Now then, let’s continue on. Let’s understand a little bit more of what it meant there that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Now let’s come to Ephesians 2, and let’s understand more about the grace of God and what it is that we are to do because we have received this grace, and because we’ve received this gift of righteousness. Because God deals with us as with children. God deals with us because we have His Spirit, and God deals with us with His grace. And sometimes some of the trials we go through are so that we can really trust in God, believe in God, realize that through grace we are delivered from these things and through grace we are going to be saved.

Now let’s begin right here in Ephesians 2:1. “And you hath He quickened,…” Now “quickened” means you’ve been given the Holy Spirit of God, you have passed from death to life. See, because your nature is death because death passed into all human beings. And we’re also going to see that also the nature of sin passed into all human beings. “…You…who were dead in trespasses and sins;…” Living in sin is death. The wages of sin is death. “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,…” And Satan is there working. And we’re going to see on the last Day of Unleavened Bread how that Satan is there to come after us because he knows that you are going to receive eternal life, and he doesn’t want you to receive it, you see. And that’s why we need to trust in God. “…That now worketh in the children of disobedience:…” And it’s very interesting that Satan has that ability to work in people. “…Among whom also we all [everyone of us] had our conversation [conduct] in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:1-3). Just doing what is natural. It feels good, sounds good. And without the conviction of God’s Spirit, and without the conviction and knowledge of God’s law you have no understanding of sin. You are dead. But God intervenes in your life. God calls you. God chooses you. God, through His grace, reaches down and calls you out of sin and takes you out of sin through Christ, just as surely as God took the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Now then verse 4. “But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)…” (vs. 4-5). And we know that salvation is a three-step process. You have been saved from your sins and Satan the devil, now. As long as you are standing in the Gospel and living by the Word of God, you are being saved. And when Christ returns at the resurrection, you shall be saved. Just like it says, “He who endures to the end shall be saved.”

Now let’s come down here to verse 8. He repeats it again. “For by grace are ye saved through faith;…” And you believe God. You can understand and take Him at His word that what He says is true, and He will perform, and He will accomplish. “…And that [is] not of yourselves [neither the salvation, nor the faith]: it is the gift of God [and God’s gifts come through His grace]: not of works, lest any man should boast” (vs. 8-9). No one’s going to go up to God and say, “Oh God, I’m so glad You discovered me. I was such a good person. You know, there’s no way, God, that You could possibly have passed over giving me eternal life.” Not even Job could do that. Not of works. There are works that we are to do, but those do not bring salvation. Those keep us in right standing with God.

Notice, “For we are His workmanship,…” Now then, God wants to do something in you, and through you, and to you. We are His workmanship. Remember what God said of Israel, back there in the book of Jeremiah? He was likened to a potter. And a potter can do with the clay what he desires. And he has to keep it at the right temperature, the right moisture, the right whatever it is that he is using the clay for and what he is going to make. God is the potter and we are the clay, and we don’t ask God, “What are you making? What are you doing?” God tells us, you see. We’re His workmanship - created, “Created…” Salvation is creation, you see. “…Created in Christ Jesus…”, so that you then become a new man, a new woman, a new person in Christ, as it were. You’ve already been created in the flesh, now this is the spiritual creation, you see. “…Created in Christ Jesus unto good works,…” (vs. 10).

Now just hold your place here and we’ll be right back. Let’s come to 1 John 2, and let’s see how we are created in Christ and what we are to do, and how we are to live, and how we are to conduct our lives. Now let’s pick it up here in 1 John 2:5, “But whoso keepth His word, in him verily [truly] is the love of God perfected:…” That’s the whole purpose of Unleavened Bread - that you be perfect. In Christ, perfected. And, “…Hereby we know that we are in Him.” If you’re going through this process, which we will see in just a little bit, you know that you are in Him, you see. “He that saith he abideth in Him [or that is, dwells in Christ] ought himself [that means he is obligated - he, himself is obligated] also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:5-6). And that is the workmanship and being created in Christ Jesus that Paul is talking about here in Ephesians 2.

Let’s come back to Ephesians 2 and see that statement. “…Unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Now that’s quite a thing, isn’t it? God has ordained, or commanded that we walk in these good works. Now then this presents a problem, as we will see.

Let’s come back to Romans 6 and let’s understand something. God has done this magnificent thing in manifesting Himself in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, and offered Himself and laid down His life for us, as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, before we even knew God. But yea, this was done for us almost two thousand years ago. Just shy about twenty-seven years, of two thousand years, ok?

Now let’s come back to Romans 6 because we have something that we need to do of an equivalent nature that God did. Because in order to fulfill His word and His promise to Abraham, God came in the flesh and died. And everything that has to do with the death of Jesus Christ has to do with our relationship with God because He was raised from the dead.

Now then, Romans 6:1, because God has done this… And all Protestants - Hello! Hear this, read this, understand this. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin [and sin is the transgression of the law - basic, fundamental], that grace may abound? God forbid.” And the Greek means “may it never be”, with the connotation of “don’t even let this thought enter into your mind.” May it never be! “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Because God required something of you as profound as what He did for us. But He did it in a more gentle way through the operation of baptism. But let’s notice this here. So Paul reminds them… This is all part of the teaching of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into [His] death:…” We are actually conjoined to His death. In order to have Christ in you, you must conform yourself to the death of Christ by the operation of baptism, and that is what we renew every year at the Passover, you see. “…That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:1-4). We’re not to continue in sin but newness of life. And what is that newness of life? Loving God, keeping His commandments, doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. Studying, praying, growing, overcoming, having your mind changed, being recreated from within after the image of Christ.

Now verse 5. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,…” Because we’re going to see that it is a process. And this process is continuous and ongoing throughout our lives. “…That henceforth we should not serve sin.” Or, be enslaved to sin, if you could put it that way. That’s why He requires of this. Now when we’re baptized it is a symbolic death, and we are pledging to God, as God pledged to us through His death, that we will live His way. And God says, in giving the Holy Spirit, that “I will give you strength, I will give you help, I will impute righteousness to you that you are in right standing with Me, as a father with a son.” And furthermore, as we have been studying in the book of Hebrews, you have direct access to God the Father in heaven above. And with that would you want to sin? Of course not, see. But do you have a struggle with sin? Yes, we all do. And we will all have a struggle with sin until we expire in the flesh. Now let’s go on here. “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:…” (vs. 5-6, 8) That’s the whole point of it, you see.

Now let’s come down here and see what we are to do. He says it again. Let’s understand how we are to live our lives. And every year at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, beginning with the Passover and Unleavened Bread, we are to rededicate our lives to God. We are to understand that yes, we have fallen short. Yes, we need God’s grace. Yes, we need the help of God. Yes, we need the Spirit of God. Yes, we need the laws and commandments of God. Yes, we need the Word of God.

Notice, let’s pick it up here verse 11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,…” You don’t live to sin any longer. You’re dead to sin. “…But alive unto God [the reason you are living is because of God] through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign [or that is rule] in your mortal body,…” Don’t let it control you. Remember, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Don’t let it control you, don’t let it rule you. Don’t let it drive you. Don’t let it pull you. See, don’t let it reign “…in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” That’s why we have the mental battles and things that are going on, which we will see what we are to do. And that’s where the true struggle is.

Now notice, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” You put the lust away. You overcome the thought. You, with the Holy Spirit of God, crush it and put it out. We’ll see how that’s done in just a bit here. “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead [because yes, truly we have passed from death unto life], and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Now then if this is the case and you are doing this, though you may sin, sin shall not have dominion over you. Now let’s read it, verse 14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you:…” It shall not rule you, but you overcome it. “…For ye are not under the law [because there’s nothing you can do out here with law to change inwardly], but [you are] under grace” (vs. 12-14). So that you receive the Spirit of God. You have the understanding of His Word. You have right standing with God.

Then he asked the question again. “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? [May it never be] God forbid [Don’t ever let that happen]”. And that’s the battle and the struggle that we go through, which we’ll see here in just a little bit. Verse 16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (vs. 15-16). And that’s the choice that God has laid down here before us. So we’re not to yield to the flesh. We’re not to yield to sin.

Now then this creates quite a problem, because you see as long as we are in the flesh, we still have to fight sin, don’t we? Yes, we do. And the sin begins right up here, and this is where the spiritual battle is. And so, in living God’s way because we’re still in the flesh, there are going to be the pulls of the flesh. There’s going to be, as we will see, a law of sin within us, as well as the law of death that we have to fight.

Now let’s come to Romans 7. We consent unto the law that it’s good, verse 16. Let’s come back here to verse 14. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Paul said that of himself. Romans 7:14. “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would [desire], that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” Now, when you sin, don’t you hate yourself because of it? Don’t you hate that sin because of what you have done? Yes. And when it fully comes to your mind, and the gravity and the magnitude of it, it drives you to repentance, doesn’t it? Yes. That’s the whole purpose of it. “If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.” There’s nothing wrong with the law, see. In the world around us, they like to take deviancy and bring it down and make sin normal and natural. Not God’s way. No way. You consent to the law. It’s good. You don’t change the law so you can live with your sin. That’s the way the world does it.

Verse 17, here’s a key. “Now then it is no more I that [is doing] do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Every one of us have sin dwelling in us. And this is what we need to overcome. And Christ and His Spirit within us gives us the strength and the power to overcome. So Paul goes on saying, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:…” You know, of human nature there’s nothing good about it what so ever. Oh, it can do good, but ultimately because it has the law of sin and death in it, it can do nothing really truly lastingly good, that is eternal good. “…For to will [or that is, the desire] is present with me [and every person desires to do good, but they don’t do it]; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” That is, of himself it’s an impossibility without God, you see. “For the good that I [desire to do] would I do not: but the evil which I [don’t desire to do] would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law,…” And this is the law of human nature which is called the law of sin and death. “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” Even though Paul said, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man [I’m not hostile to that]: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,…” And this is the pull of the flesh and the fight of the mind in overcoming human nature that is the whole understanding of why we need to be unleavened in Christ, because only Christ can change that nature. Only being created in Christ can it be done, see. “…I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin…” (vs. 17-23). So we have the law of sin and death in us.

Now then, do you ever feel like this? “Am I ever going to overcome? How is this thing going to be won?” Paul felt the same way, verse 24. “O wretched man that I am!” Torn with this overcoming is a difficult proposition. But through Christ we do it, you see. “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (vs. 24-25).

Now here’s the good news. Because God has called you, because God has justified you, because God has forgiven you, because God has given you your Holy Spirit, because you stand before God with the imputed righteousness of Christ, and the gift of righteousness, here is the good news, Romans 8:1. “There is therefore now no condemnation…” If you’re battling, and warring, and fighting, and overcoming this, there is no condemnation to you because you are operating by the Spirit of God. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” And if you have this spiritual battle going on in you, you know you have the Spirit of God, otherwise you wouldn’t have the battle.

Now here’s how we overcome. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made [justified me, as it should read] me free from the law of sin and death.” And He did this, “For what the law could not do,…” The law can’t make you do anything. But it declares your sinfulness, you see. “…In that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1-4).

Now let’s come to 2 Corinthians 10, and let’s see how we overcome. We’ve got this inner struggle. We’ve got this inner fight. And the perfection comes with the battle and the fight, and the growing and the overcoming through the grace of God. Let’s pick it up here in verse 4. “…(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,…” You cannot overcome carnal nature with carnal nature. It’s not possible. It’s like trying to make a dark room light by adding darkness. It’s a contradictory thing, you see. “…But mighty through God [you need the power of God, the Spirit of God, the help of God] to the pulling down of strong holds;)…” And the strongest hold is right up here, as we’ve talked about. “…Casting down imaginations [vain reasonings, you see], and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;…” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). So here’s how you overcome with the Spirit of God. A lust, or a sin, or a temptation in our mind comes along, and with the Spirit of God we grab a hold of it, we cast it down and we replace it with the truth of God. That’s why it’s so important that we grow in grace and knowledge, you see.

Now Paul explained it in another way in the book of Ephesians. Let’s come here to Ephesians 4 and let’s see what Paul said we needed to do. And here is how it is. Just like we put leaven out of our homes and we put sin out of our lives, so we are to put in unleavened bread and put in the righteousness of Christ through the Spirit of God. And then through this operation jointly together God creates in you the character of Christ. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 22. “That ye put off concerning the former conversation [conduct of] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind;…” It is a spiritual battle. It is a spiritual thing that God does. So if you are having trouble in overcoming lust and sin, you go to God, you ask for His Spirit, you grab those thoughts of sin and you bring them down and you ask Christ to help you not let sin rule in your life and rule in your mind. But rather let the unleavenedness of the Spirit of God and truth purge it and cleanse it, you see, that you’re renewed in the spirit of your mind. That’s a tremendous thing, you see. Now notice, “…And that ye put on the new man [be enclothed with Christ], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). Then he goes on showing all the carnal things we have to put away.

Now chapter 5. Here is the epitome of it. Chapter 5 and verse 1, “Be ye therefore followers of God,…” Now this word actually means “imitate”. That’s why you need to know the Word of God, have the Spirit of God, know how Christ lived, know the teachings of the apostles, know the lessons that we have throughout all the rest of the Bible, you see. Be imitators of God, “…as dear children;…” Not rebellious, not cantankerous, but loving, kind, and dear children. “…And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,…” That’s the epitome of being unleavened. And I’ll tell you this, you love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being, if you love your neighbor as yourself, and you love the brethren as Christ loved us, and walk in that love as He has loved us, then you are going to be overcoming. You are going to be bringing all of these thoughts into captivity through the power of God’s Holy Spirit and you will be unleavened in Christ indeed. Now notice what this does. And we always have to be connected with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the propitiation of those sins, you see. “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Eph. 5:1-2).

But then, now look at the works of the flesh. He says, “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks” (vs. 3-4). So you see, your whole thrust of life has changed. Your whole modus operandi has changed. You are now walking in the Spirit.

Now we’ll come over here to Colossians 3. Let’s see this. Colossians 3, just a few pages over. Colossians 3 is the perfect chapter of overcoming. It is the perfect chapter to tell us how to put out human nature and how to let God put His nature in us to create it in us. Create it in Christ Jesus. We have our part, God has His part. Now verse 1. “If ye then be risen with Christ, [that is, out of the watery grave of baptism], seek those things which are above [seek God’s will, seek Christ, seek the Holy Spirit, seek the grace of God, and all of those things], where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God [as we have seen as our High Priest, as our advocate, as our propitiation]. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Because whatever the greatest thing on the earth will not compare to what God is going to give you when you are resurrected from the dead. “For ye are dead [that is, in this world], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3). That’s what the whole operation of baptism does for you, you see.

Now, “When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” It’s not going to be the same old battle of overcoming the flesh. You’re going to have a spirit mind, a spirit body, spirit understanding. It’s going to be a magnificent thing. So because of that, you see, because of this hope, because of this goal, Paul says, “Mortify…”, that means put to death, bring those things into captivity, bring all of those thoughts into the obedience of Christ by doing this. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth [and is within you]; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time [in the past], when ye lived in them” (vs. 4-7).

Now then, just like we are to put on Christ, we’re to put off these things, you see. Just like the righteousness of the saints is the linen, fine and clean and white, so also the filthiness of human nature is likened unto clothing and we put it off. “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,…” All the things of the works of the flesh that originate in the mind and the pull of the flesh that we are fighting against, you see. And “…filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:…” So we’re to be renewed in mind, renewed in knowledge. And this is a continuous thing of walking in grace. Now verse 12, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies [that means deep inner compassion], kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity [love],…” That is the whole goal, the love of God, “…which is the bond of perfectness.” Then you, “…let the peace of God rule in your hearts,…” (vs. 8-10, 12-15).

Now I want to read you something so that you know that what we have just gone through has been understood by the Word of God four hundred fifty years ago. I want to read to you something here from, what is called, A Pathway Into The Holy Scriptures, by William Tyndale. And part of this will be what I’m going to have in a tribute to William Tyndale in the coming New Testament, which we’re making progress on. Now this is very profound, and I want you to see, and I want you to listen, and I want you to understand that the message of God through Jesus Christ has been the same from the apostles down to this day. Now William Tyndale was a very prolific writer, and what we have with the Holy Scriptures today in English, he was the first one to translate it from the Greek. And he gave his life for it. Listen to what he wrote:

“As if we are full redeemed by the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, out of which commandment of love springs these: kill not your neighbor, defile not his wife, bear not false witness against him. And finally, not only do not these things in deed, but covet not in your heart his house, his wife, his manservant, his maidservant, ox, ass, or whatsoever is his.”

Now you see, William Tyndale upheld the laws of God in the exact same way that we do today.

“So that these laws pertaining to our neighbor are not fulfilled in the sight of God, save with love. He that loves not his neighbor keeps not this commandment - defile not your neighbors wife - though he never touch her, or never see her, or think upon her. For the commandment is: though your neighbor’s wife be ever so fair, and you be ever so great an opportunity given you, and she consent and happily provoke you [as happened to Joseph], yet see you love your neighbor so well for this very love you cannot find in your heart to do that wickedness. And even so, he that trusts in anything, save in God only and in His Son Jesus Christ, keeps no commandment at all in the sight of God.”

In other words, if you keep the commandments of God just in the letter, out here, and you don’t love God and love Christ, you’re really not keeping any commandment at all, truly spiritually speaking, you see.

“For he that trusts in any creature, whether in heaven or in earth, save in God and His Son Jesus Christ, can see no cause to love God with all his heart, and neither to abstain from dishonoring his name, nor to keep the holy day for the love of his doctrine [and I believe that he was coming to understand about the holy days of God], nor to obey lovingly the rulers of this world, nor any cause to love his neighbor as himself and to abstain from hurting him, where he may get profit by him and save himself harmless. And likewise against this law - love your neighbor as yourself - I may obey no worldly power that would make me do contrary to that. And to know how contrary this law is to our nature [that is, the laws of God and the law of love], and how it is damnation not to have this law written in our hearts, though we never commit the deeds. And how there is no other means to be saved from this damnation than through repentance toward the law, and faith in Christ’s blood, which are the very inward baptism of our soul [the circumcision made without hands]. And the washing and dipping of our bodies in the water as an outward sign. And the plunging of our body under the water signifies that we repent and profess to fight against sin and lusts and to kill them every day more and more with the help of God. And our diligence in following the doctrine of Christ and the leading of His Spirit. And that we believe to be washed from our natural damnation in which we are born, and from all the wrath of the law, and from all the infirmities and weaknesses that remain in us after we have given our consent unto the law that it is good, and yielded ourselves to be the scholars thereof [that is, we study it, and know it, and learn it]. And from all the imperfections of all our deeds done it with cold love, and from all actual sin which chance upon us while we enforce the contrary and ever fight there against and hope to sin no more.”

“And thus repentance and faith begins at our baptism. And the first professing the laws of God and continue unto our lives end. As we grow in the Spirit, for the perfecter we be the great is our repentance, and the stronger our faith. And thus is the Spirit of the doctrine on God’s part and repentance and faith on our part, beget us anew in Christ. Even so, they make us grow and wax perfect, and save us unto the end, and never leave us until all sin be put off and we be clean, purified, and full formed and fashioned after the similitude and likeness of the perfectness of our Savior Jesus, Who’s gift all is.”

And I tell you what, that is the action of the Holy Spirit of God. Brethren, we are part of the unleavenedness of Christ, which He has extended from the time of the apostles down to now, through all generations. And the very fact that we have the Bible, the very fact that we have these words that we can read and study, comes right back to how God dealt in the life of William Tyndale. And so brethren, let’s keep the feast. Not with the leaven of wickedness and malice, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, for in Christ you are unleavened.

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