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Pastor David Mitchell
Well, I appreciate the contribution of the young people today in our service already. We've had Jesse and Jason take up the offering. Did you know in some churches deacons wait in line to do that? Get their turn.
And Paul Katie and my dad we appreciate the young people turn with me. Yeah, well, we're all young. We haven't even. Barely just barely begun eternal life. We're very very young. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5 this morning and verse 17.
And I'm going to continue our study on the feasts. What I'm going to do. I'm not going to go through and teach all of the feast. What I would prefer to do is when the time of the year comes for that feast.
I'd like to teach on that feast and. And I've got quite a Study here and I want to make sure that we I'm not even necessarily teaching it in in the order that I put the study together. There's some information I Think that Sometimes we need to know before we get into other information.
We have a little bit of a problem in that I can't teach all this in one message. And you're not always all here for every service and yet there's some information that if you miss it, you won't understand the next sermon, so You may have to buy the tapes.
Greg sells them for about $25 apiece. They're very cheap and The tapes are cheap the material is priceless. Actually, you can probably cut a better deal with Greg if you just talk to him personally as in free perhaps.
But let me remind you this morning a little bit. About what the feasts are and and let's review just a little bit. If you look in Unger's Bible Dictionary, which is a nifty book to have everyone should go buy one if you don't have one I Would highly suggest that and if you could go to one of these used bookstores and buy an old edition.
Get an old Unger's Bible Dictionary used one. Be a lot better than the new ones and Unger lists these feasts he lists eight of them and he divides them up into categories. I'm not really gonna do that for you today.
I'm just gonna list them. The first is Actually the Sabbath, I don't know if you realize that the Sabbath is a feast but it is it's it's listed with the feasts in the Bible. It's listed as the Sabbath of rest and holy Convocation.
The second feast is the Lord's Passover, which if you remember we studied that Not too long ago. The third feast is the feast of unleavened bread and The fourth is the sheaf of the first fruits and that can get a little bit confusing in a matter of fact.
I got a little confused when I started the study. I combined a couple of these because some of them happen at the same time and As I went forward into my study and studied more specifically some of the The ones we haven't gotten to yet.
I found that I had combined a couple up. But if you read carefully You'll see that there are eight of them the Passover the feast of the unleavened bread and the sheaf of the first fruits all Happens in the same week and that can get a little bit confusing if you don't realize that.
Do you remember? The Passover pictures the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and I think I remember at least ten things we found in studying the Passover. Beautiful pictures of Jesus in the Passover the unleavened bread pictures consecration the consecrated life.
Salvation must come first as pictured by the Passover and then a consecrated life is made possible. The whole world has that backwards we realize that every major religion in the world besides biblical Christianity Believes that you work to please God but the Bible teaches us that we must be saved and Then we're born into God's family and then and only then do we even have the potential to please God?
And so the whole world gets the cart before the horse. But in the Bible as you study the feasts, you'll see that the Sabbath rest comes first, which tells me it is finished. It is finished and we can rest in the work that the Lord Jesus Christ has done.
The Passover comes next and pictures the very salvation and the people being taken out of Egypt which picture slavery to the devil and to the world and Through the parting of the Red Sea pictures the power of salvation and all of it is pictured in the Passover including the blood of Salvation and then the feast of unleavened bread which takes place immediately.
Really along with the Passover which shows that works come with faith. It shows that with Salvation when a person is born again that his very nature is changed and he then has a nature to do good works.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2 10 that God has ordained that we will do good works Because of our salvation and so the feast of the unleavened bread pictures leaven as you know pictures sin. So they were told to eat no leaven and have no leaven in the house for seven days.
And it pictures removing all sin from our families from our churches from our lives and so forth. And then the sheaf of the firstfruits is a picture of the resurrection and it's interesting because it happened on the morrow after the Sabbath, which means the first day of the week, which is when the resurrection took place and then we have The Feast of Weeks, which is Pentecost, which was exactly 50 days after Passover.
It happens to be the birthday of Judaism and Christianity. And then we have the Fall Feast, which is the blowing of the trumpet trumpets which pictures. Probably pictures the seven trumpets of the tribulation and also the rapture wherever you put that and We know that when the trumpets blow.
Some of us are going to hear the sound. Now what we're all hoping is it wasn't those that are missing today? You'll get that in a minute. Are you awake? Okay I'm gonna call brother Russell says I get to my office make sure he's in his house.
Okay, and then the seventh is the Day of Atonement. Which pictures the second coming? In a day of judgment and Then the eighth is the Feast of Tabernacles which pictures the millennial period. Now all of these picture far more than what I mentioned I'm just highlighting it and Trying to get get you to get the whole picture so you can kind of see the forest and later We'll look at the trees.
Let me tell you some interesting information though. We have these eight feasts which specifically in specific detail pictured the Lord Jesus Christ Throughout all of the journeys of the Old Testament saints.
They saw these pictures Eight different times. Well seven different times and then and in every Sabbath all through their life. And they saw these things with their children and they created their memories around these feasts.
Not a bad idea. There's a man named Peter Stoner who were who wrote a book called science speaks. Another man named Harold Hartzler who was The the president of the board of the American scientific affiliation said this about Stoner's book he said the mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way.
Now when Peter Stoner wrote his book called science speaks. He pointed out that if you could find eight specific Prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ Which were told thousands of years before he was born.
That were fulfilled Exactly to the jot and the tittle in his life. In fact, if you could find that in any one man's life in all of human history The odds of that happening Without it being a direct result of God's hand Would be 1 in 10 to the 17th.
10 to the 17th has 17 0 a 1 with 17 zeros after it so the in other words the odds of eight specific prophecies in the Old Testament being fulfilled in any one man's life is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That it could not be chance.
Now that's just a mathematical statement that this man made about the fact that at least these eight Prophecies will fulfill what's interesting about these eight Sabbath these eight feasts is that each one of them Some of them have as many as ten specific things in that one feast that were fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So it takes it to a much larger number. We know that over there are over 300 direct prophecies very specific prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus that were fulfilled to the T if you took only 48 of those then the math would be 1 in 10 to the 157th power which is a 1 with 157 zeros goes all the way out to the railroad track.
That's a big big number. The chance of that happening by chance. Without it being God doing it. Borders on zero. In fact, we know it is zero, but this is just a secular Mathematician giving you the numbers on it pretty amazing.
You realize that would be like if you took about two feet of silver dollars and you spread so many silver dollars over the entire state of Texas that it was two feet high and you marked one of them and you shuffled it in with all of the Other silver dollars and you blindfolded a man and you told him to go find that one that's what that number tells you would be the odds of that just happening by chance and.
Of course when you consider that out of those 300 prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of them was that he would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem. That would be hard for him to arrange before his birth, wouldn't it?
So I thought I'd just give you a little statistical information about this, but in these feasts we see. Well, we see the eight feasts all of them picture specific details of Jesus life. Some of them as many as ten different things about him.
We've seen and probably if you studied every year you'd find more. So it's an amazing thing to see how these feasts picture the Lord Jesus Christ now what we've been talking about lately. And what I would I'd like to put it in this fashion this morning.
Why would it be? Advantageous for Satan to remove the feasts from the church and from Judaism. In other words if Satan could remove the feasts from the Jews and I'm talking about the non-christian Jews of today in the world and if or if.
Rather than removing them all he could counterfeit some things and put some mix some paganism in with it. Why would that be to his advantage? And if he could also remove these from the church or if not totally remove them.
Disguise them and give them new names such as Easter. Why would this be an advantage? To Satan. Well We know one thing Satan cannot do anything without God. Saying yes, if you ever read the first chapter of Joe.
And read it recently Satan seems to have power but if you read the first chapter of Job you see very clearly that he has to go to the father and Nothing can happen outside of that. So we see some things that have happened in history.
And we ask the question of why now what's interesting about it? One of the things we've already studied is we've studied some things we learned from the Old Testament saints. When there were times that they no longer had the feasts they no longer even did the Passover which God told them was Something they were supposed to do forever perpetually forever and never stop the Passover.
But they stopped it several times in the history of the Jewish nation. What were some of the things that we saw that happened to them when they refused to do the feasts? Well Romans 15 for says for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.
So as we look at the Jews and we see that they no longer had the feast during certain times in their history and We look to see what happened to them and what the results were that is for our learning.
We're supposed to learn something about that something that could affect us. Now it's interesting that even though Satan was allowed to remove the feasts from time to time and To cause circumstances to happen in such a way that they went away.
It's also true that God raised up two or more Kings who brought the feast right back in and usually what happened was they found the Word of God and As they found the Word of God and began to study it anew they found that they needed to reinstate the Passover and all the feasts and Then great joy came back to God's people as well as prosperity.
And so we see these things were written for our learning. First thing that happened In this little series of events with the nation of Israel was that they would bring the world into their worship service.
Into the feasts they would do the feasts, but they bring a little paganism in with it and mix that together. The second thing that happened is when that happened when the world came in the Lord went out.
He removed himself from the worship services and from the feasts. In fact, it says in Lamentations 2 5 through 9 one of the phrases in there. It says the Lord caused the solemn feasts to be forgotten.
So we see that the first step is that the people themselves just simply refused to keep keep them or Even more often they would keep them. But they thought it was all right to mix in paganism with it.
They could mix a little worldliness in with it. They could bring some fleshly and worldly and yes even Satanic things right in and mix them in with the feast and they thought that would be all right because that was their way of Worshipping God, you know that man has always had his way of worshiping God.
Now there was a song written called stairway to heaven and it told about man's Way of worshiping God very popular song in this country and all over the world. But the message was wrong because man can only worship God God's way and God reveals his way and When man gets outside of that what happens is the second step God simply removes himself.
In fact, it says that God removed the feasts and God caused the word causes there. God caused the solemn feast to be forgotten. He says he despised the king and the priest. It said he caused the law to be hidden and the prophets could find no vision from the Lord.
The men who were teaching the Bible the truth of the Bible was hidden from them. Now the third thing that happened was the joy was removed from the people. Isn't it amazing to go into the average worship service in this country today, especially among the Baptists and See that it's almost like a funeral service and even a funeral service shouldn't be that way.
I Remember brother Rocky years ago told me about a funeral service. He was asked to do and he told the people he said I'll only do it under this one Circumstance and that is that it will be a celebration.
And they said well, okay. So he said David we had a celebration. I would have loved to have been in that place. But then you go to some funerals and it's like what you perceive a funeral to be but sad thing is you go in some Worship services all over this country and it's like a funeral.
It's just Okay, let's sing our hymns. Let's get them done with All right. Let's get the preaching done All right. We're really pleasing God. We're doing God a favor because we're here. Let's get it done All over this country is that way?
Today. Why is that? Well, I'll tell you why it is. It's because when you stop Doing what God says to do or if you keep doing it but you mix the world and you mix the paganism in with it God removes himself from it and You think it's still religion and it is I guess.
But there is no power of God in it whatsoever and the joy is removed. At that time now what's interesting it says that They were at that time also removed from the promised land which pictures victorious Christian living.
And they went into captivity which pictures the fact that Satan himself Gained control over their worship services. And even when they thought they were serving God. They were not and The fourth thing that happened was that the Word of God was not able to be found.
Amos 8 11 says behold the days come say it the Lord God that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water. But of hearing the words of the Lord and the fifth thing that happened was salvation is not found in false religion.
Even listen when it mimics the real thing. Now that ought to frighten us today. Amos 9 1 says this I Saw the Lord standing upon the altar and he said smite the lentil of the door that the posts may shake and Cut them in the head all of them and I will slay the last of them With the sword he that fleeth of them shall not flee away and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
Though they dig into hell. Then shall mine hand take them though they climb up to heaven. Thence will I bring them down. Do you realize this pictures the people of God still doing the Passover? Still sprinkling the blood on the lentil and the doorpost of their homes and God says I will Slice through that with a sword and kill them even while they're in the midst of their religiosity.
They were still doing the feast of the Passover, but they were bringing things into it that God never put there. They were bringing things they learned from the pagan world. And God rejected it entirely.
The sixth thing that happens is preachers become impotent and can no longer preach with power. The very people that go to worship think they're worshiping God and God has said well. You've combined the world with everything you're doing.
I'm not even there. The seventh thing that happens is judgment comes from God when the feasts were abandoned. Amos 5 27 therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus sayeth the Lord whose name is the Lord of hosts.
So we learned something from the Old Testament saints. We learned what happened when they went away from God's way of doing things. Second thing we can learn is We can learn God's mind. Concerning mixing pagan things with the holy things.
Now we do this and and I've I've got to. I guess my dad did some confessing in Sunday school. I guess I could do some in church today. We've we have rationalized things in our lives, I know brother Rocky.
Had tried to get us to quit having Christmas from the time. I was saved in 1978. And here's what we thought we thought well, it's a good time to create memories with our children and it brings happiness and joy to them and even though Christmas is celebrated on December 25th, which is the birthday of the Sun God and even though the Roman Catholic Church took that pagan celebration from the Sun God and brought it into Christianity just like they've brought everything else and paganized Christianity through the Roman Catholic Church and even though I knew all that and even though I knew that they worshiped trees and I knew they worship things and I knew that.
Covetousness destroys people. I said well, but we need to create some memories. Rocky tried to get us the first two three years just to not do that and then he then he did the smart thing. He just backed off and prayed.
Prayed for us and I never could see that until I did a study on Easter recently. I remember when I preached the sermon on Easter Sunday about Easter and the paganization of Easter. Made me think about Christmas.
Now most of us kind of see it in Halloween, don't we. I mean, it's not difficult to see that Halloween is the high holy day for the Satan's angels and those who worship him and. That there are witches throughout the country sometimes who preach from plexiglass pulpits that have fetuses floating and Formaldehyde, they're that wicked and they do it on Halloween Day and yet we let our children go out and trick-or-treat.
And dress up like ghouls and goblins. Now we don't and I know some of you don't but I'm saying around the country people in churches do do that. The Roman Catholics brought that in as hallowed. What is the hallowed hallowed Saints Day?
They brought it in from paganism brought it into Christianity mixed it. That's easy for us to see but when it comes to the ones that are dear to our hearts like Easter and Christmas. It's not as easy but let me tell us tell you this morning what I have learned.
And perhaps the Holy Spirit would speak to your heart on this and if he does, please listen. Look what we can learn about God's mind on mixing paganism with his things. Amos chapter 5 verse 18. We will eventually get to Matthew.
Just keep your hand there. Amos chapter 5 verse 18. You know a lot of people Don't understand this. God only has to show his mind on something once and then record it in God's Word. And then we have it forever.
It's interesting. With Sodom and Gomorrah, he showed his mind twice. On what he thinks about homosexuality. He destroyed two entire cities and everybody in them. Except for a lot and he had to be taken out before it could happen, but God did that and he showed his mind.
Doesn't have to show his mind every day. Interesting thing is he did show his mind again in recent years when the AIDS virus hit the world, didn't he? But look what he says about mixing paganism with true Worship.
Amos 5 18 woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. Listen to what God is saying. Woe unto you that desire to get up and get dressed and go to church. That's what it's saying. Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you?
Woe to you. Have you heard people say boy? I just can't wait for the Lord Jesus to come back. God is telling his people woe unto you. You don't really know what you're waiting for here. If you've been mixing paganism with your worship of me.
Woe unto you to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness not light as If a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him or he went into his house and leaned his hand on the wall. And a serpent bit his hand.
It shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light. Even very dark and no brightness in it. I hate comma. I despise your feast days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Now these are the feasts that God had ordained that these people of his would keep and God says I despise them now.
Though you offer me burnt offerings see they didn't give up the feasts. They just mixed some things with them. I Though you offer me burnt offerings in your meat offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
Take thou away from me the noise of your songs. You see it doesn't work if you want, you know, I spoke a minute ago about a service being like a funeral. Let me tell you what you don't want to do though.
You don't want to come in and try to liven it up on purpose in the flesh. You don't want to try to add a bunch of lively loud music to make you think that there's joy in the Lord in the Congregation and true worship and praise that doesn't work either.
There are some folks in our congregation this morning that can tell you that because they've been there and seen that. Now I haven't even seen it attempted in Baptist churches. Hadn't even attempted to be fake, but I'll tell you this in a lot of the Southern Baptist churches today.
It is being attempted. There are some Southern Baptist churches today that no longer have a pulpit. They no longer have a platform they have a stage and they come in and they do a big musical and then they do a play and then they go home and The Word of God is not preached.
That is an attempt to make noise of songs. God says take thou away from me the noise of thy songs for I will not hear the melody of thy vials. But let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for 40 years O house of Israel? But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch that's the God that they Gave their little children to and burned them to death and your Chiyun.
Your images the star of your God which you made into yourselves. These are the things they had added to God's feasts. They were bringing in Moloch worship they were bringing in Chiyun and images of Chiyun and worshiping stars and Animals and created things along with the feasts that God had given them to do and God says in verse 27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity.
Beyond Damascus saith the Lord whose name is the God of hosts, you know. What happens sometimes when they go in captivity that we're not allowed to keep feasts of any kind. God just removed them because it's better to have no feast than to have one mixed with paganism now.
Lastly this morning Let me give you some prophetic warnings concerning the church. Now this is going to be an introduction into. Into several messages we're going to talk about did the early church keep the feasts and the Sabbath.
We're going to talk about our Gentile Christians made to be Jews when they're saved. We're going to talk about do we as Gentile Christians have to keep the Mosaic law on the Sabbath? That's actually going to be next Sunday.
I'm not going to do these in order. I'm going to do that one first. And then I'm going to ask you though when we ask the question Does the dent gin do Gentile Christians have to keep the Mosaic law on the Sabbath?
I'm going to ask the question. Is this the right question to ask and you'll know what that means as we go through the series and then we're going to talk about how does the law relate to grace and. Then we're going to talk about how do the feasts relate to the law and to grace.
And then we're going to discuss the remaining feasts as the time of the year comes to have them. But that's what we're headed towards now. This is an introduction To our study next week on do we as Gentile Christians have to keep the Mosaic law on the Sabbath?
Let me give you this these prophetic warnings concerning the church. The Gentile Church in particular first Corinthians 10 11. I don't personally believe there ought to be a Gentile in the Jewish Church.
You know you we have Messianic Christian congregations today. I See from a pragmatic point of view brother Russ why that's necessary. But it's sad. It has to be that way. I don't think it has to be that way.
But I think in the world the way religion has gotten to be from Constantine on. It sort of has to be that way in most quarters. So when I speak of this warning this prophetic warning concerning the predominantly Gentile Church first Corinthians 10 11.
Now all these things happened unto them for in samples. Now that's very similar to the verse we read earlier from the book of Romans this morning. But it has some additional information added now all these things happen unto them for in samples.
And they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come now. That's talking about the things that happen in the Old Testament. All of those things were written as types. The word in sample is the Greek word for type.
And they are written for our admonition that we may learn. Those of us who are in the end of the age and the next verse is very interesting. It says wherefore let him that thinketh. He stand and take heed lest he fall.
See what that does that takes us today in the end of the end times. I believe that's where we are and It links us back to the Old Testament Saints and it tells us to look very carefully at what happened to them when they stopped doing the feasts God's way.
And it tells us to beware. Lest we fall also now that's talking to the predominantly Gentile Church in Romans chapter 11 verse 17. It says and if some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild olive tree, that's the Gentiles.
We were grafted into the tree. If we were grafted in among them and with them partakest of the root. That's the Lord Jesus and fatness of the olive tree. That's the Lord Boast not against the branches.
We should not boast against the Jews. We should not look back and say how stupid they were during the Old Testament times how silly they were. Boast not against the branches, but if thou boast Thou bearest not the root but the root thee remember you're not the one that holds this whole thing up.
You were grafted into it. Thou will say then the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. The Jews as the Apostle Paul said were blinded in part. Until the Gentiles could come in and be grafted in.
God is saying don't be prideful about that. Don't look at the Jew in what the Jews believe and I would take it another step. Don't look at the mess Messianic Jews and what they do and believe. And be prideful about it and say well boy, they just don't see grace like we see it.
Because look at what verse 20 says well because of unbelief they were broken off. The Jews were broken off because of unbelief and thou stand by faith. Be not high-minded but fear for if God spared not the natural branches.
Take heed lest he also spare thee not. Now in the light of the next couple of verses, that's very frightening. Because 2nd Thessalonians 2 3 says let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition.
And Luke 18 7 says and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though He bear long with them. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?
Very interesting rhetorical question when Jesus comes back to this earth. Will he see the predominantly Gentile Church? Keeping the feasts like they're supposed to keep it. And by that I mean worshiping God like we're supposed to worship God.
We're going to but this morning I'm just asking the question. Will he find the church? Practicing this religion. Will he find the church practicing early church Christianity? Let's ask it that way and If not, is it so that God spared not the natural branches.
Take heed lest he also spare not thee. Isn't it interesting to go into the tribulation period and see it's predominantly a Jewish deal. You got Jewish evangelists running around. You've got Jesus coming back at the end of it and setting up a kingdom in Jerusalem for a thousand years.
What happened to all the awesome power of the Strong churches in this country. What happened to the ones in England that were there about a hundred years ago. Where are they now? You visited a few hadn't you how many people were there?
How many would it see? Yeah. And right outside they burned a few Anabaptists. Didn't they. That's right. Revelation 3 16 says in the last days the church will be lukewarm. So we see that. Just because things have come to a certain place just because we see certain traditions in the modern church.
Does that mean that we're worshiping like the early church did? Could it be? Just let me ask you the question. Could it be that as we as we start with Constantine and go through? The Roman Catholic Church to the point of Martin Luther who was a Catholic and God showed him light and He came out of Catholicism with a struggle.
But he came out and yet he hung on to a few things didn't if you've ever read Luther. Don't you realize he kept a few things and then we have the Protestant movement. Could it be throughout all of that time now tell you this there have always been Baptists.
They called a man of Baptists and other things that went parallel with all that. We're not Protestants, but you know what the sad thing is. They killed most of us and the few that were left listened to the Protestants you go back and read that Baptist Creed of 16.
Whenever it is somewhere around 1611. It's not. I don't know if that's the exact year. But I quoted from it in a sermon this past year and you can line that right up perfectly with Calvin's points of Calvinism.
I mean they just quoted him Calvin was a Protestant now that wasn't all bad. But that tells me that they accepted some of those things that came down the Roman Catholic line into Protestantism. And so we have to ask the question.
Are we practicing our worship? Like God would have us do it or is it possible that some paganism has slipped in and if so, where? Or is it possible that some things have been omitted that were done and are no longer done?
Because the Roman Catholic Church said it ain't supposed to be done because we hate Jews. Could that be possible. So I want us to be thinking about these questions and next week. We're going to go into a study on do we as Gentile Christians have to keep the Mosaic Law and the Sabbath and.
Is this the right question to ask but we are going to ask it and answer it and so please don't miss that it's going to be. I think of a very interesting study and Next week. We'll get right into Matthew chapter 5 verse 17 and a study of the law.
And just to give you a hint if you want to read through that before next week Jesus spoke of the commandments the judgments and the ordinances. Merilleth Unger is divided the law the Old Testament law into those three categories and Jesus called it the law and included all three of those in that speech that he gave in that passage and so that's what we use to kick off our study on the law and.
And move on through this let's stand and have prayer together. Amen.