1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter
14. You guys did marvelous singing today and
I can't wait to sing in heaven together. That
would be an amazing thing. When you think about
the word grace, that word has been commonly defined
in churches as unmerited favor. specifically
unmerited favor from God, we have a grace from
God that we don't deserve that we did not earn.
And there's saving grace and that deals with
our salvation and Christ's death on the cross.
But there's more than that grace in our life.
We have grace upon grace upon grace. And what
I mean by that is we have a whole bunch of things
that we don't deserve. I hope that you walk away
with an understanding of how privileged we are
to live in 2025 in relation to all that God has
done. I feel privileged at times. I feel privileged
to have the family that I do. I feel privileged
to have the wife that I do. There's things that
I don't deserve that I have. Can anybody agree
with me on where you are? There's stuff I have
that I don't deserve. And in that way I'm privileged.
I live in a country where I have so much privilege.
Like we live in an amazing place, in an amazing
time. To be able to come here today and to gather
together and worship God is an incredible thing.
I know I feel that way and I know I'm sure you
do all the time. I'm just thankful for what God
allows. me to do and allows you to do. Today
I want you to know how privileged we are to participate
in worship at this time in history. You can know
how privileged we are by thinking about the way
that we have received truth from God, okay? How
we have received truth from God. See, our God
is a revealing God. Our God reveals. Do you believe
that? are God reveals. At creation, everything
came to be by the word of God. You go back and
read Genesis chapter one and two. And God said,
let there be light, and there was light. God
revealed himself. The creative revealing work
of God was supernatural, but that didn't stop
at creation. The word of God was given at first,
orally and experientially. What do I mean? Adam
and Eve and Noah and Abraham and Jacob, they
actually heard a word from God. They heard God
audibly speak to them. Who thinks that would
be an amazing thing to experience? God literally
speaking to them and they learned that orally
and experientially. God certainly came to Moses.
experientially, when did God do that? You think
about the burning bush, right? And God said,
take off your shoes, your sandals, you're on
holy ground. And he spoke to Moses through that
bush. And then of course, when he was on the
mountain, you guys know that story, when God
was on the mountain, the receiving Mount Sinai,
receiving the Torah, the little, God, his finger
literally, and there's a mystery to all that,
right? Wrote the 10 commandments and that was
an amazing. an amazing thing. You'll see phrases
in the Old Testament like this, the word of the
Lord came to the prophet saying, have you ever
read that in the Bible, that God brought his
word to people? So the point that I'm trying
to make is that the prophecy, the word of the
Lord that came to the prophets, as it came, when
it came to them, it came to them orally and experientially
at times, it was always perfect. What do I mean?
It was, without error and it is without error,
okay? That means it's inerrant. We use this term
in theology. God's revelation is inerrant and
we also use it means it's without error. We also
say that God's prophecy, God's revealing is infallible.
What does that mean? It means it cannot have
any error because it comes from God. Not only
does it not have error, it categorically could
never have error because God can't sin, doesn't
mess up, is always true all the time. Who agrees
with me? That's who God is. So scripture having
its source in God cannot have any error, it's
an infallible. Prophecy that was given orally,
meaning the honorable word of God coming to people,
was the same. If its source is God, then it's
infallible and inerrant, it's authoritative.
When God says it, that's the end of it, right?
What he says is true. Let God be true and every
man a liar. God's revelation though, while without
error and infallible, has always been moving
from partial to complete. What do I mean? Now
I mean that we have more revelation from God
now than Moses did. This is what I mean by being
privileged, right? Who thinks Moses was an incredible
man that God used? Yeah, but we have more than
he did. We are so privileged. See, prophecy that
was orally was the same. Sources of God is infallible
and inerrant. And though it was without error
and infallible, it's always been moving from
partial to complete. It has progressed from oral
and experiential to written. It has been progressing
from private to published. It has always been
perfect in the sense that it is without error.
It has always been exactly the right amount of
revelation that God intended for mankind to have
at the time that he had it. God didn't reveal
everything all at once. He revealed his truth
progressively throughout history. And what was
the purpose of that revelation? Oral to written,
partial to more complete. What is the purpose
of it? 2 Timothy 3 tells me. Paul tells Timothy,
you continue in the things which you all have
learned, being assured and knowing of whom thou
hast learned them, and that from a child that
thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are
able to make thee what? Wise unto. Who's grateful
for salvation? Man. This is what the scripture
does, right? Make you wise to salvation through
faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God. All scripture
is God breathed, and it's breathed probably is
also true, because it's breath, right? All scripture
is God breathed, it's profitable for doctrine,
what to believe, for a proof, what not to believe,
for correction, how not to behave, for instruction
and righteousness, how to behave, why? That the
man of God may be perfect, mature, complete.
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. What
I'm saying today is this, it's always been without
error, but there's a sense in which that it has
always been partial. We know only a part of what
God knows. Can we vote today? I always get you
guys to vote with me, because I'm making a case.
Who agrees with me that we know less than God
does? Yeah, by a lot. This Bible seems pretty
big, but this is just like the greatest hits
of what God knows, right? So it's amazing thing.
We know a lot less now than we will know in eternity.
1 Corinthians 13 that we studied last week said,
charity never faileth, but whether they be prophecies,
they shall fail, whether they be tongues, they
shall cease, whether they be knowledge, it shall
vanish away. This is like right before the verses
we're gonna, this is in the context of what we're
studying today. He says that verse eight, verse
nine, for we know in part, and we prophesy in
part, but when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child, but when I
became a man, I put away childish things. For
now we see through a glass darkly, but then face
to face. He's looking forward to that. And now
I know in part, but then I shall know even as
I am also known, and now abideth faith, hope,
and charity. Right now we have faith and we have
hope. Without faith it's impossible to believe
God. We hope for the returning of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but one day we won't have to hope for
that. One day we will know him because we'll
see him as he is. So he says, but the greatest
of these is love. Faith and hope will be gone,
love will. remain. The Bible tells us clearly
that holy men of old spake as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit. This is how we got the spoken
and then the written word of God in the Old Testament.
Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the
Holy Spirit and then it came up to the end of
that Old Testament time and for 400 years between
the end of the Old Testament and the beginning
of the New Testament there was no new revelation
coming from God. And then like a root out of
dry ground, Isaiah said, like a tender plant,
a plant that shows up in a place where you wouldn't
expect that kind of plant to be, a watermelon
in the desert, desert of revelation, desert of
God working in the way that he had done in the
Old Testament, here shows up Jesus, the son of
God. Who would like to go back then? That'd be
kind of cool, right? And God shows up and that's
where the writer of Hebrews said it this way,
God who had sundry times and in diverse manners,
spake unto us in times past under the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom he also made the worlds.
Jesus spoke, Jesus. revealed Jesus did miracles
and the miracles he did substantiated that he
came from God. This is all over the Bible. Prophets
doing signs and miracles to validate that they
were from God. You guys remember Moses when he
went to Pharaoh. God gave him a couple of signs
to do. Who remembers that? He would throw his
staff on the ground and when he threw it on the
ground it became a snake and then God told him
to pick it up, which is where I would probably
be tempted to disobey God. Pick up a snake, no,
right? But he picked up the snake and it became
the staff again. He had the hand, he put his
hand in his coat, he took it out, leprosy. Took
it back in, took it out, it's gone, right? That
would be cool if that worked for acne, right?
That'd be sweet, right? What was he doing? It
was a sign, it was a sign that God was with him
and that God was, because he was with him, was
validating the message. This happened all the
time. Jesus did this, right? What did the virgin
birth give us an indication of? That Jesus was
the Messiah, the son of God, that God showed
up. When Jesus did ministry, it happened all
the time. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and
he says, in John chapter three, we know that
you're a teacher come from God, which was a scandalous
thing for a Pharisee to say. We know that, even
the guys that are against you know that you come
from God because no man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus
answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I
say to thee, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. What was happening? Jesus'
miracles validated his identity. But why was
his identity so important? Because he had a message.
He had a ministry to do. That's what happened.
It happened like in Matthew chapter nine, where
they bring Jesus, this man who was sick with
the palsy. And when they bring it to him, he
says, son, your sins are forgiven you. And the
Pharisees are like, who says? Who has the power
to forgive sins but God? And Jesus miraculously
knows what's going on in their heart. Verse four,
Jesus knowing their thoughts said, wherefore
think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is
it easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or
to say arise and walk, but that thou mayst know
that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive
sins. than say if he did the sick of the palsy,
arise, take up your bed and go into your house.
And he arose and departed to his house. Why did
the guy get healed? Well, yeah, we want him to
be healed. He's glad the guy got healed. But
ultimately it was so that the guys would know
the visible that substantiated the invisible,
that because God could get this guy up out of
his bed, then he has the right to forgive sin.
And when the multitude saw it, they marveled
and glorified God. This idea of a sign validating
a message in the messenger is intrinsic even
to the gospel. Jesus died, and then what happened?
He rose again. We know that Jesus' sacrifice
was accepted by God through the resurrection.
We know that Jesus was Messiah through the resurrection.
We know that our sins are forgiven because Jesus
rose from... There are some people that say,
well, I categorically just cannot accept the
fact you can have all the eyewitness testimony
you want, all the history you want, but people
don't rise from the dead. I can't believe it.
To which I would say, that's why he did it. If
everybody rises from the dead, it wouldn't prove
anything. Jesus rose from the dead. Yeah, my
Uncle Fred did last week. It doesn't establish
anything. Does that make sense? The sign substantiated.
the truth of what was happening. And then Jesus
told the disciples, his apostles, that they would
receive power from the Holy Spirit when he sent
the Holy Spirit to indwell them. He told them
that the Holy Spirit would comfort them and that
he would bring all things that he taught them
to their remembrance. Why? That they would be
his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. And on
the day of Pentecost, This is right after Jesus
died. He was buried. He rose again. He taught
them for at least 40 days, maybe more, how that
the whole Testament spoke of Him. And then He
ascended. He says, I have to go, because I'm
gonna send you this Holy Spirit. He's gonna comfort
you. He's gonna guide you. He's going to let
you be my witness. He's gonna be all truth to
you. And of course, that's what happened. Matthew
wrote, Matthew, John wrote. Does that make sense?
This is what happened. They remembered everything
that he said and through the power of the Holy
Spirit, they wrote it down. And on this day of
Pentecost, God sent his Holy Spirit to indwell
them. And then he used a sign of speaking in
tongues in conjunction with the sign of his resurrection
to validate the message of the apostles as the
one who now had his authority to continue his
ministry. They spoke and people from all over
the world that were there heard in, this is key,
known languages, okay? In Acts chapter two, it
says this, and when the day of Pentecost was
fully come and they were all with one accord
in one place, suddenly there came a sound from
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled
all the house where they were sitting, and there
appeared unto them a clove and tongues as a fire,
and it sat upon each of them, and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Speaking with other tongues. Tongues, sometimes
in this text, Acts chapter two, it's the word
glossus, sometimes it's the word dialectikos.
Where we get the word dialects, right? This is
what it says in verse five. They were dwelling
in Jerusalem. Jews devout men out of every nation
under heaven. Now when this noise was was noised
abroad, the multitude came together and were
confounded. What does that mean? They were like,
what is going on? Why? Because that every man
heard them speak in his own language. There's
a bunch of Galilean rednecks who don't know my
language and yet they're speaking and they're
speaking in my home native tongue. If you've
ever been overseas and all you hear is Mandarin,
all you hear is Japanese, and then you hear,
you know, Southern Alabama English two aisles
over, you're like, I'm telling you, it's gonna
perk up your attention, right? I just heard my
people, right? Like that's how that happened.
And so that's what's going on. How do these people
know this language? Look what he says, verse
seven, and they were all amazed and marveled
saying one to another, behold, are not all these
which speak rednecks, Galileans, right? And how
here we every man in our own tongue, Wherein
we were all born, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites,
and the Dolors in Mesopotamia, and in Judea,
and Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia, and Phrygia,
and Pamphylia, and Egypt, and all the parts of
Libyan about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews,
and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians. We do hear
them speak in our tongues. Here it is, the wonderful
works of God. The 12 disciples, you say, well,
what about Jesus? Jesus left and they got Matthias
to take up his office. They were unlearned, uneducated
men. They had been with Jesus and that was even
noted by their enemies. Again, the sign of tongues
and even miracles was given to the apostles for
the purpose of substantiating their message,
the prophecy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And
that even had the effect that it had that day.
talking about Pentecost, Acts 2 .37. Now, when
they heard this meeting, what happened was they're
all like, after, I didn't read that part of the
text, but they hear all these things going on
and they have no way to explain it. They're going,
these guys must be drunk. And they said, hey,
we're not, Peter stands up and says, we're not
drunk. Let me tell you about some prophecy. And
he read to them from David. He told them about
what the written word of God said. Why were they
listening? because obviously God was up to something.
So we need to listen to these guys, right? And
at the end of that sermon, man, I would love
to have some days like this around here. They
were pricked to their heart and said, what do
we do? What do we do? Then Peter said to them,
repent and be baptized every one of you in the
name of the Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins and you shall receive the gift. of the Holy
Ghost. He told him exactly what the Great Commission
told him to do. Go make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things what I've commanded you. Verse 41, and
then they that gladly received his word, they
got saved. What happened? They were baptized.
And the same day we're added unto them about
3 ,000 souls. Look at verse 42, this is crazy.
And they continue steadfastly in the... Apostle's
doctrine. Why would they follow the Apostle's
doctrine? Well, they got it from Jesus and they
were clear that they came from Jesus because
why? Because they're doing the signs and wonders
and giving the message and ministry that Jesus
did. Apostle's doctrine fellowship in the breaking
of bread and in prayers. Fear came upon every
soul and many wonders and signs were done by,
by who? The apostles and all that believe we're
together had all things in common Sold all their
possessions a good part of them to every man
as they had need and they continue daily from
one accord with one accord in the temple and
the breaking from bread from house to house and
eat their meat with gladness Singleness of heart
and the Lord added to the church praising God
having failed all people on the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved So,
where are we at in Corinthians when we get to
Paul writing the to the Corinthians, the New
Testament was being written at the beginning
of this church age, God was still using apostles
and prophets to bring his revelation to the church.
Not all of the prophetic that got uttered in
a service was written down every time God would
speak through his prophet and apostles in a corporate
setting when the assembly came together. We know
that there were people who tried to counterfeit
the work of the Spirit of God and spiritual gifts
like healings and tongues and other miracles
and sign gifts. For instance, if you go read
in Acts chapter 19, there was people that were
trying to do exorcisms and other signs. And there's
even a guy who's demon possessed is like, I know
Jesus and I know Paul, but I don't know who you
are. And he chased him out of the house. Crazy.
There were people that were asking to pay, hey,
can I pay you so that you can give me the same
power you have? So there's this counterfeiting
of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit
that was being tried. And even in 1 Corinthians
chapter 12, that's why Paul said. Now we're getting
to the context of our text today. He's writing
to the Corinthians and he's saying, concerning
spiritual gifts brethren, I don't want you to
be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles
carried away under these dumb idols, even as
you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed. Now get that. What he's saying
is, You need to discern what's happening in your
services and which thing that's being said is
coming from the Holy Spirit. You need to test
what's being said. Even though something's being
done in the name of the Holy Spirit, it doesn't
mean that it's the Holy Spirit doing it. Does
that make sense? That's going on today. There
are things that people are saying the Spirit's
doing, the Spirit has nothing to do with. How
do I know? Because it goes against what the word
of God says. That's why God the spirit wrote
a book He's not gonna come out with part two
in Oral revelation that goes against what he
already wrote in part one you guys agree with
me I'm glad you do. Okay, so Paul says hey if
Jesus somebody says that Jesus is a curse That's
not the Holy Spirit and that no man can say that
Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost When we
get to chapter 14, Paul's addressing the church
at Corinth who had been exercising the gift of
the Spirit, some authentically and some in a
counterfeit way. They had been seeking to do
the gifts of the Spirit and certainly had pined,
desired, gone after the more extravagant ones
and they had been doing this without love. They
had been trying to do all those things without
love. So what was the problem? Why was Paul taking
all this time to chapter 12, 13, and 14? What
was the problem in the church he was dealing
with? Well, he was dealing with disorder, as
we're gonna read in chapter 14, disorder during
the worship time. He was. dealing with an emphasis
on certain temporary partial gifts over love.
He was dealing with counterfeiting some of the
showy gifts that was going on and that all of
that was being done without love. So Paul's solution
in chapter 14, this is seven pages of introduction,
are you with me? Paul's solution in chapter 14
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was
to tell them to emphasize prophecy over tongues.
prophecy over tongues. He told them to regulate
their use of tongues in a way that would force
the counterfeit tongues to not have a place in
the service. Now, that's the direct effect of
what was going on and what he was trying to have
happen in the church at Corinth. I believe that
tongues have ceased. So we don't have that problem
in our service that there's all kinds of chaos
because people are trying to speak in tongues
or Counterfeiting tongues that's not happening
for us. So what does this mean for us? How does
this apply to us? We now have the Word of God
The record of God's revelation preserved and
published for us in a complete way You do not
need me as someone who proclaims thus saith the
Lord to back that up to back up these claims
with a sign gift. Your evaluation of whether
what I say or anybody that stands in a pulpit
or stands in front of you saying what the Lord
says, the way that you know what I say is true
is to test what I say according to what God already
said. Today I want you to treasure the word of
God in your life and I want you to be convictional
about the importance of the proclamation of the
word of God in the context of the local church.
We all need the word of God to be taught to us
faithfully as the emphasis of our corporate worship
time together. I don't say that in a way that
tries to make me important because this is what's
important. You and I need, me too, faithful,
biblical preaching in our lives. We need it.
We need God's truth. So, we should emphasize
the proclamation of God's word in public worship,
and I would also say in private devotion. We
all should emphasize the proclamation of God's
word in public worship for three reasons. Number
one, like how is he gonna get through 19 verses
now? Hold on, here we go. Number one, we should
do it because prophecy edifies the whole congregation.
Prophecy edifies the whole congregation. Look
what he says, verse one. Follow after charity.
Okay, he just, in chapter 13, finished that section
saying, hey, we need to love. He says, follow
after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but
rather that ye may prophesy. The sentence emphasizes
what Paul has been telling the Corinthians already.
You guys, Corinthians, follow after charity or
love. Spiritual gifting and ministry should be
administered with love is the bull's eye. This
was the context of 1 Corinthians 13. They were
trying to emphasize all these public, miraculous
gifts, but doing it without love. It wasn't wrong
for them to desire the gifts of the Spirit, and
they were, but they were doing it without love.
But here in verse one, he says, okay, do this
with love and desire spiritual gifts. It's good
for you to desire for God to do stuff. But he
says rather that you may prophesy. When he says
rather here, he's saying prioritize. He could
be saying it like this, but especially that you
prophesy. Paul tells them that they are, as they
are passionately desiring spiritual gifts to
prioritize prophecy. Why, Paul? Why should we
prioritize one gift over another? Why should
we prioritize desiring? Prophecy, says the Corinthians.
Well, he gives them verse two. 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. One key
to understanding this passage is to notice when
the word translated tongue's plural and when
it's translated tongue singular. Notice that
in your Bible that the word unknown is supplied
by the King James translators. If you're talking
about ecstatic speech, which is counterfeit language,
there's only one. There are not multiple gibberishes,
right? There's just one gibberish, right? One,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? There's
only one of them. There are not multiple gibberishes.
There's a gibberish language and then multiple
kinds of known languages. So unknown is supplied
every time it's singular, other than one time
in verse nine, where it's referring to a singular
person speaking. I believe that when the word
unknown is supplied, it's dealing with counterfeit
languages or at least languages for which no
one is interpreting. We know that the book of
Acts, there were known languages. They were assigned
to those who heard it, especially the Jews, that
led to getting revelation from God through prophecy
and knowledge. He says here, verse two, that
he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, a tongue
that's given but not interpreted, a tongue that's
either counterfeit and it's just a bunch of gibberish
or a tongue that's given but then nobody understands
it because nobody speaks the language that they're
speaking. He's not speaking to men. No one understands
him. Howbeit the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
They were assigned to those who heard it, these
languages. In the Spirit, though, he says he's
speaking mysteries. Is this the Holy Spirit or
is it his spirit? He says, in the Spirit, little
less, he speaketh mysteries. The idea is the
tongues in the book of Acts were understood.
Here he is describing tongues that are not understood.
And he says, in contrast to that, verse three,
but. He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to
edification and exhortation and comfort. The
person that's speaking what God has revealed
on God's behalf sees the product of what God's
revelation does. What is it? Verse three, edification.
What does edification mean? It's building up,
exhortation. What does that mean? Teaching and
encouraging and then comfort. Who's ever been
comforted by the word of God? Amen. He that speaketh
in an unknown tongue, verse four, edifyeth himself.
If you're doing that and you're trying to, you're
doing it and it makes you maybe feel good, makes
you look good. But he that prophesied, he says,
if you prophesy, legitimately you edify the church.
The person that speaks in a counterfeit or uninterpreted
tongue does not enhance anyone's understanding.
There is no edification. There's no exhortation.
There's no comfort. There may be people who think,
wow, that guy's spiritual, but there may be some
kind of self -encouragement from the whole process,
but it doesn't help the church. Does that make
sense? In verse five, he says, I would that you
all speak with tongues. Notice it's plural, legitimate
tongues, but rather that you prophesied, especially
that you prophesied. Why? For greater is he that
prophesied than he that speaketh with tongues,
except he interpret that the church may receive
edifying. Ah. If you speak in tongues and it's
a known language and you can take that known
language and help other people know what God
told you or spoke through you in that tongue,
then now there's edification, right? At that
point, literally, tongues becomes prophecy. Does
that make sense? And so he says, why should it
be that way? Because the church may receive edifying.
Now this is an interesting thought. Paul had
already stated that not everyone would have every
gift. He doesn't believe that everyone will have
the gifted tongues, that everyone will have to
give the prophecy or any of the other spiritual
gifts anyway. What he's saying is that he would
rather everyone have the ability to proclaim
God's understandable truth than to speak uninterpreted,
counterfeit languages because when you preach...
and proclaim what God has said, that builds up
the church. But when you preach and proclaim
and nobody understands it, it doesn't help anybody.
That's what he's saying. We should emphasize
the proclamation of God's word in our public
worship because it builds up the church. Here's
our church growth plan, okay? We read the word,
we understand the word, we do what it says. We
proclaim it so that people understand, so that
they obey it, so that they do what it says. That's
our plan. Who agrees? That's a great plan. God
is the one who does it. So, we should emphasize
proclaiming God's word through prophecy, the
prophecy that's written down because it edifies
the church. Number two, here's the second reason
why we should do it. Prophecy is intelligible.
Prophecy is intelligible. I'm gonna make it.
Here we go, verse six. Now, brethren, if I come
into you speaking with tongues, legitimate God
given tongues that were happening at that time,
what shall I profit you except I shall speak
to you either by revelation or by knowledge or
by prophesying or by doctrine? What is he saying?
Speaking in an unknown or counterfeit language
doesn't help anyone unless there is someone to
hear Content that comes from that, that's actually
relevant. Here, revelation, knowledge, prophecy,
or doctrine. He then uses two illustrations.
First, he uses musical instruments. Don't worry,
no one's coming out from behind, okay? Verse
seven. He says, this is really simple. Even with
things that give life -giving sound, verse seven.
Whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction
in the sounds, how shall it be known what's piped
or harp? For if the trumpet give it an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself for battle?
So likewise ye accept ye utter by the tongue
words easy to be understood. How shall it be
unknown? How shall it be known what is spoken?
For you shall speak into the air." What he's
saying is this, music has structure. It has rhythm,
it has melody, it has harmony, it has genre.
Banjos go with? Banjos go with? Bluegrass, right,
exactly. So there's that kind of organization.
Instrumentation. All of these things make it
understandable, intelligible, and worthy of listening.
He even uses this idea of a bugle. A bugle is
played. to call people to battle. What's the...
I'm sure that's what they would have played back
there. Because I did it that way, you knew what
to do. But if I went... Okay, what was that about,
right? What he's saying is, unless there's a
distinction in the sound, even with musical instruments,
Unless there's some organization or intention
in how you do it, there's no understanding. Music
has all those things that make it understandable.
If the tongue is unknown or counterfeit, it doesn't
really say anything. And if it's not interpreted,
it doesn't help anyone. You're just speaking
into the air. That's what he says. He uses the
second illustration, language itself, verse 10.
There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices
in the world, and none of them is without signification.
You know what he's saying? What he's saying is,
there's a lot of people that make a lot of different
noises in languages, and all those languages
have meaning, right? I may not understand all
of them, but somebody does. He says in verse
11, 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. The Greco -Roman world called people barbarian
based on onomatopoeia. Who knows what the word
onomatopoeia is, right? The word sizzle. The
word itself sounds like what it's describing,
sizzle, right? Last night I made steak, sizzle,
right? He said essentially that word barbarian
came out of what they thought those who spoke
other languages sounded like bar, bar, bar, bar,
bar, bar, bar, right? They called him barbarian
and they were emphasizing these people are uncivilized.
They don't know Greek. They don't know Latin.
They're dumb. And they just sound like they're
saying blah, blah, blah, blah. But the truth
of the matter is they weren't dumb. They just
don't speak the same language. So Paul's essentially
saying, if you don't speak the language, then
you're unintelligible and that isn't worth much.
Prioritize prophecy, he says, because it could
be understood. When we send people to the mission
field, we try to, part of what they do is learn
the language. Because you can go over there and
be like, Jesus loves you. And they're like, no
understando. I should know the language, right?
No comprehending, like I don't understand what
you're saying. So what he says, verse 12, even
so ye for as much as you are zealous of spiritual
gifts, seek that you may excel in the edifying
of the church. He's saying prioritize the proclamation
of God's word because it can be understood and
it builds up the church. Here's the last one.
We should emphasize the proclamation of God's
word and worship for three reasons. Number three,
prophecy is rational. Prophecy is rational. He
says verse 13, wherefore, but him that speaketh
in an unknown tongue, pray that he may interpret.
If you go back to chapter 12, there's different
gifts of the spirit. One of the gifts of the
spirit was tongues. Another gift of the spirit
was interpretation of tongues. So there were
people that spoke and didn't know the language
they were speaking. but still spoke in that language
by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then there were
people that didn't know the language that was
being spoken, but could interpret legitimately
what was being said so that people could understand.
Does that make sense? And so what he's saying
here is, if you're speaking in tongues, what
you should desire and what you should pray for
is that you could actually explain what was just
been said. If you can explain it, then it's not
counterfeit. If you can explain it, then it actually
edifies. Verse 14, for if I pray in an unknown
tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding
is unfruitful. I believe that verse 14 is speaking
of the counterfeit. He's not talking about the
Holy Spirit. He's talking about the person's
spirit. If I'm doing ecstatic speak like the
pagan religions, then I may get worked up, but
I haven't learned anything. That's what he's
saying. Verse 15. What is it then? I will pray
with the spirit, and I will pray with understanding
also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will
sing with understanding also. Else when thou
shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that
occupyeth the room of the unlearned say amen
at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth
not what thou sayest. For thou verestly give
thanks well, but the other is not edified. When
you participate in what you may think is another
tongue, but it is uninterpreted or counterfeit,
it doesn't help anybody. When you pray and sing
and proclaim what is understandable and true,
then people can understand and you're built up
and so are others. He says, verse 18, I thank
my God, I speak with tongues more than you all.
See, Paul says he participates in this authentic
move of the Holy Spirit called tongues here.
He's not dismissing its illegitimate use at that
time. What he's saying is that tongue should
always be interpreted, showing its authenticity
and leading to understanding and edification.
That's why he says in verse 19, yet in the church
I'd rather speak five words with my understanding
that by my voice I might teach others also than
10 ,000 words of gibberish or of language that
nobody understands, of an unknown. When you proclaim
God's authentic word, even if it is less quantity,
it's better than a great quantity of what has
not been able to be understood. I'm in this text
because I set out to teach the whole of 1 Corinthians.
So what does this have to do with us? Why do
we still have this in our Bible today? How does
it help us? I hope that's the question you're
asking. Okay, I get it. They should have prioritized
prophecy over tongues. How does this apply to
our church? Tongues have ceased. New revelation
from God is not coming in our services in our
age. There wasn't a new revelation or even a
newer New Testament that's gonna come out. So
what does this mean for the church now? Well,
here's some points of application. Do you understand
the treasure we have here? you can understand
your Bible. You have everything God wants you
to have. And he wrote it out and it's in your
language. And it's valuable for life, it's sufficient
for life and godliness. Like you have what God
thinks about all the things he wants you to think
about. Some of you just yawned holy cow We have
God's written Word We don't have to man. I hope
that guy is in the spirit. I can't tell he's
saying some things that may be true like no God
wrote a book He wrote it down and he tells you
how you parent Has this informed your parenting?
I hope it has He tells you how to do marriage.
Has this informed, has this informed your marriage?
He tells you how to do church. Like this should
dictate what we do when we come together. You
know what the Bible says we should do when we
come together? We should read the word of God.
We should pray. We should sing. We should preach.
It should be, and then we should respond to it.
What's God's will for my life? He wrote it down.
He wrote it down. And some of you guys are trying,
me too. Let me be quick. We're trying to do life
without it. Don't you understand the privilege
that you and I have to have the Old Testament,
to have the gospels, to have the epistles, to
have some idea of what's coming. We don't have
to worry about the future. Jesus is coming back.
You like my, he's coming back. How do I know?
Cause he prophesied that he was coming the first
time and it all worked out exactly how this said.
He's coming back again. I don't understand everything.
There's like scorpions or lions, but why in the
world? Okay, one day we'll figure it out, but
he's coming back. And this isn't hard to figure
out, he wins. He wins. So like, don't try to
do your job. Don't try to do your finances. Don't
try to do worshiping Him or living with Him apart
from this good night. The Holy Spirit has done
an amazing work and we ought to treasure this
thing. You need it every day. You need it every
day. You need it every day. Which days? Every
day. You need it every day. You need it every
day. And when you try to do a day without it,
you're saying, now God, I'm good. I can do it
without you. No, you can't. No, you can't. Good
luck trying. So we should treasure God's complete
word. We should prioritize biblical preaching
in personal worship. In our entertainment -driven
culture, churches face pressure. to emphasize
style over substance, experience over truth.
But Paul's instruction to prioritize prophecy
means and reminds us that nothing builds up the
church like the faithful proclamation of God's
word. When you choose a church, look for the
one that makes biblical preaching central. When
you sit under teaching, come with an expectant
heart, ready to be edified, exhorted, and comforted
by God's word. And if your church says something
other than what this word says, You need to deal
with that. Number three, value understanding
over experience. We live in a feeling -centered
age where subjective experience often trumps
objective truth. But Paul emphasizes that what
matters in corporate worship is not how spiritual
we appear, but how much the congregation is built
up through understandable truth. When our personal
devotions, our Sunday school discussions, our
corporate worship happens, Let's prioritize clear
understanding of God's word over mystical experiences
that cannot be evaluated or verified. Number
four, pursue saving, rational faith. The gospel
appeals to both heart and mind. The gospel appeals
to both heart and mind increasingly anti -intellectual
culture, Christians must demonstrate that faith
in Christ is reasonable, intelligible, and makes
sense. And when we share our faith with others,
let's be prepared to give clear, understandable
reasons for our hope. When we worship together,
let's engage both our emotions and our intellect,
praying and singing with the Spirit, like Paul
says, and with understanding also. Right? But
my goal when I preach is for you to get it, but
not just to get it, but then to obey it. And
you won't obey it if you don't get it, and you
won't get it if we don't teach it right. That
make sense? What's the point of scripture? It's
able to make you wise unto salvation. And then
it says in 2 Timothy 3 .15, that from a child
that has known the Holy scriptures, which are
able to make the wise and the salvation through
faith, which is in Christ Jesus. God wrote a
book. Let me summarize it for you. Here it is.
In the Old Testament, God gave us, who he is,
his holiness, his omnipotence, everything that's
here came because he created it. And he has a
will, it's his law. And we've all violated God's
law. Paul tells us that the law became a schoolmaster
teaching us that we couldn't keep the law. And
in the Old Testament, signs, prophecy, ceremony
pointed to this one that would be coming, this
heel that would crush the serpent's head, the
seat of the woman that would crush the head of
the serpent, this one that's coming who is Jesus,
who's going to die for our sins. The gospel then
tells us about this Jesus who's God become man,
who lived a perfect life and then died on the
cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.
The Old Testament helps me know that the New
Testament was going to happen and then it validated
what happened through Jesus when he came. Then
Jesus resurrected from the dead, why? We're gonna
read in chapter 15 so that we can have our sins
forgiven. And then the epistles are written,
why were they written? To help us understand,
what does this now mean for those of us who are
in Christ Jesus? What does it mean to live a
life that's filled with the spirit? What does
it mean now to do church and to do life and do
all that together? Now that Jesus came, look
back at it, now that he came, he resurrected,
what do we do now? And then revelation tells
us, oh, and by the way, it's not the end of the
story. Jesus is coming back. If the whole Bible
is about the fact that we're sinners, but God
has provided a way for us to be saved, and that
we should live in light of what Jesus has done,
looking forward to what he's gonna do. Shouldn't
that come out in the way that we worship him?
Shouldn't that come out in the way that we, what
we say and what we do when we come together?
And shouldn't that impact, and how privileged
are we that we know all that? We have way more
than Moses did. Right? And so let's treasure
this thing and let's proclaim this thing like
you can, we could give you a Bible today. They
used to chain this to the pulpit. You couldn't
have access to it. You understand that? You know
what they call that? The dark ages. You have
like, you probably have more than one of these.
How many have more than one of these? You know
how privileged we are? There are people in the
world that don't have this in their own language.
We are privileged. Let's know it, let's understand
it, let's obey it, let's proclaim it. And if
you don't know Christ as your savior, that's
the whole point of it. You don't have to go to
hell, you can go to heaven. Put your faith in
Jesus Christ, the revealed son. Would you bow
your head and close your eyes?