UNLEAVENED BREAD – Day 7

“Overcoming The Sin Without”

Fred Coulter – April 30, 2005

And greetings brethren. Welcome to the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – 2005. And time still marches on and we are going forward and God is still on His throne, and the plan of God is being worked out according to His schedule, according to the way that the Father has planned it. And of course as we know the holy days picture the plan of God. Now why is it that the world does not understand what God is doing? Well, 1) they don’t believe God; 2) they don’t keep the Sabbath; 3) they don’t keep the holy days. And when they read about the holy days, especially when they come to Leviticus 23 they say, “Well these are all just ritual days and so we don’t have to keep them.” Well that’s why I mentioned last time if you don’t have the tape, “Which Came First – The Ritual or The Day?” be sure and write for it. And we also have it on-line so you can download it there. But here on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is a special day, it is a holy day, and it is also a weekly Sabbath.

Now, let’s pick it up here again and just remind ourselves of it, Leviticus 23:7, and it says: “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation…” And let me just mention this: the words “holy convocation” in the King James could very well be translated “the appointed time.” So what we’re dealing with is this: God has set the appointed time. Now we know this year that it is later than other years. But if you have noticed, winter in the northern hemisphere is a whole lot longer and a whole lot more severe, and that’s why it is later. Because the Hebrew Calculated Calendar adjusts for the seasons automatically. And that shows that God gave the Hebrew Calculated Calendar for us to use. It’s a misnomer to call it a Jewish Calendar. That’s not so. So anyway, let’s go on here: “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein” (Lev. 23:7-8, KJV). So today is that holy convocation.

Now let’s come back to Exodus 12 for just a minute where we see the same thing where God gave before the giving of the ritual offerings, He gave also the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now He says here, verse 18: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even…” That is ba erev, sunset. That’s when the day begins. “…Ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.” That is as the day ends at sunset, so that’s a full seven days. And up in verse 16 it says: “And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation [an appointed time], and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you...” So there we have the command given before the rituals at the temple were given. And besides, when you look at the operation of the Passover and Pentecost – all of that came before the giving of the law, because the law was given on Pentecost, but the day came first, and God gave the commandments, and that’s what, as we will see, is one of the memorials of keeping the Feast of Pentecost. So, God gave us these days so that we might know His will and His truth.

And part of it is that on all the holy days we do take up an offering. And we take up this offering based upon how God has blessed us, based upon all the commandments that we know about giving offerings. And so as I mentioned the first holy day, you give this offering according to the blessings that God has given you. And so at this time we will go ahead and pause and take up the offering.

(Pause)

And now let’s come to Exodus 14 because this tells us the meaning of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now all the holy days have meaning and purpose and understanding. The Passover – God passed over the firstborn, and He judged all the God’s of Egypt. And that’s important, as we saw, because what that does with the beginning of the Passover, and this is why the Passover is so important – all the holy days, the holidays, the gods of this world have been judged and condemned and killed, as it were, through all the plagues that God gave in Egypt as well as the firstborn of the Egyptians and all of their beasts. So you need to always keep that in mind.

Now, because God has rescued us and rescued the children of Israel out of Egypt, which is a type of sin, Satan doesn’t give up on us. And so as we covered in the first holy day, how to overcome the sin within, today we are going to learn how to overcome the sin that is without. How to overcome the attacks which come from Satan the devil. Now we know in Exodus 14 that they came down by the Red Sea and they were all encamped by the Red Sea in kind of a very long column there, because there wasn’t much room going back because there were mountains to the back of them. And we know that Pharaoh came with all his horses, all his chariots, and all of his men to come and recapture the children of Israel to put them in bondage and slavery again. Now God deliberately took them that way. And typical of what people do when the going gets tough, because you see it’s not easy being a Christian and the going gets tough. And one of the battles that we constantly have to fight is the sin without by Satan the devil as pictured here by Pharaoh and all of his soldiers. And look at the difference in the armament. They had swords, they had spears, they had chariots, they had trained soldiers. And here are the Israelites out there just freed from slavery. They don’t have any weapons. But they have the greatest weapon of all, and that’s the thing we need to understand. And that greatest weapon of all was that God was on their side.

Now when they saw Pharaoh drawing near, Exodus 14:10: “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?” Now you see, here is one of the things that Satan wants to get you to do when the going gets tough – accuse God. Now never accuse God. Always remember this, as we will see: “All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28, paraphrased).

Now of course they didn’t have the Holy Spirit, they didn’t have the faith. So then they said, which was not true but it was a lying self-justification, they said, verse 12: “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” Now you see, here’s the lesson for today. And it’s a special and particular lesson, and we are going to expand this out on how we can fight the sin that comes outside of us, or the sin from without that’s trying to get within.

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will shew to you to day…” Now there will come a day in all of your problems, and all of your difficulties that God will show Himself strong on your behalf. “…For the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Ex. 14:10-14, KJV). Now that means this: If God is going to fight for you, don’t accuse Him. Wait on the Lord, as it says. He’s going to fight. That is the key of this day. The only way we can fight Satan the devil is with the sword of the Spirit, and the Word of God so we can conquer those battles that come to us, which are pressing from the outside. But you see if we do not overcome (like is pointed out on the first holy day), the sins within, then you are going to be very vulnerable to the attacks from without. And Satan knows that.

So then you know the rest of the story: God told Moses, “You go stand on the edge of the Red Sea and you hold up your staff.” And God caused a great wind to come that night and made it all dry, and opened up a great huge way for the children of Israel to go. And at the same time He protected the children of Israel by sending a cloud behind them, which was darkness to the Egyptians and light to the children of Israel. And so as the sun was coming up they marched across the Red Sea in a miraculous and tremendous thing that God did for the children of Israel. Now you see, God will intervene and rescue us. And let me tell you the ultimate of the rescue that God is going to give to us, which will be the resurrection from the dead. So always keep that in mind.

Now let’s come to Psalm 34 because we know that we are going to have troubles and difficulties. We know that Satan is there to try and put fear in us to try and make us trepidatious, to try and turn us from God. And we are going to see that he has got all kinds of schemes and means and power to try and do so. But we need to rely on the power of God, not on our own strength. This also tells us how we need to approach God so He will fight for us.

Psalm 34:4: “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” You know, today a lot of people just live in fears. All kinds of fear. They worry, they fear instead of putting it in God’s hands, instead of relying on God’s way that He is going to deliver, He is going to give the answer. Oh yes, we need to be alert in how we need to handle ourselves and take care of situations, but if we are looking to God and seeking God He’ll provide the means and the way for us to do it.

Now notice: “They looked unto Him [that’s what we need to do], and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles [fears].” Just like He did the children of Israel, standing there in the side of the Red Sea. Can you imagine what they thought seeing all night the wind blowing and drying up the Red Sea, probably to the space of about ten miles. This was no just little rabbit in a hat trick. This was a fantastic miracle. And God did this to perpetually show that He will fight for us in whatever miracle is necessary.

“…Saved [delivered] him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Now you stop and think about how many times that you have been delivered from things, saved from things where that it had to be an angel intervening to do it, because God sent the angels as ministering spirits for those who are called as heirs of salvation. That’s us.

Now, here is one of the themes of the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “O taste and see that the LORD is good…” That’s why we eat unleavened bread. And another thing that many people have not thought of is this: is that the manna that was given to the children of Israel, which was given six days of the week, and on the sixth day they could keep it over on the Sabbath and it wouldn’t spoil; but that had to be unleavened, because those who kept the Passover during that time had to have some kind of bread. Well, the only bread they had was the manna because they couldn’t eat any grain until they came into the land, as we have seen, and wave the wave sheaf offering. Now that’s why we sent out to you the tape and the video that I did in 2000 about how the sequence of days run when the first holy day is on a Sunday and the last holy day is on a Sabbath. So, “taste and see.”

Now, the unleavened bread then – let’s look at it this way – the unleavened bread then is for the Passover and Unleavened Bread, the feast thereof, is typical of the manna that God gave to the children of Israel. And it’s also typical of eating the Word of God, because Jesus is what – the bread of life. So that’s something that we need to understand and realize.

“…Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” Now we are going to see trusting in God is the most important thing that we need to do in overcoming the sin “without” so it doesn’t come in and attack us. We need to have, and we will see later in the book of Ephesians, all the armor of God to fight this spiritual battle, because it is a great spiritual battle.

Now verse 15: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous…” He knows you. And He knows you inside and out. And having the Spirit of God in you, He is dwelling in you, and that is the true unleavenedness that comes from God – that Christ with His Spirit is in us. So His eyes are upon us: “…and His ears are open unto their cry.” God answers our prayers. He says He delights in our prayers. Verse 16, the opposite is of those who are evil: “The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” So whatever the troubles that you have, bring them before the throne of God and ask for deliverance. And keep asking for that deliverance until God provides the way, which He will. And after all, that’s the whole meaning of the word exodus. Ex in the Greek means “out.” Odos or hodos means “the way.” So it is “the way out.” And that’s why Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, and none can come to the Father except through Me.” Delivers them out of all their troubles.

Now notice verse 18: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” So when you put everything in God’s hands then you are of a contrite spirit. Now notice verse 19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psa. 34:4-8, 15-19, KJV). Not part of them, not some of them, not most of them, but all of them. Now sometimes there will be difficulties that will go on for quite a while. But God promises that no one is going to be left desolate if they trust in Him. And so that’s what this last feast day pictures.

Now let’s understand the spiritual warfare that we are in. And let’s understand that Satan is busy, he is active, he is working. And we know from Revelation 12:9 that Satan the devil is deceiving the whole world. Now what I want you to do is this: I want you to observe and just ask the question: How much truth do you see in the world in the news, the newspapers, the magazines, on television, or whatever? Now, it is a mixture of truth and error – that is true. But you know, isn’t it profound, and I think that we have more and more deception as we go along. Now, we also need to understand that Satan the devil has many, many agents out there and many means, especially today, to do his deceiving and to do his attacking from without. And Satan is trying to do it in the earliest years possible. So it’s quite a world in which we are living.

Now let’s come to II Corinthians 4 and let’s see the power of Satan the devil. Let’s see how the world views him. Because you see, as we have learned by going through the series “Holidays vs. Holy Days – By Whose Authority?” you are under one of two authorities. You are under the authority of God the Father and Jesus Christ and you love them and keep their commandments and serve them, or you are under the authority of Satan the devil and you follow him and agree with the world and love the world and the pride of life, and you keep the holidays of this world.

Now let’s come to II Corinthians 4 because we know, as we have seen, Satan is a liar, has been a liar from the beginning. So it is no wonder that his ministers deceitfully handle the Word of God so they can go into the Word of God and take Scriptures and make it look like they are teaching from the Word of God, but they are not. And when those attacks come from without you better be strong within.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 1: “Therefore, having this ministry [of the service of the ministration of the Spirit and forgiveness of sin and so forth], according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted. For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain…” Now that’s all part of repentance, isn’t it? That you personally renounce all of those dishonest things that are within. That’s why you have to start with the sin within before you can fight the sin without. “…Not walking in cunning craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully…” And that’s what all the ministers who claim to be Christian who are under the authority of Satan the devil, and Sunday and holiday-keeping do, they handle the Word of God deceitfully. “…But by manifestation of the truth, we are commending ourselves to every man’s conscience before God. But if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing; in whom the god of this world [who is deceiving this world] has blinded the minds of those who do not believe…” because they believe a lie. And there is coming a time in this world, not too far down the road, when because people do not love the truth of God, God is going to turn them over to the great deception and the lie of the antichrist, and it is coming. If I could use a Bible term – “Lo it cometh.” It blinds their minds.

Now when Satan blinds their minds they don’t say, “Oh, I’ve got a blinded mind.” No. They say, “Oh, I am wise and intelligent.” Just like as we saw with Adam and Eve. They said, “Oh, our minds are open.” No, their minds were really closed. So the same thing here – blinded: “…lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” See, they have been blinded. They have been cut off. And Satan wants to come in and from the outside to get at us inside with his attacks so that we become blinded ourselves. And have we not seen that happen to how many brethren, that when they heard all of these good sounding arguments that they had no answer for the deception and the lying of what Satan the devil brought and inspired. You know, that’s why it’s important you understand the Word of God and you live by the Word of God, so if someone comes preaching any other doctrine or any other thing you are going to know it. Now if you are not on top of it then you could be subject to some of these things here.

Verse 5: “For we do not preach our own selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake…” (II Cor. 4:1-5, FV). And that’s what it is with any true minister. He’s not going to preach himself. How important is a man? Well only if he speaks the truth. And that’s what it says there in Isaiah, if they speak not according to this word there is no light in them. And the light that is in them is darkness. And as Jesus said, “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” See, but God has called us out of the darkness, hasn’t He, and He is there to fight the battles for us. Well, let’s look at the enemy, Satan the devil.

Let’s come to Ephesians 2:1. Let’s see how this world is, and let’s add to it everything that Satan the devil has at his disposal: radio, television, music, the educational system, the religious system, the entertainment system. All of those forces are out there just coming in. Now also we need to understand that Satan the devil has television, and the internet, and now the cellular phone, that he can send any message to anyone anywhere in the world who wants to receive it regardless of the sin or the filth. They can now import to their cellular phone pornography sites with the worst pornography possible. And all of those things are there. I don’t know how many of you have Direct TV. It’s not wrong to have Direct TV. I don’t have one but my son David has one, and I sat there and went through all 200 channels that he has. And it was quite something. Do you know what I concluded? There is nothing on. All of it motivated by Satan.

Now also think about this: How much of it is cast around the occult? Ninety-nine percent of it. Why? To keep people in darkness and indoctrinated in Satan’s way. Now in addition to these things that I have mentioned Satan has his own personal spirit and power and demons to also come in and interfere and attack. Now I don’t want you to take an attitude of being afraid because that’s not the purpose of this sermon. The purpose of this sermon is to let you know who the enemy is, because if you don’t know who the enemy is you don’t know how to fight the enemy. And remember this: we are going to see Christ is the one Who will fight for us as it says there in Exodus 14 – God will fight for you if you are on God’s side. And that’s why repentance is so important. Not repentance with flattery, as the children of Israel did so he had to come in and kill some before they wake up and have some kind of sincere repentance. No, deep and profound repentance. God will be there with you and fight your battle for you.

Now notice Ephesians 2:1: “Now you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked in times past according to the course of this world…” You are part and parcel of this world; part and parcel of this society. You did those things of the world; lived of the world; acted of the world. And maybe you were involved in many things of the baser parts of the world; involved in illicit sex, involved in illicit drugs, involved in alcoholism and drunkenness. All of those things to pull you down. And those things have made you weaker inside and more vulnerable to attacks unless you stay strong with God.

“…According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…” Satan, as I said, has all these helpers and where do they come from? They come out of the air, don’t they? Yes. “…The spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience; among whom also we all once had our conduct in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and by the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of the world” (Eph. 2:1-3, FV). But God has called you, and God loves you, and we are going to see God has provided the tools and power to overcome.

Now, here is what we need to do concerning this world and the course of this world. Let’s come to I John 2 and let’s see how it needs to be first. And it starts out, as we have seen, with the love of God. That’s why the love of God is so important. That’s why God does not want us to get bogged down into a religious thing of do’s and don’ts. And those physical laws then become the paramount importance. See, you have to love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being. And when you do then you can look at the world and see the world for what it is.

Now here in I John 2:15. And in loving God that has to be single-hearted, single-minded, and with spiritual purpose and intent. And yes, with zeal. Not ho-hum. Not lukewarm. And when that happens then you can look at the world and do just like John says here: “Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him…” So the opposite is true then isn’t it? If you love the Father, if you love Jesus Christ then you are not going to be loving the world. Yes, you are going to sigh and cry and groan and moan that the world is in the shape that it is in, but you are going to help bring the solution when Christ returns. So keep your mind on that.

Verse 16: “…Because everything that is in the world [and this is how Satan works]—the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pretentious pride of physical life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.” Now what you need to do is this: take this one verse here (verse 16) and write it out, set it before you when you watch television and do some channel surfing, do some evaluation. And maybe give yourself a little grading score from 0 to 10. And you are probably going to find that almost everything on television is going to be somewhere [from] 7 to 10. “…The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pretentious pride of physical life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.” Now notice: “And the world and its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever” (I John 2:15-17, FV). So there we have the way we need to look at the world.

Now let’s come to Colossians 1 (FV) and let’s see also some of the things that affect us and what Paul said how we were before God called us, and that we were actually enemies of God in our mind. Now this is what we were previously before God called us, verse 21: “For you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works [because he has a carnal mind – the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be]; but now He has reconciled you [to God the Father]…”

Now let’s look and see what we need to do. Let’s go back to the book of Proverbs 4 and let’s see the whole process. It’s laid out here. God gave it to us. Now we could apply this spiritually. See, what we do – remember how we went through the sermons on the law of Moses with the veil lifted, or without the veil? Well, here we have the same thing in the Psalms and the Proverbs and also the prophets how we can see the spiritual application of what God is doing for us.

Now let’s begin here in verse 14 – basic understanding what we need to do. Now, let’s also understand this, that they know that if you allow things into your mind from without, sooner or later you are going to be doing whatever is coming into your mind. That’s important to understand. Verse 14: “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.” Don’t be like the world. That’s all part of loving the world. “Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” Get out of the way. You know, that’s New Testament doctrine. You know, the safest way to avoid adultery and fornication: God says – Flee! Get away. Run away from it. Don’t fill your mind with pornography. Don’t fill your stomach with booze. Don’t fill your blood stream with drugs. Avoid it, pass away, see. “For they sleep not…” And yes, people stay up nights trying to figure out how to carry out evil. “…Except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” And that’s what needs to be with us and bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit.

Verse 19: “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” They don’t know what the problem is. It’s just like the world today – get rid of the commandments of God. “Oh, but we have a society that’s filled with murder, and pornography and adultery and lying and cheating and stealing and all of this sort of thing, but we can’t teach the Ten Commandments. And we can’t have the monument of the Ten Commandments.” Well the truth is, they will never have a society that will function even in the letter of the law unless they teach the Ten Commandments. So it shows how schizophrenic that the carnal mind is. Don’t want any rules and regulations, [but] boy when things get bad you moan and groan, “Oh, we don’t know how this goes.” No. Verse 20: “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.” Now, you are a son of God aren’t you? You have the Spirit of God. Ok, take this as instruction from God, your Father in heaven above: “Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.”

Now here’s the key, verse 23. In order to fight “the sin without” you have got to prepare your heart and mind to resist and to not to give in to temptations, which come from the world, which come from Satan, which come and try to enter into you. And it’s just like leaven that is in the air trying to come in and leaven you with sin. Remember this, verse 23: “Keep thy heart with all diligence…” Or, you could put it this way: Guard the door of your mind! Now that’s how you fight the sin that is without. You don’t let it come in. “…For out of it [the heart, the mind] are the issues of life [that’s spiritual life, physical life, spiritual death, physical death]. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on [straight ahead], and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil” (Prov. 4:14-27, KJV). Now that’s walking in the way of the Lord.

Now let’s add the Spirit of God to that, because that’s how we are supposed to do, see. That’s how we are supposed to function. Now that’s really tremendous when we understand it. Now we know this, that the world today, Paul wrote to Timothy and said, that there are deceivers who are deceiving one another and growing more deceitful every day. And that Satan the devil is out there and those who give in, he devours according to his own will, because they weren’t able to resist the attacks from without. Now that’s important for us to understand and realize because this tells us how we are going to fight. And let’s understand this: you are going to have battles with Satan the devil. You are guaranteed that. And living in this world you can be sure that it is going to happen.

Now let’s come to I Peter 5 and let’s see how we are to approach this. Let’s see how we are to fight this spiritual battle with the help of God, with the power of God, with the Spirit of God, with the Word of God and with a conviction and determination that we need to supply. See, we are not just passive robots and God has made it so that we have nothing to do. Listen brethren, we have everything to do, because in doing it we build the character of God. In doing it we build the strength of God. In doing it we are guarding the door of our minds. In doing it we are resisting Satan the devil. And we are fighting against his battles against us and we need to understand that Satan is there battling, fighting, warring, tempting, enticing, deceiving, making things look good, and wanting to get you to leave God. Now that’s the battle from without that we have to fight. And we’ll see here in I Peter 5 just exactly how we need to fight it. And we will also see that there is a promise in overcoming. And we will also see that God will help us and establish us. So you put all of these Scriptures together and this gives you, as we will see through this sermon, how to fight the sin without, those things that Satan sends after us – the battle against Satan, this world, and the demons.