Something Better Than Miracles

Now the message I have for you
today is dealing with an important subject, and it's a subject that
is being questioned today. It's applicable to our very hour. Now we're going to school today,
we're going to look into the scripture. I'm going to be speaking
to you on this subject, something better than miracles. Something better than miracles.
You hear people say, I believe in miracles. I believe in healing.
I'm going to give you something better than miracles. Something
better than healing. Turn to 1 Corinthians 12, verse
30. Now turn to the scripture. Let's
look at it. You mark it in your Bible. You follow along as I
read. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 30. Do all have the gifts of
healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? but covet earnestly the best
gifts. And yet, chapter 13 verse 1,
there's no chapter division here, there shouldn't be. Not in the
original scriptures. And yet I show you a more excellent
way. Or Paul says, I show you something
better. Do all speak with tongues? Do
all have the gift of healing? Do all interpret? Covet the best
gift, but yet I show you something better. Something better than
healing, something better than miracles, something better than
tongues, something better than these gifts. I'll show you something
better, a more excellent way. Now my friends, without question,
in the early days of the church, God Almighty bestowed upon the
apostles and upon other great leaders unusual and powerful
gifts. Now turn to Mark 16, verse 15
through 17. Our Lord is going back to the
Father. He is going to ascend back to
glory, and he's telling his disciples to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He says, He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned,
and these signs Now note that word, signs shall follow them
that believe. These signs. In my name shall
they cast out devils. In my name they shall speak with
new tongues. They shall take up serpents.
If they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. They
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Now we see
this fulfilled in the lives of the apostles. Not mock not mind
over matter, not psychosomatic, not showing off in front of people,
the reality of these miracles, these signs. At Pentecost, for
example, the disciples stood up before the multitude. There
were people there from many countries who spoke many different languages.
And the apostles stood up and preached the gospel, and the
scripture says, every one of these people heard the gospel
in their own tongue. in their own language. These
men spoke with new tongues. That's what Christ said. They
shall speak with new tongues. And then they shall heal. Peter,
at the gate called Beautiful, healed a man who was so crippled,
he was so gnarled and crippled, he was crippled from his mother's
womb. He had never in his life ever taken a step. He wasn't
walking around with a cane. He wasn't walking around with
crutches. He wasn't walking around anywhere. He had never walked.
He was laying from his mother's womb. And Peter healed him in
the name of Jesus Christ. And then Paul was bitten by a
serpent. Scripture says they shall take
up serpents, and they shall not die. They shall not be hurt.
Paul put his hand, took some wood, put it on the fire one
day, and a serpent bit him on the hand. The men all saw it,
the heathen, pagan standing around, and they said, boy, he'll die
in a few minutes. Probably one of those little
coral snakes, you know. Very small, but very deadly. But Paul
didn't die. He never fell dead. And they
called him a god. They started listening to him
preach then. And then at Troas, Paul was preaching one night.
A young man called Eutychus fell out of the second or third floor
of a building and killed himself. Paul went down and raised him
from the dead. And then Peter was able to discern
the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira. He was able to discern
the hypocrisy of Simon Magus. We know, without question, that
our Lord gave to his disciples, his apostles, and these great
church leaders, these miracles, these gifts, these signs, and
these wonders. And we know that these miracles
were given to the disciples as signs. as credentials, that's
what the scripture says, or proof that they came from God. Now
the scripture was not then, the New Testament was not then written.
These men were going forth preaching Christ from the Old Testament.
They didn't have the Bible like you and I have it today, they
were the ones who wrote it. So God gave them, as they went
out with this new message, with this message of the fulfillment
of the types and shadows and signs and so forth. As they went
forth to preach this new message, this gospel of Christ's substitutionary
work, God gave them signs and wonders and gifts and credentials
and proof that they spoke for God. Let me show you that. Mark
16, 17, what I read a moment ago. Christ said, you go preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and these signs shall follow them. And over there
in verse 20, it says, The Lord confirmed his word with signs. He confirmed his word. Credentials.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 3. Now listen to this.
The gospel was spoken to us by our Lord, Hebrews 2, 3, and confirmed
unto us by them that heard him, God bearing them witness. God bearing these apostles witness,
these disciples witness with signs and wonders and gifts of
the Holy Spirit according to his will. John the Baptist was
down in prison and he sent two men to Christ, to our Lord, with
this question, are you the Christ or do I look for another? And
our Lord sent these men back to John the Baptist with this
message, go tell John, How the lame walk, and the blind see,
and the dead are raised. And the gospel is preached to
the poor. Go back and tell it. Nicodemus came to our Lord one
day, and he said, we know you come from God. No man can do
the miracles you do except God be with him. It's impossible.
Man cannot do what you do. God has to be with him, and you
have to be from God. And when these disciples went
out to an unfriendly world, to a hating world, to a world without
a Bible, to a world without scripture, they went forth declaring God's
grace in Christ, God's mercy in Christ, and God sent them
with credentials that no one could deny. He sent them accompanied
by signs that no one could doubt. He sent them with gifts that
no one could counterfeit or duplicate. That's right. You say, well,
preacher, you don't have those things, I don't need them. I
can stand up here like I did a moment ago to make a point,
and I told you to turn to Hebrews 2, verse 3 and 4. When Peter
was preaching, he didn't have Hebrews 2, 3 and 4. I can tell
you if I want to talk about giving, I can say turn to 2 Corinthians
8 and 9. Peter couldn't tell them to turn
to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. They had to believe it on his
authority, on his word. And God gave him power and miracles
and wonders and signs as credentials. Now let me show you something.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 14, talking about tongues or other languages. Tongues are for a sign. That's
what it says here, 1 Corinthians 14, 22. Tongues are for a sign,
not to them that believe. but to them who believe not."
I've heard people say that speaking in an unknown tongue is a sign
you've been baptized with the Holy Ghost. Believers don't need
signs. Believers believe the Word of
God. Believers don't need a sign. They said to our Lord, show us
a sign. He said no sign shall be given but the scriptures.
It's unbelievers that need signs, not believers. And 1 Corinthians
14.22 says tongues are for a sign. Not to believers, but to them
who believe not. All the believer needs is the
Word of God. The precious Word of God. The
precious blood of Christ. The precious promises of our
Lord. That's all he needs. Just read it to him out of the
Word. You don't have to prove the existence of God to him.
God lives in his heart. You don't have to prove that
he needs a Savior. He lives with his conscience.
You don't have to prove to him Christ is his only hope. He knows
Christ is his only hope. He built on that foundation and
called upon that name and rested in that blood. You don't have
to prove to him that God loves him. God's love is shed abroad
in his heart. That's right. Now these signs
did not continue after the scriptures were complete. If you take the
time to read church history, go all the way back. We have
recorded messages all the way back to Barnabas, who was the
sidekick of the Apostle Paul. And back through church history,
we do not find not one example of these so-called signs and
wonders and credentials, not in the ministry of Martin Luther,
nor John Calvin, nor Jerome Zankius, nor in the ministry of John Bunyan,
or John Owen, or George Whitefield, or even John Wesley, or even
Charles Spurgeon, none of these meet. If you want to go back
and pick up what we call the charismatic movement and the
speaking in tongues and the divine healing campaigns, you go back
less than a hundred years ago. And that's when that started,
trying to revive this sort of thing in the church. If God had
permitted these miracles and wonders to continue from the
apostles to this day, now listen to me. If he had permitted these
miracles, these gifts, to remain in the church as they were in
the hands of Paul and Peter and James and John and these other
men, they would have attracted the attention and the notice
of men away from the word of God, away from Christ, away from
the gospel, as they do right now. If you go to a healing campaign
today, the interest is not in sin and salvation, the interest
is not in the need of the sinner and his relationship with Christ,
the interest is not in the sinner escaping the wrath of God and
coming to believe on Christ and trusting Him and loving Him.
The emphasis is on this flesh, this human body, straightening
out a crooked leg instead of straightening out a crooked heart.
giving sight to a blind man, a physically blind man, instead
of getting sight, spiritual light, into the darkness of those who
are in spiritual darkness. The emphasis is unstopping these
human ears and these natural ears. The emphasis is not in
giving the Word of God to the heart and the hearing of a man
who's never heard it. It's loving these bodies and
making them healthy and wealthy, instead of loving our souls.
and making them healthy and wealthy in Christ Jesus. Read it in John
chapter 2, verse 23. Our Lord was at Jerusalem in
that great feast day. And it says, many believed on
Him. Now listen to this. Many believed on Him when they
saw the miracles which He did. It fascinated them. It astounded
them. Yes, sir, it got their interest
when they saw the miracles which He did. They believed on him,
but watch this next line, John 2, 23 and 24. But Jesus did not
commit himself to them, he knew all men. And he did not commit
himself to them. One time our Lord was walking
along, followed by a great multitude of people. And he turned and
said to them, I know why you are following me. You are following
me because of the loaves and fishes. You did eat and you were
filled. My kingdom's not meat and drink,
my kingdom's not of this world, my kingdom is not of the flesh.
My kingdom is to do the will of him that sent me." And all
they were interested in is the wealth and health of the body
and the healing of the body and the straightening of crooked
limbs. They were completely, totally taken away from what
the kingdom of God really is. It's in the heart of the sinner.
And when men and women today emphasize tongues and miracles
and healings, they usually depart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They give their attention to fleshly wonders and not to spiritual
miracles and spiritual regeneration. You know what this is? I'm going
to be blunt with you. This is satanic. It's Satan taking
your hearts away from the simplicity of Christ. It's Satan. That's exactly what he's doing.
He's turning your attention away from Christ and away from the
gospel. Now, my friends, listen to this. Moses saw more miracles
in one day than today's so-called divine healers ever see in a
lifetime. Moses saw the dividing of the sea and the army go through,
the Israelites go through on dry land, and Pharaoh's army
come through there and drown. Moses saw the death of the firstborn. He saw the river turn to blood.
He saw the bush that burned and was not consumed. He saw the
hail and all of these different plagues. He saw the smiting of
the rock and the water gushing forth. He saw the manna come
down from heaven. He saw all of these things. But
yet you hear him in Exodus chapter 33 as he gets alone with God
in that tent of meeting, and he prays, O God, show me thy
glory. Show me thy glory. Moses knew
that the glory of God is not in fleshly miracles. The glory
of God is not in fleshly wonders. The glory of God is not in these
outstanding, attention-getting miracles. The glory of God, God
said to him, is his grace, his mercy. He said, all right, Moses,
I'll cause my goodness to pass before you. I will be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. That's my glory. I will be gracious
God never intended that the battle between truth and error be fought
by miracles and wonders on a field of flesh. God is not vying with
Satan over your flesh for your attention. That's right. God Almighty does not fight the
battle between truth and error on a field of flesh, but the
battle for truth and error is fought using the word of God
in the hands of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men and women.
That's where it goes on. Some of God's greatest men are
men who've known great affliction of body. Some of God's greatest
men have been men who have lived. David Brainerd, that great missionary
of the Indians, died when he was 29 years of age, and for
the last four or five years of his life was so sick with TB,
died in the home of Jonathan Edwards. Some of these greatest
soldiers of the cross, Charles Spurgeon, spent as much as for
four months a year out of his pulpit because his body was so
frail and he died when he was 58 years of age. Afflictions
are part of the trials that God sends in our lives to make us
more like Christ. Now listen over here to 2 Corinthians
chapter 10 verse 3, we do not war after the flesh, our weapons
are not carnal, But they're mighty through God bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. It's not by might,
nor by power, nor by miracles, nor signs or wonders. It's by
my Spirit, saith the Lord. And I wish I could take your
attention away from this old natural body and turn your attention
to Calvary's cross. I wish I could take your attention
away from sickness and disease and bills and bankruptcy and
all of these things that provide for the flesh and turn your attention
on your sins and your need and your guilt and the grace of God
and the mercy of God through Christ. Let me give you an illustration. When a young tree is first planted,
just a frail sapling, it is frail and it's weak. And therefore
that young tree needs a strong stake driven right up beside
it. Here's the young sapling and
here's the stake right beside it. But when that, that's to
support the little young tree. But when that tree is full grown
and when that tree is strong, it doesn't need that stake. It
doesn't need that support. So it is with a church. At first
it was feeble and frail and small, just a handful here and a handful
there. It needed to be sustained. It
needed to be supported. It needed proof. It needed signs. It needed credentials. And it
was supported by these things. But it doesn't need it anymore.
It has the Word of God, and that's sufficient. And if you speak
not according to the Word of God, it's because there's no
light in them. Now, I want you to listen to this. How far guilts
remain in the church today, I'd be reluctant to say. The Lord
is sovereign and he gives gifts severally as he will. If he's
pleased to bring these marvelous miracles back in a day of great
revival, that's God's business. But I'll tell you this, we're
told to pray for the sick. Read the book of James, chapter
5. Is any sick among you? Let him send for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. We do that. That's scriptural.
If he has sins, they'll be forgiven and he'll be healed. We are to
pray, I believe, not only for the gift of healing in that regard,
but we need to pray for the gift of knowledge. Oh, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection. And faithful missionaries
who go to other countries must preach the gospel in other languages.
And God gives them the power to learn it and the gift to learn
it. That's the gift of God, to be able to preach the gospel.
Not in an unknown gibberish that nobody can understand. I'd rather
say five words in a language you can understand than five
million words in a language nobody can understand, not even me.
I believe we ought to seek the gift of preaching. Oh, to be
able to preach like Whitfield in the power of God's Spirit.
That's a gift. Oh, to be able to pray like George
Mueller, who fed thousands and thousands and thousands of orphans
without soliciting one dime like people solicit over radio and
television today. He just made his need known to
God, and God met that need. We've become solicitors. We've
become hucksters. We've come to the place where
more time is spent begging for money than preaching the gospel.
If you have the power of prayer, you don't need to beg. God will
supply your needs. Oh, to be able to sing in the
Spirit like the sweet psalmist David. We need the gift of wisdom.
Covet the best gifts. That's what Paul said. Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above and coming down
from the Father of life with whom there is no variation or
change. Now, wait a minute. Look at verse 1 of chapter 13.
Yet, Paul said, I show you something better. I show you something
better. I show you a more excellent way.
Do I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not
love? I'm a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal." What's he saying? Read that verse again. Here's
what he's saying. What if I could speak in another
language? What if I could speak in the
languages of all men? What if I could even speak in
the celestial tongues of the angels if I have not love? Love for Christ? Love for the
brethren, love for all men. I am nothing but a noisy gong
and a clanging cymbal. That's something better than
gifts. His love. That's what he said. You covet
the best gifts. You covet knowledge and prayer
and faith and wisdom and all these gifts of God. But I'll
tell you something better, he said. Something a lot better
than that. In fact, you may have the gift so that you can speak
in other languages and even like an angel, but if you don't have
love, you're nothing. Somebody might as well hit a
Chinese gong for all the good it did. Listen to the next verse. Though I have the gift of prophecy,
prophetic powers, to be able to tell whether Russia will fight
Israel or whether the United States will fight Russia, What
if I have these prophetic gifts? I can foretell the future and
I can preach with great words and I can understand prophecies
and mysteries and have unusual faith that moves mountains and
have not love? And have not love? I'm nothing.
That's what I am. I'm a prophetical nothing. That's
what I am without love. Something better. And I'll tell
you this, look at the next verse. He says, though I bestow all
my goods to feed the poor, Though I give all my money to religious
causes and all my possessions, though I even die as a martyr
at a burning stake, and have not the love of Christ, all of
these works of charity will profit me nothing. Better than tongues,
better than miracles, better than signs, better than knowledge,
better than wisdom, better than prophecy, what is it? Love. It's
essential. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That's what the scripture says.
He that loveth not knoweth not God. God is love. We know that we've passed from
death unto life. How do we know? Because we can
speak with tongues. Satan can do that. Because we
can do great wonders, Satan can do great wonders. We know we've
passed from death unto life because we love. Because we love. We love him who is our Savior
and Lord, our substitute and Redeemer. We love his word, his
gospel, his church. We love his people. And we love
men of all races and nationalities for his sake. You read that 13th
chapter of 1 Corinthians. Paul talks in chapter 12 about
the gifts. They were there. Not denying
that at all, without question they were there, and God used
them for signs and miracles and wonders, but according to his
sovereign will, he lifted them when his word was finished and
when his scriptures were complete, because we don't need signs and
miracles and credentials, we have God's word. And all through
church history, you don't find any man who preached the gospel
of Christ who had in his ministry anywhere any of these things.
Now, there are gifts in the church. Wisdom is a gift, and faith is
a gift, and prayer is a gift, and healing is a gift, and all
of these things. The ability to preach the gospel
in another language is a gift. But they're not gifts to play
with. They're not gifts to show off. And they're not gifts to
play church with. They're sovereignly given, and
supernaturally given, and given by the Holy Spirit severally
as he will. And then you read that 13th chapter,
but he said, I'll show you something better than gifts. Now, you covet
the best gifts, but I'll show you something better. I may have
all these gifts and have not love. I'm a noisy gong and a
sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. I'm nothing and it profited
me nothing. What kind of love is this? Well,
it's love that suffers long and is patient. Patient on the afflicting
hand of God. Patient on the reproaches and
neglect of men. slow to anger, not hasty to revenge,
eager to forgive. Love is kind. Love envieth not. It doesn't envy either the material
or spiritual prosperity of others. It is not proud nor boastful.
It is not arrogant nor rude. It does not insist on having
its own rights and way. It does not remember evil but
dwells on good. The love rejoices not in evil,
in gossip, in the fall of others, but in the good and Love beareth
all things, believeth all things, and hopeth all things, and love
never fails. Why is it essential? Why is it
more excellent than gifts? Because a man can have gifts
and have not life. Satan has gifts, strange and
powerful gifts, but he doesn't have love. Gifts are temporary.
Love is forever. Gifts are in part. Love is in
Christ. Hope God's taught you something.
This is on tape, cassette tape. Two messages on each tape. We
have to sell them for three dollars because they're expensive to
produce. But we'll send them if you're right, the address
will be given to you. Till next week, God bless you,
everyone.

Something Better Than Miracles

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Something Better Than Miracles

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