The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'Take Heed and Beware of False Teaching,' explores the opposition Jesus faced from the Pharisees and Sadducees, who demanded signs despite the numerous miracles he performed. The sermon discusses the symbolic warning Jesus gave about the 'leaven' of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which represents their false teachings and hypocrisy. The Pharisees and Sadducees, despite their differences, united in their opposition to Jesus, highlighting the persistence of such alliances against Christ throughout history. The sermon emphasizes the importance of discerning true teaching from false doctrine, recognizing the deceitfulness of the heart, and the necessity of faith to understand the signs already given, such as Jesus' miracles and, ultimately, his resurrection. The disciples are rebuked for their lack of faith and understanding, as they misinterpret Jesus' warning about leaven as a concern for physical bread rather than spiritual doctrine. The sermon concludes with an exhortation to remain grounded in the foundation of Jesus Christ and to be vigilant against false teachings that can infiltrate and corrupt like leaven.

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, When it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah and he left them and departed. Now when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves saying, it is because we've taken no bread. But Jesus being aware of it, said to them, oh, you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you've brought no bread?

Do you not understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Let's pray.

Oh Lord, we are so much like the disciples. We're so void of understanding. We're so often tossed to and fro by every doctrine that would come sweeping into our ears. And we learn here so much. God, I pray.

Lord, I pray that your fear would fall upon us even more. God, as different doctrines come sweeping by, you'd give us Holy Spirit-directed wisdom. And I pray now, Lord, that you would, by your Holy Spirit, come into this place, Lord, and cause us to be void of distraction. Help us to really focus on these words that you have brought us today and that you would bless Jason our brother who's been faithful at diving into these words to have the joy of your Holy Spirit as He just brings these forth to us that you would teach your people. So Lord we thank you this day for your faithfulness for bringing us week by week to these words of hope and promise in life.

Bless the preaching and teaching of your Word. Jesus name. Teaching of your word. In Jesus' name. Matthew 16, 1-12.

Take heed and beware of false teaching. In looking back on last week's text, what wasn't last week's text so refreshing? We have this Canaanite woman whose faith is great. And We have Jesus healing and then feeding the 4, 000. The whole text was just about the beauty of Jesus Christ, the mercy of Jesus Christ.

We ended last week in 1 Peter 5 where Peter says, Be clothed with humility, For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." That's just the perfect summary of all of chapter 15, the first part of chapter 15, being the ongoing resistance of the scribes and Pharisees, always pushing back on Jesus, always trying to control Jesus, and they're the proud that Peter is talking about. And it says that God resists that kind of pride and that's exactly what we see. And then it says, but he gives grace to the humble. Here's this Canaanite woman.

She's pleading for mercy from Jesus. He says not a word to her. She keeps crying out. The disciples want to send her away. Jesus explains why it is that his ministry ought to be targeted not on this woman but on the lost sheep of Israel.

She's not dissuaded by that. She keeps pleading with Him that He would have grace, that He would show mercy. Finally, Jesus calls her a little dog. You're not a child, you're a household pet. Wouldn't be right to give you the bread." And she answers in humility as if Jesus were Lord.

As if as Lord he could define the terms of who's a child and who's a dog and he could set the terms of who the bread goes to. And finally, Jesus does have mercy on this woman. She returns home and finds that her severely demon-possessed daughter is free and is lying on her bed. What a beautiful passage. What a beautiful chapter of God resisting the proud, not having anything of it from the proud, but giving grace to the humble and exalted, lifting them up in due time, in his own time, in the time that honors him.

Now we're in chapter 16 And we're back with the proud. And it's very, very similar to chapter 12 when the scribes and the Pharisees have come and insisted on a sign. The text doesn't say that They're insisting on it, but aren't they really insisting on it? They really are. The implication from the text is, we'll believe if.

If you don't, then we won't believe. So they're insisting on a sign. They're requiring this of Jesus. In chapter 12, it was scribes and Pharisees, which makes a lot of sense to me. Those are two groups that are compatible.

They really are hand and glove. You know why they're running together. You know why they're approaching Jesus together. But here in chapter 16 it's Pharisees and Sadducees. I really don't understand that at all because they don't run together, they don't agree on almost anything And it's surprising me to see them coming together in a common cause to require this of Jesus.

Turn to Acts 23. Acts 23 helps us to understand who the Pharisees are relative to who the Sadducees are and what the distinctions between those two groups are. Acts 23, beginning in verse 6. In Acts 23, Paul is in big trouble with the Jews. He's said what they consider to be blasphemy, and things have turned violent.

They're about to tear Paul to pieces. And the Roman authorities, the Roman garrison, has to come in and save Paul from being pulled to pieces by the Jews because he's blasphemed in their eyes. And so this Roman commander wants to know what it's all about. So the next day he convenes the Sanhedrin to bring the charges against Paul. And this is where we pick it up in Acts 23 starting in verse 6.

But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged." And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. Then arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if the Spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. So Paul here is being as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. And he's turning the disagreements among the Pharisees and the Sadducees into his ticket out of there.

And actually, if you keep reading, there's another scene that's violent again, and he has to be rescued from being torn to pieces again. Here's what the ESV study notes say from the ESV Study Bible. The Pharisees were connected to local synagogues. So the Pharisees is common man grassroots. That's how we should think of them.

Chiefly characterized by adherence to extensive extra-biblical traditions. This is exactly what we've been seeing in the Pharisees. Extra-biblical traditions of the elders, which they rigorously obeyed as a means of applying the law to daily life. Sadducees, on the other hand, were a small group who derived their authority from the activities of the temple. So you might say, why have we not been running into Sadducees?

Because they're in Jerusalem. The Sadducees, their circle of operation is the temple and thereabouts. And Jesus has been in Galilee, spending almost all of his time in Galilee, and so he hasn't been running into Sadducees hardly at all. They were removed from the common people by aristocratic and priestly influence, as well as by their cooperation with Rome's rule. Can you imagine anything more different than what the Pharisees have just been described to see and shown to be in Acts 23 and what the Sadducees are?

Culturally, they're odds. Theologically, they are at odds. Politically, they are at odds. Yet they agree on Jesus. Jesus might be the one man who could bring Sadducees and Pharisees together.

Because they don't agree on anything. They don't agree on culture. The Sadducees are in cahoots with the Romans. The Pharisees are separatists. Theologically, they're at odds.

The Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection or spirit or angels. And the Pharisees believe in both. Politically they're at odds. So they never run in the same circles and that's on purpose. Because they don't agree.

But they agree that something has to be done about Jesus or they're both going to lose their spot. And so here they're coming together in opposition to Jesus. I want to submit that this is not unusual. This happened then and we see it happen repeatedly in the Gospel where you have strange bedfellows. People who don't agree on anything else come together to oppose Jesus multiple times in the Gospel.

And that this happened in the book of Acts. And that you can see this repeatedly happening throughout church history. And that you can see this happening all the time today. In the public square, you can advocate for evolution. In the public square, you can advocate for evolution.

In the public square, you can advocate for homosexuality and a redefinition of marriage. You can advocate for Islam. You can advocate for Buddhism. You can advocate for polygamy. You can advocate for all manner of those things, but say the name of Jesus Christ and you'll have to be silent.

It's not different today. There's always been strange unholy alliances that rise up against Jesus Christ. You can have diet as a Savior. You can have birth control as the Savior. You can have philanthropy as the Savior.

You can have human reason as the Savior. But assert that none of those touch the real problem. That a sin against a holy God is a real problem. And the only antidote for that sin is the Savior Jesus Christ. And you'll be run out of town on a rail.

There's room for advocating for everything else, for all manner of other kinds of Saviors, but there's not room to advocate for Jesus Christ or to say that He is the Savior from the real problem. And Paul identifies and explains this phenomenon in 2 Corinthians 2, 15 and 16. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians 2, 15 and 16. Listen to this.

2 Corinthians 2, 15 and 16. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. We are the fragrance of Christ among both, those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are the aroma of death leading to death. And to the other, the aroma of life leading to life.

And who is sufficient for these things. What Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 15 and 16 is that Jesus Christ is the great dividing line. Now there appear to be many other dividing lines, but they are only surface dividing lines. There are counterfeit dividing lines, really. There is only one great dividing line, and that is Christ.

And those who are Christ are the aroma of Christ to those who are perishing and to those who are being saved. And so we should never, ever, ever be surprised to see these unholy alliances between factions that seem so different from one another because they are not different from one another. They are on the same side of the great dividing line. So when it comes to Christ, they will always join together to oppose, Though they might differ on everything else in the world, they're the same on the one thing that really matters for eternity. So the Pharisees and the Sadducees have had a momentary makeup, enough to come and oppose Jesus together.

They come and they ask for a sign from heaven. Their motive is actually explicitly identified in the text. And it's that they're testing Him. It's a test for Jesus. It's a test that He can't pass, no matter what.

If he gives them their sign, they'll attribute it to the devil, as they've done a few chapters earlier. A few chapters earlier, they're brought the incontrovertible evidence that a person has been set free from the devil and instead of arguing with that they just say it's by the Elzebob that he casts out demons. And so we have to come to this text understanding that there's no passing of the test. There's a test that's being given. There's no way to pass it.

Because they've hedged the bets on both sides. In Mark 8, which is our parallel text, Mark 8 verse 11, it says, And they began to dispute with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven. So they're testing him, they're disputing with him, that's what this is. And Jesus puts his finger right on it, he says, you hypocrites, This is hypocrisy. This isn't a real test.

They're acting like they just need a sign and they'll believe, but that's not... That's at face value. What's face value doesn't match the heart behind it. They're coming to dispute. They're coming to test Jesus.

The reality is, there's been an unending lineup of signs. Hasn't there been? We cover it every week. Jesus is doing signs every week. He's healing people.

He's raising people from the dead. He's feeding multitudes from practically nothing. They already have signs. Do they want a different sign? Do they want a better sign?

Do they need a bigger sign than the ones that have been given? Here's what Matthew Henry says, They despised the signs which relieved the necessity of the sick and sorrowful, and insisted upon some sign which would gratify the curiosity of the proud. The evidence that is given is sufficient to satisfy an unprejudiced understanding, but was not intended to please a vain humor." In other words, Jesus has been doing these signs that relieve the sick, that help the sorrowful, but they want no part of that kind of a sign. They want something that's a curiosity that will satisfy a vain humor. Henry continues, And it is an instance of the deceitfulness of the heart to think that we should be wrought upon by the means and advantages which we have not while we slight those which we have.

In other words, Matthew Henry is saying there's been this unending train of signs. But they're coming and just saying none of those count. Feeding 5, 000 people doesn't count. Feeding 4, 000 people doesn't count. Raising the dead doesn't count.

Healing the sick doesn't count. The blind seeing doesn't count. The deaf hearing doesn't count. We want another sign. And Matthew Henry says, it's just a sign of the deceitfulness of the heart when you say, I could be convinced by the things that I don't have, when you do nothing with the things that you've already been given.

We've already seen. If he does something, they'll attribute it to the work of the devil. So it's not an honest test. It's not a test that Jesus could ever pass. So now Jesus gives them a two-fold answer.

But before we start into his two-fold answer, I want to go back to Mark 8, our parallel text, and just read what Mark records. But Jesus sighed deeply in His Spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit. He is grieved by the spirit of unbelief that these Pharisees and Sadducees are representing. And it is representative because Jesus, just like He did when they asked for a sign in Matthew 12, says it's the whole generation.

It might be the Pharisees and the Sadducees that are here at this time and place, but they are just representatives of this unbelieving generation who will not receive what God has sent to them. It grieves him. He is grieved in his spirit. Here is Jesus' two-fold answer. The First part of the answer is what they still teach in the Boy Scouts.

Red sky at night, sailors? Delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors? Take warning. We have Boy Scouts here.

That's still what they tell you. And generally speaking, it holds true. If you have a red sky at night, generally you'll find that you have fair weather. If you have it in the morning generally, you'll find that it will be stormy or rainy. And the point that Jesus is making is that the marks of the Messiah are obvious for those who choose to see.

They're obvious. It's obvious that Jesus is the Messiah. The Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5.2, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Messiah was to have a forerunner to go before Him.

Jesus has a forerunner that has gone before Him, a famous forerunner. Malachi 4.5. The Messiah was to make the blind see and the deaf hear. Isaiah 35 verses 5 and 6. And we've been seeing this over and over.

This is just a sampling of the prophecies that we've seen fulfilled. There's been a bunch of them leading up to this point. Jesus has fit the bill all along so that the things that the Messiah needs to be because of what God has said through His prophets, Jesus is, and is, and is, and is. Everything he needs to be, he is. He's been.

So Jesus is saying, for those who choose to see, this is obvious. He's been raising the dead. He's been feeding multitudes. He's been preaching perfect sermons. Now you might not be as sensitive to this as I've been, but I'm preaching sermons and when we read Jesus' sermons, I'm just in awe of how he pulls these things together from various points and he's doing it perfectly and the teaching is so solid and beautiful that to see him preaching this and then to wonder if this is the Messiah makes no sense or if this person has been sent from God.

And if you've ever argued with a skeptic, you can understand the frustration. Because when you argue with a skeptic, it's always one more piece of it. I can just deal with this one objection, but You find when you are able to defeat that objection that there's just five more behind it. They all have children. It's like rabbits, right?

The objections just keep multiplying and multiplying. Just when you thought you were to the last objection, there's two more and four more. There's never an end to it. And the reason is, is they don't want to believe. It doesn't matter how good the evidence is.

They don't want to believe. And this is what Jesus is seeing. And it's willful blindness. That's what the Pharisees and the Sadducees are representing. Not people who need more evidence in order to believe in Jesus, but people who are willfully blind because the evidence is already there.

It's already been laid out before them. They don't need more signs. They need what they do not have, which is faith. They need eyes to see and ears to hear. And they're willfully blind.

They're happily blind. They're incurably blind because they don't want to see. Secondly, Jesus says this. It's wicked for you to seek after a sign. It's wicked.

Not only will I not give you one, it's wicked for you to have asked for it. Now the exact same words that are here are also recorded in Matthew 12, but he fills it out in Matthew 12. So I'm just going to go back and read what is there in Matthew 12, verses 39 and 40. But he answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah. Now those are the words that are exactly in our text today.

Word for word, letter for letter. In Matthew 12, Jesus goes on to say, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. So will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Then he goes on to talk about the men of Nineveh who had received the sign of Jonah, only Jonah is nothing compared to Jesus. They did something with their sign. And then he talks about the Queen of the South, who is nothing compared to Jesus, only she did something with the sign that she was given.

And Jesus is just saying, He's not trying to make believers out of these Pharisees and Sadducees on the spot, but He's planting a seed for the future and saying the ultimate sign will be my resurrection. In the resurrection, Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God with power. That's Acts 1. Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God with power. The resurrection is the ultimate sign.

And then this section ends that he cuts it short. That's it. You'll not have another sign. The sign of Jonah is the sign you'll get. It says, and he left them and departed.

So Jesus doesn't spend the rest of the afternoon trying to make converts out of skeptics. He says this is what you'll get, the resurrection, and he leaves them and departed. And This is exactly what He's been instructing His disciples to do. Just last chapter, chapter 15 verses 13 and 14, Jesus says, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone." They are blind leaders of the blind.

And that's exactly what Jesus does here. He lets them alone. He just withdraws himself. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 1 verses 22-24, 1 Corinthians 1, 22-24, For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified.

Jews want a sign, Greeks want to talk wisdom, we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Jews want a sign, they want the power of God. Paul says Christ is the power of God. Greeks want wisdom. Paul says Christ is the wisdom of God.

So we don't get caught up in the sign game. And we don't get caught up in the wisdom game. We preach Christ crucified. Because He is what they say they are asking for. You want the power of God?

Christ. You want the wisdom of God? Christ crucified. The followers of Christ reset the terms. The Sadducees and Pharisees are coming wanting to set the terms.

Jesus, you do the sign, we'll believe. Jesus resets the terms. Nope, wrong terms. The terms are flowing in the wrong direction. You don't set the terms for the Messiah.

The Messiah sets the terms for you. And That's what Paul tells us to do when we're facing Jews who are seeking a sign or Greeks who are seeking wisdom. Christ crucified, that's what we preach. Because Christ is the power of God. Christ is the wisdom of God.

Verses 5-10. Now when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reason among themselves saying, it is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus being aware of it said to them, oh, you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the 5, 000 and how many baskets you took up, nor the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up. We have this humorous disconnect going on in this section of the text. The disciples have forgotten to bring the provisions for the journey, so they are thinking about bread. Jesus is grieved by the opposition of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, but really the opposition of the generation. He's thinking about false teaching.

The disciples are thinking about bread, and Jesus is thinking about false teaching. Then when Jesus begins to teach them about it, and he says, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples hear the word leaven and it plays right into what they've been thinking about and they think it is because they haven't brought bread. They think it's about the short fall of bread. And in Mark 8, or parallel text, it says they're down to one loaf.

They're in a pinch. They're down to one loaf. 12 guys, one loaf. Lunch isn't looking very good. And because there's thirteen men and one loaf, their brains gravitate towards lunch and the shortfall of physical food.

Verse 8 begins by saying, but Jesus being aware of it. You get the sense that there is this whispering of it in the background, what are we going to do about no bread? But Jesus knows exactly what's happening. He knows exactly what they're thinking and discussing. And He rebukes them.

And He rebukes them for three things. He rebukes them for lack of faith. Verse 8, Oh you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you brought no bread? Oh you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves? Faith is reasonable.

We don't have to check reason at the door when we engage in faith. If 30 years in the faith has taught me anything, it's that the things of scripture explain the world better than any other framework out there. You see it matching up more every single day and proven right every single day. We don't check reason at the door. Faith is reasonable, but reason is a lousy substitute for faith.

Oh, you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves about this or that or the other? He rebukes them for lack of faith. Number two, He rebukes them for lack of faith. Number two, he rebukes them for lack of understanding. Verse nine, do you not yet understand?

Verse eleven, how is it you do not understand that I do not speak to you concerning bread." They're betraying an earthly focus. He's trying to teach them about spiritual things, but because they've got this shortfall that they're aware of and concerned about, they can't lift their eyes and think about what Jesus is thinking about, what he's trying to teach them about. You've probably had some of your kids who go through this stage where it's complete tunnel vision. They're in their own little world and no one else is in that world. They're like a wrecking ball because there's no awareness of anything else in the room.

They're not trying to hurt their siblings or hurt themselves or anything like that. They're only, I mean, It's like they're in this bubble that only extends out one inch from themselves. You know what I'm talking about, you with kids, they're hurting themselves all the time and they're hurting other people not because they're malicious but because there's no awareness of anything else. The disciples are the spiritual equivalent of this. The bubble is really tight around them, so if they don't happen to have any bread around, then Jesus wants to teach them on something else, that there's no awareness.

It betrays their earthly focus. So he has rebuked them for lack of faith. He has rebuked them for lack of understanding. He rebukes them thirdly for a failure to remember. And Jesus actually camps on this one, the failure to remember.

Verse 9, Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up, nor the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up." Mark, our parallel passage in Mark 8, actually gives us an extension, a more comprehensive view of this conversation. Listen to Mark 8 verses 17 through 20, but Jesus being aware of it said to them, Well, Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes do you not see?

And having ears do you not hear and do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said to him, 12. Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up? And they said, seven. So when we get the view of the broader conversation, when Mark fills out the details of what exactly Jesus said here.

Jesus is actually leading his disciples to recite the actual circumstances. And he's extracting from them the information that had they remembered it would have strengthened their faith. The information that had they remembered it would have given them understanding that had they remembered it would have brought the right things to mind. Which is this, that Jesus' disciples never have to fret about bread. They never have to.

Now, does that mean there's no duty, no responsibility, no one should ever prepare for meals, you should never go to the store, should always presume that it will supernaturally appear on the dinner table? No. That's not what's being said, but It is not fitting for the people of God to fret over bread because of who Jesus is, because of what He's taught, because of what He has said about Himself. We ought not to fret over bread. Even though We do have duties related to provision and meals and things like that.

We shouldn't fret about it. Disciples are fretting about it. In chapter 6, Jesus begins the process of training His disciples. And He's talking, He's telling them about not laying up treasures on earth, but laying up treasures in heaven. He's telling them they can't serve two masters, so they ought not to serve money, because if they serve money, that will be their master.

He speaks to them of the birds of the air, how they're fed even though they don't work. And he speaks to them about the lilies of the field and how they're clothed gloriously even though they don't toil or spin. And he ends that chapter, we've recited it at least 13 times, that was at least a quarter's worth, he ends that chapter by saying, don't worry. Don't fret about these earthly things. If you seek the kingdom, the rest of these things will work themselves out.

Seek the kingdom first and all the other things you'll find to be added to you. Then in verse 10, he's sending them out, right, two by two, and he says this, provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs for a worker is worthy of his food. He's been teaching them not to fret about bread and that there's no need to stockpile because when they have need, he has ability to provide for it. This should be the perspective of the people of God. When we have need, he has ability to provide what we need.

And then finally, there are these two powerful demonstrations. The feeding of the 5, 000 men plus women and children, and the feeding of 4, 000 men plus women and children, which he explicitly references here and says, why can't you remember that? Are you talking about bread? Is bread a problem here? In Exodus 16, 32-34, interesting text.

The Lord commands Moses and Aaron to collect up some manna and to put it in a gold jar and to put it in the Ark of the Covenant. So the Ark of the Covenant, which has the most precious things, it has these two tablets with the Ten Commandments on it, it has Aaron's budding rod in it, it's going to have this gold pot with manna in it. So that the people of God will have a remembrance that for 40 years, they never sowed, seed, harvested, baked. They just walked out and it was there on the ground. God provided for them.

So you got this gold pot full of manna to help you remember that you don't need to fret about bread. And they're going to carry it all over the place and it's going to end up in the temple. As a reminder, this pot of gold, as man, as a reminder, that they don't need to fret about bread, that God provides for His people. Has God ever provided for you in an unusual way? Has God ever provided for you in an unusual way?

There needs to be a way. I would love to just have stories come out of unusual ways in which God has provided for people. If you've been His for any period of time, you have the stories. And there needs to be a way to have a pot, a gold pot with a little remnant of that. So you don't find yourself fretting over bread.

You don't find yourself calling out to God for a new sign when there's a hundred stories of His faithfulness to you. You just need to remember, you don't need a new sign actually that He's going to provide for you. You just need to think back a little bit and see the pattern which is that God is faithful and He'll provide for you because He has provided for you. Verses 11 and 12. How is it you did not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. If you read this fast, if you just skim over it, you miss something glorious, which is, Jesus doesn't explain what he meant. He just restates it. There's no explanation given here. He does make it clear what he wasn't saying.

Okay, you thought I was talking about bread, Brad. I wasn't talking about bread. And then he restates. He just simply repeats what he had said earlier. And we keep coming to these places where we see that Jesus is training sons, he's not directing slaves.

He has authority here, he can direct slaves if he wants to. There is a sense in which we're slaves to Christ. I don't think any of us would object to having a master like that and say, I'm his slave. But there is a reality where he's training sons instead of just telling a slave what to do. And so he doesn't explain it for him, he just repeats himself.

He, he separates them from their misunderstanding. So they at least know that what they were talking about before was way off. And then he repeats. And they actually got it. They actually did understand on the second round, when they knew that round one of their analysis was wrong, that they stopped and thought and they got what Jesus was communicating to them.

They said, Aha! He's talking about the false teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now I want to go back up because we just skipped over this because of the misunderstanding. In verse 6, exactly what he says in verse 6. He says, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

He says two things. Take heed. In other words, Be on the lookout. Be awake and aware. Watch and pray.

Pay attention and beware. Understand the danger so you can act about this false teaching. So wake up and pay attention and then understand how dangerous this can be. This is the teaching, what Jesus is teaching about the leaven. Be on the lookout and understand the danger of it so you can counteract it.

He calls this false teaching leaven. The Last time we saw leaven, it was in chapter 13, 33. The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven. A woman hid it in three measures and it worked its way through the whole lump. Leaven everything.

That's how leaven works. And it was good in chapter 13 verse 33. The Kingdom of Heaven infiltrates, permeates, works through the whole thing. That's how it's going to be. But false teaching works the same way.

It's a blessing with the Kingdom of Heaven. It's insidious with false teaching. And it'll be like leaven. It'll be working unseen, but it'll be penetrating the gaps and working its way through, spreading like a cancer. It's a blessing when it's the Kingdom of God.

It's a cancer when it's false teaching. Matthew Henry says this, Disciples are in most danger from hypocrites. Against those that are openly vicious, they stand upon their guard. But against Pharisees, who are great pretenders to devotion, and Sadducees who pretend to a free and impartial search after truth. They commonly lie unguarded." So Jesus is telling his disciples, watch out for these hypocrites, they're the worst kind.

They fly under the radar, they're pretending devotion, They're pretending an honest search for the truth, but they have this false gospel that will be death to you. Now let's talk about the doctrine or the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees that works like leaven. In Mark 8, our parallel passage, Mark 8.15, we learn that There's actually a third category. It also says the leaven of Herod. So Matthew doesn't record that.

Mark records that. So there's actually three categories of false teaching that Jesus addresses on this occasion. There's the leaven of the Pharisees. There's the leaven of the Sadducees. And there's the leaven of Herod.

I haven't quoted Ryle yet. I must quote Ryle. Here it comes. J.C. Ryle says this, He would have us know that there will always be Pharisees and Sadducees in the ranks of Christians.

Their succession shall never fail. Their generation shall never become extinct. Their name may change, but their spirit will always remain. Some want to add to the Gospel and some want to take away from it. This is really insightful.

The leaven of the Pharisees is a leaven that adds to the Word of God. They're piling up their own traditions, their own interpretations of the law, their own additions to the law, and they're building an external religion where you clean the outside of the cup that anything can be on the inside of that cup. John MacArthur says this, who would want to drink from a cup that had been washed on the outside but was filthy inside? Who wants to drink from that cup? That's what Jesus is saying here.

Don't drink from that cup. They just clean the outside. Catholics are like this. The Pharisees, and it's not just that I won't name all the names, but that's one name that fits this category, Adding to the Word of God. It's Jesus plus, Jesus and.

There is no Jesus and, there's only Jesus if you want to be saved. If you want to be redeemed and born again. There is no adding to that. The Sadducees subtract. They say there's no resurrection.

Now you don't have to go very far in the Old Testament. They had the Old Testament to find the word of God addressing the resurrection and angels. You don't even have to get out. There's an angel set to guard the garden after the fall. So we're in Genesis 3, there's an angel.

The Sadducees say, there's no angels. There's no resurrection. They're subtracting. There's things that are plainly set forth in the Word of God. And they say, that doesn't exist.

They're taking away from it. We have the category of the adders to the Word of God, and we have the category of the subtractors from the Word of God. And the subtractors are given to license because they're willing to just pluck things right out of the Word of God. And they're relying on rationalism. They'll figure out what's true and what's not true and they'll pull out what they don't like.

This is the antinomians in our day, isn't it? The Sadducees are alive and well in 2012 and their leaven is spreading. The leaven of Herod. This is just a secular levant, isn't it? Herod brought a different framework altogether, different interests, not founded on the Word of God at all, but just casting all that aside and starting fresh based on his own interests.

These are the atheists or the practical atheists. Herod would be a practical atheist. He knew about the things of God. He was hearing reports about Jesus. Herod never would have called himself an atheist.

He just lived like one. He just lived like there was no God. He just thought like there was no God. He just made his decisions like there was no God. And it cost John the Baptist his head.

He was a practical atheist. Now these things seem so different. Those who would add to the Word of God, those who would subtract from the Word of God, those who would just cast aside the Word of God and bring a completely secular, worldly framework. But Jesus puts them all together. He says, oh, same thing.

They're just leaven. This goes back to just Jesus Christ and His Word being the great dividing line. They are common in that they're not of faith. They want a sign. They want more than what's been given.

They're not satisfied with what God has given to His people. Listen to Acts. In Acts 17 verses 10-12, Luke records this, Acts 17, 10-12, Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they had arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Therefore, many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. This is the antidote to the leaven of the Pharisees, to the leaven of the Sadducees, to the leaven of Herod, to all this insidious teaching that would work its way through the cracks and spread and permeate and corrupt as it goes. This is the antidote that If anyone wants to have influence with us, we would take what is being said and we would set aside our gold standard, the Word of God, to see whether these things would be so. Nothing passes muster with us unless it's consistent with the Word of God. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

No additions? Stand. No subtractions? Stand. No worldly wisdom?

Stand. I believe generally speaking we have a Berean spirit here. In a sense it's a hard place to preach because you know there's Not a lot of people out there who are just going to take your word for it. That's a good thing. That's a good thing for me.

That's a good thing for you. The sermon is not just a stop on the way to Sunday lunch. It's going to be thought about in light of the Scriptures. I hope it gets harder. I hope it gets harder because we're all growing in our knowledge of the Scriptures.

Not that we'd have a critical spirit here who wants to pin the ears of the pastor back every time he misspeaks or doesn't understand things as well as he ought to understand. I'm not talking about that kind of a spirit. But I'm talking about growing in wisdom, growing in knowledge of the Scriptures, and having our filters improved and refined so that when something's trying to slip through that is an addition, or something that is trying to slip through that is a subtraction, or that is found in unworldly wisdom that our radar is sensitive, our filter catches these things. These things. Take heed and beware the leaven.

I Turn to 1 Corinthians 3. This is the second week I've done that. It's odd to introduce a new text in the conclusion. But as with last week, I think this is a really good summary of what we've been speaking of. 1 Corinthians 3.

I think Paul gives us a good summary for Matthew 16, 1-12 and 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10-12. Paul writes this, According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. This is how we counteract the leaven of the adders and the subtractors and the worldly is that a foundation is laid non-negotiably, inseparably of Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ and then you build with gold and silver and precious stones, things that are like Jesus Christ.

You build in like manner. You lay a foundation that's Christ and only Christ, and then you build in like manner. And in that way, You take heed and you beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Christ, only Christ. There are other things to talk about, there are other things to know, but at the fountainhead of them all must be Christ.

Let's never move on to the other subjects. Let's always have every other subject mounted firmly on the foundation of Christ and only Christ. I pray that that would be our reputation. Those people are so hung up on Christ. They just can't move on from Christ.

Amen! May we never move on from Christ. May we always be tying everything back to Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, you are the foundation. No one else can lay any other foundation than you.

You are preeminent. All things were made by you, through you, for you. God, I pray that you would make us a people who never wander far from the foundation, that are always tying things to the foundation. God, if you warned your disciples, How much more should we be awake and aware that there are always unseen influences trying to add and subtract and to inject the wisdom of this world. Oh God, help us.

Oh God, help us. Help us to know your word. And just have our feet planted upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.