Turn back to Exodus chapter 12. The title of the message, Remove
All Leaven. This portion of Scripture caught
my attention because it was repeated so much and so much emphasis
was laid upon this matter of no leaven being in the house
during the Passover. It s evident that leaven was
an important issue connected with the Passover. God said there
s to be no leaven in the house, and if there was, that person
would be cut off from Israel. That s how important this is. Now what is leaven and why not
use it? That s the two questions I ask
myself as I was reading this. I ask myself questions when I
read the Word of God. Why this? Why that? What is this
for? Who, what, when, where? I always
ask myself these questions as I read the Word of God, and this
one is, What is leaven, and why not use it? One thing about these
Old Testament types, they were symbolic. They have a spiritual
meaning. They have a real DEEP, we'll
see here in a little bit, DEEP spiritual meaning. Now, what
is leaven? It is yeast that caused fermentation
in dough. That's basically what it was
used for. It's something that modifies
or lightens. Let me give you some things that
I read about leaven. Leaven means to introduce one
thing into another so as to affect it throughout. That's what false
religion does. It affects the whole body. If
one element of the gospel is left out, turned into a lie,
it affects the whole body of Christ. It affects the whole
worship here. It affects the glory of God if
it's left out. Leaven takes over. Leaven takes
over. And you know how they did it
back in that day? They would keep a small piece of dough from
the previous baking. They'd keep a small piece of
dough in a jar, and they would take that little small piece
of dough, just a little small piece, and they would put it
in the flour as they was making the new bread, and it would take
over the whole lump. The whole lump. It takes over.
It implies the introduction of a quality that fills and permeates
the whole being. You see, it matters. It matters
GREATLY what you hear. It matters GREATLY what I say
standing here. It matters GREATLY what I have to say is more important
than what anybody on this earth has to say. No president, no
leader, no teacher has anything more important to say than what
I'm going to say this morning. It's either life or death. God's
glory is attached to what I say. That's why it's a heavy burden,
Tommy's found out, it's a heavy burden to stand in this place.
You know that Ben, it's a heavy burden to do this. And something else about Levin,
it suggests the deep implanting of a quality or a trait. It'll
take over. If it's a lie, guess what? Your whole life will be a lie.
It will, your whole life will be a lie. If what you're listening
to is a lie and you take it in, your whole life will be a lie.
Something else here, it implies an imbuing or implanting with
a germinal ideal and often suggests subtlety. That's what Levin is,
as to what it implies. Leaven implies introducing something
that in leavens, tempers, or markedly alters the total quality. Now you see why there could be
no leaven in the house. There could be no leaven in the
bread they were going to eat. There could be none, not at all.
And the very purpose of this leaven was to make the dough
rise, and I think a more fitting word is this, Here's the, this
really says it, it puffs up. That's what it does. It puffs
up. You see, 11 represents sin and
corruption in the scriptures. And sin puffs us up. Sin makes
us to worship ourselves, not God. We are the sinner of everything. This is what sin does. It makes
us the sinner of everything and not God. It puffs us up, we think
we're somebody. God said, you thought I was altogether
like yourselves. That's an extremely high thought
of yourself. That's what sin does. And leaven represents sin here
in Scripture, it puffs up. Now why such a big deal over
leavened bread during the Passover? Well, because of its spiritual
implications. Leaven has a spreading influence. They got this from Egypt. They got it from Egypt. And they
take this dough, this yeast, and they put it, as I said, they
take it from, listen, the old lump and put it in a new lump. And that new lump became just
like that old lump. And we'll see here in a little
bit, Paul says, purge out that old lump. Purge it out. and it works silently and powerfully. This is one of the reasons that
he says here to cast out this leaven is leaven works silently
and it works powerfully. You can't hear it working. You
don't hear sin working here. You don't always see it or hear
it working. It could be something going on
for a number of years before it finally raises its ugly head,
before it finally takes over. Where are all those churches in Revelation 2 and 3 where the
Lord had letters written to them? Where are they? They're gone. They're not over there. We don't
read the Church of Ephesus or any of those other places. And
I'll tell you what, a church doesn't leave without the gospel
being contaminated. It always happens that way. You
have the gospel, And over a period of time, it starts getting contaminated.
It starts getting watered down. Some of the old gets mixed with
the new. And the next thing you know, you don't have the gospel.
And it slipped away so quietly, you didn't even realize it. Some
of the old sheep die off. There's old guardians. and a
false gospel takes over. You just go over throughout history
and look at it. A false gospel comes in, it takes
its place. People don't just quit being
religious. They don't just quit what we
call coming to church. No! But the gospel they claim to
believe changes. As Paul said to the Galatians
that there's only one gospel. If anybody comes preaching another
gospel, let him go to hell. There's only one. That's how dogmatic the Scriptures
are. And then listen, it's a big deal because it has to do with
WORSHIP. It has to do with TRUTH and SINCERITY. We worship the
Lord in TRUTH and SINCERITY, NOT with hypocrisy. We'll look
at a few things it represents here in a minute. But we don't
worship the Lord with hypocrisy. We don't worship Him in a lie.
He can't be worshipped with a lie. He can't be worshipped in hypocrisy.
He's worshipped how? In spirit and in truth. That's
exactly how He's worshipped. So it has to do with true worship.
Then it has to do with Christ who is the unleavened bread from
heaven. HE'S THE UNLEAVENED BREAD THAT
WE FEAST ON. THEY WERE TO FEAST ON FOR SEVEN
DAYS, SEVEN DAYS, SEVEN A NUMBER OF COMPLETION. WE FEED ON CHRIST
AND CHRIST ONLY. HE'S OUR PASSOVER. HIS BLOOD
IS THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT. He's the Bread from Heaven we
feast on, He's that Unleavened Bread we feast on from Heaven.
There's no mixture of falsehood or hypocrisy with Jesus Christ. He is the true God from Heaven
and Earth, that's who He is, and we feast on Him that way. Now here in Exodus 12, And let
me just read it again because it's short, but I want you to
be impressed with what the scripture says so when I start to develop
this you'll have a better insight. And this day, verse 14, And this
day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast
to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by
an ordinance forever. Seven days shall you eat unleavened
bread. Even the first day you shall
put away leaven out of your houses. It can't be found in your houses.
They would actually, tradition, this is the tradition of the
Jews, they would take a candle, they would light a candle, they
would search every nook, every cranny, every crevice of their
house to make sure there was not one crumb of leaven in that
house because God said you're going to be cut off. That's how
thoroughly they would examine their houses. SEVEN DAYS SHALL
YOU EAT UNLEAVENED BREAD, EVEN THE FIRST DAY YOU SHALL PUT AWAY
LEAVEN OUT OF YOUR HOUSES." Now I'll tell you this, it's not
to be in this house either. Hypocrisy, malice, wickedness,
false doctrine, it's not to be in God's house. This is God's
house, it's not to be in it. FOR WHOSOEVER EATETH LEAVENED
BREAD, now EDITH, that's taking it in, isn't it? It's not just
hearing, that's taking it in. You're buying into it, put it
that way. You're buying into it when you're
taking it in. So, Whosoever eateth leavened
bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall
be cut off from Israel. That's how serious this matter
is. And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation,
and in the seventh day shall be a holy convocation to you.
No manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every
man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For in this selfsame day have
I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore
shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance
forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth
day of the month, at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread
until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening. Seven
days shall there be no leavened bread found in your houses, and
whosoever eats that leavened bread, even that soul shall be
cut off." He REPEATS THIS! You know when the Word of God
repeats something, you better listen! We better listen! And then listen! Over in Leviticus
chapter 2 verse 11, let me read this to you. You can read of
the meat offering there. But the meat offering which you
shall bring unto the Lord shall not be made with leaven, it's
got to be unleavened. For you shall burn no leaven,
nor any honey in any offering of the Lord made by fire. That
meat offering, it could not be offered up with leaven, it had
to be unleavened. Because first of all, it represents
Christ who knew no sin. He knew no sin. He was free from
hypocrisy. He was free from false doctrine. He's the unleavened bread. But
here also it means this, that God's people that feed upon Christ
by faith are to be clear of malice, wickedness, and hypocrisy. THIS
IS NOT A HYPOCRITICAL SERVICE. WE ARE NOT HERE GIVING HYPOCRITICAL
WORSHIP. WE ARE NOT HERE TO PRETEND TO WORSHIP GOD. WE ARE HERE TO
WORSHIP THE LORD. WE ARE HERE TO SING HIS PRAISES.
WE ARE NOT HERE TO JUST MOUTH HIS PRAISES, BUT TO SING HIS
PRAISES UNTO HIM. THAT'S WHY WE ARE HERE THIS MORNING.
WE ARE NOT HERE JUST BECAUSE IT'S SUNDAY MORNING. WE ARE HERE
AS GOD'S FAMILY TO OFFER UP TRUE WORSHIP TO GOD AS HIS FAMILY. THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE. NOW, I
WANT TO LOOK AT A FEW THINGS CONCERNING LEAVEN IN THE LIGHT
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. BECAUSE THE NEW TESTAMENT GIVES
US THE SPIRITUAL MEANING AND IMPLICATION OF LEAVEN AND UNLEAVENED
in the Old Testament. First of all, it symbolized FALSE
PROPHETS and FALSE DOCTRINE, that s what it symbolized. Turn
over to Matthew 16, we re going to do some reading now. In Matthew 16, Look in verse 6, I m going to
read 6 through 12. Then Jesus said unto them, unto
his disciples, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It is because we have taken no bread. They thought
that because they had brought no bread, He was scolding them.
Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, O ye of little
faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because you brought no bread?
Do you not understand, neither remember? That would do us good
to remember the things that God's done for us, wouldn't it? To
remember what He's done in the Scriptures. When we read the
Word of God, remember because here's why it's so important.
As He is, so will He be. He doesn't change, God doesn't
change. Do you not yet understand, neither
remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets
you took up? Neither the seven loaves of the
four thousand and how many baskets you took up? Did you forget that
already? That's sad, isn't it? That's
sad. What a miracle they witnessed
and it's gone. It's like they forgot it. How
is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning
bread? I wasn't talking about you not
bringing bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and Sadducees. Then understood they have that
He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread. It wasn't a
bread, that's not what He was talking about. It's not eating
leaven of the that they had in the bread, but of the DOCTRINE. See, here s the spiritual application
now. He s talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. That s what he s talking about.
FALSE DOCTRINE! FALSE DOCTRINE! What was the
doctrine of the Pharisees? It was SALVATION BY WORKS! THE
KEEPING OF THE LAW! THEY FOUGHT HARD TO KEEP THAT! You know, Paul had to deal with
that throughout his whole ministry. The Pharisees wanted to KEEP
THE LAW! BY WORKS! It was SALVATION BY
WORKS! That's what it was. And then the Sadducees, they
were the ones who didn't believe in the Resurrection. They didn't
believe there were any angels or spirits. They didn't believe
any of that. BUT HERE'S WHAT THEIR TEACHING
DOES, IT TAKES OVER, IT INFLUENCES, AND IT PUFFS UP. It'll make you
puffed up about yourself, yourself will be the center of attention.
And the Pharisees, who was the center in their religion? Who
was the center of attention? Who wore those broad phylacteries
and had the scriptures written on them? Why did they do that?
Why did they have long prayers, the Lord said, outside where
men could hear them and see them? The Lord said, You pray to be
heard of men, not God. That's the doctrine of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and any other kind of see. It's a doctrine
of WORKS is what it is, salvation by WORKS. It's CORRUPT DOCTRINE
and corrupt doctrine affects the whole body of Christ if left
alone. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 let me
let me read something here in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 let's
look in verse I'm gonna restart in verse 13
for such are false apostles because you listen you can't have false
doctrine without false apostles or preachers you can't have it
that's that's where it comes from You got false apostles,
DECEITFUL WORKERS! Transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ! Transforming! Isn't that what
leaven does to bread? It transforms it! It just turns
it in, it puffs it up and transforms it! It takes over! It permeates
the whole loaf! And He is saying here that these
are deceitful workers! HYPOCRITICAL WORKERS, that's
what they are, transforming themselves to the Apostles of Christ. No
marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. He does so, he also does the same thing. And therefore,
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end is self-righteousness, not the righteousness
of Christ, whose end shall be according to their works. Turn
over to Ephesians chapter 4. I thought I'd do a little more
turning this morning instead of me reading most of my copy
and paste, but I want you to read it yourself this morning. In verse 14, Paul writes that
we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the slight, the slight, the
sleaziness, the craftiness of men, cunning and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love,
we may grow up in Him in all things, which is the Head, even
Christ. HERE'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
GROWING IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. IT'S THE MESSAGE THAT'S
COMING FROM THIS PULPIT. AND IT'S THE MESSAGE COMING FROM
THIS PULPIT IN LOVE. I LOVE THE GOSPEL. I LOVE CHRIST
AND I LOVE YOU TO WHOM I PREACH. I DO. THIS IS NOT A JOB. THIS IS NOT
A JOB. I GUESS THAT'S WHY MOST PEOPLE
THINK I'M RETIRED. They don't look at it like a job. It's a CALLING. And I'm to feed the Lord's sheep.
But I'm to do so, listen, I'm to do so in LOVE and in TRUTH. Not with hypocrisy and a bunch
of lies. I'm not trying to fill the pews
up here. If I did, I'd change the message. I'd change the message
if I just wanted to fill this place up. We could turn this
into a circus. But God wouldn't be here. God
wouldn't be here. And then the second thing, you
see, the first thing is this, false prophets and false doctrine.
Levin represents false prophets and false doctrines. And now
the second thing it represents is hypocrisy. You know, back
in that day they called those who were actors, they called
them hypocrites. Today we call them actors, they were hypocrites
back then, playing a part that is not THEM, they were just playing
a part. Now we either believe God or
we are playing a part, that's all we're doing. That's all. Turn over to Luke
chapter 12. Let me see what I've got here,
Luke 12, verse 1. In the meantime, when there were
gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch
that they trod one upon another, He began to say unto His disciples,
first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which
is hypocrisy. You see, He said, First time,
BEWARE OF THE DOCTRINE. BEWARE OF THE DOCTRINE, IT'S
FALSE, IT'S A LIE, NO ONE'S EVER BEEN SAVED BY THE LAW, NO ONE
HAS EVER BEEN SAVED BY KEEPING THE LAW, AND NOW HE'S SAYING
HERE, BEWARE OF THEIR HYPOCRISY, BEWARE OF THEIR HYPOCRISY. Hypocrisy
has this meaning, it's a feigning to be what one is not or to believe
what one does not believe. It does not. It s behavior that
contradicts what one claims to believe or feel. It s a hypocrite. It s a hypocrite. Turn over to
Matthew 23. This is what leaven means spiritually. This is the spiritual meaning
of leaven. In Matthew 23, Let me see where
I want to start. Look at verse 13. But woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. For ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you,
scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! you devour widows houses you
don't help them you take them and for a pretense see it's what
hypocrisy it's pretense well the lord the lord sees the heart
doesn't he he sees the heart HE KNOWS WHO'S WORSHIPING HIM
AND WHO'S NOT, HE KNOWS THAT! HE KNOWS WHO IS SERIOUS, SINCERE,
AND WHO IS PRETENSE. GOD KNOWS THAT! THE LORD'S TELLING,
HE'S READING THEM THEIR RITES. HE SAID THIS IS WHO YOU ARE,
AND FOR A PRETENSE YOU MAKE LONG PRAYERS LIKE YOU CONNECTED WITH
GOD. Therefore you shall receive the
greater damnation. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites! EUCOMPASY AND LAND TO MAKE ONE
PROSELYTE. I mean they go through a lot
of effort to make one proselyte, and when He s made, you make
Him two-fold more the Child of Hell than yourselves. Look down, let s skip down to
verse 23. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! You
have paid tithe, and mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted
the weightier matters of the law, which is judgment, and mercy,
and faith. Yeah, you do the little things,
you do the little things, but the important things you don't
do. Mercy. Mercy. It wasn't mercy as to why they
brought that woman caught in adultery. They brought her to
the Lord. They brought her to see a stoning
and to catch him up in breaking the law, which they thought he
would be breaking the law. But you've omitted the weightier
things of the law, judgment, mercy, faith. These ought you
to have done, not leave the other undone either, but you should
have done these. You're just blind guides with a strain out
of the gnat and you swallow a camel. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, you may clean the outside of the cup, boy, you
just look good, you're moral, you belong to the moral majority. The inside of that cup is filthy,
it's a cesspool of sin, it's what it is. It's a cesspool of
sin. THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD LOOK
ON A WOMAN AND LUST AFTER HER AS LONG AS THEY DIDN'T TOUCH
HER. GOD SAID NO YOU CAN'T. HE SAID THAT'S ADULTERY. YOU
THINK YOU CAN HATE YOUR BROTHER WITHOUT A CAUSE? AS LONG AS YOU
DON'T SHOOT HIM. OH NO. GOD SAID THAT'S MURDER. HE SAID THAT'S MURDER. WOE TO
YOU SCRIBE, PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES, FOR YOU ARE LIKE UNTO WHITED
SEPULCHRES. YOU LOOK GOOD. YOU GO OUT HERE
AND LOOK AT THIS GRAVEYARD. ON THE TOP SURFACE IT LOOKS GOOD
DOESN'T IT? IT'S DECORATED, IT'S MOWED REAL
NICE, IT'S GOT FLOWERS, IT'S GOT NICE LOOKING TOMBSTONE, HEADSTONES. LOOK UNDERNEATH THAT GROUND.
LOOK UNDERNEATH THE GROUND. THAT'S WHAT A GRAVEYARD REALLY
IS. WHAT'S UNDERNEATH. AND THAT'S
WHAT GOD SEES. GOD SEES WHAT'S UNDERNEATH He
sees the leaven, the hypocrisy, the unbelief, the falsehood. That's what God sees. No, He
said, He's like white as sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful
outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Leaven represented false prophets,
false doctrine. It represented hypocrisy. Here's a good example, I've got
to show you this, Galatians chapter 2. In Galatians chapter 2, now here's
a good example of what a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
It just takes over the whole lump. It influences the whole
body. In Galatians chapter 2, Let me start reading here. Let's see where I want to start reading.
Let's start in verse 6. But of these who seem to be somewhat,
whatsoever they were, it makes no matter to me. You see, they
tried to have Titus circumcised and Paul stood against it. He
said, I'm not going to do it. I have no way I'm going to do
that. Because if he just let in a little bit of that circumcision,
let them grab a hold of a little bit of that, it would have messed
up the whole gospel. It would have. But now, let me
read on through this and put it together. But of these who
seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter
to me. God accepts no man's persons.
For they who seem to be somewhat in confidence added nothing to
me. But contrarywise, when they saw
that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to me, and the
gospel of the circumcision was to Peter, for he that wrought
effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same
was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John,
who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me,
they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship,
that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which
I also forward to do." Now, here comes the leaven. You see, they
gave James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived
the grace that was given to me. They gave me and Barnabas the
right hands of fellowship. Now comes 11. But when Peter
was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face. And he had to
do that publicly because what Peter did was public. If it's
done in private, keep it in private. And if it's done in public, sometimes
you've got to address it in public. I stood him to the face because
he was to be blamed, for before that certain came from James,
he did eat with the Gentiles. He sat down, ate with them, but
when they were come, these Jews were come down from James, he
withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the
circumcision. And the other Jews, now here it is, it takes this
little leaven, this little leaven, leaven's all lump, and the other
Jews disassembled like I was with him, insomuch that Barnabas,
Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation. Let's take
that word dissimulation and let's put in there what it really is.
Barnabas also was carried away with their hypocrisy. That's
exactly what it is. Peter you're a hypocrite and
because of your conduct all these others are following you. What you're doing is affecting
the whole body of Christ. This little leaven that is still
in you, it's got to be purged out. And Paul, that's why Paul
addressed him publicly. But when I saw they walk not
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, now here's what's
at stake. Here's what's at stake right now. We cannot let any
leaven, falsehood, lie in any way, shape, or form here in the
preaching of the gospel. Why? because the truth of the
gospel is at stake. That's what's at stake here.
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the
truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If thou,
being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as
do the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the
Jews? You hypocrite! That's exactly
what he called it. Peter, it's just hypocritical,
it's wrong! It's wrong! There's a little
leaven going on here and it's leavening the whole lot! You
can't do that! But that's a good example of
a little leaven leavens the whole lot. So it says, turn over to
Galatians chapter 5. Let me start reading in verse
6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything
nor uncircumcision, but faith which works by love. You did
run well. Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth? This persuasion comes not of
him that called you. You didn't get this from God.
You didn't get it from the Word of God. Here's the problem in
verse 9, I little leaven and leaveneth the whole lot. Well, we can keep a little bit
of the law, no, not for salvation. Christ is all or nothing at all. In no way, shape, or form does
works enter into our salvation. He said you did run well, somebody
hindered you, a false false teacher false preacher came in introduced
a little bit of leaven a little just a little bit you see it
don't take much to to leaven the whole lump you see it's the opposite unleaven
is the opposite of leaven which is truth and sincerity which
is the opposite of falsehood and lies Turn over to 2 Corinthians. I'm almost here at the end of
it, I think. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Here's the opposite. In verse
12. Let's see if I got this right,
2 Corinthians, oh, hold on a second, I'll get there. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 12. FOR OUR REJOICING IS THIS, THE
TESTIMONY OF OUR CONSCIENCE, THAT IN SIMPLICITY AND GODLY
SINCERITY, NOT WITH FLESHLY WISDOM, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD WE HAVE
HAD OUR CONVERSATION IN THE WORLD, AND MORE ABUNDANTLY TO YOU. BUT
HERE IT IS, OUR REJOICING IS THIS, THE TESTIMONY OF OUR CONSCIENCE,
THAT IN SIMPLICITY AND GODLY SINCERITY, THAT'S THE TOTAL OPPOSITE
OF FALSEHOOD AND LIE. THIS IS HOW WE WORSHIP GOD. GODLY SINCERITY. And then he says over in 1 Corinthians
chapter 5, go back there. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and let me read verse 6 and 8. is not good. You know what they
were glorying in? That incestuous man, that man who was committing
incest with his mother here, I mean his father's wife. Your glorying is not good. Know
you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? If you
let this go on, the whole body of believers here is going to
be messed up. It's going to mess up everything here. Purge out
therefore the old leaven, don't use that old leaven, that old
nature, that old way. You don't live like this no more.
You see they lived in a lot of, they just lived in debauchery
before God saved them, the Corinthians. It's just like America now, anything
goes. He says you purge out that old
leaven, that's not you no more, that you may be a new love. As
you are unleavened, you are unleavened bread in Christ. You are. You're
not hypocrites. You're not falsehood. You're
unleavened bread. Christ is the unleavened bread
and we are unleavened in Him. We are pure and holy and sanctified
in Him. For even Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast
not with old leaven, NEITHER WITH THE LEAVEN OF MALICE AND
WICKEDNESS. You see, that's another example
of leaven, is malice and wickedness. You know, malice is this, a desire
to cause pain, injury, or distress to someone. That's human nature. That's human nature. Have you
ever met anyone, because I know someone back in my mind, have
you ever known or met someone that they really take pleasure
in other people's pain? I've met a person that literally
took pleasure in someone else's pain and downfall. You know,
it's written in the Scripture, REJOICE NOT WHEN YOUR ENEMIES
FALL, lest the Lord turn from us. We
don't rejoice in that. It could be us. It could be me. Only grace makes the difference.
But you put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This is what it represents. So what Paul does in Colossians,
he calls for purity in life and worship. This is serious business. Worshiping God is serious business,
not just here, but when we leave here and we go home, in our homes,
in our workplace, community, it's serious business. Romans
8.13, I'll read it to you. FOR IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH,
YOU'LL DIE. IF YOU SERVE THE FLESH, IF ALL
YOU'RE DOING IS TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF, YOU'RE GONNA DIE, YOU'RE
GONNA PERISH. BUT IF YOU THROUGH THE SPIRIT, NOW WE CAN'T DO THIS
BY OURSELVES, DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU'LL LIVE.
NOT ONLY US PERSONALLY, BUT THE BODY OF CHRIST HERE. YOU KEEP
OUT LIVES HERE, AND FALSEHOOD HERE. Paul wrote in Colossians,
ìMortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.î And
they were so used to this, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry. ìMortifyî
means to this, it means to subdue or deaden. It means to deaden or subdue
the bodily appetites. That's what it means. Paul said
this, Paul said he kept his body under subjection lest when he
preached Christ he himself would be a castaway. That's how serious
it is. Now last of all, How do we purge
out the old leaven? God said purge it out. He said
purge it out. Well, I just read it to you,
by this Spirit. Mortify the deeds of the flesh
by His Spirit. We can't do this. We can't eradicate sin completely,
we know that. But here, let me just give you
a few pointers real briefly. Be much in the Word of God, seeking
the Lord in His Word. The more you're in the Word and
the Lord is on your mind, the more you'll depart from these
things. BE MUCH IN PRAYER ABOUT IT. We
need to seek the Lord to enable us to do this. Sit down to the
gospel and ask God to make Himself known to you. Ask Him to speak
to you this morning. Make Himself known to you this
morning. Sometimes I think we forget that
we can know God. And last of all, EAT OFTEN THE
UNLIVING BREAD FROM HEAVEN. Feed often upon Him. All right.