A Spiritually Unleavened Heart

Brethren, you're here today in obedience to God to honor Him on this special high day, this first day of Unleavened Bread. And you've been commanded, as I, to appear before Him. And you've come. You've been commanded to cease from work. And you have. And you've been commanded to appear before Him and rehearse the meaning of these special days that we observe together as a small group of people that are seeking to follow God and to obey our Creator. You know, these holy days of God really are full of a lot of special meaning, aren't they? For the last month, we've been rehearsing the meaning of these days. We've been looking over the Scriptures. We've been praying for God to help us to understand what He would like us to do, what areas of our lives that need to be changed, and things that God wanted us to personally learn. You put leaven out of your dwellings, and then you've examined your personal lives for sin. And as you put the physical leaven out of your physical house, then you are also examining your spiritual house and beginning to try to put the spiritual leaven out of your spiritual house and life. These feast days come around every year. They're an annual reminder to us. And they're really miraculous gifts from God that enable us to continue on our journey towards the Kingdom of God so that we don't lose hope, that we don't lose sight, that we don't lose sight of the goal. So we walk forward today from here, striving to bury the old man and have that new man, that new creation that God is building in us. These holy days give us a window into who God is and what He is doing and what He expects from us. And we see more clearly all of those things than what He expects of His sons and His daughters. And so, we've examined ourselves. We've looked at ourselves. We've examined what's important to you. We've examined your daily actions, your daily life, how you treat and care for your spouse, your husband, your wife, your children, your brothers and sisters, your neighbor, your fellow laborers or workers or employees. You've looked at your zeal for God's way of life. And then you've examined your very heart and your very motives. Further, when it comes to matters of the heart, the mind and motives, God has a lot to say. He has a lot of scriptures that we can see from the Bible that says God looks to the heart, that our hearts are very important to Him. So in the message today, I thought it would be fitting as we begin to go along here to see what I could share with you or what we could take together as I thought about the subject matter, about a scripture or a message, rather, that has to do with the heart and the days of Unleavened Bread. You may have heard a song over the years, You've got to have heart. That goes back a few generations. You've got to have heart.

You know, and you know as there often is, there's an interesting parallel between the physical and the spiritual. Sometimes, as we look at the physical, God helps us to see some spiritual concepts that He wants us to understand. Let's speak about the human heart just for a moment. You know, as we look at the heart, it is truly an amazing heart of the body. It's amazing. It's only about five inches long, weighs about nine to eleven ounces, and it's about the size of your fist. Not a very big organ, really, in a way. And yet, this amazing little muscle pumps something like 17,200 quarts of blood through your body every day. Now, that's equivalent to over 6.2 million quarts every year. And over an average 70-year lifespan, that's approximately 440 million quarts of blood through our body.

You know, every cell of our body needs oxygen. And one of the functions of the heart is to deliver that oxygen-rich blood to each and every cell. But you know, disease, when it comes to this country particularly, disease related to the heart kills over a million people in this country every year. And it's cliche. It's a disease that kills over a million people. It's a disease that kills over a million people. And it's also the cause of death among both men and women.

At least 55 million people in this country suffer from some type of heart disease. There was a study back in 2006, a medical study, which revealed about 600,000 people every year have heart bypass surgery.

That's 600,000 people where their chest had to be opened and they had to buy open heart surgery in this country. Now, these people are told after their bypasses that they should change their lifestyle. Many of them were told years before that unless they changed their lifestyle, they would develop heart trouble and have difficulties. Now, heart bypass is a temporary fix, obviously, to a problem.

But to avoid developing more heart problems, patients are told and encouraged that they must learn to change their diet and have other lifestyle changes. Sometimes people do have a great diet, though, and they do things right and they still have problems because there's genetic issues. So, I understand that. It can be a genetic issue. But in general, heart problems are brought on by a person's lifestyle, such as smoking or drinking to excess or diet or lack of exercise. So, they are advised by doctors to change those lifestyles or they could die prematurely. Now, you would think if you had a near-death experience that that would probably get your attention.

You should change. They advise that type of thing. But surprisingly, according to the study, that's not the case. Ninety percent of patients that have bypass surgery ultimately don't change their lifestyles. This was a study, again, that was done in 2006. It comes from a book entitled Simple Church, authored by Tom Ranier and Eric Geiger. Ninety percent don't change their lifestyles. They remain the same, living the status quo. Now, some may change for a few months, but in two years, ninety percent have gone back to the exact lifestyle that they had before.

Now, as I've already alluded to, there is a connection between the physical and the spiritual. God teaches us more important spiritual concepts as we look at the physical. And we have a connection between the physical and the spiritual concepts as we look at the physical. And this is really true also of the human heart because we all have one. And then there's also what the Bible refers to as a spiritual heart, and we all have one of those.

I think it's an appropriate time of the year to ask a question to you and to me. How strong and how vital is our spiritual heart? How unleavened is our heart? And that's the title of the message, the un-bred sermon, the unleavened heart. You know, our heart makes up the core, really, of who we are or who we are becoming. So specifically, what I'd like to accomplish, hopefully today, is to see from Scripture how important our hearts are and how the process of spiritual leaven can work in those hearts. Let's turn in our first Scripture to Proverbs chapter 4 and verse number 23.

Let's go over there. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse number 23. Let's look, first of all, at the importance of our hearts and try to see them as God sees them. How does God look at our heart? How important does He say that our hearts are? What does He reveal through the Scriptures? Proverbs chapter 4 and verse number 23. God inspired Proverbs, the wisdom that He had given to Solomon. He says, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

Now, the New Living Translation expresses it this way. Guard your heart above all else, above everything. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Now, there's a lot here in this short verse. We're going to notice four different principles here, spiritual principles, presented in this verse with four different words. The first word is keep, and then we'll look at the second word heart, the third word diligent, and the fourth, issues. Let's look at that word keep.

That's translated from a Hebrew word, matzah, n-a-t-s-a-r, six letters, n-a-t-s-a-r. The term means to guard or protect. To guard or protect. For example, you typically safeguard those possessions that have significant value to you. Now, maybe it's an engagement ring, maybe it's a wedding ring, you know, maybe it's a family heirloom, or maybe it's your smartphone, you know, something that's really valuable to you. As Proverbs 4, 23 explains, it says, God says that you should especially protect your heart. Let's look at the word heart here. This is only a three-letter Hebrew word. It's leeb, L-E-B, leeb. The Hebrew word here, leeb, typically refers to the inner person, the mind, the will. It really denotes the central core of who we are. Who are we? Or who are we becoming?

It denotes the central core of who we are, our emotional, our intellectual, and our spiritual existence. You know, in a sense, similar to how a fleshly human heart is indispensable to physical life, to your and my physical life, our spiritual hearts are indispensable to our eternal life.

The essence of who we are affects our spiritual life and our well-being.

Let's look at the third word, diligence. The dictionary defines this as the constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken. A constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken. Diligence in this context, or this verse, means you should guard your heart so diligently, so consciously, that it's like keeping it in a safe, or keeping it safe, under a lock or key. Watch, guard, protect your heart.

The fourth word, issues. Issues. It's derived from a Hebrew word. It's got seven letters.

Tat sa'a. T-O-T-S-A-A-H. T-O-T-S-A-A-H. Not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Tat sa'a. The word means borders or boundaries. It refers to the sum total of all that occurs in your life, including what you are, what you say, and what you do. The core of who you and I are.

You know, as we look at this short verse in line of these four principles and their means, our hearts and our condition, God reveals, are vital. They're very, very important. It's like our human hearts are right now to us. They're vital. And God urges you and I to safeguard above everything else in our life. Let's go over to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31.

You know, brethren, at baptism, for those of us that have entered into that baptismal covenant, at baptism, we humbled ourselves on how many accepted God's rule over our life, His authority over our life. We were going to reject the things that He rejected, and we were going to embrace the things that He embraces.

We entered into this baptismal covenant. Let's notice that covenant here in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse number 31. Because you know, by accepting the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins, we entered into a covenant relationship, with the God of the universe. The terms of this covenant are absolute. It was sealed with the shed blood and death of Jesus Christ. Let's read about that a little bit here. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31. He says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Brother, for those of us that have entered into that baptismal covenant, we're under the new covenant now. God says the days are coming when they will have this opportunity that we are having right now as the Israel of God, as the Church of God. Verse 32, Not according to the covenant may I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I'm going to put my law in their minds and I'm going to write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Brother, in baptism, when we entered into that covenant, God gave you and me a new heart.

He gave us a new heart, an unleavened heart. He gave us a heart that was not there before.

Let's notice that in Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 25. Let's go over to Ezekiel, another one of God's prophets, and see what he shares with us there or what God shares through him to us. Ezekiel chapter 36 verse number 25. God through Ezekiel tells us, I'm going to sprinkle clean water on you. So God starts the cleaning process here. He's the initiator. He starts out by cleaning us up.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your filthiness and from all of your idols. So you and I have to be cleaned up, don't we? We have to repent of our sins. We've got to acknowledge that our ways have been wrong. They haven't been right.

And notice verse number 30 or excuse me, verse number 26. He says, I will give you a new heart. So, brethren, figuratively speaking, or maybe even literally, we get a heart transplant.

We get a heart transplant when we enter into this baptismal covenant. God takes out something that's old, and he puts in something that's new. This is a remarkable and a miraculous process.

That God does this. And I'll put a new spirit within you. I'm going to take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I'm going to give you something different. I'm going to give you a heart of flesh. God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. He softens us. He makes us more pliable, more moldable. Notice verse 27. I will put my spirit within you, and I'm going to cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. So God starts out really with a radical procedure, doesn't he? A heart transplant. He puts a new heart in us, something that wasn't there before. He gave it to us, and he reveals here in other places that this heart is vital to you and to me. That this heart needs to be guarded above everything else.

This heart, which is our new inner person, it makes up the central core of who we are, our emotional, our intellectual, our spirit person. And we're to guard it and protect it, because out of it come the issues of life. It's the sum total of all that occurs in us. Who we are, who we say, what we say, and what we do, the essence of who we are and who we'll be coming.

Let's go over to Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 29. Let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 29. God looks to the heart. He always has, right from the beginning. You know, the word heart can be found, depending upon the translation, it can be found in the Old Testament 666 times and in the New Testament 99 times. And from the earliest history of mankind, God has been concerned with humankind's part of his creation. He's been concerned with their thoughts, with their attitudes and their motives. God is concerned with the hearts of people and how they live, because after all, the words that we speak, the deeds that we have, and the way we live reflects our character and what is going on in our hearts and our minds and the thoughts of our heart.

So the heart of humanity has always been a primary concern with the Creator because God created man in his own image. So notice verse 29. Oh, that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear me, that they respect me, and always keep all of my commandments. That kind of is a double way of saying everything. That they would not only keep all my commandments, that way they wouldn't pick and choose, but they would always keep all of my commandments. That it would be well with them, and that's what God wants. It would be well with us and with our children forever.

Let's look at another Scripture in Matthew, Chapter 15. We'll see what Jesus Christ had to say about the heart. Matthew, Chapter 15. We'll pick it up here in verse number 16. Matthew, Chapter 15, and verse number 16.

Jesus is speaking. He said, Are you still without understanding?

Don't you get to understand that whatever enters the mouth into the stomach, it's eliminated? We're talking about eating with unwashed hands. And Jesus was trying to say, You know, that's not what defiles a man. I'll tell you what defiles a man. Verse 17, Don't you understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and it's eliminated. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. We talked about that a little bit, about out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. So eventually who we are is going to come out in the words that we're saying. But those things, verse 18, which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murderers, adultries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. These are the things which defile a person. And so Christ is on the same page as well. That our hearts, whatever is happening there, that out of the treasure of our hearts we're going to bring either good things or bad things, evil things. And God says, I've given you a new heart. Guard your heart. Now, God is concerned about human motivation. Scripture demonstrates that God was concerned from the earliest of history with man's heart, that God is deeply cared about the spirit or the motivation behind our actions and our deeds and our words.

You know, I'll just refer to a couple scriptures. That's demonstrated by these scriptures in Leviticus 19.17. It says, don't hate your brother and your heart. Or one of the commands in Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul and all your strength. You know, God's judgment, in a sense, let's go over to Genesis 6, verse 5. God's judgment came upon corrupt hearts. The book of Genesis tells us that God, after some 1600 years of recorded history, was grieved in His own heart. And it was filled with pain because of the wickedness of man. Let's notice that Genesis 6, verse 5. Genesis 6, verse 5, this is about 1600 years into the history of mankind. It says, then the Lord saw, or He perceived, or He noticed that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually. And so, it was nonstop. Their hearts had become corrupted. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. God has always been concerned with the hearts of His potential sons and daughters.

God searches the hearts. I won't have time to turn to all the scriptures there, but I'll give you about four different references where it says God searches the hearts. You know, Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 10 speaks to that. Jeremiah 17, 10. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9 speaks to that. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9. A couple of New Testament scriptures that speak to that. Romans chapter 8 and verse 27, and Revelation chapter 2, verse 23. It's Romans chapter 8, verse 27. And Revelation chapter 2, and verse number 23 speak to the fact that God searches our hearts.

God reveals how vital and important our hearts are, and that they are to be safeguarded, they are to be protected and kept with all diligence, because out of it comes the issues of life. Let's now take a look at the process of sin and of leaven and just how it can work in the heart, because I think, as you may know, just because God has given some of us a new heart doesn't mean that the leaven of spiritual sin can't still continue to work in that new heart. Let's review for a moment the process of sin and how it works. God reveals to you and I that sin works a lot like leaven, or leaven works a lot like sin. You know, why did God choose leaven to represent sin? Of all the different commodities that are out there, why did he choose leaven? Why is it that leaven typifies sin and the way that it works? Why does leaven typify that so well? Well, let's take a look, and this may be a review for many of us, but maybe not for all. Let's take a look at some of the ways that leaven works. Now, we talk about baking soda or yeast, something that basically works with a loaf or a piece of dough. Well, first of all, we know that leaven starts small.

Leaven starts small. You know, in the air that you cannot see with the naked eye are yeast spores, and it's possible to leaven the dough even if you let it lay out for a while. The yeast spores can begin to land on it, and that can start the process of leavening. Or you can introduce yeast. Just a little bit of yeast begins, as we know from Scripture, that a little leaven can leaven the entire lump. It just takes a little bit. It starts small. A second way this commodity of leaven works is that once leaven is introduced into the dough, it begins to multiply. It begins to grow, and it begins to eat up the ingredients around it, eating it up, consuming it, and then making it a part of itself. You know, it works a lot like cancer. It starts small, but it begins to grow, and it begins to change the nature of everything around it. It works a lot like leprosy. leprosy begins to spread within the skin. It changes the nature of the normal skin. It becomes leprosy. It's changed. It works a lot like rust on metal, where the rust begins, and in that process, if it doesn't get stopped, eventually that solid piece of metal turns into dust, and then the wind can just sweep it away, and it ceases to exist. So a second property of leaven is that it starts small as the first property, and the second one, it multiplies and grows, and it eats up the ingredients around it. It's a very powerful agent. I still remember, I may have told you this story, but I remember hearing about a co-ed that was making some homemade bread, and they put too much yeast into the dough. And you know how you walk away from it, you put a cloth over it, you kind of let it warm, and you kind of let it rise. She took away that cloth, and it was just like this monster flowing out of the pan, you know? And so that's how it can work. A third, this agent, as we discussed, the leavening agent, a third part of it, how it works, is that after the cycle is complete, the nature of the bread is changed completely. After the cycle is complete, the nature of the lump of dough is changed completely. So God typifies sin through leaven, and as we look at sin then, sin works like leaven. It starts small. It starts very innocently sometimes, and very small.

It can start with the first wrong thought. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, and let's notice that there. God wants us to know how leaven works.

That's why he has these days of leavened bread. He wants us to know how sin works. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, and we'll pick it up in verse number five.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, in verse number five, pick up some of the context here. He says, verse four, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty. We have God's help. We have His Spirit, as we're in this battle. But they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and it brings every thought into the captivity, to the obedience of Christ.

So, brethren, sin starts with a very small, with the first wrong thought. It starts small.

A second component, as we talked about, leaven multiplies and grows. Sin, if it's unchecked and unrepentant of it, will multiply, and it will grow, and then it will begin to change our character. It will begin to change who we are. Let's notice that process in James chapter 1, in verse number 13. James chapter 1, in verse 13. This basically talks about the process of sin here. James chapter 1. We'll pick it up in verse number 13.

Let no one say, when he's tempted, I am tempted by God. God doesn't tempt us. Brethren, we do have an enemy that does, but God doesn't tempt us.

Let no one say, when he's tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires.

So we begin, it starts small, we begin to have a wrong desire. We begin to be drawn away from the truth by a wrong desire and enticed. Something sounds good or enticed.

So the process of sin begins. And then it says in verse 15, then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And so it is born. It gives birth to sin.

And sin, if it's allowed to multiply and grow, and if it's not repented of, when it's full grown, it brings death. And so we see that whole process of how sin can work. God reveals that here through James. And so again, that third concept here then, as far as leavening and sin and how they work very much the same, is that after the cycle of sin is complete, our nature is changed completely.

And we die. We cease to exist. And that's where it takes us. God knows them from the beginning, and He reveals that to us. Let's take a look at the example of King David. Let's go over to 1 Samuel chapter 16. Brother David came to an understanding in his life how vital the heart was. And he also experienced time when spiritual leaven affected that heart. David was called, remarkably in scriptures, as a man after God's own heart. You know, there are very, very few people in a sense. In fact, I don't know if this particular expression was applied to anyone other than him, but here we have a human being that God says, this person, this part of my creation, this man, had the same kind of heart that I got. That's a remarkable statement here. And as we look at his example, I hope we can see how vital the heart is and how the process of spiritual leaven and sin can still work in that heart. Eventually, let's go to verse 6 of Samuel chapter 16.

We'll see here that David is beginning to enter into a covenant relationship with God.

And this is all happening here. It's similar to a baptism covenant that we've entered into, for those of us that have done that. We know that David was set apart. He was anointed as king during Saul's reign as king. And as the youngest of eight sons, David's job was to tend sheep, which means he had a lot of probably lonely nights, lonely vigils, if you will. And he had an opportunity, though, to know God probably in a little bit more intimate way than he might have otherwise. And the story of his ascent to the throne is really an unceremonious one. It's kind of a humbling one here. Let's take a look here. We know that Saul had disqualified himself to rule and that David was the one that was chosen by God. And he directs Samuel to go to Jesse's sons and say, you're going to be anointing one of Jesse's sons as the next king of Israel. So Samuel did as he was told, and he went to take stock of all of these boys, these sons of Jesse. 1 Samuel 16. So it was when they came that Samuel looked at Eliab and he said, surely God's anointed to standing right here before me. I think Samuel reasons the way a lot of us do. He saw a very probably confident man, very good looking man, height, impressive, good looks, and was sure that this was the one that God was going to choose. But notice verse 7. But God spoke to Samuel and he said, don't look at his appearance. So he must have had an impressive appearance.

Don't look at his appearance or don't look at his physical stature. So he must have been had an impressive physical stature because I've refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees.

For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So God looks to the heart, and he always has. He looks at a person's innermost motivation. What is it that drives us?

What is it? Who are we? Who are we becoming? God looks at all of those things. That's what's of prime importance to him. Now, Eliab's impressive appearance didn't qualify him to become Israel's next king, but David's heart did. God says, and I'll just refer to Isaiah 6.66 in verse 2, but to this one that I'm going to look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. The New Living Translation puts that this way, I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts. So, one by one, Jesse's sons came, but God said, no, none of them are the ones that I've chosen. Now, for some reason, I don't know why Jesse didn't think about this, but he didn't bring all of his sons. He still had one that was out in the field with the sheep.

So, Samuel was puzzled. It was evident that God wasn't saying yes to any of these, and he said, do you have any other sons? God hasn't said yes to any of these. He said, are they all here? Let's pick it up in verse 11. And Samuel said to Jesse, are all the young men here? And then he said, well, there remains yet the youngest. And there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him, for we're not going to sit down until he comes here. So he sent and brought him, and now he was ready with bright eyes and good looking. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for he is the one. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and noticed, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. He received the Holy Spirit, that Spirit. David received it. He entered into a covenant relationship with God. He was given a new heart and a new spirit. And so from these humble beginnings, really came the greatest king of all, of Israel. And now God would teach him to lead a nation after he'd been taught, in a sense, to herd sheep. But again, just because God gives a new heart doesn't mean the process of leaven and spiritual leaven and sin can't still work in that heart. And there is a reason that God tells us to guard our heart. Let's take a look at an example of what happened to David later after he became king and see the process of sin and how it began to work in his heart. And we'll see also how far it went in that process, how far down the road it went. Let's go over to 2 Samuel, chapter 11, and verse number 1. 2 Samuel, chapter 11, and verse number 1. It's a pretty well-known story.

We recall that David couldn't sleep well one evening. He fears of state, maybe, was weighing on him. It's hard to know for sure. But his army was campaigning against the people of Ammon at that time, and David was still in the palace. 2 Samuel, chapter 11, verse 1. It says, It happened in the spring of the year. At the time the kings go to battle, the David sent Joab.

Joab was his commanding army officer. The David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel, and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Raba. The David remained at Jerusalem. And then it happened one evening. The David arose from his bed, and he walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.

So here he's pacing on the rooftop, and he looks down and he sees a very attractive lady.

Now, at that point, he had a choice. He had a choice, didn't he? He could have looked away.

He could have walked away. That would have been better. Remove yourself even from the opportunity to even look. But instead, he lingered, and he watched.

And then it went further, as it says in verse 3, he inquired. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite? So this was a married woman whose husband's name was Uriah. So he inquired as to the woman, and then he called some of the servants, and they brought her to the palace, and she was Bathsheba. Well, the biblical story would lead us to believe that Uriah is really listed as one of David's mighty men. That he was a warrior, he was loyal to his nation and to the king.

They were famous for their courage and their personal loyalty.

So David inquired about Uriah's wife and brought her to the palace. And as a result, as we see in verse number five, she became pregnant. Well, this process of sin now continues.

It continues to go forward, and this corruption deepens, and it begins to grow. As we know, a little leaven can leaven the whole lump. And it was beginning to leaven David. It was beginning to change, and it was beginning to change his character to corrupt it. So now the king plots even further. He plots to cover up his sin. He calls Uriah, tells Joab, I want you to send Uriah back to the palace. And what he's going to try to do is he's going to try to have Uriah go to his home, because Bathsheba has sent a message to David that she is pregnant with child from David. And so he's trying to get Uriah to get home so he can have relations with his wife. Let's pick up the story here in verse number six of 2 Samuel 11. Then David sent to Joab, saying, send me Uriah the Hittite, and Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going and prospered. And David said to Uriah, go to your house, wash your feet. So Uriah departed from the king's house, and the gift of food from the king followed him. So David's saying, go to your house. I'm going to send some food that follows along. Go home. But that isn't what Uriah did. Verse number nine, Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all of the servants of his Lord, and he didn't go down to his house. So when they told David, saying Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? David's got this plan he's been plotting. Verse 11, and Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I am not going to do this. So David's plan failed. It failed. Now at this point, you know, at this point he's dealing really with an honorable man, isn't he? Uriah is trying to do the right thing.

He's an honorable man. David had another choice. He could confess his sins before God and tell Uriah the truth. So his next action will be very important. Let's see what happens. Verse 14, in the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah.

So Uriah is taking a personal message to Joab.

So he's going back to the front lines. Verse 15, and he wrote in the letter saying to Joab, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and then retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die. So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned Uriah. He did what he was told. He assigned Uriah to the place where he knew the rebellion meant, and then the men of the city came out, and they fought with Joab, and some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also. You know, in a sense, he was delivering this message from David to Joab. It was his own death warrant, and yet he was doing this with honor.

After Uriah's death, David takes Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, as his own, and then he has committed, obviously, several different very serious and grievous sins.

But for some reason, brethren, he didn't realize it. He didn't see himself.

He didn't see what was going on. You know, we may imagine, how could David have done all this and not realize how sinful and how wickedly that he was behaving? How could that happen?

How could a man commit a sin of lust and then of adultery and then of murder and then of covenants and all of these things? And he was supposed to be a godly maintenance.

Why couldn't he see his own sins, which were so obvious? Why was he finding it difficult to understand? Well, brethren, part of the reason is because sin is deceitful.

It's deceitful. We cannot often see it in ourselves. It's a lot easier to see it in somebody else, but we can't see it in ourselves. But that's what has to go for each of us individually.

We have to see it in ourselves. He couldn't see it.

Because of the process of sin and where it leads, God doesn't want us to go there. So he sends a prophet to David. You may remember the story. Let's go over to 2 Samuel 12.

He confronted David. He probably didn't like what he was seeing in David. He didn't like to see the character change that was going on in David. Let's go over to 2 Samuel 12. So God sends a prophet, Nathan. Now Nathan presents this in a way, whether it's God-inspired, I'm guessing it was, that he's coming in a sense to the king to get a ruling on a theft that has taken place. He doesn't name names and all of that, but there's an accurate analogy we're going to see here. 2 Samuel 12, verse 1. It says, And the Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him, and he said, There were two men in this city. There was one rich, and there was another that was very poor.

The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. He just didn't have a lot. He didn't have many flocks and herds. He had an exceedingly amount of flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except for one thing. He had this one little eulam, which he had bought and he had nourished. It had grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food. It drank from his own cup. It lay in his lap, his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. You know that sometimes can happen with a pet. They become a part of the family. Verse 4, A traveler came to the rich man, and he refused to take from his own flock to feed his guest. He refused to take of his own flock from the herd to prepare for this wayfaring man who'd come to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and he prepared it. He killed it and prepared it to feed this traveling, wayfaring guest. Well, of course, David was incensed. Verse 5, David's anger was aroused, in fact, greatly aroused against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this thing is going to die or should die.

And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, as if that would make up for it, because he did this thing and because he had no pity. You know, David could see the wickedness in this man, but he couldn't see himself. He couldn't even imagine he was the main character of the story that Nathan was bringing to him. It wasn't until Nathan had to tell him point blank, you are the man. And finally, I think God was beginning to get to David. David began to see himself now for the first time in this whole process here. You can imagine the wheels that were turning in his head when he's beginning to kind of figure this whole thing out, the beginning to understand how serious this is, how far it's gone. And then he's filled, of course, with guilt and anxiety and fear. His sins had found him out. But Nathan wasn't finished. Let's read on verse 7. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house, your master's wives, into your keeping. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have given you much more. Why have you despised my commandment, God says? Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife. You have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me, and you've taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. For you did it secretly, but I'm going to do this thing before all Israel, before the sun. Wow! Where do you go from here? You know, once again, David had a choice. He could have claimed that the sins really weren't his fault, that it was Bathsheba's fault in some way, for tempting him. He could have claimed it was maybe God's fault for not intervening for him, or that God was being too harsh with the punishment. But that's not what happened. David just said in a very simple sentence, he said, I have sinned against the Lord. He realized that he had sinned against God. No excuses, no blaming, no defense, only acknowledging what he had done against God.

Actions he couldn't take back, either. They'd already been done. We can begin to see an example now of a man whose heart had become leavened, where the process of spiritual leaven had gone on for quite a long time. And, of course, you know, what action now goes on from here, because there's another lesson here that we can learn here, that we can learn from an example of a man who was after God's own heart. There's a couple of lessons, brother. One is that no matter how bad or how atrocious that our sins are, God is willing to give us mercy if we repent, if we repent, humbly and honestly repent. Brother, that's important for us to know sometimes, that no matter how atrocious—because there can be some pretty atrocious sins that we do, or that others have done too—no matter how atrocious our sins, God is willing to show us mercy if we are willing to honestly and humbly repent. That word, if, is a big two-letter word.

And we have an example here of someone who did. Where did David go from here?

He said in verse 13, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan then said to David, The Lord has also put away your sin. You shall not die. However, because of this deed, you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, and the child also who is born to you shall surely die.

So God forgave David of all of those sins, those horrible sins. He wouldn't die.

But God's forgiveness didn't necessarily erase all of the temporary consequences. Because David's sin was public, God would enact a public penalty. The child that would be born would die, and everyone would know of David's sins.

In fact, we read of them even today, thousands of years later.

Brethren, you and I have to ask a question. Have we ever done something wrong, but couldn't quite see it? We couldn't quite see it as a sinful action?

Of course we have. We all have. We've all done that.

Seeing our own sin, I think, is one of the most difficult things to do.

Regardless of how obvious it is, is to see it in ourselves. We don't think of ourselves as being wrong, or our actions as being sinful. David's reaction, when God revealed his sin, he fell to his knees in a humble, repentant spirit, and he asked God for forgiveness and mercy.

And so, to be a man after God's own heart, that's an example for you and for me to do the same, once our sin has been revealed to us.

You know, in David's story, we can really find encouragement, no matter how bad or how atrocious those sins are. We honestly repent and take responsibility for those sins and our actions, not blaming others, but committed to turning from that sin that God has revealed to us and humbling ourselves before him.

We can look at our lives, and I've talked to many ministers around the United States.

There are sinful issues that are out there. There are people that drink to access. There are people that aren't faithful to their mates. There are people that are prideful. There are people that are arrogant. But, you know, we all have our own sins. It doesn't matter. We all have our own personal sins, and each and every one of them, no matter what it is, can corrupt us. It doesn't matter. We think they're small, but sins start small, and if it's unrepentant, it goes through the process where it changes us. There isn't any that are righteous, not one. Brethren.

So we all have those things, and sometimes, you know, we may look at David's story here and think, you know, God's going to punish me anyway, so why should I even try? Now, I've got my issues, my problems. But, you know, when you really look at the story, the fact that David would suffer because of the sins isn't the end of the story. David's life also dramatically changed because he faced his sins, and he turned to God. So if you or I are suffering the devastating consequences of sin, our life can also change. It can change in a good and a right and a dramatic way.

God can heal when we open up our hearts to Him with really true open and full repentance. Our life can change in a dramatic way. If we repent real repentance, and repentance is so important, sometimes we don't understand it. That's why God wanted us to repent and be baptized. He's wanted it. That was all part of His plan. That's real repentance, brethren. We can have a new beginning, a new start. In fact, that's part of the process of these holy days in the spring. We examine ourselves to look at our own sins. We take them to God, and we ask for forgiveness. And then we strive with everything that's in us that He's revealed to us that we go and sin no more.

And then He forgives completely. Brethren, as we begin, as we came to pass over and then rehearse the death of Jesus Christ, we follow those instructions of examining ourselves and then asking for forgiveness. God is just to forgive our sins. And we have a fresh start going forward now in the spring. Spring holy days. Let's go over to Psalm chapter 51. Psalm chapter 51, David wrote many of the Psalms, and this is the one that he wrote shortly after Nathan had come to him. In fact, it's a scripture that I often, many of the ministers go over with someone who's thinking about baptism. And of course, repentance is the first step before baptism.

And this is probably one of the most amazing examples of repentance that we can find in the scripture. It's David's repentance here when God revealed the sins to him after his episode with Bathsheba. God tells us the process of sin is important and vital for us to understand because in the way it separates us from our destiny, it separates us from God and the relationship that he would have with us. And you know, once that separation begins, it's only God that can restore us. It's only God that can break that barrier. Our sins separate us from God, and only God can restore that relationship again upon our repentance and his forgiveness.

Let's take a look here. We have an example here of one man's repentance after his heart to become spiritual 11. And I think through his experience we can learn some lessons here. And there's a lot of heartfelt words as he seeks not just relief from the consequences of the sin, and sometimes that's all we want. We just don't like the consequences. We want relief of the consequences, but David goes a lot further here. He wants more than just relief. He wanted a restored relationship. He wanted a right heart and a restored relationship with God. Let's notice what he wrote here. Psalm 51, verse 1, to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into basketball. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For my sin is always before me against you. You only have I sinned, and I have done this evil in your sight, which you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge.

You know, at the heart of what David's repentance is, is he realizes that all sin is against God. When we sin, brethren, we're sinning against God. You know, David understood that God determines what's right or wrong, no matter how secret the sin in that sense, including our own thoughts and our emotions. That sin is going to damage our relationship, and it's going to change our character.

So, David understood God's character of love and mercy, and complete and total forgiveness. He knew that that was God's character. He uses three words in this section to describe his spiritual state.

Let me get some of this information here from Vines Expository. One of the words he uses in this context is transgressions. The Hebrew word he used signifies willful deviation from and rebellion against the path of godly living. Willful deviation from and rebellion against the path of godly living. He uses the word iniquity, which means an offense, whether intentional or non-intentional, against God's law. It's an offense, intentionally or not, against God's law.

And he uses the word that we translate in English, sin. This word here isn't the usual Hebrew word for sin, but it's a word that primarily means missing the mark, missing the road. David didn't give any excuses for why he sinned. He's just simply asked God to wash him, as he says in verse number 2. He doesn't want a superficial sprinkling. He wants his mind and his heart scrub. He asked God to blot out his sins. And you know, the term blot out is powerful in that context because they didn't have the type of paper we have today. The type of paper we have now absorbs more readily back then. It didn't, but you could take certain substances and you could actually blot out a word from that ancient paper. Well, it would be completely gone. It's not covered up by white out or, you know, by that white ribbon that you can put over. It was like it was completely gone. And that's what he's asking God to do for him to blot out completely his sins. Let's continue in verse number 5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. That's where God's trying to take us. And that's what he desires. Truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part, you will make me to know wisdom. Purge me.

Purge me with hyssop, which is a strong, clean agent. Purge me. Clean me up with hyssop and I shall be clean. God, if you wash me, then I'll be whiter than snow. And then make me to hear joy and gladness. See, you know, he probably wasn't hearing the birds singing. With all of the things that were going on in this whole episode, he was not a happy person, not a happy camper.

He said, make me to hear the joy and the gladness again. That the bones that you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blout out all of my iniquities.

Wow, there's a lot here, isn't there? He's really humbly coming before God. He said, God, I don't like who I have become. And I realize that what I have done is terrible.

And I've done it against you. And I see the consequences of my life. You've broken me. I'm not here enjoying gladness. And I want you to really clean me up. And I want you to put truth in my inward parts. It's fascinating here. He's concerned with more than just a few changes in his behavior, isn't he? He's asking for a total makeover, in a sense, an extreme makeover of his heart. Brother, we can have biblical knowledge, you and I. We can practice, in a sense, what we may even outlive and look like on religious life, brother. But you know, if we've got envy in our minds, or we've got pride, or we're self-righteous, and we have anger issues, and we're unwilling to forgive people, those types of things, we can appear on the outside to look good, but God knows our hearts. And that's what he's looking for. We're transparent to him. We're transparent to him.

Now, God really wants us, if we haven't already, brother, he wants us to actually, during these days of un-bread, to open up to him, to open up our minds and our hearts, and then expose any of the corruption that we haven't already. Now, hopefully we did that process, you know, before we came to the Passover. But you know, we can do that process anytime, especially before the Passover. But if we didn't, we can do it now, during these days of un-bread. And this is, you know, as we talk about truth in the inward parts, this isn't something that we can do on our own. It isn't something that only God can heal those damaged hearts and minds, and only he can create in us a clean heart.

Let's go on to verse number 12 now, or verse, let's pick it up in verse 10. Create me a clean heart, O God, and renew my steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

So David's asking God for a clean heart, isn't he? An unleavened one. A heart that refers to the core of who he was. David understood his outward sins were a product of what was going on inside.

And so he's asking for God to create a clean heart. Verse number 12, restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit, and then I'm going to teach transgressions your ways and sinners shall be converted to you. You know, David knew that really only the real peace and joy could be restored by God, in a sense, and there is a relationship with him. He recognized that God's forgiveness was the only way that he was going to be restored, and then to be able to do the work of God, to share the truth of God with others.

You know, here in this psalm, we see some of the most intense and personal expressions of a man who really saw himself, and he knew that he couldn't earn God's forgiveness. He knew he needed God's graciousness in order to be restored.

Let's go to verse number 14 here. It says, deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness, O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall show forth your praise. You don't desire sacrifice, or else I would have given it. You don't delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart.

God says that's a sacrifice that he won't despise.

It's something that he will accept and he will forgive.

I think we know what it means to have a broken heart, a broken spirit, and a contrite heart.

You know, our hearts and our spirits can get damaged by sin.

It's starting to happen to David. These things can happen.

I'm going to turn over to Psalm 26, verse 2, final Scripture here.

Psalm 26, verse 2. Maybe one side point here before I get into that. You know, brethren, I have not gone through this personally, but I've talked to some brethren that have.

And there may be some sitting here, I don't know, who have a broken and a contrite heart, who have repented of their sins, but they just can't forgive themselves.

I don't know if you've ever talked to someone like that.

They've had a pretty rough background. And they said, you know what? I know God can forgive me, but I sometimes have a hard time forgiving myself. And I think that can be a pretty heavy burden to carry.

I've talked to someone actually within the last week that feels that way.

But, brethren, God is big enough, isn't He? He's big enough to forgive anyone upon their heartfelt repentance. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is a big enough sacrifice. It's powerful enough to experience really complete forgiveness. And I think when some people say, God can't forgive myself, you know, they're almost saying that they're bigger than God is.

That the sacrifice wasn't big enough, that God isn't big enough, that somehow they are bigger than God. And maybe that helps them in that way.

Because God is big enough. And He promises. He doesn't lie as we heard in the first message.

And He will forgive. So if there is someone that's been struggling with those types of things, brethren, we've got David's example in Psalm 51. And if we do that, God will forgive.

And you will be completely clean, no matter how atrocious the sin is.

Let's conclude here with the final scripture, Psalm chapter 26 and verse 2. We've been in Psalm 51. Let's go to Psalm 26.

We'll take a look here. We'll notice one final example from a man after God's own heart, David, and his approach to examining his heart and his mind.

And we'll see here that in examining himself, he goes a lot further, maybe, than anyone had gone before. Let's notice verse 2, Psalm 26. It says, Examine me, O Lord. Improve me. Try my mind and my heart.

Now, on the surface, this is a short and a simple verse, but David does something actually very profound here. David goes beyond examining himself. You notice that? David goes beyond examining himself. David now asks God to examine him.

That's a lot different, isn't it? That's a big difference. From examining ourselves to say, God, now I want you to examine me. We don't want to examine you. You look closely at something. You know an examination. A doctor examines us. He's trying to find things, maybe, that are causing an illness. And so, David asks God to examine not only him, but his heart and his mind. Now, this is a major shift that David asks here. He says, Examine me, O Lord. And then, he expresses this. He uses three words. Examine, prove, and try. And the way he uses this and the way he uses these words is designed to include almost every possible way that could be discovered so that God could look at him, the depths of who he was, the inner person, the reality of his heart and his character, any way that it could be known or tested. He wanted to know. Wow! That's pretty big stuff. You know, the New Living Translation puts Psalm 26, verse 2, this way, Put me on trial and cross-examine me. Can you imagine asking God to put you on trial and cross-examine you?

It basically states his wish, his really sincere desire, that he wanted the most thorough investigation possible by his Creator. David wasn't going to shrink back from any test.

Why would David do this? Because he wanted to know. He wanted to know the condition of his heart.

He wanted to know, he must have felt it was essential, to his spiritual growth, to his character, to his welfare, that the most rigid examination possible to know the exact truth of the spiritual condition of his heart. He wanted to have an unleavened heart.

Why? He wanted to know. He wanted to have one. He wanted to see himself as God saw him. He wanted to see his real character. He wanted to know what the truth of the matter was. And if he was deceived, or if he was in error, he wanted to take steps to correct it. He wanted to unleaven who he was.

Examine me. Try me. Prove me. Suggest the most complete examination possible.

Rather, this is one of the most profound requests, I think, that I haven't seen in the Scripture in a long time. You know, there's a lot to learn from the Scripture in David's example. Isn't there a man after God's own heart regarding having an unleavened heart? Brother, God reveals that this new heart is something that he gave us at baptism.

It's something that we didn't have before. God's the giver of every good and perfect gift, and he gave us a new heart at baptism. And then he tells us in the Scriptures here that we are to guard it and that we are to protect it because it is the most precious and valuable and vital thing that we have. Spiritual heaven can still corrupt it. It happened to David. It happened to you and me. This heart is the core of who we are. It's the core of who we are becoming, and out of it comes the issues of life. Abundant life, eternal life, God life. So, brethren, above everything else, let's guard our hearts and let's follow the lessons of the days of the leavened bread that we may have an unleavened heart.