family lost a loved one last
week. Okay, let's begin our worship
service with hymn number 326, More About Jesus. More about Jesus would I know
More of His grace to others show More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me More, more about Jesus More about Jesus More of His
saving fullness see More of His love who died for me More about
Jesus let me learn More of His holy will discern of God my teacher
be, showing the things of Christ to me. Oh, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus. ♪ With my Lord ♪ Hearing His voice
in every land ♪ Making each faithful saint mine ♪ More, more about
Jesus ♪ More, more about Jesus ♪ More of His saints died for me. More about Jesus on His throne. Riches and glory all His own. More His kingdom sure increase. More of His coming, Prince of
♪ More, more about Jesus ♪ More,
more about Jesus ♪ More of his saving fullness see ♪ More of
his love who died for me After scripture reading and prayer,
let's sing hymn number 235. Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Leviticus chapter
23. I'm going to read verses 15 through 22. Leviticus
23. Verse 15, And ye shall count
unto you from the morrow, after the sabbath, from the day that
ye brought the sheaf of wave offerings, seven sabbaths shall
ye complete. Even unto the morrow, after the
seventh sabbath, shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer
a new meat offering unto the Lord. You shall bring out of
your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenth deal. They shall
be fine flour, They shall be taken with leaven, and they are
the firstfruits unto the Lord. And ye shall offer with the bread
seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock,
two rams. And they shall be for a burnt
offering unto the Lord with their meat offering, and their drink
offering, even an offering made by fire of sweet-smelling savor
unto the Lord. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid
of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year
for a sacrifice of a peace offering. And the peace shall wave them
with the bread of the firstfruits of the wave offering before the
Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy unto the Lord
for the priest. You shall proclaim on the selfsame
day that it may be a 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 any gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the
poor and unto the stranger. I am the Lord your God. Let us
pray. Our Father, we are thankful that
you have not left yourself without a witness, but you have set forth
the glories of Jesus Christ from Genesis to Malachi, in promise,
shrouded in mystery, yes, wondrous, fully revealed as he stepped
from heaven down here to this earth, took upon himself the
likeness of sinful flesh, and died in the room instead of sinners,
taking their sin dead upon himself, justifying them through his death,
and by your grace, And he now sits at the right hand of the
Father, having completed salvation for his people. We are thankful that you have
sent into this world gospel preachers to reveal to us what Christ has
done and what he's accomplished. We are thankful for God-given
faith to believe it. We are thankful for repentance
granted to us. Father, we praise you and thank
you for all to do for us. We pray for those of our company
who are sick. We pray for the shut-ins. Remember those who
lost loved ones. We ask your help for them. We
ask, Lord, tonight or today that you'd be pleased to meet with
us in the presence of your spirit, to take the things of Christ
and show them unto us, to reveal the truth to us, to guide us
into truth. Help us, Lord. We need your help. We are poor. We are weak and
we are frail. Our mind does wonder. Fix our
hearts and minds on Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Hymn number 235, Pass Me Not,
O Gentle Savior. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ While on
others thou art calling ♪ Do not pass me by ♪ Savior, Savior
♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ While on others Thou art calling
♪ Do not pass me by ♪ Let me at Thy throne of mercy ♪ Find
a sweet relief ♪ Kneeling there in deep contrition ♪ In my unbelief ♪ ♪ Savior, Savior
♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ ♪ While on others I would call thee ♪
♪ Do not pass me by ♪ ♪ Trusting only in thy merit ♪ Would I seek
thy face ♪ Heal my wound and broken spirit ♪ Save me by thy
grace ♪ Savior, Savior While on others I was calling, do not
pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me. ♪ Whom have I on earth beside thee
♪ ♪ Whom in heaven but thee ♪ ♪ Savior, Savior ♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry
♪ ♪ While on others Thou art calling ♪ Whoever wrote that song knew
something about the grace of God. Salvation belongs to the
Lord. Let us pray. Father, again we approach
in the name of Jesus Christ, that blessed name, the only name
under heaven given among men. whereby we must be saved. We
praise you, Father, for your unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ,
and we know that everything we have, we have because of mercy
and grace. We deserve eternal punishment,
and yet you have abundantly, abundantly spread abound in our
hearts your love. You have abundantly given us
all things that we need, more than we can ask for, exceeding
more than we can ask for. Now let us return unto Thee that
which You have given us. It rightly belongs to You. It
may be used for the glory of the kingdom. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen. your attention back to Leviticus
23 and hold your place there, put your Bible marker there and
put another Bible marker over in Acts chapter 2 because we're
going to be dealing with these two chapters today. The title
of my message is Being Pentecostal. Being Pentecostal. In Leviticus chapter 23 what
we read to you is the Feast of Pentecost. And when we use the
word Pentecost, when it's spoken in this day, it conjures up all
sorts of ideas. These mainly involve the apostolic
gifts of tongues and languages, healing, prophecy, words of knowledge,
manifestations of the spirit, so-called, that cause men and
women to feel and to do all manner of stupidity in the name of the
Holy Spirit. Many denominations place themselves
under the mantle of what is referred to as Pentecostalism. Those who
embrace this thinking know nothing of the message or the meaning
of the biblical teaching of Pentecost. Being Pentecostal means something
else altogether than what is being purveyed in the world today. The message of Pentecost, the
Pentecostal message is plain. All one has to do to find the
message is to look at the message that Peter preached on Pentecost
in Acts chapter 2. Turn over there and hold your
place in Leviticus 23. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 14,
let's read this entire message beginning with verse 14, but
Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said
unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem,
be it known unto you today, and hearken to my words. For these
are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour
of the day. What had happened, fire had came down from heaven
in cloven tongues, people heard what Peter said in the Hebrew
language, or the Greek language, whichever was spoken at the time,
they heard it in their own language. A great wind came and moved things. People were astonished, and people
were speaking in different languages, and people were amazed. They
said, well, these people are drunk. All a bunch of drunks. And Peter clears that up. He
said, they're not drunken. Hear me. Understand me. These are not drunken. He says, but this is that which
was spoken of the prophet Joel. The prophet Joel. That's seen
in Joel 2, 28 through 32. If you want to turn over there,
we'll look at that for a moment. And we're going to use your Bibles
today, so have them in your laps. We're going to use them. Joel
chapter 2 and verse 28. It says, It shall come to pass after
with I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams.
Your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and
upon the handmaids of those days I will pour out my spirit. I
will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire
and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible
day of the Lord, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount
Zion, that is the church, and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
as the Lord has said, in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."
We know the remnant is that ragtag bunch of sinners, that scrap
of humanity that the Lord has saved by His grace. Now many
today place great emphasis on this prophecy of Joel, which
was repeated by Peter at Pentecost, where he says this back in Acts
chapter 2. This is that which spoken by the prophet Joel, and
it shall come to pass, In the last days, saith God, I will
pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old
men shall dream dreams. And all my servants, And on my
handmaidens will I pour out in those days my spirit, and they
shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth below, blood and fire and vapor
of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness,
the moon to blood, before the great and notable day of the
Lord shall come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now Peter goes
on to say in this passage, we'll read it in a little bit, that
this took place on Pentecost. This prophecy of Joel 2, 28-32
was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Many today place great emphasis
on that message by Joel They use it to prove their theory
that the gifts of the Spirit are resurrected in the latter
days, that is, now. Though the Word of God clearly
declares that the apostolic gifts will be counterfeited in the
last days, and that in the name of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2,
verses 9 and 10. Revelation 13, verses 11 through
14, speaks of that great beast bringing about wonders and gifts
and things in the latter days. Now those who practice apostolic
gifts in these days are not practicing it by the Holy Spirit of God.
That prophecy that Joel gave was fulfilled. These are said
to be the works of Satan and the Beast. Now Peter says in
chapter 2 and verse 16 that the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled. He says But this is that spoken,
which is the prophet Joel. And what he's saying is that
what happened there at Pentecost, that preaching, that wondrous
thing, that wind that blew, those voices that were heard, that
fire of cloven tongues sitting on people's tongues, that's the
fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. He was fulfilled on Pentecost,
and what those people were experiencing that very day was the fulfillment
of that prophecy. Now, so-called Biblical literalists
retort that part of the prophecy must be about the end time, because
the sun has not been turned to darkness, and the moon has not
been turned to blood. According to Simon Peter, the
sun WAS turned to darkness, and the moon to blood that day. Nobody saw it. That day was Pentecost
and that day the sun was turned to darkness and the moon was
turned to blood. What does that mean? Well, you
have to understand how the Bible is written and how terms like
sun and moon are used in Scripture. They are used symbolically most
of the time. The sun and moon are generally
applied to symbolic languages. These are used throughout Scripture
as symbols of nations. symbols of kings, symbols of
covenants, symbols of religious practices under the old covenant.
Remember in Isaiah, God said to Isaiah chapter 1 to the Jewish
nation, I don't want to hear anymore about your new moons,
your new moons, because they had a feast on the new moon. We here in the U.S. use such
symbols today. even as other nations do. The 50 stars on Old Glory do
not mean heavenly bodies, but they mean something. What do
they mean? They symbolize the 50 states
that make up the nation. The countries of the Middle East
have the crescent moon on their flags, representing their respective
nations. The countries of the Far East
employ the sun as symbolic of their nations. The Babylonians
worship the sun He was named Baal, or Baal, as the spiritual
reincarnation of Nimrod. After Semiramis, his wife got
pregnant two years after he died, and she had to come up with something,
so she came up with Tammuz, which was the Son of God, born of the
spirit of Nimrod, who was Baal. God refers to Himself as the
Son in Psalm 84, for the Lord God is a Son. and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly." Christ is referred to as what in Malachi? The Son
of Righteousness arising with healing in His wings. The moon,
the lesser light or night, has no true light of its own. It
reflects the light of the sun. It is symbolic of the Old Covenant
whose light was that which reflected nature, only revealing a subdued
picture of the true light revealed in the New Covenant. The New
Covenant is the sun. The Old Covenant is the moon. It was a figure for the time
then present as how Paul speaks of it in Hebrews, a shadow of
good things to come. Thus the moon is used in Scripture
to symbolize the practices of the old covenant as having no
part in the new covenant. You find that in Isaiah. You
find it in Colossians when he talks about don't let anybody
judge you in new moons or feast days. because those things are
past that are part of the old covenant and not part of the
new covenant. The language that Joel employed
and Simon Peter repeated on Pentecost is not unique to Joel's prophecy.
In Isaiah this term is used. Look over to Isaiah chapter 13.
Isaiah 13. Isaiah chapter 13 and verse 9
says this, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with
wrath and fierce anger, to lay hold of the desolate, and to
destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven,
the constellations of the earth shall not give their light, the
sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine. That's the same kind of language
that Joel used. It is repeated also in verse 13 when it says
this, Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth, so
remove out of her place, and the wrath of the Lord of hosts,
and in the day of his fierce anger I will shake the heavens
and the earth. It is also repeated in Ezekiel
chapter 32. We won't turn there. But this
according to the context is God threatening the ruination of
Babylon in Isaiah chapter 13. Threatening the ruinization of
Babylon. God is about to deliver Israel
from captivity of Babylon, and He tells them, your clock is
winding down. The end is drawing nigh. Their
lights are going out. Their socio-political system,
heaven and earth, aristocracy, and the commoner will soon be
out of business. The same kind of language is
employed again. Speaking to Pharaoh in Ezekiel
chapter 32, both Babylon and Egypt, who did they worship?
What did they worship? The sun. So when He says these
heavens are going to come down, what He's talking about is God
would darken their gods. The Babylonians also worshipped
the stars. God said, I'm going to extinguish them. I'm going
to extinguish them. What then was the fulfillment
of Joel's prophecy? What was Peter saying at Pentecost?
Simply this, the sun is the nation of Israel. The moon is the Old Covenant,
and the language is the language of the eclipse. one eclipsing
the other. The sun turns dark, the moon
turns pink or red in their respective eclipses. Paul is saying that
the natural nation of Israel is set aside and is eclipsed
by the spiritual nation of Israel. The church, the old covenant,
having been fulfilled, is set aside and is eclipsed by the
new covenant. That is how it works. That is
what he said in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 9. When he says,
Lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written to me to
do thy will, O God, he taketh away the first, and he establishes
the second. How shall he do it? By his incarnation,
the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord, by his death,
by his burial and his resurrection. And so the Feast of Pentecost
has its meaning fulfilled in the person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's how it's fulfilled. That's
found throughout the scripture. The Pentecostal message is Christ.
That's where Peter's going with this. As he is now, Christ and
him crucified. Let's read on in Acts. The sun,
it says in verse 20, is turned to darkness and the moon into
blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come. And it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear the words,
Jesus of Nazareth, A MAN APPROVED OF GOD AMONG YOU BY MIRACLES
AND WONDERS AND SIGNS WHICH GOD DID BY HIM IN THE MIDST OF YOU,
AS YOU YOURSELVES ALSO KNOW. HIM BEING DELIVERED BY THE DETERMINATE
COUNSEL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD, YE HAVE TAKEN, AND BY WICKED
HANDS HAVE CRUCIFIED AND SLAIN, WHOM GOD HAS RAISED UP. having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For
David speaking concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover
also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer the Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou hast made me full of joy
in Thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me speak
freely unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us to this day. Therefore
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
of him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on the throne. He, seeing this
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This
Jesus hath God raised up. whereof ye are witnesses. Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this, which ye now see this hour, this thing, this day
of gospel preaching at Pentecost. For David is not ascended to
the heavens, but he himself, the Lord said at my right hand,
from Psalm 110, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God has made this same Jesus whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this,
they were pricked in their heart. And they said unto Peter, and
to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall
we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sins. Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise
is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are far off,
even as many as the Lord shall call. With many other words he
did he testify, exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they gladly received the
word. They that gladly received the word were baptized the same
day. There were added unto them 3,000 souls. They continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers, and fear came upon every soul. Many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together,
had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods,
and parted them to all men as every man had need. They continued
daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house
to house. They'd eat their meat with gladness
and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all
people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should
be saved." The Pentecostal message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified
and risen and exalted and sitting at the right hand of the Father.
He is Lord and He is Christ. He is Lord over all. In our text
in Leviticus we see the progression of God's revelation, the witness
of the gospel in verses 1 through 3. Remember that Peter was preaching
Christ from what he had, the Old Testament. He did not
have the New Testament. The first book would not be written
for some 50 years down the road. He was preaching Christ from the
Old Testament. Is that what we read in Leviticus about the Lord
Jesus Christ? Is it about this Pentecostal
thing that happened in Acts chapter 2? In our text in Leviticus we
see this progression. In verses 1 through 3, if you'll
turn back, it speaks of our Sabbath, our
eternal rest. our eternal rest, and that's
Christ, we know that, we know that from our studies in Exodus.
Our Sabbath, our eternal rest is Jesus Christ. Those who know
Christ rest in Him. They rest in Him. They lay down
in Him. They fall upon Him. They rest. Why do they rest?
Are they tired? No. They're, according to Scripture,
kind of a lazy bunch. Ain't a whole lot to them. Why
do they rest? There's nothing to do. The work
has been done. The work has been finished by
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is who Christ is and what
He is. Next in verses 4-8, our Lord
is said to be our Passover. And I'm just running through
this quickly so we can get to the passage. Our Passover slain
for us in verses 9-14 is the resurrection of Christ, the sheaf
of the firstfruits, which do not spring forth except they
be planted. Verily, verily, I say to you, except a corn of wheat
fall on the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians. Then in our text at Pentecost,
we see that the Spirit of God gathering the church, the firstfruits.
That's what he does. Three thousand souls one day.
Gathering the church together. What is that? That's gathering
the firstfruits. We're the firstfruits under God. That's what it says. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth that we might be what? A kind of first fruits
unto God. That's the gathering of the church.
You, the church, the elect, the chosen of God, the selected,
the severed, the set aside, those who were in and are in Christ,
who both died and rose with Him, are those whom the Holy Ghost
gathers into the fold. Those are who hear the gospel. We preach the gospel to every
creature. I've preached the gospel for
45 years here now, and I've seen people come, and I've seen people
go, and I've seen people stay. Thank God a few did. We're thankful
for that. The gospel is for the sheep,
though it's preached to all people. It's for the sheep. We preach
what is called a general calling. We tell all men to close with
Christ. We tell all men to trust Christ. We tell all men to believe
on Christ and repent. We tell all men that. Not all
men will do it because all men have not faith according to scripture.
But the gospel is that arrow that we shoot at adventure, us
preachers. but it is a guided missile that
will pierce the heart of everyone whom God has chosen, and when
they are pricked in the heart, they will say, ìMen and brethren,
what must we do to be saved?î What must we do? You are the
elect of God, and the Spirit is gathered into the fold. These
are the first fruits spoken of by mercy and grace. They have
been made accepted in the presence of God, because Christ died and
rose for them. They put away their sin and made
them to be the righteousness before God. But notice how they
are described in our text in verse 17. You shall bring out
your habitation two waves' loaves, two tithes' dills. They shall
be fine flour. Now look at this. They shall
be bacon with leaven. The Passover land. the Passover
feast, no leaven anywhere in the house at all. No leaven in
the bread, it was to be unleavened bread. And now the Lord said
these are to be baked with leaven, with leaven. Is that some kind
of weird mistake? No. This so perfectly declares
the state of every saint. The saint of God is pure in God's
eyes. He is perfect in God's eyes, yet there is in Him that
which is according to divine recipe. The principle and nature
of law and sin and death is in every one of us. Paul made that
clear in Romans chapter 7. That which I would, I do not. That which I would not, that
I do. I therefore see a principle in me, the law of sin and death
in me, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. form that I find not. So with
my mind I serve the law of God, with my flesh I serve the law
of sin and death. This is the child of God. This
is your lot. This is my lot. This is our resume. With my mind I serve the law
of God. I want to do that. I desire to
do that. I desire to be better. I desire
to be like Christ. I desire to be kind and generous.
With my flesh, I serve the law of sin and death. The Holy Spirit
is not in the business of improving nature, or cleaning up the flesh,
or dressing up the old man, putting lipstick on the pig. He comes
with the gospel to declare the creation of a new man, a new
creature, and suppress the old. Sin no longer, Scripture says,
shall have dominion over you. You are not under the law, the
old covenant, but you are under grace, the new covenant. Old
things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. This does not mean that sin is eradicated from you or
that you have great power over it. Sin is in you as part of
the recipe in MAKING you according to Galatians 517, the flesh and
the spirit are always contrary to one another so that you can't
do what you would. Well I would serve God. The spirit
of flesh says, no you ain't. We get mad and say, I wish I
could kill that guy. And the spirit says, no you ain't going
to do that. They're always contrary to one another. That's the recipe.
Many have talked about it, named it different things, but the
fact is this. I am an old man and a new man. And most of the time I don't
have any idea what I'm doing. That's a fact. I know if anything
ever good is produced in me, it's the Spirit of God. And I
know all the bad things that come from me come from my nature. I know that's the case. Always
remember that. When Paul is saying concerning
dominion, that sin shall no longer have dominion over you, he's
not saying it shall not rule you. He said it won't have the
right to rule you. It no longer has the right to do it. You're
no longer under sin as a sovereign for a strong man has rescued
you from it. It's right and authority to rule
over you. I've given that illustration back on June 6th. 1970. I got on my Honda 350 and strapped
my backpack to my back, put on my helmet, and I left Pope Air
Force Base. That was my last check in my
pocket. I served four years. I'd been
to 14 different countries. Here I go on the flight line,
gunning that old 350, riding around it, heading out that road
that goes to 87, that goes up to 421, that goes to 40, that
goes to Winston-Salem, my hometown. I was no longer a soldier. I had a honorable discharge,
and that meant I was never really out of the service, but I didn't
have to answer to anybody in the service anymore. Now, if
a major had stepped out in front of me in my motorcycle and told
me to halt, I probably would have. He didn't have a right
to do that. He doesn't have a right to rule
over me anymore. But I would have probably listened to it.
Sin doesn't have a right to rule over you anymore, but you'll
probably listen to it. And you might give it some dominion,
but it doesn't have a right to rule. Rejoice along with the
Lord, as He puts His people. Always remember you are baked
with leaven, according to God's Word. There is leaven in you.
Rejoice alone with the people of God that you understand this. Seven lambs, it says in verse
18, back in our text, he shall offer with the bread seven lambs
without blemish of the first year, one young bullock, two
rams, they shall be for burnt offering unto the Lord with their
meat offering, their drink offering, even the offerings made with
fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord. Seven lambs for a burnt
offering, a perfect sacrifice is to be present before God always. The burnt offering represents
Christ's offering to God by which salvation was accomplished, a
sweet-smelling savor. That's throughout Scripture.
Paul says when we preach the gospel it's a sweet-smelling
savor to God. When we love one another it's a sweet-smelling
savor to God. When the offering of the burnt offering was offered,
it was a sweet-smelling savor because the last thing burnt
on that fire was the fat. And you know what made meat taste
good is fat. And what smells good burning
on a fire is fat. You can burn a steak without
fat, it smells all right, but once that fat catches on fire,
that's when something smells good, and that's what that's
talking about. Christ's sacrifice was the burnt offering. It was
the burnt offering that smelled good to God. And that offering
was made without the sinner confessing his sin. That was the burnt offering. That offering was made holy to
God. to receive by God, and it pictured
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The message of Pentecost was
a rehearsal of what Christ had done, not what you must do, but
we read just what Peter said. This is what Jesus of Nazareth
has done! This is what he's done. He's
accomplished salvation. In our text in verse 19, we see
the result of the elect hearing the gospel. It says, Then shall
he sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs
of the first year for a sacrifice of a peace offering. Those two
offerings have to do with thanksgiving and praise to God for what he's
done. That's a rehearsal. of our thanksgiving. This is
the offering that accompanied by the sinner and he laid his
hands on that offering. He confessed his sin. In thanksgiving
we confess our sins. He is just to forgive us and
cleanse us of all unrighteousness. He laid his hands on the head
of the offering and confessed his sin believing that God is just to
justify. Why? Because of the burnt offering.
That's offered first. God is satisfied. Now we offer
a sin offering, confessing our sins, because God has forgiven
us in the burnt offering. Then back in Acts chapter 2,
verses 36-39, this is the sin offering and the peace and the
feast of Pentecost fulfilled. There is yet more. There is the
peace offering, an offering of Thanksgiving. You remember when
Solomon was writing to his son about the whore, the harlot,
back in Proverbs chapter 7. He said what she will do, she
will get you into her house. She's a representative of a whorish
religion, Babylon religion. She'll seduce you and bring you
into her house and she will tell you that her sheets are the fine
Egyptian linen, which is a fine linen, but you can see through
it and it tears easily. It ain't hold up to its righteousness.
But he says she'll offer peace offerings. What is that? Peace offering says peace has
been established with God. We know peace is established
with God by the blood of Jesus Christ. And the mark of the false
prophet is what in the Old Testament? He preaches peace when there
is no peace. How does he do that? In modern
day vernacular how he does that is simply this. He said, God loves you and has
a wonderful plan for your life. And I'll tell you what, that's
kind of peaceful sounding, isn't it? Why do I have to worry about
anything if God loves me? If He truly loves you, you don't
have anything to worry about, but doesn't that message give
the natural man some sense of peace? And then, let's try another
thing. Christ died for you. He paid your sin debt. My sin
debt's been paid. That's a message of peace. That
gives me peace. And wait, there's another. The
Holy Spirit is trying to get you to come in. He's drawing
you to Christ. Well, that sounds like, that's
a peaceful thing. The Holy Spirit is drawing me.
He's wooing. That's what they like to say.
He's wooing you. That sounds so peaceful. But
there is no peace where justice is not completely and perfectly
satisfied. So when the peace offering is
offered up, it is to say, God is satisfied for my sin. God is just to justify me. The
sin offering and the Feast of Pentecost are fulfilled in what
Christ has done. There's a peace offering, an
offering of thanksgiving and praise, which Christ established
on the cross, and one more thing will be done. Back in our text,
in verse 22, it says, And when ye reap the harvest of your land,
ye shall not make clean riddance of the corners of the field where
the reapers, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of the harvest.
Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and the stranger. I am the
Lord your God. Now you know that took place
in Ruth, remember? When Ruth, the gleanings were
left in the corner for the poor people, and Boaz told them, said,
give her handfuls on purpose. But she was going through and
gleaning like poor people do. What's that saying? What is that
part of Pentecost? It was in Acts, wasn't it? Didn't
they leave some for the poor? Let's look over at Acts chapter
2. Verse 41 and 42 says, And then they that gladly received
the word were baptized, and the same day were added to them about
three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine, breaking doctrine and fellowship, and
breaking bread in prayers. In 46 and 47 it says, And they
continued daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread
from house to house, and did eat their meat. But look what
it says in verse 43, And fear came upon every one of them.
Many wonders and signs were done. And all that believed were together
and had all things in common. And they sold their possessions
and goods and parted them among all men as every man had need.
That's what he's talking about back in Leviticus chapter 23
and verse 22. Leave some for the poor. Make
sure the poor is taken care of. This is what the Church of God
does. Those who have are to make sure that those who are poor
and those who are strangers and pilgrims are provided for. That's
what the scripture teaches. This is the teaching and fulfillment
of the Feast at Pentecost. All these things that were spoken
of, these offerings, these sacrifices, all these things were fulfilled
at Pentecost. The Pentecostal message is simple.
It is Christ and Him crucified. If you have been made to believe
on Jesus Christ, then you are Pentecostal. You can say, I am
Pentecostal because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
us, Father, to understand this. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.