Clothed in Newness of Life

But here we are again, today observing this first Holy Day of the year. We know that Passover is the first festival of the year, as outlined in God's Word. But when we get down to what God calls His Holy Days, today is the first Holy Day of the year. Another year has passed, another start of the yearly Holy Days that picture the wonderful and complete plan that God has for all humanity that has ever lived and ever will live.

As we start these days of Unleavened Bread, it's always good to be reminded of what these days picture in the past and what they picture for us today.

So let's look all the way back to that first commanded observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 12. Exodus 12, as we go back to the very beginning, the instructions given here were provided towards the conclusion of God bringing forth the plagues against Egypt. Earlier in chapter 12, we have recorded the instructions for the observance of the first Passover. But starting in verse 15, we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Exodus 12, in verse 15. Here God says to Moses, Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there should be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there should be a holy convocation for you. In verse 17, So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on the same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, which was last evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened in all of your dwellings. You shall eat unleavened bread. In chapter 13, verse 3, And Moses therefore said to the people, Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and 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 of your quarters. 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's a powerful passage that we have here. God was talking to his people, and he was taking his people out of a nation that had its grip on Israel. They were under complete control, and were under the sinful influences of a nation that was not following God.

Some ways very similar to us today. We know that God has called each one of us out of our own Egypts. God has called us out of our sinful past and out of the influence of our own human nature. In Deuteronomy 16 and verse 3, we see this holy day recounted again by Moses as he summarizes what he had gone through in through the Exodus and through different times.

And he recounts the holy days here in Deuteronomy 16 and verse 3. Here again, we have a similar passage to what we read through in Exodus. 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.

And he says again, that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. Notice again the instructions for this festival to be observed that Moses reminded the people again that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. This is a very important part of this feast season that we keep, these seven days. It is vital and important that we are now part of and should be on our mind as we keep these days, that we have been called out of our sinful past. We've been taken out by Christ's sacrifice and by his hand to be led a different path. The Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches us that we have been called to reject lawlessness and to repent of sin. We have been miraculously delivered from the spiritual bondage of sin just as surely as God delivered the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. We are to live by every word of God and according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Our Savior, He Himself, is directly leading and assisting us in overcoming sin just as Israel was led out of Egypt by the Lord who would later become the man Jesus Christ.

During this festival, leaven symbolizes sin, and as such is removed from our homes for the seven days of this festival. By eating unleavened bread, we picture living a life of sincerity and truth free from sin. During Christ's early ministry, Jesus identified leaven as a symbol of sin. Let's look at this in Matthew 16 and verse 6. Matthew 16 and verse 6.

And then Jesus said to them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

This leaven referenced here was malice, which is also evil motives. It was hypocrisy. It was pride. It was wickedness. These are the same sins that we must be removing from our lives because they spread through every part of our lives, just like yeast does through a part of dough. It spreads through and inhabits the entire thing, the entire lump. Malice, hypocrisy, pride, wickedness, spread through our lives to the tips of our fingers when we allow it to thrive in our lives.

That's why Christ said, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And why them specifically? Let's look at Luke 11 verse 37 and dive into some of the sins that they had in their life. Luke 11 verse 37. Because as we know, these are people who should have known better. They knew God's way. They could memorize and recite passages from God's Word. They have lived this way. They've been taught this way. They should have known. But here in Luke 11 verse 37, Christ again says, well, the passage starts out, And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and sat down to eat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner, not washed his hands. It was one of the practices. Do you see any place in God's Word that says, we've got to wash our hands? It's a commandment? No. But the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders of the time, created a new law. You had to have washed hands. It wasn't the only time that this was referenced by them. It was something that they added. And then Christ here in Luke 11 verse 39 says, And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees, make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have, then indeed all things are clean to you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe, mint, and ruin all manners of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. They were great at counting out their offerings. They were great at washing their hands. They were great at the physical aspects, but he's saying, Look what you're missing. You're missing the justice. You're missing the love.

Christ goes on to say, These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. You love to be seen doing great things and to be praising God and delivering His Word in such a careful manner. You want people to see you in your sharp suit.

See you doing your good deeds. But then he goes on and says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, again, hypocrites, for you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not even aware of them. I really, that's an interesting passage, that last part, because I think a lot of times we're familiar with Christ when He says, Woe to you, who are like washed, whitewashed tombs, but yet full of dead man bones. It's a similar idea here, but just a little bit of a twist on the analogy. These were graves which were not decorated. There was no tombstones. Nobody knew they existed. But underneath the ground was death, was corruption, because nobody knew that there was decay. Nobody knew there was rotting bones below the ground. So Christ is saying to avoid hypocrisy, avoid putting on a fake outward appearance, whether it's in speech, or action, or even in thought, when our inward parts are decaying. Imagine that. We put on a great suit. We wash our hands, and we do everything we're supposed to from an outward stance, but we know who we are, and we know if something is not right here inside. We know if our hearts are not where they need to be. This is the leaven that Christ spoke about, and in turn is speaking also to us today. Paul references this connection between leaven and sin. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 6.

1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6. The apostle Paul here says, Your glory is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? That yeast, that small amount of yeast. It's amazing how little yeast you need to make two loaves of bread. Just a small amount, leavens the whole lump. Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you are truly unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

As we start out a new feast of unleavened bread, we should heed Paul's instructions and start out these days with a new approach, a new start, without leaven, not without the old leaven, without the old way of existence that maybe has become common to us, as common as that loaf of bread that we like. We know the brand, we know the size, we know what we like, we know when it's not there anymore. It becomes common in our life, that loaf of bread. We may even depend on it.

We may really enjoy it. But here Paul is saying, do away with that common loaf of bread. Get rid of it and start with a new loaf, a new lump, unleavened, righteous. We must start in newness of life, unleavened and without sin, and then work always, as we do in these days, to keep leaven out of our lives. In his letter, in Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul describes a new life that we are to live. This is in Ephesians chapter 4. And we'll focus the rest of our time here on this new life that you and I are to live. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 17, in living this new life, we are to discard our old man, the old way of life, and put on the new man, the one that lives according to the fullness of Christ.

As we start here, let's read through this passage and let's again consider this feast of unleavened bread, what it is that we are to put out of our lives, and in turn, what we are to put on. Ephesians 4 and verse 17. Paul says, This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, consider that for me. We could read through this passage and miss those three words, being past feeling. The Gentiles, this was their way of life. There was no sensitivity to sin. There was no sensitivity to right or wrong in this way anymore. As it says, in the futility of their mind, they walked. Being darkened, they walked. The blindness of their heart, they walked.

Again, verse 19, being past feeling, they have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But then we get to verse 20, and what a powerful statement, but you have not so learned Christ. You and I have had our minds opened to God's eternal and powerful and living Word. We know Jesus Christ. We've put on Jesus Christ. We take in Jesus Christ, and in turn, He lives inside of us. This is what Paul is getting to here, but you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, that as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

This aspect of putting off and putting on is used in the way which we wear clothing today. In the Greek, put off can also be translated as to put away, to cast off. So if you took the coat off and threw it on the floor, or to lay aside, you took your clothing off, your garments off, and you put them away from you, separated yourself from it. These are all the ways that this put off could also be translated. Putting off the old man is the one time of the year it's okay to take this garment off and throw it on the floor and in your bedroom. I'm not the only one who's ever done that with clothes, right? Just lift them in a pile on the floor. Maybe some of us other guys have done this. But this is the one time it's okay to leave your garment, to leave the old man just in a heap on the floor away from you that you don't care about, you're not worried about.

In a similar way, the Greek for put on in this passage can also mean putting on a garment to invest with clothing. Like you go out and you buy that new dress, you get that new pair of shoes or that new coat. Or you can also mean to array and of course to clothe. The international standard version says this for, it's translated this for Ephesians 4 verse 22 through 24. This is from the international standard version. Regarding your former way of life, you were taught to strip off your old nature, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires and to be renewed in your mental attitude, and to clothe yourself with the new nature, which was created according to God's image and righteousness and true holiness.

If we are to remove this garment of sin and put on a new clean garment, it's not something that just happens on its own. It's kind of like you get home and you've had a busy day and you're still in your work clothes and you sit down on the couch and before you know it, time has passed by, you're getting tired and you're starting to fall asleep. Your pajamas don't just walk themselves out, do they? And just slide them on and switch off the clothes.

It takes diligence. It takes a mindset to say, I've got to get up and I'm going to get my clothes changed. I'm going to get ready for bed. We must create a resolve within ourselves to actively make this change. When we make this change, our old way is completely in the past, just like our old clothes when we get into pajamas.

We've got something new on. It doesn't matter what we wore to work that day. It doesn't matter the old nature that we've now cast off. We're wearing a new garment. But unlike those clothes that we may wear again in the future, the clothing of our sinful past must be thrown in the trash, just as we did with that leftover bread that we had in our house yesterday.

Went in the trash before sundown came. This old man, this old man, these old garments, filthy garments, they got to go in the trash as well. You and I are not going to drive to the landfill today. Find our garbage bags, rip them open, and pull out that bread that we threw out. Neither should we go searching for the old man to wear that garment again. They're gone, cast away, not to be found.

What about the desires and impulses that we have in our lives? Let's explore desire and impulse for a moment here. Many times in life, we find ourselves driven by desire and impulse. What is it that your nature wants? That's desire. What is it that your nature wants? This week, I may really desire a donut. It never fails. I don't hardly...they are one of my favorites, but I know I shouldn't be having them.

But it never fails. You get about midway through the week, and I'm like, you know what? A donut sounds really good right now. Or a pizza sounds really good about halfway through the days of un-oven bread. Maybe that's my desire. What is it that you desire on a spiritual, human nature level? I really want to do...again, fill in the blank. These wrong desires have often become a way of life for us, a personal problem that we are having difficulties dealing with.

Often, these desires become a foothold for Satan. Satan gets a hold and knows right how to tempt us. Sometimes, I imagine, like a climber on the side of a mountain, they get that foothold, that place where they can pretty much stand there almost with one arm, because their foot is in there so tight, and it's such a good hold for them. Do we give room for Satan to have these types of foot holds in our life?

Where he's got it, and he knows exactly how to get to us. And when he steps and puts his foot right where it needs to be, he knows he's got us. He can even take it easy. He can take one hand off, because he knows our weaknesses. Do we give Satan these foot holds in our life? What about the second aspect I referenced? Impulse. What is your impulse? The definition for impulse is a sudden or strong and unreflective urge or desire to act.

A driving or motivating force. Notice these descriptive words again. Sudden, strong, unreflective, driving, motivating. Some may call an impulse a knee-jerk reaction. One that just happens almost automatically. I often use the phrase, the horse is out of the barn. It's a phrase I like, and it's one that's gotten stuck in my mind.

The image that once something has happened, it can't be undone, or it takes a ton of work. My grandparents had a horse farm, and if a horse ever got out and you had to try to chase after it, they didn't want to come back. Especially if they were not trained to just be gentle and to follow instructions. You'd get out to the field, and they would take off running. Kind of like a kid does, when they know they're in trouble. So that phrase, the horse is out of the barn. It's extremely difficult.

It's almost automatic. That gate swung open, and that horse knew it had freedom, and it doesn't want to come back. Is that how our impulses are at times? Because of the way impulses are driven, almost automatically, our response happens a lot of times with little thought. But if we're being truthful with ourselves in those moments, we often know what is happening, and we know it's wrong. It may be an impulse. It may be an knee-jerk reaction. But if we're really being truthful with ourselves more times than not, we realize when it's happening, yeah, I shouldn't be doing this right now.

That's the power of God's Spirit working within us. That prompting, that saying, you know what, you're not comfortable right now in your own skin, because you know this shouldn't be what you're doing. You may be acting impulsively. It may just be happening, but it's not the right thing.

Do we act impulsively in our lives, or do we pre-meditate? Do we pause? Do we contemplate? Do we pray? Do we reflect? Each of us, and me included, need to personally reflect on these questions that I laid out here. What is it that I desire? What is my impulse? What do you want your desire to be? Or what do you want your impulse to be? We have a wonderful week ahead of us, a week that we are to take sin away from our lives, to focus on putting Christ into our life.

This week, put on the forefront of your mind what you want your desire to be, what you want your impulse to be. Fight the urge to take these ideas and these thoughts and put them on the back burner, because we all put things on the back burner at times. That project we know we really need to get to, but it's not something we really look forward to doing. That leaky toilet or that leak in the roof of the house. Those aren't fun projects to work on, but we know if we put it aside, we're going to have a bigger mess, a more costly mess to deal with. What about that pile of laundry?

I don't want to do laundry. I want to go outside and play. I want to enjoy the outside. I want to watch TV. I want to do something else other than laundry, but what happens? It piles up, becomes more work later on. The one example from my life that I'll never forget, and it was the first time I had an apartment with roommates. I don't like doing dishes, and so you leave those dishes in the sink, and you rinse them out with water, right? You fill them up with water because that'll make them easier to wash later on, but then two days go by, three days go by, four days go by. When you finally get to those dishes and you go to pour that water out, I don't know if you've ever done this or not, but don't ever do it. It's the worst smell in the world, and it's nasty. And that is the lesson that I've learned about. You put things off, a mess that you don't want to deal with, and I realize, not with dishes. They get done that evening, they get done the next morning. They do not sit there for three or four days because that water gets rancid, and it is just a mess. Here we have an awesome week ahead of us, a week to consider these aspects that we've been walking through for the past weeks as we considered our relationship with God, the sacrifice of our Savior. We've been thinking about sin, thinking about those things that we just know that it's not where we want it to be. And here we've had now Passover, and we're now into our first day of this feast of Unleavened Bread. It's a wonderful time to put it on the forefront of your mind, to keep it there, not to say, okay, we threw Passover, get through, got rid of the bread, things are easy sailing, let's just take it easy from this point on. But to keep things off the back burner on the forefront of our mind, let's deal with the leaven, let's deal with the sin that may still be in our lives this week. Keep it on the forefront of our mind and keep it on the forefront of our prayers to God. Keep taking it to God. We've done that this past few weeks, taking our sins, taking our things that we're not happy with to God. Let's keep doing that as we go through this week. Put on the new nature of Christ, that new garment of clothing. Wrap yourself up in Christ. Head in the new direction. Have the new way of thinking that the Holy Spirit gives. Let's continue reading this passage from Ephesians 4 and consider what Paul is saying that needs to be put off. Ephesians 4, and now let's pick it up here in verse 25. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. It seems kind of strange to me that Paul had to put in lying. I mean, it seems too basic in some ways. I mean, lying? Seriously, this is a problem that God's people had. But those in Ephesus were in a society with loose morals. They needed to be told not to lie. Even though it's one of those elementary teachings that from earliest age we teach our children to not lie, to always tell us the truth. Yet here, one of these things that they needed to be told to do. Sometimes we think, well, I'm not a liar. I don't have these problems.

But when we think about it for a minute and we consider some of those areas that maybe are difficult, those white lies, those half-truths that sometimes develop in our life, I think we each get caught up in these sometimes. I know I have.

Some of the questions maybe you've been asked, maybe you've given answers to. Do I look fat in this dress?

How do you like my new haircut? Well, yeah, it looks great! How are you? Oh, I'm fine. When really you're not.

What about, I'm only five minutes away. Five minutes away from things that are going to be passing me as I'm driving along, but we know where we're at. What about, I'd love to help, but I'm busy that day. Busy watching TV.

Or, for us guys, yes, I'm listening.

Yeah, I heard the first five seconds of what you said, and then I'm like, oh, here we go again and turn it off. What about, there was really bad traffic on the way home today. There was a whole two cars in front of me, and that's not, it's not that I left 15 minutes late, or I made a stop on the way, or I forgot I needed gas. It was just two cars. It was bad traffic on the way home.

And this is one, sometimes you hear somebody says something, and they say, just kidding, just kidding. Or, I've been really swapped today. That's why I didn't get those things done that I said I would do. Do we stretch our coloring of a story we tell? Adding or admitting some of the details? Because maybe we didn't want to share that part, or it's embarrassing. Or, do we insert humor to make it funny? Oh, yeah, I said this, or this was going on when...

What about hearing something that someone says, but not investigating it yourself, and then going and sharing it with someone else? What about saying that you'll do something, but then fail to do it?

One that hit me square across the eyes before, and I worked super hard now not to do it, is I'll pray for you. You'll see me often, if I say that, I'll pull out my phone, because it immediately has to go into my prayer list. Because there were times I say, I'll pray for you, and I was sincere in the initial words, but then somebody came up and grabbed me, or somebody something happened, or you get home, and things are falling apart with the toilet squeaking. And then I forget to write it down, and the next time I see the person, I'm like, you know what? I forgot to pray for them, right after I told them I would. Another one, I'll call you this week, or let's keep in touch. The body never lies to itself, though. Your body, you hit your thumb with a hammer, it doesn't say, oh, that felt good, that was a nice time. Your body doesn't lie to itself. You touch something hot on the stove, your body doesn't then turn around and say, nope, that's cold, it's all good. Your body tells you the truth. If your body lied to you, you could never trust your senses, or what your body tells yourself. You trust your body and you depend on your body. We are the body of Christ. It may seem, as I first read over that passage, that we shouldn't be lying. Why did Paul need to address this? But then when I thought about it, I said, you know what? There's a deeper level. Just as Christ came to reveal a deeper level of the commandments of a way of life, it's not just good enough that you don't murder somebody. He added to the depth. It's not just written on tablets of stone, but it's written onto our hearts. It's a new covenant to change. And so our body of Christ, we have to consider these things that we're reading through here in Ephesians. The next one, in verse 26, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Be angry and do not sin. In the easy to read version for verse 27, it says, Do not give the devil a way to defeat you. Do not give the devil a way to defeat you. It's like that athlete that has a lot of talent, a lot of skills. But if he walks around with a limp on his left leg, then the competitor knows if I go to that side of him, he's going to have a hard time being able to guard me or to control me from going that direction. This version says, Don't give the devil a way to defeat you. Thinking of anger. The international standard version says this, And do not give the devil an opportunity to work. Hmm. Is he about on a mission? Is he working? Is he striving to get you and me? He is. Do not give him an opportunity to work. The New Living Translation says, For anger gives a foothold to the devil. Anger has its way to just eat us up on the inside and to just completely defeat us. It's like that poison that just rots us from the inside out. You think that there's an issue with somebody and you're angry about it and you move on. You go to bed. You don't think about it for a couple days and then all of a sudden you see that person again and if that anger wells right back up inside of you, it's just rotting you from the inside out.

That anger has to be taken to God and that forgiveness has to be worked through because anger is just giving a foothold to the devil. Continuing in Ephesians 4, verse 28, and let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, and that he may have something to give him who has need.

Stealing is another one of those impulse reactions. I need this. I'm going to take it.

There's all kinds of ways. Maybe we don't go out and rob a bank, but think of areas that maybe you stole time, stole different aspects of your life from others or even from God.

Verse 29, We've all found ourselves in our guilty of being involved with idle talk about the personal and private affairs of others.

Paul again is saying, If we take off all these things, this is that clothing that we just want to take off, throw in a heap in the floor, not worry about if it gets wrinkled, pick it up, throw it in that garbage bag, send it out on its way.

This is that old garment that we've been called to remove.

But if we take off this garment, what are we to then clothe ourselves with? Continuing on in Ephesians 4, verse 32, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. This is also symbolic of this time of the year that we're in. We came to Passover not to be forgiven there, because we can be forgiven any time of the year. Any time we transgress God's law, we can go to Him and say, I messed up. I'm sorry. Forgive me.

But to realize that that is what we have received from God is that forgiveness of our sins, even as Christ in Christ forgave you. And then chapter 5, verse 1, Emitate God. Be like God. Partaken God. Therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children, live a life filled with love following the example of Christ, He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

These are those character traits, those things that we are to put on. Let's look at a couple other passages as we consider this aspect of putting off and putting on. The next one is in Romans 6, verse 6.

Romans 6, verse 6.

Paul probably wrote this letter to the Romans about five years prior to the ones in Ephesus. But you'll see a similar thought process. Romans 6, verse 6. 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.

We put on Christ. We live with Christ in us. And that makes us living of the Spirit, this new man, this new garment, this new clothing.

There's another passage in Colossians chapter 3. And we'll start in verse 3 there as well. Colossians 3 and verse 3.

This passage, it'll seem familiar. You'd think we're back in Ephesians because it's a very similar passage to that that we just read through. Both of these letters that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus and Colossae were written about within the same couple-year period. It might have even been back-to-back, we don't know. But they were most likely written about the same time while he was in house arrest in Rome.

And it's similar that they're going different directions, but he's saying some similar things here in Colossians 3 and verse 3. Here Paul says, For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth. Fornication, another one of these lists of things that we're putting off. Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming up on the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once, keyword, once walked.

We're not to be going back and finding the dump or the landfill that has our old clothing and did break open the bag and put it back on. Because he said, you once walked in that way.

Don't walk in that way anymore, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now, you yourselves are to put off these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man. It's the same Greek word here as in the passage in Ephesians, to put off and to put on, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian or Cynthia, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

We know that God is not a respecter of persons. He doesn't lift one man up and another man down. To us, we're all his children. We all have our own unique lives and our own challenges, but he doesn't look at us any different. He's not a respecter of persons. We are a group of vast backgrounds and experiences, but each called to be one in Christ. He continues in verse 12, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. When we decided to put on Christ to accept the gift of his salvation, it was both a one-time decision as well as a daily commitment. We could leave here today recognizing what has been shared with us and what was fitting these verses, how they fit with today. We could leave here today in agreement that these are good things to put off. We don't want these things on. We could leave here in agreement these are good things to put on.

But I hope you'll join me this week in really considering some of these traits, the specific traits, to read through these passages, not just today with me, but to read through them again on your own time. Join me in doing that. Because when we really focus and think through what this week means, this taking of leavened bread in, no more bread, no more donuts, no more pizzas for a week, that if we take these things in, it will transform us. And I hope that we can consider the items that Paul says that we should be clothed in and looking for ways to exhibit these in our lives. During this week, consider the questions I posed earlier. What is it that I desire?

What is it? What is my impulse? These two questions alone could provide amazing insight to your life. It calls me to pause this week as I was writing parts of this message. You can't think through these and not then say, hang on, what does this mean to me?

Daily this week, consider how you can recommit yourself to God. This is part of what we did two nights ago, but this week we can recognize and remember just what it was that led us to baptism and the decision to commit our lives fully to God's way of life. What was that turning point? What was that itch that you couldn't scratch? That item that you wanted to maybe even remove from your mind at one point, but God was like, no, he's sitting there with the watering can watering and fertilizing that little item that he placed in your mind. As much as maybe we fought it, he was watering it. He was making sure that it was going to grow. What was that? Consider that again. Consider how you can recommit yourself to God daily this week, taking the physical unleavened bread that we have in our homes now. We know that the physical unleavened bread represents us receiving the needed food to sustain our life. We need food to live, to operate, to function. It also represents the spiritual need that each must be taking in Christ and allowing everything that he is to be alive and working in our lives make it a conscious effort to eat the physical unleavened bread that we have in our homes each day. And as you eat that bread, consider this aspect of bringing Christ into your life.

Is it physical? It is. Is there a spiritual component, something that we can gain from it? There is, if we open our minds to it and consider. When you sit down at lunch, dinner, when you break that matzo, you eat that triscuit representing bringing in the spiritual aspect of Christ into your life wherever you're at and you eat that. Daily this week, taking the bread of life.

It's not just about the physical. There's no just about it. It's about the spiritual. It's not about the physical. It's about the spiritual that we're doing. Study God's Word or simply read through these passages in Ephesians and Colossians. Read through these words, the clothing that we're to take off, the clothing that we're put to put on. Consider that this week. Do these things and you will be removing and casting off the clothing of the old man and will instead be clothing yourself in the righteous character of our Savior. It's one last passage as we close in Romans 13 and verse 11.

This is a tremendous opportunity we have ahead of us this week. Today's day one. We're not at the end of the feast of ungavened bread, looking back and saying, you know what? I wish I would have. I wish I did. I put it on the back burner. We're at day one. We have a full week ahead of us. Tons of opportunity. Consider that today and keep this in the forefront of your mind as we conclude with Romans 13 and verse 11.

And do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. How many years have you been baptized? How many years have you been baptized? You're nearer now than you were at that moment.

The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off. Again, it's the same use of the word, to put off. Cast off the works of darkness and to put on. Clothe yourself in the armor of light. The New Living Translation says this in verse 12. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes. I love the description that the New Living Translation has sometimes. Remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes and put on the shining armor of right living. Verse 13, Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry, not in drunkenness, not in lewdness, in lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.