To start us off, I need to correct something from the previous message. In the last message, I presented to you the slides showing the resurrections following the resurrection of Christ. Part of that last slide was incorrect. So with your bulletins today, you should have an insert, a paper labeled Site A, the previous chart, And that was the last slide I presented to you, and number six in that picture is in the wrong place, hence the big X on the top of the chart. In creating the slide, I put number six in the wrong spot, and without thinking about it or double-checking its reference, it went into the sermon like that, and it is a mistake on my part of not being careful enough in doing the work of a pastor. And it just reminded me again of how important the diligent study of a pastor is. This is only a small error, not one that would have taken a Christian off the path of their salvation, but it is an error just the same. And it again made me think of the many pastors who teach known errors that actually will take people away or out of their salvation. So to correct this mistake all we need to do is move the number 6 over next to number 5 as illustrated in the lower chart to the end of the tribulation. This is where all those who have died in the tribulation will be raised up along with the Old Testament saints to enter the millennium together with Christ. as the reference of the verse says, And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. These are the saints who are resurrected with with the saints of the Old Testament and will enter the millennium with Christ. It is pretty obvious from the scripture where this number six belongs. But there is however another resurrection at the end of the millennium and this is now number seven on the chart. This is the resurrection of all unbelievers at the end of the entire age of the world. At the end of the millennium all unbelievers are all resurrected for a judgment. And does anyone know what this judgment is called? The Great White Throne Judgment, yes. The first six are called the first resurrection or the resurrection of the just. The last is called the last resurrection or the resurrection of the unjust. So now with that correction aside, we can continue. We have now come to the second half of the Feast of Firstfruits. In the first message we covered the time of year in point A, the command to Israel in point B, and the illustration of Christ in point C. If you look at the other side of your insert on the top, you will see the last slide I presented in the last message. I showed the timeline for Israel in the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, and their journey until the exit of the Red Sea, and how it matches the timeline of Christ's last days during the week of his Passover meal with his disciples, his crucifixion, burial, and his resurrection. The endpoint of both of these is new life from death. Today we want to look at point D, A point that I think is one of the most important points in this whole series for the believer, which is going to be this application for the Christian. And I want to start off with this statement. I believe that it is a feast that is commemorated and celebrated by many Christians around the world today, but sadly, I think its application has been largely neglected and ignored by many Christians and many churches. If you'll recall from the last message, we looked at how on the 14th day of Nisan, Israel killed the Passover lamb and from then on kept the Feast of Passover on this day. Immediately after, they were to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread the following day, on the 15th day of Nisan. Then at midnight, they began their exodus out of the land of Egypt. By the third night, the Lord came between the army of Pharaoh and the children of Israel, separating them, and allowed Israel to pass through the sea on dry land and up and out on the other side. I illustrated how the last days of Christ correspond to the days of Israel's exodus with his crucifixion, with his burial, with the three days and nights in the tomb and with his resurrection. In both of these illustrations there was the arrow labeled separation at the end of the picture. The Jews were separated from Pharaoh's army during the night, they crossed the Red Sea. For Christ it was the separation from death in Hades and corruption at the time he was risen. As Peter says in his sermon in Acts chapter 2, Quoting the psalm in verse 27, he says, For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. And then in verse 31, speaking of Jesus, he says, He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Then we looked at how Jesus is the firstfruits of this resurrection, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 20. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. And in verse 23, but each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits after those who are Christ at his coming. It is this separation that I think is very key in Christianity and is to be the main aim for the church. As I showed us last time, the resurrections in scripture, in scriptures that take place before the end of this age, the one I corrected this morning, it shows us that we are waiting for the next great resurrection called the rapture. The rapture of the church of both of those who have died in the Church Age and those who believe and are alive today. We believe in the Rapture. We believe this from the Word of God with passages like 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 14 through 18, where it says, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say is to you by the Word of the Lord. that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51 to 53, he says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. For the church, this rapture will be the victory over death, victory over Hades, victory over this world and all that is in it, including sin and Satan. And I'll just ask you this morning, are you comforted with these words? Are you comforted with knowing that Christ could come at any moment and all this pain, all the suffering, all these burdens, all these trials, all these temptations will all be over. As verse 17 of 1st Thessalonians 4 says, we shall be caught up to the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall be with the Lord. We shall always be with the Lord. Is that comforting to you? It should be, because it is a great truth of God's Word, that one day, and one day really soon, at the last trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall all be changed. And meet our Lord in the air, all those who sleep, that is all those who have died in Christ in the church age, and all those who believe and are alive on this earth when he returns. It is our Lord Jesus Christ who is the firstfruits of this resurrection. And this is a blessed truth of scripture that we believe in. The blessed hope that Paul, in his letter to Timothy, talks about in chapter 2, verse 13, saying, look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. As I said, the application of this feast is separation and consecration. Not just from something, but also to something. The Feast of Firstfruits was a command to Israel to bring in the firstfruits of the harvest, the barley harvest at the time of Passover, and at the time of the bread, and at the time of the wheat harvest during the Feast of Weeks. They were to bring in the sheave of the first crop of these two grain harvests, and then they would eat of the rest. And this was going to take place exactly 40 years after they came up out of the Red Sea when they left Egypt. Because initially, the journey for Israel was to take only a few days. Some say 11, some say 40. But the point is that they were to leave Egypt behind and focus on the Promised Land, that God was going to redeem for himself a people to himself. As Israel was separated in the judgment of Passover, And after they left Egypt in haste, they passed through the Red Sea and were raised up on the other side. They were free. They were free from oppression, free from bondage, free from Egypt. They had to become separated from Egypt as the salvation came to the Jews. As Israel journeyed from Egypt to the other side of the Red Sea, it depicts Jesus' crucifixion, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day. And through each of these examples, we have the perfect picture of salvation for mankind. To show us the salvation process, we could illustrate it like this. Using the same side from the previous message, which is the top of side B of the insert, we could continue with the salvation of man like this. If we first remove the dates and days and days and nights as the middle chart shows, and begin at the bottom On the left of the bottom chart, we begin with conversion. John 16, verse 7 and 8, Jesus says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. And when we come to the revelation in believing that I am a sinner, and I am in need of a Savior, and I repent of my sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I become, as Paul says in Galatians 2.20 part A, I have been crucified with Christ. It means I put to death the old self, or as he says, the old man, in Romans 6, 6, saying, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. After this, I am buried with Christ. As Romans 6, 4 says, we are buried with Him through baptism unto death, and lastly, the resurrection unto newness of life. Life of Paul, as Paul says in Romans 6, 4, Therefore we were buried with him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life. When you look at the last chart on the side, on the paper there, you will see how everything fits together. It is almost like someone planned it. Well, God did plan it. His plan for mankind has always remained the same, through it all of Scripture. In the exodus of Israel, to the death of Christ, to the salvation of man, it is all set up with the same pattern in mind. The top portion, the bottom portion, and the middle portion all have the same author, the same plan, and that is the redemption of man to be the first fruits thereof. And there is one key thing that plays a large part in this chart, and that is, as I said earlier, separation. You will see on the far right of the chart that there are two arrows labeled separation. For Israel, it was a separation from Egypt, from Pharaoh's army, and a separation from everything that was Egyptian. For Jesus, it was the separation from death and corruption and sin that He took upon Himself in my place. When we come to the realization that we are a sinner and are in need of a Savior, it is then that we die to self, die to the world, die to sin. We repent of our sins and believe what Jesus Christ did on the cross in taking our sin in our place that we may have life. You see in 2 Corinthians 5.17, Paul says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. When the Jews came up out of the sea, they were a people that God had redeemed for Himself. They were taken out of that wicked Egypt for His own purpose and His own pleasure. So too is the Christian. He is redeemed out of this world, out of the hands of Satan, to become the bride of Christ, to be a part of a people redeemed by Christ, for Christ. We come up out of the grips and pollutions of this world and are set apart for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom he is the firstfruits and the head. But you see, this is still not really the application. This is only the process, the action of becoming a Christian, becoming a part of the family of God. The application, as I said earlier, is consecration. And this is where most professing Christians fail, or most churches come short. Because, you see, even though all of Israel came out of Egypt, and all of them passed through the Red Sea, Almost all of them never saw the promised land. We have often heard the phrase that God took Israel out of Egypt, but he never got Egypt out of Israel. How often did they not complain to God? How often did they not test God? How often did they not reject the Lord, their God, and desire to go back to Egypt to their bondage to slavery and to sin? A journey that should have taken 40 days took 40 years because of their stubbornness, because of their stiff-necked rebellion. The Jews failed in living wholly for God because they never separated themselves from the past, from their sins, or from Egypt. And we ask why? Because of stubbornness, because of idolatry, because they were lusting after evil things, because of sexual immorality, because of complaining, and because of unbelief. As I said last time, only the children and teenagers from the Exodus ever made it into the Promised Land, because all of that older generation failed to cleanse themselves from Egypt. They left in haste, but they never left it behind. They came up out of the Red Sea redeemed, but continually longed to return. Even though God took them out of Egypt and separated themselves from the Egyptian army, they never separated themselves from sin. And this is the warning for the Christian. You see, Christ took upon himself, took our sins upon himself and became the sacrifice in my place on the cross. As Scripture says, Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, Hebrews 9.28. And among that many is you, and me, and everyone who repents and names the name of Christ as their Savior. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was buried in the tomb. Jesus rose again in newness of life, separated from death, separated from Hades, separated from all that is sin and all that corrupts. And this is the application for the Christian. You see, I could ask, how is your life? How is your Christian walk with the Lord? When you became a believer, did you leave sin in haste? As a Christian, are you leaving this world and its lusts and its pleasures behind? Are you sanctifying yourself every day to become more and more like Christ in being holy and pure? As John says in 1 John 2.15 and 16, he says, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. Now someone may say I'm getting a little off track, that First Fruits is about the resurrection of Christ, the person who is convicted of sin and find themselves in need of a Savior, and is then baptized, and is died with Christ, buried, and then raised up with Christ into newness of life. Oh, I lost my spot. Oh, and this is true, as I quoted Paul earlier in 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. And Romans 6.4 says, therefore, we were buried with him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. We should also walk in newness of life. This is the application that is missing in much of Christianity and churches today. You see the Indian lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying, I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. This is sad that so much of Christianity has become such a portrait to the world, in our actions, in our dealings, in the things they do in everyday life. Now, I don't want to tear down the body of Christ, but rather bring a revelation to the body that it is in desperate need of revival. A revival is what is needed. How many of you have heard the phrase, like, I tried Christianity and it didn't work for me? Or, Christianity is filled with hypocrisy? Or something like, why should I become a Christian? They do all the same things that I do, only they go to church on Sunday morning. We've all heard these phrases. We've all encountered them somewhere. Why is it that the world has this view or this picture of Christians in their mind? It is because much of them miss the application of this feast, of the resurrection and what it means to be separated to God, to be separated from sin. As I said at the start, I believe that it is a feast that is commemorated and celebrated by many Christians and around the world. But sadly, I think its application has been largely ignored by many Christians and not practiced in many churches. And that ignorance is the lack of separation from sin and from the world for the Christian. When Israel came up out of Egypt, they were redeemed by God through His saving grace and they entered a new life. They had a new lease on life. But as they began to wander in the wilderness, they became weary. tired, hungry, thirsty, and complained. They tested God. And the lack of trusting and following Him, believing that He is all good, led to other sins. Oh, sorry. Believing that He is not all good led to other sins and acts that brought them to a point where God wanted to kill all of them. And would have if it had not been for the intervention and prayers of Moses. They were taken out of the land, but they never separated themselves from the land. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 5, saying, But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. They were scattered and died in the wilderness because God was not well pleased with them. If you remember the series I did on temptations, you will remember that all of the things that Israel did to displease God in the wilderness are the same things that still displease Him now. And we will face the same consequences, as He says in verse 6 of the same chapter, saying that these things have become our examples. In the series I did on long-suffering, I wrote this in regard to the Christian who lives willfully in sin. Looking at Hebrews chapter 10, I wrote, and quoting myself, I think that this passage talks about Christians living continually in a known sin or having slipped back into some sin. And the passage shows us the danger of it. Verses 26 to 31 of Hebrews chapter 10 reads, For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses, Moses' law, dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse, how much Worse punishment, do you suppose, will be thought worthy of worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, countered the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Still quoting, a few things we want to look at. Verse 26 has the words, for if we sin willfully, that means it is something we do deliberately, willfully choose to do that sin. If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, that is the truth of the sin that we are committing, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. The blood of Christ does not cover deliberate, unrepentant continuation of sin. These are not my words, but the words of God. It says there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of what? Judgment. Judgment is waiting for such a person. And I want to warn you here that there are people out there who will say something like, but it's all under grace, or grace covers all these things. These people who say such things, in my opinion, are wolves in sheep's clothing. These are false teachers of the word. Yes, there is grace that covers us when we commit sin and repent of it, but not when we continue to live in it. What did Paul say in Romans chapter 6 verses 1 and 2? What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? In verses 12 through 16 he says, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness, to sin. But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and you and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey? Whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. And in verse 23 he says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. End of quote. If the professing Christian does not separate himself from sin, or from certain aspects of the world, namely the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and continues in them, he is doomed to destruction. And scripture, I believe, is full of this kind of warning. Romans 8, 5-8 says, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Peter says it in more blunt terms by saying, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promised them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, then having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them. According to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. It is a warning. It is a warning for us. That was 2 Peter 2, verses 18-22. You see, we could look up many other passages that tell us how the Christian is to be separated from sin. Not only to resist and be cleansed from the world and sin, but that we could be like to others as well, who do not know Christ. If a sinner or unbeliever sees us and sees no change or no difference between us and the world, what light are you sending? What message are you giving them? This is why Gandhi quoted saying, I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. You see, just as Israel was made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of sin and then die in that state, so too will the person die who professes Christianity and lives in all worldliness and sin. Not necessarily physical death right away, but spiritual death, and eventually eternal death. If we, the Church, are the firstfruits to God, to Jesus Christ, then let us live as firstfruits to God. As a sheave that is taken from the field and dedicated to God, holy, separated, and set aside for His glory, let us do what His Word commands. John says in 1 John 2 and 3, Beloved, now we are children of God, and has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in himself, purifies himself just as he is pure. Because if we are separated from the world, separated from sin, separated from doing the will of the devil, To do the will of God, only then can we expect to receive the promises that He gives us in Scripture. Anything less and we come under the judgment of God. And this is the area where so many Christians and churches get it wrong. This is the application of this feast that they miss. They think and preach that we are all under such grace that all willful sins and lived-in sins are atoned for continually by Christ. It is a disgrace to see what Christians think they can get away with, and what the Church allows their members and congregations to live in. Paul very clearly asked the question in Romans 6, Verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it? And then in verses 6 and 7, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with. that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." And all the good men would say, Amen. Are you part of the first roots to God? Or maybe I should ask, if you look at your own life, Are you in that sheave of the firstfruits and meeting Jesus in the air? How does your Christianity look to the world? Can they actually see a difference? How are your actions in the workplace? Or even more importantly, how are your actions in the home? What is your speech like when you're with others either in the world or at work? or in your home? Are your actions like Christ? Or are they as Gandhi might say, you are so unlike your Christ. This is why Peter says that we are to gird up the loins of our minds. We are to be sober and rest our hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. In the book I recently read, titled, Live Not by Lies, by author Rod Weir, He writes about the Christians in the coming future of our nation, and I quote him as saying this, A time of painful testing, even persecution, is coming. Lukewarm or shallow Christians will not come through with their faith intact. Christians today must dig deep into the Bible and Church tradition and teach themselves how and why today's post-Christian world, with its self-centeredness, its quest for happiness and rejection of sacred order and transcendent values, is a rival religion to authentic Christianity. We should also see how many of the world's values have been absorbed into Christian life and practices. Then we must judge how the ways of the world and its demands conflict with what Christ requires of His disciples. He's speaking on separation from the world. Do not be conformed to this world. In regards to family life and families and parents, he also says, and I quote him again, Christians will have to regard family life in a much more focused, serious way. The traditional Christian family is not merely a good idea. It is also a survival strategy for the faith in time of persecution. Christians should stop taking family life for granted. Instead, approach it in a more thoughtful, disciplined way. We cannot simply live as all other families live except that we go to church on Sunday. Holding the correct theological beliefs and having the right intentions will not be enough. Christian parents must be intentionally counter-cultural in their approach to family dynamics. The days of living like everybody else and hoping our children turn out for the best are over. They're over. We must have a mind and a purpose for our children. That was the end of the quote there, sorry. And even the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 11 in regards to the illustration of the olive tree and how the branches the Jews were removed and wild branches of the Gentiles were grafted in. He says in verse 21, for God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. And then he goes on to say in verse 22, therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell, severity, but towards you, goodness. If you continue in His goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. These are not my words, they're the words of God. If you continue in His goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And so in conclusion, to the Feast of Firstfruits, For Israel, it was to be a feast of new beginnings, illustrated from the time they came out of the Red Sea to being fulfilled when they entered the new land, a land in which they were to enjoy the blessings from God, and in return, give the blessings of their firstfruits back to Him. In Christ, it is a feast that represents the empty tomb, the risen Lord, His separation from death and Hades and corruption, in becoming the firstfruits of this resurrection, the resurrection of those who would follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And the final question is this, as a Christian, are you living as a firstfruit? I read a very interesting and applicable verse in First Chronicles the other day. And yes, some of you might think, can anything good come out of Chronicles? Yes, it can. In First Chronicles 16 is David's psalm when he brought the ark of God into the city. And in verses 28 and 29 he says, Give to the Lord, O families of the people, give to the Lord glory and strength, Give to the Lord the glory, do His name. Bring an offering and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Is that you? Are you separating yourselves from evil things of this world? From the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and from the pride of life? From sin and from every evil thing and desire that the devil tries to entangle you with? Do you worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness? Or do you try and worship Him while you're still willingly living with filth? Live your life as a dedication to the Lord, holy and pure and in righteousness. Just as James says in chapter 1 verse 18, of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creation, of his creatures, sorry. First fruits of his creatures, first fruits of his creation. May this feast remind us that we are to be separated from the pollutions of this world and from sin, and live for Him and worship Him in the beauty of holiness.