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Introduction: The present day charismatic movement is
creating great confusion in the minds of many Christians. This movement
has two main emphases: Healing and tongues. The leaders of
this movement emphasize signs and wonders. Jesus warned that in the last days
Satan’s deception would become so great that, “if it were possible” even
the elect would be deceived. Jesus warned that these “false Christ’s,
and false prophets, shall shew great signs and great wonders” Matthew
24:24.
Does that mean that God no longer operates by doing signs and
wonders?
God is God and He can do as He chooses. God is
performing wonderful acts in these last days; the greatest of all being
the conversion of sinners to faith in His Son. Our God
is an awesome God. I have seen God do some wonderful and
miraculous things in India. The country of India is still much like
it must have been in the days of Christ; disease, poverty and sickness
abound.
Satan has enslaved the majority of the Asian people for
centuries.
In response to people’s childlike faith we have seen God do some
miraculous things. The occurrences that I am familiar with
have been miraculous manifestations of God’s awesome power. They have not
been performed on some television show but rather in obscure places and
with obscure, humble people. Our God will not share His glory with
anyone.
What is taking place in these “so-called” healing meetings is an
absolute disgrace to the holy name of our great God. These
self-professed “healers” are precisely the ones whom Paul and Jesus warned
us of. In
Acts 20:29-30 the Apostle Paul said, “For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
flock”.
Paul knew the power of Satan’s deceptive ways. “For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light” II Corinthians 11:13-14. In II
Thessalonians 2 Paul warned that the “day of Christ…shall not come, except
there come a falling away first”. This “falling away” means a departure
from the truth, the Scriptures. Paul also warned that this man of sin,
the antichrist would come “after the working of Satan with all power and
signs and lying wonders”. The false prophet will also display
these same powers to deceive people, Revelation 13:11-18. Could it be
possible that much of what we are seeing today is Satan’s preparation and
conditioning of people’s minds to receive his great deception, II
Thessalonians 2:10-12? See also Matthew 7:15-23. Jesus said,
“Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. Jesus warned that “an evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be
given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” Matthew 12:39. In Luke 16
there is an account of a man who died and went to hell. In hell he
became a believer but it was too late. He requested for someone to go to his
father’s house and warn his five brethren “lest they come into this place
of torment”.
Abraham’s reply is very interesting. He said, “they have Moses and the
prophets; let them hear them…if they hear not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead” Luke
16:28-31.
People are no different today than in Christ’s day. They are
saying, “if only I could see some manifestation of God, some miracle, some
sign from above, then I would believe”. Jesus said that this kind of heart is
“evil and adulterous”. I believe that a careful examination of
the Scriptures will reveal that this present day charismatic movement is
totally unscriptural. I. The purpose of sign gifts in the days of
Christ and the infancy of the church: A. Tongues
- a sign to the Jews - I Cor. 1:22 & I Cor. 14:22. There were
four never to be repeated occurrences of the out-pouring of the Holy
Spirit.
In three of the four occurrences the manifestation was speaking
with other tongues(languages). 1 - The Holy Spirit given to the Jews at Pentecost -
Acts 2:1-4 - to verify that Christ was at the right hand of God the Father
- Acts 2:33; John 14:16-26; Acts 1:4-5. 2 - The Holy Spirit now given to the
Samaritans (to the Jews they were outcasts - John 4:9) - Acts 8:14-17 3 - The Holy Spirit now given to the
Gentiles (to the Jews they were unclean - Acts 10:14) - Acts 10:44-48;
Acts 11:15-18; Acts 15:7-9. 4 - The Holy Spirit given to the
followers of John the Baptist - Acts 19:1-6. B. A means of evangelizing and accelerating
the spread of the Gospel- Jesus said, “greater works than these shall he do;
because I go unto my Father” John 14:12. In the following verses He was clearly
referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit. See also John 7:37-39; Acts 1:4-58; Acts
2:8,11 & 17-18; Acts 13:9-12 C. A means of verification - Acts 2:22 & 33-36; Matthew 4:23-24; Matthew
8:14-17; Matt. 9:4-6; Matt. 9:35 “every sickness and every disease” Acts
3:1-11; 4:13-16; Acts 5:17-25. D. A means of authentification because the New Testament had not yet been
completed:
Mark 16:15-20; Acts 14:3; Hebrews
2:3-4. II. A careful study of Scripture clearly reveals that some of the “gifts” were temporary gifts for the formation of the early church - I Corinthians 13:8-12 A. The “gift of tongues” I Corinthians 13:8 -“tongues shall cease”. See IA,B,C,D
above. B. The “gift of an Apostle”, Ephesians 4:11. An Apostle was required to have been an
eye-witness of the resurrected Christ. Acts 1:2-3; Acts 1:22 “must one be
ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection”. 1- Matthias - Acts 1:22 Appointed by men but not God. 2- The Apostle Paul - Chosen by God, Acts 9:15-16. a. I Cor. 9:1 - “Am I not an apostle? Am I not
free?
Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? b. Acts 9:3 - 6; Acts 26:13 - 16; Galatians 1:11 - 20 3- According to Revelation 21:14 there are only twelve
apostles. 4- They alone were endued with the special “sign gifts” -
Acts 2:43; Acts 5:12; II Corinthians 12:12. C. The “gift of prophecy”. 1- This gift was God’s means of giving new revelations
and predicting the future because the Scriptures had not been
completed.
If this gift were still in the church then we would still be
receiving new revelations and future predictions. This would
create great confusion. Joseph Smith the founder of the Mormons
claims to have received “new revelations”. Thus, we have the Church of Jesus Christ
of the Latter Day Saints and the “Book of Mormon”. What saith the
Scriptures about this? The “gift of prophecy” was another
temporary gift - I Corinthians 13:8 - “they shall fail”(stop). This gift
stopped once the canon was completed. 2- It could also mean the ability to “preach” and expound
the scriptures.
By all means we need many more men who possess this divine ability
to rightly divide and expound the word of truth. a- Isaiah 8:20 - “To the law and to the
testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them”. Also I Corinthians 14:32-33. b.- Revelation 22:19 - “And if any man shall
take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the things written in this book”. c.- II Timothy 3:16-17 - “All scripture is
given by inspiration of God”. d.- II Peter 1:19-21 - “No prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation”. e.- Matthew 24:35 - “Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away”. f.- Psalm 119:89 - “Forever, O LORD, thy
word is settled in heaven”. D.
The “gift of knowledge”. In I Corinthians it is referred to as “a
word of knowledge”. According to I Corinthians 13:8 Paul
said the day would come when this temporary gift would “vanish away”. Again, prior
to the completion of the Scriptures this gift was needed. Now we have
the completed Scriptures. All that is necessary for us to live a
life of godliness and purity is embodied within the Old and New
Testaments.
All that we need to know regarding this life and the life to come
is in the Bible. E. I Corinthians 13:10 - “when that which is perfect is come, then that which
is in part shall be done away”. “that which is perfect”. This could
mean three things. 1- It could refer to Christ. 2- It could refer to spiritual maturity. 3- It could mean the New Testament, “the perfect law of
liberty”. a. As to the first, this is unlikely what Paul is
referring to.
If Paul was referring to the second coming of Christ why did he
say, “we know in part and we prophesy in part”. Clearly he is
referring to something other than Christ. The word “perfect” generally throughout
Scripture refers to one who is “complete or spiritually mature”. It is the Word
of God that is the instrument through which any man is made perfect -
Psalm 119; II Timothy 3:16-17. This is precisely the picture that James
portrays for us in James 1:23-25. He refers to the New Testament as being
“the perfect law of liberty”. b. In context it would appear that regarding spiritual
gifts there would come a time when the “childish things” meaning certain
temporary gifts that were to aid in the development of the infant church
would no longer be needed for its development, I Corinthians 13:8-12, thus
Paul admonishes the believers at Corinth “to put away childish
things”.
These were legitimate gifts but Paul was saying the time would come
when there would no longer be a need for them. This is the
exact reason why Paul said he could not speak unto them as spiritual but
as unto babes in Christ. He said they were carnal. This is not to
be the goal for our lives. We are to be spiritual men and
women. We
are to go on to perfection, Hebrews 6:1. We now have the “perfect law of
liberty”, the completed New Testament. “If they speak not according to this law
it is because there is no light in them”.
III. Why did Paul mention tongues as one of the gifts of the Spirit? I Corinthians 12 A. I Corinthians was written to
correct problems within this “carnally minded assembly” I Corinthians
3:1. In I
Corinthians 12-14 Paul deals with the many problems occurring within their
assembly regarding spiritual gifts and the main problem addressed in these
three chapters was the misuse and abuse of the gift of languages. He devotes
almost two full chapters in addressing this problem. He tells them
to stop being children and put away their childish things. Paul was not
commending them but rather he was correcting them for their misuse and
abuse of their spiritual gifts.
B. Tongues means language. “Glossa” in
the Greek means language. It could mean someone’s native tongue or
literally ones “organ” of speech. C. Acts 2:3 used one time and means the
visible evidence of the appearance of God. D. Sixteen times as an “organ of speech”-
Mark 7:33; Rom. 3:13; I Cor. 14:9; James 3:6. E. Thirty three times “glossa” appears as other
languages- Acts 2:4, 8-11. To many these words being spoken
appeared as “babbling” unintelligible, unknown or unrecognized utterances
but to the many others gathered at Jerusalem on this day they were clearly
hearing in their native language about the marvelous work of Christ; His
death, burial and resurrection (Acts 2:11). In this case as Paul stated in I
Corinthians 14:22, “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that
believe, but to them that believe not”. They were claiming it was for
self-edification. Paul clearly teaches themThe church at
Corinth had perverted and twisted the true purpose of the gift. Paul explained
that God had foretold (verse 21) this special manifestation (Isaiah
28:11-12) was for the Jewish nation and yet in spite of this miracle “they
would not hear” or believe. F. When I have traveled to other countries it would be
wonderful to immediately begin speaking and understanding their language
but that is not the case. We must always speak through an
interpreter just as Paul explained in I Corinthians 14. Many of the
men whom we have used have the ability to speak a number of languages that
they had to learn. God has given some people the ability to
quickly grasp and understand multiple languages through hard work and
study.
IV. Tongues as an Evidence of the Spirit's
Filling - True or False? A. There are only three recorded instances in the book of
Acts when men spoke with “other tongues”(languages) thus revealing the
filling of the Holy Ghost: 1- Acts 2:1-4 2- Acts 10:44-48 3- Acts 19:1-6 B. Clearly each of these occurrences was for a sign to
the Jews (I Corinthians 1:22: Isaiah 28:11), that the Holy Spirit had now
been given to “all” men. Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans, and even
followers of John the Baptist who had never prior to Acts 19:1-6 been
enlightened to the finished work of Christ on Calvary. C. The present day charismatic movement always emphasizes
the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity. Jesus said,
“when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for
he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall
receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” John 16:13-14. Jesus said
that anyone who is in the Spirit will always exalt Jesus Christ because
the true work of the Holy Spirit is not to “speak of himself” but instead
to speak of Jesus Christ (Acts 3:12-13; 4:8-10).. D. There are numbers of examples of people who were
filled with the Holy Spirit but did NOT speak with tongues 1- John the Baptist - Luke 1:13-17 2- Elizabeth - Luke 1:41 3- Zacharias - Luke 1:67 4- The Lord Jesus - Luke 3:21-22;4:1,14,18 & Acts
10:38 5- The Church at Jerusalem - Acts 2:38-41 & 4:31. 6- The Apostle Peter - Acts 4:8 7- Stephen - Acts 4:31 & 6:5 8- The Samaritan Converts - Acts 8:14-17 9- The Apostle Paul - Acts 9:17 10-
Barnabus - Acts 11:24 11-
The Corinthians - Acts 18:7-8 12-
The Ephesians - Acts 19:18-20 E. The TRUE evidences of one who is filled with the Holy
Spirit are: 1- Bold, fearless preaching - Acts 4:8 & 31; 5:40-42;
9:18-20 & 29. 2- A sweet spirit of unity and submissiveness - Acts
4:32; Acts 7:55-60; Ephesians 4:3-6 & 18-33. 3- A generous giving spirit - Acts 2:44-45 &
4:34-35. 4- Honesty and holiness - Acts 6:3 5- Supernatural wisdom - Acts 6:3 & 10. 6- A great faith - Acts 6:8 & 11:24. 7- A hatred of evil - Acts 13:6-12. F. Whenever this gift is practiced today it is always in
clear violation of the scriptures. 1- Women were forbidden to speak in languages - I
Corinthians 14:34-35. Almost without exception these are the
very ones “claiming” to have this gift.. 2- An interpreter was ALWAYS to be present - I
Corinthians 14:27-28. No exceptions. The goal is
always to be the edifying of the entire body - I Corinthians 14:12,
19-20. V. Tongues Historically: |