We are told again in this wonderful 12th chapter of Exodus that the Israelites were to put away all leaven from among them, and they were to receive the lamb with unleavened bread, and the Lord told them emphatically they could not keep any leaven in the house and receive the lamb.
The reason for that was, that leaven is a type of sin, and no man can receive Christ, and keep any sin in his house, or rather in his heart. All leaven had to be put away. Leaven is that peculiar thing that we put in the biscuit dough. It is commonly called yeast nowadays, but it is the same thing that was called leaven in those early days. And you can put a small amount of yeast in a piece of biscuit dough and heat the dough to a certain degree of heat and the yeast will cause it to swell to several times the size that it was before the yeast went to work. We have often had people tell us after they had had a spell of anger and the "Old Man" had gotten up in them and turned over, that they had had an uprising, and how true to life it was. The reader can see at a glance that the yeast was at work, and when you see a man sweating and puffing and swaggering, with his face red and his nose white, with his teeth clenched, you may know at once that the yeast is now doing its work, for you can see now that the dough is several times larger than it was. How true to the spiritual condition are these facts. For they say themselves when they are cooling off that they sure did get hot. Well, don't forget that the biscuit dough has to get hot before the yeast can or will do its work. And when the dough gets as hot as it has to be to start the yeast there is always a mighty upheaval, and we are not surprised that they call it an uprising.
Occasionally we hear a preacher tell us from the pulpit that leaven stands for grace, and that the little grace we get in conversion will work up and work out and work through until the whole is leavened, and try to make it appear that the yeast stands for grace. But, beloved, that couldn't be, for the reader will remember that at the opening of this chapter the Lord told Israelites to put away all leaven from among them before they could receive the lamb, and it would seem strange that leaven would stand for grace, and a man would have to put it all away from him in order to receive Christ. Again, when we come to think it over, leaven could not stand for grace because a sinner has no grace in him, and the reader will remember that in the 5th chapter of 1st Corinthians and the 6th and 7th verses St. Paul said to the church at Corinth, "Your glorying is not good, know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" then notice in the very next clause he says, "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." Here the reader will see that if the leaven in the 6th verse is grace, Paul himself tells them in the 7th verse to get rid of it, using almost the same language that Moses had used in talking to the Israelites in the 12th chapter of Exodus, proving to the mind of any reader that leaven could not stand for grace. But it is amazing nowadays how some men have tried to twist the Book in order to dodge facts, and to cover up truth. Here is one point: a big preacher in one of the western cities preached on the "more excellent way," using the 31st verse of the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians as his text in which he showed the people that the more excellent way that the apostle was going to show these Corinthian Christians, meant our beautiful boulevards and fine road systems of America, and the riding in automobiles, and showed that the difference between the rough roads in early days where our forefathers traveled in ox wagons while any thinking man or woman in any church or faith knows perfectly well that the more excellent way there that the apostle describes was nothing short of the beautiful experience of perfect love as described in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians, and yet this gentleman was honored with that wonderful title of D.D. In his case evidently D.D. meant Dead to truth and Delivered to the Devil. All Christians enjoy good roads and a ride in an automobile. These are great blessings but have nothing to do with the above Scripture in this world, and couldn't have. The Apostle Paul had no reference to macadamized roads or automobiles when he wrote this wonderful text to the church at Corinth.
Thank the Lord we little folks have found out what the old apostle meant. He wanted these people who were so dear to his old heart to be sanctified wholly, and filled with the blessed Holy Ghost, and made perfect in love. Nothing short of that would satisfy the Apostle Paul, or the man that is writing this book. And I want to say right here, bless God, I have got it, and the fire is burning in my soul, and the old leaven is purged out and there is no uprising there today. Glory be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen, and amen! If the Devil was to just stick his nose through the crack of my theological fence, bless God, I would have another shouting spell.
Hallelujah to the name of Jesus! How wonderful it is to know Jesus in His blessed fullness and His beautiful companionship, and His great loving face out before us with His everlasting arms beneath us, and our souls on the stretch for the home in the glory land. I can say with the old saints, "It is better felt than told." No man can describe it, but all can enjoy it.
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson (Kindle Locations 3484-3522). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.