Days of Unleavened Bread 2025:

It’s wonderful to see you all this morning. Hope you all had a wonderful time last night as we certainly did in our home. We always are very good at lots of fellowship and lots of food. I’m sure we’re all full, and full and ready for the first day of unleavened bread today. Well, last night was the Night To Be Much Observed, Night To Be Much Remembered. We talked about, had conversations, thought about leaving spiritual Egypt. We talked about, thought about what it was like for Israel to leave Egypt. And it was on our minds.

The night before, Passover, we took the symbols, we kept the Passover, we committed to our calling, and we looked towards our walk and our calling and why we’re here. Why we’re in this way. If you can imagine, if you can put yourself in Israel’s shoes proverbially this morning, they kept the Passover, last night we kept Night To Be, and they were starting on a very, very long trek. They were beginning a long journey. They were beginning their walk. We have all had a day in our lives where we began our walk, on our day of baptism, our walk in God’s way of life.

Israel, this morning, began to walk out of Egypt. And you may know a little bit about me, where you can find me on a Sunday morning. It’s usually surrounded by God’s creation or the woods, somewhere on a nearby park or nearby National Park and I’m out walking, out enjoying God’s creation and out putting one foot in front of each other. The longest I’ve ever walked, and this will tie back to Israel in a moment, is twenty-nine kilometers for those outside of the United States or eighteen miles. It’s the longest I’ve ever walked. It was long.

Luckily, I had a partner with me, my young son. He had a little more energy. His joints were a little more, I guess, lubricated. Could take a few more steps than I could, could take it a little easier, but it was a long walk. I’m sure all of you are thinking eighteen miles, how far is that? Twenty-nine kilometers. How can we do that? How could we do that? Well, actually, that’s not too far.

Let’s talk about Israel for a moment. As we set up the message, it’s like what Israel had in front of them, and I’ll use some notes here, some estimations that were made that I pulled off the internet, and part of maybe somewhat speculation, but more let’s talk about how far they had to walk and we’ll just start one part of the Exodus, one part of their trip to the promised land. They left Egypt and their first stop, or the first major stop was Mount Sinai. If we take the location of Mount Sinai in Arabia, in Saudi Arabia, as Mr. Pack has talked about recently, their trek would’ve been over seven hundred kilometers, four-hundred-and-thirty-five miles.

Can you imagine walking that far? Can you imagine with your children, with your wife, maybe with your mother, your grandparents, all ages walking seven hundred kilometers, over four-hundred-and-thirty-five miles? What would that be like? Now, I mentioned that they were headed towards Mount Sinai, and we all know they got to Mount Sinai before Pentecost. So, they take all fifty-plus days. Well, if they took forty-seven days to get there, this website estimating the total time it took them to get to Mount Sinai, the average would’ve been fifteen kilometers, nine point three miles a day. It’s not bad. It’s not my eighteen. I did that one Sunday morning in the Cuyahoga Valley. It’s about half that, that’s not bad.

Well, if you go through the account and the story as it’s laid out in the Old Testament, they may have only traveled for twenty-nine days. There were other days, of course, there were Sabbaths, there were high days, the last day of unleavened bread. There were other days that they did not travel. So, let’s take that seven hundred kilometers, that four-hundred-and-thirty-five miles, and do a little different math. So, if they only traveled for twenty-nine days, they would’ve walked twenty-four kilometers each day they walked on average. And I’m sure there was days they did better and days they didn’t do as well, or fifteen miles.

Puts in the context a little bit about how far, how much they had to walk. They had to put one step in front of each other, and that was only to get from where they were in the land of Egypt to Mount Sinai. We know their trek, their wandering lasted for forty years for various reasons. We may mention later on, but that was just the start. They had to continue walking, of course. But could you imagine walking fifteen miles a day with all your goods with you and with the loot of Egypt with you as well? I heard a little fun about night to be, in a nice tradition in a certain family. I know others do it as well. The young ones received a little bit of loot of Egypt at night to be at dinner last night. Wonderful to hear.

So, imagine all that you’re carrying with you. You’re not just walking by yourself. It’s not just as when I walked, a nap sack with some water and some food, it was your entire belongings, your entire life was there with you, walking with you as you left Egypt. Well, today, we’re going to talk about walking. But, first, let’s go in and talk a little bit about those who walked before us.

Let’s go to Hebrews twelve and verse one. A scripture that talks about those that went before us, and then we’ll go to the Old Testament and see some of those that were named specifically. We won’t go through every single one, specifically those that were marked as walking with God. Let’s set it up a little bit here for all those that have gone before us, those then in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and those of recent years.

Hebrews twelve and verse one. “Wherefore see we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which is so easily beset us, sin that we’ve removed from our lives as we prepared for the days of unleavened bread, and let us run the race with patience. Run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Here it mentions run. Let’s think about walking. “Let’s walk the race that is set before us.” Let’s look at a few of those that have walked before us. Let’s go all the way to the other side of the Bible. Let’s go to Genesis. Read about a few that walked before us. I believe this is the first time it is mentioned in the Bible that a man, a servant of God is named in this way.

We’re going to Genesis five and verse twenty-four. Speaking of the children from last night, I remember hearing this younger, and the imagination that I had as a child literally thought, and maybe this was the case at the time, we’ll get into it. These men actually walked with God. God was there beside them. Physically they could see him. They walked and they talked together on Earth. If they did, we don’t know. We were not there. But let’s read here how God says it. In Genesis five and verse twenty-four, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Simply, Enoch walked with God.

It might be the next page over in your Bible. It is in mine. Genesis six and verse nine. Here we talk about Noah. In Genesis six and verse nine, “And these are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Maybe play around with it a little bit in your mind.

Take it literally. Noah walked with God. God walked beside him. God talked with him. He talked with God. He didn’t have the Bible the way we have the Bible. He didn’t have Scripture to turn to. What would have that been like? To walk with God, to have him there beside you, to converse with?

Let’s go to First Kings Three. See a little bit about David. King David. First Kings three and verse fourteen. And other servants are mentioned walking with God. We won’t go to all of them, but let’s go to the scripture in First Kings three and verse fourteen. Break it into context a little bit here, but we’ll just read the verse. “And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David did walk.” This is God talking to Solomon, “then I will lengthen your days.” But just David walked. He walked with God.

Let’s go to Luke one and verse six to go to the New Testament. Maybe not mentioned directly in the New Testament about the saints in the New Testament walking with God. But here, this is a curious scripture. Just the setting of it. And I’ll make a point in a moment why I call it a curious scripture. But here, just simply, it’s neat how it’s set and said. And we’ll actually begin reading in verse five.

It’s talking about Zechariah and Elizabeth. “Therefore was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they both righteous before God, walking in all his commandments and ordinances of the God blameless.” Imagine those two saints, how they walked with God, walked in all of his commandments, all his ordinances, and were blameless.

The reason why I find it curious, because as we know in the world, shortly in the context here, Christ comes to earth, Christ is on earth, and they say Christ did away with the law and the commandments and the ordinances of God. And here in the beginning of the gospel, just simply, God points out, God highlights two of his servants and makes it very clear what they did. Of course, we’ll learn what we are to do as well and what we would do, but they walked in all his commandments and all his ordinances. Just interesting how that’s set there, but I want to focus on they walked in God’s way.

God wants to walk among us. God wants to walk with us. Let’s go to Leviticus twenty-six and verse twelve. He walked with these saints from the past, and he wants to walk among us. First, let me explain the scripture here. Leviticus twenty-six and verse twelve. Let me catch up to you. But here, God just simply says what He wants to do, what is in his heart to do. Twenty-six and verse twelve. “And I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” Let’s take the verse as it is. “I will walk among you.” Yes, He’s talking to ancient Israel there.

Ultimately, He’s talking to all of us. It’s in God’s word. It’s for us to read. “God will walk among you.” Let’s get the context of this. Let’s see where this is set, and how this is set. Let’s go to the start of the chapter in verse one. And here we’ll read a little bit of set-up in the chapter. And think as these things are listed, what did Israel do? “You shall make no idols nor graven images, neither rear you upstanding image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God.” I think when ancient Israel if you read the rest of the history, they forgot to read what would be the negative words there. The no, the neither, the neither, don’t stand up, don’t bow down. They forgot about not doing it. We know their history.

And let’s read verse two, “And you shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary.” So, God said to keep the Sabbaths, to reverence the sanctuary. What did Israel do? Israel did the opposite. Does not keep his Sabbaths, does not keep reverence the sanctuary. “And if you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will.” And the rest of the chapter proceeds. So, what is God’s heart? If you jump all the way down to verse twelve, and if you look at the beginning of all the verses, and I’ll do this, and I’ll do that, and I’ll do the other. But it was all based on, if you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments.

Then let’s reread verse twelve. “I will walk among you, I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” Let’s read verse thirteen, a reminder of where we are today, in the days of unleavened bread. “And I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their bondmen,” that you should not be slave to Egypt, we should not be slave to sin, and slave to this world, “and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.” God wants to walk among us. But we can see that Israel, and we know that Israel didn’t quite get it. They didn’t get the message.

They did, practically in verse one, everything that God told them not to do. And then they forgot to do everything God told them to do. So, did God really get a chance to walk among them? Not yet. Let’s go to Ezekiel thirty-six. God has a plan; God has a purpose. And in the end, we know God’s plan will not be thwarted, will not be stopped no matter what us humans, physical humans do. Let’s see what God’s plans are in the future, what He will do. And we’ll talk about how this also relates very closely to you and I today.

Ezekiel thirty-six and verse twenty-five. We’ll read a few verses here. Ezekiel thirty-six and verse twenty-five. “And then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” This is looking towards the future when God will do this to all of Israel, ultimately to all of mankind as well. “A new heart also will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh.” That was the problem back in the Exodus with ancient Israel. It was that stony heart, that heart that would not change, the heart that would not see God, that would not walk with God.

And here, this is what God promised He will do in the future. “And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” Again, the words we’re focused on this morning. “Cause you to walk in my statutes and shall keep my judgments, and do them.” God will do this in the future for all of Israel and for all of mankind to replace that stony heart and put a fleshy heart, a heart that is moldable. Brethren, we know by our calling, by our baptism, through repentance, forgiveness of sin, and our conversion, we’ve been given that heart today.

We’ve been given the Holy Spirit so we can obey, so we can change, we can grow. Unlike ancient Israel who had the stony heart that was not changed, our hearts have changed so we can have God walk among us. We can walk with God in a way that they couldn’t.

This morning, we’re going to look at how we can make sure we are walking with God. We’re going to go over a few things that we can be doing to make sure we’re walking with God, to make sure the same way in my childhood imagination that Enoch and Noah had God right beside them in conversation. We can have the same thing today. We have that fleshy heart. We have the Holy Spirit within us. We can obey. We do obey, and God can walk among us.

But before we start, let’s go to Jeremiah ten, verse twenty-three. Before we get into it, just to remind us a little bit, and I’m sure we may have reviewed the scripture recently ourselves. It’s got a little bit of a small print. How do we walk with God? How can we walk with God? Do we really need to walk with God? Do we really need His help to, because many of us, we’ve been walking since the first few years of our life? We really kind of know how to put one foot in front of each other.

Let’s read what God’s word said. Yes, physically we can walk, of course, but we’re talking about spiritual matters here. Let’s go to Jeremiah ten and verse twenty-three, “Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.” So just a little bit of a small print before we get into it.

We can’t direct our steps. We need God with us. We need God beside us to help us direct where we go. We need to realize this so we can walk with us. You think about Israel and their trek through the wilderness towards the Promised Land. They didn’t know how to go, where to go. They needed the pillar of cloud during the day, the pillar of fire at night to direct their steps. They needed to follow God the whole way.

Well, the first point I want to dive into is: walk humbly. Walk humbly with your God or a little bit about that in the offertory, time of year that we’re in, time of year that we’ve prepared ourselves for the Passover, prepared ourselves for the days of unleavened bread. Sometimes when we have points or we have a list of things to go through, we don’t necessarily start with the biggest one, with the heaviest one, with the most serious one, but we’ve all prepared for the Passover.

So, we’re ready for the serious point, walking humbly with our God. And the reason why also we start with this because if we don’t do this one thing, it doesn’t really matter for the rest of the points we’ll go over this morning. This is the one, this is the weak link. Imagine a chain, if this link is not there, the rest in some ways don’t matter in the same way.

Let’s turn to Micah six. Let’s learn about how and what God wants and how we should walk with him. To start, let’s turn to Micah six. We read verses six to eight in Micah six. Read the verses to set up verse eight, starting in verse six, “Wherefore shall I come before the Lord, and bow” Wherefore...” Wherewith,” pardon me, “shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?” How should I come before God?

It’s a question, rhetorical question. How should I bow before the high God? How should we? “Shall I come with him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?” Verse seven, “Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams?” Can you imagine sacrificing a thousand rams? How long would that take? How in some ways, in our age, how awful that would be? How hard that would be.

“With ten thousand rivers of oil?” Continue with a rhetorical question. “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, and the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” What’s the price that God wants us to give? Let’s read verse eight. This is truly what God wants, and it ties directly into this point. Verse eight, “He has showed you, oh man, what is good.” God has shown us what is good. “What does the Lord require of us, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

All that was said there, all the sacrifices, all the high price that could be given, and what does God want us to do in the end? He wants us to walk humbly with him. How do we do that? We’ll talk more about this. Let’s go to Psalm fifty-one and verse seventeen. With all that can be given, what is the one thing that God wants from us? Let’s go to Psalm fifty-one and verse seventeen.

As we’re going there, think of all those rams, your firstborn, that price. And then the conclusion is God wants us to be humble. He’d rather us to be humble than all of that. Psalm fifty-one and verse seventeen. Let’s actually start in verse sixteen, “For you desire not sacrifice; else would I give it.” This is King David’s prayer here. “You delightest not in burnt offerings,” not in those thousand rams. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise.” A humble heart, a heart that is willing to listen. A man and a woman that is willing to walk with God.

Let’s go to First Peter Five and we’ll read verse five and six. How do we walk with God? If we are to walk humbly, what is it that we need to do and that we’ve all been doing in preparation for these days, coming up to these days? At this time of year, we will certainly spend much time reviewing, examining our lives, seeing where we are puffed up and where we need to be a little more flat. Let’s begin reading First Peter five and verse five, “Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves under the elders,” getting some of the context. “All of you, be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.”

We’re proud, God resist us. But for humble, He gives us grace. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” So, our instruction, it’s an instruction to us, and it’s instruction for us to do, humble ourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. I ask a question, why doesn’t God just humble us? Can God humble us or is it something that we and only we can do?

Let’s go to James four and verse eight. Let’s go over to James four and verse eight. And yes, this is starting with the most serious of the points. We’ve been doing this. This is on our minds, James four and verse eight. And here an instruction, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” He’ll draw close to you. “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, let your joy to heaviness.” In verse ten, “Humble yourselves in the sight of God, sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Let’s put these verses together. Let’s paint a little bit of a picture. It’s an instruction that we must humble ourselves. Yes, God can abase us. God can put us through trials and tests. We may talk about that later, that help us to reflect and to see who we are and see our physical bodies, but ultimately, it’s an instruction for us to humble ourselves. So, let’s look at this picture. God can’t do it. We must do it. So, if we’re walking and God is walking, oftentimes, you know the world, they will turn their head to the sky when they’re talking about God. They’ll look up to heaven, “Oh, God’s in heaven,” or whoever’s in heaven, whatever they’re talking about, they look to the sky.

Let’s paint this picture here. God is walking on earth and in a certain sense, He’s looking up to us, his creation, and He’s going, “Hey, I’m down here. You want to walk beside me? You want to be a son of God? You want to be my child? You want to be in my family? Come down here a little bit. Lower yourself a little bit. Walk beside me. I’m down here. I’m not up there.” And we see it. In this world, we see it in mankind. Mankind thinks it’s got so much figured out, and oftentimes we can catch ourselves in that.

We think we have so much figured out in our lives, and this is our creator God. We read the scriptures. He commands us to humble ourselves. He commands us to lower ourselves. So, the first thing we need to do if we’re going to walk beside God, if we’re going to walk like Enoch and Noah walked with God right beside them, to have conversations with him, to have him lead us, guide us, direct us, very first thing we need to do is lower ourselves, is humble ourselves. Is see what God is asking for us to come down to his level a little bit. Come to see where He is and then we can begin putting one step in front of the other with God right beside us.

Now, let’s think about Israel again. We know from the story; they spent 50 years in the wilderness. They didn’t step down a little lower. They had other plans. They had other thoughts that weren’t in line with God. When God sent the 12 scouts into the Promised Land, they thought it was too much. They had other ideas. They weren’t willing to bring their ideas in line with God’s ideas, to bring their ideas down to God. Those giants were nothing. But ancient Israel, with the stony heart, those giants to them were everything. They couldn’t see God’s plan. They couldn’t lower their minds to see what God was doing.

Let’s go to the next point. We’re walking humbly with God. We’ve lowered ourselves to walk beside God. We must walk in the spirit. Let’s go to Galatians five and verse sixteen. This is truly a way we can walk with God. God is not beside us physically. We don’t see him physically. We must walk with him in the Spirit. We have that fleshy heart. We have the spirit given to us at baptism. We must then walk in it.

Let’s read a few verses here in Galatians. We’ll start in verse sixteen. We’ll read and learn from what is here in this chapter. “And this I say, then,” Paul writing, “Walk in the Spirit.” Reading the scripture a few weeks ago, caught my eye. “Walk in the spirit,” just simply. How can we? Personally, I love to walk. You heard the story of walking way too many miles through the valley, enjoying it, but how do you walk in the spirit?

Let’s read. “And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” So here Paul is setting some things up, but “walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” So, if we’re listening to the spirit, we’re walking in it. The pools of this world, the pools of our physical nature will not be there. “For the flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” The two inside us war against each other. And these continue. in verse seventeen. “These are contrary one to another: so that you cannot do these things that you would.” We know. It’s why we take the Passover. It’s why we go to God and ask for forgiveness. There will be sidesteps.

Here, in one way, this is encouraging. We know we’ll trip. We know we’ll fall. We know we’ll have side steps, but once a year, God wipes that slate clean, wipes our conscience clean as we can then continue walking in the spirit. Continue reading, “But if you’re led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Of course, we mentioned that earlier, talking about Zachariah’s and Elizabeth, John the Baptist parents. If you are led in the Spirit, you are not under the law. You still must keep the law, but we are not under the law. We’re not under the penalty of the law. We also realize that again through the time of year we’re in.

Let’s continue reading. “Now, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these.” They’re obvious. We see them around us in the world we live especially, at times in ourselves. “Adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, reveling and such like: of which I tell you before, as I was also told you in time past, that they which do the things shall not inherit the kingdom.” Which lays out what the physical flesh is, what the lust of the flesh are.

But here is the way what we want to walk in, what we want to grow in. Verse twenty-two. So, we have the Holy Spirit in us. This is what we are to walk in. What we are to be filled up with. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” There is no forbidding any of those points, controlling any of those points, limiting any of those points. As we walk in the spirit, we can walk more and more in the fruits of the spirit. There is no limit.

Verse twenty-four, I’ll read it all the way to twenty-five, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,” And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affection of lust. So, we are Christ, we have taken the Passover, we have known what He’s done for us and the sins are behind us. Verse twenty-five. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” So, we are to walk in these ways. We are to walk in the fruits of the Spirit. We know, again as mentioned, it’s been given to us.

Let us go to Romans eight and verse one. And here we’ll talk about walking in the Spirit some more. And if it was for me to say it, being humble, lowering ourselves, it’s a little strong. It’s a little sobering. Well, here we’re going to read about something that’s very encouraging. Very encouraging if we’ve done step one and we’re onto step two. Here, walking in the Spirit.

Romans eight and verse one. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” That’s us. We walk after the Spirit. Let’s jump down to verse four. “The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.” So, they that are after the physical world mind the things of the physical world, are putting together all the things focused on those, prioritizing those. But we, they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. We’re minding more important matters, ultimately the most important matters. Verse six, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” So, be of this way, part of, I was talking about the encouraging part of this point, is life and peace. We’re walking in the Spirit. We’re going to be filled with life and peace.

Let’s continue reading. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God...” and don’t we know that our carnal minds? “For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Especially at this time of year, how we review ourselves, how well we know this. “So, then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but they that are in the flesh... but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit so that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” So, if we’re not walking in the Spirit, if we do not have the Spirit, we’re not of Christ. We’re not with Christ.

And verse ten, read a few more verses here, to get the context and really to end with an encouraging point. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Full of life because the Spirit is in us. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.”

Remember how we started reading this chapter, what we started talking about, walking in the Spirit. The Spirit is in us. Take the promise here from God what He will do. Verse twelve, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” We can no longer walk the ways we used to walk. “For if we live after the flesh, we shall die.” If we go back there, we will die. “But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.” Does that apply today to what we’ve done? What we’ve removed from our lives? What do we want to the next seven days and the rest of time that is given to us to continue doing?

Now, verse fourteen, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, for many that walk in the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Let that sink in. That’s you and I. That’s every one of us. We walk in the Spirit. We’ve done the first step. And what an encouraging set of words. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, for as many who walk in the Spirit of God, take some liberties there, they are the sons of God. We are the sons of God if we walk in the Spirit.

It’s stated as those things that shall be, are. That’s how God looks at us. That’s how God counts us today. And although we do, yes, it can be prepared for the day’s leavened bread. We can be small. We can see how feeble we are. But how encouraging it is while we walk in the Spirit, God calls us one of his sons. One of his family members. One that will be like him. How encouraging that is for all of us to hear. Next point, walk in the light. Let’s go to Isaiah two and verse five. You get the first two most important points down. The rest will add to it.

Let’s go to Isaiah two and verse five. I know that this is looking to the future. Looking to a time. God is talking about the house of Jacob and the house of Israel, but the importance here of getting what God’s mind is. What God wants us to do or house of Jacob, or house of Israel. We know we are spiritual Israel. “Come you, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” God is calling us to walk in his light; to walk in his ways. To walk with him.

Let’s go to Psalm one hundred and nineteen and verse one hundred and five. Yes, it was a prophecy we just read, but it’s an application to us too. Read it as God is talking to you and I. He’s asking us to come walk in my light. Come walk my ways. Psalm one hundred and nineteen, one hundred and five. Let’s just read in a way. How do we do this? How do we walk in God’s light? How do we walk in His way?

Verse one hundred and five here of Psalm one hundred and nineteen, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet.” God’s word. We know his word is the Bible. His word is truth. And here God’s words is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. We use God’s word. We’re talking about walking with God. We have the words of God through his Bible. He can talk to us as we walk this life, our lives. It’s a lamp to our feet. It directs our steps. Shows our path.

Let’s go to Proverbs three and verse five and six. Some similar scripture. Kind of adds to it. It paints the picture a little more. God’s word is a lamp to our feet. Directs our steps. Lights our way. Without that light, we know we are in the darkness of this world. God wants us to walk in the light. So, let’s read here in Proverbs three and verse five, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.” Sounds familiar. Trying to walk your own ways. What happens? God says don’t. Don’t lean unto your own understanding. Don’t try and figure out on your own how to put that one step in front of each other. In all your ways acknowledge God. Acknowledge him and He will direct your paths. He will show your paths.

Let’s go to Proverbs six and verse twenty-three up here, a page or two over. Six and verse twenty-three. It all ties together where we started in Isaiah. God wants us to walk in his light for the commandment. Let’s say for the commandment. For all the commandments. For all of God’s laws. “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is a light;” It guides our steps. Directs our steps. God’s word is in our mind. And we’re walking as we’re explaining here. We can walk and talk with God. He’ll direct our steps. He’ll show us where to go.

Let’s finish the scripture. “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is a light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” So, God’s words. Yes, at times it will be reproofs. Will be instructions. Will be corrections, but it will help us see where to go. Help us to see how to walk. Let’s go to Ephesians five and verse eight. Read a few scriptures about walking in the light from the New Testament. Ephesians five and verse eight. We’ll read a few scriptures here. Just to see to get what God’s mind is about walking in the light.

Ephesians five and verse eight. Again, the contrast between the lust of the flesh and the Spirit of God. And this world light and darkness, “For you were sometimes darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of the light.” God asked us to walk in his light. Walk as children of the light. Some instructions to us. Walk as we should as we are in the light of the Lord. “For the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” More words to add to the list we read earlier, “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”

We walk unto the light; we walk by his word. We’re doing what is acceptable unto the Lord. “And having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” As we walk in the light, we’re no longer part of the unfruitful works of this world and our walking in the light reproves them. Our light shines that those around us see us, see that we are different, and some may wonder why. Sometimes we wonder why we are in many ways so happy. Go back to the last point. We are to be the sons of God. We walk in the Spirit. To be the sons of God, how should that help us reprove them?

Look what’s before us, look what ultimately will be before all mankind, but let’s continue reading. “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.”

When that scripture was written, would they know what the world would be around us today? The evil that mankind can dream up is endless and never ends. And we are not always to talk about them, to refer to them, but just imagine when that was first written, that was not the world we live in today. “But all the things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatever it does make manifest is light.”

Verse fourteen, “Wherefore he says, awake you that sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” This is a time... points to a time in the future. You can say it also points to us too. There’s a parallel. We’ve been awake. We’ve been called. Our sins have been forgiven. God’s Holy Spirit has been given to us. We’ve been given the light, the Spirit of truth. So, verse fifteen, “See then you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

It’s the world we have to walk in, but we walk in the light. We walk with God’s Spirit with us in us we walk with God such that we are able to do... Verse sixteen, “We are able to redeem the time, the time that is given us in the world that we live in, by walking in the light.” Continue on this point. Let’s go to First John one. We’ll read a little bit of First John one. Let me start in verse three. Begin reading in verse three. We’ll read from three to seven. We may have read this recently.

“They that which have seen and heard and declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is a message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, about walking in the light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Who would want to walk in darkness when we can walk in light with God?

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” Not walking in the truth if we do so. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” So, we have fellowship with each other. If we’re walking in the light, we are doing these things, we’re walking together. We have fellowship with one another in a way that no one else on earth can have fellowship together. “And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.” And just, again, the first part of that scripture, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, as Christ is in the light too, of course, and God is the light, we have fellowship one with another. Encouraging instruction.

The we, when we walk in the light, and we walk in the light together, we have fellowship with one another, and we know what Christ has done for us, has cleansed us from sin, giving us the ability to do this, ability as a Christian to keep God’s law, to keep his word, to strive in his way, to walk in his way. If we read this and we’re walking in the light, we are one who keeps God’s word. Striving never to compromise his word. Striving to walk. That’s straight in the narrow. Striving to walk in that light and striving to seek always to do what is right.

Let’s go to the next point. Walk by faith. Go to First Corinthians five and verse seven. We’ll talk about walking by faith. Second Corinthians five and verse seven. Second Corinthians. And I just find it curious with a scripture that’s so few words and has so much meaning, for some reason, someone along the lines, one of the translators, decided to put it in parentheses. Put little brackets around it, like it’s an afterthought. Like maybe it shouldn’t be there. Really? Really? Well, let’s read it.

Second Corinthians five and verse seven. “For we walk by faith, and not by sight.” How meaningful such few words are. Also, how hard such words are. When we are physical human beings, we can see what is around us. It is hard to walk by faith, especially by what we see, but we’re instructed. So, I guess we all could, if we wanted to, get rid of those parentheses. This is an important, extremely important, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

Let’s go to Matthew fourteen, verse twenty-eight, and read a little bit about the situation that Peter found himself in. Think back to walking by faith and walking by sight. Think of Abraham. God told him, “Pack your things up and head out.” Didn’t tell him where to go. Didn’t tell him how long it was going to be. Maybe the Israelites had some idea how long their trek would be. They knew their destination was. They knew God was going to bring them back to the Promised Land. Think about Abraham for a moment. He lived in what probably was a beautiful city by man’s terms and he had to apply that scripture. He had to walk by faith. He was the father of the faithful or not by sight.

But could you imagine living in probably one of the most beautiful cities on earth at the time, and being told, “Pack your bags up, pack your family up, and head out.” “Well, where am I going?” “Just head out.” He did. He wasn’t told where he was going, Israel was but just walking by faith. Could we do that? Could either one of us do that? If God told us, just pack your bags up and start walking, where would we go?

The example for us, and the encouragement for us, that if Abraham did it, of course, so can we. But let’s read a little bit about what Peter got himself into here in Matthew fourteen. And I’m almost there. Matthew fourteen and verse twenty-eight. Here we are. In verse twenty-eight, so here we are, the disciples cutting into the context. The disciples were in the boat and the storm had come up, and Christ starts walking on the water towards them.

Verse twenty-eight, “And Peter answered him and said, unto him, Lord...” So, he sees Christ walking towards him in the water. I guess, yes, we’re jumping in here, “And Peter answered him and said, ‘Lord, if it be you...’” so Christ, if it’s you... They weren’t sure for a moment, “...bid me to come unto you on the water.” Peter was full of a certain faith, I mean he was full of zeal, and he was ready to come walk out there with Christ in the stormy water.

As the waves were there and the wind was blowing, he was going to walk out of the safe ship in a sort and go walk on the water. Let’s continue to read, “And Christ said, ‘Come,’ and when Peter was come out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” Could you imagine during a storm, during a terrible storm, and even the Sea of Galilee, a small sea, a small body of water can have terrible waves because of the winds that can be there. And here Peter starts walking out on the water. At first, he has faith. At first, he sees Christ and he is walking.

Continuing, “But when he saw the wind, how boisterous it was, how much it was blowing, he was afraid. He became afraid. He began to sink, and he cried saying, ‘Lord, save me.’ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, ‘Oh, you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?’” Why did you doubt? Let’s put ourselves in Peter’s shoes there if we could. If we walked out there on the water and there the Son of God, Christ, Jesus, was there walking on water. And He said, “Come. Come out there,” and you start walking out there. You can see God. God is there. He’s allowing you to take those first steps.

Peter saw Christ and he started doubting. He started worrying about the wind. He started worrying about the troubles around him. Well, none of us, we would easily think, “Oh, if we were in that boat,” no pun intended, if we were in the water, he wasn’t in the boat. If we were in that boat, if we were on that water, we wouldn’t have done that. We saw Christ. Christ is right there. Why would Peter start to doubt? Why would Peter all of a sudden lack in faith? Christ was right there. He could see him.

How important it is for us to walk in faith, to have God’s spirit in us, to see God is with us beside us if we are doing these things, just the same Peter saw Christ in front of him, saw Jesus in front of him. He began to doubt. Of course, we’re all weak. And sometimes we do. We have God in us. How we should walk by faith in our lives. Let’s go to Psalm twenty-three and verse four. What we have around us and how surprising it is that Peter, he could actually see by sight and he began to doubt. We have God’s spirit in us. We walk by the light, and we have humbled ourselves. And we’re walking with God right beside us. And his holy Spirit is in us. How can we doubt?

Of course, we’re human. And those days do come. But let’s go to Psalm twenty-three. The Lord is my shepherd. And let’s read verse four. Very encouraging, very helpful to hear and to read these words. “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...” what would that be like? What is that? “...I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod, your staff they comfort me.” Just simply, “For you are with me.” This is King David’s prayer, his psalm to God. He’s walking through the valley of the shadow of death. He’s walking through the worst of the worst situation possible where life is in danger, physical life, spiritual life is in danger, either one.

And what he says, “I will fear no evil,” because God is with him. How we, if we walk in faith, as we walk in faith, we have God with us. We are the same. As we walk through our lives, we walk through certain times of our lives that valley the shadow of death. We should fear no evil. We should fear nothing to come of us because God is with us. Let’s go to the next point. Walk in unity. Let’s go to Amos three, verse three. A common scripture. Scripture we’ve all heard, but if we’re going to walk with God, we have to walk in unity with God.

We heard his word is a lamp onto our feet; his Bible directs our steps. And if we’re going to walk with God, we have to walk together with them. Amos three and verse three, “Can two walk together, unless they be agreed?” Of course, a rhetorical question. “Can we walk together with God unless we be agreed?” No, we only can walk if we’re in full unity with God. Let’s get a picture on the unity that God wants us to have.

Let’s go to John seventeen and verse twenty-one. Could two walk together and agree? Could either one of us imagine? Of course not. No way we could ever be walking with God, with God beside us, and not be in full agreements. We’re physical. We stumble, we fall. But what’s the unity that Christ prayed for us to have? And the unity that should be between us between God and Christ and us. How we should walk. All of us, you and I together and together with God and Christ.

Verse twenty-one. And this is in the middle of Christ prayer here, “That they all may be one.” Now let’s go in verse twenty. “Neither pray I thee for these alone, but for them, which also shall believe on me through their word.” So those that will believe on Christ afterwards. “That they all may be one; That we all may be one in unity, as you Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.” And verse twenty-two, “And the glory which you’ve given me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”

God wants each and every one of us to be one on the same level that God and Christ are one. Yes, we will never truly get there in this physical world, in our physical lives. But that’s our goal. That’s what we must strive to do in all things. And just take a moment. Think of God and Christ are one. Everything either one has thought of the other one is in complete agreement with at all times. And they’ve been doing that for time immemorial outside of time forever. Who knows how long? Our minds can’t wrap around that. God and Christ have been one forever.

There isn’t one thought that’s contrary to another’s thought. How is that and how much more is that for us to strive for, to yearn for, to struggle to attain? And I said earlier, no, we won’t get there in this physical life and the physical constraints that we have, we will get there in the future, but we are to strive to walk in unity. As rhetorically in Amos God asked, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Of course not. But you and I can all walk together as one and try to be as one together as God and Christ are.

That bar I say, earlier we were talking about humbling ourselves to lower ourselves to walk with God, here in a different sense God is setting the bar a little high. Not that we can’t reach it without his help, of course. Let’s go to Colossians two. Read a little bit more about walking together, but Colossians two and verse two. Colossians two and verse two. Just a description, we just got off of how God and Christ are one and we are to be one as them. Let’s just read this. Verse two, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, unto all richness and the fullness assurance of understanding, to acknowledgment of the mystery of God, of the Father, and of Christ.” Our hearts are to be comforted, being knit together in love, tightly knitted together.

Let’s jump down to verse five. “For though I was absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joyful, beholding your order, and steadfast in your faith of Christ.” We want to look at verse six here. “As you have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord, so you walk you in him.” So that’s up the next point. “Rooted up and built in him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Picture of how we are to be together, assured of the right understanding that we all have of God’s great plan for all of mankind and how we’ve been taught.

Yes, two cannot walk together unless they agree. We see how God and Christ wants all of us to be one together and one with him. The next point, walk as Christ walked. Let’s turn to first John two and verse six. This would be First John two and verse six. We were here in First John one earlier. Let’s start with the verse one. “My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not.” I know what time of year we are in. “And if a man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation, the atonement for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Yes, we are the ones that go first. The first fruits and ultimately all of God’s plan, but God, Christ, is the atonement for our sins.

Let’s jump down to verse six. Verse one. He is there as our advocate. He knows that we’ll slip, but how are we to walk like Christ walked? And he said, he abides in him also to walk even as He walked, to walk as Christ walked, to do all the things that our elder brother did, to do all that he did. And let’s go to second Peter two, verse twenty-one. I’ll actually go straight to verse twenty-two. Second Peter two and verse twenty-two. And I misspoke, first Peter two and verse twenty-two. Some of you may have known where I was going.

And I’ll read verse twenty-one. Just to see what Christ did and what we must do, “For even unto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps.” Let’s take in what Christ did. Who did not sin, as to the Holy Spirit we can control and stop that. “Who did not sin, and we strive to do it as Christ did, neither was guile found in his mouth, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously.”

Verse twenty-two and twenty-three, what Christ did and the example that we are to follow. No sin, no guile, no reviled back, and threatened not when He was threatened. And all the many other things that Christ did and Christ’s example for us, we have to walk as Christ walked. And ultimately, let’s go to Isaiah thirty and verse twenty-one. We’ve gone through walking humbly with God, walking in the Spirit, walking in the light, walking by faith, walking in unity, walking with Christ. I’m also picking on another scripture that points to a time in the future, points to a time to something we’ll get to do, but with something that we can look at now.

We’ve done all these points, all these steps for walking in this way with God. This is how God can be walking with us. Verse twenty-one. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left.” For walking with God, if we are close to God, if we have humbled ourselves.

If we have done all the things we’ve talked about this morning, God will be there beside us, as we will be beside others in the kingdom. And God’s word will be there to say, “This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right, and when you turn to the left.”

Let’s go to Psalm fifty-six and verse thirteen to close. Psalm fifty-six and verse thirteen. Imagine what that will be like when we’ll be able to help all of mankind to walk in those ways. We apply all that we learned this morning. We can have God walking beside us, directing our steps, showing us where to go, how to walk. Psalm fifty-six and verse thirteen. We apply all of those. Contrary to what Israel was able to do, this is what we’ll be able to do. This is where we will be.

Psalm fifty-six and verse thirteen. I want to focus on the second half of the verse, but we’ll read it all. “For thou hast delivered my soul from death...” And we can apply that to us. God has delivered our soul from death. “...will not you deliver my feet from falling.” We walk with God, He’ll hold us up, He’ll guide our steps. He’ll make sure we don’t fall into the water. But what ultimately where do we want to be. “That I, that you, that we may walk before God in the light of the living?”