So what happened to Peter after Jesus restored him? Peter started living out his purpose as the rock, the foundation, the leader of the disciples. But they were a small group at that point. About 120 of them were gathered in Jerusalem, because Jesus told them to just before he ascended to heaven. This is what He said. Luke 24:49 “49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” A promise from His Father? Power from on high? What was Jesus talking about? The disciples were just hanging out together in Jerusalem like Jesus told them to, but I’m sure none of them understood or expected what was about to happen next. One thing is for sure, when it happened, it would change them forever. John 14:26 “26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” Buckle up, because today we are going to be talking about the Holy Spirit...and speaking in tongues. If this subject is new for you, rest assured, we are not about to get crazy up in here. When I was a kid in church I didn’t understand the Holy Spirit and tongues. I just thought that the really spiritual people did all that stuff. On more than one occasion, I went to the altar when the preacher asked who wanted to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. The really spiritual people laid hands on me, but nothing
happened. I felt like something must be wrong with me. It was confusing. My goal today is to demystify the Holy Spirit and tongues, so that we can all begin to understand The Spirit’s role in our life and the purpose of tongues. The enemy want’s you to be confused about these things, but God wants you to have understanding and wisdom concerning this. We'll begin by looking at the first time the Spirit is given to followers of Jesus. It’s recorded in the second chapter of the book of Acts. Acts 2:1-4 “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” Without the Holy Spirit there would be no speaking in tongues. The Spirit gave them the language. Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Spirit and we’ll be discussing that more in depth in a few minutes. But what was the purpose of those disciples speaking in tongues in this specific situation? Acts 2:5-8 “5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is
it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?” In this first example of christians speaking in tongues, the languages they spoke were already existing natural languages and they were understood by the crowd who could hear them. There were people from all over the known world listening and every region had a different language. The disciples didn’t know the languages they were speaking, but those who heard them did. This why The Spirit gave them a public display of “tongues.” This is an important principle that applies to speaking in tongues. The one that is meant to be hearing it understands what is being said, but the speaker does not. Acts2:12-13 “And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of new wine.” Are these Jesus followers drunk? They must have appeared to be having a really good time for some people to think that. This small group of disciples have gotten the attention of the crowd by speaking in tongues. So Peter, empowered by his new boldness from the Holy Spirit gives his fiery speech. Acts 2:14-15 “But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day” He first lets them know that they are not drunk. This passage lists the time as the third hour. In today’s terms, it was 9AM in the morning. Now some have said that the reason Peter said this
because it was too early for them to be drunk. This would suggest that it wasn’t uncommon for them to be drunk, but that it’s just too early for that to be the case. I don’t think that’s what Peter is saying here. I believe Peter is just responding to those folks who’s practice was to already be drunk by 9AM. You see, we all think that everyone else will act like we do. In other words, if you would normally lie about a situation, then you probably think everyone else does too. If you would normally get angry at a certain situation, then your normal assumption is that everyone else would too. And if you normally got drunk by 9AM, you would assume that if you heard a loud commotion, that everyone is drunk too. That is why Peter put that idea out of their minds. It’s not common to be drunk at 9AM. After he dispelled that thought, Peter jumped right into his fiery speech. Let’s read on. Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” Peter continued to lay out the case for Jesus being The Messiah using old testament scriptures that the people would have known. He finished by saying this: Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Peter is now operating in the boldness that Jesus said he would. After the Holy Spirit fell on him, his power was evident. When the Holy Spirit is at work in you and working through you, you will see the results that God desires. When you are no longer trying to function in your own power and turn yourself over fully to whatever God wants, you will see the results that God wants. And we need to understand that the results that God always wants is to see people glorify Him. Acts 2:37-41 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” Three thousand people were added to their small group of 120... in one day. Thats a pretty good start, don’t you think? I’m not going to get into the topic of church growth or evangelism today, because I want to stay focused on the Holy Spirit. I just wanted you to see what happened and why, the first time the Holy Spirit showed up publicly and people spoke in tongues. The next time we see people speaking in tongues publicly is in Acts 10, when God tells Peter to go to Cornelius’s house. This was unusual because was a Roman centurion, not a Jew. An angel told Cornelius to call for Peter and God told Peter to go.
So Peter travels to his house to preach to all the people Cornelius had gathered and this is what happened. Acts10:44-48 “44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, 47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.” Again we see that when the Holy Spirit gives them the gift of tongues, the Jews who heard them were amazed because gentiles were exalting God. It made them understand that the message of salvation was not just for the Jews, but for everyone. The Holy Spirit has many roles in the life of the believer. This is a topic for a series of messages, which we will do at some point in the future. His indwelling of each of us as a believer is a promise to us from God the Father. Here are a couple of the things The Spirit does. He convicts us of sin, He seals us till the day of redemption, He gives us power and boldness, He is our Helper, He reminds us of what Jesus said, He gives us spiritual gifts... and much more. The Spirit gives different gifts to different believers. We generally just refer to them as gifts of the Spirit. But for today we will focus on just one of the gifts...The gift of speaking in tongues. Now the topic of tongues can be difficult to understand, but let’s look at what the Bible says about it. It is a gift of the Spirit and in this next passage, Paul lays out the gifts in order.
The thing I want you to notice is where tongues ranks in the order and what he says we should desire. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 “27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? 30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts.” Paul is talking here about the different roles in the body of Christ...the church. He clearly says that everyone does not speak in tongues. It is just one of the various gifts of the Spirit. Pauls ends this passage by saying “earnestly desire the greater gifts”. And where does speaking in tongues land on the list? Very near the bottom. Is it important? Absolutely. If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be on the list. Is it the most important? No it is not. So what is the purpose of the gift of tongues in the life of a believer who has ben given that spiritual gift? 1 Corinthians 14:1-4 “1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. 4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.
Here we see the main purpose for speaking in tongues while praying, or what some people call a “prayer language”. It is to edify yourself. When you speak in tongues, in your spirit, you are speaking mysteries directly to God, and God understands what you are saying. Remember when I said that when speaking tongues, the speaker doesn’t understand what is being said, but the one who is meant to be hearing it does? The enemy may hear the language, but he has no idea what you are saying, because it is meant for God alone. Your tongues prayer language is direct communication with God. That’s why praying in tongues is for your edification, not the church as a whole. 1 Corinthians 14:5 “Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.” Again here Paul is saying that he wished everyone spoke in tongues, but since some do and some don’t, that obviously means everyone doesn’t have that gift...Just like everyone isn’t a prophet or teacher or apostle. 1 Corinthians 14:18-19 “18 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; 19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.” It seems very clear how Paul feels about tongues in a church. He would much rather speak in plain language in order to teach.
There is more to say on this topic, but for now let me wrap this up with my final thoughts. I’ll lay them out as some big questions with short answers: Is speaking in tongues biblical? yes. Paul said he wished everyone did. Do all christians have the Holy Spirit living in them? yes. Do all Christians have the gift of speaking in tongues? no. There are different parts to the body of Christ and the gift is given by the Holy Spirit. Should we all desire it? yes. Paul said we should earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. Should we desire it more than the other gifts? no. Paul said it was near the end of the list of spiritual gifts. And now for a really big one: Should someone speak in tongues out loud during a worship service? Maybe...but only if there is an interpretation for the edification of the church. In other words, if you don’t know that someone has the gift of interpretation, you shouldn’t speak, because it would cause confusion.
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