Now let’s continue on in Romans 7 and let’s pick it up here in verse 16: “But if I am not doing what I do not desire to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So then, I am no longer working it out myself; rather, it is sin that is dwelling within me…” The sin within. And that’s what we all need to overcome on an individual basis. Verse 18: “…Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is, within my fleshly being—any good…” This body is going to corrupt. We’re all going to die. No good. That which is eternally and spiritually and lastingly good cannot come from the human flesh. It cannot come from the human mind. It must come from the Spirit of God. And that is, as we will see, the true unleavening agent.

“Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is, within my fleshly being—any good [thing]. For the desire to do good is present within me…” All the good intentions in the world. And what is the famous saying? “The way to hell is paved with good intentions,” right? Yes indeed. He had the good intentions: “…but how to work out that which is good, I do not find.” Now a testimony to the fact that this is a true statement, look at all the religions in the world which try and have some way so people can do good. And it always ends up in corruption. Why? Because they don’t understand the principal thing, which is this: sin is within.

Now verse 19: “For the good that I desire to do, I am not doing; but the evil that I do not desire to do, this I am doing. But if I do what I do not desire to do, I am no longer working it out myself, but sin that is dwelling within me. Consequently, I find this law in my members, that when I desire to do good, evil is present with me.” Now let’s see how he describes it: “But I see another law within my own members, warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin that is within my own members.” The sin within. How is that going to be overcome? By what way is it going to be overcome? We’ll see in just a minute. It will be through Christ and Christ alone. So he says, verse 24: “O what a wretched man I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death? I thank God for His salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, on the one hand, I myself serve the law of God with my mind; but on the other hand, with the flesh, I serve the law of sin” (Rom. 7:16-21, 23-25, FV), that is, when he does the things that he doesn’t want to do.

Now how then is this solved? Let’s come back to Romans 6 and let’s see how the sin within, what the solution is. Let’s come back, we’ll begin in verse 1: “What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE! We who died to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?” Now how did we die to sin? By baptism, by entering into covenant with Jesus Christ. That’s how we died to sin, that we no longer live unto sin. Now let’s see how Paul explains it here, verse 3: “Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?” Now what was the death of Jesus Christ for? It was for the remission of sins. That’s why He died. And then He was raised, that through the operation of God, now with Christ at the right hand of God as our High Priest, that we may receive justification from our sins through the forgiveness that comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon our repentance.

Now let’s notice this a little bit more. “Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him by baptism into death…” Now let me give you the literal translation of it in the Greek, which, since we had this printing of the New Testament done we have corrected it, so you can put this in your margin. And it will now read that, “…we were buried with Him through the baptism…” because there’s only one, “…into the death…” That is, the very death that Jesus Christ took upon Himself. Now this is why we enter into covenant. When we are baptized, that is the covenant death of our old self, just like the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the covenant death to bring forgiveness of sin through His perfect sacrifice. And this, as we have seen, goes all the way back to Abraham when He made the promises to Abraham. This is the covenant death that we are conjoined to, as we will see here in just a minute.

“Therefore, we were buried with Him through the baptism into the death; so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death…” All your sins have been taken and conjoined with the death of Jesus Christ, Who was the sin offering for the world, the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Now that’s a tremendous thing. This is an individual thing. This is why Jesus Christ is your personal Savior, my personal Savior. But it has to be done according to the way that God has shown, because there are many counterfeits out there in the world. And Protestantism, though it has some understanding of the Word of God, is worshiping God in the wrong way at the wrong time on the wrong day, and does not understand about baptism. Some have baptism, but they don’t understand the real meaning of baptism, and they are worshiping a false Christ. That’s to say nothing of Catholicism and the rest of the other religions in the world. Because, as we’ve already covered, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and there is no other way! That’s what it’s talking about here.

And when it comes to the forgiveness of your sins, when it comes to fighting the sin within, it must be according to God’s way. And the way that we walk after baptism is in newness of life, as he describes here: “For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection.” That is the promise – eternal life. “Knowing this, that our old man was co-crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed…” Now this shows it’s a process: “…so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin…” It doesn’t say we won’t sin. We already saw where Paul said that the law of sin and death was in him. And we will see how God looks at us because that is there. But now when we have repented and have been baptized into the death of Jesus Christ, being conjoined to His death and co-crucified with Him, and receive the Holy Spirit, now then we are no longer going to be enslaved to sin, and we start the process of destroying the body of sin within.

Now verse 7: “…Because the one who has died [in water baptism] to sin has been justified from sin.” You are put in right standing with God. That’s why we are given the promise that if we confess our sins He will forgive our sins because the ongoing grace is needed, because we are overcoming the sin within. “Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has any dominion over Him. For when He died, He died unto sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives unto God.” Now then here’s the parallel. Here’s what we need to follow: “In the same way also, you should indeed reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Here is the key, verse 12: “Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof.”

Now with the power of the Holy Spirit of God, we don’t have to obey the sin that is within. We don’t have to yield to the lust. Now it takes time for us to grow in the grace and the power of God’s Holy Spirit to overcome. As we’ll see, it is a process. If we put sin out, we are going to see, we have to put in righteousness. And Paul tells us how to do that. Let’s continue on here in verse 13: “Likewise, do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin…” Do not yield to it. Have a choice. It is a mental process. As Paul said, bringing every thought into the captivity, to the obedience of Christ. That’s how you don’t yield to it. “…Rather, yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” That’s how we are to live. Verse 14: “For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under law, but under grace.”

God’s grace is there. It is like an umbrella, with God’s Spirit to give us His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness, His love, and all of this. We’ll see this in just a minute. Verse 15: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE! Don’t you realize…” Now Paul is getting very specific here, and we need to understand this too: “…that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:1-16, FV). Now we can chose not to sin. When we are under temptation, it becomes difficult. But again, if we slip and fall Christ is there to help us and lift us up.

Now let’s come back to Romans 5 and let’s see our standing before God, and let’s see how this grace works in our lives. And let’s se how the process of overcoming and getting rid of the sin within takes place. This will see the starting of it. Verse 1: “Therefore, having been justified by faith…” because we believe in the sacrifice of Christ, we have been baptized, we have kept the Passover, “…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand…” Now you can’t see it, but the lights used for this video, there are two umbrellas which reflect the light in a moderate way to light up the one who is speaking; in this case, me. And as I look at those two umbrellas, it reminds me that the grace of God that we are under is like standing under a huge umbrella, with God’s blessing, with God’s mercy, with God’s protection, with His angels about us; with access to God the Father through Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; with access to grow in grace and knowledge through the circumstances in our lives, and as we study and pray, and all of these things together.

So we stand in this grace: “…and we ourselves boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Because the ultimate is to be in the Kingdom of God, to attain to the resurrection of the dead. And as Paul said, that he did everything within his might and power and strength, through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, to attain to the resurrection of the dead. That’s the hope of the glory of God. “And not only this…” Because if you have that goal, and you have the overall knowledge and understanding and you keep it focused in your mind that that’s where you’re headed, then you can handle the difficulties and problems which come from without as well as within. “And not only this, but we also boast in tribulations [that is, trials and difficulties], realizing that tribulation brings forth endurance…” Are you really going to obey God in all circumstances whether it is easy or whether it is difficult? That’s what it’s talking about here. “…And endurance brings forth character…” And character is what God is molding within us – His very character, His very love, to replace the sin within. “…And character brings forth hope. And the hope of God never makes us ashamed because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us” (Rom. 5:1-5, FV). Now that’s a tremendous thing to understand.

Let’s take one more look here as how God looks at us even when we are overcoming and trying to overcome the sin within. Does God condemn us? No, as long as we repent there is no condemnation. As long as we are in Christ there is no condemnation. Now let’s come here to Romans 8:1, where Paul said that the salvation of this sin within was going to come through Jesus Christ. Now because we are human and we have the weakness of flesh, how does God look at us? Well, He doesn’t knock us down every time we sin, does He? No, but He gives us conviction of conscience that we need to repent of sin, doesn’t He? Yes.

“Consequently, there is now no condemnation…” as compared to what it was when we were still, as it were, the descendents of Adam rather than the descendents of Christ, “…to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit…” You are led by the Spirit. You want to do the things of the Spirit. You want to obey God and love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being. There is no condemnation to you. “Because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered me from the law of sin and death.” You are delivered from it. It hasn’t been removed, but you have deliverance from it. In other words, you can be saved from it. Here’s why, verse 3: “For what was impossible for the law to do…” Now let’s understand something here very important: no law can forgive any sin. Law defines sin. That’s all law can do, transgression of which results in death.

“For what was impossible for the law to do in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh…” That’s why we always need to look to Jesus Christ. We always need to look to the sacrifice of Christ. Through that alone can we become unleavened; through that alone can we fight and overcome the sin within. Now notice, the reason is because when we fight the sin within and we overcome the sin within: “…In order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit…” (Rom. 8:1-4, FV). So that’s what God is doing here.

Now let’s see how this is done. There is a way to do it. Let’s come to Colossians 1. Now let’s see what God has provided for us, how He has provided for us, and how we need to respond to God, and what He is going to give us to enable us to overcome the sin within. And this is fantastic, brethren. This is all part of becoming converted. And conversion is a process, which takes place over a period of time and throughout our lives.

Let’s begin in Colossians 1:9: “For this cause we also, from the day that we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding…” So when we purge the old leaven out we have to put something in. What we put in is “…the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you may walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work…” Why? Because you are replacing the sin within with the Spirit of God, the characteristics of God, the love of God, the obedience of God, so that you are fruitful in every good work. Now notice: “…and growing in the knowledge of God…”

That’s what God wants us to have. That’s why we study. That’s why we pray. That’s why we have the Sabbath every week, because it is the appointed time where God places His presence so that we can learn of Him through His Word and the Holy Spirit. And that’s how we need to prepare for the Sabbath. That’s how I prepare for the Sabbath. Every single sermon that I do is new. I never go back and get any old sermon and say, “Ok, we’ll dust this off and give it.” Now we cover some of the same things, but it is all new. Because every year the circumstances have changed. Every year we have grown and overcome. Every year we still have sins left that we need to overcome. That’s why we have to be growing in the knowledge of God continuously. This is the knowledge of the Eternal God. So regardless of how long we live in the flesh we are never going to understand everything we need to learn from the Word of God about the knowledge of God, because it comes in line upon line, and precept upon precept, and through living and experiencing and falling down and asking God to pick us up and go on, and so forth.

Now verse 11: “Being strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father, Who has made us qualified for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light…” Now I want you to notice verse 13. This is very important, because it has to do with how God is dealing with us. “…Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness [from the control of Satan the devil] and has transferred us unto the kingdom of the Son of His love…” Now then we are under the jurisdiction of God the Father and Jesus Christ, Who is the King, Who is going to bring the kingdom when He comes, and we will become part of that Kingdom of God with an inheritance when Christ returns.

Now notice verse 14: “…In Whom we have redemption through His own blood, even the remission of sins…” Now that is something. And then he shows how that Christ is greater than all, above all. And through all of this, then, here is what God wants to do with us. Let’s come down to verse 20: “…And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in heaven. For you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works; but now He has reconciled you…” We can overcome the sin within. That’s what we need to understand. With the very mind of Christ, as he says here in just a minute which we will see. But now, it says here: “…In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unimpeachable before Him; if [there’s always an ‘if’] indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was proclaimed in all the creation that is under heaven; of which I, Paul, became a servant.”

Then he says here in verse 26: “…even the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to His saints…” Now if you understand what we’re talking about here, it is a special revelation that God gives through His Holy Spirit and His Word so that we understand the great and grand and glorious plan of God. “…To whom God did will [by God’s will, by God’s calling] to make known [to you, to me, to all that He calls] what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…” (Col. 1:9-14, 20-23, 26-27, FV). So what God is going to do in getting rid of the sin within is to replace it with Christ in us. And as Paul says in Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus…” Now we’ll see how we do that in just a minute.

Let’s come to Hebrews 12:1, and let’s see how we combat and fight the sin within. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great throng of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight [every care, every problem, every difficulty, everything that comes along to cause us difficulties and problems] and the sin that so easily entraps us [that’s the sin within]; and let us run the race set before us with endurance…” And here’s how to do it. This is why we pray every day. This is why we study every day. This is why Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. This is why we are told to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Here’s how we overcome the sin within: “…Having our minds fixed on Jesus, the Beginner and Finisher of our faith…” And look at His example for what He did for us. Look at what He endured for us. Look at what He went through for us: “…Who for the joy that lay ahead of Him endured the cross, although He despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” as our High Priest, as our Intercessor.

Verse 3: “Now meditate deeply on Him Who endured such great hostility of sinners against Himself so that you do not become weary and faint in your minds.” Give up. You say, “Oh, it’s too hard. Oh, God expects too much.” Verse 4: “You have not yet resisted to the point of losing blood in your struggle against sin” (Heb. 12:1-4, FV).

Now let’s come back to Colossians 3, and we will see how to get rid of the sin within. You have to repent and put it out, you have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and you have to let God put His character in you through the power of His Holy Spirit. That’s why it says, “Purge out the old leaven.” Get rid of the old sin. Yes, absolutely. But we are now to put in the righteousness of Christ. And that’s what Colossians 3 is all about. So let’s go there and begin right in verse 1.

“Therefore, if you have been raised together with Christ [that is, through the operation of baptism, as we saw in Romans 6], seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your affection on the things that are above, and not on the things that are on the earth.” God will take care of all those things for us, won’t He? What did Jesus say? He said, “Don’t be anxious about what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to wear, where you’re going to live,” and all these things. If you are setting your affections on the things that are above God will bless you, God will open the door; God will provide, provided you get out there and do the work that God expects you to do in your life. And He will.

It’s like the old saying, a person is looking for a job and he sits home waiting for it to come to him. It won’t come to him. He has to go get it. So likewise, if we are going to grow in grace and knowledge, and overcome in character, we have to go out and there do something. We have to not only repent of the sin within, but we have to put in the character of God to replace it so that we have the mind of Christ, that we can love God and do the things that He wants.

Verse 3: “For you have died, and your life has been hid together with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, is manifested, then you also shall be manifested with Him in glory.” Here’s what we are to do: “Therefore, put to death [by seeing and recognizing the sin within] your members which are on earth—sexual immorality, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience [See, we are to be the children of obedience], among whom you also once walked, when you were living in these things.” We are to put those things completely away. Now today we have to fight radio, television, advertisements, movies; even walking through the checkout stand is almost like going through a semi-pornography experience when you see all of the stuff that is there. We have to put all of that out, not be tempted by any of those things. So we put them out.

Then he says here in verse 8: “But now, you should also put off all these things…” Changing bad character to good character. Getting rid of the sin within and putting righteousness within. So put off, put out, purge out: “…wrath, indignation, malice, blasphemy, and foul language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man together with his deeds [because the old man was buried in baptism], and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him Who created him…” (Col. 3:1-10, FV). So it is renewal. Let your mind be renewed.

Hold your place here and turn to Romans 12 and let’s see what Paul wrote to them about renewing. Because getting rid of the sin within with the conversion and character of God is having our minds renewed and transformed by the Spirit of God and the character things that he’s talking about here in Colossians 3. Now Paul wrote in Romans 12:1-2 (FV): “I exhort you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service. Do not conform yourselves to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in order that you may prove what is well pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God.” Now that’s how we do it. So he defines it back here in Colossians 3 a little more, how we need to put these things out.

So whatever your problems are – now if you want to make a list, that’s ok. But if you make a list of the problems and you forget them and don’t work on them, your list doesn’t do you any good. It’s just like an 8-hour seminar that we had one time. A man came in and said, “Here’s how you organize it. You organize it Priority A, Priority B, Priority C. And when you get done with Priority A, you move up a Priority B to A, and a C to B, and so forth.” Then he got all done after the 8 hours and he says, “Now I want to tell you a secret.” He says, “If you are motivated and you are focused on what you are doing, you won’t need anything that I have told you in this 8 hours because you will automatically do it.” And so we could apply this to what we have here in putting off the old man and being renewed.

Now notice, let’s read Colossians 3:10 again: “…And have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge…” It’s a constant process, from the day of conversion to the day of our death in faith. “…According to the image of Him Who created him…” We are being created in the image of Christ from within, the very mind of Christ – Christ in us, the hope of glory. Now verse 12: “Put on then, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, deep inner affections, kindness, humility, meekness and long-suffering…” These are all the characteristics of God and His love. Now it’s hard in the world that we are living in, but it can be done. “…Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another…”

And that’s a very key thing. Jesus said, “If you don’t forgive your brother, God is not going to forgive you your sins.” That’s why we need to be forgiving one another. “…If anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so also you should forgive. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Col. 3:10, 12, FV). That is the goal. We are to have the love of God deeply in us to guide us, to lead us, to help us. And we can overcome the sin within. And we can have it put away from us through repentance and prayer, and the cleansing and washing of the Holy Spirit of God, and the washing of the Word of God, so that Christ is created in us and we become a new man, a new woman, created in Christ Jesus.

Now there’s something else we need to do. I mentioned it here just a little bit earlier. Let’s pick it up in Philippians 3:8. When we are overcoming the sin within we need to put it away from us. We need to ask God to give us the righteousness of Christ and to put it away from us. Now let’s begin in Philippians 3:8: “But then truly [Paul is recounting here], I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung; that I may gain Christ…” Whatever it was in the world, what can that be compared to, to being a spirit-born son or daughter of God living in the Kingdom of God and having eternal life? It’s nothing but “…dung; that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is derived from law, but that righteous- ness which is by the faith of Christ [changing the sin within] — the righteousness of God that is based on faith…”

Now notice how Paul is applying to himself the same thing that we just read – focusing his mind on Christ, verse 10: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead…” It’s a process. That is the goal. He didn’t say, “Brethren, I already have it made. Now the rest of you down there, you better get with it.” He didn’t say that at all. He says: “…not as though I have already received, or have already been perfected; but I am striving, so that I may also lay hold on that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not count myself as having attained; but this one thing I do…” And this is the most important thing of overcoming the sin within: “…forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth to the things that are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” That is what we are to do.

Now notice verse 15: “So then, let as many as be perfect be of this mind. And if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal even this to you” (Phil. 3:8-15, FV). That’s why you recognize and see the sin within – God is revealing it to you so you can purge it out, so you can put in the character of God, so you can become like Christ. And that’s what Jesus meant when He said that we are to become as perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. And Paul has shown the way. That’s how we overcome the sin within.

---

Unleavened Bread – Day 1 – 2005

Scriptural Reference

1. Exodus 12:15-18

2. Leviticus 23:4-8

3. Deuteronomy 16:16-17

4. I Corinthians 5:6-8

5. Acts 3:19

6. Isaiah 55:6

7. Romans 3:9-19, 23-26, 31

8. Romans 5:6-11

9. Mark 7:21-23

10. Romans 5:12-17

11. Romans 7:7-21, 23-25

12. Romans 6:1-16

13. Romans 5:1-5

14. Romans 8:1-4

15. Colossians 1:9-14, 20-23, 26-27

16. Philippians 2:5

17. Hebrews 12:1-4

18. Colossians 3:1-10, 12

19. Romans 12:1-2

20. Philippians 3:8-15