"Speaking with Tongues"
June 15, 2015
This tongues movement, this charismatic movement or Pentecostal movement or whatever you want to call it, is not biblical okay and I’m going to show you what the bible actually teaches. Now if we’re going to have a doctrine called Tongues and they call it speaking “in tongues” That’s not a term that the King James Bible uses. The bible talks about speaking with tongues or it’ll talk about speaking in another tongue or in an unknown tongue but it’s the NIV version of the bible from which you would derive the term you know “speaking in tongues” you know or other modern versions. But if you’re going to have a doctrine called Tongue Speaking or Speaking in Tongues or the Tongues Movement then if we look up every single verse in the New Testament that uses the word tongues we should be able to learn what the bible teaches about tongues shouldn’t we? Now I’m not going to take the time to go through every Old Testament mention of tongues because of the fact that I think everyone would agree that every mention of tongues in the Old Testament is either talking about the organ that is inside of your mouth, known as your tongue, or is referring to languages because often the word tongue will be used synonymously with language in the Old Testament. I don’t think anybody would point to an Old Testament passage and dispute that. So I want to go through right now with you every New Testament mention of the word tongues and let’s understand what the bible teaches about this doctrine and what the gift of tongues really is as opposed to this counterfeit tongues movement of people like Benny Hinn, what’s that guy the bam guy? BAM! Todd Bentley, you know Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley just, I mean it’s pretty common. It’s a huge movement. Name some of the other teachers? Kenneth Copeland, Help me out, Rod Parsley, never even heard of him.
Alright, so let’s look at Mark 16. If we go to the first mention, it’s going to be in Mark chapter number 16. Let’s look at the very first mention of this teaching in the New Testament. And again let me just emphasize to you every time the word tongue is used in the Old Testament it’s either talking about a foreign language or it’s talking about the thing in your mouth called your tongue; that’s all it’s ever talking about in the Old Testament. No one would dispute that. But look at Mark chapter 16 verse number 17 and it says this after giving you know the great commission and so forth it says in verse 17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; and they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” Now many of those in this tongues movement or charismatic movement will point to this and say, ‘See, if you believe you’re going to speak in tongues’ and many of them will say, ‘If you don’t speak in tongues you’re not saved because that’s the sign that would follow those that believe.’ Well if the interpretation here is that every single person who believes, these signs will follow them, then that means that every single person that believes would also have to take up serpents and would also have to drink that which is deadly and be unharmed, they would also have to lay hands on the sick and they would recover. Now that is not the case and the proper interpretation of this passage as we study the rest of the bible is that these were miracles that did take place in the coming months and years; these Apostles who he’s talking to and the other Apostles outside of the 12 because Jesus did ordain 70. For example, Barnabas is called and Apostle and he was not one of the 12. Those men did go out and they did do these type of things. For example we can see the fulfillment of this when the Apostle Paul is bitten by a serpent in Acts 28 and he’s unharmed. And you know we can see the fulfillment of this when we see people in the book of Acts speaking with new tongues and I’ll get to that when we get to the book of Acts. But I just want to point out first of all this is not saying that every single saved person will speak in a new tongue because of the fact that even later on he talks about how some people have the gift of interpreting tongues or speaking with divers tongues and others don’t. In the church God said he gave different people different gifts and that’s just one of the gifts that he lists that’s only given to certain people. But when we notice this first mention in the New Testament, it says “They shall speak with new tongues”.
Now flip over to Acts 2 and while you’re flipping to Acts chapter 2, Ask yourself this question, If we just go with the normal definition of tongue, the definition that was used all throughout the Old Testament and the definition that we’ve known our whole lives in the English language, wouldn’t it make sense that he’s just saying they’re going to speak with new languages? They’re going to speak in a new language, okay. Now in Acts chapter 2 we’ll see the fulfillment of that. He’s not saying they’re going to speak with a new thing in your mouth, you know swap it out and get a new one. He’s saying you’re going to speak in a new language. Well look at Acts chapter 2 and let’s see the fulfillment of that. It says in verse 1 “When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And 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 cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them” Now what are the cloven tongues like as a fire? Well flames of fire are often liken unto tongues just because they physically resemble a tongue. Have you ever heard of licking of flames? Who’s ever heard that term before? If you read books you’ll read that term sometimes. You know, it’s just because it looks like a tongue of an animal that would kind of reach out and grab something, that’s the way flames are often referred to. So it says, “they were cloven tongues like as of 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.” Now what did it say back in Mark 16? These are signs or miracles that will be done by those who believe. He said they shall speak with new tongues and what do we see them doing here? Speaking with other tongues. Wouldn’t other tongues be the same as speaking with new tongues? Something different than what you’ve spoken before? He says their going to speak with-He said they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now let’s see what that looked like. Does this mean that they just said “Hakalagundala” you know, No! What does it say? When it says that they spoke with other tongues look at verse 5 and the explanation comes immediately. It says “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.” Again showing that the word Jew in the bible isn’t just talking about an ethnicity, here it’s people from all nations that have the belief of Judaism, just like it says in Esther 8:17 “Where many of the people became Jews because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them” showing that it is not just an ethnicity but that rather it’s referring to their belief here okay. It says, and their practice. It says, “There were Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded.” Confounded means confused. They’re blown away. They can’t understand it. It says “they were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” So a minute ago it said they heard it in their own language, now it’s saying they heard it in their own tongue. And God even goes so far as to list the languages just to make sure that we understand what tongues are. Tongues are foreign languages! Another word for ‘another tongue’ is a foreign tongue. Another word for ‘an unknown tongue’ would be an unknown language or a foreign language. Not meaning that it’s unknown to anyone but it’s unknown to you. See to me Chinese is an unknown tongue, it’s a foreign tongue, it’s another tongue, but to another person that would be their mother tongue. That would be their native tongue that would be their main language so it depends on whose perception we’re talking about here. And to these Jews dwelling at Jerusalem, namely the Apostles okay, who are Galileans, there are all these men from 17 or so different places that are listed let alone the ones that are not listed because it says every nation under heaven is represented that are understanding these Galileans speaking in all these foreign languages. And what is it that confuses them, or confounds them or astonishes them? It’s not what they don’t understand it’s what they do understand. So they’re not just amazed that Wow that guy is really talking some cool gibberish. I mean that sounds cool. I mean that’s of the Spirit. No, they’re saying Wow I understand what that guy is saying. I traveled hundreds of miles to get here. I’m in a town where I wouldn’t expect anybody to speak my language and now I’m seeing these guys that are clearly Galileans and they’re speaking my language.
Look at the different languages. He says in verse 8 “how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia” where is Mesopotamia? That’s Persia, Iranians are there. He says “in Judea, Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians” so where talking people from Greece, people from Turkey, people from Iran people from other parts of Europe, other parts of Asia, people from Africa, Libya is where? You know that’s North Africa. But it just says that these are examples. I mean it’s every nation under heaven is there. And they’re saying in verse 11 “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And is shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:” and on and on. So what’s going on in this story? You have devout men from all over the world coming to Jerusalem for the feast day; coming for the day of Pentecost and they’re there and amazed when they hear these people speaking to them in their own language. Now first of all let me point out this isn’t one guy speaking. This isn’t Peter speaking because he points to other people and says ‘these are not drunk as you suppose’. Then he quotes the scripture from Joel, which talks about men and women he says you know the servants and the hand maidens. The sons and the daughters are prophesying or preaching. Why? Because what happened is in chapter 1 he talked about how the church was gathered together and they had 120 people in that church including the women, men and women both in the church. And in chapter 2 what we see is that they’re out in Jerusalem and they are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we do when we go soul winning basically you know we go door to door preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, which the bible also teaches. They’re basically just doing that in the city. I mean they just go to Jerusalem where there’s this feast going on and they’re speaking to these people. Now you have to understand. Obviously one guy can’t speak 17 languages at the same time. But there were 120 people in that early church okay so they’re all speaking various languages. So for example just to help you understand this, let’s say for example, let’s have a few guys come up here. Brother Dominique come up here, this is Simon the Canaanite, no I’m just kidding, This is one of the Apostles. Matt come on up here. Charlie. Just you know, so let’s just understand this. Cause so many people understand the story that’s why I’m just slowing down and making sure that we’re all on the same page understanding this story before we get to the rest of the scripture. Okay, let’s say these are 3 members of the early church okay? Now the Holy Ghost comes upon them and this miracle takes place, I mean would anyone disagree that this is a miracle? He said these are the signs that will follow, they’re going to speak with new tongues. And they’re amazed at it. Because, whoa these guys are Galileans. They’re speaking in these languages from really far away. So let’s just say for example the Spirit of the Lord comes upon Charlie and he’s speaking in Arabic. Right? And then over here the Spirit of the Lord comes upon brother Matt and he’s speaking in, you know, a Persian type language. Whatever they heard over there. You know and then let’s say the Spirit of the Lord comes upon brother Dominique and he starts speaking in the language of, you know, Asia minor. Whatever, you know, whatever language, the one that they’re born with. Their most personal language, they’re hearing in their mother tongue. So basically, he’s speaking one language, he’s speaking another language; he’s speaking another language. Does everybody understand? And what language they’re speaking depends on who they’re talking to. Okay, so for example, you know, I’m here and I’m from Arabia okay, so who’s going to come give me the gospel? Who did I assign Arabia to? Alright, so you know if I basically, I’m here and brother Charlie wants to give me the gospel? He starts to talk to me. Now how many languages do you speak Charlie? Just one, okay so he speaks English only right? So wouldn’t it be a miracle if I’m this Arabian guy and Charlie walks up to give me the gospel and all of a sudden he just starts speaking Arabian? Arabic, okay, sorry. I mean does everybody understand? So basically whoever these guys gave the gospel to on the day of Pentecost, they were miraculously able to speak that language. So an Arabic guy is here, and he walks up to me and starts talking and what comes out of his mouth is Arabic. Just miraculously he’s able to speak in that unknown tongue. I mean that would be a huge miracle because learning a foreign language is very difficult and so on. Go head and sit down guys.
So I just want to make that real clear so that everybody understands what’s happening in this story; what’s happening in that miracle. Now others said well these men are drunk with new wine, okay now when you look at who Peter rebukes when he says ‘Hey these are not drunk as you suppose’, he’s talking to the men of Judea okay. He’s saying ye men of Jerusalem, ye men of Judea and in fact I think counted 7 times he makes reference to the fact that they are the ones who live at Jerusalem. Who are the people that are speaking with other tongues? Who are they talking to? People who’ve come from all over the world right? Visitors to Jerusalem. Who is Peter preaching to? The dwellers at Judea and Jerusalem. And he’s saying these men are not drunk. Now why would they think they’re drunk? Because basically they’re just hearing a bunch of gibberish to them that they don’t understand they start hearing a bunch on languages that don’t make any sense to them and instead of believing Oh they’re speaking another language to a guy who understands it, they just don’t want to hear the truth, don’t want to believe it. So they’re just like ‘Oh well these guys are just drunk, they’re just talking funny cause they’re drunk’ You now because they’re basically sounding like Barbarians. Because they’re just, you now, I mean look some languages sound pretty weird; let’s face it, right? I mean, you know, I mean I don’t want to attack any languages or anything but you know I was in the post office the other day and this guy was speaking another language and it just sounded like just weird noises. You know it was just like “undyggdyggdygg” and it’s like what in the world? Like, and I was just thinking like, how can the person on the other end of the phone be understanding what he’s saying? He’s not even articulating anything that even sounds intelligible, just “thundygg” you know and then there’s these like African click languages “tktktktk” What in the world? You’re drunk! No I’m just kidding. But the point is, it’s the people who don’t speak that language that are just kind of writing it off as oh you’re drunk. But then other people are like whoa this guy is preaching the word of God in a language that I can understand. This is the tongue wherein I was…How does he know that language? I don’t expect to hear that here. So that’s what happened. Now what was the goal here? What was the purpose of this miracle? It was to get people saved right? Because what are they preaching to them? The Gospel and they’re hearing in their tongue the wonderful works of God. And then Peter preaches to the Jews that are there and deals with them.
Now let’s go the next mention of this miracle, or not even miracle. We’re just looking at every time the word tongues is used. We’re leaving no stone unturned. I’m not going to skip any mentions, if I do see me after the service and correct me. But I’m mentioning every time that the word tongue is mentioned and used in the New Testament. I’m not trying to hide anything form you. No! We started in Mark 16. Was there any confusion there? Any confusion here in Acts 2? Or is it pretty simple? Ok, well then let’s go the next mention Acts 10. And let’s see if God’s going to move the goal post on us. After spending the entire Old Testament referring to a bonafide foreign language that people speak on this earth. After spending the entire Old Testament driving that in and then coming to Mark 16 and yeah they’re going to use a new language, so what? Acts chapter 2 a miracle happens and sure enough they’re speaking new languages. It’s foreign languages. And they’re listed and the purpose is that people might hear the gospel in the language wherein they were born. Now let me ask you this. Don’t you think that those guys that were at Jerusalem probably spake the language of Judea also? Yeah, because if they’re comfortable traveling there and if they’re talking to the Jews, they’re probably reading the scriptures in the Hebrew language or at least you know what? But there’s something different about hearing it in the language you were born. You know, your first language that you’re born with is always going to be the language that you understand the best or the one that’s the nearest and dearest to you. No matter how good you get at a foreign language, it’s not same as when you’re native with it. It’s just different. And so it was just amazing cause they can hear the gospel in their own native tongue, and they glorified God for that. Why would God do that? Well because Jesus has just risen from the dead. God wanted to get the word out to all nations. Here’s a great way to get the word out. They’re all showing up for this feast; let’s get them all the gospels, get them saved and then they can take it back home. And by the way it’s a great lesson there about how we can reach the world with the gospel. You know how you reach the world with the gospel? Reach foreigners here. You know everyone wants to go to the missions field and ‘Oh we’re going to go to the deep dark jungles of Africa’, ‘Oh we’re going to go into the reaches of inner Mongolia’ But wait a minute, Do you do any soul-wining here? And you’ll talk to some of these missionaries that are on deputation, ‘Hey when was the last time you went soul-winning buddy?’ ‘Oh well, oh, oh well…Let me show you my slide show’ NO! I want to see you go soul-winning NOW! Don’t show me your slide show. I want to go soul-winning with you now and see what you’re doing now. Cause look, if you won’t do it now, you won’t do it over there. All this pie in the sky talk about ‘Oh I’m going to go..’ and they’re always going to plant churches, plural. Hey why don’t you plant one, then we’ll talk. You know I’ve planted one church, Faithful Word Baptist Church, and it’s not very easy to plant a church you know. But “Oh we’re going to plant churches all over, this is our goal..’ it’s like, Oh okay but you haven’t been soul winning in 6 months but you’re going to plant “churches” Okay, No, you need to get out soul winning now because if you won’t do it here you won’t do it there. And look, it’s funny because Bro. Segura and I we made a video a few years ago. I don’t know if you’ve seen this video or not. We made a video. We went to an apartment complex that’s literally 4 miles away. And it’s a place where everybody who lives in this apartment complex is from Africa. And I don’t mean that they’re black. I mean they’re from Africa I mean they’re actually wearing clothing that shows you immediately like wow these people just got here from Africa. I mean you look in their homes; it’s all just a completely different culture. I mean it’s literally like just stepping into a, like warp zone that would just take you to Africa. You feel like you’re in Africa at this place. So we went there and we did a bunch of soul winning and we took a whole bunch of picture while we were there because I had this idea about making this video. So we just took a whole bunch of pictures of us soul winning in this place and all the people that we saw and we put together a slide show and then we got the really like touchy feely music that missionaries like to use in slideshows, you know
Now let’s keep going in this passage though I don’t want to get off on a…Yes I do want to get off on that, but anyway I’m done. Acts chapter 10 verse 46 is the next mention of tongues. Let’s see if it’s consistent with what the bible’s taught so far. This is Peter is preaching the Word of God unto them and here’s a great verse, this is one of my favorite verses, verse 43 is one of my favorite verses. It says “To him”, talking about Jesus, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” That’s the message of the whole bible. Whole bible. All the prophets give witness that whosoever believeth in him and his name shall receive the remission of sins. “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” How do they know that? Verse number 46. “For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.” Now, this is also miraculous, which is why there’s astonishment taking place where the Jews are astonished when they hear them speak with other tongues and they realized, hey this is like what happened to us at the day of Pentecost. In fact, when Peter tells this story he says this is like it happened with us at the beginning back in Acts 2. He doesn’t use the words Acts 2 but he refers back to that incident. Now the thing I want to point out here is that in verse 47 it says, “they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God” So it’s not that they’re just hearing gibberish or something that to them that’s gibberish. They’re not just hearing “Blhdkhajk” and it’s like ‘Oh wow they’re speaking with other tongues. This is the Holy Spirit upon them’ No. What they’re hearing is their own language because they’re saying we heard them speak with other tongues and magnify God, which means that they were speaking in a language the Jews understood. Cause they’re saying ‘Wow, I’m hearing them magnify God in our language’ okay. So why did God cause these people to miraculously be able to speak with other tongues? Because the Jews had this idea that the only one who could be filled with the Holy Spirit, the only one God was going to use to prophesy was someone who was Jewish. Right? And someone who’s of Judea. Someone who’s of that you know chosen people. They’re still on that mistaken teaching. And so when they see the gentiles speak with other tongues and glorify God, that’s the purpose of God allowing that miracle, where they praised God it came out in the language of the Jews was because God wanted the Jews to see, Hey I want to use the gentiles also. I want the gospel to go to the gentiles. That’s why they were shown that. Okay?
Look at Acts chapter 19 verse 6. So again they’re speaking in a language that the people around them can understand. In Acts 2 it was for the benefit of the visitors from other countries. In Acts 10 it was for the benefit of the Jews it’s like an opposite miracle. The Jews are showing up in a foreign place and they’re hearing it in their own language. Okay. Look at Acts chapter 19 verse 6 for the next mention of tongue. It says in Acts 19:6. I’m sorry I have 19:6 written down, that is right okay, 19:6 it says “and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied” Ok, so again people are being filled with the Holy Spirit and they speak with tongues and prophesy. So in chapter 10 they were speaking with tongues and glorifying God. Here they hear them prophesying or preaching. So again they’re understanding what’s being said. Okay. Nothing here to contradict so far the definition that hey this is foreign languages okay.
Look at 1 Corinthians 12. It’s the next place that this is mentioned. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter number 12 this is talking about spiritual gifts. The bible says in verse number 4 of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.” And we don’t want to go on and on but each local church, this isn’t a universal church, we don’t believe in that. That is a false doctrine. The word church means congregation or assembly. I am not congregated with every believer in the world. The only time that will happen is at the rapture. Then we’ll all be congregated. But at this point we’re not. Okay right now we are in a local assembly here and when the bible says that Christ is the head of the church it’s talking about each church. Just like when it says the husband is the head of the wife, it’s each wife. There’s not one wife in the world, well there’s not one church in the world. The husband is the head of his wife. Christ is the head of each church, and we’re all baptized by one Spirit into the church, okay meaning the assembly, the congregation. Not talking about a universal body and that’s why the bible says you know we’re all baptized by one spirit whether we be Jew or Gentile; whether we be, what does that mean? We’re not baptized into separate churches based on whether we’re a Jew or a Gentile. We’re not baptized in separate churches based on whether we’re white or black or Chinese or anything else. That’s why I don’t believe in this Messianic Jewish church. No! Get in a Baptist church because guess what? It’s a house of prayer for all nations. You don’t need a separate Jewish church and a separate Gentile church, No, God…well that’s another sermon. I don’t want to go off on that but it’s suppose to be one body. And so that’s what the bible teaching here. He’s saying different people in the church have different talents and abilities and gifts of God. There’s another list in Romans 12 where he gives a completely different list of spiritual gifts about teaching, and governments and all different helps and different things, but what he’s saying here is that certain people have the gift okay of speaking with other tongues or interpreting tongues. That’s one of the gifts that’s mentioned.
Now go to first, now that doesn’t surprise us because we saw that manifestation in Acts 2, Acts 10 and Acts 19. So go to 1 Corinthian chapter 13 for the next mention. Or, I’m sorry we didn’t cover everything in 12. That was in 12:10. Jump down if you would, just to leave no stone unturned, to verse 28. It says, “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?” But some Pentecostal’s would tell you ‘Yes’ wouldn’t they? Everybody speaks, everybody need to speak ‘If you haven’t spoken in tongues, you need to come down the isle and get right with God and speak in tongues, ‘Hakadagandalaha’ But he said that’s what they believed. Do all speak with tongues? No. The answer to all of these is No. Are all apostles? No! Are all prophets? No! Are all teachers? No! Are all workers of miracles? No! Do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. There’re some people who don’t have these gifts and that’s why he says in verse 31 “But covet earnestly the best gifts” He’s saying you should desire, that’s what covet means you should desire the best gifts. You should want to have spiritual gift and he says yet show I you a more excellent way. And it goes on in the famous chapter in chapter 13 but what are the best gifts according to this list? I mean the best gifts are you know he says God had set some in the church first apostles secondarily prophets, third teachers so what are the top 3 gifts? Apostles, preachers and teachers. Now we know that there are no longer any apostles you had to be one to witness bodily the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 15 being the last apostle as one born out of due time, a late comer to being an apostle. But being a preacher or a teacher he says those are the best gifts okay. So basically that’s why the bible says if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good thing. He’s saying look you should desire to want to preach the bible. You should desire to want to teach the bible okay that should be at the top of the list but you know what? A lot of people are just in the charismatic movement the emphasis is not on becoming a preacher and a teacher of sound doctrine of Gods word. No, it’s about performing miracles and speaking in tongues, that’s where the emphasis is and is the wrong emphasis. Okay so and by the way let me just stop right here and define the word prophet because a lot of people are mixed up on this. They think the word prophet means you predict the future and it happens. Wrong. That is not what prophecy means. Now that’s what we’ve sort of started to use it as in English; in America, in 2015 that word has come to mean that but biblically speaking that is not what the bible means when it says prophecy or prophet. You say, ‘Prove it!” Well how about in Proverbs 31 when Solomon’s mother is teaching him about a virtuous woman and talking about what attributes and virtues he should be looking for in a woman and a wife. It says that it’s the prophecy that his mother taught him. Now is it predicting future events? Absolutely not, it’s just teaching the bible, just teaching her son. And so when it says the prophecy that his mother taught him, there’s no future event. And it’s funny because I will refer to pastors, preachers, and teachers who preach lies, I’ll call them false prophets. Cause that’s what the bible calls everyone who teaches lies a false prophet and people will say, ‘Well that doesn’t make any sense to call them a false prophet. What predictions did he make that didn’t come true?’ They think that to be a false prophet you have to say like, Jesus is coming back in 1844 and then it doesn’t happen and now you’re a false prophet. No, you’re a false prophet if you deny the bible, if you deny scripture. That’s what makes you a false prophet. Because prophecy is what we would call today in our modern day vernacular, preaching! And the prophets are the preachers and when the bible talks about someone prophesying it’s saying they were preaching the word of God. Now does preaching sometimes predict future events? Of course, because if we’re preaching the book of revelation, we’re going to be talking about future events based on the bible. But prophecy is just any bible preaching is prophecy, okay?
Now, where were we, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It says in verse 1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” So this is where people start to bring in the wild doctrine. Cause so far everything’s been so cut and dried. But here’s where they want to move the goal post and say the tongues of angels. And say there’s a heavenly angelic language, there’s a language that’s a celestial language, a prayer language, a special language that we humans don’t know and all and they’ll come up with this. Now first of all, notice he says the tongues of angles, plural. So if there were just one heavenly language, you wouldn’t say tongues of angels would you? Now here’s the thing, do you really believe that in heaven there are just all these heavenly languages? Just look, what did God confound the languages on earth at the tower of Babel? Because he didn’t want people to be united, he wanted them to be in separate nations okay. Well is God up in heaven just desiring disunity in heaven? No, that doesn’t make any sense. So why would he create a bunch of divers, heavenly languages where there are just these foreign, people are speaking competing foreign languages in heaven that only angels speak. Now that doesn’t make any sense. Let’s look at both mentions in 1 Corinthians 13 that they’ll point to. But they’ll point to that in verse 1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing” So what’s he trying to teach in these verses here? He’s trying to teach that, you know, basically if you don’t have charity, you could be a wonderful public speaker and a wonder preacher and a very knowledgeable teacher of Gods word and you’re a waste if you don’t have charity, if you don’t have love in your heart for your fellow man; you know, it’s not profiting anything. You’re sounding brass; you’re a tinkling cymbal. You’re just getting up and making noise. No matter how eloquent you are if it’s not in your heart, love for the Lord and love for other people okay, that’s what he’s saying here. So people will just take that and build an entire doctrine. The primary application isn’t to tell you ‘Hey, you know there’s a heavenly language, huh, you want to get in on this? You want to speak this?’ Have we heard anything about anywhere else in the whole bible about heavenly languages that we want to get access to? No, because the gift of the Spirit, where they spoke with other tongues, they were speaking human tongues and the purpose was so that people would understand them okay. So to sit there and say ‘Well no angels speak a foreign language, so I guess when the angel shows up , you know you better have an interpreter or God’s going to have to perform some kind of a miracle for you to be able to communicate with those angels. This is just taking one verse and this is how all false doctrine originates. You take one verse, you don’t apply it based on what it’s actually talking about, the actual context, you just take an auxiliary point from that verse and just run with it and create a whole doctrine about a heavenly language and if you’re filled with the Spirit you speak a heavenly language. No. That is not taught in the bible. When he says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity” Here’s the thing, let me explain it to you, cause it’s not that complicated. Angels speak the same types of languages that human beings speak. Now just stop and think about that. Just, people are going way too deep with this verse. It’s really not that deep here okay. What are some languages that we speak on this earth? English, Spanish, German, French, okay so what kind of languages do you think angels are speaking? Throughout the Old Testament when an angel shows up and speaks to Daniel or shows up and speaks with Jacob or shows up and speaks with you know Laban and his dream or an angel shows up and speaks to you know Nebuchadnezzar or whatever. You know what they’re speaking? The languages that those people speak. Because if you don’t communicate in a language that people don’t understand, you’re wasting your time. And you know Nebuchadnezzar didn’t have to be filled with the Spirit to interpret the tongue of the angel that spoke to him. Because the tongues of men and of angels are the same tongues, same languages. See when we get to heaven it’s not just going to be some celestial language that nobody’s ever heard of and nobody’s every spoken, you know, people are going to heaven, human beings are going to heaven and they go there and they speak human languages and so forth. So to sit there and say ‘Well it’s a heavenly language’ Well then there would only be one. It wouldn’t make sense for God to create this multitude, what was there a like a tower of a Babel event in heaven? To divide all the heaven… you know, ‘I’m going to divide the cherubim’s and the seraphim’s from speaking the same language, they’re getting to powerful you know uniting together’ No. But when it says “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” He’s just saying no matter what language I speak in and no matter how well I speak it, if I don’t have charity, I’m like a sounding brass or a tickling cymbal. No matter how good the words sound. You know, for example, We’ve been working on a project of putting our films Marching to Zion, After the Tribulation, in to foreign languages and we’ve been working on getting them translated and put in other languages. Now some of the languages that we’re putting them in to I understand. Some of them are foreign to me. And sometimes I’ll listen to one in a foreign language and I’ll be like, ‘This sounds really cool but I don’t understand a word of it’ but I just think, this sounds cool, this guy, and I’m like Hey Paul didn’t this guy do a really good job with narrating this? And Paul’s like yeah it sounds great, but here’s the things, he doesn’t know what it says, I don’t know what it says, you know and I’d ask other people ‘Is this right?” Sure you know that it’s all right. And you know I can pick out, I heard the word Moses and some of these you know, because it’s all foreign to me. Okay, so what is it? But we still like the way it sounds. Sounds great! But here’s the thing, a trumpet can sound great to us, a tinkling cymbal sounds great. That’s why musicians use cymbals, that’s why musicians use a brass section because it sounds good. And what he’s saying is, Look you can speak in a beautiful way that sounds good, but you’re not saying anything that’s worth listening to. That’s what he’s saying. Just like when we listen to something in a foreign language and we say ‘Man, I like the way that sounds’ but we don’t know what it means or anything; doesn’t really do anything for us. That’s all it’s saying. And so we think of the tongues of men and of angels it would be the eloquence of great human speakers or the eloquence even of great angelic speakers that would speak marvelous praise to God. I mean when we go to heaven, look at the book of Revelation, the angels are going to speak and say all these marvelous praises to God, I’m sure it’s going to sound great. So to just take this one verse and just derive this whole doctrine of there’s a different heavenly language that no one on earth understands and if you’re filled with the spirit you’re going to speak that language. No, it’s foreign to scripture.
But let’s go on, look at verse 8, here’s another one that people will point to. Verse 8 it says “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” And they’ll say, ‘Well it says tongues will cease.’ Some people will say ‘Well you know back then people spake with other tongues but now they don’t.” That’s not what that means. When it says ‘Tongues will cease, tongues will stop’ you know what that means? There are foreign languages that will cease to exist. Now, for example I was doing some research over the past week about some of the languages of the world cause we’re doing a project of getting these films out in a lot of languages and I looked up, because we have people in our church from Nigeria, so I looked up you know, so okay what are the languages of Nigeria. What are they? What do they speak? And it said there were 521 languages in Nigeria. But you know what it said? 9 of them have gone extinct. 9 of them have ceased to exist. And I was like ‘Good that means its only 512 that’s way easier to deal with’ no I’m just kidding. But anyway you know, okay we’re not putting it into every obscure language but it’s amazing some of the languages that I thought would be obscure, talking about that Yoruba language and I’m like who speaks that? And it’s like 25 million native speakers. 25 million, I’m like wow. Everybody, who in here has every heard of the language Icelandic? Put up your hands if you have heard of Icelandic? Almost everybody right. It only has 300,000 speakers. Who’s ever heard of Yoruba? Virtually no one, and yet it has 25 million speakers. So anyway it’s amazing how some of these African languages are spoken by a lot of people. But I was looking it up and they said 9 of them have gone extinct. Well cause guess what, languages are constantly dying. New languages are created; old languages are dying. You know in Indian tribes that assimilate in with the United States and start speaking English, eventually their language dies. You know, I’ve seen stuff in the news where it’s like the last native speaker of this language just died at age 89, therefore now no one on the planet speaks that language any more. You know, and by the way she was lonely when she died cause she had nobody to talk to. No I’m just kidding. So that’s what it means when it says tongues shall cease, it’s called dead languages okay.
But anyway I got to hurry, man I’m almost out of time. 1 Corinthians 14, this is the big chapter; this is the main one. We don’t have time for it, no I’m just kidding. This is the main chapter. I’ll just quickly show you this. Everything has been foundational and this chapter should be easy to understand if you’ve understood everything so far in the sermon. Verse 1 “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” So again he’s putting that at the top. Desire the best gifts: preaching, teaching; rather that ye may prophesy for, For means because “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. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that you prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying” Now, what have we read so far? He’s saying if a person speaks in an unknown tongue they’re not speaking unto men but unto God because nobody understand them and he says, they’re not edifying the church. He said if you’re going to speak in a foreign language, someone need to interpret so you can edify the church. Now you may be edifying yourself, your speaking to God, but you’re not edifying anyone around you and the purpose of assembling together in the church is to benefit others. Not to benefit yourself. So it doesn’t make any sense to come to church and speak in an unknown tongue. Now what the charismatic movement will do is they’ll take unknown tongue and say ‘oh it’s just unknown to everyone’ Its an unknown language, it’s a language that nobody knows or it’s a heavenly language, or it’s just, whereas when the bible talks about an unknown tongue, it’s talking about a language that the person listening doesn’t know okay. So for example, if I got up tonight and started speaking Hungarian I would be speaking in an unknown tongue because virtually no one here understands Hungarian. So if I got up here and started preaching in Hungarian, I’m preaching in an unknown tongue. Now here’s the thing, what if I said let’s open this service in a word of prayer and I just started praying in Hungarian? Okay am I speaking to God? Am I being edified? Yeah I’m praying to the Lord, I’m communing with God okay. What if I read a chapter in the bible out of the Hungarian bible for you tonight? Would God, I mean God would bless his word in my heart and I would understand but you know what it would be a waste unto the church that’s all he’s saying here when he says when you pray or prophecy in an unknown tongue and look at the proof okay because he says in verse 6 “Now brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life” this is verse 7 “giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how should it be known to be spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.” So he says look you show up you speak in a language that the people around you in church don’t understand, you’re speaking in to the air. You’re not profiting anyone. Now what are they doing in the charismatic movement? Bluhddabluddlabluh Oh praise the Lord they’re filled with the spirit, No. Who are they edifying? What are they teaching? What are they preaching? And by the way, they don’t even understand what they’re saying, many times, they’ll tell you that so hold on, is that what the bible’s teaching? That people will say things and they won’t even understand what they’re saying, and they don’t even know what they’re talking about? No, because the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. And in Acts chapter 2 they knew what gospel they were presenting. And in this passage he says that if he speaks in an unknown tongue he’s edified that means he’s being built up, he knows what up, God knows what’s up, but the people around him don’t. So he says you’re speaking into the air when you’re speaking a foreign language no one understands. It says verse 10, “There are, may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them was without signification.” See look there’s no such thing as a language that no one understands; every language is understood by someone! It’s just unknown to you if you haven’t learned it or weren’t born there. He says ‘Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.” So whether you’re speaking in an unknown tongue is from the perception of the person who’s listening okay. It’s not saying it’s unknown to no one, it’s saying it’s unknown to the listener. He says this, “Even so,” verse 12 “forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth,” watch this “but my understanding is unfruitful.” Now a lot of people will take that where he says “my understanding is unfruitful” and they’ll just interpret that as I don’t understand what I’m saying. Now is that what it says? Let’s just stop and think for a second, here brother Garrett. I haven’t looked this up in the NIV in many years but I’m pretty sure the NIV goofs this up. Look this up in chapter 14 verse number 14 because here’s the thing, if I say my understanding, here’s my understanding of this, am I saying I don’t understand? Or am I saying I do understand? Stop and think for a second. What is my? The word my is a possessive pronoun right? So if I say my car, I’m saying the car that belongs to me, you know my bible is the bible that belongs to me the bible that I posses. Well guess what my understanding means? The understanding that I posses; the understanding that I have; my understanding. So when he says “If I pray” look down in verse 14 “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful” Is he saying ‘I’m praying and I don’t even understand what I’m saying? Is that what he’s saying? He’s saying my understanding is unfruitful. Okay what does it mean to be unfruitful? It means you’re not bringing forth fruit. So here’s what he’s saying the fact that I understand, I’m praying in unknown tongue the fact that I understand isn’t bringing forth any fruit. It’s not helping anybody else, it’s not benefiting anyone around me, there’s no production what’s the point of bringing forth fruit to produce its not producing anything, it’s not doing anything. What’s it say in the NIV? Is this the one that goofs up? Am I thinking of a different one? Well that’s just weird, I don’t know. They just changed it to ‘my mind is unfruitful” okay well never mind it was a different version. Plus the NIV is constantly changing so I might’ve been on a different edition of that NIV so whatever. But anyway does everyone understand that verse in the real bible? It says ‘my understanding, the fact that I understand, is unfruitful; it’s not benefiting anyone else okay.
Now let’s keep reading, “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” He’s talking about the understanding of the people around him he wants if I sing a song I want them to understand what I’m saying. I want them to understand when I’m praying he says “Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit,” okay verse 16 “how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned” now look that right there the unlearned, shows that it’s possible to learn these foreign languages by studying. Not just through a gift of the spirit, but you could actually learn them. He say’s he that occupieth the room of the unlearned is not going to be able to say Amen at thy giving of thanks “seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.” so if I said, you know brother Payan would you lead us in prayer brother Payan and he just started praying in Spanish and then he expects us all to say Amen at the end. Now what does Amen mean? That you agree with what he just said. Now what if he just goes “Blahblahblah” and you know you pick out a word like Dios or Jesus Cristo and your like oh yeah yeah and then blahblahblah Amen” Do you just want to put a stamp of approval on what he just prayed when you have no idea on what he even just said? Cause the bible talks about in prayer that if 2 or 3 of you shall agree on earth as touching anything you ask of him you know that he’ll do it there’s power in praying together and we both say Amen showing to God look we agree, we’re praying together for you to do this Lord. But if he says it in an unknown tongue and then I just say Amen to that, what am I even saying Amen to? That’s why if I’m in church and somebody prays and it’s too quite for me to hear, you know how sometimes somebody’s praying and they’re quite I don’t say Amen. Who knows what I’m stamping my Amen on you know I want to say Amen to something that I actually understand. See he just said Amen cause he agrees with me alright cause I’m speaking English up here but see if you get the context and read it it’s clear that’s what he’s talking about when he defines it. Cause they’ll look at verse 15 and be confused you know I’ll pray with the spirit and I’ll pray with the understanding also but verse 16 is continuing the same thought because “else” is a conjunction there. “Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For verily thou givest thanks well but the other is not edified. I thank my God, that I speak with tongues more that you all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongues.” Notice he’s saying I’d rather speak 5 words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. What’s he saying? Why would I come to church and just show off my knowledge of foreign languages and just start eloquently speaking and saying things in a foreign language? You say ‘Pastor Anderson’ this is what people say to this ‘Pastor Anderson, you’re interpretation of this is ridiculous because nobody in the world would every go to a church where they speak a foreign language that nobody understands. It’s about this Whooooo! Whoooo! That’s what’s its about. It’s about Bluhddabluddlah you know that’s what it’s about’ No no no, cause guess what? There are people who go to church in a foreign language that they don’t understand let me introduce you to hundreds of millions of them. They’re called Roman Catholics. Hello is anybody out there? The Roman Catholic church has been getting up and now they’re starting to do it as they modernize they’re starting to do it in English and do it in, we’re talking about the church that burned people at the stakes for teaching their children the Lords prayer in the English language because you got to speak Latin! And we’re talking about hundreds of millions of people who showed up to church and it was all “Pax for biscum, blah blah blah blah” and they have no idea of what’s even being said. And the priests understanding is unfruitful of course he doesn’t understand anything anyway but I don’t care what kind of mysteries amd prophecies he’s speaking if it’s in Latin. I mean there are people who will sit in the whole mass and listen in Latin, every word of it. Till this day there are hard core Catholics churches that do it in Latin. Okay, how about the Greek orthodox? There are people who go to the Greek Orthodox church and don’t understand a word of it. Now obviously there are a lot of people who speak Greek and go there and understand it because at least Greek is actually a language spoken by 15 million people whereas Latin is a dead language okay but there are churches throughout history that have done this in a foreign language and nobody understands and he’s saying somebody needs to interpret that if you’re going to do it in a foreign language it doesn’t make sense. I’d rather speak 5 words in English you know what we can actually hear and understand and what is he talking about here? That we need to have one language in the church. One language and that language in this church Faithful Word Baptist Church is English because how can we have unity if we speak different languages? How can we can we say Amen at the preaching if we speak different languages. Now let’s say there’s somebody here that doesn’t speak English and we wanted to minister to them, you could have somebody interpret to them okay. Or let’s say we had some foreign preacher that came and he didn’t speak our language we could interpret for him. Now this is something that a lot of missionaries will do because you know they might be in a country where there are very few preachers so they’ll bring in preachers from America and teachers from America to cover certain subjects and they’ll have a guy standing off to the side interpreting. And I’ve sat in services in Germany and other places and I’ve preached before to foreigners and had someone interpret my words unto them and I’d say it and they’d interpret and I’d say it and they’d interpret it. Why? Because God is saying that you have to have one language that everybody understands in order to have unity in the church where everybody comes together everybody needs to understand what’s going on and not have a church where half the people are speaking English, half the people are speaking Spanish and there’s no unity and there’s no interpreter, it doesn’t make any sense okay that’s what he’s saying in this passage.
So all that to say this and I have to close this sermon but there’s more to talk about but I’m running out of time but all that to say this, God is the one who created foreign languages in the first place. The world started out with everybody one language. Now let me ask you this, in 2015 does God desire everyone to speak the same language? No. Now there is a movement to basically make English everyone’s language in the whole world and to eradicate other languages and just everybody speaks English, one language like a pre-tower of Babel world okay. But that’s not the will of God. God divided people’s language for a reason and so his desire is not the whole world speak English but that rather you know different people would speak different languages. Now, but throughout the bible most people that you read about in the bible spoke multiple languages okay. Because we don’t really understand this cause we live in America and since we speak the big language that everybody wants to learn, we’re like, why would learn another language? We speak English you know we were born with English it’s the ultimate language. So why would we learn anything else? Who here speak English? Put up your hand. It’s practically every person in the auditorium, look around, 90% of the auditorium English only did you see that? Okay but here’s the thing if we went to other countries it wouldn’t be like that. If we were over in Nigeria and we just took a group of typical Nigerians in Lagos how many of them would raise their hand to that you think? Lola and Jenny? Would say I only speak one language? Very few; did you hear that? Why? Because people on other parts of the earth speak multiple languages, okay. Like everybody I’ve ever talked to from India spoke 3 languages, 3. And most people I’ve talked to from Africa spoke either 2 or 3 languages because we’d go to these apartments and talk to them and they’d say ‘Oh I speak this, I speak this’ why? Because most of the world is a place where there’s a bunch of different languages going on. Now if we went down to the border, if we went down to Calexico or we went down to Nogales you’d find a ton of people who spoke both English and Spanish because they’re on the border. Well when you’re in a country with 521 languages you know, you’re on the border of something you know so there’s going to be a lot of languages spoken. And so that’s why this issue of foreign languages is something that he deals with with the Corinthians because they’re surrounded by foreign languages and even in Jesus’ day him and the apostles they’re in an area where 3 languages are being spoken at least. That’s why the sign above Jesus head was in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin cause those are 3 languages that are being spoken where he lived. And so if you want to put up a sign, and I’ve been to countries where they put up every sign in 3 languages, every sign 3 languages, 3 languages. I’ve been to Luxemburg the people there speak all of them, all of them speak like 4 languages, all of them. And they even in school they have elementary school in one language, high school in another language, home life in another language. Literally at a certain point in their schooling, they just switch languages. Isn’t that wild? But they do and they all, everybody there cause it’s such a tiny place, it’s so bordering everything else. Okay, that’s why this is what this talking about, multiple languages, people trying to get up and speak to a certain faction of the church that speaks that language and everybody else is going *Snoor* or the priest just gets up and start speaking Latin and everybody’s like *snoor* He’s saying look. When you come to church every single person who’s there should understand everything that’s said and it should be for the edification of the whole body, for the whole church that’s what it is.
Now when it comes to the gifts look people have different gifts and abilities, some people are gifted with foreign language, other people can’t learn a foreign language to save their life. Okay but some people are gifted with it. Now there was a miraculous out pouring where people just miraculously spoke it but here’s the thing about that, God isn’t just going to hand us miraculously that which we can do on our own. You know, God gave them manna from heaven to feed them when they were in the wilderness, but as soon as they got to the land and were able to do the work and get the food themselves, the manna ceased. An so God’s just not going to miraculously, you just say ‘Well, you know what I’m praying about going in the mission field’ and you say ‘well are you learning the language?” ‘No, I’m just praying for an out pouring like in Acts chapter 2, I’m just going to get there and just be filled with the spirit and begin to speak Chinese, that’s my game plan’. Well you know God expects you to do the work of learning it and studying it. Now this isn’t for everybody. Some people this isn’t for them. The old you get the harder it is to learn a foreign language. Better to learn it when you’re a kid, teenager, adult, the older you get the harder it is. But God’s desire is not that the whole world learn English, but that rather people who do know the gospel, people who are saved, learn foreign languages and preach the gospel to the lost in the tongue wherein they were born. People that are gifted in that area or just people who are born and raised in 3 languages can be used by God to deliver the gospel into those languages. So it’s not that everyone needs to learn English, its that people who know English and know the gospel need to take the word of God into those foreign languages and bring it to them language wherein they were born. That’s actually what the bible teaches because the bible teaches that when we get to heaven, there will be people from heaven in heaven from every tongue. There’s not, all of those five hundred and twenty one Nigerian language there’s going to be somebody in heaven that spoke all of them you know because of the fact that the gospel has gone throughout the world and to all nations and so we will see people there and from all these different places that speak those. That’s our job. When he said go and teach all nations that’s what he’s talking about you know giving the gospel out to all different people.
So again what’s the purpose of a gift of tongues? Well the last thing I wanted to show you in 1 Corinthians 14 he said it’s a sign let’s look at this one last thing and this time I promise I’m really done, 1 Corinthians 14 he talks about it as a sign, let me find my place here, He says in verse 22 “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.” What’s he saying? For people that believe, people that aren’t saved, aren’t going to understand the preaching. They’re not going to understand the prophesying. But what’s he saying also is that tongues are a sign to those who believe not. Well in Acts 2 who was it a sign to? Unbelievers and so what was the goal? Getting them saved. So what’s he saying, you know learn foreign languages to go out and get people saved in those foreign languages. That’s the goal behind it. It’s not just so you can go to a service, have an emotional experience and impress people. ‘Everybody, I’m spiritual; here’s the proof, blablablab. Everybody see? I’m filled with the spirit, everybody see that?’ No, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not edifying anyone.
Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer: Father we thank you so much for your word Lord and for the clear teaching. Help us to understand this subject Lord and there’s so much false teaching out there, it’s a huge movement of this so called tongue speaking Lord and it’s just an ecstatic speaking, it’s gibberish it’s falling on the ground it’s a heavenly prayer language where people just start praying to God in gibberish. It makes no sense since God understands English perfectly well. Lord I pray that you would just help us to study to show ourselves approved on this subject but and also Lord help those who are talented, those that have the ability to get the gospel out to all languages Lord and those who are fluent in Spanish Lord I pray that they would go out soul-winning and knock doors with us because we run into so many Spanish speakers that need the gospel in Spanish, so Lord help us to excel in these spiritual gifts Lord to the edifying of the church through preaching and to the reaching of the lost Lord and even through foreign languages and in Jesus name we pray amen.
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