figure. Jesus had said, “ I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). He is the food for our souls, the source of spiritual strength and enable ment. He is the Word (John 1:1; 1 John 1 :1 ; Rev. 19.13), and it is upon the Word that we must feed. The Word is living and operative and it is by far the most effec tive, constructive critic for our edification. (See Heb. 4 :12.) Read the Bible prayerfully. It is the milk (1 Peter 2:2) and meat (Heb. 5:12-14) for the soul. The Prophet said, “ Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart . . .” (Jer. 15:16). The Passover Lamb was to be eaten without leaven. Fellowship with God ceases when evil is pres ent in the life. The true believer is unleavened, for he has purged out the old leaven. He is actively separated from all evil. No exter nal works could serve as a sub stitute for holiness in the heart, for the Lord had said that dur ing the F ea s t of Unleavened Bread “ ye shall do no servile work therein” (Lev. 23:8). The work o f man’s hands is no ap proach to God. Redemption by blood and sanctification through the Word are the grounds for right relationship and fellowship with the Lord. The unleavened bread was to be eaten for seven days (Lev. 23:6 ). “ Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses” (Ex. 12:19). Seven is the per fect number, and when used in relation to time it suggests the perfect period of time. It might suggest the whole period of the Christian’s life, or the fact that practical holiness is expected
things in the earth lieth in the lap of the Evil One (2 Cor. 5:19). Jesus said that Satan is the p r in c e of this world (John 12:31). The Apostle James wrote that “ the friendship of the world is enmity with God,” and that “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4 :4 ). Let us be ware lest we spend more time and energy in the pursuit of material progress and prosperity, which are tempora l, than in those things that are spiritual and eter nal. Put away the Leaven of Herod. The Leaven of the Pharisees. Jesus said, “ Beware o f the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypoc risy” (Luke 12:1). The Phari sees made up a religious school who concerned themselves in the matter of abiding within the let ter of the Law. The name Phari see means Separatist. Saul of Tarsus was of the Pharisaic school (Phil. 3 :5 ). The Pharisees believed they were more righteous than others, hence to them their attitude of superiority was justi fied. Read the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-12 and you will see the Pharisees’ heart. They were enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ who murmured (Luke 15:2), and took counsel against Him (Matthew 12:14). Emphasizing their pretenses and outward ostentation to piety, they significantly omitted the weightier matters o f the Law and became avaricious, hypocriti cal, and sensual (Matt. 23:13- 33). Against them our Lord pro nounced seven awful “woes,” call ing them “ serpents” and a “ gen eration of vipers,” hardly able to escape the damnation of Hell. Be loved, beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees. The Leaven of the Sadducees.
every day of the week. Many pro fessing Christians had a good be ginning but failed to break off from old associations and former habits. They did not obey the in junction, “ After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do . . .” (Lev. 18:3). Certain practices meet with fa vor in the world but have no part in the life of a child o f God. Some of these forms of leaven are set forth in the Scriptures. The Leaven of the Herodians. “And He charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven o f Herod” (Mark 8:15). Now Herod himself was a man of this world, a ruthless politician who ordered the babes of Bethlehem to be slain (Matt. 2:16). At the root, this was an attempt of Satan upon the life o f our Lord to pre vent the family of Herod from losing its political clutch on Ju daea. It was Herod Antipas who beheaded John the Baptist and later scourged our Lord. After Pentecost it was Herod Agrippa who persecuted the Church (Acts 12:1) and later went to a miser able death (Acts 12:23). The He rodians were partisans o f Herod, a sect whom Christ rebuked and who plotted against Him (Mark 12:13-17). They believed in a res toration of a kingdom for Israel, but under the rule of the Herods and not under the true King, the Son of David. The Leaven of the Herodians is the evil of the world system and of all worldliness. The Scrip tures warn the believer against it. “ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Anything of this world that alienates the Chris tian’s affection from his Lord is wrong. The ordered state of
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