The Lord Shall Fight For You

(Last Day of Unleavened Bread)

Greetings, brethren! This is the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We look back at all the Feasts that we've kept down through the years. We've never realized that the time would go this long. But it's going this long and the days around us are more evil than we have ever expected. We just need to, through this Feast of Unleavened Bread—as we have been doing—draw close to God.

With the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread we're going to go ahead and take up an offering as we've already seen on the first day of Unleavened Bread that there is an offering on the last day. We're going to go ahead and take up that offering with the same understanding that we've had before. Remember the blessings of God! Remember how God has promised to give you all sufficiency in all things!

Giving the offerings and tithes are all a part of living by every Word of God. I hope that you really appreciate the things that we've been able to do, and we will pick up after the offering is taken up.

(pause for offering)

On this last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the very theme of this Feast is The Lord Shall Fight For You! God is the One Who is going to give the salvation. We are to see the salvation of the Lord! Let's understand what happened with the children of Israel before they were released on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Let's start back and look at everything that took place just in a summary, what God did to save the children of Israel, or rescue them from Egypt! Also, let's understand something very important concerning this: God raised up Pharaoh and all of the evil apparatus with it:

• to show His power
• to declare His salvation
• to rescue Israel so that His name would be glorified in all the earth

It certainly has because we have it recorded for us, and we preach it every year!

Now remember the thing that was important so that we understand the office of Moses and how God was using Moses and Aaron to defeat all the gods of Egypt. As we have seen on the Passover night, when God struck all the firstborn of the Egyptians—all the firstborn of men and beasts—that He judged all the god's of Israel! Of course, the children of Israel didn't understand that the judgment against all those gods meant… Why should they be so foolish as to go to these other gods who were not gods.

Exodus 7:1: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh…'"

That's how Pharaoh would look upon him because Pharaoh could not see the true God. That was reserved for Moses. So since Pharaoh was called a god, since Pharaoh was worshipped as a god, since they worshipped all the animals and things that they did in Egypt, and worshipped the River Nile all of these plagues came upon them because of that. There are six signs and four plagues that took place.

The Six Signs:

• rod of Aaron that turned into a serpent

The magicians were able to go ahead and counterfeit that, but the rod of Aaron was able, as a serpent, to eat up the serpents of the magicians.

• the river in to blood

The second sign was pretty powerful. Remember the Nile was considered the river of the gods, or a god, and they worshipped the water and the worshipped the river. It gave life and all of this sort of thing. In the next sign, because Pharaoh hardened his heart, and it was a joint venture. Pharaoh hardened his heart, and God hardened his heart. God was raising him up for the purpose of the destruction of Egypt! God is the One Who can do that because He's God! What did He do? For seven days He turned the river into blood!

• frogs

Now these were the gigantic frogs that come out of the Nile River, and they just filled the whole land. When that sign was over they just put them in heaps and it stank.

• dust turns into fleas and lice

It just covered all the animals, covered all the human beings! The whole lesson in all of this is that no one has the power to fight against God! If God be for us, who can be against us? Let's think on that as we're going through this.

So after that, still Pharaoh hardened his heart so then we have:

• the swarms of flies

Nice big flies going everywhere! However, #5 is the sign of grace, and in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were there were no swarms of flies. God separated it!

• murrain caused by the ash

Moses took some ash and threw it in the air! God caused it to go everywhere throughout all the land of Egypt and they had boils from the top of their head to the sole of their foot.[transcriber's correction]

All the animals, all the horses, camels, oxen, all human beings. Well, Pharaoh called 'uncle' on this, so he recanted a little bit. He asked Moses if he would cause it to go away. So, Moses said that he would. Then Pharaoh hardened his heart again all the way through.

The Four Plagues:

• hail

For it to hail in Egypt is an unreal thing because that's right in the desert. It had never done this from the creation of the world, or since Egypt was a nation. There was thunder and lightening, and all of this going on at the same time they had the plague of hail.

• locust

After that came the plague of locust, locust everywhere and ate everything that was not in a container. That wasn't good enough they still didn't repent, so there was the plague of:

• darkness

Darkness so thick that they could feel it! It was so oppressive that the only thing that they could do was stay in bed. All the Israelites had light, but the darkness covered Egypt.

• death of the firstborn

The fourth one is the important one. This is where God passed over the houses of the children of Israel and spared their firstborn, and executed judgment against all the gods of Egypt, and He killed all the firstborn of the Egyptian children!

After that they let the Israelites go! So, the children of Israel went out with a high hand. Of course, God did not take them the easy way. Here's a lesson that's important for us: God doesn't take us the easy way! There are some hard things for us to do. If you are:

• a 'good-time' Christian
• a 'glad-hander'
• a social creature
• and you attend church because it's just
• nice
• wonderful
• comfy
• all your friends are there

know for sure you're going to have a trial that's going to come to test you to see:

• whether you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and being
• whether you really trust Him

That's the whole lesson of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

In Exo. 14 we see the whole lesson here, and this is where God led them down instead of by the way of the Philistines going on over to the Holy Land, which would have been easy because that just follows right along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and they would be there in a few days.

God had other plans in mind; He took them down by the way of the Red Sea and they were encamped along the Red Sea, big long line of the children of Israel. The Egyptians had second thoughts about letting them go, so they said, 'Look, we don't have any slaves; we can't do these things.' Pharaoh said, 'I know what I'll do. I'll get all my armies, I'll get all my chariots and we'll go get them and we'll bring them back.'

When the children of Israel saw that they became afraid. Well, God intervened and He put a cloud wall between the Egyptians and the children of Israel. To the Egyptians it was dark, to the children of Israel it was light. Let's see the reaction of the children of Israel, because herein is a great lesson for us. You have to trust God in the tough times as well as the good times!

Exodus 14:10: "And when Pharaoh drew near…"

We can also draw the analogy of Pharaoh and his armies as Satan and the demons, that's true. We can also look at it as the world coming after us! But what we're interested in is the reaction of the children of Israel.

"…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. And they said to Moses…" (vs 10-11).

• immediately began complaining
• immediately began accusing
• immediately displaying absolutely no faith

The reason I went over the six signs and the four plagues was to show what God had done and the power that God had used to cause the children of Israel to be extracted from the land of Egypt. You would think that they would have said, Oh, look at all that God has done for us; God took care of these Egyptians in Egypt so let's just trust Him to do it now.' That's not what they did!

Verse 11: "And they said to Moses, 'Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt?…. [in other words there were plenty of room for graves there] …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?" for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness'" (vs 11-12).

That's not what they said! They cried to God and said, 'O God, get us out of this slavery.' What were they doing? They were looking back and comparing what they thought was how good they had everything in Egypt! It's just like people when they first come into the Church and the first trial comes along, they say they've never experienced anything like this before they were converted. There must be something wrong. No, there is nothing wrong. That's the way it is. Here's the reason for it, and here's why we go through these things.

Verse 13: "And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not! Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD…'" That's what we need to do; we need to stand!

• stand for the Word of God
• stand for God
• stand against evil
• stand against human nature
• stand against all the forces that are against us

and to realize that with the power of the Holy Spirit we can do it with the conviction of God; God will fight for us!

"…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…" (vs 13-14).

I want you to understand that the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace! In other words don't complain to God.

• ask God to intervene and help you
• ask God to intervene and change the circumstances
• ask God to intervene and fight your battles for you

because He has more power than you do! You've got to trust God!

God will do many great and fantastic things to fight your battles for you, but you have to place it all in God's hands! Just like it is here: "…Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD…" (v 13).

• don't complain
• don't gripe
• don't whine

Let the peace of God rule in your heart, as we covered on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Verse 15: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.'"

That's the whole key for the Feast of Unleavened Bread; that we go forward in spite of everything and anything that comes along!

• we know God
• we love God
• we understand His Word
• we live by it
• we go forward

You know the rest of the story of what happened there!

Verse 16: "And you—lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea..."

That night He caused a tremendous east wind to blow, and He also parted the waters a great distance, probably a place as much as ten miles wide, and then all of the children of Israel—in the morning watch just before the sun came up—crossed the Red Sea at the same time! A Divine miracle! God intervening and showing them His power!

You know what happened to the Egyptians! They came up there and they looked to the right, and they looked to the left, and they said, 'Go!' Right when he got in the middle of where the sea was going to be God had the angels start taking the wheels off their chariots and they drug heavy, the ground became mud, and then all of a sudden the waters came crashing back, and that was the end of the Egyptians just like God had said! Well now, the children of Israel were very happy, but let's look at what they said. This is really a tremendous lesson for us!

Exodus 15:1. "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying, 'I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will glorify Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him. The LORD is a Man of war; Jehovah is His name'" (vs 1-3). That's what we need to look at!

• IF you have a problem that needs to be overcome, take it to God
• IF you have a complaint against God, go repent and ask Him to intervene and help you
• IF you have a situation that is greater than you can handle, ask God to handle it for you

Let Him fight your battles; put it all in His hands and realize that that's the way that it has to be.

All the way down through history, as we find in the Bible, we see:

• the salvation of God
• the power of God
• the intervention of God
  • some in great and fantastic things
  • some in small and little things

Now the first great thing that happened was the Flood, and God saved all mankind through Noah because Noah walked with God and kept His commandments and he found grace. So, God had to destroy the whole world, everything there!

After that, during the days of Abraham we have the story of Lot. Lot was actually what you would call—though he was righteous—weak in the faith! He was confronted with many situations that we are being confronted with now, the on-slide of the homosexuals. Who knows, they probably had homosexual marriages in Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the people thought that that was a great thing. But if it weren't for Abraham, Lot would not have survived; but Abraham intervened and Lot survived. And you know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course the one who had the lack of faith and didn't follow was his wife. The angel said, 'Don't look back.' That's an important lesson because Jesus said later, 'Remember Lot's wife.' So, we're not to look back; nevertheless Lot was saved!

Then we have the children of Israel and all the miracles that took place while they were going through the wilderness, and everything that God did.

• the miracle of the manna every morning
• took care of them
• blessed them
• watched over them
• the water out of the rock

But they didn't want to follow God so they rebelled!

They didn't believe God after all that so God had to punish them for their rebellion, and it took another 38-½ years of wandering in the wilderness! Everyone over 20 died, except for Caleb and Joshua. Then they went into the 'promised land' and God fought their battles for them when they did what God said! When they didn't do what God said, He didn't fight for them! They moaned and groaned and complained to God: 'Oh why can't we overcome our enemies?' Because some were stealing the gold that belonged to God! So. the whole history of going through the Bible shows how:

• God will fight for you IF you believe Him!
• God will fight for you IF you trust in Him!

Let's see a Psalm dedicated to that! David's Psalm; quite a Psalm. This shows how God intervenes to help, to fight to save on behalf of those whom He loves!

This was after one of the great deliverances of God; Psalm 18:1: "I love You, O LORD, my strength."

Our whole relationship with God is based on the love of God, as we saw on the Sabbath during this Feast. "I love You, O LORD, my strength." Are you weak? That's where you get strength from!

Verse 2: "The LORD is my Rock, and my Fortress…" Jesus said that we are to build our house upon a Rock (Matt. 7) That Rock is Christ (1 Cor. 10). He's our Rock.

"…and my Deliverer; my God, my Rock in Whom I take refuge; He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower" (v 2). If you're in a high tower no one can get at you! That's why he said that.

Verse 3: "I will call upon the LORD…" That's how God will intervene for you! You have to:

• love Him
• praise Him
• worship Him
• call upon Him
• trust in Him
• look to Him to be:
• your Salvation
• your Savior
• the Warrior
• the Fighter

He's going to fight your battles for you! We're going to see some more of these things as we go along.

"…Who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. The cords of death hemmed me in…" (v 3). How close was he to tragedy in the end? Right at the brink!

"…and the floods of ungodliness assailed me. The cords of the grave surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called on the LORD…" (vs 4-6). We're going to have times when we have distress! Remember, David was a man after God's heart.

Verse 6: "In my distress I called on the LORD, and I cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him into His ears."

Psalm 12:1—this is pretty much the situation that we find ourselves in, in the world today: "Help O LORD, for the Godly man ceases… [Where is someone who's Godly? There aren't any!] …for the faithful disappear from among the children of men. They speak falsehood each one with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak" (vs 1-2). That's just the way this world is; just nothing but lies and double-speak!

Verse 3: "LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, 'With our tongue we shall prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?'" (vs 3-4).

Perfect description of this society, anything goes! If we don't like a law, we'll change it. Just like up in San Francisco, they've been marrying thousands of same sex so-called couples, in defiance against the law. But they don't think they are breaking the law. But when Judge Roy Moore defied a federal judge and his ungodly illegal order to get rid of the Ten Commandments monument, they said he ought to obey the law of the land. That's just the way that it is in the world.

Verse 5:  "'For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, I will now arise,' says the LORD…. [God is going to take action sooner or later] …'I will set him in safety from him who puffs at him'" (vs 5-6).

Verse 8: "The wicked walk on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men." That is a perfect description of our political system!

Now, let's again see how we are to pray when we are in trouble. Instead of complaining to other people, accusing the ministers, accusing other brethren, go repent!

• ask God to help you!
• ask God to fight your battles

Psalm 4:1: "Answer me when I call… [He will] …O God of my righteousness. You gave me relief when I was in distress; be gracious to me, and hear my prayer. O sons of men, how long will my glory be put to shame? How long will you love delusions… [just the way it is in the world] …and seek after lies? Selah. But know that the LORD has set apart the Godly for Himself. The LORD will hear when I call to Him" (vs 1-3).

God will hear; we can be guaranteed of that. When people get discouraged and get distressed and get down and begin to give up, they give in to their weaknesses and sin. That's why it says:

Verse 4: "Tremble, and sin not…" So God will hear our prayers!

Psa.37—this is one to keep in mind; this is really a good Psalm. This is good counsel and advice for us, that's why it's here. You look out and you see the world and all the things that are wrong, all the sin that is going wrong, and somehow they seem to be getting along better, but they're really not.

Psalm 37:1—good advice: "Do not fret yourself… [don't be frustrated] …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…" (vs 1-3).

That's where we need to put our trust. Not in other human beings, not in circumstances, not in physical things, but trust in the Lord!

"…and do good; dwell in the land and cherish faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD…" (vs 3-4). So, this shows that:

• you're happy
• you're joyful
• you understand that Christ has saved you
• you understand that you have the Holy Spirit of God in you
• you understand that God the Father has begotten you so that you, at the resurrection, can become a son or daughter of God

Look, you have eternal life ahead of you! That's what's important.

Verse 4: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart"—according to His will!

The greatest desire of our heart needs to be that we are going to be in the Kingdom of God. The greatest desire that we ought to have is:

• to see God, as the Psa. says
• to see God face-to-face, as Rev. says
• to be there in that resurrection

Here's how you do it:

• through prayer
• through study
• through everything that you do

Not just when you get religious and pray, as some people would look at it, but your whole life and everything you do.

Verse 5: "Commit your way unto the LORD… [everything you do] …trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass." Of course, we have our parts to do:

• concerning health
• concerning healing
• concerning employment
• concerning marriage
• concerning whatever your life is involved in

Verse 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…" (vs 6-7)—because God's timetable is always different than our timetable, so we have to wait patiently for Him!

"…do not fret yourself… [don't become frustrated, worried or concerned] …because of him who prospers in his way, because of him who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret yourself, it leads only to evil" (vs 7-8)—because that's what people do!

They're not trusting in God in the way they ought to be. They're not patient waiting for the Lord, so something happens and they get angry. That's why you had the trial, so that you can get rid of your anger and see and know and understand that you have it.

Verse 27: "Depart from evil and do good, and live forevermore." That's what the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about:

• put out the leaven, which is sin; put in the unleaven, which is righteousness
• put out the way of man; put in the way of Christ

That's why Christ said, 'You have to eat My flesh and drink My blood' showing that you will live by Him, which means by every Word of God!

Verse 28: "For the LORD loves justice and does not forsake His saints…" So, if you ever think you've been forsaken—you haven't, and you need to repent of that and ask God to help you to trust in Him!

"…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). That means the Kingdom of God and all the earth and everything that is there!

Verse 34: "Wait on the LORD and keep His way…"

Isn't that the message of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that we first went through in Exo. 14? Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! Never give up on doing it!

"…and He shall exalt you to inherit the earth when…" (v 34). So, there is a timing in all of this! There is a time.

The Kingdom of God is not here, therefore we don't fight. But when we come back with Christ we are going to fight, and we are going to be in charge of putting away all evil. They will either repent or they will be history!

"…when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the ruthless wicked in great power and spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Yet, he passed away, and lo, he was no more; and I searched for him, but he could not be found. Mark the blameless man" (vs 34-37).

IF you are in Christ, which you are, God has imputed the righteousness of Christ to you and you stand before Him Holy and blameless, before God you are perfect! You have to be perfected in attitude, be perfected in character, and it's an ongoing project!

"…and behold the upright one, for the end of that man is peace. But the sinners shall be destroyed together; the prosperity of the wicked shall be cut off" (vs. 37-38).

The finality of that is going to be with the last part of the Last Great Day when all the wicked are cast into the Lake of Fire and there are no more wicked around.

Verse 39: "But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble." That's why we need to trust God!

We're going to see some other things how God intervenes, because He's really performed some great and tremendous things.

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."

Do you trust in God? That's all a part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that:

• you get rid of the sin of doubt
• you get rid of the sin of lack of trust

But

• you trust God
• you believe God
• you walk in His way in everything that you do

2-Chron. 20—let's see how God intervened in great and fantastic ways to save those who feared God and trusted Him, and looked to Him to fight their battles. This is the case of King Jehoshaphat. He had a great army. The children of Moab and Ammon, and the Assyrians were all coming against him to destroy him, and destroy Judah. Notice what he did:

2-Chronicles 20:3: "And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the LORD, and called for a fast throughout all Judah."

When you have trouble and difficulty you need to fast and draw close to God, ask for His help, ask for His intervention. So, he called them all together for a prayer. Then he got the answer from one of the prophets of God. A Levite came who was one of the sons of Asaph.

Verse 15—here's the message: "And he said, 'Listen, all Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you, "Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.'"

That's what we need to understand, the battle is not ours; it is God's, so we trust in Him in faith!

Verse 17: "'You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves and stand, and see the salvation of the LORD with you… [tie in Exo. 14] …O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD will be with you"

Verse 20—here's what they did on the morrow: "And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Hear me, O Judah, and you people of Jerusalem. Believe in the LORD your God, and so you shall be established. Believe His prophets, and so you shall prosper.'"

Profound and important message. We are to believe, trust, have faith, have confidence, and lay it all before God just like Jehoshaphat did here.

Verse 21: "And when he consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD and praisers to praise the beauty of Holiness as they went out before the army, and to say, 'Praise the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever.'"

Here the priests went out first before the army, and that's the way God said they should fight their battles, and God was with them!

Verse 22: "And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah. And they were beaten. "

What God did, He just turned them all against each other and they killed each other. What did they do? They went out there and they found that they were all dead! What did they do?

Verse 25: "And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them in abundance both riches and precious jewels in great number among the dead bodies which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. And they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much."

That was a tremendous battle! God intervened, gave them the blessing! God fought for them! If God could do it for them we know God can do it for us. Regardless of what the situation is, regardless of what the trouble may be, God is there, He will help just like this!

We're going to look at another example here in a minute and see how God intervened to fight and to save His people.

Now let's see another example of how God intervened for King Hezekiah. What he did when he got the notice from the Assyrians that they were coming and conquering, and that they had destroyed all the nations coming right on down the line. And they sent a letter to Hezekiah: Surrender or we're going to do to you like we did to all these other nations and their gods.'

2 Kings 19:1: "Then it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard… [the letter read] …he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth. And he went into the house of the LORD."

Verse 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."'" Sometimes you feel like that! That's what Hezekiah did; he took it before God.

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."

Took his troubles right to God very first thing. He didn't stop and ask anyone else's advice. He went right to the Lord.

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'" (vs 15-17).

Verse 19: "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."

This is a perfect example of how we need to go to God with our problems. You go to God and you state the problems. You don't accuse Him, but you glorify Him. You don't complain to Him, but you show what the problem is, and you ask God to fight because you are His; you belong to Him. You are His property. He's promised to take care of you. So that's exactly what happened. He got the message.

Verse 34: "For I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."

Here's what God did. Even greater miracle than what happened there with Jehoshaphat; v 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. Now, when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies."

In other words, He spared the king and probably a few of his advisors, but all of his army was dead!

Verse 36: "And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed. And he went and returned and lived at Nineveh."

Of course, as he was worshipping in the house of his god, someone came in and assassinated him.

• Did this take care of the enemy? It sure did!
• Did they have to lift the sword to fight? No, they didn't!

They trusted in God!Perfect example of what we need to do.

Now let's come to the New Testament and see some things here that are important for us to understand so that we can realize how then we need to look to God. Now we have to overcome self, we have to overcome the sins in us. Let's understand what kind of determination that we need to have, and what kind of faith that we need to have. Let's see what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Hebrews telling them what they need to do to overcome and change, and what kind of resolve that they need to have in serving God.

Now after the Apostle Paul had listed out many of the things where God fought for the children of Israel, coming on down through the faith chapter (Heb. 11), we come to:

Hebrews 12:1: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great throng of witnesses…"

That's what the Old Testament is there for. These are examples that we can look to, to see:

• right and wrong
• good and evil
• God intervening and fighting our battles for us

These are the examples that we need to look to!

"…let us lay aside every weight…" (v 1). Every problem, every difficulty, set it aside! God does not want us to dwell on the problem. He wants us to dwell on Him and the solution. So, you set it aside.

"…and the sin that so easily entraps us… [repent of that; we've already covered how you do that; confess your sins to God] …and let us run the race set before us with endurance" (v 1). That's what we need to do! We have got to finish the course!

Here's how to do it, v 2: "Having our minds fixed on Jesus, the Beginner and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that lay ahead of Him endured the cross, although He despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God."

That's what we need to do. Always have our mind on Christ! Always have our mind on:

• what He did
• how He did it
• why He did it

He did it because He loved us! God the Father sent Jesus Christ because He loves the world and loves us, and we are part of the eternal plan of God!

Verse 3: "Now meditate deeply on Him Who endured such great hostility of sinners against Himself…"

That's why we need to study the Gospels. That's why we need to understand what Jesus did and what He went through. Here's the reason:

"…so that you do not become weary and faint in your minds" (v 3).

There is a proverb that says that 'if you faint in the day of your adversity, you have very little strength.'

• Who is our Strength? Christ!
• Who is our Savior? Christ!
• Who is our Redeemer? Christ!
• Who is there to fight our battles for us? Christ is!

As we have seen He also has the angels to do His work for him, too.

Verse 4 becomes very important, and in all the struggles and difficulties that we have gone through, this becomes very profound:

Verse 4: "You have not yet resisted to the point of losing blood in your struggle against sin."

I've never anointed anyone for bleeding because they've been fighting against sin. What does this show? This shows the effort, determination and steadfastness that we need to have in serving and loving God and in overcoming! We do it by fixing our mind on Christ. Don't get discouraged and don't get down because God is doing this for a tremendous and wonderful purpose.

Verse 5: "And you have already forgotten the admonition that He addresses to you as to sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor grow weary of being reproved by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He severely disciplines every son whom He receives'" (vs 5-6).

That's why God didn't call us to have good perfect lives in the flesh. If you want to join a social club, go to a social club. If you want to go to where everything is smooth and nice, I don't really think you can find any place on the face of the earth today that's like that. No! Times are getting difficult and harder, and harder to come by. We need to realize that. God is helping us to develop the character, to have the faith and virtue and character, and eventually come to the point of having the very love of God perfected in us. That's what God is doing. So yes, there is going to be some correction. Yes, there are going to be some things that change and come along here. Yes indeed, because that's just the way it's going to be.

Let's look at some other things here, the reason for all the trials. Let's see what Peter says about this, and why we go through these things. He also shows that a great deal of it, yes a great deal of what we go through is because we're fighting Satan the devil, as well as:

• self
• sin
• the world

So, we've got a big battle out there and the way we do it is keep our minds fixed and focused on Jesus Christ, that:

• we know what's in the Gospels
• we know what's in the Epistles of Paul
• we know what's in the General Epistles
• we live by every Word of God

That's the important thing for us to realize and understand!

1-Peter 5:5: "In the same manner, you younger men be subject to the older men; and all of you be subject to one another, being clothed with humility… [that's the whole purpose of it] …because God sets Himself against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Be humbled, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you" (vs 5-7).

Here's a great mistake a lot of people do. They get worried, they get frustrated, they get upset, and they pace back and forth and they wonder what they're going to do. But they haven't cast all their cares upon God! So rather than worry, fret, stew and wonder, go pray! Lay it all before God, "casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you." 

• He loves you
• He wants you in His Kingdom
• He wants you to succeed, grow and overcome
• He will give you the strength, the power and perform the work for you

IF you trust in Him and rely upon Him.

It's like it said where we started: stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and go forward! Don't be discouraged! Don't be down! Don't let anything take you away from Christ!

Here's the reason for it; v 8: "Be sober!…. [don't get involved with the spiritual drunkenness of this world] …Be vigilant!…."

That's why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread come along so that it reminds us every year we need to be vigilant. That means on watch! Be on guard!

"…For your adversary the devil is prowling about as a roaring lion, seeking anyone he may devour" (v 8).

Yes, we're going to have battles against Satan, and he's going to come after the people of God. That's just all part of the situation the way that the reality of it truly is. Here's how we fight him:

Verse 9: "Whom resist, steadfast in the faith… [not wavering back and forth, as James said, and be double-minded man and unstable as water] …knowing that the same afflictions are being fulfilled among your brethren who are in the world."

Don't think that any trial you're going through is some sort of strange thing that has come upon you. Everyone has them, you have them, so you take them to God. Here's a promise, and you claim this promise. When you're going through a trial:

• ask God to help you understand it
• ask God to help you learn the lesson
• ask God to help you fully comprehend what is going on

so that you can take that and make it part of your life and character of the very lesson that you're going to learn!

Then claim this promise, v 10: "Now, may the God of all grace, Who has called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, Himself perfect you… [so God is perfecting you individually] …establish, strengthen, and settle you." That's the purpose of the trials and the difficulties that we go through, so that we can let God fight our battles for us. Then he says:

Verse 11: "To Him be the glory and the power into the ages of eternity. Amen." That's the way we unleaven our lives in Christ:

• by Christ in us
• by growing
• by overcoming
• by looking to God to fight our battles for us

So that we can realize that we are called unto eternal glory! Keeping our minds fixed and focused on Jesus Christ.

Now let's look at some other things here which are important for us to realize. Since this talks about fighting against Satan the devil let's come to Eph. 6 and let's see what we need to do – the very spiritual preparation. Let me tell you this:

• if you're not praying
• if you're not studying
• if you're not living by every Word of God when a trial comes upon you it's going to hit you like a blockbuster

You are not going to know what to do because:

• you're weak spiritually
• you're weak mentally
• you're weak physically

All of those things go hand in hand! When they come, you're overwhelmed and you get discouraged. Here's what we need to do. We need to be strong in the power God.

Satan is out there after us like a roaring lion! He is clever and slick and has all kinds of devices to try and entrap and even deceive the very elect. So, when we have problems and difficulties to come by, do exactly like Moses told the children of Israel: 'Hold your peace, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord and go forward.' And the obvious implication is: not backward into Egypt.

Ephesians 6:10: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord…" That comes with:

• patient study
• prayer
• walking in every way of God
• living your life the way that God wants you to do it

That's how you're strong in the Lord!

"…and in the might of His strength…. [because He is going to fight for us] …Put on the whole armor of God… [not only is God going to fight for us, but we have our part] …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).

We see that more so in this age now. There's just an acceleration of evil everywhere. That is deliberate, and let's understand something; let's just be frank: We ain't seen nothing, yet, because Satan and his forces and troops are out there to destroy every vestige of Christianity that they can through any means that they can! Those are all part of the wiles of the devil, and we're fighting against those wicked spirits in high places!

Verse 13: "Therefore, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having worked out all things, to stand."

Just like Moses said, 'Stand still and see the salvation of God!'

Verse 14: "Stand, therefore, having your loins girded about with Truth… [that is the Word of God, which is true] …and wearing the breastplate of righteousness, and having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. Besides all these, take up the shield of the faith, with which you will have the power to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one…" (vs 14-16)—because he's there just trying to lob them in. Missiles of lust!

As it says there in Eph. 2, he is 'the prince of the power of the air,' he is the one who comes along to tempt and to induce into sin. He is there. If there's any one thing Satan would like you to do is get discouraged and down and come to the point that you're going to give up on God because you have a trial that you're going through. Well now, you can't let that happen!

Verse 17: "And put on the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God… [it shows an active, growing, overcoming, praying, trusting in God, focusing on Christ] …praying at all times…" (vs 17-18).

You pray every day, you pray many times during the day, just like Paul wrote, cease not praying (1-Thess. 5). Not only do you pray and put your life in God's hands every day when the day begins, but during the day you pray and ask God:

• for help
• for wisdom
• for Truth
• for understanding
• for bringing into captivity every thought unto Christ
• for casting down vain imaginations that rise up in your mind against God

That's how sin so easily besets us. It is a continuous daily thing that we do, praying at all times!

"…with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and in this very thing being watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…" (v 18).

Brethren, we all need the prayers of everyone. I know my prayer every day is for all the brethren:

• those who need to be healed
• those who need to fight their battles
• those who need to be raised up
• those who are distressed and brokenhearted

Christ came to heal the brokenhearted! Christ came to relieve the distressed! You turn all of that to Him!

• He is there
• He will help
• He will fight
• He has promised
  • it doesn't depend on your goodness
  • it doesn't depend on your righteousness

Oh, you have your part to do, but it depends on Christ because He has promised!

Those promises are sure, and those promises are true and good like we've already seen and Jesus Christ has promised that He will not ever, never leave us and forsake us! That's something! So, we can have the total faith and confidence in what God wants us to do in trusting Him to fight our battles.

Now let's see what we are operating against. Christ has saved us; reached down and saved us from our sins in this world!

Ephesians 2:1: "Now, you were dead in trespasses and sins." That's how we were before God! God reached down and had mercy on every one of us individually.

Verse 2: "In which you walked in times past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience." This is what God has saved us from! That's why we are not to go back into it!

Verse 3: "Among whom also we all once had our conduct in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and by the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of the world. But God, Who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. (For you have been saved by grace.)" (vs 3-5).

• through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
• through the power of the Holy Spirit
• through the Word of God

Notice what we are to do here; v 8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God…"

Always remember this: you have nothing you didn't receive! Everything we have is of God.

Verse 9: "Not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship… [God is creating Himself in you; we are His workmanship] …being created in Christ Jesus…" (vs 9-10)—because salvation is creation, creating in us:

• the mind of Christ
• the love of God
• the character of God
• all the fruits of the Holy Spirit of:
• love
• joy
• peace
• longsuffering
• faith
• gentleness
• kindness
• goodness
• meekness
• temperance

Against such there is no law! That's what He is creating in us.

Verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, being created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them."

Now let's understand:

• how we are to look at these things
• how we are to look at the world
• how we are to look at ourselves
• how we are to view the circumstances in which we find ourselves

and what God is going to do for us!

Romans 8:9: "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him."

That's the important thing.. the Spirit of God! As we have seen, if you let that lax and you're not exercising it, then you have to do as Paul said, 'Stir up the Spirit of God that is in you.' That's what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, to stir up the Spirit of God which is in us!.

Verse 10: "But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin…"—because you are baptized! All your sins died with Christ and He died for you. Whenever you confess your sins, you put them in the hands of God. They are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, you see. So you're not living in sin.

"…however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness…. [Here is a great and tremendous promise] …Now, if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you. So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh… [we're not to live in the carnal way of this world] …because if you are living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live" (vs 10-13).

Just like we saw on the first Holy Day. We are to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are to put all of that out, and we are to put in Christ. That's what he's talking about here. Now if you do that you shall live, and that means to eternal life.

Verse 14—never forget this: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God."

Let's understand something very important here: the Spirit of God is not going to force you. The Spirit of God will lead you, but you have to choose to yield to God, and you have to choose to ask God to help you be led of the Spirit of God!

Verse 14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." Satan, as we have seen, wants to come in and give us

• a spirit of fear
• a spirit of doubt
• a spirit of contention
• a spirit of argument with God

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.' 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—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…" (vs 15-17). Stop and think for a minute!

What did Christ inherit? All things! That means the universe; we are joint heirs with Christ! That means we will own part of whatever God gives us of the universe, and He says, 'Here, this is yours, but with Christ.' That is a fantastic and tremendous thing that God has called us to. I think that we can understand more and more about God and more and more about how we need to grow, change and overcome IF we keep that right in the forefront of our mind and be led of the Holy Spirit of God.

Here's a promise, a promise of suffering; "…if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him" (v 17).

The Apostle Paul was called to suffer more than any other man except Jesus Christ. He did suffer! How did he look upon those sufferings? Well, he came to rejoice in them because he understood the end result.

Likewise with us, we need to rejoice in them because we understand the end result. Not be like the children of Israel at the Red Sea who complained against God and the circumstances they were in because they couldn't see the outcome. They didn't have faith in God, though He did a miraculous intervention to extract them from the land of Egypt. Wwe're going to be glorified together but we have to suffer.

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."

I want you to understand these next verses here to give us some perspective.

Verse 19: "For the earnest expectation of the creation itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God."

• How important are the sons of God?
• How important is God to you?

So important that Jesus Christ gave His life for you and for everyone individually, because the sacrifice of Christ is applied to each of us individually, continually, standing in the grace of God.

The whole creation is waiting! The world is waiting! Have you ever thought of it this way: the world is waiting for you and me, and all the sons of God down through history! It's waiting! It's needing us, because we are the solution in God's set time!

Verse 20: "Because the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope… [we are part of that hope through Jesus Christ] …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. For we know that all the creation is groaning together and travailing together until now" (vs 20-22)—waiting for us!

Let's understand something that's important:

• regardless of your circumstances
• regardless of the difficulties
• regardless of your physical condition
• regardless of whether you are young or old
• regardless of whether you are rich or poor

God loves you and has a purpose for you! Everything in your life is going to work out for good!

Verse 28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God… [that's why we've covered how important the love of God is] …to those who are called according to His purpose… [and you have been] …because those whom He did foreknow… [if you have God's Spirit in you He has foreknown you] …He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren…. [that's what our destination is, our predestination] …Now, whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (vs 28-30).

God is looking at the finished product in you! He's not looking at you the way that you are. He's imputed the righteousness of Christ to you so that you stand before Him blameless and Holy, in love. He is looking to you as if you are now glorified. In other words, He sees and knows what you will be at the resurrection!

• we've received a bit of the glory of God by receiving the Holy Spirit of God
• we've received a bit of the glory of God by having His Word

which we can know and understand and live by! Absolutely true!

Verse 31: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

• there is no trouble
• there's no difficulty
• there is no battle
• there is nothing that can be against us

Now claim that promise through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

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?"

'Come, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you by My Father.'

Verse 33: "Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God?…. [people can, but that has no standing before God] …God is the One Who justifies. Who is the one that condemns?…." (vs 33-34).

Satan comes and accuses us day and night before God, but we overcome Him with the blood of Christ!

"…It is Christ Who died, but rather, Who is raised again, Who is even now at the right hand of God… [to fight our battles for us, to give us of His Spirit, to strengthen us, to help us overcome] …and Who is also making intercession for us. What shall separate us from the love of Christ?…." (vs 34-35).

Is there anything that's going to separate you from the love of God? the love of Christ? The reason that we keep the commandments of God and the Holy Days of God, and the Feasts of God is so that we understand this: nothing can separate us from God!

"…Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? " (v 35). None of those things and we're probably going to face every one of these things in the coming years!

Verse 36: "Accordingly, it is written, 'For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter.' But in all these things… [even if that happens] …we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us" (vs 36-37).

• this is the persuasion we need to come to
• this is the attitude that we need
• this is the whole finality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Verse 38: "For I am persuaded… [Are you? Are you fully persuaded[ …that neither death, nor life, nor 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 38-39).

That's the meaning of today. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and go forward with the power and the might and strength of God!

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version 

Scriptural References:

• Exodus 7:1
• Exodus 14:10-16
• Exodus 15:1-3
• Psalm 18:1-6
• Psalm 12:1-5, 8
• Psalm 4:1-4
• Psalm 37:1-8, 27-29, 34-40
• 2 Chronicles 20:3, 15, 17, 20-22, 28
• 2 Kings 19:1, 3, 14-17, 19, 34-36
• Hebrews 12:1-6
• 1 Peter 5:5-11
• Ephesians 6:10-18
• Ephesians 2:1-5, 8-10
• Romans 8:9-22, 28-39

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Matthew 7
• 1 Corinthians 10
• 1 Thessalonians 5

FRC: cs
Transcription date unknown
Reformatted: bo—11/2020