The Bible presents a picture of humanity that transforms throughout the unfolding of history. We will see that it is our standing in the Lord Jesus Christ that determines our truest identity. 

Observations:

1. Paul is emphasizing communal identity
2. Yeast is symbolic of transformative influence
3. Paul’s command is dependent upon a sincere submission to the truth
4. The blood of the Lamb made the houses holy
5. Our present aim relies on a future reality

Definitions: 

• Sanctified – You have been made positionally holy in Christ by the Spirit
  Only those who have been sanctified can be called “saints”
• Progressive Sanctification – You are being renewed behaviorally in Christ by the Spirit
  Only those who require the growth process of sanctification can be called “sinners”

Conclusions: 

1. If Christ is your lamb, then “sinner” is not what you ARE, it’s what you DO
2. Individual sin has an infecting influence personally and corporately
3. Jesus’ atonement has made you new — has made you holy

Application: 

1. Get rid of sin
   Step #1 – Identify sin as the yeast that is “old”
   Step #2 – Fight by killing sin
   Step #3 – Receive the cleansing of Christ in confession when you fail
2. Pursue corporate purity
3. Hunger for and feast on Jesus

1 John 1:5-2:2

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

1 Thessalonians 5:4-6

“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.”

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 7:14-20

“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Colossians 1:21-23a

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.”

Colossians 3:5-10

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

1 John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”