In this sermon, the preacher focuses on Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7, which talks about how every believer is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. The preacher emphasizes that Jesus, after ascending to heaven, also descended to the lower parts of the earth. The sermon highlights the gifts that Christ has given to the church, including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The preacher shares a personal story of someone who experienced the baptism of the Spirit and spoke in tongues, leading to a newfound joy and love for the Lord.

I've announced last night we want to consider tonight a study of a problem that has come into Christendom all too lately, a new penetration of tongues. I want to take up this problem tonight under about five headings. I want to consider the history of it, the latest movements, the purpose, and then I want to consider the history of the tongues movement in the Old Testament, in the New Testament. Should I hold off for just a moment? We'll consider a history of it in Acts, we'll consider the purpose of the gift of tongues, we'll consider the regulation of it, the abuse of it, and the good that may result from the modern movement. Now, the good that will result from the modern movement will be the challenge it will be for you and me to live a supernatural life in the right way without without going or without, shall we say, taking up a manifestation of this kind which obviously is of a supernatural character and boasts itself of a supernatural nature but which I believe may be in some instances indeed supernatural but from the wrong source. I don't think that you and I need to be in any doubt about this tongues movement. Either it is of God or it is not of God. I know some writers writing in Christian periodicals today are more or less sympathetic with the movement. I think they are afraid to say that it isn't of God to fear they might be proven wrong. Well, I am not of a divided opinion. I do not believe it is of God, and I am going to tell you why. We're going to take perhaps an hour in doing so. Now, I would much rather not minister along this line. I think the devil would like to have us stopping holes and dams. I think he would like to trouble us. I think he would like to distract us by things of this nature, and I really have no pleasure in administering this subject to you tonight other than perhaps sparing someone from falling into the error. If there is any good comes at all, it will be as we have to consider the lack of the supernatural in our own lives and judge that lack and live a supernatural life in our own right so that we may indeed authenticate Christianity as these people think they are doing indeed. But I don't believe they are. Now, for years the only segment of Christendom, and I say Christendom as opposed to Christianity, the only segment of Christendom which has taken up the tongues movement are the people that we know as Pentecostals. Soon after the turn of the century, the 20th century, the tongues movement began among the peoples referred to as the Pentecostals. Now, the movement was radical from the very, very beginning of the most radical nature. I recall in my early days when I rushed in sometimes where angels fear to tread, my brother and I attended a camp meeting of Pentecostals. We heard quite a good gospel message that night. As a matter of fact, I think God could have used that message perhaps to save a soul that needed salvation there that night. However, after the message there was the altar call given. Some came forward, and some came to help them to pray, and some began to pray in tongues, and then they were so overcome in emotion that some of the ladies began to roll on the grass up before the pulpit. There was a confusion. There was a babble. The noise was terrific, and as the ladies rolled over and over, their dresses began to creep up upon them, and my brother and I decided that it was time to leave. Now, that was indeed all too common in Pentecostal circles in their use of the tongues movement, and their use of tongues in that movement. However, the latest tongue movement is entirely different. It is more or less a sober, staid thing. It has come through an entirely different segment of Christendom. It has come through what might be referred to, or some refer to this source of entrance, this source of penetration, as through old lion denominations. By that, I mean Episcopalian, Lutheran, and other old lion denominations, Presbyterian, some infants even Methodist. I think probably the most remarkable demonstration occurred in Yale University in October of 1962. In the inter-varsity group, the inter-varsity Christian fellowship at Yale University, some of them were studying these things, and they received what they claimed to be the baptism of the Spirit. They wrote a series of personal testimonies these young lads did, and it was published in Trinity Magazine, a magazine of the Episcopal Church. I read these articles myself. I had access to that magazine. If one could believe them, indeed they had a remarkable experience. I had heard that the tongues' penetration was causing a great stir in Christendom today. Some ill-advisedly said that we could use more manifestation of the Spirit. People that you wouldn't expect to say it. People who were afraid to say that it wasn't of God, and who perhaps couldn't refute it upon scriptural ground. More recently, I became vitally concerned about this movement, because it has taken away from some of our assemblies, Christian families, and transferred them into that movement. My own youngest brother, Bud, perhaps known to just a few of you here, kept writing me from California that he was enjoying the Lord as he never enjoyed Him before. And I wrote back and I told him, I said, Bud, I'm glad to hear this. Well, I was until December when I visited California. My brother said, Ken, I want to take a ride. I want to talk with you. We rode out to a spot near one of the ship canals there in Long Beach, and he said, I purposely did not write everything to you because I wanted to, in an orderly fashion, bring before you the blessing that I have received. The upshot of it was, my brother had received the baptism of the Spirit and was speaking in tongues, and he also had been used, so he said, to heal his mother-in-law and his daughter-in-law in periods of real, definite, serious illness. I was shocked. I became vitally concerned, and you can be sure that I went into the tongues movement as never I had before. It may interest you to know that this has bothered some of the assemblies in Canada and some of the assemblies on the West Coast. Two or three men who have been commended to full-time service have had to be set aside because of taking up with the tongues movement. The latest penetration is indeed, I believe, the most subtle and the most dangerous at all because of its moderate character. They believe in regulating it in accordance with the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and I may say right at the outset of this meeting, I believe that Satan has thought that he has corrected his original error. He introduced the tongues movement into the wrong group, and it seems to me that the manifestation of tongues we have seen in Pentecostal circles is revolting even to common sense, much less spiritual common sense. But, this latest movement is something different entirely, and it is far more dangerous. Perhaps I can just give you a little indication of how it is making its inroads by telling you my brother's experience. My brother, because of his wife's quarrel with the assemblies in their early days, went to fellowship with a certain Baptist church in Long Beach, California. A man came down from Alaska, and this thing, I may say, spread like wildfire from Yale University campus. I don't know how it traveled so fast, but it did. This man came down from Canada, or from Alaska rather, and he came to this Baptist church and told them of the bliss that awaited those who would wait upon God and receive the baptism of the Spirit so that they could speak in tongues. He had several lecture courses. My brother attended them, and on one occasion he was with my brother, and he said to him, would you like to receive the baptism of the Spirit? By this time his interest was stirred, and he says, I want all that God has gotten for me. He told me, frankly, he said, Ken, he said, at first I thought it was of the devil, but he said this man was an earnest man. He was a spiritual man, and he saw results. He said he talked with me, and on this occasion when he asked me if I wanted to receive the baptism of the Spirit, I said yes. I thought I'm going to give this thing a try. Well, the man laid his hands upon him and prayed over him, and after prayer he opened his eyes, and Bud opened his eyes, and he says, my brother Bud says, I didn't feel a thing. Well, he says, what did you expect to feel? Well, he says, I thought I would feel a real thrill. I thought I would feel a lift. I thought I would feel ecstasy within my soul. Well, the man says, do you always expect the Spirit to act that way? Well, he says, start praising the Lord. Start praising the Lord in the only language you know. My brother Bud started praising the Lord, and Bud said, the first thing I know, I knew I wasn't speaking English at all. He says, I was speaking a foreign language. I don't know what it was. I think he said that it was Italian. After he was through praising the Lord, and Bud said he was in a state of pure ecstasy. He said he'd never felt this joy in his soul in all his life. He said that when he went home, well, the story isn't complete as the two of them were together. He asked the man, his benefactor so-called, he said, what did I say? The man says, well, as you had to wait upon the Spirit of God to speak in tongues, so I must wait upon the Spirit of God to interpret. And after a while, he evidently felt that he had that prompting, and he began to praise the Lord in English as the interpretation of what my brother said. And he said to me, frankly, I never heard such praise of God in all my life. Now, those are my own brother's words. He told me that he went home, and he studied the scriptures, and he said it seemed that the prince stood right off the page. He had not enjoyed the scriptures as he had in years. He said he had a new power to testify to other people, a new zeal, and a new love for the Lord. Now, he told me his experience, and I listened to it patiently without visible display of emotion. And after he had got through, he said to me, Ken, what do you think of all of this? And I said, well, frankly, Bob, my reaction is just the same as your original reaction. I think it's of the devil. Well, Ken, he says, I have to say I felt that way, too. But, he says, I had to change my mind. He went on to tell me of the healing of his mother-in-law, and the healing of his daughter, and to my great distress, going to some special healing instruction meetings of Oral Roberts. That just took all the spirit out of me. Then I began to talk. He had done his talking, and then I began to talk. I said, Bob, I said, the gifts of the Spirit, or the gifts of the Spirit of God, are sovereign, are they not? And I want to read to you the scripture that I quoted to him. The twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, and verse 7. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will, as he the Spirit will. In other words, the gifts of the Spirit are absolutely sovereign. I said, Bob, I said, you and I have listened to godly men all our lives. Some of them have been common to both of us. I said, if the gifts of the Spirit of God, tongues particularly, if those gifts are sovereign, why in all of our experience didn't the Spirit in his sovereignty give one of those godly men that we knew the power to speak in tongues? Why? Well, he had an answer that it wasn't very coherent. May I say this? That this gift of tongues is spread, and it's spreading like wildfire, through a very carefully plotted course of instruction. It's an indoctrination, and I may say it doesn't come upon a person immediately. Some of the boys, in their testimony at Yale University, said that they longed for the gift. They attended instruction meetings for weeks and months before they finally received the baptism of the Spirit. May I suggest to you that that very indoctrination carries with it the power of suggestion that becomes so strong that it acts absolutely automatically. Now, I'm not saying that the gift of tongues is absolutely auto-hypnotism, self-hypnotism. Not all of it may be. It may be satanic in character. I told him of an article that I had read recently written on this problem of tongues. I said, Bob, the writer concluded his article with these words after realizing that men like John Wesley, Charles Wesley, John Knox, Calvin, Spurgeon, Moody, and he even brought it up to date with Billy Graham, and he said these men did not speak with tongues. And then the writer very cleverly and very wisely told the article one could almost pray that he not receive the baptism of the Spirit, if he could be like men like those. Now, I told my brother, Bud, immediately on the site as we were talking that day, I said the Apostle Paul said, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than ye all, and Paul himself said, I'd rather speak five words with my own understanding. This is recorded in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, verse 18. I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all, and, incidentally, he has put words for this verse we would never have known that the Apostle Paul spoke with tongues, but from this verse we do learn that he did speak in tongues, and he says, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all, yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. I said, Bud, I can still speak five words with my own understanding, and I says, I told him, I do not want, I do not care to have the gift of tongues. I said, all I want to do is to use the one tongue that I have got, and the one tongue that I know, to a better advantage and speak for my blessed Lord. I says, I don't want it. You'll notice right here in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians that Paul has said that they were taking a childish delight in this gift, and, incidentally, the only time that the gift of tongues is mentioned outside of the early chapters in Acts is in connection with the church at Corinth. May I suggest this, that the church at Corinth, spiritually speaking, was at the very bottom of the ladder, and yet it's in this church that they used the gift of tongues to the greatest extent. Now, the Apostle Paul tells them, yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, verse 19, that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding, albeit in malice be children. It's all right to be children in that respect, in the respect of malice. You know, children don't hold any malice. They don't hold any grudges. They have their little disagreements with their playmates, but they get over them. Paul says, if you want to be children in that way, that's all right. But he says, brethren, be not children in understanding, albeit in malice be children, but in understanding be men. Why does he say that? They were taking a childish delight in this speaking in tongues. May I suggest to you that many of those groups that speak in tongues turn the instruction of the Apostle Paul around. They would rather speak ten thousand words in an unknown tongue than five words with their own understanding. Why should one wish to speak in tongues at all? Well, the scripture answers that. There was a need for it at a certain time. Now, those we are in 1 Corinthians, turn to chapter 12 again, if you please. We have in verses 7 to 11 inclusive, the gifts of the Spirit. Some of these people will advance this argument. Here are the gifts of the Spirit, and the gift of tongues is among them, and the interpretation of tongues, and the gift of healing. The argument is advanced. These are the gifts of the Spirit. These gifts were given to the church. Which of these gifts shall we arbitrarily dismiss and say are null and void? If the Spirit is sovereign, are we to say that any of these gifts are null and void? Well, if you quote to them the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, where we read in verse 8, love never faileth, but whether they be prophecies, they shall fail. They shall not fail in the sense that the word of God won't be true, but they shall fail because they have been fulfilled, and they are no longer prophecies. Whether they be tongues, they shall see. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away, for we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I speak as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now, if you read this verse to those people, they will say, certainly tongues will see. When the church is called away, because you remember the Spirit of God gave these gifts to the church, certainly tongues will see. But are you to say that they have seen? Are you to limit the Spirit of God in his giving of the gifts of time? They will also remind you in the last of the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, verse 39, wherefore brethren, cometh to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. This is a scriptural injunction, and what do you mean, so say they, by forbidding us to speak with tongues? And are you willing to limit the Holy Spirit of God in this church age? Are you willing to say that we can arbitrarily dismiss some of the gifts of the Spirit, and say, no, we won't have these, and to arbitrarily expect some of the gifts of the Spirit when he indeed is sovereign? It makes you think, doesn't it? May I suggest this to you? Turn with me, please, to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7 of the fourth chapter of Ephesians. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts from the men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heaven, all heaven that he might fill, all things. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers. These are the gifts of Christ to the church. Now, I would like to ask them, which one of these shall we arbitrarily dismiss? Well, I'll start with the apostles. Yes, I will say we no longer have apostles, and I'll include without profit in the sense that is mentioned here. Notice in the second chapter of Ephesians, we haven't dismissed them. We have put them in the place. Ephesians, chapter 2, and verse 19. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. We haven't dismissed, really, the apostles and the prophets. We have just kept them in their place in the foundation of the church. May I suggest to you that that's where tongues belong, in the foundation of the church? Further, Mark chapter 16. Verse 15 of the 16th chapter of Mark, and the verses that we will read, will confirm the strong Jewish character of the gospel of Mark. I think the real cosmopolitan gospel is the gospel of John, the gospel of Saint John. The world is used so much in that gospel, and it's in that gospel that the Gentiles come seeking for our Lord Jesus. But, notice Mark, if you will, please. The 15th verse of the 16th chapter of Mark, and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And incidentally, let me say that in the second chapter of Acts, these are the very words of Peter in preaching to the Jews. But notice, and these signs, now the Jews require a sign, these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. Now, remember, tongues is a sign. They shall speak with new tongues, 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. But these all take on the character of signs, and I say to those who insist that all of those gifts in the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians are applicable to our age, I say, have you read the 16th chapter of Mark? The signs in which are included the new tongues, now, is there any of that portion of Scripture which you wish to disregard and dismiss? Well, I think there is. That part about taking up the serpents and drinking poison, if you see what I mean. Now, there was a time when these words applied. There was a time when the Apostle Paul indeed was beset by a serpent, and it wrapped itself around his arm, and he shook it off, and he was evidently a very deadly serpent, because they all expected him to fall down dead. But he shook it off, and he felt no harm. I'd like to see one of them try picking up a cobra today, and I think the very thing that they say of you and me, they will practice themselves. There's going to be some of this that they are going to disregard. Now, let's get into the Scriptures and see why the gift of tongues was given. In Acts chapter 2, we read of the of the birth day of the church when the Holy Spirit descended. When the day of Pentecost was 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 all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, and when this was noise abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilean? Now here we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers of Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Amphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Jews, Prophets, Cretes, Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God, and they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Their attention was immediately secured, but of course there were some scoffers as well. They said, Well, these men are simply drunk. They have an easy explanation for it. Now, on this wonderful day, three thousand souls were saved. It was a time of great manifestation of power by the Spirit of God. When the Spirit of God baptized these three thousand souls into the church, now these people heard the scriptures in their own language, and they knew that the men that were speaking were Galilean. It was very evident to them that they did not know these languages, and yet they had the power to speak them. Why this wonderful manifestation? Because God wanted them to hear the gospel in their own language. It was a sign. It was the sign of new tongues which Mark mentioned. Notice also, in this respect, the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians again. Right where we're reading the 21st verse of the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, we'll read the 20th verse to re-establish the connection. Brethren, be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. And the law hath written with men of other tongues, and other lips will I speak unto this people. Yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. For prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe." Now, tongues were for a sign particularly to the Jewish nation, and what a powerful sign it was. It was evidenced by the fact that 3,000 of them in one day and 5,000 within a short time accepted the Lord as their very own. It was a wonderful manifestation indeed. Now, historically in the book of Acts, also Cornelius, which was a Gentile, received the power to speak in tongues. But I want you to notice something particularly in the book of Acts, that when the Holy Spirit came upon men by reason of the laying on of hands, it was a Jewish occasion. Now, this is important, and I want you to notice with me, if you will please, these historical instances. The eighth chapter of Acts, if you please. Eighth chapter of Acts, verse 5, Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed of them. And many, taken with palsies and that were lame, were healed, and there was great joy in that city. Now, verse 12, But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also, and he was baptized, Simon the sorcerer. He continued with Philip, and wandered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Now, I want you to compare with this Acts, chapter 19. Acts, chapter 19. In verse 1, we read, And it came to pass, that while upon us was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Had you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? They said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Then Paul said, Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Will you please notice that in both instances this is with Jewish background. The Samaritans claimed Jewish position. You recall that the woman of Samaria, when the Lord approached her in the fourth chapter of John's Gospel, said, Our father Jacob gave us this will. Are thou greater than our father Jacob? Now, she claimed Jewish position. The Samaritans did claim Jewish position. The Jews resented it. Now, we're not going back into the history of the Samaritans. We've got too much ground to cover tonight. But they claimed Jewish position. Samaria heard the word of God at the mouth of Philip, and they believed in a wonderful way. But in the sovereignty of God, he withheld the Spirit from them. The Spirit did not come upon them. Why? Why not? The Spirit did not come upon them until those brethren came down in Jerusalem and laid their hands upon them, and they received the Spirit of God at that time, at the baptism. Why? I believe that God was stirring, indeed by this act, a rift. I believe God, in all his sovereignty, didn't want Jewish prejudice and Samaritan prejudice to continue into the church. And those Samaritan brethren did not receive the Spirit of God until the Jewish brethren came down from Jerusalem and laid hands upon them, and God gave them the Spirit of God. Can you see the wisdom of God back of all of this? Those Samaritans couldn't boast their independence. They had, indeed, to acknowledge their Jewish brethren. You know, God takes some real pain sometimes to get us to acknowledge one another, and he did in this instance. He used this method. Now, may I suggest to you that the same thing is true in the 19th chapter of Acts. For these men of Ephesus were not Ephesians in the sense that they were Gentiles. They were Jewish proselytes, if not Jews themselves, because they had been baptized with John's baptism, but they had not received the Spirit of God. Paul, at Ephesus, tells them about the baptism of the Lord and upon Christ's mission. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied at the laying on of the hands of Paul, but for a definite purpose. Remember, these were John's disciples. I don't think we quite appreciate the little feud that existed between John's disciples and the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ in our Lord's day. You recall that when John was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to the Lord Jesus. Why should John have had any disciples at all? Why should he have two disciples at hand? Why weren't they all the Lord's disciples? He sent two of his disciples to the Lord Jesus to ask him why he was in prison. I know John said, he must increase, but I must decrease. But why did he have two disciples? Why was there, at Ephesus, a unit of disciples of John the Baptist? The Lord takes care of this matter in the right way. Paul finds them. He says, have you received the Spirit? They said, no. He laid his hands upon them. They received the Spirit, and they spake in tongues. You know, another little rift was heels right here. God wants these rifts healed, and in his wisdom and in his sovereignty, he sees to it that they are healed. So, the apostle lays his hands upon them. They receive the Spirit on our baptized. But, I want you to compare this, please, with Acts chapter 10. Cornelius had sent for the Lord, or for the disciples of the Lord, sent for Peter. And Peter told them about the Lord. And Peter is just beginning his sermon, and he gets down to a point in verse 43 of the 10th chapter of Acts, and says there, to him that is to Christ give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall shall receive remission of sin. Now, Peter tells us in the next chapter that he just began to speak to these people. He just began to get into his sermon, and God saved them all before Peter got a chance to make a claim. I always like to have God save people before I can get to them. Many, many times I've been asked to speak to people, and it pleases me so highly when God saves them before I can get to them. Well, this is just exactly what happened. God worked before Peter was ready for him to work. He'd just begun to speak. But, he gets to this very, very important scripture. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sin. 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 that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gifts 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, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. Now, there's no laying on of hands here to receive the baptism of the Spirit of God, and they get to speak in tongues. There are no hands involved. God says that's all you need, and God in his sovereignty did it. There was no risk to be healed. There was a proof to be given. As a matter of fact, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans or with the Gentiles at all. It was different ground, and there were no laying on of hands at all. This is absolutely purely Gentile. These are not Jewish proselytes, none whatsoever. These got saved entirely independently of Jewish influence. There was no laying on of hands. Now, this is important, because those that confer this gift, this baptism of the Spirit today, are still laying on of hands. Dispensationally, they are entirely out of place. They have no right to confer any such power by the laying on of their hands. Dispensationally, they're just about 2,000 years too late. God is acting in his sovereignty in this day and age. They're out of place, absolutely. As a matter of fact, the laying on of hands was Jewish, and Jewish influence was absolutely foundational in the church. Turn, if you please, to Hebrews chapter 6. In Hebrews 6 and 1, we read, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith for God. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment, you see there are some truths that are foundational in character, and he speaks of not laying these foundations again. The doctrine of baptisms, I suppose, would be the baptism of John first, and then the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ later. The sign character of the gift of tongues was fulfilled in reaching the Jewish nation, but the Jewish nation absolutely rejected our Lord and completely. In 70 A.D., as a nation, they ceased to exist. For Titus the Roman general sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the city completely, burned up their genealogies, destroyed their genealogies, and the nation of Israel was dispersed. Now, if we can only remember that these are signs, and the Jews require a sign, but the Apostle Paul himself says, Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Now, it doesn't mean that Jewish people didn't get saved, perhaps near the end of the first century, but for the most part, the witness to the Jewish nation was over. These are foundational truths, and there was no longer the need for the gift of tongues. The word of God was complete, but I think the most conclusive proof of all was that the Jews were given this special sign, and that sign was fulfilled, and it is absolutely out of place, I believe, to have these things up near the cornerstone, up near the cornice, rather, of the church and sit it down near the cornerstone where they occurred in the beginning of the church, because the Apostles and Prophets were in that foundation, and the apostolic powers and powers of that nature were in the foundation. God has begun His dispensations many, many times with miraculous happenings. He began the history of Israel with a series of miracles. He began the history of the church with a series of miracles, and one would certainly say that the gift of tongues is a miraculous manifestation. Now, there are several reasons to believe today that the modern movement is outstated. For instance, in my own brother's case, I want you to examine with me what happened. He was told to speak in English, and he began praising the Lord in English, and then lapsed into a foreign language. He didn't know what it was. The other man claimed to have the power of interpretation. He started in English, and he was led of the Lord, so he said to give the interpretation of what my brother said by speaking in English. I'd like to ask you something. What do you prove by that? My brother, he didn't say what language that my brother was speaking in. Here is the method that they follow. You just put your mind in neutral, put your tongue into the hands of God, and start speaking, and the Spirit of God will take over, and you will speak in an unknown tongue. The person who interprets puts his mind in neutral. He speaks in English, and, of course, the Spirit of God who knows all tongues will put the words in English in his mind to speak. What can you prove by that? You can prove absolutely nothing either way. What I want to see is this. If I accept the gift of tongues, that's an awfully big gift. I was speaking on this subject in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there was a friend of mine sitting in the audience, Mr. Cyril Chantoff, who was a missionary to the French-speaking Canadians in Northeast Canada, and he's an expert in the French language. He's very fluent in the French language, and I told the audience, I said, if my brother Cyril Chantoff were in the presence of my brother, and there were three of us there standing together, and my brother began to speak in an unknown tongue to me, and Cyril Chantoff, whom I love and trust, were to tell me, your brother is speaking in French, perfect French, and he's praising God. I'd acknowledge it, because my brother doesn't know a word of French. But, beloved, that hasn't happened, and it won't happen. Let me tell you an incident. There was once a man who went in who did know a foreign language, and he went into a gathering like this, as the Apostle Paul said with Giles, and he professed to go to absorb their doctrine, and professed to go into an ecstasy, and he began speaking in tongues, but in this case it was a bonafide tongue that they didn't know anything about. After a while, and after a decent period of waiting, one of them received the inspiration of the Spirit of God to interpret what he said. It didn't come out like the brother said it at all. Then he told them, I was speaking in a bonafide tongue. I know that tongue, and what you said was not what I said at all, and they thought ran him out of the place. They were very, very angry. Now, I have heard a story which I suppose that perhaps you have heard before. On one occasion over in a foreign land, there was a man speaking in tongues, and there was a Chinese man in the audience at that time, and this Chinese man said of the man who was speaking in tongues, he said, that man is speaking in Chinese, and he says, what he is saying is so vile that I wouldn't repeat it in English. Now, may I suggest to you that this may not be all self-hypnosis. It may be of the devil, but there are several tests that I want to happen. I want the person that speaks to not know the language, and I want him to speak in a bonafide language. Have you noticed? Have you noticed that in the second chapter of Acts, those people when they spoke in tongues unknown to them, those Galileans, spoke in bonafide language? Have you noticed in your study of the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, that wherever you have the word or the phrase unknown tongue used, that the word unknown is always in italics? There is no such thing as an unknown tongue. The tongue has to be known, and the person who interprets it has to know it, or has to be given the power of God to know it. But there is no such thing as an unknown tongue. I heard a brother say something, and it struck me as being very logical. He said, I defy anybody in this world to go to a heathen tribe without first going to school and learning the language of that tribe when he goes as a missionary. You know, some have tried it, and they thought that God would give them the shortcuts that he chose to give in his sovereignty in the early books of Acts, and it turned out in tragedy. It didn't work. This thing is furious. I don't refuse to acknowledge the workings of God when it is indeed the workings of God, but I will not accept this movement. I'll tell you what it's doing for my brother. I know my brother well. He is under the power of something, and I know it. There's one expression that he used. He kept talking language that I didn't understand. He kept talking in the terms of Jesus Christ, and every time he referred to our Lord, he called him Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the claims of Jesus Christ, the testimony of Jesus Christ, the foundation of Jesus Christ. I said, but, I said, I've noticed something I'd like to call your attention. He says, what is it, Ken? And I said, every time that you refer to the Lord, you call him Jesus Christ. I said, there's been a change. Oh, Ken, he got it. He says, Ken, I know his Lord, but he says, it makes me feel closer to him when I can call him by his earthly name. Tell me, if you will, a power that wants to keep you from calling the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ. I know there's a power that wants to reduce him to Jesus Christ. Several little things that I noticed here, and several little things that I analyzed. My brother is under the power of something, and it's not good. I think when we refer to our Lord Jesus Christ and addressing him in prayer, we should always use his full name, the Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly, perhaps we could refer to him as the Lord Jesus, but never as Jesus. Not in this day and age. We own him as Lord. That my brother was not doing. And furthermore, even after I corrected him, after I called it to his attention, he went right on calling, referring to my Lord as Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, all the way through. Don't tell me that I don't know the origin of that in which he has come. I do. So, our time has gone, has left. By reason of our long speaking, we've hardly really covered the subject, but perhaps in the will of God, in our introduction to the subject tomorrow night, and we want to talk tonight about the supernatural life, I believe the tongues movement has moved into a void in Christianity today. There's a reason why it has come in. There is a void. There is a lack of the supernatural in the lives of God's people, and they're seeking this so-called shot-in-the-arm method. Now, you and I can live a supernatural life, and tomorrow night I want to talk about the supernatural life, and as far as I'm concerned, there is only one antidote to this tongues movement, and that is living a supernatural life, and I think that the reason that it has made inroads into some of our assemblies is because they have lost the sense of the supernatural. They have lived as earth dwellers so long that they're adopting this into the hungry soul of every bitter thing asleep. You and I need indeed to live close to the Lord. You and I need to be exercised about these things, and I believe there is an antidote to this, and I think we need to consider it. Tomorrow night, with the help of the Lord, I'd like to talk about the supernatural life, and then perhaps to gather up a few loose ends which we have left dangling tonight. Well, I think that that's all the time that we should take at this time.