Speaking God's Words

just as always, doing a great job, but I was reminded of fresh just of God's work and what a testimony it is to God's work in our midst that we would be blessed in this way. Even seeing, you know, Ryan Porman, our elder candidate, come in to the end of candidacy pretty soon here, delivering the charge last week. And it was just so good. Such a good charge. I was fired up. I was ready to fistfight Satan at the end of that. I don't know about you guys, but probably not quite. That would have been a mistake, probably. But you know what I mean. And so just wanted to publicly honor those men and praise God for doing that work in our midst and raising up these godly men. Like I said, we're going to be continuing this morning in 1st Corinthians 14, picking up where we left off at the end of chapter 13. And if you remember there, Paul really went deep and we spent three Sundays looking at the supremacy of love. And you might think of that as Paul almost ranking the spiritual gifts, or almost ranking the virtues in saying you could have every other thing, you could have faith, you could have hope, but if you have all of them and do not have love, it renders everything meaningless. And so love is supreme. Well, as Paul picks back up the threat of spiritual gifts here in chapter 14, we'll see, he's really doing a similar thing. He's ranking the gifts of the spirit now in chapter 14,

Well, as Paul picks back up the threat of spiritual gifts here in chapter 14, we'll see, he's really doing a similar thing. He's ranking the gifts of the spirit now in chapter 14, placing prophecy at a similar place as love in chapter 13. Well, prophecy is the greatest of the spiritual gifts. And we'll see that this is actually because of the relationship between prophecy and love. That he really hasn't changed the subject, but he's teaching us how to love one another with the gifts that God has given. Now, I've been telling you for a while now since chapter 12 that I'm going to tie a big bow together on the systematic theology of the gifts of the spirit at some point. And talk about where the gifts of the spirit, particularly what are often called the sign gifts of miracles and healing and the gift of tongues and of prophecy and where they fit in redemptive history. Should we be speaking in tongues normatively today in service? Is this something that God intends and that we've just been missing out on? Where do they fit? I've determined that where we're going to fit that sermon or maybe one or two sermons will be after this chapter before we go into chapter 15. And I wanted to do that so you would have all of the words from Paul on the spiritual gifts and we could really treat them as he wrote them and then look back over our shoulder at all of them and say, okay, what about about today? How do we interact with them today and answer some of those?

as he wrote them and then look back over our shoulder at all of them and say, okay, what about about today? How do we interact with them today and answer some of those? more systematic theological questions. So this morning we'll be taking up verses 1 through 25 here in chapter 14 as Paul teaches the Corinthians and us concerning the superiority of prophecy over the gift of tongues and what it has to do with God's upbuilding of the church through his spirit. Let's look there beginning in verse 1 and this is the word of the living God. Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 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. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesizes greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up. Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or 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

or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or 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 with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you'll 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 will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker are a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you're eager for the manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my spirit, but I I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your Thanksgiving when he does not know what you're saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I think God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants and evil, but in your thinking, be mature.

merely natural world, but a supernatural world. And so we ask that you would work even supernaturally in and through your people. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I have three goals in this sermon. It's very straightforward. The first is just to understand what Paul's talking about. What's his argument here? Because he does make a very clear argument and supports it. in multiple ways. And I just want us to understand what did he want the Corinthians to get by the time he was done with this section. Then second, and it's pretty obvious having read the text why we would need to do this, we need to understand what are the gifts he's talking about? What is the gift of Thomas? What is the gift of prophecy? And I'm not intending in this sermon to set them in their whole biblical context of redemptive history. We'll do that later. What I want to do this morning is simply say, what does it look like when somebody, like, if you were in Corinth, what was it like if someone was speaking in a tongue? What was it? What was prophecy? What is prophecy? Right? And then lastly, I want you number three, to be able to say your amen to this passage and to obey it. Because it's pretty easy in chapter 13 to say your amen and obey it. When Paul says basically, don't be selfish. And you're like, yeah, I know what that means. No one's like, I don't know quite, what does the Greek say? Like, no, I was selfish this morning. And, you know, here I am being convicted of it. Of 10,000 things in chapter 13.

yeah, I know what that means. No one's like, I don't know quite, what does the Greek say? Like, no, I was selfish this morning. And, you know, here I am being convicted of it. Of 10,000 things in chapter 13. But it can be a little bit harder to say your amen, to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. What is that? Can I still do it? Am I supposed to? what does this look like today? So I'll try to leave you with some application that is unequivocal from this passage. So let's again begin with just understanding the text, beginning with the first part of his argument, and that's where he lays out his thesis. There are basically five parts to Paul's argument in this section, as I see it. And the first one is just his thesis. He gives us his main point in verse one, which is this. Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. That's his main point. We are still pursuing love. The center of chapter 13 there. He hasn't really changed the subject. He's giving us more application, the Corinthians more application, more resolution on what that will look like in their midst. Apparently, something is out of order with their exercise of the spiritual gifts. So in pursuing love, we have to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. So we have gifts to use for the sake of others, and especially the gift of prophecy. What we'll find is that

gifts. So in pursuing love, we have to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. So we have gifts to use for the sake of others, and especially the gift of prophecy. What we'll find is that prophecy is a particularly helpful tool in loving one another, even more so than the gift of tongues, which apparently the Corinthians were quite obsessed with. This is understandable. Tongues, you know, I'll explain it a little bit more, but tongues like the miraculous speaking in a language you don't know. It bypasses the mind. Even the one speaking doesn't understand what he's saying. The Holy Spirit is directly speaking through a person in a language, a human language, that they don't know. Pretty flashy, pretty cool. You can see why people might really get drawn to that gift, especially in immature people who didn't really love that well, but they loved themselves pretty well, tended towards selfishness. And so they love tongues. Early in the charismatic renewal Pentecostal movement in the 60s, this happened in the Protestant world and the Roman Catholic world. Tongues became like another big centerpiece to the point where some denominations were saying, like, unless you spoke in tongues, you weren't even a Christian. That was the sign that you had been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, which is not true. by the way. You can even see it in our passage. A similar thing was happening, I think, then, the Corinthians in their context, because they were immature, they gravitated towards selfish use

by the way. You can even see it in our passage. A similar thing was happening, I think, then, the Corinthians in their context, because they were immature, they gravitated towards selfish use of gifts and towards gifts that mainly built up themselves. And so Paul in the second part of his argument from verses 2 to 5, he starts to give some reasons why tongues are inferior to prophecy when it comes to gifts aimed at loving one another. He says, for one who speaks in a tongue, verse 2, speaks not to men, but to God. For no one understands him. Just to put it bluntly. But he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up building and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up. What Paul begins to justify his thesis with is the reality that the gifts of tongues tended to build up the one given that gift quite a bit, even if they weren't being selfish. Their spirit was fruitful as the Spirit of God worked with their spirit to speak in tongues. And yet it wasn't fruitful without interpretation to the people around them. They were just listening to someone speaking Swahili or, I don't know, like, what's another language? Romanian. Do they speak Romanian in Romania? I actually

If you can't understand me, what's happening. You're not being edified. Illustration, verse 7. If even lifeless instruments, such as a flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played? people who are battered instruments, in other words, don't make pleasing music for others. If you have kids who are learning instruments, you know this well, especially if they're learning violin. The violin is the worst instrument to have to listen to somebody learn how to play. Because every note is just an indistinct slurring and never landing on the correct note. There's no frets. There's no help. It's like the hardest instrument. Anybody who can play the violin well, I'm super impressed by. It's just, it's like, you know, if you can play, the gap between Vivaldi's winter, or his four seasons and, like, somebody playing Mary had a little lamb at their first recital, it's infinite. It's like the gap almost between, like, the east and the west. The one is impossible to listen to. The other one's like, wow, that's really impressive. Paul's using an illustration here. When people speak in a foreign language, it sounds kind of like a person, I don't know, what are you trying to do here? What are we trying to do here? He gives another illustration. Verse 8, if a bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will be ready for battle? You know, before walkie-talkies in radio communications and encrypted communications and people were playing the bugle, a trumpet to tell troops where to go, charge, attack, retreat,

You know, before walkie-talkies in radio communications and encrypted communications and people were playing the bugle, a trumpet to tell troops where to go, charge, attack, retreat, left flank, do this. But if the bugleler list, if the buglelerist, if the bugleist, the bugleist, let's go with bugleist, if he doesn't remember what he's supposed to play, troops aren't going where they're supposed to. It's not understandable. Verse 9. So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech, that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. Now, there are doubtless many languages in the world, different languages, and none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker, a foreigner to me. So with yourself, since you're eager for the manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. There is an earthly necessity for harmonious social life to share a common language. If 15, people in a room all speak 15 different languages, none of which know the other. You cannot have harmonious society in that room. They don't understand one another. You might be able to kind of like, you know, if you've ever traveled to a foreign country and you don't know the language, you can be like signing stuff like me eat hot dog, please. Hot dog where? I don't know,

of like, you know, if you've ever traveled to a foreign country and you don't know the language, you can be like signing stuff like me eat hot dog, please. Hot dog where? I don't know, you know, and you might get a hot dog at some point. But you're not going to be able to discuss fine pieces of literature. You're not going to be able to really edify one another the way that you ought to be able to. And so again, an illustration, obviously, the Corinthians are eager for manifestations to the spirit. They were confusing, just like they confused knowledge for maturity. They were confusing manifestations of the spirit with maturity when really they needed love to direct all of those things, love to direct the knowledge, love to direct the spiritual gifts, love even to direct the desire for which spiritual guests they should want when. Paul says, you should want prophecy. Why? So you can love other people and not just be built up yourself. Paul then offers his own example in the matter as someone who has all of these gifts, both tongues and prophecy, in verse 13 and 19. He says, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret, which is another supernatural gift, the ability to interpret the language spoken. Verse 14, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? Well, I will pray with my spirit. Paul says the gift is fine, but I will pray with my mind also. I will also turn and pray intelligible things that my mind is participating in. I will sing praise

What am I to do? Well, I will pray with my spirit. Paul says the gift is fine, but I will pray with my mind also. I will also turn and pray intelligible things that my mind is participating in. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in a position of an outsider say amen to your Thanksgiving when he does not know what you're saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God, Paul says, that I speak in tongues more than all of you, kind of a flex from Paul. You think you're good at tongues, God gives me to give the tongues way more than any of you. Verse 19. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. In both cases, he's talking about words genuinely from the Holy Spirit. The tongues really are from the Spirit. And yet in the gathering, Paul would rather speak a five-word sermon than 10,000 words of tongues. Now think of that illustration I gave at the beginning of 1st Corinthians 13 about the Apostle John in his latter years, where they wheel him before the church or they'd carry him before the church. He can barely speak at this point. And he would say a five-word sermon, little children love one another. And he would do it over and over. And that five-word sermon had the potential genuinely to change everything for those people

I'll try to explain it here. But Paul looks to the Old Testament to show that tongues, one reason why tongues are inferior to prophecy, is that the point of their gathering is to build up Christians, but the tongues are actually first assigned for unbelievers, not believers. And you quote from Isaiah 28 to make that point. He says, brothers, verse 20, do not be children in your thinking. Okay, you need understanding, don't be children, be infants and evil, but in your thinking be mature. in the law it is written, and this is from Isaiah 28, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people. And even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Thus, tongues are assigned not for believers, but for unbelievers. While prophecy is assigned not for unbelievers, but for believers. If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're out of your minds? But if all prophesy and an unbelie or outsider enters, he's convicted by all. He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. Paul wants them to understand that the main point of the gathering of the saints is for the edification of believers, not first for unbelievers. You know, this is, by the way, why our service is the way that it is. This service is the Lord's service.

Paul wants them to understand that the main point of the gathering of the saints is for the edification of believers, not first for unbelievers. You know, this is, by the way, why our service is the way that it is. This service is the Lord's service. On the Lord's Day, where we the people of God gather to perform the Lord's service as unto the Lord Lord and be built up together, offer ourselves to God, be blessed by God, his people to be instructed. Now, it's not that we don't want unbelievers here. If you're not a Christian and you're here, we're very thankful that you're here, and we want you to keep coming. We want you to know that you are a sinner, that God is holy, that you are not, that the only way to be saved from your sin, is to be forgiven of your sin through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sin. His blood was shed to come to him by faith, not to perform enough good works for you to be saved, but for you to be saved by the forgiveness and grace of God and to be raised up with him on the last day. We want all of that. Every single service bears the stamp of the gospel. We're called to worship. We then confess our sins and receive the assurance of pardon. We're consecrated and made holy by the word of God. And then we come and commune with God at the table of the Lord and with each other before we are charged and sent out into the world to obey our God. So it's for believers, but it can benefit unbelievers.

And then we come and commune with God at the table of the Lord and with each other before we are charged and sent out into the world to obey our God. So it's for believers, but it can benefit unbelievers. A similar thing is called to account here in this passage. You know, if someone, if an unbeliever shows up, the tongues should really be a sign for him. Some of what's confusing about this is that the gift of tongues and prophecy both have about five layers of meaning. that we don't have time in this sermon to go through all of them. But one of them, Paul points that is from the Old Testament. It's something that God promised to Israel all the way back in Deuteronomy 2849 through Moses. If you know Deuteronomy, you know that at that point in Deuteronomy, God is warning Israel. If you obey me, all of these blessings will come upon you as you enter in the land. But if you disobey me, all of these curses will befall you. Lo and behold, in Isaiah's day, Isaiah writes, Isaiah 28, Israel is in the process of receiving all of those curses because they didn't obey God. And God had been gracious to them. He had sent them as Isaiah says, prophets like Isaiah himself, who spoke to them totally clearly. He even says line by line, precept upon precept,

himself, who spoke to them totally clearly. He even says line by line, precept upon precept, he spoke to them. Like the ABCs. God good, you bad, repent, quick. That level of clarity. And they didn't listen. And so God said, in Deuteronomy 28, if you do this, I'm going to do this other thing. And then Isaiah told him, this other thing's about to happen. And that is that they would be flooded with foreigners. Their nation would be flooded with foreigners who spoke a foreign tongue. And this is a sign of judgment on a people. When a nation is conquered by a foreign people who speak a foreign language, and you hear the chatter of foreign tongues in your streets, that's not a sign that your nation is doing well. And God had warned them. This is going to happen to you. Now, impending on Israel at this time, they were about to be flooded with Babylonians who were going to conquer them militarily, take them into exile, and their land would become Babylon, a part of the Babylonian Empire. This happened. And so tongues were assigned to Israel of judgment because of their apostasy. If you're Israel and you are in Jerusalem or if you're in the territory and you hear foreign tongues a lot, you're being judged. You didn't obey God. You didn't make God. You didn't maintain what you were supposed to. And now your borders are exploding and you are going to cease to exist as a people. Sounds familiar. None of you have any experience. Like this is, no, this happens relentlessly in history. This is how God

believers, look, all of the nations are going to be brought into God's fold from many tribes and tongues. That's a good thing. It's a blessing. But also Israel, you're in rampant unbelief. And so you're going to hear foreign tongues all right. And it won't be a blessing. It will be a judgment. And so tongues are assigned to them for judgment. And so Paul concludes a fifth and final part of his argument here in this section. Again, just seeking to justify his main point that tongues are inferior to prophecy in terms of love because they're not in this context first to benefit believers, but unbelievers. They're a sign of God's judgment on Israel at that point in the story. So that's the main passage. Now, my next name, like I said, is for you to understand a little bit more what tongues and prophecy actually looked like. What are they? And you probably have an idea already, but let's just get particular. Again, not setting them in the context of redemptive history yet and seeing how they function completely. But just what did it look like when someone was speaking in tongues or prophesying. What is the gift of tongues? Let's start there. Like I said, to put it briefly, the gift of tongues is the miraculous ability to speak words in another language that the speaker himself doesn't know. A real human language that someone else in the world speaks, but he doesn't. To such a degree

himself doesn't know. A real human language that someone else in the world speaks, but he doesn't. To such a degree that his mind isn't even active. He doesn't even understand what he's saying. Now, this is not, again, like in the charismatic explosion of the 60s and beyond, the pretended tongues that you'd often hear, were not a known language in any part of the world. Like, there is no language where you just say jiggity, boogity, uggity, boogity, boogiety, boogity, hubidi, what itty. It's not a, no, that's not a language. Like, Lexi and I, when we were, man, teenagers, we were dating, I think, we found ourselves at a Pentecostal service. And at the two and a half hour mark, when they hadn't gotten through the second song, I knew I'd made a mistake. And we left. And there was a lot of lady pastors, and there was a lot of ugity-bugadies, and there was a lot of u-and-a-bugadies, and there there was a lot of that kind of stuff. What there wasn't was any real human language miraculously gifted by the Holy Spirit. That was the gift of tongues. I didn't hear any of that. Now, God can also, along with this gift, give to the person himself or to another, the gift of interpretation. Where someone who, again, doesn't know that language, all of a sudden says, I don't know how, but what they just said is fill in the blank. God is great. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen. Let me translate. Sometimes in God's providence tongues were given in context where foreigners were present who actually did speak the language.

is fill in the blank. God is great. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen. Let me translate. Sometimes in God's providence tongues were given in context where foreigners were present who actually did speak the language. to where the believer didn't know the language they were speaking, but God had appointed that some unbeliever would be there who did speak that language, and he would say, how did they learn my language? They're praising God in my language. And then, you know, someone would stand up and say, believe it or not, they don't know that language. You should repent. This is a sign to you, that God is in our midst, and you should listen to what they're saying. Tongues could be given publicly like that. They could also be given privately. You could speak in a tongue, just you and God, and your spirit, as Paul said, would be edified. We're going to see in the second half of chapter 14 that Paul gives some ground rules for order in the service where tongues and interpretation. No tongues without interpretation, and then only a few. Once a tongue was interpreted, it became something like prophecy. And then it could edify others because they could understand it. But tongues, that's what they essentially were. Like I said, they'd become something of a status symbol for the Corinthians, which you can see why they were selfish people, and they were struggling to love one another. And so they loved the gift that edified themselves. They didn't really care if it edified anybody else. And they also didn't care if they were doing it one at a time. So they would all be oogity-buggeting at the same time. They were actually speaking in real tongues. And it was just like, you see why Paul says, if someone walks in your church,

speaking in real tongues. And it was just like, you see why Paul says, if someone walks in your church, they're going to think you're out of your mind. If three of you were speaking Italian and one of you speaking Swahili and another Mandarin and one Japanese and all at the same time right now. And I'm trying to be like, can I preach the sermon? People would say it's a fun church, but they're kind of out of their minds, right? What is the gift of prophecy? Again, like I said, prophecy put simply, it's just words from God, given to a person for other people. Words from God, given to a person for other people. That speech, the contents of that speech can be lots of different things. It can foretell the future. We see this both in the prophets who wrote scripture like Isaiah, who prophesied the coming of Christ, and New Testament prophets like Agabus, who in Acts 11, prophesied a famine that we're told came to pass. And then in Acts 21, prophesied Paul's arrest, which came to pass. Can foretell the future. Prophecy can rebuke a people for their particular sin that they need to hear. Prophecy can share the good news of Christ. In fact, Revelation 1910 teaches us. It says the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And so we should expect at the core that authentic prophecy, take it all together, will proclaim Christ fundamentally. It can do other

the ultimate prophet, you could say all caps prophet, and he is himself revelation from God, in his person. Beneath that, then, we have the foundation. prophets and apostles through whom God gave us the scriptures. We see that, and this was a one-time thing that has since ceased, because it was a foundation that has since been built upon, which we see in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 to 21. It says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Here's a metaphor, household of God. Built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. Christ's Jesus himself being the cornerstone, they're both those levels I just pointed at, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. You lay a foundation once and then you build on it, you don't go back and lay it again. So we don't have apostles and prophets today that function in this sense, one step down from Christ himself, the prophets and apostles of the old and New Testament. Not everything they said was Holy Scripture, but much of what they said was still true prophecy, just meant in God's providence for a particular people that wouldn't be recorded. But in his providence, God supernaturally oversaw the collection, transmission, copying, and canonization of those words into the scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

wouldn't be recorded. But in his providence, God supernaturally oversaw the collection, transmission, copying, and canonization of those words into the scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Now, third and more broadly, and this is the gift of prophecy given in varying measures to Christians generally. This is primarily what Paul's talking about in chapters 12 to 14 of 1 Corinthians. And on this point, prophecy may be any words, from God, given by God, for others. Again, they're not apostles and prophets. They're not the Lord Jesus Christ, but God really did give words to the saints for one another. You could, teasing it a little bit, you could see why this would even be particularly necessary before the New Testament is compiled and written. It's quite necessary. God spoke to people. Again, we have Agabas, predicting the future, but it seems that most often in this lowercase P mode of prophecy, it was simply a word of God to someone for someone else. You know, like, this is why the Puritans, by the way, would frequently identify preaching with the gift of prophecy. To the extent that there's an old Puritan book called the Art of Prophecine from the 17th century, and it is about preaching. Because prophecy and preaching are very closely aligned. You could see a preacher is proclaiming prophecy, the word of God, right, prophecy. But he's hoping not just to say true things from that for the people,

preaching are very closely aligned. You could see a preacher is proclaiming prophecy, the word of God, right, prophecy. But he's hoping not just to say true things from that for the people, but also to say other true things that are for the people right in front of them. I pray before every sermon that God would give me thoughts, words for you, not just from Scripture, but that His Holy Spirit would lead my thoughts and my words, whether in my preparation and my notes or even just in the act of preaching for your sake. So that God would cut some of you to the heart and he would unfold hidden sins that you were trying to hide. And then the word of God comes in, preached by a minister of God and cuts you to the heart. And you say, how did you know that? And I say, I didn't. The Holy Spirit answered that prayer. You could see why the Puritans would identify preaching with prophecy in this way. But it's not just pastors who hope to have the leading of God's Holy Spirit to speak helpful, edifying, comforting, exhorting words to one another. All Christians should desire that they would have words from God for others, for their upbuilding. You see why it's important that we answer kind of the lines here? What's prophecy? What, where is it for today? I think you can already see that I have a, there's a real sense in which it is answer. We'll get there.

You see why it's important that we answer kind of the lines here? What's prophecy? What, where is it for today? I think you can already see that I have a, there's a real sense in which it is answer. We'll get there. I'm not like a hard cessationist in the sense that nothing today could rightly be called prophecy. I do not believe that. I didn't say that first service. So now they're going to have to wait for that. But, no, it's fundamentally, this is what prophecy is. Words from God for others. More systematic overview later. But notice how and why Paul would highly value that gift. Because it builds up the church. It's God speaking to you from another person. This is highly edifying that God would take care to speak to you. So last part of this sermon of just three brief applications. How do we say our amen to this? And there are some obvious things. There are some questions remaining. We'll get there. But there are some obvious takeaways from this passage that we should all be able to say our amen to and try to obey. And the first one is simply whatever your gift, natural, earthly, spiritual, supernatural, whatever it is, pointed at this target, which is the edification of the church of Jesus Christ. Point your gift to build up your brothers and sisters. We're saying the same thing. thing we said a chapter ago. Whatever you have, what would love do with it?

Seek to understand the world you live in. Seek to understand difficult things. Whether you were dealt the hand of not very much mental facility, you're a one-talent mind kind of person, or ten talents, and you have great mental facility. So, one or ten talents. turn a profit on it. Seek to love the Lord with all your mind. In getting our wheels out of the ditch of understanding equals maturity, which is not true, there are people who know a lot of things who are utterly spiritually immature. Even theological things, they can quote endlessly from all the reading they're doing. And they're not even a Christian. Many such cases. But let's not pull our wheels out of that ditch and then veer off the road and roll down the hill until our car explodes at the bottom and say, the mind is nothing, understanding is nothing. obviously be stupid. Let's keep on the road. Yes, love is what must direct our understanding to maturity, but understanding is very, very important. Paul would have us be men and women of understanding. And so know the Word of God, love the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God. Be excellent in your mind. Think rigorously. Examine your own thoughts. Make sure you're thinking clearly. Don't be led and ruled by your emotions. These are all perennially important exhortations. But third and finally, and this is the most important thing that I would want you to take from this sermon. If you forget everything else, this is what I would want you to remember. And it is to earnestly

But third and finally, and this is the most important thing that I would want you to take from this sermon. If you forget everything else, this is what I would want you to remember. And it is to earnestly desire the work of the spirit in your life, especially the work of the spirit in giving you words and works to build up your brothers. Earnestly desire the gifts and the fruit and the activity and the work of the spirit in your life. We'll get into this systematic theology, but there are things we can say for certain, even whether you're like a cessationist of the G3, like the hardest cessationist out there all the way to maybe you're a continuate. You're a Calvary Chapel somewhere around the 70% mark and you're like way Pentecostal on the other side of things, which I wouldn't recommend. Really either ends of those spectrum, I wouldn't recommend. Wherever you are, we should all yet be able to agree with what I just said. Earnestly desire the work and activity of the Holy Spirit. in your life. You should routinely ask that God would lead you by his spirit providentially in your thoughts and your words and et cetera to speak words of encouragement, exhortation, comfort, whatever you need for others, and to have the deeds of love in your life. And you should get up every morning and be praying for this. Because what you're doing when you do that is you're

comfort, whatever you need for others, and to have the deeds of love in your life. And you should get up every morning and be praying for this. Because what you're doing when you do that is you're starting every day and you're waving the white flag of, I am not sufficient in my national. self. My body and my soul by itself is not enough. The opposite of all of the millennial affirmations we're supposed to write on note cards and put on our mirror and tell ourselves every morning, I am enough. Only millennials do that, I think, but a lot of us here, solidarity. Zumers make fun of themselves. It's a little different. It's not true. I'm not enough. Even as a Christian, like me and my spirit by myself is not enough, which is why God gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and give us and lead us and direct us and bear fruit in us. The gifts of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit. We should desire the spirit's work in our lives continually. And when we pray for the work of the spirit in our lives, we are confessing before God right then and there, I am not sufficient in myself. I cannot do what I am required of you to do unless you help me, which is true. And so you should be asking God, like, God, please give me words and works from the Holy Spirit today to build up those around me. Lord, please give me providential appointments with other people for their good.

Holy Spirit today to build up those around me. Lord, please give me providential appointments with other people for their good. Direct my thoughts, direct my tongue, direct my heart, direct my mind, direct my strength to that end. Help me to have the boldness and the love to speak those words and do those deeds as you appoint them and set them before me. Pray that and pray it in faith, in faith, believing that God loves to answer that kind of request because he does. God delights to answer prayers like this. He delights to answer prayers like this. I should, I should absolutely want, you've probably experienced this before. I know pastors, we talk about it all the time. Where you just, you know, you're praying or you're reading the Bible or just going through your day and you're like, I should really text this person. And then you do it. Like, hey, I'm praying for you. This you were on my mind. And then they say, that was exactly what I needed to hear right then. That Bible verse, that encouragement, that you were praying for me, whatever it is. That was the Holy Spirit. The world is not just stuff. As a wise man once said, we're not just Adam's bouncing around. We are embodied souls who are living stones being built up into a household for God's own possession. Where is the temple of God today?

you are to us in accomplishing anything. And so we thank you for the mercy and the gift and the kindness of allowing us to participate, even as sons with his father, in your work. And we pray God that you would use us, that you would lead us by your spirit, both objectively in your word, but also subjectively in the daily providences of life and the turning of our thoughts and the words that come from our mouths. Help us to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, give us divine appointments, speak your words of comfort and exhortation to one another, and let them be truly your words, even as they come from our mouths into one another's ears. Lord, we thank you for your kindness in all of this. And so we pray as the Lord instructed in his word. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallow and be thy name.

in his word. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallow and be thy name.