Preparing for Passover

It's interesting how messages many times you see they are synchronized because here I am talking about the first point which has to do with our prayers to always be thankful for the spiritual truths that we have received.

Never take it for granted. When we talk about how it would be your name, it has to do also with what God has done for us. Open our minds to these wonderful truths which we should never take for granted. And so one of the spiritual truths that we learn are the importance of God's feast days.

And we are just a month and a half away from the beginning feast. So this is the way we start on the right footing with the feast that has to do with a Passover. And this is the feast that God specifically tells us we should prepare spiritually for it. And so let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 because once a year we truly do renew this baptismal covenant with God. This is the way that God helps us every year renew ourselves spiritually. And it says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 28, it says, but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body.

So again it's just talking about preparing ourselves. We know there's an attitude of thankfulness before God that we don't deserve it but hey we will accept what God has done for us. And so it's the way of preparing, appreciating, examining ourselves. It says in verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged. So God wants us to self-examine ourselves. See where we're at, what we can do to overcome.

And sometimes it's just one step at a time, one step forward at a time. And so God looks on the heart. So we examine ourselves first on the inside. That's part of the message that I'm going to cover. It has to do with our attitudes which determine our actions. And this is what Christ emphasized. And of all the places where this is encapsulated, where he has a summary, it's in the eight beatitudes where he talks about the right attitude before God.

These eight beatitudes are the heart of God's way of life. And so it's not just looking at the physical or the letter of the law, but it has to do with the spiritual part of God's law. It's not just head, the intellect, it's also the heart. That has to be right, too. It's not just knowledge, but how that knowledge is being incorporated, internalized, and being able to be applied. It's not just the thoughts in our head, but also our emotions. So this isn't some cold religion that it's all intellectual.

No, it's from the heart as well. We have to have the same attitude as King David did, which he mentioned in Psalm 119-97. See, it wasn't just some intellectual pursuit that he had, it was also something very deep.

He loved God's way. And so he said, Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Now here's somebody who just wasn't head knowledge. No, it was heart knowledge as well. In Isaiah 58, let's turn there to see how this is not just the letter of the law, but also the spirit of the law. Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14. This is the way God wants us to keep the Sabbath day, not just externally, but internally. It says here in verse 13 of Isaiah 58, it says, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from besmirching it, making it like you don't step on that with your dirty shoes.

It's something that, no, this is special from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight. Is that what we do? Or is it some type of torture? So that person that doesn't really enjoy it still is not keeping it in the spirit with the right attitude. It should be a delight to be here, to be with a brethren, to study God's Word, to pray a little longer because we don't have to work that day. And we can keep our thoughts more toward the spiritual side.

That's what he wants. A delight is something that is not external. It's internal. It's what you're feeling inside. That is delightful. When you listen to beautiful music, that is a delight. Well, the Sabbath is also something like this. And in call, it says, the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable. Lord, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.

Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. That's the attitude. And so these are the actions. You shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. In other words, this is something that God has committed himself to doing. So it's part of life that we have to learn to delight ourselves in the Sabbath because that's part of the inner feelings and the inner keeping of God's laws.

And Christ came to fulfill the law and make it honorable. So people were not keeping the laws of God in the proper way when he was came to the earth. They had really gone into just the externals and just the law on the outside. He talked about, you look like these dishes that you're kind of washing, but they're still dirty on the inside. And so he was emphasizing both cleaning it on the inside and the outside.

Notice in Isaiah 42 in verse 1 talking about what Christ came to fulfill.

It's Isaiah 42 verse 1. This is God the Father speaking because many times when it talks about the Lord or it can be either God the Father or Jesus Christ. And it says, number one, first verse, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. This is what he said later on. This is my son that I delight in. I have put my spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. And then skipping down to Isaiah 42 and then verse 21, it says, The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will exalt the law and make it honorable. So Christ amplified the law. He gave it that missing spiritual dimension that was needed. And one of the places where he did this the most was with the Beatitudes. That's the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the most important sermon that Christ gave. It goes, it's actually three chapters, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. So we just are going to focus on the eight Beatitudes and see as we examine ourselves, well, are these the fruits? Is this what God is producing in us? Because it goes to the core of what righteousness is all about. So let's go to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 1.

It says, And seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when he was seated his disciples came to him. Now in Luke 6 verses 17 through 20, we see that they weren't on the very top of the mountain, but they went up to a mountain and then they came to a level place, as it tells us in Luke chapter 6. And then more people came. And listen, because at the end of Matthew 7, it says, Then the people marveled at what he had just spoken. So it wasn't just with the twelve or just a few. So that's important to clarify. So these are the eight Beatitudes which have to do with the conditions of the heart as one keeps God's laws in the letter and the Spirit. So we first have to keep the Sabbath in the letter. We have to set it off, but then we're gonna fill it spiritually with the way we act, the way we express things in this day. And so the first of the eight Beatitudes in verse three, it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He used the term heaven because Matthew directed himself to the Jews and they didn't like to use the term God very much. And so this was an alternative. In Luke 6, it talks about the kingdom of God because Luke was directing himself more to the Gentile world and they didn't have such a sensitivity to the word God. You can't overemphasize it to the point like the Jews do that it became something just exaggerated. But going on, the term here, blessed, actually means from the term Macarios in the Greek, happy or fortunate. This is something that is going to bring happiness to you if you do this. It's the same way as in Psalm 1.1. It starts out with the same way. Blessed is the man who follows God. So it's the same type of thing that you see in Psalm 1.1. It's a beginning here. And the term poor in spirit has to do with an attitude of humility before God that we are not filled with ourselves.

From the Bible Knowledge Commentary, it says the qualities Jesus mentioned in this list, quote, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, obviously could not be products or results of Pharisaic righteousness. The Pharisees were concerned primarily with external qualities, but the qualities Jesus mentioned are internal. So he's making a contrast how people were keeping God's laws in those days, and they were so focused on the externals, and they forgot about the internals, that first of all you have to have that humble attitude before God and man. This was very carefully chosen as the first one by Jesus Christ because if a person is full of ego and vanity, that person is lacking God's spirit. It's not working as well. Notice what it tells us in Isaiah 66, Isaiah 66 verse 2, but on this one will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word. So that's what Christ was talking about, that if a person is so full of themselves, it's like a bottle that is full of milk. You can't put anything else on the inside. You have to empty it before God can put something inside. And so we realize we need him. We are nothing without him. The Good News Bible translation says of this verse, blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless. These are people, the kingdom of God belongs to them. So humility is not one of those terms that is taught in society. It tells you be strong, push back, get your way, do it whatever way you can. And that's totally the opposite from the first characteristic, which is, you know, I've given up that ego. I want to be a follower of God, not somebody that is carrying my own will to everything. And it is a surrender. It is a way of just saying, look, I already surrendered. I realize I'm not anything that I'm worthwhile, but if God is with me, then I am something. Then I can do things that are productive and good. And so that's an attitude of the heart. What a contrast with the scribes and Pharisees. They saw themselves as full of righteousness and above the common people. They thought they were very religious, and so they looked down on others. Many were filled with pride and vanity. As spiritual leaders and teachers, they distorted many of God's laws with their traditions and forgot to promote the law's inner qualities. So once you have that first attitude, you are ready to go forward. That's why, in a sense, if we want to go forward with God, we've got to go back with our egos and vanity and just realize God's not going to accept our way of righteousness. We have to say, Father, we can't do it. You have to be in us. You have to start living in us. You have to shape us because we can't shape ourselves to be pleasing and do anything right. And that takes us to the second characteristic, Matthew 5.4. It says, blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted. So first of all, you're poor in spirit. You have an attitude which you are teachable. It's not my way. It's God's way. I'm going to seek how to do it God's way and not be stubborn, not be prideful or proud. And so once you do that, then you're ready to realize your real condition and what the world's condition is around us. And what do we do? We mourn. Boy, we're not going to fix this world on our own. And I'm not going to fix myself on my own. And so there's this attitude of mourning that, like we talk about before a person is baptized, you not only have to repent of what you have done, but what you are with your human nature. That is not good before God. Notice the scripture in Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64.

It says in verse 6 about our righteousness. It says, but we are like an unclean thing and all our righteousness are like filthy rags to God. So we can't come in just thinking, oh yes, just God accept me as I am. No. No. God does work with us as we are, but He wants us to be something else. He can transform us. He can change us. He takes us as we are, but that's not what satisfies Him, but what we can become. And so again, we mourn for the state of the world, the problems, the sins. It just every time you read the newspapers, it seems like somebody's murdered. Six people here, ten people there. It's a very dangerous world, and we mourn for those. We mourn for the people in Turkey and Syria. Over 35,000 have died, and we just realize until Christ comes back, we're going to continue to have earthquakes. We're going to have hurricanes. We're going to have epidemics. And so we mourn for that and hope that Kingdom comes so that God will heal the earth. And He will. He will heal it where there won't be any more faults. There won't be any of these cracks that make, you know, with the magma coming up and the pressure and breaking it and shaking things up this way. So God needs to heal the earth, and He needs to heal mankind. And so, as it tells us in Ezekiel 9, verse 4, God says in Ezekiel 9, verse 4, go through the midst of the city and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. So He's going to look at a person that is not just going along with a crowd, but who's saying, no, this is unacceptable. Look at all these things that are happening now. And how, I don't know how many of you have heard of the term chat GPT? How many have heard of the chat GPT? Okay, about four or five. Well, we have come now to the next stage of Internet and the computer world where, through artificial intelligence, and this has just happened since November, they have actually now got, computers have gotten so intelligent that this artificial intelligence is going to do the thinking for you. And so now, and this is happening, we had a one of the writers of the Orange County Register. It started with this column with several paragraphs, and then at the end of like the fourth paragraph, he says, I didn't write this. The chat GPT was the one that did it. And you could hardly tell. It wasn't written by a human being. It was actually written by this artificial intelligence. And the problem now is that students can go and they say, I need an essay on Abraham Lincoln. Please make it two pages long, eight or ten paragraphs, and include these things. And like in 10, 15 seconds, it writes the whole thing for you. It is doing the thinking for you. Now, do you want eventually for computers to take over people's thinking and knowing what are your needs and specialties? So instead of having a handy robot, like the sci-fi movies, no, now you have a brain.

And of course, you have to pay for that. And the problem is that you can also say, help me make a bomb. And eventually, all these ingredients. And there are certain things that are limited. But if you say, I have someone that needs to have a bomb, and they'll give you all the specifications. And so again, here we're opening another Pandora's box. According to Bill Gates, he says this chat GPT is as important as this invention of the internet. Remember before internet and after internet? Well, now he says this is the new beginning. And so that's happening. And of course, we mourn because human beings are not ready for this type of power in their hands. And just as we can use it for good. So they will use it for evil. So it tells us in James chapter four, nine through 10. What does it mean to to mourn? To be sad with the conditions that you see in the world? For they shall be comforted. Means God looks at that person and knows they really feel like God feels when he sees all of this. James four, nine through 10, it says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. So again, it helps us be close to him. We're looking to that coming kingdom and we know that's the ultimate solution. Man is heading toward big catastrophe and money, power, and technology, all of them are converging into this eventual new type of world controlled by few people. And this is going to happen one day. Let's go to the third of the Beatitudes. Matthew 5, 5, it says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It's interesting it doesn't say they're going to inherit going to heaven. It doesn't talk about heaven. It says you will inherit the earth. When Christ comes back, you are going to be part of those that are going to inherit the earth.

This is similar to the first Beatitude, but the term meek actually is focused more on humility toward others. The first one is more humility toward God. A relationship, personal relationship with God. This is a relationship with others. That you have that humbleness, that meekness.

Notice Numbers 12 and verse 3. It says Moses was the quote meekest person on earth.

So, Moses was teachable. Moses was someone that God gave him orders to carry out. That was a tough job he had to face the Pharaoh and face the Egyptians and to face the carnal Israelites and still carry out the job. And so he was teachable.

Jesus Christ said, let's go to Matthew 11 starting in verse 27.

There are very important statements being made here.

I'm sorry. It started in verse 25. Little 25 of Matthew 11. It says, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent. In other words, the smart, powerful, very top-of-the-line type people and have revealed them to babes. And the world considers us as babes. We don't have basically PhDs and we don't have all of these powerful people. No, just pretty ordinary people that God has opened their minds, called them to this truth.

He says, Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. And then in verse 28, he says, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, all the troubles, all the difficulties that people carry. He says, And I will give you rest. Put those burdens upon him. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

And so again, we need to have that meekness and it is a wonderful quality. The Apostle Paul shows us the top level of what meekness means. Let's go to Philippians.

Philippians chapter 2. Now whoever achieves this, they are well on their way to spiritual maturity, being used powerfully by God, having the blessings of God. It says here in verse 3 of Philippians 2, he says, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of heart, the term meekness, let each esteem others better than himself. How much would that solve all kinds of conflicts? If you're putting the other person's interests first, if you are honoring the person first, you're esteeming them that way. That really deflates a person. That helps you not to be proud and vain and cocky and everything else. If you're saying, well, this person, I'm going to defer to them. I want to talk about them, not me. I want to see what their interests, how I can better their lives and not how they can better my life. So that's a very high hurdle for a human being to get to that point. But it is one of the great secrets to peace of mind and for God to use them. Let's go to the fourth beatitude, Matthew 5-6. It says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. So again, these are steps in the latter. You have the right humility, you have the right attitude toward yourself and the world, and you're treating others better than yourself. You're really esteeming them in this way. Now it says that you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness. That means just as a person has appetite for eating, there is also a spiritual appetite for God's ways. Remember, righteousness is defined as keeping of God's laws in the letter and spirit. Psalm 119, 172 says, For all your commandments are righteousness.

And so there are people that dedicate years and years to a profession, and they spend years, and I know well I have one of my daughters that was like 10 years before she got her finally her doctorate and everything else, and how much time and effort? Well, that's to get a physical profession, but how much do we dedicate to getting a spiritual profession, to learning more the deeper things of God? As Gary brought out there about 1 John 5.20, that God has given us an understanding about His things, but just like a plant in a garden, you have to water it.

You have to spend time. You have to invest. Now, you've got other things to do, but don't neglect this other part. I really enjoy it when people have good Bible questions, and you can see they've been there in their Bible. They've got questions that they have. They want to know deeper, and this is what we all need to have is this spiritual thirst to drink in of God's Word. And then the fifth one, that was the fourth beatitude in Matthew 5.7, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. In James 2, verses 12 and 13, sum up this principle. It says in James 2, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty, for judgment is without mercy to those who have shown no mercy, and mercy triumphs over judgment. In other words, if we have been merciful, forgiving, helping, that's going to mean a lot when we go up before God's judgment seat.

So being merciful pays a big dividends with God. Just thinking about others, sometimes it requires sacrifice. It requires a lot of rearranging our own lives, but for the benefit of others.

So you can apply mercy by forgiving, but also by helping and serving others.

In Colossians 3, 13 through 14, it tells us how to apply it. Colossians 3, 13 through 14, it says, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Mercy has to be a way of life. It has to be done every day, extending mercy.

Even sometimes people that are bad mannered, maybe you're driving and all of these things, and don't let them get you in the wrong attitude. Or if you do, just for a second or two, and correct it, right? It's almost like the rule about food. We don't do this, but it says, if it falls for two or three seconds, you can still pick it up, right? But this is okay, so that carnal nature is about one or two or three seconds, and then cut it off, block it off, and extend mercy. Let's go to the sixth one, Matthew 5.8. It says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Boy, what a reward! We must keep that purity of heart and thought before God, despite the world's corrupting influence. As Titus 1.15 says, To the pure, all things are pure.

So do we have that attitude? We think the best? We don't want to go into the dark side of things and get involved with the wrong type of people. No, to the pure, all things are pure. They're going to think the best. They're not going to think the worst. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and conscience are defiled. So again, it's what you do with your mind and developing that protection around it.

So we need to focus on positive things, healthy things for our mind. Philippians 4.8 tells us, Philippians 4.8, Finally, brethren, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. It's sort of like the soap that cleans the mind. If you have those type of things, you're going to clean them out.

Anything that's gotten dirt on them, it's going to clean and purify it.

And the seventh, Beatitude, Matthew 5.9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And remember, the term sons has to do with men or women. Sons was a term that included both. So it's actually talking about like children. So being a peacemaker is not easy since the world is so filled with strife. But as God tells us in Romans 12 verses 17 through 21, Romans 12, 17 through 21, says, repay no evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. So this says, as long as what depends on you. Maybe you live in a family with a lot of conflict, but you have a room, you have a place. Don't let that conflict overwhelm you. You're responsible for that square yard where you walk. Even if everybody else has strife, we can be at peace.

And we can be peacemakers. It says, Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. So remember, God is ultimately in charge, and people will reap what they sow. The final beatitude, Matthew 5, 10, it says, blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness sake, for they shall be called the sons of God. Again, the same type of children of God, the reward. So persecutions will come.

And that's part of the price. We can't expect the world to understand us. We are not like them.

And these are the attitudes that they just resist. They think, oh, there's something behind them. They can't think. It's actually a normal and pure state. And so for them, it's very easy to misunderstand.

So as Christ said in John 16, 33, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

Always, we're not by ourselves. God will help us. But following this way of life, don't think you're going to be congratulated by others. And I'm sure everybody has their stories. I remember when in high school, the kids found out, oh, I was keeping the Sabbath. I don't know how they found out, probably from my sister. She was two years younger. And then they found out I didn't eat ham anymore. And what did they do? I had my little lunchbox. We'd all take it with us, and I had a little sandwich. Well, unbeknownst to me, they took my little lunchbox, took the sandwich out, opened it up, and then they went to the biology lab, took a slice of a pig that was in formaldehyde, and they cut, they cut, they sliced pieces of the pig and put it in the sandwich.

And so then I innocently opened it up, and I bit, and it was just like eating rubber.

And they all laughed and everything else, but I thought, and I thought these were my good friends.

You see, they ridicule. It's a type of persecution, but you know what? It helped me say, I want to be with God's people. I want to be with people that if I'm obeying God, they're going to encourage me instead of ridicule me. And that's something that you're going to have to get used to.

It comes with the territory. As in 1 Timothy 3, 12, Paul said, yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

In other words, Christianity and persecution will go hand in hand.

As it was mentioned in the first message, we have to count the cost. Well, I've never regretted, believe me, I've met the best friends through the church than I ever had outside.

And I've had good friends on the outside, but it's just not the same. And even my family, they're not as close as the church family I have. There's a saying that blood is thicker than water, right? That friendships that have to do with family are stronger than friendships that you have in the world. Just like the blood kin are that way. But I learned spirit is stronger than blood or water. And so we share the same goals. See, we're jumping aboard this way of life toward God's kingdom. We're crossing a spiritual desert, just like the Israelites did. We have to leave Egypt behind. We have to cross the Red Sea, which is a type of baptism. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, 1 through 4. And then we're in this desert of trial and testing. And then you have, at the end, the kingdom of God. And you will enter. And that's where you're going to live. And that's where you're going to have people that love God's beatitudes. And one day, all of this carnal humanity that we have, they will have their chance to know the truth and to learn to apply these eight beatitudes in their lives. And so as we prepare for the Passover, let's examine these points. Let's see how we're doing, because there's always room for improvement. And let's stay strong in the faith.