How the Blood of Jesus Christ Forgives Our Sins

(First Day of Unleavened Bread)

Fred R. Coulter—April 18, 1992

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Greetings, everyone, on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I certainly hope you had a real good Passover and Night to Be Much Remembered.

I just might mention the Night to Be Much Remembered that in The Christian Passover Book it is evident the Night to Be Much Remembered was observed, certainly in the Old Testament, a much more profound day of celebration and feasting than perhaps we have understood in the past.

For the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, let's begin where we always have to go in these days: Lev. 23. God says that we are to preach 'in season and out of season' and we are to preach these things now as the season for Unleavened Bread and the whole meaning of what that has for us.

Leviticus 23:4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons."

Now is the season for the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Verse 5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD'S Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days" (vs 5-6).

It seems as though it's been a long time since anyone asked me: 'Do I really have to eat unleavened bread during the days of Unleavened Bread?'

This is not the feast of no bread, this is the Feast Unleavened Bread. So, yes, God says the you must for seven days eat unleavened bread! Of course, there's a tremendous meaning for us concerning the New Testament. Let's see exactly what it is in the New Testament that the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures. It is very fundamental for our growing, changing and overcoming, and living our Christian lives in the way that God wants us to live them.

Howbeit, being human beings we're all bound to make mistakes. We find sin on every hand in our lives in many cases. Not that we're out there deliberately 'scooping and shoveling' and doing all sort of the things with sin. But what happens is that, as Christians with the Holy Spirit of God, as we grow and over come and in our walk of Christian life, we find that mentally, spiritually, the understanding of the severity of sin becomes more profound and intense.

So, this is what we find ourselves up against in growing and overcoming. Sometimes you may get discouraged; sometimes you may feel as though that it's really hard and difficult to do. But that may not be necessarily the case, as we'll see and understand.

1-Corithinians 5:6: "Your glorying is not good…."

Paul is referring to sin of fornication that was in the Church, but the whole principle here is very important, because braggadocio, vanity and human nature popped up!

Today we have the modern word called spin control! You deny the reality of the evil by putting spin control on it, so that it doesn't look so bad. That's what the glorying, puffing up or the vanity that was here in relationship to the sin in the Church of Corinth.

Verse 6: "Your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"

That's the whole lesson concerning sin for us in the New Testament. That's why the Passover book was written, because there are so many people who want to deny the 14th Passover, who want to change the doctrine. All of those things are "…a little leaven leavens the whole lump"

Once the leaven is there and working, unless it is removed, it's going to leaven the whole lump:

• your whole life
• the whole Church

We are witnessing the leavening of the Churches of God through the changing of the Passover. Some people would say, 'What difference does it make if the Old Testament was on the 15th?—which it wasn't—and the New Testament is on the 14th and Jesus gave us a new Passover Day?'

That's a little leaven that leavens the whole lump, because you're believing something that is not true!

When you believe something that is not true, what happens? You're more easily susceptible to accepting something else that is not true!Remember this principle: a little leaven leavens the whole lump! That's the whole lesson for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

We have heard it in the past: 'we need to get sin out of our lives.'

Let me tell you something, You—and I can't get sin your life by you removing it! Christ has to remove it! We have to recognize it and repent of it. We have to change our lives and walk away from it. But only God can remove it!

• We can't remove sin from our lives, only Christ can!
• We can repent of sin, but He's the One Who blots it out!
• We can walk away from sin that we have done, but He is the One Who forgives it!

This whole thing that 'we must scrutinize our lives in such a way that we must root out every speck of sin in our lives.' Listen! With the law of sin and death in us, there isn't any way that you're going to root out every speck of sin in your life. The only way that it's going to be taken care of is:

• through the blood of Jesus Christ
• by the grace and forgiveness of God

We have our effort that we need to put in it, just like we have to make unleavened bread and we have to eat unleavened bread, but the biggest thing we need to learn is the lesson of all of this so that we can walk spiritually in the way that God wants us to! So, we do have our part.

Verse 7: "Therefore, purge out the old leaven…"—which is accomplished through:

• repentance
• recognition of what sin is
• our efforts

But our efforts only bring us to a certain stage! At that stage, God says, 'I take over. I will take care of it for you.'

"…so that you may become a new lump… [Christ in us the hope of glory] ...even as you are unleavened…." (v 7).

There are two ways, two meanings, for this being unleavened:

• you remove it out of your house
• you are unleavened in Christ

because Christ is that perfect unleavened Bread that we partake of and live by!

This is all based upon "…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us" (v 7). Not only for us, but also for the sins of the whole world!

We're going to learn what the Passover means at this end, and then how is the sacrifice of Christ applied, which occurred on the Passover Day, and then we go all the way down in the sequence of the Holy Days to the Day of Atonement. We have nearly the same operation taking place again. So, we'll understand that as we go through the message today.

This is one of the strongest things that we could ever understand in the Word of God:

• Should we keep the Holy Days?
• What are you going to do with v 8 if Christians are not supposed to keep the Holy Days?

There's a movement within the Churches of God not to keep the Holy Days. As strange and as unreal as it may seem, the assault of Satan the devil not only to get a 15th Passover in, but also there is a movement within the Church of God Seventh-Day for Sunday-keeping. That sort of blows my mind!

I don't know what it does for what you think, but can you imagine within the Church of God Seventh-Day that there is a Sunday-keeping movement? Again, a little leaven leavens the whole lump! A little leaven takes you down the road. Therefore, here's a clear cut statement on the absolute viability and requirement of keeping the Feasts of God:

Verse 8: "For this reason, let us keep… [celebrate, acknowledge, observe] …the Feast…"

We're not talking about the feasts of Easter, Christmas or any other feast than the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

"…not with old leaven…" (v 8).

Now with our old way of life. Every year we renew the covenant and we are to walk in God's way. So, every year this gives us:

• a renewal
• an opportunity
• a re-evaluation
• an understanding of our growth
• a deeper insight into our own mind, heart and life

to see that we need Christ more than ever before! All of those things are important!

"…nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness…" (v 8).

Leaven is a type of sin! Jesus said, concerning doctrine, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees'—which is their doctrine. How are we to be?

Sidebar: There are some people who say that we are to follow the Pharisees, the authority and teachings of the Pharisees.

Another thing, I have an article that said, 'Yeshua'—which is a Hebrew name for Jesus—was and Orthodox Rabbi!

That, brethren, is really almost a blasphemous statement! Here they're trying to be sacred, holy and follow the sacred names, such as Yeshua.

No!

"…nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of Sincerity and Truth" (v 8).

That's what it needs to be for our lives, and for us to go forward in God's way. Let that be:

• Christ dwelling in us
• put under the blood of Jesus Christ

There is no way that we can fully understand the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover in connection with it being the day before:

• unless we understand about the true Bread from heaven above
• unless we understand that that was Jesus Christ
• unless we realize that this God's way

This is why this Passover time is a time of not only renewal, but it's a time of:

• re-evaluation
• understanding where our lives are going
• we can look back and see how we have done in the past

Not to brag or boast, or anything like that, but to see where we need to, in the future, clean up our lives as we're going along. We have to do that through Jesus Christ, of course!

John 6:35: "Jesus said to them, 'I AM the Bread of Life; the one who comes to Me shall never hunger; and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst at any time.'"

Then He gives the whole lesson concerning what the bread and blood means. We're going to focus in on what the blood of Christ does for us!

Verse 51: "I AM the living Bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is even My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

God has a great plan for all of mankind, which centers in on Jesus Christ. It's going to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. There isn't going to be any other way.

Verse 52: "Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, 'How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?' 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'" (vs 52-53).

Later on that was such a hard statement that some of the Jews—even the ones who were following Jesus—left. They said, 'Who can take this?' But there's a tremendous meaning in it for us.

Verse 54: "The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day."

There's a whole summation of the plan of God right there in that one little verse pointing toward the forgiveness of sin and the eventual resurrection.

Verse 55: "For My flesh is truly food… [the true food, the true Bread] …and My blood is truly drink…. [the true drink] …The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him" (vs 55-56).

This becomes very profound and important, because during the days of Unleavened Bread—with it being unleavened in Christ—you are in Christ and Christ in you. That's the whole lesson and meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

• that we are walking in Christ
• that we are living in Christ
• that we are covered by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
• that we are living by every word of God

What did Jesus say? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live! (Matt. 4:4, Luke 4:4, Deut. 8:3). So, in a sense, that unleavened bread becomes:

• the Word of God
• the Holy Spirit of God

so Christ is living in us!

The whole meaning of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is wrapped up in this one verse:

Verse 57: "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me":

• you walk in Christ
• your life is in Christ
• everything that you are doing is in Christ

Now let's see what Jesus said at His last Passover, which becomes very important and profound in every way, especially for us. It's important that we understand how God is dealing with us. What we want to do is focus not just on the aspect of unleavened bread, but focus on the blood of Jesus Christ. This has a great deal of meaning for us, for overcoming.

Remember what John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus Christ coming to be baptized, 'Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.' That was accomplished through the life of Christ, and His eventual crucifixion, death and resurrection. But here on that last Passover night—before he was to be crucified and all of these things were going to take place—here's what He told His disciples:

Matthew 26:27: "And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, 'All of you drink of it; for this is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins'" (vs 27-28).

Here in this capsulation is the whole tremendous meaning of the blood of Christ. This is the first part of it for us to understand. It is for the remission of sin, and it is His blood that has been shed!

Nine Important Things that the Blood of Jesus Christ Does

The blood of Jesus Christ is made for a specific purpose. The shedding of His blood has tremendous meaning, and that meaning is made for many specific things for us to understand.

• His blood symbolizes the blood of the New Covenant

Verse 28: "For this is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant…"

Now we are not dealing with animal sacrifices as it was under the Old Covenant, but we're dealing with the very sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ Himself! We will see that the blood of Jesus Christ for the New Covenant, which is sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Go back and study the Old Testament, and see where they instituted the Old Covenant and it was sealed. It's also something very interesting for us to understand concerning the sealing of the covenant. The blood, which was shed at the Passover, released them from their sins. It got them out of bondage. Then on Pentecost when the Ten Commandments were given and the Old Covenant was instituted, then it was sealed with the blood of animals.

In the New Testament it is entirely different. The blood of Jesus Christ is for the remission of sins and it was sealed at Pentecost with the receiving of the Holy Spirit. So, there's some tremendous parallels all involved in the Holy Days of God.

Hebrews 12:22: "But you have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; to the joyous festival gathering; and to the Church of the Firstborn, registered in the Book of Life in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just who have been perfected; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant…" (vs 22-24).

We know that there is only one Mediator and that is Jesus Christ (2-Tim. 3). And by the way, that's in the Catholic Bible, too. They have to have their traditions to try and show that Mary is a inner- mediatrix. That is not true; that's a lie!

"…and to sprinkling of the blood of ratification, proclaiming superior things than that of Abel" (v 24).

So, Christ's blood seals the New Covenant, devoted to this new relationship, the new calling, the new life and the sacrifice that speaks of better things than the sacrifice of Abel.

• Jesus Christ purchased the Church with His own blood

That means the very fact that you and I—all the brethren that there are in the Church of God, wherever it may be—have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Eph. 1 will tell us some very important things concerning:

• Jesus Christ
• the body of Christ
• what God wants for us
• how He's going to do it

Ephesians 1:22: "For He has subordinated all things under His feet… [to Jesus] …and has given Him to be head over all things to the Church… [which showing the job of the minister is always to be, to point everyone continuously to Jesus Christ] …which is His body—the fullness of Him Who fills all things in all" (vs 22-23).

Let's see where it says directly, and also a point of warning for ministers, too. Let's look at it this way:

• if Jesus purchased the Church with His own blood, which He did
• if it is His body, which it is

Whose Church is it? It is the Church of God the Father of Whom Jesus Christ is the Head!

Therefore, that means that in anything we are dealing with as ministers, that we need to understand this and learn this lesson very carefully. Paul is speaking to the ministers. He called them all the way from Ephesus down to Miletus so he could take to them and give them this last sermon.

Acts 20:28: "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers…"—not overlords!

Notice what the ministry is to do. This is all a part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

• What is a minister to do? Preach the Word instant in season and out of season!
• Is He to preach His own ideas? No!
• Why? Because his own ideas might be leaven!
• What does leaven do? A little leaven leavens the whole lump!

See how that all ties in together? "…made you overseers…""—not overlords! Not a dictator! Not authority! But to constantly teach the people about Jesus Christ.

"…to feed the Church of God…" (v 28).

• What are we going to feed them? The Word of God!
• What did Jesus say at His last Passover? Take eat, this is My body, which is broken for you!

We are you going to teach them the Word of God!

• What was the name of Jesus? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!

So, IF we're teaching and preaching the Word of God, and feeding the flock:

• What kind of bread are we to feed them? The pure Word of God!

Not the leavened Word of God with our own leavening and ideas and doctrines and traditions and things of men.

"…which He purchased with His own blood" (v 28). Just let that sink in for a minute! Jesus Christ purchased the Church with His own blood!

Therefore, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is absolutely profound when we really  understand it the way we ought to!

• Jesus sanctified His people with His own blood

Not only did He purchase the Church with His own blood, He sanctified the Church with His own blood.

We read in John 17 part of the Lord's Prayer on that last Passover night just before He was arrested. The one thing that Jesus prayed for us, and we can really be thankful for this, because God is going stand by His Word. God is going to keep and fulfill His Word.

John 17:15: "I do not pray that You would take them out of the world…"

Human nature in all of us would like to have it real easy. We still have to live in the world, but not be of the world.

• Wouldn't it be nice if everything were real easy? Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to fight sin?
• Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to overcome and all of these things?
• Wouldn't it be nice if we had eternal life laid out for us on a platter and there it was?

Well, since we're not in that kind of world, Jesus gave this special prayer for us. He says:

Verse 15: "I do not pray that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them from the evil one."

That becomes very important, because our adversary the devil is after us. Look back and see how many things where your life has been rescued from the wiles of Satan the devil, from the destruction of Satan the devil that he would like to bring upon you.

If there's any one thing that Satan the devil would like to do, that is get you however way he can, whatever means he could!

But here's a prayer that Jesus prayed for you, prayed for me, prayed for all of those whom He has called. He says:

Verse 16: "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in Your Truth; Your Word is the Truth" (vs 16-17).

Not only that, what is part of the Word of God? That we are sanctified is defined by the very blood of Jesus Christ!That means made Holy, put in right standing with God:

• having our sins forgiven
• having the New Covenant sealed with the very blood of Jesus Christ

We're going see that there are quite a few things pertaining to the blood of Jesus Christ that we find in the book of Hebrews. It compares the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and shows that it is so much more superior than the sacrifice of animals.

One thing we need to study on has to do with the book of Hebrews. There's a very good possibility that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Some people say that his name isn't there, so how do we know that Paul wrote it? Well, when you look back and understand what happened in Acts 20, when he went there as was arrested and was nearly killed by the crowd because they were saying:

Get this man, he's saying the sacrifices are going to be done away and the temple is going to be destroyed. Let's get this man, kill this man, and destroy this man!

Part of the thing that we're beginning to see in the book of Hebrews is that there were a lot of Jewish Christians who were beginning to give up on Jesus Christ and go back and depend upon the animal sacrifices in place of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

With that in mind, if you want to study the book of Hebrews, I'm sure you will find some very interesting things, indeed. But here we find this concerning the blood of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:12: "For this reason, Jesus, in order that He might sanctify the people by His own blood…" By that Holy, precious and fantastic blood of Jesus Christ:

• you are sanctified
• you are made Holy
• you are put in right standing with God

As well as all the brethren of God wherever they are! That's a wonderful thing to understand!

"…also suffered outside the gate" (v 12)—without the camp! That has a great significance in relationship to the proper Passover vs the temple Passover, which you can read about in The Christian Passover book.

• The blood of Jesus Christ redeems us and forgives our sins

Many times—it has happened to me and I'm sure it's happened to you… You need to understand something very important: Every minister is human, just like any other human being. There are times in your life—and there have been in my life—when we come to the point of saying, 'I don't know if I'm even worthy of anything; I don't know if God can even forgive my sins.' You become so guilty and you start bearing your sins yourself saying, 'I don't know how God can forgive this sin?'

There are several good examples that you can go back to the Old Testament and see. That is King Ahab. It says that 'he sold himself to do evil more than any king in Israel.' Yet, when Elijah came and pronounced to him his sentence of death against him and Jezebel, he repented, fasted, put on sackcloth and God told Elijah to go back and tell Ahab, 'I have seen Ahab and I was walking tenderly.'

If Ahab's sins can be mitigated and forgiven, so can yours!

So, don't let a guilty conscious overwhelm you and carry you down and feel helpless in trying overcome. You need to realize that the blood of Jesus Christ forgives and redeems—both!

Some of these will tie in one with the other. We know that Jesus purchased the Church with His own blood. But in order to forgive our sins, then that payment is applied personally to each one of us.

1-Corinthians 6:19: "WHAT! Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit…"

This becomes very important and really absolutely necessary for us to understand having the Holy Spirit of God.

"…which you have within you…" (v 19).

This becomes very important for us to understand concerning the Holy Spirit of God and how it affects our lives.

• the very fact that you're keeping the Passover
• the very fact that you're keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread
• the very fact that you are here before God on His Holy Day

to learn and understand about the forgiveness of sin and the blood of Jesus Christ means that God's Spirit is in you!

You may have to stir it up if you've been very slack in doing what you need to do, if you've been walking in the world more than you should have, or if you've let more leaven into your life than you ought to have, get it out!

This is something so great, something that you can really hang onto, because your body and mind—your whole being—with the Spirit of God in you is a Temple of God. This gives us assurance.

1-John 3:24: "And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him…" Christ in you!

IF you're keeping the commandments of God by the Spirit of God, by a willing, humble and desirous attitude to be in the Kingdom of God, THEN He is dwelling in you!

"…and by this we know that He is dwelling in us: by the Spirit, which He has given to us" (v 24).

That is tremendous, and by the very fact that we know that we have the Spirit of God in us, we—before God—are completely unleavened in Christ!

I want you to fully grasp that! I want you to fully understand that so that we can realize what a tremendous position that the blood of Jesus Christ puts us in, in the presence of God.

1-Corinthians 6:19: "WHAT! Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have within you from God, and you are not your own?" In other words:

• you don't control your own life and destiny, God does
• you don't have your own way to go, you have God's way to go

Verse 20: "For you were bought with a price…. [that price was the life of Jesus Christ] …Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

• you've been purchased with the blood of Christ
• you belong to Him
• you have that redemption and forgiveness of sin through Him

Eph. 1 is showing:

• this tremendous redemption
• this tremendous forgiveness

Let's understand that this was God's unilateral act by His desire, by His will, to call you and me and deal in our lives and say:

I am giving to you at no cost the most precious and greatest thing in the world, the life of My Son Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:6: "To the praise of the glory of His grace…" That's what we're talking about, through the blood of Christ, the grace of God!

"…wherein He has made us objects of His grace in the Beloved Son" (v 6).

We are accepted in the same way before God the Father as Jesus Christ was accepted. That is a tremendous fact of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That before God we stand

• totally unleavened
• totally without sin
• totally without blame
• totally without spot

That's the whole purpose of the sacrifice of Christ and the blood of the New Covenant, which:

• redeems our sins
• forgives our sins
• puts us in that relationship with God

Verse 7: "In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace."

That is really marvelous! That is really something for us to realize and understand. The longer you have been in the Church and the more that you have kept the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, the more fantastic that this ought to mean to you. I know that it does for me. I know that this Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread has profound meaning for me.

Yet, every year I have to preach on the same thing! Every year we need this renewal, so that we can understand the very power and understanding of God's Word and how that is for us. That God:

• singularly reached down into your life to call you
• singularly has applied the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
• to your life
• to your circumstances
• to purchase you
• to make you His

So that you, at the resurrection, can be completely and absolutely unleavened as a very son/daughter of God. That is tremendous; absolutely wonderful!

Colossians 1:12: "Giving thanks to the Father, Who has made us qualified… [accepted; proper] …for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the Light. Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness…" (vs 12-13). I tell you, we need to be delivered from the power of darkness!

I don't think that there is any generation in all the history of the Church that has more problems assaulting them than the Church in this last age. Why? Because we are assaulted with hightech on radio, television, music, the press, transportation; just the whole society in which we live in confronts us with many things that you just would not thought of if you would have been a Christian in the first century.

You can turn on your television set and there it is! The whole world is setup in such a way! So, we have to realize that we have been delivered from the power of darkness! But that power of darkness, which is Satan the devil, is there to just reach out and try and get us all the time.

Acts 26 expounds more on the way of God and the power of Christ than the whole Gospel. This is how we are delivered from the power of darkness. Christ is the Light. He said, 'I am the Light of the world!' we can take all of those things that Christ said:

• I am the Light of the world
• He is the true Bread
• He is the true blood

All of these things having to do with what Jesus Christ represents and does for us, all in the person of Jesus Christ. Here's the Gospel:

Acts 26:18 "To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to Light… [which is the Holy Spirit in us] …and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified through faith in Me"—Christ Jesus!

Colossians 1:13: "Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness and has transferred us…"

We're not in the Kingdom of God, yet!He has transferred us "…from the power of darkness…" into the power of Light so that now Christ works in your life.

"…unto the Kingdom of the Son of His love; in Whom we have redemption through His own blood, even the remission of sins" (vs 13-14).

The blood of Jesus Christ redeems you and forgives your sins! Never forget that! That is so absolutely important and something that we need to know, realize, understand in every way before God.

So, when we are keeping this Feast of Unleavened Bread, one thing we're to do is:

• look back and remember the Passover
• look back and remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
• look back and see the very meaning of that last Passover of Jesus Christ

Where He broke that bread and said, 'this is My body, take eat' and He poured the wine and said, 'all of you drink of this cup which is My blood in the New Covenant!

We will see the rest of what the blood of Jesus Christ does for us. Now let's see some other aspects of how the blood of Jesus Christ forgives our sins.

1-John 1—this is something for us to know, understand and realize that this is a living daily thing for us. Again, we are talking about walking in the Light. See how the Word of God all fits together? There's no such thing as James wrote one thing, Paul wrote one thing, and John wrote one thing, Mark wrote another thing and Matthew wrote another thing; it's all together! Notice how this ties in with what John is writing as compared to what we just read in Col. 1 with what Paul was writing.

1-John 1:7: "However, if we walk in the Light…"—meaning we are walking in the Light!

When you get down to it, that's what foot-washing is all about. Foot-washing is the renewal of your baptism covenant with God to walk in His way.

So, if we are walking in that Light "…as He is in the Light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin."

Let's think about this verse and analyze this a little more and see what the meaning is for us.

• "…the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us…"—the Greek there is in the present active tense: is cleansing us!
• "…all sin." In the Greek it means from every sin!

This means that the blood of Jesus Christ is applied to our lives every day. So, when we take the Passover, it's a renewal of that covenant with God so that the blood of Jesus Christ can continue to cover our lives. We are cleansed through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

Verse 8: "If we say that we do not have sin… [Job #2] …we are deceiving ourselves…" The Greek is that you're lying to yourself; that's the worst kind of lie that could ever be, because you believe it, lying to yourself.

"…and the Truth is not in us. If we confess… [present tense confessing] …our own sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (vs 8-9).

Every sin that you have is forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. God didn't send His Son into the world to save the righteous. Jesus Christ came, as Paul said, to save sinners, of whom Paul said of himself, 'I am the chief!'

Why is that? Because toward the end of his life he could see the tremendous conviction of sin! He had to do, just like we have to do; go before God and confess our sins, just like it says here, "…He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Verse 10: "If we say that we have not sinned…" That is contrary to the Scriptures, because it says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God!

"…we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us" (v 10).

1-John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin…." God dos not want us to be living in sin!

"…And yet, if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation… [the continual atoning sacrifice] …for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (vs 1-2).

It doesn't say in John 3:16 that God so loved His Church. He does love His Church, but God's plan and perspective is greater than His Church. His Church is the beginning not the ending.

John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, so that everyone… [not restricted to race, age, sex or anything] …who believes in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life."

This is interesting because we see given to us the two applications of the sacrifice of Christ.

• for the Church that He is working with now, which is symbolized by the Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost
• to the world when Christ returns at Trumpets

Then Satan is removed and the sacrifice of Christ is applied to the whole world at that time! Then ushers in the whole Kingdom of God.

So you can see the tremendous and wonderful aspect of all the Holy Days of God and you really can't just separate one out, because one leads to the other, etc., and completes and fulfills the whole plan of God.

That's why the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is so tremendous for us, because God says, 'Now that I have called you at this time, you're going to have a part for all eternity with Me:

• through the very blood of Christ
• through the life of Christ
• through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Of course, that took place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

• Jesus Christ purges our conscience from dead works

He purges our conscience from the remembrance sins that we have done! This is really very important for us to understand. This is so good and wonderful. Not only do you have to, in repenting of your sins, but ask God to remove them from you. Just like Psa. 103. Just go ahead and study all of Psa. 103, that He removes our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. There's no connecting the two. Completely removing them from us.

Hebrews 9:12: "Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of His own blood, He entered once for all into the Holiest, having by Himself secured everlasting redemption for us…. [see how all of these tie in] …For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who aredefiled, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, to a far greater degree, the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, shall purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (vs 12-14).

• What were the dead works?
• What is the comparison?

The comparison is the animal sacrifice vs the sacrifice of Christ!

• Were the works of these things of sacrificing dead works? Certainly, because they could never forgive sin!

They could never take away the consciousness of sin! But the sacrifice of Christ does; He removes that from us. Let's see how that operates in our lives.

This is so great, this is so profound; God's way is so absolutely magnificent, uplifting, inspiring, great and marvelous that He has opened this understanding of His way. He has called you! You sit there and think about it, and there are some people that you have to go through all the recesses of your mind and everything like this.

I'm sure that there may come a time when you may even say, 'I wonder if this is really worth it?' Well, God thinks so! God gave the most precious thing that He could ever give for you and me. That is His own Son!

Is it worth it? Yes! Maybe in our mind if we can't see the word, maybe we need to ask God to help us have more understanding, grant us of His Spirit, blot out our sin and give us that understanding to see the worth and value of what God has done and is doing for us. It's tremendous!

Colossians 1:20: "And having made peace through the blood of His cross… [this is what the blood of Christ is going to do] … by Him to reconcile all things to Himself…"

The whole plan of God, the eternal destiny of the plan of God hinges on the blood of Jesus Christ! That is tremendous! When we really understand that and how profound it is, so when we—every Passover—drink that little bit of wine, which is symbolic of the blood of Christ, we know that God is redeeming everything to Himself! Notice what He's redeeming:

"…by Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in heaven" (v 20)—because everything that Satan has done to undo God's way must be corrected, rectified, justified and redeemed to reconcile it!

Verse 21: "For you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works; but now He has reconciled you… [by the very blood of Jesus Christ] …in the body of His flesh through death, to present you Holy and unblamable and unimpeachable before Him" (vs 21-22)—in the very sight of God the Father!

That's what the blood of Jesus Christ does for you! Not only just the things in our own particular lives, but for the whole plan of God.

Verse 23: "If indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which you have heard, and which was proclaimed in all the creation that is under heaven…"

That's a tremendous thing to really understand, and you can love God even more when you realize what He has done for you, when you realize how God has applied that very life, death and sacrifice of Christ to our lives, everyone whom God has called. That is a very powerful message.

• The blood of Christ justifies us and puts within the grace of God

That's so important for us to understand, because it's by grace that we're going to be saved:

• by God's goodness
• by God's mercy
• by God's love

through the sacrifice and by the blood of Jesus Christ!

Rom. 5—we find how this operation of grace and the blood of Jesus Christ are all put together for us by the Apostle Paul so that we can understand God's way even better.

Romans 5:1: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand…" (vs 1-2).

This applies to your entire life constantly, continuously, in every aspect of what you are doing. So, you are standing in this grace, and this grace is made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ.

"…and we ourselves boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also boast in tribulations, realizing that tribulation brings forth endurance" (vs 2-3)—patience!

In God's way we have v 4: "…endurance brings forth character… [experience] …and character brings forth hope. And the hope of God never makes us ashamed because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us" (vs 4-5).

Wonderful thing to know and understand! The very love of God is being applied to us during this Feast of Unleavened Bread.

• that God's love can be in us
• that God's love can motivate us
• that our love for God will grow more and more
• that we can understand God's plan even more and greater as we go forward

Here's a wonderful thing to understand:

Verse 6: "For even when we were without strength, at the appointed time Christ died for the ungodly."

• Christ didn't die for the righteous
• Christ didn't die for the religious

Christ died for us, the ungodly, whom He then called!

Verse 7: "For rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, although perhaps someone might have the courage even to die for a good man. But God commends His own love to us because, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (vs 7-8).

This is the whole concept that we need to understand: God didn't call us because:

• we were good
• we deserved it
• we were the least of sinners

Hopefully, we weren't the worst of sinners, but it doesn't make any difference, because the wages of sin is death regardless of whether you consider it great or mild.

But even before we were conceived or understood that there was life, Christ died for us! That is God's love being commended toward us. You think about that! What a tremendous thing that is.

Verse 9: "Much more, therefore, having been justified now by His blood…"

So, the blood of Christ justifies you, puts you in right standing with God and covers your life with His grace! Much more then we go on because the Feast of Unleavened Bread is

• the start
• the journey
• the walk
• the hope

All of these things are pictured in that!

Verse 9: "Much more, therefore, having been justified now by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His own Son, much more then, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (vs 9-10).

So, this is a tremendous, wonderful, powerful, and absolutely a profound thing that God has done in being able to apply the blood of Jesus Christ to our lives. So, the blood of Jesus Christ:

• applies to our lives
• then to reconcile us to God
• to justify us to God
• to put us in that right standing with His grace

• The blood of Jesus Christ draws us near to God

It is through the grace of God that this is done. Let's see about this grace of God and see how this draws us close to God through His grace.

Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God." You can always remember it this way:

What can you or anyone do to replace the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Nothing! Because the sacrifice of Christ is the greatest thing that God could give to take care of our sins. That's why it is:

"…by grace you have been saved through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. 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" (vs 8-10).

Verse 13: "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off are made near by the blood of Christ."

How does that draw us near to God? Let's just think about all the things that human beings have tried to do to build something for God, to make something for God, to somehow sort of corner God in their own market. But here is what God says in Isa. 57. If we're going to be drawn near to God, how near are we going to be drawn to God? By the fact that we have God's Spirit in us, you can't get any closer than that, except in the resurrection!

Isaiah 57:15: "For thus says the high and lofty One Who inhabits eternity; Whose name is Holy; 'I dwell in the high and Holy place, even with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'"

If there's any one thing that the Feast of Unleavened Bread ought to do, it ought to

• soften your heart
• make your heart tender before God
• make you really be thankful for God's great way

and the tremendous thing that He has done through Jesus Christ!

Now let's understand how close this draws us to God. We were in a church where they collected money to build a house for God. The Jews want to build a temple for God in Jerusalem. There used to be a temple there, but:

• Does that make you closer to God?
• What makes you closer to God?

This humble and contrite spirit, which is typified by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because leaven pictures sin, and 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump,' so you need to have your heart right with God, and your heart is made right with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. So, here's the attitude that we need to have:

Isaiah 66:1: "Thus says the LORD, 'The heaven is My Throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest?'"

If God is contained in just a physical building and temple, how can He fellowship directly with you? He can't! Now, all things are possible with God, so an analogy breaks down there, but this is what God wants: Remember that Christ dwells in us!

• How does He dwell in us to glorify God?
• How can we glorify God back the other way?

Not of our own works, but motivated by God's Spirit!

Verse 2: "'For all these things My hand has made, and these things came to be,' says the LORD. 'But to this one I will look, to him who is of a poor and contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word.'"

In other words, that you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and being. Go back and study the Beatitudes in Matt. 5: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God!

This is the greatest thing that God can do, is to send His Spirit to dwell in us.

• Who does He dwell with? Those who have been unleavened!
• How? With a humble spirit and a contrite heart, and trembles at the Word of God!

It's so powerful, wonderful, magnificent, great, loving, kind, good and every wonderful adjective that we could express is contained right here, referring to the very life and blood of Jesus Christ that He applies to us!

Now let's see what this way is called in the New Testament. It is a new and living way, a tremendous and fantastic thing for us. This is the covenant that we are under; remember that the blood of Jesus Christ is the blood of the New Covenant. This is the covenant that God is making with us right now, that we are living in right now.

Hebrews 10:16: "'This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days,' says the Lord, 'I will give My Laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds'"—so that draws you closer and closer to God! What happens?

Verse 17: "And their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again."'

So, you should have no more consciousness of the sins once they are forgiven. Oh, learn the lesson from it, but the consciousness of no more sin means that you're not:

• living in sin
• thinking in sin
• planning in sin
• walking in sin

All of that pictures the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Verse 18: "Now, where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer… [animal] …sacrifices for sin."

What animal is going to replace the sacrifice of Christ? None! Absolutely cannot!

Verse 19: "Therefore, brethren, having confidence… [boldness to give us courage, hope] …to enter into the true Holiest by the blood of Jesus"—we have access to God the Father, the great and supreme Ruler of whole universe!

By His blood, we can say, 'Our Father in heaven…' which is described:

Verse 20: "By a new and living way, which He consecrated for us through the veil (that is, His flesh), and having a great High Priest over the house of God, let us approach God with a true heart, with full conviction of faith, our hearts having been purified from a wicked conscience, and our bodies having been washed with pure water. Let us hold fast without wavering to the hope that we profess, for He Who promised is faithful" (vs 20-23).

That's a tremendous thing to understand. We have a new and living way; we have that access to God the Father through the very blood of Jesus Christ, which gives us permission to come into the very Holy of Holies through prayer before God the Father.

• The blood of Jesus Christ gives us the power to overcome Satan

Not of ourselves; it comes from God!

Revelation 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving the whole world…"—and he is busily doing it now!

There are going to be some surprises for us as things unfold with the events in the world. I think that it's going to be absolutely astounding. But don't be too surprised if we do not see a Jewish Messiah come on the scene, a so-called Messiah! There are going to be many deceptions, many things that Satan is using to deceive the whole world. That's pretty powerful!

"…he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven say, 'Now has come the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ because the accuser of our brethren has been cast down, who accuses them day and night before our God'" (vs 9-10).

• not only do you have your own sins to overcome through Christ
• not only do you have things that you need to fight and resist against

But you also have the enemy—Satan the devil—saying to God the Father:

See, see, see, I accuse you of this, I accuse this person[transcriber's correction] before You, Father, of this sin.

What does God the Father say?

Oh yeah, Satan, you're right! Go get them!

NO! He says, 'I see no sin!'

Why? Because through the blood of Christ we're to be presented Holy and blameless! That is done by the blood of Christ! So, don't let Satan come and put those accusations in your heart and mind to discourage you. He may throw all this up before the Throne of God, but it's never going to stick! Why?

Verse 11: "But they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb…"—through the blood of Jesus Christ!

That every sin that you do… Go through 1-John 1:7-9 about having Christ's blood cleanse you from:

• every sin
• every accusation
• every rottenness that Satan wants to bring up

So, if you find yourself entrapped by some of the devices of Satan the devil, repent. Go to God and have the blood of Jesus Christ cover your life. Overcome him! There is no power that Satan has over you that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot take care of! You have some things you need to do.

By the blood of the Lamb, "…and through the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death" (v 11).

That's the whole purpose and meaning of baptism; that you are jointly buried into the very death of Jesus Christ. You can rise out of that watery grave and walk in newness of life by the power of God's Holy Spirit to overcome Satan the devil. That's what this whole Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures:

• overcoming sin
• overcoming Satan
• overcoming self

How is that done? By the very blood of Jesus Christ!

• The blood of Jesus Christ perfects us

It makes us perfect! Here's the whole goal we are to have as Christians, and this is an impossible task, but it can be done through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is impossible for you and me to do, for any human being to do, but it is a requirement of God the Father. He then makes it possible through Jesus Christ, through the blood of Jesus Christ, so that we become:

• permanently unleavened
• permanently without sin

When? At the resurrection!

Matthew 5:48: "Therefore, you shall be perfect… [How?] …even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect."

That is a tremendous goal! But that can be done through the very blood of Jesus Christ. Look at that and read that, and you think: How is that ever going to be?

I've got my human nature and my sins, oh what a bunch of baggage I have, I can't even go through one day perfect, let alone be perfect as God the Father in heaven above is perfect.

Of course, you can't do that, but through Christ you can! Paul said, 'I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me.' And so can you!

That's what this whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about. To realize that as you get rid of your self—just like you get rid of leaven—as God purges away your sin, just like he purges out the leaven, so you can also become perfect in Christ Jesus.

We will see how that is; Christ in us can do it! Christ in us makes us unleavened before God the Father. Christ in us gives us the power of it. The Holy Spirit is in us because we are:

• sanctified with His blood
• sanctified with His Spirit!

Colossians 1:27: "To whom God did will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." That hope of glory is that you can be:

• resurrected
• sinless
• spotless
• perfect
• a son/daughter of God
• spirit being

by the very power of God through the blood of Jesus Christ!

Verse 28: "Whom we preach, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

That's a tremendous perfection! That's why we have to understand that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is so profoundly important. That perfection is going to be done, and is going to be without sin, without leaven. That's why we have to eat the unleavened bread for seven days, as God has said. Then we can look forward to that very hope and wonderful blessing of the resurrection that God has laid out for us and given to us. It's tremendous, brethren!

I think if you study the whole book of Hebrews from the point of view of Jesus Christ our Passover vs the animal sacrifice Passover. It does overlap into the Day of Atonement somewhat, but here we have this perfection through the blood of Christ being personified for us.

Hebrews 13:20: "And may the God of peace, Who raised our Lord Jesus from among the dead—that great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, perfect you in every good work…" (vs 20-21).

That is what God is going to do through the blood of Christ. Notice that it's the blood of the eternal covenant! So, we are dealing in eternity! The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures getting rid of all human nature. Won't that be great? Yes! I want to get rid of mine! I know that you want to get rid of yours! We can do that through Jesus Christ, Who will:

"…through the blood of the everlasting covenant, perfect you in every good work in order that you may do His will …" (vs 20-21).

So, let's end where we began, what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to picture for us:

"…accomplishing in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory into the ages of eternity. Amen" (v 21).

So, this is the whole meaning of the blood of Jesus Christ and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Brethren, during this seven days of Unleavened Bread let's have a wonderful Feast and learn the lessons we need to learn spiritually, and let the blood of Jesus Christ cover your life forever!

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

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 2:23:4-6
• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
• John 5:35, 51-57
• Matthew 26:27-28
• Hebrews 12:22-24
• Ephesians 1:22-23
• Acts 20:28
• John 17:15-17
• Hebrews 13:12
• 1 Corinthians 6:19
• 1 John 3:24
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
• Ephesians 1:6-7
• Colossians 1:12-14
• Acts 26:18
• Colossians 1:13-14
• 1 John 1:7-10
• 1 John 2:1-2
• John 3:16
• Hebrews 9:12-14
• Colossians 1:20-23
• Romans 5:1-10
• Ephesians 2:8-10, 13
• Isaiah 57:15
• Isaiah 66:1-2
• Hebrews 10:16-23
• Revelation 12:9-11
• Matthew 5:58
• Colossians 1:27-28
• Hebrews 13:20-21

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Matthew 4:4
• Luke 4:4
• Deuteronomy 8:3
• 2 Timothy 3
• Psalm 103

Also referenced: Book:
            The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 4/2/2021

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