Brethren, do not be
children in understanding;
however, in malice be
babes,
but in understanding
be mature.
In the law 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 tongues are
for a sign,
not to those who
believe but to unbelievers,
but prophesying is
not for unbelievers but
for those who
believe.
1 Corinthians 14: 20
-- 22
(Psalm 131:2; Isaiah
28: 11 -- 12)
It makes
one to wonder, how a doctrine whereby people are speaking in some sort of
"angelic" or "gibberish" sounds that are not
understandable, are to be accepted as that which God desires for His children
to exercise. Especially when Paul
clearly tells that to have the ability to speak in an unlearned language is not
for the edification of believers, rather, this was able to tell the Gospel to
unbelievers. To be able to speak in a
language that you did not study or to learn is simply a sign. This sign is to unbelievers, to not only
as hearers of the Gospel, but to know that God had established His New Covenant
and now that New Covenant applied to the Gentiles as well as to the
Israelites. There was the need for the gift to be
able to speak the words of God before His word had been established in the church,
that which we call the New Testament, along with the Old Testament, and was to aid
believers in their understanding of their position with God the true
God. Many people saw Jesus performed
great miraculous signs, and yet they did not come to believe in Him. This was foretold that people would see and
hear the Gospel and yet they would not believe. Does this mean that we do nothing? No! We spread the gospel
and understand that there are those who are called by God and have been given
the faith to believe by Him. Who are
they? We do not know! We simply are the messengers of Jesus
Christ's and we tell all, every one we can, the Gospel and allow God to draw His children to Himself. Sometimes
there are those who are so caught up in the signs and gifts that they have
forgotten that man ought to give his principal attention, to the dignity of his
creation and the excellence of his reformation. The dignity of his creation that he may fear to sin; the
excellence of his redemption, that he may not be ungrateful for redeeming
grace. For by the will of the Creator
alone was man lifted from the low state of Earth and uplifted to God's
image and was given the privilege of reason.
I am not here talking about rationalization, I am talking about the
ability to think upon the word of God and allow your reason to help you to
understand what God has revealed. Man
lost his dignity when Adam's sin, when Adam, and were seduced by Satan
himself and departed from the teaching of their creator and this by their own pride. Is pride keeping you from seeing what God
has revealed in His word in regards to the exercise of gifts? Man fell from the highest exultation in this
by his own will, and was condemned to the lowest degradation. Adam, in all its progeny thereafter, fall by
their own act as did Adam and Eve. Adam fell by his own act not because sin was in
him or corruption was in him but that he had the ability to choose. Adam's choice should have been to remain faithful to the
God who created him. This he did not do. Man today has the
same need and that is to exercise of faith that God has given him or her for if
God did not give faith to someone they would not have the ability to rise above
this degradation. That which fell by
the foot of arrogance must rise by the foot of obedience. To what, and to whom, are you giving the
highest exultation? Is it to your
spouse, is it to your children, is it to your church, is that by those things
that you believe are special gifts or some special secret revelation
in your mind? It is good to hold your spouse
and your children and your church, even those things that you are able to do to
spread the gospel in a high exultation.
None of that has the highest exultation for that alone belongs to God
and this by redeeming grace and your conversion to Jesus Christ who is
your Redeemer. We read in the Bible
where there were those who needed to have their humility cured for had been
corrupted by pride for they wanted to stimulate their godliness by showing that
they were fasting therefore men would see them in the light that they wish to
be seen. Jesus made mention to us that even if we are giving money to the church that we should do without
being seen, even every mercy that we do should not be done so that we are
exalted. This would be true of any gift
of the Spirit that you may have for we should not be hunting for the praises of
men rather with zeal for eternal life.
There are
some who teach and have a doctrine that man can lose their salvation. The Bible does not teach that and in time I
will address that particular subject.
Until then I will leave you with this, whoever God has chosen, and this He did before the foundation of the world, that person will always be held in
the hand of God for God has given to him eternal life that can never be taken
away from him, or you. This is our God
who is not subject to change and we can hold fast to His promises. We need not to do things that are not
according to Scripture we simply need to live the life God has allowed us to
have and to do so as we become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus
Christ. And this we can do as we study
His word and apply that in our daily lives.
Praise God for He has given us the Paraclete, the one who comes along
side and will lead us if we allow Him to do so. I pray this is true of you!
But now, O LORD,
You are our
Father;
we are the clay, and You our potter;
and all we
are the work of Your hand.
Do not be furious, O LORD, nor remember
iniquity
forever; indeed, please look -- --
we all are Your people.
Isaiah
64: 8 -- 9
You are a servant of God
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