Make No Provision for the Flesh

As you know, last night we started the seven days of Unleavened Bread, the feast. These feasts are, as it says in Colossians 2, 17, I'm reading from the living Bible version, a foreshadowing of things to come. In other words, they symbolize prophetic events in the future.

Unfortunately, many translations have it as something negative, like these feasts are a kind of a shadow that doesn't have validity, but actually the term in that verse is a positive term, grammatically speaking. It's talking about something wonderful. That's why it says it's things to come, which is something... It's not talking about negative things. It's talking about very positive things. So let's look at the physical and spiritual meaning of this first feast of days of Unleavened Bread.

Now, when you study the first day of Unleavened Bread, it has two main parts to this feast. Let's go to Exodus 12. God had this in mind even before the time of the Exodus, because he was going to reveal in his time these feasts to his people in that plan of salvation that he's carrying out. In Exodus 12, finally the time comes where God is going to form a nation of Israel, a people that he's calling out of the world.

And he says in Exodus 12 in verse 15, he says, Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whomever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

That meant that in physical Israel, somebody was eating leavening during those seven days and caught, in a sense, and it wasn't out of ignorance. He was doing it intentionally. He had to go before the judges. They had to determine the guilt. But it says here that if that person was rebellious and did not want to obey God, he was taken outside and he was stoned to death.

And maybe some people, oh, how harsh it is. Well, how many thousands of criminals do we have committing murder all the time? And people get away with things. Well, in Israel, God wanted to set an example. And who's going to be number two?

I doubt there's going to be a number two that's going to rebel in that way. And so God meant business for his people. Now, in a spiritual sense, again, in the spirit of rebellion, where a person is not going to keep the feast and knowingly just breaks it and doesn't follow God, spiritually he's cut off from his people. That doesn't mean permanently, but it does mean God severs. You better come back. You better repent. Because if not, you're left to the world to just drift into the world. And of course, God will always be there and he'll try to help you. But you've got to do your part.

God's not going to do our part. And so it continues where it says here, notice what we just read in verse 15. The first thing it says is, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. That's the first thing. So eating unleavened bread is the first commandment. So a person can say, oh, I've removed the leavening, but I'm not going to eat unleavened bread. Well, you're breaking that commandment. You have to do both things. And of course, all of this is not just physical.

It also, in the New Testament, has the spiritual elements to it. Notice in verse 16, it goes on to say, on the first day, there shall be a holy convocation. That's what we're doing today. And that's why it's very different from what the world does. If you look at the churches and many ways they gather together and in many places, it's very informal.

It's just everybody with blue jeans and usually a preacher too or preacher-et, whatever is this way. For us, it's a holy convocation. And so it is something that we come respectfully. If you went before the president of the United States, would you just come in blue jeans and a t-shirt?

I doubt it. We shouldn't. We should respect the office. And so how much greater is God in heaven and Jesus Christ? So they're inviting us here. Now we can't overdo the thing either. Go to the extreme where it's so solemn that you have to wear all the black dresses and men have to be that way, like some of the different Millerites or others. They still wear all of this very formal dress.

You can go to extremes as human beings often do. But then it goes on to say, And on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat that only may be prepared. So that means you can prepare your food during that day these days. You don't have to eat everything cold.

But again, it shouldn't be just a heavy cooking and having a banquet where you're going to be tired and the ladies are going to be exhausted either. So you shall observe the feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. All these peoples, multitudes. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. So this ordinance means law. And this is going to be binding all the time and even when Christ comes in the millennium. It tells us about the feast of Unleavened Bread. People are going to learn about it. We won't have a few hundred people meeting. It will eventually be millions of people with God's people overseeing this as spirit beings. One day you will be teaching these human leaders how to keep these feasts. It says, verse 18, in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, here it's talking about the sunset period ending the fourteenth. He says, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. And you can count it with your fingers. So, okay, the Passover day finishes at evening. The fifteenth is the first day. The sixteenth is the second day. The second day, the seventeenth is the third day. The eighteenth is the fourth day. The nineteenth is the fifth day. Then the twentieth is the sixth day. And then the twenty-first is the last day. So, God knows His math. It tells us from the fifteenth to the end of the twenty-first.

And then it says, For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. God is serious when He talks about this. Now, again, people can do that. But if you knowingly already have received the knowledge of the truth, and you are not out of ignorance, but out of the intentionality that you are going that way, you're going to get in trouble with God.

It says, So we see here the two aspects of it. The first is the eating of unleavened bread. The second one, avoiding all leavened products.

Notice in Exodus 12.33, the meaning of this day, why unleavened bread is so important. Exodus 12.33, it says, So this happened on the 14th, after the death angel killed every firstborn. And not only firstborn human, firstborn animal. And so, to me, that's very important because this 10th plague was something so miraculously that nothing can explain it. As you've probably, if you ever read history, they say, oh well, the blood in the Nile, well it just got contaminated, had a red tide go through there, and then it killed the fish, and then of course all the frogs had to get out and fill the people's homes and everything. And of course they got killed, all the frogs, and so then you had a lot of flies. I mean, nobody ever has gone through some of these things. With a flood, you go through that. This was the whole nation. And then afterwards, after the fourth plague, God miraculously, he intervenes and mentions about the Israelites being protected. So now you've got a geographical area that doesn't have that. But how are you going to explain the 10th plague, where every firstborn person dies? Oh, this was a special plague. It just killed the firstborn. No, it hasn't happened in history. And it killed all the cattle that were firstborn, and dogs too, and pets. And so God was showing, you know, this isn't some natural phenomenon. But of course you've got this liberal world which tried to explain everything away. And it's very sad, because many churches teach those type of things. But anyways, it goes on to say what happened in Exodus 12, 33 and 34. I'm reading. It says, so the people took the dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. And then it goes on to say in verse 39, And they baked unleavened bread cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt. For it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. And they had to leave everything behind. The only thing they carried were those bowls with unleavened bread. And so it talks about leaving Egypt immediately. And so when God calls the person, He begins telling people, you have to leave that false system.

God calls us to follow His way with the knowledge that we receive. In other words, in haste. Notice in Deuteronomy 16. Deuteronomy 16 in verse 3.

God explains everything in His book. It says in verse 3, You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it. That is, the bread of affliction. For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. That you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrificed the first at twilight remain overnight until morning.

So we get that clear. This is talking about, again, the first lesson, which is about leaving Egypt spiritually. It had to be in haste.

That's a physical meaning when the Jews are asked, well, why do we keep days of unleavened bread? Well, they say, well, because they didn't have time to leaven their bread. And so, yes, that's true, but that's just the physical meaning behind it.

Notice in Exodus 13, the second physical meaning, Exodus 13, 3 through 10. And you'll see in a moment how it all ties together. Exodus 13, 3 through 10.

It says, And Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. On this day you're going out in the month of Abib.

And it shall be when the Lord brings you out in the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and all the others which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, This is done because of what the Lord did for me, when I came up from Egypt. So here's another meaning. It's not just, Oh, well, didn't have time. We had to leave. No, the whole thing here is what God did for me. He saved me. He saved us in this way. And that has to do with eating leavened bread. The first lesson, which is something God does for us.

This is done because of what the Lord did for me, when I came up from Egypt. Shall be assigned to you on your hand, and as a memorial between your eyes. And that only means this is very close to you. The hand is something very active, as well as your eyes, which you have to keep this in your mind, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand, the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year. We're not. Allow to change the different dates on these things.

And so the spiritual meaning is what first the eternal did for me. He called us, and we left not out of our own strength. We eat unleavened bread, symbolizing the unleavened bread from heaven that came down. And it's a work that involves a team. God the Father, Jesus Christ, ourselves, and the brethren. Those are the ones that are involved here. Notice John 6, verse 32. John 6, verse 32, what Christ revealed at that time. They all thought the manna was the great miracle done in the past, and they had Jesus Christ among them. And so Jesus Christ said in John 6, 32, and Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, because that was just a physical bread, the manna. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is He, talking about Himself, who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. In verse 48, it says, Christ said, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. That was just physical food. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. Because having God's Spirit, eventually you will be resurrected as a spirit being.

He goes on to say, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. So this connects to the Feast of the Passover, where He is that unleavened bread that we eat, which is the way we project into the future our faithfulness and Christ and God the Father working in us to where we will one day have eternal life. That's the process. He goes on to say in verse 53, Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. It's not talking about right now, but He's saying this is what we're doing when we are partaking of the Passover.

And so again, eating of unleavened bread symbolizes what God has done for us, Jesus Christ participating in His way of life and being part of the fellowship which He has placed us in His body, which is the Church. The second part is not what we eat. It's what we shun during that time. While we eat unleavened bread, we shun all leavening, which is symbolic of sin. Notice in Romans 13, Romans 13 verse 14, it says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the process, unleavened bread, the symbol of Jesus Christ's sinless nature, which He gave His life for us. But notice, it's not only eating unleavened bread, it's also avoiding leavened bread and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. The term provision just means you don't provide a space for that to act in our lives. So we eat unleavened bread and avoid leavened bread. Notice in 1 Corinthians 5, Christ talks about the Corinthians. They're ready to keep the Passover and days of unleavened bread when He wrote this letter to them. It says in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7 and 8, it says, Since you truly are unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. That's how we become unleavened. And again, what God has done for us. We should never think that's something that we earn.

Verse 8, Therefore let us keep the feast. These are the eight days Passover and the seven days of unleavened bread. Let us keep the feast not with old leaven, not with the old lifestyle, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so we have a part to do as well, of putting on Christ, but we have to also have that sincerity and follow God's truth in our lives, as mentioned in the first message. For seven days, we are to avoid leavened products as a symbol of avoiding sin for the rest of our lives. And this is very serious before God. When a person is young, they still have a very superficial view of sin. Most think it's not so serious. You know, a little bit of sin won't hurt me.

But as you grow in age and spiritually, as we should, we become more aware of those hidden corners of our human nature. And how wickedness is still there, that we have to root out. As Psalm 19, verse 12, David said, show me my secret sins. So, you know, we always have this little corner somewhere. Oh, I still got to get rid of that. Still there in my life. I've got to clean that little corner. Get it out. It's a process of spiritually maturing. I certainly, when I started in the truth at 18, I had no idea how much I had to overcome. How many things of my human nature get to know and have to root out things? We all do.

And the apostles viewed this rooting out in a very serious, they were deadly serious, and grave about it. No pussy-footing. No, no, none of this. Oh, Jesus just loves you. And that's okay. Nobody's perfect. You can just go along in life, and everything will be done by Jesus. That's a satanic message. Because look at what the apostles said. Did they take sin lightly? Notice in Romans 8, verse 12. Romans 8, verse 12.

And we're going to look at that spiritual 11. Romans 8, verse 12. It says, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. So, putting to death is not something light. It means really rooting it out. Removing it from your thoughts and attitudes. In Galatians chapter 5, verse 16. Galatians 5, verse 16. Paul speaking here again. He says, I say then, walk in the Spirit. In other words, let God's Spirit be in you and guide you. 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. So these are powerful, dark forces fighting in us. But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law, talking about the penalty of the law. Christ, the Unleavened Bread from heaven. He's the one that forgives us, and we're no longer having to pay that death penalty. He says, now the works of the flesh, these are part of the leavening agents of the world, are evident, which are adultery. There's certainly so much of that going around. That is a type of leavening, of lusting after other people that are not part of your own flesh and bone. Fornication, which has to do now with singles getting involved in that leavening. Adultery is for people married, and fornication is for single people. He says, uncleanness, so it's an unclean mind. We have to maintain the purity of mind. Alludeness, which is again lustful thoughts, and let them control you. Idolatry might be somebody there praying over some idol or something else that you think is more important, that you have to do. Saucyry, which is black magic and all kinds of going to the devil. That's certainly leavening. Hatred, so if we develop hatred, bad and dark thoughts, hating others. And contentions, different type of very hostile, aggressive type of spirit. Jealousy that can control a person. They're just completely absorbed by their insecurities in such a way that they're just always thinking about somebody's doing this to me. And they want the other person more than me. And then outbursts of wrath. Having temper tantrums, as we would call them today, and trigger finger type of anger. Anger, selfish ambitions, the seeking of power and fame and that type of thing about me. Dissensions, sowing seed or discord among the brethren causing divisions and heresies or false teachings. Envy, which is similar to sorcery or rather jealousy, which causes so much damage. Envy is one of the worst type of sins possible because that's the first one that we saw that Cain and Abel, brothers together. Envy led Cain to kill his brother Abel.

And then murders get to the point where you want to kill somebody and actually carry it out. Drunkenness, where you can't control the bottle and it just controls you. Reveries, which are wild parties and all this stuff that you're involved in. And the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So people can get away these things, but they're not headed toward the kingdom of God. They're headed toward condemnation. And so that's why God created these days to look at the leavening and realize, wow, it's so easy to look at those nice pastries out there and oh, look how much I can eat and that looks so good. But it's the same way in sin. This society is full of it and it's multiplying. It's getting worse all the time.

I don't even know what artificial intelligence is going to do with new temptations and distractions that people have to resist. And just like this is the leavened bread, then we have the unleavened bread, spiritually talking. In verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. In other words, nothing that produces these things goes against God's law.

And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Again, deadly, serious about it. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let's show the fruits an example. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another, which again is part of part and parcel. That's not only outside the world, it's inside too. This type of conceit and so much damages in the church. When people just get a swelled head and then provoking one another, causing divisions and envying one another and joshing for this or that. So, that's what Paul is talking about here.

Notice in Galatians, I mean, we already have Galatians. Let's go to Colossians, just a little bit farther in the Bible. Colossians chapter 3 verse 5.

Again, do we see mild expressions here, or very serious ones? Colossians 3 verse 5, it says, Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication and cleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now, you yourselves are to put off all these things. So, yeah, there's a lot of very serious sins in the sense of their effect, fornication and cleanness.

But then he says, well, you have to get rid of these other, they might not look as serious, but they're still very much so. It says, but put yourselves all these. Anger, wrath, malice, which means bad intentions, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who has renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

Again, Christ is our unleavened bread. So, I'm finishing this section. I know it's strong, but it's part of the Scriptures, and we need to at least go through it on the first day of unleavened bread, of all the moments when we're talking about we put out the leavening. And you know how hard it is to try to get rid of the leavening. Sometimes it's just way out there in a crack someplace, or inside. The car, guys usually are there vacuuming, and it's just, you know, it's impossible to get rid of every little piece. It's a lesson for us. Notice in 2 Peter what Peter talks about as well.

2 Peter 1, verse 3. This is what he describes the world as. He says, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Just basically it's a blanket statement. Just so much lust out there cause us to lust. And there are three types of this type of leavening that we have to avoid. Notice in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 verse 14. It says, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother, abides in death. We had fellowship last night, didn't we?

With those that are following God and the truth. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Doesn't mean he's going to kill, but he has hate in his heart. Verse 16. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need shuts his heart from him.

How does the love of God abide in him? Let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. Show that type of attitude. And then in chapter 2 verse 13, I mean 15, 1 John chapter 2 verse 15, it says, Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, and we're talking about the false values, there are things that we can do in the world which are perfectly fine, and we should have good habits that we enjoy doing with others. But it's talking about the false values. And he says, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because God doesn't participate in the leavening of the world, the sin. He says, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, that's the first one. That has to do with our carnal human nature.

And it's just like a magnet that Satan uses to draw the iron filings to him. The lust of the flesh that comes from the inside of us. The lust of the eyes is what the eyes see outside. And the pride of life, that stubbornness and pride and arrogance and whatever it is that is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it not. The world isn't going to be this way for all. When Christ comes, that's going to be the end of this lust factory that we have producing all of this stuff.

But he who does the will of God abides forever. And so I'd like to summarize what the days of unleavened bread mean. Again, the first part is eating unleavened bread, the symbol of Christ in us and putting on more of his nature. And developing that sincerity, purity of heart, innocence. We have to retain our innocence. Or we have to build it up again. Have an innocent attitude toward things. That's what sincerity has to do from the heart. Honesty. We're not going to do everything perfect, but there is that intention of purity and innocence.

And then, and truth. The truth of God, which we need to have in our lives. Also, what we talk about the truth that is relational among ourselves as people. Because, oh, I can be following God's truth, but how about us the way we express ourselves to others?

That has to be truthful as well. And then the second part is avoiding the leavened bread, the symbol of avoiding all the sins of the world. We make war against them. Take them very seriously, because our spiritual lives are at stake. It says there in 1 Corinthians 10-13, it says, Be careful, he who thinks he stands, because that's when you get careless and you will fall. So let's go to 2 Peter 2, verse 20, just to remind us the importance and the seriousness of this. 2 Peter 2, verse 20, it says, talking about people that have already been baptized, received God's Spirit.

He says, For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. They just go back to the world and their sinful habits, and that's what they want to do.

They don't want to repent. They don't want to change. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning, for it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, of obeying God, than having known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them.

But it has happened to them, according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow, having washed to her wallowing in the mire.

But I don't want to end that way, because the days of Unleavened Bread should be positive. We have God the Father and Jesus Christ on our side, and they made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. So let's finish in Hebrews 6 and verse 9. Hebrews 6 and verse 9 through 12. And so we should be encouraged. Yes, the world is out there. Our human nature is against us. Satan. But God is greater. He is far more powerful than the world or anything else. He says, But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. We have to talk about our war against sin. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that each of you should show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And then God tells us to be encouraged, to not lose faith, just like He mentioned in the first message. Lincoln talked about it. And so let's do our part. And remember, make no provision for the flesh.