Well, we'll bow together and let's have a word of prayer, please. Let's all seek the Lord. God, our Father, we thank Thee that, again, we're privileged to draw near to Thee and approach Thee in prayer. We thank Thee that we do so at Thy bidding, and we also come with the confidence of being heard by our Heavenly Father. We rejoice that our Savior has told us that our Heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of before we even ask. And yet, Lord, by us bid us ask, and thou hast shown to us thereby that we live the life of faith and that we are to come to Thee at all times and pour out our hearts before Thee. We bow together now, we worship Thee, and we adore Thee, for Thou art God, and beside Thee there is no other. And Lord, we thank Thee for revealing Thyself to us and for giving to us a word, that infallible word of truth on which we may rest our souls even for all eternity. So bless us here as we open up the book, grant us thy presence and help. May the Holy Spirit attend our gathering. May there be a work done for thy glory and for thine own praise. We pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We will read another portion here in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, so please turn in your Bible to that chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and we're going to read from verse 6 through to verse 17. Now brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine. And even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is pipe or harp? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Wherefore, let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. And God will add his blessing to the reading of his own word. We need to keep in mind that the modern tongues speakers, that whole realm of people who are involved in that phenomenon, claim that their tongue is not a human language. supposedly a heavenly language or some other ecstatic utterance. One that is incoherent, one that is unintelligible. These are their own claims. They say that they're not using human language, but they're using a tongue or a language that is not understood. It is unintelligible, it is incoherent. We need to grasp that, that that is the claim of the tongue speaker himself. And the question is, does that even tally with what you read here when you go through these verses that I have just read with you a few moments ago? I would suggest to you, when you read these verses carefully, you're immediately impressed with the fact that Paul's great stress here is on understanding and on the consequent edification that people are going to receive. But I'm saying to you that if someone speaks in an incoherent, unintelligible fashion, then no one is going to understand and therefore no one is going to be edified. In his commentary on 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Charles Hodge stresses that what he calls the old interpretation or the common interpretation The meaning of tongues is that tongues, in view of all these references here in 1 Corinthians and, of course, in the rest of the New Testament, in the book of Acts and in Mark, were actually foreign languages. and that the phrase to speak with tongues means to speak with foreign languages. Now, Charles Hodge was no main interpreter. He was a genius, a New Testament Greek, and his commentary is available still. If you want to get it and read it, on 1st of September, it will bless your soul, it will give you great insight into many things. But when he made that statement, the old interpretation, he was referring to the standard position of the reformers and others down through time who wrote on these matters, who dealt with them to whatever degree it might have been, and he made it absolutely clear that the common or the old interpretation, the standard interpretation was that these tongues are references to human languages. He also points out that this standard understanding of the meaning of the gift of tongues, that is that they are human languages, is compatible or an agreement with the facts that relate to the position that tongues were foreign languages, not some, as I have put it, incoherent, unintelligible, so-called heavenly language or a static language. He lays out a number of points, and I just have brought them to your attention because I feel that they are of great value. He says that that which was spoken with tongues was intelligible, to those who listened. And those who listened also identified the employment of a variety of languages by those who were gifted in this way. And that's what Acts 2 shows us in many of those verses. Verse 11, for example there, the people who are listening on, they say that they hear their own tongues or their own languages being used. And therefore, as they listened, it was intelligible, it was understood, they could identify the languages. And there was a variety of languages used there in the day of Pentecost. That means that those who were speaking with tongues were not incoherent. What they were saying was not unintelligible. And immediately you can see there's something wrong here with the modern tongues speaking phenomenon and claims, because they actually say themselves that their tongues are not intelligible. But those who listened on the day of Pentecost, they could hear right away that these were human languages, they were not incoherent, they could understand them, and so on. He makes that point, and that's a very important fact. Another fact that he mentions is that the tongues were capable of being interpreted. In 1 Corinthians 12 verse 10, as I showed you last week, there is a reference to the gift of the interpretation of tongues. And here in 1 Corinthians 14, reference is made a number of times to this matter of the interpretation of tongues. Now, let's remember that the word interpret essentially signifies the giving of a translation of what is being said. And that translation is the translation of the language that's being used, which is coherent and intelligible, because it's a human language, but simply because no one there in the audience knows that particular language, it's interpreted, but the interpretation Like the tongue, or the language, is intelligible, it is coherent. Now, speaking with tongues was, according to the Pentecostals, was incoherent ecstasy. And I'm not speaking in any demeaning way when I say that. These are their own words. And maybe some of you, I don't know, maybe in the past you have heard this kind of thing go on. And it just sounds like an endless repetition of one syllable, basically, over and over and over again. And as you listen to it, it makes no sense. It's not a language that you can understand. It's not a language. It doesn't even have the flavor, the characteristics of true language. It's just this endless repetition in this mundane fashion. But if speaking with tongues was incoherent ecstasy, then it's difficult, at least, to see how such would admit of interpretation. For this reason, that which is being said is incoherent. It is therefore irrational. And that which is irrational cannot be interpreted. That is a law of language. That which is incoherent is not rational. And therefore, if you're something that's irrational, it can't be interpreted. Now of course they will claim that they get interpretations, but I'm just talking here about the law of language. And I believe with all my heart that whatever language is spoken in heaven, It is coherent, it is intelligible, it's a real language, it is capable of being understood, and so on and so forth. God does not deal with the irrational. God does not move people to be irrational. That is not of God. God is a God of order. not of confusion. God is the God who has made man with a mind that is capable of expressing rational thoughts and coherent sounds and so on and so forth in whatever language he actually uses. God does not move people to babble, and we need to understand that. And that is a very basic thing, but as Hodge brings it out, it's a very important matter, and it relates to this whole concept of interpretation. The gift of interpretation had to do with the gift of being able to speak in a language that was intelligible, therefore the interpretation was made possible, because you can't interpret something that is incoherent as I've been saying here. And the third fact is this, and we've already touched on this, tongues were edifying to the speaker. Now, just look at the statement in verse 4, he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, and leave out the word unknown because it's referring here to human language, he that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself, or in a language, he edifies himself. But when it was interpreted, It also edified those who listened, because it says in verse 5, toward the end of the verse, except he interpret that the church may receive edifying. So get this principle, get this point, that whatever Paul is doing here, and I've been saying to you, he's seeking to correct the abuse of the proper gift. But notice this, that when the speaker, the one who was using the tongue, used it, he understood he was edified, and then when it was interpreted, the church was edified. There's especially this issue of the tongues being edifying to the speaker that is important because it proves conclusively that the Corinthian tongues were human languages. You see, if they were some supposed heavenly language or some static utterance, the speaker himself would not be edified. You get the point that I'm making here. The tongue speaker that the Holy Spirit tells us here was edified. When it was interpreted, they were edified who listened on. And that means that if a person is speaking a babble, whatever you want to term it, as I said, that endless repetition of a mere syllable, the speaker cannot be edified with that, because he doesn't understand what he's saying. And he will say that himself. The tongue speaker today will tell you, I go through this experience, but I don't know what I'm saying. And that's very, very serious. because here we're being shown that the man who spoke with tongues was edified. And that's the point I want to take up today for a moment or two here in this study. Let us notice that genuine spiritual edification can only result from the understanding of divine truth. Now you let that sink in. Genuine spiritual understanding, or edification rather, can only result from the understanding of divine truth. Let me say to you that the edifying of the soul of the Christian cannot result from some unintelligible sound, or sensation, or even emotion. That's a very important principle that I'm making here. It is not possible for a Christian to be edified through an unintelligible sound or, as I put it, sensation or emotion. Let me digress here a moment or two and say, that is why it's so important to stay away from whatever it may be in worship that is merely designed to stir up the emotion. stir up sensations and especially in the area of music or singing because today there is a proliferation of thought that what we want to do is get people all hyped up and we get them hyped up you see through music and through singing and the use of music or singing that is designed to stir the flesh Stir the sensations of the human heart and get people all emotional, all worked up. And you will find that even in areas where Pentecostalism and Charismaticism have reigned supreme for a long time, that this is one of the methods that they will use. They will bring in music and they will keep playing it over and over and over and over again. and what they call their songs, and they're so shallow and so empty, and there's no doctrine in them or whatever, and they keep on going through this for a long time, and they get the people all hyped up. That's the practice that they use in many, many places. And then they will say, when they're all hyped up and they're feeling great and emotional as they think, they'll say, this is edification. But that's not edification. Because the Word of God teaches us that you cannot be edified except through an understanding of divine truth. Look at Acts 20 and verse 32. Remember that the word edify means to build up. And it is translated in that way actually in some of the verses in the New Testament. And we'll see one of them here. See, the word edify or edification that you have in 1 Corinthians 14 means to build up. So look at Acts 20 verse 32, and let us see what God says, what actually builds us up. Acts 20, 32, He says, And my brethren, I command you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up. And there you have it translated, build up. Which is able to edify you. and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. Look at Jude, verse 20. Edification means to build up. And this edification of a spiritual kind is the building up and the strengthening of the spiritual life of the Christian. And I'm showing you that it is the Word of God that edifies. So, Jude, verse 20. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, He's on the talk now about praying in the Holy Ghost. But just look at those words, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. Now, it would be surprising, perhaps, to learn just how many people look on the faith that's mentioned there as the subjective faith of the Christian. But it's not that at all. Notice what it says, building up, edifying yourselves on your most holy faith. In other words, he's talking about a foundation or a basis upon which you are edified. He's not talking about our faith being built up, although our faith is built up as we go on with God, strengthened. But he's talking here about being built up, edified in every way. in your faith, or in your hope, or in your joy, whatever quality, spiritual grace you think about, it's in view here. But how is it built up? On the basis of your holy faith. And what is that holy faith? It's the objective faith of the believer. It is really, therefore, the Word of God. You go back to verse 3 of Jude and listen to what it says, "... earnestly contend for the faith." which was once delivered on to the saints. 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 4, verse 1 says, In the latter day some shall depart from the faith. That is the objective faith that God has delivered to His people, which is really the Scriptures. The Bible is the faith. This was meant by this term, and therefore when it talks here about being built up in your most holy faith, it's a reference to the Word of God, the divine revelation that God has given the church, and it is on that foundation that a believer is edified. So by inference, it is as the Word, or the truth, is understood. that the believer is edified. You see, by inference, when we look here at 1 Corinthians chapter 14, where Paul is talking about being edified, and we're seeing what the word edified means, we're also seeing how we're edified, and we're discovering clearly that Scripture tells us that the means by which we're edified is the Word. And that's very important. It's not our own subjective emotions or feelings. Yes, if you're stirred by the Word and you've been built up by the Word, you will be stirred in your heart. That can only be the case. We must be careful there because there are those who will try to do away with the emotional altogether, and that is nonsense. You can't do away with the emotional. If the Word grips you, as it will when you understand it, and you are taught in the Word, and it grips your soul, what will it do? It will cause your heart to bubble up with joy. And that's an emotion, that's a feeling. And it's right, and it's proper, and it's honorable, as your soul is stirred and your feelings are moved by the truth. But you see, it's the edifying that has taken place. that actually produces the right emotions, proper and agreeable feelings in the heart of the Christian, agreeable that is with what God is showing, it is the Word that brings that about. So as the Word is understood, then the believer is edified. Now, go back here to 1 Corinthians 14 and notice what Paul says, He that prophesieth, verse 4, Edifieth the church, the end of verse 4. He that prophesieth, edifieth the church. I've explained to you that to prophesy basically means to tell forth the word of God, and obviously in an understandable fashion, and the result is that edification is received. Now let us look at a passage in keeping with this. Luke 24. A few verses that I want you to notice, because what we're seeing here is that true edification, spiritual edification, can only result from an understanding of divine truth. So when Paul says, he that prophesieth, he that preaches, he that presents, he that proclaims the word of God, he edifies the church. He is making this fact that edification comes from an understanding of truth. Now look at Luke 24 and verse 27. He expounded unto them, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself. And the word expounded is the very same word as is translated interpreted in 1 Corinthians 14. So here the Lord Jesus interpreted the word to the people. So what I'm saying to you is, the idea of interpretation is in keeping with exposition of the Scriptures. Man stands up, in Paul's day he preached the word in a language that people didn't understand, and then there was the ability to interpret that, given also by the Holy Spirit, so that people were edified. And here the word interpret is used in this verse, only translated expounded. And if you go on down then to verse 30, what happened here was, These two disciples were caused to understand things they'd never understood before, as the Lord interpreted the Word to them. Caused them to understand it. I said 30, verse 32. Look at the result. And they testify. They said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while He spoke, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scripture? What's interpretation really? It's the opening up of the Scriptures that have been spoken, that are being spoken. Now, I know that there was the actual gift of interpretation. I'm simply showing you what interpretation actually was. It was in keeping with the speaking of the Word, the preaching of the Word. And then when it was interpreted, there was explanation obviously given. of what had just been said. So, this is how the word is used in the New Testament. And the point is, their hearts burned within them. Now there's the emotion. Their hearts burned within them. How, when, while he talked with us, opened up to us the Scriptures. And therefore they were edified as a result. of understanding divine truth. As the Lord brought it to them and the Lord explained it to them, they were edified, they were built up in their souls. That's an important point here dealing with 1 Corinthians 14. Paul is talking about the church being edified as a result of understanding being given. And there's no denial of that. He's saying that here, it is clear, it is plain. Go back to the chapter with me, and notice here as well, this is important. I've touched on this, but I won't now to deal with it. I'll not get finished today, I don't think, but let's make the point anyway at least. That is, the tongue speaker himself was edified by an understanding of the truth that he spoke. Again that's spelled out in verse 4, he that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself. It's very clear therefore, the man who had the gift of speaking with the tongue, while at that point as Paul deals with the situation in Corinth, people themselves don't understand what he's saying, yet the principle is laid down, the point is made, he understood and he was edified. That's what it says. Now, this is important because The one employing the gift was edified. That means he understood. That's based on what I've just said. You can't be edified unless you understand. So since he was edified, obviously then he was able to understand what he was saying. in a given language. And that's an elementary principle of spiritual edification actually. The preacher must understand what he's saying as well as believing it in order to be edified himself. And we need to note that because a preacher is not edified by the mere exercise of the verbal gift. that he uses, but by an understanding of the grasp, an understanding and a grasp of the truth that he's actually proclaiming. And that's a tremendous thing. A preacher, before he stands up to say unto the people, must fed himself on that word that he brings. And he has studied it, he has grasped its meaning, he has looked at it, and so on and so forth, and his own soul is edified. And even as he is speaking, he is being edified by the very truth that he is delivering to the people. He is not edified by, as I put it, and note the words that I used, by the exercise of a verbal gift. Why do I say that? Because people will tell you you speak with tongues. We don't understand what we're saying, haven't got a clue, but we're edified. That's contradicted here. Because the man who's edified understands. what he's saying, and because he understands, only then is he edified. So the tongue speaker in verse 4 understood what he was saying and was edified by it, and then what was interpreted, the church was edified as well. So the conclusion is that the tongue in view in the Corinthian situation, while it was a foreign language, was actually understood by the speaker. And he was edified because he was speaking truth. And that would have been true in the day of Pentecost. Someone tried to force the idea, you see, that the miracle in the day of Pentecost was a miracle in the hearing only. That the apostle, whether it was Peter or whoever, as he spoke in one of those languages, he didn't know what he was saying and he wasn't edified. It was only those who were listening on. And I believe that is not right at all. I firmly believe that when God gave Peter or John or whoever the gift of speaking in a language that he had never formerly learned, even though it was given to him instantaneously, the understanding of that would have been there as well. In his mind, I mean. Now, I say that on the basis of the whole teaching on the study of languages. I know there's a difference. If you were given the gift right now of speaking in, say, German instantaneously, you may say, well, that's different from sitting down with years of studying after all that. Then you can speak the language. It's different to regard the time element. But it's not different with regard to all of the characteristics of language, because whether it's in an instant or after some time of study, if a man learns a language, he knows what he's saying. He understood, he understands the language. So, when they were given the gift of languages instantaneously, I'm saying to you, And I believe with all my heart that instantaneously also they understood that language themselves. So as they spoke in Parthian or whatever it might have been, they're all listed there, the countries. As they spoke in one of those languages, they would have understood what they were saying. So it wasn't merely a matter of the listener understanding and the speaker not understanding. And here in 1 Corinthians 14 we're being shown that the tongue speaker was edified. by the language he was using or the truth he was expressing in a given language for the simple reason that he understood what he was saying. Now, when you go to verse 14 of this chapter, and I jumped right down there for a reason, you'll find that verse 14 is a favorite verse of the Pentecostalists, and they will say that verse 14 is teaching that a tongue speaker does not understand what he's saying. That verse says, if I pray in a... and again I'm leaving out the word unknown. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. And they will say, there you are. We speak in our tongues and we pray in our tongues, but we don't understand what we're saying. This verse proves that. Well, the question is, does it prove that? Let me just pause here a moment because It's right here that something needs to be mentioned. In fact, verse 14, maybe the first verse, I'm just not sure here, but right in this verse it talks about praying in tongues, essentially. It says, if I pray in an unknown tongue. And Pentecost, as you might well know, will say that This is the only way they use tongues. In fact, if you study the whole thing out, you'll discover that they never use it really any other way but supposedly praying in tongues, and they say there's proof right here that it's right to pray in tongues. Now, leaving aside what they're doing, or the tongue they're using, it raises this question. What does Paul mean here when he suddenly starts to talk about praying with the tongue? Well, let me try to explain it to you. First of all, when he talks about praying in a tongue, I must emphasize again that he's talking about praying with a foreign or a human language. That's in keeping with the whole context and the whole understanding of what the word tongue means in these verses, here and, of course, in the book of Acts. It's a reference to a human language, so he's talking about praying in a human language, not some unintelligible, incoherent sound. The second thing is that when he talks here about praying with the tongue, surely He is signifying by his reference to praying with the tongue the standard practice that accompanies all preaching or prophesying, that is, the employment of prayer. When the man of God brings the Word of God, he also prays. He leads the congregation in prayer. He prays before he preaches. He prays after he preaches. Now, are we to believe for one moment that when Peter or John or whoever on the day of Pentecost stood up and preached, they never prayed. That is part of worship. And what I'm saying to you, I think you'll see it already, what I'm saying to you is very obvious. When they stood up on the day of Pentecost and preached in some language, and then led in prayer, would they not have prayed in the same tongue in which they have just spoken, because that is part of worship. You can't have worship without prayer. And in the New Testament, therefore, prayer always accompanies preaching. It's obvious, as you study the New Testament, prayer is an essential element in the whole worship service. And I don't think anyone would deny that. So I'm simply saying to you, that is what I understand this to be. Paul's talking in this chapter about prophesying, telling forth the Word of God, and then suddenly switches to a reference to praying with tongues, and immediately the Pentecostals will latch on to that, say that verifies, supports our use of the tongue in prayer. But I'm simply saying this is standard practice. A preacher, as he preached, would then have prayed, undoubtedly, because as I'm saying to you, that is an essential element in the whole worship of God. And I believe that's a very valid explanation of the reference to praying with tongues here. It doesn't in any way support the idea of modern tongue speaking, it's simply in keeping with the whole thought here that tongues were given as the gift of proclaiming the word of God to people in the languages that the apostles had not formerly learned, and also as they would have preached, they would have prayed in those same languages. So, that may be, I don't know, something you've never thought about, but I just mentioned it in passing, but we come right to the verse itself But we have to leave it, because our time is gone. But we'll come back to verse 14 in the will of the Lord next week. Because it says here, if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, my understanding is unfruitful. It's that part. My spirit prays, my understanding is unfruitful. What does Paul mean there? Well, if you read on in my notes, you'll find out, but I haven't time today to explain it to you, and we'll deal with that, take that up next week in the will of the Lord. So we trust the Lord will bless His word to us, and that you'll have been given some help here, some insight into what Paul is doing and saying in these verses. We'll bow together, please, and let's Just unite our hearts before the Lord in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee today that, as Paul himself said here, I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the understanding also. And I will sing with the spirit, and will sing with the understanding. And Lord, how we pray that Thou wilt make us people who put great value and great emphasis on grasping truth and understanding truth. For we know, Lord, that only then will we be edified. Only then will we be built up. And, Lord, we pray that we will give our minds to these things and that Thou wilt enable us to grasp and present the truth in an even clearer way as time goes by. Abide with us, therefore, in all our Worship in all our study of Thy Word, and give us times of blessing and power from Thy gracious hand. For we pray in the Savior's name, and for the Savior's sake. Amen.