On the 15th day of the 1st month God gave Israel their marching orders. Get out of Egypt and never look back!

Numbers 33:2-4 they marched out boldly, triumphantly… with a high hand.

Leviticus 23:6 we are told to remember this picture of victory and redemption from the bondage of sin with a holy gathering… a time for instruction about the meaning of this day.

Then for 7 days we are to eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth made without yeast. This yeast is a picture of the sin that permeates human society, and human beings. So, we have a week long exercise in removing sin and replacing it with righteousness.

This same biblical festival remains for those who have entered into the new covenant 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. This festival of unleavened bread is all about leaving behind sin and entering into righteousness Colossians 3:5-10.

SPS today we are going to coming out of sin, leaving it behind, and not looking back!

Leaving Sin

Just as Israel was commanded by God to march boldly out of Egypt… you have been told [and are being reminded today] to come out of sin. Sin is violations of God holy perfect commandments… but beyond actions and trespasses, sin is also a way of thinking and acting that has no positive future.

It has no future because through sin you have become separated from God… and separated from the tree of life… cut off from the potential of entering eternal existence. So, you need to get back into a right relation to God… but that means you have to leave some things behind.

Leaving Egypt

Hebrews 11:24-29 Moses left Egypt with all the people who had formerly been slaves. They had very little to lose. This was not so with Moses. He had to leave behind many pleasures.  

Sin has its rewards! It can be very satisfying to the flesh. Consider the big 3: sex, power, wealth. As a prospective prince of Egypt Moses gave up all of these. None of the big 3 are evil in and of themselves the problem is abuse… the problem is the meaning and importance human beings inject into these.

What makes sex, or positions of authority, or wealth a place where sin develops is the selfishness, the vanity, and the lust we have in our thoughts when we think about sex, or power, or wealth. Sin is futility, darkness, and a dead end street

50. Sex, power, and wealth -- do not last
50. Selfishness, vanity, and lust -- are never satisfied [more, more, more]

Somehow Moses saw through the curtain and realized all this does not last.

Babylon, Sodom, and Egypt are all cities… vast humanly devised systems of culture, commerce, and education. An all consuming society confronting us at every turn. There is nowhere to hide. Yet, God’s call is to come out of come out and leave it behind.

John 17:13-17 this coming is means escaping a way of thinking rather than hiding in the desert somewhere. It’s a way of thinking that puts you at odds with society, and puts you in conflict with the powers of spiritual wickedness at work in the world. It is a way of thinking that sets you apart because it it based on God’s word.

Slavery To Sin

Our understanding of Israel’s experience in Egypt includes the element of slavery… being trapped!

John 8:34 the word translated slavery here is doulos. It means one who is in bondage as a slave against their will. In Jesus’ day it was also used to describe a person who consciously offered themselves up to serve another as a slave or bond-servant for a wage.

Certain aspects of sin in this world are foisted upon us through ignorance, either our own ignorance, or the general ignorance of God all around us. Other aspects of sin are those that come about because of choice.

All of us have in some form chosen to serve, lust, greed, anger, vanity and the like. These may feel good for a time… but over time sin proves to be a hard driving master. Sin never gives any lasting reward for your efforts… sin is never satisfied… it always wants more.

Not only does sin enslave it punishes… bringing sorrow, regret, anguish, loneliness, physical injury, sickness, anxiety, frustration, and hopelessness.

Galatians 5:1 you can turn away from the negative dead end that is sin through Christ. He sets you free… AND you must never turn back!

We Must Do Our Part

Moses made a choice and left Egypt… Israel took some work. It took some convincing from Moses, and many mighty miracles from God before Israel thought it was even possible to escape.

God told Israel… rise up and leave this place [Egypt].  But, He did not whisk them away on a cloud, they had to walk out on their own two feet. In the same manner when we hear God’s voice [through His word, through His Church, Through His ministry] we have to do something!

Christ is the door. He opens it… we have to walk through it!

Through Christ, God makes your escape from sin possible… but we must do our part!

To observe the 7 days of unleavened bread involves:

50. Doing certain things… eating unleavened bread… put on righteousness
50. Not doing certain things… not eating leavened bread… avoid sin

These 7 days of unleavened bread are a picture, and a reminder, of the part we must fulfill in God’s plan of salvation. We must rise up, take action, walk through the door of our cage which has been left open… and leave behind the sin which so easily ensnares us.

Exodus 12:15, 19 anyone in Israel who refused to put the leaven out… or who ate leavened bread instead of  unleavened was cut off… they would not be part of God’s chosen people and holy nation… separated from God… cut off from access to the tree of life and any hope of entering into eternal life.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 God will not allow anyone who does not repent and forsake sin to have any part in the Kingdom of God. Not overcoming sin cuts you off from achieving your potential… Sin is to MISS THE MARK, to miss the target… to fail.

Hebrews 12:1 You have been washed, sanctified, and you must make every effort to stay that way!

The 7 days of unleavened bread are your reminder to do your part

Sin Wants You Back

Just as Egypt is a picture of a culture, society and whole system of living based on false ideas… Pharaoh is a picture of Satan… He wants you to stay serving him Exodus 14:5-8.

Baptized you may be… but every one of us will be pursued by Satan just as Pharaoh chased after Israel.

Mailing - we are sorry to see you go… we want you back.

50. To help you make up your mind we are making you a special offer -- INSTANT REWARDS!
50. This Father God and His Son Jesus you’ve gone off to follow… everything they offer you “someday” or “in the future” or “when I come back”… wouldn’t you rather  have a little something for yourself right now ?
50. Come back to us TODAY and we’ll have your dopamine receptors firing like never before
50. But wait, there’s more: you’ll also get 3 free delicious bottles of lust, vanity, and pride.
50. Simply say yes today… and all this can be yours!
50. Caution: effects are temporary, side-effects include: regret, anxiety, hopelessness,and permanent death

Turn back and you’ll have given up something lasting and eternal for something that last only a few short years. The 7 days of unleavened bread are your reminder to stay on course.

Don’t Look Back

Numbers 11:4-5 Israel started to look back fondly and longingly at the pleasure part of living in Egypt and seemed to forget the hardness of their bondage even to the point of saying “let’s go back”.

Numbers 14:1-4, 33 Israel were punished for:

50. Not wanting to go forward
50. Wanting to go back to Egypt

Which is like:

50. Not wanting to put on righteousness
50. Wanting to continue in sin

For the 7 days of unleavened bread the righteousness we are to put on is seen in the unleavened bread we should make a point of eating… the sin we do not want to go back to is the leavened bread we avoid.

Let’s use this feast of unleavened bread as a reminder and encouragement to leave and utterly forsake sin and never look back!

Going Back Has Consequences

2 Peter 2:20-22

Luke 9:62 what if God gave you eternal life… and then you began to look back fondly… longingly at the ways of this world… perhaps even wanting to revive some of the “pleasures” you once knew.

God will not allow that in His kingdom… if you do not develop the spiritual character now… leave sin behind… then you will not be fit for the kingdom of God.

But He also won’t allow that for you own good. Because sin really does have negative side effects: sorrow, loneliness, frustration, anxiety, and more. Your loving Father does not want children living in eternal misery.

Titus 2:11-15