The Regulation Of Spiritual Gifts Part 2

To an outsider.

Hearing people speak in unknown languages may raise more questions than answers. That's why Paul argued for clear teaching in known dialects tells us why the gift of tongues was given, referring to a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 28 from the Moody Church in Chicago this is running to win with Dr. Irwin, Luzerne whose clear teaching sauce make it across the finish line after Luzerne today. You'll wrap up your series on developing a passion for the church. I'm hoping you'll bring some closure to a topic which for some is difficult. Dave, I have to say that I believe very deeply that this message is going to be helpful to everyone who is listening. So matter fact I would say there to the many people who do tune into running to win. You might want to get on the phone call somebody else ask them to listen along with you because I think that there is clarity in the Scriptures regarding the purpose of speaking with tongues, and once we understand that many things will be put into perspective. First Corinthians chapter 14. Let me ask you a question. Thousands upon thousands of people listen to the ministry of running to win. And I want to remind you that we are in more than 20 different countries because of the support that we received from so many of you, and were so grateful. Thank you for holding our hands so that together we can continue to make a difference. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner, someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts.

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If you have a Bible. Handy open it up. First Corinthians chapter 14 glass at last we begin to understand the purpose of what's this business of in the law it is written. Good idea to go back to the actual quotation you don't need to turn to it, but you know that your margin will tell you that it's a quotation of Isaiah chapter 28 verse 11. Now, Isaiah is the book of signs gave the sign regarding the virgin birth.

Isaiah is also giving another sign here.

He's predicting the dispersion of the Jews there going to be dispersed into many different countries are gonna learn different languages but is also predicting the time when there is going to be around occult transformation.

You see, the Jews were called by God. They were given the covenants, and they were to be custodians of the covenants, and they were to be missionaries to their neighbors telling them about the true God, Jehovah, but they failed.

They disobeyed and you know they pay dearly for that disobedience. So Isaiah here is predicting a judgment now to us.

This is no big deal, but to the Jewish people of the time this was Hugh because she broke is such a beautiful language on a sheet but Elohim passion my I mean, it's a beautiful language and they thought to themselves, you know, God only speaks Hebrew. Basically, just like some Spanish people today think that that's all that he speaks well, we know that he speaks English to but I say it is predicting that the time is going to come when God is going to speak to his own people through the stammering guttural sounds of Gentile languages. That's actually what the Hebrew means here for by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue. Verse 28 the Lord will speak to this people to whom he has said this is rest give rest to the weary and this is repose, and yet they will not here since God while so tongues are assigned to the nation Israel to the Jewish people. Tongues are a sign that the era of the Gentiles has come in that the gospel is now going to be proclaimed through the stammering lips of Gentiles. And when this happens the Jewish people should know that the transition to the church is taking place and that God is going to save the Jewish people, but most of them are going to hear the gospel not true.

He broke through the stammering lips of Gentiles. Your Bible is still open. I hope to first Corinthians chapter 14 now is the time to really look at this text carefully.

Verse 21 and the law it is written by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners. I will speak to this people what people do Jewish people.

Isaiah 2811 this people, I will speak with foreign tongues and yet they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Verse 22. Thus, tongues are assigned not for believers but for unbelievers.

All right, now let's get to verse 23. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and speak in tongues and outsiders are unbelievers. Enter will they not say that you are out of your minds have you all been thinking in the last two minutes. Does Paul contradict himself.

Verse 22 tongue as a sign for unbelievers.

Verse 23 of the whole church comes together and there foreigners in your speaking in tongues just gonna think that your craze there is a translation of the Bible that I will not mention it was made by a man very interesting. All of the translations are made by men, but usually a committee. This translation is made by a man on his own and it's a good translation but there's a footnote in a twitch I read years ago, which in effect, says Paul apparently didn't realize that he is contradicting himself if I could add a little color we could say that he wrote verse 22 and then went for a sandwich and came back and wrote verse 23 and didn't realize what you just written that consistent with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

I don't think so. What Paul is saying in verse 22 is that tongues are for a sign for unbelieving Jews, that the era of the Gentiles has come in, but if the whole church is gathered together in there. Lots of people there who are non-Jewish there foreigners and therefrom. Every place under heaven and you speak in tongues. In that context, it'll be meaningless and though just think that you are mad that your credit only way to interpret this is to realize that it's assigned to the Jewish nation, book of acts four times at least speaking in tongues is recorded.

Make it happen more than that, but every time it happened. It is the gospel going to another segment of society. It's going to Samaria and they speak in a minute goes to the Gentiles. In chapter 11, and Peter goes there and he gets criticized for going to Gentiles that he comes back and says well you know they received the Holy Spirit just like us know they were speaking in tongues in SLO really will then while God is also granted to Gentiles the gift of life. As the gospel goes out through the book of acts, and it goes and envelops other language groups you have this phenomenal unbelievable gift of tongues.

And isn't it interesting how God's word is so true. Let's look at 2000 years of history. Most Jewish people have come to trust Christ as Messiah heard the gospel not true Hebrew but true Gentile languages yet. For example, German Jews heard the gospel in German. You have Russian Jews. They heard the gospel in Russian. Many Jewish people in America they heard the gospel in English.

And so the gospel comes through all these different Gentile language and the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues was in those early centuries of the church is God was getting the church started to prove that the era of the Gentiles had now come, he gave this miraculous gift and maybe this explains why bad gift faded after the first century and it never came back to the church again until the early 1900s in Topeka, Kansas in 1901 and then the famous Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in 1905, where the modern charismatic movement was born not interesting now. There were fringe groups. Of course, that may be good but that mainstream Christianity did not have these gifts for all of those centuries because it no longer really apply was now established that the era of the Gentiles had come in. You say will Pastor Luther what about today. Can the gift be exercised today and so forth is today. What we see on television the same kind of gift the answer that question is for the most part no. What you see on television today is not actual dialects of languages spoken dozens of studies have been done linguists of taken tape recorders to these meetings. They have yet to find an actual language.

They find the repetition of certain phrases in bowels and they find strange noises that maybe they can't identify but there's no evidence that there's actually a language being spoke.

Now whenever I say that I receive letters and the letters go like this. They say you're just plain wrong because I was in a meeting back I received a letter like this sometime ago. He says I know this to be a fact that somebody came from China wasn't able to speak a word of Chinese was in a meeting in a Christian meeting and was able to stand up and speak in English. They were from China knew only Chinese. Now they could speak in English and they brought this beautiful exposition of God, my friend. If that story is true. I say bravo for God it's wonderful. Let's not put God in a box and say you know God can do is my goodness.

If he wants to give somebody the gift of speaking a language that they never learned let God be God, and let's let simply acknowledge the fact that God can do as he wills with his people. All that I know is this. I have a sister and a brother-in-law who were in Mexico 21 years with Wycliffe Bible translators. They were at the Qui could take Indian tribe 265 miles south of Mexico City and I visited them there in Mexico. They began by breaking down the language that had never been recorded. They began and they were trained as linguists, and they began to break it all down in it took years for them to understand it. It took years and years for them to make that translation of the New Testament would've given day for the gift of tongues to be able to walk in there and to for all those years that they had to labor to speed all that up and suddenly know the Qui could take Lang, but for some reason God didn't give them that gift they had to do it the hard way and I think most people in Wycliffe would agree. It's gotta be done the hard way, you say will Pastor Luther, what about the gift of interpretation is that different than it used to be and the answer that is a resounding yes I can assure you it is used to be the gift of interpretation. Today is not translation. So how do you know that I became friends with a man who has the gift of interpretation is very godly. And remember, we're talking here about her brothers and sisters is very godly. In fact, I'm sure that in the day of rewards. He will be rewarded much more than I will.

Good faithful hearted man and he has this gift. So one day I said to him I said you have the gift of interpretation. He said yes I said that when you interpret a message you actually understand the words that are being said and he said no lights interesting. I said, how then do you know what to say and he said well he said the spirit impresses it upon me and then I take it from there. That's interesting. The spirit impresses you don't understand those words anymore than I understand. Yeah that's right. Then I was watching TV and there was a man who is doing teaching along this line is not on TV anymore, but he was a very nice man I've never met, but I was fascinated by his teaching because he actually dealt with all these issues and then was watching one day and he said this very interesting thing uses people think interpretation is difficult because they think it's translation, but he says it's not you discern the mood of the speaker and then you take it from there. If he seems to be exhorting God then you exhorted me seems to be praising God. Then you praise if he seems to be praying that you pray while there was an extensive study done and this is what is written to people who did some investigation into this gift in order to investigate the accuracy of these interpretations, we undertook to play a tape example of tongues speech privately for several different interpreters of tongues.

In no instance was there any similarity in any of the several interpretations the following typifies our results, one interpreter said the tongue speaker was praying for the health of his children, another that the same tongues speech was an expression of gratitude to God for a recently successful church fundraising effort when confronted with the disparity between their interpretations.

The interpreters offered this explanation that God gave to one person. One interpretation of the speech into another person. Another interpretation they showed no defensiveness about being cross-examined and generously upheld alternate interpretations as equally valid.

What pods there for a while couple of months ago I was in Mexico had a wonderful interpreter. I think I always tell my interpreters I preached interpreters many times a voice that if it's a if I'm preaching a bad sermon going make it better. Now let's suppose that I was preaching because I had this great burden which I did have for the people of Mexico that God laid on my heart and I discover later that he was saying something entirely different.

So I get an a different interpreter preach the same message discovered he saying something entirely different and no relationship to what the first interpreters.

Why am I even, therefore, why even have the gift of tongues. If you don't understand the words just discern mood and go with mood.

Don't even bother trying to connect it now let me bring us down.

If there's anything clear in the Scriptures about tongues is that interpretation was always translation Paul would've insisted on it that if you're getting a special message from God. You had better interpret it correctly or else you are answerable to God taking his message and then going with your own mood or your own thing we need to do is to realize that what's happening in most instances and I know that I'll get letters about the exceptions, but in most instances, it is it is nothing really to do with the New Testament and the rest of the passage the apostle Paul goes on and gives five different rules for tongue speaking, and he mentions how that they should speak only to the time and art.

Rather, in order, but at the most two and at the most three actually says to and at the most three.

How the other person has to wait for the other person because there's no such thing as you know, the spirit just came upon me and I just needed that's not found in the New Testament that's found in other religions and other situations, but not just because pulses everything should be done decently and in order also gives a controversial thing that women should be silent in the church and people discuss what that means, and then is it universal was it local. One of the reasons why it's such a problem to interpret that is because in the first sentence, 11 pulses, as long as a woman is veiled, she can prophesy in the church and she can pray in the church so how do you reconcile the two. I think I've probably scared of enough rabbits in this message without getting into that. But here's the take-home today. I want you to get from this message. Notice what the apostle Paul says I love this. I pray this often for Moody church yesterday I was here in the auditorium praying this for the church. Paul says in verse 24 but if all prophesy an unbeliever or outsider enters. He is convicted by all. He is called to account by all the secrets of his heart are disclosed and so falling on his face he will worship God and declare that God is really among you say how shall we pray for Moody church pray that verse, I pray that those of you who are in the balcony though you're sitting far from the pulpit here and I cannot see your eyes though I can see your faces. I hope that you know that where you are sitting God is among you, and where we are sitting that God is here, God is in the music.

God is in the Scripture reading, God is in the testimonies. God is in the offering.

God may dwell here with his people. That's the point that we want to see and even here today. There could be somebody. God is using even this message of notice of a different sort to to remind you that you were exposed before God and all those sins that you hide that you've tucked away that you rationalized your ear exposed before God. It's very clear to him and then the good news that Jesus died for sinners and that if you embrace Christ as Savior. You can be forgiven. You can be cleansed and you can belong to the family of God ever.

That's the good news is been proclaimed from this pulpit ever since this church was founded and with God's grace is going to can pin you to be proclaimed with clarity, clarity, clarity in language. I hope that you can understand. May God and his blessed presence with us. Let's pray for father. Today we ask that the word of God as it is been proclaimed may be beneficial to help us to understand and we want to thank you Lord for all of our brothers and sisters who differ with us. We know that they too are precious in your site and that along with them.

We shall enjoy eternity forever. So we pray that this word of clarity may not cause further division, but further understanding and appreciation for what your holy Word teaches, and now Lord, our needs are so diverse in this message has been so appointed in a different direction. Would you even take these words and use them for your glory in Jesus name, amen. What my friend, this is Pastor Luther and thank you so much for listening to running to win today.

You know, we are living at a time when there is much confusion within the church of Jesus Christ, and these messages I think under God's good hand, have been used, to give clarity to spiritual gifts to the issue of speaking with tongues. Would you like to have these messages so that you can listen to them again and again for a gift of any amount they can be yours.

Here's what you do go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 now let me share my heart with you. I want you to be sure to listen to running to win next time because I'm going to be having a discussion of my new book entitled pandemics, plagues and natural disasters. What is God saying to us as a matter fact, I'd like to suggest that you pick up the phone and call friends and make sure that they are listening were going to be dealing with some very hard issues regarding Colby Diaz, but also earthquakes other kinds of natural disasters will be talking about God's relationship to these events. How shall we interpret them. Why was the Lisbon earthquake in Portugal in the 1700s. Why did it divide Europe. How is the church handled plagues before and most of all, how can we keep on trusting God no matter how bad it gets. It's also a great opportunity to invite skeptics to listen because I believe that there will be many that will receive answers even as we talk realistically about the Bible and about pandemics plagues and natural disasters Saul Sewell here next time on running to win and it will be a bit different.

It'll be a discussion of these important topics you can write to us running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Roy 60614 lockdowns economic chaos thousands dying over 19 has changed us all forever agendas are flying as the press and politicians maneuver for advantage. The ultimate question what is God saying to us through a deadly pandemic. It's time to open our hearts and minds and find out next time, unwilling to win we begin a four-part look at pandemics plagues and natural disasters. What is God saying to us. Thanks for listening. This is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody church