WEDNESDAY is WORD DAY: "Holy Spirit Studies" (18) -Chuck Smith [The Gift of Prophecy]

 


"Holy Spirit Study"

6 Studies in the Holy Spirit Weekly

(currently)

-Chuck Smith-

 (18)

 

The Gift of Prophecy

We are looking at the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as they are listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul speaks of the gift of prophecy. Now we realize immediately that the gift of prophecy is not something new to the New Testament, but that the gift of prophecy has been exercised throughout the entirety of biblical history. Prophecy is men speaking forth the word of God through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Peter tells us,

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:21)

So prophecy is something that has been a part of God's ministry to His people. There are those men and those women who have been anointed by the Holy Spirit to speak forth God's word to God's people.

Now we usually think of prophecy as something that is predictive of the future. And it can be that because God knows the future and if God is speaking He can speak of the future. But it is not always just predictive. It can also be speaking forth God's truth—God's Word.

In the New Testament it is recognized that in the Old Testament there were men who were anointed by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word of God. 2 Samuel 23:1 says,

Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, "The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue."

Those were some of David's last words. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and His word was in my tongue." This is confirmed in the New Testament in Acts 1:16 as Peter is quoting David, he said,

Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

He is acknowledging that David spoke by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:25 says,

Who by the mouth of Thy servant David has said, "Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?"

God spoke by the mouth of David saying, "Why do the heathen rage?" So David acknowledges, he recognizes that his words were anointed by the Holy Spirit. And I do not believe that a person could really read the psalms of David without recognizing that these are anointed words. Now some of the psalms of David are predictive. Many of the psalms of David were prophesying of the Messiah who would come. But many of the psalms are instructive and many of them are prayers. Many of them are just pure worship unto the Lord. And so, in the prophecy, it can be predictive, but not exclusively so.

In 1 Corinthians 14:3 Paul declares,

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Now Paul is making reference to this gift of prophecy. And in contrast to the gift of tongues, (which is addressed to God and which we will be looking at in a couple of sessions), the gift of prophecy is addressed to men. God is speaking unto men and speaking unto the church through this gift of prophecy, for their edification.

Now the word edification means to be built up in a scriptural sense. It means to be built up in your walk with Christ and in your relationship with Christ. And so the purpose of prophecy is just to build you up in Jesus and in the things of the Spirit.

The gift of prophecy is also for exhortation. And I do believe that there is a gift of exhortation. And of course it would be in line with this prophetic gift, whereby we are exhorted into action. There are a lot of things that we know we believe, but we are passive in our reaction to them. We know that we should pray, but we do not always pray. We know that we should be worshipping the Lord, but we do not always worship Him. We know that we should be faithful, but we are not always faithful.

So there is a gift of the exhorting of the church to pray, or to praise, or to trust the Lord, or to love as the Scripture gives us commandment. And I think all of you ladies who have been in the Friday morning services will concur with me that exhortation is one of my wife's gifts. And she gets you gals just fired up. She exhorts you into doing the things that the Lord has commanded you to do and she has a great gift of exhortation.

Pastor Romaine also has the gift of exhortation. I have the gift of teaching and I can lay out the principles of Scripture but then you need someone to come along and give you a kick to get you going. "Now do it! You heard what he said, just do it!" James was an exhorter, "Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving your own self" (James 1:22). And we need those who will spur us into action, motivating us to act upon what we know and to act upon the Scriptures. And so the gift of prophecy works spurring us to good works, to praise, to prayer, and to worship.

And then the gift of prophecy can be used to comfort believers. As a person is going through trials and tribulations, testings and hardships, it is comforting to know that God is on the throne. It is comforting that the Lord understands and knows your circumstances and that the Lord has not forsaken you. He is watching over you and He is going to bring you through victoriously. And Paul the Apostle speaks of the comfort that he is able to give to the Corinthians, calling God, "the God of all comforts," who comforts us with the comfort wherewith we are able to comfort others.

There used to be a little lady in Huntington Beach by the name of Mother Berg and she had this gift of comfort. She had a radio broadcast and she always began the broadcast with the words "God is on the throne, you do not have to worry." We sometimes forget that God is on the throne. We sometimes think that things are out of hand but we need to be reminded and comforted by the fact that God understands. God knows. God is in control. God is on the throne. God rules. There is a comfort we receive from knowing that God is in control.

Now the gift of prophecy in the New Testament was exercised by a man named Agabus. And it seems like Agabus exercised the gift in more of a prophetic way. We are told in Acts 11:28,

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

It was predicted by Agabus that there was coming a great dearth in all the world.

In Acts 21:8-11, Paul had come to Caesarea on his way to Jerusalem and was visiting with Philip the evangelist in his home. It declares,

And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.

That is one of the seven who was chosen to wait the tables earlier in the book of Acts when a dispute arose over the administration of the church's welfare.

And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.

This is the same fellow that we met in Acts 11who predicted the dearth.

And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

And so in both cases, we find that Agabus prophesies; that is, his gift was exercised in a predictive nature.

In Acts 13:1 we read that there were certain prophets in the church at Antioch. Now as we look at the various gifts in Ephesians 4, there were apostles, there were evangelists, there were prophets, and there were pastor/teachers. It seemed to be one of the ministries in the church, the ministry of prophets or a man who had the prophetic gift. And so in Antioch there were certain prophets (plural) and teachers such as: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucias, Minain, and Saul. So these men, it seems, all possessed that gift of prophecy. And we read,

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." (Acts 13:2)

Now, how did the Holy Spirit say, "Separate unto Me Paul and Barnabas"? By the fact that in the previous verse it mentions these men with the gift of prophecy, I have no doubt that there was a prophetic utterance whereby God directed them to separate Paul and Barnabas for a special ministry. And so, when they had fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit sent them forth and they began the first missionary journey, taking the gospel into Cypress and then on over into Asia Minor. So it was, no doubt, through the exercise of this gift of prophecy that the Holy Spirit spoke and directed the activities of the early church.

When Paul was writing to Timothy, he told him not to neglect the gift of the Holy Spirit. He said,

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery [or the elders]. (1 Timothy 4:14)

So when Timothy came before the elders, they laid hands on him and there was a word of prophecy that indicated the gifts that the Lord was giving Timothy, in order to fulfill his ministry.

And so, prophecy played a very important part in the direction of the early church. It defined for them just what gifts God was imparting to them.

Now in the New Testament there are certain rules regarding the exercise of the gift of prophecy. There was one rule that seemed to apply only to women, when they prayed or prophesied. Remember Philip's four daughters did prophesy. The promise in the last days, saith the Lord, "And your sons and daughters shall prophesy"—shall speak forth the word of God (Joel 2:28).

There is no prohibition whatsoever for a woman exercising the gift of prophecy and speaking forth the Word of God. The only prohibition was to the Corinthian church and that is where Paul said if a woman prays or prophesies with her head uncovered she dishonors her husband. And so, he suggested that the women cover their heads. But then he went on to say that they did not have any such rule in all the churches. It seemed to be dealing with a local situation in Corinth. As Paul was speaking to them about chain of command; how the wife is in subjection to the husband, the husband to the Lord, and the Lord unto the Father. So if a woman would pray or prophesy with her head uncovered she dishonors her husband. What is he talking about?

The city of Corinth was an extremely wicked city. In fact it was associated with total debauchery. And to say that a person lived like a Corinthian would say that the person was just a debauched person, reveling in drunkenness and partying. It was known for being an extremely wicked city. It was basically a seaport, where east met west. Because the ships coming from the east with the goods for Rome would come to Corinth, the ships would be unloaded and the goods carried across the two-mile isthmus there, and then loaded on to ships going to Rome. So it was a seaport that had a bunch of sailors passing through and the place was just wild.

At the top of the hill above Corinth, there on the Acropolis was this huge temple to Aphrodite—the female goddess of love. In the evening a thousand of the priestesses of Aphrodite would come down into the city and they were prostitutes. And thus they would fill the city and prostitution was rampant there in Corinth. These prostitutes would not wear veils in order that they might be identified. And so, an unveiled woman was thought to be a prostitute, and thus, she was approachable by a man.

Whereas the women Paul was addressing would generally and customarily wear veils. So Paul is saying if a woman prays or prophesies and does not have a veil it is sort of dishonoring to her husband. But again, we do not have any such custom in all the churches. But it was one that Paul did apply to the women in Corinth—if they were to exercise publicly the gift of prophecy in church. In1 Corinthians 11:16 he said,

But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

Now the second rule for prophecy is that the services are to be conducted decently and in order. God is not the author of confusion. And the services ought to be conducted with a mind towards the response or the reaction of an unbeliever.

1 Corinthians 14:23-25 says that if the whole church be gathered together and there be unbelievers present, and if everybody is getting up and speaking in tongues the unbelievers will go away saying, "They are crazy." But if everyone could prophesy, then the secrets of people's hearts would be revealed and the unbelievers would go away saying, "God is in them, they speak of truth"—because the secrets of their hearts had been revealed through the exercise of the gift of prophecy.

But even then it is to be done orderly.

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. (1 Corinthians 14:29)

Many times in the Pentecostal circles, prophecies or utterances are made ostensibly in the name of the Lord. They have a tendency to begin a prophecy by saying, "Thus saith the Lord." And often it is interspersed, during the body of the prophecy itself. "Thus saith the Lord." And maybe at the end of it they will say, "Thus saith the Lord."

Well, did the Lord really say it? Is it in keeping with what God has said? We are to judge prophecy. You are not just to accept it. If I come up to you and say, "Brother, the Lord has been showing me something about you. He wants you to go to Africa as a missionary." You should seek the Lord for yourself, rather than just taking off saying, "Well God has called me to Africa." You should seek the Lord for yourself. Judge it. Is this bearing witness with your heart?

Now it is interesting, I have often had people come up to me and say, "Chuck, it seems to me that the Lord has been speaking to me and you should do this or that." And interestingly enough, often it is something that I have been mulling over in my own mind wondering, Is this really what the Lord wants me to do? And it comes as more or less a confirmation.

Now I have other people who come to me and say, "You know the Lord said this." I say, "Ah. I do not accept that." They will come up with all kinds of condemning things. With a "Thus saith the Lord, you have been leading the people astray..." I say, "Wait a minute. The Scripture asks the question, 'Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who has died, yea rather has risen again, and is even at the right hand of the Father making intercession.' And you are coming to me with condemnation in the name of Lord?" Jesus said, "I did not come to condemn. I came to save" (John 12:47). So if someone comes to me with some terrible condemnation, I shrug it off. Jesus did not come to condemn me. He came to save me.

So the prophesying in the church is to be judged. And then he said, "If anything be revealed to another that is sitting by, let the first hold his peace" (1 Corinthians 14:30). In other words, do things orderly. And there is room for others.

It is interesting that many times as a person is speaking, the Spirit will begin to amplify, in my own mind, the things that are said. He will be giving me illustrations or amplifying what is said. Sometimes if it is a guest speaker and the Lord has spoken to my heart and amplified certain parts, I will get up afterwards and expound on this one point and amplify it as the Spirit had amplified it to my own heart.

So let the first hold his peace. "For you may all prophesy one by one." In other words, it is to be in an orderly fashion. You do not all get up and start prophesying at once. It would be mass confusion. But you may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted. So the prophecy was used as a teaching method.

We are not studying the tongues yet, but let me just say that tongues was never used as a teaching tool in the church. Because the gift of tongues is not addressed to man, it is addressed to God.

Howbeit in the Spirit he is speaking unto God divine secrets. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

But prophecy can be used for instruction in the church. The gift of prophecy is for learning, that all may be comforted. "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32). Make note of that because I have had people say, "Well, I just had to say it." No, they did not. The spirit of the prophet is subject unto the prophet. The Spirit of God does not take over control and make you like a robot and force you to do things. The spirit of the prophet is subject unto the prophet. We will get to that more emphatically when we get to the subject of tongues.

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. (1 Corinthians 14:23-25)

Now, in the exercise of the gift of prophecy we are told that we are to do it according to our proportion of faith. Romans 12:6 says,

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.

Now I believe that all of the gifts of God are exercised—received and exercised—by faith. You have a thought or an inspiration that comes into your mind. And you believe that it is an inspired thought of the Holy Spirit. And you wish to share that thought, then you do it according to the proportion of faith that you have. Now if you are doing it in such a way that intimates that it is the gift of prophecy from God, then the others are to judge it to determine whether or not it really is indeed of God. The basis, of course, of the judgment would be whether it is in keeping with the body of Scripture—the whole body of Scripture.

You see, God will not give you a prophecy or an inspiration that is contrary to the written Word. A lot of people make the mistake of saying, "Thus saith the Lord," when they are saying things that are actually contrary to what God has said. The Word of God is forever established and God is not going to give any revelation that would be in conflict or contrary to His already written Word. And so, the Word of God is the filter through which we put the prophecies in judging them whether they indeed are of God or not. Do they pass through the filter of the already spoken Word?

Now the Scriptures warn over and over again concerning those who would speak their own ideas in the name of the Lord. And I am afraid that this is a very prevalent practice. I get probably two or three letters a week of "thus saith the Lord" kinds of things in which a person is expressing their own ideas.

Jeremiah 14:14 declares,

Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.

This is pretty heavy. God is denouncing those who would presume to speak their own thoughts and their own ideas in His name.

Jesus warned over and over concerning false prophets. InMatthew 7:15 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

In His predictions of the events of the last days, Jesus said, "And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:11). Jesus said, "Not all who say, 'Lord, Lord' are going to enter the kingdom of heaven."

He tells us in Matthew 24:24,

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

John warns us when he said,

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).

He is saying, "Try the spirits. Judge them. Test them. That is your duty."

God warned through Ezekiel,

Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! (Ezekiel 13:3)

Under the law God declared in Deuteronomy 13:1-3,

If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and gives a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spoke unto you saying, "Let us go now after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them," you will not hearken to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God is proving you to know whether or not you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

You see the prophets should not tell you to do something that is contrary to the Word. They may show signs, they may sort of read your mind, and they may tell you what your name is, and tell you what your address is, and recall what happened to you this past week. However, if they would then say, "Now Jesus Christ is not the only way unto God. There are many ways by which we can reach God," then God is just testing you to see if you will hold true to the Word—if you will let the Word be the final authority of your faith and of your practice.

Deuteronomy 18:22 says,

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Sometimes they try to cow you with fear. "Brother, you better be careful. I prophesied to a man last week and he laughed at it and he fell dead when he walked away." The Lord says you do not need to be afraid of them.

I had an experience in the early years of my ministry where these fellows were into some false doctrines and they were so convinced that I was to espouse this false doctrine to my congregation that they called me out on a Saturday night and they began to prophesy over me a black coffin and I was in it. And they said God was going to smite me dead if I did not espouse their doctrine. I was not afraid. I did not go home and think, Oh my, am I going to die? I had the Word of God. Interestingly enough, the fellow who gave the prophecy died in two weeks. He just saw the wrong face in the coffin. I mean, his prophecy was correct, but...

We must never forget that the Word of God is superior to anything of prophecy that might be given. Paul said,

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

The Word of God—that is the touchstone by which everything is to be measured.

Finally Jeremiah said,

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:28)

You can come and tell me of your visions and dreams and I do not discount them. I believe that God can and does speak to man through visions and dreams. But God speaks to us through His Word as well. And visions and dreams are but as chaff compared to wheat, when you are comparing them to the Word of God. It is the Word of God that nourishes and strengthens. Chaff can choke you. The Word of God will sustain you and feed you.

The Bible tells us not to despise prophesying. It is interesting that the gift of prophecy was exercised many times in our church here. Much of my preaching is the exercise of the gift of prophecy. Years ago as we were in a prayer group, hands were laid on me and prophecy was given that at that time seemed to be just something maybe of a dream, but nothing of reality, as the Lord spoke to me of the future ministry that He was going to give to me.

Now the background of this is that I had been spending about seventeen years frustrated in the ministry because nothing was happening. I just hung on because I knew that God had called me, but ministry was frustrating. Having been given the prophecy that told of how God was going to bless my ministry and He was going to make me a shepherd of many flocks and it was, at that time, a seemingly preposterous thing—yet God fulfilled it!

The Lord said He was giving me a new name. The name meant shepherd, for He would make me the shepherd of many flocks. The Calvary Chapel group that was meeting here in Costa Mesa decided to call me to come on down and to pastor and I had accepted the invitation. Then they called me and said, "Do not come. We are going to disband." And I said, "Well, I have already resigned here. I am coming anyhow."

So as they were praying, a prophecy was given that God was going to bless Calvary Chapel. That the little church that they were meeting in on Church Street would not be sufficient to hold all the people that were going to come and they would have to move to a new church on the bluff overlooking the bay. It was prophesied that the church would have a nationwide radio ministry and we would become known around the world.

Well, to a group of twelve people who were so discouraged they were ready to quit, it was sort of like the fellow on whom the king leaned in the Old Testament and said, "If the Lord would open windows in heaven could such a thing be?" I mean it seemed totally preposterous. They said that we would come down and I would be the pastor and that we would remodel the church immediately. And the interesting thing is that after the first Sunday service, we all went out to lunch together—our church was that small. And as we sat in the Sizzler Restaurant, I drew out the plans for the remodeling of the church and they all got excited. I did not know why.

And then as a year or so went by, we outgrew the little church and we had to look for a new facility and we found some property over on Bay Street in Costa Mesa. It was inadequate but we thought we could make it work. They then informed me about the prophecy and they said, "No, the church is to be on the bluff overlooking the bay." And I said, "Well, you know, prophecy... There can be, you know..." I said, "We aregoing to be overlooking Bay Street." And they said, "No, it was overlooking the bay."

The city of Costa Mesa rejected our conditional use permit for the property on Bay Street and we went into the planning department to get our plans that we had given to them. Actually it looked so good that we sold our church and so we were going to have to move out. And so here we were stuck. We thought we were going to be able to build a new church and meet there. But now we were going to have to move out because we sold the church. I thought, man, here we have a growing church and here the pastor sells the church out from under the congregation! They are going to wonder what in the world they got hold of with me.

So we went in to get the plans and the lady said, "You know, maybe you could move to our church." She said, "The state has bought it for the freeway and we are going to be building a new church. And you could probably get our church." She said, "You know, it is the Newport Harbor Lutheran Church. It is on the bluff overlooking the bay." And so, we were in the Lutheran church on the bluff overlooking the bay for two years, while we were building the little chapel a block away. Then we went on the radio and one by one the prophecies were fulfilled.

Now the prophecy came as comfort to those people who were so discouraged and ready to quit. Prophecy is given for comfort, for exhortation, and for edification. I believe that the gift of prophecy is a legitimate, valid gift for today.

"And he that prophesieth, let him prophesy according to the proportion of faith that God gives to him," says Romans 12.

Father, we desire and covet earnestly the gifts of Your Holy Spirit, that they might be in operation in our lives and in the church. Lord, that even as in the church of Acts that was guided and directed by the Holy Spirit and often times through the use of the gift of prophecy, Lord, so guide and direct our church and our lives by the Holy Spirit. Lord, we want to be Spirit led, Spirit filled, Spirit directed. As a church, Lord, we recognize that Jesus Christ is the head of His body, the church. And we, in acknowledging that, submit ourselves Lord, to that which You have purposed and that which You desire for Your church. Guide us, Lord, by Your Holy Spirit. May we indeed become everything You want Your church to be—a light in this darkness and salt to preserve in this rotting world. Lord, fill us with Your Spirit. Open our hearts to all that You have for us. May we not come short in any good gift. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

[Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical references are quoted from King James Version.]

 Yes! Jesus is Coming!


-The Classic Christian Network-Biblical Prophecy Today Network-Last Generation News Report-Christian Issues Network-Last Call Devotional Network-Natzsal The Jewish Network-Michael James Stone Online-

 

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY is WORD DAY: "Holy Spirit Studies" (16) -Chuck Smith [The Gift of Faith]

 

"Holy Spirit Study"

6 Studies in the Holy Spirit Weekly

(currently)

-Chuck Smith-

 (16)

The Gift of Faith

Paul is talking about the diversities of the gifts of the Spirit and the various manifestations of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:9, as he declares,

To another faith by the same Spirit.

This is the gift or the manifestation of faith.

Now there are different kinds of faith. We talk about saving faith. In Ephesians 2, Paul said,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

And we call that saving faith. That faith that believes the promises of God that if we believe on Jesus Christ, we will be forgiven and cleansed of whatever sins we may have committed. This is the faith that brings us salvation. As John said in the opening of his Gospel,

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

In the third chapter John spoke about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness,

Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

And then that Scripture that we all memorized in Sunday school,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

And we call that saving faith. It is that faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. It is believing that He paid the price for our sins. It is believing that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed as a sacrifice accepted by God—the sacrifice for our sins. As a substitute Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and died in our place that by our believing in Him we would not perish but have eternal life.

Paul says in Romans 3:23-26,

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness: that He might be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.

And then that passage familiar again to all of us,

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

This is saving faith.

When Paul was writing to the church in Romans 12, he said,

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Romans 12:3)

So there is that gift of faith as God has dealt to every man—that measure of faith. We believe Paul's reference to that measure of faith was the saving faith that God has dealt to every man. If a man will exercise that saving faith that God has given to him, he will be saved from his sins. And he will have the gift of God which is eternal life.

In Hebrews 12, where it declares that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith, this also seems to be related to that saving faith. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. And referring to that saving faith, we find that it comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, according to Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing—hearing by the Word of God—that would be the saving faith. "For how can they believe on Him whom they have not heard?" (Romans 10:14). So God has given to each one of us, a measure of saving faith. If we exercise it we will be saved from the guilt of our sin.

There is another kind of faith and that is the faith that trusts in the Word and in the promises of God. This is the faith that God's people have in God, in the Word of God that causes us to commit ourselves to the promises of God. We are believing the promises of God, being assured by the promises of God and rejoicing in the promises of God. This kind of faith in the believer in the Word of God and the promises of God is hallmarked for us in Hebrews 11, as it recalls the various things that people did who believed in God and who believed the promises of God. It lists the exploits of those men of faith and those women of faith.

This is the kind of faith that is many times lacking in the followers of Jesus. You remember Mark's Gospel tells us in 16:14, that after Christ's resurrection,

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

They did not believe the witness of the women who said, "We have seen the Lord. We touched Him. We held Him by the feet." But the disciples did not believe and so Jesus was rebuking and upbraiding them because of the hardness of their hearts to believe what He promised He would do and what the women declared He had done.

When Christ was walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He said to them,

O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. (Luke 24:25)

"Here is God's Word," He says. "You have not believed or trusted the Word of God." And so this is the childlike faith in the children of God to just simply trust the promises.

This is the kind of faith, I believe, that can be increased and does grow. Jude told the believers to "build themselves up in the most holy faith" (Jude 1:20). In Thessalonians Paul talks about their increasing in faith. And I think that this kind of faith grows by experience through the years, as we experience the faithfulness of God in our own lives.

It is one thing to read about what God did for those in the Bible, but oftentimes we think of them as a special class and surely we do not qualify with them. We are forgetting that Elijah was a man of like passions, as we are. (cf. James 5:17) And he prayed and it did not rain for the space of three years, and he prayed again and it rained. But the Bible says he is just like us.

But I think that through the years, as we experience the faithfulness of God, that this kind of faith in the promises of God and this kind of faith in the Word of God grows. I think that it just grows as we experience God's faithfulness. Through the years we have seen God and the faithfulness of God to take care, to provide, and to guide us. And so, you come to where you just have that faith. It has increased to the extent that things do not disturb you any more because you know it is all in God's hands. God is going to take care of it.

Then I think there is what could be termed "healing faith." InLuke 8:42-48, remember the story of Jesus on His way to the house of Jairus whose daughter had died. As the crowd was pushing Him along, following Him, shoving, and trying to get close, suddenly Jesus stopped and He said, "Who touched Me?"

And you remember Peter's response was, "Lord, You have to be kidding. Everybody is pushing and shoving You and then You say, 'Who touched Me?' Everybody within ten yards has touched You."

Jesus said, "No, I felt virtue go forth out of Me."

And so you remember the woman came and knelt before Him trembling and confessed that for the space of twelve years she had been hemorrhaging. And she believed that if she could just touch the hem of His garment this would stop. She had spent all of her money on doctors and was no better. And she felt if she could just but touch the hem of His garment, this would stop. And so, she made her way through the crowd until she got close enough to touch the hem of His garment. And immediately her hemorrhaging ceased. She was healed. And you remember Jesus said, "Daughter be of good comfort because your faith has made you whole." And that could be classified as healing faith—faith to be healed.

In Matthew 15:28, there was the woman from the area of Tyre who came to Jesus concerning her daughter, who she said was grievously vexed by the devil. When the disciples came and said, "Lord do something. She is troubling us." To them He said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

And so, she then came directly to Jesus. "Lord, help me."

And He said, "It is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the little puppies."

"True, Lord, but the little puppies," she said, "eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table."

And Jesus said unto her, "O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as you will." And her daughter was made whole that very hour. "Woman, great is thy faith. Be it done unto you as you will." That healing faith is faith that brought healing to her little daughter.

Mark 10 tells us,

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me." And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, "Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee." And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" The blind man said unto him, "Lord, that I might receive my sight." And Jesus said unto him, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. (Mark 10:46-52)

This is healing faith. Immediately he received his sight.

I think that healing faith is more apt to be related to and associated with what we read here in 1 Corinthians 12 as the gift of faith. For it would seem that this gift of faith is related, many times, to healing or to miracles. In fact, in the listing of the manifestations of the Spirit, I do not think that it is just accidental that the gift of faith is right next to the gifts of healing. Because I believe that many times there is a very close relationship between the gift of faith and the gifts of healing.

Now I found something quite interesting, although it has been there all the time and I am glad that I am still learning. I found out as I was studying for this lesson, that the word "faith" is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament. It is mentioned 247 times in the New, but only twice in the Old Testament and once was in a very negative way.

In Deuteronomy 32:20, God is complaining about the lack of faith among His people. The other reference, of course, is in the Book of Habakkuk which is a great book of faith. When Habakkuk went into the tower to just wait and see what God was going to do because he was confused, he cried unto the Lord by the reason of the corruption that was going on and the Lord told him basically, "You have not seen anything yet. It is going to get worse. But, "God said, "I am working." And Habakkuk's complaint was, "God, things are going down the tube and You are doing nothing to stop it."

I think he sort of felt like we feel today. We look at the nation and we see a downward plunge. We say, "God, You are not doing anything!" But God says, "I am doing something and if I should tell you what I am doing, your ears would tingle."

So the Lord revealed to Habakkuk the fact that He was going to bring the Babylonians and they would be God's instrument of judgment against these people who had turned their backs on God. And Habakkuk complained. He said, "Lord, I do not understand that. Why would You use a nation that is even worse than we are to punish us? Yeah, we need punishment. I admit that. But why would You use a nation that is even worse than us." And then he said, "I will just go in the tower and I will wait to see what God is going to do."

And while he was in the tower, God gave him the word that he would need to sustain him in the dark hours that were coming upon the nation. And these were the words that God gave to Habakkuk: "The just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). God is saying, "Habakkuk, you are just going to have to trust Me."

And so those are the only two mentions of faith in the Old Testament. One is in the negative and the other is in sort of a positive way.

In Acts 3 Peter was going into the temple with John at the hour of prayer at about three o'clock in the afternoon. There was a man about forty years old who had never walked in his entire life, who was begging alms from the people going in to worship God. And Peter said to the man, "Look over here." And the man turned, expecting to receive some money. And Peter responded,

Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. (Acts 3:6-9)

And the people in the temple said, "Is that the lame man who has been begging all these years out at the gate? It sure looks like him. What happened? How is it that he is walking?" "I do not know. Let us find out." And they followed him out to Solomon's porch and there they saw him grab hold of Peter and begin to hug Peter and sort of dance up and down. And they suddenly related the fact that the man was talking to Peter in some mystical way that they could not understand.

And when Peter saw these people suddenly all staring at him with this kind of awe and adoration, he said,

Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? (Acts 3:12)

And he went on to preach to them concerning Jesus. But then, as he explained the miracle in Acts 3:16, he said, "And His name, that is Jesus, through faith in His name hath made this man strong whom you see and you know." It was through the name of Jesus and faith in the name of Jesus that this man was now standing there healed of that infirmity of over forty years.

But then he went on to say, "Yea, the faith which is by Him." In other words, Peter is not saying it is my great faith, but he is acknowledging that it was the faith that was given by Jesus. In other words, it was the gift of faith that was operating. It was the gift of faith that was given to Peter to say to the man, "What I have I give unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!" The faith that was given to Peter at that time, Peter is saying, it is the faith that is by Him—recognizing this was the gift of faith in operation that brought to pass this healing and miracle upon this lame man.

So you might say that you have three gifts in operation: the gift of faith, the gift of healing, and the gift of the working of miracles—all three in the healing of this lame man.

We read concerning Stephen in Acts 6:8,

"And Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people."

The miracles and wonders were attributed to the fact that he was filled with faith, the gift of faith.

Barnabas who accompanied Paul on the first missionary journey, was described as a good man. He was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and many people were added to the Lord through his ministry. So again, Barnabas was a man of faith. Here faith is related to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 14, when Paul was in Lystra preaching, there was again a lame man about forty years old who had never walked and Paul perceived that this man had the faith to be healed. The man was probably very intent in listening to what Paul was saying and this perception was probably the gift of discernment. Paul perceived that the man had faith to be healed.

And so he said to him, "Brother, Jesus Christ of Nazareth makes you whole. Stand up and walk!" And the man stood up and began to walk. And the people were amazed. They said, "The gods have come down!" And they ran down to the temple of Jupiter and they said, "Hey, Jupiter is down the street. Your god has come down to earth! He brought Mercury with him." Because Paul was shorter they thought he was Mercury and Barnabas was Jupiter. And the priests of Jupiter came dragging an ox up the street to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. And they were scarcely able to dissuade them from sacrificing. But again, this is the gift of faith—declaring to this man the word of faith—"Jesus of Nazareth, maketh thee whole."

When Paul was writing to the Galatians, he said, "He who is ministering to you the Spirit and is working miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?" And so, those who were working miracles among them had to acknowledge that they were doing it by the word of faith.

Jesus was talking to His disciples one day concerning forgiveness and the importance of forgiveness. They began to catch a little insight on forgiveness and how important and necessary it was in the whole scheme of God that they were to forgive others. And they finally began to catch the extent of the forgiveness they were to have for those who wronged them. They said, "Lord, increase our faith." In other words, they recognized that they could not forgive as Jesus was commanding them to forgive. It was not natural. The natural bent is to get even or to have revenge. But the Lord was saying they were to forgive and they recognized they did not have that capacity. And so their prayer was, "Lord, increase our faith, so that we can be obedient and forgive even as You tell us we are to forgive."

And this seemed to open the door for Jesus to talk to them about this special gift of faith, when they said, "Lord, increase our faith." For Jesus responded,

If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, "Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." (Luke 17:6)

Now that is pretty awesome. If they had faith as a grain of mustard seed—imagine what could you do if you had faith like an avocado seed?

And thus, Jesus seemed to talk to them about this gift of faith. It cannot be worked up. Although I have observed many attempts of people trying to work up faith, it is not something where you work yourself into a state of believing—like a frenzy or whatever. It just comes as a gift. It is just there. Suddenly you have the faith to do it. Many times you just wonder, "What am I doing?" But the Lord just seems to give you the faith to go ahead and do it.

Many years ago when we were still in the little chapel over on the next corner, after a Sunday morning service these young people came wheeling their grandfather up the aisle where I was standing in the front of the church. And they asked me if I would pray for their grandfather. He was in a wheelchair, so I naturally assumed that they wanted him healed so he could walk. So I prayed, "Lord, You are a great God. You can do anything. And it is nothing to You to help whether we are weak or strong. Help us, Lord. And we ask that You would touch this man and that You would heal him. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the name above all names."

And while I was praying I had this very strong urge and feeling to lift the man up out of his wheelchair and to command him to walk. And so when I said, "Amen"—and again, well, I did not think of what I was doing or I would not have done it. But I lifted the man to his feet. And I said, "Now, in the name of Jesus, walk!" And the man began to walk, much to my great relief! And he walked up the aisle and then he sort of trotted back. And the grandkids were almost doing handstands, they were so excited. They said, "He has not been able to walk for over five years! But he had a cold and we wanted you to pray that God would heal his cold." And I thought, Why were you not more specific? Now I cannot explain to you why I did that, except that I just had this strong urge and impulse to do it and that the Lord would honor it if I did it.

The following Wednesday night was the night before Thanksgiving and we were down in Tucson, Arizona to be with our family for the holiday. And they had asked me to speak there in the church while I was in Tucson. And after the service a man came up with his wife in a wheelchair. He said, "My wife has had a stroke and I want you to pray, Pastor, that God will heal her so she can walk." And of course I immediately thought of the previous Sunday morning. And I laid hands on her and I prayed that God would heal. And I tried to pray the same prayer that I had prayed before, trying to remember, Now, what did I say?

And I patted her on the shoulder and I said, "God bless you, sister. We will continue to pray for you. God can do anything" And the husband wheeled her out the door. My son was with me and he turned and he said, "Dad, how come you did not lift her out of the wheelchair like you did that guy last Sunday morning?" And I said, "Because the Lord did not give me the faith to do it.

You see, I do not think, in the Bible days, that the apostles had this faith all the time for every situation; otherwise, we could go to the hospital and empty the place. I think that it came on special occasions, according to God's sovereign grace and God's sovereign work. I do not believe that the apostles healed all of the people who were sick that they encountered. In fact, Paul the Apostle seemed to have special faith and the gift of faith, as well as the gift of miracles, and there were many miracles wrought by the hands of Paul. And when he testified to the church in Jerusalem he testified of the miracles that God had wrought among the Gentiles.

And we remember that in Ephesus they would even take Paul's sweatbands (or handkerchiefs) and lay them on sick people and they were healed. Although Paul had the gift of faith and the gift of working of miracles, we read of him telling Timothy to take a little wine as a medicinal remedy for his stomach problem. And we read of him speaking of Epaphroditus being sick almost unto death. We read of him leaving Trophimus at Miletum because he was sick. And we read even of Paul's own thorn in the flesh for which he asked the Lord three times to remove, yet it was not removed; but instead, Paul did receive God's abounding and all-sufficient grace.

So it is not just faith that remains—"these gifts remain, the Holy Spirit dividing to each man severally as He wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). And it is not that I have suddenly become a gifted man with the gifts of healing and I can go around and heal everybody; or with the gift of miracles and I can go around and perform miracles for every situation. It is just that at special times and in circumstances that are all in God's control, He will manifest the power of the Holy Spirit through our lives. And it can be with a word of wisdom. It can be with a word of knowledge. It can be by special faith. It can be through the healing of a person. It can be through the working of miracles. It can be manifested in many different ways, according to the situations that you might be facing at certain times.

We read in Acts 12 that Herod stretched forth his hand against the church and he had James put to death. And when he saw that pleased the Jews, he put Peter in prison intending to bring him forth the next day and no doubt execute him. The church was in a faithless prayer meeting, so it does not seem that their faith is the thing that sprung Peter from jail. But an angel of the Lord came and commanded Peter to put on his sandals and follow him. And the doors opened of their own accord. When Peter got out in the street, the angel disappeared and suddenly he realized, "I am not dreaming! I am actually out of prison!" He thought it was a dream.

And so he went to the house where the disciples were praying, knocked on the door and a little girl came to the door and said, "Who is it?" He said, "It is Peter. Let me in!" She was so excited she ran back to those who were in the prayer meeting and said, "Peter's outside." They said, "Ah, you are crazy. It must be a ghost. It cannot be Peter. He is in jail." But Peter continued to knock until they came and opened the door.

So James was beheaded and Peter was delivered by a miracle with an angel coming. You see, it is not that James had less faith. Peter ultimately was crucified upside down. And so the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not going to forever keep you from any kind of difficulty or any sickness or problem.

Paul spoke oft of his infirmities to the Galatians, hinting that he had a real eye problem. He spoke of their great love for him. "I testify that if you could, you would have taken your own eyes and given them to me" (Galatians 4:15). But God, according to His sovereign purposes and His sovereign will, can and does, at various times, just manifest His power, His glory, and His ability. And those times of manifestation are always thrilling and exciting.

Let us always be open that God might manifest Himself however He desires. Let us not be closed in our minds. Let us not relegate God's ability to intervene to some period of past history. But let us realize that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And that He can still sovereignly manifest His power and the miracles of healing or faith. Let us just be open and let us rejoice when He does, but not question when He does not manifest His power. This requires our just committing it all to Him as the sovereign Lord who knows best. And Peter said,

Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. (1Peter 4:19)

He says, "God, You are faithful. You have a purpose in this. You are working out a purpose in this. So I just commit myself, Lord, to You. The purposes that You are seeking to work out through these experiences I commit to You."

Shall we pray?

Father, we thank You for the power of Your Holy Spirit. And You know, Lord, how our hearts long to see the power of Your Spirit manifested. And how thankful we are, Lord, that You have manifested and do manifest Your power in our midst. Lord, how thankful we are for the way that You have been working and for the miracles and the healings that we have seen—the faith, Lord, and the gift of faith that has been at work. That kind of faith that just commits the keeping of our souls unto the faithful Creator and to Your wisdom. The faith that sees mountains moved and lives transformed. Lord, we look around and we see so many manifestations of Your love and of the power of Your Spirit. And for this, we give thanks. And now Lord, help us, as a church to move forward in faith. And Lord, when we are faced with obstacles that are too great for us to deal with, grant to us that faith that will believe and trust You to work and to remove those obstacles that Your work might go forward. Thank You, Lord, for the faith that can move sycamore trees and move mountains. May we experience that kind of faith in our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical references are quoted from King James Version.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Yes! Jesus is Coming!


-The Classic Christian Network-Biblical Prophecy Today Network-Last Generation News Report-Christian Issues Network-Last Call Devotional Network-Natzsal The Jewish Network-Michael James Stone Online-

 

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY is WORD DAY: "Holy Spirit Studies" (15) -Chuck Smith [The Word of Knowledge]

 

"Holy Spirit Study"

6 Studies in the Holy Spirit Weekly

(currently)

-Chuck Smith-

 (15)

The Word of Knowledge

We would like to continue our study on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Presently we are dealing with the manifestations of the Holy Spirit as they are recorded in the first section in 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul gives us a partial listing. We will go over to Romans and Ephesians to look at further listings of the gifts of the Spirit. But first in verse 8,

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:8)

Now we talked about the word of wisdom in our last Thursday session that we had with you. And we pointed out that wisdom was the proper application of knowledge. Wisdom is probably preferable to knowledge. Like someone said, "When you ain't got no education, you just gotta use your brains." Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge. Knowledge in and of itself without wisdom can be extremely dangerous. I think this is being demonstrated to us more all the time as we see a lot of knowledge in the world today. They have the knowledge to create superweapons and the knowledge to do all kinds of things, but not much wisdom. And unfortunately they do not have enough wisdom not to use some of these weapons that are being created.

But then following the word of wisdom, there is that word of knowledge. I believe that the word of knowledge is knowledge that is given to us supernaturally. It is a knowledge of things that you would not know through a natural acquisition or study.

I believe that in 2 Kings 5, in the Old Testament this gift was manifested in the life of Elisha, as God would give to him supernatural knowledge of various things. You remember Naaman, who was a captain of the Syrian army, had heard that there was a prophet in Israel through whom he could have a cure of his leprosy. So the king of Syria who loved this captain very much, sent him with a message to the king of Samaria basically saying, "Heal my servant, my captain whom I love." And when the king of Samaria got that message he ripped his clothes. He said, "Look at how this guy is trying to pick a fight. I am not God. How can I heal this leper?" So Elisha sent and said, "Send him over here. He will know that there is a prophet of God in Israel."

So Naaman came. You remember the story. And Elisha sent the servant out with a message, "Just go down to the Jordan River and dip in it seven times and you will be cleansed of your leprosy." And Naaman was extremely upset. The prophet did not even come out to greet him. He was an important man. Did the prophet know how important a man he was? And he was just fuming on his way back—just fuming. "Dip in that muddy Jordan River, are you kidding? We have good, pure, clean rivers up in Damascus. Why should I dip in the Jordan?"

And finally one of Naaman's little handmaidens said, "Well look, what is it going to hurt? You have come this far. We are coming to the Jordan River. It cannot hurt anything and who knows, maybe something will happen." So he was convinced to dip seven times in the Jordan River. And when he came up the seventh time, the leprosy was gone. His skin was normal and cured.

Naaman came back to the prophet and sought to reward the prophet of God, Elisha, with great gifts. And the prophet said, "I will not take anything from you." And just told him to go on his way and rejoice. He made his vow. Naaman said, "I will serve the God of Israel. He will be the God that I will serve. When I go into the house of Rimmon with my king and I bow my head, I will be bowing my head to the true God. I will fulfill my obligation." So Naaman made a real commitment of his life to God.

But you remember the story, as he was heading back to Syria, Elisha's servant, Gehazi, saw all of the rewards that the prophet had turned down. So Gehazi decided that he would go and collect the rewards. And so he went pursuing after Naaman and he made up a story. "After you left a couple of young prophets came along. They needed some help—a little bit of silver and a few changes of clothes and so forth." And Naaman gladly gave it to Gehazi, the servant of Elisha.

We read in 2 Kings 5:20, the man of God said,

Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat [just a little bit] of him.

But notice, the spiritual jargon. Here he is out on a nefarious journey saying, "As the Lord liveth I will go." Watch out for those who are just always saying, "Praise the Lord." It does not always indicate a real commitment.

We read in 2 Kings 5:21-27,

So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all well?" And he said, "All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, 'Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.'" And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, "Whence comest thou, Gehazi?" And he said, "Thy servant went no whither." And he said unto him, "Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever." And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

Now Gehazi did not receive the olive orchards. He did not receive the sheep and the oxen, the vineyards, or the men servants and maid servants. But this was what was in his mind, he thought, "If I just had a couple of talents of silver I could buy me an orchard. I could buy me a vineyard. I could..." And the prophet Isaiah, receiving the Word of knowledge, is just telling him exactly what was going on in his mind—what he was thinking about what he could do with that money. Thus, we have an Old Testament example of the word of knowledge.

Again in 2 Kings 6, when the king of Syria was warring against Samaria and Israel, the king took counsel with his servants saying, in such and such a place we will set up our camp. And so the man of God, Elisha, sent to the king of Israel saying,

Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. [They were setting up an ambush.] And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, "Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down." And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, "Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?" And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber." (2 Kings 6:9-12)

And so, here is an example of the word of knowledge. There is no way that Elisha could know this except by the Holy Spirit revealing it to him—knowledge imparted to him by God. But the word of knowledge, or this gift, is not a reservoir of knowledge that you can just tap into at any time that you desire it. It is a gift of God. It often comes at unexpected times and many times without your even realizing that what you are saying is indeed a word of knowledge from God.

I do not think that Peter had any idea at all when Jesus was asking His disciples,

Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:13-17)

Now I do not believe that Peter received any kind of a buzz or sensation or—bzzzz—"Thou art the Messiah, the Son of God." I do not think there was an elevation of the level of the voice, or a tremor in the voice, or anything that would indicate that there was some kind of a supernatural activity that was going on at that moment. And I do not think that even Peter was aware. I mean, he just said, "Well, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." But Jesus acknowledges, "This did not come to you from flesh or blood, but a revelation of the Father."

Now as I was pointing out, the word of knowledge is not a reservoir that we can just tap into at any time. Now it does seem that quite often with Elisha this word of knowledge was demonstrated when God would give him knowledge of things, knowledge of events—a supernatural knowledge. But you remember in 2 Kings 4, when the Shunamite son had passed out in the field and he was brought to his mother and he died. She laid him in the bed and then she headed off for the prophet of God. She told the servants not to slow down but to get to the prophet as fast as they could. "Do not slow down! Do not spare for me! Do not worry about me!"

As the Shunamite woman was coming to the prophet, Elisha looked up and he saw her coming and he sent his servant out to inquire if everything was all right. She said to the servant, "Yes, everything is all right. Get out of the way," and she kept driving towards Elisha. When she came to Elisha, we read that she grabbed him there at Mount Carmel.

And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. (2 Kings 4:25-27)

Now Elisha was sort of surprised at the fact that there was something desperately wrong. "Her spirit is vexed within her, but God has not shown me. God has not told me what it was." So it is not just knowledge that you tap at will. It is something that is given to you by God—a divine revelation or knowledge. It is just there. Though in the moment, it is not something where I just now have all of this knowledge and I can just speak to you about anything.

It is interesting that he was surprised that God had not told him. Now I believe that in my life, on different occasions and at different times, God has spoken to my heart and shown me different things. And when that happens, it is such an exciting experience that I get a real high over the realization that the Lord has shown me something. Now a lot of times, I am not really aware that the Lord is showing me something until after it happens. I get this strong impression that something is going to happen and then it happens. I say, "Wow! The Lord showed me. Oooh, this is glorious! I knew it!" And I get that excitement that the Lord actually showed me something.

Here in 2 Kings, Elisha was surprised when the Lord did not show him something. I am always surprised when He does. But he was surprised that something was going on and the Lord had not told him what it was.

Surely in the life of Jesus we see this knowledge manifested. Of course He was the Son of God, yet in coming to earth, He did lay aside some of the aspects of deity, being limited in a body. And He does speak of the fact that the time of His return was knowledge that was not privy to even the angels of heaven or even to Him at that point in His limited state, but that it was something that was only known of the Father.

We do see, when Philip brought Nathaniel to Jesus,

Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. (John 1:47-50)

We read that Jesus did not commit Himself to men because He knew all men. And He did not need for people to testify to Him of people. He knew what was in men. In John 16:30 they said,

Now we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

But this is the gift of the word of knowledge and we see its manifestations in the lives of the apostles. One manifestaton we already mentioned was with Peter there at Caesarea Philippi. But then in Acts 5, when Ananias and his wife Sapphira had sold their property and brought the money to lay at the apostles' feet, they made a pretense of giving the whole amount. In reality they had decided together to hold back a part of the price that they received for their property.

Now the sin, as is definitely pointed out by the Scripture, was not in the fact that they did not bring in all the profits. Peter takes special care to note that while the property was theirs, they were under no obligation to sell it. And when they sold it they were under no obligation to bring the money in. But it was the hypocrisy—it was the pretense of giving everything to God, when in reality they were holding some back from God. This is the same kind of a pretense that we see many times today where people are making a pretense of giving everything to God, when in reality they are holding back much from God.

So Peter said, "Why have you decided in your heart that you were going to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied unto man, but you have lied unto God" (Acts 5:3-4). And so this is the word of knowledge, whereby Peter knew that they were in a conspiracy to hold back a portion of the money.

I think, perhaps, in the manifestations of the Spirit, we try to classify the gifts. And I think that often there is sort of a crossover between the gift of discernment and the word of knowledge and also between the gift of prophecy and the word of knowledge. And we find when Philip had gone to Samaria and was preaching Christ, many believed and were baptized seeing the miracles that were wrought. When Peter and John came up to Samaria that the believers might receive the Holy Spirit, Simon, a man who had been baptized—formerly a man who was noted for his powers and abilities to perform magical feats—now seeing Philip and the power of God, he believed was baptized. Now as Simon observes Peter and John laying their hands on the people, and as these people are receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, he came and said,

Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness. (Acts 8:19-23)

There was this resentment for the fact that Simon had lost this power over the people that he once had, hoping to regain it perhaps through the powers of the Spirit, and thinking that perhaps he could purchase this power. So Peter was reading what was in the heart of the man. This is the word of knowledge, the understanding or knowledge of what was going on in his heart. Though there was an outward, visible kind of profession, yet within the heart this stuff was churning and by word of knowledge Peter exposes what is going on in the fellow's heart.

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he records two prayers for the church in Ephesus. In chapter 1 he prays for them,

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. (Ephesians 1:17)

Now you cannot really know God apart from the Holy Spirit's gift of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God. One of Job's friends asked,

Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? (Job 11:7)

And the answer is: you cannot find God by an intellectual quest. The knowledge of God comes as the result of a revelation of the Holy Spirit. And so that is what Paul is praying for, that they might have this spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

In writing to the Galatians, Paul declared that the gospel that he was preaching unto them did not come to him by men, and neither did he learn it of men. But it came to him as a direct revelation of the Holy Spirit. This knowledge of the gospel that Paul obtained came by direct revelation of the Holy Spirit.

Now this gift of the word of knowledge often times happens during the ministry of the teaching of the Word of God. Quite often while I am teaching, the Holy Spirit will suddenly give me an understanding of a passage of Scripture that I have never really seen before. While I am just sharing, there comes this understanding—this knowledge of what God has declared or said—this insight and knowledge. And I often just share that knowledge or that insight that God gives me. I personally get as excited over the truth, perhaps even more so than you, because I know that it came as an inspiration from God at that moment. You might think, "Well he found that in some book somewhere." But I know that this is something that the Holy Spirit has just opened up my understanding to and so I get really excited. I get excited over the truth that the Holy Spirit is revealing knowledge to my heart.

Quite often when I am seeking to illustrate a particular point, I will sort of make up a hypothetical case to illustrate a particular point. But as I am making up this hypothetical case, quite often it is hitting someone right between the eyes. They are saying, "That is me! Who told him about me? How did he find out?" We have actually had people who have brought their friends to church who have called us later and said, "You know, our friends will not speak to us anymore. We brought them to church Sunday and they are certain that we called you up before the service and notified you all about what they were doing because you so nailed them Sunday. And what you said just hit exactly where they were and we tried to convince them that we did not call you, but they will not believe it. They are sure that we called you."

We were studying 2nd Peter one Sunday night, examining false prophets and I was talking about paper ministries. There are fellows who just have a mailing list and a computer and they mail out letters to their mailing list across the country. In fact you can buy these mailing lists. And they are sending out these mailing lists across the country with these computerized letters telling about their ministry. They are soliciting funds and telling how they are going into the inner city, or they are doing this, or they are doing that. They are telling all about the ministry, which only exists on paper.

And I said these fellows live down on Lido Isle in these big homes. They have fancy yachts in front of their places. They drive Cadillac convertibles and wear white shoes. And they are just living high off of the proceeds of this mailing list. They really do not have any ministry at all. It is just all soliciting funds. And they do not have a true ministry at all.

And that was on a Sunday night that I was talking about it. We were going through 2nd Peter and on Monday morning I got a call.

The secretary said, "This guy sounds awfully mad. He wants to talk to you."

I said, "Well put him on."

And so he said, "I want you to know that I have a legitimate ministry."

I said, "What are you talking about?"

He said, "You know what I am talking about. Last night you were telling the people that my ministry was not legitimate." He said, "You know I live down on Lido Island. I drive that Cadillac convertible." He said, "But I have a ministry. It is a legitimate ministry. I want you to know that."

I said, "Wait a minute. I have never heard of you. I do not know you." I said, "I was just making up a hypothetical case." But I said, "If I were you I would ask the Lord how legitimate your ministry really is."

So this was a manifestation of the word of knowledge. I was not aware I was nailing some guy. He was listening on the radio and I was not aware that I was nailing him.

And so often, as the gift is operating, the person through whom the gift is operating is not really aware at that moment that indeed it is the gift of the word of knowledge that is being exercised. Again I think that there is a tie sometimes with prophecy, when you might be warning someone by saying, "I think what you are doing is dangerous and if you continue this may happen." This can turn out to be sort of a word of knowledge when you find out that this does happen. In other words, you sort of have said or given them a warning about what could take place and then it does take place.

And so it is sort of tied in a sense with a prophecy in the sense of predicting what will happen. Yet at the time you are not really saying, "This is going to happen to you," but you are just saying this is what could happen. And often in time it does happen. But that is a little difficult because the supernatural works in such a natural way. And I think where we so often make a mistake is when we think that it is supernatural—we think then it is going to operate in some kind of a supernatural way. And so many times it happens just so naturally that we do not recognize the supernatural in it.

Sometimes the Lord will reveal what is going on in a person's life, as with Peter, in his interaction with Ananias and Simon. The question is: Why would the Lord give you an insight into what is happening in their lives? The word of knowledge sometimes is difficult because you do not know what to do with the knowledge. And many times I think that the Lord gives you that word of knowledge or knowledge of a situation just so that you will be praying for the situation.

We were pastoring out in Los Serranos at the community church there. And one Sunday my wife said to me, "Honey as I looked at"—and she named a man in the church who was a highly respected man. He had a very important position out there in Pomona Valley and was a great family man with a tremendous personality. And she said, "When I looked at him this morning," she said, "I just felt I knew by the Spirit, as I looked at him—I just saw him in an affair with his secretary." And she said, "It just came to me so strongly." And she said, "I thought,Oh, that is terrible to think that and I should put that out of my mind." But she said, "The thought just keeps coming back to me. He is in an affair with his secretary."

And so a few months later, I received a call and both he and his wife were on the phone. They were on extension phones in their house and all they got out was, "Pastor Chuck," and their voices broke up and they started crying and they could not continue. And so I said, "That is all right. I know what the call is all about." I said, "You have been in an affair with your secretary for the last six months. Come on out. Let's talk about it and pray about it." They were shocked that I knew exactly what was happening. And the Lord had just shown it to my wife. So watch out, the Lord shows her lots of things. It is not easy living with a prophetess!

Personally, I do have some difficulty with what we often see passed off as the word of knowledge. When there is a large group of people and someone says, "I believe that there is someone here tonight who has been very discouraged, and very despondent, and even considering suicide." Well now I dare say, that there probably is someone tonight who is discouraged and despondent in a crowd this large. Now that was not a word of knowledge. But so often we see broad generalizations—someone has a knee that is bothering them. That is me! And to pass that off as word of knowledge, I have a little difficulty with that.

Now let me say that I know that I am as open-minded as I can be. I want to be open-minded but not so open-minded that I am gullible. I want to be open to all that the Spirit is doing and wants to do. And I think that sometimes when people are passing off as spiritual gifts what is not necessarily of the Spirit, it sometimes takes away from the genuine gift. And it closes people to the genuine work of the Spirit because they have seen things that have been done in untoward ways and fashions that have, more or less, closed their minds. And I will frankly confess I have seen a lot of things that have been passed off as spiritual manifestations or spiritual gifts that I am certain were not of the Holy Spirit. He is not the author of confusion and what was going on was thoroughly confused and confusing.

But I have always sought to keep an open mind to the Spirit and not close the door on an area of possible blessing and power from God just because there has been a misuse or abuse in these areas. And I pray that I might always maintain an openness to God, so that He can do whatever He wants to do in me, whenever He wants to do it, and however He wants to do it. I want to be open. And I pray that I am always open unto the Holy Spirit.

I thank God for those experiences that I have with the Holy Spirit and for the relationship that I have with the Holy Spirit. I am grateful for all that the Spirit has done and is doing in my life. But I will frankly confess that I believe that there is much more He would like to do and wants to do—and I want Him to. I want to be fully open to be led by the Spirit, to be used by the Spirit, that the Spirit of God might be manifested through my life in whatever way God desires. So I covet earnestly the best gifts. And yet I seek the more excellent way of walking always in His love. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, though I may have tongues of men and angels, if I do not have love it is meaningless. Though I have all knowledge and can understand all mysteries, if I do not have love it really does not profit. And so we will go on and we will explore these things. But then we will explore the more excellent way. Now that does not put down the others, you see. It does not negate the other gifts. I still want the others too. I want all that God has. I need all that He has.

Shall we pray.

Father, give to us wisdom and understanding in Your ways. Help us, Lord, to always be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Not only open, Lord, but sensitive and obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness. Thank You, Lord, that You do speak to our hearts, even though at times we do not respond. Yet Lord, You were there and You were faithful. And for that we give thanks. Now Lord, fill us with the fullness of Your Spirit, until Your Spirit flows forth like a gusher of living water from our lives, touching those around us with Your love. In Jesus' name, Lord. Amen.

[Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical references are quoted from King James Version.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Yes! Jesus is Coming!


-The Classic Christian Network-Biblical Prophecy Today Network-Last Generation News Report-Christian Issues Network-Last Call Devotional Network-Natzsal The Jewish Network-Michael James Stone Online-

 

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Translate