First Corinthians twelve, our first Corinthians twelve. Believe the same verses that we read this morning. First one of chapter twelve of first Corinthians. Now concerning spiritual gifts or spirituality, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away into these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus a cursive, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences of administration, but the same law, and there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. Now the rest of the chapter, and also over in chapter thirteen and fourteen, is more or less the outworking of what you have in these verses that we have read, especially four, five, and six. Now, this morning we were speaking on the subject of the Holy Spirit and how that only by the Holy Spirit can one call Jesus Lord. Only as one has received the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God takes up his abode, Then he has the authority and the Spirit of God gives him the authority to acknowledge Jesus Christ as his Lord. A man may say a thousand times, Jesus is my Lord, Jesus is my Lord. But unless the Spirit of God is within and confessing that, enabling you to say that, it means nothing. Because a lot of people say the Lord is my shepherd and many other texts of Scripture, and they don't know by experience what it means to know Jesus Christ as their Lord. Paul, having taken care of some of the things in the first eleven chapters, as we've been noticing going along, he spoke on the subject of sectarianism, or he took up that subject and tried to correct it, also of division. and also the immorality that was unjust. He also spoke about the subject of idols and meat offerings unto idols, and tried to get them straightened out on that, and also the disorder at the Lord's Supper. And so after taking up these and other subjects, he seems to conclude at the last verse of chapter eleven, and if any man hunger let him eat of home, that ye come not together unto condemnation, and the rest. will I set in order when I come. He seems to imply that any further clarification of those things that he had been dealing with in the eleven chapters, when he paid a visit to them, he would take them up more in detail. But for the time, what he had said in the epistle in the first eleven chapters should suffice to give them help until he visited them. Now he comes to these spiritual things. We were speaking on this morning. You'll notice the word gift there is in the italics. But elsewhere in the chapter, four or five times, it's not in the italics. It is the word gift. When you take the word italics out, it just means this. Now concerning spirituality. And we pointed out this morning, the Greek word there lends itself to the masculine and neuter gender, so it could be spiritual persons or spiritual things, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. And so he's speaking about spirituality in this passage tonight. When we get down to the other, beginning at verse four, he comes in with the gift. That word gift is in the original, so he's referring to spiritual gifts given unto men. A little outline you might have of this chapter if you wish to jot it down. You have clearly pronounced or enunciated in verses one to eleven. You have there these spiritual gifts and spirituality. Then you have them illustrated in verses twelve to twenty-six. And you have these things clearly applied in verses twenty-seven to thirty-one. You also have divine instructions regarding these spirituality and the idols and also the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have those things in the first three verses that we read. Or you also have the diversity of these gifts. And these gifts are diverse. There are diversities of gifts, and you have that in verses twelve to twenty-six. Also, they are illustrated. Or you might have the direction, rather, for these gifts. And that's in verses fourteen to twenty-six. We'll be taken up in the days ahead. The direction for the use of these gifts, and also the dispensing of these gifts to the latter part of the chapter twenty-seven, thirty-one. What is the sphere for the activity of the Spirit in the dispensing of and the using of these various gifts that are given to various individuals for the building up of the church? The sphere is the assembly, where God's people meet together, and that's where the sphere is for the exercise of these God-given gifts. Now, in taking up these subjects, it's very interesting how Paul, in the beginning, shows him the peril of ignorance. Now, concerning spirituality, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know, Paul uses that word ignorant quite often, and it's quite strong in his language when he speaks of ignorance. Ignorance comes from the Greek word agnostic, knowing nothing, or even stronger, it speaks of an ignoramus. Now, he said, I wouldn't have you to be an agnostic, knowing nothing, nor going further, I wouldn't want you to be an ignoramus. Now that's the force of it. And he says, as I just jotted down some text, in Romans one, thirteen, now I would not have you ignorant or to be an agnostic or an ignoramus, brethren, that oftentimes my purpose to come unto you, but was hindered. Another time you have it in verse twenty-five of chapter eleven, for I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant, knowing nothing of this mystery, lest she should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be commenced. Another one in Second Corinthians one, eight, for we would not, brethren, have you to be ignorant, knowing nothing of our trouble which came to us in Asia. And then again in a well-known one in First Thessalonians four, thirteen, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, for knowing nothing about them which are asleep, being an ignoramus on this subject. As I was meditating on this, I thought, well, now, I can see how possibly, back in those days, they could be ignorant, because all ministry up to that time was oral. They didn't have a New Testament as yet. So these Christians would come together and they would listen to the Apostle Paul, deliver his message, and teach the word. And that's all they had. We have no way of knowing whether they took notes or not. But they listened and then they dispersed and they went home. And you can just about picture in your mind a few of them getting together and discussing what Paul had said. And I'll guarantee you a lot, he said, got twisted. because they'd have to depend upon their memories. And you can see how easy it would be for a discussion and an argument to ensue. Well, that's not so today. Today, you find Christians taking notes, which is a good thing. But if you hear something from this chapter, you can go home and get your Bible. And you can get it, read it. We've gone so far in this advanced age, you can get replayed. When I go home sometimes, I replay my messages. That's very good. But there was nothing like that back in those days. They just heard that message once, and they went home, and they tried their best to retain it. So I could see how easy it would be for them to forget a lot of it or misunderstand a lot of it. So he's reminding them of the possibility of being ignorant. not knowing what they should have known. I don't know whether they did have pads back in those days and do a lot of jotting down, which is a good thing. Now, the assembly at Corinth came behind, we read in God's word, in no gift, but they lacked knowledge. What way did they lack knowledge? They lacked knowledge of the purpose and character of the gifts that God was going to give them. They had lots of zeal, and they were zealous to know something about these gifts, and they came behind in no gifts. Yet they seemed to lack as to the character of those gifts and the purpose of those gifts. Therefore, the strife and the trouble and what you have over Chapter XIV, when these gifts were in operation, it was an awful mess. And we'll get to that when we come to chapter fourteen. They were overestimating the value of some of the gifts and underestimating others. They were overestimating the spectacular gifts and underestimating the important gifts such as love and grace and also the holiness of God. that everything but holiness in chapter fourteen, and a lot of disorder in chapter fourteen. That's why Paul ends that chapter, let everything be done decently and in order, and had those Corinthians or that Corinthian church known something of God's holiness. It would have corrected and adjusted a lot of the the disorder that was going on because of this tongue business, that they were seeking to practice at that time. And so we've got to remember that the assembly is the place where God dwells and the holiness of God is what should characterize the presence in that assembly and also sober all who were thus gathered. Now let's say this, that God manifested his displeasure over the way things were going in Corinth in a very serious way. He says, for this cause, because of your emphasis upon that which is spectacular, phenomenal, and you're going into those things, and you're seemingly ignoring more important things, such as my grace, my love, My holiness, for this cause many of you are weak, sickly, and some of you are going to heaven before your time. Some of you sleep. Here is God's manifested discipline on holiness in the church because of the disregard for his presence in the church, and disregarding what he's teaching them about these gifts. You know, over in Leviticus, I'm not going to turn and read it. You may do so at your leisure. But over in Leviticus chapter ten and verses one to ten, Aaron had two sons. Of course, Aaron was a high priest. He had two sons who were priests. And these two young men, Nadab and Abihu, they were going into the presence of God. Undoubtedly, just in the first compartment where the table and the candlestick was, not into the holy of holies, for only the high priest could go in there once a year. But these two young men could go into the holy place. And so it says they went in, and they took strange fire. And they didn't get past the curtain. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord, and he coursed them into a cinder. You find that over in. Leviticus, and I'm going to read it to you. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them. And they died before the Lord. I want you to know this. strange fire. What was that strange fire? Had they avoided the burnt offering because that was the fire they had to get and take from the brazen altar if they were going into the holy place. Did they ignore that? Or did they get that? But there was something wrong with their attitude. Could it be it was in plain nature, carnal zeal, that God saw and disliked? Today, people are ignoring the cross as they approach God, avoiding the brazen altar, the place of the sacrifice, and every priest before he was to proceed into the tabernacle. had to be at the brazen altar and benefit from the sacrifice that was there being offered. And he had to take any fire from there into the incense altar that he might use it in causing the incense to burn. Something went wrong, and God smoked these two young men dead. Strange fire. Yes, a strange approach on your own merit, your good life. Or maybe you say, well, I believe that the cross is the only place I can be saved, and only through it can I enter the presence of God. But people can have some strange idea that God is displeased. If, in other words, they're doing it with any sense of self-importance, feeling proud of their position as these young men could have been, and they were glorying in self, and the office they held. God disliked something, and he smote them dead. Strange fire, strange feeling. Look at something else. And I want you to notice this in Exodus thirty and nine, and I'm going to read this verse. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering. Neither shall ye pour drink offerings thereon. In the one place you have strange fire, now you have strange incense. It was this that caused when God in contact with the fire of the altar. within the holy place to cause that incense, incense, to ascend and fill the place. Incense. God warns in his word against manufactured incense. God says you're to make no substitute for it. And Aaron was given the compound or what that incense was composed of, and God warned against any substitute. A warning. And here's something else. I want you to notice in that same chapter, verse thirty and thirty-three. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generation. Upon man's flesh, this is not for the flesh. Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it. After the composition of it, it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth anything like it, for whosoever put it anything of it, upon a stranger, an unsaved person, shall even be cut off from his people. Three strange things, strange fire, judgment. Strange oil, strange incense, frankincense. In other words, trying to substitute. Now, I didn't think of this earlier before I left the house. We're living in a day of substitution. And the oil here speaks of the Holy Spirit. And today we're having a lot to what you might call substituting for the Spirit's work. A lot of fleshly zeal, a lot of sentimentality, a lot of worked up emotionalism is the work of the flesh. That's not the product of the Holy Spirit. God says, I'll have none of it. There's no such thing as a manufactured, going to an apostasy, apothecary, and having incense manufactured. You can't go to a Bible school or a theological seminary and learn the things of God. You've got to have the spirit. And yet there are a lot of people in pulpits today and they're handing out manufactured frankincense. They haven't been born again. And what they're doing is in the flesh, not in the energy. of the Holy Spirit. Then again, as we've said before, strange fire, strange oil, strange franken. Something that's a substitute for what God intended. What do we have today? We have a lot of things that are substituted. The work of Christ is being substituted. substituted for the works of Christ is set aside and substituted by the works of man. He thinks his good works are going to take him to heaven. And the work of the Holy Spirit is replaced by the works of the flesh. My, the flesh is dangerous. We can even convince ourselves that a certain three-line gesture, a certain joy I have, is the Holy Spirit. and it cannot be. The flesh is subtle, and man is in for this reproduction of what's of God, and it's not of God at all. Today the Word of God is being replaced, substituted by the traditions of men, this synthetic age in which we live, trying to duplicate tried to substitute. And I do believe, relative to this tongue movement, back in the beginning, there was the real tongue movement at Pentecost when seventeen nations heard the gospel in their tongues by men who didn't know those languages. But when the spirits came upon them, they spooked those languages. And I don't think there's been a second Pentecost. But there's been an awful lot of imitations of Pentecost, even in the heathen world. And a lot of these altars, even today, in these idol-worshipping places with their festivals, there are tongues being used, dances, and all kinds of things going on. And they think they're being led by some divine spirit. As to these idolaters' feasts, they're being led by a divine spirit, all right, that is a devil. But there are a lot, a lot of spirits going around today, and people think they're speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And I don't think they are. They're not going according to the rules laid down for speaking in tongues in chapter fourteen, and next Sunday will be taken out in this chapter. And so that our substitutes, this is a time when we need to be careful, because they don't seem to bear the fruit that they did in the early church. And isn't it strange, and these are some of the remarkable things, the church of Corinth, was the only church that had a situation concerning tongues. It was one of the first letters ever written by the Apostle Paul. Now you can think of all the other letters the Apostle wrote. He wrote to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, the Thessalonians, first and second. And he wrote pastoral letters of Timothy, first and second Timothy. The Goathe, and then one to Titus. And then Peter writes his two epistles. John writes first, second, and third John. And in all these epistles, not one word is said about tongues. Now, if tongues were so important, why weren't these other assemblies told to speak in tongues, or if anything went wrong in their meeting, why didn't the apostles correct it? The only church in the New Testament we know of of having tongues is Corinth. and no church was in a bigger mess than Cornwall. They were wrong on so many points, and yet it's where the Apostle had to deal with the subject of confusion, the subject of tongues in Cornwall. And it's a very interesting book, and we want to get into it as the Lord enables us to do so. read something, and I'm going to give you the author of it. I got Brother Marshall to type this out this past week. Now, Mr. Davies, I know we had him here at the chapel many years ago. He spent his lifetime in India, and if ever there is a nation on earth that knows something of demonism, spiritism, witchcraft, and always it's India. mention anything excitable in the realm of religion and they've got it. Now, Mr. Davies has spent his life there. I've been with him at conferences and listened to him speak, and we had him here for three nights. He's a scholar. He knows Greek, and he knows Hebrew. And this is what he said. And you may get it from him if you want it. He said Robert Baxter, a well-known London barrister, was involved in the Irvingate movement in London, England in eighteen thirty to thirty-three. At that time they were having a charismatic movement there, such as in raging here in this past century, for a few years. And in his narrative of fact, covering some hundred and fifty pages, he faithfully describes his experience and lays bare his soul when under the power, the power of utterance, and also in speaking in tongues, after telling of the power coming in on him at a communion service, he stated, It is certainly mysterious that if I was unfaithful to God, in forgetting my Lord's injunction to watch as well as to pray and admitted the claims of the Spirit which then overpowered him. I had all that without trying, and he did go through that experience, without trying it, trying the Spirit strictly by the doctrines of the Word of God. He says, as we are enjoined to do. Was it not a gracious God who showed me that I was utterly incapable by any other test of trying the Spirit? God, in his word, is the only way we can try or test the Spirit. God has shown us the rule of trials, and that's by doctrine. Had I been jealous for the holy name of my God and inquired into the doctrine I might have been kept from the power, and afterwards, when I did inquire into those doctrines, the Lord opened my eyes and delivered me, looking back on all that has passed. Whenever the power rested upon me then, leading me up to prayer and testimony and thanksgiving, I seemed to have a joy and a peace, is what I thought the Holy Ghost, and I cannot even now by feeling only, discern that it was not truly such. He said, if I were to go by my feelings, I would say that's the real thing. In other words, you can't trust your feelings. You've got to trust the Bible and get back to the doctrines. And we are told over in First John, three, one, try the spirits. That's the only way you're going to find out. Compare them and their actions and activities. with the Word of God. And he goes on. Page one thirty-five he writes, Indeed, the whole work is a mimicry of the gifts of the Spirit. The utterance, the tongue, the mimicry of the gifts of tongues, and so of the prophesying, and all the other works of power. It is Satan, as an angel of light, imitating as far as permitted, the Spirit of God. according to the degree of unfaithfulness in the individual or congregation with whom it is settled. That's a strong statement. The devil can work just as long as that Christian is unfaithful to the truth. That's a searching remark. And he says, on page one forty-one, amidst speculations, the believer becomes unsettled. There's a person he's wondering now, maybe I should get the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. Maybe that's what God wants me to have and do. Amid speculation that the believer becomes unsettled, anxious, and excited, he is continually prepared for new views which may feed the restlessness of an excited mind. And as already noted, one of the hallmarks of the Spirit's ministry is that he leads to the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord. Never once has it reported that any of the disciples addressed the Lord by the name Jesus. On the night of his betrayal, five of them asked questions, and each followed the same pattern by confessing various marks or questions with law. And I want you to turn to these yourself. Turn over to John chapter thirteen. John chapter thirteen. And you'll get this for your own enlightenment. John chapter thirteen and verse twenty-five and twenty-six. Simon Peter, therefore beckoned to him that he should ask, beckoned to John, that he should ask who it should be of whom he's faith. Then John was lying on Jesus' breast, said unto him, Lord, who is it? He didn't say Jesus. He said, Lord. Verse thirty-six. Now this is Simon Peter. John asked the Lord, Lord. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goeth thou? Peter answered him, whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Now this is the second time, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Chapter fourteen and verse five. Now another one of the disciples, Thomas. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goes, and how can we know the way? Verse eight, Philip, another one. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the fathers, and it suffices us. Verse twenty two, Judas or Jews. You just have unto him not discounted, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto thee? Go back to chapter thirteen and verse fourteen for the last. Jesus says, If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, he also ought to wash one another's feet. Why have I said that? this movement, and he points that out right here, he says, in contrast to this, calling Jesus Lord in circles which stress the charismatic, or the charismatic gifts, tongues, and so forth, he is addressed as Jesus, but seldom as Lord, or by his full title, Lord Jesus Christ. And in the first chapter of First Corinthians, the Lord Jesus Christ, all his three names are mentioned five times in a row. Lord Jesus Christ. Mark those who deal in tongues. They always address them as Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He should be known as Lord. And if he were Lord to the people of God, they wouldn't get confused and mixed up in these situations. If he's my master, if he's my law, I do nothing without his will and word of which he is the author that will keep me from getting into situations where I'll likely regret for the rest of my life has lost time." Another paragraph. The experiences of these excesses do not have a permanent or abiding effect. as is evident from what has happened in the lives of its advocates, Ernest B. Rockstad of the Faith and Life Ministries Incorporated and Over Cancer, tells of a group of missionaries in Japan in the mid-fifties about thirty missionaries from various boards became involved in the movement in which emphasis was placed on speaking in other tongues and on seeking for all the gifts of the Spirit. Ten years later, only two of the thirty were still in missionary service, and they had departed from emphasis on tongues. Most of the others were out of full-time service for the Lord, and were doing work which was far removed from gospel ministry. In his contact with two, with those speaking in tongues, he has discovered that some were actually under the mnemonic power when making and speaking in tongues. Among them, a woman who had been a missionary in Africa for twenty-seven years. She had the experience of tongues, and when she was delivered from the demon, she could no longer speak in tongues. Now, if you want that, you can get a copy of it, I presume. We can get a duplicate. Trying to point out to you how we're living in desperate times. And we've got to keep close to the book where we're going to get into a lot of confusion, and confusion there is. I haven't time to go much into this, only to say this, that the hallmark of the Spirit's ministry is an acknowledgement and acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus Christ as long. If you're not about Pentecost and the tongue, You know what the real message of Pentecost is? I'm going to read it to you. In Acts, Acts, Matthew, verse thirty-two and thirty-six. This Jesus hath God raised up whereof all witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which he now see and hear. For David is not ascended into heaven, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, The Lord Jesus, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy pose thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ. That's the message. of Pentecost, a risen glorified Lord. What effect did that message have upon the leaders of the Jews? Verse thirty-seven. Now when they heard this, what? That the tongues had been spoken? No. When they had heard that God had raised up the man that they crucified and he was now Lord of God's right hand, the resurrected and glorified Christ When they heard this, it says, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men, and fellows, what should we do? It was a message of a glorified Christ that got to their conscience, not the message of the tongue. Now, that's plain in your Bible. You notice what? Peter's answer in verse thirty-eight was, Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy gift. That's the message of Pentecost. One could go into a number of other things, but I'm going to try and stop on time tonight. This is the hallmark of Pentecost. A glorified Lord. Back in Israel's history, in Judges eight and twenty-three, what did God say to these people? It was, in other words, the government that God wanted a theocracy, God reigning over his people. God said this, the Lord shall reign over you. God said, I'm your Lord. the Lord shall reign over you as a nation. They rejected that. The outcome was the reign of the judges, and the book of judges concludes with this verse. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. That's what happens when they reject God from draining over you. And the judges in that time was confusion and disorder that you have the judge's ending with was followed by a monarchy. And the children of Israel said, we don't want the Lord to reign over us, we want a king like other nations. And poor Samuel he was so upset. This is what God said to Samuel. In first Samuel he said, And the Lord said unto Samuel, Harkened unto the voice of the peoples, in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected me, but they have rejected me, that I would not strain over them. Substituting oil, substituting frankincense, substituting fire, substituting God, with an earthly king. Yes, replacing the lordship. of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one where to be subject to. And the only way you're going to be checked out of the mess that a lot of Christians are getting in today with this charismatic move is to get before God on your knees and get to know what the Word says about it. Otherwise, there's a great danger you're going to get misled. And don't forget the devil's had six thousand years of dealing with human heart. He's a pro. And he can give you feelings that resemble very much the feelings of a happy Christian. We're not to go by our feelings. He says, be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. You take good drink of hard liquor, you get feeling pretty happy. You go by your feelings. You think you're all right. You're going to head. You're on top of the world. But that's not the real thing. The feeling and the peace and the joy you get from the Holy Spirit is deep. It's undisturbed. It lasts. It's the only thing that sustains things. This other thing can be on the surface. And the only safeguard for us as Christians is to be sure you're knowing something of the lordship of Jesus Christ, living in the enjoyment of an ungrieved Holy Spirit who is able to lead us by the hand through the pastures and paths of divine truth in these puzzling and turbulent days. I trust we'll profit from these things and avoid substitutes. It's the only way to be happy. If you're not a Christian, We urge you to come to Christ and come to him tonight. The devil is going to do his utmost to keep you from being a Christian. He doesn't want you to be a Christian. But if you succeed in becoming a Christian by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ and you're on the way to heaven, the devil knows he can't get you back in his ranks again. He knows you're going to heaven, but he'll try and make you as miserable as he can while you're on the way to heaven. And so the devil's going to try and get you, one way or another, because of his hatred to Jesus Christ. He can't get at Jesus Christ. He's in heaven, but he can get at the members of his body. And that's going to be the subject in this chapter next door today, God willing. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus, we come into thy presence. We thank thee for thy precious holy words. How solid, how unmovable, unshakable it is, where we know something of resting. All our weight upon divine revelation that we command thy word to be in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.