1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,560 Well, good morning. It's good to see you guys. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,440 Well, so you can stay up here, give you a chance to find your 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:20,320 seats as you do. I want to invite you to open to 4 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,880 1st Corinthians 14, First Corinthians chapter 14. 5 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:30,840 We're in a section here where Paul is lovingly but firmly 6 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:36,360 correcting the Corinth church because they've become 7 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:41,520 captivated by the spectacular and forgetful of the purpose of 8 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,840 spiritual gifts. And so he's been, we've been on 9 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,720 this topic now since chapter 12. We'll be on it this week and 10 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,960 next week and then we'll move into a new issue that he's 11 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:53,600 addressing within the Church of Corinth. 12 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,680 So if you'll remember in chapter 12, just kind of a a synopsis of 13 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,840 of what it saw out of summary. Paul taught that the Spirit 14 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:07,120 gives a diversity of gifts for the common good of the church. 15 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,000 It's to edify the church, but the Spirit gives the gifts. 16 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,560 They're not gifts that you develop within yourself. 17 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,440 They're not, you know, they don't come through training or 18 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,280 schooling or those sort of things. 19 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,520 Doesn't mean you can't grow in them or mature in them, but it 20 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,040 means that the Spirit gives these gifts. 21 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,880 And he even says there that not everyone receives the same 22 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,120 gifts, right? So some they're given the gift 23 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:34,000 of knowledge or faith or healing or tongues or, you know, so on 24 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,400 and so forth. And so he mentions several gifts 25 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:43,400 by name there, and chapter 13. He wants to recenter them a 26 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,240 little bit away from the gifts and to the purpose of those 27 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,400 gifts. He insisted that love is the 28 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,600 indispensable atmosphere of all ministry. 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,400 Love is to be the foundation of all that we do, especially as we 30 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,240 exercise the gifts that God gives us. 31 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,840 Without love, even the most dazzling gifts become noise, as 32 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,960 we saw in First Corinthians 13 one through 3. 33 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:13,160 Then in chapter 14, where we began a couple of weeks ago, he 34 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,720 applies love to corporate worship, and he encourages the 35 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,360 Corinthians there to use your gifts so that the church is 36 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,320 edified. We're going to see more of that 37 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:26,480 today. During that sermon a couple of 38 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,280 weeks ago, we saw that prophecy, which is clear, intelligible 39 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,920 proclamation of God's Word edifies the church, while 40 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:38,920 uninterpreted tongues do not. Uninterpreted tongues do not 41 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:41,800 edify the church. And so today in the sermon, Paul 42 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,600 is pressing that same theme even further. 43 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:51,000 The Spirit aims not at showing us, but at clarity, all right? 44 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,200 When the Spirit of God is at work, there is clarity. 45 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,840 There's peace not showing us, all right. 46 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,760 He, Paul's even going to talk about how it's not at the Spirit 47 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:05,360 doesn't aim at private elevation, but at public 48 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,400 edification. So it's not about edifying you 49 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,000 privately. It's about edifying the church 50 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,960 together publicly. The Spirit doesn't aim at 51 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,200 confusion, but at conversion, right? 52 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,000 And so we'll see that today as well. 53 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,000 So clarity in the gathered church, what we'll see today is 54 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,080 clarity in the gathered church strengthens believers and 55 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,240 confronts unbelievers with the presence of God. 56 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,440 All right, so that's where we're at in First Corinthians 14. 57 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,240 I'm going to read 13 through 25 and then we'll get into the 58 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:36,120 message. So would you please stand as we 59 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:42,040 hear God's Word this morning? First Corinthians chapter 14, 60 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:48,360 starting verse 13 through 25. Therefore, one who speaks in the 61 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,120 tongue should pray that he may interpret. 62 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,440 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is 63 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,000 unfruitful. What am I to do? 64 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,320 I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. 65 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,040 I will sing with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 66 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,120 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone 67 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,480 in the position of an outsider say Amen to your Thanksgiving 68 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:15,880 when he does not know what you are saying? 69 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,920 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other 70 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,760 person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in 71 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,760 tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would 72 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,880 rather speak 5 words with my mind in order to instruct others 73 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,920 than 10,000 words in a tongue. Brothers, do not be children in 74 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,760 your thinking be infants and evil, but in your thinking be 75 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,040 mature in the law. It is written by people of 76 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,280 strange tongues and the lips of foreigners. 77 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:50,880 Will I speak to this people? And even then they will not 78 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,880 listen to me, says the Lord. Thus tongues are a sign not for 79 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:59,320 believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for 80 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:03,240 unbelievers but for believers. If therefore, the whole Church 81 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,560 comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or 82 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,040 unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your 83 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,520 minds? But if all prophecy and an 84 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,360 unbeliever outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is 85 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,400 called by, called to account by all, and the secrets of his 86 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,760 heart are disclosed. And so falling on his face, he 87 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,240 will worship God and declare that God is really among you. 88 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,640 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 89 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:34,960 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you 90 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,640 for your word. By God, we thank you that as we 91 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,680 continue the study through the book of First Corinthians, we 92 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:47,200 are seeing grace and the Christian life quite visibly, 93 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,720 Lord, quite clearly. And so, Lord, on this matter of 94 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,400 tongues, would you instruct us today on this matter of prophecy 95 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,080 and what is good for the building up of the church? 96 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,840 What is helpful actually to unbelievers and believers alike? 97 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,840 Will you help us to see that clearly, that it is the spoken 98 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:07,880 word of God? It's the clear Word of God. 99 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,280 And so, Father, in that vein, I ask that you help me to be clear 100 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:16,240 today, that you help me to preach and to teach clearly from 101 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,680 your Word this morning in a way that children and adult alike 102 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,120 can learn from it and understand it. 103 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:25,880 But we ask these things in the name of Christ our Lord. 104 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:37,920 Amen, Man, you may be seated. Clarity is power, all right? 105 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:39,760 When things are clear, they're powerful. 106 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,360 You think about a surgeon, they must see clearly before they can 107 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,840 cut, all right? Before any cutting begins. 108 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:50,760 You they need to know clearly the course of action, the attack 109 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:55,440 plan, those sort of things. A pilot who's flying an airplane 110 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:59,320 must hear clearly before landed, otherwise there's going to be 111 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,280 chaos, right? A soldier must receive a clear 112 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:05,560 command in battle, otherwise he doesn't know his marching 113 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,440 orders. What we see is that when there's 114 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,520 confusion, it costs lives. When there's confusion, it 115 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,400 creates chaos. When there's confusion, there's 116 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:16,960 disorder. There's no peace. 117 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,920 The same is true in worship. When the Word is clear, the 118 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,280 church is built. When the Word is clear, the 119 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:29,120 Church of God is built. When the word is muddled, the 120 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,000 church is weakened. Now, you can think about this in 121 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,240 the form of tongues, yes, but you can also think about the way 122 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,840 the word may get muddled through worldly ideologies, which again, 123 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,640 is partly what the Corinthians are guilty of, is bringing in 124 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,240 previous Pagan worship, previous ideologies, bringing them into 125 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,320 the church. And so the word becomes muddied, 126 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,840 it becomes weakened. Paul's point is not that emotion 127 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:54,760 is bad, all right. We don't. 128 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:59,040 We don't want to have this false thought that our emotions are 129 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,360 bad. God has created us to feel. 130 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,280 God has created us to emote, so to speak. 131 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,760 He, he's created us to, to cry when things are sad or to cry 132 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,760 when things are happy. He's created us to show emotion, 133 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,400 right? To to be righteously angry at 134 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,640 right things to be joyful when we should be joyful, right? 135 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,560 Their emotion is a good thing. I love to hear the laughter of 136 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,880 my children, right? I love to see them emote and 137 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,160 laughter at a good dad joke occasionally, all right, which 138 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,799 is occasional. I try them all the time, but 139 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:35,080 they only laugh occasionally. Let's be clear on that. 140 00:08:36,799 --> 00:08:40,240 Paul's point is, is not that emotion is bad or that zeal is 141 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,600 wrong, right? He's not correcting the 142 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,600 zealousness of the Corinthians. He's directing the zealousness 143 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:49,800 of the Corinthians, all right. He's he's seeking to point it in 144 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,360 the right direction. Rather, zeal must be yoked with 145 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,800 truth. That's what Paul's point is. 146 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,640 We also see that Romans 10/2, the Spirit who fills our hearts 147 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:05,400 also renews our minds, right? And so our zeal from the, from 148 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,080 being filled with the Spirit of God, there's a zeal that comes 149 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,800 with that. And in Romans 12/2, what we see 150 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:16,200 or yeah, Romans 12/2 is that the Spirit renews our mind, right? 151 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,520 He, he makes us more Christ like, he leads us further into 152 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,400 truth. And so truth lands on the heart 153 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,520 and we emote, right? We show emotion, but truth moves 154 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,880 to the mind, right? It informs our thoughts and our 155 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,920 desires. It, it shows us what to think 156 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,640 and what to teach and what not to think and what to disavow, 157 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:39,840 right? The truth exposes, but it also 158 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,720 teaches, all right, Truth teaches as well. 159 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:45,920 And so the main point of the sermon today, I think is this. 160 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,160 It's, it's a little long and I'm sorry for that, but you can 161 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,040 begin writing now. The Spirit empowers clear 162 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:56,080 proclamation that builds up the church and brings unbelievers 163 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,120 face to face with the living God. 164 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,440 The Spirit empowers clear proclamation that builds up the 165 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:06,520 church and brings unbelievers face to face with the living 166 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:08,440 God. That's what Paul is trying to 167 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,280 teach here in First Corinthians 14. 168 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:13,560 I'll say it one more time, just as you're writing. 169 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:16,880 The Spirit empowers clear proclamation that builds up the 170 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,840 church and brings unbelievers face to face with the living 171 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,000 God. We're going to walk through this 172 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,960 passage in this way. First, we're going to see that 173 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,640 we are to pray and proclaim with understanding. 174 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,800 And verses 13 through 19, we're encouraged, we're instructed to 175 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:36,200 pray and proclaim with understanding. 176 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,800 Secondly, we'll see that we should pursue maturity that 177 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,800 builds up the body. Verses 20 through 23 pursue 178 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:45,360 maturity that builds up the body. 179 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,320 And then finally, we'll see that we should proclaim Christ 180 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,320 clearly to outsiders. We should proclaim Christ 181 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:59,000 clearly to outsiders in verses 24 and 25 S #1 pray and proclaim 182 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,520 with understanding verses 13 through 19. 183 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,480 Therefore, if one, one who speaks in a tongue should pray, 184 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,160 that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my 185 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,400 spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 186 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,160 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but 187 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,200 I will pray with my mind also. I will sing with my spirit, but 188 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,840 I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks 189 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,160 with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider 190 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,600 say Amen to your Thanksgiving when he does not know what you 191 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,080 are saying? For you may be giving thanks 192 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,520 well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 193 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:39,720 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 194 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,160 Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak 5 words with my 195 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:48,720 mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words and a tongue. 196 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,800 So pray and proclaim with understanding if someone speaks 197 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,040 in a tongue. Now if you remember when Paul 198 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,400 was using the form of a tongue versus tongues, plural. 199 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:04,200 A tongue is a reference to what is likely the Pagan practice, 200 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,920 right? So he's, he's being somewhat 201 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,160 sarcastic here, right? If I, if, if someone speaks in a 202 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,400 tongue, well, then that person must pray. 203 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,320 If he's speaking in this gibberish language, then he must 204 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:21,000 pray that he may interpret. Because meaningless sound can't 205 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:25,120 edify, right? It's a glanging, A clanging 206 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:26,960 gong, right? It's a noisy symbol. 207 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:30,040 A meaningless sound cannot edify. 208 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,920 And the truth stands that if you can't understand what you're 209 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,880 saying, then what point is there to what you're saying? 210 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,480 All right? Especially in the congregation, 211 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,480 right, If you're gathered with brothers and sisters in the Lord 212 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:48,120 and everyone's praying in a tongue, some gibberish language 213 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,760 that no one can understand. And what point is this, right? 214 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,840 It's merely puffing you up with pride, right? 215 00:12:55,840 --> 00:13:03,520 It's an exercise of probably a false gift if we're honest, 216 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,360 right? And it's a puffing up with 217 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:07,680 pride. So Paul says if I pray in a 218 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:10,320 tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 219 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,040 It's just making the point that if I prayed like what you guys 220 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:18,080 are displaying, if I prayed in that way, then my spirit might 221 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,800 be praying, but my mind is unfruitful. 222 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:22,640 It's not edifying my mind in any way. 223 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,400 It's not encouraging my heart in any way. 224 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,200 It's not helping in any way. Paul's not opposing the spirit 225 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,360 and the mind. I want you to understand that 226 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,720 the spirit and the mind work together, right? 227 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,640 Again, it's, it's by the Spirit of God that our minds are being 228 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:40,240 transformed. So he's exposing this disconnect 229 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,000 that fails to benefit others, right? 230 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,480 If you pray in your spirits out loud in a way that no one 231 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,440 understands what's being said, then there's a disconnect 232 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:51,800 because it fails to benefit others. 233 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,000 It's not even a benefit to you, right? 234 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,760 In verse 15, Paul says, I will pray with my spirit and with my 235 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,960 mind. I will pray intelligibly, right? 236 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:03,280 I'll speak words that people can understand. 237 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,600 I will sing with my spirit and my mind. 238 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,320 I'll, I'll sing songs that edify and encourage and strengthen my 239 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,880 spirit and my mind. I'm going to rehearse the things 240 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,360 of God in the songs that I sing, right? 241 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,480 Corporate worship, right? We all agree on this. 242 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:21,800 Corporate worship requires intelligibility, right? 243 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,920 You guys will be far less likely to attend week in and week out. 244 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,520 If you showed up and couldn't understand anything that was 245 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,400 being talked about, right? You would find no benefit in 246 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,680 this. It requires intelligibility so 247 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,360 that we can all, as you're doing now, nod your head saying Amen, 248 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,600 right? It should be this way. 249 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:46,600 In verse 18, Paul had he says, I praise God that I speak in 250 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,840 tongues more than all of you. Again, he's using the plural 251 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,800 here again, right? Paul is saying I have more 252 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,680 occasions to use this real gift than all of you do. 253 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:00,480 I've had more occasions to speak in tongues more than all of you, 254 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:03,720 and I praise God for that. Now, we don't have in Scripture 255 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:09,000 any reference to Paul or any stories of Paul using the gift 256 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,760 of tongues. That doesn't mean that he 257 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:12,480 didn't, right? Paul saying clearly here. 258 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,800 I've had more occasions to use this gift to exercise this gift. 259 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,920 Now, if you think about Paul's ministry, Paul went into places 260 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,800 that did not know the gospel, didn't previously know the Lord. 261 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:26,960 They're they're going to be speaking different languages 262 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:29,360 even at times, right? And he's proclaiming the word of 263 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:32,600 God there. And so it bears to, it seems 264 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,240 very true, very likely that Paul did receive the gift of tongues 265 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,600 and he's exercising that gift of tongue, speaking other languages 266 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,720 to share the mysteries of the gospel with new people. 267 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,200 Amen. And so he's saying this as a way 268 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,760 of saying, I've had opportunities for this more than 269 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,960 all of you to use this gift in the right way. 270 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,560 But then he says, and he concludes with the striking 271 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:01,560 ratio, right? I would rather in church, I 272 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,960 would rather speak 5 words with my mind in order to instruct 273 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:10,680 others than 10,000 words in a tongue. 5 words with the mind 274 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:15,760 instruct others are better than 10,000 in a tongue, right? 275 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:21,600 You can utter all sorts of things into the air that no one 276 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,920 understands. And Paul saying this is 277 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,480 pointless. It's fruitless. 278 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,960 It's not edifying to the faith of the people that you're 279 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,720 speaking to. It would be far better for you 280 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:35,040 to prophecy 5 words than to Babble on and on and on where 281 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:36,920 nobody can understand you, right? 282 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:42,800 The Holy Spirit is truth, we're told in John 1613. 283 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,320 So what this means is that the Holy Spirit is not going to give 284 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:52,200 a gift to us. He's never going to bypass the 285 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,720 mind as though understanding were optional. 286 00:16:55,720 --> 00:17:00,320 All right, the the Holy Spirit is going to reveal truth. 287 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,760 He's going to reveal truth through the exercise of gifts as 288 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,920 well. Through giving gifts, truth will 289 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,119 be revealed, all right, because the understanding of the mind is 290 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:14,280 not an optional thing. It's required for us to worship 291 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,440 the Lord that we understand God, right? 292 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,280 That we understand why we worship, why we gather, why we 293 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:24,040 sing praises, why we pray prayers of laments, why we 294 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,000 wrestle with flesh and blood like it's it's or wrestle with 295 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,520 our own flesh, right? Our own evil desires, why we 296 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:34,080 wrestle against the spirits of darkness, right? 297 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,320 He wants us. God wants us to understand these 298 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:37,960 things. And so he's given us the Spirit 299 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,200 of God, not only to inform men who would write these things 300 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,840 down for us through the inspiration of Scripture, but 301 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,760 also that we would read it now and by the Spirit of God present 302 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,160 in us, we would understand it. That would be illuminated for us 303 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:53,840 all right. He illuminates the mind so that 304 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:58,400 the truth penetrates our hearts, all right, so that it captivates 305 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,440 our affections so that we want to worship God. 306 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,360 Second Timothy 27 Paul writes there. 307 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,920 He said, think over what I say for the Lord will give you 308 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,560 understanding and everything. Think over what I say, all 309 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:15,440 right, Well, that doesn't that. That's not the language of 310 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,280 someone who thinks the mind is optional, right? 311 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,640 He's saying, use your mind. Think, think over the words that 312 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:25,160 you hear. Think over what is being said, 313 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,760 what is being written to you, Timothy, For the Lord will give 314 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,400 you understanding in everything, right? 315 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:36,000 The Lord will give it. Psalm 1/19/18 Open my eyes, the 316 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,560 psalmist writes there. Open my eyes that I may behold 317 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,400 wondrous things out of your law. Open my eyes, right? 318 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,440 What are the eyes if not the gateway to the mind, right, when 319 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,360 he's talking about the law, right as I read the law, open my 320 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:55,000 eyes, illuminate my mind that I may behold wondrous things out 321 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,360 of your law. So biblical worship, you know, 322 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,160 Christ said there's coming a time where we will worship in 323 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,040 spirit and in truth. Biblical worship involves the 324 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:08,840 mind and affections. It involves both the mind and 325 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,920 affections of the worshipper. Biblical truth ignites our love 326 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:19,160 for God. As I've, as I've observed you 327 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,120 all, many of you grow in your understanding of doctrine, 328 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:24,760 right? Grow in your understanding of 329 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,640 theology. One of the best fruits of that 330 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:33,360 has been a deeper love for God. Right now, it's true that you 331 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:37,840 can inform the mind and affections don't follow, right? 332 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,400 You become pompous, you become arrogant because of the 333 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,400 doctrines that you're learning. They haven't yet formed in the 334 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:46,680 heart. That is true that that does 335 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:49,400 happen to people. But one of the fruits that we 336 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,280 see is that as we grow in sound doctrine, we also grow in sound 337 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,440 living, as Titus teaches, because we love God. 338 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,040 We love the God who reveals himself to us in the truth of 339 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,200 his Word, right? So biblical truth ignites our 340 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,560 love for God. It doesn't snuff it out. 341 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:09,240 It makes it burn brighter, right? 342 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:15,320 As Nehemiah 88, Ezra and the Levites, they're at the end, 343 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,160 towards the end of the book of Nehemiah, it says of Ezra and 344 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,200 Levites that they read clearly from God's Word and they are 345 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,240 from the law and they gave the sense of its meaning, meaning. 346 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,640 They explained it to the people so that the people understood, 347 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,200 right? It's a reading of God's word, 348 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,720 but it's giving the sense of it. This is what we're called to his 349 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,320 teachers. It's to know God's words. 350 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,200 We'll call to his parents as spouses, as friends and 351 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,560 neighbors and Co workers. We're called to know God's Word 352 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:50,240 in a way that we can give the sense of it to others so that 353 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,960 they too can understand God's word. 354 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,520 This is one of the things that made Charlie Kirk so stinking 355 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,760 efficient at what he was doing, right? 356 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:02,160 He was connecting truth, biblical truths to the heart and 357 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,640 mind of those who listened, able, willing to reason with and 358 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,680 to show that these things are true. 359 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:12,680 Not to get upset and angry and to stomp off and walk away. 360 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:15,280 Right. Just because somebody doesn't 361 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,920 just doesn't agree with you. No, he was. 362 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,720 He was good at knowing clearly what the word of God said and 363 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,880 then giving the sense of it so the people understood it. 364 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:31,440 Matthew 6-7 Jesus warns against empty phrases in prayer, the 365 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,640 Bible of words without understanding, right? 366 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,600 When we come before the Lord in prayer, we ought not to utter 367 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,880 empty phrases. It's better, brothers and 368 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,960 sisters, to pray what you might consider a very elementary 369 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,400 prayer in which you understand what you're saying, than it is 370 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:54,280 to evoke as many theological words that you can think of in a 371 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,520 moment of prayer, right? It's better for your listeners. 372 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:00,880 It's better for your own heart and mind right to utter what you 373 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,440 know, to ask God to train you and teach you yes, but to utter 374 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:09,400 what you know to take those things back to the Lord again. 375 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,200 Romans 12 to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. 376 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,240 Ephesians 518 and 19 show us that spirit filled worship, 377 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:22,600 particularly in singing, is word saturated and intelligible. 378 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:27,080 Psalms, hymns, spiritual psalms, these are things that men and 379 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,640 women had written down to be sung to the Lord. 380 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,280 All right, this is our conviction in the songs that we 381 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:36,560 sing, hears, we want our songs to be saturated with the word of 382 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,120 God that they'd be intelligible, right? 383 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:42,320 That it's clear who we're singing about, who we're singing 384 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,080 to, who we're praising, right? We want those things to be 385 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,080 clear. Spirit filled worship ought to 386 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,880 be word saturated. And so again, the question may 387 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:59,520 come, was Paul anti emotion? No, Paul commands singing and 388 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:04,440 praying with my spirits, right? This is an anti emotion. 389 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,720 Again, the the the issue isn't emotion. 390 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:12,360 The issue is edification. When you sing, can others 391 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:15,200 understand what you're saying? When you pray, can others 392 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,360 understand what you're saying? Is it edifying to the body of 393 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,080 Christ? Heat without light doesn't build 394 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,120 up anyone, right? Another question that may come 395 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,880 Isn't there such a thing as a private prayer language? 396 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:34,480 Paul recognizes prayer here in a tongue, yet he repeatedly 397 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:38,680 presses interpretation. If you pray with a tongue, pray 398 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,280 also that you would be able to interpret, because 399 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,280 interpretation matters for the gathered church. 400 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,360 Now, while I do not believe there's enough biblical evidence 401 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:50,160 to support this kind of gibberish private prayer 402 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,240 language that we see so prevalent in charismatic 403 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,880 Pentecostal circles today, whatever you conclude about it, 404 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,160 the public principle is unambiguous, right. 405 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,280 The public principle must be followed. 406 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:10,280 Intelligibility for the sake of others is the public principle, 407 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,160 right? Is that we need to be clear, 408 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:15,920 right? It needs to be intelligible so 409 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:20,120 that others benefit from it. And my conversations through the 410 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:29,520 years with and I walked in these circles for five to six years of 411 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:34,160 my life. And I remember like imitating 412 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,160 the sounds and the noises I would hear in these prayer 413 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,280 gatherings, right? Thinking I too had received this 414 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,760 gift of tongues only to realize that there was nothing edifying 415 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,720 about that prayer of of that gibberish style prayer and my 416 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,560 conversations with pastors of of those varieties. 417 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:56,920 Since you bring up First Corinthians 14, I I haven't 418 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,880 found good answers for it yet, right. 419 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:01,840 There's an unwillingness to address the Scripture. 420 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,200 One pastor told me, well, this is just the way we've always 421 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,880 done it right. This is the way I was raised. 422 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:09,680 I was raised in the Assembly of God church. 423 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,520 This is how we've always done things. 424 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,280 I just tried to lovingly, gently tell him that's going to be a 425 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,560 poor answer one day. In heaven, when you're required 426 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,640 to give an account for the souls that you're leading, you need to 427 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,640 consider what the Word of God says, not what tradition has 428 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,600 said, not not what you've practiced for decades of your 429 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:32,760 life. Consider what the Word of God 430 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,080 says about these things. Intelligibility for the sake of 431 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,320 of others is what matters, right? 432 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:44,120 This is what God is after. Even Thanksgiving, Paul says in 433 00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:48,320 First Corinthians 10/24, must be for the good of others, right? 434 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,040 Even when we utter prayers of things, even when we give thanks 435 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,440 to God, this needs to be for the good of others, all right. 436 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:55,760 It's not merely for our own hearts. 437 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,760 We ought to utter Thanksgiving in a way that it edifies the 438 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,120 church. Another question, all right, 439 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:08,040 because again, in these circles you were told these things, like 440 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,840 I've heard this over about expositional preaching as well. 441 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:14,880 Does emphasizing the mind quench the Spirit? 442 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,680 Does emphasizing the mind quench the Spirit? 443 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,240 Not at all, right? Not at all. 444 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:26,800 The Spirit authored Scripture, 2nd Corinthians 121, right? 445 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,200 We see there that the Spirit gave utterance and holy men 446 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,440 wrote these things down. The Spirit illumines 447 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,600 understanding, right? The Spirit gives us the ability 448 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,680 to understand. 1st Corinthians 212 through 13 taught us that 449 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,480 clarity is not the enemy of the Spirit. 450 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,120 In fact, confusion is the enemy of the Spirit. 451 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:51,720 We'll see that more next week. And so our prayers, if you're 452 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:56,280 thinking about how to apply this teaching to our lives, our 453 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,920 prayers should be biblically rich, yet simple enough that new 454 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,880 believers can say along with us. Amen. 455 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,680 Amen to that, right. They ought to be able to agree. 456 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:13,080 Our songs should teach Colossians 316, very much like 457 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,960 Ephesians teaches that our songs should teach one another. 458 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,360 They should rehearse the truths of the gospel in such a way that 459 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:23,760 we're learning them, right? We're being reminded of these 460 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,000 things. Our hearts are being enraptured 461 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,800 in worship to God as we sing those things. 462 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:33,360 So we got a favor. Lyrical clarity over complexity. 463 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:39,880 All right, our preaching must aim at understanding, not verbal 464 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,880 fireworks, right? Our our preaching must aim at 465 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,920 the the the heart and the mind and the hands and feet of the 466 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:51,240 listener, right? 5 clear words can do more good 467 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:57,600 than 10,000 impressive ones. As parents, another application 468 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,880 point, we should model intelligible prayer for our 469 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,880 children. All right, If you're training 470 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,480 your children to love the Lord and you're praying with them, 471 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,400 you should pray in a way that they understand it. 472 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,600 All right? Maybe you have the ability to 473 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:17,840 pray, you know, really smart prayers, right, that use big 474 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,520 words and you understand those things. 475 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,920 When you pray with your child, you grab the hand of your child 476 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,320 and you pray with them. Pray in a way that they can 477 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,720 understand it, that they know the God of heaven is going to 478 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,040 war with them for them, that He's on their side. 479 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:32,760 All right. We should do so at the table and 480 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,080 at their bedside. And as we go along the way, 481 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,320 Deuteronomy 6/6 and seven show us we should disciple little 482 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,480 minds with clear truth. It'll be clear in the truth that 483 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,760 we teach to little minds. The second thing we come to is 484 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,640 pursue maturity that builds up the body. 485 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,000 Pursue maturity that builds up the body. 486 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,440 So again, three of the points that Paul has laid out for us 487 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:03,240 over these last few chapters is or, or this tongues was not a 488 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:07,360 gift for all believers. It just wasn't right, which is 489 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,320 again, not clearly taught in many of the circles who practice 490 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,320 these things today, right? It's it's taught us something 491 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,960 that everyone should do, right? There's even some denominations, 492 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,920 United Pentecostals do this, that when you're baptized and 493 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,280 you come up out of the tank, there will be people surrounding 494 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,400 you praying in tongues so that you too will then pray in 495 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,720 tongues. All right, It's part of your 496 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,920 baptism. But tongues wasn't for all 497 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,120 believers. It's given sovereignly by God 498 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,440 through the Spirit. We saw that in chapter 12, verse 499 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,520 11. We also see that tongues are not 500 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,680 connected to the baptism of Spirit, right? 501 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,320 All believers receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 502 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,360 You see this in Ephesians 1, Ephesians chapter 1. 503 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:53,880 You see this in First Corinthians 12/13. 504 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,480 All believers receive the baptism of the Spirit, meaning 505 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,920 we all have been washed as Titus 35 says, with the washing of 506 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,320 regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. 507 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,600 It's required in your salvation that there is a spiritual 508 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,640 baptism that takes place. This is what awakens you from 509 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,960 the dead, right? This is what gives your, gives 510 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,200 life to your heart. This is what grants you a right 511 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,480 spirit with God, all right, It's through the baptism of the 512 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,320 Spirit and all believers have received the baptism of the 513 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,000 Spirit. Otherwise they would not be 514 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:31,120 believers. The third thing is Paul is 515 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:36,160 clearly showing us here that tongues are not, not a superior 516 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:41,200 sign spiritually, right? That they're misusing it in a 517 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,920 way he's showing them here's there's much higher gifts, 518 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:45,920 right? The gift of love was the one 519 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:49,120 that he really clung to. But this is that you should 520 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:54,400 pursue A pursue the spiritual gifts, but earnestly desire that 521 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:58,000 which is most higher, which is a love for the body of Christ. 522 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,160 So tongues is an inferior gift, right? 523 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:11,720 In verse 5, we saw that so they were experienced in evil, right? 524 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,640 And we see this in verse 20 where he says, brothers, do not 525 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,560 be children in your thinking be infants and evil, but in your 526 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,320 thinking be mature. And the law is written by people 527 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,560 of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners. 528 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,680 Will I speak to this people? And even they will not listen to 529 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,440 me, says the Lord. Those tongues are a sign not for 530 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,000 believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for 531 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,440 unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church 532 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,920 comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or 533 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:45,000 unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your 534 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,160 minds? Right. 535 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,720 So they're experienced in evil, but they're lacking wisdom. 536 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:55,520 He's encouraging them here. Think carefully about this gift 537 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,880 of tongues. Think carefully about the way 538 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,520 that you're employing this gift. Think carefully about it because 539 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:07,600 you're misusing it, right? Isaiah, when he quotes, when he 540 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,160 says in the law it is written, he's quoting Isaiah 2811 through 541 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:14,360 12, which show that foreign tongues among Israel were a sign 542 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:18,840 of judgment, right, because they had refused clear prophetic 543 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,640 word. God said, in effect, you 544 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:24,800 wouldn't listen when I spoke plainly. 545 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,560 You will now hear unintelligible speech as a sign of your 546 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:32,120 hardness. And so Paul draws this line from 547 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,720 what's happening in Isaiah to what's happening in Corinth, 548 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,520 that uninterpreted tongues function as a judgment and 549 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,000 confusion, not as a blessing, All right? 550 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,960 It's not a blessing. That's if outsiders walk in and 551 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,520 hear everyone speaking in languages they cannot 552 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,520 understand. They will say you are out of 553 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,280 your minds, all right? And they have a right to say 554 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,440 this, right? That's what it appears to look 555 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,680 like in Acts chapter 2, though when tongues first arrived on 556 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,280 the scene in the early church, there was no confusion, all 557 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:08,920 right? There was no disarray. 558 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:13,600 There was no lack of peace. And we read there that everyone 559 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,040 understood in his own language the mysteries of God that were 560 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,000 being declared to them in their own tongues, All right? 561 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,320 So it's not the gift of ears, all right? 562 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:25,440 There's no such thing as the gift of ears. 563 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,800 But some have interpreted Acts, too, to be that Peter spoke, and 564 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,840 now everyone hears it in their own language. 565 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,880 That would be the gift of ears, not tongues, right? 566 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,080 No, these men were filled with the Spirit of God. 567 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,440 They go out proclaiming the mysteries of God in a language 568 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,160 that they previously did not know. 569 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:46,440 And so that everyone hears in their own language, right? 570 00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,680 So there's no confusion, there's no chaos. 571 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,640 But in Corinth there is much chaos. 572 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,800 John MacArthur used the term charismatic chaos, right? 573 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:03,160 So what does verse 22 mean? Tongues are a sign not for 574 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,520 believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not 575 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:09,199 from unbelievers but for believers. 576 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,600 On Isaiah's context, foreign speech signaled judgment on 577 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,520 unbelief. This is applied in Corinth. 578 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,880 Uninterpreted tongues are not evangelistic. 579 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,679 They signal divine displeasure by producing confusion within 580 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:30,120 the body of Christ. So the blessing of that sign, 581 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,040 the blessing of the gift of tongues, is that God would build 582 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,880 a new nation of Jews and Gentiles, that He would build a 583 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,040 new nation of believers who had Jewish backgrounds and Gentile 584 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,360 backgrounds, right? Meaning He would call them all 585 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:51,480 together as one people of God, as Ephesians 2 and 3 show us. 586 00:34:52,040 --> 00:35:00,640 Yeah, 2 and 3, Romans 3-4 and five teach much of the same 587 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,640 truths. Prophecy, however, that clear, 588 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:09,240 intelligible proclamation that serves believers by edifying 589 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:10,720 them. And we're going to see in a 590 00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:15,400 moment that it, it also powerfully exposes and draws 591 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,920 unbelievers to the Lord as well, right? 592 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:22,040 A clear proclamation of God's Word in Ephesians 4, four 593 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,600 through 16. Maturity means we grow up into 594 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:29,040 Christ by speaking the truth in love, to build the body. 595 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,600 In Hebrews 511 through 14 we see that immaturity is dullness of 596 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,520 hearing. Maturity, however, discerns by 597 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:40,520 practice and Acts 2, four through 11. 598 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,440 When the gift of tongues arrives, it was recognizable 599 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:47,040 languages declaring God's works to those Jews who had been 600 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:52,560 dispersed. 1st Corinthians 122 Jews demand signs. 601 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,440 This wasn't an encouragement. All right, Paul is correcting 602 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,400 them. Jews demand signs that sign 603 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:05,760 language without faith often hardens hearts. 604 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:11,880 So our tongues always known human languages and acts. 605 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:17,280 Yes, hearers from many nations say we hear in our own tongues, 606 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,280 we hear in our own languages in Corinth. 607 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,840 Whatever the phenomenon is, though, it does seem like they 608 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,240 may have adopted Pagan as ecstatic speech from their 609 00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:31,520 previous religious practices. Paul's public rule is simple. 610 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,320 If the tongue is not interpreted, it must be silent, 611 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,360 it must not be uttered. The purpose of the gathered 612 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:43,360 church is edification, not display, right? 613 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:47,440 It's not putting on the show. It's it's not showing my my 614 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:49,760 great gifts that God's given me, right? 615 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,880 That calls glory to myself rather than glory to Christ 616 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:59,720 who's unified us. In verse 22, it said there those 617 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:02,480 tongues are assigned not for believers, but for unbelievers. 618 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,840 So we have the we should ask this question. 619 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,760 Does verse 22 mean that tongues are for evangelism? 620 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:15,560 Not necessarily, but possibly. Uninterpreted tongues are a sign 621 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,800 of judgments in Isaiah 28. Evangelism requires 622 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,800 understanding, which means that you may go proclaim the 623 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,160 language, proclaim the Gospels, in a language previously unknown 624 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:27,600 to you, through the gift of tongues. 625 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:29,920 Evangelism requires understanding. 626 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,640 We see that in Romans 1014 through 17. 627 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:38,080 All right, The gospel flourishes through clear words. 628 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,520 Another question, are we quenching the Spirit by 629 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,480 insisting on clarity and order? It's a similar to is Paul 630 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:47,520 quenching the Spirit by insisting on the mind? 631 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:51,520 Well, Scripture says the opposite and and verse 33 of 632 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,200 chapter 14, which we haven't got to yet, we'll get there next 633 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:56,240 week. But he says God is not a God of 634 00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:00,080 confusion, but of peace. All things should be done 635 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,400 decently and in order. And verse 40. 636 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,680 So order is a fruit of the Spirit's presence. 637 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:13,160 It's not a it's not a fruit of his absence, right Where the 638 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:17,160 Spirit of the Lord is, we read that there is freedom or the 639 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,560 Spirit of the Lord is we might rightly conclude also that there 640 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:25,960 is order, there's peace, right. So again, some application 641 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,400 points. This is one of the things we 642 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,280 think there is elders and various leaders in the church. 643 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:36,480 We want to design services or whether it's a service or 644 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,320 training or whatever, we want to design them for comprehension. 645 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,120 We want people to rightly understand. 646 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,040 We want there to be clear scripture readings, explained 647 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,080 prayers, well introduced songs, sermons that connect the dots 648 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:53,360 for the listener. All right, as members, when you 649 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:56,160 pray publicly, think of the room that you're in. 650 00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:58,480 Think of the people you're praying with. 651 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,640 Avoid insider jargon, right? Explain references, aim for the 652 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,800 good of the many. If you pray something from the 653 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,120 word, the word of the Lord, which you should often 654 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,720 incorporate the word of the Lord in your prayers so that you know 655 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:14,320 you're praying according to his will. 656 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,920 As you do that, explain it even in the prayer, right? 657 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:20,760 I'm not saying make the prayer sermon, but just make it clear 658 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,880 what we're praying for as small group leaders, right? 659 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,200 We want to give the sense of what the text says. 660 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,600 We want people to understand what's being said. 661 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:37,080 You might even ask questions like how will this build the 662 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:39,840 others around me as I teach this right? 663 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:41,920 I want to make sure I'm encouraging. 664 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,040 I want to make sure I'm edifying of what I'm saying. 665 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,720 Finally, we come to this point proclaim Christ clearly the 666 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:54,520 outsiders. This is possibly the strongest 667 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,080 point that Paul makes in this whole section. 668 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,480 He says, but if all prophecy and an unbeliever outsiders enters. 669 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:08,080 He is convicted by all, He is called to account by all the 670 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,640 secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on 671 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:16,240 his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really 672 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:20,880 among you. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord 673 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:25,160 for that. When God's truth is plainly 674 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:30,640 spoken, when it's plainly proclaimed, the Spirit wields 675 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:33,360 the Word to do at least three things in the unbeliever. 676 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,080 The first we see there is conviction, right? 677 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,480 The Spirit brings about conviction. 678 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,280 John 16 teaches us, too, about the Spirit. 679 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,080 When Jesus is explaining what the Spirit will come to do, one 680 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,320 of the things he highlights is conviction. 681 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:52,520 He comes to convict sinners. The Word exposes sin, right? 682 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:58,320 Again, this is what makes people who are ungodly, people who are 683 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:02,760 unbelievers, so angry at the spoken word of God, at the clear 684 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:06,280 presentation of God's word is it's a convicting thing. 685 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,800 They're trying as hard as they can to actively suppress the 686 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,520 truth. Romans one tells us. 687 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,640 And when the word is clearly proclaimed, their fingers are 688 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,880 being pried away from that suppression and they get angry 689 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:22,040 about it often, right? It enrages them. 690 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,600 You think about Stephen in chapter in Acts chapter 6 and 691 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,840 his martyrdom, right? As he's proclaiming boldly the 692 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,360 truths of God's Word. I mean, he's just, he's just 693 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:33,920 preaching through the Old Testament. 694 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:35,880 I mean, he's given a great summary of what the Old 695 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:40,200 Testament teaches us about God and why Christ is the Messiah. 696 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:43,920 And it says there that the people begin to gnash their 697 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:48,080 teeth at him. Gnash their teeth. 698 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:52,440 They're angry, right? They begin to seethe with anger, 699 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,280 so much so that they picked up stones and they threw them at 700 00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:02,000 him until he was dead and they murdered him over the truth of 701 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:07,320 God's Word. So conviction is one thing that 702 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:12,000 the Spirit does through the proclaimed Word. 703 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,520 Another thing that he does is it brings about accountability, 704 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:21,960 right? Paul says that the unbeliever 705 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:26,400 outsider who enters and hears this prophecy of God's Word is 706 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:32,120 called to account by all. So the Word places him under 707 00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:36,320 God's verdict. This is a fearful thing for the 708 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:37,880 unbeliever. It ought to be a fearful thing 709 00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:41,360 for us as believers. We're resting in Christ because 710 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:45,960 we understand that God is going to issue a verdict one day and I 711 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:49,920 will be found guilty if I'm not covered by the blood of Christ, 712 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:54,240 right? And so they feel the sense of 713 00:42:54,240 --> 00:42:56,440 this verdict, they're being held accountable. 714 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,320 So it's conviction. And the conviction leads to this 715 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:02,960 understanding of accountability. Oh wait, I'm accountable for my 716 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,560 sins. It's not the way I was raised. 717 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,880 It's not my parents fault. It's not my grandparents fault, 718 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,400 all right? It's my fault. 719 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,920 I'm accountable for my sins before the Lord. 720 00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:20,160 And so God's Word places the unbeliever, the outsider, under 721 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:24,720 God's verdict. The third thing the Spirit does 722 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,920 through the proclaimed word is disclosure, right? 723 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:33,200 The Word it says here the secrets of his heart are 724 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,000 disclosed. The Word unveils the heart's 725 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,440 secrets, right? We see in Hebrews chapter 4 726 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,400 verse 12 that the Word of God is living and active, that it's 727 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,880 sharper than any double edged sword. 728 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:49,600 It's living and active. Brothers and sisters, when you 729 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,120 proclaim the Word of God, you're proclaiming something that is 730 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:55,120 living and active. That it's sharper than any 731 00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,960 double edged sword, that it pierces down to the very joints 732 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,240 and to the marrow of the person, right? 733 00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:05,560 It gets all the way down to the inside and it lays him bare 734 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:09,360 before God. It discloses the secrets of his 735 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:13,400 heart. They're unveiled before the 736 00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:16,960 Lord. So the effect on unbelievers 737 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:21,840 would be amazingly, amazingly powerful. 738 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:26,920 The gospel would be honored and souls would be converted to 739 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:29,800 worshipping God as the Word of God has proclaimed. 740 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,960 Clearly. That's why Paul is saying 5 741 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:39,320 words of prophecy are far better than 10,000 in a tongue does. 742 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:46,520 10,000 in the tongue will not bring about conviction and bring 743 00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:50,320 the listener into account that will not disclose the secrets of 744 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,680 his heart. Prophecy will. 745 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:58,000 The plainly spoken word of God will and the result of that 746 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:02,320 worship worship. Look what it brings the 747 00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:06,640 unbeliever to do the outsider. And so, falling on his face, he 748 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:11,080 will worship God and declare that God is really among you. 749 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:14,480 Is this not the story of all of us? 750 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:17,640 All right, as we heard the proclaimed word at some point in 751 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:22,000 our life as God worked conversion in us by His Spirit. 752 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,520 It was through conviction, right? 753 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:27,400 It was through being held accountable for our sins. 754 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,960 It was through the secrets of our heart being disclosed. 755 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:37,360 And what did we do? We fell on our face before God 756 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:44,320 and we worshipped Him and we thought, surely God is in my 757 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:48,120 midst right now. Surely God is in this place. 758 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:54,280 Surely God is really among you. That's the aim of gathered 759 00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,120 worship. The aim of gathered worship is 760 00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,880 not to entertain outsiders. We don't, we don't cater the 761 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:09,160 service to outsiders, right? The aim of worship is to reveal 762 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:14,000 God through His Word. It's to reveal God through the 763 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:18,440 spoken word. It's to bring clarity because 764 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:21,680 clarity is a conduit for that revelation. 765 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:26,200 Clarity is a conduit for helping people understand what the Word 766 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:31,480 of God is saying. So you may ask, well, what is 767 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:36,480 prophecy here? The prophecy is Spirit 768 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:40,480 empowered, intelligible proclamation that applies God's 769 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:45,400 revealed word to the moments for edification, encouragement, and 770 00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:48,840 consolation. The way that preachers and 771 00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:54,200 teachers prophecy today is to say, thus says the Lord, it's to 772 00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:56,920 hold up the word of God and to say this is what the word of the 773 00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:03,280 Lord says, and it is to give the sense of its meaning. 774 00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:07,440 It's to proclaim it in a way that people can understand it, 775 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:11,760 to bring about edification and encouragement and consolation. 776 00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:17,360 It's, it's forth telling more than foretelling, right? 777 00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:19,920 It's, it's being honest about what the word of God says. 778 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:23,440 It's not trying to hide it under a Bush so that you don't offend 779 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:25,600 people. That's, that's not important. 780 00:47:27,240 --> 00:47:29,920 It's forth telling more than foretelling. 781 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:33,840 It's truth that's being pressed on the conscience of the 782 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:38,160 listener and it's calling the listener to believe God's word 783 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:45,120 with boldness, with courage, with great faith, right? 784 00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:49,580 The preacher, the teacher, the parents, the spouse, the Co 785 00:47:49,580 --> 00:47:52,240 worker, the friend. They proclaim the truths of the 786 00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:56,600 word of God with confidence, with courage, with faith, and 787 00:47:56,600 --> 00:48:00,440 they entrust that he will give the increase. 788 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:05,680 They entrust that to God. They understand that our role, 789 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:11,120 remember way back early in First Corinthians, our role is to 790 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:16,240 plant seeds or to water seeds, But it's God's role to give the 791 00:48:16,240 --> 00:48:19,240 increase. God will give the increase when 792 00:48:19,240 --> 00:48:21,600 His truth is proclaimed. Clearly. 793 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:27,320 We see that here. All right, We see that here. 794 00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:31,840 So this month, just in a few days, marks my 11th year as lead 795 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:34,120 pastor here. And I praise God for that. 796 00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:37,640 But what I really praise God for is that He's allowed eleven 797 00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:42,120 years for me to be able to discern the fruit of the people, 798 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:44,240 right? Not all preachers get that 799 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:47,000 right. Not all preachers want that, 800 00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:51,000 just to be quite honest. Many want to up and go to the 801 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,640 next big thing, whatever that may be before things get tough. 802 00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,920 But God and His kindness has given us this time together over 803 00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:03,040 the last eleven years in which we've seen the fruit of 804 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:05,400 salvation. We've seen the fruit of 805 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:07,960 sanctification. We've even seen the fruit of 806 00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:10,600 glorification as we've had brothers and sisters go on to be 807 00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:13,320 with the Lord. We we see the fruit of these 808 00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:16,760 things, It's easy to discern in many of your lives. 809 00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:20,240 And that's not a Kyle thing. That's not another one of the 810 00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:23,680 other elders things. That's a word of God thing. 811 00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:28,480 That's proclaiming the word of God as clearly as we can try to, 812 00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:31,840 as clearly as we can, proclaim what the Word of God says and 813 00:49:31,840 --> 00:49:35,760 encourage you, implore you to believe God's word over man's 814 00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:37,480 word. Amen. 815 00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:41,760 And so we praise God that we've been able to see those things. 816 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,000 The test for that is always Scripture. 817 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,520 How do we know? If we're proclaiming clearly, 818 00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:55,600 what do the Scriptures say? What do the Scriptures say? 819 00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:59,120 And if what we're saying is not in line with the Scriptures, let 820 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:03,720 it be damned to hell. But if it is, let it bear fruit 821 00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:05,920 for eternity. Amen. 822 00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:10,560 Romans 10/17 Faith comes from hearing. 823 00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:15,160 Faith comes from hearing. Hearing comes from the Word of 824 00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:19,200 the Lord. First Thessalonians 15. 825 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,960 The gospel came not only in Word, but also in power and in 826 00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:25,520 the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. 827 00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:28,960 Hebrews 412. The word discerns the thoughts 828 00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:33,800 and intentions of the heart. 2nd Corinthians 520 In proclamation, 829 00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:40,680 we are ambassadors and God makes his appeal through us. 830 00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:48,400 So there's been a movement in churches over the last couple of 831 00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:52,920 decades, really, really longer. It's been really since you've 832 00:50:52,920 --> 00:50:55,720 seen it. It started in the 80s really so 833 00:50:55,720 --> 00:50:58,800 much more than a couple of decades, but we've seen it very 834 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:01,480 prevalent. It's it's definitely risen in 835 00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:03,160 popularity. Hence the it's what we would 836 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,760 call the seeker sensitive movements, right? 837 00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:09,840 So you read a text like this and you think, well, should churches 838 00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:11,920 make Sunday services seek or sensitive? 839 00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:20,920 My answer to that is no, we should make services Scripture 840 00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:25,400 sensitive. God's presence is what convicts 841 00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,640 and saves. God's word is what convicts and 842 00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:31,640 saves. We should speak plainly. 843 00:51:32,080 --> 00:51:35,520 We should explain the terms, but we should always center the 844 00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:40,360 meaning on God. We should center the purpose of 845 00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:44,680 the service on the edification of His people, not on the 846 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:47,200 unconverted. Though I praise God when 847 00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:51,360 unconverted people are with us, I want unconverted people to 848 00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:55,600 hear the word of God truthfully. I want them to hear it 849 00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,840 proclaimed boldly. I want them to have the sense of 850 00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:02,880 its meaning and to sense to to know the conviction and 851 00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:06,600 accountability of the Spirit that He would disclose the 852 00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:09,280 secrets of their hearts before them and they would turn to the 853 00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:11,680 Lord in salvation. We want that. 854 00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:15,320 And so we know that to have that, we must center the me the 855 00:52:15,320 --> 00:52:18,280 meaning of our meetings on God Himself. 856 00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:24,320 Clear proclamation builds the church. 857 00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:29,880 It equips believers for witness throughout the week. 858 00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:36,200 All right, when we come together on Sunday mornings on the Lord's 859 00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:39,720 Day, it's part of our Sabbath rest. 860 00:52:40,240 --> 00:52:41,520 You think, well, man, this isn't restful. 861 00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:43,160 We get up early, we show up to serve. 862 00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:46,280 We show up to, you know, it's, it's part of the Sabbath rest. 863 00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:48,960 It's spiritually restful for you. 864 00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:55,840 It's part of God's work in your life to remind you, to remind 865 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,720 you that though the world is chaotic out there, though your 866 00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:02,760 lives may be chaotic out there, when you come here, you see 867 00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:07,200 Christ is on the throne. He's raining from heaven above. 868 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:11,880 His purposes will not be thwarted, right? 869 00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:15,840 He's using me to accomplish His purposes in the world as I 870 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:19,080 submit my life to Him. It's to be encouraged. 871 00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:21,680 It's to be edified. It's to be strengthened so that 872 00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:25,240 as you go back out those doors, you carry Christ into your 873 00:53:25,240 --> 00:53:27,680 world. You carry them into your homes, 874 00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:30,600 into your workplaces, you carry them into your families, you 875 00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:34,840 carry them to your children and all the above, right? 876 00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:39,640 Whatever I'm missing into your schools or you carry Christ to 877 00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:42,680 back with you. And you say I'm committing my 878 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:46,600 life to Christ because I heard the word proclaimed truthfully 879 00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:49,480 on Sunday. I heard it proclaimed on the 880 00:53:49,480 --> 00:53:52,840 Lord's Day. And he is worthy of my effort. 881 00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:57,760 He is worthy of my worship. He is worthy of my best today. 882 00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:00,680 All right, you think that on Monday morning. 883 00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:03,600 You think it on Tuesday morning and Wednesday and Thursday and 884 00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:06,400 Friday and Saturday. And then on Sunday you come back 885 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:09,680 and you, you exhale, you breathe, you worship the Lord 886 00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:12,880 alongside the congregation. You understand I am not alone in 887 00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:17,120 this effort, right? I'm committed to the same things 888 00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:19,280 that many of the people beside me are committed to. 889 00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:24,720 And the Lord is going to bless those efforts because He loves 890 00:54:24,720 --> 00:54:27,600 His people. He works all things together for 891 00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:29,960 the good of those who love Him and are called according to His 892 00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:31,600 purpose. And that's you. 893 00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:36,720 If you're a believer and you can trust that, all right, you can 894 00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:38,600 be encouraged to go live for the Lord. 895 00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:41,600 So we don't make services seeker sensitive at all. 896 00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:44,120 We want them to be scripture sensitive. 897 00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,840 We want to expect outsiders every Sunday. 898 00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:52,800 I want, I want there to be unbelievers here every Sunday so 899 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:56,520 that we can make the gospel explicit in our sermons and in 900 00:54:56,520 --> 00:55:03,920 our prayers and in our songs. You want to teach your teens and 901 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:09,800 your kids to listen for the So what in a sermon, right? 902 00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:12,320 You want to teach them to listen to what the word of the Lord 903 00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:15,320 says, but you want to teach them to also listen for those calls 904 00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,720 to repentance and faith. Nudge and pay attention here, 905 00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:25,760 right? In your testimony, you're 906 00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:27,920 sharing what the work of the Lord has been in your life, 907 00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:31,240 whether it's in salvation or the overcoming of some trial and 908 00:55:31,240 --> 00:55:35,400 temptation, whatever it may be in your testimony, move quickly. 909 00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:39,080 Move quickly to Christ, crucified and risen. 910 00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:46,480 I overcame such and such because Christ is crucified and risen, 911 00:55:47,240 --> 00:55:52,840 right? I left my previous Pagan worship 912 00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:56,720 and I came to Christ. He saved me because he is 913 00:55:56,720 --> 00:56:01,480 crucified and risen. We want to be clear about Jesus 914 00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:04,960 when we share our testimony. Your testimony is not a glorying 915 00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:07,400 in self. And so often testimonies in 916 00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:13,480 churches, testimonies in public events are more about the glory 917 00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:16,400 of the person than they are about the Savior. 918 00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:21,480 Let Christ receive the glory in your testimony. 919 00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:24,640 Don't let it be about the drama of your story, but let it be 920 00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:29,480 about who says. And friend, if you're here as an 921 00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:36,920 outsider today, if you're here as an unbeliever, and this word 922 00:56:36,920 --> 00:56:43,080 today is God's kindness to you, he already knows the secrets of 923 00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:49,800 your heart. And the cross where Christ was 924 00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:53,800 crucified for our sins announces the verdict that you deserve 925 00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:59,400 death, but it also announces great mercy. 926 00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:05,120 Your sin deserves death. Yet Jesus bore that death, and 927 00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:10,120 he rose again, so that you may be forgiven of your sins, so 928 00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:13,600 that you may know Christ and him crucified, so that you may walk 929 00:57:13,600 --> 00:57:20,440 in fellowship with God on high. And so today would you repent 930 00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:23,640 and believe? Would you repent of your sins 931 00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:26,600 and believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all? 932 00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:29,720 Would you lay your life before Him, just as we see in this 933 00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:34,200 text, falling on his face? He will worship God and declare 934 00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:38,240 that God is really among you. Would you lay your life down 935 00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:44,080 before him and confess that God is really among you? 936 00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:48,840 Today I want you to know that Christ will receive you. 937 00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:52,840 That God will receive you because of what His Son has 938 00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:57,560 accomplished on the cross. He welcomes you to Himself. 939 00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:04,520 To conclude, I want to talk for a moment about why clarity 940 00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:07,720 matters. Why does clarity matter so much? 941 00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:10,240 Why is Paul making such a stink about clarity? 942 00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:13,840 I want you to understand it's more than just the misuse of the 943 00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:21,680 gift of tongues. That's that's the issue that 944 00:58:21,680 --> 00:58:23,720 that's the problem that he's addressing. 945 00:58:24,720 --> 00:58:28,600 It's the symptoms, so to speak, but it's not the disease. 946 00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:31,760 The disease was that they were being unclear. 947 00:58:31,840 --> 00:58:36,880 And clarity matters. It matters because God's 948 00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:42,120 character matters. God is a God of truth and order. 949 00:58:43,160 --> 00:58:47,080 He must be worshipped in truth and with order. 950 00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:50,760 It matters because of Scripture's nature. 951 00:58:51,840 --> 00:58:54,520 The Word, we're told, gives light. 952 00:58:56,680 --> 00:59:01,960 It's a light to our path. The Word also gives faith or 953 00:59:01,960 --> 00:59:09,080 creates faith. You may say clarity matters 954 00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:15,840 because of the church's mission. We are charged by Christ to make 955 00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:19,080 disciples by teaching all that Christ commanded. 956 00:59:20,440 --> 00:59:22,720 That's not merely the red letters. 957 00:59:22,720 --> 00:59:27,360 Jesus is the Word Incarnate. It's all the Scriptures, and so 958 00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:31,800 we want to teach what the Word of God says so that we can make 959 00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:36,840 disciples who love Christ above all else and who love their 960 00:59:36,840 --> 00:59:40,240 neighbor. We want to glorify God in this. 961 00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:44,360 Clarity matters also because of Love's aim. 962 00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:50,960 In First Corinthians 13 five, we were told love does not insist 963 00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:55,160 on its own way. It doesn't insist on its own 964 00:59:55,160 --> 00:59:58,720 way, but it seeks the good of many. 965 01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:05,080 Therefore, a love of God and a love for your brothers and 966 01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:08,120 sisters in the Lord, a love for your neighbor who is 967 01:00:08,120 --> 01:00:13,360 unbelieving, requires that we choose clarity over novelty. 968 01:00:14,480 --> 01:00:19,000 It requires that we be clear and that we worship God through 969 01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:23,640 clarity. I rejoice with all of you that 970 01:00:23,640 --> 01:00:27,680 God still answers prayers. I rejoice with all of you that 971 01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:31,320 God still heals people. I rejoice with all of you that 972 01:00:31,320 --> 01:00:34,200 God works mightily in the world today. 973 01:00:35,320 --> 01:00:39,440 And at the same time we rejoice that Scripture gives regulative 974 01:00:39,640 --> 01:00:43,040 wisdom for us in the gathered church. 975 01:00:43,080 --> 01:00:45,840 Uninterpreted speech has no place. 976 01:00:47,120 --> 01:00:50,400 What is often called tongues today is frequently not 977 01:00:50,400 --> 01:00:57,080 recognizably human languages. Whatever our experiences, our 978 01:00:57,080 --> 01:01:03,320 rule is the Apostolic rule. Our rule is Apostolic clarity. 979 01:01:03,560 --> 01:01:08,320 Love for God, love for people, aims at edification, and 980 01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:10,680 edification requires intelligibility. 981 01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:13,800 It requires that we understand what's being said. 982 01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:18,120 And so we neither despise claims of spiritual experience nor do 983 01:01:18,120 --> 01:01:21,200 we build our worship on these claims of spiritual experience. 984 01:01:21,480 --> 01:01:25,000 We test all things and we hold fast to what is good. 985 01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:28,720 That's First Thessalonians 519 through 21. 986 01:01:28,720 --> 01:01:32,120 Teach us. And so we center our services, 987 01:01:32,120 --> 01:01:36,160 we center our worship, we center our lies on the clear word of 988 01:01:36,160 --> 01:01:41,760 Christ Church. Let us grow up into Christ. 989 01:01:42,840 --> 01:01:46,720 Pray and proclaim with understanding is we should be 990 01:01:46,720 --> 01:01:51,200 heat and light together so that it's a benefit to those around 991 01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:54,400 us. Pursue maturity that builds up 992 01:01:54,400 --> 01:01:57,160 love, chooses clarity over novelty. 993 01:01:57,560 --> 01:02:01,080 Proclaim Christ clearly to outsiders so that consciences 994 01:02:01,240 --> 01:02:04,800 are pierced and worship rises to God. 995 01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:09,160 And always remember that the Spirit empowers clear 996 01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:13,240 proclamation that builds up the church and brings unbelievers 997 01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:16,160 face to face with the living God. 998 01:02:17,360 --> 01:02:21,840 May the Spirit make us a people of clear words, may make us a 999 01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:26,920 people of strong love so that every Sunday someone walks away 1000 01:02:26,920 --> 01:02:30,160 saying, surely God is among them. 1001 01:02:31,160 --> 01:02:33,520 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you 1002 01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:39,800 today for your word. It's interesting to me, Father, 1003 01:02:39,800 --> 01:02:44,520 that this can be one of those texts that we would say is hard 1004 01:02:44,520 --> 01:02:52,000 to discern, that it's not clear, and yet it's one in which you're 1005 01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:56,720 literally teaching clarity to the body of Christ, the 1006 01:02:56,720 --> 01:02:59,720 importance of clarity, the importance of the proclaimed 1007 01:02:59,960 --> 01:03:06,640 Word. And Father, what gets revealed 1008 01:03:06,640 --> 01:03:12,120 through this, when people would say that this text just isn't 1009 01:03:12,120 --> 01:03:17,040 very clear, part of what gets revealed is that we have hearts 1010 01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:19,560 that do not want to obey your Word. 1011 01:03:21,160 --> 01:03:26,280 And so when a word is spoken clearly, we say it's not clear 1012 01:03:28,880 --> 01:03:31,120 to Lord. Would you help us, each of us, 1013 01:03:32,200 --> 01:03:35,960 to submit ourselves to Christ, to submit ourselves to your 1014 01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:40,720 Spirit, to work towards clarity in our lives? 1015 01:03:44,400 --> 01:03:50,440 Help us to see that your Word, Your Word, is inspired by your 1016 01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:53,800 Spirit. That's given to us as a help. 1017 01:03:54,760 --> 01:03:57,880 It's given to us to bring us to salvation. 1018 01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:03,200 It's given to us to create godliness in our lives, to lead 1019 01:04:03,200 --> 01:04:06,640 us into sanctification, to help us grow by the Spirit of God. 1020 01:04:07,520 --> 01:04:11,240 It's given to us that we might run this race well, that we 1021 01:04:11,240 --> 01:04:15,000 might endure trials of various kinds, that we might walk with 1022 01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:19,360 God and one day be glorified with Him. 1023 01:04:24,880 --> 01:04:29,480 Lord, would you help us to love your word, to hold it up above 1024 01:04:29,480 --> 01:04:34,080 the words of man, to submit our lives to it, to check every 1025 01:04:34,080 --> 01:04:37,200 thought of our own heart, every thought of our own mind against 1026 01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:42,840 it, to see whether or not it is true, Not your word, but our 1027 01:04:42,840 --> 01:04:49,280 thoughts. Or help us to be like the 1028 01:04:49,280 --> 01:04:53,680 Bereans, that as we study your word, as we hear it proclaimed, 1029 01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:55,960 we've been tested against the word of Godfather. 1030 01:05:02,160 --> 01:05:07,560 I thank you for making a people here who love your word, who 1031 01:05:07,560 --> 01:05:10,160 hold it in such high regard in their lives. 1032 01:05:11,600 --> 01:05:15,120 And though we are unfaithful at times, we have found you to be 1033 01:05:15,120 --> 01:05:18,520 always faithful, abounding and steadfast. 1034 01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:23,520 Love. But God, we thank you that one 1035 01:05:23,520 --> 01:05:27,680 of the fruits of the presence of your spirit and us is that we 1036 01:05:27,920 --> 01:05:33,880 love the word of God and we strive to to submit ourselves to 1037 01:05:33,880 --> 01:05:43,470 it in our in our lives. I thank you for blessing us with 1038 01:05:43,470 --> 01:05:46,750 that sort of mindset, that sort of heart. 1039 01:05:49,750 --> 01:05:54,870 Father, I pray for anyone in here who may be an outsider, who 1040 01:05:54,870 --> 01:06:05,080 may be an unbeliever. Board, would you convict them of 1041 01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:09,640 their sins? Would you hold them to account? 1042 01:06:11,880 --> 01:06:14,640 Would you disclose the secrets of their heart before them 1043 01:06:14,640 --> 01:06:18,160 today, that they might flee to Christ? 1044 01:06:19,040 --> 01:06:22,120 The only one who is powerful to save, the only one who is said 1045 01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:30,080 to be mighty to save. As Peter wrote, Lord, would you 1046 01:06:30,080 --> 01:06:32,760 save them from their sins? Would you grant them new life in 1047 01:06:32,760 --> 01:06:39,960 Christ Jesus? It's in the name of Christ I 1048 01:06:39,960 --> 01:06:42,560 pray, Amen. I'm going to give you a moment 1049 01:06:42,560 --> 01:06:46,040 there in your seat to pray and to seek the Lord. 1050 01:07:31,040 --> 01:07:34,760 Lord, we love you. We thank You that your Spirit 1051 01:07:34,760 --> 01:07:38,720 still moves among us. We thank You that your Word is 1052 01:07:38,720 --> 01:07:44,400 living and active. It convicts and draws us to 1053 01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:50,880 account, discloses the secrets of our hearts, that even as 1054 01:07:50,880 --> 01:07:53,600 believers we're still wrestling with this flesh. 1055 01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:56,400 We're wrestling with evil desires. 1056 01:07:56,400 --> 01:07:59,640 We're wrestling with sinful passions. 1057 01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:03,360 Lord, would you help us to put those to death today by your 1058 01:08:03,360 --> 01:08:07,560 Spirit, as Romans 813 teach us, help us to mortify the deeds of 1059 01:08:07,560 --> 01:08:15,480 the flesh. We thank you for your word and 1060 01:08:15,480 --> 01:08:19,680 for its clarity. We thank you for its instruction 1061 01:08:19,680 --> 01:08:24,160 and its help to us. It's in the name of Christ I 1062 01:08:24,160 --> 01:08:25,200 pray. Amen.