Revelation Now (new)

Baptism Of The Spirit

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jac Colon

Home

Series Code: RNN

Program Code: RNN000018


00:18 The day had finally arrived.
00:24 It's a big tent on the outskirts of town.
00:29 It'd been advertising for weeks and weeks.
00:33 The tent was filling with people anxiously
00:36 anticipating the miracles that were promised
00:41 at the great revival coming to town.
00:46 It was almost time for the evangelist
00:48 to take the stage and begin the service,
00:53 when an elderly gentleman sitting down front stood up
00:58 and began to deliver a message in tongues.
01:03 He sat down and everyone said,
01:06 amen, praise the Lord.
01:10 Another elderly gentleman
01:11 towards the rear of the auditorium stood up
01:15 and he said I'm a Jew.
01:18 And I know Hebrew and that man spoke perfect Hebrew
01:24 and the man stood in front
01:26 and he said I don't know Hebrew.
01:29 And everyone said praise God, we've heard the miracle.
01:34 Until the gentleman in the back said,
01:36 that man cursed the name of God in Hebrew
01:42 and the big tent went silent.
01:50 Baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.
01:58 Tongues is the most popular of the gifts of the spirit.
02:02 But I believe in spite of being the most popular
02:06 is the least understood of all the gifts.
02:11 If you have ever been asked the question,
02:12 if you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit
02:15 evidenced by speaking in tongues.
02:20 And the implication is that if you haven't spoken
02:23 in tongues, then you haven't received
02:25 the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
02:29 You know, I always like to ask the question,
02:31 why do you believe that tongues
02:34 is always the evidence for baptism of the Holy Spirit?
02:38 And the answer is always the same.
02:42 They say because every place in the Bible
02:45 where the baptism of the Holy Spirit was poured out,
02:48 they always gave evidence by speaking in tongues.
02:55 Well, we're gonna see that that's not accurate.
02:59 But we're gonna do more than that
03:01 because I believe the failure to understand
03:05 the purpose for the baptism of the Holy Spirit
03:09 results in a misunderstanding of the gifts.
03:15 What is the purpose for the baptism of the spirit?
03:20 Jesus Himself said among His last words
03:25 to the disciples before He ascended to heaven.
03:29 The last words recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts
03:32 because Luke wrote the Book of Acts.
03:35 Jesus said, "You will receive power
03:41 when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
03:44 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
03:48 Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
03:54 So Jesus promised to His church was
03:57 that you will receive power
04:01 and the purpose for this power is to enable
04:05 God's church to be His witnesses in Jerusalem,
04:10 Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.
04:13 Jerusalem at home with your neighbors,
04:17 with your friends, with your family.
04:19 Judea, a wider the area, Samaria,
04:23 even the hated Samaritans were to received the gospel.
04:27 And then even worst to the far corners
04:30 of the earth the lowly Gentile.
04:33 The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
04:36 is to preach the gospel to every tribe, language,
04:40 nation and people on the globe.
04:42 That's why Jesus said, I will give you the Holy Spirit.
04:48 And if we separate the purpose of the gifts
04:52 from the gift themselves,
04:54 then we're going to have confusion
04:58 about the use and function of the gifts.
05:02 And that's exactly what I think happens in Ephesians 4,
05:07 Paul reiterates the same thing in 4:7,
05:13 "But to each one of us
05:15 grace has been given as Christ apportions it."
05:20 Notice, it's Christ who makes the decisions
05:24 as to how grace is being given.
05:28 Jesus is the one who decides.
05:31 He goes on to say in verse 8 when He--
05:34 that's Christ ascended on high,
05:37 He let captives in His train and He gave gifts to men.
05:42 So Christ apportions the outpouring of the spirit
05:46 and the gifts who decides which gifts men should have.
05:51 It's Christ who makes that decision.
05:54 Verse 11 tell us, He gave some to be apostles,
05:58 just some not all.
06:01 He gave some to be prophets, some to be evangelists,
06:07 some to be pastors and teacher not all but some.
06:13 He gave some to be pastors and teacher
06:16 in order to and here we ask
06:18 why did that He pour out these gifts,
06:20 in order to prepare God's people for works of service
06:26 so that the body of Christ may be build up.
06:29 Now there are two important points here.
06:31 The purpose of the gifts are to prepare God's people,
06:36 to equip us for works of service, why?
06:40 In order to build up the body of Christ, that's His church.
06:47 So Jesus decides who should have which gift
06:51 and the spirit through the gifts prepares us
06:56 for works of service in order to build up the church
07:00 or as Jesus had said, spread the gospel to the world.
07:05 Never ever lose sight of the fact
07:08 that the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
07:12 and the gifts of the spirit
07:14 is to preach the gospel to the world
07:18 and build up the church of Jesus Christ.
07:23 That's the measuring stick, that's the yardstick
07:27 for measuring the gifts of the spirit and how to be used.
07:34 Various gifts to build up
07:37 the body of Christ, that is the church.
07:41 How long will these gifts function in the church?
07:44 "Until we all reach unity in the faith
07:47 and in the knowledge of the Son of God
07:50 and become mature, attaining to the whole measure
07:53 of the fullness of Christ."
07:55 Has anyone done that yet?
07:58 Anyone, I don't see any hands going up,
08:02 the only one is Jesus.
08:04 The gifts are gonna be present in the church
08:06 until we are mature, until we are fully reflecting Christ.
08:11 Folks, that's not gonna happen until the end.
08:15 That means that the gifts of the spirit
08:17 are to be working in the church
08:20 all the way through until the end.
08:22 All of the gifts of the spirit,
08:25 all the way through until the end.
08:28 So let's take a look at the gifts
08:31 and I want to do that by focusing
08:34 on the most popular one and that is the gift of tongues.
08:38 But let's see how it fits in the process of preaching
08:44 the gospel to world,
08:46 because that's the purpose and the function of the gifts,
08:49 to build up the church which is the body of Christ.
08:54 On the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1,
08:58 "On the day of Pentecost,
09:00 they were all together in one place.
09:04 Suddenly, verse 2, a sound like
09:07 the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven
09:09 and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
09:13 And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire
09:18 that separated and came to rest on each of them.
09:22 And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
09:24 and began to speak in tongues."
09:28 Now I would like to have been there in that room
09:32 at that time, wouldn't you?
09:35 To be sitting there, to hear this loud sound
09:39 and to see tongues of fire coming down from heaven
09:43 and separating and going on each one of them,
09:47 enabling them to speak in tongues.
09:49 This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit
09:53 and it definitely did give evidence by speaking in tongues.
09:57 No doubt about it on the day of Pentecost.
10:01 But there are some things that we need to notice.
10:05 First of all, when the Bible says
10:07 they began the speak in other tongues,
10:10 the Greek word for tongues is lingua
10:14 which means equally languages.
10:19 They could have translated this verse.
10:22 They all began to speak in other languages
10:26 as the spirit enabled them.
10:31 Now why did God enable them to speak in other languages
10:38 when He baptized them with the spirit
10:40 on the day of Pentecost?
10:42 Why did God enable them?
10:45 Well, I want to show you why.
10:47 It's clear in the text.
10:49 But I want to show you something else first,
10:52 kind of a side thing,
10:54 so I'll just throw it in for free, all right.
10:58 Those tongues of fire,
11:00 that was always the curious thing to me.
11:04 Tongues of fire came down
11:06 and enabled and empowered them
11:10 and they spoke in other languages or tongues.
11:15 So why did God enable them to speak in other languages
11:21 when they were baptized by the Holy Spirit?
11:25 The answer is found in the next verse, Acts 2:5.
11:32 "Now there were staying in Jerusalem
11:36 God-fearing Jews from every nation under earth."
11:43 So people from virtually every nation
11:46 and language were present there
11:48 in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost.
11:52 "When they heard this sound,
11:54 a crowd came together in bewilderment,
11:57 because each one heard them
12:01 speaking in his own language."
12:06 Did you catch that?
12:08 God enabled them to speak in other languages
12:12 by the power of the spirit
12:14 and people from all over the world
12:17 were assembled together in Jerusalem
12:20 on the day of Pentecost
12:21 and God used this unique opportunity
12:24 to enable them to speak
12:28 and those hearing them heard them
12:31 speaking in their own languages.
12:35 That would be like if some of you were Japanese
12:38 and some of you Chinese and some of you Italian
12:40 and some of you Spanish and some of you Portuguese
12:43 and some French and any other language on earth
12:46 while I'm speaking you would be hearing me in French,
12:50 in Spanish, in Japanese,
12:52 in Hebrew or whatever language you know.
12:56 That's what happened at Pentecost.
12:59 They asked each other amazed in verse 7,
13:02 All these men Galileans, how was it
13:04 that each one of us hears them
13:06 speaking in his own native language
13:07 and he list all the languages there.
13:10 We hear them again at the end of verse 11.
13:13 We hear them declaring
13:14 the wonders of God in our own tongue.
13:17 Now that was a miracle, wasn't it?
13:20 They were all together, they all heard,
13:22 they all understood in their own language.
13:27 And so Peter preaches a sermon.
13:30 Everybody is understating it.
13:31 He's empowered by the Holy Spirit.
13:34 And His sermon is about Jesus Christ.
13:38 And how He was raised from the death in verse 32.
13:41 That's about all they like to preach about
13:43 in those days about Jesus.
13:45 He was raised from the death, it was a gospel sermon.
13:50 After the sermon they came to Peter
13:52 and the other apostles and said, brothers what shall we do?
13:56 I mean, they were stricken,
13:57 they were convicted in their hearts.
14:00 What shall we do? We need to do something, what?
14:03 And Peter replied, I love this, verse 38.
14:06 There was nothing timid about Peter.
14:08 He was empowered by the spirit,
14:10 "Repent and be baptized, every one of you."
14:13 Peter expected every single person
14:16 who heard him preached to repent and to be baptized.
14:20 Now that's positive expectation, isn't it?
14:23 "Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
14:25 in the name of Jesus Christ
14:26 for the forgiveness of your sins."
14:28 And watch this.
14:30 "You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
14:32 So follow me, repent, be baptized
14:36 and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,
14:40 that's the promise, isn't it?
14:42 Verse 41, "Those who accepted his message were baptized,
14:50 and about three thousand were added
14:52 to their number that day."
14:55 Three thousand people were added to the church in one day.
15:02 Amen. Is that considered building up the body of Christ?
15:08 Absolutely, you see that is the real evidence
15:12 for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
15:15 Three thousand were baptized in one day.
15:18 I would love to have that kind of power. Amen.
15:25 That's the evidence for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
15:28 Peter said, repent, be baptized
15:31 and you will receive the Holy Spirit.
15:33 They did repent, they were baptized.
15:36 Did they receive the Holy Spirit?
15:39 Absolutely, He promised them they would.
15:42 Did they give evidence by speaking in tongues?
15:47 I don't know. It doesn't say they did.
15:51 They might have, may not have,
15:55 doesn't say, so we don't know,
15:58 therefore we cannot say every place in the Bible
16:03 where they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
16:06 They always gave evidence by speaking in tongues.
16:09 The disciples did at Pentecost
16:12 but the three thousand it doesn't say.
16:16 So we can't say that it's always the evidence
16:19 for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
16:22 Now why did God do this?
16:25 He did it in order to preach the gospel to those men
16:31 who could understand in their own language to those people
16:35 and they could go back to their own countries
16:37 and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
16:40 So that not just three thousand
16:42 would be added to their number
16:44 but thousands upon thousands to the far corners of the earth
16:48 would be added to their number
16:49 as a result of the gift of tongues.
16:52 That's the purpose of the baptism of the spirit.
16:57 And in 4:31, they met together the disciples
17:00 and "After they prayed, the place where
17:02 they were meeting was shaken.
17:04 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
17:06 and they spoke the word of God boldly."
17:09 Now it's interesting,
17:11 they were baptized by the Holy Spirit again.
17:14 Now I'd like to been in that room, wouldn't you?
17:18 I mean that would have been like a earthquake,
17:19 the room was shaking, the spirit was
17:22 so powerful the room shook,
17:24 they were baptized by the spirit.
17:28 But it doesn't say they spoke in tongues.
17:30 It says, they spoke the word of God boldly.
17:33 And I pray everyday, God empower me
17:36 to speak Your word boldly.
17:40 And that can only happen through the baptism of the spirit.
17:43 So speaking in tongues isn't always the evidence,
17:47 it can be the evidence though
17:49 is the building up of the body of Christ
17:52 to preach the word of God boldly
17:54 and certainly gonna build up the body of Christ,
17:57 that's the evidence for the baptism of the spirit.
18:00 So three times now, two on the day of Pentecost,
18:03 one time they did give evidence by speaking in tongues.
18:06 One time it doesn't say and this time they didn't,
18:09 they spoke the word of God boldly.
18:12 The second point is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit
18:16 is not a one time thing.
18:18 It didn't just happen that one day
18:21 and then go on with life.
18:22 No, it's a continuing ongoing experience.
18:26 It happens more than once, it happens continually.
18:29 The purpose of the baptism
18:31 is to build up the body of Christ,
18:32 to facilitate us, to be able to preach and teach about Jesus.
18:37 The more you know about God and Jesus,
18:40 the more power God gives us to testify about Him,
18:43 that's the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
18:48 Never-- you get this,
18:52 never does the Bible ever talk about the Holy Spirit,
18:56 the baptism of the Holy Spirit
18:57 in order to build up the individual, the person.
19:02 It's not there to strengthen us,
19:04 it's there to empower us to preach the gospel
19:08 to the world and build up the church.
19:11 You see it's the fruit of the spirit,
19:14 love, joy, peace, patience, self control.
19:16 The fruit of the spirit builds up the individual.
19:21 It builds up the person.
19:22 The baptism of the spirit is to build up the church.
19:28 Here's another example in Acts 10.
19:32 In Acts 10...
19:37 Peter had just seen his vision of the sheet
19:41 full of all kind of unclean animals and unclean things
19:46 and the Bible tells us that Peter understood
19:50 that vision to mean that he should not call
19:54 any men common or unclean.
19:58 God was using that vision to blab Peter
20:01 on the side of the head with the 2/4.
20:04 Because Peter had a hard time
20:08 accepting Gentiles into the church.
20:11 He was like the rest of the Jews,
20:13 he didn't want to do it.
20:15 So God used that vision.
20:17 He got Peter's attention.
20:20 He went to visit some Gentiles in the home of Cornelius
20:24 who was a centurion in the Roman Army,
20:27 an officer in the Roman army.
20:30 He preached the gospel sermon while he was there.
20:33 Again in verse 40 of Chapter 10
20:35 talking about God raising him from the death on the third day.
20:41 He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
20:43 He preached the gospel sermon to the Gentiles.
20:47 In verse 44, "While Peter was still speaking these words
20:50 the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
20:53 And the circumcised believers those Jews
20:56 that had come with Peter were astonished
20:58 that the gift of the Holy Spirit
21:00 had been poured out on even the Gentiles."
21:06 So while Peter was preaching
21:07 the Gentiles got the Holy Spirit.
21:10 Uncircumcised, non Jewish men got the Holy Spirit.
21:15 How do they know they got the Holy Spirit?
21:17 Verse 46 says, because they heard them
21:19 speaking in tongues and praising God.
21:23 Now why did God do that?
21:26 Why did God baptized Gentiles with the Holy Spirit
21:31 and give evidence by speaking in tongues,
21:34 because He had a lesson
21:35 that He wanted to teach His church.
21:38 Peter got it.
21:40 Peter said in the next verse,
21:42 "Can anyone keep these people
21:45 from being baptized with water,
21:49 they have received the Holy Spirit
21:51 just as we have."
21:55 You see, Peter understood that as God's sign
22:00 for these unbelievers that he was to accept them
22:04 into the church just as he would a Jew.
22:10 You should say amen to that.
22:12 Amen. Okay.
22:16 So he ordered them to be baptized
22:19 in the name of Jesus Christ.
22:23 This was a remarkable thing.
22:25 God used the baptism of the Holy Spirit
22:28 and the gift of tongues to move the expansion of the church
22:33 from Jews all the way out
22:35 to accepting Gentiles in the church.
22:37 That's exactly what Jesus said was supposed to happen.
22:40 Go and baptized them he said
22:42 and he said that you'll be empowered to preach
22:44 the gospel, Jerusalem, Judea,
22:46 Samaria the ends of the earth, that's the Gentiles.
22:50 And it was a baptism of the spirit
22:51 evidenced by speaking in tongues that pave the way
22:55 for the Gentiles to come into the church.
22:58 That's why God used the baptism of the Holy Spirit
23:01 and speaking in tongues.
23:02 Two times now He gave evidence by speaking in tongues.
23:06 Two times He did not.
23:10 We find one more example of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
23:13 and that's found in Acts 19, in Acts 19,
23:19 Paul goes to Ephesus and there he found in verse 2
23:23 some disciples and asked them,
23:24 "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
23:27 And they answered, "No, we haven't even heard
23:30 that there is a Holy Spirit."
23:32 So Paul asked them, "What baptism did you receive?"
23:34 John's baptism, John's baptism,
23:37 he said, was a baptism of repentance.
23:39 Then he told to people to believe
23:41 in the one coming after him, that is Jesus."
23:44 On hearing this, they were baptized
23:46 into the name of the Lord Jesus.
23:48 And when Paul placed his hands on them,
23:50 the Holy Spirit came on them,
23:53 and they spoke in tongues and prophesied."
23:57 So here again we discovered God
24:00 using the baptism of the Holy Spirit
24:02 evidenced by speaking in tongues.
24:06 Six times, three times it doesn't say
24:10 they spoke in tongues.
24:12 Three times it says they did.
24:17 God used tongues as evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
24:25 Why did God have them speak in tongues at Ephesus?
24:30 Because Ephesus was a city on a major trade route
24:35 at the crossroads of two major trade routes,
24:39 and thousands of people would pass through Ephesus.
24:45 There was a church empowered by the Holy Spirit
24:50 to speak in tongues, other languages
24:54 to the people coming through
24:56 so that the body of Christ could be build up.
24:59 So you see the purpose of the gifts
25:01 are always to build up the body of Christ.
25:05 And that's how the Bible always uses them.
25:09 Now I'm gonna surprise you.
25:11 We have just seen three examples
25:14 of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
25:16 evidenced by speaking in tongues.
25:18 There were five times when the Bible specifically
25:23 mentioned the baptism of the spirit.
25:26 Two times they did not give evidence by speaking in tongues.
25:29 Three times they did.
25:32 These are the only three examples,
25:37 just three of God using the gift of tongues
25:44 as an evidence for the baptism of the spirit,
25:47 just three times in the whole New Testament, that's all.
25:53 And that's not very many compare to the emphasis
25:58 that many give to speaking in tongues today.
26:04 Now I know what some of you're thinking.
26:06 Some of you're thinking, well, pastor,
26:09 God used tongues at another place too,
26:12 the church in Corinth.
26:14 They did a lot of speaking in tongues.
26:17 It's true they did.
26:21 But let's take a closer look at what happened
26:25 in the church at Corinth.
26:28 Turn to 1 Corinthians 3.
26:31 First of all we want to take a look at what the church
26:36 in Corinth was really like.
26:38 What kind of a church was it?
26:40 Was it a model church for us?
26:43 Look at 3:1 "Brothers, I could not address you
26:48 as spiritual but as worldly-- mere infants in Christ.
26:54 I gave you milk, not solid food,
26:56 because you were not ready for it,
26:58 indeed you're still not ready for it you're still worldly."
27:02 Now was that a model church?
27:06 Was Corinth a kind of church
27:08 we want to pattern our church after?
27:12 They were worldly.
27:13 He says, I can't address you're spiritual
27:16 but you know, it's interesting because he's gonna show us
27:21 as we read further on that the church in Corinth
27:25 was involved in all kinds of spiritual activity.
27:29 Yet he says, you're not spiritual, you're worldly.
27:33 So what's going on there?
27:34 Let me show you something else.
27:37 A secret about the church in Corinth, verse 11,
27:40 "In the following directives
27:45 I have no praise for you,
27:47 because your meetings do more harm than good."
27:53 Isn't that interesting?
27:55 A church whose meetings do more harm than good.
27:59 In the first place I hear
28:00 when you come together there are divisions among you
28:03 and I'm gonna show you that the divisions were over
28:07 the spiritual gifts themselves in the baptism of the spirit.
28:11 Corinth was a divided church.
28:13 It was so divided that when they came together
28:17 for a church meeting, their meetings
28:19 did more harm than good.
28:22 It's that the kind of church
28:24 we want to pattern our church after.
28:27 Is this a model church?
28:30 Do you want to know what their meetings look like, do you?
28:35 Well, I'll show you.
28:37 Chapter 14. Hold your place.
28:39 Chapter 14, what shall we say?
28:42 Verse 26, "When you come together,
28:44 everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction,
28:47 a revelation, a tongue an interpretation.
28:49 All of these must be done
28:50 for the strengthening of the church.
28:54 If anyone is to speak in a tongue,
28:56 two at the most three should speak, one at a time.
28:59 So what was going on?
29:01 There were all in there singing and teaching
29:04 and preaching and speaking in tongues all at the same time.
29:10 And Paul says, wow,
29:13 your meetings do more harm than good.
29:16 They divide the church.
29:18 I don't know maybe the ones prophesying
29:21 and the ones in tongues were kind of in a context
29:24 whoever could do it the loudest would be the best
29:26 or something I don't know, but whatever was going on,
29:29 they were dividing the church
29:32 and all of these was over the spiritual gifts.
29:35 So we need to be careful and here is the point
29:38 that I'm trying to make and belaboring all of these.
29:42 We need to be careful that we don't pattern ourselves
29:46 today after what was happening in Corinth.
29:50 Are you following me?
29:53 And we need to be careful that we understand
29:55 what Paul is saying to the church in Corinth.
30:00 By that I mean whenever Paul says
30:03 something to the church in Corinth.
30:05 We should ask ourselves an important question.
30:09 Is Paul describing a problem that was going on there
30:16 or is he prescribing a solution to a problem.
30:22 You follow the difference?
30:24 Whenever we read what Paul says to Corinth, ask yourself.
30:28 Is he describing the problem or is he prescribing a solution.
30:33 If he's describing the problem
30:35 and we say that's what we need to do,
30:37 then we will be taking the same problems of Corinth
30:40 and bringing them into our own lives, in our own churches.
30:43 If he's describing the solution,
30:46 then we should say that's what we need to do.
30:50 Are you following me?
30:52 That's important because we need to understand
30:56 how to interpret what Paul was saying
30:58 to the church at Corinth.
30:59 Now another thing about Paul, when he writes to a church,
31:03 usually he gives them the theological study,
31:09 a Bible study on the particular topic he's talking about.
31:14 Then he applies that Bible study in real life.
31:20 That's what he does here.
31:22 In Chapter 12, he's gonna give us a Bible study
31:26 on the gifts of the spirit.
31:28 In Chapter 14 and 13, he applies it to the church.
31:33 Now watch, 12:1 "About spiritual gifts, brothers."
31:39 I don't want you to be ignorant.
31:40 So he's gonna teach them
31:42 what the spiritual gifts really mean.
31:44 So here is his theology, his Bible study on the gifts.
31:48 Verse 4, "There are different kinds of gifts."
31:52 Verse 7, "Now to each person to each one the manifestation
31:58 of the spirit is given for the common good."
32:03 What does the common good mean?
32:05 For the good of the individual or for the good of the church?
32:10 So to each one he says, the manifestation of the Spirit
32:14 is given for the good of the church.
32:16 You see, that's purpose of the baptism,
32:19 to build up the church, not the individual
32:21 for the common good.
32:23 Then he list the gifts.
32:25 To one there is given through
32:26 the spirit the message of wisdom,
32:29 to another knowledge, another faith,
32:32 another healing, miraculous powers,
32:34 prophecy distinguishing between spirits.
32:38 Speaking in different kinds of tongues
32:40 and interpreting tongues.
32:41 Notice he put tongues at the bottom of the list.
32:46 I think it's because as we'll see
32:49 they were putting it at the top of the list.
32:52 They were lifting it up above all the others gifts.
32:56 Watch, these are all the gifts.
33:00 Verse 11, "All of these are the work of one
33:02 and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one,
33:06 just as he determines."
33:09 So who decides which gift you should have?
33:15 He does. Do you decide which gift you should have?
33:19 Does a pastor decide which gift you should have?
33:22 Who decides God does.
33:25 He decides, that's the first time
33:27 He says that here in this chapter.
33:29 Verse 12, "The body is made up of a unit one body a unit
33:34 though it is made up of many parts,
33:37 they formed one body,
33:39 all the different parts formed one body,
33:42 so it is with Christ.
33:44 For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body.
33:49 So every Christian is baptized
33:52 by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.
33:56 Verse 14, "Now the body is not made up of one part."
34:01 What's he trying to tell us here, pay attention?
34:05 "The body is not made up of one part but of many.
34:08 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand,
34:11 I don't belong to the body," it would not for that reason
34:14 cease to be part of the body."
34:17 So the foot can't say since I'm not a hand,
34:19 I'm not a part of the body.
34:22 That means that you can't say to yourself,
34:26 since I don't have tongues, I'm not a part of the body.
34:30 Do you follow what he's doing here?
34:35 Why not? Verse 18, "But in fact God has arranged
34:39 the parts of the body, every one of them,
34:40 just as He wanted them to be."
34:44 Second time God decides what gift you should have.
34:49 I'm glad, but I'm not very good at picking out
34:52 what's good for me.
34:54 I may think I am but He knows a lot more than I know.
34:58 I messed up enough, let's leave it up to Him, amen.
35:02 So we're all baptized by the spirit into the body,
35:05 but God decides which gift we should get.
35:09 Then verse 21, he goes on to say,
35:11 "The eye cannot say I don't need you.
35:15 Therefore someone with one gift cannot say it
35:20 since you don't have my gift, then I don't need you.
35:24 Someone with tongues cannot say,
35:27 since you don't speak in tongues,
35:29 you're not a part of the body.
35:32 Are you following?
35:34 But the baptism of the spirit
35:37 brings us into the body of Christ.
35:41 And we can't be a part of the body of Christ
35:43 without the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
35:46 I think you see where this is going.
35:50 Look again in verse 24 in middle of the verse,
35:53 "But God has combined the members of the body
35:57 and has given greater honor to the parts that lack it."
35:59 Verse 25, "So there would be no division in the body."
36:03 Again third time, who decides which gift?
36:07 God does.
36:08 He gives us all the baptism of the spirit
36:11 and then He decides which gift we shout have.
36:14 The baptism of the spirit
36:16 brings us into the body of Christ
36:19 in order to use the gift that He gives us.
36:23 And the body consists of many different parts,
36:27 so the body of Christ consists of many different gifts.
36:31 And you can't say to yourself,
36:32 if I don't have one gift, I'm not a part of the body.
36:35 And no one can say to you if I don't have one gift,
36:38 I'm not a part of the body.
36:40 Because God decides who should have which gift
36:43 and arranges them the way He wants them to be.
36:46 He knows best.
36:48 Sometimes we think we know better.
36:52 If ever wish you had the eye in back of your head.
36:59 I remember when I was little
37:01 and I would get into scary place.
37:03 I wish I had a eye in the back of my head.
37:06 I'd be going that way and that way
37:08 and that way and that way.
37:10 Oh, I wish I had another eye,
37:11 but if I did you would have felt sorry for me.
37:15 If you ever done any soldering,
37:17 I remember working on some of my stuff I had to solder,
37:21 and anybody that's ever soldered wish you had
37:23 more than one hand, more than two hands, right?
37:26 I mean, you need a hand the hold the soldering gun.
37:28 You need a hand to hold the soldering solder.
37:31 You need a hand the hold whatever you're soldering
37:33 and you need another hand to hold
37:35 what you're soldering it too.
37:37 You need four hands, but if we had four hands
37:40 everybody would feel sorry for us.
37:42 God knows what's best for the body
37:46 and let's leave it the way He designed it, amen.
37:50 Now here comes the clincher.
37:53 Now verse 27, you are the body of Christ,
37:56 and each one of you is a part of it.
37:58 And in the church God has appointed fourth time,
38:02 fourth time in this short passage,
38:04 does He trying to make a point fourth time.
38:07 God has appointed first of all now He's ranking them.
38:12 First of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,
38:17 then workers of miracles, then healing,
38:20 then helping others, then administration,
38:23 finally tongues at the bottom of the list.
38:28 Then He asked the question.
38:30 Are all apostles?
38:31 What's the obvious answer to that? No.
38:34 Are all prophets? No.
38:36 Are all teachers? No.
38:39 Do all have gifts of healing? No.
38:41 Do all work miracles? No.
38:44 Do all speak in tongues? No.
38:48 But we are all baptized by the spirit
38:53 into the body of Christ.
38:55 So if we're all baptized by the spirit into the body
38:58 of Christ and we don't all speak in tongues,
39:01 then speaking in tongues cannot be the only evidence
39:04 for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
39:07 They're just wrong on that. They're wrong.
39:09 In fact I want you to follow me.
39:12 If it's true that we're all baptized
39:15 by the spirit into the body
39:17 and there is no salvation apart from the body of Christ.
39:22 And if it's true that baptism of the Holy Spirit
39:25 is evidenced by speaking in tongues,
39:27 then those who have not spoken in tongues
39:28 would not have received the baptism
39:30 and they are bold enough to tell you that.
39:33 But the next step is that not only
39:35 have they not receive the baptism
39:36 but it's a baptism that brings us
39:38 into the body of Christ,
39:39 so we wouldn't even be a part of the body of Christ
39:41 if we haven't spoken in tongues.
39:45 And to say that if you haven't give
39:48 the evidence by speaking in tongues
39:49 you haven't been baptized,
39:50 so the spirit is the same thing as sin, you are lost.
39:56 And I've had people tell me as much.
39:59 And that is so unchristian and so wrong.
40:04 We're not saved by speaking in tongues.
40:06 We're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
40:11 And the baptism of the spirit brings us all in,
40:15 no matter what your gift is, helping people licking stamps
40:19 and putting them on envelops,
40:21 a preaching sermons all of the gifts
40:25 are used to build up the church
40:27 which is the body of Christ.
40:30 That's Paul's theology, that's his Bible study
40:33 on the gifts and that's pretty clear, isn't it?
40:37 Then comes the admonition at the end
40:41 eagerly desire the greater gifts in verse 31.
40:45 So what is the greater-- what are the greater gifts?
40:48 Then comes Chapter 13.
40:49 Do you know what Chapter 13 is?
40:52 It's the love Chapter.
40:54 In Chapter 14 he applies the gifts of the spirit.
40:57 So in Chapter 14 he applies it,
41:00 in Chapter 12 he teaches about it.
41:02 Why is the love Chapter stuck in between the two?
41:06 Because what they were doing in Corinth
41:09 was not loving one another at all.
41:13 They were judging and condemning and criticizing
41:17 each other over the very gifts of the spirit
41:20 that were meant to promote unity instead of dividing.
41:25 And so he talks about love.
41:28 I don't care if you talk in the tongues of angels he says.
41:31 If you don't have love you're not a--
41:33 you're just resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
41:37 Just love one another.
41:39 Then comes Chapter 14, 14:1,
41:44 "Follow the way of love
41:47 and eagerly desire spiritual gifts,
41:50 especially the gift of prophecy."
41:55 Now if he is singling out any gift
41:56 if it isn't tongues, is what?
41:58 Prophecy.
42:01 Why does He single out prophecy?
42:03 One of the reason is right here, verse 2,
42:06 "Anyone who speaks in a tongue
42:07 does not speak to men but to God."
42:11 We could come to the conclusion
42:13 that tongues are for us speaking to God.
42:16 But remember, you have to ask a question.
42:20 Is he describing a problem
42:22 or is he prescribing a solution to the problem.
42:26 Now it may sound like he is prescribing a solution.
42:30 Tongues if we're speaking to God, let's read it again.
42:33 Anyone who speaks in a tongue
42:36 does not speak to men but to God.
42:39 Indeed no one understands Him.
42:43 He utters mysteries with his spirit.
42:46 Verse 3, but, that's a big word sometimes,
42:52 but anyone who prophesies speaks to men
42:56 for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.
43:00 Question, is the purpose of the gift
43:03 even tongues to build up the individual
43:07 or to build up the church?
43:12 Speaking to God in tongues may build up the individual
43:17 but isn't going to build up the church.
43:20 But prophesying when people understand
43:24 is building up the church.
43:26 So as Paul's saying, we should use
43:28 the gift of tongues to talk to God.
43:30 No, what he's saying is if you just talk to God
43:33 in tongues and nobody understands you.
43:35 If you prophecy people understand you
43:38 and you're building up the church
43:39 and that's the purpose of the gifts of the spirit,
43:41 to build up the church.
43:43 See the solution is not tongues
43:46 but prophecy so they can understand.
43:50 Then we come to the next verse 4,
43:52 "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself."
43:54 Okay, so we should speak in tongues to edify ourselves.
43:59 Well, we have to ask that question again.
44:02 Is he describing a problem or prescribing a solution.
44:06 Is he saying we should speak in tongue to edify ourselves
44:09 or is he describing the problem in Corinth?
44:12 Watch this, you decide.
44:14 In verse 4, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself,
44:17 but he who prophesies edifies the church."
44:21 What's the purpose of the gifts?
44:23 To edify the church, to build up the church,
44:26 those who speak in tongues were building up themselves
44:28 but that's not the purpose of the gifts.
44:30 But he who prophecies builds up the church.
44:34 You can see where Paul is going with this, can't you?
44:38 Verse 5, "I would like for every one of you
44:40 to speak in tongues."
44:42 Oh, there it is, you see.
44:44 Paul wants us all to speak in tongues.
44:46 Well, that's interesting because earlier
44:48 he had said we are not all to speak in tongues.
44:51 So why would be he saying now
44:53 I wish you'd all speak in tongues.
44:56 Oh, he did say, I would like
44:58 to have all of you speak in tongues
45:01 but, here it is again,
45:05 but I would rather have you prophesy.
45:08 Why?
45:10 Because He who prophesies is greater than
45:11 one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets,
45:16 so that the church may be edified."
45:18 And there it is again.
45:21 Why did he say, I wish
45:23 that you could all speak in tongues.
45:25 That's what they really wanted to do.
45:28 That's where they were.
45:31 Paul was coming into a church that was teaching
45:35 that we should all speak in tongues.
45:36 We should all have this one gift
45:38 and if we didn't have it,
45:39 we weren't even a part of the body.
45:42 And so he's trying to meet them half way,
45:47 so he could lead them where they need to be.
45:50 If he came in there and said you guys are all wrong,
45:53 you shouldn't be doing all these.
45:55 Why should they listen to him
45:57 because they believe that they were doing
45:59 what the spirit was telling them to do.
46:02 So he didn't--he tried to meet them half way.
46:05 He said sure, I wish you could all speak in tongues.
46:08 But I'd rather have you prophesy.
46:11 It would be like me talking to you and saying I wish
46:14 that every one of you could sell your houses
46:18 and buy yourself an old bus build it into an RV
46:23 and travel around the country witnessing about Jesus Christ.
46:28 And being an evangelist I wish you could all do that.
46:32 But I would rather have you use the gift that God has given you.
46:39 See that's all Paul was doing.
46:47 He who prophesies is greater than
46:50 the one who speaks in tongue unless he interprets,
46:53 so that the church may be built up.
46:55 You see the whole thing is to build up the church.
46:57 So there is an interpretive there,
46:59 the church can be built up, why?
47:01 Because they understand what's being thought,
47:03 they understand what's being said.
47:05 Verse 6, "Now, brothers, if I come to you
47:07 and I speak in tongues, what good will I be to you,
47:09 unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge
47:12 or prophecy or word of instruction?
47:13 Even in the case of lifeless things
47:15 that make sounds, such as the flute or harp,
47:18 how will anyone know what tune is being played
47:20 unless there is a distinction in the notes?
47:22 If a trumpet doesn't sound a clear call,
47:24 who is gonna get ready for battle?
47:27 So it is with you.
47:29 Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue,
47:34 how will anyone know what you are saying?
47:36 You will just be speaking into the air."
47:40 So what were they doing?
47:42 They were making a bunch of sounds in languages
47:45 that no one understood,
47:47 that was just like speaking into the air.
47:51 Paul says, undoubtedly
47:54 there are all sorts of languages in the world,
47:55 but none of them is without meaning.
47:58 You see his emphases are on what?
48:00 Meaning, understating what's being thought.
48:03 None of them was on-on the day of Pentecost
48:05 they all understood in their own language.
48:08 But that's not what was happening at Corinth,
48:10 it was just the opposite.
48:12 They were saying a bunch of stuff
48:13 and nobody understood what was being said.
48:15 There is no such thing he says,
48:16 a real language without meaning.
48:18 Verse 11, "If then I don't grasp the meaning of what
48:21 someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker,
48:24 so it is with you, that's what you're doing,
48:26 you're speaking nobody understand it,
48:28 they're like foreigners to you.
48:29 Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts,
48:31 try to excel in gifts that are building up the church.
48:34 Tongues were not building up the church at Corinth,
48:37 they did at Pentecost not at Corinth.
48:41 Something was wrong at Corinth.
48:45 Verse 14, "If I pray in a tongue,
48:48 my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful."
48:52 If I pray in a tongue, oh, I can get emotional,
48:55 I can get excited, I can say amen
48:56 and all of these nice cool things
48:58 but I don't even know what I'm saying.
49:00 My mind is unfruitful. But watch.
49:03 So what would I do?
49:05 Do I quit praying in the spirit?
49:07 No, I will pray with my spirit,
49:09 but I'll also pray with my mind.
49:12 I will understand what's being said.
49:16 You see, God made us with understanding
49:21 and He made us with emotions
49:23 and feeling and they are both good.
49:26 He put in there for reason.
49:30 I think sometimes people get so over focused
49:34 on the emotional part that they lose touch with reason.
49:39 And Paul is trying to handle that,
49:42 but on the other hand there are those
49:44 who are so afraid of being too emotional.
49:48 Well, we don't want to be like
49:49 those holy-rollers and happy-clappies.
49:54 So we become the frozen chosen.
49:58 And we got it in our minds but no emotion,
50:02 scared to even say amen too loud in church.
50:05 Amen.
50:07 So I think we need to be more adventacostal.
50:12 Amen. Amen.
50:14 We need to be the happy chosen, amen. Amen.
50:18 And excited about what we have,
50:20 that's what Paul was telling me anyway.
50:23 Verse 16, "If you are praising God
50:25 with your spirit, how can anyone
50:26 who finds himself among you doesn't understand say amen".
50:29 Can amen say amen?
50:30 You could be cursing the name of God for all I know.
50:35 So Paul is clear, he wants people to understand.
50:38 Verse 18, "I thank God that I speak in tongues
50:40 more than all of you."
50:41 There it is.
50:42 Paul's spoken tongues all over the--
50:44 remember tongues also means languages.
50:47 He could have simply mean
50:48 that I speak in more languages than all of you.
50:50 But there it is again, but verse 19,
50:54 "In the church I would rather speak
50:55 five intelligible words to instruct others than
50:59 ten thousand words in a tongue.
51:02 And I think it's pretty clear by now,
51:04 Paul wants everyone to understand what's being said.
51:09 So the church can be built up not the individual the church.
51:13 Watch, verse 22, "The tongues, then, are a sign,
51:17 not for believers but for unbelievers."
51:21 Tongues are not a sign for believer.
51:23 No, they are sign for unbeliever,
51:24 that's what happened with Peter at Cornelius' house.
51:28 When the unbelieving Gentile starts speaking in tongues,
51:31 it was a sign for them
51:33 that they were accepted by the Holy Spirit.
51:35 Tongues, then, are sign for unbelievers not believers.
51:39 Watch this one, verse 23.
51:41 "So if the whole church comes together
51:42 and everyone speaks in tongues
51:44 and some who don't understand if some unbeliever comes in,
51:47 will they not say you're out of your mind.
51:50 Well, you guys are nuts man, I'm out of here.
51:54 That's what Paul said.
51:57 So what shall we say brothers,
51:59 "When you come together, everyone has a hymn,
52:01 or a word of structure, a revelation,
52:03 a tongue or an interpretation."
52:05 He didn't say I want you to quit all that stuff.
52:09 Listen to this.
52:11 All of these must be done
52:14 for the strengthening of the church, all of them.
52:19 They must be done to strengthen the church.
52:23 Not you, but the church.
52:25 Verse 27 then, "If anyone speaks in a tongue,
52:28 two--at the most three-- should speak, one at a time,
52:30 and someone must interpret."
52:34 If there is no interpret the speaker
52:36 should keep quiet in the church
52:38 and speak to himself and God because verse 33,
52:42 "God is a God of order not of disorder but God of peace."
52:48 When you come together everyone is blabbing in tongues.
52:52 One at a time, two at the most,
52:57 three no more and there has to be an interpreter there.
53:04 Somebody asked me,
53:05 how am I going to know if there's an interpreter there?
53:09 I don't know. He doesn't say here.
53:13 He just says be sure there's one there
53:15 and if there's not then don't do it...
53:20 be quite.
53:22 Now can you see that when Paul says one at--
53:25 they were all doing it at once and he says one at a time.
53:30 Two, never more than three
53:33 and you have to have an interpreter.
53:34 Can you see that Paul is controlling
53:38 that manifestation of the spirit in Corinth?
53:41 Absolutely, he is controlling.
53:44 He is squelching it.
53:45 They were all wanting to do it and he says, no, no,
53:48 just three at the most, one at a time.
53:51 He was squelching at what was happening at Corinth?
53:55 Now you tell me, would Paul squelch
53:58 a genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit?
54:02 Would Paul say, Holy Spirit,
54:04 you are going too fast at Corinth,
54:06 you need to slow down a little bit.
54:08 I don't think so. So what was he doing?
54:13 Well, some of you may want me to say, well,
54:16 they were all demon possessed
54:17 and he was calling them a bunch of demon.
54:20 No, He didn't do that.
54:22 He didn't says you were all demon possessed,
54:24 they were Christians.
54:25 He called them saints at the beginning of the letter.
54:28 He says you are saints.
54:30 They were confused but they were saints.
54:33 He didn't say you are demon possessed.
54:36 Well then, what else could have been happening there?
54:40 Notice it was all going on at one time, exciting music,
54:44 speaking in tongues, prophesying,
54:46 all of this stuff going on at one time.
54:48 The church was teaching that everybody
54:50 need to speak in tongues.
54:51 Now if you were a member of that church
54:53 and you had not yet started speaking in tongues,
54:56 what would you want more than anything else?
54:59 You would want that special gift,
55:01 that special blessing that you have been taught
55:03 everyone should have.
55:04 In fact you are not even
55:05 a part of the body of Christ till you get it.
55:07 So here you are in this exciting supercharged,
55:10 emotional environment striving to speak in tongues
55:14 and suddenly they tell us it's possible to induce
55:18 in that environment a translate type of existence
55:21 that causes people to come up
55:23 with something that sounds like tongues
55:24 when it's really not, almost like self-hypnosis.
55:30 And I've had people tell me, you know pastor,
55:33 I've always wondered if I was--
55:35 if God was doing that, if it was just me on my own?
55:39 That's what I think was happening at Corinth.
55:42 One at a time, two, at the most three,
55:44 must be an interpreter, he is taking away
55:46 that intense supercharged environment
55:51 and he knew that it would just die out.
55:54 He didn't go and say, brothers,
55:55 yours is genuine and brother over here yours is false.
55:59 No, he didn't do that, they were Christians.
56:02 He took away that environment
56:05 and he knew that soon it would just die out.
56:08 One at a time, two, at the most three,
56:11 there has to be an interpretation,
56:13 if not just be quite in church.
56:18 And I think we could learn a lesson from Paul.
56:21 "God is not a God of disorder but of peace."
56:26 One of the questions I always like to ask when people ask me,
56:28 why don't we speak in tongues?
56:31 The question I like to ask
56:34 and you don't have to say amen for this one.
56:38 I don't want you to get embarrassed.
56:41 Question I like to ask is,
56:43 well, if the purpose of the baptism of the spirit
56:47 and speaking in tongues
56:49 is to build up the church throughout the whole world
56:54 and the American Bible Society not sponsored by our church
56:58 did an independent study and show that
57:01 the Seventh-day Adventist church is preaching the gospel
57:05 in more countries than
57:07 all of the other Protestant churches put together.
57:12 Now, if we are preaching in more countries
57:18 than all the other Protestant churches
57:20 put together including yours
57:23 and you have the baptism of the spirit and we don't,
57:26 then what are you doing with it?
57:28 See, that's my question, what are you doing with it?
57:32 And don't say amen if you are a Seventh-day Adventist
57:36 because my next question is for you.
57:39 What are you doing with it?
57:41 How many people have you talked to about Jesus Christ?
57:45 How man people have you lead to follow the Lamb?


Home

Revised 2014-12-17