By John Foll, written 3/4/2017
© Copyright 2017 John Foll
This was written as a response to a question in Disqus.com:
Did
the Spiritual Gifts Die with the Apostles?
The Gifts of the
Spirit are not gone from among those who have given themselves completely to
God.
For over 100 years,
God’s church as a whole, not as individuals, has been in a lukewarm state as
Jesus predicted it would be in Revelation 3:14-22, before the Judgement. Revelation
chapter 2 and 3 reveal to us that there are seven church “periods”, beginning
with the Church in the book of Acts to the Seventh Church, just before the
Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world. There have been more than
one scholar and more than one denomination that taught this. We believe that God has given a measure of
the Spirit to each of the Seven Churches in each of the seven ages, but not
everyone has accepted the Spirit or met the conditions to receive the Spirit.
See Joel 2 for the conditions: complete repentance.
* Proof that God’s church has
been for over 100 years in a lukewarm state is outside the scope of this
article.
* We believe that in each of
the periods of God’s church there have been people who have had not only the
Fruits of the Spirit, but the Gifts of the Spirit as well.
But to answer the question
proposed on Disqus.com: ‘Did the gifts die with the Apostles?’ No! But
it should be clear to all that there is something wrong with a lot of God’s
church today, since they are not bearing the Christian fruits of the Spirit of
peace, love, joy, faith, hope, self-control, etc. How do we know this? By their fruits shall you know them. Matthew
7:16-20. There is unkindness,
lack of love, lack of peace, addictions, falsehoods, worldliness, strife, and wickedness, yes, even among those professing to know God and His Son Jesus.
But many seek to excuse themselves and there are many false teachers that teach
people to excuse their lack of love and godliness in their life, but the Bible is clear that the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life – but only given to the humble
and the penitent. Romans 6:23; Luke 18:13-14. Jesus clearly promised the
Gift of the Holy Spirit to all of His disciples, which should be all Christians,
since all Christians should want to be Jesus’ disciple, and they should all be
filled with the Holy Spirit. If they
really loved Jesus, they would be His disciple! Acts 1:4-5; John 14:16-17;
Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16, Acts 2:3-4, Luke 13:26-33.
Jesus’ answer to the First
Church of Ephesus gives us the reason why the Gifts of the Spirit are not
apparently seen here in our day, to the same extent as in the book of Acts:
Because God’s people have lost their first love for Him! Revelation 2:4-5. This
passage also tells us how God’s church can get the Holy Spirit back … if they
repent and do their first works. What
works? By becoming truly converted and loving Jesus all the way, and He
will give us the power to do His works. We cannot do this ourselves, we must
submit fully to God, and receive this power from Him if we want it. Then we
will preach the gospel to the world with great love, joy and power, and love our
neighbor as ourselves! This was the church that started out strong in the power
of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, but by the time Paul died and for sure after John
the beloved died, the church had lost their first love for Jesus and His
Father! And they also lost the full power of the Holy Spirit as well. The
Church has yet to recover this full strength yet in our day. The book of Hebrews also gives us a clue
too as to why many don’t have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their life,
because of unbelief! (It doesn’t mention this specifically, but this is an
application of what it says.) See Hebrews 3:19; 4:6, 22.
Those who have no
desire to live by the gospel or to preach it to the world, or who have lost
their first love for Jesus or never had it, cannot have the wonderful sweet
promise of the Holy Spirit, nor the Fruits nor the Gifts of the Spirit either,
unless they have a great change made in them willingly! But if they have
a change in their mind and give themselves to Jesus all the way, they should
receive the Holy Spirit in full. Note what Peter here says, “And we are
witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God
has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:32 NASB. So we see here that the Holy Spirit is given by God only to those who
obey Him (or want to obey Him), this
implies that they have submitted themselves completely to Him. There is no
middle ground here.
The Gifts of the
Spirit cannot be the gifts of the Spirit, without the full outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. I. e. if someone wants to have the Gifts of the Spirit,
they MUST first have the Fruits of the Spirit. Their heart must be converted and completely devoted to God, if this is
not the case, they do not have the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Or
they do not want to obey God, Acts 5:32, or do not want to be Jesus’
friend and do all that He commanded, especially that we would love one another,
and everyone in the world. John 15:14, 12-13. The full outpouring of the Holy Spirit is given on the condition of
complete repentance and yielding to God. See Joel 2 and Jeremiah 31:31-34. There
are popular teachings nowadays that say we don’t need to be concerned too much,
if at all, about obeying God or wanting to live a righteous life, or even to make
a full confession, and some imply that it is a sin to do so. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good
evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their
own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Isaiah 5:20-21 KJV.
Unless a person has a
desire to come clean with God, and make a complete repentance, they will never
get the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit, nor the Fruits of the Spirit, nor
the Gifts of the Spirit. God’s
best gifts are only for those who love Him all the way, and more than anything
and everything else. But there is a false Holy Spirit out there, from ‘the
father of lies’, and you can get this one quite easily without doing anything
that Jesus or the Bible says that we should do, because it requires no cross to
bear, and no confession to make, and no obedience to render. 2 Corinthians
11:13-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11. But we
would rather have the true outpouring of the Holy Spirit and keep it, because
as the song says, ‘‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His
word.’ By
Louisa M. R. Stead. If any
will repent, and get their first love for Jesus, and give their heart
completely to Him, and want to obey Him and love to obey Him, they too can get
this ‘promise of the Father’ that Jesus promised to all Christians! Jesus’ sheep will all hear His voice, and
follow Him wherever He goes, want to obey Him, and they will have His Spirit
and belong to Him and have life abundantly. John 10:27-29; Romans 8:9,14;
Revelation 14:4. Jesus says, “'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he
with Me. 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My
throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.'”
Revelation 3:20-21 NASB. Amen.
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