1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened… I. THE INFERENCE. 1. That sin has the true qualities of leaven. (1) Offensive sourness. Nothing is so distasteful to God; indeed nothing can displease Him but sin. How can it be otherwise when it is professedly opposite to Divine justice? Even the conscience, which is God's taster, finds it abominably loathsome: how much more God! Did God find sin in His angels? He tumbles them down out of heaven. Did He find sin in our first parents? He hurls them out of paradise. Yea, did He find our sins laid on the Son of His love? He spares Him not (Isaiah 53:5). The more loathsome we find our sins the nearer we come to the purity of the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 45:7). What shall we say, then, to those who find no savour in anything but their sins? Let us, then, bate sin (Psalm 97:10) and take heed of being leavened with it. (2) Diffusiveness. It began with one angel and infected legions. It began with one woman and infected all mankind. Let it take hold of one faculty and it will infect soul and body. Let it seize on one person in a family and it will corrupt the whole house. From thence it spreads to the neighbourhood, and taints whole cities and regions (2 Timothy 2:7). Since, then, our wickedness is of so spreading a nature — (a) How careful we should be to resist its very beginnings! It is much easier to keep the floodgates shut than to drain the lower grounds when they are once overflown. (b) How wary we should be of joining the society of the infectious, whether in opinion or manners (ver. 11; Titus 3:10). (c) How much it concerns all public persons in Church or State to improve their authority to the utmost for the prevention of vice, and the expurgation of leavened persons (Psalm 71:4, Hebrews). 2. This leaven must be purged out if we would have any interest in Christ our passover. In vain should any Jew talk of keeping a passover to God if he would eat the lamb with leavened bread. In vain should any Christian talk of applying Christ to his soul while his heart willingly retains any of the leaven of any known sin (Psalm 26:6). II. THE PROPOSITION. 1. That Christ is a passover. The word is taken from the time of the solemnity (Acts 12:4); for the sacrifices offered in the solemnity (Deuteronomy 16:4); for the act of God's transition (Exodus 12:11); for the lamb to be offered and eaten (2 Chronicles 35:11, and here). (1) The lamb is the passover. Which may appear far-fetched. Here was a double passing over — that of the angel over Israel, that of Israel out of Egypt: both were acts, one of God, the other of men. The explanation is that the thing signed is usually put for the sign itself (Genesis 17:13; 1 Corinthians 10:4). Now what a mercy was it for God to pass over Israel when He slew the Egyptian firstborn. For this they were indebted to the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled on their doorposts. Had they eaten the lamb and not sprinkled the blood they had not escaped. The reality of this figure is that by Christ's blood sprinkled on our souls we are freed from the vengeance of the Almighty. As then Israel were never to eat of the paschal lamb, but they were recalled to the memory of their deliverance, so neither may we ever behold this sacramental representation of Christ's death but we should bethink ourselves of the infinite mercy of God in saving us. (2) That Christ is that Paschal Lamb in regard to — (a) Choice as to, first, nature. A lamb is noted for innocence and gentleness. Christ is the Lamb of God. What perfect innocence and admirable meekness He displayed (Isaiah 53:7). Secondly, quality. Any lamb would not serve: it must be a lamb without blemish. Could Christ have been capable of the least sin, so far from ransoming the world, He could not have saved Himself. (b) Preparation in respect to, first, killing. The lamb to make a true passover must be slain: so there was a necessity that Jesus should die for us (Luke 24:25, 26). Secondly, sprinkling his blood. Thirdly, roasting. So did the true Paschal Lamb undergo the flames of His Father's wrath for our sins. (c) Eating. Note, first, it was to be eaten with bitter herbs to teach us that we may not hope to partake of Christ without sensible disrelishes of nature, without true contrition. Secondly, the whole lamb must be eaten. Many a lamb did the Jews eat in the course of the year besides; these were halved and quartered as occasion served. Whosoever would partake of Christ must take the whole Christ. There are those who will be sharing and quartering Christ; one will allow His humanity, but not His Deity; another His prophetic character, but not His priesthood, &c. In vain do these partake of Christ while they thus set upon Him by piecemeal. (Bp. Hall.) Parallel Verses KJV: Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: |
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