Sermon: Go Forward

We Are Not Being Prepared to Fight Windmills
#1648-AM
Mark Schindler
Given 22-Apr-22; 58 minutes

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We are assembled together on this Friday, April 22, 2022 at this service to faithfully follow God’s command for a holy assembly of His people on this second of seven annual Sabbaths, during this daytime portion of the 21^st of Abib. This is something that many have rehearsed for decades, as thousands of others who have lived and died before us have done for centuries, even millennia.

Ever since these days have been observed over the last 1,991 years, God’s elect have had the chance to keep these days, not only looking back at past events in God’s plan, but forward with greater understanding and anticipation of what lies ahead. This includes those few beyond the 1,991 years, to whom God had given His Holy Spirit, as He has continued to move His declared purpose forward, to bring all people into His Family.

But as it says in Hebrews 11:13:

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Brethren, this is an incredible statement! Those few moved forward with absolute assurance of God’s plan, tenaciously held on to it, and by their actions in faith, bore witness to God’s incredible work of preparation within this life’s journey for the glory in the Kingdom of God that is not yet seen but is the reality that lies ahead.

Hebrews 11:1-16 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:23-29 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

Hebrews 11:35-40 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

All these who had been chosen by God had been called to do a work and by faith they acted and moved forward trusting God, though imperfectly. We are going to get back to that in a little bit but first please bear with me while I try to draw an analogy of what I hope we get as fact from the sermon today from another source.

Nancy and I will be married 52 years on Sunday and on our first anniversary 51 years ago, she gave me a black and white print that hangs on the wall behind the desk in my office. It is a rather large copy of Pablo Picasso’s famous 1955 painting of Don Quixote, who is the title character in (what has been declared by many in literary circles) a seminal work in modern literature. Written in 1605 by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote is considered to be the first and one of the greatest novels ever written.

To make a long story short, the main protagonist in the book, who only later assumes the name of Don Quixote, is an older man, who is a member of the lesser Spanish nobility by the name of Alonso Quixano. Alonso Quixano has spent so much time reading fictional books of chivalry that he believes them to be true. He begins to lose his mind through exhaustive reading, and decides that he would become a Knight Errant in search of adventure, thus becoming Don Quixote de La Mancha!

I suppose many of you are probably not familiar with the Cervantes 1605 novel. But perhaps you are familiar with the famous Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, which was very loosely based on the classic 1605 work, and became the source for some wonderful music like, “The Impossible Dream” that was written for this 1965 musical.

It is actually this often-performed musical over the last 55 or so years that I will be using here for the illustrative part of this sermon today. Because, I too, must admit that I am much more familiar with the play than I am with Cervantes’ landmark work of literature. Through this illustration I hope to help us see by the end of this sermon today on this Last Day of Unleavened Bread a vital truth that is something we need to take away from this final day of instruction. This day is a reminder that we have been given all the tools we need to move forward now, towards the reality ahead of us that is only an impossible dream for those who have not been given the gifts God has given us to do what seems impossible right now.

That picture on the wall behind my desk has been hanging on the walls of our homes for the last 51 years for a couple of reasons. One is that Nancy and I love the theater, and the Man of La Mancha is one of the first plays we saw together. Another is that it is an illustration of life of noble intentions but without the substance of reality.

As I said, Alonso Quixano, who has taken on the persona of Don Quixote, is the main character in both the book and the play, who in a grand delusion, has taken on the mantle of a Knight Errant—a wandering knight traveling in search of adventure.

For any of you who are not familiar with the Picasso painting, please bear with me while cite portions describing the black and white sketch from the Picasso web site, because it may prove helpful.

In the play Cervantes himself sets up the musical as he lays out this description of Alonso Quixano:

And all he reads oppresses him; fills him with indignation at man's murderous ways toward man. And he conceives the strangest project ever imagined: to become a knight errant and sally forth into the world to right all wrongs. No longer shall he be plain Alonso Quixano, but the dauntless knight known as, Don Quixote de La Mancha!

From this point on Don Quixote charges out, seeking adventure with the most noble of intentions to battle evil, and to rescue the most virtuous woman he can find—a woman he calls Dulcinea. To make a long story short, Don Quixote in his delusionary mission battles evil knights that are really only windmills on the landscape, and finds the one he considers the virtuous Dulcinea is a scullery maid.

Perhaps the most famous piece of music from this play is Don Quixote’s musical declaration of the need to “Dream the Impossible Dream” that gives meaning to life. But within the musical there is another short but quite important melody sung by someone who is reflecting on Alonso Quixano’s delusions of life and the perfection he considers within his grasp as Don Quixote.

Part of the lyrics of this song:

To each his Dulcinea
That he alone can name...

To each a secret hiding place

Where he can find the haunting face

To light his secret flame.

For with his Dulcinea

Beside him so to stand

A man can do quite anything,

Outfly the bird upon the wing

Hold moonlight in his hand.

Yet if you build your life on dreams

It's prudent to recall,

A man with moonlight in his hand

Has nothing there at all.

There is no Dulcinea

She's made of flame and air,

And yet how lovely life would seem

If ev'ry man could weave a dream

To keep him from despair.

To each his Dulcinea

Though she's naught but flame and air!

Brethren, we live in a world where people are weaving dreams to keep them from despair that only have as much substance to them as the knight-errant quest of the delusional Alonso Quixano—Don Quixote de La Mancha.

However, one of the main lessons we need to take away from this seventh Day of Unleavened Bread is that we have been given the tools we need to carry out a very real work and live the life of Jesus Christ within us.

Please turn with me to Exodus 13 where we are going to find one of those very small but ultimately vital revelations from God regarding what He expects from those who have been carefully prepared by Him to do a work, which is only an impossible dream for those not yet called and living within the desperate circumstances of this world.

Exodus 12:50-51 Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

Exodus 13:1-10 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine." And Moses said to the people: "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. On this day you are going out, in the month Abib.

And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days.

And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.' It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD's law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year."

Exodus 13:17-18 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

Exodus 14:1-15 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zemphon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, 'They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.' Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD." And they did so.

Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.

So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zemphon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. Then they said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'?

For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." And the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.”

Brethren, here is what I consider, although barely no more than a verse, one of the most important lessons God is teaching us on this seventh Day of Unleavened Bread. To me verse 15 is almost a trumpet blast from God to those few whom He has prepared to do His work not to let anything distract us from doing the job He has given us, and with everything we need to do it.

As we read earlier in Hebrews 11, Moses had been carefully prepared from birth to do what would have been an impossible job! Except unlike anybody else in Israel at that time, he had the God-given faith and preparation with a focus on Jesus Christ to lead a whole nation forward.

The Amplified Bible translates Hebrews 11:26-27 this way:

He considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense). [Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him who is invisible.

As the Amplified Bible, I think, correctly puts it, Moses “never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly.” But that does not mean he did not make some mistakes along the way in exercising his leadership skills perfectly.

I sincerely believe one of those mistakes God uses as a major lesson for us to take away from this last day of Unleavened Bread is this: On this very day, the 21^st of Abib, though thousands of years removed, God is reminding us that we have the same responsibility Moses did—to use what He has given us to continue moving forward without distraction. I believe there is a very profound lesson for us to consider within God’s response in Exodus 14:15 that we need to consider as directed at us on this same day.

The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Exodus 14:13-14 may have a bit of insight into these circumstances, and we need to be applying it now to our own life’s journey to carry out our responsibilities as God has given us the ability to do so.

This is what this particular commentary has to say:

Moses said, ‘Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.’. . . . Never, perhaps, was the fortitude of a man so severely tried as that of the Hebrew leader in this crisis, exposed as he was to various and inevitable dangers, the most formidable of which was the vengeance of a seditious and desperate multitude. But his meek, unruffled, magnanimous composure presents one of the sublimest examples of moral courage to be found in history.

Brethren, of all the hundreds of thousands of people in that impossible box canyon, only one, as far as we know, had been given the vision to keep focused on the job at hand knowing the impossible was more than just moonlight in his hands. God had given him all the tools he needed to do what was impossible with men, and do his job to lead a people forward—a people who God knew had hardly, if any, relationship with Him. But in fulfilling His promise He was giving Moses the privilege to be His witness and go forward!

Please try to keep this thought in the front and center of your minds today. We have been separated from this world and have been trained to follow the Lamb wherever He goes in sacrificial service to all of God's Family who will be coming after us, as a light in the darkness. We have spent this past week eating the unleavened bread and considering daily what we faithfully memorialized one week ago last evening, as we partook of the Passover and recommitted our lives to the only One who is the Bread which gives eternal life.

We have gone through a whole week’s cycle considering Christ and our commitment to the same who lives in us. Now as we gather on this seventh day of Unleavened Bread, we should be ready to go forward to live as He lives in a world that has only the faintest idea of who He really is, just as Moses was prepared to go forward to lead a recalcitrant Israel.

It may be good at this point to remind us again of what we read just one week ago last evening. So we will be turning to John 6.

Considering this seventh Day of Unleavened Bread Sabbath, are we ready to sacrifice as much as the Word did to serve those who will come after us, even though now they may be ready to kill you? And more importantly, are we ready to offer sacrificial service to our brethren in love? Are we all letting our carnal nature rule so we view this time, this place, and this privileged opportunity that we have with an air of superiority in an “us against them” attitude even though we are only here by the grace of God to serve our great God as He sees fit, prepared to go forward? Are we really connected to the mind of Christ that Paul spoke of in Philippians 2 through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit? Are we really letting the Father develop the “big picture” mind of His Son within us focusing beyond ourselves, and to the opportunity we have been given to serve all who will come after us?

Keep in the forefront of your minds that it is through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit that all men will eventually have access to the Father for His honor and glory, as the perfect work of God moves ahead. God's plan and purpose is far greater than an imaginary quest, but we must move forward as living witnesses to the power of God to do what is impossible for men!

Please turn to John 6.

John 6:27-40 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

John 6:47-51 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

John 6:57-58 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."

Jesus Christ’s wonderful promises in this chapter are not made with anything less than the finished plan of God on His mind, and the work He and His Father would continue to do through their shared Holy Spirit to bring all people into Their image. Through the bread of life now nourishing us and living in us we find ourselves in similar circumstances as Moses to go forward in seemingly impossible circumstances as the only ones who could truly see God. Those in the Body of Christ are being prepared to go forward. This is something we need to hold on to. Although we are special and unique within a world in chaos, we have been called to work and go forward!

For whatever reason, God has chosen us to be part of the firstfruits and the singularly united Body of Christ through His Holy Spirit to share the same mind as Jesus Christ; preparing to serve all who will come after us.

Over the last week of eating Unleavened Bread John 6:28-29 should have been on our minds:

John 6:28-29 “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

If we believe in Him then we will be just like Him and leading the way for others, while understanding the reality of John 6:37-40 that, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” How well have we considered Jesus Christ’s incredible work as the true bread of life that we have been given, so that we, too, can stay focused beyond this time and be ready to continue going forward?

John 6:44 says that “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” What a privilege! And verses 47-51 say that “he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. . . . This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” This is what makes the impossible a reality in our lives.

Before we go any farther, please, burn these words into your brain and hearts. God is purposefully bringing all people eventually to His Family through Jesus Christ after a resurrection on the last day. For His own special reasons, He has given us the privilege now to focus with the same intensity as the Word; not on what we have and are now, but on what others will have and be for the glory of the Father for eternity. God has purposefully given us this sacrificial duty by His grace to have our small part in this now as His firstfruits, being trained in service with the Lamb; so we can serve with Him wherever He goes. But we must keep going forward because the Father and Son are dwelling in us at a time when the rest of mankind is crying out in chaos and confusion willing to go back into sin.

I hope what we see here may help us to more deeply appreciate His careful attention to every little detail of His work and the awesome part we have within it that goes much farther than the unique opportunity He has given to each of us by His grace.

Let us look at another scripture that we rehearsed last week which is also important that we review today on this seventh Day of Unleavened Bread before we continue going forward following these days.

John 17:6-11 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”

John 17:14-23 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.”

Brethren, I sincerely hope that you have spent a great deal of time over these last seven days considering these words and the awesome ability that we have been given to live in this world, to do a job with the very life of God living in us. With this, we have certainly been given the ability to go forward, not merely fighting windmills but carrying out responsibilities that are impossible for the world we live in but are not a part of, except as a witness of the life of Christ within us.

So what is it that we are to do going forward from today?

Well, we have already seen that the work of God is to firmly believe in Him whom He has sent, just as Moses did and needed to show it by going forward.

But let us look at another component of that belief. Please turn to I Corinthians 13.

I Corinthians 13:8-13 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

These scriptures remind us we are only here by the grace of God, from all different walks of life, and God is putting in place everything to move His plan forward. We only know in part, as God gives us eyes to see. However, the essential key for the elect of God and preparation for Christ’s return is a unity in love of God and one another through the Father and the Son nourishing and dwelling in each of us. As we learn to grow together as one united, holy body under the leadership of Jesus Christ in faith and hope, we become part of the great cloud of witnesses that go forward, learning to love as He loves us, as a living witness before men.

God continues the preparation of those whom He has made precious now in His sight and holy unto Him for working together with Him on the next step in His great plan and purpose. We certainly look through a glass darkly, as the apostle Paul said and as the King James puts it. But to those who remain faithful in the love of God and to one another, He is continuing to expand our view of His awesome mind that has planned everything down to the last detail to help us stay the course—true and faithful. He is a great God who was absolutely, positively preparing, down to the finest detail, to give us strength of conviction and courage as we go forward.

Again we will read some of those same scriptures we read last week and should have been echoing in our minds throughout this week as we ate the unleavened bread of life and consider more carefully where we need to be going from here.

Please turn with me to John 13 and what is only possible with the life of Christ dwelling in us:

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you [understand—as I have loved you—that is what Jesus expects of us], that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 14:12-18 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

John 15:7-14 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”

John 15:17-21 “These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.”

I hope over this past week we have carefully considered these words and considered that God has orchestrated every facet of His work. And I think there is a very good reason why He has given this week to continue to eat the unleavened bread; to carefully consider the only Bread that can give us life. We end this week one week later to consider how we need to go forward as part of that great cloud of witnesses.

Going back to Moses and the events of this very day: Do you not think God knew the violent backlash Moses was going to face at the hands of a people that did not know Him like Moses did? Moses had faith, and he was ready to go, but he turned and told them to behold the hand of God, which they could not comprehend. Moses had been prepared in every way to go forward and lead.

We, too, have been prepared, and are being prepared, to go forward and lead in a chaotically divided world that knows not God, which may very well do to us what it did to Christ. But we need to go forward learning to deal with these things with the very mind of Christ who is dwelling in each of us. And perhaps one of the biggest and otherwise impossible challenges we face is right within the Body of Christ—to love one another, as He loves us.

I know we have spent a great deal of time reading the very same scriptures we read just one week ago. But these words are vital to where we go from here! These words should have been on our minds continually throughout this past week as we followed God’s command to eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, as the apostle Paul said.

Please turn to I Corinthians 5.

I Corinthians 5:1-13 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."

The Days of Unleavened Bread are not only a memorial to God’s law and His deliverance of Israel from Egypt, as a type of our own deliverance from sin, but it is importantly about carefully considering the bread of life abiding in us, guiding us to make proper judgments in the conduct of our lives that are in line with Him, especially within the body of Christ!

This is not pointing the finger at any of you, brethren, but this is about the work we need to do to make judgments—discernments—that are right in line with Jesus Christ. But this can only be done with the same outgoing concern in love for one another that Jesus Christ Himself has shown for each one of us!

We are to be a living sacrifice, just like Him. And if we are, then our judgments will be in line with Him in outgoing concern for each other and the body as a whole, going forward as a light to a dark world.

I think we can find this comes full circle back to Moses and God’s command to Him to go forward on this very day, the 21^st of Abib thousands of years ago. God had prepared him to do a job just as God is preparing us, and He expected him to move, and not waste time reasoning with a recalcitrant nation. He had to make a judgment, and then just go. He had been prepared for this moment and God expected him to do what needed to be done without hesitation!

We also should have spent this week considering what has been done for us, as memorialized during that 24-hour period just one week ago today. We have spent the week thoughtfully considering the true bread of life that is now our life, and it is on this last day of Unleavened Bread, exactly one week later, that we determine to go forward from these days on an otherwise impossible quest for man to live just like Christ, making proper judgments just as He does in outgoing concern for the body and all within it.

We are on what would be an impossible quest for the carnally minded man, but it is our privilege to truly and wholeheartedly love one another with the same sacrificial love the Father and Son have for all of us!

One more thing I would like us to consider about God preparing Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, and He very carefully did that in faith, as he was the only one who had the faith.

Turn to Exodus 32:

Exodus 32:6-14 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'"

And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'?

Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

God does not lie. And no doubt, He would have done what He said, but the point is that He was looking for something else. Moses, as he was being prepared, became an intercessor. He put forth before God what His promises were; he knew them well. And he knew that he did not want to do anything that would bring shame upon God before the world.

Moses was prepared to do a work that from this point forward. As you read above, God said, “For your people whom you brought out.” From this point forward, Moses the one who commanded them. He led them. God gave him the power to do it. He prepared him for this great task. And this was part of the preparation. Moses selflessly turned away from himself—he could have become a great nation. This is an incredible thing to think about.

God is doing the same thing with us. Moses led Israel for forty years in the wilderness. And he made some mistakes. But at the same time, he was the one who commanded and led them because God prepared him to do it. He was the one who became their intercessor, because he remembered God's Word, and he lived it.

And God expects the same from us as we go forward from these days.

In the Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote declares,

It is the mission of each true knight...

His duty... nay, his privilege!

To dream the impossible dream,

To fight the unbeatable foe,

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go;

To right the unrightable wrong.

To love, pure and chaste, from afar,

To try, when your arms are too weary,

To reach the unreachable star!

This is my Quest to follow that star,

No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,

To fight for the right

Without question or pause,

To be willing to march into hell

For a heavenly cause!

And I know, if I'll only be true

To this glorious Quest,

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm

When I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,

That one man, scorned and covered with scars,

Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,

To reach the unreachable stars!

But unlike this man, merely holding moonlight in his hands, as we end these Days of Unleavened Bread we have been reminded that we are on a mission, that is our duty, nay, our privilege with the Bread of life within us, to be among the great cloud of witnesses that will go forward as a bright light to a dark world, together, as we diligently follow Jesus Christ’s command to learn to love one another as He and the Father love us. We need to believe that Jesus Christ is, and that we come to love as He loves.

MS/rwu/drm