IN OUR OWN TONGUE

Sunday Evening · Babel Reversed · Acts 2:1–11

BEFORE THE SERMON

Acts 2:1–11 1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

PRAY

• Hear from Zachariah about Taiwan
• Ask God to do again what He did at Pentecost — speak the gospel into every language.
• Ask the Lord of the harvest to call someone in this room.

OBJECT LESSON: THE CUP TOWER

[ PREP: 2 teams of kids · 10 plastic cups per team · a table up front · a timer ]

ROUND 1 - ENGLISH

“Put three cups next to each other. Put two on top. Put one on top. You have 30 seconds!” Cheer — everybody understood.

ROUND 2 - SWITCH LANGUAGES

"Great job! Now let’s build it even taller. Listen..." Start in English, then switch:

ASK THE KIDS

• Same kids, same cups.What happened?  Only the language changed — and the tower stopped.
• That’s exactly what happened at Babel:(Gen 11:8) “they left off to build the city.” 
• What would it take for you to understand me?  learn my language.

That’s what tonight is about.

INTRODUCTION: WHERE WE'VE BEEN

WHAT HAPPENED AT BABEL

• God said fill the earth; they said, “we’ll stay here.” (Gen 11:2)They stayed put. 
• “Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered.” (11:4)They wanted a name. 
• He confounded their language and scattered them. (11:7–8)God came down. 

HOW GOD USED IT FOR GOOD

• A united, godless humanity would have had no limits. (11:6)He restrained evil.  The scattering was mercy.
• The nations filled the earth —(9:1)He kept His plan moving.  just as God had commanded. 
• The very next chapter, God calls one man to bless(12:3)He set up His answer.  all the families of the earth. 
• Jesus would be praised not by one people, but byHe planned more glory for Christ.  thousands of peoples and languages.

TONIGHT

At Babel, God came down to confuse the languages. Tonight we’ll see the day He came down to speak them — and what it means for a church that sends people like Zachariah.

AT BABEL GOD CONFUSED THE LANGUAGES. AT PENTECOST HE SPOKE THEM. NOW HE SENDS US TO LEARN THEM.

Let’s go back to the day God started reversing the tower.

1. BABEL REVERSED · Acts 2:1–11

At Pentecost, God began reversing Babel.

Put Genesis 11 and Acts 2 side by side, and watch everything flip.

A. At Babel man went up. At Pentecost God came down.

1. Babel: a tower to reach(Gen 11:4) Pentecost: a sound(Acts 2:2) “unto heaven.”  “from heaven.” 
2. Man can’t climb to God. God has to come down.

B. At Babel the nations were scattered. At Pentecost they were gathered.

Acts 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

1. Then Luke gives a list of nations — Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Egypt, Rome, Arabia. (2:9–11)
2. Many scholars hear an echo of Genesis 10’s table of nations. The scattered map is being gathered back.

C. At Babel they were confounded. At Pentecost they understood.

1. Moses said God would “their language.” (Gen 11:7)confound 

Acts 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

2. Same word. The Greek Old Testament uses the same verb at Babel and at Pentecost.

3. At Babel they were confounded because no one could understand. At Pentecost they were confounded because everyone could.

D. At Babel they made a name. At Pentecost they praised His.

1. Babel: “let us make us a name.” (Gen 11:4)
2. Pentecost: “we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:11)

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

1. That day,called on His name. (2:41) about three thousand 

BABEL: MAN WENT UP TO MAKE HIS NAME. PENTECOST: GOD CAME DOWN TO MAKE HIS NAME KNOWN.

TRANSITION: But notice what God did not do at Pentecost. He did not erase the languages.

2. EVERY TONGUE · Acts 2:8; 22:2

God wants every people to hear Him in their own language.

A. God spoke their heart language.

Acts 2:8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

1. Many in that crowd could probably get by in— the trade languages of the day. Greek or Aramaic 

2. God could have used one language. He didn’t. He spoke the language each one was born into.

3. God did not undo Babel by making everyone the same. He sent the gospel into every language.

B. The heart language reaches the heart.

1. When Paul faced an angry mob in Jerusalem, watch what happened when he switched languages:

Acts 22:2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”** — Often attributed to Nelson Mandela**

C. The task is not finished.

There are about 7,394 languages in the world today.

1. 807** have the **whole Bible.

2. 1,844** have **only the New Testament.

3. 1,519 have only a few portions — a Gospel, a few stories.

4. 3,224 languages have no Scripture at all.

5. 1,688** are still **waiting for translation work to even begin.

Roughly one in five people on earth still can’t read the Bible in the language they know best.

6. Imagine your Bible was only the Gospel of Mark — no Romans, no Psalms. Now imagine no Bible at all. That’s Sunday night for thousands of language groups.

[ Figures: Wycliffe Bible Translators, Sept. 2026 ]

D. The ending is certain.

Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

1. Every tongue will be there. The only question is who God will use to get them there.

GOD’S WORD CAN BE TRANSLATED BECAUSE GOD’S HEART IS FOR EVERY NATION.

TRANSITION: Pentecost was a miracle. But ever since, God has usually gotten His Word into a language the slow way — through someone who learns it.

3. THE HUMILITY OF LEARNING · 1 Corinthians 9:19–22

Learning a language is a humble act of love.

A. Learning a language is the opposite of Babel.

1. Pride divided the languages. Babel wanted a name.

2. Humility learns them. A language learner gives up his name.

1. Grown adults sound like
2. You mispronounce words. You get laughed at. You say the wrong thing at the market. toddlers. 

BABEL’S PRIDE DIVIDED THE LANGUAGES. THE MISSIONARY’S HUMILITY LEARNS THEM.

B. Learning a language is following Jesus.

1. Jesus “made himself of no reputation” (Phil 2:7). The eternal Word became flesh — and as a little boy in Nazareth, **He learned to talk.

2. The incarnation is the first great act of language learning. God came down into our words.

1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

C. Learning a language is a long obedience.

Adoniram Judson landed in Burma in 1813.

It took six years to see his first convert.

He spent 17 months in a death prison. He buried his wife and children.

He finished translating the Burmese Bible in 1834 — over twenty years after he arrived.

He gave a nation the Bible in the language they were born in.

D. Language learning is ministry, not a delay.

1. Zachariah, the hours you spend in language study are not wasted time before ministry. They are ministry.

2. Every word you learn is a— not yours. brick laid for God’s name 

3. Church:** When Zachariah’s updates say “still in language school,” pray hardest then.

TRANSITION: So how will the 3,224 languages with no Scripture ever be reached?

4. PRAY FOR SENDERS AND SENT · Matthew 28:19–20; 9:37–38

The nations won’t be reached by accident, so we must pray God sends.

Matthew 28:19–20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

A. “Go” is a command — not “as you’re going.”

1. A popular teaching says “go” really means. Just share Jesus wherever life takes you. “as you are going.” 

2. Sharing Jesus in daily life is good and right. But that’s not what this word means.

3. Don’t ignore the command in our lives.

1. If Jesus meant “as you are going,” Matthew had aof the word available. He didn’t use it. different form 

Jesus didn’t say, “As you happen to go.” He said, “Go.”

B. “As you’re going” will never cross a language barrier.

1. Nobody accidentally learns another language. Nobody drifts into Mandarin on the way to Publix.

1. Your normal route takes you to none of those 3,224 languages are on your commute. people who speak your language. 

3. Staying put and hoping is Babel’s approach, not Jesus’. (Gen 11:2)

4. **Even the early church stayed in Jerusalem — until God scattered them:

Acts 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

THE NATIONS WILL NOT BE REACHED BY ACCIDENT.

C. Jesus told us what to do about it: pray.

Matthew 9:37–38 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

1. “Send forth” is a strong word — the same verb Matthew uses a few verses earlier for casting out a demon. (9:33)

2. We are praying for God to thrust people out of their comfort and into the harvest.

3. “How shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Rom 10:15)

D. Praying churches become sending churches.

Acts 13:2–3 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

1. The call came while the church was praying. And the church sent them.

2. Pray by name: for Zachariah, for our missionary families, for a language with no Bible.

4. Parents: Pray for your kids to be sent and hold them with an open hand.

CONCLUSION

AT BABEL GOD CONFUSED THE LANGUAGES. AT PENTECOST HE SPOKE THEM. NOW HE SENDS US TO LEARN THEM.

GOOD NEWS: The God who spoke every man’s language at Pentecost is speaking the gospel to you tonight — in the language you were born in.

• Peter stood up that day and preached(Acts 2:36) Jesus — crucified, risen, Lord. 
• (2:21) Tonight, you can call on His name.“Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

RESPOND

• God has spoken your language tonight.If you are not saved:  Call on the name of the Lord.
• Don’t wait for “as you’re going.”If God is stirring you to go:  Come talk to me tonight.

SENDING PRAYER

Invite Zachariah forward. Like the church at Antioch, gather around him, lay hands on him, and pray. (Acts 13:3)

CLOSING LINE

One day the tower will be fully reversed — every nation, every kindred, every tongue, before the Lamb. Until then, God is still sending people to learn their words so they can hear His.