Beloved, the Word of God. When the day of Pentecost arrived, and they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues, as a fire, appeared to them, and rested upon each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit had given them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, demout men from every nation under heaven. And in this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, are not all of these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each one of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Eleamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others were mocking and said, They are filled with new wine. Heavenly Father, I pray that you bless the reading of your word, and I pray that you bless its hearing in every and any context it is heard in. I pray that you use it to nourish and strengthen us in our faith, to build us up in the faith that we have. And if there are those here who do not have faith, Father, I pray that you would call them to faith through these words. Father, I pray that you would be glorified in them, and that you would do all of this, either through me or in spite of me. In this I pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. So what is it that was going on? That's the question that the people were asking as they saw this mighty and very strange event taking place. One of the holy days that we as a church acknowledge is that of Pentecost. It's seen as the birthplace of the Christian church. We've already identified the church itself as beginning in Eden. So this is the Christian church and how it's been baptized now with the Holy Spirit coming upon it like a rushing wind and tongues of flame coming down in power just as God had done so many times before individually in the lives of Old Testament saints like Othniel and Samson and David and others. Here there's a difference. Here He, the Holy Spirit, descends upon the whole communion, not just a group of isolated individuals. I want to just go on just a little bit of a side note here and just as a personal little a soapbox of mine, but I think it's important for us to acknowledge. And that is that the Holy Spirit, when we refer to Him, we should refer to Him as a he, with masculine pronouns. That's how the scriptures refer to Him. All too often times, Christians, when they refer to the work of the Holy Spirit, they use the third person, they use it. and not he. So I think it's important for us to be clear that he is a person and he is a member of the Trinity, the Triune Godhead, and he is doing this work here. So the official recognized date of Pentecost was last week. But over the weeks to come and across this month, we're going to be spending some time looking at this early church together. This week we're just dealing with the Holy Spirit's work in Pentecost, and next week we'll be dealing with Peter's response to the people who are watching to see what's going on. So with that in mind, we're going to extend, if you will, Pentecost across this month. Thus, you've got the red coverings on the pulpit and on the table below it. And we're going to focus this month, really, on Pentecost and what we can glean for ourselves as well as what it is that God is doing in the life of His church in these early days. So we're beginning to wrestle through this question. Last week we focused upon the principles of prayer and being committed to God's agenda and not our own. This week we're going to talk about the Spirit's descending upon the people and what all of that is about, as well as this pesky notion of speaking in tongues that oftentimes gets people very worked up and confused. We're going to talk about what it is and what it isn't. And then we'll talk about our own call to tell others about the mighty works of God in Christ. And so our text begins this day with Pentecost arriving. Literally, Pentecost means the 50th day, and it refers to a Jewish holiday, that of the Feast of Weeks. And I stop right there for just a moment to highlight to you that if you happen to have Jewish neighbors or coworkers or friends in the community, this is kind of one of those things that we hold in common. Both the Jews and the Christians celebrate Pentecost. for very different reasons, but nevertheless it's a day, it's a point where you can go and say, well, how was your celebration of Pentecost? And begin hopefully then maybe to share about our celebration of Pentecost and the distinction, or how ours, what we find in the Holy Spirit here, is fulfilling everything that they are celebrating and still working in anticipation for, and maybe then lead them to faith in Christ Jesus as the Holy Spirit opens those doors. In Jewish tradition, Pentecost is usually marked as a feast or celebration that commemorates God's giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Of course, as Christians, there's a parallel nature there, because God's giving us the Gospel through Jesus Christ, and ultimately through the preaching of Peter. So Peter, in a sense, becomes the new Moses. And Jesus, of course, is the greater Moses, as Peter's preaching this day. And so on this day of Pentecost, everybody was together in one place. They've gathered together from all over the known world, if you will, both Jews and proselytes. We're going to come back to that just in a minute. So we're told that they're gathered there. Plus, in addition, we're also told that all the disciples are gathered together. So you've got at least the 12, probably the whole 120 as a group that is gathered together. What are they doing? And we're not told explicitly what they're doing here, but that's something we can infer from the previous chapter, chapter 1, verse 14. And they were devoting themselves then to prayer. They were being the people of God. He had told them to wait, that's Acts 1.5. And so they're waiting, and they're waiting in prayer, waiting for the Holy Spirit to move before they will act. And I want to highlight that even right there for us. Because the reality is, oftentimes we are not obedient in that sense. We like to go and act and do the work. And oftentimes by doing so, we do it in our own strength. These disciples, I am sure, wanted to get out and go. They were chomping at the bit. Jesus had spent 40 days with them. This is the 50th day now, so they've spent 40 days with Jesus, and now there's a period of 10 days, roughly, in between the ascension of Christ and this descending of the Holy Spirit and power upon the people. They wanted to get up and go, but they waited and they were obedient to God in prayer. We need to be obedient to God in prayer. To co-opt some of the words of Solomon, I could say, there's a time to be still and pray, and there's a time to act. Our problem is discerning which of the two it is. We're not going to rehash everything that we talked about last week in terms of prayer, but I think this is worth reminding us in terms of the context of what they're doing. This is a practice that we, too, need to discipline ourselves into doing and making a part of our lives. And so all of a sudden, this is verse 2, there came a sound from heaven like a rushing wind, and it filled the house wherein they were sitting. That sound was big, and it was loud, and it was crunching. It filled the room. Now remember, there's 120 people, realistically, in this room. So it's not a little bedroom here. We're talking about a good-sized room wherein people could meet. The wind and the sound of the wind filled the room. We've all been in windstorms where the howling of the wind seemed to drown out almost everything else. Some of you have been before or have witnessed the rumble of a tornado as it's come through. I'm grateful that that's something that I have never witnessed, and I pray that I never do witness it. And I pray for those of you who have witnessed it or experienced it, that that's something that you never have to experience again. But I'm told that if you're in the path of a tornado, it sounds a lot like a freight train in terms of its noise and sound. And that's something that my wife and I can relate to. When Denise and I were living in Mississippi, when I was in seminary, we lived less than 100 yards from a freight train track in Jackson. And that train would come through across those tracks. all hours of the day and all hours of the night with all kinds of frequency. And when that train came through, it filled our whole little townhouse there with noise and sound. In fact, it was so loud that if we were talking on the phone to somebody, we had to tell them to wait because we couldn't hear a word that the other person was saying. And if we were watching a movie on TV, we would put it on pause because It wasn't worth trying to listen because we could not hear it and we couldn't turn it up loud enough to hear. It was loud. That's the sound that is being described here. It's very unlike what it is that Elijah, it's a contrast in many ways to what Elijah experienced. You know the story with Elijah and he's up on the mountain and he's there and the wind moves through, the storm moves through and breaking everything down, but God was not in the wind. He was in the still, small voice. Here there is no still, small voice. It is the roar of the wind. And here God is in the wind as the Holy Spirit comes into the lives of the people. And that leads us into verse 3. There appeared literally means something that could be seen with the eye. This is not just a vision that certain people are having. This is not some kind of a hallucination. This is not some kind of euphoric experience. They can see this with their eyes. And they were like divided tongues or separate tongues of fire. When you see this word divided, sometimes people think of divided like a snake's tongue, like forked and stuff like that. That's not what's being described here. It's separate tongues, individual little tongues of fire that land upon each and every person that is in that room. what's going on. Of course, this is symbolic, but it's a reference to Jesus' words in Matthew 3.11 about being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John baptized with water, and here you have fire and that language of fire contrasting with that language of water. They're both being symbolic and both accompanying or accomplishing essentially the same thing. Water cleanses, fire purifies. Baptism is symbolic of that, that God expects His people to be a holy people as He is holy and thus we need to be cleansed and we need to be purified of our sin and ultimately that comes through faith. And thus one of these spirits, the tongues of fire, descend upon each of the disciples that are present, and they are filled with the Spirit again. This is a reference to being filled with power. And what is the effect of God's presence here? We're told in the scriptures that they spoke in, quote, other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, or as the Spirit allowed them to speak. This is not a gift in terms of the way that people are hearing. This is what it is that these 120 disciples are speaking when they're speaking that, or at least the 12 that are present there. We're going to address tongues in a moment, but I want to make sure that we are clear in our minds that this is not a conversion event. These guys are already believers. We mentioned that last week, but I just want to reiterate that again because sometimes people look at this and they say, aha, the Holy Spirit's coming upon them. These guys are now being born again finally in the Spirit. But Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3 that you cannot see the kingdom of God without being born again. In other words, unless God does the work, unless God gives you the spiritual rebirth, you're hopelessly lost and cannot see the kingdom. You're blind and deaf to the things that belong to God. Yet, when he's talking to his apostles in Matthew 13, addressing the question of why he speaks in parables to the people and basically saying, you know, some are going to stay deaf and thus remain outside of the kingdom. But he goes on to them and says to you, to his disciples here, to you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom. They had to have the spirit already. Because if they didn't have the Spirit already, you can't know those things that you can't see or witness. They had to have that rebirth at work in them, that new life that is worked by the Holy Spirit, that regeneration, to use the terms we use. in our theology lessons, to be able to know those secrets and to be able to understand. And thus, Jesus being very clear that though there are many, he is keeping blind and deaf to those things. He has opened the ears and the eyes to his disciples and thus they had the Spirit already. But this Pentecostal event is what Jesus was alluding to in John 14.12 when he says to them, you will do, not even see, but do greater things than what you've seen me do. Here, the greater things begin to happen, not greater in power, but greater in extent. And we see the church now growing, or beginning to grow, and it will, of course, expand across the face of the earth. We don't have one here, we don't have 12 here, we don't have the 72, of course, Jesus sent that 72 at one point with power, but we have 120 the Holy Spirit has come down upon in power, and there's more to come. And so we have arrived at verse five. We're told that devout men from every nation, along with the Jews, have arrived and they're residing in Jerusalem. Again, this is for the Festival of Weeks that they've gathered here for. But I wanted to let this settle into the significance of what it is that is being said here, that Luke is telling us here. Because, from a Jewish perspective, if you were a good Jew growing up, the phrase, devout Gentile, is essentially an oxymoron to you. They were physically uncircumcised. They may have been proselytites, they may have been coming in, but they weren't circumcised and thus were unclean. They were still outsiders and not able to go into the inner parts of the temple. They had to stay in the outer courts. But you see here, a sign in the Messianic age is that God would gather to Himself a people from all of the nations. Even some Isaiah would write, in Isaiah 66, verses 18 through 21, a people that He would gather from the nations and even take from them Levites and priests. And of course, we've talked about Peter's language applied to Christians, that we are a priesthood of believers. So further we have this idea that the gospel is getting ready to go out and prior to that, anticipating that, the nations have arrived in Jerusalem. And the preaching then in Jerusalem is preaching that takes place in foreign languages and tongues speaking and reaching out, not directly to these Jews, but to these Gentiles, which, by the way, is a fulfillment of Isaiah 28, verses 11 through 12. So we have in anticipation everything that needs to happen lined up, and thus something big is about to take place. And it's something we find in verse six, tongues. The apostles were speaking in languages that they did not know, but the people who were there could understand them and understand the mighty works of God of which they were speaking. In fact, this is echoed in verse eight, if you have any question, again, that they are speaking in these foreign human languages because each person is hearing this in his own national or local tongue. Okay, so why this particular gift? First of all, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14.21-25, citing Isaiah 28.11-12, tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers. Why is this? Paul goes on in that passage in 1 Corinthians 14 to say that if an unbeliever hears believers speaking in tongues, they think basically these guys are out of their minds. What happens? They think they're drunk in the record of Acts 2.13. And so thinking they're out of their minds, they'll turn away and they will thus remain in their unbelief and remain unconverted. Sounds an awful lot like what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 13 with respect to speaking in parables, doesn't it? So this is the context. Isaiah states that it is the judgment of God, in particular against the Jews, who rejected Christ, that the gospel would be preached in these foreign tongues, that the Bible would be taught in these foreign languages, leaving the Jews hardened in their unbelief. The Old Testament had been given in Hebrew. It was the language of heaven, if you will. And now things are changing because the Jews rejected Christ. The Gospel is changing its language. It's no longer in Hebrew. Even the New Testament is no longer written in Hebrew, but is written in Greek. And so these guys are hardened, and this is judgment, Isaiah says, against the people for their rejection that they heard but would not believe. Secondly, along with that judgment against unbelieving Jews, it is meant to be a localized reversal of Babel, giving hope to the Gentiles. We know the account in Genesis 11 verses 1-9. Because of sin and arrogance that is known to man, God confused the languages and scattered the people to the edges of the earth. And thus they were isolated from the revelation of God that would ultimately culminate in Christ. And they weren't given that continuing revelation as they scattered. And they also weren't able to communicate with one another. And so while the Jews are confounded, the ones who have that revelation from the Old Testament are confounded, the Gentiles are given grace because the language barrier has now been removed. For those of you who have done ministry cross-culturally in different languages, you know how good a promise that will be. You know, in here and now, we're stuck with it. Here in Babylon, not in Babylon, here in Jerusalem, for a little period of time, they're given a reprieve, if you will. Now, in the new creation, again, the division of languages will once again be gone. Here now we're waiting for that. And that'll be a nice thing when that comes. So the Jews are confounded and the Gentiles are given grace. Now if you think about it, that too should sound an awful lot like another passage of scripture. If you go to Romans chapter 11, verses 11 through 24, where Paul talks about cutting off the one branch and grafting in the wild branch of the Gentiles to that original trunk. Alright, let's take a step back for a minute here. Because I think in today's culture, in today's world, it's important for us to make sure that we wrap our heads around this idea of tongues. The text is very clear, judgment for the Jews, hope for the Gentiles. But what about other references to tongues in the Bible? Couldn't it perhaps refer to something that is different in different places of the Bible? This is a conversation that I've had with John in Florida who is a Pentecostal, but I've had with other Pentecostals over the years. Because modern Pentecostalism would like you to think that the Bible speaks about tongues all over the place. And it speaks about tongues as something that is normative for the life of the Church. So I want to make sure we spend enough time to clarify, and I'll be bringing some things in from 1 Corinthians 14 too, to clarify in our minds what tongues is and what tongues is not. Now as to it showing up all over the Bible, the word tongues is used in the Greek 50 times in the New Testament. Now that sounds like a lot, but I emphasize the but there. 23 of those 50 times simply refers to that physical thing that's in our mouths, or to a language. So when James talks about taming your tongue, he's not talking about something that is a spiritual gift. He's talking about something that is physically in our mouths that we use to cut down people and tear them apart. He says you need to tame that. You need to make sure that you pay attention to those things that you allow to come out of your mouth in your national or native language. Twenty-three of those uses refer to that, either physically or to a language in general. So when Paul writes about people from every tribe and nation, every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, it's not talking about a spiritual gift either. It's talking about a language, a human language. They grew up learning. For most of us it's English, but it's a human language that we grew up learning. 23 times it's used in one of those two ways. 1 Corinthians 14, which deals with Paul's basically saying, guys, tongues ain't everything that you think it is, shows up 14 more times. 14 times in that context there. In one chapter of the Bible, teaching something very different than modern Pentecostals would like you to believe about the nature of what tongues are. So right there you've got 23 and 14 usages that are very, very focused and not really presenting what the Pentecostal would like you to believe. In terms of the book of Acts, it's used six times, four of which are in this chapter. Two more times a little bit later in Acts, but only two more times later in Acts. It's not like it's showing up everywhere. Oh, everybody's converted and now they're speaking in tongues twice, folks. Twice it is used to refer to them speaking in tongues as a sign the Holy Spirit was moving upon them, and nothing more. That leaves seven more references, one of which is in Mark 16, verse 17, which is just basically part of Mark's kind of extension in the Great Commission that you'll go out into other lands and you'll preach in different tongues. Some people would think that that is a reference to the spiritual gift. Other people just simply think that we're going to learn languages. I think the latter, but just to be open, we could potentially include the former. the rest of which are found throughout Corinthians. When you go and look at Paul's other writings, when you go and look at the later writings of the Bible, tongues all but disappears. So when you get to John, for example, in his three epistles, 1, 2, and 3 John, when you get to the book of Revelation, there is absolutely no mention of tongues whatsoever. This is a specific thing that is given for a very specific time and a specific place for a specific purpose and not something to be normative for the church. Hear me out. It is not something that is to be normative for the church. We shouldn't go, hey, this is what I want to do. Every time, in addition, the tongues are mentioned with any kind of description whatsoever. They're spoken of in the context of public human languages. Not some kind of a private language, not some kind of a prayer language, not some kind of a language of heaven, but private human languages. Even back in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says, and Paul's the guy that says, look, I speak in tongues more than any of you guys. But he says, when I pray, I pray with my mind and not in tongues. We'll get back to that again. By saying, look, this isn't even my practice to speak, to pray in tongues, like this, some kind of a private prayer language. That's what most modern Pentecostals will tell you that they are doing. Further, as you move further and further on through the book of Acts, you find a clear transition away from any emphasis on the supernatural to an emphasis upon the preaching of the scriptures and the sharing of your testimonies. Look at what Jesus has done in my life. Look at the great works of God that he is doing, not only in my life, but in the world around us. And so that's what becomes normative for the church. And thus we should not approach tongues as something that we should look at or desire to be normative for the church life. So let me ask the question, does that mean tongue speaking is heretical? I want to say no, but, and hear me out in terms of this clarification there. First of all, if all tongues speaking really were tongues speaking, like it was a human language and stuff along those lines, it would rule out pretty much everything that the Pentecostals are practicing and doing. Plus, it would be clearly identified as something with a purpose, and that purpose being to be judgment upon unbelief and unbelievers, particularly unbelieving Jews. I've yet to run into a Pentecostal who would approach it in that way. Additionally, the vast majority of what passes as tongues today, or is spoken of as tongues today, is not this. Probably a better term for it would be ecstatic utterance, and that's kind of what they're doing. But ecstatic utterance isn't listed anywhere as a biblical gift. So let me say this. of those who babble, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but those who babble and call it tongues. It is not tongues. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're a heretic. It may mean that you're an error, but it does not necessarily make you a heretic. If you, though, say that you have to speak in tongues babbling to be a Christian, or that it should be normative for the Christian life, or that your use of this babble somehow makes you a better Christian or more equipped for leadership in the church. Notice, when Paul gives the requirements for leadership, both the elder and the deacons, never once is there a mention of tongues. But if you're teaching that, then you are moving into something that is heretical. If you, knowing or having been instructed in what it is that Paul is teaching about tongues in 1 Corinthians 14, in other words, that it is judgment against the Jew and is not something that is to be used as some kind of a private prayer language, but you're teaching something that is contrary to that, then you have moved into heresy, not so much because of your utterance, but because you are rejecting the plain word of God. You're rejecting the scriptures. So as for you, beloved, let me remind you, as we kind of think about this, and we might have kind of this, we might have friends, we might have neighbors who fall into this Pentecostal world. Let me, give you or remind you of the admonition of the Apostle Paul. He goes, if I pray in a tongue, and again, those are biblical tongues, Paul spoke in biblical tongues, other human languages. It's part of the reason that he did all the missionary work that he was able to do, arguably. He goes on to say, if I were to pray in a tongue, then my spirit is edified only. But if I pray with my mind, then all of me is edified. So beloved, edify, seek to edify the whole person. Even Paul in the context of 1 Corinthians 14 says, strive for the greater gifts. Strives not for tongues, but for the prophetic word. And understand that he's talking about something very different than what we sometimes think of when we hear that phrase. He's not talking about these people who are predicting the future and all of those kinds of things. He was simply saying the prophetic word is taking the scriptures. and explaining the scriptures to the people of God. Explaining what it is the scripture says and exhorting them to repent and believe if you're evangelizing, but then to obey if you're speaking about discipling Christians. Seek out these greater gifts. Seek out the plain teaching of God's word because it is better than that experience, whatever that experience happens to be. So what do we do with that this morning? Let me make just a couple observations. First of all, I think we need to go back to this idea of what we see in these Christians prior to their coming out of the upper room there and be reminded of the importance of praying and waiting upon God to, if you will, open those doors of opportunity. This is not kind of a health-wealth kind of thing, but it's simply saying that oftentimes we Christians like to make little ishmaels for our own. Yeah, I know God said, but... I know we're supposed to wait on God's timing, but... We need to be prayerful. And when God opens that opportunity, gives us that opportunity to share the gospel with that neighbor that we've been praying for so long, then we act. And we act in strength. We pray for those opportunities to speak to our next-door neighbors and to our co-workers and other things. It takes the Holy Spirit to convert somebody. It takes the Holy Spirit to do that work of regeneration upon them. But He uses us as tools. He uses us as tools to that end. So work when God gives you that opportunity to work. Share the great things of God when God gives you that opportunity to do so. And that's really the second thing that I want to touch on this morning. When that opportunity opened up, their immediate response was to go and tell. They didn't go and tell everything. They simply were told by Luke. They reported the great things that God was doing. Oftentimes Christians get all kind of worked up about how do I witness to somebody? Is there a method and a model? And you've got to go through evangelism explosion classes, or you've got to go and memorize the Romans Road, or do this, that, or the other thing. You don't need to have all the answers to all the questions. Hopefully the questions that you can't answer, you recognize that there are people in your midst that are tools to that end, but more importantly, go study. Open up the word of God. What you can do is tell people what you know about the great works of God. You don't have to even be in your life in that context. You can look at the world around you. You can see the sun rising and setting. You can see the rains coming in and going. You can see the regular rotation of the seasons. You can see the mighty waters and the mighty winds that roll through and the power of God as He demonstrates that in nature. You can see the beauty of a flower or of a butterfly or of one of those kinds of things as you look upon it and the intricacy and recognizing that there is no way that could happen by chance. Those are part of the mighty works of God. You can look at nature and the natural world. You can look at all sorts of things. We're told that the natural world testifies to the things of God. Tell people of the things of God, the mighty works of God in the lives of His people across the biblical histories and across church history that has followed it. Tell people about the mighty works of God in your life where those are clear and evident. Also, Everybody wants the miraculous. We like that special, look at me, I did this work, or that work, or whatever. First of all, a miracle was never meant to be look at me. It was always meant to be look at Christ. It was always meant to be a testimony that Christ is who He said He was, or those who were revealing the word that it was true in their half, and the scriptures have been closed. It's not us. So we shouldn't be so much focused upon those things. We should be focused instead on something that is more sure, that Peter says is more sure and more true. We should focus on the scripture and the scripture's ability to totally organize and orchestrate every aspect of our life and every decision that we make. God is not confused and thus what he has given us is something that we might be confused by but is not confused in and of itself. We just think we need to study it. We should think that we need to study it more. And we need to grow in our knowledge and understanding about how God has revealed himself across the world. And so we need to prepare ourselves for that work of telling the world about the great things of God. I am convinced that if you want to see change and transformation in the church, It's not going to be because of a program. It's not going to be because of this thing or that thing. Nothing wrong with programs or some of those things. But it's going to be because you and me and each person here shares the mighty things that God is doing and does not back down from doing so. And then, again, invite people to come and see. what it is that God is doing here. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you and ask your grace and your mercy upon us. We thank you for your word, we thank you for its instruction, and we thank you for those areas even that are oftentimes misunderstood that we can learn and grow through. I do thank you for people you've put in our midst that would disagree with us, but Father, I pray that you would give us the wisdom and the understanding to be able to take your word and teach it to others and show those in our midst, particularly those of Pentecostal persuasions, the errors of their ways, that they too may abandon those things that are not biblical and seek to honor You in all that they do. We praise You, Father, in Jesus' name.