The Two Ways of Unleavened Bread and of Leavened Bread

So here we are on the seventh day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. They've gone by pretty fast. We've been able to avoid leavened products during seven days, but of course this isn't a lesson that lasts a whole year. It's just temporary, but it has to do with this particular feast. And it is not something that God did capriciously.

He did it very well planned that this second feast of the year, God wants us to remember that after the Passover, it's not a matter of Christ's sacrifice, just covering our sins and us continuing in the same lifestyle and just allowing some sin to get into our system and just go with the flow of society. Now after the Passover, which is God's grace that He has given us through His Son Jesus Christ and forgiveness, it means we have to be removing leavening from our life. We cannot let that triumph over us or we will be disqualified.

We can let sin destroy us. So this idea that no, it doesn't matter. You're saved once and always saved. That is not a biblical teaching. And I can go through all the scriptures that show that the Apostle Paul is talking about Him. If He didn't do His effort and if He didn't fight the good fight, that He could be disqualified.

And it talks about people that fall away, fall back, that it's impossible to redeem somebody if they have just gone the way of the world and they don't want to return. So there are many things about this second feast that we need to remember. And so the purpose of this message is to explain even further than on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the two paths of life that we have. The path of Unleavened Bread and then we have the path of Unleavened Bread.

Which do we choose? Because in this second feast, it should be a lesson that should last throughout the year. And we have to be pushing that leavening of ourselves, that spiritual leavened out of our lives. And it's a constant struggle. It's never going to end until we get resurrected and that human nature is removed from us so that we will never have to struggle against sin. But while we're human beings, even if we have God's Spirit, and as it will be shown to you, what is the origin of sin? How did it come about? Why did God permit sin in this plan of salvation? And also, what is God's law in relation to sin?

What is that relationship? What is the purpose of God's law toward sin? Why was it given to us? And how far can it cover and solve sin? So all of these things is a purpose that we're going to go through. And let's go to 1st Corinthians 5 and verse 6 through 8. Again, I hope this is one thing that you can jot down as a new learning point.

1st Corinthians 5 and verse 6. I want to focus on this, where Paul talks about leavening. And this is before they were going to take Passover and cover the days of unleavened bread. And he says, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

So he's saying that your attitude is one that is leavening you. It is causing you to sin. And that's why he's saying that this glorying is not good. And he says, if you let that type of attitude to prevail, it will spread. It will grow. It will cause more damage. Sometimes it's good to look at another translation just to see if it can clarify the point. And in the Passion Translation, it says here, boasting over your tolerance of sin is inappropriate.

Don't you understand that even a small compromise with sin permeates the entire fellowship, just as a little leaven permeates a batch of dough. What was he talking about? In 1 Corinthians 5 verses 1 and 2, it talks about this threat of an attitude of passivity, of not doing anything while there was public sin in the congregation.

People knew and they were tolerating it. Nobody was denouncing it. They were sort of saying, well, that's their problem and the grace of God will cover over the sins. And Paul is saying, no, you're not applying that properly. He says in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. And such sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife.

So here, apparently, the father had remarried and so this turned out to be demands. Actually, the foster mother, it wasn't his actual mother, but there was incest. There was this sexual relationship between this young man and the second wife of the father. And he says, verse 2, and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. And so people should have said, look, while this is going on, that person cannot attend services.

They need to be suspended. They need to be removed. Because if not, others are going to say, well, he's doing it. Why can't I do it? And pretty soon, it turns into license to sin. And so in this context, Paul brings out the lessons of the Passover and of the days of unleavened bread. Aren't you supposed to be preparing and removing the leaven? So you should, in the congregation, it should be something that should be dealt with. And so we see here sin in the congregation.

It needed to be dealt with properly. And so we have this battle in our hearts and minds. The way of righteousness and the way of sin. Now, it is about the unleavened way and the leavened way. So you're remembering the matzos that we're probably going to quit eating here at sunset. But there's a lesson here about this humble piece of bread. It's not supposed to be so delicious and everything else. It should be what the Bible talked in the Old Testament as the bread of affliction.

It was something that the Israelites left. They weren't able to leaven the bread and so they had to eat unleavened bread for a number of days. And God said, this is something that you're going to repeat throughout your time. To remember that, because there's a spiritual lesson, I'm going to bring about in the future.

And certainly in the New Testament, He brings it out very clearly as we see continuing on in verse 7. It says, therefore purge out the old leaven, which has to do with that evil carnal nature. That you may be a new lump that isn't using that type of evil nature.

Since you truly are unleavened. Aren't you supposed to have been baptized and receive God's Spirit and that unleavened process? Didn't you choose the way of unleavened bread instead of leavened bread? I remember and I think everybody here who's been baptized and with the laying on of hands. I'll just bring up my example, not because I'm anything special, but because I know my my example better having lived it.

But I was just a young man. I was 18 years old and at that time I was in high school. Guys were dating. I started dating and starting to just go with the flow as it was. And then I came across a church and and then I was baptized when I was 18. And I remember, boy, my life changed. It wasn't anymore girlfriends that you'd go dating out and kiss or whatever.

I quit. I didn't even go very far. I was just starting to date. And I said, no, this is not right. And I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna do it God's way. And I know these girls are carnal or unconverted. And I cannot be participating in the same way as the world with this. I remember the scripture in Philippians chapter 2. I bring it to mind time and time again. Philippians chapter 2. It was kind of my guiding light. It says here in verse 14, it said, Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast the word of life talking about God's Word so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Paul was saying I hope you make it and that I have not been labored in vain with that baptism with that laying on of hands. And so pretty soon I had my family against me, I had my school against me, and they think what happened to this guy? He's no longer running like he was before. And now he's talking about following a way of life here that's very different. And so we're not playing church here, we're not playing around.

And so we take sin seriously and the damage it can do to us if he let it control us and master us. Now Paul had warned the Corinthian brethren and also the Roman brethren of being careful with that mentality that well, yes, we've been saved by Christ's life and through his sacrifice and whatever happens, well God will understand and he'll forgive us and we don't really have to struggle very much and we don't have to fight sin very much. And so Paul was very concerned about that. He mentioned in Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6 and verse 1, he says, talking here about the grace of God and everything in the previous chapter, so he says in verse 1, what shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not, he answers. That is a wrong framework. Yes, Christ died for us. To pass over is the Lamb of God gave himself first. But after that comes the days of unleavened bread, which symbolize avoiding sin and eating unleavened bread, which is God's way of life again, that we have to adopt it and continue with it through thick or thin. He goes on to say, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, that we were forgiven through his death, therefore we were buried with him.

Notice, buried doesn't mean sprinkling with water. No, it's a burial. You are immersed in water. It's like a watery tomb, and so when you come out, all your sins are forgiven. That's why if a person is baptized and a finger comes out of the water, we have to rebaptize them because it symbolizes, oh, some sin has not been covered over.

No, it has to be completely covered over. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in the newness of life, the path of unleavened bread. Paul goes on to develop even further in verse 12. He says of this chapter 6, he says, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. So he says you're not going to follow those lusts.

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, a new life, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. So as long as we continue with this way of life, yes, we're not under the condemnation of the law.

Now if we fall away, if we quit obeying God and His commandments, then the condemnation comes back. But as long as we are faithful, we are not under the condemnation of the law. The law still is there, but that second death that we deserve, it's not there.

We're still under the mercy and love of God as long as we follow Him. Notice some who did end up in the Bible turning that grace of God into license to sin. Notice in Jude chapter 3, Jude, did I say chapter? It's actually verse 3. Jude only has one chapter. Jude verse 3. This is toward the end of that New Testament period, and they were already having people that were turning the grace of God into license.

Notice it says verse 3, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Christ delivered those truths, and we are to preserve those truths, and also the Apostles which were given those additional truths. Verse 4, For certain men have crept in unnoticed. Here's people in the church, probably very talented men, very impressive men, maybe charismatic, whoever they are, but they ascended into positions of authority, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. God said that there would be the wheat and the tares and the very church.

Ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And they're doing it through their own works. The sacrifice of Christ is not being applied properly. They're denying the purpose for all of this. They might still use the name God in Christ, but they're denying the real purpose that Christ and God the Father brought that forgiveness to us. In the easy reading version, it says they have used the grace of our God in the wrong way to do sinful things.

So you're always going to have a group that's going to excuse away sin. And you can find that in so many places. We've had famous people, preachers, even here in Orange County, and just say, we're not going to talk about sin because that's depressive. We just want to talk about Christ and His grace and, well, this is it. Welcome to Jude 3 and 4. You just described yourself. That's not the right gospel. That's the wrong gospel. And there are plenty of people like that because it isn't popular, is it, to say the truth about our human nature.

So the reason for all of these problems and this confusion among Christianity is because most people don't know the importance of God's law and the purpose of sin. But it's right there in the Bible. So let's start in the Bible with the beginning of sin. Where did it start? By whom and why? We have it right in the Bible. Let's go to Revelation chapter 12.

Revelation chapter 12 and verse 3. It describes the being that started the way of sin, the way of leavened bread. Revelation 12 verse 3 and 4. It says, and another sign appeared in heaven, behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven didems on his heads.

His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, talking about angels, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Then it describes who this being is in verse 9. It says, so the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan.

So this is a powerful angelic being. He was the first one that chose the path of sin. It says, who deceives the whole world. Very clever. Always hiding what sin is, making it look pleasurable and that it's all gonna be beneficial when it isn't.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. A third, he managed to corrupt a third of the angels. Now, in the Old Testament, when God was prophesying about two vain and corrupt kings, as he was going, and this is called a taunt, he was taunting these powerful, how they were going to be destroyed because of all the evil and wickedness.

And as God was describing it, it reminded him of the same attitude that Satan the devil had. And so, as he's talking about, the first one is a king of Babylon. And then he goes back to, this is the same attitude that initially started with Satan. And this is what human beings have been doing ever since, especially kings and those that have great power.

The second one is the king of Tyre. And so let's go to the first one, which is found in Isaiah chapter 14 in verse 11. Isaiah 14 in verse 11, where it describes this punishment that God would give this king of Babylon. In verse 11, it says, Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, which is talking about the grave, and the sound of your string instruments, the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you. So this great king of Babylon would eventually be destroyed. And then he goes into this angelic being, who was similarly corrupt and also corrupted others.

He says, How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, against stars as symbolic of angels in many parts of Scripture. I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation, on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high. So here's this angelic being that tried to take over God's kingdom and put himself above everyone else.

Verse 15, it says, Yet you shall be brought down to shew, to the lowest depths of the pit. A Believer's Bible commentary mentions about this section. It says, As the taunt song continues, the theme seems to expand from the fall of the king of Babylon to the fall of the one who energizes him, Satan or Lucifer himself.

The commentator Ryrie writes that this is, quote, evidently a reference to Satan because of Christ's similar description, Luke 10 18, about seeing Satan fall from heaven and because of the inappropriateness of the expression in Isaiah 14, 13 through 14, on the lips of any but Satan. No king of Babylon was going to send up into the heavens. No one was going to be able to take over all of this and be there among the stars of God. So again, it's an attitude that reminded God of what Satan initially had done. Now, the Bible has a second reference just to make sure that we get it right. It's almost like what happened with Gideon.

People might say, well, we don't know if this is true or not about Lucifer and we might have some doubts about what it's talking about. So then God put it in the second great prophet, Isaiah, and then we also have Jeremiah and we have Ezekiel, the three major prophets in the Old Testament.

Daniel, of course, is another one there that we can add, but these are the three of the largest sections of Scripture. So let's go to Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28, verse 11. This adds to what we know about Satan's fall, starting in verse 11. It says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God.

Here again, it reminded God this vanity and boisterous king what Satan had done. He said, You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. No human being can fit that description. You were in Eden. Any of the kings been in Eden? Of course not. The Garden of God. So it defines it very clearly. Every precious stone was your covering. And then it mentions all of these beautiful jewels, sardines, topaz, diamond, barrel onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.

The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. It's going to be a great musician, too. Notice he was created, so he's not a immortal being. He did have initial creation, although afterwards he was given immortality as an angel. Verse 14, You were the anointed carob who covers... Apparently he was one of the three that covered the throne of God, along with Gabriel and Michael. That's something that is alluded to Scripture, although we cannot be dogmatic about it, but here's one that covers. It's interesting that there were two carobs when they built the tabernacle.

It appears that those are the other two that do. They remain righteous, but there's one that was missing, and he took a third of the angels. So you would have two-thirds of the angels under these other two. Again, that's the best we understand it.

And then it goes on to say, I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God, talking about where God's throne is. You walk back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You had a full authority and leeway to go back and forth there. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.

By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you out as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, talking about heaven. And I destroyed you, all covering carob. Destroyed here just means removal of his place there from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. So it talks about pride, it talks about beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground.

I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. And then it goes into now the fate of the king of Tyre. The Believer's Bible commentary has a good comment on this. I'm sorry, the Bible knowledge commentary. The Bible knowledge commentary. It says, in Ezekiel 28, 1 through 10, Ezekiel rebuked the ruler for claiming to be a god, though he was just a man. But Ezekiel 28, 11 through 19, Ezekiel described the king in terms that could only apply or that could not apply to a mere man. The, quote, king had appeared in the Garden of Eden, had been a guardian carob, had possessed free access to God's holy mountain, and had been sinless from the time he was created.

And so these are the two accounts that talk about Satan's fall. This is the beginning of sin. Started with this carob, and of course he corrupted a third of the angels, and so he's here on earth, and he and his angels are corrupting mankind. They're influencing mankind to sin more and more. So, although by creating free will in the angels and humans, God was permitting the possibility of sin to exist.

But it didn't happen until Satan chose it as a way of life. The way of leaven, the way of leaven bread. In order for human beings to develop spiritual character, they would have to resist the temptation to sin. God saw it as something necessary for human beings.

There are different reasons for this, but one has to do that God fine-tuned the whole scenario, the whole operation that human beings are involved in, and the idea was for people to see the terribleness of sin and never want to follow again that way of life. I remember this has been talked about like one of the therapies against alcoholism. It talks about giving the person so much alcohol that eventually he will just get so sick of it that he'll never want to drink again. I don't know how applicable that is, but it is one of the therapies that a person has to see how low, how terrible it can be to where it's called privation therapy, where you just have that so that the person will never want to be in that condition again.

Now, to see the terribleness of sin and never want to follow again that way of life, that is where God's law fits. It reveals what sin is, how bad it is, and the contrast between sin and righteousness.

Remember, righteousness means right-way-ness. It's the right way of living. Righteousness means right-way-ness. It just was combined to righteousness. Paul has a whole section on it, and on this last day it's important to learn that vital lesson about character building, building spiritual character. That's the main purpose God created mankind on earth, to build this spiritual character through the struggle with sin, overcoming sin, being forgiven of sin, starting a life of unleavened bread, of keeping away from the sins of society, keeping at bay our own human nature, and keeping Satan at a distance as well.

Notice in Romans chapter 5, and this is a new section to go into deeper, Romans chapter 5. I've never really discussed this in all the time that I've been here.

20 years worth. Romans chapter 5, 19. Paul says, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So it says, one of the purposes of the law is to show how damaging, how terrible sin is. Most people, they live their lives out. They say, oh, I'm miserable. I've gone through all this. They've never been able to identify exactly what they did that caused so much damage. Well, we have God's law that explains to us where we went off the deep end. What happened? It goes on to say, verse 21, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It goes on to say, in chapter 7, he takes up this about the law making sin so much more visible.

It shows the terribleness of it. In Romans chapter 7 verses 7 and 8, Paul says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Is there something damaging? The churches are basically saying, oh, the horribleness of God's law. It's been done away. It's terrible.

Well, no, that's not according to Paul because he says, certainly not. Don't ever equate the law with something wrong. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet.

So it's like a person that you basically teach them how to drive, but you never tell them anything about what the traffic signals mean. You never tell them what a red light is, what a yellow light is, what a green light is. And so he says, okay, you know how to drive. Good luck! A person drives up, looks at these colors. What should I do? I don't know which one makes me stop. Go. Be cautious.

And then, okay, now you know. Maybe you get into a crash. Police says, what happened? Oh, I didn't know what the colors meant. Well, sir, you're going to have a long time. You have to be educated. So you learn what those different traffic signals mean. And God's law defines what sin is.

Where we're supposed to be, yellow light, and we're getting close to sin, and then the red light, right? You have to stop. You are not going to go past.

And so it mentions here in Romans 7 verse 8 about covetousness. People in the world, they lost.

They say, big deal. I do a whole bunch of stuff. But they're not conscious that, hey, there's a commandment. There's a red light here. You're not to do it. There are some old songs which talk about, well, just sitting on a block, watching the women, and just kind of lusting after them. Like it was just a game. See, they never come across what God's law says. There's a red light there. You don't do that. Goes on to say, but sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. So once you know you're not supposed to run a red light, sometimes you're tempted to run a red light. And all of a sudden you find, boy, this is serious. I've got to really take this to heart. He says, for apart from the law, sin was dead.

When you don't have any instructions what sin is, you don't worry about it. He says, I was alive once without the law. Of course, as a child and then growing up, children are pretty innocent. They're not over there, you know, lusting after each other. They don't have those type of thoughts. But there comes a time, adolescence, when you begin what is lust. And then the commandment says, no, that's not the right way. And you're not to do so. And what happened? He says, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. I fell. I sinned.

I broke the law. And the commandment, which was to bring life, to show me the way of righteousness, I found to bring death. It brought unrighteousness. It brought all kinds of different sins.

For sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. So the death sentence, as it mentioned here in Romans 6 and verse 23, for the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so he felt condemned.

He was guilty. And then he says, verse 12, therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. It's not the fault of the law. Just like a traffic law, you're going to say, well, I didn't like the red light, so I just ran through it. Yeah, it's the red light, the one that has the blame. No, it isn't. That's trying to keep traffic from having accidents. It is a blessing to have traffic lights. It brings order. It brings protection to everybody. Same way with God's law.

Don't ever accuse God's law of harm or being bad at all. It's to give us order and show us the path that we should go. Then in, he goes on to say, verse 13, has then what is good become death to me?

I mean, was that the purpose of the law? To bring all this condemnation upon me? He says, certainly not. That wasn't the purpose, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. And you can almost put that as one of the key terms in this sermon, that sin might become exceedingly sinful. There's another translation in the contemporary English version for verse 13. It says, now we can see how terrible and evil sin really is. So the more you understand God's law, the more you understand how easy it is to sin and how our minds can be invaded and how we have to keep a distance and not get too close to it.

Verse 14, but we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Don't ever blame God's law. It comes from him. It's good for us, but we just don't obey it like we should.

We still got this carnal nature that still lusts and has all kinds of issues and causes us to break it. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate that I do. So Paul was having problems, especially with lusts. That was a pretty liberal society they lived in in Rome. That's why they called it Babylon, Roman Babylon and Corinthians, where he was at. And so he thought, well, I can just walk through all these areas and never have a wrong thought in my mind. And he said, well, I got slain again. And so he was struggling with this. He says, if then I do what I will not do, I agree with the law that it is good. It's not the fault of the law. But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I realize it's not that I just want to go this way, but there's this pull that's very strong. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me. I want to do what's right, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will do, I do not do, but the evil I will not do, that I practice. And so this is not going to end until God takes that human nature out of our system. And the thing is, we have to make progress. We have to be overcoming. Hopefully next year will be stronger.

And last year, and compared to this year, we would have progressed more. And just continue working at it and overcoming. So he says, verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And then he answers, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God. The intentions are there, but with the flesh, the lost sin. So we can never drop our guards, never think it's over, and we've overcome. No, because it can come back. And so we just always have to be on our guard. Now, the best way, of course, is to be following God's way of life and be applying it properly, thinking the right ways, not letting the wrong thoughts overpower us. Notice what it says in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians chapter 4 verse 8.

If it was so easy, how in the world are we going to think that that reward was just granted to us? No, it's going to be a fight. A fight through the end.

Philippians 4 verse 8, it says, finally brethren, whatever things are true.

By the way, that symbolizes again this unleavened bread. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. So again, what's the best way to remove air from a glass container? Well, it's pouring water in.

Pour something good. Are you going to remove what is wrong and evil out of it?

So this was the only way to go forward about Christ having to die for us. There's no way that we could overcome all sin without that sacrifice of Christ. Christ pleaded with God the Father three times that if it were possible that he wouldn't have to die and go through that excruciating pain.

But God answered and said, son, there is no other way. Notice in Matthew 6 verse 36.

Matthew 6 verse 26. I mean chapter 26 verse 36.

Did I get it right? Sorry. Matthew 26 verse 36. I got tongue tied. That's okay. Makes me more humble. Matthew 26 verse 36.

It says, then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh, my father, if it is possible, let this cup, the cup of suffering, pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying, oh, my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. Seems like some people's eyes are sometimes heavy at this time. Says, so he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words, asking if there was any way to get this plan of salvation done without that terrible sacrifice. And then he came to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. So he knew what he was going to have to pay for our sins and we can never appreciate that enough and we can never understand how he did it for each one of us. In Ephesians chapter 3, this is something new that we can learn. Ephesians chapter 3 verses 8 through 19 and we're going to end with this. Ephesians 3.

Let me get this right. No, sorry, let's start in verse 14. Ephesians 3 verse 14. It says, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. God has a family and he is a family, too, with many, many children in the future, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, that Jesus may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. It's very interesting that it's talking about a part of our mission, our role in the church, is to meditate on how great that sacrifice is, because it actually covers the three dimensions that this universe is presently made of. We actually live in a four-dimensional universe, but three of those dimensions are mentioned by the Apostle Paul.

Notice it again. He says here, what is the width? So the width is lateral, right and left. The length is the opposite. Now we have all the arrows of north, south, east and west.

So that's the two dimensions that we have, one going this way, the other one going that way. That makes a plane, a two-dimensional plane, but we also have the height and depth, which basically are talking about the breadth, which means up and down, the depth. So it's not just one, the dimension here, it's also the depth, like a cube that you have. In this universe, those are the three dimensions that we live in, and the fourth dimension is time, because we have past, present and future. But to think, this whole universe is based on those three dimensions, and they're mentioned here as the dimensions of the love of Jesus Christ. Notice what it says in the Passion Translation, verse 18, then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences, the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions.

And so, brethren, today we have a lot to think about. We're going to leave this afternoon. We're going to go back to eating leavened bread, but let us never forget that we are here in this church to learn those dimensions, and also to put them into practice more and more in our own lives, to reflect that love, sacrifice, spirit of service that Christ gave to all of us.

So let's remember these vital lessons of the two paths, the path of unleavened bread and the path of leavened bread. And brethren, let's choose the path of unleavened bread for the rest of our lives.