Well, let's go ahead, yeah. If
you'd like to follow along, please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
five. 1 Corinthians chapter five. And I'm just gonna read for a
text to start in verses six and verse seven. Well, I actually
have to read verse eight, because that finishes out the sentence.
1 Corinthians chapter five and
verse six. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven
that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ
our Passover is sacrifice for us. Therefore let us keep the
feast not with the old leaven neither with a leaven of malice
and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth
That's the title of this one Paul's called a little leaven
I Will warn you I Got nothing new today. I got the same old
story And that story is this Jesus Christ is right and everybody
else is wrong. And he can put anything else
you want to in the middle there, but as long as it's this, Jesus
Christ is right and man is wrong. So, we speak of sin correctly
using this expression. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. Because that's what leaven is
a picture of, a type of, in the scripture, is sin. But today I do want to try and
go into a couple of categories and specific things where Paul
used this expression in two different places for two different types
of sin. There's no difference between
the two because sin is sin. I want to make that clear. but
we've got all kinds of sins. But leaven, I said, is a type,
a picture of sin or evil, and it starts in the Old Testament.
Look at the, I'm not gonna look at it, but just remember the
Passover. It's in Exodus 12, if you wanna
look it up later. There was to be no leaven in
the house. in the house, don't worry about
your food yet, but not even in your house the week before the
Passover. Why is that? Because leaven is a type of sin. And there was supposed to be
only unleavened bread eaten that whole week. That's where we get
into what you eat. But it's not even supposed to
be in your house. And if somebody ate it, that week of the Passover,
This is in Exodus 12. You know what happened if you
wasn't in a house covered by the blood over the door and the
lentils? The firstborn died. And if you ate leavened bread
that week, you were cast out. Why? Because sin has no place
in the Passover. Leaven has no place in the Passover. People have this odd idea that
God just makes up these rules for no reason. No, he's got a
reason, you just don't know what it is. We don't know what it
is. Why'd I say? Jesus Christ is
right, and we're wrong. No leaven was to be eaten before
the Passover. Now, why was leaven forbidden? Well, A, it's a picture of sin,
and here's this part. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. You can't just have one with
11. You can't. Because if it touches a lump,
it's gonna change that lump. That's the illustration. That's
what Paul the Apostle used here. In Leviticus chapter two, I'm
just gonna read that, because I don't wanna talk about it wrong.
It tells us this. Verse four, and if thou bring
an oblation of a meat offering. Now, this is one of those strange
things in the scriptures. I don't know exactly why it is.
It's literally a meal offering. It's flour and oil. But the scripture
calls it a meat offering. That's what it calls it. Why?
Because Jesus Christ is the bread of God. He's the bread that came
down from heaven. and his body is meat indeed.
That's why we use bread at the Lord's table. Now, a meat offering,
if thou bring an oblation, an offering, of a meat offering,
bacon in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour
mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And if thy oblation be a meat
offering baked in a pan, bacon in a pan, it shall be of fine
flour, unleavened mingled with oil Thou shalt part it in pieces
and pour all there on it is a meat offering Then in verse 11, he
says this No meat offering None, not one which he shall bring
unto the Lord shall be made with leaven For ye shall burn no leaven
nor any honey any any any offering of the Lord made by fire No leaven in any offering to
the Lord made by fire Now I'm not going to go into it but all
of these offerings in the Old Testament made by fire or otherwise
are pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there was no leaven
in him that came from him. Leaven is unfit for any sacrifice
or offering unto the Lord. Because leaven in any type or
form is unholy to the Lord. Leaven is a type of sin. Now,
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with yeast, physically. You don't have to eat unleavened
bread all the time. But this is when it's talking
about being offered to God. That's what it was talking of
in the Old Testament, and that's what Paul's dealing with here
in the New Testament. Let me get back to that. Because
this first statement, the first time this, a little 11 is 11,
it's a whole lump. The first time this is used,
Walter, I don't know how to put this. This first statement that
Paul used is referencing, of course, chapter five, verses
one through four, okay? It's referencing, I don't know
any other way to put it, just plain sin. I mean, it's just
plain sin. If you want to, I can quote that
eminent American philosopher, Dusty Rhodes, and say, it's just
wrong. It's wrong. Well, you look in
verse one, it says, it is reported, what, commonly, that there is
fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much
as named among the Gentile. The Gentiles don't do this stuff.
And he's talking about heathen Gentiles, unbelieving Gentiles. that one should have, what, his
father's wife. And Walter talked about this
the last week or two. Reuben took his father's concubine. It was sin then, it's sin now. And that's all it, this is just
plain sin. But what does Paul tell these
Corinthians? He told them, this is a sin even
a heathen won't do. And to make matters worse, they
were puffed up. They weren't even ashamed. They
weren't ashamed of this. What is it? And ye are puffed
up, verse two, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done
this deed might be taken away from among you. Paul said, though I'm absent
in the body, I'm gonna write you this letter. Because this
is wrong. It's sin. It's a little leaven,
it's a big leaven, but it leavens the whole lump. It affects everything. Sin affects everything. Now,
particularly in this case, public sin and publicly known sin. As I want to be clear, very clear,
Paul is not saying that sinners can't come to church. He's not
saying that. But he's saying you can't have
an open sin. And they said, all the people
that write on this stuff, the commentators talk about this
fella being possibly an elder in the church. I don't know,
and it doesn't matter. It's commonly reported. The Gentiles
are talking about this and therefore, because of this, the name of
God is blasphemy. It's spoken evil of. Because
of this. They're not talking about you
people believe Christ, they're talking about you got this guy
over here. You're taking away the attention from Christ and
putting it where it shouldn't be. and you're puffed up about
it. You're not even asking for a
correction. I mean I understand if you ask for one and you didn't
get one, okay. But at least ask for one. And
that's what Paul's talking about. Then here's one point I'll tell
you right now. Glorying in anything, being puffed up in anything or
anyone who is not God is sin. Period. What's that mean? I don't need
you to defend me as a person. If you wanna stand for me and
stand for Walter as people who preach the gospel of God, as
preachers, that's fine. But I don't, like I said, I'm
just a sinner who sins just like everyone else. But Paul makes
this clear. He's not talking about keeping
sinners out of the church, because there's no way We're sinners. And we are sinners who sin. But by God's grace, we're not
sinners who sin and glory in it. And get puffed up about it. What's he say? Look at chapter
six and verse nine of First Corinthians. Chapter six, verse nine. Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And I got
me a brand new Bible, folks, and I wrote out beside that,
those two verses, the word litany. Because that's a litany of sins.
But Paul adds this, and here's the point, and such were. Some
of you. Such were some of you. What? But ye are washed. But ye are
sanctified. But ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Now, can they
be washed and sanctified and justified by the Spirit of God
and be puffed up? Yeah. Yeah, we can. We're that unholy, folks, still.
Our flesh is still flesh. But this is the point, just because
we can, don't mean we should. Paul goes on, all things are
lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought under the power of any. What's he say in verse seven?
Your glorying's not good, know that. Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump? What are you supposed to do?
Purge out the old leaven. What are we to do with leaven?
Put it out. Put it out. Don't keep it, don't
look at it, don't taste it, and don't glory in it. Get rid of
the sin known to be among you. Paul says, deliver such a one
unto Satan for destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Get rid of the sin known to be
among you and, this is me, not Paul necessarily, don't bring
any more in, okay? I said it a couple weeks ago.
Your children are God. Act like it. Act like it. Why? For even Christ, our Passover,
our Passover who had no leaven. Not even a little. Not even a
little. Not even a smidge. But our Passover
is sacrifice for us. There is no leaven in the Passover,
none. because right here is shown a
blatant, open sin among the congregation at Corinth. This sin was commonly
known, reported commonly among the unbelievers, and this sin
was accepted in the assembly. And that's leaven. That's what
Paul calls it. That's a little leaven, you know? This ain't the end of the world.
This is not going to affect your salvation if you believe Christ.
But it's not good for you, and it's not good for the assembly.
And it's not, here's the point, it is not glorying to God. Paul writes of it as leaven,
and leaven is sin. Sinners we are, sinners we shall
be, until we awaken his likeness, and sin we will do. But don't
glory in it, don't be puffed up in it, because a little leaven
leavens a whole lump, because that one little thing, wasn't
all that little, but still, that can lead to a whole slew of other
things. Because I'm gonna tell you right
now, the world wants this assembly to accept darn near everything. and I'm not gonna do it. And
we ought not to do it as an assembly. Now, I will accept perfectly
as well as I can that such were some of you, because such was
one as I. I'm no better than anyone else.
I am what I am by the grace of God, but that's only the good
stuff. The rest of it, you can blame
on me. It's in there, and sometimes,
unfortunately, it's got to come out, and if it does, I apologize
if I can, if I notice. Oh, you mean you can sin without
noticing? All the time, brother, all the time. That's the first instance, just
plain sin, okay? Here's the second instance. If
you would, turn to Galatians chapter five. This is the second instance where
Paul uses this phrase. He uses it in verse nine of Galatians
chapter five. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. Well let me reverse seven here
just to start. Ye did run well. Who did hinder you? That you
should not obey The truth. This persuasion cometh not of
him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. Because the second instance that
Paul used this phrase deals with this. It's a little different,
but it's no, no, no, no, less deadly if not more. Is religion. Understand, religion can be sin. What? Are you people crazy? Well, maybe, but that's got nothing
to do with the truth of God. You understand? This is what
he's talking about. Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth? How are these Galatians being
brought to disobey the truth of God? These are believers we're
talking about, okay? Believers. They were being taught. by who they call or what they
call Judaizers. Jewish supposed believers. We're
trying to teach them and we're teaching them to follow a part
of the law of Moses. For salvation. For salvation. And in particular, in this instance,
one of Paul's pet peeves, circumcision. Paul, like I said a few weeks
ago, Paul talked more about circumcision than anybody else in the New
Testament. You know why? Because it was
near and dear his heart. It was in that message he heard.
I'm not going into that. They were being taught that it
was necessary to be circumcised for the salvation of their souls.
And that, my gentlemen, that's a lie. That's a lie. Circumcision is not necessary
for salvation. I don't care if you're Jewish
or not. Circumcision is not necessary for salvation. It was required
by the law in the Old Testament. But I'm gonna tell you this,
right here up front, we are freed from the law of sin and death. How? In Christ. By Christ, and
in Christ, we are freed from the law. He is the end of the
law, Wait for it, for righteousness. He's our righteousness, we don't
need the law for righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Now if you don't believe, he
ain't the end of the law for righteousness for you. I'm gonna
tell you this, the law's still not gonna do you any good because
you can't keep it. He says it right here, if you
keep a part of it, you gotta keep it all. And you can't even
keep a part of it, let's be honest about it, folks. My goodness. Circumcision, Paul says it, what? For in Jesus Christ, neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith. Faith, and not only just faith,
he describes it. Which worketh by love. Not your
love, his. Not your faith, his. He's the
author and the finisher of it, and he's the giver of it. And
guess what? That's love. That's love, wherewith
he loved us. And gave himself for us, and
he made and finished the faith of God's elect, and he gives
it to every single child of God, and you know what you're gonna
do? You're gonna believe the gospel. You're gonna believe
him. You're gonna believe God. You're
gonna believe me, talking about Levin. You're gonna believe Walter,
preaching in Genesis. You're gonna believe the gospel,
however it's preached, and wherever it's preached, as long as it
is the gospel that is preached. And you know what? Rejoice. That's
a gift of God. But what does Paul mean by this?
A little leaven leavens a whole lump. Okay. Here's the thing. This is where the rubber meets
the road, folks. Religious works for salvation
are sin. Religious works for salvation
are sin. Oh, well, I won't be circumcised. That's got nothing to do with
it. Because it's not just that. I'll say it even stronger. All
religious works for salvation are sin. It doesn't matter what
they are. You understand, a little leaven
leavens a whole lump, whether it's just plain sin or it's just
plain religion. Now isn't that a strange thing?
This is the two instances that phrase is used in this Bible.
And you know what? It covers the whole gamut of
sin. Sin when you know exactly that
it is sin, and sin when you might think it's a good work. Now isn't
that something? I mean, this is what kind of
hit me when I was looking at this, because I wanted to preach
on 11. I don't know why, you get these things in your head
sometimes. And I looked at it, and I said, well I know he says
it somewhere else. And I looked at it, and then I looked and
there are two different things he's talking about. I mean from rank,
heathen, whatever, sin, to Jewish law. What? performing the Jewish law now
for salvation is sin. It's sin. Because it is not glorifying
to Christ who fulfilled all of the Jewish law. All of Jesus'
law, because it's his. It's not good English, but it's
his. It's his law, he gave it. They
talk about Moses gave the law. No, Moses was given the law on
Sinai by Jesus Christ. Because anyone who's ever heard
God speak in this Old Testament heard the voice of Jesus Christ
because he is the voice of God. There is none else. Not in dealings
with men, there is none else. No, I won't be circumcised, okay,
okay. All religious works for salvation
are sin. So, are you sure about that? Oh yeah, I'm sure. But you guys
baptize. Yeah, we do. Yes, we do. But
not for salvation. You understand, we call it, try
to call it, believer's baptism. for a reason, because you only
baptize believers. Now, you wanna go baptizing babies,
you wanna call it, you wanna call it baptizing, you wanna
call it christening. I'm gonna tell you this, it's a sin. You're against Catholics. No,
I'm against Catholicism, and there's some Catholics I may
not be fond of. Me and the Pope don't see eye to eye. but I don't
think it bothers him, so why should it bother me? Any religious work done for salvation
is a sin. It's leaven, and it will affect
the whole lump. Just a little bit, just a little
bit. Look at the mess we've got now.
What about the Lord's table? Yes, we do that. Yes, we do,
but not for salvation. We do many, many things because
we are saved. Because I am saved, I do many
things. We assemble because we're saved. But not for salvation. Don't
forsake the assembling of yourselves together. If you can get together
with the people of God, do so. Try and make sure it's a place
where the gospel's preached. I'll point at the television
while I'm doing that. We usually ignore that thing, but it's there.
Because this is what you get when you're here. And this is
what you get on television. We're not playing to the television,
but I know it's there. But I'm not gonna say anything
any different here than I say there. Because the truth of God
is the truth of God. We assemble, we sing, we pray,
we preach the gospel. We give money. We baptize, we take the Lord's
table. We have Bible meetings. We have
scripture readings. We study the scripture. Why?
Because we are saved. Not in order to be saved. And I'm gonna tell you something,
that makes a world of difference, folks. Because that makes a difference
between you and the world. They're willing to do a lot of
these things if it gets them something. If it gets them in,
it gets them out of hell. Paul says that's livin'. That's
livin'. We are to obey the truth. Why? Because we are saved. Not in
order to be saved. It's unto obedience. Salvation
is, election is, excuse me. It's unto obedience. You are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto Good works. Which he hath ordained that you
are going to walk in them. And you're gonna like them. You
may not be real good at them, but you're gonna like them. You'd
like to do more. You'd like to do better. I know I would. Am I against religion? Well,
yes and no. I am certainly against organized
religious rituals. And regimented services. Doesn't
that look really good when people are on TV and they sit down and
they stand up together and then they kneel and then they stand
up together and they all chant together. Well that's not what
this book teaches you to do. This book says we are to preach
the gospel. Now you can stand up for it,
you can sit down for it. I don't care, whatever you guys do. But
the gospel better be preached. Or it's not glory unto God. Because these organized religious
rituals and regimented services, they dishonor God and Christ
Jesus our Lord. I'm not against true religion.
And it's a shame you have to say it that way. Because there's
a difference between the religion of this world and the religion
of this book. And here it is, Paul's telling
us. What the world sees as good works,
even if they see it as religious good works, are leaven in the
offering to the Lord by fire. A little leaven leavens a whole
lot. You don't just end up with a little error. I mean, if you
know anything about the scriptures and you know anything about the
religions around us, okay? I was born and raised Catholic.
I know a lot about it. I used to do that stuff. Now,
I didn't do it for salvation. I did it to keep my mom off my
back. I'll be honest about it, folks. But I did it, it's habit,
I did it since I was this way little. They used to hit me if
I talked too much in church. Now I come here and get to talk
all the time. And I'll tell you this, when
I was this small, I had no idea I was gonna be standing behind
this desk. Matter of fact, you go back about 15 years, I had
no idea I was gonna be standing behind this desk doing this. Plato put it this way. I just
found this out yesterday. I was reading it in something
else. He gives a cave illustration, okay? Imagine a bunch of people
that are in a cave, okay? And they are chained, and they
can only look in this one direction. Or in this way, I'll point at
the TV. It's this direction, okay? That's the only way they
can see. And behind them is a light. And because of the light, a fire
flickers. you get shadows. And all you
can see, because you can't turn your head, you don't know there's
a light behind you, you don't know nothing, all you can see are
the shadows. And if people wander around back
there in those shadows, all these people who cannot look
anywhere else, all they're gonna know is shadows. Okay? Now, The reason all they know
are shadows is because they don't know about the light. Now that's
not the point Plato was making, but that's the one I'm making. That's right, when there's better
illustrations made, I'm gonna steal them. And he's been dead
2,300 years, so he won't care. But that's the thing. This is
what the world knows. All they know is the shadows.
And I'm gonna tell you this, the religious world only knows
the religious shadows. They don't know the light. They
don't know the light. And some of those are true shadows.
Like Levitin in the Old Testament, the Passover, those sacrifices
that hold Tabernacle from the bottom of the ground all the
way up to the top. And the badger skin outside and
that white fence all around it. You know that white fence kept
some people in and kept some people out. That's what fences
do. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
also the door. And my door keeps some people
in and it keeps some people out. I don't think his door's any
different. He lets in who he wants and he keeps out who he
wants. False religion has begotten more
false religion. Now, is that more false religions
or just more false in the religions? Ooh, yes. I love those questions,
I do, I can't help it. It tickles me. Because I'm gonna
tell you something, the Catholic Church didn't start out the way
it was. They've added on, year upon year, year upon year, century
upon century. And they've suppressed other
people who believe the truth as much as they could. Why? Because
they didn't believe their religious forms. And I'm gonna tell you
something, Presbyterians today ain't no better. Baptists today
are no better. And given the Church of Christ
required baptism for salvation, forget about it. Any religious duty or religious
form or religious ceremony or religious ritual that is necessary
for salvation is a sin just as much as sleeping with your father's wife. I mean,
that's just, it's not exactly the most pleasant subject in
the world, but that's where we are today. Paul is equating them
exactly the same. It doesn't matter whether it's
religious lie or just a plain old sin. They're the same thing. What did Jesus Christ say? I'm
gonna quit with this. And I went past it. What did
Jesus Christ say? Matthew 16, excuse me, in verse
six. Then Jesus said unto them, take
heed and beware. What? Of the leaven of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. That's religious people. Now,
the disciples didn't get it. Guess what? We ain't no badder,
folks, trust me. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, it's because we brought no bread. We've taken no bread. You understand? The Lord of light
was talking right to them, and it just went right over their
heads. That's the way it does. When you're looking at it through
the flesh, that's the way it does. But look down at verse
12. Then understood they how he bade them not beware of the
leaven of bread, but of the doctrine. Of the doctrine of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees. Religion is your enemy, folks. This world's religions, Jewish
religion, is your enemy. And it's the enemy
of God. It's the enemy of Christ. The
Pharisees and the Sadducees were the ones trying to kill him.
Why? Because he was talking about
their religion. And he said their religion was
leaven, and a little leaven leavens a whole lump. Instead of doing
the works of Abraham, they're out there blowing their own horn
while they give an alms to the poor. They had the little scrolls
above their head. They weren't studying the word
of God. They pulled down a lampshade and showed what it was. There
it was in front of their eyes. Stupid stuff. I'm sorry, that's
what it is, folks. It's stupid stuff. God don't care. If you've got
a little piece of paper that pulls down in front of your eye,
he knows whether you gave an alm or not, whether you blow
a horn and tell everybody or not. What Christ say about them
guys, they've got their reward right there. That's all they're
gonna get. It ain't gonna contribute to
their salvation, not once. Sin in any form is unholy to
God. Religious or just plain sin.
What's it say? Purge it out. Get rid of it,
whether it's human or religious, put it out. And leave it out. Leave it out. The Lord, our God, I'm gonna
read you something here. I got an email from Moose Parks
this week, and he had a song in there that he had wrote. This
is the first verse. It says, behold my substitute
on Calvary. God did my sin impute. I'm not gonna go into that. There
on a tree, because here's what he says next. God did my sin
impute there on a tree. God made him to be sin, though
he had none within. He died for worst of men on Calvary. You understand? There's no leaven
in him. Don't be bringing any leaven into his assembly. Because
this is not our assembly, this is his. You understand? We're not in charge here, Walter.
He is. He is. And when we're gathered
together, he's in our midst. Don't be bringing any leaven
in. Because all leaven does is make more leaven. and it can affect the whole lump. It will affect the whole lump.
Because we need Jesus Christ and him alone. He is our salvation. I didn't say this last week.
I thought about it and I missed it and I wrote it down and didn't
say it. Call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins. You understand? He is our salvation. He shall save. He's our salvation. It's his salvation. Am I against religion? Yeah,
mostly. And I worry about my own sometimes
because it might be mine and not his. I am against sin. Now most religious people will
be against sin. Unfortunately, they love religious
error and heresy. Say it this way. I am for Christ. Therefore, I am against sin and
religious sin. Doesn't matter. There's no difference
between the two. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. So the best way to be is without
it as much as you can. Our Heavenly Father, Most of
all thankful for this time and this place. Most of all thankful
for you, Lord. You who are without sin came
and gave yourself for us, took our sin away, purged us, washed
us, cleansed us because you redeemed us with your precious blood.
Be with Walter as he comes to preach your gospel. And Lord,
help us as we walk in this world. In Christ's name we pray.