Intro.
A. Want to talk about language. I Work with people struggling to learn English
1. Key to getting ahead economically, socially.
2. So many complications to life when you don’t speak the language. Language is key
B. We lived in Eastern Nigeria in the late 1950's. The Efik language was spoken in the area where we lived.
1. Mother was talking here to some Nigerian brethren (Essiets) from Eastern region that speak Efik.
2. An elderly mother was present, watching but not understanding
a. I sympathize, been in Germany, Switzerland, all brethren talking laughing. I understood nothing
3. Mother said, I do remember one phrase in Efik – Mesierro - "Good day."
a. When mother said that, the elderly Nigerian came alive
b. approached mother and took her hand and said, "Mesierro"
4. What had happened? In the middle of all the blah, blah, blah She heard her language!
C. God has a spiritual language
1. 1 Corinthians 2:13, 14 "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
2. Who is the "natural man" who doesn’t understand?
a. Calvinist position – man who hasn’t received direct operation of the Spirit.
b. I believe it is simply talking of those who don’t understand God’s language because they don’t want to
3. What is included in God’s spiritual language?
a. language that deals with God, salvation, eternal life, redemption, fellowship, light of the world, spiritual, love
b. "advanced language" – propitiation, predestination, Melchizedek, Ammonites
4. Different levels in the spiritual language - children, adolescents, adults -vocabulary words
a. Should advance.
b. Hebrew Christians should have understood deeper spiritual language
c. Writer wanted to talk to them about Melchizedek, Knew wouldn’t understand!
d. chided them – Hebrews 5:10 – 14 you still need milk, spiritual baby food, You should understand this more advanced language
5. What happens when you speak God’s spiritual language to the natural man, natural woman?
a. salvation, eternal life, holiness
i. they become bored disinterested, don’t understand, don’t want to understand
ii. They would rather talk about money, entertainment."
b. That’s the way I am when listening to doctors, engineers
i. Greg Nelson – doctorate in chemistry. I his dissertation. Tried to read it. Like trying to read Greek
6. Why don’t people of the world understand? They don’t want to!
Acts 28:26, 27 `Go to this people and say: "Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them."'
7. Why not? Don’t want to, doesn’t interest them/
a. Some who think they do, don’t.
8. But there is good ground – when they hear God’s language, their ears perk up, they're interested. Just like Nigerian.
I. What language does?
A. Reveals where we’re from physically
1. Peter (Mark 14:70) "Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it."
2. They had accents even then. I can sympathize with Peter
3. Same is true today
a. When I open my mouth, everyone knows I’m not from here. Beverly
b. When people say the following, we automatically know something about them
i. "You lika the housa, we talk about the priza"
ii. "Hey, what am I crazy" "What ah ya, some kinda wize guy?
iii. "I reckon that rascal aint figured it out yet."
3. Our speech tells a whole lot about us!.
B. Our speech not only tells a lot about us physically, but spiritually. Where we’re from
1. Worldly people – speech reveals it. Profanity, crudeness, vulgarity
a. If Christians allow their speech to become affected this way, there’s no way they can later claim to be Christians
b. told my girls, that one bad word, will destroy their reputation
c. Be like me saying, "I’m from Boston, I’m from Australia.
2. Materialists – always talking about money, how to make more of it
a. Upper class - stock market, lower class – lottery, Atlantic city
b. dominates conversation
3. Religious sectarians (those who trust human authorities in religion)
a. "My church teaches..." "My preacher says..." My pastor says..."
b. What does this type of language indicate? – someone is looking to human authority
4. Followers of Christ
a. "God says," "the scriptures say," " Christ wants us to do this."
b. Other – "God bless you," "God be with you.
C. Helps us distinguish who is really from God and who is from man
1. I like to listen to radio on Sunday morning when driving in Alabama, Tennessee – Preachers
a. In about a minute or two, you can usually get a pretty good idea of where someone is from spiritually.
2. Christians use Bible terminology
--a. phrases from N.T. Christians that you seldom here from religions of men
- - "obey the gospel," "obey, --"authority," --"From God or man?" "baptism for remission of sins "
b. 1 Peter 4: 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.
--3. Preachers who follow evangelical traditions more than Bible have their language:
a. Tjhere is less Bible quotation, more testimonies, sad stories Jimmy Swaggert
b. They quote scattered Bible verses, but Bible isn’t focal point
c. Tthings you hear from them
--i. "God doesn’t want you to be poor, he wants you to be rich."
* "For every $100 you give, God will give you back $700."
--ii. "Accept Christ as personal savior"
* Not in Bible, might be true if put certain interpretation on it.
** Used to avoid Bible terms, "obey the gospel", "repent and be baptized"
*** Most popular evangelical expression not in Bible
--iii. "the Lord put on my heart" – reflects idea of inner ilumnation – avoid Bible
--iiii. language of social gospel – "parties, Christmas shows, etc.
__ iiiii. Emphasis on subjective testimonials – another way to avoid word of God
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4. When you can’t speak a certain language, it says you’re not from God –
a. Physically, if you can’t say certain things you’re not from that country – Germans "Whisky"
i. Americans have a hard time with this common last name, "Echavarria."
b. Bible – Judges 12:5
The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No,"
6 then they would say to him, "Then say, `Shibboleth'!" And he would say, "Sibboleth," for he
could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan.
There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.
5. Spiritual language that those who do not teach the truth cannot us. It would contradict their error.
a. "obey the gospel, --authority, --"from God or from man"
b. "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved" Mark 16:16
i. Preacher on the street in Paterson, Said, "He that believeth shall be saved, He that believeth not shall be condemned." Left out "and be baptized..."
b. Other baptism passages "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins" Acts 2:38
i. Billy Graham
ii. resort to "accept Christ as personal Savior."
c. "Speak as the oracles of God:
d. "Save yourselves from this untoward generation" Acts 2:40
i. Contradicts Calvinism
d. "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who
does the will of My Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
II. How can we learn God’s spiritual language?
A. Got to want to learn it! Takes work, no easy way
1. Learn Spanish fluently while listening to tapes in your sleep? Forget it!
2. To learn a foreign language, you’ve got to want to learn it. Dedicate hours, years
3. Same true of spiritual language – Must have hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6)
B. You’ve got to immerse yourself in God’s spiritual language in the Bible
1. I studied Spanish for three years in college. I could haltingly speak a little
a. When did I get a handle on it? Able to converse?
b. When I went to Argentina and immersed myself in it for two years.
i. listened to it on radio, tv, bought newspapers
ii. gradually got a handle on it
C. That’s the way we learn God’s spiritual language
1. Determine to immerse ourselves in it
a. read Bible
b. attend Bible classes
c. As many services as possible
2. When Christians attend few services, give little effort to study and learn, don’t learn God’s spiritual
language very well.
a. Christians who’ve been baptized 10-15 years. Talk about God’s church, don’t know really what it is.
Talk about predestination. Don’t know
b. Haven’t really learned God’s spiritual langauge
c. Handicapped, just like those in this country who haven’t learned English,
i. consequences even worst. Don’t learn English, job opportunities limited.
ii. Don’t learn God’s spiritual langauge, can’t live in heaven.
3. What are you doing to immerse yourself in God’s spiritual language? What can we do to help?
D. You must be patient!
1. You don’t learn it overnight. Key is interest
2. Takes more than one class. However, in short time you can get the basics
3. Got to start
a. Buenos días, Good morning ¿Cómo está usted?
Conclusion
A. I’ve preached this in Spanish and ask "How’s your English? " They all want to speak it
1. Great blessings
B. Most importantly – How is your "heaven speak"? Your spiritual language? Your Bible language?
C. You need to "sign up" for "school."
1. Not English – some pay thousands
2. God’s school
D. Speaking his language, the language of salvation, heaven, eternal life will give you the greatest blessings of all.