The gift of tongues in the early church served as a sign for unbelievers, particularly Jews, to confirm the message that Jesus is the Christ and that God was extending salvation to the Gentiles. The passage explains that the misuse of tongues, characterized by disorder and unintelligibility, contradicts God's nature as a God of order and decency, as seen in the Old Testament's use of trumpets for clear communication. The message concludes that with the completion of Scripture, the need for such miraculous signs has passed, and those who reject God's written word have no further recourse.
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turn over to the book of Corinthians. Now, I'm not going to read any personal texts or texts for the opening to start from, but we will be referring to a number of texts during the course of our message, and so you'll be able to turn to them then. If I remember correctly, last Sunday night we were speaking on the order of tongues in the church at Corinth. and how this tongue speaking had to be orderly, and it was getting out of control in the church at Corinth, and how the Apostle Paul, he sought to straighten things out and give the order by which tongues should be used, and if they did not fit into God's mind in the matter of the use of tongues, they were not to be used.
And as Paul said, he would sooner speak five words with his understanding and a tongue that his audience could understand than ten thousand words in another tongue or an unknown tongue. He tried to point out how he would mean speaking five minutes intelligently so your audience could understand or speaking thirty-three hours and twenty minutes in other gibberish that no one understands. And the argument is evident. God wants us to speak intelligently. He wants us to speak so our audience will understand.
Why, he said, if I speak in an unknown tongue and no one understands me, who's going to say amen at my giving of thanks? A person has got to understand what you're saying. Maybe a little word here might help. When brethren take part in prayer, I hope you'll speak loud enough so somebody can say amen. If they don't hear what you're saying, how can they do it? They may be blessing you out for all you know, and you'd like to know about that. I'm not going to say amen if somebody's saying something I do alike. But it's nice to speak intelligently so someone can understand.
Now, in reference to the subject tonight, we'll try and continue from where we concluded. We pointed out from, I think it's over in verse thirty-five, how in reference to the tongue meetings of chapter fourteen of the Lentians that the women are to keep sight, and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Undoubtedly, the women were taken a considerable part, a major part in the use of tongues back in those days, and the Apostle Paul is making it clear it's not their place to be prominent in public meetings.
Now, I presume that someone went away and said, well, if it's not a tongue meeting, then the women can speak. If it's not a tongue service, then the women can speak. Well, Paul takes care of that over intimately. When he says intimately, let the women learn in silence, and he's not reporting now to a tongue meeting, he's referring to a public meeting where men are present. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not the woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. If all we had was what you got in Corinthians fourteen, then they would conclude that women are not to speak in tongues at a tongue meeting, but in all other services they have liberty.
Paul takes care of that in writing to Timothy, one of the pastoral epistles. And so some might say, well, what does it mean there? If she doesn't understand what's being said or taught, let her ask her husband, at home. The Apostle Paul has undoubtedly taken it for granted that these husbands are in the meeting because seven times over is referring to the church in that chapter. He's referring to those who are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and trying to get across to them the order of the functioning of the local church.
and taking for granted that these sisters would have a saved husband that they could go to and ask questions. If not, the next order is the calendars of the church. I believe that's using common sense. If a saved sister wants to know something about the Bible and her husband's not able to give her that advice, not being a Christian, then I think God's order would be for her to go to some brother, an older brother, an experienced brother, someone who has the knowledge of the Word of God and whom she has confidence and get his counsel and advice. I think that's perfectly important.
Now in this chapter, you find more or less the chapter summarized in this way. I thought of it after I'm at home last Sunday night. and lying awake about one o'clock in the morning, I was going back over the chapter. That's a good time when the chapter is fresh in your mind or the portion you're speaking on to rethink it. And in this chapter you have a number of concepts. First of all, you have order. In verse twelve, let everything be done decently and in order. so you have order in contrast to disorder. Disorder to the abuse of tongues.
Disorder by those who are speaking in a lot of gibberish and various kinds of dialects, so they think. And as we pointed out, the word tongue there, unknown is not mentioned in the original Greek language. The word unknown. It's not there. It's in italics, you can see it in your Bible. In other words, he's referring here to languages that were spoken on the face of the earth. And so the apostle here is speaking about those who are getting up, not knowing what they're saying, not knowing the language they're speaking. No interpreter is present. He pointed it out. The tongues are not to be used unless someone is there to interpret.
For he says, how is anybody going to be edified? And instead of order, you've got disorder. The abuse of the tongues. And then again, this decency with indecency in that same words. Let everything be done in order. Decently and in order. And indecency is characteristic of a lot of these tongues. another exposing of oneself, the indecency. And that's the very thing that is contrary to the nature of God.
God is not the God of disorder. God is not the God of indecency, not for a moment. And I'm going to mention this, I haven't thought of it until this now. When God had the children of Israel in the Old Testament to build an altar, He says, don't you build steps to that order? Bringing a man walking up those steps with as long robes as they had in those days, there was the priest's war. There would be a measure of exposure. And God says, I go, any flesh exposed in my presence. And so God is not the God of indecency.
God is not the God of of disorder, and he's not the God of confusion as you have in verse thirty-three. Rather, he's the God of control. In verse twenty-seven to thirty-three of that chapter we brought out how God is the God of control, not the God of confusion. He's the God of decency, not the God of indecency. He's the God of order, not the God of disorder. Then he speaks about the drawing of trumpets and musical instruments. For instance, here you find five hundred people.
It could be less, it could be more. Five hundred people, and they all had different musical instruments, all the way from a mouth organ to some big instrument. And not one of them knows or knows about music. And if they're all toothed, they're all pumping away at something, some musical instrument, blowing, pounding. What kind of a situation would you have? Five hundred people with different musical instruments, and everyone is blowing, popping, pounding, and coming. It's a lot of confusion, but what does he say over there?
in verse, over in verse thirty-three, chapter fourteen, connection with the use of instruments. You find right there, quote, confusion. Verse six, Now brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophesying or by doctrine?
And even things without like giving sound, whether pipe or heart, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is pipe or heart? For if the prophet did an uncertain or an unknown sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye accept the uttered by the tongue where it is, if ye understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air. Now that makes the verdict wave. If people... know the instrument, they know music, they play their part, everything is harmony, beautiful harmony.
If they don't know music and they're blowing away at these various instruments, drumming away, oh, you've got us a lot of racket, a lot of confusion. And that's exactly the situation. If you have a congregation and they're jabbering away and no one knows what they're saying, they don't understand the language as needed as anybody else. God says it's just a lot of confusion. You think of also verse nine, he says, you speak into the air, just a lot of hot air. He says, I reckon that verse. And he says, you're a barbarian in verse eleven. And verse twenty-three, he says, you're mad.
You're crazy. Strong language, isn't it? If you're speaking in tongues, And you don't know what you're talking about. And the congregation doesn't know what you're saying. He says right here, you're speaking into the air. Not a hot air. And you're a barbarian. You're a heathen. And furthermore, you're mad. Crazy. Now these are strong words. I don't know what these people believe in tongues when they read through this chapter. What do they do to these words? They must glide over them in a hurry to get rid of the condemnation that it pronounces upon those who are using the tongues without scriptural order and authority.
You know in the Old Testament when the children of Israel were going on their journeys, they had certain instruments that were used, mostly the trumpet in those days, and the sound had to be clear, it had to be distinct, for every note had a message. For instance, when they wanted to be called together on the great day of atonement, the trumpet sounded early in the morning, and everyone, approximately two and a half million people, they knew the sound of that trumpet, and they came together. Then another sound was given. It was a call to conflict.
An enemy's approaching, and soldiers get ready. They knew by the sound of the trumpet. The trumpet that was used, the number of notes that were blown, and also the message that was in that note. And then again the call to the glad days, the day of Jubilee. That wonderful day, why the trumpet sounded that morning. And they could detect one was a sound, then the great thing the enemies approached. The other was the sound indicating this was a great day of the cold. The other instrument was used, and the noting indicated this is the day of Jubilee.
And then again, it was a call of alarm. That also was given on the instrument, the trumpet. And it caused a journey. When God wanted that nation to take up their tents and start their journey, the trumpet was used. to tell them this is the time to move and get going. And also it was used in connection with the call to gather the assembly together for a convocation and also with a special note given to the elders. And the word of God is that trumpet. That's the parallel in the New Testament. The word of God is what tells us and tells us when to come together.
and also tells us what type of a meeting it is that we're coming together to. You have that in Chapter Two. They came together for prayer. There you have the prayer meeting. They came together for breaking of bread. There you have the worship meeting. They came together for fellowship. There's fellowship. They came together also to preach the gospel. And there you have the various meetings. for the local assembly and the Word of God calling you as a Christian to respond to those notes and come together for that particular purpose. When you start to think of what we've been speaking about tonight in reference to women speaking with tongues in the church, do you think God would give the gift to a woman the gift of tongues in absolute violation to his own word.
He doesn't do that word. When God says, I suffer not a woman's offense. When God says, plainly, where the women are to get silent in the church? And then a woman says, I've got the gift to speak. Is it a contradiction? God is not giving anyone a gift. if he condemns what she wants to use that gift for. Now a woman has her place. Ninety percent of the world's population is an area for the ladies, and God knows we need them. They can speak to ladies in their gatherings, and the children up until eight teens or possibly till they're twenty.
No one knows the exact age. They've got that liberty. But when it comes to men, mature men are guns, God says her woman is out of her place. She's reserving a place of authority over the man. And any woman that tells me that she's got the gift that comes, all I've got to do is refer to that passage where God tells her to keep silent. God did not give her that gift. He's not going to violate his own word. And there it is, simple evidence. and played. Now what is the message in reference to these trumpets or the tongues rather?
To recognize the true nature of the gift of tongues will more or less demonstrate or expose the spuriousness of this so-called exhibition of the gift of tongues. And I want to prove that. Notice verse twenty-two of chapter fourteen. The purpose of tongues is to serve as a sign for what? Verse twenty-two. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe. These tongues were assigned for the unbeliever, those who were not Christians. But to them that believe none, for preaching, clear the strength in tongues of preaching, serveth not for them that believe not, but for them that believe the Christian.
And also you have in John twenty this remarkable text, in John twenty and thirty, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written. that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. Now, what was the purpose of this town and other signs in those early days of this? Because to get the message across to people that Jesus Christ was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
That's how the message was gotten across. That's why God permitted those early Christians and the apostles and the disciples of our Lord to speak in tongues and to perform miracles. They didn't have the New Testament there. They had nothing to guide them. And so God put their tender approval upon the message these men were preaching by allowing them to perform miracles and speak in tongues and so on. And then again the function of the tongues is to unbelievers and undoubtedly in the beginning Jewish believers.
I believe that's very clear. I want you to notice this text, verse twenty-one in Isaiah. In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people. And yet for all that will, all that will they not hear me. sayeth the Lord. Now, God is speaking to Israel. He says, this people, God is using tongues. He's using, or he did use them, gifts, or also he used the miracles, the wonders that he performed to get the message across, first of all, to the Jews, to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles.
And if you want to read over Corinthians, Chapter eighteen where you have the tongues used again in the first seventeen verses you'll notice an awful lot of Jews were living in Corinth and the Bible says that the Jews seek a sign the Greeks seek after wisdom the Greeks were referring to the Gentiles but he says the Jews they want a sign they want a sign they've got to hear somebody speak in tongues They've got to see someone raised from the dead. They've got to see some miracle before them, or they will not believe. That was typical of the Jews.
They seek a sign. Seek a sign. You know there are people today just about in the same class. They want something demonstrable. They want something that's more or less a demonstration of excitement, emotion. something that might be looked upon as a miracle, a supernatural, before they are condemned. So, praying God is not speaking the day in silence. He spoke to the early church, the Jewish church, up to chapter ten of Acts. And in Corinth, there were plenty of Jews in the assembly there where he gave that order in the fourteen chapter we've been looking at.
And so the word of God is very clear that these tongues and miracles were used as a sign in the early church in the very beginning. Another thing, what does Peter say in Acts two? Peter says in Acts two and thirty-two, this Jesus, hath God raised up whereof we all are witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has said forth this which ye now see and hear, may with the tongues. Therefore, now notice, let all the house of Israel know, he's speaking to the Jews, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom he hath crucified both Lord and Christ.
Now when they permit, They were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter, And to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter contend that which he now see and hear, the tongues that these people are speaking, these men are using, demonstrate that Jesus Christ is Lord, is Christ. Now that was the message of the use of tongues on that occasion. God was trying to get across to these people, that Jesus was the Christ, this one that's being preached, and the Jews were so hardened, self-evident, they wouldn't take the simple word for it.
There had to be some supernatural sign accompanying the preacher. But today there needs to be no supernatural sign. We've got the word of God. It is sufficient within itself. And again, You find Peter's claim authenticated that Christ was the Messiah, and this is the second occasion when tongues were used. Acts ten and thirty-four and thirty-five and forty-three. We read from chapter two of Acts. Now listen to what he says. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins, while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision, which is the Jews, which believed were astounding, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, that any man forbid water, that he should not be baptized as well as three Jews. You don't find the astonishment in Acts chapter two. You do find it here. Because in chapter ten, here is the gospel going to the Gentiles.
As we pointed out previously in chapter eight, you see the gospel going to the Samaritans through them. thought those Samaritans were half-breeds, half-Jew, and half-Jentites. But now when you come to the pure Gentiles, it's another story. And he's making it very plain that the gospel now is leaving the Jews and is going out to the Gentiles. And the Jews, the circumcision that were there on this occasion, they were astonished. They didn't think that God would include the Gentile dogs in his favors. But when they saw that when these Gentiles got saved, they too began speaking in tongues, these Jews were a son.
They were convinced, well, God has now included the Gentiles in his blessing. That was the message for the use of tongues on that occasion. And the previous occasion, the message was by the use of tongues that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Son of God. This second use of tongues in chapter ten is this. God is including the Gentiles. And the middle wall of tradition is being broken down between them. To make of the twain one new man, so making peace. For in the churches neither Jew nor Gentiles, one nor free, male or female.
That was the message in the second use of tongues in Acts chapter ten. Then you come to another one. Whereas it's over in the nineteenth chapter, one to seventeen. A new message was being proclaimed by Paul as certain disciples of John. To prove this message, the gift of tongues was experienced. In other words, Paul met these disciples. And he said to them, there were John's disciples. Imagine this, and this is quite a few years after John had passed off the sea. You wouldn't expect John to have any disciples by this time.
But here is a little pocket of John's disciples who still believe that Jesus Christ was going to set up his kingdom here upon earth, and that the Jewish nation was going to be established right there and then. They still believe that. They knew nothing about the coming of the Spirit of God. They knew nothing about the church. And Paul says, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believe? They said, we haven't so much as heard. Will there be any Holy Spirit? On to what then were you baptized? He says, they said, we were baptized unto John's baptism. Then Paul preached unto them Jesus. He spread them out.
Why, you're not baptized now unto John. John was beheaded. His voice was silenced when he preached repentance to the nation of Israel. And Israel rejected their Messiah. Now God's turning to all the nations. And the gospel is going out to all people. And when they heard that, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and began to speak in tongues. Now the values of the use of tongues in Acts ten had its message right there that God has leaped over the wall of Judaism and now he's embracing all we believe into that one body the body of our Lord Jesus Christ when Paul went to Corinth he proclaimed Jesus as Messiah that was his message when he went to Corinth you know that was a blasphemous message in the years of the Jews.
As I say, there were plenty of them. If you want to read the opening verse of chapter eighteen, plenty of Jews were in Corinth. There was a blasphemous message. But what did God do to prove the message of Paul? And here's what you have in Acts, eighteen and one. And when Cyrus and Timotheus were come from Macedonia. Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And tongues were then used. Jesus is the Christ. He's convincing the Jews in this chapter again.
He meets some who are ignorant. And he's given them the plain gospel. And to verify his message. The tongues were used, the gift of the Holy Spirit. I think this viewpoint is also taken up by our brothers in speaking in Hebrews. And I want you to notice in Hebrews chapter two. And it's very interesting to notice what you have in Hebrews chapter two. And verses two and four. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we need great, so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed at last by then, that's heard of now, listen, God also bearing their witness, those who were in the beginning, who started out preaching without the Bible, God bearing in witness both with signs and wonders and with many miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.
Now you notice each time tongues resumed, it had a special message. The message that the Jew was, this is your Messiah. This is Israel's king. This is the Son of God. one that you reject. And if they believe that message, then the sign was given, the sign of the tongues. And also the other references we made there. It was to show that God in those days was using tongues and other signs as confirmation that this message, the apostles were preaching, were of him.
Because the apostles didn't have the Bible to flip over and say, this is what it says in Galatians. This is what it says in Ephesians. This is what it said over here in Romans. They didn't have a Bible. Unless there was something supernatural attending the ministry of those early Christians and the apostles. Why the people say, well, we don't believe them. But when their preaching was accompanied with signs and remnants, they're picking up of a deadly serpent. the speaking in tongues, the raising of the dead, the healing of the sick. Then they believe. They believe then. But today, it's a different thing.
You'll notice in that verse we read, God bearing their witness, both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to your will. But what about today? But if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompensary reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? That salvation we have declared in the Bible, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto them, and then by then not heard them. Now we have God's word, and that's all you're going to get.
And if you don't believe God's word and God's word totally, friend, there is no hope for you, none whatsoever. God is not going to accompany His word today with a lot of miracles, a lot of signs, and a lot of wonder. Jews were seeking after signs. The Greeks sought after women. And the Greeks were certainly far more pleasing to God than the Jews in their unbelief. And in the face of all evidence, the many impeccable proof that we referred to in chapter one, in the face of all these things, the Jews, many of them rejected that message, only increasing their condemnation and their judgments in the day to come.
Why is there any wonder the Lord Jesus said when speaking with the Jews, it will be easier for the men and women of Sodom and Gomorrah than they had judgment then for you? Why, if they had heard only a little of what you heard, if they had seen only a little of what you've seen, they would have repented the plumb of gold in sackcloth and ashes. But he said it will be easier for them When you talk about degrees of the judgment, there's your text. It'll be easier for them, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, than it will be for you scribes and parishes, and you, you who saw, many of you, the Son of God in person, you heard about his dramatic resurrection or sent him back to the Father, and you saw the Spirit of God poured out on the day of Pentecost.
accompanied by people with gifts of tongues, so they might speak to every nation under heaven, bear a sin. And I've yet to find one verse in my Bible that tongues were ever given, that there wasn't someone in the world who could speak that language. For instance, take Cosmopolitan New York. I suppose you'll find maybe two or three hundred different languages in New York. Do you know today you can get many broadcasts in those languages? Just about every language you can find a broadcast. Many times you tune in or tune into some of those stations up around New York, of which there are many.
You hear a tongue, you don't know what it is, but it may be Spanish, it may be French, it may be Polish. And if they don't hear it over the radio and over TV, they can go to publishing houses like the British and foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society, and they treat the Word of God in every little language. So they don't need signs anymore. They've got God's will. They can ruin their God's mind, God's will, God's way, in language that they can all read in their own mother tongue. So God says you are without...
experience. Here you have over in Hebrews. He said, at first, God gives you signs and wonders and so on. But now you've got the word of God. And he says, if you don't accept that, how will you escape if you neglect the greatest salvation? There's absolutely no excuse for you. And these Jews who were there at that time, they not only summoned the witness, the outpouring of the Spirit, they soon heard about it, on how the gospel began to spread.
Miracles followed the preaching of it. Then finally, as the miracles ceased, as we have in chapter thirteen, whether there be pundations ceased, and so on. And as the thumbs and the sign gets passed away toward the end of the Acts. Now the Apostle Paul, in his prison, he wrote most of the epistles. Now the church has guidance. The church has instruction. They tell how to meet and who's to meet and what the order of the church is and what the gifts are. They have that now in the Bible given to the Apostle Paul in his prison epistle.
God says you don't need any more of those signs. You don't need any more of those wonders. You've got it now in language that you can read. Simple, plain, intelligent language. And he says, if you don't believe that, there's no other way to hear it. I'm not sending tongues again. And he says, those people who claim to speak in tongues today, they neither know themselves what they're saying, nor do any of them. And as we've pointed out time and time again, the word interpreter assumes six times in chapter fourteenth of Corinthians, showing that no one is to speak in tongues unless there's someone there to interpret what he's saying.
And able to explain the message, But today they'll jabber away in tongues and they don't have an interpreter. And it tells you plainly, as we pointed out last week, they're not all the jabber at the same time. They're to be in order, one at a time. One man speaks in a tongue, and someone was there to interpret that tongue. And they're not to speak in a group of jabbering, as we pointed out in that text, the use of trumpet. How's a man going to be warned of his danger if he doesn't know the sound of the trumpet?