Now let us turn, please, in the Word of God to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians 14. And we'll start our reading from verse 26. 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 26. And while you're turning to that passage, I wish you personally the Lord's blessing for this new year and trust that the Lord will be with us. Let us read God's Word then. 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 26. How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation, that all things be done unto edifying, If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God. Let the prophet speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of God, of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? Came the word of God out from you, or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet or a spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that are right unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order. Amen. Let us seek the Lord in prayer. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we come before thee this evening to seek to hear thy voice as the word is open before us. We ask that thou wilt bless this passage to our hearts, that we might be taught by thee, but also for it to grow into maturity in us, and it will be fruitful in the life of each one of us. We thank thee that thy word is given, and we can trust it. Bless all who cannot be here, especially those who are laid aside sick, and ask that thy hand would be upon them, and that thy presence might be felt by them. So, Lord, bless, we pray, and help now as we come before thee, may we come through Christ our Savior, and depend upon him for all that we need. For we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Now we come to the study of this passage once again. As you know from chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, we've been studying the teaching of the Lord on spiritual gifts. The Corinthian Christians were facing some problems with regard to the use of the revelatory gifts. Those gifts that were part of God's revelation. God was speaking. And especially here is the gifts of tongues or other languages. Paul's approach in dealing with the problem has been patiently to lay the foundational truths and principles before going ahead with some practical matters. The foundational and general principles that were set out in chapter 12, for example, there's a large theme of the church being one body. And so there is the teaching of that, the unity of the body, the oneness of the body. And then in chapter 13, speaking about love and how love is indispensable, that in everything love must permeate, must be the motive behind everything that the child of God does. That without that love, any sacrifice, any gift means nothing. And then in chapter 14, as we have considered it, from verses 1 to 25, it's speaking about prophecy, or preaching, expanding of the Word of God, speaking forth the truths of God from heaven. And the Apostle says that this prophecy is greater than the gift of tongues, or the gift of being able to speak in other languages, and explain the Word of God in other languages. And in this last portion, verses 26 to 40, the Apostle Paul is ready to deal with the immediate problems. He gives the Corinthian Christians practical instructions on how this gift or the gifts of prophecy and tongues, these revelatory gifts are to be used in public worship. And that's what we want to think about this evening. We won't deal with the whole of that passage, but some of it. And then take up the rest afterwards, God willing. One key and foundational word for the Christian life is edification. The life of the Christian is to be one of edification. Christians should not be petty or inward-looking or selfish. They should always be thinking of how to build up others in the faith. Our society is increasingly selfish, increasingly thinking of the first one, myself. But that is the world's behavior. That's the society's behavior. It shouldn't be part of our thinking or our attitude. But sadly, that has always been the case. It's not something new. It has always been the case. But that's the world's behavior. But sadly, such worldly behaviors of selfishness and even showmanship and self-importance tries to find its way into the church also. So that is why we find the subjects of humility and edification and service to be the emphasizing teaching of the Word of God. The Apostle Paul is always striking this note again and again, as if these Christians needed to hear it. Humility, edification. So we had seen this previously in chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians and verse 12. He says, All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Or in chapter 10 and verse 23, again, he says that I'm not going to be selfish about this matter myself. He says, all things are lawful for me. 1 Corinthians 10, 23, but all things are not expedient. Again, he repeats himself. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. So there are certain things that are lawful for me, but they don't edify. They don't build up. Other people, not just myself, but other people. And the same note is struck in other passages, other letters of the Apostle. For example, in Ephesians. writing of the gifts of Christ to the church. He says this in Ephesians 4 and verses 11 and 12 and then 16. I'll quote it for you. In Ephesians 4, 11, he says, And He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joint together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. So again, this emphasis is made that it's all for each other. All of us are for one another. And the Lord gives gifts to the church, not simply for themselves, but for the church, for the building up of one another in love. And regarding the spiritual gifts, Edification means remembering four things. When we think about edification, it means four things. First of all, no schism should be caused to the church by anything sinful or selfish. So this matter of edification means no schism should be caused by anything selfish or sinful in the church. And then secondly, Love should be shown more and more in our lives. And that's again from chapter 13, the whole theme of it. And the third thing should be this, that there should be the understanding behind everything that is done, the things that are taught, the things that we hear in the church, in the teaching. It should be understood. It should be intelligible. And then, fourthly, there should be decency and order in the church. And that's what we will be coming to, the fourth thing. We have dealt with the other three points about the spiritual gifts, and now we come to the fourth thing. And that's what we find in these last verses of chapter 14, from verse 26 to 14. And now, thinking about this, we will, I think, have only time to look at verses 26 to 35 in a general sense. But this matter of decency and order in the church, especially in the worship of God, is the thing at hand. Let us look at verse 24, or I'm sorry, verse 26, where it says, Let all things be done unto edifying. Let all things be done unto edifying. And the Apostle Paul develops this last point of every gift is for edification. He develops this last point that everything should be done in decency and in order in the church by reminding the readers here in Corinth of this key word edification. And I've already mentioned it. Let's read the whole verse. How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation, that all things be done unto Ediphi. The question at the beginning of this verse is meant to connect what has been said earlier with what is going to be said later on. And so he asked this question, how is it then brethren? And by brethren is really referring to believers. Paul is asking the Corinthian Christians basically, what is the conclusion? What is the final matter then? The answer is, let all things be done unto or for edifying or edification. Let everything be done. Everything in the church should be done for edification. And so the question carries this inquiry. What is the condition with you? That is why Paul mentions the list of things which have been contributing at their meetings. There is a psalm that is given out. And of course the early church sang generally the psalms. And so there was a psalm given out, a teaching. And then there is, so that is half a doctrine. So there is something to be taught. In the early church they taught doctrine. So, and then it says, hath a tongue. Again, this is speaking a language. God gave this revelation to someone in another language that they had not learned, and so they gave that out in the congregation. And then it says this, a revelation, hath an interpretation. All of these things are mentioned here. And the irony of the situation becomes obvious. Paul is saying to them, all of you have something to contribute, but it is not. Is it not for edification? But you're not using it for edification. That's what he's really saying. If we were present when the letter was read out for the first time and we were in that first Corinthian church, wouldn't we not feel the sting in Paul's words? Or would we be so thick-skinned or slow as not to know what he's saying there? Words are meant to be understood. We would not miss the point made here. And so he's saying, you're using this wrongly. It's not done for edification. It's done for other purposes. You have other motives. And this ought not to be. And so he asked this question. We ought to note as well something that is mentioned here, that the gift of tongues is included in this list, in this verse, showing that it is meant also for the edification of the church. It emphasizes this matter, the gift of tongues was for the whole church. There are people, as I'm sure you know, who teach that this gift of tongues and other languages are for the church today. But by looking at this, it shows that they are wrong in claiming that it is for us today. Because they teach that, well, the tongues is for personal edification. But the Apostle is saying, no, it's not for personal edification. It's not for you. It's for the church, as it is with the other things that are listed here. So I trust we get the message and for it to be imprinted on our hearts that the gift of God is to reach not just me, But it is for everyone to be a blessing to everyone, so that everyone is built up. We ought to, whatever we do in the singing of the praise of God, it is to be building up the saints and raising our voices to God in praise, in the teaching, in prayer. It is for edification. We ought not to be praying in prayer meetings, to be telling each other off. at all. That's very immature. That's wrong or to be saying something to someone else and yet pretending to be speaking to God and that happens. Sometimes without thinking we go into that mode and we shouldn't do that. It is to be for edification. And anything else you might think of, any kind of gifts that God has given to each one of us, it is for one another to be used. So the question is, how are we encouraging each other, helping one another in these things, with any talents that the Lord has given to us? Now, we will move on to the next verse, verse 27. And there is now teaching there of things to be done orderly. And here, specifically of the tongue speaking, it must be orderly. It says there this. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course. That is in order. And let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. So as we said, every gift is for edification of the church. And so the Apostle Paul moves to apply this regarding the gift of tongues, because that was the thing that they were weak at. And he gives three conditions that are laid down for tongues. So he gives the order. This is how it ought to be. Outside of this, tongues should not operate. It won't be right. It is not the will of God. And so there are a number of points that he gives, conditions we could say that he gives. One of them is this, the first condition about this matter of tongues is that only a maximum of three persons may speak at any one meeting. So there are three people at the maximum who are to speak at any one meeting. In fact, it says it is preferable to have only two persons speaking at any time, but at the most, there could be three. And again, that goes against so much of the false practices of today in churches where they say, well, we believe in the gifts of tongues, whatever that is in their own mind, it's some personal thing they would say, generally speaking, and then there are so many people. and speaking without interpreter so in verse 27 it says this if any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course that in order They're not all going to say something all together. And let one interpret. So that's the one condition. And then the second condition is that each of these two or three persons should speak in turn. So that's the next condition. It's not together, it's not all at once at the same time. And then the third condition is that there should be an interpreter present. It must be present to interpret that unknown tongue into the language known by everybody. Because the matter is that it ought to be for edification. It ought to be for building up of the saints. So you would have an issue if I was to speak to you in Farsi and preaching this message in Farsi. You would say, it is of no use to me. But if there was an interpreter, then that would be beneficial. And so that is what he's saying here. But if there is no interpretation and interpreter present, Paul's answer is that the person who intends to speak in a tongue should keep silent. And Paul adds the remark that he's to speak to himself and to God. And that's quite interesting. And we ought to note carefully that Paul doesn't say that individual is to practice his tongue speaking at home. He doesn't say that. That's not the plain meaning of the sentence. This is in the context of the gathered church. The person still in the church, he's been told to keep silent. It's not even to mutter quietly in that other language. It's not to just repeat things quietly to himself. The phrase to speak to himself and to God means therefore to engage in thinking of the things that he had wished to say aloud. And more could be said about this, but time doesn't allow us for me to elaborate on this, but there are other passages that also is a reference to the fact that this gift of tongues is to be spoken out loud. It's not for simply to be uttered to oneself. So there's praying is said in earlier verses 14 and 15. It's prayer is done unto God and speaking in tongues in verse 15. Again, it is done to the congregation so that they might hear. So this speaking to himself and to God is to be taken that he's to meditate, to his thinking over the matter about this. But sadly, today, those who claim to have this gift, they don't seem to be feeling, there is no feel of embarrassment by this passage. They practice their kind of tongue speaking without realizing that their tongues are not the tongues spoken in the Bible. And I trust that we see that. And we see that clearly, repeatedly in the Bible. that these were human languages. They were not senseless jabberings of someone, hyped up by some emotional background music, which is often, if not always, the case. Furthermore, They engage in their so-called tongue speaking without regard to the conditions laid down in this passage. Often more than three persons would speak in tongues. Often in those crowds, there's so much noise with passion. And of course, many think that this is what we read in the Bible. and they engage in this corporate tongues prayer that no one is understanding what is being said and so on. There is no interpreter in the play. So there are those things that we must bear in mind which shows that today's claims of tongue speaking is not what we find in the Word of God. Now, we move on to the following verses, verses 29 onwards. I'll briefly mention one or two things. So, there was reference made, the tongue speaking should be done in order. God is saying to us in this gift, whatever gifts you might have, Is it done in order? Are we coming orderly before God? And it is quite important for us. The principle is important. It's the principle I want you to grasp hold of. In the worship of God, things ought to be orderly. It ought not to be rushed. It ought to be for edification. Then in an orderly thing, we don't distract anyone by any kind of background conversation, going in and out, coming late, anything like that. These are practical things. I'm trying to say to you that when we talk about this, we shouldn't just compartmentalize it and say, well, this is something, it's no longer applicable for us. The principle is one of order. And that is why we have, for example, an order in our service. We call it the order of service. Why? Because there ought to be a right pattern, thoughtful pattern, something that edifies the sense of God, something that is coming from the Word of God. It's biblical. So let's move on to verse 29, which speaks about prophesying should be orderly. In verse 29 we read, Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be confident. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. And so the condition is laid down for prophecy. They are similar to those of tongues, with some variations. Paul says in verse 29, "...let the prophet speak two or three, and let the other judge." And you notice that two of the conditions are exactly the same as those for the gift of tongues. So only a maximum of three persons may speak. Then the next condition is that they are to do it one by one in order it should be done. But then the third condition is different from that of the tongues. It is required that other people in the church, they should judge what has been uttered. That is something to think about, and I try to make it as brief as possible. It is quite an involved matter that Paul is discussing here, and it is sometimes misunderstood. And that is to do with judging what is being prophesied. Just as with the words spirit and mysteries that Paul uses in verse 2, there's a tendency in many people to form too quick an opinion on what it means to judge or judging. It doesn't mean, as many might think, a sort of sifting out of the true from the false. Let's read that verse again. Let the prophet speak two or three and let the other judge. It doesn't mean it's some sort of a sifting. I'm going to find out what are the parts that he says is true, I'll take those, and what are the things that are false, and I'll leave that to one side. If we think that that kind of a thing, then we are saying that the prophecy that they utter may be a mixture of truth and error. And we need to sort out which one is which as we are hearing it. No, that's not what is being said here. That's not the kind of judgment that, well, we must reject the error and accept the truth. The verb here, to judge or judging, it is made up of two different words. It is literally through, to judge. It's the word through and then to judge. And it has many shades of meaning. For example, one dictionary puts it like this, the Vines Dictionary. So these are the various shades of the meaning. To separate, throughout, discriminate, discern, decide, judge, contend, hesitate, and doubt. These are the various shades of meaning. And there are other various passages that speak about this, the various shades of meaning. And I won't go into that. I have a list of them here that we could look at, but for the sake of time we won't look at. But I want you to appreciate that there are different meanings for this word judge. But the basic meaning of the word is to exercise the critical faculty. That is our minds. We ought to be thinking. We ought to be reasoning. So that's the meaning. It's using of our minds that God has given to us. He has given us a sound mind to God's people. What is the usage of it? We know the meaning of it is to use and exercise our critical faculty. What's the usage of it in this instance? Is it to sift out truth from error, as some people would claim? Because you see, those who claim that there are prophets today, they cannot say that what they are saying is exactly word for word coming from heaven, because then all of these prophets make mistakes, so-called prophets, I should say, make mistakes, and then they would have to say, well, it's not exactly like the Bible. and we cannot accept their word, so we have to sift out what's true from the things that the person has not filtered out, or some things of the person that is now in this prophecy of God. So the meaning here is something different to what often people would think. True people have always believed that of the infallibility of revelation, of the prophecies that God gives us by the Holy Spirit to his servants. True prophecies cannot possibly be mixed with error. And that being so, the hearer in Paul's time would not be sifting out truth from error. They were, in any case, not in a position to do so. You see, the prophets that were over these people, for example, the apostle Paul, they were not set in judgment of Paul's writings. He was an affirmed, confirmed prophet of God. And others likewise. For example, Agabus and so on. They were prophets of God. No one was judging them at all. They were affirmed by the Lord that these were true prophets. And these people are not like those... It's not the same to compare this passage and this kind of judging with what the Bereans, we are told in Acts 17, did. They searched the Scriptures to see what the Apostle Paul said were so. And remember that the Bereans, they were not Christians at the time when they were hearing the word from the mouth of Paul. And Paul was teaching them of the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. And so what they had was the Old Testament. And they were searching at, are these things true that he's saying from the Bible? And it's a different scenario. It's a different context. This is about Christians sitting there. They are already believers and they are called the church. And so this prophecy is something else. This is not simply the affirmed, confirmed prophets of God. These are people who would claim to have the gift of prophecy. As Paul, he doesn't stop people from prophesying. He says in verse 1, for example, that he would rather that they would all prophesy. And so there would be people who are not official prophets, we could say, of the church, who are there in the congregation and they say, I have a word from the Lord. And there it is that in that context that the judgment is to be made. And of course you remember Corinth was a city, people were coming and going, new people come. And so the congregation would be filled both, it says earlier on, of the believers and unbelievers, those who were well taught, those who were badly taught, those who were informed, unlearned, and the unbelievers in verses 23 and 24. So it's a mixed congregation that there would be people who might come and say, I have a word from the Lord. And it's in that context that they were to judge, and their judgment Here the wording is not of simply sifting things out, but it is to judge according to the Word of God, but with the attitude of, I'm going to obey the will of God, and I'm going to reject what is false. And if there are false things being said, this man is a false prophet. But what I'm going to do is to listen as a teachable man or woman the word from the mouth of this person. And then, that's the context I believe. It means to weigh carefully, one commentator put it, it means to weigh carefully with the intention of obeying what is heard or to reject the person as a false prophet if this prophecy turns out to be untrue. And so it is not sifting out what is right and what is wrong, but we treat that person as a prophet of God, but then if we find that what he said is not right according to the Word of God, then he must be altogether rejected. What he's been saying, altogether rejected. But what happens if someone comes and says, well, how can I keep silent? I have this thing. How can I keep silent? I have a revelation from God which must be spoken out. Well, verse 32 gives us the answer for that. And it says this, and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Put in another way, Paul is saying this. You may be under this divine influence, but it does not destroy self-control. It doesn't negate self-control. It is for you. It is subject to you. And it will bless you, but you can keep quiet. So in conclusion to this study, and I've rushed through this, I appreciate that, but we've seen that order and limitations are put upon all who are to partake in the gathering of the church. That's God's will. That is a spiritual thing. Not disorder, not chaos. Everything is to be done for edifying and that word for where it says that in verse 33, for God is not the author of confusion. That is the word for much noise when there is there is no quietness at all in the gathered church, but there ought to be. This order in the church, there is peace in the church and that is what he says there. So we've learned about that in the gathering, what we are partaking of, everything should be done for edifying orderly. Everything is to be done for God's glory. We all have various talents, but these talents should not be seen. It is the Lord should be seen. It is not us to be seen. It's the Lord. And we should be listening to the appointed and the tested servants. As they open up, they inspire the scriptures. We don't have prophets today, but this inspired scriptures as it's being opened up. It's the prophecies of God being declared forth. And we ought to have this full intention to learn and to obey God's word. And yet we must not be blind followers, but be faithful students of the Bible. And so remember that God is not the author of confusion. If you are in a situation, in a gathered situation where you see disorder, you see people not paying attention, you see the things that are done haphazardly, not with reference to the Word of God, not in an orderly fashion. And there's so much noise and clutter in what is being said and done. Then you have to question, is this a biblical church? Is it a biblical pattern for the church of Jesus Christ? God is not the author of confusion. but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." Next, Paul goes on to show the orderliness of the lives and the behavior of both men and women in the church, and we shall look into that. But the whole section is about order. in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, may we all benefit from that and use all that we have for the blessing of one another in the church. Amen.