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All right, well we're in Exodus chapter 23 and the last time we were here I went through just basically half, about half the chapter here and I kind of cut off here at the feast in verse number 14 where the Bible reads, Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year, thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread, 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 of Egypt and none shall appear before me empty. Let's pray. Lord we thank you so much for the scriptures and I pray that you just be with me as I preach this sermon. I pray you fill me with your spirit and help me to get across what the scriptures are saying and Lord not my own opinions. Pray Lord that you just be with our congregation. We thank you for the 12 people who got saved today in our church and for the great soul wanting we had yesterday and the day before with the 65 salvations in Yakima. We ask that you would just bless us tonight with a refreshing from your spirit in the scriptures. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So these feasts that it's talking about saying three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in a year. Now many of you know probably in Leviticus chapter 23 there's actually seven feasts. But these are the ones that are mega required to go to and more specifically for the men. All men were to appear on these three specific feasts. So it wasn't it was a mandatory thing it wasn't something that they could just you know I'm staying home for this one or whatever. So this this this these feasts these three feasts and they represent something specifically in each feast. And obviously there's a specific reason why they're kept because of the exodus and we don't really at this point you know this this is where this idea is being introduced of the other two feasts. So the first one we already know they're supposed to keep the Passover was was to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread and this one specifically talking about the that you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's one of the ones that you're required to go appear before the Lord in the year. So and it says thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed of the month of Bim. And it's also called Nissen or Nissan or whatever. But this is for in it thou camest out of Egypt. So this is the reason why it's saying is because that's when it commemorates the time that you left Egypt. So what does that represent. Well represents the time I kind of mentioned in my sermon before that it represents the fact that they were freed from from you know serving the world and servants of sin. And you know the picture salvation you know leaving and being able to serve God. So it was a big deal but there's also another meaning behind it. And the other meaning is that the spiritual application also to it is that it represents the body of Christ. So you think about the unleavened bread what are we supposed what do we do at this church once a year. Well we do the Lord's Supper. So and we believe that the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Passover from the Old Testament. Now we don't roast a lamb. We don't eat a lamb during that time because Jesus Christ was the lamb of God slain from the foundation of the earth. When Jesus Christ instituted the Lord's Supper he he put that we have to drink the fruit of the vine and we also eat the unleavened bread still. And we know from go ahead to John Chapter 6 but we know that that's what it represents because the New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament and helps us to understand the spiritual meanings of these feasts. So the first feast is what the feast of unleavened bread. Now everybody was supposed to do this. Everybody was supposed to partake in the Passovers. Families at this time partook of it together. And if there was a neighbor you know they would come and join in. But and this this was representing the fact that Jesus Christ was killed for us it had to be a perfect lamb. It had to be unblemished. It had it pictured the righteousness of an innocent Christ an innocent lamb a spotless lamb a spotless man. So they couldn't have any blemishes anything like that. But the unleavened bread pictures what the broken body of Jesus Christ in the New Testament right. So this has a meaning for us and and was Jesus Christ a man. Yes or no. Obviously he was a man. And so I don't know what the purpose why it's saying every man has to appear. But every one of these feasts that I'm about to go through is you know Christ was the man that did those things. And so I don't know if that's why it was required why it's a picture of the man did this deed or whatever but what is you're still you're in John Chapter 6 just stay there for a second but it says thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed for in it thou camest out of Egypt and none shall appear before me empty. And I was thinking about what that means obviously they were supposed to bring you know their sacrifices also at these different feasts that they appeared at. But I would just say this that if you look at John Chapter 6 look what it says in verse 48. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. So the people in these feasts were supposed to eat that bread that unleavened bread it represented what the bread that came down from heaven the Lord Jesus Christ and in this passage the Jews freak out because he's saying unless you eat my body and drink my blood you cannot be saved or whatever but it says I am the living bread verse 51 which came down from heaven if any man eat this bread he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. So this is not a literal thing. We don't have to literally eat Jesus. That's cannibalism. That's not what he's talking about. The bread represents the bread of life and it's a spiritual thing. So we don't get saved physically we get saved spiritually. And it says in verse 52 the Jews therefore strove among themselves saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat. Then Jesus said unto them verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. So that verse in Exodus 23 15 where it says none shall appear before me empty you see how they have to eat the bread. They have to eat the bread that represents what Christ is saying in this passage unless you eat that bread. Unless you eat my flesh which is what it represents then you know you cannot you know you have no life in you. So it's a spiritual thing and the Catholic Church teaches that this doctrine called transubstantiation where they bless the bread which is probably usually leavened which is not supposed to be but they bless that bread and they bless the cup which is real real wine. It's not fruit of the vine like Jesus said. It's it's alcoholic wine and they say that this literally turns into the body and blood of Christ. Now of course we know that that's not true. It's hocus pocus. It's sorcery. It's not real Christianity folks. We don't literally it doesn't literally turn into that. That's like you know some magic trick or something where we're literally just perpetually drinking Jesus's real blood and eating his real flesh. It's symbolic. It's not literal. So this is why the Jews couldn't understand it because they weren't saved. But it says whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life verse 54 and I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living father hath sent me and I live by the father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. The bread the body of Christ the sacrifice that he sacrificed his broken body his body being nailed to the cross his body being abused by his captors. That is the payment for our sins. And of course the blood represents the blood that he shed for our sins right. So what is the first feast represent well represents the fact that they left Egypt. But it also represents the fact you know because leaving Egypt again is a picture of salvation. So and then eating the unleavened bread is a picture of us having to you know consume that bread which is the body of Christ. If you eat of that bread you'll live forever if you drink you know. And so that blood applied to your life that that bread that broken body applied to your life is what saves us it's a spiritual thing and it says none shall appear before me empty. If you don't have Christ you're not going to appear before God except for in judgment when he throws you into the lake of fire. So this is the feast of unleavened bread all males were required to go there and everybody was required to come to these three feasts that I'm about to go through. So let's go back to Exodus chapter 23 verse 16 Exodus 23 16 says and the feast of harvest the first fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field and the feast of in gathering which is in the end of the year when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. So you have the feast of first fruits which was at the beginning of summer which thou hast sown in the field. So usually in the summertime the wheat will come up and then they chop that wheat down that's the first that's the feast of the harvest the first fruits of thy labors. And when it says well now some of the field so it says in the feast of in gathering which is in the end of the year when thou thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. So there's two different feasts being mentioned in this verse one is the first fruits then the feast of in gathering. So those are the other two that people are supposed to appear in front of the Lord once a year and when it says that it's talking about going to Jerusalem the place where he put his name to be in and at this time they haven't gone to Jerusalem yet and this time they haven't even made the tabernacle yet but he's giving them the rules. Remember Moses is in the thick darkness and God is telling him and telling them all the commandments and so we're still you know we've gone through a lot of verses and a lot of sermons here but this is still Moses on the mountaintop getting the commandments from God to give to the children of Israel. So the second feast is the feast of harvest or first fruits. So when is that well it's like I said it's the wheat harvest and it's and it's a spiritual meaning obviously for the New Testament which is the first fruits. That's what it says right it's the first fruits a feast of harvest or first fruit so the first fruits of the labors and you know the one who died for us was Jesus Christ and he died for us and he did a lot of labor to make sure that he purchased salvation for us right and the Bible talks about him in the New Testament multiple times in multiple different passages about how he is the first born of every creature. He's the first fruits of those that resurrected and we'll go through some of those passages here real quick go ahead and turn to Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. So what does this what does this represent well it represents the fact that Jesus died for us after doing those first labors those labors for salvation and you know they cut that wheat down. Jesus Christ was cut down you know be at the very you know at an early age in his life if you think about that and he was taken up after his resurrection to God right in heaven. So look at Colossians 1 15 it says who is the image of the invisible God talking about Christ the first born of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven that are on earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist so pretty much everything's about Jesus isn't it. He created everything and all things consist by him and it says and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning and the first born from the dead. The only person right now that has a glorified body that's resurrected right now is Jesus Christ and he's the only one that has one and it's been going he's he's died buried rose again has his glorified body and he's had it for a long time now. Now but to God things don't you know to us that seems like a lot of time but a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. So really you could say it's kind of like a season has passed for him and and and really the next the next feast that comes into play is at the end at the end gathering which would be about this time of year it'd be in the fall when you start harvesting all the other stuff but you know in the spring you put the you sow the seeds the wheat grows up you get that first fruits but and so that's what we're talking about the first fruits and it represents the fact that Jesus Christ was the first born from the dead he's the first one to rise from the dead and so he did all the works to get us saved and he also is the first one to rise from the dead and it says that in all things he might have the preeminence so he's resurrected first and it's well before the rest of mankind but and it says for it please the father that in him should all fullness dwell turn to Revelation 1 5 Revelation chapter 1 verse 5 and I'm sure you guys are familiar with these passages but it's it's kind of neat to go through the Old Testament and see what the pictures are why were these feasts what was the big deal well the first one you know it's a big deal because they left Egypt but not only that it's just a big deal because you know the body of Christ was sacrificed for us and of course now we have the juice that we drink and that represents the blood that flowed for us the sinless blood of Christ now in Revelation 1 5 it says and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our own sins in his own blood anybody that says that the blood isn't important like John MacArthur their bozo isn't it doesn't the Bible say right here that he washed us from our sins in his own blood so that what does that tell you that his blood was special it did literally atone for our sins and you know that blood was so precious that it was taken to heaven and put on the mercy seat to so that everybody in the world's sins could be forgiven and it wasn't just a figure of blood it wasn't just it's not just the death of Christ the blood had to be shed without the shedding of blood is no remission the blood had to be shed it wasn't just the fact that his body was broken for us but it was also the fact that he shed his blood and the Bible says he washed his blood he washed our us from our sins in his own blood but he's the first begotten of the dead look at a Romans chapter eleven verse sixteen Romans chapter eleven verse sixteen I feel like I left my water where's my water it is brother bill can you grab me my water bottles just right there thank you Romans eleven sixteen the Bible says for if the first fruit be holy was Jesus holy yes sir and who's it talking about there it's talking about Jesus so what is the harvest it's the first fruits Romans eleven sixteen for if the first fruit be holy then the lump is also holy who's the lump that's us or the or the lump so Christ the first fruits was holy and because he's holy and he's died and sacrificed himself for us the lump is also holy and it says and if the root be holy who's the root the root is the offspring of Jesse right the Lord Jesus Christ it says if the root be holy so are the branches so he's you know a lot of a lot of this symbolism comes from the things that God created and if you notice that these things are all connected to offerings they're all connected to farming you know to make bread what do you need to make bread you need wheat or barley right so anyway but that's what God uses a lot of pictures for that because it's easy for us to grasp those things I believe so anyway look at first Corinthians chapter fifteen verse twenty first Corinthians chapter fifteen verse twenty Bible says in first Corinthians fifteen twenty it says but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept so there's one two three four verses right there I'm sure there's more but I mean one thing that we have to understand is when the Bible uses a term and it repeats those terms throughout the Bible they are connected they are connected and so this feast of harvest or feast of first first fruits is connected directly with Jesus Christ rising from the dead so and that was the wheat harvest that was the first fruits and that's the first the this so it's the second it's the second of the ones that the all the males had to appear and in in this chapter Exodus chapter 23 Exodus 23 verse 16 let's go back there in the latter part of the verse it says and the feast of in gathering which is in the end of the year so in the end of the year so and in if you were paying attention in John chapter 6 what was he saying and I will raise him up at the what the last day so the end is when we get resurrected there's a final resurrection which is the end of anybody else getting resurrected and that's the the great white throne judgment there's a second resurrection at that time so but if you are part of the first resurrection you're blessed to walk into the millennium and to rule and ring with Christ for that thousand years but the people that get saved after that they don't rise and tell so anybody that got raptured you know more than halfway into the final seven years anybody gets saved after that even people that would go into the millennium they don't get resurrected bodies until after the millennium so they could potentially live into the millennium and die and not not be resurrected again till the end of the thousand years that makes sense so but this specific feast here is is called the feast of in gathering and what does that remind you of like what is what is God gonna do when he comes back he's gonna gather his elect from the four winds and he's going to send the angels to reap and so the feast of in gathering takes place in fall at the end of the year harvest and it's the spiritual meaning of course is the second coming of Christ to gather his elect so turn to Matthew chapter 13 verse 27 Matthew 13 27 Matthew chapter 13 verse 27 the Bible says so the servants and I'm just gonna give you some pictures in Scripture in the New Testament that help us to look back there and say oh yeah that is what this is about Matthew 13 27 so the servants of the householder came and said unto him sir this didst not thou sow good seed in thy field from whence then hath it tears he said unto them an enemy hath done this the servant said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up but he said nay lest while you gather up the tares you root up also the wheat with them let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn so the feast of in gathering that you know when you gather something into a barn you're gathering in you know the in gathering you're gathering it to the place where you're going to store it right so there's a picture there of the of that feast of in gathering now look at Mark chapter 4 Mark chapter number 4 just the next book over in your Bible there Mark chapter number 4 look at verse 26 the Bible says and he said so is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself first the blade then the ear after that the full corn in the ears talking about the process of how they become ripe and it says but when the fruit is brought forth immediately immediately he putteth it in the sick he put it in the sickle excuse me because the harvest is come so here's another story likening how you know that fruit once it's ready to be collected is taken down and put the sickles put to it because it is the time of the harvest so that harvest time is referring to the end times it's referring to the fact when Jesus Christ comes again look at first Corinthians chapter 15 first Corinthians chapter 15 of course this is known as the resurrection chapter in 1st Corinthians 15 it's acts Romans 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 22 the Bible says for as an Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order Christ the firstfruits afterward they that are Christ at his coming so you see how the the feast are kind of lining up with how things are going to be done in the end times you know it's like salvation you know Christ is going to come back and it says that there's an order of things God's gonna go in order he's not gonna take the people out first he's gonna you know he's not gonna go out of order he's not gonna have the income and then you know everything's got to come in its order on order Christ is the firstfruits which represents that second one and then afterward they that are Christ is coming so that's the end gathering and then verse 24 says then come at the end so remember in Exodus how it said in the end of the year so they're all tied together in that way says then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the father when we shall have put down all rule and all authority and power turn to Revelation 14 Revelation chapter 14 now this is I think a really clear picture of it of course all these scriptures are good but Revelation 14 really kind of kind of puts the exclamation point here it says and I looked and behold verse 14 a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle and another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud thrust in my sickle and reap for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe so you got the end of the the the harvest and Christ is standing there with a sharp sickle in his hand ready to bring forth the harvest and it says and he and he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle in the earth and the earth was reaped and another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven he also having a sharp sickle and another angel came out from the altar which had power over fire and cry with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying thrust in thy sharp sickle and gathered the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe and the angel thrust in his sickle of the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God so remember it said that you know the the wheat and the tares grow up together and then lest lest you know it pulls up the good wheat you know leave the tares to you know the tares are gonna get sewn in it's talking about how they'll will grow together with these bad people and sometimes we won't even know it but what happens to the ones that are the other ones that don't get gathered into the barn well they get destroyed right it says that it's you know the great winepress of the wrath of God doesn't sound like a fun adventure to go through does it and it says in verse 20 and the winepress was trodden down without the city and blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs which that's a lot of blood so this is talking about how Christ is going to destroy those people you know the bot you know the Bible also talks about in other passages how there's people that would not have you know the the man to rule over them and then that man you know at the end he's going to separate the sheep from the goats and those that would not be ruled allow Christ to rule over them were slain before him so there's a bat there's a bad part of this harvest and those those wicked people are going to get destroyed but the people that are saved and safe they're gonna be in gathered into the barn so to speak and so we're gonna be safe forevermore they're gonna have a bad day look at Matthew chapter 24 verse 29 Matthew chapter 24 verse 29 and notice how in Matt and in Revelation chapter 14 you had Christ with the sickle and then you had the other angels the other angel coming out with the sickle and again that pictures the rapture the second coming and it alludes to Daniel also chapter number 12 I believe and then so Matthew chapter 24 verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken you ever noticed that like during the harvest there's that weird moon that always appears before the harvest I mean obviously they call it what the harvest moon so you see signs every every harvest that there's a harvest moon that time of the harvest where everything is reaped right and then you have all these these pictures in Matthew chapter 24 where you have the moon not giving its light the start of the Sun darkened the stars falling from heaven the heavens being shaken says and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory this is talking about people say this is the second coming I know I know it is but our some of our independent Baptist brethren will say well this is different than the preacher rapture well show me the verse in the preacher rapture I'd like to see it if you have it if you have that verse and I'd love to see it but what the Bible actually says a clear verse is that immediately after the tribulation he's coming back that's why we believe that because we're Baptist we believe what the Bible says not what the Bible does not say and so when people say all the Jesus coming any minute no he's not that's the man of sin has to come first what are you talking about what no man deceive you in Matthew chapter 24 the first thing he starts out saying let no man deceive you Paul says let no man deceive you these signs have to happen first it's like yeah we're supposed to be watching and waiting and we know that you know there's certain things when we start to see these things happen we know that those are the beginnings of things but you know people are right now people are freaking out because of the Israel conflict right now they're like see you you know all the prophecies are starting to happen and like all the YouTube false prophets are getting on there and saying what they believe is gonna happen and this is the Gog and Magog and who knows I mean I just I can't even stand to look at it I just like there's a like a little three tab button you can push to like not interested have you ever pushed that button on YouTube it's like but if you accidentally quick to you know if you're on your phone you can click on it and it's playing like ah then you have to get out of there and click it but not interested you know what I'm not interested because I trust what the Bible says and not what some bozo on YouTube says rabbi Jonathan Kahn who's a Jew I'm not gonna trust what you know his prophecies didn't come to pass before why would I believe in him now I'm not gonna believe in him so we got to believe what the Bible says we got to go by what the Bible says and not what it doesn't say it doesn't say he's coming before the tribulation it says he's coming after the tribulation and yes it is the second coming the disciples asked at the beginning this chapter you know what is the sign of thy coming not they didn't say not the secret rapture but the other one that's not what they said they said what is the sign thy coming and he tells them everything and then people still don't believe it they just don't get it because they don't want they just don't want to go through anything they just want to live their nice cushy comfortable life that they never do anything and they think that they deserve to be the ones they get to go up in the rapture at any moment but I just really think if they actually believed that Jesus could come at any moment why aren't they so winning at those churches you know why they're not because they don't really believe it because if we thought that Jesus could come back at any moment wouldn't you be just trying to get everybody you know saved you'd be running around like chicken little the sky is falling the sky is falling Jesus could come at any moment get saved you know we should be like that anyway as far as just you know trying to get people say but that he's not coming back at any moment so that's just hogwash is garbage it's not true the Bible says after the tribulation and no we're not in the tribulation just because Israel has a little flare-up doesn't mean we're going through the tribulation folks as you know could it be the beginning of things it could be but we just we got to quit living our life our Christian life out of the headlines and go by what the line on line say in the Bible instead so it says and he sent he'll she shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end to have of heaven to the other so he's gonna gather them he's gonna send the Reapers he's gonna send the angels to take the elect so that's the three pictures that you see of these three feasts and the all males had to have to appear look at verse 17 back in our text in Exodus 23 this is where I get that from so it says in verse 17 three times in a year all males shall appear before the Lord God thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain unto the morning as and so the same it's the same with the Lord's Supper using alcoholic wine so leavened bread was not allowed to be used and I've been to churches where somebody stands up there with a hunk of leavened bread and a in a Franzia boxed wine wino jug and and pours cups for people and I'm just like you know we're visiting some church where my uncle is playing in some bluegrass band or something and they do the Lord's Supper afterwards literally guys got a hunk of bread up there and people are just walking up and ripping off chunks with their bare hands this is pre-covid okay but that's a long time ago but you know they're taking and they're ruining the picture of the sinless savior and his precious blood and look you can't use alcoholic wine to to picture the precious blood of Jesus it's poison it gets you wasted it's it ruins people's lives it doesn't save people alcohol does not save people alcohol destroys people it destroys their lives and you know what it else it destroys the picture of the sinless blood of Christ and that's why we use grape juice yeah grape juice you know why because Jesus said the fruit of the vine he didn't say wine he was very specific it does you can go back and look and yeah go back to the Greek or go back to your stupid NIV translation or something and maybe it will say that but you know what the King James says it's very specific it says the fruit of the vine and you know what when you squeeze grapes into a glass it's not alcohol folks it's just not there's trace alcohol in most things but it's not going to get you wasted you're not going we're not supposed to take and use like I mean how weird is that that you're in a baptist church with a hunk of french bread and a boxed wine literally wicked pictures and how does that help someone to understand the savior it doesn't it just helps you to be a boozer and a loser so revelate or excuse me exodus chapter 2317 again it says you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven bread and they did use blood in the sacrifices didn't they but the blood was supposed to picture the blood that was going to cover our sins later on the blood of Christ and so and remember Jesus was not left on the cross until the morning he was taken to sacrifice he was taken off the cross wasn't he so these pictures are for us and for our understanding for you know obviously we live in the new testament and pat you know we live into the future after these scriptures have been written so we can look back we have a big advantage on that these people might not have fully understood everything that they were going through but we can understand what these things represent and you know grape juice or fruit of the vine is what represents the pure blood of Christ the pure blood of the grape is just a squeezed grape right and the pure body of Christ has no leaven in it because leaven represents sin in the bible doesn't it so exodus 2319 says the first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the lord thy god so the first fruits of the the first of the first fruits of the land thou shalt bring into the house of the lord thy god so of course christ was the first fruits and so he's the first you know he goes into the house of lord that's where he's at right now you know because god's throne is in heaven paradise is in heaven it's in the third heaven that's where christ is right now and he's waiting for the precious fruit of the earth as it says in the book of james right you know we're waiting we're supposed to wait patiently for the precious and that he's waiting pressure for that precious fruit of the earth so we should be patient like god's patient you know i was talking about this this morning but you know we got to think about others you know what why is god waiting why are we still here because he's waiting for the precious fruit and then he's going to reap when it's his time what is he waiting for more people to get saved that's what it is so that's why we do the soul winning so again there's seven feasts and i'm not going to go through all those tonight just the three that it mentions here but if you want to study more about the other feast they are in leviticus chapter 23 it explains all them to the detail and what they were supposed to do and all that so but again the uniqueness of this is that all men had to appear before the lord at these feasts specifically and they all picture major events the death of christ the resurrection of christ the resurrection of the saints at the second coming of christ turn to john 6 verse 37 i had to turn to john already but i'm gonna have you turn back there again john 6 37 john 6 37 says all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me i will in no wise cast out for i came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the father's will which has was has sent me that of all which he hath given me i should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day and this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and i will raise him up at the last day that is what christ came to do these are what help these pictures are to help us to understand these things and when christ is referencing all this stuff he's referencing back to the old testament multiple times in the new testament to help us to understand these things so that people would get saved so that the jews would believe but what do we know happened well the most of the nation rejected him but some did get saved now let's turn to let's see matthew chapter 3 11 matthew chapter 3 verse 11 i think this is really interesting because in matthew 3 11 it's john the baptist he's preaching hard at the jews here and they're coming to ask him like by what authority are you doing this stuff like what are you doing what is this all about and it says and now also verse 10 is is the the axe is laid to the root of the trees therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire so ultimately what's going to happen to the ones that won't get saved well they're going to get cast in the fire that was that's what the picture is here says i indeed baptize you with water and repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than i whose shoes i am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the holy ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire see our job is to make sure people don't go to the fire soul winning is the main purpose that we're out there but that's why we knock the doors that's why we make the maps that's why we organize that's why we you know heard the cats around to try to make sure so to speak that uh we got people going to the right places and it's a difficult job you know organizing soul winning is really hard some you know especially when you got big groups brother robert does really well yesterday he kind of just was like the he was the calm that helped me get through the storm he's just like oh cool like yeah i'm just gonna make another map i'm just like we don't have enough maps i'm the pastor and i'm just like relying on brother robert but it is hard but you know what it's worth it it's worth it to organize and get out there because there is coming a day when god is going to judge the world in righteousness and we want those precious people to be saved and they'll get saved if we go to them people will get saved uh the other verses of the end of that verse in verse 19 is thou shall not see the kid in his mother's milk and so basically that that that commandment it's kind of an interesting commandment but it's it's really kind of trying to help us to understand conservation and you're like conservation what are you some kind of liberal or something no i'm not some kind of a liberal but if you use up all the resources and if you use up all the resources and use them in the wrong way the next generation is not going to have them but you can apply these things in a spiritual way too that if you're you know if you're not well i mean let me just go with the the carnal aspect of this i mean if you killed every mother of every animal and their child there wouldn't be another generation would there so spiritually you know we need to reach that next generation i talked about that in my sermon before but thou shall not see the kid in his mother's milk you know we we got we can't just throw out you know if there's if there's a problem with this generation you're not going to reach the next generation and everything's going to get used up you're not going to have the christians going forth in the next generation that's why the children of israel were always just having issues because they're a generation would rise up that knew not god and in joshua's time and in the time of the judges these types of things would happen but you know conservation like i'm not i don't like littering i think littering is disgusting like when i watch someone just walk up and throw something on the ground when the garbage can's right there i'm just like what why why would you dylan my son-in-law he sends me a video of this person walking over to a dumpster with their garbage and just dropped it right in front didn't drop it in the dumpster dropped it on the ground it's like why would you walk all the way over there just to drop it on the ground that's just it's it's filthy why would you do that and you know it we can you know have a a real conservation i don't like that that animals go extinct but they do and why do they because you know people are eating the bird and the eggs they're they're they're eating up all the resources and they're making things go extinct and i i think that god made those animals because he wanted them to be in this world obviously to have giant lizards roaming around you know the dinosaurs you know the first of all they're not going to grow that big anymore but i mean we have literal dinosaurs still today i mean saltwater crocodiles are pretty scary they can eat human beings and they hunt and yeah they're scary man i don't even want to go to australia just because of them in case i might accidentally run into one no offense australians but uh maybe i'd go to the zoo wearing like a helmet or something but they're scary but there's a lot of things that have been hunted to extinction like the dodo people that term go the way of the dodo there was a bird called the dodo bird and it was flightless and people came and and just killed them all and then there was none for the next generation so i think that this verse is just kind of helping us understand that like you you know seething a kid in his own mother's milk the thing that's actually supposed to make that animal grow it's just it's to me it's bizarre like i don't even know why anybody would do that maybe to make it taste better or something but the principle is you don't want to use up all the resources you don't want to you know use up and make sure that not only does the mother get killed and the kid because a kid is like a baby goat right you don't want them both to just go extinct because if you did that with every single mother and kid that was born and you and you boiled them in milk or whatever that's what seething is then we would have no goats for the next generation so you know god is not anti-conservation but we're also not going to go too far with it either because there's a weird element to this world that's just like they think that they're saving the world from one plastic bag at a time okay which they're not you know and who likes to use in the northwest brown paper bags that rip as soon as they get wet there's nothing more annoying than having your groceries in a bag and you're walking in and like it all the bottom falls off it's like first they said that they made the plastic bags so it could make the world a better place and that we could recycle them and stuff and now those are all out in the ocean in the big swirling trash pits or whatever and you know we it's the ones that just are the most conserve you know want to conserve the most or seem like the ones that are making everything go bad and go extinct so it's just like the mines in africa where they're getting all this cobalt and all this lithium to make the lithium ion batteries there's slaves doing that little children there's videos of it it's i mean if the video is there it has to be true right but it is true they're mining it in africa they're slavery you know people are so much against slavery slavery and black lives matter and stuff what about the black kids and eat in africa that are mining this stuff so you can have your your tesla and feel good about yourself and you got your big boy badge and and you're so great you're so high and exalted these people have no idea what's going to happen when every car has to be electric that's going to ruin i just can't even see how it lasts now what are they going to do build super speedway trains for us to get everywhere i mean i don't know but california's eating this stuff up and everything that we have is basically made you know any of the batteries the the the decent ones i guess are made from this this product but people are being slaved over it and california's grid cannot handle the electricity that's going to come through it when they stop allowing gas cars to ride on the roads they just they're already doing rolling blackouts it already happens now rolling blackouts because the grid cannot handle the electricity add every car as an electric car and see what happens then they can't even make it across the country to like they have to get pilot cars and put generators on their car and send them ahead so they can charge the battery off the generator that they put the gas in there so they can what what cool driving an electric car they don't work like we we literally had people came to our church and they rented a tesla because they wanted to see how cool they were or whatever they literally every two hours they're charging you know their car that their tesla because it can't make it from nevada to here without charging it like five or six times or something and it's like one tank of gas you're good and we have the resources for it but you know the carbon nazis that control this world right now are just making it impossible they're making our gas prices go up which make our food prices go up you know people are starting to live in poverty while they're working you know you can't it's you know it's basically turning everybody into the working poor they're driving up all the prices they're driving up all the gasoline they're trying to make it where we want to walk to work well you know most people can't just walk to work we don't all want to be in little tiny apartment apartments in downtown portland where we can just take a little smart car or something or some you know it just this is the way the world thinks is just crazy but in reality there's something behind that there's something behind that that is wicked and evil they have to know that it doesn't work they have to know that it won't work but they preach this conservation gospel you're saving the world recycle it all goes to the same place but recycle and here's how you do it and people are really militant about this stuff oh you don't recycle you know they'll get on to you about it when i lived in portland i remember people would be like you don't recycle no well you know it's hurting the world or whatever who cares god's gonna burn it all up anyway so but i'm not saying that we should use that as an excuse to litter either we should conserve that's what this verse is teaching so let's move on here the conquest of canan is promised by god here in this chapter also so look at verse 20 the bible says behold i sent an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring me into the place which i have prepared talking about the land of canan beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him this is a really interesting passage but god is proclaiming that an angel is being sent to them to keep to keep them in the way to make sure they're going in the right direction and to keep them in the ways of the lord of course and to bring them into the place that he's prepared for them so the place that he prepared for them is not like the land of egypt it's a different land it's a land flowing with milk and honey it's got mountains and hills and grapes and you know later on they'll do that mission where they go and bring back the the grapes and all the things that the great things of the land and uh so but it says to bring them into the place where i prepared god's plan was to just let them go right to the promised land and conquer it but they they can't even get that far until they screw up but they can't even get past moses coming down off the mountain actually is what's really going on but that does help us to understand that we ourselves you know it's it just shows us how hard it is you know to be in this world as a sinner it really does it shows how impossible it is to keep god's commandments in order to be saved and so it is the law as our schoolmaster to bring us to christ it says beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions so um and it says but if verse 22 but if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that i speak then i will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries so here's the thing like people always say well you know that land is promised to israel and god promised it to him for an everlasting possession why does it say but if thou shall obey his voice because there's an if there if there's an if that's like but if you don't what's gonna happen he's gonna not destroy your enemies and he's going to not like it says don't provoke him provoke him not he will not pardon my transgressions so and it says i will be an enemy to thy enemies and adversary to thy adversaries if they obey the voice it says for my angel shall go before thee and bring thee into the amorite and unto the amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and i will cut them off so he's promising them blessings if they obey the voice of god but you know people wonder about who this angel is now i know that jesus christ is not an angel as in an angelic being but the term the angel of the lord it angel means messenger that's what it means so angel doesn't always mean the angelic being it could be the messenger of god okay john the baptist is called the messenger of the lord and that also means angel right so you can be an angel and not be an angel i guess there's a way of saying it and somebody tried to pin me down on this one time and uh you know we all believe i'm sure everybody in here believes in pre-incarnate appearances of christ that he appeared before and uh before he was incarnate so let's look at joshua chapter five joshua chapter five i kind of believe that and i this is just my my personal belief i guess that this angel is probably talking about christ and in second or first corinthians chapter 10 it talks about that rock that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was christ so was christ with them in the exodus yes he was was cry i mean they drank water out of that rock that flowed in that pictured christ obviously so i mean i believe that uh you know christ was with them even though they didn't necessarily understand that but it says in joshua 5 13 and it came to pass when joshua was by jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand and joshua went up and said unto him art thou for us or for our adversaries and he said nay i mean that's that's a g that's kind of a jesus answer isn't it you know what i mean like jesus would be asked questions and he would say thou sayest you know but anyways he said nay but as the captain of the host of the lord i am now come and joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him what saith my lord unto his servant so why did he have why did why did joshua fall on his face to the earth because he's in the presence of deity that's why and and normally if someone isn't a deity if it's not christ if it's not god then they'll say stand up and i'm i'm a man like you are or i'm not god or whatever but did you see the captain of the host doing that no i mean obviously jesus is the captain of our salvation and he i believe led them into the promised land joshua's a picture of jesus their names mean exactly the same thing joshua jesus is joshua transliterated in the new testament so joshua led them into the promised land and of course god here in exodus chapter 23 is saying that he's going to send an angel and you better obey him he's not going to pardon you so because that's kind of how it was in the old testament but anyway it says and he said nay but as the captain so so yeah so he takes his shoes off from his feet and he he tells him to take his shoes off let's see yeah verse 15 and the captain of the lord host said unto joshua loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place where their stand where in thou standest is holy and joshua did so so i mean isn't that what god told moses too when he appeared in the burning bush so i mean i tend to think that this angel that he's talking about it's not an angelic being that god created this is you know a messenger of god so and that could be jesus christ of course jesus christ was a messenger of the new testament right so now verse 24 in exodus 23 says thou shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do after their works but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images and you know god is very clear that god hates false idols he hates images and he says they're to utterly overthrow them and says he shall serve the lord your god and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and and i will take sickness away from the midst of thee i thought this is a very interesting verse because you know he's saying i'm going to take sickness away from you so is that in the realm of god to put sickness upon people and to take it away yeah yeah and i'm not saying that every time we have a i mean they call it the cold and flu season for a reason okay people get sick i understand that but you know if if we're serving lord the lord i believe that we can't be cured completely from all sickness i'm not saying that but god can limit our sickness i mean god can bless us in our health and not allow us to get these major colds and things like that and so i you know it's talking about serving the lord your god he shall serve the lord your god and so this kind of ties in with my sermon this morning when you're serving god he's blessing you isn't that what he's saying to these people too if you serve me if you obey my commandments i'll bless you but when you're not then what's you know what's the what's the opposite of blessing your bread well cursing it what's the opposite of blessing your water cursing it what is the opposite of taking sickness away giving it to you so i mean are these things tied together yes i mean they are so it says there shall not there shall nothing cast their young nor be barren in the land the number of thy days i will fulfill what is that talking about well your long life how long you know god has kind of given us a time span where we can kind of average out how long we're going to live but these are based upon his blessings according to us serving him and keeping his commandments right isn't that what it's saying obviously we're saved in the new testament by believing on jesus i'm not trying to put us back in the old testament but keeping god's commandments in the new testament as i showed you the apostles gave them commandment as they were commanded by jesus to give to us so we're not saved by keeping commandments or anything like that but we are supposed to keep god's commandments in the sense of you know he wants us to obey him and to obey the bible psalm chapter 90 go ahead and turn to psalm chapter 90 verse 9 psalm chapter 90 verse 9 just got this last place we'll turn back to exodus we'll be done psalm chapter 90 verse 9 now this is a psalm of moses and moses obviously wrote the book of exodus he wrote this psalm it's attributed to him and he's and he lived to be a lot older right he lived to be i think 120 right so psalm chapter 90 verse 9 for all our days are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told the days of our years are three score years and ten so that's 70 years old and if by reason of strength they be four score years yet is their strength labor and sorrow and it soon it is soon cut off and we fly away it's talking about you know you you die so our days are three score and ten so that's kind of like the average age of people you know and so when god says i will fulfill thy days will i fulfill it's talking about you know and then obviously if you're respectful to your parents those things help um you know give you a longer life and god's going to bless you for the the better your life is the more he's going to bless you and you know if you live a normal life you're going to live to be a good old age and these are the you know he's talking about these blessings that he's going to give to the children of israel but what ends up happening they end up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and that whole generation having to die except for joshua and caleb so back to our uh exodus chapter 23 and verse 27 says and i will send my fear before thee and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come and i will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee so making them run away basically and you know god will you know that's another thing when our enemies are against us god can bless us in those ways too he can make them fear before us for no reason i mean there's times in the bible when people just fear and get scared or they'd see they think that they saw a sea of blood and then they would run and get killed by the children of israel god can put things in their mind and make them go crazy i mean there's some people that have like attacked us and attacked pastors and attacked our churches and things like that and those people like went nuts or they died in weird ways i mean god will destroy our enemies he's going to do it he said he'll take vengeance upon them we don't have to do it at all it says and i will send hornets before thee which shall drive out the hivite the Canaanite and the and the Hittite before thee so god uses animals to do it too right because i mean they had just all these advantages to win this war they have millions of people they have a big huge standing army but the people before them are are bigger and scarier than they are right and they have these castle walls and things like that but how are you going to protect yourself from bees if bees just want to attack you what are you going to do about it especially hornets hornets are mean little suckers aren't they and i and sometimes i feel like i've been i've had the hornets sent against me i don't know but they don't like me very much i just try to avoid bees like the plague but sometimes i mean i'm afraid of them okay i'll just admit it i don't like getting stung it hurts but uh you know imagine this army that god is going to let you know this land he's going to send hornets in to drive them out that's uh that's pretty cool actually you know he'll send lions too you know he sent lions against other people and the beasts of the earth it talks about in the end times how the beasts of the earth will destroy the enemies it says and i will not drive them out from before thee in one year lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee so he wasn't going to allow them to conquest too quickly because if they did then all this wilderness is going to grow up and they're not going to be able to keep up with it and the beasts of the field multiply against thee so the beasts of the field let's talk about is like probably like predatory type animals that are going to eat their flock and sheep and things like that it says by little and little i will drive them out from before the until they'll be increased and inherit the land so you know and and just like it's little by little this conquest you know a lot of things we get in life are little by little from god he doesn't just bless us with everything in our life the moment we get saved or people just be like well you know what what do i have to work harder for what do i have you know i got everything i need i got everything that god could bless me with god blesses us a little by little he gives us doctrine little by little here a little there a little right so and then he also allows our conquests and you know i think about soul winning being applied to this also he doesn't just we don't just go on one big soul winning marathon and everybody in the whole city gets saved it's little by little one map at a time one neighbor head at a time one apartment complex at a time this is just how god operates it's a principle to not give too much too soon because if you had you know just say like there's a program you could just plug into your brain and it taught you and gave you every doctrine of the bible at one time it would be too much and there's multiple layers in the bible you could read the bible for your whole life and you're probably still not going to know everything that there is to know about the bible that's what makes it so great to just continue to read the bible through and through and god gives it to you the doctrine little by little and every time you read the bible you're going to get something new out of it you're going to i mean i think it was somebody brought me something they're like i've never seen that in the bible before i've read the bible multiple times and i've never seen that i was like i haven't seen that either but obviously i have i've read it but i just i just didn't you know get it i didn't see that it didn't apply it didn't download into my brain but we can't just handle everything at once that's why god gives us little by little and he's saying i'm going to give you the land little by little i'm going to vanquish your enemies a little by little i'm going to let you inherit the land little by little and that's how our christian life is we get a little you know we hear hear a little they're a little it's not all at once because if everybody gets everything at once then we're it's just not it's not going to be good for us and that's what the you know we don't want anything to multiply against us so because then i'll set the bounds of the red sea even into the sea of the philistines and from the desert into the river and i will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand and thou shall drive them out from before thee thou shalt make no covenant with them nor with their gods they shall not dwell in thy land lest they make thee sin excuse me unless they make these sin against me for if thou serve their gods it will surely be a snare unto thee and that's a really big warning that they obviously did not heed even in the time of joshua he's like why are you sitting here idle go and take the land if that's if this isn't a big enough stretch for you then go in and take it they're like but they have iron chariots and god told me he was going to give it to them so obviously they failed in their faith they failed to do what god told them that he was going to allow them to do and they couldn't drive them out of the land and so they dwelt among this among them as it was to this day and they were a snare unto them their gods were a snare unto them their beliefs and their practices were a snare unto them and that's why we have to have a separated life that's why god wanted them out of there he's these people are pollution they're reprobates destroy them and they just wouldn't do it and that's kind of how things are going now right you see all the churches are just suffering all this stuff they're just allowing all this filth to go on in their church and and it's just not a big deal you know and and that's why it's getting corrupt that's why it's so corrupt that's why it feels like we're in a great falling away doesn't it yes i mean baptist churches used to mean something it used to be a high standard and now you go to a an old ifb church and you don't know what weird doctrine is going to fly out of their mouth you just don't and these pastors like they'll they'll pay lip service to salvation by faith alone but then the the sybileth comes out of their mouth about you know believing in repenting of your sins it's like and i i think i was talking to timo and alihandra during lunch today and i just said i want you guys to go to life be a church and i'm like what it's like yeah that way you'll miss our church more when you come back you'll you'll be happy and thankful that you're in a church like this we're actually going to get the truth you're going to i mean as much as i'm able to teach it i'm going to preach what the bible says whether people like it or not and that's what we're missing in this world today and that's why people hate our church because there used to be a lot more churches like this church but now it's just like kind of not a thing anymore and you know you got people going back to the greek and saying now i was i was told a story that made me mad today but this pastor he's like was criticizing one of the soul winners and he said because he used revelation 21 8 where it says in all liars and he said well i went back to the greek and it says that's an adjective so what you went back to the strong's concordance lexicon which is just definitions written by men and you think you know greek enough to correct god's word and say all that does that doesn't mean all sinners so how are you king james only if you get to be the one that corrects what the bible says that's ridiculous well i mean how could you go to a church like that if somebody said that to me that'd be the last time that i walked into that church you don't love the bible well nuts to you have fun leading everybody astray and and the blind leading the blind when you're going to get up and say that you know the greek because you read the strongest concordance that's ridiculous you don't know the bible you don't know what what it says all all you know all sinners shall have their part in the lake which burned with the fire and brimstone what do you think that means do you guys need me to go back to the greek to explain that to you no it means all sinners are all liars shall have their part in the lake which burned with the fire and brimstone now of course we believe if you get saved then you don't fall into that category because you're forgiven of that sin for all eternity but to say i can't go soul winning with you because we're not on the same page that's ridiculous that's so disgusting it really makes me angry and like but that's the kind of old ifb church situation you're going to fall into oh there's some good ones out there i'm sure that there are but some weird doctrine is going to fly out of their mouth at some point and it's just like or what or some weird practice whether it's an altar call or you know you can't have your kids in the service because they're crying or whatever it's just like you know you can't be family integrated you can't just keep your kid in the service well you have to go to the sunday school class why so you can mark nine people attended the class and put that in front of your little you know oh we had nine people in our this age sunday school class like who cares why don't you just let them have their kid in the service why do you have to force them to have some bozo teacher tell them about stuff off a scripted uh you know thing that probably came from some heretic anyway why not get the teaching from the pastor of the church or from the people that know what they're talking about it's garbage folks and it is a jungle out there when it comes to baptist churches and for some reason it's like you can be anything else besides believing what we believe and you can go to a baptist church nowadays that used to not fly i remember when baptists preach hard i'm not that old baptists used to preach hard and now they just don't now they're they might as well be presbyterians i mean i don't know if any presbyterians preach hard but i obviously i've never been to presbyterian church before brother bill has do they preach hard it's so jungle out there too soft soft soap okay i gotta go you gotta go let's pray lord we thank you so much for the bible and lord i pray that you just help us to understand that you know we're going to get things a little bit at a time help us to be patient help us to to love others help us to be patient in you know just getting our doctrine and and the blessings in our life help us to work for it help us to serve you lord better help us to think about the things that we learn from your from the scriptures today i pray that you just help us to be great christians and all and that we would stand fast in the faith and serve you all the days of our life and not fall away pray lord that you just help us to to lord realize what a great church we have and that there's a lot of churches out there that are just lacking in a lot of areas and that we should thank god for the blessings that we have in our lives and we thank you for all your blessings lord and all the salvations this weekend and for a great church in jesus name we pray amen