Dr Greg Bahnsen - Modern Tongues Movement: The Normal Charismatic Life (Part 3)

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonson Institute, where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We're continuing this morning in the third part of our series on the modern tongues movement, the modern charismatic movement, And I'd like to take as our scripture reading, First Corinthians, chapter 12. And I'll begin reading at verse 27, reading through the end of chapter 13, First Corinthians 12, at verse 27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof, and God hath set some in the church. First, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healing, helps governments, different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret, but desire earnestly the greater gifts? And moreover the most excellent way? Show I unto you. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burnt, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind, love envies not. Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil, rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully, even as I was fully known. But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, and the greatest of these is love. And thus far the reading of God's word. I've pointed out in the past that it is Awkward. It's difficult, it's somewhat painful to have to talk about controversy within the Christian Church. It's certainly distressing that we have, on one hand, those who consider themselves charismatics or Pentecostals, people who feel a certain measure of the Spirit is theirs, they've been baptized in the Spirit, have spoken in miraculous and diverse tongues, and that this is an experience all of us need to have if we're really going to engage in effective Christian living. On the one hand, you have people claiming such things as these, and on the other hand, people who dispute those claims, even as we must, if we're to be founded on the Word of God, dispute those claims. Today, such controversy is indeed distressing, and I think we need to be concerned with that. But even more, we need to be concerned with the error that so often plagues the Christian church. Error of many kinds. This is but one, but nevertheless a very deadly form of error in the Christian Church. Such controversy is distressing, I've said, and yet it's hopeful. As long as Christians will be committed to the Word of God as the standard by which they resolve their disputes, as long as there's discussion going on, even if it is argumentative, for the time being, there is hope that something can be done, that resolution can come on the basis of God's Word. And I think all the more those of us who are in the Reformed tradition, those of us who have been blessed by God immeasurably with God, strength of doctrine, fidelity to the Word of God, that we need to recognize that if we should be silent with respect to the truth, as painful as it is to bear witness against errors in the Christian Church. But if we are silent about the truth in these matters, false views will all the more seem plausible to people in our own congregations and other congregations as well. And so we bear a responsibility, and we have to have the hope that in bearing a witness, a faithful witness to the truth, that God will honor that and his church strengthened in the process. I introduced the series by reminding you that the charismatic claim can be summarized with respect to the baptism of the Holy Spirit in this way, according to charismatic churches, spirit baptism is something that takes place in the experience of an individual sometime after his conversion, subsequent to his conversion. It doesn't take place for all believers, it takes place for those who seek it. However, and when somebody is baptized in the Holy Spirit, that is inevitably signalized by that person speaking in tongues. Moreover, this experience of speaking in tongues as the evidence of Spirit baptism is said to be necessary for effective Christian living in the midst of our evil day. We've had reason to dispute each one of those claims thus far. So we've studied what the Word of God says to us about baptism in the Holy Spirit. I can summarize very briefly what we have said about baptism in the Holy Spirit with these four theses. The first hand, I've said that Spirit and fire baptism was the apex of Christ's historic work of accomplishing redemption. That doesn't have to do with the application of redemption and the experience of individual believers. But spirit baptism was a historic event, part of what Christ did in accomplishing our redemption. We need to see the day of Pentecost as intricately unified with that complex of events of Christ's death, resurrection, ascension and then the outpouring of the Spirit. I've said secondly in our past two messages that this event of Spirit baptism took place uniquely, once and for all in the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit as Christ was establishing the New Covenant Church. And therefore this is something unique. It's part of the accomplishment of redemption and it's historically unique. Thirdly, last week I pointed out that this outpouring of the Pentecostal Spirit was part of a unified complex that came in stages. The day of Pentecost was not the only outpouring of the Spirit. We see the outpouring of the Spirit on the disciples even before Pentecost, then the outpouring of the Spirit on all the church in Jerusalem. Then it's poured out on those in Samaria, it's poured out more generally those in Judea. And then finally it's poured out on those in the uttermost parts of the earth, all the way in Ephesus. In each case, the contrast is between what God is doing in establishing the church through the Messiah over against what John the Baptist was doing only by way of preparation. And so as the apostles established the church according to the prescribed pattern that Jesus gave in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth, the Spirit is outpoured again with the advance of the Gospel. And finally we have said that the outpouring of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit, is a universal phenomenon. Everyone who is called to repentance and faith by the Lord is baptized in the Spirit. Everyone enjoys that promise of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who is incorporated into the body of Christ shares already in the baptism of the Spirit and need not seek it in some second, further added experience of the Christian life. That is what the Bible teaches those four premises that Spirit baptism is the apex of the accomplishment of redemption. It took place uniquely in terms of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit, that that Pentecostal outpouring came in stages and finally, that everyone who is joined to the Christian Church through faith in the Messiah enjoys the baptism of the Spirit already. Then we need to correct some errors. Let's just make a mental note now of things that this contradicts. Spirit baptism on the day of Pentecost and the tongues experience in general is not a model for a repeatable experience. It's no more a model for what we should be having happen in our experience than the ascension of Jesus Christ is a model for what should be happening to us today. Spirit baptism is not a second blessing that is added to our conversion, something that is added in our experience as part of the application of redemption, if you will. It's not added at some later time. Moreover, Spirit baptism cannot be used to stratify believers into the haves and the have nots, as though we could destroy the unity of the body of Christ and the equality of all the members of the body of Christ. Spirit baptism is not signalized necessarily by the speaking in tongues, which was only one manifestation of the Spirit in that day and one that was not given to all believers even in that day. But rather there's a plurality of gifts that have been distributed to the church. Spirit baptism was not the exclusive transforming experience of the disciples. And for that reason tongues may not be looked upon today is crucial for effective Christian living in our day either. And finally, Spirit baptism was not important even in the days of the apostles in terms of emotional gratification for the individual believer. But spirit baptism and the gift of tongues were there for the edification of the corporate church in the service of others. See, we need to appreciate now very positively what we've been looking at. We need to appreciate that decisive transition that the day of Pentecost represents. A decisive transition between the old covenant people of God and the New covenant people of God. The outpouring of the Spirit marks that difference. We need to marvel at what Christ did in accomplishing our redemption and in doing the Church with the Holy Spirit. We enjoy a salvation that can be described in terms of the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ and and indeed in terms of the outpouring of the Spirit on our lives as well. And every one of us as Christians has that spirit. It's something that we need to be aware of, to believe, to give us the confidence we need that we are spirit born people, that our lives, our Spiritual lives are due to the Spirit, and our understanding is due to the Spirit. And our Christian walk is due to the Spirit today. And all of us in the Body of Christ have an equality in that regard. We've all been given gifts of the Spirit. We all share in that. We may have different ministries, but we are all equal in the eyes of God, and we must all be serving one another in the body. What we really need to make sure of if we're interested in Spirit baptism is that we have faith in Christ, that we've repented of our sins, that we've been incorporated into the Body of Christ where we are zealously serving him with the gifts the Spirit has given us. We need to look back and appreciate the apostolic founding of the church through the power of the Spirit, that church which we now enjoy today, in which we now serve and are joined to Christ. We need to see that all of us who have gifts have charismatic gifts. It's really terrible that we have to designate certain people in the Christian church as the Charismatics or Pentecostalists, because no gift given by Jesus Christ is less than charismatic. Finally, we need to be striving all the more to be serving the Body of Jesus Christ with these charismatic gifts in terms of the appreciation of the founding of the church and the accomplishment of redemption that Jesus Christ has brought. The Bible assures us the Holy Spirit has given gifts to every one of us. And those gifts indeed must be exercised if we belong to Jesus Christ and enjoy the baptism of the Spirit. Spirit. Let's stop and ask ourselves, in light of this review of what we've been studying, why does the Pentecostal movement and its call to an ecstatic form of experience of the Christian life, why does that appeal to people? What is it that draws people into the Pentecostal movement? What is it that makes these claims to ecstatic utterance and to prophecy and to miracles? What is it that gives this a. A drawing feature? Why is it that people are being drawn in that direction? I want to suggest that the beginning of that attraction is not all bad, not at all, as I think people who are drawn into that movement will usually be found out to be very sensitive believers as individuals and sensitive churches of believers as well. They're sensitive because, you see, they realize that we all need greater power to live the Christian life. We need greater usefulness in terms of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. We all need in the Church of Jesus Christ revival. The church needs to be revived. We need to strive all the more to be serving God In a useful way and with full power. You find people who sorrow, you see, over their impurity, individually and corporately in the church, people who are sorrowing over the worldliness of their lives and the worldliness of their churches. They know that there is something missing, you see. And so it begins, I think, in the right place, with a genuine soul searching, sorrow and sensitivity in the Christian life and among various Christian churches. And at just that point, charismatic, Pentecostal sorts of people offer the key, they say, to victorious living. They can give us, you see, that one boost we need. We all know we need a boost, and they offer that. They offer some kind of key to victorious living. And then along with that offer comes these enthused, glowing reports of what God is doing in these churches. How pastors can speak so miraculously about specific needs of people without being told them about people prophesying and about healings taking place. And all these things just sound so wonderful. And we all wonder, is that what's missing in my life? Could it be that I need that boost, that I need that kind of spiritual shot in the arm, that I need to be kicked in the pants? In just that way charismatics offer, you see what hungry souls often are looking for. And hungry souls are tempted, it seems to me, to leap at the bait, they are told, you need a deeper experience of grace. You need a second blessing from God. I think it's no accident that if you'll study the history of the Pentecostal movement in our day, you will find that the Pentecostal movement was fostered in, indeed, it sprang from what is called the second work of grace movement. There has been in the understanding of the Christian life, especially in the last 200 years, real stress, perverted stress, but nevertheless real stress. Put on the idea that conversion takes place in two steps. That initial conversion gives the person the right to go to heaven, but doesn't change his or her life. And that after that, a second work of grace comes to actually make us right in terms of the quality of our lives. You see, a first act of grace is God's justifying us so that we'll be able to go through his final judgment without being condemned. But then a second work of grace comes about to give us the power to lead the Christian life. And when that work of grace comes, it's associated with perfection. And that's why the people who are in this movement are called perfectionists. It's also called the holiness movement. Again, that is an honorific way of saying it. Not that others are not interested in holiness. But their idea is that we have this quantum leap, this kind of boom experience that finally gives us perfection or holiness, at least for short periods of time. And so it's come to be called the second work of grace. God works of grace first of all to save us, then a second work of grace to make us holy. So what that gives you, of course, is a justification for certain people who lead ungodly lives. But who can say, I stood up in a testimony meeting. I will be saved. It also explains to us why certain people who are Christians have these spiritual doldrums, why they're down sometimes, why it seems like they're not really making progress, why they're really not living with the enthusiasm and the zeal they should as Christians. Well, they need that second work of grace. They need another shot of the Holy Spirit. And the Pentecostal experience works very nicely into that pattern. That's why you'll find most Pentecostals believe in the second blessing. They believe that if your sanctification is lagging, you'd better speak in tongues, you'd better prophesy, you better give the gift of healing. You better have some kind of ecstatic or miraculous outpouring in your life to kind of get you from down here at stage one in the Christian life into the quantum leap of stage two, the second work of grace. So many of us experience the ups and downs of the Christian life that sometimes when we're down, we wonder, well, maybe that is what's missing. And yet, for all of the appeal of the Pentecostal movement in our day, it is deadly. You know, to say those words in the presence of Pentecostalists will often generate a good deal of argument. And yet we need to say that not with arrogance, not with pride, not with hostility, not to beat people down, but rather to build people up. Because as long as people are looking for that quantum leap in their experience, that ecstatic work of the Spirit in their lives so they can finally lead effective Christian lives. They will never lead effective Christian lives any more than a person who wants to be cured of malaria will not be cured if he simply takes an aspirin. That is not the answer. And to portray it as the answer is, although it may look so spiritual and so wonderful and so hopeful, is nevertheless cruel and misleading and in many times, many times very perverted. The Bible never, never encourages us to seek revival by some kind of super experience that proposes to eliminate our natural weaknesses. There's a very profound, even if it's a paradoxical lesson to be learned about the ordinary and the victorious Christian life. You see, the victorious Christian life is the ordinary Christian life. It's not the extraordinary Christian life. The victorious life is not one with all the outpourings of miraculous and ecstatic manifestations. The victorious Christian life is the ordinary Christian life, where the Holy Spirit of God is giving us day to day sanctification. Even in the mundane affairs of life. A biblical desire for revival will resist, I tell you, any seeking after a super experience that proposes to eliminate our natural weaknesses. If you want to understand that, I can't think of a better passage in all of Scripture to understand it than chapters 10 to 13 of 2 Corinthians. Let's just review that here for a moment. Second Corinthians 10:13. You need to understand that in the Corinthian Church, which by the way, was the church torn by tongues in the dispute over the gifts of the Spirit and which was the greatest of the gifts and that sort of thing, that in the Corinthian Church, Paul had detractors. Paul had to prove his apostleship to the Corinthians because there were those who were in the church who challenged Paul, who challenged his teaching, who challenged whether he was genuinely an apostle. You had those who were of Peter, those who were of Paul, those who considered themselves followers of Christ. You had all these divisions. You had division over the gifts, you had division over the Lord's Supper, division over the institution of discipline against the incestuous fornicator. Corinth just was riddled with problems. And Paul writes back. If you want to see the description of the problem, just notice these particular verses. This will give you a good window dressing, a good context for us to look at. Finally, the answer that Paul is going to propose. Paul tells us that there were certain apparently hotshots in the Christian church there in Corinth that strove to be apostles. Chapter 11, verse 13 tells us, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of crime. They really want to set themselves up as the apostles of Christ. And indeed they want to set themselves up as the chief of the apostles. Look at verse 5 of chapter 11. For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. You mustn't understand that as Paul is saying that he's not any further back than Peter or John or any of the apostles. He's talking about these pretenders in Corinth. He goes, I'm not behind them, these people who want to be the chief of the apostles. Indeed, these are people who commend themselves to others. Commend themselves to others. Look at chapter 10, verses 12 and 18. For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of them that commend themselves, but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves are without understanding. Verse 18. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. And how are they commending themselves? They are commending themselves by spectacular works as proof of their apostleship. Paul knows that this is the prevailing thrust of the false teachers in Corinth, because in chapter 13, verse 3, he feels constrained to say, seeing that you seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me, who to you is not weak, but is powerful in you. They are looking for proof that this is Christ's apostle. And how are the false teachers giving proof in Corinth? We look at chapter 12, verse one, we get a hint of this. Paul says, I must needs glory, though it is not expedient, but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. Well, just by looking at these various verses, you get a pretty good picture of what's going on. There are certain, you see, super spiritual sorts at Corinth who are fashioning themselves into being apostles, indeed the chief of apostles, and commending themselves to others by the proof of revelations and visions and all sorts of ecstatic gifts. But Paul tells us in chapter 11, this is in fact glorying after the flesh. Look at verse 18 of chapter 11. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. Paul begins to rub it in. He says, you want to hear some accounts of what it is to be super spiritual? I'll glory after the flesh too. Bear with me. Since you enjoy the foolishness of your teachers, let me be foolish in your sight for a while too. Indeed, in chapter 10, verse 13, he says that they glory beyond measure, but we will not glory beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us. There are these people, you see, who want to go beyond the ordinary Christian life, beyond the measure of God's gift for that day. But he says, we want glory beyond our measure. What did Paul glory in? And this, you see, is finally the dagger right into the heart of the charismatic movement. Today, when Paul says, I will glory rather in my weaknesses, look at chapter 11, verses 29 and 30. First of all, Paul says, who is weak and I am not weak. Who is caused to stumble and I burn not. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. Now this is the same Paul who said, if you want to talk about revelations, I'll tell you about a man speaking of himself who, who was caught up into the highest heaven, who had a vision that was so glorious it couldn't even be spoken in human words. Paul, who enjoyed all the gifts of the apostle, all these miraculous signs. Paul says, if I will glory, I will not glory in all these manifestations of miraculous things, ecstatic things. I will glory rather in my weaknesses. For you see, such weaknesses keep our spectacular experiences from leading us to glorify ourselves. Chapter 12, verse 7. And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. Paul said, I had the grandest of visions. No human being has enjoyed that kind of sight as I was given. And yet God gave me with that a thorn in the flesh. Lest I should think that that's what I should glory in, that I should glory over much because of that kind of miraculous experience. The ordinary Christian life is a life of weakness. A weakness through which God then works to show his strength. Chapter 12, verses 9 to 12 tell us the whole story. And he hath said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect in weakness. The next time a charismatic friend tells you that what you need is the ecstatic utterance of the Holy Spirit to lead the victorious Christian life, you remind them that Paul said that God's message to Paul was that his strength was made perfect in weakness, not in the outpouring of the Spirit, not in the gift of tongues, not in mighty revelations of the Spirit, but rather in the thorn of the flesh. Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me. You lack power in your life. You're looking as a hungry Christian for that which is necessary to make you truly zealous. For the Lord truly powerful to serve the Lord truly filled with his Spirit. Paul says, look to your weaknesses and how God will work through those weaknesses. The power of Christ rests on those who can see in their weaknesses God's avenue for strength. Wherefore I take pleasure in weakness, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. The ordinary Christian life is the path to strength, not in emotional reveling, not in self satisfying ecstatic utterances, not in some kind of dramatic display of some kind of gift in the presence of the congregation. But God's strength is perfected in weakness in our ordinary lives, in the things that pull us down, in the things that depress us even through our sin. God receives the glory, and God shows his strength by working to make us more and more like Jesus Christ. If we want to understand the proper and ordinary Christian life, I think we can do no better than to look at First Corinthians 14:19 to get an understanding of what Paul's feeling was about the gift of the Spirit known as tongues. First Corinthians 14, verse 19, verse 18. Paul says, I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all. So you want somebody who's an expert in tongues, not somebody who, just out of bitterness because he didn't have tongues, says these things. Paul says, look, I've spoken in tongues more than all of you. Add up all your experiences. I'm an apostle. I speak with tongues. But then he says in verse 19, Howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that I might instruct others also than 10,000 words in a tongue. Paul says, even in the day in which tongues were legitimate, a gift given of the Spirit, Paul says it'd be far more important to speak even five words in a known language than to speak 10,000 in an unknown tongue. That's the proportion. You want to know how important tongues is or how unimportant it is, then just look at that. Paul says, for every word that I speak, clearly expositing the word of God in an own language for every word. You would have to speak 2,000 words in a tongue to get the same benefit. That's an overwhelming ratio. What is Paul saying? Obviously, he's saying the church, the ordinary life of the church, is not sustained on tongues, because you'd have to be speaking and speaking and speaking. Indeed, it had to be a Niagara Falls of tongues before you could even do anything that one sermon can do. Paul does not want us to be glorifying in tongues and ecstatic utterance. And the sad fact is that participation in the charismatic trend so often tends toward denying that unique authority, that unique sufficiency of the word of God. Indeed, I'm willing to say my experience is not normative and it's not widespread enough to make any authoritative point on it. But I must tell you, this is my own testimony that I have yet to meet somebody who is enthusiastic for charismatic things in our day, who was equally enthusiastic for Bible study, equally enthusiastic for evangelism, equally giving time to mastering the doctrine of God's word. In the same way, the time is given to provoking some kind of ecstatic utterance in his or her life. That's just something we need to learn. You see that the tongues movement today, although it holds out the bait of the victorious Christian life, is in fact going to poison the Christian life. Paul said, if you glory, glory not in ecstatic utterances, not in visions, not in revelations, not in miracles. Glory in your weakness, for that's where God's strength is shown. Paul says, if you want to see what strengthens the church, don't look for all this outpouring of unknown tongues, which won't help anybody. Look for even five words in an intelligible sermon. That brings to mind the question that many charismatics have. You know, in John 14:12, Jesus said some words that might seem to lend credence to what the charismatics want to say. He says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto the Father. Charismatics tell us if Jesus worked miracles. If Jesus gave tongues to the apostles, he promises here even greater works are going to be done. Isn't that what we should expect, greater miracles? Is that what he was promising? Greater miracles to be done? Well, if so, then let's have the greater miracle. If so, let's see some charismatic walk on water. Let us see some charismatic feed 5000 with a few barley loaves. If greater miracles are to be done, let's see the dead raised all about us. You see, if that is what Jesus was prophesying, then we must say the prophecy was false because his followers did not do greater miracles than he did. Not even the apostles did greater miracles, much less anybody after the apostles, much less anybody. In the 20th century, was Jesus talking about greater miracle? Not at all. What he was saying is that through his disciples, he would accomplish more than what he had accomplished during his own earthly ministry of preaching and propagating the truth. Because when the Spirit comes, the Spirit will convict people with respect to the truth. Indeed, that is true Jesus in his preaching. Look how victorious his preaching was without the Pentecostal spirit. Even his followers didn't understand what he was saying. Even they denied him and ran from him, so that when he died, he was the only righteous servant of God left on the face of the earth. But after his death and resurrection, after the outpouring of the spirit 11 broken men were transformed into bold, dynamic men who who have transformed the face of the earth. Indeed, he was right. Greater things would be done through his people with the coming of the Spirit, but not greater miracles. See, the sad fact is that those who believe in the full Gospel movement are not giving the full gospel. They're only giving half the gospel, less than half the gospel. They are not exalting in the greater works. They are looking at the most minor things. Paul said that tongues was the least of gifts, that prophecy and exhortation, the preaching in a known language on the basis of God's word, was the greatest of these things. Of all the special gifts given, what does it mean when the Spirit of God comes? What will the Spirit of God do when the Spirit of God is working mightily in the church of Jesus Christ? Well, the Bible gives us some sure signs of the working of God's Spirit. In Ezekiel 36:27, the Prophet tells us that the work of God's Spirit is going to bring about obedience and holiness of life. Ezekiel 36:27 and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep mine ordinances and do them. God was not offering spiritual thrills to his people. He was offering the power of obedience by the Spirit. John 16:8 Jesus indicated this as well when he said, and he when he has come, that is, the Spirit will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. When the Holy Spirit is working in a church, that church mourns over its sins. That church walks in the commandments of God, that church shows forth righteousness of character. In John 14:7, Jesus said also that when the Spirit comes, it will mean the church will emphasize the truth. John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him you know him. For he abideth with you, and shall be in you the Spirit of truth, the Spirit that testifies to Jesus Christ, the Spirit that inspired the Word of God, and illumines the Word of God, and fixes our heart and our hopes on the Word of God. Just notice. Acts the second chapter, verse 42. Even on the day of Pentecost. How we read that after those who were baptized in the Spirit spoke in tongues, they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship, steadfastly in doctrine, in teaching, in truth, in holiness of life, in righteousness of character. The psalmist of old understood these things. Psalm 85 David pled with God for revival. Wilt thou not quicken us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? And when revival was given, David said, truth will spring out of the earth, and righteousness will look down from heaven. When true revival is here, when the Spirit of God works mightily in the congregation, that's a congregation of the word of God. Not only the word of God in thought, knowing their doctrine, but a congregation that knows the word of God in life and in deed righteousness as well. The ongoing work of the Spirit is not missed by those of us who resist the charismatic movement. In Ephesians 5:18, Paul tells us of the ongoing work that all of us need to enjoy in the Holy Spirit. Paul says, Chapter 5 of the book of Ephesians, verse 18 and be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit very quickly. Two things need to be observed here. In the first place, this is in the present and continuous tense. This is something that goes on and on and on. We are continually to be filled with the Spirit. On and on and on. And it's a command. It's a command. Paul says, be filled with the Spirit. You will not find in the New Testament anywhere a command to speak in tongues. You will not find a command to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You will not find a command to perform works of healings and miracles or to have prophecies and revelations. Nobody in the Bible felt that they were to pursue those things. The only time we're to pursue something with respect to the Spirit is His filling. And Paul says, be filled with the Spirit. What will happen now in a church where the Spirit is mighty and working, in a church that's being revived, where the Spirit is filling us all? Verses 19:21 tell exactly what the outcome will be. Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father, subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ. The inevitable results of spiritual filling are not the unusual spectacular experiences of the charismatics. No, the inevitable results are obedience to Christ and those basic everyday responsibilities of life. Paul said in Ephesians 3:16 that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith to the end, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints. What is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. What does the filling of the Spirit bring? No, it brings an emphasis upon faith and love and walking with Christ in the day to day affairs of life. That's why, in conclusion, when we read our passage of Scripture this morning, it was so important to emphasize what Paul says at the end of chapter 12 of First Corinthians. After speaking of all the special gifts of the Spirit, he says, but desire earnestly the greater gifts. And then, moreover, the most excellent way I show unto you. And what is the most excellent way? Is it ecstatic? Is it a revelation? Is it tongues? Is it miracles? Is it healings? Paul says, no, the most excellent way is the way of love. Is the Spirit working here in our congregation? Do we enjoy that measure of the fullness of Christ and the power of his Spirit which goes beyond those minor things which the Charismatics occupy themselves with? Oh, I trust that it's so. For when the Spirit of Christ is working, when we are filled with the Spirit, our congregation will emphasize the truth of God, Biblical doctrine, holiness of life. Not holiness of life in the midst of the super spiritual and experiential affairs that are encouraged by the Charismatics, but holiness of life seen even when we are weak, then the power of God is seen even in the day to day affairs of life. Those who are truly blessed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit will see the strength of a sanctified life and not the ecstasy of unknown tongues. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you indeed would fill us with your Spirit. Make us zealous and excited, enthusiastic for the true work of your Spirit in this day and make that work real in our lives, that we might have greater faith, greater love, show forth more righteousness of life and found ourselves more firmly on the truth of your word. Teach us to be spiritual people while we are washing dishes and spiritual people while we are earning our pay. Spiritual people while we are cutting the lawn, Spiritual people while we are taking care of interpersonal disputes, Spiritual people while we pay our bills. Spiritual people in the midst of persecution and distress. Spiritual people in the face of ill health. O Lord, give us in all the day to day affairs of life the fullness of the Spirit, that you might receive all the glory, that strength might be manifest even in weakness. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bahnsen Institute. Duplication, sharing and distribution is encouraged. For more information about the life and Ministry of Dr. Greg L. Bonson, visit our website, bonsoninstitute.com where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.