In this sermon, the preacher begins by reading Ephesians 4:11-16 as the foundation for the study on the gifts of the Spirit. He emphasizes that these gifts are the operation of the triune God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The preacher urges the listeners to study the scripture carefully and become like the Bereans, who searched the scriptures daily. He also warns about the power of Satan to counterfeit and demonstrate his abilities, particularly in heathenism. The sermon concludes with a prayer for the word to be sealed in the hearts of the listeners.

I'm suggesting you use the scripture a great deal this evening. We'll begin by turning to Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 16. Perhaps it will be profitable to you if you make a notation of the references employed so that at your leisure you may study them. I believe that this is extremely profitable. You go over it again and quiet in your own room and think your way through. Perhaps the Lord will cause the scripture to come alive to you. Now I'm reading verses 11 through 16 as foundational to our study tonight on the gifts of the Spirit. You'll notice first, perhaps it's best that I go back to the eighth verse. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive. He vanquished a defeated foe. He met Satan in open conflict. He met Satan on the battlefield at the cross and defeated him. And the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the testimony of the triumph of Christ over Satan. Then the next words are, he gave gifts unto men. And I would like to suggest now that the gifts that we will be studying are compensations to the church for the loss sustained by the captivity to Satan. I want to say that again. I think it's so important. The gifts of the Spirit given by the risen head to his church are compensations that the Lord Jesus made to his church for the damage done by the captivity of Satan and the loss sustained by the captivity to Satan. Now you bear that in mind and I think you'll see the relevance of these gifts. Now see again. He gave gifts unto men. Then down to verse 11, and he gave some apostles. He gave gifts to men. That's one thing. And he gave men to the church. That's another. But these ought, these were gifted men that he gave to the church. Now let me say that. This is important. He gave gifts to men. But then he gave men with gifts to the church. Not the same thing. He led captivity captive and he gave gifts unto men. We'll see the extent of these gifts and the nature of them. But now he gave some apostles. And obviously the apostles demonstrated all of these gifts of the Spirit. And they had the teaching that was, that established the faith and all of the New Testament is the testimony of the apostles. Now he gave some apostles and some prophets. There are those that seek to locate the apostle in the present church economy. I will not take umbrage with them or disagree with them. I simply say my own personal opinion, and you notice that I'm qualifying it, is that the apostles referred to here are that company of apostles. That foundation of that limited number to which there was added there in the upper room as they waited for Pentecost, one, and to which God sovereignly added another in Paul. The apostles had to be those that had been with Christ and had seen him after his resurrection. Paul was qualified because there on the Damascus Road there was given to him a revelation of the risen Christ. And so I personally feel that this is the number that is referred to here. Now there are those who would question this, but we will disagree without being disagreeable or differ without being difficult. I just feel that if anyone claims to be an apostle today, that he is taking more to himself than the Scripture authorizes. And then it says he gave some to be prophets. Again I feel that this has reference to the period of the time there were prophets in the church. You know the New Testament wasn't written until the book of Mark was the first of the books of the New Testament, very likely at least the first of the Gospels, and it wasn't written until 25 years after the ascension of Christ. And in this interim there were those that had a prophetic ministry in a sense in which it is not covered by 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, the ministry of the prophecy. Now we will recognize that, but here we're speaking of individuals. And then he gave evangelists. Now obviously we would like to think immediately of those that go from church to church holding evangelistic campaigns. But I personally feel that the evangelist here more nearly correlates with the pioneer missionary. The word is literally good news, Isaac. Someone that carries the good news where it hasn't gone. And I know a very few men that can go to a church in America and for the first time carry the gospel. But some of our dear brethren that have gone up the distant trails and bypass in the heart of New Guinea are doing the work of an evangelist. They're carrying the gospel where it hasn't gone and planting the church where it hasn't been. And so he gave evangelists, church planters. Now you say what about the evangelist we have? Isn't that a valid ministry? And the answer is yes, it is valid. But it is the ministry of the exhorter. We find this in Romans 12, that him that exhorteth wait on his exhortation. And most of those whom we know as evangelists aren't teaching something that hasn't been taught before or carrying some good news that hasn't been heard before, but they're actually exhorters. Now I believe the early Methodists were wise. They sent out two men to minister. One to teach and preach and another to exhort. And when the one that had given the message was finished, the exhorter. I had a sweet experience of this out in Pittsburgh in the convention a few years ago. I was speaking in the morning, I believe, in the morning ministry, Bible teacher. And Delbert Rose from whom we'd known at John Fletcher College in Iowa, was the afternoon teacher. And this particular morning he was on the platform as Dr. Frazier always seeks to have the speakers on the platform during the service. And when I finished, I delivered my soul, was exhausted, I wasn't able. I felt I had nothing just finished. I'd done all that God wanted me to do and I bowed my head to pray and prayed. And when I finished, Dr. Rose was beside me. He said, if you please. And he stepped in behind the microphone, the pulpit, and in just a few words of exhortation, the altar was filled. And one of those that came was Alfred Jackson, district lawyer from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, who was last year the international president of the Christian Businessmen's Committee. And he met, God wonderfully met him. And his own testimony from this pulpit was that that particular morning, that day, with many others. But I had just been the instrument and was utterly exhausted and had nothing more to say. And Dr. Rose was there with this ministry of exhortation. And I believe that great loss has been sustained by our failure to recognize that there are such a diversity of gifts in the body of Christ. And so we see that there is the evangelist, the missionary, the church planter, and there is the ministry of exhortation. And then there's pastors. This has reference to every elder in a local church. I believe that Dr. Simpson was absolutely right when, for this church, he established a multiplicity of elders. I believe this is scriptural. I believe it is right and proper that every church should have a multiplicity that is more than one elder. And the word elder is correlated with two other words, overseer and the word shepherd or pastor. So this is one of three words that are used of the same individual. The name is elder, this is the title of age, spiritual age, the ministry of oversight over the congregation, and also pastor or under shepherd. And Peter writing says, let the elders that are among you take the oversight not willingly feeding the flock of God. They're the three words that blended together there in Peter's testimony. So here is not the pastor I appreciate so much. I think it's so much nicer than most any other word that's used of the one who serves the company as I do you. But nevertheless, it really should apply to every elder from a scriptural point of view because the same word is applicable to them. So he gave pastors and then he gave teachers. And these were elders whom he described as being worthy of double honor, giving themselves to the word, the ministry of the word in prayer. The pastors, the elders, were to visit, were to perform all the ministries of the under shepherd, and were to do the visitation, of course, and to minister to the people. And the people were to accept the ministry of the elders and recognize that this was given of the Lord. And then there was the elder that had the ministry of teaching, usually raised up from the congregation, not necessarily so because Paul sent Timothy and Titus and Epaphroditus and others in as teaching elders for the purpose of establishing the church. Now I've dwelt on this at some length because I want you to see that the gifts of the Spirit were never thrown haphazardly into the church. They weren't just thrown in to be played with like toys. There is a definite system of order. There were overseers, there were teachers, there were those who had the responsibility of planning the church, and then there were the apostles and the prophets whose testimony continues with us, which is not to be abrogated, to be accepted as authoritative. So whenever you consider the gifts of the Spirit, you must inevitably consider them in the frame of reference in which they're presented. He gave lead captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men, and he gave evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the whole context of ministry so that something isn't happening haphazardly and carelessly. God is a God of order in every area of his work. Now notice, why did he give this? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers? For the perfecting of the saints. Now most of you are using King James versions, some of you have versions which are correct in this point, but most of your versions are similar to mine, and they will read thus, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, as though there were three parallel matters, and they're not. The first is the statement, the second is the amplification of it. You have two prepositions, one meaning because and the other meaning into, and they can't be equated with the same English word for and have any meaning come out of it. So this is what you have. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the maturing, the perfecting, the bringing to the end that is set. Bringing up to maturity of the saints into the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ. Now he establishes an end. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body. Now we see another concept being introduced. He gave gifts unto men, but he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the maturing of the saints into a relationship with the Lord, and now it's not only a relationship with the Lord, but a relationship with each other, until the whole body fitly joined together and compacted. Now notice these next words, they're most significant. By that which every joint supplieth. Every joint supplieth. In other words, every member of the body of Christ makes a contribution to the total wholeness of that body and to the ministry of that body. Now notice further that it is according to the effectual working in the measure of every part. What is the effectual working? Well, you have to go back to chapter 1 of Ephesians to understand this, where you find in verse 19, what is the greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power in every part, if you please. Well, what is this power that's to work in every member, every joint? It is the power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand at the heavenly places in, at his own right hand in the heavenly places. So the power that you find in Rome, Ephesians 1, is the power which is to work effectually in the measure of every part. What power? Will you turn back to Ephesians chapter 3 and in verse 19, verse 17 says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. And verse 19, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. And then this early benediction, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. What power is it that works in us? It is Christ in his resurrection power. It is the fullness of God. So this 16th verse now has a new dimension. What is it that is making, making every joint contribute to the function and the purpose and the usefulness of the body? Is it the enthusiasm, the zeal, the education, the training, the talent that they possessed before they came to Christ? Or is it the release of the resurrection power of Christ? Well obviously it's the latter. According to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. That's the word edifying, to build up, make an edifice. Now back again to verse 12, the perfecting of the Saints into the work of the ministry. Some years, two years ago, I used an illustration that would have been appropriate, though it didn't occur to me, two weeks ago when I last ministered to you, when I spoke on the ministry of the Spirit-filled Christian. I remember distinctly using it, probably many of you've written it down and certainly most of you will recall it, when I said the ministry of a Spirit-filled Christian can be related to your hand. And I tried to point out that the five-fold ministry would be likened to the digits here of your hand, the various, the thumb and the four fingers, working together. And that this ministry into which he's perfecting us or bringing us is such as this. And so lest you should think that by spending a few minutes tonight on the gifts of the Spirit I'm out of balance on this, may I remind you of the place that it occurs. Now I point out again, if some of you may have forgotten, that the thumb is that which gives usefulness to the hand. I remember hearing Dr. Walter Lewis Wilson state one time that if a monkey owned a lumberyard and had a full set of tools and could read blueprints, he couldn't build a house, because what would be the thumb is down here on the arm in such a way that it can't be related to the fingers, so as to guide a saw. It's good for gripping a limb, but it's not good for guiding a saw. But when God made your hand, he so put the thumb and the fingers in relationship to each other that you are capable of unusual dexterity and control, even all the skill of a surgeon, and all of the dexterity of a great pianist, and the more usual combination of brain and muscle with the carpenter and the craftsman. And so view it now. Here you find, and we're going to name this again just briefly, that the thumb touches each digit and gives strength to the fingers. So the thumb is extremely important, and therefore probably if we can rank things in importance, we will say that the most important ministry of a spirit-filled Christian is the ministry of the thumb. And I have felt that this would have to be the fruit of the Spirit, the ministry of a fruit-filled life. For it is the fruit of the Spirit that gives significance. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 13, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I make nothing of it. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and fathom all secret lore and have not love, make nothing of it. Though I give my goods to feed the poor and my body to be burned and have not love, it counts for nothing. Now this love is not mere sentiment that loses its discernment. Our Lord loved, and he was quite capable of speaking to the Pharisees and the scribes and the lawyers and calling them whited sepulchers because love demanded he be absolutely honest. In absolute honesty, he said that this is exactly what they were. And if he'd said anything less, it would have been duplicity. And so love does not mean that there has to be a lack of discernment. It does mean, however, that there must be a utter commitment to the purpose of glorifying God. And so this is what we mean. This fruit of the Spirit that is love, and someone has said the fruit of the Spirit is love, and the other eight things are the definition of love. Well, be that as it may, they are this. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control. And so it's this that I consider the thumb, this ministry of love here, the fruit of the Spirit. And it's that that gives strength and meaning. This is why Moffat's translation is so clear on the point when in 1 Corinthians 12, the last verse, it says, Make love your aim, then set your heart on spiritual gifts. Make love your aim, see to it that you have a full developed thumb, or else anything else is but to aggravate the handicap. So here we have the ministry of a fruitful life. Then this first digit I've called the ministry of intercession. Love prompts one to intercede. All that is really accomplished is accomplished in prayer. And all effectual prayer is the prayer of the Holy Spirit making intercession through us as well as for us. And so it's the ministry of intercession joined to it. For the perfected saints into the work of the ministry is not only to see them in a relationship with the Lord Jesus called the fullness of the Spirit or the fullness of Christ, it is also to have them understand that the outworking of his fullness is in fruit and in intercession. This week I call the ministry of ambassadorship. To go as his representative, as he said, as though God does beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. And so this is the ministry of ambassadorship. And the fourth we call the ministry of authority. Understanding the grounds of the victory of Calvary, our identification with Christ, and the authority of the believer and the body of Christ. And then lastly, here, the ministry of the gifts of the Spirit. When I was in Burns Avenue Alliance in Dayton a few years ago, I made the statement that rather derogatory toward the little finger and said that this was after all the shortest, the least consequential, and perhaps this was not divine order in my outline, but at least I was attaching this significance to it. And when I finished, Dr. Joe Bailey, I believe that's his name from out and all I can think of is Indochina, but he was there. He was taking specialist work in the matter of hand surgery. And he came to me, and I'll never forget what he said. He said, you were quite wrong, you know. And actually, I don't know what these terms mean. I may have forgotten them in the interim. But he said, the thumb is the thenar, and the little finger is the hypothenar. And he said, strange as it may seem, the little finger controls this whole bundle of muscles down the side of the hand. And though it is short and seemingly inconsequential, in the grip it is that which gives tremendous power, most of the power, to the hand. And so he said, if there is any divine wisdom in your order, then don't underestimate the significance that you've given to the gifts of the Spirit by relating them to the little finger. So, well, you take that for what it is. But what I want you to see is this, that the gifts of the Spirit are to be considered as part of a whole. Now, can you imagine the kind of a deformity it would be if you had just a thumb and no fingers? And his thumb had grown about six feet long, so if there were all love and no intercession, and no ambassadorship, and no authority, and no gifts, why, you'd be crippled. And like a black snake whip, if you had all prayer and no love, and no, any one of these, and if you had just the gifts of the Spirit and the rest of the hand wasn't there, you wouldn't know it from a rope. It wouldn't be a hand. It's the balance that is there. It's the joining of these so that they're together. We aren't trying to aggravate one out of balance with another, but see them in relationship. But you can also understand the kind of handicap it would be if you had everything but somehow on a bent saw your hand had been cut in such a way that the little finger, its muscles and bones, had been cut away. Your hand would be deformed. And I submit to you that the Church, without the gift of the Spirit, is deformed, for it is certainly far less than the Lord intended it to be. Now will you turn, please, with this to 1 Corinthians 12. Responsible as we are to follow the Apostle, the first verse gives us the authority for such a discussion and consideration as we have tonight. Now concerning spiritual gifts or pneumatica or charismata, these gifts, these bestowals, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. And if Paul didn't want them ignorant then, I do not believe that we are to be ignorant now. I believe that there's only the best way in the world to keep false fire is to have true fire. The best way in the world to keep the worms from eating the underside of the board is to turn it on its edge and stand it up where the sun can get to both sides of it. And if you ignore certain areas of truth, it will inevitably breed a kind of decay beneath it. And so Paul said, I want you to understand, I am concerned about you. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Now his appeal is to their past. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away under these dumb idols even as you were led. And may I associate this that in heathenism there is demonstration and there is power. Don't forget this. Satan has immense power to counterfeit and to demonstrate his ability. We must not forget this. In the area where Mrs. Redead and I served the Lord, no man could be advertised and set up shop as a witch doctor until he had demonstrated the ability to converse with evil spirits and perform supernatural or preternatural unnatural works. And so as they had been worshiping dumb idols, there had been phenomena associated with it. But now Paul gives that ultimate test that John in his epistle picks up later. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus a cursed. No spiritual utterance, no supernatural utterance or ministry, nothing that God ever gives—let me just change this, I want it to be exactly clear—any supernatural utterance purporting to be Christian that has any reflection upon the fact that Jesus Christ is God is of the enemy. This is the test that John said. Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus is the Christ is of antichrist. And it's exactly what Paul is saying but saying it positively here. He is simply stating that if anyone confesses there or declares under what is seemingly a supernatural utterance that Jesus is a cursed, it is not of God, it is of the Antichrist, it's counterfeit, it's of Satan. And then again it is that everyone that confesses that Jesus is the Christ. I remember some years ago having a missionary tell me that he was in a situation where someone was purporting to speak under the power of the Holy Spirit. And instantly, sensing this, he stopped. He said, stop, who is Jesus Christ? And without so much as a moment's change, the person said, Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, very God of very God, very man of very man, the exalted Son of the Living God, God come in the flesh. And he was prepared to accept then this testimony and to try it. And I believe that this is what the Apostle said when he says try. Try the spirits in one hand and then it says if one speaks let others judge and see to it that it is always exalting to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he has given this precaution. He said everything must be tested. Now we begin with the fourth verse. There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. Notice that. There are difference of administrations but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all. The gifts of the Spirit therefore, though gifts of the Spirit they are, are nonetheless the operation of the triune God. May I remind you, God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is God, but God is not God only as Father. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son is God, but God is not God only as Son. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, but God is not God only as Holy Spirit. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Wherever God is manifest as Father, the Son and the Spirit are. Wherever God is manifest as Son, the Father and the Spirit are. Wherever God is manifest as Spirit, the Father and the son are. Now you bear that in mind because here you have gifts, ministrations, and operations of the Spirit, the Lord, and of God, the Trinity, God. This is the work of God. We could just as well say the supernatural gifts of God as of the Spirit. And thus he is identifying the triune God. Now verse 7, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. Or literally, every manifestation of the Spirit is given to a man for the profit of all. Not for one's own private profit, but for the profit of the company, the profit of the entire Church. He is wanting us to understand that these gifts which were bestowed by the risen head of the Church were to profit the Church. Do you remember the statement I made earlier? Every one of the nine gifts of the Spirit were bestowed upon the Church to compensate for a loss sustained by the captivity to Satan. Now look, I'll show you this. To one is given the word of wisdom. Now this isn't the kind of wisdom that Solomon is given, platitudes, axioms, statements in the form of Proverbs. That is the common wisdom, though it's uncommon. If you think it's easy, you write a few Proverbs and give them to me before next Sunday, and you'll discover that Solomon was quite a man. It's a little difficult to do this, but this word of wisdom is not that. This word of wisdom is to know what to do when there is no possible means by which you could know through natural thinking and logic. For instance, you recall when the ship on which Paul had been in this storm for such a long time was apparently breaking up, and Paul said an angel stood by and told him that there had been a communication. Well, Paul had the word of wisdom, and his word was this, stay in the ship, for if you go off of it, you'll be destroyed, but if you stay on the ship, you'll be saved. Now, I don't know enough about shipping to say that this was either wise or unwise, but at least it was of such a nature that it contradicted what they were planning to do. They were planning to go overboard, hoping thus to save their life. But here was a word of wisdom. He knew what to do. For instance, another case. Naaman came to the prophet, and he said, I've heard the little servant girl in my house told me if I'd come to you, you'd heal me. Well now, you can't read, though. Read, if you will, all of the Pentateuch, that was probably all the scripture that the prophet had, and see if you can find any place where it says leprosy is to be treated by, as Billy Sunday said, seven ducks in a muddy river. It just doesn't come that way. You don't find this. How did he know what to do? Here was the word of wisdom. He knew what to do when there wasn't any other way except by immediate revelation of the Holy Spirit. And so this isn't natural sagacity. This isn't just the kind of wisdom that comes out of experience. I think of dear Gladys Dieterle, known to the Dr. and Mrs. Stearns and others here. And I'll never forget it. Ben Lippin, when she was there, and you remember Miss Pepper so well, I went to see her. Oh, this dear woman, my sakes. If there's anyone besides my mother all across the continent to see, it's Gladys Dieterle. Remember Dr. Tozer saying one time, she's the only woman in the world, if she walks into the church when I'm in the pulpit, I'll get out and say, you come and finish, knowing that people get more from her than they will from me. Well, she's a dear, she loves the Lord, wonderful ministry. And I went to see her. I was facing some very real issues. And after a little while of prayer, we bowed our heads, and she said, now let's bow our heads and ask the Lord for a word of wisdom. So we bowed our heads, and perhaps you've had this, some of you have had the same experience, and we waited. And you know, just as clearly as could be, it seemed, and she said, did the Lord say to you this? I said, yes, isn't that strange? That's just what he said. The word of wisdom. Oh, what great, great need there is in the body of Christ for this gift. To know what to do from the Lord when there's no other way that you can know. This isn't, as I said, just logic. This isn't common sense. This is the uncommon sense that comes by the Holy Spirit who knows the end from the beginning and tells us exactly what to do. So we have here one of these knowledge gifts. The next is the word of knowledge. The word of knowledge by the same Spirit. Now, this word of knowledge is to know something that you couldn't otherwise know. And I think the best illustration of this is in the case of Elijah. Can you remember when Naaman had been to him and had said, give me gifts? And he said, no, I don't serve for hire. I serve the Lord. And apparently, gaze, I'd been poking around a little bit, and he saw what Naaman wanted to give. And he was a servant. He probably didn't get such good wages, and he figured he could use what was being offered. And so when Naaman went down the road, he galloped down the road behind him, and he said, my master has changed his mind. And he really thinks now that he could use the things you offered him. Would you mind? And so they gave him the goods, and the gold, and the changes of garment. And when he came home, the prophet said, come here, come here. He said, do you know what you did, Gehazi? You went down the road, and you went to Naaman, and this is what you said to Naaman. This is what you said to him, and this is what he gave you. Did you not think that my spirit would go with you, and would see this, Gehazi? I didn't. Don't you understand yet? Don't you know that it's not me, but it's the Holy Ghost? And the Holy Ghost is everywhere. God is everywhere. And he was there, and he could show me anything he wanted to show me, and he showed me this, the word of knowledge. To know what you couldn't otherwise know. To know what you couldn't otherwise know. Well, there's a lot I could say to you about this, but I shan't. Let's just accept this as one of the knowledge gifts, the three knowledge gifts. Now, I'm going to jump down to a different gift I'm taking out of the order, because I want to relate it to the first three. We'll go down, please, to verse 10, and you'll notice it says, to another, the discerning of spirits. Now, this is twofold. The discerning of spirits means, primarily, the discerning of the spirit that is motivating individuals. This is a gift of the Holy Ghost, whereby it can be stated that this is caused by such and such a spirit working. God revealing the spiritual activity. Now, you have to relate this to Ephesians 6, where it says, we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this age. But here is the third of what we will call, in this first group of three, of the knowledge gifts. To detect the activity of Satan. To realize where Satan is at work, and to deal with him. So many times, you know, the effort is to deal with the individual. And there are times when it is the individual that must be dealt with. For instance, when Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Ghost, they were through covetousness. Now, Peter didn't deal with Satan in this, he dealt with them. They, he had the word of knowledge. He knew what they had done. No one came and reported. They brought the money, and Peter said, you sold your house for so much. And you were saying you sold it for this amount. Now, the Holy Ghost gave him the word of knowledge. And he knew what it was sold for. Because God knows everything, and the ones to whom he gives this word of knowledge. You notice it says, a word of knowledge. It doesn't say, all knowledge. It says, the word that's appropriate for the church in its need, and for the task. And so, Peter was there when Ananias and Sapphira came, using the word of knowledge. And he was, he dealt with them, because they had lied to the Holy Ghost out of covetousness. But you'll call another case, when a woman followed Paul, day after day, and saying, this is the priest, or the servant of the Most High God, this is a man. And finally, the gift of discerning of spirits was operative. And Paul turned to the Spirit, and commanded her release, and her deliverance, that she be set free. Now, this is one of the knowledge gifts, to know by the divine, authoritative illumination of the Holy Ghost, when it is the activity of Satan through an individual, and when it is primarily the individual's activity. So this is the knowledge gifts. The word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits. Now, the next we will consider, because of their occurrence, are the power gifts, if you will notice them. The three power gifts. And so we have, to another faith, by the same spirit. To another faith. Now, this is a gift of faith. Faith for, that will not only be his, but his to inculcate in others, to quicken in others. And there are some people to whom God has given the gift of faith. Now, I believe every Christian ought to read the life of George Mueller, because this man was undoubtedly given the gift of faith, as it has not occurred in the Reformation, since the time of the Reformation. And may I submit to you that in George Mueller's beginning up there at Bristol—and isn't it strange that we now refer to the Plymouth Brethren, do you know why? Because there was a division between the Bristol Brethren and the Plymouth Brethren. But the ones that have been perpetuated are the Plymouth Brethren, the Brethren from Plymouth. As in contrast, and they took the word to distinguish them from the Bristol Brethren of George Mueller, for in the assembly up at Bristol all of the gifts of the Spirit were manifest. You get one of the large early biographies of George Mueller, and you will discover that God had given him the gift of faith, to believe for the impossible. On one occasion he was coming, speaking in Montreal, and there was a fog, and they were anchored outside the Grand Banks, and the captain said, we will miss your appointment. He said, oh, I've never missed an appointment. He said, Captain, you love the Lord, let's go pray. Well, the captain prayed all right, but he prayed, now lay me down to sleep, and so on. He didn't pray for the fog to lift, but George Mueller went to prayer and laid hold of God, and the captain started to mumble something. He said, oh, that's all right, the fog's already lifted, let's go up and get the ship underway. And sure enough, when they got up on deck, the fog was lifting, and they went in. This man had the gift of faith to believe for the impossible. And so this is one of the power gifts, not only for himself, but to communicate it to others. And then you will notice the gifts of healings by the same Spirit. The gifts of healings, this is plural. Now I believe that every body of believers ought to have several that have the gifts of healings. And then I'm now going to just have to tell you, we'll continue with this next Lord's Day, to another, the working of miracles. To finally, there are three other gifts, and I simply mention them, the utterance gifts, prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the gift of interpretation. Now, bear this in mind, and I will bring you other illustrations from the Scripture next Lord's Day evening, that you can get some clear, I trust at least with the help of the Lord, a clear concept of may I say this, the gifts of the Spirit are in perpetuity in the Church. They're in perpetuity. The Church is survived by their presence, and without them the Church would have disintegrated. And I believe that it's God's purpose that all the gifts of the Spirit are to be manifest in that local group of believers that are in the place where he can be what he wants to be. Now, let us unite our hearts together in prayer. You study the Word. Remember, we want the Word, all of it, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Shall we bow our hearts together in prayer? Our Father, we thank and praise thee that thou hast given to us this wonderful testimony. Lord, our hearts go out to thee, thanking thee that we not only have 1 Corinthians 11, 13, and 15 to treasure and to obey, but thou hast also given us 12 and 14. We take it, we take it just as you've given it. We want nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. Now, bless the hearts of this people. May they be drawn by thee into a careful study of the Word, become good Bereans, searching the Scriptures daily to see if these things be so. And bind them to our hearts, Lord, lead us out of mediocrity into the glorious liberty and fulfillment of the children of God. We thank thee that when he led captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men. And so wilt thou now seal to our hearts thy word in truth and bless it for Jesus' sake. Amen. Good night. God bless you.