The Sign Gifts (Part 2) – Checking the Legitimacy of a Sign Gift – Tongues, Prophecy

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1. What sign gifts did/do not necessarily prove
   1. Sign gifts do not prove:
      1. Spirituality (1Co 1:4-7 c/w 1Co 3:1) and (Mat 10:1 c/w Joh 6:70-71).
      2. Charity (1Co 13:1).
      3. Regeneration (Mat 7:21-23).
   2. There are lying signs and wonders that are performed by men by the power of Satan (2Th 2:9; Act 16:16-18; Rev 13:13-14; Rev 16:14).
   3. Satan and his ministers can be transformed into ministers of righteousness (2Co 11:13-15).
   4. Satan has always had His counterfeit miracles (Exo 7:8-12).
   5. There will be many people who have done miracles in Jesus’ name that were never children of God and will spend eternity in hell (Mat 7:21-23).

1. Checking the legitimacy of a sign gift
   1. The supposed modern day sign gifts need to be checked against the scripture (Isa 8:20; 1Co 11:2).
      1. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (1Th 5:21).
      2. Like the old saying goes: “Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.”
      3. Try the spirits, whether they are of God (1Jo 4:1).
      4. Put them to the test.
         1. For example: if a person claims to be speaking in tongues or prophesying by the Spirit of God, ask him if God hates anyone.
         2. If he says no, you automatically know that he is a false prophet who is speaking by the devil because he has contradicted the word of God (Rom 9:13).
      5. The gifts of tongues
         1. Modern day charismatics put a large emphasis on the gift of tongues, but the Bible ranks it the lowest of all the gifts (1Co 12:8-10; 1Co 12:28).
         2. Everyone was not given the gift (1Co 12:4-11; 1Co 12:30).
         3. There are charismatics that say that if you don’t speak in tongues you don’t have the Spirit of God.
         4. The gift of tongues was given to the church (Act 2:1,4).
         5. The tongues spoken were always known languages (Act 2:6,8,11).
            1. The Bible knows of no “angelic language”; every example of an angel speaking in the Bible is in a human language.
            2. Paul was using hyperbole in 1Co 13:1.
               1. He no more actually spoke with the tongues of angels than he did give his body to be burned (1Co 13:3).
               2. The Bible elsewhere uses hyperbolic speech (Ecc 6:6).
            3. The gift of tongues would cease (1Co 13:8).
            4. Speaking in an unknown tongue must be done unto edifying (1Co 14:12,14-17,26).
               1. It must be done to give revelation, knowledge, prophesy, or doctrine (1Co 14:6).
               2. The gift was not given just to show off by babbling or gobbling like a turkey.
            5. The tongue must be in understandable speech (1Co 14:7-11).
            6. There must be an interpreter (1Co 14:13-17,27).
               1. If there is no interpreter, the person must keep quiet (1Co 14:28).
               2. How often does this happen in Pentecostal churches?
            7. Tongues are a sign for unbelievers, not for believers (1Co 14:22).
            8. There can only be two or at most three people speaking in tongues in a church service (1Co 14:27).
            9. They must speak only one at a time (1Co 14:27,23).
               1. The tongue-speakers must speak “by course”.
               2. Course – III. Of time, events, or action. 16.  The continuous process (of time), succession (of events); progress onward or through successive stages.
            10. It must be done decently and in order (1Co 14:40).
            11. Women can’t speak in tongues (or at all) in the church (1Co 14:34-35).
            12. If ALL of these qualifications are not met when people speak in tongues in modern-day churches, then the practice is not according to the Bible.
                1. If it’s not according to the Bible, it’s not Biblical.
                2. If it’s not Biblical, then it’s not in keeping with the teachings of Christ and the apostles.

• If it’s not in keeping with the teachings of Christ and the apostles, it’s not Christian.

1. Virtually all charismatic and Pentecostal churches break at least one or more of these Biblical qualifications when they practice the gift of tongues.

3. The gift of prophecy
   1. The Biblical qualifications for true prophets and prophecy
      1. Prophecy n. – 1. The action, function, or faculty of a prophet; divinely inspired utterance or discourse; spec. in Christian theology, utterance flowing from the revelation and impulse of the Holy Spirit.
      2. Prophesy v. – 1. intr. To speak by (or as by) divine inspiration, or in the name of a deity; to speak as a prophet.

• A season of prophecy was prophesied by Joel and it began on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:16-18).

1. The Spirit gave the gift of prophecy (1Co 12:8-11).
2. Not everyone had the gift (1Co 12:29).
3. The gift of prophecy came second only to the gift of apostleship (1Co 12:28; Eph 4:11; 1Co 14:1,5).

• Prophecy was a sign for believers (1Co 14:22).
• Prophecy should edify the church (1Co 14:4).

1. Only two or three prophets could prophesy in a church service (1Co 14:29).
   1. The prophets were to prophesy one by one (1Co 14:30-31).
   2. The spirits of the prophets were to be subject to the prophets (1Co 14:32).
   3. Subject – 1. trans. To make (persons, a nation or country) subject to a conquering or sovereign power; to bring into subjection to a superior; to subjugate.
   4. There were to be no involuntary utterances in which a prophet would not be in control of the words coming out of his mouth.
   5. It was to be done without confusion (1Co 14:33) and decently and in order (1Co 14:40).
2. Women were not to prophesy in the church (1Co 14:34).
3. Whatever a prophet says must agree with the scriptures (1Co 14:37).
   1. Prophets must prophesy according to the proportion of faith (Rom 12:6).
   2. If they don’t, there is no light in them (Isa 8:20).
   3. Such prophets must be rejected (Jer 23:16).

• If a prophet doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, he is speaking by the spirit of antichrist (1Jo 4:1-3).
  1. They are false apostles and prophets who preach another Jesus, another Spirit, or another gospel (2Co 11:4,13-15).
  2. If a prophet preaches another gospel which is not the gospel of grace, he is accursed (Gal 1:8-9).
• If a prophet errors even once on a revelation, he is a false prophet and must be rejected (Deu 18:20-22).