Sermon Tone Analysis

| I CORINTHIANS 14 (5262) |

So Paul exhorts,

"1: Follow after love, and desire spirituals, but rather that ye may prophesy."

Now we were told to covet earnestly the best gifts.

Now again he is saying the same thing, desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

"2: For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God: for no man understands him; howbeit in the spirit he is speaking mysteries."

(or divine secrets)

So an interesting verse here.

If you're speaking in an unknown tongue, you are speaking to God.

In other words, it is a gift whereby a man might be assisted in his worship of God, or in his communicating with God.

For by communicating in tongues, because you do not understand it, you are bypassing the narrow channel of your intellect.

Have you ever come to a place where your feelings are greater than your capacity to express them?

I often do, especially when I am in the realm of spiritual things.

I'm in the realm of God's goodness and God's blessing, or the greatness of God, the character of God.

And as I begin to ponder on these things of God, the greatness of His love, His power, His glory.

When I begin to think of all He's done for me, as nothing as I am, I suddenly come to the place where, to express to God my thanksgiving and gratitude, language is a barrier.

It doesn't really express what I feel.

It's inadequate.

Because I have to express it through language and my vocabulary or whatever is just restricted, and to bring it through the narrow channel of my intellect is sort of like a funnel and it just sort of backs up because of the broad base of the spirit now channeling through the narrow funnel, the intellect, it just -- it's so cut down, it's so restricted.

So God has given to us a gift whereby we can bypass the narrow channel of the intellect and we can enter into a full worship of Him.

My spirit, now united with His spirit, and a full unrestricted flow of my love, of my appreciation, of my expression to Him of His greatness and of His glory, as I praise and glorify the God that I worship and serve.

And it's rather nice to be able to bypass the narrow channel of the intellect in the worship.

Savern Arollis said, "when prayer reaches its ultimate, words are impossible."

There aren't words to express the things of the spirit.

That vocabulary has not yet been developed.

And so, the Lord helps me in my expression of these divine secrets -- the worship, the praise of my spirit unto Him through the gift of tongues.

And it assists me in my worship and in my praise, for if I speak in tongues, I'm actually speaking to God, though I don't understand it, the things of the spirit as he assists me in praising and worshiping the Father, and glorifying Jesus Christ.

Another capacity is that of offering to God prayer according to His will.

For the spirit also helps our infirmities.

Romans Chapter 8, "For we don't always know how to pray as we should, but the spirit will make intercession through groanings which cannot be uttered."

So the spirit helping us in our prayer life, either with groanings which cannot be uttered, or with words that are uttered, inspired by the spirit, expressing prayer to God according to the will of God in the particular situation over which I am interceding.

So a gift whereby I am built up, I am benefited, I am blessed.

But if I'm desiring gifts, it would be better that I desired the gift of prophesy than the gift of tongues.

Desire spiritual gifts, but rather than ye may prophesy.

For the gift of tongues is only for my own personal benefit, as I express to God my worship and praise with the help of the spirit.

"3: But he that prophesies speaks unto men for edification, and exhortation, and comfort."

So, the gift of prophesy has much broader benefits.

The area of the New Testament prophet was not so much foretelling as it was forth telling -- speaking forth God's truth to the people.

And as we speak forth God's truth to the people, they're built up in their faith.

They're built up in their relationship with Jesus Christ.

They're built up in their fellowship with the Lord.

As we speak forth God's truth, they're exhorted in their walk with the Lord, in their commitment to Jesus Christ, in their abandonment of the flesh to live and to walk after the spirit.

And they're exhorted to trust the Lord, to commit to the Lord, to believe in the Lord, and they are comforted as we speak forth God's word, as they realize it's all in God's hands and God will take care of it, and God is going to work, and as I just patiently wait I shall see the work of God and glorify and praise His name, and I'm comforted by the word of God.

So the gift of prophesy has a broad value as the church is benefited by its exercise -- benefited because it is built up, it is exhorted, it is comforted, it is encouraged (which is of course exhortation.)

Now,

"4: He that speaks in an unknown tongue is built up himself..."

It builds you up.

It is a blessed experience, one that does build you up.

"...But he that prophesies builds up the church."

Now,

"5: I would that you all spoke with tongues.

I would that you all had this blessing in your own personal devotional life.

But I would rather that you had the gift of prophesy, for greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, except he interpret that the church may receive the edifying" (or the building up).

Now, here is where people often make a mistake, in that they believe that tongues with interpretation becomes equivalent to prophesy.

Not so.

But it is a common mistake among the Pentecostal churches, believing that tongues with interpretation becomes the equivalent to prophesy.

Tongues, as far as I can understand from the scriptures, are always, as Paul declared here in verse 2, addressed to God.

You remember as you go back in your mind now to the 2nd Chapter of Acts, and these men had gathered together there in Jerusalem because of the phenomena, and these men and women were speaking in these other tongues, they marveled that they heard them all in their own language as they were doing what?

As they were glorifying and praising God.

Their tongues were addressed to God.

They weren't addressed to the people.

They weren't being preached to in tongues, in their own languages being preached to.

But actually, they heard them glorifying God, praising God.

Paul the apostle, in a few moments here, is going to show us that we should not speak in tongues in a public assembly unless there is someone there who can interpret in order that the whole church might be edified.

For if you speak in tongues without interpretation, how is the person who is sitting over here in the seat of the unlearned, going to say yay, oh yes, amen, and your giving of thanks, seeing he doesn't understand what you're saying.

What is he saying yes to -- amen to?

Your giving of thanks, your addressing of your thanks to God.

And then Paul went on to say, "indeed you do praise God well" -- or it's a good way to praise God.

But, not without the interpretation, because others aren't edified then.

So the interpretation, because it does bring to the people the understanding of your worship and praise to God, then does edify them.

As you by the spirit are declaring the glory, the power, the greatness of God, when they can understand your words of praise and adulation in glorifying God, they are edified by your praises.

Now, if you have been in Pentecostal services or circles, I'm sure that as you saw the particular phenomena of tongues, that as you recall those instances you see that there is an inconsistency here.

For in the observation over the years of Pentecostal services, where there were the public entrances in tongues, they called them "messages in tongues."

And the interpretation so often was after this manner -- my little children, harken unto me for I would call unto you today to praise me.

My little children, harken unto my voice.

And so often, the interpretation -- or I would say at this point, the "supposed" interpretation, is addressed to the people as God would be speaking to them, it would appear in the first person.

For I the Lord declare unto thee that today I'm going to bless you and all.

And it comes out as a message from God to man.

And I have observed this over and over and over again in Pentecostal type services.

Does that mean that the tongues are not genuine?

No.

It means that the interpretation wasn't genuine.

And what I feel often times happens in these meetings where you have this kind of a happening, is that you do have the gift of tongues exercised, followed by a gift of prophesy exercise and not the interpretation of the tongues.

And I think that this is a common error in Pentecostal churches today, and you find it almost universally within them.

Tongues followed by prophesy, rather than by a true interpretation of what was uttered in the unknown tongue.

So, tongues with interpretation is not an equivalent or equal to prophesy or the same thing as prophesy.

For prophesy is when God speaks to the church to edify, to exhort, to comfort, where tongues is addressed to God, the divine mysteries, the secrets, the beauty, the glory, as my spirit worships Him.

"6: Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?"

In other words, when I come to you tonight to speak to you, I come speaking to you by revelation, by the word of knowledge, by the gift of prophesy, and by doctrine.

If I stood up here the whole evening speaking in an unknown tongue, it would be a wasted evening for all of you.

But by speaking to you by revelation and prophesy and word of knowledge and doctrine, you are all blessed and benefited as we take the word of God, and as we learn by it, and as we grow by it in our relationship and walk with God.

The speaking in tongues would only be meaningless sounds, and meaningless sounds -- you don't know what to do with them.

And so Paul said,

"7: There are things that don't have life that give out sounds..."

Now, if I would go over and play the piano for you tonight, it would be meaningless to you.

It would be meaningless sounds.

But if a gifted, accomplished pianist played, it could bless you.

And so there are things like pipes, like harps, that give out sounds.

But unless the person is really skilled, you know, if you just get a guitar and just hit the strings and let your fingers go wherever, you know, you don't hear any melody, you don't hear anything.

It's just a jangle of noise.