My Way

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. Thank you so much to the combined choir and to Mrs. Hanson and Mrs. Hanson for the beautiful music selections. Nocturne is one of my favorite selections. It's just such a pretty composition. Well, speaking of music, in 1969, Frank Sinatra recorded and released arguably his most popular song. The single itself went on to sell nearly one million copies—almost a million copies.

And of his catalog of songs, I don't know that there's any other song that really captures his carefree attitude or persona quite like this song did. Before it was a hit for Sinatra, the song was originally a French pop song entitled Comme des Abbétudes, which Paul Anka heard while on vacation in France and knew that he was on to something. He immediately secured the rights to the song so that he could produce it here in the United States.

He changed the melodic structure slightly and wrote new lyrics. Because of those new lyrics, he wrote them specifically with Frank Sinatra in mind. In fact, when he sat down with his typewriter, he said, What would Frank say?

And he wrote it from a standpoint of what Frank would say. Now, it's interesting because Paul Anka was actually a recording artist himself, and he said once the song became as popular as it did, his record company was very upset with him that he wrote it for Frank Sinatra and didn't perform it himself. But it would go on to become Frank's signature song, ironically a song that he himself really came to dislike.

He felt the song was self-serving and self-indulgent. His daughter Tina actually told BBC News in an interview that he didn't like it. The song stuck, and he couldn't get it off his shoe. He didn't love it, she said.

And I'm sure it probably didn't help that whether it was on his set list or not, it was regularly requested when he would go and play various shows. The lyrics are written from the perspective of someone who's reflecting back on their life, who's reflecting back on their life and examining its ups and downs. The person considers their regrets, considers their difficulties, their successes, and concludes that they are happy, that they are thankful, despite all of the regrets and all of the difficulties, that individual says that they did it my way. Despite all the difficulties, all the regrets, I did it my way.

The song is simply titled My Way, and I would be shocked if you haven't heard it. For those of us that are the littles in the room, maybe you haven't, but I would venture a guess that your parents have. I'd like to go through the lyrics here with you today. I'm not going to sing it, I'm going to spare you.

That's not entirely true, I'm going to sing aspects of it here in a little while. But I'm not going to sing the song to you as I go, I'm just going to read the lyrics. And I want you to listen to this set of lyrics. I hope I don't end up destroying this song for you by the time we're done today, but it's important to where we're going to be going.

It's important in the direction that we're going to be heading today. The lyrics read as follows. It says, And now the end is near. And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear. I'll state my case, of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full. I've traveled each and every highway, and more, much more than this, I did it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exemption. I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway, and more, much more than this, I did it my way. Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew, when I bit off more than I could chew, but through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out.

I faced it all, and I stood tall, and did it my way. I've loved, I've laughed and cried, I've had my fill, my share of losing. And now, as tears subside, I find it all, all so amusing. To think I did all that, and may I say, not in a shy way, oh no, no, not me, I did it my way. For what is man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has not.

To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels, the record shows I took my blows, and did it my way, and did it my way. The lyrics of the song tell the story of a man who, at the end of his life, has looked back and concluded that he didn't really care what anyone said, didn't really care what anyone did.

He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and no one could dissuade him otherwise. He lived his life by his own choosing, and while he admits he didn't always end up well for him, he was, in the end, the master of his own fate. He was the captain of his ship. The song is a declaration of individuality and, frankly, an anthem to narcissism. So what does Frank Sinatra have to do with the Days of Unleavened Bread? Nothing! That was just the intro. No, I'm kidding. The title of the message today is my way. The title of the message today is my way. You know, it's important to recognize this attitude, this narcissistic sort of attitude that's in place in this song.

It's not new. Human nature is human nature. Man has long desired to do it his way and not to take advice, not to take counsel, be the captain of his own ship, to be the one who plans his own destiny and not allow anyone or anything to get in the way. Let's go over to Exodus 1. We're going to begin today in the book of Exodus. Exodus 1, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 8. I'd like to turn over to Exodus today in order to build, again, background in the direction that we're going.

Exodus 1, and we'll pick it up in verse 8. Exodus 1 and verse 8. I got paper here letting my book slide down. Let me fix that real fast. Ooh, water! Forgot that was in there. Don't mind if I do! Exodus 1 and verse 8. It says, Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them lest they multiply. And it happened in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and so go up out of the land.

Therefore, they, being the Egyptians, set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh's, supply cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more that they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they, again, the Egyptians, were in dread of the children of Israel. Verse 13.

We'll skip 13 for a second. We're going to come back to it. We see from this small passage here, this just a little excerpt of Scripture in this section, the Egyptians feared the Israelites as a result of their numbers. They were concerned that they were multiplying such to a point where, if they so chose, they might actually overtake Egypt. They might reach a point where they overthrew Egypt. During Joseph's time, the Israelites were welcomed into Egypt. They were provided the best land for their flocks and herds. They had peace. They had protection. And they thrived. They were blessed mightily by God initially and early on. They'd multiplied greatly during that time and, again, had reached a point in time where there were enough of them now that the Pharaoh was concerned. So in verse 13, says to the Egyptians, made the children of Israel served with rigor, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage. In mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. You know, the rigor that Egypt inflicted on Israel served their purposes. It broke the Israelites' morale. They served rigorously in the land of Egypt. Israelites were enslaved into construction. They were enslaved into agriculture. They were likely enslaved as herdsmen since they had experience doing that.

And while it doesn't state it specifically, I think that you can make a reasonable argument that they were likely also enslaved as household servants, similar to how Joseph was enslaved at the initial arrival with Potiphar. Verse 14, though, makes the point. It says, they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, but it didn't matter. It seemed the more that they were afflicted, the more that they stuck on them, the Israelites continued to multiply and grow.

Pharaoh's plan wasn't working. Hard work wasn't enough. And so we see that he institutes another aspect. He instructs the midwives to kill every boy that is born to the Hebrew women.

The midwives chose not to follow that order. They chose to fear God instead. And ultimately, Pharaoh, not having gotten anywhere with the midwives, commands all of the people. In verse 22, if you go down to verse 22, Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, it's not just the midwives now, it's the Egyptians as a whole, every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. Now an Egyptian that sees a baby Hebrew boy on the streets has authorization from Pharaoh himself to take that child from his mother's arms and toss him in the Nile. You know, this is a dark time for Israel. Nothing really motivates the rebellion quite like institutional oppression. I mean, really, I mean, you have all of the parts and the pieces laid for the people of Israel to rise up against their oppressors. Their children are being killed. Their rigor is incredible. You might imagine that around the Ye Olde water cooler, I don't know if there was a Ye Olde water cooler at the time, but in hushed undertones you might imagine there may have been discussions. Because again, brethren, people are people. Would there not be conversations of how you'd plan to overthrow the Egyptians when this kind of stuff started happening? Maybe they didn't print enough pamphlets and it never really got off the ground.

Maybe they just realized this was their lot. They were demoralized. They simply accepted their fate. Or maybe they needed the right motivation. Let's go to Exodus 2. Exodus 2, just over the page there. We'll pick it up in verse 11 of Exodus 2. Again, as we work to build the background here. Exodus 2, verse 11, says, Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. So at some point Moses realizes that the Israelites are his people. He goes out and he looks at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren, one of his brothers. So, verse 12, he looked this way and he looked that way. And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting and he said to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking your companion? And he said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Moses has that moment of, Oh, people know.

People are aware of this. So Moses, we see in verse 14, feared and said, Surely this thing is known. Interestingly, there's a parallel account of this passage, more of a historical reference to this passage in Acts 7. Let's go ahead and put a bookmark here. We're going to come back to it.

We're going to come back to this location. We just want to get a little bit of extra context, because Acts 7 provides a little more, almost intent behind this particular situation. It gives us a little bit of intent, so to speak. Acts 7.

Acts 7, and we'll pick it up in verse 17 of Acts 7. This is in the midst of Stephen's speech to those gathered, where he's basically walking back through the entirety of the history of Israel, right before they start throwing rocks at him. But Acts 7, and we'll pick it up in verse 17. And again, this is the same parallel account, essentially, to what we just read in the book of Exodus. It says, But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, until another king arose, who did not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies so that they might not live. At this time, Moses was born and was well pleasing to God, and he was brought up in his father's house for three months.

But when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. Now, when he was 40 years old, this is referencing what we just looked at. Now, when he was 40 years old, it came into his hearts. It said in the other passage, when he was grown. Apparently, 40 is grown. So, the next time somebody tells you, you're turning 40, you go, I'm not even grown yet. Right? But when he was 40, when he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him, who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptian. Verse 25, this is interesting, for he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. They did not understand. And the next day, he appeared to two of them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, men, you are brethren, why do you wrong one another? But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, who has made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? Then at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Is it possible? Speculation, of course. Is it possible that Moses attempted to start an uprising, to rally the Israelites behind him as a leader, to help them to understand that he was there to help them, that he was there to deliver them?

Or was he simply trying to show that not all the Egyptians were against them?

He looked Egyptian. In fact, when he leaves and goes to Midian, they say, there's an Egyptian out here. Turns out, because he looked like an Egyptian. It's eye makeup. It's a dead giveaway.

We don't see God specifically command Moses to go down and do this thing. We don't see it. I mean, it could have happened. We don't see it. He seemed a little surprised when God came to him in the burning bush. Like that maybe was the first time that they'd had that conversation. So it appears at least at face value that Moses did this of his own accord. But the Israelites, regardless, they didn't pick up on whatever it was he was attempting to get across to them. Brethren, it wasn't part of what God had planned. Moses delivering them at that moment was not a part of the plan. Moses would not be the one to deliver Egypt. God would be. Through Moses, certainly.

But Israel needed to know who had ultimately redeemed them. And it was not Moses. He was a part of the plan, absolutely. Moses was afraid at this point. We see after he killed the Egyptian that it was known. You can go ahead and flip back to Exodus 2. He flees Egypt. Pharaoh hears of the killing at Moses with his hand, seeks to kill him. Moses got out of dodge, fled to Midian, where he ultimately married, had children, and spent 40 years in the wilderness, raising a family and tending the flocks of his father-in-law, Ruel, aka Jethro. After that 40 years' time, Exodus 2 and verse 23 records what was happening in Egypt. So while Moses is gone, while Moses is out and about in Midian, this is what's happening in Egypt. Exodus 2 and verse 23. Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage. And they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked down upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

You know, Israel to that point was unable to save themselves. They absolutely could not fight their way out. They couldn't negotiate their way out. Pharaoh controlled the population. He afflicted the men in labor. They were stuck. The only possible solution was their deliverance by Almighty God. We know the rest of the story. The next several chapters of Exodus outline how God came to Moses and the burning bush, how Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites, how Pharaoh's heart was hardened time and time again despite these incredible plagues that were poured out upon his country and upon his people. Finally, it culminates in the death of the firstborn and the expulsion, not leaving the expulsion of the Israelites from Egypt. God executed judgment against all of the gods of Egypt and ultimately redeemed his people. He delivered them from the bondage of slavery, delivered them from an unjust and terrible ruler.

He walked them out of Egypt right under Pharaoh's nose, taking a number of Egyptians with them.

And Israel left with a significant amount of Egypt's material wealth.

They left Egypt by night. God says that night was to be commemorated. You can see in Exodus 12, just flip over there briefly. Exodus 12, and we'll pick it up in verse 42.

Exodus 12, verse 42, says, "...it is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations." You know, we commemorated this night last evening.

The family had an opportunity to keep the night to be much observed at the Campbell's home, and we're very thankful for that. It was a wonderful time. But it's a fantastic night. When you think about it, you consider what it is that God did for His people, the deliverance that He provided for them when they're in this place where they simply cannot get out of their own accord. God delivers them. But it's really important for us to note this is only the beginning of the process. This is the only beginning of the process. Yeah, they'd left the cities where they dwelled. They'd entered the wilderness. But they wouldn't fully be out of, quote-unquote, Egypt for another seven days. Not while they're still in reach of Pharaoh, not while they still could turn around and walk right back. They're not out, quote-unquote. During the time of the Exodus, we see as we progress through Exodus 12, during these days of Unleavened Bread, Israel was taught by God through Moses about the days of Unleavened Bread, about what these days represented, about the redemption of the first-born males of their animals as a sign of God's deliverance, which of course we see in Numbers shifted to the Levites, right, in the book of Numbers. But during this particular portion of the Exodus, we see some really interesting hints towards Israel's future. Let's go over to Exodus 13 and verse 17. Exodus 13 and verse 17. We see God chooses to alter the route of the Israelites as they're traveling specifically to avoid the land of the Philistines, even though going by the way of the Philistines was a shorter route. It was closer. Well, why did he do that? Exodus 13 again in verse 17 says, Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not leave them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. Brethren, God knows our thoughts. He heard their cries. Is it possible that after walking through the wilderness for a few days already, that internal complaining had already begun? I had a chance to go hike Pisgah yesterday, which is down outside of Eugene.

Twenty, thirty yards in, that internal complaining had begun. That's a steep hill. That's a very steep hill. It was beautiful at the top. The end is always worth the effort, right? But is it possible that the Israelites, as they're walking through the desert, have already begun to complain?

They've already begun to wish, man, we should just go back. This is far!

Who told? We didn't realize it was going to be this far! We just walked out the city gates and been there. But was it enough that God then thought, if they see war, it would be enough for them to say, forget this, I'm going back? Regardless, He leads them around towards the Red Sea and sets up what is possibly the greatest miracle God ever wrought in the nation of Israel. And it's a symbol of an incredible miracle that He's working and worked and is working in our lives today. He has them come to Pihatharoth and camp opposite of Baal's Afon on the shores of the Red Sea. It was there that Pharaoh and his armies caught up to them. Pharaoh has them trapped, we'd say, between a rock and a hard place, but it was between an army and a big body of water. Assuming that they were confused by the terrain, Pharaoh thinks, they just got lost, they don't know where to go, they're boxed in, we got them, they're not going anywhere. And he feels that he has them. God, of course, in the process of doing all of this, was orchestrating something incredible. This is not random chance. God is orchestrating this. He's putting all the pieces into place so that when He finally goes, check mate, it was 20 moves ago that he set it all up.

God, of course, orchestrated something just incredible, and He allowed this to occur for a very important reason. We see Israel cries out to God, and then in the next breath turns on Moses. They cry out to God, and in the next breath, maybe a couple of breaths, turn on Moses. Let's go to Exodus 14, verse 11. Exodus 14, verse 11. We see the beginning of a long pattern of Israel's future. Between here and about Numbers 14, we see a degree of issues that start to crop up with the group that left Egypt. Exodus 14, verse 11. It says, Then they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt? So when Moses came to them, he said, Leave us alone! He says, Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt? Saying, Let us alone!

That we can serve the Egyptians! For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians, with all the slavery and the whippings and everything else. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.

Israel is afraid. You know, people say and do things in a state of fear that they would not necessarily do in a time where they were a little more rational. But at this time, they illustrated a lack of faith in the deliverance that God could and would provide them.

Moses tells him, Don't fear! Stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord! God will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. It kind of seems that Moses thought that the deliverance of God in this time was going to be by dramatically destroying Pharaoh's army.

Like, in a very physical way. Bands of Philistines would swoop in all of a sudden and crush the army. Or that big pillar of fire would just roll right on through and burn everybody up, or whatever it might be. But verse 15, we see God had other plans.

Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me? Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. Lift up your rod, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it. The children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea, and indeed I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all of his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Verse 18, The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. So we see that God orchestrates something pretty incredible here. He orchestrates something pretty incredible here. He is in the process of, you know, delivering Israel. He's in the process of beginning this process. It says, Moses stretched his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Still blows me away. It would have been so incredible to be able to see that, just to have these giant walls of water on it. You know, and I always imagine there's fish swimming in it, you know, like an aquarium, right? I mean, that'd just be incredible. The closest thing you can get to these days is the tunnel at Newport Aquarium.

That's about the closest at the moment. But it says, all of Pharaoh's... the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea. All of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass in the morning launch that the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he troubled the army of the Egyptians. He harassed them. He harassed them. It was great. Check out what he did. It says, he took off their chariot wheels.

Boink! Good luck! That's all of that. Now you have to take some time to put that back on.

He carried them, if you will. He took off their chariot wheels so that they drove them with difficulty, and the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians on their chariots and on their horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. God did dramatically destroy Egypt's army. He absolutely did fight for the Israelites, but perhaps not in the way that they had considered. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, not as so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt so the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. God delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians in a mighty way, a very mighty way. He stretched out his hand, and in one fell swoop he saved his people and destroyed the Egyptian army. This right here was God's plan. This was His plan. This was the process by which He planned to redeem His people. In doing so, He demonstrated His power against all of Egypt's gods, against Pharaoh and his armies, and frankly against impossible odds.

God followed through on His promise. He executed His plan. His plan didn't include Israel overthrowing their taskmasters. It didn't include Moses leading an uprising against the people after striking down the Egyptian. It didn't include Moses taking the throne of Egypt to peacefully rule and make all of the Israelites' life better. It didn't include Pharaoh letting them go peacefully after the first request that Moses and Aaron made, and it certainly didn't include Israel saving themselves.

God's plan required growth in the people of Israel. It required growth in faith and in trust.

God's plan brought them to the place where they stood on the shores of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army bearing down on them, and they had to wait upon God's deliverance. They had to wait and watch to see what God was going to do. They had to trust Him, knowing there was absolutely nothing that they could have done to fix it themselves. They are standing there vulnerable beyond vulnerable. And as those walls of water crashed in on Pharaoh and his armies, Israel was free.

They had been redeemed. But as we see going forward, Israel questions God's plan for them at every turn. There is no water. There is no food. There is no quail. We used to have leaks. Do you see any leaks around here? I don't see any leaks. Do you see any leaks? I wish we had fish. My feet hurt.

All there is to eat is this stupid manna. I am so sick of manna. Speaking of manna, why can't I keep it overnight? Oh, that's why. That's gross.

Why can't I gather it on the Sabbath? Oh, that's why. There is none. Hey, guys, we should make an image of God out of gold. Okay, that was a bad idea. Gold tastes gross.

Giants! There's giants in the promised land. We can't beat giants. We should definitely go back to Israel. Who's this Moses guy, anyway? Who put him in charge? Why am I not in charge? I can be in charge. At every single turn, every single turn, Israel said to God, not like this. Not like this. We appreciate the deliverance and all. We're happy for the redemption, but not like this. No, this isn't how we want it to happen. We want it this way. We want plentiful food and water. We want delicious food like we had in Egypt, not this miracle bread that rains out of the sky. No, we want the food that we had in Egypt. That was good food. We want to be able to make the decisions on where to go, what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. We don't want to be told what to do. We are captains of our own destiny. We will pilot our own shift. Thank you very much.

Provided we're allowed to choose our path, provided we have the ability to dictate the terms, to make the decisions for ourselves. We are happy to have you as our God, but we're not really interested in submitting ourselves to the things we don't like. I did it my way.

You know, we recognize the reason we're still talking about this event so far off into the future is not solely because we're keeping a reminder of Israel's physical deliverance out of Egypt. That's an aspect of these days, but we are focused on the New Covenant application of these days. We're focused on these days as being reminders of what God did for Israel and ultimately what He's also doing for us. What He's also doing for us. God the Father has redeemed us through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ was sacrificed on our behalf. Our transgressions were laid upon Him, and that blood reconciled us to the Father. We have gone through that water in the covenant of baptism. We've accepted that blood on our behalf. Essentially, we've agreed to be redeemed. Essentially, we've agreed to be redeemed. We've agreed to accept that blood, and we're now standing on the opposite side of the Red Sea, standing opposite of our sins.

Those sins which we committed prior to baptism, they've been wiped from the record. They're gone.

As we continue to remain in a repentant relationship with God, the blood of Christ cleanses us, and the sins we commit and repent of are put as far as the East is from West. Our spiritual lives today mirror the journey of ancient Israel, hopefully with less potholes and detours. But I think if we're honest with ourselves, there's potholes and detours. As human nature does what human nature does, our own habits, whatever else, we reach out and decide, no, God, not like this, I'm driving this car. God says, no, you're not, and grabs the wheel back.

We are following the same path as Israel did in those days following the Passover. When we consider these days of Unleavened Bread and we consider putting sin out of our lives and taking in the Unleavened of sincerity and truth, one of the considerations that we must have, brethren, that we absolutely must have, is an acknowledgement of God's plan for us and of His will in our lives.

Days of Unleavened Bread are about asking hard questions. Passover in the Days of Unleavened Bread, Spring Holy Days, are about asking hard questions. Brethren, do you think that you know better than God? Do you think you know better than God? Have you told God in your life lately, thanks God, but not like this? Not like this? This isn't where I wanted to live? This isn't the job that I wanted? I didn't want it to end like that? I didn't ask for this trial? Couldn't you just do it this way? I would prefer if you did it this way. I would much rather you did it this way.

Not like that, like this. This is not according to my plans, God. I'm sorry. This doesn't work for me. Or we ask the question, why would you do it like that? Or why would you do it like this?

Or we might say, it's not fair. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6, we see as part of the letter to the church in Corinth, Paul's second epistle, not the recorded epistle. It's his first letter that he sent to the church in Corinth, but it's recorded for us as 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 5 and we'll pick it up in verse 6. He tells the church in Corinth, he says, Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened of sincerity and truth. Paul tells the church in Corinth, Look, your pride's not good. You're boasting your arrogance, that little bit of leaven, that leavens the whole lump. It only takes a little bit to fill up the entirety of the batch of dough. He says, purge out that leaven, get rid of it, put it away, that you might be a new lump because you're unleavened. He says, purge out the sin, purge out the pride, be unleavened.

Don't be puffed up. Don't be puffed up.

Brethren, isn't the epitome of pride in being puffed up believing that you know better than God?

Is that not the epitome of pride? Is believing that you know better than God, that somehow we as mere mortals can see the end of the story and know more than God does? That our plans, our methods are somehow better than His? Let's go to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. You're probably guessing where we're going and why we're going there.

Isaiah 14, and we'll pick it up in verse 12.

Specifically discussing the fall of Lucifer, the being whom we know as Satan.

Isaiah 14, verse 12, says, How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Look at the pride in these statements, that Satan would elevate himself to the level of God.

Yet you shall be brought down, verse 15, to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. I did it my way. How did that work out for Lucifer? Not real well. Not real well.

When we think that we know more than God, when we're not willing to submit ourselves to His will, to His judgments, or even to His plan for our life, we're operating from a place of pride.

We're operating from a place that we are puffed up, that we're not unleavened. So how do we de-leaven these aspects of our lives? How do we de-leaven this? How do we remove this during these days of unleavened bread? How do we work to rid this from our lives? We humble ourselves.

We become little in our own eyes. What was the beginning of the end for King Saul?

What was the beginning of the end? It was pride. Let's go to 1 Samuel 15. 1 Samuel 15.

Just go. We just went through this section in the one-year reading program that we're all working on. 1 Samuel 15. And we'll pick it up in verse 1. 1 Samuel 15.

So Samuel also said to Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint you, king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore heed the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus said the LORD of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them.

Kill both man and woman, children or infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. And we read that, and that is hard for us to fathom today. It really is. It's hard for us to fathom today, but that was the instruction that was given. So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Tel Am, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, Go to part, get down from among the Amalites. Amalekites, sorry, lest I destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed, the Kenites left from among the Amalekites. And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havola all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. Keep in mind this is punishment that is being meted out a number of years later for infraction that was done as they were leaving Egypt and as they were wandering in the wilderness earlier. He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But, verse 9, Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good and were unwilling, were unwilling to utterly destroy them.

But everything despised and worthless was utterly destroyed. So they went through and they looked and they said, well, let's have some value. Let's hang on to that. Let's hang on to that. Ooh, that's nice. Keep that. That's wrecked already. Get rid of that. Destroy that. We were told, remember, we're supposed to destroy everything. Get rid of that, for sure. That's really nice. Let's keep that. And he went through and he divided all these things up. Verse 10, Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king.

For he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel. And he cried out to the Lord all night. The Samuel was so tore up about this that he prayed to God all night long. So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul went up to Carmel, and indeed he set up a monument for himself. And he's gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal. So he sets up this monument to Saul, king Saul. Right? Ding! Imagine a little smile with a little... You've got to imagine that, though. It's not real.

Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. I love Samuel's response here. Samuel says, Yeah? What's the bleeding of the sheep in my ears than the lowing of the oxen, which I hear? It just comes to me like you still got sheep and oxen around. I was supposed to kill all those. Saul said, Oh, they brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. Notice the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God. And the rest, the rest, we've utterly destroyed. Samuel says to Saul, Be quiet. Basically, look, Saul, stop talking.

He says, I'll tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, Go ahead, speak on.

So Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, were you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? And now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.

Why, then, did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of God? And Saul replied to Samuel, I did it my way. God desired submission and obedience. Not justification, not excuses, not an argument of, Well, yeah, that's what God said, but I decided to do this instead. This is what I'd rather do.

When Saul was little in his own eyes, he found favor with God. He was anointed king. When he began to do things his own way, directly ignoring the commands of God, he was eventually brought to ruin. It wasn't immediate. He was eventually brought to ruin as David Rose and Saul fell.

In Numbers 12, we won't turn there. No, we won't turn there. We see Miriam was made a leper before Moses' very eyes when she kind of opposed Moses as the leader of Israel. Why did she rebel? Why did she rebel? Why? I mean, this is his sister. Why did she rebel? What was the impetus? Well, if you look at the account, she was elevated in her own eyes. In fact, she says, because God also worked through her and through Aaron, that because of the dispute between them and Moses over his wife, that she had a certain equivalence with Moses, who was God's anointed. It appears that she was puffed up, that she had pride and it could have been jealousy. I mean, it could have been both.

But ultimately, God makes the point, look, when I talk to prophets, I speak to them in dreams.

I said, Miriam, Aaron, you don't get it. I speak to Moses face to face. That's different. That's big. And they didn't fully understand. You know, there's other examples in Scripture of individuals that allowed pride to build them up to greater heights, whether it was a direct contradiction of God's command by their own personal choice or whether they conflated themselves to greater heights than God had elevated them. Proverbs 16 and verse 18. Proverbs 16 and verse 18 is one of these Scriptures that should be underlined in our Bibles. If it's not, underline it.

Proverbs 16 and verse 18. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Verse 19. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.

So, brethren, what does God want of us? What does God expect of us? What should our lives look like?

Let's go to James 4. James 4.

It's in here somewhere.

You ever have one of those days where your thumbs jump right over what you're trying to get to? I've been Hebrews. Peter. Peter. Peter. Hebrews. James 4. James 4, and we'll pick it up in verse 14 to begin with. This whole section, this whole section in James is talking about pride. It's talking about humility. There's a lot to be said in James 4 regarding these two topics. But in verse 14, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 13 for the little bit of context. It says, Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city. Spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.

Verse 14, Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

For what is your life? It's even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

And verse 16, kind of the culmination of this concept, says, But now you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil. There's an old Yiddish phrase that reads as, Man trot un gat locked, which sounds very German to me, but it said it was Yiddish.

The phrase means, Man plans and God laughs. You've probably heard that before. Which on its face seems to imply, I mean, if you just read that and look at it, seems to imply that as we make our plans, somehow God's up in the third heaven rubbing his hands together going, Oh, yeah, buddy, watch this. God's not vindictive. God's not vindictive like that. God doesn't sit there and look at your plans and try to find ways that he can mess them up. It's not an accurate representation.

God knows what we need. And sometimes what we need is not what we want.

Sometimes for us to grow, we need something that we don't want. Sometimes we want things that are in direct opposition to what we truly need. There's nothing wrong with praying for outcomes. There's nothing wrong with praying for outcomes. God says, Ask and you shall receive.

There's nothing wrong with it. Provided praying for that outcome also comes with a humble acceptance and a prayer to help us learn what we need to grow and to learn what is going on inside of that particular issue that we might be dealing with. And also a certain humility in being able to accept when the answer is no. Because sometimes the answer is no, as you well know. Sometimes the answer is no. God knows what we need, brethren. We do not. We don't know what we need. We think we know what we need. God's working on a plan in our lives to encourage the maximum amount of spiritual growth in the time that we are allotted. As a result, He's providing us with the things that we need, not necessarily what we want, and therein lies the rub. Because we again think we know what we need. Brethren, we have no idea. We truly have no idea. As humans, we're groping around in the dark, looking for and grasping at whatever it is that will make us whole. That will help us to feel happy. That will help us to feel content, feel wanted or needed or loved. We think that more money will just fix everything. More money? Clearly, if I'd make more money, I'd finally be happy.

We think that a better job would just fix it all. You know, I'd be really happy if I'd get rid of this lousy boss. Clearly, he's the problem. We think we'd be happy if we could just lose 20 pounds. Finally, we'd be happy. We think that if we're healed of our particular affliction, that that'll just fix everything and we'll be happy. Sometimes we think that if we just separate from our spouse, that would fix everything and I'll be happy. How often, brethren, does it really fix it?

How often does it fix it? How often does it make us whole?

A stronger relationship with God is what we need. That's what we need. It's not always what we want, but it's what we need. A relationship that's built on respect and on trust.

A relationship that honors God for who and what He is. He is our Creator. He is our Sustainer. A relationship in which we humble ourselves under His hand. That relationship was the goal of God's deliverance of Israel during the days of Unleavened Bread. Let's go to Leviticus 22, 31, as we start to wind down here today. Leviticus 22, verse 31.

There's a number of these. It's actually an interesting study, if you go through and look at the different times when God said, I am the God who brought you out of Egypt dot, dot, dot.

The dot, dot, dots are interesting to look at because it often provides the reasoning as to why He did. Leviticus 22, verse 31, says, therefore—whoops, nope, 23, 13. Maybe it is 13.

Nope. Nope. Give me one sec. Nope.

Oh, I'm—wait a minute. I'm sorry.

Well, it's written in my notes. I'm going to read it. Therefore you shall keep my commandments and perform them. I am the Lord. Is it 22?

Did you say 21 or 22?

I just looked at that three times. Literally three times. All right. Anyway, therefore you shall keep my commandments and perform them. By the way, for those on the audio, it's Leviticus 22, verse 31, which is what I said the first time. Therefore you shall keep my commandments and perform them. I am the Lord. You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

Note verse 33. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.

God's plan was to establish a relationship with the nation of Israel for them to become his people and for him to become their God. They were a chosen nation, a peculiar people, brethren, just as we are, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people.

The expectation, however, was obedience and submission to God. In fact, the example of Jesus Christ shows what our response should be. Let's go ahead and turn over to Philippians 2 for our final passage today. Philippians 2.

Philippians 2, and we'll go ahead and begin in verse 5. Again, we see the mind that we are to be putting on as followers of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2 and verse 5 says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of man, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross. Verse 9, Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus Christ was obedient to the point of death. If God's plan for him was to die for the sins of the world, to be crucified as an innocent man for the remission of our sins, Christ didn't tell God, um, Father, Abba, I have a better idea.

How about if we do it this way instead? I don't really like this plan because this plan ends up in me dying. How about, um, Judas Iscariot could die? No, I don't think he would have thrown Judas under the bus in that way, but point being, that was the plan. Christ didn't oppose it.

He prayed that that cup could pass from him, but he didn't oppose it. He still humbly put himself in that place. Christ humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death. Brethren, are we?

Are we obedient to God to the point of death?

Or are we still trying to drive the bus?

Are we in a humbled state? Do we and our pride think that we know better than God does that somehow we have the right to dictate the terms, to tell God how it's going to be? Frank Sinatra's song, My Way, closes with the following stanza, For what is man, what has he got, If not himself, then he has not, To say the things he truly feels, And not the words of one who kneels.

The record shows I took the blows, And did it my way.

Brethren, our response to that last stanza of that song should be, man has God.

That's who man has. That's all he needs. And if one kneels, if one submits themself to God, there'd be a whole lot less blows in life.

There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is the way of death.

We do it God's way. There is a blessing that is laid up for us of life forevermore.

Brethren, I hope you all have a meaningful Days of Unleavened Bread, and I hope that these days inspire and motivate all of us to a greater degree of spiritual growth.