John Bevere - Don't Forbid Speaking in Tongues
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Hey John, do all speak with tongues? Do you remember that question in 1 Corinthians chapter 12? Well, do all speak in tongues? What’s the answer? No, they do not all speak in tongues. Okay, so not everybody needs to speak in tongues. Well, you have to read this whole thing in context, and the way to read it in context is to realize that the New Testament speaks of four different tongues. Everybody say four! Four! Two of those tongues are for public ministry. What do I mean by public ministry? They are ministries where you are ministering to one person or a group of people. Two of them are for private. Everybody say private. All right, let me talk about each of the four. First of all, tongues which are a sign.
All right, listen to 1 Corinthians 14:22. Therefore, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers. What does it mean that tongues are a sign to unbelievers? Let me give you an example to illustrate it. One time, I was preaching here in Colorado Springs. One of my staff members was in the back of the church while I was preaching. She thought she was praying in tongues the whole time I was preaching; she just felt this urge to pray in tongues. When the service was over, a gentleman who was a couple of rows ahead of her stood up and turned around, saying to her, «Your French is perfect! Not only do you speak French perfectly, but with a perfect accent of the ancient dialect of French.» He said, «I’m a French teacher, and I’ve never encountered somebody who speaks so well as you.»
She said, «I don’t speak French.» He said, «You’re kidding me!» She replied, «No, I don’t speak French; I can say 'puis-je français, ' but that’s it.» He insisted, «You were speaking perfectly!» It was a sign to him. Wow! He then looked at her and said, «Not only that, you were quoting French scriptures!» He would then say, «Turn to your Bibles to that scripture you quoted before he said it!» It was a sign to him. Are you following? This is the kind of tongues that manifested on the day of Pentecost. These guys were untrained and unlearned, yet they were speaking perfectly in the languages and dialects of those Jews who came from all over the world. It was a sign to them: «My goodness, these uneducated men who have never learned my language are speaking my language perfectly the wonderful works of God!»
It was a sign, and they got saved. That is tongues for a sign. Got it? All right, the next one is tongues given for interpretation. The second one is also public. These tongues are heavenly languages, which have no dialects like them on earth. You say heavenly languages? There are more than one language in heaven. Yes, there is! Do you know that Jesus has a name that nobody knows other than himself? Do you know that he’s going to give you a stone, and something’s going to be written on that only you and he are going to know? There are heavenly languages. Are you with me? So don’t be surprised by that. Okay, I don’t know how all that works, but I know that’s what the Bible says.
All right, but it’s when a person begins to speak a language of heaven. It is not a language of the earth that we don’t know and haven’t been trained in but that other people do know. This is a completely different language that nobody on the face of the earth knows. To be honest with you, that’s the rest of the three tongues. I remember when I was in Singapore. I’m telling you, I will never forget this as long as I live. I was getting ready to preach to a large church over there. There’s a balcony. All of a sudden, this man begins to speak in a foreign tongue. It is not any language of the earth; it was a heavenly language. It was so amazing! I’m sitting there, and the hairs on my arm are standing up. Then that man began to interpret the tongue. You see, you have to understand this tongue is not translated; it’s interpreted because it’s a heavenly language. Right?
Okay! He began to interpret it, and his interpretation was the message I was going to preach that night! I was like, «Oh my goodness!» Literally, the hair on my arm was standing up! That is tongues for interpretation. That is actually one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit that 1 Corinthians talks about. Now, these are the tongues in the category that Paul was asking the question: «Do all speak in tongues?» Okay, so let me read it all in context. Has God appointed these in the church? First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues? Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles? No. Do all have the gifts of healings? No. Do all speak in tongues? What tongues is he talking about? Public tongues or a heavenly language that nobody understands?
The answer is no. Do all interpret? The answer is no. Paul is speaking about the ministry giftings that God has set in the church for public ministry. Certainly, not all are apostles or prophets or teachers or pastors or have the gifts of miracles and healings. Not all have the ministry gift of speaking in tongues or interpretation of heavenly languages. Why is that? The answer is found in the following verse: 1 Corinthians 14:22–23. Listen carefully. Paul said, «Therefore, tongues,"—now the tongues he’s talking about right now are tongues for a sign, the first one I told you about—"therefore, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.»
But then he goes on to say—listen to this—"If the whole church comes together in one place and all speak in tongues,» now he’s talking about tongues for interpretation, the heavenly tongues, «and there come in those who are uninformed and unbelievers, will they not say you are all mad and out of your mind?» So he says tongues are for a sign. Then he says if you speak in tongues, they’re all going to think you’re mad and out of your mind. Now, if you didn’t understand there are four different types of tongues in the New Testament, you’re going to go, «He’s just contradicting himself!» Tongues are for a sign to an unbeliever, then he says unbelievers are going to say, «You’re all mad!» He doesn’t contradict himself.
The first one he says is tongues for what? A sign! That’s when you’re speaking another language of this earth that you’ve never been trained in, like that French teacher—it was a sign. But if we all had been speaking in tongues, the heavenly language, when a French teacher walked in, he would have said, «You’re all out of your minds! You’re crazy!» Right? Right! That’s the two different public tongues! All right, now let’s go to the third one. Are you getting something out of this? Tongues for personal prayer.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:14–15, «For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.» Did you hear that? What’s my understanding? That’s my head. Right? What is the conclusion then? Listen to what Paul says: «I will pray"—listen to the word pray—not speak out in a congregation—"I will pray with the Spirit; I will also pray with the understanding.» That’s English. «I will sing with the Spirit; I will also sing with understanding.» That’s English. So what Paul is doing here is identifying tongues as a prayer language. Are you with me? Because he talks about this in 1 Corinthians 14 when he says, «He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.»
Now wait a minute! The other two public tongues, we’re speaking to men! When that guy spoke in that tongue in Singapore, even though it was a heavenly language, he was speaking God’s message to us as a congregation and interpreting that message. He was speaking to us. When the apostles on the day of Pentecost spoke in tongues for a sign, they were speaking to those people the wonderful works of God. Paul said, «When you speak in tongues, when you pray in tongues.» He’s not talking about either one here! When you pray in tongues, you don’t speak to men—you’re speaking to God! Right? That’s tongues for a prayer language! Are you getting this? When we speak with one of the two public tongues, we are speaking to unbelievers: tongues for a sign or to the church: tongues for interpretation. But when we pray in tongues, we speak to God, not men.
Now listen to what Jude says: «But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.» That’s why every believer should pray in tongues. Now let me make a statement. People will say, «Well, John, is the evidence that I have been filled with the Holy Spirit the fact that I can speak in tongues?» Let me say this: A person can be filled with the Spirit and not speak in tongues. Why? They’re not yielding to it. Just like I can wade into a river, and I cannot float down that river because—why? —I’m not yielded to it. I will say this: Every person that has been filled with the Spirit has the ability to pray in tongues. It’s just that maybe they haven’t stepped out in it yet because everything comes by faith. Are you with me?
So make this clear: You can be filled with the Spirit and not speak with tongues. Why? Because you simply haven’t yielded to it yet. I’ll talk more about that in the next session. All right, tongues for intercession—this fourth one is private as well. Likewise, the Spirit also—this is Romans 8:26–28. Likewise, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses. What is our weakness? For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercessions for the saints according to the will of God. Now he’s talking about tongues for intercession. I’ll never forget the time I was in a fraternity in college and I had a Bible study going on for all the fraternity and sorority people. The night before, I preached on the Holy Spirit, and there was a girl in our Bible study—we had about 60 kids from the fraternity and sorority coming to the Bible study—and this girl had been raised in a denomination that taught her that tongues had passed away when the Bible came. So she came in, and she started listening to me teach the Bible, and she went, «Oh my goodness! There it is right there!»
So she got filled with the Holy Spirit that night. Well, the next morning, her sorority house was right across the street from ours. They woke me up on the intercom. It was at like 6:30. I’m a college student; I sleep in until 8! Okay? So I come, you know, put some clothes on, rub my eyes, walk out, and there she is! She’s so excited! She’s beaming! I said, «What’s going on?» She said, «Oh my gosh! God woke me up at 5:00, and I just felt this urge to pray in tongues!» She said, «I just started praying, and I felt like I was interceding. I asked God to show me what I was doing.» The Lord said, «You’re praying and interceding for an older man’s life; his life is at stake!» So she said, «I just kept praying in tongues.» She said, «At 6:00, my roommate got an emergency call. Her grandfather had an emergency heart attack. They rushed him to the hospital, and they saved him! His life has been spared!» She said, «The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said you were praying for him.» That’s tongues for intercession! Are you with me?
You see, let me tell you something! I don’t know what’s going on with my mom right now; she’s in Florida. I don’t know what’s going on with my sister in California. I don’t know what’s going on with my sister in Michigan. I don’t know what’s going on with my friend in North Carolina. But you know what? The Holy Spirit does! So I can make intercession by yielding myself to Him! Are you with me? All right, so how many are missing out today because they believe man’s ignorant teaching? Why tongues have passed away yet hear God’s heartfelt cry?
1 Corinthians 14:5: «I wish you all spoke with tongues.» Somebody say, «That’s Paul writing that!» No, no scripture is any of private interpretation, and all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That is God crying out, «I wish you all spoke with tongues!» Paul makes a statement in 1 Corinthians 12:1, and this is actually the Spirit of God saying it. He said, «I don’t want you to be ignorant when it comes to spiritual gifts"—speaking in tongues and the other gifts. But then, at the end of 1 Corinthians 14, he makes an amazing statement: «But if anyone is ignorant, let him remain ignorant.» In other words, if you don’t want to understand this, then stay ignorant. You’re going to miss out on a really wonderful ability to communicate with me! That’s why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:38–40: «Do not forbid speaking in tongues!»