There Will Be Firstfruits

Well, good morning, everyone! Welcome to Pentecost, beautiful Sabbath, double Sabbath for us, and thank you very much, Shaviv, for that music, and also Mrs. Roddenbush for putting it together. And together you make a dynamic duo. I appreciate very much some of the original compositions that we have on occasion from our members in the church to put together music for us to be able to...they're already clapping for us. They're glad we're here.

Thought I'd stop and have breakfast this morning in the room next door coming in, but already had it. So, the oldest plant that has been grown from a seed that is known and documented is a date palm. The date palm is called Methuselah.

It was sprouted in the year 2005, but it came from a 2,000-year-old seed that they found in Israel in Masada, the fortress there in the south of Jerusalem where the Jewish zealots held out against the Roman legions after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. A 2,000-year-old seed that was found there, the seed itself was carbon dated to around the year 40 BC, 40 years before Christ. And they germinated that, and it's now a thriving tree. You can...some of you already googled it, and are looking at it as I speak, and that's fine.

But come back around here, and we'll learn something maybe from that tree here. Imagine a 2,000-year-old seed germinating, capable of germinating life. Now, that could be superseded by something that could be found yet in the future. I don't know, but that's the oldest one known. The conditions were right for the dry and probably protected somehow in the site of Masada for that life to remain, waiting, and then finding a time when it was germinated after 2,000 years.

I see a story like that, and I think about seed of the kingdom, and I think about our lives. Your life, mine, those that...the lives of many that we have known over the years, our children, our parents, our aunts or uncles, our friends, those that we have associated with in this journey in God's church, which for many of us has spanned many decades.

And I think about those when I read a story like this, and I ask the question, how long does God patiently wait for fruit to be born from those seeds of the kingdom of God that He sends into the world, and has been for a long time, as we heard in the sermonette, the story of Acts 2, which tells us about the beginning of the church. But even before Acts, the gospel was preached, Abraham and others, God was working, how long does God wait patiently for fruit to be born? There's a scripture that I like for you to turn to in the book of Isaiah, chapter 55, that adds another dimension to the question.

I don't know that I'm going to give you the exact answer to that question this morning, but that question is the background to what I want to talk about here with you on this morning of Pentecost. In Isaiah chapter 55, there's a scripture that you've read and we've all read, and if we stop to ponder it, we might ask, what is God saying?

Let me try to connect it to Pentecost and to the question that I've raised here. In Isaiah chapter 55, let's begin reading at verse 10. God says, for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. How long does God wait patiently for the fruit of the seed that he has sown, the seeds of the kingdom that he has sown, for them to sprout and bear fruit?

A 2,000-year-old seed can be unearthed from the ground today, carefully germinated, and produce and live. How much more the seeds of the eternal message of the kingdom of God, spoken by God's servants through all the millennia? How long does God patiently wait on that? I've thought about that. I continue to think about it, and I think that many of us do as well as we think about our lives in the church, what the Day of Pentecost is to teach us, and as we think about not only those of us here today, faithfully, wisely, carefully, by God's grace, observing this day, but others who may not be here, but were at one time.

On this Day of Pentecost, we come together and we put our minds upon the truths of God's eternal plan and His purpose to worship God. To think about what began on that Pentecost, as recounted in Acts 2, when God gave His Spirit, began to pour that out to those who were gathered.

It was the delivery of a promise that dated long before that into the prophets, and now began to gather around the disciples and has continued, creating a set of firstfruits. In the book of James, chapter 1, we read about how God looks upon those that have responded to that call and to that message in James, the first chapter.

Let's begin reading in verse 16.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow of turning. And among those gifts, certainly the gifts of the Spirit, the fruits of the Holy Spirit that we think about, reflect upon, and certainly work with God's help and grace to cultivate, develop, and bear within our own lives, those come from God. But in verse 18, He says, of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Firstfruits, which means there are others sequentially to come. Firstfruits, Romans chapter 8. Let's turn and look at what we are told there, beginning in verse 22.

Romans chapter 8 and verse 22, as Paul winds up and begins to speed up his delivery in the book of Romans of these great truths that he speaks of, he comes down and he says, through we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. And that was 2,000 years ago. Paul discerned with the help of God's Spirit that the creation was groaning and laboring and intravale. How much more today, as we look at our world today and its modern wonders and amazing technology that we have, and we still read these eternal words of truth and we still know that our the creation groans and travails. And we're a part of that in that continuum of God's plan. Verse 23, not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption and the redemption of our body. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we're just very close to that. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

The resurrection chapter that speaks to that resurrection, the hope of the resurrection. In verse 20, But now Christ is risen from the dead. And more than a little more than 50 days ago, that occurred in terms of the sequencing of the counting of the holy days, and we have come here to Pentecost, and we know how that works in the acceptance of Christ as the wave-sheaf offering on the morning after his resurrection. But Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. The firstfruits, the first of the firstfruits, because there are more to come. And through that indwelling of the Holy Spirit, those began. That's why he said, wait in Jerusalem until Pentecost. And then he poured out the Spirit, and that Spirit began to work in the lives of the disciples then, and in a unique way for all the disciples who are going to be a part of this firstfruits aspect of God's plan, this harvest, down to this day. This is the group that will be a part of what the Bible terms as the first resurrection. Revelation 20 in verse 6 says, blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection. That means there will be a second resurrection, detailed later in chapter 20 of Revelation. But there's a blessing for those who are a part of the first resurrection, which is also called a better resurrection in Hebrews 11, chapter 11, verse 35. And so, a first resurrection. And that's our goal. That is our aim. And those who have the firstfruits of God's Spirit, God has by His grace given that to His church, and you and I are a part of a collective group of the church, the body of Christ, who in our day and time hold fast and firm to that truth. And we know that. And God has blessed us. He's blessed us especially in this united church of God with dedicated people. 30 years, we just recently noted in our general conference meeting here a few weeks ago, 30 years of existence. It all began for us 30 years ago on this day of Pentecost, 1995. The net has just gone by like that for us. I think about 50 years and being in the ministry, and all right, two snaps of the finger, and it comes and goes so quickly. God has blessed us all.

And we understand where we fit within the plan of God along with the collective body of Christ, called to a better resurrection. Why? Not because of who we are, our wisdom, our righteousness, but solely and only by God's grace. And thank you. Thank all of you for your faithfulness, for your dedication to God, your service to God, and to one another. We don't say that enough to each other, but we need to, because that too is a gift of God, dedication and faithfulness.

Those works that we produce that bring us together and keep us together and help us to grow in love and appreciation for one another is all of God. We can't take any credit for that. When we come together on a holiday like Pentecost, we are drawn to appreciate that even more. I referenced this ancient seed, unearth, germinating, growing a date palm tree, and it puts our focus on a seed. Well, you know that in the Bible, God uses seed to help us to understand some, you know, very basic parts of his plan. And as I'm seeking to draw out here today, there's a great deal of patience and love that God puts into that. In Matthew chapter 13, there is this continual passage after passage of a number of parables that Jesus spoke. And there's the parable of the sower and the seed. And then also the parable of the tares and the wheat. Christ likens the kingdom of God to be like seed that is sown in the field. Now, you read through all of the other parables in Matthew 13, and there's a number of other illustrations that he uses to talk about the kingdom. But on two of those parables, seed is there. And there are two of the better known ones, especially the sower and the seed that we occasionally look at and think about. And I think there's a connection to what we are seeing through the message of Pentecost. And the question that I posed here at the beginning of God's patience, waiting for those seeds to be born, as we've seen from the other scriptures that pertain to our calling, designation as first fruits, God's waiting, and we are all in this together, groaning earnestly, waiting for the redemption of all of this. But there's some things to consider.

If you want, turn back to Matthew 13. I'm not going to read the entire parable, but I am going to reference it. It's a familiar one, and I don't—I'm taking liberties with one of our own speaking or teaching victims to, you know, say what you all know, the parable or the scripture here and there, and it's always good to turn and look at that. But in Matthew 13, in verse 10, the disciples asked Him, why do You speak in parables? And Jesus' answer in verse 11 was that some have not been allowed to understand the mysteries of the kingdom that's been given to You.

That's a very direct and a plain, bold statement by Jesus that He deliberately withheld the depths of the mysteries of the kingdom from the masses, but revealed it to His disciples. And that comes by His Spirit. And again, it's not because we're smarter and are able to figure it all out. We're not. It's because of God's calling, God's grace, and His gift to us of that calling. We can never forget that. But it is a truth of Scripture, and it helps us to understand why we're called now, and it also helps us to understand why and when the masses and the majority of mankind who have lived will be called later, in time of the great white throne judgment. But God has spelled out many things for us to come to understand. And I look at His statement that He says it's not been allowed for others to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. And I haven't delved deeply into the meaning of that word mystery, but I do know that, as we all know, that we all love a good mystery, don't we?

And you've got to stay closely focused on the plot line of the movie or the book that you're reading to try to figure out the mystery and to understand it, or you'll lose something. And to come to know the depth of the mysteries of God, it's not only a focus and a dedication to stay glued to it, but it's the gift of God. It's His calling. It's His Holy Spirit. And then He goes on in this parable of the soul or two to explain. And you know, there's four categories of people that the seed falls upon. There's the seed that falls on the wayside, people who hear the word, but Satan comes and takes it away. Then there are seed that falls on the stony ground. Remember that this is the knowledge of the gospel.

Christ is using seed only as a metaphor to explain a deep spiritual truth about the words of the gospel that are sown. Now remember what we read back in Isaiah 55 and verse 11. God says, my word doesn't come back empty. He doesn't sow seed in vain.

And if a seed found in a dig site in Israel can be germinated after 2000 years to bear fruits, what can God do? Think about that. What can God do? The seed that falls on the stony ground, people here with joy, yet no root takes, that they endure but trial and persecution caused them to fall by the wayside. And then there's the group that where seed falls among thorns. It says, people here but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches causes them to become unfruitful. And then the seed falls on good ground.

They hear and they bear fruit, some 100 and some 60 fold.

Now that last category where there's fruit born, we can liken and understand to those in this age who hear the word, who endure, and are faithful unto death and can be put under the category of the dead in Christ and live a lifetime of bearing fruit. We all hope that that is where we are placed. They are the first fruits. And this is that feast that brings us together to focus upon the love that God has for the world that He puts it all together in a plan that is outlined in His holy days. And so it is on this day that we focus upon that, the first fruits, but also upon the fact that God is bringing many sons to glory by stages according to a purpose and according to the plan. But it's all anchored to the very fact of God's love. God's love for the world so great that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would believe would not perish but have everlasting life. And the depth of that love that God has for the world, for all of the world, led by in the creation, in the moment, before time began, when the decision was made that the Word would become flesh and walk among us and be a sacrifice and be the Lamb of God, all because God so loved the world. When we look at this parable at times, we can focus on the many who hear the Word. Everyone, it seems, comes into contact with the seed. Everyone mentioned in these categories. We could, I think, safely assume. There are three categories of people that somehow falter. Are they lost? Are they lost? Are they lost? Where do they fit in the plan of God, as opposed to that last category, who bear fruit? Where do they fit? I don't know. Do you think you know?

Well, we can talk about it. We can speculate about it. I certainly don't want to be one of those categories. I endeavor and live my life as you to be in that last category of one who's bearing fruit. But are they lost? You know, back in Isaiah 55 again, and then verses 8 and 9, and it is good for us to turn and read that, Isaiah 55. Let's go back there. Should have cautioned you or warned you to put a marker there.

But it's good to turn the pages. And if you're not turning the pages, you're using your thumb on your smart screen, as I often do. I can't bring an iPhone or my iPad to the pull, but I just, I'm sorry, I'm old school on that. I'll use it out there when I'm with you. But up here, I gotta do it the old school way and turn back to the pages. But if you're there with me, in Isaiah 55, look at verses 8 and 9. For my thoughts, God says, are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And then he goes into what we read earlier, verses 10 and 11, that my word will not come back empty.

God's ways are so much more infinitely complex, and yes, even mysterious than ours. And we know a lot, and God has blessed us with a lot, but there are many things that we don't know the answers to. And the more I live, the more I minister and walk in this way of life, the more I come to realize I don't know it all. There's yet things to learn. And I've learned that it is better to back off a half a step, not in truth, not in compromise, but I hope in humility, and recognize I still need to plumb the depths of the Word of God, and there are things to learn. It's a true blessing to be able to teach certain books every year to students that come through Ambassador Bible College and literally learn something new every time about the Word of God. Oh, I didn't see that before. Oh, yeah, I need to bring that out this year. And literally, I can be reading along and expounding it and teaching it in class, and I may pause. And it's not because I can't see or can't hear. It's because, oh, I didn't see that before. I didn't understand that before. And you find the same thing as you study and learn the Word of God.

We all realize that, hey, let's let God be loud where He's loud, and let's not always try to be so loud ourselves. And we'll learn more. We know as we come to keep this day of Pentecost that it teaches us another profound lesson that we're called in advance of those that will come in the future harvest.

And many of those who have heard the Word, but for whatever reason, it didn't take root. The cares of life choke out.

I've come to realize that there's hope, that we may yet see fruit. We have to be patient. Because if they come in contact with the seeds of the gospel, or let's bring it down, if they come in contact with the Church of God in some way, even if it's a near-miss flyby, it's a pretty powerful thing. It's a pretty powerful thing.

Let me illustrate what I'm trying to say here with a recent experience that Debbie and I had. Back in March, I had to go back to my hometown. My older brother died, and he died in February, his body was cremated, and his niece, his only surviving child, his daughter, was able to put the funeral together in mid-March. So we went back, and it was a double funeral. Some of you knew that and thought that maybe he and his wife had died at the same time, but his second wife had died about five or six years earlier, and she was cremated, and they kept her ashes, and they wanted to be interred together. And so we gathered on a Friday morning back in March at a military cemetery in southeast Missouri. My niece and Debbie and I and several of my family members and church family, etc., because my brother had been in the church back in the 1960s, and his second wife's children came to be a part of that for their mother, three of them, and you have to know that get a little complicated here, but I had known them when they were little kids, because my brother's second wife had been in my congregation down in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, back in the 1980s, and I knew her and her three children, and then a few years later she married my brother, and now her children are taller than me and middle age, and it was just like funerals and weddings today. Brings people together that we've known for years and church experience and all of this, and so we're connecting. And it was a beautiful morning, but there was one other person that came, and I was glad she came. It was my brother's first wife.

My brother and her married in 1960, and they both came in the church in the mid 1960s in Southern California, and were together in the church for a number of years, and then their marriage fell apart. She divorced my brother. She left the church, and we really hadn't seen her since the early 1980s, and I was very glad that she came to support her daughter, my niece, at that moment. And we had a family reunion, and it all went well. Afterwards, as you gather in the home and you're having a meal and everybody's talking for hours and hours on that particular day, my niece and her husband, both who had grown up in the church, and find themselves in a... they still are in the faith, but they have their own ideas. But they came to me, and they wanted to be anointed for a couple serious issues. So we talked, and as I took both of them back to a room in the back part of the house to anoint them, the first wife, very sweet lady, now her in her mid-80s. I had known her since she was a vibrant, beautiful teenager, marrying my brother, setting up the kitchen table with my wife, and she knew what was going on, because she'd been in the church. And she turned to my wife and she said, who do I call when I want to be anointed?

Well, Debbie said, well, you can call Daris. And she can. She's had a couple of strokes.

She remembered something. She remembered her time in the church. Now, she's been in her own world since then, not been a part of the church. But you know, she's the same person that I knew when she married my brother. Vibrant, sweet, lovely person.

She had been in the church. In some ways, she hasn't changed. I don't know what that means. All I know is that she said, who do I call? And I walked away from that, and we talked about it. And I realized something that I think is important for us all to think about when it comes to seed. And what it says here in Isaiah 55, when God says in verse 11, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

And it comes from, it goes forth from the mouth of God. No matter who's speaking it, no matter who's writing it, no matter what group's publishing it, if it's truth, if it's the Word of God from this Bible, it comes from the mouth of God. And it's powerful. It's sharp. It says, it says, a two-edged sword that cuts us under.

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void. It shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. And that's God's business. And that's part, I think, of the mystery of God. And I think that anyone, anywhere, anytime, you put your own faces, names, and experiences of people to your questions, to your thoughts, to your experience in the church of God, I think that anyone who comes into contact with the truth of God is forever changed, regardless of what happens. Now, they have, everybody has decisions to make. And I understand fully the other scriptures that I'm not reading today that are just as equally true that it's dangerous to turn from that word and to reject that word. I fully understand that.

But I also read about the depths of the mysteries of God, the mercies of God, scriptures like this, and I ask the question, how patient is God waiting for the seed that is sown to bear fruit? God knows. And no matter where people have been and are, and if they've come in contact with the truth, even in a fly-by way or even a more intense way, God says it's not going to return void. And let's leave God to do His work as we do the work that He has given us to do, whether it's cooked in our lives individually or collectively as a body.

I came away from that kitchen table in that day. You always, you know, Solomon said about how, what do you do learn, the profound things you learn when you go to the house of mourning.

And there are big lessons yet to learn. The truth of God is a powerful force. When it's taught by the church, when it's lived by the members, it is a force by which God can work.

And today, you and I are the part of this group of the firstfruits. We're called now to prepare for a bigger job later as God will bring in a resurrection. Those that will have the books open to them, the opportunity for their name to be written in that book of life. And if then in that time of the great white throne, people that we've been in contact with rise and begin their journey to the kingdom, they will see you. I hope they will see me. And they will remember and they will say, oh yeah, you're the one who went to church twice on a weekend. Couldn't figure out if it was Saturday or Sunday once a year, right? Just in case you're going on Sunday. No, we're not. We know exactly why we're here today. Oh yeah, you're the one that was different. Oh yeah, that's why. I get it now, when the deceptive veil is lifted, they will say that. That's why we are called now. That's why we are firstfruits. So how shall we continue? Well, let's turn over to Revelation 14.

Revelation 14. We'll look at the first five verses here in a scene that opens up with what is really, brethren, a headline. You like headlines? You like headlines? Big, bold type.

World War II ends. You've all seen the New York Times, facsimiles of that. We like headlines. I teach the students every year, watch. Understand the times in which we live. That's what Jesus told us to do. And that's part of the study of the Bible, Daniel and Revelation.

First two verses of Revelation 14 are a headline. Look at it. Let's read it. John says, I looked and behold, a lamb standing on Malak's Zion, and with him 144,000, having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many wonders, and like the voice of loud thunder, and I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. That's a headline.

On any newspaper you want to imagine, on any website that we might turn to, on any blog that might be posted, that's a news item. That's a big one. There are many of them in the book of Revelation. What does it say? I saw the lamb standing with 144,000.

Our urgency should come from the Bible, from the headlines of the Word of God. Write that one down. Remember that one. Our urgency comes from the Bible, from the headlines of the Word of God. Not a secular news item. I don't believe I'm saying that.

I am saying that. It comes from the Word of God. This is a headline, the lamb. Next time you read the book of Revelation, focus on the lamb.

Just focus on the lamb. Focus on the thunder. Focus on the lightning.

And all the sounds that are emanating from the throne of God and the presence of God, focus on the lamb. You will read the book and you will understand it from an entirely different perspective. The headline is the lamb standing on Mount Zion. His coming. 144,000. We're told a few more details of who they are as we go into it. They sang in verse 3, as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. This tells us that this gives us really an insight. We're talking here about the firstfruits. We're talking about the church in this particular passage. I gave a sermon two years ago on trumpets with some of my thoughts about this new song. I won't go into that right now again, but it's a song they know. But then in verses 4 and 5, it gives characteristics of these understanding, these 144,000. It says, it says, these are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. And it's speaking of a spiritual condition, spiritual relationship. They're not seduced by the false and hollow religious systems of the world. We know the word false. We use that all the time. Sometimes insert the word hollow.

And it gives you a little different perspective on the religious systems of the world. They look good. They can be enticing. They can promise liberty and freedom, but they're hollow.

They're hollow. No substance, no foundation, ultimately rooted in God's ultimate plan and the mysteries of the kingdom of God. To quote Christ in the parable in Matthew 13, they're hollow. And they're not seduced by that. You're here this morning because you haven't been seduced by that, as enticing as it might be. And for our young people, who sometimes are at a point of still figuring it all out, get yourselves rooted in the word of God. Be firm there. And don't be enticed by the hollow promises of a freedom, a different system. Maintain a spiritual purity that is described here. That's what it is being talked about here. And God will work with you. He goes on to say, these are the ones who follow the Lamb, wherever He goes.

Faithfully devoted to Christ. Not allowing anything to entice them away from the personal loyalty and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Because Christ is going to use that person of steadfast commitment to assist them in bringing this knowledge to the world. And so it's vital that the firstfruits will be forever faithful and true to their Savior, Jesus Christ. A first fruit is answered the knock on the door and invited Christ to come in and to dine together with Him and to break that bread. That's why I say the next time you read Revelation, focus on the Lamb. Let that be your headline. Let all the other matters fall into their place. When you really do see it, you see that from chapter 1 of Revelation to chapter 22, it's about the Lamb and His faithfulness to bring to fruition the firstfruits and those who will worship Him and follow Him wherever He goes. It says here that they have also been redeemed from among men, again, purchased by the blood of Christ, having been brought to God, understanding that life no longer belongs to us, but to Christ. And our life is to glorify God in body and in spirit. And then it goes on and it says, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. This is how we look at this and understand this particular passage to be speaking to the church. We will stand on Mount Zion in that resurrection with the second coming of Christ. And then it says in verse 5, And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. No guile, as another translation puts it. They've learned a deal with the malice that is commonly found in our hearts. This particular characteristic of the first fruit really strikes home to me and to all of us. Paul says to put away evil speaking, put away envy and malice. This is the guile. This is the deceit that a first fruit has mastered, not only on their tongue, but in their heart, to practice a genuineness, sincerity, and a simplicity in Christ, having come to grips with our own life and submitted to them. All of these characteristics when in play, when in operation, these characteristics of the first fruit, allow God's work to be done in us through His Holy Spirit. And as New Covenant Christians, that work is the writing of His law upon our hearts. When we are—you look at these characteristics of those who stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, when that is our picture, when that is our description, then the work that God is doing by the giving of the Spirit, pictured on this day of Pentecost with that law being written on our heart, is able to be done.

God's Word will not come back void. God will bear fruit among mankind in His time and in His way.

If a 2,000-year-old seed can be brought out of the earth, planted, and life sprang from it, then God, as He sends His Word out from His mouth, as He sows the seeds of the kingdom, and has been and will continue to be doing, that seed will not come back void in God's time and way to those who yield and truly allow that Spirit to come into their heart. And God knows who are His. Let's take great comfort and solace that on this day of Pentecost we can come together and understand our part in this plan. As we've been faithful to God, as we understand it, and let it be a prod to each of us to let God's work be even more fully productive in our lives today, inscribing His Word upon our hearts so that it doesn't go back empty to Him.