The Holy Spirit in Our House IV - The Spiritual Language is For You

All right. I want to say this in conclusion of the introduction. Just about in conclusion. When it comes to the spiritual language, the Bible presents a balanced place of the spiritual language in the life of the believer. And there is testimony after testimony after testimony of people, many of whom could stand here today and tell you that the spiritual language was for them, first of all, an enablement that made Jesus Christ real to them, more real than he had ever been. Number two, an enlargement in their ministry and their capacity to minister. And three, a strengthening of their faith. Just out of curiosity. I won't do it. I won't do it. I won't even make you assess your own situation right now by lifting your hand up. We'll just hold on to that. All right. Okay. If you didn't get an outline at the end of the day, you can pick one up in the back. Alright? Praise the Lord. Let's just. Now, one thing I'm going to ask you to do with the outlines and then lay them aside. Paul, can I borrow this just a second? On the gold sheet, I've listed four things that spiritual language is not. And I think it's important to do some erasing of the board before we write something fresh on it. Okay, look with me at them. First, the spiritual language is not an emphasis at Northway Christian Community. And I want to be sure that you understand that, that we're not going to make this a weekly practice or weekly point of discussion. This is the first time we've talked about it in 15 months. And I don't know what the Lord's plans are, but I don't plan to have another teaching, especially on a Sunday morning for quite some time. We may at some evening time answer questions or have some enlargement of this teaching, but it won't be an emphasis. Number two, the spiritual language is not necessary for salvation. What is the basis of our salvation, brothers and sisters? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins as our brother and sister sang. So you can enjoy the glories of heaven and never speak in tongues. Third, spiritual language is not the required evidence. I want to underline that required evidence for the fullness of the Spirit. There are some denominations who believe that unless you speak in tongues, you really have not receive the fullness of the Spirit. I do not believe that Scripture makes a tight case for that. And my personal conviction is that you need not be required to speak in tongues. You may have prayed to release and surrender your life to the Holy Spirit and never have spoken in tongues. And that doesn't disqualify you from that possibility of being filled with the Spirit. And finally, spiritual language is not a dividing line of acceptability and maturity in our body. And I want you to make sure you see what I'm saying there. Beloved, we will not ever come to the point of distinguishing between two people for an office in the body or for a ministry on the basis of whether or not they have a prayer language. Understand that? And you'll see later on, as I say this, that tongues are not any evidence of maturity. It's a gift. A one year old can receive a gift and a 70 year old can receive a gift. Do you understand that? And we don't want to begin to make distinguishing characteristics based on this. And so that'll never be part of our body. Now just if you understand what I just said there, put up your hand. Praise the Lord. No one's going to walk out of here and say that unless you speak in tongues. You can't go to north way, right? All right. Hallelujah. Now, some of you I can tell, are saying, well, good, I don't need to listen to anything else because I'm not interested. But I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that you don't need to fear weirdoism here. At least not from me, maybe from Grant. But you see, the spiritual language is not for the weird and fringy ones among us. I believe it's for you. The spiritual language is for you. And I want to make these four assertions which you can then later follow up in your own study from the outline. The first is the spiritual language is biblical. It's relevant, it's desirable, and it's available. I want to ask you to please ask the Lord to give you an openness today. And if you've come from an experience with spiritual language that's been negative or where it's been a problem in a church, don't let that rob you of the potential of the joy in your own experience. Would you be open? And that's a difficult thing to do, no question about that. But nothing is going to happen. That's strange. And I believe when you walk out of here, you'll be able to say with me that God knew what he was doing when he attended the coming of the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues. I might also say here that it's impossible. I tried for days this week to compact so much into 1:35 or 40 minute teaching. And we're probably 10 or 15 minutes into it. And I'm really just getting underway. It's not going to be possible to answer all your questions. I know that. All right, let's begin with a definition of what the spiritual language is. And if you're writing down notes, you can turn over one of those sheets. It's not on. I don't think it's on the sheet. Go ahead, Paul. Turn that on, would you, please? A spiritual language, or speaking in tongues, is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit whereby the believer speaks in a language never learned in prayer and praise to God. A supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The Greek words to speak in tongues. Leilin glosses leilan from the word leleo, which means to speak, and glosses from the word glossa, which means tongue or language. As we would say, people from foreign countries spoke a foreign tongue or a foreign language. It's a synonym. So actually, language is a little more accurate than tongue. Now, when a person speaks in a tongue, someone wonders, well, is that a language that someone knows? And I'd have to say that in some cases it is, and in most cases it would be. It's not just gibberish. Someone said, well, it's just gibberish. No, it's not gibberish. It's a language. And a language has what order you linguists here? It has inflection and so on. It's a language. It's not just a bunch of sounds that are made to come out all at once. It's a language. Now, from the biblical standpoint. Okay, Paul, you can turn that off. From the biblical standpoint, the only things I want to underscore for you this morning are this. First of all, by sheer volume of scripture on the subject, we should know that it's important. There's at least 28 references in the New Testament to tongues. 28 references. There's more said on tongues by far than there is on communion. Does that mean it's more important? No, it just means that it has been a subject that God deemed worthy of inclusion in his holy Word, his infallible, inerrant word. And on the basis of the volume of Scripture on the subject we need to confront was prophesied in Isaiah 28:11. I want you to turn there so you can see some of the Old Testament roots. Look at Isaiah, chapter 28. All right, I'm going to go quickly so we can make Progress here. Isaiah 28:11. Nay, but by men of strange lips, and with an alien tongue or foreign tongue, the Lord will speak to this people to whom he has said, this is rest Give rest to the weary, and this is repose or refreshing, alright. And yet they would not hear. And so on. And then Joel in his prophecy affirms that this was Peter, rather, in his Pentecost sermon, affirms Joel's prophecy. And this prophecy in the evidence that was there. Now, the Old Testament prophesied the spiritual language. Jesus Christ reinforced the reality of it when he said In Mark chapter 16, these signs shall follow those who believe. They shall speak in other tongues. That's on your owl. They shall speak in other tongues, or new tongues in some translations prophesied by the Old Testament, spoken of and prophesied by Jesus Christ. And yet, beloved, listen to this. Tongues never appeared before the Holy Spirit was poured out. Although we have some sense in the Old Testament of the anointing of the Holy Spirit for utterance, there is no definitive understanding that tongues ever appeared before the Holy Spirit was poured out. And I believe that there's an extremely important theological point to be made here, and that is that God Almighty in His wisdom accompanied the ushering in of the power of the kingdom of God and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit by the breaking into our communication by His Holy Spirit. You see, the kingdom of God came, was at hand with Jesus, and the power to live in the kingdom of God was poured out by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was exalted. And God in His wisdom so overpowered our current status of life that one of the things that he most powerfully did was to give demonstration of the power of this kingdom by putting the Word on our tongues. Do you hear what I'm saying? That the language came as it were, crashing in on the normal human limitations of our communication. And the kingdom of God came in such power when the Holy Spirit was poured out, that utterance had to be given to it. And I believe if you look carefully at the Scriptures, you'll see that what God was doing was reversing the Tower of Babel. And what he had once sent as confusion upon the people who were striving to be like God. He then began to restore by pouring out a language and languages of praise and exaltation of his own might, giving back the power to communicate. In Acts, chapter two, the men that were there watching the disciples, what did they know? They heard them extolling the Lord in their own language. You see, it was a uniting of people. They were coming back together and heard God being praised in their own languages. Now, in the Bible, it seems evident to me that the Holy Spirit, his outpouring was accompanied in each case where it was received by this spiritual language. Now in three cases in Pentecost and the Gentile outpouring at Cornelius home, and later on with the Ephesus situation in Acts 19, it's absolutely positively firm because it's right there in Paul's life. Although he is later filled with his Spirit after his Damascus wrote experience. We don't know until later on that he spoke in his spiritual language. We do know that he did from First Corinthians 14. And in the Sumerian situation, which I won't take the time to get into, there was a visible evidence that the people had received. Tongues are not mentioned there, but there is in Acts substantiation that the two of these kind of things seem to go hand in hand. And thus that's where the Pentecostal doctrine, pure Pentecostal doctrine, comes, that it is a sign that you must receive in order to verify your filling. Alright, I want us to look now at the Corinthian passage which is our primary teaching locust for the day. First Corinthians 14. Let's just read it. Listen as I read, make love your aim and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. And especially that you may prophesy. By the way, some people get confused. Cy is prophesy. That's a noun. Prophesy. Sy is the verb. You wouldn't say I prophesied today. You'd say I prophesied today. Praise the Lord. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God. For no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. I want to read that again. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to say it God. For no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues. Okay? But even more to prophesy. He who prophesies is greater. And I'm going to get tripped up in my own tongue here. He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues. Unless someone interprets so that the Church may be edified, then he goes on and enlarges. Well, let's just do it so we don't have any misunderstanding. Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute of the harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves. If you, in a tongue, utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be 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 shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. Let me just say here that Paul clearly is primarily and above all else concerned with the edification of the Church. That's his primary concern. He wrote this chapter to answer an abuse. The answer to abuse is not disuse, but proper use. The answer to abuse is not disuse, but proper use. So with yourself, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit. These people wanted. They wanted to be manifesting the Spirit, Strive to excel in building up the Church. Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my Spirit prays. That's praying in the Spirit. But my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the mind also. Let's stop there for now, all right? Paul clearly says at the end of the chapter, and you can read it on your own, that the problem that was there existing in the Corinthian congregation was one of people who were coming in large numbers and just starting to speak out in tongues. And this was creating confusion. And that's why he said later on in the chapter, everything should be done decently and in order, which means beautifully appropriate and according to oversight. That's what those words mean. And so he was saying not to be quiet. Notice he doesn't ever tell them, now, don't do it anymore. He never says, it's of the devil. He never says, those of you who do this are out of line. In fact, if anything, he encourages manifestation, doesn't he? He says, I would that you all spoke in tongues, had this capacity, exercised it. But when it became an issue in the Church, when it became something that was tearing the Church apart, Paul said, keep that in order and excel. Beyond that, to prophesy, that is to give an utterance that will manifest blessing upon the whole assembly. Paul, now look at this. First Corinthians 12 also speaks about tongues and other gifts. Of the Spirit. And I'm going to be racing the clock here, but hallelujah. Look. Verse 4, chapter 12, First Corinthians. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all. Everyone to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Alright, the common good. Then he goes on and lists some of them and he ends by saying verse 10. To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. And all these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who are portions to each one individually as he wills. And then over in verse 27 and 28, now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, prophets, teachers. Do all work? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Rhetorical question. It would seem that in one case he's saying, all don't speak in tongues. And then in the other passage in 1 Corinthians 14, he says, I wish that you all did. What is he doing? This one point is important. I believe that if you come to the Scriptures and let them speak for themselves, you will be able to distinguish between the gift of tongues for ministry for the common good and the gift of tongues for prayer and worship. Now, I don't have time. I want to take as much time as I can, but let me just say this, there's three things I clearly distinguish here. First of all, as we just read in First Corinthians 12, if you want to write those down, the one on the left from chapter 12, the one on the right is from chapter 14. We read that the Holy Spirit wills what will be given, doesn't it? First Corinthians 12:11, he apportions to each one individually as he wills. Paul said in First Corinthians 14:15, I will. I will speak. All right, now this is important. It's not just some distinction I'm making up. For example, brothers and sisters, let's take prophecy. Who can stand and say, I will prophesy? Nobody. Paul never said, I will prophesy because the Holy Spirit has to appoint and anoint the gift at the time it's to be given with tongues. The prayer language, I will do it. It's Subject to your will. And a person who has the capacity to pray in a spiritual language can pray literally at will once the gift is received. Secondly, the gift of tongues for ministry is given to some. To some, I believe the tongues for prayer are available to all. As you'll see later on, all the disciples received all who were present. Paul said, I would that you all spoke in tongues. Third, the gift of tongues is ministry. Look for common good, that is to man, it's manward. The gift of tongues for ministry is given by God. It comes from God down through a man, and it's to edify all of us. Whereas the spiritual language is what it's toward God, it's the opposite direction and we just happen to get blessed in the middle. The Bible says, he who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself. All right, now I know that some of you have questions on that and please study it. And if the Lord wants us to have a question and answer session and we'll try to do that, all right? Those are not insignificant points and I hope you got them down because if that's a hang up for you, you need to address it or at least come to a conviction of it. And as I said, you'll never be dissociated with if you come to a different conviction. All right, let's move on quickly. The spiritual language is relevant now. Beloved, let me share with you here. I have a bit of a fear. And I know I shouldn't have any fears because I'm in Jesus. But I see women and men who I know are dealing with very rational, substantive decision making processes every day in their jobs, people who are given tremendous responsibility. And here I am speaking about tongues. And what you need is something that will help you out where you are. I am firmly convinced. But the prayer language is an enablement given by God to help you right where you are. Right where you are. Whatever's taught here has to be vital and life giving out there. That's a conviction I have. And anyone who's been able to flow in the spiritual language will tell you the very fact that Jesus Christ becomes more real to you because of your ability to communicate with him. That in and of itself is reason enough to continue on in the exercise of this gift. But there is a profound effect that's even greater on us, that increases the relevance. You say, well, how is it relevant in my office? I mean, what I do, walk in someday and start speaking in tongues. And the secretary looks at me, go into the schoolroom and you're praising the Lord, no. But it sure is a blessing and confidence to know that you could. To know that you have the capacity that you're in touch with God. So much so that if something happened right there, you could do it. And there's something about having that personal miracle capacity right in your own lips that becomes a blessing that's hard to describe. That wherever you go, you know that God's given you a miracle and it goes with you and encourages you. It's interesting, isn't it, that God would touch a part of us where we feel the weakest. How many of you struggled with your capacity to share Jesus with people? Brother Grant, five minute testimony. Eight minute testimony. He said six. He had his wife on his struggle. And all of us, beloved, I don't care how spiritual we are. We all at times tread lightly on people, and we should, because they are sovereign beings given a sovereign will by God himself, and we need to be considerate and so forth. But God touches us at the point of communication. And it's interesting that if we read on 1 Corinthians 14, we see that Paul said tongues are given as a sign to the unbelievers. What does that mean? I'm not really sure if I fully know, but I know one thing, that the capacity, the capacity to speak in that language is something that an unbeliever really cannot figure out. And it points to the reality that you've been touched, just like it did in Acts 2, when the people saw the disciples speaking in those languages, they realized that something was happening there that they just could not otherwise figure out. And so God touches us on our tongue to enable communication. And it's relevant today, beloved, for a third reason, and that is that it answers to a hunger in our culture for the supernatural. Right up here on Route 19, right next, actually, in the backyard of North Allegheny High School is the location of Sister Ann, the palm reader and spiritual advisor. All through our culture are expressions of people who are professing to be in touch with the supernatural. And people, most often hiddenly on the side, are trying to figure out what's going on so that they can get in touch with the supernatural. And, beloved, one thing that makes the spiritual language relevant is the fact that it gives us a touch point with the supernatural. And people are looking for that today. You see the advertisement on TV right before Mother's Day, For I can't remember the name probably just as well, but somebody the Tarot Queen. It's a little thing that you can buy for $49.95 that read your fortune and it's mystical and it comes and, you know, it was this fancy ad. And at the end, of course, they put up their great gift for Mother's Day, and they'll probably sell a lot of them because people want to do something and be in touch with something. How many people read horoscopes before they came to the Lord? Don't you? Never mind. I didn't see any Lord. People read those horoscopes and the word is right religiously. They want to be in touch with the supernatural. All right. The third thing, spiritual language is desirable. One of the things that's principle in the matter of spiritual language is that it releases in us a capacity to praise the Lord. And I don't know anybody here today that would say I can praise God as well as I want to. How about you? Do you have the capacity to praise the Lord as much as you want to? A man by the name of Charles Wesley, his brother, and he along with him founded the Methodist denomination back in the 1700s, wrote a song, a hymn, O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise the glories of my God and King the wonders of his grace Hallelujah. Because he knew that when you begin to receive a clear revelation of who God is, there's not capacity in us enough to praise him. And that's what Charles Wesley was writing about. The spiritual language. It's interesting to me in Acts 2:33 that the language was given when Jesus Christ was exalted at the right hand of the Father. Remember that? When Jesus was exalted and put up in his rightful place, the Father poured out the Holy Spirit and the spiritual language came along with it. And that, to me, is the sign that that's one of the purposes given, an exaltation given for exaltation. Second reason why the spiritual language is desirable is because it enlarges our communication with the Father. I don't have time to do it. I just want to say this. You look with me at first Corinthians 14:15. Let's make it 14. 14. 14. You there for if. For. Yeah, I did this last week, too. That's not it, by the way. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. People say, well, praying in the Spirit is more than just speaking in tongues. And I would say that's right. I believe that's probably right. But at the very least, what they just. I can't prove that in the Bible, but I believe it's right. I can prove from the Bible that praying in the Spirit is at least speaking in tongues because it says so right there. All right. And then you can go through all the verses that talk about praying in the Spirit and see the advantages. You can see Romans 8, 26, the groanings of the Holy Spirit that are given when you don't know what to say. You can see Ephesians 6, 18, Spiritual Warfare and the prayer language go hand in hand. You could talk about Jude 20, build yourself up, pray always in the Holy Spirit, and so on. These are all in your outline. The spiritual language, thirdly, is desirable because it edifies or builds up our Spirit. People say, I'm glad that you believe in speaking in tongues. I don't need that. And I think that that person probably, probably in their heart is saying that they've got other ways of communicating to God and they use the Word and so forth. But it's going to be an awkward moment when they face the disciples and Paul and they say, well, the prayer language really was meaningful in my life. And they said, well, I didn't need that. I was able to get as spiritual I got without that. And I just want to say to you, I understand the struggle, but. But there's not a person that would not be further enlarged. People say, I know a lot of great Christians who never spoke in tongues, and so do I. That doesn't mean that they wouldn't have been even greater Christians if they did. Well, how do you know that? All I know is that the Bible says that he who speaks an unknown tongue edifies himself. How many of you need edified? I do. You say that's selfish. No, it's God's provision. It's God's purpose in your life. It's one way. The word of God is another way. Fellowship is another way. But the prayer language edifies us or ourselves. Okay, a fourth reason. I'll have to leave some off. It controls our tongue. James 3, 5, 8. Who can control the tongue? The unruly member, Holy Spirit can. Holy Spirit can do it. And I could talk to you about objective capacities versus feelings. One day you feel filled with the Holy Spirit, the next day you don't. Does that mean you're not. Just means that you need to repent, get back into the flow and let the Holy Spirit's language in you, reaffirm your experience. You can study that in your outline. Finally, the spiritual language is available now. Beloved, if you listened and were able to pick up anything of what I said, about the desirability of the language. My question to you is, why would you not want that capacity? Well, because people I know that use it are not very. They're weird. They're not the kind of people I like to be with. Well, you have to tell all the disciples, you see, you have to point to the fact, beloved, that all over the world people are moving in this prayer language. That capacity is being enlarged in people all over the world. And you, bottom line, get down to your desire. Do you desire. Do you desire to communicate with God in a prayer language, or would you rather keep at arm's length? It's a question that you've got to deal with. I think it's very significant that Paul said. Or that all the disciples in Pentecost that says receive, Paul said, I would. That you all did. And I don't really believe that. When Paul wrote that verse in Corinthians, inspired by the Holy Spirit for the Church. For the church. I don't believe he wrote it, as one commentator suggested, if you'll excuse the pun, tongues in cheek. All right. He didn't say that he did it so that everyone would consider that as a possibility in their lives. The Bible says that in the end, knowledge will pass away and tongues will cease on that day. I believe that we'll all be beholding the glory of God face to face, and we won't need some sort of enablement that we have now. But until that day, beloved, the spiritual language is for you. And I believe that if you'll consider openness to it, that God will.