Understanding God's Spring Festivals

There are various rules of biblical interpretation we call hermeneutics, principles of duality, reading the context, and many others. But today, I want to talk about another important principle for understanding the Bible, and that is the importance of understanding God's festivals. The importance of understanding God's festivals, His holy days, and what they represent. As we understand what they represent, the spiritual truth, as well as the doctrinal principle, it helps us to frame better our old understanding of the main theme of the Bible, which, after all, is our eternal salvation. And so today, brethren, I want to focus on the understanding of the spring festivals. But to do that, I'm going to actually start from the weekly Sabbath. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures and material. And my wish is that you use this as an opportunity to take some notes and to do additional Bible study after today. So it's actually a schematic that I'm going to give you in a sense. And so as I go through for instance the Sabbath and the Passover and the first day of 11 bread, the last day of 11 bread, and Pentecost, as you list them, then you could make three columns to the right. And one is the actual event, the other one is the spiritual truth behind it, and the other one is the doctrine behind it. And I'm going to go through a number of scriptures. You could list them in that tabular form as I go through each one of them. And my desire and my hope is that you use this for your own personal Bible study as we prepare ourselves for the days of 11 bread and for the Passover. So let me start therefore with the Sabbath. So the first line would be let's call the Sabbath. Then we'd have the event, the spiritual truth behind it, and the doctrinal principle that I'm emphasizing attached to it. The Sabbath, obviously the event, we go to Genesis chapter 2 verse 2 and 3. Genesis chapter 2 verse 2 and 3. And there we see that the Lord, let me just turn to it so I may read it correctly. Genesis chapter 2 verse 2 and 3. It says, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because he need arrested from all his work which God had created and made. And so now we have the event. The actual event is that God entered his work and rested.

Now obviously God wasn't tired because he's a spirit being. He doesn't tire, but he rested for us. And he says he set the day aside and sanctified it for us. And you and I know it's from sunset to sunset. It's those 24 hours from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. It is his time. And he decided it. And so man, no man, could it be for instance the pope or whatever, no man has the authority to sanctify some day or time that God has sanctified. God has sanctified it.

It is his time that he's giving it to us. And then he says he rested which means he kept the Sabbath. So if God keeps the Sabbath, how much more you and I should keep the Sabbath? Now, obviously, I'm talking to the choir. You all keep the Sabbath. But I'm just showing you this way that for a study we have the event and then we're going to have the spiritual truth behind it and then the doctrinal part. Another point that is very and this is ties into what are we going to come to the spiritual truth behind it is that it says that he created. He says here in verse two at the end of verse two and at the end of verse three he says at the end of two all the work which he made and at the end of verse three he says all his work which God had created and made. It's interesting it says created and made because in this first week certain things were made and certain things were created and this is an important distinction which I'm not going to go into it today but it was a day that was set up long before Moses. It was set up at creation. So that is the event. The spiritual truth is at the end of verse three that it says that he created and he made. God is the creator. God is our maker. And then we can see in verses following that that he began to tell Adam and Eve how they could live their way of life which is symbolized by the tree of of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is a summary statement but behind it there was a lot of surely a lot of instruction that God gave Adam and Eve about the way of life and basically is a way of life to have a family because we can see in verse 24 that he says that man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and there shall become one flesh. They will be united. They'll become one like the father and Christ are one one and that is a chad which is the same Hebrew word. So God revealed as we see himself as the creator and he is showing principles how to live a happy life and to be in his family. In Exodus 20 we know about the Ten Commandments and then it says in Exodus 20 verse 8, remember the Sabbath because the Sabbath was established, sanctified at creation. So it was an act of remembrance and in fact in Exodus 20 in verse 11, Exodus 20 verse 11, it says, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and rest the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed so it points to the creation. And so the Sabbath points to creation and we also know that God's law is spiritual. So we're looking as under the spiritual truth, the spiritual intent behind the Sabbath that God is the creator. He is using that as an opportunity to educate us how to be in his family and God's law is spiritual. We read that from Romans 7 verse 14. So if you make on your notes Romans 7 verse 14 which says God's law is spiritual. So if let me just turn to Romans 7 verse 14 so I can read exactly what it says. Romans 7 verse 14.

And it says, for we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal, sold under sin.

God's law is spiritual. There is a spiritual principle related with God's eternal law.

And so the doctrinal point is, for instance, in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 which says, and without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that God is. We've got to believe that God exists, he is the creator, and he's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. In other words, he is our judge. God is the creator and our judge. And so one of the doctrinal principles is that God does everything with justice. We read, for instance, in Matthew 23, 23, that the weightier matters of the law is justice, mercy, and faith. God does everything with justice and he will reward us with justice. And in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9, we read that the remains, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9 says, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. And that rest in Hebrew is, a big part in Greek, is sabbathismus. And sabbathismus means a keeping of a Sabbath. And so there remains a keeping of the Sabbath for the people of God. And so from a doctrinal point of view, we have to keep the Sabbath. It still remains the Sabbath. There's no change, and it points to the creation. Because God's law is spiritual, points not only to a spiritual creation, I mean apart to a physical creation, but also to a spiritual creation. And the Sabbath, which is ours in an analogy, the seventh millennial year, points to the millennium as a spiritual creation for man and whatever comes beyond, such as the new heaven and new earth. Unfortunately, we know, brethren, that man is sent. Man is sent. He did not apply, did not follow the principles that God instructed to Adam and Eve. And we know the story about Satan deceiving Eve, and then man and Adam and Eve, they both sinned. And because of that, God asked for us a plan of redemption and salvation, because man has sinned. Man did not follow God's way of justice. And so we have the first festival that I want to highlight. So we have the Sabbath, the event, the spiritual truth, and the doctrinal. Then underneath it, we've got the first festival, which is the Passover. Now, the Passover, the event, is described in Exodus 12, verse 5 through 7. So let's turn to Exodus 12, verse 5 through 7.

And Exodus 12, verse 5 through 7. And it talks about, And your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth of the same month. So you keep that lamb as you read, you separate it on the tenth, and you wait until you get to the fourteenth. And as we know, the day begins at sunset.

And therefore, at sunset, that's the beginning of the fourteenth. So at the beginning of the fourteenth, of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And twilight is after the sunset before it gets pitch dark. So it's that period of time that you are to kill it. And then continuing in verse 7, And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. So now we have an event which is the festival of the Passover. We can also read in verse 11. And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist and your sandals on your feet and your stuff in your hand, and shall eat in haste. In a meaning, as I mentioned in a previous sermon, that we need to have a sense of urgency. And then it says, It is the Lord's Passover. And in verse 12, For I'll pass through the land of Egypt on that night. So we have the killing of the Lamb at the beginning of the day, which is the way God looks at it after sunset as it gets dark. Then we wait to roast it. Then we wait to put the blood around the doorposts and on the lintel. And then they were to eat it in a haste. And then we read a little later on verse 29. And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn of the land of Egypt. So yeah, we have at the beginning of the day, which was the sunset, they were to kill the Lamb. Then we put it on the doorpost. And at midnight, it was the Passover, the actual event of the Passover at midnight of the fourteenth. And that was the death of the Lamb. So that was the actual event. The spiritual truth, brethren, is in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7. So that will be like your next column to the right, 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7.

Let's turn there very quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7. Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be in your lamp, since you truly are a leaven, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. So that land of the event in Exodus 12 pointed to Christ our Passover that was sacrificed for us. Christ kept God's commandments perfectly, and therefore we need to purge out the old leaven. In other words, the old man. We need to purge out our sins and become a new lamp, a new man. In other words, spiritually delavening ourselves, it is something that we got to do as before the Passover. Why? Because Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us to forgive our sins. That is the spiritual truth. At the doctrine, what we need to do is we need to repent and turn to God. A doctrinal point is repentance. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1, and we're going to go to Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 a few times, so I suggest you just put a marker there when you go to Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1.

And yeah, it's talking about let's therefore leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ. So we need to focus on points of maturity, but it doesn't mean that we neglect repentance and all that comes with that are symbolized by these days. And there it says, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.

So we all have sinned, and now God is starting a plan of salvation for us, which starts with the first festival, which is the Passover, which is Christ, our Passover lamb, dying for us or being sacrificed for us. So we need to repent and turn to God. Repent from dead works. So that is the first part in the plan of salvation, that Christ has died for us and we because of that, as we read in 1 Corinthians 5 and 7, we've got to take out that old leaven. We've got to repent. We've got to change. We've got to renew ourselves. And that's why Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 28 and 29, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 28 and 29, we read, but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So that's something we need to do before Passover. We need to examine ourselves. We need to spiritually deliver ourselves, analyze ourselves, not to give ourselves a reason not to keep the Passover, but rather for us to examine ourselves so we can keep the Passover in a correct manner. That's what it says. Examine yourselves and so let him eat of the bread and drink the cup. And the point here is if we do it in an unworthy manner, which is in verse 29, and drinks for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And now we have a duality of meaning, because obviously physically we need to discern the Lord's body what Christ has done for us. But spiritually, the Lord's body, the body of Christ, is the Church, is you and I. And you and I have to discern one another. We have to be concerning and caring for one another. We can't be over-righteous and over-streaked and over-demanding on other people. We gotta be kind and help people go along slowly, small steps, move forwards, and keep growing and encourage. That's the way. And if we are not careful, if we're not examining ourselves, and if we're not careful with people, how we treat people, then we could cause people to be hurt, to be ill, emotionally ill, or could be struggling with different things. And some could even die. And so that's why it says in verse 30, for this reason, many are weak and seek among you, and many sleep.

We really need to examine ourselves, brethren, and this is a really serious step in our preparation towards Passover. And so this dies in with Matthew 23, 23, where it says, justice and mercy, because we gotta have mercy. Christ and the Father have mercy towards us. We gotta have mercy towards one another, and comfort and encourage one another in the path of salvation and of life, on the way of God. So a doctrinal point is repentance and have mercy. As we get now onto the first day of 11 breads, so let's just now go on another line, and let's look at the event. That event is in Numbers 33 verse 3. So let's look at Numbers 33 verse 3.

Numbers 33 verse 3. All right, here we are. It says, and they departed from Ramesses in the first month, on the 15th day of the first month. So they left the area where they were living in Egypt on the 15th day of the first month. Not on the 14th. The 14th was a Passover. You see, on the 14th at the beginning, just after sunset, they had to kill the lamb. On the 14th, they had to put the blood around the doorposts. On the 14th at midnight, the Egyptians, firstborns, died. Then they were told to leave, and then they had to, about three million people, get ready and leave, and they ended up only leaving the following evening, which is the 15th. On the 15th. So they departed from Ramesses on the first month, on the 15th day of the first month, on the day after the Passover. You see, the Passover is on the 14th, and they left on the 15th. Brethren, I cannot, for the life of me, I cannot understand, how some people say the Passover is on the 15th. I just can't understand. It's so plain, yeah. The Passover is on the 14th, and they left on the 15th, which is what we call the night to be much observed. So plain and so simple. Anyway, that is the event. Also, in the Autonomy 16, verse 1, it adds a little bit more meaning to it. In the Autonomy 16, verse 1, it says, observe the month of Abub, or some people call it Nisan, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abub, that is Nisan, the Lord your God, brought you out of Egypt by night. So they left Egypt by night. Obviously, it was not the night where they did the Passover, because they were not to leave their home. It says there, when you read the instruction of the Passover. And at midnight was the killing, so it was the following night, the beginning of the 15th. They left Egypt by night. And that's why in Exodus 12, verse 42, we have a scripture that we quite often quote. Exodus 12, verse 42, it says, it is a night of solemn observance. In the King James Version, if I remember correctly, is a night to be much observed. If I remember correctly, that's how it's worded in the old King James Version. That's why we quite often call it, it's the night to be much observed, or of solemn observance to the Lord, for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is the night of the Lord. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance of all the children of Israel throughout generations. So that's the beginning of the 15th. That is the first day of Unleavened Bread. And then in Leviticus 23, verse 6, that's still tied into the actual event that is related to all this. So in Leviticus 23, verse 6, Leviticus 23, verse 6, we read, and on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. Seven days you shall eat, or must eat, unleavened bread.

The instruction is very clear for us to eat unleavened bread for seven days. There's a very important spiritual meaning behind it. So let's now move to the spiritual meaning. The spiritual meaning, first place, we know Egypt that represents sin, and we must leave spiritual Egypt behind. And so we've got to leave sin behind. How do we leave sin behind? Well, the answer is in John 6, verse 22, starting in John 6, verse 22. So let's go to John 6, verse 22. And by the way, brethren, I hope you use this as a making notes so we can study this more carefully and do a Bible study using these scriptures in this logical sequence. So, John 6, verse 22. And now we read, on the following day when the people were standing on the other side of the sea, saw that there was no other boat there except that one which the disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone. However, other boats came from Tiberias and near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks. And when the people, therefore, saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? And Jesus answered them and said, most surely I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and you were full. In other words, they were not seeking spiritual food.

They were looking for physical food. And then Christ says, verse 27, do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him. So when we talk about bread, and specifically unleavened bread, Yah is a spiritual truth and meaning about spiritual food without sin, which is towards eternal life, which is Christ's word. The bread of life, which is Christ, which is the Bible, which is the instruction we receive from the Bible, and the instructions we receive from Christ, that is the bread of life. Look a little bit further in verse 33. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Life means eternal life, of course, to the world.

Look at verse 34 and 35, and they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. And then look at it a bit further in verse 48. Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate a manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. In other words, have eternal life. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which shall give for the life of the world. So this is what it's talking about. It is what Christ is for us. He is our bread of life. And so we must eat this bread every day. Now, during the days of the living bread, which is symbolic of all our life. Sure, we're only doing it for seven days, the symbolism, physical symbolism, of unleavened bread. But all the days of our life, we've got to have Christ in us every day. That is the symbolism. That is the spiritual truth. We must eat the Word of God. And we remember in Matthew 4, verse 4, and let's turn to Matthew 4, verse 4, when Christ was being tempted by Satan. Then in Matthew 4, verse 4, Christ said to Satan, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so, as we move from the spiritual truth to the point of doctrine, we've got to live this life by walking in faith, in absolute trust and confidence, that this is God's way, and we've got to live and walk in faith. And so, we have here, basically, the point of Hebrews 6, verse 1. In Hebrews 6, verse 1, it talks about the foundation of repentance from their works and of faith towards God. So that's the second doctrine. The second, let's call it a basic doctrine as described here in Hebrews chapter 6. The first one is repentance, and the second one is faith towards God. That's what we've got to do. We've got to walk in faith, and that ties in with Matthew 23, which says the weight of the matters of the law is justice, mercy, and faith. And that is justice, obeying God's principles. We've got to then apply mercy, and we've got to walk in faith. This doctrinal point ties in with 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7, which we did read a little earlier, but I just want to turn back to it to reemphasize another point. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7. And it says, Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.

You see, so we've got to take out the old man. We've got to put out that carnal mind, you know, that old leaven. That's that carnality. We've got to put that out. And you've got to become a new lump. You and I got to become a new man, a new person. With Christ in us, with his Holy Spirit, we need to become a new person, since you truly are unleavened. In other words, Paul was writing this to the Corinthians during the days of Unleavened Bread, and physically they were unleavened because they were keeping the days of Unleavened Bread. And then he says, we've got to do this because Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. He died for us. He's forgiving our sins, but we need to repent and walk now in faith, having Christ in us. That's why it says in verse 8, therefore let us keep the feast. Which feast? The feast of the days of Unleavened Bread. Not of the old leaven. You know, it was not of that carnality, that old man. Nor with the leaven of malice, in other words, thinking wrong things. Or, wickedness, which is doing wrong things. But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

When you and I slip, when you and I start going astray, when you and I start slipping up in prayer and Bible study on a daily basis, we are becoming spiritually malnourished.

Our nourishment gets thin, but we have to be in a habit, a daily habit, of putting God first, of putting the food that counts first. And that is the food of God's Word. We've got to put on a new man. That's why it says in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22 through 24. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22 through 24, it says, that you put off concerning your former conduct old man, which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. That's what we got to do. We got to change and walk in faith this way. And so, this is part of the significance, the meaning, and the doctrinal point of the days of Unleavened Bread, which starts with the first day of Unleavened Bread. And then we get to the next Holy Day, which is the last day of Unleavened Bread. The Jewish tradition has it that the Israelites left Egypt on the last day of Unleavened Bread. In other words, they started leaving on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th, that night, and they actually left Egypt when they crossed the Red Sea. The event is in Exodus 14 verse 3. Exodus 14 verse 3. Exodus 14 verse 3, For Pharaoh, Yahweh see Pharaoh will say to the children of Israel, they bewildered by the land, the wilderness has closed them in. So they now come into the Red Sea, they got a mountain on one side, a mountain on the other, and they kind of got lost in the desert. So now they stuck. And look at it a bit further in verse 10. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Yeah, because the Israelites were behind, I mean, the army, the Egyptian army was behind them. There was mountains on the left and on the right, and in front of them there was a sea. They were stuck. There was no way out. Did they know in advance how to get out?

No. You and I, quite often, sometimes in our lives, are in situations that we are stuck. You know, the Egyptian army or people inspired by Satan are pursuing us, and we are stuck. We've got a mountain on one side, we've got a mountain on another, and we've got a sea in front. And what are we going to do? Walk forwards in faith. That's what we're going to do. We've got to walk forwards in faith. And so let's look here at verse 22. At verse 22, you know the story, you know? So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were to walted them on their right and on their left. So God opened the sea miraculously, provided at the right time, because they had walked in faith at the right time, at the last split second, God created a miracle and allowed them to be freed.

The spiritual truth, brethren, we see are in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Let's look at that. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 1 and 2. And it says, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea.

Yeah, they were under the cloud, you know, they were under the cloud and they passed through the sea. And now look at the point. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The Israelites were baptized into Moses. The Israelites were the congregation in the wilderness, right? Acts 7.38 says that as well. They were a congregation, which you could say, a group of people, a congregation like a church, a congregation, not the church of God as it is today, because it was only founded on the day of Pentecost, but it was a congregation in the wilderness.

And as they left Egypt, as they were leaving sin, they had to live and walk by faith through that wilderness and they had to keep walking in faith. But they were baptized into Moses. They were baptized, they were put into that congregation. They were part of that congregation. In analogy, in Galatians 3, verse 27, Galatians 3, verse 27, it says, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, like the congregation in the wilderness was baptized into Moses, and into that congregation, as members of that congregation, we are baptized into Christ, into the church of God, which is the body of Christ.

We're baptized into that body, into the family of God, which is kept by the Father's name. We're baptized into Christ, into His body. And so you and I have to put on Christ. We have to be a new man. We have to make a commitment. We are to live by faith into the unknown future, at least until Christ comes. We know beyond when Christ comes, but between now and Christ, there's a lot of unknowns.

Like they had to cross the sea, and they still had to do a lot of an end, and up they had to go 40 years in the wilderness. A lot of unknowns they had before they got to the promised land. You and I, as we baptized in this physical life, we have to go through a lot of unknowns before we get to the promised land.

We have to walk trusting God. Going back to the point of doctrine, we read in Hebrews chapter 6. The next one is in verse 2, which is the doctrine of baptisms. And so that ties in. We've got first repentance from dead works, faith towards God, and now baptisms, the doctrine of baptisms, plural. That is another subject to address why is it plural. But anyway, we have to have a commitment. We have to make a commitment in front of these witnesses, and in front of God, and by Christ's authority.

And therefore, we then are baptized into his family by Christ's authority. So we baptized by Christ's authority into his family. So there is both the authority, which is in the name of Christ, and into the family name, which is God, into the family of God. So there are two important points there for us to understand. And to describe more about the doctrine of baptism, you and I can make a note of Romans chapter 6. And you have all the way from verse 4 all the way through verse 14, explaining the meaning of baptism, that all the man dies in the water and comes out of the water as a new man.

And that's what we got to do. That's that commitment. We commit to now live a new life. It's a commitment. And so that is the doctrinal point. And then we get to the next spring holiday to mention, which is Pentecost.

And the event is in Exodus 19 verse 1. And then again, Jewish tradition, which we believe is correct, but it's Jewish tradition. Israel received the Ten Commandments on the day of Pentecost. So when we go now to Exodus 19, Exodus 19, in verse 1, we read starting in Exodus 19 verse 1. And it says, in the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, in the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai.

And so then a little bit later in verse 15 and 16, we read, and he said to the people, be ready for the third day. Do not come near your wives. And then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that they wear thunderings and lightnings like we have now outside. And a thick cloud on a mountain and sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people wearing the camp trembled.

And then we read in verse 20 and 21, it says, the Lord came down upon Sinai on top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And then we read in chapter 20 verse 1, then God gave the Ten Commandments. So that was the giving of the Ten Commandments, and we believe that was done on the day of Pentecost.

The spiritual truth tied to that is that we receive God's Holy Spirit was given to us, to the church, on the day of Pentecost. We read that in Acts chapter 2 verse 1 through 4. Acts chapter 2 verse 1 through 4.

Acts chapter 2 verse 1 through 4, it says, then the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all one accord in one place, and suddenly they came a sound from heaven as of rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house they were sitting. And then it says they appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. And in verse 4, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they all began to speak with other languages or tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And then we can see that people understood in their own languages. But God's Holy Spirit was given on the day on Pentecost. In Romans 8 we also told verse 14. Romans 8 verse 14, and I'm talking about the spiritual truth related to Pentecost, Romans 8 verse 14 says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

For you do not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you receive the Spirit of adoption. I believe a better translation would be sonship. The word could be translated both ways, and both meanings have validity. But we are indeed the sons of God. It says, Abba Father, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs is of God, and joint heirs with Christ. So we are led by God's Holy Spirit, and we are His children. We now need to have works of the Spirit. And the Spirit, as we read in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13, is what sanctifies us. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. And it says, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, by the Lord, because God from the beginning shows you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. We are sanctified by God's Holy Spirit, sanctification by the Spirit. And so God's Holy Spirit sanctifies us for obedience. God's Holy Spirit breaks our conscience, breaks our mind, and we want to obey God. And the point of doctrine related to that is in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 2. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 2, because after the doctrine of baptisms we have the doctrine of laying on of hands. So that is when God writes His law, His laws, His commandments in our minds and in our hearts through God's Holy Spirit. And so God's laws are now written in us, and that is the doctrinal principle attached to the event of receiving the law physically. And the spiritual truth is that on Pentecost is when we receive God's Holy Spirit. And so brethren, I went through, albeit I know rather quickly, but as I mentioned to you, my intent was to give you a breakdown of different festivals, starting with the Sabbath, and that we have to have justice, and then with the Passover, with His mercy, and then the first day of 11 bread, we got to walk by faith, and we got to eat that bread every day. And then we got to be baptized, make a commitment, and then we receive the Helper, God's Holy Spirit. So God's festivals and Holy Days play an important role in helping you and I gain a deeper understanding of God's plan of salvation for mankind. Granted, this is a mystery to the world, but God has given us understanding to this great mystery. As we practice it and live God's festivals and His Holy Days year upon year, this is an amazing thing, brethren. As you practice it year by year, you get a deeper and more profound understanding about it every year. You know, it's like it grows the understanding. It's not a new truth, it's the same truth, but it's just a profound and deeper understanding. And so, brethren, I hope we don't just merely hear the message and don't practice it. I know none of you, but these sermons are recorded. Some people may listen to them, and regrettably, there are a lot of so-called Christians that may intellectually understand these things, but they don't practice them. If people don't practice them, they will not get the blessing of the benefit of understanding what all this means. So may God grant you and us all a deeper understanding of His plan of salvation as we go through these days this coming festival season.