All right, good morning, everyone. Let's call upon the Lord together as we begin. Heavenly Father, we rejoice to be in your house. We rejoice in another day of our Lord. We thank you for Christ's resurrection and ascension to the throne, that even this day and always he reigns and rules as Lord of lords and King of kings. We bow before him and we seek today to worship him, to bring him glory by our thoughts, our words, our deeds, and by our worship. Lord, we pray that you would bring every thought captive in our minds this day to your word, that we may understand your truth, that we may be guided in the way of it, and you would bless this study unto us. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, open your Bibles beginning with Matthew 13, and then we'll walk through a series of verses from the Apostle Paul. We find ourselves this morning on the fifth lesson looking more closely as we began looking at Pentecost, trying to understand the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then moving into the matter in the last couple of weeks or so, moving into the matter of speaking in tongues. There are a number of really good responses to, as the title of O. Palmer Robertson here, responses to the case for tongues today. Three come to mind. Lee Irons has a great article. I have these things printed out, so I don't know if you can find them online. I've had them for many, many years. Actually, this article from Robertson, I looked at the date that I put on it, and I've had this article for 30 years. I came across it in 1994, which was a critical transition in my own Christian life, coming out of Pentecostalism. So that's how long I've had this article in hand. But anyways, there's a lot of really good responses to the case for tongues today, and therefore arguments for cessationism, the doctrine of cessationism. Also, I think there's Walter Chantry's little book, Signs of the Apostles is good, Opalma Robertson's article here, Lee Irons, Richard Gaffin's Perspectives on Pentecost, which we've been looking at as we've been looking at the day of Pentecost itself and the outpouring of the spirit. So, and as I compare all of these, they're all coming from the same angle, right? We're looking for a biblical response, and we all want to gather our ammunition, if you will, from the text itself. And I think Robertson really just hits on the very same things everyone else does. But this is just an article I had in hand, so I thought, you know what, I'll try to glean from this and work through it a bit. Probably his article is, I think, four or five pages, so I've condensed it a bit and tried to highlight some of the main points. So what I want to do this morning, unless we feel there's a need to move any further into this or similar topics, this will be the last lesson. And then we'll go back to Thomas Charles, the practical piety lessons that we were doing. But I think this will wrap it up on this topic. We want to look at then a biblical response to modern tongues, that speaking in tongues is a modern day phenomenon. Relative to, or of course, the claim would be exactly like what we find in the scriptures. Because speaking in tongues is biblical, obviously on the day of Pentecost and throughout the Corinthian church, as the scriptures testify. But the claim that what is going on today is the same as what went on then, I don't think there's a place for that in the scriptures, and that's what we're gonna argue today. So we'll look at this, and we're gonna look at a few key things. We're gonna begin with Roman number one, New Testament tongues were revelational. We kind of need to lay a groundwork, obviously. Tongues were revelational. Secondly, on the back of your page, tongues were foreign languages. Again, this is what Scripture says. Thirdly, tongues were for public edification, not for private use. Fourthly, New Testament tongues were a sign of God's covenantal curse on unbelieving Israel. We've seen that and brought that up in the sermon series through Acts. and then finally a conclusion. Yes, tongues were vital and important in redemptive history, obviously a critical place in New Testament history for a number of reasons there, but what we need to do is give the preaching of the word priority today. The church was founded, we might say, the church was founded with the help of speaking in tongues, but the church's continued progress does not require that gift anymore. So that's where we're headed. Matthew 13, 11. We want to look at Paul's use of the word mystery. And really, in chapter 13, verse 11, Matthew 13, of course, is the chapter of many kingdom parables. And the purpose of the parables, the Lord says in verse 10, then the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? Because you remember Mark says, Jesus did not speak to the crowds without a parable. And what does a parable do? Well, a parable veils, right? The parable veils, but it only veils to the unbelieving. Think of 1 Corinthians 4, right? If there's a veil, the veil is only over the eyes of those who are perishing. But to us, to whom God has revealed his truth, the veil has been lifted. So parables reveal to those who have faith, it veils to those who don't. So why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, to you it has been given. That word given is so key in scripture, it's key in Christ Christ's words throughout the Gospels, but it's key. It's been given. It's a gift. It's been given to you to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. So it shows that God doesn't owe any man revelation. God doesn't owe any man grace. God doesn't owe any man mercy. We're all sinners, and we're all under the condemnation of God justly. God could snap his finger and cast us all into the pit of hell. No wrong done. So God doesn't owe anything. So He's telling the disciples, why do you speak to them in parables? Because to you it has been given to know. To know what? The secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Now is He whispering to them? Absolutely not. He's proclaiming through parables. He's teaching, right? On the hilltop, on the mountaintop. He's proclaiming loudly. He's not speaking in whispers. But He's declaring secrets that can only be known by faith, and are known by faith. We want to look then at Paul's use of the word mystery. Turn to Romans 16 verse 5, excuse me, 25, 1625. When Paul uses the word mystery, we think of it as something that is mysterious, something that can't be known, we're just guesswork, something that's clouded or ambiguous, there's no way of knowing, it's a mystery, inexplicable. That's not how the New Testament, that's not how Paul uses the word mystery. Mystery in the Bible, particularly in New Testament of course as Paul uses it, Mystery is that which has not been known, but is now revealed. So it's the exact opposite of the way the word is used today on the streets. Mystery is something inexplicable, you can't know it. It's a mystery, we don't know how it works. But when Paul uses the word mystery, he's referring to that which has been hidden, but is now no longer hidden, but exposed. And that's exactly what Jesus says to the disciples. To you it's been given to know what? The secrets. Did Jesus all of a sudden appear and start proclaiming new things? No. You've heard it said, but I say unto you, he proclaimed the things that were always proclaimed, but unable to see, and now seen by the disciples. And so when Paul uses the word mystery, it's very, very particular. So 1625 in this doxology, now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel, think of the New Testament apostolic gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. In other words, the mystery that is revealed, right? According to the revelation, the revealing, unveiling of the mystery, what mystery? That was kept secret for long ages, the Old Testament, but has now been disclosed. So twice here Paul says this mystery is what God has revealed in the preaching of the gospel. It's what we now disclose. We're opening the doors and showing you what it is. Through the prophetic writings it's been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. So mystery is clearly not something that's hidden, it's something that God is revealing. It's a revelation. 1 Corinthians 2, I want to walk through all of these verses here very quickly, because I want you to see this is Paul's usage. And we're building up to 1 Corinthians 14. So 1 Corinthians 2, 1 to 7, And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, which is how the false teachers would proclaim things. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the essence of the apostolic gospel. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom so that you could applaud them and say, what a wise man, that's why we believe him. He's like, no, my words, my message, the apostolic message, was in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Think of what we've been witnessing through the book of Acts. So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, and in the applause of men, but in the power of God. So I didn't come to you with all this lofty, eloquent speech, this wise talk. Well, what did you proclaim then, Paul? Did you proclaim folly? If you didn't proclaim wisdom, did you proclaim foolishness? Those are the two options, right? So he picks up in verse six, yet among the mature, who are the mature? Those who have the spirit to discern, faith. Yet among the mature we do impart Wisdom. Although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. We're imparting, so we're not speaking foolishness. In fact, we're speaking true wisdom, God's wisdom. And what is this wisdom? The secrets of the revelation of God. That's what we're preaching. The mystery has been disclosed in the outpouring of the Spirit. Again, the connections, obviously, with Pentecost. 15, 1 Corinthians 15, 51. And hold on here, let's see, okay. 50, I tell you, this brother's flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Perishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. I'm going to tell it to you. Right? We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye in the last trumpet, etc. He said, I'm declaring to you this mystery. I'm opening it up. That's what the apostles have come to do. That's what Christ came to do. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9. God has lavished upon us His grace. in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ." So there's an eternal purpose which He set forth in Christ from before the ages, from before the world began, that eternal purpose, and what has God done now in these last days? Make it known. All right, Ephesians 3.3. Verse 1, for this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation. So God called me to go to you Gentiles, and if you've heard the story, my story, you know what it was, how God revealed the mystery to me, God disclosed the mystery to me, how? By revelation, making it known to me as his instrument of evangelism to the Gentiles, that the Gentiles would be brought in. And on he goes on, verse 6, this mystery that was revealed to Paul by revelation, verse 6, this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Going on again, making known, verse 9, to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery, hidden for ages in God who created all things. This was God's eternal purpose. and it is now being disclosed. All right, let's jump to 1 Timothy 3. I'll let you look at the others, lest we get delayed. Interestingly, 1 Timothy 3, about deacons, deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the Mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. You can't hold anything with a clear conscience that you don't understand, or that you don't know. So the mystery is clearly something that is known, something that has been revealed. It's the gospel, and they are to hold it with a clear conscience. They are to be rooted in the faith, our deacons. Verse 16, 1 Timothy 3, Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. And then now we have a wonderful song, no doubt, a hymn, an early hymn of Christ. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Alright, so turn to 1 Corinthians 14 now. So clearly, there are secrets that have been made known. How are they made known? By the coming of Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the Apostolic Gospel. The mystery, hidden in ages past, is now disclosed. And how is it disclosed? By revelation. The Holy Spirit revealing to the apostles. Paul said, I received it by revelation, right? So now look at 1 Corinthians 14. Verse 1, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God for no one understands him. He utters mysteries in the spirit. So there we find the word that we've been looking at. Paul says when a man speaks in tongues, he's uttering mysteries in the spirit. That means by the spirit as much as in the spirit. So what is he uttering? He's uttering revelation. So when a person speaks in tongues, he's speaking that which has been revealed to him by God. It's the mystery that has been made known to him that can only come from God. So Paul is telling us that that person who speaks in tongues in the worship setting, right? He is communicating truth that he has come to know by divine revelation because he's communicating the mystery of God. So tongues were a divine instrument for communicating God's revelation to the church in languages previously unknown to the speakers. Again, Acts 2 verse 11. How is it that we hear them in our own language, our native language? We hear them declaring the wonders of God. What are they revealing? They're revealing the wonders of God, stuck just off the top of their head? Absolutely not. God is revealing to them by the Holy Spirit, giving them direct revelation, and they're speaking it. And the church, or that is the crowd, is being edified, and of course comes to be converted. Look at verses 9 to 11, 1 Corinthians 14. So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you are speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me." So what is Paul telling us? Paul is saying that when the people in the church spoke in tongues, they were speaking a language. A language that may be foreign to the hearers if it's not interpreted, right? A language that needs to be interpreted in order that they may understand it, but it's an intelligible language. It's only unintelligible if it's not interpreted, and we don't know that language. So we're dealing with understandable communication that the person has received from God and then becomes the instrument to communicate it to the church. Now, look at 1 Corinthians 14, we'll stay a bit here, verses 4 and 5. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Remember we said last week, in the entire chapter there's this contrast between prophecy and tongues. Don't despise tongues, Paul says, but prefer prophecy. Because prophecy is revelation from God that everyone can understand. Immediate edification. It's the proclamation of the word of God in a known tongue. Let's put it that way. Tongues also revelation from God, but it needs an interpreter. So tongues is less than prophecy, because prophecy immediately edifies. Tongues doesn't edify unless people understand it. So what does tongues require? An interpretation. So Paul says tongues must be interpreted in the church. And what happens when tongues are interpreted? Now they're functionally equivalent to prophecy. Because what are both doing? In either case, both is revelation. But when tongues is interpreted, guess what? Now we have intelligence, right? We have understanding, which is the key. And when things are understood, you're edified. You're not edified if you don't understand. That's the kind of thing that becomes clear through the entire chapter. And so Paul declares here in verse five, now I want you all to speak in tongues, right? Paul's not despising their giftedness, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. That's Paul's refrain. So that others may be built up, so the church may be edified. That's Paul's refrain. That's the key. That's the point of prophecy. That's the point of tongues, and therefore it needs to be interpreted. Otherwise they're of no avail, because no one can understand them. And so Paul gives further proof here then of the revelational character of tongues, because it's functionally equivalent to prophecy when it's interpreted. It becomes revelation. It is revelation. So, let's look at prophecy. Turn to Exodus 7 and then we'll turn to Exodus 4 and then Numbers 12. In Exodus we find the first instance of prophecy, the first instance of a prophet, right? Aaron is the prophet of Moses, just as Moses is the prophet of God. And of course he's concerned about his speech and etc. So the Lord brings Aaron. Aaron will be Moses' prophet. So there's a relationship established between Moses and Aaron. And this is the first place it appears in the Bible. Wherever something appears first, it's like we're going to find with the miracle in Acts 3 this morning. It becomes sort of a template. It's very important, this relationship. Every prophetic relationship is built off of this. So we have here then Exodus 7, And the Lord spoke to Moses, See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. There's a direct relationship. Moses will receive the revelation of God, Aaron will be the speaker, right? And Aaron will speak, and he will be the prophet who proclaims. It's revelation that has been received from God. We find in Exodus 4, verses 15 and 16. Verse 14, then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Verse 15. You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you both what to do." So God is governing all of it to ensure that what the Lord wants to say is put in Moses' mouth, put in Aaron's mouth, and to speak. So what will Aaron speak? The revelation of God, which he will receive from Moses, and Moses will receive from God. I will be with your mouth and his mouth. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him." Right? Again, this relationship. Clearly, God is going to give Moses direct revelation, Aaron is going to speak, and when Aaron speaks, it's revelation. Directly from Moses, directly from God. So this is what happens then, in, turn to Numbers 12, Verses 6 and 7. Numbers 12. Verse 5 of Numbers 12. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam, for they both came forward. And he said, Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly, and not in riddles. And he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then are you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" And again, a lot can be said there. What we're establishing is that a prophet receives revelation. Prophecy is the revelation of God being proclaimed, right? And that's why the prophet's constant refrain was what? Thus says the Lord. Thus says the Lord. Thus says the Lord. The Lord says, even if they do not listen, He told Ezekiel, even if they do not listen, they will know that a prophet of the Lord has been among them. On the one hand, because Ezekiel's words begin with, Thus says the Lord. On the other hand, because Ezekiel's prophecies come true. The Lord has been among us. That man was a prophet. He spoke for God. So in other words, what we're trying to get at here is that's what a prophet does. A prophet speaks revelation, received from God, and he proclaims it. Now when we go back to Acts, and what do we find? Look at Acts 2, verses 16 and 17, the day of Pentecost, and this is how Peter interprets what has happened with the outpouring of the Spirit, particularly with the speaking in tongues. Verse 16, he says, this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. What did Joel say? In the last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall do what? Prophesy. Now it goes on, see visions, dream dreams, etc. It's all the same. In other words, God says, compared to the sporadic nature of revelation being spoken in the Old Testament, when a prophet would stand up and say, thus says the Lord, the Lord says now, with the outpouring, prophesied then, and here it's happening, He said, when I pour out my spirit, I will pour it out on all flesh. And the sporadic nature of prophecy will become almost comparably universal. Your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, everyone's going to prophesy. What are they going to proclaim? The wonders of God, Acts 2 verse 11. They're going to prophesy by revelation what has been revealed to them. And here, how are they prophesying? By speaking in tongues. Why was it not interpreted? Because the people understood, right? So the speaking in tongues was equivalent to prophecy. So the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is not doing a new thing, right? Like He's never done this before. Rather, He's doing the same thing He has been doing throughout the Old Testament, but now in a New Testament context. And what is that context? Universal, global, right? Including now, eventually, the Gentiles. So the experiences of the New Testament prophets fit this Old Testament pattern, right? Turn again, we looked at these last week, turn again to Acts 11 and then Acts 21. Acts 11. The way Luke describes Agabus's prophecy, we could have been reading the Old Testament. This is exactly how the Holy Spirit was always working, right? Verse 27, Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit, by direct revelation, that there would be a great famine over all the world. And guess what? It took place in the days of Claudius. It came true. It was directly received from God. It's revelation. And it came true. Turn to 21, Acts 21. Again, Agabus. Verse 11. Agabus coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, thus says the Holy Spirit. Interesting. What did all the prophets of the Old Testament say? Thus says the Lord, Yahweh. But now after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it's interesting, by the Holy Spirit, Agabus said, and now here Agabus says, thus says the Holy Spirit. You see what's happened, right? It's clear what Pentecost has done. Revelation is being poured out and they're proclaiming the things of God. And he prophesies over Paul. Now, letter C, Paul makes it clear, we go back to Acts, excuse me, 1 Corinthians 14, Paul makes it clear that the hearers in 1 Corinthians 14 were edified. How were they edified? By speaking in tongues? Because they understood it. How were they edified? By prophecy? Because they understood it. Edification is what Paul is after in the church. That's why he orders the chaos of the Corinthians. They were abusing their gift. They were being childish. They were rattling off their gift of tongues, regardless if there was an interpreter, not caring that it needed to be interpreted, just because it was fun to speak in a different language. That's how they were. They were being very childish about it. Paul does not commend them. He rebukes them. He doesn't despise the gift of the Holy Spirit, but he rebukes them and orders it. Two or three at most, always interpreted. And the spirits of the prophets will judge all these things that are being spoken. This is what's going on. So when someone spoke in tongues in the New Testament, it was revelation from God, right? It was revelation from God. Turn to Acts 15, 32. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. What words? God's words, because they were prophets receiving truth from God and proclaiming it in the church. So tongues and prophecy were both word gifts. How do word gifts edify? Only by understanding. You've got to understand it, right? God has given a word to his church, and it needs to be intelligible. So the speaker and the hearer were edified through understanding the message that was spoken. So letter D there, right away, this challenges the modern idea of tongues in the charismatic movement today, and for a long time of course, it challenges the modern idea of tongues as a private prayer language that edifies the speaker, although he has no understanding of what he is saying. That is not what 1 Corinthians 14 says. There's no place in 1 Corinthians 14 for a private prayer language that the speaker doesn't understand but is edified by. The speaker is edified when he speaks in tongues because he understands the revelation he's receiving from God. That's what gives him edification, right? Because what does Paul make clear in 1 Corinthians 14? Tongues must be interpreted. If tongues could edify the speaker without him understanding, then why can't it edify the church without the church understanding? Right? If tongues edify regardless of your cognitive ability, then let's all speak in tongues. We'll all be edified. Paul says absolutely not. Tongues are to be interpreted in order that the church may be edified, right? And so we need to realize that Paul is correcting the abuses, right? No one is edified. Verse 2, one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him. No one is edified if no one understands. We've got to be able to understand. Edification through a verbal gift requires understanding it. Now, look at 1 Corinthians 14. Let me go ahead and, let's see, I'll read. All right, 13, we'll start at verse 13. 1 Corinthians 14 is a sticking point that we need to understand. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 13, Paul says, Therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. Right? Because he had just said, if I don't understand, then we're foreigners to one another. Verse 14, For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Right? Now, Paul seems to say there, of course we're dealing with the English text, that's what's in front of us, Paul seems to say, right, that seems to be a great place where one could find, right, evidence of the ability to speak in tongues and not understand what you're saying, right, that the speaker doesn't understand. Because Paul says, right, If I pray in a tongue and my spirit prays, my mind is unfruitful. Paul seems to say that when I'm praying in tongues, my spirit is praying, but my mind is just out in the left field. My mind has no idea what's going on, right? Now, if that's all we look at, and if we take that verse out, it seems to say that, and that's in fact a great place where people would land and say, okay, so there is such a thing as a private prayer language that edifies and builds you up, even though you don't understand. But Paul isn't contrasting the ability to understand or not understand. Paul is contrasting the difference. When you're receiving revelation from God, you're not using your own learning, your own speaking capacities. You're not using your own language capacities. You're speaking God's Word. Remember what God said to Moses, I will guard his mouth and your mouth. I'll put my words in his mouth and your mouth, and I will tell you what to do, what to speak. When a person spoke in tongues, just as well as when one prophesied, right? What do they say? Thus says the Lord. And what do they do? They speak. They're not stopping and taking time. Wait a minute, let me think about this. Okay, let me put this differently. Okay, I know what I want to say. I just don't know if it'll come across right. Let me see. You know what? Scratch that, scratch that. Here's a better way to look at it. That's not what's going on, right? In that case, your mind would be fruitful. Because you are the one putting it together, discerning, you are the one deciding, you are the one thinking how best to say it, you're the one thinking what to say, debating within yourself exactly how to say it. Your mind is fruitful, right? You're putting pieces together, you're shaping the argument, you're building it, etc. But when a person spoke from God, what did they say? Thus says the Lord. And they spoke. Right? Their mouth is speaking. but they're speaking in the Spirit because they're being guided by the Spirit with direct revelation. This is what Paul means. He said, when I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays. In other words, I'm praying by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is giving me words. My mind is unfruitful because I'm not sitting there thinking, let's see, what do I want to pray for in this case? Or what should I say to the church today? Right? That's not what Paul, so there's not a contrast between something Paul is saying, right, When I prophesy, my mind is fruitful because I understand, right? And when I pray in tongues, my mind is unfruitful because I don't understand. He's not talking about not understanding. He's talking about that human involvement, right? Or not when he prophesies. Prophecy also is direct revelation, but when one speaks of his own accord, right? Your mind is fruitful. You're putting things together, deciding what to say, debating with your own mind. In a split second, we debate with ourselves whether I should use that word, say that sentence, right? We know how quick our mind works. And we're putting sentences together in our own head. So Paul says in verse 16, Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? So what is Paul saying in verse 16, right? Unless your tongue is interpreted, how can someone else say amen and give thanks? Because they didn't understand it. But when you're speaking in tongues, what are you able to do? You're able to say amen and give thanks. Which denotes what? You understand what you're saying, right? So Paul is saying, you the speaker can give thanks. If you pray in a tongue, you can give thanks, you can say amen, but if it's not interpreted, how can other people say amen and give thanks? But it's denoting the fact that you can, right? For you may give thanks, look at verse 17 again, for you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. How are they not built up? Because they don't understand what you're saying. Which means you're being built up, because there's a contrast between no for him and yes for you. You're being built up. He's not, but you are. How? Because you understand. That's why you give thanks. So there's clear intelligibility here. The speaker of tongues understood what he was saying. But in order to edify the church, it had to be interpreted. I thank God, he goes on, verse 18, that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue that doesn't get interpreted, that no one understands. Because five words, and here he says with my mind, five words. I can give five words to build somebody up, but I can speak a thousand words in a tongue, and if no one understands it, then it's pointless. So the contrast is not between my spirit and my mind. in a cognitive and non-cognitive sense. The contrast is between the Holy Spirit giving me direct revelation and my mind cognitively designing a speech, as it were. Letter E, since interpreted tongues are equivalent to prophecy and both were revelational word gifts, when a person spoke in tongues, he was delivering the very word of God, infallible and inerrant in all its parts. We need to understand that. He's speaking the mysteries, verse 2, the mysteries of God. He's speaking the infallible, inerrant Word of God. Whether or not He said it, He is able to say as Agabus did, thus says the Holy Spirit. This is from God. That's what's going on. And when the tongue was followed by its interpretation, the interpretation is also infallible and inerrant, thus says the Holy Spirit. So, number one there, for this reason, the tongues being experienced today cannot be regarded the same as New Testament tongues, apart from opening the door to continuing revelation beyond the scriptures. So think about that. This is a very serious thing. This needs to be taken seriously. The tongues used today, cannot be the same as New Testament tongues without opening the door to continuing revelation. If someone speaks in tongues today like this, then we need to go to the blank pages in the back of our Bible and write down what was said. Because it's revelation. Tongues was always revelation. Why? Because tongues was never for private use. It was always for public edification. And what builds up the church? The Word of God. And what's critical in this New Testament era, this apostolic era of transition? We need the Word of God. We need God, through His instruments, particularly the apostles, to take the Old Testament and preach Christ to us. Right? As it is written, and they need to preach Christ. Once the New Testament is written, we no longer need that. Right? The gift no longer has a place, no longer has a purpose, because now we have the Scriptures. Now the word is finished, right? So, in Hebrews 1, 1 and 2, remember what the author says here. Sorry. Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. So the comparison is between the prophets and whom? Christ. But in these last days, and what did Peter say? The last days are now, they've come, Pentecost. In these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son. Now think of Moses and Aaron. Moses gets the word, goes to Aaron's mouth, Aaron speaks it. That's the kind of relationship between Christ and the apostles. God has spoken to us by His Son, and what is Christ doing from heaven during the book of Acts? He's continuing His ministry through His apostles. And they are speaking, and when they speak, it's thus says the Lord. Their words are infallible, their words are inerrant. They're the mouthpiece of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, it's clear that the Door is closed. Remember 1 Corinthians 3, 10 and 11. No man can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid. The one we laid by the apostolic gospel. So revelation is finished, the canon is finished, God has finished speaking. How do we know? Because Christ is in the heavens and the apostles are dead. The apostolic office cannot continue. Matthias was by Old Testament casting of lots there at the transition into the New Testament, and Paul was an anomaly, right? Chosen as the least of the apostles, the last of the apostles, and in so many ways the chief of the apostles, right? Very, very different the way the Lord chose him, and that's the Lord's pleasure. But the Lord has finished with the New Testament. So the effect of this conclusion, right? To say that New Testament tongues today are the saints, To say that tongues today are the same as New Testament tongues is to say that they're revelational. They must be, they would have to be. To the effect of this conclusion would include bringing into question the completeness, the completion and fullness of God's revelation. Not only through Christ and the apostles, Christ's apostles and prophets rather, but also through Christ himself. Ephesians 2.20, remember that paradigmatic verse, right? That the church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, New Testament, with Christ being the cornerstone. Done. That's where the church is built. And then go to 1 Corinthians 3, no man can lay any other foundation, because God has laid it through the preaching of the Apostles. And so that verse declares very clearly the foundation is laid. But then when Hebrews says, right, that the Word of God came to us through His Son, then to open the door for new revelation today, in every church where tongues are spoken, is to say very clearly that Revelation is not finished. That Christ wasn't the last word. And if Christ wasn't the last word, if Christ didn't have the last word, if the apostles didn't have the last word, then the New Testament doesn't have the last word. Then who does? Who does? There is no way of knowing. Anybody can have the last word. The next person has the last word, and then after him, and after him, right? If the door to revelation, the door of revelation is open, then there's no end, right? Because Christ isn't going to come down and go up again. He's not picking new apostles, right? You can't redo redemptive history, right? We talked about this in the big picture. Redemptive history unfolds necessarily, and it comes to a conclusion in Christ. It's finished. It's over, right? So it's impossible. You see how this provides such a strong argument, right? What are tongues today? What are they? Well, that's up for debate, I suppose. But we know what they're not, right? And that's really the key. We know what they're not. They're not the New Testament tongues. Whatever's going on today is not this, right? Because this was revelation. This was equal when interpreted, which it had to be. This was equal to prophecy. God's words put in the mouths of people. in order to be given to his church for edification. And so, yeah, the question, does God, in fact, have more to say beyond what Christ has said? Christ doesn't have the last word. That's very dangerous, very dangerous. It contradicts the claims of scripture, the claims of the apostles, the claims of Christ himself. So it's impossible for the tongues of today to be the New Testament tongues. So secondly, we've already covered this. I'm not gonna go into this. Tongues were obviously foreign languages, There's no indication in scripture after Pentecost that there was a different kind of unintelligible tongue practiced in the church, like the prayer language. Everything was real languages, Paul says. It's a language. Every tongue is a language. And whether or not I understand it is the key. So letter B, Roman numeral II, the effect of this conclusion, if tongues were foreign languages, Then the effect of this conclusion is to place the modern tongues speaking activity outside the realm of valid New Testament experience from the outset. Because whatever is going on today in charismatic churches, it's not the kind of worship experience described by the scriptures of the New Testament. The glossolalia of today is not foreign languages. To suggest, letter C, that the modern tongues movement is not of the same kind as the tongues of the New Testament, and yet another gift of the Spirit, because that's another place to land. Okay, what we're doing today, say a lot of charismatics, the tongues we have today is not the same as it was in Acts 2, but it's a private prayer language, the language of the angels, etc. To land there is to open the door to almost any kind of experience-centered phenomena. If you say, That it's not the gift that the Holy Spirit gave to the church, but it's a new gift that the Holy Spirit gave today to you and your church. Then what else does the Holy Spirit give? Again, the door is wide open. And this is what happened in the Charismatic Movement. It wasn't just speaking in tongues, it was laughing in the Spirit. So now laughter is from the Spirit. How do we know it's from the Spirit? Again, subjective experience tells a person that I'm being controlled. At least a sense of being controlled. Uncontrollable laughter. It happens in the context of worship. We're in church. We're worshipping God. And I've overcome with a sense of laughter. And I laugh uncontrollably. And I can't stop myself. In my little subjective world, there's only one conclusion that I'm going to come to. I'm in the house of God. I'm a Christian. I love Jesus. And something has come upon me that I can't control. It must be the Holy Spirit. And then when it's verified, By this person, that person, the other person, the other church, that, you know, the Toronto, right? All of that that took place back then and is still taking place today. The door is wide open. We could say anything is a gift from the Spirit. And who can question you? Because if the door is open to any spiritual experience, then there's no rule by which to say, mine is from the Spirit, yours is not. This is spiritual, yours is not. There's no way to say that. Because we're without a rule, we're without a paradigm, we're without a test. There's no litmus test for any of it. It's extremely subjective. And God has not left the church to subjectivity, that's the key, right? Read the scriptures, we're gonna land there today, right? The gospel is clear, the foundation is clear, it's clear what the good news is. God's not left his church in a place of subjectivity so that we can all just have our own opinions. God has called the church to be united objectively around the gospel. And thankfully that is what unites us, but that's where there's unity in the church. Around what? One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The objectivity is what unites the church. And God calls us to objectivity, not subjectivity. Experience is no judge or rule, right? For the infinite God and for Christian experience. Okay, next point. Tongues were for public edification, not private use. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 7, where Paul begins to talk about so many gifts of the Spirit. And verses 4 to 11. But right in the middle there, in verse 7, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. That's a principle. Every gift given to any believer is for the common good. And that's why Paul goes on, and Peter as well, Have you been given the gift of teaching? Then teach in the name of Jesus Christ. Remember Peter, right? You've been given a word gift, speak as if you speak the oracles of God. You've been given a deed gift, right? Then serve with the strength that Christ supplies. And he goes on here in the same way. And Paul picks it up in other places too, in Romans. But whatever gift God gives any person, it's not for private use, for one's own private edification. Because there's no such thing as me, the church. Right? No such thing. It's the church, our Father who art in heaven, right? Forgive us, feed us, care for us. The church is many, right? The church is one made up of many. And so God doesn't save a church, one person, and give you all the gifts for your own private use. Instead, God puts you when he saves you, brings you into the body of Christ, and if he calls you and gifts you, it's that the church might be built up through you, by you, right? As he works through you. Okay. Again, letter C, the Corinthians were abusing the gift of tongues, not caring whether others understood it or not. Moreover, Paul says in verses 26 to 33, he makes clear that every gift of the spirit must be publicly tested. But if a private tongue exists, then that fails the test. How can you test a private tongue? There's no test for it, and yet Paul says, Prophecy, every prophecy is subject to the spirit of the prophets, right? When a man stood up and said, thus says the Lord, the prophets in the church would know, right? By God, by the Holy Spirit, they would know if that was from the Lord or not, right? Or whether he was a false prophet. The church had its false prophets. That's clear from 1 John. The same with tongues, right? When a tongue was interpreted, it became clear that it was the word of God, as it would agree with the testimony and revelation that God had given to his church. And so everything was subject to testing, but you can't test a private tongue if such a thing existed. Again, in verse 28, Paul is not suggesting that tongues were for private use. It's just the opposite. By saying that without an interpreter, the tongue speakers must remain quiet in public, he's saying that tongues are only intended for public use, right? Interesting. Paul says, if there's no interpreter, then be quiet. What does that demand, right? that the tongue is for public use. But if there's no interpreter to edify the public, then the speaker should be quiet. Paul is making very clear, there's no private use for tongues. It's a public thing. It's for the common good. So pray that you may interpret it, right? You can read through that whole chapter and put all these things together. New Testament tongues, number four, were a sign of God's covenantal curse on unbelieving Israel, right? Given what we read from Isaiah 28, And in another place in Deuteronomy, it's clear that when foreign tongues overran Israel, it's a sign that God's judgment had come. Remember Matthew 21, the parable of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? Take it away from you, from those terrible tenants, Israel, and give it to people who would bring forth fruit in its season. That's what has happened. So tongues, as we've seen as we work through Acts, tongues served as a transitional sign from God that he was making a dramatic change in the history of redemption. Now, God doesn't change, of course. This was his plan for all time, but that's a human way of putting it. Tongues marked the transition to a worldwide gospel. Not just then, when all these Jews from other nations had come and heard in their own language the wonders of God being spoken, but through acts then as the gospel crosses thresholds, right? Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth. You see Pentecost being extended as they spoke in tongues. Remember Cornelius? Why, upon what ground would you bring Cornelius and his family into the Jewish church? They, the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit on them just as on us at the beginning. They spoke in tongues just like us. Who was I to forbid them from being baptized, from being brought into the church on par with the Jews? And so conclusion, while tongues were an important sign of revelation, the enduring role of inscripturated revelation must now be allowed its permanent place of priority. This is why, again, this was so helpful to me in my coming to the biblical understanding of this matter, is again, when you read the pastoral epistles. Read 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, as Paul writes for the next generation, for all future generations of the Church of Jesus Christ after the apostles. And he says nothing about these dramatic gifts Nothing about tongues, nothing about prophecy, nothing about direct revelation. Both of which, of course, being direct revelation. Nothing about that kind of revelation. Instead, he charges Timothy, particularly Timothy, but Titus as well, but he charges Timothy, preach the word. Preach the word. In other words, revelation has been given. Revelation has been finished. I fought the fight, right? I've endured, I've run the race, and now I'm going to lay down my life. You, Timothy, my child, my son, my co-worker, My fellow minister, preach the gospel. That's it. It's finished. The apostolic days are over. And of course, they didn't end with Paul. John was the one to die last. But nevertheless, Paul makes that point clear, as Paul is the one, and not John, who wrote the pastoral epistles. And what does Paul say? It's finished, right? So the church no longer needs a transitional sign, right? The thresholds have been crossed. The gospel, rather, went to the world, Colossians 1, 6, and 23. In every nation under heaven the gospel was preached. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, and then Acts chapter 28, the gospel had spread all the way to Rome, to the ends of the earth. Paul's in Rome preaching the gospel. The commission was finished and fulfilled. So we don't need a transitional sign, because the threshold to the world has been crossed in the New Testament by the apostles. Moreover, the church cannot abide any further revelation. We cannot abide any further revelation. Why? Because the very New Testament scripture, which provided those revelatory gifts, tells us that revelation is finished. So we can't abide anyone who says, I have a word from the Lord, turn to the back of your Bible and write it down. We would not abide such things. It's impossible. Because the gifts they claim to have, The same scriptures which authorize those gifts are the scriptures which say those gifts are done because scripture is done. You see? We have a standard. We have a rule. So it's not about being charismatic or non-charismatic. It's not about, in one sense, even being a cessationist or a non-cessationist. It's about bringing the phenomenon to scripture and testing it. And saying it doesn't stand up to the test. It fails. So whatever it is, it fails according to the scripture itself. And that's where we have to land. We're not mad at anybody, we're not looking down on anybody, we're not criticizing anybody, we're simply saying, it fails the test. I love you brother, but it fails the test. My conscience is bound by the word of God, I have to stand here. So, alright, that's it. Right on cue. Jeanette didn't like the lesson this morning, I'm sorry Jeanette. She wants more. She wants more. Okay, any thoughts, Arnie? Karl Truman, he's writing on the rates of confessions, and he says, you know, going back to the Westminster, how could the Westminster anticipate something like the transgender women today? Yet, the confession gives a framework to male and female. Exactly. The same thing applies to toes. Yeah. If we stick to the confessions, we can easily look at these things and say, it doesn't fit. And the other thing, too, I was going to say is John MacArthur's written a lot, and he's really kind of the lightning rod for those charismatics. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, he's got a couple of really great books on that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Charismatic Chaos was MacArthur's book, I think I read many years ago. He wrote one just a few years ago also. But yeah, the key is our doctrine of scripture is what binds us. And it's laid out so clearly in the confession as well. Sandy. I don't think that this doesn't matter. So when Cornelius, it's Acts chapter what, 10, right? 10, yeah. So was it mostly Jews at the beginning that were speaking in tongues because they were the ones that Yeah Yeah Yeah, but what gives Yeah Well, take Paul's sermon in Acts 17, right? Paul's sermon in Acts 17 isn't as it is written. You know, as far as he gets toward that is, even your own prophets have said, right? So Paul doesn't come to Mars Hill preaching from the Old Testament directly because they don't have that background. So if you were to take Acts 17 and put it in a foreign tongue, it's the word of the Lord that Paul would preach, right? So Paul is proclaiming the wonders of God but in a way his audience can receive it. And what gives them understanding? 1 Corinthians 2, the Spirit. These things are spiritually discerned. When we have the Spirit, we can understand and receive them, right? And so, the Spirit would, through the instrument, through the apostle or whoever it may be, would cater, of course, that revelation to the people. Just as God would raise up a prophet and say, okay, you would tell Jeremiah, you know, go to Judah, you know, go there and say these things, thus says the Lord, right? It's particularly given. It's a revelation direct for that scenario and situation. That's the way the Lord would have given His word. And as the Judas and Silas went through the churches, encouraging the brothers with many words, because they were prophets, receiving the word of the Lord and encouraging the people. All right? They weren't doing a Bible study, as it were. Let's sit down and open, right? They were bringing revelation, and the church was built up. That make sense? Maybe? But yeah, at first it was Jews, because that's the crowd in Acts 2, right? But then the significance of Gentiles speaking in tongues, like the house Cornelius, and then Acts 19 as well, that's necessary to cross the threshold. Otherwise, the Gentiles would have always been a subset, lesser Christians, because, well, you know, I don't know what kind of spirit you got, but we got the spirit, right? It's like, actually, no, there was no difference. We saw a mini-Pentecost. Pentecost couldn't be repeated, but that extension, there's no difference. God makes no difference between, God has made no difference between us and them. We're one. And then you got Paul writing, Ephesians 2, Ephesians 4, about unity, unity, yeah. Barry. Is there any evidence of churches using the gifts from post-apostolic age to the early 1900s when Pentecostalism started, other than the cults of the 1800s? Yeah, I'm recalling my church history. What was his name? Montanist was the group, Montanus. Can't remember the man's name, but very early on, he claimed to have the gift of tongues, and he had a whole following of people, yeah. But clearly something that sprung up, as it were, and not the continuation. Yeah. Right. I was wondering if the Pentecostalists were influenced by Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, and seeing what was going on there. I don't know if there's any correlation or connection there. That's a good question. Yeah, I don't know. Again, like Arnie said, it's the doctrine of Scripture that gives us the basis. It's what's in the Word that gives us the basis to stand in judgment over something. In love, with grace, but just say, look, here's the test. Let's bring it here. We're both bound to this. This is the Word of God. Well, I hope that has been edifying as we've gone through some of these things, and I hope it just provides, at least for this class, provides a helpful backdrop as we kind of speed through the Book of Acts. and we're not able to dig as deeply into some of these matters. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your holy word, your truth, your son. Thank you for this day. Bless us, oh God. Impress these things that we have learned upon our hearts. Guide us in a growing understanding, Lord, of your word, and bless now as we come to worship as your church, as we gather together. Fill us with your spirit, oh God, and bless us with your word. In Jesus' name we ask, amen.