Tongues (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'".

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

We're here to take your calls as well. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

The Bible as the Only Final Authority

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I hope you've been listening for a while. If you're new to the show, this is a show that wants to stand up for the word of God, not that it needs to be defended, but to stand up and teach its truth, to open up its truth, to exposit it, to show it, to show you the truth from the text so that we might understand who God is and we might understand what our response should be.

After all, if we had tradition to bank on, it wouldn't be that important to study the Bible. If we had to go on our experiences, then we could maybe study the Bible not quite as much. It'd just be a good showpiece.

Or if we had someone to tell us some kind of other authority, some kind of vision, some kind of other book, then we wouldn't have to study the Bible that much. But the only thing we can learn about God is from the Bible.

Short of God's wisdom and power found in creation, natural revelation, we have only the Bible to go on, to go from. So we want to make sure we study it. And so today is Thursday. Thursday is Current Issues in Evangelicalism, October 15th, 2009.

What Biblical Tongues Are and Why Experience Is Not the Standard

And basically today is going to be a continuation of yesterday's show on speaking in tongues. Are tongues for today? Or have they passed? What are tongues? Augustine said, in the earliest times, the Holy Ghost fell upon them that believed, and they spake with tongues.

These were the signs adapted to the time, for there behoove to be that betokening of the Holy Spirit. That thing was done for a betokening, and it has passed away. Do you believe that? Or do you say, no, I speak in tongues, therefore it's true.

I've done it, therefore my experience validates the truth. Friends, that's not how you should operate your life, because that's going to get you caught in lots of trouble. We want to talk about speaking in tongues today.

And we said yesterday that basically 1 Corinthians 12 says that speaking in tongues was a gift given by the Spirit of God, sovereignly at salvation, according to the way He distributed the gift, the Spirit of God, and to whom He chose to give it.

It's not something you can come up with, you can't manufacture, you can't be taught how to get the gift. It is given by God. And it was a gift of languages. Second of all, you can't say you've got your own private prayer language and be biblical, because Romans 8 doesn't say it's a private prayer language.

It is the Spirit Himself interceding for us with groanings too deep for words. And so these days, since the apostolic era, those that tend to speak in tongues the most are non-Christian groups. Did you know that?

Non-Christian groups. Mystery religions emphasize speaking in tongues. Eskimos of Greenland emphasize speaking in tongues. Jansenists, Quakers, Shakers, Mormons. Did you know students of Mormonism were told that Joseph Smith believed in the gift of tongues, visions, revelations.

To Joseph Smith, he believed that tongues would accompany the reception of the Holy Spirit and would open a door for visionary understandings, visionary revelations. Did you know Tibetan monks speak in, quote unquote, tongues today?

Did you know those in the occult speak in tongues? And so the kind of gibberish that we have, the kind of Chickamauga Hilo, Chittabata Honda kind of language we have, that's not the way Christians would speak in tongues.

It would be a language that someone else has not learned. The Spirit of God gives them that language for ministry. It's interpreted by someone else, and therefore we have a biblical view of tongues. And so if you do something today and you call it tongues, don't call it tongues if it's not according to the Bible.

Call it something else, but don't call it tongues. If we go back to about 1901, Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, Agnes Osman received what she called, quote, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which was given her tongues, end quote.

The Charismatic, fast forward a little bit, Charismatic Movement, 1960 in Van Nuys, California, right down the street from my old house. The modern Charismatic Movement began in an Episcopalian church, and it's really spread across all denominations, across all mainline denominations, whether you're an evangelical, whether you're Lutheran, whether you're a Mormon, a Catholic, outside of evangelical orthodoxy or Protestantism, it is everywhere.

And so I think the question we have to ask is, what are biblical tongues? There's pretty much three views. The first view is that tongues are a static speech. It's not really a foreign language, but it's this unintelligible speech, kind of private prayer language.

That's the first view. The second view is that it's a foreign language. That's what the Bible teaches. And then the third view is, it's kind of a mixture of both. They kind of think that it's a grouping of the two, and I guess whichever one you wanna believe at the moment, you pick that one.

What does the New Testament say about tongues? Robert Gromacki said in his book, The Modern Tongues Movement, page 58, a study of the New Testament usage of Glossa will reveal the fact that when used of the phenomenon of speaking in tongues, it always refers to foreign languages.

It cannot refer to both foreign languages and unknown ecstatic utterances as the modern tongues advocates claim. And so Gromacki is right. If you want to say this is what the Bible teaches, then you'll have to say tongues in the Bible must be an unlearned language, but it's a known language.

It's a foreign language. Revelation chapter five, verse nine, the angels proclaim about Christ purchasing for God with his blood, quote, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. That's not every tribe and ecstatic utterance like a Tibetan monk might do.

That is not men from every tribe and Chickamauga Hilo and people and nation. That is not men from every tribe and Chittabata Honda and people and nation. This is a human language. Jesus is such a great God, a great King, a great Savior that he ransomed for God, that he purchased for God with his substitutionary death, men from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And so that's the wonderful news. That's the great news. Revelation chapter seven, verse nine, John saw a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.

That's the same word, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, the human language, tongues. When you see the word tongues in the Bible, you need to think to yourself a human language. And so what do people say today?

They say, well, I've got this private language. I've just been taught how to do it. And therefore I'm more spiritual. Friends, could I tell you this? You're getting robbed. You're getting defrauded. You are thinking you have something extra, but really you have something less.

Why? Because if you don't think you ought to spend time praying, using your mind, thinking about hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, giving some thought to prayer, to use your mind to pray, to sit and work through issues of prayer like Paul the Apostle or Peter, or Jesus for that matter, or John the Baptist.

If you just want the easy way out, then you're gonna go to your prayer closet and you're just gonna mumbo jumbo it. That's so much easier. I've spent a lot of time in the prayer closet when I was a new Christian.

Just being in there, groaning, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, all kinds of things. Oh, groan, oh, groan. That's a lot easier, but it doesn't do anything for your sanctification. You're getting robbed. You think you're being extra spiritual and you're being less spiritual because it takes work to pray and God has required that we use our mind to pray.

That's how Paul prayed. And so if you can speak another language that you haven't learned, it's not for yourself, it's for other people. And so be careful. Don't buy into this, the haves and the have-nots because those who think they have, that is the extra gift of the Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, they really are the have-nots because they rely on their spirituality through tongue speaking, which robs them of study, diligent study, excuse me, diligent prayer.

And so you want to be careful. I've never met anyone who has spoken a language that they've never learned. Why? We'll learn today because it's not needed today. We have scriptures. We don't need to have someone come up and speak Farsi to other people who speak Farsi and that first person never learned it to say, look, this guy over here that's preaching, he's the real thing.

Tongues in Acts 2: Pentecost and Languages Understood

Why don't we turn our Bibles to Acts 2. Let's find out what the Bible says, scanning the corpus, the body of scripture, to understand what the Bible teaches. The first place we see in the New Testament tongues is in Acts 2, verses 4 through 11.

And here the Spirit of God confirms through tongues that the message was true and the believers of every background are equal by faith. And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves and rested on each one of them.

Sound like wind. Here we have not literal flames, but just this supernatural indicator as MacArthur called it. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

This is a language. This is a known language. Gromacki is right. This is not shama-shama-shama-shama-shama-shama-shama. This is not that at all. This is real language speaking. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And when the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered because they were each one hearing them speak in his own language. These people would recognize what the people were saying because they were speaking their own language, their own dialect.

They've come from a variety of different countries and backgrounds in terms of language backgrounds. They show up here. The Spirit of God so works that now the people who are visiting here with their own language.

No translators needed. Verse seven. And they were amazed. They're not gonna be amazed at Chickamauga Hilo, shamana-shamana-shutabata-handa. They were amazed and marveled because can you imagine? All these people are hearing in their own language.

They say, why are not all these who are speaking, why are not all these who are speaking Galileans? They can't speak other languages. They're Galilean. They're farmers. They're hayseeds. How can they speak all these other languages?

They've never been out of Galilee is what they're alluding to. Verse eight. It's basically a double spiritual miracle here. How is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? These different ethnic groups, these different language people would hear their own language.

All kinds of people, Parthenians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia. And the list goes on. All kinds of other people. Then verse 11. We hear them in our own tongues speaking the mighty deeds of God.

We hear them in our own ecstatic utterances. We hear them in our own shuddama shuddama bop bop bop. No, our own languages, our own tongues, because the word tongues in the Bible means languages. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth. If you're turning in, we're talking about what does the Bible say about speaking in tongues? I think you'd be shocked to hear that people today who say they speak in tongues don't speak in tongues.

That is, they don't speak in what the Bible says tongues would be. Oh, they may speak in some kind of Eskimo ecstatic language, but it's not speaking in tongues according to the Bible because the Bible teaches it is a language.

Here it says, we hear them, Acts 2 .11, in our own language speaking the mighty deeds of God. And so you've got about 15 different God-fearing, from 15 different nations, these God-fearing Jews, and they are utterly amazed.

And they hear, they listen to these unknown, unlearned known languages, and they can't believe it. And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity saying to one another, what does this mean? But others were mocking saying they are full of sweet wine.

Can you believe this multitude understood the speech? They could understand the content of the phenomena because the disciples were speaking their own language. They understood that. Gromacki said, why did Luke include such a long list of countries and peoples?

He wanted to make it clear that the disciples spoke in foreign languages and dialects, not in unknown sounds. That's right, because the Parthenians would go, la, la, la, la, la. The Medes would say, shamana, shamana.

The Elamites would say, oh, groan. No, why is he given this list here? Gromacki goes on. This first instance of the phenomenon of speaking in tongue sets the biblical pattern and standard for all subsequent tongue speaking.

It must be in foreign languages, and it must be the foreign languages of those who are present when the gift of interpretation is not exercised. Let me repeat that. It must be in foreign languages, and it must be the foreign languages of those who are present when the gift of interpretation is not exercised.

That was Acts chapter two. There are no gift of interpreters here, none needed, because the Spirit of God did a double miracle. One, grant the language. Two, grant the interpretation right there in their mind, not through another person.

The point of the passage is the Jews are in, and so we move to the Gentiles. Speaking in tongues is another language that you have not learned. It is not in your private prayer language with some kind of utterances too deep for words, because that's the Spirit of God's ministry.

Tongues in Acts 10: The Gentiles Receive the Same Gift

Let's move to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. This is the second time where we see speaking in tongues in the Bible, and it's going to take place in the experience of Cornelius and his household. And so what we want is we wanna see how the Holy Spirit developed this and confirmed through tongues that the message not just to the Jews was true, but to the Gentiles, and they are going to be equal by faith.

Acts chapter 10, verse 38. Peter said, you know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

And we are witnesses of all these things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And they also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he should become visible, not to all the people, but to witness who were chosen beforehand by God, that is to us, who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.

Acts 10, 42. Hang in there with me, radio audience. And he ordered us to preach to the people and to solemnly to testify that this is the one who had been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.

Of him, all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who are listening to the message.

All right, here we are, radio audience. Acts 10, 44, the second instance in the New Testament where tongue speaking is discussed. The Spirit of God falls on them. All right, what happens? And all the, excuse me, all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also.

Acts 2, here the Jews, but are we equal? Are we subpar? It's a different manifestation, different dispensation. No, we're equal by faith alone in Christ. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God.

All these different people hear that. Surely, chapter 10, verse 47, no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did. Can he? We've heard this mighty miracle.

We've heard these languages. They've exalted God, and we're not gonna say you can't get baptized and you have to go to the back of the bus. No, he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And so this is quite obviously a foreign language.

Luke uses the same words here to describe what he described in chapter two. The same phenomenon is taking place. How could the listeners know that Cornelius and the household were magnifying God unless they could be understood?

They wouldn't know that. They thought they could be maybe some kind of weird sex cult. Who knows what it is, but they could understand. And they could understand that they were magnifying God. And thirdly, Gromacky says, in Peter's subsequent report to the Jerusalem church, he said the Gentiles had received the light gift and that the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning, Acts 11.

This undoubtedly refers to the experience of Pentecost. And so what we have in Acts chapter two and Acts chapter 10 are the same thing, speaking in languages that are not learned but known languages. We move on.

Tongues in Acts 19 and Why They Are Not the Norm

We can move on to Acts chapter 19 with John's disciples. This is the third instance of speaking in tongue in Acts, and it occurs in Acts chapter 19 with the disciples of John the Baptist. In verse seven, it says the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

Luke uses the same words for chapter two, tongues, languages, chapter 10, tongues, languages, chapter 19, tongues, languages. And so we have here the doctrine of speaking in tongues. And so we have to be very careful when we come to this book, the Bible, we have to be careful that we just don't say, well, this is what we think tongues are, and what we do, we call it tongues.

Let's go to the text, Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19. These people were speaking languages that they had not learned, and they were doing that for the sake of other people. And so I'd ask you this question with John MacArthur.

If tongues were to be the normal experience, then why aren't they mentioned in chapter eight in Acts chapter eight when the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit? And why does the text of Acts 2 not say that everyone who believed following Peter's sermon and received the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues?

Do you remember when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? 3 ,000 people believed. It says in Acts 2 .38, they received the Holy Spirit. Remember that? Why didn't they speak in tongues? In order for something to be normative, it has to be common to everybody.

And if the Holy Spirit wanted to say that tongues was a normative attendant to the coming of the Holy Spirit, the normative time for it to happen would have been among the 3 ,000 that were converted. Right?

That is right. Well, let's go to another passage, Mark chapter 16. What about Mark chapter 16? Tongues are mentioned in Mark 16, 17. And these signs will accompany those who have believed. In my name, they will cast out demons.

They will speak with new tongues. And so you say, well, see, there it is. That's for the New Testament church, et cetera. I think we're gonna have to do a whole show on this one. It might amaze you to find out when you look at your notes in the Bible that this longer ending, Mark chapter 16, 9 to 20, could very well be added to our Bibles.

Matter of fact, I know it is. I'm positive it is. The oldest manuscripts do not contain these verses. Codex Sinaiticus does not contain it. Codex Vaticanus does not. The old Latin Codex Babianceus does not.

Sinaiticus Syrian does not. 100 Armenian manuscripts do not, et cetera. Many of the church fathers don't recognize verses nine through 20. And you say, well, you're just trying to say that because you don't like the tongue thing.

Well, friends, what about the whole poison issue? What about the bizarre promise of immunity from snakes and poisonous drinks? That is out of the character of all the New Testament, presuming on the grace of God, presuming on the person of Christ and his work.

There's something not quite right with this, being baptized to be saved. There are issues in here that are not words that Mark usually uses. There are issues here when it comes to manuscripts. There are different vocabulary words, 101 different words in those verses nine to 16 that don't use words like Mark does in his other 15 chapters.

The issue is for tongues. I don't want you to say, I believe in speaking in tongues today because of this passage at the end of Mark. You can't do it. It's not wise to do. You have to be very, very careful.

There are things in that text in Mark that are true, that we could affirm in other parts of scripture. But there are other parts about picking up serpents and drink deadly poison and it won't hurt them.

And they'll lay hands on the sick and they'll recover. Please go down to Boston Children's Hospital. And if you put hands on people that are blind, that have cancer and they walk out, I'll be very happy to say everything in there is normative, but I don't think you'll be able to do that.

There's poor manuscript support and you shouldn't have doctrine built upon that. You should go to someplace else. You should go to other parts of the Bible. We should go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, that it says tongues are a sign.

Let's just read the verse. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers. There the context is Isaiah 28, 11. Because of Israel's wickedness, God's going to judge them by sending the Assyrians to take Israel captive.

And when they heard the language of the Assyrians in their midst, they would know God is judging us. And so we have to be careful that when we look at some of these passages, we just don't take them for today.

Tongues in 1 Corinthians 14 is a foreign language, not a static speech. Tongues is a sign of coming judgment. And tongues is a sign for unbelievers. Doesn't that go against what most people have taught about speaking in tongues?

So what do we have today? We have another day about speaking in tongues. What does the Bible say? Tongues according to the Bible is a language, a known foreign language that you did not learn. The spirit of God gave, Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19.

But it didn't happen all the time. It didn't happen at Pentecost for all 3 ,000 people after Peter preached, did it? Everything in Acts that happens isn't for today. You can read Acts 8 and get zapped up to Azotophs and move 10 miles away, and the list goes on and on.

We want to be biblicists. We want to make sure we believe what the Bible says. That's what No Compromise Radio Ministry is all about. Nocompromiseradio .com, podcast, Israel trip, church website, turn there, nocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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