The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

Guest (Male): Paul is bringing order intellectually, spiritually, and in every way because the Corinthian church was playing ignorant and yet Paul corrects that ignorance by saying, "This is what the scripture says." And when you step out of the scriptures, you're going to be confused and you're going to deceive other people. That's why it's really important to stay on target with God's word.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today's lesson continues our study of 1 Corinthians and we're glad that you've tuned in for a clarifying look at how to properly exercise the gifts of tongues and the gifts of prophecy. You'll get a challenge today to avoid calling attention to yourself or causing confusion for those outside the church, making sure that you're glorifying the Lord with a humble heart. Today's lesson is titled "The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit." Here is Raul Ries.
Raul Ries: If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Now, coming out of chapter 13, we've been sharing with perfect love. In chapters 12, 13, and 14 deals with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the way they are to be used. Now, chapter 14, what it is going to do to us, Paul's going to now return and answer some questions concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially tongues and prophecy. So, let's begin by looking at chapter 14, verse 1, beginning there: the edification for the body. He says, "Pursue love, or follow after love, and desire spirituals, but especially that you may prophesy." Notice that he's putting a priority not on tongues, but on prophecy, the superior gift there. And what's incredible here is when he finishes chapter 13, he continues to say, "pursue after love," so the gifts of the Holy Spirit are manifested through the love of Jesus Christ that is given to us. Sometimes when people practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit, whether it be tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, whatever it would be, many times Paul says that if we don't have the love of Christ in us, then those gifts that are manifested is like babbling. They're not really being exercised in the power of love, so they're of no value. And I think of how many times as Christians, when you look at the body of Christ, the church—and I'm not talking about this building, I'm talking about people—that the true body of Christ not only does possess the love of God, but in the possessing of God's love, then at the same time we learn how to forgive others that might not like us or maybe we didn't like them. Everything we do, we have to make it right before God. If you want to be used by God, you want to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, you want to be empowered by the dunamis power of God, you've got to make things right in your lives. And maybe they're not Christians, and since you're the believer, as Jesus said, you need to make things right as long as you think you're doing what's right before God. And you've made the initiative to go and apologize and leave it in their hands; you forgive them. They don't forgive you, you leave it in the hands of God. You can go ahead and progress in what God's called you to do because you're really possessing the love of Christ. You really have gone before God and those people and asking them to forgive you. So now when you come to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and you're coming with the love of Christ, then the gifts of the Holy Spirit are going to be effective in your life. It's so cool. They're going to be working in your life. Paul wants to make sure because the Corinthians were carnal, division-makers, they were having lawsuits against brothers and sisters going to court. And Paul says, "How can you expect the Holy Spirit to really baptize you with His love and to use you in edifying the Lord through the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to you?" He can't. He can't do that. So that's why he concludes in chapter 13 about love, and he begins in chapter 14:1, "pursue agape love." Notice that, "follow agape love. And at the same time, desire spiritual gifts." In the Greek, it's "spirituals." "Desire spirituals, but especially that you may prophesy," because prophecy is a superior gift than tongues. It seems that everybody wants the gift of tongues, but the gift of prophecy is superior to the gift of tongues. Because the gift of tongues can only be used by yourself in private when you pray to God. You can't really use it in public because then it brings confusion in the body of Christ and we're going to see that as Paul is going to set that in order. Verse 2, notice: "For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God." Notice that. Then why is it that in Pentecostal churches, when you're sitting in a service and the preacher or teacher is teaching or preaching, every Sunday the same person gets up in the middle of the sermon and starts speaking in tongues? And then the next to him, the same person stands up and begins to prophesy? When literally, first of all, the person is out of order doing that. The true interpretation is not prophecy, for the true interpretation would be glorifying God, giving thanks to God. It's not a message of tongues; there are no messages. It's always "thus saith the Lord," that's not true. Prophecy, as we're going to see here, is the building up, edification of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So he's going to tell you again, he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. It's between you and God. But the problem is that we feel stupid. "What am I saying? Why should I..." and the devil comes along and says, "Man, you're really blowing it. You're making all that stuff up." One of the things that you need to understand so you don't get discouraged is not everyone speaks in tongues. Not everyone. Because Paul says that if you don't receive the gift of tongues, it doesn't mean you're a better person or a less person. Because the gift of tongues or any other gift comes through the love of Christ. And the greatest gift of all gifts is not tongues, it's not prophecy, it's not word of wisdom, word of knowledge. It's love. The love of Christ. In our hearts and living through each one of us individually. Paul here wants to make sure that this gift of speaking in tongues is to communicate to God, not to men. And yet in the Pentecostal churches, they've used the gift of tongues as an interpretation and they call it messages in tongues. And there's no such thing in the Bible as messages in tongues. It's praising to God. Remember on Acts chapter 2, when the 120 were baptized by the Holy Spirit and it says that those that were outside—30 nations—they actually heard them speak in their own dialecta, their own dialect. What were they doing? They were praising God. There was no message. They were worshiping God. Giving thanks to God. It's so cool how he explains it there. Then why is it that people constantly get to the place where they start making up and adding to the word of God, when yet the word of God is silent? And he gives us the correct understanding here in chapter 14. Look again what he says, verse 2: "For he, that person who speaks in a tongue, does not speak to men, but to God, for no one understands him; however, the spirit he speaks mysteries or secrets." Who's speaking? The Spirit of God, not you. And yet, you're not out of control; you're in control. How many times you hear people say, "Man, I couldn't help myself." That's baloney. You are in command. You know what you're doing. And it's really important because the Spirit is not the author of confusion and He is not a Spirit of disorder, where He's going to do things where people are going to start wondering or bring confusion. He's not that way. So it's important for us to have discernment when you're with other people and you begin to see these kind of a things happening; you can see what's true and what's not true. What's of God and what's of the flesh. And the Corinthians were those people that were misusing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And that's why Paul writes this letter to correct them. Because they were off the wall in what they were doing. Then in verse 3, he says: "But he who prophesies speaks to three things: to edification, to exhortation, and to comfort of men." Isn't that cool? First of all, it's to edification is building up, not tearing down. Secondly, exhorting people. And then thirdly, it is to bring comfort to men. So the gift of prophecy is heard of when you're teaching God's word. There is edification, there is exhortation, and there is great comfort in the teaching of God's word as a listener. So Paul wants to make sure that we separate the gifts and we understand individually every gift that is given to us. Verse 4: "He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself." See? You're not building up anybody else; it's yourself. "But he who prophesies builds up the whole church." Everybody gets blessed. He's going to come to this place where different churches I told you they speak in tongues. And let's say you're in a church and somebody gets up and starts babbling. And somebody else gets up and starts giving an interpretation. And let's say there is three or four or five non-believers in the church. What are they going to say? Paul's going to say they're going to say these people are crazy. They're mad. They're mad. That's why it would be out of order to do that even here at Calvary in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning or a Sunday night or a Wednesday night. Because those gifts of the Holy Spirit, like tongues and the other gifts, are given to us when there's a smaller fellowship called the Afterglow services, where there's order in the church and there's these little clicks of people that are coming there for anointing and coming for the gifts of the Holy Spirit where they can be baptized. They can be prayed for and be touched by the Lord to be healed. And many times in big congregations like this, we can be teaching and preaching the word of God, but God is healing people in the body of Christ during services. He says this, verse 5: "I wish you all would speak in tongues." See? He's wishing everybody would speak in tongues. "But even more that you would prophesy, for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification." Building up. So if somebody would speak in tongues and I would get up to interpret, what would I say? It would be like a psalm. It wouldn't be "thus saith the Lord, my little children," and I start saying these things about what God says. It doesn't work that way. So Paul is bringing order intellectually, spiritually, and in every way because the Corinthian church was playing ignorant and yet Paul corrects that ignorance by saying, "This is what the scripture says." And when you step out of the scriptures, you're going to be confused and you're going to deceive other people. That's why it's really important to stay on target with God's word. Don't add to it, don't take away from it. Leave it as it is and allow God to speak through the word of God. Then secondly, he says verse 6: "But now brethren, Christians, if I come to you speaking with tongues," Paul says, "if I come to you speaking in tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak either by revelation, by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by teaching." Tongues does not edify the church, but notice, prophecy builds up. So he says: revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or by teaching. Verse 7: "Even things without life, whether flute or harp, or to make a sound unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played?" If there's somebody out of tune, then the whole band can't play together. They have to harmonize. Otherwise it's no good. So he says if somebody in the church, as the Spirit of God is a Spirit of order, and somebody begins to do something that is not in order, it will bring confusion to the body of Christ. Great confusion. If there's non-believers, they will say, "Man, this church is really messed up." Even though they're not believers, they will see the confusion in the body of Christ. And that was going on in the Corinthian church; that's why Paul is writing this letter. Verse 8: "For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound," like say for revelry they have a different sound, for breakfast or to go into the battle, there's different sounds. In the same way, verse 9: "So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is really being spoken? For you will be speaking into the air." If there's no order and you don't know the distinct sound what it means, then you're going to be confused and you're only speaking in the air. There's really nothing you can say. Verse 10: "There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world." And notice, "and none of them is without significance." What he's saying here is if you go to Japan, you hear a different sound—they talk like that, right? I've been in Japan too many times. And then if you hear Korean, they're different. Chinese, different. I got Chinese friends. Even in their writing is different. And that's why it's really so cool how Paul brings in all these distinct sounds, because he says you're going to know by the distinct sounds from what country they're from. And then in the church, you'll be able to have distinction on who the speaker is and what he's speaking. Verse 11: "Because of this, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be as a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me." I mean, you ever speak to somebody that like say a Japanese person in Japan? I speak English; I'm trying to communicate with them and they're talking Japanese, and I'm speaking English at the same time; we're not communicating. He doesn't understand me; I don't understand him. So the only way that he can understand me or I understand him is through an interpreter, a translator. Then we can communicate. Paul goes on, verse 12: "Even so, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification or the building up of the church that you may seek to excel." You don't want to decrease; you want to increase. You want to go forward; you don't want to go backward. Therefore, verse 13: "Let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may have interpretation." Notice that, "that he may have interpretation." Remember on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, they all spoke in tongues and there were 30 nations there. And he says and they all heard them magnifying God. They were all praising God in their own dialecta, their own language, and they heard them in their own native language. It's so cool how God shows us that in the book of Acts chapter 2. So this is what he's talking about. And then he goes on, verse 14: "For if I pray in a tongue, then my spirit is praying." Notice that, my spirit prays. Nobody else. "But my understanding is unfruitful." I don't understand when I speak in tongues. I don't understand one word. The only thing that I do understand because I know a little bit of Greek is "kurios" and it means Lord. And I believe that the tongue God gave to me, He gave me the language of Greek. So when I praise the Lord, as I'm babbling in my tongue, I'm praying in this language that I have never learned. But then the Holy Spirit takes this tongue that I'm speaking in my privacy of my home, my car, walking, jogging, whatever it is. My spirit is communicating with who? With God. God understands what I am saying through the Spirit. I don't, others don't, but God does. I love what he says here. And then if you're here tonight and you haven't ever been baptized with the gift of tongues, don't feel bad that we're more spiritual than you are; that's not true. Because the bottom line is how much love do you have to exercise any kind of a gift? That's the bottom line. Every one of the gifts has to be exercised through the gift of what? Through prophecy? No, through love. What's incredible to me is that as you're baptized with love, you can sit there if you don't speak in tongues. And remember Paul says in chapter 8 of Romans, he says with groanings that cannot be understood. You can sit in your closet, in your car, and you can groan, not just messing around, but being real with God because you're hurting. And you can groan and the Spirit of God will interpret to God your situation. I love it. And it's so neat to be able to be free in the Spirit of God that when you go by yourself into your room or wherever you are and you just start worshiping the Lord, man, it is incredible because God is there with you. The Holy Spirit's there with you. And in these last days, surely we need to be open to the Holy Spirit of God like never before. God wants to speak through people's hearts and lives. He wants to give us word of knowledge, word of wisdom. He wants to manifest Himself through all 21 gifts of the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 4, and then in 1 Corinthians here chapter 12. And then here in chapter 14, he interprets this whole thing what's going on. So it's real important to understand that. Then look what he says in verse 15: "What is the conclusion then of all this? I will pray with the Holy Spirit and I will also pray with understanding. I will sing in the spirit, but I also will sing with understanding." Did you know that you can sing in the spirit too? In tongues, you can sing. And you can pray and you're worshiping God. So cool. I've heard people sing in the spirit; it's amazing. It sounds like angels singing in the presence of God. God baptizes us, God gives us these gifts of the Holy Spirit for each one of us individually. But you have to become like a little child. Verse 16, notice: "Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say amen?" So he's saying this: if you're in the church and there's somebody that is not a Christian, the uninformed is a non-believer. Notice: "Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit," what are we doing? Not speaking in tongues; we're blessing in the spirit. Remember I told you that? It's not speaking in tongues; it's not a message. You're blessing the Lord in the Spirit of God. How will he that is in the congregation, in the place of worship—he's not a believer but he's a non-believer—how is he going to say amen when he doesn't understand anything? It would not be right. Notice: "at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you're saying." Paul explains it. You don't need interpretation. He tells you exactly. Verse 17: "For you indeed give thanks well." For you it's cool because you're giving thanks to God. "But what about that non-believer?" Notice: "But the other, the non-believer, is not built up." He's not being built up. He's not edified. Paul says, "I thank my God, I speak," notice, "that I, Paul, speak with tongues more than everybody." Imagine that? Paul says, "I speak in tongues more than everybody." God's baptized me, he says, with the gift of tongues. And yet verse 19, "Yet in the church I'd rather speak five words with my understanding, speak in English, than speak in Greek or speak in any other language." Notice, "that I may teach others also than 10,000 words in a tongue." Wow. More than 10,000 speaking in tongues words speaking in tongues, Paul says I'd rather speak five words in English than to speak in my tongue 10,000 words.
Guest (Male): It's good to be reminded that no matter how gifted or talented we are, ultimately our service for the Lord is only meaningful when it's manifested in a sincere love of God. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's lesson, "The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit," in its unedited form, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. All you have to do is call us at 800-634-9165. As you consider the ways you can honor God with the spiritual gifts that He's given you, we'd like to offer you Raul's series titled "Unity, Holiness, and Love." It's an 11-part series that's available on CD and thumb drive. Zeroing in on the practical aspects of a healthy faith life, each lesson explores how to represent the Lord in everything from your relationships to your finances. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to purchase "Unity, Holiness, and Love." We'll send you Raul's 11-message study on CD for $23 or on flash drive for $14. That's 800-634-9165. To order by writing us, our mailing address is Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. We hope you'll utilize our many free resources. They're all easy to access at home, at work, or on the road. Subscribe to Raul's daily devotional emails when you visit somebodylovesyou.com to stay on track with daily Bible insights. And be sure to take advantage of our comprehensive podcast library on iTunes and Spotify. Thank you for your partnership in this listener-supported ministry. We are so thankful for the many gifts that enable us to keep sharing the good news of Christ. Next time, we'll get more motivational wisdom from the book of 1 Corinthians. You'll find reassurance that while the Lord has called you to be a living witness of the Gospel, He's ultimately the one who changes people's hearts.
Raul Ries: Falling in love with you. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.