The LORD rewarded
me according to my righteousness;
according to the
cleanness of my hands
He has a recompensed
me.
For I have kept the
ways of the LORD,
and have not acted
wickedly departed from my God.
For all His judgments
were before me,
and I did not put
away His statutes from me.
Psalm 18:20 -- 22
Is this not
something we desire: righteousness and cleanness of hands, and the keeping of
the ways of the LORD, and not departing from God and acting wickedly? Is it not true that as authentic Christians
we want His statutes to lead and guide our life? This is why we are taking time to follow His command to test all
things and hold fast to that which is good and not allow for things to be said
or done that are not in accordance with the will of God. The will of God outlined completely for our
lives in His word. Isaiah aptly points
out this very major fact: "You are
My witnesses," says the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you
may know and believe Me. "And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God form, nor shall
there be after Me. I, even I, and the
LORD, and besides Me there is no savior, I have declared and saved, I have
proclaimed, and there was no foreign God among you; therefore you are My
witnesses," says the LORD, "that I am God" (Isaiah 43:10 -- 12). We are the witnesses and ambassadors for
God, the only God of the universe and is the ruler of this universe and all
other gods are man-made to fit a person(s) ideology or theology. God chose His children: it is not the other
way around that we chose Him, even though with the faith given to us we must
make a decision to convert to Him, deny ourselves and pick up our cross and
follow Him and this we can do because God chose His children. As a child of God then we want to depart
from any form of wickedness and keep all his judgments in statutes before
us. It often means that we must make
some very difficult and tough decisions even those decisions that may make
others infuriated, or even just simply mad because we are not doing what we had
been doing previously and this change came because of the Word of God and our
study of it. This we are doing and I
pray and hope with all my heart that you will look into His word and carefully
examine your beliefs and what He has revealed. A
Bible-believing Christian must settle the fact that the final authority for
God's creation is what God Himself says in His Word.
If there
was one disagreement or contentions among Christians, it is this: speaking in
tongues. If there is one earmark among
the charismatic and Pentecostal groups it is "speaking in
tongues." The question is: does
God have to speak in "tongues" or, in such language that is not
understandable? Those Christians who
believe in the gift of speaking in "tongues," refer back to the day
of Pentecost when some 120 men were in the upper room where the Holy Spirit
came upon them and the beginning of the new covenant and the church began and
say that what occurred there is what is occurring in our day. Is this true? We will look at Scripture and find out what Scripture actually
reveals. Those who believe in the
"charisma," the Greek word for gifts, believe that both the
miraculous gifts are important for Christians today and the gift of
"speaking in tongues" is considered to be the most important gift and
people are taught that Christians are to exercise this gift.
Sometimes
the Greek word used for tongues, "γλώσσα" is used for the physical
tongue, or metaphorically as in acts chapter 2:3 where the plural is speaking
of tongues as of fire and we know that the flames of fire are often called
tongues of fire. In Acts 2:4, tongues,
or languages is spoken of in this verse.
The Holy Spirit filled them, and they began to speak with other tongues
as the Spirit gave. Therefore, the
question is, was it some sort of unintelligible angelic sound or language that
these men uttered who had been given this ability, and it seemed as though not
all had that ability for only the Holy Spirit gave to them to whomever He chose
to give. Now, the use of this Greek
word, "γλώσσα" always refers in the Bible to a language, and for our
reference we have good examples in, Acts 2:11 and Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 10:11;
11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15. In Revelation 9:11. God works miracles and this He did on this day by giving them
the ability to preach the gospel in a language to those who had come from
various countries and spoke another language, to speak in a language that they
had not learned. We find that many of
the Jews, some 16 other areas of the world, had come to Jerusalem for the
Passover and Pentecost now could hear the gospel in their own language and
many, some 3000 people were saved and this was the beginning of the great church
of God there in Jerusalem. The Bible is
clear that those men heard the gospel in their own dialect, "διλέκτω"
"But having arisen the ruler of this, came together the multitude
and work unfounded, because each one heard in his own language speaking
them. And all were amazed and wondered
saying to one another, behold, are not all those which speak Galileans? And how here we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born" (Acts 2: 8)?
This ability to speak in a dialect, or language that they had not learned
was a temporary sign: "For Jews
request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;" "in the law it is
written: "With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this
people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear Me," says the Lord. Therefore times are for a sign, not to those
who believe but true unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but
for those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1: 22; 14: 21 -- 22). The New Testament had yet to be written
therefore it was necessary to have this ability to speak the gospel in
languages that people could understand, both languages in their tongues. We must remember that this gift was a gift
from God to meet His economy and dispensation.
There is
much more to discuss about this very important doctrine in regards to the
speaking in tongues and I will continue this in tomorrow's blog.
In the way of righteousness
is life,
and in his pathway there
is no death.
Proverbs
12: 28
Do not strive for temporal things
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