Three Spiritual Benefits of the Days of Unleavened Bread

Good afternoon, saints of the Lord in Dallas and Fort Worth. You all have been set apart by God. He has called you and has chosen you as saints to be in the kingdom of God. What a memorable occasion it is as we celebrate the beginning of this journey and anniversary of God calling us on this road to be His children in His kingdom. And I know you all had a lovely night to be much observed last evening.

And I hope that you all are fully rejuvenated and encouraged as we completed that wonderful beginning of this festival season as God has set us apart. We have much to be grateful. We all have much to be grateful.

But we do have a Satan that does not stop hurting us, splitting us, trying to offend us. Could it be through health or through emotional statements or whatever it is, he doesn't stop. As we heard in the sermon, as the Israelites left symbolically Egypt, Sun, as we leave or have left the world, as we were called and set apart, we are being attacked like the Israelites were attacked as they walked out of Egypt. The army of Moses, or be a part of Pharaoh, persecuted God's people and Moses.

And as we read in Exodus 13, starting in verse 3, and we see that they left. Obviously being at last night, the 15th, they left and Moses told the people, remember this day. And so probably this was during the morning part or sometime during the day portion. They had started walking and maybe they had a sermon, a little sermon from Moses. And then he says, in which you went out of Egypt.

And we need to remember this day because we walked out of the world and it's a memorial. And you and I are his saints. I think it's sometimes hard for us in this society to think that we are saints. But that's what Paul says at time and time and time again in his epistles. And he writes to the saints. You and I. You and I. Which only means we have been set apart. We are being sanctified in that process through the power of God's Holy Spirit.

And so there in Exodus 13 it says a little later in verse 6 and 7, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. And in verse 7 he says unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. I think it's very clear that we ought to eat unleavened bread seven days. And now some people twist that and say, well, we don't have to eat it seven days. But we as saints, we understand and we are grateful for that instruction because there is a great meaning in that. Because it relates to us being committed to obey and please the eternal.

And what a great joy it is that you and I have been called and set apart to be able to please our eternal living God, the Father and His Son. What a blessing that is. What a joy it is. And this festival season of the days of Unleavened Bread starts with a night to be much observed and remembered with great joy. And it must throughout all these seven days be a time of great joy for us.

I don't want it to be, and God doesn't want it to be, a time of, well, you know, I'm such a sinner, I don't deserve it. None of us deserves it. None of us deserves it. But God has called you and chosen you. You and I. And you and I need to be grateful for that. And then we are reading verse 9, as we obey God, obedience to God, of His commandments, which includes these days of Unleavened Bread, it shall be a sign to you on your hand, symbolizing as you work your hand.

That's basically what you work, how you work. And as a memorial between your eyes, that's what you think about and I think about. And so you and I, as we go about our daily lives working and meditating in God's way, and meditating and obeying God, that's a sign. Obedience to God is a sign that you and I are God's people.

Obedience to Satan is a mark, so-called mark of the beast, and a mark is forced upon people. A sign is voluntary. You do it because you want to, because you and I want to serve God with joy, because God has given us a way for our good and for our eternal life of joy and happiness. You know, God's laws are just so wonderful. If everybody obeyed God's laws, there will be no murder, no troops, no military intelligence, no military schools, no wars, no crime, no movies of crime. Well, a lot of people lose money with that, but if everyone obeyed the commandment to be faithful to one's spouse, but spiritual means being faithful to God, you know, there would be no sexual immorality. There would be no sexually transmitted diseases, but there would be no pain caused by unfaithfulness. Clothing and fashion would be different, too. Some clothes are very incorrect, revealing, and some mannerisms of this world are ungodly. If there was no stealing, there would be no more keys. Imagine you leave your home and you don't lock it. Well, I know some brethren when I go and visit them in Lawton, and I come and visit their house, and when they go to church, they never lock the door. Still today. Still today. I know them. But that'll be like in the whole world. There'll be no fear in the night. If there was no lying, there's no forgery of documents, you probably would need an ID card, because you would say who you are and who you are. That's it. And nobody will be confused about what is the truth, because in this world you don't know what's true, because people are mixing truth with lie. After a while, you don't know what's true and what is a lie.

And so on. You can go on. We're on. How the world will be different when Christ comes, and we'll have a world like that. And this is what you and I are pioneering through the days of 11 bread of this wonderful time that we'll have in the world tomorrow. I know the feast thanks to that, but so all these holy days point to an ultimate goal for us to be in the kingdom of God. It's all part of a plan of salvation. You see, the world today is like you and I read in Jeremiah chapter 5. Jeremiah chapter 5, verse 21. And it says, Hear this now, all foolish people. Yeah, the world is going that way. They don't even get it. Without understanding, we have eyes and see not. They don't get it. They're destroying themselves. They have ears and they hear not. Do you not fear me, says the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence? Who has placed the sand as the bound to the sea? You know, you go to the beach and you know, every day you're going to wake up the beach and the sand and the water will stop right there in the same place. And then you read a little bit further in verse 23. And this is the world that is today. These people have a defiant and rebellious heart. Brethren, when you see things in the news, it amazes me the defiant, rebellious heart we see with people where there's no logic in things they say because there's no sound-mindedness. And then verse 24 and 25, they do not say in their heart, let us fear the Lord our God. And then verse 25 says, you iniquities have turned these things away. Your sins have withheld good from you. That's the world, brethren. But you and I have been called. You and I have been chosen. You and I have been set apart in this world. And the world doesn't understand you, and many of us have pressures because different people, you know, give us a hard time. Quote-unquote, the Bible says they hate you. But we need to look at these days as a spiritual benefit to us. And I want to focus today on three spiritual benefits for which, or for which ones, we need to be grateful. This is a wonderful festival season for these seven days, which the meaning we need to look at it from a point of gratitude for the meaning built into these days for us. Now, obviously, you could have many other benefits, and you could list them from the days of 11 bread. And I asked a few people, and obviously they listed a number of very, very valid benefits. But no one mentioned the three that I'm going to mention today. And I'm not saying the others are wrong, because I'm just saying there are many, but I'm not going to give you a list of 20, or 21, or 35, or I'm just going to give you three so that you can remember.

Why? So what? Well, it's to help you and I to be close to God. That's why it's for us to be close to God, to be grateful for the calling, and therefore to be committed and strive, be striving to put these principles to practice, because they are spiritual benefits. You see, when these were lights left Egypt, and they were going on the way to the promised land, you can read in Exodus 13, verse 21 through 22, that they had a cloud and they had a pillar of fire to be with them, a cloud during the day, a pillar of fire at night. And God, therefore, was with them. God was with them. And God was with them, and you and I know they were rebellious. You know how rebellious and stubborn they were, but God was still with them. But you and I have been called and chosen, and God has given you and I His Spirit, and we have His Spirit in us. So God is not only with us, but He's in us.

You and I don't need to doubt that God is with us and in us. You see, when they came to the Red Sea, you see that in Exodus 14, and they saw mountains on one side and the other, they saw a sea blocking them in front of them, and behind them an army ready to wipe them out. What is their first natural human reaction? Doubt. They doubted God. Do you know what doubt is? It's lack of trust. In other words, it's lack of faith. And they got to a point that they doubted, and then what they do? They started criticizing, accusing, complaining. You know the story well. I don't have to turn to it, but you can read it in Exodus 14. And then they start criticizing God.

But you know what Moses told them and God's inspiration? What are you waiting? Go forward. Go forward. Fear not. Don't doubt. Go forward. Well, you can't see it away yet. Go forward. And that is the encouragement to you and I, brethren. You and I see mountains on our sides. It could be the politics of this world. It could be whatever. It could be problems that we have. It could be health issues. You see barriers everywhere. And on top of it, things are not getting any better. They're just pressuring behind us.

And you and I can get discouraged. But God is not only with you, He is in you. Don't doubt. Go forward. God's true servants. And you all are God's true servants. And you can encourage one another when brethren go through difficulties and trials and say, go forwards. We all need encouragement, not again. We all have difficult, stressful times because we have a Satan. He's attacking us like he will. The Egyptian armies were attacking the Israelites at that moment. Why are the attacks so intense now, brethren? Because Satan knows he has about a short time. He maybe is not expelled out of heaven yet. Maybe. I suspect he isn't, but I don't know. But whichever he knows, he has but a short time. And he's got his eyes, his target on each one of us. And he wants you, me, to give up.

We need to understand that, brethren. Satan knows that he's lost the war because Christ came to earth, died, and was resurrected. He was resurrected on that Sabbath after three days and three nights being in a tomb. And as we heard in the message yesterday, the people of that society just couldn't believe it. They just couldn't get it. And then after a while, they actually got it. So, Satan has lost the war. That moment, he said, I mean, God's done the most difficult part of them all. The rest is like a piece of cake.

But he can still win some battles. He's lost the war, but he can still win some battles. And the battles now are between you and I against Satan. And brethren, God is with you. God is in you. And the first benefit of the days of Unleavened Bread is that we can trust Him. The Israelites had to trust Him. And trust means we can have faith in God that He will do what He said He will do. If He came and sent His Son and died for us, He can do the rest, which is help you through the little trials in God's eyes that you and I have. For you and I, they're huge trials. The gang could be emotional, could be whatever, could be health, could be whatever.

But you see, we can see as we read the story of they leaving out of Egypt and passing through the Red Sea and even beyond, they kept murmuring. Well, there was no water. There was no water. Why no water? What are we going to do? Why? We should have stayed in Egypt. We told you we should have stayed in Egypt. What a bunch of liars.

You see, in a modern way, I want to do it my way, not God's way. You know, I want to go back to do my way. Some of you may remember a song, and I'm going to just read to you the first lyrics, and then you'll know what it is. And now the end is near. Well, doesn't that apply to us? And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I will say it clear. I will state my case, of which I'm certain.

I have lived a life that's full. I traveled each and every highway, and much more than this, I did it my way. Do you remember that song? Frank Sinatra. I did it my way. That's the way of the world. That's the way that Adam and Eve decided in front of the two trees, I don't trust God, what he said, I'll do it my way.

Well, Satan incited them, but they were free moral agents. They could have chosen to obey God, at least Adam, because he wasn't deceived. He should have chosen to obey God. He disobeyed knowingly because he wasn't deceived, which is worse than Eve, because Eve was deceived. Think about it. So, the wall says, my way is better. The wall says, I don't believe God. The wall is arrogant, full of air. The Israelites murmured. They didn't believe God.

They left Egypt. Yes, they left Egypt, but they carried Egypt with them. They carried Egypt with them. You know, they carried the idols with them. You see, many times later, throw the idols away. And then, still later, it says, throw more idols away. They carried Egypt with them. In other words, they did not deliver, spiritually speaking. We know they should have done what Joshua said to them when they went into the Promised Land in Joshua chapter 1 verse 6 and 7.

Be strong, be courageous, go forwards. Brethren, that's the message to you and I. God is in you, not just with you, but in you. We must not doubt. We must not lose faith. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, which is the 5th chapter in Hebrews 11, but in verse 6, Hebrews 11 verse 6, we read, Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

It is impossible to please God. It begins with one thing, trust. In other words, faith. Faith is trust. You and I have to have absolute faith, absolute trust that God is faithful. And you'll never let you down. Maybe you and I will, but you won't. And so, I can only say, thank you, thank you for being faithful to God and to Jesus Christ and for keeping these days because it shows that you believe God and believe means you do it. And it shows that you understand that God is going to be a rewarder as you read in Hebrews 11 verse 6.

As you do, He's going to reward you. And so, this is a great benefit from the days of 11 bread, a spiritual benefit, because it shows that we trust God and we obey in doing what He says. And that, in a sense, leads us to the very second benefit because people in the world, as I hinted a little earlier on, they're full of air.

They're arrogant. They're proud. They think their way is better than God's way. But God's way is better. And by you and I, keeping these days of 11 bread, shows that you and I recognize that you and I need to be, instead of full of air, we need to be full of God's Holy Spirit.

We need to be full of God's Holy Spirit. We need in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 starting in verse 1, where it says, well, it's been heard. Let me just get to it so I can quote it precisely. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1. It's actually reported. You know, the grapevine says this. And sometimes the grapevine says truths, but sometimes says also twisted truths.

So we've got to be careful. But anyway, yeah, we have that there is sexual immorality. And even though one of the problems, yeah, was sexual immorality, and that had to be addressed, and Paul addressed it, have you noticed that what Paul is criticizing them is that you are puffed up? You are full of air? You are arrogant?

And then he says, and you have not mourned. You see, the problem is a lot of people in the world are opinionated, full of their own great ideas and theories. And basically, that's pride and arrogance. And we see there is a Senia, because he says, yeah, in verses three and four, he says, you should have addressed the issue, but don't be puffed up. That leaven was infecting or affecting the church. And that's why he says later on in verse seven and eight, says, take out the old leaven. What do you mean the old leaven? That means the old man, that carnal mind, that you may be a new man, that you and I may be a divine, godly being, because you and I have been set aside and have got a little spirit, the divine seed. And you and I have it? Not because you and I deserve it? Not because you and I are great people? No, we're not. We're not any better than Joe Soap out there on the street. But by God's mercy, he's called you and I. I don't know why. You don't know why he called you? Because there are many wiser than you. You read in 1 Corinthians chapter one, it says, God is not called the wise, nor the great. He's called you and I then to put the others to shame. If God can take you and I and make of you and I spiritual, glorious children of God in his kingdom, he can do that from the others that are so much wiser and better. But what a gratitude you and I should have as we keep these days of unleavened bread and as we understand this meaning and we look at ourselves and say, I don't deserve it, but thanks to God I've received it. You look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 19 through 21. Philippians chapter 2 verse 19 through 21. But I trust in the Lord Jesus but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I may also be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded will sincerely sorry, I'm just missing out the lines. Sincerely care for you. For all seek their own, not the things which are our Christ Jesus. There's a lot of people that seek their own, but Paul sent Timothy because he cared for the people. We as God's ministers, we care for you. And you as faithful servants of God care for one another. That's why we did the foot washing because we care for one another. Sure, it's symbolic, but as we do that, our mind gets more and more on the same wavelength of Christ's. You see, Christ said to Peter, because when Peter said, no, you're not going to wash my feet. And Christ said, if I don't wash your feet, you'll have no part in me. And then Peter said, well, not my feet and my head and everything. He says, no, no, you've already been bough. In other words, you've already been baptized, but you just have a little bit more dirt in your feet. And so every year, symbolically, as you and I strive to overcome, we need just to remind ourselves that time and time again. You see, we wear sinners in the past. Look at Titus chapter 3 verse 3. Titus chapter 3 verse 3. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. We wear like that in the past.

But when the kindness and the love of our God, our Savior, and where the kindness and the love of God the Father towards man appeared, that's Christ. When Christ appeared, Christ is the very kindness and love of God. He gave us His only beloved Son. So when that kindness and grace and love of God towards us appeared, in other words, when He sent His Son to die for us, verse 5, not by works. Christ didn't come because you and I are such great people. No. No works of ours of righteousness, which we may have done. No. But according to His mercy, according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So He saved us by sending, by redeeming us, buying us back from death, giving us, setting us apart, and then on top of it giving us His Spirit, which is the helper. That you and I, through God's Holy Spirit, can be first begotten again, regenerated when we receive God's Holy Spirit. And secondly, our minds can be renewed because it's the sanctification of the Spirit. The God's Spirit pricks our conscience, and we slowly are being sanctified.

You see, so as we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7, it says, Be a new lump! That's what it means. We've got to use our God's Holy Spirit, and with God's help, which is His Spirit, we become a new person, a new man, a new woman. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, it says similar things in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11 says, it's talking about investing in thieves and covetors and adulterers and homosexuals and sodomites, etc. And it says, And where and such were some of you!

But now, brethren, you have been called, you have been set apart, and God is working with you, and God is in you. And it says, You were washed, but you were sanctified. You were set apart by God's Holy Spirit. You are saints, but you were justified. You were made right with God. Not because you and I have done anything great, but purely by God's grace and because we said, yes, I'll repent. But you and I hadn't done anything, you just committed, and you showed a willingness to change. As you were called, that's why we're chosen, because you showed a commitment to change. And it says, And you were justified. You were made right in the name of the Lord Jesus. In the words, by Jesus Christ's authority, you were made right, and by the Spirit of our God. In the words, through God's Holy Spirit, being in us, we are being sanctified. There's so much you and I can be grateful about. We're now one body. We're now part of Christ's spiritual body. And you and I, as part of this body, we're going to live in a way as we are different. And that's why we stick out in the world, because we're different. And therefore, as we use our body in a godly, correct way, through the help of God's Holy Spirit, we are giving God glory.

You see, that's why, a little later, in Ephesians chapter 5, I beg your pardon, yeah, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 says, Be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with God's Holy Spirit. Now that means we have been begotten again. In other words, we've been gotten from above, from the Father. We've been fathered from above. But we also need to be asking every day, give us our spiritual daily bread, to be filled with God's Holy Spirit. And God wants to give you that. And Acts 5, 32, says He gives it to those that obey Him. And these days of 11 bread picture that time. Pictures that time. That's why, in James, he talks about, we go through trials, yes, we go through difficulties, but count them joy, because it makes us better people. And if you don't get it, if you don't understand it, if you can't see it, it says then in verse 5, that's James chapter 1 verse 5, ask for God's wisdom. You see, the trials make us better people. And if you don't get it, ask for God's wisdom to help you see and understand that these trials, even though today they're difficult, they're they're painful, you and I may say, why God? Why is this happening to me? Why?

But as we read in James chapter 1 verse 6, go forwards and trust with faith. Go forwards and trust in faith. The same message! You see, so the first benefit that we have is that we need to be grateful for God's faithfulness, and we need to be faithful in turn, from faith to faith. And secondly, we need to have a desire to be full of God's early spirit. But that ties in to the third benefit, because in John 14 verse 17 reiterates the point that God's early spirit is in us. John 14 verse 17. He says, the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because they don't obey God. They can't, but you and I can, and so you and I can be grateful. Because they don't see God, they don't understand, they don't understand what it's all about. But he says, for God's early spirit dwells with you and shall be in you. And yeah, to the apostles, it was future, because they of Pentecost had not come, and they had not received God's early spirit yet. But you and I, after baptism, after the laying on of hands, you have received God's early spirit. God's early spirit is in you. God's early spirit regenerated you. In other words, begot you as a child of God. God's spirit, God's quote-unquote, let's say, fertilized the spirit of man in man, and you became a new man or a new woman. God is in us. Now, if we go back to the days in Old Testament, when they had the Bilta sanctuary before even the temple, and you could see a cloud would come over the sanctuary, over the Holy of Holies, and he says the Shekinah glory was with the Israelites, but it was not inside the Israelites, was with them over the Holy of Holies.

That Shekinah glory, which is God's early spirit, is in you and I. Isn't that a wonderful, encouraging promise?

And what does God's early spirit make us to be with God? Makes us to be one with God. Unites us to God. In Christ's lost prayer, Christ's very lost prayer, or let's call it public prayer in front of his apostles, he prayed for you and I. Nearly 2,000 years ago, he prayed for you and I. In John 17, verse 9, he said, I pray for them, I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given to me, for they are yours. For they are yours. God has called us, has chosen us, and has given us to Christ, for Christ to look after us and help us make it into the kingdom. The Father didn't hand you and I to Christ so that Christ would drop you. Oh, I forgot about and put your name there. He didn't. He hasn't forgotten you. His brain is a lot bigger than mine. I mean, I forget people's names and apologize, and so many of you, we all do. But God hasn't forgotten your name, hasn't forgotten you. He knows every single ed in your head. And I know it changes from day to day. I've got less than this every day. But he knows how many I have today and how many you have today. In verse 20, still in John 17, he says, I do not pray for these alone. That's the disciples that were there, the apostles, but also for those who will believe in me through the apostles' work. We've got the other, the testimony given to us by Christ and the apostles they wrote to us. We've got the testimony. And he says, for what purpose? That day may be one.

Christ's lost will and statement to you and I. Let's just say it that way, because I mean, it was his lost prayer, his lost desire for you and I. As a human being, it's that you and I may be one. Now, it doesn't mean that you and I cease to be different individuals, but it means that we should be united. To be one means united. As you, Father, are in me, and I knew that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory in which you gave me, I've given to them, that they may be one. Just as Christ and the Father are one, God is one. Not one person, but one in unity, in trust, in desire to work together, and that's what he wants you and I to be. One to be united. I in them, you and me, verse 23, that they may be made perfect in one. Perfect in one. That you and I may be perfect in unity.

And it says, continue, and that the world may know that you've sent me, and have loved them as you loved me. Can you see the connection between unity and love?

Remember, God is love, 1 John 4 verse 8, and you and I are to be perfectly united because of godly love. And if you and I have godly love for one another, we will become, more and more over time, one, because we have godly love for one another. Look at Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 verse 12.

Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, you have been called and chosen, in other words, you elect. You don't go through man's corrupt election system. It's God that has elected you and I.

And he says, beloved, put on. In other words, what is it that you and I need to put on? Tender mercies. Do we have tender mercies towards one another? Do we have kindness towards one another? Do we have humility? Or are we full of air and arrogant? Do we have meekness? In other words, teachable, malleable, moldable, meek. Are we long suffering? When we go through pain and pain, physical, emotional, trials, pressures, do we suffer long? In South Africa, there's a word called phosphate. It means bite hard. Like a bulldog tenacity that you bite and you hold on to the sculling and the selection and you don't give you like a bulldog that just bites and holds it and you can shake it, but it doesn't shake it. It stays there because we are long suffering. We are steadfast, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. Are we able to forgive one another? I can give God thanks that most of you are trying, if not all of you are trying your best. None of us is perfect. I'm not perfect, but you're trying. Thank you. Thank you for trying. And it says, if you have a complaint against another, just as Christ forgave you, you must also do. Verse 14, but above all these things, put on a gappel of a gappel of which is the bond, the super glue of perfection. Godly love is this bond of perfection. We ought to be like Him. And with God's early Spirit, as we, you and I, for seven days, take the bread and leaven, symbolic of Christ being us, symbolic of you and I having God's early Spirit every day, you and I, with God's early Spirit, you are striving to put on God's love. So, do you want to be so close to God that you and God are one?

Do you know what? God the Father and Jesus Christ want you and I to be one with Him. That was His lost woe, His prayer, that we may have that love, that bond of perfection, that you and I may be one with Him.

That's the leaven bread that we have that's Christ living in us through God's early Spirit for seven days, symbolically that we need to have God's Spirit every day of our lives. You know, brethren, Satan falsifies everything. For everything, there's a fake holiday or whatever it is of the world, a pagan holiday, not a holy day, but a holiday of the world. But I don't think there's a real fake for the days of the leaven bread, because the days of the leaven bread has many spiritual blessings for which you and I need to be grateful. And indeed, let us strive, continue striving. And by the way, I want to thank you for striving. The mere fact you are striving to put on godly love, that you and I may be perfected, perfected, made perfect in unity by that love, which is that bond, superglue of unity. So let's thank God for His faithfulness. Let's thank God that we have brothers and brethrenia and saints that are faithful to God. Thank you for your desire to be full of God's Holy Spirit as you obey and please Him. And thank you for striving to put on godly love in your life. May the glue of perfect unity to be one with God be with you.