Sermon
Paul Corrects The Corinthians
November 22, 2003
Pastor Donald Sheley

I want you to take your Bible tonight. I want everyone to have a Bible in your hand because I'm going to do something that I haven't done for years, and that is, take the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I want you to be able to understand this passage thoroughly because it really answers many of the questions that I'm sure are in the minds, maybe of some even tonight.

We have talked for the last five or six weeks concerning the work of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, we talked about the Holy Spirit in regeneration. We talked about the Holy Spirit within the heart of a believer; the work of setting us aside for service to our wonderful Christ in changing us into His image. And then last Sunday we took chapter 12 and we talked about the gifts of the Holy Spirit within the life of the church. So what we have really learn is that the Holy Spirit is involved in all the aspects of our Christian life and our Christian faith and the ministry of the church. We are completely dependent upon the presence and the power and the work of the Holy Spirit.

We're going to talk about tonight a problem though that the church at Corinth had, which is a problem that still continues down to our present day, and that is, taking one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and overemphasizing it to a point of absolutely distorting what the Holy Spirit had intended to begin with. This is one of the great tragedies I think in Christendom. Oft times we take an issue and take it to the extreme and the extreme then totally does not represent what God had in mind to begin with.

And here's what happened, at Corinth they emphasized only one gift. We learned last weekend that there are many gifts, possibly 25 or 27 listed in the various listings in the 1 Corinthians passage in 12; we went to Romans, we went to the Ephesian passage, and we learned that the work of the Holy Spirit is in many, many ways these gifts given to the church. And yet when you take just one gift and reduce all the rest of them to almost a nonexistent position, that one gift gets distorted and thus it begin to show exactly the opposite of what God had in mind when He gave that gift to the church.

Now many of you have been to services or been to churches were there has been the public speaking in tongues. I was raised in a church where this happened in almost every service. My little heart did not respond positively, and as I grew to be a teenager I became so ashamed of my church background and my church I would never invite anybody to church. Because oft times right in the middle of a service someone would get up and start doing their thing and speaking their language and oft times sit down and nothing would happen. And I couldn't imagine the work of the Holy Spirit so disrupting a service and erasing the beauty under the supposed guise of being spiritual.

Now when we study the Corinthian passage you have to understand the city of Corinth. We've talked about it. It was a pagan, heathen city. It was a city where they had brought in all of the Easter mystic religions, and not only that, they had this big Aphrodite Temple in which they had prostitutes who would go out in the evening time and sell their wares and bring their monies back into the temple. It was a pagan city, but around that temple there were these booths where they would have these people...they believed that their gods would speak and they would speak through certain people. So you could go to someone in one of these booths and you could pay them, and they would start dancing and they would get themselves to a point of a frenzy, almost a subconsciousness, and sometimes totally unconscious. But in the process, they would utter these various tones and someone in the next booth, you paid them, and they told you, they interpreted, what the person in the booth over here said. And then you could go home and say my god, with a small 'g', has talked to me. And so they believed they communicated with their gods through these people in the temple precincts getting themselves into these emotional frenzies and then uttering these sounds.

Now what had happened, they had brought this into the church. And as a result, it was a place of bedlam and it was a place of confusion. Something that the Holy Spirit wanted to do they had distorted and brought shame to the church.

So let's take our Bibles. Paul is going to try to correct this matter and whether he does or not we really don't know, because when you go to the 2 Corinthian passage you come to the very last chapter 12, and I think we read it last week, Paul is very, very concerned about that Corinthian church and he said verse 20 of chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians: For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults -- what a description for a church. And those are Paul's closing words to the Corinthian church. It's a church totally confused.

Now come with me to chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians. Paul is going to be very, very explicit about this whole matter of public tongues. Now remember folks, this is the only place in the Bible where this subject is discussed. We can't go to any other chapter. We can't go to any other verses, so everything the Holy Spirit wanted to tell us about public tongues is in these 40 verses, and they are very, very clear. Let's begin: pursue love. Now let's stop there. Remember chapter 13 was a chapter on love. Paul realized here was a loveless church. The people did not care for one another. They wanted to do their own act of exhibition and Paul is saying, listen, in verses 1 in 2 of chapter 13, Though you speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, it's just sounding cymbals and tinkling brass. It has no value whatsoever. No matter how spiritual it looks, Paul said, unless it is not surrounded and filled throbbing with love, it has no value whatsoever.

And I think this is one of the things that disturbed me as a little boy. I could go to church and hear all of this spiritual gibberish on Sunday, and then go to business meeting on Wednesday and I mean they were cruel. There was no love and our pastors came after went, totally misused by the congregation. They could be real spiritual on Sunday, but they could be vicious with their words towards the pastor on Wednesday. It was a church without love. I grew up in that kind of a setting.

Paul is saying, you Corinthians, the thing you really want to do is to pursue love. You remember John tells us in his writings in 1 John, he said, if you don't love one another, how dwelleth the love of God in you? And he premises all of our spiritual relationships the value and the validity on Christian love. So he saying, Corinthians, what I want you to do is pursue love and desires spiritual gifts. It's all right, he is saying, to have a desire that the Holy Spirit will minister through you in any way He so chooses, because we learned from chapter 12 that the Holy Spirit gives as He sovereignly chooses the gifts to be minister within the church. He makes the choice not us. So he says seek after love, pursue it and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

Now what did he mean by prophesy? We think of prophecy oft times as foretelling because we go back to the ancient prophets and they foretold of things to happen in the future. That's not the New Testament usage for the word prophesy. Prophesy defines that speaking the divine word of God under anointing and authority and power; many times spontaneously. Not so much a structured sermon but within the presentation those moments when God by His Holy Spirit comes upon the speaker and things are spoken that come right from the heart of God.

So that you understand my understanding of this, this is what I pray for every time I come to you on the weekends. I do structure my sermon...as you can see it's written out and I spent hours and hours and hours working it over. But you'll notice I drift away from it as frequently as I can because oft times in the presentation and because our services, our crowd, is different from the Saturday night service to the Sunday morning service. They all have a personality of their own. The 7:00 people are people who are probably preparing for worship and they're going to go to working that day, and we find the 8:30 service are the people who have been with me for years and it's basically our original congregation, and the 10:00 and the 11:30 service. But each service has a different personality.

Most of our people who come as guests and visitors come at the 11:30 service and so I often change even much of the service and the sermon for that particular hour because of a different service. Because my prayer is, dear God, may it be that in the presentation of truth that I not be so confined to a structured manuscript but have that awareness that if You want to say something through me or use an illustration that you want to bring to my remembrance. Those are moments when prophecy becomes propheticly speaking God's words to a congregation at a given moment that come upon the heart and in the spirit of the speaker. So prophecy is God speaking through someone, and oft times it doesn't need to be the preacher. There are other times within the life of the congregation of the church where God will speak through someone very graciously. I have this happened frequently in our eldership meeting where God just gives the word of wisdom to the elder and he speaks those words to us.

He says, but for he who speaks in tongues, now he's going to address the issue varied directly -- he who speaks in tongues does not speak to men but to God. Now if you have that gift Paul says listen, when you use it, you're not speaking to men, you're speaking to God. And he says, for no one understandeth him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. In other words, Paul is saying there is that experience that some within the body of Christ have, and those who have that, in times of private personal prayer and devotion will speak to God. The person who speaks may not understand. If there was anybody around, they wouldn't understand it, but he speaks to God.

Now let me stop here for minute. As I prepared our notes for you, I laid out a bunch of books that are written on the subject, and I put the books that are anti-tongues over here, and I put the books, the writers those who would be open to the possibility of the gift of tongues, on the other side. It's amazing how extreme some of the commentators position themselves. But in this particular passage those who are against tongues will say Paul is not talking about anything that has to do with private prayer. He's going to get to the subject about public tongues.

So we go to verse 3, But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He's making the comparison. If I speak in an unknown language maybe God understands if it's truly a tongue, but men around me don't understand it so there's no value to it. If the gift of prophecy is given to a person and they speak, because they speak in a language that's understood, the message will be understood, and as a result the congregation will be built up, exhorted, and comforted. So he's simply making the comparison, if you don't understand what's being said it has no value, if you understand what's being said you can be strengthened and comforted and built up.

Let's look at the next verse. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. Now the anti-tongue people will say there's not such a thing as self-edification, but ladies gentlemen, I would never say that because I believe that each of us have a personal prayer life and a devotion where we do things, say things, as it were, in the presence of God, and we maybe act in ways we would never act publicly. Now you know I'm a very quiet person and very structured, and when I come to the worship service I want to be orderly; I want to be dignified in the sense I want Christ to receive honor and I don't want to distract from Him. But if you came around here at midnight a few nights, early in the morning -- my prayer meetings -- I'm a different person because it's just me and God. There are times I will sing in His presence, there are times I will speak words I don't understand in His presence, there are times I will weep in His presence, but it's my time with God. And Paul is making a point here. When we have a private devotion we're going to relate to God in ways that are comfortable, ways that we know He understands, but when we are in the public worship service it's a totally different atmosphere.

Let's go to the next verse. I wish you all spoke with tongues. Now he's referring not to public tongues because we're going to see where he gets at verse 19. He is saying, I would that all of you had that gift whereby in your private devotions you may speak in tongues where God would understand what you're saying and your heart would...your soul would be lifted up even though you don't understand what you're saying. And I think I've told you folks -- I speak with tongues in my private prayer life every day, but I have never ever in 53 years of ministry spoken in tongues publicly. Never. Because I understand this passage. Tongues are for private devotions not for public exhibition.

Let's go on -- but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongue. So he's just simply drawing the comparison again, if I don't understand what's being spoken, it has no value. If I understand what's being spoken, it may have value to me. Then he goes on, he says, then really tongues have no value unless there is an interpretation so you understand what's being said. And one of the great things that I went through as a young lad, maybe only 1 out of 100 of those speaking in tongues was ever...somebody stood up and gave an interpretation. It was just simply speaking in tongues, and according to Paul it's wrong, publicly.

Let's go to the next verse. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? Paul said now look at, if I duplicated what you're doing in your services and I came to visit you and all I did is speak in tongues, there'd be no value. The only value I'd have is if I preach to you, I gave you a revelation from God, taught you. Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of tongues in the world, and none of them is without significance. Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.

In other words, Paul said, listen, I mean if somebody plays an instrument and just blasts away and there's no tone; there's nothing in the playing that even tells you what they are trying to play. My wife and I go to a little restaurant down the Peninsula and when somebody has a birthday they get out this old big tuba. The thing has been through a thousand wars and it's a bent up old thing and he can't play it and he just puffs into it and they all try to sing happy birthday. If you just let him play the old tuba this isn't happy birthday at all. Here's Paul's point. For something to have value you must know what's being played or piped. When Linda played the piano we knew that she was playing the Lord's Prayer; she struck the right notes and we understood, but if she just would be like my little grandchildren playing on the piano...Grandpa, did you enjoy what I was playing? What were you playing?

Paul's point is there has to be distinction. There has to be clarity, otherwise it has no value. Let's go on. And the point is you'll notice this word edification comes up over and over again. The responsibility that we have in gathering as an assembly of believers is that what we do we must in our doing we must add encouragement and joy and life and vibrancy and meaning to the service. What we do cannot distract from a Christ-centered worship service. If it doesn't build up it has no value. Edification, that's what it means.

Let's go on. Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he interprets. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? Well, I will pray with my spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing with my spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you're saying? For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

In other words, Paul's point is this, what I do in the environment of a public worship service; it must edify the other person. Now most commentators will say when he says I will sing in the spirit and I will sing with my understanding, I will speak in the spirit. Paul is making the comparison between public and private worship. Paul said there are sometimes in my private devotions a will sing in the spirit, when it comes to the public service I must be understood. You say, well pastor, are you sure that's what he's saying? Well look at the next verse. Paul said, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. Most likely because it's sounding maybe that Paul is against tongues; that the congregation at Corinth is saying he doesn't have the gift that's why he's talking it down to us. Paul drops in the bombshell. Corinthians, you brag about all your tongue speaking but I want you to know I speak in tongues more than all of you.

Now the question is, when does he speak in tongues? Look at verse 19. Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Now that's the heart of his message. That's his thesis. Paul is saying, listen, when it comes to private devotions I speak in tongues more than you all, but when I'm in church five words that are understood by the congregation have eternally more value than a jillion -- because the word 10,000 in the Greek is that unknown, that number we say a jillion and a jillion -- Paul is saying if you spoke a jillion words in tongues I'd rather just have five. Well when you put that five over 10,000, Paul said, I don't think much of public tongues. That's what he's saying.

Now I know when I'm talking this way that people who have a preference for public tongues they may react -- and the Corinthians will, and you'll see that here in just a minute - but I understand what Paul is saying. Paul is saying there is that wonderful gift of talking in a language to God you never understood when out of your spirit you're praying, but that's between you and God. In the church what we do is we do it to edify one another and build them up. Isn't that clear? I do not understand how a Charismatic or a Pentecostal person can read this passage and still maintain and defend public tongues.

Let's go on. Verse 20, Brethren, do not be like children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. He's saying, look, quit acting like children. He's saying when it comes to evil or malice act like children. What does he mean? Well you've watched little children, I mean, they couldn't keep a grudge for five seconds. He stole my little car. I mean, one second they've got the car back, whatever it is, little children don't have an ability to hold a grudge very long. He said if you want to act like children, well, stop holding grudges, but I want you to start thinking like spiritual men and women. Because what you're doing is childish. That is totally different than what I was taught as a child in my Pentecostal church. I was taught that everybody who spoke in tongues was really super spiritual. Paul said not so. Speaking in public tongues is a sign of immaturity and childishness. I didn't say it, Paul did.

And you see because I come from that background I'm very, very cautious as to what I say because I have a deep respect for the work of Holy Spirit because I understand the gift of tongues. Let me stop here. I am often, and our church is often, criticized by those who have leanings toward the Charismatic side that we're not spiritual. I had somebody say to me a few months ago, Pastor, I wish your church was more Corinthian. And I thought to myself, oh God. That person doesn't know their Bible. And when I said, what do you mean? Well you don't allow public tongues. No, I said, we don't encourage it. Not to allow because the Bible says forbid not. We'll all know if it's right or wrong. We'll all know if it's genuine or not, but it's not a mark of spirituality. And I'll say something else, I've been in the ministry now 53 years and I can honestly tell you every church that allows and encourages public tongues never grows. It never grows. It ends up we all come and bless one another and speak to one another and go on our way. It has no outreach. It doesn't grow.

The church that I grew up in that encourages it, today, probably in it's sanctuary that seats 500 have maybe 20 or 25 people. I look at those churches and say, why don't you wake up and realize that when you do something that violates the Scriptures you're not going to grow? I have a deep love and a deep respect. If somebody came to the service and there was a holy hush of God's presence fall across the service and somebody stood very graciously, very well ordered, would give a message and somebody would stand and interpret, everyone of us here would know that God talked to us. But if it's wrong, boy it just jars you. It just jars you.

I think I told you I had a preacher who accused me of quenching the Spirit. And so he came on a Sunday night to our service and I saw him sitting right over here, and right in the middle of service he gets up and just jabbers away. And I said, all right folks let's pray. And I waited for the interpretation. I let it go on one minute, two minutes, three minutes. There was no interpretation because everybody present knew he was trying to put me on the spot and put our church on the spot, and he brought shame to himself and shame to the Holy Spirit.

I reverence the work of the Holy Spirit, but I want it to be as scriptural as possible. And I think that's why God has blessed the church for the last 45 years. There is an openness. I would never be so harsh and so dogmatic as some of these preachers who violently go against tongues. Never would I do that. But there's a genuine openness and respect for the ways of God in the life of the church.

Let's go on. Here's an interesting one. He said, In the law it is written: With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear -- now this comes out of Isaiah 28 -- says the Lord. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

Now in my church I would say, Pastor? They would say, congregation, this proves that tongues have value. They are sign to the unbeliever and therefore the unbeliever will be blessed by tongues. That's not what Paul is saying here. Here's what he's saying, when God had to speak to Israel He had to take them off into captivity into the midst of people whose lips and whose language they did not understand. It was a sign of God's judgment because they had violated God's commands. And thus, to be in an environment where they didn't understand the language was a sign of judgment. And Paul is really saying when unbelievers walk into the service and they don't understand, they hear all these people speaking in tongues, they're going to turn around and say everybody is mad here and they're going to walk out and possibly miss the kingdom of God.

Look at his next verse, verse 23, Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? And ladies and gentlemen, I have sat it services where guests would come into our church and somebody would get up and blabber these supposed tongues and they'd say, this is a bunch of nonsense. This is madness. And they'd walk out. And I always say, will they ever find God?

I had a sad experience this week. I've been working with a family. The wife is a Christian, but the man hasn't been a Christian. And I have known this family for 44 years because the lady has been in our church 45 years. And I have gone to that home to talk with that man over and over again. He was raised in a preacher's home. His dad was a preacher. And his dad allowed this kind of spiritual nonsense to go on in his church and never stopped it. He never used his Bible to stop it. And that boy grew up with a resentment against church. If that's the kind of madness, he felt, goes on in a church, I don't want anything to do with it. He's always been gracious to me. His wife calls and said, Pastor, would you come? My husband is in the hospital he's being operated. All of his arteries are clogged. He's got a triple bypass, and would you come and pray? I hurried down to Palo Alto and as soon as I got in that room, I got there just in time because the doctor was there wheeling him out on his gurney. And I put my hand on his head and I prayed in front of everybody, God, You help the doctor. And I pray for Tom. You be with him and make this operation be successful.

When they take him in the operating room I'm sitting in the waiting area with the mother, I said, mother, has Tom resolved his spiritual problems yet? She had tears and she said just before you came, he raised his hand and said Jesus I surrender everything to You. But what I grieve about is here is a dad who's raised children, one of them is a Christian the other has totally rejected because of his rejection of religion based upon the nonsense and the madness that was allowed to go on in the church of which that tender soul could not stand. And that's what Paul's point is here. That when a nonbeliever comes and he hears that, it could be the judgment upon him because he may walk out of the church and never again ever come back to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and thus eternally damned!

Paul is saying stop it. Stop this nonsense of this madness that goes on. You're calling it spiritual but it's childishness it's immaturity. Stop that madness. Do you see the urgency he feels in this? And he goes back to that Old Testament passage to say when you're in an environment where you don't understand what's been said, You miss the message, and if you miss the message you may miss heaven. It's my prayer that every time we service that everything is clear, that the message is very clear. That nobody misunderstands, and I pray with all my heart, dear God make sure how I say it and the words I don't use one misspent word, because you can say one word wrong and miss the whole message.

Verse 24, But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you. If a man walks in and God is being honored and Christ is being exulted, and the word is clear and it's preached with authority, Paul is saying that unbeliever will most likely respond because his own heart's need will be exposed and he'll fall down before God. I pray that for every service. May the service be so clear that nobody comes out confused.

Now Paul hurries to a conclusion: How is it then, brethren? Now he's going to give the order. He says, when you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. In other words, they conducted their services a little different that we do. Remember they gathered and usually their worships lasted for hours. And if you've ever been to a service of the Pilgrim brethren, they all sit around a circle and the auditorium is made in a circle, and they all sit there and everybody quietly prays. And somebody may stand up and say I feel led that we sing hymn number 110. So they all sing 110. And then somebody else will stand up and say in my devotions this week God revealed this truth to me, and they'll share. In other words, it's a sharing kind of a service. And that's what Paul is painting.

He is saying you're going to come to church and some of you are going to want to sing, some of you are going to have a message, some of you are going to have a revelation. Whatever it is, but whatever you do that everything be done...what for? For edification! Do you see it? That's his thrust. The important thing is not that you get excitement out of it; the important thing is that the church is built up and blessed. Amen?

If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be only two or three that the most. In other words, he is saying something here, again, that's misunderstood by our Pentecostals and Charismatics. Paul said a real genuine tongue, message in tongues, sometimes once, and when you see it in the original Greek, sometimes twice; in an extreme situation maybe three times. Well I've sat in services where there have been 20, 25, 30. Paul said, listen, it's a precious gift, but God is not going to use it to excess; sometimes once, maybe twice, maybe a third time that the maximum. Because look at what he says what you do, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

In other words, he is saying that if somebody exercises this gift you stop the service and say, now folks, John over here has spoken, now let's evaluate what he said. Does it match the teachings of Scripture? In other words, when one exercises this gift they put themselves in the position of being judged and evaluated by others. I have never ever seen that happen in my 55 years. And in any service no time, no pastor has ever stopped the service and said, now this person gave a message now let's stop the service and see if this was from God or if it was just something they were saying. Boy, that would change the tone of the service real quick, wouldn't it? But that's what he says, doesn't he? He's saying if they do it it's time to judge them to make sure that what's been said truly came from God.

Let's go on. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. In other words, there's respect. He's talking about respect. If you are expressing something and someone else feels led, you just quietly submit to them. In other words, there's this love, this respect for one another; not this attitude of exhibition and control. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. You see order? Do you notice he wants order in the service? You can have these gifts but make sure there's order.

For the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Now again, I was raised in a situation where somebody would jump up and yell, and say, I just couldn't help it! The Spirit of God dropped on me, but that's not what the Bible says. He says the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. In other words, there is always total control of the person who is going to exercise this gift. It's never done out of control. Now again, some of you are sitting here and you're matching probably moments or experiences that you have had where somebody got up and just blurted out something and then said I couldn't help it. If they couldn't help it, it wasn't God's spirit it was theirs. Okay?

Isn't this so clear? I don't know how our Charismatic and our Pentecostal people miss it. Let's go on. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches. In other words, God doesn't author confusion through the exercise of gifts. He wants it to bring peace and edification and blessing. Do you see now? Do you see the heart cry of a pastor, pastor Paul? Because he started that church. He had been there for 18 months and to see how they had gone so far astray from good solid Christian Christ-centered worship.

And then he is going to hit them over the head. Look at verse 34. Let your women keep silent in the churches. I mean I can't change it in any way folks. That's just exactly what Paul...and what he's saying is the service was taken over by the ladies. And sure enough I go back in my memory and for my first fifteen years 95 percent of all the supposed messages in tongues were done by ladies. Very seldom did a man get up. All I can say is those 95 percent weren't from God. You see, that's Paul's point.

For they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. God has order. He said, and if they want to learn something -- I don't know what he's implying there, but he's saying -- let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak in a church. Now what is he simply saying? You say, Pastor, you mean no woman can speak in a church? No, Paul is speaking of standing up in public and taking the authority over men. That's a violation of the Scripture. That's why it's unbiblical to have a woman pastor. I will never accept that because it's unbiblical. Okay? I'm not going to change what the Bible says. And yet I have people today say but the Bible says there's no difference between, you know, male or female between...I say just a minute, yes there is. In certain settings there are limitations that God places upon the lady in the church. And I believe every lady sitting here tonight would say, Pastor, when a man truly is a man and he's spiritual, I have great respect for that.

That's one of the thrills I have as your pastor. We have an eldership of 40-45 people and it keeps growing. And you come to a service and you see so many men sitting here. It's a church filled with men. And it's a church with wonderful ladies, but those ladies expect our men to be godly men taking the leadership fulfilling our role, and they love that. Right ladies? That's exactly.

Let's go on. Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? In other words he already got a reaction. So you want to react and think that the word of God started with you. Can you see after Paul wrote those words, I mean he's got all kinds of criticism. Just a minute...Who do you think...Are you bragging about thinking that the word of God came from you?

Look, he goes on. If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. In other words, you're going to evidence your spirituality instead of being so arrogant. You're going to be submissive to what I've said, because what I've said is the last word on the subject. But if anyone be ignorant...if you're still going to be ignorant, go ahead and act like children. Isn't that so honest? Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, but do not forbid to speak with tongues. That's why I'm so cautious with the subject, and that's why I disagree with those who so harshly come down so dogmatically against tongues, because Paul ends it with a warning -- there is a reality to the genuine and don't be guilty of grieving and quenching the Spirit of God. That's wise counsel for us as a church, isn't it?

Lastly, let everything be done decently and in order. Now isn't that clear? There's no reason to question what Paul has in mind. But isn't it sad that under the guise of what supposedly some who worship say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gets credited for something He never had anything to do with. You know the Holy Spirit is pictured as a dove, one of the emblems of the Scripture is the dove when He settled on Christ's shoulder. And I've learned that in ministry the Holy Spirit is very gentle -- very gentle. And that as a leader, as your pastor, I must be very sensitive because the Holy Spirit's presence quietly comes amongst us, not with arrogance, not with flamboyancy, not with exhibition, but He moves amongst us gently moving our hearts and our emotions and we very gently must respond to Him. Amen?

Now we know all there is to know from the Scriptures about public tongues. Okay?

Let's pray. Father in heaven thank you for this passage. There is so much confusion around us. So many churches don't read this chapter. They go on and to their thing, and as a result the work of the Holy Spirit is shamed and disgraced. Holy Spirit of God, once again we want to tell You, we want with all of our hearts for Your presence to be amongst us, for You to demonstrate Your glory and Your power in our midst, to speak as You wish to speak, and to gift as You desire to gift. We want to be a congregation with hearts wide-open to You, O Holy Spirit of God. We never want to be guilty of grieving You or quenching Your work amongst us. Thank you for the blessings that You give to us as a church. Thank you for Your presence amongst us. Thank you for what You do in the lives of those who come. Thank you Holy Spirit of God. And everybody said, amen. God bless you. Thank you all for coming.