My mother fell out of her chair
again this morning, and I had to take her to the emergency
room. And I don't know how she manages to fall out of a chair,
but she does. And I remember her. Would you turn to 1 Kings chapter
9? Bless her heart. I feel you. 1 Kings chapter 9. I want
to read the 25th verse of 1 Kings chapter 9. And three times in a year did
Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the
altar, which he built unto the Lord. And he burnt incense upon
the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house. Now turn back to Exodus chapter
23 for a moment. You'll see why this is written.
Exodus 23. Beginning in verse 14. Exodus chapter 23, verse 14,
three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. And that's
why he was doing this three times. Thou shalt keep a feast unto
me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of
unleavened bread, which is the Passover. Thou shalt eat unleavened
bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed of
the month Abib. For in it thou camest out from
Egypt and none shall appear before me empty or actually undeserving. And through Christ we are deserving.
And the feast of the harvest, what's known as the feast of
Pentecost, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown
in the field and in the feast of ingathering, the Feast of
Tabernacles, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast
gathered in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the
year, all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Let's pray
together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy Son. And Lord, we ask in his name,
that you would meet with us and speak in power to our hearts
through your word. Lord, drive away anything that
would distract us in hearing from you, and don't let us hear
from a mere man, but speak to us through our hearts from your
word. Reveal Christ to us. Enable us to see something of
his preciousness and his glory. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness. We pray for cleansing. Lord,
our sin is ever before us. But how we thank you that it's
not before you, through the blood of thy dear son. How glorious
your gospel is. Now give us grace to love you
more, love one another more. And Lord, unite our hearts to
fear thy name. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now back to first Kings chapter
nine, let's read verse 25 again. And we see why Solomon did this
three times a year and three times in a year. First Kings
nine 25 did Solomon offer burn offerings and peace offerings
upon the altar, which is built unto the Lord. And he burned
incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished
the house. Now, for some reason. For many
years, this was not observed. They didn't do it. And Solomon
reinstitutes this, this thing of three times a year, all the
males had to go to Jerusalem for the Passover, the Feast of
Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, I want you to think about
how inconvenient that must have been. Whatever you were doing,
All of a sudden you had to stop and you had to make a journey
to Jerusalem. Now that could have been very
inconvenient, couldn't it? I mean, you were trying to make
a living, you were doing all these different things, and now all
of a sudden you have to go to Jerusalem. You have to stop what
you're doing and go. Now here's the thought that came
to me out of this. There's nothing convenient about
worship. It was very inconvenient for
them to do this. But remember, there's nothing convenient about
worship. If it's convenient, it's not
worship, is it? You think of the effort they
had to make in order to go to Jerusalem three times a year
for two weeks at a time, drop whatever they were doing, and
celebrate these feasts to the Lord. Now, before I get into
the feasts, we read of burnt offerings, peace offerings and
the burning of incense that took place on this altar that everybody
was to come to Jerusalem for these feasts. Burnt offerings,
peace offerings, and incense is mentioned in this verse. Now,
what is a burnt offering? A burnt offering is an offering
that was completely consumed. It wasn't to be cut up and ate. It was to be completely consumed. After the fire, Nothing was left. Now, a burnt offering signifies
God's satisfaction with the sacrifice of Christ. A burnt offering always
has to do with satisfaction. Now, the amazing thing about
this is thinking that God is actually satisfied, pleased with
every believer. That's hard to get hold of, isn't
it? But when God looks at me, when he looks at every believer
because of the burnt offering of Christ, because he was wholly
consumed and satisfied God's justice and put away my sins,
God looks at me and he's satisfied. Nothing else for him to look
to. Completely pleased. That's what the burnt offering
means. And the peace offering has to do with God's peace with
me. And the only peace that I feel
is the peace that he has with me through Christ. I have the
same reason for peace God does. God's at peace with me because
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the burnt
offerings, the peace offerings, think of these scriptures. In
him dwelleth Colossians 2.10. I'm going to quote some scriptures
I quote very often, and they're so precious. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete. You're filled up. You can't be
any more saved, any more accepted, any more loved than you are.
You are complete in him. Ephesians 1.6 says, he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. First Corinthians 1.30 says,
of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That's everything.
That's everything. Now that, that's the burnt offering
and the peace offering. It represents the work, personal
work of Christ, what he did and what we enjoy and experience
because of that. And then he talked about the
incense that was on the burn off on, on the altar. The incense
represents the prayers of Christ, the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I love this passage of scripture in John
chapter two, verse one. John said, these things write
I unto you that you sin not. You know, I love it that he said
that. I love it that he said that.
You know, sin's never okay. Sin's never acceptable. Well,
well, you know, you can't help it. You're a sinner, no. These
things write I unto you that you sin not. Isn't that beautiful? When you do that word, if, if
any man sin can just as be easily be translated, when you do, we
have an advocate. It's a speaking of the intercession
of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. We have this advocate before
the sin during the sin. and after the sin. And he's always
there and he doesn't have to say, please forgive him again,
please forgive him again. I know he messed up again, but
please know all he does is show the father his hands and feet
and nothing else needs to be said because of that complete
satisfaction that was made. The burnt offering, the peace
offering, and the incense, the intercession of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hebrews 7.25 says, wherefore he is able to save them to the
uttermost. come to God by Him, seeing He
ever liveth to make intercession for them. Who is He that can
condemn? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who maketh
intercession for us. Right now, the Lord Jesus Christ
is representing every believer and what peace there is in that. He is our peace. Now, turn to
Exodus chapter 12. This is the feast of unleavened
bread or the feast of the Passover. And Solomon made sure that this
was observed during his time as king and all the males would
come to Israel. But here's the beginning of this.
Look in Exodus chapter 12. This is the 10th plague. Verse one. And the Lord spake
unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This shall
be unto you the beginning of months. Now think of the significance
of this. The calendar was changed for
this. That's a significant event when the calendar's changed.
And this is the beginning of months. This is the beginning
of salvation when someone experiences what the Passover has to say.
A man is saved. A woman is saved. when they understand
and rejoice in the Passover. Now let's go on reading, verse
three. Speaking unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, in the 10th day of this month, they shall
take to every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for a house, And if the household be too little for a
lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according
to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating
shall make you count for the lamb and your lamb shall be without
blemish. A male of the first year, you
shall take it from the sheep or from the goats and you shall
keep it into the 14th day of the same month. You're going
to watch it for two weeks and the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Now here's the point.
This lamb is without blemish. the perfect spotless life of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He never sinned. He never thought
sin. He never did sin. He kept God's
law perfectly. He's the lamb without blemish. You know, I received a letter
just last week because somebody was watching the message and
I had made the statement, Christ Jesus died on the cross because
he deserved to die. And I explained what I meant
by that. He never sinned in his person,
but he took my sins. They became his sins, so that
he actually felt the shame of them, the guilt of them. He never
sinned, even when he was made sin, he never sinned. But he
experienced everything about sin, and he was actually guilty.
God's just. God's not gonna condemn somebody
that's not guilty. He's not gonna do it. Christ actually became
guilty of the commission of the sins of all those that he died
for. That's why God slew him. Does
that mean he sinned? Of course it doesn't mean he
sinned. If he sinned, he couldn't do anything for me or you. He's
the lamb without blemish and without spot. And what was to
be done with this lamb? They were to kill it. There's
only one reason for death. What's that reason? Sin. The
reason I'm going to die is sin. The reason you're going to die
is sin. And the reason the God man died is because of sin. The
sins of God's elect literally became his sins. He owned them
as he owned as, as, as his own. And that's why this lamb, this
lamb without blemish was killed like the scapegoat. The sins
of God's elect became his sins and he died. And what were they
to do? Verse seven. And they shall take of the blood
and strike it on two side posts, and on the upper door of the
houses wherein they shall eat it. Blood was put over the door.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire. The Lord was roasted under the
wrath of God. And unleavened bread. What's
the significance of that unleavened bread? A little leaven leavens
the whole lump. And we know from the book of
Galatians that what he's talking about, if you put one work in
salvation, that makes salvation in any way dependent upon you,
you make the whole things works. No leaven, that's forbidden.
Verse eight, and they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast
with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, the bitterness
of bondage, they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, it's Christ
crucified. Eat not of it raw, it has to
be roasted, nor sogged at all with water. Don't water this
down, but roast with fire his head, with his legs, and with
the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing of
it remain into the morning. You are to eat all of it. And
that which remaineth of it into the morning you shall burn with
fire. You are to believe everything the gospel says. And thus shall
ye eat it with your loins girded. Your shoes on your feet, your
staff in your hand, and in a traveling position, this world's not our
home, you shall eat it with haste. You won't wait. You'll do it
now. It's the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this ninth, this is the 10th plague, and will smite
all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt,
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord, verse 13. This is what they're celebrating
every year that they came to Jerusalem for this. And the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses wherever you are.
And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of
Egypt. Now this is so, I don't know
of a verse of scripture more precious in all the word of God
than this one. I mean, they're all precious. But you think of
what the Lord said. He said, when I see the blood. He didn't say when you see the
blood. As a matter of fact, if you're in the house, you couldn't
see the blood, could you? He didn't say when you see the blood.
This is not about assurance. I just got to know I'm saved.
Well, I want to know I'm saved too, but remember faith is not
believing you're saved. It's believing when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. That's what faith is. It's trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's looking to him. It's not
what you think about yourself. God said, when I see the blood. He
didn't say when I see your faith. He didn't say when I see your
experience. He didn't say when I see your
sincerity or your good intentions or how you've repressed sin and
become better. He said, when I see the blood,
that's the one thing he was looking for. When I see the blood, I
will pass over you. That is God's promise. with regard
to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And turn with me for a second
to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. You know, we're still keeping
this feast. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Marvin Stonerker told me he was
trying to preach through Corinthians and he got to that fifth chapter
and he talked about how rough it was to preach through that
fifth chapter. And I, I can see it. If you read first Corinthians
chapter five talks about delivering that one for the destruction
of the flesh. And, and, uh, there's some difficult stuff in this
chapter. You know, the man who was committing a fornication
with his mother-in-law and what had to be done. And there are
just some very difficult things, but look in. Verse six, he says,
your glory is not good. No, you not that a little Levin
Levin is the whole lump. Purge out, therefore, the old
leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.
For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore,
let us keep the feast, this feast of the Passover." And he's not
talking about literally killing a lamb again, and eating the
lamb, and being in a house with blood over the door. But he does
say, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with
the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity. and truth. Now that word sincerity,
when we think of the word, we usually think of being sincere,
not being a fake, and that's always important, but that's
not really what the word means. It means pure, pure, unalloyed,
no alloys. No, it just pure. You look purely
to Christ only. This is what it is to keep this
feast. You look purely to Christ only
as everything in your salvation. You don't look anywhere else.
That's what that sincerity is. If I don't look to Christ only,
I'm not sincere. You're sincere when you look
to Christ only as your only ground, your continual ground to salvation
and truth, the truth of the gospel. That's what it is to keep the
feast, to look to Christ only according to the truth of the
gospel. Now that is the feast of the Passover, the feast of
unleavened bread. Now, the next feast was the Feast
of Pentecost, which was observed 50 days after the Passover. And
there's quite a few instructions regarding this feast. It happened 50 days after the
Passover, and it was called also the first fruits. Now, this time,
the first crops that came up that could be used to eat. What did you do with it? You
gave it to the Lord. That's the giving of the firstfruits. You gave it to the Lord. Now,
some people have used this as an example of how we're supposed
to give. Well, I don't think that has
anything to do with how we're to give. We ought to give first. That comes first. I realize that,
but this doesn't have anything to do with our gifts. This giving
of the firstfruits means I'm trusting Him to take care of
everything else, what I do not see. That's what the giving of
the firstfruits is. I'm trusting Him. Here's the
firstfruits and I'm showing by that I'm trusting the Lord for
what I do not see. Now, I do not see my perfect
standing before God. I do not see my clean hands and
pure heart. I do not see my perfect justification,
my sanctification. I don't see those things. When I look at me, all I see
is sin. But I'm trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ for what I do not see. That's what they were doing when
they were giving the first fruits. It's kind of the same thing.
It's just another example of what faith is. I'm trusting Christ
for what I personally do not see. That's the feast of Pentecost. I give the firstfruits, now I
have nothing. I don't have anything to eat.
And I'm totally dependent upon Him to cause that harvest to
come to pass. I'm trusting Him for my salvation,
for everything. And that's what, whatever they're
doing, they stop doing it, go to Jerusalem, 50 days after the
Passover for this feast. And then the third feast they
went to was called the Feast of Tabernacles, but there's one
thing I forgot. Let me back back. In the feast, I wanted to bring
this out and I just got past it in my notes. What you were
giving in the Feast of Pentecost when you were giving the first
fruits, we read in Deuteronomy chapter 16 verses 9 and 11, it
was a free will offering. It was a free will offering.
It wasn't according to the law. Faith is not according to the
law. You want this to be the case, don't you? Don't you want
to just live by faith? Don't you want to cast yourself
on the son of God and look nowhere else and just rest in him? That's what every believer wants
to do. It's, we're afraid not to, but it is what we want to
do. I want to, I want to trust him. So, isn't he worthy of complete
trust? He's worthy, isn't he? And there's
no reason why we should ever have anything but simple rest
in Christ. Now, the third yearly feast was
the Feast of Tabernacles. And this was the feast of the
celebration after the harvest, after all the fruits have been
gathered in. What you were doing in this feast was thanking God
for supplying everything. You were thanking him for supplying
what you relied on him for. And now the harvest is already
gathered in, all the food's there, and you're rejoicing in something
that's completed and already there. And that's what we're
doing when we believe the gospel. We're trusting what we see has
already been done. The message of the law is due. The message of the gospel is
it's done. And all the harvest was brought
in. All the food was taken care of.
Everything's in good shape. And now we gather for this feast
to thank the Lord for what he'd already done. And so we see in
these three feasts, we have a complete view of what saving faith really
is. You're looking to him who said, when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. You're trusting him alone. You're
trusting him for what you cannot see in the Feast of Pentecost
and in the Feast of Tabernacles, where they're also to dwell in
booths. It's to celebrate the fact that they were no longer
in Egypt, and this world is not their home. It's sometimes called
the Feast of Booths. But in that feast, I'm thanking
the Lord for what has already been done. And that's the only
hope I have. And every believer will agree
with me. The only hope I have is what he has already done. And so let us keep the feast. We can't keep them literally,
obviously, but may we be enabled to keep them with the unleavened
bread of sincerity, looking to Christ only, and truth according
to the truth of the gospel.