Are tongues for today? (Part 4)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff.

Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse by verse with no compromise.

So if you go down to verse 9 in Isaiah 28, if you see in your study Bible or most new

Bibles, you'll see quotation marks to start verse 9.

This isn't Isaiah speaking properly. This is the people that Isaiah is preaching to.

Now he's writing down, Isaiah is, what the people are saying. So Isaiah has come to them and said, repent, trust in the

Lord, follow the Messiah to come, do what the Lord Yahweh says. They haven't listened.

So, what do you say to a preacher that keeps getting on you about things over and over and over and over? You mock him.

Well, you're not supposed to mock him, that's just what they do. Verse 9, here's the mocking of the preacher.

They've heard the message from God's preacher, Isaiah, and now they're going to mock him. Isaiah 28, 9, to whom will he teach knowledge?

Who's he going to teach? What can this guy, Isaiah, teach me? He can't teach anything.

And to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk.

It's baby talk. It's really introductory, you know, repent and just introductory stuff.

Anybody could get that in Bible school 101. Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast, and then we come to a verse that has nothing to do with expository preaching, but everything to do with a mocking person when they hear the plain word of God and they say,

Isaiah is talking like a baby, for it is precept upon precept, ESV says, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

Now let me give you the Hebrew. It sounds just very rudimentary. Sovla, sov, sovla, sov, kovla, kov, kovla, kov.

Here comes this preacher, ABCs. He can't teach us anything. It's all milk.

Kovla, kov, sovla, sov. He can't teach us anything. Do and do, don't and don't, rule and rule, repent and repent.

So God sends to the Judah, the people in Judah, repent, we won't listen.

He said, okay, you won't listen to baby talk. I'll give you a language of judgment that you'll listen to.

And so he brought in the Assyrians and they spoke a different language to them and ruled them and made them captive.

It's a language of judgment. Tongues, a foreign language to the

Jew, to the reader of 1 Corinthians is going to do this. That's judgment. Tongues judge.

Isaiah preaches in Hebrew, they say no. God judges with a foreign language.

Tongues is a judgment on Judaism. That's what tongues was.

If you look farther down in Isaiah verse 11, for by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue, the people will, the

Lord will speak to this people. In other words, you're not going to listen to Isaiah preach in Hebrew, then you'll listen to a different tongue.

You're going to listen now as they pull you by the nose into captivity, do the

Assyrians. You want speak, you want, you want talk like that? Okay, I'll give you talk like that.

Go down to verse 14 and Isaiah 28, therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem, because you have said, we have made a covenant with death.

What do you mean you made a covenant with death? The Lord's people are in trouble. And when you're in trouble, who do you call for the

Lord? God's people were in trouble. And who do they call for? The Assyrians are coming.

What should we do? Let's have a truce with Egypt. Egypt will help us get out of this. And God said, you're not coming to me for help.

You're coming to Egypt for help. That is a covenant of death. They can't do anything.

Isaiah 30 calls Egypt big mouth do nothings, big mouth do nothings.

They can't do anything. Look at verse 16 of Isaiah 28. This is good advice for all of us when we seek help from everybody but the

Lord, the doctors, the psychologists, the elders, other people. Therefore, thus says the

Lord God, behold, I am the one who has laid a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation.

Whoever believes will not be in haste. And if you want to have your own advice and you want to get information from Egypt or with other people who aren't godly, you're going to have a short sheeted bed.

Verse 20. Don't you love how this is written? This is a biblical precedent for short sheeting your friend's bed.

So they'll learn a biblical lesson. For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

Oh, I'm going to have Egypt help me with my problems. It's just like taking a garment and trying to wrap yourself up with it.

And it's basically a hand towel for your blanket. It's not going to cover. Well, let's go back to first Corinthians chapter 14.

The point is simple. Paul quotes Isaiah 28 to let everyone know tongue speaking foreign languages is a judgment for the

Jewish unbeliever. Now what do you think he's going to say next? I wonder what his next verse is going to say.

And here is the purpose statement for tongues out of all the Bible. Here it is. This is the purpose statement.

This is not to get a zap. This is not to show off. Speaking a language you've never learned before.

The canon was complete. Here's what it was for. Verse 22, thus tongues are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers.

They're a sign of judgment. While prophecy is a sign, not for unbelievers, but for believers, the judicial sign of judgment happens when someone speaks to you a language that you don't know.

So people say, well, you know, we speak in tongues today at our church. Is everybody in your church a Christian? Yes. Well, then

I don't know what you're doing. Tongues is a judgment for Jewish people.

And by the way, read Acts 18 sometime and you'll say that's who caused the problem to Paul in 1

Corinthians or at Corinth. No interpreter. It's not going to help anyone.

With an interpreter, it's going to tell unbelievers there's a new language here. These people haven't learned.

And like the people in Isaiah, I should repent. Look at verse 23. If therefore the whole church comes together, 1

Corinthians 14, all speak in tongues, all speak in languages and outsiders or unbelievers enter.

There's no translator, no interpreter. Will they not say that you were out of your minds? I've walked into charismatic churches before and they were all talking what they said were tongues and they weren't even languages.

And by the way, I had that exact same thing. I said, they're out of their minds. Literally out of their minds because their mind isn't engaged.

Their mind isn't engaged. It's not anything to do with the mind. Will they not say you are out of your mind or the

Greek word is in some kind of frenzy. These people have gone berserk. They're all talking some kind of language and there's no interpreter.

I can't understand it. Verse 24, but if all prophesy, that is give divinely uttered speech, an unbeliever and outside enters.

What if an unbeliever walks in here today and he hears me preaching that Jesus is the only savior. He's the only way that they're sinful.

They need a substitute. They need a risen savior who conquers death. He is convicted by all. He can understand that he is called to account by all.

The secrets of his heart are disclosed. That's what the word does. That's what intelligible word Bible preaching does.

And back then prophecy falling on his face. He will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

I want to be nice to everyone, but when unbelievers enter, if you're not born again today, this is what

I want to have happen to you. I want you to be convicted of your sin, knowing that if you die the second, you're going straight to hell and there's only one savior, one substitute, one risen

King who reconciles God who is at war with people and irreconcilable differences except for the cross.

And because of the cross work of Christ, the only God, man, you can have no longer a relationship of enemy, but a friend, there's only one refuge.

And so what we want with unbelievers, of course, if they show up, we want to be kind, but they, we had them to be convicted.

And if I'm up here speaking a language that the unbeliever doesn't know, he's not going to be convicted.

Divinely inspired speech prophecy, our preached word today does its work.

And what will he say? God is really among you. Verse 25, that's what we're after.

Unbelievers don't worship. They blaspheme. So why would I say we're going to concoct a service today that appeals to the unbeliever?

No, we're going to concoct a service today in divine, in response to divine scripture, in humble obedience saying, this isn't my church.

These aren't my people. I don't know how to worship you. You tell me how to worship you, God. And that in fact, we will do because I will not be like Nadab and Abihu who offered a strange fire and then was killed for it.

People play fast and loose with the church. Why don't we do this? Why don't we do that? And at our church, it is, we must do this and we will do that.

I met with the pastor in the last month and he said, I do not want to be known as a pastor who closed this church down.

And I said, wrong. You don't want to be the pastor that plays fast and loose with the word of God and does what

God tells you not to do. There's honor in preaching the word and having everybody leave.

We want the glitz. We want the glamour. We want good glamour too. We want the rock and roll.

We want to be babies. We want to be immature. That's what we want. Well, my friends, I think you ought to reconsider because deep down in your heart, don't you realize the problems of sin and issues of pain and trouble that you have in your own heart and you think rock music and a spiritually weak service and sermon are really going to help you.

You know better. And so dads, why don't you be a man and say, we're not picking this church for, we like the music.

We like the carpet. We like the songs. We like this. We're going to go there because we would like to grow.

That's what we want. We're going to grow. We want to honor Christ because it's a sin not to grow if you're a

Christian. It's a sin not to be transformed into Christ image because you say,

I want to go play in the sandbox when I could be walking into the palace. Paul isn't mad at them.

Paul's heart's broken because he's taught them better. Spurgeon said the pastor's job is to feed the sheep, not entertain the goats.

The fourth desire and the final desire is found in verses 26 and following. How do we think about spiritual gifts?

It's okay to desire spiritual gifts. And so I'll use desire as the outline. The fourth desire is you should desire orderly worship as a church.

You want mature thinking, of course, you want edification, you want intelligibility. And Paul now spends the rest of this time, verses 26 and following, to talk about ordered worship service, systematic worship service.

God is triune. God is ordered. God wants ordered worship. God is not chaotic, so God does not want chaos in worship.

God is not evolving, so he doesn't want evolving worship. Now you might be saying we've got 26 to 40.

How are we going to get through those verses? Well, we did it at the first service, but we'll see if we make it here.

It would be bad to preach two services and end at verse 38 in one service and end at verse 40 at the other service.

That would be bad. So Paul is going to say we need order in the worship service.

That's what he's after here, the ground rules for worship service. And Paul is going to make sure that the prime directive is going to override, well,

I just got caught up in my emotions. I just got caught up in the spirit. I just couldn't control myself.

When the spirit of God indwells you and the word is leading you, you will always have self -control.

The fruit of the spirit is all kinds of things, love, joy, peace, self -control. You never can say as a

Christian, I didn't know what I was doing. I just let myself go in the spirit. No, you just let yourself go, but it was not the

Holy Spirit. It might be a small spirit, your spirit, or it might be another spirit, but not Jesus's Holy Spirit.

You can't say I'm pleading, I'm led when you're already told. I didn't say this first service, but you get this.

I mean, I get it too. Okay, kids, what I'd like to do is I'd like to have you clean your room.

Okay? And you walk back in a half hour. These kids were old enough to do it. You didn't ask them to do something they couldn't do.

Did you get your room? Wait a second, your room isn't clean. Why didn't you clean your room? Dad, I wasn't led. What do you mean you weren't led?

I wasn't led. No, I told you to do it. I wasn't mean when I told you to do it. I had no sin in my heart when

I told you. I'm not sinning to have you do that. Obey. No, I wasn't led. It's the same thing, but we just, in a way, trick ourselves and say, well,

I just wasn't led to do that. So Paul gives order to the worship service. Let's call this

Robert's Rules of Worship Service Order. Here's the principle that overrides verse 26.

What then, brothers, when you come together talking about corporate worship, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or interpretation.

Let all things be done for the building up. There's that refrain again. You don't do it all at the same time.

Everybody just does a tongue at the same time. Everybody interprets at the same time. Everybody sings a hymn at the same time.

That wouldn't be good. Stop vying for attention. Stop being the one who wants to be the preeminent one.

That's not loving. That ignores chapter 13. The focus isn't on us.

The focus is on who Jesus is, what he's done, how he's accomplished salvation, how he's the risen

Savior. And so Paul says in verse 27, he's given some rules for the gift of languages you never learned as a signed gift that was existent before the canon was closed.

If any speak in a tongue, that there be only two, or at most, three. You ever walk into a church and 50 people are all saying a bunch of things?

First of all, if it's not a language, it's not biblical. Second of all, if there's more than two or three who are saying it, it's not biblical.

And thirdly, if it's not done in turn, look at each in turn, and let someone interpret.

It's a language. Just like Walvoord said, I read a Walvoord commentary and he said, a guy memorized

Psalm 1 in Hebrew and went to a charismatic church and got up and said, I have a word from the Lord, started speaking in tongues, and he read from memory

Hebrews, Psalm 1 in Hebrew. And the guy could not translate it. The interpreter, thankfully, they had an interpreter, but he couldn't interpret it.

And then D .A. Carson, who's obviously a friend of charismatics, he said one of his friends memorized John 1, 1 to 18 in Greek, went to a church, said,

I've got the gift of languages, said that in Greek, and nobody knew what it meant. But even if somehow people say if tongues are for today, let each do it in turn.

Verse 28, here's what you do if there's no interpreter. If there's no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself or to God.

Just pray. Just pray to God. There should be order in the worship service. Spirit led through the word.

Prophecy has order too. Verse 29, let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said. Didn't have the canon closed back in those days.

How do I know if it's biblical? Other prophets could examine. People with the discernment gift could examine.

Let others weigh what is said. Verse 30, if a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.

See, they're all just all talking at the same time. That's not loving. For you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn.

There it is, the mind again, that you may learn and all be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

Can't just say I couldn't control myself. Something just took over.

It's against my will. For God is not a God. Here's the summary of the last three chapters.

Verse 33, God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. He's an orderly God. As in all the churches of the saints, it's just not a

Corinth, but it's all these churches. And speaking of order, here's some other order that's in the church that they weren't doing.

The women should keep silent in the churches for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says.

All right, why don't we just pray right there? We'll be now.

I know we have some visitors today, and so I can't redo this whole issue. But here's what

I'll say just briefly to make sure there's some bumpers on this. God has made man and woman in his image.

They are both image bearers. Galatians 3 .28 says that in Christ we are equal, by essence equal, but by function we are different.

By function we are different, and the lie of feminism is differences in function means there has to be inequality with nature, our essence.

That is a lie. Look at the military, and the captain, and the private. Who's better?

See, that's a wrong question to ask. Who's in charge is the right question. Husband and wife, my wife is not inferior because of her functional difference, because we're equal in Christ Jesus.

And same thing at a local church service. Women are not unequal because they can't be elders or pastors.

And so there was a lot of talking with the women there at Corinth. That was one of their problems. And by the way, to give them a little, not an excuse, but just so you can understand what was going on, some of these churches met in homes.

So what if it was your home? You can't talk in your own house now because it's a church service? What if you went to your friend's house?

And normally when you go to your friend's house you talk, don't you? At least most people do. And now I can't talk?

And by the way, Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, before the canon was closed, women could prophesy and pray.

And now you mean they can't talk? What does that mean? You can pray and prophesy in chapter 11, but in 14 you can't talk.

So the only way to put those two things together is this. When God moved a lady to get up and say, thus saith the

Lord before the canon was closed, he did not allow them in chapter 14 to talk about, is this from God?

Is it not from God? Weighing the prophecies, distinguishing if it's right or wrong. They were to ask their husbands at home because it was causing a problem of confusion, not of peace.

In other words, Paul says to order the church, you must have the men and women have the correct roles and the role for the women was not to discuss the prophecy if they were right or wrong.

It was to submit to it and talk to their husbands. Some scholars, you know what they end up doing with this verse because they don't like it?

They're egalitarian in function and in by essence. Guess what they do with this verse? If you don't like a Bible verse because it goes against your theology, what do you usually say?

Well, maybe you don't say it, but I'll tell you what people say. It's not in the best what? Manuscripts.

That's actually what some people say. No ancient manuscript lacks it, but they'll say, you know what? Not in the best manuscripts.

How could Paul say that? It's easy for us today if we're not at Corinth, but if you want to know how

God regulates worship in the New Testament era, post canon, the

Bible is clear in first Timothy, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over man.

Rather, she is to remain quiet. Why? One, before the fall, creation order for Adam was formed first, then

Eve. Two, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

Anyone that knows me, anyone that knows Kim and knows about Kim and myself, realizes that I do not, at least publicly, say

I'm the caveman, but I don't say that privately either. Just turned out to be a bad joke.

I respect ladies. It's sin if I ever treat

Kim less than an image bearer. Pretty much, you know Mrs. Abendroth, she wouldn't put up with it for one minute if I treated her as an unequal person in Christ Jesus.

But functionally, the Bible couldn't be clear on men's roles and women's roles. Verse 36, let's just wrap this up.

Verse 36, look at Paul's sarcasm. Or was it from you that the word of God came?

So you wrote the Bible now? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

You're above Scripture now, I guess. Maybe you wrote Scripture? The pride and the unloving nature of the

Corinthians. Paul is so sarcastic. Corinthians, you think you're Rome?

You think you're the mother church? If anyone thinks that he's a prophet, verse 37, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things

I am writing to you are a command from the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Corinthians, you say you're so spiritual. Anyone as spiritual as you should know that I'm an apostle sent by the will of God and I'm writing

Scripture. My words are authoritative. My words are canonical. And if you don't believe that, you're not recognized.

We're not gonna call you. People say all the time, well, you know what, this whole homosexual issue, this whole women's roles issue,

Jesus didn't talk about that, but Paul did. Therefore, Jesus' words must be right and Paul's words are not biblical.

When a person says that, here's what my mind says, you are not to be recognized. You're not to be recognized.

You wrote Scripture, you're the mother church. It's very, very clear. If you don't like Christianity, because of that, you don't like Christianity.

But the second you submit to the God who made you, if God said, by the way, you deserve hell and you get heaven and you get everything in Christ Jesus, and you're not only functionally different, but you're by nature lesser than someone else, what would you say?

I know what I would say. I'm just glad to go to heaven. He's put me on any lower level rank, slave, servant.

I don't deserve anything. I'm just glad to know that the King knows me and then

I know him. And people say, well, Paul didn't say the right thing. Paul's words aren't inspired.

Jesus never talked about homosexuality and Paul did. Paul's wrong. He may not be recognized.

Well, only two short verses to go, I think. Verse 39, so my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy.

There's nothing wrong with divine utterance that builds up. Do not forbid speaking in tongues and language you never learned.

In those days, that's a good thing because it was a sign of judgment to the unbelieving

Jews. But in case we forgot, he says, verse 40, but all things, all things should be done decently and in order.

Those are the marching orders from Paul because Christ's church, if it was our church, we'd do what we want.

But if it's Christ's church, we submit to him. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.