I've announced last night we want to consider
tonight a study of a problem that has
come into Christendom all too lately, a new
penetration of tongues.
I want to take up this problem tonight
under about five headings.
I want to consider the history of it,
the latest movements, the purpose, and then I
want to consider the history of the tongues
movement in the Old Testament, in the New
Testament.
Should I hold off for just a moment?
We'll consider a history of it in Acts,
we'll consider the purpose of the gift of
tongues, we'll consider the regulation of it, the
abuse of it, and the good that may
result from the modern movement.
Now, the good that will result from the
modern movement will be the challenge it will
be for you and me to live a
supernatural life in the right way without without
going or without, shall we say, taking up
a manifestation of this kind which obviously is
of a supernatural character and boasts itself of
a supernatural nature but which I believe may
be in some instances indeed supernatural but from
the wrong source.
I don't think that you and I need
to be in any doubt about this tongues
movement.
Either it is of God or it is
not of God.
I know some writers writing in Christian periodicals
today are more or less sympathetic with the
movement.
I think they are afraid to say that
it isn't of God to fear they might
be proven wrong.
Well, I am not of a divided opinion.
I do not believe it is of God,
and I am going to tell you why.
We're going to take perhaps an hour in
doing so.
Now, I would much rather not minister along
this line.
I think the devil would like to have
us stopping holes and dams.
I think he would like to trouble us.
I think he would like to distract us
by things of this nature, and I really
have no pleasure in administering this subject to
you tonight other than perhaps sparing someone from
falling into the error.
If there is any good comes at all,
it will be as we have to consider
the lack of the supernatural in our own
lives and judge that lack and live a
supernatural life in our own right so that
we may indeed authenticate Christianity as these people
think they are doing indeed.
But I don't believe they are.
Now, for years the only segment of Christendom,
and I say Christendom as opposed to Christianity,
the only segment of Christendom which has taken
up the tongues movement are the people that
we know as Pentecostals.
Soon after the turn of the century, the
20th century, the tongues movement began among the
peoples referred to as the Pentecostals.
Now, the movement was radical from the very,
very beginning of the most radical nature.
I recall in my early days when I
rushed in sometimes where angels fear to tread,
my brother and I attended a camp meeting
of Pentecostals.
We heard quite a good gospel message that
night.
As a matter of fact, I think God
could have used that message perhaps to save
a soul that needed salvation there that night.
However, after the message there was the altar
call given.
Some came forward, and some came to help
them to pray, and some began to pray
in tongues, and then they were so overcome
in emotion that some of the ladies began
to roll on the grass up before the
pulpit.
There was a confusion.
There was a babble.
The noise was terrific, and as the ladies
rolled over and over, their dresses began to
creep up upon them, and my brother and
I decided that it was time to leave.
Now, that was indeed all too common in
Pentecostal circles in their use of the tongues
movement, and their use of tongues in that
movement.
However, the latest tongue movement is entirely different.
It is more or less a sober, staid
thing.
It has come through an entirely different segment
of Christendom.
It has come through what might be referred
to, or some refer to this source of
entrance, this source of penetration, as through old
lion denominations.
By that, I mean Episcopalian, Lutheran, and
other old lion denominations, Presbyterian, some infants even
Methodist.
I think probably the most remarkable demonstration occurred
in Yale University in October of 1962.
In the inter-varsity group, the inter-varsity
Christian fellowship at Yale University, some of them
were studying these things, and they received what
they claimed to be the baptism of the
Spirit.
They wrote a series of personal testimonies these
young lads did, and it was published in
Trinity Magazine, a magazine of the Episcopal Church.
I read these articles myself.
I had access to that magazine.
If one could believe them, indeed they had
a remarkable experience.
I had heard that the tongues' penetration was
causing a great stir in Christendom today.
Some ill-advisedly said that we could use
more manifestation of the Spirit.
People that you wouldn't expect to say it.
People who were afraid to say that it
wasn't of God, and who perhaps couldn't refute
it upon scriptural ground.
More recently, I became vitally concerned about this
movement, because it has taken away from some
of our assemblies, Christian families, and transferred them
into that movement.
My own youngest brother, Bud, perhaps known to
just a few of you here, kept writing
me from California that he was enjoying the
Lord as he never enjoyed Him before.
And I wrote back and I told him,
I said, Bud, I'm glad to hear this.
Well, I was until December when I visited
California.
My brother said, Ken, I want to take
a ride.
I want to talk with you.
We rode out to a spot near one
of the ship canals there in Long Beach,
and he said, I purposely did not write
everything to you because I wanted to, in
an orderly fashion, bring before you the blessing
that I have received.
The upshot of it was, my brother had
received the baptism of the Spirit and was
speaking in tongues, and he also had been
used, so he said, to heal his mother
-in-law and his daughter-in-law in
periods of real, definite, serious illness.
I was shocked.
I became vitally concerned, and you can be
sure that I went into the tongues movement
as never I had before.
It may interest you to know that this
has bothered some of the assemblies in Canada
and some of the assemblies on the West
Coast.
Two or three men who have been commended
to full-time service have had to be
set aside because of taking up with the
tongues movement.
The latest penetration is indeed, I believe, the
most subtle and the most dangerous at all
because of its moderate character.
They believe in regulating it in accordance with
the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and I
may say right at the outset of this
meeting, I believe that Satan has thought that
he has corrected his original error.
He introduced the tongues movement into the wrong
group, and it seems to me that the
manifestation of tongues we have seen in Pentecostal
circles is revolting even to common sense, much
less spiritual common sense.
But, this latest movement is something different entirely,
and it is far more dangerous.
Perhaps I can just give you a little
indication of how it is making its inroads
by telling you my brother's experience.
My brother, because of his wife's quarrel with
the assemblies in their early days, went to
fellowship with a certain Baptist church in Long
Beach, California.
A man came down from Alaska, and this
thing, I may say, spread like wildfire from
Yale University campus.
I don't know how it traveled so fast,
but it did.
This man came down from Canada, or from
Alaska rather, and he came to this Baptist
church and told them of the bliss that
awaited those who would wait upon God and
receive the baptism of the Spirit so that
they could speak in tongues.
He had several lecture courses.
My brother attended them, and on one occasion
he was with my brother, and he said
to him, would you like to receive the
baptism of the Spirit?
By this time his interest was stirred, and
he says, I want all that God has
gotten for me.
He told me, frankly, he said, Ken, he
said, at first I thought it was of
the devil, but he said this man was
an earnest man.
He was a spiritual man, and he saw
results.
He said he talked with me, and on
this occasion when he asked me if I
wanted to receive the baptism of the Spirit,
I said yes.
I thought I'm going to give this thing
a try.
Well, the man laid his hands upon him
and prayed over him, and after prayer he
opened his eyes, and Bud opened his eyes,
and he says, my brother Bud says, I
didn't feel a thing.
Well, he says, what did you expect to
feel?
Well, he says, I thought I would feel
a real thrill.
I thought I would feel a lift.
I thought I would feel ecstasy within my
soul.
Well, the man says, do you always expect
the Spirit to act that way?
Well, he says, start praising the Lord.
Start praising the Lord in the only language
you know.
My brother Bud started praising the Lord, and
Bud said, the first thing I know, I
knew I wasn't speaking English at all.
He says, I was speaking a foreign language.
I don't know what it was.
I think he said that it was Italian.
After he was through praising the Lord, and
Bud said he was in a state of
pure ecstasy.
He said he'd never felt this joy in
his soul in all his life.
He said that when he went home, well,
the story isn't complete as the two of
them were together.
He asked the man, his benefactor so-called,
he said, what did I say?
The man says, well, as you had to
wait upon the Spirit of God to speak
in tongues, so I must wait upon the
Spirit of God to interpret.
And after a while, he evidently felt that
he had that prompting, and he began to
praise the Lord in English as the interpretation
of what my brother said.
And he said to me, frankly, I never
heard such praise of God in all my
life.
Now, those are my own brother's words.
He told me that he went home, and
he studied the scriptures, and he said it
seemed that the prince stood right off the
page.
He had not enjoyed the scriptures as he
had in years.
He said he had a new power to
testify to other people, a new zeal, and
a new love for the Lord.
Now, he told me his experience, and I
listened to it patiently without visible display of
emotion.
And after he had got through, he said
to me, Ken, what do you think of
all of this?
And I said, well, frankly, Bob, my reaction
is just the same as your original reaction.
I think it's of the devil.
Well, Ken, he says, I have to say
I felt that way, too.
But, he says, I had to change my
mind.
He went on to tell me of the
healing of his mother-in-law, and the
healing of his daughter, and to my great
distress, going to some special healing instruction meetings
of Oral Roberts.
That just took all the spirit out of
me.
Then I began to talk.
He had done his talking, and then I
began to talk.
I said, Bob, I said, the gifts of
the Spirit, or the gifts of the Spirit
of God, are sovereign, are they not?
And I want to read to you the
scripture that I quoted to him.
The twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians, chapter 12, and verse 7.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given
to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom, to another the word
of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another the
gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to
another the workings of miracles, to another prophecy,
to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of
tongues.
But all these worketh that one and self
-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as
he will, as he the Spirit will.
In other words, the gifts of the Spirit
are absolutely sovereign.
I said, Bob, I said, you and I
have listened to godly men all our lives.
Some of them have been common to both
of us.
I said, if the gifts of the Spirit
of God, tongues particularly, if those gifts are
sovereign, why in all of our experience didn't
the Spirit in his sovereignty give one of
those godly men that we knew the power
to speak in tongues?
Why?
Well, he had an answer that it wasn't
very coherent.
May I say this?
That this gift of tongues is spread, and
it's spreading like wildfire, through a very carefully
plotted course of instruction.
It's an indoctrination, and I may say it
doesn't come upon a person immediately.
Some of the boys, in their testimony at
Yale University, said that they longed for the
gift.
They attended instruction meetings for weeks and months
before they finally received the baptism of the
Spirit.
May I suggest to you that that very
indoctrination carries with it the power of suggestion
that becomes so strong that it acts absolutely
automatically.
Now, I'm not saying that the gift of
tongues is absolutely auto-hypnotism, self-hypnotism.
Not all of it may be.
It may be satanic in character.
I told him of an article that I
had read recently written on this problem of
tongues.
I said, Bob, the writer concluded his article
with these words after realizing that men like
John Wesley, Charles Wesley, John Knox, Calvin, Spurgeon,
Moody, and he even brought it up to
date with Billy Graham, and he said these
men did not speak with tongues.
And then the writer very cleverly and very
wisely told the article one could almost pray
that he not receive the baptism of the
Spirit, if he could be like men like
those.
Now, I told my brother, Bud, immediately on
the site as we were talking that day,
I said the Apostle Paul said, I thank
God that I speak in tongues more than
ye all, and Paul himself said, I'd rather
speak five words with my own understanding.
This is recorded in the 14th chapter of
1 Corinthians, verse 18.
I thank my God I speak with tongues
more than ye all, and, incidentally, he has
put words for this verse we would never
have known that the Apostle Paul spoke with
tongues, but from this verse we do learn
that he did speak in tongues, and he
says, I thank my God I speak with
tongues more than ye all, yet in the
church I had rather speak five words with
my understanding that by my voice I might
teach others also than ten thousand words in
an unknown tongue.
I said, Bud, I can still speak five
words with my own understanding, and I says,
I told him, I do not want, I
do not care to have the gift of
tongues.
I said, all I want to do is
to use the one tongue that I have
got, and the one tongue that I know,
to a better advantage and speak for my
blessed Lord.
I says, I don't want it.
You'll notice right here in the 14th chapter
of 1 Corinthians that Paul has said that
they were taking a childish delight in this
gift, and, incidentally, the only time that the
gift of tongues is mentioned outside of the
early chapters in Acts is in connection with
the church at Corinth.
May I suggest this, that the church at
Corinth, spiritually speaking, was at the very bottom
of the ladder, and yet it's in this
church that they used the gift of tongues
to the greatest extent.
Now, the Apostle Paul tells them, yet in
the church I had rather speak five words
with my understanding, verse 19, that by my
voice I might teach others also than ten
thousand words in an unknown tongue.
Brethren, be not children in understanding, albeit in
malice be children.
It's all right to be children in that
respect, in the respect of malice.
You know, children don't hold any malice.
They don't hold any grudges.
They have their little disagreements with their playmates,
but they get over them.
Paul says, if you want to be children
in that way, that's all right.
But he says, brethren, be not children in
understanding, albeit in malice be children, but in
understanding be men.
Why does he say that?
They were taking a childish delight in this
speaking in tongues.
May I suggest to you that many of
those groups that speak in tongues turn the
instruction of the Apostle Paul around.
They would rather speak ten thousand words in
an unknown tongue than five words with their
own understanding.
Why should one wish to speak in tongues
at all?
Well, the scripture answers that.
There was a need for it at a
certain time.
Now, those we are in 1 Corinthians, turn
to chapter 12 again, if you please.
We have in verses 7 to 11 inclusive,
the gifts of the Spirit.
Some of these people will advance this argument.
Here are the gifts of the Spirit, and
the gift of tongues is among them, and
the interpretation of tongues, and the gift of
healing.
The argument is advanced.
These are the gifts of the Spirit.
These gifts were given to the church.
Which of these gifts shall we arbitrarily dismiss
and say are null and void?
If the Spirit is sovereign, are we to
say that any of these gifts are null
and void?
Well, if you quote to them the 13th
chapter of 1 Corinthians, where we read in
verse 8, love never faileth, but whether they
be prophecies, they shall fail.
They shall not fail in the sense that
the word of God won't be true, but
they shall fail because they have been fulfilled,
and they are no longer prophecies.
Whether they be tongues, they shall see.
Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away,
for we know in part, and we prophesy
in part.
But when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be
done away.
When I was a child, I speak as
a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child.
But when I became a man, I put
away childish things.
Now, if you read this verse to those
people, they will say, certainly tongues will see.
When the church is called away, because you
remember the Spirit of God gave these gifts
to the church, certainly tongues will see.
But are you to say that they have
seen?
Are you to limit the Spirit of God
in his giving of the gifts of time?
They will also remind you in the last
of the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, verse
39, wherefore brethren, cometh to prophesy, and forbid
not to speak with tongues.
This is a scriptural injunction, and what do
you mean, so say they, by forbidding us
to speak with tongues?
And are you willing to limit the Holy
Spirit of God in this church age?
Are you willing to say that we can
arbitrarily dismiss some of the gifts of the
Spirit, and say, no, we won't have these,
and to arbitrarily expect some of the gifts
of the Spirit when he indeed is sovereign?
It makes you think, doesn't it?
May I suggest this to you?
Turn with me, please, to Ephesians chapter 4,
verse 7 of the fourth chapter of Ephesians.
But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift
of Christ.
Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on
high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
from the men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but
that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that
ascended up far above all heaven, all heaven
that he might fill, all things.
And he gave some apostles, and some prophets,
and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers.
These are the gifts of Christ to the
church.
Now, I would like to ask them, which
one of these shall we arbitrarily dismiss?
Well, I'll start with the apostles.
Yes, I will say we no longer have
apostles, and I'll include without profit in the
sense that is mentioned here.
Notice in the second chapter of Ephesians, we
haven't dismissed them.
We have put them in the place.
Ephesians, chapter 2, and verse 19.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
of the household of God, and are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
We haven't dismissed, really, the apostles and the
prophets.
We have just kept them in their place
in the foundation of the church.
May I suggest to you that that's where
tongues belong, in the foundation of the church?
Further, Mark chapter 16.
Verse 15 of the 16th chapter of Mark,
and the verses that we will read, will
confirm the strong Jewish character of the gospel
of Mark.
I think the real cosmopolitan gospel is the
gospel of John, the gospel of Saint John.
The world is used so much in that
gospel, and it's in that gospel that the
Gentiles come seeking for our Lord Jesus.
But, notice Mark, if you will, please.
The 15th verse of the 16th chapter of
Mark, and he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
And incidentally, let me say that in the
second chapter of Acts, these are the very
words of Peter in preaching to the Jews.
But notice, and these signs, now the Jews
require a sign, these signs shall follow them
that believe.
In my name shall they cast out devils,
they shall speak with new tongues.
Now, remember, tongues is a sign.
They shall speak with new tongues, they shall
take up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly thing it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover.
But these all take on the character of
signs, and I say to those who insist
that all of those gifts in the twelfth
chapter of 1 Corinthians are applicable to our
age, I say, have you read the 16th
chapter of Mark?
The signs in which are included the new
tongues, now, is there any of that portion
of Scripture which you wish to disregard and
dismiss?
Well, I think there is.
That part about taking up the serpents and
drinking poison, if you see what I mean.
Now, there was a time when these words
applied.
There was a time when the Apostle Paul
indeed was beset by a serpent, and it
wrapped itself around his arm, and he shook
it off, and he was evidently a very
deadly serpent, because they all expected him to
fall down dead.
But he shook it off, and he felt
no harm.
I'd like to see one of them try
picking up a cobra today, and I think
the very thing that they say of you
and me, they will practice themselves.
There's going to be some of this that
they are going to disregard.
Now, let's get into the Scriptures and see
why the gift of tongues was given.
In Acts chapter 2, we read of the
of the birth day of the church when
the Holy Spirit descended.
When the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one
place, and suddenly there came a sound from
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and
it filled all the house where they were
sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon
each of them.
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men,
out of every nation under heaven, and when
this was noise abroad, the multitude came together
and were confounded, because that every man heard
them speak in his own language.
They were all amazed and marveled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these which
speak Galilean?
Now here we every man in our own
tongue wherein we were born, Parthians, and Medes,
and Elamites, and dwellers of Mesopotamia, and Judea,
and Amphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Jews, Prophets,
Cretes, Arabians, we do hear them speak in
our tongues the wonderful works of God, and
they were all amazed, and were in doubt,
saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Their attention was immediately secured, but of course
there were some scoffers as well.
They said, Well, these men are simply drunk.
They have an easy explanation for it.
Now, on this wonderful day, three thousand souls
were saved.
It was a time of great manifestation of
power by the Spirit of God.
When the Spirit of God baptized these three
thousand souls into the church, now these people
heard the scriptures in their own language, and
they knew that the men that were speaking
were Galilean.
It was very evident to them that they
did not know these languages, and yet they
had the power to speak them.
Why this wonderful manifestation?
Because God wanted them to hear the gospel
in their own language.
It was a sign.
It was the sign of new tongues which
Mark mentioned.
Notice also, in this respect, the 14th chapter
of 1 Corinthians again.
Right where we're reading the 21st verse of
the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, we'll read
the 20th verse to re-establish the connection.
Brethren, be not children in understanding, howbeit in
malice be ye children, but in understanding be
men.
And the law hath written with men of
other tongues, and other lips will I speak
unto this people.
Yet for all that will they not hear
me, saith the Lord.
Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to
them that believe, but to them that believe
not.
For prophesying serveth not for them that believe
not, but for them which believe."
Now, tongues were for a sign particularly to
the Jewish nation, and what a powerful sign
it was.
It was evidenced by the fact that 3
,000 of them in one day and 5
,000 within a short time accepted the Lord
as their very own.
It was a wonderful manifestation indeed.
Now, historically in the book of Acts, also
Cornelius, which was a Gentile, received the power
to speak in tongues.
But I want you to notice something particularly
in the book of Acts, that when the
Holy Spirit came upon men by reason of
the laying on of hands, it was a
Jewish occasion.
Now, this is important, and I want you
to notice with me, if you will please,
these historical instances.
The eighth chapter of Acts, if you please.
Eighth chapter of Acts, verse 5, Then Philip
went down to the city of Samaria, and
preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed
unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came
out of many that were possessed of them.
And many, taken with palsies and that were
lame, were healed, and there was great joy
in that city.
Now, verse 12, But when they believed Philip
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God
in the name of Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed also, and he was
baptized, Simon the sorcerer.
He continued with Philip, and wandered, beholding the
miracles and signs which were done.
Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had received the word of
God, they sent unto them Peter and John,
who, when they were come down, prayed for
them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was fallen upon none
of them, only that they were baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid they their hands on them, and
they received the Holy Ghost.
Now, I want you to compare with this
Acts, chapter 19.
In verse 1, we read, And it came
to pass, that while upon us was at
Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts,
came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he
said unto them, Had you received the Holy
Ghost since ye believed?
They said unto him, We have not so
much as heard whether there be any Holy
Ghost.
And he said unto them, Unto what then
were ye baptized?
And they said unto John's baptism.
Then Paul said, Then said Paul, John verily
baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto
the people that they should believe on him
which should come after him, that is, on
Christ Jesus.
When they heard this, they were baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon
them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and
they spake with tongues and prophesied.
Will you please notice that in both instances
this is with Jewish background.
The Samaritans claimed Jewish position.
You recall that the woman of Samaria, when
the Lord approached her in the fourth chapter
of John's Gospel, said, Our father Jacob gave
us this will.
Are thou greater than our father Jacob?
Now, she claimed Jewish position.
The Samaritans did claim Jewish position.
The Jews resented it.
Now, we're not going back into the history
of the Samaritans.
We've got too much ground to cover tonight.
But they claimed Jewish position.
Samaria heard the word of God at the
mouth of Philip, and they believed in a
wonderful way.
But in the sovereignty of God, he withheld
the Spirit from them.
The Spirit did not come upon them.
Why?
Why not?
The Spirit did not come upon them until
those brethren came down in Jerusalem and laid
their hands upon them, and they received the
Spirit of God at that time, at the
baptism.
Why?
I believe that God was stirring, indeed by
this act, a rift.
I believe God, in all his sovereignty, didn't
want Jewish prejudice and Samaritan prejudice to continue
into the church.
And those Samaritan brethren did not receive the
Spirit of God until the Jewish brethren came
down from Jerusalem and laid hands upon them,
and God gave them the Spirit of God.
Can you see the wisdom of God back
of all of this?
Those Samaritans couldn't boast their independence.
They had, indeed, to acknowledge their Jewish brethren.
You know, God takes some real pain sometimes
to get us to acknowledge one another, and
he did in this instance.
He used this method.
Now, may I suggest to you that the
same thing is true in the 19th chapter
of Acts.
For these men of Ephesus were not Ephesians
in the sense that they were Gentiles.
They were Jewish proselytes, if not Jews themselves,
because they had been baptized with John's baptism,
but they had not received the Spirit of
God.
Paul, at Ephesus, tells them about the baptism
of the Lord and upon Christ's mission.
And when they heard this, they were baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon
them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and
they spake with tongues and prophesied at the
laying on of the hands of Paul, but
for a definite purpose.
Remember, these were John's disciples.
I don't think we quite appreciate the little
feud that existed between John's disciples and the
disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ in our
Lord's day.
You recall that when John was in prison,
he sent two of his disciples to the
Lord Jesus.
Why should John have had any disciples at
all?
Why should he have two disciples at hand?
Why weren't they all the Lord's disciples?
He sent two of his disciples to the
Lord Jesus to ask him why he was
in prison.
I know John said, he must increase, but
I must decrease.
But why did he have two disciples?
Why was there, at Ephesus, a unit of
disciples of John the Baptist?
The Lord takes care of this matter in
the right way.
Paul finds them.
He says, have you received the Spirit?
They said, no.
He laid his hands upon them.
They received the Spirit, and they spake in
tongues.
You know, another little rift was heels right
here.
God wants these rifts healed, and in his
wisdom and in his sovereignty, he sees to
it that they are healed.
So, the apostle lays his hands upon them.
They receive the Spirit on our baptized.
But, I want you to compare this, please,
with Acts chapter 10.
Cornelius had sent for the Lord, or for
the disciples of the Lord, sent for Peter.
And Peter told them about the Lord.
And Peter is just beginning his sermon, and
he gets down to a point in verse
43 of the 10th chapter of Acts, and
says there, to him that is to Christ
give all the prophets witness that through his
name whosoever believeth in him shall shall receive
remission of sin.
Now, Peter tells us in the next chapter
that he just began to speak to these
people.
He just began to get into his sermon,
and God saved them all before Peter got
a chance to make a claim.
I always like to have God save people
before I can get to them.
Many, many times I've been asked to speak
to people, and it pleases me so highly
when God saves them before I can get
to them.
Well, this is just exactly what happened.
God worked before Peter was ready for him
to work.
He'd just begun to speak.
But, he gets to this very, very important
scripture.
To him give all the prophets witness that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sin.
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy
Ghost fell on all them which heard the
word, and they of the circumcision which believed
were astonished as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured
out the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues, and
magnify God.
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water,
that these should not be baptized, which have
received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And he commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the Lord.
Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
Now, there's no laying on of hands here
to receive the baptism of the Spirit of
God, and they get to speak in tongues.
There are no hands involved.
God says that's all you need, and God
in his sovereignty did it.
There was no risk to be healed.
There was a proof to be given.
As a matter of fact, the Jews had
no dealings with the Samaritans or with the
Gentiles at all.
It was different ground, and there were no
laying on of hands at all.
This is absolutely purely Gentile.
These are not Jewish proselytes, none whatsoever.
These got saved entirely independently of Jewish influence.
There was no laying on of hands.
Now, this is important, because those that confer
this gift, this baptism of the Spirit today,
are still laying on of hands.
Dispensationally, they are entirely out of place.
They have no right to confer any such
power by the laying on of their hands.
Dispensationally, they're just about 2,000 years too
late.
God is acting in his sovereignty in this
day and age.
They're out of place, absolutely.
As a matter of fact, the laying on
of hands was Jewish, and Jewish influence was
absolutely foundational in the church.
Turn, if you please, to Hebrews chapter 6.
In Hebrews 6 and 1, we read, Therefore,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection, not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith for God.
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying
on of hands, and of resurrection of the
dead, and eternal judgment, you see there are
some truths that are foundational in character, and
he speaks of not laying these foundations again.
The doctrine of baptisms, I suppose, would be
the baptism of John first, and then the
baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ later.
The sign character of the gift of tongues
was fulfilled in reaching the Jewish nation, but
the Jewish nation absolutely rejected our Lord and
completely.
In 70 A.D., as a nation, they
ceased to exist.
For Titus the Roman general sacked Jerusalem, destroyed
the city completely, burned up their genealogies, destroyed
their genealogies, and the nation of Israel was
dispersed.
Now, if we can only remember that these
are signs, and the Jews require a sign,
but the Apostle Paul himself says, Lo, we
turn to the Gentiles.
Now, it doesn't mean that Jewish people didn't
get saved, perhaps near the end of the
first century, but for the most part, the
witness to the Jewish nation was over.
These are foundational truths, and there was no
longer the need for the gift of tongues.
The word of God was complete, but I
think the most conclusive proof of all was
that the Jews were given this special sign,
and that sign was fulfilled, and it is
absolutely out of place, I believe, to have
these things up near the cornerstone, up near
the cornice, rather, of the church and sit
it down near the cornerstone where they occurred
in the beginning of the church, because the
Apostles and Prophets were in that foundation, and
the apostolic powers and powers of that nature
were in the foundation.
God has begun His dispensations many, many times
with miraculous happenings.
He began the history of Israel with a
series of miracles.
He began the history of the church with
a series of miracles, and one would certainly
say that the gift of tongues is a
miraculous manifestation.
Now, there are several reasons to believe today
that the modern movement is outstated.
For instance, in my own brother's case, I
want you to examine with me what happened.
He was told to speak in English, and
he began praising the Lord in English, and
then lapsed into a foreign language.
He didn't know what it was.
The other man claimed to have the power
of interpretation.
He started in English, and he was led
of the Lord, so he said to give
the interpretation of what my brother said by
speaking in English.
I'd like to ask you something.
What do you prove by that?
My brother, he didn't say what language that
my brother was speaking in.
Here is the method that they follow.
You just put your mind in neutral, put
your tongue into the hands of God, and
start speaking, and the Spirit of God will
take over, and you will speak in an
unknown tongue.
The person who interprets puts his mind in
neutral.
He speaks in English, and, of course, the
Spirit of God who knows all tongues will
put the words in English in his mind
to speak.
What can you prove by that?
You can prove absolutely nothing either way.
What I want to see is this.
If I accept the gift of tongues, that's
an awfully big gift.
I was speaking on this subject in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, and there was a friend of
mine sitting in the audience, Mr. Cyril Chantoff,
who was a missionary to the French-speaking
Canadians in Northeast Canada, and he's an expert
in the French language.
He's very fluent in the French language, and
I told the audience, I said, if my
brother Cyril Chantoff were in the presence of
my brother, and there were three of us
there standing together, and my brother began to
speak in an unknown tongue to me, and
Cyril Chantoff, whom I love and trust, were
to tell me, your brother is speaking in
French, perfect French, and he's praising God.
I'd acknowledge it, because my brother doesn't know
a word of French.
But, beloved, that hasn't happened, and it won't
happen.
Let me tell you an incident.
There was once a man who went in
who did know a foreign language, and he
went into a gathering like this, as the
Apostle Paul said with Giles, and he professed
to go to absorb their doctrine, and professed
to go into an ecstasy, and he began
speaking in tongues, but in this case it
was a bonafide tongue that they didn't know
anything about.
After a while, and after a decent period
of waiting, one of them received the inspiration
of the Spirit of God to interpret what
he said.
It didn't come out like the brother said
it at all.
Then he told them, I was speaking in
a bonafide tongue.
I know that tongue, and what you said
was not what I said at all, and
they thought ran him out of the place.
They were very, very angry.
Now, I have heard a story which I
suppose that perhaps you have heard before.
On one occasion over in a foreign land,
there was a man speaking in tongues, and
there was a Chinese man in the audience
at that time, and this Chinese man said
of the man who was speaking in tongues,
he said, that man is speaking in Chinese,
and he says, what he is saying is
so vile that I wouldn't repeat it in
English.
Now, may I suggest to you that this
may not be all self-hypnosis.
It may be of the devil, but there
are several tests that I want to happen.
I want the person that speaks to not
know the language, and I want him to
speak in a bonafide language.
Have you noticed?
Have you noticed that in the second chapter
of Acts, those people when they spoke in
tongues unknown to them, those Galileans, spoke in
bonafide language?
Have you noticed in your study of the
14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, that wherever you
have the word or the phrase unknown tongue
used, that the word unknown is always in
italics?
There is no such thing as an unknown
tongue.
The tongue has to be known, and the
person who interprets it has to know it,
or has to be given the power of
God to know it.
But there is no such thing as an
unknown tongue.
I heard a brother say something, and it
struck me as being very logical.
He said, I defy anybody in this world
to go to a heathen tribe without first
going to school and learning the language of
that tribe when he goes as a missionary.
You know, some have tried it, and they
thought that God would give them the shortcuts
that he chose to give in his sovereignty
in the early books of Acts, and it
turned out in tragedy.
It didn't work.
This thing is furious.
I don't refuse to acknowledge the workings of
God when it is indeed the workings of
God, but I will not accept this movement.
I'll tell you what it's doing for my
brother.
I know my brother well.
He is under the power of something, and
I know it.
There's one expression that he used.
He kept talking language that I didn't understand.
He kept talking in the terms of Jesus
Christ, and every time he referred to our
Lord, he called him Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, the claims of Jesus Christ, the
testimony of Jesus Christ, the foundation of Jesus
Christ.
I said, but, I said, I've noticed something
I'd like to call your attention.
He says, what is it, Ken?
And I said, every time that you refer
to the Lord, you call him Jesus Christ.
I said, there's been a change.
Oh, Ken, he got it.
He says, Ken, I know his Lord, but
he says, it makes me feel closer to
him when I can call him by his
earthly name.
Tell me, if you will, a power that
wants to keep you from calling the Lord
Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know there's a power that wants to
reduce him to Jesus Christ.
Several little things that I noticed here, and
several little things that I analyzed.
My brother is under the power of something,
and it's not good.
I think when we refer to our Lord
Jesus Christ and addressing him in prayer, we
should always use his full name, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And certainly, perhaps we could refer to him
as the Lord Jesus, but never as Jesus.
Not in this day and age.
We own him as Lord.
That my brother was not doing.
And furthermore, even after I corrected him, after
I called it to his attention, he went
right on calling, referring to my Lord as
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, all the
way through.
Don't tell me that I don't know the
origin of that in which he has come.
I do.
So, our time has gone, has left.
By reason of our long speaking, we've hardly
really covered the subject, but perhaps in the
will of God, in our introduction to the
subject tomorrow night, and we want to talk
tonight about the supernatural life, I believe the
tongues movement has moved into a void in
Christianity today.
There's a reason why it has come in.
There is a void.
There is a lack of the supernatural in
the lives of God's people, and they're seeking
this so-called shot-in-the-arm method.
Now, you and I can live a supernatural
life, and tomorrow night I want to talk
about the supernatural life, and as far as
I'm concerned, there is only one antidote to
this tongues movement, and that is living a
supernatural life, and I think that the reason
that it has made inroads into some of
our assemblies is because they have lost the
sense of the supernatural.
They have lived as earth dwellers so long
that they're adopting this into the hungry soul
of every bitter thing asleep.
You and I need indeed to live close
to the Lord.
You and I need to be exercised about
these things, and I believe there is an
antidote to this, and I think we need
to consider it.
Tomorrow night, with the help of the Lord,
I'd like to talk about the supernatural life,
and then perhaps to gather up a few
loose ends which we have left dangling tonight.
Well, I think that that's all the time
that we should take at this time.