By My Spirit (Part 10) – Speaking with Tongues
Alright well we’re there in Acts 2. And tonight, we are finishing up our series on the Holy Spirit. We’ve been going through a series on Sunday nights called By My Spirit. And it’s really been a systematic study of the Holy Spirit. We are now in our final week and it is the 10th sermon in this series. And I have over the last 10 weeks have just talked to you about everything I know about the Holy Spirit. I’m not saying that I talked to you everything there is to know about the Holy Spirit. But if there is anything else to know about the Holy Spirit then I don’t know. I’ll just review.
We started 10 weeks ago with Part 1 of the series and we talked about the person of the Holy Spirit. We went through the Bible and saw that he’s not just a Spirit, he’s not just a force, he’s a person. We talked about the Holy Spirit as God. We talked about the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Of course, if he is God and a person then he is the 3rd person of the Godhead. We talked about the work of the Holy Spirit, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament vs. The New Testament, we talked about indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit coming upon you, we talked about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Last week we talked about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
And tonight, we are finishing up with a study on the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. And I feel like we can’t really end with a series on the Holy Spirit without dealing with this issue of speaking in tongues or what today the Charismatics and Pentecostals calls speaking in tongues. Let me just say this, for many of you, the stuff we’re going to learn tonight may be a review. You’ve heard me preach this before. You know this already. For some of you this may be new. It may be something that you haven’t heard before. Something you need to learn. Let me just say to those of you who have heard this teaching before, I always like to remind people in Philippians 3:1 “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”.
And the Apostle Paul there talked about the fact that in many of his Epistles, he wrote the same things. Similar things. Sometimes you can look at different chapters and different books and they almost sound word for word. And he says look, to give the same teaching is safe for you. Some of you say “I already know about Speaking in Tongues. I know what the Bible says about it.”. It’s good for you to hear it again. It’s good for you to be concerned again. To know what the Bible says and hear it again. And there’s always something new. There’s always something different. There’s always something else that is said that can help you. And I believe that the Holy Spirit can use any time that the Word of God is opened to help you learn.
And let me say this, and I want to encourage all of you to take notes. I want you to encourage you to take notes. If this is new to you, you should take notes because it will help you learn this. It will help you to have this so you can review it later. And for those of you, maybe you’re a soulwinner, it’s good for you to have some notes on this. Because you’re going to talk to people about the whole issue of speaking in tongues. And let me just begin by saying that we reject the Charismatics, Pentecostal philosophy of speaking in tongues. Now the Bible talks about speaking with tongues, and I’m going to show you what the Bible teaches about that. And it will be very clear. But the false Charismatic, Speaking in Tongues Movement needs to be exposed. It’s a lie. It’s not true. It will help teach what the Bible actually teaches about this thing.
And you may not know this but the Speaking in Tongues, Charismatic Movement of today is big. I mean there are some major false prophets who teach and believe and they themselves speak in tongues. And I’m going to give you some names here. I’m going to give you some names here and you might think “I’ve never seen that person speak in tongues”. Here’s the thing. Most of these people don’t do this on tv. You see them on tv but you don’t see the speaking in tongues on tv. You say why is that? Because it’s weird, that’s why. Because they realize if they put this on tv then people will think they are crazy. But you can do research. There are many famous false prophets today who believe in the Charismatic Speaking in Tongues. And I’m going to disprove it from the Bible today. But let me give you some names.
Rod Parsley believes in Speaking in Tongues. And he does this at his church. Kenneth Copeland is a Tongues speaker. Benny Hinn is a Tongues speaker. Todd Bentley is a Tongues speaker. Paul and Jan Crouch are Tongues speakers. John Hagee’s church has tongues speaking in it. Pastor Jones, remember he told me a long time ago, I think it was before he was even saved, he was in San Antonio and went to John Hagee’s Church. And John Hagee’s son was preaching the Sunday night service and was speaking in tongues while preaching the Sunday night sermon. TD Jakes speaks in tongues. Joyce Meyer speaks in tongues. And she has a book, one of her books, she has a chapter on steps of how to speak in tongues and things like that. Joel Osteen, in his church they do tongues speaking. His father who was the Pastor that he took over for, had sermons that you can find on YouTube right now. Just type in Osteen speaking in tongues and you will find his dad talking about speaking in tongues and all of those things.
Now, when we’re talking about the idea of speaking with tongues, you’re there in Acts 2, this is the major chapter with this study. Here’s what you need to understand, and I’m going to prove it to you from the Bible. But I want to give it to you just upfront. When it comes to the Biblical Teaching of Speaking with Tongues, you need to understand that it falls under 2 categories. And we actually talked about this if you remember the sermon on Spiritual Gifts. I mentioned this in my Spiritual Gifts sermon that we’re going to do this sermon, but you need to understand that the Speaking with Tongues falls under 2 categories. And even with the Spiritual Gifts aspect, it falls under 2 categories.
Because if you remember, when we talked about the Spiritual Gifts, we talked about the miraculous gifts and the service gifts. We talked about the sign gifts and the service gifts. And we talked about how there were some gifts done with that are miraculous gifts. Those gifts have been done away with. We’re going to talk about that a little bit tonight. And then there are the service gifts that haven’t been done away with. Those are just the abilities or skills or aptitudes that God gives us in order to serve better in the local church. When it comes to speaking in tongues, it falls into both categories. In the Bible, the Bible does record miraculous events when people are speaking with tongues. And the Bible also gives instructions with how to handle the ordinary speaking with tongues. And we’re going to look at that tonight.
Let’s begin in Acts 2 with the documenting of miraculous speaking with tongues. And when it comes to Bible doctrine, and if you’ve been coming to our church for any length of time then you will know that this is a common theme. We always allow the Bible to define itself. The Bible is its own Dictionary. So, when we talk about speaking with tongues, what does that mean? We don’t want to open up somebody else’s books. We dead sure don’t want to open up Joyce Meyer’s books. We don’t want to open up any other theology book to figure out what it means. We want the Bible to define itself and to tell us what this means. So, let’s look at this together.
Now in Acts 2, we are going to define what it means to speak with tongues and we’re also going to look at this miraculous event where people spoke with tongues. This was a sign that was given. When we talk about miraculous events, I want you to understand. When people spoke with tongues and it was miraculous. It was a miracle that God performed. It was always done for the Gentiles. It was either a sign for the Gentiles or it was a sign in the Gentiles. And I’ll explain that difference to you in a minute. But when we’re talking about a sign to the Gentiles, we’re talking about a sign that was given so that the gospel would go out to the Gentile world.
Now if you’re there in Acts 2, I want you to look at verse 1. Acts 2:1 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,” The day of Pentecost was a holiday that the Nation of Israel would celebrate every year. It was called Pentecost because it was 50 days after the Passover or after Easter for us. And this was something that you could read about in the Old Testament. They had this day of Pentecost. And it was something that they did every year. Here we’re told that the Day of Pentecost was fully come. This holiday was fully come. And “they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly” We read in Acts 1 that there were 120 of them in the upper room. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,” I want you to notice in verse 1 they are talking about Pentecost. That is just a Jewish holiday.
This is where if you’re in the Pentecostal movement that does speaking in tongues, they take their name from Acts 2, from the Day of Pentecost. They call themselves Pentecostals because they say what they do in their churches is what happened in Acts 2. Now, what I always tell people is that if you’re going to tell me that your name is Pentecostal because what happens in your church is what happened in the Day of Pentecost, then you’re going to have to explain a few things to me. Because here’s what happened in the Day of Pentecost: Verse 2 “2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,”. I want you to notice that it says “and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”.
So, you have the 120 in the upper room and the Bible says that there came from heaven a rushing mighty wind. Not something that was done from speakers and from microphones. We’re not talking about someone blowing in to a mic. We’re talking about a wind, a sound from heaven. So, I always ask Pentecostals this. Because we didn’t name them. They name themselves. Because they say what happens in their church is what happened at Pentecost. So, my question is, is there a sound from heaven like a mighty wind in their churches. Not something they produce with a mixer. Not something you produce with a speaker. But a sound, a rushing mighty wind that comes from heaven. Look at verse 3. “3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”.
Alright so on the Day of Pentecost, not only was there a rushing mighty wind, but the Bible says that there was fire that sat upon their heads. Now look, go on YouTube and type in TD Jakes speaking with tongues. Type in Osteen speaking with tongues. Type in Rod Parsley speaking with tongues. Todd Bentley speaking with tongues. You can find video of all of these guys speaking with tongues. But you know what you won’t find? You won’t find videos of them speaking with tongues with fire on their heads that is not burning their hair. Now I think Michael Jackson might have tried that but you don’t see that in these Pentecostal Churches. You don’t see the mighty rushing wind. You don’t see the cloven tongues like as of fire. And it sat upon each of them.
You say, well that didn’t happen every time people spoke in tongues. Right. But it happened on the day of Pentecost. And when you call yourself a Pentecostal and say what happens in your church is what happened on the Day of Pentecost. Well here’s what happened on the Day of Pentecost. “2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,” We talked about that in a sermon already. “and began to speak with other tongues,” So I want you to notice what the Bible says here. “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”.
Now when the Bible tells us here that the Spirit gave them utterance, what it’s telling us that this was not from their own natural ability. This did not come from their own accord. The Spirit gave them the ability to speak with other tongues. Notice what it says, “and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”. Verse 5 “5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men,” And I want you to notice what the Bible says. Because the Bible is going to define for us what it was that they were doing. “5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.”.
This is a big point here. That because it was the Day of Pentecost, there in Jerusalem, there were people there from all over the world. There were Jews, who were devout Jews, who came all the way back to Jerusalem to celebrate the Day of Pentecost. But they were Jews that did not live in Jerusalem. They were from other nations. They were Jews but they lived in other countries. And they were coming back to Jerusalem and they were from every nation under heaven. Verse 6 “6 Now when this was noised abroad,” When what was noised abroad? When 120 people have fire on their head and it’s not consuming them. And they are speaking tongues that they have never learned before. You know, people talk. And it’s this big holiday and there are people sitting around, doing nothing, and they are there in Jerusalem. “6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded,” I want you to notice what it says at the end of verse 6. “because that every man heard them speak”.
Now when it says every man, we’re talking about the men in verse 5, Jews, devout Jews out of every nation. Notice what it says “heard them speak in his own language.”. You see that word language there? The Bible just defined for us the word tongue. In fact, if you don’t mind writing in your Bible, I would draw a little arrow between the word tongues in verse 4 and the word language in verse 6. Because the Bible just defined for us what it means to speak with other tongues. They were speaking in their languages. And notice what it says in verse 6 “every man heard them speak in his own language.”.
So, the people that were coming from all these other nations, they said hey, we’re hearing them speak, but we’re not hearing them speak in their language. We’re not hearing them speak in Hebrew or Aramaic or the dialect of this location. We’re hearing them speak in our own language. Notice verse 7 “And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another,” Notice what they’re saying. Notice why they’re surprise. Amazed and marvelled meaning that they were shocked by this. They were surprised by this. Why were they surprised? “saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?” Now look, they are in Jerusalem. Galilee is a location just north of Jerusalem. And here’s what the people are saying, we hear them in our own language. But aren’t these people all locals? Aren’t they from Galilee? “Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans”. Verse 8 “8 And how hear we every man in our own” What does it say? “tongue,” They said how hear we every man in our own tongue. Notice “wherein we were born?”. They said, we hear them speak in the tongue of the nation that we were born in. Why? Because we already saw in verse 5 that they were Jews, devout men, out of every nation.
And if you don’t mind writing in your Bible. I would draw an area from the word tongue in verse 8 to the word language in verse 6. You say why? Because the Bible is defining itself for us. It uses the word tongue, the word language, the word tongue, it uses it interchangeably. Why? Because the word tongue means language. And look what he says in verse 8, And how hear we ever man in our own tongue wherein we were born. Have you ever heard of someone’s mother tongue? Or their language. The word language just means tongue. In fact, if you look at the word language in other languages, it’s the same word as the word tongue. For example, in Spanish. In Spanish the word language is lenguaje. But the word tongue is lengua. It’s the same word. Why? Because a language and a tongue are talking about the same thing.
When we allow the Bible to define itself, it becomes very clear that on the Day of Pentecost, the 120 were speaking languages from all over the world. Notice verse 8, “8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” And just to be clear, in verses, 9, 10 and 11, God gives us a list of 15 different nations. Just to show us that they were speaking 15 different languages. So, they said, how hear we every many in our own tongue wherein we were born. Verse 9 “9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”.
And if you don’t mind writing in your Bible, you should draw a line between the word tongues in verse 11 the word tongue in verse 8. If you don’t mind writing in your Bible, you should be able to realize that the word tongue in verse 4 is being used. In verse 6 the word language is being used. In verse 8 the word tongue is being used. In verse 11 the word tongue is being used. And here’s the point that I’m trying to make to you, the Bible is defining itself here. And it’s saying that the word language means tongue. They said that we hear them speak in our own tongues wherein we were born. They said that every man heard them speak in their own language. They said that they began to speak with other tongues.
Here’s what happened, there are people from all over the world, that are assembled in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. 120 believers are waiting for the Holy Spirit’s power to come upon them. God sends a rushing mighty wind. God sends a fire upon their heads. They go down to where the people are. And they begin to preach the gospel to them in their own languages. The People are surprised. They’re amazed. Because they say that aren’t these all locals. Aren’t they all Galileans? And here’s the miracle. They began to speak languages that they had never heard. They went down on the Day of Pentecost from the upper room and they began to speak Arabic. And they began to speak languages from nations that they had never learned. And that was the miracle of the Day of Pentecost.
Now today the Charismatic Pentecostals, they don’t get up and speak languages that they’ve never heard. It’s not like the Pentecostal walks up to someone from France and starts speaking French to them to preach the gospel to them and they’ve never learned French. Or starts speaking some other language. Starts speaking Arabic to someone in order to preach the gospel to them and they’ve never learned Arabic. Today they start making all these weird noises and doing these weird things. But that’s not what happened on the Day of Pentecost.
On the Day of Pentecost, the miraculous event was that these people went out and spoke tongues, languages that other people understood for the purpose, for the purpose of preaching the gospel to them. And what was miraculous is that God allowed them to do it with languages that they had never learned. This was a sign for the Gentiles. You say why was it a sign for the Gentiles? Because God got a lot of people saved that day that were not from there. And all of those people went back home to their different nations. But you know what, they came to Jerusalem unsaved and they left Jerusalem saved. And they took the gospel with them to the Gentiles. This was a sign for the Gentiles. Look at verse 12. Acts 2:12 “12 And they” Talking about the Jews from every nation. “were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?”. And they understood that God was doing something. That God was doing something. What God was doing was launching in a big day, in a big way, the local new testament church.
Now keep your place in Acts. Go to 1 Corinthians 14. And let me say this. Remember that there are 2 categories for speaking with tongues. Now we’ve already defined what it means to speak with tongues. What does it mean? It means to speak a language. But there are 2 categories in the Bible. There is the ordinary speaking of languages where people just learn foreign languages. Where people just speak foreign languages. In our church there are many people that speak foreign languages. I speak Spanish. I speak English. That’s not miraculous. I speak Spanish because my parents were Spanish speaking you know. When I was a kid. There’s nothing miraculous about it. I didn’t get filled with the Holy Ghost one day and start speaking Spanish. It’s just an ordinary thing. People speak languages you know.
But then there’s the miraculous work of just speaking a language that you’ve never heard. You’ve never learned. And you’re preaching the gospel. Alright. Now, when it comes to the miraculous speaking with tongues, the Bible is clear that this was a sign. That’s why we call this a sign gift for the Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 14:21 “21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues”. Ok look. When we get to 1 Corinthians 14, tongue means the same thing. Languages. “With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people;”. And isn’t that the truth. Here’s a prophecy. God says that I’m going to use foreigners to preach the gospel to you. Talking to the Jews. Because the Gentiles received the gospel when the Jews by and large had rejected the gospel. He said “With men of other tongues and of other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.”.
Notice verse 22 “22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying”. Now prophesying there is referring to preaching. What we would call preaching. What I’m doing right now. “serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.”. I want you to notice what he said. Preaching is not for unsaved people. It’s for saved people. That’s one reason why we don’t do the Billy Graham Crusade and rent some coliseum and invite all of these unbelievers and invited them to a tent event and Pastor will get up there and preach the gospel. No, you know what, prophesying is not for them which believe not but for them which believe.
Here’s the plan for reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We go out and preach the gospel to them. We take it to them. We go to the highways and hedges and we preach the gospel to them. We knock on their doors. You say why don’t you just preach it to unbelievers? Because preaching is for unbelievers. Preaching is for saved people. Did you ever notice that when you come to Verity Baptist Church that I don’t just get up here every Sunday morning and preach the gospel? I preach things that will help you grow. Why? Because preaching is for believers. Well what about the unbelievers? They’re welcome to come. We’ll let them sit down in the service. But do you know what we do? After the service we walk up them and ask them if they know if they’re going to heaven. Why do we do that? Because that’s the mode of evangelism. That is what God has ordained is for us to take the gospel to people one on one.
Preaching is not for the unbeliever. It’s for those that believe. But the sign of tongues. He says, wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe but to them that believe not. So, it was a sign that God used with those 120 Jewish believers of the 1st Century to show them, I want the gospel to go out in to all the world. I’m going to have you miraculously speak languages that you’ve never learned so that you can give the gospel to people that don’t live here. That are here from all over the world. So, we hear that it is a sign for the Gentiles.
But let me say this. It’s also a sign in the Gentiles. God used the Day of Pentecost to show the Jewish believers in the 1st Century that the gospel was from the whole world. That it was not just for them in Jerusalem. That he really did mean it when he said “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” That he really did mean it when he said, “Go ye and teach all nations.” That he really did mean it when he said, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth”. He had already told them “Go into all the world”.
And then he gave them the sign on the Day of Pentecost when they preached the gospel to people all over the world. As a sign to show them that the gospel is for everyone. The gospel is to go out to the uttermost part of the earth. But of course, these believers were stubborn like you and I are stubborn. And God not only had to give them a sign for the Gentiles. He also had to give them a sign in the Gentiles. So, God documents for us how Gentiles spoke with tongues when they got saved. Because God was telling the Jewish believers, hey they got the same Holy Spirit that you’ve got. They’ve got the same salvation that you’ve got. Go ahead and preach the gospel to them because I want to get them saved. Go back to Acts 10.
Acts 10:1. The story of Cornelius is a long story. I’m not going to tell the story because it will take too long. Acts 10:1 “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,”. Notice these are Gentiles, not Jews. Cornelius is an Italian. He is a Roman. He is a Centurion of the band called the Italian band. You can read the chapter; we won’t do it tonight. He’s praying. He’s trying to seek God. He’s not saved. God appears to him. God tells him and I’ve preached this recently in a soulwinning seminar not too long ago. Basically, Cornelius gets a vision from the angel and is told to go find Peter because he will preach the gospel to you. Verse 28 “28 And he” This was Peter. “said unto them,” The Gentiles.
“Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation;”. Now God never said that. That’s a tradition that the Jews had developed. But Peter said that you know I’m not supposed to be here right. I’m not supposed to keep company or hang out or be with people of another nation. “but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”. Because when Cornelius had a vision from an angel telling him to go find Peter, God was working on the other side. And he was showing Peter a vision about unclean beasts. And telling Peter not to call anything unclear. If I cleansed it then don’t call it unclean. Because God was trying to tell Peter to go to the Gentiles. The gospel is for the whole world. Preach the gospel.
Then Peter opened his mouth and said “34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”. Skip down to verse 44 “44 While Peter yet spake these words,”. And look, we’re not going through it but if you go through it then you will see that Peter preaches the gospel. He talks about Jesus Christ and the life and ministry and the death and the resurrection. Notice verse 44. “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them” Remember, Italians, Gentiles. “The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. 45 And they of the circumcision”
I want you to notice that. When it says the circumcision it’s referring to Jews. They are saved people but they are Jewish. Jewish believers that came with Peter to the house of Cornelius to preach the gospel to a Gentile which is something that the Jews did not want to do. “And they of the circumcision which believed”. Ok so these are Jews that are saved. “were astonished,” Now they are astonished. In Acts 2 everyone was astonished at them. Meaning greatly surprised or amazed “as many as came with Peter,”
So, this is Peter’s posse. Peter’s friends. They are believers. They see that the Holy Ghost fell on them. They are astonished “because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And you say well how did they know the Holy Ghost had fell upon the Gentiles. Here’s how they knew. Verse 46 “46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,”. And we’re going to read it but let me just say this. Now you’ve got the Italians speaking with tongues and the Jews are identifying “Wow, what happened to us on the Day of Pentecost, this happened to these guys”. And it was a sign. God was trying to show them that the gospel is also for the Gentiles. They are going to get the same Holy Spirit you’re going to get. They’re going to get the same salvation that you’ve got. There is no respect of persons with God. Take the gospel to the Gentiles also. That’s the whole point of this. The sign of speaking with tongues.
And Peter gets the point. Look at the last part of verse 47. “47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”. And look, why did they get baptized? Because they got saved. How do we know they got saved? Because they got the Holy Spirit. That’s the only way you get the Holy Spirit. Why did they speak with tongues? It was a sign at that time that God was telling Peter that it was ok for you to bring the gospel to the Gentiles because they’re going to get saved too. So, the sign of the miraculous speaking with tongues was done in the Jews for the Gentiles and it was done in the Gentiles as a sign for the Jews.
Let me give you another example. Go to Acts 19. Here’s another example and I just want to show it to you so we can cover all of our material. Acts 19:1 “And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus:” Notice that Paul is in Ephesus. This is a Gentile location. “and finding certain disciples, 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.”
So, these people had heard the preaching of John but they were false converts. They didn’t get it. They didn’t understand it. And look, this is not a criticism of John. John was a great man of God. What we can learn from this is that if John can have false converts then you and I can too. No matter how thorough we are or how much we try to be thorough, we all will have false converts from time to time. So, don’t get offended if someone you got saved gets saved later on. Alright. Because sometimes people just need to hear it different times from different people. 4 Then said Paul,”. Because he said have you heard about the Holy Ghost and they said they didn’t even know there was such a thing as the Holy Ghost. It’s like wow. So, you’re not saved. He said what were you baptized unto. They said unto John’s baptism.
“Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people,”. Now here is a great verse on repentance. Because people always want to tell us that “John preached repentance. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus preached repentance.” And they are talking about repenting of your sins. “So, you got to preach repentance because that’s what John preached. You got to preach repentance because that’s what Jesus preached”. And you ask them, show me where they preached repent of your sins. And they take you to a verse where he said “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. And I always say the same thing to people, I see the word repent but I don’t see repent for your sins.
Because here, remember the Bible is its own dictionary. The Bible is its own commentary. Let the Bible tell you what John was preaching. Not Dispensationalists. Not Bible College. What does the Bible say that John was preaching? Notice verse 4. “4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people,” So Paul is going to tell us what it is that John was preaching when he was preaching repentance. Here’s what he was saying to the people. “that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”.
So, what is it that John was preaching when he was preaching repentance? That we should believe on Jesus. That sounds like what we preach. Because you know what repentance means? It means to turn or to change. And when it comes to salvation, you don’t turn from sins to be saved That’s works. You turn away from unbelief. You turn away from false belief. You say, well is repentance necessary for salvation. Look, an atheist needs to repent of not believing in God. They need to turn away or change their mind from unbelief of God in order to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s repentance. Not quit drinking alcohol to be saved. Not quit smoking cigarettes to be saved. You’ve got to turn from unbelief. Look, a Muslim has to turn from their belief in Allah to believe in the true God the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s repentance.
What was it that John was preaching? He was preaching, he was saying unto the people that they should believe on him which would come after him that is on Christ Jesus. Verse 5 “5 When they heard this, they were baptized” Why were they baptized? Because they believed. “in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,” Notice “the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. 7 And all the men were about twelve.”. And here’s the point, there was a miraculous speaking with tongues that was done in the Gentiles to show the early church, to show the early church that God was moving among the Gentiles like he was among the Jews.
Go to Mark 16. Mark 16. So, remember, there are 2 categories for speaking with tongues. There is the normal, ordinary just people are speaking with tongues. They’re speaking foreign languages. They’re born in different countries. They have an aptitude for it. They’re learning languages. Then there’s the miraculous speaking with tongues where they’re not getting up there and doing gibberish. Alright. They’re not getting up there and saying Hakuna Matata or Barack Obama or Saddam Hussein or whatever. They’re not getting up there and just doing all this gibberish. They’re speaking actual languages that people actually spoke in order to preach the gospel to them.
You say, what was the miracle? It was languages they never learned. That’s what the miracle. Languages they didn’t know. That’s the miraculous. You say does that still happen today? Well look, what TD Jakes is doing is a bunch of trash. That’s not in the Bible. That’s now what the Bible teaches. You say what about what happened on the Day of Pentecost? Does that happen today? And the answer is no. The sign gifts have been done away with. You say prove that to me from the Bible. Ok well look at Mark 16:17 “17 And these signs shall follow them that believe;”. Remember the sign gifts. God says that there are signs that are going to follow them that believe. “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;” Alright.
So, he says look, these are the signs that will follow believers. They will cast out devils, speak with new tongues. That’s what happened on the Day of Pentecost. That’s what happened in the house of Cornelius. That’s what happened in Ephesus in Acts 19. They’re going to speak with new tongues. Verse 18, “18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”. Alright, today you’ve got weird Pentecostals in some of these Southern states where they’re handling snakes. They’re playing with rattlesnakes. They’re holding this and saying that’s what God is going to do. Let me say this, that was fulfilled in the story of Paul when he was on the ship that went down due to the storm and he ended up being on an island. And he was picking up wood in order to make a fire. And when he picked up wood, a viper came out of the wood and bit him. And he didn’t die. It wasn’t Paul playing with a rattlesnake. That’s stupid. That’s going to get you killed. And it kills these people.
But look, God said there will be these special signs. “18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”. Remember, he said that these signs shall follow them. And then he tells them what the signs are. The casting out devils, the speaking with new tongues, the taking up serpents, the drinking deadly things and not being hurt. The laying hands on the sick and them being recovered. We see that in the Book of Acts. Paul is healing people. Peter is healing people. Verse 19 “19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.”. Verse 20 “20 And they went forth,” Right, because Jesus ascends. The disciples go forth. “and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and” Notice. “confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”. Now what were the signs? Well he said, these signs shall follow them. Speaking with new tongues. Casting out devils. Taking up serpents. Drinking deadly things and not being sick. Being able to heal the sick.
God says that he gave them those signs and what was the reason? Look at verse 20 “20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”. What was the purpose for the signs? To confirm the word. The Bible in the 1st Century was still being written. We can prove that the Bible, I believe and many people believe, there’s a good argument to be made that it was written by 70 AD. But you know, even people who reject that, everyone believes that the New Testament was completed by 100 AD. That within 70 years after the Ministry of Christ, by 100 AD, the Bible was complete.
And during that time, God did miraculous work through the Apostles to confirm the Word. So, when Paul showed up and Peter showed up and they were telling people what God said, and then God was confirming it through these signs, these miracles that they were preaching the truth. But you know what, today God doesn’t need to confirm his word because his word is done. It’s written. There’s no more adding to it. See, I don’t have to do any miracles because I don’t have to prove to you that I’m giving you scripture. You say, well how do you prove scripture. I don’t know.
I do a Reasoning Series where I give you all these reasons to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Look, the Bible confirms itself. We don’t defend the Bible. The Bible defends itself. If you open up the Bible and look at it and study it and logic it and reason it, you cannot walk away without saying that this book was not written by man. This book was written by God. And we have the eye witness accounts of the men that confirmed the word through signs. But those signs have been done away. Why? Because the Bible is done. It’s complete. No one is writing scripture anymore because there are no more signs needed. So those things were real. But those things have been done away because the purpose was to confirm the word while it was being written.
Remember, 2 categories. Miraculous signs of speaking with tongues and then the ordinary speaking with tongues. When the Bible talks about the ordinary speaking with tongues, it’s talking about people speaking languages. Not miraculously but just speaking a language because they speak a language. Paul has an entire chapter of the instructions of people speaking ordinary foreign languages in the church service. Because he needed to instruct the Church in Corinth.
Now let me give you some background to the Church of Corinth. The Book of 1st Corinthians and 2nd Corinthians was written to a church in the city called Corinth. And you can look up a map of Corinth right now. You can look at a map of the City of Corinth and here is what you need to understand about the city of Corinth. Corinth was a harbor city. It was a city that was known. It’s claimed to fame was the fact that it was a harbor where many ships would come in from all over the world. For you and I to kind of think of a city like Corinth, you have to think of a city like San Francisco. Or you have to think of a city like New York City. Right.
And it’s a place where it was a harbor city where ships are coming from all over the world. So, what do you find in cities like that? What do you find in San Francisco? You find little towns called China Town. You find people from all over the world there. Go to San Francisco and you’ll find people from all over the world. Go to New York City and you’ll find people from all over the world. Go to Long Beach and you’ll find people from all over the world. Wherever there are cities that have huge harbor industries, you find people from all over the world. Why? Because ships are coming from all over the world. This is the city that Paul was writing to at the Church of Corinth.
And here’s what happened. At the church of Corinth, there were people that spoke many languages. Because there are people coming from all over the world. And these people were all speaking just whatever languages. I mean could you imagine if we were just 1st Century and we were living in the San Francisco version of the 1st century church at Corinth. Brother Matt gets up here and he is Arabic. And he starts leading the music in his language. Then the guy that is going to do the announcements, he is Indian so he starts doing the announcements in Hindi. And the guy reading the Bible is from whatever country and he starts doing it in his language. Then the guy who was getting up to preach did it in his language. This is literally what was happening at the church of Corinth. People were literally just speaking their own languages because they didn’t really know. No one had ever really instructed them what they should do.
So, in the 1st Century AD, Paul gets up and writes instructions. He says that I know that you have a lot of people speaking different languages but we need to set things in order. And he is giving instructions on how to deal with a very diverse congregation that speaks many languages. Not miraculously just ordinary people that speak a lot of languages. So, what does he say? Verse 1. 1 Corinthians 14:1 “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts,” He says look, you got to desire spiritual gifts. “but rather that ye may prophesy.”. He says but you know what is better than spiritual gifts? He that preaches. Here’s why. “2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue”. We’ve already defined tongue. It’s languages.
So, what is an unknown tongue? Because these Pentecostals say they speak in an unknown tongue. It just means a foreign language. A language that others don’t understand. “He speaketh not unto men, but unto God:” So look, if I get up here and start preaching in Spanish and none of you speak Spanish, I’m not helping you. I might be speaking to God or preaching a tremendous sermon to God but I’m not speaking to you. “He speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.”. He says look, when somebody gets up and speaks a language that people don’t understand, it may be good, it may be great but they’re not helping anyone.
And I want you to notice that in the Church of Corinth, not everyone is speaking this unknown tongue. In fact, most people speak the language because he’s saying that no man understands him. So, when you speak a language that no one understands, you are not helping edify anyone. He says in verse 3 “3 But he that prophesieth” Talking about the guy that preaches. “speaketh unto men to edification,” He says you know what, instead of getting a bunch of guys up there speaking in their foreign language, get 1 guy up to preach. “speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.”. Edification means to grow. Exhortation means to encourage. Comfort means to ease pain. And that’s what preaching should do. It should help you grow. It should encourage you. It should comfort you.
“4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue”. Using the definition that we already got from the Word of God. A foreign language, a language that people don’t understand. “edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.”. So, notice that the people that are praying or prophesying in an unknown language, are only edifying themselves. They are not helping anybody else. He says “I would”. He says I desire that ye all spake with tongues. Paul says that I wish, “5 I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues,”
Notice what he says. “except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.”. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying, I’m not saying that the guy who speaks a foreign language cant get up and preach every once in a while. But if he’s going to get up to preach, make sure you have someone who can interpret so that the church can be edified. He says that if the guy who speaks a foreign language gets up to give his testimony, that’s fine but make sure he has an interpreter so that everybody can understand.
He’s telling them that preaching in a language that everyone understands will edify everyone. And it’s better to preach in a language that everyone understands than to speak a foreign language that nobody understands. And he says that if you are going to speak in a language that nobody understands then make sure you have an interpreter. “9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. 11 Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian,”
Notice what he’s saying. He’s saying that if I’m speaking but I do not give the meaning, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian. I can speak unto someone of a different language but they will see me like I’m a savage, a barbarian. “and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.”. He’s saying that if I’m speaking in a language to someone that doesn’t understand then I’m like a savage to them. I’m as good to them as a savage would be because we don’t understand each other. “ 12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 13 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.”. Verse 18 “18 I thank my God,”
Notice what Paul says “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:”. This is what Paul says. I speak with more languages than all of you. He says I speak more languages than all of you speak. You say why would Paul say that? Paul would say that because Paul was a missionary. I mean read the life of Paul. He is going from country to country starting churches all over the world. He says I speak more languages than all of you. He said if I wanted to show off, I could come to Corinth. I could lead the first song in 1 language, begin the service with a word of prayer in another language, lead the 2nd song in a 3rd language, read the Bible in a 4th language, preach in a 5th language, he says I speak more languages than all of you.
Verse 18 “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:” He says in verse 19 “19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”. What’s he saying? He’s just giving instructions saying don’t let people get up in church and use languages that people don’t understand. It’s not helping anybody. He says that I speak more languages than all of you. And you know what, I would rather speak 5 words that everyone understands than 10,000 words that nobody understands. Look at verse 27 “27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.” He’s giving them instruction.
And look, we would follow his instruction at Verity Baptist Church. You say Pastor Jimenez, would you ever let someone preach who spoke a different language? Absolutely, as long as we followed these instructions. He says “let it be by two, or at the most by three”. He says if you’re going to have guys get up and preach then make sure it’s not more than 2 or 3. And he says let one interpret. Ok. You say why is he saying that? Here’s why he’s saying that. Because when you interpret someone, it doubles the time. Think about it. I get up and preach and it’s a 1-hour long sermon. But If I preach in a foreign country then I will have to preach for 30 minutes because someone else will have to stand up and say what I did in that language.
So, he’s saying, look, you need to do things decently and in order. “27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.” Someone shows up at Men’s Preaching Night and wants to preach in Spanish. Great. We’ll get somebody up here to interpret for you. But if there is nobody to interpret then he just has to sit down. Because he says look, preaching and church services ought to be done decently and in order.
Notice that an interpreter is required because people do not understand what is being said. Verse 23 “23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place,” That’s a church service “and all speak with tongues,”. He says this is what you guys are doing. He’s telling the church at Corinth. You guys are just gathering people together and people are speaking in Spanish and Arabic and French and English and all these languages. He says “23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned,” Many someone who hasn’t learned those languages. “or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?”. He says that they will think you guys are crazy the way you’re doing it.
And by the way, I don’t think this passage is about the miraculous speaking of tongues. Let’s just play Devil’s Advocate and say that it was. Because the Pentecostals will say that this is about the miraculous speaking with tongues. Okay, well I don’t think that’s true but let’s go ahead and apply that to you. Paul’s saying that the stuff you guys do, people are going to think you’re crazy. And it’s true because I think they’re crazy. And they don’t do it on tv because it’s crazy. Look at verse 24 “24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:”.
He’s saying look, if somebody comes in and they don’t know languages but you just provide a sermon that helps them then you helped them. But if you are just all showing off with your languages and you look so smart, you’re not helping anybody. Verse 33 “33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”. Look at verse 40 “40 Let all things be done decently and in order.”. You say what is 1 Corinthians 14 about. It is Paul giving instructions to a church that had members that spoke all sorts of different languages. And he’s telling them that you need to have some order to your church services. Things need to be done decently and in order. People are going to think that you’re mad. They’re going to think you’re crazy by the way you’re doing things.
So, look, don’t let everybody just get up and speak in languages. Decide what language is spoken the most and all of you speak that language. And if you have to speak a different language, make sure you have an interpreter that will interpret what is being said. This is the instruction. And I want you to notice, and again, I don’t think this is talking about the miraculous work of speaking with tongues miraculously. The way the Pentecostals do. But let me just show you verse 32. But let’s play the Devil’s advocate and say it is. Here’s another point. Verse 32 “32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.”. You know what that means? That means that the Holy Spirit is never going to take over your body. When the Holy Spirit fills you, remember we talked about the filling of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you begin to do the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit does that in your life as you allow him to.
There’s never going to be a time where…. Because here’s what these Pentecostals do, they speak in tongues and then they say they don’t remember what they said. They don’t remember what they did. They blacked out. Look, blacking out is a bad thing. It’s not a good thing. You say, oh well I think these Pentecostals. Look, these Pentecostals are a bunch of liars. When I was in the Air Force, I had a friend who was a Pentecostal tongue speaker. And we had lunch one day and I gave him the gospel and he got saved. And the first thing he said to me was that when he was speaking in tongues, he was faking it. He said that if you didn’t do it then you weren’t fitting in. He said that he always knew that it was a lie. I asked if others faked it and he said ya. And here’s the thing, if they aren’t faking it then they are possessed with a devil. Because the only time you see people being taken over by a Spirit in the Bible, it’s never the Holy Spirit. It’s an unclean spirit.
You say what about these Tongue Speakers. You’ve got 2 options. They’re either faking it or they are possessed. And neither one is good. Alright. It’s not the Holy Spirit because the Spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. The Holy Spirit is never just going to take over you. You’re going to start saying things that you don’t remember. That is not of God. That is a demon. That is a devil. So, here’s the point. When it comes to speaking with tongues. There are 2 categories. The miraculous speaking with tongues which means people spoke languages that they never learned. And then there’s the ordinary just gift of people just speaking languages of the normal foreign speaking. God says that this needs to be done decently and in order in church. Allow 2 or 3 to do it. Make sure most are understanding. If someone has to speak a language that others don’t understand, make sure you have an interpreter. This is what the Bible teaches.
I hate to break it to you but TD Jakes, Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer and these people are a bunch of liars. And if they’re not liars, they’re demon possessed. Because those are the options. Let me just conclude by giving you a compare and a contrast between the Day of Pentecost and the Church at Corinth. Because we basically went through 2 passages. Acts 2, the Day of Pentecost. We also looked at Acts 10 & Acts 19. And then we looked at the Church at Corinth. Which is just a city, a harbor city with a lot of foreigners.
And I want you to notice that when you really think about these 2 events, you can tell that they are in 2 different categories. Let me just give you some examples. On the Day of Pentecost, all believers spoke with tongues. Isn’t that true. The 120, they all spoke with tongues. In the Church at Corinth, only some believers spoke with tongues. Because he’s saying, not all of you understand this. On the Day of Pentecost, the tongues were understood. Remember the people were saying how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born. On the Day of Pentecost, the tongues were all understood. That was the miracle. That they understood languages from people that never learned those languages.
At the Church of Corinth, the tongues were not understood. He’s saying that no one understands you. People think you’re crazy. You need an interpreter. On the Day of Pentecost, those that spoke with tongues spoke to men. Right? They were preaching the gospel to people. In the church at Corinth, Paul says those that spoke with an unknown tongue spoke to God. Because the men weren’t understanding. The people weren’t understanding. On the Day of Pentecost, no interpreter was necessary. In the Church of Corinth, an interpreter was required. On the Day of Pentecost, unbelievers turned to the Lord and got saved.
At the Church of Corinth, unbelievers said that they were mad and crazy. On the Day of Pentecost, there was perfect harmony within the church. Remember the Bible says that they were all in one accord. In the Church of Corinth, there was confusion. Which is why Paul was bringing in and saying that we got to put things and set things in order. It is confusing how you’re doing things.
So please understand that there is a big difference between what happened on the Day of Pentecost and what happened at the Church of Corinth. They were both speaking with unknown tongues but one was miraculous and one was ordinary. You say, which one applies to us today. Well, if we have a bunch of foreigners show up, then we’re going to love on them, we’re going to help them, but we’re not just going to let people get up and speak languages that people don’t understand. And if someone wants to preach a sermon in a different language, I don’t have a problem with that at all. We just need an interpreter so that everyone can understand and everyone can be edified.
So, I hope that makes sense and that’s clear from the word of God. The Biblical teaching for speaking with tongues. The sign gifts have been done away with. But the gift, the aptitude of speaking with tongues is still something that you may have through the Holy Spirit today.
Let’s pray.