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DAY 50 - PENTECOST 2001
Fred Coulter May 27, 2001
This is the Feast of Pentecost, the year 2001. Time just seems to
keep rolling along, and there’s a whole lot that we have to learn and know
from God’s word and we’re going to see that this is one of the most
important feast days for the Church. And it finalizes a segment of
things that begin with the Passover and then Unleavened Bread and finalizes
in the Feast of Pentecost.
Now when you analyze all the problems and difficulties concerning the
doctrines of the feast days that we keep, you’ll understand that the
Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost, those three are the
ones that have been tinkered with the most, and Satan has tried to change
and manipulate and make these days different from what God has commanded.
And the reason he has done that is to come after Christians. Now it’s
interesting that all of the feast days in the fall - Trumpets, Atonement,
Tabernacles, and Last Great Day - no one has tried to do anything to change
those. But changing the date of the spring festivals, Satan is always
after to do so that he can take away the blessing that God gives to us.
So it’s very important that we understand about this day. It’s very
important that we realize that God has commanded us to keep it, and to keep
it forever.
Let’s come here to Exodus 34 and we will see that God wants us to keep the
Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Firstfruits, and that we are to bring an
offering, as we will see. Let’s begin here, Exodus 34:18. “The
feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat
unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in
the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. All that openeth the matrix
is
Mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep,
that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a
lamb: and if you redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck.
All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem.” So the firstfruit,
the firstborn, and we’ll see a little bit later the first of the firstfruits
are all important to God. Now it says, “And none shall appear before
Me empty” (Ex. 34:18-20). Now, verse 22, “And thou shalt observe the
feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of
ingathering [which is the Feast of Tabernacles ] at the year’s end.”
Now let’s come to Deuteronomy 16 and we’ll see what God commands concerning
an offering. And we always take up an offering on all of the holy
days, as God commands us. Deuteronomy 16:16, and here we find that the
three main festival seasons of the year we are commanded to appear before
God. “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD
thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened
bread, and in the feast of weeks…” And that’s the Feast of Pentecost,
because as we will see we count seven complete weeks. “…And in the
feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: every
man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD
thy God which He hath given thee” (Deut. 16:16-17). And so in taking
up the offering you are to consider the blessings that God has given you.
Consider the spiritual blessings, consider the physical blessings, consider
the Holy Spirit of God being with you, and put all of those things together.
Now we know that in the New Testament it says that “he that sows sparingly
will reap sparingly, he that sows bountifully will reap bountifully”, and
that applies with almost everything that you set your hand to do. So
at this time we’ll go ahead and pause and we will take up the offering.
(Pause)
Now since we’re here in Deuteronomy 16, let’s come back to verse 9 and
let’s see how God commands us to count the Feast of Pentecost, which is also
called the Feast of Weeks, because we are to count seven complete weeks.
And then when we come to Leviticus 23 we will see that the Feast of
Pentecost is to be on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath.
Now let’s pick it up here in verse 9. “Seven weeks shalt thou number
unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou
begin to put
the sickle to the corn [or that is, to the grain]. And thou shalt keep
the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill
offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God,
according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: And thou shalt rejoice
before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy
gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are
among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place His name
there” (Deut. 16:9-11). Now first of all with this count we are not
told when the day is that you begin, and we are not told about the 50th
day. So therefore this part of counting unto the Feast of Weeks, or
Pentecost is only partial. So we need to go to Leviticus 23 to get the
full beginning and the ending of it where it gives us the complete
understanding of the counting.
Leviticus 23:9, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I
give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a
sheaf of the firstfruits…”, which then is the first of the firstfruits.
And that’s an important thing to God concerning everything of the
firstfruits harvest. Now, the firstfruits in counting toward Pentecost
is the firstfruits of the grain harvest. There may be other things
that ripen in between the time of the beginning of the grain harvest and all
the way down through summer and into fall and the final harvest, and all of
those firstfruits are also to be brought to God. But the grain harvest
is a special one because this depicts in the New Testament, as we saw
yesterday, that the plan of God is like a harvest. So let’s continue
on here. “…A sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest”
(Lev. 23:9-10). This is the premiere sheaf and he is to do something
with it.
Now, “And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you:
on the morrow after the sabbath [now that is the first day of the week
during the Days of Unleavened Bread] the priest shall wave it” (vs. 11).
And later we will see that pictures the acceptance of Jesus Christ as the
first of the firstfruits.
Here, let’s just come over to Exodus 22:29 and let’s see that God says that
we are to be diligent in bringing the first of the firstfruits because that
is special to God. That is the same importance to God as it is with
the firstborn, because that is the very first of the creation that God has
given. “Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe
fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto
Me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and thy sheep:
seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it
[to] Me.” And this is where, I think, that from the last Passover of
Jesus Christ that they had a lamb eight days old, which was a firstborn
male, so that the Passover could be accomplished very quickly because of the
events that had to take place that night.
Now let’s come back to Leviticus 23 and let’s then see how this day was
conducted then and how we are to count it. Now verse 14 is a key
thing. “And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green
ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God:
it shall be
a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day
that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be
complete” (Lev. 23:14-15). Now, let’s understand something. This
gives us a continuation from Passover, seven days of Unleavened Bread with
the wave sheaf offering being the first day of the week during Unleavened
Bread. And it connects them all by counting. None of the other
feasts of God are connected in the same way. And this is going to be
important when we understand some of the fulfillment’s in the New Testament.
So this means that these are all together and there is a finality that
occurs on the 50th day.
Now let’s continue on here. “…Seven sabbaths shall be complete: even
unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye
shall offer a new [meal] meat offering unto the LORD” (vs. 15-16). So
it is going to be new, and this is going to be different. And we will
see why it is different and the significance of it when we get to the New
Testament.
Now the meal offering then is made out of the grain. “Ye shall bring
out of your habitations two wave loves of two tenth deals [that is a
measurement of flour]: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken
[baked with] of leaven…” (vs. 17). Now the only other offerings that
there was leaven allowed was in the peace offering. But this is
special. Now notice what it says concerning these loaves. These are
the firstfruits unto the Lord. Now you come back and tie that in with verse
10 where the first of the firstfruits was waved on the morrow after the
Sabbath, or the first day of the week during the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and then you count forward 50 days. That’s why seven weeks is not
enough. You have to come to the day after the Sabbath.
Now let’s understand something very clearly. It begins on the first
day of the week and it ends on the first day of the week. Now, Monday
is not the day after the Sabbath. It’s the second day after the
Sabbath. Now let me just say here, as I did yesterday, that the whole
problem concerning a Monday Pentecost could have been solved clear
back in 1952, but unfortunately we had to live with that error. And so
the error caused us a lack of understanding. A lack of realizing that
the Day of Pentecost really in fact is the feast day which pictures the
first resurrection. See, because the Passover pictures the death of
Christ. The first day of Unleavened Bread pictures Christ being put
into the tomb, and also pictures that His death applies to our lives to
forgive our sins. At the end of the Sabbath He is resurrected, then He
ascends on the first day of the week, and from there being the first of the
firstfruits all the rest is connected down to Pentecost.
Now we have this unusual offering of the two loaves, and they are leavened.
They are the firstfruits unto the Lord. Now we’ll come back to that in
just a little bit, especially when we get to the New Testament and we’ll
understand why. But suffice to say that these two loaves, and I think
that we’ve always been correct in understanding this, represent those who
will be in the first resurrection from the Old Testament and those who will
be in the first resurrection from the New Testament. And the form of
these loaves are different. Now let’s understand something concerning
leaven. Leaven only represents sin during the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. Here, these leavened loaves represent something very special to
God because they are called the firstfruits unto the Lord. Then he
goes ahead and continues and gives all the offerings that they were to offer
that day.
Now let’s come here to verse 20. “And the priest shall wave them…”
They shall be accepted of God. Now in the same way that the first of
the firstfruits was waved and accepted, now we come to the two loaf breads
made with leaven, and “…the priest shall wave them with the bread of the
firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs:
they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall proclaim
on the selfsame day [that is the 50th day] that it may be
an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein:
it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout
your generations” (vs. 20-21). So there is the counting of the Feast
of Pentecost and that’s what Pentecost means. It means fiftieth.
So the fiftieth day is important for us to understand.
Now let’s see how God applied this to Israel. Let’s come to Jeremiah
2, and let’s see that Israel was called “firstfruits unto God”. And
then we will see also how, when we come to the New Testament, it applies to
the New Testament Church. Jeremiah 2:3, “Israel was holiness
unto the LORD and the firstfruits of His increase…” Now, we can
apply this spiritually. The Church is spiritual Israel. Now also
notice this, “…all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them,
saith the LORD.” And then God begins to talk to the children of
Israel. And he says, “Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob,
and all the families of the house of Israel: thus saith the LORD, what
iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and
have walked after vanity, and are become vain?” So then God goes to
show and expound upon why was it that they left God? After all they
were the firstfruits, and they were to have the blessing of the firstfruits
and also the firstborn.
Now in another place, God calls Ephriam His firstborn, showing that Ephriam
would have a prominent position through the plan of God in working out the
things on earth and fulfilling the promises given to Abraham. Ephriam
had a very definite powerful part in that.
Now let’s come to the New Testament and let’s look at the example of Jesus
Christ. And let’s understand that God always uses His holy days for a
profound purpose. Now as we’re turning to the Gospel of Luke 4, let’s
remind ourselves once again, as I covered yesterday, that the Ten
Commandments were given on the Day of Pentecost. Now here in Luke
4 we find where Pentecost is named as the day of the weeks, which is a very
peculiar and interesting thing in the way that it has been written.
Now let’s pick it up here in verse 16. “And He [that is Jesus] came to
Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into
the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Now this
was a special Sabbath day. This Sabbath day was actually the Feast of
Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost. And there is a special message that
was brought. Just like the Ten Commandments were given on Pentecost,
now with Jesus first Pentecost in His ministry He had some very profound
things to bring out. Now notice what He did.
“And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And
when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me…” (Luke 4:17-18). Now let’s stop
here and just rehearse a couple of things that are important. When the
Ten Commandments were given, God was on Mt. Sinai and there was the trumpet
blowing, and the wind, and the earthquake, and the terrible darkness.
Very profound and important thing happened. That is reflective of the
Spirit of God. But God did it in such a way that He wanted to impress
the children of Israel that He was God and that there was none other.
Now when we come to the New Testament and this part of the ministry of
Christ with His very first Pentecost that He keeps, let’s see the message
that is given. It has to do with the Spirit of the Lord, which then is
also a prophecy of what was going to happen on the Day of Pentecost when the
Church began, as we’ll see a little later in Acts 2.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to
preach the gospel…” And that’s precisely what the apostles did on the
day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given. So let’s look at the
parallels here. It’s very interesting. “…Preach the gospel to
the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to [proclaim] preach the acceptable year of the
Lord.” Now it’s a very interesting thing that He did at this point.
Because it says, “And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the
minister, and sat down” (vs. 18-20).
Now let’s go back to Isaiah 61 and let’s read it where He read that part
from the book of Isaiah. And He stopped at a very profound place.
And there was a reason for it, because it goes from there from the Feast of
Weeks immediately into the time that is designated leading up to the Feast
of Trumpets. Now let’s see, verse 1. “The spirit of the Lord GOD
is
upon Me; because the LORD hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the
meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound…”
Now you can liken this also to those who are demon possessed who have been
bound by Satan the devil, and so forth. “To proclaim the acceptable
year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn…” Now notice, He stopped right in the middle of a sentence.
The sentence reads, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD…”, then He
closed up the book and He sat down. Now, “…and the day of vengeance of
our God…”, because as we will see a little bit later, the day of the
vengeance of God is expressed in the seven last plagues, and that takes
place after the Feast of Pentecost. But the Feast of Pentecost has to
occur first before the day of vengeance takes place. “…And to comfort
all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the
planing of the LORD, that He might be glorified” (Isa. 61:1-3). Now,
this is also then leading in and depicting a type of the resurrection,
because to give beauty to ashes. You are beautified with the glory of
God. And the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness. So you can liken that how you will feel when you
are resurrected.
Now let’s come back here to Luke 4. Now remember, this Sabbath day in
the Greek is called “the day of the weeks”. And that can only mean the
Feast of Pentecost. Now verse 20, let’s read it again. “And He
closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.
And He began to say unto them, this day is this scripture [is] fulfilled in
your ears” (Luke 4:20-21). And that’s why He stopped and left off the
vengeance of God. Because it was not time yet to reveal the vengeance
of God. That’s for a later day, and that’s for our time.
Now, let’s come to John 20 and let’s see the wave sheaf offering day,
beginning the count down to Pentecost. And this is when Jesus was
accepted of God the Father. He ascended to heaven and came back that
very day. His sacrifice was accepted as the first of the firstfruits,
the firstborn from the dead, and so forth as we’ll see a little bit later.
But here is the key to show us what occurred on that day.
Let’s begin right here in verse 16, and when He began to talk to Mary
Magdalene. “Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and
saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto
her, Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and
to My God, and your God.” Which also then is a prophecy of the
closeness that we are going to be in the family of God and to God the Father
and Jesus Christ. So then, “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples
that she had seen the LORD, and that He had spoken these things unto
her. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the
week [now, that’s very late in the day], when the doors were shut where the
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the
midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:16-19).
Then He showed them His hands. He showed them His feet. And then
handled Him and they knew that it was Christ. Now that shows all of
the events that took place on the first day of the count going toward
Pentecost. Well the disciples then were able to see Jesus for 40 days,
and the different miracles that He performed in the 40 days, then He
ascended on the 40th
day.
But now let’s go to 1 Corinthians 15 and let’s see where Jesus is called
the “firstfruits of them that sleep”. Let’s pick it up here in verse
20. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the
firstfruits of them that [sleep] slept.” So He’s the first of the
firstfruits. Now we are also called firstfruits, which then becomes a
very important thing for us to realize and understand as well.
Let’s come here to James 1. Now I know we’ve covered this before, but
it’s very interesting for us to put it all together and realize that the
word of God, when it’s put together in a proper way, tells us the whole
story, tells us what God is doing and how He is doing it. Now here,
verse 18, “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we
should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [which really means, of His
creation].” So if you do not have the study that I did on “Salvation
Is Creation”, go back and get that and you will see that we are being
created in Christ Jesus, you see.
Now let’s come to Colossians 1 and we will see that Jesus is also called
the firstborn. And that has the same status as the first of the
firstfruits. Firstborn from among the dead. And that is so that
we are also going to be in the family of God as we will see. Someone
has to be first, and Christ was. Now let’s pick it up here in verse
12. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us [qualified]
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light…” (Col.
1:12). Now, God the Father is the One Who qualifies us.
Salvation is a gift of God through His grace, which is a gift of God.
Salvation cannot be earned, however no one will receive salvation if they
don’t obey God. You are not saved in your sins, you are saved from
your sins. You are not justified to sin, you are justified from your
sins. And you cannot earn salvation, but if you don’t obey God you
won’t receive it.
Now let’s continue on to show you why. What does salvation did when
it started out in God calling us. “Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us [unto] into the kingdom of
His dear Son: in Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
every creature” (vs. 13-15). Now a lot of people stop right there and
say, “See, Jesus was created. That’s why He was the firstborn.”
No, He was the firstborn of Mary, and He was also the firstborn from among
the dead. And “of every creature” doesn’t refer to everything that God
has created. This means of those who were created by the process of
being resurrected from the dead. Being created in the character of
Christ living our lives now, and at the resurrection then the final product
is finished.
“…Every creature. For by Him were all things created…” So if
He’s the firstborn of every creation then He created Himself according to
the next statement if that were true. But that’s not correct.
“[Because He created all things] that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all thing were created by Him, and for Him: and
He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (vs. 16). Now
this means He existed before all things were created and all things are
upheld and He keeps them going.
Now notice verse 18, “ And He is the head of the body, the church: Who is
the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…” And that’s the “every
creature” that it’s talking about, referring to those who will also be born
from the dead at the resurrection. “…That in all things
He might have the preeminence.” That’s why Christ was resurrected at the
end of the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. That’s why He
was accepted of God the Father on the first day in the count to Pentecost.
Because none of the rest of the creation of those that God is working in,
all that He calls and gives His Spirit, will be complete, as we will see,
until the resurrection. And that will take place on Pentecost.
Now let’s continue on and look at some of the other verses here and see the
things that we need to understand concerning this. Now let’s go to the
book of Romans. We will see that we have the firstfruits of the
Spirit. Now let’s come back and see that everything in this world
today is waiting for that final Pentecost. Whether they know it or
not, whether they realize it or not, it is waiting for that. God’s
plan is being completed. God’s plan continues to go. Right now
we have those who are faithful, who are dying in the faith. And please
understand this. To die in the faith is an absolutely marvelous thing,
because you have endured unto the end and nothing but good things wait for
you. And there will be quite a few, I am sure, who will die in the
faith. Now this year all together since about this time last year,
we’ve had 10 brethren die in the faith. And as we’re going to see a
little bit later on, Paul says he doesn’t want us to weep and mourn, as
those in the world who have no hope. See, because they died in the
faith. The next moment, the next waking moment that they have they
will be changed, they will be resurrected. And you see, they won’t
have to go through what the rest of us may have to go through, as we read
some of the scriptures a little later, the events that are going to come on
the earth. They are going to rest in their graves and wait for the
call and they will come out of the grave and answer the call and be taken,
as we will see, to meet Christ in the air and then be on the sea of glass.
Let’s come here to Romans 8:17. “And if children, then heirs; heirs
of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him,
that we may be also glorified together.” Now it’s going to happen all
at once. Christ the firstfruits, as we read, and then it says after
that, “and those that are Christ’s at His coming”. So God is going to
make it happen that it will be all together. “For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:17-18). So
whenever you get discouraged and down, read that verse. Nothing to be
compared to what that is going to be, because God is going to give to us,
and add to us things that we cannot even think of, that we cannot even
imagine. So don’t get focused down here on just a little anthill of
the difficulties and problems in your own life. Look up to God, look
to Christ. Read these scriptures and see that even as the apostle Paul
said that this is just a life moment.
Let’s go on, because you have a goal. You have a purpose. God
has a plan for you. God has use for you. “For the earnest
expectation of the [creation] creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God.” See, the world doesn’t know it, and many Christians
don’t know it. The world is waiting for you. Waiting for Christ.
And so are we. And waiting for you, all the sons of God. “For
the [creation] creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly…”
Didn’t run up to God and say, “Oh God, make me vain.” You know, that
just happens because we’re human beings. We’re weak. God made us
incomplete. That’s why we need the Spirit of God to be completed in
our minds and hearts, and we need the resurrection to be completed in our
existence. “…Not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected
the same in hope, because the [creation] creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God” (vs. 19-21).
Now, at the resurrection, after we come back to the earth with Christ, we
are going to start the glorious reign of Jesus Christ. And it’s going
to be the liberty of the children of God. We are going to teach
everyone God’s way, God’s plan, God’s holy days, God’s Sabbath, God’s way of
life. And as we will see when we come to the Day of Atonement, Satan
is going to be put away. I’ll guarantee you one thing, you can never
ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get rid of sin until Satan is put away.
Now let’s continue on here. “For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (vs. 22). I just
wonder what it would be like if you had some sort of special microphone that
you could suspend in space someplace and it could just in one day go around
and pick up all the screams and crying and groaning and moaning and just all
the sounds of death that take place because of the vanity of human beings,
and sort of play that all at once. It would be a little overwhelming.
But anyway, that will give you an idea of what the creation is going
through.
Verse 23, “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit…” We have it through the begettal, through
the laying on of hands after baptism. That is the firstfruits of the
Spirit. “…Even we ourselves groan within ourselves…” Now notice.
“…Waiting for the [sonship] adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body.” In other words the final thing that we’re going to
receive.
Now hold your place here and come to Ephesians 1, and we will see that what
we have is the earnest, the down payment, the beginning. And God
promises, and we will see that we have two immutable things that are a
promise from God that we will be in the resurrection. First one is the
Holy Spirit. Now we have it right here, verse 12. “That we
should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In
Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed [not before,
but after], ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise [then which is
the begettal of the Holy Spirit], which is the earnest of our inheritance…”
That means it’s the down payment. God has given us that as the down
payment toward the final purchased possession. Now notice, “…until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (Eph.
1:12-14).
Now let’s go back here to Romans 8 so that we can get our focus in on what
God is doing, so that we can realize how this day of Pentecost is going to
be so important. Because it finishes 50 days. It brings to a
conclusion the first part of God’s plan that He has been working out since
the creation of the world. Now think of that. And you have part
in that. And you have God’s Holy Spirit. And you have that to
look forward to. I mean brethren, this Day of Pentecost is a great and
a marvelous thing for us.
Now let’s continue on here. Verse 24, “For we are saved by hope [and
that is the hope of the resurrection]: but hope that is seen is not hope:
for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” I mean, if you are
now a spirit being with glory and honor such as Christ is, why are you
waiting to be clothed with that spiritual body? It would be nonsense,
wouldn’t it? No, but that’s our hope. That’s what we’re waiting
for. “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with
patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
[weaknesses] infirmities…” That’s what infirmity means, weaknesses,
not just our sicknesses. We look at infirmities as a sickness, but our
weaknesses are not sickness, that is a health problem. “…For we know
not what we should pray for as we ought [because we’re weak, that’s why our
hearts need to be right in prayer before God]: but the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings [that is utterances] which cannot be
uttered [by us]” (vs. 24-26). So in other words God is so great with
the Spirit that He’s given us that when we pray and we pour our hearts out
to God the Holy Spirit in us is making intercession to God the Father,
bringing the true intent of our heart, true intent of our prayers.
And all the silly little things that bother us mentally when we’re praying
are all filtered out. You might liken it unto, those of you who are
used to electronics, when you have sound you have a filter which filters out
all the extraneous noise. Now you might not have all the filter on the
noise here because there’s a little construction work going on behind us,
and so because of that in our open air studio you can hear the highway
behind us. So if you hear some cars roaring behind us, just know that
that’s not the groaning of the Spirit, it’s just the groaning of cars as
they go by.
Now let’s continue on here in Romans 8:27. “And He that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit…” In other words,
the Spirit of God is going to communicate back to God what is in your heart,
and what is in your mind. “…Because [it, as it should read] he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And
we know…” And keep this in mind. We’ve gone over this
verse how many times? But let’s see the importance of it in the
context as we come down to what it’s going to be with Christ Who is the
firstborn. “And we know…”, and this is something you have to always
keep in mind. In the short term it’s difficult. In the long term
when you’ve gone through it and you look back, then you have 100% hindsight,
20/20 vision, and then you know. But what you have to do is realize it
even in the middle of the difficulty, even when it looks like it’s getting
darker instead of lighter. “We know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His
purpose” (Rom. 8:27-28).
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