Becoming Unleavened

Well, brethren, these days are truly rich in meaning. It is a wonderful privilege to be here today, to learn more about God's truth, to discuss it, to consider it, to think about it, to dwell on it, to ingest it. Why are we here, keeping the days of unleavened bread? To me, it seems like a strange name. The days of unleavened bread.

You'd say it to some people, and they have no clue. What in the world are you talking about? The days of an unleavened bread. Who thinks about leavening and unleavening except us? I suppose some people do, but I would say most people out in the world just don't really give it much thought. But we do give it a lot of thought, and it's a good thing, because we need to become unleavened.

And that's what this sermon is all about. Becoming unleavened. I'm going to discuss four principles or points today on how we can become more unleavened. I know that's been a goal for many of us for many, many years, to become unleavened, to reflect Jesus Christ in us. The unleavened bread that comes down from heaven. Mr. Hopper mentioned that in the opening prayer. Jesus Christ is the bread of life, and if we want to live forever, we must become like Him.

It must be our goal, and we must strive diligently for that goal. The first principle in becoming unleavened is to come out of her, my people, and be not a partaker in her sins. God wants us to come out of this world. He wants us to be His people. He calls us my people, my children. Be not a partaker in the ways of this world. Be not a partaker in the ways of this world in terms of the sin that this world's so involved in. In Exodus 12 and 13, it gives us the account of the Passover. It gives us the account of the days of unleavened bread.

We've observed the Passover, and it was very humbling, sobering, inspiring for all of us to consider that God called us, you and me, out of this world. Just a few of us were together keeping the Passover. The majority of Tulsa and Oklahoma City and Lawton and Springdale and Bentonville. Those people, their minds weren't on keeping the Passover. It just wasn't there. It wasn't their fault, necessarily. It wasn't their fault at all. Thankfully, God opened our minds to see that it was important, and that we did it.

It draws us closer to God and to Jesus Christ when we do what He says to do. He does say to keep the Passover. He does say to keep the days of unleavened bread, to keep the night to be much remembered. We had a wonderful night last night at Riverfield.

There were, I don't know, must have been 30 or 35 of us who got together. We really enjoyed each other's company. We enjoyed the wonderful food that God provided and that was prepared for us. I know we all ate too much. Well, I won't speak for everyone, but I'm sure I ate a little too much.

But it was fun, and it was very enjoyable. We did reflect, some of us at least, on how God called us out of the world, how He opened our minds to His truth, how He changed our very lives by His calling. It's always inspiring to hear people's accounts of how their mind was changed, how they came to see that there really is a God in heaven.

And God has His ways, ways that He wants us to follow. He wants us to come out of this world. He wants us to be separate, just as surely as He led the children of Israel out of Egypt. He led them out of Egypt because He heard their cries.

They were being oppressed. Lots of people feel oppressed in the world today. It's a very stressful world. It's a difficult world. We're not the only ones that are stressed. We're all stressed. However, many people just don't comprehend what's behind all that stress and where those problems are primarily coming from. Well, back in Egypt, God's people called out to God. God heard their prayers. God answered their prayers. He led them out of Egypt. He led them out of slavery. He led them out of bondage. He called them to a greater way, a better way. Let's go to Exodus 13. Exodus 13. Let's start in verse 6.

Exodus 13. Obviously, I've skipped over the Passover itself. We've covered it in the past, and we've covered it numerous times before. But in verse 6 of chapter 13 of Exodus, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. This is the first of those seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all of your quarters. We've gotten 11 out of our homes, out of our cars, out of our dwellings. We are unleavened in that sense. Hopefully, we're completely unleavened. But oftentimes, we find that we neglected something. Thankfully, I found a pizza, an old pizza carton that was in my garage that I forgot I'd thrown in there.

I found it before the day, so I was able to take care of the leavening. But some of you may have found things, even during the days of the leavened bread. I sent that email out about the iodized salt, Hain salt, and a number of people said they had some of that, and they had no idea that it had a leavening agent in it.

It had baking soda in it. So sometimes, we're taken by surprise. We don't always see the sin that's in our lives. We're taken aback when we find it out. There are lessons to learn by putting leaven out of our homes. I know we all learned lots of lessons just cleaning for the days of the leavened bread. Well, let's go back to verse 7. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. I believe it's best to eat unleavened bread every day of the days of unleavened bread.

I mean, if you somehow aren't able to for one day, it's not the unpardonable sin. I don't know that it's even a sin. But it's, I think, better to get in the habit of eating some unleavened bread every day and thinking about what it means and what it pictures. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day, there shall be a feast to the Lord.

Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. You're supposed to stay away from leaven this week. Now, if you stay home all week, that'll be easy. If you don't venture out of your home, it's going to be pretty easy unless you messed up and left some leaven in your house. But if you venture outside into the world, then it's a little tougher, especially if you've had some routines that you've been doing for days and days, months.

You stop by Dunkin' Donuts every morning. Your car just drives in. It's on automatic pilot. Now, you can't do that this week. You've got to change those habits and make sure that you don't ... or maybe you go to work and your co-workers bring donuts in every morning for you.

There's donuts around. There's cookies. There's pie that probably has some leaven in it. You're going to have to be on guard when you're out in the world. You have to be careful. And again, throughout each day of these days of unleavened bread, strive to eat some unleavened bread. Verse 8, and you shall tell your son in that day, saying, this is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt. It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, and the Lord's law may be in your mouth.

Notice that. The Lord's law may be in your mouth. That was important to God, that His law be right there in your mouth. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So, if God's law is in your mouth, then it's in your heart. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

God wants us to keep His laws. And again, that's why we have the days of unleavened bread. Unleavened represents sin. God wants us to strive against sin. He wants us to put it out. He wants us to keep His laws. If we keep all of God's laws perfectly, then we're not going to sin. If we obey and follow all of His laws, not only in the latter, but in the spirit, then we'll be keeping His laws perfectly.

And we won't sin. Of course, we realize that's a very tall order for a human being. Jesus Christ was the only human being who's ever accomplished that. He was very yielded to the Father, very submissive to His Father's will, very close to His Father.

He had His mind right at all times. That's why it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So it's going to be assigned to you, to your children. The law will be in your mouth. For with a strong hand, the Eternal has brought you out of Egypt. God did do it in a weak manner at all. He did it very powerfully. Because it was Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth, and the most powerful army on earth, that went after the children of Israel. And would have brought them back into bondage if not for the strong hand that was on the side of the children of Israel.

We can trust in that strong hand. We can place our faith. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is leading us out of sin with a high hand if we will allow Him to work in us. He will give us the power to overcome. He will give you the strength to overcome. Let's throw away our excuses. Let's realize that there are no excuses for disobedience.

There are no excuses for sin. If we sin, it's because we've chosen to do it. We made a choice, or we weren't careful. We weren't vigilant. So, also, the lesson of the Exodus is that Israel came out in haste. They came out of Egypt in haste. We must come out of the world in haste. We have to see the urgency in coming out of this world.

Don't put it off until tomorrow. Don't put it off until a month or a week from now. Do it today. Come out with haste. In Numbers 28, just go to a couple verses that talk about keeping these days. Numbers 28 verse 17. On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Eternal.

We keep the Passover on the fourteenth, and on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast. And leavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. The fifteenth begins the days of unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. And then again, on the last day, we'll have a holy convocation. Now, in Deuteronomy 16, let's go back to Deuteronomy 16, where we were during the offering. Deuteronomy chapter 16. And I was reading this this morning, and I was actually...

notice something I hadn't really focused on before, although it's always been there. Deuteronomy 16 verse 3. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it. That is, the bread of affliction. For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. That you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

And no leaven shall be seen among you in all of your territory for seven days. Nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning. Until morning you may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord God gives you, but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.

Now some have been confused about when Israel came out of Egypt, but this makes it clear that they came out of Egypt at twilight, at the time they came out of Egypt. The Passover, or the Passover lamb was slain on the 14th, at the beginning of the 14th, at evening. And of course the death angel came around midnight, and it was the next evening when they came out of Egypt at twilight on the 15th.

So it's important that we observe God's laws as He has revealed them to us and shown them to us. Now where do you think the word unleavened is first found in the Bible? Think about it for a moment. Is it Exodus 12? No, it is in Exodus 12. It's back in the book of Genesis. It's in Genesis chapter 19. Let's go back there and consider this example. Genesis 19, this is where we find the first time unleavened is used in the Bible.

And I believe it's interesting to note what was happening here. Genesis chapter 19. Let's see. I didn't write down the specific verse. That's it, verse 3. Let's read verse 1. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. I'm at the beginning of chapter 19. Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, Hear now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet.

Then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly, so they turned into him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and he baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house.

And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them carnally is a word that's been added, but it applies. They were up to no good, and I'm sure Lot knew that this would happen. That's why he insisted that they come into the house with him. Not the only reason. He was no doubt very hospitable.

But he also realized what was going to happen. So Lot went out to them through the doorway. He shut the door behind them, and he said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish.

Only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason that they have come under the shadow of my roof. Now, we know that there was a great deal of emphasis put on protecting strangers who were under one's hospitality. But I'll tell you, there's no way you can't say or believe that Lot's thinking was twisted.

Lot's thinking had been affected by Sodom and Gomorrah. I mean, I just can't see it any other way. This is the example where it first talks about unleavened. I think it's telling that it's in the context of such depravity that this unleavened bread was being fed to these angels, messengers of God, messengers who were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins. God required that they come completely out of Sodom. They couldn't stay at the edge of town. They had to come completely out of Sodom.

Our goal should be to come completely out of sin. Sodom and Gomorrah obviously picture sin as well as Egypt. Come out of Sodom, come out of Gomorrah, come out of Egypt, come out of Babylon, come out completely, come out of sin. Lot and his daughters were spared because they didn't look back. But Lot's wife was not spared as she looked back longingly for Sodom. No doubt she had friends there. She had ties.

She had things that she enjoyed doing in Sodom. Her heart wasn't fully in coming out of Sodom. That was her problem. She was turned to a pillar of salt as an example for us. And as an example, unsure for Lot and his children, too.

Becoming unleavened means coming out of this world and forsaking its evil ways. Christ told the woman who was taken in adultery to go and sin no more. It was tough love. Yes, Christ loved her, but he said, go and sin no more. That's what he expected of her. That's what Christ expects of you. Go and sin no more. Don't make excuses for your sins. Go and sin no more. In Matthew 5, clearly it shows that Christ did not come to destroy the law. He didn't come to destroy the prophets who warned God's people repeatedly to stop forsaking God and to stop forsaking His law. We could go to verse after verse after verse from the prophets that warned the children of Israel, warned the house of Israel and the house of Judah to forsake their evil ways and return to God and follow Him and obey Him. Matthew 5, verse 17. We'll just read it briefly here. I know we're familiar with this. It's a part of the Sermon on the Mount. And it seems so very clear to us, and it seems unbelievable that people could twist this and read it another way. Christ said, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. Don't think for a moment that I came to destroy the law, but what does mainstream Christianity say about the law? It's been done away. It's been nailed to the cross. It goes directly against these verses here. Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. I came to fill them up, to keep them, to magnify them even further, to show the true spirit of the law. And that's what Christ was doing in the Sermon on the Mount. If you harbor hatred towards someone, you murdered them in your heart. You're going to be held accountable for that. That's sin. You've sinned if you harbor hatred or resentment towards someone. That's why it's so important to seek forgiveness and to seek God's forgiveness, and also that you will have a forgiving heart. Because if you harbor hatred and resentment, then you are breaking the commandment, thou shall not kill. Thou shall not murder.

So Christ clearly showed that we should keep the commandments of God to follow His perfect example in keeping them. We are to put out sinful actions. You shall not break God's commandments. It's very clear.

Recently, I read that the average American watches TV for nearly 30 hours per week. I hope we're not average. That's 65 days of nonstop TV watching every year.

65 days of nonstop TV watching every year.

By the time they graduate from high school, students will have viewed 360,000 commercials. Now, that's if they don't leave. And I know most of us leave very commercial, but if you stick around, you're going to view about 360,000 commercials.

The average 65-year-old will have watched 2 million commercials. Each of these commercials has been created by smart people who pack their ads with powerful images, catchy music and humor, and memorable slogans. Now, why do some people only turn in tune into the Super Bowl? Why? For the commercials. They want to watch the commercial. They know people have spent millions and millions of dollars on these commercials. So, there are smart people who pack these ads with powerful images, with catchy music, with memorable slogans. Most of the commercials have a primary theme. This product will give you true happiness. It will give you deep satisfaction. Based on the worldview presented by TV commercials, here's how I would rewrite the beatitudes spoken by Jesus. This came from an article entitled, Television Statistics and Sources, submitted by Kevin Miller. It actually came from the Catholic Education Resource Center. So, based on the worldview presented by TV commercials, here's how I would rewrite the beatitudes spoken by Jesus. Blessed are those who fly to luxury vacation spots on tropical islands, where they lie in chase lounge chairs. The only two people on an enormous white beach, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who drink much beer, for they shall be surrounded by carefree, football-watching buddies, and highly attractive, socially gifted women in the first half of life. Probably the first fifth of life, or the first fourth of life. Anyway, they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who have the latest smartphone, for they shall gaze on a screen, swirling with color, and shall get all the information they need, just when they need it. And they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who have outstanding kids. Verily I say to you, highly blessed are those who have a golden Labrador retriever bounding along on that slow-motion video day of playing with the kids in the park, for they shall be the envy of real families everywhere. And they shall be satisfied. That's as far as it goes. It doesn't go through all the Beatitudes, but certainly a different set of Beatitudes than the ones that Christ gives us in the Sermon on the Mount. The point is, we've got to be careful, because the world is continually espousing the viewpoints of Satan the Devil, who is the God of this world.

So take into your mind very carefully what this world has to offer. Consider the source, consider where it's coming from, consider whether it's really good food, food that you should ingest, food that you want to become, because we are what we eat.

We are what we take into our minds and hearts. So the first point is to come out of her, my people. Come out of the world and be separate. Be not a partaker in her sins. That takes diligence and vigilance to consider the world. The world is our enemy. That's what the book of James tells us. It's our enemy. Scriptures tell us a number of places that we need to come out of this world. Number two, another principle in becoming unleavened is to be no longer puffed up with the works of the flesh. Be no longer puffed up by the works of the flesh. In Galatians 5, it talks about the works of the flesh. I gave a whole series of sermons on the works of the flesh. I don't remember exactly how many sermons that it took, but it took several sermons. A number of sermons has been a few years ago now, and it was probably depressing to some degree, because week after week we'd talk about the works of the flesh. Well, it's in the Bible, and it is reality. I've been here 15 years, so you've got to cut me a break every now and then. I'm going to talk about some of the hard stuff, some of the stuff that God puts in here, the works of the flesh. It's my job. It's something I have to do. I've got to bring out all aspects of the Bible and not just talk about all the very positive things in life. But, you know, we have to consider everything if we're really going to have balance. We can't hide from anything in the Scriptures. We have to learn to live by every word of God. In Galatians 5, it does list for us the works of the flesh. Verse 16, I say then, walk in the Spirit. I'm in Galatians 5. In Romans 5, verse 16, Paul says, walk in the Spirit that you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit. There's a war going on, and Paul talks about that war in the book of Romans. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. You know, that's very consistent with what Paul said in Romans, chapter 6, 7, and 8. But if you are led by the Spirit, so the implication is you may not be led by the Spirit. If you are led by the Spirit. He's talking to the brethren at Galatia. He realizes that at times we are led by the Spirit. At other times, we're not. Because we're just not doing our part. We're not drawing near to God. We're not drawing close to God. We're doing something that's separating us from God. So, there are times when we do the thing so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. It's talking about not being under the penalty of God's law. Because Scripture tells us that the wages of sin is death. That's what we all deserve. We deserve death. But thankfully, we don't have to be under the penalty of the law.

Because Jesus Christ died for us. That's what the Passover was all about. Christ was our Passover sacrifice. Our sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ. Of course, that doesn't give us license to sin, does it? Just because our sins are forgiven in Christ, that doesn't give us license to sin. We're not under the penalty of the law because we accept Christ as our Savior and because we repent of our sins. Those are the questions that we ask at baptism. Have you repented of your sins? Which are the transgression of God's holy and righteous law. Have you repented? Which means to turn away. We talked about true repentance just a couple of weeks ago. True repentance is to turn away from those sins. So if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. But again, if you are led by the flesh, then you are under that penalty. If you continue to be led by the flesh and you don't repent and you don't change, eventually you'll be cast into a lake of fire. Remember, God looks at the heart. So if your heart is good, you're going to want to come out of sin. You're going to have a desire to come out of sin. You're going to continue to fight the good fight. You're not going to give in and you're not going to give up. You're not just going to give yourself over to sin. You're going to continue to fight the good fight, even though it's hard. You're going to keep doing it. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lewdness. Now, this is all about sexual sins. Obviously, this is a problem for human beings. We're flesh, and there are powerful drives that go on in human beings. These are the works of the flesh.

Continuing on, idolatry, setting up anything before God is an idol. If you allow yourself to be distracted and separated from God, it has become your idol. Sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions. Now, these are things that are very easy for human beings to have, aren't they? To be envious? I mean, I've got to fight envy, don't you? I mean, I do. I have to fight envy. I have to fight jealousy. I mean, I don't think I'm that much different from all of you. When we're honest with ourselves, we must admit that we do fight these things. It doesn't mean we have to give in to them. It doesn't mean we have to be overcome by them. But we have to be aware that we're subject to these things. And we have to resist. We have to resist being jealous. We have to resist being envious. We have to resist dissensions. When people are argumentative and, you know, isn't it easy to get into an argument with someone if they don't see it the way you do? And you want to prove your point? And you cling to your point? And you sometimes trample over people to prove your point? Heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelry. I mean, I'm sure there's a tendency in all of us to want to have a good time that may not always be the right kind of good time. So we have to resist that, you know? It's just something that we battle against.

And he says, revelries and the like. So he's saying anything that's like these things. He doesn't give an exhaustive list of the works of the flesh. There are others. There are others that aren't listed here. But anything that's like all of these things that have been listed.

And he says, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in times past. See, Paul had a way of repeating himself. He hammered on the same things over and over again. I guess all ministers do, to some degree. I told you in times past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, that's a pretty strong statement. People who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you allow envy to overcome you and you become an envious person, and you're consumed by envy, you're not going to be in God's kingdom.

If you allow jealousy to overcome you, if you allow any of the works of the flesh, hatred, contentions, outbursts of wrath, anger. If you let them consume you, then you shall be consumed. So we do have to take these things seriously. We can't gloss over them. They're in the Scriptures. They're things that we need to consider on a regular basis. Be no longer puffed up with the works of the flesh. Resist the works of the flesh in you. And again, we have a proclivity to follow the works of the flesh because we are flesh. We're fleshly human beings. I pinched myself. I hurt. It's painful. Not real painful. I didn't scream out. But we do have to consider this fleshly tent that we dwell in. I'd like to read from preachingtoday.com. Actually, it was a study on self-images. It says, self-images often erroneously inflate. This actually came from ABC News back in November of 2005. Here's some good news. If you're like most people, you're way above average at almost everything.

Psychologists call this the state of illusory superiority. Now, I know I'm guilty of that. My wife will confirm it. Illusory superiority. It's also called the Lake Woebegone Effect from Garrison Keller's fictional Minnesota town where all the children are above average. It simply means that we tend to inflate our positive qualities and abilities, especially in comparison to other people. Numerous research studies have revealed this tendency to overestimate ourselves. For instance, when researchers asked a million high school students how well they got along with their peers, none of the students rated themselves below average. As a matter of fact, 60% of students believed that they were in the top 10%. 25% rated themselves in the top 1%. You'd think college professors might have more self-insight, but they were just as biased about their abilities. 2% rated themselves below average. 10% were average, and 63% were above average, while 25% rated themselves as truly exceptional. Of course, this is statistically impossible. One researcher summarized the data this way. It's the great contradiction. The average person believes he is a better person than the average person. Christian psychologist Mark McMinn contends that the lake-woebegone Effect reveals our pride. He writes, Well, the Bible tells us that, doesn't it? You don't have to spend a million dollars to research it. God already researched it for us. We think better of ourselves than we really are. We see our faults in faint black and white rather than in vivid color. And we assume the worst in others while assuming the best in ourselves. This is the natural tendency to assume the worst in others while assuming the best in ourselves.

So we need to change our attitudes and desires. I read a funny story just recently. The article was entitled, Has anyone ever heard of this silly story? Probably not. Doberman on Guard Duty Wax 100 Teddy Bears. It was teddy bear carnage at the Woolly Hall Caves, a teddy bear museum in western England. In the summer of 2006, a Doberman Pinscher guard dog named Barney just went berserk. In an evening rampage, Barney shredded about 100 of the bears on display. But what really got everyone's attention was that he tore apart Mabel, Elvis Presley's teddy bear. Mabel was currently owned by an English aristocat, a crat. There was a movie called The Aristocats. You may remember that. Anyway, an English aristocat named Benjamin Slade who lives close to the museum. He had reportedly paid something like $75,000 for the bear at a Memphis, Tennessee auction and then loaned it to Woolly Hall Caves. The museum's general manager, Daniel Medley, reported, I had a very embarrassing phone call with the owner. He's not very happy at all. What would possess Barney the guard dog to become so angry, to be so violent? The dog's handler, Greg West, speculated that it might have been either a rogue scent that switched on Barney's deepest instincts, or it could have been jealousy, because, according to West, I was stroking Mabel, and saying what a nice little bear she was.

At any rate, West spent several minutes chasing Barney before he could wrestle him to the ground and end the canine's act of vengeance. Photos of the dog, after he had been quieted, show him sitting on his haunches and looking very contrite. No dogs are allowed now at woolly-hall caves. Because of one bad dog, no dogs are allowed.

What are the triggers that send us into a rampage? Now, I know we're not dogs, but let's take it a little bit further here. What is it that sends you into a rampage? What releases our anger and desire for revenge? Is it jealousy over the strokes that someone else got? More importantly, who do we damage when we lose control? More than likely, it's something more valuable than a teddy bear.

Usually, we hurt other people, don't we? We hurt other human beings. Now, this doberman, I'm sure, was a very trustworthy and reliable doberman most times. Otherwise, they would have never allowed that dog to be there with all those valuable teddy bears. So, it was an aberration. Something triggered him, and perhaps it was jealousy. What are your triggers? Be on guard.

There's another story where a man went and berserk this time, just so you don't think it's just dogs that go berserk. Most of us could identify with Neil Melley's frustration. Air travel often involves delays, denials, and desperate circumstances. Melley was in Los Angeles International Airport attempting to get to Australia. Problems developed when Melley was unable to purchase a ticket because he lacked a valid credit card.

Most of us might slink away in embarrassment. A flight from LAX to the other side of the world is not small change, and without a credit card, most of us would just go home. Well, he wanted to get to Australia. Neil Melley isn't most of us. He ignored that little humiliation and went on to shatter the shame barrier. Hours later, Melley angrily stripped off all of his clothes and returned to make a dash for the airport runway. Baggage handlers watched as Melley scaled a fence topped with three strands of barbed wire, fearlessly and without injury. I'm glad for him.

Then Neil sprinted across the tarmac toward a jumbo jet and crawled inside the wheel well. Most of us might have simply been trying to hide, but Neil Melley picked a plane that was on the move, an Australian plane. The dangers were great, as airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles pointed out. He could have been sucked up by an engine or crushed when the landing gear was retracted, and if not, he very likely would have been frozen to death during the 15 and a half hour flight at 30,000 feet while wearing no clothes. Pilots stopped the plane, and Melley was coaxed from his hiding place and arrested. He should be very grateful for that. The official charge was trespassing. Apparently, there's no law against poor problem-solving, anger mismanagement, or being the butt of jokes. Most of us lose our cool from time to time. We might not pull a Melley and streak our way into the news. Instead, we may yell or point fingers or throw something or smolder with fury. It doesn't match getting naked and climbing barbed wire, but it's just about as useful.

This was from John Bucama from Western Springs, Illinois. The source was an article entitled, Naked Man Climbs Onto Moving Jet. I thought you'd really be edified by that little story there, so I wanted to share that with you. We can use a little levity, but the point I'm trying to make is that we have to be on guard because human beings do stupid things. Harmful things, sinful things, and we're human beings, and the works of the flesh are evident in many, many ways. So take that as a warning. Don't let yourself get out of control. By the way, I did go to YouTube to try to see a video of that last one. It had been taken off YouTube. There was actually some kind of a YouTube video that had been taken away. I'm sure it didn't show too much, but anyway, I thought it was kind of interesting. That's the works of the flesh, you know. Curiosity, that type of thing. Let's go on to a third point. The second point again... Let me just say it. Be no longer puffed up with the works of the flesh. Don't be puffed up by the works of the flesh.

Number three, replace evil with righteousness. Replace evil with righteousness. In other words, put on Christ. Put on Jesus Christ. Replace evil with righteousness. In Galatians 6, the Apostle Paul discusses this principle. We do need to replace evil with righteousness. Galatians 6. There are a number of scriptures that bring out this principle. Galatians 6.

That Him who is taught the Word share in all good things with Him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that He will also reap. For He who sows to His flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. For He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Again, this is the same author that we just read about the works of the flesh.

Verse 8, he says, For He who sows to His flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. For He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. So again, the point is to replace evil with righteousness. Replace the works of the flesh with the works of the Spirit. And we'll go there in a moment. Verse 9, And let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. We should look out for each other. We are all of the household of faith. Everyone in this room is of the household of faith. We should strive to do good to all, especially those who are here today in this room and around the world, who are in Christ, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, no matter where they are, no matter what organization they're a part of. If they have God's Spirit dwelling in them, they are a part of the household of faith. So we should go out of our way to do good to all of them, especially to those in the household of faith, but to all people in the world. Anybody who needs help. If they need a glass of water, then we should be there to provide a glass of water. We're familiar with what Matthew 25 says. And it says that those who do these things will inherit the kingdom of God. Just giving a glass of water to someone who's thirsty. Christ says, you do it unto me.

So do good to others. Take care of the poor. Take care of the needy. That's replacing evil with righteousness. We have evil tendencies at times to be greedy, to be selfish, to hang on to things, to hoard or to do things that are selfishly motivated. We should be more outwardly motivated to take care of the poor and the needy. Do what it takes to produce the fruit of God's Spirit. Do what it takes, whatever it takes to produce the fruit of God's Spirit. That's what you need to be doing in your life. Let's go to Galatians 5, and we'll see a tremendous contrast here between what we read earlier in Galatians 5 regarding the works of the flesh. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, so we need to be putting on love. That's one of the fruits of the Spirit. God is love, and we know that we are to become like God, so we are to become unleavened. And God is love, so the more love we can generate in our lives, the closer we become to Christ, the more Christ lives in us. The more we look like Him, the more we reflect Him in our character, the more loving we are, the more joyful we are. Joy is a fruit of God's Spirit. The happier we are, the more joyful, the more content, the more peaceful we are. Peace is another fruit of God's Spirit, learning to be at peace even when everything is falling down around you. Earthquakes are happening around you figuratively, and yet you have peace of mind, you're content. You can deal with it. That is a fruit of God's Spirit. Long suffering, you're able to suffer long, you persevere. You go through trial and tribulation, and you persevere long. You suffer long, and you don't lose faith, you don't lose heart. Being patient, kindness, being kind toward others. Are you known as a person of kindness? Would people describe you as a kind person? You know, oh, so-and-so is just a kind person. You know, they'll give you the shirt off their back, and they'll go out of their way for you. They'll dig a ditch for you. They'll do whatever. You know, they're just very kind people. They'll try to protect you. They won't make fun of you. They won't ridicule you. The opposite of that, you know, they're kind people. Other fruits of God's Spirit, goodness. The goodness of God leads us all to repentance. If we follow God and His goodness, we emulate that, and we're led to repentance. By doing good and by following God's example, faithfulness is another one, being faithful. Someone that can be counted upon. You keep your word.

And when you don't, you are genuinely sorry for it. You apologize for it. You're repentant when you don't. But you're a faithful person. Are you known as a faithful person? Does your employer consider you a faithful employee?

Gentleness. Are you known for your gentleness or meekness? How you treat your children? How you treat your wife or your husband? How you treat your fellow man? Are you gentle and meek? Are you self-controlled? Or are you a little bit like Nellie, who was definitely out of control? These are the fruit of God's Spirit. Verse 24, And those who are Christ, those who are Christ, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. In other words, you put it to death. You put to death those wrong passions, those wrong desires. You're no longer practicing those things. You're no longer allowing envy to get the best of you. You're no longer allowing anger to get the best of you. You're overcoming those things. You've overcome them.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. God has granted us His Spirit. We should live in the Spirit. We should walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another. Scripture has so much to say about conduct, doesn't it? The way we're supposed to live our lives.

You know, the Bible's tough on us. It really is. I mean, it's tough, but it's also tough love. It's all here in the Bible. Many, many scriptures we could read, but we don't have time to read all these scriptures. I'll just refer to some of them. You can jot them down if you want. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17 says, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. 2 Corinthians 13, 5 says, Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you. Except you be reprobates. Either Christ is in you, or you're going to be reprobate. You're going to be behaving poorly. You have to allow Christ to dwell in you, to live in you. 2 Corinthians 2, 20, I am crucified with Christ. Christ lives in me.

3 Ephesians 5, verse 30, We are members of his body, members of his flesh and of his bones. We're all a part of the church of God. We're members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones. We are to reflect his character in our lives. 3 Colossians 1, verse 27, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you. When Christ is in you, you are truly becoming unleavened, because Christ is the unleavened bread. That comes down from heaven. That's the hope of glory. Christ living in you. Christ must live in you if you are to be glorified. If you are to become like Christ, if you are to see him as he is at the resurrection, then Christ is to be formed in you.

You are to start looking more and more like Christ as the day approaches. Let's go on to a fourth principle, the last one. Make sure the peace of unleavened bread that you add to the body of Christ is truly unleavened. Do your part what you can do. God will have to do the rest. And God will always do his part. So we don't have to worry about that. We don't have to be concerned about that. God will always do his part. So you do what you can do to make sure the peace of unleavened bread you add to the body of Christ is truly unleavened. As I said, we're all members of the body of Christ. Each and every one of us is a piece of unleavened bread that makes up a whole. At Passover, when we break the unleavened bread, for example, in Bentonville, we just had one piece of bread. Everyone there got a piece of that one loaf of bread. Now, in larger congregations, we might have two pieces of bread, but it was all blessed at the same time, and we were all part of that unleavened bread. We all ingested a bit of that unleavened bread. Remember, you are an integral part and an important member of the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5, and we will go there briefly, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6, Your glorying is not good. Now, we know this is in the context of the man who was committing sexual immorality with his step-mother. His step-mother was not even seen among Gentiles, it says. It was a grievous thing, it says in verse 2, that you are puffed up. You haven't mourned, and you've actually tolerated this in the Church of God. These blatant sins like this are not to be tolerated. If they are known like this, the person needs to be put out of the Church until repentance is realized. If we know they are continuing in that type of sin, then we must put them out. Sometimes we don't know, we have to trust that they are not doing those things. Sometimes people get themselves in trouble, one way or the other, in various types of sin. If we have no proof that they are continuing in that kind of sin, then we don't cut them off from attending Church. We might warn them that that type of behavior is not tolerated in the Church. You can't be doing that and come to Church. If you are doing that, don't even bother coming to Church. I've told people that. I said, listen, if you are going to continue with that type of behavior, monitor yourself and don't even come. Don't come to Church.

I mean, there are certain blatant sins like this one that was going to leaven the whole lump. It was not to be tolerated within the body of Christ.

So, you are puffed up, you haven't mourned and so forth. You tolerated it. Verse 6, Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. You truly are unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast. See, this was right during the days of the leavened bread. This was right after they had gone to Passover service and they had been cleansed. Their sins had been forgiven. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Let's go on and keep this feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let's continue to keep these days. And as I mentioned, I'm working on a sermon for the last Holy Day about lessons from Corinth. So pray about that, and pray that God gives me understanding, wisdom, and inspiration. There are so many lessons that I'm going to need to bring them down and hopefully give you a sermon that you'll really appreciate and learn from. We are to become unleavened. Make sure the piece of unleavened bread that you add to the body of Christ is truly unleavened. Do what you can do to present yourselves before God properly. You know, in Ephesians it says that we are to become a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. Well, the church is made up of its members, where each of you are a member of the body of Christ. So during these days of unleavened bread, I want you to really focus and think about this. How are you going to present yourself as a member of the body of Christ at Christ's return? And between now and Christ's return, how unleavened are you? How much do you add to the body of Christ? Through your example, through your prayers, through your love for each other, for your faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God, for your steadfastness in your example. These are things that we should think about during the days of unleavened bread.

You know, I wanted to... I don't have much time. I'm running out of time. Let me just quickly tell you about an article from the Journal of... It was from the Journal of Experimental Medicine. It reported that human genes actually remembered such a simple thing as a sugar hit. Somebody who eats a candy bar remembered it for several weeks. Not only that, but the researchers showed that chronically poor eating habits can actually cause permanent alteration of our DNA.

Scientists found that cells remembered the effects of a sugar hit by temporarily switching off the genetic controls designed to protect the body against diabetes and disease. Now, some people can get away with eating lots of sugar. They do it for years and years and years, and it never catches up with them. Some people become diabetics, and even when they're diabetics, they continue to eat things that are harmful to them. This is saying that our cells, our bodies, remember things like that. I mean, we're learning more and more about the human body and how it reacts all the time. The immune system is affected when we take something harmful into our bodies, something physical that's harmful. When you bring something spiritually into your heart and mind that's harmful, you will be affected for weeks, months, possibly years, perhaps a lifetime. That's how serious it is. So, we need to remember that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. No doubt we do need to be careful about the physical things that we eat because it affects us. It can make us sick physically. It can hurt us. It can take energy away from us. We can't be as productive. Maybe there's a right balance in some of this. I'm sure there's a right balance. I don't know that God doesn't want us to ever eat sugar again. I'm not saying that.

But I'm saying that even scientific evidence that it even affects our DNA, it affects our genes, it affects our immune system. Studies show some immediate damages from smoking as well. It's been found that people who smoke, it affects their DNA. It's harmful. It affects them, and some things can even be passed along, a proclivity to generations. It's very fascinating. There's so much to be learned about the body. The lead researcher, Sam Alosta, from Australia's Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, suggested that the consequences from eating something like a chocolate bar could last for as long as two weeks. Let's hope it was a delicious candy bar. Alosta told the Australian Associated Press that these harmful genetic changes or mutations perhaps even have the ability to alter the body's natural metabolic responses to foods. In addition, he stated that chronic poor eating would amplify the effect with genetic damage lasting months or years, potentially passing through bloodlines even to one's children. So more and more research will be done that I thought that was interesting. Brother, we need to consider these things, and the Scripture tells us that we should make use of the Bible, that it should be our sword. I wanted to share something my wife has done. She put together some 3x5 cards. On one side it says, replace fear and doubt with faith and comfort. Deuteronomy 33, verse 27. The Eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will thrust out the enemy from before and will say, destroy. There are things that we need to do to fight back. God is our refuge, but we need to fight back against Satan, who would try to destroy us. We need to stand up. So we need to replace fear and doubt with faith and with comfort. Here's another one. Replace whining with communal, united praise. I will bless the Lord at all times. This is Psalm 34, 1-3. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make it boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. I will bless the Lord at all times. I will praise God at all times. Replace your whining with this kind of response.

Here's another one. Replace whining with contentment and fear with faith. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. What can man do to me? I will not fear. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6.

If you're negative, then keep a positive focus by remembering 2 Corinthians 9, verse 15. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. The gift of His Holy Spirit for His calling. There are other verses here. Replace sorrow, weakness and depression with rejoicing in the eternal. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Do not be sad for your rejoicing in the Lord is the source of your strength. The source of strength is being joyful and grateful and praising God. There are songs that have been written about all these. Perhaps this is the best one of all. Replace anger, hatred and accusations with intercessory prayer and kindness. Matthew 5. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for you, who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven. So the context of being perfect is how you treat even your enemies. Treating them with love and with respect.

So you might want to do this during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Write out some scriptures on 3x5 cards. Memorize them or at least rehearse them from time to time. And if you're feeling low, if you're feeling depressed, then go to some of these scriptures that will help lift you out of that bad behavior. That will help you become unleavened. So we've covered quite a bit of ground today, giving you some food for thought for the rest of this week. I hope that you will take to heart that you should not only keep the physical leaven out, but you should put the unleavened bread in. That's a lot more important, isn't it? You should eat some unleavened bread, physical bread, but more importantly, eat of Jesus Christ. In just Jesus Christ in your heart and mind, let Christ be formed in you. Then you will truly become unleavened.