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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 14th or the 15th?” She says, “Oh, I’m a
Gentile.” And I said, “Well, Paul taught the Gentiles to keep the
Passover on the 14th.” 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.
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