Book of John 9:1-23; April 17, 2021; seachord.org

 

Book of John 9:1-23                                    April 17, 2021 

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind 

John 9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 

Beggars waited by the gates of the Temple for gifts from worshipers.  He sat and was begging (vs 8) 

Only record in the Scripture of one (healed) blind from birth.

In the Gospels: more cases of blindness than any other affliction: 

1 deaf and dumb             1 sick of palsy         1 sick of a fever

2 cases of lepers            3 dead raised          5 blind healed. 

This one was a beggar; blind from birth. Helpless. 

John 9:2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 

·      This is a long-time question among religions, which implies someone must have sinned. 

·      Among the Jews, the opinion that these things that happen to people, were the effect, of sin.

·      Notice, the disciples appealed to Jesus as a Rabbi to settle this question. 

John 9:3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed {or displayed} in him. 

·      Jesus just rejected both suggestions, that sins committed by a baby still in the womb or sin committed by parents could result in a baby being born with this disease.

·      Just think of the years that this man carried his burden of blindness until the time it could be used for God’s glory.

Maybe this example should comfort us in our pain and trial as we wait on the Lord for our healing, for edification to others and Glory to God. 

John 9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 

This is a reference to the work Jesus is doing on the earth, which was soon to end at the cross and a new work Jesus will then start. 

Notice the Father gave Jesus a precise work to do upon the earth, until Jesus finish His assigned work and then the night comes.  

**John 17:4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 

John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 

Remember, what Jesus said back in John 8:12 

John 8:12 Later on Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 

John 9:6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 

·      The Jews has a common practice of mixing clay with saliva and is used for eye infections or disease.

·      The blind man had to show his faith in washing the mixture off.

·      The Jews forbid the use of medicines on the Sabbath.

·      Does this show that something is going to happen with his eyes? 

John 9:7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. 

Jesus wanted an symbolic act of faith to be healed.  Healing his eyes was accomplished upon obedience to Jesus command. 

·      Once Jesus healed two blind men by merely touching their eyes (Mt 9:27–31). 

·      He healed another blind man by putting spittle on his eyes (Mk 8:22–26).

·      Jesus varied His methods lest people focus on the manner of healing and miss the message in the healing. 

John 9:8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" 

We find a growing conflict that is taking place around two questions: 

1) Was this really the blind beggar? 

2) Who caused him to see? 

Witness of the Blind Man: 

John 9:9 Some were saying, "It's him," while others were saying, "No, but it's someone like him." He himself kept saying, "It's me!" 

·      Notice, three groups of speakers. Some, Others, Himself

·      The neighbors were reluctant to acknowledge the miracle because of the Pharisees.

·      This was very natural reaction to others for someone who had their eye open would greatly change their looks, manner,

·      He must have given him a very different appearance to what he had before.  Have a beard, take it off, look different. 

John 9:10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 

The blind beggar discovers the Pharisees and neighbors were unfriendly toward him, wondering how can he see.  

Four times in this chapter people asked, “How were you healed?” (vv.10, 15, 19, 26). 

Jesus is called a man 

John 9:11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received {my} sight." 

·      The blind man did what Jesus told him to do, with faith.

·      Jesus is called “a man”:  At least twelve times in the Gospel of John, (Jn 4:29; 5:12; 8:40; 9:11, 24; 10:33; 11:47, 50; 18:14, 17, 29; 19:5).

·      John shows that Jesus is the God/Lord/Creator/Spokesman of the Old Testment

·      John’s emphasis is that Jesus Christ is God, but John by reminding us that Jesus is also true man.  {1 John 1:1–4} {John 1;1-5,14-18}.  

John 9:12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know." 

·      Jesus had left the area and was gone when the man returned. 

·      He knew the Pharisees would be upset for doing this miracle on the Sabbath. 

John 9:13 So they brought to the Pharisees the man who had once been blind. 

They wanted to accuse Jesus of having violated the Sabbath by making clay which was illegal to make.  

John 9:14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 

·      Remember the miracle at the pool of Bethesda how the Pharisees were angered by any violation of the Sabbath day. 

·      Now, we have another one healing and miracle on the Sabbath day.  

John 9:15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 

Notice the blind man is becoming impatient of this cross examining,  by the Pharisees, he then answers much more briefly than at first 

John 9:16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. 

Pharisees said because of this, Jesus does not keep the Sabbath, but the problem for them this was not a violation of the law, but of their oral traditions that grown up around the Law, Jewish Tradition.  

Matthew 15:2 "Why do your disciples disregard the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands when they eat." 

Could the others be Nicodemus and Joseph who we know became disciples of Jesus. 

Jesus is called a prophet 

John 9:17 They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." 

·      A little while before the man had said that "a man called Jesus" healed him;

·      now he declares, thinking about the miracle that "he is a prophet;"

·      a little later he is prepared to receive him as the Son of God.

·      His faith becomes deeper towards Jesus as the Pharisees continue to question him and what Jesus did for the man. 

John 9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 

So the Pharisees summoned the parents, hoping they might get something out of them after examining them against Jesus. 

·      How would you feel to be summons to a federal court and be examined by the Judge. 

·      They did not want to be there for fear that the Jews would put them out of the synagogue

·      if they acknowledge Jesus, not simple excluded, but excommunicated. 

·      Notice John does not speak the name of the Pharisees, but uses the name “the Jews”,

·      Jesus enemies, the official representatives of the Nation that rejected Jesus as the Messiah. 

John 9:19 And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 

The Pharisees proposed three questions to the parents, by which they hoped to convict the man of falsehood: 

1. Whether he was their son?

2. Whether they would affirm that he was born blind? and,

3. Whether they knew by what means he now saw? 

John 9:20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 

The parents answer the question very freely and with great confidence, he is our son.

The said the man with confidence that he was born blind. 

John 9:21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." 

The third question they could not answer since they were not eyewitness of the healing.  Of age is of thirteen years, ask him.  

John 9:22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 

John 9:23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 

Notice: Of age, 30?  Wonder, if the Apostles were excommunicate? 

Feared the Jews”: Excommunication; Three main forms: 

·      “Rebuke”: 7 - 30 days, could not come within 6 feet of anyone else

·      “Casting out”: 30 - 60 days. excluded from all fellowship and worship;

·      Cutting off”: indefinite; expulsion forever, treated as dead; stones thrown on coffin when dead 

·      These judgments were very serious because no one could conduct business with a person who was excommunicated.

·      It was the fear of this terrible punishment that deterred his parents from expressing their opinion

 

 

Last Day of Unleavened Bread, 2021: April 3, 2021: www.seachord.org

 

Last Day of Unleavened Bread, 2021                                     April 3, 2021   

·      How did it go this last week? 

·      Did we eat Unleavened Bread every day during the Feast? 

·      Are we already tired of the Unleavened Bread? 

·      Are we ready for some bread, like a hamburger, ice cream cone, and regular bread or hot rolls?  

What I ask now, what are we going to do going forward.  We are on the last day of Unleavened Bread.  We ate unleavened bread through the 7 days of Unleavened Bread.  We are to go on in this Way of Life, following Jesus, our Lord and Creator. 

We are recognizing that Jesus is Unleavened and we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and symbolically we do not want to put leaven into Temple during this time.  

Leviticus 23:4 These are the LORD's appointed feasts, sacred assemblies that you are to declare at their appointed time. 

Exodus 12:15-16 You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day be sure to remove all the leaven from your houses, because any person who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh will be cut off from Israel.  (16)  Also, on the first day you're to hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day you're to hold a holy assembly. No work is to be done during those days, except for preparing what is to be eaten by each person. 

That is what we did on the first day and now this last Day of Unleavened Bread. 

Remember, we already covered leaven which represents sin on the First High Day and we are to put sin out of our lives or out of us, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  (17)  If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."  (17)  Therefore, "Get away from them and separate yourselves from them," declares the Lord, "and don't touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.  (18)  I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters," declares the Lord Almighty. 

We are to come out from among the world and be separate and to be a light to the world.  How are we a light to the world? 

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  (15)  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  (16)  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 

John 17:11-12 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name, the name that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one.  (12)  While I was with them, I protected them by the authority that you gave me. I guarded them, and not one of them became lost except the one who was destined for destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.           

John 17:13-14 "And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.  (14)  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 

John 17:15-16 I am not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.  (16)  They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 

John 17:17-18 "Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.  (18)  Just as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  {that is us that Jesus sent into the world} 

Why, because we are ambassadors for Christ.  How we act, talk, and respond is looked at by the world (everyone that is around us).  We imitate those who we respect and follow. 

Example:  we look at a child and see their mannerism and how they imitate their parents.  A father with their child walking beside them.  Do we become like our father or mother as we grow older in age. 

2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 

One of the commandments (3):  

Exodus 20:7  "You are not to misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave the one who misuses his name unpunished. 

This means far more than swearing or profanity, but Ambassadorship.  If we are going to take the name of the King, we better be prepared to represent the Father faithfully. 

·      We know we are ambassadors, and then we call ourselves Christians or Believers, taking the name of Christ upon ourselves.

·      If we claim to be Christ's disciples, and yet we don't live as one who has taken the name of Christ should, then we are misusing His Name. 

Why do I say this, because the Apostle Paul tells us: 

Romans 2:24 As it is written, "God's name is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you."  {Isaiah 52:5} 

·      If our actions are in the Way of Death (which are the works of the flesh), then we will be blaspheming the name of God. 

·      If our actions are in the Way of Life that Jesus taught, lived and instructed, then the Way we live our Lives shows the fruit of the Spirit.  

Yes, we are Ambassadors, Lights to the World and the Temple of the living God and how we act and react to people in the world will reflex on the Creator God. 

Paul tells us that God has entrusted His Servants with the gospel:  

1 Thessalonians 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 

1 Corinthians 15:2-4 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  (3)  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  (4)  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 

As an ambassador, we are to be like: 

Matthew 10:16 "See, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves. 

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 

Remember, Paul tells us we are Unleavened and we are to keep the feast with sincerely and truth. 

There are consequences for our actions in our Life.  The decisions we make today will affect us and our families now and later on in our life.  

·      We are to give all Glory to God by the way we live our lives.

·      The Christian Churches today have water down Jesus teaching that now, religious beliefs and actions literally have no impact on how Christians are to live their lives. 

·      On church day, as a whole, Christians live one way and on the other six days, live another way. 

·      They do not believe the Words of Jesus or His instructions found in the Scriptures. 

When we as individuals or as a nation choose the “Way of death” instead of the “Way of life”, then the Judgment of God will be on the individuals and nations.  

Why again are we here in the flesh because we are to follow the commands of our Lord Jesus to show we Love Him and to walk in obedience to His words and follow His example and be examples to the world.  

Jesus from the scriptures calls how we live “Way of Life” or “Way of death”.  

Proverbs 14:12  {16:25} There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the Way of Death. 

Where did the term “Way of Life” come from?

Proverbs 10:17 He who keeps instruction is in the Way of Life, But he who refuses correction goes astray. 

Jesus gives us a direct statement to live our lives in a certain Way.  Jesus said,

John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

How we live a Christian life, shows how bright or dim our light shines.

Jesus tells us about the two different and contrasting Ways of Life we can live. 

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing; therefore choose Life, that both you and your descendants may live; 

Deuteronomy 30:20 Love the LORD your God, obey his voice, and cling to him, because he is your life—even your long life—so that you may live in the land that the LORD promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." 

·      So, now what are we to do for this next year.

·      We are to let our light shines in our sphere of influence. 

·      We can only influence by our actions with those who we are around.  Work, family, going to the store, doctor’s office, Home Care workers, fueling up our vehicles, driving our vehicles, defensive driving, etc. 

 

What is the most important work that can be done on this planet, right now.

 

Preaching and Publishing

 

What specific thing did Jesus tell us to do. 

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came up and told them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  (19)  Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,  (20)  teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age." 

Mark 16:15-16 Then he told them, "As you go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to everyone.  (16)  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn't believe will be condemned. 

1 Peter 3:14-16 But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. "Never be afraid of their threats, and never get upset.  (15)  Instead, exalt Jesus as Lord in your lives. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have.  (16)  But do this gently and respectfully, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in Jesus will be ashamed of slandering you. 

Preach: Interesting word; “Kerusso {Kay Roos So} can be translated as divine truth, preach, proclaim, and publish.  

We are to proclaim, preach, and publish the gospel to everyone.  Our actions speaks louder than any words we will ever speak.  

Interesting, in some ways, we are publishing with our church website with our discussion messages every Sabbath.  

Look at the statistics for the Church webpage:  www.seachord.org 

It seems we are going into all the world in our small part.  With the internet and other communication devices, the Gospel is going out to the world. 

·      I read somewhere; I would rather see a sermon than hear one. 

·      Meaning, our living example, our light, is more powerful than what we might say or preach. 

·      Our example must glorify our Father in Heaven. 

·      Remember, as we go out into the public, people are always looking at people and see what we are doing with our light. 

·      Since we are ambassadors for our Lord Jesus, think of this when we do things. 

Mark 13:10 But first, the gospel must be {preach, proclaim, or publish} to all nations.  It can be any of the 3 words. 

·      So we are to study His words to grow in grace and knowledge and to learn the Way of Life that Jesus instructed us to learn. 

The Apostle Paul tells us: 

1 Corinthians 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for this obligation has been entrusted to me. How terrible it would be for me if I didn't preach the gospel!  

Some translation uses Woe instead of terrible, 

·      Sharing the Words of Jesus is not an optional thing for a Believer. 

·      It is what Jesus tells us to do as a Believer, a member of the Bride and a Saint in the Body of Jesus. 

This is what we should be doing as we go forward to the next feast and High Day, Day of Pentecost.

 

1st Day of Unleavened Bread – 2021, March 28, 2021: www.seachord.org

 

1^st Day of Unleavened Bread – 2021                     March 28, 2021

 Welcome to the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

We are in the season of the Spring Holy Days which starts the beginning of God’s plan for salvation for all mankind and for each of us, personally. We just finish up the service for the Passover and, last night, the Night to be Much Observed.  Today is going to be a review, keep in our mind. 

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 

What do we do at this time, every year, we remove the leavening from our homes, cleaning our homes and vehicles.  We understand the meaning behind our actions, of removing physical and spiritual leaven from our lives. 

Let us turn to the chapter in the Scriptures that covers the Feasts of the Lord. 

 Leviticus 23:1 The LORD said to Moses, 

The Lord is the one we called, Jesus our Messiah, our Elder Brother. 

Leviticus 23:2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. 

Notice, Jesus said these are my, my appointed festivals and sacred assemblies. 

The first one Jesus mention is the Weekly Sabbath and then the Passover. 

Leviticus 23:3-4 "'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD.  (4)  "'These are the LORD's appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times:

Notice, Jesus tells us the sabbath rest is a day of assembly. 

Leviticus 23:6 "On the fifteenth day of that month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. 

{Notice it say 15^th day of the month, not the 14^th which is the Passover} 

Notice the command by Jesus that we are to east Unleavened Bread 

Leviticus 23:7-8 On the first day that you hold the sacred assembly you are to do no servile work.  (8)  Instead, you are to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD daily for seven days. On the seventh day you are also to hold a sacred assembly during which you are to do no servile work." 

Notice, we are to hold an assembly, which is what we are doing right now. 

Exodus 12:15 You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day be sure to remove all the leaven from your houses, because any person who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh will be cut off from Israel.

This verse adds a little more information.   We are to remove all the leaven from our homes.  Things we will eat.  Cookies, bread, ice cream cones, baking soda, 3 cans of baking powder, yeast, etc.  Things we will eat.  Use some common sense.  Are going to eat, like tooth paste? 

Hard to be tempted if these items are removed from the home. 

Exodus 12:16 Also, on the first day you're to hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day you're to hold a holy assembly. No work is to be done during those days, except for preparing what is to be eaten by each person. 

Exodus 12:17 "'You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, since on this very day I brought your tribal divisions from the land of Egypt. You are to observe this day from generation to generation as a perpetual ordinance.

Exodus 12:18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you are to eat unleavened bread. 

How many times does Jesus have to say this, eat unleavened bread

Evening of the 14^th day

What does this mean to you.  When do we start to eat unleavened bread, from Passover through the last day.  This verse adds additional information. 

Exodus 12:19-20 For seven days leaven is not to be found in your houses. Indeed, any person who eats anything leavened, is to be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land.  (20)  You are not to eat what is leavened. You are to eat unleavened bread in all your settlements.'" 

Numbers 28:17-18 You are to hold a festival on the fifteenth day of this month for seven days, during which time unleavened bread is to be eaten."  (18)  "On the first day, you are to hold a sacred assembly. No servile work is to be done. 

Numbers 28:25 On the seventh day you are to hold another sacred assembly for your benefit, on which no servile work is to be done." 

We are to eat, unleavened bread each day during the feast. 

Did Jesus and His parents observed the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread? 

Luke 2:41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 

Luke 2:42-43 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. (43) When they had finished the days {or festival was over}, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 

Notice Verse 43 states, “the finished the days” which meant the Passover and the seven days of Unleavened Bread was over. 

Did Jesus observe the Days of Unleavened Bread as an adult? 

Mark 14:1-2 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. (2) But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people." 

Remember, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is only 7 days long, the Jewish Leadership counts Passover as a day and that makes it 8 days.  Verse 1 and 2 pertain to the planning of Christ’s enemies to arrest Him. 

Mark 14:12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?" 

They were well aware that He would be observing the Days of Unleavened Bread. Verse 12 show how Christ directed His disciples in arranging for the Passover meal. 

Did the Apostles observe the Days of Unleavened Bread after Christ’s death and resurrection?  Doctor Luke wrote: 

Acts 12:3 When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.     {about 50’s A.D.} 

Acts 20:6 After the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and days later we joined them in Troas and stayed there for seven days.   {about 55 A.D.} 

Luke uses this reference as an event that was observed by the Church this many years after Jesus resurrection.  Over 20 years later. 

What instruction or command did Paul give Gentiles Christians in regard to observed this festival? 

1 Corinthians 5:6-8  Your boasting is not good. You know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough, don't you? (7) Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed. 

(8) So let's keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and true.  {Around 55 or 56 AD} 

Leaving is used as a symbol for sin. 

Matthew 16:6 Jesus told them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!" 

Matthew 16:11-12 How can you fail to understand that I wasn't talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!"  (12)  Then they understood that he did not say to beware of the yeast used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

There was, and is, nothing wrong with eating things containing yeast at other times, but for the purpose of the Days of Unleavened Bread it was used as a symbol of sin.  Coming out of sin. 

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in union with the Messiah Jesus our Lord. 

Upon repentance and baptism, Christ's sacrifice blots out all of one's past sins. When Paul asked if we should continue in sin, what did he answer? 

Romans 6:15-16 What, then, does this mean? Should we go on sinning because we are not under Law but under grace? Of course not!  (16)  Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

The Apostle Paul wrote about 25 years later to the Church members (Gentiles) in Corinth and told the Christians to observe this festival.  Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

Paul was expressing that as Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, we should proceed to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember, Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles.  

Paul commanded the Corinthian Christians—mostly gentiles—to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. His instructions show that Christians from non-Jewish communities and cultures kept the Days of Unleavened Bread. 

Setting an example for all Christians today, these Jews and non-Jews observed these days in accordance with God's laws. 

Paul tells us that Jesus died, was buried and rose from the dead.  The First born. 

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 

God said Jesus was dead, brought to life as the Firstborn, the first of many in the future. 

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 

Hebrews 12:23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 

Revelation 1:5-6 and from Jesus the Messiah, the witness, the faithful one, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood (6) and has made us a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. 

We went through all these verses and kind of understanding, why are we to eat Unleavened Bread during the feast.  We are to separate from the world but in the world.  There are many reasons, but have covered a number of them. 

Passover night, Jesus said unleavened bread represents His Body and because it was the symbol of rejecting sin of Satan spiritual world.  It is a symbol of choosing Life because of Jesus over sin which leads to death. 

Repeat:  Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

We are the church of the firstborn. 

Have a good Feast of Unleavened Bread, 

As we eat unleavened Bread during the Feast, take these things and think about our lives, our families, friends and mediate about what it really means to us personally.

Ask God to give us the wisdom with His Holy Spirit to grow, to change, to overcome, so we can become more Christ-like in the way we live. 

Enjoy ourselves during the Feast of Unleavened Bread because of the Truths that the Holy Spirit lead us in.