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Study of the Church:
Particulars of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21

by
Pastor Mark Montgomery
Ambassador Baptist Church
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Acts 2, We started a few weeks ago working our way through the book of Acts. We come to the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter number 2. We looked last week at the purpose for Pentecost. We look this week than at some of the particulars concerning Pentecost. We'll begin with verse number one. Just so we get a context we will probably read down through verse number 21. Acts 2 beginning with verse 1, let's read down through verse number 21.
The Bible says;
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day,
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke;
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
As we've mentioned already we began last week looking at the purpose for the day of Pentecost. The purpose of the day of Pentecost was not to begin the church. The church is already in existence. We gave you a laundry list of reasons last week why the church is already in existence. We have church discipline established in Matthew 18. The Bible tells in Hebrews that Christ sang in the midst of the church, which of course would have taken place at the last supper. So we have a church in existence. We have them in Acts 1 organized together. We have them holding business meetings. We have them holding prayer meetings. We have them together and doing some things, but we said there was one thing that was missing. And that is power.
Acts 1:8:
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you"
And that power was to make them be witnesses and we see that's what takes place on the day of Pentecost. They're already praying, they're already meeting, they're already doing all those things but weren't witnessing. They did not have the power for witnessing but on the day of Pentecost that power is given to them through the Holy Spirit. Certainly we have the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit takeing place there. But we have the Holy Spirit coming upon the local church and empowering it to go out for service.

And so we mentioned some last week that that is what we ought to be doing as a church, going out and winning souls to Jesus Christ. Pastor Tom's not in here. I think he's over in Junior Church. Are you here Tom? Okay, yes, he is. He's so easy to ignore. He's here this morning. He told me that while he's up at Northland,he met a man who Pastors in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He's a part time Pastor. Is that right? He's a dairy farmer. He's a part time Pastor with a church of 475 people. I want you to think about that. He's got 475 people in his church, he's been there for a little while. Probably close to 30 years on staff in one capacity or another. Missions trip? Every year half his congregation goes on missions trip. I want you to think about that. Half his congregation goes on a missions trip. He has got his people where they are wanting to go out and serve the Lord. They're in a printing ministry. They print Bibles. They are in a ministry where they are flying Bibles over to Russia and to Europe. They're involved in all these different things because the people got a grip on this idea that Pentecost was about empowering the church for service. He's taught his people how to tithe of their time in addition to their money. And he says in addition to going to church and things like that, the vast majority of his church gives 5 hours a week to church service. Not to going to the services but 5 hours a week to working in the church in some capacity. And they're doing a great work, not just in Oshkosh, Wisconsin but across the globe. Because they got a grip on this idea that the Holy Spirit coming was not just to comfort me and not just illuminate me but it was to empower us collectively to go out and make a difference in this community. So that's the purpose for Pentecost. It's not an experience that's to be repeated. It's not something we're suppose to be looking for, a Pentecostal experience. It's not that at all. It was the empowering of the local church for service.

Now I want you to look at some of the Particulars. We have groups today and organizations today that are looking for a Pentecostal experience. And they're looking for the fact that, you know, they spoke in tongues at this point so we should be speaking in tongues. And we're looking for some sort of mystical thing that is going to happen and some sort of experience to validate what we say we have and people are out there looking for that. And it's gaining momentum. And there are organizations out there that are being led by people that hold to this. One of the oppositions we have to the Promise Keepers movement is that the leadership of the Promise Keepers movement is all very much involved in this. In the Vineyard movement and the signs and wonders movement, looking for God to do all sorts of things in the heavens and ecstatic experience and things like that. And I think it would do us well as fundamental Baptist to look and see what the Word of God had to say about that.

Now we're not going to spent a great in depth time on it. We'll look at it this morning, that should cover it for us, because several months ago we spent a couple of months on I Corinthians 12,13, and 14. There the Bible spells out the gifts and the use of the gifts and being spiritual versus having a gift and if you come on Sunday nights you'll remember all those things and some of this will be a little bit repetitious this morning. But I know a lot of you don't make it out on Sunday nights and so for the benefit of you I think it would do us well,for the charismatic movement is sweeping our country.

Are we missing something? People say, "Well, do you speak in tongues?" "Well, no. I don't speak in tongues." "Well, why don't you speak in tongues?" "Well, my church doesn't do it." Well, la dee da. That's a pretty lousy reason, because if that reason is legitimate, then you go to a church that does speak in tongues and they speak in tongues because they're church does it. Does that make it legit? Do we do what we do because our church does it? I do this because my parents did it or I don't do it because my parents didn't do it. Is that our basis for theology in practice? No, our basis is the Word of God. And so we must go back and look and see what the Word of God has to say. I mean if the tongues movement and the charismatic movement is for today, then you and I are missing out on a good time. We really are. If it's for today, not only missing out on a good time but we're missing out on something that God has for us. Isn't that correct? Do you want to miss out on something God has for you? I don't. And so if we're missing out as a church body then we need to change some things. If we're not preaching and teaching the Word of God correctly than, we need to change some things. So, let's look and see the particulars of the day of Pentecost. Let's see if this is suppose to be repeated.

First of all I want you to see the situation. Got 5 points today, not all of them real long. The first one's kind of long so don't panic, but they're not all that long. Let's look at the situation.

verses number 4 and 5;
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Now there's a specific thing that's going on here on Pentecost and that is the feast of Pentecost. This is not just some day that they happen to speak in tongues or this thing happened to take place. It was a specific time 50 days after the Passover, where the Jews came into Jerusalem for this feast. I don't think God does anything by happenstance. Do you? I don't think it's a coincidence that God does it in this way. His plan was to reveal Himself and to have this happen on a day when Jews from all over the known world, at that time, from all over the world would be at Jerusalem. And so that's what He does. Now go back with me to chapter number 1, if you would please? Go back to
verse number 7.
"He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you"
So they were looking for the Holy Ghost to come for empowerment. When was the going to take place? Was it going to take place forever? Look at
verse number 5.
"For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost"
What do the next 4 words say?
"not many days hence."
Was this something that they were suppose to be looking for forever? For the next 2,000 years? He says there's something that's going to happen, not may days hence. Keep that in mind. There's not an indication of a perpetual thing here. He said this is going to happen, not many days hence. So we go not many days hence, 10 days. Christ ascends after 40 days and then 50 is the day of Pentecost, so right in there, we have not many days hence. The church has organized together. They're in the upper room, we see in chapter number 1. We've already looked at that and not many days hence passes and now this experience, if you will. If I can use that expression. This experience of Pentecost takes place. It happens 4 times in the Book of Acts. We've mentioned this before so it's a little repetitious, but I want you to see it. I want you to see it from the Scriptures. It happens 4 times in the Book of Acts. It happens here. Who is here? Who is the group of people that are involved in this? These are Jews. Is that correct? Isn't that what it says there in
verse number 5.
"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven"
So we have a Jewish, again I hate using this experiencefor the way it's ripped out of context so many times, but we have a Jewish experience going on. The Jews are hearing people speak in tongues.

Now, we have a second instance. We won't take time to look there. Acts chapter number 8, we have the filling of the Holy Ghost there. The word tongues is not mentioned by the way. I think you could make a safe assumption that it takes place, but it is not mentioned in Acts 8. We have in Acts 8 the ministry of Philip to the Samaritans. So, we have Jews in Acts chapter number 2, we have Samaritans in Acts chapter number 8. In Acts chapter number 10 we have the experience again and tongues are mentioned in Acts chapter number 10, and here we have Cornelius. What's the unique thing about Cornelius? He's a what? He's a Gentile. We've been working with Jews, in Acts chapter 2, Samaritans, half-breeds, in Acts chapter number 8. We go to Acts chapter number 10 and we have Cornelius, who is a Gentile, but he's within the land of Israel. He's a centurion with the Roman army. He is in Israel, that's where he is serving his country at. So we have a Gentile in Israel, who receives Christ as Savior. Who receives this baptism of the Holy Spirit, if you want to call it this. And this is given by speaking in tongues. The fourth time is Acts chapter number 19. Acts 19, again we have Gentiles. We have it in Ephesus. Where is Ephesus? Is Ephesus in Israel? No, it's in modern day Turkey. Quite a good distance away from Israel. So those are the four times we have it. We have Acts chapter number 2 with Jews. We have Acts chapter number 8 with Samaritans. We have Act chapter number 10 with Gentiles in Israel. And we have Act chapter number 19 we have Gentiles and Jews, I think, on the outside that are far away from Israel. They're out in different nations.

Now, go back with me to Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Having said that go back to Acts 1:8. Many of you can quote this verse.
"ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses"
Where? In Jerusalem. There's the Jews. Judaea, we have Jews there. We may have Gentiles like Cornelius that are saved in Israel at that point. Samaria, the Samaritans, Acts 8, and the uttermost part of the world, Acts chapter number 19. The four times that the Scriptures tells in the Book of Acts is this experience took place coincides with where Christ said it was going to take place, Acts 1:8, and the church as a whole is being put together. Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And it's not repeated. It's a done deal. Now, did people speak in tongues along the way? Certainly they did. Paul talks about that in I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14. But to say that we should be looking for Acts type of experiences today is not valid. Because the experiences that are given to us in Acts, the four experiences, are based right out of Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Hey, when the first century church comes along who did they.....Did they think the Gentiles were suppose to be included in salvation? No. They thought that salvation was for the Jews. Did they not? In fact, God has to send persecution upon them to get them out into the highways and hedges. Didn't He? Because they were just going to stay right there in Jerusalem and have it be a Jewish religion. Just like Old Testament Judaism had been. They didn't think that it was for Samaritan's. They were dogs. They didn't think it was for Gentiles. Those were the heathens. It was suppose to be just for the Jews and Christ was saying, "Look, salvation is for the Jews, it's for the Samaritans, it's for Gentiles here in Israel, it's for Gentiles and anybody scattered abroad. Salvation is for everybody." And so in the Book of Acts He is showing that by giving them this experience of tongues. Or this filling of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 11, if you would please. Look there, I want to show you something. A lot of times we get the impression that tongues is just going on in every place you look in the Book of Acts and things like that. People are speaking in tongues. You don't see that in the Book of Acts. Again, three instances in the Book of Acts and one that we can read into. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't in Samaria.

Look here at Acts chapter number 11. Peter is speaking here and he's talking about the conversion of Cornelius. That's the context.

Verse 15;
"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them,"
He's talking about Cornelius
"as on us at the beginning."
"Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost."
"For as much than as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that could withstand God?"
"When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."
So Peter is coming here and he's telling the Jews what? That Gentiles can be saved. He's saying "Here, Jews, you understand it? You see it? That Gentiles can be saved and we know they can be saved because they had this same experience of speaking in tongues, this baptism of the Holy Spirit. They had the same thing."

Now I want you to notice something very interesting. Look what he says in verse 15. He says "I saw that the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us "at the beginning"." Note that phrase at the beginning. Does he say that the Holy Ghost fell on them like it fell on me yesterday? Like it fell on me last week? Like it fell on me last month? Does he say that? No. He says "at the beginning."

I gave you this when we studied I Corinthians 12,13, and 14. I'd be curious on how many of you remember. How much time has passed from Acts 2 to Acts 11? Anybody know? 8 years have passed. 8 years, have passed between Acts 2 and Acts 11. If tongues was something that everybody was doing and the baptism of the Spirit was something that everybody was getting all the time, why did Peter have to go event 8 years previous to prove his point? Why didn't he say they're speaking in tongues just like we spoke in tongues at church last week? Because they weren't speaking in tongues the week before. Hey, they had the baptism just like we had last month. They didn't have the baptism last month. They had it at the beginning and now the Gentiles were having it. And again, that shows why Christ was trying to teach them in Acts chapter number 1 verse 8. That they we're going to give it to the Jews. That they we're going to give it to the Samaritans. That we're going to give it to the Gentiles. We're going to give it to the uttermost parts of the earth. That all are going to receive this and all are going to be part of the church. And all are going to be able to be empowered for service. It wasn't a continuous thing. If it was it was very foolish for Peter to say "at the beginning." He goes back 8 years, to find a reference point to show them what was going on.

Go with me if you would please to I Corinthians 14. I told you this first point was long. The others are a lot shorter than this. We're looking at the situation here on the day of Pentecost. Different than what's going on today. What was the purpose for tongues. I think there are probably several but there's one that overrides and that's what we go to in I Corinthians 14. I think we do have tongues validating the ministry of the Apostles, the first century church. I mean why did the Jews come and listen on the day of Pentecost, because there are all these people speaking in tongues. They were marveling and they were coming and listening. So it validated their ministry. It was used I believe along with interpretation as a way of giving revelation, to the first century church. Again, did the church have the completed Cannon of Scripture in the first century. No, none of the New Testament was written at that time. So they did not have the completed Cannon of Scripture and so God was still revealing Himself in supernatural ways. So that was part of the reason, but the Bible does lay out for us a very specific reason why the gift of tongues was given to the first century church. Look with me if you would please, I Corinthians 14:21. Again the whole context here is speaking in tongues. Chapter 12, 13, and 14, he's saying that you can have gifts and not be spiritual here. Remember that, you can have charismata, the word for gifts, without being pneumatica, without being spiritual. And you need to be spiritual and the gifts are secondary. That's the whole thrust of chapters 12, 13, and 14. He comes here and gives the specific reason for tongues.

Chapter 14:21.
"In the law it is written."
This is a quote from Isaiah.
"In the law it is written. 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. Wherefore,"
What does wherefore mean? It's a connector that says that what we've just given you previously, connects to what we're going to say right now. Verse number 21 is not some arbitrary verse that was just thrown in there for no purpose. He didn't have anything else to say so he thought he'd quote Isaiah. It is give for a specific reason. Wherefore, because of this quote I've just given you
Verse number 21.
"Wherefore tongues are for a sign,"
A sign of what? I think that's the question there. They're a sign, a sign of what? Well, Isaiah Chapter number 28:1-11, (we won't take the time to look there, you can do it on your own,) or this quote is going to tell us. Oh we better go there Isaiah 28, just make sure we got it straight. I don't want you to think I'm lying to you. Isaiah 28, we could go through here and he pronounces a "woe to the crowns of pride" and Ephraim and things like that in verse number 1. He's a "mighty tempest" in verse number 2, "a destroying storm." "Trodding under feet" in verse number three. We come down to verse number 6, "for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment." Verse number 7 "they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink," He goes through there. They "err in vision, they stumble in judgment." Verse 8, "the tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean." He say verse 9 "How am I goin' to teach them knowledge? How should we make them understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;". Verse number 11, "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." That's where the quote is in I Corinthians 14. What he's saying is when the Jews hear someone speaking in a foreign, in another tongue, they're are going to know that the judgment of God is at hand. When the Jews hear someone speaking in another tongue they're going to, get this, they're going to know that the judgment of God is at hand.

Now go back to I Corinthians 14. When they hear someone speaking in another tongue, they're going to know that impending judgment of God. Now, that's what verse 21 is all about in I Corinthians 14. You can't find anything else. That's what he's talking about because he quotes it from Isaiah.

Now, because the Jews will know of the impending judgment of God when they hear people speaking in tongues. Wherefore, tongues are a sign. What were tongues a sign of in the New Testament? The impending judgment of God. That's what he says. It's very clear. He quotes the Old Testament to prove it. This is not me making something up off the top of my head. He quotes the Old Testament to prove it. That people with a stammer, would hear these stammering lips and a different tongue and they would realize that God's judgment was going to fall, and again there are other references. We won't take time to look at but this is the quote, right here. They would realize that the judgment of God was going to fall because they heard people speaking in different tongues. And he says tongues are a sign in the first century church, I Corinthians 14, they're a sign. By the way, who are they a sign too? "Not to them that believe but to them that believe not." The believer didn't need it. Did they? They knew the holiness of God. They knew the judgment of God. They had trusted Christ as Savior. They had made preparations. Tongues were for a sign to people that would not believe. That's what he says there. They weren't designed for something to be self-edifying. The weren't designed for something to be going on here and there. They were designed to show unbelieving Jews that the judgment of God was going to fall.

Now, back to Acts chapter number 2. Let's go back there now. Look at verse number 16. The accusations has been made that these disciples,..... that the church is drunk. That's why they're doing all this and Peter says, "We're not drunk, it's too early in the morning." And again, not just the fact that people don't go out drinking that early but because the custom and things like that. It just would not have taken place. Even the heathen would not have been drunken at that point in time or a completely irreligious Jew would not have been drunken at that time.

Look at verse number 16;
"But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and you sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:"
"And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:"
Peter's saying, "Look, Joel said that this was going to happen. This is the same spirit that Joel was talking about, that these things were going to take place."
Verse 19;
"And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:"
"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come."
Now, some people say, "Well, look, Joel said it was going to take place the last days and it starts a Pentecost and so we should be continuing today, right." Here's our problem. Look at verse number 19 and 20. "I will show wonders in heaven," "blood, fire, vapor of smoke, sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood." Did that happen at the day of Pentecost? Absolutely not. The didn't take place on the day of Pentecost. When is that going to take place, Bible scholar? The tribulation. At the end of the tribulation period. That's when that's going to take place. And the tribulation is all about what? Is the tribulation designed for the Jews or is it designed for the Gentiles. It's designed for the Jews. I mean certainly Gentiles are going to be dealt with but the 7 year tribulation is designed for the Jews and Gods going to begin working with the Jews again. And what is He going to do. He's going to be giving signs, and He's going to be giving prophecy, and He's going to be giving tongues so that the Jews will say what? "Judgments coming. Judgments coming."

So what was the Judgment in Acts chapter number 2? If you're a history buff you will know that in AD 70, Titus comes marching through with his Roman army. He sacks Jerusalem. The temple is torn down completely, so that "no stone lays upon another" as Christ prophesied. They did that because there was gold in the mortar between the bricks and they wanted to get the gold out of the bricks and so they tore the bricks down and melted it out so they could get the gold out and there was no stone standing upon another. The Jews for all intent and purposes cease to be a nation until the 1940's. Am I right? That's what happened. You hear somebody speaking in other tongues, Jews, what's coming? Impending judgment. When did the judgment come? AD 70. And I submit to you that after AD 70 you don't see tongues anymore. Because there is no purpose. The purpose they were there for had been fulfilled and there was no need for them again.

If it weren't for I Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 you wouldn't read about tongues after the Book of Acts. Would you? You wouldn't see them and I Corinthians 12,13, or 14 are written to the most carnal church in the New Testament. To correct them for their false teaching. So I think we need to keep that in context. There is a special situation going on here. Impending judgment geared towards the Jews. Gonna happen in AD 70. It's going to be repeated in the tribulation period when great tribulation is going to be coming. Remember the Bible says, "Woe unto them that are giving suck," and you got to be ready to flee into the mountains and all of that different stuff. Great judgments coming. How are you going to know, Jews. Hey, well there's going to be signs and wonders in the heaven, but I'll tell you what else. People are going to be speaking in tongues. That's the tribulation period. We're not there. Therefore tongues are not for today. We have a very specific situation.

Let me give you these last points very quickly. I want you to see the Signs.

Acts 2:2;
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting."
"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them."
If we're looking for a Pentecostal experience than we ought to be having a Pentecostal experience, shouldn't we? If we're looking for a Pentecostal experience, let's have one. Let's have one. If we're going to speak in tongues, then let's have a rushing mighty wind and let's have some cloven tongues of fire alight on our heads. If you're going to take it. You've got to take it, right? We don't get to pick and choose. That's like those that use that last few verses of Mark to prove the speaking in tongues and things like that. I see most of them aren't picking up serpents. If you're going to take one, you've got to take them all. You've got to drink some poison. If you're going to take one, you've got to take them all. And so here we want a Pentecostal experience of speaking in tongues but we're not looking for cloven tongues of fire. We're not looking for mighty rushing winds. That was there, at Pentecost. So we see its different than what we are looking for today. Look at their Speech,
verse 6;
"Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak,"
Angel talk? Is that what it says? Heard them speak in "other languages." Isn't that..... "in his own language" it says.
Verse 8;
"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?"
And it list them out just in case somebody thinks maybe that's not what he means. He list them out very specifically.
Verse 11;
"we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."
Not only did they understand the language. They understood what was being said and what was being said was glorifying God. It's very specific here. The King James translators have done a service in that when they added a word that was not in the original text, they put in italics. I appreciate that fact, but they did not do us a service by adding the word unknown in Corinthians. They kept speaking in unknown tongues, unknown tongues. They were unknown to the speaker but they weren't unknown to the hearers. They were known languages. Not a gibberish. Not an angel talk. I heard one man say this one time. I thought it was very good. He said, "What language do angels speak in?" Well, I'll tell you what. You go through the Bible, any time an angel talked to somebody they understood what they said. Right? That's what you find in the Scriptures. Now, I don't know what they talk up in Heaven. I had a professor in college say he was teaching his kids Hebrew so they would know how to talk when they got to Heaven. I don't know? I don't know what they speak but suffice it to say this, we don't have angel talk going on here. We don't have gibberish. We don't have ecstasy going on. We have known languages being spoken and that's what you find all through the Scripture. No babbling. At the Lord's Prayer, when he's teaching on the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer, what does he say? Not to use vain repetition that the heathen do. Don't just babble on and on and on and on and on. Don't do that. That was the heathen did that. By the way if you study the history of the charismatic movement, things like that, you will find that, except for a few strange sects that are out there, a few strange groups, and I'm not talking about Christian groups, I'm talking about heathen, pagan, you know mixing a little truth with a little error, I'm not talking about just a Christian group that we may not agree with completely, I'm talking about whacked out religious groups, there is no evidence of tongues at all from near the end of the first century until the beginning of the 20th century. The Azuzo St. out there in California and the beginning of the Pentecostal movement. Where was all this for nineteen hundred years, if it was something we were suppose to be doing. How come the early church Fathers didn't do it. How come? I mean if this is something that's suppose to be going on, it should have been going on. It's not. It was not given for that purpose. We have a special event taking place here, as the church is empowered for service.

Who were the Spectators? This is point number 4. See I told you the last ones were quick. Who were the spectators? Obviously, they are Jews. Verse number 5 tells us that. In the Book of Acts the Jews are always present when tongues are spoken in. I Corinthians 1, let's go there very quickly. Again I am rapping this up here. You might find that hard to believe, but I really am. Jews are the spectators. I Corinthians 1:21, this is a great passage but we don't have time to read it all.

"For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
By the way, let me say this. If you ever, if I'm ever not your Pastor or you go to another church or whatever, you make sure you go to a church that believes in preaching. God did not call musicians to deliver the gospel message. I'm all for music. I think it's a part of the church service. It sets the mood. It delivers the message but the Bible does not say "He used the foolishness of music to bring people to Christ. He did not say He used the foolishness of recreational activities or midnight basketball or whatever. All those things can be used to bring people under the sound of the preaching of the Word of God. All that is what's that's for. You can deliver a message through that, yes, but God uses preaching, verbal communication of the Word of God. He said it's kind of foolish. And by the way you will find that in today's society, even in some areas of evangelicalism that preaching is taking a back seat. Is it not Brother? You've seen that. You've been around the block a lot longer than I have. Way, a lot longer than I have. Preaching is taken a back seat. We're going to have dramas. We're going to have music. We're going to have plays. We're going to have this. We're going to have that. All those things have their place. But it's preaching that makes a difference and we need to get back to that.
Look at verse number 22.
"For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:"
"The Jews require a sign." They're always looking for signs. Remember what's his name with the fleece? Help me out. Gideon, thank you. I should have that in my notes, shouldn't I. Gideon and his fleece. Now wouldn't you think that if you had a conversation with and angel that that would motivate you to do what your supposed to do? You would think so, but Gideon says, "Nah." I always get it backwards. I can never remember which one is which or which one comes first. But he says, "I'll tell you what. I'm gonna put out this fleece and you make the fleece wet and the ground dry." Okay, we'll do that. So now he's had a conversation with an angel and a sign. Is that good enough? Oh, no. Anybody can do that. "I'll tell you what. This time your gonna make the ground wet and the fleece dry. Now, this is all happened, I think I can go with this." The Jews require a sign. They were always looking for that. The Greeks wanted wisdom. They wanted some deep intellectual explanation for everything. The Jews wanted a sign. Now, I Corinthians 14, we were there a minute ago. Look at this. Verse number 22, "Wherefore tongues are for a" What? Sign. Were tongues for Gentiles? No. I mean Gentiles spoke in tongues to prove to the Jews what was going on. The Jews were the ones that needed a sign. The Jews were the ones that tongues were based on. Again, anytime you see tongues in the Scriptures you have Jews present. Because they were the ones that required the sign and God said "I'm going to give you a sign, which is tongues." Again we see in the birth of Christ. Don't we? You know, you've got an angelic host speaking to shepherds and what did they say. And this shall be a what? A sign. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. Even after seeing all these people they needed a sign. Didn't they. So we see the Jews requiring the sign. Tongues is a sign therefore it was designed for the benefit of Jews.

Last thing and I'm done. The Sayings. We've seen the situation, the signs, the speech, the spectators, lastly the sayings. What did they say. Are they glorifying themselves? No. They're talking about the wonderful works of God, verse number 11. They're proclaiming the wonderful works of God and people from other nations and languages are hearing them say this. And this leads them to Peters great message on the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Acts chapter number 2 and we'll get to that next week. Now, we've not even looked at much in I Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. We did that before. But is Pentecost; you don't have to answer out loud. I want you to answer in you heart; is Pentecost something that we should looking to repeat today. No. No. It's a completely unique situation. For a unique purpose. What is going on today under the heading of the charismatic movement or the Pentecostal movement is not anything similar to this. It's being done by Gentiles for the most part, not by Jews. We can go to I Corinthians 14 where the Bible sets down some specific things on speaking in tongues. One of which was that you had to be a man to do it. We certainly don't see that taking place. The vast majority of tongues speakers I think in most churches are women. It's a woman's movement. Everything was to be done decently and in order, no gibberish, no whole bunch of people jumping up at the same time. The Bible says in I Corinthians 14, that you are only allowed to have two or at the most three in any meeting and they had to take an order in turn. They couldn't just jump up whenever they felt like it and at the most two or three, not everybody in the church. And it also establishes in I Corinthians 7:14 that if there was no interpreter, sit down and shut up. If you can pardon the expression. No speaking in tongues unless there's somebody to interpret. Why? Because when you spoke in tongues nobody knew what you were talking about. Alright? There had to be an interpreter. In fact, he goes so far as to say if somebody comes into your church that is unlearned, and everybody is speaking in tongues, won't they think your mad. Isn't that the word he uses. They'll think your nuts. He said "so this is not the way to go." And Pentecost is certainly not the way. Or the passage to base the speaking in tongues on. It's a one time experience. The empowering of the church to serve, for service. Showing what God was going to do. Showing unbelieving Jews that the judgment of God was going to fall and they needed to get ready.


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