Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (June 7, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. I'd like you to turn

in your Bibles this morning. We're going to try

to go several places if we can. Today, I'd like

you to turn to Exodus chapter 12 and put your

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

finger in there in the Old Testament. And I'd

like you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

So those are the two major texts. We're going

to look at other scriptures along the way. But

I kind of felt pressed this weekend as I was

not of what to do, but I was planning on coming

back. this weekend and actually picking up where

Pastor Trent left the church last week. And the

reason it's so important to me is because I happened

to work with Pastor Trent on that message even

though I was away. I was very involved in the

theme and kind of directing some of where I believe

the Holy Spirit was speaking to me on Pentecost.

And as I sat down to just Fill my mind with prayer

and then the mind of Christ. I told Trent, I

said, I have 15 different books and things that

are open on this topic. And I've been reading

and just saturating myself. But I feel like the

Lord is just shifting gears. And I said, I'm

a little bit at twix because I had planned on

preaching an expansion of Pentecost. And I really

felt like the Lord. I came back in Friday. I

came back in yesterday. I really felt like the

Lord spoke to me this morning for Life Bible

Church. He said, I want you to expand on Passover

so that they can really understand Pentecost.

So this morning, I'm going to probably teach

on a dimension of Passover that maybe you haven't

connected in New Testament understanding. But

I'm hoping that by the grace of God, that we're

all going to be deepened and widened with appreciation.

Of what God did in the Exodus. And what he did

at Passover. That carries into this table. And

so if you would. Would you just maybe bow your

head with me. And let's just welcome the spirit

of God. Father. In Jesus name this morning. Lord

we come to the word of God. Lord to be fed. Lord

you told Peter. Before you left, Lord, and you

said you'd come again, but you said, Peter, I

want you to feed my sheep. I want you to feed

my lambs. Three times you emphasized the issue

of feeding. And I'm asking this morning, God,

that you would begin to break open the bread

of life. You are the living bread. Of heaven

that came down. I'm asking you to open the word

of God. That there would be an understanding.

That would be released. Let an illumination and

revelation. Begin to come now to our mind. Let

an appreciation for how simple. But yet how deep.

The love of God actually is. And what is written

in the scriptures. Is for us. We now Lord ask

that you would give us full attention. Lord keep

our minds alert. As we would take this in. And

that great. Worship would expand in our heart

for how awesome, how wonderful you really are.

In Jesus' name we pray and everybody said, amen,

amen. Thank you, Jackie. All right. Let's start

in the New Testament because that's where I'd

like us to look at first and then we'll go to

Exodus in a bit. But we're gonna start in 1 Corinthians.

First book of Corinthians chapter five. Now this

is, this is quite a unique approach to talking

about Passover. Because if you understand anything

about the book of first Corinthians, now you

guys are scattered all over the place. All right.

So if you understand anything about the first

and second book of Corinthians, You will understand

this because I know we've got some new believers

in the room. And so this is, I'm probably gonna

do more teaching -esque style today than I am

gonna be preached, but there'll be some of that

as well. Because remember, teachers tell it,

preachers yell it, right? All right, so the reality

is, if you understand Corinthians, Paul was writing

to a church that he himself pioneered, okay?

Now, you have to remember that Paul himself was

a ardent Jewish person. Before his salvation,

he was not only born of the tribe, he gives a

litany actually in the scriptures. He was born

of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee of

Pharisees. He belonged to the sect of the Pharisees.

that had the stricter adherence to the law. And

when he says a Pharisee of Pharisees, which means

there was a strict adherence to the law, and

then there was a elite group of people that in

doctrinal pursuits of the law and understanding

the minutia of who God is and how to serve and

worship God, he was of the intellectual elite

and he was of the observance elite. And God turned.

someone that was a if you want to call him we

would call it today he would have a double phd

in the things of old testament understanding

god turned that phd double phd mind that was

against everything that Jesus was. He believed

Jesus was an imposter. Saul did before his conversion.

He believed that the gospel that was called the

way at that time, that was before Christianity.

He believed that that was a complete farce and

a complete form of deception and that he was

willing to give his life to eradicate the way

and any Christian that was trying to taint in

his mind what the true minutia and everything

that he had studied, he believed they were a

detriment to it. And how gracious of God to take

Saul, who was one of the elite that was part

of the national, if you will, blood. born, bought

sons of Israel that had become so exclusive,

God turned him and brought him back to an understanding

of who Jesus is as the Messiah and would use

an intellectual champion on Judaism to defend

the gospel. Now listen, to every nation. So rather

than moving to the exclusivity of the minutia

of the minutia of Judaism, God would take that

exclusive member that had in his own mind worked

and proved himself of Judaism and he would make

a wholesale change through salvation and then

make him the apostle to the nations. Now that

in itself is incredible. That you would take

a scholar of scholars that spent his whole life

researching texts, reading. Now, listen, we often

think, I just got to stop here because I got

to kind of just download on us, Eric, just a

little bit. We often think, Daniel, that all

these guys did was read the Bible. Well, they

read it a lot. The Bible for them was the 39

books of the Old Testament. They didn't have

any New Testament writing. So everything they

got was from the 39 books from Genesis to Malachi.

But what you don't understand and what we're

very ignorant in this in the Western culture

is they were very well studied of everything

else. So if I was to go and I was to peel back,

and Nathan, I'll use you as an example. If I

was to peel back just the head of a Jewish scholar

in second temple understanding, meaning this,

second temple means the time from Malachi to

the time of Jesus's birth or the disciples' birth.

If I was to understand what was their base level

of reasoning, I could just crack open their skull

and say, what did you read? only read Torah or

scriptures or scrolls, the answer would be, are

you ready for this? No. That and all they read.

Can't be. Fact is, it is proven history -wise.

If you look at the scholars, especially one of

the historians, Flavius Josephus, and there were

others, Roman historian, Phileo, I think that

was his name. They would write of history and

what was quoted, but Josephus specifically would

lay out what would have been the... the halls

of saved scrolls and books and Alexandria in

our Old Testament times would have been the known

place of all documents of the world that would

have been preserved, would have been like the

library or the Smithsonian of today, where everything

on scrolls would have been saved from every culture.

The fact is when Daniel went to Babylon, and

I'm getting way deep here. This is what happens

after second service. You give first service

and then all of a sudden I just think about all

these things and I get downloaded and I'm trying

to be good. I'm trying to be good, Chelsea. And

so in this reality, Daniel taken from Judaism

to, now I skipped from Paul here. We're going

back to Daniel. Notice what it says. That when

Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got

taken captive, they were educated in what? All

of the things of the known world at that time.

That meant every form of science, every form

of astronomy, astrology. That means every form

of art that was done even from the Egyptians.

Everything that was involved in every form of...

they would have studied to have a view of a world

perspective and even of foreign deities and how

to work witchcraft and magic and occult power

what Daniel had to study. You cannot read the

book of Daniel and not come with that understanding.

Because in him, remember the statements, in you.

is the wisdom of the most high God. There's no

one like you. Why? They were getting their other

wisdom from other deities that weren't gods.

So when you talk about Paul and you talk about

his understanding and you begin to dive into

his life, you need to understand that he would

have had depth. and breadth of many cultures

and much understanding fact is when you read

him from that perspective and he writes the book

of Ephesians he's going to write about principalities

powers rulers and authorities he doesn't take

that language from anywhere else other than a

type of Daniel and a type of understanding of

second temple understanding that they understood

that there were other deities that were if you

will lesser gods that had rule over nations how

do I get that? Daniel said what? The angel told

him, when I leave you, I was resisted for 21

days. The prince of Persia resisted me. But when

I go back, I'll have to wrestle the prince of

Greece. Paul talking about prince of powers,

rules, and authorities was picking up on that

understanding. Now, why am I saying that? Because

Paul would have had an understanding of everything.

Everything that was going on in a Gentile mindset,

even though he was raised in the strictness of

Judaism and was educated, remember he quoted

poets. When he sent them to Crete, what did he

quote? He told Titus. Put elders at every church

and remind them. One of their own prophets said

this. Cretans are evil beasts and lazy gluttons.

And their own have said this. Paul was quoting

secular literature that got in the Bible. Hello

somebody. Peter was quoting. Enoch, the book

of 1 Enoch that's not in the Bible, when he quotes

about the last days, Jude does the same thing.

He quotes 1 Enoch. They quote the book of Jasser.

There were other literature that surrounded their

culture that they would have drawn from that

the Holy Spirit picked up and used in the scriptures.

It doesn't mean it canonizes Jasser or canonizes

1 Enoch or canonizes the Book of the Watchers

or canonizes the Cretan poets. But it means that

their understanding of literature, of history.

had an understanding and a framework that when

God breathed on them and used their particular

personality that God would breathe and write

the scriptures in, they had the breadth to pull

things in into the cultures that they would be

speaking to. Are you there? So it's important

that when the apostle Paul starts writing in

Corinthians, He has a very vested interest in

the fact that he pioneered that church. Through

the Holy Spirit, of course, we can't do anything

on our own, but God sent Paul to pioneer the

Corinthian church. He spent 18 months in Corinth

pioneering that church. So he's writing this

letter and Corinthians, without going too deep

into it, Corinthians was different than most

other cities. that Paul would go to in all of

his three missionary journeys. Fact is, the very

nature of the Corinthian city itself was built

on rebellion and debauchery different than other

Roman cities. Corinthian was the one seaport

that they didn't have a city there that was actually

started by sailors and those that were kind of

the rude and outcast of society. Now just think

of this. How many have ever gone to a coastal

port? You ever been to Newport or Depot Bay or

Lincoln City? Anybody ever just... Okay, three

of you, wonderful. Do you live in the state of

Oregon? Okay, if you've been to a port city,

how about Yahats? If you've been to a port city,

what do you feel? Do you feel this overwhelming

sense of just, oh, this place is so airy and

so light and so wonderful. It just feels so like

it's godly and sanctified. Why don't you feel

that? Because your spirit is witnessing that

port cities often carry with it a form of evil

based on a lifestyle of debauchery. What do you

find in most port cities? Why do American servicemen

and women, what are port cities known for for

sailors? A place to gamble, to drink, and have

sex. All right, let me just come down here and

make sure you're getting this. Do you understand

that? That port, when the ship pulls into port,

nobody's just running to Sunday school. Right?

I mean, more babies were born during the Korean

War. Why? American servicemen. Same with the

Vietnam. I mean, that's wonderful. in the fact

that we have wonderful people but the fact of

the the sin issue of it from the disease of it

from the sin of it from the carnality so when

you just understand port level city and you understand

debauchery you understand that if the founding

fathers were sailors themselves that the whole

city was built on a form of corruption It's kind

of like a little bit of, I mean, I'm not advising

you to go home and watch a bunch of Johnny Depp's

pirate shows, but the whole point of it is if

you couldn't trust a sailor, why? Because he

could be boughten with grog and with winches.

And that's your founding fathers of the city?

That's the level? of competency, and that's the

level of integrity. What it says to be, in fact,

is it was a term in all of the land. Well, I

hope you're not getting Corinthianized. The term

in their day meant, it's like would be today.

I'm going to be careful here. But if we say,

well, What they do in San Francisco, we know

what that means. For them to say, well, we hope

you don't get Corinthianized. It meant what?

That you move into a place that had no boundaries,

no barriers to carnality, to immorality. It would

be a cross between San Francisco and Las Vegas

on a port city. That was the foundation. of the

city of Corinth that Paul, by the Holy Spirit,

Holy Spirit put Paul and put him there in the

midst of all the temples that were there. He

wrote against the sexual immorality that happened

during worship. He wrote a lot of things. So

here, I know that was a deep explanation. I gotta

keep moving here. But Paul becomes the one who

brings the gospel. He said, I don't, preach the

gospel on other people's work. He was sent to

preach the gospel where no one had laid any foundation

stones. And Paul was the first one to bring the

gospel to Corinth. So when he's writing to the

Corinthian church here, he is writing, not just

as an invested interest that he preached the

gospel as an evangelist, did his work and left.

He preached the gospel as an evangelist, but

he carried them in his heart as an apostle type

father, wanting them to grow and deepen in the

things of God. So when he writes this here, he's

going to bring a Gentile church. And this is

what's so important for us to understand this

morning. He brings a Gentile church. And most

of us here are Gentile, right? Is there anybody

here that is? has full Hebrew or Israeli, not

the nation Israel, but Jewish blood. Is there

anybody here that has that? I had a few in the

service, first service. Any else? Some of you

might be half, but I'm talking full. Yeah, I

mentioned you already, Tiff. You're not, well,

yeah, you're pretty full. So I just said, her

dad was in the first service and I said, outside

of Steve and outside of Tiffany, Most of us in

this church are Gentile. We're the other nations,

right? We represent everything outside the Jewish

nation, the nations of the world, every tribe,

every kindred, every tongue. The reason this

is so important is the Gentile church, by nature,

our nature, and our Western culture, we have

bought the understanding that we really don't

need to know many times what was written in the

Old Testament. We can just read the English and

figure it out. We can just think that the translation

that we have here that's from the Greek and from

the Hebrew is good enough. The problem is it's

good, but it's not the best. And in order to

really have a full understanding of what is actually

placed in here and get, if I could say, get more,

in the words of Nacho Libre, get some more nutrients

out of the scriptures, okay? The fact of the

matter is that sometimes you have to look up

things. You have to go into the Hebrew. You have

to go into the Greek and understand what... they

would have known and what they would have accepted

culturally in their day. Just like we could say,

well, you know what they do in Vegas, what's

done in Vegas stays in Vegas. If you were to

say that 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, nobody

would have a clue what you were saying. And so

sometimes we have to pick up on the cultural

idioms that are actually written in the scripture.

Because even though it's divinely inspired, there

are cultural mindsets that would have given practicality

in order for you to understand it in its fullness.

So Paul is now one of the learned of the learned

is now God is sending to the nations. And it's,

of course, everything God does is brilliant.

It's brilliant. It is brilliant. Why? He takes

the most educated man in Judaism. He takes one

of the men that were the enemy of the gospel.

transforms his life, pulls him out of a dark

mindset of his own pride and deception that they

had been twisted in and brings him into a revelation

of Jesus to now take all of the truth that he

studied, bring it through a right filter and

explain the God of the Bible and Jesus, his son,

the Messiah, who's now come. And now, Paul, your

assignment is to take this to the world. And

so as he's writing the Christian, as he's writing

to the Corinthians, he's having to explain some

things that we're looking at here in the Corinthian

church. And we realize out of all the churches

that Paul writes to, the Corinthian church was

really good in some things. They excelled above

some of the other churches. in good gospel things,

but they also excelled in absolute foolishness

and debauchery, thinking they were being spiritual.

So they were kind of like the good, the bad,

and the ugly, as he's writing this to the church

to try to straighten some things out. And we're

gonna pick up this morning. I know that was all,

that was pre -introduction. Now we're gonna get

to my introduction. Okay, he writes this to straighten

some thinking out, but he starts in a very obscure

place. And I don't know if you've ever started,

I'd have never started a communion message in

1 Corinthians chapter five. But here we go. 1

Corinthians chapter five says this. For Christ,

Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed, sorry.

For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival not

with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,

but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and

truth. Now, First of all, I want us to just focus

in on the first part of verse 7. For Christ,

our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. The Apostle

Paul is making it very clear because God is making

sure that the... Corinthian church does not miss

this point because they were not actually bringing

this scripture and this truth into their personal

setting in their corporate gatherings. So Paul

is making several announcements here. He's saying,

number one, Jesus Christ has fulfilled every

part of Passover. He has become the Passover

lamb. He is the meat, His blood, every part of

Passover is now fulfilled and has been sacrificed

and it's been summed up in Jesus Christ. Why

does a Gentile church need to know that? as Paul

would write to other churches, there would be

other people that were more connected to Judaism

and they would try to draw people back to doing

things in a natural setting when Christ had already

fulfilled the natural and what we were to glean

from it is to be spiritual. So he was setting

the tone right off the bat. There are spiritual

truths in Passover that you need to understand.

And Corinthian church, if you don't understand

these spiritual truths, you're going to miss

the essence of how God actually wants to build

your faith. So the whole point of bringing you

back to Passover is to connect you with the largeness

of what God did to start your journey in spiritual

understanding. Does that make sense? And so we

see here that the Holy Spirit does this. Moses

is... by most all scholars is credited with compiling

and maybe even writing the first five books of

the Bible representing the Torah. And the Holy

Spirit brings Paul to the Corinthian church to

bring an understanding of truth and power and

the source of victory that God did for his people

in Exodus. So when I say Passover, I need you

to connect. Passover, lamb, the blood applied

to the doorpost, not only is cross, but it's

also connected to Exodus. Why is it connected

to Exodus? Because what God is going to do in

Passover actually establishes this meal. Let

me just teach it this way. Oh, my God, my God.

Help me. Okay, one of the great truths of the

book of Exodus, and there are many, but the whole

point of the book of Exodus is what? It was to

get the people of God that were in slavery, slavery

physically, in their minds, in their emotions,

in their values, in their thinking, to begin

to transfer that slavery and bondage that was

under another nation, under another power, under

another value system, authority system, and the

rule of the gods. Please, you're getting a little

bit of Bible college history today. If you haven't

connected, The fact that every plague that God

brought on the nation of Egypt was actually in

direct confrontation to one of the 10, the 10

plagues. Every plague was in a direct confrontation

to one of the Egyptian deities that they served.

You can trace absolutely each plague, whether

it was lice or... flies or gnats or frogs or

hail. All of it was connected to certain deities

in Egypt that claimed power over that. To the

final one being the death angel that passed over

was after who had the power of life and death.

And Pharaoh claiming himself as a God among the

gods confronted by the God Jehovah. Every one

of them. And any scholar that's worth his weight

will absolutely connect those. We forget that

in Western culture because we're so removed.

We're not removed from the idea that there are

powers and principalities and rulers, but that

was part of the culture that for 430 years. the

what? The people of God lived under not just

the pharaohs and the taskmasters, but lived under

the authority of the rule of who they served

and how they worshiped. And so part of the blood

that would be applied on the life was connected

not only to the cross representing The blood

of Jesus, for our day, that represents what?

Apply the blood and it does what? It removes,

if taken by faith and taken in seriousness, it

removes my connection to sin. It removes the

handwriting that was against me called the law

of God. It removes, through repentance and faith,

it transfers what was death to me off of me and

onto Jesus and I receive what was Jesus. pure

right standing, his righteousness, his work comes

to me by faith. The same principle was true now

that God is going to actually do this in Egypt.

He was now going to ask people because every

plague that was given, it changed in the last

plague. God didn't ask the people of Israel to

do anything, plague one through nine. Fact is,

I'll get to this another time, but plague number

five through nine, God said specifically, I will

show the difference between those who follow

me and who are true to me and those that are

of Egypt. And God, by his own power, divided

the people in their own land. If this section

is Egypt, there was a little place called Goshen

at the far end of it that was still under Egypt's

authority and dominion. And God separated Goshen

out where most of Israel lived. And all the plagues

happened over all of Egypt except for here that

was still in Egypt. But what? Covered by God,

by his power and his strength. Until we get to

plague number 10. And plague number 10 was a

direct shot now at Pharaoh and Pharaoh's firstborn

son. It was a direct shot between Yahweh or Jehovah

and who would be his firstborn son. One that

had the power to lay life down and to take it

back up again. Verse one, that had the power

only to yield to death and there was no power

to raise. God was confronting Pharaoh's ignorance,

Pharaoh's pride, Pharaoh's power to say that

he was like an Elohim, he was like a God. He

wasn't. And when the death angel passed over,

anyone that refused to put the blood on their

doorposts, the death angel took of men, of rulers,

even of cattle and of sheep and of donkeys. If

there wasn't, A firstborn was extracted. Now,

that's where most of us have an understanding.

But you have to go a little deeper because there

are other things that are connected to Passover.

It wasn't only just about the blood. The blood

was the first key element and you can't bypass

the blood. But the other elements of Passover

showed elements of faith for you and I. Meaning

what? They were told after you apply the blood

on the lentil and the doorpost, you are to make

a lamb and you are to eat it roasted with fire

with bitter herbs and you're to have everyone

in the house eat it. You take a lamb for a household.

It means that in all the nation of Israel, For

430 years, now please get this. For 430 years,

here are the 12 tribes of Israel, they're scattered.

They had not been pulled together in unity for

430 years. The last plague. The last thing that

God's going to do to establish the difference

between all of the other gods, all of the other

religions, all of the other stuff, there's only

one God and he has a people. He would now do

something that would be absolutely beyond Israel's

comprehension. He would now take you in your

slavery and just trying to survive and take you

out of the tribes and he would pull you together

and... bring you around even though you sat in

your own homes he would bring the spirit of unity

to the whole house of God meaning that at the

table remember why because Christ is a Passover

lamb he would start this unity of the table clear

back at Passover, that wherever you were at and

however you had come, whether you'd been disillusioned,

disfranchised, you'd been hurt, your family had

been hurt, all the promises of Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob seemed to be at a loss. Right before

the death angel plague, God would say, now I'm

going to require partnership. It's incredible

that God would wait until the last plague. And

before he would have you apply the blood, you

would have to gather all of your family and you

would sit around the table and there would be

things that would be done. You would have to

what? Be dressed. The Bible says in Exodus 12,

you'd have to be fully dressed. You'd have your

sandals on. And for those that were the head

of the families, they would have their staff

in their hand representing what? it would represent

that they were about ready to take a journey.

It was the first expression, minus some other

things that God did with Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob prior to that, from Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob to the 430 years, nobody had expressed

a faith dimension. Think of that. The last dimension

is what we hear in Genesis 50 about the prophecies

of take my bones out of here when you go up.

That's my last thing. And then what happens?

About 400 years, or 380 more years out of the

70 years when the last one died. 380 years passed.

That was the last expression of faith. Kind of

sounds a little bit like what happened between

Malachi and Matthew that went through the 400

years, silent years. It means the last expression

of faith was almost lost on the nation. Folks,

we're a nation. America is celebrating 250 years.

Just add another 100 years onto that level and

that's about how long distanced they were from

their freedom. Look how far we've come from ours

originally. Are you thinking that through for

a second? How much different identity is our

nation right now at polar opposites of what they

think freedom actually is? So can you imagine

adding another 100 years down the line on America?

That's exactly what happened to the children

of Israel. The Abraham, the Isaac, and the Jacob

seem so far off. Why? Because they were engulfed

now. Engulfed in every aspect of life. The women

were engulfed. by Egyptian rule, even their babies

now, were under mandated abortion and termination.

Read the language for what it is. If every boy

you shall put to death that's born on the stool.

That was the what? That was the mandate for the

Egyptian midwives. They were Hebrews, but they

were keeping their life. It says you kill every

male. If you understand that the framework of

the children of Israel had almost been evaporated

from their mind, they were in slavery. They had

developed another cultural perspective. They

did not look, even when you read the Exodus account

and Moses' account when he comes back from a

word from God, they did not read it or have faith

to even believe it. And anything that disrupted

their lives and made it worse, they could not

look through faith. All they looked through was

depression, discouragement, and that God was

just a fairy tale. So that when God says in the

last plague, he wasn't just dealing with Egypt.

He was going to make sure that he dealt with

his own people. So he says what? Every person

has to put the blood on their door. And every

person, now household, has to come together.

And you're gonna eat the meat of the lamb that

provided its blood. You're gonna eat its life.

And in addition to being ready, which represents

faith and expectancy that God was going to do

what he promised years ago, guess what he added

to it? Now this becomes the kicker of all kickers.

And I'll come over here to this side. Kyle, this

is what he said. He said in Exodus chapter 12,

Exodus 12:15

verse 15, if you could go there. Exodus 12. Verse

15, and throw it on the screen. It should be

in the notes. Seven days. Now, at the putting

of the blood, in the midst of Passover, he started

what? He started what we would also know as interchangeable,

the feast of unleavened bread. You cannot, and

here's what we don't understand in Western church.

You cannot separate Passover and unleavened bread.

And we do. Why is it so important? Listen, seven

days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first

day you shall remove, listen, here's your responsibility.

You shall remove leaven out of your houses. For

if anyone eats what is leavened from the first

day to the seventh day, are you ready? That person

shall be cut off from Israel. Do you understand

that's how the Holy Spirit now pulls Passover

into 1 Corinthians 5, which is what? The excommunication

chapter. He's dealing with how Israel got cut

off from the life of God. the protection of God,

the grace of God. He pulls it all the way from

Passover. He brings it all the way into 1 Corinthians

5. And he says to the one that's still doing

this. I'm sorry, I'm picking you. Let me just

pick over here on Scott. Because I can see him

tomorrow and I can apologize for what I'm about

to do. All right. He picks this man. That the

Bible clearly says in 1 Corinthians 5 is operating

in a sexual sin that is contrary to the nature

of what God allows. And he now, the Holy Spirit,

pulls a passage of personal responsibility within

the blood now to a New Testament church. We never

preach on this. I've never heard a message on

this and I've been in the church for over 50

years preached like this. And I felt like the

Lord spoke. He says, it is time to bring an understanding

of personal responsibility back to the table

of the Lord. You see, that's what was happening

in Corinthian culture. The Corinthian culture

was thinking the way all of the other gods thought.

In regard to eating at the altar and at their

sacrifice. And God says, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm not going to have the Gentile nations take

any charge from what any other so -called demonic

God is. They're going to have an understand that

my altar and my food always points to that which

it represents and it's holy. It's righteous.

It's pure. And that's why it has to connect back

to Passover. You did what? You had to take a

perfect lamb. It had to be inspected by the priest.

Now you can't have perfection in an animal. It

only goes so far. And God knew that. That's why

every year under the Old Testament system, they

couldn't just say, well, Lord, we did it last

year. We had a really good lamb. We'd get it

to you last year. No. Every year, the flock had

to be gone through and a perfect lamb had to

be found to offer at the time of the festival,

not only of Passover, but also at tabernacles.

Why? Because God in the Old Testament could only

put off sins. There's a big difference between

fulfilling it and satisfying the penalty for

sin versus putting it off and waiting. It was

kind of like God's layaway program in the Old

Testament. I mean, if you're thinking about it,

I'm going to actually lay away my forgiveness

and fullness of this gift. And I'm going to keep

making down payments until I bring the final

payment that will be in my son. It's exactly

what he did. So every year under the old covenant

from the time of Moses, of the writing of the

law here, as we look in Exodus, every year, a

lamb that would be brought to represent Passover

would represent another year of putting off sin.

And God would say, it's a down payment of grace

for the fullness that's coming. And in the very

beginning of that statement, he would do what?

He would say, if you're now going to live, I'm

going to apply the blood. You're taking the hyssop

and you're striking the lentil and you're making

marks of smeared blood on your door. That doesn't

stop there. And what we've done is that we've

been a Corinthian church in American culture.

And we've said, if we have the blood, we're okay.

It doesn't matter how we live. It doesn't matter

what we do. There's really no responsibility.

And God says, go back to how I instituted it.

Go back to the place where I brought the children

of Israel out that were fragmented, that were

discouraged, that were without hope, that was

really without faith. And they simply did it

because they had a remnant of belief that God

still was the God that covenanted with them.

And what did they do? God, now this is the beauty.

God by his blood actually situationally If I

could say spiritually, does everything we receive

today in grace, when they weren't, it's not by

their own works. He called them what? You come

under the blood, the death angel passes over.

That represents what? The penalty of sin. The

penalty that you and I could not ever pay for.

So Israel, even in their mind, they obeyed to

the point that God God superseded their level

of obedience because that's the scripture. God

supersedes our level of obedience and aren't

you grateful? Come on. Now in grace, here's the

wonderful thing about the cross. Before Paul

ever starts correcting them in 1 Corinthians

5, what did he call them? He starts chapter one

by saying, beloved. To the saints of God in Corinth.

Do you understand what he was saying? He said

because the blood has been applied to your hearts.

Because by faith you've accepted Jesus. I'm now

calling you a saint. Before he ever went to move

into correction. Change their thinking. Adjust

their thinking. Shift their thinking. Discipline

their thinking. He reminded them that they were

under the blood of Christ. And they were saved.

Positionally they were saved. But there were

some things that needed. to be changed in their

thinking. I don't know about you, Kevin, but

have you found yourself that even though you're

saved, you've thought wrong about some things?

Okay. Only a few. Okay. Praise God. Okay. That's

most of us in this room. You can be absolutely

saved and have wrong perspectives in multiple

categories of your life. And it's the grace of

God that comes by the reading of the word and

by the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit and by prayer

and by your willingness to surrender that does

what? Renew your thinking by putting on the mind

of Christ and by putting on the new man of what

you found to be the nature, character, and the

qualities of Christ and surrendering your life

to the pattern that is Christ and the Father

and the Holy Spirit rather than what you were

before. born with right you found this working

right now right me too it means that we're always

have a responsibility to have the washing of

the word of God over our conclusions we are not

called to have the hardening of the categories

just because you're saved does not give you the

right to have the hardening of the categories

Your job is to remain what? So that the blood

of Christ, the grace of God can constantly instruct

you and teach you in further understanding of

who he is in the scriptures. The Jesus I believe

saved me 50 years ago. I'll be 57 in August.

Saved me almost 49 years ago. But I thank God

that I know more about Christ, know him deeper,

and the revelation that I have now is way, way

different than what I started with. And things

that I was taught in the beginning had to yield.

to further revelation of more scriptural understanding

that brought that narrow piece into a wider piece

that gave me an understanding of, oh, that clicks

with this now and this and this because I only

saw it this big because I only had so much understanding.

But I was still saved. And that's what the Holy

Spirit was doing through the Apostle Paul. Shoot.

We're still in our introduction. Okay. And why

that's important is this, because the Corinthian

church, because they were saved, they were zealous

to move forward and be spiritual people. The

problem is some of their character had not been

developed. Their appetites had not yet been sanctified,

but it didn't lose their salvation. But Paul

was about ready to address things that if carried

on was going to remove them from fellowship with

the Holy Spirit. So Paul writes here, and I'm

just going to say it this way for you guys this

morning. He writes here and says, listen, verse

six. Your boasting is not good about this issue.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens

the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that

you may be a new lump for you really are unleavened

for Christ, our Passover lamb. You really are

unleavened for Christ, our Passover lamb has

been sanctified. Let us celebrate the festival

not with old leaven. with the leaven of malice

and wickedness, but with the leaven of sincerity

and truth. Here's the deal about leaven. Leaven

is an Old Testament word that means yeast. So

Paul was talking about bread. He was saying,

listen, you have to understand that the blood,

remember we're talking Passover represents communion.

The blood of the lamb on the doorpost represents

what? The blood of Christ. Why is the bread part

so important? Because it's connected to the blood.

The bread, the unleavened bread feast was connected,

mean what? This becomes the participation part

of where I decide whether or not how sincere

and true I'm going to live with my faith or am

I just gonna focus on my freedom in the blood

and not have anything to do. with actually taking

inventory internally. You see, the mandate was,

go through all your house and sweep out the leaven.

Notice it doesn't say, and God will send angels

and they will come and do your housework. Now,

you might have little house cleaning teams today

called angel housework, but that's not scriptural.

Now today you can get somebody to pay somebody

to do your housework, but when it comes to this

house, who the Bible says you're the temple of

the Holy Spirit, it isn't angels that come and

sweep you clean. It is actually in partnership

with grace that you begin to ask the Lord, turn

the light on me and show me internally my values,

my choices, the things that are in me that are

different than what would be with you. Paul directly

took this because in 1 Corinthians 5, there was

a man, Antonio, I'm going to use you here for

a second. There was a man that took his father's

wife and was having intimate sexual relationship

with someone that his dad had had intimate relationship.

We don't know from scripture if it was a step

wife or a second marriage, or we don't know if

it was his birth mom. It doesn't say either way.

Guess what Paul was doing? Guess what the Holy

Spirit was doing? It was taking the church back

to Leviticus 17 and saying, anyone that uncovers.

His father's nakedness is sin. And those who

uncover a father's nakedness, it could be your

sister. It could be your wife. It could be your

aunt. It could be the wife of your father. That

person shall be cut off from the children of

Israel. Paul was taking them back to Leviticus

17 to the law. And in addition to the law, he

was saying, it's not just about the removal for

the debauchery of sin. It's about the issue that

this person was now taking communion, living

in fellowship with all the church, clearly having

his father's wife and the church said nothing

about it. The church did nothing about it because

they, that's why Paul said, do you know that

you're puffed up? You should have mourned. Why

did he use the word puffed up? Because that was

what leaven does. Leaven causes what? Bread to

rise. And so instead of actually having a clear

understanding of that should have pierced them

to the heart and saying, how could someone who

says they love, and I'll use, I'm upgrading you

right now, that say they love Jesus. and have

the hand of Jesus and the love of Jesus, how

could they hold the hand of Jesus and hold the

desire to have something that's forbidden at

the same time and say, I profess loyalty to God?

Paul says, no, no, no, no, no. You with my spirit

that's there. Why? Because I am the covering.

As an apostle of Christ over that church, my

spirit is there. You bring that person that refuses

to repent. Now, we're not talking about somebody

that's repented. We're talking about somebody

that was pushing the envelope. And he says, now

in the church, you turn them over to Satan. He

said, because do you not know that a little leaven

leavens the whole lump? Meaning. that if I put

yeast in just one corner of the pan of bread

that I'm going to bake, it will move automatically

through the whole bread. And because you're allowing

this thing to take place, it's not just a physical

thing. It's not just a thing that the man and

his father's wife had. It was a spiritual thing.

That I now could actually live like the Gentile

nations that had a whole bunch of gods rather

than actually give my life and bring my life

under the direction of lordship in every area.

And if I'm going to eat this bread and I'm going

to drink this cup, this bread represents... The

holy body of Jesus and the life that now actually

is meant to bring impartation to me. I can't

bring life into me while holding on to death.

Because now what? If I do that and the congregation

does not judge within it. Now, if it's repentance,

it's different. But if I, the eldership team,

or the people just allowed whatever to come in.

It means that the atmosphere will change. You'll

feel the port city. You won't have the cleanness

that you feel when you come in here. Why? Because

when you take this meal, and Paul writes again,

about this in 1 Corinthians 10. He writes again

about it in 1 Corinthians 11. He said, we have

to what? Judge ourselves before we take this

meal. Otherwise, many are sick, many are ill,

and many fall asleep, which is the word for dead,

prematurely. And it doesn't mean that God judges

them. I'll judge you if you continue sinning.

He says, no. He said, you open yourself up. to

the curse of what you're eating. And I bring,

I allow that curse to come upon you. Why? So

that you'll turn so that you won't be judged

with the world and wickedness. You'll actually

have something that will bring you to your senses.

It's a really incredible passage. But he starts

by bringing it back to Passover. And as the ushers

are getting ready to come now, We're going to

pray over the elements and then we're going to

take it together. Just give me a second as you

guys come. Go ahead and come on down. The key

of Exodus and Passover is this. That if you're

going to have blood, then you got to have unleavened

bread. You can't just have blood without the

bread. This table has two elements. The bread.

And the cup. The cup and the bread. The bread

means what? Now here, we're dealing with, I'll

just pick from the gluten -free pile. Okay? Is

it unleavened in the natural? No. It's supposed

to be unleavened in the spiritual. Why? Jesus

fulfilled the Passover. So the principle of eating

unleavened bread is not about what I'm getting

ready to eat now. It's am I eating? Remember

what he said in that verse? Am I eating from

sincerity and truth? Or am I eating still having

malice and wickedness in my heart? The key is

I gotta allow the light of Christ to search me.

Can we do that right now for this table? Father,

in Jesus' name. Lord, I ask now, Holy Spirit,

I'm gonna grab this while I gotta. I ask now,

Holy Spirit, that you would begin to shine a

light on every single one of us. Lord, this is

not about judgment. This is about recognizing

who we are about to partake of. You are the living

bread that came from heaven. And as you said

in John chapter six, you said the bread that

your fathers ate were manna, but yet they died.

But whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood,

they shall live. Lord, we're coming to the table

of life. It's holy. It's righteous. It's true.

It's pure. And there's nothing else in this world

that compares to you. And there's nothing I'm

willing to hold onto that represents sin or any

form of pleasure that's contrary to your will

that I want to keep holding onto. Your hand is

the only one that matters. I grab your hand.

And I ask, Holy Spirit, that you begin to show

me, evaluate me inside. This is not judgment.

This is love. And we say, Lord, help me sweep

out the leaven in my heart and in my mind. I

don't want any mixture. I don't want selfishness.

I don't want... A hardening of the categories.

I don't want to keep offense against anybody.

How do I approach the table? I forgive those

that offended me down to the core. I forgive

it. I release it. I begin to ask you, Lord, as

I approach the table, Lord, if there's anything

that I'm doing that isn't pleasing to you, I

want to know out of love's sake. Because I've

come now to receive an impartation of the living

Son of God. I'm coming to the table of life.

I ask you to bless this meal. And I ask you to

bless the bread and the cup. In Jesus Christ's

holy name. Amen. Would you stand with me? Thank

you for taking the time to listen to this week's

message. We are so grateful for those who tune

in each week and have given generously to this

ministry. If you would like to give click the

link in the episode description below. You can

also help us by subscribing to this podcast and

sharing it with your friends and family. Lastly

if you are in need of prayer send us a text message

at 541 -625 -1365. We would love to pray with

you.