Parables On The Kingdom of God, Pt. 2 (01/30/2000) | NOTE: This sermon was split between two tapes.

Park Meadows Church

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The person who not only hears it, but hears the word and understands it

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Because God has given him eyes that can see with this understanding and ears that can hear with this understanding

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That person also bears fruit Some bring forth a hundredfold some sixty and some thirty

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Every part of the body of Christ is different. Every part is designed for a different purpose

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Every one of us has a purpose for being here this morning God has given us a purpose within this world, but also within this church within this body and Every one of us is as important as anyone else

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Because no one else could do the thing you were put here to do Some bear thirtyfold some sixty some a hundred but everyone bears fruit if they're this kind of soil now

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Jesus Went to quite a bit of length to set up this before he taught it and it helped a little bit when he was asked the question

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Why do you teach this way? And he answered the question and it's an answer that people still today don't like If you go back into John chapter 6 in the passage that we were reading a little earlier

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That kind of links to this because he says whosoever can behold him and believe shall be saved Just a few verses beyond that it says and the

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Jews picked up stones to stone him Why because no one likes that teaching it's not humanistic

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We like to think man's in control Throw a big party get the music adjusted where it's kind of earthy

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We can get a bigger crowd in here and just teach it plain Get out of this old Kind of biblical sounding language and just lay it out there like good news for the modern man so he can hear it

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So we can have a bigger party And Jesus comes and says I'm not here for a party

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I'm here to do one thing the father's will The father has some children

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That are part of this fallen race, and he wants them saved and delivered And that's why

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I'm here, and I'm here for them and the things that I say are for them Blessed are your ears if they can hear this blessed are your eyes if they can behold this

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Jesus said Spend the day maybe spend a few days this week praising

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God That you heard the words that were said from this passage this morning Praising God that you had that moment when your eyes were open and also spend a little bit of time thinking about Could I be more like Christ and?

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Seek purely the father's will in my life rather than trying to make my program work Shouldn't I just Do what he sent me to do

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Blessed be the Lord Blessed be your ears if they can hear next

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Sunday, we'll Get into the specific teaching of the different types of soil You can take a look at it yourselves before next

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Sunday and think about your church right here Think about the Christian school think about other churches and realize that there are people all around you

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But basically there are four kinds of people And so we're going to talk about that next

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Sunday. Let's stand and have prayer together You are that's where I studied and I marked in my

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Bible that we ended with verse 7 and Brother Otis and I didn't make up any rules for this

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So that means I'm not cheating. I'm just gonna do something different and If he doesn't like that, he'll have to make a rule where it can't be done this way next time

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But I saw a passage of Scripture coming up here that I wanted him to cover instead of me So I'm skipping it

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And I if you don't like that you can skip it too and go on past and we'll just skip it But I really would like you to cover the passage from verse 7 through verse 15 or so in that passage

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Thank you, sir, I think you know why we've had some discussions about it and and I want them to hear your insight into this passage because it is very interesting and also, right, so If I were to teach it,

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I would I would be plagiarizing So I want you to hear brother

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Otis teach that passage So I'm gonna skip down and I didn't know you usually cover a lot more verses than I'm able to cover so I'm giving you a little bit of Breadth here on this.

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I'm gonna start today On verse 21 Okay, so let's we'll come back next

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Sunday afternoon and pick back up at verse 8 But today

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I'm gonna skip forward to verse 21 and I want to cover a little passage here that that I really

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Like to talk about so I think this will work well for us. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll begin father

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Thank you for your word and the beautiful picture that you placed in our hearts of seeing the people on the hillside this morning and you and the boat and speaking many words to them what an awesome day that must have been in the lives of those people and Father, how blessed were they that had ears to hear they must

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I can just sense how it must have been to be sitting out there and have the light come on and just your heart filled with Your words and your wisdom and Your salvation

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And so thank you that Some almost 2 ,000 years later that you're still doing that in our hearts the hearts of your people and Lord give us

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Understanding this afternoon as we study and we ask it in Jesus name. Amen All right, let's start with verse 21 and we're really going to be focusing on verse 25 this afternoon

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Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and serpe fluidity of naughtiness. That's a nice word, isn't it?

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If you could figure out what that was you'd lay it aside. I bet And Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

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Isn't that a beautiful phrase? And I just read that verse as kind of an introduction.

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So we know what we're talking about here this afternoon we're talking about the word and Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls

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But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves now

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I believe That thought is picked up again in verse 26 so let me skip down and read that if any man among you seem to be religious and There are people you'll run across people in your walk of life in churches different places that seem to be religious they have this air of spirituality about them watch those people and Look at what the

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Lord says here if any man among you seem to be religious and Bridle if not his tongue

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So if you have a person that seems to be religious, but they are a gossip and you know, they are

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Then they seem to be religious But they don't fit God's definition of what true religion is

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Because it says but they deceive his own heart and this man's religion is vain

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They are not really it's not biblical Christianity if they're a gossip and if they're hurting others

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By the tongue so Be very careful about people who have that problem.

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Now, let's look on though. He puts it in the positive sense pure religion and Undefiled before God the

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Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world

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Two thoughts there one where it speaks of visiting the fatherless the orphans and the widows

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I think that is to be taken literally, but I also think it has a broader meaning than that I think it has to do with the fact that False religion is always about outward things that can be seen so you get credit for the stuff you did for God And there's a lot of that In independent

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Baptist circles, they're eating up with it in many cases. I Have that printed so the whole world can know that not one

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Sunday has gone by that we didn't have someone saved and baptized for the entire year of 1999 and they'll put that in print so everybody can read it and then all of a sudden they lose the blessing for it

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I think but so This is talking about stuff where you don't get any credit for it and where it has nothing to do with power

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It has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with anything that the world would consider religious You're off somewhere talking to some little lady perhaps you've given her your time because she just needs someone to talk to Are you're helping some child who does not have a father at home or an orphan and?

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Those are not things that people are just really running to have that particular job in the church

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You know where they can be up front and have all the glory and credit and all that And so it's interesting that the

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Lord would pick those two items But I think he means things like that things that can be done in secret for the

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Lord Those really are the most important things and then

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The second whole idea he keepeth himself unspotted from the world

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And we're gonna talk about that next Sunday morning when we go on into the parable of the sower because that one particular kind of soil that has the thorns and the thistles in it is

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A vivid picture of what it's like to be spotted by the world It's not really the right way to say that but This is true religion so a person who really has

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True religion is a person who is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ was always separate from the world

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He was separate from the world. And so you will be too if your religion is pure now

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That's what that little section talks about and in verse 22 kind of leads into that by saying

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Be you doers of the word not here is only deceiving your own selves There are people all the time who deceive themselves into thinking they're pretty good

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Christian But they want everybody to think that too and that's a problem Now let's move on into the main thing

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I want to discuss for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass

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For he beholding himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetting what manner of man he is

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But who so looketh into the perfect law of Liberty and I want you to put that in parentheses the perfect law of Liberty very important phrase and this is biblical terminology for the

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Bible the Bible is the perfect law of Liberty And I want you to especially underline the word perfect So he that looketh into the perfect law of Liberty and continueth therein

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He being not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed now

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Let me talk to you a little bit this afternoon about this perfect law of Liberty I'd like to take this opportunity to go back into 1st

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Corinthians chapter 13 and see if we can't Discuss what some would call a difficult

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Passage of Scripture and Use our passage that we're in in James this afternoon to shed light on the more obscure portion of Scripture And that really is a great principle in Bible interpretation

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You should never use what some would call an obscure portion of Scripture To set up a precedent in your doctrinal beliefs.

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You should always use the plain The truths that you see throughout the entire

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Bible to interpret The few passages that are a little difficult Don't do it the other way around don't ever take the difficult one and let it change everything

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You've always believed that the Bible taught you understand what I'm saying They can't contradict each other

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So if you have a more difficult passages, you're really having difficult to understanding what God means by it

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Go to the simple plain passages that you know that you have no trouble with it You've just God has taught you what they mean and let them shed light on the more difficult passage and that's how you can literally

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Learn what some passages mean when maybe for years you didn't know what they meant And I want to do that this afternoon with this passage in 1st

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Corinthians 13 because it is the more difficult passage But the passage in James That we were looking at is very simple and plain so look at 1st

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Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 8 Now you have to understand most of you've gone through this study

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I did recently on this passage You know that chapter 13 is talking about love It is a teaching on what

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God's agape. Love is all about. It is not a teaching on tongues

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It's not a teaching on prophesying on words of knowledge and all that God brings some of that in but the main topic is love

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Now with that in mind look at verse 8 and everywhere you see the word charity, by the way That's the word agape.

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That's love be a better translation, I suppose Love never faileth But whether there be prophecies they shall fail and whether there be tongues

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They shall cease and whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away For we know in part and we prophesy in part

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But when that which is perfect and I want you to underline that word perfect because it relates to the word perfect We saw in the book of James a moment ago

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When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away

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When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child I thought as a child, but when I became a man

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I put away childish things and you're gonna have to Take a look at Galatians chapter 3 verse 23 and following to get any understanding of what that means

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Don't just try to take this on its own. You'll miss it You've got to go in and understand how the

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Jewish mind is thinking about this or you'll you'll misinterpret this For we now see through a glass

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Darkly now that ties in with James chapter 1 verse 25 right in the area where we are

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We now see through a glass darkly But then face to face now, I know in part but then shall

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I know even as I am known and now about it faith Hope love these three, but the greatest of these is love

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Now this passage talks about some things That will remain and some things that will go away the things that will remain our

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Faith Love, I'm sorry faith hope and love and the things that will go away are listed up in verse 8 and that is tongues and prophesying and knowledge

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Now there's been a lot of debate about when these things go away. What does this mean and so forth?

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But let me just say this If you look down at the verse 13 and you see the word now

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Now abideth That is an important word and The interpretation of that one word

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Can be what this whole passage turns on oddly enough a little word as simple as the word now

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If you were to interpret that to mean now meaning this present age, which is the church age

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Then your interpretation of this passage would be one thing But if you interpret it to mean just like eter forever

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This just means used to it was this way, but forever it's going to be this way Then you would come up with a different interpretation

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Now so let me start with this and let you know what I think it means and why I think it means this

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I Think in this particular verse the word now means now Okay, very theological wouldn't you say

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I Don't think it means just generally in the future and for all eternity

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I Think it means in the church age right now who can tell me when the church age ends

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All right, and that is exactly right. The general answer would be at the second coming if you want to be real specific

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What would you say? at the rapture Which is what brother

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Otis meant by when he returns because he's returning for us at the rapture but if you wanted to just be general you could say the second coming as long as what you meant by that was the whole idea

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Of the in seven -year tribulation period that rapture and at the end of that the second coming But at that time the church age is over now specifically.

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It's over at the rapture Okay so I Interpret the word now in verse 13 to mean during this church age and that now will be over at the rapture and Certainly by the time of the second coming it will be over the reason

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I believe that is because there are two words found in verse 13 that I don't believe will exist in eternity future

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That's a oxymoron, isn't it? I Put a time word with eternity

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Do you know what I mean? What are the two words that you would think might not exist when we get on the other side of the rapture?

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All right, why would you choose those two Mom, you're speaking in tongues now that ceased you can't do that You won't need them anymore

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That's right Now if you want to see a Bible definition of that Romans chapter 8

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Verse 23, we're not gonna look at it, but just jot it down Romans 8 23 through 25 Specifically define hope as being something that cannot exist if you're in the presence of God because Hope by definition is the excited expectation of things to come while they're here at that point

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So hopes not going to be there and faith Obviously will not be needed and as we've talked about the last few

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Sundays faith is on loan anyway from Jesus Christ It's his faith that you have you didn't work it up because if you did it doesn't work

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It's a gift from him and it's Jesus's faith and it's on loan until he comes back for us at which time you won't need it

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Because you will see him and you will be like him for you. You shall see him as he is so wouldn't you agree then that now cannot mean all from now on out forever because Two of the items in verse 13 will not exist beyond the second coming and I'm going to use that Generically to mean the whole thing the rapture the tribulation in the second coming

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So don't hold me to that because we know it means the rapture, but it won't exist beyond that for us

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So it has to mean now Abideth that means right now During the age in which we live the things that abide or faith hope and love

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Now that's going to be important as we look at this. Now. Let's go back up to verse 8 There are some things that that pass away and let's look at a little bit at the

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Greek meaning for this love never goes away Isn't it interesting that out of the three mentioned in verse 13 love is the only one that it says never goes away

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But whether there be prophecies they shall fail now, it's interesting in the Greek language that the phrase shall fail with respect to prophecies

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Means that they're that they will be stopped by God. It's it's in the

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Passive it's something that happens to it that God does he just stops it But when you look at tongues where it says they shall cease in the

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Greek language The ceasing is something where it just kind of ceases in and of itself when its purpose is fulfilled and it's no longer useful

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That's kind of an interesting difference. But the point is they both go away So the Bible is saying that prophesying and tongue -speaking and a word of knowledge

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Which does not mean just having knowledge like you learn in school By the way in the whole context of the scripture involved in the early church

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They had a thing called a word of knowledge which was really very similar to a prophetic gift where a person in the church could stand and Proclaim scripture that they didn't have yet For instance this church the

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Church of Corinth did not have the book of Romans because it wasn't written to them It was written to the Roman Church So at this point in time in the year 59

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AD They didn't have the book of Romans. They didn't have the book of Ephesians So if God wanted the

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Corinthian Church to know this truth For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of works lest any man should boast

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They couldn't go pick up a book and read I know I missed part of it. They couldn't pick a book up and read it

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They would have to have someone like Deborah stand up and say well and quote it properly.

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Maybe we still need that Now so that's what the word of knowledge was now notice notice this verse 8

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Love does not go away It never goes away But prophecies will be stopped by God and tongues shall go away in and of themselves when their purpose has been fulfilled and Whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away and that's the same idea of being stopped by God Now everyone would agree that that's true because God says it

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I mean there I don't know anybody that disagrees with the fact that the verse 8 is true The difference comes in in verse 9 and 10

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The big question that's debated is when will these things take place And I'll show you why we have a problem look at verse 9 for we know in part and we prophesy in part

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But when that which is perfect is come Then that which is in part shall be done away

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The whole question is what is this perfect thing? when does it come and Certainly by that time the above mentioned things in verse 8 will no longer exist

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So, what do you think some of the answers to the question like if we were to ask well What do you think the perfect whatever the perfect is whenever the perfect comes?

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What would that be? What is the perfect? That's what one would think

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All right. Well, so there are several things people say what people will say the second coming when

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Jesus comes people will say It's the Word of God as in James that we're studying this afternoon the perfect law of Liberty That that is the perfect and then there are two three others

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But those are the only two I'm going to address today because those are the main two now it's interesting to look at this because whichever way you think it is might

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Decide when you think these things passed away in other words If you think it's the second coming then you can still have tongue -speaking going on in the church

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If all you have is a scripture now, I will mention this though if you remember the series I did on this on the tongues,

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I did not even address this passage and I pointed out that in modern times

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This is where everybody wants to go and they say here's the battleground wherever this the truth here is where it dies or lives

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Whatever your theory is, but if you go back 50 years No one ever really dealt with this passage that much because there's so many other places in the

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Bible that prove That these things have ceased And so in my study on tongues and prophesying and these things ceasing

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I never even discussed this passage We used other biblical reasons why they have ceased But it is interesting to look at this passage and see if it comes into bear so if this were the only truth we had if we were on a desert island and someone had ripped out this page from an airplane and it went out the window and flittered down and it was on the island and this is all the

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Word of God you had and You got saved and you started reading this

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When would you think this is would you think it's the second coming or what would you think?

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And depending on what you thought that's when you would think that prophesying would stop tongue -speaking would cease and the

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Word of Knowledge would cease Well, let me tell you several reasons why I don't think it's the second coming and why

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I don't even think it's a reference to Jesus Christ One is because it is not

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It is in the neuter Sense it is not feminine nor masculine.

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It's neuter So it's talking about a thing So when it says when that which is perfect shall come it is a thing that is coming not a person

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At least if you go by the fact that it's not masculine nor feminine in the

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Greek language Now to go beyond that there are several at least four reasons why

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I don't believe this is the second coming The first is this if you study the use of this word perfect It's the

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Greek word telly on and you look everywhere. It's used especially in Paul's writings where the

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Apostle Paul is the penman Paul does not use this word in the absolute sense of something being perfect He uses it to mean wholeness or maturity or completion and In fact in the common man's

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Greek the coin a Greek this word telly on is Never used in the absolute sense in English where we say something is perfect.

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It's never used in that sense it's always used to mean it's whole or it's mature or it's complete and If you understand that it helps a little bit now certainly

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Paul used it in that sense so If you read it with that context or that meaning of the word

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If you're talking about when that which is perfect is come It's talking about something that has been brought to completion or wholeness or maturity

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That certainly would not be Jesus because he's never changed. He doesn't change If it were

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Jesus it would have to be used in the sense of absolute perfection But it's very seldom used that way in the

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Greek language this word telly on it would choose a different word If they meant absolute perfection perhaps, but this word is not used that way

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Now the second thing is this in the context of this passage If you look at this this phrase

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Let's find it here look at verse 9 for we know in part and we prophesy in part

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But when that which is perfect is come Then that which is in part shall be done away

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You have a contrast in verse 10 between whatever this thing is that's perfect or complete and whatever this thing is that's in part

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Now you'll understand if even if you didn't understand the definition of telly on You could pick it up in the context because it's obviously talking about something that's in part and something that's complete so the word perfect here has to mean this idea of completion or maturity or something that is finished or whole

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Because it's being contrasted with something that's not yet finished So you have something that's in part and you have something that's in in full or that's finished

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And so if you interpret this to mean perfection in the absolute sense and you think it's the

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Lord Jesus Christ Then you have a problem with the context because we're we're contrasting in the

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Bible Here is something that's in part versus something that's finished and that does not fit. It doesn't make for a natural interpretation

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So the context does not present an adequate opposite for quote in part

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It's found in the preceding verse in part connotates quantity

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Not quality. I mean if you're talking about Jesus Christ, that's quality You're not talking about how much he's perfect or he's more perfect than someone else.

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He's just perfect I mean, they're just you either are or you're not but the way the words used in this particular passage

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It is talking about quantity You have something that's in part and something that you have more of it until the point where it's full

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So we're dealing with quantity here apparently and not quality. Now a third reason is this

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If you look at verse 13 and we kind of touched on this already The natural interpretation of verse 13 is that we're dealing with things that are

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Going to be remaining in the Church Age as opposed to some things that are going to go away

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Now whatever time period we're talking about has to be the same time period so if the word now in verse 13 if we have deduced that it has to be the

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Church Age because some of the things listed In 13 do not go on off into eternity that puts an end to the time period that we're talking about it puts it within a range and So if that's true then everything in this passage is dealing with some things that are going to stay and remain throughout that time all the way to the end and some things that are going to stop and not remain all the way to the end and That is the most natural interpretation of this particular verse.

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So When you look at the phrase and now that's a real key to to understanding this now

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If it's true that faith and hope are going to not be in eternity

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And that puts an end time on it. Now, let me give you another reason I don't think it's a second coming turn with me to Joel chapter 2 in the

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Old Testament Somebody tell me what page it's on There it is

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Joel 2 28, I think is where we want to start Joel 2 28

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And it shall come to pass Afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy

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There is going to be a time in the future where we have the gift of prophesying

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Come in Okay, I didn't know who that was the door open. There was no human there

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There's gonna be a time in the future where the gift of prophesying is going to be there now

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It says your sons and your daughter shall prophesy in the dreaming of dreams and the visions like they had in the

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Old Testament times They will have that it's sometime in the future It says it shall come to pass that afterward these things will happen

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So these things happen after some other time period when apparently they're not happening

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Now it goes on in verse 28 and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days

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Will I pour out my spirit? Now verse 30 puts the time frame frame when these things happen when this outpouring of the

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Holy Spirit occurs It gives the time frame in verse 30 and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke the

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Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day The Lord come that's the tribulation period.

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There's no doubt in anybody's mind That that's not the church age. That is the tribulation period

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So during the tribulation period there's going to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit where they do have prophesying again

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And you may ask the question. Well, why would God do that? Well number one he can do what he wants to do But there is some human logic in it for us to see is that the first thing

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What do you think that Antichrist will do with these things that you leave behind when you go up in the Rapture? Wait, oh, he'll burn them you think

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You don't think he'd want everybody to have one of these so they could read about him and figure it out These are not going to exist

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In the Old Testament, there's a verse that says in the last days They will go to and fro seeking his word, but shall not find it

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The reason that in the early church you had the gift of prophesying and the gift of knowledge is because they did not have the whole

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Bible They did not have the perfect law of Liberty yet they had little portions of it, but it was not canonized into one whole

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Bible and That is going to be true during the tribulation they will not have a Bible the church will not have the word they will need some of thought someone to be able to speak authoritatively and say this is what

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God has said and That gift will be operative again during the tribulation period because of a need of it

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And so God will give that to his people He will also give people have the gift of discernment who stand up say he's lying

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That's not God didn't say that All that has to go together, but you don't see that happening today with the counterfeit

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So we see now we have from scripture very clearly that there will come a time period

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After which there will be an outpouring of the Spirit and the sons and daughters shall prophesy the son shall be turned red and so forth

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It's the tribulation period. So what is the time period that comes before the tribulation? and right before that the church age

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So that's the part that's afterward Afterward, then there will be an outpouring and these gifts will arise again, but Derek before that during the church age

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Apparently they won't be there or they couldn't have been poured out again so the problem with the interpretation that We still have all these things and that they will go away at the second coming

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See if you say the perfect is the second coming Well, that's Jesus Christ when that which is perfect is come these things shall cease in your interpretation is that means that the coming of?

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Jesus Joel contradicts that because he says at the coming of Jesus is when these things begin again

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And so it doesn't fit. In fact, none of these things fit if you interpret it that way

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And then there are a fifth reason I don't believe it's the second coming is there are several passages of scripture that show us that there is no more direct revelation from God during the church age

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That he has given us the book and it has a front page and a back page In fact, the

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Bible says very clearly in Revelation 22 That if you add to or take away from the words of this book, you'll be under the curses of this book

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I contend that if the Lord were to allow if you want to put it in those phrases someone to rise up and say

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God told me this last night And I want the whole church to know this and if God Allowed someone to raise up and do that.

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He would at the same time be cursing the very person he calls to do that Because a person who stands and adds to the word

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Will be cursed so it would make absolutely no sense for God to say that and then at the same time for his own people to be rising up And cursing themselves by adding to the

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Word of God So it's all confusion and it doesn't make any sense you have Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 through 2

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Jude 3 in Revelation 22 verses 18 and 19 that all indicate clearly that direct revelation has ceased and that God is now speaking unto us through his son the word

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And so that's what we have. So when we go into 1st Corinthians chapter 13 where it says that Prophesying and tongue -speaking and this word of knowledge will vanish away will cease will stop in other words fail

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Or it means they will stop the time period when that happens is when that which is perfect is come

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That happened by the year 90 AD Which is when John penned the book of Revelation and at that same time period just a few years before that Maybe 20 years earlier

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Titus led the Roman legions through Israel and into Jerusalem and entirely destroyed the nation and We studied if you remember in our earlier study on these things where we didn't even mention this passage that Signed gifts always have a purpose and they're given for a purpose and when the purpose has been fulfilled

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They always cease it's the same of all miracles in the Bible They came to fulfill a purpose Maybe to reveal that this man is

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God's man Listen to what he says or maybe to reveal that we're moving into a different dispensation Such as happened with Moses and with Jesus and John the

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Baptist and so forth There is always a purpose for a sign and when the purpose has been fulfilled The sign is taken off the scene by God That's just the way it is and the purpose if you study tongues in the

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Bible and go all the way back to the first Mention, you'll actually find it's in the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah and some other places

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It says that a nation will come speaking tongues that are unknown to you and will destroy you because you have not obeyed my word

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So it was always a sign to the Jew of impending judgment is what tongues was for one of the great purposes of languages and so that was fulfilled when

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Titus destroyed the nation in 70 AD and It and that's why in the language it says tongues shall cease they shall pass off the scene after their

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Purpose is fulfilled. They will just gradually cease now the other two just stopped But the tongues just kind of gradually ceased and I think you see

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Paul's dealing with the gift of tongues in 1st Corinthians and the clear Message he's giving is let's stop this

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You know, I would rather speak a thousand, you know a thousand words How do you say

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I'd rather speak a thousand words it can be understood By people so that they might be edified than one word in an unknown language of foreign language so he's saying let's move away from these and let's go on into the dispensation that we're in the church age and that's your pastor's interpretation of This passage.

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I believe that the perfect is the perfect law of Liberty. I believe it's the perfect Word of God I believe it's the only neuter thing that was ever in the world

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That was given to us. That was perfect and you have to understand when it was penned.

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It was absolute perfect There was it was without error Because God was the author of it

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And if you find any kind of word in this book, even the one you have in your lap that you think is not quite

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Right. I'll promise you it's because of an interpretation error It's not because the Greek or the

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Hebrew had any error in it because it didn't because it came from the hand mine heart and God And in that sense, it is absolutely perfect.

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But the word perfect really had more to do with completion Than it did absolute perfection anyway

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And so when it says that which is perfect is come it is a reference to something that was being put together over time and at one point it was finished and Completely closed as a canon of Scripture.

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That's why the Apocrypha is not part of the Word of God That's why some other ancient stories that they've found are not part of the

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Word of God It is absolutely a finished closed book and God himself as if to ward off these kinds of heresies

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In the very last page of the last book of the canonized Scripture. He says do not add to this book.

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I Forbid it it is a complete mature

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Finished book and that's what the word telly on means in the Greek language. It's perfect It's perfect.

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And when it became perfect was the day that John laid the pin down after finishing the last jot and tittle in the book of Revelation and As of that day these signed gifts were gone

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They ceased off the planet earth for the remainder of the church age And then

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Joel says when we move on out into that part where we have the Sun turning red and so forth I'm gonna put those gifts back down there for those tribulation

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Saints because they will not have the Word of God Unless I give it through a prophet or a word of knowledge

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It all makes absolute sense And it fits our experience as we look at life and we see what's going on in these churches that are counterfeiting these things

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We don't see you know as we go back into James This afternoon we don't see

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People that are visiting the fatherless and widows and remaining unspotted from the world

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We don't see that true religion and yet we're told if we don't get involved with all this stuff is not real It doesn't fit

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Doesn't fit it has always been remarkable to me that in 20 years of dealing with with Jesus's local church here

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That he never once gifted anyone in this congregation to speak in tongues or give a word of wisdom or to prophesy

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Why is that if it's available and if it's supposed to be used, why wouldn't he give us one single individual in this church?

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So you've got to admit either you're false You're not saved and you're not real and there's nothing to and we're just playing church or else that whole idea is false

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And it's not real and it's counterfeit. I Think if we examine the scriptures, we see that when this perfect Word of Liberty this perfect law of Liberty whosoever look at them to this perfect law of Liberty and continues in it

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When that book became complete These things ceased and I hope that that will help you because you're dealing with just the fastest growing

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Segment of Christianity is the charismatic movement today It's all around you.

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It's just like President Clinton, you know If he can get his staff to say something's true long enough. Everybody just believes it it becomes true

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And we're living in that day. So if people tell you enough, well, I mean, I've got a close friend that speaks in tongues

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I have seen someone do that or I've done it. So it must be real. Well, it is real

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That's not the debate. The debate is where's the source of it and if God says it's ceased and Yet it's still going on then that tells me it's a counterfeit of God's Just like Satan can do he can't really even make anything

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All he can take is take God's beautiful things and turn them ugly by twisting them a little bit And making it perverted

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He does that in many areas and that's what I believe has happened here. So that'll be a help to you.