I want to take my sermon text
from two verses of scripture. One verse in the Old Testament
and one verse in the New Testament. And the verse in the Old Testament
is taken from a chapter that tells us about the feast that
God prescribed to the nation of Israel. And the text of the
New Testament from the chapter on the resurrection, 1 Corinthians
15. But if you will, let's turn first
to Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23. We'll read verses 9 and 10, but
I would just remind us that there were three feasts In each year
that the males of Israel were required to attend, the first
was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which followed the Feast of Passover. In other words, the Feast of
Passover was one day, and then the next day began the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, which lasted seven days. And so, the feast
eventually became known only as the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And then there was a second feast, the Feast of Pentecost, or the
Feast of Weeks. And there was a third feast at
the end of the year when they'd gathered their crops in, the
Feast of Booths, when they would live in booths to remind themselves
that God had cared for them as they traveled through the wilderness. he had provided for them while
they were living in booths. But in this first feast, the
feast of unleavened bread, there was a sheaf that was offered
and waved unto the Lord. In verse 9 we read, And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, When you be come into the land which I give
unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall
bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest,
and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, and notice this, to
be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest
shall wave it. And then, if you will, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians and
verses 20 through 23. But now, 1 Corinthians 15, 20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the one sheaf that was pictured in this law, and the type was
fulfilled in the resurrection of our Savior. Now the harvest
would be many sheafs. If you think of the field that's
been sown, and the harvest has come, and there's many sheafs
out there. There's much fruit out in the
field, but there was one first fruit. And it's singular, even
though the word is plural, firstfruits, but it was singular. There was
one, a sheaf, singular. And it was, of course, a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was one sheaf that was to
be waved before the Lord to be accepted for you. Just as a few
weeks ago we saw in John chapter 12, he mentioned a corn of wheat. And it was acorn of wheat that
must fall into the ground and die. It was singular. Acorn of
wheat that must fall into the ground and die or it would abide
alone. So he is the sheaf, singular,
of the first fruits before the Lord to be accepted for us. Now I want us to think of the
many aspects of how one O-N-E. One is true in respect to this
one sheaf, in respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. Seven things. First of all, this sheaf, the
one sheaf, suggests this aspect about Christ, and that is He
is one with the Father. Just as there was one sheaf,
So he is one with the Father. In John chapter 10 in verse 30,
he said, I and my Father are one. As there was only one sheaf,
so there is only one eternally begotten Son of the Father. One with the same essence as
the Father. We know that he is the great
I Am. as is also the Holy Spirit and
the Father. He is one. There was one sheaf. He is one with the Father. There's no other individual like
Him. He is one with the Father. The Apostle Paul put it like
this in Philippians chapter 2. Who being in the form of God,
Now God doesn't have a form like we think of forms. God is a spirit. But being of the same essence,
this is how we should understand this. Who being in the form of
God, of the same essence. He's one with the Father. Is
the Father eternal? He's eternal. Is the Father omnipotent? He's omnipotent. I and my Father
are one. One. Now the second truth that
is suggested by this one sheaf is this aspect about Christ. He is the one person with two
natures. That is, the nature of God and
the nature of man. No other man like this. He's
the one man who has both the nature of God in one person. Now this is all important. Now
you know this here, because in preaching the gospel, this is
where we begin. We must declare faithfully, clearly,
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He is one person, but He has
two natures. This is all important because
if we do not establish this when we speak about His sacrifice,
it really will mean nothing unless we establish who He is. He is
both man and God. He veiled His glory. We like
to use that term veil. He veiled His glory when He came
into this world, when He took into union with His deity that
body which was prepared Him by the Holy Spirit from the Virgin. He veiled His glory. We have
a glimpse of His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration when
the Scripture says His face did shine as the sun. Now He didn't
cease to be God. He didn't lose any of his divine
attributes, but he took into union with his person, with his
being, that humanity that was prepared him by God the Holy
Spirit. So we have one sheaf, the Lord
Jesus Christ is one with the Father. We have one sheaf, the
Lord Jesus Christ is one person. He's both God and man. And third, the one sheaf suggests
this aspect of the truth about Christ, and that is there's one
sacrifice for sin. Turn with me, if you will, to
Hebrews chapter 10. There's one sacrifice for sin. We were talking back in the study
just a few minutes ago about the sacrifice that Abel brought
and the sacrifice that Cain brought. Now the sacrifice that Abel brought
was a type of this one sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice could not put
away sin. And we read that here, don't
we? It was not possible. Look how it begins. For the law
having a shadow of good things to come, that's all it had, a
shadow, a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the commerce thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? In other
words, if a man had been perfected by the offering of a lamb or
a goat or any animal, if he had been perfected by the blood of
that animal, then he would have needed to bring no other sacrifice. If that goat on the Day of Atonement
could have actually put away sin, then it would have only
happened one time. But we know it was a commandment
which was to be continually offered year after year. It was the great day of atonement. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Every time they
brought an animal, every time they sacrificed an animal, which
was every day by the way. According to the law of Moses,
every day, morning and evening, there was a lamb slain. Every
day. Every day they were reminded
of sin. Why? Verse 4. For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Now while it was not possible and is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats can take away sin, it was possible
and it was so that the blood of these animals served as types,
as a shadow of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
if you had somehow come upon the camp of Israel in the days
when the tabernacle was first erected and they began to obey
God's law and the law of the sacrifices. If you had been a
stranger and you had come there, you would have been impressed
by the blood. When you approached that tabernacle
and you saw that altar, you would be impressed by the blood. And what God would be witnessing
to you is without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. But it's not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not but a body
hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Even though these sacrifices
and burnt offerings were offered according to the word of God,
according to the law of God, but they could never please God. They could never remove sin.
They could never take away sin. God never found any pleasure,
any rest, I believe it might be understood. God never found
any pleasure in the sacrifices of those animals. It was not
possible that a holy God could be appeased, could be propitiated,
that His anger, His wrath could be turned away by the offering,
by the death of an animal. and burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book. Now some, you know this is a
quotation from the book of Psalms, but some understand that word
volume from the head of the book. The head of the, what book? This
book. God's book. From the head of
the book all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. From the head
of the book. It was prophesied, it was foretold
that God would send the deliverer who would bruise the head of
the serpent. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me. And when you think about
that, the volume of the book from the head, the very first
of the book of Genesis all the way through, spoke of Him, spoke
of Christ. I like what Brother Parker said
just a few minutes ago about seeing Christ in the Word of
God. That's the reason we come here.
That's what we ask for, what we pray for when we come to worship,
that when we open up God's Word, no matter where, no matter what
book, God help us to see Christ. Or if we miss Christ, we miss
everything. I come, O God, to do thy will. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not neither at its pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You know, we've been sanctified
by God the Father in eternal election. He set us apart. We've
been sanctified by the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ.
That's what this verse here tells us, doesn't it? By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. And we are sanctified
by God the Holy Spirit when He calls us. When we hear the gospel,
if we are His sheep, we are set apart. Yes, we are sanctified. Remember in 1 Corinthians 6,
Paul said, and you hath He sanctified. past tense. We're sanctified
by God the Father in election, by God the Son in redemption,
and by God the Holy Spirit when He calls us, translates us out
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And every high priest standeth
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sins. Those Old Testament priests and
high priests, they continued to offer sacrifices even after
Christ had died. And even after when he died,
that veil in the temple was rent. Yet they still tried to carry
on with that Old Testament economy until in A.D. 70, God put an
end to it. God put an end to it, didn't
He? And not only did the nation of Israel be carried away, but
God let the Muslims build a mosque right on that place where the
temple had been built. And that's the only place, and
the Jews know that, that's the only place where they could offer
sacrifice to God. So the sacrifices were put to
an end, showing that old economy, that old dispensation has been
fulfilled, has been completed in Christ. But this man, this man, this
man who's one with the Father, this man who is both God and
man, this man, this is the reason it's so important that we know
that he is God. How could the sacrifice of one
man be effectual for thousands, maybe millions of people, because
of who he is? This man, after he had offered
once, there's that word one. One with the Father. His person
is one, both God and man. and one offering. After he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right
hand of God." This letter of Hebrews, we believe it was written
by the Apostle Paul. It's not important who wrote
it. It was inspired of God. But obviously it was written
to Hebrews, to Jewish people, for the most part, who had professed
faith in Christ, but then they were under extreme pressure to
turn back and go back to Judaism. And all through this letter,
the apostle is showing how much better, if I can use that, how
much better Christianity is than Judaism. We've got better promises. We've got a better covenant.
We've got a better priest. We've got a better sacrifice.
But in saying this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God, Israelites
would know that the high priest never sat down. He never sat
down in that tabernacle. If he went in there daily just
to trim the lamps, he never sat down. And certainly when he went
into the holy place on the day of atonement, the most holy place
rather, he never sat down. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. Sat down. Work's finished. It's over. Sat down on the right hand of
God. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one, there's that word
again, one. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So the one sheaf suggests this
aspect of the truth that Christ, there's one sacrifice for sin. Now how could the sacrifice of
one man take away the sins of the many sons that he brings
to glory? And again I say this shows to
us the importance of this truth that he is one person. It is
because he could suffer and die as man. God cannot suffer. God cannot die. He took into
union with his deity flesh. But it's so joined, it's so joined
together, God and man, that what could only be true of one
nature, that is His humanity dying, suffering and dying, but
because He's one person, the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter
20 tells us that God purchased the church with His blood. And it's certainly the antecedent
there is God. God purchased the church with
His own blood. Now could we say that because
God cannot bleed, God cannot die? Because the person of Jesus
Christ, He's both God and man. And His sacrifice satisfied God
on behalf of those He represented. And remember this. This is what
God's law said. It was to be waved before the
Lord to be accepted. That one sheaf. It was to be
waved before the Lord to be accepted. Now, fourthly, one sheaf suggests
the aspect of this truth, Christ is the one mediator between God
and men. First Timothy 2 and verse 5. For there's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. the man Christ
Jesus. He who is both God and man. The man Christ Jesus is the one
mediator between God and men. This is an era that came into
the church and was taught for centuries. That the church mediated
between God and men. And to go to God, you had to
go through the church. To go to God, you had to go through
the priest, one of the priests of the church. I remember preaching
years ago in a rest home close to El Campo, Texas. Little town,
little community, actually. I believe it was a Czech community. The name of the town started
with an H, if I remember right, just a little community. And
inside that rest home, there was a plaque on the wall with
that scripture on it, where there's one God and one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And a priest came there one time,
And he read that scripture, and he made this comment. That one
scripture destroys everything we teach. And that's true. It destroys everything they taught. Because they were teaching, and
still do. If you would go to God, you've
got to go through the priest, one of their priests, or the
church. Everything is mediated through the church. No, no. There's one mediator. There's
one. And if you would go to God, you
must go through Him. And any blessing that God has
for us as individuals, as men, It comes to us through Christ. In Him. In Christ. That verse in Ephesians 1 verse
3 tells us, He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. In Christ. Fifth, the one sheaf
suggests the aspect of this truth, Christ is the one hope of all
of God's elect. Doesn't matter where you find
one of God's sheep, one of God's people. We all have the same
hope. We don't have two or three different
hopes. We have one hope. For you are called in one hope,
the scripture says in Ephesians 4 and verse 4. You are called
in one hope of your calling. What is your hope? That word
hope, expectation. What is your expectation? What
is my expectation? Christ. Christ. He's all and in all, isn't He? All that I expect from God is
in Christ. He's my hope. He's my expectation. I remember, and I've, well, I'm
not going to say it. I started to say, I've told you
this before, but just about everything I tell you, I've told you before.
But years ago, there was a very famous black preacher in the
U.S. named John Jasper. And John Jasper
was born a slave. And somehow, even though it was
against the law at that time to teach slaves to read, what
an awful law, he learned to read and he became a preacher, but
he was a slave, but the only time he got to preach was in
funerals. And when a slave died, from what
I've read, they would, the masters would allow them to have a funeral.
Usually it was on a Saturday. And they could come together,
go from one plantation to another. And John Jasper, but when he
was a mighty preacher, and after the freedom, after the emancipation,
they were free, he became a pastor, I believe in Richmond, Virginia. Pastored a large, large church
there. He had one famous sermon. The sun did stand still. People really made fun of him
about that. But he quoted the Scripture,
and he stood by. The sun stood still. But I remember
reading this, and this is what I've told you before. Someone
asked him one time, and said, John, when you appear
before the gates of heaven, And someone asked you, what right
have you to be here? What right have you to enter
here? And John Jasper said this, this
is what I'm going to say. John Jasper ain't got no right
to be here. I don't come in the name of John
Jesper. I come in the name of Christ. We all have one hope, Christ. Number six, the one sheaf suggests
this aspect of truth that Christ is the one Lord over all. Ephesians
4 and verse 5, we read one Lord. He is the one Lord who is the
ruler over all of God's creation. In all of creation, He is the
Lord. Over all people, He is the Lord. This is what Peter confronted
those people with on the day of Pentecost. Therefore, let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified. Yes, with wicked hands you crucified,
you nailed him to a tree. God hath made that same Jesus
whom you crucified to be both Lord and Christ. Amen. He's the ruler. He's not some
pretend ruler. He is the ruler. He must reign,
the Scripture says, until all enemies are under his feet. And the last, the seventh, the
one sheaf suggests the aspect of this truth. He that hath Christ
as his Savior, as his Lord and Savior, is accepted and the one
Beloved, the one and only Beloved of the Father. He is accepted
for us, just as that sheaf was waived before the Lord to be
accepted for us. So Christ, He is that one sheaf,
that one offering, that one sacrifice, that one hope, that one mediator
who is accepted for us. He is accepted, so then all who
are in Him, we too are accepted. One with Him. One with Him. We think about the person of
Christ, the unity, the hypothetical union of the two natures of Christ. That's a big term that theology
books throw out there. But there's such a union between
the Godhead and the humanity of Christ. There's one person.
But think about this. We are in union with Him too.
We are one with Him, and the union we have with Him is such
that it can never be severed. Those who know Christ as their
Lord and Savior. I pray God would bless these
words to us here tonight. We'll sing a few verses of a
hymn and we'll be dismissed.