There are seven feasts of the Lord. Passover is the first. Each of the seven portrays an aspect of our salvation. We must come to God through the blood of God's Passover Lamb, Christ Jesus. Next is the feast of Unleavened Bread.

The spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Unleavened Bread is repentance and water baptism.

When we come to the Lord we must be as a little child. We must renounce the malice and wickedness of the spirit of this age. We must turn away from our trust in the world, its security and its pleasures. We must sweep the leaven of the world out of our house, so to speak.

There must be genuine, thorough repentance. Is it possible that today we are asking people to "make a decision for Christ" (an expression not found in the Scripture) without informing them of the need for repenting, for turning away from the ways of the world?

Then we should be baptized in water. This is the Lord's commandment. If you have never been baptized in water, go to your Pastor and ask to be baptized. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.

Water baptism has a profound meaning. When you are baptized in water you are saying, "I assign all that I am to the cross with Jesus. When He cried, ‘It is finished,' He included me. I am finished. My life in the world is over. I am crucified with Christ."

How different Christendom would be if the believers would count that they have died with the Lord on the cross!

We share in His death and in His resurrection. A new godly creation is coming forth (or should be coming forth) in our personality.

Before you can fry a chicken you have to pluck the feathers. When you begin to pluck feathers from a chicken it helps if the chicken is dead. If not, you are going to have a commotion on your hands.

When a preacher begins to talk about the need to overcome sin, about denying ourselves and following the Lord, he may have a commotion on his hands. Can you guess why? The chickens aren't dead yet.

The mainspring of the Christian life is death and resurrection. God has no intention of saving our first personality—not even the good of it. Our most worthy traits still have the leaven of Adam in them and will fail if tested severely enough. The honest will steal under enough pressure. The pure will commit moral sin. The adamic integrity will dissolve if pushed to the limit. But the Life of God never fails.

If we are willing to die in Christ each day we will live in Christ each day.

If any man is in Christ there is a new creation. All the old things have passed away. Everything is new and of God.

Out of the death of the cross comes the eternal life of the resurrection. There is no other source of permanent righteousness.

How about you? Would you like real, lasting change to enter your life? Repent and be baptized into the death and life of Jesus Christ.