The Signs & Wonders Power of the Spirit
Mark 16:20
The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with the and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. (NLT - ...confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.)
Romans 15:18-19
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.
2 Corinthians 12:12
The things that mark an apostle - signs, wonders and miracles...
1 Thessalonians 1:5
Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power (and) with the Holy Spirit...
Hebrews 2:3-4
God testified to (this salvation) by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit...
J.I. Packer Rediscovering Holiness
The New Testament regularly views the "signs and wonders" as the Father's authentication of the ministry of Jesus and his apostles - Acts 2:43, 5:12, 6:8 (Stephen), 8:6 (Philip), 9:32-42 (Peter), 14:3 (Paul & Barnabas), Romans 15:19 (Paul). There is no clear promise that these manifestations will continue after the apostles' ministry is over. But there is no denial that they will either.
New Year's Eve 1738, John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, together with members of the Holy Club and about sixty others, were gathered for a Watch Night Service in a Moravian meeting room on Fetter Lane, London.
From John Wesley’s Journal: “About three in the morning (now January 1, 1739), as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, in so much that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his majesty we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord’.”
This was the birth of the Methodist movement and the British Great Awakening
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Body, Mind and Spirit”, presented at the Rendle Short Memorial Lecture of the Bristol Library for Biblical Research, 1974 and published in Healing and the Scriptures, 1982
(Some evangelical Christians take the view) that spiritual gifts and similar manifestations – miracles and speaking in “tongues” – came to an end in the apostolic era and so demon possession came to an end at the same time. This seems to me not only dangerous, but to be completely unscriptural. They have no warrant for saying that baptism with the Spirit, or the giving of spiritual gifts, ended with the apostolic era. In the same way, there is no scriptural evidence for saying that the manifestations of demon activity – the activity of evil spirits – ended at that time. The moment you begin to say that, then the question I would ask you is – “How much of the New Testament do you believe? How much do you believe is relevant to us today?” When Paul says, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.”(Ephesians 6:12), was this only for Christians of the first century? Has it nothing to say to us?
“Questions and Answers - A Sermon on Healing and Demon Possession” from the MLJ Trust is VERY helpful
Questions and Answers - A Sermon on Healing and Demon Possession - YouTube
Lloyd-Jones discusses the work and person of the Spirit, and the meaning of being “filled with the Spirit”
The question as to whether a Christian can be demon possessed starts at about 27 minutes.
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eusebeia/07_015.pdf
(Lloyd-Jones) gives several helpful principles to guide Christians:
1. Believe that “miracles can happen at any moment in the will and sovereignty of God” while maintaining “our healthy and sceptical and critical attitude to everything that is reported to us.”
2. Most important of all, “we must not allow our doctrine to be determined by the phenomena.” Phenomena, such as claims to miraculous healing may be explained by spontaneous cures, the tremendous power of suggestion, etc.
3. No biblical miracles are “announced several days before-hand,” and there are no “reports of failures in the book of the Acts.” The effect of miracles was to fill people “with a sense of awe, and at times of fear.” There was no laughter or jocularity as is often witnessed today.
4. “Spiritists can produce certain results,” so we must warn people not to submit again to the power of evil spirits.
The Supernatural in Medicine
We are not to “abandon our biblical positions because of any phenomena. We are to try and test them all... But we are still to believe that ‘with God, all things are possible.’”
“Characteristics Of A New Life”
A man who is born again is a man who sees that revelation is An Absolute Necessity. How does he see it? Well, he sees it like this: he sees the truth about his old nature; he sees that he was blinded by sin and by the ‘god of this world’, and in that condition he could never believe. Of course, these things were foolishness to him, but now, he knows that this Operation of God has taken place in his Soul. He doesn’t argue about Miracles because it has happened to him. Miracles are a fact, the Supernatural, the Miraculous. He doesn’t argue about them. He knows they are true. He’s in the miraculous; he’s been lifted to the Realm of the Supernatural himself. So, he doesn’t argue about these things.
John Piper “Signs and Wonders Then and Now”
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/signs-and-wonders-then-and-now
I am one of those Baptist General Conference people who believes that "signs and wonders" and all the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are valid for today and should be "earnestly desired" (1 Corinthians 14:1) for the edification of the church and the spread of the gospel.
I also agree with the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached in 1965:
"It is perfectly clear that in New Testament times, the gospel was authenticated in this way by signs, wonders and miracles of various characters and descriptions. . . . Was it only meant to be true of the early church? . . . The Scriptures never anywhere say that these things were only temporary – never! There is no such statement anywhere." (The Sovereign Spirit)
On the one hand, we ought to honor the uniqueness of Jesus and the apostles. On the other hand we ought to be open to the real possibility that this too might be a unique moment in history, and in this moment it may well be God's purpose to pour out his Spirit in unprecedented revival—revival of love to Christ and zeal for worship and compassion for lost people and a missionary thrust with signs and wonders.
Signs and wonders can't save the soul (but) they can, if God pleases, shatter the shell of disinterest; they can shatter the shell of cynicism; they can shatter the shell of false religion. Like every other good witness to the word of grace, they can help the fallen heart to fix its gaze on the gospel where the soul-saving, self-authenticating glory of the Lord shines.
"Are Signs and Wonders for Today?"
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/are-signs-and-wonders-for-today
"Spiritual Gifts and the Sovereignty of God"
George Bowen Daily Meditations, 1873
1 Corinthians 14:26 (NIV) “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” (NLT – “But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.”)
On successive Sabbaths, having a definite object in view, we visit various churches.
We notice many points of difference in their mode of celebrating divine worship and seeking their own edification; but at length we come to a worshiping body whose customs are so fundamentally different from those of the churches previously visited, that the differences among the latter appear to be quite trifling in comparison.
(But) in the church that we have now stumbled upon (in the Epistle to the Corinthians), instead of one man officiating for all, while all sit silent except when they sing or make common responses, and where everything is arranged to exclude as much as possible anything like spontaneity, we find that when the members come together, “every one has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation.” One, two, or three speak in an unknown tongue; and another interprets. Prophets speak, two or three in succession. If anything is revealed to another who sits by, the first holds his tongue.
May we not learn from this that the Holy Ghost loves a larger liberty than is allowed by our arrangements? We cling to them as though they had been imposed by the solemn and unalterable decree of the Great Head of the Church: and a proposition to depart from them is regarded almost as treason against Christ. It is singular however that the apostolic church should be so completely defunct to us, as regards the force of its example in these matters.
There were some great abuses in those early churches; think you they were the greatest conceivable abuses? Is it not possible that the apostle Paul coming into one of our staid and orderly churches would look upon the whole of the decorous and tasteful service as one unmitigated abuse? He would perhaps say, “Is the Holy Ghost dead, that you make no provision for his manifestation? Is there no communion of the saints in the assemblies of the saints?”
A.B. Simpson
The Holy Spirit is our wonder-worker, our all-sufficient God and Guardian. And He is waiting in these days to work as mightily in the affairs of men as in the days of Moses, of Daniel and of Paul.
A.W. Tozer
Keys to the Deeper Life
For a generation certain evangelical teachers have told us that the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the death of the apostles or at the completion of the New Testament. This, of course, is a doctrine without a syllable of Biblical authority back of it. The result of this erroneous teaching is that spiritually gifted persons are ominously few among us. This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight. Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls and panel discussions. We need men with the gift of knowledge. In their place we have men with scholarship---nothing more. Thus, we may be preparing ourselves for the tragic hour when God may set us aside as so-called evangelicals and raise up another movement to keep New Testament Christianity alive in the earth.
The truth of the matter is that the Scriptures plainly imply the imperative of possessing the gifts of the Spirit. But I must also add a word of caution. The various spiritual gifts are not equally valuable, as Paul so carefully explains. (1 Corinthians 13:13, 14:1) Certain brethren have magnified one gift out of seventeen out of all proportion. Among these brethren there have been and are many godly souls, but the general moral results of this teaching have nevertheless not been good. In practice it has resulted in much shameless exhibitionism, a tendency to depend upon experiences instead of upon Christ and often a lack of ability to distinguish the works of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit. Those who deny that the gifts are for us today and those who insist upon making a hobby of one gift are both wrong, and we are all suffering the consequences of their error.
The Divine Conquest "The Spirit as Power"
One meaning of the word "power" is "ability to do." There precisely is the wonder of the Spirit's work in the Church and in the hearts of Christians, His sure ability to make spiritual things real to the soul. This power can go straight to its object with piercing directness; it can diffuse itself through the mind like an infinitely fine volatile essence securing ends above and beyond the limits of the intellect. Reality is its subject matter, reality in heaven and upon earth. It does not create objects that are not there but reveals objects already present and hidden from the soul. In actual human experience this is likely to be the first felt in a heightened sense of the Presence of Christ. He is felt to be a real Person and to be intimately, ravishingly near. Then all other spiritual objects begin to stand out clearly before the mind. Grace, forgiveness, cleansing take on a form of almost bodily clearness. Prayer loses its unmeaning quality and becomes a sweet conversation with Someone actually there. Love for God and for the children of God takes possession of the soul. We feel ourselves near to heaven and it is now the earth and the world that begin to seem unreal. We know them now for what they are, realities indeed, but like stage scenery here for one brief hour and soon to pass away. The world to come takes on a hard outline before our minds and begins to invite our interest and our devotion. Then the whole life changes to suit the new reality and the change is permanent. Slight fluctuations there may be like the rise and dip of the line on a graph, but the established direction is upward and the ground taken is held.
J.C. Ryle Old Paths
Does any one of us desire to help the Church of Christ? Then let him pray for a great outpouring of the Spirit. He alone can give edge to sermons, and point to advice, and power to rebukes, and can cast down the high walls of sinful hearts. It is not better preaching, and finer writing that is wanted in this day, but more of the presence of the Holy Ghost.
CAUTION
C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening on John 4:48
Why do you crave for signs and wonders? Is not the Gospel its own sign and wonder?
"A Word with Those Who Wait for Signs and Wonders" on Luke 11:20
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/a-word-with-those-who-wait-for-signs-and-wonders/#flipbook/
Cessationism
B. B. Warfield
Counterfeit Miracles
https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/warfield/warfield_counterfeit.html
The Cessation of the Charismata
http://www.the-highway.com/cessation1_Warfield.html
John MacArthur
“Charismatic Chaos” sermon series
http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermon-Series/219
“The Charismatic Movement” sermon series
http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermon-Series/53
Several sermons and blog entries on Gifts and Tongues