The title of my soul-winning tip today is signs and wonders.
All right, this is real big with the charismatics
and the Pentecostals out there, right?
See, signs and, if you haven't heard of it,
signs and wonders, it's the belief
that those miraculous events, those healings,
those things that Jesus and the apostles did
while they were here are still in effect today.
And quite frankly, the charismatics,
they also believe that those are what you would have
as evidence of your salvation or your spirituality
when it comes to them.
And to an extent, they also believe
that you will perform these if you're saved,
which obviously is wrong.
You're there in 1 Corinthians chapter one.
Look for me, if you would, at verse 22.
1 Corinthians 1, 22 says,
For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
And then Paul says, But we preach Christ crucified.
Unto the Jews the stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness.
Turn to Acts chapter two.
See, there's a lot of Jewish Greek charismatics
out there, right?
And today I got two points for you
on how we could get through this,
why they believe this,
and how we could show them that it is wrong.
Point number one is this.
Why do they believe this?
You're there in Acts chapter two.
Look at verse 16, if you would.
This is just after the Holy Spirit
came upon the apostles,
and they were speaking in tongues or other languages.
And Acts chapter two verse 16 says this.
But this is that, Peter's saying,
but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
He says, And it shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
You see, we know that when Peter's talking
about the last days, what we consider the last days
is pretty much any time from the time of Jesus
till the end of the world, you see.
But in the charismatics, they use this verse,
and they wanna use it to tell us
that everyone should be able to prophesy.
Everybody should be able to see visions.
Everybody should be able to get a word from God, right?
Dream dreams and all that.
But what I want you to see is that this timeframe
that Peter's really talking about,
it's really being narrowed down
to specifically the end times.
Look at verse 18.
It says, And on my servants and on my handmaidens,
he says, will I pour out in those days of my spirit?
He's talking about those days.
He's not talking about these days, right?
He's referencing the prophet Joel.
He says, In those days, and there's all these qualifiers
in the next two verse of when this is going to happen.
He says, And they shall prophesy.
He says, And I will show wonders in heaven above,
and signs in the earth beneath,
blood and fire and vapor smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood.
He says, Before the great and notable day of the Lord.
You see, what he's doing is he's saying,
look, all this stuff is going to happen
and, and, and, he says,
before the great and notable day of the Lord.
So turn to Hebrews chapter one.
You see, there hasn't been any water turned to blood.
There hasn't been any fire all over the world,
just in California.
There hasn't been any vapor or smoke.
You know, I haven't seen the sun go out
or the moon turned to blood, right?
This is why these people, what they use,
what they also have to believe in,
which is like the stupidest doctrine ever is preterism.
You know, they believe that all of the end times prophecy
has already happened.
And I don't understand why.
I mean, there hasn't been a millennial reign of Christ.
You know, all these wonders
and supernatural things haven't happened yet,
but they believe in preterism.
You're there in Hebrews chapter one.
Hebrews one says, one, one says this.
He says, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners,
spake in times past unto the fathers.
He says, by the prophets.
He says, hath in these last days,
spoken unto us by his son,
spoken unto us by the word of God,
spoken unto us by the Holy Bible.
You know, this is how he's speaking to us now.
He's not speaking to us by the prophets.
He's not speaking to us by receiving a word of God,
dreaming dreams or anything right now.
He says, he's speaking to us by the word of God,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things
by whom also he made the worlds.
He says, the only prophesying that we hear today
is out of the word of God.
No, it's not by any private interpretation.
First Corinthians 13, two says,
and though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains,
he says, and have not charity, I'm nothing.
He says, look, I could have, Paul says,
I have the gift of prophecy.
He had it then.
He understands everything.
He knows it all, but if he doesn't have charity,
he's nothing.
So in other words, having the gift of prophecy,
receiving a word of God, he says, look,
that's not important when it comes to charity.
Point number two is this.
Jesus actually spoke about signs and wonders.
Turn to Matthew chapter 12, if you would.
Matthew 12, 38 says this, he says,
then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees
answered saying, master, we would see a sign from thee.
So the Pharisees are asking Jesus,
look, we wanna see a sign, show us a sign
and we'll believe, that's what they're saying.
But he, talking about Jesus, answered and said unto them,
an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.
He says, and there shall no sign be given it,
but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
He says, for as Jonas was three days and three nights
in the well's belly, so shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Turn to Romans 13, or Revelation 13, if you would.
The only sign you're going to get here on this earth
is that sign of the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Is that sign of something going to your door
and preaching you the gospel.
It's not going to be anything else.
It's nothing else, not from anybody,
no word of God from some private interpretation.
It's the preaching of the gospel
is what, that's the only sign you're going to get.
Now, here's the thing, I don't doubt
that some of these charismatics and Pentecostals
see unexplained supernatural stuff.
I don't doubt that they do that.
Because there's videos out there,
if you look hard enough, you'll find something
that's, you're like, wow, I don't get it.
So here's the question, where do these signs
and that these people see today that actually may happen,
where do they come from?
You're there in Revelation 13,
look at verse two, if you would.
It says, and the beast, that's the antichrist,
which I saw was like unto a leopard,
and his feet were as the feet of a bear,
and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.
He says, and the dragon, that's the devil,
gave him his power and his seat and great authority.
Drop down to verse 11, it says,
and I beheld another beast, this is the false prophet,
coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb,
and he spake as a dragon, and he exercised
at all the power of the first beast before him,
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein
to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed,
and he doeth great wonders, he does great wonders,
he speaks like a dragon, you know,
he's falsely prophesying, and he's doing signs
and wonders, right, and he maketh fire come down
from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth
by the means of those miracles.
In other words, what you're seeing here is that
the reason why these people can do these things today,
do do these things today, is because the devil
is doing them for him.
That's where it's coming from.
It's not coming from God.
It's coming from the God of this world,
and he's doing this stuff to confuse people,
to cause doubt, to sway them, to keep them away
from understanding the true gospel,
which is the death, burial, and resurrection.
Matthew 24, 24 says, for there shall arise
false Christs and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders,
and so much that if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect.
The only people that are not going to get deceived
about this are the people that are actually saved.
If you're actually saved, you're gonna see that stuff,
and be like, no, that's weird, that's not right, you know.
In conclusion, turn to 1 Corinthians 13, eight.
We're gonna flip to like four verses, so turn quick.
1 Corinthians 13, eight says this.
It says, charity, charity never felleth,
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail.
Whether there be tongues, they shall cease.
Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
So, what exactly does it mean to have charity?
Because obviously, charity in 1 Corinthians 13
is more important than these signs and wonders, right?
So, charity, what is charity?
Turn to 1 Peter 4, eight.
1 Peter 4, eight says this, and above all things,
have fervent charity among yourselves,
for charity shall cover, what, a multitude of sins.
So, having charity means you're covering
a multitude of sins, all right?
Turn to James five, James five and verse 20.
James five, verse 20 says this, it says,
let him know that he which converteth the sinner
from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death,
and shall hide a multitude of sins.
In other words, to have charity,
you're hiding a multitude of sins.
How do we hide a multitude of sins?
We preach the gospel to somebody and they get saved.
They are now washed by the blood.
They are saved, they have eternal security.
Having charity means that you're a soul winner.
Having charity means you're preaching the gospel.
Having charity means you're going out
and you're getting people saved.
So, what do we do?
What do we do when we come to somebody's door
and we show them this, and they still wanna believe
in their signs and wonders, what do we do?
Turn to Matthew chapter 16.
I want you to see this, Matthew chapter 16 and verse four.
Matthew 16, verse four is another reference
to the prophet Jonas.
He says, a wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign.
He says, and there shall no sign be given unto it,
but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
But what I want you to see is the last sentence
in this verse, it says, and he left them and departed.
You see, there is no one better at winning souls
than the Lord Jesus Christ,
and there's no one that's ever going
to be better than that, right?
And you know what?
Sometimes Jesus had to walk away.
Sometimes Jesus had to stop and go somewhere else.
So, what do we do when they don't wanna listen,
when they still wanna trust in their signs?
Look, you just, you need to just walk away.
Don't waste your time.
If you show somebody the only sign
that they're supposed to get,
the sign of the prophet Jonas,
the death bear on resurrection,
and they don't wanna believe it, move on.
That's all you have to do.
You gave them the sign.
Don't waste your time.
Let's close on word of prayer.
Dear Jesus, I pray that this soul winning tip was edifying.
I pray that we use it, that we use it
to show these people the trust in these signs and wonders,
you know, where they're wrong and why it's wrong
and that they might believe and trust
in that death, bear on resurrection
of our Lord and Savior, Lord.
I pray that you work in our hearts today and keep us safe.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.