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And greetings brethren, this is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—2004. And you know as we have learned, as we know and have seen and understand, there is no justification at all for the religious holidays of this world to have any claim that they come from the Bible. Because as we have seen the will of man cannot be the will of God. And remember the model prayer that Jesus gave to the Father, that we are to ask that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So when God spoke to the children of Israel He gave them His will. And that’s what we find concerning the holy days, and the basic outline of them back in the book of Leviticus. So let’s go back there right now. Let’s go to Leviticus 22, and I want to read several verses at the end of Leviticus 22 before we get to Leviticus 23, so that we can emphasize and understand something very important concerning the holy days of God. And that they are just as important as the weekly Sabbath, and as a matter of fact they give the rest of the story in laying out the plan of God. Because without the holy days you cannot understand the plan of God.And greetings brethren, this is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—2004. And you know as we have learned, as we know and have seen and understand, there is no justification at all for the religious holidays of this world to have any claim that they come from the Bible. Because as we have seen the will of man cannot be the will of God. And remember the model prayer that Jesus gave to the Father, that we are to ask that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So when God spoke to the children of Israel He gave them His will. And that’s what we find concerning the holy days, and the basic outline of them back in the book of Leviticus. So let’s go back there right now. Let’s go to Leviticus 22, and I want to read several verses at the end of Leviticus 22 before we get to Leviticus 23, so that we can emphasize and understand something very important concerning the holy days of God. And that they are just as important as the weekly Sabbath, and as a matter of fact they give the rest of the story in laying out the plan of God. Because without the holy days you cannot understand the plan of God.
So let’s begin here, Leviticus 22:31. “Therefore shall ye keep My commandments, and do them: I am the LORD.” Now whenever you see “I am the LORD” or “the LORD says,” these are the words of God. And it’s the recorded voice of the Word of God. And of course as we see and know and understand that we are to obey the voice of the LORD our God. Verse 32, “Neither shall ye profane My holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you [or, sanctifies you]…” And that ties right in with the New Testament, that we are sanctified by God the Father through Jesus Christ. Verse 33, “…That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 22:31-33). And not only that, when God calls us He brings us out of the world. And Egypt symbolizes and typifies the world. So this becomes very important. And as we have seen, if you keep the holidays of this world you’re going right back into Egypt. And another name that this is called by—the way—of the world is Babylon. So Babylon and Egypt, and Sodom and Gomorrah give the great definition of the endtime age that we live in.
Now let’s continue right on with Leviticus 23. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD…” which we have seen and know and understand that they are His. Now you cannot take something that comes from a pagan god, as we have seen, and put the name of God on it and have some high religious figure Christianize it and sanctify it and say, “This is the will of God.” No, it’s very clear these are the feasts of the LORD, so if you want to keep any days to God you have to keep the ones that He says. Everything else doesn’t count. “… Which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations [or, appointed times], even these are My feasts.” And it starts out with the weekly Sabbath because as we know and we have seen, the fourth commandment concerning the weekly Sabbath is the overarching commandment from which the holy days, which are Sabbaths, hang. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:1-3).
Now we know we keep the seventh day Sabbath every week, week in and week out, and week in and week out, as we go down through the year. And when we come to the spring of the year, which this is, we have the Passover, which we have kept, and I hope that everyone had a profitable and inspiring Passover. And then we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And in these things God teaches us not only His plan but His way, and how He is doing things. So that’s why we have the feasts. And remember the weekly Sabbath is called a feast. So if the weekly Sabbath is called a feast, and the annual Sabbaths are called feasts, they are one in the same and belong together. So the truth is, as we already know, you can’t have one without the other.
Now verse 4, “These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.” And we’ve already had that. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month [which is today] is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” And God says what He means and means what He says, so we eat unleavened bread. And there’s a lesson in it for us, as we will see. “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days…” So that includes that there’s an offering on the seventh day, because if you start on the first day and you have an offering that you have, and of course these were also the ritual sacrifices and they did them every day. You can see them all listed out in Numbers 28. “…Ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD…” (vs. 4-8). And so every one of the holy days we do take up an offering. Now today we don’t offer sacrifices, but we give monetary offerings, and in a way that’s likened unto a sacrifice, if you would.
Now let’s come here to Deuteronomy 16 and let’s see the command. Let’s see what God says and let’s see how that with the offerings that we take up, we are to prepare for them. We are to do the things that God wants us to do in faith and trust, and understanding that God will bless us. Verse 16, “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: every man shall give as he is able…” Now there’s a gauge. See, every time we come before God to bring an offering we have to measure it by the blessings that God has given. So if you have given and you are living by God’s word and you are trusting in God, you probably have many blessings that you can count. So then God says, “…according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee.” (Deut. 16:16-17). So that’s the gauge on how we are to give our offerings.
Now we also know in the New Testament, let’s come here to 2 Corinthians 9 because this is talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and sowing and planting, and of course it has reference then to us being the firstfruits, as we will see as we come down toward Pentecost time. Here in 2 Corinthians 9 we have an overall command with the very principles of God, and of course this is based on faith. Everything that we do then must be based on faith—to love God, to serve Him, to keep His commandments, to do the things that are right in His sight.
Now here in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “But this I say: the one who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly…” And as we covered previous, long before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that the one servant who received the one talent and didn’t do anything with it, he didn’t even sow it into the bank, as it were, to receive interest when Christ returns. So he didn’t even do the minimum. And this is what he’s talking about here. If you give sparingly then God will bless you sparingly, because the results will go hand-in-hand. “…And the one who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” And there are many, many blessings that come, which are more than just monetary or physical, or blessings that you can look at and see. There are the blessings of love, and joy, and peace, and longsuffering—the fruits of the Holy Spirit. There are the blessings of peace and longsuffering, there are the blessings where then you have God’s Spirit, and God is giving you the strength and help to overcome. Those are all part of the blessings that God will give. “Each one as he purposes in his heart,…” So it’s something that we have to do with deliberation, with thought when we come before the LORD. “…So let him give, but not grudgingly…” See, God wants us to keep His commandments with joy, not with grudging. Not saying, “Well, there goes that preacher again.” You know, as we’re going to see, we have to preach the word in season. “…or [of necessity] by compulsion [that is, because God requires it]; for God loves a cheerful giver ” (2 Cor. 9:6-7).
Now here is the blessing, here is the promise. This is what we claim when we give to God our tithes and our offerings—verse 8. “For God is able [that means God has the power] to make all grace abound toward you so that in every way you may always have sufficiency in all things, and may abound unto every good work…” So God gives a promise that you will have sufficiency in all things. So we’ll go ahead and take a pause now, and we’ll take up the offering.
Now let’s go to John 14, and let’s look at the connection between Passover and Unleavened Bread, and a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Now remember, as we have covered, John 14, 15, 16, and 17 are the words of the New Covenant, as we covered during the Passover night. And these words also tell us exactly the way to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father. And it shows that since these words were given on the Passover night, that it is absolutely true you cannot have a connection with, or a relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father unless you keep the Passover.
Now you know we need to be as strong as the Bible is strong and say it exactly as it is. And let’s read it here. John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ” And Jesus Christ, as we will see, is our Passover. So unless you keep the Passover and the feasts of God you cannot get to God the Father. It is an absolute impossibility. And of course, as we have seen, everything needs to be done exactly as Jesus said it should be done.
Now let’s, since we are in the Gospel of John, and I’m using the new translation from the New Testament that you have received. Let’s come to John 6:53. This also shows that it has to be the way that Jesus Christ has said. Now it is an impossibility for anyone to partake of Communion anytime they want to and have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. They may think they do, but they’re deceived, because no one is going to do anything contrary to the will of God, and God accept it. No one can take the Eucharist and stand before a priest, or sit before a priest who has the unmitigated gall to claim that he can command God to come and put the presence of Jesus Christ—His body and His blood—in the bread and in the wine. No, Jesus clearly showed that to eat His flesh and drink His blood is symbolized by the unleavened bread and the wine. There is nothing literal in it. It is symbolic. And it also has a meaning of what we are to do.
So let’s pick it up here, John 6:53. “Therefore, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.” See, because all die. And the wages of sin is death. And there is no way out except through Christ. “The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life…” He’s talking about the Passover, as we have seen. So if you don’t take the Passover you cannot have eternal life. Now you may take a false version of it through Communion or the Eucharist, but that has no connection with God. Now it may appear to have connection with God because those who perform the service use the Scriptures, but they misuse them because they are unwilling to obey. Remember where we started—God said, “Therefore shall ye keep my commandments,…” (Lev. 22:31). And those are part of the commandments of God the Father and Jesus Christ. And He says, “…and I will raise him up in the last day; for Mythe Father and Jesus Christ. And He says, “…and I will raise him up in the last day; for Myflesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks Myblood is dwelling in Me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56). So the key is again, without the PassoverChrist cannot dwell in you. That’s what He says.
Now here is what we are to do. This tells us exactly the meaning of it. We don’t dothis for some religious ritual so that somehow what we do puts us in right standing with God.We do it because God says if we do, He puts us in right standing with Him. And what arewe to do after that? Verse 57, “As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; soalso the one who eats Me shall live by Me.’ ” And it is a way of life. It is something that wedo. It is something that we live by, we think by, we have our life wrapped up in. Christ is inus, God the Father is in us. It is a way to live. Christ didn’t die in vain to just please men.He died to save the world His way.
Now let’s see what else He says here. Let’s come to verse 63. He says, “ ‘It is theSpirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” That is, our own physical flesh. And evensymbolizing eating His flesh and drinking His blood, it is the spiritual meaning of it, you see.And the spiritual application of renewing the New Covenant, as we have seen on the Passover,which is kept the 14th day of the first month. “…They are spirit and they are life. Butthere are some of you who do not believe.’ ” And they didn’t like the saying that Jesus said,“You have to eat My flesh and drink My blood.” So what did they do? They said, “Well,it’s a hard saying. I quit.” See, because it went against their will. And they weren’t willingto follow the will of God the Father and Jesus Christ. So that’s the question. That’s thewhole meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as we will see. “For Jesus knew from thebeginning who were the ones that did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said,‘For this reason I have said to you, no one can come to Me unless it has been given to himfrom My Father’ ” (vs. 63-65). No one—it’s an impossibility. Just like you cannot pleaseGod by eating leavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It’s an impossibility.So unless you come through Christ and His word, and His gospel, and His way you can’t getto the Father.
Now notice, they couldn’t take that. Verse 66, “From that time many of His discipleswent back and walked no more with Him.” And then, “Therefore, Jesus said to the twelve,‘Are you also desiring to go away?’ Then Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shallwe go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed and have known that Youare the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ ” So Jesus wanted to set the record straight, becausein Matthew 16 Jesus said to Peter when he said, “You are the Christ,” He says,“Blessed are you, Simon BarJona, for My Father has revealed this to you.” (Matt. 16:17,paraphrased). So no one knows the true Christ unless He is revealed by God the Father. So“Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you twelve, and one of you is the devil?’ ” (John6:66-70). So to believe in your own belief of what you think concerning what the Biblesays, and the Word of God, will get you nowhere with God.
Now let’s come to 2 Timothy 3 and let’s see something very profound and important.And to show that the only way that we are going to come to God, come to Jesus Christ andGod the Father, is through repentance and a broken heart, and accepting the sacrifice of JesusChrist and living by the Words of God. Now those who then are teachers will see thecommand of what they are to do, and it does include the annual Sabbaths. And it does includeall the commandments of God.
Now let’s pick it up here in 2 Timothy 3:14. “But as for you [he’s writing to Timothy],continue in the things that you did learn and were assured of, knowing from whom youhave learned them…” Now let’s understand something very important, verse 15. “…Andthat from a child you have known the holy writings…” They had, not only the scrolls of the Old Testament in the synagogues before the time of Christ, but they also had personalOld Testament in the synagogues before the time of Christ, but they also had personalscrolls. They also had the Septuagint translated from the Hebrew into Greek. “…And thatfrom a child you have known the holy writings…”, which means that he was taught in hishome, if you read the first part of 2 Timothy, how that from his Grandmother and Mother,they taught him. So they had the Word of God just like we have the Word of God. Now notice,“…you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvationthrough faith, which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14-15). So this is affirming the need tofollow and obey the commandments in what is called the Old Testament.
Verse 16, “All Scripture is God-breathed…” It’s the very Word of God. It’s likewhen I’m speaking, breath is coming out of my mouth, isn’t it? Well, God breathed. Thatmeans that God’s Spirit moved these men to write the very Words of God. So it’s just notthe sayings or the thoughts of men. Now because of that “…[it] is profitable for doctrine[from which all teaching comes], for conviction…” that you have to be, not only know thetruth but be convicted of the truth so you can stand for the truth, so you can love the truth, soyou can live by the truth. Unless you have conviction you do not have spiritual backbone.And “…for correction…” because we all need correction—every one of us. We need to letthe Word of God correct us. That’s the easiest way. You read the Word of God and youchange and repent when you see there’s correction for you.
The next easiest way is for a minister to teach you and read the Scriptures and thenyou are corrected by that. Then it becomes a little more difficult. If you’re not willing tolisten… And many times it’s not a matter of willing to listen, but because some things arehard to learn that we need the experience of trials and difficulties so that we can learn theprofound importance of what God wants us to do, and how we are to live. And remember,don’t complain about any trial or difficulty that you’ve come through. Always think on andremember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ—His beating, His scourging, and His crucifixion—that He went through, for every one of us because He loved us. So that’s why Paul says allthese heavy trials are just but for a light moment. And remember this: there is no trial, thereis no difficulty, there is no situation that is too great for God. But in those He wants you toturn to Him. Now you see, “…for correction, for instruction in righteousness…” that wemay learn how to be in right standing with God through the power of His Holy Spirit “…sothat the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (vs. 16-17).And that’s not only just those who are teaching, but that’s for everyone. That’s why theWord of God is here. That’s why we are to prove all things. That’s why we are to hold fast,which is good, see.
Now then chapter 4, verse 1. “I charge you, therefore, in the sight of God, even theLord Jesus Christ, Who is ready to judge the living and the dead at His appearing and Hiskingdom: Preach the Word!…” (2 Tim. 4:1-2). Now what does this tell us? How can hepreach the Word if he didn’t have it written down? This tells us at the time that Paul waswriting to Timothy, that they had the Words of God. They had all the epistles of the apostlePaul.
Now let’s come over here to 1 Timothy 6, and let’s see something that’s very importanthere. 1 Timothy 6:3. We’ll come back to 2 Timothy in just a minute. 1 Timothy 6:3, “Ifanyone teaches any different doctrine, and does not adhere to the sound words, even those ofour Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to godliness, he is proud and knowsnothing. Rather, he has a morbid attraction to questions and disputes over words, fromwhich come envy, arguments, blasphemy, wicked suspicions, vain reasonings of men whohave been corrupted in their minds and are destitute of the truth [sounds like Biblical scholarstoday, to me]—men who believe that gain is godliness. From such withdraw yourself” (1 Tim. 6:3-5). Now the point is this: Timothy had to have all the gospels to know thesound words of Jesus Christ, right? Yes, indeed. So this whole thing that the Bible wasn’t written until hundreds of years after the apostles, is nothing more than a Satanic lie given bywritten until hundreds of years after the apostles, is nothing more than a Satanic lie given byatheistic scholars who don’t believe the Word of God and have a secret hidden agenda thatthey want to destroy the Word of God and corrupt it. And in this New Testament you canread the commentary, which absolutely proves that that’s so and that’s their motive. Thereare very few honest scholars out there in the world, but just enough so that the Word of Godand the history and preservation of the text will not be lost.
Now let’s come back to 2 Timothy 2:4. “Preach the word!” So what is a ministersupposed to do? Preach the Word. Not stories, not his ideas, not what he thinks, but theWord of God. Which means in order to preach the Word of God you have to have it. Andwe have the evidence right here that Timothy had the Old Testament from a child, and thathe had the writings of the apostle Paul, that he had the Gospels. So by the time this secondepistle is written, every book of the New Testament was available to the New Testamentchurch except the book of Revelation. So that’s amazing to understand.
Now look at the next sentence here. “Be urgent…” Not slovenly, not hohum. “Beurgent in season and out of season…” Now what did we read back there in Leviticus 23?That these are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim in their seasons, right?Therefore all Scripture is God breathed. Therefore this is absolute proof that they werekeeping the Passover and the holy days in the early New Testament church and that all ofthese pagan intrusions came later when the state religion was instituted by Emperor Constantine.“Be urgent in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patienceand doctrine. For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine…”Now people don’t like that. “Well, that’s harsh. Well, that’s too rigid.” You tell it to God.See if He will accept those excuses. “…But according to their own lusts…” That’s wherethese things come from. People have lusts. They want to have it their way. They don’twant to do God’s way. They want their own way. They want to be satisfied in their lusts.“…According to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number ofteachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; and they shall turn awaytheir own ears from the truth; and they shall be turned aside unto myths” (vs. 2-4). That’sexactly what has happened.
You know, I got a letter just a couple of weeks ago. Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 5 now.I got a letter just a couple weeks ago where a man wrote and said, “Well you know that inthe New Testament there’s no place which shows that we should keep the feasts of the OldTestament.” Well, as we have already seen in the sermons leading up to the Passover andFeast of Unleavened Bread, yes. Right here in 1 Corinthians 5 you find a direct commandby the apostle Paul, the apostles to the Gentiles, writing and speaking to the Gentiles commandingthem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they kept the Passover.
Now let’s see it here. Verse 6, “Your glorying is not good.” And of course they wereglorying about the situation with the man who had his stepmother in immoral sexual relations.But any kind of glorying is not good over things which are sin. It’s a sin to say that God hasdelivered us to do all these abominations, meaning the pagan holidays as we already have seenand know, you see. “Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor.5:6). A little bit of sin starts it. That’s why God uses leaven as a type of sin during the Daysof Unleavened Bread. And He wants us to understand, just like leaven is everywhere, leavenis in the air. And who’s the prince of the power of the air that brings people to sin? Satan thedevil. Leaven is so common, it’s in the basic food staples that we eat. It’s in bread, it’s incrackers, it’s in cakes, it’s in all of the things that we just normally take for granted. So duringthe Feast of Unleavened Bread He wants us to put out the leaven and to eat unleavened breadfor seven days as He has said so we learn the lesson that as God has called us out of Egypt, wehave our part to do. And if we don’t put the leaven out of our homes, and I’ve seen this timeand time again down through the years for now 38 years as a minister, that when people don’t put leaven out of their homes—a simple little thing—within a short period of time they noput leaven out of their homes—a simple little thing—within a short period of time they nolonger understand what sin is. And they redefine sin according to their own ideas, sin accordingto their interpretation of the Scriptures.
Now notice what He says here, verse 7. “Therefore, purge out the old leaven…”We’re to go get it out of our homes, and also there’s a spiritual lesson here. Purge out theold human nature, see. “…That you may become a new lump,…” that is, that you may bemolded into that new person in Christ. “…Even as you are unleavened.” Showing that theyhad their houses unleavened. It couldn’t mean anything other than that. Now here’s the reason.Some people say, “Well why do you keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread?” Turn righthere, here’s the answer. “For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us” (vs. 7). Because ofChrist we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now most people think because of Christ wekeep Easter. God never said so. “Because of Christ we keep Lent. Because of Christ wekeep Ash Wednesday.” Where do you find that in the Bible? It’s not there. Those arethings of men who did not want to hear the truth. We read back there in 2 Timothy 4, theywanted to turn to myths and lies and have new teachings that please men, that accept all thesins of the world. That’s what those are. See, we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread andput the leaven out of our homes, and eat unleavened bread seven days because God said so.Because Christ was our Passover Who was sacrificed for us. So if you want to claim thesacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you do not keep the Feast of UnleavenedBread, and you do not keep the Passover, you have no part with Him. Now you see,that’s very clear.
Now notice verse 8, here’s the direct command. “For this reason…” Because of thefact of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Passover day. That’s why He’s called our Passover.“For this reason, let us keep the feast…” There can be no doubt it’s the Feast ofUnleavened Bread. It’s not Easter, it’s not Lent, it’s not Sunday keeping. It is the Feast.Now notice, “…Not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but withthe unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (vs. 8). And that’s what God wants us to have.He wants us to have a nature that is filled with truth from the Spirit of Truth by the God ofTruth and Jesus Christ, Who is the way, the truth, and the life. And the only way that thatcan be is if we understand that we must have our natures unleavened spiritually that we becomethe new creature in Christ. And that eating the unleavened bread shows us that we areto live by every Word of God and to understand that God’s way is the way that it is.
Now let’s come to Psalm 34. Let’s see something that’s very important which ties inwith the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and ties in with the meaning of living by every Word ofGod. And this is New Testament doctrine here that we’re going to read in Psalm 34. Veryprofound. Very important for us to understand. And this is the whole meaning of it. Yousee, Christ is the sinless one. Christ, Who knew no sin, became the sacrifice for us, and Heis the one that we are able to continuously come to, to come to God the Father to have oursins forgiven, to grow in grace and knowledge, to understand the Word of God.
Now let’s see what it says here. Psalm 34:4, “I sought the LORD, and He heard me[so you’ve got to come to God], and delivered me from all my fears.” See, we’ve got to trustGod. That’s what the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is picturing—you trust God. “Theylooked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor mancried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORDencampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Part of the blessings ofGod. Part of the blessings that you hardly ever see or know or recognize. Maybe you canlook back and see how angels may have delivered you from some things, but you don’tknow that they are there. Now notice verse 8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good…”That’s why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We taste the Word of God, we digest itspiritually speaking, it becomes a part of us. That we think with the Word of God, we have it written in our hearts and in our minds. “…Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psa.it written in our hearts and in our minds. “…Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psa.34:4-8). Now you see, so that’s what we need to do.
Let’s come down here to verse 14. This shows part of how to keep the Feast ofUnleavened Bread. “Depart from evil [put the leaven out], and do good [put righteousnessin]; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His earsare open unto their cry.” Now verse 18, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a brokenheart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: butthe LORD delivereth him out of them all” (vs. 14-15, 18-19). Those are the promises thatGod gives for keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Now let’s continue on and we will follow the theme that leaven equals sin, and thatwe ourselves only change or become unleavened through Christ. Now here’s where we begin.Let’s come to Romans 3, and let’s understand what we are as human beings, and whereGod wants us to go. The truth is that God is going to take something that is imperfect andHe’s going to perfect it. He’s going to take us, who are sinful, and upon repentance and baptism,yielding to God and growing and overcoming, perfect us and make us righteous. It’squite a process that God is doing.
And here’s where it begins, Romans 3:23. “For all have sinned, and come short ofthe glory of God…” So all are sinners—none are exempt, and Christ is the only way out.“…But are being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;Whom God has openly manifested to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, in order todemonstrate His righteousness, in respect to the remission of sins that are past…” (Rom.3:23-25). So God is showing His righteousness. And that righteousness could also becalled: God is showing His justification because He is taking those who are sinners (unjust)and making them in right standing with Him by justification through the sacrifice of JesusChrist and by His blood.
Now, he says, verse 26, “…Through the forbearance of God; yes, to publicly declareHis righteousness in the present time, that He might be just, and the one Who justifies theone who is of the faith of Jesus.” Now then Paul says, “…Where is boasting?” It’s not ofself, it’s not of law, it’s of Christ. It’s of faith. Then he also asks the question because offaith and because of grace, “Do we then make void the law?”, or abolish the law? No. Let’scome down here to verse 31 and see. “Are we, then, abolishing law through faith?” Hesays, “MAY IT NEVER BE! Rather, we are establishing law” (vs.26-27, 31), becausethey’re written in our hearts and in our minds, you see, because we live by them. However,we still have a sinful nature. Even though we are justified, even though Christ died while wewere yet sinners, even though we have the Holy Spirit shed abroad in our hearts so we candevelop the patience and the love and the overcoming, we still have sin to fight.
So let’s come to Romans 7 and see the predicament that all human beings are in.And one mistake that a lot of people make is that they focus on their sins because they havea sinful nature. We’re going to see you have to get sin out, but not focus on sin but focus onChrist. And then we’re also going to see: How does God look at us? How can God put upwith us with this sinful nature, which causes us to do things that we don’t want to do? Andwe slip and fall in sin, yet we repent and we change, we come to God. Let’s see how all ofthis works. Let’s put it all together here.
Let’s begin, Romans 7:7. “What then shall we say? Is the law sin? MAY IT NEVERBE! But I had not known sin, except through the law [because law defines the sin]. Furthermore,I would not have been conscious of lust, except that the law said, ‘You shall not covet.’” But something happens when God begins to call an individual. And something happens inthe minds of individuals once they have the Holy Spirit. And that is they see how sinful sin is. Now let’s read it here. “But sin, having grasped an opportunity by the commandment, workedNow let’s read it here. “But sin, having grasped an opportunity by the commandment, workedout within me every kind of lust because apart from law, sin was dead. For I was once alivewithout law; but after the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Rom. 7:7-9). Nowthat is obviously through the operation of baptism. He didn’t die a literal death and then wasresurrected, see. That’s what he’s talking about, and of course baptism is a death—a covenantdeath into the death of Jesus Christ. That’s why we take the Passover.
“…Because sin, having taken opportunity by the commandment, deceived me, andby it killed me.” Then he looked back at the law and he says, “Therefore, the law is indeedholy, the commandment holy and righteous and good. Now then, did that which is good becomedeath to me? MAY IT NEVER BE! But sin, in order that it might truly be exposed assin in me by that which is good, [that] was working out [the] death [that is, sin]; so that, bythe means of the commandment, sin might become exceedingly sinful” (vs. 11-13). Nowthen, how is that possible?
Let’s come here to John 16 for just a minute. How is it possible that we’re goingalong and we’re living our lives in the world, we have no consciousness of sin. We knowsome things are right, and some things are wrong, but we don’t have a consciousness of sin.We don’t have a conviction of sin. We don’t have a need to repent of sin. Oh, when we dosomething wrong and we’re caught doing something wrong, yeah we’re sorry, but that’s notrepentance of sin toward God.
What changes? It is the Holy Spirit of God. Because when God begins to call someoneHe sends the Spirit to be with them. When they repent and are baptized the Spirit iswithin them. And here is what the Spirit does.
Now let’s come here to John 16 and let’s pick it up here in verse 7. This is talkingabout the activity and work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was telling His disciples, “But I am tellingyou the truth. It is profitable for you that I go away because if I do not go away, the Comforterwill not come to you. However, if I go, I will send it to you. And when that one hascome, it will convict the world concerning sin…” (John 16:7-8). Now, what gives us the convictionof sin in our lives? What brought the apostle Paul to the point that he had this convictionof seeing how evil that human nature really was? It was by the Holy Spirit of God.
Now let’s come back to Romans 7 again. So the truth is this: if you find that you’re asinner, and if you’re convicted that you are a sinner, and if you find yourself doing like theapostle Paul did here, doing things he didn’t want to do but still did them, what is convictingyou of that? Your thoughts? No. The Holy Spirit that is with you, or in you.
Now let’s notice, let’s continue on in Romans 7:14. “For we know that the law isspiritual; but I am carnal, having been sold as a slave under sin; because what I am workingout myself [that is just what I do by myself], I do not know.” Isn’t that true? Don’t we do alot of things that we don’t know why or what we do them for? And a lot of them end up beingsin. “For what I do not desire to do, this I do; moreover, what I hate, this is what I do.But if I am doing what I do not desire to do, I agree with the law that it is good” (vs. 14-16).Because you can now see that your behavior needs to be changed. That’s why we need toput out the sin. And when we put the sin out, as we’re going to see, we need to put righteousnessin. The same Holy Spirit that convicts us of sin so we can repent and get rid of sin,it is the same Holy Spirit that gives us the power and strength to put righteousness in throughJesus Christ. And that’s what we’re going to see is the way that it works.
Now let’s continue on here, verse 17. “So then, I am not longer working it out myself;rather, it is [the] sin that is dwelling within me…” All of us have sin. We’ll see it’scalled the law of sin and death. And we have to overcome it. We can only overcome it through Christ. “…Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is,through Christ. “…Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is,within my fleshly being—any good. For the desire to do good is present within me; but howto work out that which is good, I do not find [that is, within me]. For the good that I desireto do, I am not doing; but the evil that I do not desire to do, this I am doing. But if I do whatI do not desire to do, I am no longer working it out myself, but sin that is dwelling withinme.” (vs. 17-20). Now there is a solution, and the solution is Christ, and the solution is theFeast of Unleavened Bread after the Passover. Because once you have your sins forgiven,you’ve got to do something else. And that is: you’ve got to do it God’s way.
Verse 21, “Consequently, I find this law in my members, that when I desire to dogood, evil is present with me.” Now you can still find that today, right? You go along,you’re doing something good and then bam, all of a sudden here comes an evil thought outof the middle of nowhere. That’s the law of sin and death working in you. Now we’re goingto see through Christ there is a way out. And what we need to focus on You see sometimeswe get so “beat sin out, get sin out of your life” that all people do is just look and see, “Well,where is the sin?” Well you need to find out where the sin is. Now what do you do afterthat? That’s the rest of the story of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So he says concerningthis, “O what a wretched man I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death?” Nowwe need to be saved from this, and only Christ can. Verse 25, “I thank God for His salvationthrough our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, on the one hand, I myself serve the law ofGod with my mind; but on the other hand, with the flesh, I serve the law of sin” (vs. 21, 24-25). In other words it is the sin within your members that causes you to do this.
Now where do we stand before God? Let’s come to chapter 8, verse 1. This is what Iwant you to understand. This is what is so important that we need to realize what Christdoes and how we stand before God and that’s the whole meaning of the Feast of UnleavenedBread. Romans 8:1, “Consequently there is now no condemnation…” Now I want you torepeat that. “There is now no condemnation.” You love God the Father, you accept JesusChrist as your Savior, and we’re going to see how there is no condemnation, in just a bit.There’s no condemnation. You don’t need to focus on the sin, which has brought you down,but you focus on the solution, which then is Christ in you. So when you see the sin, you putit out getting rid of the leaven. In order to replace that you have to eat unleavened bread.That’s putting Christ in. That’s why He has us eat unleavened bread for seven days, so thatwe have to understand and realize that God puts us in a very special category. There is nocondemnation. The very fact that you have the law of sin and death in you and you are overcomingit, and you are looking to God to change you, there is no condemnation, becausethere is the forgiveness available. That’s why we are in the grace of God.
Now let’s read it here. Now “…There is…no condemnation to those who are inChrist Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh…” You’re not just following thedictates of the flesh. You see, before you were converted that’s what you were doing. Youhad no consciousness of good. You had no consciousness of God. You are not convictedbecause of sin. You just knew somewhat of right and wrong. But now with the Holy Spiritconvicting you of sin, you see sin within you. And that’s the Holy Spirit revealing it to youso you can change and repent and let Christ blot that out and forgive you and give you HisSpirit. Now, because you are doing that, you are walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
Verse 2, “Because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered me fromthe law of sin and death. For what was impossible for the law to do…” See, because the lawhas no power. “…In that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent His own Son inthe likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh…” So that God couldgive you His righteousness, God could give you His Spirit, God could give you His mind,see. “…In order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who are not walkingaccording to the flesh, but according to the Spirit:.” (vs. 2-4). Now that’s something.
Now let’s see how this whole operation is done. Let’s come to 1 John 1. Now in theNew Testament, the new one, you’re going to have to get used to the general epistles comingbefore the epistles of Paul. Let’s come to 1 John 1, and here’s how it is accomplished. Nowlet’s pick it up here in verse 6. Here is the way. “If we proclaim that we have fellowshipwith Him…” And a lot of people do, see. “…But we are walking in the darkness…” Andmany are. They’re not walking according to the commandments, because you see the commandmentis light, and the Spirit is light, and Christ is light. He is the way, the truth, and thelife. And that’s the way we are to live, you see. And if we’re walking in darkness, if we’rekeeping Sunday, and Christmas, and Easter, and all the things of the world, you’re walkingin darkness. You’re not walking in the light. “…We are lying to ourselves…” And you see,with the Holy Spirit within you, you cannot lie to yourself very long because the Holy Spiritwill convict you, and through the graciousness of God lead you to repentance. “…We arelying to ourselves, and are not practicing the Truth. However, if we walk in the light, as Heis in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ [Hissacrifice, our Passover], His own Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7). Now Jesussaid on the Passover night, “You are already clean through the word that I have spoken toyou.” And that was after they had partaken of the very first New Covenant Christian Passover.And that’s why we keep the Passover every year. That’s why we keep the Feast ofUnleavened Bread every year, see, it cleanses us from all sin. That’s why there’s no condemnationthrough Jesus Christ.
Now we’re going to see in just a minute, how we stand before God. How does Godlook at you? You’re going to be surprised. Now, “If we say that we do not have sin, we aredeceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our own sins…” We have to goto God and confess our sins. Not to a priest. It doesn’t say here, “Go to a priest and confessyour sins, and then you are forgiven by him.” And you run out and do “Hail Mary’s, andOur Father’s” or whatever other kind of religious work that has been given to do. That’s notof God. You confess your sins directly to God the Father through Jesus Christ. “…He isfaithful and righteous, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”There’s no condemnation if you are cleansed from all your sins, and cleansed from all unrighteousness.How can there be condemnation? There isn’t. Now notice verse 10, “If wesay that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us” (vs. 8-10).
Then he gives us encouragement here, verse 1 of chapter 2. “My little children, I amwriting these things to you so that you may not sin. And yet, if anyone does sin…” Because aswe’ve covered with the law of sin and death we do sin, “…we have an Advocate with the Father;Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins [as we read there in Romans3]; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).And in order to understand how God is going to apply it to the whole world, and when he’sgoing to apply it to the whole world, you need to keep the feasts of God. See, here’s a truth:Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost tell you what God is doing with the church.Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and the Last Great Day tells you how God is going to solvethe problem of the sins of the world, and when. Now keep that in mind. Very important.
Now how do you stand before God? Let’s come to Ephesians 1. I want you to graspthis. I want you to understand this. I want you to fully realize how God views you throughChrist. Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hasblessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things with Christ…” The HolySpirit, forgiveness of sin, understanding the Word of God, growing in the character of God,as we will see a little later on, how we grow and develop and build the very character andlove of God within us, you see.
Now verse 4 is a very important verse. It is translated correctly here in this newtranslation because there is what is called, as I have mentioned before, the middle voice verb. Showing that God has done something very special and very personal in our lives. Verse 4,Showing that God has done something very special and very personal in our lives. Verse 4,“…According as He has personally chosen us for Himself…” Now that’s a tremendousthing. And God did not call you to condemn you. God called you to forgive you. Godcalled you to change you. God called you to convert you. God called you to overcome sin.God has called you to be in His kingdom, to be His very sons and daughters to share in Hisglory through Christ. There’s no condemnation in that. That’s the greatest thing that couldever be. Before the foundation of the world He had the plan already to go before He createdthe world. “…In order that we might be [now notice] holy and blameless before Him inlove…” Now that’s how you stand before God—holy and blameless because of Christ. He’sgot a plan for us.
Verse 5, “…Having predestinated us for sonship to Himself through Jesus Christ,according to the good pleasure of His own will…” So God is dealing in your life accordingto the very good pleasure of what He has determined. “…To the praise of the glory of Hisgrace, wherein He has made us objects of His grace in the Beloved Son; in Whom we haveredemption through His blood…” (vs. 5-7). And it all goes back to the blood of JesusChrist, and it all goes back to our right standing with God through the sacrifice of Christ.See this is tremendous, brethren. That’s why there’s no condemnation. That’s why yes,we’re to put sin out. Yes, we’re to overcome sin. Yes, we’re to confess our sins and haveforgiveness, but we need to grow, we need to change, we need to understand there is no condemnation.There’s not one word of condemnation here, right? Yes, indeed.
Verse 8, “…which He has made to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence…”God wants you to know, God wants you to understand. He’s given His Spirit,He’s given His Word. That’s fantastic. God wants you to have the joy of the Lord. Hewants you to understand how He views you, and He does not condemn you. Now we’re goingto look at this just a little bit more here in just a minute. “…Having made known to usthe mystery of His own will…” Do you understand the will of God? Do you understand thegreatest secret that men can never grasp through everything that they do, try, work, and soforth. Now we’ve got the two robots up on Mars—Opportunity and Spirit. They’re lookingfor water. They’re looking for signs of life. Who knows what they’ll find up there, but alwaysremember this: even if they find water that does not mean there has been life, becausethere was not life in the water until God said, “Let the water bring forth the fish and all thethings that are in the water.” So even if they find evidence of water that doesn’t mean thatthere was life. He’s got His plan, He’s got His purpose, you see. Now notice, “…havingmade known to us the mystery of His own will, according to His good pleasure, which He[has] purposed in Himself…” (vs. 8-9). And God is working that plan.
Let’s come to Romans 5. Let’s understand something very important also how Godlooks at us and what He does for us. And this is profound. This is something that is reallyabsolutely marvelous. Here’s what God has done for us. Ok, Romans 5:17, “For if by theoffence of one man [Adam] death reigned by the one [Adam], how much more shall thosewho receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness…” It’s a fantastic gift tobe put in right standing with God. Have you ever in your own mind thought that you can bein right standing with God through Jesus Christ? That you can have imparted to you, imputedto you the very righteousness of Christ? That’s the only way that you can be holy andwithout blame, because that is imputing to you the very qualities of Jesus Christ. So that’swhy we are to have the joy and the understanding, and realize how great this salvation ofGod is and might receive “…the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign inlife by the one, Jesus Christ.)” So then, even as by the one transgression condemnation cameunto all men, in the same way also, by the one act of righteousness [sacrifice and crucifixionof Christ, and His resurrection] shall justification of life come unto all men” (Rom. 5:17-18).And of course that’s in God’s good time.
Now, let’s come down here to verse 21. “So that even as sin has reigned unto death,so also might the grace of God reign through righteousness unto eternal life…”. God imputesthe righteousness of Christ to you. That’s what to understand. And that’s why thelawless grace of this world and what they do with it is absolutely wrong.
Since we’re here in Romans let’s see what it shows we are to do. Now what are weto do with this? Wrap it up in a napkin and be all smug and say, “Oh that’s good, we standbefore God blameless.” What are you to do? What is the obligation? Because you see, youput the sin out, you put the leaven out but you’ve got to put the unleaven in. And here in Romans12:1, this shows what it is to be, that conversion is a process, and God has given thisright standing before Him that we are holy and blameless before Him in love to inspire us, towant to do what Romans 12 tells us here.
Verse 1, “I exhort you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present yourbodies a living sacrifice, holy, and well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service.” Tolove Him, to grow in the fruits of the Spirit, to overcome the works of the flesh—that is yourspiritual service. And “Do not conform yourselves to this world [go back into the world],but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” That’s the conversion that takes place.Step by step, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year as you grow andovercome and walk in the ways of God. “…That you may prove [so there’s doing] what iswell pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).
Now let’s come to 2 Corinthians 10, and let’s see what we are to do with this carnalmind. What do you do when you’re going along and all of a sudden there’s an evil thoughtthat comes along—bang. You say to yourself, “Where did that come from?” Well, it couldcome out of the depths of your own carnal mind. It could come because of the prince of thepower of the air. It could come because there are evil spirits out there who want to bombardyou with the missiles of evil that comes from Satan the devil and his demons. Now what areyou to do when that thought comes along? Are you to say, “Oh, I must not be converted.”No, you recognize it because of the Spirit of God. You are converted.
But now here is what you need to do, 2 Corinthians 10:4. “For the weapons of ourwarfare are not carnal…” You’re not going to solve this by doing things that are motivatedby the flesh. “…But mighty through God…” You are to use the weapons of God, and this iswhat he’s talking about here. “…To the overthrowing of strongholds…” And of coursethat’s referring to the carnal mind, because the carnal mind is the greatest stronghold of sin.And remember we still have the law of sin and death in us. So when these things pop up,here’s what we are to do. “…Casting down vain imaginations…” We are to take thosethoughts, literally, mentally, and grab hold of them, in the name of Jesus Christ, and castthem down. “…And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, andbringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ…” It’s a process. Sothose things are going to happen. The Spirit of God in you is going to convict you of the sinso that you can repent and cast it down. Now notice what else it says, verse 6. “…And havinga readiness to avenge all disobedience, whenever your obedience has been fulfilled” (2Corinthians 10:4-6). Now that’s the process.
Now let’s see how we can put this into action even more. Let’s come to Colossians3. We put this into process even more. God expects us to do something. He will give usHis Spirit to do it and accomplish it, which gives us the power to overcome. See, that’s whyduring the Feast of Unleavened Bread we put in the Word of God. Not only do we eatunleavened bread, we put in Christ Who is unleavened, sinless. We put in the Word of God,which gives us conviction. We use the Spirit of God, which gives us power. And we realizethat we have Satan to overcome, which we’ll cover a little later during the feast, we have theworld to overcome, we have ourselves to overcome. And the most important one to overcome is the self through the power and Spirit of God, because we overcome Satan by thecome is the self through the power and Spirit of God, because we overcome Satan by theblood of Christ.
So here’s what He expects us to do, Colossians 3:1. “Therefore, if you have beenraised together with Christ [that is, out of the watery grave of baptism], seek the things thatare above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.” And when you go pray, understandthat. Realize Christ is right there. Christ is our High Priest, our Savior, our Intercessor.The one Who sends the Spirit, the one Who petitions the Father. He is the propitiation forour sins, and all the things that have to do with Christ, and those are all yours because Hegave Himself for you. And that ought to be a great humbling and overwhelming experiencewhen you finally come to grasp and understand that when you’re praying to God, you see.
“Set your affection on the things that are above, and not on the things that are on theearth. For you have died [again, through the watery grave of baptism], and your life hasbeen hid together with Christ in God.” Now here’s a promise. Now notice how he gives thispromise before he tells us what we need to do, because see, Paul wants us inspired. You cannever overcome by beating the flesh. You can never overcome sin by focusing on sin. Youhave to focus on Christ and the solution, you see. And so that’s why he shows the goal,verse 4. “When Christ, Who is our life, is manifested [that is, when He returns], then youalso shall be manifested with Him in glory” (vs. 3-4). So he wants you to have the goal inmind before you start working on the things you need to work on to give you motivation, togive you inspiration, to help you to understand how great God is and what He’s doing.
Verse 5, “Therefore, put to death your members which are on earth…” Grab thosethoughts, cast them down. Take the lusts, get rid of them through the Spirit of Christ. Theseare the things: “…Sexual immorality, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desires, and covetousness,which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon thesons of disobedience…” We don’t want the wrath of God upon us, so put all of those thingsaside. This is the way, Paul says, that you used to live. He says, “…among whom you alsoonce walked, when you were living in these things” (vs. 5-7). We’re not to live in those.
Now notice, he goes through put off, put on, as we will see. Verse 8, “But now[therefore], you should also put off all these things…” These are the changing from carnalattitudes, carnal ways to spiritual ways, you see. “…Wrath, indignation, malice, blasphemy,and foul language from your mouth.” Now who’s he talking to? He’s talking to convertedChristians who have the Spirit of God but they still have the law of sin and death in them,and they have this fight that is going on. So Paul is telling them how to overcome this, andhow they can build the character of God.
Verse 9, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man togetherwith his deeds, and have put on…” So you put off all these and now you put on the new man.Now this ties right in with Colossians 3:10-11. “…Put on the new man, who is being renewed…”Now notice, “is being renewed”, it is a process, and it takes time. “…Being renewedin knowledge according to the image of Him Who created him; where there is neither Greek norJew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, nor Scythian, slave nor free; but Christ is allthings, and in all” (Colossians 3:9-11). See, God isn’t going to make anyone—if you areChrist’s it doesn’t matter who you were before God called you. Christ is the all important thing.
Verse 12, “Put on then, as the elect of God, holy and beloved…” See, because youare holy and blameless before Him in love. That’s why you’re holy and beloved. “…Deepinner affections, kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering…” That’s why God hasbrought together the weak of the world and all the problems that we have so that we canovercome, so that we can change. “…Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another ifanyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so also you should forgive. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” That is thegive. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” That is theultimate goal, as we will see. The very love of God within us to motivate us in everythingthat we do—that’s the bond of perfection. “And let the peace of God rule in yourhearts…” (vs. 12-15). Don’t condemn yourself, don’t have a guilty conscience, don’t putyourself down. Come before God and Christ, confess your sins, let them be forgiven, walkin newness of life, pull all the vain imaginations down and cast them down and put in theWord of God, put in the love of God, put in the character of God, you see.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishingone another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to theLord. And in everything [this is the overall thing], —whatever you do in word or in deed—do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (vs. 16-17). See, that’s what God wants us to do.
Now we’ll just finish with this. Let’s come to Ephesians 5. This is important for usto do. How do we live our lives? “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children…”That’s why we study the Word of God. That’s why we let God write it in our hearts, and ourminds, and our inward part, that we can imitate God with His love, with His goodness, withHis understanding, see. “…And walk in love [that is toward each other], even as Christ alsoloved us [and there’s no more profound love than this], and gave Himself for us as an offeringand a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor” (Eph. 5:1-2). Then he says all theseother things are the works of the flesh—don’t even let it be named among the saints. See, sothe true spiritual meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is this: through Jesus Christ,through renewing the New Covenant through the Passover, through keeping the commandmentsof God and loving God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being there is nocondemnation. You are holy and without blame before Him in love.
End of Sermon
The Feast of Unleavened Bread—Day 1—Holy Day
April 6, 2004
Scriptural References
- Leviticus 22:31-33
- Leviticus 23:1-8
- Deuteronomy 16:16-17
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
- John 14:6
- John 6:53-57, 63-70
- Matthew 16:17
- 2 Timothy 3:14-17
- 2 Timothy 4:1-4
- 1 Timothy 6:3-5
- 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
- Psalm 34:4-8, 14-15, 18-19
- Romans 3:23-27, 31
- Romans 7:7-9, 11-21, 24-25
- John 16:7-8
- Romans 8:1-4
- 1 John 1:6-10
- 1 John 2:1-2
- Ephesians 1:3-9
- Romans 5:17-18, 21
- Romans 12:1-2
- Corinthians 10:4-6
- Colossians 3:1-17
- Ephesians 5:1-2
