biblestudy: Acts (Part Three)
Acts 2; Speaking in Tongues
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 09-Aug-88; Sermon #BS-AC03; 81 minutes
Description: (show)
Got a brainstorm while I was studying today. I thought that I would go through something that we do not touch on very frequently. Sometimes once a year, the Day of Pentecost, or shortly before we go through at least some portion of this. But at other times of the year it does not seem to be a subject that lends itself to any particular occasion. We have such an occasion right here and now because we are going through Acts the second chapter.
What I thought that I would do with you today is review with you some of the principles involved in glossolalia. Do you know what glossolalia is? Speaking in tongues. Of course, the people who are involved in that draw very heavily on Acts the 2nd chapter, and that is right where we are. And so I spent the day, at least a portion of the day, studying into "The Tongues Question" booklet that Mr. Armstrong wrote many decades ago, and I can recall when I was in advanced public speaking class at Ambassador College there in '68 and '69 that Mr. David John Hill, who at that time was the head of the publishing division of the work, said that "The Tongues Question" booklet during the decade of the 50s and at least part way into the 60s was our most popular booklet. I do not know whether you knew that or not. It was not the "United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy" or "Why Were You Born?" It was "The Tongues Question."
It is probably very likely that there are not very many of you in this room have read that book in the last 5 or 10 years. But I decided that I would change that, not that I am going to require you to read it as an assignment as sort of background material for Acts 2, but I would at least touch on it tonight and go through some of those principles and make up that lack in your life. You did not even know that you were missing it, did you?
It was probably a measure of the different kind or class, I do not know, of people that we are reaching today than we were reaching with the radio broadcast back in the 50s and 60s. And there was a demand for that book because apparently there were quite a large number of Pentecostal type people who were listening to the radio program and asking a large number of questions about this subject.
I am sure Mr. Armstrong came in contact with quite a large number of people who were involved in this movement as well because I think it probably reached its heyday somewhere back in the 30s and 40s and was beginning to taper out in the 50s. And then, believe it or not, it had a revival amongst the mainline churches during the 70s. I mean, there were Catholic churches where they were having charismatic meetings, Anglican and Episcopal. Can you just imagine those people? That seems almost unimaginable to me. They are so stiff and formal and ritualistic about everything, and yet they were involved in this movement. I do not know whether it reached the fever pitch that Pentecostal people did, but nonetheless, they were getting involved in the speaking of tongues.
Also, I feel that there was some difference between the Roman Catholic and the Episcopalian/Anglican approach to the speaking in tongues than there was with the Pentecostals. Pentecostals were very fervent, enthusiastic, about calling down the spirit through a number of routines that they went through.
The first thing that we have to approach here is why is this question so important? Well, the reason is because even today there are large numbers of people who say that the speaking in tongues is the sign that one has received God's Holy Spirit. And that receiving of God's Holy Holy Spirit is the most important thing in life because it is salvation. Now that last phrase is correct. The first phrase is not correct but the last one is. The receiving of God's Holy Spirit is salvation. Even Mr. Armstrong agreed with that. Here is a quote from the booklet on the tongues question. "Salvation means simply the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the very life of God."
That is important enough that we should spend a little bit of time on it because we want to make sure that we have God's Holy Spirit, because it is salvation. And really, if you do have God's Holy Spirit, that is quite encouraging because it means that you are going to be saved. You see, you are going to be delivered from the flesh, you are going to be delivered from this world. You are going to be in the Kingdom of God if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. I can confirm that. First of all, we are going to look at Romans the 8th chapter, verses 9 and 11 where Paul writes,
Romans 8:9 You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. . .
Notice how simply put this is, you just cannot mistake it. Having the Holy Spirit is salvation. The receiving of it there is, therefore, the most important and critical factor in life.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Mr. Armstrong is right. Having the Holy Spirit is salvation.
We are not going to involve ourselves here with the question of growth. But I Corinthians 3 does show that we have to be careful about what we sow because that is going to determine what we reap. We have to be careful about how we work. Let us go to that just so I do not misquote it.
I Corinthians 3:9-15 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw [three good ones and three bad ones, three that are basically indestructible and three which are easily destroyed], each one's work will become manifest, for the Day [that means the day of judgment, meaning right now] will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire [that is, by test], and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned [wood, hay, stubble], he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire [that is, through testing].
So receiving God's Holy Spirit is salvation. God wants us to grow. He wants us to overcome. He wants us to increase in spiritual gifts. He wants us to have as fine a character as we possibly can. But even if a person does not do well, if they do not grow the way God feels that they can grow, that scripture gives you enough comfort to show that if you die with God's Spirit, then He is going to give you life. Everyone here wants to have life. Encouraging to know that if God's Spirit is in us, we have it. We are going to be in the Kingdom. So that is a critical question. It is the single most important factor in life.
In Acts 2, we have there listed the manifestations of the Spirit that were given on that day, that is, the manifestations that were given on that day. I am going to give them to you here. There are seven of them. Now this is important because if the receiving of God's Spirit is to be in accord with what it shows in Acts the second chapter, then it is reasonable to assume that the same manifestations will occur each time that the Spirit is given. We are going to see that that is not a true statement, but yet that is a major portion of the basis of the Pentecostal movement's approach to the receiving of God's Spirit.
Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
The key phrase: "they were all with one accord." Now anyone who knows anything about the Pentecostal movement knows that those people are not all with one accord. Even in the best of congregations, there are splits and schisms that develop. I do not want to spend a lot of time on that particular one, but it is a factor. You know if you have had any experience in watching church movements or church groups, they almost inevitably split somewhere along the line. Now in this particular case, these people were all with one accord. They were all in one place.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly. . .
This is very important as we are going to find out shortly, the word suddenly, the Holy Spirit came without warning, *whoosh! The whole house was shaken and moved by a mighty wind.
Acts 2:2-4 . . . and it filled the whole house with a rushing mighty wind. Then there appeared to them divided tongues [cloven tongues, as the King James may say], as of fire, and one sat on each of them [and yet nobody was burned]. [And then the next one is in verse 4.] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit [the key word there is all. They all at once, every one of them. And also in verse 4.] and began to speak with other tongues. [The implication from the word all is that everybody was speaking. And then (this is still number 6)], they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And then the last one in verse 8,
Acts 2:8 How is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
So here we have also a miracle, not only in the speaking but also in the hearing as well.
And again, I do not know how many of you have any kind of background at all with these movements. When they finally do get to the place where someone speaks in tongues, almost invariably nobody can understand the person who is doing the speaking. And there have been interested parties who have attended these glossolalia meetings and they have identified the language that was spoken as being, you know, something from halfway around the world. And in many cases they really were literally human languages, but there was nobody in that room that could possibly understand what these people were saying. Because they may have been Americans and they were speaking something in the Maori language. Who there could understand that? What good was accomplished by the person speaking in a language that no one else could understand?
Now there are no similarities, absolutely none, between the Pentecostal tongue speaking and the manifestations that we see listed here in chapter 2. Not even one of them matches up exactly. See, sometimes somebody does speak in tongues, but not everybody speaks in tongues. Most of the time nobody understands what is said. Not only that, the speaking in tongues does not come easily. It does not come suddenly. It does not come accompanied by the sound of a rushing wind that fills the entirety of the room or the building that they are in. And not only that, there are no cloven tongues of fire. There is not even one.
We are left, then, with a conclusion. That is, the manifestations of the Spirit that were given on the Day of Pentecost 31 AD were unique in history. It was a one-time occurrence. It did not even occur the same way when Peter went to Cornelius' house. But it was a one-time occurrence. And the Pentecostal experiences do not repeat what occurred on this one time. What we have here is the advent, that is, the first coming of, we can put it that way, of God's Holy Spirit, the promised Comforter that Jesus spoke of just before He was crucified.
Let us go back to John the 7th chapter, verses 37 through 39. Now there are a number of scriptures which I am going to be using two or three times during the course of this Bible study because I am going to keep coming back to them in a slightly different context. But here in John the 7th chapter, this took place on the Last Great Day.
John 7:38-39 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
"For the Holy Spirit was not yet given." Something else had to occur before the Holy Spirit was given. These men, then, who were following Jesus Christ could not receive what had not yet been given. How could they receive it? It was impossible.
John 16:7-8 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. When He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."
It was not given. He had not yet departed. He was not yet glorified. So how could these people receive what was not yet given?
Back in John 14, verse 17. Breaking into the midst of a sentence, He says,
John 14:17 ". . . the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will [future] be in you."
And what we have on the Day of Pentecost was the coming of the Comforter that Jesus spoke of, and it came with manifestations, that is, evidences that were undoubtedly given by God in order to attract attention to what was occurring. Not only attracted attention at that time but it is attracting our attention today, even here, 8/9/88, we are looking at the manifestations of the receiving of God's Spirit that very first time.
Now there is a fatal flaw in almost every one of these false doctrines. The fatal flaw the Pentecostals make is this: They are trying to copy and demonstrate the manifestations rather than following the teachings that were given that day, talking about the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Now there is the conclusion of the teaching that day. This is what he was aiming to. That is, that others would share in the gift that they had just been given. And so he proceeded to give a sermon that showed these people what was occurring, why it was occurring, and how they could participate in it. And so the conclusion was "Repent and be baptized." So there are two conditions for receiving the Holy Spirit. One is, of course, that we have to come to a place of self-abasement, self-mortification, full and unconditional surrender.
(Like our softball team did on Sunday. I left there with my tail dragging. You know what the score of that game was? It was so bad, I am not going to tell you. And I was totally abased because we beat those fellows twice during the year. And the worm turned. It became a big crocodile or something and chewed us up.)
It is really not the same thing at all. We do have to come to the place where we are totally surrendered unconditionally to God. Indeed, we are willing to give up everything for Jesus Christ, to give up everything for the Kingdom of God. It means that we have to come out of the world. It means that we have to turn. That word repent means not only a change of attitude, not just a mental change, but it also means, indicates, implies very strongly, a turning in the light. So not only does the mind change, but the conduct also changes with it.
There are an awful lot of people who have gone through a mental repentance. They have seen where they are wrong. They have been abased, they have had a measure of self-mortification, they have felt terrible remorse, but they never changed anything in their life, except maybe for a short period. They were not really willing to surrender, to give up everything for Jesus Christ. And so if we do really repent and we are baptized, then God promises that He will give His Spirit. That was the climax of the teaching on that day. And this is where the Pentecostal people go awry. They are trying to copy, to demonstrate the manifestations, the speaking in tongues, without really following the teaching, which is to repent. And if they would just repent, come out of the world, keep the commandments of God, surrender unconditionally to God, God would give them the gift of His Holy Spirit.
Now you know what they do. These people make a great deal of persistent, earnest, nagging prayer to God. I do not even know whether to call a prayer, to dignify it by using that word. But most of the time they are encouraged in a tarry meeting, where a number of seekers is what they call them, get together. And these seekers are usually joined by a number of other people who already have had their baptism of the Holy Spirit (they call it), and have already spoken in tongues. These who have already gone through this experience are there to guide the seekers to where maybe they will receive their baptism and they will also speak in tongues. And so they are encouraged to say repetitious phrases over and over again. You know glory, glory, glory or hallelujah, glory, love you Jesus, or whatever. And sometimes they are encouraged to, you know, hold their hands up in the air and kind of wave them around there and go on as long as they possibly can; and if they get tired, somebody will come, and like Joshua and Moses, hold up their arms for them as they are agonizing there in prayer. Sometimes those meetings can go on for hours and hours on end where these people are laboring in all sincerity.
I do not mean in any way to make fun of their earnestness in trying a counterfeit method of receiving the Spirit of God. And finally, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, somebody will be moved to speak in tongues and speak in a, maybe, fervent, rapid, agitated state. And they will then have given evidence that they have received the Spirit of God.
When I was a boy, I am sure that I got into at least a small measure of this. My grandmother was Pentecostal and every opportunity she could, she took me to services with her. And I know for sure that I did not actually get into a tarry meeting where they were praying like this, where someone was trying to get the Spirit. But I was in meetings where everybody would be on their knees and, and somebody would be up there giving a testimonial of how God had come into their lives or done something great for them, and everybody would be, glory, hallelujah, and kind of going along like that. It is a wonder I did not get turned off altogether.
But at any rate, let us go back to Luke's version of Christ's last days with them, in chapter 24, verse 49. This is one of the foundational scriptures these people use out of Jesus' own mouth. He says,
Luke 24:49 "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
There it is. There is the authority. We are supposed to tarry. Well, first of all, this was spoken to them. Now if we were going to follow the instructions explicitly, does it say not that we would have to tarry in Jerusalem? I mean, let us be logical. Because what they do is they pull out that one word and they say that you are supposed to tarry. Well, let us pull out another word, that word Jerusalem, and say, "Well, we are supposed to do it in Jerusalem." Now if we wanted to go one step further, it says, "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you." To whom was He speaking? He was speaking to the disciples. Specifically, apparently, to the ones called the apostles.
But that whole issue is to a very great extent cleared up simply by the definition of the word tarry. Tarry does not mean to pray. It does not mean to beg. It does not mean to agonize. It does not mean to repeat over and over. It simply means to wait. It simply means to remain. It means to stay in the same place. You know, Jesus told them to remain in Jerusalem. Jesus told them to stay inside of Jerusalem. He told them that they were to wait there until they receive power from on high.
Let us go back to Acts 1. There is another scripture there that they use.
Acts 1:13-14 [Now Christ has ascended to heaven.] And when they had entered [meaning the apostles and others of the disciples], they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
So there you have it. They were having a tarry meeting and they were all there together praying. They were praying in one accord. That is what it says. Well now, indeed, is that what they were doing? Undoubtedly, they were in prayer. It does not say that they were all praying at the same time. It just says that they were united in what they were doing. And undoubtedly they were going to be doing something like this. These were momentous days. They had just come through the most electrifying period of 50 or 60 days that anybody has ever come through in their life. They had seen their hero, their Lord and Master die. They had seen Him alive after every one of them had been totally assured was dead. And then there they were standing there, and they see Him rise up in the air and disappear up into heaven after He had preached to them a number of times during that 50 days. So naturally they were going to be praying. You would be praying. You would be praying for God's direction about what to do with your life. You know you would be doing that.
Now, if we understand the holy days, a great deal of this is cleared up. Let us go back to Leviticus 23. We are just going to look very briefly at three of the holy days. Actually three of the festivals because Passover is not a holy day.
Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month of twilight is the Lord's Passover.
Passover pictures the death of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. He died that our sins might be forgiven.
Leviticus 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And you understand that the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the putting of sin completely out of our lives. Now 50 days later, comes Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:10 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I give you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.'
If you have a New King James Bible, that paragraph is subtitled "The Feast of Firstfruits." Now we call it Pentecost today only because in Greek, it means "count fifty" and you have to count 50 from the Sunday after the weekly Sabbath that falls between the two holy days in the Days of Unleavened Bread. And you count 50 days and you arrive at the Feast of Firstfruits. Now the Jews, the Old Testament Israelites never called Pentecost, Pentecost. That is something that is strictly an offshoot of the Greek language. It was always called the Feast of Firstfruits. It had a secondary name called the Feast of Weeks because they had to count seven weeks, which was an alternate way of counting it. But its real name is the Feast of Firstfruits.
Now the New Testament church is the firstfruits of God's spiritual harvest. When the Comforter came, when the Holy Spirit came, it was to bring forth the firstfruits. See, first. It is important to understanding what happened there on that day of Pentecost in 31 AD. The disciples did not pray down God's Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a day. It is a day. It is not an experience, which is what the Pentecostal people are trying to make out of. They are trying to change a day into an experience, the experience of receiving the Spirit of God.
But Pentecost or Firstfruits is a day. It is a day on a calendar that is arrived at by counting from the Days of Unleavened Bread. God, from the very beginning, intended to begin His New Testament church, the firstfruits, on the Day of Pentecost, on the day of Firstfruits, 50 days after the Days of Unleavened Bread in which Jesus Christ died. All the praying in the world would never have changed the Day of Pentecost. All the praying in the world, all the agonizing, all the nagging, all the tarrying in the world would not have caused God's Holy Spirit to come one minute sooner. Because it was foreordained of God that it be given on that day.
They were not agonizing in prayer here in Acts 1:13-14, trying to pray down the Spirit of God. They were not having any kind of a tarry meeting. They were in one accord and they were praying because of the soberness and seriousness of the days in which they were living. God intended from the very beginning to give His Spirit on that day. There is no hint at all of pleading or begging or nagging or persistent prayer. They were just simply waiting as they were instructed to wait by Jesus Christ, there in Luke the 24th chapter.
Now back to the book of Acts. Notice these other occasions in the book of Acts—same author—where the Spirit was given. Acts 8, verse 12. Now Philip, who at that time was a deacon, had gone down to Samaria, he had preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God to some people who had repented. They believed.
Acts 8:12-17 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
You see there no tarry meeting. There was no sound, no cloven tongues, no fire, nothing. They just prayed, laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 10, verse 44. This is Peter and Cornelius.
Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.
Again, no tarry meeting? These people had already repented and the Holy Spirit fell on them while Peter was speaking. Now why? Because they met the conditions. They repented and they believed. God wanted Peter to get the point, to understand that the gospel was to go out to the Gentiles. And in case there was any doubt at all in his mind regarding the preaching of the gospel to those people, God gave the Spirit even before they were baptized. But again, no evidence at all of any kind of a tarry meeting or whatever.
Let us go to Acts 19, verse 1.
Acts 19:1-6 Now it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesized.
Again, these people had not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit. They had repented and they had been baptized. But there was something wrong with their baptism. So they were rebaptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Now the conditions were met. They did not have to hold a tarry meeting. There was no sudden rush of wind, no fire. There was a speaking in tongues, was there not? They spoke in tongues. That was the only condition, that was only manifestation that was met. None of the other things occurred. And above all, in no place was there any indication of any kind of a tarry meeting or begging of God for God's Holy Spirit.
Another factor that is a part of this, that is, what they call the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What is it? I mentioned before that the great mistake is that they are trying to copy the manifestations rather than believing or following the teaching of that day. Perhaps another central issue here is this thing about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is, what is it? Well, they have a wrong idea regarding it and it tends to influence their thinking on the other things as well.
Now their general idea is this. That a person somewhere along the line repents, is baptized, and he receives the Holy Spirit. But at a later date, afterwards, you see, as an entirely separate act, that if the person seeks diligently enough, that God will give this person His baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now what this baptism of the Holy Spirit is, is a special enduement of power to enable these people to witness for Jesus. That is, that they are given a greater fluency in their speaking. They are given a fearlessness to be able to stand up and testify before others of the things that He has done for them, or is willing to do for them, and that the evidence for this is that the person always speaks in tongues if they have been given this special baptism of the Holy Spirit.
They believe, and again sincerely, that all the apostles went through this. You see, that at some time during the course of following Christ, during that 3.5 years, they became converted, that they received the Holy Spirit, and then on the Day of Pentecost, they received this special enduement of God's Holy Spirit, and thus received the power to go out and proclaim the gospel to all nations. If that indeed is at least a major part of the whole issue, they are very, very wrong. We will just go to one scripture that shows, I feel, something very clearly. Back in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10. Now, to me, this scripture sums up what I am about to say. It says,
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin.
All of us know that under the Old Covenant, the religious life of these people was very strictly regulated by laws that God gave. God-given, yes. A great deal of ritualism, yes. But what is generally not known that I hope is known by all of all of us, is that at no time under the Old Covenant did God offer those people salvation. If He offered them salvation, then He must have also offered them the Holy Spirit. But He did not offer them the Holy Spirit. He could not offer them the Holy Spirit because there was not going to be any forgiveness of sin. And you see that the condition for the receiving of God's Holy Spirit was that the person had to repent. They had to stop sinning. They had to come under the blood of Jesus Christ. But there was no forgiveness of sin. Therefore, no Holy Spirit. And therefore, no eternal life.
There are other things, of course, too. There was no access to God. No promise of eternal life. It was strictly a material covenant. Now if there was no Holy Spirit connected to the Old Covenant, there was no conversion. There was no conversion possible until the Holy Spirit was given. Therefore, the apostles could not have possibly been converted because they did not receive the Holy Spirit until the Day of Pentecost.
Now, once you begin to understand that as a background, it wipes away the whole Pentecostal approach of a special enduement that comes as a result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Let us go back to John 16, verse 7 again.
John 16:7 "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."
Notice, it was expedient for them that Christ leave, and of course expedient for you and me. If they already had the Holy Spirit, why would He even say such a thing? They just did not have it. He is telling them in blunt language the very night that He died. I mean, where the sequence of events began that led to His death actually the next day. But here He is in the last 24 hours of His life, and they still do not have the Holy Spirit. That is pretty late in His ministry.
Let us go to John 15, verse 26, which says,
John 15:26 "But when the Helper comes [you see, it was not there yet], whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, it will testify of Me."
"I will send." It is yet future. He had not sent it yet.
John 14:15-16 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you the Helper, . . .
Now that is interesting, is it not? It was not the disciples who prayed for the Holy Spirit, it was going to be Jesus who would pray for the Holy Spirit. See, nothing in that whole Pentecostal approach is right. I do not think there is anything right about the whole thing. Once we begin to examine it in the light of Scripture, they have got virtually everything wrong.
John 14:16-17 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."
John 7:38-39 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
See, there is another nail in the coffin. The Holy Spirit would not be given until something else occurred. There are things that had to occur in God's purpose before the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Now back in Joel 2, the scriptures that Peter was quoting on that Day of Pentecost.
Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh."
Remember I mentioned to you last week that Peter changed that word afterward to the last days. And what he was doing when he did that, I am sure that God inspired it, is so that you would understand that the last days began when the Holy Spirit came to the earth. That is the New Testament interpretation of the word afterward in Joel 2:28. We then have a definite day that the last days began. The coming of God's Holy Spirit was the beginning of a new era, the church era, the firstfruits era.
Back to Acts 1.
Acts 1:4 Being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me."
And they heard from Him at least in Luke the 24th chapter and in John the 20th chapter, where He told them to wait until you be endued with power from on high. That was the promise of the Father. So they were to tarry there, to not depart, not leave, but remain in Jerusalem until the promise came.
I am giving you all these scriptures to show you that the Holy Spirit could not have been given before the Day of Pentecost there in 31 AD. Therefore, those apostles were not converted. The only ones that received the Spirit of God were those that God had a special mission to perform during the Old Covenant period. Those, of course, were those men and women whose names are so prominently mentioned in the Scriptures in the Old Testament. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob, and David, and the other prophets that you see named back there.
Luke 22, we really nail this one down. Jesus is speaking.
Luke 22:32 "But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me [the King James Version says, when you are converted], strengthen your brethren."
Converted is correct. The apostles were not yet converted.
Back in John 20:
John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Now that seems to be a puzzle to many. But it is not a puzzle if you believe all the weight of evidence that I just gave you. If He really gave them the Holy Spirit, then why even tell them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promise from the Father from on high? If He really gave them the Holy Spirit at that time, then everything that He said in regard and all of the prophecies in regard of the Holy Spirit are just knocked into a cocked hat and the Bible is contradictory. And yet the Bible said that the Scripture cannot be broken. All He did was breathe holy air on them. Spirit is breath. He went [mimics breath blowing]. Can you think of why? How did the Holy Spirit come? With the sound of a rushing mighty wind. He was giving them a little bit of a preview that they could latch on to and know immediately what was occurring. They would remember it.
Another thing to look at here is He did not say to them, "You have now received the Holy Spirit," past tense. But it was a forerunner of what was going to occur.
Now, just exactly, then, is this baptism of the Holy Spirit? If this is the crux of the issue and they are all haywire on this thing, what exactly is it? Let us go back to I Corinthians 12, verse 12.
I Corinthians 12:12-13 Whereas the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—whether Jew or Greek, whether slaves or free—all have been made to drink into one Spirit.
"For by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body." The word baptized means to immerse. It means to plunge into. The person is immersed or plunged into the thing he is baptized in. When you are baptized in water, you are plunged into, immersed in the water. That is very plain. Consequently, the baptism of the Holy Spirit—I am going to change a word here. Because I have been using a preposition here purposely because that is what the Pentecostals say: the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That phrase never appears in the Bible. What it says in the Bible is baptism or baptized with or, as we might say today, by means of. Consequently then, the baptism with, not of, but with the Holy Spirit is not our immersion into the Holy Spirit. Because the scriptures just told us that it is the baptism or entrance or plunging into or immersion into the church. By one Spirit, we were all immersed into, plunged into, one body.
Back to Romans 8, verse 9 again.
Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Now the key phrase this time is "dwells in you." If the Spirit is in us, that is, it dwells in us, then we belong to Christ. We are in Christ. We are in the Body of Christ. We have been plunged inside of it by means of the Spirit.
Matthew 3. I am just picking this verse out to show you the way that the Bible really phrases it. It seems as though John the Baptist could get it right, but the Pentecostals cannot.
Matthew 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Back to the book of Acts again. Now we are going to connect some words together here. I started to go through at least some of this last week. Just by comparing what it says in one place, with what it says in another place, we find a number of words that are being used synonymously so that they mean the same thing in the kind of context in which they appear.
What is it that makes us a member of the church? It is the receiving of God's Holy Spirit. That is what plunges us into the church. Therefore, the receiving of God's Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or by the Holy Spirit, or with the Holy Spirit are both the same thing. They are one and the same. They are not different. They are the same thing.
Acts 1:5 "For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, they received the Holy Spirit. Being baptized with the Holy Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit are exactly the same thing.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
Filled with the Holy Spirit is the same as baptized with the Holy Spirit, is the same as receiving the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is the same as being baptized with the Holy Spirit, is the same as being filled with the Holy Spirit. Incidentally, in the next couple of verses, 3,000 of them were baptized and they receive the Holy Spirit. There is not one word of anything even coming close to tarrying or begging or praying down the Holy Spirit of God.
Again, in Acts 10. Now here we have the story of Cornelius and his household receiving the Holy Spirit. Let us jump over into chapter 11. We find Peter being called upon to explain what went on there. So verse 4, it says,
Acts 11:4 Peter explained to them [that is, the people in Judea, in Jerusalem], in order [step by step] from the beginning.
Acts 11:14-16 . . . who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'"
Now there is the Holy Spirit falling on them and that word is equated with baptism, is equated with receiving, is equated with fell upon, filled with (that is the one I am looking for).
Acts 11:17-18 "If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?" When they heard these things, they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."
And that last statement there proves that this was their first occurrence of receiving the Holy Spirit. Because the Gentiles were not contacted before. And the Gentile Cornelius received the Holy Spirit when he met the conditions. He was repentant. He believed. God gave him the Holy Spirit. And so it fell upon them as at the beginning.
This baptism of the Holy Spirit was not something that was subsequent to a former conversion and receiving the Holy Spirit. So falling, fell, receiving, gift, baptism in the book of Acts are all used synonymously.
The next question is: is tongues always the sign one has received the Holy Spirit? Let us go back to Matthew the 7th chapter in a very familiar scripture. Verse 20 is the scripture that says every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their tongues, you will know them. No, it does not say that. It says, "by their fruits you shall know them." Who is going to be of God and who is not? Who is a false minister and who is not? It is by the fruits, by what they produce in their life that they are known.
I Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, . . .
Love is a fruit of God's Spirit. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faithfulness, self-control. All of those are fruits of God's Spirit, and they are the thing, the manifestations that we look for to see whether or not a person has God's Holy Spirit. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels." Tongues are not the proof that one has God's Holy Spirit. Tongues can be counterfeited by Satan the Devil, but the love of God cannot be counterfeited by Satan because he has the wrong spirit. And because he has the wrong spirit, none of the fruits of God's Spirit can be counterfeited by him. He can come close. But when push comes to shove, then the love of God is going to show itself.
I Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
John 13:35 [Jesus said] "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Love there, I am sure, is put for all of the other fruits of God's Spirit because the others will follow as well. Love is the main thing, love is going to be the sign, evidence, manifestation of God's Spirit, not tongues.
I Corinthians 14. Now here is a chapter that has a great deal to say about the speaking in tongues. One thing maybe that needs to be interjected at this point is that tongues are a legitimate gift, talent, or ability of God's Spirit.
I Corinthians 12:4-10 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation [the evidence] of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all [That is, for the common good of the church.]: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
The speaking in tongues is a legitimate gift, talent, ability of God's Spirit. And if you look at it rightly, it is a gift of the gift, the gift being God's Spirit, and it is a gift of the gift, the ability to speak in tongues.
I Corinthians 14:5 [Paul says] I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied [meaning to speak under inspiration].
It seems to indicate that when a person speaks in tongues, he is not necessarily speaking under the inspiration of God. I do not see how that conclusion can be avoided.
I Corinthians 14:5 . . . but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.
Now the kind of tongues that these people in these movements are speaking are for the most part something that is unintelligible gibberish to those who are listening. Apparently some of this was evident in the Corinthian church. Because Paul says in verse 20,
I Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding, be mature.
II Timothy 1:7 says that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of a sound mind. That is important in understanding this.
Now the question is, should we seek the ability to speak in tongues? In verse 4, chapter 14, it says, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church." Now there are occasions when the speaking in tongues is a legitimate need of the church of God. It is not a legitimate need under the circumstances in which we are now operating. We all speak the same language. There is no need for the gift of tongues. And so if we should go to God seeking it, then it seems to me that since what Paul said here in I Corinthians 14:4 that, "he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself," then it is something that would be sought after for self-glory, self-edification, something that is selfish because it is not needed. And so therefore, we should not be seeking after it.
This chapter shows that this was a self-blessing that could very easily degenerate into sin, which is exactly what occurred. That is why it had to be written about and corrected. These people were undoubtedly getting some kind of a pumped up, what would we call it, trip, a vanity trip. A thrill, some kind of a feeling, a sensation of being able to really wow the local personnel there with their ability to speak in some other language that nobody else could understand. Now that kind of a usage is completely selfish. That is why it appears here in the Bible.
Why does God give us His Holy Spirit? There are a number of reasons. But certainly one of the most important is that it will give us the power to crucify the self, so that we can understand the deceitfulness of sin in contrast to the holiness of God. So that we are able to see what we are like and therefore be able to continue to abase ourselves, to be mortified, to continue to surrender our will to God in every area.
Of course, it is also given to us to give us the power to overcome. That we might be cleansed from all unrighteousness. That we might have imparted to us the righteousness of God. That we might be able to have the faith of Jesus Christ, to be able to understand God's Word, to give us the power to be able to be kind, to be gentle, to be patient, to be good. To be able to preach the gospel. That is why God has given His Holy Spirit. Not to give us a feeling. To enable us to carry out His will.
Back in Acts 1. We will just conclude with this scripture.
Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you [now here is why]; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
That is the commission God has given to each and every one of us. He has given us His Spirit, a small measure of His power to enable us to do this—to do it with our own life and to do it as a corporate body in the preaching of the gospel. To be a light wherever we are, to be the right kind of an example, we need the power of His Spirit to enable us to do that.
How is this power accomplished? Acts 2:38. Through repentance and faith. Through surrender and the trusting of God. Not through tarrying, not through persistent begging, not through pleading, but through repentance. Not through the sound of a rushing mighty wind, not through speaking in tongues, but through repentance and faith.
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Sermon Topics
The Gospel
