We are on a tight schedule. Good evening. Oh, it's good. All right. So I am committed to get us out of here by 7 sharp. And I'm probably going to go pretty rapidly. So if you're taking notes. Yeah, you're gonna have to have a quick hand. So let's open in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we are speaking this evening of your Holy Spirit. We pray, Spirit, that you would teach us and continue to sanctify our hearts and minds form Christ in us we pray. Help us to think your thoughts after you. Clearly there can be nothing more important to us as creatures than to have right thoughts about our maker and our redeemer. And that is really what this whole class revolves around and that is are we embracing correct information about who our God is? So we do pray that you would cultivate that in our hearts and minds. Through Christ we pray, amen. All right, let me do some quick review here and then we'll get back up to snuff. We're talking about what is the reasonable expectation of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Last week we talked about the universal agreements that we have with other believers in terms of the deity of the Holy Spirit, the inspiration of Scripture by the Spirit, the regeneration of our souls by the eye-opening, heart-circumcising power of the Spirit, the sanctification, being made more holy, more Christ-like. We all agree on these types of things. These are not points of disagreement. The areas of disagreement have to do with the sign gifts and the continuation of certain aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. And I mentioned last week how I was on a radio show and some blind callers called in and they didn't expect that since they became Christians they would necessarily be healed. We talked last week a little bit about a man who had called who had gone to a church and where they had promised healing and his wife died and he was about to die and the discouragement there and I talked about a gentleman who was addicted to drugs and he was expecting the Holy Spirit to supernaturally bring him out of that condition. I heard other people that it happened to and I mentioned all of those types of things and there are many, many more. for us to recognize that this is not just an academic pursuit. This is not just a seminary class. It should be addressed very ministerially. We are concerned that people aren't becoming unnecessarily discouraged or having unrealistic expectations about the type of work that the Holy Spirit does in the life of the Christian. We talked about the goals of this class. One is to avoid the stratification that necessarily comes when you have people who have the Spirit versus people who do not have the Spirit. How could there be anything but a stratification that takes place when you approach your faith that way? There's also the goal that if that type of Pentecostal charismatic life is not really what we are to be seeking, what is the true charismatic life? that we should pursue as Christians. There's also the concern, and we didn't talk about it in detail, but we will, probably not tonight, but next week, on this idea of intelligible Christianity, and that is that there is this sense within many of the Pentecostal circles where the intellect is bypassed, and we are governed by something other than the discernible propositional information that God gives us in His Word, which leads us to the fourth goal, and that is to maintain a genuine attitude of sola scriptura, and that is the Scriptures alone are the infallible message revealing to us the truth about our redemption. We talked a little bit about continuationism and cessationism and how in reality everybody is somewhat continuational in their thinking and everybody is somewhat cessational. That we all still believe that certain things continue to happen but everybody believes that certain things do not continue to happen in terms of the redemptive work of Christ and the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit. We talked a little bit about that. And then we began to discuss miracles, signs and wonders. The fact that people by the mere word of their mouth or the laying on of their hands had this very supernatural authoritative ability to heal somebody. Or somebody could speak a foreign language without ever having learned it the way we would normally learn it. or somebody would know something immediately without the normal mediation that we utilize to have information. People would know what is taking place in other places or what the future might hold, these types of prophetic things. These are miracles. And even though I mentioned that the word miracle, strictly speaking, isn't in the Bible, signs and wonders, even though I said it last week in one of the translations that I showed, had the word miracle, which was just a bad translation. It's signs and wonders, but we summarize it with this idea of miracle. And we discussed last week the purpose for miracles, and we went through a lot of the verses, starting all the way with Moses, that the reason for the miracle was so that God that the people that Moses would speak to would know that he was speaking the word of the Lord. That was the reason that Moses was able to perform signs and wonders. Then I gave a number of passages last week where we see the same thing of Jesus. Jesus saying, and I only gave a few of them, but there are many of them where Jesus makes it very clear that the sign or the wonder that he performed was for the express purpose of them believing what he just said. And so we see this over and over again, and tonight we're just gonna continue with that thought because Jesus had that ability to perform signs and wonders which authenticated what he was teaching. But he would confer that now to his apostles. The apostles now would also have this supernatural ability to perform signs and wonders, but with that would also come the ability to speak the infallible, inerrant word of God. So we see this promise conferred to the apostles. Now let's just go there to slide 13 and again there are many passages along these lines. We see this promise of Jesus conferring this ability, this supernatural ability, to the apostles, John 14, 25, and 26. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. So we see here Jesus anticipating Pentecost. He's anticipating when the Holy Spirit would come. That's the event when he's saying the Helper will come. We see again in John 15, 26, number 14. But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning." So the apostles would be endowed with a Spirit-given knowledge of all the things that Jesus said to them. Now, I have found that these are very, very misused passages. But I want to point out to you what these passages clearly say and some assumptions we must bring to the clear teaching of those passages. Jesus says the Holy Spirit will bring these things to your remembrance, all the things that I said to you. And then he also in verse 26 of chapter 15 says, because you have been with me from the beginning. I shouldn't have to point out that there's nobody on earth today who has heard the audible voice of Christ. There's nobody on earth today who was with Him from the beginning. So we recognize, we begin to see right here that Jesus is making a promise that is specific to the apostles because they had been with Him from the beginning. The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all the things I said to you when I was with you." So they had been with Jesus for three years. Jesus would now ascend. And it was up to them to bring the message to a lost and dying world. But how do we know we have an accurate message? Jesus is now gone. Well, he has conferred to the apostles this power, this ability to remember accurately, infallibly, and inerrantly everything that He taught them when He was with them. And now we have those words on our laps. We call it the Bible. So the work of redemption wouldn't be fully accomplished until Jesus ascended and sent His Spirit to secure that message of His victory. Remember I mentioned last time we have to ask ourselves in terms of the accomplished versus applied work of redemption. The accomplished versus applied work of the Holy Spirit. Where does that end? Where does the accomplished work end? There's general agreement that the accomplished work of redemption is the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Where we find disagreement here is the pouring out of His Spirit at Pentecost. Is that part of the accomplished work of redemption or is that part of the applied work of redemption? And I'm going to argue that it is a unique historical experience that we should attribute to the accomplished work of redemption and not one we should expect to see be repeated throughout the course of history. What was happening there at Pentecost was a unique historical experience that was part of what Jesus did to make sure that the message that he had conveyed to the apostles would reach our ears through the pages of scripture and the truth of the word. Now, we see this authority and power that the apostles had. I'm just going to give you a couple of examples. Again, there are many, many examples in the Bible demonstrating that the apostles had this power and why they had it. They had the ability to perform signs and wonders and why they had the ability to perform signs and wonders. Let's just start with slide number 15. And we begin to see this event taking place at Pentecost. And through, we read, starting in verse 12, through the hands of the apostles. Many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they all were healed. Not a select few were healed. Not just the people who were brought on stage were healed. In this event, all were healed by the laying on the hands of the Apostle. The signs and wonders done by the hands of the Apostle. The shadow of Peter. We see the handkerchiefs of Paul. We see this power given to the Apostles and it was affecting everybody. They didn't have in those days, like we have today, normal hospitals. People were sick and they'd go lay down by the by a river or by a lake, you know, and they'd hope to get some type of healing from some type of spa mentality or what have you. But today, this is the type of thing that if you had that ability, you would walk into Little Company of Mary Hospital and you would walk up and down and everybody would be healed. It was a massive thing that took place in the sight of everybody. It wasn't some unique event or unique people. All of them were healed. And we see this was done by the hands of the Apostle, by the Apostles. But why? Why did the Apostles have this ability? Well we read of Paul and Barnabas that they were preaching and then as they were preaching in Acts 14 starting in verse 3, therefore they stayed there a long time speaking boldly in the Lord who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, how? Granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. So we see Paul and Barnabas, they're preaching. And they might have asked the same question Moses would have asked. Why will they believe us? Why would they think we're the ones who have the words of eternal life? What is it about us that will make these words legitimate? That God would grant signs and wonders to be done by their hands legitimized the fact that what they were saying was true. I think this is important for us to grasp. That Jesus performed signs and wonders and these signs and wonders testified that what He was saying was true. He would confer the ability to perform signs and wonders to the apostles. Why? To confirm that what they said was in fact the Word of God. We see the Apostle Paul who was questioned by many Christians as to whether or not he was a legitimate apostle. And one of the ways that he answered that we see in 2 Corinthians 12, 11 and 12. We read, I have become a fool in boasting, you have compelled me. In other words, he's having to defend himself here. For I ought to have been commended by you. For in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing." And then he writes the point we're making. Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. How did Paul argue for his apostolic authority? Signs, wonders, mighty deeds. What were they? Signs of an apostle. Those are signs of an apostle. He was establishing that he was, in fact, a legitimate apostle. How would he do that? Signs and wonders being done by his hand. We read, and again, I'm only giving you a couple of these in the class I taught in Thailand. We went through many, many more. But we see in Hebrews chapter 2, Again, another passage that teaches the very thing we're talking about here. Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through the angels proves steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Now, so he's saying, you know, you had in the Old Covenant, you had the legitimacy of the the Word of God spoken through angels and what have you. But then he goes on to speak now of the New Covenant. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, the ones who heard Him, right? The people who actually heard Jesus speaking God also bearing witness, how? Both with signs and wonders with various miracles, bad translation, and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. How would we know that the new covenant message bearer was in fact from God? Signs and wonders being done by their hands. The signs and wonders that we read of in scripture had a specific purpose. They confirmed the absolute authoritative message of the miracle worker, if I can put it that way. And if you believe in sola scriptura, if you believe that the sole infallible message that we have concerning God and our redemption is found in the scriptures, they have served their purpose. Miracles were designed to authenticate the Word. We have the Word. We don't have an open canon. We have a closed canon. Now, if you believe in an open canon, there's a whole other class that we probably should teach, but that's not really the audience right now that I'm speaking to. Now, let me just say this. Because I know I'm going to be misunderstood here. I heard a guy on the radio a couple of years ago teaching what I'm teaching. And I was kind of surprised. Because a lot of times when I listen to the radio, Christian radio, I do, I find it a little discouraging. And this guy, I thought, did a really good job of teaching how this unique ability to authoritatively perform signs and wonders ended with the last apostle and it was there to confirm the message and so forth. And when he got done teaching it the lady who worked for the radio station made a comment as she was introducing the next show and she said something like this, well you can believe that if you want but as far as I'm concerned if my children get sick I'm still going to pray for them to get better. And I would have been so frustrated if I was that guy who probably paid for airtime, you know, to have that, because that's not what we're teaching at all. We are not teaching, cessationists are not teaching that God no longer responds to prayer, that God is not healing, that God is incapable or unwilling to do these things. The difference is the idea that there is an individual that God has somehow chosen, like Jesus chose the apostles, who authoritatively can and will do that. In other words, when Peter said, silver and gold I have none, but in the name of Jesus walked, he didn't even pray for it to happen. And there was no way it wasn't going to happen. It was absolutely going to happen. And what we're arguing here is that authoritative miracle, that authoritative sign and wonder, That has come to an end because it's always associated with the person who would then after performing that sign or wonder would say, thus saith the Lord and now you are required to believe what I say. You see the difference there. So anyone to think here that we're saying the Holy Spirit no longer works or that God no longer heals, that is not the message. It is the idea that there is not a specific person who somehow has that authority from God to choose to heal certain people, that we will pray for God to heal people. And the bottom line is, He may or He may not. But when Paul rose Eutychus from the dead, that simply was going to happen. Do you understand the distinction? Whether you agree with it or not, do you understand the distinction there? Because it's a very important distinction, and I really don't want to be misunderstood along those lines. All right, moving on. One of the things we need to realize here is when we read of these events, of these Pentecostal events in the New Testament, what we're reading about is the turning point in history. The New Covenant was beginning. The Old Covenant was coming to an end. These were signs of a fulfillment of a promise made by God. This is what was happening at Pentecost. God had made a promise. He had made a promise concerning the Christ, that Christ would come. And there would be signs that would accompany the coming of Christ. So we have, if slide 20, Don, we have here, right there in smack dab in the middle of Pentecost, people wondering. What in the world is going on here? Is everybody drunk? You know the story, right? And we have Peter responding to the events that our Pentecostal brothers and sisters view as events that should continue to happen throughout the history of the church. These are not part of the accomplished work of redemption. These are part of the applied work of redemption. We're saying no, this is a unique historical event. Let's take a look at at least a portion of this event. Acts 2, 16-21. Okay, Peter's explaining the event. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days. And I would argue that it's the last days of the Old Covenant, the beginning of the New Covenant. I don't think he's talking about the end of history. For one reason, he's saying, he uses the near demonstrative, this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel. I don't know if he pointed his finger like this. But the near demonstrative, he's not saying this is going to be fulfilled in thousands of years from now. What he's saying is this event is what was prophesied in terms of the last days by the prophet Joel. And it's the event that's happening. You understand what I'm saying? He's talking about the very event that's taking place. And it'll succumb to pass in the last day, says God, that I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. Okay, so, you know, good enough. Now, you know, my Pentecostal brothers will say, yeah, that's happening right now. Well, let's continue. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord and it shall come to pass that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Well again this kind of bleeds into our eschatology but I would argue that what he's talking about there was the cataclysmic end of the Old Covenant the beginning of the New Covenant and the attending message of that New Covenant where people will prophesy and dream dreams and what have you. So you have this unique historical event which was the turning point in history. We're going from B.C. to A.D. or whatever terms you like to use now, B.C.E. and C.E. or what have you. All right, so again, whether or not you agree with this, understand the argument is that what's happening at Pentecost is a unique historical experience that the Old Testament, not the least of which Joel, prophesied would happen in terms of the revelatory message of dreaming dreams and prophesying along with, and again this is more of eschatology, along with the cataclysmic end of the old covenant which was vanishing and had become obsolete and would have, as Jesus would teach on the Olivet Discourse, a cataclysmic finish with not one stone left upon the other. Now let's continue to take a look here at the events of Pentecost Because in a minute I'm going to go through some other things. So I want us to be kind of, have it fresh in our thinking, this event of Pentecost. And which is why the Pentecostal people call themselves Pentecostals. Because they're saying this event is the event we should expect to be the norm for history. Acts 2, 1 through 4. When the day of Pentecost had 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 the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So what we're beginning to see in this event of Pentecost is the ability to heal the sick not only by the laying on of hands but by shadows and garments. What we're seeing at Pentecost is the raising of the dead we see early on. We see people having the ability to speak in foreign tongues and prophesy. Now, outside of the actual physical presence of Jesus, these events seemed unavailable to Christians apart from this special pouring out of the Holy Spirit. And the assertion among Pentecostals today is that the Holy Spirit will grant believers the same abilities as we read in the book of Acts. That's why they're called Pentecostals. So, is this fire over our heads, speaking in other tongues, the sound of rushing winds. Is that to be the normal expectation? Because you can't pick and choose. If you're going to say, yes, this is the normal, reasonable expectation that the New Covenant Church should have, it has to include all of those things. Now, people will give arguments as to why that's not happening, but at least let's understand right now that if that's the argument, then all of that should be happening. You understand what I'm saying? You can't just pick the things that seem easy to explain. You've got to pick the hard ones too. There really should be the fire over the head, for example. Now again, I'm going to ask this question because it's going to be on the exam. You think I'm kidding. Is Pentecost part of the accomplished work of redemption? like the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, not expected to be repeated, or is Pentecost part of the applied work of redemption, like the preaching of the gospel, or baptism, or the Lord's Supper, things which extend into history? It is my argument, and it's not just my argument, but it is the argument of the cessationist and vast majority of Protestantism, that Pentecost is part of the accomplished work of redemption. It is that aspect of Christ's work where He pours out His Spirit to bring to remembrance to His apostles all that He taught them when He was with them. See, when He's going, let me tell you what's going to happen when the promise of the Father comes. The Holy Spirit will fall on you and you will remember everything that I taught you. That's Jesus' own definition of what was going to happen at Pentecost. We think that's precious because it's the canon of Scripture. I mean, it's the Word of God. And it is by the preaching of the Word of God that people are saved, right? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. We shouldn't view that as some small thing. We shouldn't view that as, you know, lesser, this lesser thing. It doesn't have the juice or the appeal. It's the true juice, if I can put it that way. Again, I don't know how many people are going to listen to this, and I don't know how people are going to take it. I'm clearly critiquing a brand of Christianity which is embraced by millions of people, and it's certainly not my position that they're not actually believers, but I do think that they are not making some distinctions in their understanding of the text that need to be made. there are certain things that need to be understood when we read our Bibles. And that whole idea of the accomplished versus applied work of redemption is critical for us to understand. Now, let me just, I have one anecdote here. And it's kind of like, it's true, but it is something I just wanted to bring up. It might sound extreme, but when you abandon Sola Scriptura, when you do believe that there's a continuing work, revelatory work of the Holy Spirit in the church in terms of the infallible and inerrant message of God, you really have opened a Pandora's box. And I just have, I had written this down when it happened. It was recently at the time, it's not recent now, it's been a while, there was an Episcopalian decision to ordain a homosexual pastor which is obviously nothing new to us, but when I wrote it, it was kind of shocking. And there was an Episcopalian representative publicly stating, you know, so now you're going, well, how do you read the Bible in such a way as to arrive at this conclusion? And this representative publicly stated that the Bible is not their sole infallible authority. They said that very clearly. The Bible is not our sole infallible authority. They said, we have a community of believers filled with the Holy Spirit. So they had a community of believers filled with the Holy Spirit who, at least the way I read the Bible, arrived at a conclusion that was completely antithetical to the Holy Spirit who actually wrote the Bible. So you've really got this issue that you've got to deal with. On national television, the mic was lifted to the mouth of one woman who uttered in support of this homosexual pastor, I quote, I ask only one question, what would Jesus do?" So clearly the means by which they determined what Jesus would do was not by the scriptures but by the community they had who they said was now filled with the Holy Spirit and we weren't sola scriptura, we have other authority. So you can see this might sound extreme, although it's not anymore. It's not really extreme anymore, it's kind of the norm now. Okay, let's move on. And what I want to do now is take a little time to look at some of the assertions of Pentecostalism that I think do stratify the church and I think at the same time bring great insecurity and frustration to the people who are under that teaching. And I'm taking these quotes, so these are going to be direct quotes from the General Council of the Assemblies of God. And as I've stated earlier, it's because I think the Assemblies of God are one of the soundest Pentecostal denominations. I think they're clearly brothers and sisters in the Lord. And so I'm picking what I think to be the stronger of the Pentecostal denominations. So let's begin to take a look at some of the things they say in terms of their general counsel. Slide number 22. The Assembly of God, AOG. One of the greatest outpourings of the Spirit began early in the 20th century Several small holiness groups whose members were seeking a fuller experience with God witnessed a renewal of the Holy Spirit's gifts. In their meetings, they saw miracles similar to those recorded in the Book of Acts. Those who experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues, gave prophecies, prayed for the sick with miraculous results, and began a new surge of missionary ministry that soon reached around the world. This happened early in the 20th century. This was like 1906, Azusa Street revival meetings and so forth. And they're recounting that event. Now let me just say, if they're correct, I will be the first to say with all sincerity that we all really need to repent. That we all need this. If this is in fact what is the promise of the Spirit, then we certainly are remiss as a church. But if they are wrong, They are not merely categorized by a wrong denominational distinction that we might have with somebody else. I can, for example, view my Baptist brothers and sisters as somebody who I disagree with on who receives the sign of inclusion in the covenant. We can agree to disagree on that. I mean, I don't agree with them. We have a doctrinal disagreement. But that is not the difference here. The difference here is the notion that there are certain Christians who simply do not have the Holy Spirit, at least not in that matter. That is, how can we be vital in our contribution to the Great Commission or any other work without the Holy Spirit, or at least this added work of the Holy Spirit? We are left without the promise of the Father. So you've got really the majority of Christendom today who's seeking to fulfill the Great Commission without the promise of the Father. Let's go on in their recount of their history and what was taking place. Slide number 23. Then in the 1960s, another wave of revival spread the blessing of Pentecost. Many Lutherans began speaking in tongues. Is your dad here? Well, my father-in-law's a Lutheran. And praying for the sick, many Roman Catholics raised their hands in worship and prayed in the Spirit. Upon Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, brethren, disciples of Christ, the wind of the Spirit was blowing across the entire spectrum of the church. So you see what they're saying here. The wind of the Spirit is blowing across the entire spectrum of the church. Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians. But what we have to recognize when we read something like that is clearly, obviously, the Holy Spirit was missing some Roman Catholics. The Holy Spirit was missing some Presbyterians. The Holy Spirit was missing some Episcopalians. So the Holy Spirit was waving over the entire spectrum of the church, but not really the whole church. I don't know what they mean by the whole spectrum of the church. But when we read in Acts, we don't see that the Holy Spirit is selectively picking certain people who are Christians. Let's take a look at Acts 2, 1 through 4 and see what it looks like. When the day of Pentecost, number 24, had 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 the whole house where they were sitting. then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. You see, this passage teaches that the tongues of fire sat upon each of them. Everyone, everybody who was part of the Pentecost experience. The tongue of fire was upon each of them. And they were all, that passage says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. You begin to see the disconnect here in terms of what they're saying was the event. And when we read of the event in the Bible, and those two don't really comport. You see, if Pentecost is a model for every age of the church, what are we to make of those Methodists who didn't speak in tongues? Because when you go to Pentecost, you basically have three classes of people. You have those who were the Christians, and they were all filled with the Spirit. Then you had those who had to be baptized into the church. They were not part of the church. They were the unbeliever. And then you had the mockers who were mocking. And so if you're going to follow this to its logical conclusion, everybody who has not been baptized by the Spirit has to fall into the latter two classifications. They're either not a believer or they're not only not a believer but they're a mocker. That is the event of Pentecost. That is what that event looked like. So here we see an even wider stratification. It is not merely the matter of a more powerful Christian versus the less powerful Christian. It is a sign of those in the church versus those outside the church. Now to their credit the assembly of God they don't push their exegesis to its logical conclusion. Although I do know Pentecostals who have told me they're trying to be reasonable. They're trying to go, I'm going to follow my doctrine wherever it leads. And their doctrine leads them, and I would argue necessarily to the conclusion, that if I do not speak in tongues, I'm simply not a believer. If you're saying Pentecost is the model, And when the Holy Spirit fell, they all spoke in tongues. If you were not speaking in tongues, if the tongues of fire were not upon you, then you were simply not part of the church. You were an unbeliever and you need to repent to become part of the church. You see, you can't just say, I like part of it, I don't like all of it. If it is the norm for history, we need the entire package. Continuing on with the assembly of God, slide 25. Today, believers from all fellowships who are serious about their faith are looking again at the promise of the Father. This experience, distinct from and following salvation, brings the believer into the richness of the Spirit-filled life. You look at this, and I look at this ministerially. I look at this as a pastor. I look at this as knowing the, you know, the smoldering wick saints in any given church, right? The bruised reed. I'm always thinking about those people. And what you're hearing here is that these are for people who are serious about their faith. That's what the text, that's what they're, it's not the text, it's their text. People who are serious about their faith. In other words, if you're serious about your faith, this is direction that you're going to take. Keep this in mind. The argument is that there is an experience distinct from and following salvation, which must be sought. We may not get to that tonight, but we're going to talk about that in the Bible. Because there clearly is, in Acts, a unique, distinct, separate experience. But we're not going to get to that. But they're saying that unique, separate, distinct, subsequent experience should be the norm for all Christians in all times. All right. Now, of course, they recognize My Pentecostal friends recognize that not everybody's speaking in tongues. I'm going to tell you, I went into a Pentecostal church when I was a teenager, and I made every effort to speak in tongues. I was there, and I'm like, this is a trip, man. I'm in. How do I do it? And they were coaching me into it, and they're trying to get me into it, and it just never took, and I walked away kind of confused, and what's wrong with me, and so forth. How could I not? Everybody was speaking in tongues, and it didn't reach me. They recognize that, and so slide 26, the General Council of the Assembly of God advises, questions are best answered. In other words, there's confusion in here, people aren't getting it. Questions are best answered and controversy settled by allowing the Spirit to warm the heart and draw the soul into intimate fellowship with God. Now, let me tell you, that may sound really nice, but to me, it sounds almost like the Mormons' appeal to the burning of the bosom. You have right here, and again, I'm not saying they're doing this intentionally, but you have a very pious, foot-in-the-door sales tactic. Because as soon as I warm my heart to the notion, I'm halfway there. I mean, just say, you know, as a Presbyterian, I think questions are best answered and controversies settled by arguing about what the Bible teaches. This sounds kind of cold, I guess, but we should have a humble heart, certainly. But this idea of kind of like, hey, you need to warm your heart to this concept sounds manipulative to me. I got to turn the lights down and get some music playing, light some candles, and get you in the mood to receive this message that I'm about to give. But even the Assemblies of God Council recognizes this as a flawed method. In their very next paragraph they read in slide 27, however, there are misunderstandings concerning the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that are hindering many sincere believers from entering into this blessed experience. There are legitimate questions that call for answers. against the foregoing historical backdrop, let us consider some of these questions and seek for biblical answers." Now, and we're going to hit some of those, you know, we won't get through all of them tonight, but we're going to get tonight and next week. But as noble as this statement seems to be, it leaves us with a sense that a grasp of proper, and don't get me wrong, I think proper doctrine is critical. I think it's very important. But this gives the sense that a grasp of proper doctrine is necessary for the blessed experience. You see, there are misunderstandings concerning the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that are hindering many sincere believers from entering into that experience. So in other words, my misunderstanding is keeping the Holy Spirit from baptizing me with the Holy Spirit. Is that the way it worked at Pentecost? Was there this level of understanding that you needed in order for the Holy Spirit to baptize you? Well, let's go to slide number 28, Acts 10, 44 through 46. And again, there are many accounts of this. I'm just going to read this one. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word and those of the circumcision who believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out. That's perfect passive by the way. The idea that it's fully done and it's done by the Holy Spirit. It's not done by the person receiving it. On the Gentiles also for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Now keep in mind the Gentiles at that point even the Gentile Christians were very weak in their understanding of proper doctrine. There is no indication when we read of Acts, in Acts, of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, of the Holy Spirit falling upon everybody, that there was a level of understanding necessary for you in order for that to happen. You understand what I'm saying? If it wasn't happening to you, the idea that you having a misunderstanding, you being unsound in your doctrine, is hindering you from the blessed experience. No. The Gentiles, who arguably had very poor doctrine, very infantile doctrine, the Holy Spirit was falling upon them. So you understand where all of a sudden you're creating a level that you need to reach in order for you to have the blessed experience. Isn't it interesting, I think, not to be, you know, sound like a fan, but how Martin Luther and John Calvin and Knox and Edwards and Warfield and Owen None of them had a proper understanding at the level that they received the blessed experience. None of them. So that's the argument. Now you may go, well, you're just a big fan of dead white theologians or whatever. But these guys are the ones that God used to plunge out Western evangelicalism. And so they had an understanding, I'm going to argue, of Scripture at very least sufficient for them to have the blessed experience if that was necessary in order for you to have the blessed experience. So we see once again the stratification taking place that you're not going to have the blessed experience because your lack of understanding is hindering you from having the blessed experience. Let's go on. According to the General Council of the Assembly of God, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to salvation. And now we move, they're like, okay, there are questions, so now we move to their question and answer section. Do Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they are saved? If so, how is this experience different from the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Slide number 30, we see the answer. Yes, when persons accept Christ, the Holy Spirit begins a great work in their lives. The Spirit convicts them of sin, convinces them of righteousness, and dwells within them. No one becomes a Christian without this gracious work of the Holy Spirit. All right, so far so good. We entirely agree. Number 31. However, there is an additional and distinct ministry of the Holy Spirit called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And according to the council, this blessing is something, slide number 32, all believers are entitled to, should ardently expect, and earnestly seek. Now, in defense of Pentecostalism, there is undeniable biblical evidence of an experience of the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation. And I'm not going to read all of the passages because we're just going to stipulate that. So let's pass 33. We're just going to agree that we had people who were saved and later on the Holy Spirit would fall upon them. We all agree that that happened. You can look that up in your Bibles. So we're not going to argue that that didn't happen. We do see that Pentecost, at least the work of the Spirit, was an event that took place in stages. It was an event that had certain periods in time where it happened. Actually, one can easily argue that it began in the upper room when Jesus breathed on the apostles. But then we see the pouring out of the Spirit in a more universal, international setting at Pentecost. But then we also see the Holy Spirit being poured out after Pentecost when the apostles would go out and they would lay hands on people and then they would receive the Holy Spirit Acts chapter 10 which we didn't read Acts chapter 19 and they go so far as to say we didn't even hear that there is a Holy Spirit and then they would lay hands on them and then they would speak in tongues and so forth so there is in the Bible the subsequent experience but Benjamin B. Warfield makes an interesting observation slide number 34 He points out that in the entire New Testament we meet with no instance of the gifts, the particular gifts, these signed gifts, showing themselves after the initial instances of Pentecost and Cornelius where an apostle had not conveyed them. And of course with Cornelius Peter oversaw that event and at Pentecost clearly the apostles were there. The point is that this work, this unique special work of the Holy Spirit was always attended by an apostle. We had to understand that the promise was that the new covenant would start in Jerusalem And then it would go from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost reaches of the world. And so the true message in terms of the revelation of what Jesus had done started at a specific place and time in history, Jerusalem, at an event called Pentecost. And you weren't really part of that church until the apostles went out the apostles and they laid hands on you and brought you into that number of people who were extended from Jerusalem, the New Covenant Church. All right, let's go now to slide number 35. Now keep in mind, we're talking about the applied work versus the accomplished work of the Holy Spirit. John 7, 38 and 39. Again, Jesus talking about this. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. Why? Because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, go right to 36, Don, because Jesus, the Spirit had not been given, and so we generally look at the Holy Spirit as, you know, when we get that second blessing, we're going to be filled with more gusto and we're going to be real serious about our faith and what have you. But here, even here in Luke 24, 52 and 53, we see that prior to that event, the apostles worshiped Christ. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. And let me tell you, if you're not filled with the Spirit in Jerusalem at that point in time in history, you weren't going to be doing that. That was a hostile environment. They were filled with the Spirit and they were doing the praising of God in that environment. But I guess my question here is, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, we read in that verse. Why? Because Jesus had not yet been glorified. So we've got this order of events that Jesus would be, when would the glorification of Christ take place? We have His humiliation, but then we have His exaltation, He ascends to the right hand of the Father, and there then He pours out His Spirit. And so we have that Jesus would not do that until He was glorified. One of the reasons is because the message had to be the full message. And so the Holy Spirit had not yet been given because the work of redemption had not yet been accomplished. It wasn't until Jesus ascends, until He's at the right hand of the Father, that He actually has completed what He has been sent by the Father to do. And now he sends his spirit out on the apostles. Now they can, because he's fully glorified, give the entire message. That's the real full gospel. You guys know full gospel is a Pentecostal denominator. That's the full gospel. The full gospel is that they revealed by his spirit, having been glorified, that the work was in fact completed. All right, we're wrapping it up here in just a couple of minutes. Let's skip number 37 37 is Luke 24 44 through 49 and he's basically again talking about the promise of the Father and how What I just said that his Preaching will go to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. He points out We again, let's go Let's pass number 38 also done because it's just a repetition of the fact that Jesus said, the Spirit will remind you of all these things that I said to you when I was with you. So you're gonna go to Jerusalem, it's gonna go out from there, and there's gonna be an accurate message. It's called the Bible. We call it the Bible. For them, it was the word of God. All right, now. Again, I wanna hit as much as I can. So let's go ahead and skip to 40. And I want to hit a couple more before we're done. So, for some reason, people aren't baptized by the Holy Spirit, even in the Pentecostal churches. So now they're trying to explain that. It is quite in order, assuming the presence of proper understanding, to lead a new convert into the baptism in the Holy Spirit, while tarrying And in quotations there, waiting on God in prayer is often necessary for heart preparation and understanding. It is not improper for new believers to move quickly into the fullness of the Spirit. Well, let me just tell you something. The word tarry does not mean, hey, I have no problem waiting on God in prayer. But the word tarry does not mean to wait on God in prayer. What does the word tarry, anybody know what the word tarry means? Yeah, it just means to wait. Go to Jerusalem. Hey, you want to pray, great, but that's not what he's saying. You go and wait in Jerusalem. That's imposing this. Now you're going, well, the tarrying is waiting on God in prayer. And even though some of you might get it right away, other people aren't really ready. But you've got to tarry in prayer. That is not the event. That is not what took place. They waited, they were there, and the Holy Spirit fell on all of them. There was no maneuvering yourself into that proper position. Going on to number 41. Is there proof that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit experienced today is genuinely biblical? Number 42. The proof is the same proof that supported the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. On that occasion, the Apostle Peter stood up and defended the outpouring by showing that it was a fulfillment of Scripture. He began his explanation by saying, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. What we are experiencing in our day is that which was prophesied by Joel and which began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Alright, we're at 7. We will continue with this and I'm bringing this up because what they're going to try to do here is teach that those events that were taking place at Pentecost are exactly what's happening in the Pentecostal churches today. And we need to just be wise. I don't want us to be cynical. I don't want anybody to walk out of here and be a smart aleck or have a sense of superiority or, you know, be unnecessarily snarky toward your charismatic friends. But we need to discerningly examine whether or not what they're saying really comports with the text. They're saying our event is what was happening in the Bible. Next week what we'll do is to continue to examine whether or not what they're saying is taking place in terms of the Pentecostal movement today is in fact similar to or as they say strikingly resembling that which was taking place during Pentecost that we read of in Acts, and I'm going to argue that it's not even close. There's very little, if any, similarity at all. But we'll continue with that next week, and let's close with a word of prayer. Father God in heaven, we do pray that we would be willing learners, and that we would understand, that we would be informed, that we would that we would have, Father, our finger on the pulse of what is taking place around us, that we might be fountains of love and grace and wisdom to both our Christian and non-Christian friends, and that, Father, help us to be gracious, help us to be loving, help us to be wise, and help us, first and foremost, Father, to proclaim the grace of Christ and all that that means. to our friends and neighbors, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.