Jeff Schreve - Tongues and the Sign Gifts - Part 1
Well, when we start talking about the tongues and the sign gifts, lots of confusion. Lots of good and godly people disagree on the issue of tongues and the sign gifts. They can disagree on this matter of cessationism versus continuationism. You say, «What in the world is that»? Well, cessationism means that the sign gifts stopped with the death of the apostles. They ceased. And continuationism say, «No, the sign gifts have continued on throughout the centuries».
And so we’re gonna talk about that in this message today. Very, very important. There are roughly 500 million who would identify themselves, self-identify as charismatic, those who speak in tongues or say that they have received some special anointing from the Holy Spirit. That kind of thing. About 125 million of those 500 million are Roman Catholic. So lots of people that we’re talking about today and lots of confusion and good and godly people can disagree. Now, I’m gonna share with you today what I believe the scripture clearly teaches. You know, I always wanna be clear. I always wanna be biblical. I wanna speak the truth in love. And listen, this is not a deal-breaker as far as fellowship goes.
Some of my dearest friends that I put on the top shelf are people who would disagree with me on this. So we are going to look at this. Hebrews chapter 2, verses 3 and 4 says this: «How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will». Now, we said that of the spiritual gifts, 19, 21, there are different numbers. Different people put different numbers on the spiritual gifts. There are a lot of spiritual gifts. And as each one has received a special gift, charismata, a grace gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. We are to use what God has given us.
Now, of all the gifts that we have talked about and that the Bible talks about, you have a list in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. You have a list in Romans chapter 12. The speaking gifts and the serving gifts. And then in Ephesians 4, we have gifts listed, mostly offices listed there. And then 1 Peter 4 tells us that we’ve received a special gift. Well, we can put all those gifts into three categories: speaking gifts, serving gifts, and sign gifts. We have a graphic that shows you that. And we talked last week from Romans 12, which talks about speaking gifts and serving gifts. Those are the edifying gifts. And today, we want to talk about the sign gifts or the signifying gifts: miracles, healings, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. So how are we to understand tongues and the sign gifts? That’s our question for today.
1 Corinthians 12, verse 27 Paul says this: «Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it». Remember, we said one body, lots of members, and God gifts us in different ways. And he says in verse 28, «And God has appointed in the church, first apostles,» that’s a foundational office, «second prophets,» another foundational office, «third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they»? Answer is no.
The way it’s constructed in the Greek language, this is a rhetorical question. «All are not apostles, are they»? Well, no. «All are not prophets, are they»? Well, no. «All are not teachers, are they»? No. «All are not workers of miracles, are they»? No. «All do not have gifts of healings, do they»? No. «All do not speak with tongues, do they»? No. «All do not interpret, do they»? No. «But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way». Well, I want to share with you three key observations for us to hopefully help us with this question of «What am I to make of tongues and the sign gifts»? Key observation number one: spiritual gifts are given as tools to edify the body. We’ve talked about this a lot in this series. They are tools that God gives to His children for the purpose of building up the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:7 is a key verse. «But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good». The common good for everyone in the church. In the church universal, not just in the local church, although it is in the local church. But God gives gifts to His bodies to build up the church. Now, spiritual gifts are not toys for self-enjoyment and self-fulfillment. We’ve talked about that a lot. They’re tools. They’re not toys. Now, they’re given as the Lord sees fit. It is God’s choice and God’s decision to place you in the body as He sees fit. And if He wants to make you an eye, as Paul uses that illustration in Romans 12 and here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 about, «The body has many members, but all the members do not have the same function».
If God wants to make you an eye in the body, then you need to be an eye. You don’t need, as an eye, to try and say, «Well, I’m really working on my hearing». That’s not what you’re made for. If He made you to be a mouth, you need to speak. If He made you to be hands, don’t try and be something else. As I mentioned to you, in «The Addams Family,» you had this creature known as Thing. Remember Thing? Thing was just a hand that would come up. And you can’t divorce your hand from your body because it exists in the body. And so spiritual gifts are given as the Lord sees fit. Now, in 1 Corinthians 12:11, the Bible says, «But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills».
You know, it’s not really something that we are beseeching the Lord. «I wanna have this gift. Oh, give me this gift, Lord». No, He puts you in the body as He sees fit, just as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:18. «But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired». And so we say whatever gift we have, and for many of us, it’s more than one gift. It’s a box that has several gifts in it, and God gifts us in different ways. And you’ll have a primary gift and then a secondary gift and lots of different gifts. Some have five talents. Some have two talents. Some have one talent. Everyone has something that the Lord has given them, and it’s not a natural talent. It’s a supernatural ability that is used to edify the body and to build up the body. So that’s the first key observation, and that just sets the baseline for us. Spiritual gifts are given us tools to edify the body.
Second key observation: in the Apostolic era, that’s the first century, the sign gifts were critical for verification. Sign gifts are critical in the Apostolic era for verification. You think about Jesus. Well, Jesus came in the gospels, and He is performing all sorts of signs and wonders and miracles. And He did that to verify that this, «I am from God, and what I am telling you is from God». Remember what Nicodemus said in John chapter 3, verse 2? «Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher sent from God». Why? How? How do you know that? «Because no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him». So after Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and appeared to His disciples over a period of 40 days, then He ascended to heaven. Remember?
They’re like, «Lord, is it at this time You’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel»? He said, «It’s not for you to know times and seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you». Power to do what? «And you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth». And they were given power to witness. And these apostles, God gave them the ability to do signs and wonders and miracles. The Apostle Paul said this, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12: «The signs of a true apostle were performed,» that means to work fully, «among you with all perseverance,» patient endurance, «by signs and wonders and miracles».
That’s how you knew when someone came to a town, the Apostle Paul would come to a town, and he would begin to preach a message they hadn’t heard before. Well, what would be used to verify the message? Signs and wonders and miracles. Just so people would say, like Nicodemus, «Obviously, you are sent from God. No one can do the signs you do unless God is with you». So signs and miracles authenticated both the message and the messenger. And that was very important because you have to remember: the New Testament is not written yet. So how do we test somebody today if they come and say, «I’m a prophet of God, and thus says the Lord,» and they say something? Well, we don’t need to see a sign or a wonder and a miracle. We just go to the Word.
As Farrell and Farrell says, you gotta find it in the Word. And so you go to the Word and you say, «Is what this guy saying, does it match up with the scripture»? Acts 17:11. «But these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,» the word that Paul was preaching, «examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so». Now, when he talks about the scriptures, he’s talking about the Old Testament scriptures. They would examine the Jews. But now, the Gentiles weren’t astute on the Old Testament scripture. So what would they do? You would come in and you would authenticate yourself and your message through signs and wonders and miracles.
And that, Paul said, were the signs of… or was the sign of a true apostle. There were a lot of false apostles. A lot of false prophets. That’s why it says in 1 John chapter 4, «Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world». We read in the book of Acts. So the Book of Acts, everything is starting out in the book of Acts. Jesus ascends in Acts chapter 1. And Jesus had remained in Jerusalem for ten days until the Holy Spirit comes. The Holy Spirit came on the 50th day on the day of Pentecost. So they were to wait there and to pray, and that’s what they did. But one of the other things that they did in that interim was they said, «We need to round out the the 12». Judas betrayed Jesus. So we read in Acts chapter 1, they said, «Well, Judas is out, so we need to have somebody that replaces Judas».
Now, that’s important because this idea that we have apostles today, and, you know, anybody can be an apostle. Oh, no, they couldn’t. Now, one of the requirements to be an apostle, as Paul said, «Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Christ Jesus our Lord»? And Paul did see Jesus in Acts chapter 9 on the road to Damascus. He said, «Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me»? «Who are You»? «I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting». Well, they had lots of guys that were around and followed Jesus’s ministry. They had 120 praying in the upper room. So they said, «We need to have somebody that has seen the risen Christ».
Well, there were lots of 'em that did that. There were 500 that saw Jesus the risen Christ at one time. But they cast lots between a guy named Barsabbas and Matthias, and the lot fell to Matthias. And so Matthias became numbered with the 12. He became an apostle. An Apostle with a capital A. You know, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 3 that Jesus is the Apostle and the High Priest of our faith. Jesus is called an Apostle. An apostle means one sent with authority. And then Jesus took of His disciples, and He called out 12, and He gave them the name apostles.
Now, Jesus is an Apostle with all capital letters. And then the 12 were apostles with a capital A. And then you had people in the Bible who were called apostles, and they would be apostles with a small case A. They’re not the same as the 12. And the 12 had one added to it, so it was the 12 plus one, and that one is Paul. Paul the apostle who saw Christ Jesus our Lord. Well, he defends his apostleship to the Corinthians. God used Paul to write nearly half the New Testament. But you have people in the Bible that are very important people that are associated with the apostles. You have the deacons in Acts chapter 6. And Stephen is a deacon, and Stephen does lots of signs and miracles. They take place through him. Philip is a deacon. He goes to Samaria.
Lots of signs and miracles take place through him. But the two guys that are named for miracles and signs and wonders more than anybody else: Peter and Paul. So it says in Acts chapter 5, «And at the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number; to such an extent that even they carried the sick out into the streets, and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. And also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits; and they were all being healed».
God had His hand and the gifts of the apostle on these guys, especially on Peter when Tabitha in Acts chapter 9, this lady who was very highly revered as a godly woman. When she died, they went and got Peter, and they said, «You need to pray for her». And so Peter went and prayed for her, and she was raised from the dead. Well, that’s done in the Apostolic era, especially in the early days of the church. Now, when things shift and the emphasis is on Peter for the first part of the book of Acts and then it shifts to Paul, Paul went on his first missionary journey in Acts chapter 13. And things were happening with Paul. This is what it says when he’s in Ephesus.
Acts 19. «And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 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». That was Paul. Paul raised somebody from the dead: Eutychus. Remember Paul’s preaching? And Paul, he was a long preacher. He preached so long that one guy was listening, fell asleep, fell out of the second story, and fell to his death. And Paul prayed for him and laid his hands upon him, and he raised him from the dead. Those were the signifying gifts of the apostles. Those passed away with the apostles. Those were gifts associated with the apostles and those associated with them. And they had a purpose and they had a significance to authenticate the message and the messenger.
Philip, when he goes to Samaria in Acts chapter 8, there are lots of miracles taking place through Philip. Well, Philip is a deacon. He’s not an apostle. But he’s associated with the apostles. And so if there were apostles today, well, you would have had to have seen the Lord Jesus. Well, Jesus ascended to heaven, and so nobody has seen Him. He did make a miraculous appearance to the Apostle Paul. But, you know, you think to yourself today, «Okay, who do we have today that is doing miracles like you read about in Acts»?
Acts chapter 3, the crippled guy at the gate Beautiful. He’s been crippled his whole life. He’s 40 years old. He has never walked. His limbs are twisted, and they don’t work. And, remember, he looks at Peter and John, thinking they were gonna give him somethin' because Peter said, «Look at us». And he said, «Silver and gold we don’t have, but what we do have we give to you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Rise up and walk»! And they grabbed him by the hand, and they lifted him up, and immediately his legs were strengthened and he was healed from a life of being crippled, and he went walking and leaping and praising God. When’s the last time you saw somebody do that? Well, you haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen it. We haven’t seen it 'cause it’s not happening.
Now, those that want to say, «Well, I’m an apostle just like in the first century». It’s like, «Well, okay, are you doing what they did»? Because we have a lot of charlatans out there who will say they’re having these healing crusades. As Joni Eareckson taught us, she shares, «Hey, when I first broke my neck and I’m a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, I went to see Kathryn Kuhlman. And I was praying, and I was believing that 'Lord, maybe she can heal me.'» He said, «She didn’t even bring me on the platform». She said, «All the wheelchair people were put in a corner. We were the hard-luck cases».
You know, they wanted to talk to people that had backaches and other things that are very hard to tell if you’ve really been healed or not. A quadriplegic in a wheelchair, you can really tell if that person is healed, right? If your legs are all crippled up and now, all of a sudden, you’re walking and leaping and praising God, you can really tell. Hey, if you go on the platform and you have one leg and you come off the platform with two legs, that would be a verifiable miracle. Wow, that person really got healed. When’s the last time you heard about that? Ah, never. And neither have I because God chose to work in a way in the first century for a purpose, and He is not working like that anymore.
Now, does God heal? Yes, God heals. Do I believe in healing? Yes. Now, here’s the thing: the healing resided in Peter. This gift of healing, it came through him. That’s why they had to go get Peter when Tabitha died. Because… why? 'Cause he has the gift of healing, and when he prays, God works to authenticate his apostleship. Paul had that too. Nobody has that today because God is not using that today. God, He heals. God does miracles. God responds when we pray. But it doesn’t reside in an individual.
See, when we talk about the speaking gifts and the serving gifts, you have the gift of hospitality. Well, that’s not something that comes upon you, and then next week, «I don’t have the gift this week. I had it last week. Don’t have it this week». «I have the gift of teaching, well, I can teach this week». «Jeff, your message was really encouraging to me». «Yeah, it wasn’t on me this week. I didn’t have the anointing, whatever». It’s not like that. Those are gifts that God gives us. They’re permanent gifts. They reside in us: the speaking gifts, the serving gifts. The sign gifts would be upon a person, or upon the apostles especially. And then they were especially seen in the early days of Christianity while the scripture is being written. But once the scripture is completed, there’s no need for the sign gifts because you have the completed New Testament.
And so signs and miracles appear to wane over time. They’re heavy on the front-end. They’re not as heavy on the back-end, even in the book of Acts. And Paul, he raised Eutychus from the dead. Miracles and wonders and signs would take place through Paul. He was able to heal people. And, all of a sudden, then Paul gets a thorn in the flesh. He prays three times that it would go away, and God says, «No. My grace is sufficient for you. I’m not taking this away». He tells Timothy, who was having some dysentery, he said, «Drink a little wine for your stomach’s sake».
Seems like he would say to Timothy, «Hey, Timothy, you need to go see Peter or go see me because we have the gift of healing. Go to another apostle. They’ll heal you». But he says, «No, drink a little wine for your stomach sake». And then he says in the last chapter he ever wrote, 2 Timothy chapter 4, «Trophimus I left sick at Miletus». Well, why in the world did you do that, Paul? Can’t you heal? Well, that’s something that God did through the hands of the apostles. That’s a miraculous sign, but that was a sign for a specific time period and for a specific purpose. So those are miraculous things that take place, healings and things like that, in the Apostolic era. And an individual would have the ability to do that.