BY AL BUCHANAN
The last two sermons that I gave here were, of course, just prior to the Passover. Those two sermons were titled Worshiping God In Spirit And Truth. And they were Parts I and II to those sermons. Today’s sermon will not be Part III. However, I would like to continue in the same vein that those two sermons were in.
In those two sermons, we focused on the opportunity that we, at that time, were facing that we had an opportunity to worship God in spirit and truth in two very special nights. And, of course, that would have been the Passover and The Night To Be Observed. We kept the Passover one week ago this past Tuesday evening. The Night To Be Observed we kept one week ago this past Wednesday. And with the keeping of those two special evenings we began again to keep the Festivals of God for another year, as we have begun to do so for the year 2009. The Night To Be Observed began Seven Days of Unleavened Bread which we completed this past Wednesday. Now I want to go to Exodus 12 to read a little bit about that.
Actually this sermon I had in mind, much of what’s in this sermon, I had in mind to give on The Last Day of Unleavened Bread. And so the context of what we’re going to be talking about is more like what you would hear during The Days of Unleavened Bread. But it’s going to be a message, I hope, that wouldn’t matter when it was given as far as what I’m going to be asking all of us to do before we’re finished. And, by the way, the sermonette and the sermon are going to go very closely connected, hand-in-hand.
Exodus 12 and verse 21, I want to begin to read there. Exodus 12 verse 21,
Exodus 12:21. Then Moses
called for all the elders of
It’s interesting the way that it’s worded here.
Exodus 12:27. “That you
shall say, ‘It is the Passover
sacrifice of the [Eternal],
I think it’s worded a little differently in The
Authorized Version, but in The New King James it’s worded this way.
Exodus 12:27. “That you
shall say, ‘It is the Passover
sacrifice of the [Eternal], who passed over the houses of the children of
And then the last part of verse 27 is where I want to focus right now.
Exodus 12:27b. So the people
bowed their heads and worshiped.
“The people bowed their heads and worshiped.” Now on the evening of April 7th, a week ago this past Tuesday evening, we collectively bowed our heads and worshiped as we gathered together on that very special evening. And I hope we did it in a manner that God was pleased with. I hope that He accepted it as us bowing our heads, which is merely symbolic of our reverence for that particular evening and for the great God, for Jesus Christ who we in one sense honored that evening certainly remembering what He did in the fulfillment of what the Passover lamb pictured. But we bowed our heads and we worshiped.
Verse 31—let me go ahead and read from verse 27. Verse 28,
Exodus 12:28. Then the
children of
And prior to the Passover, I asked us to try to put ourselves
in the position of feeling the effect of that and what a tremendous loss that
was for those that were impacted by it.
But then at the same time, I asked us to think what was going on in the
minds of the firstborn of
Then in verse 31,
Exodus 12:31. Then he called
for Moses [That is the Pharaoh.] and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out
from among my people, both you and the children of
So what occurred on that first Passover made possible for
first of all the firstborn of
Now when this very Being who’s instructing them, when He
fulfilled what the Passover lamb pictured, it made possible for the firstfruits
to live. To live beyond just physical
existence, but to live with everlasting life, which is promised and made
possible as a result of what He did when He fulfilled what the Passover lamb
pictured, as well as what all the other sacrifices pictured that pointed to
Him. And it also enabled each one of the
firstfruits to begin to leave the bondage of spiritual
Now over in verses 40 through 42 let me read those verses. Exodus 12 verse 40.
Exodus 12:40. Now the
sojourn of the children of
And, of course, we pointed out before that that was from the time that the covenant was made with Abram to this point. It was four hundred and thirty years. They were not in bondage for that length of time.
Exodus 12:41. And it came to
pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it
came to pass that all the armies of the [Eternal] went out from the
So on that following night after the Passover occurred, as
The Days of Unleavened Bread were beginning that year,
Now please don’t turn there, but in Exodus 14 verse 15 let me just quote this.
Exodus 14:13. And Moses said
to the people, “Do not be afraid.
This is when they’ve got the
Exodus 14:13. And Moses said
to the people, “Do not be afraid.
Now again, put yourself in that position as a physical human
being having been in a circumstance where it wasn’t that good, but you had food
to eat. You had a place to sleep. You had somewhat protection. I’m speaking of the bondage that they were in
in
Exodus 14:13. [He said], “Do
not be afraid. Stand still,
“Stand still”! Now here’s a case where I think is perhaps a type of what many may face in both a physical and a spiritual situation at the end of this age. We may find ourselves in a situation, those who live during that time—as I get older and older, I’m beginning to wonder whether I’ll be living at that time or not. I don’t know how quickly this might develop. But there may be a time when those of us who are sitting here will be faced with a situation where we will need to stand still.
Notice what he said!
Exodus 14:13. And Moses said
to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand
still, and see the salvation of the [Eternal], which He will accomplish for you
today.
Now I would almost guarantee you that there would not have
been a single individual in that whole group of people—and there were millions
of them there, perhaps up to three million or so of them—I daresay there was
not a single one of them that would have ever have thought that the salvation
would come in the way that it came. If
they were going to try to orchestrate their own salvation, they would not have
ever thought that it could happen the way that it did. If they would have tried to orchestrate their
own salvation, they probably would have fled in one of three different
directions, to the right, to the left, or to the rear and try to make their way
through. They certainly wouldn’t have
tried to cross the
Now, for us The Night To Be Observed marks the time when we
began a journey. In our case, it’s a
spiritual journey. But it certainly, I
think, parallels the journey that physical
And there may be a physical salvation involved for some who live into that circumstance. May very well be! And I think when Jesus Christ finished the Olivet Prophecy, He said, “Watch, and pray always that you would be accounted worthy to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man.” That instruction was there from this very Being that we’ve been reading about.
And we’re going to have spiritual salvation waiting for us
at the end of this journey, if we complete the journey, if we make it to that
point. The Seven Days of Unleavened
Bread picture for us, again, this complete journey, a spiritual salvation. If you want to title this message, it is Our Spiritual Journey, Our Spiritual Journey.
I’d like to go now to Leviticus 23, Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus 23 and in verse 1, it states,
Leviticus 23:1. And the
[Eternal] spoke to Moses, saying,
This very same Being who—remember we focused on this in those two sermons we gave just before the Passover. John 4 and verses 23 and 24—please don’t turn there. Let me quote it again. But this very same Being who now is instructing Moses to in turn instruct Israel, is this same Being and there He said,
John 4:23. “But the hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24) “God is
Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and [in] truth.”
And so we focused on that before we kept the Passover, before we kept The Night To Be Observed. And the same instruction could apply to all of the rest of the times when we’re called upon to worship God, whether it’s The Days of Unleavened Bread, whether it’s the rest of the Festivals, or at any time actually during our lives. And from the time God begins to work with us until this journey is over, we’re in a process of worship. We should be of this great God as He is leading us and guiding us on this journey.
But this Being, very same one who spoke the words in John 4 is here instructing Moses. Then in verse 2,
Leviticus 23:2. “Speak to
the children of
“These are My
feasts. These are My appointments.” Actually is what this is. Here this great God is making appointments
with human beings, a select group of human beings actually. Even in the case of physical
Then in verse 3,
Leviticus 23:3. ‘Six days
shall work be done, but the seventh day is
a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.
You shall do no work on it; it
is the Sabbath of the [Eternal] in all your dwellings.
And so that very special opportunity is mentioned here that we have every week of worshiping of God. Just like we are here today on this Sabbath Day, a special opportunity of the seven days during the week for us to worship God in a special way. Not that we shouldn’t be worshiping Him throughout the week. We should. But this is given as a very special opportunity and an appointment that God has made for us to convoke together and to worship God collectively as a group.
And it is so important for those of us who have that privilege and that opportunity to be able to gather together as a group in worship of God. It’s so important that we are able to do that. There are those who don’t have that privilege and that honor and that opportunity due to circumstances. They don’t have a group that they can meet together. I think that all of us should be very thankful. Those who do have the opportunity to gather together with others, we need to be very thankful for that opportunity be able to keep an appointment as this is with these Beings.
Verse 4,
Leviticus 23:4. ‘These are the feasts of the [Eternal], holy
convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
And, of course, then He mentions, He begins to discuss then the Festivals of God that we are commanded to keep. And we are commanded to worship God on these special times. He mentions the Passover in verse 5. Of course, the Passover is the first of Seven Festivals. And then verse 6, He begins to mention the second Festival which consists of Seven Days of Unleavened Bread; the First and the Last of those Days being a Holy Day, special opportunities that we have to worship God. And then in verse 6, it says
Leviticus 23:6. ‘And on the
fifteenth day of the same month is
the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the [Eternal]; seven days you must eat
unleavened bread.
And, once again, this was emphasized this year the necessity for us to not only avoid eating that which is leavened, but that we are to eat that which is unleavened for the six days. We’ll have more to say about that as we move on.
Verse 7,
Leviticus 23:7. ‘On the
first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on
it. 8) ‘But you shall offer an offering
made by fire to the [Eternal] for seven days.
The seventh day shall be a
holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’”
Then verse 9,
Leviticus 23:9. And the
[Eternal] spoke to Moses, saying,
So He continues to give instruction. Here in verse 10 then, He gives that instruction. God begins to instruct him concerning a very special occasion, a ceremony that was to take place during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Verse 10,
Leviticus 23:10. “Speak to
the children of
So a small sampling, an omer—it’s a dry measure—a small sampling of the firstfruits of the barley harvest was to be prepared and brought to the priest on this occasion.
Then verse 11,
Leviticus 23:11. ‘He shall
wave the sheaf before the [Eternal], to be accepted on your behalf; on the day
after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Now if you look for the definition of the Hebrew word that’s rendered “wave” here, you’ll find that there are more than one, there’s more than one meaning given. But the most likely meaning has to do with elevation or lifting up or elevating up. Because I think we all understand and know that this Omer represented Jesus Christ who was elevated from this earth following His death and resurrection to the throne of God, to His Father to be accepted on our behalf.
Now hold your place there. I want to turn to Luke 22 just briefly here and take note of how Jesus Christ worded His instructions on the night of the Passover regarding the bread and the wine. I want us to take note of this. Luke 22 and verse 19,
Luke 22:19. And He took
bread, gave thanks and broke it, and
gave it to them, saying, “This is My
body which is given for you;
It’s given for you! And I think that we probably ought to underline “for you,” and put a circle around it or whatever and just to take note of the fact that His instruction was to twelve individuals that evening as they kept this Passover with Him. But, as I’ve said so many times, I think those twelve represented all of the firstfruits. But this is a very personal thing that He’s saying. And I think that each one of us can take this very personally when He says, “This is My body which is given for you.” It was given for you and it was given for me. It had to be on a personal basis for it to apply to each one of us, each one of us individually.
And He goes on to say in verse 20,
Luke 22:20. Likewise He also
took the cup after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in My
blood, which is shed for you.
Now this word “for” in the Greek is huper. I guess you would
pronounce it that way,
h-u-p-e-r. It means for the benefit of, for the sake of,
in the place of, in behalf of, or instead of.
“I’m doing this on your behalf,” in other words. “For your benefit to provide what is needed
for you.”
And so back here in Leviticus 23, Moses was instructed by this same Being to say these things to these people. And He said in verse 11,
Leviticus 23:11. “He shall
wave the sheaf before the [Eternal], to be accepted on your behalf;
So the omer was to be accepted by God the Father on our behalf, for us, to benefit us. And so on Wave Sheaf Sunday following His death and resurrection, He appeared before His Father and was accepted as a suitable offering and sacrifice for all of us. At that point, He had fulfilled what the Passover lamb pictured as well as what the other sacrifices that pointed to Him had pictured. And He made possible our participation in this great plan of salvation. He made it possible that we can begin to take part in this journey.
In John 20—hold your place there in Leviticus—and let’s go to John 20 right now. And we’ve mentioned this several times recently over the past several years. But I want to go back and take note of this again. It’s so important as far as our journey and the opportunity we have to participate in that journey. John 20 verse 17,
John 20:17. Jesus said to
her,
And this, of course, is prior to His being accepted. It’s prior to Him ascending to His Father on that Wave Sheaf Sunday morning. But this is on that Wave Sheaf Sunday morning.
John 20:17. Jesus said to
her [That is to Mary.], “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My
Father; but go to My brethren
“Go to My brethren.” Now you can read through all of the gospels and you will find this is the first place that He referred to His disciples in this way. He had not, prior to this, referred to them as “My brethren.” This is the first occasion where He’s doing that. Because now, following His death and His resurrection, it was possible for the firstfruits to become His brethren. Not only in a begotten state, but in a literal state! At the close of the journey when spiritual salvation comes, they can actually become His full born Family member, in an actual sense “His Wife” and enter the Family of God as His very Bride and Wife!
John 20:17. [But] Jesus said
to her “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father;
but go to My brethren and say to them,
And notice what He says!
John 20:17b. ‘I am ascending
to My Father and your Father,
So now, as a result of what He has done, we can like Him refer to this Being as “our Father.” Through a begettal we can become children of God, begotten now but later fully born.
John
It’s very interesting here. Once again, we must take note that this is following His death and His resurrection. He is in a condition now where He can ascend to the Father’s throne. He’s in a condition now where He later demonstrated He could appear in a locked room without a door being opened. And this Being is saying that “I’m ascending to My God and your God.” He very much is in a state here of being God. But yet, in His mind, He is in a state of worship of His God. Humbling, bowing His head to this Being, and saying to other human beings here on the earth these words. Humbling Himself in their sight. In this case, just Mary’s, but later before the others. Bowing His head to His Father.
So on the day after the Sabbath, this was accomplished. In that year He was resurrected as the Sabbath completed after having been in the grave for three days and three nights in the tomb. He was resurrected just at the close of the weekly Sabbath. And He ascended to His Father the next morning, after He had had this conversation with Mary, to be accepted on our behalf.
But the priest was to elevate this omer that we read about all the back here in Leviticus 23 at this very same time. The very same time! And it was always on a Sunday. It’s the morrow after the Sabbath.
And there is some question by some as to when the Wave Sheaf Sunday occurs in certain years, especially those years where the Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath. When will the Wave Sheaf Sunday be? Will be it on the First Day of Unleavened Bread? And the answer is absolutely, “Yes, it will be.”
It always occurs on the Sunday following Passover. Every year it’s that way. You can’t go astray if you just look at it as
being the Sunday following Passover. It
always works. It’s the way it worked
that year when Christ fulfilled it. Even
that year though there wasn’t a question you see. It was obvious when it was. But it always has to fall within the Days of
Unleavened Bread. And it did that
particular year when He fulfilled it.
Now I want to go back to these Seven Days. I want to talk a little bit more about these Seven Days of Unleavened Bread. Here in Leviticus 23 and verse 6, let me read that again.
Leviticus 23:6. ‘And on the
fifteenth day of the same month is
the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the [Eternal]; seven days you must eat
unleavened bread.
Now last year I began to discuss the fact that when the Bible was written, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, when leavened bread is mentioned, it is somewhat different than what would be the case today. And by that I mean the only means they had of leavening bread was natural leavening back then. The process would have been similar to what many of you ladies use today and was called “sour dough.” The leavening of dough with sour dough which is a dough that is teeming with life. It has a fungal life. It has a bacterial life actually, a benign bacteria that’s very active. And it’s teeming with life. And that’s the kind of leavening that is mentioned in the Scriptures.
Now, right here, this unleavened bread is m-a-t-s-t-s-a-h in the Hebrew. It means it has the connotation of sweetness not made sour with yeast; specifically it is an “unfermented” loaf. So an unfermented loaf. No fermentation has taken place in the dough prior to it being baked as bread.
Then in Exodus 13, let’s go there. Exodus 13. I only go there just to find a place where we find leavened bread. Exodus 13, let’s begin reading in verse 4.
Exodus 13:4. “On this day
you are going out [of the
This word “leaven” in the Hebrew is c-h-a-m-e-t-s. And it means
ferment. It is from the root meaning to
be sour from fermentation. It’s anything
which is fermented or leavened. The
normal process of bread making included some form of yeast to make the bread
rise. In other words, the natural
fermentation involving a living fungus and benign bacteria take a part as
well. And so there’s life there. And that’s the point that I want to make.
In verse 7, where the word just “leaven” is used, it says,
Exodus 13:7. “Unleavened
bread shall be eaten seven days. And no
leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among
you in all your quarters.
That’s another Hebrew word, s-e-o-r. And it means fermentation. And so we see that as a definition here.
Now in chapter 12 and verses 19 and 20, let’s read this. It states,
Exodus 12:19. ‘For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20) ‘You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your [habitations] you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
And so, clearly as we’ve been pointing out now for the past few years, there’s a twofold commandment here. We are to avoid leavening and eating leavened bread, and at the same time, we are to eat unleavened bread. And it says we must eat it for seven days. So, clearly God takes this seriously.
Now I want to read some of the words that Jesus Christ said while He was on the earth in the flesh. Let’s go to Matthew 5. And we actually went here during those two sermons that I gave just before Passover. I want to go back here to make a point. Matthew 5 and in verse 17, Matthew 5 verse 17,
Matthew 5:17. “Do not think
[He said.] that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
And we showed how that He used this same word to show how that He was fulfilling prophecies from the Old Testament while He was on the earth. And He would say, “This prophecy is being fulfilled in your eyes right now,” as He would do this or that or something else.
Then in verse 18,
Matthew 5:18. “For
assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle
will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
And so, all that is prophesied will have a fulfillment at its proper time. Every prophecy that is given will have a fulfillment. Every type will have its fulfillment.
Verse 19,
Matthew 5:19. “Whoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men
so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and
teaches them, he shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.
Now it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned this and I want to mention it again today. And that is the meaning of this word “breaks.” I think a lot of people think that it is meaning to if anyone transgresses this law. That really isn’t what this means. It has far deeper and more complete meaning than that. And it’s far more serious than just an accidental transgression, you might say.
Matthew 5:19. “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so,
And even someone who transgresses. Let’s just say that he’s a perpetual liar and he teaches others, “Well, it’s not that bad. White lies aren’t that bad,” this of kind of thing. You might think that this is what this is talking about. It isn’t.
This word “breaks” is luo in the Greek. It means to loose, to loose what is bound. It means to unbind, to release, to set free, to undo, to dissolve, to annul, to do away with, to deprive of authority.
So what it’s talking about here is somebody who says, “No need to keep these anymore. There’s no need any longer to keep these laws. There’s no need to keep the Holy Days any longer. There’s no need to keep the Festivals any longer.” And then you teach others that. That’s what this is talking about. And it’s very serious.
In other words, there’s nothing that has been taught in the Old Testament that has been done away with. There’s nothing that has been eliminated or annulled or made nonbinding any more. It’s all binding.
The thing of it is though as He is very clearly spelling out
here in this chapter that the keeping of these things rises to a whole
different level. It rises up to keeping
these laws and these Festivals and all on a spiritual plane, a much higher
level of obedience and a much deeper bowing of the head in the observance of
them. That we are to keep them on a
level that is far higher.
As He goes on to say in verse 20,
Matthew 5:20. “For I say to
you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the
kingdom of [God].
So we are to rise above. Those of us who have been privileged to begin this journey, this spiritual journey, during that journey are to rise up to another level in keeping these Days and keeping these commands. We are to worship our God in spirit and truth all the time. Not just in the Passover. Not just in the Night To Be Observed, but every day of the week really. And certainly on those special Days that He commands, we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
In Matthew 16 verse 5, Matthew 16 and in verse 5. Now we’re going to begin to get to where I want to go today. Matthew 16 and in verse 5,
Matthew 16:5. Now when His
disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6) Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 7) And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, “It is because we have taken
no bread.” 8) But [when] Jesus
[perceived] it, He said to them, “O
you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have
brought no bread?
In other words, “You’re thinking only on the physical plane here.”
Matthew 16:9. “Do you not
yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many
baskets you took up?
In other words, here’s the example of something that was small that became much bigger than that. When He started with five loaves and a few fish and He fed the five thousand, remember. What was small became large.
Matthew 16:10. “Nor the
seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11) “How is it you do not understand that I
did not speak to you concerning bread?—
So He’s not talking about bread at all. He’s not talking about that which is physical at all.
Matthew 16:11b. But [that you should] beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?”
And then verse 12,
Matthew 16:12. Then they
understood that He did not tell them
to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine [or the teachings] of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees.
And in Luke 12 verse 1, it says there,
Luke 12:1b. “Beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
“Which is hypocrisy”!
And so He’s bringing this teaching regarding leavening to the spiritual level and showing that it is important that we remember the instruction, the teaching regarding physical leaven, eating that which is unleavened, avoiding that which is leavened and that we are to rid our homes of that which is leavened and that sort of thing. We don’t forget that. That is to be continued.
But it teaches us something. And we need to understand what it is it’s teaching us. The leaven we are to avoid now is not just the leaven that makes bread rise. It goes far deeper than that. Clearly Jesus is raising the keeping of these Days to, again, that higher level, much higher than they had previously understood here as He is teaching them. Not only do we avoid consuming leavened physical bread into our bodies, which we are to continue to do as a lesson, as a reminder, but we are to avoid consuming spiritual leavening into our minds, which is far more important!
And that’s what it’s all about really. Being careful not to consume that which is spiritually leavened! That which causes the same kind of effect: number one, something that starts very small and gets to be large, spreads, and something that is harmful only on a small scale but becomes far more harmful on a larger scale. We need to be careful about these things.
This word “leaven” here, by the way, in the Greek means “fermenting matter.” Once again, it’s consistent from the Old Testament to the New as far as what this definition of leavening is. It has to do with that which is fermented or that which is unfermented.
Now, today the effect of leavening can be achieved with different chemicals as we pointed out last year. We spent some time with this. You can take baking soda or baking power—there’s probably other things, and I’m not a cook and so I don’t know what they all are. But there’s probably different chemicals that can be used to give the same effect as natural living leavening will give. And while these leavening agents are not living, they cause basically the same effect. They cause bread to rise. You might say “artificially.” But they still do. And you still get that same effect. And so these certainly, there’s lessons to be learned certainly just from the fact that the bread puffs up. There’s very good lessons to be learned just from that. And all the leavening agents certainly should be avoided as we pointed out last year. Even though they are not leavening agents as the Scriptures is referring to, they have the same effect and they should be avoided during the Days of Unleavened Bread. And all bread products containing these agents should be avoided as well just to be consistent with the teaching of these Days.
But today, right now today, I would like for us to consider the lessons to be learned concerning the presence of these living organisms of sour dough. I’d like for us to consider what we can learn about that and especially as it connects with this spiritual journey that these Seven Days of Unleavened Bread picture to us.
Once again, I want to notice the words that Jesus Christ Himself said. Luke 13, let’s go there. Luke chapter 13 and in verse 20. Now we basically have the same thing said in Matthew 13 verse 33 if you would like to just make a cross-reference of that here. But here in Luke 13 verse 20,
Luke 13:20. And again He
said [That is Jesus Christ said], “To what shall I liken the
“What shall I liken the
Luke 13:21. “It is like
leaven,
Now wait a minute here! Every place in the Scriptures I think that we will find leaven used, it’s always with a negative connotation to it. But here it is very definitely a positive one and let’s notice this.
Luke 13:21. “It is like
leaven,
And the
Luke 13:21b. which a woman
took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
So the point is that this leavening starts with something
very small. Now again, I’m not a cook,
but I think you can just take a pinch or a small amount of this sour dough that
you keep that’s teeming with life—you can take just a small amount of
that. Put it in a batch of unleavened
dough and given time it will rapidly fill that.
It will rapidly leaven that entire lump.
A couple of places in the Scriptures in a negative sense we see that a
little leaven leavens the whole lump.
The point that Christ is making here in this example about the
And again, in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6, Galatians 5:7, we read that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And in both cases the example of leavening is in a negative sense. That it is something that is harmful that spreads.
Certainly the
But in these cases, 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6, Galatians 5:9, it’s in a negative sense. Something, again, that’s harmful that starts small.
Now I want to go to 1 Corinthians 5. This is one that we’ve gone to so many times and you’re so familiar to with it, I almost hesitate to go there. But I do want to go there because it’s going to get me to where I want to go today. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1. And, of course, this is the section where he will say, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1,
1 Corinthians 5:1. It is
actually reported that there is
sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named
among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!
And so we’ve understood for years that apparently this member is co-habiting with his step-mother. It’s the only way that that would work. And it seems to be well known among the membership there in this congregation that Paul is addressing.
In verse 2,
1 Corinthians 5:2. And you
are puffed up,
Or you, as the margin has it, you have become arrogant. So now how has it happened? Here is a congregation where you’ve got this known evil present, known sin that is being committed there and it’s openly known. And yet the congregation’s puffed up about it. They’ve become arrogant about it. How does that fit? And what are we to understand from this?
1 Corinthians 5:2. And you
are puffed up, and have not rather mourned,
And so, leavening as we know causes bread to puff up and so, he’s saying here, “You are puffed up.” Obviously not the same thing! They weren’t bread. They were human beings that were puffed up. And so, he’s here addressing the situation in the context of the Days of Unleavened Bread obviously. And this puffing up that he refers to is not the physical raising up of bread dough, but the puffing up of pride and arrogance in human beings. And so very clearly he’s drawing this lesson from the Days of Unleavened Bread and what we learn from the Days in which we are to avoid those items that are leavened and we’re to eat the unleavened bread.
Now going on here—well, let me just read verse 2 again.
1 Corinthians 5:2. And you
are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed
might be taken away from among you.
So this individual, Paul is showing that this attitude that they have toward the situation is wrong. Rather than being puffed up with pride, they should be mourning. And this individual should be taken away from among them. And they actually should be able to see this.
Now think about this. If we had a situation where one of you or maybe me was doing something that you all knew about and it was obviously a transgression of God’s law and it was being tolerated to be committed. Now, if it’s something obvious, all of us should recognize it and see the need to purge it out. Wouldn’t you think? I would think so!
But these people weren’t doing that. They were tolerating it. They were permitting it to continue. And Paul is saying, “You’re puffed up as a result of it. Your pride is coming to the foyer. Your arrogance is obvious in you.” Now, so what were they doing? Was it a situation where they were recognizing the mercy of God and the mercy that God shows to each one of us and they were in turn showing mercy? Was that it?
I don’t know exactly how they were reasoning. But I’ve said something before and I’ll stand by this one that if you work hard enough as an individual, you can reason anything to be okay. If you work hard enough at it and you think about it long enough and you rationalize it enough, you can rationalize almost anything to be okay. That you can tolerate it. You can permit it to continue.
Now think about David and the situation with Bathsheba and
Uriah and all that episode there.
Thinking back on it, looking back on it, reading about it, you think,
“How in the world could he ever do such a thing? How could he ever reason in his mind that he
could do this and it would be acceptable to God?” I mean he was answerable to God in his role
as king of
In the same case here, these folks were rationalizing in their mind somehow or other that it was proper for them to do this to the point that their pride was elevated as a result of what they were doing.
Now going on, Paul says,
1 Corinthians 5:3. For I
indeed, as absent in [the] body but present in spirit, have already judged (as
though I were present) concerning him who has so done this deed.
Verse 4,
1 Corinthians 5:4. In the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my
spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5) Deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus.
So for benefit of the individual, as well as the benefit of the congregation, he is giving this instruction. This individual is to be removed from the congregation. He’s been cut off. He’s to be cut off and to be disfellowshipped, you might say, from them.
Then in verse 6,
1 Corinthians 5:6. Your
glorying
Once again they were glorying over this.
1 Corinthians 5:6. Your
glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens
the whole lump?
And here, obviously, he’s talking about something that is very destructive, something very harmful. And if you leave it alone, it’s going to permeate the whole group. It’s going to have a negative effect at best to the whole group. It’s not going to be beneficial. “What you’re doing is wrong. This is the action you need to take.”
Then verse 7,
1 Corinthians 5:7. 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.
Now this would apply individually or collectively. And I want to think of it more in terms of individually right now as we’re getting to where again that I’m going with all of this. I want to think of it individually. Certainly collectively exactly as he’s describing it here, it should happen. The individual needs to be taken out from among you.
But what about an individual case where there are things going on in our lives individually? And we come to recognize that there’s something wrong there? How should we react? We’re to recognize and remove that which results in harm when we discover it. When we recognize it and we see that it’s there, we must not rationalize leaving it there. We need to get rid of it. When we recognize the sin that is present, we need to remove it. Get rid of it from within ourselves, rather than reasoning that God will continue to forgive. And again, you think about it long enough and if it’s something that’s desirous to you to continue doing, you can rationalize it to be okay. And you can reason within yourself that it’ll be okay and God will continue to forgive. We should make every effort to remove these things quickly.
Now verse 8,
1 Corinthians 5:8. Therefore
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.
And so Paul makes it abundantly clear that we are to continue to keep this Festival. There’s no question. And he makes it equally clear that we’re to keep the spirit of the meaning and not just the physical. But we are to keep the physical part of it as well.
Now on The Night To Be Observed,
Now on our Night To Be Observed, we embark on a spiritual journey, a journey that will continue for the rest of our lives in the flesh. There will not be a time when this journey will end while we’re still alive physically. There will not be a time really that we can take a respite from it. The journey, the pursuit of the goal, the moving forward toward the goal is never to end and we are to continue.
God’s plan is for our journey to culminate with spiritual salvation. Actually a salvation that will allow us to enter into a oneness relationship with Him that we’ve talked about so many times. I want to quote there in John 14 verse 20—please don’t turn there—where Jesus Christ Himself said,
John 14:20. “At that day you
will know that I am in My Father, and
you in Me, and I in you.
And so the journey is to culminate in us becoming one with these Beings, entering into this relationship of oneness. Our journey is to take us from what was complete separation from God. At one time we were completely separated from God. This journey takes us from that state to complete oneness. An incredible journey! Our desires should be daily for that gap to narrow. The gap from being completely separated to the state of being completely at one, that difference should narrow daily as we pursue this journey, as we continue on this journey.
In Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2—please don’t turn there—it states, and you’ll recognize these words as soon as I begin to read them,
Isaiah 59:1. Behold, the
[Eternal’s] hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that
it cannot hear. 2) But your iniquities
have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not
hear.
So our sins, even after we are on this journey, a sin still does the same thing. It still separates. Even though the gap may have narrowed! And all of a sudden there is something that crops up in our lives where we are giving in to our desires to the point to where we enter in to a state of committing sin that separation begins to be established again.
Now on the Last Day, the Last Great Day of the Feast last year at the close of the sermon that I gave on that Day, I asked that all of us would make a concerted effort during the coming year for genuine repentance. That during the interim from the close of the Feast last year to the beginning of the Feast this coming year this fall that we make a concerted effort for a genuine repentance. We are now approximately halfway through that period. We’re very near the halfway point.
I asked that we concentrate on those areas that we would not want to be exposed for others to see, if you remember. I think that every one of us, if we look down within ourselves, that there are areas in our lives that we would not want to be made public. We would not want to be exposed for everyone to see. And it was in those areas that I asked that we look into where there are hidden sins.
Now what we’ve read about here in 1 Corinthians 5, certainly Paul is addressing a sin that was open. But he also gave the principle here that if we recognize a sin that we are to remove it.
Now during the Days of Unleavened Bread, we always hear stories—as we did this year—about someone who discovered leavening well into the Days or maybe even after the Days are completed. You look and what was it? A bagel under a turkey or whatever in the freezer!
We always hear stories where people discover hidden sin. I’m not talking about that kind of hidden sin here. I’m talking about the kind of hidden sin that we know about and we are hiding. Now I daresay that most of us, if we’ll be honest with ourselves and we look hard enough, we will find areas in our lives where we’re permitting things to continue that should not continue. It could be a number of things. It could be sexually connected. It could be alcohol connected. It could be in many different areas. It could be a gambling situation. It could be so many different things where you or I may have a particular weakness and we’re permitting that to go on.
And, Brethren, most cases—now we’ve talked about how we can’t clean ourselves. We cannot cleanse ourselves of sin from the standpoint that if we’ve committed a sin, we can’t cleanse ourselves of that sin we’ve already committed. It takes the blood of Christ. And it’s the only way that we can be forgiven and that sin cleansed and removed.
However, we can stop committing sin. And I’m not saying that we can live perfect for the rest of our lives. I’m not talking about that. I’m not talking about a situation where we’ve got a weakness and we’re permitting it to continue. And we are breaking God’s law. Maybe not in a way that’s affecting anybody else, only us. Maybe we’re giving in and we know we are to a weakness that we’ve got. In most every case if we set our mind to it, we can overcome that.
Now Peggy will tell you that when it comes to something that I encounter that I need to do, I won’t really attack it until I finally set my mind to it. And she’ll tell you that. Once I set my mind to something, then I’ll pursue it until it’s possible to get it accomplished.
And I’ve used this example: for somebody who smokes. As long as they say, “I need to stop smoking,” they never will. If they say, “I have to,” then they can. Now don’t tell me you can’t stop doing something like that. You can if you set your mind to it, if you set your will to it, if you’re determined and you come to the point to where you know you have to. Then you can. It’s amazing what the human, what the capacity of a human being is and the human mind is and what we can do and what we can’t do.
But we have to recognize the seriousness of it. Brethren, this kind of sin, this hidden sin, whatever it is that’s within us, separates us from our God. It deters us from this journey, on this journey. It causes us to take a detour. It increases that separation between us and our God. We need to recognize how serious it is! And where we can, we need to rid ourselves of those things!
Now even saying all of that, that’s not to say that we won’t stumble and give in again, but as soon as we do we step back up to the plate again and we begin to pursue again. And we put every bit of effort we can into it.
And even if it’s something that let’s say that we can’t overcome. It is something so huge or so difficult that we can’t of ourselves do it. We still better be giving every bit of effort to try. God will only do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. I’m convinced of that. He expects us to do what we can do for ourselves. And, Brethren, this is something very serious.
And we’ve just kept these Seven Days of Unleavened Bread. We’ve completed them now. That Festival is past.
But this journey continues. And this journey is not going to end until our last breath or our change. It will be our last breath, physical breath anyway. Only until then this journey is to continue. And we are to continue to do battle. And we’re to continue to pursue that relationship with these Beings of that oneness that we’re going to be able to experience one day when we can look into the face of Jesus Christ for the very first time recognizing ourselves for who we are and recognizing Him for who He is. And we will know in a manner then that we will never ever know in this life. What a fantastic goal there is that’s been set before us!
But there’s Seven Days. There’s Seven Days of Unleavened Bread. Again it just pictures our journey for the rest of our lives.
Brethren, let’s be looking for those areas that need to be cleansed out. And let’s make every effort to show our God that we are truly bowing our heads before Him and worshiping Him in spirit and truth.
Transcribed by kb