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[0:00] So tonight we're talking about the subject of pneumatology. pneumatology and really that means the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.! So Holy Spirit, the definition of the Holy Spirit, He is holy.

[0:14] ! We see that in the Old Testament the word Holy Spirit is used three times, in the New 93 times. Of course in the King James it's Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost translating the same word anyway.

[0:28] And so Holy means set apart, sacred and then Spirit means wind or breath. As we see the Hebrew Ruach and the Greek Pneuma.

[0:43] So that's where we get the word pneumatology. Of course we can think you've got pneumatic tyres so they've got air in them. You've got air in them and some of you might use pneumatic drills so air powered drills.

[0:55] So it means the air, it means the wind, it means breath. And the Holy Spirit is compared to like the wind or breath as in the sense that He is invisible, immaterial and He's powerful.

[1:09] So we see numbers of references there. In your notes you can see a lot more scripture references. You can look them up one by one if you want to catch up with all of that. We know the Holy Spirit is like God's breath.

[1:22] He breathed into man, into Adam and gave him the breath of life. Other symbols about the Holy Spirit that the Bible uses. The Holy Spirit is shown to be likened to clothing.

[1:36] So it talks about endued with power or in other words clothed with power. That's Luke 24, 49. He's likened to a dove. He comes in appearance as a dove at Christ's baptism.

[1:49] Fire is used to the Holy Spirit. They had cloven tongues of fire at Pentecost. The oil is also in the sense of anointing as symbolic of empowerment.

[2:00] The Holy Spirit is likened to water. The Lord says that out of your belly shall come forth rivers of living water. He's also called the earnest and seal.

[2:11] So He's sealed us and He's given us this earnest which means a down payment or a guarantee. Apparently the Greek word is likened to an engagement ring.

[2:21] So it's kind of a pledge, a down payment, a guarantee. And a seal speaks of ownership and of protection as well. So all of these symbols, there's manifold symbols that speak of the Holy Spirit.

[2:33] You can look at those in more detail in all those references in your notes there. The names and titles of the Holy Spirit, they're manifold as well. There's numbers of them here. So we see the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost in the King James.

[2:46] We see the Spirit of God, my Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of wisdom, of counsel, of understanding, the Spirit of supplication, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of comfort.

[2:58] Furthermore, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of faith, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of might and a sound mind, the Spirit of revelation, the Spirit of power, the eternal Spirit, the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of glory.

[3:15] So all of these names and titles give us different characteristics and aspects about who the Holy Spirit is. Next section is the personality of the Holy Spirit.

[3:27] Now it's important that we understand the Holy Spirit, He is a person. The Holy Spirit is not a force or some just impersonal aspect.

[3:39] The Holy Spirit is personal. He's got personality. So the Holy Spirit performs the acts that a person performs, acts that only a person can perform. So the Holy Spirit teaches.

[3:50] He brings things to remembrance. He testifies of Christ. He convicts. In other words, He reprudes the world of its guilt, of sin.

[4:00] He guides into all truth. We know that He bore the writers of the Scriptures along as they wrote down the words. He spoke to Philip. He makes intercession for us and He bears witness.

[4:13] So all of these things, when you think about all of those aspects, a force can't do that. It has to be a person who does that. So there's false cults out there that try to say the Holy Spirit is just a force or an aspect of God.

[4:28] But He is a person in His own right, the triune Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each one personal, the person of the Holy Spirit.

[4:40] And He's given names and titles as we saw in the last section. And He's also about attributes of personality. So the Holy Spirit possesses intellect or knowledge. He's capable of thought.

[4:52] Paul talks about searching the mind of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows and searches the things of God. The Holy Spirit possesses emotion. He can be grieved. He loves. He possesses a will.

[5:04] And the Holy Spirit can be treated like a person. We see as Peter confronted Ananias, he says that you've lied to the Holy Spirit. So obviously you can't lie to a force, you lie to a person.

[5:18] And to lie to the Holy Spirit was to lie to God. The Holy Spirit can be tempted, resisted, grieved, outraged, blasphemed and called upon.

[5:29] So again, all of these things show us the Holy Spirit, He is personal. He's got the acts of a person. He's got the attributes of a person. He can be treated like a person. And of course the Holy Spirit, He is called He, speaks of Him in that personal pronoun way.

[5:46] So as much as there's occasion where the King James says it, because the word Spirit is neuter, but He is addressed as He. So it's clear that He is a person.

[5:58] So the next section we see the deity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has the same essential deity as God, the Father and the Son. So He is to be worshipped and adored, loved and obeyed as God.

[6:10] The Holy Spirit is God. That's what it's saying, the deity. The Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead. He is God. And so again, we see some of the names and titles that are applied to the Holy Spirit.

[6:23] They can be assigned only to God. So He is called God. As I said about lying to the Holy Ghost is to lie to God. We see where Isaiah spoke of God saying something, it was attributed to the Holy Spirit.

[6:37] We see the Spirit of God as one of His titles. So absolute oneness with God. We see that the Lord Jesus says another comforter will come. And the sense of this is that this other, this another is of exactly the same kind.

[6:55] In other words, when the Holy Spirit comes to comfort us, He gives us the comfort that Christ would give. He is co-equal in character with the Son. So again, it's got that elevation of the Holy Spirit as clearly God, as co-equal with the Father and the Son.

[7:12] And the Holy Spirit possesses attributes of greatness which can be possessed only by God. So here's some of them here. Omniscience, it says He shall teach you all things.

[7:24] Omnipresence, so He's ever-present. He dwelleth with you. He shall be in you. Omnipotence, it talks about the power of the highest shall overshadow you. Talking about Christ's birth.

[7:37] Omnisapience, that really means that He's all-wise. He's got all wisdom, in other words. I had to look that one up, though. I hadn't heard of that one before. I'm not even sure how to say it.

[7:48] Omnisapience, Omnisapience, all-wise. And He's got perfect truth. He is called the Spirit of truth. And He has eternality. It talks about the eternal Spirit.

[8:00] So all of these attributes are attributes of greatness that you can only say, that's God, that is God. And we see in the next section, it says the Holy Spirit performs the works of God.

[8:10] The works that you could only attribute to God. So, for example, creation. The Holy Spirit was there from Genesis, is it 1 verse 2?

[8:21] Right from the beginning. Creation. He breathed and He moved on the face of the waters. We see that Job speaks of God's creation, the Holy Spirit. The inspiration of Scripture.

[8:33] The works of God like the virgin birth. Like catching away Philip. Translating him. We see the signs and wonders of the apostles. The Holy Spirit reveals prophecy.

[8:46] He convicts men of sin, righteousness and judgment. He regenerates. He imparts a godly nature to fallen man at salvation. So all of these things are the works of God.

[8:57] God's works. It reads on here that He forms us, unites believers into the body of Christ. He comforts us. He comforts us. Jesus comforts.

[9:08] He intercedes for us. He prays. He sanctifies the yielded child of God. He gives life. He's the direct cause of the resurrection.

[9:19] He commands and forbids and He seals believers. All the works of God here. Works of God are the works of the Spirit. So I know we're really only just touching on these things.

[9:33] You can look up all these scriptures one by one in your notes as well as further study if you like. The point is the Holy Spirit works the works of God. He is God at work.

[9:45] Next it tells us about the Holy Spirit that He is associated with the Father and with the Son. So at Christ's baptism, the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke talk about Christ's baptism and how the Holy Spirit descends alike to a dove.

[10:03] The Holy Spirit gives believers access to God. And He works jointly with the Father and the Son there in John 16, 13 through 15.

[10:15] In the believer's baptism, the Holy Spirit is there. So we baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. They're jointly there in baptism, in our baptism.

[10:27] And in a benediction too, we see at the close of a letter, they call it a benediction, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But all three are there, the three persons of the Godhead spoken of together.

[10:42] It tells that the Lord is that Spirit. So speaking of God, that He is the Spirit. And there's numbers of verses that talk about the oneness of the Father with the Spirit and the oneness of the Son with the Spirit.

[10:57] So here you've got some listed there. His oneness with the Father. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of your Father, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God. And His oneness with the Son.

[11:09] He is called the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of His Son. So very much unified, very much a oneness there with the Spirit and the Father, the Spirit and the Son.

[11:22] He is associated with the Father and the Son in a oneness of essence. It tells us through the Word that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. He came from the Father's presence and He was sent by the Son's authority.

[11:36] The work of the Holy Spirit. What is the ministry of the Holy Spirit? So the Holy Spirit's work, we see very much manifest in creation. And all the persons of the Trinity were involved in creation.

[11:49] At the beginning of Genesis, it talks about God and it uses the word Elohim, which is a plural name.

[12:00] It has an aspect of plurality to it. And we see plural pronouns that we see. It says, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

[12:12] Us, our. Speaking of the triune Godhead. Creation was by the Father, through the Son, with the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit was active in creation right from the beginning.

[12:26] And particularly it tells us too of the creation of man. Genesis 2 verse 7. God breathed into him. Speaking of the wind, the Spirit gave him life. And we see the Holy Spirit imparts renewed life.

[12:39] It talks about the regeneration. When we save, when we're born again. When we have new life. We get new life spiritually. The Holy Spirit is there. And we see at the resurrection too.

[12:50] In physically renewed life, the Holy Spirit creates that life too. Okay, next section. The Holy Spirit's work in revelation as well. The truth that God reveals is given us by His Spirit.

[13:02] There's a general revelation where God reveals Himself to mankind. He reveals Himself by creation. Such that it's apparent there's a creator.

[13:14] He reveals Himself in that way through His creation. And He reveals Himself through conscience too. That every man has a conscience. He's got that sense of right and wrong. There's a general revelation.

[13:25] Then there's a special revelation. Where God uses supernatural means to reveal Himself. In a special sense to individuals. So the Bible is for us that revealed truth today.

[13:37] We don't need any special revelation aside from the Word of God now. Because we've got the complete canon. The whole book. The whole 66 books. There's no need for any specially revealed truth for men.

[13:50] Now that we have the whole Bible. And we see about the Scriptures that they are given us by the Spirit too. We see that 2 Peter 1.20-21.

[14:02] It talks holy men of God spake. In other words, in written form. As they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In other words, passively carried along. So the Holy Spirit carried them along as they penned the words.

[14:15] Such that the Holy Spirit, God Himself is the author. And men are just the scribes in effect. That God moved on them to pen the Word of God. We've got special revelation.

[14:27] Through the Word. Through the spoken Word. The written Word. And dreams and visions. And now we've got the whole inspired Word of God. Tells us that all Scripture is inspired.

[14:41] It's given from God. In other words, God breathed. You could literally put it. So the word inspiration. Theo, neustos. So Theo, God. Neustos.

[14:52] Meaning the breath. The breathing. The breath of God. So it's God breathed. The Word of God is so inspired. That it's by God's breath that He's given it to us. He's inspired it.

[15:02] That we can trust it. And really the author of the Scripture. is the one we turn to too for illumination. So not only is He the one that's inspired it. And given it to us.

[15:14] He helps us to understand it. He illuminates it to our understanding. And so the Word of God. It's spiritually discerned. We need the Spirit to discern it. The Holy Spirit's work in revelation.

[15:27] Next section is the Holy Spirit's work in the world. In other words, with mankind. Though unbelievers in the world cannot receive the Spirit. He's still at work on behalf of all men.

[15:41] Saved and unsaved. So there's two general areas. The Holy Spirit controls sin. So there's this sense where He's still got a general common grace.

[15:52] That His undeserved goodness is experienced by every man. And Psalm 145 talks about all numbers of times. There's a sense where God is generally working for all men.

[16:04] And in Genesis 6.3 it says, My spirit shall not always strive with man. So there was a time where God was striving before the flood. But man continued his wickedness. And then God's judgment came.

[16:16] So there's a sense where He's holding back. He's controlling things. And then there's the direct conviction of sin. So that He reproves the world of righteousness. Of sin.

[16:27] Of judgment. He's reproving the world. And in other words, convicting. He's inviting men to come to Him. For salvation. And yet the Holy Spirit is resisted by the world as well.

[16:40] We see that in Acts 7. Hebrews 10. We see the Holy Spirit convicts and sanctifies the saved. But the world cannot receive this message. Again, it's spiritually discerned.

[16:51] They have to have that spirit assistance. But the trouble is the world is receiving another spirit. Talks about another spirit. Of course, the spirit of the Antichrist.

[17:02] Of deception. But the Holy Spirit is at work in the world. He's controlling. He's convicting. The Holy Spirit's work is also seen in the earthly life of our Lord.

[17:13] We see at his virgin birth. The Holy Spirit was there in his public ministry. Then in his resurrection. The Holy Spirit works in the earthly life of Christ.

[17:24] Christ was anointed by the Spirit. And of course, he was filled, really controlled by the Spirit. In Luke 4. Really in ways more beyond measure than anyone else could be so filled.

[17:38] Beyond measure. It talks about that in John 3.34. That Christ was so filled and controlled by the Spirit. That it was really beyond measure. And Christ was led by the Spirit.

[17:49] There's numbers of scriptures there. Matthew, Mark and Luke. Where the Holy Spirit led him. Directed him. Where he was to go. So, Christ was empowered by the Spirit. And he was resurrected by the Spirit too.

[18:02] So, the Holy Spirit's work in the life of Christ. Very manifest. Then we see the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament believers. Back in the Old Testament times.

[18:13] There was a different relationship with believers under the Old Testament economy. Different from the New Testament than it is today. So, it tells us about the Holy Spirit.

[18:24] That he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. So, in the Old Testament he was with people. In the New Testament he's in the believer.

[18:34] He's indwelling in us. So, the Spirit's indwelling was really a future experience. It wasn't present till Pentecost really.

[18:45] That's when it happened. So, the Holy Spirit's work in the New Testament believer is indwelling. It's in the believer. And really everything that we have as believers is from the Holy Spirit.

[18:57] From salvation to sanctification. Powerful daily living. Till ultimately our bodily resurrection. We depend on the Holy Spirit. And some of the work in the believer is regeneration.

[19:10] That's really obviously an important one. That you're saved. That you've got the new birth. That you're born again. And there's the legal aspect where we're adopted into a new family.

[19:23] We've got our new belonging. A new family. The family of God. And then there's the practical aspect. That he gives us a new nature. And it talks about the spiritual birth.

[19:34] That we can know. A regeneration. We regenerate as the Holy Spirit renews us. He gives us new life. And when the Holy Spirit renews us.

[19:44] We get the righteousness of Christ. When the Holy Spirit regenerates us. We get a new nature. A new heart. A new spiritual sight. And he helps us to live a new lifestyle.

[19:55] So the Holy Spirit is working in the believer. And that's a constant that we have. Sometimes without really thinking. The Holy Spirit is working in the saved. Some of the things the Holy Spirit affects is.

[20:08] That he's praying for the believer. It tells us how the Holy Spirit intercedes to the Father. On behalf of each and every one. Of us who believe.

[20:19] It says the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. In other words when we've got areas of weakness. It says that he affects these groanings. Which cannot be uttered. So these emotions.

[20:31] This compassionate feeling. And things that are too deep for words. The Holy Spirit prays with the mind. The will of God. So he helps us with prayer. He helps us to pray.

[20:42] And he prays for us. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Is another aspect. And really. Of course we're putting the cessationist view.

[20:54] That the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Really it began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. And Cornelius and his household. Who believed Peter's message. They were baptised with the Spirit.

[21:06] And when we put faith in Christ today. We are baptised with the Spirit. There's that truth that really. If you don't have the Holy Spirit.

[21:17] You're none of his. It tells us in Romans. And the Holy Spirit unites believers to Christ. It says in 1 Corinthians 12.13. That by one Spirit. We're all baptised into one body.

[21:28] So obviously when you're saved. You join the body of Christ. So we're all baptised into one body by the Spirit.

[21:39] So Spirit baptism today. It occurs in the life of every believer now. Every believer has the baptism of the Spirit. The moment that they believe. It's not something you have to seek after.

[21:50] As some separate experience. Which some falsely teach now. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Is the believer at salvation today. You're baptised.

[22:01] Into the body of Christ. By the Spirit. Another truth is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Where it speaks of the believer's eternal security. So when you trust Christ.

[22:13] When you're saved. You're baptised by the Spirit. You're sealed with the Spirit. And a seal indicates possession and security. It's a guarantee.

[22:24] And we think as we save people. When we're born again. He gives us the Spirit. And we have eternal life. And there's a seal there. Such that we have an eternal security. A seal is used to make something secure.

[22:37] To guard or protect. To mark something as one's property. And so the sealing of the Spirit. Is referred to as the earnest of our inheritance. Until the redemption of the purchased possession.

[22:49] This word earnest. It means a down payment. A pledge. Or a guarantee deposit. It's like a legal confirmation. Confirmation. That we are sealed.

[22:59] We're secured. We're sealed. Until when? Until the day of redemption. So as believers. We can have an assurance. That our eternal life. Is secure. We're in God's care.

[23:10] And protection. We're in his ownership. And we're sealed. By his seal. The Holy Spirit. Another aspect is. We have the indwelling of the Spirit. And this is speaking of the sanctification.

[23:23] So the work that God does to affect our holy living. And it tells us that every believer is a temple. This sacred temple of the Holy Spirit. Such that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

[23:36] Now of course Christians can still grieve or quench the Spirit. But we never lose the Spirit. He produces fruit in the believer. He gives us a love for God.

[23:46] He changes our life. He mortifies sin. He leads the believer. He witnesses with our spirit. That we're children of God. He gives us power to obey God. The Holy Spirit illuminates our mind.

[24:02] And this enablement is called the anointing. It's interesting. These scriptures here that speak of the anointing. I know in some circles they're always going on about the anointing.

[24:13] But there's actually only two Bible verses in the New Testament. That speak about the anointing. And both of them are speaking of God's enabling us to understand his truth.

[24:26] So it's by the Spirit that God's enabling us to understand his truth. It's not so we can have some emotional experience or have something to show off about.

[24:37] It's speaking about understanding the truth of the Word of God. That's the anointing of the Spirit. Next section is the filling of the Spirit. So this is talking about the Spirit's work controlling the believer.

[24:51] And Ephesians 5.18 is the verse that we would go to. It says, Be not drunk with wine, whereas in is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. So it's the will of God in the context it talks about Ephesians 5.17, that it's associated with God's will.

[25:10] And it says, Be filled with the Spirit. So it's a command. It's directed at us as an imperative. And apparently you can translate it, Be being filled, As the sense where it's a continuous experience, Present tense imperative.

[25:29] So the sense there, We should be filled and be being filled, Such that it should be happening as a continuous experience. So there's one baptism, As we talked about the baptism of the Spirit, For us today, that is that salvation.

[25:42] We're baptised in the Spirit, Baptised of the Spirit. There's one baptism of the Spirit, But there's many fillings of the Spirit. Many fillings of the Spirit. God does the filling, We do the yielding.

[25:54] We just simply have to yield. And that daily, I guess daily walk with Him, Then He helps us to be filled with the Spirit, And to be being filled with the Spirit.

[26:05] And I like how it's put here, It's not you getting more of the Spirit, It's you letting the Holy Spirit get more of you. Now some people think, They've got to go and get the Spirit from some anointed, Prophet or preacher, That they've got to go somewhere, Where there's some outpouring going on.

[26:22] It's not you getting more of the Spirit, It's you letting the Holy Spirit get more of you. So it's really speaking about our yielding, And our wanting Him, Our yielding and submitting to Him, That He will do His work in us, That we be Spirit filled.

[26:36] And this next section, It poses the question, What is the evidence of being Spirit filled? In Ephesians 5, We see some of the evidence there, It talks about that, There's an inward evidence, There's the fruit of the Spirit, We should have praise and joy, That's inward, There's an upward experience, We're thankful, It talks about thanksgiving, We're thankful to God, And there's an outward experience, This submissive attitude and action, That we have a godly heart.

[27:04] So, Being filled with the Spirit, Should show in all these dimensions, When we see, When the Bible talks about people, Getting filled with the Spirit, What do we see?

[27:18] Who do we see getting Spirit filled? We see the disciples at Pentecost, What did it produce? In their case, It showed in the special ability, To speak in foreign languages, A first century sign, To unbelieving Israel, Which we'll get to, When we saw Peter filled with the Spirit, He got this unction, To preach God's truth, When we see the believers, In Acts 4, Filled with the Spirit, They had this boldness, To speak God's word, When we see the deacons, In Acts 6, Filled with the Spirit, God gave them ability to serve, When we see Stephen, Filled with the Spirit, He had this peace, In the midst of persecution, When we see Paul, Filled with the Spirit, We see that he got, Spiritual discernment, Where we see the Gentile believers, In Acts 13, Filled with the Spirit, It was manifest in joy, So, There's different ways, That the Holy Spirit, Fills us, And manifests, What is the key, To being Spirit filled, As I talked before,

[28:19] Really the key, Is that we yield to God, That we let him, Fill us, That we're really just, An empty vessel, And we want him, To fill us, And it's as we surrender, To him, And really it's a daily, Responsibility, For us to allow God, To fill us, To have that heart, That willingness, To be filled, And there's conditions there, Don't quench the Spirit, You know, Don't, Don't stifle, God's Spirit, Don't grieve the Spirit, By sin, And rather walk, In the Spirit, These are things, We can do to, Let the Holy Spirit, Have his way, To direct your steps, And your actions, And your attitudes, To be that, Spirit filled believer, The power of the Holy Spirit, Is such that, He enables the believer too, There's lots of, Aspects here, We won't, Probably read through, That whole lot there, But, The Holy Spirit's power, Is something that's real, And yet, It is sadly, Misunderstood, Or, In other cases,

[29:20] It's neglected, But we think of, Really we depend on, The Holy Spirit, Don't we? We depend on, His Spirit, To help us commune, With God, To worship, To pray, To understand, His word, To obey, To love God, To love others, To conquer sin, To be strengthened, In the inner man, To have the virtue, Of the fruit of the Spirit, Manifest, To live our lives, Without fear, Not having the spirit of fear, But of power, And of love, And of a sound mind, Paul tells Timothy, To be encouraged, Or comforted, And to witness for Christ, To serve God, So, The Holy Spirit, He's given to us, To enable the believer, And sometimes we should, Really have that thought, Well how can, The Holy Spirit, Have more of me, How can I, Let God use me, And, Help me to grow, The Holy Spirit, Enables the believer, The Bible talks about, The gifts of the Spirit, There's three passages, That talk about, The gifts, That God gives to us, By His Spirit, And we see that,

[30:21] In Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 to 14, And Ephesians 4, So when we think about, The gifts of the Spirit, When you think about a gift, It's unearned, Isn't it? It's unmerited, When you received a gift, And this word for gift, Is charisma, It occurs five times, In 1 Corinthians 12, And the word charis, Is grace, So charisma, Grace, They're kind of, Alike, Really it's given by God's grace, The gifts of God's Spirit, And He gives us His gifts, Severally, As He will, And really every believer, Has some gift, At least a gift, But no believer, Has all the gifts, That's why, As a church body, We need one another, So we can help one another, And there is that, Interdependence, That is the body of Christ, Isn't it?

[31:14] And the gifts of the Holy Spirit, In 1 Corinthians 13, Obviously they should be exercised in love, It's not such that we have a gift, To show it off, Or to, You know, Make a show, But that we minister to others, Through the gift, So the whole concept of, 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, Is about edifying, So building up one another, And the gifts of the Spirit, Are diversified, So He gives various gifts, For different purposes, Now the gifts of the Spirit, Are temporary, It tells us that, They shall pass away, I guess the question, The sticking point is, When do they pass away, Of course we, Would stand, That they have passed away, As historically, We can see that, They did pass away, Clearly some, Sign gifts, Were limited to the apostolic age, So we see through church history, That they did stop, Around 70 to 90 AD, That they were manifestly, Stopped, There was no, Further evidence of them, Until the modern day, Pentecostal movement, Around the 1900, That,

[32:15] There was this, Effort to, Bring them to light again, But, But I would put that, That's not, The genuine gifts, We see the Bible talks about, Various offices, That God, Has given to us, So Ephesians 4, It talks about, He's given, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and teachers, So one of the gifts, Is the gift of apostle, Now of course we see, That was quite specific, It was quite, Selectively given, It was restricted to, The 12 apostles, To the Jews, Including Matthias, And then Paul later, As apostle to the Gentiles, Paul calls himself, An apostle born out of due time, So really he was the last apostle, To be chosen, There's no others that are, Directly, Talked about, In the word of God, So God gave these, Sign gifts to the apostles too, To authenticate, To prove that they had, Divine authority, And the apostles laid, The foundation of the church,

[33:16] It talks about that, In Ephesians 2, 20, That the apostles and prophets, Were laying the foundation, So it was in that, Foundation stage, Where the church, Was just established, That the apostles and prophets, Were needed, But once the, Once the foundation, Was laid, The gift of the apostle, Ended, It wasn't needed, Any longer, So nowadays, You do hear these people, That take the title, Of apostle or prophet, It's quite presumptuous really, That they would take, Such a title, Because they're not showing, The signs of the apostle, As it talks about, In 2 Corinthians 12, That they really, Are not apostles, As would accord, With the bible, And it's the same, With the gift of prophet, As well, That the new testament prophet, Like the apostle, Was temporarily used of God, To lay the foundation, As we talked about, Ephesians 2 20, They laid the foundation, Of the church, And like the gift of apostle, The gift of prophet, Ended, When the church's foundation, Was laid, And the scriptures, Were completed, So the scriptures,

[34:17] Were completed, Around 95 AD, So, There was no need, For further, Special revelation then, Because we've got, The whole canon, We've got the whole, Revealed word of God, I know, For a time, I was in the, Pentecostal movement, And there's one time, We were in such a church, And there was people, Supposedly, Uttering prophecies, And the church, Actually wrote them down, In a book, And they thought, That was pretty important, To record, I mean if it was, A real apostle, And a real prophet, If it was a real prophecy, Then we probably should, Write it down, And add it to our bible, But of course, That would be laughable, And ridiculous, Honestly, I don't think anyone, Would actually, Teach such a thing, Really it's quite, Ludicrous, Idea, But the gift of apostle, And the gift of prophet, Were foundational gifts, And they're temporary, Signed gifts, Are another, Temporary aspect, Now, All gifts continue today, Except for, The signed gifts, So there's a distinction, Between the general gifts,

[35:18] And the signed gifts, And the word of God, Says in Luke 11, Says in Luke 11, 29, That signs, Were not to be sought after, It's kind of a, A reflection of a carnality, To seek after signs, The Jews sought signs, And we see, That healing, Special gifts of healing, Gifts of miracles, And tongues, Were signs, So they're specified, By this word, Signs, They were signs, And the apostles, Had all these, Signed gifts too, To authenticate them, To, I suppose, Be that declaration, Of the authority, Of their ministry, And no sign, Or sign gift, In the Bible, Was permanent, Really the book of Acts, Was a transitional book, It was an introduction, To the church age, So it describes, How the Holy Spirit, Is performing certain acts, That are not necessarily, The norm for the, Post apostolic age, So for example, Speaking audibly, Like prophesying, Physically carrying away people, Or predicting the future,

[36:20] And so, There's other examples, Of temporary signs there, The signs that, Moses performed, At Pharaoh's court, They were temporary, The signs that, Christ performed, Were temporary, The signs that, The apostles performed, Were temporary, The signs that, Will be displayed, On the earth, And in the sky, In the latter days, They would be temporary, A sign by its very nature, Is temporary, It introduces something new, To provide direct, Intervention, And revelation of God, So another aspect, About signs, Sign miracles, And healing, In 1 Corinthians 12, 9, 28 and 30, Signs, Miracles and healing, They were sign gifts, Given by the spirit, To specially chosen, Apostles and prophets, To prove that, Their messages, Were from God, And since, There's no apostles, And prophets, That exist today, As much as the son, That would claim, To be such, They don't have, These accompanying, Sign gifts, God does perform, Miracles today, In the sense of salvation, That's a miracle, Every saved person,

[37:20] Is a miracle, But we don't see, These sign miracles, For example, Raising the dead, Or manifest, Healing such as, Restoring of missing limbs, Of course, God does heal, Through prayer, Through believing prayer, James 5, 16, It talks about, That the elders, Should pray, That the sick, Should call the elders, To pray, And that, A believing prayer, Can heal the sick, If it is his will, We see in 2 Corinthians, 12, 7 through 9, There's the time, Where Paul had a thorn, In the flesh, And he besought the Lord, And would, It would appear to be, Some affliction, And the Lord said, That my grace, Is sufficient for thee, He said it wasn't, His will to heal him, Effectively, So, God does heal, Via prayer, If it is his will, But not through a faith healer, So these ones who brag on, And have healing rallies, In fact, 2 Thessalonians 2, Verse 9, Talks about lying signs, And wonders, So, We should always be careful,

[38:22] And discerning, Of anything, Especially in the other churches, Around here, That have got, Big sign boards, That say signs, Wonders and healings, Well, The Bible talks about, Lying signs and wonders, So we shouldn't, Get sucked into that, Because we can, Fall for, The enemy's, Substitute, The Holy Spirit's work, Is also future, In the sense that, He had the part, He had his work in creation, But, It talks through, The word of God, That the Holy Spirit, Is working right through, The latter days, Right through to the end, So he's worked in the past, He's working in the present, And he will work in the future, So the Holy Spirit, Will be, The Holy Spirit, Will be involved, In the tribulation, It talks about, The Spirit's restraint of sin, The man of sin, Will one day be removed, And the Spirit, Will enable God's saints, To face interrogation, It talks about that, For those that, Are present, That the Holy Spirit, Will enable them, When they're called to, To give account, It talks about,

[39:23] How the Spirit, Will perform signs, In heaven, And on earth, Prior to the day, Of the Lord, Says the Spirit, Will redeem many Jews, Upon the return of Christ, He'll be involved, In the resurrection, Of believers, And of the two witnesses, And the resurrection, Of all believers, And the Spirit, Will be involved, In the millennial kingdom, He will indwell believers, He will fill, And control believers, And the fullness, Of the Spirit, Is evident, Even in the life, And ministry, Of Christ reigning, As it talks about, In Isaiah 11, So the Holy Spirit's work, It was in the past, It is in the present, And the Holy Spirit, Will be working right through, To our Lord's coming, And beyond, Now there's some, Who would claim, To be spiritual, And say, Just because they've got, Particular experiences, That makes them spiritual, But what does the Bible say, About the one who is spiritual, Really, The one who is spiritual, Will have a miraculous new birth, They'll be born again, So they'll have that new nature, They'll have a yielded life,

[40:24] That allows the Holy Spirit, To take control, It talks about, They're about, Being filled with the Spirit, The spiritual ones, Will have an enlightened mind, Such they can, Discern the truth, Between truth, And error, The spiritual, Will have an obedient will, That submits to God's commands, The spiritual, Will have a virtuous heart, Which bears fruitful attitudes, Talking about the fruit, Of the Spirit, And the spiritual ones, Will have a gentle spirit, Such that they can, Humbly confront, Those who have fallen, As it talks about you, That are spiritual, Restore those that, Are astray from the path, So we see, These are the marks, Of the one who is spiritual, Not some showy, Supposed miraculous gifts, The one who is spiritual, Will have these, Real characteristics, That they can know by faith, As the Spirit has his work, In our hearts, Now we'll go on to talk about, The baptism of the Spirit, This is a subject, Again, Where there's a lot of, Different views,

[41:25] And some of them quite, Wrong views I put to you, And I'm putting to you, As I say, The cessationist view, That the baptism of the Spirit, Is not the filling of the Spirit, The baptism of the Spirit, Occurs at salvation, It's once and for all, So when we save, We're baptised, By the Spirit, And then there's, The filling of the Spirit, Which is this continuous process, Where, He fills us, Such that we produce fruits, Of Christian character, He fills us, Such that we've got, A boldness for witnessing, A spiritual discernment, We'll have true praise, And worship, The filling of the Spirit, Is a continuous aspect, For the believer, And so that's, How he helps us, To die to sin, And to self, To live a surrendered, And yielded life to God, There is actually no command, For anyone to be baptised, With the Spirit, But there is a direct injunction, For every believer, To be filled with the Spirit, As we talked about, Ephesians 5.18, And be not drunk with wine,

[42:27] We're in a success, But be filled with the Spirit, Be filled with the Spirit, The baptising work of the Spirit, For us today, It's universal, And that can be, Even amongst the carnal, And the immature, So the Corinthians, For one, An obvious example, Whereas the filling, Is not, It's, Where we're yielding to God, So we need to, Really have a heart, To be filled with the Spirit, Now the gift of tongues, That's obviously, A matter where, Christians differ, And as I say, I used to be a Pentecostal, So I used to, Believe the other way, And some would say, Well, You can't knock my experience, You know, I've had it happen, I've had the, The warm and fuzzies, And I had the experience, But really, Experience cannot, Dictate doctrine, We've got to test, Any experience, By doctrine, Not test doctrine, By experience, And, The scriptures that tell us, To try the spirits, What does the Bible,

[43:30] Teach us about tongues, It's really, Really important, To get that right, What does the Bible say, Tongues were literal, Languages, Acts 2, They were never gibberish, So, What we're seeing today, I put to you, Honestly, In the Pentecostal movement, And I've been there, Done that, It's gibberish, It's just, A load of, Twaddle, It's, It's not languages, It's not the biblical, Gift of tongues, It's sadly not, And there's, Well meaning people, Who blab on, And gab on, With this, Babel, Which, Babel is related to Babel, The Tower of Babel, That's what it is, It's Babel again, It's the Tower of Babel again, It's a babbling, It's not the languages, Of the Bible, And so, What does the Bible, Teach us about tongues, It uses the word, Glosser, For tongue, And we get this word, Glosser, We get the English word, Glossary, For example,

[44:31] It's speaking about, A literal language, It also can mean, The physical tongue, Or a tribe, Kindred, Or people, Or nation, But primarily, It speaks, Glosser speaks, Of a literal language, And then there's another word, Dialectos, Of course we get, Our English word, Dialect, Tongues, Only refers to, Literal languages, Acts 21, Verse 40, It says, He spake unto them, In the Hebrew tongue, Tongue, So, Some would think, Well tongues, Is different, No, Tongues, Means languages, Simply that, He spoke to them, In the Hebrew tongue, In other words, In the Hebrew language, It's not some, Supernatural, Spiritual, Heavenly language, The language of angels, Because whenever angels, Spoke, They always spoke, In an understandable, Human language, Hebrew, At the time, He spake unto them, In the Hebrew tongue,

[45:32] And so notice, The words, Glossa, And dialectos, Are used synonymously, So in other words, They mean the same thing, They are, Integrally linked, And, Really one, Is, Meaning the other, The, The word, Language, Or dialect, Are used together, So for example, Acts 2, 8, And 11, We hear every man, In his own tongue, Which was dialectos, And we hear them speak, In our tongues, Glossa, So it's languages, It's clearly languages, There's no other way, Of looking at it, So biblical tongues, Were real languages, Dialects, That were known, Somewhere in the world, But unknown to the speaker, So, In Acts 2, You see, The numbers of tongues there, And the numbers of languages, And, Another thing the Bible, Clearly tells us about tongues, In 1 Corinthians 13, 8, It says, The word, Tells us, That tongues, Shall cease,

[46:33] Shall cease, So, It's got the, Grammatical sense, That they shall cease, On their own, I've read somewhere, That it means, That it will stop, And really, That's the end of it, Full stop, Basically, Once they cease, They cease, And that's the end of it, Whereas, Pentecostals, Would try to say, Well they did cease, But now, They somehow, Somehow, Miraculously, Come back to life again, But no, It says, They shall cease, And it's got the sense, They're going to stop, Stop, And that's the end of it, So, In, Around Acts, Sorry, In, In around AD 70, When the temple, Was destroyed, God's judgment fell, Tongues, Were not seen, Since then, Other than in some, Peculiar groups, Where they had lots of, False doctrine, And they were only, Isolated instances, So, Essentially, They stopped, AD 70, When the temple, Was destroyed, Never to be seen again, Till the 1900, When, There was some, Effort to, Excite them,

[47:33] Into life again, Biblical tongues, Cee desde, when their purpose was fulfilled. It says they shall cease. The Bible tells us they shall cease.

[47:44] And history tells us they did. They did cease. There's no way you can get around what history tells us. The church history is very clear that tongues did cease. And that was the end of them.

[47:58] What is the specific purpose for tongues? This is a really important question to get right because this is what the Pentecostals get wrong. Sadly.

[48:09] And I was one of them, so I can speak from experience. What was the specific purpose for tongues? And really it's established in these fundamental verses. And if we can understand the purpose, then we'll understand what the gift was all about, whether therefore today, and if they ceased, when did they cease?

[48:31] These are questions that we should really get very clear about because I believe in speaking in tongues. Biblical speaking in tongues, we believe it's in the Bible.

[48:42] It's biblical. But what we're seeing today is not the biblical speaking in tongues. It's something else. It's something manifestly not biblical tongues.

[48:53] So what is the purpose of tongues? In verse 20, Paul calls on the Corinthians. This is 1 Corinthians 14, verse 20. Paul calls on the Corinthians to mature, to grow up in their faith, in understanding to be men.

[49:08] We should get a very clear understanding here. And Paul gives the purpose of tongues in 1 Corinthians 14, 22, which reads, Now, in the Pentecostal churches, they make it such that speaking in tongues is some kind of sign that you've got more of the Holy Spirit, that somehow you're more spiritual than people who don't speak in tongues, that somehow you've got a special blessing, and that you manifest it in the meetings and declare your tongues, and it shows how spiritual you are in the church gathering.

[50:00] But this is not what tongues is for. It's not for the believers. It's for the unbelievers. It's meant to be assigned to those who do not believe. And this is the really important question.

[50:12] What is the purpose? What is the purpose? 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that tongues was to be a sign of judgment to unbelieving Israel. So in 1 Corinthians 14, 21 through 22, it correlates, it cross-references with Isaiah 28, verses 11 through 12.

[50:33] 1 Corinthians 14, 21 talks about other tongues or other languages. In other words, other than Hebrew. That God is going to speak in other languages other than Hebrew to this people.

[50:46] Unto this people. It's really important to get the concept, who is it for? Unto this people. And the cross-reference tells us who this people are.

[50:59] It's Israel. It's unbelieving Israel. It's specifically a reference to Israel. As you see, if you cross-reference and go back to where Paul's quoting from, Isaiah 28, 11 through 12, is specifically a prophecy of this judgment, that tongues are a sign of God's judgment.

[51:22] This is the fundamental truth that people miss. They don't understand the purpose of tongues. And so they get off on some tangent and make it such that it's for some other purpose.

[51:36] The Bible clearly tells us what the purpose of tongues is. And if we get that clear in our mind and we can establish that, it makes sense of it all. Such that it's nothing to do with what people are doing today then.

[51:48] Because it's not for the benefit of believers, but to them that believe not. It's to provoke unbelieving Israel to jealousy. Because of national Israel's rejection of Christ, the gospel would now go to people of other languages.

[52:01] Of course, God only spoke in Hebrew. Now he speaks in all kinds of languages, such that we've even got a Bible in English or whatever language of the world that we live in. God's speaking to people in all kinds of languages today through his word.

[52:15] But in old covenant days, God only spoke through the Hebrew tongue. But now God is taking his truth to the whole world. God's speaking to people in English.

[52:26] So the gift of tongues was always this literal known language. It was a literal known ethnic language. So in Acts 2 at Pentecost, there's 15 literal languages spoken of there.

[52:42] And the people said, we hear them speak in our own tongue, in our own language. So the gift of tongues has always been in this literal known ethnic language, though it was unknown to the speaker.

[52:52] He was not speaking in a language that he knew, but he was speaking a language that was known somewhere in the world. So in 1 Corinthians 14, it tells us, it uses the phrase unknown tongue, unknown tongue.

[53:06] Now, the King James translators have translated this, such that they've added the word unknown, which is to signify, and it's not inappropriate to add the word unknown, but they wanted to signify that the tongues were unknown to the one speaking the language.

[53:26] It doesn't mean that, as Pentecostals would interpret that, oh, it's an unknown tongue. In other words, it's from some tribe, it's from some area of the world, or some language that's not been understood, or encountered by men yet.

[53:40] No, it's unknown in the sense that it's unknown to the one speaking it. It's not that it's not a language. And so, when people have really scrutinised and done some actual definite research, and they've gone to Pentecostal meetings where they've taped recorded, they've taped the so-called tongues, and they've taken it to language experts and linguists, and they've found, well, there's nothing like a language.

[54:05] There's nothing language-like about it. And it's actually definitely not a language. So, they've actually analysed it and shown that to be, it's a fraud. It's a scam.

[54:16] It's a con. So, but the Bible says that it was always a language. Unknown to the speaker in the context of 1 Corinthians 14, it was unknown to them, the one speaking it, but it was a known language in that, it was known in the world somewhere.

[54:34] And so, tongues were revelatory in nature as well. In Acts 2, there was something special that God was saying through the tongue. It was God speaking through the ones speaking in tongues.

[54:44] But God is not pouring out new revelation today. The only way He directly speaks today is through the Bible. So, if we can get that clear, God is speaking to us through the Bible, the, the received word of God, that we have His word there.

[55:02] We don't need some revelations, or extra biblical revelations, which in some churches, they get that every week. Now, the preacher gets up and talks about trips to heaven and revelations he's had and signs and wonders and, and visions and dreams.

[55:16] They're getting away from, really, what does the Bible actually say? What, what is the thus saith the Lord? It's in your Bible, not what some man pretends to say. And so, it's very important.

[55:28] This is a real critical need for truth in, in the days that we're living in, that God speaks today through the Bible. So, we've got to get Bible-centered. The gifts of the Spirit, it's important too, to note that the whole context of 1 Corinthians 14, is that the gifts of the Spirit are for the use of edifying others, of building up others, of this sense of building, you know, getting the, the bricks and the mortar and building, building up others, other Christians, that's the theme, that's the purpose, that's the sentiment of 1 Corinthians 14.

[56:00] And so, the problem with the gift of tongues is, if there's no interpreter, no one's going to get edified. So, it's actually pointless, and it's actually not helping. It's only edifying the one speaking, because they might have some, you know, they might be speaking in a language, but the benefit to others isn't happening.

[56:20] So, the whole point of tongues isn't being fulfilled, because the whole purpose is edifying. It's not having some experience or emotional feelings. And some would take some of these scriptures like, oh, the one who speaks in tongues is edifying themselves.

[56:36] So, it's not their prayer language. It's actually not saying that at all. It's, it's actually that Paul is saying, you've got it wrong here. Don't do it. It's, it's actually showing the problem of tongues, not the purpose of tongues.

[56:50] So, the gift of tongues was a miraculous sign gift. So, it was a miracle. It was supernatural, in other words. It was a sign, obviously authenticating. And, it was also a gift.

[57:03] So, it was an endowment of God's grace. So, the basic purpose of the sign gifts is to authenticate a message or a messenger. So, it was to authenticate a message, or to authenticate a messenger.

[57:15] And, the gift of tongues was such a miraculous sign gift. But, we see that that is no longer needed. We don't need signs following. We've got the word now. We've got the word of God. There's so much confusion and unsound doctrine about the Holy Spirit.

[57:30] Essentially, people are getting completely off track because they're really not reading what the Bible actually says about tongues. And, the fact is that tongues is only mentioned in five passages in the New Testament directly.

[57:44] So, we see the prophetical passage where the Lord's saying that they shall speak with new tongues. The Lord Jesus says that in Mark 16, that he tells us that it will happen.

[57:56] Then, we see the historical passages where it was the outpourings of the day of Pentecost, the house of Cornelius, the disciples of John the Baptist. And, then we see the doctrinal passage in Corinth where it talks about God's trying to bring correction through Paul about what's going on in the Corinthian church, which is full of division and carnality.

[58:20] And, the bulk of Paul's teachings in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 is actually corrective. He's not condoning what they're doing, but he's actually condemning it and correcting them. So, if you just capture that, that is the extent of tongues.

[58:35] It's not talked about elsewhere. It's really in these select passages. And, so, if people aren't actually reading what these passages say and understanding the context of them, then they're misunderstanding tongues, what the Bible actually teaches us about tongues.

[58:51] And so, in 1 Corinthians, we see in the context, we see in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, it talks about the unity, the harmony, talks about the problem that was going on at Corinth, that people were seeking to be prominent and wanting to kind of show off.

[59:07] And, rather that, actually, every gift and every body is important. Every part of the body is important. And, in chapter 13, he points people to the prominence of love, that that should be the overriding principle.

[59:20] And, then, in chapter 14, he condemns the improper use of tongues, showing that, really, it's prophesying that should have the priority. In other words, speaking the word of God, preaching the word of God, forth telling the word of God, not the tongues, that tongues should naturally not be so overrated, as even in Corinth they were.

[59:43] And, so, he's saying that prophecy edifies, but tongues does not. He's saying prophecy is understandable, but tongues is not. And, for tongues to edify, that had to be interpreted.

[59:54] Now, there's many Pentecostal churches where they blab on in, in so-called tongues, and there's no interpretation. They're actually not even practicing it biblically anyway, even if it was biblical.

[60:06] So, it's very important that we read, what does the Bible, what does the word of God actually tell us about this thing, so we can actually exercise biblical understanding. Again, just to repeat, what is the meaning of the phrase, this people?

[60:23] That is critical. That is the fundamental to get that right. It's all about Israel. The scripture that Paul cites in verse 21, is Isaiah 28, 11 through 12. The point is that Israel was not listening to Isaiah, wasn't listening to the word of God.

[60:38] And Isaiah had to lecture them like little children, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little. He's trying to get them back to the word of God. And when they mocked this kind of teaching, God said that he would give them his message in a language that they would not understand.

[60:54] So, the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, they came and judgment fell on Israel. So, in verse 22, Paul's telling us, really, tongues are a sign of judgment to unbelieving Israel.

[61:09] Of course, we know, as our Lord says, that he's going to destroy this temple. And of course, the temple at Jerusalem in AD 70, it was destroyed. It fell. And the temple sacrifices stopped.

[61:22] Really, everything came to a halt. And Israel was judged. It was shown to be under God's judgment, unbelieving Israel. The tongues, the sign of judgment of unbelieving Israel have fulfilled their purpose.

[61:36] We see that God used languages as a sign of judgment numbers of times. As we talked about at the Tower of Babel, the people wanted to have this kind of unifying.

[61:47] The whole earth was of one language and one speech. The people didn't obey God, which he told them to go and replenish the earth, to go forth. But rather, they unified.

[61:59] And they got prideful. And they wanted to build this high tower. And they were united without God. So God confused the languages. So Babel is like the English word, Babel.

[62:09] That's what happened. There was a lot of babbling going on. That's what we have, sadly, in the Pentecostal church. We've got a lot of Babel. And really, it's a sign of judgment. The tower would come. And they'd be talking another language that they wouldn't know what they were saying.

[62:21] It was a sign of judgment. Where a different language group would come, it was a sign of judgment. And likewise in Jeremiah there, in Jeremiah 5, 14 through 15. Again, when Israel would not repent of their backsliding, God would send them the same kind of judgment of this tongue, that they shall not understand.

[62:40] And then in the New Testament, when people's hearts were hardened, the Lord spoke in parables. It was a sign. Look, you're not listening. You're not hearing. Again, the plain talk.

[62:51] So I'm going to veil my speech in parables. Again, it was a sign of God's judgment. So just to come to the last slide there, tongues were a sign of judgment.

[63:02] This is really a fundamental truth that makes sense of it all. It makes sense of it. That, yes, the Bible talks about speaking in tongues. It was for that season, for that reason, as a sign of judgment.

[63:16] What we're seeing today, when well-meaning people, God bless them, trying to speak in tongues, thinking that they are speaking in tongues, it's actually not speaking in tongues at all.

[63:27] It's not biblical. It's not the prayer language. It's all gobbledygook. It's gibberish. It's not of God. Sadly, it's not of God. It's a sign of judgment. Tongues is a sign of judgment.

[63:38] It's not for self-edification. It's not for spreading the gospel to other nationalities. When you look back on the history of the Pentecostal church, in fact, those that thought they were speaking, for example, in Chinese, they actually said, oh, we're going to send these ones that sound like they're speaking in Chinese off to China.

[63:54] And they did that and they got there. And of course it wasn't Chinese. It was gobbledygook that they were speaking. And so it was all shown to be quite fraudulent and false and deceptive and a great error and heresy.

[64:08] So you look back through the early years of the Pentecostal movement, you see such laughable things that tell us how foolish it all was. So it's not such that we're going to have a sign that we're going to be able to go and speak as some missionary in some language that we've not learned.

[64:23] No, the sign of the tongues is for a judgment. That is it. That is simply it. Tongues is a sign of judgment for Israel. And I guess for us as Gentiles, it's a blessing because Israel's judged.

[64:33] God's opened the gates for us as Gentiles that we can be blessed. It's actually a blessing for us that God speaks in our language through his word now. And so the theme of God's judgment of Israel, there's numbers of scriptures there in Romans 11, in Matthew 21, there's some three parables talking about God's judgment on Israel.

[64:54] The sign of tongues is showing that God is now moving to the Gentiles to receive the Gentiles, that God is going to accept Gentiles who speak a different tongue.

[65:06] And this was a hard lesson for Peter and the apostles to learn. So when the Samaritans were saved, they spoke in tongues to show that God was in it. When the Gentiles were saved in Acts 10, they spoke in tongues to show, yeah, God's in it.

[65:19] The gospel is going out to this people group now. And when the proselytes of John were saved, they spoke in tongues in Acts 19. God would no longer confine himself to one people, Israel, as a channel.

[65:32] That now, it wasn't just through one nation that he would manifest his grace and speak in only one language. The tongues showed that God was taking his salvation through the Gentiles.

[65:47] And tongues ceased when their purpose was done. So it was a temporary sign gift. And we can take heart that the Holy Spirit, he has worked, he is working, and he will yet work.

[66:01] It's just, we've got to realize what is the biblical work of the Holy Spirit. So I know I've labored much on the baptism of the Spirit and the speaking in tongues, because it's an area where there's so much false teaching now.

[66:14] It's so prevalent that people are getting so confused. If we just get back to the Word of God, as in the earlier side where I spoke about what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, if we can get that right, we can understand that, and we can realize that tongues had a select purpose.

[66:31] I like to say it was for a reason, judgment, and it was for a season. It was in that moment where Israel was being shown that it was under judgment.

[66:43] And then the judgment came, AD 70, the temple sacrifices were stopped, the temple was demolished, and such that now the gospel is available for we Gentiles, that we can receive Christ, and we can know His filling.

[66:58] We can know His Spirit. We can know His enabling. We can know all of the manifestations of the Spirit that He does manifest. It's just that the tongues, the sign gifts, they're done and finished, and we can trust in His continuing work that is for us today.

[67:17] Through His Word, He illuminates it to understanding. He's inspired His Word. He's given us the full revelation now. We've got the full Word of God in our hands. We can take it as read and try to be a biblical people.

[67:30] Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You that Your Word is complete, and we don't need further revelations. Lord, we know You still minister, and You can still quicken Your Word to our hearts, and You do still minister to us very much so, Lord, by Your Spirit.

[67:46] But, Lord, we know there's so much false error out there about Your Spirit. Lord, help us to be a biblical people such that we can understand the purpose of these things and to have a biblical mindset, a biblical worldview.

[68:02] We pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.