Would ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We'll be there for the most of this. It is not the final article of faith, confession of faith article that we've been presenting for a year now. The next time, the Lord willing, will be the last one. Well, it is, and if the Lord willing, that'll be the next time that I speak. This article is entitled The Extraordinary Gifts. It's number 55 in our Confession of Faith, and it reads like this. The extraordinary gifts given to the church in the first century, such as healing, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, working of miracles, prophesying in part, and knowing in part, are not in operation today. They were given while the New Testament scriptures were being written and then ceased. Very clear article. The reference is one, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, eight through 12. So we're here in that particular chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Just want to give a little explanation here. The main point will be the fact that they've ceased. It was two years ago, I went into some detail, and we're not gonna do that again. Two years ago, almost to the month. By the word extraordinary, we mean something that goes beyond what is usual. Regular or customary, exceptional to a very marked extent, remarkable. Extra, more than is due, usual or necessary, additional. Ordinary, the regular or customary condition or course of things. Extraordinary gifts refer to what is beyond the regular or customary condition or course of things. With reference to a church, a church's service apart from these extraordinary gifts is comprehended as having a usual or customary way. By this confession of faith, We state clearly our rejection of the present day Pentecostal and charismatic movements. What once was a legitimate operation of the spirit of God among the first century churches was revived in the early 20th century by these movements. into what is now the popular practice of a false religion. While some of us might reject the extraordinary gifts for no other reason than we were raised differently and therefore we're uncomfortable with them, there is biblical justification for judging that extraordinary gifts are, in fact, heretical. So I want to consider what the Word of God teaches about this matter. Our text, you've turned there, is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I want to read verses, and it's almost the same, I want to read to verse 13, starting with verse eight and reading through verse 13. Verse eight. Charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 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, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. Satan, when Eve was in the Garden of Eden, began his deception by casting doubt upon what God had said. And he said this, yea, hath God said. He caused her to have doubt about what she had received through Adam of the Word of God. Based on the text we just read, these extraordinary gifts shall cease. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Doubt is sown not over the question of whether these gifts shall cease, but rather when they shall cease. And that's important. that it is understood that the gifts had fallen into disuse is historical proof that they had ceased long ago. We had mentioned that this has come back. It was revived in the early 20th century, early 1900s. That they were revived means that they had been dead, gone. but also what was revived is not the same as what used to be in practice then. It's quite different. So I want to consider, first of all, the legitimate and illegitimate purpose for the extraordinary gifts. Briefly, in the churches of the first century, extraordinary gifts provided an operational need. They, the church, the churches, needed to know what was the will of God because as yet the New Testament scriptures were not completed. It was through this special means of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge that they received instruction and direction. I could refer you to many different instances in the New Testament, and all of those are actually limited to the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians. But I would note a couple here in Acts 11, 28, and 21, verse 10, that there was prophesying through Agabus. The prophet Agabus, the Lord, had moved to prophesy of something in particular, a couple of different things. that they needed to know at the moment. In Acts chapter 13, verse two, there was a knowing that was revealed to the brethren to separate men to the work of God. God revealed it through certain teachers and prophets that were gathered together in prayer, and they understood that God wanted this particular work done. In Acts chapter two, verse 11, and 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse six, Tongues communicated to men of other nations, which also revealed, they also revealed prophetic or instructive information concerning the will of God. That's what these gifts did back then. On the other hand, what has been revived today is not of the Lord to reveal his will to the churches, but is rather a work of deception for those who remain among the pseudo-religious organizations that are in Christendom. It might still be true that the majority of the true churches of Jesus Christ have continued to reject as heretical the extraordinary gifts. We were facing this, and I believe it'll always be so. This church faced it years ago. I remember visiting where my grandfather pastored a church, a Baptist church, and they faced it back then, and it had been going ever since. It's always something that's going to come up in the churches of Christ. These extraordinary gifts do something wicked. and that is they add something more to the revelation of God. At least it claims to do that. The idea of extra-biblical revelation should be anathema to every true child of God, period. Let me make a point to prove the uselessness of these gifts today. I've had this discussion with some. How can anyone know that the present exercise of the gifts of prophecies and tongues and knowledge run contradictory to the will of God? How can you know it does? They'll say, well, it has to agree with the word of God. And that's the point. What purpose do those serve when we have the word of God? We don't need them. So it proves itself. There's no purpose for them today. But there's a rub. We understand it. People want the feeling, generally associated with the extraordinary gifts of today. And I don't mean to cross any wires with anyone here, but maybe I'll just touch down on some things here that will shake us up a little bit. Folks want a sign from God about what job to take, about what message to preach, which church to join, what car to buy, what's the best fishing hole, or your little hunting place. It just goes on and on and on. About whether they should give to this or that cause. If they should buy this house or move to a certain area, another area, or marry this man or this woman, or go to this school, then it just goes on. And yet, for the discerning child of God, so much of these kinds of things are answered in the Bible. But listen carefully to what I'm gonna say. Our walk is by faith. There's an element of faith here. The Lord isn't going to reveal that I should buy a silver automobile over a black one. But the scriptures will guide us, my judgments, your judgments about whether I should perhaps purchase a used automobile or a new one. There are things about the word of God that direct our judgments. Without the Lord saying, no, you don't buy this, and yes, you'll buy this. Or buying a car versus a pickup truck. An economy vehicle or a large gas guzzler. There's spiritual judgments involved in this, and we might take it for granted. I'll guarantee you, you that know the Lord, seek the Lord when you go about making these kinds of judgments. I guarantee you. But I can also say that the Lord didn't go, okay, buy this one. Or that, or go here. You didn't, listen, you didn't hear a voice. Don't tell me you did, because you didn't. You didn't hear a voice. You get an inclination in the judgments that you make based on the word of God. And then you what? You make a decision with the hopes that it's the right decision. And you believe God through the midst of the judgments that he works things out always for our good and his glory. And some of those judgments we make are garbage. They're not any good at all. But we know the Lord's involved in all of it. You see? And that's the point I want to make. We're not waiting to hear the voice of God direct us. I've never had the voice of God tell me what text I'm going to preach. I'm not going to pretend to say any such thing. It's untrue. Most of the time, what I do in finding a text is frankly, I stay with what I've committed myself to is going verse by verse. I found that, for me, the Lord has answered and dealt with so many things along the way that my worrying about this and that, how am I going to pass, what should I preach, all that, he resolves that himself as I trust him to go through our studies again and again. What was the original purpose of the extraordinary gifts? Because they indicated or pointed out something unknown about the will of God in a particular situation, they were called, we call them, Brother King and I call them sign gifts. Because they indicate. They point out some things. Look at Mark chapter, and then we're coming back to 1 Corinthians, I wanna explain a few things here. Mark chapter 16, verse 17 and 18. I like calling them signed gifts because they indicate things. It reveals the will of the Lord. It did that through these things that we're talking about, prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. Mark 16 verse 17, but these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. It's signs. Indicating the believing. Through the sign gifts, Bits and pieces of information were granted to the churches to understand God's will at the moment. For example, through tongues, which are known languages, through tongues, the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jerusalem church was revealed, Acts chapter two, verses one through four. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord, who the disciples of Christ, the church was in one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. It showed them that this that was occurring at this moment was an answer to our Lord's request when He was seated at the right hand of the Father. He said, I will ask the Father and He will send the Comforter to you. And that's what happened here. Through the working of miracles, the Lord revealed to Samaria His servant Philip. There was a false servant there, I believe it was Simon his name, but here the true servant of the Lord was manifested in Samaria in Acts chapter 8, verses 5 and 6. It says, So it supplied some necessary revelation of the Lord in these instances. And we could go on. Through a vision, Peter knew what he should do that he otherwise would never have done as a Jew, going to a bunch of Gentiles to preach Christ. Acts chapter 10, verses 19 and 20, I could refer to this. Through the tongues, the languages, Peter and the brethren knew the Holy Spirit had come to these Gentiles that he had preached the gospel to. He confirmed that they had converted to Christ and so that they might know that they can baptize them. In verses 44 through 48 in Acts chapter 10. Through tongues and prophesying, Paul knew that the Lord had sanctioned the rebaptism of 12 Ephesian brethren in Acts 19.5. He gave them extra information that they needed to know and the brethren that were with him. Another and final, I remember the miraculous protection that the Lord had laid upon Paul when he had become shipwrecked and he was helping build a fire. Remember a snake had bitten him and he shook it off in the fire and there was no harm to him. It indicated to them that this is the true servant of God. He gave them that occasion. The last point here, the extraordinary gifts would give away to something greater. Something greater was coming. We gotta figure out what that is. Something greater was coming that would eventually supersede the sign gifts. That something was the New Testament scriptures. There's no question in my mind that that's what it is. So consider now again 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and look at verse 10. Verse 10, chapter 13, 1 Corinthians. It says, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. Words mean something. And often what I find, I'm confused about something, I don't understand what a statement is, what's being said by the statement is, a lot of times I don't know what the words mean. And so I need to just look into it a little bit. And this is very helpful here. It is to me. Proponents of the extraordinary gifts read the words When that which is perfect is come to mean that when Jesus Christ returns, then the sign gifts will pass away, but is that correct? It isn't, it is not correct. I want you to notice the phrase, that which. That which is a very important phrase. Notice it, that which. That which simply means what? The verse could read like this, but when what is perfect is come, or we might say it like this, but when comes what is perfect, and why am I saying this? Then what is in part shall be done away. The phrase that which is never translated, I checked, with the personal pronoun who and for good reason. What refers to some thing. Now that's important. When you're looking at scripture, this could be vital. The pronoun what always refers to a thing. And that's important for us if we're going to correctly interpret and understand very simple statements in scripture. So there's something coming that will replace what is in part. It will replace something else. We know the something else is what? Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. So something is coming that's going to replace that. The sign gifts. The sign gifts provided just a a part of the New Testament revelation of the will of God. It says so, verse 9, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. Anyone that had been involved in the prophecies and the tongues and the knowledge always only had a part, a bit, a piece of the truth that the Lord revealed for that moment. And these shall be replaced by something that is perfect, full, and complete. Paul compares, in verse 11, Paul compares the replacement of the sign gifts to a child that reaches adulthood. Look at it. 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, I put away childish things. As a child grows into an adult, he begins to put away more and more of the childish speaking and understanding. In 1 Corinthians 14, 20, Paul says, brethren, be ye not children in understanding. In other words, grow up in your knowledge. of Christ, grow up. This illustration here in verse 11 teaches that the means of God's revelation to the churches will go from an immature or a youthful means by prophecies and tongues and knowledge to a full-aged, complete, perfect revelation of God in the New Testament scriptures. And Paul adds this, read verse 12, I'll explain this, I think some of the things that I can say to this will help. Verse 13, verse 12, for now, that meaning presently, for at this present time, here, at this hour, We see through, or by means of, a glass darkly, meaning with difficulty. But then, referring to that time coming, face to face, now, presently, I know in part, but then, shall I know even as also I am known. The last clause, but then shall I know even as also I am known, refers to a greater means of revelation that is coming. Instead of revelation being dark, obscure, limited, restricted, the time will come when it will be crystal clear. And that doesn't mean that we will have a full understanding of the infinite mind of God in the scriptures, but there's no question about it that the revelation of God is completed. It's full, it's perfect. Paul said, and we know it refers especially to the Old Testament scriptures, but now that we have these New Testament scriptures, it would apply in 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is given. When you think about a full revelation of God. Brothers, sisters, if it's not here, we can't believe it. If you're talking about things about the will of God, if it's not here, we can't believe it. I won't, and you shouldn't either. You see why? Because we trust that it's the perfect, full, full-aged revelation of the word of God to the New Testament saints. We're all, I think every one of us are in agreement about that point, and that's what he's bringing us to in his thought. Let me say, the New Testament revelation of God went from being a part, to becoming a whole from signed gifts to the New Testament scriptures. So to conclude, to press the point before we close this topic, I want to ask you these two questions. They're obvious, but I got to do it. I love questions. It makes me think. What was coming that could and would suitably replace the signed gifts? What was it that the early disciples did not have in the first century that the churches of Jesus Christ have had ever since? And that's the word of God. There's nothing else like that. That's the answer, the Bible. The scriptures, Psalm 19 verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. God gave to the Old Testament saints the Old Testament scriptures. And God gave to the New Testament saints the New Testament scriptures, actually the whole body of divine truth. Through the history of the Old Testament saints, I found this interesting. And we close. Through the history of the Old Testament saints, there were various extra-biblical revelations of God that God made to his people. The book is loaded with them in the Old Testament. And there'd be periods of nothing, but there were always, there were signs that came about throughout the Old Testament history. It seems to me that this revelation continued until the Old Testament scriptures were completed, and then there was nothing. That's why I don't rely on the Apocrypha. These are extra biblical books. You might have the book of Enoch, you might have the book of Maccabees, all these things, and you read them. Read them. They're not the inspired word of God. They are fabilized. It doesn't take long to read those books and to realize it's fabilized history. But it's interesting that the last book written in the Old Testament Malachi. It was the very last book. It's the last book written, and it's the last book in our Old Testament. And it closed out the signs that would be at all until what? Until about the time that our Lord Jesus came in incarnation, until he came in a body. About that time, then these sign gifts began to manifest. And it continued that way until the New Testament scriptures were completed. Don Deal. I guess when thinking about the sign gifts, how can the revelation of God's will be improved upon better than what he has given to his churches in the Bible. It can't be. Proverbs 30 verses five and six, every word of God is pure. He's a shield to them that put their trust in him. Add thou not to his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. We wouldn't dare do any such thing to the word of God. So it's right for us We might be persecuted as a result, but it's right for us to reject the extraordinary gifts that we see all around us. It is right and it is best to receive the inerrant, infallible, inspired word of God as the only all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. The churches of Christ have been shut up to this one revelation for almost 2,000 years. Outside of biblical revelation, the men expose themselves to the corrupt and deceitful works of others. And we cannot do that. I won't, and I believe you won't either. You know better than that. And that's how we would address this particular article. Thank you so much.