UNLEAVENED BREAD - Day 1

Fred Coulter  - April 8, 2001

This is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 2001.  And the time keeps kind of rolling right along and here we are for the Feast of Unleavened Bread already.  And it just seems like just a little while ago we finished the Feast of Tabernacles.  I hope everyone had a good and meaningful Passover, and as you know the Passover renews the covenant that we have with Jesus Christ.  And also it reflects back upon, as the night much to be remembered pictures, how that God on that Passover night took Abraham out and showed him the stars and gave him the promise of which we are the ones who are the actual fulfillment of that promise, as well as all the other brethren that God has called.  So this is a tremendous feast, a tremendous event, and a wonderful thing for us.  And brethren, the greatest thing that we can have are the feasts of God because they give us knowledge, they give us understanding, they lay out the plan of God step by step and shows us how we are to become as God is.

Now, always with the holy days we begin in Leviticus 23, so let’s go to Leviticus 23.  All of you probably have your Bibles open there so we’ll begin right there and let’s just begin with verse 4.  And Moses writes the words of God.  Now let’s understand something which I’ve reiterated in the past, but we will again.  All of the things that Moses wrote are the words of God.  So when you read the words of God and you study the words of God and you read the Bible, what it is, it is really God speaking to you.  God speaking to me.  So let’s view it from this point of view because a lot of people have said, “Well, if God would just come and talk to me…”  Well, God has, and it’s been recorded, so let’s read it.

“These are the feasts of the LORD [they belong to Him], even holy convocations…”  They are Holy convocations because God puts His presence in them and that’s why they’re Holy.  “…Which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.”  And now it’s the season for Unleavened Bread.  “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even…”  And of course all of you have the Passover book so I’m not going to go through and distinguish anything here concerning the technical details of “even”, but it merely means “in between the two evenings”, between sunset and dark.  “…Is the LORD’S passover” (Lev. 23:4-5).

Now notice verse 6.  “On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD [and that’s what this day is, this is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread]: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”  So we will eat unleavened bread.  “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation [which is what this day is for]: ye shall do no servile work therein.”  That is you will do no work for hire or labor.  “But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein” (vs. 6-9).

Now we always take up an offering according to God’s command on each one of the holy days.  And I want to just thank you brethren, for all that you have done down through the years, and those who have been with us faithfully in helping and providing and giving offerings, and faithfully giving your tithes.  Because all of this is used to serve the brethren.  And we try and get, as someone said, the most bang for the buck, as we can.  And that’s what we’re endeavoring to do in everything that we try and accomplish.  And use God’s tithes and offerings in a way that will be pleasing to Him.

Now let’s turn to Exodus 23:17, and here we have the command were…and God gives this three different times.  And it says, “Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.”

Then it says in Deuteronomy 16:16-17, that you shall not appear empty, and you shall give as you are able.  And there’s just another thing that’s important with it.  Even though God commands it, it is still our free will and choice to do it.  And so what God is looking for in all of these things, He is not looking for the amount, but He wants to know what the heart is.

So just across the page in Exodus 25 we have something very important concerning offerings that God brings out.  Verse 1, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering.”  And then it lists all the things that they were to do to build a sanctuary so that God may dwell with them.

Now the whole thing that we are doing in the Church is the same thing.  We come before God willingly.  We are part of the temple of God.  We are going to be of that eternal living in the Kingdom of God.  And so we are doing a spiritual fulfillment of this.  And notice it starts out of the things that they shall bring, gold, silver, and brass.  Now that’s very similar to what we have in building on the foundation of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3, gold, silver, and precious stones.  Now we know that the treasure that we are to build up is to build that up in character and spiritual development in heaven above.  And so all of this is reflective in the giving of an offering that we take up for the holy days.  So we’ll just take a break right now and go ahead and take up the offering.

(Pause)

Recently a man wrote me and he said, actually it was a letter that someone sent me a copy of and he was responding to someone else accusing those who keep the Sabbath of trying to earn their salvation.  Or in keeping the holy days, of trying to earn their salvation.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.  No one can earn salvation.  But no one will receive salvation living in disobedience to God.  Now let’s come back here to Ephesians 2 and let’s see the spiritual lessons that we are going to learn, which is actually getting the spiritual leaven out of our lives because, as we will see a little later on and you know the scripture which says a little leaven leavens the whole lump.  And when it leavens the whole lump then everything is corrupted and we can see that time and time again in many, many different things.

Now here in Ephesians 2.  This has to do with our calling.  This has to do with the whole meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and what God is doing in our lives and what we should be doing as well.  Verse 1, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”  Now quickened means “to be made spiritually alive”.  “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world…”  And we are to come out of this world, and we are to come out of Babylon.  And we are to come out of the way that human beings are living their lives today.  “…According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our [conduct] conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:1-3).  And that’s the condition of the whole world.  God has shut them all up unto sin so that He can have mercy on them according to His own ways and His own plan.  But God has called us and we have received the mercy first.

Verse 4, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us…”  Now let’s understand, brethren, God loves us.  Christ loves us.  And He did it because of His great love which He has for us.  “…Even when we were dead in sins, hath [He] quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved:)…”  And this salvation means that “you are saved”, and the Greek here means “have been saved”.  Have been saved from your sins and Satan the devil.  And that’s what we have been saved from.

Now this grace is something that shows the action of God.  We live under His grace.  We live within His grace.  We are saved by grace, and that means God’s graciousness and kindness and gift.  That’s why eternal life is a gift of God because it is through His grace.  And we will see in a little bit that through grace we establish law, we establish the commandments of God, and we walk in the way of the Lord.

Now let’s come down here to verse 8.  He repeats it again.  “For by grace are ye saved [you have been saved]…”  Now this is not “once saved, always saved”, because there are three steps to being saved.  We’ll see that in just a minute.  “…By grace are ye saved through faith…”  Meaning you must believe in God.  You must believe in Jesus Christ.  You must accept His sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins, and you are saved from your sins and Satan the devil.

Now notice, “…And that [is] not of yourselves…”  Now let’s stop here and just rehearse a little bit.  We have nothing that we didn’t receive.  And you’ve heard me say that many times.  However, when we have so many of these false doctrines coming around, which are leaven by the way, and they leaven the whole lump, then that comes from the self.  And people are trying to accomplish a spiritual thing by themselves without doing it God’s way, which is then from themselves rather than from God and God’s Spirit.  But it’s impossible to save yourself.  No man can save himself.  Now, here’s the reason, “…it is the gift of God.”  And God gives it.  It’s not something you can earn.

Now notice verse 9.  “Not of works…”  Now this means of works of self.  As we will see there are works of God that we are to do, and we are to walk in the ways of the Lord, “…lest any man should boast.”

Now verse 10 is the key.  “For we are His workmanship…”  God is creating Christ in us.  We are the work of His hands.  We are His workmanship.  “...Created    [because salvation is creation] in Christ Jesus unto good works…”  Now notice there’s a distinction between “not of works” which are your works, and “of good works”.   And those good works are the works of God.

Now notice the next phrase.  “…Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  And that becomes profoundly important because there are good works that we are to do, that we are to walk in.  And if we do that we are not earning our salvation, we are not attempting to earn our salvation by any stretch of the imagination.  We are letting God unleaven us.  We are letting God lead us.  We are looking to the grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of God, and walking in His ways and His commandments.  Remember, Jesus said on the Passover night, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And if you are keeping My word you are loving Me and My Father will come unto you and will love you and We [that is Christ and God the Father] will make their abode or dwelling place within us.”  And that is the greatest unleavening factor that we can have in our lives, as far as overcoming and changing, and growing in grace and knowledge.  But there are good works that we need to do.  And these good works are going to judge us.  Now we will see that in just a minute, but I need to finish this and this  is very important for us to understand.

We have been saved from our sins and Satan the devil.  However, salvation, since it’s being created in Christ Jesus, is a process.  Let’s come to 1 Corinthians 1.  It is not, “once saved, always saved”, and as some Protestant ministers have said, “Well, God is going to save everyone and even Satan the devil is going to be saved.”  Well, I don’t know what Bible they are reading, but that certainly is not from God and you don’t find it in the Bible.  Paul said that he kept himself under, and beat his flesh lest after he had preached to others he himself would be a castaway.

Now, salvation is a process.  Let’s come right here to 1 Corinthians 1:18.  “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved…”  Now the Greek there really means “unto us which are being saved” showing the process.  This is the passive progressive, “are being saved”, “…it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18-19).

Now he repeats that back here in 1 Corinthians 15.  It is something that is being done as Christ is being created in us, see.  We are being created unto good works.  We are His workmanship.  That’s why it is a process of being saved.

Now let’s pick it up here in 1 Corinthians 15:1.  “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye [are standing] stand; by which also ye are saved…”  That means you are being saved.  Now notice it’s conditional.  “…If…”  It’s not conditional on God’s part.  On God’s part it’s unconditional.  But we have the conditions given to us.  Will we walk in the way of the Lord or not?  Will we put the leaven of sin out of our lives or not?  Will we look to Jesus Christ as the sacrifice and continual propitiation and atonement for our sins or not?  “…If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain”. (1 Cor. 15:1-2).  So if you believe in vain there is no salvation.

Now back to the works that we are to walk in.  Now let’s come to Revelation 2 and 3 and again Christ is speaking to us.  Christ is talking to us.  Christ is talking to His Church.  And all the seven churches here have had their difficulties and their problems, but I just want to focus in on something here that’s very important.  Now let’s just understand what Jesus says here in Revelation 2:2.  He says, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience…”, and so forth, “…and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars…”  Now let’s come down here where He says, “…I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (vs. 4).

Now notice what He says in verse 5.  “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works…”  He is going to judge every man according to his works, every woman according to her works.  Whether they be of God or whether they be of the self.  Now remember, any works that come from us are going to be burned up.

Now we come down here to verse 9.  Jesus says to Smyrna, “I know thy works…”  Now to Pergamos, first thing He says, verse 13.  “I know thy works…”  Down here to Thyatira, verse 19.  “I know thy works…”  Let me ask a question:  Does God know your works?  No question about it.  Yes He does.  His Spirit is in you, isn’t it?  Then does He not know your works?

Now let’s come over here and see what He says to Thyatira, verse 26.  “And [the one] he that overcometh, and [is] keeping My works unto the end…”  Now all the way through Christ is showing that there are works and those that are the good works that we are to do, or the sins that come in and He takes that into account and judges us for that too.  But we are going to be judged according to our works.  And that is the way that we are to walk in.  The way of God.  And this is what is so profound and what is so important in everything.

Now let’s come all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy and let’s see something that is very important.  Keeping the works of God means to be walking in His ways.  Now if…let me ask you this.  Come back here to Deuteronomy 10.  While we are turning back there let me ask you this: If you keep the Sabbath day holy, as God has commanded, who’s work is that?  Is that your work that you initiated yourself, or is that a good work that God has created that we should walk in them?  Obviously it’s a good work that God has created that we should walk in.

If we keep Sunday, since we’ve been going through Sabbath-keeping and refuting Sunday-keeping, if you keep Sunday, who’s work is that?  That’s a human work, therefore there is no grace though they claim it.  There is no righteousness of God because He didn’t command it.  Now you need to think on that and everything in relationship to the way of God.  God has always made it clear that He’s had His way and His commandments, and His laws, and His statutes, and His judgments.

Now here, Deuteronomy 10:12, and here is what God told Israel.  “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways...”  That means everything concerning the way of God.  “…And to love Him , and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul…”  And this is what God desires for us to do.  Old Testament and New Testament, but more profoundly in the New Testament, because remember what the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy.  He said to Timothy that you have known the holy scriptures, which are referring to what is called the Old Testament today, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  And so when we read these scriptures let’s read them with the faith of Jesus Christ and let’s apply the spiritual lesson to it.

Now notice verse 13, “To keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?”  Not one thing that God ever commanded was not for the good of the people of Israel.  And there is nothing that God commands us to do today which is not for our good either, because God loves you.  Remember He called you because He loves you.  He has forgiven you and you are under His grace because He loves you.  Now we are to respond back and love God with our whole heart, and mind, and whole being.  And this then is how the leaven of sin in our lives is overcome.  We’ll see in a little more detail on that as we go along here.

Now verse 14.  “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD”S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.”  So God is saying, “Now look, think big.”  Realize that God has created the heavens and the earth and everything that there is.  That God has called you.  Now let’s apply it here.  “Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day” (vs. 14-15).  And is that not true with our calling, brethren?  Yes it is.  God has chosen you.  God has chosen all that He gives His Spirit to.  And it is God the Father that has reached down to call you.

Now we have an obligation of something that we need to do too.  Now notice that right here in verse 16.  “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.”  Now let’s understand something.  We have the spiritual circumcision not made with hands, through Christ by the operation of baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.  That is done by God.  But we have our part in overcoming human nature, which then also is part of the circumcision  of the heart.  So we have a responsibility in it.

Now here’s the reason.  And of course it says be no more stiffnecked.  And I tell you what, through the years we’ve seen a lot of stiffnecked people that just resolutely go on their own way and figure they are going to do things the way that they want to.  And especially now.  There has been another great… it comes in waves and almost like cycles.  We’re going through another cycle of Judaising people coming in and wanting to tell you that you originated from the Jewish way of doing things.  That is not true.  If you do not have the series, “Scripturalism vs. Judaism”, well you write for it and you study it, and you know.

As a matter of fact, there are different Jewish organizations today who have written in and who have gotten the whole log from the Bible Sabbath Association of all the Churches of God, with their address and phone number.  And here in the office just the other day I got a call from the Jewish Christian Foundation.  And they wanted to tell us how that everything that we have learned is of the Jews.  And so the woman who called was talking to me.  I said, “Tell me, what day do you keep the Passover?  On the 14^th or the 15^th?”  She says, “Oh, I’m a Gentile.”  And I said, “Well, Paul taught the Gentiles to keep the Passover on the 14^th.”  She said, “Sir, I didn’t call to argue with you.”  I didn’t invite the call and I didn’t ask her to call.  And I wasn’t arguing with her, I was just trying to find out what it was that they really believe.  And some come in and say you have to have prayer shawls and yarmulkes and all these things.  Those are all physical.  Remember this: you cannot accomplish spiritual things by physical means - period.

Ok, well let’s go on.  Don’t be stiffnecked.  Verse 17, “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward…”  Now this sounds like the book of Revelation, right?  That Christ comes back and He’s what?  King of kings, and Lord of lords.  Don’t we have it right there?  Same God.

“He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.  Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (vs. 18-19).  Now all the way through, and the book of Deuteronomy is so good, so good, so profound, so, so marvelous.

Now, let’s continue on and see what it is that God wants us to do in the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Let’s come to Exodus 13.  And here, God tells us we are to remember this day, beginning with the night to be remembered.  And oh, by the way, there are some people who said, “Well, since the command is in Deuteronomy 16, ‘You shall return to your tents in the morning,’ therefore you shall stay up all night and observe the night much to be remembered all night.”  Well, no.  Nowhere does it say “Thou shalt stay up all night.”  That command is for those who did.  Not everyone could.  You think all the children could?  Of course not.  Do you think all the senior citizens who kept the night to be remembered could?  No.  See, you need to use some judgment in these things.

Now then, Exodus 13:3.  “And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt…”  Now what I want you to do is remember the day that God called you.  When you came out of the world.  When you began to answer God’s way.  And later then, when you were baptized.  And remember the day that you were baptized because that day is the covenant that you made with Jesus Christ and God the Father, and it is a covenant unto death and you were buried and the old self has been put under that watery grave that the man of sin may be crucified, showing it’s a process.  So we remember this day, and that’s why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Every year it is a complete renewal.  It is giving us, as it were, a reinvigoration of God’s way and truth.

“…In which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage…”  And we’ve been delivered from the bondage of sin.  “…For by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.  This day came ye out in the month of Abib” (Ex. 13:3-4)  Now here is the whole reason for it, verse 8.  “And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.  And it shall be a sign unto thee…”  Now all of God’s Sabbaths are signs.  And it is a perpetual covenant.  And what I’m beginning to see more and more, which you will see also when we get done with refuting Sunday-keeping, all of these arguments against keeping the holy days of God are nothing more than self-righteous carnal minded arguments of men who have hatred towards God’s way.  Hatred towards His laws and commandments, and do not want to keep them.  That’s what they are.  They are walking in their ways.  If you want to do God’s way you walk in His way, and you keep His commandments.

Now notice, “…it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.”  He brought them out of Egypt to keep His commandments and His laws and His statutes, and His judgments.  Not that they go back into the way of Egypt.  “Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year” (vs. 9-10).  So that’s why we keep it.  God says that we are to keep His Sabbaths as a sign.

Now, let’s come to Exodus 34:18 where God then again commands.  Now this is very interesting.  Here let’s stop by Exodus 23 first, and we’ll see something that’s important, because this affects what we need to do here.

Ok, Exodus 23:14.  “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.  Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before Me empty:) and the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours [which is Pentecost], which thou hast sown in the field: and the feat of ingathering, which is in the end of the year [now that’s at the end of the harvest year]…” (Ex. 23:14-16).

Now then, what happened when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the instructions from God, he came back down and they confirmed the covenant.  Now then,  they took all of the things that needed to be taken for doing the offering.  He gave the commands here in Exodus 30.  And then in Exodus 31 he gave this command.  Now let’s just reiterate it to let you know how important that Sabbath keeping and holy day keeping is, because this day is an annual Sabbath.

Exodus 31:12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses saying…”  I love that.  I love it because every time someone says “the law of Moses”, it doesn’t mean the law of Moses the way people think.  That’s the way the Jews interpret it, which then they add all their own laws to it, which then becomes what they say the law of Moses.  But what Moses wrote in the scriptures, God told him what to say and what to write.  “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My sabbaths [plural]…”  And in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, it is plural.  “My Sabbaths you shall keep.”  “…For it [that is the keeping of the Sabbaths] is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you” (Ex. 31:12-13).

Now let’s come to Exodus 32:1.  “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we [know] wot not what has become of him.”  So immediately they left the way of God.  I mean just like blinking an eye they went right back to their old ways.  That’s why in Deuteronomy 5 God said when the Ten Commandments were reiterated again, He said, “Oh I would that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me always and keep My commandments.”  Look at what they did.  Even Aaron got involved with it.

“And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (vs. 2-4).  Now I want you to think for a minute what a tremendous violation this was by Aaron.  Was he not there with Moses every time that he had the confrontation with Pharaoh?  Was he not there when Moses called unto God and the plagues came down upon Egypt, one after the other, one after the other.  And for him to turn around and do this, an amazing thing.  So you know the rest of the story.  They went back to the religion of Egypt, which is sun-worship, Baal worship, Ishtar worship.  And God destroyed them because of it.

Now since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, what does God think about the pagan ways of this world today.  The same thing as here.  So after that then God reiterated the things again to Moses.  He said, “Take two more stones, come on up here, and I’ll give it to you again.”  Now let’s come to Exodus 34:17.  Now notice this, “Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.”  And that’s just what Aaron did, right?  And they had a feast, and they said, “It’s a feast unto the Lord.”  Hurray, they proclaimed it unto the Lord but God didn’t recognize it.  Listen, because people feel something or believe something, if it’s contrary to the word of God it doesn’t make any difference.  God is not going to fulfill a wish.  God is not going to fulfill a false belief.  Of course not.

Now notice verse 18, “The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep.”  So again after they had it given to them once in Exodus 23, after they had lived through it coming out of Egypt, after they had come to Mt. Sinai and received the commandments of God, now after the rebellion with the golden calf, what does God give again?  He gives His holy days.  Are those not important?  Profoundly, brethren.  Because that’s part of the way of God.  That is the way of God.  Now notice, He also talks about the Sabbath and everything through there, so we are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now what did God do, what does He say there in Ezekiel 20?  He said, “I took the children of Israel and brought them out into the wilderness and gave them My Sabbaths, but they rejected them and they refused them.”  Yes, they wanted to go back to the way of Egypt.  So what happened when the children of Israel went into the promised land?  Again He reiterated the Sabbath and the holy days, as we find in the book of Deuteronomy, and the book of Exodus.  But what happened right after Joshua and the elders died?  The children of Israel went after Asheroth and Baal.  They went right back to the way of the world.  They went right back to sin and pagan observance.  They went right back head long into leaven, if you can put it that way.

Now, the feasts of the Lord are the way of the Lord.  Can you show me any other way?  Of course not.  Now let’s understand something, because what we are to do is to  follow in the way of God.  Now let’s focus in on that.  Let’s come to Psalm 49.  We are living the way of God.  Keeping the holy days is the way of God.  Keeping the Sabbath is the way of God.  God did not give us a religion.  God gave us a way of life.  All religions are a substitute for God’s way of life.  Now if you don’t have the series “Why God Hates Religion”, write in for it.

Now here, Psalm 49:6.  These are the people who are the evil ones.  “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches…”  Hello Laodiceans, sound a little bit like that.  “...None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)”  In other words God is the one who’s going to do it.  “That he should still life for ever, and not see corruption.  For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others” (Psa. 49:6-10).  And that’s just the way it is in the world.

Now verse 13, “This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings.”  Nothing could be any clearer than that concerning the ways of God that have been rejected by this world.  It’s their own way, their own righteousness.  They are filled with leaven and sin.  It’s not of God.  God never authorized it.  God never blessed it.  God never sanctified it.  Yet they claim that He did.

Now let’s see how we are to learn the way of God.  Let’s see how David cried out to God in asking God to help and lead him in his way.  Let’s come to Psalm 25.  And this is what we need to do, brethren, in being unleavened in heart, and mind, and spirit, and putting in the way of God.  See, we have to put out sin and put in the way of God.  And we do it this way, with this attitude.

“Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.  O my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.  Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause” (Psa. 25:1-3).

Now notice verse 4.  “Shew me Thy ways, O LORD; teach me Thy paths.”  See it’s the Holy Spirit that teaches us.  It’s Christ in us that teaches us.  It is the Father that leads us in that way.  And this needs to be our attitude toward God.  So we have, “…Teach me Thy paths.  Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day” (vs. 4-5).

Now notice how this ties in with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  “Remember, O LORD, Thy tender mercies and Thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.  Remember not the sins of my youth…”  And yes, remember not any of our sins.  Let them all be put out and let us all be unleavened in Christ.  “…According to thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.  Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way” (vs. 6-8).  God’s way.  And we’ll see what that is also in the New Testament in just a little bit.