Unleavened Bread 2006 - Day 7 Part 2

Let’s continue and go on to Psalm 34. Now here’s a tremendous psalm which gives us a lot of hope and a lot of understanding, showing what God will do for us, how He fights our battles for us, how He hears our prayers, and how He looks upon him. Let’s pick it up in verse 4: “I sought the LORD…” Now there are time when you really have to seek God. And when you seek God you forsake your way, you forsake your thoughts, you forsake your judgments and you look for God’s. “…And He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” That’s why we are not to fear what any man can do to us. We are not to fear what the circumstances are around us. Just like the children of Israel when they went through the Red Sea, they were not to fear that the waters would come back upon them.

“They looked unto Him, 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.” And that’s what we need to realize. We are going to have troubles continually. That’s the nature of the world, that’s the nature of life today. And if you think you have troubles, look at the people in the world and all the troubles that they have and see that we have light troubles indeed.

“The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” So you see, the whole theme of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is deliverance by God and looking to God. “O taste and see…” That has to do with the Passover. That has to do with living by every word of God. That has to do that if we eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood that we will live by Him, which means by everything He stands for, by everything that He taught, by the way that He shows us how we should live as preserved in the New Testament and in the Old Testament. “…Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. O fear the LORD, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.”

Now come over here to verse 14: “Depart from evil [put out the leaven – put in the unleaven], and do good; seek peace, and pursue it [because Christ is our peace]. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” God hears you. God will answer you. God will make it possible. He promises. Now what you need to do in many of your prayers is this: is that you go to God and say, “God, You have promised. I know You are a God that loves us. I know that You care for us. I know that You have called us. And I know that You understand everything that we are going through. And we know that everything is going to work for good. We know that You hear. Please hear, please answer, intervene, give us Your strength, give us Your answer.” And then patiently wait on God and do good, seek peace, pursue it, depart from evil, do good and: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. 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.” Now not all at once. not everything all at the same time, but step by step by step and as they come you can grow, you can change, you can overcome, and you can learn. And when you have gotten through the threshold of it and on to the other side of the trial and you look back, what do you see? You see the reason, you see the purpose, you see what you have learned, you see the wisdom that God has added to you because of it, you see the faith that God has added to you, the love and the hope that God continually gives you. That’s why we need to look to God to always fight our battles for us. That’s why we need to look to His salvation. That’s why we always need to go forward as Moses told the children of Israel, “Go forward.”

And another thing in growing and changing and overcoming that is important is this: What has happened in the past is done. Now if there is something you can change to rectify it, then you do. But what has happened has happened and you need to repent of it and when you repent of it you put it behind you and make each day a new day. Don’t drag the problems of yesterday into today, and do not be fearful and worried and project the problems of today into tomorrow.

Now notice this, verse 18, here’s why: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” That’s what it’s all to do. You see, because when you have trials that are more than you can handle and you’re overwhelmed, what does that do? That humbles you, that takes away your haughtiness, gives you a contrite spirit. Do you want to draw close to God? He’ll fight for you.

Now notice verse 19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psa. 34:4-9, 14-19, KJV). And God will. We claim those promises.

Now let’s come to the New Testament. Let’s come to Ephesians 2 and let’s see something concerning salvation. Let’s see how it is because as we have seen it is a process, as we have seen just like the children of Israel walking out of Egypt, walking all the way to Mt. Sinai, it is the path of the Lord that we need to follow. We have the Spirit of God to lead us – as many as are led of the Spirit of God they are the children of God. We have the Word of God, which is the light – a lamp to our feet to show us how to walk in darkness. We have Christ in us, Who is the light of the world. And we have all of these things. And what we are talking about here is God’s grace to us because none of these things came to us because of who we are or what we are, or our abilities or anything like that. God one day reached down and called you and opened your mind.

Let me give you an example. A woman who’s brother has been converted for many years and in the church of God, she went to visit her brother. Now she grew up in the church but it never really registered with her. Why? Because God hadn’t called her. So when she was down visiting her brother, guess what? She was keeping the Sabbath with him, going through the scriptures and so forth, and when she got home she decided to keep the Sabbath. And she wrote her brother and said, “After three Sabbaths, I now understand.” See, God is calling her. That’s how God does it. God is the one Who chooses, Who selects, Who opens the mind for those who are willing to follow God, go His way, admit where they’re wrong, and so that is all the operation of the grace of God.

Now let’s come here to Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved…” Now that refers to Satan and the prince of the power of the air and walking in the course of this world we have been saved from our lust, from our sins, and all of those things, see. We have been saved through faith because you believe that Jesus died for your sins, you believe that He paid the penalty of it, you believe that He has forgiven your sins, and it is a spiritual act which takes place because of God’s love and mercy and truth. And Paul says here: “…and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God [because all of God grace is a gift], not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship…”

Now let’s understand what God is doing through the process of conversion and growing and overcoming and living our lives, and through the whole operation of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and living in this world. “For we are His workmanship…”, see, because God is working in you to perform His will, to build His character in you, to give you the mind of Christ. We are His workmanship, now notice: “…created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10, FV). So it is a way of life.

Now let’s understand something concerning salvation – salvation is creation. And it starts out by being saved from our sins and being saved from our carnal nature and receiving the Spirit of God. Now come here to I Corinthians 15 and let’s see how Paul reaffirms that this is a process. Just like the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures and the Exodus pictures, we are to walk in God’s way, we are to believe in God, we are to look to Him for our salvation, we are to look to Him to help us grow and change and overcome.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 1: “Now I am declaring to you, brethren, the same gospel that I proclaimed to you, which you also received, and in which you are now standing…” Now we’ll talk about our stand with God, you see, because we are standing in the gospel. We are walking in the gospel. Now notice carefully this, and this is the correct translation: “…By which you are also being saved…” that is through the gospel. And that is repent and be baptized and receive the Spirit of God and every thing that that implies. Now notice: “…if [little two letter word – circle it] you are holding fast the words that I proclaimed to you; otherwise you have believed in vain” (I Cor. 15:1-2, FV). So you see, many people believe in vain because they want all the good things. They don’t want to be standing fast.

Now here, he repeats it here in I Corinthians 1:17. Paul is writing to the Corinthians where he said: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel…” He did some initial baptizing but his was to preach. Once there were those who were raised up who could do the baptizing, they did the baptizing, you see – not Paul. “…Not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made void. For to those who are perishing, the preaching of the cross is foolishness; but to us who are being saved…” Now notice he includes himself in there because salvation is a process, salvation is a creation, and salvation is only completed at the resurrection. “…But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (I Cor. 1:17-18, FV).

So we have this: 1) We are saved from our sins and Satan the devil at our calling. That’s pictured by the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. 2) We are growing in grace and knowledge and are continually being saved – Feast of Unleavened Bread – put out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, that you may keep the feast in sincerity and truth and get rid of the malice and wickedness that you have in your human nature. Now, 3) You shall be saved, and that is at the resurrection. And we will see this even more clearly as we go along here.

Let’s come to Romans 5. Here is the process. And this is why Christ was raised during the Feast of Unleavened Bread – not before, not after. And He could not have been resurrected on Easter Sunday, because Easter Sunday is a pagan holiday replete with all the pagan lies and things of this world. Now let’s pick it up here in Romans 4:24 and then that comes right into Romans 5.

Romans 4:24: “Rather [that is the things concerning Abraham as we covered on the first holy day], it was also written for our sakes, to whom it shall be imputed [that is the righteousness of Christ and the belief and faith]—to those who believe in Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification [so that we could be put in right standing with God]” (Rom 4:24-25, FV). So what Paul says in the gospel “in which we are being saved, and which we stand” – that is being put in right standing with God.

Now notice Romans 5:1: “Therefore, having been justified by faith [because we believe God and we look to Him, we believe in Christ], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And as we saw with the offerings that were offered in Deuteronomy 16, they were peace offerings for the firstborn. So likewise we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ. So that’s really something, isn’t it? Christ was our peace offering. Christ was the firstborn so we could have peace with God.

Now notice: “Through Whom we also have access by faith into this grace…” You are in a special relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. “…In which we stand…” So look at it this way, just like Paul talked about there in Ephesians 6 about all the armor of God – the panoply of God. It’s just like a great umbrella under which we are standing, and we receive from God through His grace: His love, His mercy, His kindness, His forgiveness, that He will fight for us, that He will lead us, that He will teach us, that He will guide us, that He will intervene for us in every way. That’s all there. That’s what it means “to stand in the grace.” And what it does is this: “…and we ourselves boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Not in things in this life, but in the things which God has for us. “And not only this, but we also boast in tribulations, realizing that tribulation brings forth endurance [patience]…” the King James says “patience”, but “endurance” is a little better because endurance means that you have to go through and you have to suffer things in order to endure. “…And endurance brings forth character…” And that’s what God is teaching us – His character, His love, His truth, His way, the very mind of Christ. “…And character brings forth hope.” And we know that God is for us. We know that He is with us. “And the hope of God never makes us ashamed because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us.” Now that’s something, isn’t it?

Now then he makes this statement. Here’s what we need to understand, verse 6: “For even when we were without strength, at the appointed time Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, although perhaps someone might have the courage even to die for a good man. But God commends His own love to us [to give us grace, to call us, to intervene for us, to forgive us our sins, to lead us in the way we need to go] because, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, therefore, having been justified now by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:1-9, FV). So the third step of salvation is the resurrection. And that’s why when the children of Israel walked through the Red Sea and walked out of it, it was a type of resurrection. That’s why our baptism is a type of resurrection so that we can walk in newness of life. We’re still in the flesh but we walk in newness of life and we do not let sin rule and reign over us. We use the power of God and the Spirit of God to grow and change and to overcome.

Now come to Ephesians 4 and let’s see how God wants us to be perfected, because that’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, that we are perfected in Christ, that we are perfected through the Word of God. And this process of creation of spiritual character then requires of us to always walk in God’s way.

Now let’s come to Ephesians 4 and let’s see what the apostle Paul says here. Let’s pick it up in verse 17: “So then, I declare and testify this in the Lord that you are no longer to walk even as the rest of the Gentiles are walking, in the vanity of their minds…” That includes everything that they practice – all their religious practices, all of their debauched ways of living. Because what happens with it is this: “…having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts. They have cast off all feelings, and have given themselves up to licentiousness, to work every uncleanness with insatiable desire.” Now you watch and see, that’s how this world is coming. And if you don’t believe me just do a click through for a while on your television and look at all the channels, look at all the things that are going there, look at how it appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life continuously. And then you add on to it all the sin and debauchery that’s on all of the various internet websites.

“But you have not so learned Christ; if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him [and of course it’s God the Father Who’s teaching you], according to the truth in Jesus: that concerning your former conduct, you put off the old man [that’s the whole purpose of getting rid of leaven and putting in unleaven], which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts…” Now notice this carefully: “…and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind…” That’s why we have the Passover and Unleavened Bread every year, that we be renewed. God made us so that we need to be renewed, we need to be reinvigorated, we need to have an opportunity to change, to repent, to grow, to overcome. And that’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is about – to be renewed in the spirit of your mind; that you let God’s Spirit be there, as we covered on the first holy day; that you grow in grace and knowledge; that you have the Word of God written in your heart and in your mind; that you let it rule in your life; that you let Christ guide you and direct you. That’s all of it right there, you see.

“…And that you put on the new man…”, now notice: “…which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” So what God is doing is recreating in you His character, His love, His truth, His righteousness, His patience, His hope, His faith. That’s what God wants to be created in you. So therefore we have things that we need to do, and we have sins that we need to overcome.

Now verse 25: “Therefore, let each one put away lies and speak the truth with his neighbor because we are members of one another.” Now that’s important because this whole world is a lie. Everything out there is a false reality, and it’s created and reinforced with everything that’s in the world – through the educational system, through the business system, through the entertainment system, which is reflected then in television and movies and music and so forth, which is reflected in education. They have politically correct education which ignores the truth of history and the way that man is.

So put away the lies and speak the truth with is neighbor and so forth, now verse 26: “When you become angry, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger…”, key important thing because this destroys your heart and your mind if you hold on to things and you drag it into the next day. So when sundown comes do this: ask God to help you put away the difficulties and problems of the day. And if someone has done you in, put them into God’s hands – don’t worry about it, He’ll take care of it. Otherwise you will be angry and sin because you will carry it into the night and you won’t sleep. You’ll be distressed, you’ll become bitter, you’ll become hard. Now sometimes you’re going to be confronted with the same problems again and again. And sometimes you’re going to see all the problems of the other person and never see your own. So you see this is why we need to have a clean slate every day. That’s why the model prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 13 is this: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” And that is an imperative thing.

Now notice, verse 27: “…Neither give place to the devil.” So what he’s saying is this is that in these things if you don’t do it God’s way then you’re giving place to the devil, and you’re giving an opportunity for the devil rather than having God fight your battle for you the way that it should be. You’re giving place to the devil to bring in a little leaven, to bring in some little evil thoughts, to bring in some lust, to bring in some carnality, to bring in some hatefulness, to bring in some resentment. That’s all from Satan the devil. I’ve heard people say, “I have resentment.” Congratulations, you are totally carnal. You need to repent of it. “Well, I will never forgive.” Congratulations, you are walking down an evil path. You are no going God’s way.

Now notice verse 28: “Let the one who stole, steal no more; rather, let him labor with his hands, working at what is good, so that he may impart something to the one who has need. Do not let any corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good and needful for edification that it may give grace to those who hear.” And that’s why it’s so important. Everyone wants God to forgive them. Everyone wants God to give them a clean slate. Well you’ve got to do it toward your neighbor, and you’ve got to do it toward the brethren, and you’ve got to do it in your life. And it takes what you need to do daily to put all of that behind you, you see. That’s why the theme of the day is: don’t complain, see the salvation of God, and go forward. You can never truly go forward if you are always dragging the past with you.

Now to give you an example, there’s a very interesting ad on television that I saw. And all of those who are trying to fight the battle of getting rid of the bulge and losing weight, you can identify with this. It shows people walking around with a scale handcuffed to their ankle, and they’re walking dragging this scale. Well, just liken that whenever you continue in your carnal ways. You are dragging it along with you. You are dragging it with you. And it pollutes. It is leaven. It destroys.

Alright, let’s continue on here, verse 30: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by which you have been sealed for the day of redemption.” Because [of] all of these things, what he is saying here is grieving the Spirit of God. Meaning that the Spirit of God cannot work with you the way that God wants the Spirit of God to work with you because you’re fighting and resisting it because you want to cling and hold onto your own carnality rather than repent and let God fight your battles for you. You want to complain to God and be bitter and resentful because you are not willing to let go of the flesh. So what if you’ve been hurt, so what if you’ve had something come upon you that’s unfair? Well, look at what Christ did. Look what He went through. And what did He say? He said, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” So that’s what we need to do.

Now verse 31, it tells us what we need to do. Here is the clutter of carnality we need to get rid of: “Let all bitterness, and indignation, and wrath, and clamor, and evil speaking be removed from you, together with all malice…” See, those are the things that grieve the Holy Spirit of God, because you can’t grow in love, you can’t grow in faith, you can’t grow in hope, you can’t grow in endurance and patience and understanding and kindness and temperance and self-control and all of those things if you have all of these carnal attitudes going on all the time. Rather, you can look at verse 31 as leaven. Verse 32 as unleaven: “…And be kind and tenderhearted toward one another, forgiving one another, even as God has also in Christ forgiven you” (Eph. 4:17-32, FV). And the worst thing you can do is ask God to forgive you and then get up on your feet and resolve you will never forgive that person. You have just lost everything. Your prayer did not even exist.

Now let’s see how we are to live our lives, Chapter 5, because it goes right along here. And this shows the whole purpose of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You see when we are resurrected we’ll no longer have human nature. We will no longer have any leaven of sin. We will no longer have the proclivity to do the things that we now do in the flesh. So here’s how we do it, and Paul wrote this and it continues on with Chapter 4, you see.

“Therefore, be imitators of God [the way Christ has done, the way God does], as beloved children [not spoiled, self-centered brats]; and walk in love [not in hatred], even as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” He was that peace offering, the firstborn of God that we may have our sins forgiven, that we may be able to love God and serve Him.

Now notice again, he shows what we need to do to put in the righteousness, then he shows what we need to do to put out the leaven and the unrighteousness: “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, do not permit it even to be named among you, as is fitting for saints…” Now what is he talking about here? This is all the same thing of putting out the leaven of wickedness and of malice, because all of these things that he is talking about here is the leaven of wickedness and malice, isn’t it? Yes.

Now notice, continuing on: “…Nor filthiness, nor foolish talking or jesting, which are not becoming; but instead, thanksgiving. For this you know, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Do not let anyone deceive you with vain words; for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” That’s in the world. And if it’s in the church… And brethren, look what happened to the church when it got in the church and ruled and reigned. Just almost like the church became possessed with an evil spirit, right? Yes. And look what happened: God had to correct it, God had to scatter it, God had to punish it. And we are still suffering from that, you see. And there are a lot of people out there who still have not learned the lesson.

He says here, verse 7: “Therefore, do not be joint partakers with them. For you were once darkness…” Don’t go back to the way that you were. Don’t be like the children of Israel and say, “Oh, let’s make us a calf and go back to Egypt.” That’s exactly what has happened in our church experience, right? Ministers rose up and said, “Look, all of these Protestant doctrines are wonderful and great and true and good. And we can now have communion, we can now have Sunday services, we can now have Easter and Christmas and New Year’s and all of these things because these are all found in God. But they’re all darkness. “…But now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, (because the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is well pleasing to the Lord...” And that’s how God wants us to be, you see.

“…And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them…” We have to do a lot of that today because there are a lot of fruits of darkness out there and the results of darkness, and this world is in darkness. And remember what Jesus said, “Work while you have the light because the night is coming when no one will be able to work” (John 9:4, paraphrased). And that’s why we need to do the things that we are doing. That’s why we need to be urgent about the things that we are doing. We don’t know how long, we don’t know when, but we need to be doing as Jesus said, “When He comes we will be so doing.”

“…Proving what is well pleasing to the Lord; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them; for it is shameful even to mention the things being done by them in secret. But all of these things being exposed by the light are openly revealed. Therefore He says, ‘You who are sleeping…’ ” And there have been a lot of us sleeping. There have been a lot who have been in the church of God sleeping. As a matter of fact some of them have been sleeping so soundly that they’ve been hibernating and they’re like a bear in a cave hibernating, waiting for the Lord. We’ll they’re going to come out of their sleep and they’re going to find themselves just like a bear coming out of hibernation, aren’t they? Thin, weak, hungry, starving, and there isn’t going to be any food for them. So God says “ ‘…—wake up, and arise from the dead!’ ” And what does it say to the church at Sardis? You have a name that lives but you’re dead. Rise from the dead. “ ‘…And Christ shall shine upon you.’ So then, take heed that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as those who are wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” And if they were evil back there, I wonder what the apostle Paul would write if he were resurrected and living in this society today. I wonder what would happen if the apostle Paul would have been called today instead of then. I wonder what he would have said about all of the sins that are out there in government, in religion, in entertainment, and the whole way that the world is. Well, he didn’t have to live in our day because he knew and God inspired him to write what would be applicable in our time as well.

“For this reason, do not be foolish, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit [and that’s what we are to do, brethren]: speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and offering praise to the Lord with your hearts; giving thanks at all times for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:1-20, FV).

Now come here to Philippians 4, and here’s what we need to do day by day by day. You can’t slack back and let everything just go and then all of a sudden catch up. Now if you did that with your bills, guess what would happen? You do that for three months on your house payment and you have notice of foreclosure. Well, apply that to your lives in Christ. If you day by day grow, if you day by day change, if you day by day do the things that God wants you to do…

Now let’s come to Philippians 4, and then you put that in parallel with Matthew 6: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice [in spite of your circumstances]! Let your moderation be known to all men; the Lord is near.” A lot nearer than when Paul write this. Now notice verse 6: “Do not be anxious about anything…” Don’t let it get you down. Don’t have a nervous twitter-patting, don’t be wondering “Ohhhhh.” Put it all in God’s hands. “…But by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God in everything; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” So there will be a spiritual mental barrier of protection that God gives you.

Now verse 8. Here’s what we need to do every day because Paul said, “I’ve experienced everything that there is and here’s what I’ve learned”: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Whatever things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, you do also; and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:4-9, FV). And that’s the whole meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – let the God of peace be with you and put out all the spiritual leaven, and love God in spirit and in truth.

Unleavened Bread – Day 7 – 2006

Scriptural References

Leviticus 23:7-8
John 17:15-16
Exodus 14:10-15
Proverbs 18:17
Proverbs 14:12
Galatians 5:9
I Corinthians 10:1-5
Isaiah 66:2
I John 3:21-22
I Corinthians 10:6-22
Psalm 37:27-40
Psalm 18:1-6,19-21, 28-35
Psalm 44:1-4, 6-8
Psalm 34:4-9, 14-19
Ephesians 2:8-10
I Corinthians 15: 1-2
I Corinthians 1:17-18
Romans 4:24-25
Romans 5:1-9
Ephesians 4:17-32
Ephesians 5:1-20
John 9:4
Philippians 4:4-9