[SUB12] A FESTA DA SANTIDADE - Luciano Subirá

Holiness. What does that word mean to you? A burden?

Or a celebration? For each of us who knows, understands, and received Jesus's work at the cross, holiness should not be a burden, it should be a celebration. Stay with me and in the next minutes, we are going to talk about the feast of holiness.

Guys, I’m here in Campo Grande, capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, bringing one more word to your heart. And the text which will serve as our base for our reflection is the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 7 and 8. Allow me to read the verses that say: "Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch as you really are.

For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old bread leavened, with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. " Apostle Paul is here talking Symbolically about Passover.

Evidently, that’s the approach, because he refers to Jesus as our “ Passover lamb", the lamb of the Passover. He uses the expression of getting rid of the old yeast and he talks about unleavened bread. Unleavened bread was actually eaten during seven days.

Right the next day the celebration of Passover a new feast would begin, that was called "feast of unleavened bread" or no yeast bread and he talks about a feast to be celebrated. He is not telling us to repeat a type of feast the jews of old testament used to celebrate. They would immolate a lamb, they would eat bitter herbs, there would be an entire ritual conducted year after year.

In a previous established date by God, they would repeat this ritual. Apostle Paul isn't saying that we have to observe this feast of the old testament in the manner that jews of old testament would do. He talks about a spiritual application and he says that this feast must be celebrated with the removal of the yeast and a positioning and a very clear application in the spiritual life aspect.

We need to understand that here he is talking about holiness. Previous verses talk about how a situation of sin within the church of Corinth was managed, someone had sinned and needed to be disciplined and correctly dealt with. Previous verses kept on talking about the issue of sin, because in verse 9, he says: "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

" So, it’s in this context, having to deal with the sin, that he comes with the statement that yeast must be thrown out and that we must celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity. What is the biblical statement here? We need to understand the context and the context, as I have said, has a connection to the feast of Passover that was celebrated since the days of the old covenant, of the old testament.

However, the scriptures says that this feast must still be celebrated. What’s interesting is that in Exodus, chapter 12, verse 15, when the Lord talks about unleavened bread, or no yeast bread, he says that, just like Passover, this should be a everlasting statute, a continuous celebration. Everything that in the old testament was called everlasting statute, even if it is not literal, in the new testament, it at least continues to have its fulfillment in a symbolic way.

For instance, Jesus says in Matthew 5:18: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law, but to fulfill them. " Basically, Jesus was saying: "I haven’t come only to remove what was being done, I have come to fulfill the law and all that prophetically and symbolically it would announce. " For instance, in the old testament there was an incense offering.

New testament says that the incense offering are the prayers of God’s people. So, that everlasting statute continues to be executed today by us in the fulfillment of its symbol, its representation. The same way, we look at the celebration of Passover.

What is expected of us is not a literal feast, in the manner it used to be done. However, God is transmitting a concept. First, it was celebrated the Passover and the next day, another feast would start.

Even though both were so close to the point of almost being considered only one, they were both distinct feasts. One was the celebration of the Passover and the next day, a week, seven days of celebration called “feast of unleavened bread” would start. And here we have a representation.

Qual is the representation of the Passover? When he says that Christ is our Passover lamb, he is saying that that lamb that immolated in the celebration of the Passover, is a representation that Jesus immolated and killed for us. We need to understand the context in which context Passover was instituted .

The night God rescued Israel’s people and nation who were under pharaoh’s slavery that opressed them, in a condition of a tyrant, and God takes them out of there and delivers them so they can become his own people, that same night is when a lamb was immolated. What is the representation that we have of that in the new testament? We were also slaves.

The word of God says that we were slaves of satan. We were not only under a slavery of a tyrant, but we were set free so that now we could become people of God just like the nation of Israel in the old testament. Colossians 1:13 says that Deus rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us to his kingdom of light.

When they left from Egypt and get to Mount Sinai, God gives a specific word saying that they would be a kingdom, in one nation of priests for Him. In the new testament, apostle Peter applies to us exactly the same words. He says in 1 Peter 2:9: "You are a holy nation, royal priesthood, chosen people, God’s special and exclusive possession", the same words God used to talk about Israel’s nation at Mount Sinai.

There’s a parallel. Easter represents Jesus’ work at the cross. Now, what is this feast the next day?

What celebration of unleavened bread is this? Leaven, as we said, is a representation of sin, da impurity, whatever contaminates and keeps man away from God and bible is saying that Jesus’ sacrifice must be honored and celebrated with a feast of holiness. That’s right.

Holiness must be a celebration, it should never be a burden. Apostle John writes and he says that His commandments are not burdensome. What God established before us so we can keep, practice, His commandments to be obeyed, should never be seen a burden.

We need to understand what it is to celebrate what Jesus did. When we talk about holiness for the christians, we are not trying to talk about a life style through which we think might be possible to deserve or conquer salvation. In fact, when we talk about holiness, it needs to be an answer to gratitude for what He already did for us at the cross.

When we understand this context and we understand what is the reason, the main motivation for this feast, it’s a feast of recognition of what he did. Lord says we will be His exclusive property, His people. That means, we can’t be mixed up with the world or its practices, we can’t no longer walk in sin, now we must live totally separated for Him.

That is introduced to us, not as a burden, I repeat, as a feast to be celebrated. We can call this "feast of holiness” the celebration of holiness. And this same context is seen in the new testament, through the Lord’s supper.

Apostle John says that we can’t take part in an unworthy way. The scriptures say: "Let a man examine himself". He says that if we judge ourselves we won’t be judged by the Lord.

So, examining, judging, being in a worthy or unworthy condition, this talks about spiritual condition. Because one cannot take part in the Lord’s table, Lord’s supper, eat and break the bread, take from the fruit of the vine in a unworthy way, in sin? Because it doesn’t make any sense to celebrate the redemption of our sins practicing the same sin that cost Him so much, so much to remove and take us out of that condition.

I say that celebrating the supper in sin would be the same as spitting in the Lord’s face saying: "Everything you did, no matter how much that cost you, eu despise, I ignore, that for me, is of no importance. "The reason why we need to celebrate this away from the sin is because there is no other way to celebrate redemption. Redemption is precisely the act through which God not only forgave us, He redeemed us, He bought us so we can belong only to Him.

And this gratitude for what He did for us, the understanding of what he did for us must create in us this answer of holiness. I don't walk in holiness to try to gain salvation, I understand that because I was saved now I need to continue to walk in what God’s grace offered me. through holiness.

Holiness is nothing more nothing less than an answer to obedience to God who says: "Be holy because I am holy. " Holiness is not only an experience that happens in the moment of conversion. Is there a initial sanctification?

Yes. Is there a positional sanctification? Without a doubt.

Apostle says: "as you really are unleavened,” When you and I were born again sin was ripped out of our lives, we could start all over from scratch. Scripture says: “ if anyone is in Christ a new creation has come. The old is gone.

the new is here. There is now no condemnation for the ones who are in Christ Jesus. " Now, for the same people to whom he says: "you are unleavened", he also makes another statement, that we must throw out the old leaven.

But is the leaven gone or not? It is, but it may come back. Ane we need to have an attitude and a behavior t of never going back to the place where the Lord took us from.

Why? Because the consequence of that would be judgment. In the old testament, we read that when someone would break the feast of leavened bread and somehow allow leaven to be present, it didn’t even need to be in the bread, God says: "it can’t be in your houses, it has to be kept away from you.

" When someone would break this commandment, they would be eliminated from the people. In this chapter, in which he’s talking about the leaven, Paul is discussing about someone who should be expelled from the church for having sinned e not regretting it. What are the consequences?

We talked about the context. we talked about the motivation and I want to finish talking about the consequence. If we, in fact, celebrate redemption through holiness we build a bridge that preserves the relationship with God and takes to a place of intimacy.

In Psalm 25:14, bible says: "God’s secret is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant. " Now, when we don’t we observe this, the consequence is judgment. So, we need to understand that the same that here has been judgment over this person to whom Pauls says in the previous verses " Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

", even though he expresses an expectation that the spirit could be save in the Lord’s day, two things are very clear to me. The observance of holiness takes us into intimacy, not keeping holiness, not celebrating this feast will put us under the judgment and nullify what was offered to us. I believe those are good reasons to celebrate holiness with a real feast of gratitude and also understand that if we don’t do this, damage and judgment will be inevitable.

May all of this help us understand and correspond in a better way and celebrate the feast of holiness.