Spiritual Gifts 101 (Part 3)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

The Spirit of Christ and the Advantage of His Departure

Can you imagine if you were a disciple or an apostle of Christ Jesus and before he died he said to you, it is to your advantage that I leave. It's going to be better for you if I leave. Pretty interesting words from our Lord.

The Bible says in the Gospel according to John, Jesus said, nevertheless I tell you the truth. He's talking to the men, close men, they're the disciples. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. And then Jesus said, he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

If you could be an apostle, what would you pick? Jesus, the incarnate one there teaching you or pick the Holy Spirit who would guide you into truth. If you're an apostle, what would you pick? I know what I would pick.

I'd rather have Jesus. This is the song I'd start singing. But Jesus said, it's to your advantage that I go. Jesus was incarnate. He was in one place in time as a human and now he gives the Holy Spirit to the church to promote Christ Jesus, to point to Christ Jesus, the exalted one, that the world may know Jesus is the only Savior, the risen King.

It's to our advantage that we have the Holy Spirit. Would you rather have Jesus here now or would you rather have the Spirit of God? It's an interesting question. Well, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 as we continue our series in spiritual gifts.

What the Spirit of God is doing through the church. That is to say, Jesus is building his church through the Spirit's work. God has not left us alone. Aren't you glad we don't have to try to build the church by ourselves?

Boy, that's almost depressing to think. I, your leader, the pastor, one of the elders, let's build this thing together. But the Spirit of God, who is God himself, at the triune God's blessing and direction and will, builds local churches.

He builds Corinth and he builds Bethlehem Bible Church, or for you old folks, old timers rather, Bethlehem Baptist Church. It is to our advantage that we have the Spirit of God to help us as he builds the church.

Corinth's Factions and the Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

And here's what's happening in Corinth. They're all messed up. They fight about who they follow, right? Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4, I am of Paul, I am of Barnabas, I am of Apollos, and all these different things.

They fight about money, money separates them in chapter 11, economic divisions. And then now in chapter 12, 13, and 14, they're disagreeing and there's factions because some people think tongues is the end all.

They speak in tongues, the others don't, therefore we've got something that you don't have, we're the in crowd, you're the haves, we're the have-nots, etc. And so Paul is trying to teach them the truth about the gospel of the sovereign spirit working in a local church.

Now, we were last week looking at how spiritual gifts are for the good of others and not for ourselves found in verses 7 through 10. And that's where we'll land again today. Paul has already said in chapter 12, verse 3, that the most high point a Christian could ever experience is to say, Jesus is Lord.

By the way, that makes me feel really good because that doesn't make me run for other things. I just need another mountaintop experience. The spirit of God is working in a man or a woman who used to say, Jesus is a way, Jesus was a good man, Jesus is a fine teacher.

But now when you say he's the eternal God Yahweh, only the spirit could do that. You just come into that knowledge by yourself. No, the spirit of God does that and the spirit of God does that. And then the spirit equips the church so the church can all say, Jesus is great.

Jesus is king. Jesus is the savior. Now if everybody's got the same gift, then it's going to be lopsided. It's going to look funny. We're going to learn more about that in chapter 12, verses 12 and following.

Can you imagine if everybody, if you had a body and your body was made up of only eyes, that would be kind of interesting, wouldn't it? Kind of like fly man or something like that. These eyes everywhere.

It would just be weird. It wouldn't work. But God has sovereignly given all kinds of gifts, all for the purpose of not, look what I have, but look who Jesus is. And so Paul is really kind of taking them to the woodshed.

He's going to give them some theological spankings to try to say, this is what the spirit of God does, this is how he works, and here's how I want you to fall in line, Church of Corinth. And I want you to know from the start that Paul isn't mad at them.

He's not unloving towards them. And he's teaching them doctrine because you build up people with doctrinal teaching. And everyone here is a theologian, right? You're either a good theologian or you're a bad theologian.

You're either a biblical theologian or you're less than that. Theology just means a truth about God. And for Paul, the truth about God was so central that he has to write to them and correct them. They think they knew, they didn't know.

And so this is not only good for Corinth, this is good for us to look at. And let's highlight chapter 12 verses 7 through 10. Paul is talking about spiritual gifts are good for other people and they're given by the sovereign spirit.

Let me read the verses. To each is given the manifestation of the spirit. Everybody gets a spiritual gift. For the purpose, we learned last week, not for your own good, not to say you look so spiritual, but for the common good.

For to one is given through the spirit, utterance of wisdom, another utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by one spirit, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues.

There we have tongues at the end of the list, trying to minimize what they were trying to maximize to another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

What's the common denominator with all those gifts? Nine gifts are listed, not exhaustive of spiritual gifts, but what's the common denominator? The common denominator is this. Think 4th of July for just a second.

Think this. Think the, I'm trying to think of what a firework is these days, what do they call, I almost think of Roman candles, but there's got to be better than that. I don't know, they're illegal in Massachusetts.

You know we're taxed heavily and we have all kinds of regulations when you can't even light a little black snake without getting arrested around here. So let's just forget that illustration, let's just go back to the text.

That's always the best. These were the flashy gifts. These were the kind of gifts when you watch on 4th of July and you're like, wow. These aren't the dud gifts, these aren't behind the scenes, these are the gifts that were above supernatural sign gifts.

These were revelation gifts. These were gifts that made you say what that person does, they do because God is working in them and speaking through them. These are confirmation gifts, these are revelatory gifts, these are sign gifts.

Remember we learned last week, three periods where there were sign gifts in the New Testament and old. Moses, right, and why did Moses have sign gifts? Why did God attest to what he did through signs and miracles and wonders?

Because Moses was writing scripture, first five books. Then there was a time with Elijah and Elisha, God attesting what they did. And then Jesus and the apostles. Turn with me if you would to Acts chapter 2 just for a moment.

Keep your finger on 1st Corinthians chapter 12. These revelation gifts affirmed and confirmed the message and the messenger. And so if you go to Acts chapter 2, you're going to see how even Jesus, he did miracles for a reason.

There's something more important than miracles and that is forgiveness of sins through Christ Jesus' perfect work and life. You can be healed and still go to hell, there are more important things. But the miracles were important for what reason?

To attest to what God was doing through Jesus. So you wouldn't say he's another false messiah. He's another false prophet. Listen to Peter's words in Acts 2 .22, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God.

How is he attested? How is he confirmed? How is he affirmed? With mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you know yourselves. You yourselves know this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and for knowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God is confirming what people say before we have the Bible because it would be easy to be duped by someone who could speak well, who might look good and you just follow along. But when the canon was not closed yet, when we didn't have all the Bible, it was a lot more, it was easy to see the real speakers for God because they had signs and wonders that would back up what they would say to confirm what they would say.

Actually Phil Johnson said if you search your New Testament you will discover that the day of Pentecost to the New Testament era's ending, no miracle ever occurred in the entire New Testament except in the presence of an Apostle or one directly commissioned by an Apostle ever.

Why does he say that? He says that because when revelation is being given, it's confirmed by the Apostles and their work. So when the revelation is completed, why do we need those things? Even back in the day of 1 Samuel chapter 3, miracles were not normal and miracles were not expected.

1 Samuel 3 verse 1, what a fascinating verse. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli and the word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. Visions infrequent, the word from the Lord rare, why?

We look at the New Testament and if we're not careful we begin to think everything that happened then should happen now. Everything that went on then should happen now. Well when you get up to the passage that we were left last week, the gift of healing found in verse 9, we saw last week that healings were spectacular, they were undeniable, unbelievers could affirm them.

The Nature of New Testament Healing

Let me show you something else about the gift of healing. I want you to know that when God healed someone back in those days, He healed everyone, there weren't select people who were healed. Go to Matthew chapter 4 for a second, we usually try to just stay with one passage, but I want to show you that the New Testament miracles were in fact supernatural events.

I always get nervous if I go to a church and the pastor doesn't stay in one place, I call that audible preaching, 416, 832, and he's trying to concoct this thing without parking in a text. So I want you to see the context, but I have to go to other places because here's what I want you to get.

The world today, the evangelical world says whatever God did back then, He does now. I'm trying to show you from scripture that what God did back then, He did for a reason and that is the canon was being put together.

And I want you to say to yourself, what they did then isn't being replicated today. Matthew chapter 4 verse 24, I want you to notice how God healed everyone. They didn't have a lack of faith and weren't healed, they didn't have sin in their life, they didn't have an organic problem that couldn't be healed, no, everyone.

So His fame spread throughout all Syria. That'd be a good prayer request today too, wouldn't you like Jesus' fame spread throughout all Syria? And they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them.

Isn't that amazing? Some unbelievers healed, it wasn't that they had no faith, He healed all of them. Go to chapter 8 please and I'm trying to establish the fact that the New Testament healings and miracles were supernatural and they were complete.

Many of you already know this, but these verses are wonderful to take a look at our Savior. Anyway, 8, 16 of the Gospel according to Matthew. Similarly that evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed, what's the next word, all who were sick.

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. Let's go to Matthew chapter 12, I want you to see it again. No select healings, no well we couldn't really heal, we only can do the ones that are on crutches, we can't really heal organically, we've got to heal in a tent, this is just everywhere and all places.

Healing everyone. Matthew chapter 12 verse 15, Jesus aware of this withdrew and from there rather and many followed Him and He healed them all. The New Testament pattern is those with the ability and gifts to heal could heal everyone.

It's a far cry from the people today. Let me show you Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, couple more verses in the Gospels. I find it interesting that Oral Roberts built the hospital in Tulsa but when he needed eye surgery he went to Los Angeles for eye surgery.

That's not the part that I really don't like, he should have not had to go anywhere because he should have been able to heal himself if he had the gift of miracles. Luke chapter 4 verse 40 goes on to say the same thing again, just trying to establish the quality and the kind and the type of miracles that were done and demons also came out.

Of many crying, who are you the Son of God? Oops, let's go back to verse 40, excuse me. Now when the sun was setting all those who had any, who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

They didn't have unverifiable ailments. They weren't healed because they didn't have faith, no they were all healed. And then lastly Luke 6, Luke 6 verse 17 is the same thing. People that have the gift of healing should not say our healing room is open for two hours a week like the church down the street.

Healing rooms open two hours of the week, Saturday, make sure you get in within that window of time or you can't be healed. Healing, they could do it anytime, anyplace, anywhere and they healed everyone.

Luke 6, 16, 17 and 19 rather. And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases.

And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch Him for power came out from Him and healed them all. All. The New Testament healings were complete, undeniable, sovereign, spectacular and complete.

Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. My point is Paul gave the instructions to the Corinthians so that they wouldn't all glom on to healing, excuse me, on to tongues. The gift of healing was a fantastic gift back in those days confirming what they said.

And he gives more of these revelatory gifts. The next one is a fascinating one, the gift of miracles. See it in chapter 12 verse 10 of 1 Corinthians. To another the working of miracles. What is a miracle?

Now if you're not careful you're going to think of this term loosely. The miracle in your eyes here in this part of the country was when Havlicek stole the ball. That was a miracle. Whoever the Dallas Cowboy guy who caught Stallback's pass in 1972, that was a miracle.

Sinbad on TV, he can do miracles, can't he? Matter of fact I think there's a miracle on like 34th Street is it? We just throw that word around, that was a miracle. What was a New Testament miracle? If we throw around the word healing today, that's one thing.

What is the biblical word for healing? We looked at that. Well what's the biblical word for miracle? Miracle included healings, but it had other aspects. And I want to show you what this Greek word dunamis, strength, power, might, how it shows up in the New Testament.

Let's turn to Acts chapter 19, the gift of miracles. Can you imagine if you had this gift of miracles, what could you do? It includes healing, but it's more than that. The gift of miracle was something that was supernatural and confirming what you would say.

Confirming what the person would say, who he is. This is something that was not, you were not able to just pick this up on your own, it was given to you. And chapter 19 of Acts tells us that the gift of miracles also included casting out demons.

Acts 19 11, and God was performing extraordinary, there's our word, miracles by the hands of Paul. If this wasn't in the Bible, how could we believe it? So that handkerchiefs, or aprons, were even carried from his body to the sick.

And the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out. The exorcism of demons is part of the gift of miracles. These were people who were possessed by Satan's emissaries, demons. And do you notice the text there?

You look at other New Testament texts, there was no chanting, there was no incense, there was no sign of the cross. There was nothing except complete expulsion of every person that the one who was going to, who had the gift of healing, miracles, wanted to cast that demon out.

Every single demon was cast out. No cooperation of the demon needed. I told first service when I was 13, it was 1974, maybe 1973, when I asked my pastor if I should go see the movie The Exorcist. And he wisely said, don't.

It was just kind of like telling me, yeah, go see it. But I don't think I saw it until much later on. And to have all the machinations and still not being able to exercise this young girl, I believe there are demons, I believe there's a demon possession, especially around this time.

But if someone had the gift of miracles, they could just cast that demon out and off they would go. This is not some demon of codependency, or demon of allergies, or demon of post-nasal drip. This is a demon.

Because anybody could cast out the demon of allergies. I forgot my Claritin today. I could even do that and there's some healing effect. But not only were miracles associated with demons, they're also associated with blinding people or giving people physical disabilities.

Let's go to Acts chapter 13. Here's what's happening, big picture. They knew at Corinth what all these things were. We don't know, so I'm just trying to show you what these particular things were that were revelation gifts, supernatural gifts, sign gifts, pointing to the message and the messenger.

You say, well, we don't have these today. You got the message. We don't need those today because we have the Bible. I almost called it the message, but then that would have other connotations. We have the Bible, Acts 13.

Can you imagine? Is there even a story today about someone on TV who does this? Maybe they'd want to do it to somebody like me. I don't know. Acts 13 .8, but Elymas the magician, for thus his name is translated, was opposing them, seeking to turn the procouncil away from the faith.

But Saul, who is also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him and said, you are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness. Will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time. And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who could lead him by the hand.

Then the procouncil, what? Believed. When he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. We know if something's true or not because we can check the scriptures like the Bereans. They didn't have all the scriptures, and so if somebody could make someone else blind, you'd go, I'll listen.

It confirmed and validated this person as God's spokesman. Go back to Acts chapter 5. The gift of healing many, excuse me, the gift of miracles many commentators think, and I agree with them, included killing people.

Included killing people. Now once in a while you'll see some punctuation in the New Testament with a death like this. Acts chapter 5, you know Ananias and Sapphira, they sold the property, don't have to give all the money to the Lord's work, but if you hold some back and then have a pretense like you're giving everything, that's lying to God the Holy Spirit with his wife.

Knowledge verse 2, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep us from yourself?

Keep for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?

You have not lied to man, but to God. And when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard it. The person with the gift of miracles can cast out demons, can heal people, can blind people, can kill people.

Now I ask you a question again, people that say they have the gift of healings today and miracles today, it doesn't match up to that. I want you to see, New Testament, God working in a supernatural way, it's not the same thing as today.

Raising the Dead as a Sign of Apostolic Authority

One last case, Acts chapter 9, raising people from the dead. Can you imagine if you had the gift of miracles back then, you could raise people from the dead? Who does that now? No one. Acts chapter 9, we know the passage is a person whose name is Dorcas.

I'll just pick it up in verse 39. Peter rose and went with them, and when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping, and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was still with them.

Can't you just picture it? Someone's died, and remember my mom died, and you're just sitting there, and that's her car, that's her chair, and she made these things for the grandkids. Just a time like that, thinking through the issues.

But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed, and turned to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up, and he gave her his hand and raised her up, then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

There's a reason for the sign gift to be used.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m., and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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