Lesson 2

We'll start off in the book of Mark, Chapter 16. Mark, Chapter 16. We're going to go back a little bit in time and help explain some things where we left off last week. Jonathan, would you close that door for me, please? Thank you. Jonathan is the pastoral assistant. I deemed him that this morning. Good morning, Gabriel. From Kansas. So again, we'll be, let's start off in Mark, Chapter 16. So last week, I had a pretty good response on the teaching last week concerning the Holy Spirit, because a lot of people have questions about the Holy Spirit and what the Bible really says and what they see and experience in some churches. Because it can be quite confusing and kind of bewildering, you know, depending on what your experience is. So I had a question wrote in privately to me last week about speaking in tongues for a little more clarification, because once again, some people say that speaking in tongues means a spiritual language or a heavenly language, something like that. And so they think, well, it's some type of angelic language. And when you're speaking it, no one knows what it is. Only God knows. And so when they read scriptures, because they've been taught that, and this is what happens if you are told a certain thing when you're growing up in church, whether you hear it from the church you're in or you hear someone else teach on it, that teaching will prejudice your mind when you're reading the Bible. You will view it the way you've been taught it. When if you go back, you scratch all that out and you go back with the biblical understanding and you begin reading it with the biblical understanding like we did when we showed you definitely what speaking in tongues is. It's speaking in earthly languages. We saw that in the book of Acts. They named off the specific languages that were being spoken. And they were languages that people knew. None of them were some heavenly language. And so the question was, well, you know, what about these passages that make it appear like, you know, it's some type of angelic language or spiritual language or heavenly language or what have you? Well, they're all earthly languages. It's never anything but an earthly language. God would not give us a heavenly language to speak on earth. What good would it do? Would benefit anybody. So let's go ahead and look here in March after 16. So we're going to look at the gift of the Spirit or excuse me, we're going to look at the gift of the Holy Spirit being given to the church that it was the Holy Spirit entering into the church and the church becoming Jesus body again. And we're going to look at speaking in tongues again, and we're going to try to clarify some things and answer some questions that were left over. Let's go and look here in Mark 16 15. This is the Great Commission. Watch. Watch what happens. And he said unto them, this is Jesus speaking. Go ye into all the world and preach the good news, the gospel to every creature. OK, so now that he has died and risen again for the sins of the world to overcome sin and death, our mission now is to go into all the world and preach that good news. That's what the word gospel means to everybody. Verse 16, Jesus said, He that believeth in this baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. In these signs shall follow them that believe. Now watch this. We'll look at the baptism here after a while. OK, don't be thrown off with that. These signs shall follow them that believe. So you're going to preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. Now, when you look at another passage, it says whoever believes not shall be damned. The baptism that saves us is the baptism of the spirit. It is not the baptism of water. Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall be damned. Because whoever is believed is baptized by the Holy Spirit. But whoever believes is going to be saved in these signs shall follow them that believe in my name. Here are the signs. They shall, number one, cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. Now, new tongue doesn't mean a tongue that's never been spoken before. It'd be the same thing as saying, well, you got any plans for your life? Chris Johnson, for the near future, and he says, you know, I think I'd like to learn a new language. Well, he's not telling me that he wants to create a new language and learn something no one's ever spoken before. He's talking about something new to him and language new to him. So these signs shall follow them that believe they in Jesus name will cast out devils and they that believe will speak in tongues that are new to them. New languages they've never spoken before. What else will they do? Verse 18, they shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Now, what happens is charismatic read this and they say, well, look, people who believe they can they'll speak in new tongues. They'll cast out devils. They can take up snakes. They can drink poison and nothing hurts them. That's a lie. It's a lie. They were brother Richard. But Jesus said those signs would follow those people who believed they did. They did follow those signs. Watch now in verse 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth. Now, what is that talking about? He said go and all the world preach the gospel. So they did that. They went forth and preached everywhere. The Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. You see what happened? They were not in preach like Jesus said. Jesus worked with them. Why? They're his new body. Jesus worked with them. And as people were believing, he confirmed the word they preached with the signs he just told them. They would go out and preach the gospel. Jesus would work. And guess what would happen? An apostle like the apostle Paul, he got bit by snake on his way to Rome. He shakes the snake off in the fire. They're like, this is the great power of God. That was the sign confirming God's word. What else happened? The apostles raised sick people. If someone drank poison in a particular situation, it wouldn't hurt. It didn't hurt them. There were instances. This was not something that took place all the time. It didn't mean that, oh, if you become a Christian, you can go out and get bit by snakes. Nothing happens to you. You can drink poison. That happens. No. What he was saying was, you're going to go preach the gospel. And those are going to be people who believe. And there will be signs confirming your message, miraculous signs confirming your message. And those signs took place, as it says, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. So those signs were not normative. If those things were normative, they would not be signs anymore. People would be used to them. They were things that took place to confirm what those apostles preached. After that confirmation was done, people said, ah, Jesus is raised from the dead. Look what Jesus just did. Now he did it through his apostles instead of things that he did miraculously when he was here as an individual. He's now doing it through his people. The word was confirmed. And after the word was confirmed and the gospel went out, those signs stopped. They are not signs, excuse me, they are not normative works for believers in the church. They are abnormal works for unbelievers in whatever circumstance it's in. Whether it's to confirm to the apostles, oh, Gentiles can be saved too. Or whether it's to confirm to unbelievers, oh, this is the truth they're speaking. Those signs were given to confirm the word and after it confirmed it, they're done. All right, now let's go ahead and look. If you would, please, let's go to. First Corinthians chapter 14, first Corinthians chapter 14. First Corinthians chapter 14. We're going to look here in verse one. When the Holy Spirit came, people spoke in those earthly languages that confirmed what the apostles preached. It confirmed that the Holy Spirit had come, that Jesus is still alive and he's now working in the body of the church. Those signs were again not normative and then they completely ceased. All right, now watch what Paul says. This is when the apostles were still living and you'll see that not everybody spoke in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit. There are churches today, I won't quit saying spoken languages, all right, because that's what it's saying. There are churches today that say if you have not spoken in tongues, this mysterious language that nobody understands, then you're not saved. I know people who believe that there are churches in this county that preach and teach that. All right, now let's go ahead and look here in the first Corinthians 14. One Paul said Paul tells the church of Corinth, fall after charity. Now charity is love. Okay, so follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. So he's saying you want love. Spiritual gifts is great, but the best thing is that you prophesy. Now, what am I doing right now? I'm prophesying to you. I am taking God's word and I am fourth telling it to you and giving you understanding of the Scriptures. All right, verse two, for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue. Ah, here we go. An unknown tongue. Do you know Spanish? Do you know Russian? Do you know Chinese? No, that's an unknown tongue to you. If I, now if Brother Shepherd was teaching up here right now, he speaks in an unknown tongue. He speaks English and Spanish fluently. He has the ability to speak Spanish. I have the ability to speak very broken, pathetic Spanish. It would sound like Tarzan, me Tarzan, you Jane, Sabi, you know. Okay, so, but if he came here and he has that ability to speak in an unknown tongue to you or a language that's unknown to you, that's terrific. He can get up here and speak fluently. He can speak the most beautiful sermon, do the most beautiful, wonderful inspirational building on Jesus. And what good would that do you? It would do no good at all. He could love you, but is he prophesying to you? No, he's rattling off in the air. That's all he's doing. So he says, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God." Why? "For no man understandeth him." How but in the spirit he speaks mysteries. So if Brother Shepherd is here and he is preaching in Spanish to you, he's filled with the Holy Spirit. He's teaching the truth of God's Word. And you're in here and none of you know what he's saying. God understands him. The Holy Spirit understands him. His Spirit has that understanding, but you don't have that understanding. And so he's speaking mysteries to you because you don't know what he's saying. The men don't understand. Well, God doesn't need the Bible teaching. The Holy Spirit doesn't need the Bible teaching. You are the one that needs the Bible teaching. And so if you'll look here in verse 3, "But he that prophesieth," that's what I'm doing now, "speaketh unto men to edification." Edification means building up. So right now as I'm teaching in the language you understand, by the gift of the teaching of the Holy Spirit that God has given me, I am reading the Word, and by God's Spirit I'm prophesying or edifying you so as you're learning this truth you're getting built up in your understanding and faith of God's Word. All right? So he that prophesieth, as I'm doing, speaks to men. I'm speaking to you. To edification, you're building up. To exhortation, your encouragement and comfort. You see that? Now look in verse 4, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue," Brother Shepherd speaking in Spanish, "edifies himself." He's the only one getting anything out of it. You see how simple this is? He edifies himself. Now notice something here. The people who claim that when you speak in an unknown tongue, the speaker doesn't know what it means. They say, "Well, the person speaking it, they don't know what they're saying, so there has to be some interpreter in the room who can then interpret what he's saying because he doesn't know what he's saying." That's a lie. As it says right here, when he speaks in an unknown tongue, he's edifying himself. He does know what he's saying. But he that prophesieth edifies the church. So if Brother Shepherd's speaking Spanish, he's the only one getting anything out of it. But if he's speaking to you in a language you can understand, he's not just edifying himself. The whole church is being edified. They're all being profited by it. Now watch this. Verse 5, "I would that ye all speak with tongues." I wish you all could speak in all these different languages, but rather that ye prophesied. Hey, it's great. If God has given you the gift to speak in another language, that's absolutely wonderful. But it's better, instead of just speaking in another language and showing off, it's better that you prophesy and actually help somebody. What are you thinking? That's what Paul's saying. So look here now. But rather that you prophesy. "For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with languages, except he interpret that the church may receive edifying." All right. Let's say then that we have a group full of people here, and you've seen this before, possibly. But let's say we have a group full of people here. We've got some that speak Spanish. We've got some that speak English. If I'm speaking Spanish, then this is great. These folks understand. You guys aren't being helped out at all. So if I'm going to speak in a language unknown to you, I need to make sure and interpret so you can understand that language. All right? Now, if I'm speaking Spanish to these people, and I know Spanish, but I don't have the gift of interpreting that for you because I don't speak your language, then I need another person to interpret as I'm preaching, or I need to pray that God will give me the gift of speaking your language too so I can interpret for you. That's the gift of interpretation. You see, it just makes so much sense. Now, let's keep reading here. Verse 6, excuse me. "Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues or languages, what shall I profit you except I speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophesying or by doctrine?" In other words, if I come speaking unto you in different languages, but nothing new is revealed to you, there's no doctrine that you're being taught, you're not receiving any knowledge, what good have I done you? I haven't done any good at all. Verse 7, "And even things without life-giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" See what Paul's saying? So, you've got an army, you've got the cavalry. Maybe we should make it a little newer, because no one's been to the cavalry here before. But, you know, they would play the sounds on the bugle for retreat, for charge, for gather together or whatever they did. And Paul's saying, "If someone takes that, let's say it's revelry, all right, let's say it's early in the morning, it's time to wake up." How does that go? [humming] Well, what if someone gets out there with the trumpet and they go, they start playing the blues or something, or jazz or whatever. No one's going to know what they're telling them. I'm going to keep laying there and listen to them. Yeah, you're going to keep laying there and listen to them. You may go back to sleep, you know. So, unless it's distinct and it gives meaning to the person hearing it, it's absolutely useless. And Paul is telling these people, if God had given them the gift of speaking in Hebrew, for example, which is why people wanted to speak back then, because that was the original language. If God gave them the gift of speaking in another language to be able to help reach a different people group back then, if God gave me, if it was back then and signs were being confirmed, and back then God gave me the gift of speaking the Nigerian language to Brother Wisdom people, and I went over there and spoke to them, well, I come back, I still had that gift of speaking. What good is it for me to show off and start speaking in Nigerian to you? Paul's saying, "Don't do that." Now, what do we see in these charismatic churches today? The exact opposite of what the Bible is saying. Number one, the people speaking don't even know what they're saying. Number two, the people they're speaking to don't even know what they're saying. And nothing is anything like what the Bible says. Number three, 90% of the time the people speaking are women who Paul says to keep silent in the church. Everything is the exact opposite of what the Scripture says. That's not the Holy Spirit doing this. That is their flesh. I think in some cases it's the devil. And it's an unholy spirit. I have heard people with my own ears say that they, and these Pentecostal churches, had began to speak in these babbling, quote-unquote, tongues. And the next thing you know, the sounds would get in their mind and the languages would get in their mind. The next thing you know, it turns into blasphemy against God and they keep hearing it in their head. And I felt sorry for these people. But I believe a lot of these people, because they reject God's clear teaching of His Word, they reject the gospel, they get off into this heathenistic, paganistic rituals, because some pagans do the same thing, and they get caught up in this and it's actually devils. But the main thing is to understand this. Verse 9, "Now so likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken, for ye shall speak into the air." And what are we seeing in these charismatic churches? They're not speaking words that are easy to be understood, they're speaking into the air. Here's another thing. People who say that you can't have a Bible translated in the common language that people speak today, they're wrong. If I'm speaking in a language, in an archaic language, and you don't know what those words mean, I'm speaking into the air. God wants us to understand what's being taught. He wants us to understand His Word to us, and He wants us to grow by it and not be deceived by these other things. Look here now in verse 10, "There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification." There's all kinds of languages in the world, and they all mean something to somebody, is what He's saying. Verse 11, "Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto Him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me." So He's saying, if I don't know the meaning of the voice, then the person that's speaking, I'm not the barbarian to that person. And that person becomes like a barbarian to me. Now again, what's He talking about? He says, "There's so many voices in the world," He's talking about worldly languages. He says, "They all have meaning, but if I don't understand the meaning, someone's talking to me in this unknown language, well, they're like a barbarian to me, and I'm like a barbarian." We don't even, we can't even communicate to each other. So again, it's so clear what Paul is saying. Now look here if you would. Verse 12, "Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church." Whatever you do, make sure the church is edified. Verse 13, "Wherefore, let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue," or a tongue that people, a language that other people understand, "pray that he may interpret." And if you can't interpret, keep your mouth shut. That's what Paul's saying. If you can't interpret, keep your mouth shut. Look now in verse 14, "For if I pray in an unknown tongue," if I pray in a language, if I'm up here right now, and let's say I close in prayer, and I pray in a language that you don't understand, my spirit prays, "I'm praying to God in my spirit, but my understanding is unfruitful." I'm praying to God in my spirit. I understand what I'm praying. God understands what I'm praying, but what I understand is unfruitful to you. Okay? So watch what he says here now. What is it then? Verse 15. In other words, how do we conclude? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. In other words, I want to pray to God in the spirit, and I want to make sure when I pray that everyone hears me understands too. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else, when thou shalt bless with the spirit, or give thanks in your tongue, how shall he that occupy the room of the unlearned say Amen at that giving of thanks? Sing he understandeth not what thou sayest. In other words, when I get through, let's say that I blessed the food today, which we're not having today, but let's say we had a dinner on the grounds, and I say, "Ah, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la." And I get through, well, I understood what I said. God understood what I said. You don't understand what I say. So my understanding is unfruitful, and Paul's saying, "How can the person occupying the room when you're praying say Amen when you give thanks?" They don't even know what you said. They can't say Amen, which means I agree. They don't, because they don't know what they're agreeing to. You've even been ravin' off some business proposal. I agree, you know. No, join the army or whatever. So he's saying, "How can they say it?" Verse 17, "For thou verily give us thanks well." But the other is not edified. In other words, there's nothing wrong with you praying in a different language. God understands all of them. But when you're in a group, everyone can understand because the other guy's not edified. They're not receiving any benefit from this. Let's go ahead and look here now. Verse 18, "I think, my God, I speak with tongues or languages more than you all." Paul spoke in several languages. Yet in the church, I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice, I might teach others also than 10,000 words with an unknown language. Man, it didn't get any clearer than that, folks. It didn't get any clearer than that. Yep. So verse 20, "Brethren, be not children understanding. How bid in malice be you children, but understanding be men." Verse 21, "In the law it is written, with men of other languages," and we'll keep saying languages, "and other lips, will I speak unto this people? In it for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord." So Paul's now quoting from the Old Testament. Paul says, "It's written in the Old Testament. God said with men of other languages, I want to speak to the Jews, and they still won't hear me." What that meant was this. The Jews would disobey God. The Jews would be scattered out from Israel. We've learned about that, right? They split up, then Assyria got them, then Babylon got them, and then Rome, and then Greece, and all that. So they all get scattered out. And so God ends up speaking to them with men of other languages, because they get sent out to these other areas. And now when they come back to Jerusalem, what's happening? Everyone speaks different languages, and a lot of them don't even speak Hebrew anymore. And so God says, "Even if I do that, they still won't listen to me. Even if I scatter them all over the world, and they're having to hear people in different languages, they still won't listen to me." Watch what Paul concludes now. Verse 22, "Wherefore tongues," or languages, "are for a sign," watch this now, "not to them that believe, but to them that believe not." Tongues are for signs to unbelieving people. The Jews were unbelievers, and God spoke to them with these other languages, and they're like, "Well, they still won't listen to God. They're still going to rebel. They're still not going to turn back to Him." So he says, "But prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe." In other words, if you want to speak in a different language by the gift of the Holy Spirit, then that would be God using that language to confirm the message you're speaking in someone hearing you in a language they understand that you don't naturally know. Other than that, when you're in the church and you're among believers, speak the language everyone speaks. That's simple, okay? So when they don't do that, it's sin. It's sin. They're doing it in disobedience to God's Word. Now, look here, if you would, real quick, before we finish here, go down to verse 26. "How is it then, brethren, when you come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation, that all things be done unto edifying." It was chaotic in that church. Paul said, "Don't let it be that way." If any man's speaking an unknown language, let it be by two or at the most by three in that back course and let one interpret. In other words, if you speak in a different language, make sure... I mean, have it at a minimum two or three different languages in the service and no more because it would get chaotic and it would just... I mean, it'd be better to split up and have different bodies where people speak just that language. He said, "So don't do any more than two or three and do it by course and make sure someone's interpreting so everybody understands." That's not at all what happens in these charismatic churches because it's not what God's describing here. They're making up a tongue that does not exist. All right, let's go ahead and look here now. Verse 28, "But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God." If I speak... Brother Shepherd speaks Spanish, great. If he wants to pray in Spanish to God, let him pray in Spanish to God. But when he's here, he better speak in English. That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. All right, so... Let's move down again. Verse 34, "Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in church." In the church. Now, when you see that, and you see, okay, everybody is gibber-jaggering. Nobody knows what they're saying. They say it's a different language, a heavenly language, and it's almost always women doing it. Trust me, folks, the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict His Word. It's not going to do it. He's not going to tell you one thing in the Bible and do another thing through you in the church. Not going to happen. All right, so with that, let's go ahead. Does any other questions on the speaking in tongues that doesn't make sense? In other passages Paul asks, "Do everyone speak in tongues?" No, we're about to move on to something else now about speaking in tongues here in just a moment. But if you have a question, please ask it now so I can get this behind us and move on to something else. And while you may be thinking or typing in here, if you would, go ahead and turn to Acts 10. Then we'll go to -- if we have time -- Acts 10. Boy, this is passing by quickly today. Okay, in Acts 10, there was a Gentile named Cornelius. Cornelius believed in God. He believed the Old Testament Scriptures, but he had not yet heard the good news that the promised Savior had come. God told Cornelius to send for the apostle Peter and have Peter come tell him something. God then told Peter, "You go speak to Cornelius and tell him the gospel." So they sent -- Cornelius sent some messengers to Peter. God said, "Follow those men and do what they request." Peter then follows them back out of town to the Gentile Cornelius' house. At this time, the gospel was mainly about Jews, and the apostles needed convincing that the Gentiles also were going to be part of the church. They supposed to have been unclean, you know, but they are going to be part of the church. And so let's go ahead and look here now. And verse 34, Acts 10, 34, "Then Peter is now in Cornelius' house. Then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh in righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent into the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. That word I say you know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee to the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed. The devil for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all people, but unto witnesses chosen before God, who had given to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. Now this is new to Cornelius and his people. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which is ordained of God to be the judge of the quick, that means the living and dead. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission, that means forgiveness of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished. As many as came with Peter because it on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, "Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, but receive the Holy Ghost as well as we?" So you see how the tongues confirmed to the apostles then, "Oh wow, the Gentiles can be saved just like us. Jesus died and rose for them too." And so they baptized them and hey, you're part of the church now. Because they heard them speak in these languages, glorifying God and they said, "Man, that's the same thing that happened to us on Pentecost." They're part of the church too. You know what the neat thing about this is? They believed, they received the Holy Spirit and they weren't baptized. You see that? They were already saved and they hadn't been baptized in water. They'd been baptized by the Spirit. "He that believeth and did baptize shall be saved." Remember, Jesus told them, you know, that you're going to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, not many days, hence. They received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And now these people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When they believed the gospel, they speak in these languages which convinced Peter and his group and because of that they then baptized them in water. So baptism in water doesn't save us. That came after they believed, after they were saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. Just to sum this up real quick, there were times when the church was really, really new, when the apostles could lay hands on people and the Holy Ghost would come upon them, as it did on the day of Pentecost. That went away. Again, that was signs confirming these are the men of God. That went away. When Paul spoke to the Ephesian church, he told them they were sealed with the Holy Spirit when they believed. And we are sealed with the Holy Spirit when we believe. There are no more apostles anymore. There are no more confirming signs. The words have been confirmed. The apostles confirmed it. They gave witness of the death and resurrection of Christ. We now have their records, and now we're preaching that truth.