Discerning Signs and Wonders

This is the first in a series of three messages. In this, number one, I'll seek to analyze a problem that has arisen in many sections of the church and in many parts of the world. In the next message, I'll seek to analyze how the problem arose. And in the third message, I'll consider ways to guard against that problem arising again.

The title of this first message is, Let Us Honor God's Holy Spirit.

There has been in recent years a worldwide explosion of signs and wonders. Some have been biblical and helpful, others have been bizarre and unbiblical. Signs and wonders are not new. They are recorded in various passages of the Bible and in different periods of church history.

However, the current explosion extends more widely than any particular church or denomination and has attracted worldwide attention in both the religious and the secular media. I want to make it plain that I have no personal prejudice or anxiety concerning unusual manifestations. In actual fact, I have in my own lifetime experienced quite a number of them. They do not frighten me. I'm not negative about them.

As I recorded in my booklet, Uproar in the Church, my own personal encounter with Jesus in World War II began in a very unconventional way. In the middle of the night, in a barrack room of the British Army, I spent more than an hour on my back on the floor with my body first wracked by convulsive sobs and then filled with a river of laughter which grew continually louder.

Next morning, I found myself a completely different person, changed not by any act of my will, but by yielding to the supernatural power that had flowed through me. I then looked up various passages in the Bible that speak about laughter. To my surprise, I discovered that for God's people, laughter is not primarily, as we imagine, a reaction to something comical, but rather an expression of triumph over our enemies.

In Psalm 2, verse 4, David actually depicts God himself as laughing.

“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall hold them in derision.”

Here, God's laughter is not a reaction to some comedy that is being enacted on earth. Rather, it is his response to the ridiculous human midgets who have the effrontery to oppose his purposes. It is his expression of triumph over all the forces of evil. Sometimes God fills us with his own laughter that we may share in his triumph over those who are both his enemies and ours.

Later, I pastored a fellowship in London that met on the top floor of a five-story building. One evening, a lame man was miraculously healed and threw away his crutches. We all burst into spontaneous praise. At that moment, the building began to tremble and shake with the power of God. The praise and the shaking continued for about 30 minutes.

I realized that something similar was recorded of the early church in Acts 4, verse 31.

“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

At that particular time, our fellowship was conducting several evangelistic meetings each week in the streets of London, and we certainly needed more than natural boldness.

But with regard to any kind of manifestation, there are two questions that I always want to ask. Number one, is it a manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God, or is it a manifestation from some other source? And number two, and this is related to it, is the manifestation in question in harmony with scripture?

In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul says,

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God.”

In other words, the Holy Spirit is the author of all scripture, and he never says or does anything to contradict himself. Every genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit will in some way harmonize with scripture.

Now, I want to begin with some warnings of Jesus, particularly related to the end-time period in which I believe we are living. These are warnings against deception. They are found in Matthew chapter 24, verses 4, 5, 11, and 24. In other words, four times in 21 verses, Jesus specifically warns us against deception in this period of the close of the age.

The first thing Jesus said about the events leading up to his return, in Matthew 24, verse 4,

“Take heed that no one deceives you.”

In verse 5,

“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ the Messiah, and will deceive many.”

In verse 11,

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

And then in verse 24,

“For false Christs, false Messiahs, and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

So, Jesus warns us four times against deception. Anybody who shrugs off that warning or treats it lightly does so at the risk of his own soul. The greatest single danger in this end time is not sickness, nor poverty, nor persecution. It is deception. If anybody says, "It could never happen to me," it has already happened to that person, because that person is saying something could never happen that Jesus said would happen. That is a sufficient indication that such a person is deceived.

Next, I want to say something important about signs and wonders. They do not determine truth. It's very essential to understand that. Signs and wonders do not determine truth. Truth is already determined and established, and it is the word of God.

In John 17:17, John chapter 17, verse 17, Jesus is praying to the Father and he says,

“Your word is truth.”

And in Psalm 119, verse 89, the psalmist says,

“Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.”

Nothing that happens on earth can ever change the smallest little sign or letter of the word of God. It is forever settled in heaven.