Alright, I'd like for you to
turn in your Bibles to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. This is our continuing
study on the parables of the Lord here in Matthew 13. And
today I'm going to preach to you on the parable of the mustard
seed and the leaven. That's in verse 31 of Matthew
13. You heard that parable read in
Luke 13 also. Brother Ron read that in the
context that Luke was inspired by the Spirit to record it. But
it is the same parable with the same meaning. The mustard seed
and the leaven. He says in verse 31, another
parable. There are several parables as
you know here in Matthew 13. And one parable builds upon another. He says, another parable put
he forth unto them, saying, Matthew 13, 31 now. The kingdom of heaven
is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed
in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds." That's
all edible seeds. You know how scholars are? I'm
glad I'm not one of them. But, you know, they argue over,
well, you know, the mustard seed's really not the smallest of all
seeds. Well, it's not, technically,
but in this land, it was, and it was the smallest of all edible
seeds. He's using something that they
would know. We don't know about a lot of
this stuff, that's why we have to study. He's using something
that they would know, and they would grasp immediately what
he's talking about here. So, he says, it's indeed the
least of all seeds, and it was, and is. But when it is grown,
it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree." Now, it's
a large bush, a tree. It's taller than us. It's big
enough for birds to sit in. It says, so that the birds, or
the fowls of the air, come and lodge in the branches thereof.
So that's the mustard seed. Now, verse 33, one verse here
talks about the leaven. Another parable spoke unto them,
the kingdom of heaven is likened to leaven. which a woman took
and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
The whole lump, the whole measure of meal was leavened. So those
are the two parables. Now, these two parables are right
in line with what our Lord had taught in the parable of the
wheat and the tares. We talked several times about
the wheat and the tares. The wheat are the true children
of God, sown by the Son of God, the chosen of God, the redeemed
of the Lord. Those who Christ redeemed by
His blood on the cross, justified before God in Him. And then there
are those who are regenerated, born again by the Spirit of God,
given life from above. And that life evidences itself
in faith in Christ, repentance and love for Him, and love for
His Word, and love for His people. And that's the wheat that He
spoke of in the parables of the wheat and the tares. The tares
were children of the devil. Counterfeit Christians, that's
what he's talking about there, counterfeits sown by Satan, sown
by Satan's false gospel, not the true gospel. And then this
earth, as the gospel is preached out over the world, you'll see
both. They'll both spring up together. There'll be true churches,
there'll be false churches, there'll be true brethren, there'll be
false brethren. And then Christ gives the parables
of the mustard seed and the leaven. Now afterward, He gives the explanation. of the parable of the wheat and
the tares. So these parables come together and they build
on each other. And the meaning of one really
is right in the context of the meaning of the other. Now think
about it. Here are the tares. Spring up
and they grow. That's a false believer. It's
a counterfeit. But they don't produce fruit
like wheat. In a sense they grow, but they
don't produce fruit like the wheat. What's the difference?
Well, they do not grow spiritually in the grace and in the truth
of Christ. And that's the point. They may
look like they're growing. They may be a person who seems
to improve in some way, in some fashion, to some degree. But
they do not grow in the grace and in the truth of Christ and
the gospel and His word. Christ tells the laborers here,
remember back up in verse 27, look there, in the wheat and
the tares. I'm not just trying to recap
all this now, I'm trying to show you how this fits right with
this parable. You're not going to understand the parable of
the mustard seed and the leaven without understanding this. And
it says, So the servants of the householder came and said, Sir,
didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence then
hath it tears? Where did these tears come from?
Where did these counterfeits come from? Because we know, Lord,
that you sow only good seed. The Lord does not make counterfeits. When He saves a sinner, they're
saved, truly saved, eternally saved. And the Holy Spirit, when
He's sent to perform that sovereign, miraculous, invincible work of
the new birth, a counterfeit is never the result. It's always
the good seed. So these laborers, the ministers,
say, well, where did these tares come from? Where did these false,
counterfeit Christians come from? And he says in verse 29, and
later on he tells them, he said, well, an enemy has sown this.
And in verse 28, he said, an enemy has done this. And the
servant said to him, well, wilt thou then that we go and gather
them up? Now, the sense is, do you want
us to go out there and just destroy them, kill them all, gather them
up to be burned? Is that what you want? And he
says, no, that's not your job. That's not what you're called
and commissioned to do. And his point in this parable
here is, he says, I've still got some lost sheep out there.
I've still got some people out there yet I haven't yet brought
them into the kingdom. And if you go out there and you
try to do the work that you're not supposed to do, you might
destroy the sheep too. You don't know the difference
until... The only way we know the difference between a sheep
and a goat, or a weed and a tare, is when they come to Christ.
when they come by faith to Him and rest in Him and have fellowship
with the brethren. But he says, I've got many out
there. And so he says in verse 29, they
lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat
with them, let both grow together until the harvest, the harvest
there's the end of the world. Over Matthew 25, he speaks of
that. He said, I'll separate the sheep
from the goats. And in the time of harvest, I'll
say to the reapers, gather you together first the tares, bind
them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my
barn. He'll gather his people unto himself. So he tells the
laborers, let them grow together until the judgment when he will
gather up the tares to be burned. What's he teaching? Here's what
he's teaching. We, human beings, even ministers
of the gospel, cannot perfect the church. Only Christ can do
that. We cannot perfect the church.
You know, you've often heard the saying, you may have said
it yourself, there are no perfect churches in this world. You know
that's true. Let me tell you something. Don't
be fooled by that. There are true churches and there
are false churches in this world. That's what the Tweet and the
Tears is teaching. There are churches that are full of imperfect
people that are true Christian churches. And I'm talking about
not just the world's definition of Christian, I'm talking about
the biblical definition of a Christian. There are churches, listen to
what I'm saying, there are churches full of imperfect people that
are true churches. How can they be true? Number one, the gospel of God's
grace in Christ is preached from that pulpit, not just every now
and then, but consistently. That's where they preach the
truth of the Bible. I know everybody says they're
preaching that, but you know everybody's not. And the key
to it is grace, grace, grace. How does God save a sinner? How does God keep a sinner? How
does God bring a sinner to glory? It's by His free and sovereign
grace in Christ. We don't earn salvation. Christ
earned it for us. We don't deserve salvation even
now. doesn't come back and takes me
home before he comes back, and I take that last breath at that
very moment, I still will not deserve to be saved. It'll be
grace. And it'll be grace forever and
ever and ever. And all grace is wrapped up and
founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on Calvary
for His people. The forgiveness of my sins is
by His blood alone. Not your confession, not your
tears, not your baptism, not your determinations or promises,
not your walking in and out, but His blood alone. Now, where that's preached, that's
a true church. My justification, my right standing before God,
whereby in His justice He declares me not guilty, an imperfect person,
not guilty, is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ charged
to me. and nothing else. Nothing I do,
nothing I'm enabled to do, but His righteousness alone. Where
that's preached, that's a true church. And they're full of imperfect
people, because that's all there are around here. Imperfect people. You know what the church is made
up of? Sinners saved by grace. Sinners saved by grace. Now,
if you go into a place and there's imperfect people there too, But
they preach and teach salvation in some way, at some stage, to
some degree, based on the works of man. That's a false church.
That's the tare, you see, not the wheat. And so, what do we
do? What are we to do? Are we to
go out there and attack them? Are we to destroy them? No, we're to preach the gospel.
That's it. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. The weapons of our warfare are
truth and the Holy Spirit when he's pleased to work. And we
preach the gospel. We preach the gospel to anybody
who will listen. We don't even choose who we preach
to. We preach to whoever will sit and listen. And that's it. We cannot perfect the church,
only Christ can. But there are true churches and
there are false churches. Basically, a true church is not
one made up of perfect people, except we're perfect in Christ.
Now we can say that, can't we? We who are sinners, imperfect
in ourselves, saved by the grace of God, we're perfect in Christ.
We're washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness.
In Him, you see. And I can never be any more perfect
than I am in Him, but not in myself. False churches are made
up of sinners who are trying to be saved based on something
other than the pure grace of God in Christ. And it can be
works religion, free willism, whatever. It could be ordinances
or whatever, but anything but Christ. Now listen to this. The
church will be perfected in two ways. Number one, I'm talking
about the church collectively. Now, every believer, every sinner
saved by grace is already perfect in Christ, not in himself. But
the church, collectively and individually, will be perfected
in two ways. Number one, all God's elect,
all the redeemed, will be brought into the kingdom, into the church. Do you know there are no unbelievers
in the spiritual body of Christ, in the true church? They'll all
be brought in. They'll all be brought to faith
in Christ. They'll all be brought to repentance
of their own works and their own righteousness. And then secondly,
the church will be glorified. He's coming again, and we sing
about that when I can read my title clear. That's right. That's when He's coming again
and He's going to gather His people unto Himself and every
individual member of His spiritual body will be changed in the twinkling
of an eye and will be given a new incorruptible body, a spiritual
body which is free, totally free from the presence or the influence
and contamination of all sin. There'll be no tears, there'll
be no sorrow, there'll be no death, there'll be no pain. It's
a perfect body. I can't tell you a whole lot
about it, because the scriptures don't say a whole lot about it,
but I know it's so. And that's when the church will
be perfected. Now, there are unbelievers here
on earth in the visible church. That's what the parable of the
soils taught, the wayside hearer, the thorny ground hearer, the
stony ground hearer, false professors. The question then comes, can
we know we're not unbelievers? Yes. The answer is yes. How? How do I know I'm not? What is
my hope? It's simple now. Don't complicate
it. Don't make it deeper than it
is. Can we know that we're not unbelievers? Yes. Are we looking
to Christ and Him crucified for our whole salvation? Am I resting
in Him? Am I trusting Him for all righteousness? All forgiveness? all eternal
life and glory. If I'm looking anywhere else,
to anything else, even within, then you can know you're not
a believer. You see, believers look to Christ. He's the author and the finisher
of my faith. He's my all and in all. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in Him. Do you see your completeness
in Him, or are you looking for it somewhere else? You see, that's
what man's religion does. It wants you to be complete,
but somewhere other than in Christ. Whether you have to go in the
right denomination, or you have to do the right ordinance, or
you have to wear the right things, or stop eating the wrong things. Some way, somehow, you're going
to be complete other than the person and finished work of Christ.
Now, there are also those chosen by God and redeemed by Christ
who have yet to be brought into the kingdom by the new birth.
They have yet to be regenerated. They are called the lost sheep.
Lost sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray.
That is what Christ's people are before He finds them and
brings them into the kingdom by that new birth in regeneration
and conversion. Lost sheep. So the gospel, listen
to this, the gospel is going to be preached throughout the
world. Christ is going to save His people. He's going to bring
them to faith in Him and to true repentance. There's going to
be some false professors now. There's going to be some counterfeits
out there and here. And as the gospel is spread throughout
the world and as Christ calls His sheep into the fold and establishes
His churches, Satan's going to be busy too now. He's going to
be out there sowing his poisonous seed, his lies, his false gospel. Sometimes it will be really close
to the truth. Christ said in the last days
before He came, He said it will be so close that if it were possible
it could deceive the very elect. Thank God by His grace and power
it's not possible though. And so Satan's going to be out
there sowing his counterfeits, raising up his counterfeits,
Now here in this parable, these two parables, we come to the
development and growth of the church here on earth in the last
days up to the second coming of Christ. And here's what Christ
is telling His disciples. He's saying, now before the perfection
of the kingdom comes, there are things here that will take place
here on earth that you need to know and you need to understand
so that you won't be shocked. God has his purpose in all of
it. You might say, well, why is God allowing this to happen?
Well, he has his purpose. It's for his glory and for the
salvation of his people. I know that. But what's going
to happen? Well, first, number one, here's
the parable of the mustard seed. What he's speaking of in the
parable of the mustard seed is the growth of the church in this
world. The kingdom of heaven is compared
here to the smallest of edible seeds, the mustard seed. Starts
out small, grows into a large bush, the greatest among herbs,
because the mustard tree was the largest plant to grow in
a garden of edible herbs. That's why they called it a tree.
It was big enough to be called a tree. Starts out that little
small thing and grows into this great tree. One of the things the Lord is
teaching us there is never despise the day of small things. We have
a tendency to do that, don't we? We want things in a big way
right now, don't we? But never despise the day of
small things. Think about this. Our Lord began
the New Testament church with 12 men of no reputation. The only one that did have a
respected, honorable reputation in the world now, not in the
church, not in God's sight, the only one who did have a respected,
high position and reputation in the world was one who was
determined to wipe the church off the face of the earth, Saul
of Tarsus. And yet God took those men. He
took fishermen. He took an old tax collector
named Matthew. You talk about a hated person.
A traitor. He collected taxes for the Roman
government, the Roman conquerors, the heretics and the heathen
from his own people and skimmed off the top. That's what a publican
did. So here he took this kind of band of people, twelve men,
And he established his New Testament church, his New Covenant church,
and the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, through unbelievers,
made this statement about him. He says, they've turned the world
upside down. And you know, that's exactly
what happened. Now listen to me. The true church has never
been the majority in the world. Don't get me wrong. The gospel,
Christ said, is a narrow way, and few there be that find it.
The disciples in Luke 13 that you read, they said, are there
few that be saved? Do you know why they asked that?
Because they saw so many standing against the gospel of God's grace. The natural man will not receive
the things of the Spirit of God. The world hates this gospel of
grace. It doesn't exalt the world. It
doesn't feed the self-righteousness of the world. And so they saw
so many who were standing against it, they looked at him and said,
Lord, are there few that be saved? He had told them in the Sermon
on the Mount that this is a narrow way and few there be that find
it. The broad road that leads to destruction, that's a broad
road, and many there be that are on that road. But now, whenever
we consider the whole time of the New Covenant church, That's
the time of Christ ascending into glory and up into the time
of His second coming. It has developed from what it
was in our Lord's day, a very small seed, like a mustard seed,
into a multitude of people over that time, a tree. The gospel is preached all over
the world. The main growth is the calling
of Christ's sheep into the world. out of the world, rather, into
the church. That's the main growth. The calling of His sheep out
of the world into the church. They're going to be called. They're
going to be brought into the fold. Somebody asked me one time, said,
do you know when the Lord's coming back? And I said, yes. Whenever the last lost sheep
is brought into the fold. That's when. That's when He's
coming back. He said that when the top stone
is laid. That's the Old Testament. use of, when that last, that
top stone is left, when that last sheep is brought into the
fold. And that's the main growth of the church as it spreads from
that, springs from that little grain of mustard seed into that
tree. Christ saving his people. But
I want you to consider something else. Consider the influence
of Christianity all over the world. Now we can talk a long
time about that. We could talk a long time about
how Christianity, I know this, now Christianity, what the world
knows is Christianity, or what we might call Christendom, you
may have heard that term. It's been corrupted. I'm going
to show you that, that's what the leaven is all about. It's
been corrupted, and it's going to get worse. Now, mark it down,
it's not going to get better. You think it's going to get better,
you better go back and read this word. It's going to get worse. But, all in all, Christianity
has had a lot of influence. Think about the influence of
Christianity on literature, music, government, in this world. We've
got on our coins, in God we trust. That's from the scriptures. That
doesn't mean that everybody who has the coin in their pocket
trusts God. It doesn't mean the guys who minted the coins trust
God. It just means it's there. And that is an influence. You
know, I think the last census said there's about 7 billion
people on earth. I think that's what it said.
There are 2.1 billion people who claim to be Christian. Now
notice I didn't say there are 2.1 billion Christians on earth.
I said there are 2.1 billion people who claim to be Christian. And that is an influence. The
name of Jesus Christ is probably spoken more than any other name
in the history of mankind, whether it's spoken in praise or in cursing. That's right. His name. You think about the influence
that he's had in that small beginning. Here he was, born in a manger
of no reputation whatsoever, and everybody celebrates his
birth on December 25th. Just about everybody who's anybody.
They may not know who he is, and they may not know the truth
of the gospel, but at least that stops business on one day of
the year, usually. And they celebrate that. His
birth, now think about this, his birth was so low, and yet
it inspired the anger of an unbelieving, wicked king to set out a decree
to kill all the firstborn in Israel. That's an influence,
isn't it? King wasn't a believer, but he
was influenced by the birth of the Messiah. And we could go
on and on and on. Christ never, there's only one
time I think He set foot outside of Judea. And yet, by the time,
50 years after His death, there was probably a true Christian
church in every province of the Roman Empire. Even in Rome! Even some of Caesar's household
had come to a saving knowledge of Christ through Paul. That's
influence, isn't it? And then you think about it all
over the world. That grain of mustard seed started out. But
look on. Now, he says here in verse 32,
he says, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when
it's grown, it's the greatest among herbs, it becometh a tree.
so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof." Now, what are the birds of the air here? A lot of people
argue about that subject. I believe if we keep it in its
context, if you go back, you remember the fowls are the birds
of the air in the parable of the seed and the sower. Verse
19 there, it says, "...when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom,
and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth
away that which was sown in his heart." That was the birds that
come in and took the seed from the wayside. I believe these
fowls of the air, these birds of the air are outside evil influences
that will seek to corrupt the church over a period of time.
The church is going to grow from a grain of mustard seed all the
way into a tree, but the world is going to attack it. There's
going to be open persecution. There's going to be political
persecution, there's going to be legal persecution, and there's
going to be the frowns of the world upon the true church, where
the gospel of God's grace is preached consistently. And they're
going to lodge in the branches, they're going to be stalking,
and they're going to be attacking the church. Satan is going to
attack the church from the outside. And we've seen that in history,
the early church especially. Men stood up to preach the gospel
and they put their lives on the line. I thank God that we live
in a time and in a country where we have a constitution that allows
us freedom to worship God as he leads us. But let's never
take it for granted. There has been much, much blood
shed for the truth. Now, there's been blood shed
for a lie, too. Don't get me wrong. I heard a
preacher say one time that nobody's going to die for a false gospel.
Oh, yes, they do. Just think about those Buddhist
monks who poured gasoline on themselves and set themselves
on fire during the Vietnam War because of their belief in peace.
There's been multitudes slain, martyred for a false gospel.
But what I'm talking about is those who put their lives on
the line for the cause and the glory of Christ. And let's not take it for granted.
It could be taken away from us just like that. Overnight. People really don't believe that
can happen. I'll tell you, the events of
this two weeks can tell you how quickly things can happen. It's amazing. You can be walking
down the road healthy and strong one day and be in a hospital
bed the next, can't you? You see, don't hold on to these
fowls of the air that lodge in the branches. But they're outside
evil influences. Satan stalking and attacking
the church. And why does the Lord allow it?
There's two reasons. Number one, to call His sheep
out of the world. We're not of the world. There's
a distinction between the people of God and the world, and that
distinction is in the glory of Christ and His truth. How God
saves a sinner. How God saves us by His grace. And secondly, it's His judgment
upon the world. But now let's go to the second
one. Now there's the growth of the church in the world. But
now here in this other parable, verse 33, the parable of the
leaven, what's he talking about there? Now listen to this now.
And as Christ is telling His disciples, He said, now you need
to know this before it happens. You need to be prepared. Brace
yourselves. This is talking about the growth
of the world in the church. Think about it. He says another
parable spoke unto them, verse 33, The kingdom of heaven is
like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures
of milk till the whole was leavened. Leaven in the Bible is almost
always a type or symbol of sin. Sometimes it's a symbol of false
doctrine. In Matthew chapter 16, Christ told the disciples,
beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees. They didn't
understand what he was talking about at first. They thought,
well, is he talking about we didn't get any bread? Any bread
to eat? No. He's talking about their doctrine.
their false doctrine. What was wrong with their doctrine?
It was salvation by works, the works of man. It wasn't salvation
by grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. Beware of that letter. In the Old Covenant, during the
Passover feast, there was another feast connected with it. It was
called the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. And when they took the
Passover, they had to rid their homes of all leaven. And during
that week, they couldn't eat any leaven, because leaven was
a type of sin, and that feast of the Passover and that feast
of unleavened bread was a type of Christ and Him crucified,
He who had no sin, who was made sin by imputation, but He had
no sin. He was the sinless sacrifice.
He died for our sins, and He put away all sins. by the sacrifice
of Himself, washed us clean in His blood, clothed us in His
righteousness. And what Christ is saying in
this one verse, He says, over the period of time, the last
days, while the Kingdom of Heaven is being established in the church,
the Gospel is going out on the earth. And as it grows, it will
gradually be infiltrated with evil, wicked influences. Corruptions. Schisms. Schisms in the Church. And that's
the way it's going to be as this thing develops up into the time
of His Second Coming. There's going to be an apostasy.
There's going to be moral apostasy connected with the Church. Some
of that began back as early as the church at Corinth and even
before then. You remember, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, there
was moral corruption in the church and the church wasn't dealing
with it, they were ignoring it. There was a man committing incest
in that church and they were letting it go. And he told them,
he said, don't tolerate that. That's a public scandal. It brings
scandal and shame upon the testimony of Christ and the gospel. You've
got to deal with it. And he told them in 1 Corinthians
5 and verse 6, he says, your glorying is not good, know ye
not that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. In other words,
if you let that go on, it's going to grow. It's not going to just
stop right there. It's like leaven. You know how
leaven is? That's yeast. You put it in the dough there,
and pretty soon that dough rises. You know how it goes. Some of
you all cook. You know how that leaven gets
better. Well, what's happened? Well, that leaven has spread
throughout all that dough, that little leaven. Leavened the whole
lump, and there it is. And you can't take it out once
it's spread through the whole. Try it sometime. Try to get the
leaven out of it. You can. And it doesn't take
a lot of leaven, just a little leaven. But it leavens the whole
lot, doesn't it? And that's what Paul's telling
us. He's saying you can't let that go because it's going to
spread throughout the whole church. That's a moral apostasy. Apostasy
means a falling away from the truth. That's what apostate means. When you call someone an apostate,
you're talking about someone who professed the truth, but
then they fell away. And that's what he's talking
about. There's moral apostasy. You're going to see that in the
true church as it goes on, as it develops. There's going to
be antinomianism. That means against the law. People
using grace as an excuse to sin. You know, people tell me, well,
if I believe what you believe, I just sin as much as I want
to. Well, go on. But you wouldn't do it if you
believe what I believe. Because I don't believe that's grace.
I believe that's just a fellow who just wants to get away with
things. Grace in the heart brings a shame
over sin, a struggle with sin, not promotion of sin. Listen,
homosexuality. Do you know right now there are
people who call themselves Christian who are trying to make homosexuality
an accepted practice? That's leaven. Somebody says,
well, we need to be loving. Well, let me tell you something.
You don't do a homosexual any love by telling them that it's
okay. That's not love. That's deadly. Greed in the name of blessing
and evangelism. You hear it on TV. Send your
seed. You show me one time in this
book. Now, listen to what I'm telling
you. Show me one time when this book
From Genesis to Revelation, where seed is a type of money that
you sow to get more money or to get blessings. One fellow
on TV come up, he said there are 58 blessings, so send 58
bucks a month, you know. I mean, just crazy. That's leaven.
It's corrupting. It's a corrupting influence.
Just, you know, just like the one of the country songs says,
send your money to God, but make the check out to me. Stuff like that. And people love
it. They think that's of God. Greed in the name of blessing,
so that we can get the gospel out. They're not even preaching
the gospel. You say, boy, that's hard truth.
You remember when I preached last week? Does that offend you?
Look at the Scriptures. That's the only way we've got
to go on this thing. Listen, there's doctrinal apostasy. Turn to Galatians chapter 5 with
me. Look over here. Now listen to
this one now. This is important. This is probably
the worst kind right here. There's doctrinal apostasy. And
let me tell you how you can recognize doctrinal apostasy. Any teaching,
now listen to me, any teaching, any doctrine, Any reasoning that
is not totally based upon the teaching of the apostles is leaven. Any teaching, any
doctrine, any reasoning that diminishes or denies the glorious
person and finished work of Christ is leaven. Anything that takes
your eyes off of Christ away from Him and get you on to something
else is leaven. Now listen to me. Any teaching
that confuses you is leaven. You will get up and say, listen,
the Gospel is a simple message. Now, I know there are some things
in the Scripture that takes a lot of thought, but the Gospel of
Christ, who He is, what He did, why He did it, where He is now,
He's coming again. That's a simple message. for
simple minds, because that's what we have spiritually. It's
not a complicated thing, trying to figure out what this thing
means, or what this fellow thinks, or what he calls it, or what
his death... No! It's the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified. It's leaven. And it may start
out innocently, like a little bit of leaven. You may not even
notice it for a while. And you may say, well, I know
that guy. He wouldn't say anything wrong.
Boy, have you gone wrong there. Truth is, you don't know that
guy like God knows that guy. Here's your standard, right here.
And it may sound innocent, but look here. Look at verse 1 of
Galatians 5. Paul writes, Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Galatians
5.1. Liberty. In Christ, there's freedom. Freedom
from wrath. Freedom from sin. Freedom from
Satan. Freedom from the curse. And be
not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. That's works
salvation. Somewhere, at some stage, to
some degree. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. It's
kind of like this. These fellows will come along
and say, well now, Christ is our Savior, but if you're a real
Christian, you'll be circumcised. Paul says, if you do it for that
reason, Christ will profit you nothing. For I testify again,
verse 3, that every man that is circumcised, that is for that
reason, in order to be saved, in order to be made holy, in
order to be righteous, he's a debtor to do the whole law. My friend,
if anything you do or don't do is aimed at attaining or maintaining
salvation, you're a debtor to do the whole law. You say, well, what's the harm
in circumcision? What's the harm in keeping a
date? What's the harm in this, that? If you do any of those
things, thinking that it recommends you unto God, saves you, keeps
you safe, or makes up part of your righteousness or your holiness
before God, He'll profit you nothing. You're a debtor to do
the whole law. It's either Christ, all Christ, or no Christ. That's
what Paul's saying. Look down at verse 6, or verse
9 rather, I'm sorry. Here's what he said, a little
leaven. Leaven is the whole lump. That's all it takes. Starts out,
some fella gets up, and he says, well, I've seen something I hadn't
seen before. Now let me tell you something.
That's possible. Haven't you been going through
the Scriptures, and you read a Scripture that you've read
all your life, and you see something you've never seen before? I have. So that's possible. But be careful. Be careful that what you see
now that you didn't see before doesn't deny what you saw before. Doesn't corrupt it like that
little leaven. Now this is going to go on to
the point that there finally before the end of the world will
be a grave falling away. to where the visible church on
earth is in what we call, as the majority, Christian. In other
words, it will be Christian in name only. In name only, but
not in reality. And I'm going to show you that
next week. In fact, I'll show you that from 2 Thessalonians
and from other passages that I've run out of time this morning. Somebody said, well, how do we
avoid that little leaven? I'll tell you exactly how. Look
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Keep your eyes
on Him, folks. Rest in Him. Don't let anybody
move you away from Him, distract you from Him. Just keep your
eyes on Christ. Him alone. and all that he's
accomplished on Calvary. All right, let's sing hymn number
337 as our closing hymn. Teach me thy way, Lord.