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Thank you, sir, for your kind words. It has been nothing but a pleasure for me to be with you here on these four occasions. I thank you for the warmth of your friendship and for your indescribable patience sitting so long upon the seats. If you have felt any discomfort as a result of that, I'm informed by the physicists it's due to the law of gravity. That has really done my heart good and, uh, stimulated my thinking to see what a desire for God's word you have shown over these weeks. I have gone on an enormous amount of time. You haven't complained, or at least if you have complained, I have now to tell you that the elders of this church have not communicated your complaints to me. If you seriously object to the length of time that has been spent, well, lobby your seniors here. They have the remedy in their hand. They can see to it that you'll never be thus afflicted again. Now let's begin to read from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter twelve, Verse thirty one. But desire earnestly the greater gifts, and a still more excellent way I show unto you. Chapter fourteen and verse one. Follow after love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. Verse thirty seven: If any man thinketh himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues, but let all things be done decently and in order. You are, we are, as you know, currently studying the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those lovely and delightful gifts with which God has endowed every member of the body of Christ. And last week, at the end of our session, we were spending quite a deal of time considering the basic principle and the basic motive that must control us in connection with spiritual gifts. The basic motive that must control us in seeking gift, and the basic motive that must control us in our use and exercise of gift. That basic mo- motive Paul has described in chapter thirteen. uh And as we said last week, that delightful, uh, description of the quality of love is not there because Paul has wandered from the theme of spiritual gift. Love lies at the very heart of this topic of spiritual gift. It, I repeat, must control us in our seeking for spiritual gift. It must control us in our use of spiritual gift. And so important is it, I beg leave of you, to read again in your ears without comment what the Holy Spirit has to say upon this matter of our basic motivation in the matter of gifts. Chapter thirteen: one it is, if I speak with the tongue of men and angels and have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. In the absence of love, we could have the whole totality of spiritual gift in our possession and our use. If we had not love, it would be to none effect whatsoever. So then tonight we come to consider chapter fourteen, or that part of it that talks about spiritual gift, wherein Paul will put before us the implications of these two basic principles. All our seeking for and using of gift must be motivated by love. And if in these things we are motivated by love, we shall give heed to what the Holy Spirit commands. We shall seek the greater gifts, earnestly desire, says the Holy Spirit, the greater gifts. So then we ask ourselves at once our first question. And as we go through these questions, I would like you, if you would, to have your Bible in your hand. Let me just remind you what my own attitude to these scriptures is. When I hear Paul at the end of this chapter saying, let anyone who claims to be spiritual recognize that the things I write are the commandments of the Lord, I humbly say, amen. That at least is what I wish to do. I believe this chapter, in common, of course, with all chapters in the Bible, I believe this chapter to be given by inspiration of God and to come to us with the Holy Spirit's power and authority. I must recognize, therefore, that everything in this chapter is a commandment of the Lord, and I say it in all humility, I trust. I would not willingly wish to neglect any of the details of this passage. Still less would I wish, and knowingly to distort anything that is said in this passage. And still and even less would I dare to cancel anything from this passage. Every commandment in this passage I take to be the inspired and authoritative word of the Lord, and I must see to it that I believe it and understand it and obey it. So I conceive of my task tonight to be leading you in your study of these exceedingly practical things, and I shall have to put you through a great deal of rigor, of close argumentation, and if you find it wearisome and you feel that you are popping off to sleep, you have my public permission to stand up for a while. Nobody will think you odd, you'll see. Uh, if you, uh, feel you're going off to sleep, uh, you may stand up. Uh, nobody will think you odd, and that will prevent you going to sleep. Alternatively, if you feel you will be in danger of going to sleep, give your name into me now, and when I see you popping off, I'll call it out for you. Hook or by crook, we've got to try and keep awake and follow as rigorously and closely as we can the arguments and considerations the Holy Spirit now puts before us. While, as I say, I hold them to be the inspired word of God, my exposition may not in all things be absolutely correct, and certainly you should not suppose that in all things I am correct. In the spirit of a later a- a- admonition in this chapter, let the prophets prophesy one, two, or three, uh, one at a time, and let the others judge. Your task tonight is to listen to what I say, but then to judge it. Is what I say according to the Holy Spirit's mind and will in this particular chapter? Thus shall we, all of us, come, by his grace, ever more nearly to understand his will and to carry it out the more correctly. So then the Holy Spirit commands us that we are to seek the greater gifts, and love will demand us that we seek and use the greater gifts. And our first question will be this: what is meant by the term greater? Every gift in the body, every member in the body is necessary. We mustn't say of any gift or any member, I have no need of you. But while all gifts are necessary, some gifts are greater than other gifts, and it is the Holy Spirit's express preference that we are to seek the greater gifts. What does he mean by saying that some are greater, and which are those gifts that are greater than others? The Holy Spirit has not left us to guess, for at the beginning of chapter fourteen he puts before us two gifts, the gift of tongues on the one hand, and the gift of prophecy on the other, and he tells us explicitly that he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues. That is verse five of chapter fourteen. Now I would have you all speak with tongues, but rather that you should prophesy, and greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except it be interpret or translate, that the church may receive edifying. So here at least are two explicit examples, tongues and prophecy, and prophecy is greater than tongues. And therefore, when the Holy Spirit says, I would prefer that you seek the greater gifts, here is an immediate example. He is telling us, go for prophecy and not for tongues. Now we must pause just a moment, must we not, and ask ourselves, therefore, what prophecy means in this context. Some people, you'll see, when they hear the word prophecy, they immediately think of a message that foretells the future. Well, certainly there were New Testament prophets like Agabus who did, from time to time, prophesy future things. But that is not necessarily the main or the more important function of prophecy. Prophecy in this context we have described for us in verse uh three of our chapter fourteen, and that is the definition and description I shall be thinking of this evening. He who prophesies speaks unto men edification and comfort and consolation. To prophesy in this sense is to bring a message from the Lord that edifies God's people. It could be talking about the past or the present or the future, for that matter, as Mr. Jennings will be presently, but it will, uh, be a message from the Lord that gets to our hearts and edifies us in our most holy faith and comforts us, that is, encourages us as a general would encourage his troops, and then comforts us in our sorrows and tribulations. A message then from the Lord. Secondly, we ought to notice what this gift of prophecy is not. We should not confuse the gift of prophecy here mentioned with the ministry of what you might call the classical prophets, the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, for instance. Paul notices in Ephesians chapter two that the church is built upon the foundation of the holy and apostles and prophets, through whom, of course, God revealed by his spirit the great doctrines upon which the church is built. But Jude tells us in his epistle that by the time he wrote, the faith, that is the body of Christian doctrine that we as Christians are required to accept, that great body of doctrine upon which the church is founded, had already been given to the saints, delivered once and for all to the saints. Now there was nothing to be added. The doctrines were given. What we have to do subsequently is to guard and to keep them. I submit to you that when Paul talks about prophets here, he is not talking about that kind of prophet. As you will see from the advice he gives towards the end of the chapter, we have already mentioned it. Let the prophets speak by two or three and let the others discern, you will see. Uh, and uh, that last clause, let the others discern, let the others judge, will be a key to our understanding what kind of prophecy he's talking about. You will say, if you come to Isaiah the prophet or Jeremiah in the course of your reading of Holy Scripture, if somebody gets up in the church and reads Isaiah fifty three or something, then it is not for us as Christians, is it, to sit back and say, now I wonder if Isaiah's got that right exactly. Would you think he's got it right? And is that correct? And is what Isaiah says according to Scripture? Let's investigate whether it is or not. Of course, you would never dream of doing anything like that. Isaiah is a prophet in the classical sense, one of those great men of God who spoke direct from God, being borne along by the Holy Spirit, giving us thereby the inspired and unchallengeable word of God. And similarly, when Paul preaches to us, he says, I repeat what we read a moment ago. If anyone is spiritual or think he knows anything, let him recognize that the things I command are the commandments of the Lord. We are not supposed, are we, as Christians, to come now to Paul's word here in the inspired word of God and say to ourselves, now I wonder if Paul's got it quite right here. Of course not. This is the inspired word of God. But prophets such as Paul is talking about here, he tells you straight, when they have functioned in the church, it is the duty of other members of the church to consider what they have said and to scrutinize it and to examine it and say now, well, that was a good word, my brother, but wait a minute, is it exactly according to Holy Scripture, what you have said? The others are to discern. And though I'm not a prophet, but a a an old pedestrian teacher, you would take the same attitude to me, wouldn't you? You don't say, well, Gooding was there on Saturday, and he said this, and if he said it, it must be true. The all too great possibility is that it wasn't true. And you must judge it and criticize it and compare with what what I say with God's holy word to see whether what I have said is in accordance with inspired scripture. That is the kind of prophet. The next thing you should notice is that in connection with the prophets, the word reveal is used. For instance, in verse six: but now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation? Or again, verse thirty: but if a revelation be made to another sitting by, let the first keep silence. That term also frightens some people, afraid that by revelation is meant some added doctrine, uh, that, uh, is now forbidden by the terms of scripture itself. But we needn't think so, need we? Listen to Paul writing the prison epistle, the epistle to the Ephesians, one of the last of his writings, surely, when the canon was now nearly complete. And he is praying, he says, to the Father of glory, that he would be, that he would give you to be strengthened by his spirit in the inner man, that he would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. We will say, my dear brethren and sisters, there is such a thing still, isn't there, as the plain, straightforward teaching of the Word of God as a schoolmaster would teach it to his pupils. There is a slightly different thing, and that is when the Holy Spirit of God will take up a brother to expound a scripture, and as he expounds it, you feel in your very heart of hearts that through that feeble human vessel, the living God has spoken to your heart. Yes. That is according to one of those delightful hymns that we sing, isn't it? O Lamb of God, we lift our eyes to thee amidst the throne, shine on us, bid thy light arise and make thy glory known. For we would know thine instant grace, this very moment thy grace, thy present power would feel. Lift on us now thy glorious face, thyself, O Lord, reveal. I submit to you tonight it would be a sorry thing if we lost that element in the life of the churches. He says here that if one prophet is prophesying and something be revealed to the man sitting down, number one is to, to, to, to keep quiet, and number two is to have a go, you'll say. Now, don't tell anybody I ever said this with you, because it might get to the wrong circles, you'll say. But I have been in meetings sometimes. I've even been in conferences when folks have gathered to hear the Word of God, and a good man has been preaching, you see, from the Word, and I've been sitting there, you know, full of joy of heart, saying, marvelous what he's saying, marvelous, marvelous, marvelous. And as I've been sitting there, the Lord has suddenly shown me something about that part of the Word of God that I had never seen before. And I said, that'd be marvelous. Now go on, Mr. Preacher, say it, because I'm saying that under my breath. Go on, say it, man. And sometimes he does, but sometimes he doesn't. But I've never had the courage to do what the scripture says and ask him to sit down and let me carry on. Of course not. You wouldn't if you were me, would you? Of course you wouldn't, but I felt like it. Yeah. Oh, what a thing it is. When the Lord, by his grace, shows you something in his word, and above all, when he shows us. Wasn't it thus? When the two walked to a mass, and the stranger began to take them through the Old Testament to passages that very often they had heard, read, and maybe had thought about. But as this stranger preached them, oh, they saw this, and they saw that, and they saw the other. And they said, how did we not see that before? And their hearts began to burn. All my brothers and sisters, I say again, God save us from ever coming to a point when we've lost that from among the people of God, and all we have is just straight pedestrian teaching. That's marvelous, of course, but it shouldn't let us neglect the other. For the other will depend on our coming to the assembly, won't it, with hearts open to the Lord. Not to come because it's some supposedly famous preacher preaching, but to come to wait on God, and seeking that God would reveal himself through his word and through his servants to us. So then, um, now I'll come back to the point. We were beginning with question number one. We're told that we must seek the greater gifts, and we're told that, uh, prophecy is greater than tongues, you'll see. We sorted out what prophecy is. Well, now, why is prophecy greater than tongues? So let us look at the answer that is given and study it in some detail. This is one Corinthians fourteen verses two following. And as we read it, you may care to notice that Paul has two arguments here, not just one, two. For he that speaks in a tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God, for no man understandeth, but in a spirit he speaketh mysteries, but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification and encouragement and consolation. That's argument one. Argument two, he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. That's argument two. Why is prophecy greater than tongues? You have two arguments and two comparisons. The first comparison is, do you speak to God or do you speak to the church? And the second comparison is, do you set out to edify yourself or do you edify the church? Which would you do if you had the choice? Let us only remember then that Paul is giving instructions here for what should be done in the church when the whole church comes together. He's not talking about what you do in your study or your bedroom. He's talking what we should do when the church comes together. Let's consider then the first two. If you have the choice in the assembly to speak to God or to men, which would you choose? You say, why fancy asking us that question? I mean, the answer is obvious. Given the choice to speak to God or speak to men, you speak to God, surely. You say, well, I would, I'm a very godly chap, and I would think that speaking to God is the more important thing. You would? Well, you've got it wrong then, haven't you? Look what it says. Prophecy is greater than tongues, for he that speaks in the tongues speaks not unto men, but unto God. He that prophesies speaks unto men, and the greater thing is speaking unto men. I didn't write it, my brethren, don't rush to scalp me or steal my biscuits or something at the tea time, I do say. I didn't write it. This is the inspired Holy Spirit of God. He says, if you have the choice. Then prophecy is greater than tongues because he that prophesies speaks unto men, whereas he that speaks in a tongue is speaking to God. He that prophesies speaks unto men for edification and encouragement and consolation, but you know God needs none of them, does he? Men do, sorely do. Prophecy is greater than tongues because it speaks to men. Consider what I say, brethren, as to whether I got the right hand of the stick. Is it what Scripture says? The other pair, he that speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the church. Which would you do if you had the choice? And once more, remember, it's in assembly, it's it's not in your bedroom, but in assembly, if you had the choice, would you edify yourself or would you set about edifying the church? Well, here you have no real choice, have you? Because your intention is to be a true believer, surely. And a true Christian, what did Paul tell us, must ever be in this matter motivated by love. And love is not love of ourselves, love is love of the other people. You have the choice whether you edify yourself or whether you edify the church. There should not be a split second of hesitation. Love will demand that in loving the others, you put their needs before your own, and you edify the church, says Paul. Now, that is very important, isn't it? Paul is not saying that my own personal edification is no of no account, and doubtless it is true to say that if I would edify the church, I must myself somehow be built up. I cannot give to others what I don't have. But in church, love demands that we set about not edifying ourselves, but edifying the others. And incidentally, allow an old man to put in a hard knock by the side, you know. Some folks say, I'm not going to that place again. I couldn't get much out of that. You didn't. Hm. Did you give much? What's our motivation in coming to the assembly, to get or to give? Love would say, wouldn't it, that edification of others must be the first thing. So then, we come to the preference now, once more expressed. Would you notice that? First one is follow after love, but desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. Here in verse one is the Holy Spirit himself expressing a preference. Rather, says the Holy Spirit, rather this than that. The Holy Spirit expressing a preference. So in verse five, I would have you all speak with... The situation is that there were in Corinth people who spoke with tongues, and rather a lot of them who did a lot of speaking in tongues. And Paul is saying, I'm not, I'm not copping at you for doing that, but I have a preference. I would rather that you prophesy, you're saying, for prophesying edifies the church. Preference then. I repeat, a preference expressed by the Holy Spirit. Tell me, my brothers and sisters, is it thinkable that as believers in the Lord Jesus, we should ignore or go against the express preference of the Holy Spirit. It's unthinkable, isn't it? Why, gentlemen, I beg leave to talk to you for a moment. Uh, not that I'm an expert on these matters, but you wouldn't dream of going against your wife's preference, would you? As you're rushing out the door one of these Monday mornings, your wife says to you as you're about to depart, do you know what day it is? And you think like lightning. Oh yes, you say, you've really forgotten, but never mind. You, yeah, yeah, yes, I know, yes, it's your birthday, my dear. Oh yes. What would you like, you say, for your birthday, my dear? A lovely bunch of flowers, for instance. Yes, yes, that would be beautiful. Aha. Now, would you like roses? And your dear wife says, well, not really roses, they're all right, but I don't like them. I don't like the smell they give anyway. You'll say, what I would like is begonias. Right, oh my dear, you say, you shall have your every wish. Begonias it shall be. And you come home at night and you've got something behind your back, and you say, now kiss first, my dear, and he delivers the aforesaid upon your cheek, and then you proudly present your present, a big, big bunch of roses. And her face falls a little. Oh, roses. Yes, you say roses, aren't they nice, my dear? You smell them. She says, but weren't there any begonias? Yes, you said, lots of begonias. Why do you ask? And do you remember I said, I- I- I said I- I- I- I didn't want roses, I wanted, I preferred begonias. Why you bought roses? And you reply, well, I myself like roses, my dear, you see. So I bought roses. Well, you wouldn't do it. Or if you had done it, my good man, look out for lumps in your porridge on Monday morning next. And what shall we do with the Holy Spirit's expressed preference? There was an occasion when David was being hunted around the countryside, wasn't there? And one night, weary with his toil, he let escape his lips what he felt that nobody else heard. Oh, that somebody would give me of the water of Bethlehem. And three of his s- uh, army officers heard it, and at the risk of their lives, they broke through the Philistine fortifications, got him his water, and brought it back to him. He poured it out to God as a, as a sacred offering, for it had involved the danger of those very men's lives. So keen were they that his merest wish would be their command. My brother, my sister, it is the Holy Spirit's expressed preference. It's not just a wish uttered under his breath. It is his express preference, not tongues. Rather prophecy. What shall our response be? I must confess to you, as I have tried to watch the broad Christian scene over these twenty years, one thing has puzzled me beyond my powers to explain it. How has it come that in these last twenty years, in spite of the Holy Spirit's expressed preference, not tongues but prophecy, millions of young Christians have been encouraged to seek tongues? How has it come about? It can't be of God, can it? The Holy Spirit doesn't say yes and no. He is not saying, as you observe Paul now, he's not saying that tongues is evil. But I have a preference, says Paul, so does the Holy Spirit. And I wish you rather to seek this. Why? Well, because of the, the goal in view. Let us turn to thinking now, you'll see, from verse six. Now, brethren, he says, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching? And you say, Mr. Preacher, that verse is a little bit funny. I- I- I thought he starts off by talking about tongues. How does he then go off and talk about revelations and prophesyings and teachings and knowledge and things? I thought they were different gifts. Well, you've got part of it right anyway, surely. But Paul is now turning to ask you to think, what is the point of tongues anyway? So let's forget supernatural tongues. Let's take the ordinary physical tongue in your head that you use to speak, um, pure, beautiful Irish or whatever it is you speak. And, uh, I do say the, the, the purpose of a tongue? Well, it's not just to make a noise, is it? The whole purpose of having them using a tongue is to communicate some information. That's certainly a good, uh, a good reminder for preachers, because if you've got nothing to say, well, then say it, and you know, that doesn't take two seconds to say nothing, does it? And then sit down. No point in using a tongue just for the sake of using it. A man or woman ever did such a stupid thing. The tongue is there to communicate some information. And if I come to you speaking a tongue, says Paul, well, what good will it do unless perchance I use that tongue for these four things, by way of revelation, that is to communicate something God has revealed to me, or to tell you knowledge that God has given me, or to prophesy, or to teach. So far as it goes, tongue is just a mechanism for communication, and if God chooses to use that particular mechanism, well then the point of it is that it's a mechanism for communicating information. And if it communicates nothing, then it is precisely useless. So if that be true, well now let's look at verse seven onwards. If a tongue has got to communicate information, what are the requirements? What requirements must it meet? And here Paul once more talks of two sides of the problem, and I'm going first to read the verses with you. These are verses seven to thirteen. What requirement? There must be, he says, certain requirements met by the transmitter, the one who speaks. What are those requirements? Well, he says, even things without life giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain voice, who shall prepare himself for war? So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? If the message is going to be communicated, condition number one that must be fulfilled, the one who speaks, the one who transmits the message, must transmit a clear message. The other condition that must be met if communication is going to be made, then the one who hears must understand the message, and that Paul says from verse ten onward, there may be, there are, it may be so many kinds of voices in the world, and no kind is without signification. If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me. So also you, since you are jealous of s- zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound unto the edifying of the church. Wherefore let him that speaketh in a tongue pray that he may interpret. Two sides to this question. If God's truth, if his comfort, if his edification, if his encouragement is going to be communicated to the believers, one, the person who speaks must speak in a language that's clear, and secondly, the person who hears must be able to understand that. If either of those two things isn't granted, then no communication takes place. Now, this is so important that I want to spend a little time on it. Sometimes, when I listen to discussion about the modern give of given the modern phenomenon of speaking in tongues, people will argue, I find, that the... the sounds that are made by those speaking in tongues are not earthly languages. They are the languages of angels. So what would you deduce from that? For one thing, you mustn't deduce that heavenly languages are so much mumbo jumbo that could not be translated. Let's think what language is. What is language? Forget the gift of tongues, ordinary language, good old homespun English or Australian or German or or French or something or other. Now, what is language? And what is the difference, if I may ask you, between language and noise? Yes? Here you are in your beautiful country guesthouse for the weekend, hoping to have a rest from the din and clatter of Belfast and the shipyards. And as you settle down at night in your cozy featherbed, presently you'll hear a grunt and a groan and a creaking, and then it develops into a banging, and it's a westerly gale on the shores of Donegal, and it's blowing the barn door outside your bedroom window. Creak groan, creak groan, bang, creak groan, and so on all night long. Would you confuse that with a language? Now, of course, that's not a language. What is it then? You say it's just noise, that's all that is. It's communicating nothing except a warning to the farmer it's about time he oiled the hinge or something. But it isn't itself a language, is it? It's just noise. You see, there's a difference between noise and language. Noise is random. Language is an ordered sequence of sounds, deliberately and intelligently ordered sound to convey a message. You can have language without words, of course, can't you? Paul uses an example now. He talks about pipes or harps or trumpets. A trumpet, a bugle can speak a language, can't it? Or at least the bugle through the bugle. And no words. But when, for instance, a squad of soldiers surround the grave of their loved and lost comrades. And how many will have to do it now in these next coming days? And one of them steps forward and takes his bugle, and on that bugle he plays the last post. There are no words, are there? Although there's no words, it isn't just noise, is it? That plaintive sound of the last post, as a soldier plays it on his bugle, is a deliberately ordered sequence of sounds designed to convey a message. Here are soldiers in their grief, paying their last respects and saying their farewells to their fallen comrades. It's a language more expressive than words, perhaps, isn't it? It's a language nonetheless, because it's ordered. So when it comes to this gift of tongues, the true gift of tongues was never just noise, you know. And to justify that being, well, noise that nobody could ever translate, because it's an a language of heaven. That's to do an insult to the great angels, isn't it? I tell you, my brothers, my sister, that Michael the Archangel and Gabriel and the great angels that stand in the presence of God and speak to him and they to them, they don't speak mumbo jumbo. They don't just mumble random noise. What an insult it would be to high and holy angels to suggest they did. There is no difference in this, whether it be language of angels or men, or of a bugle. It is not noise. It's not random sound. It is intelligently ordered, organized sounds, conveying a message. Applying his lesson, Paul says to the believers, now look here, you get up in church and you emit a lot of confused sounds from your mouth. What use will it be if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? Imagine one of the great generals ordering me to go out on the battlefield with a bugle and sound the attack, and I tried to blow this thing. I don't know if you've ever tried to blow a bugle. It makes some very rude noises if you don't know how to blow, blow it, you know, all sorts of funny noises. Now imagine me getting up and blowing this thing, and the poor soldiers wouldn't know whether it was retreat or charge or come to the cookhouse door, boys. It's useless, absolutely useless. All language in the church, whatever language you use, must be a genuine language that is a series of ordered sounds, conveying a clear message. The other side is true as well. The per- people who hear, you'll say if you are a raw recruit in the army and a soldier played the, the, the, the, the, um, retreat, but you didn't know that particular message, you hadn't learned that tune. Well, you wouldn't know what to do, would you? So you could be left there while Saddam Hussein came after you or something. That would be useless. Not only must the speaker then, says Paul, emit a clear message in clear sound, but the person who's listens must be able to understand that message. You will come and you'll speak in, uh, beautiful, uh, Czechoslovakian. And you are preaching the most elegant sermon that ever was, whether you know it or not, in beautiful classical Czechoslovakian. Wouldn't do me any good, my brother. Not the slightest. I don't know Czechoslovakian. And for all that you are speaking the most highly polished and sophisticated Czechoslovakian, do you know what you'll sound like to me? You'll sound to me like someone who's saying ba ba ba ba ba ba ba with a sh sh sh every now and again in it, so that's Czech. Uh, Dorsey. You will, says Paul, appear to me to be a barbarian. The Greeks weren't trying to be rude, of course, when they heard us dear English coming with our polished, even accents. Dorsey. And the Greeks listened for five minutes and couldn't put up with it anymore. They dismissed us as barbarians, meaning people that just say bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. Dorsey. Huh. We thought the same about them, but we were so polite we never said it. But that's true. And therefore, in the church, two things must be. He who speaks must transmit a clear message, and those who listen must be able to understand the message. If they don't know the language in which it is all happening, then for them it is useless. So we cannot hide behind the idea that I can speak a so-called tongue, but it's not translatable because it ain't a real language of earth, it's a language of heaven. If it's a language at all, if it's a tongue at all, then potentially it must be translatable. But why is that? Why is it necessary that people be able to understand? Well, Paul goes on to tell us now, doesn't he? Verse fourteen to seventeen, uh, are following. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding also, and as well. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else, if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all. Howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than tenth than ten thousand words in a tongue. So here we move on to think of this all important area. What is the relation between our understandings and our spirits? We'll say, both of them are of course important, aren't they? Listen then to what Paul says in verse fourteen first. If I pray in a tongue, now please notice what he says. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth. Would you notice he doesn't say if I pray in a tongue, it's the Holy Spirit praying? Do you notice that? As if I pray in a tongue, my, my, my spirit prays. Why do I emphasize that? Because it's not necessarily the Holy Spirit, is it? Some people imagine that if only somebody is able to speak in a tongue, that is an immediate miracle produced and supported and carried on by the Holy Spirit directly every time it occurs. That is not necessarily so, my brothers, my sister. It is not so with any of the gifts, is it? I have, if I suppose if I have any gift, I leave you to judge in the end, but perhaps it could be I have the gift of a teacher. Does that mean whenever I use my gift, it is always the Holy Spirit moving me? Doesn't, does it? Suppose I were to deviate into false doctrine and heresy. It could happen, couldn't it? God help me that it never shall, but it could. And because I have a gift of a teacher and can make it seem persuasive to people, they sit there and say, wasn't that a marvelous message? When all the time it wasn't a marvelous message, it was false. You see, I've used my gift to teach, to teach us what is false. You wouldn't dare say that was the Holy Spirit moving me, would you? You see, the fact that we've got a gift doesn't mean that every time we try to use it, we are being led of the Holy Spirit. How I blush to remember those many occasions. And I sought to use my gift, but the power of God's Holy Spirit was not with me, and the thing was a disaster, and I vowed in my heart never to preach again. You haven't had many experiences like that, of course you haven't, but it could happen even to you. Somebody has a gift of speaking in tongues, it doesn't mean that every time they do it, it is necessarily a miracle of the Holy Spirit, of course not. What is happening is, says Paul, the person's own spirit prays, but his mind, his intellect is unfruitful. So what about that then? You say, well, that's a superior position, isn't it? I mean, if you are so full of the spirit that your spirit prays, but your mind is a blank, that must be a very holy and advanced spiritual position to be in. No, it isn't. No, no. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, but at the same time, and also I will pray with the understanding, of course. I will sing in the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding as well. Why have half a blessing when you could have the whole, my brother, my sister? It is always better, if you can, to pray and speak with the understanding, isn't it? Because then not only your spirit is fruitful, but your mind is fruitful. That's a double blessing. And to show that I'm not speaking in any carnal fashion at this juncture, listen to what, um, the Holy Spirit himself says. Verse twenty: Brethren, be not children in mind. Don't be little children when it comes to your gray matter. Think! Think as an adult would think. Be grown up sh- men in mind, in malice be. It is quite false to say that the more spiritual you are, the less you will use your mind. It came as a shock for me to read a report of a Christian teacher, now in a different land from this, miles away, addressing a gay convention of Christian people, and he expressed himself like this: God wants to woo us from our minds to our spirits, says he. You must watch out, he says, for evaluating what is going on with your mind. In other words, don't use your mind to evaluate things. God wants to woo us away from our minds to our spirit. And I have utterly no hesitation in saying that is totally false, utterly false. How dare I say it? Because the Holy Spirit himself says it. In intellect, be men, be grown up, be adult, use your intellect. But in malice, be babes. Or it is true that if we might rely simply on human intellect and seek not the grace of the Holy Spirit's illumination, we shall go to the other false extreme. Is that not true? Paul reminds us that only by the Holy Spirit of God do we understand the things that are given us of God. The world by its wisdom knew not God. We need constantly to be dependent upon God's Holy Spirit in the gatherings of the church. But it is just as wrong to go to the other extreme and say being led by the Spirit and illuminated by the Spirit means that we should leave our intellects behind. We are to use them. And as we shall presently see, if a prophet prophesies, we must use our minds to criticize. So important is that, says Paul, that suppose you were to get up and give thanks in a tongue that nobody understood. You'll say, how shall he that filleth the pace of the unlearned say the amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? My brother, my sister, if you don't know what is being said, you cannot, you may not, you should not at any rate say amen. That would be like signing a blank check, wouldn't it? Of your opinion. How shall he say the amen at your Thanksgiving? You gave thanks well, maybe, but he didn't understand it. He couldn't understand it. To him, it was a foreign language. So he cannot say the amen. And what is more, the other, says verse seventeen, was not edified. Listen to that. If you don't understand what's said, you are not edi- edified. Oh, yes, I was. I didn't understand a word that was said, but I sort of somehow felt something in my heart, and I was... No, well, did you really? You say you were edified. No, you weren't, says the Holy Spirit. No, no. You didn't understand. You were not edified. Pray, consider it, my brothers, am I saying what scripture says, or have I made it up? And now we're come near the end, and the cup of tea is there. I remind you of it. I see your eye glint at the thought. We're nearly through. Two more major things. Look, my brothers, don't be children, he says, in in in intellect. Be children in malice, in intellect. Think. Tell me, he says, you who desire so much to speak in tongues, what is the purpose of tongues? You say the purpose of tongues is so I edify myself, like verse, um, verse, um, uh, uh, four says, he that prays in the tongue edifies himself. So that's the purpose of tongue, to edify myself. Wait a minute. We better do some thinking. Is that, would you say, the first and prime purpose of tongues, to edify yourself? You say, what do you mean by the first and prime purpose? Well, take the, um, uh, uh, take the gift of an evangelist. I don't have it, but suppose you, uh, you invited me to come and preach the gospel for you one Sunday, and I came here and I stood upon this platform, and I held forth most vehemently, uh, with great rhetoric in s- classical Russian. And you said, excuse me, uh, sir, just a moment, um, uh, what are you saying? I said, I'm preaching the gospel. Um, you say, yes, but what's this language you're using? I said, Russian. Well, you said, we don't understand Russian. Nobody understands it here. So your preaching is all in vain. You say, well, that doesn't matter because it's edifying me. It's true, that isn't it? You gospel preachers, haven't you found it so? You Sunday school teacher, when you've been preaching the gospel and one afternoon, perhaps, the children are quiet for once and they listen, and you feel the message has gone home, and it's a glorious gospel to preach, isn't it, anyhow, and it warms the very cockles of your heart. Just preaching the gospel edifies you. Of course it does. But that isn't the first purpose for which the gift of evangelist is given. Edifying you. Purpose of evangelism is to get the unconverted saved by communicating the gospel to them. What would be the sense of me standing on the platform saying, I don't care what you say, I've got this gift of Russian, and I'm going to preach the gospel in Russian, even if nobody else understands it, because it's edifying me. Nonsense. For the true purpose of tongues, let's listen to what scripture says, Paul, says Paul. What does scripture say the true and prime purpose of tongues is? And so from verses twenty to twenty five, he describes to us the purpose of tongues and the purpose of prophecy, and they are as follows, briefly put. Tongues are a sign to the unbeliever, prophecy a sign to the believer. What does that mean? Well, you can see what it means if you consider briefly the first time tongues is reported as having been used in the Acts of the Apostles. Was used, wasn't it, as a sign to the unbelievers. Here was this great crowd, Jews, most of them, but their mother tongues were different, Paphlagonian and Parthian and Arabian and goodness knows what else. There was this great, uh, crowd of Jews, and the Holy Spirit came upon the early Christians, and they began to speak with tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. And as they spoke in tongues, presently a man from Parthia over here, his ears picked up, oh, there was somebody there speaking in Parthian. And this man from Paphlagonia, suddenly it caught his ear, there's that other chap there, he's speaking Paphlagonian. And then he scrutinized the preacher, and he saw that the preacher was an ordinary peasant from Galilee who'd never learned Patagonian in all his life. How could he manage to speak Patagonian then? He was speaking good Patagonian and conveying a message about the glories of God. And the man from Patagonia could see it was a miracle, an undeniable miracle. It was a sign to the man. When the Holy Spirit used that technique on the day of Pentecost, three thousand people of those that heard came to faith, to repentance, and to faith. You can do it now, my brother, do it. Don't speak outside the Kremlin if you can do it, in the middle of Timbuktu. If God should so use you that it becomes an evident miracle to those that hear you. Prophecy, by contrast, is assigned to believers. Yes, but says somebody who's very perceptive, doesn't Paul now proceed to contradict himself? For he says that if you're in your church in Corinth, and there comes an outsider in from the street, and he hears you all speaking in tongues, he'll say you're bonkers. You'll say, I thought there's something gone wrong here, isn't there? I thought, Paul, you said just now that tongues is a sign to the unbeliever, and now you're saying if an unbeliever comes in off the street and hears you all speaking in tongues, instead of it being a sign to him, he'll say you're bonkers. How come? Well, for this simple reason. On the day of Pentecost, when they got up and spoke in these different tongues, one in Parthian, Patagonian or something, there were people out in the crowd, unbelievers, who understood those tongues. Therefore, it became a miracle to them. It says, Paul, now you're Greek speaking, aren't you, my dear brethren at Corinth there, you're Greek speaking. So you're in, in, in church one night, and uh, here comes an rascally old unconverted Greek weaving his way down the street, you'll see, after been to the taverna, and he says, I wonder what these people do up in this upper room thing. These Christians often heard about them. I think I'll walk in and see what they're doing. So he's a Greek speaker. You are all Greek speakers, and he knows you're Greek speakers, and he comes into your assembly, and you're all holding forth in tongues. What will he say? Well, he'll say you're mad. Absolutely mad. For he knows you're Greek speakers, and he's a Greek speaker. He doesn't know any other language. And he can't make head and a tail of what you're saying. What will that do? I should think it will put him off the gospel forever, won't it? What is the sense of it? Whereas if you are prophesying, and the word of the living Lord comes to his heart, and the secrets of his heart will be revealed, and he'll come under conviction of sin and say, God is among you of a truth. Oh, my brethren, forgive me if I'm too severe in my criticisms, but we cannot afford, can we, to play about, even with spiritual gift. The battle is too serious. The task that the Lord has given us is too tremendous to waste time. We must constantly ask ourselves, with all the intellectual rigor and analysis we are capable of, what use is it? What I am now saying. What use is it to anybody? Will they understand it? If they don't, well, then it's no good. And let me use what methods they can understand, for we are commissioned to a great task to get sinners saved and the church of God edified. We shall need every ounce of gray matter that God has given us to think it through. So in the end, what? Don't forbid to speak with tongues, says Paul, and I dare not contradict him. And when Paul adds, recognize the things that I write are the commandments of the Lord, for my part, I would not dare to cancel that out and say it no longer applies. But the whole drift of Paul's communication in this fourteen is to plead with us first to listen to the Holy Spirit's preference, go for prophecy, not for tongues. Secondly, now in the church, if man wants to speak in a tongue, he must make sure there is a translator present, and if there is no translator, he has to keep quiet. You say, I thought the Bible said there was to be an interpreter. Well, it does. The question is, what does the word interpret mean? In Greek, as in English, the word interpret has two possible meanings. When I go abroad to Hungary or Poland or somewhere, and I cannot speak their language, I sp- preach in English, and they provide me with an interpreter, yes? And what does he do? Well, he doesn't expound my message, he simply translates my message. The English verb interpret sometimes means to translate, and then it can mean also to explain. So there are two sides to it. Which should we take here? If a man speaks in the tongue, let somebody do what? Well, the first thing you must do is to translate it, mustn't you? If somebody speaks here tonight in Russian, before anybody can explain what the man is saying, they'll have to translate what the man is saying, won't they? And if somebody speaks in the tongue in the church, then it must be translated, and if there's nobody who can translate it, then the message not to be given in a tongue, says Paul. And you'll say it is a matter of great concern, isn't it? That there has been much fanciful thinking on the topic. Long since some believers in America, wishing to test the reality of this thing, went to somebody who had spoken a message in the tongue, recorded it on a tape recorder, and then they took it to a person who claimed to be able to have the gift of interpreting tongues, and they said, would they mind please interpreting it? And they gave an interpretation. They took the same message to another person who claimed to have the gift of interpretation, and that person gave a completely different explanation, utterly different message altogether. They took it to a third with the same result. So the same message had been translated and interpreted three different, completely different ways by three different people, all claiming to interpret by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is serious, isn't it? Some people hearing that say, well, what a carnal thing to do. Serve them jolly well, right? Fancy being so carnal as to go and record a message spoken by the Holy Spirit in tongues and then getting somebody to judge it. Well, no wonder the Holy Spirit, they dealt with them by making fools of them. Hey, wait a minute. Is it a carnal thing to test somebody who claims to have a translation, whether it's a real translation? What about the gift of teacher? I gather I'm being recorded. Is the gift of teaching not a charismatic gift? It's one of the charismata, isn't it? Is it an insult to the Holy Spirit to record me and take the tape home and listen to it again? You say, we hope not, not listen, isn't it? Uh, yes, but more than that, would it insult the Holy Spirit if, as you listened, you, in Christian love, began to analyze what I said and criticized it? So far from that being unspiritual, the Holy Spirit tells you, you must do it, my brother, my sister. You must not accept what I say simply because I say I've got a spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit says you must analyze it, you must check it, you must test it. And if you must test teaching, so you must test all that that's claims to be a translation or interpretation of a tongue. And if you can't test it because you have not the means, then it must not be done in the church. That is the word of God. And finally, a word to the prophets. Now the prophets prophesy one at a time, three at the most. And if something is revealed to those that sit by, number one is to sit down, and number two is to be given the chance to say what's been revealed to him. Forces Paul, you see. The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. The fruit of the spirit is self-control. If you say to me, Gooding, it's now two minutes past nine and about time you sat down. Now please sit down because we've got a cup of tea and a bun waiting. Now please sit down. I will, I'm going to do it right now, as you see. But if I were to reply, but I can't, I'm so full of the Spirit that I can't control it, then it's not the Holy Spirit that's, uh, filling me. For the Holy Spirit works godly self-control. The Spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. And so I've kept you an inordinately long time tonight. I'm sure eventually, perhaps in two days' time, when the tiredness has worn off, you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me. But these are serious matters, aren't they? For my part, I assure you, my brothers, as I speak before God, my sisters too, I do not speak in carping criticism of others of God's people, but as a workman responsible to the Lord, we must listen to God's Holy Spirit as to how we use the gifts he has given us. We must not be infants. We must be spiritually adult, and all things are to be done calculatedly for edification of the church. The Lord bless his word, give us ever increasing understanding of it, and love for all his people, for his own name's sake.