A Discussion on Tongues

A Biblical Study of the Gift of Tongues

*It is my sincere hope in publishing this study that I have undertaken does not cause further division and divisiveness, but rather that it would build bridges. Building bridges, especially in the area of tongues, between the camps that believe the gifts are for today (continuationalists) and those that believe the gifts have ceased (cecessionists). I am attempting to do so by not requiring that either side compromise their belief systems in order to come to this common ground necessarily, but rather for them to have the ability to look at the evidence through the eyes of Scripture and concede that this third option is more than plausible.

For the nearly 2,000 years Christianity has been in existence, there may have been just as many heresies over that same period of time. From the few heretical groups mentioned in the New Testament; The Judaizers (Galatians, I Timothy), Gnosticism (I Timothy) False Asceticism (I Timothy) and the practice of the Nicolaitans (Revelation) all the way to the Latter Rain and Word of Faith movements of the past century, true Christianity, unadulterated by man, has constantly been under attack by the schemes of the devil. One has to look no further than the Church in Rome to see a majority of these heresies that are still followed today.

How we go about determining true Christianity, true Christian doctrine, from it's false variants is to follow some simple guidelines for dividing the Word rightly as each of us are called to do. One guideline is that we are never to base our teachings or theology on a single verse or a single section of verses without examining it in the light of the rest of Scripture. One of the false tenants of Mormonism does this with the 'Baptism of the Dead' from a single verse of Scripture; I Corinthians 15:29 (Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?). What is Paul talking about here, really? I cannot say for certain, but when you start looking at other verses like Hebrews 9:27 (Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment ), or Paul's longing in II Corinthians 5: 6-8 (Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ), which only happens after you have made a profession of faith while still alive on this earth as it says in Romans 10: 9-10 (That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.), or if that doesn't do it for you, Jesus' story of 'Lazarus and the Rich Man' (Luke 16: 19-31), it doesn't seem possible that he means you can help the dead in the afterlife.

This then leads us into another guideline, that being that it should always be paramount that we are to let Scripture interpret Scripture, being sure to see it in its proper context, both in the structure and application of the words. Finally, the guideline of the 'Primacy of First Mention', which is when something is mentioned in the Bible for the first time based on its position on a timeline (not where it appears in the order of the books), it then becomes the measure, the plumbline that all other related Scripture is judged.

As I mentioned earlier, of the plethora of heresies that have been around since the foundation of the Church, the majority of them come from Roman Catholicism, however a good portion of them have been spawned out of the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement during the past century. Some so extreme that they believe that you must speak in tongues/pray in tongues in order to be SAVED as the United Pentecostals do. Do I believe that the issue that divides the cecessionists from the continuationalists is this extreme? No, I do not. However, cecessionists who believe that the gifts are not for today are going AGAINST the plain teachings of Scripture in I Corinthians 13 and can be put into the camp that Paul warns us against in II Timothy 3:5 (having a form of godliness but denying its power.) Likewise continuationalists who do not look at the history of paganism in Corinth (the context of Paul's writings) that do not see the 'other tongue' he is speaking of as that of ecstatic speech pagans were known to be using for over 200 years before the birth of Christ (call them immature in I Corinthians 14:20), as going against countless references in the Old Testament of God's fury being cast upon His people for mixing paganism into the worship in Israel, could be provoking God's wrath upon themselves in much the same way as one who denies His power.

Whereas the cecessionist must be a gold medalist in mental gymnastics to fit there theology into the text pertaining to the 'Gifts of the Holy Spirit', the tendency for the Pentecostal/Charismatic is just to pre-suppose their beliefs into the text that, in reality, just are not there.

A quote from a Classic Pentecostal on a discussion board I am a part of bears this out:

"I would have to say that for any congregation where the people already knew how to pray in their native tongue and to pray in the Spirit it would simply be restating the obvious.

The Corinthians and every other congregation that ever encountered Apostolic authority which includes those who were sent to them under the authority of an Apostle, would undoubtedly understand the things of the Spirit and praying in the Spirit would (should) be a normal every day experience; obviously this understanding would vary in its consistency as we have seen with Corinth and with many of the Galatian churches it seems that Paul had to correct their apparent slide into what we would now call cessationism."

You see, it's not in the text because it was common in all of the churches, because it just happened, even though it is not mentioned positively in Scripture anywhere!

Now in order to examine this subject I had to ask two main questions that would sufficiently address the issue at hand. First, Is there such a thing as a self-edifying 'gift' from the Holy Spirit?

Answer: NO.

How I came to this conclusion is completely based on the Word.

I Corinthians 12:7 (New International Version)

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Ephesians 4:12 (New International Version)

to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

1 Corinthians 14:26c (Amplified Bible)

[But] let everything be constructive and edifying and for the good of all.

I have yet to find a verse of Scripture to support the position that goes contrary to the above verses, there just is no support for any of the 'Gifts of the Holy Spirit', when being used properly, that are self-edifying.

Secondly, is having a 'private prayer language' or 'praying in tongues'/'praying in the spirit' Biblical? To this I would say it is both yes and no. The first mistake we make is that we lump these phrases together as if they are one in the same, but based on Scripture, they are not. The second mistake we make is that we put the emphasis wrongly on whose 'private prayer language' it is, and who is really 'praying in tongues'. In short, the last two mentioned is actually what I like to call, 'Trinitarian Communication'!

To arrive at this conclusion I broke down the discussion into two categories, one on tongues and the other on the spirits, in which setting a 'Primacy of First Mention' verse or verses came to aid in establishing a proper plumbline to separate truth from error in both instances.

First we will examine the use of tongues. The most obvious verse to use at the 'first mention' is Acts 2:4; the speaking in other tongues at Pentecost. Jesus, like the prophet Joel before him, not only prophesied about the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14: 16-17; 15:26; 16: 7-8; Luke 24:49; Acts 1: 4,5,8), but also what would happen when He did come to Jesus' disciples (Mark 16:17). In most English translations, this prophetic verse is cross-referenced with Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6, and I Corinthians 12:10, 28, and 30.

So let us look at the primacy verse; "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." We get three points from this plumbline verse:

1) The person speaking had to be Baptized in the Holy Spirit.

2) The 'other' tongues were real languages of the known world.

3) It was the Holy Spirit who gave the gift as He determined. (I Corinthians 12:11)

All other references to 'tongues' must be able to match this standard.

Automatically we can include the aforementioned cross-referenced verses from Jesus' prophecy in Mark 16:17. We then look to those verses for any further references and in the NIV with Acts 2:4, we come up with verse 11 as well. In the NKJV we also find I Corinthians 13:1 as a direct cross-reference, and from there it cross-references with I Corinthians 14:1, 39.

While the NIV did not cross-reference Acts 2:4 with I Corinthians 13:1, the NKJV did, and in doing so actually raised the bar by comparing it directly to the plumbline. With this we must interpret this verse as men and angels having the same language, and Scripture bears this out. Time and time again, from Abraham and Lot's conversations with angels (Genesis 18, 19) to the conversations the Apostle John had with angelic beings recorded in Revelation (more than 20 times!), ALL were conducted in the person's native tongue. So based on the plethora of verses that time and time again showing angels speaking with humans in the tongue of humans, there is no support for angels having a distinctly different language. Paul, being a learned man of the Scriptures knew this and if there was a distinction to be made he would have used 'or' instead of 'and' ("If I speak in the tongues of men OR angels..."), but alas, he did not.

There are, however, a couple of caveats to consider. First, if angels did have a different language, but yet could converse with humans in each every one's native tongue, their language would logically have to be a root language (like Latin is to Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc.) that ALL languages were based on. In I Corinthians 13:8, it speaks of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge all coming to an end, as verse 10 explains; "But when the perfect comes, the imperfect disappears". This does not mean we will not communicate, but rather in a more 'perfect' way; say, the same way it was in the 'perfect' Garden of Eden, it will be again when all is restored. What some call the 'Adamic' language that was spoken on earth up to the 'Tower of Babel' (Genesis 11) will be once more. There is no reason to think that if angels were speaking that language then, that they would have had any reason to cease from using it themselves. This also puts to rest the belief (if our private prayer language is an angelic language) that the devil and his minnons could not understand it, they ALL understood the 'Adamic' language, after all, his minnons were angels themselves once, and it was Satan who decieved Eve.

The second caveat to consider is that Paul may have been simply speaking in hyperbole and nothing more. On two other occassions in this same letter he does just that. Some would look to Paul's statement in I Corinthians 14:5; "I would like every one of you to speak in tongues..." as an indication of the importance of tongues to Paul, but to that tact on this verse you would also have to equally thin it as important that everyone remain single!

1 Corinthians 7:7a (New International Version)

I wish that all men were as I am.

So as the verse about angels is more than likely hyperbole, so too are these passages.

Likewise the passages in I Corinthians 14 that are indirectly cross-referenced with Acts 2:4 are held to the standard of the tongues being real languages, it is not surprising that most verses are not cross-referenced, because Paul is speaking of something different here. He uses two forms of the word in this chapter and nowhere else in his writings. He seems to be distinguishing between real (plural) and unknown languages (singular), giving credence to the likes of John MacCarthur who believe he is speaking of gibberish, a hold-over from the pagan days of the Corinthian believers lives; estatic speech that pre-date Christ by nearly 200 years or more. This is further bolstered by the sometimes overly descriptive Amplified Version using the word [strange] at times were most other translations us the singular.

Even if Paul was not referring to the historicity of the Corithian culture, he is consistently hammering the point home to the reader that this type of tongue is not edifying (vv. 2, 4-6, 13, 17, 19) and therefore is wrong or wrongly applied in the assembly because earlier in this letter he explained what the 'gifts' are to be used for, "for the common good." (I Corinthians 12:7) The Amplified Version's reading of Chapter 14, verse 26 gives further credence that he is being corrective with this portion of the letter; "What then brethren is [the right course]? He answers his own question in the final sentence of the verse; "[but] let EVERTHING be constructive and edifying and for the good of all." His most stinging rebuke of this practice in the Corinthian Church comes in verses 9 and 10.

I Corinthians 14:9-10 (New International Version)

So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.

Some would say that Paul practiced this himself, so how couold he then be speaking against it. All the more since Paul KNEW the 'right way', and if there were those who were doing it the 'right way' along with those who were stuck in their paganism, both were wrong for doing it in the assembly without interpretation! However the verses most often quoted as proof Paul had this 'private prayer language' comes from verses 14 and 15. But Paul in verse 14 is no acknowledging this, rather he is making a hypothetical statement. How can I be sure? Well, he follows this immediately with a question on what to do about it. If verse 14 was not problematical for him, why would he need to ask a question that seeks a remedy? (v. 15a) It is the second half of the verse that gives us his answer on how he would pray, not in a tongue, but in his spirit and his mind (v.15b), which is exactly opposite to the ecstatic speech of pagan worship, full of mindless chatter.

Let us not forget that Paul drives the point home that he speaks in tongues more than anyone (v.18), but would rather instruct others with intelligible words than do that (v.19), and immediately calls on his Corithinan brothers to stop acting like children! (v.20) If a 'private prayer language' is what is being referred to here, Paul is certainly not looking at it in a positive light by referring to those who use it as immature! Looking back to Paul's example of how he would do it ("I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind"), he gives us a perfect jumping off point to now look at the second part of this, 'praying in the spirit'.

...more to come, and here it is...

In New Testament times, the first mention of this concept seems to be rendered by Jesus in His conversation with the woman at the well (John 4: 1-26). Jesus tells the Samaritan;

John 4:23-24 (New International Version)

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Is this referring to a 'private prayer language'? In order to answer this question we must also look at what has to be considered the plumbline for prayer in the New Testament; how Jesus taught His disciples to pray.

Matthew 6:5-15 (New International Version)

Prayer

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Luke 11:1-13 (New International Version)

Jesus' Teaching on Prayer

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' "

Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Nothing here about using a different language. Bibles printed in Greek, use Greek words in these passages. English Bibles, English words, Spanish Bibles, Spanish words (I checked, I own all three!). So then what is worshiping or praying in spirit and truth? I believe Jesus answered this question in the very next verse.

"God is Spirit", said Jesus. Unlike the gods of the pagans that are idols that are prayed to; the One True God is spirit, so mwe must pray to Him in the same way. Not to statues that suppose His likeness, but to Him who is spirit and unseen by man (John 1:18; 6:46). Just as well you do not have to go to a particular place in a particular city to pray to Him (The Samaritan woman said, "You Jews claim we must worship in Jerusalem"), but rather in spirit it can be done anywhere, at anytime, in anyway, and Jesus' preference eas for us to be alone and in secret (Matthew 6:6).

Taking another look at I Corinthians 14:2, certainly sounds like it could be speaking of a 'private prayer language', but this is a bit problematical when compared to the plumbline established by Jesus. However the NIV gives us a clue to this mystery as it shows an alternate way of translating the second sentence of verse 2:

I Corinthians 14:2 (New International Version)

For anyone who speaks in a tongue^{a]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries ...^b]"

^{b.Or by the Spirit}

This alternate is also included in the Amplified Version;

I Corinthians 14:2 (Amplified Bible)

For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].

Now we are getting somewhere!

This alternate translation causes this verse to be a better fit with already cross-referenced verses in Romans 8:23, 26-27, as well as I Corinthians 2: 10-16. Even closer to the plumbline of John 4: 23-24 is another cross-referenced verse to these;

Ephesians 6:17-18 (New International Version)

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Praying in spirit and in truth could not be much clearer here.

So praying in the spirit is quite Biblical when understood in its proper context, yet that is still not quite what is going on in Chapter 14. As I mentioned earlier, I am sure there were believers in Corinth who were 'doing it the right way' compared with others that were still allowing themselves to be swept up in gibberish that was a hold over from their pre-Christian days, so yes a 'private prayer language' may be partially in view here, but it is not our own. It is when we try to make it ours that we (and the Corinth believers then) go wrong. How is that? The answer can best be explained by Scripture in Romans 8. From these verses it will become clear whose 'private prayer language' we are talking about.

First look to verse 11, it is God's Spirit that lives in us. Verse 16 tells us that God's Spirit communicates with our spirit. Verse 23 tells us that our spirit 'groans inwardly' as we wait for the fullness to come (and to whom does it groan inwardly?). Finally verse 26 shows us how the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us with 'groans (to the Father) that words cannot express'.

So our spirit communicates to the Holy Spirit (groaning inwardly) so when we don't know what to pray for in our spirit ot God, the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father and Son with groans in a language we do not understand! This is best examplified in the Amplified Versions rendition of the second half of I Corinthians 14:2;

For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].

Now apply this to those difficult verses of Chapter 14. Verse 2 properly understood is that sometimes these 'groans' are verbalized in an unintelligible language (I have heard this many, many times with my own ears from others, and I prefer to believe that it is sincere and not gibberish), it is an audible version of the 'private prayer language' within the Godhead; Trinitarian Communication!

Verse 4; when this happens, is it self-edifying? You bet! I remember the first time it happened to me, I felt like I was still in control of my body but yet something was coming out of me that I was not producing, and I was thinking, 'WOW! This is so cool!'

Paul says in verse 13 that you should pray for an interpretation because only the Godhead would know what is being said, and no man with the gift of interpretation (of real languages) would be able to do so. That is why Paul makes a hypothetical statement in verse 14, because he knows it is either the Holy Spirit who is communicating or is some pagan gibberish, so when he is praying he prays as he explains in verse 15.

With this, a word of caution comes from what can be drawn out of verse 17; "You may be giving thanks well enough..." The implication is that you may not be as well. If you feel in control of your body when this is happening, it will be the Holy Spirit, remembering that God is a God of order, not confusion (I Corinthians 14:33), and you can be assurred that this is positive communication. However, if you feel as if your body has been 'taken over', beware, it may not be of God and therefore could be cursing instead of blessing.

Finally, seeing this in the proper light of Trinitarian Communication, if it begins to happen in the assembly and no interpretation follows, you must keep quiet and speak to God in silence (I Corinthians 14:28). I am sure there were cases in Corinth as there are today where people attempt to manifest these things outwardly in their own effort, and this verse is designed to keep those in check. If it is truly the Holy Spirit, He would not communicate with the Father and Son in a manner that goes against His Word, because again as verse 33 states;

I Corinthians 14:33a (New International Version)

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

May the peace of the Lord be with you on this day,

Bondservant

Blessed are the Poor...

In the world today their are many half truths that people live by, and the world of religion is no different. I was recently asked to give the message at the 'Bread of Heaven' ministry's outreach in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a group of societies down-trodden, forgotten and left behind. It was truly a blessed event for all involved, here was the small part that I played thanks to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. May you who read this be blessed as well.



First of all, I would like to give a general thanks the volunteers from the Huntington Chapel who have given of their time tonight, as they do every third Saturday night of the month. Specifically though to Bob and Lindy for their service in running this ministry for the past couple of years. Not just here, but also at the Chapel they have been a welcome addition.



Though he is not with us tonight, I would like to give special thanks to Bob Bergers for following through on what God put 'on his heart' regarding the Chapel's involvement here and elsewhere outside the four walls of our cozy little corner of Shelton, Connecticut.



But mostly, I would like to thank those who have come to receive the ministry offered here. If you have been here more than once, you know that this outreach is a little different than most here in the City of Bridgeport, because you get blessed by receiving the Word of God. While the clothing is important, as is the food, both what is served and given away, it is the spiritual food of God that is the most important thing that you receive, because only with it can you ever hope to receive eternal life. Not only that, but you are a blessing to us, for giving us the opportunity to serve you. Because in doing so, we serve and grow closer to our God.



Give thanks to God for using Pastor Dave to found this ministry more than 18 years ago. It has not only grown in size and it's ability to serve, but unfortunately, has grown more and more unique as the years have gone by. It is the Word of God that marks as different, this ministry from the others throughout the Bridgeport region, both secular and religious alike. Those that fly the flag of religion leave out the essence of what they are supposed to represent. As if somehow having the ministry in the basement of the church, or a building attached to it, fulfills their obligation to Whom they ultimately serve.



Though it was the Pharisees that Jesus was speaking of when in the Gospel of Matthew he quoted Isaiah 29:13, it may as well have been spoke to these very same religious institutions today!



Matthew 15: 7-9a (NKJV)



Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth,

And honor Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

And in vain they worship Me,



We are to feed the hungry and cloth the naked, but if we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ we must obey the 'Great Commission' as well...



Matthew 28: 18-20 (NKJV)



And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”



Mark 16: 15-16 (NKJV)



And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."



It is that very last part of verse 16, 'he who does not believe will be condemned', THAT is our motivation to seek and save that which is lost.



My full time employment for the past 15 years has been as a chauffeur for a couple of limousine companies here in Fairfield County, and my travels have brought me throughout the northeast. From Boston all the way down to Philadelphia and then some, and of course including many, many times, countless times to New York City. In that time I have met many who are in similar circumstances to those here tonight. At the very least I am sure to find out how their walk with God is going, and again, at the very least leaving them with a Bible trac. When I have had the opportunity and the means to do more, I have, but I am careful of what my Saviour taught me in his Sermon on the Mount, found in the very beginning of Chapter 6...



Matthew 6: 1-4 (NKJV)



Matthew 6


Charitable Deeds



“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."



Besides, what I do is nothing special, it should be expected of someone who claims to be a Christian, and if you run into someone who claims this but is not charitable, or is making sure all who are around can clearly see how charitable he or she is being, call them out on it, rebuke them! If they are truly a Christian, they will listen and take heed to the rebuke, if they brush you off, then they have greater problems than not being charitable to you and you should pray for them. This is how Christ tells us we should be as a Christian, from his teaching of the disciples in this passage of the Gospel of Luke...



Luke 17: 7-10 (NKJV)



And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’



So we are all to be like 'The Good Samaritan' that Jesus speaks of in Luke Chapter 10...



Luke 10: 30b-37 (NKJV)



“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”



When Lindy had asked me to give the message tonight, I was musing about what things would be like when we got to heaven, more specifically, the different paths that our lives took, how many wrong turns we made on the road of life before we got right with God. I believe part of having perfect knowledge when we are there, will be that we will know what are life would have been like if we had taken the right road at 16, 18, 25, or even 40. For me it wasn't until just after my 41st birthday that I began to walk on the narrow road that leads to eternal life. But that is a conversation intended to be had amongst the brethren; fellow believers. And just like Jude wrote in his Epistle, that he wanted to speak of the common salvation of the saints, but rather he had to implore them to contend for the faith against false beliefs and false teachers.



And so it goes tonight, I must first address the big myth I have heard, in one way or another, from some of the down-trodden along the way. It goes something like this; since the Bible says that it is hard for the rich to go to heaven, and because I am poor in every way, I must be getting a free pass!



Now that statement has a lot of truth in it for sure, but as it is it is like many false beliefs, a whole lotta truth with a little falsehood weaved in between. It is the essence of what the devil does to Scripture through his false teachers. Let's look at it in two parts, first...



The Bible says that it's hard for the rich to go to heaven...



True. Yes, the Bible does mention that it will be difficult for those well-off to find heaven in the hereafter, but why??? If it were simply because they were rich on earth, then there might be some merit in thinking the opposite was true. But as always, we must go to the Scriptures to find the truth, truth with a capital T...



It is from the story of the 'Rich Young Ruler' where the most famous quote about the rich appears, and it appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, but we will only be taking a look at the story from the Gospel of Mark...



Mark 10: 17-25 (NKJV)



Now as He (Jesus) was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”



The problem is not that he is rich, but rather that he puts his wealth in front of everything else. It is when the rich have money as their god, their false idol, is when their riches are a problem and a hindrance to heaven.

Others who knew their Bible would point to the story of 'Lazarus and The Rich Man', and at first glance you might get the impression that indeed the poor do get a free pass to heaven.

Luke 16: 19-31

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

As you can see, the focus here is not on Lazarus but the Rich Man and the evil done towards the poor beggar, and how if he had known the Scriptures as he'd ought to of, he would have taken care of him.

Once more others referred to Jesus speaking of the poor, the hungry, the sick and the persecuted gaining their reward in heaven. Really? Lets go to the Gospel of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount once again, Chapter 5. We will read verses 6, 10, and finish with 3...

Matthew 5: 6, 10, 3

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst... for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Blessed are those who are persecuted... for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the poor... in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So what is 'poor in spirit' exactly? It is the opposite of self-sufficiency. It speaks of the deep humility of recognizing one's utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from God. It describes those who are acutely conscious of their own lostness and hopelessness apart from divine grace. Jesus was teaching that the kingdom is a gracious gift to those who sense their own poverty of spirit.

I'll let you in on a little secret... that thing about the 'free pass'; it's true! But we all have the opportunity both great and small, rich and poor, to receive this free pass. The most commonly referred to verses in the Bible describing the Christian Doctrine on Salvation is found in Ephesians 2: 8-9, but to get the richness of this verse, I will begin reading at verse 4.

Ephesians 2: 4-9

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

How do we receive this gift? It's as easy as A, B, C!

A) Acknowledge that you are a sinner. The Bible tells us that we all are. Romans 3:23 says, 'for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...' When Jesus hung upon the cross and uttered the statement, "It is finished!" He meant for all sin, for all time. Through one man, Adam, sin came into the world, and through one man, the God-man, Christ Jesus, sin was abolished.

B) Believe that Christ died for your sins. That through his death on the cross, his blood shed has the ability to was you clean.

C) Confess Him as Lord and Saviour. Not simply that He is your Saviour, but the He is also Lord of your life! And how ever he wants to use you once you have come to him, you must follow whereever he leads you. He will take you as you are, where you are, and he just might leave you there to minister to others. This past Tuesday I met a man, we will call him, 'Andrew the Sax player', and he was saved more than ten years ago. He was a drug-addicted, alcholic-dependent, homeless, jobless living between homeless shelters and the streets of New York City. Today he spends his days playing his sax for money on the streets, and what ever he doesn't need for the day he gives away to someone who is more in need than he, and oh, by the way, he is still homeless. God has called him to minister to those still where he was, and the best way to do it is to be there. As he told me, a white boy from the suburbs is not going to have credibility with some of those like he can.

So are you ready? It can be done, here and now, for today is the day of salvation, are you ready to make that commitment? If so, you don't have to wait to go to church tommorow, you don't need to tell it to a priest. For Jesus Christ is your sole intercessor, your High Priest. call out to Him, confess your sins and repent of them. Turn from them and turn to Jesus. Don't just believe in Him, put your trust in Him, like you would a parachute. You don't simply believe that the parachute will work, you put it on! So put on the Lord Jesus, and he will make you anew; a new creature in Christ, impueding His rightousness to you, crediting your account so to speak before God. So on the day of judgment you will be found blameless, not because you are a good person, or because you have been among the down-trodden of society, but because Jesus paid your fine upon the Cross at Calvary. And if public confessions is not your thing, go home, read your Bible, make Psalm 51 your personal prayer of repentence, and after you have repented, make Psalm 103 your personal prayer of praise for His great riches of mercy. If you are ready to recieve Him, the time is now, come forward and let us pray for you, and pray with you.