The Coming of the Holy Spirit (Part 1)

For the next couple of weeks, we'll be going through the second chapter of Acts.

! So if you're there, you want to follow along with me. In verse 1 it says, When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on 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.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others were mocking, saying they are filled with new wine or with sweet wine. So I'm going to begin by asking you a question.

Has there ever been a time where you've seen something that was difficult for you to describe later on when you were trying to retell that story or retell that situation to somebody else?

Or maybe it's something that you've seen before and you've just found it really difficult to describe it. For me personally, the Grand Canyon. Have you guys ever been to the Grand Canyon before?

It's hard to describe, isn't it, to somebody who hasn't been there before? Because you say, well, it's basically just a big giant hole, but it's much more than a hole. You know, you've got people from all over the world coming to look basically at this giant hole.

But, you know, if you told it to somebody who had never been there before, it's just a hole. It wouldn't sound like, you know, something you'd want to see. When you go there, you realize it's something much more, but very hard to describe. And I think we all have those moments where we've experienced things in our lives where it's just difficult to describe.

And so here we've got to understand that Luke is talking about something supernatural and difficult to describe. We have the coming of the Holy Spirit here. And so he's going to use language to try to help us to understand what it's like.

But we've got to understand that this was a one-time thing, a very supernatural thing, and a very incredibly powerful thing. And so inspired by that same Holy Spirit, he's writing in ways that we can understand.

But we've got to go into it knowing that this is an incredible event. So the second chapter of Acts marks a turning point in the history of God's kingdom.

A new phase of his redemptive plan unfolds as the church is now born. In chapter 1, if you remember, the disciples were waiting for the Holy Spirit. In chapter 2, the Holy Spirit has come.

In chapter 1, the disciples were equipped. In chapter 2, they are now empowered. In chapter 1, they were held back. In chapter 2, they are being sent forth. In chapter 1, the Savior had ascended.

And in chapter 2, now the Spirit descends. God's eternal redemptive plan began to unfold. And it began, if you really remember, back in the Garden of Eden.

When man had sinned in Genesis 3.15, God promised a Savior who would one day redeem the human race from the effects of sin. And that unfolding continued throughout the patriarchal age, passed on to the giving of the law, and then to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

And then after rising victoriously over sin and death, Jesus promised, if you remember, to send the Holy Spirit to indwell His believers, His followers. In John 7, verses 37-39, He said, Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out, saying, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.

For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. And so the coming of the Holy Spirit marks the beginning of the age of the church. In the Greek word, the word for church is ekklesia.

And that means called out ones. That's what the church means. The church is the bride of Christ. We are the branches. He is the vine. We are the flock. He's the good shepherd.

And He is the head of which we are the body, right? And so that's how we understand the church. And then within the body, there is unity. Since all are indwelt by Jesus Christ, and all have been given the Holy Spirit and been sealed by Him as well.

And so this passage describes the birth of the church by the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So the first thing I want you guys to see is in verses 1 through 4, we get the evidence of the Spirit's coming.

The evidence of the Spirit's coming. And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them tongues as fire, distributing themselves, and they rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

So just like the events of Jesus' life and His death and His resurrection, the birth of the church did not take place in some kind of quiet corner. This was a very public event.

And it happened in the heart of Jerusalem. And what's significant is that it's this day, the day of Pentecost, that God in His sovereignty chose to send His Spirit.

And it's significant for a reason. The first is this, that Pentecost literally means 50th. That's what the word Pentecost means.

It's the New Testament name for the Feast of Weeks. If you remember in Exodus 34, 22 through 23, as they're talking about God is giving these different kind of celebrations, Pentecost was the Feast of Weeks, and it was to be celebrated 50 days after the Passover.

So the Jews also celebrated this day because it marked the giving of the law of Moses. So it was a significant day for those two reasons. God's redemptive New Testament timetable is pictured in the Feast of Leviticus 23.

If you remember, the first feast mentioned in that chapter was the Passover feast. Many of you guys are familiar with that. The Passover feast involved the killing of the Passover lamb.

And obviously that pictured the death of Jesus Christ, who was the ultimate Passover lamb, who could take away the sins of the world. And then the second feast was the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

And that was celebrated the day after Passover. During this feast, an offering of the first fruits of the grain harvest was made. In Leviticus 23.15, it commands that an offering be made on the day after the Sabbath.

So the day that the first fruits were offered would have been on a Sunday. And that's significant, isn't it? On a Sunday because Jesus' resurrection was on a Sunday. And he was the first fruits of all who have gone asleep or all who have passed.

Fifty days after the first Sunday following Passover, the Feast of Pentecost was then celebrated. And it completed the cycle of the typical fulfillment of the feast. The Spirit came on Pentecost as the first fruits of believers' inheritance.

So you see how this all fits together. God has a plan. He wasn't just thinking, oh, this would be an okay day to send the Holy Spirit. It's all fitting together.

There's a reason for all of it. And then it says there, again, Luke's trying to describe this. He says, Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind.

And so suddenly that means or that indicates to us that this was something that surprised them. This caught them off guard. Now we know that they are awaiting the Holy Spirit to come.

But even though they were anticipating it, this still surprised them. So how would we compare that to ourselves? Well, we are anticipating the return of Jesus Christ, right?

But if he came right now, we'd be surprised by that, wouldn't we be? Though we had been anticipating it. So though they were anticipating it, they were surprised by it. So suddenly the Holy Spirit had descended.

And then Luke says it was a noise from heaven. And so by saying it was a noise from heaven, he's emphasizing the fact that it was a supernatural event.

This was a supernatural noise. It wasn't just, you know, a really windy day. You guys have a lot of... I'm from Kansas and Kansas is windy, but it seems a little bit windier down here in Oklahoma to me.

I don't know why that is, but this was more than just a bad wind or, you know, bad weather. This was a supernatural event, a noise from heaven.

And Luke says it was like, so again, he's trying to describe it for us. It was like a violent, rushing wind. And he is trying to describe the supernatural activity in terms that we can understand because the supernatural activity of God is far beyond our ability to grasp as mere human beings.

And so he's trying to help us understand what this was like. And it's also interesting to note that both in the Greek and the Hebrew language, the same word for spirit is the same word that they use for wind.

Just something that's interesting to think about. And so the sound and activity that was taking place here drew a gathering. So if you imagine they're in the upper room, right, and they're anticipating, this was a noise that not just those in the room heard, but that the city heard.

Because all of a sudden you see that now a group of people is gathering to this place where this is happening. So this was an amazing event that people who were outside of that room realized that something awesome is happening here.

And so they were going to find out what had taken place. And then it says there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributing themselves, and they rested on each of them.

Tongues in the Greek, that is glossa, and it can refer to the physical organ, the tongue that you have in your mouth, or it can refer to the language that you speak, the words that we speak.

So I don't know what this looked like. Were they, was the flame over their head in the shape of a tongue wagging? I don't, I don't know.

Maybe. Who's to say? We weren't there. That's something that we'll go. When we go to heaven, we'll find out what it must have been like. But right now, you know, the best we can do is just work with what Luke provides us with there.

And this is a very supernatural and a very unique event. Throughout the Old Testament, what's interesting is to note is that fire is depicted as the presence of God, often in the New Testament.

And here, fire is described as being distributed. The picture is that of one great flame presenting the spirit, which then separates into many tongues of flame, which then rest on each individual who were in that room.

Luke as well was well aware that he was using metaphorical language in these verses by carefully employing adverbs of comparison. Right. It was like a rushing wind fires at fire as of.

And he's trying to deal with, again, the supernatural, which is beyond our human experience. And so he's using analogies to try to help us understand what this was like. At this point, by the baptism with the spirit, the believers were all made into one spiritual body.

They became the body of Christ. And it says they were filled with the spirit. But that must be distinguished from being baptized with the spirit.

So what does that mean? And I've got a lot of notes for this text because a lot of people have misinterpreted this text. And it's caused a lot of problems for a lot of people and for a lot of churches.

So I want us to have a clear understanding of what baptism by the Holy Spirit means. And so I have an article I want to read to you. It's from gotquestions.org. This is a great place where there's a lot of pastors, they're theologians, and there's a search bar.

If you type in gotquestions.org, you can go there and you can type in your question or the topic that you have questions about, and you'll get a series of articles from pastors and theologians who have studied a lot, and they have a lot of great answers for our difficult questions.

And so this is the answer that they gave for what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The baptism of the Holy Spirit may be defined as the work whereby the Spirit of God places the believer into union with Christ and into union with other believers in the body of Christ at the moment of salvation.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit was predicted by John the Baptist and by Jesus before he ascended into heaven when he said, for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. For the first time, people were permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the church began. And it continues. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12-13 is the central passage in the Bible regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Notice that we all have been baptized by the Spirit.

All believers have received the baptism, synonymous with salvation, and it is not a special experience only for a few. While Romans 6, 1-4 does not mention specifically the Spirit of God, it does describe the believer's position before God in language similar to the 1 Corinthians passage.

What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we may too have new life. The following facts are necessary to help us solidify our understanding of Spirit baptism.

First, in 1 Corinthians 12-13, it clearly states that all have been baptized just as all have been given the Spirit to drink, which means the indwelling of the Spirit.

Second, nowhere in Scripture are believers told to be baptized with or in by the Spirit, or in any sense to seek baptism of the Holy Spirit. This indicates that all believers have had this experience.

Third, Ephesians 4-5 seems to refer to Spirit baptism. If this is the case, then Spirit baptism is the reality for every believer, just as one faith and one Father are.

So in conclusion, the baptism of the Holy Spirit does two things. First, it joins us to the body of Christ. And second, it actualizes our co-crucifixion with Christ.

Being in His body means that we are risen with Him to newness of life. We should exercise our spiritual gifts to keep that body functioning properly, as stated in the context of 1 Corinthians 12, experiencing the one normal response being filled with the Spirit.

So, where people often go wrong with this is in thinking that you cannot be saved until you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit.

Have any of you guys ever talked to a Pentecostal denomination? I don't know. Belonger? That doesn't make any sense.

But you know what I'm saying? You have? So I had a couple who were friends with a member of our church, and they would come to our church from time to time, and they had a teenager, and somehow we got on the subject that they said their teenager was not a Christian because she had not yet spoken in tongues.

And so in that point of view, she hadn't been baptized by the Holy Spirit first, which they took to believe, or to mean that in order to be saved, you've got to first have that experience.

And so could you imagine being a teenager and being told that she wasn't a believer until she had this kind of experience, how much pressure that would put on her? And the thing is, it's not true because nowhere in the Bible does it say that that's what takes place, that that's necessary for salvation, that being baptized by the Holy Spirit is different than what many people in the Pentecostal denomination would say.

So John MacArthur said something that I think is important for us to take note of when we're talking about this. He said, In contrast to so much errant teaching today, the New Testament nowhere commands believers to seek the baptism with the Spirit.

It is a sovereign, single, unrepeatable act on God's part and is no more an experience than its companion's justification and adoption. Although some wrongly view the baptism with the Spirit as the initiation into the ranks of the spiritual elite, nothing could be further from the truth.

The purpose of the baptism with the Spirit is not to divide the body of Christ, but to unify it. So unlike the baptism with the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit is an experience that we should be continually experiencing.

So these are two different things. When you believed, the Bible says you were baptized with the Holy Spirit. You were brought into the body of Christ. But as believers, we need to continually be filled by the Holy Spirit.

Now again, this is where people start to get a little weird with their understanding of what it means to be filled by the Holy Spirit. And if you've been to a more Pentecostal type of church before, maybe you've seen something like this before.

You know, they call them holy rollers or whatnot. But it can be a very scary kind of eerie sort of thing to see it happening. So we've got to understand that, yes, we are to be filled by the Holy Spirit.

And the thing is, is that I think sometimes as Baptists, as Southern Baptists, we are kind of afraid of sounding weird when we're talking about the Holy Spirit.

So we stop talking about the Holy Spirit. If you know Francis Chan, he wrote a book called Forgotten God. And that's basically his whole point is he's talking about how the church needs to have a better understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does.

And we shouldn't be afraid of talking about the Holy Spirit because I think there's this stigma surrounding the Holy Spirit that we've created that if we start talking about the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit does, we're going to sound strange to people.

And so we don't talk about the Holy Spirit, but we should. And so if you remember, Peter was filled by the Holy Spirit here in Acts chapter 2. And then again in Acts chapter 4, it talks about him being filled with the Spirit.

Paul was filled by the Spirit in Acts chapter 9. And then again, it talks about him being filled by the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 13. So while there is no command in Scripture to be baptized with the Spirit, believers are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5.18 says, And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. And I've noticed over here we've got the Strange Fire Conference.

And so I know that if you watch this, have you seen the one with the guy who is claiming to be drunk with the Holy Spirit? Isn't that disturbing? So if you haven't seen that, it's very disturbing.

And so it's again, people are having a wrong understanding of what the Bible is teaching about being filled by the Holy Spirit. And so what you have is this guy up there on stage, and he is acting like he's drunk.

I mean, he's stumbling around and he's slurring his speech, and he's acting all joyful and happy. And what he's trying to tell everybody is that he's so full of the Holy Spirit that it's inebriating him.

It's making him drunk. It's crazy what people will think and do and how they will twist Scripture in the wrong way. So if you ever see me doing that, pull me off stage and slap me around, right?

That shouldn't happen. To be filled with the Spirit, we must first empty ourselves. So what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, at first it means that we must empty ourselves.

Well, how do we do that? That involves confession of our sin. So it means we go to the Lord and we confess our sin. It means that we also seek to die to ourselves, to our own selfish ways, to our own self-wills, that we're seeking to be the one who serves, not to be served, that we're seeking God's will, not our own will.

So that's how we empty ourself. And then to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to consciously practice the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and to have a mind saturated with the Word of God.

As believers yield the moment-by-moment decisions of life to His control, they will walk by the Spirit, according to Galatians 5.16. So how are we filled with the Spirit? Well, we empty ourselves and we live for Christ.

And as we do that, we walk with the Spirit and we are being filled by Him. The baptism with the Spirit grants the power that the filling with the Spirit unleashes. So after being filled with the Spirit, it says that they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

And so again, there's been a major debate over what was meant by speaking in tongues here. The text clearly states that the languages that were spoken were known languages.

So these people were speaking languages that other people understood. There wasn't confusion. I mean, there was people who were, they heard what they were saying and they understood exactly what they were saying.

And so the term there is glossa. It is the word that we use for language. And so the context allows for no other interpretation. So you could say they were speaking in tongues or you could say they were speaking in languages because that's what that word means.

They were speaking in languages. In contrast to so much teaching today, being given the ability to speak in languages is associated not with the baptism with the Spirit, but here the filling of the Spirit, nor is speaking in languages the normal response to being filled with the Spirit.

All record instances where speaking in tongues did not accompany the filling of the Spirit. Okay, so there's many scriptures where they talk about being filled with the Spirit and that not being accompanied by speaking in tongues.

Paul taught that the filling with the Spirit should result in many things such as worship, thankfulness, love, submissiveness, and obedience, but not speaking in tongues or speaking in languages.

So to be filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that you're required to all of a sudden speak in German or, I don't know, French or whatever else, whatever language there are, other languages there might be.

So where are instances where we see that? The Samaritans received the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 8. And again, although there's no reference to speaking in languages there, it was likely that it happened, that there was a supernatural sign that was evidence based upon Simon's reaction to what happened there.

Another instance where we see the speaking in tongues is Acts chapter 10. It describes the receiving of the Spirit by the Gentiles of Cornelius' household, if you remember, that they spoke in languages, convinced the Jewish believers, as well as Peter, that they actually had received the Holy Spirit.

So there was a purpose in that. And that Peter and the other Jews were given evidence that Gentiles could also be saved, that Gentiles were also being welcomed into the church by the Lord.

And then the last group to speak in languages were John the Baptist's disciples whom Paul encountered in Ephesus. And they were among the last remnants of Old Testament saints now who were coming to faith in Christ.

And they were given the ability to speak in tongues in order to demonstrate their full equality with Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles in the church. Okay? So now I want you to look at the article that I passed out.

And this is from Grace to You website. And just for clarity, because there's so much confusion, again, about what it means to speak in tongues.

And a lot of people think that that's something that still continues on today. And so if you want to follow along in this article with me, I want to read it to you. And it says there, a goodly portion of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians is focused on correcting that congregation's abuse of spiritual gifts, tongues in particular.

The whole theme of the apostles' admonition about how the gifts were to function is neatly summarized in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40, where he writes, all things should be done decently and in order.

Along the way, it's hard to miss the stress the apostle places on that which edifies. The point Paul makes repeatedly is that the gifts should always be used in a way that enlightens and instructs the mind.

I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. 1 Corinthians 14, 19. That principle has been largely ignored and often diametrically opposed.

and the doctrine and practice of the modern charismatic movement. The real point of 1 Corinthians 14 is often buried under endless arguments about the exegetical nuances of that passage.

I want to take a more big picture perspective of the text and point out a few of the chapter's most important ideas. And the first is this. Tongues were real languages. Not gibberish.

Real language. Paul is clearly no proponent of any kind of speech that is not intelligent. Sounds and syllables without meaning are of no use whatsoever. There are doubtless many different languages in the world and none was without meaning.

As he said in 1 Corinthians 14, 10. Throughout the chapter, he is talking about real languages with real meaning. The ecstatic gibberish The ecstatic gibberish of the modern charismatic movement does not even fit the apostle's definition of a language.

Furthermore, he says in verse 11, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will not be to the one who speaks a barbarian and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me. All true language has a meaning and if the meaning cannot be understood, it sounds like the noises of a troglodyte.

If the tongue, whatever that is, if the tongue is merely gibberish and has no translatable message, it is actually worse than a savage tongue. So Paul insists that whenever tongues are spoken, they should be translated.

In verse 13, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. In verses 27-28, if any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three and each in turn and let some interpret.

But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. In other words, if someone is authentically speaking in tongues, the utterance contains a message and the message must be translated for those who hear.

Even if the tongue speaker is praying alone and no one else is around to hear, he is the prey that he may interpret. Paul was not authorizing the use of tongues as a private prayer language as some charismatics claim, but let's lay that issue aside for the moment and simply point out that whenever tongues is spoken, whenever in public or in private, whether in prophecy or in prayer, an interpretation is always to be sought.

Secondly, speaking in tongues is not supposed to be a mystical exercise that bypasses the mind. Paul's overriding message throughout this whole chapter is that everything done in the public worship service is supposed to be edifying to the hearers.

That is his key point. He is calling for intelligibility. He is appealing for clarity. When we say something in public worship, the people in the congregation need to understand the message.

Go through this passage and notice how many times the apostle uses terms like understanding, edification, and the mind. A lot of Christians in the post-charismatic era have the utterly false notion that true spirituality is something that bypasses the intellect and operates mysteriously in the soul.

That opinion has more in common with Hinduism than with true Christianity. Genuine Christianity is not anti-intellectual. We do not believe that the mind is a detriment to spirituality.

In fact, we believe true spirituality involves being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are sanctified by the truth and the truth is something we apprehend primarily with our minds.

The notion that the intellect is to be switched off while we seek some form of mentally disengaged spiritual ecstasy is an utterly false notion. If that is your idea of spirituality, then you might as well join the swaying mobs at the Kali Temple in Calcutta who have done just that.

They have switched off their minds in pursuit of spiritual euphoria. Here Paul is telling us that the primary purpose of spiritual gifts is for edification. And by edification, he means the building up of the mind through a better understanding of the truth.

If you do a study of the Greek word oikodomeo, which is translated edify, you will find that almost everywhere this word appears in the New Testament, it speaks of building up the understanding.

A person is edified by the biblical sense when the mind is enriched with truth and understanding. This is why Paul insists that utterances in other tongues must be translated. What good is a message that bypasses the mind of the hearers?

We don't grow spiritually through subliminal means. We are sanctified when the truth is applied to our minds and our minds are transformed. Matthew Henry writes, even an apostle could not edify unless he spoke so as to be understood by his hearers.

To speak words that have no meaning to those who hear them is but speaking into the air. There can be no assent to prayers that are not understood. A truly Christian minister will seek much more to do spiritual good to men's souls than to get the greatest applause for himself.

When we have a message for the assembly of God's people, the sound must be distinct. The message, not the language, is the key to the gift of tongues. The Holy Spirit does not gift people with languages just to make interesting noises.

There's a message to be conveyed just like on Pentecost. And when the wonderful works of God were proclaimed in the hearers' native tongues and notice this carefully, regardless of your position on the charismatic movement, you must ultimately confess that Scripture demands that tongue speakers remain silent unless the message they have to convey is going to be understood to the people who are present to hear.

If there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent. I know a few charismatic churches where people are taught to be submissive to that command. There's a charismatic church not far from where I live that is one of the largest in America.

Every Sunday morning in their worship service, they have a time at the end of the pastoral prayer when everyone in the church is invited to worship the Lord aloud. Most do so by speaking in tongues simultaneously.

It produces exactly the kind of chaotic environment Paul warns against in verse 23. If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will not they say that you are out of your minds?

Third, it is wrong to allow the church service to become chaotic. Some charismatics delight in precisely the sort of chaos Paul condemns here. The so-called Toronto blessing virtually conferred liturgical significance on chaos and noise in many charismatic churches.

I visited a world-famous charismatic church at the height of the Toronto hysteria and much of the service consisted of unbelievable chaos. The preacher that night contradicted virtually every one of the principles laid out in 1 Corinthians 14.

He cautioned people against using their minds and their doctrinal convictions to evaluate what they were about to see. He said, God wants to reach your heart, not your mind. It is not necessary for you to have a rational understanding of what is going on here.

He encouraged people to speak in tongues simultaneously even though no one interpreted any of those utterances. And he finally turned the meeting over to absolute chaos, unleashing a frenzy of noise and activity in the name of the Holy Spirit.

Can God possibly be behind such phenomena? The Bible answers that question with a definite no. Verse 33 says, God is not a God of confusion. Such chaotic displays in the churches must not be attributed to Him.

The Word of God speaks with the utmost clarity on this. In more familiar King James terminology, God is not the author of confusion. He is neither glorified nor pleased where chaos and confusion reign.

And then fourthly, tongues are a sign to unbelievers. In verse 22, Paul writes, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. Here he contrasts tongues with prophecy which he says is meant for believers.

What is the point? Simply prophecy involved a message from God in a language everyone understood. The message conveyed tongues was intelligible only to those who understood the language. And I'll let you continue on reading that.

You can take that home. But we see that there is a point for speaking in tongues and then there is just chaos and confusion.

And we know that God is not a God of chaos and confusion. So I want to share one story. I think the first time I ever... First couple instances, I have a couple minutes, of actually being around somebody speaking in tongues.

I was... My very first job in ministry was for a rescue mission called the House of Prayer in Chillicothe, Missouri. And there was a... It was run by a guy who was conservative theologically and still a great friend of mine.

In fact, one of my references for this position here. But on the board was different Christians from different churches. And so two of the guys, I interviewed for the position and we prayed and then I heard this gibberish speaking.

I mean, I won't even do it for you because I'd be embarrassed to repeat the noises that they were making, but it didn't make any sense. And so I was really confused by that. And so after that interview, he was going to be my supervisor kind of pulled me aside and he's like, yeah, have you ever heard people do that before?

And no, I haven't. So then we got in a talk about tongues and so we basically, he was letting me know how he felt about it. But so this church had a service during the week that one of the board members ran and it was about 10 people maybe.

And to begin the service, he would go sit in the back pew, which was behind the pulpit and just started talking nonsense. And it was strange to me.

And I must have had a really perplexed look on my face because afterwards he pulled me aside and he's like, yeah, if you don't want to come anymore, you don't have to. So I didn't come back. But it's important that we understand what tongues was used for, what its purpose was and what its purpose is not for.

And obviously, if people come into a church and they see people acting like they're crazy, that doesn't testify to Jesus Christ. It testifies that the people there are nut jobs and they've lost their minds, right?

And so ultimately, it's something that draws people away from the truth and from the Lord. And so we've got to be careful, not only for ourselves, but for other people who we know.