I want to be unleavened in my
heart. Sincere. We'll see that at the
end of this. Sincerity. Sincerity. Let's go back to Exodus chapter
12. In my readings this past week, I was looking at this again. Went over this. a long chapter,
and this stood out to me, this leavened and unleavened bread. And I want us to look at it this
morning. In verse 15 and 19, it says,
if anyone eats leavened bread during that seven-day period,
if anyone eats leavened bread If it is found in the house,
it's found in the house, that person would be cut off from
Israel. Excommunicated, or it may mean
that they would be put to death. But they would be cut off. Now,
how serious is that? When I read that, I thought,
that's so serious. That's so serious. And I thought,
as I read this, I thought, you know, they may have, a person
may have gone in and they may have chose the lamb and killed
the lamb and put the blood on the door. But they ate the leavened and
not the unleavened. And it destroyed everything.
It destroyed everything. What I see here is this getting
rid of the leaven and not eating of it shows a real act of faith. And faith shows a real work of
regeneration of a new man, of a new person being created of
God. Not to have gotten rid of it
and to have eaten of it shows one thing. They don't believe
God. They just went through a ritual. They just went through the motions.
But there was no real work of grace done in them. So what is
leaven? Now, leaven in and of itself,
we know this, it's just, it's yeast. There's nothing intrinsically
evil about yeast. Sourdough. It is a fungus caused by fermentation. That's what it is. It's dough. It's a mixture. I've got an article that I've
read. It's a mixture of some ingredients. I'm not going to
try to remember those ingredients because I'm not going to use
it. But it's a mixture of ingredients and it's left aside, set aside,
and it ferments. It sours. The old timer said
it corrupted. It corrupted. And then they would
take that leaven or yeast, as we would call it, and they would
put it in bread. And I thought this was interesting. Back in that day, they would
take a lump, just a little lump of leaven, and they would hold
it over for the next day's baking. See, they'd bake their bread,
but they'd take a little piece of that dough and they'd set
it aside. So that when they were going to make bread the next
day, they would put it in that bread, and it would just go on
and on. And I thought, well, when I read
that, I thought, there is nothing of the old put into the new.
Nothing of the old put into the new, in any way, shape, or form. But that's what they would do.
And they would do it for this purpose. It causes bread to rise. That's what it does. It causes
bread to rise. You put a little lemon, a little
yeast in the dough, and you set it aside, and you wait for it
to rise. Here's another good term. Puff
up. Puff up. That's what sin does. That's what a little sin does.
A little sin. It causes us to puff up. And then it works secretly. You
cannot see it working. You see the effects of it working, but it works secretly. And over
a period of time, they said back then it was like a 24-hour period,
that bread, that dough that they had flattened out is puffed up,
raised. Someone said this, Levin, spiritually
speaking, spiritually, the spiritual connection here, Leaven is any
influence working silently and strongly to change or influence
opinions or things. That's the spiritual implication
of a little leaven leavening the whole lot. Now, how concerned should an
Israelite be over this leaven? How concerned? I would say they
should be extremely concerned because it says if they eat it
during this period, this time period, seven days, which is
the number of completion, they would be excommunicated.
They would be cut off. That sounds serious. As I read
that, I said, I believe you've got the point across. Now what is the spiritual application
of this leavened and unleavened to us? What is the spiritual
application? Because I have no doubt that
individuals and even congregations have been removed, the candlestick
has been removed because a little leaven leavened the whole lot.
Now, I'm not saying that the sheep ended up being lost. That
can never happen. No sheep could ever end up perishing
for whom the Lord died. But the candlestick, this is
how serious this is, the candlestick can be removed. It can be removed. Look over in Revelations chapter
2. I've got some scriptures I want
us to turn to this morning, it will give us a better understanding
of what this is. In Revelation chapter 2, look in verse 1. Until the angel of the church
of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labor,
and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are
evil. And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles,
and they are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and
hast patience. And for my name's sake hast labored,
and hast not fainted." My, what a glowing report. of the church
at Ephesus. There's no church there now that
I know of. I mean, I haven't heard of anything
being over there. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else
I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove the candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent." Something happened here. He gives them this glory report,
but there's something that took them away. And I guarantee you,
whatever it was, whatever took their attention, whatever took
their affections, whatever took their love away was so minute
in the beginning. It was so little in the beginning.
Don't think when little, little sins are, you know, they're not
that, they're just not that, not big a deal. That's what put
our Lord on the cross. I tell you what, sin with God
is sin. You see, we categorize sin. But
sin with God is sin. It all comes from the same root.
The same root. There's no difference. No difference. Now, in the scriptures, leaven
represents sin. And sin puffs up. Sin permeates. Listen. It permeates everything
it touches. It goes through everything, just
a little bit of it. Just a little bit of it will
permeate the whole body. It will permeate the whole body.
See, it opens the door and allows false doctrine. Gradually, gradually,
and before you know it, the whole lump is affected. It's all affected. It opens the door to insincerity.
It opens the door to dullness of hearing, lack of interest. Turn over to Matthew chapter
16. Let's start seeing the spiritual application here of this leaven. Now listen, in verse one, the
Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him
that he would show them a sign from heaven. And he answered
and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair
weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be
foul weather, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites,
ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye cannot discern the
signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it
but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed.
And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten
to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It is because we have taken no bread." At that time,
they didn't understand the spiritual application of this leaven and
unleaven, which when Jesus perceived, he said to them, O ye of little
faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because you have brought no bread?
Do you not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the
five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven
loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took
up? How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not
to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that
he made them not beware of the leaven of the bread. But the
doctrine, it's that slight twist, it's that adding to, or that
little, it's that little adding to, not a lot. See, they were
just taking a small piece of the dough of that day's baking
and setting it aside for tomorrow. And then when tomorrow came around,
they would inject it or put it into that lump that they were
getting ready to bake that bread, and it would cause it to rise.
And that lead would go throughout that whole loaf. And he's saying
here, beware of the false doctrine of the Pharisees. That's what
he's telling them. Beware of it. So here, level represents
false doctrine. When false doctrine is, listen,
when it's tolerated. Here's the problem. You know,
one time before that, they said this to the Lord. Don't you know
you offended the Pharisees? Well, so what? They need to be
offended. The apostles would not offend. Well, at the time, you know,
they were disciples following the Lord. They would not in any way,
shape or form offend the Pharisees. You know, let's not disturb them.
They're good people. They say some good things. They
do some good things. They uphold the law. You know,
they followed those Pharisees. They followed them. They were
the instructors. They were the rulers of Israel. But here it represents their
false doctrine. See, they set aside, the Scripture
teaches us here in the Gospel, they set aside the commandments
of men. or of God, the commandments of
God, and they kept the tradition of the elders and of the fathers.
And they just injected this little bit of leaven, just a little
bit of leaven into their head. And listen, this will permeate
the whole lot. False doctrine is always opposed
to salvation by grace alone and Christ alone. It's always opposed
to it. Turn over to Acts 14. I read
this this morning. Acts 14. And it came to pass in Iconium
that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews
and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also the
Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred
up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected. They injected a little bit of
leaven And they made their minds evil-affected against the brethren.
And it caused a great stir. It caused a great, great problem. Let me show you who these guys
are. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. This is how serious this is. Over 2 Corinthians chapter 11. You know, the disciples did not
want to offend. They did not want to offend the
Pharisees. But you know, the Lord said to
them, you're of your father, the devil. You're of your father, the devil.
Here's who they are. Here's how serious it is. Paul says in verse 13, for such
are false apostles. You know, they're an emphasis
I read to you. You prove them to be false apostles. Deceitful
workers. Transforming. That's what leaven
does. It transforms that bread. There's
that silent, secret, strong power going on that you can't see that's
making it puff up. Rives. Transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. trying to show themselves to
be the apostles of Christ. And no more before Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Did he not, in the
Garden of Eden, did he not take the Word of God,
hath not God said, and then he put a little twist on it. That's
all he did. He injected a little bit of leaven.
That's all he did. Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works." Oh, no, they're
not bad. They're good people. No. I'm going to tell you something. Only those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ are truly good people. The rest of the world lies in
wickedness. That's what the Bible teaches us. They're wolves in
sheep's clothing. They use gospel words such as
grace, mercy, righteousness, but here's what happens. They
change the meaning of these words ever so slightly, or they inject
a little leaven as they use these words. And they leavened the
whole lot. The whole lot. And throughout
the word of God, we are warned of these men and we will have
to contend with them until this world comes to an end. They never
go away. Never. And I want you to notice
something else. Over in turn over to Matthew
chapter 23. Now, don't think they're going to stand in a pulpit
and say, no, salvation is not all of grace. No, it's not. Even
the free willers will tell you it's of grace, and they'll tell
you it's according to your will. I mean, it's a mixture. It's
a leavening is what it is. It's a leavening. But listen,
it also has to do with what they leave out. Chapter 23, Matthew
23, verse 23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin And
have what? Omitted. It's not always what they're
saying it's what they're not saying. It's what they are omitting.
You have omitted the weightier matters of the law such as judgment
and mercy. Those Pharisees didn't talk to
them about mercy. No, no. And faith. These ought you to have done
and not to leave the other undone. Don't admit. Preach the gospel as it is. Preach
it as it is. And don't try to inject some
leaven in it. You'll leaven the whole message. That's what will happen. You'll
leaven the whole message. And then we read of the leaven of
the Sadducees. He spoke there of the leaven
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They denied the resurrection.
They were, as one writer said, materialists. They dealt with
just matter. just what was in front of them,
basically. They did not believe in the supernatural. And then,
turn over to Mark 8. Mark chapter 8. Look in verse 15, and he charged,
well let's go to verse 14. Now the disciples had forgotten
to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than
one loaf. They couldn't get past the bread part could they? The
material, they couldn't get past the material part. And he charged
them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the leaven of Herod. What is that? We know the leaven
of the Pharisees is false doctrine. We know the leaven of the Sadducees,
they deny the resurrection. They deny spirit. They just deal
with matter, the material realm. The leaven of Herod is this,
worldliness, giving to the world, friendship. You write this down. Scripture tells us, I believe
it's in 1 John, he that's a friend of the world is not a friend
of God. It's the friendship of the world,
it's worldliness. Now that doesn't mean that you
cannot own a nice home and drive a nice car. That has nothing
to do with worldliness. Worldliness is a spirit. It's
an attitude. It's going after the world. It's
leaning toward the principles of the world. That's what worldliness
is. It's going after the world and
the way the world thinks, the way it wants. That's worldliness. It's not that I go out and buy
a new car instead of an old car. Well, he's worldly because he
bought a 2011 instead of a 2010. That's not worldliness. Worldliness is an attitude. It's
adopting the principles of the world. It's not letting them
go. Not at all. It's like, I think, for example,
homosexuality. You know, we're being taught
right now that that's just a lifestyle preference. Well, the Word of
God doesn't change on that. It's still wicked. It's still
wicked. But now, do you feel yourself
being drawn over to that? Well, maybe. Well, okay. No,
it's still wicked. It's still sin. It's still wrong. Wrong is wrong. Right is right. You don't change on that, because
the world goes after that. You know, the world starts making
a change. They start making it more acceptable. No. No. Right is right. Wrong is wrong.
And they never change. Levin is also, and I read that
to you earlier, We talk about the leaven of the Pharisees there
in that first one. He's talking about their hypocrisy. Leaven is hypocrisy. It's a hypocrite. Now, the other word for hypocrite
is actor. That's what they called them
back then. That's what they called him back
in those days. They were actors. An actor is someone who's playing
a part that he's not, that he or she is not. They're acting
out a part. That's a hypocrite. We watch
it on TV every day. We watch hypocrites every day
acting out parts, you know, playing a part. And that's what Leaveny,
it represents hypocrisy. It's the opposite of real. It's
phony. Beware of the phoniness. of the
Pharisees. Beware of the phoniness of religion
out there in the world. It's phony. It's not of God. It's not real. That's what he's
teaching us. But do we need to watch out for
that? Can little Levin leaven this
whole lot here at Hurricane Row Grace Church? Turn to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, verse 11, But when Peter was
come to Antioch, I withstood 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 at their
table. He shook hands with them. No doubt they talked about their
families. They sat down and talked with
them. They spoke of the gospel, Christ, and they fellowshiped.
He sat down and fellowshiped with the Gentiles. But when these
people were with James, these Jews, when they came, He withdrew,
listen, and he separated himself. There's a little leaven going
on here. And it's going to affect the
whole lump. You see, a little leaven affects the whole lump. And here, Peter is allowing some
leaven in. He's allowing it to happen. fearing them which were of the
circumcision. And the other Jews, listen, here it is, dissembled, separated, likewise with him. And so much, listen, that Barnabas. I promise you one thing. Somebody's
following you. I can tell you this from just
being a younger, as a younger believer. Seeing an older believer
do something, I thought, You know, that kind of troubled me.
But at the same time, it also gave me leeway to, well, it must
be okay. Let me tell you this. If it bothers
you, it's not okay. If I can take a drink of wine,
it doesn't bother me. But if it does you, you don't
do it. And I don't need to do it if it bothers you. I don't
need to do it if it bothers you. Not in your presence. In so much
that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
Listen, just use the word, instead of dissimulation, with their
hypocrisy. Barnabas got carried away with
the hypocrisy of Peter. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truths of the gospel, I said
to Peter before all of them, because he did it publicly, Paul
challenged him publicly. Thou being a Jew, live after
the manner of Gentiles, not as do the Jews. Why compelst thou
Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" But you get the picture here.
A little leaven. Leaven that whole lump. Leaven the whole lump. Now, turn
over to Galatians 5. Paul says in verse 7, or let's
go back to verse 1, Therefore, in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage, behold, I, Paul, say unto you," and here's what
was going on. He's going to point out the problem.
Someone apparently came in and was telling them, you still have
to be circumcised. You can believe on Christ, you
can believe the gospel, but you also need this too. And Paul
said that if you be circumcised, Christ profits you nothing. If
that's your purpose in doing it, in order to be saved, in
order to be among God's people. Well, I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law. You left grace. That's what you
did. You left it. You left salvation
by grace. alone in Christ alone. For we
through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which works by love. You did run well. Who hindered
you? Who injected this little leaven
in here? That's what I'm saying. Who injected this little bit
of leaven that you should not obey the truth? And that's what
happens. This persuasion comes not of him that called you, a
little leaven, a little holding on to this, and just a little,
you notice here, he always says, a little leaven. It doesn't take
a bucket full, just a little, just a little. It'll leaven the
whole lump. It'll corrupt the whole body. That's what it does. Now, turn
over to 1 Corinthians. Turn over to 1 Corinthians, chapter 5.
I'll wind this down here. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. Now, this man out where I'm in
my readings, this man was a teacher among them. He was a notable
person among them at Corinth. It is reported, verse 1, it is
reported commonly that there is fornication among you. And
such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father's wife. And you are what? You're
puffed up. You're puffed up over this man.
They liked this man. I mean, they didn't think anything
about his lifestyle. His lifestyle, like it didn't
mean, you know, it wasn't a big deal. You are puffed up and have
not rather mourn. You should be mourning that he
that hath done this deed might be taken away from you, taken
away from among you. You tolerate too much. Now, we
do have to tolerate one of the things, you know, we have to
tolerate, but not when it comes to spiritual matters, not when
it comes to truth, not when it comes to the gospel, not when
it comes to the body of Christ. We don't tolerate. Now, we can
tolerate, you know, you can tolerate the way decide to grow a beard
or not. You just tolerate it. But these things you can't tolerate. You can't tolerate. For I barely,
as absent in the body and present in spirit, have judged already,
as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered
together, my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to deliver such a one unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh,
that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
This is serious business. Cut them off! Your glory is not good. Know
you that a little leaven leaveneth the whole of it. It has affected
the whole congregation. It has affected the whole church.
Paul says, cut it out. And of course, we know later
he came, you know, he came back with Pentathol. He says here,
purge out therefore, purge out therefore the old leaven that
ye may be anew, as ye are unleavened. You're holy. You're a new creation. You are a new, you've been born
of God. There is no sin in that new creation. There is none.
He says here, you are unleavened for even Christ our Passover
sacrifice for us. But what he was telling them
first of all, that you tolerate, you're tolerating this man's
behavior and it's affecting the whole body. It's affecting the
whole body. And in a sense, here's what they
were doing. See, there's, what will we tolerate? We have to
tolerate things, you know, among men and it'll get along. But
in this case, their toleration was approving. You are approving
of this man's conduct. He says, it can't be. It can't
be. It cannot be. And he told them to turn this
man, cut him off, turn him over to Paul. Paul had the power to
do that. I don't have it, but Paul had
the power to turn him over to Satan. He had that apostolic
power. Cut him off, excommunicate him
and turn him over to Satan. He said that the flesh may be
destroyed, but the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Now what are we to do? What was Israel told to do right
back there in chapter 12? They were told to purge their
houses of this leavened bread. They were not to eat of it for
seven days. And I mean they were to clean
house. That house was to be gone through
all inside. It was to be totally swept clean
of any even appearance of leaven at all. He said back here in
1 Corinthians 7, purge out the old leaven. What does Paul tell
us in another place to do? Mortify the deeds of the flesh. Don't feed it. Don't give in
to it. Deal with it. And how often do we do this?
Every day. Every day. There's never a time
when we can say, well, it's all gone. Just waiting on the Lord
now. No, we have to deal with sin
every day. Every day. Seven days. That's the number of completion. And that means we have to deal
with this, mortify this flesh every day. Every day. He says, You have purged out
therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are
unleavened for evil Christ our Passover sacrifice for us. Therefore,
let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness. That's the way that worship service
back under the Pharisees and Sadducees and all. And they were
not a happy group of people. And their worship services were
not like that. There was malice and anger. They covered it up. They would put their Sunday face
or Saturday face on. They'd put their Saturday face
on or go to a meeting face on. But in their heart, the Lord
said, you're full of dead men's bones. That's all you are. Now listen. Neither with the
leaven of malice or wickedness, but with, here it is, but with
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I do pray that what
we are doing here this morning is sincere. We are sincerely
here to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Sincerely here to hear
a word from God. Sincerely believing that we are,
as the scripture tells us we are, sinners. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. Do you really believe that? Do you sincerely believe that?
That you are as God says you are. Do you sincerely believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover? He is our sacrifice. He is our Savior. He is all that
I need and you need. Do you sincerely believe that?
Do you really? Listen, he says, but with an
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Sincerity without
truth It just means sincerely wrong. I don't want to be sincerely
wrong. I want sincerity with truth. Give me the truth. Give me the
truth. And every day we get up, every
day we sincerely seek the Lord. We sincerely mortify the deeds
of the flesh. We sincerely seek to walk in
a manner that's pleasing to the Lord? You know when the woman
that was called in adultery, she was brought to the Lord?
He says, does any man condemn thee? She said, no. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. You think He meant it? He meant
for her to go and sin no more. And that should be our attitude.
That should be the unleavened attitude of everyone who believes
God. Be ye holy, for I am holy. Did he mean that? I mean, does he know what I am? Does he know I still have a sinful...
Has he forgotten I still have a sinful nature? God never tells
us to be less than he is. You be holy, for I am holy. And every morning, when we rise
up out of our beds, our unleavened attitude is to be holy, for our
God is holy.