The Apostles and Sign Gifts #1

What were the apostolic credentials that showed their authority? How do we know that these apostles were credentialed in order to exercise authority on behalf of Christ? The apostles performed signs and wonders, but why?

Are followers of Christ today expected to do the same? Pastor Don Green will tackle those questions and more on this edition of the Truth Pulpit as he takes us further into our series, The Holy Spirit Today. Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and our teacher has titled today's message, The Apostles and Sign Gifts.

Don, what you'll be covering is still very relevant to us here in the 21st century, isn't it? Well, my friend, today's broadcast dives into one of the favorite subjects of mine in Scripture, the role of the apostles. And the question is this, how do you know who speaks for God today? There are plenty of people who would tell you that you need to do signs and wonders in order to get people to believe.

But that's not true. What we rely on is the writings of the apostle that God has recorded for us in Scripture. When this is clear, so much of the Bible becomes real and alive to you. Stay with us today as we study these things on the Truth Pulpit.

Thank you, Don. Let's join our teacher now as he continues teaching God's people God's Word on the Truth Pulpit. In Ephesians chapter 2, as Paul is talking about the church, about believers today, he has explained to them that they have been reconciled to God by an act of God in saving them through faith in Jesus Christ. And whereas before they were outside of the family of God, outside of the covenants that God made with Israel, now they have been brought near, they have been given access. We who are in Christ have been given access to God through faith in Christ and our access is in the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 18. It says, through Him, meaning through Christ, we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. We both, Jews and Gentiles, have our access in one common salvation based on one act by Christ at the cross, and through one Spirit we are given access to the Father. This is the spiritual reality of true salvation. And so he goes on and he says in verse 19, here's one of the consequences of that. He says in verse 19, so then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household.

Now watch this. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, based on the foundation of the apostles, the apostles of Jesus Christ laid a unique foundation for the church upon which everything else is built. You must understand that. You must understand the unique authority that was given to the apostles to speak on behalf of Christ if you are going to be protected from the multiplied spiritual ills that are all around us in the so-called Christian church here today.

And let me just state this by way of summary. The 12 apostles of Jesus Christ had a unique authority to speak on behalf of him. Christ gave them authority that does not belong to us today. They were vessels, they were instruments of the revelation of God that is not true of anyone today. They spoke direct revelation from God that has been recorded in writing for us in the scripture in a way that's not given to us today. And if you understand the unique foundation that was laid by the apostles, whether you realize it just yet or not, there is going to be a great protection in your spiritual life from deception. There will be great protection for our church as we build on these things and as we reject and refuse the spirit of the age in the church today and go to what scripture says, to go what the apostles have said, there will be great protection for us all in that. There is spiritual health in that.

And you say, is this really all that important? Well, if you were with us, Pastor MacArthur was with us speaking from this pulpit. You'll remember that he emphasized the absolute essential nature of bringing to God worship that is in truth. God is a spirit, John 4 24 says, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. They must worship from their heart, not according to external ritual, and they must worship him in the way that God has appointed his worship to be made. They must worship according to what God has required. You see, the whole problem, maybe not the whole problem, 85% of the problem, we'll go back to that key number today, much of the problem in the church today is that men want to worship God according to their own desires and their own ideas. They want to spin out worship according to what's going on in their mind and what makes them feel good, regardless of whether it is actually that which has been revealed by God.

Regardless of whether it is actually true or not. As long as they have the experience, as long as they have the emotions, they assume it's true worship. Not recognizing that truth resides in the pages of Scripture, not in the emotions and feelings and experiences of man.

That is so vital for you to understand. The church is filled with false experience, filled with false ideas. We must know the truth in order to give God worship that is true.

In order to give him true worship and not spend our lives in thoughtless idolatry. And that's why this is so important, and that's why the ground of the apostles, the foundation of the apostles is so very important. Let me make a summary statement here as we enter into this.

The apostles of Jesus Christ, the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, had unique authority, exclusive authority to speak on his behalf. And I'm going to justify this claim in a moment. I'm just giving you a summary so that you'll know where we're going. For some reason I'm hooking on to medical analogies here today, and some of you can relate to this. We're familiar with the concept of a medical power of attorney, right? Before you go into the hospital, you prepare a document in writing and says, I'm going to give Bill Jones authority to make medical decisions on my behalf. And because you've given that power to him, he is able to represent you to other people, able to represent you to medical professionals, and to speak with full authority on your behalf because you gave that authority to him ahead of time. He has a power of attorney, he has the power, he has the authority to speak on your behalf in a way that no one else does. I can't just walk into a hospital and say, this is the medical treatment that Keith wants.

He didn't want to be on any machines or anything like that. The doctor would look at me like I had a hole in my head. Who are you? By what right do you say that you can speak on behalf of Keith?

Well, then I'm kind of exposed, right? I'm an imposter. I'm not the real thing. However, if Keith actually gave me that power of attorney, and the doctor asks me that, said, Doctor, I understand. Here's the document. You see, this is his signature, and that's why I have the authority. I have the credentials to speak on his behalf.

And the doctor accepts that, and now the whole situation has been changed. A legal representative needs proper credentials in order to act on behalf of someone else. And without those credentials, he has no authority to speak on behalf of someone else or to act upon someone else. The apostles were like legally appointed representatives by Christ himself, and therefore had the authority to speak for him in a way that is not given to others.

And that's what we need to see here. We want to ask this question and then answer it with three proofs. What were the apostolic credentials that showed their authority? How do we know that these apostles were credentialed in order to exercise authority on behalf of Christ?

That's one aspect of the question. But as we answer that question, we're going to see an answer that is evident as well. The credentials that were given to the apostles in the first century do not exist today, so that there are no apostles of Christ that are living today. There are no men who have the authority to give revelation on his behalf because they do not have the credentials to do so.

And we see that from the writings of the pages of Scripture itself. And the question becomes, in light of what we're trying to address, how do apostolic credentials relate to the existence of sign gifts in the church today? What can we say about the apostles of Christ first of all? What are their credentials? First of all, if you're taking notes, you'll want to write this down. The apostles were directly appointed by Christ.

They were directly appointed by Christ. Now, let's back up for a moment. As someone pointed out to me, Pastor John MacArthur says, let's take a deep breath.

That's okay, he can do that. My way of saying these things is let's take a step back. He gives me a little step in the pulpit, I get a little bit of exercise while we do this.

Let's step back and remember something really critical. That's the foundation of the foundation. You know, the Scripture says Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. Jesus Christ has absolute prerogative to do whatever he wants to do, right?

Because he is Lord. And that means that it is Christ's prerogative to determine the men who would speak on his behalf. And it belongs to Christ. It belongs to Christ alone, watch this, to appoint his own spokesman according to what he thinks is best, what he wants to do. And Christ alone has the authority to appoint his own spokesman. We cannot appoint ourselves to be an apostle of Christ. We cannot appoint ourselves in order to speak directly on his behalf. That is a prerogative that belongs to him alone. Only Christ appoints his own spokesman. And beloved, one of the aspects of that is if a representative is not actually appointed by Christ, then he is a fraud. He does not have authority to speak. He can be safely ignored.

In fact, he must be ignored. How can we know who the apostles are? Scripture lays it out for us in many passages. The apostles can be known, first of all, because Jesus personally chose them. In the flesh he chose them. Beloved, this ultimately all comes down to whether we will respect the authority of Christ or not. This is the ultimate issue, is do we respect the authority of Christ enough to give him his realm of appointing his representatives and, I would say, not to try to usurp it, not to try to inject ourselves into realms that he has not given to us.

Very, very critical. In Mark chapter 3, it says very plainly, Jesus went up on the mountain and summoned those whom he himself wanted and they came to him. And he appointed twelve so that they would be with him and that they could send, and he could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons. And he appointed the twelve.

You see the second emphasis on twelve? And then it walks through the names, Simon, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James again, Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus appointed these men because they were the men that he himself wanted, the men that he himself chose.

These men providentially were in that geographic area in that chronological period of time. Somehow the Lord providentially directed them to the realm of Christ and Christ, according to a predetermined plan, said these are the ones that I want. And this is laid out for us in the Scriptures. These men did not appoint themselves, Jesus chose them. A point that he makes remarkably clear in the upper room in John 15. Turn there with me if you will. John 15, and remember we're laying a foundation that is necessary to make other statements in the future. And so I'm just asking you to follow along.

If you're doubtful to trust the fact that this is actually going somewhere critical. Jesus speaking to the disciples in the upper room said in verse 16 of John 15, he said, you did not choose me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name he may give to you. Scripture says Jesus appointed them. Jesus makes a point of them with this circle of men himself. This was my choice.

You are the ones that I have chosen. He said, well who does Jesus think he is? Well, he's Lord.

He's the king of the universe. He has absolute prerogative to do whatever he wants to do, and it pleased Christ to choose these men to be his disciples, to be his apostles, to be his legal representatives on earth. And the fact that he hasn't chosen others like that, doesn't mean that anybody's been denied anything that was rightfully theirs. This is what Christ gets to do. When you're Lord you get to do whatever you want to do, and we need to recognize that there is a distinction between the apostles and everyone else. Let's go to the book of Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. And here the good doctor Luke writing the second volume of his history, Luke being the first volume, the book of Acts being the second volume, introduces it this way. And watch how the understanding of the apostolic circle is assumed in what he says.

Chapter 1 verse 1. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven. After he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. These were the men that Christ chose to be his legal representatives as they went out to preach the gospel. They were given a unique authority that was not given to all men generally, or even to all of the disciples of Christ generally. They had a unique authority to speak on his behalf.

They had power of attorney in a way that others did not. And you can see this also later in chapter 1 of Acts beginning in verse 23. You remember that they had to replace Judas Iscariot so that they would have the full 12 circle of men again. And in verse 23 we see that they put forward two men. Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two what you have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the 11 apostles. Notice what their prayer was. Lord, show us the man that you have chosen. They drew lots in order to take all human influence out of the decision.

Proverbs 16 31 says that the outcome of the lot belongs to the Lord. They drew lots, and the lot fell to one man and not the other. Recognizing that in this unique time in the purpose of their ministry that they needed the Lord to show which one he chose.

Why? Because it wasn't up to them. They did not have the prerogative to choose their own replacement. Right in that, you get an entire refutation of the entire Roman Catholic Church who think that they can delegate and appoint the successors of the apostle Peter.

It's not true. There's nothing in Scripture suggesting that whatsoever. And here's what I want you to see, is that Scripture writers carefully note Christ's selection of the apostles. Scripture makes a big point of this.

Why? Because it was through the apostles that God was going to give his revelation to the church. It was through the apostles and their close intimate circle that all of the New Testament revelation would come to us. And so Christ chooses these men who had been providentially prepared for the position.

The Spirit of God works through them, works through their writings to secure for us the written Word of God, the very word that he would have us to do, giving us that which could come from no other source because there was no other source authorized. Can you imagine the chaos, those of you that own cars or own homes, the chaos that would come if anybody could sign your name and just deal with your property just because they say that they can? You would be outraged at the violation of your prerogative. You would be outraged that someone takes what belongs to you, someone hijacks what you have, what you have done, what you have purchased, and converts it all to their own purposes. None of you would tolerate that. You would put a halt to it because you do not have authority to speak for me. Well today in the church people are more than happy to have anybody say, I speak for Christ and God spoke to me at 4 o'clock in the morning this morning and let me tell you what we said as we were chatting over coffee. I was chatting with the Almighty over coffee.

Are you kidding me? This is not the way that God has appointed for His Word to be distributed. He appointed the apostles to be the unique vessels of His revelation and they were pointed directly by Christ in a way that is evident in Scripture. Now there was a second qualification that was critical and as you see, what you're going to find as we go through this over the next weeks, what you're going to see as you see the real from Scripture, the real qualifications and what the real sign gifts looked like in the ministry of the apostles, you're going to see the utter impossibility of that being replicated today. You're going to see that the imposters of today and you're going to see that the games that they play could not possibly be the real thing. It can't be repeated is what we're going to see. Here we've seen the apostles were directly appointed by Christ.

Secondly, we get to a qualification that cannot be repeated today and that is this. The apostles were eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They were eyewitnesses of the resurrection. You should still be in the book of Acts chapter 1. After the death of Judas, his apostolic office needed to be fulfilled.

And you couldn't just choose any man to do that. This man had to have particular qualifications before he could serve in that capacity and the circle of the apostles recognized that in verse 21. They said, Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went out and among us beginning with the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up from us.

Watch this. One of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. We need a man who has seen the resurrected Christ. This was a non-negotiable requirement to be an apostle.

They had to have seen the risen Christ with their physical eyes. Look at chapter 10 verse 39. Chapter 10 verse 39 of Acts. Peter here is speaking and he says in Acts 10 verse 38, You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. We are witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible.

Watch this. Not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. That is to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead and he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Peter says we're witnesses of the things of which we speak. We were with him. We ate with him. We spent time with him. We drank with him after he rose from the dead. He's saying we have a unique authority to speak on his behalf because God chose us for this role. God chose us to have experiences that have not been given to all the people. We've been uniquely qualified.

Only the eyewitnesses of Jesus' resurrection were eligible to be apostles. We'll have to pause there for today, but Pastor Don Green will present part two of his message titled The Apostles and Sign Gifts on our next broadcast as he continues our series The Holy Spirit Today. Join us then here on The Truth Pulpit.

Right now, though, Don's back here in studio with a special resource offer. Well, my friend, I am committed to the dynamic of verbal preaching. I love to preach and speak. I think there's a dynamic when a preacher opens the Word of God to hearers that the audio component of that is a means that God uses greatly in the lives of those who hear. But I also understand that sometimes you want to go back and study what was said more closely.

We have transcripts of all of my full-length sermons available on our website, and I would encourage you to go there to find them and to be able to study the messages more closely through the written Word as you've also enjoyed it through the spoken Word. Thanks, Don. And friend, to find those and all of our resources, just visit thetruthpulpit.com. Again, that's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, inviting you back next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word here on The Truth Pulpit.