Sugar Land Bible Church

Dr. Andy Woods: As the children are being dismissed to their junior church program, let's take our Bibles this morning and open them to Exodus chapter 12 and verse 14. Exodus chapter 12, verse 14. The title of our message this morning is "Our Unleavened Bread."

We're continuing our verse-by-verse teaching through the book of Exodus. Here's where we are in the book: God is redeeming a nation. Redemption is the idea of releasing someone from bondage through the blood of an innocent scapegoat, in this case, the Passover lamb, pointing to Jesus Christ. God is using this to take His people out of the bondage that they've been in for 400 years by a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph.

God's instrument in all of this is a man named Moses, whom He's raised up. Through Moses have come the various plagues upon Egypt. We've covered nine of them; we just have one to go. We've seen the Nile turn to blood, the multiplication of frogs and gnats and flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness.

You would think by now Pharaoh would have gotten the picture that he's not in control, but one more plague is necessary to break his stubborn self-will, which is the death of the firstborn that's been announced all over the land of Egypt. As that plague is going to come, in chapter 12, verses 29 through 32, God, before the plague hits, gives Moses specific instructions about how to be exempted from this plague and how to remember it.

Essentially, God is going to use this plague to finally be the straw that breaks the camel's back, proverbially, and Israel will be free from Egypt. The Israelites, the Hebrews, need to remember this throughout the generations. So before the plague hits, God gives Moses some instructions related to Passover—how it's to be done and how it's to be remembered.

We saw that last week in verses 1 through 13. Now, He gives Moses some instructions concerning something called unleavened bread, what role that is going to play in all of this, and how it is to be commemorated. That's in verses 14 through 20. So, we're covering this morning verses 14 through 20. We have a memorial being established in verse 14 and then instructions for this memorial in verses 15 through 20.

Notice, first of all, the memorial. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 14 says, "Now this day will be a memorial to you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance." Notice the first part of verse 14: "Now this day," the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage through Passover and unleavened bread, "is to be a memorial."

One of the things that's interesting about God is He is very interested in memorials, tokens, causing human beings to reflect back and think about great events that He has done in history. That's why each of the major covenants that we read about in the Bible—whether it's the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, or the New covenant—is always attached to a specific sign that subsequent generations are to either remember or practice.

Take, for example, the Noahic covenant. I believe that's the first time the word "covenant," *berit* in Hebrew, is used anywhere in the Bible. The promise that God would not flood the world again as He did in the days of Noah. That covenant came with a sign; it was the sign of a rainbow in Genesis 9. As you look at the rainbow throughout the generations, we remember the promise of God never to flood the earth again.

Then later on in biblical history, He introduced to the nation of Israel what became known as the Abrahamic covenant. That came with a sign. That covenant was given in Genesis 15, but the sign of it was circumcision on the eighth day in Genesis 17. We continue reading in the Bible, and God took the nation of Israel about 600 years after that and put them under the Mosaic covenant at Mount Sinai. That covenant came with a sign. The sign was the Sabbath that they were to remember.

Then later on in biblical history, we read about the New covenant. We, as members of the church, are not takers-over of that covenant, but we participate in many of its blessings. We are to remember that covenant through the ritual of the Lord's table, Communion. When you look at this history, you see that God is interested in memorials commemorating Him.

Paul, quoting the words of Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 25, says, "In the same way He took also the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'" That's why these signs are established; they're memory devices causing us to reflect upon what God has done. He's done many great things.

In fact, we read this in the book of Joshua when the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land for the very first time. It says in Joshua 4, verses 19 through 24, "Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. Those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal."

He said to the sons of Israel, and this is why God said to take these twelve stones from the Jordan and set them up at Gilgal—there's a reason for this. He said to the sons of Israel, "Not if, but when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall inform your children, saying, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed."

Listen to this: "and all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever." So, here you are at Gilgal, and your children or grandchildren at some point are going to ask, "What's the deal with these stones?" Here is your teaching moment as the leader of your household. These stones commemorate a miracle that God did at the Jordan and allowed us to enter the promised land. Oh, and by the way, let me also tell you about what He did a generation earlier with the crossing of the Red Sea and coming out of Egypt.

This is why God wants these memorials to take place amongst His people because they become vehicles or tools through which He will use to transmit spiritual realities within families. It's interesting to me that there's no reference here to a youth pastor doing this. We love youth pastors; we love our youth pastor. We think he does a great job. But the truth of the matter is a youth pastor or even the pastor of a church can do very little if information and spiritual awareness is not being transmitted within the family.

The family is God's design for passing down truth from one generation to the next, and that's what these memorials are for. Eventually, your children and your children's children are going to ask, "Why do we do this? Why do we show up at church on Sunday? Why do we take Communion? Why do we do this? Why do we do that?" That's your teaching moment; that's your opportunity to explain to them spiritual realities. This is how truth will travel throughout the generations.

In fact, the truth will travel so effectively "so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God." Some of the most frightening words that you'll ever read in the Bible come from the generation that followed the Joshua generation, the Judges generation. It talks there early in chapter 1, early in chapter 2 of the book of Judges, that there arose a generation that knew not the Lord nor the things that the Lord had done for the nation of Israel.

I'm here to tell you, folks, that is exactly where we are in this country. You have a whole generation today growing up and they don't know the first thing about church. They don't know the first thing about scripture. They don't know the first thing about theology. They don't know anything about the birth of Christ, except in very limited detail, the resurrection of Christ. They don't know Jesus died for them on a cross. That has to do with the fact that we are not paying attention to how God wants information transmitted through the generations.

His primary tool that He uses is the godly home. A youth pastor or a pastor, at best, can reinforce what's happening in the home. But if it's not happening in the home, eventually things get short-circuited. You hit a hard place in your house, let's say health-wise or financially, and you say to your kids or your grandkids, "You know what, let's do family altar. Why are we doing this?" By reaching back into public prayer, a memorial.

This is why God is so meticulous about these memorials. This is how you're going to celebrate Passover from this point on once I accomplish the feat. This is how you're going to celebrate unleavened bread within your household after I accomplish the feat. I don't want any generation to forget what I did. In fact, this principle is so powerful in the book of Exodus. Look at verses 26 and 27 of the same chapter.

It says, "And when," not if, "your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean?'" And this is the principles of Passover. "You shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians but spared our homes.' And the people bowed low and worshiped."

I'm going to do something here in plague number 10 which is going to break the back of Pharaoh. What you need to do is take the blood of the Passover lamb and apply it to the doorposts. When I kill all of the firstborn all over Egypt—and by the way, the reason I'm killing all of the firstborn all over Egypt is Egypt came after My firstborn. The nation of Israel is God's firstborn son, Exodus 4, verse 22. When God formed the nation of Israel, He was quite clear that whoever blesses you I will bless, whoever curses you I will curse.

Egypt has mistreated My firstborn son for 400 years, and now I'm coming after the firstborn all over Egypt. The only way you're going to be exempted, even though you're Jewish—being Jewish in and of itself is not going to exempt you from this plague. What will exempt you is you are to kill the Passover lamb, who must be qualified, you are to consume it a specific way as God has given instructions, and you are to apply the blood on the doorposts. So when I come in plague number 10 and kill the firstborn all over Egypt, My wrath will pass over those households.

So that you never forget what I did, I want you to celebrate this and I want you to commemorate it a certain way throughout the generations. That way, truth will be transmitted from one generation to the next, and there'll never arise a generation that will forget what I did unless you fail to follow My instructions. If you fail to follow My instructions, then there could arise a whole generation that doesn't know anything about Passover, which sadly is what happened in the book of Judges.

We pay a major price when we don't do things within the family the specific way that God has ordained. That's why all of these signs and symbols accompany these various covenants. What God is now bringing into play following Passover is, as we look at our verses this morning, the second feast following Passover for another seven days. What you're starting to see develop is the calendar system within the nation of Israel. We'll get a full description of that in the 23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus, but right now we only see the first two feasts: Passover and now this morning, unleavened bread. It's a calendar system and a festival system and a feast system that God wanted set up.

Then, in the midst of all of this, it's almost like God makes a prediction. You see that prediction also in verse 14. It says, "And you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance." Look down at verse 17, second part of the verse: "Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance."

In other words, this is going to be part of the permanent calendar system of the nation of Israel. The interesting thing about God is when He makes a prediction, it's fulfilled. Do you realize this is a prediction? Jesus in John 13, verse 19 says, "From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He." Now, I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.

When God says this is going to become a permanent ordinance, He's making a prophecy there; He's making a prediction that this will become permanent in the life of the nation of Israel. Isn't it interesting that Israel has gone through great turmoil? I mean, she was evicted from her land. She went into the land for 800 years, was evicted from the land, came back from eviction back into the land.

The time of Christ came; they were still practicing Passover and, as we're going to see today, unleavened bread. That's a good 1,500 years of keeping that ritual and ordinance. Then the nation rejected her king, as we know. The penalty for that was worldwide dispersion at the hands of the Romans. For 2,000 years, the nation of Israel went into worldwide dispersion and only in modern times—May the 14th, 1948, etc.—have they been recycled back into their homeland.

Guess what? Two thousand years outside of the land, and the ritual of unleavened bread and Passover continues. I mean, that's just an astounding prediction that is made here. This is how unleavened bread is going to work, and it's going to be a ritual that's going to be permanent in the nation of Israel. It's interesting how when God says something, it happens. That's one of the great features of the Bible. Dr. John Walvoord brings this up in his book, "Every Prophecy of the Bible." You can summarize it as follows: God said it, that settles it. I used to say, "Well, God said it, I believe it, that settles it," but I got rid of the "I believe it" part because it's going to happen whether I believe it or not.

So your Bible is filled with these kinds of predictions. I mean, can you think of another people group that have practiced a ritual for so many years, for so long—inside the land, outside the land, back in the land? Generation after generation after generation has passed, and here are the Hebrews still practicing Passover and unleavened bread.

God says I want to set up a memorial. I taught you how to do it for Passover, but let's talk about the next feast coming on the calendar: unleavened bread. You start to get instructions for this in verses 15 through 20. The first thing you're to do is a removal. You see that there in verse 15 of Exodus chapter 12. "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel."

Notice this reference to seven days. I mean, would you look at this reference and say, "Well, that really means seven billion years"? It's the identical Hebrew construction that we find in Genesis chapter 1. What does it mean that God created the world in seven days? It means He created the world in seven literal, chronological, 24-hour days. People that deny that—and we've got the best and the brightest today in evangelicalism. I just saw a YouTube interview with someone named Dr. William Lane Craig, who probably is a very good apologist in the area of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I mean, he was on this presentation just mocking this whole idea that God created the world in six days. I'm thinking to myself, "What Bible are you reading?"

A mentality like that is not defending Christianity; you're destroying it because Psalm 11, verse 3 says, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" He was trying to argue, "Well, each of these days is really an age of time in Genesis 1" because he is intimidated by evolution. He thinks that's a scientific fact. An evolutionist's holy trinity of evolution is time, matter, and randomness. That's their holy trinity. You got to have all three working together by faith. It takes more faith to believe that than it does the straightforward account of the Bible. The last time I checked, a hurricane does not go through a junkyard and assemble a 747. They say, "Well, if it happened for billions of years, it could happen," so they need deep time.

The Bible doesn't give you this deep time. It doesn't give you your millions and billions and, as Carl Sagan used to say, "billions and billions of years." So they've got to do something with the days of Genesis 1, turn those into ages. Here's William Lane Craig defending the day-age view, and he's supposed to be defending Christianity. Yet the Hebrew is very clear; it's *Yom* plus a number: day or days plus a number. When you see that construction anywhere else in the Bible, it means 24-hour days. William Lane Craig surely would not interpret the feast of unleavened bread to go on for seven billion years, would he? No one would do that.

Yet they have no problem doing that in Genesis chapter 1, and you pay a price in biblical interpretation when you go that direction. You have to move into an inconsistent interpretation. "I'll interpret the rest of the Bible through one lens, but Genesis 1 is through a different lens because we're intimidated by the evolutionists." Let me tell you something about God. Here's one of the greatest things you could ever learn: God has no interest in slapping a coat of wet paint or varnish over my pagan worldview. He's got no interest in doing that. What God is interested in doing is destroying the foundation upon which my pagan thoughts arise and then rebuilding my worldview based on what He has revealed in His word.

Seven days here means seven days, just like it means in Genesis chapter 1. How is this whole thing supposed to work? On the first day, first for seven days, eat unleavened bread. On the first day, remove leaven from your household. You see that in verse 15: "but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your household." What if you don't want to do it? "Nah, God, I want to do things my own way. I reject Your provision."

Did you know it's expensive to reject the provisions of God? Look at the second or final part there of verse 15. There's a warning: "for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel." Now, what in the world does that mean, that person shall be cut off? The Hebrew scholars say there are two meanings: you're excommunicated, kicked out of the community and the life of the nation, and some people say that means you're executed.

Excommunication is bad; execution is even worse. Under God's system, under the law, if you deviated from what He said to do, there was a very severe consequence. Let me give you an example of this. In Numbers 15, verses 32 through 36, it says this: "Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day." God earlier said don't do that. Continuing with the quote here, it says, "Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; and they put him in custody because it had been declared what should be done to him."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man shall surely be put to death." Wow. "And all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. You look at something like that and you say, "Wow, that Old Testament stuff, I mean, that's pretty severe. I'm glad nothing like that happens today."

Let me tell you something, folks: to reject a provision of God is very expensive. Do you realize the price that a human being pays throughout all eternity by rejecting Jesus Christ, the ultimate Passover lamb? Jesus stepped out of eternity into time to fix the problem of original sin because He, of all, would know the tremendous consequence associated with no provision for humanity. The provision has been made, and woe to the person that just rejects it.

The consequences are very severe; the consequences are eternal. The ramifications of rejecting the provision of God never seem to cease. This is a consistent part of who God is. We don't get a lot of preaching and teaching on things like this in modern-day evangelicalism. This type of teaching doesn't fit well with your best life now and all of these kinds of subjects that we're exposed to in evangelical circles. But I'm here to tell you that rejecting the provisions of God, the ultimate provision of God, Jesus Christ, is costly.

We talk all the time about people getting saved. "Hey, when did you get saved? I got saved on this date," etc. If you ask yourself a question: saved from what? If you're going to be saved, you got to be rescued from a consequence, right? What consequence are we talking about? We're talking about eternal retribution, eternal separation from God. This is what we're talking about here; this is life or death stuff.

This is the most important subject that you could ever give yourself to: the provisions of God and the consequence of rejecting the provision of God. All of this is communicating the idea that when you leave Egypt—and you will leave—Pharaoh's will is about to be broken through the death of the firstborn, plague number 10. When you leave, although you've been here for 400 years, you gotta get out quick. You gotta get out fast.

Notice Exodus 12, same chapter, and notice verse 11: "Now you shall eat in this manner"—this is related to Passover—"with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and on your staff in your hand; and you shall eat in haste. It is the Lord's Passover." Look at verse 39 of Exodus 12: "They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread, for it had not become leavened since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay"—see that?—"nor had they prepared any provision for themselves."

When the book of Deuteronomy, highlighting Passover and unleavened bread, reflects on those holidays, it says this—Moses the same author writing in Deuteronomy 16, verse 3: "You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction"—and then listen to this parenthetical comment—"for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt."

So, unleavened bread is this idea that when you leave—and you will leave—it's going to be quick. That's the significance of bread unleavened because it takes time for leavened bread to rise. Every time the Israelites participated with this unleavened bread, they're reminded of something; it's a sign, it's a symbol that God not only killed the firstborn all over Egypt and spared their lives, spared the homes of those who had the Passover lamb's blood applied to the doorposts—they remembered that. When they participated with this unleavened bread, they're to remember the speed, the velocity in which this miracle happened.

You're to celebrate this trans-generationally. Eventually, your sons and your sons' sons and daughters are going to say, "Why do we do this?" Here's your teaching moment to explain this to them. The unleavened bread represents the speed in which God got us out of Egypt, although we had been in Egyptian bondage for 400 years. When God moved His hand, He moved fast. "Well, why do we put the blood on the doorposts, and why do we eat the Passover lamb today?" all of these kinds of things. Well, that's to remember that God spared the homes from the plague, plague number 10.

Their firstborn was kept intact when God came with destruction and He passed over His wrath, passed over the homes that were the blood of the Passover lamb was applied to the doorpost. Keep practicing this on a calendar system; do it year in and year out. If you keep doing it and you're faithful to it and you're responsive to the questions that your children and your grandchildren are asking, the knowledge of what I have done, God says, will never fade away.

This is what is being outlined for the nation of Israel. There is to be a removal, and then they're to have an assembly. You see this assembly there in verse 16. Exodus chapter 12, "Seven days"—right, not seven billion years, amen. "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your house; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off." Now, that's a verse we've already covered, so I just reread it for your edification.

Verse 16, that's where I wanted to be. "On the first day you shall have a holy assembly"—you ever had that in grade school? We're going to have an assembly. I always liked it because it allowed us to get out of class where someone would come up and recite the pledge of allegiance and they'd give some announcements and that kind of thing. Well, God is into assemblies. "Let's have an assembly."

"On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day. No work shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you." So, verse 16: no work on the first day, no work on the seventh day because those are the assembly days that are to commemorate the feast of unleavened bread. I don't want you to work on those days. Don't work on the first day, don't work on the seventh day, but you can eat. I guess He had to say that or you'd be on a seven-day fast, right? You can eat as long as you prepare your food alone and you're not causing someone else to labor; you're free to eat.

I find this to be very interesting: no work first day, no work seventh day, but you can eat, meaning that eating is not a work in the mind of God. There are some things in the mind of God that are not a work. Now, we know Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, that we're saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. We know Isaiah 64, verse 6, that our works of righteousness are to Him as a filthy rag. We know that we're not saved by works. I'm not saved by church attendance, I'm not saved by giving money to Christian ministries and causes, I'm not saved by trying to be a good person. I'm not saved through ritual or rote or routine.

I'm saved completely on the basis of the fact that I have believed or trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, faith itself is not a work. Romans chapter 4, verses 4 and 5 is really the key verse on this: "Now to the one who works his wage, his wage is not credited as a favor but as what is due. But to the one who does not work but believes"—you see that? The one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

You'll notice what the Bible does: it places works over here and it places faith over there. Therefore, faith is not a work. Faith, trust, in other words, is the one thing that God will accept from a lost sinner, which is non-meritorious. This is why faith is such a big deal because in the thinking of God, faith is not a work. Everything else we try to do to curry God's favor as unsaved people is nothing but a work, which God will not accept. But He will accept faith because faith is non-meritorious. This becomes the reason why the Bible places such an emphasis on faith. Hebrews 11, verse 6: "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Not hard to please God, not difficult to please God; it's impossible to please God.

Boy, the religious world doesn't want to hear that because they think that they're right with God by what they do. Here we're learning that God doesn't embrace people on the basis of works; He embraces people on the basis of faith, which in the mind of God is not a work. So faith is not a work; eating on those days is not a work either. I find this very interesting because Jesus, in His Bread of Life discourse, analogized our faith to eating. Interesting parallel, isn't it?

John 6, verse 35, Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." You want to be right with God? Believe or trust in the provision of Jesus Christ. As you keep reading the Bread of Life discourse, Jesus analogizes, illustrates faith to eating. He says this in John 6, verses 51 through 56: "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat of My flesh and drink of His blood, you have no life in you."

"Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed; My blood is drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." Of course, the Roman Catholics are very confused on this because they think this is talking about something called transubstantiation where, when you participate at the Eucharist, you're actually eating the physical body and blood of Jesus Christ. They base that very strange interpretation on John 6.

They base it on John 6, verses 51 through 56, and the last time I checked, verse 35 comes before verses 51 to 56. Can I get an amen on that? When you read the chapter in its proper chronological order, suddenly eating and drinking of Him is not talking about transubstantiation or cannibalism or anything like that; it's just an illustration of believing in Jesus. John 6, verse 35: Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." Well, here's an illustration of what believing in Christ is like: it's like eating and it's like drinking.

So eating and drinking is an illustration of faith. Faith is not a work in the mind of God; it's the one thing that we can do as a lost sinner before God which is non-meritorious. God will accept our faith to be made right with Him. He won't accept my works, but He'll accept my faith. I find this very interesting because I see a lot of this prefigured here in Exodus chapter 12, where they're told not to work on certain days, but you can eat. Eating is not a work, just like in the New Testament, believing is not a work, believing analogized to eating. Something to think about.

But notice Exodus chapter 12, notice if you will verse 16: "On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day. No work at all shall be done on them." What you start to see developing in the Bible is the work-rest cycle, which is of God. Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11 says, "Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all of your work, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you."

Now, is there a pattern for this work week for the Israelites? Verse 11: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and made it holy." Do you see the problem of turning each creation day into an age? I mean, do you work six billion years and rest one billion? No, you're to work six days, rest on the seventh. This is repeated in Exodus 31, verses 15 through 17: "For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath shall surely be put to death." Wow.

"So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor and was refreshed." A work-rest cycle. God sent the children of Israel into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Jeremiah 25, verse 11 says that; Jeremiah 29, verse 10. The prophet Jeremiah, who prophesied just a little prior to this general overlap with this time period, says the captivity that you're going in will last exactly 70 years—not 68 years, not 72 years, 70 years.

Most people know that, but very few people understand why the 70 years. All you have to do is cross-reference Leviticus 25, verses 1 through 7 with this and you'll see it. God was very clear with the Israelites: work the land six years, on the seventh year, let the land have its rest. And the nation of Israel said, "Nah, thanks but no thanks, we'll do things our own way." They did not allow the land to have its rest for 70 Sabbaths, 70 Sabbath years.

So what God says is, "Okay, I've been keeping a record of this. Every year you did not allow the land to have its rest is a year that you will spend in Babylon and I'll let the land rest," because you will be out of the land. That's where this whole 70-year captivity thing comes from. So over in the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 36, verses 20 and 21, describing the Babylonian captivity, it says, "Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia."

Why the captivity? To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land enjoyed its rest. All the days of desolation it kept Sabbath until the 70 years were complete. Work six days, rest on the Sabbath; work the land six years, let the land have its rest on the Sabbath. If you won't follow My instructions, then I will impose the land rest on you because you'll be out of the land for 70 years. You see this principle of work-rest? I mean, God is very serious about this.

I had a seminary professor that put it this way, and the first time he said it, I really didn't believe it was true. He said, "Do you realize that people that work six days and rest on the seventh accomplish more over the course of a period of time, even over the course of their lives, than people that work every single day of the week?" Why would that be? Why is it that people that work six days and rest on the seventh over the course of their lifetime accomplish more than the person who just works around the clock? The answer is, when you work around the clock and you don't respect God's work-Sabbath principle, your body is tired and you accomplish less. You have less energy because God never intended human beings—and American society really needs to hear this in our workaholic culture—to work, work, work, work, work, work with no rest at all. You live that way and you're living outside of your intended design.

I heard that as a young seminarian and I just sort of made up my mind, "You know what, I'm going to try this out. I'll work six days, but I'll take the seventh day off." Now, I realize I'm in the church age and so our Sabbath is not necessarily Saturday but Sunday, which doesn't help preachers because we work on Sunday, so you got to have one day in there. I said, "You know what, I'm going to try this out," and I went to this professor and I said, "You know what, I'm not sure I can pull this off; my schedule won't allow it."

And he says back to me, "Do you trust God or do you trust your schedule?" That hurt. I've tried to make this a practice; I try to work six days, I try to take one day off. I found that my energy level, my mental health, my emotions, everything improves when you respect the work-rest principle of God. Jesus said something very interesting in Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 6, verse 31. He said to them, that's His disciples, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while."

Some translations put it this way: "Come apart by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while." And there was all the pressure of the world on these twelve because it says in parentheses there: "for there were many people coming and going, and they didn't even have time to eat." Sounds like a typical ministry situation. In the midst of the pressure, in the midst of the crowds, Jesus says to His disciples, "Come apart and rest." Think about that for a minute: come apart. Well, if you don't come apart, you know what happens to your body? It comes apart.

This whole thing has been tried before with the French Revolution; you might know there was a revolution taking place in France around the same time as our American Revolution. It was a revolution in France that wanted to erase God completely. They got rid of the AD/BC on the calendar and started at year zero, year one, etc., because AD/BC reminds us of Jesus, and we can't have that. Then someone had a bright idea: "Let's get rid of these seven days of a work week; let's increase it to ten days."

How did that work for them? Everybody that has ever looked into this has shown that every negative indicator—whether it's spousal abuse, divorce, heart attacks, cardiovascular problems—every potential negative skyrocketed when they started to tamper with the week because people are not designed to just work, work, work around the clock. Now, this is a principle that's as old as the Bible: work, rest. That's why, and I had to work this in a little bit because I'm leaving on a sabbatical.

In fact, we have a pastor here today from Fredericksburg Bible Church, Alex Garcia. I said, "What are you doing here?" He goes, "I'm on my sabbatical." And I said, "Well, this is great; you can come to my church on your sabbatical and I'll go to your church on my sabbatical. This is wonderful." So, all the research that has been done on this demonstrates that this is healthy for the pastor, it expands his longevity, it's good for his family, it's good for the church.

You might be looking at this thing as "I'm not going to be here for three months" and saying, "This is really weird. I mean, that's quite a gig you got there; you just disappear for three months." You have to understand that it's pure Bible. It's pure Bible: work, rest. In this case, the sabbatical, at least the way our church does it, is every seven years. I asked Alex; he said they do it every five years. I said, "Well, can I apply to be the pastor over there while you're gone?"

But this is just a principle of God. I mean, you see it over and over again in the Bible: work, rest. Every week, you should have some kind of cessation of labor and seclusion with God. Every year, something like this of a longer duration should happen. Don't feel that you're being lazy or not doing what you're supposed to be doing; this is how God designed us. So this is to be observed. You see the observance there in verse 17.

"You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought you and your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout the generations as a permanent ordinance," as I mentioned before, that's a prophecy because they're still practicing it to this very day. This is an important time period for you to remember because this is the day that I brought you out of Egypt fast. Who are the hosts? That's the army of God. That's the army of God following Moses and Aaron as they left Egypt. Well, where did this army come from? Those were the slaves for 400 years.

God took a group of people that were enslaved and He turned them into an army. This is just an astounding thing that God is doing here, and He wants it respected and He wants it commemorated throughout the generations. You look at verses 18 and 19 and there are some timing issues; they can get a little detailed, so we won't spend too much time here. But notice Exodus chapter 12 and verse 18: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day in the month at evening."

So the 14th to the 21st, eat unleavened bread, and there is to be no leaven in your homes. You see that there in verse 19: "Seven days," keep running into that figure, "there shall be no leaven found in your houses." Seven days, as we said before, means seven days, amen. Then the consequence of not following this is articulated, second part of verse 19: "for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off"—this is the second time around with this one—"shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land."

So that's kind of a restatement of something that we saw earlier, being cut off. What does it mean to be cut off? It means excommunication, some commentators say; others say, no, it's much more severe than that, it's execution. This is serious stuff. It is a very serious thing to reject the provisions of God. You know why? Because we're in a world of trouble. This is why we need to be saved. Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17, at the very beginning, says the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it, you will surely die."

Genesis 3, verse 19 is an amplification of that prophecy after they, our forebears, fell. It says, "By the sweat of your face you will eat your bread till you return to the ground, from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Romans 5, verse 12 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned." Romans 6, verse 23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." I mean, why is it that there's such severity imposed on those who in the Old Testament reject the provision of God? Because it's a type of Jesus, that's why.

God wants us to understand that there is great severity in store for the person that rejects the ultimate provision of God, which is Jesus Christ Himself. This whole thing concludes in verse 20: "You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread." Not leavened, unleavened bread only, because it takes time for leaven to rise. I want everybody to understand from this point on that when I moved, God says, and took you out of Egypt, I did it so fast even though you were there for 400 years, that leavened bread would be inappropriate because of the time that's necessary for leaven bread to rise. Celebrate this and commemorate this trans-generationally.

Now, let's conclude with this: who is Jesus to you? Because all of this points to Jesus. Who is Jesus to you? I mean, if someone were to ask you, you talk about Jesus all of the time, what is He to you? What does He mean to you? Well, at least now you can say two things. Number one, He's my Passover lamb. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7 says, "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed."

You know who Jesus is to me? He's my Passover lamb. When God comes upon this world with wrath, and He will do that, the Father is going to see the blood of Jesus applied to me, which happened at the moment I trusted Him for my salvation, because that's the only thing I can do to gain His favor, which is not a work, it's to believe. The moment I trust in Him for salvation, His blood is applied to me. When He comes to judge this world, He looks at me and the wrath of God passes right over me.

The Bible tells us as Christians we're not appointed unto wrath: 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 10; 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9; Romans 5, verse 9; Romans 8, verse 1. For now, there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Who is Jesus to me? He's my Passover lamb. You know who else Jesus is to me? He's my unleavened bread who took me out of Egypt fast. Egypt, a type, if you will, of sin and bondage and everything that that former life represented in Adam.

Jesus as my unleavened bread took me out of the servitude of sin and the bondage of sin, and He did it lickety-split. That's who Jesus is. Jesus, throughout John's Gospel, made various "I AM" statements—seven of them. You know what the first one is? We read it earlier: John 6, verse 35, "I am the bread of life." What does that even mean? It's an analogy to a type that's established by the Holy Spirit all the way back in Exodus chapter 12.

Unleavened bread: God took Israel out of Egypt fast. What Jesus does for people is He takes us out of original sin and all of its consequences, and He does it just like that. You just have to receive what He has done for you as a free gift. When did Jesus talk about all of these things like "I am the bread of life"? Pretty appropriate time after He fed the 5,000, multiplied the loaves. I mean, what a great time to declare Himself to be the bread of life. It's in that context that He gave His Bread of Life discourse, which we talked about a little earlier, where He made this claim about Himself pregnant with rich, deep typological meaning unearthed by the Holy Spirit 1,500 years before Jesus ever walked this earth.

There are a lot of benefits to becoming a Christian that we could talk about, but I know this much: there's two biggies that you get the moment you trust Christ. He becomes your Passover lamb, and He becomes your ultimate unleavened bread. Why would you turn something like this down? It doesn't make any sense to hear this and reject it and move off into eternity and experience eternal consequences.

So with that being said, we invite anyone within the sound of my voice that has never trusted in Christ for salvation to do that now, even as I am speaking, for the Bible says today is a day of salvation. If it's something that you need more information on, I'm available after the service to talk. But it truly is the most important decision a human being can make: placing their personal trust for their eternity and the safekeeping of their soul into our Passover lamb, Jesus, and our ultimate unleavened bread. Shall we pray?

Father, we're grateful for Your word, grateful for Your truth, grateful for progressive revelation and how it unfolds and reveals so much to us. I pray You'll be with Sugar Land Bible Church during my brief absence, my family's brief absence. Pray for Your hand of blessing on the various speakers that will be coming. Pray for the edification of Your people as we continue to soak up Your word and Your truth. We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said, amen.