The TRUTH about TONGUES (many don’t realize this)

So tongues for me was The doctrine that really got me interested in cessationism because years ago

I Happened to listen to a sermon from John MacArthur and it was on Isaiah 28 11 to 13 and he said in that sermon that Tongues was a sign of judgment on the unbelieving

Jewish people during the time of Christ That had rejected

Christ and that what tongues were was a sign that The gospel was now going out to the

Gentiles and that was the first time I had ever even conceived of that being a possibility hearing

John MacArthur talk about it and that got me very Interested in learning more is he pulling this out of nowhere?

reading books on the subject doing stud Bible studies on the subject particularly of tongues and What the meaning is and I've come to a place where I think there is a much more beautiful biblically significant

Meaning to the doctrine of tongues than what we see in the world Today as the

Charismatic Church calls gibberish tongues that that's actually the exact opposite of What the gift of tongues in the

Bible really was? Welcome to the Holy Note podcast. I am the Holy Note and with me is of course

David Levy and today we are going to have a discussion about the

Gift of tongues. So I've been recently posting some some content about tongues arguments

For Our view of tongues and I think we'll find out in this discussion whether or not we

Ourselves have some differences about some details, but it's you know, it's it's a mysterious subject it's a controversial topic and so it generates a lot of discussion and But what it also does is it it gets us into the scripture it gets us into the word and we want to just talk about the nature and the purpose of the gift of tongues in light of the word and what

I'm gonna do in this episode is field David some some questions some general common questions about the gifts of tongues and We'll we'll see where it goes

So David, are you ready? Yeah, man, I'm ready. Yeah. All right. Here's the first question

I have for you David Do you believe that tongues as described in the Bible is a true and biblical

Spiritual gift distributed to God's people as he wills Yes, it is.

Yes, the gift of tongues was a miraculous ability that God gave to Christians in the

New Testament Starting in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost with the outpouring of the

Holy Spirit which was the miraculous ability to be able to speak and even prophesy in foreign languages that the speaker had never previously learned that the

Holy Spirit gave this ability to the speaker to Proclaim the wonders of God.

That's what we see in Acts chapter 2 We'll probably get into this in a little while anyway but that's what we see that they're proclaiming the wonders of God in languages other than the language of Hebrew and that these people were

Hebrew speakers who the Holy Spirit endowed gifted with the ability to speak

Arabic or Phrygian or some foreign tribal dialect and that it was used for the foundation laying of The church to the

Gentiles. That's my belief about what tongues was or is It's was all right.

So you mentioned prophecy So let me ask you this question. What kind of spiritual gift is the gift of tongues?

Is it? A Healing kind of gift is how does it minister or is it a rel a revelatory gift a revelatory gift?

Yes, I mean it it's described as a revelatory gift in Acts chapter 2

Let me just go there real quick. I have my NKJV here with me

Usually I use the NASB But the school where I teach at uses

NKJV and I've actually learned this is really a first time by the way Speaking of tongues man, just like language

English is a tongue, you know I've learned to Love this translation the

New King James Version after teaching Middle school kids about the

Lord with it. Okay, so in Acts chapter 2 It says this and there were

Sorry, actually, let's just start at verse 1 when the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one accord and in one place and Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were

Sitting then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each one of them or each of them and They were all filled with the

Holy Spirit and began to speak with other Tongues as the

Spirit gave them utterance. So it is the Spirit giving them utterance It is a revelatory gift because the

Spirit is the one who's revealing to them what their utterance should be And this is what they say verse 5 there were there

There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews Devout men from every nation under heaven.

That's amazing. It's so amazing they're from all over the world and they were there to celebrate

Pentecost the Feast of Weeks and when this sound Occurred the sound of this mighty rushing wind the multitude came together and were confused

Because everyone heard them speak in his own language

Then they were all amazed and marveled saying to one another look are not all these who speak

Galileans in other words, that's an interesting thing too because Peter as you'll recall was identified as a

Galilean when he was at the outside the trial of Jesus sort of You know

Galilee was in the north. I Accent the

Galilean accent was a podunk sort of accent to the high -class

Jerusalem Jewish community and they thought they could tell just just by the way they spoke their

Hebrew, but they were up there Right, okay, and so they say are not all these who speak

Galileans and how is it that we hear Each in our own language in which we were born

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those dwelling in Mesopotamia Judea Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt in the parts of Libya adjoining

Cyrene visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking here.

It is in our own tongues the wonderful works of God So, what were they speaking?

Well, they were proclaiming the gospel to these people they were proclaiming the wonderful works of God In Christ and what he has done

So they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another

Whatever could this mean? What's the meaning of this? I think that's why we're making this video today to actually find out the answer to their question

We're looking for the answer to the question that the Jews and proselytes from every nation under heaven came to Jerusalem for Pentecost were asking on that very first Pentecost after Christ ascended into heaven

Okay, so so tongues is a revelatory gift by which a person speaks by the

Spirit of God Now acts 2. Well, this is the day of Pentecost It is acts 2 is is not in the context of a developed

New Testament Church And so the argument goes that the tongues spoken of in acts 2 are categorically

Distinct from the tongues that Paul is speaking about primarily in 1st

Corinthians 14 so what do you say to this this this idea that there are different kinds of tongues?

There's the speaking foreign languages and then there's also other kinds namely the prayer language the heavenly language that you pray that a lot of people think every

Christian is supposed to have and You know David I've heard that there are up to seven different kinds of tongues

What do you say to that? Yeah Seven different if you go to a to a

Pentecostal church today, you'll hear 500 different Personal interpretations of what tongues means

Okay for real and so I think it's crucial for us in order to answer that question categories of tongues or what is there like a language one and a prayer one a secret one a kind of a special communication one or an angelic one that Paul refers to in 1st

Corinthians 13 and tongues of angels Maybe like maybe it's a heavenly language that we're speaking that just you know

Earth doesn't have any conception of what it is, which is why it seems so strange to us but that betrays an ignorance of What the purpose of tongues was in the first place?

So we'll shed light on the nature of tongues by looking at the purpose of tongues is what you're saying

Yes, absolutely. Okay, that that's exactly right that once you understand

What the gift of tongues was actually about? Then you will understand what it is and what it isn't

Okay, and I would go so far as to say as I said in the introduction that What calls itself tongues and charismatic circles today is actually the exact opposite of what the gift of tongues?

Really was in the Bible and it has the opposite purpose

Okay, I'll explain so if it's if you don't mind maybe

I could Make a very short nutshell case for what

I believe the scripture teaches about the purpose and meaning of tongues in the

Bible I say have at it, but I want a viewer to time how short

David lovey's brief presentation Let's time it So we can we can set a we can get the record.

Oh, all right All right, I'm looking at my my clock here.

Okay, we're good. We're good. I believe in order to understand what tongues was in the

Bible we have to go all the way back to the fall in Genesis chapter 3 and see how sin entered into the world and Death through sin and corruption and in Genesis chapter 4 we see the very first murder of brother against brother

Cain killing Abel Genesis chapter 5 we see the death of The generations after Adam I think eight times it says and then he died and then he died and then he died

So that the promise that God made to Adam in the garden When you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely die

It's exactly the reason why we find death in the world today and then in chapter 6 we see how corrupt the earth had become and God chose

Noah alone of all the people's on the earth to save along with Noah's family

Noah's family then went on the ark that Noah built and in chapter 9 of Genesis the ark has landed

Noah and his sons Shem ham and Japheth get out of the ark

So I'm going over this history, but I think it's still yeah Crucial for us so that so that people can actually understand.

You know, what is the argument that's being made here? Okay, so Noah 9 Noah Noah 9

Genesis 9 Noah and his family get out of the ark and The Lord tells them to be fruitful and multiply and then ham does this like really weird thing he goes and sees his father naked and then he tells his brothers his brothers cover their father walking backward and Noah pronounces blessing and curses that that Shem would be blessed and that that Canaan ham's son

Canaan Would be cursed and be the lowest of slaves and that Japheth That ham would dwell in the tents of Japheth Okay, then now we're getting to the part that I really want to focus on in chapter 10 of Genesis we see the table of the nations the descendants of Shem ham and Japheth, okay, and these become

The nations of the earth Okay, the descendants of Shem ham and Japheth become all the peoples that are on the earth even now in 2024 all of us are some mix of the lineage of Shem ham and Japheth and In Genesis chapter 10 in verse 21.

It gives the descendants of Shem This is what I'd like for you to pay attention to Genesis 10 21 and children were born also to Shem the father of all the children of Eber isn't that interesting so Eber must have been an important person for The Moses the author of Genesis to say that Shem is the father of the children of Eber Okay, Eber is really important the brother of Japheth The Elder the sons of Shem were

Elam Asher are Pakshad Lod and Aram the sons of Aram were us whole gether and mash our

Pakshad be got Sala and Sala Begot Eber all right just keep this in mind

To Eber were born two sons The name of the one was Peleg for in his days the earth was divided

What most Bible scholars believe that's referring to that the earth was divided in the days of Peleg is

Speaking about chapter 11 the power of Babel the earth was divided Because God came down and confused the languages and the nations of the earth then

Scattered by family across the face of the earth and by their language across the face of the earth

Okay, so this is in Peleg's day Peleg the son of Eber I believe that is when the tower of Babel is built in Peleg's day and the

Lord comes down We're gonna look at that in just a moment so then What language

Did Eber speak and Peleg speak in? Genesis chapter 10 before the time of the tower of Babel what language did they speak?

Well interestingly enough we get this word Hebrew From Eber this is the reason why these are the children of Eber Hebrew Okay, he is the father of the

Hebrews He spoke Hebrew his name is where we get the word

Hebrew from so I would make a case now some might disagree with me This is not crucial to my case for tongues

Okay, but I'm just saying my opinion is this that if we know what language

Eber spoke before? Before the tower of Babel Happened then that means that the whole earth spoke

Hebrew before the tower of Babel, and I would I Think that there's another

Point in the case for that which is that God reveals his word in Hebrew to Moses to the prophets to the entire

Old Testament He reveals his word in the Hebrew language and if the earth is divided by families and this family of Eber is the

Hebrew family then And we see just a few generations later is

Abraham I think I did the math recently Abraham did not live very long after the tower of Babel happened

He did not live very long after Shem, I think it's eight generations

Maybe eight generations after Shem, so I don't know two three hundred years there are some who might

Also dispute the time between Shem and Abraham so Let's go on so then

Chapter 11 during the time of Eber anyway Before Peleg either the time of Eber and then

Peleg's time Chapter 11 verse 1 now the whole earth had one language and one

Speech and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east they found a plane the land of Shinar they dwelt there

They said let's make bricks and bake them and they wanted to build a tower that goes up to heaven We don't have to cover that whole thing

So this is what the Lord says verse 6 the Lord said indeed the people are one and they all have one language

And this is what they will begin to do now that nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them come

Let us go down and there confuse their language that they may not understand one another speech

So the Lord scattered them abroad From there over the face of all the earth and they ceased building the city

Therefore its name is called Babel because the Lord confused the language of all the earth

Why was it called Babel? Because the people the neighbors were babbling okay like suddenly as they're building this tower

They're building this city Suddenly Joe is like hey, can you hand me a hammer?

Buddy can you hand me a hammer Austin and Austin is like por que? Speaking Spanish all sudden what what on earth are you talking about can you hand me the hammer?

Okay? No say I don't know Right and then you ask this one. Hey What's going on here, and they say konnichiwa?

Japanese or whatever all the languages of the earth are suddenly their babble there

They don't understand each other okay, I think that people as they read

Genesis chapter 11 don't really quite Understand the

Severity of that judgment that God poured out On Babel and the people who were building that place.

I don't think they understand the severity of it because God then for the entire rest of Old Testament history

Chooses one man of the sons of Heber okay of the sons of Shem and of the sons of Heber He chooses one man

Abraham, and he promises Abraham in Genesis 12 This is what he says look at now the

Lord said to Abraham Get out of your country From your family and from your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make you a great nation

I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you and in You all the families of the earth shall be blessed

One big problem with that okay? Here's the big problem with this promise is this how shall all the families of the earth be blessed?

How is that possibly going to happen because? God chooses this man and to this man and his family his children he gives

The prophets who reveal God's Word did the Chinese people have the prophets?

Absolutely not he gives the promise of Messiah through the prophets did the

Europeans have the promise of Messiah Absolutely not he gives the

The guiding hand of God to the people he gives them a land to dwell in he promises to work in them and provide for them and protect them and None of that and other nations on the earth have the prophets the revelation of God the sacrificial system anymore they are totally covered in darkness the darkness of Satan all of the nations on the face of the whole earth are under Satan's rule in complete darkness, so I think we're

I think we're listening to you, and we're starting I hope I hope the listeners are starting to pick up on the theological significance of the judgment at Babel and The giving of the

Spirit at Pentecost in what happened so continue Yes They are they are connected so intricately and beautifully connected so this judgment was terrible because the only time then that nations outside of the

Hebrew nation the nation of Israel Ever received the words of the prophets was when

God was judging the nation of Israel Okay, when God was judging them what happened foreign nations speaking foreign tongues?

Would come in into the land okay, or they would be in a foreign land like Egypt, and they're speaking

Egyptian and who did Pharaoh get to hear Pharaoh got to hear

Moses That's amazing would Pharaoh have ever got to hear Moses with the

Egyptians have ever gotten to hear Moses or or any? prophet or Aaron you know

Had not the events of the Exodus taking place absolutely Not had not

Israel been enslaved for 400 years Absolutely, not what about other instances like when

Babylon comes Nebuchadnezzar? comes into the land and the Babylonians speak

Babylonian and they Take the Israelites into Babylon Do they get to hear the word of the

Lord yes through Daniel and Shadrach Meshach Abednego as a matter of fact

I do believe that the Magi from the east are Direct descendants of those who had heard the prophets during the

Jewish exile, okay? Probably during like a time of Darius and Cyrus Okay, that that the prophets had been preaching the people in Persia and Iraq area heard the

Jewish prophets and And The Magi knew that there was a king of the Jews who was going to be born because his star would come and they would

See the star in the east amazing just mind -blowing stuff But other than these very few instances like the

Queen of Sheba comes into you know Jerusalem because she had heard reports right other than like the

Queen of Sheba Egypt Babylon Assyria Lebanon like these areas

Tyre and Sidon other than like the very close surrounding areas that got to hear the prophets and the saving word of the

Lord no one else on earth did as a matter of fact think about this there was an

Entire group of people who probably crossed over somewhere near Mongolia Russia Over a land bridge into the continent continent of North America and They became forgotten for like you know four thousand years

Okay, forgotten people for four thousand years, so this is a

Severity that you were talking about the judgment at Babel thousands of Generations upon generations of people who never heard the word of the

Lord and I just want our listeners to note again that the Crucial point that you stated that it is the pattern in the

Old Testament that when Israel comes under judgment The Gentiles hear the word of the

Lord Yes, that's exactly What we see over and over and over I mean even from like the

Assyrians coming in attacking the the Hebrew prophets We're speaking to their generals and stuff so so that for a very long time

You know God sent his prophets to Israel, and I mean this is this is the

Argument that the Apostle Paul is making in Romans 9 through 11, and when he says you know what?

Advantage is there of being a Jew I think that's chapter. What is that chapter 3 no no 2?

and and he says you know theirs are the patriarchs and and they're Beloved and there they have all the advantages the

Jews had all the advantages the Gentiles Literally had no

Advantages, and you think for literally thousands of years thousands of years

Generation after generation after generation after generation of pagans are

Without hope and without God in the world Those who had dwelt in the land of deep darkness right?

That's what the Bible calls them They dwell in the land of deep darkness, so that is what?

Babel Really was about we think like all languages like who cares

I order Chinese food like no no That language Judgment to me and my estimation.

I would even maybe go so far as to say this Probably more people died without Christ without hope without God in the world after the flood and Before Pentecost I mean

I mean it rather after yes after the flood then died before the flood Okay in other words that there were more people who are without God because of the judgment of the

Tower of Babel Throughout history from that time until the time of Pentecost.

It's truly truly to me the most one of the most profound things in the whole

Bible and so okay, this actually really is one of the most profound things in the whole

Bible because God promised to Abraham in Genesis 12 right after the events of the

Tower of Babel That in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed

How? How is that possibly going to happen? They don't understand

Hebrew? They're totally cut off from God's I mean it really is an actual remnant that God saves

Not just a remnant of this tiny remnant of Israel. I mean the remnant of Israel There's a tiny bit of that, but Israel itself is a remnant in the world

It's like you could go from one end to the other in a car in a few hours Yeah, and God chose to reveal himself to them

But he made this Amazing promise to Abraham that he's going to be a blessing to the whole earth.

Yeah, so glad I'm so glad that you went to Babel Because we we can't understand tongues just like we can't understand most things that the

New Testament covers We can't really under comprehend them unless we Understand their foundation in the

Old Testament so the Babel Isaiah 28 these are foundation texts for the gift of tongues but unfortunately

They are typically passed over so Isaiah 28 then the prophet Isaiah the

Lord is Speaking in this passage and he gives a an

Amazing promise of what's going to take place? Isaiah 28 starting in verse 11 for with stammering lips and another tongue

He will speak to this people which people well in the context of Isaiah 28.

We're going to see it's the people of Jerusalem Okay, so he will speak to the people of Jerusalem with stammering lips and another tongue to whom he said

This is the rest with which you may call you may cause the weary to rest And this is the refreshing yet.

They would not hear so when did the Lord say to the people?

This is rest fine rest for the weary when did the Lord say that well in Matthew chapter?

11 and verses 28 and 29 Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden

And I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble at heart and you will find rest for your souls

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light Jesus said and what does he say to whom he said?

This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest Christ is the rest

He's the one who gives us rest, and he said that to the to those people and this is the refreshing yet They would not hear

So they didn't want to listen to Jesus as he said come to me and find rest But the word of the

Lord was to them priest at the palm precept priest at the palm precept line upon line line upon line Here a little there a little that they may go and fall backwards and be broken and snared and caught

Therefore hear the word of the Lord you scornful men, which by the way when it says

They may go and fall backward Haha, listen to this Pentecostal charismatics.

Okay, you're talking about being explained in the spirit every single time

Absolutely every single time in the Bible when it refers to someone falling backwards it is a sign of Judgment in every case in first Samuel when

Eli hears that the Ark has been taken by the Philistines.

He falls backwards and Breaks his neck here it says they shall fall back go and fall backward and be broken and snared and caught when the

Soldiers were going to arrest Jesus and they said and he said who are you looking for?

They said Jesus He said I am he they all fell backwards Every time someone falls backwards.

It is a bad thing in the Bible every time someone falls on their face forwards before the

Lord they're Worshipping the Lord they fall on their face not on their back that practice that we see so often

Called the work of the Holy Spirit on Christian so -called Christian television, which is really not

Christian at all That practice of Benny him pushing people over Garbage, it's a sign of judgment.

That's not the Holy Spirit. Who's that work? That's not slain in the spirit is not some biblical concept.

Okay so Therefore hear the word of the Lord you scornful men a man ruled it this people and relate a late amen in there

Amen amen Who rule this people in Jerusalem because you have said we made a covenant with death look at this

We made a covenant with death Does that sound like any places in the

Gospels where the Pharisees from that day on began plotting to kill Jesus? They made a covenant with death

Okay And with Sheol in agreement when the overflowing scourge passes through it will not come to us for we have made lies our

Refuge does that sound familiar when they put Jesus on trial they made lies their refuge

Oh trying to get their witnesses to agree having a kangaroo trial Exactly right and under falsehood.

We have hidden ourselves now. I do believe that there is penultimate sort of application of these words to the

Babylonian captivity that Isaiah is talking about But there is an ultimate fulfillment in Christ Jesus and the reality is that this sign to Unbelievers, what does

Paul say in 1st? Corinthians 14 tongues are a sign not to believers but to unbelievers.

What is he referring to? He's referring to Isaiah 28 when he's saying that yeah, those people it's not it's not a

Illusion or echo does it he quotes it? Yes Word for word he does so the reason why he does that is he's saying this is the sign that The Jewish people and Moss particularly the leadership of Israel the heads of the nation

Rejected their Messiah, okay, they would be broken and snared and taken captive.

Let's fast forward So Jesus comes upon the scene and he preaches the true gospel he never speaks anything falsely every word that ever comes out of his mouth is the truth and There's no deceit found in his mouth and he preaches only the good news of his kingdom and he goes around doing good things only good things ever for the entirety of his entire life and the leaders of the nation

Turned him over to be crucified by Pontius Pilate They reject their

Messiah once when Jesus was walking with his disciples They were looking at the beautiful stones in the temple and He said

I tell you the truth not one of these stones will be left upon another and in another place

He says this Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how I long to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing and They will hand you in on all sides

Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation this is the reason why judgment came in AD 70 from Titus and the

Roman Emperor the reason why is Jesus prophesied that that very thing would happen and the reason why it happened was because they did not

Recognize the time of their visitation they were broken They were ensnared many of them were taken captive including

Josephus was taken captive You know the the early first century Jewish historian

Josephus He was a captive of the Romans, and he wrote that he he is the part of the fulfillment of Isaiah 28 he is so then

What does this have to do with tongues okay? many times

Jesus alludes in the Gospels to the kingdom being given to others being taken from these people and given to Those who are in the

Highways and byways the ones who are invited would not come to the wedding feast so he's going to go

And he's going to invite everyone To the wedding feast all right now now.

We're starting to see the picture now Okay, the Gentiles and their languages were completely cut off from all of God's Revelation from the sacrificial system from the prophets from the

Messiah cut off You had to Like be a proselyte if you're a

Gentile you had to be a proselyte in order to know anything about the true God if you're not a proselyte, then you don't know the true

God until the Holy Spirit is poured out at Pentecost and When that happened and the disciples began

Speaking and Declaring in other tongues, what did the people say we hear them?

Speaking in our own tongues the wonders of God the wonderful works of God That had not happened since before Genesis 11

Okay, they've not happened so the Reversal of the curse at Babel yep

Is taking place at Pentecost? And that is the way in which all the families of the earth will be blessed in Abraham.

It is the vehicle This is how

I feel when I think about this now Man Why Did God call the

Apostle Paul Who is a Hebrew of Hebrews, okay? He's a

Pharisee he He should be the Apostle to the Jews Right I mean you would think that guy of all people

He could argue with the very best of the Gamaliel's of the world He could argue the gospel to them and and as fat as a matter of fact when he goes through any place in the book

The very first place he goes to is the synagogue in whatever place he goes to because he has a heart for his people

Okay, but he calls himself the Apostle to the Gentiles Why did God choose

Paul to be an Apostle specifically to the Gentiles when I call a Gentile to do it?

Because I believe That the Apostle Paul Was like one of the very very first instruments in the hands of God as the fulfillment of Genesis chapter 12 verse 3

He is a descendant of Abraham and what is the descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin the smallest of all the tribes?

Okay Why why did God call the least man in Paul to go and preach the gospel to the

Gentiles? because through Paul the gospel goes out and Abraham's descendant becomes a blessing to all the nations.

Yeah. Okay. Christ is really the fulfillment. It's the message of Christ Okay, Christ is the blessing to all nations

But Christ calls Paul to be his messenger of the gospel to the

Gentiles in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham when

God calls Abraham This is the true and beautiful meaning of tongues man.

Amen How we could like how the church could somehow degrade that into tongues is this

Okay, that's tongues are you kidding me are you kidding me no no no

By calling that tongues. You're actually that sounds far more like babble than it does like acts do

That's babble when people like that The That's babble man, that's not the sign the sign is the opposite of what the charismatics are doing

Well, here's an aside. Here's an aside regarding the Apostle Paul and babble those who typically defend usually from first Corinthians 14 the the babble the gibberish the unintelligible

Speech they they'll say well Paul says that he speaks in tongues more than than all

And so we should we should in there assuming that he's speaking an angelic language and so we should do it too

But it does make sense that Paul Understanding that tongues are foreign languages that Paul is the

Apostle to the Gentiles Would speak in tongues wouldn't even anybody else

Of course, dude, because here's why he's like this. I want to go to Spain Guess what?

Paul doesn't have ten years to go to Wycliffe Bible Spanish translators Okay, he can't go to seminary for that long and like learn the

Spanish language in some seminary Spanish school Okay, he can't do that. He doesn't have the time to learn some tribal dialect on the island of Malta He doesn't have

Spanish and the Spaniards don't speak Hebrew Exactly, right or Greek and he's a

Greek citizen. I mean, I mean a Roman citizen so So Paul could speak Greek but he couldn't speak all these various dialects of all the places that he's going to and planting more churches than anybody else when the

Apostle Paul says I speak in tongues more than anybody else if we understand it through the lens of Scripture that I just Explained it in a nutshell

Then it makes perfect sense why he speaks in tongues more than anybody else because he goes more places than anybody else and the

Lord is supernaturally Like giving him the ability to communicate the truth of Jesus Christ to all the people that he goes around to and he is

Preaching the gospel to all of them. They instantly understand him. He has this miraculous

Holy Spirit given Gift to be able to communicate that man to call it anything other than that or to describe it in some other way is actually a

Degradation of what tongues really is. Yeah, I agree. I agree and and let's um, let's kind of let me bounce off you there

Paul is speaking in tongues as the Apostle of the Gentiles makes sense. What about today

David if a modern missionary stumbles upon a people Who he doesn't speak their language.

No one among them speaks his language. So interpretation is not an option Do you believe it theoretically possible that God would give that gift of languages to a man today

Yes, I think it's theoretically possible if what I'm saying is correct

And I think that it is and I have not heard someone demolish the opinion that I just gave

But I've also never really Heard very many people talk about this as their understanding of what tongues really is in the

Bible Okay, I think people have a very Let's say anemic view of this and have just sort of accepted the

Charismatic Babbling as oh, I guess that's what tongues must be then some ecstatic utterance or whatever and that's that's not really what it is

So You ask the question Could that happen to like a missionary in Papua New Guinea today?

I mean, I don't see any reason why not I've always said as a cessationist as the writer of the cessationist movie

I've always said God is God and he could Give even a gift of healing if he wants to to do that He could give the gift of time he could do that.

He couldn't he's God He can do whatever he wants to do. All right for sure. He can do whatever he wants to do whenever he wants to do it

I'm not going to limit the ability of God. All I'm saying though is this

What I articulated I believe was a sign of judgment to the unbelieving

Jews in Jesus's day and directly after the ascension of Christ who rejected

Jesus Christ And this was a sign to them that the gospel was going out to the nations

That's why Paul calls it a sign not to believers, but to unbelievers. It's a sign to them

What's the sign the sign is the Gospels going to the nations now because my people have rejected me as Messiah That doesn't mean

I don't I do not believe that that means that God is done with the Jews Okay, I think he still has a plan for Jewish people.

But but it means that That that was a sign to them

So if the question is today 2 ,000 years later, does God give this gift of miraculous language ability?

I don't know and and the best I can say is I don't know I have heard anecdotal stories of Missionaries who were on the field who have said things like I was suddenly able to speak to the people and I can't explain it

Okay, it's anecdotal. I don't think that there's ever been any Documented proof of such a thing.

I'm not saying that the people are lying I'm just saying I've never seen any actual proof of a person who instantly learned another language and it was recorded as such

I've never seen that before and I would also say this even if he does that it is extraordinarily rare because Otherwise there are many many many

Faithful Christian missionaries around the whole world in the farthest remotest parts of the earth who

Don't have that ability and have to study and translate I have some friends that were missionaries in Papua New Guinea and they were missionaries to a tribe of 400 people okay, there was 400 people in the tribe that tribe spoke their own language and it was not the language of anyone else and so that's this is like man the heart heart of the

Jungle, you know and the Lord didn't Give them or any other missionary that they knew the miraculous ability to suddenly speak

Pigeon or you know some language of the tribe They had to study study study study for years in order for that to happen and and I think that what we see in the

New Testament in the book of Acts is that this miraculous ability of tongues was

Given let me say one more thing not only to the Apostles, but the

Apostles had a prerogative to Be able to give that gift to others

How do I know that well Paul writes in Romans chapter 1? I desire to come to you that I may impart some spiritual gift to you.

This is a fascinating thing What does it mean impart a spiritual gift? I can't impart a spiritual gift if somebody doesn't have the gift of teaching just a regular gift

I can't go to them and say I lay my hands on you receive the gift of teaching you can't do that now

You have the gift of teaching now But it was an apostolic prerogative that the

Apostles were able to bestow Upon those whom the Lord wanted them to bestow it upon Miraculous or spiritual gifts

Paul was able to do it. That's why he said that in Romans 1 So this is the reason why people like oh, it's not only the

Apostles I know that I never said it was only the Apostles. It was during the apostolic era Okay, because the

Apostles were able to give this gift this gift to others And so my short answer to your question is

I don't limit the spirit in saying that he doesn't or can't do that today

Give the gift of foreign languages to somebody for the of course for the purpose of the proclamation of the gospel

That would be the only reason why he would give it is for that reason But I've never heard of it or seen it in any kind of documented way

Well, I think we could state conclusively that The gift of tongues at the very least is not normative for the church today as you said if the

God were to give that Gift to someone it's an extremely rare case. He has the ability to do it's his he's sovereign

He our Lord is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases But it would be Extremely rare.

It's not normative in the church It's it's normative in some churches because they they do they do the

Babel, you know Every time they meet But this gift of languages now, we've established and I think we've established it very well from the

Old Testament that The purpose of tongues is as a sign of judgment to unbelieving

Jews but Paul also speaks of tongues or an all spiritual gifts for the common good and for the edification of the church in 1st

Corinthians and I think a lot of people sort of just are never told or they forget in their reading they miss that Paul is

Offering correction to the church at Corinth for their misuse of spiritual gifts.

They're the miss the disorder In their body. And so when he says that he he edifies himself when he these aren't these aren't commendations he's telling it you're doing it wrong and The the true purpose for its use among you in the gathering is for the edification of the

Body, you believe here's a question. Yeah. Yeah. So here's a question then for you

Austin What is it that edifies us

How how are we edified? like in other words Truth right.

So it's a proclamation of truth. But what is the You know, what is the truth?

Thy word is truth right, okay, so If the gift of tongues is for the edification of the church, it makes sense then in Acts chapter 2

What are they hearing as the Apostles are speaking in tongues what they're hearing is the wonderful works of God So it's in other words, he's preaching the gospel right they're all preaching the gospel so So if you apply it in those terms

Then tongues is for the edification of the church because there might be some people from Africa visiting that day

Okay in in you know early or late first century, whatever ad -55 whatever it is, there might be some people visiting from Africa and they're in the church and Someone who has the gift of tongues is able in a moment to speak the

African dialect of those who are visiting the church and they are preaching

The truth to them the gospel, but what does it sound like? Not a boy. They got a double door

That's just I have African friends, all right, this is how the kind of how they sound so So right they're saying like that who little okay, why does

Paul say you need an interpreter? Well, because there's two African guys in the church. Let's just I'm giving a hypothetical.

Okay, there's two African guys in the church Well, there's 50 non Africans there

And if one guy with the gift of tongues is preaching the gospel or giving a message from the

Bible To the two Africans who are there in their African dialect You need to have an interpreter so that the other people who are there aren't just sitting there like What good what am

I saying? Hope it's good. I wonder what's going on here It's just like a guy having a conversation with a couple of guys in a foreign language.

No, no No, Paul says don't do that. Okay, because then like it's not gonna be a benefit to the church

Unbelievers who might be there are gonna be like, what are we even doing here? These people are speaking foreign language to each other.

I don't understand why we're even here No, no, no, you need to have an interpreter

Who has the gift of interpretation? Ah He hears the African dialect and he's able to speak

Greek and he says, ah, this is what they're saying that are Oh, he's telling him about how

Jesus was born of a virgin now Whatever like and he's translating for them.

This is what was going on I want to say one more thing Which is of course the the argument of the first Corinthians 13 that people make where oh

It's the tongue of men and of angels. So it must be an angelic tongue except There's a couple of problems with that One is the obvious one that this is not what

Paul is even referring to he's actually making the opposite point He's saying hey, you're a clanging cymbal if you don't have love.

It doesn't matter what you sound like It doesn't matter how beautiful your words are. Okay, even if you

Speak the gospel in every language doesn't matter if you're not loving your brother. Okay.

There's the point that he's making You just sound like a clanging gong Okay, but there's another problem with it, which is this

What language? Do the angels always speak whenever they appear in the

Bible the language of whoever they're talking to Yes, dude. Yes They're not like this the angels aren't like showing up and saying to Daniel That's not what is happening when the angels show up and they're speaking they're speaking the language of the person to whom they're speaking to there's not some

Angelic tongue the point that Paul was simply making and even when even when

Isaiah is getting getting a vision or John is Taken up And the angels are speaking but not to the person

They're still speaking in a language that the recipient of that revelation understands

Absolutely. Look at the seraphim are flying around the throne calling to one another kadosh kadosh kadosh

Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty the whole earth is full of his glory Like the angels are saying that Isaiah could hear it.

They were not speaking gibberish To him or he's not. Oh, they spoke words.

I just couldn't understand what they were saying They were talking an angel tongue, you know, it wasn't like that.

So there's so many it's tragic to me that This beautiful doctrine biblical doctrine that really is the sign of the gospel going brother

It's the sign of the gospel going to you man. Yeah to you

I'm the Gentiles. I'm the that Jesus talked about we're going to It's really really true that like ah, so when

I see it in that way What what I can I can praise the Lord That God gave the gift of tongues to the

Apostles and to those associated with the Apostles because if he hadn't done that those of us in America would still be

Completely utterly lost in darkness That's we would be and I'll go even one step further

Also, some might disagree with me about this, but I do believe this. I believe that This is the reason why the

New Testament is written in the language of Greek and Not Hebrew that that even

The New Testament's language is the lingua franca it is the language of the people and it is related to the sign of languages that it that God was going to bring his gospel to the

Gentiles and The New Testament proclaims that gives that truth to us

I don't believe that the early Gospels were written in Hebrew Like some people claim the these

Gospels were written in Greek the New Testament epistles were written in the Greek language, and I think that there is a corollary a relation between the fact that the

New Testament is written in Greek and And the gift of tongues that God gave for the promulgation of proclamation of the gospel

Amen, well, I think there's a lot more that we could talk about and perhaps we'll we'll talk some more about tongues at some point but to conclude

I want to ask you more of a Practical kind of a question. I posted a holy note broke down earlier today about tongues someone commented

You know, I used to believe all this stuff and by God's grace

I got out but now my family thinks I've totally lost my way because I don't speak in tongues and so there are people who are

Experiencing estrangement from family real issues over this topic. So David, how would you?

counsel Christians to respond to those who say Things like tongues is necessary for salvation or if you don't speak in tongues

It's because you know you need to experience God or you just you haven't sought God hard enough or you're not a spiritual

Christian or Something's wrong with your Christian life or deficient in your faith.

How would you counsel Christians to wisely? navigate those Those situations with friends and family members or even perhaps church members

Yeah, it's a great question, um, I Mean so my first answer to that is all

Always with grace, right you whenever we communicate with our loved ones

It should be with speaking the truth in love, but to me there's such a category difference between it's it's like talking about two completely

Separate things that are completely unrelated the picture of tongues that I have

Encapsulated delivered tonight is a

Completely different picture than what has been painted by the charismatic Church of what tongues is

I mean, I don't even think that they can explain What is the benefit of such a thing?

What is the benefit of? Babbling I have heard some saying this well it

I am allowed to do it for hours Okay, I can't speak in human words for hours in prayer, but I can babble like shovel

It up. I let it up. I let it for hours and hours Okay. All right But what does

Jesus say about that? He actually says Do not babble like the pagans who heap up their words and think that God hears them

Because they're heaping up all their words. What does that babbling? Sounds like Kundalini sounds like like Babbling it's babbling.

So I know I'm not answering your question yet, so I'm gonna answer it right now but but I'm just saying that like It's the first thing

I would say to that person is this that they need to maybe do should do a deep dive and Be a

Berean and see if what I've said about this is true and You know if if you believe it is

Then you know, I think you could talk with your family and say look

I Love you, and I just I have a different view on what this spiritual gift actually is

It's it's not given as some kind of sign today of regeneration as a matter of fact

Paul says it's a sign of judgment and Paul also says that not everybody speaks in tongues

Not everybody has the same gifting, okay, and so the

Pentecostal Church that has Really done great harm by saying that if if you're not speaking in Tongues as they define this

Then you're not even a Christian person is really wretched. It's really sad really wretched

I Don't know did does the Bible record that the Philippian jailer started speaking in tongues as soon as the

Lord saved him No There's other that what about? Not Lydia, what about when

Philip was with the Ethiopian eunuch did he start speaking in tongues like no no there there's many instances of conversions in the

Bible where the person did not suddenly start speaking in tongues when they were actually legitimately saved and converted and When people did speak in tongues and acts when they received the

Holy Spirit, there's a there's a reason for that And fulfillment of Acts 1 8 and that the it's a blessing for all nations.

You know, it's going to Gentiles and God fears so We approach those conversations with abundant grace, especially especially those of us who hold to the doctrines of grace patiently slowly

Clinging to the word with love in your heart for that person refusing to allow bitterness to creep in towards those who may

You know accuse you of being a bad Christian because you don't do what they do

Yeah, I would agree with that brother, yeah, well David, thank you so much for joining me for this hour to talk about this fun and as you said beautiful subject of tongues as the sign of of God bringing the gospel to us

Gentiles, it truly is a beautiful thing. I've been a little Man the holy dope is