Let's turn back to Matthew 16.
The Lord said to them, Beware of
the doctrine of the Pharisees and of Sadducees. You who have children, you are
very careful. You're very careful as to who
you let teach your children. You want the best teachers, don't
you? You want the best instructors for your children. And I tell you what, put that
on a higher level, standing in a pulpit. You want your children
to us, you want them to sit under a man that's preaching the truth,
the gospel, that's handling the Word of God properly. You want
them, those children, oh. You know, when we came together
here, I asked Henry about Janet. I asked Henry about Janet teaching
the class. He goes, number one. He said,
number one, And I said, that's right. You want to be very careful
who teaches these children. And you want to be very careful
that the man who stands in the pulpit, this pulpit, is always true to the Word of
God. A little leaven, this is what
I want to point out here this morning. A little leaven, just
a drop of it, leavens the whole lot. And it is so, so undetectable
at first. I mean, it's just a little. What's
that going to do? What's that going to do? Well,
it ruins the whole thing. Lost men and women always want
a sign. Give us a sign from heaven. That's what the Sadducees and
the Pharisees came to him for. After he just fed this crowd
of 4,000 people with this lunch and a few little fishes, then
they come to him and say, now show us a sign from heaven. Give
us a visible sign, like fire falling down from heaven, like
Elijah. You know, that happened with
Elijah. Give us that kind of a sign. Lost people. always want a sign. The Word
of God alone is not enough. It's not enough for the lost.
Their motto is, show us a sign. This is why these so-called faith
healers are so popular. They're catering to a bunch of
lost people. And that's why they have such
a great following. They're doing these so-called
signs. Now God has given His people signs. He has. He said to Noah, I'm going to
put a rainbow in the cloud. And it's a token. A token of
the covenant. But Noah didn't ask Him for a
sign, did he? Noah believed God long before that rainbow was
ever put in the heavens. Long before that. Moses believed
God long before God parted the Red Sea. Moses didn't ask God
to part that Red Sea. God parted that Red Sea. Moses
believed God without that. But God gives His servants, listen,
who believe. He gives His people who believe
signs to confirm His Word, but never to help to encourage faith
or to give them faith. They have faith long before He
ever does anything like that. Any faith that looks for signs
is no faith at all. If you're looking for signs,
say, I'm not going to be baptized until lightning strikes me. That
way I'll know I believe. Well, no, you don't. No, you
don't. Faith looks to Christ even in
darkness. True faith believes God even
when it sits in darkness and has no light. It trusts the Lord. It takes him at his word. The believer takes God at his
word and doesn't look for signs. In verse 1, we have common enemies. Here are two arch enemies. The Pharisees and the Sadducees
are like Republicans and Democrats. They can't stand each other.
They couldn't stand each other. They hated each other, but they
came together here. They laid aside all their differences.
And they had some real differences. One believed in a resurrection,
the other one didn't. One was very conservative, the other
was very liberal. And one was, I mean, the Sadducees
were almost infidels, if you go back and look at what they
believed. But they laid aside their differences so that they
could join their forces against the Lord and against His Christ.
Look over in Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine, that is, meditate a vain thing. The kings of the
earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointing, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. They laid aside their differences. These rulers, the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, they laid aside all their hatred of each other
because their hatred of Christ, their hatred of God was far greater. You want to unite two enemies?
Preach the gospel. And if God doesn't give them
faith, they'll unite against you. The Pharisees, they couldn't
stand each other. But when Christ came into town
preaching the gospel of grace for the guilty, this is what
they hated Him for. They hated Him for preaching
that salvation was in God's hands and He saved
whom He will. He preached the sovereign mercy
of God and they got angry over it. They hated him for it and
they became envious of the crowd that was following him. I tell you this, faith, faith
that is of God, is based on the Word of God, not on miracles,
not on signs, not on seeing some kind of outward wonder. Scripture says in Romans 10,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. No man, no woman has ever been
saved by seeing a miracle. They've been saved by a divine
work of grace in the heart. That's how God saves sinners.
It's not by something I saw with these fleshly eyes. It is by
seeing Him. It is by seeing Him. But not
seeing these material things. Not at all. It's not how I feel. It's whom I believe. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. I know Him. People who are just
religious always want some kind of sign. Always looking for some
kind of sign. These Pharisees and Sadducees,
they wanted to They wanted fire to come down out of heaven. They
wanted him to do some kind of hocus pocus that they could see. The manna. They said that the Roses had
manna. They'd give manna in the wilderness. Give us that kind
of sign. Give us something. Well, he's
standing right in front of you. They were ignoring all the spectacular
miracles that he had already done. Now think about this. He
gave sight to the blind. He enabled the dumb to speak,
the lame to walk. He fed all these people. He raised
the dead. They saw these things. One person
said, when the Messiah comes, will he do greater than what
this man is doing? Not at all. They saw these things,
like that rich man in hell. He said to Father Abraham, he
said, send somebody back from the dead to my brethren, warn
them about this place. And Abraham said, they have Moses
and the prophets. If they don't believe them, they
will not believe, though one rose from the dead. If a relative rose from the dead
and told you about it, it still wouldn't create faith in your
heart. It still wouldn't do it. It wouldn't do it. He raised Lazarus. Four days. They said by now he's stinking.
He's plumb dead. He's rotten. And he raised that
man in front of all of them. Did any of them believe? Did
any of those Pharisees believe? You know what happened? Later
on, they wanted to kill Lazarus along with him because of that. Because of Lazarus, he's getting
a lot more attention now. So they wanted to kill him again.
They wanted to kill Lazarus along with him. No, it never creates faith. The
only creation of faith is that God takes hold of you and takes
His Word and quickens your heart and gives you life. And our Lord said to them, to
these Pharisees and Sadducees, you can read the sky. Good weather, men. You can predict
the weather. But not the signs of the times. Every sign of the Messiah coming
has been fulfilled. Every sign. And you read it every
week. They read the Scriptures every
week. And he said, the signs of the
Messiah have been fulfilled and you read it, but you can't discern
it. You can read this Bible over and over and over. Unless God
opens your eyes, you'll not see it. You'll not see it unless
He gives you eyes to see. Everything that the Messiah would
do when He came was being fulfilled, was being done by Christ. If
they had just taken the book and paid attention. It's like
telling your students in class, pay attention. Just pay attention. And they would see that those
things that describe the Messiah fit Him. They fit Him, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, but you can't see it.
You're blind. He said last week, you're blind
leaders of the blind. Look over in Luke chapter 4. In Luke chapter 4, they start
reading in verse 17. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now, they read this many times.
And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was
written. He purposely turned to this. The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. To preach deliverance to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind. And they saw these
things. They saw him do these things.
To set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, this day is this Scripture fulfilled
in your ears. I'm the one. He plainly said
to them, I'm the one. He healed the blind, the blind
Bartimaeus. He made the lame to walk. I'm
the one. I'm the one the Scripture is
speaking of. Now you can read the weather, but you can't read
what you're reading. Well, that's natural. That's
just natural. They read the Scripture that
spoke of Him daily. They looked for Him. They looked
for Him, but missed Him when He came. And even when He performed
the miracles, when He performed the miracles as no other man
performed. Well, how dead is dead? Man is totally spiritually dead. There stands the light in front
of them and they can't see it. And we wouldn't either if He
didn't give it to us. True faith is a matter, listen, true faith
is a matter of divine revelation. Look over, and we'll see this
probably next week, over in verse 6, let's see here, look in verse
15. He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? He asked them whom men say that
he is, and they said, Elijah, some John the Baptist, some Jeremiah,
and one of the prophets. And he said, Well, who do you
say that I am? Who do you, my disciples, say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Here are
some fishermen, some unlearned men, who have never been to the
Pharisee seminaries. He said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. How did you know this, Peter?
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee.
But my Father which is in heaven, that's how you know who I am. A divine revelation. Look over
in Luke 24. In Luke 24, let me see here. Let me look in verse 16. I was thinking
about this last night. This is when they were walking
with Him on the road to Emmaus. And they were talking with Him.
Talking with the Lord Jesus Christ. These are men who had been with
Him. He says here, and it came to
pass in verse 15, and it came to pass that while they communed
together in reason, Jesus Himself drew near and He went with them.
He went with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know Him. He walked right beside of them.
And He said to them, what manner of communication are these that
you have one to another? And they talked to Him down through
there. It wasn't until He opened their eyes that they could see
Him. It's not until He gives you eyes to see, until He gives
you light, until He commands light, that you can see Him. Look in verse 30, over here in
verse 30, the same chapter. But they constrained him in verse
29. These are the same here in verse 28. And they drew nigh
unto the village whither they went, and he made as though he
would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying,
Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.
They spent the day there with him. Walked with him all day.
And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as
he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and
gave to them, and their eyes were opened. Oh, they saw who
they were with. They saw Him. Their eyes were
opened. And they knew Him. And they vanished
out of their sight. Oh, the Lord has to give us a
divine revelation of Him or He can walk beside of us all day.
It can be preached here from now until the Lord comes. And
if He doesn't open our eyes, we'll never see it. The Lord
opened our eyes. And he declares to them who these
men are. He tells them who and what they
are. He says, you're hypocrites. You
are a wicked and adulterous generation. Rebels seek after signs. Believers believe. Believers
believe. And they seek after Him. But
he said, you're wicked. right in the paper. Just for
example, if the Daily Independent sent a letter to you and said,
who is the most wicked person in this town? I bet you they
wouldn't name a Baptist preacher. They wouldn't name a Methodist
preacher. They wouldn't name any of them.
Think of someone who has committed some heinous crime in the past
Someone who was a terror to the community, that's who they would
say is the most wicked. The most wicked in this town
are those standing behind pulpits, lying on God, introducing error. A little leaven. They use the
same book. Use the same name that we use.
Jesus Christ. And they even use some of the
same truths. But they put a little leaven in it. And it destroys
the whole lump. And you know what? They are the
most wicked in this town. They are. And our Lord said,
there will be only one sign. There's going to be one sign. You know, He's repeating this.
He told them this once before, earlier here in Matthew. It doesn't
hurt to repeat truth, does it? Our Lord repeated truth often.
Often. He said, there's going to be
one sign given unto you, the sign of the prophet Jonas. Jonas
was a prophet, so was the Lord Jesus Christ. Jonas was thrown
overboard. He was sacrificed. The one was
sacrificed to save the many. The Lord is going to be crucified. He's the sacrifice, and He's
going to save many. Jonah was in the belly of the
whale for three days and three nights. He was buried in a watery
grave. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to be buried in this earth three days and three nights.
Jonah was raised from the deep. What? Three days later, Jonah
came out of that watery grave. That whale vomited him out up
on shore. He didn't throw him up and let
him swim to shore. He threw him out up on shore. Jonah was raised from the deep
and delivered from the grave even as Christ rose from the
grave. He said, I'm going to rise from the grave just like
Jonah came out of that water. I bet you they never put this
connection together. They never put it together. I know they
didn't. And Jonah declared salvations
of the Lord. That was the message of our Lord.
Salvations of the Lord. And I thought of this last night
and it never dawned on me. When Jonah came out of that watery grave
and he was up on shore, where did he go preach? To the Gentiles. I never thought of that before.
He went to Nineveh. You know, Nineveh, we were looking
in Genesis, chapter 9 or 10 or somewhere in there. Nimrod. You know Nineveh? Was from Nimrod? Is it Hamorah's son? That Nineveh
came out of Ham. That cursed Ham. And God sent
Jonah to Nineveh. To the Gentiles. Cursed Gentiles. And I thought Christ has sent
the Gospel to me and you. Gentile dogs. He said, sent the gospel to us.
And what did he do after he told them this in verse 4? He left
them. Says he left them. And he left them and departed. There comes a time when the door
of grace and the door of mercy is shut. When God called Noah, his family,
and all those animals into the ark, God shut the door. And no one entered after that. What a solemn statement. He left them and departed. And
then he gives a word of warning to his disciples. He says in verses 6 through 12,
Beware! Beware, he says here, Let me
find my place. Then Jesus said unto them, Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Beware. Beware. Don't you warn your children
about people? Beware. Don't just talk to anybody. Don't just get in a car with
anybody. Beware. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. They are warned. The Lord is
warning His disciples and us. This is for all times. He's warning
them against the false teachings and doctrines of these Pharisees
and Sadducees. And we still have them among
us, these false teachers. It's not pleasant to preach about
them. It just saps the life right out of you when it comes to preaching.
I'd rather preach on Christ saving that dog of a sinner, that woman.
Or blind Bartimaeus. Or the leper. But we have to
warn. Have to warn. Have to warn the
children. You have to. He warns them here. He says,
listen, a little leaven, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
It alters the whole lump. Listen, a little leaven alters
the whole message. It alters the whole message of
grace. It's what it does. Its work is
done mysteriously. You don't recognize it at first
going on. But the effect is deadly. It's
deadly. What was their doctrine? Man's
will over God's will. Scripture says, Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. It was justification by
works. They taught that by keeping the
commandments, a man was accepted of God. Each generation may be
a little different, but the underlying thing is this. It's wrong. It's
wrong. Wrong is wrong. There are ceremonies. There are traditions. We saw
that the other day or a few weeks ago. Tradition in place of God's
commandments. Messing with God's Word? Altering
God's Word? Putting in commandments or traditions
in place of commandments? These things, listen now, these
things come in so subtly. Subtly. Our Lord warns of this often
throughout the Scripture. Often He warns of this. Here's
what happens. Here's what happens. A little
error. is introduced. It seems harmless. It seems harmless. But in time,
in time, the whole message is affected. And the simplicity
that is in Christ is altered and the gospel is gone. It's
so subtle at first. It comes in so subtly. And it
affects the message. You may not detect it at first. It may take a while, but the whole message is altered.
Look at history. Look at history. All these churches
that were strong, solid gospel churches, if you trace out history,
you'll find that a little error came in and they eventually turned
over to Arminianism. You go through it. Look over
in Revelation chapter 2. I'm just going to read one of
the letters to the seven churches. Let me see if I can find my place
here. In verse 12, and to the angel,
of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he which hath
the sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works, and I know
where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. Thou holdest
fast my name, and hast not denied my faith." You haven't denied
my faith. even in those days when Antipas
was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there
them that hold the doctrine of Balaam." You still have those,
some there, that are holding the doctrine of Balaam who taught
Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel
to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which things I hate. Now repent, or else I'll come
unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of
my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches." He said, I know your works, I
know where you dwell, and thou holdest fast to my name, and
you have not denied my faith. You have there them that hold
the doctrine of Balaam. Get rid of them. Get rid of them. And so has thou
also them that hold the doctrine of Nicolai. You can't have opposing
doctrines here. You can't have, well, they believe
this and we believe that, but we can get along. No, we can't. No, we cannot. That may be dogmatic,
but the gospel is dogmatic. None is more dogmatic than God. Can't do it. Where's that church now? Is there
a place over there? Where are these seven churches
over there in that area? Where are they at? A little error comes in and it's
gone. Oh, they're still having religious
services. They're still religious services
going on, but the gospel's not there. The name of Jesus is being
used, but he said they're preaching another Jesus, Paul said. They'll
use his name, but they're preaching another Jesus. That's what a
little leaven does. It destroys the whole lump. It
destroys the whole lump. And the disciples. I'm right
here with them. I'm right here with them. They
got to thinking about their stomach. They got to thinking about dinner.
Listen, they should laugh at this, but it's, I mean, it's
almost just, it's pitiful. It's pitiful. Our Lord is warning
them against the doctrine of these Pharisees and Sadducees,
false teachers of all generations. And they're saying, he's upset.
Well, we didn't bring food. We didn't bring something to
eat. They're thinking about dinner. He's teaching them something
very serious here and they've got their minds on dinner. They
were so concerned about dinner they missed the message. Anybody
thinking about lunch right now? Anybody thinking about where
am I going to eat? That's sad. We are so easily
duped. Oh, ye of little faith. Oh, ye of little faith. How is
it that you do not remember? How is it you do not remember
the 5,000 that I fed with five loaves, and the 4,000 I fed with the
seven loaves and a few fishes? Food is not the problem here.
Don't you know what happened? Don't you remember? We just happened. It just happened. He just fed
a multitude, 4,000 men plus the women and children. Why are you
concerned about not bringing bread as if we're not going to
have something to eat? As if that would upset me. Oh my. We are so consumed with
our bodies. and with the natural things of
this life that we let spiritual things slip right past us. And
I'm talking about believers now. I'm talking about believers.
We let so many things slip past us because we are so engrossed
with these things. These things. Listen. How can we mistrust God with
so many mercies behind us? How can we? by reading out of
Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. You'll see this warning all throughout
the Scriptures. Look in verses 8 and 10, then
I'll read verses 16 and 22. Verse 8 of Colossians chapter
2. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy, in vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the
world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is
the head of all principality and power." Now look over in
verse 16, "'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the
Sabbath days. which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility in worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body,
by joints and bands having nourishment, ministered, and knit together,
increases with the increase of God. Wherefore, if ye be dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world, If you're free
from these things, why as though living in the world are you subject
to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are
to perish with the using, after the commandments and doctrines
of men? Beware! Our Lord says, Beware! Stand fast,
Paul said, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. Beware! Be on guard! Be on the
lookout! And especially me, as I stand
here, and Frank, as he stands here, and Janet, as she teaches
the kids, beware. Always be on the guard. Always
be on guard. A little leaven, a little bit
of error can destroy this whole thing. Oh, there'll still be
meetings here. There'll still be meetings here. But it can destroy the message
that's here. It can leave. The Lord told them to straighten
up or I'll remove the candlestick. And you don't even realize it. The sheep will die off and you'll
be gone. Okay, Mike.