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Welcome to studies with Stearman. Join us as we look deeper into the Bible. Strengthen your faith with us even as we see the day approaching. And now here's Gary. Prophecy will fail. Tongues. First Corinthians 13:8 shall cease. Knowledge even will, will vanish away. Because as Paul says, we know in part, we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. In other words, all your vaunted knowledge, everything that you learn. And you think, boy, I know it now I've really got it. Even that's going to pass away in the presence of God. We are going to have perfect even. I think it will be better than knowledge. The thing that we'll have in heaven is not knowledge per se, but the presence of God which transcends knowledge. Because the idea on earth is to stuff your brain with as much as you possibly can before you die, particularly about God. But when you're with him, you won't need to accumulate knowledge anymore. He'll be right there, and you'll know him and he'll know you. Perfect relationship. That's the thing that Paul is talking about. There is a phrase that I wanted to emphasize before we Start in the 14th chapter, 1st Corinthians 13:8. Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Tongues in the Greek language, glossa simply means languages. And the word for cease, there is pau in the Greek meaning to halt, to stop, to cease. It is the most powerful way in the Greek language to tell somebody to stop. Pau. Oh, kind of an explosive word, pow' o stop, pow. And it means to stop. It means to really stop. And it is a historical fact that the gift of tongues stopped with the death of the last apostle. By the end of the first century, when the apostle John died, the gift of speaking in tongues had stopped completely, absolutely ceased. And you can check all the history you want to the doctrines of the early church fathers. And that's simply a historical fact. And I don't say this critically, but simply as a historical observation, because it's very, very vital that we have that thought before we continue in chapter 14. Now, chapter 14 transitions out of 13 by saying follow after charity. Charity being the King James way of saying agape, love, the love of God. And the term follow after is the Greek term dioko, which means to pursue or to aspire to, to vigorously pursue something, as Paul says, using the same word in Romans 14:19, he says, Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace pursue these things. In Philippians 3:12, Paul says, Not as though I had already attained that is perfection, either. We're already perfect. He said, I don't consider myself to be perfect, but I follow after. I pursue if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. The whole idea of following after is to pursue vigorously. So what are we to pursue? Love. And then he says, and desire spiritual gifts. Of course you desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. I've called chapter 14 in First Corinthians the case for prophecy. This whole chapter is about prophecy. It follows very clearly that what Paul is doing is expounding on the idea of prophecy. Look at verse 1. Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. Now you go to the very close of this chapter, verse 39, wherefore brethren covet, that is, have a zeal for prophecy and forbid not speak with tongues. Okay, he's not forbidding speaking with tongues. He opens the chapter with pursue prophecy. It closes the chapter with zealously pursue prophecy and forbid not speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently in order. So the subject of this whole chapter is prophecy. What is prophecy? Prophecy, which Paul refers to in several places as the preferred gift. In other words, if you want to have one gift, it should be prophecy. Prophecy is preaching infallibly, or to put it another way, it is correctly expounding the word of God to somebody else under any circumstances. This chapter should be seen as an extension of the love chapter. But there's something else that needs to be seen. Paul talks throughout this chapter about tongues. He does not equate tongues with prophecy, nor does he equate prophecy with tongues, as some do today. To speak in tongues today is to prophesy. Oftentimes it is thought that people will prophesy in a tongue, and then someone else will interpret that prophecy. Paul doesn't look at it this way at all. Paul. Paul says, here's prophecy over here. Here's tongues over here. It's two separate gifts. And he says, if you have a choice, prefer to prophesy. Prefer prophecy over tongues. He says that right there in the first verse. For he that speaketh, and it says in the King James in an unknown tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. He that prophesieth speaketh unto men for edification. In other words, in verse three, he's Making the case here that prophecy is superior to he that speaketh unto men to edification, to exhortation, to comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, Edifieth himself. He that prophesieth, Edifieth the Church in every case. When Paul is comparing tongues with prophecy, he calls prophecy the superior gift. What does prophecy do? It edifies, that is, it builds people up, the proper exposition of the word of God. And I'm not talking about myself here. I'm talking about anyone who's listening to me. Someone comes to you and wants to talk about the Bible and you talk about the Bible you are prophesying, in a sense, you are speaking by the spirit of the Lord and say, well, here's what I, I believe the Lord is saying in these verses or in this scripture. That's prophecy in the strictest, broadest sense. That's what Paul is talking about. Prophecy edifies, it exhorts, it encourages, and it comforts. And boy, that's a big one. How often do you need comfort from Scripture? You do. And sometimes somebody may come to you and speak a word of Scripture or remind you of something. And it's very, very comforting to have that scripture when you are in deep trouble. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, Edifieth himself should say something about the unknown tongue here. The word unknown is not in the Greek. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue is the Jacobean way of saying he that speaks in a foreign language. In the Greek language, it just says simply he who speaks in a tongue. That's all it says. And the word unknown is never ever in the text anywhere. And tongue glossa in the Greek simply means a language. That's the way the Greeks indicated that somebody was speaking a language. They called it a tongue. And that Graco, Roman, even Hebrew. The same root, the same word root for foreign language occurs in the Semitic language group, Hebrew and Chaldaic. It occurs in the Greco Roman language group. And it also occurs specifically in Hebrew Lalaian. The idea of a language, that's where we get our word language. We spell it L, A, N, G, U, A, G, E. In the Greek, it's L A L. In Latin, it's the same la sound. In Hebrew, it's the same la sound. It comes out as language. Or in the King James, they didn't use the word language. The writers of King James Bible did not use the word language ever. And in fact, at the time they wrote this in 1611, the word language was not a word that was in use English, you would say, I speak in the French tongue. I speak in the Gaelic tongue. I speak in the English tongue. You would not say, I speak the English language. And so when they translated out of the Greek, they used unknown tongue as a language that you don't know, a foreign language. And in fact, in the Jacobean period in 1611, they didn't even use the word foreign. If you go back and check the language in those days. So where today it's very common for us to say foreign language. Like, do you speak a foreign language? If you walked up to somebody in 1611 in England and said, do you speak a foreign language? He'd look at you and say, whoa, you're speaking an unknown tongue. Because he wouldn't understand the term foreign language. And yet that's what it means. In other words, they were trying to clarify the difference between a language you do know and a language you don't know. So verse four, he that speaketh in an unknown tongue Edifieth himself. But he that prophesieth, Edifieth the church. There was no New Testament in A.D. 56 when this letter was written. You couldn't say to somebody, read 1st Corinthians 14:4. Well, if you were in Corinth, you might be able to say that, but you wouldn't say 14 4. You just say, go read Paul's letter. The point is that there was no New Testament. The New Testament was in its formative stages at that time, and you could not point anywhere for doctrine except to the apostles and their followers. And the apostles and their followers prophesied and spoke in the gift of tongues. And we're going to talk about that in just a minute, and we're going to express the idea of tongues. What is it? There's so much controversy about it. If you prophesy, you edify, you exhort, you comfort. If you speak in a language, you edify only yourself. If I were to suddenly begin to speak some other language. Ho gar la lom glosse ook amprapotois la le. Who am I edifying? Is there an interpreter in the group here? You got it. We have an interpreter. Now we need somebody else to tell what the rest of the sentence was. But you're right. What I said was, he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto himself, because he's the only one who knows it. Now, if I suddenly acquired the ability to speak a language that I had never spoken before, and do it clearly because the Lord deemed it necessary to Transmit the gospel to that person. That's a gift. That's a gift. Tongues. There's something about tongues. Tongues were used at the institution of the dispensation of grace. Let's go back and look at this. Let's start with Mark. There's a prophecy made by Jesus, and it's quoted in Mark, chapter 16, verse 17. Jesus says to his disciples after he's resurrected, he said unto them, Mark 16:15, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now this appearance of Jesus made before his ascension, before Pentecost, before the giving of the gift of languages, and he says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe in my name. They shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. And they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. So we have the sign gifts here, the casting out of demons, speaking in tongues, taking up a serpent, being able to drink poison, laying hands on the sick. The sick will recover. The question you have to ask yourself, is this prophecy of Jesus normative throughout the entire church age? Some people say, yes, it is. There are snake handling churches to this day, and you know about them. There are places where they gather with rattlesnakes, you know, and dance around with snakes, saying that they're protected by the presence of the Holy Spirit. And they speak in unknown tongues at those services. Laying hands on the sick, the sick shall recover. We all know about what happened during the Apostolic age. People were even raised from the dead during the Apostolic Age, like Dorcas in Joppa. The question has always been within Christendom, what is normative for any age in the Christian church? What is normative? And people have their opinions, they discuss these things here. And by the way, when it comes to tongues, there's something that's interesting. It's very rarely mentioned in the Bible. It's hardly mentioned at all. It's mentioned in this little snippet of scripture in Mark, where Jesus prophesied it. It's used again, of course, in Acts chapter two. Let's go to Acts chapter two. And it's used very rarely even in the Book of Acts, which is a history of the early church. Acts 2, 3, 4. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and sat on each of them. This is a repetition of what happened to the children of Israel? In the desert at the foot of Mount Horeb, at the giving of the law, tongues of fire came down from the mountain and touched the people there. Matter of Jewish history. And there was a dialogue between God and man at that point in time, of course, the law was given on Pentecost here. The dispensation of grace is given on Pentecost. And tongues of fire divided. Fire came and sat on each of them. They're filled with the Holy Ghost began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And a description of those other tongues is then given. People are hearing them and they're saying, wow, these are Galileans. And they're speaking every language under heaven. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamian, Judean, Cappadocian, Pontus, Asia. They would be speaking Ugaritic. They would be speaking various forms of Semitic dialects. They would be speaking several dialects of local Greek, Gallic, Phrygian, Pamphylian, Libyan, Kyrrhenian, Latin, cretan, Arabic. Verse 11 in Acts 2 says, Cretes and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our tongues, the wonderful works of God. And there the word tongues is the Greek word dialectos, which we bring into English as dialects. Everybody said we're hearing them speak in our own dialects. And. And they were all amazed. Of course they would be. Now, this raised a question which we'll deal with later. The question is, is the gift of languages in the mouth or is it in the ear? And you've heard that asked before, is the gift of dialect such that I am able to speak a foreign language I've never studied? Or is it in the ear of the beholder, where I'm speaking English and he's hearing me in Greek? You've heard that discussed? Well, we're going to deal with that question. Acts 10:46 is the next place you find mention of the gift of tongues. Acts 10:46 takes place after Cornelius sent for Peter. Cornelius living up in a Roman city, Caesarea, in a Roman villa. This man Cornelius had a whole villa there. He had his own staff, he had his own soldiers. He was an important Roman. And he went to the house of Cornelius, and he was able to speak in the language of Cornelius. And in Acts 10:34, Peter opens his mouth and said of a truth. How I perceive that God's no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. And down in verse 46 of that same chapter, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God. And there in the Greek, strange tongues or alien tongues is the phrase that's used. In other words, the people of the house of Cornelius were able to speak in regional dialects. So that's the second place tongues is mentioned in Acts. First on the day of Pentecost. Second at the house of Cornelius. Third is over in Ephesus, when the Gospel moved out to the uttermost parts of the world. Acts 19. We read in Acts 19 it came to pass while Apollos was at Corinth. Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, finding certain disciples. He said to them, have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him what they said, we haven't even so much as heard whether there is such a thing as the Holy Ghost. What do you mean? In other words, the Spirit of the Lord had not yet been received or formalized in Asia Minor. And at this point we reach the uttermost parts of the earth. Prediction in Acts at this point Paul laid hands on them. Acts 19:6. The Holy Ghost came on them. They spoke with tongues and prophesied, and all the men were about 12. And this is the opening up of Asia Minor. So don't miss this. Tongues are used at the institution of the dispensation of grace. First on the day of Pentecost, second at the home of Cornelius, and third in Ephesus. And Ephesus became known as what? The landing place. It was ground zero for the preaching of the Gospel. That's where Paul set up his official headquarters. And later on, John became the last apostle, became the bishop of the church of Ephesus. So Ephesus was the place in the New Testament from which the Gospel went forth in every direction. This was a direct result of a prophecy made by Jesus right at the beginning of the book of acts. Acts chapter 1, verse 8. Jesus looked at the disciples before his ascension. And he says, but you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me. Both in Jerusalem, that's Acts chapter two. In Judea, that's at the house of Cornelius, when they received tongues there. And unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts chapter 19. In Ephesus, the dispensation of grace is institutionalized by the giving of the gift, the ability to speak languages. And I sincerely believe, and I personally believe, that the gift of tongues is the ability to speak a foreign language, that you have never studied that gift, that linguistic gift is of the Holy Spirit. It has a Satanic counterpart, by the way, in many cults and in many occultic groups. And you may not know this, they have counterfeit versions of the ability to speak in foreign languages, sometimes in languages of dark spirits. I just want to say that because Satan tries to counterfeit everything God ever does, and it's important to remember that. Now let's go back to First Corinthians again and having sort of introduced this topic, let's just read the chapter. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, and wherever we use that phrase, we mean a foreign language, edifies himself. He that prophesieth, edifieth the church. Again, it just makes common sense. If I stood up here and spoke in a foreign language, we have someone here from India. And if suddenly I just had the ability to speak her dialect for an extended period of time and preach Acts 19 in her dialect, that would edify her a great deal. It would not do anything for the rest of you, except what it would do is you'd all say, whoa, that Gary, he is really something. And God would not want that, I assure you. You see what I'm saying? If that word got out, why, people might flock here from all over the place to see me. Do that trick again. Uh, I don't want to do that trick. It's not a trick. It's not designed to be an attention getting device. The ability to speak foreign languages had a very specific use at a very specific time in history. You had to have the ability to go and prophesy to somebody in their own language quickly. You couldn't come in and spend time with them and study their language and get to know them and so forth. You had to be able to come right into town and say, something wonderful has happened. God has come to earth in the form of a man. He has lived, he has satisfied the sin debt and he shed his own blood. And you have to give the whole gospel in that person's language and it has to be assigned to them. Well, this is what the apostles were able to do over and over again. I would. He says, verse 5, that ye all spoke with tongues. But rather, or as we would say in English, even more than that, he said, I wish that you prophesied for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret that the church may receive edifying. Now if I'm standing up here and I'm speaking a foreign language through the urging of God, somebody's got to interpret what I say. Like Loretta did a minute ago. You Got to interpret. Otherwise everybody's just sitting here with their mouth open. What did he say? What did he say? I don't know. It just makes perfect sense. You can't edify people except in their own language. Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except that I speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophesying or by doctrine. In other words, the subject of the chapter is prophecy, that is, preaching the word of God as perfectly as possible. He says, look, look, look. What's the use of my coming to you if I don't make sense? That's what he's saying there in the sixth verse. And then he tries in his very best way to explain to them what he means by tongues. Starting in verse seven, he says, even things without life. And in the Greek it says, even things without a soul. Even things without a soul, without life. Giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction to sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise, ye, except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. How shall it be known what is spoken? For you shall speak into the air. Now, musical instruments, horns and violins, do not have a soul, but they can be manipulated so that it sounds like they have a soul. Have you ever heard somebody play a violin and it just moves you right to your core? Or if I could play the trumpet and play this. Incredible. You know, a mighty fortress is our God on the trumpet. Wow. Stir your soul. Why is that true? Because the musical instrument then enunciates a particular message. And Paul's saying, look, you have to have something transmitted to you in a language that you understand. And he's using the idea of a musical instrument to make his point. So likewise you, except that you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. How shall it be known what's spoken? So I'm going to speak English here, you know, it's the preferred language. Ever go to someplace where they speak another language and try to speak their language and just make a complete fool of yourself? Of course you have, and you just say, oh, wow, I wish I could speak that language just for 10 minutes. Well, that's what it's all about. In other words, you want to speak a language that makes sense to your listener, and you want to speak by the tongue, words easy to be understood. You don't want to speak into the air. Therefore, look at verse 10. There are it May be so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without some sort of meaning. He says, therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. Barbarians. You know what a barbarian is? You know, you've heard the expression, the barbarians are at the gate, and we're. Rome was invaded by barbarians from the north. You know, the Goths and the Visigoths, and all of those different kinds of people. The Germanic tribes from Europe invaded southward into the Roman Empire. And all of those people were known in the Greco Roman Empire as barbarians. And do you know why they were first called barbarians? Because they didn't know how to speak Greek. That's why. There's a word in the Greek language which is bar. Bar. And if you say in Greek, bar, like that, bar, B A R. That means blabber. That's the Greek word for blabbering. In English would say, you're blabbering. You're just blabbering. You're not making any sense. Quit blabbering and speak plain English. Well, in Greek, they didn't say blabber. They said, barbara, you're just barbarian. And that makes you a barbarian. A barbarian. And that's what Paul is saying here. He's saying, hey, if I don't speak your language, I'm a barbarian. Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian. And he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. You're just a blabbermouth. Even so, ye, forasmuch as ye're zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Now, there are some showboat gifts, boy, if you can just walk up somebody and heal them, boom. That's a showboat gift. It is. Or if you can prophesy in some kind of an unknown tongue, that's a showboat gift. You can look really sharp if you do that. You can sell that, really. And a lot of people are zealous to receive gifts that are showboat gifts that make them look really, really good. Like I say, if I could heal by a touch and speak in foreign languages that I never studied, people would be coming from all over the United States. They'd be buying airline tickets to Oklahoma City and coming to this little church, and we'd have people directing traffic out here on this little street. The will of God could not possibly be in that. You See what I'm saying? That's not what God wants. He wants us to understand the fine points of the word. It's called prophecy. Correctly prophesying the word of God is the preferred gift. Verse 13. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit. I'll pray with the understanding also. I'll sing with the spirit. I'll sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at the giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest. Very interesting thought here. Let him that speaketh in a glossa pray that he may interpret. Translate is the word. In other words, if I speak in a language that's not familiar to the group, we need a translator. We need someone who can translate what I just said into the common language of the group. Now, think about this for a minute. Anything spoken in a tongue should be interpreted, says Paul. This makes it almost a certainty that the speaking of languages unknown is an act of speech and not an act of hearing. In other words, there's some discussion about is the gift of tongues in the mouth or is it in the ear? Do you hear it in your own language or is it spoken? Well, this makes it almost a certainty that the gift of tongues is the ability to speak a foreign language. Otherwise you wouldn't need an interpreter if people could hear the tongue in their own language. Here Paul says you need an interpreter. This makes it a gift of speech, not hearing. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding. And the Greek word for understanding there is my mind. My mind is unfruitful. Now, some use this verse to say that tongues is kind of a mystical experience. In the modern era, tongues is often given as a mystical elevation into a world unknown, where your spirit is kind of lifted up into another dimension and you are communing with God on some kind of a subconscious level that lifts you up before the throne in a very special way as a mystical experience. But as Paul expresses the gift of tongues when he explains it, he always explains it as a gift that's meant for other people, not for you yourself. And we'll get into this, because before we get to the end of this chapter, Paul says, look, tongues should be used to edify, and tongues should be Directed toward the unbeliever, not the believer. What is it then? Verse 15. I will pray with the Spirit. I'll pray with the understanding also. I'll sing with the Spirit and sing with the understanding also. You want your mind to be on board with what your mouth says, else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen? In other words, you've got to say something understandable so a brother can say amen at the end of it. You can't say amen to something you don't understand. You just can't. You have to agree with it, which means that you have to understand umin Amen. Whichever language you speak, Amen simply means I agree. Well, don't say that if you're listening in a foreign language because that person speaking the foreign language may have said something you wouldn't agree with. That's what Paul is saying. Pray with the Spirit and with the understanding. Speak with the Spirit and with the understanding. Sing with the Spirit and the understanding. Hymnity in church, singing with the understanding, singing hymns, singing psalms, whatever can degenerate into kind of meaningless repetition. I don't have a dogmatic approach to hymnity. There are many, many different ways to worship God in song. Most of them are cultural. But the idea of a hymn is to merge doctrine into the local culture and into a melody. So that you're praising the Lord, you're worshiping the Lord, and you are exhorting and edifying yourself all at the same time. In other words, the room, the Lord, the music, everything is brought together in one place. But hymnity should be understandable. He said, I sing with the understanding also. In other words, it should mean something. It shouldn't just be endless babble. It should praise the Lord in specific ways. It should elevate the doctrines of the Bible. And I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Verse 17. For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. Yet in the church I'd rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue or foreign language. Paul was the missionary's missionary. Been everywhere, been all over the place. Went up to Illyrica, that's modern Yugoslavia. He had been to the north of Italy, the south of Italy, Sicily, Crete. He had been across to Spain. And I believe that he went north as far as England. And he went all over the place. And everywhere he went, he could walk into a town and speak that language. Boy, now there's a gift. He had probably spoken dozens of languages in his life. And what does he say in the church? I'd rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Because what is a church? A church is a local assembly of believers. And usually, I would say 99.99% of the time, the people who gather under the roof of a church all speak the same language. It's just the way it is. Therefore, you listen to what the people are speaking. And you speak that language that they're all speaking. And that's why Paul said, I'd rather speak five words with my mind in it. In other words, he's using the idea here of rational expression, of the thoughts of the mind being absolutely important in a church congregation. Everybody speaks the same language. And Paul said, that's the one I choose to speak. Brethren, be not children in understanding howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. This is just Paul's way of saying, don't act like children. Grow up. He says in the law, it's written here in verse 21, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people. And yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Remember back in Acts 2:42, In Jerusalem, when the Spirit came, they all spoke every dialect in the world. Everybody heard them. There was no secret about what was going on. The Pharisees all heard them. Did the Pharisees receive? No. Did the Sadducees or the scribes receive? No. They all heard it. They heard every dialect proclaiming the gospel of the risen Christ. And they didn't hear wherefore. Which is a. Therefore, verse 22. Tongues are for a sign. And this to me is bottom line stuff right here. This is the bottom line. Tongues are for a sign. Not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. So Paul says, and this is pretty dogmatic language, he's saying, when you use tongues, direct it toward unbelievers. That's what it's for. It's not for believers. Could that be any clearer? I mean, that's clear. And he also says, it is a sign. Semion. A sign means a visible indicator of something which would not otherwise be visible. Tongues are for an affirmation of the fact that something special has happened. But notice what he says in the second half of this Sentence. But prophesying serveth not for them which believe not, but for them which believe. So in Paul's day, the tongue announced the gospel, but prophecy exhorted believers and lifted them to a new level of belief. Prophecy being the superior gift. Prophecy is for believers, tongues is for unbelievers. Prophecy is for believers. Tongues is for those to be evangelized, the unbelievers, those outside the faith. If therefore the whole church come together in one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that you're mad? Yeah. What if everybody here started speaking a tongue and you're speaking Serbo Croatian and you're speaking Finno Ugric and you're speaking some dialect of North Africa and we are all going at once here and somebody walks into this congregation, they're going to say, ooh, ooh, I'm going to just turn right around and walk out. You know, what if an unbeliever came to your congregation and heard chaos? But he says, if all prophesy and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, just a baby Christian, he's convinced of all, he's judged of all. Prophecy convicts. Prophecy judges personal behavior. Prophecy exhorts, it educates. The gift of tongues was for a sign to the unbeliever, to bring them into the fold. And then after that would come in the elders, the deacons, they would set up a congregation, they would gather together like minded, culturally aligned people who spoke the same language. And at that point prophecy could begin. Which brings up the point, what is the gift of prophecy? What is the gift of prophecy? Can I just pull a prophecy out of the air? And the Lord said to me, told me to tell you such and such is that prophecy. Well, Paul speaks to that verse 25. And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest. And so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth. In other words, someone is convicted and convinced through prophecy. How is it then, brethren, when you come together, every one of you hath a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. Edifying means building up the house of God. In fact, it even uses the Greek word for house, oikodomi, to edify, to build up the house. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by 2 or at the most 3 and that by course. In other words, one at a time and let one interpret. So if someone today were to stand up and say, I have a tongue and that tongue be spoken, the Bible makes it clear that we need to have an interpreter to interpret what's said to the rest of the group. A translator if you will. But if there is no interpreter, that is, if there is no translator, let him keep silence in the church. I was watching a very, very, very famous charismatic preacher on television some time ago, preaching, prophesying, if you will, from the Bible. And out in the audience, somebody stood up and began to speak very loudly in tongues, in a glossolalia some language that was not understandable. And this man said to this person in the audience, stop. Pointed his hand like this. And that person stopped dead cold. And he said, sit down. And then he explained to his audience that was not of the Spirit of God. And he just went on teaching. He just shut that person right up. And it was on tv. And I thought, well, praise the Lord. There wasn't a translator present and this very famous evangelist knew it. What was that guy in the audience saying? Nobody knew. If there be no interpreter or translator, let him keep silence of the church. Let him speak to himself and to God. Tongues gift to bring the gospel to unbelievers. In the ancient world of the Roman Empire, where koine Greek was spoken on the street, you go to Persia, you go to various parts of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Alexandria. Usually you'd speak Greek, koine Greek on the street. But also since it's the Roman Empire, you would speak Latin. And the closer you got to Rome, particularly in Illyricum, ancient Spain, northern Italy, so forth, Cappadocia, you'd speak Latin. And translators were common in that day and age. You needed often, very often needed a translator. But imagine you were one of the missionaries going out to spread the new religion. You can't pass out Gideon Bibles. You couldn't pass out a New Testament. How are you going to convince people? Well, through the sign gifts of healing and the ability to speak directly to someone in his own language. Let the prophets verse 29 speak two or three. Let the other judge. What's a prophet? Before the giving of the New Testament, the gift of prophecy was to speak the word of the Spirit of God as he gave you utterance to edify the rest of the church prior to the giving of the New Testament. And there were prophets in those days. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. You know, the Bible tells us for example, that the evangelist Philip had four daughters and his daughters could prophesy let me read it here in Acts 21:8, 10. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea. We entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist, which is one of the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins which did prophesy. Philip the Evangelist had four daughters who prophesied. Now what did they prophesy? I would imagine that having heard Philip the Evangelist give the word, these four daughters were able to repeat what he said and to augment what he said, to build upon it so that someone coming and hearing for the first time would be lifted up in the Spirit and edified by what these daughters had to say. They preached, they prophesied. And as we tarried there many days there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. Now Agabus was a well known New Testament prophet. He went around clarifying and augmenting the early Gospel. He had no New Testament to read. He had to rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit to prophesy. I rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit to help me prophesy what's in this book. But I am no freelance prophet. Believe me. I'm no prophet for hire type. I stick strictly to the doctrine. It's the doctrine that we prophesy from because it's been given, it has been canonized. And I'm convinced that it is the divine and full expression of the Spirit of God. Verse 31. For you may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted. Remember, the Quakers would have a meeting in which they had no preacher. The Quakers would all come into the local meeting hall and they would sit down in the pews and they would pray silently. And if the Spirit moved one of them, that individual would speak the word of God and prophesy and then he would be quiet. Maybe the Spirit would move somebody else and he would prophesy from the Word of God. Now that was the way they did it. And by prophecy they meant expounding on what was written in the New Testament. That's the way the Quakers viewed prophecy. In the days when there was no New Testament. The prophecy would be given on the basis of the leading the Spirit in the light of that which was already revealed through the apostles. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. What he's saying here is you're not going to be A freelance hired gun type prophet. Things are to be done in a particular way. God's not the author of confusion, but of peace. Obviously, and particularly in the Corinthian Church, this had become a problem. And Paul was speaking to the problem. Everybody was eager to exercise a gift and chaos was breaking out. And, you know, they had written him a letter saying, we've got these problems, please speak to them. Well, one of the problems was order in the church. And it had to do with the gifts, the sign gifts. Now we come to one that I would just rather march right on by. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. That's interesting, because we just read about the daughters of Philip the evangelist prophesying. Well, it's really simple to explain what Paul's saying here. What Paul is saying here is we're talking about languages and prophecy. That's the subject of chapter 14. In matters of doctrine, it has always been Paul's desire. And in all his teaching, it is his desire that men carry the torch of doctrine because dedicated, objective, logical, non emotional interpretation is required. And men constitutionally are disposed in that direction. There had apparently been a problem of women given to emotional outbursts in the context of the sign gifts. And Paul is dealing here with order and with languages and with doctrine and with prophecy. He's not saying that a woman can never prophesy, nor does he ever say that. What he's discussing here is church order. He says it's not permitted for them to speak, for they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. Now, Paul hardly ever pulls the law on anybody. We're free from the law, says Paul. But on the other hand, he says, I'm gonna remind you of something. That way, way back in Genesis, it was given by God to the woman. He says unto the woman, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. Thy desire shall be to thy husband. He shall rule over thee. After the fall, the Lord spoke to the first couple and he said to Eve, your desire is going to be to rule over your husband. That's what it says in the Hebrew, but he shall rule over you. And of course, that laid down the groundwork of the battle of the sexes. From that point to this, the battle for supremacy in the household has raged. And it can only be solved in Christ, can only be resolved in Christ. In the church, the doctrinal offices are given to men. The idea of maintaining sound doctrine was given to men. The idea of propounding sound doctrine was given to man, the discipline and the gut wrenching hard work of the doctrines given to man. In a Hebrew congregation, back in those days and even today in a Hasidic congregation or an Orthodox Jewish congregation, men and women go through separate doors, right? Am I right? Yes. Women go to one side of the synagogue, men go to the other. In keeping with the long tradition of separating men and women in worship, in the early church, they practiced a lot of this. Some of the manners of the synagogue crept into the early church. Now those have long since been left behind. Men and women come equally into the church. But what we're talking about here is not censoring women. We're talking about church order. That's the subject of this chapter. Then he says something interesting here. He asks a question. He says, what? Which is the King James way of the imperative interrogative? What came the word out of you, or came it unto you only? He says, did the word come out of you or did it come? That's what he's saying here. Obviously, the answer to the question is it came into you. In other words, you're not the source of the word. The word didn't come out of you, it came into you. If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. If somebody wants to disagree, says Paul, let him disagree. Wherefore brethren covet. The Greek word is zelao, from which we get our English word zeal. To be zealous, be passionate. He says, wherefore brethren covet passionately. Desire to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues. I don't forbid. I have never, nor will I forbid the sign gift. If it needs to be manifested, it will be manifested. Praise the Lord. I don't forbid speaking with tongues, nor have I ever. And there are people, I think, who have a particular relationship with the Lord in which they may exercise certain gifts. I would never forbid anything like that. But notice the topic. Verse 40. Let all things be done decently or properly and in order. So what do we get out of this chapter? Well, follow love, pursue love, and desire the spiritual gifts. But more than anything, desire that you may prophesy. Desire that the Lord may use you to prophesy the word effectively to somebody else. And boy, does that need to happen. Pray that the Lord can use you to prophesy to somebody who needs it at a particular time, in a particular place. Somebody may really need to hear what you have to say concerning the word of God. And you need to pray, says Paul, that you have that gift of prophecy that's not limited, by the way, to men. Women can prophesy, and they do all the time.