This is the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it. Let's pray. Our God, again, we thank you for this day has come about as not only as a result of the mighty creation, when you created the heavens and the earth, but also in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. So indeed, help us to worship that one who has overcome death for us. so that even when the day comes when we die, we know that it is not a punishment for us any longer, but a blessing to go and to be in your presence forever and to enter into the paradise of God. Have mercy today upon us as the gospel is preached. May we also have a foretaste of that future paradise in the future when we should be in your presence even now as we revel in that everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior and send your Holy Spirit to be our teacher. These things we pray now in Christ's name, amen. All right, today we want to deal with the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues. And I'm going to have to manage my time carefully today. So here we go. Now I've already described tongues as a known foreign language, unknown to the speaker, but known to the various cultures where that language is spoken. And that's what happened on the day of Pentecost. The pilgrims who visited Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, they heard the 120 speak in their own languages, their own tongues. And let's remember also that when they spoke in tongues, they were in prayer. They were in prayer. Pentecost reversed what happened at the Tower of Babel when God confused the languages and scattered mankind over the earth back in Genesis chapter 11. It says there in verse 6, God looked down upon man and he noticed that they had one language and they were building this civilization dedicated to humanism and he scattered the race. But now the whole earth is to be evangelized and sinners saved out of every kindred and tribe and tongue Emphasis on the word tongue and nation, Revelation 5 verse 9. Pentecost foretells a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. So the kingdom of God is here, the kingdom of God is universal, the kingdom of God is Catholic in the sense that it's throughout the entire world. And so the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost is a missionary witnessing spirit. Now there's one thing that I left out and that is the gift of tongues that was given to the church by the Spirit is a revelation. A revelation. That is, when the tongue speaker spoke, he spoke mysteries. which is a Greek word describing revelations or new revelations. Now, how do we know that the tongue speaker was given new revelations? Well, there's a couple of answers to that. First of all, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we have a description of it, and this is a chapter that Pastor Walker preached on in the evening service. several weeks ago, and I would invite you to listen to those tapes if you haven't heard his, if you didn't hear that message on 1 Corinthians 14. So 1 Corinthians 14, the verse four verses, follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that she may prophesy for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, albeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. So in this description here, we find the Apostle Paul making a distinction between prophecy and tongues. And the thing to remember about that distinction is that the difference between tongues and prophecy is not hard and fast. It's not as if they have nothing to do with each other. We'll find out in a moment why that's the case. But the big thing I want to emphasize is that the tongue speaker speaks mysteries. Mysteries are connected with revelations in the New Testament. For example, in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 3 through 5, a verse we'll get back to in a little bit, but Paul says in Ephesians 3, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery. As I wrote before in a few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." So here the mystery of God is a revealed mystery, that is a revelation. So the tongue speaker is a person when he speaks in tongues, he utters revelations. Secondly, tongues are connected with prophesying in the New Testament. The tongue speaker spoke new revelations through the vehicle of prophesying. Now, there's several proofs of this. First of all, to remind you again, on the day of Pentecost, the 120 prayed in tongues and prophesied, it says, in Acts chapter 2. And they spoke the wonderful works of God, and that included both the men and the women. Listen to Peter's interpretation again in Acts 2. 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 out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. Now this is not to be forgotten. This is a fulfillment of what appears to be a prophecy in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers chapter 11. We find Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp of Israel and Joshua is upset about this. He thinks only Moses should do this. And in verse 29 it says, And Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. That's what's called the prophetic wish. Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets. We see that on the day of Pentecost, all 120 prophesied. All right, and then secondly, we need to ask, what is a prophet? What is a prophetess? Well, a minimum definition would be a prophet is a person who receives new revelations. Or as it's often said, a prophet is an inspired forth-teller and an inspired fore-teller. As a forth-teller, the prophet teaches. And as a foreteller, of course, the prophet predicts future events. Both of those activities infallibly because the Spirit of God is upon him as a prophet. So he is the organ of the Holy Spirit, a vehicle of new revelations and miracles. That's what prophets are. It sums up their ministry. Now in the book of Acts, we find prophets everywhere, both men and women. First, the norm is that only prophets prophesied. The norm is that prophets received these revelations and they spoke these revelations. And then second, if you spoke in tongues, if you were given the gift of tongues, you also prophesied. We get back again to Acts chapter 2, verses 16 through 18. All 120 prophesied, proving that they had become prophets and prophetesses. And then third, you see the gift lavished handsomely upon the church. We find this in the book of Acts especially, you have to get your concordance out and look up all the references to prophets. We hear the names of Agabus, for example. We see many, many, many prophets, especially in the church at Antioch. And once again, on the day of Pentecost, there were 120 who prophesied. Philip the Evangelist, you remember, had four daughters. Each one of them was a prophetess. They prophesied. And in Acts chapter 19, In the church at Ephesus, Paul met up with some men who knew, who were aware of only John's baptism, John the Baptist's baptism, and Paul preached to them, and they believed, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, and it says that they spoke with tongues and prophesied. So they knew only John's baptism, thus their circumstances were different from ours, of course. It's safe to assume that no one around today has been baptized by John. Although I did meet a man a number of years ago who came into my office and was pastoring in San Jose who claimed to be John the Baptist. But particularly when they spoke in tongues, they prophesied. Now here's one of the big points, one of the big points of this whole issue about the permanence of tongues, or the impermanence of tongues, is that tongues is a vehicle of prophecy. Not only did the tongue speaker speak a language foreign to him, but he also prophesied as he was speaking, or praying. That is, he became an organ of inspired foretelling and an organ of inspired foretelling, with emphasis on the word inspired. That means new revelations. So it may be said by some people in a way that tongues is radically different from prophecy. And these people will use, for example, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 as proof. where Paul asks this question, he says, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do all speak in tongues, do all interpret? Now, no doubt, no doubt, tongues and prophecy do differ, but the difference between them is not hard and fast, and that's the big point. The reason is because the tongue speaker always prophesied when he spoke in tongues. So on the day of Pentecost, all 120 spoke in tongues and prophesied. And so prophecy and tongues are functionally the same thing. Functionally. Tongues is a vehicle, once again, of prophecy. So the question as to whether tongues is still being meted out today and given as a gift to the church is really a question about prophecy, prophesying. Does prophecy continue today? If it doesn't, then tongues is not given today. Tongues has ceased. So let's look at this question about the temporary nature of tongues. The Pentecostal Christian argues for the continuation of tongues to the end of time. Those who oppose his viewpoint, and that would be me and probably most of you, would argue that tongues has ceased, came to an end during the apostolic period or when the apostolic period ended. Those people that will argue that tongues have ceased are referred to as cessationists. Now we can illustrate the debate, the issue, by distinguishing between what's called the foundation of the church and the superstructure of the Christian church. The scriptures distinguish between the foundational gifts of the Holy Spirit and the superstructural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it's said that there are the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, and over here you have the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, which is fine. That's a healthy thing to say. It's biblical. But it doesn't really tell you much about exactly what the foundational gift of the Spirit is versus the superstructural gifts of the Holy Spirit. All right, the cessationist position. For example, it's sometimes compared to a scaffolding on a new building. When the building is completed, there's no need for the scaffolding. The scaffolding has become obsolete because the work has been done. So the argument is the scaffolding is like tongues and prophecy. When God's building, the church, is built, then there's no need for the scaffolding any longer. The scaffolding is retired or removed. The scaffolding has served its purpose. It was never intended to be a permanent fixture connected to the building. Now that particular illustration is helpful in one sense, but lousy in another sense. There's a much better illustration that can be used. And that's what I've already just said. That is the foundation of the church versus the superstructure of the church. So when the foundation of the church was laid, then that's when God retired the foundational gifts. All the foundational gifts, such as prophecy and tongues, came to an end. So there's foundational gifts that are short-lived, and there are superstructural gifts that continue. The question is, how to distinguish the foundational gifts from the superstructural gifts? How do we know the difference? Well the answer is that the foundation is compared by Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 as a foundation to a temple or to a house. The foundation of a temple for example requires workers who are blessed with foundational abilities and foundational gifts and foundational talents given by the Holy Spirit. We refer to these as the charismatic gifts. Although in a sense, in a broad sense, every gift is a charismatic gift. So we might compare a foundational worker to Bezalel, for example, in the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, who was gifted by God's Spirit to build the tabernacle. And when his project that God appointed him to complete was finished, there was no need for any more Bezalels to work on the tabernacle. because the mission had been accomplished. So we say that the superstructure of a building requires workers with superstructural gifts who would supplant the foundational workers one day. Once the foundation is complete, then there's nothing left to do but the building itself. And the requirement there is for superstructural men with talents to build. So the question is, is there a text that instructs us about gifts that remain and gifts that are temporary? Gifts that are short-lived or phased out, retired. And the answer to that question is yes, there is. We have it in the second chapter of the book of Ephesians. If you'll turn to your Bibles there, Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians 2 verses 20-22. I call this the foundation text. So Ephesians 2.20-22, Paul says, And ye are built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Now notice the following features about this foundation. First of all, Paul here is describing the church. He describes it as a temple, a holy temple, a house, a building. And then secondly, this house or this temple has a superstructure. The superstructure grows, it says. It rises into the stratosphere. In other words, if we can use our imagination a little bit, the foundation does not grow. The foundation is once laid, does not grow, does not soar into the stratosphere once it's been laid. And this is a word that actually describes the work of the Lord Jesus Christ himself when he came into the world. In 1 Corinthians 3.11, 1 Corinthians 3.11, Paul writes, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So foundations, once they are laid, they are laid. There's nothing more to be done. That's when Jesus was on the cross. He said, it is finished. There was nothing more to be accomplished. Foundations don't evolve, they don't grow. But superstructures do. And then notice here, back to Ephesians 2.20 and following. Notice what the foundation is. Paul says the foundation is the apostles and the prophets, with Christ as the chief cornerstone. Now, here's the question. In what sense are the apostles and the prophets the foundation of the church? And who are these apostles and these prophets Paul is talking about? Well, apostles, of course, we all know who they are, but what about the prophets, since we're interested in prophecy in particular? Well, the answer is that these prophets are New Testament prophets. Ephesians 3.5 identifies who they are, 3.5. Paul says there, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. So these are not pointing back to Old Testament prophets, but to New Testament prophets. And it is not their persons as apostles and prophets, that's the foundation. But they're teachings that are the foundation. They're teachings about Christ and about what He's accomplished. And not to be missed, their revelations are foundational. God revealed things to His apostles and prophets. God gave them revelations. And so the foundation text teaches that the ministry of the apostles and the prophets was foundational in the sense of once laid. Sometimes it's said that if there was a verse that taught that tongues have ceased, then they would believe it. And I would say that there doesn't have to be a verse that frames it in the way that they want it framed. For example, scripture says that Christ's redemption cannot be added unto. He laid the foundation. Who would dare, other than the Roman Catholic, of course, say that it is not finished? Since the Roman Catholic believes in the ongoing crucifixion in the mass. When the Lord died on the cross, he shouted, it is finished. Nothing more needed to be done. The word foundation says it all. A foundation is always laid one time. And so the ministries of the prophets and the apostles are finished, because their words about the Lord are final, once laid. And that includes all prophecy. Remembering, of course, again, that when somebody speaks in tongues, he prophesizes, like the 120. Now of course the Bible doesn't give us an exact date, but it had to be sometime within the apostolic time or at the end of the apostolic period. The apostolic period was when the foundation was laid. That's all we need to know. We don't have to have an exact date. Whenever that foundation was completed, there was nothing more to be done. The only thing that needed to be done was the superstructural gifts needed to be poured out upon the church. That would include teachers and evangelists, exhorters, comforters, those who have a ministry of mercy, giving, ruling, prayer, helps, ruling elders, teaching elders, deacons, and so on and so forth. But the foundational gifts were laid just one time, once laid, are prophets, apostles, tongue speakers, interpretation of tongues, workers of miracles, since those were connected with prophets as well. Keeping in mind, again, that prophets prophesied, and those who spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost also prophesied. Their role, their function was temporary, short-lived. Once that foundation was laid, their work ended, was finished. You and I are engaged now in the work of exercising our superstructural gifts for the building, the church of Jesus Christ. So the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ together with the foundational explanations and commentaries of his ministry that we have in the writings of the prophets and the apostles. Now those who argue the contrary, they implicitly teach that Christ's foundational work isn't complete. In fact, they're saying that the foundation of the building is ever-growing and expanding, that it hasn't been laid once, one time. And thus, they're open for all kinds of new revelations, which the scripture teaches are not new revelations at all, but rather figment of their imagination. And these so-called new revelations sometimes are very often they're set to judge scripture as well. Instead of interpreting the Bible, instead of interpreting their so-called new revelations by the Bible, they interpret the Bible by their new revelations. Because they don't believe in the once laid foundation of the church. So you can see the possibility of mischief here is huge. And God wants us to know, God doesn't have to give us a date, but God does want us to know why tongues and prophecy have ended. If we can discover why the prophecy and tongues and apostleship as well have ended, then knowing the exact date isn't important, except that it must have occurred during the apostolic period when that foundation was being laid one time. So the Holy Spirit, of course, is the one who has given us the gifts of the Spirit. Some of those gifts were foundational, short-lived, once laid, and the others are onward, ongoing, continuous to this day until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. So the words, it is finished, apply to not only what Jesus did on the cross, but also to all the words of his prophets and his apostles, which explain his work. Once one completed foundation of the church, and now we as God's people are to exercise our gifts, the gifts of the Spirit, in building the superstructure. Let's close in prayer. Our Father, we again, we thank you so much for the clarity of your word, and we pray that you would help us to put these truths into practice. We thank you that we have everything we need in terms of revelation laid down in the Holy Scriptures for us, which are able to make us wise into salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. We pray that you would help us to know our faith, to understand our faith, why we believe what we do, and also to help others that may be struggling with this question about the cessation of prophecy and tongues. These things we pray now in Jesus' name. Amen.