{"id":18491,"date":"2018-08-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-032-spiritual-gifts-12\/"},"modified":"2018-08-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-032-spiritual-gifts-12","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-032-spiritual-gifts-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 032: Spiritual Gifts 12"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18491","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-corinthians","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 032: Spiritual Gifts 12","sermon_date":"20180812","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5967,"sermon_slides":5974,"sermon_mp3":5975,"sermon_id":"81218101980","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":91,"chapter_and_verse":"14:21-22","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 32, Spiritual Gifts 12\n\n8-12-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 32\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, grateful for just another day to worship you and fulfill our purposes as\u00a0 Your people as we gather today.\u00a0 I do ask, Father, that people would leave here today change, either edified or if someone is here today that doesn\u2019t know You personally I pray that for them today is the day of salvation.\u00a0 So I just pray that You would orchestrate the activities of this church today from beginning to end and we\u2019ll look forward to what\u00a0 You are going to do today through Your people.\u00a0 And we asks these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!\n\nAll right.\u00a0 If you all can locate for me 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 15, and thank you to Jim for filling in\u00a0 last week, I appreciate that.\u00a0\u00a0 My family and I were in sunny southern California and the longer I stayed there the more grateful I was that I was a Texan even though I grew up there.\u00a0 I spoke at a conference and then we spent the rest of our time visiting with my parents, letting them see their granddaughter.\u00a0 So that was a blessing.\n\nIf you\u2019re just tracking with us for the first time we\u2019ve been continuing our study on Ecclesiology which is the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 And we\u2019re sort of in that section of ecclesiology dealing with the purpose of the church.\u00a0 Why does the church exist, what is it supposed to be doing.\u00a0 And in this study we\u2019ve seen that one of the great purposes of the church is to edify the saints.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice that on this slide I\u2019ve got three basic purposes for the church, which we\u2019ve gone over, and I got those from Robert Lightner and when I was in California last Friday, Friday of last week, I learned that he had passed away so he\u2019s just another example of that really great generation that sowed into my life and the lives of other people the kind of a Charles Ryrie generation.\u00a0 And I was saddened to see that he had passed away from the human point of view but very happy for him.\u00a0 So I just wanted to make you aware\u00a0 of that. Robert Lightener was one of the greats and that\u2019s the reason I make reference to him quite a bit. I held him and continue to hold him in very high esteem and may his tribe increase\u2026amen!\n\nBut one of the things he said, and he taught it to us this way in class, is one of the great purposes of the church is to edify the saints so that they can become equipped for their use of their own spiritual gifts, which takes us sort of down a rabbit trail; we need to start talking about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 And here\u2019s sort of a four part outline that we\u2019re using.\u00a0 Number one what are some general observations about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 \u00a0And you might recall that I gave you about nineteen general observations about spiritual gifts.\n\nSecondly, are all the spiritual gifts for today?\u00a0 And this, of course, is the giant elephant in the room because when you begin to look at the subject of spiritual gifts you\u2019ll see the following seven: apostles, prophets, workers of miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, and knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0 The movement within contemporary Christianity today, known as the Pentecostal movement, charismatic movement, they\u2019ll basically argue for a continuation.\u00a0 In other words, every gift that\u2019s in use in the Book of Acts you should see today.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sugar Land Bible Church is what we would call selective cessationists where we believe that these seven gifts have ceased back in the first century.\u00a0 And it\u2019s there\u2019s our position statement arguing that.\n\n[SLBC Position Statement No. 7: \u00a0<\/strong>\u201cTEMPORARY SPIRITUAL GIFTS \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0This church teaches that the miraculous sign gifts, including the gift of tongues, (always the ability to speak in a previously unlearned, known language) along with the gift of healings were temporal gifts, given by the Holy Spirit solely to authenticate both the apostles and their message before the close of the canon of Scripture (1\u00a0Cor. 13:8-10).\u00a0\u00a0We do not believe that these are active as gifts today.\u00a0 However, we affirm that God is sovereign and may heal and\/or give someone the ability to speak in a tongue (foreign language) today.\u00a0\u00a0We believe that the majority of what is termed \u2018miraculous\u2019 within the contemporary charismatic movement is something other than the Biblical gifts of tongues or healing.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not a matter of just going through the Bible and saying well, this one disappears, I don\u2019t like this one so I\u2019ll cross it out, but this one I like so I\u2019ll keep it.\u00a0 What I\u2019ve been giving you is the biblical rational for selective cessationism.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve done a lot of teaching on this and I\u2019m not going to re-teach it today; you can go back into the video and audio archives and learn about it.\u00a0 But it really relates to organizing the gifts around four categories.\n\nNumber one, you have the foundational gifts, and those ceased in the first century because God only lays a foundation one time.\u00a0\u00a0 Number two, you have the confirmatory gifts where God is inaugur\u00adating something new, like at the beginning of the church age.\u00a0 And since God is not doing anything new today in terms of changing the rules, but He is building on a structure that He started back in the first century.\u00a0 We believe that those gifts ceased.\u00a0 And then number three, the revelatory gifts also ceased we believe, because God has given us a completed canon of Scripture.\u00a0 So there\u2019s no need to be given extra Scriptural insight or direct revelation from God since the canon of Scripture is complete.\u00a0 So if you want to know why we think the way we do on those I would encourage\u00a0 you to go back and either watch or listen to those prior sessions because we spent a lot of time explaining that.\n\nThe foundational gifts, the confirmatory gifs, the revelatory gifts have ceased but that means sixteen, at least sixteen spiritual gifts continue and those spiritual gifts are what we all the edificatory gifts because the church never outgrows its need for edification or being built up.\u00a0 So in this series we\u2019re going to be walking through those edificatory gifts explaining each one and I\u2019ll be giving you some hints or some tips if I could towards discovering what your edificatory gift is.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t want to leave this subject on the charismatic movement too quickly because I don\u2019t know when in my teaching ministry here I\u2019ll ever get back to this topic.\u00a0 So I wanted to complete our discussion of the charismatic movement.\n\nSo we have Roman numeral III, I gave\u00a0 you some quotes from church history which testify that those seven gifts ceased; Phillip Schaff, Augustine, Chrysostom and others. And then I was sort of tempted to leave the discussion of the charismatic movement at this point but I didn\u2019t decide to do that, I decided to give you Roman numeral IV here, the proper operation of the sign and revelatory gifts.\u00a0 Our position is that the sign gifts and the revelatory gifts and the foundational gifts have ceased.\u00a0\u00a0 But then I started thinking to myself, it\u2019s likely that sometime in your life you could end up in a charismatic church and the reason that could happen is your job moves\u00a0 you to a certain location and there\u2019s limited churches to pick from.\u00a0 And so what do the folks do if they find themselves in a charismatic church?\u00a0 You could either not go to church, option A, not biblical, right?\u00a0 Number two,\u00a0 you could start your own church, which wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea.\u00a0 But most likely what\u2019s going to happen is you\u2019re going to have to pick from an existing church.\u00a0 And there are some charismatic churches out there that actually I would recommend if you find yourself in that position.\u00a0 Those are the churches that follow the rule book of 1 Corinthians 14.\n\nSo 1 Corinthians 14 lays out the rules whereby the foundational gifts, confirmatory gifts, and revelatory gifts must follow in order for those gifts to be exercised in the church.\u00a0 So if I find myself in a predicament in my life where I only have limited options and the only church available to me is a charismatic, continuationists, Pentecostal church I would pick the church that follows the rules of 1 Corinthians 14, which means even though we are cessationists here you still need to know what the rules are.\u00a0 See where I\u2019m going with this.\n\nOur position is that those gifts ceased and so that sort of ends the discussion for us.\u00a0 But there are very, very sincere Christians that love Jesus just as much as we do, that claim to be biblical just as much as we claim that, and they will argue very stringently that these gifts are for today.\u00a0 Now these are good people, they\u2019re going to the same heaven that we\u2019re going to, and so if I found myself in a situation where a Sugar Land Bible Church ministry model is not available to me and I had to pick from existing charismatic churches unless I don\u2019t go to church or unless I want to start my own church, then I would pick the church that follows the rules.\u00a0 There are rules that Paul says must exist for these foundational confirmatory and revelatory gifts to be exercised in church, which means that we need to look at the rule book from that vantage point. So I hope you kind of catch my drift and where I\u2019m going with this.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that, as one of our position statements at Sugar Land Bible Church we say this:\u00a0 \u201cWe believe that the majority of what is termed \u2018miraculous\u2019 within the contemporary charismatic movement is something other than the Biblical gifts of tongues or healing.\u201d\u00a0 And the sad thing is when you look at the contemporary charismatic movement today what you see is sort of a mindset where people not only argue for the existence of these various sign gifts but they\u2019re not even following the rules.\u00a0 And that is the kind of church I would avoid.\u00a0 I would instead pick the church that follows the rules of 1 Corinthians 14.\n\nSo what are the rules?\u00a0 Well, Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 lays out very specific rules when the gift of prophecy is exercised and when the gift of tongues is exercised.\u00a0 Now the last time I was with you we looked at the rules for prophecy.\u00a0 Here are the four rules:\u00a0 the prophet must be 100% accurate.\u00a0 If someone is claiming to be a prophet from God receiving direct revelation from God all of their predictions have to come true.\u00a0 And I showed you that that was the standard in the Old Testament and it\u2019s the standard in the New Testament.\n\nAnd in fact, I stumbled across this verse which says, 1 Samuel 3:19, \u201cThen Samuel\u201d Samuel is a prophet of God, old covenant, \u201cSamuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail.\u201d\u00a0 So that fits very well with Deuteronomy 18, Acts 11 and other passages which indicate that prophets have to be 100% accurate.\u00a0 If a prophet is inaccurate they are not a prophet from God.\n\nSo you have certain teachings within Mormonism, for example, where Joseph Smith made statements that the Civil War, which was happening around his time period, was going to go\u00a0 into the ends of the earth.\u00a0 But we know historically that\u2019s not what happened, the Civil War was an American thing, it didn\u2019t go to the ends of the earth.\u00a0 So you can write off Joseph Smith as a false prophet because he made a prophecy that never came to pass.\u00a0 He also said that he was the one that was going to build the Mormon temple in North America, and we know that that temple was not constructed until\u2026 he was going to dedicate the temple he said in one of his prophecies, and we know that that temple was not constructed until 20 years after his death.\u00a0 So there\u2019s failure number two.\u00a0 See that.\n\nSo the Bible is pretty clear that if someone is claiming to be a prophet they have to be 100% accurate.\n\nNumber two, Paul says no more than two to three prophets can speak at a time and they can\u2019t talk over each other.\n\nNumber three, the prophets are in full control of their faculties, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.\u00a0 So you don\u2019t have these out of control prophets that just start yelling things in the middle of a service and disrupting things claiming that\u2019s the Holy Spirit doing that.\u00a0 Paul is very clear that whatever gift is exercised it\u2019s exercised under the control of the person possessing that gift.\n\nAnd then the fourth rule that\u2019s very clear is the listeners are to judge carefully what it says.\u00a0 Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 14:29 and that\u2019s a standard that goes from Genesis to Revelation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:29, \u201cLet two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.\u201d]\u00a0 Christianity is such that when proclamations are made\u2026 now at our church our proclamations are not direct revelations from God, they are from this book, the closed canon of Scripture, the standard still applies to us, you should never just sit, soak and sour and assume that everything that\u2019s said from a pulpit is true.\u00a0 You\u2019re called upon as a member of God\u2019s family to listen carefully to what is said and to screen everything through a grid that you have called the grid of Scripture.\n\nSo Christian is not a mindless religion where you just come in and you get some kind of euphoria or feeling and you turn your intellect off.\u00a0 That has more to do with Eastern mysticism than it has to do with biblical Christianity.\u00a0 So the standard for prophecy, and I think it\u2019s the same standard today, even in our church where we don\u2019t believe there is a gift of prophecy, direct revelation from God but the standard has always been to examine everything through the completed canon.\n\nSo we\u2019ve given you those rules and so what we\u2019re moving into now is the rules, not associated with prophecy, we\u2019ve covered those, what\u2019s the standard that Paul lays down for tongues?\u00a0 In other words, if tongues is in operation today, and a lot of Christians think it is, what\u2019s the standard?\u00a0 What\u2019s the rules?\u00a0 And you would want to avoid churches that won\u2019t follow the rules.\n\nSo I have a list of ten rules here.\u00a0 You ready for this, and you can see I\u2019ve got Scripture verses for all of them; I\u2019m getting most of these from 1 Corinthians 14, a few of them from 1 Corinthians 12, so here we go.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how far we\u2019re going to get into this list today.\n\nThe first rule that tongues is not gibberish or incoherent speech.\u00a0 The idea of gibberish\u00a0 or incoherent speech is not an idea that comes from the Bible.\u00a0 So notice 1 Corinthians 12:10, Paul here is talking about what we today call the gift of tongues.\u00a0 He says, \u201cand to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another diverse <\/em>tongues,\u201d now notice that the word \u201ctongues\u201d is a translation of the Greek word glossa<\/em>, where we get what English word?\u00a0 Glossary.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 \u00a0and to another the interpretation of tongues.\u201d\u00a0 Also glossa<\/em>.\u00a0 So the word for tongues is actually glossa,<\/em> where we get the word glossary.\u00a0 What do you find in a glossary?\u00a0 You don\u2019t find gibberish, you find a known language.\n\nAnd then you might recall the first use of tongues in Acts 2:6, it says this: \u201cNow when this was noised abroad the multitude cam e together and were confounded because that every man heard them speaking in his own language,\u201d now the word translated \u201clanguage\u201d there is dialectos<\/em>, where we get the English word dialect, which means a known language.\u00a0 So the thing to understand about tongues is\u2026 you know, you go to a lot of Pentecostal charismatic environments and its basically gibberish, it\u2019s basically some speaking in their own private language, some even argue it\u2019s like a private prayer language.\n\nAnd what I\u2019m trying to communicate is such an idea is foreign to the Scripture.\u00a0 What exactly was tongues?\u00a0 Tongues was the capacity to speak in a language that was known that one had never learned.\u00a0 And this is how the out of towners, who had assembled on the day of Pentecost, could tell as a sign from God that this new work that God had started in Acts 2, called the age of the church, with the falling of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, this is how those out of towners could tell it was true.\u00a0 It was a sign from God because the apostles were speaking in a language they had never learned and yet that language was understandable by those that came to Jerusalem to celebrate that particular feast.\n\nSo it would be like this, the only thing I know how to speak is English and then all of a sudden I break out into perfect Spanish, it\u2019s a known language but I\u2019ve never really studied it or learned it, you would say that would be\u2026 the Spanish speaking people in here you would say that\u2019s a miracle of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s how tongues was supposed to function.\u00a0 So tongues was not an incoherent speech, it wasn\u2019t gibberish, it was actually a known dialect.\u00a0 Now this is why the Apostle Paul calls \u201ctongues\u201d a sign for who?\u00a0 Unbelievers, 1 Corinthians 14:22.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:22, \u201cSo then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.\u201d]\n\nNow as I understand the Bible there was actually a second use of tongues, and I\u2019ve gone into this a little bit, it\u2019s in 1 Corinthians 14:26-27, and it has to do with a use of it, not so much amongst the unsaved but a use of it amongst the saved.\u00a0 And this was before the canon of Scripture was closed, a good forty years before it closed.\u00a0 Paul wrote these words about A.D. 56\/A.D. 57, the completed canon wasn\u2019t available.\u00a0 So as partial revelation God gave people in church the ability to speak in tongues.\u00a0 So they would be an example, where I as a person speaking English could suddenly speak in a known dialect, Spanish, and there were people that could take that dialect and translate it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s called the gift of interpretation of tongues.\u00a0 So one person is speaking an unlearned but known dialect and another person within the church is translating that dialect in a language that the parishioners could understand.\u00a0 That\u2019s called the gift of interpretation of tongues.\n\nThis was one of the ways that God was revealing truth to His infant church.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So there was a use of tongues amongst the unsaved, you see that in Acts 2 and I think that\u2019s what 1 Corinthians 14:21-22 is talking about.[1 Corinthians 14:21-22, \u201cIn the Law it is written, \u201cBY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,\u201d says the Lord. [22] So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign,<\/em> not to unbelievers but to those who believe.:\u201d]\n\nAlso a uses of tongues amongst the saved, that\u2019s what 1 Corinthians 14:26-27 is talking about where Paul says, \u201cWhat is the outcome<\/em> then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cedification.\u00a0 So here the context is what\u2019s happening within the church.\u00a0 \u00a0Then Paul says, [27]\u00a0 \u201cIf anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be<\/em> by two or at the most three, and each<\/em> in turn, and one must\u201d what? \u201cinterpret;\u201d because if it\u2019s not interpreted into the language people understand what value is it? How does it edify, if you\u2019re going on and on in some language that no one understands.\n\nSo I\u2019m seeing a gift of tongues amongst the unsaved \u00a0and I\u2019m seeing also in the first century a gift of tongues amongst the saved.\u00a0 But what I want you to understand is in both cases it never involved gibberish; it always involved a known, unlearned but known dialect, ALWAYS, that\u2019s what glossa <\/em>means, that\u2019s what dialectos<\/em> means. So having said all that why do we call it the gift of tongues?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we just call it the gift of languages?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s someone\u00a0 you can blame for that; there\u2019s a Bible translation you can blame for that\u2014that\u2019s the King James Version.\u00a0 Now I happen to have a very high opinion of the King James Bible but what you have to understand is when the King James, which is an English translation, was created about 1611 in English the word \u201ctongue\u201d meant known language.\n\nAnd you can see that very clearly by how the King James Version translated Revelation 9 :11, it says, \u201cThey have as king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is\u201d what? \u201ctongue is Abaddon, and in the Greek [can't understand word] the name Apollyon.\u201d\u00a0 Now those are the same words, glossa<\/em> and dialectos<\/em>.\u00a0 I think in this case it\u2019s glossa<\/em> which means a known language.\u00a0 Well if it\u2019s a known language then why in the world did the King James translators translate it \u201ctongue\u201d instead of \u201cknown language\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 Because in 1611, when the King James translation came forward, in English \u201ctongue\u201d meant \u201clanguage.\u201d\u00a0 See that.\n\nSo when you see the word \u201ctongue\u201d in the Bible you should mentally substitute in your mind the words known language because that\u2019s what it meant in 1611.\u00a0 And most other Bible translations, the English translation, have sort of taken their cues from the King James Version \u00a0The problem is the charismatic movement has come along and attached to this word \u201ctongue\u201d a different meaning.\u00a0 When they use the word \u201ctongue\u201d they\u2019re basically talking about gibberish and what I\u2019m trying to say is that\u2019s not what the Greek text says; there is no such thing as gibberish.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not even what the word \u201ctongue\u201d meant when the King James translators did their translation work.\n\nSo the first thing you have to understand about tongues is you\u2019ve got to get out of your mind this idea of gibberish, this idea of some kind of private personal language, that is not at all what the Bible is speaking of.\u00a0 In fact, what does the Bible say about gibberish?\u00a0\u00a0 When you actually get into the Word of God and start studying what it says about it the Bible is very negative about gibberish and unknown languages.\u00a0 Matthew 6:7, Jesus says this, \u201cAnd when you are praying, do not use\u201d what? \u201cmeaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.\u201d\u00a0 The Bible does not support meaningless repetition and it also doesn\u2019t support the idea of some sort of private language that\u2019s unknown to people; that is not what the Scripture is talking about when it\u2019s talking about the gift of tongues.\u00a0 In fact, the word \u201ctongues\u201d didn\u2019t even mean that when the King James translators did their translation work and certainly those two Greek words, dialectos<\/em> and glossa<\/em> in no way shape or form mean some sort of gibberish.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why I had you open up to 1 Corinthians 14:15, Paul starts to explain this.\u00a0 He says, \u201cWhat is the outcome, then, I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray with the\u201d what? \u201cthe mind, also I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the\u201d what? \u201cthe mind.\u201d\u00a0 You see, what is Christianity?\u00a0 Christianity is a teaching that says as follows: the heart cannot rejoice in what the mind does not comprehend.\u00a0 God, in the Bible, does not circumvent the mind.\u00a0 Now in Eastern mysticism there\u2019s this idea that you sort of are supposed to push everything out of your mind and the first thought that comes into your head must be the Lord.\u00a0 May I just say to you that is a teaching that is not of God at all.\u00a0 God is not interested in people pushing things out of their mind; God is interested in communi\u00adcating to people in linguistic form.\u00a0 That whole concept is violated if people are speaking in some sort of gibberish or some sort of unknown language.\n\nSo Christianity does not play on the emotions at the expense of the mind.\u00a0 Now am I against the emotions?\u00a0 Not at all, those are God given as well.\u00a0 But if you find yourself in a situation where people are appealing to mysticism or people are appealing to emotion and you\u2019re basically told check your mind out, don\u2019t use your mind actively, that can\u2019t be of God because Paul very clearly talks about reaching the mind, he says that twice here.\u00a0 In fact, you might remember the words of Christ.\u00a0 Remember what Jesus said, Mark 12:30, \u201cYou shall love the LORD\u00a0 your God with all of\u00a0 your\u201d what? \u201cheart, with all of your soul and with all of your \u201cwhat?\u201d mind and with all of your strength.\u201d So there is no teaching, if we care about the Bible which we ought to do or we wouldn\u2019t be here, that circumvents the intellect and appeals to emotions or appeals to experiences at the expense of the mind, when you see that happening in any church service you can automatically write it off as something that\u2019s not from God.\u00a0 Therefore, tongues, when it was in use, could not have been some incoherent language; it it\u2019s incoherent how in the world would it appeal to the mind?\n\nNow I\u2019ve given you the little book by Stephen Waterhouse on spiritual gifts and this is where I\u2019m getting these quotes from.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t get the little book I think we have some still on the table, his larger book, Not By Bread Alone<\/em> and in his treatment on the gifts of the Holy Spirit in that book you\u2019ll see these quotes.\u00a0\u00a0 And in the process of his writings Stephen Waterhouse quotes from Christianity Today<\/em>, June 4, 1971, and it was basically a study conducted on people that claimed they were speaking in tongues, multiple participants.\n\nAnd here is the conclusion of the study.\u00a0 \u201cA scientific study of the Glosalia concludes the utterances of the people tested did not have the characteristics regarded as essential to human language in a taped experiment.\u00a0 Tongue speakers were found to disagree on the meaning of what the other said.\u00a0 The study showed the tendency of tongue speakers is to be submissive to suggestable and dependent in the presence of authority figures. It is generally not the speaking in tongues that brings the great feelings, of euphoria (buoyancy) that these people experience; rather, it is the submission to the authority of the leader.\u2019\u2026\u201d\u00a0 The quote goes on, \u201c\u2026The research project was initiated at the Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. The findings were based largely upon tests and interviews conducted with twenty-six people who spoke in tongues and thirteen who did not. Linguist William Samarin stated that where certain prominent tongues-speakers had visited, whole groups of glossolalists would speak in his style of speech\u2026.The report listed features that linguistic experts say characterize human language and argued\u201d and here\u2019s a key point, \u201cthat recordings of people speaking in tongues did not display enough of these features to warrant the conclusion that the utterances were any kind of human language, known or unknown, living or dead.\u201d\n\nAnd this fits well with what we say in our position statement, that many of the things happening in the contemporary charismatic movement today simply don\u2019t fit what the Bible says, even if these gifts are in full operation, because the Bible is very clear that it\u2019s got to be a known language and this study concluded that what people were actually doing is coming up with sort of rhymes or rhythms to please their leaders who were telling them they needed to speak in tongues.\u00a0 And the study demonstrated that it really wasn\u2019t a known dialect or language.\u00a0 So babbling is not in the Bible; the concept of known languages is.\u00a0 In fact, babbling has far more in common with paganism than it does Christianity.\n\nHere is Virgil, Virgil is a first century B.C. historian living very close (obviously) to the time of Christ, commenting on the priestess of the isle of Delos, a pagan priestess, and what is this priestess doing?\u00a0 She is doing what many charismatics today do in terms of speaking in an incoherent tongue.\u00a0 Notice what Virgil says, \u201cShe attained her ecstatic state and speech in a haunted cave where drafts and winds made weird sounds and music. When she became united in spirit with the god Apollo, she began to speak in tongues<\/u>, sometimes understood, sometimes incoherent<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 [Cited by John Miles, The Subject of Tongues, an Introduction to Christian Doctrine: An Outline Course, (Grand Rapids; Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, 1974), p. 2.]\n\nThe point is babbling gibberish is not biblical.\u00a0 In fact, what it has more to do with is paganism.\n\nHere is another citation from National Geographic on the Priestess at Delphi, another first century sort of pagan mystic.\u00a0 And it says this: In a trance, perhaps induced by narcotic herbs,\u201d well there\u2019s part of the problem there, Amen!\u00a0 \u201cshe sat on a tripod and raved. Priests enriched themselves by translating\u201d look what it days, \u201cher incoherent cries<\/u> into rhymed prophecies.\u201d [Greece and Rome: Builders of Our World, National Geographic Society, 1968), p. 171]\n\nSo incoherence, gibberish, babbling, these things are not coming from the Scripture, the angle of the Scripture, these things aren\u2019t coming from the angle of the Word of God.\u00a0 This is not the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 This is just sort of first century (and even before) mysticism and paganism.\n\nHere\u2019s Chrysostom, [a 4th Century Christian on Priestess of Delphi] a well-respected theologian early in church history, the 4th<\/sup> century, he was known as Golden Throat or Golden Mouth because of his oratorical skills.\u00a0 He also makes a comment on the Priestess at Delphi. And he says this: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201c\u2026This same Pythoness then is said to be female, to sit at times upon the tripod of Apollos astride, and thus the evil spirit ascending from beneath and entering the lower part of her body, fills the woman with madness, and she with disheveled hair begins to play the bacchanal and to foam at the mouth,\u201d look at this, \u201cand thus being in frenzy to utter the words of her madness<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 [Cited by John Miles, The Subject of Tongues, an Introduction to Christian Doctrine: An Outline Course, (Grand Rapids; Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, 1974), p. 2.]\n\nNow think about this for a minute.\u00a0 What was tongues?\u00a0 Tongues was an ability to speak to the unsaved in a known language that one had never studied.\u00a0 That\u2019s why all of these people on the day of Pentecost could understand that what was happening in Acts 2, God was changing the house rules.\u00a0 The only thing people knew were 1500 years under the Mosaic Law and now the rules are changed because we\u2019re now in the church age.\u00a0 How in the world were all these people, these Jews assembled on the day of Pentecost supposed to understand that this was the hand of God?\u00a0 God gave a particular gift at that moment in time, called the gift of tongues, which was the ability to speak in an unstudied, unlearned language but it was still a known language.\u00a0 When someone only speaks English and the audience only speaks Spanish (as an example) and the speaker suddenly breaks out in perfect Spanish, what would you think?\u00a0 You would think that is a miracle of God.\n\nNow how could babbling or rambling or incoherence be a sign to those assembled that this was now the hand of God.\u00a0 They already knew about incoherence and babbling and random speech,\u00a0 How did they know it from?\u00a0 From the Priestess of Delphi.\u00a0 They knew about it from Virgil commenting on the Priestess on the Isle of [can't understand word].\u00a0 In other words, if all tongues is is gibberish then how in the world would the apostles be used of God as a sign to unbelievers that Acts 2 was is in fact a reality that God was instigating.\u00a0 They already knew about babbling, they already knew about rambling, they knew all about the Greco-Roman world with its bizarre utterances and incoherent speech.\u00a0 How could more incoherent speech, which they are already familiar with, paganism, be some kind of authenticating sign.\n\nSo what I\u2019m trying to show you is a lot of things that pass for tongues today have virtually no biblical support behind them at all.\u00a0 And in fact, when you actually begin to study the issue you find that rambling and babbling has more in common with paganism than it does anything related to the Bible or Christianity.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we say in our position statement that \u201cmany of the things happening in the contemporary charismatic movement simply do not fit what we believe the Bible is teaching.\u201d\n\nSo even if the gift is in operation today (we don\u2019t think it is but let\u2019s pretend it is) it\u2019s got to adhere to certain criteria; it\u2019s got to adhere to certain guidelines and the first guideline is it cannot be gibberish or incoherent speech.\u00a0 In fact, you might be shocked to discover (as I was putting this study together) that gibberish or incoherent speech passing as tongues really emanates from the doctrines of Mormonism more than it does Biblical Christianity.\n\nNow I hope you understand that Mormonism is a supposed appearance of Jesus Christ in North America around the 1800\u2019s.\u00a0 So not \u201cif\u201d but \u201cwhen\u201d the Mormons come to your house they won\u2019t just have in their hands the Bible, they will have in their hands three other books, The Pearl of Great Price,<\/em> The Doctrine of Covenants<\/em> and The Book of Mormon<\/em> because they believe, as cults believe, that this Book is not complete, there was an additional revelation here in North America.\u00a0 And if we\u2019re really going to catch up with the learning curve we\u2019ve got to supplement this Book with these three other books.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you always recognize a cult; basically what they\u2019re saying is the Bible itself is not enough.\u00a0 So Mormonism is a cult, it has a defective view beyond what I\u2019ve just said, of Jesus Christ, treating Jesus Christ as a created being.\u00a0 And when you actually study Mormonism what you\u2019ll discover is it\u2019s just plain and simple works salvation.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason these people are out in the heat on Saturday, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and Mormons, evangelizing.\u00a0 And quite frankly, I\u2019m sort of ashamed because they do more evangelism for lives than we evangelicals many times do for the truth.\n\nBut beyond that what you have to understand is the reason they\u2019re out there, the reason they\u2019re sweating, the reason they\u2019re in the heat and doing all of these things is basically they\u2019re trying to work their way to heaven.\u00a0 So because their doctrine of salvation is wrong, because their doctrine of Christ is wrong and because they don\u2019t believe the Bible is a completed book we very easily and categorically could look at them as a cult which basically is a group that claims to be Christian, it wants the name \u201cChristian\u201d but it denies the essentials of Christianity.\u00a0 It denies one or more of the essentials of Christianity.\u00a0 That is what we would call a cult.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very interesting to note that tongues or gibberish emanates, not from the Scripture, but from mysticism, paganism and it also emanates from the kingdom of the cults itself\u2014Mormonism. So here is Joseph Smith\u2019s command cited in Joseph Dillow\u2019s book, a very good book, Speaking in Tongues<\/em>.\u00a0 Joseph Smith said this: \u201cArise upon your feet, speak or make some sound, continue to make sounds of some kind, and the Lord will make a language or tongue of it.\u201d\u00a0 [Joseph Dillow, Speaking in Tongues (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975), p. 173.]\n\nSo just getting up and rambling in incoherence you don\u2019t find that in the Bible, you find that emanating from the kingdom of the cults.\u00a0 Of course one of the other major leaders of Mormonism in addition to Joseph Smith was Brigham\u00a0 Young, they have a whole university named after him, BYU, Brigham Young University.\u00a0 I had some Mormon friends in high school and they would we\u2019re going to go to college at the Y, and at the time I thought the YMCA?\u00a0 What Y are they talking about?\u00a0 Well, they\u2019re talking about BYU, Brigham\u00a0 Young University.\u00a0 And Brigham Young that university is named after, talked about unknown tongues.\u00a0 And this is cited in Thomas Edgar\u2019s excellent book on this, called Miraculous Gifts. Thomas Edgar formerly of Capital Bible Seminary, I think he\u2019s retired now, I heard him speak a couple of times.\u00a0 If you really want to drill down on this subject that\u2019s one of the books I would recommend to you.\n\nBut he quotes Brigham Young saying this: \u201cShouting, jerks, and dancing were common in their services, and Brigham Young not only spoke in unknown tongues<\/u> but interpreted his messages to his hearers.\u201d\u00a0 Thomas R. Edgar, Miraculous Gifts, (Neptune, New Jersey, Loizeaux Brothers, 1983), p. 255.]\n\nSo incoherence doesn\u2019t come from the Bible in terms of tongues and babbling; it comes from the kingdom of the cults.\u00a0 It also comes from the Greco-Roman mystery religions.\u00a0 And you see, in charismatic circles there\u2019s such an emphasis to speak in tongues.\u00a0 My wife can tell you all about it, she was involved with a charismatic group before we got married and she was basically told in no uncertain words that your salvation may be in doubt if you don\u2019t speak in tongues.\u00a0 Or, you\u2019re a second class citizen because you haven\u2019t received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is authenticated through speaking in tongues.\u00a0 OR, you are told you\u2019re not qualified to be in leadership if you don\u2019t speak in tongues.\u00a0 And what I would like you to see is unbelievers are documented as speaking in tongues.\u00a0 Just because someone is speaking in tongues and incoherence doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re saved.\n\nAnd here is yet another testimony cited in the \u00a0Stephen Waterhouse book, and the testimony reads as follows:\u00a0 \u201cNow before you sit down and write me a letter telling me how real your experience with tongues is,\u201d now let me stop for a minute, I\u2019m not denying that these are real experiences.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s very difficult to talk a charismatic out of their experience because you know what?\u00a0 They\u2019ve actually had an experience!\u00a0 What I am here to tell you is that not all experiences are necessarily from God.\u00a0 And as this study progresses (I won\u2019t be able to get to it today) I\u2019m going to give you a chart that lists every example in the Bible, starting with Pharaoh\u2019s magicians, who are able to duplicate a lot of the things Moses and Aaron were doing.\n\nI\u2019m going to give you a chart showing every example in the Bible where a miracle is transpiring and God has nothing to do with it.\u00a0 Does God do miracles?\u00a0 Of course He does;\u00a0 you read the Bible and you see miracles every\u00adwhere.\u00a0 We pray for people that are sick to get well. Of course we believe God does miracles.\u00a0 But the error in thinking is clinging to something that\u2019s true simply because of an experience.\u00a0 The Bible warns us against that because miracles can emanate from a power source outside of God.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you clear verses as the study progresses.\u00a0 And what would that other power source be?\u00a0 Well, it could be Satan and the realm of the demonic.\u00a0 So there are all kinds of people out there that are having all kinds of experiences and the deception is because they\u2019ve had the experience, and in a lot of cases I think it is a very real experience, they think God must be in it. So with that in mind, notice this testimony.\n\n\u201cNow before you sit down and write me a letter telling me how real your experience with tongues is, \u00a0let me tell you about mine. I\u2019ve spoken in tongues on several occasions. I\u2019ve walked down aisles, I\u2019ve prayed through at the altar, I\u2019ve followed the instructions of the spiritual leaders who were telling me how to speak in tongues, and I spoke in tongues. It was very real. It happened. There was nothing unreal about it.<\/u> But watch this. \u201cBut it was not of the Holy Spirit! How do I know? I wasn\u2019t even saved at the time.<\/u> That\u2019s how I know. I became convinced by the preaching \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I heard that I must speak in tongues to be right with God. I was determined to do it, and I did it.\u201d\u00a0 [Cited by John Miles, The Subject of Tongues, an Introduction to Christian Doctrine: An Outline Course, (Grand Rapids; Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, 1974), p. 3.]\u00a0 And this person is saying they did all these things before they were actually regenerated by the Holy Spirit through faith alone in Christ alone.\n\nSo a lot of the things happening are just, I think to be fake, people trying to please their leaders,\u00a0\u00a0 but there are other examples where it\u2019s a very, very real occurrence and people think if it\u2019s real it must be from God. Well, that\u2019s not the biblical world view.\u00a0 That\u2019s not biblical epistemology.\u00a0 Epistemology is how we know what we know, that\u2019s the study of epistemology.\u00a0 How do we really know what we know?\u00a0 We don\u2019t determine truth by experiences because Satan himself can give all sorts of experiences.\u00a0 You might leave today and have tremendous experiences, the angels might sing, the oceans might part, but if the doctrine and the lifestyle of the prophet is not in accordance with this book you dismiss the experience as something other than God.\n\nSo here\u2019s an example where folks are actually speaking on tongues and they weren\u2019t even saved at the time.\u00a0 So if tongues is in existence (we don\u2019t believe it is) but if it is the Apostle Paul says there are certain rules that must be followed.\u00a0 Rule number 1 is it cannot be gibberish or incoherent speech.\n\nLet me take you to rule number 2, let\u2019s go over to 1 Corinthians 12:28-30.\u00a0 Rule number two, if this gift is really in existence then it is of a very low priority in church.\u00a0 When you get into charismatic circles they act like this is the most important gift, this is the most important thing that has to happen and that\u2019s really not what Paul says.\n\nNotice what he says in 1 Corinthians 12:28-30, \u201cAnd God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various<\/em> kinds of tongues.\u201d Now on that list where is tongues mentioned in verse 28?\u00a0 Not first but last.\u00a0 He goes on and he says, \u00a0[29] \u201cAll are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of<\/em> miracles, are they? \u00a0[30] All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?\u201d\u00a0 And so you notice on the list that Paul gives during a time period when tongues was available and active he always mentions it las.\u00a0 So from that I can conclude that tongues was a very low priority in the early church.\n\nAnd then let me give you number three; number three, the third rule, is edification by teaching should always have priority over tongues.\u00a0 Take a look at 1 Corinthians 14 and notice if you will verses 3-5.\u00a0 Paul, the apostle, says, \u201cBut one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. [4] One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. [5] Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even<\/em> more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.\u201d\n\nSee, what Paul is doing here is he\u2019s giving priorities.\u00a0\u00a0 If you have to choose between tongues and edification through teaching you obviously choose teaching because teaching has the ability to edify everybody; speaking in an unknown tongue does not have that ability.\u00a0 I wish I had time to read all these verses but you can read on your own verses 9-12.\u00a0 It says virtually the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:9-12, \u201cSo also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. [10] There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind<\/em> is without meaning. [11] If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me. [12] So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts,<\/em> seek to abound for the edification of the church.\u201d]\n\nAnd then also in verse 19 Paul says the same thing.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 14:19, \u201chowever, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.\u201d]\u00a0 In fact at one point in this he says you know, I wish that people would just speak a few words of prophecy (there are multiple, multiple words in tongues) because the gift of prophecy through teaching, preaching, has the greater capacity to edify. \u00a0And see, this is the balance that you don\u2019t find in charismatic circles.\u00a0 What you find is there\u2019s such an emphasis on tongues that it\u2019s moved from the back of Paul\u2019s list to almost the very front of Paul\u2019s list, and that\u2019s what we call out of balance.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t surprise us, should it, that the Apostle Paul tells us to prophesy instead of speaking on tongues because prophecy has the ability to do what?\u00a0 Proclamation in a known language has the ability to do what?\u00a0 Edify the saints.\u00a0 And that is what the life of the church is all about, isn\u2019t it.\n\nEphesians 4:11-12, \u201cAnd He gave some as<\/em> apostles, and some as<\/em> prophets, and some as<\/em> evangelists, and some as<\/em> pastors and teachers,\u201d for what purpose, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;\u201d\u00a0 how are these gifted men going to build up the body of Christ?\u00a0 Through edification and edification only comes through the teaching of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for\u201d what? \u201cteaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for\u201d 99% of good works\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that does it, \u201cevery good work.\u201d\n\nSo these things come into a life of the church through edification, not through gibberish, not through incoherent language, not through language that people can\u2019t understand but through faithful teaching and proclamation. That\u2019s the main purpose of the church, to equip the saints. So if that\u2019s true during a time when tongues was in existence it\u2019s no longer, Paul would say, pursue edification through prophecy rather than tongues.\n\nDan Wallace, writes this concerning 2 Timothy.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBy my count there are twenty-seven explicit commands given in the body of this letter; in twenty-seven words\u201d now 2 Timothy is a pastoral letter, \u201cin twenty-seven words Paul tells pastors what to focus on.\u00a0 You have to be blind to miss the thrust of Paul\u2019s instructions here because eighteen of those commands, fully two-thirds, have to do with the ministry of the Word of God.\u201d\u00a0 So rather than pursuing incoherent language what is to happen in the church is clear proclamation and we believe in the time period that we\u2019re living in that this clear proclamation is to come from the Word of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s going to edify you; that\u2019s what\u2019s going to build you up.\u00a0 Not sort of an incoherent rambling babbling sort of dog and pony show.\n\nAnd a lot of people say well, I\u2019m not going to go to a church unless God speaks in that church.\u00a0 And what they mean by it is I\u2019ve got to hear some kind of private subjective audible voice.\u00a0 And may I just say to you that every time this church, Sugar Land Bible Church does what God has called it to do, God is speaking.\u00a0 Every time this Book is opened and is faithfully preached and faithfully taught God will speak to you, not so much through a preacher receive a direct revelation from God but through the completed canon of Scripture God has given.\n\nSo I believe God does speak at Sugar Land Bible Church regardless of people\u2019s subjective personal experiences God speaks through His Word.\u00a0 So don\u2019t let people tell you that you\u2019re going to a church where God doesn\u2019t speak because we don\u2019t have tongues and their interpretation.\u00a0 So if\u00a0 you want to say the gift of tongues is alive and well today, we don\u2019t believe it is but even if it is you\u2019ve got to follow the rules. We\u2019ve only gone over three: number 1, it can\u2019t be gibberish or incoherent speech.\u00a0 Number 2, Tongues are always a low priority in church.\u00a0 And number 3, teaching the edification always takes priority over tongues.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll continue with this list of ten rules the next time we\u2019re together.\n\nAnd speaking of tongues I spoke so long I didn\u2019t leave time for Q&A but I guarantee we\u2019ll have plenty of time for that, so let\u2019s pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for Your rule book and\u00a0 Your way of doing things. Help us to be people of the Book.\u00a0 Help us to be people who function according to the light that You have given in these 66 books and we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t