WEBVTT 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:20.800 Tonight I want to talk about the doctrine of cessationism, which is the doctrine that there's a certain subset of biblical gifts of gifts of the Spirit that have ceased, that are no longer active in the church. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.320 This did not used to be a controversial point in the church. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:49.759 In fact, this is one of those doctrines that has been predominant and been the norms of the church age for the last few thousand years with some rare exceptions, and the last hundred years or so has been one of those rare exceptions, which puts me in the awkward situation of defending a doctrine that has been more or less assumed through much of church history and yet is now attacked. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.320 By the way, it is proving a negative here. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:57.679 As you argue cessationism, I'm arguing that there's a certain subset of spiritual gifts that are no longer active. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.320 So that's an attempt to prove a negative, which is always difficult. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:02.159 It's always difficult to set out to prove. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.760 I mean, can you prove that there's no pink elephants in the world? 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:08.000 I mean, what evidence would you use? 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:12.959 You'd have to say, I mean, I don't see any, but could you conclusively prove that there are no pink elephants? 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:14.400 I mean, not really. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:16.480 And so that's kind of this kind of approach. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:24.480 When I became a Christian, I uh got saved at 18, and when I graduated college, I went to work at a Calvary chapel. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:35.760 Uh, if you've seen the Jesus Revolution, uh, that is pretty much an accurate portrayal of what the Calvary Chapel life uh was like, or at least as it is uh portrayed often. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.560 Calvary chapels have more of an openness towards the spiritual gifts. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:45.200 Um there is this teaching that tongues, for example, is a gift that is still today. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:47.840 It's a personal prayer language between you and the Lord is what they teach. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:52.159 The gift of healing is for today, and every gift they would say is for today. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:58.879 But Calvary has the unique caveat that it those gifts should not be practiced in the worship service. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:03.120 So they're active spiritual gifts for today, but not for the worship service. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:10.879 They are to be done in an afterglow, so kind of across the hallway, uh, and when the worship service is over, because you don't want them to distract from the word of God. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.919 And that logic of the sense makes sense, doesn't it? 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:30.800 I mean, if I'm preaching and one of you jumps up and starts shouting in tongues, or somebody else says, I have a message from the Lord, or somebody else says, Oh, there's somebody in here that needs healing that's distracting from the preaching, and Calvary and its history recognize that, and so, but wasn't ready to say those gifts aren't active today, in their mind that would go too far. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:33.840 They can be active, just not in the worship service. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.439 And so again, you recognize that makes sense at a certain level. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:49.039 But once you think about it critically for, I don't know, a year or two, and you guys are gonna short circuit that and just do it for 10 seconds or so, you're gonna see a logical problem with that. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:58.879 If those gifts are real and are of the Spirit, then in what sense would something of the Spirit compete with God's own word? 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:10.879 How would God do two things that cancel each other out or that are rivals, or one thing that God does is distracting from another thing that God does, and so this thing that God does needs to be isolated to kept out of this other thing that God's doing? 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:16.560 It's it's logically contradictory, and that's where things started to change for me. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.719 Eventually I left Calvary Chapel. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:21.039 This is one of the doctrines that led me uh out of that. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:29.199 I love Calvaries and I love their preaching of the word and their uh focus on the Bible and the expository preaching you see in Calvary Chapels, and I'm so thankful for them. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:35.840 And you know, I I would even encourage somebody to go to a Calvary chapel because of the exposure to the preaching of God's word that they would get there. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.800 And yet, this is a fundamental distinction I would have from them, and it kind of comes down to what the definition of a spiritual gift even is. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:45.680 And so we want to start there, kind of a big picture tonight. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:47.360 What is a spiritual gift anyway? 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.360 And here's my definition of a spiritual gift. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:53.039 Uh it's not unique to me, this is in most theological dictionaries. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:04:01.360 A spiritual gift is any ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and he's used in any ministry to build or strengthen the church. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:02.560 That's a spiritual gift. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:16.399 So when you come to faith in Christ, the Spirit seals you, the Spirit dwells in you, and what that means by the Spirit dwells in you is that you are hidden in Christ, your identity is now subsumed in Christ, and God has sent his Spirit to minister to you. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:22.399 God's Holy Spirit works in you by convicting you of sin, by implanting the Word of God in you. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:26.160 When you read the Bible, you can understand it now and you know apply it. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:32.720 And you might be reading the Bible and feel convicted of a sin that may even not be directly talked about in the passage you're reading. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:38.240 You're reading something about Samuel and Saul, and suddenly you get convicted of some other sin somewhere. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:48.319 That's the work of the Spirit in your life, taking the Word of God and having it search the parts of your heart that, you know, it's not your flesh that's convicting you of sin, it's not the devil that's convicting you of sin. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:55.120 It's the Spirit who's working in your life, in your mind, planting the Word of God in you, and then conforming you to the image of Christ. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:56.399 That's the Spirit's work. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:04.399 Now, one of the ways the Spirit's works in your life is by giving you a desire to serve in the church, which is the body of Christ. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.959 So every believer should be part of the body of Christ. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:10.959 Every believer should be a functioning member of a local church. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:15.839 And as a member of the local church, being a member of a local church is not just a spectator sport. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:24.079 Being a member of a church is not coming and watching us is not FedEx Stadium or wherever the Redskins play or whatever they're even called now, who knows anymore. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.759 But you're not just going into the stadium to watch other people do stuff. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.480 As a member of the church, you're the one on the field. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:32.240 You're the one playing. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.399 And your participation in what's happening in the church, that is your spiritual act of service. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:40.800 It's spiritual because the church is a spiritual body. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.600 These are your brothers and sisters in the Lord around you. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:49.120 And as you gather for worship, you're with your own family in the Lord's house with the Lord's people. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:51.519 That's the spiritual body. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.319 And so everything you do to aid the spiritual body is a spiritual gift. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.120 There's not a natural explanation for your presence here. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:03.920 You could be mowing your grass or doing extra work or reading Shakespeare or whatever. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.079 You can be doing stuff, not in the church. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:07.839 But you set that aside. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.160 You drove here, you pulled in here off of Backlick, you're here for at the evening service. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:14.800 I mean, this is extra spiritual right here. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.959 This is the body of Christ. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:22.879 And so your work in the body of Christ, it is spiritual because it's a spiritual body. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:24.560 But it's more than that. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:32.480 It's not just that it's a spiritual body and you're building it up, but it's that you're doing it through the gifting and the agency that the Holy Spirit draws you to. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:39.600 It's any ability that you have, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and used to build and strengthen the church. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:45.040 This is 1 Corinthians 14, 26, where Paul says all gifts should be used for the edification. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:47.680 That means a fancy word for the building up of the church. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:49.680 A spiritual gift doesn't build you up. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.160 That's not a spiritual gift, that's a you gift. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.639 That's the old joke about the person who buys themselves gifts for Christmas. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:58.480 Does that even count as a gift? 00:06:58.560 --> 00:06:59.680 I'm giving it to myself. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:01.759 Well, that's not what the word give means. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:09.360 A spiritual gift is not used to build yourself up, that's not edification, nor is it a gift. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:15.279 So, in this sense, a gift is what you do to build or strengthen the church. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:23.600 And this is why spiritual gifts only exist until Christ comes, because when Christ returns to earth, he will be present, manifest on the earth as the Lord of the church. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:32.399 1 Corinthians 1 verse 7 says, You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:34.639 That's a prophecy of his second coming. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:42.399 The Lord is coming back to earth, and in the meantime, the church is being built, and while the church is being built, we don't lack any spiritual gift. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.360 Anything the Lord needs to build his church, he gives. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:47.199 He gives. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:48.959 It's the Lord who builds the church. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.959 So what are the spiritual gifts? 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:54.319 And there's six different lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:56.399 I can only fit four in the slide, so we get four. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:01.600 And the other two are more or less overlaps or this, or you know, add maybe one or two things that are distinct. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:04.160 But if you were to summarize those lists, here you go. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:11.360 Romans 12, 6, 1 Corinthians 12.8, 1 Corinthians 12, 28, Ephesians 4 7 through 12. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:15.279 You'll notice, I mean, I'll leave this up here for a second, but you'll notice that there's a lot of overlap. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.839 Uh, I wouldn't try to write down all this chart in your note. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:19.759 I see some of you writing furiously. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:24.879 I think it might be better if you just look at it and take it in, and you'll recognize there's a lot of overlap in these lists. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:28.639 Like prophets or prophecy, prophesying is on all the lists. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:32.480 Uh some of these are service gifts, some of them are speaking gifts. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:41.440 And in Romans, I mean, Paul basically divides it like that, or 1 Peter 4.11, uh, there in 1 Peter 4.11, Peter splits it up to whoever speaks and whoever serves. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:42.799 Those are your spiritual gifts. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.840 Some of you have gifts of speaking, some of you have gifts of serving. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.919 That's a very broad brush way of describing it, but that's how how Peter does it. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:54.720 Peter boils it down to two gifts gifts with your mouth and gifts with your hands, in other words. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.600 And but you can get more detailed in that. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:03.679 And as I look at this list, I think you'll have a realization as well that these aren't necessarily distinctive. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:12.000 It's it's not a mutually exclusive list, or uh that you have only one of the gifts from the Romans list or another gift from the 1 Corinthians list. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:15.440 These are broad categories that everybody serves differently. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:34.399 Your gifts might overlap several of these categories or be confined to one of these categories or maybe two of them, or maybe be you look and you don't you say, I don't recognize any of these things as uniquely to me where I serve, but my service in the church is in this other category that probably overlaps with some of these, and that's fine. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.320 That's the way the spiritual gifts work. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:42.320 They're not meant to be binary, they're not meant to be to the exclusion of others, it's not this or that. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:49.200 It's you know, the way God made you and put you in the church and uses you in the church, that's your gifting. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:59.519 1 Corinthians 7 verse 7 has one that's repeated in Matthew 19, 11, uh, the gift of singleness, that some of you have been given the gift, Paul, or Jesus says in Matthew 19. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.399 Uh that's another way of indicating there's something more going on here. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:09.360 The person who is devoted to singleness can serve the church in lots of ways, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, the married person can't. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.480 And when the apostles hear that, they say, Well, why wouldn't everybody stay single? 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:15.039 And Jesus says, because it's not given to everybody. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.440 The word given there makes it function as a gift. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.039 But the single person can do a lot of these things in the life of a church. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:24.000 These are all spiritual gifts. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:31.039 You also notice this is on the screen that the Ephesians list focuses more on offices: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.639 The Romans one more on acts, like encouraging, contributing, leadership, mercy. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.360 So I would say you don't just have one of these lists. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.639 You wouldn't say, you know, I'm I'm good at administration, but not encouragement, and definitely not giving. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:50.000 So I, you know, and none of these work to the exclusion of others. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:53.919 Just because something isn't your gift doesn't mean for a lot of these that you don't have to do it. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:55.120 Like giving, for example. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:19.600 Some people are exceptionally good at giving, their heart is drawn to needs, and they meet those needs and with joy, and the Lord seems to bless their giving by multiplying the recipients of the gift and storing up treasure in heaven for them, and other people give more in a scattered shot kind of way, but it doesn't mean like, hey, I'm not good at giving, therefore I don't have to give to the church kind of logic, or I'm not good at evangelism, that's not my gift, therefore I don't have to evangelize. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:26.399 Now, just because something's your not your gift doesn't mean you don't do it, but some people are particularly gifted in those areas. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:40.159 I think some can also go too far in isolating certain gifts and saying, I read one book about spiritual gifts that says, if you were good at something before you became a Christian, then that action cannot be your spiritual gift. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:51.679 And the analogy gives is like the school teacher, like if you're a really good school teacher and then you get saved, your gift can't be teaching because you don't have the Holy Spirit until conversion, is the is the logic. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:53.279 You don't have the Holy Spirit until conversion. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:59.919 So if you go on teaching in Sunday school, you're doing it in your own flesh and your own strength, absent the work of the Spirit is the logic. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:02.960 And uh yeah, I don't think so. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:05.279 Um I'm glad some of you laughed at that. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:18.240 Uh I I think what it means to be a spiritual gift is not that you just suddenly stumbled upon it at conversion, although with some people that might be the case, but that you're doing it in service of the spiritual body of Christ. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.080 That's why it's spiritual. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:32.399 Um some people do serve in church in the same ways that they were good at exercising their gifts and abilities before they came to Christ, and or even the you know, you have a secular job as a teacher and you serve in the church as a teacher. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.159 It's you know, it's what God made you with a desire to do. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:38.879 And every one of you is different than than each other. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.799 Pastor MacArthur refers to all of us as spiritual snowflakes. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:44.879 I like that phrase. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:53.200 Each one of you is a different combination of gifts, it's not going to look exactly the same as the person next to you, and that's why God made the church uh different that way. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:58.320 And basically your spiritual gift boils down to how do you serve in the church? 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:00.240 What do you enjoy doing in the church? 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:01.360 That's your spiritual gift. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.360 What do you like doing in the church? 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.000 I remember taking a spiritual gift test once. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:15.360 And you know, it was like, it took 45 minutes and it was a bajillion questions, and it's like, do you, you know, are you a good driver? 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:16.799 Do you like driving? 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:18.240 Do you like talking to people? 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.519 Do you like donut holes? 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.559 And at the end of it, your spiritual gift is the shuttle driver. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:30.559 It's like we could have saved everybody a lot of time here by just saying, what do you want to do? 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:32.320 I want to drive the shuttle. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:33.440 You're in. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:38.320 I mean the spiritual gift tests boil down to what do you want to do in the church? 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:43.840 Now, some people need the spiritual gift test because they're like, you know, it's decision paralysis here. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:45.840 They look at all the different, especially at a church like Emmanuel. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:48.159 There's a million ministries here, and you look at all of them. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:54.480 I remember the first time Deidre and I looked at the IBC.church website, and we're like, and list of ministries. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:57.759 So many ministries. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:02.559 So I could see how somebody could get paralyzed with that and say, I don't know where to serve. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:11.840 In contrast, there's the military families that come in all the time, and you know, they show up at a church and they're like, they're gonna choose one and jump in tomorrow and serve that for three. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.879 The first one that draws their eyes in, they're in for three years, then see you later. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:18.639 And that's that's great. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:24.080 And so I guess the spiritual gift test might help somebody find what ministry they would fit better in. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:25.679 But the bottom line is serve in the church. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:27.279 Find something you like and that you're good at doing. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.919 If you're not a good driver, don't drive the shuttle, by the way. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.759 Let me be clear on that one. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:37.279 Basically, the gift tests boiled down to what do you want to do? 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.480 And let me put it this way: your spiritual gift can be seen this way. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:41.519 I'll give you two ways. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:45.039 Your spiritual gift can be seen first, and what do you enjoy doing at church? 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:47.679 How's the Lord using you to help the church? 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:50.960 How's the Lord using you to help your church? 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:51.919 Do you enjoy it? 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:58.080 And when I say enjoy, I would imagine that you enjoy things that you're relatively competent at. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:03.360 So don't go tell Pastor Bill after the service, like, my spiritual gift is singing. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.200 He's like, okay, can you sing the song to me? 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.039 And it, you know, it sounds like me singing, but then singing is not your spiritual gift. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.000 Let me just clear that up right now. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:16.639 It's where you enjoy serving that you're relatively gifted at doing. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.840 And then secondly, your spiritual gift will grow as you grow in serving. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:29.279 Paul says this in Romans 12, verse 6, that your faith, your gift grows in proportion to your faith. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:35.519 So think about that language, that's Romans 12, 6, by the way, that your gift grows in proportion to your faith. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.759 When your faith is small, your gift is small. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:41.840 It doesn't mean your heart is small. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:45.200 You may have the desire to serve the church in lots of ways, but you have little faith. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.960 You're an immature believer. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:53.919 But as you grow in your faith over the years, your capacity to serve in the church likewise grows. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:59.440 The more mature believer is seen serving in more mature ways. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:02.720 They grow in their service over time. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.120 And that makes sense. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:08.559 A mature person is serving in the church. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:12.559 And their service is well established. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:17.759 Now, this is true for all of the spiritual gifts present in the church. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:24.080 And if you're wondering how this is an argument for cessationism, we're here right now. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.759 This is true for all of the gifts present in the church. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:32.159 But do you notice there's an exception to this? 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:39.360 The person who speaks in tongues, Paul says edifies themselves, but not the church. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:50.480 The person who says they have the gift of healing, how does that grow in proportion to your faith? 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:55.039 How do you just say, like, oh, I'm the Lord made me good at healing people? 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.200 Those kind of the gift of the word of knowledge. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.799 The Lord reveals truths to me, and that grows with my faith. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:04.880 Well, that's not the way revelation works. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:10.720 Your ability to prophesy a future event doesn't grow in proportion to your faith. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:14.960 There's a whole category of gifts that this isn't true of. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:20.720 Like tongues, interpretation, miracles, word of knowledge, healing, apostleship. 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:21.920 I put them up on the screen for you. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.119 The gift of apostleship. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.440 It's described as a spiritual gift in the New Testament. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.240 Does that grow in proportion to your faith? 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.519 These gifts fall into a different category. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:36.079 And they're often called the miraculous gifts. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:39.680 I don't prefer that title, the miraculous gifts. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:46.400 That's what a lot of books call them, because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life is in regeneration, is the miracle. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:49.119 All of us are saved through the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:50.880 You were dead in your sins and trespasses. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.119 The Spirit made you alive in Christ. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:54.559 You were spiritually blind. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:55.759 The Spirit opened your eyes. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:56.640 You were spiritually dead. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:58.640 The Spirit gave you life. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:00.640 You're spiritually deaf. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:01.920 You can't understand the Word of God. 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:03.759 The Spirit opens your ears. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.039 So every believer has experienced a miracle in that sense. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.880 So all spiritual gifts are miraculous. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:11.839 Yet these are often referred to as miraculous gifts. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.240 I prefer the phrase sign gifts. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:19.920 And I call them sign gifts because the Bible refers to them as sign gifts in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:21.839 We'll look at that verse in a little bit. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:24.319 But these are gifts that you don't sign up for. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:31.200 These are gifts that you're not necessarily good at, and then you become a Christian, and now you can use them in the church. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:34.319 Finally, they're just a different category of gifts. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:42.559 And so to unpack this a little bit, I want to give you a broader category, you know, a broader overview of how different kinds of churches relate to the spiritual gifts. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:48.400 And I give kind of four categories here, and they're there's a chiasm here, they're funneling towards the middle. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:55.279 And the first category here is the over-the-top cessationists, and there are those that say that every spiritual gift has ceased. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:57.839 There is no spiritual gifts in the church anymore. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:04.160 Spiritual gifts were only all spiritual gifts help, healing, giving, pastoring, uh, evangelism. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:09.519 Every spiritual gift has ceased with the apostles, and there are no more spiritual gifts in the church. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:18.319 There are places in our country, uh, some of the fundamentalist movement has carry over from that where they would teach that there's no spiritual gifts anymore at all. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:28.240 And then at the other end of the extreme is the what I'm going to call the over-the-top charismatics that teach that all of the gifts are for today, and all the gifts are fully functioning. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:39.200 There are apostles today, there are people in the church with the gift of healing today, with the gift of languages today, uh, you know, demon casting rodeos kind of thing, that all that's for today. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:44.079 Um, so those are the two extremes no gifts and all gifts fully functioning in the church. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:47.519 In the middle is where you're gonna find most evangelical churches. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:49.519 And let me talk about the continuationists first. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.480 The continuationist is a very common, common view. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:20:01.359 It's kind of the Calvary Chapel view, and it's like, you know, all the gifts are around today, but we just don't want them in church. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:06.880 We're not comfortable saying they've ceased, we're just comfortable saying we don't want them. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.119 That's kind of the continuationist view. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:14.000 Like, and if you have them, that's good, but please don't do them around church or my kids. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.319 Continuationist view. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.039 Sometimes called open but cautious. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:23.759 We're open to these spiritual gifts, we just haven't seen them, and we're not ready to say they're not here. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:25.200 Open but cautious. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:40.000 And then the cessationist view, which is what I'm advocating for here, is that there is a category of gifts, the sign gifts, like the gift of healing, apostleship, languages, um, word of knowledge, those kind of gifts that ceased with the apostles. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:43.680 So I want to give you my argument for cessationism. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:46.640 Why do I believe that cessationism is the biblical view? 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:47.680 We'll do some of this tonight. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.960 Whatever we don't get tonight, we'll pick up next Lord's Day. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:52.720 First, why I'm a cessationist. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:55.440 And the bottom line reason, the first one is the most important. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:00.799 I'm a cessationist because, firstly, because those sign gifts have ceased. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:05.039 You might say, that sounds like circular reasoning. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:06.000 Uh-huh. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:09.519 But it's true. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:14.160 I say those gifts have ceased because they've ceased. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.359 And I'm going to bring my friend the pink elephant back on stage. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:19.839 No, he's not here. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:31.519 The reason I can say with a relative degree of confidence that there are no pink elephants is because, lo and behold, there are no pink elephants. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:32.880 That's my evidence. 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:37.200 So if somebody were to say, can you prove from the Bible that there are no pink elephants? 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:38.960 I would say, well, yes and no. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:45.279 If the Bible describes what an elephant is, in a sense, I can look around the world and say they're not here. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:50.079 It's different than saying the Bible proves they're not here, but show me one. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:59.839 And so I would say that the miraculous gifts, uh, or what are called the miraculous gifts, assigned gifts like speaking in tongues, like the gift of healing. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:02.960 Aren't here anymore. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:04.400 They're not around. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:13.359 Now, you might say, yes, but my grandmama, as godly as the godliest woman I've ever known, she speaks in tongues every day. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:15.759 We'll pick up on that next week for sure. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:21.279 But for this week, let me just say what is called speaking in tongues today is not what it was in the Bible age. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.319 Speaking in tongues in the Bible age was the gift of languages. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.240 It was speaking a known language. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:31.599 The word tongue in the New Testament, uh, Glosia, it's just the word for language. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:37.279 When someone speaks in an unknown language, it means that nobody there knows it, but it is a spoken language. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:45.119 And so, you know, you get kind of the charismatic movement jumping into the scene in the United States in the early 1900s with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:49.359 Everything crazy comes from Los Angeles, it catches on and grows. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:59.680 And, you know, for for almost a hundred years, the claim was that the kind of charismatic Pentecostal speaking in tongues was a real spoken language from somewhere in the world. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.160 We just don't know what language it was. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:18.880 And what ended that whole charade was the advent of the internet where you can record things and put them into Google Translate or record it in a tape recorder and send it to uh linguist uh linguists who you know listen to it and they're that's not a language. 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:24.640 And so now that view is changed more to like, oh well now the gift of tongues is a prayer language. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:27.599 Only the angels know it, not us. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:32.880 I mean, that may very well be, but it is not the biblical gift of languages. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.319 You see the same thing with prophecy. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:42.400 Prophecy in the New Testament was the ability to declare something that was going to happen. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.440 And so that's not around today. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:47.200 There's nobody who can do that today. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:59.200 And so now there's this whole category for fallible prophecy, where, yeah, you know, the Bible doesn't say that the gift of prophecy is ceased, but every prophet we see has things they're wrong about. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:09.279 And so we say, yeah, the New Testament has fallible prophecy, where people can make a prophecy about something, and if they're wrong, you know, and the gift of prophecy is being right more than wrong. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:15.519 Well, that's not that's not a spiritual gift, and nor is that really remarkable. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:20.079 I mean, that's you know, that's reading the news. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.079 That's thinking about the future. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:28.160 Maybe some people are more discerning than others, and so they can see patterns, they can see where things are going. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:31.519 That's the gift of discernment, what's good and evil and how that will play out. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:32.720 That's wisdom. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:35.759 That's not the gift of prophecy. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:38.720 Or apostleship. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:41.279 We'll look at that one in a few minutes, more in depth. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:52.880 But apostleship is that God gave these twelve people that would would lead the church and be the foundation of the church, and you say, yeah, but now that just means that I'm over a denomination, or I have a hundred churches that report to me. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:54.000 That's the gift of apostleship. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:56.160 That's not what apostleship was in the New Testament. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:00.559 Paul wasn't an apostle because a hundred churches reported to him. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:06.160 So it's redefining the words to make them for today. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.599 But that's not what they were in the New Testament there. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.960 And none of these are more clear than the gift of healing. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:21.200 In the New Testament, the gift of healing was the ability at will to drive illness out of places, to drive illness out of people. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:23.920 It was not contingent upon the person's faith, by the way. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.000 It would just simply wasn't. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:31.759 It was contingent upon the person with the gift of healing exercising it. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:38.880 But today, if somebody had the gift of healing, they would go to a hospital and heal everybody, but they don't. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:40.079 So today it's morphed. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:48.720 Today it's morphed to the faith healers, it's morphed to those that are on TV or on stages who say, send me money and I can send you uh a rag that will heal you, kind of thing. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:26:05.759 One of these big name televangelists I wrote to him once just to see what happened, and uh he he mailed to me a life-size picture of himself with his hands out like this, and I taped it on the side of my refrigerator, and I was supposed to go uh up to it on the wall and put my hands on his hands and my nose and his nose. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:06.799 It's pretty weird. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:10.640 Uh uh and I he could heal me through the poster. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:24.160 He sent me a little handkerchief that had been anointed with his oil, he sent me a dollar bill, and I was supposed to put it on the uh the passage about tithing in the Old Testament, and I was supposed to put it back in an envelope and send it back to him with my own gift. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:30.720 Um I put it in the passage about false prophets. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:39.519 Made a dollar on this the thing and then kept the uh poster up in my refrigerator for a while. 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.720 My roommates in seminary thought I was officially crazy. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:46.640 That's just not the gift of healing. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:50.640 But that's what it's presented as often today. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:55.839 So the first reason I'm a cessationist is because the things that are practiced today are not the biblical gifts. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:00.799 The biblical gifts, those those sign gifts just simply aren't around today. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:07.359 Secondly, because the function of those sign gifts was to establish the church. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:11.680 Those gifts functioned in a way in the life of the church to establish the church. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:19.759 And I know you're up into 2 Corinthians 12, many of you, but you can flip left to 1 Corinthians 13. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:25.279 We'll look at this just very, very briefly and we'll we'll keep uh going here. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:34.079 But 1 Corinthians 13, that's coming after 1 Corinthians 12, of course, which is about spiritual gifts and how the body of Christ functions with all the spiritual gifts in it. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.160 And that's all of 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:38.559 That could deserve its own message sometime. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:43.519 But 1 Corinthians 12 ends down in verse 27 with the gift of uh with the list of gifts. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:46.559 Notice that one of the gifts on the list there is the apostleship. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:50.960 That's the first gift it says, verse 28 of 1 Corinthians 12, the gift of apostleship. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:56.720 And there's other gifts that would still be carrying on today, like uh helping, administering, etc. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:04.960 But on this list are languages, tongues, various kinds of languages, healing, the gift of miracles, those are all on the list as well. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:10.559 So it's a list that mixes some of the sign gifts with some of the more uh permanent gifts in the life of the church. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:13.599 And then you jump to chapter 13, and he talks about the importance of love. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:16.079 And now look at chapter 13, verse 8. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:18.079 Love never ends. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:20.480 Prophecies, they all pass away. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:22.640 The gift of languages, they will cease. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:27.039 And that word cease, it's a middle voice, is going to kind of run out on its own. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:29.039 For knowledge, it too will pass away. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:31.119 Knowledge would be a future thing. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:34.160 For we know in part, we prophesy in part. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:37.680 But when the, and the word ESV is perfect, it's the Greek word telios. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:42.400 Some of you are in the teleos uh Bible study here, it church, telos is a word that means mature. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:44.720 Right now we know so imperfectly. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:49.039 But when maturity comes, the immature will pass away. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:55.920 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, but when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:07.920 Notice that Paul's logic here is that some of those gifts, like languages and prophecy and even apostleship, are functioning in the church when the church is immature, when the church is childish. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:19.200 But when he grows up, later on, into maturity, when the church reaches maturity, those things will fade away. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:20.640 They will disappear. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:24.640 You can flip right a few books over to Ephesians chapter 4. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:30.400 Ephesians chapter 4, Paul echoes what he just wrote there. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.440 Ephesians chapter back in 1 Corinthians 13. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:42.640 In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul writes about the whole of the Jesus descending to the grave, then ascending, and then going up to heaven, and distributing spiritual gifts to the church. 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:46.160 This is the first part of, or the middle part of Ephesians chapter 4. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:55.200 Um it says in verse 11 there, he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:57.359 There's that word for edification of the body of Christ. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:02.319 Verse 13, until we attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to maturity. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:15.759 Mature manhood, same word that's used over in 1 Corinthians 13, that unfortunately is translated to perfection there, but here it's translated, I think, in a better way, a more mature way, to mature manhood, to the measure and stature of fullness of Christ. 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:27.519 So the church is growing with its gifts, and when that maturity arrives, he says in verse 14, we will no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine and human cunning and craftiness and deceitful schemes. 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:31.839 Rather, speaking the truth in love, that should echo 1 Corinthians 13, doesn't it? 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:38.559 Speaking the truth in love will grow up into him who is the head, the Christ, the whole body, joined and held together with every joint. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:44.799 That's 1 Corinthians 12, which each part is working properly, makes the body grow so it builds itself up in love. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:55.680 So here Paul's doing the same kind of logic that God is giving the gifts, specifically the gift of the apostleship here, along with the other gifts, to help the church grow from immaturity to maturity. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:59.519 That's how those sign gifts functioned. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.079 To help the church get launched. 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:07.440 And you see this in the book of Acts, when the when the apostles are going somewhere, they are healing. 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:14.000 They are casting out demons, they are raising the dead, even the dead people who fell asleep with boring preaching, raised back to life. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.759 Man, that's so important for the growth of an early church. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:21.200 If you died of boredom of the sermons, the church would not grow. 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:24.799 And so there's even resurrection there. 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:26.559 This leads to the third point. 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:39.599 The function of those signed gifts was to authenticate the apostles. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:43.599 This was to help the church grow by authenticating who they were. 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:49.119 This is a world without Facebook, which has blessings and cursings to it. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:52.400 One of the drawbacks is that you don't know who the apostles are. 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:54.640 Somebody rolls into town and claims he's an apostle. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:55.920 How do you know? 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:58.319 Can he heal everybody in the church? 00:31:58.559 --> 00:31:59.440 Apostle. 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:01.200 Is he casting out demons? 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:02.319