Sunday Sermon: The Reasons for Tongues and Prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:20-25)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. First Corinthians chapter 14.

As we get into our reading today I want to mention that, you know, us other teachers with these Sunday school classes that have been teaching through the same passages, most of us are on the same pace.

There's one or two teachers that might be a week or two back. But we've been comparing notes with one another since this is such a controversial passage and we're talking about prophecy and speaking in tongues and things like that.

And I just want to say this has been an incredibly agreeable class. So either you are all on the same page with me here or you're just keeping it to yourselves.

And maybe you unleash later on when you go out to lunch, I don't know. But I just want to say I've really enjoyed getting through this chapter.

We're able to stay at the pace that we've been on because there hasn't been a whole lot of pushback.

So I appreciate that. But indeed we are talking about some things that have been interpreted different ways with regards to prophecy and speaking in tongues.

So I want to remind you of those definitions once again as we come back to the passage here. But let's look at the section that we'll be covering today, which is verses 20 to 40, the last half of this chapter.

First Corinthians 14, 20 to 40. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Let me start in verse 20 and we'll go all the way to the end.

Brothers do not be children in your thinking, be infants in evil. But in your thinking, be mature.

In the law it is written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will

I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

Thus tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers.

If the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all.

He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed.

And so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God really is among you.

What then brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.

Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn and let someone interpret.

But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

Let two or three prophets speak, and then let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

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.

If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge the things that I am writing to you are a command from the

Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

So my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

But all things should be done decently and in order. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, as we come to our passage today, I pray that you continue to teach us in these difficult subjects.

How are we to understand this? How do these things apply? Even to our present context as a church, much different than the context of the church in Corinth and even the working of the

Spirit at that particular time in the first century church. So how do we understand how these things are to be defined and how do we apply them?

And what is the exercise supposed to be in this body as a result of what we're reading here in 1

Corinthians 14? Guide us in these things so that we may honor one another and honor

Christ who gives His Spirit to us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray,

Amen. So just a reminder once again briefly with regards to what we understand about prophecy or prophesying is the term that is most commonly used here in chapter 14.

We do see prophecy, but prophesying is what Paul has said most often. And with regards to speaking in tongues, a reminder once again that whenever we see that term speaking in tongues, and this is going to come into play in this particular section of the lesson today, we're talking about the speaking of another language.

It is another human language. It is not some otherly language or unknown language that would be heavenly or sung by angels that no one on earth can really know or understand.

That's not the kind of speaking in tongues that we're talking about here in the context of chapter 14.

Now like I said last week, if you want to make an argument with regards to a private prayer language, that's a discussion for another time.

It's really not in view in what Paul is talking about here in chapter 14. Now when it comes to prophesying, what does

Paul mean? Well by prophecy we're certainly talking about something that is going to happen in the future that has not yet happened, or rather we're talking about God disclosing something that has already been decided, and we become privy to the mind of God in that sense.

But prophesying in particular encompasses more than just prophecy. If you look back up to verse 6,

Paul says with regards to prophesying, now brothers if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will

I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

So we understand prophesying encompassing those things. It could be a revelation, it could be knowledge, so preaching will be involved in that, expounding upon the scriptures.

It could be prophecy, once again disclosing those things that God has already decided and making us knowledgeable of those things, or a teaching.

So those are the different things that Paul would include in that particular term prophesying.

And notice that in the section that we look at today, verses 20 -40, that we do have that term prophecy that comes in there as well.

So our outline here as we look into this passage again, in the second half of chapter 14,

Paul is setting the church in order for them to understand the proper handling and the exercise of these spiritual gifts, namely prophecy and speaking in tongues.

We begin and end the passage with a call to order. So in verse 20 he says, in your thinking be mature, and in verse 40 he says, let all things be done decently and in order.

So here's a brief structure. First of all we're going to consider the reasons for speaking in tongues and prophecy.

That's in verses 20 -25. So we have the reasons for speaking in tongues and prophecy.

Next, second part, we have the regulations for tongues and prophecy.

That's in verses 26 -35. And then finally we have the requirements for orderly worship.

And that's how Paul finishes this up in 36 -40. Now I remind you once again that chapter 14 is actually the last chapter in a section where Paul has been talking about orderly worship.

This goes all the way back to chapter 11. And one of the things I want you to keep in mind, when we started chapter 11, we talked about the proper roles of men and women in worship in the church.

That was in chapter 11 verses 2 -16. The roles of men, the roles of women, their differences, but how they are also to be together in the congregation.

Women are every bit as instrumental in the function of the church as men are. Now notice that, and you caught this while we were going through our reading, at the very end of 14, that comes back into play again.

So it's like we started this section, chapters 11 -14, with a mention about the women, and then we close with that as well.

And I'm going to put that in a right context so you understand that it doesn't mean, ladies, you have to shut up when you come into church and you're not supposed to talk to anybody.

That's not how we understand that. There's a context in which that sits. So let's come back to verse 20 here in our section.

In verse 20, Paul says, brothers, do not be children in your thinking.

Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. That is so thematic of this letter, is it not?

We've seen that over and over and over again. Paul constantly calling the Corinthians to grow up.

If you were to put a two -word summary or title on the book of 1

Corinthians, it would probably be grow up. I've not seen that on a commentary yet, but I would like to.

1 Corinthians, grow up. That's the theme of this letter. There's constant calls to attention of how immature that they are in their thinking and their need to be mature.

Back to chapter 3, verse 1 being the most notable verse where Paul says, but I couldn't talk to you as those who are mature.

I had to talk to you as infants. As those who are still fleshly, you are infants in the faith.

So once again, even here with regards to orderly worship, he says, don't be children in your thinking.

So we all need to grow up and we all need to mature. You should be further along in your walk of faith now than when you started.

If you're not, that's a problem and you should be taking the same rebukes that Paul is giving here to the church.

You should take those things to heart. We all have a responsibility to grow and mature in this faith in which we have.

So don't be children in your thinking, but notice what he says next, be infants in evil. If you're going to be immature anywhere, let it be an evil.

What does that mean? What does it mean to be immature or be infants in evil? Anybody have some insight there?

Not affected by it? Yeah, there you go.

I'm inexperienced in it. Yeah. Have plenty of experience in love, in growing one another, in looking out for other's needs.

Be well experienced in that, but don't have any experience in evil. If there's anywhere that you can say,

I don't know anything about that. Let it be, I've had no experience in this particular evil practice.

There are things that when I was younger that I came into that I pray my kids don't ever have to experience the kinds of evil that even when

I was younger I experimented with. Well, I wonder why this is bad. Let me try it. I don't want my kids to have that mentality.

I hope to protect them from those evil things. They have no experience in those things. I hope that they grow up mature believers and experiencing and loving those things only that are good.

I can't completely guard them from all of that, but it's a good ambition that we be immature in evil, but we be mature in godliness, in love, in knowledge as we continue to read and understand the things that are given to us here.

In your thinking be mature. Paul goes on to say, in the law it is written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will

I speak to this people and even then they will not listen to me says the Lord. Thus, he expounds upon that verse here by saying, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.

That's a curious passage. What is Paul quoting from there? You probably have in your Bible that verse in verse 21 is in quotations or if you're reading from the

New American Standard of the Legacy it's in all caps. That's the way those two particular translations will show you that something from the

Old Testament is being quoted. It will put it in all caps. So here Paul explains exactly who and what the gift of tongues was intended for and he's referencing

Isaiah 38 verses 11 to 12. Now he calls it here the law, looking once again in verse 21, in the law it is written.

We typically think of the law as being Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy because those are the five books of the law but sometimes

Paul will use that word interchangeably with the whole Old Testament. They didn't call the

Old Testament the Old Testament during this particular time. That's what we refer to it as. Paul just calls it here the law but that's all encompassing of everything that's in the

Old Testament especially this passage in Isaiah. So though God had spoken to Israel clearly, they heard the voice of God speaking from Mount Sinai when the

Ten Commandments were given, right? God spoke to Israel clearly yet they refused to listen.

So the judgment that God would bring upon them would come in a language that they did not understand when they were conquered by the

Assyrians. So in verse 22 Paul says tongues are for a sign not to those who believe but to unbelievers.

Beginning as a sign of judgment to unbelieving Jews which was what we had in Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 13, the day of Pentecost.

The apostles that went into Jerusalem and spoke to them in foreign languages and the people heard what was being proclaimed in their own respective language.

So if used in the right way, speaking in tongues would grab the attention of unbelievers and stir their convictions.

But how useful is that in the assembly of believers who desire to know

God's will and worship Him together? Prophecy or prophesying is much more beneficial to the whole church.

Tongues only benefits the self as Paul had talked about earlier in chapter 14 whereas prophesying is beneficial to everyone.

It's really interesting how Paul clarifies here the intention, the purpose of the gift of speaking in tongues.

It's a sign of judgment against those who are unbelievers. I don't know how many

World War II movies you have seen. There was a period of time in my life where it was almost like any

World War I or World War II movie I wanted to watch it. And one of the things that a good

World War II movie would depict is that the Americans are fighting against nations that are speaking languages that they can't understand.

And those were some of the most frightening scenes I can remember from those war movies whenever I watched them.

When you would have an American in combat with a German and the

German is saying something to them that the American can't understand. And he's losing the fight and the

German is overcoming him. What a harrowing experience that would be. Like I know

I'm dying. I can't even communicate with the person who's killing me. I just know that this is it.

This is it for me. And this is the very thing that Paul draws attention to from Isaiah that when

God brings judgment against the Jews, it's by the Assyrians. And this whole ravaging nation comes into what was to them the promised land.

And here they are invaders and they come in and God uses the Assyrians to bring judgment on Israel and on the

Jews. And they don't understand what they're saying. This judgment that's coming against them but they cannot understand the language of their conquerors.

What do they want us to do? Can't even follow an order because I can't understand what it is that you're saying.

And that's what Paul references when he says here's what tongues are for. It's actually a sign of judgment to unbelievers.

So why are some of you standing up in the assembly and speaking in tongues to believers who can't understand what you're saying and they're not being edified?

Judgment has not come for us who believe. We've been saved from judgment in Christ.

So don't use that gift in corporate worship that is not intended for believers to hear.

It's intended for unbelievers. So how much more do we benefit when things are spoken in such a way that we can understand?

Right? We understand what's being said. I even have a responsibility as a pastor that when

I'm communicating to you some deep theological truth or I use one of those big theology words,

I need to explain to you what that means. And sometimes I get ahead of myself and that's where I love my wife and kids to help me in that.

Whenever I preach a sermon and we kind of get together after church and talk about what did daddy preach today or something like that,

I want to know, did the kids get what I said? Because if even my six -year -old, Mariah, can tell me what

I preached, I know I did pretty good. So, you know, the 50 or 60 -year -old in the congregation that didn't understand it,

I can go, hey, my six -year -old got it, so you should be able to as well. That's right.

So and same with my wife. And one of the things that she'll catch me on is sometimes it just kind of comes out of me and I don't even think about the fact that I might be saying this to somebody

I've never explained this to before. So I'll say something, like if I'm having a conversation with somebody and she'll just gently touch my arm and say something like, you might need to explain what that means.

Oh yeah, right, thanks, you know, and then expounding on it. This is one of the ways that I've learned so well from R .C.

Sproul's teaching. Because in his lifetime, there probably was not a man in America as brilliant as R .C.

Sproul. I don't know if you've ever heard the man preach or read one of his books, but the guy was just a genius, especially when it came to explaining deep doctrinal truths.

But you never walked away from an R .C. Sproul sermon, I'm speaking for myself, maybe some of you feel this way,

I don't know, but you never walk away from one of his sermons or his lectures thinking that he talked over your head.

He didn't shy away from using the big words, he would use those big terms, but he would tell you exactly what they mean.

Here's what we mean when we use that word, here's where the doctrine comes from, here's where it's rooted in the scripture, things of that nature.

And so even your preachers and teachers have a responsibility to explain to you what we're saying and what it means, so that you may have understanding.

Understanding. And Paul is applying that same principle here when he's telling the church, if you're speaking in tongues, nobody knows what you're saying.

If it's going to be beneficial to the church, prophesying would be much, much better. Prophesying and speaking in such a way that everybody can understand and everyone is edified and it builds the church up in love.

We continue these next few verses here, verses 23 to 25, where Paul says, if therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, now he's being kind of hyperbolic here because the whole church doesn't speak in tongues, and when he says later if the whole church prophesies, the whole church doesn't prophesy.

Because as we go down in chapter 14, he obviously sets things in order. When there's going to be prophesying, one person needs to prophesy, it's not everybody prophesying all at once.

I don't know if you've ever seen those Pentecostal churches where it's like everybody is just muttering or speaking in tongues and it's just chaos in there.

Or somebody may be prophesying and speaking something in a language that you can understand, but everybody's talking on top of one another and you can't understand what's going on, right?

You ever seen some of those charismatic churches? I spent about 10 years in charismatic churches from the age of 18 to 28, so yeah, very well experienced in all of this.

I witnessed it quite a bit. And it's always kind of funny to me whenever there was that kind of chaos that's going on,

I just wanted to go, did you read a little further down in chapter 14 where Paul says don't do that over the top of one another.

There needs to be orderliness in worship. So where he says this here, he's being hyperbolic, he's not saying we all should speak in tongues or we all should be prophesying at the same time.

So if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, this is such a great illustration.

Will they not say that you're out of your minds? What in the world is wrong with those people?

What is going on? I can't understand a word they're saying. Now if you can remember this,

I'm not going to ask you to turn there, but maybe you remember. So in Acts chapter 2, when the apostles came into Jerusalem at Pentecost and they were proclaiming in the languages that were represented there, and it even goes through.

These are the different languages that were there in Jerusalem and the apostles came in and they're preaching in those languages so that people could hear it and understand it.

What does it say the reaction of the people were? Yeah, that's right.

Like these people are drunk. There was actually two reactions. One was who are these guys and how are they able to do this that we can hear what they're saying all in their own language.

That was one reaction. The other reaction was they're all drunk. So you had both. Some understood and others were like, this is just weird.

So they must be drunk. And Peter says, hey, it's not, we're not drunk. It's only the third hour of the day. In other words, hadn't been enough day here for us to be drinking that long for us to come in here drunk.

So the, uh, the, um, reaction of the crowd being that they're out of their minds.

We saw that even at Pentecost and acts two. So where Paul mentions that here, if unbelievers come in and they see you all speaking in tongues, they're not going to get anything of what's going on.

But do you not think brothers and sisters that if an unbeliever comes into first Baptist church and sits in one of our services, they come in in the middle, they miss the announcements, they come in in the middle of the song.

So they haven't had any lead into what's going on, but if they came in and sat down, do you not think that they would understand exactly what's happening?

What are we saying? What are they hearing from us when we sing?

What are they hearing from the pulpit? Everybody can clearly understand and follow along with the praise and the glory that we are giving to God and likewise be convicted by the words that we're singing or the words that are being preached.

So if somebody comes in and hears just nonsense, they're going to think you're out of your minds. Verse 24, but if all prophesy once again being hyperbolic, but if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all.

He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed.

He feels the conviction in his heart and he hears the truth proclaimed. And so falling on his face, he will worship

God and declare that God really is among you.

Now as I had mentioned last week and the week before, these instructions that are being given here, this instruction is coming at a time of the church that is not our time.

What the Holy Spirit was doing in growing the church in the first century is not the way that we see the gifts of the

Spirit, especially those miraculous sign gifts playing out in our present world today, right? And as I said earlier with regard to these particular gifts, it's not that God won't do a miraculous healing.

I certainly believe that He will. It's not that miracles have ceased, but they are not happening in the kind of regularity that we saw happening in the first century and Acts.

There are certainly not persons who are prophets today. Hebrews 1 .1

even says, long ago at various times and in various ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days

He has spoken to us by His Son. So there was a time and a place for the prophets and this day no new revelation is being given.

We have it all right here in the Bible and it's all fully confirmed. So those miracles, as is also talked about in Hebrews 2, going on in Hebrews, those miracles authenticated that the word that was being spoken came from God.

That it was not from man, but it was a message from the Lord. That's going on here during the time of the church in Corinth because they don't have the whole

Bible. So when prophesying is being done, that prophesying is being verified by the miracles that are also being performed, right?

Same with speaking in tongues. When somebody heard speaking in tongues, they knew something pretty incredible was going on.

When we hear speaking in tongues today in like charismatic circles where it just kind of comes out as gibberish, we debate about whether that's actually speaking in tongues or that's something else entirely.

But at this time, whenever that practice was done, whenever someone was given the gift of the

Spirit and spoke another language that they previously did not know, even unbelievers recognized that something miraculous was going on here.

So it was clearly a miracle. It was not a debate over, well, why is that person doing that?

Are they really speaking anything that anybody can understand? It was evident that this person had been given something that they didn't previously have.

So we had miraculous signs and wonders during this time in what's happening here in Corinth with the

New Testament that's still continuing to be given, of course, 1 Corinthians being a New Testament book. But in today's context, we're not going to see that gift of the

Spirit exercised in that way. I'm just talking about the miraculous sign gifts, speaking in tongues, prophecy, any of the miracles or anything like that.

That's not going on now. So how would we apply this then? Where Paul says, if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he's convicted by all, he's called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed.

And so falling on his face, he will worship God and he will declare that God is really among you.

How do we apply that readily in our age today? Well, just as I had said to you earlier, we need to be organized.

We need to be structured. We need to speak in such a way that can be understood. Our corporate worship needs to be handled in such a way that God's word is clearly communicated so that all may hear and all may understand.

That even an unbeliever understands and will be convicted of heart and will come in faith. In your own personal and private practice, your own personal ministry, because every single one of us has opportunities to share the gospel with those who do not believe.

So be disciplined in your own ministry to know how to communicate

God's word in such a way that people understand it, that your friends or family member understands.

And don't be afraid of saying to somebody who asks you to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, right?

1 Peter 3 .15. Don't be afraid to say to a person that I don't know the answer to this question.

So give me a minute or give me some time. I'll come back and read that. We'll come back again together and we'll talk.

Don't act like a know -it -all, but as much as you can, understand what you believe and how to communicate that to others.

This past Friday, I took the kids to Chick -fil -A. My wife is sick.

She has been sick. Friday and Saturday and even today. That's why she's not here today. So I took the kids out.

I took all the kids so that she's got an opportunity to rest and relax a little bit. We went to Chick -fil -A.

I was going to take them to a park, but it started raining. I don't know if you remember Friday, the storms that rolled in. Chick -fil -A's got that indoor playground, so let's do that.

Not a whole lot of room to run around, but I think I can still make the kids relatively tired. So we go in and they messed up my order.

All of the kids got their food, but I didn't get mine. So I worked it out with Annie that after everybody ate, they would go in and play on the playground and then

I'd go get my food and then eat it. So while they were doing that, I saw Annie was in the playground area and there was a man that was sitting next to her and he was talking to her about something.

So as I'm finishing up my food, he comes out and he sits down across from me at my table and he says, hey,

I was just talking to your daughter in here. I don't believe in coincidences. I believe that God put her next to me for a reason and so I was sharing with her and she told me that you're a pastor and so I wanted to come and talk to you.

I wanted to come share the gospel with you. I was like, wow, he knows I'm a pastor and he wants to come share the gospel with me.

But admittedly, I know pastors I wouldn't call Christians, so maybe you do too. So I'm like, that's great.

That's interesting that he would want to come and share the gospel with me. But then he said something that immediately raised a flag.

He said, I'm going to share the gospel with you in a way that you have never heard it before.

And I went, oh boy. But I was polite.

I was respectful. I was like, okay. And I let him talk and he spent about 10 minutes. And I can't tell you exactly everything that he said, but I know that the version of the gospel that he was giving to me was very

Hebrew roots. I don't know if you're familiar with the Hebrew roots movement, but it's basically this idea that in order to be a good

Christian, you have to be a Hebrew. And there is some universalism even to the Hebrew roots movement because there were some things that he was saying that were peppered in his speech that were things like that there is no hell.

And he said that Christianity is the great apostasy. I'm going, okay. Now, when

I responded to him, I didn't go through his points and say, this was wrong.

This was wrong. This was wrong. That's not what I did. I just let him finish his talk. And I, and I said, okay, now let me tell you, let me tell you what

I understand that the gospel is according to the scriptures. And I just went through scripture and I showed him that the gospel is really not this thing that you said that I have to be in order to enter into the family of God, becoming a

Hebrew. But the gospel is understanding that Jesus Christ died for our sins.

The wrath of God was taken upon himself by his death on the cross. I quoted to him from Isaiah 53, it pleased the

Lord to crush him. All we like sheep had gone astray. Everyone had gone to his own way, but the

Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. I quoted second Corinthians five 21 for our sake.

He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

And I said, because a Hebrew roots guy will say this, he'll talk about Jesus being the fulfilling of the law. And I said, when you mentioned that Christ is the fulfilling of the law, what we see in the law is a sacrifice that is required.

But Hebrews tells us that the blood of bulls and goats were never sufficient to forgive us of our sins.

All of that was pointing to a greater sacrifice who is Christ. And by his sacrifice, he's taken the wrath of God upon himself that we deserve for our sin and by faith in him, his righteousness is given to us so that when

God looks at us, he no longer sees this sinful, wretched person that's rebelled against him and is the object of his wrath.

He now sees a person who is clothed in his own son's righteousness. And he sees us as a son or a daughter of God.

How do you become a son or a daughter of God? It's not by becoming a Hebrew. It's by becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.

And when I shared that with him, he sat there and he looked at me intently. And he said, okay,

I've never heard it put that way before. And so I'm thinking in my mind,

I just shared the gospel with you in a way that you've never heard it before. I didn't say that or throw that out there.

But I said to him, sir, I don't believe in coincidences either. And God did put you next to my daughter who would tell you that I was a pastor and that you would feel so inclined to come and share the gospel with me, but you've just heard the gospel today.

And so what are you going to do with that? And he replied to me,

I'm not trying to convince you of anything, but I just hope that somewhere down the line, you're going to think about what

I said. And maybe something that I said will enter your mind and you'll meditate on that and realize there's some things about your understanding of scripture that you need to change.

I said, likewise to you, sir, that you're going to think about what I just told you and you will realize there's some things about your understanding of scripture that needs to change.

How effective that is when we speak clearly, when we communicate those things in a way that a person can understand.

And I didn't have any problem quoting to him from the law. Sometimes when

I talk to an unbeliever, I may not even say, Deuteronomy 28 says this.

I may not say that because an unbeliever or an atheist is not even going to receive that. I'm still going to tell them exactly what the

Bible says. I may just not say explicitly or directly what that quotation was from so that they're not immediately tuning out.

So giving that to a person in such a way that they can understand it. And like I said, I could quote the law with this guy because he was quoting the law with me.

But you understand where a person is, what they're able to hear, what they're able to relate to. And you speak to them on that level so that they can know what it is that you're saying.

And the spirit works through that to convict the heart of the person and bring them to a knowledge of their sin and the realization of the truth and their need for a savior.

So when we talk about these things applying in our present context, that's what we mean. Being able to speak truth in a way that somebody understands.

So that in the body of Christ, we who are Christians will be built up in this.

You needed the gospel when you first came to faith. And guess what, brothers and sisters? You still need the gospel to grow in your faith, right?

As I remember John Piper saying one time, you never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never.

Give or take a never. Graduate from the gospel. You don't hear the gospel and then let's move on to some other doctrinal things.

You always need the gospel. And we're always growing in the knowledge of who

God is and what he has done for us and what he is doing in our lives even now.

So we're speaking those things in a way that the body of Christ understands. And we'll even want to communicate those things in a way that unbelievers will understand as well.

Amen. Now, that's, that's just point one going through verses 20 to 25.

Any questions about that before I go to the next portion or other comments?

Possibly chapter, verse 20. Okay. Would you apply this to, say there's a movie out now that's, it's a serious movie about spirits, evil spirits.

And I immediately, I thought, well, I'm not want to go to that. And then I realized, no, I don't want to go to that.

And I'm not saying that I'm right or wrong, but everybody can have their own opinion about that. But I think that that's something that I became very uneasy with and decided that, you know,

I don't need to dabble in that. Do you have a comment on that? Yeah, sure. Not about me or my decision, but in general.

Yeah, definitely. So Bob had mentioned that there's a movie that's out right now. I know which film he's talking about with, and it's a, it's about evil spirits.

So somebody in the movie claims to be possessed by a demon. I know some light things regarding the plot of the film.

I haven't seen it. So there's kind of some enthusiasm among Christians that there's a movie that's out there that talks about these kinds of things.

Should that be something that we go and see, or rather, is that something that we shouldn't have anything to do with at all?

Entertainment is an area where I don't ever really talk about how much

I go to watch or even what I take my kids to see. I tell you what, what you'll hear from me is when a

TV show or a movie is stupid. You'll hear me say that. But I don't ever stand up and give an endorsement for a film.

Oh, this movie's great. You need to go see it. Because again, entertainment, very subjective. This is certainly an area where there's going to be a lot of agree to disagree, and what one person finds is acceptable entertainment, another person, it might actually cause them to stumble.

So I don't want to enter into those realms of like telling a person, hey, go see this movie or that film or whatever else.

But with regards to this particular movie with demonic spiritual forces in it,

I know the movie is rated R. So there's something about the film that already puts it in that rating category that's going to dabble into some things that maybe we as Christians should not be subjecting our minds to.

There's that consideration. But let's say the movie was a lesser rating than that, and we're talking about some spiritual demonic things, would that be okay for a

Christian to go and see? Or should a Christian really just kind of keep their minds from that kind of stuff?

Well, this is a movie that's for entertainment. So how much of it is really true or how much of the plot is built to tell a story that may have some true elements to it, but it's still being made for the purpose of entertaining?

And specifically, the kind of genre we're talking about is horror. So it's people who are entertained by being scared.

And how much of that is really beneficial to the Christian? As we read in Philippians chapter 4, whatever is good, whatever is praiseworthy, whatever is true, whatever is noble, think about these things.

Is that something really that we should put our minds toward? That's probably some of the questions you want to be thinking about with regards to, is this something that I should watch or shouldn't watch?

If you're going to go to sleep that night, if you're going to go to bed that night, you're going to have trouble going to sleep because you're thinking about all the evil things and imagery that you just saw in the movie that you watched.

Why do that to yourself? You know what I mean? So yeah, these things are real. We know these demonic forces exist, that the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, 1

Peter 5, looking for somebody to devour. Those things are certainly happening, but why subject ourselves to more than we need to?

Deal with those things that are happening in your life or in the lives of your friends or in your church, and don't try to have to give your thoughts over to something that's literally going to haunt you in your sleep.

So anyway, good question with regards to that. There's all different kinds of ways that we can apply that.

Like what do we mean by be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature? There's all different kinds of evil that we could talk about.

Where should I be an infant in that? Just simply don't have experience in it. Don't desire to be knowledgeable of it, unless it's the sort of a thing that you're trying to educate someone else in.

Some of you are probably aware that I just released a new video yesterday regarding something called the

Enneagram. Some of you may know what that is and others not. That's fine. It's hugely in use in American churches today.

I knew that it was, but I didn't understand how deep it went until I got into watching and doing the research for this particular video.

Incredibly pervasive. The Enneagram is what it's called. It's like a personality test.

A lot of similarities with astrology and the horoscope. Although when you say that to a person who dabbles in the

Enneagram, they'll outright deny it. There's no similarities between this and astrology whatsoever. The more

I read into it, the more like astrology it looked. With regards to this, I did a video on it.

This was the kind of a thing where I'm doing that kind of research and I'm teaching people through the video, here's what it is and here's where it came from and here's what you need to watch out for.

That's for the purpose of education and teaching. So I've taken it upon myself to learn about those kinds of things and some very dark stuff that I had to read about in order to be knowledgeable of what this is and how it's being used.

But I do that work, so you don't have to. Now you can just watch a ten minute video on it and yeah, you don't have to dabble in all those kinds of things.

Anything else? Any other questions about that before we, kind of moving away from prophecy and speaking in tongues here?

Let's go on to the next section. We won't get through this today. I was ambitious to think we were going to get through verse 40, but let's just look at this next part.

We're going to come into the middle of it, I think, next week. So this is, part two is the regulations for tongue and prophecy where Paul talks about this in verses 26 to 35.

So looking at the next verse in 26, Paul says, what then brothers, and you'll notice that each one of these sections that I've, I've sectioned out, uh, starting with verse 20, we have that statement.

Do not be children in your thinking, be infants and evil, but in your thinking, be mature. The next section, verse 26 starts with a question.

What then brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation, so on.

And then, uh, and the next section we'll get to next week, verse 36, Paul asks a question there as well, or was it from you that the word of God came?

So in each one of these sections that I've kind of portioned out in the outline, we start with a question, uh, that Paul will then answer.

So in verse 26, he says, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

And then he says, once again, just like back in verse 20, let all things be done for building up.

We saw earlier in verse five, do this so that the church may be built up.

Verse 12, strive to excel in building up the church. And he comes back to that again.

These things are to be done in an orderly manner for building up the church.

Now when he says here, you come together. So we're talking about corporate worship here. We're talking about the whole body of Christ being together to worship

God through song and through preaching. And he says, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, so on and so forth.

Now that doesn't mean every single one of you that came into church today, you've got one of you has a hymn or like eight of you have a hymn, uh, 12 of you have a lesson.

And so every one of you is going to have an opportunity to do his or her hymn and his or her lesson in church.

That's not what Paul means by that. He's, he's speaking about the individuals who have been gifted in those areas that are coming to lead the church in those things.

So where he says, one has a hymn, you come together, each one has a hymn.

Who's got a hymn for us today? Pastor Andrew, and he's going to lead us in the worship or whoever, you know, whatever soloist might be in there as well, that that's going to lead us in song.

This person has a hymn. Another person has a lesson, got pastoral prayer. Pastor Andrew also leads us in a prayer of confession.

Tom's got the sermon, uh, there's a revelation that's not for us now, unless we're talking about something that's being revealed in scripture.

There's no new revelation cause we're not adding to scripture. Canon is closed. There is a tongue or an interpretation.

Notice those last few things are unique to the first century church.

That's not in common regular practice today, right? Notice the way that Paul puts those things in order and when he had listed spiritual gifts earlier, tongues was at the end of that list.

Remember, prophesying was at the start of the list because that's the greatest. That's the most beneficial to the church is that, is that through prophesying people would understand what's being said and be built up in love.

And so he mentions a hymn and a lesson. That's something we still practice and we even do it in that order.

We start with hymns and then we go to the teaching. And then he adds a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

That was unique to the first century church. That isn't necessarily something that we see regularly practiced in the church today.

There's no need for those things that verify that the word of God is being spoken.

All we have to do is go to our Bible and we see there's the word of God and we'll test whatever is being preached or whatever is being taught with the word of God.

So that we have the canon that has been given to us, the word of God that has been spoken and as Peter says in 2

Peter 1, we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. To which you would do well to pay attention to until the morning star rises in your hearts.

Talking about our maturity in the faith, that we grow in Christ, the light of Christ that's in us through faith.

Verse 27, if any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three and each in turn and let someone interpret.

Now if in charismatic churches today, if that instruction was followed in verse 27, do you think speaking in tongues would be practiced?

No. But then look at the next part, the next instruction that's there.

If there is no one to interpret, let each one keep silent in church, speak to himself and to God. Verse 29, let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said.

If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent and this is in reference to the elders.

So it's not talking about like revelations just popping up among all these different members of the church. There are those that have been designated or understood to have been given a gift of prophecy or of teaching.

So when one receives a revelation, he speaks and if a revelation is given to another that's sitting there, let the first one be silent so you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets, meaning that those men who have been designated to speak and communicate these things, they're testing each other.

The spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets. I know that this word that's being spoken is a word from the

Lord because we can test and we can verify that that comes from God. And then notice verse 33, for God is not a

God of confusion but of peace. Why are we doing all of these things in this particular order?

Because God means for there to be peace. He means for there to be order. We're being obedient to Him and we're being considerate of one another, that we're building each other up in love, in the knowledge of God's word.

This is what is edifying. So that when we read, may the church be built up. When we read, strive to excel in building up the church.

When we read, let all things be done for building up. It is the word of God that has brought us to faith and grows us in this faith.

So let us be faithful to that and build one another up in love. Amen. Let me finish right there.

We'll come back to that section next week. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here and I pray that we would continue to be guided by what we have heard.

We would be convicted to recognize in our own lives where we need to communicate clearly.

Who needs to hear the gospel? Who needs to have those things explained to them? Who's more mature and is grown in more mature doctrines?

Who is less mature? As we hear in Romans 15, we who are mature have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves, but to build up our neighbor for his good.

And so help us to think about those things, that the church may be built up in love according to your word.

As Jesus prayed in John 17, 17, Father, sanctify them in your truth.

Your word is truth. Build us in your truth today. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

Nothing but snow, this is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours.

But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good, gospel -teaching,

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