Let me read this text to you
in Hebrews 13, 15 once more. By Him, by Christ,
therefore, because He is our sacrifice, our altar, our priest
who has entered into the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. By Him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. There's some key words here in
this verse that I want to point out to you. The first one is
the word offer. Offer. The second word is sacrifice. And the third word is fruit.
These three words tell us that what we're being told to do here
is that which only a priest can do. Only a priest could offer
a sacrifice and fruit. They took them from the people
and then carried them in and offered them. But we're told
here that we can do this ourselves without the use of an earthly
priest. So that tells us this has something
to do with what was given to Moses and what was recorded in
the law, as all of the book of Hebrews does. The word that I
want to focus on and the title of our message is this word continually. continually. Now last time we
looked at this verse, we looked at this word continually in regard
that the believer does not praise and thank God sometimes when
we feel like it, when things are good, but we thank Him whether
things are good or things are bad. We thank Him all the time.
But I want to consider this word continually a little more in
depth this morning. If we want to see how much better
the privilege of the believer is by what Christ has accomplished,
then we should compare what this scripture says with what was
required under the law of God. Now you remember this word continually. Now turn with me to Leviticus
chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23. Under the
law, the priests and the people were required to offer sacrifices
of praise and thanksgiving. The law required it. And in this
chapter, we have God appointing special days and times and seasons
for these offerings. There's seven feasts listed here,
and they're all appointed by God. And each one foreshadowed
Christ's coming and the salvation that He would accomplish. Each
feast pointed the children of Israel back to something that
had already happened in their lives. and had experienced, and
it pointed them forward to things yet to come that would happen
by Christ. Now let's begin here in Leviticus
23, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them
concerning the feasts of the Lord. The word concerning is
added by the translators. Say unto them, The feasts of
the Lord which ye shall proclaim Holy Convocations. These are my feasts, God says. They're called the feasts, the
assemblies, the convocations of the Lord. They honor His name. We're told in our text, in Hebrews
13, 15, to offer the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His
name. That's what these feasts are
about. They proclaimed, all the people
were called on to come to this assembly. Our text says, Let
us, all who believe on Christ Jesus the Lord, are to draw near
as the Lord has appointed, in the manner He has appointed,
at the time He has appointed. Now, these were holy convocations,
holy assemblies. At appointed times in your school,
they'll call you and you will have an assembly. And you'll
go to the cafeteria, you'll go to the gym, and you'll have an
assembly. That's what this word convocation
means. It means assembly. But this was
a holy assembly. Because when God calls, it's
a holy assembly. He makes it a holy assembly.
And they're holy because each of these feast days typify the
praise of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Every one of them. Now,
before all of these feast days begin, before He begins giving
these feast days, the Lord reminds them of, He has Moses to declare
to them, the seventh day, Sabbath. On the seventh day of each week
the Lord had appointed the weekly Sabbath. Verse 3. Six days shall
work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and
holy convocation. Ye shall do no work. It is the
Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. By law, they were
to do this on the seventh day of each week, before the world
was made. In His sovereign purpose, God
the Father created the whole work of redemption in His purpose. And He rested all of His work
of redemption in Christ Jesus, the Son of God. And then when
He made the heavens and the earth in creation in the beginning,
He worked six days. and illustrating what he had
done before the foundation of the world, he rested in the seventh
day. And he hallowed the seventh day. And he commanded men to stop
all of your labors and rest in the Sabbath day. And then Mankind
lost all rest, every bit of rest, when Adam sinned in the garden.
We lost all our rest, all our ability to enter into any kind
of rest by our own strength, by the will of the flesh, the
will of man, or any other way. We lost all ability whatsoever. And yet the Lord continually
pointed to His purpose of grace, resting in Christ Jesus the Lord
alone, as He commanded men to observe that Sabbath day and
rest. in that seventh day. Rest in
that day. No work to be done that day.
What a picture. Do you see the picture? It typifies
the union Christ has made between God and His people. You picture
heaven resting, all eyes focused on Christ. And God commands His
people in the spirit, in the heart, to rest in Christ. Both
parties resting in one place in Christ the Lord. That's what
our Lord said in Matthew 11 verse 28. He said, Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews
chapter 4. I want to point out something to
you here. Hebrews chapter 4. It says, Verse 1, Let us therefore fear. Trust God. Believe what God says.
Lest a promise being left of entering into His rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it. He's saying that promise
still remains. He's talking to people who knew
the law. He's talking to people who knew what Joshua had said
when he entered into Canaan, and that was looking at that
land as being rest. as being the rest promised them.
And he says there remains a rest. There's yet a rest for God's
people. That wasn't it. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard. That's why it didn't profit them. They didn't believe, he
said. For we which have believed Here's how you enter the promised
rest. We which have believed do enter
into rest. As he said, as I've sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. You recall that
not everybody entered into Canaan. Well, there was only a few folks
that went into Canaan that came back and murmured against God.
But a whole bunch of folks didn't get to go into Canaan. Moses
didn't get to go into Canaan because he smoked the rock more
than once. Does that mean that he didn't
enter into the rest? Sure, he entered into the rest.
The rest, the works were finished before the foundation of the
world. Moses entered into the rest. That was symbolic. He did that because Moses smoked
the rock twice, but Moses went to be with God. That's the rest. Canaan wasn't the rest. That's
what's being told here. Some didn't enter in, but the
works were finished before the foundation of the world. They
entered in to the true rest. And he says here, down at the
bottom there, verse 9, Verse 8, and he brings this up, for
if Joshua, that's the word there, Jesus, if Joshua had given them
rest, if that had truly been the rest, then would he not afterward
have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. To them that have entered in
by faith, they rest in Christ our Sabbath. And we look for
that glorious day when we will enter into His presence, and
there remaineth therefore a rest that we look forward to in that
day. For he that has entered into
His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did
from His." That's what the whole thing typified. But the point
I wanted to show you there was, is what the point the writer's
making there is that place in Canaan wasn't the rest, Joshua
wasn't the one who gave them the rest, that day wasn't the
rest, Christ is the rest. That's the whole point. We have
a bad problem. I gave you the illustration of
immutability, what the opposite of immutability was. You remember
I gave David a dollar and at the end of the message I took
the dollar back from him and I said, see I changed my mind.
I showed him what the opposite. God doesn't change. What He gives,
His gifts are without repentance. He doesn't take them back when
He bestows grace upon a sinner. And I gave you the illustration
of the soap bubbles. You could see them, but it's showing you
that we have no continuing city. When those soap bubbles busted,
that's showing you just what everything you can see and feel
and touch, that's what it is. It's not continuing. It's not
reality. Spiritual things are reality.
Where Christ dwells, that's reality. But those are illustrations.
But we have a bad problem. God gave an illustration through
the nation of Israel in His Word through these feast days and
these appointed times to illustrate for us Christ, His rest. And we have a hard time wanting
to latch on to the illustration, to the picture, to the shadow
and cling to it rather than to the substance of the thing which
is Christ. Now we come to these feasts,
so the Lord begins there. by showing us that the Sabbath
is the feast, is what all of these are pointing to, was this
Sabbath day. Christ Jesus, the Lord, of whom
the Sabbath itself typify. So then he has these seasonal
feasts, verse 4, and he says, These are the feasts of the Lord,
holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. Now,
you understand, they could only come here at certain times. Just
like that Sabbath day, it was to be observed on the Sabbath
day. Now here we read, in the fourteenth day of the first month
at evening. On the fourteenth day in the
first month in the evening would be the Lord's Passover. This
was the Lord's Passover which it pointed back, it made them
to remember that night when the Lord passed through Egypt and
He said I'm going to I'm going to kill all the firstborn in
Egypt and that night all the firstborn in Egypt died. All the firstborn in the houses
of the Egyptians died and every firstborn in the houses of Israel
died. The difference was Those in Egypt
weren't under the blood and their sons died. The difference was,
Israel, God provided a lamb. And that lamb, when he saw the
blood of that lamb, that lamb died in the place of the firstborn
in Israel. And that Passover made them to
remember liberty. God delivered them out of Egypt
that night. It pointed forward to Christ
Jesus, our Passover. We read in 1 Corinthians 5-7,
Purge out therefore the old leaven. That's what they had to do. They
had to purge out all the leaven out of the house. That ye may
be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us. Now this is the supper which
our Lord Jesus ate with His apostles. And truly, it wasn't the Lord's
table that that we call the Last Supper. The Last Supper was this
Passover because He ate it for the last time and He put an end
to it. We're going to observe His table
again today. We're going to observe His table
again another day. We're going to sit at His table
in His kingdom with Him and partake of the bread and the wine with
Him one day. That table goes on. But this
Passover is the one He ate with His apostles, and then He instituted
the observance that we will be observing here this morning.
But He ate with His apostles in the evening. And we're sitting
here about to observe this Lord's table in the morning. Well, under
the law, The law said, observe the Passover. We're not observing
the Passover, but the law said observe the Passover in the evening. Grace gives no day, no time,
or no season. None at all. If there had been
a specific day that our Lord would have us to observe, then
surely, surely He would have said, on this day, on the 14th
day of the first month, at this time in the evening, observe
this ordinance of drinking the bread and the wine, my table. Observe it at this time on this
day specifically. And you know what He said? He
said, this do ye as oft as you drink it. He didn't give a time,
a day, a season, nothing. Why didn't he do that, Scott?
Because he said, as oft as you drink it, do this in remembrance
of me. That's what the Passover pointed
to. That's what the Lord's table
points to. That's what the Sabbath day pointed
to. And so our text says, by Him,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God, not on the
14th day of the first month in the evening, but continually. We can offer Him the sacrifice
of praise continually. Well, the next day was the 15th
day of the first month, and it was connected with the Passover.
And it shows the effects of Christ's redemptive work. The Lord appointed
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Look here in verse 6. On the
15th day of the same month, All of this is ordered by day, specific
time, specific season. On the 15th day of the same month
is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. Seven days ye
must eat unleavened bread. In the first day, ye shall have
a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein,
but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven
days. And in the seventh day is a holy
convocation. You shall do no servile work
therein. So the first day they began with
a holy convocation. They assembled there. And then
on the seventh day they did the same. And each day in between
they could eat only unleavened bread. That's all they could
eat. They couldn't do any servile work in this day. That is, they
couldn't do any work that was required, that a master said,
you have to do this work. That a master said to a slave
or to a servant, you have to do this work. That's important
because what we're seeing here is this was a feast of thanksgiving. This was an offering and a sacrifice
of thanksgiving to God, of thanking Him and remembering what He had
done. But they weren't to be made to
do it. They weren't to be driven to
do it. They weren't to be restrained by any other motive to do it
than willingly to do it. That's what the picture is there
of no servile labor. Because Christ Jesus our Lord,
of whom the unleavened bread typifies, who was perfect through
and through, no hypocrisy in Him whatsoever, none of the hypocrisy
of leaven, He wasn't made to do what He did. Though He was
the servant of God, He willingly did what He did. He willingly
came to where we are, willingly laid down His life, willingly
suffered and died, and redeemed His people unto God. He willingly
did that. And secondly, those saints who
are gathered by God at His throne of grace are not made to do so
out of servile restraints. You can't legislate a believer,
because he's under the rule and dominion of God Almighty. Unless
you can dethrone God or attempt to dethrone Christ Jesus, the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you've got no business trying
to legislate when a believer worships God. He's handling that
business. And He makes us willing in the
day of His power. We willingly come forth and offer
to Him. And that's what this sacrifice
typified. Our Lord said, except you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no
life in you. And so therefore, brethren, we're
told in our text back in Hebrews, by Him, therefore, let us willingly. offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually, not at this specific time, not like continually. And then came the Feast of Firstfruits,
Leviticus 23.9. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be
come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the
harvest thereof, then shall ye bring a sheaf of the firstfruits
of your harvest unto the priest. And ye shall wave the sheaf before
the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the
sabbath the priest shall wave it and you shall offer that day
when you wave the sheaf And he lamb without blemish of the first
year for a burnt offering Now let me ask you a question it
was observed the second day of of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
on the morrow after the Sabbath. That first day of Unleavened
Bread was a Sabbath. It was a holy convocation and
so was this one, the second day. But this one was observed not
while they were in the wilderness. At the time that this law was
given, they weren't to observe this yet. They were to observe
this one when you come into the land which I give unto you and
shall reap the harvest thereof. That's when you observe this
one. This signified the believers' deliverance in Christ Jesus through
faith in Him. Now, this feast was at the beginning
of the harvest, before they had harvested anything. It was at
the beginning of the harvest to acknowledge what God had done
for them in delivering them, in providing the fruit of the
earth for them. That's what God did when He gave
His Son. He provided the fruit of the
earth for us. He was born of a woman, made
under the law, raised up as one like His brethren. He was truly
the fruit of the earth. And in Him we have all things. We have all sustenance, all life
in Him. Note what they brought. Verse
10. Then ye shall bring a sheaf of
the firstfruits of your harvest. Christ Jesus is the firstfruit
of God. He's the firstfruit of God. He's
the firstfruit for which we praise and thank God. And we're a kind
of firstfruits in Him. This is what we're praising and
thanking Him in His name for. This is the fruit. of our lips. This is the fruit. He does not
require us now to bring a sheaf offering. He requires us to thank
Him, to praise Him. 1 Corinthians 15.23 says, Every
man in his own order, Christ the first fruits. Christ is the
first fruit. He is preeminent in all things,
in everything. And then It says that we and
afterward they that are Christ at His coming. He says in James
1.18, of His own will begat He us with the word of truth that
we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. You
remember, I want you to see this. It says here, you bring a sheaf
of the first fruits of the harvest and wave it. Wave it. The priest
waves it. Our text says, by Him. Therefore,
we come. He's the first fruit. By Him,
we offer. But it's Him, by Him, that our
offering is waved before God. He's actually the one waving
the offering. What's He waving? He's waving
the perfect person and righteousness of Him. That's what He's waving
before us. That's what we're thanking God for. And He's merely
presenting Himself before God. Remember Isaiah? I want you to
see this. Isaiah chapter 4, verse 2. This is what Isaiah was talking
about. I finally got it. I finally got
it here as I was looking at this. In that day, verse 2, in that
day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and
the fruit of the earth excellent and comely for them that are
escaped of Israel. He's the first fruit. He presented
Himself, the branch, to God as the first fruit on behalf of
His people, and we're made the first fruits in Him. And when
we come to God and wave the first fruits before Him, it's Christ
we're thanking Him for first and foremost. And He is that
branch that's lovely and comely, excellent and glorious. And note
then back in Leviticus 23 in verse 10, notice who they brought
this first fruit to. They brought it unto the priest.
He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you.
Then notice what they offered with it. And you shall, verse
12, and you shall offer that day when you waive the sheaf
and he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering
unto the Lord. You see, He's the first fruit. It's His name we're thankful
for. He's the high priest who waives
it. He's the sacrifice who makes our offering of praise a sweet-smelling
savor unto God. As the text said, He's the altar
on which it's all offered. That's perfected forever. And
because He's the end of the lawful righteousness, we no longer wait
in observance of a day. We no longer wait until we've
entered at some level and gotten to some place, and then after
our harvest, we do it. But what does our text say in
Hebrews 13, 15? By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name. Well, in Leviticus 23, next is
the Feast of Weeks. It was appointed 50 days, 7 weeks
and a day, 7 weeks and a Sabbath day after the Feast of Firstfruits. Look at verse 15. And ye shall
count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day
that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering, 7 Sabbaths
shall be complete. even unto the morrow after the
seventh sabbath, ye shall number fifty days, and ye shall offer
a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your
habitations two wave loaves of two-tenth deals." Those are measurements,
but they're two loaves of two-tenth deals of flour. They shall be
of fine flour. Now get this, and they shall
be bacon with leaven. They are the first fruits unto
the Lord. And ye shall offer with the bread
seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young
bullock and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering
unto the Lord with their meat offering and their drink offerings,
even an offering made by fire of sweet savor unto the Lord.
Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a set offering.
That's Christ, our sin offering. Two lambs of the first year for
a sacrifice of peace offerings. He's our peace offering. And
the priest, he's our priest, shall wave them with the bread
of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with
the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord
for the priest. That means he's going to feed
upon these. And that's what we as priests
feed upon, Christ who is these things to us. and ye shall proclaim
on the selfsame day that it may be an holy convocation unto you,
ye shall do no servile work therein." Again, it shall be a statute
forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
Now, the Feast of Firstfruits that came before, that was an
introduction to the harvest. That was an introduction to the
harvest. That was when the harvest was
just becoming ripe, in other words. They said that that's
the day that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended. out of the grave, was
on that day. And then, or resurrected. And
then this was the celebration of the ingathering of all the
fruits of the harvest. In other words, when the full
harvest had been brought in, this was the celebration to celebrate.
We've plucked all the corn. We've pulled up all the collard
greens. We got all of the fruit out of the ground. And now we're
celebrating because it was a glorious harvest. Well, it says here,
in verse 17, that they make some bread here with fine flour and
they bake it with leaven. And he says, these are the first
fruits unto the Lord. It's with leaven because this
points us to the work of our great high priest who has begun
gathering all his elect from the four corners of the earth
in this present gospel age. The harvest is now. He's putting
in the sickle. He's gathering in all his people. And in Acts, this was the day
of Pentecost. This was the feast of Pentecost.
And on the day of Pentecost, He showered the church in the
Holy Ghost to give a beautiful illustration of what it is He's
doing right now and what He shall do in the end when He has gathered
every one of His elect. He will gather them all together. And it's what He's doing right
now. The harvest is now. The harvest is now. That's what
He's doing. But what does this leaven have
to do with? Well, how does that teach us
anything? Remember what he said? Remember what the Lord said in
Matthew 13, 33? First he said the kingdom of
God is like a grain of mustard seed. It's just a tiny little
seed, but when it's grown, it's a mighty plant, he said. And then he turned around and
he said another parable spake unto them. The kingdom of heaven
is like unto leaven. Which a woman took, and he had
in three measures of meal, till the whole was leaven, till it
was full, till it was complete. What he's saying is, and what
he showed us on the day of Pentecost is, through the gospel that declares
Him and Him alone. He will pour out His Spirit and
He will bring, He will fill His redeemed child of God with the
knowledge of the gospel, with the knowledge of Him. What did
we see in Isaiah 11? As the waters cover the earth.
He'll fill them with it. And not only that, but then He
will fill His church one by one with them until He has filled
all in all. And it's full like leaven. And
that's what was being shown here on the day of Pentecost. And
so when they came here and offered this feast, this was what they
were showing, that He shall gather His own and shall bring them
all together. He said, As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Not
only the Jews, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd. Therefore
doth my Father love me that I lay down, because I lay down my life,
that I may take it again. And He says, I lay it down of
Myself. I have the power to lay it down, power to take it up
again. This is what we see here. And you notice here too, there's
no servile work to be done. It's just willing. He willingly
did this, and He's willingly, right now, gloriously, triumphantly
calling out each of His redeemed in power, in grace. without any
constraint whatsoever. He's doing it. He's doing it.
He makes them willing in the day of His power. And again,
it was brought to the priest. He's that priest. And again,
these bulls and goats were the sacrifices. He's the sacrifice. Everything here is teaching us,
brethren, that it's by Him. But it's not just on one of these
particular days. By Him, therefore, Let us, whom
He has made priests unto God by calling us out, offer the
sacrifices unto God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
Him, and let us do it continually. But look, there's something else
here in verse 22. Luke 23, 22. When you reap the
harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the
corners of thy field when thou reapest. Neither shalt thou gather
any gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the
poor and to the strangers. I am the Lord your God. I will
provide for you. What did we see in the lesson
this morning? What's the next verse after Hebrews 13, 15? Hebrews
13, 16 says, but to do good and to communicate, to give, to provide
for the poor and the stranger, forget not, forget not, for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased. He said, now when you come and
you partake of this harvest, don't act as if you've got the
monopoly on the gospel. Go out now then and And sow this
seed. Go out now, freely you receive,
freely give. Go out now and tell others what
great things have been done for you, freely. Now you go freely
tell them, he said. And not only that, but provide
for them. Give to them. Provide for the necessity of
them. Now, here's another one. The Feast of Trumpets. Leviticus
23, 23. The Feast of Trumpets. The seventh month, the first
day of the month. The Lord, verse 23, the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Speaking unto the children of Israel,
saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month,
shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, and holy
convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein,
but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And
we read throughout the Psalms, Scriptures like this, Psalm 66,
verse 1, Make a joyful noise Unto God all ye lands. We read Psalm 98, 6 says, With
trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the
Lord, the King. Now, let me ask you a question. What makes the noise joyful? What makes the trumpet blast
to be joyful? It's not the one making the noise.
It's not the one blowing the trumpet. It's not the one singing
the song. Singing aloud means, there's
no English word for the Hebrew from which that's translated.
It means burst forth. Burst forth. Something that can't
be contained because it's overflowing. Burst forth. My bursting forth
may be at the volume I'm speaking at. Don Fortner's bursting forth
is quite a larger volume than the one I'm speaking at. Sir,
I know some men whose bursting forth is not as loud as what
I'm speaking. It's not the volume that is the
bursting forth. And it's not the person who's
blowing the trumpet or singing the song or playing the instrument
that makes it a joyful noise. If that was the case, And if
we murmur and complain about that, we might as well be murmuring
and complaining that we can somehow make the noise joyful ourselves. We can't make the noise joyful.
It comes up by Him, therefore, unto God an offering and a sacrifice,
joyful, because He makes it joyful. He makes it joyful. This is the
preaching of the gospel, the singing of those songs that glorify
His name, and the word that goes forth that He has recorded for
us, and it's all of Him. It's the substance that makes
it joyful. It's Christ who makes it joyful,
and it comes up to God joyful. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips, given thanks to His name. Well, then we come
Five days later, the tenth day of the same seventh month, the
Feast of Atonement. The Feast of Atonement. Verse
26, Leviticus 23, 26, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be
a day of atonement. It shall be an holy convocation
unto you, and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. And you should do no work in
that same day. No work. None at all. Those other days were days of
praise and sacrifice wherein He permitted willing work. He permitted that willing, joyful
sacrifice to be made. This one, He says in this day,
no work. None at all. For it's a day of
atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your
God. On the day of atonement, nobody was doing anything but
one. That's the high priest. He was
the only one doing anything. He was the only one doing the
work. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted
in that same day, now listen, he shall be cut off from among
his people. And whatsoever soul it be that
doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy
from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work."
No manner of work. It shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations in all your dwellings, wherever
you dwell. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall
afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month, that even from
even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbath. The Feast of Atonement
sets forth the glory of our Savior in the expiation of the sins
of those given Him. That word atonement is plural.
It means atonements because we have a multitude of sins for
which He atoned. No work can be added to the work
of atonement accomplished by our High Priest. None at all.
None at all. Hebrews 9 says, The High Priest
alone, once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself
for the errors of the people, and the Holy Ghost signified
this was a figure. But verse 11 says, But Christ
being come a high priest of good things to come by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. He perfected forever
them for whom He represented. So we don't observe the atonement
one day. and then go back to work. We
observe the atonement every day. Since the day God brings us to
behold, Christ made atonement for us. This is the life of the
believer. It's continual affliction. It's
the continual mourning over our sin. It's the continual mourning
to be clothed with the body of glory that we may be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. It's that continual affliction.
And throughout this day of atonement, which lasts all the life of the
believer, No work can be done. No work, no manner of work can
be done. And this sacrifice received the
harshest affliction, I mean the harshest punishment of any of
the other sacrifices. If this one, it goes over and
over in detail, that man shall be absolutely cut off from his
people. completely cut off. We can't
bring anything whatsoever of our own making to add to the
atonement that Christ Jesus the Lord accomplished by Himself. Nothing. We can't add anything
to it. And we read in Hebrews He says, let us consider one
another to provoke and to love and to good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together. That's what this was, was an
assembly. Don't forsake this holy convocation, as the manner
of some is, but exhort one another, and so much the more as you see
the day approaching. That's the day when the atonement,
the restitution of all things, shall be fully completed and
known by the coming of our Lord. For if we sin willfully, If we
can forsake the assembly of His saints, if we can forsake this
One who made perfect atonement, there remains no more offering.
There remains no more sin. If we want to come adding any
work of our own, there's no more offering whatsoever. How much
more sore punishment shall he be thought worthy who has trodden
underfoot the blood of Jesus Christ wherewith Moses himself
was sanctified. Moses, those who sinned under
Moses law died with two or three witnesses as he's given here
that this law of the Sabbath of the Atonement spoke about.
How much more sore punishment suppose shall we receive if we
tread underfoot Christ Jesus all over again? That's what it
is to add anything of our doing to this. And then look here at
this last one with me. The Feast of Tabernacles. Now
this was the 15th day of the 7th month. Verse 33, The Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the
feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. Now, five
days from the day of atonement came this feast. Five days since
the atonement and affliction of that day. then they come to
this day. This day is a day of rejoicing. This day is a day of rejoicing.
Look down at verse 40. You shall take you on the first
day the boughs, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm
trees, and the boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook,
and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. Verse 42 says, "...ye 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." Now
let's just put this in simple terms. Do you remember when the
Lord made the children of Israel dwell in booths in the wilderness? This is what they were remembering.
They came with these palms. And they worshiped the Lord and
praised the Lord, waving these palm branches. And they built
them some booths, some huts to live in. Thatched roofs, basically,
to live in. Little lean-to's to live in. For seven days. When they were
in that wilderness, for seven days, God provided everything
for them. Their shoes didn't wear out.
They had bread to eat. They had water to drink. The
smitten rock followed them everywhere they went. They had the pillar
of fire at night to lead them and the cloud by day to lead
them. And they lacked nothing, absolutely nothing. They lacked
nothing. God brought them to the border
of Canaan. He brought them right there to
the border of Canaan, just as he said he would. Well, that's
what the Hebrew writer was teaching us in Hebrews 13, 14, just before
our text, when he said, we have no continuing city, but we seek
one to come. That's what they were being taught
in the wilderness. That's what they were remembering
here. And that's what it was pointing to, that in Christ,
who came and tabernacled among us as a man, because He knows
the feeling of our infirmities, and He's risen at the right hand
of God, and He's the high priest of God now. knows what you need. He knows when you're murmuring
and complaining, He's been right where you're stepping. He knows
exactly what you're going through and He's able to provide everything
you need. Everything you need. Everything
you need. Let me show you where I got the
commentary on this. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. Somebody said this, they said
that if you put those commentaries up and go to reading the Scriptures,
they'll shed a whole lot of light on those commentaries. And it's
true. This is the commentary for this
text, this Feast of Tabernacles. We're right now dwelling in this
body, in this tabernacle. But really, we're dwelling in
Christ. We're tabernacling in Him. He
dwells in us and we in Him. That's where our dwelling is.
And right now He's providing for us everything just as He
provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness. Now
let me show you that. Verse 9, Revelation 7, 9. After this,
I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and countries, and people, and tongues, stood before
the throne, Listen now, they stood before
the throne. By Him, therefore, let us offer
this. By Him, by His blood, we have
access into the Holy Stifolio. It says here, they stood before
the throne. Right before the throne. And
before the Lamb. Right in front of the Lamb. Clothed
with white robes and palms in their hands. What did they take
here on the first day of the day? They took palms, the boughs
of palms, bowls of palms. And you know what they did when
our Lord came into Jerusalem? They went before Him and they
laid down the palm branches in front of Him. You remember? You
know what you're doing? Right here, you're right in front
of the throne of God. You're right before the Lamb.
And when you come before Him to praise Him and offer thanksgiving
to Him, you're waving these goodly palm branches in front of Him.
Now look, And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.
Now look down at verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
And which came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, Here's who
they are. These are they which came out
of great tribulation. If you've been born of God, that's
what you came out of. If you are alive right now in
this land, in this present evil world dwelling in Christ, you're
in tribulation right now. And they came out of great tribulation
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the
throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. And
he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. Do you
see that? They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them. Now
wait a minute. unto living fountains of waters,
and God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes." I thought
they were before the throne and before the Lamb. I thought they
were clothed in white robes with these palms in their hands singing
this song. They are. But they're not with Him yet.
He's going to lead them there. He's going to lead them there.
And they're going to be there with Him. But this is the believer. This is the person in the earth
praising Him by Christ, singing and offering sacrifices and praising
unto Him in His name. They're right before His throne.
They're right before the Lamb. They're singing right directly
to Him. And He's dwelling right in their
midst. And He shall feed them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. Neither shall the sunlight on
them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." When He brings them home finally, He is going
to bring them there and wipe away all tears from their eyes.
In John 7, in the last day, that great day of the feast, this
is that day. John 7, 37. In the last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God, not at the first day of this
month, or the seventh day of that month, or this day, or that
season, or that time appointed. Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul told the Galatians, After
ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye
again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire
again to be in bondage? What was he talking about? Ye
observe days and months and times and years. You want to hold on
to the shadow. You want to latch on to the soap
bubble. We have no continuing city here. We seek one to come. Why do you
want to turn to those weak and beggarly elements? Why do you
want to hold on to the shadow rather than the substance? And
then to the Colossians. Read this with me. Colossians
2.14. Colossians 2.14 and we'll close. This is what he said Christ did.
This is what he tells us that all of those feast days, all
of the Sabbath days, all manifest in that one Sabbath day and that
day itself, this is what they all was directing us to and where
they have their fulfillment. Verse 14, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross." That means
everything we just read about in Leviticus 23, Christ is the
end of it. He's the fulfillment of it. And
then we read in verse 16, "...let no man therefore judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the Sabbath days. Those are shadows of things to
come. But the body, the substance,
what they pointed to, the fulfillment of them, the blessing of them,
the rejoicing of those things is Christ alone. Do you see that? Let no man beguile you, chain
you, yoke you, threaten you, shame you of your reward in a
voluntary humility. in worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, he don't hold the head from which all the body
by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered to them, are knit
together, and they increase with the increase of God. Therefore,
if you're dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, Why,
as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish
with the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things
indeed have a show of wisdom in will-worship? Now, if you
want to impress somebody with your will or your worship, so
that it be seen, that's impressive. And the neglecting of the body,
but not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh, not in any whatsoever. Christ is our rest. He is our
feast. He is our rejoicing. If you took
everything away, everything away from all of the Sabbath and from
all of those other Sabbath days, if you took it all away, all
the times that were appointed, all the adornments that went
along with it, and everything that was commanded under the
law and had to be performed just so under the law, if you take
all of that away, Here's what it means. By Him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. That's what all of it means.