I thank the Lord for those of
you who are faithful on Wednesday evenings. I know it's not easy,
and especially on a night like this, it would have been easy
to stay at home. But I pray the Lord will bless
all of us as we study his word tonight. If you will, let's turn
again to Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23, and I'll begin reading in verse
15, read through verse 22. And ye shall count unto you from
the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought
the sheaf of the wife offering, seven Sabbath shall be complete. Even unto the morrow after the
seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty days, and you shall offer
a new meat offering unto the Lord. You shall bring out of
your habitations two wavelengths of two-tenth deals. They shall
be a fine flour, they shall be bacon with leaven, they are the
firstfruits unto the Lord. And you shall offer with the
bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young
bullock and two rams. They shall be for a burn 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 you shall sacrifice one
kid of the goats for a sin offering. and two lambs of the first year
for sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them
with the bread of the first fruits of a wave offering before the
Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord
for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the
self same day that it may be in holy convocation unto you. You shall do no servile work. therein it shall be a statute
forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
And 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 thy
gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the
poor and to the stranger. I am the Lord your God." We're
looking at the several feasts that God gave to the nation of
Israel and His law. And so far, we have looked at
four of these feasts. We have looked at the Sabbath,
which is a feast that's named here in this chapter, and then
the Passover, then the unleavened bread, and then the Feast of
First Fruits. Three of those feasts actually
were combined together, the Feast of Passover on the 14th day of
the first month, and then that evening, which began the 15th
day, that's when the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. And on the Sabbath, or the day
after that Sabbath, which would have been the third day, the
Feast of Firstfruits, just like the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified
on Friday, our Passover, and then the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, they pass through a Sabbath as his body stayed in the tomb,
and then the Feast of Firstfruits is the Lord Jesus Christ coming
forth from the grave. Tonight, we will look at the
Feast of Pentecost in these verses that I've read. This feast also
in the book of Exodus is called the Feast of Weeks. The Feast
of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. The name Weeks from the seven
Sabbaths. Notice in verse 15, they were
on the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that you brought
the sheaf of the wave offering. That was a feast of first fruits. Seven Sabbath shall you count. So that's 49 days, or seven Sabbaths. And then on the 50th day, the
16th, in verse 16, even unto the morrow of the seventh Sabbath
shall be your number 50 days. So it got the name Feast of Weeks
because they counted seven Sabbaths, seven weeks. And then it's called
the Feast of Pentecost because of the number 50. It was celebrated
on the 50th day. The 50th day they counted. Now the feast that we looked
at last time, if you notice in verse 14, the feast of first
fruits, that was at the barley harvest. That was the first harvest
in the year, the barley harvest. And that's the harvest that Ruth,
when Ruth and Naomi came back out of the land of Moab, They
came during the barley harvest. That was the first harvest. But they had a second harvest,
which was the harvest that we're looking at tonight, really the
Feast of Pentecost. In verse 14, they were commanded
in that verse not to eat any of their harvest. In other words,
they've planted and the grain has grown and matured, but they
are not to eat anything out of their field until the feast of
first fruits was celebrated, recognizing that the harvest
that they had came from from the Lord. It was a way of acknowledging
the Lord who gives sunshine, gives rain, and blesses the crop
to feed the people. You know, the Lord today, he
still feeds us. You know, most people think,
well, we just go to the grocery store and buy some food. Yes,
but somebody has to plant those seeds, and God has to send the
rain, and there could be a pestilence in any land at any time. and
just completely wipe out a harvest. So we realize, I know those of
us here tonight, and we should, all people should be thankful
and give thanks unto the Lord, gratitude for the food which
he provides for us to eat. Well, here's some things I want
to point out about this feast. First, the two loaves, verse
17. You shall bring out of your habitation
two wave loaves, The first thing we see about this is that the
congregation as a whole provided these two loaves. Now I said
this would be at the wheat harvest, so this is loaves made out of
wheat, fine wheat, it had to be. Not barley, that's past seven
weeks before, but now is the beginning of the harvest of the
wheat. It doesn't say, and they didn't,
every home didn't bring two loaves. The nation as a whole brought
two loaves. These two loaves were at the
expense of the nation and they were brought to where God puts
his name, which we know eventually was in Jerusalem, where the temple
was built. The second thing about these
two loaves, they were made of two-tenth deals, which means
two-tenths of an ephod, two omers. O-M-E-R-S. That's the measurement
that they used there. When God gave the manna, this
is interesting, when God gave the manna, each person, you remember,
was allowed just to gather so much. They couldn't gather over
this amount. If they did, it would breed worms
if they tried to keep it in their houses overnight. And then on
Friday, they would go out and gather twice as much because
They couldn't gather it on the Sabbath day. But what was given for each man was one omer,
one omer per person of that manna. That's what they were to pick
up. And now these two loaves are
made of two omers, one omer for each loaf. And they were made
of fine flour. That's the next thing we see
here. This means that, as I said, they
would be beginning the wheat harvest. If you look back in
Exodus just a moment, Exodus 34. In Exodus 34 and verse 22, where
this feast is given here, we read, and thou shalt observe
the feast of weeks. of the first fruits of wheat
harvest and the feast of end gathering at the year's end,
at the end of their harvest, they would gather the wheat.
And then the fourth thing we see here in our text tonight,
they were baked with leaven. Now that always gets your attention,
doesn't it? They were baked with leaven. Now, if you look in Leviticus
2, in verse 11, because leaven, as far as, I believe I've mentioned
this before, it seems to me that leaven is typically always a
picture of sin, and especially the sin of hypocrisy. But there's
one exception, I believe, when that, in the parable in Matthew
chapter 13, when that woman placed that leaven in three measures
of meal. And there, I believe it is a
picture of the gospel, how the gospel, how leaven works, how
it spreads. So the gospel has spread since
the day of Pentecost. But here in Leviticus chapter
three and verse, or chapter two, rather, chapter two and verse
11, the Lord said, no meat offering which you shall bring unto the
Lord shall be made with leaven. They could not offer any offering
made with leaven. Read on there, but they shall
not be, there shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor. They were prohibited, verse 11,
for you shall burn no leaven or any honey and any offering
of the Lord made by fire. Now this, these two loaves, they
were baked with leaven. And then the last thing I say
about them, the two loaves were first fruits unto the Lord. In
other words, the Lord claimed these two loaves as his. And it was an acknowledgment
again that the food which they were given came from him. It was an expression of their
gratitude unto the Lord. But now with these two loaves,
let's go on here in verses 18 and 19 in Leviticus 23. The bloody
sacrifices, the bloody animal sacrifices, we know pictured
the Lord Jesus Christ shedding his blood. There were many of
those sacrifices given in the book of Leviticus, we read of
those five Primary sacrifices, the burn offering, the scent
offering, the peace offering, the trespass offering, the meat
offering was, of course, a grain offering. But as the scripture
says in Hebrews, without shedding of blood is no remission. And
so these sacrifices, these animal sacrifices, which were offered
with these two loaves, are bloody sacrifices. The hymn writer,
one of the old hymns, said, not all the blood of beasts on Jewish
altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away
the stain. But Christ, the heavenly lamb,
takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood
than they. All of these bloody sacrifices
in in the Old Testament somehow pictured the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, first, verse 18, there was first the burnt offering
to picture the Lord Jesus Christ, His complete dedication to the
Lord. That's what the burnt offering
pictured. The burnt offering pictured the Lord, His complete
consecration to his father. And that's what we see here in
verse 18. You shall offer with the bread
seven lambs without blemish of the first year and one young
bullock and two rams. Now notice, they shall be for
a burnt offering unto the Lord. A burnt offering. There's the
seven lambs and one young bullock one bullock and two rams, I believe
it is, that they would offer along with these loaves. The burnt offering pictured,
as I said, the Lord's complete consecration and dedication to
his Father. And these lambs were just like
the Passover lambs. as they're described here, that
they were to offer seven lambs without blemish of the first
year, just like the Passover lamb had to be without blemish. And that's the reason in Exodus
where the first Passover law was given, they put that lamb
up for four days. They put the lamb up for four
days on the 10th day of the month so they could observe him. Actually
brought the lamb into their house. Can you imagine that? You have
a child, three or four, five, six years old, you bring a little
lamb into the house, and he's in the house there with you for
four days, how attached they would get, and then, On the 14th
day, the Father says, now we've got to sacrifice this lamb. We've
got to kill this lamb. What a picture of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first year, the lamb had
to be one year old to show his strength. And we know that is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, without blemish. He had no sin,
he knew no sin, he did no sin, and yet the Apostle Paul tells
us that he was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He was without blemish. These lambs, seven lambs had
to be offered. And then along with them, the
ram and the bullocks also pictured strength. a young bullock that
pulls a plow and does that kind of work, and the ram. All of
these pictured the Lord Jesus Christ in some way. His innocence,
the lamb without blemish, his spotless purity as the sinless
son of God, first year, his strength, And then this bullock also pictured
his strength. And all of this reminding us
that the Savior, he's mighty to save. He's mighty to save. You know, with all our sins,
and we all have a multitude of sins that we are guilty of, we
know that. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
able, had the ability, the power as the God-man to take all the
sins of all of his elect from all ages, past sins, present
sins, future sins, and carry them, bear them in his own body
on the tree. The strength that is manifested
here. And of course, with these lambs
and the bullock and the rams, there was a usual meal offering
and the drink offering that was offered along with the animal
when it was burned upon the altar. But then there was a sin offering.
You notice that also along in verse 19, then you shall sacrifice
one kid of the goats for a sin offering. for a sin offering. This goat, one of the writers
pointed out that a goat could be chosen for this because goats
have a bad smell. Let's just recognize that goats
for the most part have a bad smell. And you know the Lord
in that Psalm looked down out of heaven upon the sons of men. Let's read that in Psalm 14,
I believe it is. Psalm 14, the fool has said in
his heart, there's no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They're all gone
aside. They're all together become filthy. Now, do you have a marginal reading?
My Bible has a number seven there. And if I look in my margin, I
see that that word could have been translated stinking. There's none that doeth good.
They all together become filthy, stinking. And the nostrils of
God, and I know we're speaking of using human parts to speak
about God, but sin has an awful stench in the nostrils of God. And yet the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ is said to be a sweet-smelling savor unto
the Lord. Well, they took a goat, rather,
for this sin offering. As I said, one of the writers
pointed out that sin has a bad smell, and maybe that's the reason
the Lord chose the goat for this sin offering. But we know the
sin offering wasn't burnt on the altar. They had a big brazen
altar in the tabernacle, and that's where their sacrifices
were offered, but never a sin offering. A sin offering wasn't
burned there. Sin offering was taken outside
the camp. And all of the animal was burned. All of the animal was burned
outside the camp. And we know the scripture says
in Hebrews, for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought
into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without
the camp. The body is burned without the
camp. And then the writer went on to
say, let us go forth therefore unto him, without the camp. That is to Christ. Let us go
forth to him without the camp. And the camp there, of course,
would have been Judaism, no doubt. Let us go forth to him. And then
lastly, there was the peace offering of two lands. Let me get back
here to Leviticus 23. Let's read verses 18 and 19 again. And you shall offer with the
bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young
bullet and two rams. They shall be for a burn offering
unto the Lord with their meat or meal offering and their drink
offerings, even an offering made by fire of sweet savor unto the
Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one
kid of the goats for a sin offering. and two lambs of the first year
for sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them
with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the
Lord with the two lambs. These sacrifices along with the
two daily sacrifices, I don't know if you counted them as we
went through them, but on this particular day, There would be
15 animals sacrificed, at least, maybe more, but 15 animals would
be sacrificed according to this feast. And every day there was
two lambs, one in the morning, one in the evening, which were
sacrificed unto the Lord. All the blood of those animals
could not wash away one sin. not one sin, but only pictured
the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth us from all sin. Well, then the wave offering
in verse 20, and the priest shall wave them with the bread. Now,
these two lambs that were sacrificed as peace offerings and the two
loaves of bread were waved unto the Lord. This was a wave offering
unto the Lord. The writers believe that they
waved these upwards and downwards and sideways to picture the several
quarters of the earth where the gospel is what's going to be
preached. Now that brings me to the last
thing, the typical picture here. Now we know that all these feasts,
these types pictured Christ in some way. The Sabbath pictures the rest
that we have in Christ. Come unto him all you that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. The Feast of Firstfruits,
of course, when he rose from the dead, first to rise from
the dead, never to return to death again. But this feast,
I believe, also pictured Christ. As I've tried to go through it
here, I believe that this feast also pictured Christ, but Christ's
mystical, not Christ's personal. What do you mean by Christ's
mystical? I mean the body, his body, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. These two loaves are one bread
offering, as it says here. And as I said, it's a feast of
Pentecost. We know what happened on the
day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, when the Lord poured out
the Holy Spirit upon his church and the gospel was preached and
the power of the Holy Spirit And we're told that there were
Jews there that heard Peter preaching and the other disciples, as well
as Gentile proselytes. So we've got the two loaves.
One loaf, I believe, represent the people of Israel, the Jews.
The other loaf represent the Gentile nations. And these people
that were there at Pentecost, they came from all over the known
world at that time. and they could all hear in their
own language. 3,000 were told there in Acts. 3,000 were saved that day and
all of them, whether they were Jew or Gentile proselyte, all
of them were baptized by God the Holy Spirit into one body,
that is the body of Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
two. Ephesians chapter 2 and beginning
with verse 11, the Apostle is writing these words primarily
to Gentile believers. They had been saved by the grace
of God, but they were Gentiles. Verse 11, wherefore remember,
that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, you were called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision and
the flesh made by hand. Circumcision refers to the Jews,
the uncircumcised, of course, referred to the Gentiles. That
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens, now notice
this, from the commonwealth of Israel. They were aliens outside
the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But
now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made
now by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath
made both one. Both, both Jew and Gentile. He hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Now that
middle wall, someone asked me recently here, I believe on a
Sunday morning, Pastor, what do you believe that middle wall
was? I believe it was the law. It
was a law that kept Israels and the Gentiles separated. And Christ
had broken down that metal wall of partition that was between
the Jew and the Gentile, having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and
that he might reconcile both both Jew and Gentile unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and
came and preached peace to you which were far off and them that
were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you are
no more strangers." Now what had they been strangers to? the
commonwealth of Israel. That's what he said above that.
But now he says, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens. You know, I've heard some accuse
us of believing in replacement theology, that the church replaced
Israel of old. I don't believe the church replaced
Israel of old. I believe there was always a
church, even in the Old Testament, made up primarily of Jews. But now, from the day of Pentecost
since, Gentiles have been brought in, and we haven't replaced Israel. We are, the church is the Israel
of God. Not the national Israel of God,
the spiritual Israel of God. those of us who worship God in
spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. I believe that's
the way the apostle says it in Philippians. Let's read on here,
just a couple of more verses. And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, and whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are
builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Look over just a page or two
in the Philippians. Let's see if I can find that. Philippians 3, verse 1, finally,
my brethren, Rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you.
To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for
we are the circumcision. Now, what does that mean, circumcision? It means the Jews, right? Israel,
spiritual Israel, not national Israel. For we are the circumcision. And notice these marks about
God's spiritual Israel. We worship God in spirit. Remember what that Lord told
that Samaritan woman. He said, you know not what you
worship. The hour cometh when neither
in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall the true worshipers worship
God. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. Excuse me. We worship God in
the spirit. We rejoice in Jesus. We rejoice
in him, don't we? That he has saved us, redeemed
us, reconciled us, by his blood justified us before God. We rejoice in him and his finished
work. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We have no confidence in our
flesh, in my flesh, your flesh, or anybody else's flesh. Flesh
is flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh and will die flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit, our Lord said. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
this. To me, the fact that they were
baked with leaven, these two loaves, both representing The
church has won Jew and Gentile, but our sins are gone. That's one of the promises of
the new covenant, isn't it? Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. And yet, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. We still have that leaven, and
we will as long as we're here in this body. And we are to put
out the leaven, as we saw earlier in one of these messages. May the Lord bless His word to
those of us here this evening.