Unleavened Bread

On the last day of Unleavened Bread, and this is kind of an unusual year because we have Sabbath tonight, or Sabbath tomorrow, so we'll be most of keeping another day of Unleavened Bread because we won't be out shopping tonight or anything like that. So tomorrow, you'll hear a message on the importance of Unleavened Bread again. But I want to remind you of some of the things that we have talked about or that you have heard talked about here as we close this last service. Before we get into the message that I want to talk about, because we should never forget the lessons of the Days of Unleavened Bread.

For many of us, we've been, you know, this may be 20, 30, 40, 50 Days of Unleavened Bread. I would hope that we would all say that every single year we learn something more about God's plan, the understanding, the wisdom in what we keep and how we keep it and why God instituted it for us. You know, there's things that we should just take with us the rest of the year. Sometimes the sun goes down and we might think, well, that's Unleavened Bread for another year and we'll worry about it again next year.

But these are things we should be building on and we should be thinking about and they should be part of our lives for all time. Let's go back to John 6. I want to just open up with a few verses to remind us why we're here. We know what the Days of Unleavened Bread picture. God wants us to put the leaven out of our lives. Jesus Christ spoke of leaven himself when he talked of the doctrine of the leaven of the doctrine of the Pharisees and told his disciples beware of that leaven to not let it infiltrate them.

And those are words we can apply to ourselves because we live in a land where there are a lot of doctrines about Jesus Christ out there. And there's a lot of leaven in those doctrines. A lot of people will talk about Jesus Christ, but then they don't preach what he preached.

They don't do what he said. They don't live the way he lived. He said to beware of the leaven of hypocrisy. And of course, we know that leaven pictures sin. But we put the sin out, but we also put the unleavened bread in. John 6 and verse 48, words we read at Passover. And you probably read again on the first day of 11 bread here.

It says, Jesus Christ speaking, he said, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the man in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

Those words should stir us. Those words should have deep meaning to us. We are to eat of that unleavened bread daily, not just during the seven days of unleavened bread, but to live by every word of God. And he says, when we do that, when we do that, he will give us eternal life. When we do that and when we yield to him and we let his Holy Spirit lead us.

It's down in verse 54. He says, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, and there we have the Passover service, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. These days of unleavened bread are very much about Jesus Christ. During these days of unleavened bread, we commemorated it Passover at the beginning, his death for all of us. During these days of unleavened bread, he was resurrected. And because of that resurrection, we have hope and eternal life.

And there's a there's a wave-sheaf offering that we didn't talk about this year, but we'll talk about it in a Bible study because I want everyone to really understand that wave-sheaf offering because, you know, it is one of the more riveting things in the Bible to me. Every time I go over it and see just exactly how God orchestrated that whole thing and put it all together and what it means, it's an absolute proof of the Bible.

And the world's churches have no idea what that wave-sheaf offering is. You might want to take some time to look at that and put together your own Bible study on how Jesus Christ how Jesus Christ perfectly pictured that wave-sheaf because it occurred during the days of unleavened bread as well. The days of unleavened bread have so much meaning. And you know, they have had meaning all the way through history. God, when He does things, He set the seasons, He set the times, He set the appointed times in order for us to keep and for us to be here.

But you know, He did things along those lines as well. He had things happen, and we know in the future, some of the holy days that we observe, that He will return on the day of trumpets. And in the past, the days of unleavened bread have had meaningful occasions on them. And I want to look at those today, because I want to look at those so that we look forward. Because in the days of unleavened bread, in any of the times that we keep of God's festivals, we should always be looking forward and remembering what He has called us to.

We're not just here at a bunch of clock. We're not just here to spend seven days. We're here because He has us on a journey to His Kingdom, just like He had the ancient nation of Israel there on a journey to the Promised Land.

Let's go back and look. We'll look at three events today and see what we can learn about ourselves. See what we can learn about the world we live in today. See what we learn about the future and these things that God had occurred during the days of unleavened bread. Let's go back to Genesis 19. Genesis 19, we'll look at the first of all these very well-known stories. People who call themselves Christians and people who don't call themselves Christians will have heard of all of these stories we're going to talk about today.

They are tied together by the fact that they happened, or apparently happened during the days of unleavened bread. First, when we find Genesis 19, two angels, it says in verse 1, came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. Everyone knows Sodom. Everyone, when they hear Sodom, they know exactly what the sin of that city was, and why God condemned it and destroyed it.

But here was Lot. He was one of the righteous ones, that nephew of Abraham, and he was living in that city. And he had lived there for quite a while. The city, you know, was depraved.

It was a wicked city, God called it. But you know, Lot probably didn't see it as wickedly as God did. He lived there, and his family lived there, and it was probably a very pleasant place to live. Modern, for those days, had all the conveniences of life. Very comfortable place to live, probably quite wealthy. But God saw it in a different light.

And here was Lot, sitting in the middle of a city that we would make think, well, how would Lot want to be in that society, in that environment? But there he was. He had become accustomed to it. Maybe just the way we become accustomed to the things that go on around us, and the society that we live in. And if we could see what we were like 20 years ago, what society was like 20 years ago, and transport ourselves back there, and then just throw today on top of it, we might be absolutely amazed at the things that we have accepted, that we count as normal, that we just sort of become accustomed to.

But here's Lot, sitting in this evil city. In verse 2, as he meets these two men, he says, Here, now, my lords, please turn into your servant's house and spend the night. Now wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, no, we'll spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly. So they turned to him and entered his house, and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. So the commentaries will tell you, and our church literature will tell you, that this likely is set in the days of unleavened bread. Because, you know, if you come to my house a month from now, I'm not going to serve you unleavened bread.

It won't be on the menu. Okay? So Lot lived there. He was there. And for him to create a feast or prepare a feast for these men and bake unleavened bread, there was a reason he baked unleavened bread. So here we find ourselves probably, probably, can't say definitively so, in the Holy Day season that we're in right now. And verse 4... Oh, I don't want to read verse 4. I just wanted to stop the setting there of where we were in Sodom and the time frame that we were in. Now, we know the story of Sodom. We know that God passed judgment on it, and it was going to be destroyed.

They should also remember that a few chapters before, God actually saved Sodom. He actually, when Abraham went out, God actually allowed Abraham to conquer or have a victory over the kings who invaded Sodom and brought all that substance back to them. But at this point in time, God determined Sodom was not a place that was going to survive. We can turn back to Genesis 15. And another vision, if you will, here, a dream, this time of Abraham. And I believe we've spoken about this in Genesis 15, verse 12. Abraham has a vision, or a dream, of what his descendants were going to be like and the tremendous, tremendous bondage they were going to be in.

And at the end of that vision, or dream, in verse 16, God says to Abraham, In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So Abraham, you will have descendants that number the stars of the sky.

They're going to be in slavery, they're going to be in bondage, they're going to have a rigorous and a tough life. But in the fourth generation, I'm going to bring them back here to the land I promised you, that I told you, look as far as you can see, and I'm going to give this land to your descendants. Because at that time, the fullness of this iniquity of the Amorites wasn't complete.

There comes a point in time when God looks at a nation, God looks at a person, and says they will not turn back. They are so thoroughly steeped in iniquity, they are so thoroughly steeped in what they do, that they aren't going to turn back. That time came for Sodom. That time came for Sodom, and God determined it was going to be wiped off of the face of the earth. It was a sinful city, a wicked city, and during the days of Unleavened Bread, if what we read there in verse 13 indicates the days of Unleavened Bread, during the days of Unleavened Bread, God cleansed that area of that sinful city.

He put the sin out. He got rid of it. He destroyed that city. But there was one family in that city that God intended to save or to bring out of it. Sodom was going to be destroyed, but the one family, even after Abraham went down the list, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, God said, there's not even that many, but Lot and his family, I will save. I will bring out of that sinful city. Let's see. Let's go back to Genesis 19. And in verse 15, we see how they responded. I mean, here's a city that they were living in.

They were well acquainted with the sin of the city. Lot knew exactly what the men meant. He knew exactly what the men meant when they came to his door. He knew exactly when the two angels said that they were going to sleep in the open square. That that couldn't happen. You would think that they would have been eager to leave that society.

Wouldn't we think that? Wouldn't we think? I want out. I want out of that society. But let's see what they did. In verse 15, it says, when the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And you think they say, this is the word from God. He's saving us. The city's going to be destroyed. We want out of here. Not so. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the eternal being merciful to him.

And they brought him out and set him outside the city. Lot lingered. Why would you linger in a sinful city? Why would you linger in a sinful environment, society, when God said, Come out! Come out! I'm going to destroy this! We might wonder when we look at that, but we might also ask ourselves the same question. You know, we live in a society that's not so unlike Sodom.

Not so unlike Sodom. Lot and his wife and his family had gotten very comfortable there. Life was easy. It was much easier than being out in the desert and having to fend for yourself. It was convenient to have the markets and all the artisans around that could do anything you want. Lot liked his position in the city. And when the time came to call to leave, he lingered.

And God was merciful to him. They actually took him by the hand and said, Get out of here! We are leaving now! And he took him and set him outside the city. Now, it's no stretch to look down the road from us and see where could that same type situation that happened thousands of years ago occur in your and I life? Your and my life? Well, let's go over to Luke. Nope. Before we turn to Luke, let's go down to the verse 26.

As he took them out of Sodom, God didn't want them to look back. He wanted them focused on where he was taking them, not on what they were leaving behind. And he cautioned them, Don't look back, and gave them a very simple command. But in verse 26, we find that Lot's wife just couldn't do that. His wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. She just wasn't ready to leave all that. She just wasn't ready. She kind of liked living there, despite all the sin, despite all the depravity, despite all the wickedness.

And she suffered quite a punishment for that. Well, Jesus Christ used that same example. That same example for us. Let's go back to Luke. When we read these things in the Old Testament, we're told that there are examples for us upon whom the ends of the ages have come, that we won't make the same mistakes, that we learn the lessons of them. And here is an unleavened bread lesson. When God is cleaning up a society that had become so depraved that He would no longer tolerate it.

In Luke 9, verse 62, one by one, God is calling people, and you remember this series of scriptures, and they have an excuse. So, I can't go now, I need to bury my brother. Oh, I can't go now, I need to do this and fulfill this in my life. In verse 62, Christ says this, He says, No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

No one, having started the course, having gotten on the road, and then looking back, like Lot's wife, looking back, and, ah, it was nice back there. Ah, it was comfortable back there. Man, I'm going to miss all those conveniences that we had. It's very much what Israel did, isn't it? Very much what Israel did. God here was taking them out of Egypt, giving them a future that they never had before, and yet all they could do, as soon as they had a little problem, was look back.

Oh, if we had just stayed in Egypt. Oh, if we had just stayed in Egypt. God said, if we have those attitudes, if we aren't allowing Him, through His Holy Spirit, to weed out and take out the love of this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, or not fit for His kingdom. Over in Luke 17, He brings it home. He brings it home for a future generation and a time that's even ahead of us.

Luke 17, verse 28, prior to this, He had compared what it will be like in the days of the return of Jesus Christ to Noah. And then in verse 28, He compares it to the days of Lot. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.

It was a good life. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It came just that quickly. Even so, Christ says, will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed? In that day, in that day, a day that you and I may live to see, in that day, He who is on the house top and His goods are in the house, let Him not come down to take them away.

And likewise, the one who is in the field, let Him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. So one of the things that we can think about, that we can focus on, and all the things that God has shown us that we need to overcome and put out of our lives, one of the things we need to be working on, and I include myself in that, is a love of this world. How do we really feel about it? Are we really ready to leave? If a call came today and Jesus Christ and God, however they were going to do it, said, leave!

Leave! It's time to flee now! Would we be like Lot? Would we be like Lot's wife? Or are we so faithful and so trusting and so knowing of God that we would immediately leave it? Because Christ said in that time, there will be some, when you compare it to Matthew 24, who won't leave.

They'll be like Lot's wife. They won't have taken the time in this life to focus on God's kingdom and developing the love of that. This is what we sang in one of the opening songs, Siki First, the kingdom of God. I always say that was Sodom. That was Sodom. I mean, anyone would leave Sodom, right? If you knew what Sodom was, Sodom is not so different than the age we live in today.

Let's go back to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16. God is upgrading Israel here and his children and chastising them for the way they've become corrupt, that they've turned from him, and they've allowed all these things into their lives, and they've just gotten kind of complacent. They've just kind of gotten used to them. In verse 49, it's interesting to see what God says is the sin of Sodom. You and I, as we said, what's the sin of Sodom?

You know what we would say. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom. She and her daughter had pride. She and her daughter had fullness of food and abundance of idleness. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Now, if I wrote those things up on a chalkboard, hadn't read that verse, and we weren't talking about Sodom at all, hadn't even mentioned it, wouldn't that describe where you and I live today?

There is a healthy, healthy pride in America and the wealthy nations of the earth. There is a pride. And we know pride comes before a fall, and pride leads to all number of sins, including all those sins that we would name the Sodom had. They had fullness of food. We have fullness of food. Many of us have really gone involuntarily hungry. And talk about abundance of idleness.

We have plenty of spare time. That's why we can watch four, five, six hours of television a night. That's why we can spend endless time on the computer, surfing the net. That's why we have all the time to do social media and the time that we have to play video games and everything else that we can consume our time because we have plenty, plenty of spare time. We live in a very convenient society where we have machines and people and stores and we don't have to do anything except go to work for eight hours a day.

Earn a living and then spend it however we want. Oh, we live in a society much like Lot and his wife lived in. We have more technological advances than they did, but we live in a society, and in a society like that that doesn't remember God, it turns further and further from God.

Twenty years ago, I used twenty years ago, but it could be ten years ago even, you know when I read about Sodom and when Christ said this, it was in the days of Sodom, I never thought that it would literally be like the days of Sodom. I thought, oh, it'll be moral depravity, whatever, but certainly not the same-sex phenomenon that Sodom was. But you know, I look around us. I look around us. I look at some of the... I don't look at many TV shows these days, but the TV shows that I do, it's there.

Every single time I turn a TV show on, there's a same-sex marriage, or there's someone talking about discrimination and how it should be accepted. We have laws that people pass and people protest against them. We live in a land that looks a lot like Sodom. Maybe not on every street corner, but you know what? This is 2016. Who knows where next year brings us and that thereafter. So we look at Sodom, and we look at there was a time that God said of Sodom, Enough is enough.

The iniquity of the Amorites is complete. In that case, the Sodomites. The society will be destroyed. When will God say that about the nations and societies of this earth today? When will He say, Enough is enough. I know they won't turn back. And when will He say, I'm cleaning this mess up. This sin will be put out and destroyed and no longer to exist. Could be in your and my lifetime. We might have said that five years ago. Only God knows when that time is, but it's upon us to always be ready. And to remember wonderful lessons of unleavened bread. Don't look back when the time comes. Be more committed to God's kingdom.

Understand and see this world in the way that God sees it. And when it's time to leave it, that we would be prepared to go wherever He or however He wants to take us or whatever He wants to do. So that's one of the stories that God, during the days of unleavened bread, brought an end to that society back at that time. Let's look at another one. This one, we'll find it back in Joshua. This was 40 years. This was 40 years after Israel came out of Egypt. They've been wandering in the desert all that time.

They see God's hand, God's hand, feed them. And He had told them He was taking them to a promised land, but they wandered in the desert far longer than they thought they were going to end up wandering. But God did bring them to where He said He would bring them. And when we pick it up in Joshua 5, we find Israel, having crossed the Jordan River, and the people on the other side of the river. That very land that God said to Abraham, this will be the land they come back to. When the fullness of the iniquity of the Amorites is complete, I'll give it to them. Joshua 5, verse 1, They had heard of the great God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

They knew His power, and they knew they were no match for Him. But they didn't repent. They didn't yield to Him. They didn't come and say, we will yield to you. Your God will be our God. We will follow Him. We acknowledge Him as the God above all gods. They didn't do that. They knew, but they didn't follow.

And so, apparently, while they were wandering in the wilderness, they had not circumcised the males that were born during that time. So they took the sign of the covenant and took the time Joshua did to do that. And when the people healed, it was time for God to begin bringing them into and conquering the cities of the Promised Land. Let's drop down to verse 9.

The Eternal said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Now you will be going into the Promised Land. Now you have been away from Egypt, and you will not go back there anymore. Therefore, the name of this place is called Gilgal to this day, and the children of Israel camped in Gilgal. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread, and parched grain on the very same day. So they were in the days of unleavened bread. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna. But they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold the man stood opposite him with his sword and drawing in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, are you for us, or are you for our adversaries? And he answered, no. But as commander of the army of the eternal, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face at the earth and worshipped and said to him, what does my Lord have to say to his servant? He knew immediately. He knew immediately who that man was. Just like the disciples of Jesus Christ know his voice. The sheep know the shepherd's voice, and they follow him. Joshua knew who this was. And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua, of course, did just as he was commanded. And then you know the story of Jericho. Our Bible commentary, and most of the commentaries out there say that it was during the days, seven days, of unleavened bread, that the city was marched around for seven times. First day one time, the first six days one time, then on the seventh day, marched around seven times, and the walls came tumbling down. Now, I can't tell you 100% that that's true, but we know it occurred during the days of unleavened bread. But we know that God here was looking in a nation, or a city, state at that time. Jericho was a wicked city. We know that. Because God said, The fullness of the iniquity of the Amorites is complete. When that is done, when I have determined this city will not turn back, when I have determined that they will be destroyed, when I clean up this land and put the sin out of that land and put you in, so we know the city was wicked. It was also a prideful city. At that time, the walls were so thick, no one, no one, they thought, could defeat Jericho. Impossible to defeat Jericho. People felt secure in that city. They worshipped those walls. Nothing would bring those walls down. And then, without raising a sword, all those walls came tumbling down. And they were conquered, and they were destroyed, all during the days of unleavened bread. God puts sin out. He wants us to put sin out of our lives. And during this time, He began to clear the land for Israel to move into it. Let's drop down to chapter 6 and verse 17. Verse 16, we see the seventh time. The people shouted. The walls fall. And in verse 7, it says, Now the city shall be doomed by the eternal to destruction. It and all who are in it, only Rahab, the harlot, shall live. She and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And God gave them an instruction. And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed, when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.

So here's this wealthy city of Jerapelle. Well fortified, prideful city. We know wicked, because that's why God destroyed it and gave it to Israel. And when He said, when you go in and conquer it, I'm going to bring the walls down. When you go in, I don't want you taking anything out of that. Every single man, woman, and child killed. Don't take any of the artifacts. Don't take any of the little household belongings. Don't find yourself thinking, oh, it's okay to just keep this. I'll put this on my bookshelf. I'll put it on my desk. It's just a little memento. It doesn't mean anything to me. He said, don't take any of those accursed things, except for the silver and gold that He said, we'll go in the treasury of the Lord. But He said, don't take anything. Now people will read that sometimes, and they say, what a God was, well, He was a cruel God. He destroyed all those men, women, and children. But remember how they had lived their lives. And remember also that it is God's will that everyone come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that everyone would repent and have eternal life. And all those people will be resurrected. They will have an opportunity to know what you and I know, and they'll have an opportunity to live forever as well. But God had determined that at that point they would not turn back to Him. Even though we read that they knew the God of Abraham, they knew He was a very powerful God, and that's... But even then, they weren't going to repent or yield to Him. But He made it clear to them, you don't take anything out of there. I don't want any of the trappings of that society in the land that I'm bringing you into. All of it goes. Now, when you read through the book of Kings, you see that the good Kings, when God calls them a good King, what did they do? They went into the land, and they would destroy all the altars, destroy all the high places. They would take all these things out. They didn't want any of those trappings of pagan deities or pagan rites or rituals in there. It was supposed to be a clean landscape for God. In fact, in Deuteronomy, Moses tells them, when you go over there, clear the landscapes. Don't do anything. Keep the land clear for God. And that's what he tells them here in Jericho.

Now, it's no great stretch for us to realize God wants us and our minds clear, too, right? We all came out of a society, whether we were raised in the church or whether we came into the church when we were an adult. We all came out of a society, and we all have things up here, and we all have our own little things that we have held onto or that were part of us in society.

Some of those things are just wrong.

Some of those things, it takes years and years to weed those out of our thought process. The way we react, the way we do things, the way we even think about things and think, oh no, that's not of God. That's the way my friends growing up did. That's the way my friends that worked did. No, no, no. That's not the way God is. We continually clear. We continually take a look at the landscape and say, got to tear that down. None of these accursed things that are of God need to be in my heart anymore. They all need to be gone.

It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen in one year. It doesn't happen in ten years. It doesn't happen in twenty years. It happens over the rest of the course of our lives as God sees us when He brings to our attention and shows us, here's a high place that you haven't torn down. Here's an accursed thing that you're holding onto that you haven't let go of yet. Here's something, an idea, that you are still harboring. Here's still whatever it may be.

Because God wants a pure people. He wants a pure you. He wants a pure me.

And He said, I don't want any of these things in my kingdom. I don't want any of these things in the land of Israel that I'm giving you. He doesn't want any of that in us. And if we're going to be in this kingdom, He doesn't want those things there. But He knows it takes time. But it also takes choices that we make and a commitment to Him that we will move or not have any of those accursed things. Any of those accursed things around us or any of the things that we would do, that we would be willing to let go of it. We don't have to turn to Matthew 5.48. You know what that says. God says the goal for us is, become perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect. That means, perfect means perfect. It doesn't mean 95% perfect. Pure. 1 John 3.2. Anyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself. He clears out the spaces. He clears the landscapes of His mind. With the help of God's Spirit. Because we can't do it otherwise. Over the course of the rest of His life. All of it. Not just most of it. All of it. That's the goal. 2 Corinthians 6.

In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul says basically the same thing that Jesus Christ said. If we are following God, if we are letting Him build His temple in us individually and collectively. He says in verse 14, 2 Corinthians 6, Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? There's not going to be any lawlessness in God's Kingdom. What communion has light with darkness? There won't be. The darkness in God's Kingdom. And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? It doesn't mean we shouldn't work with people who don't believe. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be friendly with them. It doesn't mean any of these things. It means, but we don't take up our sock with them. We don't believe what they believe. And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Don't touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. If you know it's unclean, don't harbor it in your mind. Don't play with it. Don't think, oh, I can just do that, and it's not going to really scald me at all. Stay away from it. Keep yourself pure. Keep your eyes on what God has called you to. Don't even touch those things that are unclean, and I will receive you. I'll be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Lesson of the days of Unleavened Bread? Put the old out. Put the old out. The accursed things, the things not of God, the thoughts not of God, the attitudes not of God, the sins, the weaknesses, the things in our lives that we read in the Bible aren't going to be part of the kingdom of God. But instead, we read in Romans 13.

As we cast off those undesirable parts of us, put on what's clean. Romans 13, verse 11.

Know this, or do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than we first believed.

I think we all absolutely agree with that. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.

That's what we put on. That's what we're putting out, but also putting on. When God brought Israel into Jericho, He conquered them. The victory was His.

But He said, don't even try to keep anything of theirs for you. You don't want any part of that society. It was a cursed society. It was a sinful society.

What God wanted in His land was a land that people would follow Him implicitly, that they would worship Him. His laws would rule in their minds and hearts as well as throughout everyone in the land.

Not these artifacts that would be around people to remind them of what it would least be because He said, don't look back. Look forward.

Build what I. Build in yourselves what I want you to build.

Well, the message to Jericho, or to Israel as they conquered Jericho, was clear. You can't really mince the words on that or doubt the words. He said, don't touch it. If you do, you're going to bring a curse on yourself. You're going to bring a curse on your nation.

But, of course, in Israel, there was one who decided, I can do that and no one will notice.

I can take this little thing, I can keep it hidden, I don't have to flaunt it, I don't have to put it on a bookshelf, I don't have to wear it around my neck. I'll just keep it hidden. No one will know. How silly is that? God knows.

And so, Aiken, if we go back to Joshua, we find that there was one who decided He would take of that accursed, one of those accursed things, and thought no one would be the wiser, and that nothing would really happen. We can sometimes do the same things. No one's watching. God doesn't care about this. This is a minor thing. I can switch on the internet and play with this website or play with that website. I can do this. Whatever it is that we can do that God would say absolutely don't do, we can say, who will know?

Well, there is someone that knows. Joshua 7. Joshua didn't know, but God did. Joshua 7, verse 1. The children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Aiken, the son of Carmi, and these other people of the tribe of Judah took of the accursed things, so the anger of the eternal burned against the children of Israel.

Burned against them. One man did it! One man. One problem in there, and Israel suffered as a result of that. Because God is looking for pure people, but He's also looking to build a pure temple. He wants all of us working toward the same thing. Remember Christ said, My will is that you are one with us. God the Father and Jesus Christ as God the Father and Jesus Christ are one.

That means same accord, same will, same principles, same morals, same mind, same vision.

Aiken wasn't that way. Aiken kind of wanted to keep some of his own thing. He wanted to keep some of the trappings of the world with him. Wasn't willing to let it go and thought he wouldn't be noticed. He paid a heavy price. Israel paid a heavy price. Israel paid a heavy price. Down in verse, I'm not going to read through all the verses here. You probably remember the story. There they were. They were about ready to attack A.I. Jericho was a tough city, uncomfortable. God had given them the city of Jericho. He had given them the city of Jericho. Israel, physical Israel could have never conquered it, just like any nation could, but God gave it to them.

So here's little A.I. No problem here, right? This is just a little city. We can knock that off without any problem. There are a reason to be among themselves. The only two or three thousand men did knock off the city of A.I. And Joshua agrees. It's a little city, not a big fortress like Jericho. In verse 5, we find that this didn't go the way they expected it to.

How could this happen? Jericho fell, and A.I. is chasing us? How is this little city conquering us?

Joshua tore his clothes. He didn't know what was going on. God, you said you were going to give us this land. Look what you did. Jericho, you conquered it. You gave us the victory. You overcame it. But A.I., this little thing is going to keep us from entering the land?

God let them know. It's that accursed thing that you held on to. It's that accursed idea, attitude, sin, weakness, fault, whatever it might be.

It's that thing that's keeping you from conquering and moving forward.

And so the people of Israel suffered a loss, and God let them know. There is someone. There is someone. Verse 11, Israel has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, for they have taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived, and they have put it among their own stuff. And so they went through the process, and tribe by tribe, and family by family, finally it was Achan. Achan who admitted that he had taken it. Achan paid the price, his life and his family's life.

Because he disregarded God's command.

A tough lesson to learn. A tough lesson to learn. A lesson we, none of us, ever want to learn.

That we would miss out on life. Miss out on entering the land that Jesus Christ, or the Promised Land that God, the Father, and Jesus Christ want to lead us to. Because we weren't just willing to yield it all.

We just wanted to hold on. We just wanted to hold on to some of those things, and not yield for whatever reason.

Tough lesson to learn.

Let's go back to Exodus 13.

I'd be remiss.

I'd be remiss if we didn't talk about this on the last day of Unleavened Bread.

Because as Israel came out of Egypt, you know, they came out with a high hand on that morning after Passover.

They plundered the Egyptians. The Egyptians wanted them gone. Take whatever you want. Get out of here. They packed up their houses. They left. And on that evening of the 15th of Abib, the night that we were together for the night to be much observed, much remembered.

They were in high spirits. God had delivered them. For the first time in their lives, they were free. They were headed toward a promised land. They were no longer slaves. They were no longer in bondage. They were no longer people without a future, but they had a bright future and a bright hope.

But here, as they wandered around for a few days, and tradition says, and there's no reason to doubt it, I guess, that here on the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, just days after they were celebrating and in such a good mood because of what God had done for them, they found themselves in an unthinkable situation.

Certainly none of them would have mapped the course and gotten themselves into the situation that God put them in.

What God direct steps, and He does that for a reason, and He led them up with their backs against the Red Sea. Just days after they were so happy and so joyous, and after they saw God delivered them from Egypt. Let's pick it up in chapter 13 and verse 20. 21.

So the eternal went before Israel by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He didn't take away the pillar of cloud by day, or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. It was always there. They could always look up and see the cloud, they could always look up and see the fire, and know God was there. Jesus Christ says, I will never leave you or forsake you.

And He never does. We leave Him.

We make choices to separate ourselves from Him by what we do, what we think, what we hold on to.

But He never leaves or forsakes us, and He wasn't, He was thoroughly aware of where Israel was. The cloud was there, the pillar was there, but now they found themselves with their backs against the Red Sea.

An untenable situation.

We can't even imagine what they had felt. But try to. Try to think about the joy that you had when you were brought out of Egypt, and then you find yourself with your back against the wall, a Pharaoh that is looking at you, and his only desire is to kill you.

Sorry.

We all have to learn. Yeah, what was I saying? Oh, yes. A Pharaoh that was right there. Right there. He didn't miss his chance of, had Israel.

Now, when you came out of Israel, or came out of Egypt, you would think, you would never see Pharaoh again, right? I mean, after all Egypt went through, after how humiliated Pharaoh had to be, and all those plagues, and even the fact that he let his own firstborn son die, and let Egypt go through all that because of his pride, you would think you would never see him again. So Israel had no idea. I mean, why would Pharaoh ever think about coming after Israel again?

Well, he did. Let's look here at verse 9, chapter 14.

There are camps here by the Red Sea, and the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside High Ha-Hireth before Bey-Lzefon. And while Pharaoh draw near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. Pharaoh never gave up. Pharaoh had lost time and time again, and any sane human being would realize, I can't defeat the God of the Israelites. But he didn't give up. When he saw an opportunity, he thought, I'm going after them because I will do anything to keep these people.

I will kill them. I want to see them dead before they can get their way and go out and worship their God.

He knows the same way with us.

Satan will never give up. He will never give up trying to kill you.

You can think that you have God's Holy Spirit, and when we start thinking that we're invincible, it's really a danger sign. But he will never give up.

He will pursue you until you are a spirit being when God resurrects us, and we are spirit beings. He will. And he will use whatever ploy it takes.

He'll use family. He'll use false doctrine. He'll use health. He'll use trials. He'll use financial trials.

He'll use fear. I mean, we know at the end of time, what, in Revelation 13, there's a beast power.

Beast power that if we don't bow down to it, you don't buy, you don't sell, might even say you lose your life.

Whatever it takes. Israel earned a lesson. Pharaoh's not going away, but God took care of Pharaoh on this day, and he finally delivered them.

And every time I read about the account of the Red Sea, I think of Revelation 12.

Let's turn back there for a second, then we'll come back here to Exodus 14.

Revelation 12 talks about Satan, talks about the dragon, the one who has deceived the whole world.

And he never gives up. Revelation 12 and verse 12 says, It says, It says, Just a short time before Jesus Christ returns, and he is finally deposed of all the power and sway he has on this earth.

On verse 14, the woman, and of course we've talked about the woman pictures church, there's also a false church back in Revelation 13 or that it talks about, but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished, for a time, times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So we have this woman. We know it's God who's taking them because it's on the wings of an eagle.

It's God who delivers just like he delivered Israel on the wings of an eagle.

God who will deliver them from the presence of the serpent. He takes them to a place for time, times, and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

Now, however God does that, I'm not going to speculate, but the people that are there in that group may well be joyous, may well be, and should be quite happy, that God, that they are following God, that he has given them two wings of a great eagle, that they might fly into the wilderness to her place, and they might think, we've got it made.

We're out of the world. We've finished the race. We've gone what God has wanted us to do.

We don't have anything else to do. We've overcome. We've let God's Holy Spirit lead us, guide us, correct us, teach us, comfort us. But something happens on that little journey, if we want to call it a journey, because these people are in God's hands at that point. He's taken them on two wings of a great eagle, that they might fly into the wilderness. But in verse 14-15, something unexpected happens.

The serpent spewed water out of his mouth, like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

Oh, there's Satan. He's got his eyes on those people, too. He hates those people. He hates the people of God.

He doesn't want them to be where God can protect them and nourish them, or whatever he does in that place for three and a half years.

And he never gives up, even when they are on the wings of a great eagle, where God is taking them. He's right there.

Now, the children of Israel, when they had their back against the Red Sea, you remember what they did?

They were scared. They were petrified. They looked over at Pharaoh and they thought, What? You brought us out of Egypt so that we could just be slaughtered here by the side of the Red Sea?

We would have rather lived in Egypt than to be slaughtered here by the side of the Red Sea, because not one of those people had never entered their minds.

The Red Sea would part and they would walk through it.

You and I would have been scared if we were there, too. You and I would have probably said exactly the same things they did.

We would have been with the crowd. What? This isn't what we expected. This is a surprise. We thought Pharaoh was gone. What is he doing looking at us? Why is his army lined up out there to kill us?

Remember what Moses said? I'll write down in Exodus 4. We'll go back there in a minute.

He said, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, Israel, because fear and panic in that situation is absolutely naturally human.

We would all be that way.

Now, this group of people here in Revelation 12-14, do you think when they are faced with a serpent spewing water out after them like a flood to devour them?

How do you think they will act?

I would hope whatever this group is, it's you and me in that group.

Will they be panicked? Will they say, Wait a minute, God! We're on the wings of a great eagle! You're supposed to be taking us to the place where you are.

You're going to nourish us for three and a half years.

Will they be afraid? Will they start accusing God and say, Why did you ever call us out of the world?

We would have just rather stayed with it. We'd rather sit and worship the beast than to have this happen to us.

No, they won't do that. No, they won't be afraid, because they will have learned the lesson during this life to not be afraid and to trust implicitly and completely in God.

And to know that He can work things that our minds could never imagine, and no matter whatever situation comes our way, He can deliver us from it.

They will have learned the lesson that Israel didn't learn, because they will have been putting faith in.

They will have been putting trust in God in. They will have been preparing themselves that when this time comes, I trust in God first.

I don't panic first. I don't look to the world first. I don't look to my own devices and means first. I look to God first.

And so when that happens, I expect that that people will be calm. I expect that that people will hold their peace, just as Moses told Israel to do.

And I expect that they will stand still and see the salvation of God, which Israel saw, but they had to be told what to do.

I would expect that this people, prepared through a course of life, prepared by God, led by His Holy Spirit from the time that they were repented and were baptized and received the Holy Spirit to the end of their lives, that they will follow Him and they will know who He is.

They will know His voice, and they will be able to stand up at that time and know, I can't get myself out of this situation, but God can.

But God can. And that's exactly what happens.

Verse 16, The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. God knows where His people are. God will protect them. We don't have to have all the answers. He's got the answers. We don't have to come up with the battle plans. He's got the battle plan. We need to learn to trust, obey, serve.

And however and whoever He says to serve, and wherever He says to serve, we need to be people who are putting out the old little by little, as He has us do, but be putting in day by day, the things that we need so that we are fit for His kingdom when He returns.

Let's go back to Exodus 14 and see those words that Moses spoke.

Exodus 14, verse 13, Moses said to the people, Don't be afraid. How many times in the Old Testament does it tell us not to be afraid? How many times did Jesus Christ tell us, Don't be afraid? Trust in Me. Don't be afraid of Him who can take your physical life. Be afraid of Him who can take your eternal life. Don't be afraid.

That's what Moses told them. That's one thing we need to be letting God prepare us. That when those moments, like the Red Sea, occur in our lives, our first reaction isn't panic. Well, it might be momentary panic, but then we catch ourselves and realize we trust in God.

We don't blame Him. We don't turn from Him. We don't look to the world. We look to Him. Stand still, he says in verse 13, and see the salvation of the Eternal, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you will see again no more forever.

The Egyptian Empire, its power was decimated when they attempted to cross the Red Sea. That sinful society that pictures sin throughout the Bible, gone. Happened during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Verse 14, the Eternal will fight for you, and you will hold your peace.

We need to be putting that belief into our hearts. We need to be putting that faith into our hearts, into our minds.

And we also need to keep in mind what God instructed Moses to tell them and us in verse 15. The Eternal said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

You keep moving toward the promise that God has given you.

You don't look back like Lot's wife.

You don't try to hold on and think you're going to take with you into God's kingdom any of the accursed things like Aitkin thought he could do.

You let him clean up the landscape of your life, the landscape of your mind.

You let him weed out, but you know what? He won't do it unless we choose to do it, unless we give him our lives, our minds, our hearts, and let him clean up those things. And it's not easy. And not one of us here today know everything yet that needs to be cleaned up in our lives.

But I guarantee every single one of us in this room has something.

And if we find ourselves saying, no to God, I won't let go of that, then we know what God will say to us.

Because he's looking for all of us. But he's looking for us, as Moses said, look forward.

No matter what trial, no matter what test, no matter what unforeseen circumstance, no matter how awful it is, no matter how traumatic it is, keep moving forward.

God will fight the battle for you, if we trust, if we believe.

Also keep moving forward, and don't let the little ones trip you up.

And think they're not important because God wants us all clean in his eyes.

Keep marching forward. Let's conclude. Let's conclude in Isaiah 61.

The sun will set tonight. The days of Unleavened Bread will be over. Tomorrow you'll hear about the bread again and what it means as we continue with this back-to-back Sabbath that we have.

But you know, God wants us to put out all the sin. He wants us to put on righteousness.

Isaiah 61, verse 10.

This should be something we would all say and should hope we all together will say, I will greatly rejoice in the eternal. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.

And we know that Jesus Christ certainly has done that as we've pictured during this Holy Day period.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

As the bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and as the bride adorns herself with her jewels. Or as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in its yis-spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.