The day of Pentecost
Category: Holy Spirit
Key Passage: Acts 2
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: March 11, 2025
By the way, Brother Jimmy Reese had a fairly major surgery on Tuesday. They went through his throat, back to his neck. They put in fused—oh, I can’t remember—maybe about four vertebrae together, replaced one of them, put a plate, and did a lot of things. He’s back home, and he’s talking, but, you know, it’s still rough. And so pray for him. He’s telling me today it’s rougher than I thought it would be. He had back surgery, I think, in 2005, he said that wasn’t this; this is a lot worse. So you pray for him if you would. I’ll get all the way better over that thing.
Brother Kevin leading us in prayer tonight. I’m going to mention Brother Kevin as far as the deacons. About to come off, and they’ll be off for a year. They can come back on after that if I’d like to be it. I’d about like that to happen. But we’ll work on deacon nominations. We’ve got several turned in, a lot turned in. Sunday, we just kind of got to talk with those men, and we’ll get back with you on that. But you’d be praying for that, if you would.
And then I agree, praise the Lord, our president. How many listened last night? Well, I thought it was great. By the way, a lot of times they’ll do that on a Wednesday, and I was thankful that it was on a Tuesday. And that was a blessing, and I enjoyed it. And praise the Lord, some got taken out, amen. I was happy about that too.
I thought it was interesting. Even Pocahontas was interesting, you know.
Acts chapter number two. Acts chapter number two. And good deal. Y’all, y’all, y’all, y’all don’t seem too tired tonight. Y’all ready to go? A little bit, I feel like. You’re like, looks are deceiving. You don’t know how I feel right now, you know. And actually, we’re going to try to cover most of this chapter. We’re going to try to move on a little bit, and we’ll see what happens in that. That’s what we’re going to shoot for. I’m going to try to hit two false doctrines very quickly in the process, so we’ll see what happens with all that.
Acts chapter number two. Would you please stand, if you would, just to respect the Word of God and get us all awake one more time before you fall—I mean, before the service starts, you know. And we’ll read the first five verses, one through five, of Acts chapter number two in God’s Word.
The Bible there says, “And 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. 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 are dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven.
Would you pray with me that God would speak to us tonight? Father, we come to you, Lord. We’re just trying to study your Word. Give us a hunger for it, Lord, to grow us thereby. Give us strength from it, Lord. I think of it—I think it was as equal as he ate it, it gave me strength. Would you give us strength tonight, Lord? And we’ll just thank you for what you do. Send your Spirit moving and working, and we’ll brag on you for it in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Notice that first verse there, number one: “And when the day of what? What’s that next word? Pentecost.” Now you say, what in the world? It’s Pentecost. Well, it’s some folks down the street here. No, I’m joking. It’s Pentecost, and actually the word means fifty. It was fifty days after the Passover.
The Jewish people, they have three really special festivals or feasts. They would typically try to come to Jerusalem for it: Passover. Then fifty days later, it was Pentecost, sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, because it’s basically seven weeks after Passover. By the way, Jesus died on or right around the Passover. We’ll talk about that as we get close to Easter this year. I’ve been holding that back, studied for years until I felt sure I knew what God wanted. And we’re going to do that this year, looking forward to it.
But anyway, so fifty days after Christ died and rose again, for forty days, he showed that he was alive by many infallible proofs. And then they had a ten-day prayer meeting, and then the day of Pentecost. Very interesting. They’re traveling there, many Jewish people, for this great festival, sometimes called the Feast of Harvest. By this time, their main grain harvest was in. And there was a little bit of a Thanksgiving, almost you might think of Thanksgiving, you know, the harvest is in type thing in America. A little bit along that line. The harvest is in, and they’re rejoicing in it. It’s a day of Pentecost.
They will often make—a lot of Jewish people—they would make two loaves of bread from their harvest, from the grain they just got in. By the way, my wife does a wonderful job. She gets actually the wheat grain and grinds it up and gets a lot more nutrients that way, and she makes homemade bread for us. Amen, right there. Come on now. Yeah.
And they would get that grain from the harvest, and they would make—at least some Jewish, very specific—what size the bread was—and they would make that, and they would use that in the offerings here and their sacrifices, and sometimes lambs and things also. But this is Pentecost. So imagine Jerusalem. You’ve got Jewish people coming from all over into Jerusalem for this special day of Pentecost, this feast, this festival to the Lord, thanksgiving and praises to the Lord. And they’re coming there, and watch what happens.
Let’s look at it again. Look at verse number two. Verse number two. And they’re meeting in this upper room, these 120. And they’ve been meeting there in prayer, prayer for a ten-day prayer meeting. And then verse number two: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind.” Can you imagine that? We had some of that last night, didn’t we? Yeah, we sure did. “And it filled all the house where they were sitting.” That’s interesting, inside the house.
“There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” Now, here’s very interesting. The best we can tell, from when the children of Israel got out of Egypt—remember that, crossed over the Red Sea and through the wilderness there and about or whatnot—but they made it over to Mount Sinai the best we can tell—some may debate it—but right around, if not exactly, in fifty days. Now, they stayed there at Mount Sinai for almost a year, eleven-plus months, but fifty days. And what happened? What happened? God said, “Hey, Moses, I want you to come on up in the Mount and meet with me.” Remember that?
Remember he said, “Now make sure you got a barrier around the bottom of this thing. Put a barbed-wire fence up there, raise your blade and feet, but put a barrier around there and tell the Jewish people, the Israel, right, don’t you come up.” And in fact, remember Moses is up there. God says, “Hey, tell them they can’t come up.” And Moses said, “I’ve told them.” And the Lord said, “Moses, go do what I told you do, boy, and make sure they don’t come.” And Moses went up on the mountain. Remember that? He did several times during that time, got the Ten Commandments, and God spoke to him through that. But he met with him.
And won’t you kind of look at the similarities here? Now, they’re delivered from Egypt fifty days later. Moses is going up to meet with the Lord. Jesus has died and rose again fifty days later; we got the day of Pentecost. And what happens there in this room? Look over in Exodus chapter number 19. Exodus chapter number 19. And just let’s just—there’s more verses about it—we’ll just get one verse about what it was like on Mount Sinai when Moses met up there. All right, want you to see this real quickly here.
Exodus 19, and look in verse number 18. Exodus 19 and verse number 18. Are you there tonight? Amen? Good deal. Good deal. By the way, Brother Garrett-Lean Dover talked about Bill Sr. and putting the prayer request in for jail ministry. He said, “Well, he doesn’t miss a lick, does he?” He got back and he’s already going. I love it. He’s on fire about that, and think about jail. He’s consistent. I love it. It’s great.
But verse number 18, Exodus 19:18: “And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in what? Fire.” Now, I don’t know everything about that smoke, but you got a little smoke, maybe a little wind—it doesn’t say that—but you got the fire. “And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace.” It’s moving. “And the whole mountain quaked greatly.”
Now over here in the New Testament, you got this sound of the wind, and you got this fire coming down on them. You see the similarities? There are differences here. In the Old Testament, only Moses was allowed to go up. But now you’ve got Jesus that’s set it up. Remember what happened when Jesus died? What was rent from top to bottom? What was it that rent? The veil. So we have access. And so now it’s not only God coming down and meeting with Moses; it’s God coming down and meeting with all those people in the upper room.
What does it say there? What does it say back over—keep your finger in Exodus, we’ll go back there—but what does it say back over here in Acts chapter number two? Verse number three: “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon what? Sat upon each of them.” It’s not just Moses, the leader, if you will, going and God meeting with him. It’s each one of them. God’s coming down to meet them. In Baptist history, we call it individual soul liberty, a priest to the believer. He meets with every single one of us.
Now it’s not just Moses meeting with God in a wonderful way; you can meet with God. And like the fire came down and met with Moses and that smoke, had this mighty rushing wind, and cloven tongues sat on each of them fifty days later. You’re in Exodus. Look over in chapter 25 of Exodus. Chapter 25. And he’s giving instructions about the tabernacle here to begin a lot of those instructions. And he really, to me, maybe the topical verse about the tabernacle is found right here in verse number eight, Exodus 25. And look in verse number eight: “And let them make me a sanctuary”—talking about the tabernacle—“that I may what’s the purpose of the tabernacle? That I may what?” That’s the purpose of it. That’s why they’re to build it. God said, “I’m going to come there.”
You remember the most holy place, a holy place, and then the most holy, the Holies of Holies, we call it often? And the ark there, and the cherubim’s there, and the mercy seat, and that’s where that fire at nighttime and the cloud by daytime, remember all that? Now, what’s he saying over here with the day of Christ? He’s saying, “Hey, I would meet there with you at the tabernacle in a special, wonderful way. You knew how to be guided by that right there, but I’m not going to work that way anymore. Now each one of you are a tabernacle. Now you are a temple. Your body is my temple. Now I’m coming, and I’m coming upon you individually with this fire. I’ll lead you and guide you by my Spirit.” He’s the guide that guides us into all truth. Things are changing. This is the New Testament after Jesus has ascended him, and I’m going to dwell among them in your very own body. That’s what he’s saying. That’s the sound of a mighty rushing wind, God moving in there, and God’s sitting upon them, and your body is my temple. Now dwell in there, and I’ll empower you to do my work. That’s what’s all a special thing here on the day of Pentecost.
Look back in… Keep your finger there in Exodus, if you will. But look back over here in Acts again. Let’s just kind of keep reading here a little bit. Verse number four. Verse number four: “And they were all what? All filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” I want to just—filled with the Holy Spirit.
Look over in Exodus chapter number 40. Actually, this chapter number 40, they—God gave so much instruction about the tabernacle. Our men went through, and the Bible Institute went through a whole semester about the tabernacle. Brother Duster did a great job on it, took two hours on it, a great, great, great teacher on that subject. But they’re they’re completing their tabernacle here. They’re finishing it up, and it was a glorious day. They’ve been working on it for so long, so many details, and God gifted and empowered some men for that. God gave instruction to Moses; these men followed it out. And they’re finishing it up.
Look at Exodus 40 in verse number 33. Exodus 40 in verse number 33: “And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, set up the hanging of the court gate, so Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord what? Filled the tabernacle.” Just like that tabernacle was filled over there when they completed it. Now in the New Testament, the day of Pentecost, they’ve been meeting up there, and the Holy Spirit comes in, and he’s filling these believers.
Look over, if you have—I love this one. This is… Look over in 1 Kings chapter number 8. This is when Solomon’s temple—the tabernacle, if you will. And when they completed it, I want you to see what happens. I have the tabernacle that they would move, tent, temporary. Then Solomon builds his temple. And I want you to see what happens when they’re done with Solomon’s temple. Well, they got it all done. Coronation Day, and really they sang praises to a little wonderful Christian, spirit-filled music.
And look what happens here, 1 Kings 8 and verse number 10. 1 Kings 8 and verse number 10: “And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord.” I like this: “So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” Just when the tabernacle and the temple is completed, now the New Testament said, “Hey, I’m not just going to dwell in one building. You are going to be my building. I’m going to dwell in you, and I’m going to come in, pull that sound, the fire came down, and he said, ‘I’m going to fill you with my Holy Ghost.’” See, that’s what God does to believers in the New Testament age. We don’t have to go to a certain place; wherever you’re at, you can be filled with the Holy Ghost. Riding in your car going to work, pray in the morning time, you can be filled with the Holy Ghost. Middle of the woods, nobody knows where you’re at but God knows; you can be filled with the Holy Ghost. And maybe you’re discouraged, and you’re in some bedroom or some closet just praying and need something, God can fill you with the Holy Ghost there. Wherever you’re at, you don’t have to go to a temple somewhere. You are the temple. The Spirit of God comes, and the glory of God comes and meets with you there and fills you. That glory just comes upon you like it did in the tabernacle. And that’s what’s happening here. It’s the same thing happening. This is the New Testament age in the book of Acts, Acts of the Apostles, by or through the Holy Ghost as he led them and empowered them. The Holy Ghost is coming and bringing his power to them.
Now let’s go back over. We’re back over in Acts now. Now let’s just catch a couple other things here real quickly. We’re in Acts. And look in verse number five. Verse number five: “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem.” Who was it? Gentiles? No, Jews. Now there’s some Gentiles there, but Jews. They were coming for this feast, Pentecost, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Harvest. Jews, devout men out of how many nations under heaven? How many nations? They gathered from all over. But God knew when to do it, didn’t he? By the way, “to the Jew first and also the Gentiles.” He started really with the Jewish people. That’s always God. He works for the Jews first. Last week, Brother Patrick read that we have a missionary to the Jewish people. Jew first and also the Greek. I always like to have at least one missionary to Jewish people. That’s God’s plan. But these Jewish people are coming from all over. We’ll read in just a minute here, fifteen different places. And God comes in a special power and is going to minister and work to the Jewish people. Now later on in the book, Acts will change over to the Gentiles, but it’s really starting this revival, the church, the center of it, at Jerusalem when the Jewish people are there. Every nation, all over the place. The Jews require a sign, and you’re doing special things here, giving them a sign.
Look in verse number six here. We’re just going to keep reading here. Verse number six: “Now when this was noised 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 Galileans?’”
Now, Galileans—that was the northern part of what we call the Bible lands. That’s where Jesus did most of his ministry, too. Judea is a little bit south; Galilee’s up north. It’s where Nazareth was. These apostles for the most part just got—and by the way, that was maybe just Nazareth and that region wasn’t so rich down by Jerusalem. That was the real capital. And these are just Galileans. How are they talking to all these different languages? Fifteen different languages. Places are coming from. Everybody hears in his own language.
Look at verse number eight: “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”
Now see what’s happening. Remember the Old Testament, the backsliding, God scattered them around the world, the Jewish people? And yet they would come back for these special feast days to Jerusalem from all around. “Every nation under heaven,” it says. That’s amazing to me. And so God knows, “Hey, all the Jewish people are coming back.” So God had gathered them out of Egypt before, remember, and they came out of Egypt as a nation when it was a family, but now they’re coming out as a nation, and he meets with them over there on Mount Sinai and the tabernacle. But God says, “They’re not all together right now, but I’m going to gather them together on the day of Pentecost, and that’s when they’re going to meet with them.” These Jews—the Jews, they seek after a sign. There are verses that say that. The Jews are hard to sign, and they seek after a sign, and God knows that. So God’s giving them a sign. It’s got all these Jewish people from every nation gathering there. Give them a wonderful special sign. They’re all heard in their own language.
Well, this guy—most of them probably knew Hebrew. They’re gathering there for this Jewish festival, but they’re native, their own language. We sometimes Bible Literature Missionary Foundation and other Bible printing ministries—I know Brother Joel’s been involved in it—they may have the Bible in English, and their second language is English, but they can have the Bible in their own language. There’s something a little special about that. What’s your first language? I like to ask some people, you know, bilingual, “Do you think in English or do you think in your native language?” And more often, they think in their first language, see? And God hears having all these people in…
And they’re hearing the gospel. They’re hearing about Jesus, the Messiah that just died and rose again fifty days earlier. They’re hearing it in their own native language. That’s what’s special. And Paul—everybody’s that, “Wow, how is this happening? These are Galileans.” By the way, I don’t think it was just Peter talking at this point. You know, I think there’s a lot of the different apostles speaking in a different language. There’s maybe a different apostle in a different language. And they’re saying, “Hey, hear from Parthians and go over there. They’re talking your language over there.” And boy, they’re just, “Wow, how is this happening? These are just Galileans.” People gathering from all over. God’s gathering the Jewish people. He’s meeting with them in a special way. He’s giving them a sign.
Now, look, let’s keep reading here. Look in verse number nine. We’re going to try to get through these areas. I wouldn’t say language, but where in they were born: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and dwellers of Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and parts of Libya about Cyrene, and the strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
By the way, it wasn’t gibberish to them. They heard the wonderful—they understood what they were—wonderful works of God. They understood what they were saying. You get that? They know what they’re talking about. They’re talking about the wonderful work. They heard all these different languages, and they’re hearing that. They’re all amazed, we’re in doubt, saying one to another, “What meaneth this?” How can these Galileans speak all these different languages? See what’s going on? They know what they were saying.
Now let me just for a minute here—we’re not going to get through what I wanted to get through—let me just talk, address this modern-day tongues movement for just a minute here, all right? I’ll never forget we were in a church. They were starting a church about the time we were starting a church in La Verne. We were a storefront, and they were a storefront. And we thought, “Well, let’s go try to encourage.” And we knew they weren’t exactly like us, but they were preaching the gospel. So we thought, let’s go try to encourage. And we had our service, I think, and then we went to their service. They started a little bit later, and we went and sat in their little storefront. They introduced us. I think maybe they had already started service. They came a little late, just a handful of people. And I know it wasn’t good when they asked me—they introduced me, you know, the preacher started church down, you know, and they’re starting church—and right in the middle of the message, they just stopped. Maybe there was, I don’t know, maybe less than twenty people there, but they asked right in the middle of the message, “Do you—hey, Brother Paul, Pastor Paul—do you believe in tongues?” Talk about being put on the spot, you know.
And I said, “No, not this modern-day tongue.” And boy, it was on. The rest of the message, they preached of this boy right here. And I remember telling the kids, this fine man, we’ll just take it, no problem. But I do not believe in this modern-day tongue gibber-jabber. Let me give you a couple things about it. You may want to write down if you like to. It’s up to you.
But speaking in tongues only happened three times in all the Bible: the Day of Pentecost we just read about. Every man heard in his own language. I will say this, and I’m not sure that I—this is one that I would have leniency towards—I’d say this: I have heard of a church, Acts of Baptist Church, they went to years and years ago. Of course, Chicago, the melting pot, got everything, you know, and imitation time came. And a Chinese person came forward in a large church. And Brother Howes used to sometimes say, “Do we have a—I believe, if I remember right, there was a man as a Hungarian—do we have a Hungarian speaking so on if they could deal with this person at the altar here and so on and so on?”
But I believe it was Chinese, and the lady came forward. God was just pulling her down; she came forward. But they did not have someone that spoke that language. And so the soul at the altar said, “Well, you know what? I’m just going to try to give the gospel to her in English, see what happens.” And lo and behold, the lady could understand it, and she prayed, now she used to be her savior. And after that, she couldn’t understand what we were saying, anybody was saying. Now, that’d be close to what happened on the day of Pentecost.
By the way, I never forget, I was—I was working at Union Tank Car Company, had a Bible study there. And, you know, you start a Bible study at work, and you got everything in the—Jehovah’s Witness and everybody. I learned more Bible there than I think I did in all the Bible College because you better be ready. I remember coming into our Bible studies and starting arguments in our Bible studies, and I’m like, “I got to find out the truth of this thing here.” You know, they know how to get their little things. It was good for me. It taught me a lot.
But I remember—never, never forget—a guy, he believed in this modern-day tongues movement. And he was talking to me, and I think I needed a ride home. And he gave me a ride home, so I wasn’t going to turn it down, amen. But I knew, “Oh, no, I better be ready on the way home,” you know. And he’s telling me about his church, and they had just had speaking of the tongues in his church, and he was just so proud of it. And he was just so proud of it.
I don’t know who brought up the day of Pentecost. And I said, “So you did it just like the day of Pentecost?” He said, “Oh, yeah, yeah. That’s what they did on the day of Pentecost?” And I said, “Well, did you have sound of a mighty rushing wind come in there?” Well, no. “Did you have cloven tongues of fire sitting on people’s heads?” Well, no. “Well, that’s what happened on the day of Pentecost.” If you’re going to do what they did on the day of Pentecost, it wasn’t just all that happened. Kind of hard to mimic fire coming down on the head. You might burn somebody bald-headed doing that.
But on the day of Pentecost, every man heard in his own language. And I wouldn’t put past God to do miracles to get someone saved, just this language. Well, this modern-day gibberish? No. But it happened three times in the Bible: one, the day of Pentecost; two, at the house of Cornelius. It was three years later, and the Gentiles were getting saved. And then God allowed them to speak in tongues, maybe so Peter could go back and tell the council at Jerusalem, “Hey, I know they got saved because they spoke in tongues.” Maybe they needed that, the Jewish people, to accept the Gentiles are getting saved in a great way. And then years and years later, it happened one other time at Ephesus, just a small group of people met in Ephesus, but many say about twenty-two years later. So you only got three times in the Bible.
Not only that, let me say this, number two: Jesus—of course, God in flesh—John the Baptist, greatest man born among women—Jesus and John the Baptist, the Bible never records him speaking in tongues one time. Well, surely if it’s the sign of the power of the Holy Ghost, John the Baptist, greatest man born of men and women, is going to speak in tongues, but he didn’t. Surely Jesus was speaking in tongues, but Jesus—you’ll never find anywhere in Scripture Jesus speaking in tongues. It’s not there. Only three times in all the Bible: every man heard in his own language; they had Pentecost; Cornelius’ people getting saved; a group of Christians over there is getting saved; people getting saved.
Let me say this: I don’t know that we’ll have time one of these Wednesday nights, we may talk about the sign gifts and how they’re done away with. I don’t know that we will, but typically if I’m dealing with tongues with someone, typically the easiest thing is just to take them over to 1 Corinthians 14, where it gives guidelines about speaking in tongues. Look over there, if you will. This is just the easiest because it’s amazing. Almost always this takes care of really the issue of speaking in tongues. The Bible gives some guidelines if it’s going to happen. And I have been in maybe three or four churches I can think of ever where they had speaking in tongues over my years, and every single time they broke these guidelines. And so typically this takes care of it.
First Corinthians 14, really the whole subject matter is about tongues; the context is here. Now look down verse number 27. Y’all there? 1 Corinthians 14:27? “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two or at the most by three.” So we got already a guideline. It’s got to be at least two, no more than three. Can’t be a whole bunch of people. Can’t be one person looking for attention to everybody, edifying themselves. You’ve got to be two, no more than three. Is that Bible or not? What the Bible says.
“And that by course.” There’s got to be some order to it, scheduled out, planned. Is that what the Bible says or not? That’s very clear in the Bible. “And let one interpret.” You’ve got to be interpreted. No, somebody just said, “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Somebody’s got to interpret that thing. Is that what the Bible says or not? You’ve got to be by two, no more than three. You’ve got to be done by order, by course, by schedule. Someone’s got to interpret it. Yeah. “But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church. Let him speak to himself and to God.”
Look at verse number 33: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
I’ll never forget years ago, knocking on doors in La Verne, and I knocked on a door, and a person—I believe it was a lady, if I remember right—came out, and she was bragging on how they speak in tongues in their church. And, boy, if you don’t speak in tongues in your church, you don’t have the power of the Holy Ghost, you know. No, no, no. And, you know, you kind of put up with it, whatever, you know, slam the door on them instead of slam the door unless—I mean, it’s done with you, you know. And I never forget, I went to the next door, and the person was lost. You know, God was working there, but they wouldn’t get saved. And one of their biggest arguments was they had been to church with their neighbor, and it was crazy, they said. It was like some weird, crazy stuff. And they don’t want to do that crazy stuff. 1 Corinthians 14 talks about that. We’re not read that as that verse, but God’s not the author of confusion.
Look at verse number 34: “Let your women keep silence in the churches.” What’s the context here? Tongues. “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.”
You’ve got to be two, no more than three. You’ve got to be done by course. You’ve got to have someone interpreting. God said this matter of tongues inside a church—all that—we’re not allowed to be a part of that.
I never forget we were heading a Bible College one time. I had my little brother with me. He was probably about ten years old. He’s nine and a half years younger than me, and we’d go visit my sister and brother-in-law in Michigan. I’d leave my brother there and I’d go over to college in Chicago. And I don’t know—he was ten, eleven, twelve—and we, before the internet and all that, we’re just looking for a church, a roadside Baptist church to go to, you know. And so it was a Baptist church. And so, “Well, let’s go there,” you know. And the sign said, “Spirit-filled believers.” Well, I believe in being spirit-filled, but I thought, “That may be a sign right there.” Yeah.
And we came, we sat back about three-quarters way back on this side of the auditorium. About half of the message, a lady up there started speaking in tongues. Then a lady right behind us, the pew behind us, started—I can’t remember why she started speaking in tongues, and she started swaying her arms, and she kept hitting my little brother when arms went by. My little brother’s looking up, “Paul, what do I do here, man?” And I said, “No.” It is amazing. Just 1 Corinthians 14 takes care of the vast majority of it. It takes care of it. Easy way to take care of the problem. Just go to 1 Corinthians 14.
Some people get in just the circus showmanship of tongues. Let’s go back over here. Let’s go back over here to Acts. Acts chapter 2. Let’s just keep moving on here a little bit. And we’ll read verse number 12.
“They were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, ‘What meaneth these things?’ Others mocking said, ‘These men are full of new wine.’” They’re drunk.
But Peter stood up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, “Ye men of Judea and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words, for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.” That’s nine o’clock. He starts at 6 a.m., 9 a.m. I mean, if it was later in the day, Brother Kevin might be drunk, but not 9 a.m. I’m teasing with him, of course, there, you know.
And that’s what he’s saying. That’s what Peter said: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” That’s Joel Oates, by the way. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon what? All flesh.” Remember there in the Old Testament? The Spirit came down on the tabernacle. Everyone once in a while would come upon individuals with certain tasks, but it would meet there in the tabernacle. But in the last days—by the way, the last days after Jesus’ ascension, death, burial, and he’s risen, he’s ascended—now the last days, he’s in his last days, remember what Joel said? Peter, remember what Joel said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon all flesh.” Not just the tabernacle now; you are the tabernacle. That’s what we’re talking about here. Yeah, the prophet Joel told us about this, saying, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor and smoke.”
Now, it’s starting to get in some of these signs that’s going to happen later on during the tribulation period, okay? They’re not all happened yet. They will.
And then verse number 22: “Ye men of Judea and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” And he goes on and talks about, “You killed him. And he rose again.” And he preaches a message. Peter is just preaching away. By the way, what’s he preaching about? Jesus. I was preaching about. And God just using him. We won’t read it all, but look down in verse number 37.
“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?’” Well, that’s a wonderful thing. Someone comes and says, “Man, what should I do?” A lost person coming to a Christian, you’ve been telling about Jesus, “What should I do?” That’s a good thing right there. Like saying, “Sing him to a dog,” amen.
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.”
Just a couple things about that. Repent right there. That repent—the Greek word is metanoia. Meta, metaphor, metamorphosis, change. Meta, knowledge—it’s like a change of your—a total change of your mind. You thought Jesus was an imposter; you thought he was lying when he said he was God, when he said he was the Messiah. You need to have a total change of mind about Jesus Christ. That’s what I’m preaching about, friend. When you have a change of mind about Jesus, you put your faith in Jesus. That’s called salvation for him.
“Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.” Now, how many of you—how many of you ever argued at least a little bit with the Church of Christ? The rest of you, you haven’t lived yet. No, I’m joking. You’re all right if you haven’t. All right. This is a cardinal verse, Acts 2:38. It’s a miracle. We had a guest here, and I had no idea—maybe it’s a friend there or something—but one of my men brought a coworker, and he was in Church of Christ. I had no idea. Just for some random reason, I told a joke about the robber that had broke into the old lady’s house, and he just stopped dead in his tracks. The lady called the police, and they came, picked him up, and they said, “Sir, you know, we’re not trying to—glad you stopped—but why did you stop?” And lo and behold, that lady, she believed in the Bible, you know, and there’s power in the authority of the Bible, and she kept telling him, “Acts 2:38, Acts 2:38,” and he just stopped. And the police said, “Sir, you know, she’s quoting the Bible verse or whatever. What’s the big deal? Why’d you stop?” And he said, “Well, she said she had an axe and 238s on her.”
And our guest thought I was making fun of the Church of Christ. I didn’t say a word about Church of Christ, but that’s their cardinal verse. God planned that, by the way. And he got a little offended over it. There’s plenty of other verses besides Acts 2:38, amen.
But notice what he says. And this is the cardinal thing: “And be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” Now help me out. If I say, “Hey, babe, do you have an aspirin? I need to take an aspirin for my headache.” Did the aspirin give me a headache? Did the aspirin give me a headache? I already had it. I was taking an aspirin because I had a headache. They weren’t getting baptized to get remission of sin; they were getting baptized because they had remission of sin because of Jesus. That’s what he’s saying. Exactly what it means there.
By the way, there are so many verses in the Bible: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Hey, don’t throw all those away because one or two verses that look like baptism might say it’s a wonderful book that fits together altogether. Oh, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin because your sins—for my headache, I took the remission of sin. That’s what he’s saying. Baptism doesn’t save you. Jesus saves you.
By the way, what’s the last part of that verse? “And ye shall receive the gift… the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit is not coming on in a tabernacle there and all Israel’s gathered around the tabernacle. You are the tabernacle now. You believe on Jesus Christ. You have a change of mind about Jesus Christ, and even grow and get baptized, and both the Holy Ghost comes upon you as an individual.
Look, if you will, real quickly. Look over in Mark 16. Mark 16:16, just real quickly here. Mark 16:16. By the way, when someone gets saved, they ought to get baptized. They ought to. Praise the Lord, Paul got baptized what, two Sundays ago. What a blessing. Someone ought to. By the way, if they don’t ever want to get baptized, I don’t know their heart. Maybe they did get saved. Maybe they did get saved. Hey, they ought to have some desire, “I want to get baptized.” There’s something—hey, they’re a new creature in Christ. But typically they get saved, all from the Bible, they got saved and they got baptized right then. So while we try to be ready every Sunday if the baptistery heater comes on, if somebody gets saved, we want to offer them; they get baptized right then. That’s what happened in the Bible. I wish we could get back to that more than our day and time.
But watch this. We’re looking at Mark 16, verse number 16. Mark 16:16. You know there. I want you to see this saying here. Many of you know it. Mark 16:16: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” So if I just read that, I would think baptism is part of salvation. Looks like it. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” God, he clarifies everything. Praise the Lord for His Word. What’s the last part of the verse? “But he that doesn’t get baptized shall be damned.” Is that what it said? “He that what? Believeth not shall be damned.” So between believing and baptizing, what’s the part that keeps from being damned? The believing.
And I forget riding down in La Verne on the Louisville Highway. I came close to buying a paintball gun and shooting that sign and going on and changing letters on that sign, all that. But it had just the first part of that verse: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” And I want to just scream, “Finish the verse! But he that believeth not shall be…” He’s telling us what part keeps you from hell? The believing. You ought to get baptized. That’s a natural growth of a Christian, but that doesn’t save you. Jesus saves you. God clarifies it.
Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1:17. You’re there? Amen? You’re a good crowd tonight. You’re—man, you’re listening. I love it. You’re on it. Praise the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:17: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach what? The gospel.” So according to that right there, baptism is not part of the gospel. It’s not. The gospel: death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” They’re two different things. So baptism is not a part of the gospel for it. No. Baptism doesn’t save you. Have you seen how dirty that water is sometimes up there, you know? It wouldn’t save you. We put chlorine in there; still dirty half the time, you know. No, the blood of Jesus Christ washes.
Let me say this: One more verse, John 4. I never forget one of those times someone would argue about baptism saves. I don’t know why. I just said, “Well, let’s look over there in John 4.” Boy, he wasn’t happy. I don’t know. He may have been a Church of Christ preacher I made out door knocking, but he wasn’t happy with me after this. Help me out. Jesus came to seek and to save. That’s what Jesus came for. That’s why he left heaven to be the sacrifice; came to save all mankind. He’s provided it.
Now wait a second. If baptism saved, seems like Jesus would do what he came to do. But look what it says over John 4. Look at verse number two. John 4, verse number two: “Though Jesus himself what’s the next two words? Baptized not.” Well, surely if baptism saved, Jesus would have been baptizing his disciples. He lets his disciples do that, but Jesus himself baptized not. Baptism doesn’t save you. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. If that was saved, he hadn’t been baptized. By the way, if baptism saves, let’s put baptistry tanks in the back of our pickup trucks, amen. We’ll go around everywhere just pushing people in the water, amen. We’ll take our whole buses through car washes, amen, you know? Nah, the blood of Jesus saves, not that water. Jesus shed blood. See for the cross, never baptized. Today you shall be in paradise." Yeah. Yeah.
For this saying, look in verse number 41. Acts 2, and we’re done. Acts 2:41: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.” So some of them there, that didn’t—that didn’t that day. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls.”
We’re in Acts 2. The thing I’m getting at: Hey, they had this ten-day prayer meeting, and wow, God’s in his power. 3,000 people said, “Man, that’s it.” They got saved and baptized. But there’s a ten-day prayer meeting. I don’t know. Maybe we get to heaven and find out. But I wonder sometimes, did they all sleep in that upper room? I kind of don’t think so. Some think just the apostles slept up there. Maybe they prayed all day long, went home at nighttime and slept. Good to sleep in your own bed, amen. I don’t know how it happened. But they had this ten-day—they continued, remember that? We looked at that a week or two ago. “With one accord in prayer and supplication,” ten days. Then God blessed people saved. Lives changed. There’s a difference in Jerusalem. Jews getting saved all over. That was a hard place. That’s where Jesus, they killed him, they crucified him. And boy, now people getting saved. People from all over are coming all around. Every nation of the world are coming. They’re getting saved. Selling their goods to take care of each other. Amazing due to their prayer meeting.
I’m going to ask, like we did last Wednesday, we’re going to pray, and I’m just going to have a dismissal prayer. Before you leave, though, I’m going to ask if you grab somebody, just pray with them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for us to see more souls saved and just lives changed? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? I can’t do that. You can’t do that. God does that. Day of Pentecost, 3,000 people saved. You know, we got Friend Day, not this Sunday, but the next Sunday, our spring soul—what are you starting up? Well, it would be wonderful to just see God change another life.
One of our men—I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this—I won’t say who it is for sure, but he was sharing with me. I don’t know before he got saved he drank, but he was—I knew a little bit about it—but he had allowed some people to pour his liquor and whiskey and all that out when he was out of town. They poured it out by a big old tree. I didn’t know this part of it until recently. He said, “You know, that killed that big old tree. They poured so much out of it that tree dried up and killed it.” And I’d say that just—God changed it. I can’t—nobody can do it. God does that. Let’s pray about that. God just working, helping marriages, I mean, families. It wouldn’t be good to have more families in our church, just God working in families. A prayer.
I’m just going to dismiss us in a word of prayer. And I’m going to ask you whether you be praying with one individual. I wouldn’t say more than three in a group. It would take maybe too long. Maybe you want to share a prayer request, just two people, but you pray by yourself. But would you just spend a little time? It’s a house to be called a house of prayer. I’m going to just dismiss us in prayer.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂The day of Pentecost＂ The book of Acts - Wednesday 03⧸05⧸2025 [MGAMi9P41KA]