Acts 2 verse 1, When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and in Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And we know that the Lord will add His blessing to the reading of His own truth. Now, we will bow in prayer before we turn To the Scriptures, let's all just take these moments and let us seek the face of the Lord. Our God and our Father, we again bow in Thy presence in the Saviour's name. Lord, we're deeply conscious of our need of Thy help as we come today to the Scriptures and to deal with this particular subject. We pray, Lord, for wisdom We pray for power. We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt enable us to let the Word speak and bring its own message on the topic that is before us. Abide with us now. Settle us in Thy presence. Draw near, we ask of Thee. And, Lord, minister to our hearts. We ask this in Christ's name and for His sake and for His glory. Amen. Turning please to Acts chapter 2, to the passage that I read with you earlier, we will of course be looking at other related scriptures in the course of this message. I want to address you today on this and other important subject, namely the subject of speaking in other tongues, the New Testament gift of tongue speaking. I have addressed this subject before at various times, but never at a Lord's Day morning worship service. As far as my ministry here is concerned, I feel it necessary, however, to do so for the important reason that there is tremendous confusion on the subject due to the claims of those who are part of a modern tongue-speaking phenomenon. And of course, tongue speaking is very prevalent in many, many circles and in many churches. And therefore, there is need to teach you and to instruct you on what the Bible says on this, so that you will have in your own heart and mind firmly established what the Lord actually does reveal to us in the Scriptures concerning this matter. Now, the commencement of this modern phenomenon is to be traced right back to over a hundred years ago, to 1901, to January the 1st, actually, of that year, when a lady named Agnes Osman, as it is recorded for us and well documented, spoke in tongues, so she claims, or she claimed at that time. Now, that event took place in what was called Bethel Bible School in Topeka, in Kansas, in the United States. It was a school that was started and was headed up by a man called Charles K. Parham, and then he initiated the view that tongue speaking is the primary evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And from that beginning, the tongue speaking phenomenon spread across the world. until, at the present time, in its most recent form, in the charismatic movement, it is supported by millions upon millions of individuals, as I say, in various movements and various churches and, of course, right across the nations of the world where the gospel at all is known. The tongue-speaking phenomenon is very, very prevalent. Now, as a church, we must examine this kind of phenomenon We must adopt our position concerning it, and the only way to do that is to bring it to the test of God's Holy Word. What saith the Scriptures must always be our watchword when we deal with areas that are controversial. And certainly we're dealing with a controversial subject here in the sense that there are those who will actually get deeply annoyed when the truth is set forth that cuts across their view. And that's the way it is. That's why they get annoyed, because the truth cuts across their experience, their view, and therefore they do not like anyone to come along, as it were, and undermine what they will hold very, very avidly. But it's important that we deal with this matter. You may be subject to those who will try to convince you that it's a good thing, that you should look into it, that you should pursue it, that you should seek. for this experience. And when I say that, I am not saying anything that is unheard of among God's people. There are many believers who have come under pressure to go in this direction and seek out this experience. And they are told very, very strongly by those who practice tongue speaking that if they do not experience this, well then they're really missing out. Indeed, there are those who have been told down through time, if this is not your experience, you may not even be saved. And that's a very serious charge. and therefore it does worry, it does concern many of the Lord's people when they are put under this kind of pressure. Now, it's impossible for me in a message like this today to cover every feature of the topic, but what I want to do is simply deal with some of the main points that I believe will really clarify what the New Testament teaches on the whole issue of tongue speaking. And to begin with, may I just simply draw to your attention, here in Acts chapter 2, that the tongues of the New Testament are human languages. The passage here makes that exceedingly clear. The gift of the Spirit on this occasion, the day of Pentecost, was the ability given to the apostles to speak the gospel in tongues or languages that they had never learned, that they did not even know prior to that day. And yet the Holy Spirit gave them this marvelous ability to bring the gospel to the people in Jerusalem through this gift of languages. And therefore I make the point that the tongues of the New Testament are human languages. Now the word for tongue, as we find it in some of these verses, is the word glosa, as far as the Greek word is concerned. I use that word simply for the reason that you will hear the term that's derived from the Greek word, the term glossolalia, and it's a very common term in many circles. It comes right from the word that is an original language here for tongue. Sometimes that word is used in the New Testament for the physical tongue. the tongue in your mouth, that is the organ of speech. In James 3 verse 5 we have the apostle speak of that and he says the tongue is a little member and he's talking about the tongue physically and it's the very same word as is translated here in this passage with reference to these human languages. And of course you can see the connection because by the organ of the tongue we are able to speak and pronounce our words and so on. So, the word is used in that way, but it's also used here, as I've indicated, with regard to this particular gift of tongue speaking. And the vital point is essentially that the reference is to human languages here and in other places. Let me just say this to you. I looked at this the other day and hadn't really paid any attention to this before. You know in the book of Revelation there's a reference there, there are words there that are found actually seven times. Those marvellous words, every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And right there in the book of Revelation, seven times where you have those particular words, the reference is to human languages. The context makes that clear. Every kindred and tongue and people and nation is referring to the peoples of the earth, the nations of the world, and the very tongue or language that may be spoken in some given nation. And therefore, the word is used with regard to human languages. in the New Testament, and that's its sense here in Acts 2. Now, I don't want to leave on this point. I want to move on quickly, but just pause with me and look at some of the verses where it actually becomes so clear. Indeed, let me say this to you. This is a very important thing about Bible reading. The more you read a passage like this with an honest, open mind, simply reading the English that you have here in your authorized version, the more you read it over, the more you will see the sense of the point, this is a reference to human language and to nothing else but that. But when you start to examine it a little more deeply, as we ought to do at times, well, it becomes even more clear. Now look for example at verse 8. The people have gathered and the gift has been given by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and they begin to speak with these other tongues or languages and in verse 8, here is the comment, the form of a question by those who listened on, the very people being addressed. How hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Now what does that say to you? Does that say to you that there was some heavenly, ecstatic language being used here, as will be claimed by many? Of course it doesn't. The people who are listening on observe that they're actually hearing these apostles speak in the very languages of the nations where they were born. And of course, their question is, well, how can it be? And their question is a valid one, because they know that these apostles are, as the Bible puts it in Acts 4, unlearned and ignorant men, simply in the sense that they are not schooled, they're not scholars in that sense. And therefore, how can it be that these men can speak all these languages, having never learned them, having never known them before? And of course, the answer is the Holy Spirit gave them that ability. We'll come to that in a little time, but here's a verse that's very clear. And then immediately following verse 8, you have all the nations listed that were represented that day in Jerusalem. And when you go on down after the list of nations and peoples into verse 11, here you have them again in wonder and in amazement asking another question. How is it that we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God? And therefore, when you look at verse 11, the comment here is very clear and plain. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. There can be no doubt, but the reference here is to the languages that were represented that day by these Jews who had resided in various nations, all their lifetime, spoke the language of those nations, come now to Jerusalem, hear the gospel preached, and stand back in amazement that they are hearing it in the very language of their nation, in the very language in which they were born. In verse 6 it says, Now when this was noised abroad, that is what had taken place here in the preaching of the apostles, the multitude came together, and were confounded. And the word confounded there doesn't mean that they were confounded in the sense we use the word, but it's a word that denotes that they were filled with wonder, they were filled with amazement. Because if every man heard them speak, Notice how specific it is. Every man, whether he was a Parthian or a Medes regards where he lived, every man heard them speak in his own language. And the word for language in verse 6 is the Greek word dialectos, from which we get the English word dialect. And therefore, it is very, very specific. In verse 6, you have that word, dialectos. In verse 8, you have the same word where it tells you the tongue that says, I hear with every man in our own tongue, our own dialect. Then you go down to verse 11, and it says there, we hear them speak in our tongues. And here now in verse 11, it is the word glossa. And what's the deduction we make from that? Simply this. that the dialect, the word dialectos and the word glosa are one and the same. Now when you think of a dialect, you are thinking always of a human language. You may have a country, for example, that has a main language, It may be Italian, it may be whatever, Spanish, and yet there are variations of that main language in a certain region in that particular country. While it may be Spanish people or Italian people, depending on what country you consider living there, yet they're speaking, as it were, their own little dialect. It's still Spanish, but it's maybe a peculiar form. got variations and differences from the main language, but it's still Spanish, it's still Italian, whatever the case might be. That's how we use the word dialect every day, talking about the dialect of a certain people. And here's the word that the Holy Ghost uses, and He equates it with the other word, glossa, which means tongue as well, or language. And therefore, it could not be clearer that what we're looking at here in Acts chapter 2 are these languages of the people represented in Jerusalem being spoken by the apostles. This was the gift. This was the phenomenon. These men, given directly by the Holy Spirit the ability in a moment to master and speak those languages directly without ever having learned them. and employing them in delivering the Word of God. Now, the importance of Acts 2. I'm not taking any more time here to show you what's so obvious. These are human languages. But the importance of Acts 2 is this. It sets the pattern for all the other places afterwards where you read of tongues speaking. Actually, let me say this to you. There are only three other places When you look at the practice of tongue speaking, after Acts 2, there is Acts 10, we will look at that in a moment, there is Acts 19, and then there is 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 through to 14, which of course is the passage to which people will always go. And they make a mistake, that is, they always go there first. They should go to Acts first, and they should see clearly there what is being taught, and then on the basis of what is taught in the book of Acts, they go to 1 Corinthians 12 through to 14, and determine in the light of the book of Acts what is going on in the Corinthian situation. But the sad thing is that believers will always go to that chapter, and they will try to base on it what's said there their own notion. This idea that tongue speaking is for today and it is some kind of a heavenly language, but here we're told that it is a human language that's in view in every case. Now, turn to Acts 10. Let's look at the passages carefully. Acts chapter 10. I'm not going to take you to Acts 19 or even 1 Corinthians 14 at this point, but just Acts 10 here for a moment. Verse 45, Peter's preaching to the household of Cornelius, and it says in Acts 10, verse 45, or let's read verse 44 as well, while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word, and they of the circumcision, that is the Jewish attendants, which believed, were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because it on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. for they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God." Those who listened on, Peter and his associates, listened on to Cornelius and his household, heard them speak with tongues and heard them magnify God. Now, here's the important thing. How did they know that they were magnifying God? But for the fact that they were using a human language, And as they spoke that human language and magnified God thereby, those listening on were able to discern, able to understand their glorifying God, their magnifying God. And that to me is very clear that this was a human language. Then going to chapter 11 in connection with this. And look at verse 15. You see, in chapter 11, Peter is now explaining to the church in Jerusalem what had happened. In his own experience at Caesarea, he has to explain to some Jews who were kind of skeptical. Could it be that Gentiles had been brought into the kingdom of God? And Peter has to explain all that happened. So, follow with me carefully. As Peter explains this, we go down to verse 15, and Peter says, And as I began to speak, The Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. And the inference is that these Gentiles, like Cornelius and his household, have experienced the very same as the apostles at the day of Pentecost. Because Peter says, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us. And I put it to you this way, the inference is that they have exactly the same experience. by the Spirits coming upon them, they are given the ability to immediately and directly to speak with tongues and to be understood even as they do so. We move on from that for as I say it is so clear, I believe in the Scriptures that these are human languages that anyone who would resist that or who would argue with that would need to have a long hard look at his or her spiritual state. When people argue with what the Bible so clearly says and sets forth, it's always an evidence that that individual is not willing to give way to the authority of the Word of God, and that's always dangerous, very dangerous. God's Word speaks here. God's Word is clear here. I say that to you right now, and we must submit to the authority of Scripture. But then the second thing is this, New Testament tongues were a miraculous sign. New Testament tongues were a miraculous sign, as well as being human languages. And I take you to the words now in 1 Corinthians 14, the words there in verse 22. Turn with me please to this passage and look at verse 22. I haven't time, as I said earlier, to and deal with everything, it's impossible in one message, but I want you to come to verse 22 where Paul makes a statement, a very important statement. And he says this, "...wherefore, tongues..." Remember, that's the same word in the original language as you have in Acts 2 or Acts 10. "...wherefore, tongues are for a sign..." He's talking about the gift to speak the gospel. immediately by the Holy Spirit's enablement. That's what he's talking about. And he says, tongues are for a sign. Now, the word sign there is a standard word in the New Testament. It's used 77 times, actually. But in the vast majority of cases, it's either associated with the miraculous, or it is used directly of the miraculous. It's a word. that's associated with the supernatural and with the miraculous. And therefore, when it's stated right here, as Paul does, that tongues are for a sign, we must understand that he's talking here about a miraculous sign. And it is absolutely true, brethren and sisters, the gift that came at Pentecost was a miracle. That's how we understand it. That's how we explain it. It can't be explained away and it can't be understood unless we simply see that God wrought a miracle and God gave the apostles this supernatural gift of being able to preach in a language or languages that they had never known before. And that's what Paul is saying here. He says, tongues are for a sign. And the word relates to the miraculous and the supernatural. I'll come back to that verse a little later, but just pause with me here and observe this. And that is that there are those who will misconstrue these words completely. And they will say that Paul is teaching here that tongues are the sign of all signs of, first of all, either being saved, and perhaps that's not so much The claim that's made today, because that, as I said earlier, is a very dangerous claim for anybody to make. If you're not speaking with tongues, you may not even be saved. But it used to be very prevalent and very strong, and it is still to some degree today. But going beyond that, it is said that tongues, speaking with tongues, that's the sign, the sign, that you're filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Now, that's equally dangerous. And let me say this, it is utterly wrong. It is utterly wrong today and it was utterly wrong when Paul lived. Let me show you why I say that. The claim is that speaking with tongues is the sign that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why these words that I said are misconstrued. The words of verse 22, tongues are for a sign. Well, that's wrong, as I say, and let me show you why I say that. Go back to chapter 12 and verse 10. In fact, we'll just back up another verse, because I want you to get the picture here. In chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is talking about spiritual gifts. The gifts of the Holy Spirit gave yes to the early church. And as we read down this list, he mentions various gifts. And then you come to verse 10, and it says there, "...to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits." And here is the gift of tongues now, "...to another diverse kinds of tongues." And the point that I am bringing to your attention right here is, listen very carefully, that as the Holy Spirit gave these gifts to believers in the early church, He did not give the gift of speaking with tongues to every believer without exception. Because it says here, and to some, or to another actually, it is to an individual, diverse kinds of tongues. Go right down to verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 12. And look what it says. It says, Have all the gifts of healing. Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?" And you can see that those questions, what are called rhetorical questions, really answer themselves. And taking that particular question, do all speak with tongues, Paul is actually saying, no, they don't. Now, I make this very clear for this reason. The Pentecostals, the charismatic movement person will tell you very, very strongly that it is the will of God that you should speak in tongues, they will say to you that this is something that is for every Christian. And if you're not doing this, you're not experiencing this, you're not right with God, you're not filled with the Spirit, and yet we go to the Scriptures and the Scriptures tell us, listen how I put it, in the days when the true gift was in the church, Not every believer by any stretch of the imagination spoke with these tongues. That's clear and plain from this passage here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Yes, it was a miraculous gift, but not every believer had that gift. Not every believer has the Holy Spirit in him or her. Because the Lord says, if a man doesn't have the Holy Spirit, he doesn't belong to Christ. But 1 Corinthians 12 shows that in apostolic times, not all believers at all had the genuine gift of tongues. And therefore, while this was a miraculous gift, for it was, it was given by the Holy Spirit, there in Acts chapter 2 it says so clearly in verse 4 that they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. It was a gift of the Spirit, it was real, it was genuine, but not everybody experienced it. Not everybody at all. That immediately undermines, that destroys the claim that's presented to God's people, that it's the will of God for every Christian to have this experience. It was not the will of God at all in the days of the apostles, and even the genuine gift were still around today, and it isn't. It still wouldn't be the will of God, because the Holy Spirit divides to every man severally as He will. But get this point. Take these two points. New Testament tongues are human languages. New Testament tongues are a miraculous gift. Now, the third thing, going back to 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 22, is of great importance. And that is that New Testament tongues were a miraculous sign to unbelievers. in the sense of bringing the gospel to them, being a means of bringing the gospel to them. I'll get into that a little more, that statement. But New Testament tongues were a sign to unbelievers. Well, look at this verse, verse 22. Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, now listen very carefully, not to them that believe. but to them that believe not." Now, how clearer could Paul be in what he says here? Because what he says right here contradicts entirely the statement that is made by the Pentecostals or whoever, that tongues are for a sign to the believer. And yet the Word of God says tongues are for a sign not to the believer, but for the unbeliever. And for men to teach, as they have done for decades and still do today, that tongues are a sign for the Christian. Again, it's usually put forth this way. It's a sign you're filled with the Spirit. It's a sign that you've got the Spirit's power on you. For men to teach that and to say that is a reversal of what Paul teaches here. Because Paul says here very clearly that tongues are for the unbeliever. Now, what does he mean by that? He means simply this. that the gift of tongues was a gift for the unbeliever in the sense that it was the means of the unbeliever, like on the day of Pentecost or at other times in those particular days, to hear the gospel from the lips of a man. And again, I come back to it, he had never learned that language, he had never been to a Bible school, but the Holy Ghost gave him the language immediately to preach the gospel to that unbeliever wherever he was. And therefore, it was a sign to the unbeliever that the gospel was being preached. And as we will see a little while here, that what was being preached was authentic and was true. and should be given credence and acceptance. It's very important, brethren and sisters, to see this. Now, go back with me to Acts chapter 1 and 2 here a moment or two at this juncture. We're seeing here that New Testament tongues were a miraculous sign, but to unbelievers in this sense of bringing the gospel to them and showing them that what they heard was right, it was of God. Go back to Acts with me here. Go to chapter 1. this time, and look at verse 8 here, that great verse that we all know very well, that's really what you might call the commission that the Lord gave to the apostles, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now, the gospel is to be taken, the Lord says, not only to these places locally, like Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, but the gospel, He says to these apostles, is to be taken by you to the uttermost part of the earth. Let me tell you something very important about Acts 1, verse 8. The Lord was not setting forth an option here to the apostles. He was not saying, here's something that's within the realm of possibility. Here's an option for you men to consider and maybe you'll do it or maybe you'll not. That's not the meaning of Acts 1 verse 8. The Lord is telling these men, the Holy Ghost will come on you and you will go to all these places. And you will be my witnesses right to the very uttermost part of the earth. And what the Lord is setting before these men is what we call God's redemptive program, not for two thousand years later only. I add only because it is still for today. But God's redemptive program as far as those apostles were concerned for that day, for that very time in which they lived. And of course, we know that's the way it is because immediately, or ten days later, the Holy Spirit came and they immediately launched out. And they went to the uttermost part of the earth eventually. Now, what's going on? God is sending out the gospel across the world of that day. The great program of redemption has been carried forth by the apostles, beginning at Jerusalem, and throughout the land of Judea and up into Samaria, but going beyond that, the extremities reaching to the very widest scale, the uttermost part of the earth as it is right here. And my friend, the only way that that could have been accomplished there and then, as it was the will of God for it to be done there and then, was for God to give these men this marvelous gift. to go to wherever, to a people they had never seen before, and preach to those people the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the very language and in the very tongue of that nation, that place, that city, whatever you care to mention. This is what's going on here. God gave this ability to speak in human languages previously unknown through the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing God's Word to the nations of the earth of that day. This is what it is all about. And for that reason, tongues are for a sign to the unbeliever, not the believer. Tongues were designed to benefit the unsaved. That's what it means, to carry the gospel to them. and bring the Word of God to them, that they might be saved, that they might be brought to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I just say this in passing, for I want to get to my final main point here, but that is why in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 39, Paul does say, after he is set out to correct the abuses in the church at Corinth, he does say in verse 39, forbid not to speak with tongues, and what he is saying there is that the true gift properly used, yes, is still in vogue, and is to be employed as the Lord willed it, by taking the gospel to the heathen and the pagan, and bringing them the word in their own tongue. That's what he means. Forbid not to speak with tongues. It was for that day. Because this is my last point. Just bear with me here. The gift of tongues was also for the purpose of authenticating, that is, showing reality to the apostolic ministry and message. Now, I want you to think very carefully with me through this. The first place, indeed the only place in the Gospels where you read of this gift is in Mark 16, verse 17. And there the Lord Jesus Christ made a prediction concerning the ministry of the apostles. And I'm going to even read the verse with you, but in that verse you have these words. They shall speak with new tongues. He said other things there. He said they would take off serpents, and the serpents would bite them, and yet they wouldn't be harmed. The apostle Paul had that experience. You remember when he went to Malta, and he was placing sticks in the fire? and a serpent come out of the sticks because of the heat, and fastened on his hand, and the heathen standing watching on were amazed because he didn't die." I just read, I don't know when it was, I'm going to say recently, it wasn't recently, some time ago, of one of these extreme Pentecostal preachers in the United States. He thought he would do the same thing. So, he got a serpent of some kind, a snake, And he took it out of its, wherever it was, case, and he started to handle it, and it bit him, and he died. He died. Paul didn't die. Why? Because that miracle caused the Maltese people to realize what this man is preaching is true. And that's another reason why there was this miraculous gift of being able to speak in the languages of the people. It was in order to authenticate the ministry of these men. There's a verse I want you to see in Acts chapter 14, a very important verse in this regard. And I trust that the main points I'm making today will clear up a lot of stuff that you may have heard and you've wondered about it. And you'll be told over and over again, you know, it's always the will of the Lord to heal. And you'll be told that if you're not experiencing healing, for example, which was a New Testament gift, You're not right with God. You don't have enough faith. And on and on it goes. And the poor individual who may be lying on a bed of pain, languishing in misery, is driven into more misery because some unthinking, inconsiderate idiot comes along and says to that person, if you had enough faith, you could be healed. And that is cruel. Because just like tongue speaking, in which not everybody could speak with tongues, that is taking the real gift, with regard to healing, and of course that's the other main one they always focus on, with regard to healing in New Testament times, not everybody was healed, because it is not always the will of God to be healed. If it was always the will of God to be healed, you know what would happen? Nobody would ever die. That's as simple as that. It is nonsense. We're all subject to death, saved or unsaved. But taking the say of people of God, you and I are subject to death. And the Lord may raise up a person, but He does now and then. And let me say, it's not very often. And that should be heeded. It's not very often that someone is raised up from an extreme illness. When the extreme illness comes, we need to be wise and say to ourselves, well, this is the Lord indicating to me that my time to go home may be very, very close. I know I'm digressing here, but I make the point. Why were there miracles like these, tongue speaking, healing, whatever? Well, we have the answer in Acts 14. Look at verse 3. Long time, therefore, abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the Word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." God gave testimony to the Word of His grace. Now, what is the Word of His grace? The Word of His grace is the gospel. Here are Paul and Barnabas. They're in Iconium. They're preaching to not only Jews, but to Gentiles. They're preaching to people, taking the Gentiles, who have never known anything of God, who have never had the Old Testament Scriptures, who have never even heard the name of the Lord Jesus. And they're coming along to these people. Now listen carefully to what they're doing. They're telling these darkened, heathen, pagan people, There's a man who was born in Bethlehem, in the land of Palestine. I'm sure they never even heard of Bethlehem, but anyhow, they'd have told them of Bethlehem. The Lord Jesus was born there. He grew up in Nazareth. He lived his life. He died on a cross. He was put in a tomb. He rose from the dead. He went back to heaven. And if you believe that message, you will be saved. And let me ask you a question. If you heard that message as a pagan or a heathen, what would you say to yourself? You'd say to yourself, how do I know that what you're telling me is true? And that is the reason why The apostles were miracles. That is why they spoke with tongues, including the former reason of being able to evangelize and take God's redemptive program across the world of that day. Here's another reason. They didn't have the New Testament. The New Testament wasn't written. For a long time afterwards, the Lord even went back to heaven, and He says, go out, go into the very uttermost part of the earth, tell these people the truth, preach the gospel to them. And He says, you will work miracles, and those miracles will convince the people of what you're saying is true. that what you're saying is authentic. It is the Word of God, and it will be proved to be that by the fact that this miracle, and it could have been the miracle of tongue speaking, or healing someone, or even raising somebody from the dead. It could have been any of those. But whatever it might have been, it authenticated, it verified the integrity and the truth of what these men were actually preaching. And therefore, they were convinced, this is the Word of God. That happened at Pentecost. Those Jews listening on at Pentecost, because those gathered there in Jerusalem were Jews only, they said, We do hear them speak in our own tongues. What? The wonderful works of God. The message of the gospel of sovereign grace. And therefore, the gift of tongues was a means, as I say, of authenticating the message and the ministry of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't have the New Testament in writing. Therefore, miracles were performed to verify that what they were saying was true. Now, there's a very important conclusion from that. What is that conclusion? Once the New Testament was given and completed, there was no more need for any miracle. Get into your heart today, men and women, the purpose of the miracle As you see it in the New Testament, was to verify that what these men were saying was absolutely right. It was of God. And I want to stress that, because the purpose of the miracle, you take the miracle of healing again, the purpose of the miracle was not first and foremost to make someone better of his or her illness. The purpose of the miracle, that was just a side product. Getting better. The purpose of the miracle was to say to the people, what you're hearing is true. You better listen to it. But you see, there came a day when that was no longer needed. And I must draw this to your attention. Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. And look with me at verse 8. For Paul, down this chapter, is actually in the process of correcting the Corinthians. They were all muddled up about spiritual gifts in general, especially the one about tongue speaking. And he says this in this chapter, that the greatest spiritual gift of all is love. He's talking about charity here, but it's a reference to spiritual love. So verse 8, charity never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Now, I'm not getting into all the references here, but just take the one about tongues. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. The Apostle Paul is telling the Corinthian church that the day is coming when the gift of tongues will no longer be needed. It's going to cease. Of course, the great question is, when did that come to fulfillment? And I haven't time, of course, today to deal with this. If you want to get light on this, then you Go back on the Bible class studies when I dealt with the whole question of the miracle and the part called cessationism, and that's what's in view here, and you'll get a fuller treatment of it. But right now today, let me just show you verse 12. 5 verse 9, now we know in part, we prophesy in part. It's verse 10 I want you to read. When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." No! I'm simply making a statement. The reference there is to what's called the close of the canon of Scripture. And that is the standard Reformed view of these verses. And not only is it that, it is, I believe, the understanding of these verses. Paul is saying here, the day will come when that which is in part will be done away because the perfect will come. Let me ask you a question and let me show you the answer. Where is the perfect? And here's the answer. There it is. The perfect has come. We have had, the church has had, the complete Bible from the close of the first century. And men and women, the Word of God is sufficient. And because the Word of God is sufficient and clear, tongues have ceased. That is the true, real gift. In the New Testament church, it ceased. And that places a huge question mark over what is going on and has been going on today and in the past. What is that? Well, really, I'm not even going to get into that because I haven't time. But I'm just simply asking you today to look very carefully at this. New Testament tongues, human languages. New Testament tongues, a spiritual gift. New Testament tongues to authenticate what the apostles preached. New Testament tongues, therefore, came to an end. They ceased. Why is it that even those who would tell us that it's still there, why is it that their missionaries, have to go to Bible school and language school like any other individual who wants to go out and preach the gospel. Why is that? Well, the answer is simply this. The gift isn't there anymore. And furthermore, what they say they're doing when they speak with their tongues is they are speaking in a heavenly language. And that's their way out of it. I trust today you will see what the Bible, what the New Testament teaches about this gift. It's important, and let me just say this in closing, it's important that every child of God in this congregation understands at least these main points. Because we live in a time when the tongue-speaking phenomenon is actually the modern-day catalyst that is causing the ecumenical system to have life and to spread and to gain power. Because ecumenicalism thrives on charismatism in a very real and powerful way. And the reason is this. Whether he's a Roman Catholic priest or a Pentecostal preacher, or someone in the main denominations where this has infiltrated. And that's true in our own town. There are Presbyterian churches in this town that have this strong charismatic influence and tongue-speakingist practice. It's everywhere. The Pentecostalists, the Roman Catholic priests, whoever it might be, they have all got one thing in common. They all speak with tongues in the modern sense. And that's what's bringing them together. Now, I know there are old-time Pentecostals still around, who love the Lord, I don't doubt that. They would need to have a long, hard look at what is happening, because tongues speaking is building the one world church, perhaps as nothing else is. And that's serious. That's why you and I need to know these things and stand away from it and reject it in its modern form as being a counterfeit. Let us bow together. Let us come to a close with a word of prayer.