Turn with me to the book of Ezra.
Ezra chapter 3. Ezra chapter 3. I'd like to just
pick up where we left off. We had completed looking at the
third verse of the third chapter. Ezra 3. The people of God had been released
by Cyrus from Babylon. Cyrus told them, if you want
to go, you are free to go. Anybody who desires to leave,
you can leave. the relevance, and this is the way things are. Unless we see in these scriptures
something that is relevant today, well, it really is just history,
just mere history. And if it is just mere history,
there is nothing for me now. I want to know this. What does
God have to say to me today? What's the significance? The
preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the I Am. So it is today. Today. Today is the day of salvation. Cyrus told the people, if anybody
desired to go, you can go. The Scripture bears out, any
man desires Christ, whosoever will, let him come. Any man, any man, any woman that
desires Him, whosoever will, let him come. I know and you know that God's
people are willing in the day of His power. He gives them a
heart to come. But we say, without reserve,
if a man desires Christ, let him come. Then chapter 2 said,
who came? These certain ones came. The Lord, the Scripture says,
stirred the heart of these ones and they came. Then in the third
chapter we began last week, it set forth how when they got to
their respective cities, moved them, and they came as one man
with one heart to worship. Scripture said in the third verse,
they set up the altar. That was the place where God
was worshiped. There was going to have to be
a sacrifice. So they faithfully set up the
altar. Then in verse 4, And here's where
we begin today. It says, They kept also the feast
of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings
by number according to the custom as the duty of every day required. And afterward they offered the
continual burnt offering both of the new moons and of all the
set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one
that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord from the
first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple
of the Lord was not yet laid. They gave money also unto the
masons, and to the carpenters in meat and drink and oil, and
to them of Zidon, to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from
Lebanon sea of Joppa according to the grant that they had of
Cyrus, king of Persia. As I said a moment ago, what significance does this have
for me today? These people, Scripture says,
they kept the feast of the tabernacles. What was that? I can read these
things. The Feast of the Tabernacles.
Unless I understand what that was, what that meant, what it
signified, it means nothing. That's how I understand it. So
turn back to Leviticus 23. Let me just show you what was
the... You know this. The Lord never
changes, and anything that is said to the people back in the
time of Ezra, Nehemiah, whatever was said to them, God says to
me. God says to you. They kept the
feast of the tabernacles. Leviticus 23, beginning in verse
39. It says also in the fifteenth
day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit
of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. On
the first day shall be a Sabbath, on the eighth day shall be a
Sabbath. Ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly
trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, willows
of the You shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall keep a feast unto the
Lord seven days, and the year shall be a statute forever in
your generations. You shall celebrate it in the
seventh month. You shall dwell in booths seven
days. All that are Israelites born
shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made
the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them
out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." And
Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. Now, this feast of tabernacles
or the feast of the booths, they were going to dwell. They came
out, they were going to dwell in these tents, the feast of
a tabernacle. Now, the feast of tabernacles
set forth actually four things that these people were to remember
and to celebrate. Number one, just staying right
there in Leviticus, it set forth first of all that they were set
free from Egypt. That is what it says in verse
43, Your generations know that I made the children of Israel
dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.
I brought you out. So when they celebrated the Feast
of the Tabernacles, this is what they were saying. God Almighty
has brought us out of Egypt. The believer says today, the
Lord God Himself brought me out by His mighty hand. He purposed
to bring these people out of Egypt. These are My people. And I brought you out of bondage. I brought you. God Almighty brought
us out of sin. Not we ourselves. Not by our
own power. Not by our own decision. Not
by our own will. The Lord brought us out. And
as Israel was brought out with the mighty hand of God, the elect
are powerfully and effectually called out of darkness into His
marvelous light. So first of all, in the Feast
of Tabernacles, that's what they said. He said, you come out,
you celebrate this feast. And He said, you do it and it's
going to be a celebration, a remembrance. I brought you out. Secondly,
it was a memorial of their life in the wilderness. They were
in the wilderness for years and years and years. Forty years. Well, coming from Egypt to the
promised land, they could have walked that in just a very few
days. Some say three, some say five.
Few days, but they could have walked it. Walked it. Forty years they stayed in the
wilderness. Just trace the path. It was just
wherever God, He said, you will have this feast of tabernacles
or the feast of the booths. And he said, you'll remember
that you stayed in the wilderness. That same verse we looked at. He said, you'll dwell 42. You shall dwell in booths seven
days. All that are Israelites born
shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made
the children of Israel dwell in booths. I made you stay there. And you celebrate that, reminding
them and us that our present condition is that of strangers
and pilgrims. We're in a wilderness over in
Hebrews chapter 13. If you want to turn there, it's
Hebrews 13 and 14, but I'll read it to you. The Scripture says,
for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. We're pilgrims. And you that
believe, you know that. We're here. It's just a tabernacle. We're just here for a while.
I think about these men. These were actual people that
were in this world at that time. And I think, for right now, we're
just a spot in time. If that, a vapor, I mean, just
nothing. Just a hand breath. You didn't
even see that. It's just nothing. This life
is but a vapor. And you're going to die. And
you're going to stand before God. And you will then hear one
of two things. Well done. Good faithful servant. Or you'll hear Him say, Depart
from Me, ye workers of iniquity." I never knew you. That's the
truth. That's just the way it is. Everybody
in this congregation this morning. He said, I made you. You'll keep
the Feast of the Tabernacles and you're going to remember.
I brought you out of Egypt. I made you stay in this. We're
in this just temporary place. This is not a continuing city. Thirdly, the Feast of the Tabernacles. It was a feast of thanksgiving
for rest and the settled abode in the promised land. Now, in
the book of Numbers, if you'll just turn over there, Numbers
chapter 29, all of these books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, these books are written as we are going through
these books, different ones through Leviticus now. And as I've said
before, if we ever see and understand the book of Leviticus, the book
of Hebrews makes a whole lot of sense. But you begin to see
in these first five books of the Scriptures, Moses wrote these,
and the settled truths that are set forth in the Law in pictures
and types. In Deuteronomy, chapter 29, Deuteronomy
29, and verse 12. It says that thou shouldest enter
into covenant with the Lord thy God into His oath, which the
Lord thy God maketh with thee this day. It's set forth that
in the book, I'm sorry, did I say Deuteronomy or did I say Numbers?
Okay, well, let's start all over and go back to the book of Numbers.
I thought when I read that, that didn't sound right. That didn't
sound right. Numbers 29. Numbers 29. Let's try it one more time. Numbers 29, verse 12. It says on the 15th day, this
is it, of the 7th month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no Servile work. And you shall keep a feast unto
the Lord for seven days. Now look at verse 35 of Numbers
29. On the eighth day, you shall
have a solemn assembly. You shall do no servile work
therein. That meant work of employment. Just don't do it. Now, let me
tell you something. I understand that There are times
that we have to work. I understand that. And some of
you right here, you've got jobs that demand that you be there. This is not talking about, for
our day, the absolutely abstaining. I know that there are times that
people will say, well, I'll tell you this, this is Sunday, I'm
not going to end up, I'm not going to go out to a restaurant,
I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to turn on the
television. I'm not going to go to a movie. I'm not going
to mow the yard. I would say this. It's good if
you work. I mean, if you rest. It's good. It's good. But that's
not what is set forth in doing no servile work. What is being said here is this,
there is a rest for the people of God. And we can make a work
of self-righteousness out of not working. Now I would say
this, it would be a whole lot better if our schedules were
worked around the attendance of the worship of Almighty God. But if someone has to, it is
not saying that if you do something, you mow your grass, you are not
breaking the law of God if you mow your grass this afternoon. There is a rest is what is being
said to the people of God. I am not excusing under any circumstances
the missing of the non-attendance of the worship of Almighty God.
I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is this.
What God was setting forth is this. There is a rest. There's a rest. The rest of the
believer is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His imputed
righteousness. On the seventh day, God rested. Does that mean that He was tired?
And he had nothing else. He just couldn't do anything.
He had to relax. No, it meant that on the seventh
day, the Sabbath, that Christ was set forth as our rest. So the Lord set forth in the
feast of the tabernacles that there was a rest. He said that
we rest in Him who lived for us because we can't live. You
that believe rest from trying to live a life before Him that
will be accepted for righteousness. We rest in that He died for us. We cannot die to ourselves as
we ought. We may desire to, but we don't
do it. We rest in Him who lived and
died for us, being our righteousness and our substitute. Then fourthly,
it was a feast of thanks for the completed harvest. They celebrated
this because God brought them out of Egypt. They celebrated
this because they know we're in this life, but for a little
while it's temporal. We're wandering in this. They're
thankful that Almighty God gave them a rest from working for
righteousness. And then fourthly, it's a feast
of thanksgiving for the completed harvest. Back in Leviticus where
we were in 23, in the 39th verse it says, on the 15th day of the
7th month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you
shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days on the first day.
It will be a Sabbath. On the 8th day, it will be a
Sabbath. Now, back in Exodus, turn with me to Exodus 23. Exodus
23 and verse 16. The Lord said, now this is the
way that you will celebrate or remember the feast of the tabernacles. In Exodus 23, verse 16, in the
feast of the harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast
sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering which is in the
end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of
the field three times in the year, all thy males, shall appear
before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not offer the blood
of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat
of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the
first fruits of thy land shalt thou bring into the house of
the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in
his mother's milk. The first thing that I know is
the people concerning this last part, the Feast of Thanksgiving,
for the completed harvest. The Lord told them, He said,
when you take harvest of the firstfruits, He said, that's
what you bring Me. You will bring unto Me the first,
verse 19, the first of the firstfruits shalt thou bring unto the Lord
thy God. And he said, you shall not see the kid in his mother's
milk. Now, that's a statement, that last part right there, to
be honest with you, I had to just look it up and find out
what was he talking about. One writer said, and I have,
this is, to be honest with you, well, two of them actually, but
two of these men that wrote said that it was a superstition, a
heathenistic superstition. that these people, when they
would offer these sacrifices, and heathens offer sacrifices,
don't think that they don't. I mean, everybody's religious. But what they would do is they
would take the milk of the cow and they would boil the calf
in that, seethe it. That's what it meant, to boil
it, to eat it. It was a superstition. And what
it was, it was because they thought it was lucky. It was just lucky,
you know? And it's going to produce a better
harvest next year. Lucky. If you do that, it's lucky.
The Lord said, this is what I demand. He said, the first of the first
fruits. He said, you bring those to Me. And you give of the first
unto the Lord. And He says, and don't depend
on luck. That's what He was saying. When
we come and we give unto the Lord, And this is something,
we started looking back in Ezra the other week, and it was talking
about the giving, and there's something else to be said about
it in a minute. Someone asked me one time, they said, number
one, should I give, you know, out of the first of it, the gross
or the net? I thought, you're kidding me,
right, when you're asking me that. You give unto the Lord
of the first, out of the firstfruits, that which is His. It is an act
of obedience. It's an act of faith. And we
believe Him. You give out of that which is
the best, didn't He? You give that which is of your
necessity, told someone humanly speaking. is really, I'm talking about
humanly speaking, we've got to have money to live. I mean, I've
got to have money to buy gas and buy food and pay my bills. But I'm telling you, I promise
you this, based on the Word of God, and I have had times of
struggle because I know, as I told you last time I dealt with this
thing in just a few statements, I know how someone says, now
wait a minute, now you're going to get on money, and I tell you,
Let me say this, and I'll just be real honest with you. I'm
talking to myself here because I'm just like you. I've got to
pay my bills too. But I promise you that if you
attempt, or if you have the attitude, I'm going to do everything else
I have to do, then whatever's left, I'll give that to the Lord. I'm telling you. It's not a threat. I'm just telling you based on
the Word of God, based on God's Word, based on truth, if you
think that you can get by and I'm going to give him whatever's
left, and I paid everything else and I'm down to 400 bucks here,
and I'll give him, you know, I'm telling you, you will find
that you suffer for it. Someone says, I tell you this,
I don't think we ought to deal in money and stuff like this.
I'm telling you there's a spiritual principle here of giving. And it's out of the first fruits.
You give of the best. You give of the first. Did He
not? As I said before, how would I
feel if I knew that I got the dregs of what He would give me? He gave of the best. He gave
of the first. And God is not a debtor to any
man. Now, you may go broke giving
me something. But I promise you this, you won't,
given God of the firstfruits. He owns it all anyway. It's His. So therefore, don't worry. He will not be indebted to you.
But I promise you, you miss the blessing. There is a blessing
in giving. And the failure to give of the
firstfruits is a failure. I tell you where I think, and
I was talking to a precious friend of mine the other day, and I
tell you where the greatest blessing I think is the revelation. It is a greater increase of the
revelation of Himself. Now, I can't explain that, but
I tell you this, there's a growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior. and the giving of our first,
the best, the first of it. There is a blessing from Almighty
God that is given to those that God gives a heart, that gives
a heart to give. And they give of the best. They
give of the first. Give of the first. First of it. This is what God told me. He
said, this is what you will do. This is the feast of the tabernacles. I brought you out of bondage.
I caused you to walk in the wilderness, showing you that this was temporary.
Be thankful that Almighty God has given us a heart to realize,
to be thankful that He has set us in this place, giving us a
home, looking forward to that which shall never, never perish,
and we give unto Him as He has given unto us. The celebration
for the harvest is the picture of that great harvest of God's
sheep, the fruit of His redemption. The firstfruits, spiritually
speaking, whenever they gave of the firstfruits, what it said
was this, the Lord Jesus Christ, we are, as He is, we are in Him. We are the firstfruits. first
risen from the dead, the only begotten. We are the first fruits
of His labor. That which He did. Elected us,
called us, redeemed us, kept us. He has birthed us into the
Lord Jesus Christ in this life and presented them to God Almighty. We are His offering to the honor
and glory of His grace. We are the firstfruits. James
1.18 says, "...of His own will begat He us with the word of
truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
So when we give unto Him, it is an honor to Almighty God for
that which He has produced, the firstfruits, the presenting of
the children unto the Father. He gave and presented the best,
the fruit of His labor, by the will of the Father. The elect
are begotten, birthed into newness of life, regenerated, brought
to the knowledge of the high privilege of knowing the good
and perfect gift that comes down from the Father of lights, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And all that the Father has given
the Lord Jesus shall surely be Harvested. There's no dregs with
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no seconds. There's no
leftovers. There's no second best with Him. You see the significance of what
I'm talking about. It's not an issue over money
or time or graciousness. It's an issue over obedience
to Him in that which honors the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling
you. God's church is going to prosper. Don't worry. It will prosper. God's church is not going to
be second-guessed or second-best. They offered the daily burnt
offerings. The Scripture says back in Ezra,
back in verse 5, Ezra 3, 5, "...afterward they offered the continual burnt
offerings, both of the new moons of the set feast of the Lord
that were consecrated in every one that willingly offered a
freewill offering unto the Lord. These people had kept the Feast
of the Tabernacles as it was written, just exactly the way
God said to do it. They offered the daily burnt
offerings by number. You know, I'll tell you what,
before I stop, I want to just look at that back in verse 4,
and then I'm going to stop. Our time is really running close. But it says they kept the Feast
of Tabernacles as it was written and offered the daily burnt offerings,
you see that by number, by number. Back in Numbers chapter 29, look
at this and then we'll wrap this up. Numbers chapter 29, the Scripture set forth exactly
the way this feast was going to be offered. In Numbers 29,
in verse 12, it says now, on the fifteenth day of the seventh
month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no
servile work. You shall keep a feast unto the
Lord seven days. You shall offer a burnt offering,
a sacrifice made by fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord. Thirteen
young bullocks, two rams and fourteen lambs of the first year,
they shall be without blemish." Now, on the first day, this feast
was going to take place for seven days. The first day was going
to be a Sabbath. The eighth day was going to be
a Sabbath. But there were seven days in there, and they said,
you will offer these feasts by number. Alright? The Scripture says that on the
first day, They had in verse 13 about the middle part that
says, you'll offer 13 young bullocks, 2 rams and 14 lambs. That's first day. Look down at
verse 17. On the second day, you shall
offer 12 young bullocks, 2 rams, 14 lambs of the first year without
spot. That's the second day. Look at
verse 20. On the third day, offer 11 bullocks. two rams, fourteen lambs of the
first year without blemish. Verse 23, on the fourth day,
offer ten bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year
without blemish. Verse 26, on the fifth day, nine. Verse 29, on the sixth day, eight. Verse 32, on the seventh day,
seven. Now if you notice it every day,
that they offered, it was one less, one less, and one less. The sacrifices got less in number
each day. Why? Why, the Lord said, you
do this and you offer these sacrifices by number, just exactly the way
I tell you to do it. This was showing the decline
in the Levitical dispensation. That is to say that this time
of offering by the blood of bulls and goats should not remain forever. It was a symbolic setting forth. This is declining. Let me show
you that in the New Testament. Last passage of Scripture for
this morning. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 12 and
13. Hebrews 8 verse 12, For I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more, in that he saith a new covenant. He hath made the first old, now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. The Lord God Himself was setting
forth. He said, these are the feasts
that you will celebrate. This is the way that you'll celebrate. This is what's being remembered. This is the way you'll do it.
And when you celebrate it, it is to decline every day. Setting
forth that this time of offering of bulls and goats is not going
to remain forever. It's a declining. the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. The Scripture says, a new covenant,
a new one. He hath made the first one old. It's decaying. It waxeth away. It's vanishing. Christ Himself
offered Himself one time to Almighty God and put away forever having
perfected forever. Them that are sanctified, set
apart to the glory, praise, and grace of Almighty God. But it set forth Christ alone. Hope in Him alone. When Ezra
and that group came out, back in the chapter that we looked
at, The Lord called him out. He told him, he said, I'm taking
you out of bondage. He said, when you come out, he
said, you set the altar up. Worship was begun immediately. They worshiped the Lord. And
he said, on that altar, he said, you will remember the Feast of
the Tabernacles. You remember, I brought you out
of bondage. Temporarily, you were in this
world. You remember that. I was going
to bring you into the promised land, and He did. But we wandered. And He said, this feast is a
feast whereby you're going to remember that I gave you rest. Resting from your labors. Resting
from your work. And He said, this feast will
also be a feast of the firstfruits of your giving. The firstfruits
of God Almighty is the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
the first who was raised from the dead, never, never to die
again. I know there were some, like
Lazarus, he was raised from the dead, but he died again, not
the Lord Jesus Christ. We being the firstfruits of Almighty
God, you are a kind of firstfruits. The Lord Jesus Christ presented
those unto the Father. Here are the children. Here they
are, the best, washed in His precious blood, white, no stain,
no blemish. Here she is, robed in His righteousness,
the best of it, the best of it. He said, when you keep this feast,
He said, that's the way you'll do it. To the honor and glory
of Almighty God. Unto Him be praise forever and
ever. Amen.