 It's our joy this evening to come back to our subject that we started this morning. If you will, turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, we'll just take a look at our text and sort of anchors us in this subject this evening. Come back to signposts of Revelation part 2, looking at the subject of cessationism. And hopefully, Lord willing, conclude the broad overview that we began this morning on this subject. Hebrews chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, in the Word of God reads, Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. Let's pray together. Father in Heaven, we thank You, Lord, for the blessing of having an evening service. Thank You, Lord, for the blessing of coming back together again, Lord, in considering Your Word. And, Lord, for the blessed opportunity to consider this subject. It's very important for us to understand, Lord, help us to understand it. Very important, Lord, that we acknowledge and submit ourselves to the testimony of Your Word on this subject and so help us to understand these things and to commit them to our hearts and our minds so that we can understand them clearly and we can help those who are caught in this deception and to keep ourselves clear of error. Thank You for this time, Lord. Thank You for our subject. Thank You for Your Word. And thank You for Jesus Christ. It's in His name that we pray. Amen. Sermon title tonight, Signposts of Revelation, this is part two. And this morning, we began looking at this subject together. We began looking at the issue of continuationism and looking at the fact that more than half a billion professing Christians believe that God is still speaking today outside of His revealed Word. And that comes with significant implications for the professing church, for professing Christians, for us as we seek to preach the gospel in this age. They believe that God is giving new special revelation through His Spirit to His church and that the Spirit of God is still operative today in giving the same supernatural spiritual gifts to believers today that He gave to certain believers in the first century New Testament church. Namely, spiritual gifts like the ability to perform miracles, healings, new revelation, words of prophecy, visions, dreams, speaking in tongues, and the like. We asked the fundamental question this morning, is it true? Are these claims to this continuationist theology, are they true? Is what we see today true? Do we see an actual revelation, as it were, of the operations of the Holy Spirit in our day? Are these things that are claimed, are they true? John says, we're to test all things, we're to test all truth claims by the Word of God. And do then, what we see, does what we see practice in the modern charismatic church, does it pass muster today? Does it pass the biblical test? What does the Word of God teach regarding this issue? And so we began our case for cessation this morning by presenting the first of two points. The first, miracles or miraculous gifts given through empowered servants of God serve a particular function in Scripture and in redemptive history. Miracles had a purpose, miracles had a point. They were given to servants of God and serve a particular function in redemptive history. In thousands of years of redemptive history, there are only three basic periods in which God has empowered His people to perform miracles. We looked at those three periods this morning. That period that extended from Moses to Joshua, or the Exodus to the Promised Land, about 70 years, the period from Elijah to Elisha, another period of about 70 years, and then from Jesus Christ to His apostles, another lifetime or another period of about 70 years until the death of John. We looked at examples from each of those periods and came to an overwhelmingly clear conclusion from the Word of God that the power to perform miracles has only been given to God's spokesman. That blessing has only been given to those who were appointed by God to speak for God and given then in order to authenticate or validate the credentials of the one who spoke for God. They were God's way of validating or authenticating the one who spoke for Him. These miraculous charismatic or miraculous gifts are given by God and only given by God in order to affirm the veracity and authority of the message being preached through His human instrument. They serve to authenticate God's messenger. So one, miracles are only given to authenticate God's messenger of new revelation. Two, there is no new revelation being given. There is no new revelation being given and therefore the spiritual gifts that God has appointed to validate His messenger, those spiritual gifts that accompany new revelation are no longer being given because there is no longer new revelation. The spiritual gifts that accompany new revelation in order to authenticate God's messenger are no longer being given. The Word of God is sufficient and the Word of God is complete. Hebrews chapter one again verse one, God who at various times and in various ways spoken time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Those words has spoken, heiress, active, indicative, indicating pastime, meaning that what has been spoken to us in His Son has been complete. It is sufficient and until the Lord returns in glory, that revelation is concluded. The revelation that God has intended to provide us in His Son has been provided. The whole story has been told. And we see that alluded to as well in Hebrews chapter two, where that salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Spirit according to His own will. If you take a look at Hebrews chapter two beginning in verse three, there's alluded there in Hebrews chapter two, three groups, if you notice in verse three, that which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. In other words, the revelation that God had given to men through the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ was confirmed then to us, that's another group, by those who heard Him. There were those who were alive at the time during the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ who were witnesses to His resurrection, who met the qualification as New Testament apostles. And so if you think about verse three with me, there was that revelation which was spoken by the Lord. That revelation was then confirmed by those who heard it, namely the New Testament disciples, the New Testament apostles, and that was confirmed to us now who hear them. Do you see that in verse three? Now God bore witness to that testimony. Verse four, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. Well, what did God bear witness to? He bore witness to that revelation spoken by the Lord and by those who heard Him. You see, God also then bearing witness with the signs, with the miracles. In other words, the Bible has been written. The complete and sufficient word of God has been completed. And with the epistles of the apostles, the canon is now closed. God having attested to its veracity, God having affirmed its authority by authenticating its human messengers with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the will of God. No new revelation then is being given. And we can understand that for 2,000 years since the early church, there's been nothing added to our Bible, right? Sixty-six books of the canon. No new manifestations then of the miraculous gifts. Remember from point one this morning that we looked at. Revelatory gifts were given to authenticate God's messenger as speaking God's revelation. We have periods of redemptive revelation that are being given. And so gifts accompany that revelatory period. Once the period comes to a close, revelation, those miraculous gifts, revelatory gifts cease. We have, as Peter said, the prophetic word confirmed. There is no new revelation being given. One indication that revelation is complete and has come to an end is the end of the biblical gift of apostleship. One indication that revelation is complete and that revelation has come to an end is the end of that apostolic office. With the end of revelation comes the end of revelatory sign gifts. With the end of revelation, the end of those revelatory sign gifts comes the end of the apostolic office. Now Paul references this gift along with the revelatory sign gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 27 and 28. Listen, Paul says, Now you are the body of Christ and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers. And after that, miracles and then gifts of healings helps administrations and varieties of tongues. Paul also references this very same apostolic gift in Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 11. Paul says, And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, to we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So Paul speaks of the apostolic office as a gift of God to the church. And we know from Scripture that is a temporary gift. The gift of apostleship or the apostolic office was a temporary gift to the church that office has gone away. Most would agree today including many in charismatic circles would agree that there are no new apostles. There are no new apostles and that primarily is because no new apostles meet the biblical qualifications for that office. The office has passed away and now with the passing of the revelatory office comes the passing of revelation and the passing of the revelatory gifts. Look with me at Acts chapter 1. Turn there with me. Acts chapter 1 and again looking specifically at the office of the apostle and that office having passed. In Acts chapter 1, the disciples get together and they consider replacing Judas. In Acts chapter 1 beginning in verse 15, they consider these matters and it says in verse 15, in those days, in Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples altogether the number of names was about 120 and he said, Men in brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry. Now this man purchased the field with the wages of iniquity falling headlong. He burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out and it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem so that the field is called in their own language, Akaldama that is field of blood. For it is written in the book of the Psalms, Let his dwelling place be desolate, let no one live in it, and let another take his office. Let another take his office. You see verse 21, Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, in other words, of those who were witnesses of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 22, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection, a second qualification. The first, a witness of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, one who is a witness with them of his resurrection. Verse 23, and they proposed to Joseph called Varsabas who is surname to justice and Matthias. And they prayed and said, you, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place. They cast their lots and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles. The third qualification of genuine New Testament apostleship of the office of the apostle was that he was specifically and expressly chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ, a witness to the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, a witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that specifically and expressly chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ. No one today could possibly meet those qualifications for apostolic office. So we see that then during the revelatory period of the apostles, signs and wonders and spiritual gifts affirmed and attested to revelatory truth. In fact, in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12, Paul told the church at Corinth, Paul said, truly among those believers in Corinth, truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. In other words, there were miraculous spirit, empowered spirit, wrought revelatory gifts that the apostles performed that confirmed and authenticated their apostleship. You see, so with the office of revelation comes a new revelation and the accompanying revelatory gifts. When new revelation passes, the office of the apostle passes as does the accompanying signs and wonders that authenticate the apostolic office. You see, without new revelation, without new revelatory means in terms of God's messengers, there is no need for revelatory gifts and so revelatory gifts cease. It's the reason that we see indication in the scriptures and we see indication in our day today that these gifts are no longer operative in the church among God's people. However, although the apostle performs these revelatory sign gifts among the people, once revelation is complete and once the apostle dies, passes, once the foundation has been built, so to speak, the period of revelation and the period of these revelatory sign gifts comes to an end. It's evident that this New Testament gift of the apostle has come to an end. There's no new revelation. The foundation has been laid. The story, again, has been told. What more does God give us other than the 66 books of our canon, Genesis the Revelation? That revelation or that foundation is expressed by Paul in Ephesians chapter two. Look at Ephesians chapter two with me. Another indication that these revelatory sign gifts have passed is that the foundation of the church, which is the revelation of God through prophets, through apostles, has been laid. Nothing remains to be said. Ephesians chapter two. And look there with me at Ephesians chapter two beginning in verse 19 where Paul says, Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God having been built, notice the tents, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone of that foundation, in whom now, verse 21, the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a toiling place of God in the spirit. In other words, the foundation has been laid. That foundation of the New Testament church that is now being built is a foundation that was laid by the prophets and by the apostles, specifically by that prophetic office, by that apostolic office in giving God's revelation to man. Now that foundation has been set, that foundation has been laid, and the Lord builds his church upon it. We are described as being fitted together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Now keep going with me and look at Ephesians chapter three. Verse one, for this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. In other words, that mystery that was shadowy in ages past now made clear in the ministry of Paul the mystery of the gospel. Verse five, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles, namely that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power. In other words, that foundation now has been laid, that gospel has been preached. We have that inscripturated on the pages of our Bible. So the role of the prophet here, according to Paul in Ephesians two, the role of the prophet, the role of the apostle was foundational. It was foundational to the church. That foundation now has been laid. It is complete. Therefore, we should not expect any more prophets. We should not expect any more apostles. Therefore, we should not expect any more revelation. Therefore, we should not expect any of the revelatory sign gifts from the Spirit of God that accompany revelation. You see, that change, that change obviously took place. The office of the apostle has gone away. It's passed into history. The apostolic office came to an end. That's interesting to think about that. The fact that the apostolic office came to an end and we didn't get any explicit text in the Bible that told us that was going to take place or that it has taken place. The office of the apostle merely came to an end. And we can see that clearly from studying the Bible, right? We didn't need explicit text to tell us that. It is clear and apparent from the study of the Word of God. There was a significant change in the operations of the Spirit of God as it respected the office of the apostle. That office now going away. It should be just as clear, just as apparent from the study of Scripture, that with the close of revelation then comes the end of revelatory sign gifts. Those gifts are no longer necessary. So now we review the case. Remember, we talked about explanation, indications, and implications, right? So we looked at an explanation of the case essentially for cessationism. One, the miraculous sign gifts are given to affirm God's messengers of new revelation. Secondly, there is no new revelation being given. The apostolic office has passed. The foundation has been laid. Scripture is complete and sufficient. Third, therefore, the miraculous sign gifts that have fulfilled their purpose are no longer necessary. You see, no longer needed. The miraculous signs and gifts attest to or affirm God's messengers of new revelation. There is no new revelation being given. And therefore, the miraculous sign gifts have fulfilled their purpose and are no longer needed. These gifts have passed with the close of revelation. These gifts have passed with the end of the apostolic office. Now, we see important indications of this in Scripture. Again, this is like we talked about this morning. This case or this argument is something you can point to a single verse and arrive at. It requires a study of biblical theology on the purpose and nature of miracles, on the purpose and nature of God's work in revelation. And we see then in support of that case, in support of the argument for cessationism, we see very important indications and supports of that truth in the Bible. Let me give you just an overview of these. Time is short and I want to give you an overview of these things and it would serve you well to take some time and look into these for yourselves, okay? Let me give you an overview. First is the office or the role of the Holy Spirit. There are indications given to us in Scripture that support the case that these revelatory sign gifts have come to an end. First is namely the office or the role, the function, the work of the Holy Spirit. Turn with me to John chapter 16 and let's look at that briefly. John chapter 16, the office of the Spirit. In John chapter 16, beginning in verse 12, the role of the Spirit is to give a revelation or to declare the truth of God to the disciples, to the apostles. Look in verse 12, the Lord says, I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. In other words, the Spirit of God testifies to Christ. The Spirit of God testifies to that word which has already been given him to speak, right? He doesn't speak on his own authority. He's going to testify or speak those words which have been given him to speak. Verse 14, he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said he will take of mine and declare it to you." In other words, he's not declaring new revelation to others. He's declaring the revelation of God to the disciples. And the Spirit is the one then who affirms that revelation through the signs and miraculous gifts. It's interesting, John Calvin in his institutes said this of the Spirit's role. He says, what kind of Spirit did our Savior promise to send? One who should not speak of himself but suggest and instill the truths which he himself had delivered through the Word. Let's hear that again. What kind of Spirit did our Savior promise to send? One who would not speak of himself but suggest and instill the truths which he himself had delivered through the Word. Hence the office of the Spirit promised to us is not to form new and unheard of revelations or to coin a new form of doctrine by which we may be led away from the received doctrine of the Gospel but rather to seal on our minds the very doctrine which the Gospel commends. In other words, the Spirit today is not giving new revelation. It's not the function or the role, the revelatory role of the Spirit. The Spirit is going to testify of Christ specifically in John 16, testify of Christ to the disciples who would write by inspiration the Scripture that we have in our hands. So one, the office or role of the Spirit is an indication that those revelatory gifts are no longer necessary with the close of revelation. Two, revelatory gifts were given by the Spirit to manifest the unity of the early church. And that unity has been well established is no longer necessary. If you think with me, the Spirit of God comes upon Jewish believers at Pentecost in Acts 2. And among other gifts, we see the Jewish believers at Pentecost in Acts 2 speaking in tongues. We also see tongues of fire above their heads, don't we? But it's a wonder to me that that gift isn't given with the tongues today. The Spirit of God comes upon Jewish believers at Pentecost in that way in Acts 2. The Spirit of God comes upon Samaritan believers then in Acts 8 in the same way that the Spirit of God came upon those Jewish believers at Pentecost. The Spirit of God then comes upon Gentile believers in Judea. We see that with Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 and then Gentile believers. The Spirit of God comes upon Gentile believers outside of Judea in Ephesus in Acts chapter 19. That demonstrates the purpose of the Spirit of God giving those revelatory gifts at the preaching of the apostolic word, the preaching of the gospel is to unite or to unify all of these various parts of the New Testament church. It's demonstrating, right, the work of the Spirit demonstrating that the gospel is being preached in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost ends of the earth and how Gentiles now are all flooding into the New Testament church by the preaching of the gospel, by faith in Christ. And the Spirit of God manifests those gifts in order to unify the New Testament church. That unification has been demonstrated, manifested. That foundation has been laid, the revelatory gift is no longer necessary. Third, the nature of the gifts that we see today are not those described in Scripture. The nature of the gifts that we see is not the same nature of the gifts that we see given to the New Testament church. If we were actually seeing actual gifts of the Spirit being poured out actually today, then we would expect to see the exact same gifts that we find on the pages of the New Testament. However, the so-called gifts that we see today look nothing like their supposed New Testament counterparts. One example of this is in Acts chapter two. You've turned there with me, Acts chapter two and beginning in verse one with respect to tongues. The so-called gifts that are being propagated today look nothing like the gifts that we see in Scripture. Acts chapter two, look at verse one. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. We don't hear that today. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and once out upon each of them, we don't see that today. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. We don't see that today. Why is it that we don't see that today? Well, we get an explanation beginning in verse five. There were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. These are actual languages. Then they were all amazed and marveled saying to one another, look are not all these who speak Galileans? How is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Frigia, Pamphlia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Aaron's. Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own languages. The wonderful words of God. And so they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another, whatever could this mean? It means that God is affirming his apostolic word. You see, others mocking said they're full of new wine. No mention in Acts chapter two, no mention of anything ecstatic. In fact, if you look at the entire witness of the New Testament, there is no mention ever of any ecstatic gibberish, any ecstatic glossolalia or tongues. It simply is foreign to the New Testament. It's entirely new. Incidentally, this same gift of tongues falls upon the Samaritans. The same gift of tongues falls upon Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. The same gift of tongues falls on those in Ephesus in Acts 19. Why would that be? Why would that be? Well, Peter would say to the Jews in Jerusalem that the Spirit fell on them in the very same way that it fell upon the Jews in Jerusalem. Peter would say that to the Jerusalem Council and they would then turn and rejoice and give thanks to God because he has granted the Gentiles repentance unto life. Do you see? It's an affirmation of the work and ministry of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. But also, in addition to tongues, tongues profess so-called tongues today have absolutely no relation to their supposed biblical counterpart, but also healing. Healings today have virtually no connection to the actual healing that we see on the pages of the New Testament. The actual gift of healing given by the Spirit of God. In other words, healing on the pages of the New Testament is complete. It is immediate. It is undeniable, inarguable. It is permanent and it is healing of every kind, not just your hidden bursitis, right? Prophecy, gift of prophecy today, has no connection to its New Testament counterpart. The prevalence of error destroys that. Even Charismatics will say today and those who are what you might call open but cautious would say that new current modern day, new prophecy that we see within the Charismatic movement is filled with, wrought with, error. Far more error than truth. That would be a denial of the role of the prophet in Deuteronomy chapter 13, Deuteronomy chapter 18. According to Old Testament law, that false prophet would be dead. But because of the prevalence of error, modern day prophecy has no relation to its biblical counterpart. Healings, tongues, gifts of prophecy, they simply do not look like that which the Holy Spirit produces on the pages of the New Testament. First, the office of the Holy Spirit. Second, revelatory gifts given by the Spirit to manifest the unity of the early church. Third, the nature of those gifts are not what we see described in Scripture. Fourth, the rules then regarding the New Testament gifts. Paul gives rules with respect to the administration of these gifts and we see those rules entirely disregarded inside Charismatic continuation of circles today. Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, beginning in verse 13. Paul says in verse 13, Therefore, let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the Spirit. I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the Spirit. I will also sing with the understanding. Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say amen that you're giving it thanks since he does not understand what you're saying? For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. I think my God, I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the church. I would rather speak five words with my understanding that I may teach others also than 10,000 words in a tongue rebuking the Corinthians for their overemphasis of tongues at the expense of forth telling the very word of God. We see today that the practice of these so-called miraculous sign gifts in the church today, that practice is unhinged, unmoored from its biblical instruction, simply not connected. Fifth, we have the testimony of church history as an indication that this case for cessationism is supported by the Bible, the testimony of church history. If you look at the New Testament and you read through the New Testament, the practice of the miraculous gifts, the sign gifts, the revelatory gifts. That practice declines even on the pages of the Bible during the apostolic period. We see tongues being spoken of in the book of Acts. Lastly, with Paul's trip to Ephesus in Acts chapter 19, that would have been around AD 52. And then we see tongues being spoken of in Paul's first canonical letter to the church at Corinth in AD 55 or AD 56. Paul writes then nine other letters to six other New Testament churches and never again mentions tongues. It's interesting, especially in letters like those to Ephesus and Pastor Timothy, where Paul says in 1st Timothy that he writes these things so that they might know how they ought to conduct themselves in the household of God. There is no mention of revelatory gifts, no mention of the practice of these gifts, no mention of tongues whatsoever. In other words, even during the apostolic period before the passing of Paul, we see that the sign gifts are passing away. Revelatory gifts are going away. There's nothing to monitor, nothing to govern their use in the early church past 1 Corinthians. And that's explained again by Hebrews chapter 2. How shall we escape verse 3, if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, then was confirmed by those apostles who heard him and confirmed to those who heard them. God bearing witness to that, bearing witness to that revelatory gift, that revelation, both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. Hebrews, incidentally, was written about 8070. And this was something in Hebrews chapter 2, something that the Lord and his apostles preached. Those sign gifts were given to validate or authenticate the Lord and his apostles. And then our author to the letter, this epistle to the Hebrews says, it was witnessed by us, right? Just by us. We witness it on the pages of the New Testament. They would have witnessed those gifts on the part of the apostles. They themselves did not participate in them. Gifts had begun their decline even before the canon was complete. Lastly, when do we see miracles again? We talked about three periods of redemptive revelation this morning in which the sign gifts were given to authenticate God's messenger. Three periods. That period that lasted from Moses to Joshua, the Exodus to the Promised Land. That period that involved Elijah and Elisha, the prophets of God, and that period that involved the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. Well, when is it on the pages of the New Testament in the revelation given to us when we can expect to see actual, true signs and wonders again? It's at the coming of God's revelation at the end of the age in his own returning king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn, we've been to Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24. It's interesting that in considering this particular point, this particular internal support for the case for cessationism, that we also see the presence of lying signs and wonders and lying gifts. If you look at Matthew chapter 24, look beginning with me at verse 23. This is the end of the age, the end of this period in which we now live, and the Lord says in verse 23, then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ or there, do not believe it. This marks our age also, does it not? The church age. There are many who come proclaiming to be Christ. There are many who come to proclaim to be the Messiah. We are not to believe it. For verse 24, false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See I have told you beforehand. False prophets will do false and lying signs and wonders. We are to test those and not to be deceived by them. Therefore, verse 26, if they say to you, look, he's in the desert. Don't go out or look. He's in the inner rooms. Do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west. So also will the coming of the Son of man be for wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. We're going to be able to see clearly when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. So then verse 29, we have now real signs and wonders with the coming of the Son of man. Look at verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven and all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. They will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. When the Lord reveals himself again, that's when we'll see additional signs and wonders with that new revelation. God will attest to its veracity and authority with signs and wonders. We looked at the explanation and two points. We look at various indications from Scripture that support that case for cessationism. There are very serious implications. What we see today in Charismatic circles are lies and deception. There simply is no other way to explain it. There's no middle ground. The Scripture is clear. What you see today are deceiving signs. Lies. The Bible says that evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. That is true in our day. And those evil men, those imposters will seek to deceive the simple. So those evil men and imposters are liars deceiving the simple. There are those who are deceived and there are those who are deceiving. And the Charismatic so-called gifts are examples of that deception. They are perpetrated by liars. These are not Christians that perpetrate or propagate that kind of error. They are produced to deceive the simple. These are evil men and imposters who lead millions astray. They are false teachers. Those described by Peter, those described by Jude, twice pulled up by the roots. What we see today are lies and deception. Secondly, this is an ongoing effort of the enemy. An ongoing assault on both the infallibility, the inerrancy, the necessity, the clarity, the authority, and the sufficiency of God's revealed Word. This is an assault of the enemy. And brothers and sisters, as we seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in our day, we must fight error where it raises its ugly head and fight against the encroaching assaults of an enemy, of our enemy. And it's particularly that which undermines the veracity and authority of God's Word. God's Word is that which we need, God's special revelation is that which we need four sinners to be saved. And we need to fight this fight. Third, this assault, this effort today, what we see today, undermines the authoritative and clear and sufficient Word of God. Calvin, again, talks about our response to the Word of God or how we are to understand this. Calvin says this, the Lord has so knit together the certainty of His Word and His Spirit that our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the Word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face of God. That's the importance of the Word of God to us as believers, right? Not in experience, not in charismatic signs or gifts, but in the Word of God. On the other hand, we embrace the Spirit with no danger of delusion when we recognize Him in His image, that is, in His Word. Paul says to the Thessalonians, quench not the Spirit. He does not carry them aloft to empty speculation apart from the Word. He immediately adds, despise not prophesying or forth-telling the Word of God. In other words, if you want to quench not the Spirit, then you despise not His Word. You see? How is this answered by those swelling enthusiasts in whose idea the only true illumination consists in carelessly laying aside and bidding adieu to the Word of God while with no less confidence than folly, they fasted upon any dreaming notion which may have casually sprung up in their minds? Surely a very different sobriety becomes the children of God as they feel that without the Spirit of God they are utterly devoid of the light of truth so they are not ignorant that the Word is the instrument by which the illumination of the Spirit is dispensed. They know of no other Spirit than the one who dwelled and spoke in the apostles, the Spirit by whose oracles they are daily and invited to in the hearing of His Word. Brothers and sisters, we need to heed the words there of Calvin. More importantly, we need to heed the words of the living God on the pages of His Word, our Bibles, and not be taken away in the deceptions that pervade all around us. Let's maintain a confidence with this so that we can help those that are deceived in this error. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're thank you for this time together. Thank you for an opportunity to consider these things. We feel, I do Lord, very inadequately touching upon these things because there's so much involved in them, so many implications, so many things to say, so many things to talk about, so much to learn from your Word that I feel we scarcely do it any justice in the short time that we have to discuss it. But Lord, I pray that you would impress these things upon our hearts and minds, help us, Lord, to consider them, help us to lay hold of them so that we might be more faithful preachers of the gospel, so that we might be more faithful in the Great Commission work of evangelism and discipleship, that we might be more faithful to you as we adhere to what you have said in your revealed Word and that we could, Lord, glorify you and fervently living for you as we pursue our sanctification in the Christian life. Help us, Lord, now to understand, guide us, Spirit of God, do that work which you gloriously and graciously do to guide us into truth according to your Word. Help us to understand these things and bless them to our hearts. Lord, we love you and we thank you for your Word. Thank you, Lord, that it is sufficient and complete and authoritative and true. Thank you, Lord, for the Lord Jesus Christ and how He has displayed there for us and how we can come to know Him through your Word. And please bless it to us for your glory. Lord, we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.