{"id":18492,"date":"2018-08-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-033-spiritual-gifts-13\/"},"modified":"2018-08-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-033-spiritual-gifts-13","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-033-spiritual-gifts-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 033: Spiritual Gifts 13"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18492","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 033: Spiritual Gifts 13","sermon_date":"20180819","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5979,"sermon_slides":5980,"sermon_mp3":5984,"sermon_id":"81918133159","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":91,"chapter_and_verse":"14:26-27","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 33: Proper Operation of Sign and Regulatory Gifts, Part 3\n\n8-19-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 33\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, and grateful for the freedom that we have in this country to worship as we please. And I thank You Lord for the people You brought here today that have chosen to worship in not just spirit but also in truth and so I pray that every life and heart will leave here nourished, full, equipped for the struggles that they\u2019re facing, whatever they may be.\u00a0 I pray that they would get something today that would help them in their life. 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.\n\nLet\u2019s open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 19.\u00a0 And as you all know in Sunday School we have been teaching the doctrine of the church, Ecclesiology, and we\u2019ve been drilling down on the purposes of the church and of course one of its great purposes is to equip the saints in such a way that they can use their spiritual gifts, which requires some explanation about what spiritual gifts are, how they\u2019re supposed to be used, and how they\u2019re not supposed to be used.\u00a0 So, we made some observations about spiritual gifts and we\u2019re continuing with this very difficult question that divides the Christian community, are all the gifts of the Holy Spirit for today?\u00a0 Because as you go through Paul\u2019s various gift lifts, you\u2019ll see seven of them, and some churches practice these and others do not.\u00a0 We\u2019re in the camp which says that those seven gifts, most of the gifts are in operation but those seven gifts are not.\u00a0 [Apostle, Prophet. Worker of Miracles. Tongues, Interpretation of tongues, Healing, Knowledge]\n\nI was in the process of giving you the explanation as to why we believe that\u2019s so and sort of to make a long story short what we\u2019ve covered is that the confirmatory gifts and the revelatory gifts have ceased.\u00a0 That would take care of those seven, but the edificatory gifts continue.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve also looked at the fact that this is an idea that you don\u2019t just find supported in the Bible but you see various Church Fathers communicating that those seven gifts, although they were very much in operation in the first century, ceased as well.\n\nHowever, what you\u2019ll discover out there in the big bad world of church is not every church agrees on this.\u00a0 In fact, if you were to just drive down the street\u2026 what do we have, three churches on this street.\u00a0 I mean to come to Sugar Land Bible Church you\u2019ve got to work really hard at it, you\u2019ve got to bypass at least two churches, I think there\u2019s two churches, to find us.\u00a0 But even on this street I haven\u2019t gone up to each pastor and talked to him but in any given neighborhood where there are multiple churches what you\u2019re going to discover is there\u2019s a lot of disagreement on this.\u00a0 So I would say at least half of the body of Christ believes that these gifts are in operation today.\n\nI decided to give you this section here, Roman numeral IV, let\u2019s just pretend that they\u2019re right; let\u2019s pretend that all the gifts, including prophecy, and the gift of tongues, are in full operation today.\u00a0 If that is true then there are certain rules that have to be adhered to for the proper manifestation of those gifts.\u00a0 And as I\u2019ve tried to explain, one of the reasons I wanted to give you this section rather than just to say well, the gifts have ceased, don\u2019t worry about it, is because you\u2019re going to find yourself in your life going to a charismatic church because your job moves you to a certain location and there are only so many churches to choose from.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s your scenario and you can\u2019t find a Sugar Land Bible Church ministry model then one of the things you could do is go to a church that may disagree with you on the operation of gifts but at least follows the rules.\u00a0 So, I kind of felt I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t give you this Roman numeral IV here.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice what we say in our position statement: \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[SLBC Position Statement No. 7] And that\u2019s because in our observation, as we look at the Pentecostal charismatic movement not only do they disagree with us on the manifestation of these gifts but in many cases, they don\u2019t even follow their own rulebook that the Apostle Paul gave.\n\n1 Corinthians 14 is really the key chapter on this because the Apostle Paul lays down very clear rules that have to be in place in order for the gift of prophecy to be in operation.\u00a0 Those rules are, as we have talked about, Number one, the prophet has to be 100% accurate.\u00a0 Number two, no more than two to three prophets at a time can speak, and they can\u2019t interrupt each other and talk over each other.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because number three, the prophets are in full control of their faculties.\u00a0 So this idea that the gift comes over me and I have to just start saying whatever it is I\u2019m supposed to say, that\u2019s not an idea that you find in the Bible.\u00a0 Any gift that God gives is subject to the control of the person wielding that gift.\n\nAnd then rule number four, listeners are to judge carefully to what is said, 1 Corinthians 14:29.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1 Corinthians 14:29, \u201cLet two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.\u201d]\u00a0 And you can see how that relates directly, even if you\u2019re not a Pentecostal, to any church you go to.\u00a0 Christianity is such that God expects His own people to screen what is said because you are also a priest, we believe in the priesthood of all believers; you can read the Bible just like I can read the Bible.\u00a0 And anything that\u2019s said here you\u2019re to always examine it by the Word of God to see if these things be so.\u00a0 And that rule was particularly appropriate in the first century when people were claiming to receive direct revelations from God, because there\u2019s a mindset in these circles that if you don\u2019t immediately accept what it says, then somehow you\u2019re lacking in faith.\u00a0 And they\u2019ll sort of use that as a tool to bully people into submission.\u00a0 And may I just say to you that there\u2019s not a shred of evidence in the Bible that supports that.\u00a0 You are always to examine all things by the Word of God whether you\u2019re a Pentecostal or not a Pentecostal.\n\nAnd then, I think we started this last time, there are great key rules that have to be in place for the gift of tongues to be in operation.\u00a0 Those rules are, and we spent most of our time last time talking about number one, tongues are really not some kind of gibberish or incoherent speech.\u00a0 That\u2019s a mis-understanding of the word tongues, which always means the capacity to speak in an unlearned but known language.\n\nNumber two, tongues are given a very low priority in the church, when Paul lists the various things that are to happen in a first century church he lists tongues last.\u00a0 So in charismatic circles what you\u2019ll discover is that tongues are almost pushed to the forefront and that\u2019s out of biblical priority.\u00a0 It\u2019s not in harmony with biblical priority.\n\nAnd then number three (and I think this is where we ended last time) teaching or edification always takes priority over tongues.\u00a0 And one of the verses I didn\u2019t have a chance to read is in 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 19, and notice what Paul says to a church that was operating in the gift of tongues in the first century.\u00a0 He says, \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 So Paul says if I have \u00a0\u00a0a choice between ten thousand words (that\u2019s a lot of words, isn\u2019t it?) ten thousand words in a language that\u2019s unintelligible I\u2019d rather give you five in a language you can understand through teaching because the five words are going to edify you whereas speaking in some unknown language with verbosity doesn\u2019t edify anybody.\u00a0 So, tongues should always be given a place of subordinancy, I guess I should say, to the gift of preaching and teaching.\n\nAnd this takes us to number four and here we\u2019re starting some new material.\u00a0 Number four, the fourth rule is there cannot be untranslated tongues in church.\u00a0 There\u2019s no such thing as an untrans\u00adlated tongue\u2026 I mean, I guess there is such a thing but if the gift of tongues is in operation it always has to be translated through the gift of interpretation to people hearing or how in the world could you be edified through someone speaking in a language that you don\u2019t even know.\n\nSo take a look, if you will, at 1 Corinthians 14 and notice if you will verse 7-12.\u00a0 Paul really gets into this subject here.\u00a0 The Apostle Paul writes, \u201cYet even<\/em> lifeless things, either flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? [8] For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? [9] So 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\u201d he says here \u201cinto 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,\u201d or as a barbarian, \u201cand 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\nIn other words, what good is sound if it doesn\u2019t mean anything?\u00a0 So obviously going on and on in some unknown tongues foreign to the audience wouldn\u2019t edify, it wouldn\u2019t build up anybody.\u00a0 And the fact of the matter is, the heart cannot rejoice in what the mind cannot comprehend.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of you soul and with all of your\u201d what? \u201cmind.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 23:7, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27] Christianity does not bypass the intellect.\u00a0 Any appeal to emotions or feelings or mysticism independent of the mind is not the worship order that God Himself has designed because God has chosen to express Himself in linguistic form in these sixty-sic books.\u00a0 And the moment He chose to express Himself in linguistic form God is saying I want to communicate with people via the mind.\n\nIf you go down to 1 Corinthians 14 and take a look just for a moment at verse 23, Paul writes, \u201cTherefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?\u201d\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s interesting how Paul has a sensitivity to unbelievers that enter the assembly.\u00a0 People going on and on in an unknown language, first of all it\u2019s not edifying the saints, and beyond that what are the poor unbelievers supposed to make of this whole thing when they walk in the door?\n\nIf you jump down to verse 28 Paul says, \u201cBut if there is no interpreter he must keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God.\u201d\u00a0 Now that last phrase we\u2019re going to go into a little bit later because many people use that to build the doctrine of a private prayer language which as you\u2019ll see from number 10 is also unbiblical. But rule number four is something that\u2019s pretty simple.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have untranslated tongues in a church. In fact, on You tube you can find a whole conversation that goes on and on and on for\u2026 I don\u2019t know, five\/ten minutes between Kenneth Copeland and Rodney Howard Brown, two Pentecostals where the two of them, in front of this audience full of\u2026 I don\u2019t know how many hundreds if not thousands of people cheering them on, and going on and on with their own private conversation in languages that the audience doesn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 So, they\u2019re kind of making light of it, they\u2019re slapping each other on the back, one guy speaks an unknown language and the other guy pretends like he understands what\u2019s being said, and he speaks back and they\u2019re laughing and hooting it up.\u00a0 And the audience is just loving it and the fact of the matter is that whole thing Paul himself, based on what he says in 1 Corinthians 14 was soundly condemned because it\u2019s a tongue that is untranslated.\n\nThat takes us to rule number five; rule number five is you can only have two to three tongue-speakers with interpretation at a time.\u00a0 And notice what the Apostle Paul says there in 1 Corinthians 14:27, \u201cIf anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be<\/em> by two or at the most three,\u201d so you can\u2019t have 15 or 20 people speaking in tongues, \u201cand each<\/em> in turn,\u201d they can\u2019t be talking over each other, \u201cand one must interpret.\u201d\u00a0 Now you might remember that this is the same rule that\u2019s supposed to be applied for prophecy, public prophecies.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 14:29, \u201cLet two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.\u201d]\u00a0 No more than two or three prophets at a time, each in turn, and people say well I can\u2019t control myself because the gift of prophecy just comes over me and I can\u2019t wait to give my oracle through my ecstatic utterance.\n\nWell, how come (as I said before, tongue in cheek) how come that never works with the gift of financial giving, I\u2019ve got money in my pocket and I can\u2019t wait to just give it to the church, I\u2019m just going to run back to the offering box back there and put it in there because it just comes over me and I can\u2019t control myself.\u00a0 You see, the fact of the matter is in that same context, \u201cAll do not speak with tongues, do they?\u00a0 All do not interpret\u201d in tongues, do they?\u201d [1 Corinthians 12:30, \u201cAll 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 every time Paul is asking these questions he is assuming an answer which is negative.\n\nThe idea that every single Christians is supposed to speak in tongues is to ignore the body concept that Paul has so carefully developed, not so much in chapter 14 which is the rule book, but chapter 12.\u00a0 Chapter 12 comes before chapter 14, amen; you all agree with me on that first comes 12, then 13 and then 14.\u00a0 So, if you go back to chapter 12 you\u2019ll discover the body concept where he analogizes the work of the church to a human body and in your human body you don\u2019t have two left feet or two right hands unless you\u2019ve got some kind of genetic issue but that\u2019s not what\u2019s normative. See?\u00a0 I mean, if I have two right hands then one of my hands is unnecessary.\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 So, God has distributed the gifts in such a way that not everybody possesses every single gift.\u00a0 Just as my right hand and my left hand need each other you may possess a gift that someone next to you doesn\u2019t possess and they may possess a gift that you don\u2019t have and just as your right and left hands need each other the two of us in the body of Christ, or the two of you sitting next to each other that are differently gifted need each other as well.\n\nSo, there is no (in this issue of spiritual gifts, including tongues) a cookie cutter mindset where every Christian must do X, or every Christian must do Y.\u00a0 To argue for that is to misunderstand the whole \u201cbody\u201d concept that Paul has carefully articulated in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.\n\nWhich takes us to rule number nine and let\u2019s go over to 1 Corinthians 12:31, Christians are under no obligation to seek other gifts that they don\u2019t have, like the gift of tongues.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of teaching in the body of Christ that you kind of have to go on with God and you have to earnestly desire the greater gifts.\u00a0 Now where are they getting this from?\u00a0 They\u2019re getting it from verse 31, 30 and 31 of 1 Corinthians 12.\u00a0 \u201cAll do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues<\/u>, do they? All do not\u00a0interpret, do they?\u201d <\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0So he\u2019s mentioning tongues, verse 30.\u00a0 Then in verse 31 he says, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But\u00a0earnestly desire<\/u>\u201d now the word for desire, the verb for desire is z\u0113lo\u014d<\/em> where we get the word zealous, \u201cearnestly desire\u201d in other words, be zealous for \u201cthe greater gifts.\u201d\n\nSo, people take that and they say well he mentions tongues in verse 30 and then in verse 31 he says \u201cearnestly desire the greater gifts\u201d so in many Pentecostal charismatic churches they\u2019ll say you\u2019ve got to keep a desire to get the tongues and you\u2019ve got to call out for the gift of tongues.\u00a0 That whole concept is a violation of one of the observations we made very early on about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 You might recall I gave you nineteen observations about spiritual gifts; you might recall observation number two, God sovereignly bestows all the spiritual gifts.\n\nIn other words, what gift or gifts you have has been already sovereignly determined.\u00a0 Two very fast verses on this.\u00a0 One is 1 Corinthians 12:11, that says, \u201cBut one and the same Spirit works all these things,\u201d the Spirit that is, \u201cdistributing to each one individually just as\u201d what? \u201cjust as He wills.\u201d\u00a0 And then you might hold your place in 1 Corinthians 12 and jump over to the Book of Hebrews, Hebrews 2:4 says, \u201cGod also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to\u201d what? \u201cHis own will.\u201d\u00a0 So, who decides who gets what gift?\u00a0 That\u2019s a determination that God has already made.\u00a0 So, your obligation as a Christian is not to ask for something that God has never given you; it\u2019s to discover what He has given you.\n\nThis is the error of thinking with theological seminaries.\u00a0 I have some degrees from a theological seminary; why would I submit myself to a theological seminary?\u00a0 It isn\u2019t just because I\u2019m a Christian, it isn\u2019t just because I love Jesus, it isn\u2019t just because I want to learn the Bible better but I had felt early on that God had given me the gift of pastor-teacher, specifically the gift of teaching and since the Book of James, chapter 3, verse 1 says let few of you presume to be teachers, knowing that the teacher presumes the stricter judgment of accountability maybe I should learn about the Bible that I want to teach.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 I mean, what a thought.\u00a0 [James 3:1, \u201cLet not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.\u201d]\n\nAnd I thank God for this, I gave a lot of sermons very early on in my ministry and I thank God that that was before the internet existed.\u00a0 I have them on, not those CD players, those round things, you all remember the tape cassettes, I\u2019ve got them on there so I feel safe because no one owns tape recorders any more so\u00a0 you can\u2019t hear some of the stuff I said but some of the stuff I said was very sincere, very well-meaning but completely and totally off the wall.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing as painful in ministry as listening to yourself teach via an audio-visual recording because many times I\u2019ve disagreed with myself more than I\u2019ve agreed with myself.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nAnd so I felt I had the gift of pastor-teacher so I submitted myself to an institution that I believed could help me in that particular gift.\u00a0 Now why would I go through that process?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t look at a school to give me a gift, God is the one that gives gifts.\u00a0 I went to that particular school because I thought it could prepare me and shape me and mold me for the ministry God had already given me based on my giftedness.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So a school can\u2019t gift the gift, the only thing a school can do is equip a person with\u2026 that already has that particular gift.\u00a0 A board can\u2019t give a gift either.\u00a0 The elder board has no authority here to give anybody a spiritual gift.\u00a0 What the elder board can do is recognize what the Spirit of God is already doing through a person, we can do that, but the elder board doesn\u2019t have the power to give anybody a spiritual gift.\n\nSo when people go on and they say\u2026 and I\u2019m the President of a very small school, seminary, Chafer Seminary, and there\u2019s sort of a mindset amongst people you\u2019ve got to drive up enrollment.\u00a0 Well, we probably could drive up enrollment if we followed certain tactics but the reality is we don\u2019t want people to come to our school; that\u2019s why we\u2019re small, we don\u2019t want people to come to our school unless they believe that they have the gift of pastor-teacher, and they not only have to believe it but the people they\u2019re supposedly ministering to need to give some kind of testimony that so and so has the gift of pastor teacher, because our school doesn\u2019t exist just to give people Bible knowledge.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the local church is for.\u00a0 I mean, what we\u2019re trying to do is equip people so that they can be effective pastors and teachers.\u00a0 Now a lot of institutions have sort of gotten away from that and that\u2019s why their numbers are very high and ours are not. But I believe that what we\u2019re following is probably, I would call it a biblical model where we don\u2019t see ourselves in any position to give anybody a spiritual gift.\u00a0 We\u2019re targeting people that already have a specific gift with the hope of equipping them to be more efficient and effective and knowledgeable in the use of that gift.\n\nSo, God is the One that sovereignly bestows all gifts.\u00a0 If you want to jot down some other verses that teach this you\u2019ll find it in 1 Corinthians 12:11, 18 and 28.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they\u2019re called spiritual gifts, not Sugar Land Bible Church gifts, not Chafer Theological Seminary gifts, because Chafer Theological Seminary and Sugar Land Bible Church has no power to bequeath or bestow gifts on people.\u00a0 That is a right that God has reserved for Himself.\n\nIt\u2019s sort of like when you were physically conceived, your whole DNA, your temperament, to some extent your intellect, your skill set, that was already determined the moment of conception. And one of the exciting things about life is simply to discover how you\u2019re made.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s true in the physical world why would it not be true in the spiritual world?\u00a0 When you were spiritually conceived, not at the point of physical conception but at the point of faith alone in Christ alone, Jesus called it the new birth, being born again, your spiritual genetics or DNA and gift mix were already there.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of crying out to God for something you don\u2019t have, it\u2019s a matter of discovering how God has already wired you.\n\nAnd so when people say well, you\u2019ve to just call out for the gift of tongues, you\u2019ve got to desire the gift of tongues, that would be a violation of what Paul has said earlier, that you don\u2019t call out to God for things because God is not going to give you something additional that you don\u2019t have.\u00a0 Rather if you want to cry out to God for something here\u2019s what I would cry out to God for: God help me to discover how You\u2019ve already wired me.\u00a0 That\u2019s a more appropriate prayer request.\u00a0 Well if that\u2019s true then why does verse 30 talk about tongues and verse 31 says, \u201cBut earnestly desire the greater gifts\u201d which people believe is referring to the gift of tongues. Why does it say that then?\u00a0 Well \u00a0\u00a0what you have to understand is that verb, zellou<\/em>, where we get the word zealous, is not a singular verb, it\u2019s plural. So, this is not a command given to the individual Christian; the plurality of the \u00a0\u00a0verb indicates that this is a command given to the church of Jesus Christ as a whole.\n\nIn other words, the church of Jesus Christ as a whole, the church of Jesus Christ at large, in this case the Corinthians church at large, should zealously desire to be exercised, not through them individually but should zealously desire to be exercised in their midst the greater gifts, the gifts with the greatest capacity for edification, which, according to Paul is the gift of teaching and the gift of preaching or the gift of prophecy.\u00a0 In other words, collectively as a whole the church should desire for that gift to be given a place of influence in the life of the church so that the broadest number of people can be edified through that gift.\u00a0 In other words, this is a collective calling for the church to desire, putting it into twenty-first century vernacular, public proclamations and teachings from the Word of God.\n\nAnd as I was visiting with some folks just before we started today, sadly that\u2019s one of the things that\u2019s lacking in the American church because people today, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, are assembling around them teachers, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, telling them what their itching ears want to hear.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 4:3-4, \u201cFor the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, [4] and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s like a child saying I want to eat donuts and dessert for three straight meals but mom and dad, don\u2019t give me any vegetables, don\u2019t give me my food groups, don\u2019t give me any vitamins, don\u2019t give me any nutrients.\u00a0 That, if you can put that image in your mind, that\u2019s basically what the western church has deteriorated into and that also is an outworking of Bible prophecy.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see it predicted in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.\u00a0 But Paul says here it ought not to be that way.\u00a0 What you should be desiring, not individually desiring the gift of tongues, you should be collectively desiring the Word of God to be taught in purity and simplicity and authority that you may grow thereby.\n\nSo that\u2019s a completely different interpretation of than you\u2019ll find in the charismatic circles.\u00a0 They want it to read you have to have an individual desire for the gift of tongues and I\u2019m saying that\u2019s not what Paul is saying.\u00a0 And a little bit of knowledge of Greek helps you with that because you see that the verb there is not a singular verb but it\u2019s plural.\u00a0 This is supposed to be a collective desire, a collective command if you will, given to the church at large.\u00a0 So rule number nine is Christians need not seek the gift of tongues.\n\nAnd then rule number ten is tongues are not a private prayer language because many people, when you get into a conversation with them about the gift of tongues they\u2019ll agree with what you\u2019re saying but then they\u2019ll start talking about well, I have this sort of private prayer language and I pray that to God in my own kind of secret language known only to God and only to me, it\u2019s like a private prayer language and that\u2019s how I commune with God.\u00a0 And as exciting and as interesting as that idea sounds when you actually scrutinize the biblical texts which people use to support their use of a private prayer language the evidence, as I\u2019ll show you, the evidence is very, very wanting.\u00a0 I mean, I don\u2019t think the Bible teaches this idea as much as many people would like it to be true.\n\nSo, let me very quickly give you those verses that they use to support this private prayer language.\u00a0 And before I even get to that remember spiritual gifts, observation number six, spiritual gifts are given in order to what?\u00a0 Edify the church!\u00a0 When God gave you a gift who did He have in mind?\u00a0 Not just you but somebody else; that\u2019s the nature of spiritual gifts, He wants to bless you so that you can be a blessing to somebody else.\u00a0 Well how does a private prayer language bless somebody else?\u00a0 That\u2019s only between me and God.\u00a0 So that blesses the person using it, it doesn\u2019t bless anybody else.\u00a0 And that would be a violation of why God gave the gifts.\u00a0 So out of the gate I immediately see a problem with this concept of this private prayer language that people supposedly have.\n\nAll these things, Paul says, are to be done for edification.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve also talked about the fact that the gift of tongues was also used amongst unbelievers, as a sign that God was doing something new in Acts 2.\u00a0 So those are the two primary purposes of the gift of tongues: it was a source of edification within the church because tongues plus interpretation of tongues plus interpretation equals prophecy within the church, 1 Corinthians 14:26-27.\u00a0 And it was also used in the Book of Acts as a sign to unbelievers the ability to break out in a known language that they understood that you had never studied and they would say Acts 2, where God is changing the house rules, we\u2019re now in the age of the church, is a sign from God.\n\nThat\u2019s why God gave the gift of tongues: two reasons, He never gave the gift of tongues for some sort of private prayer language.\u00a0 So why do people think the gift of tongues is some sort of private prayer language?\u00a0 Like most false doctrines they rely on very scattered Scriptures, out of context.\u00a0 One of them is in the so-called love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13:1, where Paul says, \u201cIf I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I become a noisy going or a clanging symbol.\u201d\u00a0 They say there it is right there, Paul was speaking in angelic language.\u00a0 Well what\u2019s angelic language?\u00a0 It is secret language, mystical language known only to me and God.\n\nLet me ask you a question: as you go through the Word of God and you see angels talking to men do they ever speak in some kind of foreign dialect?\u00a0 They always speak directly to people in a known language so that people can be understood.\u00a0\u00a0 Luke 1:26-38, this is the conversation between Gabriel and I think it was Mary, then the angel Gabriel was sent.\u00a0 Later on \u201che said to her.\u201d\n\n[Luke 1:26-38, \u201cNow in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, [27] to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin\u2019s name was Mary. [28] And coming in, he said to her<\/u>, \u201cGreetings, favored one! The Lord is<\/em> with you.\u201d [29] But she was very perplexed at this<\/em> statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. [30] The angel said to her<\/u>, \u201cDo not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. [331] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; [33] and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.\u201d [34] Mary said to the angel, \u201cHow can this be, since I am a virgin?\u201d [35] The angel answered and said to her<\/u>, \u201cThe Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. [36] And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. [37] For nothing will be impossible with God.\u201d [38] And Mary said, \u201cBehold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.\u201d And the angel departed from her.\u201d]\n\nLater on it says the angel said to her.\u00a0\u00a0 And then apparently Mary understood what was being said, it wasn\u2019t some kind of angelic mystical talk, she could fully grasp it.\u00a0 Mary said back to the angel, so they\u2019re having a conversation.\u00a0 Then later it says the angel \u201csaid to her,\u201d and later on it says \u201cand Mary said\u201d so this conversation is happening, \u201cand the angel departed.\u201d\n\nSo, what is Paul saying when he says even if I speak in the language of angels he\u2019s talking about the normal use of tongues, those two purposes for it, as it was taking place in the first century.\u00a0 There was no angelic talk, mystical talk, secret talk, tongues is always speaking an unlearned but known language or dialect.\u00a0 And people lose this concept and want to make it some kind of private mystical language between them and God, only God hears them, that\u2019s what they mean by a private prayer language.\n\nThe second verse that they use is 2 Corinthians 14:2 says, \u201cFor one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit, he speaks mysteries.\u201d\u00a0 Now you notice the word \u201cFor\u201d at the beginning of verse 2 which connects us back to verse 1, so verse 2 comes after verse one.\u00a0 You all agree with me on that?\u00a0 And the two are connected.\u00a0 What does Paul say in verse 1?\u00a0 See, what people will do is they\u2019ll grab verse 2, they\u2019ll use it to support the doctrine of a private prayer language but they won\u2019t connect it back to the prior verse.\u00a0 Verse 1 says, \u201cPursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.\u00a0 [2]\u00a0 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.\u201d\n\nThe only thing this is revealing here is that tongues are inferior to prophecy because only God understands the one speaking in an untranslated language.\u00a0 That\u2019s all Paul is saying.\u00a0 He\u2019s not encouraging people to do this.\u00a0 What he\u2019s saying is if you have a tongue without an interpreter the only thing that\u2019s happening is you\u2019re not edifying anybody, you\u2019re speaking in a language only God can understand.\u00a0 He\u2019s not exhorting them to pursue a private prayer language.\n\nAnother verse that\u2019s used for this private prayer language is 1 Corinthians 14:4 which says, \u201cOne who speaks in a tongue edifies\u201d the Greek is oikodomei<\/a><\/em>, \u201cOne who speaks in tongues edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the whole church.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And people say well there is it, you can speak in a tongue and edify yourself.\u00a0 Well I would simply say this to that particular inter-pretation, self-edification is not commendable here; he is not promoting self-edification.\u00a0 What he\u2019s saying is the gifts exist for the benefit of somebody else.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t follow that rubric then you\u2019re only edifying yourself.\u00a0 He\u2019s not saying go for it!\u00a0 He\u2019s holding up self-edification as a negation. And the word \u201cedifies himself, edify,\u00a0 oikodomei<\/a><\/em>, doesn\u2019t always refer to something that\u2019s good in Paul\u2019s writings.\u00a0\u00a0 A few chapters earlier, same book, 1 Corinthians 8:10, it says, \u201cFor if someone sees\u00a0 you who have knowledge dining in an idol\u2019s temple, will not his conscience, if it is weak, be strengthened,\u201d that\u2019s the same word oikodomei<\/a><\/em>, edification, \u201cwill not his conscience which is weak be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols.\u201d\n\nWhat Paul is saying here is don\u2019t flaunt your freedom in the presence of the weaker brother because you\u2019re strengthening them to doing something that violates their conscience.\u00a0 So edification is not always a good thing in Paul\u2019s writings.\u00a0 It could be negative.\u00a0 So when he says, \u201cone who speaks in a tongue edifies himself\u201d I think he\u2019s using that same verb, not in a positive sense but in a negative sense.\u00a0 And what people are doing is they\u2019re taking the negation, something to be avoided, and they\u2019re trying to turn it into a normal practice within Christianity.\n\nSo I don\u2019t think 1 Corinthians 14:4 or verse 2 teaches this private prayer language.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll also find folks using 1 Corinthians 14:28 which says, \u201cbut if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.\u201d\u00a0 People say well there it is, I can speak to myself and to God in my own private prayer language.\u00a0 Is that what it says there?\u00a0 \u201clet him speak to himself and to God\u201d in his private prayer language.\u00a0 In fact, the verse doesn\u2019t say that at all.\n\nWhat is 1 Corinthians 14:28 talking about?\u00a0 The tongue speaker, without the interpreter, because the tongue speaker without an interpreter edifies no one; the tongue speaker without the interpreter should remain silent in church and spend the service time in quiet meditation and prayer to God I believe in his own language.\u00a0 I mean, if you don\u2019t have an interpreter present here\u2019s how you can occupy your time: just stay in prayer to God.\u00a0 That\u2019s all Paul is saying here.\u00a0 He\u2019s not talking about some mystical private angelic language and the need to go out and get it.\n\nA text without a context is a proof text, right, to support a preexisting theology.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very easy to go through 1 Corinthians 14 and grab this verse, this verse, this verse and chapter 13, grab that verse and make it sound like there\u2019s some kind of availability of a private prayer language.\u00a0 But when you actually scrutinize each of those verses you\u2019ll see they\u2019re not talking about what so many in the Pentecostal world think that they\u2019re talking about.\n\nAnd I threw this one into the mix because I\u2019ve had some questions on this one, this is out of Romans 8:26-27. It says, \u201cIn the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us\u201d <\/em>who\u2019s doing the interceding here?\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear it\u2019s the Spirit.\u00a0 How does the Spirit do it, \u201c<\/em>with groanings too deep for words; [27] and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of<\/em> God.\u201d\n\nSo people say aha, the Holy Spirit is interceding for us in a private language that\u2019s not intelligible, since I\u2019m led by the Holy Spirit I have access to the same language as well.\u00a0 When you simply look at what Paul is saying in Romans 8:26-27 there\u2019s nothing that the believer does here at all.\u00a0 I mean, it never says the believer gets involved in the process, he\u2019s just making a statement about what the Holy Spirit is already doing for us. So this is a statement of we\u2019re down here, the Holy Spirit is up there, and He is praying for us.\u00a0 By the way, aren\u2019t you glad the Holy Spirit is praying for you, He\u2019s praying for us to the Father.\u00a0 There\u2019s no involvement of a human being whatsoever.\u00a0 And yet what people want to do is they want to tie this verse over to the angel talk in 1 Corinthians 13 and all those other verses in chapter 14 and come up with this doctrine of a private prayer language.\n\nAnd the reality of the situation is to make that whole thing work you have to just wrench one verse after another completely out of its context, which anybody can do.\u00a0 Judas went and hung himself. [Matthew 27:5, \u201cJudas went and hung himself.\u201d]\u00a0 Jesus said what?\u00a0 \u201cGo thou and do likewise.\u201d [Luke 10:37] What else did Jesus say?\u00a0 \u201cWhat you do, do quickly.\u201d [John 13:27, \u201cAfter the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore, Jesus said to him, \u201cWhat you do, do quickly.\u201d]\n\nAh, there it is, the doctrine of suicide, it\u2019s in the Bible, I just quoted three verses.\u00a0 Well, I quoted you three verses but I completely mutilated their context that stitched them together in a way that makes it look like the Bible is supporting something it\u2019s not. That\u2019s basically, in my humble opinion, what\u2019s happening with this private prayer language concept.\n\nSo, all of that being said what are some of the rules that have to be followed in the church for tongues?\u00a0 No gibberish or incoherence.\u00a0 Speech, tongues are a low priority in the church.\u00a0 Teaching related to edification always takes priority over tongues.\u00a0 No untranslated tongues in church.\u00a0 Only two to three tongue speakers at a time.\u00a0 The tongue speakers are, like the prophets are, completely in control of their faculties.\u00a0 Church services are to be orderly, absent confusion.\u00a0 Not every Christian, even when this gift was in operation, was speaking in tongues.\u00a0 There is no biblical command that Christians are to seek the gift of tongues.\u00a0 And then finally number 10, tongues is not some sort of private prayer language.\n\nNow I gave this same lecture in a college class and a student in the back said, Well, Professor, if everything you\u2019ve said is true then who have I been talking to all these years in my private prayer language, because I have experienced this private prayer language.\u00a0 So to get an answer to that question you\u2019ll have to come back next week, for Roman numeral V where I\u2019ll try to show you what I believe the true source of many things happening in the charismatic movement are.\u00a0 In other words, just because something is spiritual and experiential and just because it feels good, that does not authenticate whether it is true or not.\u00a0 So, we\u2019ll talk about that next time and don\u2019t worry, I keep saying this every week, but we\u2019ll do Q and A also.\u00a0 We may do just one whole session of just Q and A down the road also, particularly with this stuff of charismatic, charismata.\u00a0 So let\u2019s pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for Your rule book and how it clears our mind of a lot of confusion that we see today.\u00a0 I pray that You\u2019ll be with us in the main service that follows.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. 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