A Little Leaven, Leavens the Whole Lump

I neglected to mention during announcements, if you could please keep Lee Roper in your prayer. She's going to be going under surgery here tomorrow, April 2nd, for what they have diagnosed as cancer, and one of her lymph nodes in her neck. So please keep Lee in your prayers prior to that. Well, brethren, we have just completed the days of Unleavened Bread, or actually we have almost completed the days of Unleavened Bread. And, you know, we are so fortunate and so blessed to be able to have this annual reminder of what it pictures, what God wants us to understand about these particular days. I'd like you to begin with me, if you would, to Galatians 5 and verse 9. Galatians 5 and verse 9 will kind of be the keynotes, Scripture, and also the title, really, of the message today. And you may already be aware of what it says, but let's go ahead and turn there. Galatians 5 and verse 9.

It says, "'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.'" It just takes a little bit of leaven to eventually leaven the entire lump. So that's the title of the message today, is that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. You know, when you think about it, when God was trying to teach us, you know, about the fact that He wanted us to come out of sin, to begin to come into a new way of living, He chose this particular commodity, leaven. And you have to think about it. Why is it, of all the available commodities, that God chose leaven?

I mean, He created everything. He could have chosen from a number of different things, couldn't He? But He decided to choose leaven to help us to understand something. There's different properties of leaven. We know that leaven starts small. It starts small with just, you know, the yeast spores that are in the air, that are floating around, and they will eventually land on an unleavened lump. And then a whole process begins. It begins. That things begin to happen as the leaven begins to be introduced into the lump. It starts so small, but then it begins to multiply. It begins to grow. It begins to diffuse and permeate into the lump to which it is mixed.

And, you know, it begins to rot. It begins to ferment. It begins to create gaseous substances, and it begins to puff up that lump. So we see some things here that God wants us to understand that if we understand how leaven works, then we can begin to understand how sin can work in our life, because leaven does simplify sin.

God used it to do so. So it begins to multiply and grow, and it begins to modify the ingredients to which it is surrounded by, and which it begins to mix itself with. And leaven eventually begins to change the nature of the lump. It changes it. Having run its full course, leavening changes the nature of the lump completely. In the end, the lump is extremely different than what it was before the leaven was introduced to it.

It's gone through a fundamental change. And the end result is that the character of the lump is changed. Completely. You know, leaven works very much like cancer. You know, all it takes is one cancer cell to be introduced into the body, and then it begins to divide, and it begins to separate, it begins to affect the surrounding cells, infusing it with its characteristics, with its properties. It works like rust on metal. You know, you can take the strongest metal, and all of a sudden elements that begin to work, rust begins to happen, and the strongest piece of metal eventually begins to break down.

And then eventually it's like dust, and it just gets swept away by the wind. It's a powerful, very powerful agent. It's like leprosy. Something that starts small and begins to spread. And that's exactly how leaven works. It's a powerful agent. It eats up the ingredients around it, consuming it, and then making it a part of itself. A total change. So what God wants us to understand is that sin works like leaven. It starts small, a little leaven. Leaven is the whole lump. Let's note 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5.

2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. I need to see how sin works, because it works like leaven does. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. It says, So leaven starts small. It starts small with the first wrong thought. It really begins in the heart. It begins in the mind. We heard a little bit about the heart in the first offertory message. But it begins in the mind with the first wrong thought. And like leaven, sin begins to work in us, in our hearts and in our minds.

Let's take a look at the example of how... Let's go back to Genesis 4. And when Mr. Ewell was turning there, I thought, I wonder what he's going to bring out there, because I've got that in my notes for today. Genesis 4. He brought it out a different aspect than I'm going to bring out, but there is so much here in this account here. In Genesis 4, we see the first two brothers that were on the face of the planet.

And it says, Adam knew his wife as she conceived and she bore Cain. So Cain was the firstborn. And she said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. And then she bore again, and this time, his brother, Abel. Now, Abel was a keeper of the sheep, as we heard, and Cain was a tiller of the ground. So we understand it came in process of time, in the passage of time, that God asked them to each give an offering. And as we turn to verse 4, we see that the Lord respected Abel in his offering. But he didn't respect Cain's and his offering. And again, the Scriptures are silent, but we know it was a hard issue.

There was something that Cain was doing that wasn't the way God had asked him, or the way that God expected him. In Cain, it says, became very angry, and his countenance fell. So we see the leaven, or the sin, it began in his life. Now, what's fascinating to me here is that he had not yet sinned. He'd become angry with God. He didn't necessarily understand why am I not being accepted. He became angry. And God said to Cain in verse 6, Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?

So something had happened to him. Something was beginning to change inside of him. The way God puts it is that his countenance had fallen. Now, we'll see here that sin hasn't happened yet, but the process of sin has happened. Let's go on. In verse 7, he says, If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.

So sin was close, apparently. It was at the door. But he hadn't sinned yet, but it appears as if that process had started. It started small, was in his heart, was in his mind, and that process had started. And he was at a crossroads at this point. You know, like Yogi Berra said, when you come to the fork in the road. Remember what he said about that? Yogi Berra, the ex-baseball player. He said, when you come to the fork in the road, take it.

Take it. All right, he had a lot of other type of similar sayings that would make you think. But I think the point is that he was at a crossroads, and the decision he made was going to definitely change the rest of his life. So what choice did he make? Well, in verse 8, now Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and the king to pass. When they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother, Abel, and he killed him. He took the life of his brother. That is sin, that's murder. And so, the process of sin had started. It started small, but then it started to change him. He thought about it. His heart was not right. He had a chance. God even gave him a chance. He said, you know, sin lies at the door. But notice what he says here. In verse number 7, he says, If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you.

And that's a fascinating concept to think about as well. And that, you know, let's put ourselves in issues as well. That sin's desire is for us, is to destroy us. It's to start small, get a foothold, and its desire is for us. But notice what God also did say to him at the latter. A few words here, verse number 7. But you should rule over it.

So God is beginning to tell us here, even in the first account of the first human family, of how sin works, and that it starts small and begins to work. But also that we have the ability with the help of God to be able to rule over it. To bring those wrong thoughts into captivity. Everything that exalts itself against God's knowledge into those first wrong thoughts. Let's look also over at James 1 and verse 13. James 1 and verse 13, we'll see the process of sin and how it works like leaven.

James 1 and verse 13. Brother, we are so fortunate. We're so fortunate to understand this. You know, like Mr. Ewell mentioned, we're here on a Monday, and there's a lot of traffic going by. You and I were part of that traffic at one time. We didn't have our minds open. We didn't understand. And then God called us to an understanding, and He gives us some precious things. Some precious things to understand about how sin works. And we have an annual reminder of it every year to know how it works.

Well, let's see what it says here. James 1 and verse 13. He says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. So God makes it clear He doesn't tempt anyone. He doesn't tempt us to sin. He doesn't. Let no one say when He is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each of us is tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires, and we're enticed, we're pricked.

It seems good. It seems interesting. It seems pleasurable. It seems fascinating. I want a little bit more of this. I'm enticed, in other words. And it goes on in verse 15. So we see how sin has started small here in verse 13, and then it begins to work in verse 14 like 11.

And then in verse 15, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. So again, it's very much like what we read about in Cain. That it starts small in the heart, and that's not necessarily sin yet. Sin was lying at the door for Cain. And what it says here is that there's been a desire, a wrong desire, and we've been enticed by this wrong desire.

We haven't sinned yet. You notice that? But then when the desire has conceived, then it gives birth to sin. And now sin exists. It's been worn. It has a foothold, in a sense, in our lives. And of course, we know where it can lead if we don't repent of it. He goes and gives birth to sin, and sin if it is allowed to continue.

Now, it's kind of like cancer. If you can get to it soon, you can nip it in the bud. If you can cut it out and be forgiven and put it away, which is what these days of 11 bread are trying to picture to us, then when desire has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, and this is sobering, when it is full grown, it brings forth death. I think that talks about spiritual death, don't you? We don't exist any longer. So that's sobering to think about.

But God says, I don't want you and I to be in the dark about how sin works. I want you to know how it works. You know, one of the lessons, there are many lessons of the days of 11 bread, but one of the lessons is that we must take sin seriously. When somebody finds out they've been diagnosed with cancer, all of a sudden, to the depths of their being, they almost feel, oh, I feel terrible.

What do I do? What do I do? I have been diagnosed with cancer. You hear about the C word. It's very frightening, it's very sobering. But you know, sin is a lot more sobering. As sobering as cancer is and how dangerous it is, sin is much more sobering and is much more serious, because we're not talking about a physical life, of course. We're talking about the eternal everlasting life that God wants us to have.

We live in a world that essentially ignores the concept of sin. You know, you are laughed at, I think, if you refer to some type of behavior as sin. Oh, come on. You know, we all have the right to the pursuit of happiness. We all should be tolerant of one another. But you know, you can be laughed at if you even think of a certain type of behavior as sin. It's remarkable at how far our society has fallen. We're living in some very... The morality is really changing in our culture. Let's begin with Hebrews 2.

Turn to Hebrews 2, if you would, with me. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. And during the days of 11 bread, we know we remove leavening. We remove it from our lives. Not only from our dwellings, but from our spiritual dwellings, our lives. We know it's small. We know it's impossible even to see. You can't see leaven. You can only see what it does. That cancer cell that was impossible to see, I suppose, if you had a microscope, you might be able to see it.

But it starts small. Hebrews 2 and verse 1. We'll pick it up here in verse 1. It says, Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we've heard, lest we drift away. Or drift away from them, is what one translation says. The old King James, if you've got that, says, Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

In other words, we're holding on to something and we fall away from it. I'm going to take a look at verse 1 here in a moment in a couple of different translations, but I'll go ahead and read verses 2 and 3, and then we'll come back to verse number 1. Verse 2 says, For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him?

You know, what a wonderful thing that God has begun to help us to understand His salvation and the plan of His salvation. That is a wonderful thing. It's an incredible thing that angels desire to look into. It's that fantastic. You know, the things He's opened our eyes to see of what He's doing, what His purpose is, what He is doing with you and me, what He's creating in us, the pinnacle of His creation, spiritual sons and daughters. But the greatest danger we are told here is in verse number 1, is that we can let that slip away.

You know, an interesting phrase, I think, slip away. The Revised Standard Version translates verse 1 like this, Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. You know, I thought that was an interesting translation.

The concept that the truth doesn't move, but we move away from the truth. We move away from it. The Bible in basic English translates this verse this way. For this reason, there is the more need for us to give attention to the things which have come to our ears, for fear that by chance we might be slipping away.

So the concept or the danger is that we slip away. We drift away. The truth doesn't change. Think of the concept of a ship. You know, a ship are fastened by cords and cables to a dock for a reason. Because if they are not secured to the dock, they will begin to drift away. Or if they are out at sea and they are not anchored, they begin to move. They begin to drift away. As the tide comes in and goes out, even a ship that is in the dock will eventually drift away. If it is not fastened by cables. So that is the way often it works. With sin, it is gradual. The way that it begins and the way that it proceeds and the way that it occurs. And I believe the writer of Hebrews had this in mind when he put it this way. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 8. The last two times that I have given a message, I have referred back to 1 Corinthians 10. Talking about the things that happened to God's people in the Old Testament were written for us. They were written as warnings to us. And I want to pick it up here in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 8. It says, let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. And in one day 23,000 people died. In one day 23,000 people died. They lost their lives in one day. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. So Christ was there. He was with them. He's the one that went with them through the wilderness. In verse 10, nor complain. I think the old King James is to say, murmur. I don't know if anyone's got that, but I think that's what it says in the Old King James. It says in the New King James, which I'm reading from, nor complain or murmur, as some of them also complained or murmured. And they were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all of these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ages have come. You know, it started with the children of Israel a lot of times when they began to go astray. It started very kind of some rumblings.

You know, some murmurings that began. Let's notice in Exodus 16, verse 7, we'll go back here to an example of theirs, Exodus 16, and we'll pick it up in verse 7. And the context here is they're hungry. And they've been thinking that God and Moses and Aaron have brought them out into this wilderness to hunger. They actually brought them out to kill them with hunger, as it says in the latter part of Exodus 16. And then, we'll pick it up in verse 4 here, Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am going to rain bread from heaven, the people should go out and gather a certain quote every day.

And I may test them whether they'll walk in my law or whether they won't. And let's go up to verse 8. And Moses also said, This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat, so he was also going to provide meat for them.

When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, in the morning, and bread to the fold, for the Lord hears your complaints, or maybe it says murmurings, here's your complaints, and that you make against him.

So in other words, they may have thought that they were complaining to Moses, or about Moses, or Aaron. But Moses is saying, Look, who are we? Your complaints are not against us, but your complaints are against the Lord. Now, I've done this. I've murmured. I've complained. And I'm guessing that a lot of us have. But this is where it begins. It begins with murmurings. It starts small and begins to grow. And let's turn over to Numbers 13, verse 1. We'll take another look at an example here. You know, they tested God a lot. They tested Him many times. And this is another example of that in Numbers 13, verse 1.

Now they had been 40 years, almost 40 years now in the wilderness, and they were about ready to enter the promised land. And God instructed Moses to say, I want you to send out spies. And so we'll pick it up here in Numbers 13, verse 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and said, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.

So God says it's about time for me to fulfill my part of the promise in the covenant that I've made with you. Have you entered this promised land? And I'm giving to the children of Israel from each of the tribes of their fathers you shall send to man. So there were 12 tribes, 12 spies. Verse 3. So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Puran according to the command of the Lord. All of the men were heads of the children of Israel. So these were leaders among God's people of each tribe. Let's drop down to verse number 17. And it says that Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, Go up this way to the south and up to the mountains and see what the land is like.

Whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many. Whether the land they dwell in is good or bad. Whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds. Whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are forests or whether there are not. But be of good courage.

He's trying to encourage them before they go. And bring some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and they spied out the land from the wilderness of Zinn as far as Rehab and near the entrance of Hemath.

And they went up through the south. They came to Hebron and Hymen and Shashi and Talmul. And the descendants of Anak were there. And Hebron was built seven years before Zon in Egypt. And then they came to the valley of Esgol. And they cut down a branch.

You maybe remember this part of the story with one cluster of grapes. And they had to carry it between two men in a pole. And they also brought some of the pomegranates and the figs. So it goes on and talks about how wonderful it was.

And they spied out the land for 40 days in verse 25. And then they left. And they came back to Moses and Aaron in verse 26. And to all the congregation of the children of Israel. And they brought back word to all the congregation. And they showed them the fruit of the land. And when they told them, they said, We went to the land where you sent us, and it truly flows with milk and honey.

And this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. And moreover, we saw some of these giants, these descendants of Anak there. And the Amalekites, they dwell in the land of the south. And the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites, they dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea. And along the banks of the Jordan River. But then Caleb quieted the people before Moses.

And he said, Let us go up at once and take possession of the land, and we are well able to overcome it. Now, he was sensing that this was a bad report. They were bringing out the negatives about, you know, we got to be careful here. There's all these giants, and there's all these fortified cities. And Caleb tried to get everyone's attention and saying, Let us go up at once and possess it. Verse number 31. But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against these people.

We are not able. For they are stronger than we, and they gave the children of Israel a bad report. Or some translations say an evil report of the land which they spied out. And to which they had gone as spies. It's a land that will devour its inhabitants, and all of the people whom we saw are men of great stature. And we saw giants, he goes on, and we were like grasshoppers in their sight.

Wow! Now they had a decision to make, didn't they? They were at a crossroads. Here they got these two reports. We've got Caleb who says, Let's go! God's with us. And then we've got these other spies that said, We are not able to go. So how did all this affect God's people? How were they leavened by this whole process? Verse 1 of chapter 14. So all of the congregation lifted up their voices and cried. And the people wept the whole night. They were totally influenced by what had happened. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt, if only we had died in this wilderness, why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword that our wives and children should become victims? Now it started. The leavening process has started. It's gotten into their hearts, it's gotten into their minds, it's beginning to build. And notice what he says here. It would have been better for us. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? You know, this is something that's a concept I'll maybe touch on a little bit later. But you know, when you've had the life of a slave, whether we're slaves to sin, or whether the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, or whether you're a prisoner, this has also been shown in prisons. And when you're accustomed to living as a slave, that when you are free, you have a tendency to want to return back. This is something that God knows, He wants us to understand. But we have a concept or a thought that it would be better to be where we used to be. And it's right here. They ask the question, would it not be better for us to return to Egypt, to go back to where we were, to become slaves again?

So they said to one another, let us select a leader and return to Egypt. Wow! This has really gotten out of hand and out of control. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly of the congregation and the children of Israel. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephthahna, who were among those who'd spied out the land, tore their clothes. So both Joshua and Caleb had given a good report. Of the twelve spies, two had given a good report, but ten had not.

So they tore their clothes. And they spoke to the congregation of Israel saying, The land that we pass through, verse 7, to spy out is an exceedingly good land. And if the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land. For they are our bread, their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

And how were they received? Verse 10, And all the congregation was going to stone them with stones. See, that had really gotten out of hand. The process of leaven was really far along. And all the congregation said, Stone them with stones! But the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meaning before all the children of Israel. So God intervened here. And then Moses intercedes as well in verse 11. Then the Lord said to Moses, How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me? With all the signs that I have performed among them, I am going to strike them with pestilence, and I am going to disinherit them. And I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than you. And you may remember this story, that Moses said, No, please don't do that. He intervened on behalf of his brothers and sisters. And Moses said to the Lord in verse 13, Well then God the Egyptians will hear of it. That by your might you brought these people from among the Egyptians, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of the land, that they have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, that you, Lord, are seeing face to face, your cloud stands above them, you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. You are with them 24-7. You are with them. And these other nations know that.

Now if you kill these people, verse 15, as one man, then the nations will have heard of your fame, and they will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land, which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them. You know, Moses is interceding. Say, God, that's what they are going to say. That you didn't have the power to bring them to the Promised Land, like you told them and told everyone else that was hearing the story.

Verse 17, And now I pray, let the power of my Lord be great. He's not compromising that, God, You are great, and Your power is great. And that also You've told us, God, that You're long suffering, verse 18, and You're abundant in mercy, and You forgive iniquity and transgression. But He by no means clears the guilty. God, I know You don't clear the guilty. But You have compassion and mercy. And please, He goes on to say in verse 19, Pardon the iniquitous people. I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, not because of us, but because of You, just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt, even till now.

So there have been several times that they had been forgiven. The Lord said in verse 20, I have pardoned according to Your Word. You know, He was going to wipe them out, but He didn't. He relented. He changed His mind because of the prayer of Moses. But God was truly frustrated because He says in verse 20, I have pardoned according to Your Word, truly as I live, all of the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. And that's inspiring to think about.

That's going to happen in God's kingdom. It's going to be on the earth. And verse 22, Because all these men who have seen My glory, and the signs, and the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, so God I guess has been keeping track, and have not heeded My voice, they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of them who rejected Me see it.

But My servant Calum, because he has a different spirit, and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit. And he goes on to say in verse 30 also that Joshua will enter the land, but the others would not enter the land. Verse 31, But Your little ones whom You said would be victims, I'm telling you that they're going to know the land which You have despised. They're going to go in, in other words. Verse 36, Now the men who Moses sent to spout the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain.

Wow! You know, they began to introduce things to the congregation, and made them complain. They brought a bad report of the land. Verse 37, These very men who brought the evil report about the land, they died by the plague before the Lord. They weren't even able to live out the rest of their lives in the 40 years now that they were still going to have to travel. A day for a year. You know, they were 40 days spying out the land.

God says, okay, I'm delaying the entrance into the land by 40 years because this generation is going to die off. And these children that You thought were going to be dying in the wilderness are going to be the ones that will go in. You've despised it, but the children will go in. Now those that died, rather than them, they're going to have an opportunity. Of course, in the second resurrection, they will have learned. They've learned a very difficult lesson here.

God's going to give them an opportunity to understand. But the point being is how sin works. It works like leaven. It starts small, begins to build, begins to change things. And so God wants us to know how it works. Now there are some people in society, and certainly in the church, who when they've sinned, you know, they have guilt. They have a hard time, and they beat themselves up quite a bit, trying to change.

But you know, by and large, it seems to be our human nature to take sin rather casually, rather than the opposite of just, oh, I shouldn't have done that. I'm guilty, and David had that kind of approach. God forgive me. I know how dangerous it is. But sometimes, by and large, we tend to take it a little bit casually. We tend to think, well, that isn't so bad after all. We can have a tendency to take this dangerous thing very, very casually.

We don't seem to recognize and fully grasp that all sin can take our life. It can destroy us when it's gone full course. You know, and sometimes we can reason, you know, but there's really no such thing as a small sin. Sometimes we think about that as a small sin. But there's no such thing as a small sin. God wants us to understand that the days of Unleavened Bread are to teach us that there's no such thing as a small sin.

Because sin will eventually destroy a little leaven, leavens the whole lung. By and large, it seems like when someone departs from the truth, it happens with what is seemingly small sins. Something very small, a compromise. Beginning to compromise in a small way from God's laws, from His commandments, from what He asks us to do. So maybe compromise on the Sabbath, about the Sabbath, or compromise when it comes to the tithing principle, or the law of God, or a little white lie that seems so innocent. It's as if we build up our immunity, and sin no longer seems to have the effect that it once had.

A small lie is no big deal. You know, some people try to categorize sin as small sins or big sins, or physical sins and spiritual sins. But you know, if it's violating God's command, how can you call something small or big? How can you call something physical or spiritual? I understand there's physical laws. I understand that, and I believe that. But the point is that all sin leads to death. No sin is acceptable. All sin will destroy. There's no acceptable amount of sin. There's no way to reason around that. To deny that is to deny the meaning of the days of Unleavened Bread that God tells us to put it out, to look for it diligently.

God didn't say remove most of the leaven. He didn't say remove some of the leaven. He didn't say eat unleavened bread, but don't worry about getting the leavening out. Now, what did He say? Well, let's notice in Leviticus chapter 23. Let's cover a few basics here. Leviticus chapter 23. Let's review beautifully here in this last day of Unleavened Bread the command to remove leavening.

And let's think about it in the concept of a type of sin. You know, the analogy of leaven works so wonderfully, and that's why God chose this particular commodity. I can't imagine, you know, in the years that I've been to the church, how anything could describe it more perfectly than this commodity of leaven. You know, you think of all the things that people do, and before a leavening can do its work, it has to do a lot of things.

It has to rot. It has to sour. It permeates. It decays. It puffs up. But let's not lose sight of the lesson, brethren, because that's what God's trying to help us to see. No leavening is acceptable. It's not acceptable during these days or in our lives.

No sin is acceptable. God wants us to begin to think about it that way. Well, let's look at Leviticus 23. It gives us the command here beginning in verse 4. It says, These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. And so, that's what we're doing. And we read here in Leviticus 23, when you get the Hebrew text, you can find there's some deep meaning here. There's some Hebrew words kind of that give us a little bit more meaning behind some of the English words.

But we understand that there's a holy convocation where we come together. That's something that's clear here in the Scriptures. And that word convocation, holy convocation, it's the Hebrew word mikra, m-i-q-r-a. And there's actually different ways to spell it, but m-i-q-r-a is one of them. And it means several things. It means a holy assembly. That's true. We know that. But also embedded in the meaning of the word is rehearsal. Rehearsal, or practice. You know, that's remarkable. These holy days, our rehearsals are practicing. Help us to understand certain things.

So, what are we rehearsing during the days of Unleavened Bread? We're rehearsing the removal of sin. Nothing is acceptable. But you know, as human beings, we tend to think, well, you know, we're pretty good. We're pretty good. I'm about 75% there, and sometimes we think good is good enough. But you know, I don't see that in the Scriptures. Unleavened Bread teaches us to remove all the sin, not to leave any behind. So this is, of course, a holy convocation and a rehearsal of what God would have us to do.

Verse 5, the fourteenth day of the first month that even is the Lord's Passover. So we could go last night, we gathered, and we observed the Passover. We didn't follow the Jewish reckoning and observe it the next night. On the night of the fifteenth, we observe it the beginning of the fourteenth. It's a very simple statement here, but there are some people out there that are confused.

But we shouldn't be confused. The Passover is on the fourteenth. And the next verse, the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread. So that should be pretty clear to us. Passover is the fourteenth. Unleavened Bread is the fifteenth. They're not the one and the same. They are separate festivals. They have different meanings. The Unleavened Bread means something on Passover night. It means something a little bit different during the days of Unleavened Bread. There are some comparisons, of course, but there are also some differences in the meanings.

We do different things for different purposes. And the sacrifice of Christ, of course, is the beginning of the salvation process. No, it's not the end. It's just the beginning of salvation for you and for me. And then the days of Unleavened Bread focus on our part. You know, Christ does His part, and now the days of Unleavened Bread focus on our part. Christ focuses on His part, which He does for us, which is to free us from slavery. We've already touched upon what can happen when we're free from slavery. There's a tendency to want to turn back for our hearts to turn back to Egypt, as even the Scriptures talk about.

If we're not careful, we'll want to go back. That's hard to imagine. But, brethren, you've probably seen it in other people. People that you've known that have been in the church over the years. They went back. And God's trying to tell us that we don't want to go back. In fact, He has seven days of Unleavened Bread. We know that the seven days is the number of completion. God's trying to get us enough away from slavery, far enough away, that we go through a complete process, that we understand the freedom that He's trying to take us to. And that we don't want to go back. We don't want to go back to slavery. So, it's a complete rejection of sin in every form.

So, that's what He's trying to teach us with these seven days of Unleavened Bread. Let's continue on with verse number six. It's the fifteenth day of the same month as the Feast of Unleavened Bread of the Lord. It's God's feast, it's not the Jewish feast. Seven days you must eat Unleavened Bread. So, we have a command. We also have verse seven here. The first day shall have a Holy Convocation. It shall have a rehearsal on the first day.

In other words, you don't do any work on that day. You have an offering in verse number eight. And of course, we read later on that the seventh day, which is today, is a commanded assembly as well. Let's turn over to Exodus 12. You can look at the command to remove leavening, and I've always found this remarkable. As I've mentioned already in our society, it seems like good is good enough. That's close enough. It reminds me of a book. I don't know if I've ever told you this story, but there's a book called Good to Great.

It's not a religious book, but it talks about how they did some research about various companies that were great companies and what made them great. But they talk about in the book that the enemy of great is good because good is good enough. Now, we don't have great schools because we have good schools. So it's a concept of thinking differently. God wants his people to be a special people. He wants us to follow the example of his firstborn son, and not to be just satisfied with good, but to continue on.

It's quite a book, actually. It's a fascinating book. But it talks about the concept of companies that went from good to great, and that there were certain characteristics that they all had in common. It may be a sermon sometime. We'll see. But anyhow, let's go on. Sometimes we think we've done a decent job. We looked at everything that looked like it had 11 in it, and we made sure we ate it before the days of 11 bread came. And we just kind of did it a little scurry in the pantry, and we took out anything that looked like it had 11 in on the label, or baking soda, or what have you, and took out the garbage, and I'm done.

I'm done. But you know, I think a lot of us that have been around for a number of years know it's more than that. You've probably got stories that come to mind of things that happened, because you were a little bit more diligent. I still remember hearing the story of a lady that says, you know, I normally don't eat leavening in my bedroom, so maybe I'm not going to spend much time there.

But I don't know if it was before the days of 11 bread or after, but she found a waffle underneath her bed. A dog! Her dog had taken a little bit of the water. I don't know. They do a lot of things when you're not looking. And suddenly the waffle must have disappeared off the plate, and it ended up under the bed. And even just this year for us, and you join us at Dave, I want you to go out in the freezer in the garage, and I want you to tear it apart and see what's inside. And you know, I normally just meat.

Frozen meat. But off in the corner, on the top shelf, on the right-hand side, behind the meat, I had bought, and I don't even know what these things are called, but they're... It's like a chicken Kiev. You know, they've got breading on it, and it's got the little butter, and the broccoli, and the special sauce. And I don't know, I must have bought a dozen of them, because they were on special at the grocery store and put them in the freezer.

I'd forgotten all about them. So, you know, God tells us we have to be diligent. And, you know, there's a story maybe you've heard about some of the Jews have this particular thing at this time of the year that they do. They have a ceremony about removing leavening out of their homes.

And what they do... This came from a book that was written to be a Jew, written by a rabbi, who described some of the ceremonies of some of the things that they do on these particular days. And one of the things that they do is before the first day of leavening bread, they put little pieces of leaven in various places of the home, and then they have their children go with a candle, usually, at night to try to find them. So they go to the... they usually plant them in the far corners.

You know, the parents want... encouraging the children to look at the far corners of the house of their dwellings to search for leaven. So it's just something they do. That's not in the Scriptures, of course. But it's their way of trying to communicate to their children that they have to be diligent to find this leaven. And I think there's a lesson there that God wants us to understand as well.

Let's look here in verse 15 of Exodus, chapter 12. It says, 7 days you shall eat on leavened 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. Now, I don't know about you, but to me that's a remarkable thing that God says. What? If we eat leavened bread, we'll be cut off from His people? You know, this is remarkable. Here Israel is ready to leave Egypt amidst all their history and all the events that happened there.

And then in verse 15, and then we say this is a group of slaves who are about to leave Egypt. And I'm guessing that leavening or unleavened bread were probably not on their mind. You know? They were bigger things that they were thinking about. But they were probably considered minor things to the children of Israel. I can imagine an Israelite thinking, Why this? Why unleavened bread?

Why put out the leavening? Why remove that? You know, these are slaves who don't have very much. But you know what God was doing? He was setting up a very important symbol for them and for us today. So verse 15, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.

So there are really two separate things. The eating of unleavened bread and also removing the leavening out of our houses. There are two different things there. But notice here the seriousness of this to God. This is something He and God have been thinking about for a long time. But to them, I suppose it may have caught them a little by surprise.

But you know, even among our church over the years, there have been people that have tried to reason around this. You know, they've left the church. It no longer needs to be kept. It's a concept. It's a physical thing. Why is it important to remove leavening? But you know, I can assure you that it was important to God. Because that's what He told us to do.

That's what He told them to do. You know, I mean, people can reason what they like. You know, it's just a physical thing. It's just a piece of bread. It's going to harm us to eat a piece of bread during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Well, it comes back to the heart, doesn't it? It comes back to the heart. You know, God has to know. He has to know. So He asks us to do these types of things. But they could reason, well, what's the bother of the piece of bread during the days of Unleavened Bread? But I think God's looking at the heart, and whether we will obey Him or not. His commands. Verse number 16, On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation, no matter what work shall be done, but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you.

So the first day is holy, and the seventh day is holy, that's today. It's a holy convocation, no work to be done, other than preparing food. Verse number 17, So you shall observe the feast of Unleavened Bread, for to keep it, where to observe it. We'll read in a little bit in the New Testament that that's what Paul told the Corinthian church to do, is to keep it, to observe it.

But let's go on here. Because 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. So the Old Testament is very clear. And from then on, in the rest of the Old Testament, we see a lot of instructions about Unleavened Bread. Actually, the instructions are pretty simple. They're pretty clear, but also pretty profound in what they're to teach us. They were given by God, and they continued on through Israel in the Old Testament. But a lot of people say, but what about the New Testament today?

Why do we need to do that? We're New Testament Christians, we're New Covenant Christians, people of God. Why should we remove leaven? Well, let's go to the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 8. Oh, we'll pick it up in verse 1 here. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 1.

You know, a lot of us are probably familiar with this section of Scripture, but there's other places that talk about God's Holy Days and references to them. In fact, it's interesting, there are 43 references to the Holy Days in the New Testament. 43 references. Now, to get a comparison of that, it's really mentioned more frequently than it is in the Old Testament.

Now, it's not mentioned more frequently because we have to look at the percentage, the Old Testament is two-thirds of the size of the Bible, and the New Testament is approximately one-third. But the 43 references in that one-third, if we were to translate that into the same percentage, we would find, as a percentage of time, that it's mentioned more in the New Testament than it is in the Old Testament. I don't think that's well known. In fact, the book of Acts is the fifth most mentioned book of the Holy Days in the entire Bible. Acts is number five. All right. Well, let's go on. First Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1. We're going to see that this is a story of a very serious problem with the congregation. It says it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. Some of the things that the children of Israel were doing at the time that 23,000 fell, that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife. So, it's something that's a really strong sexual immoral sin here, that a man has his father's wife. So, we wrote here about an individual who was married to or having sexual relations with his mother or stepmother. It doesn't say it's his mother. It could be a stepmother. But anyhow, verse number two.

And you are puffed up, and you have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from you. For I indeed is absent in the body, but I'm present in the Spirit, and I've already judged as though I were present. Him who has done this deed. He goes on to say in verse 4, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, He says, I want you to deliver such a one to Satan.

Now, that seems pretty strong, but he's actually got the best thought in mind for this person. I want you to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, but that his Spirit may be saved. That's how God often works with us and how he works with the children of Israel. Sometimes they died, even, but God has the idea to save them in the end. Verse 6, Your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Therefore purge out, Paul is telling them, the old leaven, that you may be a new lump since you are truly unleavened. For indeed, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Now, sometimes this is a scripture that isn't well understood, but it's actually pretty easy to identify what's going on here. Paul is addressing issues that everyone there understood, whether they were Jew or Gentile. At least when it came to the Gentile people of God, they knew when he talked about leavening and unleavening, they knew what he was talking about.

They were aware of what he was saying. Notice in verse 7, he said, You are truly unleavened. Now, some have tried to minimize that statement, tried to explain it away, but it's really pretty simple. Clearly, they were not unleavened spiritually, were they? You can't read the book of 1 Corinthians and assume that these Corinthians were unleavened spiritually.

The only answer to this particular verse is that they were unleavened physically. They had actually gone through the motions as God commanded to remove physical leavening from their dwelling places. They followed the command, but they had failed to remove the spiritual leavening. They had failed, really, to follow through on what the meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread were all about, because they really had spiritual application. The physical is to help us to understand the spiritual. And I sincerely say to all of us that if we fail to follow through with the spiritual meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread, then what have we done?

What have we accomplished? What has the seven days really meant to remove physical leavening from our dwelling places? If we don't understand the spiritual application, all we've really done is the physical. That's all as far as it's gone. It goes on to say in verse 8, Therefore, let us keep the feast. You know, I've read a lot of commentaries, and I've read many things on this over the years. And there are some New Testament commentaries that really get this right.

And I quote one of them. It's called, The History of the Apostolic Church by Shaph, S-C-H-A-F-F. And he writes this on this particular scripture here about, Let us keep the feast. He says, it's remarkable that John, referring of course to John, the one who wrote the Gospel of John, that John, St.

John is what he calls him, makes the Jewish festivals, especially the Passover, so prominent in the public life and ministry of Christ. He evidently considered the festivals significant types of the leading facts of the Gospel history.

He goes on to say, The second century Paschal controversies proved that the early church kept the Jewish festivals, that they derived their authorities from those festivals from the apostles. So there are some historians that understand that, and when it talks about keep the beast, it's using a Greek word that talks about not just being aware of it, but observing it, keeping the feast. So it uses a Greek word that talks about there's something we are doing, not just aware of what it is and understanding of what it pictures, but we are actually observing it.

In thinking about the lessons of the Days of 11 Bread, I thought about the fact that there are at least three different areas where there is a tendency for us to become careless about sin. Three different areas. Three areas where we can become careless about sin, where a small amount of leaven or sin can begin to destroy, ultimately destroy. And these three areas are, in the time that I've got left, is number one, your personal life.

Number two, a congregation can be destroyed by a small amount of sin. That's number two, a congregation can be destroyed by a small amount of sin. And number three, the entire church could be destroyed by sin. The entire church could be destroyed by sin.

In honor, I mean, our enemy knows how sin works as well. Of course, he's trying to destroy the body of Christ. So let's begin with our personal life. Turn with me to Acts 5. When we look at the history of the New Testament church, there are remarkable events that occurred early in the church. There were some great miracles that took place in the early part of the church of God.

But in the middle of all of these miracles and these incredible things, there is one unusual event that I want to bring out to you. It's found in Acts 5, verse 1. And I think this particular story is a warning for you and for me. It's a warning for all of us. It's a warning that a little sin can destroy you or me. A little lie can take our life. Now, I've often wondered about Ananias and Sapphira were killed. They lied.

But I don't believe for a moment that all of us haven't lied at one time or another in our lives. And so, what's God trying to teach us here? I believe that God showed in a very, very powerful way that a small sin can begin to destroy. Ananias and Sapphira didn't kill anyone. They didn't rob a bank. There wasn't anything that really stood out. They didn't hurt another member. And what happened seemed to be harmless. Didn't it seem to be harmless?

They didn't take anything away from anyone. They didn't take away anybody's property. It was their own possession. And yet, it took their lives. Let's notice verse 1 here of Acts 5. But a certain man named Ananias was Sapphira. His wife sold the possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds. His wife was also aware of what was going on. And they brought a certain part, and they laid it at the apostles' feet.

So basically, what they did was, you know, there was a lot of people that were inspired to say, you know, they didn't think of anything as their own. They were going to sell their possessions and give it to the brethren. And that were in need. There was a tremendous amount of that going on in the first century when Christ's church began. But what they said was that they implied that they sold the land, and they were giving all of the money for the benefit of other members.

They implied that this was everything, but they kept back part for themselves. So, verse 3. So Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? Now, this seems like a small thing, doesn't it? But it says that Satan had filled his heart with this thought. Wow! And I thought, ah, this is something that's still a casual thing here. It's not that big of a deal, is it? That's mine? You know, maybe I'm implying that I'm giving it all, but I might need some for later.

Boy, what God describes it is that Satan had filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land for yourself. And while it remained, you know, you didn't have to do this. While it remained, wasn't it yours to do whatever you wanted to do with? You know, it wasn't somebody else's property. They didn't kill anyone. They didn't hurt anyone. They didn't do any of those things. They simply lied in order to look good.

Small thing. I won't ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many of us have lied in the past in order to look good. After it was sold, wasn't it under your own control? After you sold it, you had full control of what was going to happen. Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? Start small. In the mind and the heart. You have not lied to men, but you have lied to God.

Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose. They wrapped him up. They carried him out. And they buried him. And later on it tells that the wife came in and they asked her the same question. She gave the same answer. And she died as well. Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife, they lied to make themselves look good. They lied. And they lost their lives. Sin will destroy us. They eventually will destroy us. It will take us down, surely as cancer can get a foothold and spread.

It will destroy you. It will destroy me. All sin will destroy. We should ask ourselves, how do we do in life? How are we doing? What's happening between our ears? How are we observing the Sabbath? What is our language like? How is our relationship with our brother? How do we treat other people? How much sin do we tolerate in our lives?

No, we all have to examine ourselves. We have to be able to answer to God for that. Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. It talks here in Hebrews 12 about a root of bitterness. A root of bitterness. If you think about a root of bitterness, it begins in a way that's really impossible to see because it's underground. It's seeds. A lot of people don't see what's going on, but it's something that's working.

It's something that's happening in our hearts or in the heart of somebody else. But when it grows, it becomes a real problem. Verse 14, Hebrews 12. It says, "...Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." God gives us a couple of things there about to pursue peace and holiness, otherwise we won't be part of His family.

Verse 15, looking carefully, and I think He's talking about ourselves, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. So it's possible to fall short of the grace of God. That's another topic, but I know there are people that think one's saved, always saved. But it is possible to fall short of even God's grace.

Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble. And by this, many be defiled. So it's not just the person with the root of bitterness, but others can also be defiled by someone's root of bitterness. A root of bitterness, and when we talk about the subject of forgiveness, which I haven't really spoken a lot of, but it's often that people who do not forgive end up developing a serious root of bitterness.

That's why really when we forgive someone or are willing to, instead of dwelling on something, sometimes we can be innocent, we can be the ones that were offended. But we have a root of bitterness, and it can end up destroying us and defiling others. I don't think there's anyone here who would think that a root of bitterness would ever be good.

It will only destroy if left unchecked. It's a terrible thing, bitterness, and it will destroy. Let's cover the second point. Second point. Because sin can also destroy a congregation. And it's a serious matter. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 5.

We've been there once already, but we'll read some verses there that we haven't read. The Apostle Paul had to address a very serious matter there in 1 Corinthians 5. You know, if we were to tell someone today in any religious community that there is reason to avoid people or not have them come into your congregation, they would say that's silly. A lot of people would. That's silly. God would not want us to avoid anyone.

God would not want us to ostracize anyone. That would be anti-Christian. But Paul describes a congregation that was in danger of being destroyed because of sin. Not the sins of all the people of the congregation. It wasn't at that time, but the fact that they were willing to tolerate a sin and a behavior that was so evil and so absurd and so contrary to God's way of life, they were willing to tolerate it. That the whole congregation was in danger. Imagine you, a member of this congregation.

Let's turn to verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 5 and see what God inspired Paul to write. He said, I wrote to you in my letter or my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. And yet I certainly didn't mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or the extortioners or the idolaters since you'd have to go out of the world. But now I've written to you not to keep company with anyone that has named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner.

No, not even to eat was such a person. Now, I don't think there's a lot of people that would take this advice from Paul and a lot of churches around the world today. I don't think they'd take this advice. It's simply, you know, I think they'd be... some ministers would probably be afraid of losing their congregations over it.

It's too bizarre to believe that there's any behavior out there, isn't there, that could warrant such an action such as this, of being denied fellowship? It's foreign today, I suppose, and yet Paul said that that is what was going to happen in this congregation because the very life of this congregation was being threatened. Verse number 12, For what I have to do, for what have I to do with judging those who are on the outside, do you not judge those who are on the inside, but those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person.

So, Paul pretty much calls the spade a spade here, that this wasn't right, it was wrong, and this evil person needed to be put away. You know, there are times in the life of a congregation when they can be threatened, when they can be threatened because of sin, and at those times that there has to be some very strong action that's taken, and it's not an easy thing to do. It's difficult. But sin such as this, that would be left unchecked in this congregation, was beginning to destroy that congregation, because they would be willing to tolerate it.

Let's look at the third area, where toleration of sin can be destructive, and that's in the case of potentially the entire church. The entire church. That's what our enemy is trying to do, is destroy everything that God is building, including the church of God, the body of Jesus Christ, the whole body. Let's look at Revelation 3. Here in this chapter is the story of the seven churches of Asia Minor that are on a mail route, that are listed in the book of Revelation.

And we talked about, well, what does all this mean? Is this prophetic? Is this just for those churches on the ground? Just what are we talking about here? And our understanding of these seven churches, and the messages that were given to them, that they're actually multiple. We believe that he was actually talking to actual churches on the ground and was addressing things that they would understand, to those churches on the ground. Then he also instructed that those letters would be circulated, that they would read each other's letters.

Because you can have individual members that may have problems in Philadelphia. You know, Philadelphia was thought of as a pretty strong church of God, but there could be an individual member in Philadelphia that needed to read a letter from Sardis, or needed to hear some of the things in the letter to the Laodiceans. So we believe it was written to actual churches on the ground, and it could actually be helpful to any individual members within any of those entire seven congregations.

Each letter could have something to help them. But we also believe, it's church eras, that the church of God, as it would go through history, would have certain overriding characteristics that they would each have, as we got closer to the end of the age. We believe there's some prophetic in the church eras as well. So let's take a look here, and we'll pick it up here in verse number 14 of Revelation 3.

It says, "...and to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot." So here's a church that is, in a sense, it's compromised itself, somehow, some way, and it's compromised itself severely. It's got to the point where God says, this is just all I want to do. It's not hot, it's not cold, I just want to spew you out of my mouth. And you know what's fascinating here to me?

That there's no specific sin that's mentioned. You know, as we look through here, there's no overt sin that's mentioned here. Here's a church that's compromised itself severely, but there's no terrible sin that's mentioned, no specific example. Christ doesn't say they're murderers. He doesn't say they're thieves. He doesn't say they're adulterers. He doesn't say they're rapists. He doesn't say they're robbers. Well, then what's wrong with them?

What's wrong with them? There's no specific sin identified. And I think this is the most subtle and difficult part of sin, when we can't even get a handle on it. We can't even identify it. It's happened so slowly, so subtly, and we're in the midst of it, we don't even know.

We can't identify it. You know, somebody who commits murder, you can identify that. Somebody who commits adultery, and it becomes well known, you can identify that. Someone who steals from you, that's pretty easy to identify. You know, when someone commits a horrible act of murder, that's something you can see and identify. But there's no identifiable sin. Verse 16, So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.

You know, this is the body of Christ. These are God's people. These are Christians. These are individuals that form up the church of God. Verse 17, because you say, and now he begins to touch on a few things, I'm rich. I've become wealthy.

And I have need of nothing. And you do not know the reality of your situation, I think is what he's trying to tell us. You do not know that you are wretched, miserable, you're poor, you're blind, and you're naked. They were spiritually adrift, and they didn't know it. They didn't see it. They were adrift. You know, the concept of compromise, the concept of just a little sin, where it can lead, it leads to drifting away from God.

And these people were drifting away. He's trying to get their attention. In verse 18, I'm counseling you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, referring to the righteousness of the saints and other parts of Revelation. That the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. He said, you don't realize you are naked spiritually.

And He says, you really don't see. You think you see, but you don't. And anoint your eyes with eyes, saud, that you may see. And He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and I chase, and therefore I want you to be zealous and repent. Now, what was their sin? No, it isn't specifically identified. No specific sin noted.

But if there's no sin, then there'd be no need for repentance, but He's telling them to repent. So there must have been sin. It was there. Oh, maybe it was compromise. Compromising on the laws of God, compromising on the commandments of God. You know, we can only surmise. How do we know? Not showing the love of Christ to the brethren. You know, there's a number of things we can imagine.

But I imagine that they probably had a pretty good idea. But there was no specific sin. And probably if you look at the church as a whole today, the United Church of God, or you look at the whole body of Christ today, in that sense, I suppose, if we look out and see what is out there, maybe there isn't any specific sin that comes to our mind. But God wants us to examine ourselves individually and collectively. You know, we may not have murderers sitting in the congregation, or rapists, or robbers, or that type of thing. But are we compromising? Because it starts small. Sin, like leaven, starts small. A little leaven will eventually leaven the whole lump. Are we accepting little sins in our lives? Not realizing that our heart then is really filled, just like it was for Ananias and Sapphira.

James 2, verse 10. James 2, verse 10.

Are we accepting little sins in our lives? In the lives of the congregation? The life of the church as a whole? If we are, then the Bible is very clear, for where that's going to lead. At the end, it results in destruction. James 2, verse 10.

The lesson of unleavened bread is very simple. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little sin will destroy, whether it's an individual, whether it's a congregation, or whether it's the church of God.

So now that the days of unleavened bread are almost over, let's take this lesson with us that God has given to us in His love and in His mercy.

You know, 1 Corinthians 10, we'll wrap it up here. 1 Corinthians 10.

Sometimes this seems hard, sometimes God sees harsh. But let's go back to 1 Corinthians 10.

A few more scriptures here in this context that I have not yet read.

1 Corinthians 10. We'll pick it up in 1 Corinthians 10. Don't be complainers, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples that they were written for us, for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. But, brethren, let's understand this.

And when we truly try to examine ourselves and put sin out of our life, the God will respond to us. He says, No temptation, verse 13, has overtaken you, except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation, he will make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

He was making a way of escape for Cain. He will make a way of escape for you and me, that sin, even if it's started, will not overtake us. He'll be there. He'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. We do have the ability, through Jesus Christ, to do all things. We can rule over this, the sin.

Brethren, we don't have a lot of time left collectively, maybe even individually, left, because Jesus Christ is going to return. The Kingdom of God is coming, as He promised. The lesson of Unleavened Bread is that we must remove all leaven, because a little leaven leavens the whole lot.