In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we'll read beginning of verse 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning of verse 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away into these dumb idols, even as you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed. And no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now these are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one in the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. We'll stop there. Just reading 1 Corinthians 12, verses one through 11. My message today is on the subject of the gifts of the spirit, the gifts of the spirit. This will be only the first part of the message, and today we'll focus more on the temporary gifts of the Spirit, and kind of an introduction on the subject, but it's one that I was asked about recently, and it got me on a study on the subject, and as I began to study and look into it, I felt that the Lord would have me preach on this. And so here we are. I believe it'll probably be a two-part sermon, but maybe a little more, we'll see. I'll say right away that in the midst of this, another question was raised by more than one individual. was raised by a person I was talking to, and then also by a preacher that I was talking to, and that was the question over what's the difference between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost? And so perhaps that question has come to your mind, and even as I read this, you see the word Spirit of God right there in verse three, and then also Holy Ghost. and sometimes you'll find the word Holy Spirit, and sometimes you'll find the word Holy Ghost. What's the difference? Well, the difference is there isn't. And the reason why sometimes the translators use the word Holy Spirit and sometimes Holy Ghost, it's not because the Greek words are different, they're all the same Greek word, The difference is that the word spirit, from the way I understand it, comes to us through the Latin and ghost comes to us through the Saxon or the older English. But some, some preachers do get pretty hung up on that and try to correct everywhere that the Holy Ghost is mentioned, they'll correct it to Holy Spirit. It's the same thing, the same name, same word. No need, I don't think, to really get too caught up. Sometimes, and I know there's some good preachers who may disagree with me on that, but some preachers do kind of make a mountain out of a molehill. And I believe that's what's happening there. The translators weren't wrong. when they said Holy Ghost, and they weren't wrong when they said Holy Spirit either. When we talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we're not talking about the initial gift of the Holy Spirit himself, because you see, all saints have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Go with me, if you will, to the book of John chapter seven. I want us to make sure we're clear on this, and if anyone listens to this on the internet, I believe there's a few folks that hear us on the sermon audio and YouTube, but in John chapter seven, verses 38 and 39, It says this, and the scripture is recording here. He that believeth on me, Jesus is speaking here, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Then if you go over to the book of Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10 and verse 45, And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as can with Peter because on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. And then on into Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four and verse six. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And so the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something that every child of God has, regardless of whether they've become a member of church, Whether they've been baptized in the water, whether they've been baptized scripturally or not, those who are saved, those who are saved, all those who are saved have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I believe that. I believe that is true of every man, woman, and child. Now, notice I didn't say baby. Everyone who is saved. Now, we can talk about infants who die in the womb and infants that die at a very, very young age, but that's a different subject. What I'm talking about is those who are saved, those who profess, those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. I'm talking about the saints of God. Every one of us, we have received the Holy Spirit. He is in us and with us. and will be with us throughout all our lives. So I'm not talking, when we talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we're not talking about the initial gift of the Holy Spirit himself. We're also not talking about gifts that sometimes are confused with natural abilities or talents. Understand, beloved, that a person may be born in this world with some certain strengths, some talents that can be developed over time. Spiritual gifts are not a product of birth, but of the power of the Holy Ghost. That's what I'm talking about here. And we'll see some of that here in just a little bit. Where do these come from? Well, of course, from the Holy Spirit, as we see there in our text in 1 Corinthians 12. In 1 Corinthians 12, in verse 4, he says, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but the same God, which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, for to one is given by the Spirit." In verse eight. So we notice that he's, for to one is given by the Spirit. That's the king. These are given by the Spirit of God, by the Holy Spirit. Over in the book of Ephesians, we won't get there too much today, but in Ephesians chapter four, notice how the scripture words gifts there. In Ephesians chapter four. In verse seven, going down to verse 11, it says, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he laid captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far up above all heavens that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. So what's the source? Well, we find here Christ is the source according to Ephesians chapter four. And over in James chapter one in verse 17, in James chapter one, In verse 17, James says, again, writing under inspiration of Holy Spirit, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So we see Where these gifts come from, they come from our great God. Our great God, who is three in one. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There are some groups who do have a great emphasis on the Holy Spirit. Now, sometimes I think that we've allowed them to rob us on the preaching of the Holy Spirit, But at the same time, we've got to get into the Bible and understand that the Holy Spirit does have a great part in our lives even today. A great part in the Lord's churches, a great part in the history of the church. A great part in the history of this church. A great part in our church even up until this very hour. And in your life and in my life. But we've got to understand something. The Holy Spirit does not operate contrary to the Father. He does not operate contrary to the Son. You see, there is no division among the Godhead, and He does not operate contrary to the Word of God. When we look at this, we wanna go back to our text, and we're gonna kinda park here for a little bit, there in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. and on into chapter 13. And we'll look at some other passages as well along the way. But for the remainder of our time, I want us to look at these gifts that are listed here. And I want us to consider these gifts And in this list here, I believe that we have here nine temporary gifts that were given. And then I'll look at why these were temporary. And then Lord willing, we'll look at some other gifts in the next sermon. But these gifts are the ones that get talked about a lot, quite frequently, especially when you get into tongues and some of those things. So, first of all, we gotta set the stage a little bit. Why is Paul writing to the Church of Corinth? Well, If you remember from your own personal reading of this epistle to the Church of Corinth and from some of our previous messages, Paul was writing to the Church of Corinth because there were some things going on at the church that was unscriptural. You see, here's the reality of it. An individual, A saved individual can backslide, go away from the truths of God's Word, and a whole church can also backslide and go away from the truths of God's Word. And the only way to get things straight is through the teachings of God's Word. And that's why Paul was writing to them. There was, the church at Corinth didn't have something that we have today. You see, we take it for granted, but we've gotten the completed scriptures. And this is gonna be very, very important as we go through this message. But the Church of Corinth did not have the completed scriptures. In fact, in fact, Not only did they not have the completed scriptures, but many of them probably had no scriptures or very few scriptures at home. And when they came together at church, when they assembled, they probably only had portions of the Old Testament. They probably didn't have everything. The New Testament wasn't completed, and so what was completed was being circulated. and copied among the churches, but it wasn't in every church yet. In other words, this, what you have in your hand, what you carry home every day, what you read every day, what you study, what you follow along and preach or what we preach from, this was a work in progress. And so, 1 Corinthians 11, we use it, we pull it up. I mean, 1 Corinthians, sorry, 1 Corinthians, we pull it up, we use it a lot. Study from, things come up, especially 1 Corinthians 11, whenever we talk about the head covering, things like that. These are things we take for granted, but in those times, they didn't quite have that. I will say that when it came to the head covering, it was understood. The churches were practicing that. Corinth had some issues and things were going on, and we find some things happening, especially down in there. They were misusing and abusing the Lord's Supper. Praise the Lord that these things were happening, not because they were bad, but because the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to them, and we've got it recorded so that God willing, keep us on track. Well, now he gets to chapter 12, or what we know as chapter 12, and he's talking about spiritual gifts. He said, I don't want you to be ignorant, okay? So right off the bat, we understand something that This church, the Church of Corinth, as off the rails as they were, as off the rails as they were, there were still some spiritual gifts, and he wanted them to know about those spiritual gifts. Okay? And so now we've got record of them. Now, what were they? Well, first of all, he says, He says, there are diversities of gifts, verse four, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. Diversities of operations, but it's the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of Spirit is given to every man to profit with Him. In other words, not everybody's gonna have the same spiritual gifts. Understand that. Understand not everybody's gonna have the same spiritual gift. That's the Spirit's business and He's working in and through the church in these things. 4 to 1 verse 8 is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom. So that's the first one listed, wisdom. This was the ability to supernaturally make decisions or speak not on the basis of study or forethought, but through the direct work of the Holy Spirit on the mind. So, check this out. In the book of Matthew, chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10, verses 19 and 20, He says, but when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak. For he shall be giving you in the same hour what you shall speak. For it's not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. So we see that Jesus is telling them, hey, when you get delivered up, don't put any thought to what you're gonna say. The Spirit's gonna give you that power. Over in the book of Acts chapter six. Acts chapter six. Begin at verse eight, going down to verse 10. It says, and Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. The Holy Spirit gave certain men the ability to supernaturally speak without any kind of study or to be able to take any thought into what they were going to say. But God gave them this word of wisdom in the scriptures. And, you know, we know that whenever Paul wrote to Timothy, and he told him there in 2 Timothy 2, in 2 Timothy 2, in verse 15, He said, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So it would be a bad mistake for a man of God to get up into the pulpit, for instance, without taking and spending time in study, thinking that, well, Matthew chapter 10 says take no thought in what you're gonna say. and getting up in the pulpit and just, I've heard some preachers that seem that way, but that would be a mistake, you see. That'd be a mistake. Certainly, certainly God does bring to our minds the things that we've studied, the things that we've heard, recollections. But listen, folks, This was a temporary gift that was given. Someone who neglects their Bible, neglects the study of God's word, is not going to get up and speak. God is not, God is not given these sorts of gifts today. Going along with that is the word of knowledge. This was the ability to know facts and comprehend situations by virtue of a direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter five, in Acts chapter five, look at what it says here. Acts chapter 5 beginning verse 1. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession and kept back part of the price. His wife also being privy to it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? and to keep back part of the price of the land. Whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And then, when I was hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost. Great fear came on all them that heard these things. the Word of Knowledge. Peter was gifted with this here and we see that he understood what was going on supernaturally, direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. If someone today were to make such an accusation, it better be following Scripture by two or three witnesses, rather than making an accusation like that. You see. Because these things are temporary gifts. So we kind of look there at our text. There in 1 Corinthians 12. Sorry, 1 Corinthians 12. Verse nine he says, to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same spirit. So we come to the next two, faith and healing. So what's he mean by faith? Well the gift of faith is not, at least here, is not to be confused with the saving faith which is given to all saints. Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 8 and 9, he says, for by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. So faith, saving faith is a gift of God, that's given to everyone, but these gifts in our text aren't given to everybody. What he's talking about here is a miracle-working faith. Over in Acts chapter three, Acts chapter three, Begin at verse one. Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. A certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, and they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms. Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew it was he which set for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. So the gift of faith, this miracle working faith, gift of healing along with that, the ability to heal at will. Over in that book of Acts chapter 9, Acts 9 verses 32 through 35, And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to saints which dwelt at Lydda. There he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and he turned to the Lord. You see, as you keep going down there in 1 Corinthians, and on into chapter 13, He says, in verse 2, "...though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing." Great things could be done with this miracle-working faith and these gifts of healing. As we think about these things, we see how they were done in the New Testament. Over in the book of John chapter 10, John 10 and verse 38, John 10 and verse 38, He says, but if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him. And then in Acts chapter 4, Acts 4, 29 and 30, And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done by thy name of thy holy child Jesus. These things were done as a sign in those days, but not anymore. Now, I know I know there's some fellows out there who parade around, well not parade around, they have TV shows and they set up tents in places where they do their fake healings, smack people over the head, that sort of thing. Benny Hinn and those fellows. Heard one of them. in 2020 command coronavirus to be gone, those sorts of things. But I wonder, I wonder what's going on because I don't see them going to heal people in hospitals. I don't see them going to help people who legitimately need help. And Mark, well, I do believe that God is still in the healing process. I just, it just isn't happening the way that, the way it was going on in these days, you see. In fact, over in the book of James chapter five, James chapter 5 and verses 14 and 15. Well, verse 13, 14, and 15, it says, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry, let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." You see, prayer. Through the power of prayer, God does heal people, and miraculously. but not through the gifts of healing that they talk about. Not in the same way that they did in the New Testament. The working of miracles is the next one that we want to look at. In verse 10 of our text, it says, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another interpretations of tongues. So the working of miracles, this was the ability to do miracles as a sign or a confirmation that one's message was from God. And so we have a group of people who are out there looking for Miracles, looking for miracles. Well, in Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews chapter two began verse one. I'm going down to verse four. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of 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 unto us by them that heard him? God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. You see, these miracles were given as a sign or confirmation. But as we'll see very, very shortly, We don't need these miracles. These miracles have been done away with. We have the word of God. Prophecy. Prophecy was the ability to receive and to convey to others messages or doctrines that came by direct revelation from God. The Bible was written by prophets over in 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1, 19-21 We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So the Bible was written by men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. They received the word by prophecy. How is it that a man like Moses was to write of things that happened prior to the flood, but by prophecy? How do we know he got it right? He got it. right because he got it from the Holy Spirit. How is it that John would write the things of the revelation which have not come to pass yet? Well, he got it because it came to him from the Holy Spirit. There's the gift of the discerning of spirits. This was the ability to discern whether those who claimed to exercise spiritual gifts were of God or Satan. As I said this morning, we don't. We don't have to rely on opinion or anything because we have the Word of God. But before the Word of God was written, how did they determine? Before it was all completed, how did they determine? Well, certain men were given the gifts of discerning spirits. Praise God for that. Satan could have had a heyday in the early churches. They didn't have the completed Word of God. But the Spirit gave certain men the gifts of discerning spirits." Tongues. Oh, tongues. Over in the book of Acts chapter 2, there's much misunderstood about tongues, but tongues is the supernatural ability to speak in languages that had not been acquired through study. You see, much in the same way that these other gifts worked, like the gift of wisdom to make decisions or speak, not on the basis of study or forethought, so it was with tongues. It was languages that they never studied or perhaps maybe not even ever heard before. over in Acts chapter 2, the Bible does make itself out to be the greatest commentary of the Bible. You can figure things out on your own if you don't have a commentary. I mean, I praise the Lord for commentaries, and when I get to heaven, after I've seen Jesus, I look forward to meeting John Gill and Matthew Henry Brother Carroll and those other fellows that spent so many years writing the commentaries and strong and to take all those words and before computers tie them up with numbers and the Greek and how that's a lot of study and I thank God for those guys. I don't agree with them all down here, but I know up there we'll all agree. But you know, if there were no commentaries, we could sit down with the Bible. Even if we don't have any of the Greek, we could sit down with the King James Bible and figure things out. Some things that people get all muddled up pretty badly. And tongues is one of those things. And in Acts chapter two, in verse one, it says, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all, with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it set upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. I have a line out in the margin, arrows connecting verse four with verse five, with verse six. And outside of that, I have tongues equals languages. See what's happening here? They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, and then in verse six, every man heard them speak in his own language. They heard what these men were speaking, and what did they hear? They heard their own language. And if that's not clear enough, in verse seven it says, and they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? Verse eight, and how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? And then, as if Luke, as if the Holy Spirit was going to direct Luke to correct some future error that was gonna come because nothing comes as a surprise, he lists them. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, the dwellers of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, And on he goes. Why does he list them specifically? So that we know. So that you know. So that the Pentecost will know. And everyone else who takes time to read this to know that these people were speaking languages from those countries. That's what tongues are. Just like God had done at the Tower of Babel. Remember when they all got together with one accord to try to do some bad things and God flipped the switch and they all started speaking in languages that they never had learned or heard before, and they went off their own ways? God did the same thing there, only in a different way, because they had come together for a good purpose. You see, how is it? How is it that God takes a small group and does something great with them? He does. He does something marvelous supernaturally. Peter couldn't say, well, look what we did. Now, if Peter and the apostles got together there, and they said, look, we got Jews spread out all over the place, and we got all these languages, let's have a crash course and get some people together and learn these languages. They might have could have done it, but it would have taken them several weeks, months, maybe even years to get stuff going. And by the end of their life, they could have had some fruit of it. And Peter could have wrote and Luke could have recorded it and said, look at the great things that we have done. But the Holy Spirit did some great things there. So that all the praise and the glory goes to God. And that's what it was about, wasn't it? That's what all these gifts were about. The praise and glory to God. Not only was there tongues, but there was also the gift of the interpretation of tongues. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14. In verse two. 1 Corinthians 14 in verse two. It says, for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man speaketh, for no man understandeth him, how be it in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. And then, if you go on down, he says, I would that you all speak with tongues, in verse five, but rather that you prophesied. For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues. except he interpret so that the church may receive edifying. And then verse 13, wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. So there was also the ability to supernaturally interpret languages for those who speak in tongues. We see in this that contrary to the teachings of many, the gift of tongues in the New Testament was not intended to be manifested by every believer. And so we can see that there in a straightforward reading of 1 Corinthians 12. 7 through 11 and 27 through 30. Why do we believe that these are temporary? Well, God gave these gifts to the church to authenticate the church founded by Jesus Christ. The early churches had some special needs. For example, they did not, as I mentioned, have the complete word of God. As I said, we take for granted the fact that we can carry around all 66 books of the Bible, read it, study it. Churches didn't have that. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Corinthians chapter 13, beginning in verse 8. Charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies they shall fail, whether there be tongues they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. You see, As Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was writing about these gifts and he said, there's coming a time when the tongues will cease, the prophecies as a gift, they'll fail. Knowledge, the gift of knowledge, it'll vanish away. He said, right now we know in part, we prophesy in part, but something's gonna happen. That which is perfect is come. When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. What's he talking about? Well, some commentators, and this is where you have to be careful with commentaries, some commentators will say that the text here is speaking of the coming of Christ, and not the coming of the word of God. However, there's a couple of problems with that. And again, if you take your time and just read the English, you'll understand where I'm coming from. It's hard for me to believe that Paul would have called Jesus that. You see, perfect, look at what he says, for when that which is perfect is come. Perfect here is applied to a neuter object. Paul would not have spoken of Jesus as a that. He would have said, when he which is perfect is come. But he didn't. He said, when that which is perfect. The context of this whole passage has nothing to do with the coming of Christ. but it does have to do with differing degrees of revelation. Scripture must always be interpreted in light according to its context. Partial revelation, spiritual gifts. Complete revelation, God's word. This is what he's talking about. When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. These folks were squabbling over gifts. He says, hey, that's all gonna be done away with. Something better's coming. In fact, he tells them, verse 11, when I was a child, I spake as a child, understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass dartedly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. He tells them, if we were to put it in modern language, folks, it's time to grow up. It's time to grow up. Somebody says, well, the Bible's not spoken of as being perfect. Well, it is in James chapter one and verse 25. Look at this. James one and 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed. The perfect law of liberty. What's he talking about? Well, we go up just a little bit and we see. In verse 23, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgeteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not forgetful here, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." The perfect law of liberty, the word of God. That's what he's talking about. And of course, Now that the word of God is completed, as we were told, as we looked at in the last message, there in Revelation chapter 22, in verses 18 and 19, as we bring this to a close, He says, for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. There's no need for these things anymore. We have God's Word. We have everything that we need. These miraculous gifts were great. They were given for a time and for a purpose. But now there's no need for them. Now, as I said, there are still gifts that are given. We'll look at some of those, Lord willing, soon. But understand this. Faith, hope, and love. He says, these, these are eternal. The greatest of these is charity. We keep that in mind. We follow the things of God's word. We stand with him and his word will never go wrong. May God add a blessing to the preaching of his word.