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First Day of Unleavened
Bread—2008
Fred R. Coulter – April 20, 2008
Greetings, brethren! Welcome
to the Feast of Unleavened Bread—2008. You know, time just keeps marching on
and every year when we go through the Holy Days, we again come back to the
basics and we come to the framework on which God has put all the knowledge
of His plan: the Passover and the Holy Days. And we keep them in their
seasons.
This year it is a
little later than we have experienced in previous recent years, and that’s
because this year is a thirteen-month year with an intercalated month. And
everyone ought to take notice that, yes, winter started late and has lasted
longer. So that shows that the calculated Hebrew calendar is right on. Just
remember this: Any other scheme of men, other than the calculated Hebrew
calendar, can never, never be accurate 100 percent of the time. Only the
calculated Hebrew calendar is accurate all the time, because
these are the calculations that God gave to the Levites. And there have been
so many astronomical things take place, to upset the coordination between
the earth and the sun and the moon, that God had to re-reveal it to the
Levites in the 790s B.C.—just after the sundial went back ten degrees during
the days of Hezekiah. And now we have historical evidence going clear back
into the Babylonian Empire and that that is the calendar that they use: the
calculated Hebrew calendar.
Now let’s begin, as we
always do, in the Old Testament. Let’s come to Exodus 12 and let’s look at
something very, very important concerning what the instructions were for the
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now, Exodus 12:11: “…It is
the LORD’S Passover.” So again, we need to reaffirm:
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This is not a Jewish Passover.
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This is not a church Passover.
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This is the Lord’s
Passover.
And when we get to the
New Testament, Jesus changed, as we know, the things so that the Passover
day becomes the covenant day of the New Covenant. Then He said: “For I will
pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgment
against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be
upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And
this day [Passover day] shall be a memorial to you…. [And as we saw
from yesterday’s sermon, the Passover day is also an unleavened bread day—this
day. Now, it’s very interesting, if this is referring to the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, then God would say, ‘these days’—because He’s talking
about seven days, as we will see in just a minute. And I talked to one lady
and she said, ‘Well, I have no trouble remembering which verse if for the 14th
and which is for the 15th, because the verse which is referring
to this day to the Passover is the 14th which is also the day of
the month. So, verse 14 refers to the 14th day of the first month
and verse 15 refers to the 15th day of the first month.] …And
this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a feast to the
LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast as a law
forever” (vs 11-14). And we do keep the Passover, we kept it the other
night.
“You shall eat
unleavened bread seven days… [So you see the difference here. If
it just referred to the 15th then it would be ‘remember these
days as a memorial’ because it’s seven days of unleavened bread.] (Now then,
He says): …even the first day you shall have put away leaven out of
your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the
seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
And in the first day there shall
be a holy convocation… [which is today] …and in the seventh day there
shall be a holy convocation for you…. [which shall be the next Sabbath] …No
manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat,
that only may be done by you. And you shall keep [observe] the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, for in this very same day… [or that
very same day—and we know that goes clear back to time of Abraham] (but on
the 15th day, that same day): …I have brought your armies out of
the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep [observe] this day in your
generations as a law forever” (vs 15-17). Then it talks about putting out
leaven. It talks about eating unleavened bread for seven days.
Now let’s come to
Leviticus 23 and we find the same sequence that God has give here and all
the Holy Days of God are listed in direct order right here in Leviticus
23—the only other place where it is done that way is in Numbers 28; Numbers
29 where it brings out all of the sacrifices that were to be given on the
various Feast days.
Now, Leviticus 23:4:
“These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which
you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons…. [That’s why this Word goes
right back to Genesis, the first chapter, where it shows that God set the
sun and the moon in their positions so that we would have seasons.] …In the
fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the
LORD’S Passover… [we’ve already kept that] …And on the fifteenth day of the
same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You
must eat unleavened bread seven days. On the first day you shall
have a holy convocation. You shall not do any servile work therein,
But you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh
day is a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein”
(vs 4-8).
Now, we always take up
an offering during the Holy Days and we always need to remember this: When
we come before God, we come before God through Christ, Who is our Sacrifice,
because no one can approach God without a sacrifice. And also,
no one can approach God during the Feast days without an offering. Now the
regular tithes and offerings are handled in a different way. But when we
come before God on the Holy Days, we do take up an offering.
So at this time we’ll
go ahead and pause and we know that the times have been difficult and we
know that the economic conditions may not be really good as we go down the
rest of the year, but you give from your heart what God inspires you to do,
and God bless you in everything knowing that He will provide sufficiency for
you in all that you have.
(pause)
Now, as we come to the New Testament, let’s
ask the question: In the New Testament, why have the Feast of Unleavened
Bread? Let’s come to 1-Corinthians, the fifth chapter, because this becomes
a very important chapter to understand. First of all, the Corinthians,
except for a very few of the first believers, were Gentiles. And they had no
reason to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread if, through the sacrifice of
Christ, they had been done away—which is what most of the Protestants say.
As a matter of fact, they’re whittling down the Bible even more. Kind of
like taking a piece of wood and you start just whittling off a little bit
here and little bit there and little here and a little bit there. And what’s
happening, they’re getting a thinner and thinner Bible, and in many cases,
they say you don’t need any works at all and you don’t need to observe
anything that has to do with the Old Testament, which is nonsense, because
Jesus said, “Man shall live by every word of God.” And then when you put
that together, how did Jesus fulfill the Law and the Prophets and the rest
of the New Testament. Then we know what we are to do and how we are to do
it; and we have spiritual meaning that comes from it. So likewise with the
Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Now, let’s begin right
here in 1-Corinthians 5:6: “Your glorying is not good…. [And they had
a lot of problems with being puffed up against one another, following a man,
having competition and things like this. Living in sin, allowing incest, not
even being able to make the simplest judgments. So Paul was really writing a
very corrective letter here at this point.] …Don’t you know that a little
leaven leavens the whole lump?…. [Now, let’s understand this: During the
Days of Unleavened Bread, leaven pictures a type of sin. It pictures the
vanity and the puffed-up-ness of human nature. And it pictures the sourness
and the bitterness that comes along because human nature has rejected God.
So God has chosen a very perfect symbolism in it.] (He says, v 7):
…Therefore, purge out the old leaven, so that you may become a new lump…”
Now, we could express
this a different way: “that you may become converted.” Because we are
incomplete. It doesn’t matter how perfect a physical specimen you are,
you’re incomplete—whether man or woman. And God designed that there be
marriage, that men and women procreate, bring forth children and that’s all
part of God’s plan. But, even in that, we are incomplete. And this is what
God wants us to understand. We have to become new inside out,
not outside in, but inside out. And we are incomplete because
we’re in the flesh and because we need the Spirit of God to fulfill our
purpose in the flesh. If you don’t have the Spirit of God—as Paul wrote in
Romans 8—you’re none of His. It’s not a matter of taking part of the Word of
God here, part of the Word of God there, and say, “Oh, I agree with that,
isn’t that wonderful. Oh, look how good I am; I agree with God, but I don’t
agree with that,” or “I don’t agree with that.”
And most won’t agree
with what I’m going to read here now, because I remember when I had a woman
who was helping me edit when we were doing the first draft of the Occult
Holidays, God’s Holy Days, Which? book, when I pointed out very clearly
that Paul says here in 1-Corinthians 5 that we are to keep the Feast of
Unleavened Bread—that is Gentiles and Jews—in the New Testament as part of
what Christ commanded us to do through the Apostle Paul, she being a
fundamental evangelical, really flipped her lid and resigned! Some people
just can’t handle it! And they’re so stuck in their little ruts. That’s why
we have the Feast days every year.
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And that’s to get us out of our ruts;
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that is to bring us close to Christ;
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that is to help us understand what
human nature is;
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that is to show us how to overcome
human nature.
And those are all the spiritual reasons that
we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Because when the resurrection takes place,
this physical body is going to be no more. And only what we develop in the
way of spiritual character and the righteousness that comes from God and His
Spirit, is that going to go into a new body and a new mind. So we’re in
training for eternal life.
Now notice: “…even
as you are unleavened” (v 7). So this is one of the few things that God has
us do so we can learn a lesson, that is unleaven our homes, because leaven
is so easily found almost anywhere. Just like a lot of things that people
think are good are really sin. And a lot of people think that are not
good—like the Holy Days of God—which they consider would be a sin and
rejecting Christ, is actually right and it glorifies Christ. Because they
keep the ‘Lord’s Supper,’ they don’t keep the Passover. And in not keeping
the Passover, you have no idea as to the beginning of the plan of God and
what Christ has done to take away our sins—and then being resurrected so
that we can be justified and brought to God, so we can be changed.
Now notice the reason,
he says: “…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us….
[Now, what are we to do in the light of that? Are we to get rid of the laws
of God? Are we going to find ways to expunge things out of the Bible?—even
though we don’t literally take a penknife or scissors and cut it out of the
Bible. We just ignore it! And you might ask the question: What’s the
difference? Yes.] (Now notice v 8): …For this reason, let us keep the
feast… [Now, Apostle Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, was teaching the
Gentile church to what? Keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And with
what meaning? And what is the spiritual reason for doing so?] (And he says):
…not with old leaven… [Now, what do you mean, ‘not with the old leaven’? If
we are to be unleavened, how can we be keeping the Feast with old leaven?
This is not referring to the physical leaven. This is referring the
spiritual leaven of sin, as he points out.] (let’s read it): …nor
with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (vs 7-8).
Now, that’s what God
wants us to be in our hearts and in our minds:
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converted,
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sincere,
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dedicated,
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filled with Truth,
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growing in grace and knowledge,
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filled with the love of God,
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developing the character of Jesus
Christ.
And brethren, we have no excuse today,
because we have a time where we can study the Bible, we can learn from the
Bible, we have ways and means of communication. We can print the Bibles and
everything like this—like you’re going to receive your new Bible here very
soon.
And God has caused
that there are BILLIONS of Bibles in the world. And God is going to give a
witness with His Word that this world has never expected that would be. And
we’re part of it. Whatever part of the small army of defenders of the Truth
are standing for what is righteousness and good and the cause and purpose
that God has called us to—not only in our personal lives, but as we do
collectively to make the Word of God known as much as we can with the
abilities that we have and the resources that God gives us. So we have to
make sure that everything that we do is going to be productive, that is
going to produce things to help the brethren grow in grace and knowledge and
give witness to the world. “…nor with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth” (v 8). And aren’t we told, let every man ‘speak the Truth from the
heart’? And that’s what God wants us to do.
Now, why do we keep
the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Well, because we need to be converted and
changed. We need to be converted and changed from what to what? Now,
let’s come to Psalm 8, because in Psalm 8 God gives the purpose of why He
created man and woman, and made us in the way that He did, and gave us this
wonderful and beautiful earth to rule over. And so that we can live a life,
we can learn lessons, and you see, the thing that is important: our
minds are the connection between us and God and the difference
between men and animals. So we’re a special creation of God.
Now let’s come to
Psalm 8 because this is really quite a Psalm when you understand what it is
saying, and you understand what it means, and you understand what happened
to man and woman because of the sin of Adam of Eve. Now, we’ve covered that
leading up the to Feast of Unleavened Bread. But we need to realize there is
a greater purpose even beyond sin. A greater purpose beyond Satan. A greater
purpose beyond all the difficulties and problems that human beings have. But
you look in the world and you look at the troubles and you look at
everything that’s going on, and this number one lesson ought to be made in
our minds that we do not know the way to go! Mankind, in spite
of all of the abilities and blessings that God has given man, cut
off from God he does not know the way to go! And that we’re
going to see is the lesson of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
“O LORD our Lord, how
excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the
heavens! Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained strength
because of Your adversaries… [Because God uses those that the enemies
wouldn’t think that He would use. And that’s why He has called the weak.
That’s why He has called the low-born. That’s why He has called us who are
not anything in this world, so that when we are converted and changed and
then in the resurrection become the very sons and daughters of God, we can
help, under Christ, show the world how they need to live.] …When I consider
Your heavens… [and we can do even more today than every before with all the
modern technology to bring in fantastic and wonderful, beautiful pictures of
galaxies billions and billions of light-years away.] …the work of Your
fingers… [Yes, He called them all by name, He commanded and they were
created] …the moon and the stars which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him…
[Because God’s attention is on the earth. That’s where His plan is being
fulfilled. That’s where the struggle is being carried out. That’s why Jesus
came to the earth in the first place, as God manifested in the flesh, to
become our Savior.] …mindful of him, and the son of man that You came for
him? For You have made him a little lower than God… [That’s what the
Hebrew means. This is why human beings want to become gods unto themselves,
as Satan told Adam and Eve, ‘Yes, you decided right and wrong for yourself.
I mean, you’re smart, you have a mind, you can choose—you can decide what is
right and wrong.’ And what happens? They sin against God, because even
though we have been made a little lower than God, we’re not God. And
the whole process of conversion is to make us the sons and daughters of God.
That’s why the Feast of Unleavened Bread.] …and have crowned him with glory
and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You
have put all things under his feet…” (vs 1-6). And we’re going to see that
through Christ that means everything that there is in the universe as well.
Now, let’s look at the
current state of man without God, and let’s see why we need God and why we
need the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and why we need it every year so that we
can understand the battle against sin and leaven and Satan the devil and the
vaunting of self, which leaven pictures—because it puffs up—is a lifetime
process of overcoming. That’s why we are to become converted,
through the process of growing and overcoming.
Now let’s come to
Psalm 39 and let’s see what David said about that. Let’s see how he looked
at his life. “I said, ‘I will take heed to my ways… [That’s what the Feast
of Unleavened Bread is all about. We examine ourselves, we examine our
lives, we examine our ways. That’s why at the Passover we are to have
examined our self before we come and then we take of the bread and take of
the wine.] …so that I do not sin with my tongue… [and also we sin not with
our mouths—and with our minds] …I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the
wicked are before me.’ I became dumb, keeping silent; I even refrained from
good, and yet my sorrow grew worse…. [Now, this happens lots of times. This
happened to Lot living in Sodom. Now, I don’t know why he was living there,
but he was living there. We have a Sodom just north of us, it’s called San
Francisco and that’s one of the places I don’t like to go. But nevertheless,
he was there and he was frustrated and he didn’t know what to do—and he just
stayed there and stayed there and got oppressed by it, and finally God had
to send some angels to rescue him. Well, you know the rest of the story.
Here, after seeing the depths of human nature, David’s]: …My heart was hot
within me; while I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
‘O LORD, make me to know my end… [‘What is the purpose that You have for me.
How long am I going to live?’ Well, he lived 70-years.] …and the measure of
my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am’” (vs 1-4).
Now, there’s a great
deception in the world today, which destroys human beings very
quickly—because it gives the illusion that we are not frail; that we are
strong, that we are tough; that we can handle lots of things. These are
these daring reality shows; and these are the movies which show you can
shoot, you can wound, you can survive all of this; you can fight; you can
run up walls; you can jump through windows; you can leap across buildings;
and all of that is an illusion because those things never take place. Those
are all done by digital manipulation of the picture that they want to
produce. You don’t realize how fragile you are.
But, when you get cut,
or you fall down, or you get sick, you realize how fragile you are. And I
know when I had the flu recently and I was in bed for the better part of a
week, I realized how fragile I was. I couldn’t think. My head was stuffed, I
was coughing, I blew my nose, I was completely useless and helpless, expect
to just putt around and sleep and…I don’t know, I didn’t measure how much
mucus that I coughed up and spit out, but I suppose if it were in a quart
jars it would be at least a couple of quarts of it. And one person said,
“Thank God for snot!” And I thought about that while I was blowing and
coughing and hacking and wheezing, and I thought: Ohhhhhhhh! What does he
mean by that? And I thought: just think of it were just like tears and water
running out, why you’d drown, if God didn’t make the body in such a way that
it would entrap all of these germs and toxins and bundle them up in snot so
you can blow it out and you can cough it up. Now, that’s a little graphic,
but you’ve all gone through it, so anyway there were go. That’s how frail we
are. And when you get old, you begin to realize it, too, because you can’t
do the things you used to do.
Then he’s examining
his life, v 5, and he says: “‘Behold, You have made my days as a
handbreadth… [compared to God, compared to the universe, compared to
everything there is, we’re just a little whiff, blip of time. And that’s
been all the way down through the history of mankind.] …and my age is as
nothing before You…. [Because God lives forever.] …Surely every man at
his best state is altogether vanity.’” [So, when we pick
ourselves up, clean ourselves up, make ourselves look the best we can
possibly look, wear the best clothes, do the best of everything—if you had
absolutely the best of everything in the world, guess what? Wouldn’t
change your human nature and you would still die. And that’s why Solomon
said, ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ He said, ‘I’ve got all this
wealth and I have all these things and I know I’m going to die. And the one
who comes after me, who’s to know whether he’s going to be wise or a fool.’
And of course, it turned out that he wasn’t very wise.
Now the next time you
watch television, remember this, v 6: “‘Surely every man… [it says man, but
it’s every man or woman] …walks about in a vain show!
Surely they are in an uproar in vain.”
They won’t receive correction. Think of that. All of the vanity. It’s in
everything that men do.
I was watching part of
a documentary while I was suffering through my flu siege and I was watching
the homeless—a report on the homeless. And the homeless are just as vain,
and just as proud, and just as empty-headed as the ones at the top of the
economic scale. Some of them have lived on the streets all their lives, and
proud of it. But they’ve ruined their lives because of sin, because of drugs
and because of disobedience, and because of not wanting to be law-abiding;
not wanting to marry and bring in children into the world, into a family
setting. No, no, no, no, the feminist, they’ve got to have their children
without husbands being married to them—but they still need a man to get a
child, don’t they? Whether it’s in vitro, or whether it is literal, so you
can’t get away from it. Then when you have your child, unless you’re
personally wealthy, you have to be married to the state, and the state
becomes your husband—to either give you money on welfare, or to provide a
job for you that you wouldn’t ordinarily get, or to create laws against men
so that you can come in and take jobs that men ought to have. So either way,
you can’t get around it, everything is vanity! ‘Vanity of vanities,’ as
Solomon said, ‘ALL IS VANITY!’
Now, since we’re in
the book of Psalms, let’s come to the second Psalm, and let’s see that the
whole world is wrapped up in vanity—all the world leaders are vain. Yes, and
some of them strut around like they think they’re peacocks. Maybe there is a
grain of truth to that kind of evolution, who knows. One man struts around
like a peacock, but he’s supposed to be the leader of the nation which is
pictured by the bear—and he’s a little pip-squeak of man filled with vanity
and lust and power.
Now let’s come to
Psalm 2:1—the whole world is in a vain rebellion against God: “Why do the
nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD… [Get rid
of the Bible, get rid of the laws, get rid of these things. There are so
many books being produced about witchcraft and god-delusion and all against
God, the Bible and Christianity, and many people have a point in it because
you look at the religions of the world: Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Protestantism, all of the other religions of the world which are a
substitution to reject God, yet make people think that they have some form
of Godliness. They’re all vain! They’re all lies! So they rebel against Him.
Then look at the governments: they’re all lying to us, cheating us. Look at
the economic difficulties we have because of lying, cheating, money.] …and
against His Christ… [That’s what ‘anointed’ means. If there’s any one thing
they want to expunge from the public record is the name of Jesus Christ. And
some people want to do it because the name Jesus Christ has been so abused
by the aforementioned people that I just named here.] …saying, ‘Let us break
Their bands asunder… [Let us cut off everything to do with God] …and cast
away Their cords from us’” (vs 1-3).
Well now, not knowing
that they’re incomplete, that they’re filled with vanity, that they are led
by Satan the devil, that they are in rebellion against God, they think
somehow they’re going to succeed. And that is the whole height of being
filled with vanity, as pictured by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven
becomes all of those aforementioned things. How does God look at it?
Well, God has His plan, He’s going to work it out. And if they rebel
against God, what do they do against Him? They don’t do anything against
God, God is still there, He’s not going to change because of their
rebellion, or what they think, or what opinion they may hold. No! God
has set, automatically, laws in motion that is going to begin to take care
of them—and then He’s going to personally deal with them. And when Christ
returns, He is going to be known. It’s going to be something! He’s going to
shake the heavens and shake the earth.
So therefore: “He who
sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD scoffs at them.” They think they can
become God. They think they can go into outer space. They think what a
marvelous thing that we have done that we have this space-station out here.
And God says, ‘Look a little further, I’ve made the heavens. So don’t think
you’re so all fired hot. And besides how are you going to live up there
unless you import the oxygen, or make it up there from things you bring from
the earth. Whereas, I can travel in the universe anywhere I want to. And I
can get there as fast as I desire. And I can look down on the earth and see
all these things.’] …Then He shall speak to them in His wrath… [That’s
talking about Rev. 16] …and in His fury He terrifies them. ‘Yea, I have set
My king upon My holy mountain of Zion. I will declare the decree of the
LORD. He has said to Me, “You are My Son; this day I have begotten You”’”
(vs-4-7). And that is the covenant between God the Father and Jesus
Christ.
The Father says to
Jesus, “‘Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them
with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel’….
[Now I tell you what, you think about that for a minute! And I don’t know
about you, but that ought to make some people start repenting and running to
God, because have you ever seen how a potter’s vessel is dashed in pieces?
So he says here]: …And now be wise, O kings; be admonished, O judges of the
earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son…
[And they’re going to have to] …lest He be angry and you perish in the way,
for His wrath can flame up in a moment. Blessed… [So here it is, it gets
down to us.] …are all who take refuge in Him” (vs 8-12).
Quite a fantastic
thing isn’t it? Men think they are so great. Men think they have such
marvelous powers and abilities. And yes, they can build buildings; and yes,
they can make planes; and yes, they can invent technology—but where do they
get all the things that they do? They have to get it from what God has
already created! Isn’t that correct? And then have the audacity to
say there is no God! And isn’t that one of the most vain things that you
could possibly imagine?
Now, let’s come here
to Psalm 89 for just a minute. And here is the psalmist, the Ezrahite—that
means this was written after they came back from the Babylonian captivity,
and he was writing about the promise that was given to David, that there
would always be a man to sit on his throne. But when they came back from
Babylon, there were no descendants of the king in Jerusalem and the king’s
daughters and Jeremiah had taken off to Ireland. So the psalmist is saying,
“You have promised with a covenant that as long as there is the sun and the
moon and the stars there would be a man to sit on David’s throne. But he’s
saying, “It’s not here now, when is it going to be, God?”
So he says after he
gets done with all of that—Psalm 89:46: “How long, LORD? Will You hide
Yourself forever? Shall Your wrath burn like fire?
Remember, I pray, how short my time is…
[and remember this: leaven is vanity and doesn’t last, just like we are
physical and we have a set time—whether long or short—to live. Now we can
extend the time by taking care of ourselves. We can shorten the time by
being rebellious and going against God. Those choices are ours.] …for what
vanity have You created the sons of men?… [See, he didn’t have the Spirit of
God to understand. He didn’t understand where the throne was. But God was
carrying out His Word. So he says, ‘God, did you make all men in vain?’] …What
man lives and never sees death?…. [Who’s going to not face death?] …Shall he
deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah…. [Isn’t going to be
possible. That’s why in another place it says, ‘Seek the Lord while He may
be found. Draw close to Him while He is near.’] …O Lord, where are Your
former lovingkindnesses which You swore to David in Your truth? Remember,
LORD, the reproach of Your servants… [Now, let’s understand also, the
covenant of David has to do with the Church. And so, what he is moaning and
bewailing about here, God has fulfilled in two ways. He has preserved the
throne of David through what is now the British throne, and he has raised up
the tabernacle of David, which is the Church. So He’s carrying on His work.]
…Remember, LORD, the reproach of Your servants how I bear in my bosom the
reproach of all the mighty people… [Yes, he did, coming back from Babylon.]
…With which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD; with which they have
reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. Blessed is the LORD forevermore.
Amen and Amen” (vs 46-52).
So this tells us about
what human nature is like. Now, let’s come here to Romans, the third
chapter, and let’s see that in the New Testament it is no different. As a
matter of fact what we’re going to read in the Romans, the third chapter, is
a compilation of quotes from the Old Testament, which now can be greatly
expanded by the knowledge of the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus
Christ and the teachings of the apostles.
Now let’s pick it up
here in Romans 3:3—he’s talking about the Jews and he says: “For what if
some did not believe?…. [And today we have categories of Jews who believe in
Jesus; categories of Jews who don’t believe in Jesus; categories of Jews who
are atheists. And that fills in with all the rest of the people of the
world, not just the Jews. But he’s saying, but if some of them did not
believe. Likewise within the Church. What happens when someone in the Church
begins to disbelieve God, and leaves?] …Shall their unbelief nullify the
faithfulness of God? [Paul wrote] MAY IT NEVER BE! Rather, let God be true
but every man a liar… [That’s why we need to be changed. That’s why we keep
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. To get the deceit from within out of us. To
get the delusion of vanity stripped from us. That now God can work with us,
and mold us and build us and create in us the character that He wants to
complete His creation in us.] (Now let’s read): …exactly as it is written:
‘That You might be justified in Your words, and might overcome when
You are being judged by men’” (vs 3-4).
When men judge God—“I
don’t believe God, I don’t believe the Bible. Look at what has happened
because of all these churches.”—and they become hateful and disparaging
against God. Is that going to change God? No! God is going to
overcome all those things that men do, all those things that men say and
bring about because of their sinful, vain nature that is incomplete and
needs to be changed.
(go to the next
section)
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