Tongues & Religious Ecstasy (Spirit Filled Part 2)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Turn to Acts chapter 2. This is kind of the passage people tend to think of other than Ephesians 5.

They think of Acts chapter 2 and the day of Pentecost because the apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost. But as you're turning to Acts chapter 2, one of the ways people will distort this idea of the filling of the Holy Spirit is when everything is based on feelings and emotions.

And I'm not saying that feelings don't play a part in it or that feelings are not important. I'm not saying that. But you might fall into the temptation of thinking that if you're feeling really, really good, well you must be spirit filled.

Well, that's not necessarily the case. And I think it's dangerous to base your doctrine on feelings. Feelings can deceive you, right? So the question is not do you have a good feeling? The question really is are you obeying Christ?

Are you walking in the spirit moment by moment? Now that should feel good to be obeying the Lord for a Christian, but we cannot base everything on feelings and emotions. Another thing you will hear from Christians, more of the Pentecostal charismatic persuasion, is you'll hear things like saying, well, our pastor is anointed.

Our pastor is spirit filled. Our pastor hears directly from God. However, if you closely evaluate many of those situations, the things that he or she is teaching is not in line with the scripture. So obviously in those cases, that's not the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not going to lead you to teach something contrary to the inspired word of God, which we know is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now I say that our pastor is anointed. Do you realize that the Holy Spirit is within you?

You're anointed too. There isn't two classes of Christians, the anointed and just the average Christian who's way down here. That's not the case. If the Holy Spirit is in you, if you're saved, you are anointed.

OK, so did you know something that your pastor is anointed? OK, I'm anointed. And not only that, I hear directly from God. Does that surprise you? I hear directly from God. Now, before some of you start getting nervous, I hear directly from God every time I open up this book.

The scripture is the word of God, not the voice in my head. My conscience is not the word of God. The Lord, through his spirit, he may use our thoughts or our conscience. But that inner voice of mine and that inner voice of yours is not the same as the word of God.

Again, God can use it, but that's not the word of God. And I'll just say this. If I ever mark this down, if I ever start preaching strange doctrine based on some inner voice that I have, that's when you need to start worrying.

All right. When I depart from this book and start preaching what my inner voice is telling me, that's very, very dangerous. God told me, and then I say something to you, what God said. Unless I'm quoting a Bible verse, I should not be saying, God told me this.

Well, I better be repeating what's in the scripture. Also, I could be quoting a Bible verse. You know what? Not every Bible verse applies to me. People take things out of context. So, the way to be filled with the spirit is to rely on God's word, on his Holy Spirit.

And we need to watch out for this, God told me so. You know, God spoke to me this morning, and he told you to give me $1 ,000. And he told you to give me $3 ,000. Sow your seed of faith. God said, you give me $3 ,000.

You say, well, that's ridiculous. That's absurd. People, televangelists on TV, they do it every day. And these are the people that many Christians look up to as they're the ones who are spirit-filled.

They're full of something, I'll tell you that much.

It ain't the Holy Ghost.

Jesus warned his followers, do not be deceived. The scripture says, many false prophets have gone out into the world. And again, these are often the ones promoted as they're the ones who are spirit-filled.

So, we want to clear up some of these misunderstandings. All right, so Acts chapter 2. Are you in Acts chapter 2? Here is one of the main ways the filling of the Holy Spirit is misunderstood. Acts chapter 2 tells us about what happened on the day of Pentecost.

We're going to start reading in verse 1. It says, when the day of Pentecost had 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 the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all what? Filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So, we see that. The disciples are filled with the Spirit, and they began to speak with other tongues. So, this is, and I'm going to explain this in a moment, but this is one of the most common misunderstandings about the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The idea that some would have you to believe is that if you are filled with the Spirit, I mean, if you're really Spirit filled, you will speak in tongues. We've all heard this, right? But notice verse 4 doesn't actually say they spoke in tongues.

That's not what it says. What does it say? They began to speak with other tongues. Not in tongues. They began to speak with other tongues. I want to highlight that difference because it's a big difference, okay?

The Greek word translated tongue is glossa.

Glossa.

And it either refers to the literal organ in your mouth, you know, like your tongue, or it can refer to a dialect. It is another language. And that's exactly what it's referring to here. They were not speaking in what you might think of as, you know, tongues like it sounds more like gibberish.

No, they were speaking with other dialects. You know, what does the Bible talk about? People from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Every nation, every tribe, and every language. That's what it means. So the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with other languages.

That just clears up all the confusion. And if you don't believe me, look at verses 5 and 6. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and they were confused.

Because everyone heard them speak, what? In his own language. Folks, this is one of the most misunderstood verses in all of the Bible. They were speaking in foreign languages. Now, there's more to it than that.

But tongues is not gibberish. Tongues are languages. So the thing to understand about the day of Pentecost, it was a unique event in the history of the church. It was really the birthday of the church, you could say.

And just because the Apostles spoke with other tongues, these other languages, which was miraculous. Because they didn't know these other languages. And that's the miracle of it. But just because they did it on the day of Pentecost, doesn't mean that you have to do it 2 ,000 years later.

The day of Pentecost is not a normative event. So I say this, and I want you to hear me on this. I say this with the spirit of charity, okay? And I understand that there are some people maybe not here this morning, but listen later on.

And I understand I'm probably not going to convince anybody who disagrees with me. I have friends who claim to be able to speak in tongues. And they disagree with me. And I disagree with them. And we get along anyways.

But I'm probably not going to be able to change anyone's mind. Even though I just showed you in the scripture that it's other languages.

But, you know, that's the way it goes.

Here's why I bring it up. I'm speaking to the people. And again, it might not be anyone in this room.

Maybe it is.

Maybe it's not. But there will be people listening online or listening on the radio. And they feel the weight of this. That there's something wrong with me. I've been seeking after God. I've been praying for this gift of the spirit.

And God's not giving it to me. There must be something wrong with my faith. Because God has not given me this spiritual gift of tongues. I'm speaking to those people that this is an unreasonable expectation that has been placed upon you.

If God gives you the gift to be able to speak in other languages that you don't know, hey, amen. I'd love to have that gift. But is God really giving it to people today? And here's the bigger question.

Does God give it? Should it be expected that God gives it to every Christian? Write this down. 1 Corinthians 12, 27 -31. I want you to read this during the week and just double check my work here. 1 Corinthians 12, 27 -31.

We're not going to turn there. But the Apostle Paul makes it extremely clear that not all Christians speak with tongues. He says, are all apostles?

Are all prophets?

It's a rhetorical question. No, not all are apostles. Do all speak with tongues? And the answer is no. So we already saw.

Here's the point.

I don't want to lose you here. It's an imperative to be filled with the spirit, right? It's a command. Be filled. But do all speak in tongues?

No.

So you can't place this as a burden upon people. You have to speak in tongues or else you're not really spirit filled. You have to speak in tongues or else there's something wrong. So this was the speaking with other tongues by the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

This was a evidence of the filling of the spirit. But it is not the evidence for all Christians for all time. The third and final point of the sermon. We're simply going to look at a list of verses that refer to the filling of the Holy Spirit.

I don't have time to turn to all of these passages. But you can just make a note of them.

I did a word search.

And I'm just going to go in order starting in Acts chapter 6 verse 3. So in Acts chapter 6, this is where the early church had just been organized really on the day of Pentecost. And now a lot of work is showing up.

They need to tend to the widows. And the apostles simply don't have the time and the energy to minister to really thousands of people at this point. So what do they do? What's the solution? They ordain certain men.

They appoint men that we believe are the first deacons of the church. Acts chapter 6 verse 3 says, Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

So they were to help and assist the apostles. And what do we see there? That these men who are chosen as the first deacons of the church, they were filled with the spirit, right? Find men that are full of the Holy Spirit.

And notice it's associated with having a good reputation and wisdom. So seek out seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Good reputation. We know what that is and it's important.

It's not some mystical, weird, far out experience. Like look, look at the guy rolling around on the ground. He's really in the spirit. Pick him as as one of the first deacons. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

I'd like to listen to the complete message. If you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com. We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.