I'd like for us to turn this morning to the fifth book in the Bible, the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 16. Let me remind us of several things about this book of Deuteronomy. It was spoken or written by Moses about 40 years after God had delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. About 40 years had passed. God had delivered his people from Egyptian bondage, and they came to Mount Sinai. And on the 50th day, the law was given. from Mount Sinai.

And then they were brought to the border of the land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land that God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And because of their unbelief, remember they sent some spies into the land of Canaan, and they came back, 10 of them at least, came back with an evil report. saying that there were giants in the land and the cities had walls built up high. Yes, the land was a very beautiful land and very plentiful as far as fruit is concerned, but there are enemies there. There are people there that we will have to fight.

In other words, they didn't believe God. And because of their unbelief, And actually, they accused Moses at that time. And in accusing Moses, accused God, you've brought us out here. You brought us out here into the wilderness to slay us and our children.

Their unbelief kept them from entering into the promised land. That would have happened within two to three months after they came out of Egypt. But their unbelief kept them out of the land of promise, and God determined that their children, that generation's children, that they said God had brought out there to slay, that they would enter the land. And so they've come back after 40 years of wandering, till all of that generation died off, except Joshua and Caleb.

And at the time the law was given here, this book of Deuteronomy was given, Moses, he was still living, but he would die at the end of the book. And so the law is given once again, sort of a repetition of the law that had been given before at Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, and some explanations of the law at the same time.

In verse 16, we read, three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty.

In the law, there were a number of feasts. I think in Leviticus chapter 23, there are seven feasts which are named, and that wasn't all of the feasts either. But there were three feasts, as we read here in this text. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths, that all the males had to come to the place where God would put his name.

Now, when this law was given, they were in the wilderness, and God had not chosen that place yet. As of yet, we know eventually he did. It was Jerusalem where God placed his name, and they all would have to come three times every year, all of them male, and worship in this place where God put his name. In other words, where the tabernacle, the temple, eventually was built where the holy of holies, the holy place, and the holy of holies, where God put his name, they had to come three times a year, the males.

I was reading this chapter just recently, and in reading about the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost, if you look back in verse nine, Verses 9 through 12. Two things especially stood out to me as I read these verses concerning their conduct, their worship at the Feast of Weeks. Let's read these few verses beginning with verse 9.

Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God. and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gate, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt observe and do these statues. As I was reading through the chapter, and especially reading that passage there concerning the Feast of Weeks, two things gripped me. Two things just really stood out to me, and it's two commands that we read there.

And I thought of this in the light of us coming today, like we're here today to worship the Lord. These two things stood out to me. Well, this is the way our worship should be. These two, these very things that they were to do in observing that feast are two things that we should do here today, that should be part of our worship.

And as I read over the passage several more times, I realized, no, there's not two things, there's three things. There's three commands here. The ones that stood out to me are the ones in verse 11, thou shalt rejoice before the Lord. That's what we're here to do today, right? To rejoice, to rejoice before the Lord.

And then the second command I noticed was thou shalt remember. But as I said, as I read over it several times, I saw, well, there's another command there. First of all, thou shalt, in verse 10, thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand. So my message this morning I want us to look at those three commands in the light of a worship service, a New Testament worship service like we are doing here this morning.

But I want to say, I feel compelled to say just a few things about the feast itself. Now we know these feasts were all typical. In other words, they somehow pictured the gospel. I somehow pictured the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So before I come to my message, let me just mention three things about this particular feast. You won't find these things here necessarily, but they're recorded in both Leviticus and Numbers, the books of Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, these feasts. One thing, and I only have three things I want to point out, This feast is given three names in the scriptures. It's called the Feast of Weeks here in our text, it's called the Feast of Harvest, and it is also called the Feast of Pentecost.

And I thought about that, the three names, the number three, reminding us at least that our God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is one God, but yet he exists in a trinity of persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And then a third thing, or second thing about that number three, we all know that three, after the Lord was buried, and his body was in the tomb on the third day. He came out of that grave, and the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1, he was delivered for our offenses and justified, or raised, rather, for our justification.

The second thing I wanted to mention about this feast, the offerings. All of the feasts had offerings. Here are some offerings, or the offerings of this feast. They were to bring two wave loaves, two loaves of bread. And these were loaves of bread that was leavened, not unleavened bread, but leavened bread. They were to bring two loaves of bread. You say, what would they do with that? They would wave this. They would wave this before the Lord, the priest would. He would wave this offering before the Lord. And then there would be seven lambs, one young bullock, and two rams for a burnt offering. Then one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs for a peace offering.

So yes, I have to say this, yes, the blood of animals were shed at these feasts. Because, my friends, if we take the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and leave that out of our message, we've stripped the gospel of its power, of its truth. People sometimes come into one of our services and they say, I don't understand those folks over there talk about blood, sing about the blood of the crucified one. Why do we do that? Because from the beginning of the Bible to the very end, we see that God required a blood sacrifice to put away sin.

It was pictured, yes, by the blood of animals. But it was only the blood, the precious blood. You're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish. And God willing, as long as I'm pastor here and I trust as long as this church continues, we will always sing about the blood. We will always preach about the blood. For it is the blood of God's Son that cleanseth us from all sin. So yes, there was blood here. But then, a last thing about this Feast, I find this interesting. The time was very specific when this Feast began. Now, the Feast of Unleavened Bread They would observe the Passover, I believe on the 14th day of the month, and then the next day, the 15th, the feast of unleavened bread would run for seven days.

And then after that Sabbath, following that feast, they could harvest. They could harvest their barley, not wheat yet, but barley harvest. And that was the feast of the first sheath, which pictured the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. When they bring that first sheath of barley to the priest and he would wave it before the Lord, what did this say? Well, it said that God had given them food. They acknowledged God as the one who gave the sunshine and gave the rain and blessed the seed and there was food to eat. It waved that before the Lord.

And then they would start counting after that Sabbath, seven weeks, 49 days. That's the reason it's called the Feast of Weeks, because they'd number out seven weeks. And then on the next day, the 50th day, Pentecost, Pentecost, the Feast of Pentecost. And of course it did picture the feast of Pentecost in the New Testament when, as the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ seated upon his throne, poured out his spirit upon his church.

What a day that was. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord were to do that again? Pour out His Spirit. I know God the Holy Spirit is here. He lives in every believer here this morning. He's promised to be in our midst when two or three gather in His name. I know that. But oh, there was such an effusion, such a pouring out of God the Holy Spirit on that day. And there have been days like that. There have been great revivals over these 2,000 years. You hear about the great awakening that took place in our country. Actually, it began in England, England, but then it came over here. Yes, there's been other places in the world where God has just moved in power in such a marvelous way, a revival, a revival, a pouring out of his spirit. Wouldn't it be wonderful? if he were to do that again, do that in our day, begin today.

Well, let's look at these three commands as to how they were to observe this feast as it It appertains to how we come together to worship the Lord. You know, I said there's three commands here. You see them, thou shalt, thou shalt, thou shalt. The first one in verse 10, and thou shalt keep the feast unto the Lord thy God. In Leviticus 23, I've already mentioned where there's seven of these feasts that are named, and every one of them is called the Feast of the Lord. The Feast of the Lord.

And I think to myself, that's what we have come here today to do, is to worship the Lord. Oh, we enjoy seeing each other. I love you folks. I love my family. I enjoy Sundays. I love to come and see you, but I'm not coming here. That's not my primary desire or motive. I'm coming here to worship my Lord. And that's the reason we come, and that's what this command says.

Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord, thy God." And you notice, it is the Lord. Each letter in that title is capitalized, so you know that means it's Jehovah. It's the name of God, Jehovah. His name, which reveals His self-existence, His eternality, and the fact that He is a covenant God. We've come to worship the Lord. The omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable One by whom and through whom and for whom all things exist. All things are created. They were to bring a free will offering. The first thing about a free will offering is time. This is a thought that came to my mind, as how I might present this to us this morning.

God, as we come together today, since last week we were here, God has given us 168 hours of life. And we come together for two hours, less than 2% time of a whole week. We come together to worship the Lord. To acknowledge him, he's the one who gives us breath. He's the one who's given us every day this past week. And as is often pointed out, our times are in his hands.

Visiting with one of our members in the hospital just recently, and she told us, my wife and I, most of you know whom I'm talking about, but she said, I told the doctor, my time is in his hands. And that's true. And she said, that's the only thing that gives me comfort. And I told her, I said, that's all you need. That's all you need. God's word, God's word declares that our times are in his hands. We live, we move, we have our being in him.

We've come together to worship the Lord our God. Not just any God, but the God who is revealed, who reveals himself in the scriptures. And notice it is the Lord your God. Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God. Our Lord Jesus told Mary Magdalene the day of his resurrection. He said, you go to my disciples and you tell them I send unto my father and your father, unto my God and your God.

Oh, he's not just a God. It's not just the Lord. Oh no. Thank God this morning. If you're one of his children, you can say he's my Lord and my God. Yes. We've come to worship Him. We have a personal relationship with Him. He's our Father. He knows us. He loves us. He's given Himself to die for us.

And I couldn't help but notice in reading this how much like this verse here concerning this tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. And it struck me, that is so similar to what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians about believers and our giving.

For he wrote there, for if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not, You notice, they were to bring a freewill offering. They weren't, we're not told how much it was to be. According as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, according as he's promised you, prospered you in the week, bring your offering, or in this case, in the year. And then Paul also said, every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly. Not grudgingly or of necessity.

You know, there's some religions, I could name one that's very well known. They've got a big temple over here on Champions Forest. But I guarantee you, you pay what they tell you you must pay or you don't get in that temple. There's nothing free about it at all. No, you do. Just like in the Old Testament here when God commanded the Israelites to give their tithes. It didn't say give them, bring them. Every three years they were to bring their tithes.

But this offering, it's a free will offering. And when we talk about giving and an offering, The first thing that comes into my mind, and I'm sure all of you, the first thing that comes into our mind, money. Money. He's talking about money. He's talking about money. You know, not all giving is giving money.

You ever think about that? Some of you give your, well, first of all, you give your time. It's not really yours, but you give your time. You set apart time to come and acknowledge God as your God, as your Lord. You give of your time. I'm sure all of us have known people and been around people, they, well, I don't have time to go to church. I don't have, I don't have time. Well, do you have time to die? Do you? Yeah, you will. You will. I don't have time.

Give of your love. What about your encouraging words? Some of you give a free will offering. Someone's discouraged. Something tragic maybe has taken place in their lives, and what a blessing, just a word of encouragement. Just a friend who'll come and put his arm around you and say, I understand, or it's gonna be okay. I can remember in my life several times I've had experiences where two of my brothers in Christ have come at a very low point in my life, and just them coming and helping, they did help. What a blessing it was. What an encouragement it was.

Let's give, and I know you give. Someone asked me, well, preacher, do you ever preach on giving? I said, well, not normally. But I am this morning. But when they asked that, they were talking about giving money. And I've had some tell me, you can't go into that church without the preacher talking about giving money. Well, you can come here for months and you probably won't hear me speak about giving money.

You say, why is that? Because you give. How do you know that? Because I see how much the offerings are. People give here. And you don't give because you're commanded to give. You give because you love God and you love Christ and you love the gospel. That's the way it ought to be. Not grudgingly. The scripture says, God loveth a cheerful giver. And that word cheerful, they tell me, could be translated hilarious. God loveth an hilarious giver.

And let me tell you this before I move on to my next command here. You cannot out give God. Just write that down. And remember that. And young people here today, start out giving. Yes. Learn to give. Teach your children to give. It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. Our Lord said that. He said, give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again.

One of the brothers, I suppose, may be one of the poorest men I know in this world today, is one of the happiest persons that I've ever known. And this is not over a week knowing him, but over years, years and years of knowing him. And that's one of his favorite sayings, you cannot out give God. And I know that's true. Well, notice here the second command, thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God. Joy or rejoicing is just part of being a believer. It's just part of the life of God's people. It was so in the Old Testament, and it's so now in this new dispensation.

The world looks at a Christian and thinks, poor fella, he's missing out on so much. That's the way the world looks at a child of God. Poor guy, he's missing out on so, so much. And the Christian looks at the world And he says, poor fella, he doesn't know what real joy is.

He's fascinated by the bubbles of this world. That's all he's chasing, just like a little child. We love to see the little children playing with the soap and the bubbles and trying to catch them, and that's what most adults are doing. They're just chasing bubbles, and when they catch it, it's gone. what they thought was going to give them so much joy doesn't have that ability to give joy.

No joy, it's been pointed out, is happiness depends upon happening stances. But that's not joy. That's not rejoicing because that changes as our happenings, what's happening to us today is not going to be the same tomorrow or a month from now or two months from now. And if our joy and rejoicing is just based on our happening stances, that's not the joy the scripture speaks about.

The joy, the rejoicing of the Lord is constant. Why? Because we rejoice in God, our Savior, and He doesn't change. And the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Turn with me to Psalm just a moment, Psalm 35. I said that rejoicing joy pertains to both Old Testament saints and saints in this New Testament dispensation. Here in Psalm 35 in verse 9, the psalmist said, and my soul shall be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him? Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him." Some people might read that and say, well, David was a king. It was easy for him. Have you ever read The Life of David? Have you ever read the life of David? He buried an infant son. He had a son who raped his half-sister. He had a son who tried to depose him from being king. Yeah.

Don't think just because he was a king that he lived in this world of bed of roses. No one does. As sparks fly upward, the scripture says, so man that's born of woman is born for trouble. But oh, the joy, the rejoicing. We come together to rejoice in his salvation. That's what David said. My soul shall be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. And we come here to worship God. Preacher, tell us about God's grace. Doesn't that cause you to rejoice?

When a preacher preaches about Mephibosheth? Tells you how the king fetched him? He was living down there in a house of no bread, a cripple. David said, get him that I may show mercy unto him because of the covenant that exists between his father and me.

Jonathan. Oh, we love to hear about grace, don't we? What about mercy? A publican. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He went home to his house justified. Don't we love to hear about redemption? We're redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ. And don't we love to hear about the fact that he keeps us? We're kept by the power of God through faith until the day of revelation, the day of salvation.

I couldn't keep myself, and you couldn't keep yourself. If God didn't keep his sheep, we'd be lost in a minute. No, my sheep are in my hand, and no one is able to take them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no one is able to take one of my sheep out of my hand.

Let me just mention that last thing, thou shalt remember. Israel, when you come together with a freewill offering, rejoicing in the Lord, I want you to remember, I command you to remember. They were to remember that they had been bondsmen in Egypt. They were slaves. And we never forget that we too were servants of sin, slaves of sin, and could not rescue ourselves. And that he reached down. He reached down in mercy. and lifted us up.

If the sun shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Free to what? Free to worship God, free to love God, to serve God. But don't forget, don't forget where you came from. And it's only by the grace of God. I know, well, I know God's grace is able to save the worst of the worst. You say, how do you know that? Because he saved me. That's how I know. He saved me. May the Lord bless his word. I want us to sing this last hymn and we'll be dismissed.