Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 109 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; The doctrine of tongues and summary.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 109 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; The doctrine of tongues and summary.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

Only two or three are to be permitted to speak in a tongue, and then only if an interpreter be present (vv. 27-28). Women are not to be permitted to speak as a prophet or in tongues in the church (vv. 34-35), and so we would add that they are not permitted to instruct the congregation. All is to be done decently and in order. If these rules were applied to the modern tongues movements then they would have to remove their practice. Therefore, it is obvious that the modern tongues movement has an ulterior motive other than the truth.

 

j. Speaking in tongues was a temporary gift. The modern tongues movement is based on pride, psychosis, and demonic activity.

 

If any of us have loved ones who are involved in the movement, it does not mean that they necessarily willfully worship demons, it is most often deceit, which always has its source in the kingdom of darkness, and preys on the pride of man. Sometimes it is true psychosis that is involved. If you have an opportunity to appeal to another who is involved in the tongues movement, always correct in a spirit of gentleness and trust God the Holy Spirit and your knowledge of God's plan to guide you.

 

We could include ignorance in the list of reasons for the problem of this modern day movement, but at the same time most of the tongues crowd learn from the Bible. So it is a willful ignorance based on pride. It is a failure of the simplest kind since speaking in some sort of gibberish is devoid of common sense, since the person doing so has no idea what they are saying and if someone interprets it, there is no chance in a million that they would match the thoughts (not words, for they don't know what they are saying) of the speaker.

 

One thing to look at is the short history of the tongues movement. It is full of excesses and obvious evil characteristics.

 

First, if we look into the long history of the church, outside of first Corinthians, there is not one well attested instance of any person speaking in tongues.

 

Of course there were fringe groups who claimed miraculous gifts, but of main stream Christianity containing churches based on the word of God, we do not have any clear instance that the gift of tongues continued.

 

The modern tongues movement knows this and so their response or rebuttal is that the church is in the last days, and so God has again given to the church the early gifts. They claim this without a shred of biblical truth. None of the eschatology of the end times mentions a return of the gift of tongues.

 

During the Reformation, tongues played absolutely no part.

 

The earliest popular usage is found in Mormonism and the Shakers. Joseph Smith (1830's) believed in the gift of tongues as well as visions and revelations. Anne Lee ("Mother"), leader of the Shakers movement (1780's) claimed that she could discourse in 72 languages. Pentecostalism, started in a house in Los Angelis in 1906, and its founder influenced the Church of God in 1908, which in essence became Pentecostal. Therefore, in essence, there have been no instance of speaking in tongues since the first century until 1900 and in this instance it is the uttering of emotional, unintelligible gibberish. In the movement there is always excesses of emotionalism and self-centeredness.

 

The evils of the tongues move­ment have not arisen from the belief in speaking in tongues, but rather in the neglect of the Scriptures in their teaching on the sub­ject, their regulation of the gift, and the modern false doctrine of tongues itself.

 

Four important lines of argument substantiate that speaking in tongues was a temporary gift.

 

1. Tongues began at Pentecost. There is no record of Christ or the dis­ciples ever speaking in tongues before this event.

 

It was a spiritual gift which was not given in the Old Testament period and during the Gospels. If the gift began at Pentecost by the sovereign will of God, it can also be withdrawn at divine pleasure.

 

2. Tongues had the characteristic of being a sign to Israel. Such a sign was necessary at the inauguration of the age of grace to prove to Israel that the gospel message was from God. Being established there is no further need for the sign.

 

It had been predicted by the prophets and this prophecy required fulfillment, which Paul states in 1Co 14. The fulfillment being fully established, there is no further need of the sign.

 

3. Some other spiritual gifts are temporary, as illustrated in the gift of apostleship, the gift of prophecy, the gift of miracles, and the gift of healing.

 

It was apparently God’s purpose to withdraw the unusual signs which attended the ministry of the apostles in the early church after they had served their purpose.

 

4. It was stated that tongues would cease.

 

1Co 13:8 but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

 

On the basis of both inference and specific reference, the gift of tongues is revealed to be a temporary provision of God for the apostolic period.

 

k Speaking in tongues by its very nature is peculiarly liable to abuse.

 

From its occurrences in Acts it can be claimed by those who want support for the movement that it is a test of salvation.

 

The total lack of reference outside of Act and 1 Co must imply that it was nonessential when it was in use. If tongues were essential even as an outward sign of inward salvation, it is inconceivable that it should not be given a prominent place in the plan of salvation anywhere in the NT. It is significant that neither the Gospels nor Romans, a book that has a large portion dedicated to the plan of salvation, mentions it.

 

In the first century, the gift of speaking in tongues was no indication of spirituality, as the only church for which it is mentioned is Corinth.

 

Of all the churches to whom Paul wrote, the Corinthian church manifested the most carnality and gross sin, yet speaking in tongues was more in evidence here than in the other churches. It is a matter of history that the tongues movement has not led in holiness of living, but rather has been guilty of all manner of excesses.

 

The tongues movement of today states that the gift is inseparable from the baptism of the Spirit, to the point where they equate the two. But it is clear in the scripture that every believer is baptized by the Spirit, yet when the gift was in existence, not every Christian spoke in tongues.

 

The attempt to make speaking in tongues a necessary con­dition for baptism of the Spirit is one of many evils attending abuse of the Scriptural doctrine.

 

l. The gift of interpreting tongues. This was clearly given so that the foreign speech of the speaker could be translated for the surrounding listeners.

 

If the tongue was spoken in the church because a foreigner was there in need of salvation, then it was important that the rest of the church could understand what was said, and if only to hear if the person was a pretender or imposter giving a false gospel. This would also be true outside the church if a foreigner was receiving the gospel through the gift and there were others present who did not understand the foreigners language.

 

We can imagine a Christian possessing the gift talking to a group of foreigners who all share a common foreign language and so no interpretation would be needed.

 

If speaking in tongues is no longer existent in the church today, it is clear that the gift of interpreting tongues has likewise passed from the present purpose of God.

    

Summary of the doctrine of the filling of the Spirit:

 

We should not mistake worn nerves, physical exhaustion, physical weakness, or legitimate depression for unspirituality. Sometimes sleep is needed more than prayer, and recreation and entertainment more than study or heart searching. You are a believer priests. By faith, take these many principles and walk in the manner worthy of your calling from the freedom and the promotion that God has graciously given.

 

Always remember that you will make mistakes along the way and often, with the best of intentions, you will attempt to comply with the perfect standard in an imperfect way. This doesn't condone sin or failure, it's just a fact of life and our condition in life. God is so patient and longsuffering. He will guide you who are willing and yielding. He does not guide the perfect Christian, since there is no such creature, never has been and never will be on this earth. Part of our victory is to rest in the Lord despite our failures.

 

1Co 15:10