Exodus 12. Let's read verses 15 through 20. Exodus
12, 15. Right after the Passover, the
Lord gives these instructions. Seven days shall
you eat unleavened bread. Even the first day you shall
put away leaven out of your houses. Whosoever eateth leavened bread
from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall
be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall
be a holy convocation. And the seventh day, it should
be in holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done
in them, save that that which every man must eat, that only
may be done of you. And you shall observe the feast
of unleavened bread, for in this self-same day have I brought
your armies out of the land of Egypt. And therefore shall you
observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the
first month, on the fourteenth day of the month that evening,
you shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day
of the month that evening. Seven days shall there be No
11 found in your house. What's whosoever eat of that
which is 11. Even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation
of Israel whether he be a stranger or born in the land you should
you shall eat nothing 11. In all your habitations. Unleavened bread. Now. I do not try to bring. different or unique messages
at all. We've looked at this many times
before, but this is in God. We just take
God's Word as it comes, okay, and this is And he keeps mentioning
unleavened bread. It's serious. It's significant. So serious, he said, the soul
that I find this leavened, it will be cut off. So we need to know what this
means, don't we? God has a change. And there's
not one word of God's Word that doesn't apply to us today. OK. And from Genesis to Judges, 1
Samuel through 2 Chronicles, Ezra through Ezekiel, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, Acts, 1 Corinthians, all speak of leaven or unleavened
bread. All of it. It's vital then. What
is it? All right. The Lord commanded
Israel not to eat bread with leaven in it, to purge it out.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisee. Paul the Apostle wrote, a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And here twice it says the soul
shall be cut off to eat it. What is leaven? How is it purged,
removed? Leaven. What is it? All right?
It's four things. It's many things, but four things
basically. It's false doctrine. Our Lord
said, the doctrine of the Pharisees, it's hypocrisy, it's malice,
and it's wickedness, as James told us about. All right, the
Lord says, look for it in your houses and get rid of it. All
right, number one, go to Matthew 16 with me, Matthew 16. It's the leaven of false doctrine,
the leaven of scribes, Pharisees, and he always refers to them
as hypocrites. What is a hypocrite? Someone
who's playing a part, acting, whatever you do. Play at anything, but don't play
at this. It's 11, that's my second poem. Matthew chapter 16, verses 8 through 12, look at
this, verse 8. You know, he didn't, he, verse
8, the Lord perceived that when he said unto them, O ye of little
faith, why reason ye among yourselves because you brought no bread?
He said something about bread and they thought it was because
they didn't bring any bread. And he said in verse 9, don't you
understand? Remember the five loaves of the
5,000, how many baskets we took up? Remember the seven loaves
of the 4,000, how many baskets we took up? I provide that bread,
he's saying. Don't you remember that? How
is it that you do not understand that I speak not concerning bread,
but that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
of the Sadducees? Then understood they how he bathed
them, not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, okay? And this is throughout
the Scriptures and the Gospels. The Lord keeps telling them,
beware, beware of the scribes and the Pharisees, the hypocrites,
throughout the epistles, the Pharisees. Pharisees were strict
Bible-believing. They believed the Bible. They
believed God was sovereign. They believed they were the elect
people. They believed in particular redemption. Didn't they? His blood was only for God's
people. They were strict Bible-believing,
law-abiding, law-keeping, they thought. They believed, though,
and here's what they believed. They believed that you are saved,
you are accepted, You are accepted by God by keeping the law. That's the basic doctrine of
Pharisees, is it not? You do what God says. You keep
the Ten Commandments, and to them is whatever laws they could
keep. It's a pick and choose. And he
said, you keep these laws, you live according to the law, you
live a holy and righteous life according to the law, God will
accept you and you will merit heaven. Isn't that what they
believe? And most religious people, if
pinned down, they would admit that, yes, we've got to be good,
holy, and righteous people to get to heaven. Do the best you
can, that's what they have, do the best you can. Some people
like the German Baptist, the Amish and all that are very strict
like the Jews. They think they keep the law.
They think they keep the law. And again, they only keep what
they can keep. But the scripture says to offend
in one point is to be guilty of breaking every law. Cursed
is everyone that contendeth not in the things of the book of
the law to keep them. Every one of them, every poem.
The law is a curse. It's not, it doesn't, we don't
get the glory by the works of the law. This is, this is leaven,
okay? A little bit of that works will
leaven the whole lot. It'll make you a self-righteous
Pharisee. Even, you know, doing the right
thing or not doing the wrong thing. People think they should
be rewarded for just not doing, not drinking or smoking or not
stealing or not. I don't do that. But do you love
God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Do you keep
the law perfectly in your mind, your heart, your walk, your talk? Do you? Nobody. This book is so clear. By the
deeds of the laws, no flesh justifies. There's only one man who ever
walked this earth who kept the law perfectly. Somebody tell
me who that was. Jesus Christ. Why? Why did he do that? He came here,
made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To show us how? Well, he did show us what it
really means to keep the law. He magnified the law. He was
perfect in thought and word and in deed. Everything. His feet. walked in paths of righteousness,
his hand did only good, his thoughts, his grace poured from his lips. He was the law personified, wasn't
he? Holyness personified. He lived
by the law. He loved God. He loved his law. And he kept that law perfectly.
It's holy and righteous and just. But we can try as we may, as
much as we want to. I love God's law. And we're not
free to break it. No, no. Christ didn't come to
destroy the law. He came to fulfill it. Why? For
lawbreakers like that. For those who know, Lord, I can't. Only those who know the curse
of the law. Only those who know the guilt
of the law. What the law says, it says to
them under the law that every mouth must be shut up. And all
the world will become guilty. Well, all the world doesn't feel
that guilt. All the world's not convicted by the law, but all
of God's people are. And the laws of schoolmaster
show us, teach us sinfulness of sin, how it requires perfection. We don't have it. And we see
that Christ is our righteousness, according to the law. That Christ
didn't just show us what the law was, but he kept it for us. He worked out a perfect righteousness,
and the Scriptures calls it a robe, a covering. How we get into heaven is by,
we've got to wear the marriage garments, the wedding
garment. That'd be a holy, righteous,
pure garment, spotless, like our Lord. And our Lord did that. And He robes us in that. That's
His righteousness. He covers us in that righteousness,
imputed and imparted as a new man, like Christ. But, okay, and here's how serious
it is to think that there's one thing you can do or not do that
will merit God's favor. Paul said this, if righteousness
come by the law, Christ died in vain. That's how serious it is. It's
not doctrine. Just doctrine. He's wrong. He's trying to keep
the law. He means well. He's a Christian anyway. Oh,
no, no, no. There's nobody like that. Paul said, Paul did, he
said, I was blameless. He didn't know God. He didn't
know Christ. He was zealous. He was a Pharisee. He didn't
know God. You can't know God and know Christ
and think you're keeping the law. Because when Christ comes,
he shows you why he came. Because you can't keep the law. He can, he did, and he did it
for you, and you're so thankful. Paul said, when the law came,
it killed me. And he realized, I haven't kept one perfectly,
not one. Thanks be unto God, he said,
that Christ kept four. So this is You know, it's like,
you know, people think they're good because they don't do certain
things. My niece, when she was about
three years, four years old, five years old, three years old,
she was at somewhere, preschool or whatever, and she came home
and she told her mother, she was so proud, she said, I didn't
kick anybody or bite anybody all day. Well, good, honey. Come on, let me give you a treat.
This is modern parenting. Well, good. We're going to give
you this and give you that and reward you for not being mean. That's what people think. I haven't
lied, I haven't steal, I haven't cussed, I haven't kicked anybody,
bit anybody. Yeah, you have. You've done all
those things. You just don't know it. My dad
used to say, People, many people mistake the restraining grace
of God for their own personal holiness. The only reason somebody
is mild-mannered and, you know, law-abiding and, you know, not
a murderer and a thief and all that, is the restraining grace
of God. One hundred percent. It keeps us. It restrains, it
keeps people from doing things. Otherwise, all hell would break
loose. So, this is the doctrine of self-righteousness. Beware of it. Leaven, what is leaven actually?
Bread. Ladies that make bread. And when
we partake of the Lord's Table, Nancy used to make it all the
time and now I just buy it from the grocery store. It's unleavened. There's no yeast
in it. No yeast in it. What is yeast?
It's bacteria. This is a good illustration of
it. Bacteria, it'll eat up and do all sorts of things. Just
a little bit will just expose a whole lot. What does yeast
do to bread? It doesn't add to the flavor
of it. It doesn't make more bread. It doesn't create, actually make
more substance to the bread. What does it do? It puffs it
up. That's all it does. That's all
it does. It makes it rise. Look at me,
all puffed up. Knowledge. There's doctrinal,
there's pharisaical knowledge. And there's some grace people
like that. Well, I know the truth, and they,
other people don't. You're not safe because of what
you know. You're safe because who knows you. And if you really
knew him, that he gave you that knowledge, you wouldn't be puffed
up in that. And you'd realize, I don't know anything yet, Psalter.
But knowledge puffeth up. Self-righteous works puff you
up. Look at me. And this is hypocrisy. Matthew 23. Look at it. Matthew
23. It's playing a part of something
you're not. That's 11 of hypocrisy. Matthew
23. Our Lord kept warning of them.
He said, they're whited sepulchers. They appear to be good to men
on the outside, but the inside... God looks on the heart. See,
that creates a fear of the Lord, doesn't it? Knowing that God
knows me. Psalm 139, one of my favorite,
yours too. The Lord knows us. He knows us. And that creates fear, and it
also creates comfort. He knows me. I'm glad. I don't even know me. He knows me. What I'm capable
of. Matthew 23 verse 5. He says,
All their works they do to be seen of men. See that? All they do to be seen of men. That's hypocrisy. That's putting
on a show. Acting apart. Look at me. God's people You know, God's
people aren't hypocrites. If we do hypocritical things,
it's time we act and do things hypocritically. But God's people
are not hypocrites. It's real. Christ in them is
very real. They're not playing a part. Christ
is in them, the new person. All right, look at verse 5. He
says, They make broad their phylacteries, and large the borders of their
garments. Do you know what phylacteries are? Well, phylacteries, and
men are still wearing them. Men and women are still wearing
them. They make broad, their phylacteries. Phylacteries were
little leather cases or pouches that, you know, the Lord said,
let the Word of God be as a frontlet to your eyes and your hands. meaning the word of God have
it on your mind and your heart, may your hands be governed by
that. Well, the Pharisees memorized scriptures and put them in these
little boxes, literally, put them in these little leather
boxes and wore them on their head for everybody to see, look
at all the scriptures I've memorized. And the more scriptures I've
memorized, the bigger were their phylactery and on their wrists. What do men and women do today? Well, they put them on their
bumpers. Bumper stickers. They put them on their t-shirts.
They're not boasting in the Lord. They're not glorifying the Lord.
They're glorifying themselves. It's just a show. God doesn't
look at your t-shirt. He looks at your heart. So, see they're trusting in their
religion, they're not trusting in Jesus Christ. So, this is
hypocrisy. Acting, pretending, doing what
you do to be seen, to put on a show. And our Lord said this
of nearly everybody. He said, this people, well did
Isaiah say of this people, this people draw near unto me with
their lips. Singing. And their hearts are
fired from it. God looks on the heart. And all
this religion today is such hypocrisy, such hypocrisy. One time, Brother
Barnard, you know, he was John the Baptist, and the Lord sent
him to just tear people up, to kill their religion. kill their
God and expose their hypocrisy, and he did. And he was preaching
in some big Southern Baptist place one day, and this young
lady got up to sing a special... And you know how they do it.
They got to get out from behind the pulpit, and they're singing
like this, and they're rolling their eyes, and they're looking
toward heaven. All religion does that today. Why? Look how spiritual
I am. Oh, she loves the Lord. Look
at her. We're not here to talk about our love for Him. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be a bloody sacrifice. Now that's lower. Let's love.
Let's not talk about any love but that. Right? Of course, that
woman, that girl was doing this, you know, and Barnard got up
after she sang, she said, that was nothing but the flesh. You know, her mama, yeah, I'll
kill that preacher. That's all it is? And he said
it like it was. Well, the Lord used that man
like John the Baptist. Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites,
bring forth fruit and meat for repentance. He went on and on,
didn't he, John? The people that came to him, a bunch of hypocrites. All of God's people, let me keep
reiterating this, keep repeating this until the day I die. Nobody
gets to glory. Nobody's accepted by God. Nobody. Nobody's loved by God but those
that love Jesus Christ. Those that trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those that look to Christ and
Christ alone. Those that know that they're
sinners deserving of hell and the only reason they'll get to
heaven is because Christ took them there. That's it. One person in glory. Not one. I'll tell you who is in heaven.
Mary Magdalene. Rahab the harlot. The thief on
the cross. Shall I keep going? Paul Mahan. No good sinners saved by the
grace of God. No leaven. No leaven. God said, I don't want to see
one, not one molecule of leaven in you. Get it out. Alright, there's a leaven of
malice. 1 Corinthians 5. Paul talks about it. Leaven of
malice, anger, ill will, bitterness. 1 Corinthians 5. Oh, people,
we need purge, don't we? Self-righteousness, hypocrisy,
and this malice. 1 Corinthians 5. A little bit
of malice, a little bit of anger, a little bit of ill will, a little
bit of bitterness will leaven the whole lot. A little bit of bitterness, our
Lord said, beware of bitterness, root of bitterness, just a root
of bitterness will spring up and trouble you, fill you full
of trouble, and whereby many are defiled, everybody around
you is infected by bitterness. When we come in here, and this
was all about the worship service, remember? Seven days, come in
here with 11, don't eat 11. When we come in here, what right
does any person in here have to be bitter, to have malice,
to have ill will about anything? The fact that we're here is infinite
mercy and grace. We don't deserve to hear what
we're hearing right now. People all over the world are
not hearing this, and not going to hear it. God's not going to
have them hear it. It's going to harden their heart like paper.
Millions of people. And here we are, this little
group. And we're here and we've been
warned about 11. We've been warned about it. And we're in here to
worship the Lord. Don't come in here if you're
mad at anybody. What right do we have to be mad
at anybody about anything? If we're going to be mad, let
us be mad at ourselves. This will fill us up. Can a believer in Christ, a sinner
saved by grace, get mad at someone and take it out on God? Happens all the time. Get mad
at the preacher and the people and quit worshipping God. happens all the time, especially
the preacher. You get mad at the preacher, and that's Satan's
chief ploy to get you mad at the preacher. You won't hear
a word he says, though it's the truth, though it's God's Word.
You won't hear a word he says. You'll get mad, and you'll quit.
You'll leave the gospel, you'll leave the worship of Christ,
and you'll leave all these people you say you loved. A little leaven
will fill you up, and you're gone. Get rid of it. First Corinthians 5, look at
verse 8. Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither
with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened
bread. Here it is, not of hypocrisy,
but sincerity and truth. Christ is the truth. Unleavened
bread. Oh, my. You know, the sons of
Jacob. Sons of Jacob. Israel. Were they
a nice bunch of people? Did they deserve for the Lord
to save them and bring them into promised land? They were better
than the Egyptians, weren't they? No, because of what they knew
and what God did for them and how they sinned against God,
they were worse. All right? They started murmuring and complaining
in their tents. They had tents. They had food.
They had rain, but they had tents. And God, in great mercy and love
and grace, just, you know, gave them all the... They didn't work
for 40 years. They didn't hit a lick for 40
years. And God provided for them. The
shoes didn't wear out. The clothes didn't wear out.
And He gave them water out of the rock and bread from heaven.
What are they doing in their house? I don't like that Moses.
That Moses. That's what they all did. That's what happened. And they
were filled with it. And God said, OK. None of you over 20 are going
into the promised land. That's how serious it is. That's how this root of malice
and bitterness and anger and ill will, that's what it'll do
to them. Moses was a man, wasn't it? Sent or saved by grace. Is he
faulty? Are you? You should admit. Have you ever done anything that
people should get mad at you about? You ever said anything? Try standing
up here for, you know, hours and hours and hours and not say
something that you won't fence up. Try that. And Moses said, I don't want
to talk. Put my hand over my mouth. Somebody's got to. Well, that's what they did. He's
sorry sons of Jacob. Malice of, leaven of malice. And look at
verse 8, here's the last point. Leaven of wickedness. What is
that? Any sin, all sin. A little leaven, a leaven whole
lot. One sin. Is that not right? It's just a little sin, a little
leaven. Satan said that to Eve in the
garden. It's just a little piece of fruit. It doesn't matter. It's just
one little thing. What's that going to hurt? Oh,
my. Leaven disorder. Satan said that
to David. He's on his roof. He should have
been out fighting. He was being lazy and lying on
his roof. Sorry, chambering and wantonness
like the scriptures warned us about. You're lying around. And
Satan said to him, just one little look. Just one little lust of
the eyes and lust of the flesh. It won't hurt much. Indulge this
one little lust and it'll be all right. Trust Christ. What happened? There's no such thing as a little
sin. There's no such thing. I know some men that won't press
this point. I dare not not press this point. A little leaven. Look at James
chapter 1. James chapter 1. A little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump. Hmm. James chapter 1. Look at verse 12. James 1 verse
12. Blessed is the man that endureth
temptations. When he's tried, he'll receive
the crown of life. Now every one of us go through
temptation. Don't we? Every single one of
God's people is tempted. Jesus Christ was. Our Lord was
tempted at all points. He's holy, wasn't he? Without
sin. But we're tempted at all points,
aren't we? Our Lord said, pray that... Now,
here's the difference. And blessed are those that are
tempted. Sin's not a temptation to the world. It's a life. It's what they go after. You
know, temptation is something. Look, you want this, don't you? Robert, I can't have it. No,
no. You're tempted. You're being
allured by it. That's temptation. That's not temptation to the
world. It's what they live for. That's what Romans 6 talks about,
those things. When you lived in them, you lived
for them, you went after them. See, with all the gusto you can
get, What are temptations? It's your love, your long, your
life, death. Well, a little leavened up. Look at James 1 verse 12. It
says, Blessed is a man who endures temptation. If sin is just temptation
to you, you're blessed because God, the law is written on your
heart, the Holy Spirit's leading you and guiding you and convicting
you of what? What's the first thing to convict
you of? Sin. The world has no consciousness of sin. Sin doesn't
bother them. They love it. There's no right.
Did you read the article? No king in Israel, so everybody
did that which was right in their own. There's nobody to answer
to. There's no sin. It's okay. Everything's okay. No, it's not. No, it's not a
little letter. Well, look, read on. But our
Lord said pray that you don't enter into temptation. Pray that you don't fall to it. Pray that you don't... Grabbed
that forbidden fruit. It was a little lemon. Look at
verse 12. He said, That man will receive
the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them, all
that are tempted, and trust Christ, and delivers us from temptation.
The Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptation. He
knows how. How? That's my last point. How? You're
all anxious to hear how. All right, verse 13. Let no man
say he is tempted. I'm tempted of God. God cannot
be tempted with evil. Neither tempteth he any man.
But he allows Satan to do it, doesn't he? He allowed Satan
to do it to Adam and Eve, didn't he? Didn't he? It wouldn't happen. And all God's people are tempted,
and he allows these things. But every man is tempted, he's
drawn away of his own lust, you see that, and enticed, enticed.
When lust hath conceived, how much lust? Just a little bit. He bringeth forth sin. And sin,
when it is finished, if it fills you up, death. That's how serious it
is. That's just a little, little,
You know, Lot wanted to go into that little city, remember? It's
just a little city, let me go in there. I'm destroying it too.
I'll destroy them all. Well, how is leaven removed? How? How do we resist temptation? How do we keep from being self-righteous?
How do we How do we keep from being hypocritical? How do we
keep from being angry and full of bitterness? How? How? How?
Well, number one, prayer. When our Lord said to his disciples,
and he said this to his disciples, without me, you can do nothing. What do you mean by nothing,
Patrick? Give me one word for what nothing
means. Nothing. Nothing means nothing. Nothing. All means what? All. Christ is all. You and I are nothing. We can't
do nothing. We can't think anything. We can't
resist one sin. One look. One look. We can't do it. We can't keep
ourselves humble. We can't do it. We're human beings. Now, prayer is not an act. That's
what the Pharisees did. They loved to be seen praying.
Look at him. He's praying. Don't let anybody
see you praying. That's hypocrisy. That's living.
Didn't he say that? They loved to be seen praying.
Don't you do it. He said, get in your closet.
You're not praying to be seen. You're praying to the Lord to
hear you. And why are you praying to the
Lord? Why are you praying anyway? Because without Him, you can
do nothing. You're calling on Him. Call on Him. He said, every
present help in time of trouble. When's that? Every day. We sing
that song every hour of every day. Every hour of every day.
I'm leaning on Him. I need Him. Without me, you can
do nothing. Well, He said, I'm a very present.
Just call. Are you tempted? Every day, every hour. You wake
up. As soon as you wake up, what
happens? You start being assaulted. Satan
knows. He knows who doesn't belong to
him. He starts assaulting you. With what? Malice, evil, lust
as flesh, lusty eyes, all in all it goes. Help! Be like a
baby lying in the crib. Wah! Help me! Come get me. Hold me. Keep me. Mortification. How's living removed? Mortification. That means kill.
Kill something. Kill it. Kill it. You know, if
you want something to grow, what do you do? Feed it. You want your new man to grow?
Desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.
That's one of my last points. All right? If you want sin to
grow, what do you do? Feed it. Feed the flesh. Just fill it full of everything
you see and just don't hold anything back. You don't want it to grow?
Kill it. Starve it. Stave it off. And you know, really, there's
only one way to truly kill it and nip it in the bud right now.
It's to see that Christ died for that sin. Every single sin we commit, Christ
had to suffer on that cross for it. Every single one. If we stop
and think, my Lord, shall I indulge this when my Lord took that sin
in his body on the tree and died? That's mortification in it. It's
the only way, really. You see, Christ, how could I
live in this when you died because of it? Christ died for our sins, and
sins won't die any other way. And then lastly, how has leaven
removed their means? The Lord's given us prayer, calling
on the Lord. And again, it's not an act. It's
just asking the Lord for help. The Word of God. We talked about,
you know, faith. It comes by hearing, a hearing
by the Word of God. It's the Word of God. And you
hear more, you wouldn't be convicted by sin as you are right now. You wouldn't be impressed upon
the need to purge out the leaven as you are right now if you hadn't
come here and heard this. This is the means that God uses
to help God's people. In this world of temptation,
this is it. People come together and the
Lord is giving a man a message from his word. And you wouldn't
have gotten this on your own. You just wouldn't. Reading is
vital, it's important, but this is more so. The eunuch said,
how can I? Except some men guide me, lead
me, teach me. Cornelius was a brilliant man.
He said, come tell us what God's told you to tell us. So this
means there's nothing that takes the place of this. This is Bible.
And we go in the strength of this meat for several days. It
gives us a double portion. You don't have to gather it.
You just come eat it. Reading, only God's Word, only God's Word
will purge us. Only God's Word will wash us.
Only God's Word, and again, it's the voice of God, convicting,
convincing, reproving, rebuking, washing you, cleaning you, blood
of Christ, the Word of God. It's the only thing, the Word
of God. All your resolve, all your trying, all your, it won't
do that. So our Lord says, purge it out.
Purge it out. Call on him. Mortification. The
means he's given us. Purge out self-righteousness,
pride, malice, hypocrisy. Purge it out. Christ our Passover,
he said, was sacrificed for. Remember that. That'll purge
it out. Okay.