(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, well we're there in Acts chapter number two, 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. And we are now in our final week, and it is the tenth sermon in this series, and I have over the last ten weeks just taught you everything I know about the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that I've taught you everything there is to know about the Holy Spirit, but if there's anything more to know about the Holy Spirit, I don't know it. So I've given you everything I have, and we, if you remember, and I'll just review this real quickly, but if you remember we started ten weeks ago, part one of this series, we talked about the person of the Holy Spirit. We went through and showed from the Bible how He's not just in a spirit, He's not just a force, He is a person. We talked about the Holy Spirit as God. He is God in His own right. We talked about the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, and of course if He is God and He is a person, He is in the Trinity as a third 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 versus the New Testament. We talked about the 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 Spirit, and tonight we are finishing up with a study called The Holy Spirit and Speaking with Tongues. And I feel like we can't really end a series on the Holy Spirit without dealing with this issue of speaking with tongues, or what today the Pentecostals or Charismatics call speaking in tongues. Now let me just say this. For many of you, the stuff we're going to learn tonight may be review. You've heard me preach about this before. You know it already. For some of you, this may be new. It may be something you haven't heard before, something you need to learn. Let me just say to those of you that have heard this teaching before, I always like to remind people about this. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 1, the Bible says this, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same thing 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 thing, similar thing. Sometimes you can look at different chapters in different books, and they almost sound word for word. And he says, look, to give the same teaching to you, it's safe for you. So for those of you, you say, I already know about speaking with tongues. I don't know what the Bible teaches about it. I've already heard this before. It's good for you to hear it again. It's good for you to be confirmed and to know what the Bible says, to 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 look, I believe this, the Holy Spirit can use any time the Word of God is open to help you learn and know. And let me say this, and I want to encourage all of you to take notes. On the back of your course of the week, you have a place to take notes. I want to encourage you to take notes. If this is new to you, you should take notes that you can help. It'll help you learn this. It'll help you have it so you can review it later. And for those of you, maybe you're a soul winner, it'd be good for you to have some notes on this because you're going to talk to people about the whole issue of speaking with tongues and speaking in tongues. And let me just go ahead by starting out and saying, we reject the charismatic 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'll be very clear. But the false charismatic speaking in tongues movement needs to be exposed. It's a lie. It's not true. And sermons like this will help expose it, will help teach what the Bible actually teaches about this thing. And you may not know this, but the speaking in tongues movement, the charismatic Pentecostal movement of today is big. I mean, there are some major false prophets who teach and believe, and they themselves speak in tongues. In fact, I want to give you some names here. Now, I'm going to give you some names, and you might say, well, 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 them speaking in tongues on TV. You say, why is that? Because it's weird. That's why. Because they realize that if they put this on TV, people are going to think they're 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 to you from the Bible today, but let me give you some names. Some famous preachers, Rod Parsley believes in speaking in tongues, and he does this at his church. Kenneth Copeland is a tongue speaker. Benny Hinn is a tongue speaker. Todd Bentley is a tongue speaker. Paul and Jan Crouch is a tongue speaker. John Hagee's church has tongue speaking in it. Pastor Jones, I remember he told me a long time ago, I think it was before he was even saved, he was in San Antonio, and he went to John Hagee's church, and John Hagee's son was preaching the Sunday night service, and he was speaking in tongues while preaching the Sunday night sermon. T.D. Jakes speaks in tongues. Joyce Myers speaks in tongues, and she has a book about how, one of her books, she has a chapter in there on steps, you know, how to speak in tongues and things like that. Joel Osteen, in his church, they do tongue speaking. His father, who was the pastor that he took over for, had sermons. You can find him on YouTube right now. If you just type in Osteen speaking with tongues, you'll see his dad talking about speaking with tongues or speaking in tongues and all of those things. Now, when we're talking about the idea of speaking with tongues, and 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 this to you from the Bible tonight, but I want to give this to you just upfront. When it comes to the biblical teaching of speaking with tongues, you need to understand that it falls under two categories, and we actually talked about this. If you remember the sermon on spiritual gifts, I mentioned this in my spiritual gift sermon, in fact, I mentioned this sermon in my spiritual gift sermon that we're going to do this sermon, but you need to understand that the speaking with tongues falls under two categories. And even with the spiritual gifts aspect, it falls under two categories. Because if you remember, when we talked about the spiritual gifts. We talked about the miraculous gifts, and then we talked about the service gifts. We talked about the sign gifts and the service gifts, and we talked about how there were some gifts that were given that were miraculous gifts. Those gifts have been done away with. We talked about that. 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 abilities or skills or aptitudes that God gives us in order to be able to serve Him better in the local church. When it comes to speaking with tongues, it falls under both those categories. There is, in the Bible, the Bible does document miraculous events where people were speaking with tongues. And then the Bible also gives instructions for how to handle the ordinary speaking with tongues. So we're going to look at that tonight. And let's begin there in Acts chapter 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, you'll know that this is a common theme. We always allow the Bible to define itself. The Bible, it's 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 book. 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 chapter 2, we're 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. Now when we talk about that miraculous event, 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 to you that difference here in a minute. But when we're talking about a sign for the Gentiles, we are 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 chapter 2, I want you to look at verse 1. The Bible says this. Now it says, and when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, the Day of Pentecost is a holiday that the nation of Israel would celebrate every year. It's called Pentecost because it's 50 days after the Passover or after Easter for us. And this was something you can 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. It's talking about the early church there in Jerusalem. And suddenly in Acts chapter 1, we read about the fact that there was 120 of them that were there in the upper room, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Now I want you to notice in verse 1, it talks about the Day of Pentecost. That's just a Jewish holiday, an Israelite holiday. This is where, if you've heard of the Pentecostal movement that does speaking in tongues, they take their name from Acts chapter 2 from the Day of Pentecost. They call themselves Pentecostals because they say that what they do in their churches is what happened in Acts chapter 2. What I always tell people is this, 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, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. I want you to notice it says, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 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 through speakers and microphones. We're not talking about somebody blowing into a mic. We're talking about a wind, a sound from heaven. I always ask Pentecostals this, because I tell them, look, I didn't name you. You named yourself. I'm the one that said you're a Pentecostal because what happens in your churches is what happened in the Day of Pentecost. So the question I have for you is this, is there a sound from heaven, a rushing mighty wind that comes, not something you produced on a mixer, not something you produced with a speaker, but a sound, a rushing mighty wind that comes from heaven? Look at verse 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. 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 head. Now look, you can go on YouTube and type in TDJ speaking with tongues. Type in Osteen speaking with tongues. Type in Rod Parsley speaking with tongues, or Todd Bentley speaking with tongues. You can find video of all of these guys speaking in tongues, but you know what you won't find? You won't find video of them speaking with tongues with fire on their head. 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 a fire, and it sat upon each other. Now people say, well, that didn't happen every time people spoke with tongues. Right. But it happened on the Day of Pentecost. And when you called yourself a Pentecostal, because you say, well, what happens in our churches is what happened on the Day of Pentecost, well, here's what happened on the Day of Pentecost. There was a rushing mighty wind, and there was cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, verse four, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, we talked about that in a sermon already, and began to speak with other tongues. All right. I want you to notice what the Bible says here. They 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 is 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 five. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, and I want you to notice what the Bible, because the Bible's going to define for us what it is that they were doing. It says, now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 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 for the Day of Pentecost, and they were from every nation under heaven, verse six. 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're speaking tongues, speaking tongues they've never learned before, you know, people talk, and it's this big holiday. There's people everywhere sitting around doing nothing. They're just relaxing. They're there in Jerusalem. Notice what it says. 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 six, because that every man heard them speak. Now when it says every man, we're talking about the man in verse five, Jews, devout men out of every nation, okay? So every man that's there out of every nation, notice what it says, heard them speak in his own language. You see the word language there? The Bible just defined for us the word tongues. In fact, if you don't mind writing in your Bible, I would draw a little arrow between the word tongues in verse four and the word language in verse seven, 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 seven. 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 seven. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another. Notice what they're saying. Notice why they're surprised. Amazed and marveled means 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're 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? Aren't they, behold, are not all these which speak Galilean? Verse eight. And how here we every man in our own, what's it say, tongue. They said, how here 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 five that they were Jews, devout men, out of every nation. And if you don't mind writing in your Bible, I will draw an arrow from the word tongue in verse eight to the word language in verse number six. 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 eight. And here we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born. Have you ever heard somebody say, oh, something about somebody's mother tongue, right? 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 every language and a tongue, it's 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 eight. And how here we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born. And just to be clear, in verses nine, 10, and 11, God gives us a list of 15 different nations just to show us they were speaking 15 different languages. So they said, how here we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born. Verse nine, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and in Cappadocia, and in Pontus, and in Asia, and in Phrygia, and in Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, and Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes, Crete, and Arabians. They said, we do hear them speak in our own, what, 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 and the verse tongue in verse eight. If you don't mind writing in your Bible, you should be able to realize that in verse four, the word tongue is being used. In verse six, the word language being used. In verse eight, the word tongues being used. In verse 11, the word tongues being used. And here's the point that I'm trying to make to you. The Bible defines itself, and it's defining itself here, that the word languages means tongues. They said, we hear them speak in our tongues. They said, we hear them speak in our own tongues, wherein we were born. They said, every man heard them speak in his own language. They said that they began to speak with other tongues. Now, here's what happened. There's 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, well, aren't these all locals? Aren't these Galilean? And here's the miracle. The miracle is that they began to speak languages that they had never learned. 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 they speak languages they've never. 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 in Arabic, and they've never learned Arabic. Today they start making all these weird noises, and they start doing all these weird things. But that is not what happened on the Day of Pentecost. On the Day of Pentecost, the miraculous event was that these people went out and they spoke tongues, languages that other people understood, 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 Acts 2, verse 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. And what God was doing was he was launching, in a big day, in a big way, the local New Testament church. Now, keep your place there in Acts. We're going to come back to it. Go with me to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 14. First Corinthians chapter 14, you have Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. And let me say this. Remember that there are two categories for the speaking with tongues. Now, we've already defined what it means to speak with tongues. What does it mean? It means to speak languages. But there are two 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 churches, many people speak foreign languages. I speak Spanish. I speak English, right? That's not miraculous, OK? I speak Spanish because my parents spoke Spanish to me when I was a kid. That's why I speak Spanish. There's nothing miraculous about it. I didn't get filled with the Holy Ghost one day and start speaking in Spanish, OK? It's just an ordinary thing. And people speak languages. That's normal. But then there's the miraculous work of just speaking a language you've never learned, and you're preaching the gospel, all right? Now, when it comes to the miraculous speaking with tongues, the Bible is clear that this was a sign. That's why we call it a sign gift for the Gentiles. First Corinthians 14, verse 21, notice what it says. In the law it is written, with men of other tongues, OK? Look, when we get to First Corinthians 14, the word tongues means the same thing, languages. With men of other tongues, with men of other languages, and other lips, will I speak unto this people. And isn't that the truth? I mean, here's a prophecy. God says, I'm going to use foreigners to preach the gospel to you, talking to the Jews, because the Gentiles receive the gospel when the Jews, by and large, have rejected the gospel. He says, with men of other tongues and other lips, will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Notice verse 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 you and I would call preaching, what I'm doing right now. Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. I want you to notice what he says. He says, preaching is not for unsaved people. Preaching is for saved people. That's one of the reasons why we don't do the Billy Graham crusades, and we go rent some big colosseum and say, let's bring all the unbelievers into some big colosseum, some big tent event, and pastors are going to get up there and preach the gospel to them. No, you know what? Prophesying serveth not for them that 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 in the highways and the 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 not for unbelievers. Preaching is for saved people. You ever notice that when you come to Verity Baptist Church, I don't get up here every Sunday morning and just preach the gospel every Sunday morning? I preach things that are going to help you grow. Why? Because preaching is for believers. Say, well, what about the unbelievers? They're welcome to come. We'll let them sit around the service, but you know what we do? After the service, we walk up to them and say, hey, do you know what preacher of your dad today are? You're on your way to heaven? You say, why do you do that? Because that is the mode of evangelism, and I'm not preaching on soul winning. 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 them 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 first century to show them, I want the gospel to go out into all the world. I'm going to have you miraculously speak languages you 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 see 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 first century that the gospel was for the whole world, that it was not just for them there in Jerusalem, that he really did mean it when he said, go ye therefore 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 from all over the world as a sign to show them, the gospel is for everybody. The gospel is to go out to the uttermost parts 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 you've got. They've got the same salvation you've got. Go ahead and preach the gospel to them because I want them to get saved. Let me give you some examples of that. Keep your place in 1 Corinthians 14. We're coming back to it. Go back to Acts chapter 10, look at verse 1. The book of Acts chapter 10 and verse 1. The story of Cornelius is a long story. I'm not going to tell the whole story because it'll take too long, but let's look at a little bit of it. Acts chapter 10 verse 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're not going to do it tonight, but he's praying. He's trying to seek God. He's not saved. God tells him. God appears to him. God tells him. I preached all about this recently in a soul winning sermon not too long ago, but look at verse 28. Basically Cornelius gets a vision from the angel that says, go find Peter and he's going to preach the gospel to you. Verse 28, and he, this was Peter, said unto them, the Gentiles, ye know that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. Now that's not, God never said that. That's a tradition that the Jews had developed, but Peter's saying to them like, hey, you know I'm not supposed to be here, right? You know that I'm a Jew and I'm not supposed to keep company. I'm not supposed to hang out. I'm not supposed to be with people from another nation, but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean because when Cornelius had a vision from an angel telling him go find Peter, God was working on the other side and he was showing Peter a vision about unclean beasts and telling Peter, don't call anything unclean. If I cleanse it, don't call it unclean because God was trying to tell Peter, go to the Gentiles. The gospel's for the whole world. Preach the gospel. Look at verse 34. If Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that fearth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Skip down to verse 44. While Peter yet spake these words, and look, we're not reading it, but if you read it, Peter goes through and he 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 them, on all them. Remember, Italians, Gentiles. The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word and they of the circumcision. I want you to notice that. When it says the circumcision, it's talking about Jews. Now these are saved people. They're believers, but they're Jews. That's what God's telling us. They're 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. Okay, so these are Jews that are saved, notice, were astonished. Now they're astonished. In Acts 2, everyone else was astonished at them. Now they're astonished, meaning greatly surprised or amazed. As many as came with Peter, so this is Peter's posse, all right, this is Peter's friends. They're Jewish, they're 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 that the Holy Ghost had fell upon the Gentiles? Here's how they knew. Verse 46, for they, the Jews, heard them, the Gentiles, speak with tongues and magnified 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 in the day of Pentecost just happened to these guys, and it was a sign. God was trying to show them the Gospel is also for the Gentiles. They're going to get the same Holy Spirit you're going to get. They're going to get the same salvation you've got. There is no respect of persons with God. Take the Gospel to the Gentiles. That's the whole point of this, the sign of speaking with tongues. And Peter gets the point. Let me give the last part of verse 46. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? 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, it's okay 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 chapter number 19, Acts chapter 19, look at verse 1. Acts chapter 19 and verse 1. Here's another example. I just want to show it to you so that we can cover all our material. Acts 19 verse 1 says this, and it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus. And notice Paul is in Ephesus. This is a Gentile location. And finding certain disciples, he said unto them, have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believe? They said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 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 look, if John can have false converts, you and I can too. No matter how thorough we are, no matter how much we try to be thorough, we're all going to have false converts from time to time. So don't get offended if someone you got saved gets saved later on. Because sometimes people just need to hear it from someone else different ways, whatever. Verse four, then said Paul, because they said, he said, have you received the Holy Ghost? And they're like, we didn't even know there was a such thing as a Holy Ghost. And it's like, well, then you're not saved. And they said, well, unto what were you baptized? They said unto the baptism of John. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, here's a great verse on repentance, because people always want to tell us, John preached repentance, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus preached repentance, and they're talking about repenting of your sins. You got to preach, you got to repent of your sins, because that's what John preached. You got to preach repentance of your sins, because that's what Jesus preached. And then he asked him, show me where they preach, repent of your sins, and they take you to a verse where it says, where he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And I always say the same thing to people, I say, I see the word repent, here's what I don't see, the words for your sins. Because here, remember, the Bible, it's its own dictionary, the Bible, it's its own commentary. Let the Bible tell you what John was preaching, not dispensationalist, not Bible college. What does the Bible say that John was preaching? Notice verse six, and when, I'm sorry, not verse six, verse four. Then said Paul, John, verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people. So Paul's 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, that should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. So what is it that John was preaching when he was preaching repentance, he was preaching that they should believe on Jesus? Man, that sounds just like what we preach. Because you know what repentance, repentance means to turn or to change. And when it comes to salvation, you don't turn away from sin to be saved, that's words. You turn away from unbelief, you turn away from false belief. Look, you say, is repentance needed for salvation? Look, an atheist needs to repent of not believing in God, they need to turn away or change their mind from unbelief in 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 should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. Verse five, when they heard this, they were baptized. Why were they baptized? Because they believed it. In the name of the Lord Jesus and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, notice the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied and all the men about them and all the men were about 12. And here's the point, there was a miraculous speaking with tongues that was done in the Gentiles to show the early church that God was moving among the Gentiles like he was among the Jews. Go to Mark chapter 16. So remember, there's two categories for speaking with tongues, there's 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. They're not getting up there saying, Akuna Matata, Barack Obama, Saddam Hussein, whatever. They're not getting up there just doing all this gibberish. They're speaking actual languages that people actually spoke in order to preach the gospel to them. You said, what was the miracle? It was languages they never learned, that's a miracle. Languages they didn't know those languages and got. That's the miraculous. You say, does that still happen today? Now look, what T.D. Jakes is doing, that's a bunch of trash. That's not in the Bible. That's not what the Bible teaches. You say, well what about what actually happened on the Pentecost, is that still happening today? And the answer to that question is no. The sign gifts have been done away with, you say, well prove that to me from the Bible. Okay, let's look at it. Mark chapter 16, look at verse 17. Mark 16, verse 17. And these signs shall follow them that believe. Remember the sign gifts? God said 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, here are the signs that are going to follow believers. They're going to cast out devils. They're going to speak with new tongues. That's what happened on the 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, 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 like, you know, some of these southern states where they're handling snakes. They're playing with rattlesnakes and they're quoting this or saying, oh, this is what God said we're going to do. You know what, let me just say this. That was fulfilled in the story of Paul when he was on, you know, when the ship that he was on went down because of a storm and he ended up being on an island and he was picking up wood in order to create, make a fire and when he picked up wood, a viper came out of the wood, this is in the book of Acts, and bit him and he didn't die. That's what we're talking, it wasn't Paul playing with a rattlesnake, hey, that's stupid. That's going to get you killed, alright, and it kills these people. But God says, look, there's going to be these special signs where you're going to take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them and 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. They're casting out devils, they're speaking with new tongues, taking up serpents, drinking deadly things and not being hurt, they're laying hands on the sick and they shall recover and we see that in the book of Acts, Paul's healing people, Peter's healing people. Verse 19, so then after the Lord had spoken unto them and he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God, verse 20, and they went forth, right, so Jesus ascends, the disciples go forth and preach everywhere the Lord working with them and notice, confirming the word with signs, 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, and they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs. What was the purpose for the signs? To confirm the word. The Bible in the first century was still being written. The Bible in the first century, and I'm not going to re-preach my sermons, we've talked a lot about it over the last several weeks, but we can prove that the Bible, I believe and many people believe that there's a good argument to be made for the fact that it was written by 70 AD, but you know, even people who reject that, everyone believes that the New Testament was completed by 180. That within the first 70 years after the ministry of Christ, 180, 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 you look at it and you study it and you really logic it and reason it, you cannot walk away without saying, this book was not written by man. This book was written by God. And we have the eyewitness accounts of the men that confirm the word through signs. But those sign gives have been done away. Why? Because the Bible is done. It's complete. No one's writing scripture anymore, so there's 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 the word was being written. Go to 1 Corinthians 14. All right, remember, two 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 just not miraculously, just speaking languages because they speak languages, okay? Paul has an entire chapter on 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 at Corinth. You're going to 1 Corinthians 14. The book of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians was written to a church in a city called Corinth, all right? And you can look up a map of Corinth right now. No, I mean, don't do it right now, but don't pull out your phone and do it. But I'm saying today, you can look at a map of the city of Corinth, and here's what you need to understand about the city of Corinth. Corinth was a harbor city. It was a city that was known that got its income, that got its claim 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 were coming from all over the world. What do you find in cities like that? What do you find in San Francisco? You find little towns called Chinatown, right? You find people from all over the world there. Go to San Francisco. You find people from all over the world. Go to New York. You find people from all over the world. Go to Long Beach, where there's a big harbor in Long Beach. You find people there 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 at Corinth. And here's what happened. At the church at Corinth, there were people that spoke many languages, because there were 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 first century, we're living in the San Francisco version of the first century church in Corinth? And then another man gets up here, and he's Arabic, so he starts leading the music in his language. Then the guy who's going to do the announcements, he's Hindu, so he starts doing the announcements in Hindi or whatever. Then the guy who's going to read the Bible, he's from whatever country, and he starts doing it in his language. Then the guy that's going to get up to preach, he does it in a different language. This is literally what was happening at the church at Corinth. People were just speaking their own languages, because they didn't really know. No one had ever instructed them what to do. So in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is writing instructions and saying, look, I realize you've got a lot of people speaking a lot of different languages, but we need to set things in order. And he's giving them instructions for how to deal with a very diverse congregation that speaks many languages, not miraculously, just ordinary people who speak a lot of languages. So what did he say? Look at verse 1. Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts. He says, look, you have to desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. He said, you know what's better than spiritual gifts? Is that you prophesy, that you preach. Here's why. Verse 2. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue. We've already defined the word tongue. It's languages. So what's an unknown tongue? Because these Pentecostals say, oh, we speak in an unknown tongue. Now, look, it just means they're speaking a foreign language, a language that other people don't understand. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto man, but unto God. See, look, if I get up here and I start preaching in Spanish, and none of you speak Spanish, I'm not helping you. I may be speaking to God. I may be preaching a tremendous sermon for God, but I'm not speaking to you. He speaketh not unto man, but unto God. Notice, for no man understandeth him, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. He says, look, when somebody gets up and speaks in 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 in Corinth, not everyone is speaking this unknown tongue. In fact, most people are not speaking this language because he's saying that no man understandeth him. So he says, look, when you speak a language that no one understands, it does not edify anybody. So then he says this, verse 3. But he that prophesied, talk about the guy that preaches, speaketh unto men to edification. He says, you know what? Instead of getting a bunch of guys up there to speak in their foreign languages, just get one guy up there to preach because that's going to edify, speak 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, verse 4. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, using the definition we've already got from the word of God, a foreign language, a language that people don't understand, edifies himself. But he that prophesieth edifyeth the church. So notice that the people that are praying or prophesying in an unknown language are only edifying themselves. They're not helping anybody else. Verse 5. I would, he says, look, I desire that ye all speak with tongues. Paul says, I desire, he said, you know what? I wish I would that all of you speak languages, but rather that ye prophesy. For greater it is he that prophesy 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 can't get up and preach every once in a while. But if he's going to get up and preach, make sure you have somebody who can interpret so that the church can be edified. He says, 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. Notice verse 13. Wherefore, let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may, you know what, look at verse 9. Let me just show you this real quickly, and I skipped a few verses, but the point is this. He's telling them that preaching in a language that everyone understands will edify everyone, and it is better to preach in a language that everybody understands than to speak a foreign language that nobody understands. He says, if you're going to speak in a language that people don't understand, then make sure you have an interpreter. Verse 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. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian. Please, notice what he's saying. He's saying, 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. He said, I can talk to somebody in a different language, but they're going to see me like a savage, like a barbarian. And he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. He's saying, if I'm speaking to someone in a language they don't understand, I'm like a savage to them. And if they're speaking, he said, I'm as good to them as a savage would be, because we don't understand each other. Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Wherefore, let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. Verse 18. I thank my God. Notice what Paul says. I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all. Notice what Paul said. Paul said, I speak with more languages than all of you. He said, I speak more languages than all of you speak. You say, why would Paul say that? Here's why Paul would say that, because Paul was a missionary. I mean, read the life of Paul. He's going from country to country, starting churches all over the world. He's a foreign missionary. He says, I speak more languages than all of you. He said, if I wanted to show up, I could come to Corinth, I could lead the first song in one language, begin the service with a word of prayer in another language, lead the second song in a third language, read the Bible in a fourth language, preach in a fifth language. He said, 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, yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. What's he saying? He's not, look, he's just giving instruction and saying, don't let people get up in church and speak languages that people don't understand. He said, it's not helping anybody. He said, I speak more languages than all of you. And you know what? I would rather speak five words that everyone understands than 10,000 words that nobody understands. Look at verse 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. Like he's giving them instruction. And look, we would follow this instruction at very Baptist church. See, Baptist church, would you ever let somebody preach that spoke a different language? Absolutely. As long as we follow these instructions. As long as that there are, notice what it says, let it be by two, or at the most by three. So he's saying, if you're going to have guys get up and preach, don't let more than two or three guys preach. And he says, and let one interpret. And 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'm not going to preach an hour-long sermon, but if I was in a foreign field, I'm going to have to preach a 30-minute sermon, because every time I say something, then the other guy has to say what I just said in that language. So he's saying, look, you need to do things decently and in order. 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, verse 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 and says, men's preaching night, and they say, I want to preach in Spanish. Great. I want to come up here to interpret for you. But if there's nobody to interpret, then you just have 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, if therefore the whole church be come together into one place, that's a church service, and all speak with tongues. Here's what he's saying. This is what you guys are doing. He's telling the church of Corinth. You guys are just having people come together, and people are speaking Spanish, and Arabic, and French, and English, and all these languages. He says, if therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, meaning someone who hasn't learned those languages, or unbelievers, meaning someone that's not saved, will they not say that you are mad? They're going to say you're crazy. You guys are crazy the way you're doing it. And by the way, I don't believe that this passage is about the miraculous speaking with tongues. But let's just play the devil's advocate and say it was, because the Pentecostals will tell you 1 Corinthians 14 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, the stuff you guys do, people are going to think you're crazy. And it's true, because you know what? I think they're crazy. And they don't do it on TV, because it's crazy. Look at verse 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 all you do is provide a sermon that helps them, then you help them. But if you're just all showing off all your languages, and you speak all these languages, and you're so smart, you're not helping anybody. Verse 32. And the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Notice verse 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, you need to have some order to your church service. Things need to be done decently and in order. People are going to think you're mad. They're going to think you're crazy, the way you're doing things. So look, don't just let everybody get up and speak in their languages. Make sure you decide what is the language that 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. Let's play the devil's advocate and say it is. Here's another point, verse 32, and the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. You know what that means? That means that the Holy Spirit's 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 you're going to, because this is what these Pentecostals do. It's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever, do another thing. And then it's like, I don't remember what I said. I don't remember what I did. I blacked out. Look, blacking out is a bad thing. It's not a good thing, OK? And let me just, you say, oh, well, I think these Pentecostals, look, these Pentecostals, a bunch of Pentecostals are a bunch of liars. I had a friend 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 I got him saved. And the first thing he said to me was, yeah, whenever I spoke in tongues, I was faking it. He's like, because you have to like, if you didn't do it, you didn't fit in. He's like, I always deal with a lie. And I'm like, did other people fake it? He's like, everybody was faking it. And here's the thing. If they're not faking it, they're possessed with the devil. Because in the Bible, the only time you see people that have been taken over by a spirit, it's never the Holy Spirit. It's an unclean spirit. So look, you say, what about these tongue speaking Pentecostals? You got two options. They're faking it, or they're demon-possessed, and neither one's good, all right? It's not the Holy Spirit, because the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. The Holy Spirit's never just going to take over you. You're going to start saying things. You don't know what you're saying. You don't remember everything. 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 two categories. The miraculous speaking with tongues, which means people spoke languages they never learned, and then there's the ordinary just gift of people speaking languages that just a normal foreign speaking. And God says this needs to be done in church decently and in order. Don't allow more than two or three people to do it. Make sure most people 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. So I hate to break it to you, but T.D. Jakes and Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer and all these people are a bunch of liars. And if they're not liars, they're demon possessed, because those are your options. So 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 two passages. Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, we also looked at Acts 10 and Acts 19. And then we looked at the church at Corinth, where it's just a city, a harbor city with a lot of foreigners. And I want you to notice that when you really think about these two events, you can tell that they are in two 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. On the day of Pentecost, because you're saying like, not all of you understand this. On the day of Pentecost, the tongues were understood. Remember the people were saying, how we are 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, 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 them. The people weren't understanding them. On the day of Pentecost, no interpreter was necessary. In the church at Corinth, an interpreter is 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 they were all in one accord. In the church of Corinth, there was confusion, which is why Paul was bringing in and saying, we've got to put things in order, we've got to set things in order, it is confusing the way you're doing it. 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. And you say, which one applies to us today? Well, you know what? 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. If somebody 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, so that everybody can be edified. So I hope that makes sense. I hope 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 bow our heads in our world of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for the fact that we can just study the Bible, and you define it for us, you teach us, you help us. We don't have to be confused with false teachers and false preachers. Lord, we just thank you for our church, and we pray that you would continue to bless us and help us to learn and grow, and to draw close to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We're going to have Brother Mack,