I have never seen a religious
drama or play that was at least a bit honoring to God in churches
or otherwise. But some years ago, John Mansfield
wrote a drama called The Trial of Jesus, and there's one passage
in it that's very good. The Roman centurion, who was
in charge of the soldiers at the cross, comes back to Pilate
to give an account of the barbaric, cruel work of the day. And after
he had given his report, Pilate's wife motions for him to come
to her. And he slipped across the room
to Pilate's wife, and she asked the question about how the prisoner had died.
And once the story was told, this man died like no other man.
He died praying for sinners who were putting him to death. Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. This man who died
as a sinner's substitute cried, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? For he was made to bear our sins
upon the cursed tree. And when he was made to bear
sin, God who cannot and will not tolerate sin turned his back
upon his darling son. But this man died as no helpless
victim. He was the God of the circumstances.
He is God who ruled the very men who nailed him to the tree.
He's God who gave them the wisdom and skill to make the tree and
the nails to put him there. He's God who gave them the strength
to put them there. And when he cried, it is finished.
He declared that he had finished the work for which he had come
into this world. He had redeemed his people. He
put away their sins. And then he bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. But when the centurion gave his
report and told her how the Lord Jesus had died, Pilate's wife
asked him, do you think he's dead? And in the drama, he says,
no, lady, I don't. Then where is he? And the centurion
said, Let loose in the world, lady. Let loose in the world
where no man can hinder his truth. That's exactly where he is. Let
loose in the world. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
has been let loose from the grave. Because our Lord Jesus who died
at Calvary has been raised from the dead and let loose in the
world where no man can stop him or hinder him. We're gathered
here today. We're gathered in his name to
celebrate his resurrection. And we do so in anticipation
of his own. I realize the whole religious
world around us perverts this as most any other thing concerning
scripture, but this is the only of all the religious holidays
that has no pagan origin. Easter has its origin right in
the scriptures, in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
the Easter Bunny and the eggs and all that nonsense has its
origin in pagan religion, but Easter is a recognition of the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've come here to celebrate
the risen Savior, and if you know Him, come to celebrate His
resurrection in anticipation of ours. If you don't know Him,
I pray that this day God, by His grace, will raise you from
your spiritual death by the power of the risen Christ and grant
you life and faith in Him. The resurrection of Christ, you
see, is a fact that cannot be reasonably denied. It can't be
denied. It's a fact of history, more
well established than most any fact in history. The Lord Jesus'
resurrection, being seen after the resurrection, was testified
on numerous occasions by men whose lives were at risk for
having affirmed his resurrection. The Roman soldiers, who would
love to have found his body, found it not. Those who would
love to have, the Pharisees, the scribes, who would love to
have found his body, found it not. Because his body was taken
from the tomb and he was risen from the dead. Not only is it
a revealed fact, But it is a fact that is set forth in the scriptures,
not only is it a historical fact, but it is a revealed fact set
forth in the scriptures, both in prophecy and in the plain
declaration of the word. It is an indisputable fact. Jesus
Christ, the Lord, the God-man, our mediator, rose from the grave
three days after he was put to death as the sinner's substitute.
Our Lord's resurrection, is a testimony to the fact that he had finished
his work when he was made to be sin for his people. God Almighty
poured out on him the unmitigated full extremity of his infinite
wrath to the satisfaction of justice and killed his darling
son because God must and shall punish sin. But oh, blessed be
God, the risen Christ says, he who bore our sins in his body
on the tree, bore them away, and those sins he bore in his
body are no more. Never remembered against us because
he has put them away by the sacrifice of himself. Now you know, of
course, that our Lord's resurrection is plainly and clearly prophesied
in the Old Testament. It's as plainly and clearly prophesied
in the Old Testament as was His incarnation, His virgin birth,
and His substitutionary atonement. The Scripture tells us plainly
that He would rise from the dead and that His dead would rise
with Him. It's told plainly that He, having
made satisfaction for justice, would be given power over all
flesh, and that's exactly what's happened. But did you know that
the resurrection was also set forth in the types and pictures
of the Old Testament? It certainly was. Turn back to
Leviticus chapter 2. I've been preaching to you the
last several weeks from these first two chapters of Leviticus.
Here in chapter 2, verses 12 through 16, we have a description
of the oblation offerings, the offerings of the first fruits.
And we're given here a clear, instructive picture of our Lord's
resurrection from the dead and of our own. And at the same time,
we're given a picture of our faith and consecration to the
risen Christ. Let me show you. Just hold your
Bibles open here, and we'll look at verses 12 through 16 one at
a time. Look at verse 12 first. And he,
shall cut it into his pieces with his... I'm sorry, I've got
chapter 1, verse 12. Let me get back here to chapter
2. Alright, in Leviticus chapter
2 and verse 12. As for the oblation of the first
fruits, you shall offer them unto the Lord, but they shall
not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor. Now, without question,
these first fruits were offered as a voluntary acknowledgment
of God's goodness, a voluntary acknowledgment of God's bounty. They were a voluntary declaration.
Lord God, all the bountiful harvest you give is yours, and it comes
from you. These fruits we bring are the
produce of your hands, not of ours. These things we bring belong
to you, not to us. And they were given as an act
of faith, for they brought the first fruits to God. Not what
was left over, the first fruits. Most folks bring to God what's
left over, what they really don't need, what's really not useful
to them, and they give God Those things they say, now here, we'll
serve God. This is a true story. This is
a true story. Brother Ken Wymer, when he was serving a missionary
in Africa, one day got a letter from a lady, and she wrote him
just as sincere as she could be. She said, I was sitting here
having my cup of tea this morning, and I got to thinking about you,
and I thought, there's no need for me to make my second cup
of tea with this. I could give this to Brother Wymer. She dried
out her tea bag, stuck it in an envelope, and sent it to him. And think, God will accept it.
God won't accept what you don't need. God won't accept what you
won't have. God demands the best. He demands
the first fruits. We won't worship God with that
which cost us nothing. Nobody ever did. These first
fruits, however, you will notice, though they are here mentioned
with the meat offerings, they are described here as that which
is not brought to the altar and is not burnt, because the burnt
offering has already made atonement for sin. The burnt offering pictures
our Lord Jesus Christ in His death. And so as we bring the
meat offerings and the firstfruits offering, the oblation of firstfruits,
we come to God now as those who worship Him with thankful, grateful
hearts. And you'll notice, I remind you
again, that there is no mention or indication at all made of
sin. You see, you can't worship God.
You can't serve God. You can't come to God until first
your sin has been put away. And the only one who puts away
sin is Christ who died in our behalf as our substitute and
by His blood has fully satisfied the justice of God to the full
extremity of God's own holiness and justice. So that now the
psalmist says, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not
impute sin. And here we come. We come with
our sinful hands, we come with our polluted hearts, we come
with our feeble efforts, and we bring these things to God
with which we would worship Him, the very best we have, but the
best we have is polluted. And God accepts it by the merits
of Christ's blood, and by the merits of His righteousness,
as though it were perfect, as Christ Himself is perfect. And
He accepts us as perfect, because in Him we are perfect. Now look
at verse 13. And every oblation of thy meat
offering shalt thou season with salt, neither shalt thou suffer
the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat
offering. With all thine offerings thou
shalt offer salt. Every sacrifice brought to God
by law in the Old Testament. Though these were freewill offerings,
though these were offerings men did not have any requirement
under law to bring if they brought them. They must bring them the
way God says. If we worship God, we must worship
Him with willing hearts, but we must worship Him after the
order which God prescribes in His Word, or He won't be worshipped.
Ask Gaza. God says bring salt with all
your offerings. Why? Why? Why does he insist
on it? Because SALT represents preservation
and security. SALT indicates corruption removed
and prevented. God Almighty, by the blood of
His Son, has removed from us all the burden of guilt and sin
because He has put away our sins satisfying justice. Not only
that, His blood is of perpetual merit so that God will never
impute sin to His own. Salt speaks of the covenant too.
Hold your hands here and turn to the book of Numbers. Or you
turn to 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 13. I'll read you what it says
in Numbers. In Numbers 18 and verse 19, the
Lord God says, All the heave offerings of the holy things
which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord have I given
thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee by a statute forever. It is a covenant of salt forever
before the Lord unto thee and unto thy seed. Now here in 2
Chronicles verse 13, God speaks of David and his kingdom, and
of course you know he's speaking spiritually of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his kingdom. You see, God's Israel is his
church. God's Israel are those who are
chosen of him, the seed of Abraham, spiritually, not physically.
In verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 13. Ought you not to know that the
Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David? He gave the kingdom to Jesus
Christ. Read Ephesians 1. Even to him
and to his sons by a covenant of salt. An everlasting covenant. Salt was used in ancient times
as a symbol of friendship. It was used practically universally
among men in ancient times. If you met someone, you spoke
to them, a little salt was sprinkled wherever you met. Just cast over
the shoulder or sprinkled. Not as a good luck charm, as
a token of friendship. Well, salt in the scriptures, in the
covenant of grace, declares that God in Jesus Christ, our surety,
now sucks with men and men with God. God in Jesus Christ blesses
us in our souls, in our homes, in our fields, in our store,
and in all things. He says, say ye to the righteous,
it shall be well with him. The Lord God declares, no evil
shall happen to the just. Those who are made righteous
in Christ. Not people who imagine they're
righteous. Not folks who think they do righteousness. But those who are righteous indeed
before God. Those who are justified by His
grace in Christ. To them, no evil shall happen
ever. I mentioned to you earlier, our
dear friend, Brother Jim Wilson has cancer. Darlene has Legionnaire's
disease. Oh, what an evil thing. Oh no. No matter how evil it seems or
feels. Not evil. Good. It shall be well
with the righteous. The Lord God declares in Job
chapter 5 and in Hosea chapter 2, that He's made a covenant
for us even with the beast of the fields and the fowls of the
air. So that all things, do you understand the Scriptures? All
things work together. Not they just sort of turn out
by good luck or chance. They work together for good. Being ruled by God Almighty. To them that love God. To them
who are the called according to His purpose. By requiring
that all the sacrifices be offered with salt, the Lord God declared
that satisfaction has been found in Christ the substitute, the
burnt offering, and that this satisfaction is unchanging, abiding,
Eternal and indestructible. He is declaring by covenant of
salt that he will ever be faithful. Faithful to himself. Faithful
to his word. Faithful to his covenant. Faithful
to his people. Faithful. Oh, he abides faithful. Now look at verse 14. And if
thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord,
thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits,
green ears of corn, dried by the fire, even corn beaten out
of the full ears. Now first these ears of corn
represent our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you. Turn to John
chapter 12. John the 12th chapter. Our Lord
is speaking to those Gentiles who desired to see him and to
his disciples who were yet in the crowd And he speaks to them
about himself and his death. John 12 and verse 24. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abides alone. We've got some corn over there.
As soon as it gets warm enough and dry enough, we'll plant it.
Little grains over there. Paid deer for them. But they're
absolutely useless sitting over there by themselves. They're
only profitable when you drop them in the ground, cover them
with some dirt, put some water on them, some sunshine, and wait. They're only profitable if you
sow them in the ground and let them die. Our Lord Jesus speaks
of himself just this way. He said, if I stand here alone,
I abide alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. And notice back here in our text,
these green ears of corn, representing our Lord Jesus, must be green
ears. Because the Son of God, our Savior,
was cut off in the midst of his ears. Before he was 33 years
old, he looked like a man of 50. The Jews looked at him and
said, thou art not yet 50 years old. You're about 30 years old,
aren't you, Daniel? 31? Somewhere in there? He doesn't
look 50. Even with a beard, he doesn't
look 50. And he's not a young looking fella. Just average.
Just average. Can you imagine a man 32, 33
years old? Looks like he's 50. Our Lord
Jesus was cut off in the midst of his years. The words might
be translated, ears of the best kind. Oh, that's our Savior indeed. He's the Alpha and the Omega.
He's the perfect God, the perfect man, the perfect sacrifice, the
perfect substitute, the perfect Savior. And these ears of corn
must be dried by fire. That's the reason I pointed out
that he looked like he was 50 years old. Now, understand this. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
to be sin for us and bear our sins in his own body on the cursed
tree, only when he hung upon the tree to die under the wrath
of God as our substitute. And yet, all the while he lived
in this world, he was being baked in the oven in anticipation of
that which he would endure as our substitute. No wonder he
cried as he did in the garden. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, I
am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint, my
heart like wax is melted in the midst of my bowels. He says again
concerning himself, my heart is smitten and withered like
grass so that I forget to eat my bread. And that's talking
about him living here on this earth. He's like, my heart's
withered. He walked through the earth with a heavy heart, with
a heart heavy because he who knew no sin must be made to be
sin, suffering the wrath of God Almighty in our room instead. And yet he walked through this
earth with that as a mission he must fulfill. What a picture
this is of the man of sorrows. All his life long dried in the
fire. And then we're told that the
corn had to be beaten out. I think Andrew Bonar had the
best comments on this that I know of. He said, this represents
the bruises and strokes whereby he was prepared for the altar.
Hebrews chapter 2 you remember where the Apostle says it became
him of whom are all things and to whom are all things and bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect complete through sufferings in all these things Christ is
the firstfruits the firstfruits however imply that others shall
follow if you bring the firstfruits of glory a few months and start
to pick the first years of corn off the field. We bring those
in with considerable joy, because we fully expect to get some more.
Go out and pick them even before they're ripe, because we fully
expect the harvest to come and follow. First fruits imply there
are other fruits to follow. And we who are Christ are those
who follow Him, the first fruits. And the first fruits, or that
which follows, will be conformed to the first fruits. The Lord
God has ordained that we, ultimately, who are His, by His working of
providence, be conformed to the image of His Son. Let me show
it to you. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Now this
is a text of Scripture most everybody can quote, and most everybody
quotes portions of it, not all of it, and they quote it out
of context, never imagining what it means. Let me show you what
it means. Romans 8, 28. We know. We know. Somebody knows. Other folks may guess at it,
hope for it. We know. We've been taught of God. We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God. Who are
those folks? To them who are the called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow. And
the word is whom He did foreordain in everlasting love. That's exactly
what it means. He also did predestinate to what? to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn, the firstfruits
among many brethren. The Lord God has ordained that
somebody be conformed to the image of His Son. And He has
arranged all the affairs of providence and orders and rules them to
bring to pass this ultimate conformity of His people in everlasting
glory to the image of Christ. And blessed be God, when He gets
done, Merle Harding is going to present us holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in God's sight. That's what it is to be conformed
to his image. We will drop this flesh and rise to meet our God
in the perfection of glory which he has given us. All right, now
turn back to our text again, back here in Leviticus. The scriptures
don't leave us to guess about what these firstfruits are, what
they mean, how we are to look at them, but rather the Holy
Spirit has given us full, clear instruction about them. I want
you to hold your hands in Leviticus 2, and I want you to look at
several texts with me. The first is in 1 Corinthians
15. You don't need to turn there if you don't want to, I read
it to you earlier. First and foremost, the first fruits speak
of our Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection glory. 1 Corinthians
15 speaks of our Lord Jesus as being the first fruits of the
resurrection. Afterwards, they that are Christ
in his coming. The Lord Jesus rose from the dead, having accomplished
redemption for us, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high as the forerunner of God's elect, took possession
of heaven, and said the following. They're coming after me, who's
coming? Lo, I and the children which
thou hast given me, not one of them is lost. The first fruits,
turn to James chapter 1, don't you look at this. Not only represent
our Lord as the risen Christ, the resurrection of Christ is
meaningless if he didn't do something by it. Did you hear me? The death of Christ is meaningless
if he didn't do something by it. The purpose of God is meaningless
if He doesn't accomplish it. And the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus guarantees the resurrection of His people. We are raised
together with Him in regeneration. Look here in James chapter 1.
You see, the new birth, the new birth is the raising of sinners
from death to life. People wonder, why do you insist? Salvation is not by going to
a confession booth. Salvation is not by being baptized.
Salvation is not by walking down an aisle. Salvation is not by
your decision. Not by your free will. Because
you're dead. Dead. Dead. Hard dead. Plumb dead. Graveyard
dead. Stone cold dead. Got no life
in you spiritually. And you will have no life. unless
God Almighty in all mighty grace comes and gives you life. It's
a resurrection. The dead hear the voice of the
Son of God in the gospel, and they that are dead shall live.
That's what new birth is. When God gives life to sinners,
then they believe. When God gives life to sinners,
then they call on Christ. When God gives life to sinners,
then they come to Christ. They come to Him because they've
got to. They've got to have Him. They've been raised from the
dead. Lazarus, come forth. They'll come. They'll come, but
only when He says come. Now look here in James chapter
1. Of His own will, not my will or yours, of His own will, began
He us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creatures. The first fruits then speak of
our new birth, regeneration. The Apostle Paul spoke of his
beloved friend in Achaia, and says he is the first fruits of
Achaia under Christ. That is, Paul says he's the first
one, but God's got some more down there, he's gonna fetch
them too. He tells us in Romans chapter 8, look at this, this
will do you good, Romans 8, 22. He's talking about the consummation
of God's purpose, the end of all things. And he says in verse
22, We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. In not only they, but we ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body. Rex, we have the first fruits
of the Spirit. I have complete justification
before God. Complete righteousness in God's
sight. Absolute forgiveness of all sins, past, present, and
future. Made a new creature before God. Promise of everlasting life. Now if I've got the first fruits,
the full harvest is mine too. Eternal glory. Whatever that is, eternal glory. Whatever can be ascribed to that
which the scriptures speak of as salvation. The ultimate, full
consummation of all the blessedness, a perfect life forever in God's
smile. We have the first fruits, we'll
have it all. The oblation of firstfruits was
also a picture of believers honoring God with their substance. Turn
back to Proverbs, let me show you. Proverbs chapter 3. Now let me stress for a moment.
We're talking about free voluntary gifts, not conscription. You
will never have it happen in this congregation, not as long
as I have anything to do with it. You'll never have it happen
that somebody calls on you to pay your tithe. Slaves pay tithes. Believers give. You'll never
have somebody come and say, will you sign a pledge and promise
you'll give so much. Won't happen. Won't happen. Not
in this place. Believers give freely. They give freely. But
they give honorably. They honor God with their substance.
Let me show you. Proverbs 3, verse 5. And this will only happen with
believers. Believers trust the Lord. You
see, giving from a heart of gratitude, the sacrifice of firstfruits
was a sacrifice of faith. It was saying, I'll bring God
the first and the best. He'll take care of all the rest.
All right, look at this. Proverbs 3, 5. Trust in the Lord
with all your heart. In all, and lean not into your
own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him. In all
your ways bow to Him. I said to Bill and Jennifer the
other day, I'm not much of a marriage counselor, don't pretend to be,
but I've got good counsel for you. Honor God. You worship God. You worship
God. Doug came and asked for a face
handing marriage several years ago and he came over with his
documents and all that stuff. He bought a house and he had
a good job, good career, and he had some money in the bank
and these were his plans. And he started telling me about
all this stuff and I said, Doug, I'm not the least bit interested
in what you have or don't have. I'm not even interested. I only
ask one thing of you. You take my daughter and your
family and you lead them in the worship of God. And I don't care
if you dig ditches for a living. I don't care. It doesn't matter.
Honor God. Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. Honor God. Honor God. Look at it. In all
your ways acknowledge Him and He'll direct your paths. Now
skip down to verse 9. Honor the Lord with your substance. And
look at it. With the first fruits of all
your increase. So shall your barns be filled
with plenty, and the presses shall burst out with new wine. Oh, now, hear these fellows on
television. Send me $100 and God will give you $1000. Send
him $100 and you've lost $100. God makes no such promise to
bribe folks to give. But it does promise this. We
will never lose a thing by honoring him. Never happen. Never happen. This
may be applied to material things. Doesn't mean you're going to
get rich. It means your barns are bursting out when you got
rags on your back. God will provide everything you need. Everything
you need. Everything you need. Honor Him. So I don't have any money. If
you got lots of money, bring your ram. If you don't have much,
bring your lamb. And if you don't have anything,
go catch a turtle dove. Bring him what you got. God's
honored with it and God will honor you for it. God deserves
and demands the first fruits. The first fruits of my time. the best I've got. As a preacher and pastor, I ask
God daily to give me grace to resist every temptation to get
involved with the politics of society, to get involved with
the recreation and little league and this thing and that, or get
involved in business. God deserves and demands the
first fruits. He won't take the leftovers.
I've had in the last few years a few preachers, a few men that
said to me, well when I get, when I retire, I'm thinking I
might go into the ministry. And I said, please don't. Don't. God won't have your leftovers.
Take them and try giving that to the king. Read Malachi chapter
1. God won't have things you won't
have. God deserves and demands firstfruits of everything. Whatever we give Him. Bob, whatever
we put here this morning, God demands and deserves firstfruits.
The best and the first. Don't bring Him anything else.
And if you can't bring Him the first with a glad heart, don't
bring anything. Preacher said don't bring anything? Don't bring
anything. Nothing. Nothing. God doesn't want it?
We don't either. Nothing. Giving God the first
fruits is a declaration that everything we have is His. Everything
we have is His. I don't own anything. I live
over here. It's not mine. And if I had the
deed to it, it's still not mine. All I'd be doing is paying taxes
on it. It's not mine. Own something, but put fences
up. Look at my property. What do you draw your last breath
and see how pretty those fences look? Nothing. We don't know anything. It's
God's. Shouldn't we acknowledge it better? Giving God the first
fruits is an act of faith. You know, the Lord demands this
of us. Don't you see a promise? Hold
on for just a minute now and I'll be done, but look to Exodus
chapter 24, or chapter 34 rather. In the law, God required Israel
to go up to Jerusalem. He required every man in Israel
to go up to Jerusalem three times a year. To go up and keep those
feasts, honoring God. And stay for a week. Stay for
a week. Now that wasn't like hopping
on a Delta jet down here in Lexington and flying over to Jerusalem
and staying for a week and hopping on a jet and flying back. They had to go wherever
they were. Wherever they were in all the
land. Take their camel or their donkey or their feet and go to
Jerusalem and stay for a week. Worshipping God. What's going
to happen to my business? What's going to happen to my
house? What's going to happen to my family? I can't do that. I can't do that. Let's see. Look
what it said. Verse 23. Thrice in the year
shall all your men children appear before the Lord God. the God
of Israel, for I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge
your borders." Reckon he'll do it? Reckon he will? Reckon he'll take care of things?
Look at the next line. Neither shall any man desire
thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy
God three times a year. People ask me all the time, when
you travel, don't you worry about leaving your wife out on the
hill by herself? No. No. No. I kind of joke because
I fear for the fellow who breaks in on her. But no. No. How come? I'm on God's business. I'm doing God's business. If
I didn't believe it, I wouldn't go. I'm doing God's bidding. He'll take care of my family.
He always has. And He can take a heapsite better
care of them than I can if I sit in there with a sawed-off shotgun.
He'll take care of them. He'll take care of them. The oblation of firstfruits was
also a prophetic picture of our resurrection. Let me give you
this and I'll quit. Turn to Revelation 14. Revelation 14. And I looked, and lo, a Lamb
stood on the Mount Zion, And with him a hundred and forty
and four thousand, that's talking about the whole company of God's
elect. Having his father's name written
in their foreheads, they believed God, they received not the mark
of the beast. And I heard a voice from heaven as a voice of many
waters and the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice
of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were
a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and
the elders. And no man could learn that song
except the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. Now
look at it. These are they which were not
defiled with women for their virgins. That's not talking about those
followers of that silly old fool in Rome living in celibacy. That's not what it's talking
about. That's not talking about folks who have just dedicated
themselves so much they've never been with a woman. That's not
what it's talking about. Bobby asked us, Paul said, to the Corinthians,
I've espoused you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Being married to him, you and
me, corrupt wretches that we are, stand before God Almighty
as chaste virgins through the blood and righteousness of his
darling son. Folks who never did evil. reckoned righteous, holy, spotless
before God, because of free grace in his substitute. Read on. These are they that follow the
Lamb, with us wherever he goeth. They were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was found
no guile. For they are without fault before
the throne of God. Without fault before the throne
of God. And I'll be honest with you. I would think I'd be doing real
well. If somehow I could live in such a way that I was without
fault before you, I'd be doing pretty good. I would think myself
immensely, immensely well off if I could live in such a way
that I was without fault before my daughter. Oh, I would think
myself tremendously well off if I could live before this woman
who lives with me 24 hours a day and be without fault before her. Never. And I've never imagined anything
without fault before God. Not the noblest thought I ever
had was without fault. But listen to me. I stand before
God Almighty. in all His spotless holiness,
in all the fiery brightness of His pure white holiness, without
fault. Because Christ has put away my
sins and robed me in His righteousness. And here I am, the firstfruits. I believe I'll bring him the
firstfruits. I believe by his free grace I'll honor him with
the firstfruits of everything he puts in my hands. Amen. Alright, let's stand together
and sing a hymn. Let's sing number 42. Hymn number
42. I think this will be a good one. O hail the power of Jesus' name,
let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransom from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Him who saves you by His grace,
and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe,
on this terrestrial ball To him all majesty ascribe and crown
him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe and
crown him Lord of all. Would you have perfect righteousness
with God? Perfect righteousness. Right
where you are, without saying a word, without moving a muscle,
believe on the Son of God. And all that He is, is yours
forever. Now I hope you plan to be back
tonight. I'll be preaching to you from Luke chapter 8. and
on Tuesday from Hebrews chapter 11. And we have a number of visitors. You try to greet them all if
you can and make them know we're delighted to have you here. We
finally arrived at the status of an aging congregation, so
some folks come in to visit home rather than everybody leaving
to go home on Easter Sunday. We're delighted to have you here.
All right, let's sing this last verse, and Bobbie, you come dismiss
us in prayer.