Download this sermon (right click and save)

The Firstfruits of the Spirit
(Rm8:18-25)

God is the Redeemer (Ps78:35; Is63:16).
With His blood He redeems souls (1Pe1:18) and
He directs those whom He redeemed in the way they should go (Is48:17).
 
Faith is knowing that my soul has been redeemed by the blood of Yeshua and
The life of this faith is until the redemption of our bodies,
Enduring patiently to become the firstfruits of the Spirit (Rm8:17-25).
 
To redeem means “to buy back,” “to rescue,”
As God redeemed Israel from Egypt by His great strength and His mighty hand (Neh1:10),
There will be a day when God will redeem from Hades
The souls who are His heirs, the firstfruits of the Spirit.
 
Israel is the firstfruits of God's harvest (Jer2:23; Hos9:10), that is, the firstborn (Ex4:22; Ps89:27).
From the firstborn sons of Pharaoh of Egypt, who refused to let them go,
To the firstborn of their livestock, all were punished with death (Ex4:22-23, 11:5).
As the Law showed that all firstborns belonged to the LORD (Ex13:12-13),
They were to redeemed every firstborn livestock and human with a lamb and
The sanctuary reminded them for generations that
Jehovah was the Redeemer and Israel was His redeemed people.
 
But Yeshua said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days,” because
Through the death and the resurrection of the temple of His body (Jn2:19-21),
He would redeem from not Egypt but Hades that will become hell,
Not with animals but with His own life (Mt20:28),
Not a people but the souls who will become heirs of God, that is,
He will harvest a crop for eternal life (Jn4:36) and
Take them to the Father’s house when He returns (Jn14:1-3).
 
As He died, He said, “It is finished” (Jn19:30), declaring that He:
1)    Submitted to death and pleased the Father who showed the way He should go (Is48:7; Jn10:17-18; He5:7);
2)    Judged Satan who, in spite of being an angel, challenged the throne prepared for the Son (Is14:12-15; He1:5-6); and
3)    Sprinkled His redeeming blood on souls (Eph1:7), becoming the Redeemer of souls of all men (Is63:16).
 
As the firstfruits of resurrection, the firstborn from the dead (Col1:18; Rev1:5),
He entered the heavenly storage (Ex23:16; 1Co15:20).
The Holy Spirit whom He sent
Lets the souls redeemed by the blood of Yeshua (1Pe1:18-19)
Live for the redemption of their bodies, that is, the first resurrection (Rev20:4-6),
To be liberated from its bondage to decay and
Be brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (Rm8:18-21),
By rooting their actions and their lives in the Holy Spirit and the word of God (2Ti3:16, 4:2).
 
Therefore, the man of the Spirit is he who strives
To be sealed on his forehead with the name of Yeshua (Rev7:3, 9:4, 22:4),
So when the Lord returns
By his fruit to holiness (Rm6:22) and
The fruit of his lips that openly profess His name (He13:15),
He would be redeemed from the earth as firstfruits (Rev14:3-4) and
Be harvested (Mk4:29; 1Co15:23),
Lest he receives the mark of the antichrist who will appear immediately afterward (Rev13:13-18) and
Suffer torment with fire and sulfur forever and ever (Rev14:9-12).
 
O Lord,
The year 2025…yet another year has rushed by and
Today we held our year-end service.
Our lives, too, will pass by just as quickly...
Then, how many of us will truly be sealed with the name of Yeshua?
Lord, help us overcome our laziness and give us the wisdom to number our days!
If You give us another year, we will do better!  We will bear fruit!
Amen!