The Sin Within & How to Overcome It

(First Day UB)

Fred R. Coulter—April 23, 2024

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Greetings, everyone, welcome to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I hope you had a great Night to be Much Observed unto the Lord last night.

Today is a special Holy Day of God! It's very interesting, as you know, with all the Holy Days, the only place that all of them are listed in sequence is Lev. 23. It doesn't tell us the real meaning of why we observe these days, but it gives us, according to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, when we are to observe them.

As we know this year, today being April 23rd, it comes later in the year. You might ask the question: Why does that happen that way? Well, because in a 19-year time-cycle, there are seven what are called leap years. Leap year means that there is an added 30 days in that year. the reason that is, if everything is just run off what the moon does, then we lose time, and everything goes backward toward the winter.

So God has it arranged this way based on a 19-year time-cycle. Because the 19-year time-cycle for 19 years for the sun and the moon to coordinate together and come within just a couple of hours. Then in the calculations, those are taken care of over a period of time. That's how we have an extra 30 days in what is called Adar 2!

Lev. 23—Let's also understand an overarching principle that we find right here. Notice, these are all the words of God.

Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD…"'" (vs 1-2).

• He's the One Who sets the time
• He's the One Who has created time
• He is the One—because He's God—Who rules over all
• God is the One Who calls us and brings us to repentance

This is very important for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But notice it starts out with the Sabbath saying:

"…which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts" (v 2).

So, Sabbath is an appointed Feast! Not like the Holy Days where there is extra work allowed in preparation of food, etc. Notice that this goes right back to the fourth commandment:

Verse 3: "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation… [meaning a Holy Day] …You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings"—wherever you are, wherever you live! It is a Sabbath to God!

Verse 4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons." All of them are Feasts!

The Holy Days are also Sabbaths, as well as a Feast. So, we know this because we've already had the Passover.

Verse 5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings… [after sunset and before dark] …is the LORD'S Passover… [we have had that already] …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" (vs 5-6).

We've also seen that the Passover is an additional one day of unleavenedness! But here the Feast of seven days of Unleavened Bread follows that, and that's so that we understand the whole process of:

• overcoming sin
• developing righteousness
• having the Holy Spirit of God within us

Christ in us as it says in the New Testament, so that

• we develop the mind of Christ

We will see all of that today because that's the meaning and importance of this day spiritually speaking. However, a lot of the things that pertain to it and human nature and what we do and how we overcome are also found in the Old Testament.

Verse 7: "On the first day you shall have a Holy convocation. You shall not do any servile work therein, but you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days" (vs 7-8)

They did this at the temple seven days. However, on the Holy Days we take up an offering.

"…In the seventh day is a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein" (v 8).

So, bringing an offering to God on the Holy Days, we have to conclude in our own hearts what we are to do, how we are to do it, and also we find in 2-Cor. 9 a very interesting principle spiritually concerning in the giving of offerings and so forth. Here's the lesson.

Now Paul is talking about planting seeds and harvesting the crop to send down to the saints in Jerusalem, but here is the spiritual principle. It also applies for giving offerings, giving tithes, and what we do in our life.

2-Corinthians 9:6: "But this I say: the one who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly."

Also, you can add into there grudgingly. Or, 'I do this because it's in the Bible.' Well, that's true, but:

• God wants it to be from the heart
• God wants it to be because you love Him
• God wants it to be because God has blessed you with so many different things

"…and the one who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Each one as he purposes in his heart…" (vs 6-7).

So, we have to determine what we're going to give. We have to understand that God loves a cheerful giver, so we have to keep that in there.

"…so let him give, but not grudgingly or by compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. For God is able to make all grace abound toward you" (vs 7-8).

You see, this is also tied in to our spiritual attitude to God, and our spiritual attitude toward the physical things that we have.

Verse 8: "For God is able to make all grace abound toward you so that in every way you may always have sufficiency in all things, and may abound unto every good work."

That's the whole principle of tithes and offerings. Of course, we use them, and as you have seen, with our distributing the Holy Bibles, and thank you for all that you have asked for and are able to distribute. I am sure that we still have some left so you can continue on that.

(pause for the offering)

Thank you, brethren, for the offering. Thank you for what you have given, and may God bless you in everything concerning it.

Now let's continue on with the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the meaning, because there is a great spiritual meaning that is essential for us to understand, live by, do and accomplish day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by-year.

So, those in Orthodox Christianity today would ask you, 'Why do you keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread?' We already know that Easter is not of God nor of any of the holidays of the Christian world today.

Here's why in 1-Cor. 5:6. Now, there was a big problem of incest going on between a man and his stepmother in the Church at Corinth. That had to be dealt with and he had to be removed.

So, Paul is correcting them and reminding them that the very reason that we keep the Feast is because Christ died for our sins on the Passover Day. That the whole principle of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is this: do not let sin rule in your life!

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

Now here's a great principle. He also mentions this in Gal. 5. A little sin unrepented of grows and grows just like leaven leavens dough. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, leaven is pictured as a type of sin.

Leaven is pictured as a type of human nature. It's also pictured as to what Satan is doing in our lives to tempt us to do the things that are against God.

"…Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"

And you've seen this, haven't you? When anyone does not repent, the sins in their lives grow and multiply just like leaven. So, here's what we are to do. Now, this applies getting it out of our homes as we have seen from Exo. 13. But here is the spiritual lesson of it.

Verse 7:" Therefore, purge out the old leaven…."

That means the leaven of carnal nature and our way of living contrary to God. What things are in our mind, and as we're going to see, that is a life long application of the Spirit of God for what is called conversion!

"Therefore, purge out the old leaven…." or you might say, 'Get rid of carnal nature' because carnal nature is sin. As a matter of fact, we'll see a little later on, Paul calls human nature the law of sin and death!

• Why do we purge it out?
• Why do we get rid of sin?

"…so that you may become a new lump…" (v 7).

That's why we take the unleavened bread of the Passover. Christ—it says here—is the reason for us all.

"…For Christ our Passover…" (v 7)—was the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world! He was the One Who bore in His body all of our sins because He had human nature or the law of sin and death within Him, just like we do. He:

• completely overcame that
• completely overcame Satan the devil
• completely was righteous

We know on the first day of counting toward Pentecost, which is the Wave Sheaf Offering Day, Jesus ascended to the Father as the full payment for the sins of the whole world.

But it's not applied all at once to everyone, because there are the firstfruits, which are those who are in the Church.

"…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. For this reason…" (vs 7-8). Here's why we keep the Feast:

"…let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven… [not with our old thinking, not with our old carnal ways] …nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness… [which is deep and buried in the heart and mind] …but with the unleavened bread of Sincerity and Truth" (v 8).

We know that it tells us 'taste and see that the Lord is good.' That is the lesson of unleavenedness.

Now let's look at human nature, because human nature is evil all the time. We know Jesus said that 'as it was in the days of Noah.' Let's look at it because we really need to understand the depths of human nature and the deceitfulness and corruption that is deep within, especially with the influence of Satan the devil.

Gen. 6—we know what it says here, but let's look at it so that we understand what God is doing. God is not just looking down here to the behavior. He's looking into what is the cause of that behavior.

We, as human beings, think that everything we do is right. Even if we're doing something that is wrong, that we know is wrong, we justify it in our mind that it is a good thing to do! Isn't that the root of all crime and sin? Yes!

We all know this. This is why today lawlessness is being multiplied and why we have so much trouble and difficulty everywhere.

It's not just with this group or that group and the rest of us are all good. It's with every human being. The Feast of Unleavened Bread reveals to us the depth of the evil within! When we are baptized, we just start on the road of purging out the old leaven, the sin that's within.

Let's see what God does. God saw, He didn't leave it up to anyone else.

Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart" (vs 5-6).

Here's why God had to destroy that whole civilization before the Flood; right here! Now we're reaching the same situation today before the return of Christ.

Verse 11: "Now the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." Isn't that what we have today?

• violence
• crime
• shooting
• killing
• wars
• hatred

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. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth'" (vs 12-13). And He did!

Now, that shows you how sin takes hold. Let's look at the depth of human nature. We know some of these verses already, but let's examine them again.

Jer. 17:1—This is very instructive showing how that if people give themselves over to sin it becomes ingrained right into their heart and mind.

Now then, IF there's not repentance THEN there's no salvation.

So, here we find here the sin of Judah. Jeremiah had to go through 40 years of warning the Jews of what was going to happen. Yes, they had a reprieve with Josiah for 12 years, but what happened right afterwards? What happened because of all the sin of the king before Josiah whose name was Manasseh who was the worst and most corrupt king of all the kings?

Yet, after he was carried away to Babylon by the king of Assyria, he repented and was brought back as the vassal king, but he was not able to clean up the mess that he created.

God raised up Josiah to finish it and for 12 years they had a reprieve, they had a respite from the sin. Josiah made them come to the temple and swear to God that they would obey Him and keep His Laws. But here it was before that:

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"—meaning their own personal lives and everything about what they were doing at the temple.

That was found again during the days of Jesus as you see that He corrected and castigated the religious leaders of His day.

Notice v 5; notice what happens, and especially in today's world, so many atheists, so many people who don't believe in God. If you tell them everything they need to know about life is in the Bible, they won't believe you! They won't understand it. They will say it's filled with lies and hatred. But notice what God says, it comes right back:

Verse 5: "Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man… [Doesn't every way of a man lead to death?] …and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD.'"

That's what we see today. Same thing as in the days of Noah. Now notice the contrast:

Verse 7: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD."

Then He shows that with that blessing that He will be with us in everything. He describes the heart and mind, and we'll examine this a little more carefully here in just a bit. The heart—think about this—we know it, but do we still deceive ourselves?

Whenever we come to the point that we think that human logic or human ways will work to produce spiritual character, they won't. Because you're trusting in a man. You're trusting in philosophy and not the Word of God.

Verse 9: "The heart is deceitful above all things…"

There's nothing—except the mind of Satan—that is worse than the mind of human beings. What we're going to see is that during the days of Unleavened Bread, God wants us to get rid of

• all the leaven
• all this deeply buried in our minds
• all the things that take us away from God

That is a process over time! That is a spiritual process that is accomplished by prayer, by study and by living God's ways.

Verse 9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it."

No one can get away from God anywhere at any time, regardless of where they are, of who they are, how young they are, how old they are, male or female, you can never get away from God, because even carnally, we 'live and move and have our being in God,' as Paul said (Acts 17) in:

• Who gave us air?
• Who gave us water?
• Who gave us food?
• Who gave us the functions of the body?
• the heart?
• the mind?
• all the internal workings of the process of physical life?

God did! All of that is run by law!

So, anyone who says that God has done away with His Law just doesn't have a clue. He says:

Verse 10: "I the LORD search the heart… [goes right back to Gen. 6:5] …I try the reins…"

The reins is part of whatever the mind is that God can connect to at any time to know:

• what's in our mind
• what's in our heart
• what's in our spirit

and what we are going to do!

"…even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (v 10).

That's what human nature is. We'll look at that a little bit more here and see what else we need to see about it.

Psa. 39 tells us about human nature, all have human nature; every man, every woman, young or old, doesn't make any difference. Now it can be in degree, but it's still the same.

Verse 1 tells us the first step in overcoming our own ways, meaning overcoming human nature! Then we will see, we add in the Spirit of God:

• which will lead us
• which will convict us of sin
• which will lead us to repentance

We'll see all of that, and that's the process of the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Psalm 39:1—this is a Psalm of David: "I said, 'I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue…'"

What about in the mind? Even though you may not speak it!

"'…I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked are before me.' I became dumb, keeping silent; I said nothing good, and yet, my sorrow grew worse. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue" (vs 1-3).

Because you look and see all the lust and all the evil that is there. That's what David was talking about, and we'll see a little later how that burned him and the whole kingdom of Judah.

Verse 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."

Isn't it true compared to God who lives forever? You know, it talks about the three score and ten, that's 70 years, and if it's four score, that's 80 years, and some go beyond that.

When we go beyond that, we need to be thankful every day for what God has given, and use that time to grow and overcome. Because the longer that we live, the more that we look back, and with the Spirit of God, we can see the sin deep within!

That's what God wants us to work on during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and carry that on through everything that we do after that.

Verse 5: "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."

Isn't that what Solomon wrote? Vanity of vanities! Yet, what happened? He fell victim to his own vanity! He could have been the greatest, the most righteous king in the whole history, because he started out with the greatest blessing of God. Not only for him, but the whole kingdom of Israel, all twelve tribes.

Verse 6: "Surely every man walks about in a vain show!…."

Yes, people like to put on a good front. That's called 'two-faced.' That's deceitfulness of human nature. What is it that gets into people that:

• they turn against God
• they turn against the Word of God?

Well, that's also the influence of Satan the devil!

"…Surely they are in an uproar in vain. He heaps up riches and does not know who shall gather them. And now, LORD, what do I wait for? My hope is in You" (vs 6-7).

Verse 8 is the whole theme of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. To have our sins forgiven, but:

• we must confess them
• we must be honest with God
• we must be honest with ourselves

That's the hardest thing to do, isn't it? The only way you can do it is with the Spirit of God!

You can't do it on your own to make yourself better, to make yourself good, because what is better and what is good compared to God? That's why we need the Spirit of God! We need the power of God to help us and lead us in everything that we do.

Verse 8: "Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the fool."

Isn't that amazing? This shows we can't get rid of it ourselves. We have to have the effort to remove it, but only God can forgive it and blot it out!

We have to take the thoughts and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, as we will see a little later, so that we can overcome all the sin within!

Now let's continue on and see something else here. Rom. 7—here is quite a thing! When you read this, you think: was the Apostle Paul really converted?

Let's understand this concerning law and grace. When we have come to repentance and baptism and receive the Holy Spirit, we are under the grace of God, and we will see that gives each individual direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ every single day:

• through prayer
• through Bible study
• through overcoming

Now the Law works this way:

When you are converted and under grace, you live within Law, as Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments.'

So, being under grace, you also by the grace of God live within Law, because that means you keep it. Paul says that he was always within Law to Christ (1-Cor. 9).

Then he talks about the first part here about the covenant between Israel and God. How that with the death of Christ, that they were relieved from the covenant that God gave at Mount Sinai to be joined to Christ for the Eternal Covenant of Eternal Life.

Let's see what Paul says and what this means to us and then we'll go back and we will see how to apply it again.

Romans 7:7: "What then shall we say? Is the Law sin? MAY IT NEVER BE!…."

That's what the Protestants say is the harsh law. NO! The penalty of breaking it is harsh!

• keeping it brings blessings
• keeping it keeps you in right standing with God
• keeping it puts you in connection with God
• transgressing it puts you at odds with God

So, the Law is not sin!

"…MAY IT NEVER BE! But I had not known sin except through the Law. Furthermore, I would not have been conscious of lust, except that the Law said, 'You shall not covet'" (v 7).

Think about this for a minute. You have the Ten Commandments and what did James say? If you break one Law, you're breaking the whole Law!

What does that mean? That means don't covet! Anything you do in breaking all of the other nine commandments leading up to the tenth commandment is covetousness!

• it's covetousness to have other gods
• it's covetousness to have statues and make them
• it's covetousness to take the name of God in vain
• it's covetousness to break and reject the Sabbath
• It's covetousness to not honor your father and mother
• it's covetousness which causes:
• murder
• adultery
• lying
• thievery
• false witnessing

All of that, so that's what Paul is saying. Then he goes on to explain this:

Verse 8: "But sin…"—that's the sin within!

This is what he was fighting. He himself was fighting it because you see the job of getting rid of the sin within is a tremendous spiritual job, which can only be accomplished with the Spirit of God with our full, wholehearted cooperation and love and obedience.

Verse 8: "But sin, having grasped an opportunity by the commandment, worked out within me every kind of lust because apart from Law, sin was dead. For I was once alive without law…" (vs 8-9).

• How could that be? He was a Pharisee, very strict in the traditional laws!
• What did he find out? All of those traditions were as if he didn't have the Law of God, because it neglected the Laws of God!

So he says, "…but after the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (v 9).

How did he die? Through water baptism (Acts 9).

Now then, the spiritual reality of the meaning of the commandments came into his consciousness.

Verse 10: "And the commandment, which was meant to result in life, was found to be unto death for me."

Because of sin, the sin within!That's why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's why we eat the unleavened bread, which is symbolic of God's sinless way.

Verse 11: "Because sin, having taken opportunity by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore, the Law is indeed Holy, and the commandment Holy and righteous and good" (vs 11-12)—because it exposes the evil within!

Verse 13—this is Paul converted! Converted for many years when he wrote this?

Verse 13: "Now then, did that which is good become death to me? MAY IT NEVER BE! But sin, in order that it might truly be exposed as sin in me by that which is good, was working out death; so that by means of the commandment, sin might become exceedingly sinful." That's what conversion does!

We look and see that sin becomes exceedingly sinful! Now, here he is an apostle how many ever years, and he was fighting human nature. He understood that the sin deep within was what had to be worked on. That's why we have the Holy Spirit of God.

(break@42:17)

Let's continue with Rom. 7 and what Paul was experiencing, which is true. Because to overcome the law of sin and death within us, which is another name for human nature, and how easy it is, and how much is still in there. Even with Paul converted, an apostle!

Verse 12: "Therefore, the Law is indeed Holy, and the commandment Holy and righteous and good."

The Law is good! But when it convicts us of sin through the power of the Holy Spirit, then this gives us an opportunity to put it out, to put out the sin, to put in the righteousness.

Why it works this way; v 13: "Now then, did that which is good become death to me? MAY IT NEVER BE! But sin, in order that it might truly be exposed as sin in me… [which we all have; we still need a lot of overcoming] …by that which is good, was working out death; so that by means of the commandment, sin might become exceedingly sinful."

Let's see what Jesus said about the heart of men! How this ties in exactly where we started back there Gen. 6.

Mark 7:20: "And He said, 'That which springs forth from within a man… [man, woman, child; young or old, doesn't matter] …that defiles the man. For from within… [part of our nature] …out of the hearts of men go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness'" (vs 20-22).

Sound like the evening news? Sound like what comes on television? Foolishness describes all of those stupid games that they have on television and people get all wrapped up in them.

Verse 23: "All these evils go forth from within, and these defile a man."

Let's see how Paul verifies that; here's what exposes sin for what it really is. That this is a lifelong battle.

Romans 7:14: "For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am carnal, having been sold as a slave under sin." When you look at:

• the goodness of God
• the love of God
• the faith of God
• everything about God
• what He has done for us
• how Christ died for us
• how He is the sacrifice for our sins

He carried them with Him in His own body to the tree as the perfect sacrifice!

Then you look at what is going on in the minds of human beings, especially today:

• with all that we have
• with all the technology
• with all of the smart-phones, television and all of this sort of thing.

What does it cause us to do?

Verse 15: "Because what I am working out myself, I do not know…."

In other words, He's really saying that we need to understand it still within us, even though we don't want to.

"…For what I do not desire to do, this I do; moreover, what I hate, this is what I do" (v 15).

And isn't that what happens when you sin and you come to yourself and:

• you hate yourself
• you hate your sin
• you hate what you have done?

Yes! That's what He's saying!

Verse 16: "But if I am doing what I do not desire to do, I agree with the Law that it is good."

The Law is good to help us overcome sin and to know what we need to do to overcome it.

Verse 17: "So then, I am no longer working it out myself; rather, it is sin that is dwelling within me."

Then Paul looks at it and he sees and he understands this, which is true.

Verse 18: "Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is, within my fleshly being—any good…."

Because that means not any of the good of God! There's the knowledge of the Tree of Good and Evil, but that good always leads to sin!

"…For the desire to do good is present within me; but how to work out that which is good, I do not find" (v 18)—of himself! You've got to come to God!

Now let's see that repentance is what God wants. How do we get that repentance?

Rom. 2—let's understand the repentance that comes from God! God says this:

• concerning our sins
• concerning overcoming it
• concerning what God does

He sees us down here, He has mercy upon us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and He calls us.
If we answer the call, here's what happens.

Romans 2:4: "Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the graciousness of God leads you to repentance?" Isn't that something?

• God's love
• God's mercy
• God's grace
• God's forgiveness

and we become convicted

• in heart
• in mind
• in soul
• in being

and understand that within us, inherit by ourselves, without the Spirit of God, there is no good that dwells within us!

Now let's see what Jesus also said concerning repentance. This is something, because we need to understand how powerful that this is. Jesus said that when there is sin, we need to repent, and we don't need to look around and judge other people and say, 'Oh, well those people over there are real sinners.' Well, they may be, that's true; but God is looking to our heart and our mind.

God wants to have that sin within converted and removed by the power of His Holy Spirit. So, here's what He said; we don't judge others to justify ourselves as good.

Luke 13:1:1: "Now, at the same time, there were present some who were telling Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices." What a terrible thing that was!

Verse 2: "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans, because they suffered such things? No, I tell you; but if you do not repent, you shall all likewise perish'" (vs 2-3).

Verse 4: "Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them…"

He says concerning that, v 5: "No, I tell you… [they weren't sinners above all in Jerusalem] …but if you do not repent, you shall all likewise perish."

What kind of repentance does God want us to have? Let's see what John wrote concerning our sins as converted people in the Epistle of 1-John, the very first chapter. This is amazing! This is quite a thing!

1-John 1—he brings out in the first portion of it, which we'll talk about later, that our fellowship with God and Jesus Christ is the most important thing. And because of that, God—knowing what kind of human nature that we have—is there willing and ready to forgive as He exposes the evil within that we are doing so that we understand how deep down inside our mind and heart that sin really is.

1-John 1:6: "If we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him…

That is, 'Oh, we're God's people; we're wonderful people.' No!

"…but we are walking in the darkness, we are lying to ourselves…" (v 6)—the deceitfulness within!

John is talking to Christians who have been Christians a long time, and He's showing them:

• we still need to overcome sin
• we still need to repent

"…and we are not practicing the Truth" (v 6).

• the Truth of God's Word
• the truth about our nature
• the truth about the intents and vanity of human nature

Verse 7: "However, if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood… [as I mentioned in my letter for March/April] …of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin."

But we have to see it within us with God's Spirit so we can repent.

Verse 8: "If we say that we do not have sin… [that is, we do not have a sinful nature] …we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us."

• don't be discouraged when you see that
• don't be discouraged when you find that you have sin
• don't be discouraged if you're thinking that it's a tough battle

because here's the promise:

Verse 9: "If we confess our own sins… [not looking at anybody else, not accusing anybody else] …He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

He adds one more thing; v 10: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us."

Psa. 51—let's take a look at what kind of repentance that God wants us to have. Here we have the repentance of David with the affair with Bathsheba.

• here's a man after God's heart
• here's a man who pleased God
• here's a man who was so close to God
• here's a man who understood about:
• human nature
• vanity
• lust

But he got lifted up in his own thoughts and thought:

I am king! As king, I have authority to do anything I want to!

So then the affair with Bathsheba took place. It took a long time for David to come to understand it until Nathan the Prophet came and told him about the parable of the poor man, and the rich man who took his sheep. David said, 'That man is wrong.' And Nathan looked him right in the eye and said:

You are the man with what you did with Bathsheba, and you murdered her husband, one of your soldiers. In the middle of the battle, you instructed Joab to back away and let him be killed.

Now then, David repented!

God took the life of the child, but notice David's repentance and also understand that the penalty for that sin affected all of the tribes of Israel! Because if the king did this, then he allows sin in everybody's life.

So, David came to himself and repented and let's see the kind of repentance that is necessary and that we need so that we can have our minds conformed and transformed to the mind of Christ! Remember that God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins!

Psalm 51:1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions…. [and great they were] …Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (vs 1-3).

Once I've seen it, I can't get it out of my mind. How stupid and foolish and vain was I to do this, to take Uriah's wife and committing adultery and kill Uriah.

Hear the man who was after God's heart, because he loved God did this great sin, because he didn't understand how deep within that sin really is until God convicted him of that sin!

Then he confessed this, v 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."

Admitting the judgment of God against him with the death of the baby and with the rebellion that took place beginning with Absalom that very day.

Verse 5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

That is, he acknowledged the sin within was from inheritance going all the way back to Adam and Eve down to his life; same thing with all human beings!

Verse 6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts…" That's what God wants! What is Truth? God says that:

• His Word is the Truth
• His Law is the Truth
• His Way is the Truth

That's what God wants!

With this kind of deep repentance, God will bring that and will bring the conviction of sin so we can put it out, so we can put it under the blood of Jesus Christ!

"…and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom" (v 6).

• in the part of my heart
• in the part of my mind
• in my thoughts where this sin lies

Replace it with Your wisdom!

Verse 7: "Purge me with hyssop… [cleanse me] …and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

That's the kind of repentance that God wants! This is what Paul was talking about in Rom. 7, that:

• the sin within
• the sin that is there
• the sin that lurks

which—IF we're not growing and overcoming—is there to:

• snatch us
• to deceive us
• to cause us to sin

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). That's the first step, blotting them out!

Verse 10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God…"

Only God can give us a clean heart. That's why we were to put out the leaven, put out the sin! That's why Christ is our Sacrifice and our Passover so that this can be accomplished.

"…and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (v 10). Yes, indeed!

Then David says about deliverance, and so forth.

Let's see how that ties in with what God wants us to do, that we have our minds changed. This is what is so important.

Here's what it needs to be. This is why, now you think about this for just a minute. In the model daily prayer, Jesus told us to ask God to forgive us our sins. Now then, think about how many sins are rattling around in our mind! Especially with all the high-tech input that comes into our lives and in our mind and in our ears. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." That's the whole meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So, Paul writes; Romans 12:1: "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."

• by loving God
• by keeping His commandment

How are we to love God? With all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our being!

• that's how we overcome the sin within
• that's how God deals with us

Verse 2: "Do not conform yourselves to this world…"

Let's see what John writes about the world and the things in the world.

1-John 2:15[transcriber's correction]: "Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

That's what we want! We want the love of the Father. Not the love of the world, because everything that is in the world… Think about this:

• everything that is there
• everything that you see
• everything that you hear
• everything that you read

that is not of God, is of this world!

Verse 16: "Because everything that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pretentious pride of physical life—is not from the Father, but is from the world." That's what it is! Let's see how we're able to overcome this:

Romans 12:2: "Do not conform yourselves to this world… [we see why] …but be transformed…"

The Greek here is metamorphosed, which means to change a bit at a time. Every day:

• through every prayer
• through our thoughts
• through what we do
• through our thinking on God and His greatness and His power

and everything, as we saw to start off this whole Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread this year.

Verse 2: "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." That's what God wants us to do!

• How do we do this living in the world?
• How do we do this when we're confronted?

Here's what we do. This also has to do with not being conformed to the world.

2-Corinthians 6:14: "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers…."

You can't live pleasantly with unbelievers the way that they live, because it will end up in sin.

"…For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common?…." (v 14). The world is multiplying in lawlessness!

"…And what fellowship does light have with darkness?" (v 14).

• you need the Light of the Word of God
• you need the Truth of the Word of God
• you need the love of God
• you need the Spirit of God
• you need the mercy of God
• you need the kindness of God
• you need the repentance that God leads us to have

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 and idols? For you are a Temple of the living God…" (vs 15-16).

Paul says in 1-Cor. 3 that each one of us is a little Temple of God with the Holy Spirit in our mind!

"…Exactly as God said…" (v 16). Here is the key:

• the Spirit of God
• living God's way
• understanding His Word

"…For you are a Temple of the living God, exactly as God said: 'I will dwell in them…." (v 16).

Tie in Rom. 14 as we studied for the Passover. The Father and Christ making Their dwelling within us, within our mind!

"…'I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people'" (v 16).

• this is how we put out the sin and put in the righteousness.
• this is how we love not the world, but love God

• love His Way
• love His Truth
• love His Law

love everything about God and His way!

So, here's what we are to do; part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

Verse 17: "Therefore, come out from the midst of them and be separate,' says the Lord, 'and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you." Notice the promise that comes with God receiving them:

"'And I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty.

2-Corinthians 7:1—tells us what we need to do: "Now then, beloved, since we have these promises, we should purge ourselves from every defilement of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God."

That's what we are to do; let's see how we do that. Here is one of the greatest things that we need to do, and with the Spirit of God, we do it. This is how:

• we get rid of the leaven, and we put the unleavened in
• we get rid of sin, and we put righteousness in
• we get rid of carnality, and we put in the love of God

and receive

• the love of God
• the Spirit of God

2-Corinthians 10:3: "For although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." There's a spiritual battle always going on in:

• overcoming sin
• living in righteousness
• walking in Truth
• understanding God
• praying to Him
• having Him lead us
• having Him guide us
• having Him protect us with His angels

Verse 4: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal… [you can't do it anyway but God's way, through God's Word] …but mighty through God to the overthrowing of strongholds."

Those are the strongholds that Paul was writing about in Rom. 7, the sin within! That's what we need to overcome.

Verse 4: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the overthrowing of strongholds, casting down vain imaginations…" (vs 4-5).

What do we read in Psa. 9? Every man is vanity at his best, and his thoughts!

"…and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…" (v 5).

Here is the way, and this is what God wants. This is exercising the Spirit of God, exercising the Word of God. As it says in Heb. 10, God wants to write His Laws into our heart and inscribe them into our mind so that we come, as it says in Philip. 2:5, to having the mind of Christ! This is how it's done; the stronghold of vanity and carnality and sin within!

Verse 5: "Casting down vain imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity…"—into control, every thought.

Now tie that in where we began in Gen. 6.

"…every thought into the obedience of Christ" (v 5). Think about that!

This is something we need to pray about every day. What is the greatest obedience in Christ? To love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul! Everything that is within you and within me, within all the brethren; that's what it's all about. That's why we're here.

As Jesus said, 'It's sufficient that the disciple becomes the teacher,' and the Teacher is Christ! He wants us to grow up in Christ. Here's how we do it. Here's how we overcome that carnal mind:

"…and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ; and having a readiness to avenge all disobedience, whenever your obedience has been fulfilled" (vs 5-6).

• that's the battle
• that's the struggle
• that's what God wants

Let's see how we are to do this:

2-John, short little chapter, one of the shortest chapters of all the epistles. But it is full of Truth, and how we do this. John was writing that there are those out there who were subverting the Truth. All the apostles had died; John was the only one left, and he was getting old.

Demetrius was the one who wouldn't even allow John to come. 'Casting out brethren in the Church.' John is writing; 2-John is powerful and tells us:

• how that we are to bring every thought into captivityto the obedience of Christ
• how we are to put out the leaven that is there
• how we are to put in the unleavenness of Christ

All contained right here in this one short epistle.

2-John 1: "The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in Truth, and not I alone, but also all those who have known the Truth; for the sake of the Truth that is dwelling in us, and shall be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace shall be with us from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in Truth and love" (vs 1-3).

That's what God wants! Take all of the things of human nature, all of the vanity, all of the sin, all of the wretchedness and in our mind that are being cleansed and purged with the Spirit of God. That's through the Truth and love of God!

Verse 4: "I rejoiced exceedingly that I have found among your children those who are walking in Truth…"

We'll talk about that on the Sabbath, walking in the Truth of God!

"…exactly as we received commandment from the Father" (v 4).

What did Jesus say? I speak nothing of Myself but what the Father taught Me to say. And this is the commandment that I teach!'

Verse 5: "And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I am writing a new commandment to you, but that which we have observed from the beginning, that we love one another…." That is the challenge!

• love God
• love one another
• love the brethren
• serve the brethren

and all of us elders need to be dedicated to doing that!

Verse 6: "And this is the love of God: that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, exactly as you heard from the beginning, that you might walk in it, because many deceivers have entered into the world; those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is the spirit of the deceiver and the antichrist" (vs 6-7).

This actually means that Christ is coming into the flesh—through the power of the Holy Spirit—of believers! And the antichrist denied that. So, this is something! God's active Spirit in each one of us!

Verse 8: "Watch out for yourselves in order that we may not lose the things we have accomplished, but that we may receive a full reward."

That's what God wants us to do. He talks about the warning of those who were coming, trying to change the doctrine! That's what we have today. We have the fullness of the satanic doctrine of:

• fake Christianity
• a false Christ
• a false salvation

That's why we need to:

• walk in the Truth
• put out the leaven of sin
• put in the unleavenedness of the Truth and the love of God

This is the meaning of why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so that we can be perfected in our Lord Jesus Christ in everything that we do.

Have a good Feast and study the things through the rest of the days of Unleavened Bread, and you might make a special study in 1st, 2nd & 3rd John.

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 23:1-8
• 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
• Genesis 6:5-6, 11-13
• Jeremiah 17:1, 5, 7, 9-10
• Psalm 39:1-8
• Romans 7:7-13, 12-13
• Mark 7:20-23
• Romans 7:14-18
• Romans 2:4
• Luke 13:2-5
• 1 John 1:6-10
• Psalm 51:1-10
• Romans 12:1-2
• 1 John 2:15-16
• Romans 12:2
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
• 2-Corinthians 7:1
• 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
• 2 John 1-8

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Galatians 5
• Exodus 13
• Acts 17
• 1 Corinthians 9
• Acts 9
• 1 Corinthians 3
• Romans 14
• Psalm 9
• Hebrews 10
• Philippians 2:5
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd John

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed:3/18/24

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