Purge Out The Old Leaven

March 1, 2009

Text: I Corinthians 5:6-12

Proposition:  Why should we purge out the old leaven?

Introduction

Leaven is used in baking. The yeast reproduces and feeds on the sugars in the flour and sugar in the recipe producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is what makes the bread rise and be fluffy. When the bread is baked the alcohol evaporates and the yeast is destroyed.

Leaven is many times a symbol of sin in the bible, but not always.  In our text for today it is a symbol for sin. The reason it is a symbol of sin is that it:

• Just a small amount spreads and multiplies quickly; so does sin
• It ferments or corrupts whatever it is in. It changes the chemical composition of the sugars it digests. It changes sugars to ethanol and Carbon dioxide. Sin corrupts whatever it is in.
• It spreads by contact with particle to particle.  If it is not removed it will reproduce and multiply in whatever it is in. Sin spreads by contact. Eve sinned then Adam sinned then sin spread to all men.   Why purge out the old leaven?

I. So it won’t spread

II. To be a new lump

I. So it won’t spread (How can we keep sin from spreading?)

A. Clean it out of the house

1. In the first Passover the people ate unleavened bread. They didn’t have time to let it leaven, (Exodus 12:34-39)

2. The Passover feast and the feast of unleavened bread were a remembrance of when they left Egypt. God had killed the firstborn of Egypt and passed over Israel. The blood of the lamb covered Israel. They put the blood of the lamb on the lintel and on the doorpost.

3. Every year during the Passover they cleaned all the leaven out of their houses.

4. Exodus 12:15 and 19

5. Don’t let sin stay in your house; clean it out!

6. Alcohol – don’t keep it in your house. Clean it out!

7. The Condemning Evidence

There was a very well-thought-of deacon who was a zealous advocate of the cause of temperance. One day he employed a carpenter to make some alterations in his living room. As the worker was tearing things down, he came upon a very nicely concealed closet. He was shocked when he saw a jug and tumblers in the hidden closet. The carpenter, with wonder-stricken countenance, ran to the proprietor with the announcement of the discovery. As soon as the deacon heard of it, he said, "H'm! Well, I declare, that is curious. Sure enough, it must be that Captain Brown left those things here when he occupied the premises thirty years ago." "Ah, perhaps he did," answered the carpenter; "but say, deacon, that ice in the pitcher must have been well frozen to have remained solid all this time."

8. Sin on the Television:

a. Violence – murders and horror movies

b. Immorality – soap operas, novellas, and sitcoms, are full of immorality.

c. Ephesians 5:3-5:  those sins spread to you and your children. They learn from the television.

d. Don’t let the leaven from television spread to you.

9. Sin on the internet:

a. You can get all the sin you want on the Internet. You can rent movies. You can look at pornography. You can read about sin.

b. Don’t let it spread to you!

c. If you have a computer with Internet keep your computer where it can be seen from another room. Never keep it in a room where someone can close the door and be unsupervised.

d. Don’t trust your children (even if you think they are good kids) with an Internet connection in their room or a television in their room.

10. Keep rebellion out of the house

a. Deuteronomy 21:18-21

b. This would purge the sin out of your house in a hurry. Rebellion spreads just like other sins. If one child is rebellious it will spread to the others.

c. We don’t stone rebellious children now, but we are to discipline them.

d. Ephesians 6:4

e. Don’t let rebellion go unpunished

f. Sometimes parents are rebellious against God. They want to stay in sin, but expect their children to be good and do what is right. Sometimes children are good despite their parents, but a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Your sin can spread to your children. If you are rebellious your children probably will be too.

11. Fornication - πορνεία - porneia

Thayer Definition:

1) illicit sexual intercourse

1a) adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.

1b) sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18

1c) sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mark 10:11,12.

2) metaphorically, the worship of idols

2a) of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols

B. Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

1. Mark 12:29-31

2. The love of God will keep us from the leaven of sin.

3. If we love God we won’t want to sin against Him

4. If we love our neighbor we won’t sin against him.

II. To be a new lump (Why be a new lump?)

A. We are unleavened

1. We are to be a pure people. Sin is not to reign in us.

2. I Peter 4:1-4

3. We have ceased from sin.

4. You cannot continue in sin and continue to be a part of the body of Christ. You either have to cease from sin or be purged from the body. Sin spreads. We can’t be a new lump, unless we cease from sin.

5. If we are in Christ, we are a new creature.

6. II Corinthians 5:17, Christ was sacrificed to take away our sins.

7. I Corinthians 10:16-17, we are one bread. We are the body of Christ. We must be unleavened

B. Christ is our Passover

1. John 1:29, Jesus is the lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

2. He was crucified during the Passover week or the Feast of unleavened bread.

3. John 19:14

4. On the first Passover they put the blood of the lamb on the lintel and on the doorpost.  When angel saw the blood on the lintel and on the doorpost he passed over that house.  He didn’t kill the first born in that house.  When God sees that we have been washed in the blood of Christ He doesn’t see our sin. We are clothed with Christ, we are no longer in sin, and sin is no longer in us.

C. So we can keep the feast

1. If we are leavened we cannot keep the feast

2. Exodus 12:15 and 19

3. Those that did not remove the leaven were cut off from Israel.

4. The church at Corinth had to remove the man who had his father’s wife or they would be cut off from God.

5. Matthew 18:15-17, we are to keep sin out of the church.

6. I Corinthians 5:13

7. Paul isn’t telling us to keep the Passover in a literal sense. This is a metaphor all through these verses. If we continue in sin ourselves or as a church we can’t benefit from the Passover sacrifice Christ has given us.

8. We can’t keep the feast with malice and wickedness

a. John 18:28-30

b. The Pharisees, Chief Priests, and officers were going to keep the feast with malice and wickedness. They were going to kill an innocent man. They were lying about Jesus, but they didn’t want to defile themselves by going into the Judgment Hall. It is about 5 a.m. (John 19:14 it is about 6 a.m.) They make Pilate come out to them. These Jews didn’t worship with sincerity and truth.

9. We are to keep the feast with sincerity and truth.

a. Many people are sincere. They do many things for the Lord. They are like Apollos. He was sincere.

b. Acts 18:24-28

c. Apollos was sincere, but he didn’t know the truth. He needed some more instruction. Then he could preach with sincerity and truth

d. We need both we need sincerity and truth.

e. If we have the truth, but we are not sincere we will be a hypocrite who knows the truth.

Conclusion

II Corinthians 2:1-17

The man who had his Father’s wife repented. That is our goal in purging out the leaven that those in sin will get rid of their sin. We want to be the body of Christ that is

unleavened. We want to keep the feast with sincerity and truth not with wickedness and malice.