Last Day of Unleavened Bread 2016—Live

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

We’ve been watching what the elections are portending. It’s interesting how it comes about. There’s one thing for sure that you learn with it. This is why we are here and they are there:

Psalm 62:8: “Trust in Him at all times… [that’s what this day pictures] …you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. Surely men of low degree are vanity… [best we are is vanity] …and men of high degree are a lie… [what you’re watching on television when you see all of this going on] …when weighed in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity” (vs 8-9). Look at the schemes, look at all the things that they are doing. Amazing!

Verse 10: “Trust not in oppression, and do not take pride in stolen goods… [I wonder if they should read this in Congress?] …if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. God has spoken once; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. Also to You, O LORD, belongs mercy; for You give to every man according to his work” (vs 10-12).

Very interesting question if you’re confronted by a hardcore grace Sunday-keeper. When they get done telling you all about it, then ask them: If that’s the case, why does God judge us ‘according to our works’?

So, here we are in the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Very interesting if you think about this: We don’t know exactly how the copies of the Bible were before Ezra and Nehemiah. Were they all at the temple? There were very few synagogues before the fall of Jerusalem and Judea under Nebuchadnezzar. What we’re reading in Lev. 23 was particular knowledge for the priests and only general knowledge to the people as they taught it.

When Ezra set up the synagogue system, he set it up because there was such a movement with the Samaritan Jews, with their temple and their version, and so forth that they had, that’s why he canonized the Old Testament. They sent out official copies to every synagogue. That was the first time that it was out there on a mass basis. As we read Lev. 23 we find that everything is connected, especially Unleavened Bread and Pentecost.

Leviticus 23:1: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, “Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts”’” (vs 1-2). The first one is a Sabbath, which He created to sanctify us.

Every time we obey God we receive understanding. Every time we disobey God we lose knowledge. People want to know where God is. Keep the Sabbath! The fourth commandment says God created everything that there is.

Then He says, v 3: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.” That puts us in contact with God. What is the next logical question?

• What is God doing?
• Does He have a plan?
• How do you explain wickedness and trouble and terrible things going on?
• How is God going to solve that?

That’s the first question on everyone’s mind. God has the answer in the next step to understanding God. Just keep reading:

Verse 5: “In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD’S Passover.” The Passover is the day that Jesus Christ was killed. He is the Lamb of God, because His sacrifice goes all the way back and all the way forward to cover all human life.

With the Passover, this tells us how God is going to solve the problem of human sin. Since human beings are the pinnacle of His creation of the physical things on the earth… Stop and think about it; I think the longer you live, the more you understand it: everything about the earth has been made to support God’s creation that He created here: human life, animal life, plant life, ocean life, air life, all that sort of thing.

All of them all fit together. Human beings call it the ecosystem. Scientists like to think they’re very smart, but God is the greatest scientist because He made it all. The only thing they can do is analyze it and try and figure it out.

Once you have a means of forgiving human sin, now what do you do? Unleavened Bread! You learn God’s way, you put it into your heart and mind, that’s the symbolism of the unleavened bread. Then we come to the next Holy Day, which is today, the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This tells us that in life there are going to be many challenges and difficulties, and that God works in our lives and He will take care of it for us if we trust in Him. He will work out circumstances that we don’t even realize will happen.

Have you had that happen in your life? It says, ‘above all that we ask or think’ (Eph. 3). Have you had something happen to you in a good way that you really didn’t pray about it, you just thought about it? A fleeting thought—Oh, God, that would be nice. Then somewhere down the road you’re going along and the light goes on; God answered that prayer.

That’s what this day is all about! It’s also connected, as we will see, to Pentecost. But we’ll focus on this day.

• 1^st day—Holy convocation
• 7^th day—Holy convocation
• bring an offering made by fire

We don’t have an altar here or we don’t have one there, but we have all of the things that we have earned and we have our paper money today.

Think about if God blessed you, and say you own some cattle. I remember Burk Harts who had a dairy ranch. Very tough to run a dairy and be in the Church because cows have to be milked, but he figured out to do it once on the Sabbath.

He asked me, ‘What do you think about modern in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination of cattle?’ I said, ‘I think God created the bull to take care of the matter directly. Why don’t you try that and see what happens?’ He did and it was a tall one, it was a mammoth bull. It stood very high and it had a head that was big. Now I know why he kept him corralled in a special barn.

Now I know why they don’t let bulls live very long because they get mean and aggressive. He used the bull instead of artificial insemination and in the first year he had, I think it was, four maybe six sets of twins. Is that a 100-fold or not? He was blessed.

That’s what these Holy Days are about: God in our lives and our lives in God. We are to give according to the blessings that God has given us. Someone asked me, ‘Why don’t you send out a letter and ask for money? Put an envelope in it.’ I said, ‘No, brethren and people need to know that God does expect tithes and offerings.’ He also expects us to give, but He doesn’t want us to be merchandisers. So, that’s why! If we do, we’ll find ourselves blessed in whatever way it may be.

• it may be a blessing that you have good health
• it may be a blessing that you keep your job
• it may be other blessings physically

What is the most important blessing of all? The Spirit of God and understanding His Word, especially in this age! Think about that. Think about the fantastic blessing that ever since there has been the printed Bible, that people have been able to get together to read the Bible. Think about how God’s Church has been able to grow in grace and knowledge. Also, you have to tie in some prophecies.

What we understand today, and we understand through loving God, keeping His commandments, He says in the end-time the wise shall understand. None of the wicked will understand. If you just told someone, ‘I love God and keep His Sabbath and Holy Days.’ They would give you a strange look. ‘Why do you do that?’ You could tell them.

(pause for offering)

Let’s continue on and see what happened because we can learn from historical things that happened on particular days. It’s very interesting. It’s a very complicated book, so I don’t recommend it for anyone who is not interested in numbers and savvy with numbers, because your head will just spin. That’s the book, The Music of the Appointed Times by Dwight Blevins (friendsofsabbath.org). And how so many things are done right on schedule and we don’t even know about it.

When the children of Israel left at the beginning of the 15^th day on what is now the Night Much to Be Remembered to the Lord, or observed unto the Lord, and God did something deliberate.

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 although that was near, for God said, ‘Lest the people repent when they see war… [He knew it was going to happen] …and they return to Egypt.’”

Tie this verse in with Matt. 13 and Mark 4, which is the sowing of the seed. Some fell on the stony place, sprouted up, they died. Some fell in the weeds, cares and riches of the world choked it out. Others received it with joy and Satan came along and took it away.

‘Oh, that’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear about it. I’m so happy that the Lord is with you. Can I go to church with you on Sunday?’ And you say, ‘Well, no, we go the day before.’ Really, there must be something wrong with you.

God knew what was going to happen, v 18: “But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness…” The way means the highway. They had certain regular roads that they went on.

If you watch any of the NatGeo shows, especially in Africa, there are a lot of little highways that are through the wilderness and through the grasslands for elephants, zebras, wildebeests; they all have the way that they go. Then you have all of the predators: the lions, cheetahs, leopards; they have their little paths that they go on. Then you have the wild dogs. For all of those there was a path to go on. There was the way that came down by the Red Sea.

They took the bones of Joseph, and so forth. God told them to go down there, the first part of Exo. 14 and they were camped alongside the Red Sea.

How many have watched on television the supposed immigrants from the Middle East going in droves up to Europe? Wide column, all together, and that’s as close as you can come to what the Exodus was like, only add to it animals, carts, etc., and they’re going. They have to go in marching order, and the order was established by God.

When they came to the Red Sea, they were marching down alongside the Red Sea and there was not a lot of room left over toward the mountains on the west. The Red Sea was on the right. God didn’t take them by the Sea of Reeds, the little puddle that’s up there where most of the atheists say that’s where they went. They were camped there.

This leads in to the Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is their last move out of Egypt. There they were all camped, and the Egyptians said, ‘We let them all go. I have to cook my food, I have to draw my water.’

Think of it this way: We had our stove go out for just a day or two. What do you do without a stove? You have to go out to the fast food place to buy something! What if there wasn’t a fast food place? In Egypt they didn’t have a lot of McDonalds, Wendys, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Safeway, Knob Hills, and all of this sort of thing.

So they said, ‘We got to get all of these servants and slaves back.’ So Pharaoh said, ‘That’s a good idea.’ He got his 600 chariots, his army, and they came lickity-split to try and get them. God knew that this was going to happen. He deliberately set it up so He could show the children of Israel His great power.

They all got there, Exodus 14:10: “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. And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.”

They all fell on their knees and prayed to God and God zapped them with fire from heaven. NO! This is the lesson for today. When difficult things come along, don’t blame God. Let’s see what they did.

Human nature always blames someone else. So here you go, v 11: “And they said to Moses, ‘Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt?…. [‘There was plenty of room to bury us there. What did you bring us here for?’] …Why have you dealt this way with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this word in Egypt, saying, “Let us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians?”….’” (vs 11-12).

See how human nature changes the story? What were they doing? They were moaning, growing, crying out to God: ‘Oh, we’re under all this slavery and making these bricks and all the works that we’re doing.’ God heard their cry, brought them out. They didn’t look to God, they looked to Moses.

“‘…for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.’ And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not! Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today…’” (vs 12-13).

Many times God lets us get into situations and causes us to come to situations to see whether we will rely on Him or not. It also shows there are going to be situations and difficulties that are far beyond our ability to overcome. The thing that God is doing is far beyond the immediate problem we are examining. We can look back and see, even in the Church, all the things that we went through while the Church was going astray, and all the difficulties. God wanted to know; He was testing the whole Church:

• Do you love Me?
• Will you keep My commandments always?
• What if there are difficulties and you can’t control them?
• What are you going to do?
• Are you going to get along and go along?
• Are you going to stand for the Truth?
• Are you going to keep My Word?
• Are you going to trust in Me?

All of those things come up. “‘…Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today, 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).

That’s what we need to do when we come up with a problem that is great and so difficult. We go to God and say, ‘God, fight for me. Open the way, show me how things need to be. What do I need to do? What can You do for me?’ Lots of times the answer will come when God is ready.

God was ready for this; He knew this was going to happen; v 15: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me?…. [even Moses got caught up in this] …Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.’”

How are you going to do that if you have the Egyptians on one side of you and you have the Red Sea on the other side of you? God probably took them where it was a pretty deep place. God is the only One Who can do the impossible.

Verse 16: “And you—lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it….” I wonder what he thought? ‘This stick? That water? Okay, God, You’re in charge, I’ve got it up.’

“…And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (v 16). You think about what a great miracle this way, dry ground!

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).

Think of what they left when they came to get after the children of Israel. What was the condition of Egypt? All their firstborn they just buried! Think of all the plagues and all the difficulties that came on it. It was in a shambles. No wonder they wanted to get the children of Israel back. They were living in a disaster area. You want to see something comparable for that today, look at the Middle East.

Verse 19: “And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved. And he went to the rear of them.… [because they were in this long column, went on the other side] …And the pillar of the cloud went from in front of them and it stood behind them.” So, God put up a wall.

Verse 20: “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…” It was light to the children of Israel and darkness to the Egyptians. Very fitting. Egypt is a type of sin and darkness and Satan the devil.

Can you imagine what Satan was thinking here? Can you imagine the delusion that he was in? Amazing!

“…so that the two did not come near one another all night” (v 20). That’s how the Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread started.

Moses did that, stretched out his rod, v 21: “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.” This was a wide swath!

Have you ever watched soldiers marching in a column? Then the command comes out to the right flank, ho, and the whole column instead of going this way, turns and the whole column at once goes to the right. That’s what God did here. He made a wide swath, because there were a lot of people to get across. Can you imagine how many hours it would have taken for them to get across if it were like in the movie, The Ten Commandments? Over a million people! A wide swath!

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.” I don’t think that all of them were close to the water. There were some, that all they could do is see that the water was standing up.

How’s God going to make the water stand up? Can you imagine what it was like for them going through, because it was right just about sunrise? They all moved across to the other side. It was still dark to the Egyptians! They got across to the other side, probably didn’t take them much more than about an hour for them to do the right flank and go across and get up on the other side.

Verse 23: “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 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 23-24).

That’s the best way to do your enemy—isn’t it? Mess them all up. They were “…thrown into confusion”!

Verse 25: “And He loosened their chariot wheels, and made them go heavily…” He took all the chariot wheels off.

Sidebar: There’s a man named Ron Wyatt who has pictures of chariots in the Gulf of Aqaba that are under the water. He says that’s where the Egyptians chased the children of Israel. But when you look at the chariots, the wheels are still on them. So, that was another event, not this one. Can you imagine, all that water, God took all the wheels off, and then He caused the water to come back. Imagine the power of the water. Don’t you think that all those chariots were just ripped to shreds?

There’s a false story out that they supposedly found the skeletons of men in the mud in the Red Sea. False! Don’t believe it!

Verse 25: “…so that the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.’ 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’” (vs 25-26). They all died!

Everyone was happy. Everyone was just excited and elated and thanking God, praising God. Miriam and the women were dancing with their timbrels and I imagine there were others out there blowing the rams’ horns and blowing the trumpets and dancing and cheering. It was quite a thing! First part of Exo. 15 brings that out. That was really something.

They even had a special song, ‘The Lord has triumphed, the Lord is great, the Lord is mighty.’ Then they moved inwards a little bit. They came to a place called Marah. It took them three days to get there and they were running out of water.

If you don’t think water is important in a wilderness area, when all you have is what’s on your back, probably eaten up all the unleavened bread by that time, where are you going to get water? You come to this place, God led you to this place and you find out the water is bitter and can’t drink it.

Verse 24: “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’” You’ve got animals baaing, cows mooing, horses whinnying, you have all of that going on. You have children, ‘Mommy, can I have a drink of water?’ You have some people who are really thirsty, and all of that sort of thing. ‘Where are we going to get water?’ The message comes back it’s bitter, ‘we can’t drink it.’ What are we going to do?’ Did they all get on their knees and pray to God? NO!

Verse 25: “So he [Moses] cried to the LORD. And the LORD showed him a tree. And when he had cast it into the water, the waters were made sweet….”

Sidebar: There are certain things that God has created for our benefit that we can use and this was in a medicinal way. So, they had plenty of water. Notice what God said. He did this to prove them, because He was going to give them another promise. Rather than complaining, rather than looking to Moses, rather than accusing other people, rather than saying, ‘What are we going to do in this wilderness,’ God said He was going to make a decree and law for them to prove them!

Verse 26: “And He said, ‘If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God…’” Hearken means to hear and obey. The three words throughout the Bible, simplest way to explain the Bible: Obey My voice! Here it is, right here.

There are other conditions: “…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).

Look at all the sickness and disease we have today. Just read Deut. 28. Healthcare is not the solution. Repentance is the solution! That’s what needs to be.

Through this election people think that they’re going to have better times. They might for a while, but only for one purpose: For God’s Churches to have another space of time to preach the Word of God and to teach the brethren! That’s the only reason why. How many are repenting? I don’t hear Donald [Trump] or his advisors, or any of the others running for office, saying, Listen… There are a few who say that our sins are bringing this upon us, but they don’t understand what the sins really are. It’s not necessarily the last six; that’s important, but more important are the first four.

Can you imagine trying to get a law passed in Congress that now the seventh-day Sabbath is mandatory for everybody? Including Muslims? Buddhists? Hindus? Protestants? Catholics? The first order of business is an amendment to this bill, which should pass Congress unanimous on their knees praying to God—which will never happen—is to destroy every idol. You think any of that would happen? NO! Now you know why God has to come.

Dolores and I were watching the news and they were again talking about aliens. Dolores said, ‘Satan is preparing the whole world for the return of Christ.’ Christ is coming from the third heaven, outer space.

• Is He going to make war? Yes!
• Is He an alien? Yes, to this world!
• Are His angels aliens? Yes, to this world!
• Are we aliens? Yes, to this world!

Then, as we will see on Pentecost, the secret army that God has been preparing from creation will suddenly come to life. It’s called the resurrection!

There you have it. God will deliver us from our troubles and from our problems. We’ll see how the children of Israel always act. They talk about God.

I got an e-mail from someone here saying, ‘You are pretty hard on those Sunday-keepers. They don’t know any different; they sincerely believe that Sunday is the Sabbath.’ That’s the whole point! Yes, human beings like to come along and take a little bit of God, acknowledge a little bit of God, and add these things to what they want.

The Psalm talks about after He divided the sea, 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…” (vs 14-15). I wonder what they thought?

It takes a lot of water for these people and for the animals. Think how much water the animals need every day. God split the rock. The first time God told Moses to strike the rock. Out came the water, rivers of water. Notice where they came from: “…as from the great depths” (v 15).

Sidebar: They have discovered there is an area under the crust of the earth that has a form of water that is more than in all the oceans. God can do miraculous things. You would think that by the time that they got to Mt. Sinai and heard the voice of God, that they would have been willing to do anything God wanted, regardless. Didn’t happen!

Verse 17: “Yet, they continued to sin still more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.” God right there with them. You talk about human nature. That’s something!

Verse 19: “Yea, they spoke against God; they said, ‘Can God set a table in the wilderness?…. [He’s given us water] (v 20): …Can He also give bread? Can He provide flesh for His people?’” God would be doing all of that.

If they would have learned the lesson and turned to God and humbly asked God for it, He would have done it. God’s original plan was to bring them into the ‘promised land’ by the Feast of Tabernacles of the second year. That was God’s plan. They didn’t have to wander out there forty years in the wilderness.

There’s another lesson for us. Sometimes we have to go through some difficult times because we really didn’t learn the lesson the first time, or the second time, or the third time.

He sent the flesh, and so forth, He sent manna for them. God had all of this ready to go; manna from heaven. You would think after forty years of getting manna for six days and every Sabbath there was a miracle: the manna kept over from the sixth day to the seventh day. But they got tired of raw manna and boiled manna, deep-fried manna, all of that.

So, they asked for flesh, and God sent them flesh. But in their lust, that’s what He did. He sent it, v 29: “So, they ate and were filled to the full, for He gave them that which they craved. 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. Therefore, He ended their days in vanity and their years in terror. When He slew them… [this is what’s happening right now] …then they sought Him; and they turned back and sought after God earnestly” (vs 29-34). Just like with 9/11.

Verse 35: “And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God was their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they flattered Him with their mouths, and they lied to Him with their tongues, for their heart was not steadfast with Him; neither were they faithful in His covenant. But 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” (vs 35-38).

That’s quite a thing! We see that happening right now with this nation. Britain is about five years ahead of us. We don’t know what’s going to happen there. There’s this vote coming up, so keep your eyes on it, it’s called Brixit—if they exit the European Union. If they do that will isolate Ephraim by itself, and that will set up Europe to go after a strong man. The background for that is already happening, because the extreme right wing party in Austria got voted into office on the grounds of expelling all the aliens from Syria.

(go to the next track)

One of the lessons for us that we learn, especially today, is that living in the end-times we are going to be facing a lot, a lot, a lot of troubles and difficulties. We need to really learn how we can trust in God and wait on Him.

Psa. 25 is really quite a Psalm. Especially if you’re going through troubles and difficulties, study the Psalms, pray with the Psalms, ask God to help you. Sometimes you may get to a point that there’s so much going you feel as though you can’t even get your head above water. We’ve all gone through times like that.

Psalm 25:4: “Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.” That’s what He’s doing with all the difficulties we go through. That’s how He’s teaching us,

• through His Spirit
• through His Word
• through experience
• through all the difficulties we have

Verse 5: “Lead me in Your Truth and teach me…” Remember what it says, we’ll all be taught of God. How?

• by His Word
• by His Spirit
• by our experience
• by learning

“…for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long. Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindness, for they have been of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your loving kindness remember me for Your goodness sake, O LORD” (vs 5-7).

What a great way to repent. I know, the older we get, what do we have? We have flashbacks to all the dumb little things we did growing up! How many times did God intervene when we didn’t even know it.

Verse 8: “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore, He will teach sinners in the way.” We’re to learn from every one of these experiences.

Verse 9: “The meek He will guide in judgment; and the meek He will teach His way.” Look at the benefit of this coming to God with this kind of attitude.

Verse 10: “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and Truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. Notice the condition.

Verse 14: “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him…” All the knowledge that we have concerning the plan of God is the secret of God. The ultimate destiny of our salvation to be in the Kingdom of God as the sons and daughters of God, literal spirit beings, is the secret mystery of God that the world doesn’t know.

Just to give you an example of how unbelievable, if we just told someone, ‘One day I’m going to be like God.’ Ha ha ha, you?

Remember when Joseph had the vision, had a dream, got him in trouble. He went out and told all his brothers. ‘I’m the youngest one here and I had a dream from God.’ I’ll just summarize it. ‘You and mom and all of you bowed down to me.’ You vain a little jackass, we’re going to get you! And he came out and he told them another one involving the sun, moon and the stars and everything. That made them furious. So God worked His will by having the brothers sell Joseph. They were going to kill him; they feigned the killing. Remember, killed a goat and put the blood on Joseph’s tunic and took it to the father. Can you imagine good, Christian people doing that? They’re going to be in the Kingdom of God. God was working it out. Seventeen years later there’s a drought. They come into Egypt and they came begging for food. Of course, dressed up in Egyptian garb, #2 in the whole kingdom, no beard, they didn’t know Joseph, and the brothers bowed down to him.

Verse 15: “My eyes are ever toward the LORD…” That’s what we need to always do. That’s what it means to be under grace.

Under grace means you have direct contact with God the Father, and He’s writing His laws and commandments in your heart and in your mind! Under Law means that you have nothing to do with that secret relationship through grace with God! You are under Law and it is over you as long as you live. For those who are converted, the law is within, not under! You see the vast difference in that? Yes, indeed!

Verse 16: “Turn unto me, and be gracious unto me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring me out of my distresses” (vs 16-17). Only God can do that!

The best way to overcomes stress is prayer and Bible study. Get your mind off your stress. What does the world have today? Take a pill! Unless you watch those ads very carefully. There’s one that says if you have suicidal tendencies you better tell your doctor.

Verse 18: “Look upon my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred” (vs 18-19). This you could also take as a prophecy concerning Christ. Did they not all hate Him? Yes, without a cause!

You think about what David went through. Think about everything that he went through, and then think about your troubles and you will find they are miniscule.

Psalm 33:18: “Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear Him…” God is always watching. Remember the sermon on the seven spirits of God—Spirit of God-Spirit of Man: Seven Spirits of God #s1-2—that go through the whole earth to see what’s going on? God’s Spirit is within us, the Father and the Son. There are two parts of the Spirit of God.

Jesus said, ‘We…’ meaning the Father and He ‘will make Our abode with you.’ Right here. Think of that. That’s better than just watching. That’s living with you.

“…upon those who hope in His loving kindness, to deliver their soul from death… [the resurrection] …and to keep them alive in famine” (vs 18-19). That doesn’t mean you won’t be hungry, but keep you alive.

Verse 20: “Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.” God will be with us and protect us in all of those things.

Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the LORD at all times…” When I read that I think about Job. Look at the problems that he went through. God did it because Job didn’t understand he was worshiping himself instead of God. Even though he kept everything that God said to keep, he was worshiping himself. Look at all the troubles that he had. He still blessed God. He didn’t curse God.

“…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…” (vs 1-4). This is what we need to do. This is the lesson of this day. Don’t look for your solution, don’t look for your way, seek the way of God!

“…and He answered me…” (v 4). You could expect an answer. One way to get an answer is humbly just remind God and ‘God, You have promised.’

“…and delivered me from all my fears” (v 4).

• What are your fears?
• What are the difficulties?
• What are the problems?

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). That’s fantastic to understand! All his troubles; not some of them. Eventually it will be every single one of them at the resurrection. That’s fantastic to look to.

Here we are in the Church. We’re going to see in the Church—because a lot of us have been in the Church for a long, long time—what happens to everyone after they’ve lived a long, long time. They die! There will be a good number of people dying.

It’s like one man said, ‘When I first came into the Church I was going to weddings, now I’m going to funerals.’ I said, ‘That’s the best part if they’ve been faithful.’ When they get married, they’re just starting out with trouble. But God will deliver you out of all your troubles!

Here’s another blessing, v 7: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” You can look back and see how God has delivered you.

Verse 8: “O taste and see that the LORD is good…” How do you taste and see that the Lord is good? Symbolically, eating unleavened bread! Unleavened bread pictures the Word of God and the Word of God is Christ, Who was called The Word. Symbolically, we eat His flesh so that we can live by Him. Amazing how all of these things come about.

That’s why when you study the Word of God it’s different than reading anything else. It is so packed with so many things. As Jesus said, ‘The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.’ Just we’re reading this now. This was written how many thousands of years ago? And here we are today and we can read it and we can relate to it. We can see, yes, this has happened in our lives today.

Is the Word of God eternal? Yes, there it is! Verse 9: “O fear the LORD, all you saints, for there is nothing lacking to those who fear Him.”

Verse 14: “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it…. [your first peace is with God; here’s why]: …The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (vs 14-15). God will hear!

One of the things, the first thought that happens if you come along and you do something that’s not right, and you sin, you say to yourself, ‘I sinned. When I get right, I’ll seek God.’ NO! The time to get right is when you’ve done wrong. Don’t wait!

Verse 16: “The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.” What is the final memory? The Lake of Fire!

Verse 17: “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles” (v 17). You have troubles? Take them to God! You have fears? Take them to God! If and when you do, you confess to Him and say, ‘I don’t know what to do, Lord. I don’t know how to handle this. Help me to understand.’ God will!

Verse 18: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are of a contrite spirit.” There will be times. People’s lives come to a point that sometimes they’re just broken. Only God can help them. All the psychologists and psychiatrists and drugs and things like that can’t help them. God can! with His Spirit! with His Word!

Verse 19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Notice he says all in vs 6, 9, 17, and 19. Does God mean all? Yes, every single one!

Here’s how to do it, Psalm 37:1: “Do not fret yourself…” This whole Psalm, I think, is really written for today, because we have so many troubles, so many distresses, so many anxieties, and you get frustrated. Don’t fret yourself, that means don’t get frustrated.

Verse 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…” (vs 1-3). Don’t get frustrated. You replace that frustration with trust in the Lord and by doing ‘good.’

“…dwell in the land and cherish faithfulness. Delight yourself… [notice the instruction] …in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (vs 3-4). Isn’t that an amazing thing?

Ephesians 3:20: “Now, to Him Who is able… [Greek here is power or ‘dunamais’] …to do exceeding abundantly… [can’t get any more superlative than that] …above all that we ask or think…”

We understand somewhat about eternal life, but do we really grasp what it’s going to be like? Think about this. What is it going to be like when you’re resurrected and you’re changed and you look down at your hand? The angel who is taking you up to the Sea of Glass says, ‘What are you looking at?’ I’m looking at my hand. I’ve never seen a spiritual hand. ‘Just wait, that’s only the start.’

“…exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us” (v 20). That’s something! That’s why we need to be inspired when we read some of these Psalms. Bring the New Testament into it.

Psalm 37:4: “…He shall give you the desires of your heart.” According to His will and His love!

What did Jesus say about the least one in the Kingdom of God? Greater than John the Baptist! Yes, that’s something.

Notice what you do, v 5: “Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass.”

Let’s go back and look at it:

• do not fret yourself—v 1
• trust in the Lord, do good—v 3
• delight yourself in the Lord—v 4
• commit your way to the Lord—v 5
• trust in Him—v 5

You can apply this to the resurrection. You can apply it in degrees in your physical life.

Verse 6: “And He shall bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday. Rest in the LORD… [trust and rest] …and wait patiently for Him… [wait, don’t run out and do it your way] …do not fret yourself… [I think this is written for us today] …because of him who prospers in his way…” (vs 6-7).

You ever watch these evil people on television they’re reporting on, and have millions and billions of dollars? Here you’re struggling to make ends meet. Don’t worry, God is going to take care of all of that! Don’t get frustrated with that.

“…do not fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of him who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger…” (vs 7-8). Is it easy to get mad? There are some times I wish I had a six-shooter, I’d take care of my television. That wouldn’t get to them.

Verse 8: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret yourself…” That’s three times already. Don’t get frustrated! What if you do get frustrated? What does Eph. 4 say? Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath! Why? So you won’t toss and turn all night, fighting the battle in your mind as to what should have, what could have, why not, why this, why the other thing. You lose your sleep and you wake up the next day and you’re wiped out.

Here’s why, v 9: “For evildoers shall be cut off…” Isn’t it interesting? We’ll just focus on this because some great musical singer, which I never heard of, even though he was ‘great’—the reason I didn’t hear of him, because I didn’t listen to his music—called Prince. Then there was another one before him called Michael Jackson. You wonder: How do these people make millions and millions of dollars? They die early deaths! Are you still alive? Yes! What’s that worth? See, that’s how we get our minds straightened around.

Then there’s another thing that Jesus said: Every secret thing will be shouted from the housetop! So sooner or later it will be taken care of.

“…but those who wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth” (v 9). How’s that for a payday? Think of that!

Verse 22: “For those blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and those cursed of Him shall be cut off.”

There are some movies that are pretty good. It’s called the cowboy channel; Dolores likes to watch that. Watch the news, you get tired of it. So, she turns it over there. The bad guys always get it. Not like today where the bad guys always win. It shows right from wrong and all of that sort of thing. So, it’s kind of nice after watching all the subterfuge on television. I told her the other day, things are getting so bad I’m about ready to watch the cowboy channel myself.

Verse 23: “The steps of a good man are made firm by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the LORD upholds him with His hand” (vs 23-24).

It says a righteous man falls seven times. That means makes mistakes, does things that are not right. That’s called sin. But return to God and they are forgiven. What greater thing could you have than that?

Verse 27: “Depart from evil and do good; and live forevermore.” Isn’t that the theme of Unleavened Bread? Put out the evil, put in the good.

Verse 28: “For the LORD loves justice and does not forsake His saints…” If you feel left alone and destitute, here’s a promise. Tell God, ‘I feel left alone and destitute, but I know You say that You never forsake Your saints.’

“…they are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever” (vs 28-29).

We can learn a whole lot of lessons from the events in the Old Testament. You can think about King Hezekiah. Remember what happened. That was during the days of Isaiah. The Assyrians came and they told them to surrender because ‘we have conquered all these lands and we’ve got all the goods here, and we are a mighty army and we have you encircled. Don’t believe a single thing that Hezekiah would tell you to trust in the Lord.’ They even sent a letter.

What did Hezekiah do? He took it to the temple of God and he laid it before God. He said, ‘God, look at these words, he’s blaspheming You.’ True, none of the gods of the other nations could help them because they’re not God. But You are our God.’

The answer came to him through Isaiah. Isaiah came and said, ‘God is going to fight for you. He’ll take care of the problem.’ So, you know what happened. An army of 185,000 men and an angel of the Lord came and they all died in their sleep. But the generals didn’t. They woke up in the morning and probably said, ‘It’s quiet out there. I wonder…’ Pulled back the flap on his tent and looked out there and they were all dead. Why? Because God fought for them!

They were three days, everybody carrying the loot. They had so much, all the loot and spoil that they got from all the nations that they took. They had gold, silver, clothes, and everything. God wiped out the enemy. They didn’t have to lift a finger, except to go get the spoil. How’s that for an answered prayer? All of these things are for our example or types. We won’t read all the things that Paul goes through.

1-Corinthians 10:11: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages are coming.” Multiply that out toward the end of the age where we are now.

Verse 12: “Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. 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…” (vs 12-13). Remember that with every difficulty and trial that comes.

“…but with the temptation… [or trial] … 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). That’s an interesting statement when you get into that.

Let’s see we have another enemy we need to fight. We have to fight it the way that God says and with the power of God.

Here’s what we are dealing with; Ephesians 6:10: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord…” How do you remain strong in the Lord?

• by loving God
• by obeying God
• by study
• by prayer

“…and in the might of His strength. 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 wickedness in high places” (vs 10-12).

We are to stand! We are to put on the whole armor of God. That’s how we’re able to do it. This is all done by faith.

The reason we have Sabbath every week is because we need it to learn to grow and overcome. The reason we have all the Holy Days coming along every year is because these continually remind us and teach us even more. We are to learn!

Roger and I were talking and we were talking about how that as you go back and read the Bible of things you have read before, and maybe you haven’t read it for quite a long time, and you begin to read it with real understanding, with God’s Spirit leading you. It’s almost like you’re reading new things out of it that are there you didn’t see before. It’s almost like you never read it. Have you ever had that happen? There’s so much here, it’s almost like I never read it. I know I’ve read it how many ever times.

Here’s what all of this is to do for us; every bit of it. Philippians 2:1: “Now then, if there be any encouragement in Christ… [that’s where we get our encouragement] … if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any deep inner affections and compassions, fulfill my joy that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being joined together in soul, minding the one thing” (vs 1-2).

The most important thing in life is God’s calling! Isn’t it interesting, how that on Sabbath and the Holy Days we get inspired with this. But then on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, maybe even Friday, different things pop up. Then we need the Sabbath again so we can be inspired. But all of these things, look at it this way: Every single thing that we live through is preparing us for eternal life and helping us to achieve the mind of Christ!

Verse 4: “Let each one look not only after his own things, but let each one also consider the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (vs 4-5).

What an example of humility. I cover that in the book, From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? I hope that this is going to inspire a lot of people to understand that God is promising such great and fantastic promises that are just so mind-blowing we can’t grasp them. But we can be inspired that we’re going to receive them. When we’re going through the troubles, when we’re going through the trials…

Hebrews 13:5: “Do not allow the love of money to influence your behavior…” Every congressman, every senator needs to take that oath.

“…but be satisfied with what you have…” (v 5). Because God can give you more of whatever you need.

Here is the ultimate promise from Christ Himself; this is why He came. This why He gave up His Godship in order to become a human being, be born as any other human being and live a full human life, never sinning: Because He was the Firstborn from among the dead.

God the Father and Jesus Christ are working to develop all of us for the first resurrection. So, all the troubles and difficulties and trials and frustrations and problems that we face, and all of our weaknesses and sins we need to repent of.

“…for He has said, ‘In no way… [it’s going to happen, any way] …will I ever leave you; no…’” (v 5). In the Greek this is very powerful. I tried in translating it to bring it out. There are three negatives and three is a finality, completion. Christ cannot lie! God cannot lie! If you get really, really down, there may come a time when you really will, turn right here and claim this promise.

“…‘In no way will I ever leave you; no—I will never forsake you in any way’” (v 5). We need to keep that in mind. We’re coming to a time when we may have to give our lives for Christ. He gave His life for us, did He not? Yes, He did!

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 the lesson of the Last Day of Unleavened Bread: Trusting God to do the impossible things. To help us and make these difficult things to be overcome so He can lead us.

• He will never forsake us
• He will never leave us

We can count on that! Brethren, that’s the meaning of the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Scriptural References:

1. Psalm 62:8-12
2. Leviticus 23:1-3, 5

1. Exodus 13:17-18
2. Exodus 14:10-26
3. Exodus 15:24-26
4. Psalm 78:14-15, 17, 19-20, 29-38
5. Psalm 25:4-10, 14-19
6. Psalm 33:18-20
7. Psalm 34:1-9, 14-19
8. Psalm 37:1-4
9. Ephesians 3:20
10. Psalm 37:4-9, 22-24, 27-29
11. 1-Corinthians 10:14-17
12. Ephesians 6:10-12
13. Philippians 2:1-2, 4-5
14. Hebrews 13:5-6

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Ephesians 3

• Matthew 13
• Mark 4
• Deuteronomy 28
• Ephesians 4

Also referenced:

• Article/PDF file: The Music of the Appointed Times by Dwight Blevins (friendsofsabbath.org)
• Sermons: Spirit of God-Spirit of Man: Seven Spirits of God #s1-2
• Book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? By Fred R. Coulter

FRC:lp

Transcribed: 5-18-16

Formatted: bo—5/23/16

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