Text: John 14:15-26, “(15) If ye love me, keep my commandments. (16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (17) Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (18) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (19) Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. (20) At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (22) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? (23) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (24) He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. (25) These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. (26) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
God’s Word is forever settled in Heaven and will accomplish its goal. God generally offers two types of promise in the Bible:
- Unconditional – The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not depend on any future action on their part because they were unconditional and would come to pass regardless of anything that these men did or didn’t do:
- Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”
- Isaiah 28:11-12, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
- Conditional – The Bible contains “if…then” statements. These are requirements that you must meet to receive the promise. They represent future acts that must be obeyed to receive the full promise:
- 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
- Acts 2:37-39, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
Often the question is asked, “Why Tongues?”[1]
- God is not accountable to us for what He chooses to so. He is Sovereign, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior…
- Tongues is an initial external sign that must be followed by the fruit of the Spirit.
- Gal. 5:22-23, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…”
- John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
- It is the consistent pattern of evidence established by God as essential in the New Birth:
- 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
- The tongue is the most unruly member of the body and when you receive the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues you are allowing God to control the most expressive part of your personality. Man’s expression of emotion, intelligence, and communication is articulated through the tongue.
It’s just for the Apostles and Early Church:
Irenaeus (died 202) ~ “In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God.”[2]
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) ~ “sang in unknown words with such facility and winsomeness that her utterances were known as ‘concerts in the Spirit’.”[3]
The Waldenses (c. 1217) ~ these followers of Peter Waldo believed in visions and prophecies.[4] Both healing and speaking in tongues were manifested among these heavily persecuted Christians.[5]
Early Quakers ~ “We received often the pouring down of the Spirit upon us, and our hearts were made glad and our tongues loosed and our mouths opened, and we spake with new tongues as the Lord gave utterance, and as His Spirit led us.”[6]
John Wesley ~ People in Wesley’s meetings would be filled with the Holy Ghost while he preached.[7]
Thomas Walsh (one of Wesley’s foremost preachers) made this entry in his diary; “This morning the Lord gave me a language that I knew not of, raising my soul to Him in a wonderful manner.”[8]
In England (1830) there was a revival under Edward Irving where gifts of the Spirit were manifested. One member of the congregations writes: “The moment I am visited with the Spirit, and carried out to God in a tongue which I know not… I am more conscious than ever of the presence of God. He and He alone is in my soul. I am filled with some form of the mind of God, be it joy or grief, desire, love, pity, compassion, or indignation; and I am made to utter it in words which are full of power over my spirit, but not being accessible to my understanding, my devotion is not interrupted by association of suggestions from the visible or intellectual world: I feel myself, as it were, shut in with God in His pavilion, and hidden close from the invasions of the world, the devil, and the flesh.”[9]
Charles G. Finney ~ “I received a mighty baptism in the Holy Ghost…No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart.”[10]
D. L. Moody ~ “One the following Sunday night, when I got to the rooms of the Y.M.C.A. I found the meetings on fire. The young men were speaking in tongues and prophesying. What on earth did it all mean? Only that Moody had been addressing them that afternoon.”[11] At a meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. R.A. Torrey told of a service in London where Moody took the pulpit to preach and instead broke into another language. He tried again, with similar results. The third time, after prayer and praise, he was able to preach his message.[12]
Charles H. Spurgeon ~ a British preacher told how Spurgeon once asked his audience to forgive him that when he got especially happy in the Lord, “I break forth into a kind of gibberish which I do not myself understand.”[13]
How Do I Receive this Phenomenon of the Holy Ghost?[14]
- Prepare your heart by obeying Acts 2:38 (Repent).
- Understand that God wants you to receive His gift as much as you want it…just ask Him for the Holy Ghost: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13)
- You must be hungry to receive His Spirit.
- Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
- James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
- Expect to receive: “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied” (Acts 19:6).
- Believe to receive: John 7:38-39, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
- Relax!!
Promise of Christ’s Return:
1 Corinthians 15:51-56, “51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
[1] “Speaking In Tongues.” Various Authors. Retrieved 5-15-2005 from http://altupc.com/articles/tongues1.htm.
[2] Against Heresies, V,6,1, Ibid., vol 1, p. 531
[3] George H. Williams and Edith Waldvogel, “A History of Speaking in Tongues and Related Gifts,” in The Charismatic Movement, ed. by Michael P. Hamilton, p. 70
[4] R. Kissack, “Waldenses,” The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. by J.D. Douglas, revised edition, p. 1026
[5] Gordon F. Atter, The Third Force, p. 13
[6] Bresson, Studies in Ecstacy, pp. 48-52
[7] http://www.holyspiritinfo.net/ch_hist.htm
[8] Entry of March 8, 1750, quoted by Frodsham, With Signs following, p. 232
[9] A.L. Drummond, Edward Irving and His Circle, pp. 161-162
[10] Charles G. Finney, Autobiography, p. 20
[11] Boyd, Robert, The Lives and Labours of Moody and Sankey, p. 47
[12] Lennard Darbee, Tongues: The Dynamite of God, p. 24.
[13] Ibid. p.24
[14] Principles of Doctrine: Lesson 11. “Holy Spirit Baptism.” Parkersburg Bible College.
The Promise | 15 May 2005
The Pillar and Ground of Truth 