Unleavened Bread 2007 – DAY 1

Greetings, brethren! Welcome to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Time marches on and here we are again with the spring Feast and everything that that means. I hope you had a wonderful Night to Be Much Observed last night and a wonderful Passover the night before. Every year when we come to these we need to understand the meaning of it. We need to learn of the things that God wants us to learn, and to understand His plan and to be perfected even more as we go on in our Christian walk and doing the things that we need to do.

Lev. 23 is the place in the Bible where God has put every one of the Holy Days, the Sabbath and the Passover and everything all combined right in this one chapter. This has been done as one of the ways that God has hidden the meaning of it from those who are in the world, because they don't like the commandments of God. They don't like:

• the Laws of God
• the Sabbath
• the Passover
• the Holy Days of God

In rejecting them, they reject the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His plan!

But we understand them. It gives us knowledge and understanding because we love God and keep His commandments. Just like it was said of Abraham: the promise was passed on to Isaac because Abraham 'obeyed My voice, kept My charge, My statutes, My commandments and My laws.' Abraham is 'the father of the faithful.'

As we know, the Holy Days, given in Lev. 23 are just the foundation and the letter of the Law. However, it goes beyond that. Now we have the whole Bible and God gives us the understanding and builds upon that the superstructure of the understanding of the Holy Days and so forth.

Leviticus 23:4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons…. [God built the Holy Days right into the very creation of heaven and earth] …In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD'S Passover" (vs 4-5).

We've already had that; and then we had the Night Much to Be Observed last night, which then commemorates the beginning of the coming out of Egypt, and begins the 15th day of the 1st month.

Verse 6: "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days."

The command for that is very simple: We just eat unleavened bread the way that God has said. That's our physical thing to do: to put leaven out of our homes and to eat unleavened bread! That's just a beginning, a foundational thing, but what this shows us is very simple: sin, which we have to overcome, is so easy!

• it is so commonplace
• it is there all the time
• it is almost like the air that's around us

That's why, with the Feast of Unleavened Bread we concentrate on getting out the leaven, which is a type of sin during this Feast. It shows we have to get sin out of our lives, but we cannot do that without the help and power and Spirit of God!

Just like the children of Israel could not be released from the bondage of their Egyptian slavery unless God led them out of it, neither can we be relieved of our slavery to sin! We're all slaves to sin!

• our human nature
• our carnal nature
• everything that there is about human beings

"…'You must eat unleavened bread seven days. On the first day you shall have a Holy convocation… [that's today] …You shall not do any servile work therein, but you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein'"(vs 6-8).

So, we'll focus in on this first Holy Day. We know that God says we're to bring an offering before Him 'according to the blessing which the Lord has given us' (Deut. 16). It's not just to look at the blessing of the physical things alone, but look at:

• the spiritual blessings
• the understanding that God has given you
• how God has dealt with your life
• how God has called you, dealt with you and is giving to you eternal life!

That's what is the important thing about it!

Also, with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we follow on from the Passover, and Jesus said the Passover—eating His flesh and drinking His blood—was to show that even as He lived by the Father, so those who eat His flesh and drink His blood shall live by Him! So, keep that in mind.

Also, keep in mind what the Apostle Paul said: 'He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly.' And if you want to reap bountifully, you sow bountifully.' That is physically and spiritually in attitude toward God in everything that you do!

(pause for offering)

• let's see what it means to be leavened
• let's understand the evil that human nature can get itself involved in
• let's understand the age in which we live
• let's realize, as Jesus said, 'as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.'

So, there are some parallels here for us!

We're going to take a look at human nature because human nature, the world and Satan the devil all combined together has had a powerful impact upon our lives!

God wants us to change. That's what the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is about. God wants us converted; God wants us to be spiritually-minded. But, in order to understand that, we have to realize the depths of human nature into which it will go. We're living in an age now where we are just inundated with sin in everything that there is.

Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…"—and it's multiplied over and over and over again today, far beyond what we ever thought of, because of everything that we have technologically, and everything that we have at our disposal and how Satan uses those; how he controls various things in the world to lead people into sin:

• to bring them into sin
• to derogate them
• to bring them down

That's what he did here: "…and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (v 5).

That's what human nature is. Even the good thoughts that people have from time-to-time are sin, because it rejects God! Yes, there are a lot of 'do-gooders' out there trying to do good, but they know nothing of God! or they reject God! That is still sinful. So, God proposes to take the sinful nature and change it and convert it. And that's a tremendous spiritual project.

• that's why it takes time
• that's why it's a lifetime
• that's why every year we keep the Passover, the Night to Be Much Observed, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then all of the rest of the Holy Days
  • to keep us mindful of the goal of what God has called us to
  • to keep us mindful of the plan that God has for us
    • so that we can go forward
    • so that we can change
    • so that we can have our heart and mind literally changed and converted

Verse 11: "Now the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence."

That's what we have today, and it comes right into our own homes through television and radio. This world is absolutely captured by Satan the devil who's deceiving it constantly—every day—continually reinforcing that deception!

God calls us out of it! Yet, the world has affected our minds; the world has affected how we think. How do we overcome that?

Verse 12: "And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt—for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, 'The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them.… [that's exactly what we have today] …And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth'" (vs 12-13).

Let's look at some other things concerning human nature. We have to fight and overcome it, but God gives us the power to do so. In order to understand what we are fighting, we need to understand about our own human nature and how it really, really is.

Jer. 10—here's what we have to admit before God in everything that we understand and do. That's why we have to have daily prayer. That's why we need to overcome the way that God wants us to overcome.

Here's the first point of conversion: you continually understand what God is doing; Jeremiah 10:23: "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps"—that is, properly.

Man of himself does not know how to live or what to do. Oh, there are few basic rudimentary things that people can do, that's true. That's all out there in the world. But to understand about God, to come to God, there's no way it can be done unless you come to God His way, on His terms and through Jesus Christ!

So, Jeremiah said, v 24: "O LORD, correct me…" He was talking about himself. Here's a very prophet of God who says, 'I don't know the way to go, Lord, correct me.'

"…but with judgment… [we can also add in there mercy] …not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing" (v 24).

Let's see what happens when people give themselves to evil. People give themselves over to it many, many different ways. How it comes so ingrained that it's almost impossible to change.

Jeremiah 17:1: "The sin of Judah is engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond; it is carved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars."

Verse 5: "Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD.'"

God has called us out of this! If you don't change, here's what's going to happen to those in the world, God guarantees it!

Verse 6: "For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters…" (vs 6-8).

There's the contrast. What God wants to see during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the contrast between His people and the world. Here's the contrast:

"…it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green; and he is not worried in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit" (v 8). That's what we are to do day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by-year:

• yield fruit
• grow
• overcome
• change
• become converted more and more

We're going to see how God is going to do that, and the way that He does it.

Verse 9: "The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately wicked: who can know it?" That's where we begin! This is describing a wholly leavened individual given over to sin! That's where we were out in the world. Where were you? I want you to think about:

• where you were
• what were you doing
• how your life was

Today the world is affected by drugs, by sex, by lying, cheating, stealing, violence, murder and death.

• Where were you in the world?
• What were you doing?
• How much of that is still in your mind?
• How much of that have you carried into your Christian walk?
• How much of that is still an inner sin that is there pulling you down?

Regardless of what the sin or obsession may be! There are millions:

• hooked on gambling
  • hooked on drugs
  • addicted to sex
  • addicted to porn
  • addicted to lying

• What was your life?
• Were you addicted to any of these things?
• Do you still go back to them?

or

• Are you overcoming them?

If you're overcoming them:

• What is the way to overcome?

We'll cover that today!

Verse 10: "I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."

The thing we need to understand with the Feast of Unleavened Bread is that God knows! You can fool some people. You can even fool yourself. But you can never fool God because God knows!

• He made you!
• He created you!
• He called you!

We also have to admit something else: We've all been Laodiceans from day one! In counseling with people in their sins, their marriage problems and their difficulties that they have in their lives, there are too many scars left in your mind and heart that you have carried into your walk with God! Now's the time you're going to have to work in getting rid of them. God is there to help you. We'll cover that and we'll see how that, that is done.

Something else concerning human kind. I remember talking to a person one time that was even kind of proud of his sin. I mentioned to that person, 'It seems like you're just totally obsessed with it. You really haven't repented of it, because you don't abhor it. Why do you sit there and talk to me with a smirk on your face in describing all the past history of your life and the lewdness that you have been in.'

It's very important that we understand this. We can't let these things of the past become something in the present. When we do and we don't repent of them; we kind of hold on and cling to them, and say, It's not really like the full-fledged sin used to be, so I'll kind of snuggle up to it, whatever it may be: whether it be drugs, gambling, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, lying.

All of those things are the vanity of the human flesh. That has to be why there's repentance. We're going to talk about repentance and being cleansed because that's the spiritual unleavening that comes from Christ; that's why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as the Apostle Paul said:

1-Corinthians 5:7: "Therefore, purge out the old leaven, so that you may become a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us." God wants us to get rid of the evil in our lives; that's why we keep the Feast. This is what God wants us to come to:

Psalm 39:4: "O LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how short lived I am."

God does that by giving us trials and difficulties. That's why when they come along, we need to yield to God. We need to yield to His way and take in of His Spirit and His righteousness. We need to ask God to help get these things out of our lives. That's the whole point of conversion. These things:

• destroy your life
• destroy your relationship with other people
• destroy your relationship as husbands and wives

I'm just telling you, if you've been divorced and remarried, you have a whole heap of stuff to overcome. That's just a fact! A lot of it is in the mind that you need removed, erased, changed and converted.

Verse 5—David began to understand: "Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth, and the span of my days is as nothing before You. Surely every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah." That's why God doesn't want us to drag it into our way of life with Him!

The Apostle John wrote: 'Love not the world. Nor the things in the world.'Laodiceans love it, because they're 'rich and increased in goods.' That's blinded their eyes to see the reality of human nature and their behavior, and how much they have drug into their walk with Christ. Christ is there, knocking on the door

• wanting to come in
• wanting the conversion
• wanting to help you change

Verse 6: "Surely every man walks about in a vain show! Surely they are in an uproar in vain.…" That's what happens! Look at the lives of all the people out there in the world:

• What are they doing?
• Where are they going?
• What is happening?

Watch television, look at all the news, look at all the crime. When you're watching television, you need to be mindful of what you're watching, because more and more of it's becoming pornographic, even just on the evening news. Satan has got his tentacles right out there reaching into the heart and mind and lives, and into the very being of human beings to deceive them and to lead them astray.

Verse 8: "Deliver me from all my transgressions… [let's have them erased from our mind] …make me not the reproach of the foolish."

Now let's see how God does this. Let's see something that Jesus said on the Passover night to His disciples. The great thing that we need to always understand and keep in mind is that God the Father and Jesus Christ:

• are for us
• are with us
• love us
• care for us

That's why the correction comes. That's why during the Feast of Unleavened Bread we put out the leaven, which tells us we are to put out the sin from our lives.

John 15:1—Jesus said: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit; but He cleanses each one that bears fruit, in order that it may bear more fruit" (vs 1-2). Cleanses comes from the Greek 'kathairo,'which is to purge. "…He cleanses each one that bears fruit…"

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are the Feasts to remind us that God alone can cleanse us from sins "…in order that it may bear more fruit." Here we have an ongoing process that God the Father is doing through Christ.

Verse 3: "You are already clean through the word that I have spoken to you."

Let's see how that works. We know that in relationship to foot-washing; if you wash the feet and renew the covenant, you are clean! Then you're also clean through the operation of the words that He has spoken. So, let's see how this comes together. Here's how God does it: It's through Jesus Christ!

Romans 3:23—It begins with Christ, v 23: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; but are being justified freely by His grace…" (vs 23-24).

God forgives us our sins when we repent. We're going to see there are levels of repentance that takes place.

"…through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… [that's why Christ came; this is talking about the Passover] …Whom God has openly manifested to be a propitiation through faith in His blood…" (vs 24-25).

Whenever you say, 'Lord forgive me' the blood of Jesus Christ has covered that, and 'the propitiation' means that it is a continuing source of forgiveness through the grace and mercy of God!

"…in order to demonstrate His righteousness… [meaning you have been justified, put in right standing with God] …in order to demonstrate His righteousness, in respect to the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; yes, to publicly declare His righteousness in the present time, that He might be just, and the One Who justifies the one who is of the faith of Jesus" (vs 25-26).

Then Paul goes ahead and makes it clear that it's not of ourselves, but it's through Christ, through the faith in Christ! That's what's so important. You have to continually have this:

• faith in Christ
• faith in the sacrifice
• faith in the blood
• faith in the operation of God

Verse 27: "Therefore, where is boasting?…." There's nothing you can do, it's all on God's part! Oh, we have our part, but our part surely is not the most powerful of it. No! It's God's part!

"…It is excluded. Through what law? The law of works? By no means! Rather, it is through a law of faith" (v 27).

• What is this law of faith?
• How does that operate?
• How is that possible?
• What does God do for us in the law of faith?

Now let's see something else that's connected with this. I want you to think about this:

Romans 8:2: "Because the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ…" This means the operation of the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of life in us, is how He cleanses us!

"…has delivered me… [justified me] …from the law of sin and death" (v 2).

God has justified us; God has made it possible. Let's see how this comes about, because there has to be repentance. That's why, as we went through the series on the Keys to Answered Prayer, that in the model prayer is: 'forgive us our sins,' when there is repentance. We've covered part of that, but now let's go into some other things concerning repentance, to see how God responds and how the application of the sacrifice of Christ is applied to us. There is a Godly repentance and there is a sorrow of the world!

2-Corinthians 7:10: "For sorrow unto repentance before God works out salvation not to be repented of… [you're not going to go back on it] …but the sorrow of the world works out death."

"…sorrow of the world…." and how the world does. I think a good example is: just watch what's going on in Washington, D.C., or any government in the world. Look at any religion in the world and see what they do. Oh, they've got their works that they do this, and do that and do the other thing. But that's not the sorrow of God!

Let's see the wrong kind of repentance and the "…sorrow of the world…" that Jesus likens to cleansing the outside.

Matthew 23:24: "Blind guides, who filter out a gnat, but swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish…" (vs 24-25). You look good outside, and isn't that what people do? Yes!

• look at Hollywood
• look at this world
• look at the rock stars, the rap stars
• look at all of the personas of the world

They make the outside clean, but when you really investigate their lives, what are they?

• they are miserable
• they are empty
• they are vain
• they are filled with sin
• they are driven by lust
• they are driven by every evil thing under the sun

How about a criminal who portrays himself as upright, and yet, at night he's a pedophile, and stalks little children? Everyone's so surprised. 'Why, he was an upstanding man.' or How about the murderer who escapes and re-establishes a new life and becomes a model citizen on the job and attends church every Sunday? Yes, just like the scribes and Pharisees!

"…For you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but within you are full of extortion and excess" (v 25).

• that's the sorrow of this world
• that's the repentance of this world

Verse 26: "Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may also become clean."

How do you cleanse the inside, first? That's where God wants it to be. God is there to help you, but you must have your part in it. Part of the thing of God's Holy Spirit, of having you go through trials, is for you to see and examine your own heart and mind! That's what we are to do before the Passover! We are to examine ourselves, and this is what it means.

Let's see what kind of repentance is required. It's a repentance that we might say comes in degree. Let's see part of what laws and commandments of God are to do for us. We'll talk about this a little bit later and how that is to help clean us up and give us right thinking.

Psa. 19—here's part of it; here's how you start cleaning the inside so that your mind, your heart and your thoughts, instead of being continually evil all the time. You can't go out there and:

• live in the world
• think like the world
• act like the world
• be like the world
• talk like the world
• live like the world

Sundown Friday comes and it's the Sabbath, and now you're righteous on the Sabbath. Are you really?

Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul…"

We're going to see that's part of the cleansing that comes from God. There is a cleansing that comes with repentance. The Laws of God are what tells us what sin is. That's why we have to have them written in our heart and our mind, which is part of the cleansing.

"…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes…. [that you have that in perspective] …The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever…" (vs 7-9).

• Do you fear to sin?

or

• Do you just let it come to you?
• What is it?
• What is it that we do?
• How are our lives?

It's why we need to love God, and fear God, and not transgress, because we have to come from the point of continually evil all the time. Every thought and every imagination of the heart, to where we come to the point of:

• loving God
• serving God
• having God's Spirit

to strengthen us and to help us overcome. It is a battle!

"…the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold…" (vs 9-10). Is that how you approach overcoming, like you're looking for gold?

I just bet if someone told you there was a million dollars worth of gold under the floor of your house and all you had to do is get a jackhammer and dig out in this spot, get rid of the slab, dig down there twenty feet, and you'd find it. I'd bet you'd have a jackhammer in no time. I bet you'd pull the carpet up and start hammering down there and digging down there because that's what you want.

Is that how much you want God's way? Think of it! Do we really want to be cleansed? or Do we want to be cleansed a little bit here, and little bit there and say, 'Oh, this sin is not so bad, so I'll keep it.'

Verse 11: "Moreover, by them Your servant is warned…" That's why we need to study, so that we get the warnings from the Word of God and that we get the hope and the inspiration from the Word of God!

"…in keeping them there is great reward" (v 11).

Protestants don't know anything; they really don't know anything! The little that they know is now being taken away from them, true to the words of Jesus. They say, you don't have to keep them. So, what are they automatically doing by saying that is depriving people of great rewards and great blessings!

Verse 12—here's where you need to begin: "Who can understand his errors? Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults."

• What are your secret faults?
• What are your secret sins?
• Have you confessed those to God?
• Have you gone before God the Father and asked forgiveness for it and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ applied to you?

"…cleanse me from my secret faults." That's what we're going to talk about today.

Verse 13: "And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me…"

That's what it says in Rom, 6, 'sin shall not rule over you,' if you are Christ's! But:

• if you drag in the sin again
• if you haven't been cleansed from within
• if you haven't had these things forgiven because you haven't repented

then you are in deep trouble!

You're always going to find that it's going to be most difficult to make progress and overcome because you're clinging to those sins. You haven't repented of those sins. You haven't asked God to cleanse you from your sins. Rather:

• you hold onto them
• you snuggle up to them
• you think these are not quite so bad

Well, you need to take another look!

Psalm 51 is when David repented of his affair with Bathsheba, and killing her husband, Uriah the Hittite. What were the circumstances involved? You know the account. David was on the roof and down below was Uriah the Hittite's house. On the roof down below, where David could see, was Bathsheba. David said, 'Well, that looks good.' A little bit of pornography! 'I'm king, I can do what I want. Boy, she's a good looking woman.'
Zadok the servant went over there and said, 'The king would like you to have dinner with him.' And Bathsheba didn't have to bathe on the top of the roof. Could it be that she knew that the king was going to see her? She must have wanted something, otherwise why would she go and have dinner with the king? I wonder if they saw each other in the eyes; looked at each other in the eyes, and both of them thought: Wow! This is quite a deal! A lot of people have that today. A little lying, a little stealing, a little gambling, a little drugs, a little pornography, whatever it may be, 'God will understand.'

David probably figured that God will understand. It must have been at a time when he wasn't praying and studying the way he ought to. Then Nathan had to come and tell him that, 'David, you're the man. You did this!' You know the penalty that came upon David's house even after he repented. He had strife and trouble in his household the rest of his life, because he despised the commandment of God.

David was close to committing the unpardonable sin because he knew better! In his house he had a special place, with a special little tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was. In that section of the house, he had the Levites—Asaph and Nathan and the other Levites there—tending to the Ark. David would go sing and pray before God, and God even promised him that his son would build a temple. God even promised him that He would build a dynasty for him, rather than he building a house for God, that he would never ever lack for a man to sit on his throne. That's why it says, 'he despised the commandment of God.'

God said to him, 'You know, I've given you the kingdom of Judah and Israel and all the wealth and glory of it, and the wives of Saul and so forth. I've put them into your hand.' Furthermore, if that wouldn't have been enough, thus and such would I also have done. Why did you do this?'

What I want you to do is think about in your life, and I'll think about in my life:

• What is it that I have that I need to change?
• What is it that you have that you need to change?

The secret inward sins that you alone know, and that GOD KNOWS! That has to be cleansed from the inside!

Psalm 51:1—so David finally came to himself and repented and said: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions"—which God does!

Psalm 103 says that 'our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west.' God told David, 'Yes, your sin has been put away.'

David knew there was something else that needed to be done. He knew that something was radically wrong with his way of thinking that to have all of this come about:

• he would plan it
• he would plot it
• he would do it
• he would connive for the murder of Uriah the Hittite
• he would steal Uriah's wife
• he would commit adultery with her

and somehow think he was okay!

No! Something went wrong in his mind, and that's what needed to be changed. So he says:

Psalm 51:2: "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity… [there needs to be cleansing. Whatever your sins are there needs to be a cleansing] …and cleanse me from my sin."

But here's what you have to do: God is not going to do it without your active participation in repentance to Him! It isn't going to happen any other way. So, you have to go to God. You have to acknowledge it, just like David did here:

Verse 3: "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me."

When you really don't repent and you're not clean inside, your sin is always there, coming before you and coming back again and again. God wants that changed! He shows how it can be changed.

Here's something you also need to understand and remember: Every sin against the commandments, though someone else is involved, is against God, because He gave the Law, and He defined what sin is! So, David acknowledges that.

Verse 4: "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be in the right when You judge."

God is always right! Never forget that. God is always right! David began to see the depths of his evil human nature. This is what we need to do:

• whatever the sin
• whatever the trouble
• whatever the problem
• whatever the trial

Begin to see the depth of it! A lot of sin comes along and looks good, sounds good, feels good, and it's so right in the eyes of a human being. But remember this: there is a way that seems right unto a man, and the ends thereof are the ways of death!

David began to understand the depths of his human nature, and how that the sin comes from within, just like Jesus said, 'From within comes sin, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blaspheme, murder, pride'—all of that comes from within! It's inherent in us! But God has called us to overcome it, though it's inherent within us, so that we learn the lesson that sin does not pay! We learn the lesson that as eternal beings we must not and will not sin. We must learn that lesson now while we're in the flesh. And we must have that cleansed from us now, while we have time and opportunity!

Verse 5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." It wasn't in an adulterous relation! Sin is a very part of our being, from conception. That's what he was admitting. That's the 'law of sin and death'!

Here's what God wants. This is why we need this deep repentance. This is repenting with all your mind, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your being before God, and see yourself the way God sees you.

• so that you can be cleansed
• so that you can be changed
• so that you can be converted

Here's the requirement, v 6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts …" You get rid of human nature with Truth. You overcome it with Truth. The Truth is the Word of God. The first place that Truth begins is acknowledging what you are: your sins, your nature and your secret faults! That you're honest and truthful with God with that!

"…and in the hidden part…" (v 6)—that part that no one knows but you and God! That part where all lust, envy, jealousy, greed, murder, hate and everything contrary to the Word of God is hidden in the mind! That needs to be cleansed.

"…and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom" (v 6). This is what has to happen: We've got to go before God and do the same as David did here:

Verse 7 "Purge me… [that's part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread] …with hyssop… [just like a great scouring pad] …and I shall be clean…"—because He wants us to be clean! Jesus said, 'You are clean through the words that I have spoken.' So, He wants us clean.

"…wash me… [we're going to see how the washing takes place] …and I shall be whiter than snow" (v 7).

• then there's recovery
• then there is change
• then there is relief
• then there is the release of the burden of the guilt

which God gives when you do that!

Verse 8: "Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones, which You have broken, may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities" (vs 8-9). Now the spiritual work can begin!

I am sure that there are many who attend the Church of God who have never really come to this level of repentance. They're only kidding themselves and playing church! You need to think on that.

Verse 10—here's the real work: "Create in me a clean heart, O God…"

After all David did, he really needed to have a clean heart created in him. That's what God wants to do with every one of us. Create a clean heart in you, in me and in all of God's people. That's why we have the Passover and Unleavened Bread.

"…and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (v 10).

• right attitude
• right heart
• right mind
• right thinking

And let these things be scrubbed from your brain! Some people might mock and say that's brainwashing. Well, all these wicked brains out there need to be washed.

Verse 11: "Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me."

David was on the verge of committing the unpardonable sin if he had not repented! That's the kind of repentance that we need.

Verse 12: "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and let Your free spirit uphold me." Just like it says, 'Get the beam out of your eye.'

Verse 14: "Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood, O God, O God of my salvation, then my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O LORD, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise… [in other words, let God direct your thoughts and your speech] …for You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offering" (vs 14-16).

Here's the sacrifice that God wants. This is the key to the cleansing of your heart and your mind and erasing these hidden, deep, secret sins that you know that you have, that I know that I have, and every human being does.

Verse 17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." He will honor that!

Psalm 119:9: "With what shall a young man cleanse his way?…, [young woman, young man, old woman, old man] …By taking heed according to Your Word."

You can't do it yourself; you need to be cleansed from within by the Spirit of God and the Word of God!

Verse 10: "With all my heart I have sought You…" That's another aspect of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that we are wholehearted!We're not divided with leaven and sin away from God. We're wholehearted toward God, and with this kind of repentance there can come the true love of God. The true understanding of:

• His mercy
• His goodness
• His grace
• His kindness
• His forgiveness

2-Cor. 6 is a very, very important section for us to understand, and to realize:

• what we are doing
• how God deals with us
• what He expects from us
• what we are to do
• how we are to do it

Notice what Paul is saying. I want you think about it in relationship to your life. I'll think about it in relationship to my life.

2-Corinthians 6:11: "O you Corinthians! Our mouths have been opened to you, and our hearts have been enlarged toward you. You are not suppressed by us, but you are restricted in your own hearts" (vs 11-12).

Isn't that something? That was their attitude toward tithing that he's talking about here. That also applies with sin! If we carry sins in our heart and mind we are restricted in our heart. We don't want to be wholehearted toward God in the things that we do. We are afraid because we still have these sins. Instead of repenting, you think you can work it out.

Listen, the only way you're going to work out sin is if you go to God. You're never going to work your way out of sin yourself. If you think you can, then you're actually denying the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To work your way out you have to come to God in repentance first!

Verse 14: "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common?…."

Haven't we seen that happen with the Church of God that went out to the Protestants and said, 'Oh, how do you worship Jesus?' Not understanding that they had a false Jesus—their lawlessness was the 'spirit of antichrist.'

"…And what fellowship does light have with darkness?" You need to have these things just like Paul was talking about here; a clear definition of the hidden, secret sins in our mind. We need to have a clear definition to get rid of them, to have them cleansed and purged!

Verse 15: "And what union does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement is there between a temple of God…. [we are the temple of God] …and idols? For you are a temple of the living God, exactly as God said: 'I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people'" (vs 15-16).

• Why should He have to fight us?
• Why should He have to be on the outside, knocking, trying and get in?

Verse 17: "'Therefore, come out from the midst of them and be separate'… [repentance] …says the Lord, 'and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you; and I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty" (vs 17-18).

2-Corinthians 7:1: "Now then, beloved, since we have these promises, we should purge ourselves… [we have our part to do; God has His part to do] …from every defilement of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God."

Let's see how this ties in with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, of purging and cleansing.

1-Corinthians 5:6: "Your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

• that's why the secret, hidden sins within must be cleansed
• that's why our heart must be cleansed
• that's why our mind must be cleansed

We must have a renewing of our mind by the Spirit of God and cleansing and the washing of the water by the Word! That is what cleanses and purges!

Verse 7: "Therefore, purge out the old leaven… [the sin; not only unleaven your homes and everything like that] …so that you may become a new lump, even as you are unleavened…."

Putting leaven out of your homes, but not putting sin out of your lives is futile. You haven't learned anything. Sooner or later you'll come to the place—like some of the Churches of God have done in their sin—and say that you don't have to eat unleavened bread during the days of Unleavened Bread, which is an oxymoron and total absolute stupidity when you think of it!

'So we have on the table for those who want leavened bread. We have cake and we have rolls and we have all these good things. For you who want unleavened bread, it's over here.'

That is uniting with unbelievers!

"…so that you may become a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.For this reason, 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" (vs 7-8). We're to purge it out as Paul said! Let's see how we do it. We've already covered repentance in spite of our sins:

• because God is good and merciful and gracious and righteous and loves us
• because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is there
• because He wants us to repent and be cleansed within

He's offered the way to Christ, through repentance!

1-John 1:6: "If we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him… [that's what we're doing if we're coming to Church, yet, living in sin, whatever the sin may be] …but we are walking in the darkness…"—if you're living in sin! And if you're letting these secret sins:

• obsess you
• possess you
• motivate you
• use you

you're walking in darkness!

"…we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the Truth. However, if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin" (v 6-7).

That's a promise, and part of your repentance and part of your prayer in going before God to be cleansed inside, to get rid of and purge out the leaven that is within, you claim this promise that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!

Verse 8: "If we say that we do not have sin… [in other words, just because it's hidden and no one knows it, and you proclaim you don't have sin] …we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our own sins…" (vs 8-9). We confess them to the Father and we confess them to Jesus Christ!

As we see in The Keys to Answered Prayer: every single day, God will help you to understand the depths of human nature. Just like David had to come to see. There is a progressively deeper repentance that you experience as you recognize and understand sin in your life more, and repent of it. Then you come to repenting of your vanity and the very motivation of your being as a carnal human being. Then you realize the great love of God.

Verse 9: "If we confess our own sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us" (vs 9-10).

1-John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin…. [sin can be eliminated in a progressive way IF you follow what we have covered here] …And yet, if anyone does sin…"—because we have the law of sin and death in us, and we do the things that we don't want to do, even though we want to do good. But we still have to repent of that!

"…we have an Advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (vs 1-2). In God's time, in God's plan, He's going to open the way of salvation for them!

Now, let's see how this is done. Eph. 5 is talking about a husband and a wife relationship. But it is talking about the mystery between Christ and the Church. So, here's the parallel:

Ephesians 5:25: "Husbands, love your own wives, in the same way that Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it… [we read about that on the Sabbath before Passover] …so that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of the water by the Word" (vs 25-26).

• it is a process
• it is something that you do
• it is a cleansing
• it is repentance
• it is forgiveness
• it is cleansing
• it is purging

Then you come to have the mind of Christ! "…with the washing of the water by the Word."

That means combining with the Holy Spirit, which is like water that comes as rivers of living water for those who are converted. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and the Holy Spirit will bring you the understanding of the Word of God, and this cleanses. This does what God wants us to do to get these things out of our lives.

Let's go one step further. Let's see that God wants these erased. That there is no more remembrance of it in your mind by having the Holy Spirit cleanse you and replace it with:

• the Word of God
• the thoughts of God
• the attitude of God
• the love of God
• the hope of God
• the faith of God

To replace all of that carnality that is within!

Heb. 10 is the covenant that we are in. This is the covenant that we renewed on Passover night.

Hebrews 10:16: "'This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days,' says the Lord, 'I will give My Laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds…"

Compare that with Jeremiah 17:1: "The sin of Judah is engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond..."

In order to have that kind of heart converted, you need this; here is the cleansing that takes place.

Hebrews 10:17: "And their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again."

If God removes them, let them also erase it from your mind! Because removing them before Him through forgiveness and confession of sin is the first step. Now, it has to be removed from your mind, so that you can forget it. Ask God for forgiveness of it.

Think in your life, how many of you are still affected because of child abuse, of sexual abuse, or because people were hateful and mean to you. It's affected you.

• repent of it
• let God cleanse it
• don't continue to pollute every day with the sins of the past, and the memories of the past
• purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump and that it is purged out through Jesus Christ and the love of God

Verse 18: "Now, where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices for sin. Therefore, brethren, having confidence to enter into the true Holiest by the blood of Jesus" (vs 18-19).

You have the help of the Sovereign of the universe to help you with His Spirit and with His Word to cleanse you. Just like David had said:

• wash me
• purge me
• cleanse my heart
• use hyssop
• You want Truth in the inward parts
• in the secret parts
• You will make me to know wisdom
• keep me from my secret sins

Verse 20: "By a new and living way, which He consecrated for us through the veil (that is, His flesh)."

Hebrews 9:11: "But Christ Himself has become High Priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by human hands (that is, not of this present physical creation). Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of His own blood, He entered once for all into the Holiest, having by Himself secured everlasting redemption for us. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who aredefiled, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh" (vs 11-13).

Paul is making a comparison here between the temple service and the spiritual temple service with Christ as our High Priest and Mediator and God the Father!

Verse 14: "To a far greater degree, the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, shall purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

You must have your conscience purged and cleaned! You must have all that sin taken from you.

• How do you do that?
• What is your part?

You have something that you need to do, and here's how you do it: by the power of God's Holy Spirit! This is what we need to do every day. When that sin comes along to try and resurrect itself back in your mind, you do what we're going to cover here:

2-Corinthians 10:3: "For although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh…. [to overcome sin and Satan] … For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the overthrowing of strongholds, casting down vain imaginations…" (vs 3-5).

That's right where we started. That every imagination of the heart of man was only evil continually. So, to have those secret things cleansed we:

"…cast down vain imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ" (v 5).

That's how we overcome these secret sins. That's how we let these things in the past, that still haunt us today, be cleansed.

• ask God for perfect forgetfulness
• ask Him to cleanse it
• ask Him to take it from you

If you have a sin that is nagging you, after you, is bogging you, take some prayer, take some time in fasting and ask God:

• to cleanse you
  • to purify your mind
  • to purify your heart
  • to cleanse your heart
  • to give you the right thoughts

Then you fill the Word of God into your mind. Ask God to help you love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and being!

• God will hear
• God will answer
• God will delight in that
• God will unleaven you from that

Through Christ, Who can take them away and removed forever.

• then you can have peace with God
• then you can have the joy that David talked about

When the true repentance comes!

Verse 6: "And having a readiness…" On the alert! Ready to take care of it when it pops up its ugly head.

"…to avenge all disobedience, whenever your obedience has been fulfilled" (v 6). That's something brethren!

Colossians 1:11: "Being strengthened with all power…" That's what we want. We want God to strengthen us in:

• mind
• heart
• purpose
• love
• faith

All of the things of the fruits of the Holy Spirit that unleaven us spiritually! That's why we are to eat unleavened bread. We are to put it in. We'll talk about that more on the Sabbath.

"…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; Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness…" (v 11-13). Ask God to rescue you from that! Ask God to give you the strength:

• to overcome
• to blot it out
• to purge it out
• to replace it with the righteousness of Christ
• to replace it with the love of God
• to replace it with the grace of God
• to replace it with the mind of Christ
• to replace it with the Words of God

And let your mind be cleansed!

Verse 24—Paul is writing here: "Now, I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and I am filling up in my flesh that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the Church; of which I became a servant, according to the administration of God that was given to me for you in order to complete the Word of God; even the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to His saints; to whom God did will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (vs 24-27).

• that's the hope
• it's in Christ
• it's through Christ

Verse 28: "Whom we preach, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

That's what God wants. Remember this one last thing in closing: because we have eaten the bread of the Passover, and drunk the wine, which symbolized the blood of Jesus Christ, we are to live by Him!

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 23:4-8

• Genesis 6:5, 11-13
• Jeremiah 10:23-24
• Jeremiah 17:1, 5-10
• 1 Corinthians 5:7
• Psalm 39:4-6, 8
• John 15;1-3
• Romans 3:23-27
• Romans 8:2
• 2 Corinthians 7:10
• Matthew 23:24-26
• Psalm 19:7-13
• Psalm 51:1-17
• Psalm 119:9-10
• 2 Corinthians 6:11-12, 14-18
• 2 Corinthians 7:1
• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
• 1 John 1:6-10
• 1 John 2:1-2
• Ephesians 5:25
• Hebrews 10:16
• Jeremiah 17:1
• Hebrews 10:17-20
• Hebrews 9:11-13
• 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
• Colossians 1:11-13, 24-28

Scriptures reference, not quoted:

• Deuteronomy 16

• Revelation 6
• Psalm 103
• Romans 6

Also referenced: Sermon Series: Keys to Answered Prayer

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 3-21-07
Reformatted/Corrected: 3/2019