Keeping the Feast in Sincerity and in Truth

(1st Day Unleavened Bread)

Fred R. Coulter—April 6, 2023

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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! As we say all the time, time marches on!

• it doesn't wait for anyone
• it doesn't go fast
• it doesn't go slow

It's always on time! That's the way it is with God, the Sabbath and the Holy Days. All of these are built into the creation. It's quite a thing that we understand that.

We know from Rev. 13:8 that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world! We know that the Gospel was already determined before the ages of time! So, when God created the earth and everything that's necessary for it, He built in automatically the things for His appointed Feasts!

Genesis 1:14—the beginning of the 4th day: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons, and for days and years." All of those have to do with calculating time for us!

He did this on day four, because how many animals, insects, birds, fish and so forth need the sun and the moon so they know what they are to do.

Appointed times: That what the weekly Sabbath is. The first appointed time that was observed by God and Adam and Eve on the seventh day. It goes all the way through the Bible. We also find that Christ's crucifixion was on the appointed time, which we have seen and know as the 14th day of the first month according to the Calculated Hebrews Calendar.

Lev. 23 is very interesting, as we cover every year, because here we have in Lev. 23 all the appointed times of God listed in sequence according to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar. Let's understand this; this is very clear. The Protestant world never understands:

• what God has declared
• what God has commanded

If there's any change, God Himself must make the change!

We know that we have the covenant with Abraham, which then comes the covenant with Israel and then with the Church and Christ! But all of those on are on the appointed times!

God has these all listed here in Lev. 23,  not for the sake of offerings alone but for the days in keeping them. For all of those who think that the Sabbath changed from the seventh day to the first day, they are all in rebellion against God, because He never changed it!

We also know that it says that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. Since He's the Passover, as we know, He's Lord of the Passover. Since all the Holy Days God has decreed, He is Lord of them, which means He is:

• Owner
• Ruler
• Boss or Master

The blessings come from loving Him and keeping His commandments. All of these are listed in the Lev. 23 because God, in designing the Bible, has hidden these things from those who don't want Him. Or from those who think they can take parts of the Bible here and there and come and worship God. We know that's not true!

Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD, which you shall…"'" (vs 1-2).

That means it's a direct command to do so and to proclaim anything else is against God!

"…which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations…" (v 2)

Why are they Holy convocations? Because God puts His presence in it! God never put His presence in Sunday, Christmas or Easter!

"…even these are My appointed Feasts…. [notice what He starts out with]: …Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings" (vs 2-3).

Think about the world today, there's so much sin everywhere. Why? Because they reject the Word of God!

Verse 4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons."

Who made the appointed seasons? God did! He specifically pointed out that the sun, moon and earth for the appointed times or appointed Feasts of God. All of these are annually, as we know by going through Lev. 23.

Verse 5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings… [from sunset until dark] ….is the LORD'S Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days" (vs 5-6).

We know that we are to put leaven out of your house, out of the things that you own.

Verse 7: "On the first day you shall have a Holy convocation. You shall not do any servile work therein."

You can do anything that's necessary for the preparation of food and for the service to be conducted. But it is Holy to the Lord!

Verse 8: "But you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein."

That's this day, and we also know that in the New Testament Paul, the one whom the Protestants say changed everything so that they could keep their Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and everything like that. But that is not true!

Corinth was a pagan city. In all of the Greek culture, Corinth was wrapped up in the worship of all the gods (Acts 17). Here's what Paul writes, and this tells us what we are to do and the meaning of the day:

1-Corinthians 5:7: "Therefore, purge out the old leaven, so that you may become a new lump… "

We'll talk about that. It is constantly a renewing, renewing, renewing!

"…even as you are unleavened…." (v 7)

They unleavened their homes, but now the meaning of Unleavened Bread has to do with your personal thoughts, your personal behavior and what you do!

"…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us" (v 7).

We dwelt on that on the Passover Day. The sacrifice of Christ was given because He was the Creator of all human beings.

• only His sacrifice can take away our sins
• only the receiving of the Holy Spirit—after repentance and baptism—puts us in contact with God the Father

All the good works that men do in the name of God—if they are not according to the commands of God—end up being null and void and sin!

We find back in Lev. 23 that we are to take up an offering on the Holy Day. Remember that God goes by heart, mind and attitude, not by amount! But He does expect us to sow bountifully so that we reap bountifully!

(pause for the offering)

Thank you for the offering, and as you know we use it—every penny that we can—for serving the brethren, taking care of the things we need to do in a way that is pleasing to God.

1-Corinthians 5:8: "For this reason… [because of the sacrifice of Christ] …let us keep the Feast…"

Think about this for a minute. The Protestants like to claim the sacrifice of Christ, but they won't keep the Feast. But the sacrifice of Christ is the reason that we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Now, this tells us what we are to do, because during the Feast of Unleavened Bread leaven is a type of sin!

"…not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of Sincerity and Truth" (v 8).

This becomes important for us in how we understand how we're going to serve God. Let's look at keeping the Feast in Sincerity and in Truth!

That means that we are—after we repent of our sins—to look at our lives and see what other things are sin. Look at it this way: sin is anything in word or action or deed that is against the laws and commandments of God!

They're also called transgressions and labeled as evil and wicked! Think about it for a minute. Right at this time the world is keeping Easter, a pagan, Babylonian holiday, and they claim that they are worshipping Christ. But they're not!

Let's understand what sin is. We know it, but let's turn there and look at it for what it says. It's good that we go back and review some of these basic things. That way we never lose track of the Truth!

It's like anything else, the more you do it the better you become at it. The less you do it the worse you become at it. Pretty soon you leave it off altogether.

1-John 3:4: "Everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness."

That's what the Greek means. The KJV says it's transgressing the Law. That's true, but anything that:

• goes against the Word of God is sin
• goes against the Law of God is sin
• goes against the commandments of God is sin

That's why it is lawlessness! The reason is, we will see, is because the human mind without the Spirit of God, and over a period of time and generations, becomes absolutely evil and wicked beyond description. Today we're living in that kind of world!

That's why it's very important that we're keeping the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread! So that we don't be engulfed by the things of the world.

Verse 5: "And you know that He appeared in order that He might take away our sins; and in Him is no sin."

Right away John shows that there's a way out of sin, and that's through repentance, which involves everything that we think or do. Keep that in mind as we go forward here.

Verse 6: "Everyone who dwells in Him does not practice sin…"

You're dwelling in Christ IF you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you! That's the key, and that comes with repentance and baptism, and is maintained by prayer, study and repentance. As we will see on the coming Sabbath, the most important place to clean out is the mind! We will see how God wants us to do that.

"…anyone who practices sin has not seen Him, nor has known Him" (v 6).

There were those preachers coming out and saying that they knew all about Jesus:

We were there when He was doing all the healings. You know, we have come from Judea and we know that what Paul is teaching is not correct.

Then you also had the interference of the pagan religions. So, the Truth of God is assaulted from two sides, actually three:

• from other religions in the world
• from false teachers
• from our own lives

That's quite an amazing thing! It's really an amazing thing for those who are called the firstfruit and that we live in this world and we overcome sin!

Verse 7: "Little children, do not allow anyone to deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous."

Why? Because IF you're practicing righteousness and you have the Spirit of God, THEN you are counted righteous before God! That's what's important.

Now we see the contrast, because we see Unleavened Bread means two things:

• you eat the Unleavened Bread that pictures the sinless body of Christ, picturing the pure Word of God
• you put out leaven—all kinds of leaven—because that pictures:
• sin
• wickedness
• self-motivation

Practicing sin means living in it!

• all of those who are breaking the Sabbath are practicing sin
• all of those who are keeping Sunday are practicing sin
• all of those who keep the holidays of this world are practicing sin

Verse 8: "The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has beensinning from the beginning…." he's called:

• the father of lies
• the deceiver
• the wicked one

It says that the whole world is in the power of the wicked one! That's what we are living in today with Satan coming out of the closet and all the demon coming out as well.

"…For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil" (v 8)—that's the ultimate thing, which is all laid out in the Holy Days!

Verse 9: "Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin, because His seed of begettal is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God."

What happens with the Spirit of God when you sin? God's Spirit convicts you so that you can repent! That's the whole thing! That's quite a thing! That in a nutshell tells us the whole meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Verse 10: "By this standard are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil…."

Think about this for a minute. IF you are not a begotten child of God, THEN who is your father? Satan the devil! Jesus said that Satan the devil is the father of lies, especially those lies that twist and turn the Truth of God to lead people astray!

"…Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God…" (v 10).

Practicing righteousness! What is the declaration of righteousness in:

Psalm 119:172: "…all Your commandments are righteousness."

• that's why we keep the commandments of God
• that's why we overcome sin from within
• that's why we have to fight against human nature

1-John 3:10: "…Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another  (vs 10-11).

Then it goes back and refers to Cain! All the way back to the beginning of the Bible! That's an amazing thing when you begin to understand it.

Let's look at human nature and see what that is like. Let's see how it's going to be in our lives, and why does human nature come down to being this way.

Jer. 17—we all know this one, but we need to rehearse it because we still have the sin within as we will see on the weekly Sabbath called the law of sin and death! That has to be overcome. Let's see what it says about human nature, our ways—though they look good—that are contrary to God!

As I read this, think about why the world is in the mess that it is in.

Jeremiah 17:5: "Thus says the LORD… [stop and think about that] …'Cursed is the man…[or woman] …who trusts in man…'"—some other man or woman in the world, but your own self; if you trust in your own self you are cursed!

Even though you may be successful because you will see, in time, that your success comes from Satan and not from God!

"…and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD" (v 5).

Isn't that interesting? God judges the heart and mind of every one of us! That's why we are told how to love God: with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all of our being! That's the key to overcoming sin, and the key of staying close to God!

Verse 6: "For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited."

Now we need to get the contrast:

• leaven—those who are against God
• unleaven—those who live God's way

• those who are cursed of God
• those who are blessed of God

Don't look at it as if it's just physical blessings or physical objects that you own. The biggest blessing is having God's Spirit and knowing God's way.

Verse 7: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD." Then He tells us that He wants us to grow spiritually!

Remember what Jesus said, 'I am the Vine and My Father is the Husbandman. Everyone in Me that bears fruit He purges so that it brings forth more fruit. Everyone who does not bring forth fruit is cast out and cast into the fire!'

Verse 8: "For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters; it sends out its roots by the river…"

Think about how deep your roots are spiritually speaking.

• that you love God
• that you keep His commandments
• that you believe Him
• that you live by every Word of God

As Jesus said! Your roots are deep!

"…and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green; and he is not worried in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit" (v 8).

Now then, here comes v 9, because you need to get the contrast: the sin and the non-sin.

Verse 9: "The heart…"—our way of thinking, our emotions, everything that we do as human beings without the Spirit of God:

"…is deceitful above all things…" (v 9).

Think about that in relationship to the world that we see today. All things! Look at the:

• government
• education
• churches
• financial markets

Whatever!

Verse 9: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?"

God knows it and He wants to change it. He will give you the Holy Spirit and increase that, and constantly supply you with the Holy Spirit IF you are coming to Him every day!

• IF you are praying to Him
• IF you are studying His Word
• IF you are living God's way

IF you're not, the opposite will happen! Here's why:

Verse 10: "I the LORD…"

It's a personal thing! Jesus said that God knows every hair on your head! Well, think about this:

Verse 10: "I the LORD search the heart…"

• what you think
• what you act upon
• those deep inner thoughts that you have

when you're all by yourself and lonesome that nobody else knows but you and God! Or you and Satan! That's why we need the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

"…I try the reins…" (v 10).

Likened to a horse, the reins are what you steer and move the horse where you want it to go. What it is that God has put in our mind/brain is what He calls the reins so that He can, at anytime:

• know what we are thinking
• know what our emotions are
• know how we're expressing ourselves
• know whether we love Him and are keeping His commands

Especially if we have the Spirit of God! Keep that in mind!

"…even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (v 10).

Verse 13: "O LORD, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. 'Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the Fountain of living waters.' Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved; for You are my praise" (vs 13-14).

It shows that we can come out of all of those difficult things. Let's see how sin can become so ingrained, especially when you think you're doing well.

Jeremiah 17:1: "The sin of Judah is engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond; it is carved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars."

Doesn't that describe it today with how the wickedness is, wherever it is? Yes, indeed, it becomes that way!

Prov. 5—here's what we need to come to realize in everything that we do.

Proverbs 5:21: "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths."

Isn't that something? Jesus talks about the seven spirits that He directs and goes into the whole earth to find those who are seeking God. Those who are truly seeking Him can find Him. It's going to be because of a spiritual interaction between God and the individual. That's what leads us to repentance.

Verse 22: "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins."

Unless you repent you're going to be all tied up in sin! And IF you don't repent it says:

Verse 23: "He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall breathe his last.

That tells us quite a bit and how God works and deals with every one of us.

Let's see how it is in the world; we'll learn some things just like we learned in 1-John; let's see what the world is like, how it is all around us:

Romans 3:9: "What then? Are we of ourselves better?…."

Think about this, because God has called us and we have repented and received His Holy Spirit, and because we're living in the way of God. Are we better than the people in the world? No!

We are separated from them, but we're not better than them. We've answered the call of God, but they didn't. So, Paul says:

"…Not at all! For we have already charged both Jews and Gentiles—ALL—with being under sin" (v 9). All have sinned and come short of the glory of God!

Verse 10: "Exactly as it is written: 'For there is not a righteous one—not even one! There is not one who understands; there is not one who seeks after God"  (vs 10-11). IF you seek after God you will find Him!

Verse 12: "They have all gone out of the way; together they have all become depraved. There is not even one who is practicing kindness. No, there is not so much as one!"

Does that sound like the world we're living in today? Yes, that's the way it always turns out! When sin is allowed to grow and grow… We will see what it says in the New Testament, Paul wrote it in two places: a little leaven leavens the whole lump! A little bit of sin in your life sooner or later leads to more, and you're full of sin.

But we are to put out the leaven, put out the sin, and we are to put on:

• the righteousness of Christ
• the commandments of God
• the Truth of God
• the love of God

in everything that we do!

Verse 13: "Their throats are like an open grave; with their tongues they have used deceit; the venom of asps is under their lips, whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes" (vs 13-18).

That's why the world is in the mess that it is in! That's why God has called us from it! This is the world that we are looking at, and this is what we are fighting and overcoming! We're going to see what we need to do in order to come out from underneath this. That is called repentance!

Many people feel sorry for doing wrong, and they regret what they have done. But that's not repentance to God.

Romans 2:4: "Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the graciousness of God leads you to repentance?"

Why? Because you see and understand the sacrifice of Christ! It is His shed blood and His shed blood alone that brings forgiveness. But you have to confess your sins to Him. You have to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that you can have your sins forgiven.

But Paul says here that if you don't acknowledge that and know that God leads you to repentance:

Verse 5: "But you, according to your own hardness and unrepentant heart, are storing up wrath for yourself against the day of wrath and revelation of God's righteous judgment, Who will render to each one according to his own works: on the one hand, to those who with patient endurance in good works are seeking glory and honor and immortality—eternal life" (vs 5-7)—because you're repenting! Those who are not:

Verse 8: On the other hand, to those who are contentious and who disobey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish—upon every soul of man who works out evil, both of the Jew first, and of the Greek; but glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, both to the Jew first, and to the Greek, because there is no respect of persons with God" (vs 8-11).

Verse 12: "For as many as have sinned without Law…"

There are a lot of people who don't know about the Law of God and they don't know why their lives are all messed up.

"…shall also perish without Law; and as many as have sinned within the Law shall be judged by the Law, (Because the hearers of the Law are not just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified" (vs 12-13).

That's what God wants us to understand; let's understand about the sacrifice of Christ, everything He went through:

1-Peter 2:21: "For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us…"

Think about that! He laid down His life willingly; He was beaten, scourged and nailed to the cross!

"…leaving us an example, that you should follow in His footsteps; Who committed no sin; neither was guile found in His mouth; Who, when He was reviled… [when He was brought to be judged by the governor and the Sanhedrin] …did not revile in return; when suffering, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously; Who Himself bore our sins within His own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, may live unto righteousness; by Whose stripes you were healed" (vs 21-24).

He carried our sins. How did He do that? He took upon Himself human nature and He was to live and not sin!

• only that as God manifested in the flesh
• only that with a perfect life
• only that one sacrifice
• only the shedding of His blood

Will cover the sins of all who truly repent!

That's why when we repent we are to put away the sin, put out the leaven, and put in the righteousness of Truth in our lives, heats and minds, and the way that we live. That's the whole purpose of it.

(break@48:05)

Let's see about the sacrifice of Christ, and how we are to really repent. It's not just a matter of feeling sorry for your sins and all is taken care of. It has to be with all your heart, mind, soul and being! Also, so that God will intervene and:

• help us
• strengthen us
• lead us

in what we need to do!

1-Peter 3:18: "Because Christ indeed once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God…"

That's the whole purpose so that we can be in His Family and live forever with God the way God wants:

• in peace
• in love
• in obedience
• in happiness

But we've got to see this life, is evil without God! Then the sins that commit, we need to repent and draw closer to God.

"…on the one hand, He was put to death in the flesh; but on the other hand, He was made alive by the Spirit" (v 18)—raised from the dead by the glory of the Father!

Let's look at a good example of repentance. This one is a classic one. But let's also understand not to wait for repentance. Let's understand that God is there to forgive at any time when there is repentance. Repentance means just like getting rid of the leaven, we cease living in sin! Then we put in the righteousness of God!

Psalm 86:1—we do this in prayer: "Bow down Your ear, O LORD, answer me, for I am poor and needy."

We don't come to God because we're important and God has to do something for us, because of who and what we are! NO! God is not a respecter of persons.

Verse 2: "Preserve my soul, for I am Holy… [that is true if you have the Holy Spirit of God] …O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You." That's what's important, trusting in God!

Verse 3: "Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I cry unto You all day long…."—crying out to God for:

• His forgiveness
• His mercy
• the application of the shed blood of Jesus Christ

We are justified and made right through the blood of Christ!

Verse 4: "Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O LORD, do I lift up my soul"—because:

• only God can make us good
• only God can give us the attitude

Verse 5: "For You, LORD, are good and ready to forgive…"

That's why when you sin—you will as we will see what it is like on the Sabbath during Unleavened Bread—you repent of those things. Go to God right away!

"…and rich in mercy to all those who call upon You" (v 5).

That has to be in Spirit and in Truth; that you really mean it from the depths of your heart, soul, mind and being.

Verse 6: "Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me" (vs 6-7).

Let's see another thing here concerning repentance. Many times when we sin, God is there to correct us. That correction sometimes can be very difficult. Other times it's not so difficult.

Psalm 38:1: "O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath; neither chasten me in Your fury…. [we don't want to come that way] …for Your arrows stick fast in me, and Your hand presses heavily upon me" (vs 1-2).

Here David—whatever the condition was here—was really down and out and sick, and really in terrible shape. So, he's crying out to God!

Verse 3: "There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger; nor rest in my bones because of my sin, for my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me" (vs 3-4).

You can't carry your own sins. You cannot put off repentance so that God will forgive you. Don't carry that weight around!

Verse 5: "My wounds are putrefied and fester because of my foolishness."

We don't know exactly what it was that he had. But look at it this way: When you carry sin and you don't repent, it leavens; that's being putrefied in a sense! That's why we are to put the sins out!

Verse 9: "My LORD, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You. My heart pants; my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me" (vs 9-10).

Then David says that even the ones who loved me have forsaken me!

Now let's see the depths of repentance that God wants, which is through the sacrifice of Christ! The depth of repentance that we need to keep and maintain is that which is with our whole being.

• we can't treat it lightly
• we can't just treat as something that is a little thing

Christ's sacrifice was a great thing indeed!

• it is His blood
• it is His stripes
• it is His whole life

And everything about it God applies to us! That's the greatest thing in the world. We are conjoined to His sacrifice when we repent (Rom. 5). That is laid across the body of Christ spiritually speaking for the forgiveness of sin.

Psa. 51 shows the whole process of getting out the leaven. You search deep in your heart, mind, soul and being, and ask God:

• to help you
• to cleanse you
• to be merciful to you

Because when you sin, you sin against God!

Psalm 51:1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity…" (vs 1-2). Notice how David labels sin:

• transgressions
• iniquity

"…and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (vs 2-3).

You must have that inner conviction against sin and see how sin really acts in your life, every one of us! Every one before God!Now, you may have sinned against someone else, but that sin is also against God! Not only do you need to repent of that, but you need to repent to God, because all sin is against God!

Verse 4: "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be in the right when You judge."

God is always right! That's what we need to understand; God is never wrong!

Verse 5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity… [we're all born with the law of sin and death in us] …and in sin did my mother conceive me."

Not that it was an adulterous affair, but because the whole process of human life is stained with sin. Now, here's what God wants:

Verse 6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts…"

What did Jesus say on the Passover night? I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life! That's how we have our sins forgiven.

• sin is against Truth
• sin is against God

He is there ready to forgive! That's why it's so great that we understand the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is:

• to put away the self
• to put away the sins of the flesh
• to walk in newness of life, God's way
  • with His commandments
  • led by His Spirit
  • led by His Word

"…and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom" (v 6). That's what we have to do in the way that God wants! When we do that, then we trust in God!

Verse 6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones, which You have broken, may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities" (v 6-9).

Here is the key; this is what God wants:

Verse 10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Ezek. 20 shows how God will receive us when we repent, and we yield to Him to keep His commandments,

Ezekiel 20:41: "I will receive you with your sweet savor… [IF you're praying asking for forgiveness] …when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the lands into which you have been scattered among them. And I will be sanctified in you before the nations. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the land, which I lifted up My hand to give to your fathers. And there you shall remember your ways… [shows what kind of repentance God will grant] …and all your doings in which you have been defiled. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils, which you have committed" (vs 41-43).

That's the kind of repentance that God wants. Now let's see the action that we are to take. When we repent, we're putting out the sin and God is forgiving us.

• What are we to do?
• How are we to do it?

Col. 3 tells us what we are to do, and how we are to do it, and what we are to put in with the unleavenedness. This is one of these chapters that tells us, reminds us and instructs us on what we are to do so that we can be in right standing with God.

Colossians 3:1: "Therefore, if you have been raised together with Christ… [out of the watery grave] …seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your affection on the things that are above, and not on the things that are on the earth" (vs 1-2). Let's see how that is done!

Putting in:

• the righteousness of God
• the Laws of God
• the Spirit of God
• yielding to God
• loving God
• loving the brethren

in everything that we do!

Romans 12:1: "I exhort you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service."

We will see that Col. 3 expands on what this spiritual service is.

Verse 2: "Do not conform yourselves to this world…" We're not to:

• live like the world
• think like the world
• act like the world
• think everything is fine

NO!

Here's another little secret you need to learn: You cannot take the good from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and transfer that and graft it into the way of God! It will eventually lead to destruction.

We have to take the good of God and the righteousness of God and the Truth of God and put that in!

"…but be transformed… [changed; this change comes about]: …by the renewing of your mind… [taking out the leaven of sin and putting unleavened bread of Truth and Sincerity] …in order that you may prove what is well-pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God" (vs 2).

In Col. 3 Paul goes into more detail, and this shows the whole process of how Unleavened Bread is to be observed by us.

Colossians 3:3: "For you have died… [in the watery grave of baptism] …and your life has been hid together with Christ in God."

Conformed and conjoined to the sacrifice of Christ, and we're to walk in newness of life and renewed in spirit and live God's way!

Verse 4: "When Christ, Who is our life, is manifested… [at His second coming] …then you also shall be manifested with Him in glory."

Philp. 3—let's see how Paul lived and reacted to this in His life. He had a lot to overcome, and he counted himself as 'less than the least of all the saints.' Think about that! Think about how we're to lift ourselves up in vanity, not to think about how much we have done that is good and what God expects us to do, and think that we're something great.

When God called the Apostle Paul, he had to destroy all of those things in his life that he thought were of great benefit to him.

Paul talks about how his life was and what he had to give up, and he tells the Philippians that in order to stay right with Christ, not only do you have to watch the things without and the things within, but the self within and how he had to experience that himself.

Philippians 3:4: "Though I might also have reason to trust in the flesh. If any other thinks he has cause to trust in the flesh, I have much more."

Let's see what he looked at that was a positive for him until God called him, then he saw that through repentance how evil all of the good—even though he thought it was good—that he was doing. So, he lists them all out:

Verse 5: "Circumcised on the eighth day… [according to Judaism] …of the race of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; with respect to law, a Pharisee"—the strictest sect of the Jews, having all the traditions replacing the commandments of God.

Verse 6: "With respect to zeal, persecuting the Church…"

Didn't he think he was doing good? Yes, he got the official letters from the high priest to get the Christians and take them and persecute them, throw them in jail, and even some of them were killed!

"…with respect to righteousness that is in law, blameless" (v 6). He did everything right according to Judaism, meaning according to human ways!

AD: {truthofGod.org}

• Book: Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men by Philip Neal—
• In-Depth Study: Scripturalism vs Judaism

Those are important so that you will be able to understand the difficult Scriptures of Paul.

Verse 7: "Yet, the things that were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." 

You have to forget all the things that you did, forget all the things that you thought were right.

Verse 8: "But then truly, I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things… [notice how Paul viewed them]: and count them as dung… [Greek: 'skubalon'] …that I may gain Christ."

This is putting out, and now putting in! You put out all of that! And then Paul talks about Christ:

Verse 9: "And may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is derived from law…"—of Judaism!

He didn't say the Law of God, because Jesus said, 'If you will enter into Life keep the commandments.'

"…but that righteousness, which is by the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God that is based on faith" (v 9).

You keep the commandments of God because you believe God, and you believe the commandments of God. You keep the instructions of Jesus Christ, because those are the instructions for Life! All of those together, and this is what it is all about concerning Unleavened Bread. You get rid of all of that which is leavened, and that which causes things to be leavened, because if you don't a little leaven leavens the whole lump! Isn't that what Paul wrote? Yes!

So, we are to purge in out and then once you get that out, we are to bring in the righteousness of God:

• His Truth
• His love
• His character
• the motivation of Christ in our lives
• to do the will of God in our lives

Verse 10: "That I may know Him… [see Him face-to-face] …and the power of His resurrection… [that's the goal we're looking for] …and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

That's how Paul viewed what he had to give up, and he gave it up willingly. He gave it up because he saw how wicked and evil that it was. Just like:

Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"

'I the Lord search the hearts, try the reins.' Now we put in that which is what God wants us to do.

Philippians 3:11: "If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead."

Always in the forefront of his mind: the resurrection of the dead! That's what it is. That's the goal!

Verse 12: "Not as though I have already received, or have already been perfected…"

Growing and overcoming is being perfected constantly, and that perfection only comes through Christ and the Spirit of God. But we must be actively involved in it, actively doing it the way that God wants.

"…but I am striving…" (v 12).

This is what we need to do; this is how we are to live every day, day-by-day, week-by-week, Sabbath-by-Sabbath, month-by-month, Feast-by-Feast. All the way through however long we live in complete dedication to God!

"…so that I may also lay hold on that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus" (v 12).

Notice that we have a long way to go! Think about what Paul was doing here. Here he was in prison in Rome writing this tremendous epistle to the Philippians to encourage them to stay fast with God, to grow, to change, to overcome! Here's what we are to do:

We've seen that we need to repent of sin and put sin out of our lives. We need to bring in righteousness through obedience and love to God, of His commandments, of His Truth, and of the way of Christ.

Verse 13: "Brethren, I do not count myself as having attained; but this one thing I do…" Here's what we need to do:

• we've seen that we need to repent of sin and put it out of our lives
• we need to bring in righteousness through
• obedience
• love to God
• love of His commandments
• love of His Truth
• the way of Christ

"…forgetting the things that are behind…"

All the sins that you've committed and repented of, all of what was gained in the world to you, but was actually sin in the eyes of God that you forsake, that you put it behind you. "…forgetting the things that are behind…"—let that all be in the past!

"…and reaching forth to the things that are ahead" (v 13). That's it!

• that's why the Feast of Unleavened Bread
• that's why the things that we cover during this time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Not only putting out the things that are wrong, but putting in the things that are good and right with God through the will of God, and to walk in God's way! Keep His commandments and to love Him, and to learn the lesson that the children of Israel didn't learn!

Verse14: "I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." That's what it always has to be! Press toward the goal!

• why we were called
• why we were baptized
• why we received the Holy Spirit of God
• why we do all of these things

Verse 15: "So then, let as many as be perfect be of this mind…."

This how we are to think! Be renewed in the spirit of your mind!

"…And if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal even this to you"—which is the sin within that you have to overcome!

Verse 16: "Nevertheless, in regard to that which we have attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind"—doing the will of God!

• loving God
• loving the brethren
• loving the Word of God
• loving the Truth of God
• loving everything about God's way

Verse 17: "Brethren, be imitators together of me, and bear in mind those who walk in this way, as you have us for an example."

Then Paul gives a little warning because we've seen this, too. It happened in Paul's day and it's happened in our day, so we need to understand it and realize that these things will happen. We pray for them that they may repent and come to themselves so that they will understand what they need to do.

Verse 18: "(For many walk contrary; I have often told you of them, and I tell you now with weeping, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame; for they mind earthly things.)" (vs 18-19).

Then he draws the contrast; don't to that! Don't do as those who have put aside God's way. NO! NO! Keep your mind on God:

• the Kingdom of God
• the grace of God
• the sacrifice of Christ
• the forgiveness of sin
• the value of repentance every day

Verse 20: "But for us, the commonwealth of God exists in the heavens, from where also we are waiting for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ"—Who's going to bring the Kingdom of God on the earth!

Verse 21: "Who will transform… [change, metamorphous] …our vile bodies, that they may be conformed to His glorious body…"

What's it going to be like to have a spirit mind, a spirit body and to see Christ? The Apostle John writes that we will see Him as He is because we will be like Him. What a tremendous thing that is!

All of this, this is what keeps moving us forward!

• the power of God
• the forgiveness of God
• the greatness of His Truth
• the righteousness of His Holiness
• the whole purpose that He's working out for each one of us

"…according to the inner working of His own power, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself" (v 21).

This is why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

• that we put out the sin and put in the righteousness
• that we forget the things in the past and look forward to the Kingdom of God
• that we look to God the Father and Jesus Christ for everything that there is

We know that with the Power of the Spirit of God They are dwelling in us to lead and guide us so that we can have God's purpose in our life fulfilled so that we will be in the Kingdom of God, when we will be completely unleavened, sinless and perfect as God wants us to be!

Scriptural References:

• Genesis 1:14
• Leviticus 23:1-8
• 1 Corinthians 5:7

• 1 Corinthians 5:8
• 1 John 3:4-10
• Psalm 119:172
• 1 John 3:10-11
• Jeremiah 17:5-10, 13-14, 1
• Proverbs 5:21-23
• Romans 3:9-18
• Romans 2:4-13
• 1 Peter 2:21-24
• 1 Peter 3:18
• Psalm 86:1-7
• Psalm 38:1-5, 9-10
• Psalm 51:1-10
• Ezekiel 20:41-43
• Colossians 3:1-2
• Romans 12:1-2
• Colossians 3:3-4
• Philippians 3:4-10
• Jeremiah 17:9
• Philippians 3:11-21

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 13:8
• Acts 17

• Romans 5

Also referenced: {truthofGod.org}

• Book: Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men by Philip Neal—
• In-Depth Study: Scripturalism vs Judaism

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 3/14/23

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