April 5, 2015
Last week, on Sunday night, I preached about the subject of tongues, and we looked up every single time the word “tongues” is used in the New Testament, but I didn’t quite get through it, and so I wanted to finish that tonight and go through what the bible teaches about this subject. Now, go to First Corinthians chapter 14. What we established last Sunday night was that from Genesis to Revelation, literally, the word “tongues” is always referring to languages, and specifically, it’s referring to human languages, what we would think of as foreign languages. Spanish, German, French, Chinese, whatever the language, that’s what the bible is referring to. When the bible talks about speaking with other tongues, it is simply referring to speaking in a foreign language, but there’s a whole movement that has sprung up that has to do with people speaking ecstatically or falling on the ground, talking in gibberish, and they say, “Oh, we’re speaking in tongues, and this is a great manifestation of the Holy Spirit because people are just bursting out with these utterances, and it’s a heavenly prayer language,” and people go into their closet and pray, and just all kinds of strange things come out, and they say, “Hey, we’re speaking in tongues.” I showed you from the bible last week, and I’m going to finish it tonight, that actually no, that’s not what the bible is talking about. If we look at the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in regard to speaking in other tongues, it started in Acts chapter 2, where we saw that the apostles and the early church members there, the men and the women, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they were miraculously given the power to speak in foreign languages that they had not studied. The purpose of that miracle was that people who were devout Jews from all over the world, every nation under heaven and were gathered in Jerusalem, would be able to hear the gospel and hear the fact that Jesus Christ had just died, and been buried, and risen again. The Lord wanted that message to get out to the whole world, so when all those people were gathered in Jerusalem and they spoke a lot of foreign languages, got allowed, the early church members there, to be able to give those people the gospel in their own language. It was just a quick way to get the gospel out to a whole bunch of nations really fast in that early church in Acts chapter 2. When we jump forward to First Corinthians 14, God is not moving the goalpost now and talking about something completely different. No, “tongues” still means the same thing in First Corinthians 14 that it meant back in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, he even listed the foreign languages that were being spoken. He even listed the foreign languages that were being spoken. He listed 17 different nationalities. In First Corinthians 14, we're dealing with the same thing, but I didn't get through the whole chapter in First Corinthians 14, so I want to pick up where we left off with this subject just to prove to you that First Corinthians 14 is not talking about a heavenly prayer language, is not talking about ecstatic utterances in church, people are falling on the ground, the Charismatic Movement, so-called. Look at verse number 21 of chapter 14, First Corinthians 14. The bible reads, “In the law, it is written, ‘With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me,’ saith the Lord. Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not, but prophesying serveth not for them to believe …” Goodnight. “Not for them which believe not, but for them which believe.” Okay? When it says the word “sign” here, it’s talking about a miracle. Okay? The bible is talking about how that miracle of tongues were they spoken foreign languages was for those that believe not, that they might be saved. It was the way to evangelize the lost. Okay? Then, he says on the other hand, prophesying, which is another word for preaching, serves for those that believe. Not for those that believe not because people that don’t believe, they don’t understand the preaching. That’s why it’s so misguided to have this thing of, “Well, we’re going to bring a whole bunch of unsaved people to church. Let’s get all the unsaved people we can and bring them to church, and that’s how we’re going to reach them.” No, the bible says, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.” He says, “Go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every creature.” He says, “Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Whenever the bible talks about going out, and getting people saved, and preaching the gospel, the emphasis is always on go and on your feet, and going out to them, not expecting them to come to you. Because people have gotten mixed up on this, the church has become worldly because if we’re going to gear the church toward unsaved people and say, “Yeah, let’s bring in all these unsaved people.” Even to the point where people will even have such a bizarre doctrine, they’ll say, “Let’s bring in a bunch of queers.” Why would we bring a bunch of pedophiles into our church? “Oh, we need to evangelize them.” Look, first of all, you evangelize by going out, and secondly, they’re reprobate anyway. Okay? That’s another sermon that shall be preached at another time. What we see here is that the preaching is something that benefits people that are saved. An unsaved person walks in, they may not get a lot out of the sermon because there are churches that just preach the gospel every service. Sunday morning, Saturday night, and Wednesday night, and you know what happens to the people that are already saved? They’re not being fed, and it's our job to teach the whole bible. Not just the gospel, but the entire bible. A saved person walks in, and they learn the rest of the bible because prophesying serves those that believe. Okay? God gave pastors and teachers to the church for the edifying of the saints, for the perfection of the saints, to build up the body of Christ. Those that are born-again baptized believers, that’s who we’re gearing our services toward. Okay. That’s what it means there when it says, “Prophesying serves not for those that believe not, but it serves for those that believe,” and he talked about tongues being a way whereby we would reach the lost with the gospel. Learning foreign languages to get the gospel to all nations. This is what missionaries do. This is what we do when we go soul winning, and we learn how to speak Spanish, for example. You go out and knock a bunch of doors, you’re going to run into a lot of doors in this area where they don’t speak English, and what do they speak? Spanish. If you learned Spanish, now you have the ability to use that foreign tongue to reach someone with the gospel and get them saved. That’s what the bible is teaching you. Now, whenever you’re studying a New Testament passage and it refers back to the Old Testament, if you go back and look up that quote, it will help you understand the New Testament passage. Now, look at verse 21 because some people are skeptical. You preach a sermon like I preached last Sunday night, and some people will say, “You know what? I still don’t think it’s a foreign language. I still think it’s a heavenly prayer language. I still …” But here’s even more proof. Look at verse 21. “In the law, it is written.” Now, if we go back and look up that quote, we can get even more insight on this passage. It says, “’With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me,’ saith the Lord. Wherefore …” Now, that word “wherefore” is a conjunction there connecting verse 21 to 22, “Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” If we’re going to understand tongues being a sign to them that believe not, that verse 21 quote is going to help us see that. Go back if you would to Isaiah 28 because Isaiah 28 is the source of that quote. Let’s go back to Isaiah 28 because we’re talking about the sign of tongues in First Corinthians 14, and we’re trying to figure out, “Hey, is it a foreign language like it is everywhere else in the bible, or do the Charismatics have it right? It’s a heavenly prayer language. It’s talking in gibberish and ecstatic speaking.” Let’s see what the bible says back in the source of this quote. Let’s go to the source, Isaiah 28 verse 9. It says, “Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” Here’s the key verse. Look at verse 11. “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, ‘This is the rest wherewith ye may cause may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear.’” Okay. Now, I hope you still have your finger there in First Corinthians 14 because I want you to compare these two quotes. In First Corinthians 14:21, he said, “With men of other lips and other tongues will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me.” In Isaiah 28, he said in verse 11, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” At the end of verse 12, we have the other part of that quote, “Yet, they would not hear.” Now, what does he mean there in Isaiah 28? He is referring to the fact that eventually, the nation of Israel would have foreigners come to them and preach the word of God unto them. Now, that’s a little bit ironic when you think about it since Israel was supposed to be a light to the Gentiles. Israel was supposed to be the one that would evangelize the world with God’s word and show the world the goodness of the Lord and the wisdom of his loss. But because they failed to do that, he’s actually predict, “No, people are going to come evangelize you.” Now, that would be like if we in America, who have sent out more missionaries than any nation in the history of mankind. It’d be like if other foreign countries that were more godly than us started sending missionaries to the United States to try to reach us with the gospel of Jesus. We’d be like, “Whoa, wait. Now, you’re sending missionaries to us? We’re supposed to be sending you a missionary.” Like, “No, you need us more than we need you.” Okay? Now, look at Isaiah 28. It says in verse 16 because if we get the context, it says in verse 16, “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste.’” Who is that cornerstone? That’s Jesus. All throughout the New Restatement, it says that Jesus is the cornerstone. He said, “The stone, which the builders rejected.” The builders being the high priests, the leaders of the Jews. He said, “The stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” We see here that Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, is going to be set, and at that time, God’s going to end up sending foreigners to preach the gospel at Israel. Now, it makes perfect sense to us because Israel is one of the most heathen wicked countries in the world today. It’s not a place where God’s word is looked up. In fact, I just saw an article yesterday that said that they now have the most liberal abortion laws in the world in Israel. They now have some of the most liberal abortion laws in the entire world. It’s also become a sodomite capital over in Israel, and you can see the images of it with this all, the rainbow flags up and down the streets of Tel Aviv, and of course, it’s a very Christ-rejecting place. In the past, Palestine had a lot of Christians. A lot of the Arabs who lived in Palestine were actually Christians. Actually, will confess the name of Jesus Christ, but now, they’re being pushed out by the unbelieving, Christ-rejecting Jews that have come in since the ‘40s especially, and they’re pushing out that, which is Christian, so it’s a very heathen place. Yeah. It would make a lot of sense that they would need somebody to come and bring them the gospel of Jesus Christ because they clearly don’t have it over there. The vast majority of people over there are not saved. Getting the context of this passage, doesn’t this shed light on First Corinthians 14? When he says, “Look, you have been a disobedient nation, and I am going to speak unto these people of Israel with people …” Look at verse 11, “With stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to these people.” Then, of course, they’re not going to hear. Now, flip over to chapter 33 of Isaiah. What does he mean by “stammering lips and another tongue”? Is he saying, “Hey, I’m going to send somebody over there that has a speech impediment that stutters when they talk?” Let’s let the bible define itself here. In Isaiah 33 verse 18, we can get a little bit more of a light shed on this. It says, “Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand.” When he’s talking about enemy, foreign nations coming in and invading Israel, he says, “Those people have a tongue that is too deep or too complicated for you to understand, and it’s a stammering tongue. It’s a language that you don’t understand. That’s who would come in and invade.” Now, flip over to Ezekiel chapter 3. Ezekiel chapter number 3. You say, “Why does he call it the ‘stammering tongue’?” Here is why because if you don’t speak a language and you listen to that language, it sounds weird to you. It doesn’t make any sense. In fact, sometimes, it sounds like people are stuttering. You’re like, “What in the …?” Sometimes, it just like chops off in weird ways that doesn’t seem natural to your English-trained ear, so it can sound like a stammering. Some languages sound like people are clearing their throat. Hello. German, right? [Inaudible 00:14:39]. You’re like, “Whoa, what’s going on? Yeah. You need a Ricola, or what? No wonder these things were made in Switzerland because you speak in German, you do [inaudible 00:14:49].” Especially like when … You think they’re clearing their throat. Listen to Hebrew, and it’s like [inaudible 00:14:56]. “Whoa, man.” I’m just thinking. How could get up and speak in Hebrew for like an hour or two. Your throat is going to be ripped apart, but I guess if you do it your whole life, you just get used to it. You really get like a really strong throat from speaking that language, but it sounds like it could be a stammering or a stutter. I think there’s two different ways to interpret this when we see the stammering tongue associated with foreign languages. Number one is that it could be that when you hear a foreign language spoken, it sounds like stammering to you just because it doesn’t make any sense to you, so it sounds like they’re stammering or stuttering, or number two, another interpretation would be that someone who speaks a foreign language, and then tries to speak your language is going to stammer and stutter when they do it. Now, I know this. When I go out soul winning and speak Spanish, I've got a lot better at it, but in my early days of soul winning in Spanish, I did a lot of stammering and stuttering, right? If you go out there and you try to speak Spanish as a second language and something that you learned as an adult, you didn’t grow up with it, you're going to stammer and stutter. We hear people all the time from other countries speaking English to us and doing what? Stammering and stuttering because the opposite of that would be fluency. If you learned a foreign language, you get really good at it, fluency. You know what it means to be fluent? It means you’re flowing, right? It means you can smoothly flow as opposed to, “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.” Basically, not flowing, but saying a few words and having to think, start over, stammer, stutter. Okay. Look at Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 4. It says, “And he said unto me, ‘Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel. Not to many people of a strange speed and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee, but the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto me, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.” Flip over to First Corinthians 14, and the reason that I showed you those passages in the Old Testament is just to show you that when God is quoting this in First Corinthians 14, he is clearly talking about foreign languages, isn’t he? Did a prayer language or anything like that come up in Isaiah 28, Isaiah 33, Ezekiel? No, because we're clearly talking about foreigners from other countries coming in as missionaries, foreigners from other countries coming in as invaders, and their tongue to you is a strange tongue. It's an unknown tongue. It’s a stammering tongue. Whichever way you interpret that stammering, either way it's somebody who speaks a foreign language. Now, let me prove it to you further as we continue through this passage in First Corinthians 14. Look at verse 23. It says in verse 23, “If therefore the whole church become together into one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?” Now, what does it mean to be mad? We’re not talking about anger here. When the bible used the word “mad”, it’s the British style mad of … Like my wife said to me when we were first married, “Are you mad?” You see, my wife used to speak with a British accent when we first got married, and “mad” to them means insane, crazy like a madman, you’re nuts. The bible says here that basically, if somebody came into the church and everybody is speaking in foreign languages … Because remember, that’s what we've been teaching that “tongues” is referring to foreign languages. If everybody is speaking in a bunch of different foreign languages, and somebody walks in and hears all this, it says, “They will say that you are crazy. They will say that you are nuts. They will say that you are mad.” That’s what it says there in verse 23. Here is what I want to point out though is that it says those that are … “There come in those,” halfway through the verse, “That are unlearned or unbelievers.” Now, let me ask you something. If this were some kind of a heavenly prayer language that was not of this earth, then explain to me why being unlearned would have anything to do with it? Can you go down to Barnes and Noble to the Foreign Language section and get the prayer language? It’s right, but you got Arabic, you got Chinese, and then, “Excuse me. I would like to get Rosetta Stone, Prayer Language. Rosetta Stone Language of Heaven, Angelic Language.” No, because if the bible is saying that people who are unlearned are the ones who are going to think you’re crazy, that proves that someone who is learned, someone who does have a mastery of foreign languages, they would walk in and not think that you are crazy. They would just think you’re speaking a bunch of foreign languages, and they would understand what languages you’re speaking. If this was only a spiritual situation, then being unlearned would be totally irrelevant, and this verse would not make any sense, but if we’re talking foreign languages, it makes perfect sense because a person who is very learned might speak several languages. In fact, the apostle Paul said, “I thank my God that I speak with tongues more than you all.” Why? Because the apostle Paul was a missionary. Not only was he a missionary, but if you remember, he was a scholar even before he got saved. He was brought up in the scholarly traditions of the Jews, in learning of the Jews, and the Jews’ religion at the feet of Gamaliel, and Gamaliel was a very respected, well-known teacher of the Jews at that time. In fact, he is one of the authors of the Talmud, and all the rabbis we talked to pointed out that Gamaliel from the New Testament is one of the authors of the Talmud. This guy, Gamaliel, was this educated scholar, and the apostle Paul was brought up being taught by him, so he grew up in a very educated way. If you remember, he speaks Greek very fluently unto the guard in the book of Acts, and he starts talking to him in Greek. Then, he gives a very eloquent speech in the Hebrew language, so he’s just basically speaking a whole of languages. Then, he’s travelling all throughout Asia, Greece, all these different places, and obviously, he is very adept at foreign languages through his study and through his travels. He’s a very learned man, so that’s why he spoke a lot of foreign languages. He’s not saying, “I thank my God that I speak with tongues more than you all like I’m just constantly just busting out with it in the prayer language.” That’s not what he said. He’s not bragging about spirituality there. He’s just talking about, “it’s great to speak foreign languages,” but he said, “In the church, I’d rather speak five words with my understanding.” He said, “Or five words that by my understanding, I might teach others also.” He said, “I’d want to speak five words that are in the language of the listener than to just get up and say a bunch of stuff in a foreign language and nobody would understand what I’m saying.” People were just like, “Wow, he’s smart. Listen to all those languages he’s speaking.” No, no one is being edified by that, so this all makes sense if you look at it as a foreign language. It stops making sense when you take this Charismatic interpretation. Let’s keep reading here. It says, “But if all prophesy,” verse 24, “And there come in one that believeth not or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus so the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face will he worship God and report that God is in you of the truth.” What’s he saying? If somebody walks in and a guy is preaching in a language that he understands, English in our case, he can sit there, and hear the word of God, and glorify God, and learn something, and maybe be impressed with what he hears. Whereas if comes in and hears a foreign language that he doesn’t understand, he’s just like, “Man, you guys are nuts. This is stupid. I’m going somewhere else.” Pretty easy to understand, isn’t it? Let’s keep reading. It says in verse 25, “And thus …” or verse 26. “How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done into edifying. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two or at the most by three, and that by course, meaning one after the other, and let one interpret.” He’s saying one person speaks at a time in church, not a bunch of people talking at once. One person speaks at a time, and it should only be two or three people speaking total, and he says that basically, it should be done in a language that everyone understands, and that if someone does speak a foreign language that is not understood by the group, then another person needs to interpret. It says, “Let one interpret.” Okay? Then, he says in verse 28, “But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.” Meaning, he can talk in his own heart to himself, to the Lord, but he doesn’t need to be publically speaking in the church if we can’t understand the language that’s coming out of his mouth. What’s the chapter about? He’s listing other problems in the church. It’s not just the fact that they were doing these foreign languages out of order, he said a lot of things are being done out of order. He’s saying everybody shows up, everybody’s got a doctrine, everybody’s got a psalm, everybody’s got an interpretation, everybody’s got to talk. Here’s what he’s saying, it’s a free-for-all. The church at Corinth is a free-for-all. It’s like an open mic where you just show up, and anybody gets up and preaches, and the bible even [teaches 00:24:49] that women were getting up and preaching because he says to them just a few verses later. In fact, let’s look at it while we’re here. It’s not in my notes, so let me turn there in the bible. If we go down in this exact chapter, it says in verse number 33, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they’re commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. If they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” What you see here in Corinth is that church was a free-for-all where anybody just gets up and talks, and multiple people are talking at the same time. People are interrupting each other, people are speaking in various languages, and people are just, “Oh, hey, I got something to say,” and every unlearned, every unstable person is getting up and just has the floor. Even women are getting up, and teaching and preaching the word of God. He’s saying, “Look, let all things be done decently and in order. Pick two or three people that are going to do the preaching. Let them come up by course one after the other, and if one of them is not speaking the common language of the group, then somebody needs to stand up and interpret, and you need to do things to where everyone is being edified.” That means that when the church service starts all the way to when the church service ends, what’s happening needs to be edifying the whole group, not like, “Okay. Now, we’re entering a phase of the service that’s in Spanish.” Everybody else that doesn’t speak Spanish is like … while we go on some Spanish thing for 20 minutes [some 00:24:49]. No, that doesn’t make any sense. The whole point of being assembled together is that everybody is edified or, “Oh, let’s break it up and do a whole bunch of different groups, and everybody is getting a different preaching, and everybody is getting different teaching.” He says, “No, gather together. Let’s have one language. Let’s have one person talking at a time. Let’s have things organized and decently in order, and not just a bunch of confusion where somebody walks in and says, ‘Hey, this is like a three-ring circus.’ It should be that they walk in, and they know what’s going on. They can sit down, they understand the word that’s preached, and they can be convinced of all, judge of all, they can learn something, and grow, and be edified in the faith.” That’s what the chapter is actually about, and when you read it with that understanding, the chapter makes … Excuse me, perfect sense. Look, if you would, at verse 37. It says, “If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” It’s just another verse emphasizing the fact that First Corinthians is the word of God. Not just the opinion of the apostle Paul, but that these epistles of Paul are God’s word that are inspired divinely. Then, it says in verse 38, “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” He’s saying, “Look, some people are just idiots, and there’s nothing you can do to fix that.” That’s the modern Steven Anderson paraphrase. Some people are stupid, they’re idiots, and nothing you can do can fix it. It’s like what he said … He says the same thing in Revelation, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be filthy.” Some people, they’re just filthy people, they’re wicked people. There’s nothing you can do for them. “Wherefore, brethren,” verse 39, “Covet to prophesy.” Meaning, desire to preach is what he’s saying there. “Covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.” Now, what does he mean there when he says, “Forbid not to speak with tongues?” The Charismaniacs will basically say … Oh, did I just say that? No, but they’ll basically say something like this, “You, Pastor Anderson, are forbidding to speak with tongues because you don’t encourage people to go [inaudible 00:28:41] and do all this crazy stuff of falling on the ground and [inaudible 00:28:46].” Look, when the bible says here, “Forbid not to speak with tongues,” he saying, “Look, I’m not telling you that it’s bad to use a foreign language. I’m just telling you that it needs to be done decently and in order. I’m just telling you that it needs to be done in a way that edifies the church where there’s an interpreter where someone is speaking.” Now, why would that be there where it says, “Forbid not to speak with tongues?” Because throughout history, there have been people who forbad the speaking of a language other than their own. For example, the Catholic church for many years held their services in Latin, which is a clear violation of this passage because they’re out there speaking, and the church is not being edified because it’s an unknown tongue. Not only that, the Catholic church also for many years forbad to speak with tongues. Meaning, forbad to speak the vulgar languages in God’s house. Not that the Catholic church was ever God’s house, but what they consider God’s house. Basically, they said, “Hey, it’s only allowed to speak Latin in the church. No English allowed. No Spanish allowed. No German allowed. Latin only,” and that’s not the language that people spoke, and so people are in darkness, and then not being edified. You say, “Well, why did that matter that they’re doing it in Latin if it’s false doctrine anyway?” Here’s the thing though. My wife was just mentioning today how she grew up as a kid in Germany, and she grew up Catholic for the first part of her life, and they didn’t go to church much for a while. I guess when she was really young, they went like three times a week, but for a long time, it was more like a Christmas and Easter type of thing where they would just rarely show up at the Catholic church, but she said that even at the Catholic church, even though the gospel is definitely not being preached and she’s not hearing the way of salvation, she would hear excerpts from the bible and things that would get her thinking. Just verses from the bible that would stick in her mind and just make her think, and at least she heard certain truths about Jesus that made her think, even though there’s a lot of error and lies mixed in. When you walk in and it's in a foreign language, there’s no chance of getting anything or learning anything from that. The Lord does work in mysterious ways. I've heard of people who talked about getting saved because they heard a bible quote in a Hollywood movie, and they heard a bible verse quoted in a Hollywood movie, and that verse just stuck with them, and they just kept thinking about it, kept thinking about it, kept thinking, and then eventually, somebody came along, gave them the gospel, won the Lord. Obviously, you need more than a bible verse in a move to get saved. You need more than a bible verse in a Catholic church to get saved. You actually need somebody to teach you the gospel [and the plan of salvation 00:31:43], but that seed though can be planted just by hearing the word of God, and the word of God is everywhere. Even on TV and radio, sometimes, every once in a while, a little truth will slip out there, even though it’s 99% garbage. I’m not saying to go looking for it in those wicked places. I’m just telling you that it’s there, so that people are without excuse because the word of God is out there. If people seek, they shall find. What we see here is that the Catholic church was forbidding people. Burning people at the stake literally for trying to bring God’s word into English or other of the common man’s languages. They wanted to keep it in a foreign tongue that cannot be understood, so they’re forbidding to speak with other tongues. That’s what … And also, you can apply that scripture in modern times a few different ways. Also, there are people out there amongst independent fundamental Baptists who will say things like, “Everybody just needs to learn how to speak English,” and they … I’ve literally talked to people who think that missionaries should go to foreign countries and teach people English, so that they can read a King James Bible. That’s not true because God desires people to hear God’s word in their own language, “In the tongue wherein they were born,” the bible says, so it’s not that everybody needs to read a King James. Everybody who speaks English needs to read a King James, but people in other countries, they need the word of God brought into their language. Many languages of the world have wonderful bible translations in their language where they can read the word of God accurately translated in their languages. Other languages, not so much, so what’s the answer? Bring it into those languages. Get the [truth 00:33:27]. Here’s the thing. There are some nations that used to have a great bible translation back in the 1500s, 1600s that has fallen off the face of the earth in the sense that it's no longer being printed. Yeah, it’s in a museum somewhere, but it's no longer in print, and the only one that's in print at the store is the new garbage version. What needs to happen there is that people need to go back and resurrect these translations from the 1500s, from the 1600s, and bring them into the modern vernacular if necessary. If not, then just start printing them, and bring them back to the true word of God, not the translations that have been very corrupted. When it says, “Forbid not to speak with tongues,” he’s saying there's not just one certain language that needs to be spoken. What he’s basically saying is, “I don’t care what language you speak. Who cares? All I care is that the people who are there at church understand what’s being preached, so whatever language you choose to preach in, if an interpreter is necessary, so be it, but everybody who’s gathered needs to understand what's coming across that pulpit.” If the preaching is in English and people are there that speak Spanish, then there needs to be a Spanish interpreter for them, or if there … If the preaching comes in, and it’s in Spanish, then there needs to be somebody to interpret for those who don’t speak Spanish because it needs to be decently and in order for the edifying of the church. Another modern application of this would be this idea that people have where they think that in order to get the true word of God, you have to go to Greek and Hebrew. It’s the only way to get the true word. Whereas we strongly believe that God’s word can be translated into any language, and there’s this fallacy out there that says, “You always lose something in the translation.” Who’s heard that before? “You always lose something in the translation.” Let me tell you something. I am someone who knows several foreign languages, and I do not believe that statement for one second, and a lot of the people who will say that speak one language, and they’ll sit there, “Well, you always lose something in the translation, right? Everybody knows you lose something translate …” But then you talk to a lot of people who speak multiple languages, they’ll say, “No, you can get the same points across.” Listen, human beings are human beings, and sometimes, you look at people of other cultures and other nationalities, and just think like, “Oh, man. These people are just way out there. They think completely different than we think, and they’re just nothing like us.” The more that you travel the world, and talk to people, and study foreign languages, you know what you’ll find is that people are people. There's nothing new under the sun, and people are pretty much people no matter what nationality they are. Even languages that just seem really bizarre, once you learn them and they start making sense to you, you’ll figure out that you can express anything that you need to express in that language, and there’s a way to do it. This thing of, “You always lose something in the translation,” is false. I don’t believe in it, and I can speak from experience of somebody who speaks multiple languages on a weekly basis. I speak German at home with my wife. I speak Spanish out in soul winning, so I speak different languages, and they’re … You don’t always say things exactly the same way, but you word it in a way that gets the same exact point across, and it’s possible to do that, but people will say, “No, no. You have to go back, [neighbor 00:36:51].” Hold on. God is the one who even divided the languages in the first place at the Tower of Babel. Before that, the whole world was of one speech and one language. God divided the languages at the Tower of Babel, and it’s his desire that we all speak different languages, not that we all speak the same language. If he wanted us all to speak the same language, he wouldn’t have divided them in the first place, but it’s his desire that we be separated by a language barrier into various nations, and so God has allowed his word to go forth in all languages. If you always lose something in the translation, let me ask you this. Then, why at the day of Pentecost were people able to speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost? They spoke the word of God in all languages. Now, let me ask you this. When the Holy Ghost is doing the translating, do you lose something? If the spirit of the Lord is coming upon somebody in Acts 2, and they're speaking Arabic, are you going to tell me that what they were getting was something less than the original? Of course, not, and not only that, but Jesus and his disciples, what language are they speaking? When we read it in the New Testament, it was in Greek, whereas the Old Testament is in Hebrew, so do we lose something in the New Testament y by doing it in Greek? Absolutely not, and so this is just something that you hear repeated over and over again, but that doesn't make it true. Let me just encourage you with the fact that the bible that you hold in your hand, the King James Bible, is exactly what God said. “Ah, but he didn’t say it in English.” So what? Who cares? Quit being hung up on that. “Ah, God doesn’t speak English.” Wait, so I guess when we get the interpreter … When we get to have him, we’re going to need an interpreter because God doesn’t speak English. I guess we're going to walk up to God and say something to the Lord, and he is just going to be like … Do you really think you're going to get to heaven and God is not going to speak English? Listen. If you’re Spanish and you get to heaven, God is going to say, “Well done, amigo.” He’s not going to sit there and say it in English to you if you don’t speak English because guess what? God can speak all languages. To sit there and say, “Well, God doesn’t speak English,” that’s stupid because God speaks all languages. You say, “Well, why did he give us the Old Testament in Hebrew?” “Because Israel was the chosen nation in the Old Testament.” “So why did he give us the New Testament in Greek?” “Because Israel was no longer the chosen nation.” He gave it in Greek because Greek was the language that most people in the world spoke as a second language. Even though they had their own local language, Greek was the big language that most people spoke as a second language. Let me just explain something to you. Today, English is the most important language in the world, period. I’m not just saying that because I speak English. Look it up. Even though English does not have the most native speakers, there are more speaking English today than any other language in the world because of the fact that there are more people … Listen to me now. There are more people in this world who speak English as a second language than speak it as a first language. Did you know that? Because native speakers of the English language, 400 and some million, but you know how many people speak English? Way more than a billion people speak English. Why? Because there are more people speaking English as a second language than as a first language because all over the world, virtually every country in the world, people are speaking English as a second language. It is the lingua franca of the world. Now, isn't it wonderful that God has delivered this amazing English translation of the bible 400 years ago that can literally be understood by people in every country of the world? Now, I’m not saying all people can understand it, but I’m telling you that there are well over a billion people that can understand this book, and it is the most important language in the world. Say, “How about Chinese?” All right. Here’s the thing, more people speak English than speak Chinese if you include second language, number one, and number two, Chinese is not the most important language in regard to the gospel because China is a place where … There are not a whole lot of bible-believing churches that are sending missionaries all over the world to preach the gospel. They’re under a wicked communist government, and they are also isolated somewhat from the outside world. For example, YouTube is blocked in China. You can put up all kinds of preaching in Chinese and stuff. It’s not necessarily going to reach into mainland China because there’s an iron curtain somewhat that keeps out some of the outside world. What I’m saying is that I don’t think anybody could dispute the fact that more English-speaking missionaries are going out and preaching the gospel than any other type of missionary in the world, and that this book, the English King James Bible has been printed, and sold, and distributed more than any book in the history of mankind in English. Okay? This is the bible that has been translated into all these hundreds of African languages directly from the King James by people who didn't even understand Greek and Hebrew. Now, yeah, in a perfect world, translations are done by 54 people who are scholars in Greek, and Hebrew, and all the related languages, but you know what? If all you’ve got is a missionary come into your tribe translating this English KJV into your click language or whatever stammering tongue, you know what? That’s great. That's a great way to get the gospel. If the King James is translated by some zealous English-speaking missionary who's coming into some foreign country and bring in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, great. This is the most influential book in the world, and it's written in the most influential language in the world. To just discount the English KJV, and just sit there and say, “Oh, well. Well, why is English so special?” “Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe because it’s the biggest language in the world. Maybe because there are more people preaching the gospel in English than any other language in the world.” “Welly, why? How do we know the word isn’t preserved in this language or preserved in that language, or maybe he chose Swahili, or maybe he chose to preserve it in French, or maybe chose to preserve it in German, or maybe chose to preserve …?” No, he chose to preserve it … First of all, his ideal would be that it’d be in all languages, that we would translate it in all languages, but it all makes sense that God’s divine hand of providence made specially sure that it got into the one big, super important language in perfect form. Think about it. If he’s going to give the word in Hebrew in the Old Testament, if he’s going to give it in Greek in the New Testament, in our modern day, what’s the bet? What’s the main language where we need the word more than any other language? It needs to be in English more than any language. That’s who’s evangelizing the world more than anybody else, and so here we have it, the King James Bible. Thank God for his provision in this important language, so that’s another application of this. Let me just close with this thought because I said we were going to go to Revelation 7 because I said we were going to look at every time “tongues” was used between last Sunday night sermon and this Sunday night sermon. We’re left with a few mentions of the word “tongues” in Revelation. That’s all we’ve got left is just Revelation. We looked at every time it was mentioned the New Testament, and the bible’s teaching was consistent from start to finish, but look at Revelation 7:9. This has to do with “The Rapture” as it's commonly known or when the believers are basically brought up to heaven. Okay? At the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Revelation 7:9, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,” and I want to point out that it says, “Of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” Now, first of all, it’s a blessing to know that when that trumpet sounds, and the dead in Christ rise first, and then we, which are alive and remain, are caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, it's a blessing to know that all languages will be represented in that group, that people will be saved from all nations. Flip over to chapter 10, verse 11. This is John being spoken to by the angel, the apostle John. It says this inverse 11, “And he said unto me, ‘Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.’” What is being said unto John here? That his ministry is not through. He’s stuck on Patmos, but God is telling him, “You're going to preach again, and you're going to preach before many nations. You’re going to preach before many peoples, tongues, kings. You're going to speak to a whole bunch of different people of different languages and nations.” Look at that chapter 11. You don’t have to turn to all of this because some of these aren’t really relevant to what we’re talking about, but the bible says … If you would just flip to chapter 17, that’s the last one. In chapter 11, verse 9, it just says, “They of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations shall see their dead bodies,” and so forth. It’s just using “tongues” in a list there when he wants to say the whole world. He say, “All nations, all tongues, all kindreds.” One of the things that this proves is that when the end times events take place that people will still speak foreign languages. The world will not have gone over to one language. That's never going to happen. In Revelation 13:7, it talks about the anti-Christ, going to be given power over all kindreds, tongues, and nations. In chapter 16, verse 10, it talks of being gnawing on their tongues for pain. That’s just the physical appendage in their mouth, by the way. Then, in 17:15, it says, “He saith unto me, ‘The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.’” Let’s close on this thought, Mathew chapter 28, Matthew 28. The idea of preaching the gospel to all nations. Now, while you’re turning to Matthew 28, let me read for you from Matthew 24:14 where the bible reads, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” It’s important to note that all those verses in Revelation taught us that when we say “all nations”, what’s another thing that we mean by that? All tongues. When you say “all nations,” you’re saying “all tongues.” Why? Because when God divided the nations in Genesis 11, he didn’t do it along the lines of skin color. He divided the nations along the lines of the language. He confounded their languages and divided the nations based on language, and so when the bible says, “Teach all nations,” he's actually saying, “Teach all language groups,” if we go back to that Genesis 10 and 11 definition. He says in Mark 13:10, “The gospel must first be published among all nations.” In Luke 24:47, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his nation or his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem,” but he said, “Preach them among all nations.” Romans 1:15, “By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.” That’s what make Christianity unique. It’s a religion that’s believed on in all nations. It’s not … You think of Hinduism. What nation pretty much believes in Hinduism? Pretty much India. Yeah, there are going to be different pockets of it, but you know and I know that by and large, it’s only people in India who believe in … I guess they think the whole rest of the world doesn’t have a clue about what Shiva, the Destroyer or all the other millions of Gods that they worship. Then, you think of languages like Buddhism. They're very ethnically-based. You're either Asian … If you’re Buddhist, you’re either Asian or you’re like a Hollywood rock and roll person who just thinks it’s trendy and cool to be Buddhist. Okay, or if you have Shintoism, you’re Japanese. Judaism is, obviously, associated with a certain people who think that they’re a certain nationality. Then, you think of other religions of the world that are basically compartmentalized, right? These religions. Islam is associated mainly, primarily with certain nationalities that are real big on Islam. Okay? Whether that’d be, obviously, the Arabs, the Persians, Indonesia, places like that. Whereas Christianity is the one where you can’t really associate it with a certain group, could you? Could you really say, “Well, Christianity, that’s the white man’s religion, or that’s the European …?” No, because there have been times throughout history when Christianity was huge amongst very different populations of people. Even today, there are all kinds of people of all kinds, different nationalities that are Christian. It's something that's in all nations, all tongues. If you just use logic to think about the fact that God, if he's the God of the whole earth, is not just going to manifest himself to one group of people, but that rather, he would manifest himself to all nations. That’s why bible says in Romans 16:26, “But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” Made known to all nations, and that’s why I love the verse in Galatians 3:8 when the bible says, “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, ‘In thee, shall all nations be blessed.’” The gospel was preached to Abraham, and he said, “In thee, shall all nations be blessed.” Now, who is that blessing through? Jesus. I even heard some zealous Zionist try to say that, “Well, in thee, shall all nations be blessed. That’s because any nation that allies themselves with the state of Israel is going to get that blessing, and all …” “Oh, yeah, that’s the gospel, the gospel of Israel, the gospel of Zionism.” No. When the bible says, “In thee, shall all nations be blessed,” you know where that blessing come from? Jesus because Jesus came through Abraham, and he’s a blessing to all nations. Anyone who believes on Christ is blessed with faithful Abraham, so he said, “In thee, shall all nations be blessed.” Is Christianity the white man’s religion, the European religion, Anglo-Saxon religion, Germanic religion? No. Christianity is the religion of every true believer in the true God on this planet, and it has nothing to do with nationality, or language, or religion, or race. Nobody is a second class citizen in God's kingdom because of their nationality. “Oh, you don't speak English? You don't read the King James? Well, you’re a second-class.” That’s not true. “Oh, you’re a Gentile? You’re second class.” Wrong. False. No. It’s all nations standing on an equal footing because the bible says that God's house be called “The house of prayer for all nations,” and all nations are blessed with faithful Abraham. Look down at your bible or Matthew 28. What’s the application? What do we do? It says in verse 18, “Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’” What does God wants us to do with tongues? What is the point of a sermon on tongues? First of all, so that we would not be deceived by the Benny Hand’s and Kenneth Copeland’s of the world, and all the false Charismatic doctrine. That’s the number one purpose of this sermon, but number two is that we would actually get the real meaning of “tongues.” We don’t want to just say, “Oh, we proved tongues false,” and then we just have this void. No. We want to get the true teaching on tongues. What’s the true teaching? Use tongues to get the gospel to the entire world. That’s the true teaching. The true teaching is learn Spanish, so you can give the gospel to people that speak Spanish in Phoenix, Arizona. That is the true interpretation, and we need to get the gospel to all nations. One of the biggest ways that we could do that is just by knocking every door in Phoenix, Arizona because if we knocked every door in Phoenix, Arizona, we will hit up every nation group virtually because we live in a city with four million people and United States is a melting pot, people from all over, but then, there will also be some who will go to foreign lands as missionaries. There will be some who leave the United States, and go to a foreign country, and learn some foreign language, and stammer and stutter, and get people saved, and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to that foreign country. That is the calling of some people, to go out and preach the gospel in a foreign nation, in a foreign language. Sometimes, that happens to people through a lot of different means. Through marrying somebody from that place, you end up going there. That’s like myself. I married a woman who is German, half German, half Hungarian. Then, I’m going to learn those languages. I’m going to end up going to those places, and talking to those people, and winning people to Christ, God winning in those corners of the world. I’ve known a lot of other people who found themselves in different countries that they wouldn't have planned on going to and God using that to bring the gospel and to bring salvation. You know what? There are people in our church. Let me ask you this. Who in our church speaks a language other than English fluently? Put up your hand. Look around. There are a lot of people in this church that could actually reach people of your native language, both in Phoenix and in other parts of the world. Whatever the case may be, whether that language is Spanish as some people, but who speaks a foreign language other than Spanish fluently? Put up your hand if it’s not Spanish. Yeah. See, there’s still several people. We got Korean. We got African language. We got Asian language. We got a lot of different things represented in this church, and so God, help us to reach all nations with the gospel. That ought to be our prayer. That ought to be our mission. That ought to be our motto, but let’s start here at Jerusalem. Okay? Then, let’s go to all nations and reach as many people as we can. Let’s bow our heads and have word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this clear teaching in your word, Lord. There have been many who’ve muddied the waters for many years. In fact, sometimes, even bible-believing independent Baptists will sometimes just maybe shy away from passages like First Corinthians 14 just because they’re so sick of this weird Charismatic doctrine. They know that’s not right, but Lord, help us to embrace the teachings of First Corinthians 14 now that we have a true interpretation from your word, comparing scripture with scripture, and help us to understand that English is a great language. It’s the most important language in the world, but it’s not the only language in the world, and so Lord, help those who speak foreign languages to use those languages to evangelize. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
