3 Lessons of Unleavened Bread

Thank you again for that beautiful presentation of the Garden Grove Choir and our pianist Teresa Shin. I want to thank all of you for all that effort. It's so inspiring. I've heard so many comments how moving that was this past Sabbath and brought some people to tears. They said that they're difficult to do that, but that they were. So certainly a very important season that we're in right now, reflecting on what God has done for us.

And three days worth of meaning, all one day after another. The Passover, then the night to be much observed, and now the first day of Unleavened Bread. You can symbolize them by three words. Love, which is what Passover signifies. Rescue, what is the night to be much observed. And purification, days of Unleavened Bread. Seven days worth of purification that God asks us to go through every year. So we do not forget that sin is our worst enemy.

It can hinder us from entering the kingdom of God. It can destroy us. And Satan is alive and well, actively dreaming up ways to make us fall. And certainly now, as technology has advanced, he has more devices to tempt people into sin than ever before. This is now the generation that anything you ask you basically can get and pay for through a credit card or whatever.

But it's all there, and Satan wants to wreck as much as he can God's plan, and sin is his major weapon. And so God does not want us to let our guards down. He wants us to be aware that sin is the great destroyer. It is the spiritual cancer that can invade us and eventually destroy us.

And so it is important to show God that we are being faithful, that we take this to heart, that we take this very seriously. Last night, while we were there celebrating the night to be much observed, I mentioned how important it is to be aware that God has great things planned for us. Incredible, unimaginable, mind-blowing things that he has prepared for us. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2, as Paul meditated upon the coming kingdom of God, and he said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

There is no way that even our imagination can grasp the wonderful things that God has prepared for us. And yet, it is mostly in the future. Oh, God has prepared wonderful things for us now. If we're willing to obey him, if we're willing to follow him, we are going to be greatly blessed in this life as well, according to when he calls us. Obviously, if he calls us at 75 years old, it's basically to prepare for that coming kingdom, because there's not much more we can do in this life.

Physically, to enjoy and to be blessed materially. But a young person, they can avoid so much headaches, so much heartaches. By putting God first and watching him bless you, he will take care of you. But you have to show that you are earnest, that you mean this, that it is not just platitudes and words, but also deeds. That's why we can call God Daddy or Papa. These are affectionate words that he wants us to use toward him. Notice in Romans 8. Romans 8. Let's start in verse 6, because there is a lesson here to be learned. Again, there's so much to learn, we never cease to keep learning.

In Romans 8, verse 6, Paul is talking about preparing for that kingdom. And he says, For to be carnally minded is death. If we just have a carnal mind and just think about lusts and what we can get from this life and all the pleasures that we can get in the wrong way, that's to be carnally minded. And you're going to end up as spiritual death and probably in the lake of fire.

So he says, we cannot be that way. He says, But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. You have inner peace. You're doing things God's way and not the world's way. He says, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It doesn't want to submit to God. He says, For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. The person says, a carnal-minded person is not going to appreciate God's law. And it says here, he's not going to be subject to it because we are, by nature, egoistical, inward-centered.

We look at what we can get out of things. From the time the baby starts, they start crying. For what? Not for somebody else's problems. For their problem. I want to be fed. I want to be changed. I want this.

I want that. And so we learn. And to get, to be self-centered, to think about our looks, to think about how we can get ahead above others. There's not a problem with wanting to succeed in life. But if we put that as the major goal, and not to succeed before God, and then succeed in the rest of things in life, we've got our priorities skewed. So it says here that the carnal mind is not going to appreciate and love God's law. It's going to find excuses for not doing it.

Why? Because it's carnally minded. And the word carnal means just the flesh and the egoistical and vain and self-centered attitude. That's the way the natural person is. And continuing on it says, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. They're not doing things the proper way. They might be very successful in life, but before God they are failures.

They cannot please Him. He's not pleased with their carnal mindedness. It says, but you are not in the flesh talking about those who have repented and have been converted to the truth. He says, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. This is the definition of what a Christian is. If you have the Spirit of Christ, you're not going to be chafing against the law of God.

You're going to be subject to it because you're spiritually minded, as it says in the preceding verses. So it says here in verse 10, And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, which means we are dead to that former way of life. We're not going to go back to the sinful way of life, of following society and the sins of society. He says, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness, following God's way of life. It brings us good things. It produces good fruits.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, talking about the Spirit of God, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, and it should say, as it says in the New King James, through His Spirit, that dwells in you. Because God's Spirit is something that He gives, but it's not a person. It's not somebody separate from God. It is from God, and so it's the Spirit that dwells in you.

Continuing on, it says, therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, to the ways of the world. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. That's not the way of abundant life, which God has promised. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. We cannot let the deeds of the body, the deeds of the flesh, overcome us and overpower us. Verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear. We haven't received the Spirit that enslaves us to our sins. But you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. And there's that word, which is a very tender word. It's like the little boy calls Daddy. He can come before his father. And he knows the father's going to listen and love him. It reminds me of an old story that Romans said about this big procession through the city of Rome. They had the big procession where they had captured the peoples there in Germany.

And they had brought all these captives. And there was just a big parade. And they had the Roman emperor writing there as a victorious conqueror. And there was a little boy that got out of the balcony. And he opened ranks. And he was going to see the emperor. And the soldier said, Hold it, son. You can't go there. That's the emperor.

And the boy said, Well, he might be your emperor, but he's my daddy. You see? And he got to go. And that's the type of confidence that we have. He's our daddy. He cares for us. And so in these three days, God wants to reinforce that relationship with us.

So let's learn three lessons from these days of Unleavened Bread. Three lessons from these days of Unleavened Bread. Number one, show God and Jesus Christ that we mean it by our actions and deeds. Show God and Jesus Christ we mean it by our actions and deeds. We want to keep these days as God has commanded in His Word. And it's not just paying lip service. We want to show Him. These seven days are going to be meaningful.

They are going to help us to overcome the sins that assail us, that we are not going to be conquered by them. Notice in 1 John chapter 3 verse 18. 1 John chapter 3 verse 18. John says here, My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Don't just talk about things. Put them into action. Apply them. Not just words, but deeds. Disobaying God's laws or His commands and supposedly replacing them with doing good works is not valid.

It's like running a red light and then doing a good deed and telling the officer, Oh, please don't give me a ticket because I'm going to go over here to this orphanage and I'm going to deliver some food. So, yeah, I ran a red light, but please, this good deed annuls the bad deed that I have done. It doesn't work that way. Likely you're going to get ticketed, whatever excuse you give, because you broke the law.

And in the same way, people can say, well, instead of coming here and assembling in a holy convocation that God has commanded, giving an offering and worshipping on this day and keeping unleavened bread, well, instead I'll go and feed the poor. I'll go somewhere and do some nice, nice deeds. And that can replace what I'm doing here. See, it doesn't work that way. You don't make up the rules. God does. He tells us what pleases Him. So He says on this day, He doesn't say, well, go out and help the orphans or the poor, or go out there to some charity drive.

That's fine. God says you can do that on your own time, but this is His time. He wants us to do things His way. And so doing right doesn't make up for a wrong that you're doing under God. God wants us to obey and to do good, not to just do good and forget to obey.

It reminds me of what Jesus Christ mentioned, the parable of the two sons, where the Father tells one of the sons, go out to the field, I want you to work today, we need to do this. And one of them said, yes, Father, and didn't do it. And the other one didn't want to do it, and he huffed and puffed, but finally says, okay, I'm going to do it. And then Jesus Christ said, well, who is the one that is going to be blessed by the Father?

It wasn't the one who said, oh, yes, and didn't do it. It's a person who still does God's will. Whether you have the best attitude or not, you still are fulfilling. And by practicing that, you learn to discipline yourself. And so what if that first young man would have said, well, Father, yes, I'm going to the field, but guess what? I went and just did some charity work over there in the community center. Are you going to be happy with me there? The Father's going to say, sorry, son, this is what I told you to do. You can always do that in another time.

So you can't replace man's rules from what God says. You have to do it his way. Notice the connection between works, good works that God talks about, which are based on His laws. They are not separate from it. In Revelation, chapter 22, I want to go a little more in-depth into this point, because this is something that Protestants and others constantly are attacking us, attacking this about, well, works.

We shouldn't have works. We should only have just faith. In Romans, I mean, in Revelation, chapter 22, verse 10, it says here, And He said to me, Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still, talking about society. Those that are doing all kinds of filthy things, when Christ comes back, He says, these people are going to be doing that until that moment.

They're going to be shocked out of their socks when they see God's intervention. And so it goes on to say, He who is righteous, let him be righteous or remain that way. Don't leave God's path at this time. Be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, said Jesus, and my reward is with me to give everyone according to His work. So God is interested in our deeds and what we're carrying out, whether we are obeying His laws and commands or not.

Jesus goes on to say, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and saucers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Those people with or breaking God's laws, they're not going to be part of God's kingdom. But notice that Jesus says He's going to pay everyone according to His work, and then right after that, it says, blessed are those who do His commandments. So they are intimately and intricately connected. They are intricately connected. You can't separate one from the other. Good works and obeying God's laws go together.

Notice in James chapter 1. James chapter 1 verse 21. By the way, these are good scriptures. If people ever come up to you and say, oh, yes, we shouldn't have works. We should just have faith. Well, you can show them that you need both faith and works. In James chapter 1 and verse 21, it says, So again, not just talk about things. We have to apply them. Now, the Sabbath is so important today because we are receiving instruction of God's Word. What this day represents the first day of Unleavened Bread. And how important God wants us to realize the seriousness of letting sin take over, damage our lives, hinder us from entering the kingdom of God.

And of course, we need Jesus Christ working in us. So let's go to Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. Because we're not talking about unconverted works. What happens when a person who is not converted does nice things and good things? Those things cannot please God in the sense of making up for not changing their lives.

Notice in Galatians chapter 2 the type of works that God wants us to develop. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, it says, This is what adult baptism is all about. You actually surrender to God. And you go through this moment when you are put under the water, and you die to your sinful way of life. And you're ready to begin a new life. Now, that is something that God has to open our minds to it. And again, we have all gone through our moment when we wake up and we realize, Boy, I'm a big sinner before God.

And guess what? I don't want to continue carrying those sins. I want to be washed. I want to be cleansed from it. And so you go through this process and say, I'm going to end my former way of life. I'm going to put God first. I'm going to accept Jesus Christ's sacrifice for my sins. And I'm going to let Him live in me. As it says here, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. We have welcomed that Holy Spirit to guide us. It starts out just a very small portion. But as we apply it, God adds to it. And so, as the years go, we are to make it grow in us. How? By the works and the deeds. How we practice keeping God's way of life and having the discipline to do so. And so, the Holy Spirit grows. And it produces different fruits than we would have otherwise.

So, He says, Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. So, those are the fruits that God wants. Those are the deeds with Christ working in us. So, in a sense, we cannot say, oh, it's me who is doing it.

We can say, it's Christ in me who is doing it. For the glory and honor of God. That's the type of fruits that God blesses. But not, of course, just the fruits of a regular person who's never repented and thinks God's going to just accept Him in that way. No, you have to go through this watery death of baptism before you can really begin to have Christ live in you in this way. So, you need both faith and works. That is why we keep the Days of Unleavened Bread, not just in our thoughts, but in our actions, in our deeds, to show God we really mean it.

Now, the second lesson about keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread is showing God that we do renounce the unfruitful works of darkness. That we do renounce the unfruitful works of darkness. Notice in Ephesians chapter 5.

Starting in verse 1, this is certainly a theme during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Reading this chapter 5 of Ephesians, it starts out saying verse 1, Therefore be imitators of God, as dear children, not imitators of someone else. We want to be God-like. That's the God-family one day is going to rule this entire universe. That God is going to spread His family out. What do you think He created? The more than 300 billion galaxies out there that have been found.

Now, in the Protestant world, they say, well, you're just going to heaven after you die. That's where the action is, and you're going to stay with God forever. What's the use of having created 300 billion galaxies, of which most of them have 200 billion stars, which have billions of planets which are being discovered daily? Over 1,500 planets have already been discovered. That's nothing! What do you think?

God created the solar power and didn't put something around to one day be able to populate? Doesn't make sense. You don't put a light bulb somewhere at the bottom of a well. Nobody's there! You put a light bulb because people are going to be using it.

Well, the light bulb are the suns. That's enormous energy to give heat and light. And then he put all these planets, but they're not finished. They are, as we have many times said, like unfinished furniture that you have to buy from one of these unfinished furniture factories or stores. They used to have them a lot more because they used to be very expensive. And so you took them home and you had to varnish. You had to finish it. Well, this is the way these planets are right now. They're like unfinished furniture. They're going to get their varnish one day.

They're going to be beautified. Or you can talk about the easel, you know, a painter. It's there. It's already to be painted. Some beautiful works to be done. So we, of all the people living on Earth, understand the purpose for these galaxies out there. That one day the government of God is going to spread. And it will, as he says, you will inherit all things. So we realize we have to be imitators of God.

In verse 2 it says, and we need to walk in love. As Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Walking in love, it's a way of life. Share it. Why should you want to be rich? You know why? Because then you can give a lot more. You can share a lot more. That's the reason to want to be rich, not to just be like a big parasite just sucking things in. It's to be able to say, hey, look, I've got more than I need. I want to share it with everybody else. That's the attitude that God wants us to have.

Continuing on, verse 3 it says, but fornication, in all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints. Yeah, we shouldn't be discussing things that are sordid. It says, neither filthiness nor a foolish talking nor a coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Be appreciative of the world that we see around us. We just had a sermon on the sunflower when we went to the Sabbath in the park.

Just one sunflower. All of the wonderful features to give God thanks for. I'm eating more sunflower seeds now than I did before. I appreciate the sunflower. I appreciate some people brought me sunflower peanut butter. I've never seen that before. Verse 5, He says, For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, because idolatry is what you put first in your mind that is in God. He says he does not have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Don't be deceived. This is serious things. These things can hinder us from entering the kingdom of God. And this thing can hinder us from being blessed now before God.

He says, Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And here we come to a key verse, verse 11, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

Other versions say renounce them. Which, this is a mouthful. It says, No fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Why? Because things that are dark, and now people are obsessed with all kinds of dark things. You see more movies out there, and things that are dark, things that just have to do with evil. And there's an obsession, and there's this attraction to that type of thing. But here, the Apostle Paul says, They are unfruitful.

You know what? That is not the real world. You're in a fantasy world, and that's not going to produce good fruit. All that energy and time, it's not going to produce a single fruitful thing. It's going to be vain. It's going to get your mind distracted. And it's going to cause more sins to be produced. He says, verse 12, For it is shameful even to speak of these things, those things which are done by them in secret. And so, we have to be willing to renounce it. And it's tough, because we naturally have an attraction, and there's this element of tingleness.

It's a little scintillating to go into that. But God says, it's not fruitful. It's not going to do you good. And it can do you a lot of damage. It can become addictive. It can become habit-forming. And it can take over a person's life. We know how damaging that can be. So, we have to show God during these days of unleavened bread that we are de-leavening our minds. Not just our homes. Not just our cars. We are in the process of de-leavening our minds, shucking out all that leavening that has stuck to us during the year. And the final point. Again, not easy.

I'm not saying these things are easy. I'm not coming across and whitewashing and talking how nice the days of unleavened bread are. These are very sobering. It's a wake-up call to us. This isn't talking about the niceties. This is talking about the real nitty-gritty of what can do the most damage to us.

And number three, the lesson is taking every thought to Christ. Examining, purifying our mind, eliminating what is bad. I'm so thankful that I came into the church when I was a young man. And I was able to follow God's laws and marry the girl that I came to love, because she also was serious-minded and obedient to God and wanted to follow Him. And that none of us had gone into that sordid way of life, and we were able to start something clean and healthy. And how many blessings has that brought? It has multiplied by thousands now. And I know not everybody gets the opportunity, but many have the opportunity to begin a new life.

Do it right. Don't think about yesterday. Think about today and tomorrow. And examining and purifying our mind and eliminating what is bad takes effort. It's comfortable to let those little sinful parasites just grab us, grab a hold, and start controlling our time and our mind. But they're just like these slugs that just suck away the energy that we have, the blood suckers that suck away the spiritual life. Notice 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Verse 3, it says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

We're not here talking about physical combat. We are spiritual soldiers. There is a war that you can win or you can lose in this life. And that's what God is most concerned about. Are you going to be a winner or a loser?

Are you going to be a success or a spiritual failure? He says here, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, not physical, not made of metal or wood or stone, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. There's a lot of stuff. There's a lot of high reasoning. You go to college. A lot of professors are atheists. Don't believe in God. Don't believe that God is a creator. They have all these philosophies to get you into relative moral values. Everything is relative. So you see, these are all these supposedly high thoughts, and you have to bring them down.

You know, those are lies. Those are deceitful things. Those are part of this world and why it is so rapidly degenerating. I'm sure that when some of my grandkids that are still one or two right now, when they enter school, they're not going to know who, what is a boy and a girl, and what marriage is the difference between a man and a woman, and who you should be attracted to.

It's going to just be so blurred by then. That's the world we're living in. And guess who's behind that? Satan. He hates families. He hates something pure, a pure marriage, a pure family, something clean and good and decent. And you know, that produces multiple fruits that you're going to be able to enjoy the rest of your life. You're going to be able to lap up what you sowed so many years behind.

Or you're going to have to lap up what you sowed years before that wasn't right, and all the pain and suffering that go with that. So he says, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So, this is a process.

What do we let into our mind? What we let into our minds is what we eventually will become. As they say in computer technology, garbage in, garbage out. If you put the wrong stuff in, all you're going to get back from the computer is gibberish. It's the same way. If you put wrong things in your heart and mind, it's going to produce wrong things.

And so, we have to go back to what we need to be thinking about in Philippians 4. Philippians 4, verse 8. Philippians 4, verse 8. It says here, finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

So, that's what we have to use the filter of our mind. See, I made this little graph because here are the eight virtues. And you see, this is kind of a filter for our mind. And if you notice, there's a mesh there. There's a netting. Because anything that isn't made out of what is true, what is noble, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is good, what is virtuous, and what is praiseworthy.

Remember how we learned that? Anybody remember what that, anybody want to say it out here? Tan, jeep, log with a VIP on it. Remember the four? Those are the eight letters that we have to kind of remember. And so, anything that is going into our mind that doesn't match any of these, the net has to catch it. And you know what? Sometimes we have to get drastic.

And it's not just catching the net, but we have to, we have to block the whole thing. I'm not going to watch that. I'm not going to allow that to be part of my mind. We have to block it out if we are ever going to be conquerors, if we're going to overcome or not.

And let's go to the last scripture in Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians chapter 5. And verse 16. Paul was always talking about this. God was using him because this is our primary battle. This is what we have to struggle with day in and day out. In Galatians 5.16 it says, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Everybody has certain triggers that once that is set off, you get into this cascade of thoughts and actions and things that just can destroy you if you keep it up. And so it tells here that there's a struggle. What kind of thoughts are going to dominate our mind? What kind of actions are going to dominate our minds or not?

Continuing on, it says, but if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. You are already converted by God. You're walking with God, and you're not going to be condemned by God. As long as you are walking by God's Spirit, if you sin, you have forgiveness, you go before Him, you repent. And there is not that death penalty hanging over you. Now, if you move from God's way, that is lost. But as long as you're following God's way, that grace is extended to you. Continuing on, it says, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness. Notice all of these go against God's laws and commandments. Outbursts of idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like of which I tell you beforehand. Just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. They're not going to make it into the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit, and here are the nine fruits of the Spirit, so I've gone ahead and added it here on this graph. You see? You combine Philippians 4.8 with Galatians 5.22. So these are what goes in and then what goes out. The fruits of God's Spirit. Let's read them. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. God's law produces those fruits. None of God's laws go against these fruits, is what he's saying.

And those who are Christs have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, that old way of life. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. In other words, not just words, but in actions. Let us not become conceited, because that's one of the works of the flesh, provoking one another and being one another. So he's constantly telling us we shouldn't have that type of attitude. So brethren, these are three lessons we can learn during these days of Unleavened Bread. Let's go over them again. Number one, let's show God and Jesus Christ by our actions and deeds that we're taking very seriously these seven days to de-leaven our mind. Number two, keeping Unleavened Bread, by showing God we do renounce the unfruitful works of darkness. And number three, that we are making the effort to taking every thought to Christ, examining, purifying our mind, eliminating what is bad, and keeping what is good. Let's show God we really mean it, not just in words, but indeed.