Unleavened Bread

Before John 9, Jesus was always in a word duel with the Pharisees and the scribes. There was an occasion where a man was thrown out of the synagogue, and of course Christ went to him and communed with him, tried to encourage him. And no doubt this individual came into the church. I don't want to break into the thought here, but what Jesus Christ said, and Jesus said, for judgment I have come into the world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. No, there are some people who see, and some people that do not see, and those that see and refuse to change, they become even more blind than they were before. Then some of the Pharisees, John 9, verse 40, some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, are we blind also? Are we blind also? And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, we see, therefore your sin remains. So God will hold somebody accountable once they know, again, that there's something that is sin in their life. You know, in times past in our life, when you and I were first, maybe before we were even called, God winked at a lot of things we did. He gave you a pass, didn't he? On a lot of things. But then you begin to learn about the truth of God, and each time you learned a little bit more, God held you a little bit more accountable. He expects you to do something with it.

You see, if our eyes see the sin, it still remains. It's still there.

And God wants us to overcome it. He wants us to change it. Now, brethren, what is a proof of your sonship before God? You know, are you truly a son of God, a child of God? What would be the proof of that? Well, you know, it'd be rather easy to show that in the Scripture. I'm not going to go to Romans 8, verse 14. But it says there that as many areas are led by the Holy Spirit, these are the sons of God. So that's who the sons of God are.

And so God wants us to be people that are allowing His Spirit to lead us. And I'm not going to go to 1 John 3, verse 1, but over there we're told that we're the sons of God already. And that does not appear what we're going to be in 1 John 3, verse 1 there. It doesn't appear what we're going to be, but John says, but this we know that when we see Jesus Christ, we're going to see Him as He is, because we're going to be like Him. And then in verse 3 there, in 1 John, verse 3, it says that now He that has this hope in Him, what does He do with that hope? You know, He goes on, like Mr. Pebworth was talking about, once you begin to see, your mind begins to open, you really begin to know God, you begin to know Jesus Christ. That man that has that hope in Himself purifies Himself. He purges Himself. So He continues to overcome sin. He does this on a continual basis. I don't know how many years it has been since I was introduced to the truth, you know, now, but it's been, you know, about four decades or so. And I think about what I knew then and what I know now. Somehow I think sometimes I know less now than I knew then, because then I thought I knew it all. I mean, I tried to convert everybody in their dog. I was mentioning at lunch that I have five brothers and three sisters. I tried to convince every one of them. Tried to convince my dad, my mom, everybody. The dog, you know, everybody. And I guess I just wasn't very good explaining things, because none of them believed me. You know, they didn't believe me. And a person's mind does have to be open to it. It really does. But again, I don't want to get off on another track, but what is the proof, brethren, that you were a son of God, a child of God? Okay, you're led by the Holy Spirit, and you're purifying yourself because you're letting that Holy Spirit lead you. And as you see what you're supposed to do, you're overcoming, and you're changing. Maybe sometimes, again, it doesn't seem like much of a change in your life. But number two, number two, a proof of your sonship is found in Hebrews 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Let's go over to Hebrews chapter 12 and what the Apostle Paul writes over here. You know, the only problem about it being another inch higher, my glasses don't work as well from up here.

You know, I can imagine being 6'5". I mean, if you're looking down at your notes, you couldn't see them. You'd have to have a magnifying glass to see them. But Hebrews chapter 12, Paul over here says this in verse 7. Let's begin in verse 7. If you endure chastening, again, as a proof that you're a child of God, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons. He works with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? No, any relationship between a father and a child occasionally has to do some disciplinary action. It's not always banking. It may be just talking to somebody.

And hopefully somebody's going to pick up on it and do something with it. But notice verse 8. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and are not sons. And so unless we have been chasten, we are not his sons. We're not his children. We're on our own, I guess. You know, sometimes my wife and I have watched some programs that talk about the kings of England. And one thing about the kings of England, they had a lot of illegitimate children. And what do they do with the illegitimate children? They usually cloister them off somewhere, and they do not have right to the throne. Because they're not considered to be children of God. You know, for us, we're not considered to be children of God if we're not legitimate. And you know what? It's kind of interesting. If we're not legitimate, we don't have access to the throne either.

You know, the word uses, of course, much worse language in the old King James. So those are two proofs, brethren, whether or not you are a child of God, right there. Those two, there are others, but I wanted to focus on that. And again, those that have the hope of what the future is about, and where God is taking us in our lives, those that have that hope, well, they're purifying themselves. They're overcoming. They're changing every single day. You know, over in 1 Peter 4, verse 17 and 18, it'd be good to maybe review that and read that a little bit later. I won't turn to it now, but over there it talks about how the judgment is upon the house of God today. It's on you and me. It's like the song, somebody's watching me. They really are. They're watching us. God is watching us. Jesus Christ is watching us. The Father is watching us. And what we're doing as God's people, you know, being in the kingdom of God is not going to be some accident when it happens. You know, it's like winning the publisher's clearinghouse. You know, it's not going to be an accident if you happen to win at being in the kingdom of God. You know, you're not going to go to the door and say, oh, all the balloons and everything is out there, you know, I made it! And, of course, usually what happens, what happened to somebody like me, was if there was such a thing that came to my front door, they'd say, oh, I'm sorry, we got the wrong address. But if you're going to be in the kingdom, it won't be an accident. Being in the kingdom, brethren, is knowingly changing now when you're wrong. Knowingly. You know. It's like, you know, Mr. Pechworth talking about knowing Christ. Knowing the way Christ is, it is knowingly changing when you're wrong. And no one is going to be in the kingdom, brethren, unless they have been corrected and disciplined. No one's a son or a child of God, unless they've been, you know, given direction. They've been sometimes chastened. And let me say this much. Been through a lot of it. And to the degree we need correcting, that's what happens to us, isn't it? Sometimes you'll have a kid that will grow up, and it's like they're always being corrected. Now, sometimes a child going through that kind of experience, quite frankly, can turn out a lot better, because they learn eventually. They get the picture. But let's notice over here in Ezekiel 33, if you would, turn with me to Ezekiel 33.

You know, Ezekiel was a prophet of God. Of course, he spoke to Israel. And unfortunately, they were already in captivity. And the reason they were there is because they did not listen. They didn't listen to what the prophets had told them before, just like Judah didn't. Israel, of course, before them actually did not. But Ezekiel 33 over here in verse 31, this is what God revealed for Ezekiel to write down. But here in Ezekiel 33, in verse 31, he says, He said, So they come to you, as people do, they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words. And you know, we've had within the church, we've had some mighty, fantastic speakers in the past. I can think of a few names. I won't mention them, but they're not a part of the church anymore.

But these men, I mean, you talk about born with a golden tongue. But, you know, they will hear your words, but they do not do them. They do not do them. Well, like we were reading in James there. And not the hearers are going to be justified, but the doers, those that do something with it. But with their mouth they show much love, oh, they talk about love a lot, but their hearts pursue their own gain. And indeed you are to them a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on the instrument, for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

And when this comes to pass surely it will, then they will know that that prophet has been among them. A servant of God. I love what he said.

Like how many people, brethren, responded during the ministry of Herbal Armstrong? At what time we had, what, 150,000 people? Where are they today? Nobody knows, do they? They've gone to the ethernet of the world, I guess, you know, whatever that, whatever we want to call it. It's like they disappeared. Maybe they'll respond later. We don't again know what people will do. But, brethren, what we have to do is not just listen, but we have to apply.

One thing Mr. Herbal Armstrong did say, by the way, is knowledge that is not applied is of no value. You might as well just throw it aside, because if you listen to it and you don't do anything with it, you might as well just throw it aside. It's of no value to that individual.

And the messages we hear on the Sabbath, the messages we hear at other times, as a matter of fact, where it's truth, brethren, we need to respond to it if we see it as truth. Prove all things, the Bible says, and hold fast that, which is good. And, you know, the purpose of the messages is to guide us and to put us on the right path.

Because if you're not on the right path, you're not going to get where you need to go. You know, it's why it's always good for a man to either have a woman or a GPS in the car. You've got to get on the right path, you know. Except if you get in my car, we have a GPS. We call her Lily Bell. Sometimes she's out on, at night, pretty late, apparently. And she gets her directions wrong, but at least I think so. But anyway. I'm not going to go to Proverbs 12, verse 1, but I wanted to give it to you in what it says in the New American Standard Version. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. I saw a quote about that from somebody who claimed that he invented it. It's in the Bible.

But if we ignore reproof, if we see what we were wrong, we don't correct it, we're really being stupid. And we are, frankly, ignoring something very clearly that's shown us that we need to turn and go. In Proverbs 10, verse 17, here's another one. Proverbs 10, verse 17, and again, I'll quote it to you from the New American Standard Version.

He is on the path of life who heeds instructions. But he who forsakes reproof goes astray.

And, you know, just as, you know, here where this morning we're talking about incremental change. You know, big changes begin small. You know, getting off course by a fraction of a degree is going to put you, you know, if you were traveling a long way, it put you way out of, you know, you, maybe you're shooting for the moon. Well, you might end up at Mars, you know, if you get the wrong trajectory in your life. So if you ignore what, and I get my analogy, if you ignore the reproof, you go astray. Now, these are not easy sayings, brethren, to accept for a person who maybe has not disciplined their mind. But you know what, brethren? Real Christians are wanting to discipline themselves. They're wanting to correct themselves. And that's by far the best way to correct yourself. It's better not to get it from somebody else. It's better if you could just read in the book and get it that way. But oftentimes God has to teach us, you know, the hard way. There's the easy way and there's the hard way. It's like the old saying, you want this the easy way or you want it the hard way? But you know, the seven days again of 11 bread, the lesson for this, brethren, it doesn't end when the sun goes down this evening. This festival will end, but the actions we take in our life should go on every day of our lives so that we are putting sin out of our lives. God is not wanting us to, brethren, to become mediocre. You know, He doesn't want us to get halfway there. Remember, He uses the word perfection. We're being perfected. That's a scary word, isn't it? Being perfected. And of course we understand that that has to do with becoming mature, spiritually mature, as God's people. That's the kind of attitude, brethren, that we need as God's people. Well, brethren, how can you and I have the kind of heart that is a transforming heart? How can we do that? Well, the lesson of how we have that kind of heart, that kind of attitude, where if we hear something and that we understand it, we want to apply it in our lives, comes from, in fact, the days of unleavened bread. And that is the process by which, you know, bread is made, normally speaking, and that is what you do is you, again, put a little leaven in that dough. And when you begin to knead the leavening into the dough, well, the fermentation process begins. And that fermentation process causes the starch, as you know, to convert to carbon dioxide and alcohol. And when you bake the bread, what happens is the alcohol burns off and the gas, though, puts a little hole all through the bread. And so when we eat a slice of bread, it's mostly air. And the example there of that, a very simple example, that again, a lot of what a piece of bread is made up of is air, is to show us we need to deflate ourselves. We need to be humbled. And if we want to be transformed before God, we've got to get rid of the air. You know, sometimes we're called old windbags, aren't we? Because we're sort of blowing and going. You ever know of anybody that, you know, was a windbag? I mean, all they do is talk about... they never did anything. They just talk about it.

And the way to be transformed for us to be transformed is we've got to be humble enough to be willing to see our problem. And to really make the changes in our lives. Well, I wanted to talk to you specifics, give you more specifics about how God both directs and disciplines us in our lives. Of course, we can't ignore the example of ancient Israel.

But God, of course, with Israel reveals to us how He brought Israel out of Egypt. As we were discussing that this morning, with Mr. Fish's message of being brought out of Egypt and all the lessons that were revealed in that, He went to Exodus 14. I want to touch on that a little bit myself. But over here in Exodus 14, here, of course, Israel was complaining. He had this major army that was barreling down upon Israel. And they must have been terrified to hear the horses and the chariots coming that way. Can imagine again the noise level of that as they were just about to be hit by one of the most powerful armies in the world here.

Let's go to verse 12 here. And the people began to murmur. They began to complain. And, you know, as was discussed this morning in the sermon, and they were talking about how it would have been so much better if they'd been left alone in Egypt. You ever felt that way, brethren, about your calling? Sometimes when the tough really gets going in your life? Well, you know, it'd be better if I'd never known about God's way, because this is hard when I'm going through what I'm facing. So we can have that same attitude as well. But they had. They thought maybe it was better when they were there, even as slaves, you know, in Egypt. Better to be there than to die in the wilderness. Verse 13, and Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. So Moses said the right things, by the way. Don't be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, who you see today, you shall see again no more forever. Now, everything is not in this verse about what was going on here. Here Moses had just told them, you know, don't worry. You know, stand still and see how wonderful God is, how powerful He is. It must have been that Moses was talking to God somewhere along the line here, because notice what it says in the next verse. Well, he says in verse 14, and the Lord will fight for you, and you shall be, hold your peace. But notice what God said to Moses. Why do you cry to me? You see, we don't have the whole story here, do we? Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

And so here He gave him again the message, look, you've heard enough, Moses. Tell the people to go forward. And brethren, quite frankly, sometimes when it comes to us, you've heard enough. You've heard enough to make changes in your life. You've heard enough to transform your life. Now go do it. Transform your life. Do something with what you've been given.

But he told Moses, look, lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea, divide it, and the children of Israel will go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And of course we know that he was going to destroy Pharaoh and his armies that day.

Now Israel was afraid, but God was telling them through Moses, go forward. Go forward. One thing we have to do, brethren, and certainly Moses understood this, you have to believe what God says. To believe what God says and have faith in what He said. If He told you to do something, you want to carry through and do it. And with Israel, I think it's a perfect example of how everything turned out wonderful for them. God was with them.

So how does God, though, brethren, direct and correct us? How does He direct and correct us? I've got a few points I want to give to you this afternoon. Number one, God uses people. I know we don't like to hear that. I know we'd like to hear a voice out of heaven. This is the way. Walk you in it. We'd like to hear that, wouldn't we? But sometimes that still small voice might be your wife. Or it might be some little old lady at church. It might be that way. It's going to be a human being. But God uses human instruments. It's hard for us to get over that, isn't it? He uses human instruments to direct us and to discipline us, to help to get us on the right path, to get us going down the right way. God used Moses and Aaron to correct Israel, to guide them along the path.

Moses was God's mouthpiece. In fact, Moses was God to the people in a lot of ways. He was certainly God to Aaron, who was the high priest. And the children of Israel, though, did not see God behind Moses, who was his mouthpiece. And this is why they complained so bitterly against Moses and Aaron. And when people complained, who took offense at it, though? Who took offense at it? It was God, wasn't it? God was upset with the people because they criticized his mouthpiece. And that was, again, Moses and Aaron and the responsibilities that they had. And, brethren, we need to realize, again, God uses people to direct us and to discipline us, to show us what is right and what is wrong. Frankly, believe me, I wish it wasn't so. I wish I didn't have to stand up here. I'm sure all the elders would feel that way. It would be better, wouldn't it, if we all sort of got it by osmosis? Maybe we could all just come to church and, you know, just sit in here and look at each other, and we got it. The Spirit, you know, came into your mind and just got it that way. What did Paul call what we're doing? Foolishness, the preaching. I guess it's not foolishness, because God intends it to be that way. Let's go to Romans chapter 10 over here. Romans chapter 10 in the New Testament. So, again, God uses human instruments to give us direction in our lives. Sometimes the correctness, too, or discipline is to show us we're wrong. In Romans 10, Romans 10, and again, that's why it's so important, brethren, to have that humble attitude. We're going to have a transforming heart. Romans 10 over here in verse 13. Notice here in Romans 10 verse 13, it says, And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? Or how shall they hear without a preacher? So there's a need, again, for somebody to come and talk about the things that we need to know. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. And so here we see, brethren, that God uses people. And those people that he uses are there to sometimes discipline us. And of course it doesn't have to be in a very negative way, but a very positive way. But they're there to direct us and to discipline us in how we are living in terms of trying to steer us onto the right path. And what stands in the way, brethren, of our listening when we should be listening and hearing is pride. And sometimes that lack of humility. In other words, we've got so much wind in us, we've got to get rid of the air and become the flatbread. And that is every all year round as God's people. And so we have to be willing to listen. And you know, God, also by the way, we see here in Exodus, we read there that God corrects and directs all of His servants. He even corrected Moses. He said to Moses, why are you standing here crying to me? What did he say? He said, tell the people to go forward. Move forward. Do something with what you have. Moses, just raise your staff and go forward. A second point, brethren, here, is that all servants must receive direction and discipline in their lives.

I think just with Moses, we see that God is no respecter of persons.

Over in Numbers 12, we see an example of where even Miriam and Aaron, the close relatives of Moses, brother and sister, and Miriam apparently was the older of the two. But Aaron and Moses were the younger brothers of Miriam here. But what happens, you know, what we find is when Miriam and Aaron, there in Numbers 12, criticized Moses, God called a meeting.

Now, in this particular meeting, by the way, it's not one of those meetings you like to go to, because you're going to have a chat with your boss. And I don't know if you've ever seen the Ziggy cartoon. I remember when I was an ambassador, there was a Ziggy cartoon with a... You know how the Ziggy is. How many of you have seen the Ziggy cartoon? Am I speaking to a group that doesn't know what it is? Well, they're sort of rotund-type figures. But in this cartoon, it had basically a cutout on the past posterior of a Ziggy cartoon. You know, like someone had taken a bite out of him. But the caption said, I just had a chat with my boss.

Well, here Moses, and in this case, Aaron and Miriam, were going to have a chat with a boss. And he wasn't too happy. And we find that God said, why weren't you afraid to speak against my anointed? You know, God had dealt with Moses face-to-face. And you remember the story and the account of how God struck Miriam with leprosy. Now, somebody wonders, well, why didn't God do the same thing to Aaron? Well, I think one possible explanation here is, it appears that Miriam was most at fault. Now, I want you to think about Miriam. Miriam was probably a very aggressive kind of person. I mean, look at, look, she put her brother Moses into, you know, a basket and floated him down the Nile. And she followed the basket as well. So she was more aggressive, apparently, than either Moses or Aaron. In fact, the Bible says that Moses was one of the most meat men upon the face of the earth. And I frankly have no doubt that Aaron was probably a lot like him.

And so God punished Miriam, you know, for what she did on that particular occasion. But, you know, we know in this situation, you know, that God allowed her to be corrected. It wasn't a permanent thing, but it was because Moses prayed for her. And, you know, the other thing I would say, too, about that is that, you know, Miriam probably learned more from this experience than anything that she ever experienced. That she went through. She learned a very valuable lesson. One thing she learned is you better not, you know, you better listen to what Big Brother says. Moses, let's go to Numbers 20 now. I want you to see the big picture here, brethren, of what was going on. You know, in the children of Israel, they were in the desert. And, you know, it was pretty hot, very warm in the desert. Even in the wintertime, it is sometimes warm in the desert when that sun comes out. It's very unforgiving. It would be pretty warm. You know, it might be cooler. You know, we lived in Arizona for over 10 years, by the way. And so we know what hot is. You know, and don't listen to what people say when they say it's a dry heat. Because it's still mighty hot. And it was probably very warm in the desert, like cold at night. But here in verse 1, let's know this, it says, It says, You know, when you go through an experience where you ever lose a brother or a sister. I lost a brother in 2010. And, you know, it took me a long time to get over that. So here Moses' sister died. You know, think about all that his sister had done for him, as well. I've already described again the things that she did for Moses. And there was no water for the congregation. So they gathered together against Moses. Okay. Miramis died. They're in the hot desert. There was no water. There was no water. And then all the people compressing on Moses. It was a very difficult situation for him, to say the least.

But going on here, so they banded against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, if only we'd died when our brethren died before the Lord.

Who have you brought up... Why have you brought up the assembly of the eternal into this wilderness that we and our animals should die here? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? Moses, of course, here he's being blamed for even where he brought them.

It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates. Nor is there any water to drink. Not a land flowing with milk and honey. Here, I don't see any honey. I don't see any milk and honey as, of course, they were looking for here. Down to verse 7, going on. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod, you and your brother Aaron, and gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, for it will yield its water. Thus you will bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. And so Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he had commanded him, and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly. And they said, Here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of the rock? And then Moses lifted his hand, and he struck the rock twice with his rod, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. And so you know the story here, but again, the scenario why he may have gotten so upset here. Why it was so difficult for him. Again, his sister had died. They were in the wilderness. He's been blamed for all of this that had gone on, for even the place where they were. He was been blamed for all of these things. And I'm sure his anger began to heat up a little more, especially when the people came down hard on him. It's very difficult for him. And Moses allowed his anger to cloud his judgment. And rather than just speak to the rock, he hit the rock, which God had told him not to do. Now again, when God commands you to do something, God expects you to do it. It's always the case, brethren, not good if God commands you, for instance, to keep the Sabbath, to say, Well, I think we're going to keep Sunday instead. Not good if God clearly says one thing that you should do and you do another.

Because to do another thing, when God has specifically told you or commanded you to do something, is presumption. The sin of presumption.

And God, we can see this example, severely punished Moses for this sin of presumption. Now, as far as the people are concerned, they didn't know in all likelihood what had even happened here. But God did. And God punished him because he was presumptuous. He did something that he had not been commanded to do. Well, like in the case of, remember Saul. When Saul was told to give an instruction by Samuel about what he was supposed to do with the king and all the people that they were supposed to destroy there in 1 Samuel 15. And Samuel came and he expected all those commands to be fulfilled by Saul. Everything was supposed to be wiped out in the case of the Amalekites.

But he saved the king and he saved all of the best of the animals. He made a judgment God did not give him the right to make. So God considered that presumptuous and he removed him from being king. And from that day, God rejected him from being king.

So God, in a way, was very kind to Moses. He could have chosen somebody else that moment and taken Moses out of the picture. Instead, he severely punished him and did not allow him to go into the Promised Land. Which was a terrible thing, I'm sure, for Moses as he was given a glimpse of it. But he could not go over into the Promised Land. It's important, brethren, for us to understand that we can't be presumptuous. If God says what we are to do, we ought to obey that.

In fact, we've got to be careful again taking on ourselves a role of teaching if indeed we're not teachers. I've known of people through the years that actually acted like they were ministers. Elders. I've known of people that have anointed. I've known of people that have baptized. They've done a lot of things. All on their own. I guess they forgot what James chapter 3 verse 1 says. And it says, no, brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

So those that want to take that role are going to receive the greater condemnation. Look at Moses again, what he went through here. One would even say maybe a small infraction here. And yet it was clearly against what God had instructed him to do. The apostle Paul in the New Testament talks about how we've got to run the race. And he said, well, you know, I've got to stay on top of myself, lest I become a castaway when I preach to others.

And so, you know, we again have to be very, very careful about what we do. It's dangerous, brethren, to claim authority that we do not have. And the example of Moses and Miriam and Aaron is a perfect example that we read there, and how God was upset in that particular case. And the style of leadership that he had, he was working through Moses. He was using Aaron and Miriam, but to the degree he wanted to, that his heat desire to do it.

So, brethren, we, as God's people, need to realize that all of God's servants, all of his people, are going to receive direction, and they're going to receive, you know, discipline from God.

And that's what makes us, in fact, into his sons, his children, as God's people. Number three. Number three here. Again, number one, God uses human instruments. Number two, God, you know, corrects and directs all of his servants without respect to persons. And number three, brethren, is God will make no apology for correctness. He makes no apology for it.

He didn't say, Moses, I'm sorry, I'm having to do this to you. He gave him the pronouncement. Now, what is quite interesting, you know, over here in chapter 15 of Exodus, chapter 15, verse 22, just read a few verses over here, God was upset with Israel because they were murmuring, you know, against Moses and Aaron and all of that. In fact, Moses got punished because he was being presumptuous himself over the whole issue with regard to the water. But let's notice something here very interesting.

In verse 22, in verse 22 of chapter 15, so Moses brought Israel, it says, from the Red Sea, Exodus 15, verse 22, from the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Okay, still a no-water situation. Still in the wilderness. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.

Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? What shall we... See, same scenario here. People murmuring against Moses here in this particular case. What shall we drink? So he cried out to the Lord, to the Eternal, and the Eternal showed him a tree.

And when he had cast it in the waters, the waters were made sweet. Therefore he made a statue and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them. There he proved them. So maybe it was to a lesser degree that they could blind here in this case. But there were other things he was going to tell them as well in this particular situation.

But let's notice two lessons we learn here in verse 22 through 25. Number one lesson. In this case, God merely gave them water. He merely gave them water.

And what does that show, brethren? It shows God's mercy in a case where people are in need. Even though here they were murmuring about it, it shows that God is merciful. He's sympathetic to our needs. And number two lesson we learn here, brethren, if you don't pass the test, you get to go through it again. But we see here that also the great mercy of God, I think much more we actually see the mercy of God here on the children of Israel and what he did for them. Well, God used this instrument or opportunity, I should say, to teach not only the people, but he was teaching Israel and Moses as well. Verse 26, let's notice here, going on, and said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I brought on the Egyptians for I am the eternal who heals you. But notice what happens right after this, and then they came to Elam where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, so they camped there by the waters. You see what God did here? God said, okay, that's enough lessons. And he brought them into an area that just had abundance of water here. Now, of course, we're on the other side of the seventh day of Unleavened Bread here. That God had given them, though, a tremendous amount of water in this particular case. And so, brethren, what we see in this lesson here is that God wants us to add diligence to listening as well. Maybe that's a first, a third lesson we learn in this particular case. If we can judge and we can correct ourselves, brethren, again, as I said earlier, this is the best way. But realize that God knows your frame. You notice what you can take and what you can't take. I know I've been in a situation in my life where I just couldn't take another feather on my back. Sometimes people say, well, there's a straw that took... I've been there. I've been there. God, don't drop any more straws on my back. I can't handle one more. I can't handle it.

You know, there has been maybe one or two times in my life where I had too many straws on my back.

And I don't know if I've even shared this with my wife.

But when that happens, you know. You know.

And it comes out emotionally in you.

Like old Popeye. All I can stand is that I can't stand no more.

I'm sure even Jesus in this physical frame had to go off somewhere by himself. Went to the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. To sort of get away from it.

But, brethren, sometimes we all come to that point in our life. But realize that God is sympathetic to us. He'll provide you an oasis, like he did with Israel. He was always watching out for them, you know, like Mr. Fisher was talking about. He didn't lead them the hard way, in a lot of ways, because they could have entered into war going through the land of the Philistines. But he knew they would give up if they went that way. The hard way was probably by far the easiest way for them. They'd have been there a lot sooner, by the way, if they'd have listened. That's, again, the problem, wasn't it? They didn't listen. They were always doing something that they should not do. Number four lesson, brethren, here, that we should go away from the Feast of Unleavened Bread with is that God always forewarns us.

God always forewarns us. It's like the preacher at one time was preaching. And, well, I think that story's a little bit too long, so I won't tell you that story. I'll have to wait another time to do it. But God always forewarns us, brethren. It's like with the case of Miriam and Aaron. That should have been a warning to the children of Israel. Look, if God corrects Miriam and Aaron, what about me? If he corrects Moses, because sooner or later he found out, didn't they? When Moses didn't go into the Promised Land, of course he died, as we know, but when he didn't go to the Promised Land, apparently along the way somebody must have made it known to the people, but it should have served as a warning to people. But nonetheless, you have the occasion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

And God warned them beforehand, but Korah and Dathan, Abiram, I guess, didn't get the message.

So again, brethren, if we can be forewarned by looking at what happens in the case of other people. Like sometimes people, you know, they make big mistakes in their life, and they go into a tailspin in their life, and then they realize where they are at the bottom of the barrel, and they repent, they cry out to God. God allows them to come back out of the barrel, as it were, and begin to stand on their own two feet. That should be a message to us. And we don't want to be down...you don't want to get down to the bottom of the barrel. Because it's a long way down there. Sometimes, further for some people than other people with it. I've seen people go through terrible things in their life. They limited themselves because of what they did. Maybe didn't realize it was going to impact them so much, but the most important thing is they repented and they changed. But that should serve as a warning to us. We've had people that have come into the church, and they talk about their lives. I remember one man that I knew a number of years ago who was a professional thief.

I've never known anybody that did what this man did, though. He had been a professional thief, break into people's houses, steal everything, you know. But after he was converted, you know what? He went to the law and he confessed. They threw him in jail. And he served time in prison.

When I came to know him, he was up in the Ozarks, and he was telling me a story. And you know what? He came into the church, he straightened his life out. He was a deacon, became a deacon in the church. But he learned his lesson. It's good for our young people to hear stories about people that have been there, been there, done that. You don't want to do that. You don't want to go that direction, young man. But God always forewarns us, brethren. Cora Dathan and Byron should be awarding to us, not to be presumptuous, but to listen.

As God's people. And yet it's kind of interesting that after Cora Dathan and Byron were, you know, God had put them to death because of their rebellion. The next day, the people were murmuring against Moses. They didn't learn the lesson. And they said, you know, you killed the people of God. So they claimed that the Cora Dathan and Byron were obedient to God.

But again, we should learn through the warning. God's giving this world a warning right now. But it won't heed the warning, as we know, because of that carnal human nature. God wants modern-day Israel to repent today, and He's warning people. The gospel of the kingdom is being preached as a witness and a warning to the nations of what is coming for the future. The two witnesses will be warning people. And when you go to services, brethren, you're hearing warnings of various and sundry kind from messages that are given. You know, whether it's a story to be told, maybe it's a nice story that teaches a lesson that's very pleasant to hear. But it's to warn us, brethren, to show us how we need to, again, get on the right path and stay on that right path as God's people. So again, number four, God always warns us. Number five, God offers no apology for correcting us.

Maybe another way to put that is, God does not delight in correcting us.

I think I put that one up in number three spot. But God takes no delight in correcting his children and punishing his children. He just simply doesn't.

And God, though, doesn't apologize for correcting us either. Let's go over to Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah 10 shows again the nature of human beings, the way we are as humans. In Jeremiah 10, down in verse 23, Jeremiah says, Oh, Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. But men want to do that, don't they? They want to direct their own steps. They don't want anybody to tell them what to do. I've heard people that actually told me that. Nobody's going to tell me what to do.

I've heard a number of people say that. Nobody's going to tell me what to do. That's dangerous. Watch out when you start saying, nobody's going to tell you what to do. Like I said, God uses human instruments to show us what we're supposed to do. And everybody's been there. Everybody's been there and done that.

But it says, Oh, Lord, O eternal, Jeremiah says, correct me, but with justice. Not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. So Jeremiah was asking for God's correction. And again, God does not apologize for that correction. Again, he doesn't delight in giving it to us. He wishes we learned by far just by what we learned in the Scriptures. I don't think I've ever met a certain person like that, have you? They're just read by reading in the Bible. Sometimes we have to be shown things. I remember when I was growing up, you know, it's always good to have a big brother. You know that? They can show you a lot of things. They can spell things out to you and explain them to you the way that you've never had it explained to you before. I had five of them, by the way. And you know, my sisters too, they were very good at telling me which way to go, you know, and what to do. But one thing, brethren, we, all of us again, need to be aware is that God wants us to accept the correction. He wants us to accept the direction that we're given, to accept the discipline that we've given. It's for our own good. Even as the proverb said that we read, someone who forsakes reproof, you know, and does not accept reproof is stupid. Showing a lack of wisdom because that reproof is for our good. Now let's remember, brethren, that whatever correction God gives to us, whatever chastening God gives to us, God's purpose is to mold us and to shape us. He's the one that's doing it. He's the one that's giving us direction. He's the one that's shaping us into the kind of people that are going to, He's going to use in the world tomorrow. They're going to be a part of His divine family in the future. The Bible says, can two people walk together unless they be agreed? Okay. If you and I are going to walk with God, guess who has to change? God's not going to change to your way and my way. We've got to change to His way. So we have to repent and we have to make those changes. So, brethren, these days of our loving bread that we've been protecting of the last seven days here, is for the purpose, brethren, of us learning to take correction and discipline and direction from God. And we must voluntarily do so. We must be willing to do that.

God's not going to force anybody, by the way, to obey Him that is called now. You're not here because anybody forced you to do it, but you're here because you want to do it. You desire to do it. I would assume if you didn't want to do it, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't want to be a part of the Church. So God, right now, He's not in the forcing business. Frankly, that's just not the way God tends to work anyway. But, you know, God is striving to, again, push us forward, brethren, to perfection as His people. Like I say, He's not going to apologize for any correction or direction He may give us as His people. He didn't apologize to Israel, did He, when He corrected them. Oh, I'm sorry I had to do that to you. But the reason He didn't is because He was taking a nation that was a slave mentality nation, and He was going to bring them into the Promised Land, and He was going to make them a superpower in the entire world.

And they did. By the time you come to Solomon's days, you know, Israel was a superpower in the world. The wealthiest nation on the face of the earth, that God made these fledgling group of people that wandered the wilderness for 40 years into a great nation. And, brethren, He's not going to apologize to you or me or anybody now, because of what He's offering to us. He's offering us the Promised Land, a great inheritance in the future that includes eternal life, being in God's family forever, and ruling with Jesus Christ forever, and being with Him forever, brethren. So, brethren, what correction or discipline that we face now really can't compare, can it? To what God's going to give us. He's bringing us on into the Promised Land, brethren. But hopefully He has our cooperation. We want to listen to Him. We want to apply what He is telling us. So, brethren, let's use the Days of Unleavened Bread here, these seven days that we've had, and focused on, again, putting sin out of our life, of changing, of transforming, of being brought on in to the Promised Land like ancient Israel was. Let's, brethren, use these days as a springboard to change our lives on a yearly basis. Maybe incremental change again, but let's be changing on a daily basis, on a yearly basis, as God's people, so that God can bring us on in to the Promised Land of the world tomorrow.

Thank you.