Epistles of Paul 44

Good evening, brethren. The Church in Corinthian, as I've mentioned before, they had many spiritual gifts. In chapter 12, Paul is addressing the subject of spiritual gifts. He is showing that gifts are there for the benefit of everyone. We see that in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 7.

He says, but the manifestation of gift is given to each one for the prophet of all. So the gifts are for the benefit of the whole Church, is for that purpose. And then, in verse 11, he explains that God, through his Spirit, distributes the gifts amongst the members as he was, as he sees fit. So God knows what he wants to achieve, what is the end result that he wants to have, and he knows to whom to give what gifts. So, and in very similar that he also puts members in the body as he pleases. We can see that in verse 18. He says, but God has set the members, each one of them, in the body as he pleases. So members are in the body as he pleases. He then gives each member gifts, spiritual gifts, as he pleases, as he wills. And then he uses the analogies, just like the body has various members. The actual physical body, the members are not fighting one against another. If a member is fighting one against another, then it is a problem in the body. That's, for instance, how some diseases are called autoimmune diseases, when it looks like the system of immunization is fighting against the body itself. So it's actually a very serious illness. And so, the body should be cooperating. Every member in the body should be cooperating. And that's why it says in verse 25 that, therefore, there should be no schism or no division in the body, and so that we all care for one another. We care for the body, for the well-being of the body. So we all work together for that purpose. And so God gives various gifts. He apportions them as he wishes to different members. He has members in the body as he pleases. In other words, each one's got his own task, responsibility, not only now, but he's viewing well into the future. So he's got a plan well into the future, so he knows God what he's doing. But then Paul also then says, at the end of verse 31 of chapter 12, that there is a need for us to desire, sure, the best gifts, but also there is a more excellent way. Because, yeah, we can desire different gifts, but are we using these gifts properly? And so in chapter 13, he goes about, which is what we covered last week, he goes about how we are to use these gifts in a godly, outgoing way, in a way that is caring and loving towards one another. So that is the way how to use these gifts. And so that's the attitude. We got to use them, and we got to have the right intent, we got to use, we're going to apply. And so we recognize as we have these different spiritual gifts that God gives us, that we're going to use them in the right loving way. And then he concludes the chapter that these three abide. That is chapter 13. These abide faith, hope, and love. Now, we know that there are key attributes in our spiritual growth, and the big ones, the big ones, these are important, very big ones, are faith, hope, and love. If we just briefly, so let's just keep our fingers in 1 Corinthians 13, but if we briefly go to Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11, which is what we call the faith chapter, and if we read first in verse 6, we see that without faith, it is impossible to please God. We gotta have faith. Faith is, in a sense, like one of the first building blocks. Now, we understand that fear is the beginning of wisdom, but in this context of pleasing God, faith is absolutely key. It's without faith, it's impossible to please God. And then in verse 1, he adds, in verse 1 of Hebrews 11, he adds that faith, faith is the substance, as it says, faith is the substance of the things we hope for. In other words, faith is the actual thing of it, the realization of what we hope.

It's actually the execution, the way, the realization of what we hope. And then he adds, and he says, it's the evidence of things that we don't see. If we have faith, it proves that we are committed, even though we don't see it. And in the middle there, we can clearly see that he's talking about hope, because he's talking about faith is the substance of things we hope. So it's got faith, and there is also hope. Now, hope is like a bridge. Think about it.

It's a vision. It's an anchor. When we have a hope, it's something that we look onto, it we hold onto, and it's like a bridge. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 19, it puts it as it is an anchor. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 19 says, this hope we have as an anchor of our soul, of our life, of our being.

It anchors, because we got this hope, the hope of the kingdom, the hope of being children of God in his kingdom, and we hold on to that hope. It is absolutely important. So faith is like the first building block, and then we have the hope of what we're gonna be, right?

The bridge of what we're gonna be. And that's why, for instance, in 1st John chapter 3, 1st John chapter 3 verse 1, 2, and 3, 1st John chapter 3 verse 1, 2, and 3, it says, Behold, what man of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. So we already called the children of God, therefore the world does not know us, because we did not know him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

So the final outcome is not there yet, but we know that when he's revealed, when Christ comes, we shall be like him, like Christ, and we shall see Christ as he is. So we have this absolute trust in this hope, or faith in this hope, and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he's pure. So this hope is like an anchor that keeps us going and focused and and we're not going to give up because we keep in our mind this vision, the soap of what is the final outcome.

So the soap is like a motivation. A final outcome is to be like God is, and God is love. And so the desired outcome is to be like God is love. That's why these three faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of them all is love. And so let's go back now to 1 Corinthians, and we're going to go back to chapter 14, because we just finished reading chapter 13.

That's what we covered previously. And so now we go to chapter 14. Just to give you a very quick synopsis of chapter 14, I would just say that, okay, we usually like to title some of the chapters with with like a single word, and we know that chapter 13, we call it the love chapter. Chapter 14 is like we're calling it the tongues chapter. So in chapter 14, we could subdivide it into five sections, subdivided into five sections. So if you're taking notes from verse one through verse five, would be the first subsection, which is we need to communicate clearly.

We need to communicate clearly. The second subsection about tongues, or let's call it languages, it gives three examples that if we are to speak, it should be intelligible, it should be understandable. So it gives three examples of it being understandable, and that is from verse six to verse twelve. So let's just call that the second subsection. Then there is a third subsection of the tongues chapter, which is verse 13 through 19, which I could call it consequences of those who speak in different languages, right?

So consequences of speaking in languages in tongues. And then verse 20 through 25, it explains the benefit of tongues, or the gift of tongues specifically, which is for unbelievers, whilst preaching or prophesying is for the benefit of the Church. And then the fifth subsection is verse 26 through 36, which is an application for the Church, a general application for the Church, a general principle.

It's not specifics, but it's a general principle of application for the Church. And then it concludes this section in the last three chapters, 37, 38, 39, 40, or four chapters, 37 to 40, with a summary statement. So having therefore given you a quick overview of this chapter and explaining to you that it's got the five subsections. Let's cover the first subsection, which is from verse one to verse five, which is one of communicating clearly. It starts by saying in verse one, it says, pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. So pursue love basically means make love, make the outgoing concern of being like God, make that your aim, your goal.

Some translations actually put it make love your aim. Other translations even say let love be your highest goal. So it is not wrong to desire spiritual gifts, but they should be in the context of outgoing love and concern to apply them in a way that demonstrates love and concern. Now we very very well know scriptures like Matthew 6 verse 33. Matthew 6 33 says, seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In other words, seeking the kingdom of God and God's righteousness is our goal.

I usually refer to it as seeking the kingdom of God is the what and his righteousness is along the lines of how? Because God's righteousness is love. God is love. That's how God is. God is a loving God, a caring God, and he is so right, he's so righteous, he's so loving and caring that he is willing to suffer and die for us even though we are sinners and we are sinning.

That shows his righteousness. He's so right that even though we're wrong, he is right for us. So we've got to seek God's righteousness, and that is part of seeking the kingdom of God as our primary goal.

So our goal is therefore becoming like God, and that is pursuing godly love. Godly love, as we read in 1 Corinthians 13 verse 7, is a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. So it is a very special characteristic that we need to desire of a better way, a more excellent way, and that's why I say pursue that goal. Pursue that goal. Run after it. Another way of saying pursue. When you pursue somebody, that means you're running behind somebody. You're pursuing it. You're running. So that's our aim.

And then desire spiritual gifts. Yes, spiritual gifts are to be desired, but they are desired under the context of outgoing love for others, in other words, to serve others spiritually.

In other words, to edify other people, to exhort other people, to comfort other people, which is in contrast to just speaking in tongues. And if people don't understand it, if it's not intelligible, it's just a noise. It's just a noise. You just hear people talking, and you don't understand what they're saying. So, we desire special gifts or spiritual gifts, yes, but especially very important is that we prophesy. Now, why does he talk about prophesy in the context or in the comparing it to speaking in tongues? Because yeah, speaking in tongues can be a way of speaking if others don't understand it that is empty, whilst prophesy is speaking in a way that other people understand, and therefore it's edifying. So, what is prophesy? John Gill in his commentary says it's not so much the gift of foretelling future events like prophecy, but a gift of preaching the word or explaining prophecies of the Old Testament and praying and singing of songs. Okay, so that is one interpretation. In other words, you and I could say prophesy is inspired preaching or proclaiming publicly, but when we look at scriptures like 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 and 16, we could extend that meaning beyond just inspired preaching. For instance, in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15, it's talking about Yahweh, when people ask you questions because they see your example and the way we live.

So in 1 Peter 3 verse 15, it says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense, to explain to everybody. That's what people call apologetics. Defend the faith, defend what you believe, defend defense to everybody who asks you a reason of the hope that is in you. You see, we got this hope, we got this anchor, and when we have this hope, when we have this anchor, we are going to act different than the world. You see, the world is going to not have a hope, and so when things happen around the world, like they're happening now, and we are clearly in very serious, very, very serious times, we are on the verge of a big explosion. It really is around the door, and the militaries, the people are kind of positioning themselves. This is going to explode big time, and we have to have a hope. We have to have a hope. Now, when people ask us the reason of the hope that is in us, we got to answer them with meekness and godly fear, with humility, but this answering then, in a sense, is speaking God's word under the inspiration of God. We, and I'm not talking about as ministers, we're talking about, as brethren in the church, when people ask us, we need to be answering those that ask us the reason of the hope we have. We got to answer them why we have this hope, and what is beyond that? And in a sense, it is inspired preaching, but it's not from a pulpit. It's not a minister, but everybody can, in other words, give us, what should I call it, encouragement, edification, exhortation, comfort to other people, and that is prophesying. That is, in a sense, it's prophesying. It's, in other words, it's the practice of speaking about God's power, God's glory, in our discussions and conversations with other people, giving the respect, the due respect, the honor, the glory to God, and thereby we are helping, we are serving others to maybe one day turn to God, to build them up, to encourage them, to comfort them. And if you and I have this opportunity, we need this spiritual gift to say it in a way that will be uplifting, that will be encouraging, that will be edifying to that person.

So again, why does Paul bring this up in this when he's talking about tongues? Well, let's read Yah in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 2. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him.

You see, if you speak in a language that the other person does not understand it, right, then there's no benefit to the other person. Well, I guess, let's put it this way, I guess that's why the King James Version added the word unknown. You see, but he speaks in an unknown, in other words, in a foreign language that you don't know. So the King James Version added the word unknown, but if you look at it carefully, the word unknown tongue, the word unknown is in italics, which therefore means it's not in the Greek. The problem is that people have read that. They have drawn the conclusion that it's talking about, let's call it an extra-terrestrial language, not from the world, not from this earth. So it gives that wrong impression.

And this has started a whole series of movements, which we generally speak under the, let's call it, under the inverted commas label of Pentecostals, people that speak in tongues.

And they say that that is, to them, the way they say, that is supposedly a proof that they have God's Holy Spirit. You see, those people say, if you speak in tongues, you have God's Holy Spirit. You've got to speak in tongues, otherwise you don't have God's Holy Spirit. Now, does everybody speak in tongues?

You know, look, does everybody have the gift of other languages? You see, because in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10, verse Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10, it says, talking about gifts to some have the working of miracles, to other of prophecy, to another different kinds of languages. Because the word tonguesia is the word glossa, which is by implication a language. Specifically, one is, which is that the person got this gift of talking this language and did not actually study for it. So it's, the person is able to, for instance, understand Italian and he's got that gift, but he didn't study for it. God gave him the ability or her ability to understand this language or to interpret that language. And so, yeah, it says, to one has the gift of miracles, to another prophecy, to another of kinds of languages, to another the translation or the interpretation of these languages. Now, so not everybody has that gift of speaking different languages. Look at also in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 30. In 1 Corinthians 12 verse 30 says, do all have the gifts of healings? No, some have a gift of healing, some do not. Do all speak with tongues? No, because he's saying, not all, not all have the gift of translating those languages. And so, when the Pentecostals state that you have to have the gift of tongues with the misinterpretation that they put around their word, that is incorrect, because we can clearly see that not everybody speaks in different languages, has that talent from God, that spiritual gift. Now, they build around this point of speaking in tongues, and I'm using the word tongues now in the context of what they refer to it, because they they mean like an unknown tongue, just a weird gibberish thing, right? They make all religion about it. And some even claim that God spoke to them. Well, they had a vision. I've had people come to me and said, I had a vision, and God spoke to me, and in this special language, brethren, speaking in tongues, quote-unquote, this understanding that people have of tongues, which is incorrect, because the word tongues means another language, another language, for instance, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Chinese, whatever, it's just speaking another language, which, if I don't know that language, it's a language that I don't understand it, right? So, so that's what it means. But these people create this whole doctrine of speaking in gibberish type language, and that, brethren, is one of the greatest satanic counterfeits. That is one of the greatest satanic counterfeits of God's spiritual gifts.

You see, if they are speaking gibberish, or this, whatever it is, and you tell them it's from a demon, wow, you have really stepped into quote-unquote hot water, because what are they going to say? What are they going to tell you?

They're going to first say you are costing dispersion in their religion, and they may even say you are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

You see, so we've got to be very careful how we handle these people, because this can become very sensitive. Now, you and I, if we encounter people like that, you and I cannot, cannot, coerce them that that vision or that thing of speaking in this weird language was from a demon and not from God. You can't.

But you know that it is, because let's just get down to basics, very simply down to basics.

How do we receive God's Holy Spirit? We say repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive God's Holy Spirit. We know that they first, when Peter gave that instruction in Acts 2.38, we read in verse 36 and 37 that Peter made them realize, and they finally grasped and understood they killed the Lord and Messiah and Christ. They said, oh no, what shall we do? So they actually got to a point they believed in Christ, and they said, what shall we do? And then Peter says, repent. So yeah, we have, we're gonna have faith, we're gonna have repentance, the two preconditions for baptism, and then you'll be baptized in Jesus Christ's name. That means by the authority of Jesus Christ, because all authority has been given to Christ. So you've got to do it by his authority, and then you shall receive the Holy Spirit. And by reading in other sections, we know that is upon prayer and laying on our hands.

So how do you receive God's Holy Spirit? By repentance. I mean, believe in Christ, repentance. Believing Christ is not just accepting him. He's believing in what he says and do what he says. And then repenting means changing a way of life, repenting from sin. And sin is just more than the 10 commandments, but if we just focus on the 10 commandments, it means that you're to keep them all, which includes the Sabbath. If you break one, you break them all, or you can say, well, why say keep the Sabbath there? They use, well, can you kill? Can you murder? Can you lie? Can you commit adultery? No. Well, Sabbath is just one of those. So if people are not keeping the Sabbath, which is one of the signs that of God's people, right? They're not keeping God's law.

That means they're not obeying. That means they're not converted. That means they do not have God's Holy Spirit. And therefore, what they are doing, because those people, quite often, they are doing speaking in converted tongues, they don't obey God. In other words, they don't keep the Sabbath, as is one of the signs of obedience to God. Obedience to God.

So what they're doing is not inspired by God's Holy Spirit, so they don't have God's Holy Spirit.

Therefore, therefore, it's coming from another spiritual source. Therefore, it's coming from another spiritual source.

There are two spiritual sources in the world, which is summarized this way.

One is from God and is faithful Holy Angels. And the other spiritual source is from Satan and his demons.

And so, if it's not coming from God, because they don't have God's Holy Spirit, it's coming from Satan or one of his demons. You know, Satan has tried to counter- counterfeit everything. He's tried to counterfeit everything. And he uses very strips. You know, you can say he uses things against God and uses false doctrines. In the time of Christ, he had different approaches, Gnosticism, and all other tricks. But one of the things Satan has done is that he pretends to be what he is not. In other words, he's fake. And he pretends to be the third member of a so-called Trinity. And so, he acts as if he is the Holy Spirit.

You see how these things tie? Speaking in tongues, and yeah, he's the Spirit. Basically, it's not from God. It's not from God. Look at Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14 verse 13 and 14. Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14 verse 13 and 14.

Let's talk about Lucifer, yeah? And you can see that in verse 12. And in verse 13, it says, For you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I'll exalt my throne above the stars of God. You know, I'll exalt myself above the other angels of God. I'll exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit. I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation. Now, who sits on God's throne? We know it's God and Jesus Christ on his right-hand side.

So, it says, I will also sit there as a third person. All right. I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. You see, he acts as, or he counterfeits himself as the Holy Spirit, and speaking in tongues, is an easy thing to counterfeit. Once somebody gets involved into some of these things of this nature, they get to feel that they have a personal relationship with God. They have something nobody else has. They may say, well, I have a gift, and you don't. I'm special, and you are not, because I have a special relationship with God.

And therefore, for you and I, for us, to tell those people, or to come along and say to that person, oh no, that's not so.

It means you're telling that person, you're no longer special. You don't have a special relationship with God, and they don't like it, and they will not give that up.

You see, so speaking in tongues is very dangerous. There can be that some people, even though they speak in tongues, they start learning the truth, and start keeping the Sabbath, and start keeping the holidays. Some may do that.

And then they may come to you and say, I want to come to church. We, as ministers of Jesus Christ, have to be very careful, because we don't want to invite demons to come and influence the members in the church. We've got to be very careful. We've got to be very careful. And if we encounter people with problems like that, and they're asking for help, the best advice is to turn to Jude 9. Jude 9, when it's talking about Michael the archangel, contending with the devil, who needs to be disputed about the body of Moses, did not bring accusation against the devil, against him, but said, the Lord rebuke you. We, as ministers of Jesus Christ, we have to use that approach. It's not me. I don't have any of those powers. It's Christ that has that power. And therefore, we have to say, the Lord rebuke you when we confront the situations like that.

There is a minister that was mentioned to me and to others that he came across a mother, a woman that had a vision, and there was this mother of hers, which was dead, was speaking to her in bed. And when this minister told this person that way to do it is the Lord rebuke you, this person did that, and then that vision turned into a huge monster and tried to attack her, but then he evaporated, disappeared into a pathway, quote unquote. So this is what one minister told me and told other reverend at one time. So we have to get back to the point here about what Paul is talking about. Paul was in a situation with the congregation, with the church, that was or had a number of gifts, and they had allowed these spiritual gifts to puff them up, to become vain. And therefore, Paul was now showing them the proper use of languages. Now, granted, there could have been some people that had spiritual gifts of languages, and it could have been some people there that kind of start becoming influenced the wrong way by Satan like this, and could be based from very sins, even Gnosticism, or whatever it could be. Satan has very strict up his sleeves, and you got to understand that at that time, speaking in tongues was a useful gift for the church. Think about the time when God's Holy Spirit was first given, intact in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, Peter was there, and they all received the Spirit, and it was needed to get that message out. And they were there in the temple. We believe that was in the temple where all those people could be, because not just somebody's house was the house of God. And for that message to go out to all those people, it was necessary that Peter's speaking could be understood by everybody.

And that's what we read in Acts chapter 2 verse 4. It says, And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with other languages. Let's just say in other languages, the people understood as they spoke, as the Spirit gave them utterance, as the Spirit gave them that gift. And we read in verse 11, it explains what that was, because it says, well, in verse 8, 9, and 10, it talks about the people there of different backgrounds and different languages that they spoke. And then in verse 11, it says, we hear them speaking in our own tongue, in our own glossary, in our own language, the wonderful works of God. And so at that time, it was necessary. It was very important for the preaching of the Gospel and to go out to other nations. And likewise in Corinth, because it was a cosmopolitan city in like a hub where different people came in and out, it was a gift of God's Holy Spirit that was necessary or useful to preach the Gospel and to spread the Gospel to the whole world. Nowadays, the situation is different. So God gives us different spiritual gifts as they needed. He decides to give different gifts as they needed, as He sees that necessary. But He gave those gifts at that time. In Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, we also see in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, we see the same Greek word, glossa, Greek 1100, the same Greek word being used in Revelation 5 verse 9. He says, and they sang a new song, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you, as they sang and have redeemed us to God by your blood, up of every tribe and tongue, and people and nation, out of every tongue, out of every language. God called people out of every language, out of every tribe, out of every nation. So it is, therefore, a word that is used to speak about languages. So let's continue now in verse 3. In verse 3, so we're looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 14. We're now in verse 3. But he who prophesies speaks for edification and exhortation and comfort. In other words, when we are answering people's questions, maybe we're just in a group, and we are answering questions, then God may inspire us and put the words into our mouths to help, to edify, to comfort, and to exhort other people. So, so edify is the building of the people's inner, inner being about the truth. You edify them, building up, helping them to understand the truth. Exhortation and comfort is really related to people that are distressed and wary, and people that need to be consoled and refreshed and relieved of their different stresses. So, I'll continue now reading in verse 4. He who speaks in a tongue, in a language, and other people don't understand it, is edifying himself. He's kind of putting himself in a, well, you know, I can speak this language. You know, but he will prophesize and defies the church. So, if you are encouraging or edifying and comforting and consoling and exhorting people, you are building the church, building the people, God's people. And so, then he says, verse 5, I wish you all spoke with tongues. I wish you all were able to speak in different languages, but even more that you prophesied. You know, it was that you were able to edify and and exhaust and and comfort other people.

Because he says, for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues. Unless, indeed, he that speaks with tongues has somebody to translate, unless, indeed, he interprets that the church may receive edification. And so, this is basically the first subsection of 1 Corinthians 14. Next Bible study will then go into the other subsections of 1 Corinthians 14. You all have a good evening.