Holy Ghost

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:4:
It is not completely clear who the "they" were.
In chapter one, Luke spoke of 120 men and women
being present in the upper room
but it cannot be said for sure that
all of those were present when the Holy Spirit came.
It can be safely assumed that the eleven apostles who
were waiting as Jesus had commanded them.
(Acts 1:4-5), spoke in tongues.
It is also very possible that others or all of the believers
that were present in the upper room spoke in tongues.
Acts 2:11:
Any time a person is speaking in tongues
as the Spirit is giving the inspiration.
he is always speaking the wonderful works of God
(1 Cor. 14:2 with 1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Cor. 14:17).
Either way, Peter in his sermon to the people, quoted;
Joel 2:28-29 and interpreted this
out pouring of the Holy Ghost
"upon the servants and upon the handmaids"
as being for all the people who were present
(over 3,000-Acts 2:41),their children,
and those who are far off (that's us-Acts 2:39).
This forever proves that this gift of tongues
was not, and is not just for a very few apostles.
Acts 2:4:
This filling of the Holy Ghost
was subsequent to their born-again experience.
John 14:17
[Even] the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Jonh 14:17:
Jesus' statement here that the world cannot receive the
Holy Spirit is very important.
This means that until a person is born again John 3:3
Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:3: The new birth is essential for entering into the kingdom of God
(verse 5). As Jesus explained to Nicodemus,
this is not a second physical birth, but rather a spiritual birth.
Our spiritual man became dead unto
(separated from) God through sin
(Rom. 3:23; 6:23; 7:9,11; Eph. 2:1,5).
Just as we didn't accomplish our physical birth,
we cannot produce this spiritual rebirth.
We are totally incapable of saving ourselves
(Jer. 13:23; Rom. 3:10-12; 8:7-8; Eph. 2:3);
therefore, we need a Savior
(Ti. 1:4; 2:13; 3:4,6).
We simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we are saved
(Acts 16:31). Faith is the only condition.
(Rom. 3:28; 10:6-9).
Faith alone saves.
However, saving faith is never alone.
(See James 2)
James 2:17-18,
"faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone .
shew me thy faith without thy works,
and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
"Salvation is not a reformation,
but rather a regeneration,
a new birth, a new creation.
(2 Cor. 5:17),
that can only be accomplished by a creative miracle of the Holy Spirit.
(John 1:13; 3:5).
John 3:3: Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry,
the Jews kept looking for Jesus to establish a
physical kingdom here on the earth
and deliver them from the oppression of the Romans
(Dan. 7:13-14,27; Lk. 17:20; Acts 1:6)
Although at Jesus' second coming,
the kingdom of God will physically
rule over the nations of the earth.
(Mt. 25:31-46; Rev.11:15; 20:4)
Jesus' kingdom is spiritually established
by His Word and not carnal weapons.
(2 Cor. 10:3-5)
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation .
behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Lk. 17:20-21)
Paul says we are already in the kingdom of God
(Col. 1:13).
The kingdom of God is therefore Christ's
"invisible church," His body,
which was begun during
His earthly ministry and is still ruling
the hearts of men today.
To be a part of His church
(Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:22-23)
you must be born again.
John 14:17:
Man, apart from the quickening of the Holy Spirit,
cannot believe what he cannot see.
In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul said,
"But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
"This is why a lost man cannot receive the Holy Spirit.
John 14:17:
Jesus made a clear distinction between the
Holy Spirit being with the disciples and being in them.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit
is always involved in all of God's dealings with man.
This was certainly true of the Lord's revelation
to the disciples of who Jesus was.
However, the Holy Spirit had only been with them
but He would be in them.

Likewise, today, some may claim that they have the
Holy Spirit because of the fact that no man can come to
Jesus except through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
(John 6:44),
but it is only through the baptism of the
Holy Spirit that He actually comes and
lives in the heart of the believer.
These disciples had already done this.
John 20:28 specifically records Thomas kneeling before the
resurrected Jesus and confessing that
Jesus was both Lord and God.
No doubt all of these disciples
had already been saved and
yet they had not received the baptism of the
Holy Ghost.
This same thing was true of the people
who believed on Jesus in;
Acts 8:12-17 and Acts 19:2-7.
Therefore, it is possible to be saved and
yet not have the baptism of the
Holy Spirit that Jesus spoke of
(John 7:37-39; Acts 1:4-5).
Since the Holy Spirit is now given
and we do not have to tarry for His coming,
we can receive salvation and the baptism of the
Holy Spirit at the same time,
but it is not automatic.
We must ask and believe
(Mt. 7:7; Lk. 11:13)
for the baptism of the Holy Ghost,
just as we believed for salvation.

Acts 2:4: Speaking in tongues is unique to the Church Age.
This is because when a person speaks in tongues,
his new born-again. Spirit is speaking
(1 Cor. 14:14),not his mind.
Before salvation, our spirit was the part of us that was,
"dead in trespasses and sins.
"Therefore, until we received a new spirit
(2 Cor. 5:17) the Holy Ghost could not give us this
supernatural communication with the Father.

The other tongues that these disciples spoke in were
languages other than their own, which they had never learned before.
These tongues were different than the tongues which
Paul was giving instructions about in
1 Corinthians 12-14 in that these were known languages.

There are two kinds of speaking in tongues which are
very clearly spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13:1.
They are called "the tongues of men and of angels."
The tongues of men are the known languages
which the disciples spoke in here and the
tongues of angels, or heavenly languages,
are the tongues which all Spirit-filled believers
can speak in that Paul was speaking
about in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

This is the only example of believers speaking in
known languages recorded in the Bible.
The other instances of speaking in tongues
(Acts 8:18 [implied]; Acts 10:45-46; Acts 19:16)
were evidently the heavenly languages unknown to men.

This teaching provided by:
Andrew Wommack Ministries.
Link: http://www.awmi.net/bible/act_02_04

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