Everyone desiring a ministry will want to review this message in their hearts many times. Some of the truths taught here are so real that we must let them live fresh in our hearts.
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. Exodus 12:15–20.
And it came to pass at midnight, that the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of the Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses. Verses 29–35a.
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry; neither had they prepared for themselves any victuals. Verse 39. The New Testament passages, referring to this very important passage in the Old Testament, verify the truth of the saying, “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.”
After reading the historical background of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we see that it was not a simple Feast like the Passover; but it lasted seven days, showing its great significance. Even today, the Jewish people go through their houses, sweeping out the corners so there will be no leaven within the house. The important meaning of this has long since been lost. Usually only the historical significance is emphasized: the fact that when they left Egypt in such haste, they didn’t have time for the bread to rise; therefore, the bread was unleavened.
In the New Testament, leaven refers to the corruption of flesh and spirit. More often it refers to a quality of spirit than anything else. We want to learn what it means to keep the Feast, not literally as the Jewish people have kept it for centuries, but to understand what God wants of us as ministries; before the face of the Lord, we are to be the unleavened bread, without any corruption or defilement.
In the writings of the New Testament it is very beautiful the way certain subjects are expounded. In reference to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread we read I Corinthians 5:6–8, in which Paul referred to the sin within the Corinthian church, over which they had neither grieved nor repented. Instead they had been tolerant of an incestuous relationship that existed in the church. He reminded them that within the spiritual Body it takes only a little leaven of spiritual corruption to leaven the whole lump.
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Paul tells us that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. The things of spirit are highly contagious and can be very dangerous. They influence us more than we know. The Body ministry is effective because things of spirit are so potent. When someone prophesies and the flow comes forth, we can all be edified. If there is a rebellious or bitter spirit, it can be very contagious.
The twelfth chapter of Hebrews speaks of Esau as the fornicator who sought a place of repentance. It warns us, “Beware lest a root of bitterness spring up in any of you and thereby many be defiled” (verse 15). That’s why all members of a family seem to go the same route. What is in one member is usually found at least partially in all other members. When a husband or wife is bitter or rebellious, that spirit permeates the whole of the family unit. In a church where there is bitterness or rebellion, the whole of that church will follow the same course. We emanate things from our spirits. When the Word speaks about a little leaven leavening the whole lump, it means the things that are wrong in your spirit can reach out and affect everyone.
In the story of Saul’s disobedience after the battle in which he was sent to completely destroy the Amalekites, he instead brought back King Agag and some of the best cattle and sheep for sacrifices. God had said to destroy them, but Saul thought to make a big show by bringing them back. Samuel then told him an amazing truth: to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. I Samuel 15:22, 23. Under Samuel’s ministry, the great witchcraft of Canaan was largely destroyed. The school of the prophets came forth replacing it and continuing on for centuries.
Why would Samuel say that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft? Because rebellion manifests the same principles and emanates the same spirit. If you are stubborn, it is as idolatry, because in your own stubborn way you are not submissive to God. If you were submissive to Him, He would be the Lord over your life. By not being submissive, you’re declaring yourself the lord over your life. If you’re stubborn, you’re guilty of idolatry in a subtle form—self-idolatry. You are worshiping yourself, your own opinion, and the thing that is in your heart.
This walk emphasized the Lordship of Jesus Christ over every aspect of a person’s life. We cannot be stubborn or rebellious. If we are rebellious, it is like sending forth a curse. Through rebellion, someone may emanate a great deal that is unintentional, and may be completely unaware of sinning against the Body. Anyone who is close to him, or open to him will be affected. Families or churches cannot go forward if rebellion is present, because the whole is contaminated; a little leaven will leaven the whole lump.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is not to be regarded as a little ritual, but as a great spiritual principle, to rid the contaminating leaven that leavens the whole lump. Some people go on for years, holding back their families, their loved ones, and their churches because of the rebellion in them. A submissive spirit reaches out and imparts a blessing. An individual who is submissive tends to create submissiveness in others. One who is rebellious tends to create rebellion in others.
If you are aware of rebellion in yourself and wonder what to do about it, submission can begin with an act. Confession of rebellion is the beginning of submission. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
In the fifth chapter of Galatians where Paul speaks about legalism he says, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Verse 9. Just a little. You don’t use a lot of yeast and a little flour, but a lot of flour and just a little yeast. Paul is showing how self-righteous people could come and with only a little deceit, self-righteousness, and superspirituality, could corrupt many. In that fifth chapter he’s referring to the Jewish Christians who came to the church preaching circumcision.
Paul emphasized a most important truth when he asked them, “Where is the blessedness ye spake of?” Once they were ready to pluck out their own eyes and give them to Paul (Galatians 4:15). Once they were moved with joy, and blessedness. Now it was destroyed. Just a little leaven; a little bit of legalism, rebellion or stubbornness ruins the blessing.
It doesn’t matter much what circumstances you go through. God is raising up a body of people that will go through tribulation. You will walk through the end-time judgment, through the midst of unbelievable persecution with immunity; it will never bother you. Only through your spirit will you lose out; because it is in your spirit that you will be able to draw and appropriate the great blessings and strength from the Lord; and it is through the defilement of your spirit that a little leaven will leaven the whole lump.
Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. I Corinthians 5:7a. You are unleavened; allow no defilement to enter in.
In II Corinthians 7:1, Paul writes, Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That is our desire and purpose. Cleanse yourselves; purge yourselves; get out the little brooms as they did at the Passover and sweep the corners, for it’s there that the dust collects. Sweep it out. If there is one little thing of leaven get rid of it. It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines (Song of Solomon 2:15). It’s the little things you leave that defile your spirit. We don’t want to continue from day to day with anything short of that supreme blessedness and joy in communion with the Lord. We can’t let anything hinder that for it is the most important thing of all.
In this walk the spiritual world will be moved for God by the purity of our spirit. We’ll have something that Babylon does not have: a pure heart and spirit before God. People will see revived again that total dedication to the Lord which existed in the early church—of loving one another, preferring one another with no spiritual ambition, nothing entering into the spirit that would defile it.
That is the foundation of everything that will come in this walk, as God brings the end-time word. If we allow a little leaven to enter in and leaven the whole loaf, God will have to raise up another people, for then we are no different than those round about us who serve the Lord in lukewarmness (Revelation 3), who are content to go through the motions and have only a little portion—and that portion corrupted by the leaven of malice and wickedness. We can’t let that happen. The Scriptures speaking about this purity of spirit and the leaven of the Pharisees show how important it is to desire a transparency of spirit.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice. Ephesians 4:31. You can overcome almost anything in this walk except these deep feelings of resentment: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, railing, malice. Let the bitterness and malice be gone. Many people cannot truthfully say, “I love the Body,” for there are some in the Body they don’t like. They are so wrong; they don’t know what is emanating from their spirit…be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you. Verse 32.
We have often noticed an unforgiving attitude and relentlessness with which Christians banish a minister (or anyone else) and beat him down. People who have given their whole life to a movement may be discarded the minute they are no longer useful, or are crossing up the movement in any way. God hates that and therefore He isn’t blessing them. Learn a lesson from it—be kind and tenderhearted one to another.
If you are persecuted, you may call your reaction righteous indignation, when in reality it is just a bad spirit. It’s still leaven regardless of what you name it or how you try to sanctify its terminology. God can’t bless this walk and bring a real resolution to the people of the Lord, vindicating what He’s doing in the earth, if the people He is blessing—act like those He’s stopped blessing—having a wrong spirit, with a leaven of malice in their hearts.
Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience: wherein ye also once walked, when ye lived in these things; but now do ye also put them all away… Several sins of the flesh are named but notice now the admonition regarding sins of the spirit: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth: lie not to one another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings. Colossians 3:5–9. We are coming to something that is very basic: we should not lie to one another; above all, God wants us to be without guile.
I Peter 2:21–24a speaks of the Lord having no guile: For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree.
We want a spirit with no leavening of guile. It’s difficult. The people of the world put on a front, using words to deceive.
People who come into this walk are often disturbed by the frankness and openness with which things are discussed in the pulpit and in ministry. That’s one key of what it’s all about. Do you want some pretense, putting on a front and creating an image? God forbid! I like the fact that the leaders do not have to present an image of being superspiritual, infallible, without faults. They stand up and speak a word from the Lord. They have an anointing and an authority; they don’t have to be phony.
They are like Nathanael, an Israelite in whom there was no guile (John 1:47). God brings a transparency in this walk. You may say, “I don’t like it. Every time I’m out of victory everyone knows it.” Yes, now we know even as we are known, and that’s the key to this walk. Although you can’t hide anything from anyone, yet no one will judge you.
Let no man think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but soberly as God hath imparted to every man a measure of faith (Romans 12:3).
The world has turned against the church because they have seen the hypocrisy and phony aspect of it. They often say, “I’m just as good as the people in the church,” and many times they are telling the truth, for they have less guile than many people in the church. Often very dishonest business deals are found among professing Christians because there is deceit in their hearts. They follow the way of self-righteousness. Truths that were always in the Word of God are now emerging and becoming obvious to us, and we are applying them to our hearts. We know our imperfections; and we’re wise enough not to cover them over, but lay them out in plain sight and say, “Look at this mess in me; I don’t condone it, but I’m praying about it.” That is the quickest way to achieve a right spirit.
And the disciples came to the other side and forgot to take bread. (They had crossed the Sea of Galilee after the feeding of the multitude.) And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread. And Jesus perceiving it said, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have no bread? Do ye not yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? They had only one loaf between them. He said in effect, “What are you worrying about? If I can feed five thousand with five loaves, I can surely feed twelve with one loaf.” Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then understood they that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 16:5–12.
I think God is leading this move to despise religion and being religious. The emphasis is on being spiritual with a pure and right spirit. Looking at this walk in a superficial way, one could be very critical of it. A man in another church appears fine, well disciplined and organized; while a man coming into this walk is often a mess, with all of his sin right there in plain sight—yet he’s worshiping with a right spirit. The man who appears so great may be creating a phony image; there’s a facade.
In this walk, nothing is covered over when receiving ministry. It’s like having an X-ray; everything, right down to the thoughts and intents of the heart, is exposed by the living word. It pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. All things are naked and opened before him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:12, 13). That’s the way it should be. You do not fool God; He just doesn’t say much about it; He allows circumstances to test you so that you can see what is in your spirit.
God must expose Pharisaic people to themselves because they’re self-deceived. The deceit is so deep that they actually believe something that is not true. Let’s get rid of the old leaven; it will not be easy. The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees is very deadly. It’s natural for the religious instinct of man to produce self-righteousness, to produce something that appears to be what it is not. Jeremiah said, The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9.
Ask the Lord to search your heart, because self-deception can be more deadly to you than you know. In this walk, God constantly shows you your progress. You can see what’s happening to you, so you can say, “I’m not the man that I was, and I know I’m not the man I’m going to be; but I know where I am right now.” The workers and the ministries may have faults, but the congregation is kind and thoughtful. They’ve learned that when God raises up an elder and puts him through testings, he may appear a failure, but it doesn’t make any difference; they love him just the same, because they see what God is doing in his life. They open their heart to love him and do not judge him.
Do not judge anyone. When we accept this fact in our hearts, we won’t care who flounders or stumbles. We’ll pray for them and help them because we know a right spirit will come out of it; and in that moment of transparency we’ll watch them grow. When people’s problems are discerned and counsel is given them, it may be humiliating, but it’s the best thing for them. Should we let them drift on, putting up a facade that everything is all right when it’s not? Of course not. Opening our hearts to the Lord, we cry, “Lord, cleanse Thou me from secret faults.”
This transparency that God brings to us is not easily attained, nor easily accepted; but once it is you’ll always know what you have to do to maintain a right spirit. You’ll know the spirit that motivates you, and what is behind it, and you won’t be able to cover it up.
Anyone who wants to minister has a problem with sincerity and truth. The prophet Elijah brought bears out of the woods to eat up the children who mocked him. James and John wanted to bring fire down out of heaven and burn up the Samaritans. Jesus said to them, “You know not what spirit you are of.” Wrath and malice is easily covered over with some self-righteous vindication of yourself. That reaction in you has to go until with all joy you can turn the other cheek, rejoice when they persecute you and come into that purity of spirit.
Never be ashamed to say, “I have a need.” There are three words in the English language that are very difficult to pronounce, especially if they’re put in proper sequence: “I am wrong.” Very few people can pronounce them without stumbling and stammering, “I am…uh…uh…misunderstood.” It’s hard to say, “I am wrong.”
James gives us a wonderful key. We love it when he writes about anointing the sick with oil and praying over them and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up. But the next verse reads: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. (5:16) That transparency is so necessary. Sweep the leaven out of the house. Let’s keep the feast, not with the old leaven or the leaven of malice or wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. You are unleavened. Keep it that way. Get rid of the things that are in the way. Confess your faults one to another.
It is good when you can confess, “I need deliverance. I have a problem and difficult circumstances; and I have a bad spirit about the whole thing. Pray for me and help me.” But someone who says, “I want to confess that I have had some bad feelings about you. I was very angry at you because of what you did,” is confessing your sins, not his. Or someone might say, “I have a bad spirit—but of course everything has been coming against me, and So-and-so said something about me. I’m sorry I have a bad spirit.” They’ve justified themselves. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are or what anyone has done to you—what you’re facing or what you have faced—all that counts is what is in your spirit. Confess it: “I have a bad spirit; I’m bitter; I’m full of malice:” I’m not telling you where you should confess it—simply confess it.
Recently someone came to me and said, “I want you to forgive me.” So I did. I don’t know what he had done, and I really don’t care; if he had confessed all the details, that wouldn’t have been the issue. You interpret what is in a person’s spirit in that moment of sincerity and truth—with no guile. You say, “The Lord bless you, I forgive you”; and then go on and minister to each other. That’s what the Body needs.
So much harm is done by the things that normally are innocent, because people have a bad spirit. For example, if an intercessor telephones another intercessor, “I want you to pray about a certain situation with me.” “What’s the situation?” They talk about it, and when they finish they are not intercessors, they are gossipers, because they don’t have a right spirit. All the good things that come in Body ministry can turn into a mess if you don’t keep a right spirit. Let’s keep the feast, not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile (Psalm 32:1–2).
The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong (Ecclesiastes 9:11). The poor, meek, transparent people with a right spirit are the ones who will inherit the earth. He that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city (Proverbs 16:32b).
When you look into the mirror of the Word, you can’t go away and forget what manner of man you are.
Lord deliver us from guile. Teach us never to judge an honest heart, no matter what he seems to do or how he seems to fail. Bring the freshness to this walk always that comes from a pure heart, a right spirit before God. Help us to be that unleavened bread You want us to be. In the name of the Lord we pray. Amen.