by: Wayne Wise
Exodus 12:14-20
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
The Passover Symbol
• Symbolized the freedom God wanted to give His people…
• Immediately following was the “Feast of Unleavened bread”
• NOT ONLY not to eat leavened bread during that week. But they were not to allow ANYTHING that had ANY yeast in it in their homes.
I. Yeast was used by God to symbolize the power of sin
• The bread Israel offered was to have no yeast
• "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1
• “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” 1 Corinthians 5:6
• The bread of the Lord’s Supper was to be unleavened Matthew 26:28-ff
II. Why would God use yeast to symbolize sin?
• Sin acts in our lives, in many of the same ways that Yeast works in a loaf of bread
1. Bread with yeast in it tastes good
• That’s why we make bread with yeast in it.
• That’s why we buy it… that’s why we eat it.
• Likewise, sin tastes good… if it didn’t taste good, nobody would be tempted to do it.
• Genesis 3:6
• Hebrews 11:25
• Gal 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, witchcraft, drunkenness, revellings”
2. It doesn’t take much yeast to change the shape of the flour.
• It warps the shape of the dough
• When sin enters into an area of your life… it doesn’t take much to change who you are.
• It doesn’t take much to warp your character.
3. The yeast can make the bread look like it contains more flour than it actually does.
• Likewise - Sin can make us believe we have more in our lives than we do.
4. Yeast causes bread to mold and decay from the inside out.
• Crackers will last practically forever, but leavened bread will eventually decay and rot because of the yeast within it.
• In the same way, sin has the power to cause our lives and our homes to decay and to rot.
• That’s why God hates sin… because it destroys us.– 1 Cor. 15:33; 1 Kings 11:1-6; Gal. 5:7-9Parents are Gatekeepers to the Home
• TV shows/ movies/ books/ magazines/ games
• “Friends”
• Alcohol or drugs
• Gambling
• Front door
• Back door
• Open Window.“
”ONLY GROWNUPS?”
• By giving the impression that certain kinds of TV programs, or activities, or beverages, or drugs, or behavior – whatever… if we give the impression that ONLY GROWNUPS should do these things we teach our children the LIE that this is what mature people do. And those children will desire that maturity. And they will pursue that maturity as early in their lives as possible… because they all desire to be like grownups.
“G” “PG” “MA”
•"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." God didn’t teach his people to remove the leaven only from their children’s lives.
• He taught them to get those things completely out of the house, out of every room and out of the lives of everyone in the home.
• Essentially, that means that: if it’s bad for your kids… it’s bad for you.
• “…a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough” 1 Corinthians 5:6
• There are certain things that don’t belong in our BODIES
• Done once a year
• Once in while, we realize we have to “clean house” and get rid of all the clutter and trash we have accumulated throughout the year. Spiritual Clutter
• It comes through friends
• Co-workers
• Television
• Families
• Spouses
NO YEAST!!!
• In Jewish society - to prepare for the Passover - the family spends an entire week scouring the house for any and every small crumb of yeast they can find. They do that because God commanded “For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses.” Exodus 12:19
Conclusion:
• 1st false concept is that you - as an adult - can have a different morality than your children
• 2nd is the belief that a little bit of sin won’t make any difference