The Ongoing Problem of Sin 

The 7 day feast of unleavened bread follows the observance of the Passover… which is fitting since It pictures what must take place after the Passover. The central theme and message of the days of unleavened bread is addressing the ongoing problem of sin.

Each Passover is a memorial of Jesus death which pays the penalty we earned through our past sins. After the wonderful forgiveness and redemption comes the long painful process of separating ourself from sin. Even for the believing baptism person... the problem of sin remains and must be confronted 1 John 1:8 - 2:6.

Our purpose today is to discuss two approaches to the ongoing problem of sin:

1. Getting sin out of our lives [pictured by removal of leaven from our homes]
2. Getting our self out of sin [Getting our self out of sin being removed from the society and culture of Egypt … their outlook on life, what they considered good and evil]

1.Getting Sin Out of Our Life

This is the most often talked about approach towards the ongoing problems of sin. We do this by using God's commandments, judgments, and statutes as a measuring stick... we examine our behavior, our speech, our thoughts... we look for error, for harm we have done, things we should have done/or be doing but are not, matters where we messed up through ignorance and now want to set right.

This new covenant application of the feast of unleavened bread is very clearly spelled out for us. Getting out leaven and getting out sin is addressed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:1-11.

A member of their congregation was flagrantly having sex with his mother-in-law, a violation of God's commandments. The congregation appears to have know but were not doing anything about it. They were taking the approach of tolerance. Probably believing it was more important to forgive him than to confront his sin… but the forgiveness we have in Christ is not meant for unrepentant sin.

Paul said to Corinth: you have the wrong approach, I want you to kick him out. He compares it to the leaven out of our lives at the festival. 

He also said: if you don't get him out from among you and appear to be condoning it... the whole mess will spread and infect the entire congregation... in the same way leaven grows and spreads throughout the entire lump of bread dough.

Evil Spreads Effortlessly - Good Does Not

Evil spreads, permeates and ruins what is good corrupting it and making it evil. A mix of some good and some evil is evil. If you add a drop of strychnine to a glass of pure H2O the strychnine mixes in with the water and turns the whole drink into poison. Even if its 99% water and 1% strychnine its still deadly.

 

Good does not spread, permeate and overwhelm evil making it good. Evil remains evil, and the good you injected into it is wasted. If you stick a small plug of unleavened dough into a lump of leavened dough the lump does not slowly change into an unleavened lump.

Good can only overcome evil by confronting it and getting rid of it. You have to get the strychnine out of the water before you drink it [or you have to throw it away completely]… you have to guard the lump of dough so leavening doesn’t even get into the mix in the first place… [if it does you have to throw it away completely and start over].

God's kingdom and His family will not simply be more good than bad... it will be all good, all the time. That's what He wants for you... all good, all the time. ...And He has a plan to make it happen. He doesn’t want you bringing sin and evil along with you. He wants you to get it out now.

That's part 1: learn what sin is by studying, and thinking through God's commandments, judgments and statutes, then armed with this understanding get it out of your life. Use the annual Days of Unleavened Bread as a reminder to stay on task.

2. Get Yourself Out of Sin

We read in Corinthians where Paul said: I know you live in a society filled with sexual immorality. Its impossible for you to separate yourself completely from the world around you. You will have to continue to resist that. But what I am telling you to do is deal with the situation and circumstances you have the power to address... in Corinth that means kicking the sexually immoral member out of the congregation... so he would not infect others.

Are we properly assessing situations and circumstances which continually lead us back into the sins we know we are supposed to have left behind?

The Days of Unleavened Bread are also  a reminder to get our self out of situations where sin is overpowering us. This is the message from the exodus of Israel leaving Egypt:

Hebrews 11:24-27 Moses left behind the pleasures of Egypt because he had a vision of something better. This was a situation where Moses was in control. It was his decision to leave it all behind. Egypt was filled with opportunities for sexual pleasure, his position in the royal family was an opportunity to live a life of pride and vain self indulgence. But Moses could not have all that and have access to the eternal promises of God. So he made a choice, get out.

By contrast, the average Israelite lived as a slave in Egypt and did not have the option of personal choice to get out. Only the mighty power of God could get them out of their circumstances. The vices and sins of Egypt had rubbed off on Israel... first and foremost was that they were losing sight of God. Much of their sin was a matter of ignorance and omission. They had lost sight of what was good.

They were not able to worship Him like Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. Whatever good the family of Abraham had brought with them to Egypt was completely overwhelmed by the evils of Egypt.

To move His plan forward for the children of Abraham God had to get them out of there.

Question A: When it is in your power to do so, are you making the hard decisions to get yourself out of situations which are drawing you into sin? Question B: If you are in a situation where you cannot get out by your own power ... and you are crying out to God to help you… when God offers you a way of escape are you willing to take it?... sometimes we don’t like to path of escape God offers.

Either way you must get out! The Days of unleavened bread are your annual reminder of this necessity.

Escaping a Doomed Culture

Look around you: the culture in which we now live is doomed to destruction. Let’s take a few minutes to review culture an a society doomed to destruction… the City of Sodom.

In Genesis 18 we have a record of God's messengers visiting Abraham on their way to the city of Sodom. Their mission was to bear witness to the evil behavior taking place in the city... and once it was verified the city of Sodom would be destroyed.

Scripture tells us that Lot was a good man who lived in a bad place. His presence in the city did not make the city good or redeem it. In fact he was being negatively affected by his stay there. The only answer was to get out.

Genesis 19:1-3 Lot prepared unleavened bread for the visitors. This minor detail in an otherwise action packed sequence is the bible's way of indicating these events we are reading occurred during the days of unleavened bread. Why would Lot go out of his way to prepare unleavened bread?

Also, what follows is very much in keeping with the theme of the days of unleavened bread... a festival built around a story of people being rescued from sin!by this we learn something about the nature of Sodom's evil. They were violent, they were sexually perverse, and they were angry that anyone would presume to judge them for their behavior. They had seared their conscience... there was no remorse, they were proud of their sins… no hope for repentance. They even were going to inflict their sin on others by force.

Genesis 19:10-15 Lot is told to get out quickly so he does not  get swept up in its destruction. Lot was advised to take members of his family with him, but other than his wife and daughters no one took the warning seriously.

In various ways God repeatedly give you the same instruction: get out now. Stop living the way everyone around you is living. Almost everything you now see around you [even the good ole U.S.A.] is doomed for destruction. The fine buildings, the art, books, music, traditions, national pride, perhaps your friends, perhaps your extended family. Do not cling to these things if they are impeding your life's purpose... to put on the mind of Christ... and attain life eternal.

Genesis 19:15-26 the angels have to grab Lot by the hand and drag him out.

Genesis 19:27-29 Lot was not saved because of his own righteousness but because of Abraham's intercession

The Portrait of Lot is Not Very Positive

1. Lot has good qualities like Abraham such as hospitality… but then we see him offering his daughters to the men outside the door. Living in that awful place was degrading his own morals.

2. When told to flee Sodom Lot is reluctant to leave. He was enjoying the good things Sodom had to offer... and because of that he was willing to tolerate the obvious wickedness around him, look the other way, and co-exist. Lot's hesitation indicates his heart was really there in Sodom and not with God.

3. Lot was told to flee to the mountains but he begs and pleads to be allowed to go to nearby town. He is finally willing to get out of Sodom but he doesn't want to go to far. He was willing to get out of sin but not all the way.

4. Lots wife and daughter were even more badly infected by the love of pleasure and other evils of Sodom [his wife turned back, and immediately after their rescue his daughters were grossly sexually immoral... probably based on attitudes they had picked up in Sodom]. Lots was not showing Godly spiritual leadership in his family. He should have gotten them out long ago.

Question: are you allowing the surrounding culture to affect what you see as good, or acceptable? Have you soaked up some of the attitudes of the society around you... for some that would be the anger... and hatred of others... the partisanship. Perhaps for you its selfishness... greed... a casual attitude toward sex... Have you become indifferent to sin?... Tolerant of evil...?

Question:  what exactly are you watching on TV? What are you reading? What sort of websites are you frequenting? What kind of people are you spending your free time with? Have you ever critically examined these areas of your life? Or, are you just going with the flow.

Are you more concerned about what your neighbors think about you... your co-workers, your extended family, your friend group... is that more important than God's opinion about you?

Let God Rescue You From Destruction

2 Peter 2:4-10 God does not go about destroying every wicked city, every wicked person, or society. He lets them continue so as to keep the door open for repentance. But God did destroy Sodom, He did it as an example to you and to history:

1. That you know God's judgment is surely going to happen, and that it will seem sudden to people who are not paying attention
2. The punishment for anyone who refuses to repent is total destruction
3. God knows how to save a person from destruction... even people who don't really deserve it.

Lot chose to live in Sodom. When Lot and Abraham separated, Lot took all his wealth and set himself up in Sodom. A place he must have known had problems but that also offered a lot of pleasures, distractions, culture and comfort. It had a terrible effect on him... he was obviously compromised... he lost all his wealth... and only escaped by the skin of his teeth.

2 Peter 2:19-22 you have been offered a way to escape the punishment for sin through Jesus Christ. Once more we are going to memorialize that event with the observance of the Passover. Then we are going to precede with the days of unleavened bread. A reminder to get sin out of our lives... and to get ourselves out from the wickedness that surrounds us.

The days of unleavened bread remind us that we must forsake sin completely... not returning to what we have supposedly given up... and not hanging on to situations, circumstances and attitudes that lead us back into the practices we have supposedly turned our back upon.