Fully Converted by God

So we started on the first day of Unleavened Bread by talking about the fact that the symbolism of the bread does not change from Passover into the days of Unleavened Bread. The bread's the same, it's Jesus Christ. We're taking that bread in. We're taking in the truth of God, the Word of God, and if you read Dr. Ward's letter, he said the same thing. Taking in Jesus Christ is taking in his Word, internalizing it. It's not just knowing it, but becoming it. We'll talk a little bit more about that at the end. And then, on the Sabbath, we talked about some leavening that we can certainly afford to get out of our lives. Partiality and competition. Things that need to go away. We need to be able to look out in this room and see our comfort zone with anybody and everybody. As long as they're not practicing sin, as long as they're not practicing rebellion against God, they are our brethren and we are not to avoid them. Today, we're going to close it down because this is the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, and at sundown, we partake of the last symbol of the Day of Unleavened Bread, and that is leavening. And we talked about, on the first day, that leavening doesn't just picture sin. Sin is what we do on the outside. It's external. It's the action that follows what happens inside the heart. The Day of Unleavened Bread are not just about doing away with sin, but leavening actually pictures conversion, where sin actually changes who you are into something that is unacceptable to God. And the sacrifice of Jesus Christ cleans us out, and by a miracle that is impossible to mend, but all things are possible to God, He makes us a new lump, ready to receive a new kind of leavening. The Word of God, God's Spirit and God's strength, and that launches us into the next Holy Day that's coming in less than 50 days, Pentecost. And we are to become fully converted by God. Fully leavened. We are to be completely cleaned by Jesus Christ, and we are to become fully converted by God. What I want to do is I want to jump into the narrative of Mark, the Gospel of Mark.

We're going to jump into where Jesus feeds the multitudes with bread, one of those times. It's very interesting, the study of human nature. And there's a sequence of events we're going to go through in Mark chapter 8, where He feeds the bread and then He heals the blind, and then Peter does something that is exactly like the blind man being healed. And it is very reminiscent of you and I and our nature. And I believe that's why this narrative was written this way. Mark chapter 8 and verse 1. In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, I have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me for three days and have nothing to eat. Okay, you would think that they would know what's going to happen next. This has already happened once before. This is the second time. But remember, these are the disciples. They're not apostles yet. They do not have God's spirit. They're apostles in training, but they don't have the ability, the strength, to follow God.

And verse 3, and if I send them away hungry to their houses, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come from afar. And then His disciples answered Him, how can we satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness? And they're looking around at what they can see. There's no granary. There's no ovens. How are we going to feed them? Really?

You know, do you not remember the lessons you were taught? Compare yourself to this, brethren. Verse 5. And He asked them, how many loaves do you have?

Now, maybe they were just asking Him, I mean, let's not judge them too harshly. Maybe they were just saying, Master, are you going to do this again? You could interpret it that way, sort of, if you tilt your head this way when you read it. How many loaves do you have? He said. And they said seven. So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took seven loaves and gave thanks and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before them.

And they set before the multitude. And they also had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He set to set them before them. So they ate and were filled. And they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. And what frustrates me is they didn't take the fragments with them. They end up in a boat with a loaf. They have seven baskets of bread. We're going to read. They end up with a loaf.

People! Do some forward thinking.

Okay. Immediately, let's see, verse 9. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand, and He sent them away. Okay, so they had some food. He sent them away. And to be fair, they probably sent them away with the baskets of food. They had a long way to go, right? So seven baskets of food probably was not a lot for four thousand people to walk home with, especially those with small children. Are we there yet? Here, eat this and be quiet.

So immediately they got into a boat, verse 10, with His disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha. I butchered that, I'm sure. And then verse 11, then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with them. Brethren, why so much mention of the Pharisees? I think it's because the Pharisees are like our human nature. They constantly dispute with God. And that's what our selfish nature does. No! I want it my way! And these Pharisees are like our selfish side. That's who they are. And they get mentioned over and over again, and put before us, over and over again. Because they're like us, constantly disputing with God. So then the Pharisees came out, began to dispute with Him. Notice His reaction this time. He just blew them off. Seeking a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His Spirit. I wonder how many times Jesus Christ has sighed at me. Rod. And how about you? What do these days of 11 bread teach us? What are we supposed to take from here, going forward, so that we can have a great year in growth?

So they seek a sign, and He said, assuredly I say to you, I'm sorry, verse 12, He sighed deeply in His Spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation. And He left them, and getting into the boat, He departed to the other side. He blew them off. Verse 14, Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread. Whoops.

They did not have much more than one loaf with them in the boat. And then He charged them, saying, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. He told His disciples who He was training and molding, just like you and me, that He's doing right now. And He said, You watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. Don't you be like them. Why would He warn us about that, unless we were? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, Why do you reason because you have no bread?

Ever argue with God? Do you not perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? He asked the question, and the answer to that question was yes. Their heart was still hardened. They hadn't received the Holy Spirit yet. He hadn't died and been resurrected. The day of Pentecost hadn't arrived yet. They didn't have the strength to actually walk with Him as they should have. Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? They did not. Having ears, do you not hear?

They did not. And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many full baskets of full of fragments did you take up? They said to Him twelve. And when I broke seven for four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up? And He said seven. So He said to them, how is it that you do not understand?

Now I want to interject in here the Gospel account of Matthew. Matthew also tells this account, and he adds something. Let's run over there really quick to Matthew 16 and verse 12. Matthew, being an eyewitness, remembered that Jesus Christ said this. So in Matthew 16 and verse 12, He said, Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread.

You see, Matthew was actually in the boat. Mark was telling the story probably from what Peter told him, because Mark was not actually an eyewitness. Mark was a protege of Paul and of Peter. And the Gospel account of Mark is very likely the Gospel according to the Apostle Peter. But Matthew, he was there, and he remembered what he understood in that boat. And he said, And then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

To beware of the opinions of men, beware of those things that people reason that are against God, because we by nature are against God. Now, Mark continues with his example, and he teaches us that a blind man's eyes get opened right after this. And I believe this sequence of events happen on purpose. With the example he teaches us that a blind man's eyes are opened, but what he first sees is still incomprehensible.

He still needs more help. This entire narrative is about the conversion process. It's little stories woven together about our walk with God. Let's notice what Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 5 and 7. Paul says, 1 Corinthians 5, 7, Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Now, we're supposed to be unleavened, and when we're baptized and when we're converted, we're forgiven. Our sins are completely covered. The problem is, when I came out of that water, and when you came out of the water, it was still us.

And we received God's Holy Spirit, we got a long way to go. Notice the next narrative in Mark. Let's go now. Mark chapter 8, we'll pick it back up. Verse 22. We left off in 21. It goes immediately into this next story.

And then that came to Bethsaida, and they took, and they brought him, sorry, a blind man, and begged him to touch him. So he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town.

And when he had spit in his eyes and put his hand on him, he said to him, he asked him, sorry, if he saw anything. And he looked up and he said, I see men like trees walking. So Jesus Christ intervenes in this man's life, and he can see. But he doesn't see everything, does he? No, he doesn't. He can see vague outlines and shapes. And it looks like men are standing around him, but they look like trees. That's very similar to the way we are when we become unleavened when we become unleavened for the first time. When we receive the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, when we're baptized and we give our life to him, we say, my life is yours. I'm really sorry for everything I did. I turned from it, and I trust you. Take my life. You know what?

I'm still me, and you're still you at that point. It says in one place, the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed, as I've said before already in this holy day season. But it grows to this great tree. It starts out so small. And you can look at that from a big picture point of view, a macro point of view. It started with one man, Jesus Christ, and it ends up the entire world. But you can look at that from a conversion point of view also, a micro point of view, where it starts in you like a seed. Literally, you are begotten by God, and then you grow to become something that other people can depend on. The tree that the birds can make their nest in. You don't start out a tree that birds can make their nest in. You start out a little seed, and then a seedling with a little twig sticking up, a couple of leaves, and you grow into that tree. And how fast you grow depends on learning the lessons from the days of 11 bread every year. At least, that's one of the things. So he says this blind man in verse 24, I see men like trees walking. And then he put his hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored, and he saw everyone clearly. So eventually, he can see everything clearly.

Just like us, brethren, we start out small. Can you imagine a young man with a fragile male ego repenting and giving his life to Jesus Christ, and all of a sudden he can just see everything wrong with him all at once? That would be horrifying.

God doesn't do that to us. One step at a time. Growth, growth, growth. Have you seen a baby learning how to walk? And all of a sudden, you see this growth spurt. They just start eating. Eating you out of house and home, practically. And they get really cranky. Why do they get so cranky? Why do babies, when they grow, get cranky? Because it kind of hurts. It's awkward, and they're constantly feeling uncomfortable when they're going through this growth spurt. Imagine if they had to grow all at once. Boom! It would be incredibly torturous, and that's not what God does to us in the conversion process. We have growing pains along the way, but it's gradual. Just like this blind man whose eyes were opened gradually. Verse 26, then he sat in the house saying, neither go into the town nor tell anyone in the town. Now, Jesus was with his disciples and went out of town, out of the town of Caesarea Philippi, and on the road he asked his disciples, saying to him, now here's another narrative. So we started with the bread, and then we went to the blind man, and immediately they start walking on the road, and Jesus asked them a question. And this is an interesting study in human nature. He says, or he asked them, who do men say that I am? And in verse 28, so they answered John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others, one of the prophets. And he said to him, said to them, but who do you say I am? And Peter answered him and said, you are the Christ. So Peter could see. Peter had vision, not total vision, as we will see. And we're just like Peter, and we can be encouraged by this. So Peter said, you are the Christ. And he strictly warned them that they should tell no one. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed. And after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly, and Peter took him aside. He began to rebuke him. So Peter can see, and all of a sudden, Jesus says something he didn't like to hear. And he got in his master's face and argued. You ever argue with God? Never turns out well. Verse 33, but he had turned around and looked at his disciples, and he rebuked Peter, saying, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. He didn't quite have full vision yet, did he? In verse 34, when he had called the people to himself, with his disciples also, he said to them, Whoever desires to come after me, and here's the point, let him deny himself. I'm going to spend the balance of the sermon talking about how we deny ourselves. I said during these holy days that this is not about self-loathing. How can you deny yourself and not despise yourself? What are you supposed to deny? And what do you hang on to? What do you throw away, and what do you keep? Let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it. For what would it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? And we talked about this in the Sabbath. What could possibly be worth you giving up this walk? This walk that you personally have with God? What could possibly be worth it? Praise from this world? We'll get to that in a minute. How about wealth?

How about just frustration and giving up on it all? This world, this life, is so temporary, so quick. I remember, just like it was yesterday, I can still picture myself in the room in my mom and dad's house in Arizona, holding my newborn child, my very first one, a little boy. And he was so small, he loved to perch up high. I would hold him like this and take his hand in my hand and he would sit on my arm like a swing. And he would just watch everybody and I would just sit there with my little baby. And he just loved to look around. Can't do that anymore. Don't blink! It goes quick. Really quick. What could possibly be worth giving up in this life?

The walk that we have with God. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? There is nothing in this life worth giving up our walk. Nothing. Nothing. It doesn't last long enough. It's too quick. Too quick.

Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and simple generation, imagine that. Ashamed to stand up and say, yeah, I believe in God. Yes, I follow Jesus Christ. Yes, I took Monday off. You know why? Because it was a holy day prescribed by God.

Oh, you're Jewish. No, I'm actually Christian. Well, that's weird. Why would you keep that day? Well, let me explain it to you. Are you embarrassed to do that? Get to more of that later. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful nation, sinful generation, they are sinful. And you want their praise over Jesus Christ? Really? He says of him, the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. Wow, I do not want that to happen to me. I do not want Jesus Christ to go, oh, there's Rod. He makes me ashamed. How about you? I know you don't. I know you don't. So, how do we lay down our life? And what does that have to do with the days of 11 bread? The balance of the sermon today, I want to talk about that. How we're supposed to deny ourselves. And where we're going to go is actually the beginning of Mark's gospel, because Mark opens his gospel with that answer. We started in chapter 8, almost at the end, of the life of Jesus Christ. Let's pick it up in the beginning. Here's where he tells us how to lay down our life. How to deny ourselves. Mark 1, verse 1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I will send my messenger before your face, and who will prepare your way before you. So he introduces Jesus Christ by introducing John the Baptist. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John came baptizing in the wilderness, and preaching baptism and the repentance of repentance for the remission of sins. And then all of the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him, and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. But Jesus wasn't in Judea. He was in a different country at that time, called Galilee. Let's drop down to verse 9. It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. So he traveled a long way for this to happen. And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens parting in the Spirit, descending on him like a dove. Now Jesus Christ was already full of the Holy Spirit. He was God in the flesh. This is symbolic of what happens to us when we accept his sacrifice. He actually did this for our benefit, because Jesus Christ didn't actually need to repent of anything. Verse 11, and then a voice came from heaven, "...you are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." I hope that it's said of each and every one of us, "...you are my beloved Child, I am so pleased with you." It's great to have a dad say that. I know how that feels.

I can't wait to hear that for all of us. Verse 12, "...immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness, and he was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan, and he was with wild beasts." Now, it skips the whole story. The Gospel of Mark gets right to the point and skips the narrative. Some of the other Gospels actually give the account of what happened as he was fasting in the wilderness, and he was tried by Satan. Mark skips it, and he goes into verse 14, and he says, "...now after John was put into prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God." So we fast forward. Now, John's already put into prison, and I think by this point he's dead. And in verse 15, and saying, "...the time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel." This is going to be our key Scripture that we're going to take away from the Days of Unleavened Bread. Mark 1 and verse 15. The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Brethren, for you and me, the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. What does that mean for people who have already repented and believe in the Gospel? That's what we're going to talk about.

Verse 16, And he walked by the sea of Galilee, and he saw Simon and Andrew, brothers casting their net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. You know, four things stand out in these verses to me. First of all, Jesus had a very future-looking focus. He always looked towards His Second Coming. He always looked towards the end result of what was happening in His ministry while He was doing what He did. And brethren, that will help us to keep going. That will put wind in our sails. That will light a fire inside us if we keep that future in mind. What would Jesus Christ accomplish in His Second Coming? He always talked about that. Secondly, that the Spirit of God was an essential part of the process. And that ties into the next festival that we're about to have in just under 50 days, Pentecost. Because in this narrative, He was baptized, and the Holy Spirit came down on Him. And that was just an indicator that that's a big part of what has to happen here. God has to power this. And if God's not powering it, there's no way you and I can get the job done. But then, there's a couple of other things that we notice that I want to focus on in this sermon. The third thing is that the disciples' involvement required a combination of action. It required both repentance and faith. Because He said, repent and believe. And He said that often. Sometimes He said, have faith and repent. And sometimes He said, repent and believe. But He very often combined repenting with faith. As if you can't have one without the other and have it do any good. And that's exactly what it meant. And the fourth thing that we pick up from this passage is that Christ's disciples would then play a major role in the process of bringing other human beings into repentance. Removing the leavening of the Pharisees from their lives, through their example and through their proclaiming of the kingdom of God. Let's start with repentance and faith.

I gave a sermon. I've given a sermon on faithfulness, too. But I gave a sermon on what is true repentance. Mr. Jim Dove gave a series of sermons on what repentance is. So this is just a review. This is not really a practical how-to sermon. This is more of an overview sermon. Hey, hey, let's take a moment to step back and look at the horizon and see where we need to go so that we get there. Let's go back and review what does it mean, repent and believe in the gospel. Well, the word repent in Greek means to change your mind according to Thayer's dictionary. But it's more than just change your mind. It means to change one's mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence. In other words, with disgust, with regret. It's changing and being sorry. It's not one or the other because if you have one or the other alone, you're not repenting. You see, if you change but you're not really sorry, you're just going to do it again. You're simply complying on the outside, but there's no inward turning of the heart. So just changing without actually regretting what you did is useless. You will snap like a rubber band right back to your old habits, your old sins. And look at it from the other point of view. If you're really sorry for what you did and you really regret it, but you don't do anything about it, you're still in your sin and you're still sinning over and over and over and you're in a perpetual state of regret. Repentance is actually both where you absolutely abhor what you did, actually the nature that you are. You know, you don't abhor yourself. You don't abhor your habits, your likes and your dislikes, your personality, and I know some of you do. We'll talk about that in just a second. That's not what you're supposed to regret! I like snorkeling. I love to snorkel, to put on a mask and a snorkel and fins. Dive down about 30 feet and stand on the ocean floor and just let the fish go all around and look at God's nature. That's not what I repent of. That's just who I am. That's what I like to do. So what do we repent of? I know this is just a review, but we need to have this in mind always. It's our selfishness inside. It's not the actions we do on the outside. That's only a reflection of what goes on the inside. First, you think it, then you do it. You can't do it if you didn't think it, and it's the think it that we need to change. We change the think it part. We won't do it anymore. It's not what we do, it's who we are. We are selfish by nature. I want what I want, and I want it now, and I don't care who I hurt to get it, including myself.

That's what needs to change. That's what needs to die. That's the old leaven that needs to be chucked out the window. That's what Jesus Christ has covered and paid for. It's not just our sins, brethren. It's not just our actions. It's who we are. And if that doesn't change, then we're just fake Christians. We're not here for the right reason.

We're just putting on nice clothes and coming to church on what society thinks is the wrong day. But if we are changing on the inside, if that leavening is being thrown out, the inner human that was converted by sin and absolutely corrupted goes away, then we will stand with Jesus Christ and we will help other people to do the same. We will be that tree that the birds can nest in. Repentance is changing your mind with abhorrence.

It's sorrow with action.

So let's go to 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 9.

2 Corinthians 7 and verse 9.

Paul is talking to the Corinthians about a letter that he wrote to them that made them sad.

And he was glad he sent the letter. And he says of this letter, Now, I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because it caused you to repent. And there's that word, to change your mind with abhorrence. Notice how Paul describes repentance. Listen to the adjectives he uses to describe how intense repentance is. He says, Because it caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow that God wants. By the way, this is new living translation. You figured it out. Way to go.

It was the kind of sorrow that God wants his people to have. So you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow that God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. It doesn't hurt us. It's looking to the end. It keeps the big picture in mind. God has the big picture in mind. So did Jesus Christ when he spoke. Okay, yeah, it hurts. It's sort of growing pains. They hurt a little bit. We get uncomfortable. That's why he takes its step at a time. That's why the blind man's eyes weren't opened all the way, all at once. Okay? But it leads to salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. You know, we have that kind of sorrow. And then we look back and we say, I'm glad I went through that. I'm glad I had to change that. I hated losing whatever it was I lost. But I'm so glad that I had to learn that lesson.

Still in verse 10, the back half of it here, But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. Worldly sorrow, but there's no change of mind. There is no abhorrence of what we did and what we are. Worldly sorrow is self-pity. Woe is me. Oh, I'm so sorry I got into this mess. But it really wasn't my fault. Somebody else's fault. Why did God send this trial on me? Woe is me. That is worldly sorrow. That comes natural to us. That's not repentance. That doesn't lead to growth. That actually leads to death. Verse 11, just see what this godly sorrow produced in you. Now notice what repentance looks like. Such earnestness, really active in the Word of God now and in the Church. Such concern to clear yourselves, really morally straight and wanting to do the right thing. Such indignation, which is anger, but it's not angry at other people. It's angry at what you did. It's actually abhorring who you are, the selfish side of you, that's warring inside the good side of you, that God is building. Such alarm! I mean, and you want it now, the change that is. You are ready to go! Such longing to see me, the big picture. Such zeal, the diligence to serve other people. The selflessness that comes when we repent. And such readiness to punish wrong in yourself, to take responsibility. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right. That's repentance. How many of us need to repent? Do you remember?

Remember when Paul was standing in Athens in front of the idol of the Unknown God, and he was proclaiming the Gospel to a people who weren't really open to the Gospel, but loved to hear new things. So he presented the Gospel from their point of view. And what did he tell them? Acts 17, verse 30.

Acts 17, verse 30. Truly, these times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Who's not included in all?

I'm certainly included in all. I'm pretty sure you are, too. Because he appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he ordained, he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. And he told them that you are going to face judgment one day, and you are going to have to stand before God, and you are going to have to repent. But, brethren, we have to do that now. Now, is God pleased with you?

He's pleased with us when we follow him. He's displeased with us when we argue with him. In fact, I imagine that he deeply sighs sometimes, like Jesus Christ did with the Pharisees, when they came up to him and asked him for a sign. Do you constantly go to God and ask him to bless me, bless me, bless me? But you don't ask him to change me, change me, change me? Let me be more like you. Let me glorify you on this earth a little better today than I did yesterday.

Why do all men need to repent? Why do you and I need to repent? Psalm 14, verse 2. Psalm 14, verse 2.

New Living Translation. King David writes this down. Psalm 14, verse 2. The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race. He looks to see if anyone is truly wise.

If anyone seeks God. This is such a Dayzil 11 bread scripture. But no, verse 3, all have turned away. All have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one.

Of ourselves, we cannot do good. That's why we need to repent. And then God helps us to do good.

But faith is also required. Remember back in Mark 1, verse 15. He said, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Why is that? Because if we do not believe, brethren, we will not change. If we do not believe, we will not take Jesus Christ in. You see, for seven days, we were supposed to have been eating unleavened bread.

Throwing the leavening out represents repenting. And we did that. And we need to be reminded of that every year. But eating the unleavened bread symbolizes faith. We don't just take the unleavened bread and hold it in our hand, and feel it, and observe it, and smell it, and set it back down. But instead, we internalize it. We eat it. And it becomes part of us. As we digest it, and the nutrients from that bread goes into our body, that unleavened bread becomes us. And that is exactly the symbol of faith. Our part in that is faith. God's part. He does the heavy lifting. He's the one that puts the will in us to do good. He's the one who helps us. What is our part? Faith! You don't just hold Jesus Christ and go, yeah, I agree. We need to be like Him. You are to take Him in. You are to trust Him. You are to do everything He says to do. Everything the Bible says. We are to agree with and not argue with one bit. And brethren, I see us argue with God constantly. Yes, we do. You don't even see it sometimes. I scratch my head at some of the practices that we have, and we think we're following God. The Bible says one thing. We do the complete opposite, especially in how we treat each other, especially there.

How do we get out of that? How do we treat each other better? How do we follow God better? Well, absolutely agree with Him. What is that? That's faith! And absolutely try to do everything He says to do. Eat the unleavened bread. Take it in. Let it become part of you. Yeah, you have to repent. You have to be sorry for who you are. But that in and of itself is not enough. You actually have to take the unleavened bread in. And that is faith. Trust Him. Trust Him. Everything He says, do. And then trust Him to do the rest. Because on your own, you can't do it anyway. He will help you. And that takes faith.

Because we don't like to hear that. There is a part of us, and it's still in me. I can still feel it. And I wish it was gone, and one day it will be. But there's still that part in all of us that says, Don't tell me what to do. I'll figure it out myself. I don't need help. I'll do it myself.

No. We need help. We do. Hebrews 11, verses 1-6. Verse 6 being the key verse here. Hebrews 11, verse 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.

You know, some people struggle with, Does God exist? They're agnostic. They just throw their hands off. I don't know. Evolutionists have one argument, and creationists have another argument.

That is such a simple argument. Simple. But it's still... You know, it doesn't require faith to actually believe that God exists. Requires faith to actually do what God says to do.

But if you struggle, you're not baptized yet, you struggle with whether or not God exists, that's a completely different conversation. And I would be glad to have it with you. It's such an easy conversation. I can point you in the right direction to the books to read or the videos to watch, that will show you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the universe had a beginning, was designed. It's impossible for it to have happened by chance, not possible.

So much so, there's so much proof that God exists. Things that are unseen by the things that are seen.

It's so overwhelming that it's ridiculous to believe the opposite. But if you have never been presented the evidence, and in our school systems, they don't present the evidence. In fact, they mock the evidence so that you would actually be embarrassed to go look it up. Well, I'm not ignorant, so I'm not going to go look it up. It's actually ignorant. Go look it up, and you'll find out how absolutely ridiculous it is to not believe that God exists.

That's not actually enough faith. It says in another place, even the demons believe that. Even the enemies of God believe He exists. That's easy. Let's read on. Hebrews 11, verse 2. For by the elders obtained a good testimony. By it, faith, that is. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, and the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Which is clear and very simple to prove. It's very simple to prove, but we have to take it on faith. Why do we have to take it on faith? Well, neither you or I, nor anybody else on this planet, was alive when the universe began. We didn't see it! We weren't there, so we have to take it on faith. But you can take it on faith that God created it, or you can take it on faith that nothing turned into something and exploded. And then that expanded for billions of years, and cooled and formed this ball of goo. And this ball of goo miraculously formed now, scientifically formed water, a gooey puddle of water, and lightning struck, and two amino acids came together, and bam! You had the first protein! Then lightning struck again. Can't even have happened! It's been proven that that can't happen. It can happen! Amino acids either exist in oxygen or without oxygen. I don't want to even get into it. It's not possible.

But you have to take it on faith. You just have to take it on blind, ridiculous faith, if you believe in evolution, or a little bit of faith because you weren't there to believe in God. But the fact of the matter is, we weren't there, were we? Not one of us was. So you have to take it on faith. That's not enough faith. That's not what Paul is talking about here. So by faith, we understand the worlds were framed in the Word of God so that the things that are seen were not made by things which are visible. Faith, by faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts, and through it, he being dead still speaks. We still speak of Abel today because of what he did by faith.

By faith, Enoch was taken away from us that he did not see death. Now, it doesn't mean he didn't die. It means he didn't die in front of the people that he was preaching to because God took him away and gave him a retirement. And it was not found because God had taken him away, for before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. And I'm sure that made plenty of people in that violent age very angry. And God protected Enoch because he was a preacher of righteousness. But without faith, verse 6, it is impossible to please him. You can't just repent. You can't just walk out of the days of 11 bread and say, I abhor what I am, selfishly, not who I am, but the selfish nature inside me. I abhor it, and I will change. And think you're going to change anything, because you're not. You don't have that much strength. So you're going to have to rely on Jesus Christ and on God the Father to get you through that. This coming year, you're going to have to repent of a lot of things about who you are. You're going to see more of who you are than you previously saw. Your eyes will be opened more, and you will have to repent. But that's not enough. You can't just stop there. You also have to trust God to help you overcome what you saw. You have to take Jesus Christ in and trust Him to make you into what He is. Someone who's kind. Someone who doesn't revile back. Someone who loves unconditionally. That is easier said than done. With men, it is impossible. Verse 6 again, But without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For He who comes to God must believe that He is, but that's not enough, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And that is the Days of Unleavened Bread message. God is a rewarder, and He will reward you and me with His loving golden character. If we diligently seek Him.

It requires faith. It requires eating the unleavened bread. How much faith? Remember when Philip was told by the Holy Spirit to approach the Ethiopian? An Ethiopian has come to Judea to learn about God, and he's sitting reading out loud the book of Isaiah. And God, through His Holy Spirit, tells Philip, go talk to that guy. So Philip runs up and talks to him. And we'll pick it up here in Acts 8, verse 35. Acts 8, verse 35. And then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. So he's reading Isaiah, and he tells the Ethiopian, Isaiah is about Jesus, which it is.

Verse 36, Now they went down to the road, and they came near the water. And the eunuch said, See, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized? You know what Philip told him? That he had to believe, which is what we read in Mark, the very first chapter in Mark, verse 15. But he added to it as to how much he was supposed to believe. It wasn't halfway or even three-quarters of the way. It was with your whole heart. The Ethiopian said, All I believe, and he got baptized. He gave his life to God. How much faith? Your whole heart. You have to be all in or you're all out.

But the days of Unleavened Bread, we understand, are given by grace. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is a gift that we didn't earn and we don't deserve. And, as a result, we are required to do something back in return. We are supposed to give back. We are not just supposed to repent and have faith. There's one more thing we're supposed to do, and that is to share. If we were freely given, we are to freely give. We are to share it. Notice Ephesians 2 and verse 8. Ephesians 2 and verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. And if it's a gift, you're supposed to share it. You're supposed to share it. How do we share our gift?

Do we go around and knock on people's doors? It's not necessarily anything wrong with that. But it is considered uncouth in our society. Paul didn't do that. Paul didn't go to people's individual homes and knock on their door and say, do you know the Lord?

Where did he go? He went to a place where people were interested in hearing about religion or philosophy or something new. Where people were ready to hear the Word and then he spoke.

That's why we're not door knockers. I don't disrespect those people that go around and knock on doors. I just think they're spinning their wheels.

That's why we don't do it. So how do you share what has been given to you?

Do you remember Matthew 8 when we were there in verse 38? He said, He said, Whoever is ashamed of me in my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of when He comes, which do you love more? Your reputation in a sinful and adulterous generation or your reputation with God and Jesus Christ. Which one matters more? Or let me ask you this, which one's going to last? Which one's going to go away in a poof, blink and it's gone?

Why do we seek the praise of men? Why do we mute the gospel of God when we're asked and when somebody's interested? Why don't we just say, I was worshipping God. Where were you? Monday. Worshipping God.

What? Easter's was Sunday.

Yeah, but we keep the days on that in bread that are in the Biddicas, Chapter 23. Those are God's Holy Days. You do? Well, tell me about it. Okay, I will.

That's how we share. Do you mute that? I've muted it before. I'm not judging you. Jesus Christ is. He's watching. Are you ashamed of me?

He says, I died for you. I'm alive for you. I give the Spirit of God to you. And you're embarrassed? No, brethren, don't be embarrassed. Share what you have been given. Abhor the selfish nature that's in you. And trust God and do everything that he says. And share it with other people.

At the end of Matthew's Gospel account, the very last thing that Matthew said about his time with Jesus Christ was that he was inspired to write. You know, if you're going to sum something up, it's going to be pretty important. This is what Matthew was inspired to write at the end. Matthew 28. The last three verses that he wrote, at least that we have recorded, Matthew 28. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, He is now the rightful King of kings and Lord of lords. He's our high priest. He's the captain of our salvation. He is the boss.

He's gone through the crucifixion, and he's been resurrected. And now it's green light. It's go time. And what are his orders to us? Go, you therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them, sharing what you've been given as a free gift you now give away, teaching them to do what? Have faith. Notice this. To observe all things that I have commanded you. And that's what the Days of Unleavened Bread are about. Taking it in. Taking what in? Everything that he said. Everything that he is, and making it part of you. And that's what we're supposed to help other people do. Repent and have faith and share it with others. We're not to accost people. We're not to assault them. Have you heard of the Lord? If they're busy and they're thinking about something else, you will just get a blank stare. The Apostle Paul didn't do that. We have a lot of record of how he preached the gospel. And he went to places where people were ready to hear about God. You share the gospel of God by becoming like God. By treating other people well, especially when they don't treat you well. And you take it patiently. And they, or somebody else that saw, says, where do you go to church? What are you all about? And you have shared the gospel. And then you teach. And what do you teach? You teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you, he says. And then he gives some major encouragement. He says, And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And he's still with us. And he will always be with us. Through thick and thin, through trial and through good times, he's with us. He will protect us. He will guide us. He will help us to grow. He will help us to share the good news.

He's with us.

So at sundown today, the days of leavened bread will be over. And we will partake of the last symbol of these holy days. And that is leavened bread.

Because leavening doesn't just symbolize sin. As I've said many times, leavening was originally a fermentation. And the Apostle Paul talked about it, a little leavening, leavening the whole lump. It takes over, and it completely changes the grain it goes into. Completely changes it. It takes away the brand. The brand is completely dissolved. Actually neutralizes the protein, which is called gluten. The Celiac Foundation for Children did a study on whole grain fermented bread. And they fermented it long enough, eight hours or more, like 12 hours. There was actually no detectable gluten in the bread. Whole grain bread was actually gluten-free. If it was leavened, because it was completely consumed.

Now, there was still protein in the bread, but the protein was broken down into a different form. It was no longer identifiable as gluten.

It was completely changed into something different. And that's what sin does to us. When we sin, we are completely changed into something absolutely unacceptable by God. And it's not enough. You can't take the leavening out. You have to throw it away. And then you take in the humility that is Jesus Christ. You repent. And you take in a very scouring, whole grain bread that has not been fermented. It will clean you out. It will not. All the bran, all the gluten, all through your body.

And then, the days of unleavened bread are over. And we eat something leavened. Something fluffy. Something delicious. Pizza. Burgers. Donuts. Oh, yes. Yes. Cinnamon rolls bear claws.

That have been completely converted. Because that is the symbolism. Actually, I looked it up. Symbology is actually a word. Go figure! I said, symbology? What was that? The Sabbath? Or the first holiday? First holiday? And I said, oh, that's not a word. It's going to be one of those days. It actually is a word. It's not used anymore. But the symbolism of the days of unleavened bread are, you throw the old man out. Jesus Christ cleans you up. Miraculously, that no human being could do. And you become a new lump. And that lump becomes completely converted by God. So don't say, I'm going to go eat sin. That's not what leaven at the end of days of unleavened bread symbolizes. It symbolizes perfection. It symbolizes a new being, completely converted and nothing like the old self.

What an amazing analogy.

Jesus Christ is our Passover. He cleans us. He delevens us.

We have to be ready to receive God's conversion. We are to overcome. And the way we do that, as we walk through the symbols today, we walk through the narrative in Mark chapter 8, where he fed the people and the disciples didn't quite get it. And then he healed the blind man, but he didn't quite see. And then he told them that he was going to die, and they rebuked him. And they didn't quite grow enough yet, because it's a process. It's a process. And that's what the days of unleavened bread symbolizes. The conversion process. Our job, difficult as it is, is pretty simple. We need to repent. Not as the world is sorry, but as God expects, to absolutely abhor that selfishness that's inside us. And turn away from it. That's not enough. Then we take in everything that God says to do, and we don't disagree with one thing. The second you disagree with the Scripture, you've disagreed with God. Satan gets you in the little areas. Well, that's old stuff. We don't do that anymore. As soon as you do that, you're disagreeing with God. You take in everything that God says to do. And if it doesn't make sense to you, trust that you're wrong, not God. That God knows what he's doing.

I used to wonder why God required stoning for murder and for rape. Two things that God did not allow mercy when he had ancient Israel come into the land. He would not allow mercy for two crimes. Other crimes you could show mercy for.

Two crimes you could not murder and rape.

But the penalty was horrific. Absolutely horrific. And I thought, wow, it kind of makes me uncomfortable, you know, to explain that. Because you've got to tie the guy down to the ground, and then take a big rock and throw it on his chest. And the first blow might not kill him. Ew.

Right? Kind of make your skin crawl. Do you question God, or you go, I'm wrong. He's right. What's right about that? And then you study world history, and you study human nature, and you look at how depraved we are. You know, there are still places in the world where they take little girls and they sell them in the sex trade. They're not people. They have no rights. There are parts of the world where they just come in to your village and kill all the men and take all the women. Human nature is just dark. And then you realize there needs to be a penalty for that, and that penalty needs to make an impression. And, boy, howdy, you tie somebody to the ground? And the accuser, the family that was hurt, has to throw the stone. Oh, it's not an executioner. It's not, you know, take him up to the stage and the guy in the black mask with a big axe chops his head off. Clean, it's over, it's done. Uh-uh. Grandma comes over, help me with this rock, will you? Ah! Boom! That didn't do it, Granny. Somebody else is going to have to come in and finish the job. And it is a horrific scene. It's terrifying, and it has to be done publicly. The entire community had to watch it. Probably only once. And then they didn't do that anymore. And when you study, you realize how wise God is. Wow! God wasn't wrong. I was wrong. How much of the Word of God do we take in? All of it. That's the faith we need to have. What did Philip say? With all your heart. You don't hold anything back. You just absolutely trust God. You just absolutely trust His Word. There's not very many things that are absolute in this world. In fact, you will be ridiculed if you absolutely trust anything. Our society is so multicultural, so tolerant, that nothing actually stands for anything. And here you are, a beacon of light in that world. And that beacon can be pretty bright and make people pretty uncomfortable. But you have to be absolute in your faith. So you repent, and you are absolute in your faith, with your whole heart taking in God, and trusting everything that He says. And even that's not enough. And then you share. You share what you were given. So that when Jesus Christ returns, He doesn't say, I'm ashamed of you. He says, that's my family right there. Have I introduced you to, and put your name right there? Because that's what Jesus Christ is looking for. Brothers and sisters who will wholeheartedly repent and have faith in Him, and share it with the world.