Christ in You, Be Unleavened!

Hello, everyone! Are we on? I guess we must be. I don't know. I think we are. Well, I'll go back to the time zone. Thank you. Welcome. Hello, everyone, from all different time zones around the world. It's very good to be here. I enjoyed that special music immensely. I really appreciate Michael, Chad, and Micah, Michael, giving that to us today and brought back a lot of memories.

I used to be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Michael Ball would sing at about two or three years old, and I knew he had it in him. I knew he was going to be a star one day. So it was really good to see Michael, seeing along with Chad and Micah, very fine and a wonderful message, very apropos. So thank you, gentlemen. Enjoy that a great deal. Well, you know, on my way over here, I was thinking I should get some breath mints because I'd eaten some nachos piled high with jalapenos and onions.

And I'm thinking I really should have... Oh, wait a minute. I have to be six feet away from everyone. I don't need to bother. So that's one advantage of, you know, this physical distancing. We don't have to worry so much about our breath. But anyway, hopefully I haven't been that close to anyone that it was a problem.

It is really good to be here, to see all of you through the camera's eyes. I would like to say a happy feast to all our death brethren who I know are listening in, or many of them are listening in to today's service as they were this morning as well. Well, brethren, in today's society, it is sometimes easy to forget that when Israel did put leaven out, it was totally out of the country.

There would have been little, if any, chance of contamination unless someone outside the nation of Israel — I'm talking about ancient Israel now for the most part — unless someone brought leavening into the land because they were commanded to get the leaven out of the land. They were not to eat any leaven. The Israelite and the stranger living in the land of Israel at that time were all to follow one law. Of course, that was God's law. Later, during the time of Christ, of course, there were Gentiles, there were Romans and Greeks in the land.

But since the Jews rarely did business with Gentiles, there probably wasn't much chance of them to ingest any leaven during the days of the leavened bread anyhow. Not so much for us today. It's more difficult, isn't it? In many ways. There are bakeries everywhere. Of course, now, this year is different because none of them are open. So it's been easier this year. No Dunkin' Donuts. I don't know if Dunkin' Donuts is open or not. Maybe you can drive through on that. I don't know. I haven't tried it. But anyway, the point I'm making is it's much easier to go to a burger place and have burgers with big fluffy bread, pizzas everywhere.

In fact, we have freezers in our home, and you can keep leavening for 10, 11, 12, almost 12 months. If you buy some right after the days of leavened bread end, you can keep it in your freezer until almost next year when the days start again. And that reminds me of something that happened this week. My wife hollered upstairs. I was in my office sheltering in place. I was in my office, and I heard my wife yelling at me frantically, Mark! Mark! Come down! I need your help! Okay, so I was wondering, well, you know, what's going on again? What could it be this time? So I came down like I always do, ran down those steps, and Barbara was at the refrigerator, and the bottom freezer was open.

And she said, I can't get this shut! It won't shut! And so I dutifully tried to get it shut. A half hour later, I was still trying to get the thing shut. It was locked up. It was hitting something I couldn't see underneath it. Finally, I got the lower bin. I was able to move it up so I could look underneath it.

And I said, Barb, look at this! And she was thinking there was a rat or something under there. But instead, there were pizza bagel bites! A big thing of... And, you know, we didn't even bother to look at the ingredients because we knew right away, this is leaven! It was in the bottom under that bin in the freezer. And the interesting thing, it wasn't our pizza bagel bites. It was the previous owner of the home.

You know, we got the refrigerator with the house. And she had tried to get that bin out and could never get it out. She could never get that lower bin out. Like she said, she tried it for the whole year that we'd been in the house, a year and a half almost. She couldn't get the thing out. And so she just cleaned the bin out, cleaned all the leaven out.

Didn't think there was anything underneath it. But sure enough, there was a big box of pizza bagel bites under there. So again, I think that shows how easy it is to have leaven around us, even during the days of the leavened bread. It's all around us. So we have to be careful. I don't know what lesson. It's interesting. I don't think it's coincidental, but it's interesting that this happened during the days of the leavened bread. It got locked up during the days of the leavened bread. And it could have happened a week later, or a month later, or two months later, but it was during the days of the leavened bread.

So surely God wants us to learn something from these lessons during the days of the leavened bread. Now, if we think about the wilderness, when Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years, of course they ate manna. So there wasn't any leavening that I don't think. So they didn't have to worry about leaven. They had manna to eat. The unleavened bread from heaven is referred to later on by Christ, or Christ refers to it as himself as that bread from heaven.

So today it's more difficult. They didn't have donut shops to drive up to back in Israel during the days of the leavened bread. Leaven was out of the entire land. Obviously, Christ showed the true meaning of these days of unleavened bread. Now, they thought it was, you know, they had to get out of there and haste, right? That's why they got the leaven out, because they had to get out of Egypt.

They had to get out of the land of Egypt and they had to do it quickly, hastily. There was no time for the bread to rise. So that's what they were thinking all along. And of course, they didn't realize who Christ was either. They missed all of that. But Christ certainly came to show us the true meaning of these days. And the Bible does reveal that the real mystery of the ages is that we who are in the flesh now have sincerity and truth.

And who is that unleavened bread of sincerity and truth? Of course, that's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one that is perfect, was always perfect. This word that's translated... Let's see... The unleavened... I'm sorry, sincere. Sincerity, the word translated for sincerity is a Greek word. It's elegrinia, something like that. And it says, by implication, that sincerity, figuratively, is sincerity from being exposed to the sunlight. Genuine. So Christ is the Son of God. And of course, there's even an analogy about the sun. Christ will shine as the sun. We're to come out of the darkness into God's marvelous light.

And we are to be genuine like Christ. That's why Christ had such a huge problem with the Pharisees, who were hypocrites. They were pretenders. They weren't genuine. And so Christ took the hypocrites to task over and over again. We're to be genuine. We're to become unleavened spiritually. We are to allow the unleavened bread from heaven to live in us, to permeate us.

Jesus Christ should permeate us. Christ is the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and we are to become as He is. Sincere, genuine, pure. The leavening process, I think we know, is a fermentation process. It's a process of decay. To be unleavened is to become sinless spiritually. Becoming unleavened represents the process of overcoming, of growing spiritually. Not decaying, but growing spiritually. Becoming stronger spiritually. Learning to overcome the self, to overcome Satan, and to overcome society. In Galatians 2, verse 20, Paul writes, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Jesus Christ gave Himself for you. He gave Himself for me. He gave Himself for each and every one of us. He is our older brother, and He is fiercely loyal to us.

Just as a good older brother would be fiercely loyal to that younger brother. I had a brother like that. I still have a brother like that. And I hope that I am fiercely loyal to my younger brothers. Maybe not when I was a teenager, but hopefully certainly now. So we are crucified at baptism. We've become dead to sin. We go under that watery grave. We come out to walk in newness of life. Now Christ lives in us, and that makes all the difference in the world. Christ now lives in you. Christ lives in me. We should never lose sight of the fact that Christ lives in us.

And if we have that always on our mind, we will do better. We will become more like Him. We will allow Him to live in us, to lead us, to guide us, to direct us, to show us the way. Our bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. Christ lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. God the Father lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we know that God's Spirit is not the spirit of fear, but it is the spirit of power, of love, and a sound mind. And we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us if we allow Him to do that. So we should place our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ, as Mr. Knuckle mentioned in the sermonette. We are to become like Christ, like our older brother. We are to emulate Him. We are to imitate Him. We are to allow Him to direct and guide us each and every day of our lives, every moment of our lives. We're to let Him fight our battles because He will go to bat for us. He will fight our battles for us if we allow Him.

Of course, we have to do our part peaceably as we strive to overcome, to put out our carnal, sinful nature. The self and Dr. Ward gave a message just very recently during this Passover season where he talked about self, Satan, and society, the three major things that we have to overcome.

And he was saying that self is perhaps the most difficult, and I would agree with that.

Satan tempts us by the self, you know, the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes.

So we have to overcome self, Satan, and the downward pulls of society. That isn't easy. We need Christ to live in us, to show us the way. He is the one who knows the way because He's already done it.

He's already been successful. He lived as a human being in the flesh and yet without sin.

Now God has made His home in us, and with Him, again, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible. With Christ, we can do all things. Let's go to John chapter 6, where Christ said something that was startling to His disciples. They didn't quite know what to think of what He was saying here. Many misunderstood. Many left Him after He said this because it seemed weird. It seemed strange. It seemed odd. But for us who have spiritual discernment, it makes sense.

He said in John chapter 6 verse 56, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me. They continue in me and I in Him. So He's talking about the Father. He's talking about Himself.

You know, we all are one together. He says in verse 57, As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. We are to feed on Jesus Christ. We are to feed on that unleavened bread, that manna that continues to come down from heaven to sustain us and to help us. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. So this is exciting to understand this concept. We must eat the unleavened bread to allow Christ to dwell in us.

We allow Him to dwell in us when we eat the Word of God, when we digest the Word of God, when we ingest it and digest it, when we study it, Christ is the living Word of God. But the Bible's been given to us. It's our instruction manual. It's our book. We're to read it, to study it, to believe it, and to live it. And so we're to put this written Word in our hearts and in our minds and walk by every Word of God, live by every Word of God. We are to put on Christ spiritual DNA. Think about that for a moment. Christ's spiritual DNA, we are to become like Him. We're to replace this carnal DNA with Christ unleavened DNA. That's something to think about, something to contemplate, to consider.

In John chapter 14 and verse 10, Christ said, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Don't you believe that? He's asking His disciples, don't you believe that? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me, He does the works. Christ gave Him all the credit. When Christ walked the earth as a human being, He was able to stay faithful because He trusted in His Father. He put His faith in God the Father, and the Father did the work in Him, just as Christ is to live in us, and the Father as well, through the Holy Spirit. That's how we are to do the works. God does the works in us. So, if Christ had to rely on the Father, how much more do we need to rely on Christ and on the Father?

If Christ had to do that, then surely we have to do that, don't we?

If we're going to be successful, God and Christ in us shall do good works by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. In John chapter 14 verse 17, and we read this at Passover, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees it nor knows it, but you know it, for it dwells with you and will be in you. And then in verse 20, at that day you will know that I am in my Father and you and me and I in you.

So, we're all in this together. We really are in this together. The Father, the Son, and each and every one of us. And we know that when we are converted, we are given a down payment of God's Spirit, an earnest, a down payment that's to dwell in us. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 goes along with this concept. Paul says, do you not know that you are the temple of God? I'm in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16.

1 Corinthians 3 verse 16, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? He's asking them, don't you know it? Don't you get it? Don't you see it? Listen, you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you. You are to be different. You have the power to be different. If anyone defiles the temple of God, verse 17, God will destroy him. So, he's talking about the unpardonable sin. If one was to commit the unpardonable sin and reject God fully and pull away from him and have, you know, want nothing to do with him and just reject him, then he's defiled the temple of God and God will destroy him in the lake of fire. That's what the scripture tells us. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. You are the temple of God. So, we're not to take this lightly, are we? We're to take it very seriously, but thankfully we know that God is a loving and a merciful and faithful God, and he's on our side. And so, we look to him for this help, for this deliverance, for this salvation, for this great salvation. So, brethren, Christ in you through the power of the Holy Spirit is the determining factor of those who will truly become unleavened and rule with Christ for a thousand years. When Christ returns, it's those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them who are alive at the time. They'll be changed in a moment. Or those who have already died in Christ will rise to meet Christ in the air. It's because the Spirit of God dwells in them. The Holy Spirit in you is going to make all the difference in the world at Christ's return. Only those who have Christ dwelling in them are going to be in the first resurrection. That's what the Bible teaches.

Do we believe that? Do we understand that? What are three big elements, characteristics, traits that prove one has the Christ through the Spirit of God dwelling in them? I'm going to go through three characteristics of someone who has the Spirit of God. Think about this as I go through these three elements. Ask yourself, are you doing this? Are you in tune? Are you proving through your life that Christ lives in you? Number one, one who has Christ dwelling in them is a commandment keeper. Not just in the letter, but also in the Spirit. Because isn't that what Christ said? He said, I don't think that I've come to do away with the law.

I've come to magnify it. Christ said, if you harbor hatred or resentment against someone, you've murdered them in your heart. If you look at a woman to lust for her, you've already committed adultery with her. Christ showed that we are to be commandment keepers, but not just in the letter, but in the Spirit. We're to go beyond the letter, and we're to live by every word of God, including the Spirit of God. We're to go beyond. We're to be commandment keepers. We are to be walking in the Spirit and producing the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. If we're commandment keepers in the letter and the Spirit, we're going to be producing the fruit of God's Spirit.

There's no way you can't possibly be doing that if you're truly keeping the Spirit of the law.

If you're keeping the Spirit of the law, then you are producing the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.

So one who is a commandment keeper keeps all the laws of God that are still in effect, that haven't been replaced. For example, the law of sacrifices. We know that Christ is the ultimate sacrifice, so we don't sacrifice animals. It's not necessary. We don't have to be circumcised because circumcision is now of the heart. So we're to keep all of the laws of God, the statutes, the Holy Days are statutes of God. They're still in effect. They're still to be observed. That's why we're keeping these days because we're commandment keepers. We believe in the law. We keep the annual Holy Days as well as the weekly Sabbath. We strive to keep all of God's law. We try to do as the Bible instructs. So this person has repented of his sins.

He's accepted Christ as his Savior. He's been baptized. He's had hands laid upon him, and he's received the Holy Spirit. And he is keeping the laws of God. He's striving to do the best he possibly can. Although we know that humanly, we can't do it, right? Christ does the work in us. We're not going to be perfect in the flesh. The Bible says if you don't think you're a sinner, then the truth is not in you. Okay, we're all sinners. We all fall short of God's glory. Not until we're changed to spirit will we be perfected. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to keep the laws of God as best we possibly can with God's help. And we can certainly grow and overcome, and we'll talk about that as well. So we're commandment keepers. We're completely sold on God's way of life. Are you completely sold on God's way of life, or does Satan have a way to tempt you and to make you doubt? You know, we've been tested on this point before. Are you a commandment keeper? We've been tested big time. Back in 1995, a huge test came upon the Church of God. Are we commandment keepers, or aren't we? Has the law been done away, or hasn't it? I hope we've all settled that, and that we will no longer be tested in that way again. But Satan is going to continue to try to get the best of us if he can. In 1 John chapter 3 verse 22, John says, And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Whatever we ask we receive because we keep his commandments. That's important. Being a commandment keeper is important.

Verse 23 of 1 John chapter 3, And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. And we'll talk more about love as we continue here. And then in verse 24, Now he who keeps his commandments abides in him, abides in Christ. If we keep his commandments we continue in Christ, and he in him, Christ in us, is what it's saying if we're commandment keepers. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit that he has given us. God is the law giver. It makes sense to keep his laws.

God is supreme. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. God's law is holy and just and good. That's what Paul said. Now we need to believe that. There's no problem with God's law. We need to do our best to observe it, to keep it. In Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 verse 9, here it says, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. So we have to have the Spirit of Christ. God's Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ living in us. The Spirit of God dwells in us. Verse 10, And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, because we're all sinners.

Now we've all fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. That's what we all deserve because we're all sinners. And we continue to sin. We haven't yet reached perfection. We must continue to strive toward perfection, toward spiritual maturity. But we must be willing to admit that we're still sinners. We still need to be forgiven our sins. And it says here, And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Righteousness is doing what is right, doing what is good. It's keeping God's commandments. It's keeping His laws. It's living by every word of God. That's what it's saying here. Now in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 16, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 16, here Paul says, And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

No, it talks a lot about idols in the first three commandments. Coming out of idolatry. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. God wants to dwell in us. He wants to walk among us. He wants to be with us. Verse 17, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 17, Therefore come out from among them and be separate.

We are to come out from among this world and be separate. We're to be different, says the Lord.

Not that we look at ourselves as better. We're not better than others. We're blessed.

We're blessed because God has chosen fit to call us at this time and open our minds to His truth. He says, Be separate. Do not touch what is unclean. Don't break the laws of God.

Don't touch what is unclean. And I will receive you. Verse 18, And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. You will be my sons. You will be my daughters. But do keep my commandments, and you will be greatly blessed. You will live because of these commandments that bring tremendous blessings upon those who keep these days, keep these holy days, keep the Sabbath, keep all of the commandments of God. Don't lie. Don't steal. Don't cheat. Don't commit adultery. There are tremendous blessings in every one of God's commandments. Obedient children keep the laws of the Father. We are to be obedient children. We're to strive to honor God by keeping the laws of God. In John chapter 15, and again we read this at Passover, Christ says in verse 4, John 15 verse 4, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, Christ is the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. We have to abide in Christ. We have to allow Christ in our lives, and we have to walk with Christ. We have to yield to Christ. We have to surrender to Christ.

Christ should live in us. He is the vine. We are the branches. Unless you abide in me, you will not bear fruit. John 15 verse 5, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. Not just a little bit of fruit, but a lot of fruit. Now, if we're keeping all of God's commandments, we're bearing a lot of fruit. Think about that. Most people aren't keeping God's commandments. They're not that careful about keeping God's commandments.

If we're truly doing that, then we are producing fruit. That's fruit. That's healthy. That's good.

God's pleased with that. So let's, again, keep the commandments of God.

Good works equals keeping the commandments. You know, keeping the commandments is doing good work.

John 15 verse 8, By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. We bring glory to God when we act like Him. When we keep His commandments, we're behaving like Him.

These are His commandments, His ways. Christ kept the Father's commandments.

He didn't break the commandments. He kept them.

He bore much fruit. He set that example for us, for all of us.

He says, bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples if you bear much fruit.

As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.

So we see love and we see commandments. And we're going to talk about love in the next point.

This is about the commandments, but they're so intertwined and linked together.

As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, verse 10, John 15, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. You can't abide in God's love if you aren't keeping the commandments.

Keeping the commandments is extremely important. Remember Abraham. Why did God select Abraham? Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

But Abraham wasn't perfect, was he?

Abraham broke the law.

Abraham broke the law. Abraham lied.

Abraham had to repent of that. And I'm no doubt that he did repent of that.

And it says his faith was counted as righteousness because he believed in God.

He trusted in God. He was God's friend.

He's the Father of the faithful. Yes, it takes faith to keep God's commandments.

It takes faith. And we are saved by grace.

Not by keeping God's commandments.

We've all blown that.

We're saved by grace.

God living in us gives us the victory. Christ died for us. We're forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Make no mistake.

Commandment keeping is important.

Don't minimize it.

But we are saved by grace.

So that's the first point. If you have doubts about being a commandment keeper, you need to clear up those doubts.

If you have any doubt whether God expects you to be a commandment keeper, you need to clear up any doubt about that.

Have no doubt.

We're to live by his commandments, by his laws.

And if we do, God will surely bless us in so many ways. All right. That's the first way that we know we have the Spirit of Christ living in us.

It's because we're keeping his commandments. We honor him by keeping his commandments.

Secondly, the love of God is manifest in the person in whom Christ lives.

The love of God is manifest in the person in whom God lives, in Christ lives.

Let's go to 1 John chapter 3. First John chapter 3.

And notice what it says here about love.

First John chapter 3 verse 17.

But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart. He has no compassion.

Shuts up his heart from him.

The question is, how does the love of God abide in him?

If you don't hurt for the billions of people that are starving on this planet, you're just not thinking.

There are people starving, dying right now as I speak around this globe.

Because they don't have enough food.

Yes, we're spoiled. We take so much for granted.

And I know we can't fix everything in this life.

But if it doesn't grieve our hearts, if we don't long for the kingdom of God, if we don't pray for God's kingdom, for the sake of the less fortunate people on earth, we should pray every day, thy kingdom come.

Because people are dying, they are suffering, they are hurting, they're in pain. So we need to have that love of God in us.

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue.

Let's not just talk about it, but let's love in deed and in truth. Let's pray about it, but let's also open our wallets when we can to serve, to help, to do something for others, to help preach the gospel, and also to help, you know, and also to help, you know, it says that this gospel needs to be preached to the whole world, and then Christ will return. So that's a good cause to help preach the gospel, but also to reach out if we can help others who are in need. Then, you know, you know what it says in Matthew 25? If you do it under the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me. This is what Christ said. You have done it unto me. So we are to help others as we have opportunity, and we should look for opportunities. I'm sure I could do much better in this way. I have no question that I can do better, and I should do better.

Beloved, let us love one another. Now I'm in 1 John 4 now. 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Everyone who truly loves is born of God and knows God, or begotten of God, begotten by the Holy Spirit at this time, born later at Christ's return. God's love is to dwell in us. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4, verse 8. We are to become unleavened. We are to become love. That's what we are to become.

1 John 4, verse 9. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him, that we might live through Christ, and that Christ might live in us.

Verse 10. And this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. We know that God loved us first. He loved us and sent his Son to pay the penalty for us, to be the propitiation, to be that mercy seat, so that we might be forgiven our sins. Christ is that perfect sacrifice. He is that mercy seat. We go before the throne of grace in time of need, to be forgiven our sins.

By this, we know that we abide in him.

All right, I think I skipped over verse 11. I wanted to read that. 1 John 4, verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Now, we should love each other. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We should love each other. And it's not just the brethren either. It's all mankind. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ. We're all made in the image of God. So it has to extend beyond our church fellowship. It has to extend to the world.

We're to love all people. We ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time.

This is what John says. No one's seen God the Father at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. God's love has been perfected in us.

We are becoming like God, for God is love.

Verse 13, 1 John 4, verse 13. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. Again, it's the Spirit that makes all the difference. When God's love is manifest in us, then we know that we have the Spirit of God. If we think we have the Spirit of God, but there's no love, not likely. Love needs to be there, and we need to be genuine.

And in the sunlight, it will show, truly, whether or not we do have the love of God in us, because He's given us of His Spirit. Verse 14, we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Christ is the Savior of the world to save us. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and He is God. I'm sorry, and He in God. God abides in Him and He in God. Again, we're in this together. Verse 16, and we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and He who abides in love abides in God and God in Him. John says it over and over again. He wants us to get it. He wants us to understand it.

He wants us to realize that we are to become like God. We are to become loving, willing to lay our lives down for each other, for one another, truly willing to give our lives, not be so selfish, but be loving toward one another.

Verse 17, 1 John 4 verse 17, Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. We are to have boldness in the day of judgment. The only way we're going to have boldness is if we really truly know God's Spirit dwells in us, right? Isn't that what gives us boldness? Knowing God dwells in us, knowing that He's the power behind us, knowing that we can trust in Him and rely upon Him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment, but He who fears has not been made perfect in love. So fear should not dominate our lives. God's love should dominate our lives. Perfect love casts out fear. We don't need to live in fear. You know, God has our back.

Whatever He allows, it's going to be all right if we truly have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.

We need to turn ourselves over to God, surrender more fully to Him, and allow Him to do the work in us.

So perfect love casts out fear. But He who fears has not been made perfect in love. So if you are a fearful person, obviously, and we're all fearful to some degree, none of us have perfect love, it's perfect love that casts out fear. None of us are perfect yet when it comes to love. So we're all going to have some fear, but we shouldn't be driven by fear.

All right, let's go. Before I end this point, I wanted to mention that there's a song that many of you have never heard of before, because you're not old like I am.

If you've heard of Captain and Tennille, they sang a song that, Love will keep us together. Remember that song? Love will keep us together. It's catchy. I don't think I dare try to sing it. But love will keep us together, because I really love you.

That's what she's saying. Love will keep us together, because I really love you. And don't you know, don't listen to anyone else. Don't think of anyone else, because I really love you.

Love will keep us together. And that's the way it should be. Love should keep God's people together.

God hates division. God loves unity. God's going to test us in this. God's tested us already in this, whether or not we have love for each other. Love should keep us together, brethren.

When we split apart, it's because love is lacking. Love is lacking when we choose to divide and to separate. Just as it's lacking in a marriage when it falls apart, it's lacking in a church when it splits. So love should keep us together.

That's the second point. Do you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you? Are you loving? Are you loving? And then thirdly, the one who has the Spirit of God dwelling in him and her is a repentant, humble, overcomer.

A repentant, humble, overcomer. Think about that. Repentant. Mr. Kubik talked about repentance. He went to 2 Corinthians 7, I believe. He talked about godly sorrow, worldly sorrow.

I'm talking about true repentance. Someone who is repentant, humble, will be an overcomer.

If you're repentant and you're humble, you're going to overcome. You're going to admit that you are a sinner who needs help. You're going to allow Christ to live in you, to work in you, to do the works. In the book of Revelation, there are messages to the seven churches. One message that comes through very clearly to all the churches is that one must be an overcomer to have his name written in the book of life. I think there's seven or eight different times when it talks about being an overcomer in Revelation chapter 3.

To he who overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne. You know, it goes over and over to he who overcomes. To he who overcomes. To he who overcomes. If we are keeping God's commandments, we're going to be overcomers as well. So this third point is about, you know, it's going beyond the first two points. And it's understanding the first two points so that we'll never give up.

And we'll never quit on each other because love never quits. Love never fails. Love never gives up.

And if we're truly repentant and we're humble, we'll be an overcomer. We are in the process of becoming more and more unleavened when we're humble and when we are repentant.

We will automatically be overcoming.

In Psalm 32, verse 5, David wrote, I acknowledge my sin to you. Speaking about God, I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions to the eternal and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Remember Psalm 51? That entire psalm is a psalm of repentance. David, having repented of his sins, being cleansed, being purified, being forgiven. The third point is we have to be repentant, humble overcomers. That's what David was. When he finally got it, when he finally saw that he was the man, then he repented and he became all in because he was a man after God's own heart. He wasn't perfect like God. He was a sinner. In Colossians chapter 3, and I could actually read the whole chapter here. I'm just going to try to briefly go through this quickly, but Colossians chapter 3 is an awesome chapter and it relates well to this third point.

And it talks a lot about putting things off and putting things in. You can read it later.

But it says that our life is hidden with Christ in God. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. Again, we're all in this together. It says we're going to appear with Him in glory. When Christ returns, we're going to appear with Him in glory. Those of us who are converted, who have the Spirit of God, it says, therefore put to death your members which are on the earth. And it says, fornication and uncleanness and passion and evil desire. That's verse 5. And covetousness, which is idolatry, it says, put all this aside. Put it to death. Yes, we must be overcomers. We have to put sin out of our life. We have to become unleavened. So we are to put these things off.

He talks about there was a time when we we used to walk in these things. Those in Colossae, the Gentiles primarily that he was referring to, but all people, all mankind, we are all one in Christ. We're all sinners in Christ as well. We all must be forgiven in Christ. He talks about putting on the new man and being renewed in the image of him who created him. Again, to become like Christ, to come to the full stature of Christ. That's our goal, to become perfect in Christ.

He says we are to put on tender mercies. We're to put on kindness, humility, meekness. Put these things on, long suffering. Again, willing to sacrifice, to give of yourself, to lay your life down for each other. But above all these things, above all, put on love, because love is the bond of perfection. That's what we need to really put on is love. That was that second point.

But this third point says I'm going to stay faithful. I know I'm saved by grace. I know it's my faith in Christ's sacrifice. It's not my law giving. It's not keeping the commandments.

God's love in me that makes this possible. I'm going to yield to God and Christ my whole life.

I'm never going to give up. I'm never going to give in. I'm going to keep fighting the good fight.

So above all things, put on love and let the peace of God rule in your heart. Let God's love rule in your heart. And then you can sing all kinds of beautiful Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God, praising Him for who He is, for His greatness, for His awesomeness. Do all of this in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through Him, through Christ.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised on the day of Pentecost. Christ and the Father live in us by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us.

Now, I find it interesting that in Acts 7, and this has to do with Stephen, if you remember, he was stoned shortly after giving his defense. Paul was there.

He was not yet converted. He was acquiescing, or he was joining in of this death of Stephen. Stephen said in verse 48 of chapter 7 of the book of Acts, Howbeit the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says. This was given long ago that God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. It wasn't the physical temple that was so important. We are what's important.

We are the temple of God. God's to live in us. God lived in Joshua. God lived in Caleb.

God lived in Moses. God lived in them, and that's what made the difference between them.

Notice verse 51, Acts 7. Stephen says, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit.

As your father's dead, so do you. You always resist the Holy Spirit.

There's a human tendency to resist the Holy Spirit.

You have that tendency. I have that tendency to resist God's Spirit, because we like to cozy up to the flesh. So we have a tendency to resist the Spirit when the Spirit is trying to guide us and lead us, but we're not listening, and we're not changing, and we're not growing like we should, because we're stiff-nacked to some degree. We're uncircumcised in heart and ears to some degree, because we're resisting the Holy Spirit of God. Now, the Holy Spirit is a powerful force in the world, isn't it? Is it not a very powerful force? I shudder to think what this world would be like if God's Spirit wasn't prevalent in this world. I believe God's Spirit is very powerful. God sustains the whole universe by His Spirit, by His power, by His might.

The Holy Spirit is a powerful force. Stephen said that the typical Israelite, back at that time, when Stephen was living, like mankind in general today, resists the Holy Spirit.

That's why we see things the way they are. You know, people aren't commandment keepers. God hasn't opened their minds. God hasn't showed them the way. There's a certain resistance to the Holy Spirit. People, for the most part, are stiff-necked. They're rebellious.

Humanly, that's the way we are. The human heart is carnal, deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God.

It can't be. Not unless you start to allow the Spirit to guide you.

If you continue to resist the Spirit of God, then lots of trouble and problems will persist.

So, Stephen was saying this to a stiff-necked, rebellious bunch of Pharisees who killed him, thinking they were doing God a service. We're going to see that happen again.

The Bible talks about that. It'll happen to some of us if we're alive.

Now, there will be martyrs who will have to give their lives. Some will be protected.

Others will give their lives. This is what the Scripture says. This is prophecy that will come to pass. Some will kill us, thinking they're doing God a service. So, I find it interesting. We see that in the world around us, today, people do vigorously resist God's Holy Spirit. They resist the lead of the Spirit. That's why we have so much chaos in the world today. So much strife, so much fighting, so much warfare, so much sin. Nevertheless, some people are definitely more receptive to the leading of God's Spirit. I'm not talking about just people in this room or listening to this. I'm saying that out in the world, there are some people that are a lot more receptive to the Holy Spirit. Now, they don't resist the Holy Spirit nearly as much as some people do. And I think that we should be willing to acknowledge good decisions when we see them. We shouldn't assume that everyone's going to do something wrong or bad. I've seen some very good examples in the world. Examples of self-control, of love. And I'm not going to judge that it was all ulterior motives, all selfish. Some of it could be very genuine. On the other hand, Satan is a great deceiver. And we don't know when they'll also kill us, thinking they're doing God a service. So I think we should understand that people sometimes make good choices because they do allow the Spirit to guide them. We don't know who God is calling. I mean, God works with people, right? We don't know who He's working with. So when we see something good and right and God's Spirit may be working, we should see that and rejoice in that and be grateful for that. Okay, brethren, it's important again that Christ lives in us. Let us go on from here, knowing that God in Christ lives in us by the power of His Spirit. That's what's going to make all the difference in the world, is if we really have God's Spirit dwelling in us. We prove that Christ lives in us when we keep His commandments, when we keep His statutes, His laws. They're important to us.

We're sold on them. We keep them. Secondly, when the love of God is manifest in our lives. So much so that we would truly be willing to lay our life down for one another, for our fellow man. And thirdly, when we are repentant, humble overcomers, and we're continuing on that path and we don't let anything deter us. Remember, love will keep us together. It'll keep us in Christ and in the Father. And it will keep us together, all of us, together, if we truly yield to God's Holy Spirit. You know, pride is a real problem in the world, isn't it? Pride, it's a problem for us, too. It's easy to be prideful. You know, the pride of life.

Lack of love is a problem. There are times when I've been appalled that I have not had greater love. Lack of love, pride, these are things that we need to repent of. We need to repent of rebellion toward authority. And we need to repent of whatever it is that we're doing that's contrary to God's ways. Brethren, we are becoming unleavened. We've been tested in the past on these points. We're going to be tested again on these issues. Do you have love? Are you truly repentant? Are you yield to God and Christ? Are you keeping the commandments of God? So we've begun our countdown to Pentecost. It's already begun. We're moving toward Pentecost, another holy day that we'll observe.

Now, that's about the firstfruits, isn't it? It's about the New Testament Church, those who are called chosen and faithful of God in this age, who are going to be glorified like Christ at His return. Remember, Christ is in us. He is the hope of glory.

Christ lives in us. So, brethren, let's all be unleavened.