message of Jesus
Christ, of God, and salvation, and redemption, and of the crucifixion. Wherever I go, they know Christ
was crucified. I don't need these. But here
are these apostles. Here are eleven men sitting around before
our Lord, and Peter's a fisherman, and James and John are fishermen,
just plain fellers. And our Lord said, now I'm sending
you out here with these great synagogues and temples everywhere,
and these temples to die in, and all this heathenism, paganism.
I'm going to send you out with this gospel that men have never
heard and never read, never been introduced, this gospel of the
full film of all the Old Testament scriptures, this gospel of the
Christ who has come, and God's been silent for 400 years, from
Malachi to Matthew. And I'm sure they thought, nobody's
going to believe us. Nobody's going to even listen
to us. We won't even be able to get a hearing. Oh, you'll
get a hearing. You'll get a hearing. At pay-to-cost, you're going
to get a hearing because when you stand up and speak, everybody
out there is going to hear you speaking in another language.
A language, their own language. And they're going to be amazed.
They're going to listen to you. That's right. He said, go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Verse
16, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and
he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs, these
what? Signs. Signs are not for believers,
they're for unbelievers. Believers don't need signs. They
walk not by sight, but by faith. These signs, these evidences,
these proofs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall
they cast out devils." You better not try that. Now, you better not try that.
You better just leave that alone. I've known some preachers to
get into this study of demonism and devils and wind up on the
scrapheap I'm not denying the existence of demons, but I tell
you this, I know the only one who can handle Satan, and that's
the Lord, not you or me. That's exactly right. I've known
preachers to get into this. I could tell you one whom you
know real well, call his name, you'd gasp. He got to studying
demons, and they got to talking to him. And they told him they were going
to kill him. And it wasn't long until he was
dead. I know another one that got into
this thing, and it wasn't long until he was in the hospital
with a nervous breakdown. Family gone, his wife and children
gone. You see, the angel, was it Gabriel? Angel Michael, it was one, had
to confrontate Michael over the body of Moses. You know, he was
a An angel of God, and you know what he said to Satan? He said,
the Lord rebuked thee. He would not fool with the Prince
of the Fire there. And I'm warning you, leave it
alone. Now just leave it alone. You get a book on demonism, leave
it alone. It's like one old preacher said
years ago, don't deny their existence, but don't seek to do anything
with them. Turn them over to the Lord. The
Lord rebuked thee. The Lord rebuked them, and he
said, they'll cast out demons, they'll speak with new tongues.
Never learned, having never learned other languages. They'll take
up serpents. That doesn't mean they're going
to show off and pick up a serpent. Paul reached to get the wood
to put on the fire, and a serpent latched on his hand, and he shook
it off into the fire. A deadly serpent. But he didn't
die, and the people around there said, hey, he must be some kind
of God. We better listen to him. And
they listened to him. God didn't do that to show them
how spiritual Paul was. He did that to get their attention,
to listen to Paul. God's means. I don't need to
do that. If they shall drink any deadly
thing, it'll not hurt them. If they lay hands on the sick,
they shall actually recover. So then after, now listen, after
the Lord had spoken unto these eleven men, he was received up
into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And these men went
forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and
confirming the Word with signs following." What did he do the
signs for? To confirm the Word. I don't need somebody's hands
laid on me and speaking gibberish to prove I'm baptized with the
Holy Ghost. These signs are to confirm the
Word. What was the Word preached? The
Gospel. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel. And here's
what I find. In our day, in all this charismatic
movement and everything, I don't hear any gospel preached. I don't
hear any gospel of how God can be just and justify. I don't
hear any gospel of how Christ is incarnate and how He is our
righteousness and representative, and Adam we die and Christ we're
made alive. I don't hear any answers about
justification and sanctification and regeneration and I don't
hear any of that. I don't hear any gospel. All I hear is the Holy Ghost
magnified, and the Holy Ghost emphasized, and the gifts and
the flesh exaggerated. I don't hear any gospel. These
men went out and preached the gospel, and these signs and miracles
were, they were sidelines. They were simply accompanying
gifts to confirm the Word. That's what they were for. Turn
to Hebrews, chapter 2, and you'll see the same thing here. Hebrews,
chapter 2. Now, God is pleased to send me
to a place where His Word has not been preached, where His
Word is not available, where people know nothing, and He's
pleased to attract their attention to me by giving me some ability
to speak or some amazing gift. I must not call attention to
the fact that I've got the gift, I must call attention to Christ.
I've got to preach Christ, talk to Christ, exalt Christ, magnify
Christ, and bring those, and if possible, bring those people
not to be taken up with a gift, but the giver. And that's where
my generation's missing it, they've papered it, they're missing it.
They've got people seeking the gifts. You don't need the gifts,
you need the giver. They got people seeking the miracles. I don't need the miracles. I
need Christ. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 3. How shall we escape? If we neglect
so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.
That's the apostles. God also bearing them witness.
Bearing who witness? The apostles. both with signs
and wonders and different miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to His will. That's why God gave it. Some of you here know several
years ago, we had some preachers, I don't know, thirty-some-odd
years ago, who were exposed to grace. Sovereignty of God, God's
divine election, the effectual redemption of Christ, the irresistible,
invincible call of the Spirit, perseverance, total depravity,
all these great truths, and the gospel of substitution and satisfaction,
the gospel of justification. And they went out, they got a
hold of it. I don't know whether in their head or heart or where,
but at least they knew it, and they knew it, and they knew it
in doctrine. They're smarter men than I am.
And they got to playing with this. They said, we got the message,
but we don't have the power. Satan's a tricky little devil.
We got the message of Paul, but we don't have the power of Paul.
You remember all this? So they got to investigating
the gifts. The gifts. And they tried to
blend the two. They tried to blend grace and
Pentecostalism. They got to playing with the
gifts, and you know what won, don't you? The gifts. It wasn't
long until they weren't preaching the gospel. They weren't fooling
with the grace of God. They were enamored with the power.
There's some strange things went on. There's some unusual things. Where Satan is, there's some
strange things going to go on. But that's his craftiness and
subtlety. He got them to playing with these
things, and now they're all out of the ministry. They're all gone. Some are dead
under unusual circumstances. But they got what they sought.
It's only by God's grace some of the rest of us didn't get
messed up. Turn to Acts 14. Listen to this. I'm saying that these early disciples
had these gifts, but they also had the grace to use them in
the right manner. not to become enamored with them. In Acts 14, verse 1 through 3,
and it came to pass, listen to this, it came to pass in Iconium
that they went forth together into the synagogues of the Jews,
and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also the
Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred
up the Gentiles. and made their minds evil-affected
against these brethren, the apostles. Long time, therefore, bold they,
speaking boldly in the Lord, who gave testimony to the word
of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their
hands." Why? Why did they do this? They gave
testimony to His grace, testimony to His word, the word of His
grace. He gave these men signs and wonders
to be done by their hands as a testimony to the word of their
grace. They stayed with their business.
1 Corinthians 14, let's turn over there and read this. Yes,
these men had these gifts. Are you denying the gifts of
the Spirit? No, sir, not for a moment. Are you denying that the apostles
spoke in other tongues and the apostles healed the sick and
raised the dead? Not for a moment, my friend.
not for a moment, but I'm saying that these signs and wonders
and miracles were given by God as He would in His own time for
one purpose, to bear witness to His Word and the gospel of
His Son. Not as play pretties, no sir,
for curious people. Not as signs to believers. In
1 Corinthians 14, 18, I thank my God I speak with tongues
more than you all, other languages. Yet in the church I'd rather
speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach
others also than ten thousand words in a tongue they don't
know. Notice unknowns in italics. Brethren, be not children in
understanding, in understanding. Howbeit in malice be children,
don't be a hateful people, and people of mouth be simple like
children. But in understanding, be men, be mature men. In the
law it is written, back in the Old Testament, with men of other
tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people. And yet for
all they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are
for a sign not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.
That's what tongues are for. Yeah, they're for sign. I'm not
denying that. But you check the miracles. Now,
I'm going to give you a few verses on this. You check the miracles
and the wonders which these apostles, which God did by the hand of
these apostles. The apostles never did a miracle.
God did it by their hand. But you check the miracles performed
by these apostles, and you'll find them all to be very open
Positive and truly miraculous, no doubt about it. Some of the
people I used to know would say about folks that were hard of
hearing or blind, not blind, but had bad eyesight or crippled,
they'd heal them and then the fellow would still be like this,
you know, and they'd say, now you're healed. Symptoms are there,
but you're healed. And you just go out and thank
God and say, I'm healed, I'm healed, I'm healed, until you
straighten up. It may take a long time, but you're healed. No, he's not healed. He's not
healed unless he walks off leaping and praising God. He's not healed
unless he sees 20-20. That's right. He's not healed unless he hears
whatever it is, 20-20. That's when he's healed. Otherwise,
he's not healed. No, he's not healed. And all
these were miraculous. You know the scripture in Acts.
They spoke with other languages, and people were there from every
country around there, and they heard the gospel in their own
tongue, didn't they? That's what's there. All right,
turn to Acts 9. Acts chapter 9, verse 36. Now listen, this is a real miracle.
This is no put-on. This is no put-on. Acts 9, verse
36. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas.
Dorcas, she was a dear woman, full of good works and all the
deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and she died. Dorcas died. Whom when they had washed, they
laid her in the upper chamber. They washed her body and cleaned
it and got ready to put her in the grave. For as much as As
Lyda was now to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter
was there, they sent him two men, desiring he would not delay
to come to them. And Peter rose and went with
them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber.
The widow stood by, weeping, showing the coats and garments
which Dorcas made while she was with him. And Peter put them
all out of the room, and kneeled down and prayed, and turned to
the body, and said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes,
and when she saw Peter, she sat up, and he gave her his hand
and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and withers,
he presented her alive. And it was known throughout all
Joppa, and many believed in the Lord." That's a real one. Or I could go on reading. Paul,
a fellow was listening to Paul preach, and he fell out of the
window and died. They took him up dead, and Paul raised him. Acts 3, when Peter came to the
gate, beautiful, that man was laying from his mother's womb.
He had never walked. Peter said, in the name of silver
and gold, I have none, but in the name of Jesus Christ, rise
up and walk. And he got up and leaped and
walked, and praise God, and people were stunned. Now that's real
miracles. That's real tongues. That's real
healing. That's real raising from the
dead. That's real. And I'm saying that these gifts
and miracles and unusual powers have not continued in the church.
Now you just buy you a church history book. I know this fellas
today who is pretense today. It's phony. It's phony, it's not genuine,
it's not real, it's just not being done. I'm saying these things, these
unusual powers and gifts, have not continued in the Church.
Luther, in the, what, 1400s. Luther moved a world in the name
of God. Now, literally, moved a world. Luther broke the back of the
Catholic Church. One man, God used one man, Martin
Luther, son of a German miner. Never spoke in tongues and never
healed a soul, never performed a miracle. Not in any of his
books or writings that he ever mentioned. Never even sought
it. I'm talking about this is a man to whom we really owe,
by God's grace, even our political freedom in that right. John Calvin's another. A man
God used to shake a whole nation, Switzerland and a whole world.
A whole world, there isn't a religious body in the world that doesn't
know that man's name. No gifts, never mentions him. Got a commentary
in there, long rows of books. Condemns anybody that even talks
this way. Huss, Latimer, Ridley, even the
Westleys. Keep on naming them, all the
great missionaries, Carey, Judson, McShane, Brainerd. I'm talking
about men, these are proven, proven God-honored and God-used
men who shook nations. John Knox shook, he took Scotland
for God Almighty. Queen Mary, Bloody Mary said,
I fear the prayers of John Knox more than the armies of Europe. She didn't fear him because he
was babbling along in a gibberish and unknown tongue. He had a
hold of the horns of the altar. God was with him. That's why
she feared him. You won't find it. See, her Charles Spurgeon,
his sermons have been printed in more different languages and
there are more copies of his sermons than almost all the preachers
put together of the last 500 years. You can read all of his books,
you won't find one mention of any... You know, he was never
ordained. He wouldn't even let them ordain.
He was never a reverend. He would not let them ordain
him. He said, laying your empty hands on my empty head won't
add one thing to my empty ministry. God's got to do something for
me. I tell you, these gifts were
given and they were in operation when they were needed. And when
they ceased to be needed, they were removed. That's right, I'm
telling you the truth. They were flat, by God Almighty,
removed. We don't... You know, I planted
a tree at Darstead. I helped her. We got a little
tree out there in the front yard. When we first planted it, it
was a little thin thing, a little wispy tree. And I drove a stake
in the ground and tied that tree to the stake. And that tree kept
growing. And you know, I didn't need that
stake anymore. I went out there and moved the stake. And that
young tree had that strong stake driven by its side. And as the
tree grew stronger, it no longer needed the stake. And even so
the church and the disciples in their first years of feebleness
and unknown and unrecognized and unreceived and unwanted,
in their feebleness without even the word to hold up, except the Old Testament, God
gave them what they had to have, power, signs and wonders and
miracles, no longer needed. All in the world it would do.
I know this. If these miracles, if these miracles had continued
in the church, and they do wherever that people play with them and
pretend to have them, they will command the attention of the
people rather than Christ commanding the attention of the people.
Now that's right. They don't come to the service
to meet Christ and to learn of Christ. They come to get their
wheelchairs oiled, or something, or removed, or there's something
like that. That's right. Come to get rid of those things.
And they think if they can get rid of those crutches, they've
got it made. You're still a cripple. I'd rather be a physical cripple
than a spiritual cripple. John can't walk physically, but
he walks by faith. Which do you rather have? Am
I telling the truth? Which do you rather have? Boy,
there ain't no choice, is there? There ain't no choice to know
Christ. You can throw your crutches away and still be crippled in
soul and spirit. But I tell you, if a man knows
Christ, he has what God intended for him to have. He knows Christ.
And if these miracles had continued, they would have commanded the
attention of the people and still be playing just like the church
at Corinth got to abusing. And that's the reason Paul wrote
these things. He said, quit standing up speaking in other tongues
in your congregation. People there don't even speak
that language. You're just showing off. They
got to showing off their gifts. And he said, I'd rather speak
five words with the understanding than 10,000 words in French,
and nobody hears French. You know, if I got up there and
spoke in French tonight, oh, isn't he wonderful? He must be
real spiritual. But you wouldn't hear the gospel.
I'd rather say Christ died for our sin in good old Southern
English. That way at least you can go
out thinking about something besides me. God never intended to prove
His existence. He never intended to prove His
power. He purposed to glorify His Son. And to those that believe, He
doesn't have to prove His power. There are no prophets with us
today. I mean men who get visions and messages directly from the
Lord. There were some. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets. There were some. There were some prophets who
had visions and came and told the people. There were some prophets
who heard directly from God and came and told the people. There
are none today. If anybody says God talks directly to him, he's
a liar and the truth's not in him. God speaks through the Word. I'm getting tired of hearing
these preachers, and I know they're lying, and they know they're
lying. Get up in front of the congregation and say, God talked
to me last night, and He said to me, now you go tell the people
that that man's a liar and the father of it. And He knows it. There are no apostles with us
today. You know what an apostle is? An apostle has a Two-fold
requirement. He's one who saw the Lord and
got his gospel directly from the Lord. That's an apostle.
That's the reason they accused Paul of not being an apostle.
They said, you weren't in the original twelve, and you didn't
get your gospel straight from Christ. He said, I saw the Lord
as one born out of due time. I did see him. He revealed himself
to me, and he said, immediately after revealing himself in me,
he said, I didn't contact any of those who were apostles before
me. I went into Arabia, and the gospel I received, I got it not
from man, but straight from God. Isn't that what he said? I am
an apostle. I'm not. Nobody else is. So we have no prophets, we have
no apostles, but we do have evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And we
have the Word of God, and we have the Spirit of God who dwells
within us and who reveals the Word of God to us. Now, I know,
but people say, well, Jesus is the same. He's still in the healing
business. Yes, the Lord's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. But I do not find the supernatural, unusual gifts such as tongue,
power to raise the dead, miraculous healing of the lame and the blind,
anywhere, not only in church history, but I don't find it
today, not actually in proof and truth. What's going on today is a pretense.
Now, he tells us here, turn to 1 Corinthians 11. I want to show
you something here that I think, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, I beg
your pardon. Now, he says here in 1 Corinthians
12, verse 31, It says, covet earnestly the best gifts. Well,
then, preacher, what's he talking about? Well, he's not telling
us to covet apostolic power. It can't be, Mike. It can't be. Don't covet something that can't
be. He's not telling us to covet the office of prophet, such as
Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah. It just can't be. Don't covet
something that can't be. God, in the church, God has raised
up these men in his own time to accomplish his own purpose.
And my friends, don't covet the foolish pretense and sham of
today's charismatic movement. Don't covet that. Don't be impressed
by it. I tell you from my heart, it's
phony. It's a phony religion. It's not
reality at all. And really, they have to be in
public and with other people like them to keep that thing
pumped up. Privately, they're dead as a
hammer. That's right. I know. Well, what
do you want us to covet? Covet knowledge. Paul said, Oh,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Covet knowledge. Knowledge of the Word of God.
Knowledge of the counsel of God. Knowledge of the truth of God.
Covet knowledge of the Son of God. That's a good gift, knowledge.
Covet wisdom. What is wisdom? It's the right
use of knowledge. God talks about in the church,
there are young babes in Christ, and young men and elders, men
of wisdom. Men who have knowledge, but God
has given them wisdom in the right application of that knowledge.
Wisdom to make decisions, wisdom to help others, wisdom from above.
What a gift! Wisdom to rightly divide the
word of truth. God give me wisdom. Covet the
ability to pray, to be an intercessor. Covet faith, oh, to believe God. Covet the power to preach the
gospel. Ask for the filling of the Holy
Spirit to preach the truth of God, to teach the word of God
to others, to witness, Covet the ability to give, to help
others, to support those in need. Covet the ability to write. Covet
the ability to sing. Covet the ability to do something
for the glory of God. Covet those gifts. Oh, that God would, and He has.
I thank Him for it. He's raised up here gifted people
in His work for His glory. And it's of the Lord. There are
men and women who can do things in the kingdom of God If you'd
have told them five years ago they'd been doing that, they'd
have just fell out. Not me. But God gave the gift. But now
look, covet earnestly the best gift. Look at verse 31. And yet,
I'm going to show you something better. I'm going to show you
something better. I'm going to show you a more
excellent way. Better than gifts, better than talent, better than
all these things. And you know what it is? It's
love, it's grace. It's love. Now I ask this question,
why is love and grace better than gifts? Talent, power, all
this sort of thing to do and to go and to demonstrate and
so forth. Well first of all, I'm going
to give you six reasons quickly and I think they're pretty good.
First of all, I need it. I need His love shed abroad in
my heart by the Spirit of God, because by nature I don't love
God nor anybody else but myself. I need it. Turn to 1 John 4,
verse 7. I don't need the gift of speaking
in tongues, but I need love. 1 John, chapter 4. I don't need the power to heal
the sick. David, I don't need it, but I
sure need to love God. Because I'm going to hell if
I don't love God. If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be accursed. Now what I need, Mike, I need
love. That's what I need. That's why it's better because
I need it. 1 John 4, listen to this, verse
7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knows God, and he that loveth not knows not God.
Whoo! That's why I need it. That's
why Paul says it's best covet knowledge, gifts, ability, talent,
usefulness, and all these things, wisdom. But I'll tell you something
a lot better, and that's L-O-V-E, love. Because if you don't love,
you don't know God. I may speak with the tongues
of men and of angels and have not love, I may have the knowledge
of mysteries and faith to move mountains, have not love? Nothing. I may have great wealth and the
gift and ability to feed the poor and even give my body to
be burned for my Calvinism, and I don't love? Profit me nothing. Might as well have gone on living,
hadn't I? My death was wasted. Second reason is this. Why is
love better? Because I can have that. I may
not can preach, but I can love. You see what I'm saying? I may
not can teach. I may not have the gift to teach
anybody. I may not have the gift to sing. I may be the most giftless person in here. But
I sure can love. That's right, there ain't nobody
by God's grace that can't love. That's the reason Paul says it's
better. And then thirdly, it's always useful. At all seasons,
at all times, public and private. And we're assembled here tonight,
and Dan sang for us, Martha and Darth played, Ronnie led the
singing, those are gifts God has given, the rest of us sitting
around. But we're going home in a few minutes, and while we're
here one hour, we're at home a long time. And I'll tell you this, which
is most useful, Ronnie, the ability to sing or the ability to make
your home a place of love? See what I'm saying? It's useful
at all seasons, public and private. I know a lot of preachers that
are wingdings in the pulpit and wowies at home. They're mean. They're just mean. I want that
reversed. I'd rather you utterly flub up
right here. Just go ahead and fall flat on
your face here. That'd be all right. God can
get His kingdom straightened out. He can handle it all right. He can use a nut. That's right. He used Balaam's ass. But it's
a lot more useful for me to be One who loves and ministers grace.
That's right. I'm telling the truth. It's more
useful. That's why it's better. And it'll glorify God. I'm not
sure. If God made me the world's greatest
orator, I just don't know whether I'd glorify Him or not. I might
just get taken up with myself. Probably would. If God made me
the smartest man in the country like He did Solomon, I'd probably
love it like Solomon did. If God made me the richest man,
that'd probably be my downfall. But I tell you this, if God will
give me love, I'll always glorify Him, because love is unselfish,
unpretentious. That's right. Love is not prior. It bears all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and it never
fails. If God will give me that, I know I'll glorify Him. I can't
help but glorify Him. And you know something else?
A man can have guilt and still be on the power of sin. A man can have guilt. Yes, he
can. He can have guilt and still be
on the power of sin. But he can't love Christ and
be on the power of sin. Impossible. That's the reason
it's better. In the sixth place, there are
dangers in guilt. There are a lot of dangers. Look
at Simon Magus. He wanted gifts. There are dangers
in gifts. There's pride, there's jealousy,
there's envy, prejudice. No danger in love. There's no
envy in love. There's no jealousy. There's
no pride. Nobody who really loves is proud
of his love. That's the opposite of love.
And love unites us to Christ. Love is the motive for all good
service. It's called the labor of love.
Love endures forever. It'll never end. All these gifts
are going to end. The man that spoke in tongues
will speak no more. The man that had all the prophecies,
it'll be no more. But love never fails. It goes right on into glory.
Love is of God. I'm not sure your gift is of
God. I'm not certain. You better question it, too.
But I know one thing you couldn't love if you didn't know God.
That's for sure. Because God is love. I know that
man can come up here and prance around and show off, and those
fellas on TV, and you say, well, they're sure looking good. I
don't know whether or not. If they start giving away some
of their money and helping the poor, I might think they might
be. Because love is of God. Love always looks to Christ,
never to self. Love is a foretaste of heaven.
And let me read one thing in 1 Corinthians 13, and I'll quit
and let you think these things over. 1 Corinthians 13, beginning with verse 4. Lord
suffereth long in his kind. Love envies not. Love bondeth
not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own. Advantage, glory, praise is not
easily provoked, not edgy, not always on edge, not always reading
between the lines, not always questioning someone's motive.
Love doesn't think evil of others, thinks the best. Love doesn't
rejoice in sin. It doesn't rejoice in a bad tale.
Let's it stop right with that person. Somebody tells it, let's
it stop right there. Because it doesn't rejoice in
iniquity, it rejoices in the truth. And love will bear all
things. Believe the best, all things.
Hope, hope for the best. Hope all things. And it'll endure
the most difficult trials, because it'll never fail. But whether
it be prophecies, they're going to fail. Whether it be tongues,
they're going to cease. Whether it's going to be knowledge,
it's going to vanish away. What endures forever? That love
of Christ, shed a broadened heart with the Holy Spirit. Lord, I
don't have anything else. Give me that more excellent way.
Give me the love of Christ.