Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread

To Do the Impossible!

Fred R. Coulter—April 29, 2016

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to the Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! Time marches on!

It’s very interesting the way that God has laid out all of the Holy Days, put everything in season and has given us His Word, which is absolutely essential from Genesis to Revelation.

What do we preach on the last day of Unleavened Bread? There is a theme to it. But let’s see Paul’s instruction to Timothy on what ministers are to do. It’s very interesting the way that he worded it. Let’s see what Paul wrote to Timothy as to how he was to conduct his ministry. This is one part of it; this is the preaching part. There are many other aspects to the ministry and serving the brethren and so forth.

2-Timothy 4:1: “I charge you…” This is quite interesting, because at that time there were a lot of false ministers and false doctrines pushing in on the Church.

Verse 1: “I charge you, therefore, in the sight of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is ready to judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.” This is a very weighty charge from God and Christ!

How is a minister to teach and preach?
What is he to do?

There are several things in here where Paul tells Timothy how to fight off the false doctrine. And today we have that multiplied millions of times over.

Verse 2: “Preach the Word!….” That’s very interesting—isn’t it? That’s the Word of God as inspired by God Himself—God breathed or God spirited—because this is what God wants us to know. That’s why He’s given us His Bible.

“…Be urgent in season and out of season… [never get slack; always be diligent] …convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patience and doctrine.” There’s a time for doctrine, and—as we have seen with the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread and the sequence of the way things go through, the dates on which they are to be held—are all what you would call doctrinal issues. Doctrine means teaching!

Verse 3: “For there shall come a time…”—and it did right after the apostles died, and especially after the Apostle John died. Everything just flew apart, and out of that came the rise of the Roman Catholic Church in 325A.D.

Verse 3: “For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine…” Isn’t it interesting that the Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches us to live by every word of God, and there are things that there a things that we have to really be diligent about and zealous about. Always on top of it! Human nature is inclined to:

slack up
to let down
to put off
to wait until tomorrow
- tomorrow becomes the next day
- the next day becomes the next week
- the next week becomes the next month
Lo and behold, we’re just like the lazy man who sits back with his hands and twittles his thumbs. Disaster comes upon him and he doesn’t know it.
This is why we are to teach the way that God wants us to teach. And we’ve seen this happen in our lifetime—haven’t we?
“…but according to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings” (v 3). It’s absolutely true today! We have hundreds and hundreds, even thousands of things to distract us and take us away from the Truth of God!
Notice what will happen when you reach a certain point. We can be slack and then repent and overcome. But is we keep going and if we do not really stick with the Truth and the righteousness and doctrine of the Word of God, notice what happens:
Verse 4: “And they shall turn away their own ears from the Truth…” In other words, they won’t want to listen to the Truth! Isn’t that the way human nature is? It doesn’t want to be confronted with the Truth!
“…and they shall be turned aside unto myths” (v 4). What are those myths? You know them:
- Christmas
- Easter
- New Years
All the holidays, etc.!
This is why God has put all the Holy Days in Lev. 23, in one place. We’ve already had the first day of Unleavened Bread. It’s very interesting how the sequence worked out, because the last day of Unleavened Bread is on a Friday, then we have a Sabbath. That happens on occasion.
Remember this: the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is the only way how we determine when we keep the Feasts of God. We have just sent out the latest calendar for the next seven years for you.
Leviticus 23:4: “These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD…”
- He appoints them!
- He owns them!
- He created them!
- We are to observe them!
“…Holy convocations…” (v 4)—a special gathering together in the name of the Lord, because He’s made an appointment with us, and through His Word and through His Spirit we are going to learn.
It’s like Jesus said of the scribe, ‘The scribe will teach things, reaching into the things—some new, some old—put it all together so that we learn, reinforced and strengthened.
“…which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD’S Passover… [we have kept that] …and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD….” (vs 4-6)—which then is the Night to Be Much Observed and begins the Holy Day, then Holy Day services—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Verse 8: “But you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days….” For the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it’s very interesting:
“…In the seventh day is a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein” (v 8). Today is that day.
We always take up an offering on the Holy Days. I’m not going to belabor the point. We all know what God commands. We all know that if God is first in our life, then He should also be first in our budget.
I’m sure that you have received the new book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? This is going to be a wonderful book; it’s going to help so many people. I’m sure that you are going to enjoy everything about it with the audio version and the two DVDs with the series from Church at Home (churchathome.org).
All of this just shows you and demonstrates that the tithes and offerings that come in are used, every bit of it, to serve the brethren. We don’t use it to glorify ourselves. We use it:
- to serve the brethren
- to serve God
- to feed the flock
so that you can grow in grace and knowledge and that you can attain the complete state of unleavenedness at the resurrection, so that you can be in the Kingdom of God!
(pause for offering)
Many times God leads us in a way that’s different than we think ought to happen. This is exactly what God did in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. They left on the beginning of the 15th day of the 1st month—the Night to be Much Observed unto the Lord—then they began their exodus to leave Egypt.
God knew the hearts and minds of all the people, so here’s what he says after they had great rejoicing that now they were on their way. They were leaving all the Egyptians and Pharaoh.
Exodus 13:17: “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines…” That was a travel route from Egypt coming around by the Mediterranean Sea going to the ‘Holy Land.’ That was the easy, quick way to go, but God had many other things in mind that He wanted to do with the people, for the people and to give them His Law.
Verse 18: “…And the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had strictly sworn the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones away from here with you.’ And they moved from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people” (vs 18-22).
Notice what God did, deliberately! Sometimes God does this in our lives, too, to show us His intervention! In this case, to show His power to the children of Israel and to destroy the Egyptians.
Exodus 14:1: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal Zephon. You shall camp before it by the sea’” (vs 1-2).
Here’s the Red Sea and to go to the ‘Holy Land’ was to go through the land of the Canaanites. To go the way God wanted, they turned south. They went down by the Red Sea. There was a very narrow place for them to camp by. Behind them were the mountains and in front of them was the sea.
Those who really don’t believe God say that it was kind of a sea of reeds, kind of a marsh and they just went through it. NO! We’re dealing with the Creator God Who created the heavens and the earth, and He wanted to show them a great display of His power, and also to destroy the Egyptians. So, God brought them there.
Now, Pharaoh and all those back in Egypt said to themselves: ‘What have we done? We’ve let all our slaves go!’ Think about it! Let’s use a modern example: take away all your electricity and electronic devices. You sit there and think: ‘I’ve lost everything!’ For most people that would be true! Well, that’s how they felt:
Our salves are gone! I have to cook my own food! I have to bring my own water! We know what we will do; we heard that they went down by the Red Sea and we’re going to go get them.
That’s exactly what happened! Pharaoh got his army—600 chariots and all the men of war—and they came like a fury, ‘We’re going to get our slaves back, because we need them.’
Verse 8: “And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a high hand. So, the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army. And they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. And, behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And they were very afraid….” (vs 8-10). They had just left. They were all happy and on their way. Can you imagine all the songs that they were singing as they were walking along happy, and all of a sudden they turn around and see, ‘Look! The Egyptians are coming!’
Did God make a mistake? Look at that, they became afraid! Remember, there will be times when we will have trials so that we can trust God. Ask God for the help through it; don’t be afraid.
“…And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. And they said to Moses…” (vs 10-11). We’re going to see some very interesting things here in the sermon for today. God does things for us that we cannot do! But when trouble comes, there’s always human nature. What is the first thing that human nature always does? Accuse someone else!
So, that’s what they did! They came to Moses and said, “…‘Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt?….’” (v 11). ‘Why do we have to be buried out here? We could have been buried in Egypt!’
“‘…Why have you dealt this way with us to carry us forth out of Egypt?’” (v 11) They were having second thoughts. Some people may have second thoughts about: I don’t know about this little group. Look at the whole world and everything, they can’t be all wrong. Really?
Notice that they changed their story, because at the beginning of the book of Exodus it says that they were moaning and groaning because of the slavery that they were under and the harsh treatment that they were under. They were crying out to God, and God told Moses, ‘I heard their cry; I’m going rescue them.’
Notice how they changed their story, v 12: “Did we not tell you this word in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians?’ for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
- God’s way is not fair!
- Why did He do this
- Why do we have to suffer?
- Why is it so difficult?
Verse 13: “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not!….’” That’s exactly what it needs to be with us. We’re going face some terrible times in the future, but we need to have the same thing: “…Fear not!….” Don’t going running over to the Egyptians and say, ‘Here I am, I’ll wait on you! Don’t kill me!’
“…Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today… [God has a purpose in mind for what He is going to do] …for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again! The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall be still” (vs 13-14).
This tells us the theme of today. God alone can do the impossible! He alone can help us and rescue us!
- He’s the One Who called us out of this world
- He’s the One Who brought us to the point of baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit
- He is the One Who has opened our mind to the Word of Truth
—which is even greater than what happened with the children of Israel here at the Red Sea. “The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall be still.”
Verse 15: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me?…. [Moses got carried away with it, too] …Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.’” Another theme: You go forward toward the Kingdom of God! You do not go backward into Egypt. You go forward!
Verse 16: “And you—lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.” That’s must have been a fantastic experience. It was pretty deep where they went.
When God does something so great at this, men come along and they like to minimize it. Well, God likes to maximize it. You know what happened; God performed another miracle. He told them:
Verse 17: “And behold, I am about to harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. And I will get honor for Myself upon Pharaoh, and over all his army, over his chariots and over his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I will be glorified through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen” (vs 17-18). That was a message to Moses.
What did God do? Here are the children of Israel right by the sea. Here are the Egyptians coming to block them off. What did God do? He sent a cloud and it came between:
Verse 19: “And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved. And he went to the rear of them. And the pillar of the cloud went from in front of them and it stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. It was a cloud of darkness to one, but gave light by night to the other, so that the two did not come near one another all night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground….” (vs 19-22).
They were camped in a long column. There wasn’t room for them to organize around closer together. When they went across the Red Sea, God opened it up really, really wide. All they had to do is—if you’ve ever been in the military—what is called a ‘flanking movement’ so they could get across the Red Sea very quickly. I don’t know how wide it was, but it must have been a tremendously wide thing. Not like when you see the movies The Exodus and The Ten Commandments where they walked down a little narrow channel into the Red Sea. NO! This was wide! It had to be really terrific and tremendous for the Pharaoh and the soldiers to look at and see, ‘Look! The water is way up there! Look! The water is way down there!’
The children of Israel went across, got the other side and it was early morning. Then God lifted the cloud from between them and the Egyptians saw that the children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea. God put it in their hearts to go after the children of Israel, because God had a plan. Here’s what God did:
Verse 22: “And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground. And the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the middle of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch… [right about dawn] …it came to pass that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and the army of the Egyptians was thrown into confusion” (vs 22-24). That’s how God fights!
Sidebar concerning war and fighting: The children were not to go to war unless God said, ‘Go to war and I will fight for you.’ We will see that in many instances as we go through the meaning of this day. When they went to war without God, they lost! So, this is the way God fights! He caused confusion among the Egyptians! They didn’t know what to do.
Verse 25: “And He loosened their chariot wheels… [BOOM! BOOM! They all fell off!] …and made them go heavily, so that the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.’” Isn’t that something?
This is why another lesson out of this last day: not to complain, not to accuse someone else, but look to God, ask for His help and also to remember: God fights for us! We turn it over to God’s hands.
Verse 26: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.’” BANG! The waters came down, closed in and all of them died, everything crushed, nothing left!
The children of Israel were all happy, really rejoicing: dancing and praising God, thanking Him for what a great and wonderful thing that this was. You find that in the first part of Exo. 15. They were glorifying God so much; it was a wonderful, wonderful thing. This was really a great event. This is how the children of Israel left the land of Egypt.
This also had another affect; God said that this would be known in all the nations around, that He had fought for the children of Israel and had delivered them. That would put the fear of the children of Israel in the eyes of those that they would conquer. Then God would complete the battle and help them take over the land.
Now, they had a long way to go, because they had to go to Mt. Sinai. From the time that they left Egypt until the time they got to Mt. Sinai was seven weeks. That ties in with Pentecost, and we will cover that as we get toward Pentecost.
But again, here’s what we need to learn from this; Exodus 15:23: “And when they came to Marah… [because they left and came to the wilderness of Shur and they found new water] …they could not drink of the waters of Marah because it was bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah.”
Notice the short memory that people have, v 24: “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’”
Stop and think of this for a minute: All the way through the difficulty and problems that they had on their way to Mt. Sinai. How many plagues did the children of Israel see come upon the Egyptians before they left? How many fantastic things occurred? God delivered them! They left and walked through the Red Sea!
This is another lesson for us: When things get difficult, don’t blame God. Go to Him and ask Him for His help. Go to Him and ask Him to intervene.
Notice what the people did. They didn’t say, ‘Hey, everybody, look the water here is not fit to drink. How about we all gather around and get on our knees and pray to God and ask Him to make it possible for us to drink the water.’ Wow! That would have really changed history—wouldn’t it? Yes, it would have!
Verse 24: “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ And he cried to the LORD. And the LORD showed him a tree. And when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a decree and a law for them, and there He proved them” (vs 24-25).
- our faith will be proved
- our steadfastness will be tried
All of these things will affect us, and this is why we can learn the lesson out of this last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Verse 26: “And He said, ‘If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God…’” Remember the three words: obey My voice! And the other response is: if you hear! That means to listen to the voice of God and hear to obey, then God will bless you!
“…‘If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD Who heals you’” (v 26). Tremendous thing to know:
It also shows that there are two things we need to do:
Then maybe there’s something physical that needs to be done just like it was here in casting the tree into the water.
“…and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians…” (v 26).
Stop and think about this for minute: Look at all the sickness and disease that we have today in this modern world. Here’s the answer right here:
Psa. 78 is a very interesting Psalm because it recounts their exodus and shows that the children of Israel over and over again:
That’s why we have the history here. We have the Law and then we have Joshua, Judges, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings. They all give us a history of what the children of Israel did. They didn’t follow God!
Psalm 78:14: “And in the daytime He led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink, as from the great depths” (vs 14-15). The miracles that God can do He did for them. The water just started flowing out of the rocks as if from the great deep.
Verse 16: “He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet, they continued to sin still more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking food for their lust” (vs 16-18).
What they should have done was that they should have said, ‘Look, God had done all these things for us, and He can provide food for us.’ God already had in mind that He was going to send them manna. So, He sent the manna and you have the whole lesson there with that.
Time and again they would sin against God! After He sent the flesh—the quail—they were eating it so quickly that a plague came upon them.
Verse 30: “They were not turned away from their lust, but while their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and killed the strongest of them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they still sinned and did not believe in His wonderful works” (vs 30-31).
This is why in the New Covenant He’s given the Holy Spirit:
Verse 33: “Therefore, He ended their days in vanity and their years in terror.” I wonder why we have the war of terror upon us?
Verse 34: “When He slew them… [this is typical] …then they sought Him…”
‘Oh, God, why did this happen?’ Like 9/11, tragic thing, terrible thing! Even the President said for everybody to go to church and synagogue, go to the temple. Well, that lasted about three weeks!
“…and they turned back and sought after God earnestly. And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God was their Redeemer. Nevertheless…” (vs 34-36). This is why the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so that we know that we have to live the way God wants us to live.
“…they flattered Him with their mouths, and they lied to Him with their tongues” (v 36). Does that not perfectly describe the Christianity of the world today? Yes, indeed!
Verse 37: “For their heart was not steadfast with Him; neither were they faithful in His covenant. But… [notice the mercy and compassion of God]: …He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; yea, many times He turned His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath, for He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away and does not come again. How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness and grieve Him in the desert! And still again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel” (vs 37-41). Good lesson for us!
Now let’s look in some of the Psalms and let’s see how God will intervene for us. A lot of this has to do with prayer:
There are going to be times when we will be overwhelmed. Just like if you looked out there, as the children of Israel did, and saw the Red Sea and say, ‘How are we going to cross that?’ Sometimes problems come just like the waves of the ocean.
Psalm 3:1: “O LORD, how my foes have increased! Many are the ones who rise up against me. Many are saying of my soul, ‘There is no deliverance for him in God.’ Selah.” (vs 1-2). Whenever you see that word ‘Selah’ that means stop, think and meditate on it!
Verse 3: “But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One Who lifts up my head. I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He answered me out of His Holy mountain. Selah” (vs 3-4). Stop and think about it!
Sometimes we may have to go through certain things, but God always answers our prayers! So, you look to God for everything!
There’s quite a bit in Psa. 25, which tells us how we draw close to God, how we yield to Him, and how we grow and overcome.
Psalm 25:17: “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring me out of my distresses.” Isn’t that something? That’s how you are to pray to God. He will!
Verse 18: “Look upon my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins…. [ask God to help you] …Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. O keep my soul and deliver me… [when troubles come, you ask God to help you, ask God to intervene; He will deliver you] …let me not be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on You. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles” (vs 18-22). Just put your name there. God redeems us out of all of our troubles!
Psalm 33:18: “Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear Him, upon those who hope in His loving kindness.”
How about those of us who have the Spirit of God? We are the center of God’s attention, because He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge and understanding, and prepare to enter the Kingdom of God.
Verse 19: “To deliver their soul from death… [eternal life] …and to keep them alive in famine.” It doesn’t mean that if famine comes that you won’t suffer a little bit, but will keep you alive.
Verse 20: “Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.” You can put these Scriptures that we’re going to cover:
Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall always be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears” (vs 1-4).
Just like God told Moses and the children of Israel at the Red Sea: Stand still! Don’t be afraid! I will fight for you!
Verse 5: “They looked to Him and were radiant; and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard, and saved him out of all his troubles” (vs 5-6). Yes! There are plenty of troubles we’re going to run into in the world. Isn’t that true? That’s why we need to have:
This is quite a thing when you understand all of this!
Notice the extra help you can’t eve see, v 7: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.”
Now let’s look at the theme of this Psalm, v 6: “…saved him out of all his troubles.”
Verse 8: “O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” You go to God, rather than try and figure out your own devices and what you’re going to do. Let God lead you in what needs to be done.
Here’s how we are to live, v 14: “Depart from evil and do good… [that’s the theme of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:
“…seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (vs 14-15). God will help; God will hear! That’s the whole lesson of today:
Verse 16: “The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry… [listen to this and we will see the theme] …and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles” (vs 16-17).
Verse 18: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are of a contrite spirit.”
Verse 19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Deliverance comes from God! Quite a theme for today; that’s really quite something!
Psalm 37:39: “But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD… [What is that salvation? Let’s see it here]: …He is their strength in the time of trouble.” When you get down to it, we don’t have much strength at all—do we?
This is why, and here’s how it’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s good to read the conclusion and then come back and read the beginning.
Verse 40: “And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them because they take refuge in Him.”
How does that happen? This is interesting. Look at what God wants us to do so that this will occur. Everything in between leads up to this:
Verse 1: “[#1]Do not fret yourself because of evildoers, and do not be envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass; and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and cherish faithfulness” (vs 1-3).
“…dwell in the land…”—stand fast with the Lord!
Verse 4: “Delight yourself in the LORD…” Notice:
“…and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass” (vs 4-5).
Those five verses are really fantastic, showing how we need to trust in God in everything. This is the working of faith! This is the process of the faith of God working in us so we can do these things:
Then it also says and let’s see what will happen, v 6: “And He shall bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; [#2]do not fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of him who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; [#3]do not fret yourself…” (vs 6-8).
There it is again, don’t fret yourself three times. Don’t get frustrated and upset because of what other people do. Ask God:
This is why this day is so great! It is a day where we learn to trust God, trust Jesus Christ!
all the way through this Psalm.
What I want you to do is take Psa. 37 and study through it. If you’re in the middle of troubles and difficulties coming upon you, take this Psalm and get on your knees and you open it up and read it. Pray to God and you read it and pray to God. Ask Him to intervene in your life and your circumstances, whatever they may be.
This is how God wants us to approach Him, and trust Him in all of these evil things that come around.
(go to the next track)
2-Kings 19—this is quite an account; it’s very lengthy and you can read 2-Kings 18 and every thing leading up to it, but here the Assyrians who were conquering the world at that time had come and were ready to take down Judah, Jerusalem and all the cities. They threatened to take them away, to kill them, to plunder everything that they had. They even sent one of their generals to speak to the people on the wall of Jerusalem and he said, ‘Look, our great King Sennacherib has done so many things, has conquered this god and that god and this nation and that nation. Now, if you surrender to us, we’ll give you some horses and you can go away.’
But, of course, that was all a ruse, and they told them not to believe in Hezekiah, if your king says, ‘God will deliver you. Don’t believe him, because has God delivered any of the other nations out of our hands? Of course not!’
When Hezekiah heard this, here’s what happened, 2-Kings 19:3: And they said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, “This is a day of trouble and of rebuke and contempt, for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.”’” The assembly was saying, ‘Look, this is exactly what it’s like; we’re just helpless here.
Verse 4: “‘It may be the LORD your God will hear all the words of the chief field commander with which his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. And you shall lift up prayer for the rest who are left.’ And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said to them, ‘You shall say to your master, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and shall return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land’”’” (vs 4-7).
They took the letter that the field commander had given and gave it to King Hezekiah. Here’s what Hezekiah did, and this is what we are to do whenever we find ourselves in trouble:
Verse 14: “And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.”
Take all your troubles and difficulties, all the things that you are going through, with a humble heart, repentant. In this case Hezekiah put on sackcloth and went before the Lord and prayed and laid it out before Him this way:
Verse 15: “And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, ‘O LORD God of Israel Who dwells between the cherubim, You are God Himself, You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made the heavens and the earth. LORD, bow down Your ear and hear. O LORD, open Your eyes and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have thrown their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, and they have destroyed them. And now, O, LORD our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, and You only’” (vs 15-19).
And the word came to Isaiah and he went to Hezekiah, v 20: “And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “I have heard what you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria”’” And the Lord said He would fight for him.
Let’s see what happened, because God loves us, cares for us, wants us, etc.; v 32: “Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria. ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor throw up a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same way he shall return, and shall not come into this city,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake’” (vs 32-34).
That’s quite a way to express it! God was doing it. Hezekiah was righteous—later on had his own problems—and trusted in the Lord. God heard! God answered! Let’s notice how He answered, exactly as He said. Remember, this was a huge army.
Verse 35: “And it came to pass that night, the angel of the LORD went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians….” Killed them all! We don’t know what God did to do it, but when God fights our battles, He does a good job! He will intervene!
All of us are going to go through problems and trials. I look back on the years that we have been serving God, and yes, there have been many difficult times and trials, yes indeed! But God has delivered us out of them all! We’re thankful for that and remember that. Understand that this day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures how God will fight for us!
“…Now when they arose…” (v 35). Those when were not killed and the king. I imagine that when they woke up in the morning they must have said to themselves: ‘It’s really quiet out there! I don’t hear a thing!’ A hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers make a lot of noise getting up in the morning and getting ready, getting the battle gear and all of this stuff ready to go. Silence! Not a sound! They were all dead!
“…early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed. And he went and returned and lived at Nineveh” (vs 35-36). Then it says his two sons came and killed him.
When God says He’ll fight for us, He means He will fight for us! He will! And He will do so because:
We have these trials and difficulties comes so that we can learn to grow in grace and knowledge!.
Now let’s come to the New Testament. In 1-Cor. 10 we see all the examples of things that happened to Israel were to teach us lessons for those of us who are the New Covenant Christians. This chapter tells us quite a bit:
1-Corinthians 10:1: “Now, I do not wish you to be ignorant of this, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual meat. And they all drank of the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them. And that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not pleased, for their dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness. Now these things became examples for us… [or types for us] …so that we might not lust after evil things, as they also lusted” (vs 1-6).
What Paul is saying here is that if there are troubles and difficulties coming upon you don’t let it be because of the correction of God, because you’ve been sinning, because you haven’t been doing what God wants you to do.
Verse 7: “Neither be idolaters, as were some of them…” Just think of this: You talk about human nature and how brazen it can be. Well, here they were with God right with them in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, and yet, they committed idolatry. When Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Word of God, what happened was that people came together and said, ‘Aaron, we don’t know what happened to this Moses. He went up on the mountain and it has been many days and we’ve haven’t heard a word from him. We know that the mountain was on fire and maybe it’s a volcano and he fell into the fire. Who knows? Why don’t you make gods for us!’
You can read that account in Exo. 31. So, what did Aaron do? He said, ‘Bring me your gold,’ and he made a golden calf! And he said, ‘This is a feast unto the Lord’ when it wasn’t! You know the story. Moses came down and he was so angry that he threw down the tablets that God had written on it with His own finger the Ten Commandments.
“…as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither should we commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and twenty-three thousand were destroyed in one day. Neither should we tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted Him, and were killed by serpents. Neither should we complain against God, as some of them also complained, and were killed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages are coming. Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall” (vs 7-12).
In other words we have to come to God, we have to grow in faith and we have to grow in knowledge. Every day we go forward. Never get lifted up and think that ‘I’ve done this, that and the other thing.’ Then you get carried away with vanity and difficulties and problems happen.
Here’s the point: Every problem or difficulty that comes along, v 13: “No temptation has come upon you except what is common to mankind. For God, Who is faithful, will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear; but with the temptation, He will make a way of escape, so that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (vs 13-14). Idolatry was starting to come in there. A good example for us!
We also have another enemy to fight; let’s make sure that we understand. We have an enemy to fight who is after us all the time, and that is Satan the devil. We will see how and what we need to do so that we don’t fall into that trap.
Ephesians 6:10: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord…” That’s what this whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is about: how we build the faith and learn to trust God in everything that we do. Not our own ways, devices and schemes.
We are to be wise and making good choices and all of those things are true, but we are to “…be strong in the Lord…”
“…and in the might of His strength.… [all strength comes from God] …Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual power of wickednessin high places” (vs 10-12).
This is what we are to do: get rid of the sin, get rid of the things in our lives! Stand with God! Let’s see what we are to do, how we are to develop and grow. Here is the goal. Their (the children of Israel) goal was to reach the ‘promised land.’ Our goal is to enter into the Kingdom of God!
This is a spiritual battle, and the strongest thing we can have is the love of God, using the Spirit of God, to be led by the Spirit of God.
Philippians 2: 1: “Now then, if there be any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any deep inner affections and compassions.” These are the things that we are to grow and develop in.
Verse 2: “Fulfill my joy that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being joined together in soul, minding the one thing”—which is to attain the Kingdom of God.
Verse 5: “Let this mind be in you…” That’s the whole purpose: put out the sin; put in the righteousness and develop the mind of Christ
That’s why we need to learn the Word of God—Old Testament and New Testament—and put it together. How this is going to come to us is through faith. This ties in with baptism, with coming out of the watery grave ‘to walk in newness of life.’
Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, yet, I live.…”—because we came out of the watery grave, but we take:
and work on the things we need to work on:
“…yet, I live. Indeed, it is no longer I; but Christ lives in me…. [that’s the important thing] …For the life that I am now living in the flesh, I live by faith—that very faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (v 20).
Let’s see how this works; let’s see how Paul explains this. Faith is part of the fruit of the Spirit of God. We, as human beings, have a certain amount of faith, but the faith for salvation comes from God through His Spirit. Let’s see how Paul expresses it here:
Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes…” This is our faith going toward God and then God’s faith coming back to us through Christ.
“…—both to the Jew first, and to the Greek. For therein… [in the Gospel] …the righteousness of God is revealed…” (vs 16-17). The true purpose of life, the righteousness of loving God and keeping His commandments.
“…from faith unto faith…” (v 17). The Greek word for unto is ‘eis’; this is describing our relationship with God, which is our faith to God and His faith back to us; that goes back to God: “…faith unto faith…”
then
“…according as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’
knowing that
We need to also realize that there are many, many things that Christ has promised.
Let’s see something very interesting, how we need to keep coming to God and growing and overcoming, and that He will be there:
All of this!
Hebrews 4:12: “For the Word of God is living and powerful…” Add in there: true, faithful, righteous, good and the power within us with the Spirit of God that gives us the strength to go forward.
“…and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of both soul and spirit, and of both the joints and the marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart” (v 12).
That’s what the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is about. We examine our heart and mind, our lives and what we do. We compare that with the Word of God. We examine our faith:
All of these things together work in helping us to grow and overcome.
Verse 13: “And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account. Having, therefore, a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold fast the confession of our faith” (vs 13-14).
Not only are we to grow in grace and knowledge, we are to:
All of this help comes from Christ!
Verse 15: “For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot empathize with our weaknesses…” We all have weaknesses. We all have difficulties and problems to overcome. He understands and we will see that He is there to help. He will never abandon us!
“…but One Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our own temptations; yet, He was without sin. Therefore, we should come with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (vs 15-16).
Let’s see the promise that Jesus has given. If you have been having troubles and difficulties, they have been overwhelming you and you feel like the waves of life are just crushing you and it’s hard to even lift your head up. Remember this:
Hebrews 13:5: “Do not allow the love of money to influence your behavior, but be satisfied with what you have… [don’t get carried away with lust because]: …for He has said… [I want you to really think on this]: …‘In no way…’”
Stop and think: Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! God cannot lie! God’s Word is true! We can have faith and belief in what Jesus has said here, and we can trust him in all of our times of trouble.
“…‘In no way will I ever leave you… [this is of paramount importance] …no—I will never forsake you in any way’” (v 5). This is very powerful in the Greek, because there are three negatives here:
Verse 6: “So then, let us boldly say, ‘The Lord is my Helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” That’s quite a thing! Yes, indeed!
That’s how God wants to be with us and fight our battles for us, and help us in every way. That’s why we need the love of God and the faith of God. Let’s see that, yes, we have a fight! We have a battle! We have to fight the good fight of faith!
1-Timothy 6:11: “But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, endurance and meekness.” All of these things are the armament of God that we use to fight the good fight of faith. “…pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, endurance and meekness.”
Verse 12: “Fight the good fight of the faith!….” Because Christ is there to help! God will fight for us! We are not to get frustrated and fret over the troubles and difficulties that come into our lives. We are to take them to God and He will help us in everything in every way. We will see that there is not anything that can be against us; nothing can be against us!
“…Take hold of eternal life to which you were also called, and did profess a good profession in the presence of many witnesses” (v 12).
Rom. 8 is quite a chapter; this is a chapter that shows us the way that we:
—all of that together.
Romans 8:14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” That’s the continuous goal that we need.
that comes through:
Verse 15: “Now, you have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, whereby we call out, ‘Abba, Father.’” We have the begettal of God the Father and the Spirit of Jesus Christ in us! This gives us
We will see that the rest of this chapter is absolutely overwhelming in its promises and assurance that we need.
Verse 16: “The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God. Now, if we are children, we are also heirs…” (vs 16-17). We are going to inherit the Kingdom of God! And later with Christ, all things!
“…—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him” (v 17).
This is why with the new book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? We need to keep focused on the promise of eternal life, eternal glory, the love of God, the whole goal that is set before us! This is how we can overcome and live in a time when there’s going to be a great deal of trouble from everywhere, like its almost on every side!
Verse 18: “For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”
don’t think:
Make yourself a promise: no more pity-parties! ‘Oh woe is me!’ Take the Scriptures, get on your knees, pray to God, apply them to yourself, ask God to encourage you and help you and lift you up. He will!
Notice what we are going to do when we’re in the Kingdom of God, v 19: “For the earnest expectation of the creation itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God.”
All the problems in this world are waiting for Christ to return and our resurrection so that all the saints together—ruling and reigning under Christ—can bring peace to this world. Think about that:
Just remember God has called you and me, and all of the saints, so that we can solve all of these problems. But first we must develop the character of God and that comes by faith!
Verse 20: “Because the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope.” Understand this: there’s an organization out there The Hope of the World. The hope of the world is Christ! The hope of the world are the saints of God working with Christ to bring peace to this world!
Verse 21: “In order that the creation itself might be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Think of how great this is. We’re going to be delivered by a resurrection to become spirit beings and accomplish this.
Verse 22: “For we know that all the creation is groaning together and travailing together until now.” You read the history of men and what they’ve gone through, what they’ve done and you see how the world has been. What a mess! What a pitiful mess that we as human beings have made of this earth, made of ourselves, made of our countries, civilizations and so forth. Nothing but corruption and sin! Terrible! But we are the ones to deliver it!
Verse 23: “And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, also groan within ourselves, awaiting the sonship—the redemption of our bodies. For by hope we were saved…” (vs 23-24). We have to have that faith so that salvation will be complete at the resurrection.
“…but hope that is seen is not hope; for why would anyone still be hoping for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see… [because it hasn’t been completed yet; it hasn’t arrived] …we ourselves wait for it with patience” (vs 24-25). From faith into faith; from God to us and back to God; our relationship with God!
Verse 26: “Now, in the same way also, the Spirit is conjointly helping our weaknesses because we do not fully understand what we should pray for, according as it is necessary, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groaning that cannot be expressed by us.”
What does that mean? The Holy Spirit of God takes the heart and core of our prayers—all the distractions that come into our mind are all weeded out—and it goes to God in a spiritual expression that He can know and understand!
The Holy Spirit does that for us. Christ is our Intercessor at the right hand of God, but the Holy Spirit of God is that power that makes that intercession possible within our lives.
Verse 27: “And the One Who searches the hearts comprehends what the strivings of the Spirit are because it makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know…” (vs 27-28).
Now, I want you to really understand the rest of this chapter. This is one that we need quite often to encourage us. If you’re depressed or down, or you don’t know what to do, or everything seems to be overwhelming, come here to this chapter and start in v 28, because this is an all-important chapter for us.
Verse 28: “And we know that all things…” Think of this: troubles, difficulties, problems, trials—all things—doesn’t say some things, doesn’t say most things, it doesn’t say only the ones that God chooses, but all things!
“…work together for good to those who love God… [everything comes back to loving God] …to those who are called according to His purpose” (v 28). Because we have been! His purpose is that we are going to be in His kingdom.
Verse 29: “Because those whom He did foreknow… [that’s now, we’re foreknown right now; He’s given us His Spirit] …He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son…” Think about that! Having a spirit body, mind and glory in the image of Christ.
“…that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren” (v 29). We’re going to be the sons and daughters of God of the Father and the brethren of Jesus Christ spiritually forever and ever and ever!
Verse 30: “Now, whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” That is a ‘prophetic perfect’ in the Greek, meaning in God’s eyes, because He’s given His Spirit, if we are faith it is as good as done!
Verse 31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Think of that! We can put it in a little different phrasing: Since God is for us, nothing can be against us!
Verse 32: “He Who did not spare even His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also grant us all things together with Him?…. [when Christ returns] …Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God?….” (vs 32-33)—not even Satan the devil, because we overcome him with the word of our testimony, by the blood of Jesus Christ, and because we love God more than we love our own lives. No one can bring an accusation against us!
“…God is the One Who justifies. Who is the one that condemns? It is Christ Who died, but rather, Who is raised again, Who is even now at the right hand of God, and Who is also making intercession for us” (vs 33-34). There you have the combination of the intercession of the Spirit, from us to Christ and Christ to the Father.
Verse 35: “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?…. [all of these are circumstantial things]: …Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…. [none of that] …Accordingly, it is written, ‘For Your sake we are killed all the day long…’” (vs 35-36). Yes, Christians have been killed, but that does not deter God!
“‘…we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter.’ But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am persuaded… [this is the persuasion we need]: …that neither death, nor life, nor angels… [Satan’s angels] …nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vs 36-39).
That’s the meaning of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Brethren, it’s been a wonderful Feast, and I hope these things have been helpful for you; and the end of the Feast is coming at sundown.
Scriptural References:
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
Also referenced: Book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter

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Why Were You Born?
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Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – 2016

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