The Passover Involves Overcoming

I don't know if any of you have ever taken college-level courses, but I assume that this is probably true in high school as well. At least it was when I was going to high school. If you wanted to take a higher course, usually right below, if you looked in the catalog, it said, like if you wanted to take calculus 3 or 4 or whatever, that calculus 1 and 2 are prerequisites.

In other words, you have to have certain things accomplished before you can take the higher-level courses. Have you ever noticed, brethren, how in the book of Revelation it emphasizes over and over again, he who overcomes. He who overcomes. It says in one place, in Revelation 2.7, it says, to him who overcomes will I give to eat from the tree of life. Of course, the tree of life symbolizing the eternal life that comes from eating of the tree of life, hearkening back to the guard of Eden.

In Revelation 2.11, it says, he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Second death, of course, having to do with eternal death, as we understand. And then, in another place, because it's all through, in fact, chapter 2 and 3, particularly, where it talks about the seven churches, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give of the hidden manna to eat.

Remember, Christ talked about the bread that you eat and live forever. So, over and over again, we see this in the book of Revelation, he who overcomes. In other words, a prerequisite for being in the kingdom of God is to overcome. You cannot just simply give your heart to the Lord, as many people do. The preacher gets up and he says, aren't you going to come up and give your heart to the Lord? Can you do that, brother? You want to become a brother today? And of course, many people do. Many of you may remember the old Billy Graham Crusades, getting people to come up and to give their hearts to the Lord.

And of course, the thing about it, down in the south, they call them Baptist fish. You baptize them on Sunday, and three days later, they're spoiled. In other words, it didn't take. There wasn't a change. Let's go to Exodus 12. So, it says, he that overcomes is a prerequisite for being in God's kingdom, of being changed out of this flesh.

Exodus 12 and verse 15, I think it's certainly befitting of this time of the year as we approach to the Passover and the days of unleavened bread to talk about these things. But in verse 15, it says, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven from your houses. So, I'm sure all of us have begun to do that. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. And of course, if we are obedient to God, we'll be, of course, not cut off, but we'll have an opportunity to be in God's kingdom for being obedient.

And it goes on to say that the first day is a holy convocation, and the seventh day are holy convocation. But notice it says that we're to get rid of the leavening prior to the seven days of unleavened bread. Over in chapter 13. Chapter 13 in verse 5, it says, and it shall be when the Lord brings you in the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, 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 there shall be a feast to the eternal. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leaven shall be seen among you. So notice here, it says that no leaven can even be seen among you. And it says, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. And so, leavening can't be around us. It can't be seen. And no leaven is to be seen with you, not just for the physical reasons, because it is our acting out doing something on a physical plane.

It has a spiritual reason for it. You know, from the beginning, God had spiritual reasons for instructing the things that He did to the children of Israel. Now, let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and we see the tie-in to the New Covenant church and how it applies to us. Many people, of course, do not recognize what we do in the church, that these things are to be done in our day.

We are to clean out physical leavening from our houses and to purge our physical homes. But notice in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6 it says, deliver such in one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Here was somebody who was a part of the church, by the way, who was committing open, flagrant sin that was known to all.

He was committing adultery, fornication with his own stepmother, by the way, which is an atrocious sin, even among the Gentiles. But here, notice here that Paul delivered that individual to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that somehow or another that this man would be impacted. We go to the book of 2 Corinthians and we find that he repented and he was invited back to church. But in verse 6 it says, your glory is not good.

So here with the Corinthians, they were standing by watching this flagrant sin and God said, your glory is not good, do you not know? The little leaven leaven is the whole lump. Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. They had cleaned for the days of unleavened bread from a physical standpoint and here God was saying you better do it also from a spiritual standpoint because Christ is our Passover.

He was given for us, brethren. And so, brethren, we've got to clean that old leaven out. Leaven, unfortunately, has a sticky quality to it. You ever notice that old leaven can stick to the side of the pan and old leaven sticks in us. It can hang in us and we've got to purge it out. Like crust in a pan has to be cleaned out. We've got to clean that out of us. You've heard the term, he's a crusty old man.

Well, I don't know whether that's where that came from, but I think it's a good reminder that we aren't to be crusty old people. We've had an old leaven, a part of our lives. So here Paul tells us, and again, this is an instruction from the New Testament, that we have to purge out that old leaven.

And purging, brethren, or what that means is the thoroughly cleansed that leaven out involves us seeing and learning and doing what is right. Seeing what is wrong in our lives, straightening it up, and doing what is right. You know, all these things are wrapped up in one word, brethren, and that is overcoming, that we have to overcome as God's people.

So, brethren, as we approach the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, we should be searching out sin. We should be overcoming sin in our own personal lives. And, brethren, are you still doing that as you were when you came into the church? Are you still overcoming?

Or have you arrived? If you have, I mean, I don't see any halos out there. You know, no bright lights coming from anybody. None of you rising above the floor, levitating. And I trust this morning when you got up, you washed your face. And I'm sure it probably, you felt the cold on your face, didn't you?

And maybe your wife pinched you this morning, and you found out you were still alive. But we are to begin searching out sin, particularly this time of the year. And we should do it all year, in fact. But this time, it's emphasized to us an overcoming and changing in our lives. You know, it's interesting that human beings learn about half of all they ever learned in the first three years of life. You see why we're in such trouble in this time we're living in. You know, most of our kids, by the time they're three, you know, they've seen Daffy Duck, they've seen, you know, some of the things that are in cartoons or whatnot. And, you know, the big purple guy, the big purple dinosaur Barney, you know, he talks like, you know, he's retarded. But, uh, who knew? Barney? At least he used to be that way. Maybe he has a higher voice now. But anyway, sometimes what we teach our kids, I used to say, when our kids went to school, they were geniuses. Something happened to them, though, when they went to school. I don't know what happened. But I think it was Alan Bloom that said, wrote a book called The Dumbing Down of America. Unfortunately, school sometimes doesn't help. So, but what I'm saying, when you're a child, the first three years you learn the most. And by the time you're 12, all the basics of life have been learned. Who was it? Ludlam, who wrote the book, All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. But by the time you're 12, all the basics have been learned. And you know what? After that, what you learn becomes more difficult. More difficult.

And it's incremental. And it's small by comparison to what we learned in the first three years of our life. And progress can be very slow. Now, when we look at it from a spiritual standpoint, you know what? The same is true. The same learning situation is found among newly called babes in Christ. The fundamentals are learned very rapidly at first. The Sabbath, the Holy Days, unclean foods, tithing, you go through all the basics, no smoking, all of the health laws, and all of that. And we easily see the major ways we have sinned in those early years. But once you've learned those things, brethren, once you have been able to pretty much master the basics in the church, then after that, then the tough things to learn begin to come online. It's tougher. And you know what? Also, the things that you learn, you don't necessarily see so easily. Sometimes you even think you're not changing that much, and you can't see it. You know, if you've been in the church for a while, you understand what I'm talking about. But if not, you're still learning the basics. Wonderful! That's great. But you know, when you stop keeping Sunday and you start keeping the Sabbath, that's a marked change. When you stop robbing from God and you start tithing, that's a big change. You make that big sacrifice in your life, in other words. But you know, you think somehow that you've learned all these truths, and you're, I mean, you're tearing them up. You know, you're going through the Bible and you're transforming your life. But then, once you've learned the basics, then sometimes the hardest part is to begin to get up here, to deal with what's going on in the brain, what's going on inside the mind. But that's what we have to do. And you know, controlling what we're thinking, and those processes are a lot harder to do, you know, than it is to begin to keep the Sabbath, quite frankly. And to begin to do all these outward physical things that you see and everybody else sees. You know, the things that others don't see, and maybe sometimes you don't see even in yourself. You know, the Apostle Paul, you know, he talked about, again, the days of Unleavened Bread, how we have to purge ourselves.

And what he meant is that we have to overcome. We have seven days of Unleavened Bread, and not six, because seven is a number for completion. And what it means is we have to come completely out of sin. We have to completely overcome. I mean, think about this. You know, if you build a building, you could have the most beautiful building in the whole wide world. And then you walk in the door and look around, and it's all girders and rafters. Not a very pretty picture, is it, of a building? Not that inspiring. And you and I may have the scaffolding up. You know, we may have the girders and the tuba-fours in place, but have we completed the inside?

Have we completed the inside of ourselves? Is that finished? Or do we, you know, you look in our building, and we've still got, you know, paint cans laying all around. We've got, you know, tile over here and over there that is inside of our building, and it hasn't been completed. You know, so again, what Paul is talking about, and why we again have the seven days of 11 bread, is we have to completely overcome and completely come out of sin. This is why the apostle Paul admonished the Corinthians. He said, and I won't turn there, but 2 Corinthians 13, 5, says, examine yourselves. Whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. No, you're not your own selves. How that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates.

And then in 1 Corinthians 11, 28, and we'll probably refer to this again sometime, but it says, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread. He's talking about the bread that we take of the Passover. Let him eat that bread and drink of that cup, talking about the Passover, and of course, entering in to the days of 11 bread after the Passover. So, brethren, as we observe the Passover and the days of 11 bread, we need to look at our progress and determine what we need to change and what we need to purge out of our lives, what we need to overcome.

And I want to talk to you in the remainder of the sermon about seven steps of overcoming as God's people. And we do need to overcome, brethren. We need to change. You know, every year we talk about overcoming, examining ourselves, brethren, and it's important for us that we do not let a solitary Passover slide by us without getting the point of what we need to begin to do in our lives. Again, go on from where you have come in your life and make greater headway. You know, Mr. Armstrong used to say that there's no human being upon the face of the earth who has submitted himself so much to God to find out what God could do with him. You know, it would be wonderful, brethren. I know none of us are probably going to be able to end up, you know, being a Daniel or we're not going to end up being, you know, a prophet or whatever in the Old Testament, opposes. Some of these men were white, remarkable people or an Apostle Paul, for that matter.

But, brethren, wouldn't it be wonderful if God said what he took what he had and he really did something with it in his life? He really applied himself. So let's talk about the seven steps of overcoming. Number one, I'm going to write these down. Rather, to realize deeply how much you need to change and how much you need to overcome.

Church is not a game.

The church is not a game. These days, a lot of the churches, as you know, you might go to a church and it's a very big monstrosity of a church. It might be sometimes 10,000 people, some of them are held, in fact, in some of these big coliseas. And, boy, they had the music. I mean, you would think if you went to one of their church services, you'd gone to Broadway.

And then you have a man who'll stand up and say a lot of flowering things about how good you are, now about wonderful you are, if you can only accept Jesus, that may be the only thing he's going to talk about in terms that would have spiritual significance, by the way.

In other words, it's one big game. Who can entertain the most? Who can entertain the most? Well, brethren, we're not here to entertain you. Hopefully, you know, some things might make us feel good, but we're not here to entertain you. It's not game.

Well, let's go to Hebrews 6. We need to realize, brethren, how much we need to change, how much we need to overcome in our lives. Hebrews 6, in verse 1, here we're told, therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ. What were the elementary principles, brethren? We've already talked about some of those things. Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. In other words, go on to perfection. That word for perfection, by the way, means completeness or a state of completeness. Remember, when God created Adam and Eve in the garden, he wasn't done with the process as yet. They were absolute perfect human specimens, but unfortunately, inside the building, there was still scaffolding. There were still two before us. If we're going to be the decent people that someone remembers in our lives, as the first message talked about, that we need, of course, those who have been righteous in the past, hopefully we'll be one of those who have set a good example, a superlative example, brethren, we're going to have to go on to perfection or to a state of completeness. And so we need to be doing that. And if we realize first, we need to change. And I don't care how long you've been in the church, you need to change. You need to overcome. You know, we're still working on things. And I'm sure Mr. Luca, by the way, and his wife, Mr. Luca, even in this time of the life, he's thinking, as I know I was when I was in the hospital bed, thinking, what God do you want me to learn from this? What am I supposed to learn from this? You know, there's a lot I could say, but I won't. Let's go to verse 11. Verse 11. And it says that we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of the hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. You know, imitate those who have been faithful in the church.

You know, make sure again we're looking at those who are being obedient to God. You know, somebody's around for 50 years in the church. They got something. It'd be good for us and it behooves us to look at what they have. What caused them to stay with it? You ever sat down and asked somebody, why are you still in the church after 40 or 50 years?

You know, and maybe they'll give you some pointers as to what it has been like for them in this journey for them that is not over yet. It's not over yet. Got more to do. So we need to not be slawful, but we need to be diligent in our lives every day, and we must progress.

You know, when God called you, brethren, He called you for keeps. I mean, if you've really been called, if your mind has been opened, He called you for keeps. He's judging you right now. Judgment is upon the house of God, and you're going to be made to stand before Christ, and you're going to have to give an account in your life.

You know, it says the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance in the Bible.

So whatever reason, brethren, you've been called and you better make good use of it, of that calling that you have. When I read the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, it means I can't throw in the towel. I can't give up, because I know, my end, what it would be if I did that. And I'm not going to be able to claim ignorance.

I know a lot of people, perhaps will, claim ignorance, but I don't think that, brethren, it's going to settle. You know, Jesus Christ said, every branch in me that bears not fruit, the Father takes away, and the Father therefore purges it, who causes it to bear more fruit. And He said, also, if we cast out from the true vine, if we're cast out from the true vine, we wither and we die.

And He said, men gather in dry branches and burn them. You know what that's symbolic of, brethren? Well, we should if we don't. So we can't quit bearing fruit.

Jesus Christ Himself said, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You think Jesus Christ means what He says?

You know, I always tell my wife a joke. It wasn't so funny. But I said, there was this particular individual that went to heaven, and he got to the pearly gates. You know, they tell these stories about that because they think they're going to go to heaven.

And anyway, Jesus Christ greeted this individual, you know, at the pearly gates. And the person said, well, I'm here to be inducted into heaven. And Jesus Christ said, I'm sorry. Who are you?

And Jesus said to him, I'm sorry you can't come in here because overcoming is a prerequisite.

She said, that's not very funny. I said, well, that's my joke for the day.

But anyway, I told you I was in a good spirit, you know, that even things that are not funny are funny.

But no man, having put his hand to the plow, is fit for the kingdom of God. At baptism, brethren, we wanted out of the world, didn't we?

Because we saw the futility and the misery of it all as contrasted with God's word and the way of peace, a mind that comes through Jesus Christ. And we were given God's plan and purpose. We thought it was wonderful. We put the puzzle together. It came to make sense to us.

And, you know, then the trials came. And as you know, many people who had made the commitment at the beginning did not endure to the end. And they did not continue to overcome. Jesus Christ said this, brethren. He said, no man who loves his father—and, of course, we understand that what Christ been is, loves less by comparison—loves his father, mother, brother, sister, you know, go through the whole list basically more than God. He said, they cannot be my disciple. Unless we are willing to forsake all and come and follow Jesus Christ, we are told in the Bible, we cannot be the disciple of Jesus Christ. And then he talked about how salt, if it loses its savor, what do you do with it? You throw it away. So, like the vines that wither and die, they're burned up. The salt that stops losing its savor, you throw it out. So, brethren, we don't want to lose our savor. We don't want to lose our effectiveness in helping others by example. Christ said that we ought to bear our cross, whatever it is. Take up your cross and come and follow me. So, you know, Christ had a retinue of people that were following him all the time, but they didn't want to obey God. So, brethren, heaven, come this far. Let's keep going on. Let's go forward. There's a still need to overcome. None of us can say we don't need a self-examination.

This time of the year causes us to especially to focus on the fact that all of us come short of the glory of God. So, number one, again, in this step of overcoming, realize how deeply, brethren, you need to change and you need to overcome. Number two, acknowledge your problems, whatever they are, that you need to work on. It's like the children of Israel. You know, when they were in Egypt, the one thing they did recognize, brethren, is they were under bondage, and it was terrible for them. And you know what they were doing when they were under bondage? They were crying out to God, deliver me. And you know, when you and I were a part of this world, we could see we were a part of the world, and we wanted to be out of the bondage of the world. And the reason why we were in bondage, brethren, was sin that was in our lives, that we had to overcome. So you started keeping a Sabbath. You began to observe the holy days. You began to observe the other laws of God, the multitude, the laws of God. You begin to try to come in line with God's way of life, and you began to feel better. And you were baptized, and boy, you were really refreshed. You could see it in people's eyes when they come up out of the baptismal pool. You know, I love to say to those who are being baptized when they come up, all your sins are forgiven. What a special time in a person's life. And so, brethren, we need to acknowledge, though, our problems as we go along. In some sins, you know, are harder to spot than others. Like I say, what we learn in the first few years of our conversion and what we need to learn in the next years of our conversion, sometimes you can't see those things because they're inside. Now, Christ said, you know, a man is not committing sin if he just looks on a, I mean, commits adultery, but if he looks on a woman, the lust after her. Controlling the lust is a much more difficult thing to do.

And, you know, sometimes nobody sees what you do. But you do. You know what you do.

Unless you get locked into thinking a certain way, you can, and your mind gets hardened and seared like a hot iron. So it doesn't bother you to lust anymore. Hopefully that's not the case. But, you know, Christ made the statement. Remember when his disciples were accused of not washing their hands by the Pharisees and the scribes? You know, he told him it's not what goes into a man that defiles him. For some people have thought that that means you could eat unclean food, but that's not what Christ was talking about. He was talking about, in fact, eating with unwashed hands, by the way. He was not talking about eating a pork chop.

You know, but they were eating not according to the tradition of the elders of the time, which meant that they had to wash up to the elbows. And so the disciples, you know, when they got busy, they forgot to wash their hands. And the Pharisees just lambasted them because they didn't, you know, maybe they did wash their hands hurriedly, you know, just their hands, you know, but they didn't do it according to the tradition of the elders. But Christ said, that which comes out of man is what defiles him. Talked about, you know, the evilness that comes out of man. You know, men lie, men lust, men have greed. You know, he had, you know, several things that come from within a man that defile him. You can't see those things. You can't see those things. You know, what is inside of us, brethren, is frankly going to condemn us more than what is on the outside. I trust that you're here because you keep the Sabbath.

And outwardly, you look like you're doing pretty well. We all look like we're doing fairly well.

But, you know, you don't see bitterness inside of people, do you? I guess you can see somebody, if they, you know, get that sour look on their face, you know, but bitterness and wrong attitudes are something we oftentimes don't see. But it's a terrible error in our lives. We don't see a lack of forgiveness of others. But we have to overcome that, brethren. If we don't overcome our unwillingness to forgive other people, then the Bible says that we're not even going to be forgiven of our sins. So I would suspect that all of you, I know I do this every day, I try to survey my day and think, is there anybody that I haven't forgiven in my life? In other words, I've left it behind.

Now, by the way, it doesn't matter if the offender has repented, by the way. I have to forgive them. You know, the offender might still be as guilty as sin, but I have to forgive them.

And I don't want bitterness to keep me out of the kingdom of God. God's not going to have a bitter person ruling in the kingdom of God. That's not going to happen. I'm going to tell you that, brethren. You know, another thing that oftentimes we don't see is lethargy. We don't see spiritual laziness. You know, people not praying because they're lazy, spiritually lazy.

We don't see self-righteousness. Now, we can see the effect of it if we understand what it is, but we don't see self-righteousness. It's very hard to see. But you know, when somebody is self-righteous, usually they are alone. That's a sign. They tend to be alone a lot because, you know, when somebody is self-righteous, nobody else is righteous enough to associate with them.

And they should have, you know, you've heard of the Church of God, and you've heard of the Intergalactic Church of God, and then there's the Intercontinental Church of God, and there's the the Interbalistic, or no, I don't know how many types there are.

But you know, if we get too self-righteous, we'll be a part of the Church of Me.

Like I remember, a friend of mine used to sing a song when I was in college. What the world needs now, he said, me, me, me.

That's the only thing, that there's just too little of what the world needs now, is me, me, me. Of course, he was just joking, but you know, we were talking about the me generation back then. I used to get a kick out of him when he would get on that song, and I could sing better than he could, by the way. I had a terrible voice as I ran. But, you know, also you can't see those things, self-righteousness. We can't see, brethren, resentment toward authority either. Always, it can be manifested. You know, some people stand against any decision that's going to be made. You know why? Because they didn't make it.

You don't see a lack of faith. It's a sin to have a lack of faith, brethren. We don't see a lack of thankfulness. We don't see unthankfulness, but unthankfulness is a sin. Being a spiritual loner, brethren, is a sin as well. Being by yourself all the time, staying away from people. You know why? Because we avoid growing spiritually, speaking, to overcome. I've told you this before, but when I first came into the church, I saw people, frankly, who was back in Arkansas, Fort Smith, Arkansas, where the first church I ever attended of the church.

I saw men up giving the sermonettes that should have been driving a tractor. They would have felt more comfortable driving a tractor. They had these big hands that handled a lot of clods and bales of hay. But, you know, I could tell they were very convicted, very committed. And you listen to them, because it came from the heart. You know, these guys got up at crack of dawn, you know, before, in fact, the chickens.

Before that old rooster starts crawling, they're up already, you know, studying their Bible, going through the Scriptures. So, brethren, we need to, again, acknowledge the problems we have, whatever they are. It's like, again, those men that I saw doing those things. They acknowledge that, look, they had not ever thought of themselves, ever standing up and instructing somebody else. But if God was calling them, and that's what God wanted them to do, that they were willing to do it. You know, and they grew and developed and changed over the years.

So, we need to, again, acknowledge our problems, whatever they are, brethren, begin to work on them. If we're bashful, we need to overcome that. You know, are we going to be a bashful king or priest? You know, I'm sorry the king can't come out and see you today, because he's embarrassed, or she was embarrassed to see you. You know, no, we have to overcome those things. And, brethren, don't think that just because you're a spirit being, you're going to be already, you know, magically, you know, this superhero.

Not going to happen. God's going to take what you have, and that will be embellished. That'll be embellished, what you have. Another way, brethren, to begin to look at ourselves and to see our specific problems is look at the Word of God. Because the Word of God is quick, the Bible says, or alive, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit. And it says, of the joints of the marrow, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And we're told that also all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, in other words, brethren, for instruction in righteousness. That we want to see yourself look in this book, and you will see yourself, you know, in a way that you have not before. I can guarantee you. You can read this book a thousand times, and every time you come through it, you'll find something else that you need to change, that you need to overcome.

You know, God's Word is for our personal correction. Brethren, I hope this sermon, you will take its correction. I hope that I'm speaking the truth in love, too. You know, I don't want to stand up here with a stone, gaze at you, as though somehow I'm a paragon of virtue. For I am not. None of the elders are perfect.

None of them are paragons of virtue. So God's Word, and what we're saying here is for our correction. And we should study the Bible, frankly, for correction. What can I learn from this? If you've ever, brethren, gotten down on your knees with the book of Psalms and read the thoughts of David and said to yourself, God, what do you want me to learn out of this? We're all the same, brethren. We're all men and women of light passions.

Number three point, if you're going to overcome, beware of this. Satan will try to cloud the need for you to overcome whatever sin it is.

Time you get frustrated trying to overcome it, and it's like pushing a rock sometimes up a hill that rolls back down, and you've got to push it up the hill again. Sin can be that way. You get that rock almost to the top of the hill, and you think you've got it conquered, and it rolls back down. No, you've got to push it back up the hill. You know, we need to realize that Satan is going to try to do all he can do to poo-poo the idea of your change in my life. You know, nine times out of ten, you're probably going to hear somebody stand up and say, you know, somewhere, not here, that you don't have to do anything. Jesus did it all for you.

You know, let's be aware of Satan's tactics, brethren. That's just one of them. When Israel came out of Egypt, brethren, they were just so elated. Think about this entourage of two and a half million people. You know, the babies and the little kids, you know, just so excited coming out of Egypt. And, you know, they'd been under bondage and captivity. But whenever they saw the cloud of smoke and the rumble of soldiers and chariots coming toward them, Pharaoh's armies began to pursue them and came after them. They began to lose heart, and they wanted to quit. So, you know, Pharaoh was a symbol of Satan. As soon as you start trying to overcome something, I mean, it happens all the time, brethren. Satan will try to discourage you. It's like with Israel, you know, they thought, well, we don't have the capability of fighting with these Egyptians. You know, they were outnumbered when it came to soldiers. They thought they would be overpowered.

You know, and here they were headed out, and Satan could not stand the fact to see what was happening. And so he moved Satan to, or Satan moved Pharaoh to come out and try to, again, overtake the Israel. We know that Satan, brethren, is like a roaring lion seeking whom he made of hour. And we're told he broadcasts of the children of disobedience. You know what? He broadcasts a soothing, sleep-inducing message.

To people, getting us to believe you don't have to do anything. You know, Satan will do anything, again, to thwart God's spirit working in your life and have an impact over you. Satan will use others to discourage you. If you start trying to obey God, you start trying to change not just the outside, but the inside of yourself. You know, you will think you are in cloud nine and be out on the freeway and driving along, and you finally sort of come to yourself. And somebody's going to pull right in front of you and give you one of those sign language things and change your whole attitude. Get your whole mind off of the fact that you may need to make these changes in your life, and you're making these changes in your life. You'll have family and you'll have friends that will come along. Maybe your family, who are not a part of the Church, will begin to discourage you. Are you still following that way of life? You still going to that Church? That crazy Church? You know, and of course they look with great eagerness if some news item negative against the Church. They love that. They love that. So, brother, don't let anybody, not even your family, not your friends outside the Church, not anyone discourage you. Once you have decided you're going to go God's way of life, discourage you from doing what you need to do. Because you know what? Their calling is not now. Yours is. And God's holding you accountable now.

Point number four.

Try to analyze, brethren, what makes you sin? What makes you get off the path?

Sin is like a bad diet in your life.

You know, it's like if you've ever been on a diet of cake and ice cream.

You know, what happens when you're on a cake and ice cream diet? Well, you know, Bill Cosby says the cake has flour in it. It's got wheat. It's got milk.

What else? It's got eggs. It's got eggs in there. Have that for breakfast, right? So, you've got all those good ingredients. But, boy, you eat a cake and ice cream diet and you will begin to feel sick. I don't know about you, but if I have a bowl of ice cream, I can tell immediately afterwards. I don't eat ice cream anymore, you know, unfortunately. Because I love to eat ice cream. I enjoy it. I eat sugar-free yogurt. You know, or no sugar added. There's sugar in yogurt, but no sugar at least added. But, you know, when you get sick, you stop eating cake and ice cream, don't you? Notice how you get, you know, cake and ice cream is anathema to you when you're sick. You know, we don't want that. And to correct it, what we do is we, if we get sick, we begin to work back from our sickness and to try to find out what we did wrong. How did we go wrong? I remember my wife, when she was younger, she had allergies. And she doesn't have those allergies anymore, but when she was a child, she had these allergies. She had to stop eating certain things. Couldn't eat certain things. Well, same is true with us, brethren. If we get sick, if there's something that we're doing, we need to analyze what made us sick and stop doing it. It's like the doctor, you know. The doctor, you go in and he says, what's wrong with you? Well, Doc, it hurts when I do this. You know, what does the doctor say? Well, don't do that. Well, the same is true, brethren, with sin. Stop doing it. Stop doing that which is making you spiritually sick. Spiritual sickness will cause us increasing sorrow in our life. Sin is pleasurable. The Bible says for a season, but eventually it begins to hurt. You begin to pay for it. Remember when you were young, you could eat all the ice cream you wanted, all the candy you wanted. But boy, it catches up, doesn't it? It catches up. And thankfully, we learn we can't live that way anymore. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 7. I don't know what this scripture is. I can't remember, but we'll find out together. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10.

In verse 10, it says, Yeah, of course, you remember this particular verse.

That in changing and overcoming sin, brethren, we have to be sorry in a godly sense.

If we're sorry in a godly sense, we don't do it again. Right? If we're sorry in a worldly sense, we obviously are sorry at the time, but we go out and do it again. In other words, people give their hearts to the Lord on Sunday morning, and then go out and sin on Monday. In other words, it's a worldly sorrow that they have. It doesn't work. A godly sorrow means you change. You make the change in your life. And you're not sorry for that whenever you make the real changes in your life.

And you know, worldly sorrow causes us to come right back to sin.

And brethren, we need to keep in mind that there is no sin we cannot overcome. I don't care what it is. No sin, no habit that we have in our lives that is sin that cannot be overcome. Whatever it is, God, we're told, will make a way of escape for us. So once you've accepted the fact, and you believe it, you have a problem. You have a sin. You have an error in your life, and you recognize that you need to overcome, that you're sorry for it. Then you can. Then you can. And point number five is, as you begin to make those changes, make sure you're doing your part to change. God will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. That's an axiom, brethren, of how God works. He will do for you what, in fact, you cannot do for yourself. Remember, Israel came out of Egypt, which was a symbol of sin. Pharaoh is the symbol of Satan. Israel came out of Egypt, which was a symbol of sin. And they were led out by the hand of God, the Bible tells us. God bore them out on the wings of an eagle. But you know what? You go read this story. And my Bible says that they walked out. They walked out. See, God did not carry them out on his shoulders, in the sense of, you know, that they didn't have to, you know, work in doing what they needed to do. And brethren, God is going to help us in the same sense. God will always be with us, and He will help us to do what we cannot do for ourselves. Just like with the children of Israel, God was a pillar of fire at night, and He was a cloud during the day. He was always present. And brethren, God is always with us. But He expects us to put forth effort and to apply ourselves. You know, the Bible says that we ought to repent and be baptized. So we have to repent of what we've done. That means that we start changing. Remember John told the scribes and the Pharisees, he says, Bring forth fruits meat for repentance, fitting for repentance. They had to make changes, in other words, in their life. Jesus Christ told the rich, young, noblemen, He said, Go and sell everything you have, and you come and follow Me. Because apparently He loved the physical things, the wealth and the cooterments of wealth that He had. And we're told to repent and be baptized. So we have to do something. And we're told also that we will not be given the Holy Spirit unless we are obedient to God. Acts 5.32 tells us that. So brethren, it's an axiom of God that God will not do it all for us. But I like to say this, brethren, God will only bless your effort. You know, if you want to jump across the Grand Canyon, brethren, sometimes changing can be like a ken to jump across the Grand Canyon. You have to make a run for the Grand Canyon. Unless you're evil, you know, the rocket. But if God had helped evil can evil get across the Grand Canyon, He would have made it. But unfortunately, He didn't make it. And even evil can evil knew He wasn't a righteous man. I mean, what man calls himself evil? Can evil! It thinks He's righteous. But God will not do it all for us, brethren. But He can only bless an effort that you make. Remember that, brethren. Write it down. Write it down. God can only bless an effort that you make.

You know, God will, for instance, bless the day of your life. But He's not going to get you out of bed. It's like this morning. Did you notice, God didn't say, Jerome, it's time to get up. The church is at 10.30. Jerome, it's time to get up. I'm just choosing a name out of the air. But, you know, God is there, brethren, for us, and He will help us. I'm not going to go to all these scriptures, but David recognized this, brethren. He realized sometimes he didn't see his own problems. Psalm 119, verses 9 through 12, and verse 18, David says, Open my eyes, show me what I need to overcome. And I'm, again, paraphrasing the things that David was saying. And, you know, David didn't want to stand in the way of his own overcoming. He didn't want to lose heart during trials. And, you know, Bible talks about David, his companions were God-fearing people. And, brethren, that's why we need to be at church, every Sabbath. You need the church, brethren. If you think that, you know, watching from a video is a substitute, you know, you don't understand. You just simply don't understand. You know, if that was the case, then there would be no church. You know, if we didn't need the church, brethren, it wouldn't be here. We need to see each other. We need to be around each other. We need to see these examples of people who lived according to God's way. Real-life human beings, I mean. People who lived God's way of life and died in the faith.

You know, we need to, again, as God's people, again, to walk in God's way. And we need to realize that God's not going to do it for us, all for us, that we have to make that effort. And then He will bless what we do. If you get up out of bed and come to services, if you have a downer of a day, God will lift you up.

And He will continue to lift you up as long as you do. The right thing. And so, brethren, again, remember that. Remember also that one time the disciples, shortly after Christ sent them out, you know, there was a man who had a son that had a demon. And the man said, you know, I brought this son of mine to your disciples and they could not cast out this demon. And Christ later answered the question of the disciples who would ask, well, why couldn't we cast out this demon? You know, it was a piece of cake for Jesus Christ to do. But, and Christ said, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

Talking about this demon discovered. You've got to be close to God. You've got to be praying, in other words. And apparently the disciples were not prayed up, as it were, before God. And they had not fasted. Remember, they were criticized for not fasting. So, so we have to be close to God, brethren, to to overcome some things in our lives. Certainly to cast out a demon. You know, here, but what about overcoming something? Sometimes, brethren, that effort that we make that God can bless is a fast. Apply ourselves to fasting over a problem that we may have. Number six. Number six. Allow, then, God to do what you can't do. Don't get frustrated. Don't throw in the towel because you're not able to combat a problem. First of all, let me tell you, brethren, you keep coming back at it again and again and again. The wise men, the Bible says, falls seven times and gets up eight. In other words, you don't let something lock you down. There's too much at stake, brethren. So, number six, if you're writing these down, allow God to do what you can't do.

And God had to do some things for the children of Israel, which they could not do for themselves. See, they recognized they were in bondage. They were symbolically under the sin of Egypt and under the devil himself. They recognized that. But, you know, they had no power to come out of it. It was God that had to deliver them out of it. And so God helped them. He helped them as a nation to come out of Egypt. And without the, you know, the plagues of God poured down upon Egypt and all the miracles that happened along the way, Israel could not have come out of Egypt. Let me give you another example, brethren. Remember when Peter was walking on the water? He was able to walk on the water just a short duration. And how long? Again, we have no way of knowing. But, you know, apparently he at least believed as long as he had his eyes on Jesus Christ. And I think probably there was a time there that allowed him to walk on the water a little bit. But remember, you know, eventually he started to sink. And what caused him to sink is the fact that the, you know, the water was pretty rough. And then he began, look, I should be walking on water. You know, and he started looking at it and he began to be fearful. I mean, you think these giant waves are coming up. Because the Sea of Galilee could be a pretty ferocious body of water. And what did Peter then say? Oh, God, help me! Jesus, help me! Well, you know, Jesus didn't say, well, you got yourself into this. You know? No, he helped him, didn't he? He helped him. He helped him, and God will help us, brethren, to fight our battles. And God told Israel, when they were ready to come out and they began to be afraid, you know, God told Moses, you tell him that I'm going to be fighting for them. And God's fighting for you, brethren. He's fighting for you and me, and he wants us to overcome. Yeah, he will deliver us from Satan's grasp.

The greatest thing he's going to deliver us from, brethren, is our own sin.

You know, God, of course, instilled in David through his spirit understanding. King David knew God would perfect what was lacking in him. In Psalm 138, David said, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. He will perfect it. Whatever it is I need to overcome. Whatever it is I need to change. He said, I know God will perfect it in me. So, brethren, if you don't think God is going to work with you and change you, you may end up in a hospital bed like I did, wondering what in the world happened. And I'll tell you, if you don't think right now, you will then. When somebody walks in to you and tells you, hey, Mr. Tretarnib, you know, you just had a stroke, somebody walks in to you and says, sorry, we noticed that you got some blockage in your heart. And we need to look at that more. And then, not long after that, I had a little fellow walk in, about that tall.

And he was a... he analyzed some of the results of a colonoscopy that I had taken. He said, you got cancer.

And I said, are you sure about that? And he said, yeah, he said, I've been doing this a long time. You got cancer.

And my wife came in and we were both crying together, wondering what was going to happen.

And I said to him, I said, are you sure about that? I said, have the tests come back? He said, no, but he said, I don't care. Even if the tests come back, you've got colon cancer.

And lo and behold, he told me that twice, by the way. So I got... you know, I thought to myself, well, I don't have too much to do here in the next few weeks. You know, I've got to have bypass surgery and chemotherapy and x-rays or radiation therapy. So I guess the summer's bone. Going back to Africa is not going to happen. I realized. That summer, at least. And I'm just being facetious about that. So anyway, what was to make a shorter story out of this is, you know, he told me again twice I had the cancer. So we can cure it, use the word cure, with chemotherapy and the other. And anyway, when the test came back, they came back negative. Again, didn't give me a lot of hope still, because he said, you've got this colon cancer. Well, anyway, he said, well, I can't... we can't do anything now, but we're going to have to wait till July. It was July, wasn't it? The months could sort of blend together now. And so anyway, he said, I want you to come to my office after you got home and after you've, you know, gotten a little better. And anyway, he examined me in the office. And in the office, he said, this is a miracle.

I said, what? He said, this is a miracle. You don't have anything. You don't have anything. And I said, you sure about that, Doc?

And he said, no, you don't have... he said, I can't imagine it happening to a better person. But he said, you don't have anything. And I was examined by him twice. And both times he said, it's a miracle. I don't see anything here. And anyway, we were all very thankful. I was very thankful by it. But, you know, in so many ways, I can't express. But so, brethren, again, if we don't believe God can perfect in us, what is lacking? You may end up where I was. Your faith gets pre-tested by it. You know, and, you know, I had a mother who died of cancer, by the way. So, God will perfect that which, as David said, that concerns me. And you, if you're going to be in the kingdom, so, you know, it's not over yet. It's not over yet in our lives. And we've got to keep overcoming. And by the way, interestingly, I have to show this, talk about this tidbit. You know, we were in the examination room. And he, after he had said twice again, on two separate occasions, this is a tremendous miracle. He said, by the way, could you help me? I'm having some marital problems. And I would like to counsel about this. So, here I am in the schmock. What do you think? Is it a schmock or, you know, split-tailed gown? And I'm counseling somebody about marriage. But anyway, I know he wanted to talk longer, but we, you know, he had people, patients to see. So anyway, allow God, brethren, to do what you can't do and realize God's going to perfect you. He's not done with you yet. And then, number seven, apply preventative maintenance to your problems, whatever they are. I could say a lot more. The Bible talks about not becoming entangled in old sins, entangled in the world. You know, also, you may remember that Jesus said, behold, I'm coming as a thief. And blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments. You know, you got to keep the garment. White. White, you know. If we don't continue to purge, overcome, and change, the garment's going to get pretty worn, isn't it? So we need to keep ourselves inside and out, as clean as a whistle, as pure as the driven snow. And it says, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. So, brethren, don't let Satan deceive you into thinking your current state of spirituality is sufficient. To stop growing and overcoming is the same as waving the white flag of surrender in our lives. We can't afford to give up because we have come too far for that. And as we approach the Passover in the Days of Unleavened Bread, let's concentrate on overcoming, putting out the old sin out of our lives. And remember Paul's encouraging word. Being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So, brethren, let's make sure during the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread ahead that we re-emphasize in our minds the importance of being overcomers. Jesus said,