Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth

Boy, congratulations, Brennan! I've never seen some of these things with guitar, did you? I never saw somebody could play the string it up here and play it down here. So it sounded like he was playing guitar and a piano and something else. Way to go! That's a lot of talent there. I hope you continue to perfect it, because at your young age, you're well ahead of most of your peers.

Ready to begin now with the main message.

We are in the midst of the days of Unleavened Bread.

And whether you know it or not, I'll just say as an aside that this is a special Sabbath in the Bible. How many know why it's a special Sabbath? Can I see? Okay, well, maybe half of the congregation.

Do you know what was done especially on this Sabbath day?

I'm going to show you here.

See, that's the wave sheaf that was waved on the Sabbath day during the days of Unleavened Bread. Now, to most people, that doesn't mean much. But as you know, God does not waste space in the Bible. When he says something in the Bible, it's because it's very important. So let's read it. Leviticus 23 verse 9.

Leviticus 23 verse 9. Some of these things in the Bible just blow your mind. How they have been fulfilled in prophecy. You know there had to be a superior mind than just a human being to be able to say these things and then carry them out and show the full meaning. Leviticus 23 verse 9. It explains here about the days of Unleavened Bread, which we are keeping in verse 8. It says, the Sabbath day shall be a holy convocation. The last part of the verse. You shall do no customary work on it. That's this coming Monday.

And then it says in verse 15.

That's where we get the term Pentecost. It means in the Greek, the 50th day. And so here you count 50 days to the day after the 7th Sabbath, when you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. And so this is the day when on the Sabbath day, as it ended, the day after the, in other words, the Sabbath ended. And then the wave sheaf offering was presented by the priest. He would wave it. He would cut the wave sheaf, which is just a handful like this. And he would wave it before God.

Now, are you aware since Jesus Christ died on Wednesday evening, and he was buried, he said he would be three days and three nights in the grave. And then he would be resurrected that as the priests in the temple were waving, that wave sheaf before God, Jesus Christ, was being resurrected from the dead. Notice in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20 how the New Testament church understood this and called Jesus Christ the firstfruits. And it is a wave sheaf offering in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20.

He says, but now Christ is risen from the dead. He has resurrected and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. So he is the first one resurrected from the dead, talking, of course, of receiving eternal life, spiritual body. It's not talking about just physically being resurrected because in the Old Testament and the new some people were brought back, but they died afterwards, eventually. But this is talking about Jesus Christ.

And so he was cut off from life, and he was waved because he had to be accepted by God. Remember how he had to tell Mary not to touch him because he had not yet gone up to the Father. So all of this happened on the first day after the Sabbath, which is the beginning of the count, the 50 days.

So I thought it would be important to mention to you that, of course, Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread include the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And, of course, in the different counterfeit religions we have today, they are keeping a counterfeit system which has to do with Easter and also Good Friday. And a lot of the Easter bunnies and things related there had to do with the spring fertility rites.

And so that was mixed with Christianity, paganism with Christianity. But if we are keeping what the Bible says, the New Testament Passover, the New Testament days of Unleavened Bread, also on this day we remember that in the evening, as the new day begins, was when this waysheath was offered before God. So the Sabbath is very important in the middle of the days of Unleavened Bread. I thought I'd just bring that to mind because we've got to use it as an occasion of teaching. This is a special Sabbath. It signifies Jesus Christ, the first of the first fruits. And of course, we talk about that first harvest that they did, the barley and wheat harvest.

And so they would have 50 days to harvest out of this. And then later on, you would have the final harvest in the fall. And of course, this harvest symbolizes the first resurrection of which Jesus Christ is the wave-sheaf, the first one as part of that first resurrection of those that God is calling now. And then later, he will call others in that great final harvest, the second resurrection, which will take place after the thousand years of Jesus Christ's reign on this earth.

So in these days, I'm always struck by the fact of God using the symbols of leavened and unleavened bread during a week to drive home a spiritual lesson of our need to keep sin out of our lives and righteousness in our lives. Something out and something has to replace it. The Bible calls the feast of unleavened bread as the keeping of the feast in sincerity and truth. What does that mean? Now, why does God describe in the New Testament as the New Testament church observed the feast of unleavened bread according to the New Testament symbols as the feast of sincerity and truth?

Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 7 through 8. I'll go ahead and read it. 1 Corinthians 5, 7 through 8, it says, therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Notice the Apostle Paul saying to the Christian churches, let us keep the feast. He doesn't have Easter, he doesn't have Easter eggs, he doesn't have any different changes in the dates. It just says, let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I hope to make this much clearer today. What it means to keep the feast of unleavened bread with sincerity and truth.

What was going on at the time for the Apostle Paul to make such a statement?

As you well know, the Church of Corinth was going through a lot of difficulties when the Apostle Paul sent this first epistle to them. There were divisions among them, there was fornication, there were lawsuits between members, there were doctrinal problems, there was improper decorum, and the congregation's general acceptance of these things. They just said, well, we just have to sort of tolerate it. This too will pass. And the Apostle Paul was upset. He was a pastor, but of course he was traveling. He couldn't be there every Sabbath, so you would have to send letters to them. And God preserved this letter for us today. Paul uses the occasion, because the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread were coming up, to be able to address their problems and to do something about them.

He writes that they should examine their attitudes and put these sins out of their lives and out of the congregation. He reminded them that the Passover is a memorial of the death of Jesus Christ, who died for us, that we may receive forgiveness of sins. So he first focuses on this is what it's all about. We can't go back to our formal way of life and our former type of attitudes. He does say to them that they are truly unleavened, because Jesus Christ had already justified them through their faith in His sacrifice. Yes, they had been justified, which means forgiven, a difference of status before God. Before your sins incriminated you. You were guilty before God. After accepting Jesus Christ's sacrifice, you are forgiven and you are justified. The term is an illegal term that was used in those days of somebody acquitted of wrongdoing. So you have been acquitted, you have been declared forgiven, and now you are innocent before God. However, since they had allowed leaven to return into their lives, they needed to get rid of it. Just because you're justified, just because you've been acquitted, doesn't mean you can just flaunt that forgiveness and you can continue on with the previous lifestyle.

This is at the heart of why we are still required to put leaven out of our homes. He who has no sin does not need to learn this lesson. He who sins still needs to remember each year that we cannot tolerate, we cannot become negligent, we cannot become complacent with the sins in our lives. And we all have weaknesses and faults. We have the sin that so easily ensnares us that we have to be fighting and eliminating from our lives. When we deleavened our homes last week, we find that no matter how hard we try, we cannot find every tiny crumb that may be embedded in the carpet or hidden behind an appliance or in a car. Under the car seats is the worst, isn't it? You just try to get that hose in there, but you can't disassemble the whole car seat. But I know there's stuff there that I couldn't get out. This illustrates how deceitful sin is and teaches us to constantly examine ourselves to purge sin out of our lives. Removing sin is hard work. Jesus Christ said that he actually resisting sin was in such intensity that instead of sweat, blood started coming out of his face, out of his forehead. And you can, you can actually be so intense that the capillaries in your face break and some blood comes out. Now, has anybody resisted sin to that point? I think not, but he did.

The days of Unleavened Bread remind us annually of this constant warfare that all Christians must wage throughout their lives. This is going to continue until we are resurrected and transformed into spirit. But until then, we will always have this struggle. As long as we're still flesh and blood, we will never absolutely conquer sin. We will never completely free ourselves from sin.

This constant struggle to overcome human nature and put on God's nature is called in the Bible sanctification. Let's look at that word because people confuse justification with sanctification and those are two different concepts. Let's go to Romans chapter 5.

This is something the Protestant world has a horrible time with because they feel once justified, once saved, always saved. So the process of sanctification for them is something Christ does. I remember one statement about Martin Luther. He said that I can sin 100 times. I don't have to worry because Christ has paid for all my sins. Sort of like a blank check that I have. And if I try to overcome it, well that's not good because that means that you're actually defeating Christ's sacrifice. So in this whole system of Lutheranism and much of Protestantism, there's this idea that somehow if you struggle and overcome and do good works, well somehow that annals Christ's sacrifice. That you just have to give yourself in and it's all kind of a mystical experience. Well that's not what the Bible says at all. Let's look in Romans chapter 5 verse 1.

It says, therefore having been justified by faith, so you do need something to be justified. Faith. But faith is the walk. It is not just saying, I believe in God or I believe in Christ. It is also a commitment. Faith is a commitment. When somebody says, have faith in me, I will do it. It doesn't mean, well, I believe in you, but if you don't carry it out, I still believe in you. No, having faith means that that person is going to be faithful. And so it is a belief in what God is, what he has done, and what he requires of us. It's a walk, a daily walk. How many times have I repeated this? The three points that the apostle Paul said were so important.

Hope, love, and faith. And they are the three ways of walking, of going toward God's kingdom. Now, hope is the destiny. Love is the attitude, and faith is the walk. You need all three. You need the vision. You also need the motivation. And you need the way to go forward, the walking in it as well. Continuing on, it says, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So through his sacrifice, we have peace. It's not something we earned.

We don't come up to God and say, well, look at all I've done, so now you have to forgive me. That's ridiculous. Justification is by faith not in our works, but in what Jesus Christ has done. But that doesn't end the process. It begins the process. Justification happens at baptism, but that does not end it. Because notice, as it says here, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character hope. So here we see that we are going to go through persecutions. We are going to go through trials. We're going to go through difficulties, and those are going to produce spiritual fruit because we are walking. It's not just an intellectual ascent or acceptance of something. It's a commitment to carry it out despite the difficulties. Now, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. It should be here, which, again, it's never mentioned as a person, but as a power. And that love of God is the motivation He gives us to carry out His will. It's not one of burden. It's not something that you feel reluctant to do. Well, I've got to follow this way of life. But, boy, if I could, I'd just liberate myself. I'd just free myself, but I'm stuck in it. That's not the love of God. The love of God is, thank you for having done something with my life that I would have made a mess of on my own. And I recognize it. And this is the best of lives because it not only has promise in this life, but in the future life as well. Continuing on, it says, for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, we were adversaries, we were not following His way, Christ died for us, despite our rebellion. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, this is where baptism is when you symbolically are dipped in that water, and it's like Jesus Christ's blood covering all your sins.

Been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. We're not going to have the wrath of God on us. Our sins have been forgiven. We have been justified. We have been acquitted. Undeservedly so. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by what? By His life. So this is a beautiful illustration of what we're going through during the Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread, and this special Sabbath. Because, you see, Passover also symbolizes the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we have accepted once baptized, once we've had His sacrifice applied in our lives. Okay, we are justified. But then, during the days of Unleavened Bread, comes the resurrection. And we are to keep eating unleavened bread. We're supposed to be staying away from leavened bread, which pictures the Christian life after justification, which is called sanctification. The process of spiritually becoming more and more spiritually mature, a way of being perfectable before God. And so it is through Christ's life, through His resurrection, that we can walk this walk of life. But we have a part to do. Sanctification is not something God does for all of us, without us having a part. We have to avoid leaven. We have to be putting unleavened in our lives, the right things. So we see that perfect comparison here. Continuing on, in 1 Corinthians 6, we'll see a couple of scriptures that highlight this point. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Again, after the Apostle Paul had talked to the Corinthian church about the Passover and keeping the feast of unleavened bread in the proper way, he goes back and talks about justification and sanctification. Notice in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9, it says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. If that's what a person becomes, he becomes a habitual person with these characteristics. This is what you do. This is the way you practice your life. Erwin's not going to make it into the kingdom of God. Now, I talk about habitual because, of course, a person can repent as the Apostle Paul talks about. Turn around his life, change the direction, and then he will be forgiven, and he will be justified. But it is conditional on what the person does. Notice verse 11. He says, And such were some of you. So this is the group of people that God called.

And such were some of you, but you were washed in baptism. But you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God. So it's a process. Yes, it includes the washing. It includes the justification and sanctification. Which are the two ways that God does bring a person to his kingdom. Notice in 2 Timothy chapter 2.

Most people like to hear a lot about justification, you know, being acquitted. Very few people like to be talked about. Sanctification. Because that's work. That's effort. That's hard. We like to just be acquitted. Oh, yes, accept Jesus Christ and really just the way I am. That's the way I am. So there's not that effort to truly overcome. Although I must say that most people that do turn to God do change their lives, but they don't fully change. They don't make the total commitment that is needed. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 19, it says, Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands having the seal. The Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. So again, that's something a person has to determine. Now, what kind of instrument does he become in God's hands? Is it something that is polluted that God can't use, or that the person, as it says here, is prepared for every good work? So there is a responsibility for all of us. God wants us to observe these days of unleavened bread from year to year to remind us that we are not perfect and that our lives are in a constant struggle against sin. Yes, for seven days, the number that God often uses to represent completeness. When you see the number seven in the Bible, it represents normally completeness, the seven days of the original week. We have the seven angels in Revelation. We have constantly even the seven last plagues and many things like this which mean a completed work. And so it is for the seven days of unleavened bread. God doesn't tell us to have eight days, or 10 days, or 20 days of unleavened bread every year. No, just seven. I see mentions here. I hadn't seen them before. That's great to see him already feeling much better.

And we are to focus on completely getting rid of sin. We have a continuing responsibility before God to overcome the temptations of Satan, the temptations in this society, and also of our human nature. Those are the three great adversaries we have. The first one is the one that I'm going to name is the biggest, our human nature. That's about 50% of our problems is our own human nature. Carnal, even with God's Spirit, it is still a mixture there. There's a struggle. The Spirit is struggling against the flesh. Probably about 30% is society. The temptations of society and the people around us. They want us to go the wrong way. And then Satan is the third one, probably 10 to 20%, because he's got bigger fish to fry normally. And he just lets the society and what he's always pumping into our thoughts and minds through society, that's the way he gets at us. Let's look in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2.

God wants us during these days of Unleavened Bread to focus on these subjects. They're not pleasant because we all have a struggle. It's much nicer to talk about Easter bunnies and all of the nice things and Jesus Christ and the Easter parades and things like that. But you see, that's again just talking about sort of justification, not sanctification. Sanctification is where our responsibility is. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, in verse 1, it says, And you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. A person can be walking dead. Oh yes, you've got life, you're still moving, you've still got dreams, and you've got pursuits to do. But before God, you are dead because those sins are between you and God, and you have been declared guilty. You have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and so you are dead before him. He says, because of the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world. So you just followed the current of society. I did. I didn't know any better. I saw everybody going this way, just sort of like floating downstream. Just go with the flow until I realized I was going off a spiritual Niagara Falls. I was going off of cataracts. I didn't want that. So God says, okay, start swimming upstream. You've got to resist society. And so it says here that you are following the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So Satan is the god of this world. He's very subtle. He disguises himself. He loves this liberation movement. Oh, don't talk about guilt. Oh, just everybody do their own thing. As long as you don't harm someone else, that'll be fine. Because Satan knows sin eventually does harm people. Even if it's not directly, it is indirectly. And you see what society has become today. It's becoming worse all the time with all of this access to information and images. What kind of innocence are our little children going to have when they have this world being bombarded maybe at five or six or seven years old through TV or computers or whatever? They'll start seeing things that they shouldn't see. That many of us, we were 18. We'd never seen things like that. We lived a pretty young and innocent life, and we loved sports, and we'd run, and we'd look at girls, and we thought they were so cute, and that's as far as it went. Not today. So sad. Innocence is being lost. And with that, a lot of what God has created, because innocence goes along with sincerity and truth. Continuing on, it says, Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. In other words, transported us from this present evil world, and we are part of God's world. We are with God in spirit. Verse 8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So again, justification is something that God does for us. Sanctification is something that God sanctification is something that we with God do together. And so that's what the world has confused so badly.

As we go into the term sincerity and truth, did you know that that term actually comes from the Old Testament? Let's look in Joshua chapter 24 verse 14. This is where the apostle Paul got the idea, as many of apostle Paul's ideas originate in the Old Testament. Notice what Joshua 24 verse 14 says, It says, Now therefore fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, serve the Lord.

So God is telling here, all of us, through Joshua, that the people should serve him in sincerity and truth. The Hebrew word for sincerity means holy, completely, undefiled, entirely, and integrity. That's what this term sincerity means. It means with a pure heart, sincerely doing it with no ill motives or plans. And the Hebrew word for truth means firmness, continually, faithfully, carrying out things. It implies steadfastness to our service to God.

This means our worship and service to God should be more than just a mere ritual.

Rather, it is a service from the heart and by our own free will. It is based on what we have received from God and his word, and it manifests itself through our obedience to God. In other words, we have been justified. Well, the process of sanctification is going to be seen. The fruits are going to be seen. Notice the contrast between the two phrases that the apostle Paul mentions there in 1 Corinthians 5. There is first the Passover, and then unleavened bread, which we are to keep. And then he mentions old leaven and unleavened bread. He contrasts that. And then he likens old leaven to malice and wickedness, and unleavened bread to sincerity and truth. So what he's doing here, he has three sets of words which describe the old way of doing things and three of the new way. First of all, leavened bread, malice, and wickedness on one side. And then you've got unleavened bread, sincerity, and truth on the other. Malice means ill will toward others, and the desire to harm or injure whether mentally or physically. That's what malice is. It's just bad bad thoughts, evil thoughts.

Whereas wickedness is the action of the malice. So one thing is what you're thinking, what your motives are, and then wickedness is the action that produces this result.

So malice is an evil habit of mind, while wickedness is the action of those thoughts, putting them into practice. Now on the opposite side, sincerity refers to the purity of motives. There is no ill will.

You are doing it for the welfare of others and yourself.

And truth refers to the reality of things and of God's Word. You're doing it according to God's Word and the reality of things. It's important to notice that sincerity is not alone, because you can be very sincere, but you can be sincerely wrong. In World War II, Adolf Hitler could have been very sincere. He wanted to build a master race. He wanted something good for mankind. But the way he carried it out was wrong. And so people can be duped. They can sincerely follow something that is wrong. So just because you are sincere does not mean that you are doing the right thing. That's why sincerity has to be coupled with truth. You have the right motives and you have the right actions. Webster's Dictionary describes sincerity as without deceit, pretense, or hypocrisy. Truthful, straightforward, honest. Without deceit, pretense, or hypocrisy, meaning truthful, straightforward, honest. Truth, which comes from the Greek word aletheia, it means true in the sense of being real, genuine, the reality lying at the basis of something.

In other words, that is the reality of things. Truth is that way. God's Word shows us the reality of how God thinks about things. Now the Bible teaches us a lot of things. It does describe sin. It gives us bad examples as well as good examples. So God is showing us a reality. You want to follow the wrong way? He gives us examples of people that followed the wrong way and the results. Just like He also gives us the results of good people, people that followed His way and the results as well. What does it mean to be sincere? It's very interesting that during the days of the Apostle Paul, one of the most valued things that were sold in the markets was pottery. Pottery was our Tupperware, was our cooking pans. I mean, you did everything with pottery because it was light and yet it was very lasting. You carried water in it. They actually had holes in the walls of many of the homes where you had this jar that was conical with a point. And so you'd bring water and you'd stick it in the hole. And that you use it as a wash basin. And you could use ceramics for eating, for the plates. And so it was a big industry. Archaeology uses pottery as its main way to determine when they were used in different civilizations because they went through different fashions. Women got tired of their pottery, so you'd have to come up with a new one. And the old was never brought back. Nobody's driving now a Model T. Everybody likes the newest models. And that's the way it is. The Coke bottle has changed from its original. But we don't drink it in these big old thick crystal bottles that used to be. And so, just like you could go into this garbage dump, and you could go down and you'd find the old Coke bottles. And you'd know, well, this layer was in the 1920s. And then you'd look at the old, the newer Coke bottles, and until today. And so this is the way they had their pots and pans, the pottery. So, the pottery would be formed and placed in an oven to cure. The well-respected potter would inspect his pottery after firing, after it was all baked. And if any cracks were found, the vessel would be discarded, and he would start over. Because sometimes you would apply too much heat, or some defect in the clay would cause it to crack. And he would begin anew. Naturally, though, this would increase the overall price. Because you had to just have what they call grade A. But just as we know, there's not only grade A, but grade B, grade C. Have you ever bought something kind of grade C and weren't very happy with it? It looked good! I know we did that with some ceramic tile and paid a price. We finally ended up having to discard it, because it just wasn't well done. That was back in our days in Chile. So, less reputable potters would take the cracked vessel and rub wax into the crack.

Perhaps melting it somewhat, and then paint over the imperfection and sell it as if it was perfect. These individuals could sell their pottery a lot cheaper, thus undercutting the sincere pottery makers. This prompted the honorable pottery makers to hang a sign over the entrance to their stores. Sin seras, it would put, meaning this store has pottery without wax. In Spanish, we understand very well, sera means wax. So, we say sin sero y sin sera, which means no wax. That person is just what you expect. He's not faking anything.

So, the word in Latin means pure or clean, without any wax.

Another Greek word we find in the Bible is in Philippians 1.10. Philippians 1.10 uses several words for sincere in the Bible.

Philippians.

1.10 says, starting in verse 9, And I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere, and without offense till the day of Christ. This word, elicrinae, in Greek, means purity, freedom from falsehood, and the term has to do with sunlight, something pure when exposed to light, like a crystal. A crystal, judged by sunlight, or tested as genuine. This is what the Greek dictionary says, by some accounts of the Corinthian potters, a person could check the purity of the vessel by adding hot water. If wax is present, it would melt, or by holding it up to sunlight and observing it with a critical eye. You see, sunlight reveals things, flaws.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 12, again, the word is used here, 2 Corinthians 1 verse 12. It says, for our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you. Simplicity and godly sincerity. And we didn't have any hidden motives for what we have done. They are pure, they are genuine, they are honest.

Notice how sincerity is always linked with truth, or coupled with the word of God. That is because you cannot find the truth unless you are honest, painfully honest, transparent.

Unless you are honest with yourself and with God, you will ultimately settle for something less than the truth. Boy, that hits home. I remember, in my case, I was 17. I was a strict Roman Catholic coming from Cuba, a Spanish tradition. You just, family and church go together. I was an altar boy. You know, I had nothing to complain about, the Catholic Church. It just took me one hour of Sunday every week. So it wasn't a big thing. I kept my mother happy, I kept myself out of hell. And so I was a happy boy. But then I came across a friend in high school who came from this religion that took the Bible very seriously. And I asked him to lend me a Bible, and I started reading. And within two weeks, a whole different world opened up to me. God called me. It wasn't because of my intellect. It wasn't because I was special. In any way, God opened my mind. But then I was in a dilemma. I learned that the Ten Commandments included the Sabbath day. And so my parents weren't happy. I started keeping the Sabbath day. And we'd have to drive an hour and a half from Murphy, North Carolina to Chattanooga, Tennessee. And I remember I'd sneak out the back door because I didn't want to face my parents. And one day they said, if you go to that church one more time, don't come back. And so I said, well, I went and I called the minister. I said, it looks like I'm going to finish high school over in Chattanooga. He was scared. I didn't know what to do. But I wasn't going to quit keeping the Sabbath day. I came back home and I started making my suitcase. And my dad said, well, your mother and I discussed it. You can go to Sabbath or to your services. They never bothered me again. Very thankful because that would have been a real toughie. Just leave on your own. I was 17 at the time, but God worked it out. But you know, when you really believe in something, you should be committed to it. And you should know that's what should be done, whether you like it or not. And I remember one time I started, I quit eating pork and I quit eating unclean foods. And my friends in school found out about it and they cut up a piece of pig from a formaldehyde jar in biology. They took out the sandwich, took out the meat and put that piece of pig. And they saw me trying to bite it. I felt like it was a piece of rubber. And they were all laughing at me. But you know, that just made me more committed because I said, if they were my true friends, they would understand. They wouldn't do these things to me. So they actually closed the door for me to be able to be even stronger in the church. And so you have to hold your convictions. Now you have to do it with wisdom. I overdid it. I drove my family away from me. It took me years to win them back because I was trying to convert them. And that wasn't right. It should have been more prudent in that way. But this term has a lot to do. And of course, I haven't done everything perfectly. I'm just telling you a little bit of my story, just like many here have their own story. Unless you are honest with yourself, like I said, you are not going to be trustworthy. The truth is not something that deals with whether I like it or whether you like it. It's whether it's the truth or not.

If you are sincere, you will honestly study God's Word and will not cherish any selfish interests in believing something simply because it is pleasant or traditional or comfortable with your lifestyle. You're not going to compromise. In Titus chapter 1, Titus chapter 1 verse 15, it says, To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good word. You see, they believe in justification. They don't believe in sanctification.

Some might say, well, I know Protestants and Catholics that are very sincere and actively trying to serve God. Well, that's true, but if they are sincere and are being called by God, they will study their way out of Protestant and Catholic doctrine, because you're going to see the conflict with God's Word. When man comes to God, what justification could possibly give him the right to disregard God's Word and teaching doctrines that cannot be found on the pages of the New Testament scriptures or that contradict them? What justifies that? Because you want to be in a big church, because you want popularity, because it's comfortable. You think those are things that produce sincerity and truth? They don't.

If the heart is pure and honest, it will accept the truth in God's Word.

Like the parable of the sower in Luke chapter 8 verse 15. I'll read it here, Luke 8, 15. It says, in that, in the good ground that was produced are those such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience. They hold it because there's an honest and good heart behind it. I want to share with you just four principles that have helped me in my life, in my ministry, in my family, that have to do with that sincerity and truth. You know, after removing malice and wickedness, here are some principles of sincerity and truth to uphold. These apply in a personal life, family life, work, and church. Number one comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 23 through 24.

It says here in verse 23, Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth, nor that we have dominion over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand. Other translations have it as helpers of your joy. Now, that's one of my main missions in life, to be a helper to people's joy, not to their misery, not to be glum or morose or make the church this terrible experience. I'm here as a helper to your joy. I cannot produce that joy. Only the person can produce it, but I can help it. I can enhance it. And you know what my first principle is about that? The same thing that comes out in the Hippocratic oath. The first thing, do no harm.

In other words, don't make things worse by your presence. Other people can make it worse. Other people can be disobedient. They have issues. Okay, but my role is don't make it worse. I want to make it better. Sometimes I have success. Sometimes I don't. But under no circumstances am I here to make your life worse. It's here to make it better, if I can help it. The second principle in Philippians chapter 2 verse 1 says, Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy. There's that word again. By being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, malice and wickedness is very similar to that. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. So in a nutshell, it means it's not so much about us as it is about the other person, putting the other person first. Sometimes I've had to deal with difficult situations, but my motive was trying to solve the situation, looking at the other person's feelings, emotions, and how to do it in the most diplomatic, gentle, and peaceful way. Sometimes it doesn't work, but that was the intention. It was never to harass or to somehow hurt someone else, because people can get hurt feelings. That happens all the time with children. Parents can be so loving, and yet their child gets up in a huff and takes off, feels their parents that are the worst people in the world for what they did. They didn't want them to cross the street and why they called his attention and didn't give them that freedom to go ahead and get run over by a car. Well, sometimes you have to just bite the bullet and do what's right. The third principle, Matthew 23, verse 23 through 24. We actually got 13 of these, but I'm not going to tell you. I just got four. I just got four. One day I'll cover them. Matthew 23, verse 23. We're coming to an end here.

Matthew 23, 23 and 24. It says, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe, of mint and anise and coming, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. In other words, don't major in minors. Discern what is important from the unimportant. Don't dwell on trivialities, because some people, oh, they're so picky about these little things and everything has to be done just exactly their way. And yet, they can swallow a whole spiritual camel to strain the physical gnat. Well, I'd rather focus on the camel myself and make sure that I'm not swallowing the camel. And sometimes that little gnat, isn't that important? You know what that meant? That they were so scrupulous about not becoming unclean that their wine glass, they had to put a strainer and they would pour it on other ones. So if there was that little gnat, so that they would not become richly impure if they swallowed it. And yet, they crucified Jesus Christ. You know, they couldn't get any of this discernment about what righteousness is all about. Justice, faith, and mercy. And finally, Luke 10, 39, I like this one. This is more a man thing. Now, women have a lot of things here to tell men, but I just happened to focus on this one. Matthew 10, 39. It says here that Mary had a sister named Martha, verse 39, and she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. Yes, get the housework done, get the paperwork done, on time, but put feet people first. In other words, here Christ had come, and you sit at his feet, and you learn. This is not the time to make the whole banquet scene and make sure that how impressed he is with how pristine and clean the house is. That's not the important thing. The important thing is what we can glean spiritually. And you see, Mary had the presence of mind to know she could learn so much, and if you're so busy with physical things, you forget a lot of the spiritual. So let's go over 1 Corinthians 5 for the last time in verse 7. I hope this scripture now is much more readily understandable. It says, Therefore purge out the old leaven, that old life style, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened because of what Christ has done for us, the justification, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feasts, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness. Let's put out that ill will, the wrong motives, and the wrong actions. But let's put in that unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, the right motives and the right actions to truly keep this feast of the days of unleavened bread, as God intended.