Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 841 | Jase Wades into Spiky Issues Like Speaking in Tongues & How Do We Know Jesus Was Raised?

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Jase weighs in on some controversial texts in Acts that consider speaking in tongues, divine powers, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit in us. Phil answers a question posed by the text about the only non-Galilean apostle, and Al points out several instances in the Old Testament of the Spirit’s presence, though they were select, uncommon events. Plus, what was special about the people of Galilee?  In this episode: Acts 1, verses 12-26; Acts 2, verses 1-13; John 7, verses 37-39; Ephesians 1, verse 10; Ephesians 2, verse 21; Ephesians 3, verse 17 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. As we've told you before, you know, we record two of our podcast at a time. So sometimes we'll work things in and stories, but we just ended that last podcast, kind of finally getting to our point we were trying to make. Well, we were, because look, this is a difficult section for religious people to agree on. And it's because it wasn't like the Holy Spirit all of a sudden appears here in Acts 2 like it had never been. I mean, one of the first verses in the Bible is that the Holy Spirit... Who's hovering over the water. In creation was hovering over the waters.

Where is that exactly? Genesis 1. 3 maybe? See. It's an interesting question. It's right at the beginning. No, it's in verse two. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now, the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Now, if you were with us the last podcast and you go to the last 10 minutes, because I was trying to make one point, but it took 50 minutes to get there, or 40. I was saying that in Ephesians chapter 1,

in light of what I just read in Genesis 1. We now have an emergence of the Spirit in a new way in that it was poured out on these Jews on the day of Pentecost. But just think about all the verses later that it's going to talk about a new creation. So he was there at the creation hovering over the waters. And now all of a sudden when the new creation appears, people spirit filled people receiving the indwelling of the holy spirit you and it's deemed in several

places paul uses this we are now a new creation you know in glacians he says the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love a new creation remember that so i was reading in Ephesians 1, where he uses this same terminology that when Jesus went to the right hand of God, Ephesians 1.10, he's bringing all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. He doubles down on that in verse 22, and then God placed all things under his feet, under his feet, and point him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who feels everything in every way. And then we wound up in where we left off was in chapter 2 in verse 19 where he says, your fellow citizens, you're members of God's

household. We referred to John 1423, went back to the promise that Jesus made that when I sin, I'm going to leave you a counselor. And if you trust me and obey my commands, God, the Father, and me will come and make our home with him, the person who trust him. Verse 21 of chapter 2, in him the whole building is joined together, rises to become a holy temple in the Lord, and in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. So this is what he's portraying,

which is why, just to give you another verse about that Genesis 1, chapter three of Ephesians in verse 14 when he prayed for the Ephesians he said, I kneel before the father from whom the whole family, the household, in heaven and on earth, derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. faith. So that's how Jesus is making his presence known today. It's in us. And that's what this is about. That's right. And so here's where we're back to the core. So this is an event that happens when Jesus ascends, as we talked about. And so this unleashes something different. And I want to read this, because someone sent us from our mailbag, sent us a question about Luke 316.

And I want to read that verse because this is pointing towards what we're talking about here with the last podcasting today. Actually, let's start in 15, Luke 315. The people are waiting and expectedly, and we're all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ, is John the Baptist. John answered them all, I baptize you with water, but one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie, he will baptize. he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And then he gives a judgment picture. He says his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor, which means he's clearing out people that don't believe him and to gather the wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chafe with unquenchable fire. So it's really interesting. This is this thing about fire again. And the idea, he says the baptism of fire,

which again is, I believe pointing to this, very event. And you mentioned in the last time when you read that, it looked like tongues of fire. Well, yeah. And the Holy Spirit was present throughout the Old Testament in some capacity. Even John the Baptist of the Holy Spirit upon him. Remember, in the womb? Through fire and smoke and clouds. And it says that about John the Baptist. But he also said, which, because you have to make sense of this, is that even though the Holy Spirit was working and providing gifts of his spirit throughout the Old Testament, this happening in Acts 2 was unprecedented.

That's right. It would now be poured out and made available to indwell people. Correct. Who then, by that and Jesus being at the right hand of God, would represent heaven and earth on earth. That's right. it's this same Jesus who is going to fill the universe is doing it through people that's it who are spirit filled and I'll give you two instances of that because I don't want to

just throw that out there because a lot of people and when you hear me say that he was working in the Old Testament a lot of people in the religious world and the scholars they're like well the Holy Spirit was here all along why are you making such a big deal about that they're like the church was here all along I get it it's hard uh that there were people that were saved in the old testament but it wasn't because they understood jesus grace his death bell and resurrection because he hadn't died been buried and being raised but and i think hebrews 11 attempts to explain that yep but the last verse of hebrews 11 after it goes through all these heroes of history it says only together with us

were they made perfect and then the next verse says so let us fix her eyes on jesus Jesus. So God knows the heart. The Holy Spirit was here and he can do whatever he wants to. But what he, his main thrust for the Bible and for mankind was sending Jesus. That's right. Us, you know, wrapping our head around him being the image of God, representing the invisible God, and then him being exalted, giving us his spirit and thus us figuring out. what our purpose is, which is really what Ephesians is about. It tells us who we are, and he does it in a lot of different ways. He says, we're the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5. Remember when he's

talking about husbands and wives, but he gets to the end, he says, I'm telling you a mystery, but I'm talking about you and Christ. You're married. You're the bride of Christ. You're the body of Christ. You're the temple of God. That's that unifying work of the Holy Spirit. It brings us together. And he gets to Ephesians 6, and he says, you're the army of God. Because he says, put on the full armor, of God. And so that's what Luke was setting up in his book about Jesus with all these clues to what the kingdom of God was going to look like, which is also why Jesus prayed, I pray that your kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven. I don't know any other way you're going to fulfill this besides Jesus being exalted and the spirit coming down.

But two points I wanted to mention, which I'm saying why this is special, you remember when John the Baptist, to answer the question, when Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this is Matthew 1111, among those born of a woman, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Well, why would he say that? Because when the kingdom comes, which it's coming, when Jesus says, is exalted. He's declared king of kings through the resurrection and his love offering on the cross. And then he's exalted. He sends his spirit. Well, now the reason he would say such a statement is because you literally house the spirit of Jesus. You can be Jesus on earth through his spirit, which is the only rational way you can make sense of that statement. Right. And just like I said earlier, if in Luke 3, John the Baptist said this was coming, in Acts 1-5, which we read before, Jesus says, for John baptized with water, but in a few days. So now we're putting this right in this time period. You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

So there's no doubt it all focused in to what was about to happen in Acts chapter 2 at the day of Pentecost. the baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire, which with the tongues of fire and the idea, and also the idea about if you don't have the Spirit of God, we talk about the unifying work, but also there's a divisive work here too. You don't have the Spirit of God. You're not of God. That's right. Which Jesus has said that all along if you don't believe in me, right, when he was here.

And we're trying to set this up for you to understand the importance of the moment because a lot of people say, well, I'm still waiting on the Baptist and the Holy Spirit. Well, it happened 2,000 years ago. You're waiting on something that's already happened. It comes back to Missy when she said she's frustrated with some of the songs. They're like, please send the spirit. He's like, I did. It's been poured out.

And look, a lot of things are hard to understand. But look, there's a big difference in something being on you. Because even think about when Jesus sent out the apostles, remember when he sent them in Luke and he gave them the power of the spirit? You're like, well, where did he get it from? What somebody asked me that one time. I was like, well, he's part of the Godhead. And I realize he emptied himself.

But he had also been baptized. And I mean, I don't want to say something that I'm not 100% factually true on, but I'm pretty sure that Jesus was the first person to receive the Holy Spirit when he was baptized. It was never recorded before. No, you're right. He had the Spirit. It descended on him and said it looked like a bird.

Okay, the Spirit came on him, and then a couple of chapters later, he's sending the power of the Spirit onto other people. And they're like, well, where did he get it from? Well, scroll back two chapters. He had some version of the Holy Spirit, and look, he never did a miracle before that happened. by the way till his baptism that's true which is interesting but i want to read this because to throw this in now this is john seven people don't like reading this because they think it's confusing but i think

it puts the pieces of the puzzle together on the last and greatest day of the feast john 737 jesus stood and said in a loud voice if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink he kind of used that same phraseology in John chapter 4. Yeah, to the woman at the well, which concluded at the end of the story that there will come a time where you won't worship on a mountain or there won't be a place. In fact, he said you'll worship me in spirit and in truth. You'll in spirit and in truth. So same terminology.

And remember, this is another symbolic use of the Holy Spirit. Because how are you going to describe the Holy Spirit of God? clouds, fire, living water. Wind. Wind. Can we really wrap our head around it? No. Because it's God.

If we could understand it, it wouldn't be that amazing. That's right. And he made the point of you really won't ever quite figure it out because he said who can define the wind. Exactly. He gives you that. Hang on just. So in verse 38 of John 7, it says, whoever believes in me, as the scriptures has said,

streams of living water will flow from within him. And there's tons of passages in the Old Testament that describe this living water that is to come. Now, John makes a comment here, and it's not even in a parenthetical. He just throws this out, and this is the part that I say people avoid, but I think it gives us a certain clue.

By this, he meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time, the spirit had not yet had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. That's a big piece of the puzzle. Something different concerning the spirit is fixing to happen. If you believe that in John's words to be true here. And all we've done in the past podcast and a half, besides a few nonsensical stories, we've said, look, this is what happened. He ascended king of kings, Lord of Lords, to fill the universe.

Well, how is he going to fill the universe if he's leaving? I'm going to send you my spirit. my presence is going to be known on earth. And he told the disciples this before in Acts, I mean in John 14 through 16, unless I leave, he said I can't send him to you, which was interesting.

I mean, he made it as an either-or. Jesus himself said that. So it wasn't that the Holy Spirit wasn't working. The Holy Spirit is way more versatile than anything we can imagine. So he did come on leadership. up, there's multiple times in the Old Testament.

Look, you go back and read the book of judges, and you'll see judge after judge, where the Holy Spirit would come on. Now, this is a very tumultuous time in Israel's history. One of the most glaring ones to me is Samson, the story of Samson. If you grew up in the church, you know, you probably heard the stories of Samson. You know, he had this amazing strength. The Holy Spirit kept coming on it. And then it even, so then he has this woman with him who's trying to figure out his secrets because

he's a spy, you know. And so then it seems like it was in his hair because he was like, you know, he finally tells her, well, if you cut my hair, I'm done. And she does. And then the Holy Spirit says the Spirit had left him. So he said, people get confused. They get confused. But I will say this.

Now, one of these scholars put this down that I read last night. I thought it was interesting. He said, you will note that the Spirit is used, you know, hundreds of times in the Old Testament. Correct. But it's only used Holy Spirit. in that two words together, not Spirit of the Lord or the Spirit was upon. Holy Spirit is only used three times in the Old Testament.

I found that fascinating. Twice sent Isaiah and one in the Book of Psalms. The one in the Book of Psalms is where David was in sin, and he said, don't take your Holy Spirit or Spirit of Holiness from me. So, I mean, that might not even be the same phrase. theology that I'm viewing. And I'm not saying it wasn't the same spirit. I'm just saying it worked in a little different way than what John and Jesus is,

they're coming. And our point is we're making the case that it's very obvious from reading these scriptures that this was going to change the way the Holy Spirit function going forward. And you say, well, what really changed? What changed was Jesus came here. He died. he was resurrected and he ascended and then he poured out his holy spirit that's what changed and that's what made it different and that's why it's different from that point till today so when you read the old testament you realize the holy spirit was still at work taste is right or the spirit of the lord however you want to phrase it it was at work but it was never available for all it was unique situations of when miracles were needed to try to rally the people of god that's every time you see it used is being used to well if he didn't work in the the Old Testament, you wouldn't be able to appreciate having the actual Holy Spirit in you.

If it hadn't been introduced, you'd be like, what? Because you remember, we're going to get to Acts 19, where they ran up on, to go back to the viewer's question, they ran upon some people who were baptized by John, and they said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptized? and their response is funny because they say, we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. And so what happened? The Holy Spirit, there was a miracle that happened

where they began to speak in tongues, which we'll get through that, which happens a few times as a sign that basically says, these guys are from God. There's something miraculous happen that cannot be explained. Something's changed again.

But after that happened, it says, well, what prevents them from being baptized? And then they were baptized in the name of Jesus. And they had already been baptized by John. So they felt it imported enough after they saw the miracle to say, well, so it's almost like you have three groups of people in the book of Acts. Just to look at this as an overview. where this miraculous sign accompanied the outpoint of the Holy Spirit. You have the Jews in Acts 2. Correct.

Because there was a miracle that all these people believed in God. That's why they were there. They see a miracle. They thought they was drunk, but they still listen because they're like, aren't these men all Galileans? That's chapter 2 in verse 7. Well, how can Galileans? speak in the languages because verse 5 says there were god-faring Jews from every nation under heaven

and in fact it actually lists them in verse 9 yeah and half of them i can't even pronounce so all these people were were hearing their language from these these 12 guys or 12 guys from galilee and so that was the first one the jews well in acts 10 you have been the speaking in tongues and the outpoint on the Gentiles. That's right. Peter to Cornelius, the Jewish, I mean the Gentile centurion. And all the scholars say, well, those are the two. But I just read you another one.

In Acts 19, there was a group of people who had been baptized by John. So it wasn't so much of a racial measure. But it was the forerunner, having been baptized, by John the Baptist, they were in a weird time in history. It was all happening during their time. Yeah, he was the forerunner to Jesus, but Jesus came, but they didn't get the memo that,

oh, you remember what John the Baptist was predicting? That happened. Jesus is here and he died and was buried and raised. And so they're like, well, can we get in on this now? John was great, but he who is at least in the kingdom was greater than he. So I think that's interesting. I don't know where we that was kind of their overview and the answer. And by the way, that was in,

that was in Ephesus where that happened, jays, ironically, when Paul ran into those guys. And so you say, well, how would they miss out on it? Because they were in Ephesus. They weren't in Jerusalem. They didn't know all this stuff that had been happening. Well, exactly. And I do think there's another key point here.

So a lot of people who don't believe in God, just to give you something, I think,'s an interesting thought. They say, well, how do you really know Jesus for sure? raised. I mean, they attack the body just like in any kind of legal case where there's a murder. What do people say? They say, well, you know, if you don't have a body, it's hard to prove, which I think is a fact in the criminal legal world. Do you all agree? Yeah. So in one moment, since Jesus, the tomb was empty, people are thinking, well, how do you really know he came back though.

I mean, they could have stolen the body. This could be all just some kind of coup, which is another reason I think Jesus stayed 40 days to show many convincing proofs that he was alive. You're like, why? You would think it would take just one time. But he stayed 40 days. They got their head wrapped around it.

But what's interesting, if you want to say, well, where is the proof? that Jesus died and was buried and raised. The proof is when he exalted, he sent his spirit that we become the body of Christ. He wanted to actually give you proof and say, you wanna know why I'm real? Look at my people.

Look at these people that have been transformed on this earth by the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's, so we, cause we always try to argue with people who don't believe in God, and they get into this. Why can you prove there's a God? Well, you're looking at him.

And they're like, oh, you're claiming to be God. Well, then you're getting the same argument they gave Jesus. You're like, well, technically me, no, but I have the spirit of God in me. You're looking at Jesus right here. Well, people feel uncomfortable about that. And I'm sure Jesus felt uncomfortable saying the same thing. But all I'm saying is all the verses we've read the last two podcasts, that's what he's proposing. Right. I agree. Let's take another break. Now the problem is we're hypocritical,

we're flawed, and that is the struggle of it. And that's why he focused on the humility aspect of it, the repentance aspect of it. You know, even the, even the New Testament of phraseology, Jason, in all the Paul's epistles, he used his words like, don't grieve the Holy Spirit, don't quench the Holy Spirit, don't keep the Holy Spirit from bearing fruit in your life, Galatians 5. All these ideas are, the Spirit is here with a purpose for your life, but you're still interacting with the Holy Spirit. And so we play a role in the work the Holy Spirit does in our lives by mainly just letting him do what he's naturally there to do,

which is make us look more like Jesus. Which is why I think he chose when they said, what do we do in verse 37, after they heard, and we'll get specifically into his sermon, but he quotes Joel saying, this Holy Spirit being poured out was prophesied by Joe, so it fulfills prophecy. That's a great point.

But it also, he goes through David saying the prophecies that Jesus would be resurrected. And then he says in Acts 2 and verse 32, God has raised Jesus to life. We're all witnesses of the fact, which is what he said in Acts 1. You will be my witnesses in verse 8. When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you'll be my witnesses. He stayed there 40 days and gave me any convincing proof.

So it wasn't like they just made this up. They saw it and they now have the spirit working to convict people through it. Exalted to the right hand of God. There it is again. Now here's what I think is very fascinating. He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, talking about Jesus, and has poured out what you now see and here.

So he just completed what Jesus said was going to happen. Jesus poured it out. He's the one that poured out the Spirit. Well, that's different. So to go back to what I was telling about the Old Testament, well, Jesus wasn't pouring out the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit was just out in doing special signs and working. It was always unique to some individual.

It was working in, you know, I'm pretty sure the fire, the burning bush that wouldn't burn up, the spirit was involved in that. So, that's exactly right. So, but then it says, so when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, verse 37, because he said, Jesus is Lord and Christ. In Christ, he's king. He's the Messiah. Repent and be baptized, Peter replied, which I think is interesting.

Because when you think about being baptized, what is that act? Well, here's humans surrendering or hump. They're going down. There's a reason Jesus in that symbolic language levitated. Since I'm exalted, and the reason he told his apostles, to go and preach and those who believe and are baptized will be saved,

which is exactly what's happening here. When you look at what that symbolic language is realizing, is that we're doing the, we're humbling ourselves. Because he's exalted, we're humbling. We're dying. We're saying, I'm surrendering, I'm giving. And that was the picture God chose to use, but I think it makes sense in that light.

Well, and especially back to the beginning of this, and we'll go ahead and get into this now, because when the Holy Spirit is available and you're looking at the fire, the first thing they began to do was speaking other languages or tongues, depending on which version you use. But it was talking about language as the Spirit enabled them. So the first thing he did in this pouring out mode,

of power was to be able to speak in languages not studied. I mean, in other words, these guys weren't like they were fluid in all these countries you see here in all these different languages. Yeah. Well, also, there's a lot of controversy over whether this was the 120. So when you read verse 15, Acts 1.15, it says, in those days, Peter stood up on the believers, a group numbering about 120. Right. And said, brothers, the scripture.

and he goes into what happened to Judas, which, by the way, is another fulfillment of prophecy on what happened to Judas. And I was going to make this point a while ago. You got to remember the Holy Spirit was working differently before this what's fixed to happen. And Judas is a very good example. When Jesus sent out the man to go city to city and twos,

well, Judas had that same spirit. That's right. Well, what happened? Obviously it wasn't internalized for him. Something happened, you know. And so that's what I mean. Just the reason I'm making such a big deal is because there's a lot of churches and a lot of scholars because I read them last night who seem to have a problem with the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit being made available in a special way at this moment in history. And I'm not sure why.

But from what I gathered, most of them want to continue these gifts. So they say the whole group was here in chapter 2. Here's their logic. I'm not saying I agree with this. I kind of don't. But they're saying, well, they all got these gifts and they all took off. And I think it was just the apostles just because of verse 5 and 7, where it says utterly amazed in verse 7, are not all these men speaking Galileans.

Well, these 120, all of them. them weren't from Galilee. There were women. There were, in verse 14, look, there were the brothers of Jesus. And if you look in John 7.5, not to make the point about the Galileans, but in John 7.5, they didn't even believe in him when John recorded that in 7.5. It says even his own brothers didn't believe it. Well, what's happened now? Now they believe. And you have these 120 other women, you have Gentiles, it was a mixed group. which is awesome. But here they said, well, these men are Galileans.

Well, I'll look this up. I didn't go deep down into the rabbit hole. But from what I gathered, 11 of the 12 were from Galilee of the original apostles. Do you know who the one that was it was? Judas. Judas. So, which I don't think was the reason he fell away, but still. And you said, well, what is the significance of that?

Go read the history of it. Galilee was in the north. What they were known for was being more accommodating to Gentiles, which makes you wonder. I wonder why Jesus picked them. So even though Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which would have been the Judea side. Yeah, right outside Jerusalem.

Where did he grow up in the Galilee side? So I'm just saying I think that means something here about all these arguments that come out. I mean, maybe this is only for the scholars. But I just think that that Holy Spirit, them speaking in tongues, came upon that group of apostles. Do you agree?

I agree. I've always thought that. But I believe it just because of that verse, and the reason you say, well, what's the big deal about that is because people are still chasing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our world today, and not necessarily the gift. And so, and you think, well, what's wrong with that?

What's wrong with it is it's kind of like if miracles and signs were pointing to Jesus, if they were getting people's attention so they could hear about Jesus, to me that would be the equivalent of you going on a big trip to your favorite place in the world. I mean, where would that be? If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go? just Alaska. I love Alaska. All right.

So you want to go to Alaska. Right before you get to Alaska, you see a sign that says Alaska straight ahead. And you're like, I'm taking that sign back home. You know what I mean? Which people do, I'm sure. But my point is, what's more important? If you never experienced it, but you only experience the sign. Yeah.

If you just have the signs that you're going. to Alaska, even though it may be the greatest sign in the world. It may be a sign that can be supernaturally signed. I mean, it's showing all kind of thing. But if you never got to the destination, which in this case is Jesus, and you're going to get something even greater than the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you're actually going to house the Holy Spirit. So let's take a break. So, Jay, to prove your point, after they say, spoke and they're hearing in their own language these guys which tells me that I believe the 12 that you're mentioning are giving these different there's at least 12 different languages being

spoken first 12 of acts two amazed and perplexed because here's the key question they asked one another what does this mean what does it mean so they're saying this is amazing they're amazed but what does it mean? And then as you read earlier, some of them said, oh, that doesn't mean anything. They're drunk, you know, which is crazy because,

wow, I would, have you ever heard a drunk person? I've heard a lot of slurring and unintelligible words. I've never heard a drunk person that was fluid in a language you'd never studied. Have you?

No, but, so that gets into an interesting question, which we probably don't know the exact answer of. So, because it says once, verse six says, when they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment.

Now, these are God-faring Jews from every nation. That's verse five. But this is such an interesting statement, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Well, there were more languages being represented than people. Now, McGuigan, he's a scholar. He says he's not, but he is. You know, he says that they were just systematically going through the language.

I always thought that it was just a sound coming out. And they were hearing it? And they were hearing. Well, that's what it says. Now, I don't know what the other version says, but it says each person, each one heard them speaking in his own language. That doesn't necessarily mean they were speaking. So you say the miracle was in the ear, not in the mouth. Well, I thought that.

But when you read 1st Corinthians 14, you know, here's the gifts had been imparted by the apostles to certain members of the church. Right. And so they had this gift. Well, look, they get chastised by Paul. Whether you're in that kind of church today or not, you'll have to agree. There was a chastisement going. on for what was going on in that church in Corinth about the gifts of the home. How they were using the gift.

That could be culminated in two chapters. Chapter 13, he said, you need to focus on the greater gifts. Faith, hope, and love. And then 15 says, I need to remind you of the gospel. The most embarrassing reminder in the history of the world, in my opinion, if you're going to be a church. But in between there is 14, and he gets into that tongue speaking, which is why I quoted McGuigan, because he seems to think, if you ever hear one of his lectures on it,

he's saying that this, that it was a known language. That's what I've always. They haven't studied because of the wording of it all. Because they're like, well, how any, any, he ends it up saying tongues then are assigned for unbelievers, which these were, even though these people believed in God, they didn't believe in Jesus. No, because they were the very ones that had just been yelling, crucified. Exactly. So he's like, well, if now, fast forward, you're at this church in Corinth, and you're speaking a language that no one is, there's nobody from there.

What are you doing? You're doing it. And maybe you have that gift, because the apostles have the ability to lay their hands on church members and give them these different gifts. else. So I'm of the opinion that only the apostles had that ability to lay their hands on people. And to be an apostle, one of the prerequisites, was being an eyewitness to the resurrected Lord, Jesus. Even Saul, who later became Paul, was an eyewitness because he struck him down on the road and had a conversation with him. Which would seem to have, if that's true, and I agree with you, I agree that that is the truth. I agree that that is the truth. then that would seem to have a limiting effect long term over what these gifts were used for. Exactly. I mean, that's what we believe. And obviously there are many of our listeners that may not believe that.

That's okay because we're not sure. Well, it's true. And look, I go to churches all the time where people speak in tongues and it doesn't bother me a bit. Now, I don't know what they're saying. Right. And they've explained it to me, you know, that it's a prayer. And I've seen people get up and interpret. and they said they knew what they said.

It does not bother me one bit. But I always say, okay, great. Now let's get back to Jesus. Because I just feel like we're all human beings. If we love Jesus and he is at the center, even though I don't agree with that assessment of what the scripture says, they believe they're doing this. And it doesn't bother me.

It's not like. It doesn't make them not my brother's sister in Christ. Exactly. Now, I know there are some people that say, oh, no, you got to get all the... Look, it also says at 1st Corinthians 14, the last verse, don't forbid the speaking in tongues. That's right. So there you go. So I just don't think it's a major issue to me at all, because I've often wanted that.

I've often needed that. Oh, I've prayed for it. Yeah, in far-in-old. I've been in situations where it would have been a great help to what I was trying to do, but I didn't get it. I've met more people who said they were doing it. And then later said I was just, I actually wasn't. You know, I had more people tell me that than people say, no, I'm speaking in some unknown language.

And so, but you know, that doesn't mean anything. I'm just trying to be real here. Let's take our lives, bro. I mean, the bottom line was to, because we don't want to confuse, you know, the listeners. The bottom line in Corinthians was that they had neglected faith, hope, and love, and they had forgotten the gospel. So be careful, especially when he's chastising them about the misuse of gifts, if you're now trying to apply some of those things in your own church. Where's the faith, hope, and love, where's the focus on the gospel of Jesus?

Because that was his point. And that's our point. So to reset this in our last segment here, Jay, is to get us ready for this sermon. We'll dive into the very first sermon. It was, what does this mean? And some of them were like, oh, that doesn't mean anything. They're drunk. And then Peter stands up with the 11, which I believe aids to the idea they were the ones that were speaking in these languages.

And he raised his voice and addressed the crowd. So now we have one man in one voice and more than likely in one language, which was probably Aramaic, which they all spoke. So. Yeah. And what's he going to speak about? He's going to speak about Jesus. In specific detail, as a fulfillment to prophecy, as him being crucified. And look, it's a very tough sermon.

I mean, he says you, I mean, he's looking at in verse 22, you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing to the cross. I mean, this was a barn burner. Exactly. It's like, the Romans, you know, killed him. He's like, you contributed to this. And they were that some of these people he were talking to were the ones that were yelling, crucify him. And Powell was like, look, I mean, why are we killing this guy?

We shouldn't be killing this guy. And they're like, crucify him, crucify him. I mean, these are some of the very people that were saying that. We used the hyperbole of this in today because we're like, I put Jesus on the cross. And that's true. My sin is why he died. but these people actually did it. They actually said.

Exactly. But you can't forget, he's talking to Jews. This was a Jewish, this was the Jewish moment. This was a restoration of the Jewish nation here. And I think they were more cut to the heart because they realized they didn't recognize Jesus as the son of God. Now, it's so weird that people use Acts 2 more than any other, even in the Gentile world. the Gentiles, you know, you should go to Acts 10 theoretically. That was our moment because the Gentile is any other human that wasn't from Israel.

Well, we're in the Gentile category. Correct. You know, if Acts 10 wasn't in the book, we'd be in trouble. That's right. Because it would just be a Jewish thing only. And so that's why he gets into this promise is for you and your children and all who are far up. I mean, that's going back to this promise that God made, not only to Jesus about the Holy Spirit, but the promise that was given to Abraham

that through this family, all nations were going to be blessed. First starting with the Jew. That's why he always says that. You know, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God. First for the Jew. Well, here it is, chapter 2,

then for the Gentile. There's 10. Now, we knew the clues of that because that group of the 120, there were Gentiles there. There were Gentiles going around. That's why Jesus was getting so much flak. But God loves the world.

and people say, well, that, that, he's talking about the Jews there. No, God loves the world. You can see that in Jesus's interaction. He treated everyone with equal enthusiasm. He tore down all kind of racial barriers. And that's what's so appealing and awesome about Jesus. And even Luke said in when he was describing some of those people, I read this when I was looking at, some of them were converts.

Oh, yeah, is in verse 11. both Jews and converts to Judaism. So he even makes the comment that, and these people were Jews now because they were converted, they was called to proselyte them into Judaism. But even Luke drops that in, a little parenthetical thought that, you know, some of these people weren't even Jews and then they were brought into Judaism in this moment. So you're seeing a little glance because remember Luke is writing this to a person describing that Jesus is for the whole world.

And so that's what a lot of missed. And it's really interesting because you remember that when, never that verse when we were talking about pilot, I think it's in John, that said from that moment on Pilate and Herod became close. In other words, they became political over Jesus' remember when he was before him. So it was really interesting that idea because can you imagine the conversations they had, Jesus has died and been raised, and they've heard about it. But they're saying, no, I mean, it couldn't have happened. And, you know, they didn't believe it. But can you imagine them saying, you know, we got this new sect we're trying to deal with, these Christ following Jews now.

I don't know what we're going to do with these people because this is going to pop up again in Acts 12. And so they're not believing that everything has changed. They're just thinking this is some new group that got in behind Jesus and really believed he raised from the day. I mean, that's the practical backdrop as to what's going on. What they don't realize is a completely new kingdom, a kingdom. a kingdom out of heaven has now become a kingdom on earth and for all eternity. I mean, they're not seeing it. And then that's why you get to ask them when the Gentiles come in.

And that's even more unbelievable. It really is. So, I mean, we can pick up, we'll pick up the details as we go through this. But this is a hard first two chapters just to go verse by verse because you've missed the whole theme. think if you do that. Right. I mean, we skipped over something that nobody wants to address, but, you know, after this scripture was fulfilled about Judas, they pick another apostle who had, and they kind of spell

out the prerequisites of it, which I think is important because when it gets to this miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, they seem to be real things. thorough in the qualifications, and here it is. I think this is very important. I agree. Verse 21 of Acts 1 says, therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when

Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us. of his resurrection. They had to be there the whole time. So that's what we're saying. These people that are claiming to be apostles today, I mean, did you witness the resurrection? Because they seem to be making a pretty big deal about that.

And what I find even more fascinating than that is they propose to people that we haven't heard of up until this time. So that's what just gets all over me about some of these, you know, people lashing out at the chosen because they're, because they're, even though they have the main things, right, you know, they're filling in the people that are following and using artistic impression. Not unlike a preacher using an illustration in a sermon. Yeah, some historical thing that happened. Yeah, he's like putting it in.

And so there, well, here's two guys that evidently had been here the whole time, and we're just now hearing about them. Yeah. So there were other people following Jesus. He gave us what we needed to know. but here's two guys. And then what's more even fascinating than that is that they prayed that the Lord would show which one needed to take over. And then they decided to cast lots to see who won. Because they didn't want it to be political that somebody's guy got in, which, boy, if this ever shows you how we've fallen down on church. How many churches now?

No one. And by the way, which goes into the point that when I was looking at these men, 11 of them being from Galilee, you know what that's slang for in the Jewish world back in that time? The wrong side of the tracks. And you're going to see it in chapter 4 and it says these are unschooled ordinary men. They were fishermen. These weren't some religious powwow. And the fact that Jesus chose these type of men to be the leaders and be the witnesses and. says something to us today.

It does. If you think, you know, who am I? Well, you're the perfect person. Just because you realize that, you're the perfect person for God to move in through his spirit because Jesus is exalted and be his warrior, be a part of his body, to be his bride in Christ. No, I'm glad you brought that up because that's crucial as well. All right, we're out of time.

We come back. We'll, next podcast, we'll dive in specifically. on this sermon that literally changed the world, and then some of the aftermath from that. We're kind of continuing Luke through his writing of the Book of Acts. So we'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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