UNLEAVENED BREAD - Day 7

Fred Coulter - April 14, 2001

Here we are at the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  A whole week has gone by and without a Sabbath in between the two holy days it somehow just seems a little different because having the Passover fall on the weekly Sabbath comes at different times.  As a matter of fact, we can have as much as 20 years in between the occurrence of that.  So this has gone by just really fast, and I hope that it’s been a good feast for you.

Now let’s come back here to Exodus 12.  Let’s understand something very, very important.  And remember this very important.  The meaning of the Passover for the Old Testament was that God passed over their houses and spared their firstborn.  The meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the exodus coming out of Egypt.  And because the Jews today do not keep a 14^th Passover, they have totally lost the meaning of the Passover.  And you need to read in the Passover book that there is no Passover for those who are exiled.

Now, let’s continue on here.  Let’s come to Exodus 12 and let’s just review the Feast of Unleavened Bread again.  Verse 15, “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread…”  Well, after sundown tonight you can go have your leavened bread.  And I always go out and get a hamburger, so that’s what I’m going to do when this day is over.  See because only during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is leaven a sin.  There is even in Matthew 13, which we will cover between now and Pentecost, where the Kingdom of God is likened unto leaven.  Now that has to be the good action of leaven.  So the bad action of leaven is during the Days of Unleavened Bread.  It pictures sin.  And there is sin everywhere.  That’s why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now notice, “…[In] Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Ex. 12:15).  And that means cut off from God.  And that’s exactly what has happened to those people in the Church of God that we have seen who have given up on the Feast of Unleavened Bread and started eating leaven, started keeping Easter, and all of those things.  They have been cut off.

“And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever” (vs. 16-17).  Now as I mentioned concerning the thing that I did before the Feast of Unleavened Bread concerning the holy days.  That if you just take the Bible you cannot find in it anything having to do with Easter or Christmas or New Years, or Halloween, or any of the pagan days that are of this world.  As a matter of fact, when you read the Bible you see them condemned every turn, because you see all of those things become idolatry.  You have another god before you.  You have the wrong days.  And God is not going to accept your good intentions.  Good intentions do not have it with God when God has given a command.  Now you need to understand that.

Now let’s come to Leviticus 23.  Leviticus 23 repeats the same thing.  Verse 6, “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.  In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.  But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days [because when they were at the temple they had offerings all seven days]: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein” (Lev. 23:6-8).  Well we know that God commands us to bring an offering during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And we have always taken up an offering on the first day of Unleavened Bread and on the last day of Unleavened Bread because all of these are Sabbaths, all of these are holy days, and all of them have offerings which are given on them.

Now today we don’t offer animal sacrifices.  But I tell you what, if you would get yourself a real good, first rate lamb or bullock, you’d be into a lot of money.  And so when they offered those offerings and they were given to the priests, it represented a lot of work, it represented a lot of time, and it represented a lot of effort for them to do so to be able to offer these offerings.  And so when it was too far for them to go then they could turn the produce and the animals into money and then they would keep the feast and then obviously then they would offer the money when they got there.  So we’ve gone through this many, many times concerning taking up an offering, so at this time we’ll just go ahead and take a pause and we’ll take up the offering for the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

(Pause)

Now the reason that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is so important, when you couple that with the Passover, is that only God can save you.  Now we have our part that we need to.  We always do.  And with that then we need to couple that with what God can do.  Now God had to lead them out of the land of Egypt but they had to walk.  God had to show them where they were to go but they had to eat the unleavened bread.  And when we come to the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread there’s a special meaning for it.  Because it shows how that God will fight our battles for us, and that how God alone can deliver us.

Now you know what happened.  They left Egypt.  They came out by the Red Sea, and they were entrapped between the sea and the mountains and Pharaoh came after them, and he was going to get back all of his slaves to help him and to help the whole economy.  You could imagine what would happen to the economy with all the slaves gone.  They weren’t able to accomplish anything.  And so they said, “Hey, how are we going to function?  So let’s go get them.”  So they did.  But here it shows a lesson in human nature.  And it also shows something, not only just in human nature, but how that people really do not trust God the way that they should.  Now we can blame the Israelites and say that they didn’t have the Holy Spirit, but how many of those that supposedly have the Holy Spirit have not trusted God even in our day.  And when the trials come, which they will, and when they’re difficult, which they will be, then we need to understand that God alone can deliver us from them.  So here’s an insurmountable problem.  They’re stuck by the Red Sea and here comes Pharaoh.  And look at the temptation which happened to them.  Look at what happens when people see a trial.

Now notice Exodus 14:10.  “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them…”  And I’ll tell you what, when you come out of this world Satan comes after you.  So this is parallel in our lives.  Think of the spiritual parallels that come along with this.  That Satan is after you once you come out of the world.  “…And they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.”  But how did they cry?  They didn’t say, “Oh God, we know You’re great, You’re powerful, You delivered us from the hand of Pharaoh before.  You killed all the firstborn of men and beasts, and now we are just going to just stand here and we are going to just know that You’re going to save us.”

Now, no, verse 11.  “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt [in other words there’s plenty of room to bury dead people in Egypt], hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?”  Now you see, second thoughts on things changes the whole perspective, doesn’t it?  Because when they were in Egypt, and they were serving they were crying and moaning and groaning and what did God say.  He told Moses, “I’ve heard the cries and sighs of the children of Israel, and I’m going to send you to deliver them” (vs. 11-12).  And when Moses came they were happy.  Especially when they started out on the exodus to leave, they left with a high hand.  And now here they are, just seven days later and they have changed their minds because it wasn’t the way that they figured.  And the circumstances were not what they supposed.

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…”  And God is the only one that can save.  “…Which He will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (vs. 13-14).  In other words don’t complain against God.

Verse 15, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me?  speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward…”  So then you know the rest of the story.  Moses lifted up his rod, and God sent a cloud to be on the back side of the children of Israel where it gave light to the children of Israel and darkness to the Egyptians.  And then all that night an east wind came and blew, and blew the waters back and the ground dried, the children of Israel walked across, and that happened on the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And then Pharaoh and his armies went in there because it looks so great. Because that must have been a real wide area where they went across.  Because remember they just walked across in a short time. It wasn’t a long strung out line.  It was like a big flanking movement and they just walked right across the Red Sea.  So Pharaoh looked to the right, and there was water standing up.  And he looked to the left way down there, and there’s the water standing up, and he said, “Let’s go get them.”  And he went in there and fell into the mud and killed them all, drowned them all, destroyed all the enemy.  And then they had rejoicing that God was a man of war, that He fought for them, that the victory was His.  And even Miriam and all the women got around and they were dancing with their timbrels and praising God.  And Moses was greatly exalted in the eyes of the people.  The Lord was the one who delivered them.

Now then, how long did it last?  Now let’s come to Exodus 15:23 and let’s see.  “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.  And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” (Ex. 15:23-24).  Now you see they were faithless.  And too many people who are supposed to have faith, who are supposed to have the faith of Jesus Christ, are faithless.  Again they could have said, “Look what God has done.  Let’s go to Moses and let’s ask him to pray and ask God to heal the water.  And let’s all get on our knees before God and just entreat Him, because God can do anything.”  No, they murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

“And he cried unto the LORD…”  And of course Moses had a hard time with the people, so it would give him a bad attitude sometimes and he would go cry unto God.  “…And the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them” (vs. 25).  I want you mark that word “proved them”, because that’s exactly what God is doing to us today.  And so ask the question:  Am I passing the test or not?

So He proved them.  “And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God…”  And there it is again.  It always starts out with the voice of the LORD your God.  “…And wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.  (vs. 26).  Now this ties right in with the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Hold your place here and let’s go to Isaiah 53, because this is very important in our relationship with God.  We need to look to God for healing, but also we saw where God said, “Cast the tree in”, so there are some things where we have concerning the herbs given for the service of man.  Isaiah 53, let’s come and see the sacrifice of Christ.  Now today there is healing.  We’ve had many, many people healed.  And in a sense I suppose we should have broadcast it abroad more that people have been healed, but we’ve tried to keep it, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.  But never the less, God is the one who heals.  Christ is the one who bore the penalties.  Christ is the one who took upon Himself all the stripes.

Now let’s read it right here.  Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him: He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.  Surely He hath borne our griefs [that is sicknesses and diseases] and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him [that is so we can have peace with God]; and with His stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:3-5).

Now let’s stop and think about it brethren.  It’s very important for us to realize.  We need to have faith and trust in God for healing.  Now there is a place of doctors, there is a place for the things that need to be done that way.  And at every level we can look to God and have faith in God to help us, to direct us, to guide us and to do the things that need to be done that are necessary.  But the sacrifice of Christ is a very important thing for us to understand in relationship to healing.

Now let’s look at something else here that’s very important.  Verse 6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way…”  Now as we did on the first day of Unleavened Bread, we are to walk in the way of God.  But here in the Church we have now, everyone’s gone his own way.  And I’ll bring out a few examples of those a little later on, because we have many things that we need to fight against, and we need to ask God to help us by the battles we need to fight, and to fight the battle for us that He alone can do for us, you see.  “…And the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Now let’s come back here to Exodus 15.  That’s why we have here that everything that we do, brethren, is based upon faith in Christ, trust in God, keeping His commandments, obeying His voice.  And God says that He will the one who heals us.

Now let’s come back to Exodus 16 and let’s see how long that lasted.  And the children of Israel again.  So Exodus 16:1, “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.  And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (Ex. 16:1-2).  Now notice their attitude.  And lots of times these temptations will come to us.  Lots of times Satan will appeal to the flesh, he will appeal to the weakness, he will appeal to the need.

“And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots…”  Boy, and I tell you what, we have so many flesh pots today.  We have so much, it’s amazing.  “…And when we did eat bread to the full…”  You see, that’s why Jesus was tempted by Satan the devil.  And He turned him down.  But how many people have turned their back on God because of these same things.  And people say, “Well, God wouldn’t want you to suffer, would He?”  How do you know?  Maybe He does.  Maybe there are some lessons for you to learn in suffering.  Remember the apostle Paul said, “It’s through much tribulation that we shall enter into the Kingdom of God.”  And look what he went through.  And trials are for our good.  They are the trying of our faith so that it can be made perfect.  But here they failed this trial.  “…We did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (vs. 3).  Well now, God did let them go hungry for a specific reason.  We’ll see that a little later on.

Verse 4, “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them…”  Mark that word!  That’s why you have trials.  That’s why you have difficulties.  That God may prove you.  Do you believe Him or not?  Notice, “…That I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no.”  Then He gave the instructions concerning the Sabbath.  And the instructions were that on the sixth day you bring in twice as much as you do every day, and it won’t breed worms and stink.  And you prepare it on the sixth day for the seventh day.  And you are not to go out and look for any on the seventh day.  But what happened?  Some people went out to look for it on the seventh day.

And what did God say, verse 28?  “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?”  Now let’s understand something.  Once you understand about a commandment of God we are duty bound to do it.  Is that not from the voice of God?  Yes, indeed.  So we have it right here.  Verse 29, “See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath…”  And many people don’t realize or understand that the Sabbath is a gift of God.  So that’s something.

Let’s come over here to chapter 17.  Poor Moses.  Can you imagine Moses, 40 years putting up with all the sins and carnality of the children of Israel?  My, my.  I tell you, I’m glad he had the job.  Not me.

Exodus 17:2, “Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink.  And Moses said unto them, why chide ye with me?  wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?  And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?  And Moses cried out to the LORD…”  Moses had his trials too, didn’t he?  I tell you what, there are trials that ministers have that are far different than the trials that you have.  So here are some that Moses had.  And he said, “What shall I do unto this people?  They be almost ready to stone me.  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river [that is the red Sea], take in thine hand, and go.  Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, is the LORD among us, or not?” (Ex. 17:2-7).  I tell you, there’s God right there, pillar of cloud by day and you know the fire by night.

Now we come over here to Exodus 20.  Let’s begin here in verse 18.  And again the people didn’t want it God’s way.  And even today, there are people who are willing to listen to all kinds of doctrine as they go blithering out looking for pasture other than what God has given to them.  Willing to accept anything.  Willing to believe anything.  But not willing to believe God.  They couldn’t stand the sound of God’s voice.

Now verse 18, “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”  Now notice verse 20 and mark this again.  “And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not” (Ex. 20:18-20).  Now all these trials are to prove us.  And in order to get through these trials and difficulties we need to have faith.  All through the testament we know we see that we have to have faith, and sometimes we need to accept our circumstances as they come.

Now let’s come to Deuteronomy 8, and again I want you to notice that word “prove”.  Because you see, the truth is God is proving us through the trials and circumstances that we go through.  And if we look to God and we trust Him, asking Him to help us and do so in faith then God will hear us, God will answer us, God will bless us, God will fight our battles for us, especially against Satan the devil.  But there are certain battles, that we will see, we have to fight ourselves.

Ok, now let’s come to Deuteronomy 8.  This is rehearsing everything that they did before they went into the promised land, and Moses’ final sermon.  Let’s begin here in verse 1. “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.  And thou shall remember all the way…”  All the 40 years.  All the trials, all the suffering.  And I want you to understand as Paul wrote, all of these things are examples for us that we learn not to do as they did.  And so this is for us today.  And the whole purpose of everything that God is doing, for the trials that we go through, for the battles that we have to fight, for the difficulties that we are confronted with is for this purpose.  And ours is for eternal life.

Verse 2, “And thou shalt remember all the way…”  Now there it is as we pointed out in the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is the way of God or the way of the world.  Now here’s the way of trial that they had.  “…Which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee [that’s one reason why we go through it], and to prove you…”  And when God proves you what is He proving?  Notice, “…to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no.”  And today it is whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being.  That’s what it is.

“And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger…”  So there are times when God puts us through trials and tests.  “…And fed thee with manna, which thou [didn’t understand] knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know…”  Here is the whole lesson.  And this is New Testament as well as Old Testament.  “…That man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (vs. 3).  And that’s the whole reason for it.  Now we’ve got quite a few things that we’ve need to fight.

Now let’s come to the New Testament and let’s understand what Christ is saying here in Matthew 7 as it applies to us so that we can really get the lesson.  Now here in Matthew 7 we find something very interesting.  And let’s read it and let’s apply it.  And let’s see how that the very principles that we have learned and have been talking about from the Old Testament apply here in the New Testament.

Now Matthew 7:24, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine…”  Now is that the voice of the Lord?  Yes.  “…And [does] doeth them…”  The word “doeth” in the King James means “practices them”.  “…I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”  Now it says there “winds”.  Let’s understand something here.  These are likened to the trials in life.  These are also likened to the powers and forces of Satan the devil.  Remember what it says when the Church is taken to a place of safety, that the dragon caused to come out of his mouth a flood of water that he might destroy the woman.  And God opened the earth and helped the woman.  So liken these to the attacks of Satan the devil.  Liken theses, the wind and the rain, and it beats upon the house, you see.  It says it beats.  Now sometimes you feel like you’ve been beaten upon.  Well, the truth is you have been.  For what purpose?  To prove you.  To test you.  To see whether you love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being or not.  So if you build it on a rock, which is Christ, and you love Him, and keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight, you will stand.  You’ll not be driven around by every wind of doctrine.

Now notice verse 26.  “And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (vs. 26-27).  Let’s understand something brethren.  You have two choices in your trials, that you draw close to God and learn from them.  And you know one thing that’s really important is that if you ask God for the faith and you ask God for the help, and strength, and that you can understand them, when the trial is over you will understand.

Now, let’s come here to James 1 and see another parallel with water.  And this time it’s likened unto faith.  James 1:1, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.  My brethren, count it all joy…”  And that’s what we need to do because if we endure these things, and God is dealing with us as sons, God is dealing with us as daughters, so there is the joy, and after the trial and after the difficulty or after the correction, then it brings forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, which then result in joy.  “…Count it all joy when ye fall into [different] divers [trials] temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith…” Meaning, the proving.  God is going to prove your faith.  “…Worketh patience.”  That’s what it’s for.  “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, [lacking] wanting nothing.  If any of you lack wisdom…”  That is, on how to go through this trial, or the purpose of the trial.  And that’s how come we get into a lot of troubles and difficulties that we have because we all do such foolish things sometimes.  “…Let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:1-5).

Now let’s understand something.  If you ask God for wisdom, or you’ve asked God for faith, or if you ask God for love, don’t be too surprised that the trial comes.  Because that’s how you’re going to get it.  For example, if you say, “Oh God, give me understanding of love.  Then you get up off your knees and you feel real good.  You know God is going to answer the prayer, and bang you end up with a trial.  You end up with a fight with the boss at work, or maybe an argument with your husband, or your wife, or your children.  And you blow your stack and everything is a mess.  And you say, “Well, God I asked for love.”  And He would answer you, “I gave you a trial to see if you were going to practice it.”  You see, so everything that we go through from the point of view of God, is not what it looks like in the circumstances as we see them.  And that’s what the children of Israel couldn’t understand.  They only saw them from their perspective, not having any faith in Christ.

Now verse 6, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”  You know, tossed to and fro.  And it’s amazing, when the water is still it is amazing what just a little bit of action will do.  I know when I do my water therapy and I’m the only one in the pool, and there are times when that happens, and it’s a big pool.  It’s about 20 by 16, something like that.  And I get in there and I start doing my leg kicks and things like this.  Boy, after a while the water is, the whole pool is just going like this.  So you see that’s how quickly faith can be disturbed.

 Verse 7, “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”  Because what happens when you act like the Israelites?  Verse 8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  And that’s what’s happened with so many brethren.  I’ll read just a little bit here from some of the letters that I have and what has happened to some of the brethren.  What are the things that they are confronted with?  And we will go through and we will see how we need to handle it, we need to cover it.

Let’s come back here to Ephesians 4, because you see we talked about the water, now let’s talk about the wind.  And there is a spiritual thing that’s important.  Who is the prince of the power of the air?  None other than Satan the devil.  Who is the one that’s working in all the children of disobedience?  None other than Satan the devil.  And we have come out of that Egypt of this world, haven’t we?  And notice what he says here, verse 14.  “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”  And that will be there.  And there are so many things out there, it is unreal.

Now let’s look at the four things that we have to fight.  And let’s see how we need to overcome in every one of them.

First thing we need to fight is our own human nature - the old self.  Now let’s come back to Romans 7 and let’s see that we have an internal battle.  And this internal battle is because you have the Holy Spirit of God.  People in the world don’t experience this.  People in the world just live their lives and they have no consciousness of sin.  Oh, they may be sorry that they get in trouble but they have no consciousness of sin.  Now you see this is what’s so important for us to understand.  The first frontline battle is in the mind with the self and with human nature.  And the apostle Paul understood that.  He understood that the heart is deceitful above all things.  He understood that the way of man is not in him to direct his steps.  He understood that there is a way that seems right to a man but the ends thereof are the ways of death.  So he looked at himself in his struggle in overcoming.  And all of us go through this as long as we’re in the flesh and as long as we have the Spirit of God there will be this struggle.  But it is a struggle that we are able to overcome and a struggle that we are able to fight, and a struggle that we are able to be victorious in through Christ.

Now let’s read it here.  Romans 7:14, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold unto sin [that is of ourselves].  For that which I do I allow not…”  And we have these contradictions in our motives, in our desires, and in the completion of our actions to do that.  “…For what I [desire] do, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”  And then you end up saying, “Well, I hate myself for doing that,” right?  Yes, well that’s the time to go to repent.  “If then I do that which I [don’t want to do] would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.”  There is nothing wrong with the laws of God.  It’s our human nature.  “Now then it is no more I that do it [you really don’t want to do it], but sin that dwelleth in me” (Rom. 7:14-17).  And the human nature that we are fighting is the law of sin and death that every human being has within their members.

 Verse 18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing…”  You know, people in the world don’t understand that.  They are good people.  They are righteous people.  But it takes the Spirit of God to convict you that in you, in me, in all human beings dwells no good thing.  That’s why Jesus didn’t commit Himself to any man cause He knew what was in man.  Now, continuing verse 18.  “…For to will [the desire] is present with me…”  And everyone desires to do good.  “…But how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I [desire to do] would I do not: but the evil which I [don’t desire to do] would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I [don’t desire to do] would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (vs. 18-20).  And it is only the Holy Spirit of God which exposes that sin, and that nature within you.  That’s why we have this struggle that goes on.  That’s why we have a renewal of the covenant every year at the Passover.  That’s why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread every year, so that we know we’ve got to overcome sin, so that we know that we have to put out the leaven and put in the unleavenedness of Christ.

Now verse 21.  “I find then a law, that, which I would [desire to] do good, evil is present with me.”  And that happens.  So what do you do?  We’ll see what to do here in just a little bit.  It’s very important for us to understand, you see.

He says in verse 22, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.”  Well, yes I do.  All of us do.  “But I see another law in my members, warring against [me] the law of my mind…”  That is the law of sin and death.  “…Warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin [the wages of which is death] which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”  That’s why only Christ can save you.  Just like standing at the Red Sea, the children of Israel couldn’t go across unless God intervened and performed a miracle, so you cannot overcome unless you use the Spirit of God.  And you cannot overcome unless you do things the way that God wants you to, but God in forgiving your sins and placing you under His grace, has given you great confidence and hope that you can overcome.  He says, “I’m going to be saved through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”  “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (vs. 22-25).

Now, hold your place here and let’s come to 2 Corinthians 10, because this gives us the tools and showing that there is a battle and how we need to do this when we are confronted with these thoughts and things of overcoming that we really need to change.

Now, 2 Corinthians 10:2.  “But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.”  Now we’re not walking according to the flesh, but the Spirit.  “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh [showing this war that is going on]: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)” (2 Cor. 10:2-4). And the strongholds are in the mind.  And they have to be brought down.