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Now let’s come to Leviticus 23. Here is where all the holy days of God are kept. Now I know that a lot of people going to say, “Well, now, these are ceremonial laws.” The truth is they’re not. And we have a tape that you can write in for, “Which Came First: the Day or the Ceremony?” And we will see the day came first. The Passover day was given while they were in Egypt, and the first day of Unleavened Bread while they were in Egypt. The whole Feast of Unleavened Bread while they were in Egypt. They came to Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments were given to them on the day which became the day of Pentecost. So we need to understand there is a whole lot more here in the Bible than what people like to say, “Just go ahead and reject.” Because you see, the carnal mind wants to hear that they don’t have to obey God. So if you like those arguments, you are carnal-minded. While you may profess with your lips that you want salvation and want God, you truly don’t want to obey Him when it comes down to the crunch time to do what God says.

Now here let’s go to Leviticus 23. As I said, this will be a survey. Verse 1, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD,...” Now these belong to Him. That’s why it’s the feast of the Lord, the Lord’s feasts, “...which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.” (Lev. 23:1-2). So you see, the truth is, anyone who is teaching or preaching, even including going all the way back to Moses, all they can do is proclaim what God has said. And as a matter of fact, when you read here all the commands that God gave to Moses, it is, “The Lord said to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say…’” All he did was convey the words of God to the children of Israel.

Now another thing you ought to understand is that the church today is the true Israel of God. So you think on that. We will cover that at a later time. Now continuing in verse 3, “Six days shall work be done:...” So the Sabbath day is a feast of God. Just like it says back there in Exodus 31:13, “Verily My Sabbaths you shall keep.” The first one is the weekly Sabbath. “…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.” (vs. 3). Now let’s read verse 4. Verse 4 then is the summary of all that is to come after that. Now let’s understand something very profound here. The way that Leviticus 23 is laid out is this: it starts out with the weekly Sabbath first. That is the overarching authority for all of the annual Sabbaths. And as you keep the one you must keep the other.

Verse 4, “These are the feasts of the LORD,...” Same statement as referring to the Sabbath. “...Even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” So we have no obligation other than to proclaim them. Nothing else. “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s passover” (vs. 4-5). Now I have written a big, thick five hundred page book called The Christian Passover, which goes through and explains everything concerning the Passover from the beginning of it with Abraham, all the way down to the Passover day on which Jesus Christ was crucified. And since that is the covenant renewal day for Christians today, Satan has done everything that he can to destroy, to pervert, to malign, to get people not to keep the Passover, and to make it something that they will not do. And he has substituted all kinds of things for it, like the Lord’s Supper, Communion, Eucharist, and all of those things. They have nothing whatsoever to do with the Christian Passover. So you write for the book. That will give you a complete and detailed understanding, and the magnificent thing that God has done through the sacrifice of Christ, to understand why we’re here, where we are going, why did God do this, how it was accomplished. And you need that book. And you need to read it and understand it.

Now then, the first month, according to God’s calendar, is generally in what we call on the Roman calendar March and April. Now it will vary, because the calendar that God has given us, the calculated Hebrew calendar, is a lunar-solar calendar, which coordinates the movements of the moon for the months and the movement of the sun for the years, and brings it all together in a perfect way of keeping the commandments of God for the holy days. Now let’s continue on here, verse 6. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread...” And there’s a great meaning for that. Because that is when the children of Israel left Egypt. And God gave His covenant to Abraham on that day. That is a fantastic day. But people who don’t keep it, why, that’s strange to hear that. And unleavened bread? Ooh, my. Kind of strange to hear that too, isn’t it?

Now notice, “...Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” Because there are lessons for us. And you learn as you obey. “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein” (vs. 6-7). Then it talks about offering an offering by fire. But remember, the day came first. Not the offering. The day is a day of a command to keep. The offering of an animal was the ceremony. And the seventh day is a holy convocation. Then he gives all the instructions beginning in verse 9, all the way down through verse 21 on how to count to Pentecost. We won’t go into that in detail. But if you want to know how to count to Pentecost, we have many tapes on it. We have two booklets showing how to count to Pentecost. We will be happy to send those to you. But nevertheless, when you get to the fiftieth day, the day of Pentecost, he says, “And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein:...” (vs. 21).

Now let’s come down here to verse 24. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets,…” That is, the Feast of Trumpets. Now maybe you have never heard of the Feast of Trumpets. What does it mean? What does it picture? Well I’ll just tell you very quickly: it pictures the return of Christ to this earth.

Now let’s come here to verse 27. “…Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement:...” A day of being at-one with God. Which is special and above the Passover day, which pictures the sacrifice of Christ. “...It shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls,…” And “affliction” means you shall fast without eating food or drinking water. So this is on the tenth day of the seventh month. Now verse 32 says, “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” That’s why we know all days in the Scriptures begin at sunset.

Now let’s continue on here, verse 34. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.” And that is a full seven days. “On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation…” So that is also called the Last Great Day. Now, “…It is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.” Now notice the summary here: “These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations,…” That’s what they are. They are annual Sabbath days. Now let’s read verse 38. “Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows,…” and so forth. What I want to point out here is he calls them “the Sabbaths.” Now remember where we began this segment was, that, “Verily, My Sabbaths you shall keep…” (vs. 34-38). These are the Sabbaths it is talking about.

Now let’s take a little survey in the Old Testament, and on into the New Testament, and let’s see which days that they kept. Now we find in the book of the Law or that is, in the book of Numbers, Numbers 9, that the children of Israel kept the Passover there. We also find in Joshua 5 that they kept the Passover there, and they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now, all through the history of Israel, as we saw, going through this whole Sabbath series that we went through, whenever they left God they left off keeping the Sabbath and the holy days, and they went back to observing all the pagan things of the religions of the people around them. Now whenever God sent a judge to raise them back up, he brought them the laws of God and then they were obedient and kept the commandments as long as the judge lived.

Later when God instituted the kingship under Saul, and then later under David, then with Solomon He established the temple and gave all the rituals for the temple. And again, we find the whole history of the Jews, and all the children of Israel, was that they would go through cycles of keeping the commandments of God and then going back to their hearts’ desire of all the pagan religions around them. Whenever there was a revival they came back to God. We find in 2 Chronicles 30 that when Hezekiah brought back the children of Israel from all of their idolatry and all of their Sunday-keeping, and all of their Christmas-keeping, and all of the pagan things they were doing, that they kept the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now let’s come to 2 Chronicles 35. And we find here’s King Josiah. King Josiah repented of his sins, made the people repent of their sins; made them covenant with God that they would keep His laws, keep His commandments, keep His Sabbath and His holy days. And we find beginning in 2 Chronicles 35:1 what Josiah did. “Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.” Whenever the people of God came back to God from their apostasy and from their sin, they came back to Sabbath-keeping, Passover-keeping, and holy day–keeping. And you find, if you read the rest of the chapter, that they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with great joy.

Now let’s come to the New Testament. Because as astonishing as it may sound, there are more references in the New Testament to the feasts of God, to the Passover, than there are in the history of the kings of Israel. Now let’s go ahead, and we’ll see about Jesus Christ. Did Jesus ever sin? No. Did He keep the Sabbath? Yes. Did He keep the Passover? Yes. As a matter of fact, we will see that Jesus Christ is our Passover. Are we to follow His example and walk in His footsteps? Yes. Notice what Jesus did. Let’s come here to Luke 2, and let’s see where He and His family kept the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now let’s begin here in verse 40. “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him. Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:40-42). So which days did Jesus keep? Let me just say right here: Jesus never kept Sunday as a weekly day to keep. Now since we will see that Pentecost falls on the first day of the week, He kept Pentecost, but He didn’t keep it because it was on the first day of the week. He kept it because that’s the day that God commanded it to be. And as we will see, one of the arguments about “the church began on the first day of the week,” is intrinsically a faulty argument, as we will see.

Now let’s continue on and see what else Jesus did. Luke 4:16, “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Now the Greek here means, “on the day of the weeks,” which is the day of Pentecost. So here we find Jesus keeping Pentecost in Nazareth, where He always kept the Sabbath; and Pentecost is called a Sabbath, though Pentecost is on the first day of the week when properly counted. That’s what Jesus kept.

Let’s come over here to Luke 22, and let’s see at the end of Jesus’ life. And of course, He was to become our Passover. But here in Luke 22, and let’s pick it up here, let’s come to verse 7. “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat” (Luke 22:7-8). Jesus didn’t keep a “Lord’s Supper.” Jesus kept the Passover. And we find in John 13 that there was foot washing with it. And whenever the Passover by true Christians is held in the way that it should be, then there is foot washing and the partaking of the bread and the wine.

Now let’s come down here to verse 14. “And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you…” So that’s what He kept. Now verse 17, “And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in [the] remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament [covenant]…” Not testament, covenant. And oh, you need to know about covenant law. That will open your mind and open your eyes as to what the New Covenant is really all about. Now I cover that a great extent in The Christian Passover book. This is the new covenant “…in My blood, which is shed for you.” (vs. 14-15, 17-20). And that has a greater and much more profound meaning than just “testament.”

Now let’s come on to the Gospel of John. As a matter of fact, the Gospel of John is really laid out according to the feasts of God. Let’s come here to John 2. And we find again the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which Jesus kept. And if we are going to walk in His footsteps, we are going to keep them. Now someone is surely going to say, “No. Jesus did that because He was under the Old Covenant.” Not so. Jesus was not under the Old Covenant when He was here on the earth. He was under a special covenant with God to be the sacrifice for all mankind. He was not under the Old Covenant. He kept them because God commanded them to be kept; and He kept all the commandments of God.

Now John 2:13, “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,…” And that’s where He chased then all of the moneychangers and the oxen and everything, cleaned out the temple. Now verse 23, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day [being the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread], many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man” (John 2:13, 23-25). Why? Because He was the Creator. And He knew the evil of human nature.

Now let’s come to John 6. Now I realize that we’re going through scriptures quite rapidly. But this is an overview. And I want the number of scriptures to have an impact upon you in what I’m saying, that you will clearly understand that there is no such thing as Christmas and Easter ever found in the Bible that we should keep. Now let’s come to John 6:4, “And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.” Then we find that Jesus gave the whole lesson, concerning that He was the bread of life. Let’s come here to verse 35. “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:4, 35). You have to eat His flesh and drink His blood, which is symbolized by the unleavened bread and the wine. And you have to have it properly, and do it properly according to the commandments of God. Otherwise, as Jesus said, “You have no life in you.” You cannot take the substitute that the world has done for the Passover - of Communion, the Lord’s Supper, and the Eucharist - you have no salvation through any of those. Only through Christ do you have salvation. And when you take the Passover you are signifying to God something very special that Jesus taught here in verse 57, where He says, “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.” And how did Jesus say that man is to live? By every Word of God. So we have the Passover here.

Now we come to chapter 7. Now we find that we have the Feast of Tabernacles. Now verse 2, “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.” Now his brothers, meaning His own physical brothers that He had, they didn’t believe in Him. And they told Him that He should show Himself openly, and He said no. He said, verse 8, “Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast;…” And some people say, “See? He didn’t keep it.” No, He kept it, but He didn’t go with them. That’s all He is saying here. “…For My time is not yet full come.” Now verse 14, “Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught” ( John 7:2, 8, 14). So He was there keeping it, but He didn’t want to be known openly because His time had not yet come.

Now let’s come over here to verse 37. So now, what do we have so far? What have we covered so far? We have covered in the New Testament, I want you to understand, in the New Testament we have covered Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and now Feast of Tabernacles. Now we’re coming to the Last Great Day. Let’s read it. “In the last day, that great day of the feast,…” That’s the beginning of the eight day, right as the sun was going down. “…Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy [Spirit] Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (vs. 37-39). But what was Jesus keeping? Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles, Last Great Day. No hint of any of the so-called “Christian” festivals in the New Testament.

Now let’s go on. Let’s come here to John…well, John 13, I already mentioned that. We’ll bypass that. That talks about foot washing. That’s very important, but you get The Christian Passover book, and that will tell you all about foot washing. We have a whole chapter on it. But let’s come here to John 19, and let’s see something here concerning the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and what it is called. Now we know that Jesus was crucified on the Passover day, the 14^th of Nisan, the fourteenth day of the first month. And He died about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Now verse 31, “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation,…” And most people think that means the weekly Sabbath, but it’s not. This is the annual Sabbath, as we will see. “…That the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,)…” Meaning, a holy day.

So the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread follows immediately after the Passover. We read back in Leviticus 23 on the fourteenth day of the month is the Passover, and the fifteenth day of the month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So this is what we’re dealing with right here. Christ died on the fourteenth, and the fifteenth was coming at sunset, and they wanted to get the body off the cross and into the grave. Because that day, that Sabbath day which was coming, was a high day, a holy day. So there you have it, all the way through the New Testament.

Let’s come to Acts 2. Now here, Acts 2:1, notice: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,…” And this means in the Greek, “And when they were fulfilling the Day of Pentecost…”, which was on the first day of the week. But that had nothing to do with Sunday service, you see. Now what we really have here is this – the law was given on Pentecost at Mt. Sinai, and now the Holy Spirit is given on Pentecost at the temple, which then gives the ability for those who receive the Holy Spirit to keep the commandments of God in the Spirit. No longer in the letter, but in the Spirit. “…They were all with one accord in one place.” The first Christians were keeping Pentecost, a holy day of God. And that is the day that He gave the Ten Commandments on in the Old Testament. So if there are those who say that the church began on the first day of the week – which it did – and therefore that’s why they keep Sunday, and yet they reject the Law, they are rejecting the very reason and purpose for Pentecost. And they don’t have a clue as to what they are saying.

And then the Holy Spirit was poured out in power. And Peter preached a tremendous and powerful sermon on that day, commanded them all to repent. Let’s come down here to verse 36. Let’s understand how powerful this was. And you need to think about this in relationship to your life. What are you going to do with this new knowledge concerning the holy days of God? What will you do? Will you repent and change? Will your heart be pricked? Will the Spirit of God work with you to open your mind and your heart? Or are you going to get mad and angry and close your heart and your mind and reject it and say, “Well that’s not what I’ve been taught since I was a little kid.” Or, “I’ve been a Catholic all my life. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.” “I’ve been a Baptist all my life. Once a Baptist, always a Baptist.” Where is the repentance? Repentance means a turning, a repenting to God.

Now notice Acts 2:36, Peter said, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ [Master].” And why was He crucified? To bear your sins. That’s why you need to repent. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart,…” Are you pricked in your heart? Is God able to move you? Are you able to respond to the Spirit of God and let your heart and your mind be open to the Spirit of God, to lead you to repentance like these people were? These were the first ones in the church. Do you think that you’re going to be in the Church of God in any other different way than these people were? Of course not.

“…And said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized…” (Acts 2:36-38). And baptism – you need to write in for a tape, “The Full Meaning of Baptism.” It’s far more than just some sort of religious ritual that you go through. It has deep and profound meaning. And it has the meaning of applying the sacrifice of Christ personally to you. You know, the way of God is so profound and so great and so magnificent. You need to understand. You need to have your mind opened. You need to repent. You need to be baptized. You need to receive the Spirit of God, which will give you the strength and understanding to live God’s way, to keep His commandments, and to love God with all your heart. This is vital and important information, salvational information. You can’t just reject it out of hand and go your way. You just can’t say, “Well, that’s what you believe, and that’s your religion.” Listen – if I preach to you the Word of God and the Word of God is something that God says is going to judge you, then know that you have heard the Word of God, and that’s what God wants you to listen to. And if I don’t teach you the Word of God, woe be to me. That’s just the way that it is. You need to understand that.

Now let’s go on. Let’s see a deliberate mistranslation in the King James version of the Bible…Acts 12. Now you see, we’re going in to what the apostles did. Now you’ll remember that we went through and did a survey through the book of Acts, concerning how that the apostles kept the Sabbath all the way through the book of Acts. Remember that? Now let’s come here to Acts 12 and let’s see something. “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)” (Acts 12:1-3). Now Luke is writing this to record when the time was that they were keeping this, when this occurred. If they weren’t keeping the days of Unleavened Bread, why record that it was the Days of Unleavened Bread? If they were keeping Easter he would have said Easter. And this is where the translators put in the word “Easter,” as we’ll see in the next verse.

“And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people” (vs. 4). Now this is a blatant mistranslation. The Greek word here that was translated “Easter” is entirely incorrect. The Greek word here is pascha, and so translated “Passover” everywhere else in the Bible. So there is no basis for Easter-keeping at all by the church.

Now let’s come to Acts 20, and let’s see as Paul was traveling and in journeying what he was doing, what he was keeping, what days that he kept. Acts 20, now let’s read it here. Verse 6, “And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread,…” Why did they sail after the days of Unleavened Bread? Very simply and obviously, they were keeping the days of Unleavened Bread. And they were there with the brethren and teaching and preaching, and keeping those days. This is a powerful witness. Will you believe the Scripture? Will you believe the truth of God? Will you believe the things of God? Or will you believe a man who teaches you a religion?

Let’s come over here to Acts 24:14, and let’s understand something very profound concerning what the apostle Paul has said here. “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy,…” Now the Jews called what he was doing with Christ heresy. What we do today in following Christ and keeping the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Trumpets, and Atonement, and Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day, people call heresy. So after the way people call heresy, we can identify with Paul. “…So worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:…” Now did we read to you concerning the Sabbath and holy days in the Law? Yes. Did we read to you in the prophets concerning the Sabbath and Sabbath-breaking, and what happens because of that? Yes. Did Paul believe all of those? Yes. Did he teach all of those? Yes. Did he live all of those? Yes. Did he keep the commandments of God? Yes. He says, “…believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:14-15). Now that’s a profound statement, “believing all.” Will you believe all that is written in the law and the prophets, as well as the New Testament?

Now let’s continue on. Let’s see - here – let’s go to 1 Corinthians 16, and let’s see how the apostle Paul gauged his time. Listen – if anyone tries to convince you that Paul did away with the Sabbath and the holy days…now we are going to cover all of the difficult scriptures of Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2, and “the end of the law,” and all of those things in the series that I’m going to continue after this, “Refuting Sunday- Keeping.” We’re going to cover all of those. And we’re going to have a true and a proper explanation of each one of them from the Scriptures. But the question is, do you believe that Paul did away with the laws of God? Let’s ask another question: since God gave the Law, what man can do away with what God has given? No man.

And Jesus said, as we saw, “Don’t think that I’ve come to abolish or destroy the Law and the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily, I say to you, that till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until all be fulfilled.” And then He goes on to say, “Furthermore, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way enter into the kingdom of God.” And He said, “Anyone that teaches against even the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20, paraphrased). And probably indicating they won’t be there. So there are a lot of Sunday-keeping theologians that better really read the Word of God, and understand what it says. Because if they think they have salvation, they better get another thought coming, because the words of God tell them no, they won’t; unless you do what God says, there’s no salvation coming to anybody.

Now let’s come to 1 Corinthians 16, the last chapter in 1 Corinthians, and let’s pick it up here in verse 7. “For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry [or that is, remain] at Ephesus until Pentecost.” So Paul was there and kept Pentecost. He didn’t stay there until Pentecost to leave on the day of Pentecost, as some perverted, twisting-of-the-Scriptures teachers might want to say. He stayed until Pentecost to keep Pentecost at Ephesus. “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:7-9). And yes, there will be many adversaries.

Now let’s read on here. “Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren” (vs. 10-11). And so then the rest of is to continue on, and do forth, and keep the Word of God.

Now let’s come back here to 1 Corinthians 5, and let’s see a very profound and important section of Scripture. And we will see the implications of this. The reason this is important is because a lot of theologians will say that Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the holy days in the Bible were only for the Jews. The Gentiles don’t have to keep them. Not so. Let’s read it here. Now 1 Corinthians 5:6, “Your glorying is not good….” That is, the people there who were the brethren at the church of Corinth were allowing a man who was having incest with his stepmother, and they allowed him to continue attending. They were glorying in it. He said put him out. “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” Now this refers to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And during the Feast of Unleavened Bread leaven is a type of sin, and vanity, and human nature. And a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And that sin within the church was causing sin to be transferred to all the congregation, because they were agreeing with it.

Now notice what Paul says, verse 7, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened [in Christ].” There are two meanings to that. They got rid of the leaven out of their houses to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; and also in Christ, spiritually, they are unleavened. Now notice the last sentence here in verse 7, “For [that means ‘because’] even Christ our passover is [was] sacrificed for us:…” How can people not keep the Passover when that’s one of the very functions of Christ, as our Passover? It doesn’t make any sense, when you really get to the Scriptures and try and figure out all of these false doctrines, and the twisting and lying connivings of men.

“…For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:…” Now verse 8, “Therefore…” That means, because Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, “…let us keep the feast,…” Now, is that doing away with any of the feasts of God? Not in the greatest stretch of any imagination! None whatsoever! He says, “Let us keep the feast.” And this was to Gentiles in Corinth. “…Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:6-8). So the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures, then, how our lives become more sinless and unleavened in Christ. But the point is, he said, “Let us keep the feast.”

1 Corinthians 11, we won’t turn there, but he said, “In the night He was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, and He took the wine, and He said, ‘Take, eat…’ He said, ‘Take, drink…’” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25, paraphrased). All the way through the New Testament we have all these references to the holy days of God. There is not one centillionth of any credibility whatsoever that the pagan holidays of Sunday, and Christmas, and Easter, and New Years should be kept and observed by true Christians. Everywhere the Bible enforces the Sabbath and holy days of God. Now that you know this, what will you do? What will you observe? The choice is yours.

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