The Feast of Unleavened Bread signifies the communion of saints and the necessity of purging sin from one's life. The sermon draws parallels between the Old Testament observance of removing leaven from homes and the New Testament call to remove moral and doctrinal corruption from the lives of believers. It emphasizes that true fellowship with God and fellow believers requires sincerity, truth, and a conscious separation from evil, whether it be malice, wickedness, hypocrisy, unsound doctrine, or worldliness. The ultimate application is a life lived in continuous communion with God, marked by readiness for service and a pilgrim's reliance on divine provision.
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Reading tonight, please, verse six. And verse six, God writing by his spirit and saying, And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation. ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. In the seventh day is an holy convocation.
Ye shall do no servile work therein. Shall we turn to the book of Exodus chapter twelve, please? The book of Exodus chapter twelve, reading at verse fifteen. I'm reading through verse twenty. Seven days shall ye eat on leavened bread. Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eat of leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation.
And in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them. Say that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For in this self-same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt, Therefore shall ye observe this day in your generation by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses. For whosoever eateth that which is leavened, Even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leaven. In all your habitation shall ye eat unleavened bread. Shall we turn to the Epistle of Corinthians, the first Epistle, chapter five? And again read from chapter five, as we did last night. But begin to read at verse six through verse eight.
The words of the beloved Apostle Paul writing to say, Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. or even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feet, not with all leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. May God bless the reading of his word, and may the Holy Spirit give the blessing of that word to our heart, as well as to our consciences as we meditate upon it tonight.
As you note the chart before you, our subject is this week the Southern Feast of Jehovah, taken from the Book of Leviticus chapter twenty-three. We've already suggested and we repeat again that we find we can take three applications from these messages in the Book of Leviticus. First of all, there is the primary aspect of their application. And you note upon the chart, the lowest section of the chart, the primary application of these feasts is given. They were seven annual feasts to be kept by the children of Israel when in the land.
First of all, the Feast of Passover. Thank you, Bob. The Feast of Passover. Second, the Feast of Unleavened Rans. Then third, the Feast of First Group. Then fourth, the Feast of Weeks, sometimes called properly the Feast of Pentacles. And then the Feast of Trumpets. And then the National Day of Atonement. And then the Feast of Tabernacles. These were seven annual feasts to be kept every year. Most of them were kept in the early part of the year, the first four. The last three were kept in one month, the seven months of that year.
And they were to be kept annually at convocations or holy gatherings of the children of Israel with Jehovah. As we have already stated, there were to be occasions of great joy when God would enjoy his people. And when his people could enjoy him together in happy fellowship, they were not only for the enjoyment of that mutual fellowship between God and his people, but you know they were to be used to hold his people together. By so gathering together, they would be morally united one with another as a united nation in testimony for him.
Then we also suggested a second application in relation to the dispensational application to Israel. These seven feet not only were annual feet, but they picture and illustrate, they illustrate the redemptive purposes of God from the beginning to the end for the nation of Israel. Those redemptive purposes, as we knew from last night's message and saw, from the Feast of Passover was the basic foundation of Israel's relationship to God as a nation. He brought them out of Egypt as a nation. And his redempted purposes have not been fulfilled in their final fruition, but will be when in that coming day the Feast of Tabernacles, figuring...
the millennial reign of our Lord Jesus, when Israel shall be in the land of the glorified nation under their Messiah, and God will have then fulfilled his purposes toward Israel. Our third application you find particularly on the uppermost part of the chart. For every feast as its antitype, and in its antitypical meaning, the feast of Passover represents in our New Testament teachings the death of Christ, the feast of unleavened bread, which is our subject tonight, the communion of saints, the feast of first fruits, the resurrection of Christ, the feast of weeks of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the feast of trumpets, the awakening of Israel, but as you note on the chart, we shall have, when touching upon the three last feet, a heavenly side as well as well as an earthly side in the application of those three the feast of trumpets reminding us the Lord Jesus is coming for his saints and we shall meet him in the air the great day
of atonement Israel's national cleansing and restoration reminding the believer of this age we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged every once around us the millennial reign of Israel, reminding us that even in that heavenly character of the reign of him, his heavenly saints shall reign with the Lord Jesus over the millennial earth. Now we've already touched upon the fact, as you note the chart begins with a Sabbath, and it ends with a Sabbath. These seven feasts began with a Sabbath. They end with a Sabbath at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles every year.
And you know particularly, the chart illustrates, in the upper part of it, the redempted purposes have gone from an eternity past to an eternity to come in relation to the human race. And those redempted purposes, and may I particularly emphasize this fact, whether for Israel or whether for the whole world, The redempted purposes of God must be founded, and they are founded upon the death of Christ and the shed blood of the Son of God. Relationship to God is based upon redemption and redemption by blood.
We saw that last night as we touched upon the feast of the Passover. Now we read in the book of Exodus, which I would like to turn to immediately, chapter twelve. we read in the book of the Exodus that God commanded his people when that feast of Passover was to be kept as a memorial that also they should keep the feast of unleavened bread and may I read verse fourteen as they are verse fifteen rather seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread even the first day ye shall put away leavened out of your houses for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that bowl should be cut off from Israel.
Now immediately that night, when the first Passover was kept, as you note on the chart, and I'd like you to note particularly, the blood was put upon the doorpost, and as we saw last night, the Israelites within were partaking of the roast lamb. But the partaking of that roast lamb as well as the applying of that blood was also accompanied by the taking out and the casting out of their homes of unleavened bread. Now, may I point out to you two facts in relation to Israel in that day. First of all, they were sheltered by the blood of the Passion Land.
The land and that blood was their grounded safety and protection. from the visiting angel of destruction that was to come over the land of Egypt. They were sheltered under the precious blood of that passion land. But then no, it's not visible in the picture, but on the table in that night they were feeding upon the roast land. And the land was the center of their unity and gathering. And within their homes they kept the path over that evening. Israel was saved by the blood of the land.
But the object around which they were gathered was the roast lamb, the roasted lamb. And you have a picture that illustrates the anti-type of New Testament truth. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the ground of the believer's safety. But the one who shed that blood is the center of our gatherings. around whom we must gather to partake of him, as thus we are linked with one to one another, and linked to him by his redeeming power and grace. It's a lovely thing to realize. All that the Israelites had within the house to feast upon was the roast lamb.
All their safety was the shed blood that was applied to the doorpost. Beloved, when you look at the gathering of God's dear people, What is that gathering? Scripturally, it is a gathering of saints who are under the redeeming blood of Christ and shouted from coming judgment by that blood. And he is the one upon whom they partake, whom they enjoy, a person. Now please let me bring before your heart and mind too, that when the saints gather together, they gather around a person. As the Savior said, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.
How simple, but how profound. Now, beloved, when God redeems the people, and when they are brought to himself, then as the feast of unleavened bread pitifies, then there must be separation from evil. Being washed of our sins in the blood of Christ is wonderful. But being washed from our sins by the blood of Christ demands a proper walk of communion with God as well as communion with faith. And as the Israelites, if you will know, please, go back in this twelve chapters with me.
Let me read verse eight and nine. I want you to know, verse eight and nine particularly. Moses writing to say, as God gives him the commandment, They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread. And with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat none of it raw, nor southern at all, with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. there must be suitable and proper communion with the sufferings of Christ. If you and I have been redeemed by his blood, and hear the Israelites said upon the land that had been roasted, now I am sure that you recognize that the roasted land speaks very definitely of the sufferings our Lord Jesus Christ bore for you and me upon the cross to redeem us for himself.
I'm sure there is a responsibility. I know there is, that every child of God appreciates the sufferings of Christ. That is indicated by the life he and she should live. The absence of leaven or the absence of evil, separation from evil. And oftentimes it is accompanied as it is here in our verse They were to eat of that roast lamb with unleavened bread and with bitter herds. Shall they eat it? Now let me bring a New Testament principle to bear upon our hearts, as well as our consciences. Beloved listen, you and I who have been redeemed by his love are responsible by his grace and by his enabling power.
to thus live lines of separation from evil, because of our valuation and appreciation of the one who suffered for us upon the cross. To do so will often be within a hurdle. The experiences of life that bring the bitterness of experience into our pathway because of the cost and the price that is involved. But with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they were to enjoy the roasted land. With the absence of the separation of sin in our lives, no matter the cost, we shall enjoy communion with God and we shall enjoy communion with one another there.
Now may I lay down this principle. No true enjoyment and communion with Christ can be ours unless evil is kept out of our lives. Failure to keep evil out of the lives of God's children has brought disaster upon the Church of God. That I'm sure we can confess. Much of the spiritual barrenness that may exist amongst the saints is due to the fact The absence of evil does not predominate, but rather evil predominates in sin. May I say, my fellow believer, and I say it to my conscience as much as I would say it to yours, leaven of which evil is the type, leaven will destroy our fellowship.
We're gone for one enough, and with one enough, sin in the life of a believer will spoil fellowship with God as well as with one another. And oh how grateful we should be that Christ is not only delivering us from the guilt as well as the penalty of sin, but thank God he delivers from the practice of it and from the power of it and from the love of it that we have by nature. Praise his name. And what a joy to realize. Though we may and do acknowledge, we have within our nature the presence of indwelling sin. We won't get rid of it.
Not till we lose this, Lardy. He a man said to me one time, in fact, some of his fellow workmen pointed him out to me and said, did you ever see a man that couldn't sin, Mr. Bramhall? And I said, where? And they pointed out this man amongst their company. That man, he says he cannot sin. Well, He spoke boldly up. He said, that's right. I said, well, how come? He said, well, he said, I've had all my Adamic nature removed. Well, I looked at him and said, well, tell her, don't you have to eat? For I'm sure he had had his Adamic nature removed out of it. We still have the nature of sin with us in this present body.
Or if any man's saying that he cannot sin, The same is a liar and the truth is not in him. But we should avoid sin in practice. Now let me repeat. We have the nature of sin in us. When God has redeemed us. By the enabling power of our Lord Jesus. By the indwelling spirit within. By the word of God before us. We should not practice sin. Leaven is always a type of evil, no exception. It permeates, it spreads, it corrupts everything it reaches.
The Apostle said in First Corinthians from which we ran, to which we'll turn sometime later, he said, a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. It is a principle that spreads, permeating the whole thing when God begins. I want you to follow with me some scriptures tonight to see the principle of lebanon at work. There are five scripture references I wish you would follow with me. First of all in First Corinthians chapter five. First Corinthians chapter five from which we read the first epistle of Paul in chapter five of the Corinthian letter.
And let me read verse seven if you please. Here the apostle is admonishing the Corinthian believers. And the background of the chapter indicates there was leaven. It was more believable in this case. But note the apostle's injunction in verse seven. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new love, as ye are unleavened. Now want you to note again in verse eight. He mentions the old leaven again. Therefore let us keep the peace, not with old leaven. Now what is the old leaven? There is no question of doubt the apostle is referring to the old practices, the practices of sin that were in our lives before the Lord Jesus saved us.
The former evil habits and associations purged them out. And the old leaven suddenly represents the former practices of sin and evil that were ours before our Savior redeemed us. But go further. Look in the eighth verse again. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven, but notice the second lesson. Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness. The leaven of malice and the leaven of wickedness. Now beloved believer, please may I say, We're on ground that pertains to a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, his and her responsibility after being redeemed by the death of Christ, to the enjoyment of communion and fellowship, not only with God, but with his people.
As the context of this chapter indicates, there was a matter of fellowship with the people of God, as well as with God himself and the risen Lord. And the old habits of sin should be put away. but also the leaven of malice and wickedness. Now I want you to follow some scriptures that are repeated by the Apostle, both Paul and Peter, regarding malice and wickedness. And we have some references that are worthy of note. Look with me in Ephesians chapter four, please. The Ephesian epistle chapter four. The fourth chapter of this Ephesian letter in verse thirty-one.
Let me read verse thirty to get the context which is very clearly set forth, as well as linked with the grieving of the Holy Spirit. Chapter four of Ephesians, verse thirty and thirty-one. And grieve not the Spirit of the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And I want you to know very carefully, emphasize one little word, and it is the word all.
These words are addressed to the people of God. To you and to me, fellow believers, let all bitterness, a bitterness of spirit, A bitterness of heart, a bitterness of soul, a bitterness of mind. God says, purge it out. Put it out. Let all bitterness, all wrath, angry passion, and anger, and clamor, and evil speech. May I point out something? Note the progression. That bitterness is within. That wrath may be filled within, and the anger may be rising with passion, and the clamor to say what one should not say.
And it results in what? Injury of speaking. Oh, beloved, what a responsibility to realize that the Israelite of old went on the keeping of that feast, the annual feast, as well as the night they kept it in the past overnight, Leaven was to be taken out of their houses. They searched their homes. They looked in all parts of those homes that they might dispense of that which God said must be put away. Leaven. When you study the word of God, leaven is always a type of evil. We shall see whether moral or doctrinal.
Put it away. My beloved brother and sister, may I say kindly, but may I say firmly, There's too much evil speech that circulates amongst the people of God that reveals there's bitterness, that reveals there's wrath, there's anger, there's clamor. Put it away from you. And then the Apostle asked, you might do it outwardly, but he asked with all knowledge. For when there's malice in the heart, these things can be readily obtained.
And it's not only necessary to put away those things of an outward character, but by God's grace and help to put the malice out of your heart. As long as malice is in the heart, these dangers are very apparent. Let's go with me to first Peter. Peter writes in First Peter chapter two to newborn names. And in the second chapter of First Peter, you note his words. And he also repeats that important fact that all of it should be put away. Wherefore laying aside all malice, whatever malice is in your heart, lay it aside, and all dial, and apocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking.
Oh, beloved, do you not think and do not I also think the necessity of taking out of our hearts and taking out of our mind these things that God calls lessons? Beloved, there's no question of doubt. The enjoyment of fellowship and communion of saints as well as with God, as well as with Christ, that blessed communion is ended, spoiled, robbed, when these conditions of leaven are found within. First, the old leaven, let not the former things of your own say life be manifested. Second, not even, as you go on with and for the Lord, let not wickedness, the leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness be manifested.
Now third, listen to the words of the Lord Jesus. As we follow the words of the Lord Jesus, in Luke chapter twelve, please. Luke chapter twelve, for our Lord Jesus spoke of leaven. He spoke of it on, in three occasions, in three particular ways. Chapter twelve of the Gospel of Luke. In the meantime, when there were gathered together, an innumerable multitude of people, in so much that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. If you don't do meaning of that word, beware, it's interesting in the original.
It suggests be on your guard. Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which he says is hypocrisy. Now there were two things coupled together. in relation to the leaven of the Pharisees. Legalism, religion, they had plenty of it. They were religious, but they were hypocrites. Legalism and apostasy. And the Lord Jesus says, Beware of that heretical condition that is the leaven of the Pharisees.
See on your guard against it. beloved, may I say, I need that injunction as well as you? The admonition to beware of what? Being a religious hypocrite? Absolutely. Instead being sincere, keep the pink with sincerity and in truth. eleven of the Pharisees. Oh, beloved, look, I speak kindly, but I speak truthfully to the people of God. It is not an impossibility for us to be hypocritical. It is not an impossibility for you and for me to be outwardly conforming to the very scriptures outwardly, as did the Pharisees seek to do, but in the spirit of legality, and yet inwardly hypocritical.
Oh, beloved, how it needs to be thrown out. How we need to guard ourselves against such leaven of hypocrisy. You know, beloved, we live in a world that's not very real. It's unreal. And it's hard to find genuine reality. We live in a world when there's a low standard of character. Name any phase of society. Character is low. And unfortunately, Christian character is also wrong. And you and I, who belong to God, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, how we long that we guard ourselves from a testimony that is unreal.
That as the character of hypocrisy is, and perhaps legality, Oh, they will be real. And put away such a condition as was parisaically, the condition of those people long ago. But then go further. The Lord Jesus goes on to say in Matthew sixteen, verse six, he refers not only to the Pharisees, but he refers to the Sadducees. And they're eleven. Matthew chapter sixteen, and the sixth verse, if you please, Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
The leaven of the Sadducees? What was the leaven of the Sadducees? Well, we could not say it was legality and hypocrisy particularly. But you go with me to Acts chapter twenty-three, will you? The twenty-third chapter of the book of the Acts. where the beloved Apostle Paul stands being tried as thus. With the Jews from Jerusalem, he stands before Felix the governor. Chapter twenty-three in the book of the Acts. Reading with me, if you will, please, the eighth verse of that chapter. Chapter twenty-three in the book of the Acts and the eighth verse. And notice the Apostle's observation as he notes that his accusers were a mixed audience of Pharisees and Sadducees.
And in chapter twenty-three and verse eight, read verse seven and eight together. When he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees contest both. The particular leaven of the Sadducees was doctrinal. There were things pertaining to eternity that they denied. One was the resurrection. One was the existence of angels.
Another is the existence of the spirit that departs from the body. And thus the leaven of the Sadducees, the Lord Jesus says, be careful. be guarded against the leaven of the Sadducees. Go to Galatians chapter five, will you please? Galatians chapter five. For in Galatians chapter five, you have the result of doctrine eleven stated by the beloved apostle Paul. And very similar to what we read in first Corinthians. I want to give an emphasis to this fact. Look with me in verse nine of chapter five in the book of Galatians. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lust.
Now will you put together what we read in first Corinthians five? In first Corinthians chapter five we read of moral leaven. Moral leaven, moral evil. And a moral evil, sinful habit, the apostle said it leavens the whole lust. It foils the whole thing. Beloved believer, let me say this carefully. But to God we realize this. The way you and I live affects every believer. The character and the conduct of every Christian has its detective worked upon all the testimony.
This is moral evil in my life. then I'm going to affect the rest of my fellow believers. For when one member suffers, the whole body suffers, and I want to say my fellow brother and sister in Christ, if moral evil is present in your heart and my heart, your life and my life, it leavens the whole world. It affects the whole world. Likewise, doctrinal evil, But as you read, Paul deals with doctrine of evil in the Galatians and he says it leavens the whole life.
Oh beloved, what shall we say? When we realize that the corrupt teachings of men have been introduced as doctrine of leaven in the church. Remember the parable the Lord Jesus told in Matthew thirteen? How a woman took leaven and she put it in three measures of meal? And it leveled the whole month. Doctrine eleven? Beloved doctrine eleven fills the professing church testimony today. And it's ready to its finality when the Lord Jesus will spew it out of his mouth.
And it becomes the whole church. of Revelation chapter seventeen. Hope he loves us. Men have introduced Dr. Leaven in the church. Let me point out this. God's food is unleavened. Man's food is leavened. You know it tastes good. Leavened food to the natural man tastes good. Unleavened food doesn't take good of a natural man. The natural man perceives as not the things which be of God. Neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
Beloved believer, the truth as it is in Jesus is the only food that God wants you and I to take up for our souls. And God's food is unleavened. Be on your God against doctrinal leaven. Sometimes if you can, will you read Second Kings? Chapter four, I believe it is, verse thirty-eight through forty-one. When the prophet Elijah gathered the young prophets around him, and he said, put on the great pot. And they fed on the great pot and boiled potty.
And then an unsent servant went and gathered while going, and he put them, shred by shred, into the pot. He didn't pour it all in at one time. He took them, shred by shred, and he put them into the pot. And then when it was served out, the prophet takes them in, and they cried out, O man of God, there's death in the pot. For it was the ministry of an unsent servant. And death came in. to the food that had been supplied for the ministry of the flesh. And the ministry of doctrine of leaven is only a ministry of death. And when you look at the church testimony in profession today, there's a lot of death in the pot.
And Elisha said, bring meal. And they brought meal. Pour it into the pot. Pour it in. He couldn't remove the leaven out of the pot. He couldn't remove the poison. He brought a great antidote. Put meal into it. Beloved, for every situation where doctrine of leaven may exist, we need more of the Word of God. Meal is the type of the Word of God. And the truth as it is in Jesus can only counteract the false teachings that prevail. This is another leaven mentioned by the Lord Jesus I want you to see. And it's found in Mark chapter eight. Chapter eight of the Gospel of Mark.
Chapter eight and verse fifteen, please. And the Lord mentions again, coupled with one of the others, one of the other references to leaven, he mentions the leaven of the Pharisee with another. Verse fifteen and chapter eight in Mark. He charged them saying, Take heed, beware. Beloved, may I emphasize, if I don't do anything more than this, may I emphasize the word beware. Be on your guard. Take heed, be on your guard of the leaven of the Pharisee and of the leaven of Herod. There were three particular leavens the Lord Jesus mentioned. The leaven of the Pharisee, the leaven of the Sadducee, and then the leaven of Herod.
The leaven of the Pharisee, apocrysy and legality. The leaven of the Sadducee, unsound doctrine, doctrinal evil. The leaven of Herod. What was that? Well, I'm sure you can recognize that figure. The leaven of worldliness. Herod was the man of the world. And the leaven of worldliness is another danger that the church of God takes, that the believer takes. The leaven of worldliness? Read one scripture with me. I'll quote others, but I want you to read one. First Corinthians chapter ten. First Corinthians chapter ten. If you were to read this first epistle of Corinthians and the tenth chapter, I believe with all earnestness that the tenth chapter of first Corinthians has to do with the great subject of fellowship.
Fellowship with God, fellowship with Christ, as well as with one another. And as you go all the way down the chapter, you have the application of this precious truth. But reading with me, please, only verse twenty and twenty-one. I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice the demons, not devils. There's one devil, but many demons, and the word should be demons. They sacrifice the demons and not to God. I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.
Now, beloved, please don't forget that your place in mine every day, not just on the Lord's day, but every day is at the Lord's table. Jesus, I'll prepare us a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. And the Lord has spread for all of his people dangling a feast. That feast is to be communion and establish it with him day after day. month after month, year after year. But in this scene where you and I pilgrimage, there's another table, the table of the world.
Back of that table, Satan and all of his hosts, For me, I quote what John said in First John, too. Love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust may offer, he that doeth the will of God, abideeth forever. Beloved, there's the leaven of worldliness. all the joy of knowing, this world is not my home.
I'm just a passing fool. Now you couple them all together. The leaven of the Pharisees, legalism and hypocrisy, the leaven of the Sadducee, doctrinal evil, the leaven of Herod, worldly evil, worldly things. Beloved, look, they foil the peace. We cannot enjoy communion with God when there's leaven in the life and leaven in the testament. Now go back to the book of Exodus please. Chapter twelve. I want you to note something that the principle that's found in this twelve chapter of the book of the Exodus when God instituted the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.
Chapter twelve in the book of Exodus I want to read in verse fifteen and verse nineteen and twenty. Verse fifteen first. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. Go to verse nineteen. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your house. Verse twenty, ye shall eat not the leaven. Now beloved me, I suggest. For those seven days, that was the duration of this week. For those seven days, God said for the whole period, leaven should be out.
Leaven should be out of their homes. Leaven should not be found within. Beloved, I think that you could realize, and let's take it to our heart and to our conscience, that the whole period of the believer's life should be the enjoyment of a fellowship with God as far as we possibly can by His grace in unbroken communion and seek the absence of sin and leaven to become our lives. Let me quote John's words. Don't minimize them. I know we have indwelling sin. Let me quote what John says. First John two, verse one.
My little children, These things right I unto you, that Jesus, sin not. And thank God for the provision, if we do. But please, don't lower the standard that morally, doctrinally, leaven should be absent from the divine testimony of each life, each believer's life. Now let's close with the reference to First Corinthians chapter five. Back again to First Corinthians, chapter five. Oh, that we might have the complete signification of a believer's life from conversion to God until his death to be a continuous fellowship and communion in holiness to the Lord.
Beloved, what a life. What a life of fellowship. We sing some old hymns such as the one I think of right now. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arm. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arm. Beloved, you and I know, and we contested with shame, too often that fellowship becomes broken. The relationship can never be destroyed, thank God. But the fellowship may be broken and needs to be restored. But let's go back and get the application. Verse eight, first Corinthians five. Therefore let us keep the feast.
What do you mean? Well, it's not the feast of unleavened bread, literally. As you have here, though the reference to that feast is given. Let us keep the feast. May I point out to you, note the chart feast. The title of this subject in the book of Leviticus chapter twenty three, the Feast of Jehovah or the Feast of the Lord. These were times for enjoyment and fellowship and communion and occasions of happy, holy convocation with Jehovah. And then I say very quietly, you can have no greater times and no better times than when you're enjoying the Lord.
Paul said, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say unto you, rejoice. Then I ask you a question. My fellow believer, how much of you and I are enjoying God? Nothing sad about the experience. Paul could say, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say unto you, rejoice. And beloved me, I suggest to you, please don't be satisfied with a checkered life of testimony. One time up, next time down. But realize these were to be occasions long ago in Israel of joy, fellowship, communion with God.
He enjoys people. They enjoy Him. That's why they were called peace. Peace. I don't know anything sad about a thief, according to the meaning of the word. When you look at him in the light of God's blessing, and may I say, from your conversion to your death, I hope you're having a good faith in the enjoyment of the Lord. Now know what Paul says. Therefore let us keep the thief, not with old leaven. neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Oh, beloved, feeding upon Christ day after day, every day in His precious word, and in fellowship with Him in prayer, feeding the seed with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and in the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, dead sufficiency for us. Please may I note with you as we close, the portion of the Israelites, how similar for the believer. First, shouted and protected by the blood of the Pasha land, shouted by the blood of the land, and then, second, feeding upon the roasted land.
What a picture for you and for me. And then third, You may remember last night at the close of the Passover Wednesday, we found that God said they should keep the feast in haste with their long girded ready for travel. Their feet, not only for travel, may I point out something to you, the longed girded not only meant ready for travel, but meant particularly ready for service. For when the servant began his work, The flowing gown and robe that he wore would be a handicap to spur with eagerness and alacrity.
And the loins were girded. The robe was girded around his loins that he might be active and capable in his service. And what a joy to realize. The loins, the loins girded. Peter said, gird up the loins of your mind. And how important, intense preparation and readiness to serve the Lord. And then sharp feet prepared to leave at any second. And then a staff in their hands, the emblem of a pilgrim people looking for their help outside themselves. And here's the picture for you and for me.
We're redeemed by the blood. We feast upon the land. Our loins are girded to serve Him. Our feet shone for us ready to leave at any moment. You know, it's a wonderful thing to be ready to leave at any moment, this place. To leave this world. And yet leaning upon a help outside of ourselves. Leaning upon the divine provision of His word. Our staff in our hands. Because we're a pilgrim here. But. keeping that peace with the unleavened grain of sincerity and truth.
Beloved, I remember an old hymn, I don't know where I could find it, but I remember that whole insane, that hymn saying that whatever the evil ones that one had, sometimes behind the door, on the shelf, throwing up, throwing up, and God help you with me, Take the words of God to our hearts and conscience tonight. That evil, where the moral, where the dark is now. Put it away. Lay it aside. Further down. The old one. Mine, when you think of a revival, I think it's the sanctity of you.
Surely. God help us. And not to forget, even. that though it's a piece of long ago that is in Israel, it has a New Testament application, for these things were written aforetime for our learning.