1st Corinthians chapter 14 if you have your copy of God's Word and Go to verses 26 through 40 1st Corinthians 14 There's 26 through 40. I'm gonna turn this light on too. Maybe that'll help me a little bit. We will finish up this chapter today. What is the outcome then brothers? When you assemble, each one has a psalm. has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has a translation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must translate. But if there is no translator, he must keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted. The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. The women are to keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the law also says, But if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church. Was it from you that the word of God first went forth, or has it arrived to you only? If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. But if anyone remains ignorant about this, he is ignored by God. Therefore, my brothers earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid to speak in tongues, but all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner." As we go through this text, as we do with any book, It is impossible for us to exhaust the text. Otherwise, we might be years and years in these books, and we certainly don't want to do that, nor do we want to hurry through them. And so I'm trying to strike the right balance here as we go through these passages. I trust they've been a blessing as we go through them. But in the last message, just as kind of a little bit of a review, we saw how the tongues were for a sign for the unbelieving Jews, a sign that judgment was coming. And I pointed out the judgment did come in AD 70 when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. And as a matter of fact, the temple itself was also destroyed. And even though some 2,000 years later, the Jews are back in their land, or at least a portion of it, there's still that reminder, that reminder that there is still the judgment of God on the Jews insofar as The temple is not there. In fact, where the temple site is, there's a big place for Islam, a mosque that's there. I've got a photo of Jerusalem that's in my office It used to belong to Brother John Leninger, one of my dear friends who lived in Central Ohio. He pastored there. He's been dead for a few years now, but he used to have that picture in his office, and it's in my office now in my study. And I think about Jerusalem often when I see that picture, obviously, but I also think about him. I've never had the opportunity to go to the Holy Land, but I think of this quite frequently. You see, the Jews had rejected the Messiah. They should have ceased the sacrifices the day that Jesus died on the cross, but they didn't. The day that Jesus cried out and said, it is finished. The day that the veil of the temple was split in two. ripped from top to bottom, they should have realized at that point, it was over. There was no need for temple sacrifices, but they rejected Christ, the Messiah. And there was not to be any more sacrifices On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down in a special way. And we see how that there was this indication that God would be working in and through the church in a special way. Yes, his church would be Jewish, but not Jewish only. There'd be Gentiles as well. And it's clear from scriptures that tongues have ceased. But let's just imagine for just a moment, let's, if, If I can use this for a few minutes here, that there might be some humor that our friends who are Pentecostals, that maybe they are correct. That maybe, just maybe, their thinking is the right way of thinking, that even though there is no more mention of tongues, the gift of tongues that even though there's no more mention of it past first Corinthians in the Bible, even though church history is silent on the subject until the late 1800s, that somehow, somehow the gift does continue. Let's imagine that the Charismatics and the Pentecostals, that these people who say that in order to be saved, you've got to have the gift of tongues. Let's just think for a moment that even though the Puritans, the Baptists, the most gifted and spiritual of all Christians throughout throughout church history, even though they're silent on the subject, that even though these things are true, and now all of a sudden there are these groups out there who say, in order to be saved, you've got to speak in tongues. Let's say they are absolutely right. Let's examine this in the light of this passage that we've just read. And if they are correct, if the Pentecostals and the Charismatics are correct, the whole of the movement would still be discredited by this text before us. Because there is no order in their worship. It is chaos. And the text before us, Paul writing the inspired word of God, this God-breathed passage, tells us that there must be order. And whether you walk into one of their services or you've seen a video of it, there is no order. It is chaos. It is confusion. It is the opposite of order. And as Paul addressed the congregation at Corinth, by extension, we're addressed as another independent church. And so every, every congregation is addressed Over the last 2,000 years, we're all addressed, when you come together, what is the outcome? When you come together, when you assemble together as a church, what is the purpose? What is the outcome? He says, when you come together, each one has a Psalm. What is a Psalm? Sometimes we think of a psalm as being just another book in the Bible, but a psalm, the psalms was the church's first song book, hymn book. They didn't have a hymn book like what we do. They sang psalms. They sang the Psalms that we read. Some churches still do that. Some churches still have Psalters. We sometimes do, but we maybe ought to think about that. But he says, each one has a Psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, a translation. But he goes on and he writes, let all things be done for edification. What are all these things for? Whatever elements that you've got in worship, let them all be done for edification, for the building up of the church. What was the purpose of tongues? What was the purpose of the gifts and the things that were to be done in the church? He says if you're doing them they need to be done for the edification of the church Then he bring this out earlier in chapter 12 Chapter 12 and verse 7 it's been a little while but if you go back there and As he talked about different gifts and each, each one in the body has different gifts. He says, but to each one is given the manifestation of spirit for what is profitable. And again, in chapter 14 in verse three, but one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and encouragement. edification, exhortation, and encouragement. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church. But I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy, and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he translates so that the church may receive edification. Verses 17 through 19, for you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. However, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind, so I may instruct others also, rather than 10,000 words in a tongue. Brothers, do not be children in your thinking, rather in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. So in gifts, that's for the edification of the church, if they're to be done right. If a church, if a person is outside the church, in this age in which we live, if a person, if a Christian is outside of the church with his gifts, he is doing it wrong. But at the same time, if he has gifts, but he's using them not for the edification of the church, he's also wrong. And so, if you have a gift of singing or a gift of teaching and you're just throwing a couple of things out there and you're not using them for the edification of the church, then what is it? What is it? It's of no use, just like having the gift of tongues. In those days, no translator. Well, verses 27 and 28, as he goes on, he begins to bring this out. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must translate. But if there is no translator, he must keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. There must be an order, an order in worship. And so he says, all right, well, if anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two, and at the most three in each in turn, and one must translate. It does you no good to have a language if no one else knows it. What are you going to do, talk to yourself? There's no edification there for the church. You go into church and you're there and you're there with the saints and you begin to speak in some unknown language. What are you crazy? No one else knows that language. You don't need to be at church, you need to be at the insane asylum. Oh, well, let's spiritualize it a little bit. I'm using angelic language. And that's what these so-called churches do. They throw out these spiritualized terms, but the Bible has no place for that. He says, it's gotta be by two or three and let there be a translator. If there's not that, then you just need to shut up. There's no room for babbling in the worship of God. There's no room for confusion. There must be order. Now, as I said before, I'll say it again, in Baptist churches, we don't run into this sort of thing, but every once in a while, we do have visiting missionaries, and oh, they're so cute. The missionary comes with his family, and he's trying to drum up support, so he brings all of his family, his wife, all their little children up to the front, and they sing a song. in their language that they speak on the field. And that's all cute, and everybody says, oh, that's so wonderful, and they amen. We don't clap, because we're Baptists, can't do that. But we'll amen, and we'll say, oh, that's so cute. But if there's no interpretation, what edification has it been for the church? Without an interpreter, without a translation, We've broken the law of God here for orderly worship. Let there be an interpreter. You say, well, it was to the tune of Amazing Grace, or it was to the tune of this song or that song. I say, so what? Anybody could write any song to the tune of a scriptural song in English, and it could be the most heretical song ever. Give us the interpretation. Let it be known what is being sung. Again, per 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And I'm not being hypocritical on this. I know another language. My wife knows another language. We don't come into church and say, hey, I've got a song for you. And I stand before you and sing in pidgin. No one else knows pidgin. Not here in our church. My wife doesn't get up and sing a beautiful song in Spanish. It'd be fun, I guess, for her. No one else knows it. It'd be fun for me. I've got two pigeon songs from New Guinea. But what good would it do for the church here? It would not be for any good edification, you see. Maybe someday if I get to go to New Guinea, then I'll be able to use those songbooks. I'll be able to use that language. I'll be able to use those Bibles that I have in pidgin and be able to preach and to sing there, but not in the church here, you see. And these things are all good as long as there's a translator, but if there is no translation, We sing, I preach, pray in the language of the people where I'm at. This is orderly worship. Otherwise, if I can't do that, If I don't feel comfortable with English, if I don't feel comfortable of the language of the people, if there's no interpreter, then I keep my mouth shut. These are the way, the principle that is being laid down here in the scriptures. The gift of tongues has ceased, understand that. but the principle is laid down here for us to apply. Verses 29 through 31, and let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. If a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one, must keep silent, for you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all may be exhorted. The office of the prophet, the gift of prophesying is mentioned here. The office of the prophet was one of the gifts of Christ to the church. You remember in Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four. Begin verse 11. And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets. So we have apostles and prophets. right away, some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, of the full fellowship of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. so that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head that is Christ. from whom the whole body being joined, held together by what every joint supplies according to the properly measured working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. The office of the apostle is no more, we've talked about that before, but neither is the office of the prophet. In all the pastoral epistles, there's nothing about prophets, which indicates that this office ended even before the end of the apostolic age. But here he gives four regulations for their preaching. Only two or three were to speak. The other prophets were to judge what was said, and if Thirdly, while one was speaking, God gave a revelation. The speaker was to defer to the one hearing from God, and each prophet was to speak in turn. Again, this was all to make sure that there was order in the service. There was not to be chaos. we kind of can see how that could turn into a chaotic scene in a church where there might be more than one preacher. I remember one time being in a Bible conference and a preacher was preaching and he was trying to make a point, and an overzealous younger preacher started saying something, and the older preacher said, now hold on, there's only one cook in the kitchen at a time. And so, you know, it's just the way, sometimes people have to be reminded of that, you know? You'll get your turn when it's your turn. There's got to be an order. has got to be in order. That's, again, even though there's not prophets, there's certainly different titles for pastors. There's pastor, there's elder, there's overseer or bishop in the way it's translated in the King James. There's certainly different titles, but Apostle there's no one no apostles today and there's there's no prophets, but the principle is the same Third John, I'm sorry first Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 32 and 33, he says, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. The prophets were to have control over themselves. There wasn't to be any bizarre or crazy preaching with these fellows. I think I as I as I think about this and consider it God is not a god of confusion but of peace and And this is key to the whole chapter Not just in Corinth, but in all the churches And again the principle is true even now when When we, when you, when I, we enter into a Baptist church, when we enter into anything that calls itself a church, we ought to expect that there be order. There may not be prophets or apostles, Those things are done. The gift of tongues is over. The tongues have ceased. But if there's somebody speaking another language, there needs to be an interpreter. If somebody's up preaching, He ought to be the only one preaching. No one else should be interrupting him and that sort of thing, unless he's asking questions and that sort. Sometimes that happens, even sometimes when I'm preaching, I may ask questions and that sort, depending on what type of preaching he's doing. And when he's preaching, what's he doing? Is he getting some random message from heaven? Is he telling, some commentary from the news? Is he bringing in some story from Five Nights with Freddy? Or Toy Story? Or Dr. Seuss? What's he preaching? Oh, he's to preach the Word. What Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, preach the word. This ought to be our expectation. If I walk into a church and I hear somebody going on in a language I don't understand, there's no edification there. If I hear people talking all at once, there's no order there. If I see them acting out Toy Story on the stage, that's not church. I don't know what that is. You see? There's principles. God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. Not just in Corinth, but in all the churches. If the dude gets up there and he says, last night I had a dream and this is where I got my message. I'm closing up my Bible and going home. There's a fellow on the internet, maybe you've seen him, he's called the Holy Nope. I love that guy, I wish I would've got to talk to him. I saw him at the G3 conference in 2023, and I didn't have a chance to talk to him, but I love his videos. I don't always agree with him on everything, but I tell you what, probably 95% of what he writes, what he does, his videos are good. He says, I got my Bible, it's the Lord's day, I'm going to church. He sits down and it shows like a video of some of this chaos that goes on in some places that are called churches. And then it shows him, nope, and he shuts his Bible and he walks out. There's a reason for that. There's a reason for that. God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints. Well, good so far. Well, probably the most controversial part of all this is coming right here in verses 34 and 35. He says, the women are to keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the law also states. But if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church. This is plain language, folks. I don't know how you can't get any plainer than that. This is not the first time that we, not the only time that we read something like this. Over in 1 Timothy chapter two, 1 Timothy chapter two, verses 11, through 15. A woman must learn in quietness in all submission. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first formed, and then Eve. It was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into trespass. But she will be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with self-restraint. You see, this was not a local, geographic, or cultural thing that Paul was writing to the Church of Corinth about. Although the modern liberal woman does not want to believe this has anything to do with her. But show me a woman who can't keep her mouth shut during the church service, and I'll show you a rebellious woman, a woman who is out of order. a woman who has not submitted to her husband or to the word of God. If she does not learn to control her tongue, to submit to scriptures, if she has not learned to restrain herself, if she has not learned these things, and if she refuses to, then she needs to be disciplined from the church. We often talk about the most extreme type of this, and that is a woman who will get up in the pulpit and teach and preach. That is, of course, the extreme form of this sort of behavior. The Bible is clear that women are to be silent, and in fact, one of the qualifications for the pastor is that the pastor is to be the husband of one wife. It is an impossibility for a woman to be the husband of one wife, but Nonetheless, women all across this country and in various denominations, even in some Baptist churches, I'm told, have attempted to get up in the pulpit, even attempted to pastor churches. I say attempted because even when they get into pulpits and so on and so forth. I don't know what they're doing. They ain't pastoring churches. They're in rebellion against the God of the Bible, Christ, who is head of the church. But when you look at these things, it may be that a woman might be a gifted speaker, a wonderful Bible teacher, She might have something worthwhile to say, although I personally have never met such a woman who has spoken out during any church service that I've ever been in. But let's say that she is some or even all of these things. That still does not give her the right to speak out. Again, as for churches who say they have women pastors, no, you don't. No, you don't. When a woman gets up in the pulpit, she's out of control. She's out of order. When a woman speaks out during the service, she's interrupting the service. the service is no longer orderly, it's disorderly. And her husband needs to get her under control. And if that does not work, or if she has no husband, then the church needs to get her under control. And if that does not work, then she needs to be disciplined. And if that doesn't work, then she needs to be, I mean, if nothing else, then a no trespass order needs to be put against her. These things are a terrible mark, but our Lord demands in his word, orderly worship, orderly worship. When we see here in the Bible, that we're to worship him in spirit and in truth. In verses 36 and 37, we find that Paul anticipates the reaction of some, and he says, was it from you that the word of God first went forth or has it arrived to you only? If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. He anticipates how some of the church would react to his teaching. And so he writes this. It is, it is sarcastic. It sounds that way. And, and it is. Why would you put yourself above the Word of God? If this type of preaching makes you upset, you know, maybe I've hit a sore spot with the tongues, the languages, you know, maybe I've hit a sore spot with the women speaking and preaching, pastoring, whatever it may be. I know some of these things really hit a nerve. Whatever it may be, they hit a sore spot with the Church of Corinth, and he knew that. But we must understand that we are to preach the whole counsel of God's Word Why would we put ourselves above the Word of God either by ignoring it or interpreting it to fit predisposed ideas? And lest we be too hard on Corinth or on others, let us consider our own hearts here. Verse 38, but if anyone remains ignorant about this, he is ignored by God. Anyone who does not recognize the authority of Paul's teaching should himself not be recognized as a legitimate servant gifted by God. So there are people out there who say, oh, well, this is just Paul's teaching. Paul was hard on women, Paul this and Paul that, and you'll run into them if you haven't before. They're usually the They're usually the bossy women that want to run churches and get up in the pulpits and stuff like that. And they say, well, that's the things that Paul wrote. He just hated women. And those aren't the words of Jesus. That's the words of Paul. Right here, right here, read it again, verse 38. But if anyone remains ignorant about this, he is ignored by God. Judgment day is coming, folks. And there are preachers out there and commentators who will say terrible things about the writings of Paul. They'll find out. They'll find out. They stand before God. And they'll learn what it means to be ignored by God. It's a terrible thing. It's a terrible thing. You can't take the word of God and ignore the parts that really bother your heart, the parts that you don't like and all that. Verse 39, therefore, my brothers earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid to speak in tongues, but all things must be done properly and in an orderly Manner, earnestly desire to prophesy, he says, but do not forbid tongues. Legitimate languages were limited in purpose and duration as a gift during those days, but they were not to be hindered. But out of these gifts, prophesying was the most desirable gift to be exercised because of its ability to edify, exhort, and comfort with the truth. And as he closes this out in this section, he says, again, all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. And that's key, even in the age in which we live, even with the gifts that have ceased and all. Listen, God is a God of peace and harmony, a God of order and clarity, not strife and confusion. Worship. needs to reflect that. There are reasons why we do what we do, why we have an order, why we do what we do in worship. It's to reflect who God is. And so, as we bring this section to a close, I'll just ask this. as we consider the things that we've read. Even though the tongues have ceased, there are no prophets, there are no apostles in our day, there are principles that apply to us. Let us take these principles and make sure that we're applying them in our orderly worship. And I'll ask, do we have any questions before we close it out? All right, well, Lord willing, next week we'll start 1 Corinthians chapter 15, a chapter that I've been looking forward to for a long, long time. And so if you, not if you, we all have time. This week, your assignment is to read 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and then we'll begin our study in that one next Lord's Day.