Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello, and welcome to the Final Word.
Today, we have a very good show for you.
As you know, we are in a discussion on the Holy Spirit.
Today we will ask Brother Curtis Cates to speak to us
concerning Miracles, and to answer the question,
can we still do miracles today?
I remember a while back, when I lived in California,
I was talking with a man who claimed
that he was healed by a miracle.
He recounted for me how that many years ago,
he had a certain disease, and how he had gone to the hospital,
and they couldn't seem to do anything for him.
So in desperation he turned to a "faith healer" -
he then told me, how that the faith healer
put his hand on his head,
said some "special words" and then told him he was healed.
He then said as he was telling me the story,
and I am quoting - he said "Did you know that 8 months later,
the disease was gone."
Continuing to quote, he said, "And now,
I only have a little pain left."
Now think about that, here he is years later,
- it took 8 months to "be healed" and now,
he only has a little pain left.
So, today let us talk a little bit about the Holy Spirit
and the miracles, both today and of the Bible.
First, I want to read to you something from a book.
It is called "How to Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit"
by Joe Jordan.
Chapter 7 of his book entitled "Signs," discussing the matter
of speaking in tongues, he says,
"Some of the signs which may appear are:
"A quivering of the lips, a thickening of the tongue,
"a sensation of unknown words in the mouth,
"a strong urge to say something that isn't English,
a lump in the throat."
- "these are signs" he goes on to say,
"that the Holy Spirit is trying to get you to speak in tongues."
Well, friends, I have had a swollen tongue before,
I have had quivering lips and a lump in my throat.
Was it the Holy Spirit?
Was God trying to speak through me?
How could I know? Can we do miracles today?
First, exactly what is a miracle?
People use that term rather loosely today.
A child is born, and it is a "miracle."
But, any Bible student knows that really it's not.
Not really, at least not in a scriptural sense.
Is there a difference in an awesome event,
and a bible miracle?
What are the traits that identify a miracle
and distinguish it from a natural phenomenon?
If folks only knew what to look for in claiming something
miraculous, they surely would be aware that supernatural,
miraculous deeds are not being performed today.
Also, what was the design of those "wonders" and the "signs"
which are described so dramatically in the Bible?
And how did the people demonstrating these "signs"
come to possess them?
Further, does the Bible itself contain any information
as to whether miraculous displays would always last
until the end of time, or whether they were
to be confined to a relatively brief period of history?
Finally, if genuine miracles are not a part of today's world,
just how does one explain the feats which are flaunted
by so-called modern "faith-healers"?
These are questions which Brother Curtis Cates
will help us to answer.
So let us grab our Bibles and our notebooks, and take notes,
as Curtis Cates helps us to understand,
the Holy Spirit and Miracles.
The study of the Holy Spirit is truly
a remarkable privilege.
And we find out about the Holy Spirit
from the study of the word of God.
Tonight we want to ask the question,
does the Holy Spirit work miraculously today?
1. Do we believe in miracles?
Yes, we do. We believe in miracles
because the Bible teaches about miracles.
It has been said, if it weren't for the miraculous,
we would not have the word of God.
So the word of God is with us
because of the supernatural working of Jehovah God.
In Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth."
He took nothing and made something.
He made this universe.
He spoke this universe into existence.
He spoke light into existence
and the other elements of this universe.
Miracles have taken place and, of course, we know
that the purpose of miracles was to confirm the Word.
We really don't have time to go into that tonight
the way we're going to approach it.
But in Hebrews 2:1-4 and other passages,
we find that the miraculous was to confirm the word.
It revealed the word and it confirmed the word.
The Holy Spirit worked miraculously to reveal the truth
and to confirm the truth.
It has already been pointed out in a very fine way today
that the apostles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
They could lay hands on people and enable them
to perform miracles.
But only the apostles could confer the ability
to perform miracles.
So when the last apostle died, then the ability
to confirm miracles, the miraculous, ceased.
And when the last person on whom hands had been laid died,
well, then the miracles ceased.
Zachariah 13:1 and 2, we find that the prophet
would pass out of the land.
Demons would pass out of the land.
And so that happened.
It happened toward the end of the first century.
We're going to notice tonight that not only did the miraculous
confirm the Word, the miraculous also revealed the Word.
When the perfect word of God was revealed,
there was no further need for the miraculous.
We see buildings going up, and when those buildings go up,
we see scaffolding in connection with those buildings.
Sometimes both inside the building
and outside the building,
especially in a beautiful edifice such as this.
But when the building is completed,
the scaffolding goes down.
So I see no scaffolding in this building.
I see no scaffolding outside of the building.
In fact ever since you built it, you've seen no scaffolding
when it was completed, after that time.
So tonight I want us especially
to notice two passages of scripture.
The first one is in 1 Corinthians 13
and the second one is in Ephesians 4.
I believe these passages are basically parallel,
and so we'll notice that tonight.
I'm going to move this over a little bit, so I don't have
to walk as far, but I want to illustrate on this board
what we're saying.
All right.
Let us notice, first of all, and please turn to 1 Corinthians 13.
I Corinthians 13, of course, was written by Paul.
And it was written about 50-51 A.D.
It was written to the church in Corinth.
This must have been his second letter.
The first one we do not have because the Holy Spirit did not
see fit to include it in the canon.
So we don't need it.
Evidently Paul wrote 4 epistles to the Corinthians.
We have two of them, and that's all we need.
That's all the Holy Spirit intended for us to have.
In 1 Corinthians 5, for instance, Paul said,
"I wrote in another epistle that you're not to keep company
with fornicators."
He had written one before he'd written this one.
In 1 Corinthians 13, let us notice that he is talking here
in the context of the miraculous about a superior way.
He is talking about love.
He begins saying, in verse 31 of chapter 12,
"Moreover a more excellent way show I unto you,
the way of love."
And then he talks about love.
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
"and have not love, then I am become as a tinkling brass
"and a clanging cymbal.
"If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries
"and all knowledge, and have all faith so as to remove mountains,
and have not love, I am nothing."
When you can say to a mountain, I want you over here.
I don't want you over there, so move over here.
I guarantee that is supernatural.
That's a supernatural occurrence.
So that is a miracle.
When you have all knowledge, you have the gift of prophecy,
you're talking about the miraculous.
But he's saying, "I want to talk to you
about a more excellent way."
Then he talks about, beginning with verse 4, love.
"Love suffereth long and is kind."
And so forth. Notice verse 8.
"Love never faileth."
Here are some things about which he's going to talk
that are going to fail.
They are going to cease.
"But whether there be prophecies,
"they shall be done away.
"Whether there be tongues, they shall cease.
Whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away."
Now this is in the context of the miraculous, chapters 12-14.
He's talking about the miraculous: miraculous
prophecies, miraculous tongues, miraculous knowledge.
That is, it has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit.
It had to be revealed by the Holy Spirit.
It was not able to be known by mere man
except through inspiration: God-breathed.
But notice, these things will cease; they will fail;
they will be done away.
Notice what he says in verse 9.
"For we know in part."
In other words, here is imperfect knowledge.
But knowledge is being revealed.
Knowledge upon knowledge upon knowledge.
Knowledge in part.
We know in part; we prophecy in part.
You can't prophesy.
You can't predictively prophesy.
You can make guesses as to what is going to happen
in the future.
How many of you knew what was going to happen
in the former Soviet Union 10 years before it happened?
How many of you knew that was going to happen?
Well, join the crowd. Nobody else knew it either.
The Bible is full of predictive prophecy.
Predictive prophecy predicts tens,
and hundreds, and thousands of years
before something is going to take place.
It is minutely detailed, and fulfilled as it was prophesied.
For instance, mention was made of Genesis 3:15.
The seed of woman, the *** birth of Christ,
would bruise the head of the serpent.
Four thousand years later, that happened.
Was that a prediction or not?
And it came to pass just exactly as it was predicted.
"We know in part, and we prophecy in part.
"But when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be done away."
Let us notice that there were some things...
This chalk may not... Hey, that's pretty good.
I'd like to have a dollar for every ounce of chalk
I've swallowed, by the way, through the years.
But notice he says, "we know in part, we prophecy in part.
"But there's a time when the perfect is come,
and that which is in part shall be done away."
So here's that which is in part that is going to be done away
after a certain point.
And then, what is in part is no longer going to continue.
So what does he say is in part?
Let's go back and notice what's in part.
There's in-part prophecies, there's in-part tongues,
there's in-part knowledge.
Here's prophecy. Here's tongues. Here's knowledge.
But notice that they are in part.
They're partial. Until what happens?
The perfect is come.
Now when the perfect is come,
then the in-part shall be done away.
What does that mean?
When the perfect is come, the in-part would cease to exist.
This is the miraculous.
He is talking about the miraculous.
Let us notice some things that are characteristic of the times
when the in-part things were taking place.
"When I was a child," here's Paul, here he illustrates it.
"When I was a child," all right,
Here's Paul a child. Now this is an illustration.
Here he's going to be grown up; he's going to be a man.
He's illustrating the in-part and the perfect.
"When I was a child," notice, "I felt as a child."
I felt as a child felt.
"I thought as a child. I spake as a child."
In fact, he was a child.
"But, now that I am become a man,"
-Here's his manhood here- "I put away childish things."
Now notice, "For now, we see in a mirror darkly."
He was living in the in-part times.
"We see in a mirror darkly."
Here's the dark.
It's becoming more and more toward the light,
but is dark as far as compared to
after the perfect is going to come.
"Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then, face to face."
I have seen some mirrors that the silver was just about gone.
It was all faded and didn't reflect right.
So my reflection was dim there.
I couldn't really tell a lot about myself.
Might have been good that I didn't. Might have scared me.
There are some mirrors that are virtually perfect
or nearly perfect in their reflection.
Paul said, "We look in a mirror darkly,
but then we will be able to see face to face."
When? "When that which is perfect is come."
It would be looking into a perfect mirror,
you could actually see yourself actually as you are.
During this time, the word of God was being revealed.
But when the perfect was come, it would have been revealed.
It would be perfectly revealed, completely revealed.
And the point was reached when the apostles were guided
into all the truth, as we noticed earlier today.
Now I know what the perfect is.
The people who defend the miraculous today
say the perfect is Christ.
Not in this passage.
Christ is perfect. He is infinite.
But this is not talking about Jesus Christ.
This is talking about what the in-part material here is.
Now what is this in-part information that
is being proclaimed and being revealed by the Holy Spirit?
It is the word of God.
Now, the word of God would be completely revealed,
and then that which was in-part knowledge, in-part tongues,
in-part prophecies would no longer have a place.
They would no longer be needed.
So Paul said, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child.
"I understood as a child. I thought as a child.
But now that I am a man" - I'm grown up-
"I have put away childish things.
"Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully even
"as also I was fully known.
"Now abideth," -these things would not continue to abide.
"But now continuing to abide" would not be these things,
notice- those things wouldn't continue to abide,
"but faith, and hope, and love," would continue to abide.
Abideth- continuing to abide beyond
when the perfect revelation would be given-
would be faith, and hope, and love.
Now some people say the miraculous is going to continue
until the perfect is come, that is Jesus Christ
when He comes back to receive His own unto Himself.
Pray tell me, when faith, and hope, and love,
are going to abide beyond the time when the in-part abideth?
So faith, hope, and love would continue to abide
until which time Christ would come back, but not these.
"And the greatest of these is love."
So love will continue throughout eternity.
But hope, faith is to see the unseen.
We are going to be in the unseen, eventually.
We'll see it with our spiritual eyes.
We'll be there.
Hope that is fulfilled, a person no longer hopes for what he has.
But love will proceed even after Christ returns
to receive His own unto Himself and take us to heaven.
Time is rapidly passing.
Please turn to Ephesians 4.
In Ephesians 4, we have a parallel passage here.
I want us to begin with verse 7.
Here he's talking about what we're going to discuss,
Lord willing, tomorrow afternoon:
the unity of the Spirit, verses 1-6.
But in verse 7, he says, Ephesians 4,
"But unto each one of us was the grace given
according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
These are spiritual gifts.
They were imparted for a certain purpose.
Who imparted them?
At what time were they imparted, and so forth?
"Wherefore he saith, when He ascended on high,"
that's Christ, when Christ ascended,
that's Acts 1:9-11- "He led captivity captive."
What does that mean?
When Christ died on the cross and He ascended to the Father,
what He did reminds us of General MacArthur.
General MacArthur, when the Allies were run out
of the Japan area, said "I will return."
Did you know that later, when he returned,
and he did return into Japan, that there were captives
of the Allies that were held by the Japanese.
But when he and the Allied forces went into Japan,
and they took over Japan, they took over the captives,
and they freed the captives.
So Christ, when He died on the cross,
when He was raised from the dead,
laid the blow to the head of Satan,
from which he could never recover,
and He made it possible for the captives of Satan
to be released.
Now notice what He did.
When He ascended into heaven, He gave gifts unto men.
These are the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit
imparted by the laying on of the apostles' hands.
Now this, who is this?
"He ascended," that is Christ, what is it,
"but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth."
And so Christ came, He was born of a ***,
He was able consequently,
because He was the God-man to be killed.
When He was killed, His body was in the tomb of Joseph-
of Arimathea- His Spirit went to Paradise.
On the third day, He arose from the dead.
His body did not see corruption.
After forty more days, He ascended to the Father.
He that descended, He came from heaven.
He lived, suffered, and died upon this earth.
He was raised from the dead. He ascended back to the Father.
"He that descended is the same also that ascended
far above the heavens that He might fill all things."
He fulfilled all things.
In other words, when He came to this earth,
He came to fulfill the law of Moses.
Born of a ***, He lived, He suffered, He died,
He shed His blood.
He was raised from the dead and then he ascended.
On the cross, he said, "It is finished."
"I've finished what I was to do."
We are so thankful for Curtis Cates delivering
such a powerful message on this subject.
Obviously, miracles - the way that we see them in the Bible
are not the same as the "so called" miracles today.
Friends, we are so thankful that you are watching this series
of shows with us, as we are continuing
to learn more and more about the Holy Spirit.
Now, you might be watching this show for the first time
and you might be asking what should a person do to be saved?
I am happy to share the Lord's invitation with you right now.
The first thing that you will need to do is to believe
that Jesus is the son of God, as we are told in John 3:16.
Upon your belief, you'll need to repent
- that is, you'll need to change your mind
about living a sinful life.
That change of mind will bring about a change of action.
Acts 2:38.
Confess then that Jesus is both Lord and Christ.
Romans 10:9, 10.
And then you must be baptized - that is, immersed in water,
so that your sins can be forgiven.
We learn about that in Mark 16:16, also in I Peter 3:21.
Then you become a child of God, and after that,
we are to remain faithful all the days of our lives.
Friends, this is how you need to become a child of God.
These are the steps that will make sure
that you make it to heaven.