Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. While some argue about speaking in tongues, there's one gift of tongues all believers should have, the gift of a tongue controlled by the Holy Spirit, a tongue that always edifies and never tears down. Today, more details on the gift of tongues, plus guidance on keeping our own tongues in check. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is running to win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.
Pastor Lutzer, in your series on what happens when God is first, you've explained that tongues were actual languages, proving that Gentiles were included in God's plan. Can Christians agree to disagree about whether the gift of tongues is still valid in our day? You know, Dave, I think that they can agree to disagree. But I do want to make one exception, and that is, there was a teaching taught by a few people at least. that unless you spoke in tongues you were not saved.
Now that definitely is a bridge too far. But of course we know many people who love the Lord, who differ about these matters. What's important is that we ourselves have a settled opinion so that what we can do is go forward in the Christian life knowing that we have not lost out on anything, if we do not speak in other languages. All of that being said, the book of Acts, of course, is a great story, a true story I might add, of the power of the gospel in a culture even in those days that was hostile to the Christian faith.
So we should be inspired. We should say to ourselves, we have the same resources, the blessed Holy Spirit of God. Let us move forward in faith. Trust. and courage.
Now let us listen. Yeah. Um Verse 8, how then is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? I can just imagine that Peter is standing up and speaking Egyptian, and suddenly all the different language groups, there's a miracle that's taking place in the way in which they hear it, they are hearing it in their own dialect, even though he is speaking in a different dialect. Maybe that's what happened.
So there was. Two miracles, the miracle of tongues and the miracle of hearing. But apparently they did not need interpreters. when God was doing this. There's a third observation, and that is this.
Every time now that you have the gift of tongues in the book of Acts, there are Jews who are present. who are being reminded of the fact that the gospel is now going out to the Gentiles. If we had time, I'd take you to Acts chapter 11. Exhibit A of what I've just explained to you. You remember Peter, he doesn't even want to go to the Gentile Cornelius.
God has to give him a special vision to let him know that these Gentiles are not unclean, that they are being included in the program and the plan of God. Reluctantly and believing he's heard God correctly, he sets out and he goes and he visits Cornelius, who is a God-fearing man, explains the gospel to him. Cornelius believes, and the gift of tongues is received. When Peter gets back to Jerusalem, the first thing that he gets is criticism. Why are you going to those Gentiles?
You know that the gospel is supposed to stay within the Judaistic community. You know what Peter says? He says, when it was explained to them. That they also received the same gift as we. Then they held their peace and they said, well, God then also has granted to the Gentiles the gift of life.
Acts has several stories of speaking in tongues. There may have even been more stories than the book of Acts records. Because during this transitional period, God says, I want to give you some shock and awe. to show you that the gospel is for everyone. When Peter gives an explanation, by the way, he's quoting the prophet Joel because they're saying, many people, the scoffers are saying, these people are drunk.
Well, that's an interesting assessment. I've never known a drunk person to speak accurately a language he has never heard. I've heard a drunk person speak, but there was something else that was going on there. But he says, this was what was spoken by the prophet Joel. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. And he talks about the Spirit coming, and he says, I will show wonders in heaven above and on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. What's going on there?
Notice that Peter does not say this. fulfills Joel's prophecy because there are things in this prophecy that did not happen. There are things in this prophecy that refer to the future coming of the kingdom. What Peter is doing is he's saying, This should not surprise you that these people are speaking in tongues, because there are prophecies in the Old Testament that when the Messianic era comes, When the era of Messiah comes, there will be an outpoured spirit. And most assuredly, these other signs will take place.
In the millennial kingdom, in preparation for what we call the millennial kingdom, but the Holy Spirit's coming to his people, which began back there, the last days are at least 2,000 years long and maybe longer. This is an indication of the kind of thing that God does. And in the future, the rest of the prophecy. will come to pass. But I want you to notice today, folks, that It is again to verify the fact.
that God is going to everyone. And Peter ends his quotation by saying, whoever Calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Let me give you a fourth observation. This understanding of the gift of tongues helps to explain why the gift essentially died out after the time of the apostles, and for centuries, the church did not experience this gift. Wouldn't it be wonderful if God would have continued the gift, I think, for example, of those who work in Wycliffe Bible translators?
I mean, they are there agonizing over the text. They've got informants who are trying to help them to understand the language. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Kathy Kreckel Who is one of the missionaries with Wycliffe could just walk in and go to a brand new tribe and begin to speak their language? Boy, that would sure cut out a lot of hassle, wouldn't it? But God decided not to do it that way.
Having made his point, That the gospel is for everyone. The gift very quickly died out. It's referred to in Corinth, which is a cosmopolitan city with a cosmopolitan church where you'd have Jews and others present. It's not mentioned in the other epistles.
Nowhere in the Bible are we ever commanded to speak with tongues. Paul only indicates how it is to be regulated, and basically it dies off the scene, except that it reappears in America. In the early 1900s, In Los Angeles, During a revival meeting, And if I might say in great humility, but also with great respect, it surfaces in a way that is quite different from the New Testament. There you have people speaking ecstatic languages, which linguists have tried to analyze and have discovered is not a language at all. You have people bless them who are doing interpretation, who do not understand the words that are being said.
I've spoken to several people who interpret and I've said, now, do you actually understand what's being said? They said, no, we just discern the message through the Spirit and then we go with that.
Well, my dear friend, why even bother then with the gift of tongues? Just discern the message that the Spirit is giving you and speak it. In the New Testament, tongues were always A language. Always a language. And when Peter preached the gospel, As he did here in Acts 2, as far as we know, he was not speaking in a tongue, he was speaking in Aramaic, and the people would have, by and large, been able to understand him because, as I mentioned, they were bilingual.
And he preached the wonderful works of God and the gospel, and many, many people were. converted.
Now, I've not answered all of your questions about tongues, but at least I've given you. the contours, the clear lines. Let's talk now about the control of our tongues and what this means for us. You read the New Testament and you discover that this battle for the tongue. is almost on every page of the New Testament.
Because on the one hand, Satan wants to control people's tongues. And in the New Testament, we have stories of Jesus going to those who were inhabited by spirits, and the spirits spoke through people's tongues. You say, does that happen today? Yes, that happens today. I've heard people speak.
under the inspiration and the control Of demonic spirits. It happens today. It happens today in all the different religions of the world. Tongues is a phenomenon that can be found in many, many pagan cultures.
So, on the one hand, you have the devil who wants to control your tongue. You say, well, Pastor Lutzer, I'm sure glad. But I don't have a demon in me. I'm glad you don't. But now we're getting to pay dirt.
You still may be doing the devil's work for him, though. You know, there's an interesting passage of scripture in 1 Peter 3, verse 11. Don't turn to it, but just listen to it. Paul is giving credentials for those who are in the church. And he's talking about deacons.
And then he says, likewise their wives. he says, should behave themselves and not be Now, the NIV translates it, malicious talkers. I think the King James, if I remember correctly, says the wives should not be slanderers. I understand those are good translations, but I want to introduce you today. to what the original text says.
It says in Greek that the wives should not be Diabolos. Devils. The word devil means slanderer.
Now, I want you to know today that where the devil cannot go, he sends an angry, critical. insecure Christian. to do his work. Satan. wants to use our tongues to destroy, to debilitate, to divide, to alienate, to self-justify.
And it's possible for us to do his work for him. Have you ever met a critical person?
Somebody who's always critical, what really is happening within them is this: they're saying, spiritually, I'm a pygmy. And what I want to do is to make sure that everybody around me knows that they are pygmies too. And if I cut everybody else down, I will look just a little taller. I will look just a little bit more righteous in their eyes. And so here I am.
Years ago they made ink pens, fountain pens, and the fountain pen had on the box. When it flows too freely, it is a sign that it is nearly empty. Do you keep that in mind?
Someone has said that God has given us two ears and one tongue so that we might listen twice as much as we speak. We're just dishing out all kinds of wisdom here today. A man by the name of A. B. Simpson, who was a pastor in New York.
Frequently was criticized, criticized for his theology, criticized for his methodology. but he founded an important denomination. But this is what he said on one occasion. I would rather play with forked lightning or take into my hands live wires than to speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ or idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on others to the hurt of their own souls and their own bodies. He was criticized in the media by another minister.
The newspapers would pick up the story of the criticism of the other minister. And when that other minister fell into immorality, someone came and showed A.B. Simpson the headlines and said, Look at your opponent, look at what happened to him. A.B. Simpson looked at the headline and with tears in his eyes said only this, oh, how much?
He must have been tempted. Let's talk for a moment about the submission of your tongue to God. James says that the tongue is set on fire of hell. The devil wants it. And Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
And how easy it is to reveal what is in our minds and hearts through our tongues. And if we are insecure and jealous and angry at our role in life, how we will lash out and how we will speak. And as I mentioned, it is set on fire of hell. Could I say this to you lovingly? I hope that this message isn't too harsh.
Always worried about being too harsh. Am I doing okay here up there? Phil, Phil and Ma think it's all right.
So that passes muster with two people, maybe three. Ha ha ha. What some of you need to do is to go home. Just get on your knees and stay there as long as you need to stay there to empty your hearts of the venom. And a hell.
that makes you a critical person. A diabolos. And then, what all of us need to do is to pray the words of Scripture, O God, set a watch before my tongue, guard the door of my lips. And we ought to pray, let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good to the use of edifying. We're talking about making God first.
And last time we spoke about what it means to give him our hearts and to be filled with the spirit. Today we're speaking about giving him our tongues, which really means we are giving him our hearts because that's the fountain where it all begins. And we say today, God, you gave me this tongue. Help me to use it for wholesome words, words that build up, words that help, words that heal the wounds rather than make the wounds. Oh God, I surrender my tongue to you.
And then what we need to do. is to learn to practice righteousness and sharing the good news with our tongues that God gave you.
Some of you God bless you. You've been Christians for many years, and you haven't told anybody at work where you work on. Tomorrow morning. Nobody knows that you're a Christian. You say, well, Pastor Luther, I don't know how to begin a conversation with anybody.
I mean, how do I do it? Let me give you an idea. How about going to someone tomorrow? and saying, you know, I've known you for so many years and I have a question I want to ask you. What do you really want out of life?
And I just listened to them talk. And after they've talked a little bit and you've asked a few other questions that are important. Then what you do is to say Would you mind if I were to share with you something that somebody once shared with me? Who's going to say no to that? If it was something good for you, then why isn't it?
Good for me. And then what you do is say, you know what I discovered once they say yes, because you do need their permission. Hmm. You know what I discovered that I can't fix my relationship with God on my own. And then let me tell you.
about what Jesus did. And you folks who are in evangelism, explosion. You're ahead of everybody on this point. And you know I told you that we were going to do what Acts chapter 2 Did miraculously, we are going to do it naturally. Did you know that in evangelism explosion today, even as we heard, we have people who speak Spanish, we also have people who speak Mandarin?
And we are branching out to all the different language groups. We'd be able to like to, in the city of Chicago, all of them using their mouths, their tongues, to share with others the wonderful good news of God. Isn't that wonderful? When God has our tongues, what we can do here in this city? I end today with this challenge.
It is possible for our tongues to be either set on fire of hell. The venom. The criticism. The anger. Or it's also possible for our tongues to be set on fire.
By heaven. And what we want to invite ourselves to do today is: God would enable us to say, Lord, you've given me this tongue and I've misused it and I've hurt people. You go to them and you ask their forgiveness and you make it right and you say, Oh God, from now on, as best as I can, control my heart that I might be able to control my tongue, that I might use it for the way in which you intended. It is mighty, it is powerful to destroy or to heal. or to help.
But today we say, Father, this tongue This time. Hung. in the English language. or whatever other language you may speak. Would you join me as we pray?
Our Father, we know that the average person speaks enough in a lifetime to fill a large library. And we wonder what would be in our library, volume upon volume upon volume. The proportion between good, wholesome building words and words that tear and hurt. We ask today, Father, that you shall give us the grace. to lay down what is in our hearts.
We pray today, Father, that you will so cleanse us and so bring joy into our lives that we might speak words of encouragement and words of the gospel. And that the city of Chicago might know that there's a Redeemer because the members and the friends and the attenders of Moody Church and those who listen are going to talk to others about Jesus, walking through doors. that you are opening. giving the control of our tongues. into your hands.
Would you do that? And now before I close this prayer. Are you willing to say, Pastor Lutzer, I've given God my heart as best as I can. I now give him my tongue. And by his grace, I shall speak.
What honors the Holy Spirit who dwells within me? Would you tell them that? And for those of you who have never received the gift of eternal life, the good news that Peter preached about, it is that Jesus died for sinners. And if we transfer our trust to Him, we're accepted by God as if we were Jesus. Because we're accepted.
on his behalf. That's the good news of the gospel about which we speak. If God's been working in your heart and you know who you are, you know who you are. If God's been speaking to you, you say, Jesus, today I accept. what you did for myself.
Do all of these things, Lord Jesus, because we are helpless. We're helpless. Do all this and more, and the work that you begin here may it be accomplished this afternoon and tomorrow. and in the days ahead. In Jesus' blessed name, amen.
Amen. Yeah. Um Well, this is Pastor Luther. Many of you, of course, have made an investment in this ministry, and you may wonder at times. Does it bear fruit?
while speaking about using our tongues for the glory of God. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who said I had a difficult childhood. I didn't fully know who I was. I felt like I didn't have value. and then I had four miscarriages in my marriage.
Through your teaching and walking in Christ, I came to know who I am in Christ, and even though I'm not an extrovert. I now share my testimony with people and have grown in love. Here is a woman who writes to us that her tongue was, in effect, loosed so that she could share the gospel with others. It's because of people just like you that we receive testimonies of the grace of God. The Ministry of Running to Win, 50 different countries, 7 different languages.
Thank you in advance for helping us. But let me ask you something. Would you consider becoming what we like to call an endurance partner?
Now, endurance partners are people who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. Of course, the amount that they give is entirely at their discretion. Take time to find out what an endurance partner is. Let me give you the info. You can go to rtwoffer.com.
That's rtwoffer.com and when you're there you click on the Endurance Partner button. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-1. 9337. Let me give you that contact info again, and let me thank you in advance for helping us. at least investigate what it means to become an endurance partner.
Go to rtwoffer.com. Of course, rtwoffer is indeed all one word. rtwoffer.com. When you're there, click on the Endurance Partner button. You can write to us at RunningToWin 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614.
Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago to help you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. In times of persecution, believers have had to make tough choices about whether to obey God or man.
Next time I'm running to win.
Some tough times are beginning in the early church. Join us as we find that when God is first, he owns our allegiances. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
