In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij begins presenting the case for cessationism, the belief that, while God can and still does do miracles today, God no longer empowers individual Christians with miraculous sign-gifts (i.e. prophecy, tongues, healings, exorcisms, works of power). In part 1, Pastor Babij presents ten biblical arguments on behalf of cessationism:
1. The Unique Role of Miracles
2. The End of the Gift of Apostleship
3. The Foundational Nature of New Testament Apostles and Prophets
4. The Nature of Miraculous Gifts in New Testament Times
5. The Testimony of Church History
6. The Testimony of Recent History
7. The Sufficiency of Scripture
8. The Rules Followed in the New Testament to Regulate Revelatory Gifts
9. The Verification Sign-Gifts Diminished over New Testament Times
10. The Unique Role of Miracles in the End Times
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
okay this morning we’re going to look at several scriptures as we are I’m between uh Colossians and phiman um I decided to take up a subject and the subject is that of the biblical Arguments for cessationism now you may not know what that is uh but I’m going to take this week and next week to be looking more of the arguments found in the word of God that why do we hold here the position of believing that the miraculous gifts have ceased uh so that’s what I want to look at and because some say like our Pentecostal and charismatic brothers in Christ insist that none of the miraculous gifts have ceased they are called continuationists while other people like myself say that the gifts are with us some gifts are with us and some are gone and that’s a cessationist now there is today still the problem of confusion in this area when I talk to people um even when we read our membership applications when it comes to the question on this sometimes people say well I don’t really know or I believe this or that uh on this particular subject and they really don’t nail it down to like do I have convictions about why I would hold either position so I kind of want to share with you those things uh and one reasons that I want to say that is because the scriptures tell us that we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God and how how do we test the spirit how do we know if I have a leading of the Holy Spirit Well that can be very Whimsical and um subjective it could be a very whims and subjective type of thing but we do have to be careful lest we confuse the leading of the spirit with some possible indigestion or worst the leading of the anti-ir the leading of the ene enemy himself in these days is very real and he would lead us to go astray on any matter of scripture so remember that Satan disguises himself as an angel of of light so if you believe the scriptures come through the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit and that he is the spirit of Truth and it is that truth that it is that is embodied in sacred scripture then the easiest way to test any private inclination or group leading that you get from other people is right in the word of God the written word of God and I am confident that there in the word of God we have the leading of the spirit because it is the spirit of God that has inspired the word of God and has written the word of God so we do have to go back to scripture to get arguments against a position or uh for a position and so that’s what I would like to do this morning so it’s more going to be like a teaching time and I want you to be ready to look up some of the passages but as we consider this there are at least four essential theological elements in the neop Pentecostal and charismatic movements the first one is continuing Revelation the second one would be the spirit baptism subsequent to Salvation the third would be tongues and the fourth would be healings works of power and casting out demons without these features the charismatic Brethren would not exist as a distinguishable element of christiandom and I believe that each of these marks are unbiblical in the sense that God is Not now energizing these kinds of Ministries the phenomena experienced are either self-generated or in rare instances counterfeits of Satan himself so I’m going to give you some arguments for cessationism against continuationism and the first argument would fall in the category of the unique role of Miracles that would be the first one the unique role of Miracles now as we think about that remember we have a historic Faith so in examining things we do have to go back and look at history the Bible tells us there are three times that miraculous gifts are mentioned in scripture now there are other times but there are three major revelatory periods uh all in about the space of 200 years and when we are thinking about miracles and a miracle is when God breaks the laws of nature to accomplish his will by doing that which is scientifically impossible a miracle is something astonishing it is something um very uh it gets our attention but the problem is is that they’re very rare not only in scripture but in the world in life itself the first period that we see Miracles is the period of Moses and Joshua now we are reading through Exodus and uh we find there that Moses uh is called by God in Aaron to do these Miracles before pharaoh and so you see the 10 plagues and there are miraculous things that go on there and then you see The Parting of the Red Sea to keep the people safe from the pursuit of the Egyptian Army and then you see the healing of Mara’s bitter Waters and the giving of mana and water from a smitten Rock and Miriam’s leprosy and the Judgment of Kora and the Brazen serpent healing the people as they look to the serpent and they by faith they are healed also oil uh or The Parting of Jordan and Jericho’s walls falling under Joshua so right that that that’s a period a historical period in which things were happening that was about a 65e period and then the next period we have is Elijah and Elijah oil that didn’t run run out causing an ax head to float the raising of the Widow’s son the healing of non’s leprosy and it goes on I’m only mentioning a few just to let you know that there was a time that there were many miracles but during those periods why there were Miracles because God was doing something new he was uh doing something different there was a a change in what was happening in the history of humanity and so these areas are really uh dotted with Miracles that capture the attention not only the people living then but of the readers of scripture as we go to those go through those passages we find that something’s going on here something’s going on here how God is relating to Israel and how God is relating to his people people and then the next major revelatory period is Jesus and the apostles and Prophets Jesus and the apostles and Prophets that Jesus displayed his deity by effortlessly performing an array of miracles in every conceivable realm geographically he’s calming the storm with a word medically he’s generating the growth of a withered hand creatively he’s feeding 5,000 people with plus with two fish chemically water is changed into wine spiritually he is casting out demons that are cohabitating in human bodies and then of course he’s also raising the ceas he’s raising the dead so Jesus wielded absolute control over diseases demons death and nature and the reason Jesus performed those Miracles was to prove something about his claim that the Miracles Jesus performed had to be Miracles that were undeniable that they were irrefutable that they were uh also verifiable instant complete downright impossible to do and of course that’s exactly what he did and it showed that Jesus was not just a man he was more than a man and of course from scripture we conclude that Jesus was the god man he was sent from God he was the one who was going to be sinless and he was the one who going to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world so he had to be different he had to be that last Adam that would be fully obedient to his father in Heaven to the point of death on the cross to the point of going to the cross for Sinners and to die not as a sinner but of taking on the sin of others so he can pay the full price before the heavenly father that he can satisfy the Justice of the father that he can wash away and cleanse us of our sin and forgive us completely and make us right with God nobody would be able to do that or has ever done that or anyone who’s G to will never be able to do that and that’s the only one is Jesus Christ so when you read scriptures like John 9 uh Chapter 9: 30 and 33 it was the when Jesus actually opened the eyes of a man blind and it says there the man answered and said to them well here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from and yet he opened my eyes we know that God does not hear sinners but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will he hears him since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone open the eyes of a person born blind so if this man were not from God he could do nothing so Jesus when he came that was a time of special time of Miracles that was proving who he was and the Very work he came to do and then we have the apostles the same could be said about the apostles who really proliferated a a spectacular sampling of Miracles during the infant years of the church as it says in Acts 2 verse 34 everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and Many Wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles so pet pet is healing a lame man raising Dorcas from the dead Paul is healing uh a crippled raising udus the miracle of Malta so Miracles that they were doing did not occur on such a grand scale as they once did and neither are Miracles that are done after that after the apost OST Les are specifically linked to individuals with the gift of Miracles there is no biblical reason though at the same time to believe that God cannot and does not perform Miracles today but he does it does not do it through the gift he gave to a man because those times have passed away they have passed on so we when we think about the primary re reason for miraculous gifts is to establish the authenticity and credibility of God’s spokesman as one sent from God how do we know anybody would sent be sent from God during these days is because God gave them certain abilities to do certain things and one of them is to perform Miracles and then of course these Miracles were to valid validate the message as coming from God and so that means the one question that should be applied before attaching a coveted label of a Bonafide Miracle is to pause to compare the person the candidate to a standard of a true biblical grade miracle and there are biblical grade Miracles a matter of fact does the miracle line up with the Miracles that are actually done in scripture and you’ll find out what’s happening today is not the case also we have to consider the mark of a true Prophet so during the time of Jesus there were of course F him his Apostles that were uh and then he had his prophets and a prophet though is someone God puts his word in their mouth as jerem Jemiah tells us then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people saying that the Lord sent me to prophesy against the house against this house and against the city all the words that you have heard that God would give the words to the prophet and the prophet would speak in other words the prophet didn’t go study the word the word was actually given directly to them and their job as a true prophet was to get it to the people and without messing it up get it to the people exactly the way God said it so what prophet spoke must always come true that is always true of any Prophet mentioned in Scripture that if you’re a true Prophet what you say always must come true so the first biblical argument for sanism is the unique role of Miracles I’ll talk a little bit more about that a little later uh maybe next week but the second argument for cessation is is this the end of the gift of apostil ship there are no more apostles today whether what anybody wants to claim to be an apostle or not biblically there are no more apostles today an apostle was a special individual who whose qualifications were very specific and limited and what were the P the criteria of a person becoming an apostle well the first one is an apostle was one who had seen the Risen Lord also who was a witness to the resurrection now the only one born out of season due season was the Apostle Paul but we do know that the Apostle Paul while he was persecuting the church on the road to Damascus he met the Risen Lord and so that’s why Paul keeps saying about himself that Not only was the he was the least of the Apostles but it also says in Corinthians and last of all as one untimely born he appeared to me also see so somebody who’s going to be an apostle had to see the Risen Lord and had to witness the Risen Lord Resurrected secondly an apostle was called commissioned and sent to preach the gospel of the Risen Lord now I’d like you to take your Bibles uh and turn to acts chap 26 verse 16- 18 because In this passage of scripture we see how Paul was commissioned to do something he was sent to do something and remember Paul was not looking for the Lord when he met the Lord on the Damascus Road he was in quite a a rebellious State when he ended up believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and so you notice in Acts 26 verse 16 it says but get up stand on your feet for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which have been seen but all also to the things in which I will appear to you in verse 17 rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am I am sending you what is he sending them to do verse number 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from Darkness to light from the Dominion of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me so see this was the message that was given uh to the Apostle Paul and this was his job his job was to preach the gospel so people can be set free and also an apostle was given special gifts and abilities and these abilities included the working of Miracles and the casting out of demons and the raising of the dead and of of course they’re all considered to be works of powers and these were given to authenticate the apostles message these also were given to lay down the foundation for building the church with the message of Truth 1 Corinthians CH 12 verse number 12 it actually addresses that where it says the signs of a true Apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles so God gave to them the apostles these unique gifts so it would authenticate who they were and that they were sent and called by God and that the message they preached were was not their own message but it was a message given to them by God also an apostle was given the authority of Christ actually the word the English word Apostle uh we have which in the first century was used of those who had the right to speak for an authority figure that means they were a delegate of someone or an En Envoy of someone or a a messenger of someone or an ambassador for someone and so we do know that in scripture like in Matthew chap 10 verse 1 and two the word of God tells us Jesus summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness and now the names of the Apostles are these and he lists the names of the Apostle for example the Caesar during that time historically would appoint others to speak for him in other parts of the Roman Empire and the words of these delegates had the same Authority as Caesar that these delegates were known as apostolo that is Apostles that Jesus Apostles in a similar fashion represented the authority of Jesus himself and to deny Apostolic teaching is to deny the teaching of the savior so what these Apostles teach is what Christ teaches for he inspired them by the Holy Spirit and to be an Apostolic church is to be a church that is faithful to the teaching of scripture so as we think of that the second argument for cation is is the end of the gift of Apostles as I mentioned uh that Apostles are no longer uh living uh since the Apostle John died there are no longer any Apostles whether somebody wants to claim to be one or not a third argument for cessationism is the found is really the foundational nature of New Testament Apostles and Prophets this is a little different and I like you to turn your Bible to Ephesians chapter 2: 20 just the first part of that verse because it says there in Ephesians 2:20 it says having having been built on the foundation of of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Cornerstone now say that for this reason the foundation is finished it was laid by the apostles and Prophets and it’s done that means their role is done and this means that the certain gifts that were necessary in the beginning stages of the church that those gifts were not needed later on Apostles and prophets were assigned to the very early stages of the start of the church approx o imately actually 70 years of church history and the reason why is that the Holy Spirit chose to use direct Revelation to communicate to the body of Christ but upon the completion of the written word the New Testament scriptures the written word of God once that was complete these gifts were not needed for further special Revelation because the cannon of scripture had come together in a close Clos written Revelation in fact the last recorded miracle in scripture occurred in 58 ad and when the Apostle John finished the book of Revelation there are no recorded Miracles after that and why is that because God’s word and Revelation were already already substantially confirmed and established so there would be no more need to authenticate the person as being an apostle and receiving Revelation from God and there was there there would be no more need for authenticating the message because the message was now inscripturated it was written down already and so this was all coming together so this third argument the foundational nature of the new Testament Apostles and Prophets is because the they laid the foundation we don’t keep laying the foundation we build on that Foundation all right and some of the gifts that were used in the beginning stages of the church are no longer needed because the foundation laid it was only used for the foundation of the church um a fourth argument for sism is that the nature of miraculous gifts in other words miraculous gifts in New Testament times if we examine them and I’ll spend more time examining uh one of those next week but today I’m just going to mention that and that’s the the gift of tongues or various kinds of tongues manifested by the speaking of a language unknown to the speaker so what God would give a language to somebody they never studied to be able to speak through them Revelation so this gift had to be accompanied by the gift of interpretation in other words that somebody may have gift of speaking in a language they never studied but they didn’t know what they said until the other person had the gift of interpretation and that gift of interpretation was to inter interpret what the person said in a language they never studied so the people can get edified by getting a message from God that they understood through human language see Christ gave Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of God and he used the Keys of the Kingdom on three occasions and in all three inst instances tongues was the outward sign of the new work that God was beginning to do and what were those three in instances it was three times in the book of Acts and remember when you’re reading acts acts is a historical book some of the things that are done in acts are not normative they happened in history but they’re often unrepeatable events all right the first one would be that the gospel went to the Jews in Acts chapter 2 so the people heard the message of course Pentecostal uh tongues were given it was uh there was an audible wind there was visible fire and the people received uh a language that they did not study to give the message to the people and God was bringing the Jews of course including the Jews in this new thing that he was doing and what was he doing he was starting the church he poured the spirit out in the church and now the the message of the Gospel was also going to the nation of Israel they needed to be saved along with other people a second passage in Acts chapter 8 now the another group was the Samaritans now remember the Samaritans were uh a half breed group because they intermarried with other nations and therefore they were not con considered to be authentic Jews and so therefore the Jews and the Samaritans Were Always In conflict with one another because of that but what happened is in Acts chapter 8 is that there was an outward manifestation of the spirit and the people spoke in a language that they didn’t understand and the people listening to them understood in their own dialect in their own language and so God was what bringing the Samaritans into the kingdom of God and then Paul uh Peter used the keys a third time to include in Acts chapter 10 the bringing in of the Gentiles into the fold meaning that God was not just dealing with one group of people like the Jews he was dealing with the Samaritans too he was dealing with the Gentiles he was dealing with all the peoples of the earth and that was the new thing that was happening and so all these three events we see that Cornelius the tongues of the spirit Came Upon them and of course they again heard the message in their own language by people who did not know that language but they understood it and God was doing a miraculous thing he was bringing people from all tribes and Nations to a place where they would hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved and that included the Jews and the Samaritans and the Gentiles and were all part of that group so God was doing something amazing and that’s why we see that these times are accompanied by miraculous things going on but there a a note to just be consider that there is only one other occasion uh in Acts where tongues is mentioned and that’s Acts 19 uh that was a special case but in all four occasions the spirit is mentioned as coming upon them and nowhere else is it so and so that how God used this gift of languages to proclaim the message so people could understand it and realize God was doing a new thing and they were including in it so it was quite miraculous themselves to think I didn’t think I was we we would be included in God’s plan but they find out they were included in God’s plan and they were now ready to proclaim the apostles were now ready to proclaim the gospel to people who’ve never heard it and they would come and believe in Jesus Christ and be saved also there are prophecies that were given and in the prophecies in the New Testament were direct infallible Revelation that was ultimately written down and then you had healings in the New Testament and those healings when you read the the Bible you see that those healings were instantaneous and complete so just to make a note from our doctrinal statement it’s written there that the speaking in tongues the interpretation of tongues the gift of Miracles the gift of healings were given in the beginning days of the church for the purpose of pointing to the Judgment of the unbelieving nation of Israel and or the Gentiles being included in the gospel offer and or authenticating the go Apostles as revealers of divine truth and are no longer in operation today I’ll mention a little bit more about that next week but if you think about all those things miraculous gifts today are not the same as in New Testament times tongues today are portrayed as a private prayer language not an Earthly language there’s no gift of interpretation most of the time there’s no rules for its use there are no checks and balances so the end result would be the edification of the People by the proclamation of Prophecy where people could understand it also tongues were well the word actually the word glossa means human language 30 times that word is used in the uh the Greek Old Testament and always it meant normal human languages so we can conclude that tongues were manifest in a foreign language not unintelligible gibberish Acts 2 and verse 6 they heard them speaking in our own language and there’s some particular words there I’m going to bring out next next week but people say well what about angel talk right here in our passage of scripture in Corinthians that we read this morning if I speak with the tongues of men and angels but have no love I have become a noisy gong and a clanging symbol of course the the point of that passage of scripture is love no matter what abilities and Gifts you have if you don’t have love that accompanied that doesn’t really mean anything it’s just like a a noisy symbol right but Angel talk some people say well it’s really the the language of Angels the problem with that is is that this is the only time this phrase is used here and it’s never used again in the word of God and every time an angel speaks is mentioned and speaking to a human being it’s always in normal language so the angel talk uh thing that they bring up has no biblical uh Foundation to it so tongues were always rightly practiced to edify the body to evangelize the lost but never exercise to satisfied self or practice as a mark of super spirituality so spiritual gifts were were never intended all spiritual gifts were never intended to be used for God’s benefit in other words as Peter tells us as each has received a special gift employed in serving one another a gift has always been given by God to the church to employ in serving each other that’s how we’re do it’s really never for ourselves we can grow in that gift we can uh we can use our gift properly but it’s not used uh other than of serving others of building up the body of contributing to the body of what God is uh how how God’s gifted you so we can all become healthy and stable the idea of tongues as some estatic nonhuman speech is foreign to the Bible also prophecies prophecies today can be fallible they can be fallible Revelation that’s what they’re saying now if that is true then the word Prophet means nothing in scripture in fact the Bible says if a prophecy is fallible that would be a false prophet Jeremiah 14:14 it says then the Lord said to me the prophets are prophesying falsehood in my name I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoke to them they are prophesying to you a false Vision divination futility and the deception of their own minds and how does God take someone who gives a prophecy that is false he takes it quite serious in fact if you want an example of that you can take your Bible and turn to Jeremiah chap 28 and I want you to notice in this passage Jeremiah 28: 9-17 we have there the prophet hananiah and in this particular passage of scripture it says in Jeremiah 28 verse number nine the prophet who prophesies of Peace when the word of the Prophet comes to pass then the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent verse number 10 Jeremiah 28 then hananiah the prophet took the Yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people saying thus says the Lord even so will I break within two full years the Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar King of of B Babylon from the neck of all the nations then the Prophet Jeremiah went his way the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after hananiah the prophet had broken the Yoke from off the neck of the Prophet Jeremiah saying go and speak to hananiah saying thus says the Lord you have broken the yolks of wood but you have made instead of them yolks of iron for thus says the Lord of hosts the god of Israel I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations that they may serve neb Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and they will serve him and I have also given him the Beast of the field verse 15 then Jeremiah the prophet said to hananiah the prophet listen now hananiah the Lord has not sent you and you have made this people to trust a lie and then verse 16 therefore thus says the Lord behold I about to remove you from the face of this Earth thus this year you are going to die and because you have counseled Rebellion against the Lord so hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month so in other words if a prophet spoke incorrectly if they were fallible they were incorrect they were wrong they were considered a false false prophet and God took that very seriously so for someone to say listen oh yeah there’s prophecies being given today but they’re not accurate they can be fallible that would violate every single definition of a Biblical Prophet whether it’s a new testament Prophet or an Old Testament Prophet that’s where where do we get a definition from a new testament Prophet from the Old Testament that’s how we know right and not only that when people speak today they speak in a spirit that is different from the spirit of the word of God the spirit of the word of God is is Holy and therefore the doctrine that is being preached from the word of God leads to a holy life also the spirit of the word is concerned about the word because the spirit of God wrote the word so the spirit of God is not going to violate his own word because someone decides that that’s not what they think it says as it says in Peter knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried Along by the holy spirit so another other words what we’re getting has to come from the word of God the spirit of the word is concerned about the word and then also the spirit of the word exalts Christ and speaks about Christ when the helper was given to the church Jesus said listen I got to go back to heaven I’m going to give to the church a helper what did he say in John 16 and John 15 he says when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father this is the spirit of Truth who proceeds from the father it says he will testify of me so in other words that the spirit of God’s job is not to exalt the spirit the spirit of God’s job is to exalt Christ to lift him up so men and women and boys and girls can be drawn to him and so that is the purpose of why the spirit of God comes and brings us and illumin Ates the word of God so we can have the correct understanding of it and the correct message that comes from it because the spirit of the word empowers for Godly living and service to Jesus Christ it’s all about loving Jesus and serving him with all our heart mind soul and strength there has there have always been true and false false prophets there has always been true and false Apostles there has has always been true and false Believers but but what is amazing uh to me when you read a passage of scripture like Matthew chapter 7 and verse 22 and 23 a very very well-known passage when it says there many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness so it seems that those who emphasize a continuation Ministry are the ones he’s addressing here in this passage of scriptures so all these things healings today are not instantaneous and they are not complete if you don’t have enough Faith you can’t be healed or if you didn’t find the the right faith healer or the right method of how to heal so how do you know when it is not God well you have to ask questions does it glorify God if a person says they were healed is is is there Financial things involved is the is the cure complete are there any failures can even hopeless cases be included can the ultimate sickness death be cured and can several limbs be restored see when you look at scripture those healings in the word of God have been instantaneous they have been complete they don’t have to go to rehab after that it’s not a long process of healing it was done like that because it was given those gifts were given specifically to lay the foundation of the church and for us to build upon the church with the gifts that are now left to us to build the church and then we have the fifth argument of sensation ISM sensation ISM and that’s really the history the testimony of church history post Apostolic error that means all those who were Disciples of the Apostles afterward when the apostles were gone what happened then well Justin Martyr arenus origin christum Austine all testify to the cessation of the normal activity of tongues in fact Cleon Rogers did a study of this and he concluded that it is significant that the gift of tongues is nowhere nowhere alluded to or hinted to or even found in any of the writings of the post Apostolic fathers so so that means that something happened to it something happened to this gift this gift is no longer in operation and then you have the also the sixth argument of sensation ISM the testimony of the recent history of tongues if we go back to the the monist uh who was at that particular time uh that’s like four four or 500 years of church history uh then now tongues were being spoken um and of course those the M the monist were ended up they ended up being Heretics you have another group of people priests from France they also claimed to be speaking in tongues and they were branded Heretics you have the jansenist in 1731 uh they were Roman Catholic reformers they used to hold their meetings at night in tombs and they were said to speak in aesthetic languages you have the Shakers in 1736 to 1784 who a leading person in that group was named mother and regarded to be herself to be a female equivalent to Jesus Christ of course they were Mark to be Heretics you have the IR Irving ites in 1830 and of course they already were marked as Heretics because their Revelations contradicted scriptures and so in in even in this modern era uh you have uh Charles F Parham in uh 1873 said that uh he also was speaking in tongues the bethl healing home in 1898 bethl Bible College in toeka Kansas that the Bible evidence of the baptism of of the spirit is speaking in tongues was colluded there Agnes Osman January 1 1901 the first to speak in tongues in modern times as a result of seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit you have the Houston Bible school and you all all have in 1966 the isua street Mission at 312 isua Street where that place where Pentecostalism began to grow rapidly Services were led by at that time by both male and female preachers and the spirit of God was seen as falling upon people that the charismatic movement began in an Episcopal Episcopalian Church in vanise C California in 1960 and and it’s spread to all Mainline denominations Roman Catholics lutherans Presbyterians Baptists and of course it’s it’s become very prominent today that most people are believing that tongues uh is still an operation that uh men still have the gift of healing and uh casting out demons and it’s not even very much even questioned today that those things may be not maybe not be true uh and so the seventh argument for cessationism would be the sufficiency of scripture God has given us a complete Revelation and that that complete Revelation is sufficient 2 Timothy 3:1 16- 17 a very well-known passage of scripture all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness for what reason so the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work see so that the word of God is sufficient to do everything God needs to do during this time of human history before he comes back also experience is not self validating rather the absolute word of God serves through to authoritatively distinguish between what is true and what is false what is God’s way and what is every other way so all experience must submit itself to scriptures test of authenticity and then under that teaching does not include receiving special Revelation from God but to the ability to grasp the Revelation that has already been given so that’s what we are to do we are to preach we are to teach because we have the full word of God permanently we have the Old and New Testament and we are to communicate them effectively to the listeners instruction was always on the minds of the Apostles and they considered an intellectual grasp of truth of the faith uh the body of Faith given to the church a vital prerequisite for uh to acceptable Christian Living and service that’s why Paul would say in in his message to Young Timothy and for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle I am telling the truth I am not lying a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth and then we even see uh in second Timothy be diligent to present yourself approved to God a Workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of Truth so here in scripture we find that it is sufficient for all life and godliness right tells us that in the word of God we don’t need anything else the spirit of God is using the word of God to make us what we ought to be an eighth argument for sensationalism could be this the rules followed in the New Testament to regulate revelatory gifts if these rules were followed today every charismatic meaning would really need to be closed down a new New Testament Church Ministry is for the purpose of edifying for teaching for explaining if someone did speak in tongues in the New Testament the most by three tongue speakers they would to speak one at a time there always must have been an interpreter and there must not be any women speakers as long as tongues were valid they were not to be forbidden in 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 13:39 it teaches that tongues were not to be a gift to be sought after they were to seek love and the better gifts and prophecy understanding so these rules had to be followed if they weren’t followed then they weren’t according to what the Bible teaches a ninth argument for cessationism would be the ver that the verification sign gifts diminished as the apostles Ministry wound down in other words creation of uh the cessation of gifts in the New Testament was like a battery wearing down why is there a decline in healing in the development of of the New Testament the gospels record 41 healings the book of Acts record 18 healings the Epistles record zero healings and of course James tells the church to call for the elders and that’s still in operation today Paul after First Corinthians he wrote first Corinthians remember he wrote also 12 other uh Epistles and in none of those other 12 she mentions tongues Peter never mentions tongues James never mentions it John never mentions it Jude never mentions it so in other words tongues was appeared briefly in the early days of the church and then stopped so why do the New Testament Epistles record the illnesses of God’s workers it’s because these signed gifts began to diminish they began to pass off the scene a couple passage of scriptures to turn to you have uh Acts chapter 19 well we find here in 2 Corinthians 12 while you just turn there in verse 7-9 Paul was Ill in Timothy 1 Timothy chapter 5: 23 Timothy was ill and in 2 Timothy 4 20 tropus was ill and at the beginning of Paul’s Ministry miraculous gifts were verifying the apost the apostleship and then notice in uh acts 19: 11 and 12 it says God was performing extraordinary Miracles at the hands of Paul so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from the body of the sick and the disease the the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out but when they ran their course Paul leaves tropus ill at the end of his ministry in second Timothy chapter 4 verse number 20 it says arus remains at Corinth and trophimus I left sick at malius you would have to ask the question why did Paul who had these miraculous abilities and gifts in the beginning of his ministry leave him sick at meidas why didn’t he just heal him it seems like Paul healed people all the time even Philippians chap 2 ver 26-30 AAP aitis was also ill and it’s recorded there because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick and indeed he was sick to the point of death but God had mercy on him and not on him only but also on me so it says in that scripture because he came close to death for the work of Christ risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me why didn’t Paul just heal him you have to ask that question right so it seems like these found foundational gifts that were given to the apostles were by the end of their Ministries where was already dying out so that’s why we would I would consider myself a cessationist not a continuationist and one last thing uh at least this morning is the 10th argument for cessationism is the unique role of miracles in the end times do you know the fourth time at least the fourth major time historically miraculous gifts are mentioned in scripture will not be for the edification but for the ultimate deception of the church it will be a it will be for a time in which Satan will mimic Christ and deceive the whole world that he is the Messiah Matthew 24 verse 24 it says for false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible the elect and then 2 Thessalonians chapter 9 chap 2: 9-1 that is the one who’s coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deceptions of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth as to be saved for this very reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is fals and then in Revelation 13 verse 13 he performs Great Signs so that he even makes Fire come down out of Heaven to the Earth in the presence of men and he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given to perform in the presence of the Beast telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to to the Beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life a mock resurrection that people believe that he is the Messiah and then Revelation 16:14 for they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to Kings of the whole earth and to gather them together for the war of the great day of God Almighty and then revelation in 1920 and the Beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped His Image these two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire which burns with Brimstone so there is going to be a unique role of miracles in the end times maybe that started already in which Satan is setting the world up to believe he is the Christ he will be the man of peace that makes peace without War he will be an intellectual genius he will be a political genius he will be a man who is well-liked and makes peace between Israel and the rest of the Nations if he can do that that is what the world is looking for it would be no Big Stretch for him to take control right even right now in the world the way it is right because that’s what they’re looking for they’re looking for leadership and he’s going to be a leader so saying all those things this morning those are just some I’m sure there could be more Arguments for cessationism the unique role of Miracles the end of the gift of apostleship the foundational nature of the New Testament Apostles and Prophets the nature of miraculous gifts the testimony of church history the testimony of recent history the sufficiency of scripture the rules followed in the New Testament to regulate revelatory gifts and the verification signs diminished as the apostle Ministries wound down and then the unique role of miracles in the end times those are are some of the arguments that we could all use to say this is why I’m a cessationist and I believe that as we if you dig into them more you’ll find that there’s more there than I even mentioned this morning let’s pray Lord thank you this morning that in your word Lord we find that there are things that have been substantiated that have been recorded that have been inscripturated for us to know that what we believe and Lord no matter which way the wind of Doctrine blows we can always come back back to scripture and we can study it through to find out if we are believing the spirit of Truth lord always make us Discerning Believers that we would always stand on the word of God and I pray Lord as we do that you would make us people that can communicate it to others that we would not be deceived so easily and though Lord no matter how dark and twisted the world come becomes and even uh so-called Christian Ministries become more adamant towards things like this then I pray Lord that we would be able to know where we stand on it as we look into the word of God to find out what you your word says and what has actually happened historically so Lord thank you uh that you allow us to know these things and to be able to investigate them I just pray Lord in all that we do we would always want to do it Lord with the proper attitude of love and that we would always want to have un Unity within the body and Lord as you have gifted each one of us I pray Lord our gifts would always be to serve the church body that Christ Also may be uplifted and edified and the gospel may be preached and the light and the salt that Christians bear may continue to go on no matter how long you T