Speaking In Tongues

[0:00] I welcome you today to today's video on the subject of speaking in tongues. It's a very important! subject for believers today because there's a lot of misunderstanding on this subject.

[0:13] ! At one time I was part of the modern Pentecostal movement, trained in it, Bible schooled in it, a preacher, an ordained minister of the movement. I know a lot about speaking in tongues. And having experienced that and now comparing that experience with the Bible, I've come to a very clear understanding on the subject which I'd like to share with you today. Please join with me as we watch this video.

[0:41] Now, friends, it's a subject today, speaking in tongues, a subject of which there's much controversy and we're going to learn what the Bible actually teaches about the subject.

[0:51] This is what is fundamental and most critical for every one of us, is that we understand what the Bible actually says about the subject. I want to shed some light on the subject of tongues from the Word of God. The Bible teaches us about tongues. They occur in a number of places. A number of places. We see that they occur in three references in three books of the Bible. Once in Mark, in chapter 16, verse 17, the Lord said, they shall speak with new tongues. This was fulfilled at Pentecost. In Acts we see three instances, three instances over the first 30 years of church history. There's three instances in Acts, Acts 2, 10 and 19, over the first 30 years of church history. And then we see tongues is talked about in 1 Corinthians. I believe in speaking in tongues. It's in the Word of God. The question is, are we following what it is intended for? Are we doing it according to the Word of God? Paul tells the

[1:57] Carmel Corinthians how to use tongues. They've been translated a number of references, a number of rules about words. And one point in fact was that women were not to speak in tongues. He said he'd rather speak five words with his understanding than 10,000 words in a tongue. That's 1 to 2,000 in a ratio. So Paul didn't write tongues as a high priority. So what is tongues? What is it and what is it for? As I say, we've got three references, three occasions in the book of Acts 2, tongues. The first one, number one, the first occasion in Acts was in Acts 2, in verses 4 to 6, as you've got it there. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Note that they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews. Verse 6, it tells us, every man heard them speak in his own language. God-fearing Jews, they'd come from far and wide to Pentecost to that festival. God-fearing Jews were there from at least 15 different nations and it says they were utterly amazed. They were utterly taken aback. They heard the disciples speak in their very own native, known, foreign tongues. And today's tongues, in comparison, in contrast, today's supposed tongues have never been verified as actual languages. Repeated tests by linguists, by professionals have tried to test them in a fair way. And they've never found them to be nothing other than babble, not languages, as the Bible says. Moving on. Next reference is Acts 10. Acts 10, the second reference to where tongues occurs in the book of Acts, the history book of the Church of God. Acts 10, verse 44 on it says, while Peter yet spake, he'd just been preaching, while he had spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision, note that, they of the circumcision, that's Jews, they of the circumcision which believed, were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Here again we see tongues were a confirming sign of the gospel message, this time by the

[4:41] Gentiles. They showed the equality of Gentile believers with the Jews through faith. God showed, again, to those present, how he was moving in the lives of the Gentiles of the day. That's the second reference. And the third reference we see, where God poured out his Holy Spirit in a special way in Acts chapter 19, verse 6, and it says, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Here it was, in this third reference to tongues, here it was at the Gentile city of Ephesus, after John the Baptist's disciples learned about the Lord Jesus, God's Spirit confirms through tongues, through the languages, through the languages, through the languages, through the languages, the truth of the message, and that believers of every background are equal by faith. We see that it was a very special sign of acceptance. It was a sign that God had accepted these people on each occasion. Tongues are seen, as I say, at these three places, as well as at Corinth, at Jerusalem,

[5:49] Caesarea, Ephesus, and Corinth. These cities, each of these four cities, all had large Jewish populations. Through tongues, through this special endowment of languages, God showed the Jews that his blessing and power was upon those who claimed Christ as Saviour and Lord. It was a sign that God had brought the Holy Spirit and that the Church was born. Gentiles and Jews were together, one body in Christ. The first believers came from four distinct groups. Four distinct groups, as we see here. We see the Jewish believers in Acts chapter 2.

[6:30] In Acts chapter 2, the Jewish believers. We see, secondly, the Samaritan believers in Acts 8 verse 17. We see, thirdly, the Gentile believers in Acts 10, 45 to 46. And we see, fourthly, the disciples of John the Baptist in Acts 19 verses 1 to 6. Friends, the Word of God tells us about speaking in tongues. It tells us how it is to be exercised. It tells us who it is for. It is a sign of acceptance. It was a special sign of God's acceptance of the people, the Jewish, the Gentile people. It was a sign of their acceptance. And secondly, we see that it was a sign for unbelievers. We see in Paul's instructions, he's very carefully laid out instructions in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 22. Tongues were not for Christians so much as a sign, as a public sign for unbelievers. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 22 tells us just that. I'll just refer to that.

[7:39] It says there, wherefore tongues are for a sign, for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Friends, it says it was a sign for unbelievers. And we see that in its occurrences, as I've mentioned here, in Acts 2, 10 and 19, a sign for unbelievers. It was a sign to the unbelieving, unregenerate Jews in Acts 2, confirming the gospel that was preached by the apostles. In Acts 10, it was confirming to the unbelieving, saved Jews that God was extending salvation to the Gentiles.

[8:19] And in the third reference, in Acts 19 verse 6, it was a confirmation to the unbelieving who thought they were saved Jews, confirming that salvation was not through a work, but through Christ. So friends, it was very clearly and truly a sign for unbelievers. You know, some in the present day make the mistake they think it's a sign for believers. Well, the Bible most clearly says that it is not for believers.

[8:45] It is a sign for unbelievers. And so we see, who was it for? It was specifically a sign for the Jews. A sign for the Jews. In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 22, right at the start of the book where Paul talks about tongues, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 22, Paul writes that the Jews require a sign. And signs are always connected, always connected with Israel. In 1 Corinthians 14 verse 21, it says, chapter 14, verse 21, 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. Paul was quoting Isaiah 28 verses 11 and 12, where Isaiah 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. God had spoken to Israel at the time of Isaiah Isaiah that in their own clear language. God had spoken to them for centuries and yet Israel did not listen. And ultimately, as we know, Israel ultimately executed her own Messiah. God, in that context, showed about the Assyrians coming to invade and take Jerusalem. Here we see a picture of an Assyrian soldier. The Assyrians invaded and captured and took captive the Israel people, as Isaiah had referred to. And yet, Paul refers to this same scripture in 1 Corinthians 14 as also having the reference to how God was going to show through the outpouring of this special gift of tongues that he had turned from the Jews to the Gentiles with the message of salvation. That was the whole point of tongues. Tongues was a rebuke against the unbelieving Jews. Every occasion of tongues in the Bible happen in the presence of Jews. So we see it was a sign for the Jews and also we see it was especially a sign of judgment.

[10:51] When we see tongues or the confusion of languages of various tongues of various languages, we see right at the beginning, now the Bible's got a principle of the law of first mention, where you should interpret things by the first mention of something.

[11:05] We see languages, the diversity of languages at the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel, when God confused the languages in a sign of judgment. Tongues is symbolic of judgment. Tongues means judgment. God foretold by Isaiah that one day, because the nation did not listen when he talked to them in their own language on Hebrew, that he would speak in a language that they would not understand. They had rejected and crucified their Messiah.

[11:33] This was God's sign to the unbelieving Israel that they were going to be set aside. There was a specific warning of coming judgment. God was going to set them aside and take the Gentiles into his plan.

[11:46] Isaiah 28 verse 11, just to repeat, For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. That's Isaiah 28 verse 11, With another tongue will he speak to, get this, this people.

[12:02] This people. Now who is he referring to? The nation of Israel. Tongues are a sign for this people. Israel had rejected the divine message through Isaiah.

[12:14] They were carried away into Assyria. The stammering lips and another tongue of their captives would be God's message in judgment to them. For a Jew, this was unthinkable. For God to speak to them in a language other than Hebrew, for God to speak to them in a Gentile language, that was unthinkable.

[12:32] God was rebuking their unbelief. He was humbling them. He was bringing them low. In God's sign of judgment, he spoke through the despised Gentiles. And Paul quotes this same verse of Isaiah, as I say, in 1 Corinthians 14, 21, The foreign tongue, the foreign tongue of the Assyrians was God's sign to Israel, of his rejection of them in Isaiah's day and of judgment.

[12:55] And the foreign tongues that the people heard on the day of Pentecost, possibly 14 different languages, 14 different tongues on the day of Pentecost, was God's sign to them that they were again rejected.

[13:09] And God's message was now to go to the Gentiles in their tongue. The unbelievers of 1 Corinthians 14, verse 22, were the Jewish people. The Jewish people.

[13:21] God had begun a new work, a new work, which encompassed the Gentiles. It was a sign that the Spirit of God had come. God was at work. It was God's sign to unbelieving Israel, that because they wouldn't listen to God in the language that they could speak, God would now begin to speak in judgment in a language that they could not understand.

[13:43] Just one closing section. The sign has been fulfilled.

[13:54] The sign has been fulfilled that God gave. In 70 AD, the judgment came that God had indicated through the sign of tongues.

[14:05] Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the nation was dispersed. There's no biblical record of any sign manifested after this. When the sign was fulfilled, the sign ceased.

[14:19] In AD 70, the Romans put the Jews out of the land, a judgment from God for rejecting their Messiah. Tongues had been a sign to the Jew of this coming judgment.

[14:30] Friends, the fact is that the gift of tongues is no longer necessary today. It serves no useful purpose. According to 1 Corinthians 14, verse 21 and 22, which tell us the purpose for which tongues was given, tongues were originally given as a sign to unbelieving Israel.

[14:50] This purpose has been fulfilled. Israel as a nation today has been set aside, and the gospel is going out into all the world in many languages. According to 1 Corinthians 13, verse 8, tongues shall cease, or pass away, and permanently so.

[15:10] The meaning of the word is to cease permanently, to stop completely, and permanently, to totally come to an end. It's an undeniable fact of history, in fact, that this miraculous sign, and the sign gifts, did cease at the end of the apostolic age, when the canon of scripture was completed.

[15:31] Miracle gifts, like tongues and healings, are mentioned only in 1 Corinthians, at a very early stage, a very early letter. The revelatory gifts ceased to have a purpose, when the Bible was written, and so they passed away.

[15:46] In 1 Corinthians, Paul said tongues would cease, and according to history, they did. Tongues begin to cease after 1 Corinthians. They don't appear anymore after that.

[15:57] There is no mention of tongues by early church writers. In AD 95, Clement of Rome's letters to Corinth gives no mention of tongues.

[16:10] Early Christians viewed tongues as obsolete and non-existent. Friends, the subject is clear in the word of God. I pray this has been a help to you, that you'll have that clearer understanding what tongues was for, and how we should understand it for today.

[16:26] I pray that God may bless you, and lead you on this important subject, and that you would have a clear, and biblical understanding. God bless you.