Speaking In Tongues

I've been able to talk with a number of people about this subject of tongues and a good thing maybe today to just talk about this subject. Brother Cleat opened that up for us last Sunday and shared a little bit with us if you weren't here last Sunday in tongues. So that caused us to have conversations and I'd like to just go over, I think I taught this when we went through 1 Corinthians, some of this about two or three years ago.

And so being a teacher, my motivation is to try to help everyone with understanding. It's always my motivation. And so, you know, that's where my burden would be, is that everyone would have a clear understanding and feel comfortable with what God is doing and trying to do in our midst.

So I want to share, some of this will be review, maybe some of it will be a little bit new. Those of you who have not been here, all of it will be new probably, but I want to start and I'd like to ask you to go back to Genesis and chapter number 11. And I want to read there first of all, God has intervened twice in human history in a very dramatic way.

And He's done so with tongues. He has done so with languages. He has done so in altering the languages of men.

And in doing so, He altered things in a dramatic way. And the first time He did this was in Genesis chapter number 11. And I'm going to read down here and you can follow along with me.

Starting in verse number 1, very familiar story of the Tower of Babel. Babel is where we get our word to babble. In verse number 1 of Genesis 11, it says that the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

Everyone communicated the same way. Everyone, may I say, spoke English or spoke Dutch or spoke Spanish in the region where everyone was living. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there.

And they said one to another, go to, let us, notice all the let us here, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. And they said, go to, let us, build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven.

And here's an interesting one. And let us, make us a name. Let us, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, behold, the people is one. And they have all one language.

You'd think that would be something good. The people being one and they all had one language. And this they begin to do.

And now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to and let us go down and there confound their language. Now here God intervenes in the tongues or languages of men and He actually confounds them.

That they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth. And they left off to build the city.

Their project was ruined. Basically because they could no longer communicate with each other. Therefore is the name of it called Babel.

Because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth. And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. What happened was that the people, let's say were the people of the earth and we were building.

And we wanted to build something glorious for our glory and our name. And God saw that men were building something for their own glory. Putting their mind together for their own glory.

And He said I'm going to come down and I'm going to confuse their languages. So that when they wake up in the morning and they start talking to each other. They can't understand what they're saying.

And then they find a few people that understand them. And so naturally, hey let's hang together. You who understand and you over here who understand.

You can go someplace else. And so they began to divide up. Now here's something that's very important.

See God saw that they came together in one language for the purpose of building a tower in a city. To make a name for themselves. By the way when I read that, did you see the name of Jesus or God anywhere in those words? No you didn't see it.

It's all about themselves. And God comes and then He confounds their language and breaks up what they're doing. Now I'm not going to read it because you probably know it by heart.

Well to save a little bit of time. But the opposite happens in Acts chapter 1. God is going to do a work for the glory of Himself and for the glory of His Son. So in the beginning of the Old Testament you had the Lord intervening in language.

And now in the beginning of the New Testament, the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 1 or Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit comes down and these are individuals who are coming to Jerusalem. Who speak all different kinds of languages. Exactly the opposite of what was happening back in the Tower of Babel.

And then because it's God's work, because it's to praise Him, He brings the languages together. So that everyone can be on the same page, so that everyone can be one. So that everyone can work together to build something to the glory of God.

And that's the church. And you know, I know it is. I know it's God's heart for us to build His kingdom.

And for us to be together and united. And that we all speak the same language, we all have the same mind. That the Spirit of God is working together to bring us to that place where we can come together to work and to build a tower.

That's the house of God. And so here He intervenes in Acts chapter 1 to bring people together to build something that will glorify God. So we see the Lord intervening in languages.

And what we're going to see, and we're going to look at 1 Corinthians 14 here in a minute. But this whole idea of tongues and prophecy and all the things that God blesses the people of God with is to build His kingdom. Edification.

And so we're going to see here, to build up. And so the Lord blesses the people of God. He does it here on the day of Pentecost.

And that blessing was not to show on some sort of a spiritual person. It's for the building and the edification of the body. And so let's pray.

And I want to look at this subject here of languages or tongues. And hopefully we'll clarify and answer all your questions here this morning. Heavenly Father, thank You for the instruction in Your Word.

That we can know You and get to love You and understand Your heart. And Lord, certainly Your heart is, we believe that we all might be one. That You want to bring us together for a great work.

And that work is to glorify You and build the house of God. To go into all the world, as we heard this morning. And preach the gospel.

And help people as living stones to build a spiritual house for the glory of God. And so Lord, bless us this morning as we open up Your Word. And as we try to communicate truth.

And may our hearts be receptive to believe and to understand Your Word. Lord, help us, we pray now in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, the subject matter here is tongues.

I've been talking to some, not only here, but in other places this last week. So I felt like middle of the week, you know, we need to just talk about this again. And I know that you're not, this has been an issue for many people for a long time.

But it seems to be very simple. And it's not a complicated issue. The word tongue, which is used many times in the scriptures, actually means a language.

It's from the Greek word, glossa. We get the word, a glossary, from this Greek word, glossa. And it's referring to languages.

Acts chapter 1 verse 6 says that every man heard them speak in their own language. It's a language issue. God is interested in language.

Can you imagine if you and I could not communicate with each other? We did not have a common language. We would not be able to get to know each other. There'd be no relationships.

And we would just be pockets of one individual all over the place. If we did not have a common language. And so, when I talk about this word tongue, I'm referring to language.

And there's many different ways that this works out. For example, man to man. That's one we're common with.

We talk and communicate with each other. Men to men. Women to women.

Children with children. And so we have languages. We have the English language.

We have the Spanish language. We have the Russian language. We have the Greek language.

And there's hundreds, maybe thousands of languages. And those languages are for communication between a man and a man. However, there's other languages.

There's the language of angels. And Ben read here this morning. There's a couple of the verses we already read here this morning.

I get confident. So I'm sitting back there and I know what the message is. And all of you are coming up and sharing the same thing.

But when Ben read there the first verse of 1 Corinthians 11, though I speak with the tongue of men and of what? Angels. And so angels have also a tongue. And if you heard two angels talking together, they wouldn't be talking Russian.

They wouldn't be talking English. As a matter of fact, in 1 Thessalonians 4, when the Lord appears and He's coming back, it says He'll come back with a shout with the voice of the archangel. And if you're alive during that day and you hear the voice of the archangel, I'm sure it's not going to be in English.

There is a tongue that angels speak. And then there's also something else that's a language, and that's a language between men and God. And the Scripture talks about it here in 1 Corinthians.

So let's go back to 1 Corinthians. We're going to spend our time here in 1 Corinthians 14, because Paul is teaching the church, and we're the church, about this concept of tongues. In 1 Corinthians 14, in verse 2, he says this, For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God.

For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. And so there's a sense in which it's not real clear here, but there's a sense in which also there's a language between us and God. Romans 8 is another verse that speaks about the Spirit in us while we pray.

Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought to, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. In other words, there's no language. It cannot be uttered.

And he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Have you ever gotten so burdened in prayer that you just groan before the Lord? There was no English, there was no Russian, there was no angelic. It's just the Spirit of God is groaning within us.

That's happened to me. And so there's different languages, man to man, angel to angel, sometimes our prayers to God. And so language, that's what the word tongues means in the Scriptures.

Now, I'm going to give you some lessons here for the church, and they're all found here in 1 Corinthians 14. And I'm going to go down through and read a lot of this and share with you a couple of lessons for us. And I hope this will clarify in all of our hearts this whole subject.

The first one I'd like to bring out is this reality. And I know we just go over this, but just stop and think for a minute that the Apostle Paul spake in tongues. The Apostle Paul spake in tongues.

Look down to verse number 18. We're going to jump around here. I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.

I thank God. He writes here to the Corinthians. I thank God, it's something I'm thankful for, that I speak with tongues more than you all.

I don't know what you think of the Apostle Paul. And I know a lot of churches, I've been a part of them, if they would be consistent, they wouldn't let Paul preach in their churches. Matter of fact, they wouldn't even let Paul be their brother if Paul said, I speak with tongues more.

Now, the Corinthians were speaking in tongues, obviously, but here Paul says, listen, I'm thankful to God that I speak with tongues more than you all. So if Paul is here today in person, we're going to have to deal with the fact that Paul speaks in tongues. And we all, we elevate Paul and we lift up Paul and that's a good thing.

But understand that Paul says that he wasn't saying, well, you people are doing something crazy and I've never done it. No, he said, I spoke with tongues or I speak with tongues more than you all. And so it's not an unusual thing for Paul to speak in tongues.

So just stop here for a minute, just think about that. When you think of the Apostle Paul, do you think of him as one who also speaks with tongues? He says in verse 18, I thank my God. I thank my God also that I do it more than you do.

Now I realize, and I grew up in my first 10 years in the Christian life in a setting where everyone was afraid of this thing, literally afraid of it. And yet when you read the scriptures, this idea of fearing it is not there. I mean, so there's a foreign idea for us to be afraid of spiritual gifts.

And I just want to encourage us to, I mean, we accept prophecy. We accept that as a spiritual gift, but there are many other spiritual gifts. And I believe most of you are gifted in many ways.

And I've always encouraged you to exercise. I don't want any of us to stand before God and realize I buried my talent. I buried it in the earth because maybe I was afraid.

Well, that's what the man said. I was afraid and went and hid my talent in the earth. And the Lord says, well, it's time to give it account for it.

Can you imagine God giving you a gift and you having your whole life never using it? Not only never using it, but not even knowing what it is. And so God has given us gifts. And one of them is this idea of speaking in tongues.

And so I don't want you to be afraid. Nobody ought to be afraid of God's spiritual gifts. Something else I want to comment on because I hear this a lot.

There's a lot of concern about false tongues, you know, false tongues. And people maybe being led of the devil and speaking false tongues. You know, I go through the Bible and I can't find a single example.

Maybe you can find one of any false tongue. You know, in the Bible, what we ought to be concerned about and what God mentions over and over again is false prophecy and false teachers. As a matter of fact, in 1 John 4, when it talks about trying the spirits, it talks about trying the spirits, whether they be of God, for many false prophets are going out into the world.

And so when you look at the Bible, the emphasis is on false prophets, false teachers. And that's where we ought to really be focused on. I think we ought to be focused on all false gifts because certainly the devil wants to falsify everything because he's a liar and the father of it.

But prophecy is the prominent gift and we'll see that here in 1 Corinthians. And so if the devil wants to get a hold of a gift that he can use to sway the church, he'll take prophecy. He'll take the teacher because as Paul is going to go on to say here, that's the prominent gift for the church, teaching, prophecy.

And so you have a lot of cautions about false prophecy and false teaching. So I think, and I struggle with this too, probably some of you do, our upbringing or maybe we were brought up with a real negative feeling toward the gift of healing, the gift of knowledge, all the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians. Just like keep those things over there.

But they're just as important. 1 Corinthians 14 is as important as 1 Corinthians 11. Anybody say amen to that? I mean it's the Bible, it's the Word of God and you can't go through it and say I like this and so we're going to really emphasize this and I don't feel comfortable with that so let's just pass it up.

So Paul spoke in tongues. Just remember that. More even than the church.

Second thing I'd like you to see here is why? Why tongues? Or why does God give this gift called the gift of tongues? Look down to verse number 20. By the way, we're going to touch on almost all these verses here so if you have questions or comments, I think they'll be answered as we go down through this. Why the gift of tongues? Verse number 20, he says this, Brethren, be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be ye men.

In other words, don't be babies. Come on, grow up, church. The church here was making some mistakes about the gift of tongues and he was telling them to grow up in their maturity.

Verse 21, in the law it is written, this is an Old Testament prophecy, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, this people is the nation of Israel, the rebellious people, and yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, Ben mentioned signs, he even read that in Mark, wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not, but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. And so tongues primarily is given by God for the unbeliever, to demonstrate to the unbeliever the validity of the Gospel.

And so Ben mentioned here as he read that Mark 16 says, they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them as they preached to the unbeliever, and confirming the Gospel with signs, and those signs are the casting out of devils, the healing of the sick, and speaking in tongues. And if you go into the book of Acts, starting from the very first conversion, God gave a sign with the Gospel. On the day of Pentecost, the sign was speaking in tongues.

That sign brought people together. They came and said, what is this? What does this mean? And people rushed to see what's happening, and then Peter preached the Gospel to them, and 3,000 people were converted. Just two more chapters after that, a healing occurs.

Peter and John are going to the temple, there's a lame man, they heal him, and people rush together to see what's going on here. And Peter preaches the Gospel to them, and 5,000 people are saved. And so you go through the book of Acts, and you see that these signs accompany the Gospel.

They were affirming the truth of what was being preached, the Gospel message. So these are signs, and they are signs specifically for the unbeliever. And I just want to share this with you, because signs, and one of the problems in the church at Corinth was they were taking a gift, predominantly for unbelievers, and bringing it in to the church for believers.

And Paul says, hey, fellas, listen, grow up, grow up, grow up. You're not thinking right. The gift of tongues is primarily, and now I'm going to say that primarily, because he's going to go on and talk about, there are uses for tongues in the church, but primarily, tongues is for a sign for the unbelievers.

And he says here in verse 22, it's not a sign for them that believe. Tongues is not primarily a body gift. And I use that word primarily.

It's not, because I want you to realize this, he goes on to talk about, there are times for tongues in the church, but primarily, you know, some churches, it's the main thing. Prophecy is the main thing for the church. So Paul, he traveled to many places, and you know, sometimes you read all his travels, he's all over the known world, he's on Melita where there's barbaric tribes, and you wonder, how does this guy communicate with all these people? I mean, is he taking along, you know, his cell phone, and he's got his translator on there, and he's doing the translation? How does he communicate in all these different languages? Well, that's where Paul used this gift.

God, help us to have some more of that now. Now, my personal feeling is this, this is just the way I think about it, and I wish I'd have known this or thought about this, but I really believe, you know, I don't think Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and he said, I need to try to speak in these languages. No, he spoke in his language, what he knew to say, and God just took it and translated it on the way out.

And they heard it and said it in their own language. You know, if I'd have thought about it, and when I was in Columbia, there was, oh, there's a podata with the main city there, we'd go down there and do some shopping, there was a square there, and you know, in those South American countries, people gather all day long, there's just a lot of people there, and if I'm ever in a situation like that, what I'm going to do is this, Lord, listen, I only know English, okay? And you have a heart to save these people. I can't do anything about it.

So what I'm going to do is do all I can do, Lord, is I'm going to stand up here, and I'm going to preach to them in my tongue. If you want them to hear in their language, you're going to have to do some miracles. But I'm going to do my part, you do yours.

And if you don't, that's fine with me, but I'm going to preach the gospel, I'm going to try to share with them how to get to know you, and you're going to have to intervene. And I think that's the way it ought to be. Peter and all those individuals spoke in tongues, they didn't have to think about it, they didn't have to do anything, they just spoke.

And everyone heard in their own language. So tongues primarily is for the unbeliever. Verse 22 says, Wherefore tongues are for a sign not to them that believe, but to them that believe not, but prophesying, and prophesying here is speaking forth the word of God, serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

Now we have an advantage over them, they didn't have a Bible back then. You know, we have a Bible. What was spoken and prophesied back then, we have now written down.

It's called the Scripture. They had the Old Testament, they had many of the teachings of Jesus, but prophesying here is for the body. Number three, lesson number three.

The goal in church gatherings, and I just wrote these things out, not in any order, but the goal for church gatherings is edification. That's a big thing there. The goal in church gatherings is edification.

I want to start reading in chapter 14 verse 1. Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts. By the way, that's a good thing. Desire spiritual gifts, but rather, you know, here's some English that I had a hard time with, but I looked this up.

Here's what this actually says. Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but more and more, that word rather means more and more that you may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God.

For no man understands him, howbeit in the Spirit he speaks mysteries. But he that prophesies speaketh unto men to edification. There's that word edification.

Exhortation and comfort. He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the church. I would that you all spake with tongues.

Oh, there's an interesting statement. I would that you all spake with tongues, but more and more, that you may prophesy. For greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, except he interpret, and here's the whole point, that the church may receive edification.

The word edification means building up. Edification is the goal. You know why we're here today? Not only to encourage each other, but to edify each other.

To build each other up. It's not a time to come here and tear each other down. It's a time of edifying.

And that's God's heart for the gathering together of the saints. And so here he is comparing prophecy with tongues. Prophecy edifies, he says, because it's all easy to understand.

By the way, when you speak here, you ought to speak in such a way that you can be easily understood. However, an unknown tongue is not understood unless verse 5 says he can interpret. Or there's an interpreter.

Give you an example. If I go to a service, and I've been to some services where I don't know the language. I sat in an Amish service, they had it in German language.

I've been to different services, Spanish services, and I sit there and I don't know the language. Am I going to be edified? No. I'm going to receive no edification because I do not understand the language.

If I go to a service and they speak English, I can be edified. For example, Emily here, and Paul's going to talk about instruments in a minute, but Emily plays the piano. Emily can get down and play the piano at home, and I'm edified.

I like to listen to the piano play, and it blesses me, and I'm encouraged, and especially when it's done well. And then Zach, he likes to play the piano too. You know what? It doesn't edify me.

It aggravates me. And it's not unusual for me to say, stop it! But I never say that to Emily. And so, someone's coming and preaching in your language, you hear it, it makes sense, you understand it, you're edified.

Someone comes up here and goes, I don't want to hear about all of it! This is confusion. This is frustration. Let's keep reading here.

He goes on to talk about this very thing in verse 7, and even things without life-giving sound, whether pipe or a harp, except they give a distinction in the 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? In other words, when you share the Word of God, when you prophesy or when tongues are used, the most important thing is that people understand what's being spoken. Verse 8, well, verse 9, So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For you shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.

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. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. I want to encourage anyone here, if you want to have spiritual gifts or you desire spiritual gifts, God desires that for you too.

And His heart is that you would seek to excel in the edifying of the church. That's why He's given gifts. For the building up of the body.

So as Brother Dennis said this morning, inasmuch as you have done unto the least of these, you've done unto me. You edify your brother. Use your spiritual gift.

You're doing it unto the Lord. You're building up the body of Christ. And inasmuch as you have not done unto the least of these, well, I have gifts, I'm just going to bury it.

Nobody's going to get any edification from me. Well, inasmuch as you have not done unto the least of these, my brethren, you've not done it to me. So, ultimately, edification is the goal.

Clarity. Back in the Old Testament when they blew a trumpet, there was a certain way you blew it, Numbers talks about this in the book of Numbers, that called for the assembly to gather together. There was another way you blew it that called for that assembly to go to war.

Two different blowings of the trumpet. So there you're standing and all of a sudden you hear, And you look around like, what is that supposed to mean? Is that the gathering or is that the war one? And so Paul says in verse 9 here, if the trumpet gave an uncertain sound, or verse 8, who shall prepare himself to the battle? How do we know? So let me ask you a question, pretty simple. You come to a church, you got a bunch of people just saying things you have no understanding what they're saying.

How many of you know that's not edified? It's just not good. Well, it probably was the way it was in the early church because it gives an example of this a little later on in the church at Corinth. Let's keep reading here, verse 14.

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 and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also.

In other words, if you want to go to church or your prayer closet and pray and nobody can understand you, fine. If you want to sing and you're edifying yourself and God, that's fine. But when you come together in the church, if you pray, pray in such a way as people can understand what you're saying.

When you sing, singing, this is talking about the body here. Verse 15, what is it then? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also, else, now notice this, when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say, Amen, at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

So I come here and I say, I'm thankful in my heart and I say, I praise God in a language you don't understand. And then you can't say, Amen. But if I'm up here and say, I always thank God for this and this and this, and all the people say, Amen.

So take Brother Mike and I, we're up here, we're having a prayer meeting, there's five or six men and Brother Mike is praying in a language I don't understand. And I'm there, well, I'd like to pray with you, Mike, and my heart would like to go out with you and say Amen and lift up that burden, but I don't know what you're saying. I'm sorry, I just can't help you.

But if Mike's praying in English, Oh, God bless my wife. Oh, God bless my children. And I can say, Amen, brother.

Yes, Lord. Because I understand what he's saying. Verse 18, I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all, yet, and here's three important words, yet in the church, I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue.

Now, you've heard me give this probably if you've been here a few years. Follow along here. I can say five words in two seconds.

If I say five words in two seconds, I can say 150 words in a minute. To say 9,000 words, I could say it in an hour. Or, and Paul says, I'd rather speak five words in my understanding than 10,000 in an unknown tongue.

So in other words, it's better for me to get up here and say five words and take two seconds to do it than spend an hour of your time speaking in some tongue that you don't understand. So the importance here of edification. So our goal here is edification in our church gathering.

And that edification comes through communication. And if I can't understand you or you can't understand me, we cannot receive edification. Look at verse 26.

How is it then, brethren, when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation? Let all things be done unto edify. That's the goal. Everything needs to be done unto edification.

Now, I've noticed in my past history here, 40 years of being a Christian, that one of the errors of many people's thoughts is somehow speaking in tongues shows my spirituality. I'm a spiritual person because I do that. And oftentimes, it's just a way to show my spirituality.

Shows I'm better than you are. You've heard this, if you can't speak in tongues, you're not even saved. Well, if you go back to 1 Corinthians 12, that argument is laid to rest here in verse 29 when Paul says, Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? By the way, not everybody speaks with tongues.

Not everybody has the gifts of healing. Not everybody has the gift of a prophet or a teacher or a worker of miracles. I'd like to see some of those workers of miracles gifts.

I'm sure some of you have it right here. What did you say? Amen, right? Amen. If it's not true, then we'll just... Should I just tear this chapter out? Okay.

Edification. Not edification of yourself, but edification of the body. Jump back here to verse 23.

I'm trying to pick up most that's here in this chapter. Verse 23, If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, for example, here this morning, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad? These people are crazy. But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one is unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, 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. So we ought not to think that, you know, if we have visitors here, and they're unbelievers, and if they see a bunch of people speaking in tongues, languages they don't even understand, that they'll think we're really spiritual people. And they'll want to get saved.

No, that's not the truth. What they need to hear is the gospel. They need to hear truth in their language.

Alright, let's keep reading. Verse 27, If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two... Now this is in the church. Now notice here that Paul does not eliminate it, but the church at Corinth had made it the main event.

And it was way out of balance. Boy, balance is such a key word in the Christian life. Isn't it? Having balance.

Good balance. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret. But, if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.

So, we should not, and he's going to go on here and say, do not forbid to speak in tongues. But what Paul is doing is correcting their thinking. They became, like many churches, and you can go to many churches like this, that tongues was the main event.

And because of that, they're saying, hey, you're missing the point here. It's not God didn't give this gift to you to bring it into the body and make it the main event. This gift was primarily a unbeliever's gift, a sign gift.

Prophecy is for the church. But he does not eliminate it. And he gives some direction.

He says here, if tongues are used in the church, then there must be an interpreter, or there must be an interpretation, so that we can understand. Or, there's to be silence. Now, one of the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 is the interpretation of tongues.

So, like last week, Brother Cleat shared in tongues, and he asked, is there anyone that has an interpretation? There is a good possibility with all these people here, I'm just throwing this out, that someone here has that gift. And so, someone can interpret. And it says here, that if there is no interpreter, then that should be held silent, kept silent.

And I know these are kind of new. It's new for me. You know, we've been here 30 years.

We've never really had anyone speak in tongues. So, last week was our first time. And so, I think there's just a little bit of, because it's something new, there's just a little bit of apprehension.

I feel it. I know you feel it. Probably Brother Cleat even felt it.

But, if you speak in tongues, the scripture says there must be an interpreter. And the reason why is, is we need to understand what God is speaking. Now, when I'm up here, I hope you understand me.

You understand what I'm saying because I'm speaking your language. So, in verse 28, if there be no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church. Let him speak to himself and to God.

Now, there's something else here, and Brother Cleat mentioned it last week. And that's, if you jump back to verse number 13 here in chapter 14, there's another option. In verse 13, it says, for if I pray, or excuse me, verse 13, wherefore let him that speaks in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.

Now, there is a possibility that someone could speak in tongues and also the interpretation of it. Pray that you can interpret it. But there's another opportunity for someone other than the one who spoke in tongues to interpret.

Let's keep reading. He goes on to talk about prophecy, and we'll jump down. Those who are prophesying, doing it by course.

Verse 33 says, for God is not the author of confusion. Here's where this verse is found. It's found in the midst of church life and order in the church.

God is not the author of confusion, but of peace as in all the churches of the saints. In other words, disorder, confusion is not God's heart. So when you sense there's confusion, you sense there's disorder, God is not the author of confusion.

He is a God of order. He likes things done in order. And so whenever I see or sense confusion, there ought to be some flares going up.

Something's not right here. God is not the author of confusion. Well, this gift of tongues is a spiritual gift.

It's generated by the Spirit of God. It's not self-manufactured. And I'm trying to talk for Brother Cleet here.

I just have to nod if I'm right here. He wasn't sitting there last week in his seat practicing his tongues, you know. It was something that was just in him that was coming out.

You see, it's a spiritual gift. Peter, when he stood up that day, he didn't premeditate. He didn't even probably think about it.

He stood up and all of those in the upper room, they just began to speak in tongues in other languages. It just came out. There was no premeditation.

Now, this is a true story. Maybe you've heard this story before. We had a brother in our church many years ago.

Ron Eric was his name. And he was a part of a Pentecostal church. And I asked him, have you ever spoken tongues? He said, yeah, they taught us how to speak in tongues.

I said, well, how did they do that? He said, they got me in a room and they told me to say a certain sentence. And I said it. He said, say it faster.

And I said it faster. Say it faster. I said it faster.

Faster, faster, faster. Well, you're speaking in tongues. All jumbled together.

That's how they did it. In other words, you can manufacture. That's not the spiritual gift of tongues.

It's not manufacture. Let's keep reading. Verse 34.

Here's for the ladies. Let your women keep silence. Now, the context here is in the use of spiritual gifts in the public church setting.

Let your women keep silent in the churches. Now, this is a gift. Does that mean you can't sing? Of course, it doesn't mean that.

And if you want to stand up and say, I just want to confess my needs or I want to praise the Lord. But in the use of gifts, prophecy, the speaking in tongues, the women are not permitted to speak, but they're to be silent. Verse 34 says, verse 35, and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home.

For it's a shame for women to speak in the church. What came the Word of God out from you or came it unto you only? And so, sisters, and here's why that is, is because God made the woman to be a follower, not a leader. She is to be a helpmeet, not the one out front.

And not only that, but she was the one that was deceived in the garden. And so she is more vulnerable. You see, the devil understood that I'll sidestep the man who was made to be a leader and I'll go and try to deceive the woman.

She's the one who is not made to be the leader and out front, and I'll deceive her. So he went around Adam and deceived his wife. And so, Paul says this in 1 Timothy 2. He says, let the women learn in silence with all subjection.

That doesn't mean you're less. It means you're in a different place. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

The position for you in a setting like this is not to have a place of authority. For Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. So, a woman is made to support, not to lead.

And when you set her out front as a leader, she is vulnerable. Now, I know us men are vulnerable too. But she is more vulnerable.

Her makeup is more vulnerable for being deceived. And so, in using the spiritual gifts, leading out in the church, a woman is to remain silent. And it's always... And here's something I've been thinking about this week.

It's not always some demonic thing. I think it scares people. You know, when they were misusing the gift of tongues here at Corinth, Paul didn't say, you guys are being led of the devil.

He just said, I need to teach you how to do this right. It's just like our children. Our children need taught.

They don't know how to do things often. It's not like they are willingly or purposely being disobedient or being demonic. They just need teaching over time.

And so, Paul recognized, you people need teaching. And so, oftentimes, it's just a lack of teaching. Verse 37, we're getting down here to the end.

If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual... How many of you think you're a prophet or spiritual? Let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Well, that's pretty strong, isn't it? If you're spiritual, then you ought to say amen to what's been spoken here by Paul.

And I've been reading what he's been saying. Can we say amen to that so far? Oh, we have some spiritual people here. Now, his conclusion, and I'll close with this in verse 39.

Wherefore, brethren, and I can say this to us, covet to prophesy. Covet. I told you this story.

I gave my daughter my Bible from Bible school. But I remember sitting there in Bible school and chapel, and there's a man up there preaching. And I sat in my pew, and I said, Lord, and I was an introverted, quiet, shy guy.

And I never would have... My friends, my family would have never thought that I'd be doing this, my life. I wrote in my Bible, and I showed my daughter and my family, Lord, make me a preacher. And I dated it.

Lord, this is what I want to do with my life. I had surrendered my life to the Lord. I was at Bible school trying to learn what does God want me to do? My whole life was, I'm going to give it to him, whatever he wants.

And I just said, you know what? If I could choose, Lord, I'd like to teach people your word. That's what I'd like to do. And praise the Lord.

That's what I've been doing for 40 years. Covet to prophesy. There is a good thing you can covet.

Don't covet cars and jewelry and money and all these other things that the world offers, but covet to prophesy. Well, I'll tell you, in the Baptist church, you know, we'd have all these young men lined up here in the front rows, and we would exhort them to surrender their life to preach. That's basically saying, you young men, covet to prophesy.

Give your life to teach the people the Word of God. I don't think you can go wrong with that one. Remember what Jesus said to Peter when he drug those fishes up in John 21? We'll get to it here in a few months.

He drags those fishes up. He wants to go back to his fishing. He's got this amazing catch.

He drags it up to Jesus. The Lord's already got a fire of burning fish already cooking for him. And Jesus says to him, Peter, do you love me more than these? Peter's sheepishly, yeah, yeah, Lord, I love you.

Well, if you love me, feed my sheep. Amen? Hey, if you love me, feed my sheep. And listen, if you really want to say, Lord, I just surrendered my life.

I'll tell you one thing the Lord needs is more people to feed his sheep. Give your life to it. Teaching people truth.

Truth is what's going to save their soul. Truth is what's going to edify them up. Truth is what's going to build the kingdom.

If you want to give your life, don't give your life to making money and building a big house and driving a nice car and dying and realizing that all that stuff is burn up and you have no reward. Use your life for some purpose. Young men, give your life to feeding the sheep.

You can't go wrong. Young ladies, find yourself a husband that's willing to do that. Give yourself to being a godly helpmeet.

Now, not everybody's going to do that, but Paul says this, Brethren, not just any individuals, brethren, covet to prophecy and forbid not to speak with tongues. So after teaching them the right use of tongues, he says, now don't clamp anybody down. Don't forbid it.

I want you to covet prophecy. That's the big circle. And then the smaller circle over here is don't squash that little one there.

Don't forbid to speak with tongues. That's a command, by the way. Forbid not to speak with tongues.

And then finally, verse 40, and I'll close. Let all things be done decently and in order. And I believe when we're led of the Spirit of God, things will be in order.

And there won't be confusion. Forbid not to speak in tongues. That's as much of a command as any other command in the 1st Corinthians or 2nd Corinthians or any other place in the Bible.

And so that's, I trust, a complete or balanced, I trust, view of this subject of tongues. I think, number one, it's all about edification. Prophecy is our main gift for the body.

However, God may intervene like He did last week and want to share something with us in a little different way. And we ought not to forbid it, although that ought not to be our main thrust. Well, I'm going to open it up for anyone who has any thoughts or questions.

And I wanted to share that for clarification this morning just so that we know how to handle these situations in the future. And not only just for us as a church, but take what you have here and teach others. Because there's a lot of confusion in the body of Christ over these issues.

You go to the book of Acts, I only see three instances of speaking in tongues. All three of them have to do with conversion. They're out, not in the church, they're out in the field.

The day of Pentecost, the day when Peter went to Cornelius' house and he preached the Gospel to this Gentile and God spoke out of that Gentile praise and he spoke in tongues on his conversion. And then when Paul met the disciples that came from Ephesus and he said, have you received the Holy Ghost? Since you believed. And they said, we haven't even heard about any Holy Spirit.

And Paul prayed for them, and when he prayed for them, they spoke in tongues. And so these are out in the field, the initial response of receiving the Holy Spirit of God. So tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.

But there are instances where God may use those things inside the church. I want us to be balanced. Does anybody have any?