And greetings, brethren. Here we are for the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We’ve had the Passover, we’ve had the night to be remembered, and now here is the day portion of the first holy day, 15^th day of the first month. Now if you had an opportunity last night to go out and look at the full moon, you would see that at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles that there is always a full moon. And that God’s calendar is correct. And the calculated Hebrew calendar is the one that God uses. And all of the other devices of men to substitute for it, they just do not understand nor do they have the authority, and who gave them the right to go ahead and change what God gave to Israel.

And every holy day we always begin by going to Leviticus 23. And this tells us the plan of God, that He has for us, going through all of our lives. And brethren, I want you to understand something very important, which is absolutely primary, that we have opportunities to know and understand the word of God as no other people in the history of the world. Now I want you to think on that, and I want you to understand how precious and how great and how marvelous that the Sabbath of God, and the holy days are. Because these things unfold to us knowledge and understanding. And God gives us His blessing and fellowships with us spiritually on the Sabbath and on the holy days.

So let’s begin here, Leviticus 23:4. “These are the feasts of the LORD [meaning they belong to Him], even holy convocations,…”, which means appointed times. God has set the appointed time and we come to Him at His time. We don’t go to God on our time and tell Him what we will make holy, because obviously we can’t as human beings. We have no ability to make anything holy. Only God can make something holy. We can keep it holy by obeying God, and serving Him and doing His will. “…Which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” And now if you don’t have the tape “Which Came First, The Ritual or The Day”, you be sure and write for it, because God created the days, God created the Sabbath, God gave the Passover, as we saw, and the first Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Abraham, and to the children of Israel before there were any rituals or daily sacrifices, or sacrifices for any holy days. Because God intended that we keep these days.

Now verse 5, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover [at even].” And we have a full thick Passover book which explains the whole thing. I just recently had a man write me and start out by saying, “Well, Strong’s Concordance and Young’s Concordance says…” So I wrote him back a letter to the effect, “I’m going to send you the second edition of the Passover book, and I’m going to send you Everett Fox’s First Five Books of Moses, and then you go ahead and study it, and you will see that the truth is that the Passover is on the 14^th. And evening is between the two evenings, meaning from sunset until dark.”

“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD:…” So these are God’s days. These are not the Jews days, though the Jews did keep them in their own way, after they left the way that God showed that they should be kept. Now he says here. “…Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” Now I think the last few years I have not had anyone ask me, “Must I eat unleavened bread during the Days of Unleavened Bread?” God says, yes, you must. “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation [which is today]: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days:…” (vs. 6-8). That’s because they also ate the meals of them as well as give the offering. So today, since we don’t have the sacrifices we take up an offering of the things that we have. And as I pointed out in the two tapes on the economics during Jesus time, they lived in a merchandising monetary society, and we live in a merchandising and monetary society, so we give of the increase of what we produce, that we are paid for. And God intended that.

Now, we always collect an offering on the holy day. Let’s come here to Deuteronomy 16, and let’s examine the command here. We all know this. We know it by heart. We’ve been here many, many times before. Now let’s read it here. Deuteronomy 16:16, “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:…” Now many people do that. They consider God last and they do not prepare their offerings, they just bring, and if they just happen to have a few dollars in their pocket, well they go ahead and put that in. Well, God says, “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee” (Deut. 16:16-17). So whatever you give in an offering, you give from the heart, and you give because you love God, and you give because of God’s blessings. And living in the days that we live in now, you think about all the blessings that God has given to us in many, many different ways, and you consider your life, and you consider the lives of those that we’re able to help, and you consider the offering that you should give. It’s between you and God to do so.

So at this time we’ll go ahead and pause and we’ll take up the offering.

(Pause)

Now let’s begin to understand the meaning of this day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened bread. Let’s come to Exodus 13. Now we’ve covered all the things previous leading up to the time that the children of Israel kept the Passover, and they started on their exodus out of Egypt. Now we also, we will see that this applies to us, but there’s a special thing that God brings out during the Feast of Unleavened Bread which is most important for us to realize. Let’s begin right here in verse 1.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn,…” Now we’re going to see that that is a very important and profound thing for us. Now remember, as we have already covered, God spared the firstborn of the children of Israel in Egypt. The firstborn of everything that opens the matrix, or opens “…the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is Mine.” (Ex. 13:1-2). So there’s a special claim that God has. Now we’re going to see how that applies to us in the New Testament. God has a special claim on each one of us. And God has that claim because of what He has done.

So let’s continue on, and see Moses’ message to the children of Israel, verse 3. “And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt,…for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.” Now, after we take the Passover and keep the night to be remembered, then we are also to remember this day. And we are to remember the day that we came out of sin. We are to remember the day that we were baptized. We are to remember the day that we came out of this world. You see, God calls us out of this world. His calling today is a spiritual calling. And so it’s a little different than it was with the children of Israel. But back in Revelation 18 God says to those who are in Babylon, which we are, we are in Babylon the great, “Come out of her My people and do not be partaker of her sins.” And that’s the whole purpose of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that we learn to live a godly way, that we learn not to live in sin. And that’s why since Christ is the bread of life, and we eat the bread of life, and we drink the true drink, and we renewed the New Covenant on the Passover night, therefore we have an obligation to do. God has something that He is obligated Himself to do for us, and we to God. Because God did bring us out by the strength of His hand. God did deliver us. We’re going to see.

Now, let’s come down here to verse 5. “And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.” And we might also say, on this day, the 15^th day of the first month. “Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.” So the last day is a holy day. “Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters” (vs. 5-7). Now, back then they had a much more, how shall we say, a greater work to do to get out leaven because not only did they have to unleaven their homes individually, they had to unleaven the whole country. Now that’s why the Passover day in the New Testament is called the first of the unleaveneds because they got rid of all the leaven on the Passover day.

Now verse 8, there’s a lesson here we are to teach our children. And this applies to the children of Israel then, but it also applies to us. “And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.” Now we need to tell our children today, that we do this because God has called us out of this world, and He has brought us out of Babylon the great, and He has led us to the understanding of His truth, and has given us the perfect sacrifice through Jesus Christ, as we have seen. And has given us the perfect justification, as we will see a little later, so that we can stand before God pure and clean and unleavened in Christ. And that’s why, as we have seen, that’s why we keep the feast. As Paul told the Corinthians, because Christ has been sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast. And that is New Testament doctrine. That’s written to the 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. So if anyone says, “Well, you don’t need to keep them in the New Testament.” Please understand, one command in the New Testament is quite sufficient.

Now verse 9, “And it shall be for a sign unto thee…” Now we know that the Sabbath is a sign, but also as we have seen going through the series on the book of Hebrews, chapter 4, that it is the Sabbaths, the plural. And the Sabbaths are a sign which begins to give us contact and understanding with God after God calls us. But also we have the other things that we enumerated which are also important. “…And for a memorial between thine eyes,…” Now that means right up here in your mind so that you’ll never forget, because you see the New Covenant is that God is going to write and inscribe His laws and His commandments in our hearts and in our minds, so that we live God’s way because that’s how we think. You see, that’s why it’s so important. That’s why we eat unleavened bread. We are eating the way, the sinless way of God, because during the Feast of Unleavened Bread leaven is a type of sin. That’s why Paul said in 1 Corinthians and in Galatians, “Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” And that’s why we need Christ. Now let’s continue here. A memorial, “…that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year” (vs. 9-10). Now, that follows right along with the instructions that Paul gave the Corinthians concerning the Passover, that they were to take the Passover, year by year. And as often as they did it, year by year, until the Lord come we show His death. And we show His death because that’s the greatest thing that God could do, to come and be a human being and die for the sins of His creation.

Now verse 11, “And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’S.” Now the females would then be for the festival time. “And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck:…” Now how important is this to God? So important that if you don’t do it, you don’t get the animal. Now let’s look at that concerning ourselves too. “…And all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem” (vs. 11-13). Now, we are redeemed by the blood of Christ. We are redeemed through the sacrifice that He has given, so all of these things apply to us.

Now let’s understand something. Let’s come to Hebrews 12 and let’s understand something which is very profound, because you see we fall into the category of the church of the firstborn. So there is a special blessing. There is a special intervention. There is a special work that God is doing in us. And that work is so great and fantastic, brethren. It is the greatest thing that can be done, because God is recreating Himself in us so that at the resurrection we can be born into the kingdom of God. But we can’t be born into the kingdom of God with sin. We cannot live our lives in a state of sin, or a state of lawlessness and then expect God to give us eternal life.

Now let’s come to Hebrews 12:22, and let’s understand something very important. God has set us aside through Christ, and Christ was the firstborn, as we will see, and He’s the firstborn among many brethren, and we are the church of the firstborn. So we need to understand that, because God said during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, “All the firstborn are Mine.” And why was it done then? Because in the spring all the animals were born. That’s why it comes during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now let’s begin in verse 22. “But you have come to Mount Sion [that is, to God’s throne in heaven above], and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels, the [to a] joyous festival gathering [and we’ll see how that is amplified when we come to Pentecost]; and to the church of the firstborn [that’s what we are brethren, we are the church of the firstborn], whose names [now I’m reading from my translation, from Hebrews] have been registered in the Book of Life…” (Heb. 13:22-23, AT). Now you need to understand how great and marvelous that that is, to have your name written in the Book of Life.

Now hold your place there in Hebrews and let’s come to Luke 10, and let’s see what Jesus said. Let’s see what He told His disciples after He sent them out to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cast out demons. And they came back and they were all happy and excited, and they were…just were elated that Christ worked with them and in the name of Christ they could do these things. But let’s ask a question: how important is that in relationship to the calling that God has given you? Now let’s read it here.

Verse 17, “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:…” (Luke 10:17-19, KJV). Now let’s just stop right here for just a minute, because I’m going to bring this out on the last holy day. But I’m going to mention it here. We have total power over Satan the devil, and his demons. They can have no hold upon us. Now, they may come and try and bother us, and if we get lukewarm and start going back into the world and dabbling into the things of the world, and if we start letting a little leaven of the world leaven us, then yes there can be an entrance for Satan. Yes, he can get a hold. Yes, he can influence. But understand that He has given authority “…over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Nothing. Even if you die, it’s not going to hurt you because God is going to resurrect you. So that’s why Christ has said that if you believe in Him, you have passed from death unto life.

Verse 20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you;…” Wow, that’s quite a statement, isn’t it? “…But rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” And brethren, what God did to do that and to call you. And that’s why the apostle Paul said of those who left Christ, he says with tears, weeping… And that’s why, brethren, if there’s anything you can do to help those who have temporarily left Christ, remember this, as long as there is life there is hope. And as long as there is hope, there is repentance. And if you can help restore such a one back to Christ then God is going to bless you tremendously. And that is an obligation that we have. And that’s why we do the things that we do here, so we can supply and provide for the brethren all of these things. And when they come and they need to have some, as it were the parable of the ten virgins, and they need to have some oil for their lamps, we send them the care packages, we send them the literature, we send them the tapes freely so they can recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, see. “But rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Now notice verse 21, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” Now isn’t it that something? That you understand, brethren, what the wise, what the prudent, what the intelligent, what the experts in this world do not understand and cannot understand, because these things are spiritually revealed, and spiritually given to you in the word of God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now notice, “All things are delivered to Me of My Father: and no man knoweth Who the Son is, but the Father; and Who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him” (vs. 22). So that’s why it’s a tremendous thing brethren, that God reached down in your life and one day began to deal with you. One day began to deal with me. One day began to deal with people wherever they are in the world. And we know and understand that we are not the only ones that God is dealing with. God will do what He’s going to do. Now if we can help and serve and do the things which will encourage and help the brethren in that way, then fine. We will do all that we can do in that way. But let’s understand our calling. Let’s understand what God has given to us and why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Because we are the church of the firstborn, which God said during the Feast of Unleavened Bread they are to be set aside unto Him. We have been set aside unto God. We have been called, we have been chosen, we have been selected by God the Father and Jesus Christ. Now I want you to think on that, and realize how profound that is. And for God to say that He wants you in His kingdom, that He’s called you for a great purpose and for you during the Days of Unleavened Bread to put sin out of your life, and put righteousness into your life through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, that is a tremendous thing indeed brethren.

Now let’s come here to Ephesians 1, and I want you to understand how great this is, and what God has done, and what Christ has done, and how important that this is. You see, we sit with the greatest knowledge and understanding of the word of God that has ever been in the history of the world. No other time, no other age, not even the prophets of old understood. Remember, Daniel said, “When will these things be?” And God told Daniel, “Close up the book and seal it till the time of the end. You go your way, Daniel, and at the end of the days you will stand in your lot.” And so here we are in the end of the days, and God has given all this knowledge to us.

Let’s begin in Ephesians 1:1. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:…” You’ve been called, brethren, by the will of God. God has set you aside as part of His firstborn for a special blessing. Now, verse 2. “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now look at… I want you to understand, here is a special blessing of grace which comes directly from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ to you for the greatest blessing that could possibly be. That’s why Christ wants us to be sinless before Him. That’s why God the Father has provided the sacrifice of Christ for us. To help us, to save us, to deliver us, to lead us, to guide us, to give us His grace and His blessings.

Now notice, verse 3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [things] places in Christ:…” Now you know, sometimes we just get focused on the physical things. And sometimes we just get focused on our own physical problems, and the difficulties that we are going through. All those things are real and we live through them. That is true. But look, let’s understand something here. God has given you all the spiritual blessings in heavenly things. That’s greater than anything in the whole world. Christ said, “What would it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loose his life?” Nothing. Now granted we’re all going to get old, and as time goes on we’re all going to get older. And I visited a woman yesterday who was 87 years old, and she fell and broke her leg, and she came right to the point of dying. And I went up to where she is rehabilitating and she’s going to be fine. But you know, she understands that one day the end is going to come. And she is so thankful and grateful for the knowledge of the truth and the things that she’s been able to do, and being in the Church of God now for about 35 to 40 years. Now brethren, God is going to make sure that she is safely tucked in the grave for the resurrection, as well as all of those who die in the faith. And that is the greatest spiritual blessing. That is one of the greatest spiritual things that can happen to you - that you die in the faith and be raised from the dead.

Now notice, verse 4. “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:…” Now this means that before the foundation of the world God had His plan all worked out that those that He called, because it says that we’re chosen, and we’re chosen by God the Father. Now notice what He’s predestinated us to be. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, which means that we will be without sin. Do you understand that? That’s why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so we can be holy. That’s why we eat unleavened bread, a type of the sinlessness of Christ. And that is before Him in love. And that’s why love is the greatest thing. And that’s why God has called us unto these things. And that’s why God is leading us in these things. And that’s why we do what we do. And brethren, the word of God will just grow in understanding, and your ability to comprehend it as you give thanks to God and realize how great and precious these promises are.

“Having predestinated us unto the adoption [sonship] of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,…” To Himself personally, we are going to be the children of God the Father. We will constitute that great congregation of the church of the firstborn. Now notice, “…according to the good pleasure of His will,…” (vs. 5). Now that’s really something, isn’t it? That God has pleasure in His will. And that’s why we need to have pleasure in God’s will. Now sometimes, if we go through a trial and we will see how God will deliver us, that is true. But you know, we need to understand that everyone of these trials is for our own good in the long run. Now when we’re in the middle of it, it’s hard to see it. But afterwards when it’s all done we have perfect 20/20 vision and we can see why. And sometimes that 20/20 vision doesn’t come for quite a few years after you’ve gone through a trial, especially if it is a major one. But you see, it’s for the good pleasure of the will of God.

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (vs. 6). And that’s why we have the Passover, the night to be remembered, and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to let us know we are accepted in Christ. We are accepted in that sacrifice. We are accepted because God has called us and loved us, and has given us His Spirit, and we have died the spiritual death, as it were, in the watery grave of baptism. Now we’ll see all of that a little bit later.

“In Whom we have redemption through His blood, for the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;…” (vs. 7). And brethren, to be holy and blameless before Him, to stand in grace, to have our sins forgiven, to know that God looks upon us with His love, with His kindness, with His mercy, with His understanding, yes, and with His correction. Because God loves us, that’s why He corrects us, so we can have these things taken out of our conscience, as it were.

Now you see, one of the reasons why we eat the unleavened bread and eat the way of God, and why Christ is the bread of life is so that we can develop the Christian character in us. But also in that there is another process that takes place. Just like in order to put in the unleaven, we have to put out the leaven. So once we get these things into us then there is also a process of overcoming which gets rid of the waste, which gets rid of the sin, which gets rid of the carnal nature and the habits that we have as human beings.

Now let’s see something that’s very important, very profound in this. Let’s come to Acts 4, because today, you know there are a lot of people who think, “Well, we’re all going to the same place.” That’s not true. There are some going to the kingdom of God, there are some who are not going to the kingdom of God. And all religions do not all come to the same focal point in the end-run. That is a lie of Satan the devil, which he is foisting off on this world because now we are living in Babylon the Great. Now here’s something that’s profound and important. Salvation cannot come because of any other thing but Jesus Christ.

Let’s come to Acts 4:5. “And it came to pass on the morrow [or that is the next day], that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,…” Now this was after they had arrested Peter and John and the apostles for healing the man at the Gate Beautiful. “…And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander,…” Now all of these men condemned Jesus Christ. All of these men stood there and whipped up the crowd, “Crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him.” So we need to understand who they are talking to here. “…And as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst,…” Now just picture this big august Sanhedrin, and they put the apostles right in the middle to examine them. And they asked them, “…By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy [Spirit] Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel,…” Now that’s why it’s written down in the scriptures because not all the people of Israel were privy to this going on at the Sanhedrin. So as it goes out in the written work preserved by God, then it goes to all the people of Israel. “…That by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye crucified,…” I’m sure they didn’t like to hear that, because they thought that when they crucified Christ, they got rid of the problem. But the truth is the problem only began. And it multiplied in such a way that it ended up in the destruction of the temple. Very profound times in which they lived. “…Whom ye crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole” (Acts. 4:5-10)

“This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other:…” Because you see, they thought they would be saved through Moses. They thought they would be saved through the works of law. But no, “…for there is none other name under heaven [which is] given among men, whereby we must be saved” (vs. 11-12). And the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a feast of salvation.

Now after they saw this they said, “Hey, these men are unlearned.” They were amazed. And they said, “Here’s the man standing there whole, and everybody knows about this. Now we can’t deny it.” So they all decided, “Well, we’ll try the next best thing. We are going to command them not to preach in the name of Christ.” Well, that was foolish. That backfired on them. Now we have the same thing today. We have spiritual salvation. And that spiritual salvation is only through Christ, by God the Father, to bring us out of this world. And we are saved by His grace because God loves us.

Now let’s go to Ephesians 2. Now you know we have to go here a lot to Ephesians 2, and the reason is that there is a lot in Ephesians 2. And it is one of those basic foundational parts of the Bible for us to understand the word of God and what God is doing for us. And for us to realize the great thing that God has done to call us, and to bring us the knowledge of His word, to grant us His Holy Spirit, to give us forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And how that God had to reach down in our lives and call us out of this world, and call us out from the power of Satan the devil.

Now let’s come here to Ephesians 2:1. “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;…” That’s why, you know, if you live in the world you are as good as dead. You are dead in sins and trespasses. “…Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now [inner-working] worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our [conduct] conversation…” And we were out there. Now maybe we weren’t out there whipping it up and whooping, and hollering, and rioting, and things like that, but you see even the most righteous has a sinful nature. And remember, the Pharisee who prayed with himself and thanked God that he was better than other people. That is a greater sin and harder to overcome than someone who has sinned like the publican who said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Now notice, “…our [conduct] conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love…” God has called you because He loves you. That’s why you need to respond back in love to Him. “…Wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins,…”, because Christ died way before we even came into existence. “…Hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Eph. 2:1-5).

Now we are going to see how, by this grace, we are saved. He says in verse 8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith;…” It’s not of any works, as we will see. “…And that not of yourselves:…” It’s not something you can do. No man can come to God and say, “God, give me eternal life.” God won’t do it. He didn’t even do it for Job did He? No, He didn’t. “…It is the gift of God:” And “gift” also means grace. “Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…” (vs. 8-10). And that’s what the eating of the unleavened bread pictures. Putting in the word of God, living by the word of God, being created internally, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, to qualify us for the kingdom of God. And this takes work. This takes getting rid of human nature. This takes the power of the Holy Spirit to bring down those strongholds of the mind wherein sin has great hold upon us. Now remember as we saw, the enemy has no power against us. And if we’re being created in Christ Jesus, and we are His workmanship, see, when God has beforehand given us good works ordained that we are to walk in them, and part of those good works are keeping the feasts of God.

Now, let’s come to Romans 5, because we need to understand how important this calling is, and what God has done for us. Now we can go back in many of the Psalms, which I have many written down here. We could go back and we could see, yes, God can save us. God delivers us. God heard David. God heard the children of Israel and intervened for them. Well, God hears us. And remember, God delights in the prayers of the saints, and your coming to Him for His power, His strength, and His Spirit, and His grace.