Keep Sin from Entering Your Life

Greetings, everyone. Over and over, we hear that the days of Unleavened Bread picture putting sin out of our lives. But I believe, as we shall see today, that the days of Unleavened Bread are more about preventing sin from entering our lives on a daily basis than on putting sin out. We have been called to live holy and sinless lives.

That is not to say that we do not sin. In fact, we should note, and let's go now to 1 John chapter 1, what the Apostle John here, the Apostle of Love writes concerning sin and Jesus Christ in 1 John chapter 1. Beginning in verse 5, to a large degree, 1 John was written to combat Gnosticism and the Gnostics. Jesus Christ actually came in the flesh, but He was not just one who seemed to be. He was not a phantom in human form, but a real flesh-and-blood person. In John 1 verse 5, then this is the message which we've heard of Him and declare unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ and Son cleanses us from all sin.

We have taken the Passover, and supposedly all sin has been cleansed from us. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. My little children, these things I write unto you, that we sin not. And of course, that is the ultimate goal, that we sin not. And we want to focus today on how we can sin not.

Supposedly, sin has been put out of our lives, we examine ourselves, and we have taken the Passover. And if any man sin, we have an advocate, and that Greek word for advocate here is parakletos. It is the same word that is translated comforter in the Gospel of John, and the comforter is identified in John 14, 26, as the Holy Spirit. So we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our mediator.

He is our intercessor. And He is a propituation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. And He that says, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not anything. So we have reciprocals here. First of all, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.

And if anyone says He is without sin, He is a liar. But if He confesses His sins, repents, looks to Christ for forgiveness, His sins can be forgiven. Secondly, we see that if we say we know God, and we don't keep the commandments, we are liars. So the two viewpoints are reconciled with the fact that if we do sin, we can still be forgiven through the blood of Christ upon repentance.

So in view of that, we should ask ourselves, did you or I take the Passover in our sins? More specifically, did you or I take the Passover while knowing that we had not repented of all the sins we knew about in our lives before we took it? We know that leavening represents sin, and a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Let's go now to 1 Corinthians 5. Apparently, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At least it has a Feast of Unleavened Bread theme. He talks about being puffed up. He talks about putting out leaven.

1 Corinthians 5 is the example of the incestuous fornicator that they were putting up with. They were glorying in, as Paul says. They didn't put him out. But Paul made it clear that he should be put out. But in 2 Corinthians, we find that he's back in the church and being told to forgive him. In 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 5, "...to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh," that is, the incestuous fornicator, "...that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." And sometimes it takes disciplinary action to get one's attention.

And God chastens every son that he loves. And if you're without chastisement, then are you illegitimate and not sons? That's what Paul writes in Hebrews 12, verse 6. "...Your glorying is not good, know you not, that a little leaven leavens the whole lump." Sin is like contagious. It grows and it grows and it magnifies. "...purge out therefore the old leaven," he's talking about spiritual leaven here, the old leaven, "...that you may be a new lump even as you are unleavened." Evidently they had put the physical leavening out.

Would that putting the spiritual leavening out was as easy as putting the physical leavening out? "...For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with all leaven," that is, that spiritual leaven, "...neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." So we see that we're to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In John chapter 6, the bread of life chapter, Jesus states that He is the true bread, the bread that came down from heaven.

And if any man eat of that bread, he will never hunger. And we also know that we're instructed in Matthew 4.4 that we shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So now let's look in the Old Testament to see whether the emphasis is on eating unleavened bread or on not eating leavened bread. There are 10 places that command us to eat unleavened bread for seven days. If you look at Exodus 12 verse 15, we're going to read only three of these.

There are 10 places in which you are commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days. In Exodus 12 verse 15, Exodus 12 is where the first Passover was instituted, where God began to reveal to Israel once again His way, His truth, His calendar, the way out of sin and death, the way out of Egypt, the way out of slavery. And in Exodus 12 verse 15, seven days shall you eat unleavened bread.

Even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whosoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. This was a very serious offense to willingly eat leavened bread during the days of unleavened bread. Of course, I can't help but to reflect back on how that so many of our people, when the news came out from headquarters back 15 years or so ago, oh, it's all right to eat leavened bread. And some of our people couldn't wait to get the rolls puffed up.

They eat them during the days of unleavened bread, in a sense mocking God and mocking the Word of God. In Exodus 23 verse 16, turn forward please, Exodus 23 verse 16. And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in all of your labors, three times in the year shall all the males appear before me.

Before the Lord your God, you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. So God commands us not to eat leavened bread. Also in Leviticus 23 verse 6, where all of the holy days are enumerated, let's go there Leviticus 23 and verse 6. On the fifteenth day of the same month as the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord, seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Now some people get into a controversy of, are you commanded to eat unleavened bread?

I've heard ministers say, well, you're not commanded to eat unleavened bread every day. I don't know if this is a mistake here in my Bible or not. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no survival work therein. Why would you eat unleavened bread every day?

If you follow the symbolism, of course, the unleavened bread represents the broken body of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins. And in addition to that, He is the bread of life. Man shall not live by bread alone. The inward man is renewed daily. So which day are you going to go and not partake of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth? And every day that we do that, of course, that introduces, to speak in physical terms, malnourishment and in spiritual terms, to become spiritually malnourished.

We saw in Exodus 12.15 that if anyone eats leavened bread, he shall be cut off from the congregation. Now let's note a couple of places where it specifically says not to eat leavened bread. In Deuteronomy 16, verses 3 and 4, Deuteronomy 16, verses 3 and 4, Deuteronomy 16.3, you shall eat no leavened bread with it. You don't deliberately engage in sin. As we know, the unpardonable sin is a sin you want to repent of. And if you willfully sin, as it says in Hebrews 6, after you gain knowledge of sin, there is no more sacrifice for it. You shall eat no leavened bread with it seven days. Shall you eat unleavened bread, therewith even the bread of affliction? For you came forth out of the land of Egypt and haste, that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. In one other place, in Exodus 13, verse 7. In Exodus 13 and verse 7. Exodus 13 verse 7. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And there shall no leavened bread be seen with you, neither shall there be leavened seen with you in all your quarters. So this makes it clear it's also to be put out of your physical dwelling. So we see that during the days of unleavened bread, we're commanded to eat unleavened bread, not to eat leavened bread, or any product containing leavening. It seems to me that the emphasis is on preventing sin more than it is in putting sin out. When we take the Passover, we're saying that we have discerned the body of Christ, that we're reconciled to God and Christ and each member of the body of Christ. And when the Holy Day comes today, the first day of unleavened bread, we have through repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Christ, have had our sins forgiven, and we have put the physical leavening out of our homes. Thus, we should begin the days of unleavened bread today in a sinless state.

Now, some of us have difficulty in accepting that God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. And no matter what your sins have been, that if you have truly repented, if you've confessed your sins, if you've repented, if you have exercised faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you are viewed by the Father and by Jesus Christ as sinless. So you don't have to sit here today comfortable, uncomfortable, squirming, and a little feeling of guilt. How do you stand before God in Christ? That's what's important. Of course, you want to be in good standing with one another, but God knows your heart and He knows everything about us. Even the hairs on her head are numbered. Israel left Egypt symbolic of sin and death. On the first day of Unleavened Bread, let's go to Numbers 33, verse 3, and read that verse, Numbers 33 and verse 3. In Numbers 33, verse 3, they departed from Ramesses in the first month. On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. Now, somewhere between the destruction of the first temple and the building of the Restoration Temple, somewhere between that time and the time of Christ, the Jews began to keep Passover on the evening of the fifteenth. So the Jews in Israel kept Passover last night. You can read in John 18, verse 28, where that when Jesus Christ was being tried, they didn't go into the hall, that is the Jews, lest they be defiled, and they couldn't eat the Passover on the morrow as it sets. So somehow the Jews got that wrong. The position of the United Church of God is that in that first Passover, and for some period, that the Passover was killed at the beginning of the fourteenth, and eaten that night. Otherwise Passover wouldn't be on the fourteenth. And it was at midnight that night that God passed through the land, and passed over the houses of the Israelites, where He saw the blood of the lambs. So brethren, have we entered into these days of unleavened bread, with the assurance that our sins have been forgiven? If not, why not? Did you take the Passover in your sins? The days of unleavened bread should teach us how to avoid sin, how to prevent sin from ever getting into our lives. The symbolism of this is to refrain from eating anything that contains leavening. And this could be equated with fleeing from evil. Now, of course, the Scriptures, the Bible, our spiritual mirror shows us what sin is. And then on the other hand, we eat unleavened bread, which is equated with putting on Christ. Let's go to John 6, verse 63. In John 6, verse 63, the bread of life, chapter, John 6, Jesus says that He is the true bread, the bread of life that came down from heaven, that you have to eat of His body and drink His blood. That's John 6, 53 and 54. Of course, the Jews were offended at this. Some of them were offended at this, though they were familiar with that figure of speech. But in John 6, verse 63, Jesus states, It is a spirit that quickens, that makes alive. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So that's one of the main ways that you put on Christ, and we'll talk more about that later. The challenge for Israel after setting out on foot to leave Egypt was to leave sin and death behind them and live by faith.

But they brought along their baggage of Egypt with them. Just like the little boy that you see out in the yard pulling his little red wagon. Everywhere he goes out in the yard, he pulls his little red wagon. And so the Israelites pulled their little red wagon all the way from Egypt into the wilderness. And because they were pulling their little red wagon, and they really didn't exercise faith, those that were 20 and above did not enter into the promised land save Joshua and Caleb.

The challenge historically for all of God's people is to live by faith. The Scriptures tell us clearly that the just shall live by faith. What does this mean? Well, it means to believe God to do what He says. Just as Abraham believed God, he did what he said. This means to believe and know that God always has our best interest at heart. As in the case of Hebrews 11 verse 6, where it says, He who would come to God must first of all believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. It means that we know and we understand, we believe, with all our heart and mind and soul of being, that no matter what the circumstance or situation is, He will deliver us in due time. This means casting all your care on Him, for He cares for you. So after the Israelites took the first Passover, their first big task came on the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When they came to the Red Sea and they were pinned in, both sides were mountains that they couldn't get over. In front of them, the Red Sea, and behind them, the armies of Pharaoh, symbolic of Satan and the demons. Let's notice this in Exodus 14 verse 10. This was the time to really exercise faith. Even Moses began to quaver at this time. In Exodus 14 and verse 10. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. This is Exodus 14.10. And behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. They said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, you've taken us away to die in the wilderness. Wherefore have you dealt this way with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell you in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?

Of course, that's not what they were saying when they were in Egypt. They were crying out. For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, fear not, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you today. For the Egyptians, whom you've seen today, you shall not see them again no more forever. The Eternal shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. And of course, that was the message all along, but they never was able to comprehend it and to really grasp it. But God in His mercy led them through the Red Sea. By late summer, when they sent the spies out to spy out the Promised Land, the Israelites had tested God 10 times. 10 times in those three or so short months. God then sentenced them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Paul draws from the Israelites' experience in warning us. So we want to go now to Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3 verse 7. Hebrews 3 verse 7.

Remember the book of Hebrews compares and contrasts the elements of the Old Covenant with the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant had a priesthood, but now a superior priesthood. The priesthood of Melchizedek. The Old Covenant had sacrifices, the blood of bulls and coats. Now it's the blood of Christ.

The Old Covenant had the tables of stone where the law was written. Today, the law can be written on our inward parts.

The Old Covenant had basically physical, national blessings promised to them. But now the promise of the New Covenant is eternal life. In Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 7, Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit said, today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation and said, they do all we err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. How would it be possible that they would not have known His ways? Having experienced the plagues that came upon Egypt, the great deliverance of that Passover, the great deliverance of the Red Sea, the many times in which God performed the miracle to give them water and to feed them. And you could go on and on. How was it possible, thundering the Ten Commandments, Yahweh Himself, speaking to them from the mountain, giving them the Ten Commandments? How would it be possible?

So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be any of you with an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, what it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And sin is very deceitful.

Verse 17, but with whom was he grieved forty years, and was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses felled in the wilderness, and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Now continuing in chapter 4, let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached the good news, as well as with them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith and them that heard it. For as we have believed, do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world, what God has ordained and planned to share who he is and what he is, his eternal being with humankind. But you notice that their hearing was not mixed with faith. They saw the words, they saw the works, but they didn't really believe God.

Remember that a little leavening leavens the whole lump. Now let's go to Matthew 16. Here in Matthew 16, one of the four great enemies of faith, that is human reasoning. Four great enemies of faith, anxious care, fear, doubt, human reasoning. Notice how that Jesus himself here equates false teaching with leavening. In Deuteronomy 16, verse 11, we're going to identify here at least five principal areas in which false teaching and sin of various sorts seems to be the five principal areas of this present evil age that we have to contend with. We need to identify them. We need to know them.

In John 16, verse 11, I've said John 16. I don't know what I said initially. I want Matthew 16. Did I say that to begin with? I think I did. Matthew 16, verse 11.

In Matthew 16, verse 11. Matthew 16, verse 11. How is it that you do not know that I spoke it to you concerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? The leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Then understood that he bathed them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine, the teaching of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Do we have any of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees in us?

We go now to Jude. Jude having one chapter, and let's notice verse 3.

About 15 years ago, a great false teaching came the Church of God. Of course, it had already started long before then, and the plans were already laid as early as 1986. I know firsthand. But here we see one of the first and great things that this age, this generation of the Church, has dealt with.

In Jude, verse 3, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of all ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Lasciviousness means unbridled, less excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, license to do what you want to do, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence, and in short, it means license to sin, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Of course, the grace of God is very important, and we'll hopefully be able to address some of that today. But on the other hand, you cannot turn grace into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you knew this one. You once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed them that believed not. And we've just read about that in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4.

So, lasciviousness is licensed basically to do anything you want to do in today's world. The righteous ones are the ones that are persecuted. As I mentioned on the Sabbath in the South congregation in the sermon, I could hardly believe it when they said it did. I believe this was on CNN that at Tarleton State, which is now called the University of Texas or Texas, Texas A&M at Stephenville, that the student body there, the drama department, has produced a play that was to open the past few days depicting Christ as a homosexual, hiding under the umbrella of freedom of speech and academic freedom. Of course, there were protesters, but I don't think they were able to stop it.

The second area that should be noted in 2 Timothy chapter 4. In 2 Timothy chapter 4. Of course, there's an admonition here to the ministry and to all of us in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1.

Paul had warned of several things in chapter 3 that would be transpiring at the end of this age.

The last three verses there of 2 Timothy 3, he talks about continuing into things that you've been assured of. The holy scriptures, what the scriptures are for.

2 Timothy 4.1, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be incident, season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine or teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, sound doctrine, but after their own lust, this lasciviousness that we talked about endured, shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Oh, that's okay. It's okay to do that.

The grace of God will cover all of that.

Time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

But watch you in all things endure afflictions, do the work of evangelists, make foolproof of your ministry. Now we go to Isaiah 30, verse 8. Another area that should be noted is the desire to hear smooth things instead of the truth of the gospel. Isaiah chapter 30.

In Isaiah 30 and verse 8, we want to read Isaiah 30 and verse 8. Now go write it before them in a table, noted in a book, that it may be for the time to come for and ever and ever that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, to the prophets, prophesy not unto us, write things, speak unto us, smooth things, prophesy deceit. Who would ever want to have deceit prophesied to them? Well, that's what the modern-day prophets do. They whitewash the walls as it talks about in Ezekiel 13, saying, Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, because you despise this word and trust and oppression and perverseness and stay there upon, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking suddenly comes at an instant.

Brethren, we want to hear the Word of God preach. We want to hear it as it is. We want the truth and nothing but the truth.

Another area, 1 Timothy 4.

1 Timothy 4 is tied up with this environmental movement, the so-called green movement. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings, doctrines of devils speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving to them who believe and know the truth. And then the other great sin, more and more, there's an attack on the Bible and on God in all of our institutions, educational systems, and that leads to the great sin of unbelief. Do you even really believe that God exists? How can you not believe that God exists? Do you think that you're here just by accident, by chance? Well, that would require far more faith than to believe the sensible thing. The greatest proof that I have just in my own human reasoning with regard to why I know that God exists is nothing else makes sense.

And we all try to make sense out of our existence.

Satan's recipe of deception often contains 90% truth and 5% falsehood, but that 5% falsehood can trip you up.

So in our examination of leavening, we see that avoiding leavening is an active effort to prevent leavening from entering into our minds and our hearts because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Once a certain concept enters your mind, takes hold, it is almost impossible to root it to cast it out. But through the convicting power of the word and the Spirit of God and the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, it can be cast out.

As you know, when Jesus Christ faced those three great temptations after he was baptized, how did he defeat the devil? Through the word of God.

Since sin is a spiritual matter, it can only be remedied through its spiritual means. And that brings us to the command to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and the commands that we read in the Old Testament to eat unleavened bread for seven days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the evening in which Jesus instituted the New Covenant, he made a very specific request. We read this on Passover. It's John 17, 17. Sanctify them through your truth. Your word is truth.

So how many times have you heard a sermon on sanctification? This word sanctify is hagi-adzo, and it seems we don't pay a lot of attention to it. I've never heard anyone really just give a sermon on sanctification. It means to make holy, to consecrate, to sanctify, to dedicate, to separate oneself, to set apart for God. Sanctify them through your truth. Your word is truth. So Jesus asked the Father to set us apart and sanctify us through the word, which is truth. Thus, through eating the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth and living by faith, we can be sanctified and sin can be defeated. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25.

Ephesians 5, 25. Husbands loved your wife, even as Christ also loved the church, gave himself forth. And notice how it is sanctified, how it is cleansed. Notice how it is sanctified. Notice how it is cleansed.

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Now, the Word of God is our spiritual mirror that shows us our sin. And then, on the other hand, it is analogous to a giant bathtub that will cleanse us if we bathe in it. But God doesn't throw us into the water. Some parents, I guess, threw their children in the water in days of old and said, swim or drown.

We have to decide to bathe in the water of God every day. Physical water cleanses the outside. The Word of God cleanses the inside, the heart and mind. But the Pharisees never got past cleaning the outside. They were diligent to do the physical things, but they were failures when it came to cleaning the inside. So we could all ask ourselves, how farasiacal am I?

Have we all had our spiritual bath today? Have we been bathed? Have we been washed in the water of the Word? You know, there's the old song of, have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb? Well, on Passover, we were washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now we need to be washed in the water of the Word, to be sanctified, to be cleansed so He can present it, that is, the church to Himself without spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing. The eating of the Word of God refers to putting it into our minds. And we have the promise that God will write it on our inward parts, on our very conscience, on our very sense of knowing right and wrong through His Spirit. In Hebrews 9, let's notice that sometimes we might wonder about this purging the conscience.

In Hebrews 9, verse 11, But Christ, being come as a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offer Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? So that's to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Your sins, forgive. And for that knowing within yourself, conscience means the knowing within yourself, that sense of right and wrong, that written on your inward parts, the law of God. And that comes by bathing in the water of the Word.

Having a new conscience will allow us to walk in the Spirit. Notice in Romans 8 verse 1, this is among my five favorite scriptures in the whole Bible without this scripture. I think I should have departed long ago because in chapter 7 Paul describes this great warfare between the mind of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit, and it can be very discouraging. We will never perfect the flesh, but through the mind of the Spirit we can crucify the flesh through Jesus Christ living in us in the Word of God hidden in our hearts and written on our inward parts.

In Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. So walking after the Spirit, remember what we read from John 6.63? The flesh prophets nothing. It is the Spirit that quickens. The words I speak. They are spirit and they are life. So you take on this spiritual mind, the spiritual power of God and Christ, and sin can be conquered. And better yet, as we're talking about today, kept out in the beginning. So it never takes root or whole. Notice now in verses 13-14. Romans 8.13, For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. And that's living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God written on your inward parts. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

One of the things that plagues so many people is compulsive, addictive behavior and probably the most difficult thing to overcome. The most successful program developed by humans is what they call this 12-step program. Even in a program that is developed by people who do not know the whole truth of God, one of the steps is to admit that you have a problem. Remember what we read from 1 John chapter 1. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness. So many people live in a state of denial and lie to themselves with the underlying theme of one of these days, I am going to change.

But alas, one of these days never comes and they fall deeper and deeper into the pits of despair and helplessness. And one of the main lines that people in the church give is, I have yet to overcome such and such. The emphasis is on I. The big I is in front of most of our statements about overcoming.

Now we get into this, I guess you would call it, delicate balance between the grace of God and lasciviousness, doing what you want to, or we call it law and grace. In the church, we have emphasized so much the law, making sure that everyone knows that the law of God has not been done away and we have to obey the law.

And perhaps we've fallen into some kind of trap of legalism that is hard to define. And so the big emphasis is generally, it's I. I haven't overcome this. I, I, I. And I must do this.

So let's look at a few verses here. Matthew 11, and we might get some more balance on this, and some help. In Matthew chapter 11, remember what the the Pharisees especially done with the law of God.

They had added so many traditions and their own interpretations that they made the law of God and the way of God into a burden that really no one could bear. And Jesus Christ came on the scene and He preached the way of faith, the way of righteousness through Jesus Christ. In Matthew 11 and verse 28, Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I, Jesus Christ, will give you rest.

Not I, John Doe or Don Ward. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. How many of us really believe that what Jesus Christ says here?

So many of us are not happy with ourselves, and oftentimes we're not happy with other people as well. Notice 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 6, where the Apostle Peter says something similar to this. In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6, humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, give up self and I, just admit it we are all sinners. Paul said of sinners I am chief.

Humble yourselves therefore in the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant. That word vigilant means watchful. Look it up. Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom He made of our, whom resist, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplishing your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace. The word grace, the Greek is charis, C-H-A-R-I-S. There is one other word translated grace as well, but mainly it's charis, C-H-A-R-I-S, and it means divine favor. Favor with God.

But the God of all grace who has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus after the you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Notice once again, verse 9, resist, steadfast in the faith.

In describing the whole armor of God, Paul in Ephesians 6, 16 says, above all things take the shield of faith, whereby you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of Satan.

How is that? Because you know and you know that you know that He will deliver.

So yes, the spiritual law of God has to be obeyed, but it's not just a mechanical process where one obedience equals one righteousness. You know, I wish I had the ability to clearly explain for the most what the exact difference is here between law and grace and where one ends and the other begins. I can only do my feeble efforts. I shall try. We have sort of shied away from that because we don't even usually don't even try because we're afraid that we'll be accused of Protestantism. But I see, as I said, a whole lot of people are not all that happy with themselves, and they're surely not happy with others. That's not really the way it ought to be in the Church of God who's called us to the perfect law of liberty, to joy, to peace, to happiness. It talks about the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's love, joy, and peace. He's translated us now into the kingdom of His dear Son. In some ways, this feeling of whatever it is can be like a cloud of some kind that rests upon us, a cloud of suspicion, fear, and doubt, all of which are enemies of faith. And we are, to some degree, fearful and suspicious of one another.

Notice in John 13.

John 13. We read this on Passover. We quote it from time to time. John 13, verse 34.

John 13, verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you.

Now, the part that's new about this is the way that Christ did it.

That you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another.

Remember what it says in John 15. Greater love hath no man than this, and he lay down his life for his friend. Sacrificial love. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. I guarantee you that that kind of love will root out so much sin, so much envy, jealousy, greed, and so many of the things that have plagued the people of God through the ages, from Cain and Abel to the present day.

See, we need an attitude like the Bereans, which we are familiar with.

They receive these things with all readiness of mind and search the scriptures daily whether these things be true. The devil has us backed up into a corner. It's like we're waiting on somebody else to do something, to get their act together so we can do the work. The devil could not be happier.

What about us? What about you and I doing the work? What about you and I being on the front line, instead of hidden in a corner? One of the things I know I advocated from the time that I was served the first six years of United, I went to the council.

And I remember sitting on the stage in Louisville, or wherever we were meeting, I think it was Louisville, and talking about how Paul was on Mars Hill, and he was confronting the philosophers of the day.

Jesus Christ regularly in the temple. He didn't shy away. He didn't hide. As he says several times, well, I was openly out here teaching this to you.

We need to ask ourselves, are we being judged by what someone else is doing, or by what we are doing?

I guess of all the things that we boast in, it's knowledge. But at times I fear that we don't quite have it right when it comes to really understanding what Christianity is all about. It's not about our own righteousness. That's the trap that the Pharisees fell into, the Jews fell into, Pharisees and Sadducees. Notice Romans 10. Romans 10, verse 1.

Romans 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God. For Christ is the, and that word end is in the Greek telos, it means result or outcome. For Christ is the result or outcome of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.

Paul then goes on and talks about how the word has to be preached, how can you call on him and whom they have not heard, and how can they preach unless they be sent. Notice verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. What gospel is he talking about? For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? It is the gospel that Paul preached, and that was the gospel of faith. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

So you have to respond in faith to the Word of God.

Somehow we really need to make the correct connection between believing faith and obedience. As a young man, my daddy was a smoker, and one day he came home and said, I'm not going to smoke anymore, and he never smoked another cigarette.

I don't really think God had anything to do with his stopping.

Yet in one way, this was a spiritual matter in that smoking defiles the temple of God.

But somehow there is a difference between self-discipline and a strong will in the righteousness of God.

Turn forward, please, to 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul makes this to me really interesting statement.

1 Corinthians 15. 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you that the gospel which I have preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also receive, how that Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve. After that he was seen of about 500 brethren, at once of whom the greater part remained to this day, but some are dead.

And after that he was seen of James, and of all of the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also as one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not fitting to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.

And each one of us, can we say that? By the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly that they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me, the divine favor. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preached, and you believed.

As we've already said, the word grace has to do with divine favor.

So God is looking for more than just rote, routine, obedience. He's looking for surrender, submission, service. To understand that we are here because of his grace. Because of his divine favor of wanting to share who he is and what he is with humankind, we're here. Because of grace, he sent us a redeemer, as we heard in the special music. Oh divine redeemer! And because of that redeemer, we took the Passover and were viewed as sinless if we repeated with our sins.

Now here on the first day of Unleavened Bread, we come before God and we understand that if we want to keep sin out of our lives, we have to put on Christ. I would encourage you to look in a concordance or online Bible, whatever you have, and just look up, put on Christ. In all the places where Paul talks about putting on Christ and the righteousness of God in Christ.

So brethren, we have six more days to really focus on what it means to come out of sin, to keep sin out, and to live on a daily basis as God has commanded us. So I wish for you a great feast of unleavened bread, and we'll see you back here in a few days.