I've entitled this message, Leaven
and Doctrine. Leaven and Doctrine. Now let's go to Matthew's account
for just a moment in Matthew chapter 16. He gives us a detail that Mark
doesn't give us. Then Jesus said unto them, take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Now in Mark's account, he said
the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod or the Herodians. Now, these were the opponents
of the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. The Pharisees
were The separated ones, that's what the word means. They believed
something that they did separated them from other men. They were
the fundamentalists of their day. The right-wing fundamentalists. And they hated Jesus Christ. The Sadducees were the liberals.
The Sadducees didn't believe in an afterlife. They didn't
believe in the resurrection. Do you remember when they tried
stumped the Lord by saying that seven different brothers had
one wife passed down from one to the other, and who shall she
be in the resurrection? They did not believe in the resurrection. They were the theological liberals,
as it were. They did not believe in predestination. They were believers in free will. And then the Herodians. The Herodians
were Hellenized Jews. That means they wanted the Greek
culture to take over the Jewish religion. They wanted to be influenced
by Greek culture. Now, all three of these different
people were opposed to Christ. They were opposed to one another,
but they had one thing in common. They were opposed to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that united them. I guess you could call
the Pharisees the fundamentalists, you could call the Sadducees
the liberals, and you could call the Herodians the worldlings.
They seemed to go after the world. Now, the Pharisees, they didn't
have a right view of scripture. They added to it. The Sadducees
would subtract from it. They didn't think the things
taught in the scripture were necessary. And the Herodians
didn't care one way or the other. trying to make the world a better
place, and engulf Jewish ways into Greek culture, Hellenistic
culture. And these are the three people
that the Lord warns us about their leaven. Now, he said, they
reasoned, verse seven, they reasoned among themselves, saying, it's
because we've taken no bread. And remember that very day, that
very day, He had fed 4,000 people. How quickly they forget. They're
not even thinking about that at this time. They have forgotten. And they think the Lord is rebuking
them because they didn't bring enough bread. Which when Jesus
perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason
ye among yourselves? Because you brought no bread.
Do you not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the
5,000 and how many baskets you took up? Neither the seven loaves
of the 4,000 and how many baskets you took up? How is it, how is
it that you don't understand that I spake it not to you concerning
bread, physical bread that you eat, But when you should beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, then understood
they how he made them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of
the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, the doctrine
of the Herodians. Now, leaven is yeast. It's usually associated in the
scripture with evil. What makes bread rise puffs up
bread. It's used in the fermentation
of alcohol. The yeast consumes the sugars
and it excretes carbon monoxide or deoxide. I can't remember.
Deoxide. Monoxide stuff kills you, I guess. Deoxide and it
excretes alcohol. That's how they make alcohol
through this process of fermentation. Now, go back to our text in Mark
chapter eight. Verse 14, now the disciples had
forgotten to take bread. Neither had they in the ship
with them more than one loaf. And he charged them saying, take
heed, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven
of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, and every time this
word is used in the New Testament, it's always with a negative connotation.
They were reasoning, they were trying to find reasons that were
not good. And they said, it's because we
have taken no bread. Now this is a clear picture,
and I don't know what other word to use, this is a clear picture
of the stupidity and the dullness of the disciples. And these were
Christ's disciples. This was the 12. These were the
men the Lord handpicked as his apostles. And generally, when
we think of the disciples and the apostles, we think of men
with halos around their head and just real holier than thou,
somebody you wouldn't even feel comfortable being around. They
were just as dumb and dull as me and you. The Lord, in Matthew's
account, said, O ye of little faith. I mean, I'm sure the Lord's
never surprised or never amazed. I realize that. But don't you
reckon he was surprised and amazed by the stupidity and the dullness
of the disciples after that took place that very day, and here
they are worrying about bread? Verse 17. And when Jesus knew
it, he saith unto them, why reason ye, because you have no bread? Perceive ye not, neither understand, have you
your heart yet hardened? He says, you've hardened your
own heart. That's what he says there. Having eyes, see ye not? Having
ears, hear ye not? And do you not remember? He's quoting Isaiah 6, and he's
saying, you're all acting exactly like unbelievers. This is the
way unbelievers act. This is the way unbelievers respond.
And he's saying that to his disciples. I love the passage in Luke 11
when he said to his 12 disciples, if you then being evil. Present tense. He's talking to
his disciples. If you then being evil. If the shoe fits, wear it. Verse 19. When I break the 5,000 loaves
among 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?
They said unto him, 12. And when the seven among the
4,000, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? And
they said, seven. And he said unto them, how is
it that you don't understand? And if it wasn't for Matthew's
account, we wouldn't know that they finally did understand Then
understood he that he, speaking of leaven, was not, leaven was
not the leaven of bread, but the doctrine of the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Herodians. It always has a leavening effect. It always puffs up. Turn to Galatians chapter five
for a moment. Galatians chapter five, verse
nine. Paul says in verse eight, this
persuasion, this belief that you have, cometh not of him that
calleth you, you can get this from Christ, a little leaven,
leaveneth. It works its way through the
whole lump. Now let's look at what made Paul
say this. He said in verse 1 of chapter
5, stand fast therefore in the liberty, the freedom, wherewith
Christ hath made us free. Now let me remind you of something.
It is finished. There's nothing hanging over
your head for you to do right now. There's therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. You are accepted
in the beloved right now. There's nothing hanging over
your head. Now you stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. works law. It's a yoke, and it's
a yoke of slavery and bondage. Let me tell you something about
works. Works never work. They never work. I thought of
the first time works are mentioned is in Genesis chapter 2, before
the fall. Now before the fall, I mentioned this sometime last
week, Adam and Eve didn't have a sinful nature. They were placed
in paradise. They had everything their heart
could want. They were given one commandment.
Don't eat of the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good
and evil. That's it. Everything else, I mean, think
of this, paradise they lived in. One commandment, just one
commandment. And it doesn't even seem like
that one would be hard to keep. I mean, I try to think, if all
I was given was one commandment, not to eat a certain fruit, and
I had nothing but pure paradise, I think maybe I would refrain
from that commandment. That's what I think, but you
know what, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. If one commandment is required
in salvation, nobody will be saved. even if you have a perfect
nature. Works are bondage. Verse 2, behold, I, Paul, say
unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you what? Nothing. If there's one law to
keep, Christ shall profit you Nothing y'all love that song
we sing free from the law. Oh happy condition Verse three for I testify again
to every man that circumcised that he's a debtor to do the
whole law One work makes you responsible to keep all the law
all by yourself one work Verse four Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are
fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith,
which worketh by love. You did run well. You seem to
believe this at one time. Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of
him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. If you put any part of salvation
to be dependent upon something you do, your works, you make
the whole thing of works. That little leaven, that little
work, Whatever it might be, it makes the whole system of salvation
by works. Works. Comes in so many forms, that
command in the garden, Ten Commandments, your free will, difference between
you and somebody else being your acceptance of God's offer of
salvation, the other person didn't accept it. Your works making
you holier, and more pleasing to God and less sinful, by your
works of discipline and self-denial and striving against sin, you
become better. Higher reward in heaven, you've
earned a higher reward by the things you've done here on earth.
Works! A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. And if you believe, if I believe
that any aspect of my salvation is dependent upon what I do,
I make the whole thing of works. You know, a denial of total depravity
makes salvation by works necessary, doesn't it? To him that worketh
not. Would that ever describe you?
To him that worketh not. but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. Let me tell you something you
can't do at the same time. You can't believe and work. Can't
be done. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. Now, the Pharisees added to what
God said. The Sadducees subtracted from
what God said. And the Herodians didn't care.
what God said. And that pretty much summarizes
all of mankind, doesn't it? Either an addition, a subtraction,
leaving something out, or just not caring one way or the other.
Now the only antidote for this, and I worded that carefully because
first in my notes I said the first antidote for this. I thought
that's not right and I scratched it out. The only antidote for
this is the Scriptures. None of these, the Pharisees,
Sadducees, or Herodians, really paid any attention to the Scriptures.
They added to the Scriptures. They subtracted from the Scriptures,
made one part necessary. They didn't pay any attention
to the Scriptures. According to 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture,
every word, every word, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every word, the way it's said,
the order of the words, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. of God. Every word is divinely
inspired. I realize that the average person
will think, well, how can you, how can we know that we have
the inspired word of God? Well, if God can create the universe
with no help, he can inspire men to write a book and make
sure it's preserved so we can hear it now. And if we don't
have scriptures, we don't have anything else. I mean, turn with me for
a moment to Psalm 19. We looked at the first part of
this Psalm. a couple of weeks ago when we were considering
the sun, verse 7. Now, he'd been talking about
how the heavens declare the glory of God, and now he speaks of
the word of God, the written word. And listen to this description.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. Isn't that a beautiful description
of God's word? Those words that describe pure. Listen to this,
perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous altogether. And
I want you to think of the righteousness of the gospel. It glorifies God's
righteousness. He's made a way in the gospel
to be utterly righteous and just, and yet declare somebody like
me or you without sin. And it's done in a way that just
doesn't swap sin under the carpet. It's done in a way that honors
his justice and his holy law. What a word, the word of God. Now, there are creeds, and there
are confessions, and there are catechisms, and there's truth
in them. I wouldn't deny that. I was listening
to a preacher, and he said, well, the Heidelberg Catechism says,
and I'm sure there's good stuff in it, but who cares? I don't. I don't care about confessions
and creeds. They're man-made documents. Why would you want
a man-made document when you got the God-inspired word? In John chapter five, verse 39,
the Lord said, you search the scriptures and in them you think
you have eternal life. I can read this book and find
out how to have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. Why would you want anything else?
I don't get that one. I don't get that one. I really
don't. We got the inspired word of God. Who cares about man-made
documents? I don't care how much good stuff
they have in them. Criticize that and accuse you
of wrongdoing in that. I've had people do it, don't
you? I mean, don't you need something to show what the Bible teaches? You know, the thing that is,
when you have something like that, you don't go to the Bible, you go
to that document to find out what it is you believe. And that's
just altogether wrong. Well, the Bible's a big book
and we need to organize the different subjects. The Bible's got one
message, Jesus Christ. and him crucified. That's not
the central message. That is the only message. And until I see that, I haven't
seen the meaning of the scripture. Now scripture only is our only
rule of faith and practice. That's what will preserve us
from the leaven of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the And really,
the best way to be preserved from this doctrine is to be thoroughly
familiar with and understand the truth. And the best example
I can give of that is when I was training to be a bank teller,
which was a real joke. I got fired. But when we were
training to be able to recognize counterfeits, by the way, that's
the only job I've ever been fired from. I probably already told
you that. I just couldn't stay in balance. They got rid of me,
but I couldn't do it now either. The way we studied counterfeits
was not by studying counterfeits, but by studying the true. When you knew the true, you knew
the fibers, the different colors in the bill and so on, that's
the way you would understand what is counterfeit, by knowing
the true. And that is the way we avoid
this leaven by knowing the true. Now in the scripture we have
the character of God revealed. Now there are things we can know
without scripture. We can know he's all-powerful,
we can know he's eternal, we can know he's very wise, and
you can even logically come up with the fact that he's sovereign.
I mean when I read that book by Stephen Hawking on a brief
history of time, and he made this statement. He said, I don't
know if there's a God, but if there is a God, free will is
an impossibility. There's no such thing. If God
is, he controls everything, and there's just no other option. You can know that logically,
but there's still so much with regard to God you can't know
apart from the scriptures. How do you know God is one God
in three distinct persons apart from the Bible? can be known. How do you know God will forgive
sin? How do you know God is merciful? How do you know God is absolutely
just at all times? How could you know that God is
immutable, never change? If He could change, He'd either
become better or worse. How could you know He's immutable
if He didn't say, I am the Lord, I change not? Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. How can I know something of the
Lord's holiness and his hatred for sin? How can I know the Lord's
love? How can I know the Lord's independence
that he has no needs? You know, I've been preaching
through creation on Sunday mornings on the in Genesis 1 and it's
amazing why I started reading on that the reasons men gave
for God creating God God created the universe because he wanted
to have fellowship with somebody and No, he didn't he created
the universe because he wanted to Any other reason needed no
He had perfect fellowship with the three persons of the Trinity
Before there was ever any creation. It's not like he needed me or
you for fellowship I can't stand that kind of stuff. I mean, it's
just degrading to the thrice holy God. But there is so much
that we just cannot know with regard to his character apart
from the scriptures. Anything we hear that's not consistent
with the word and with all of God's attributes is leaven. Now let me give you one example. The atonement of Christ. There
isn't anything more important in all the word of God than his
work in behalf of his elect. The atonement of Christ. His
saving death for his people. Now I don't have any doubt that
the great majority of people that go under the name of Christianity
believe in what's called universal atonement or universal redemption. They believe that Jesus Christ
shed his blood for everybody and wants to save everybody.
And some of those people for whom he died for will not be
saved. There is a hell and there are
people that he loves and died for and wants to save that end
up being in hell. Now that is a denial of every
attribute of God. And that's how important this
is. That's a denial of his wisdom. That's a denial of his justice. You mean he can pay for somebody's
sin and then charge them again for it in hell? It's a denial
of his sovereignty. It's a denial of his power. Everything about that denies
every attribute of God. Denies his immutability. He can
love you and yet turn around Cast you into hell? The true
character of man is presented in the scriptures. Now, and if
we don't give that, leaven will come in, just like if we would
present the atonement of Christ in that way. The leaven comes
in and makes the whole thing salvation by words. The true
character of man, listen to scripture, Romans 8, 7 and 8, for the carnal
mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God neither indeed can be. So then, they that which are
in the flesh cannot please God. Now in that we have the total
depravity of man, enmity, enmity, hatred of the living God, and
inability. They that are in the flesh cannot. They lack the ability to please
God. Now as soon as you leave that,
In any degree, the leaven of works is introduced. There's
some kind of work you must do to be saved. Now, if I ever see God for who
he is, I'll see myself for who I am. Wrong on the fall, wrong
on it all. Now, we go to the scriptures. Bow to what God's Word says,
preach what God's Word says, regardless of how people might
twist it, we can't do anything about that. Someone said to me just recently
with regard to eternal justification. I don't know that they couldn't
completely understand it, but they said that means you can
say you're justified. Hey, I've always been justified.
Don't need to worry about anything. Your people will abuse the scriptures.
They will. But does that make us not preach
what the truth says? No, if we don't, this leaven
will come in. It will leaven throughout the
whole lump. A denial in any way of the work
of the Father in election, the Son in redemption, and God, the
Holy Spirit in regeneration. is leaven, and it'll work its
way through the whole lump and make salvation by works. It's
the leaven that corrupts us from the simplicity of Christ. Now remember, the leaven of the
Pharisees is an addition to the Word of God, something the Word
of God does not teach, adding something to it. The leaven of
the Sadducees is leaving out something God says. The leaven
of the Herodians is to not care what God says. Now, would you
turn with me to 1 Corinthians 5. Verse six, Paul makes this
statement again to the church court. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump? Now look what he says up in verse
one. He says, it's reported commonly that there's fornication among
you and such fornication as is not so much named among the Gentiles
that one should have his father's wife And you are, what? Puffed up. Isn't that what leaven
does? A yeast roll? You're puffed up. You think, no big deal. I mean, we're fine. You're puffed up. Now look in
verse six again. Know ye not that a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump Purge out, therefore, the old leaven,
that you may be a new leaven, as you are unleavened, for even
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep
the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth. You know, in the Passover, all leaven was to be done away
with. You could only have unleavened
bread. And in that Passover, the key
of that Passover, yes, it's eating unleavened bread and the meat
and so on, but the key to the Passover is the sacrificial lamb. And what did God say? And this
is what I'm, all my hopes of salvation are found right here.
Listen to me carefully, what did God say? He said, when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. Not when I see your sorrow
for your sin, not when I see your intentions to straighten
up and fly right and from henceforth live a better life. Not when
I see your faith or your repentance, when I see the blood. That's all God was looking for.
That's all God was looking for. When I see the blood. Now you, add anything to that? That's the leaven of works. And
you've missed the message all together. Verse eight, once again, therefore
let us keep the feasts not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth. Now, all leaven under the pretense
of good works and good doing is malice and wickedness. That's
all it is. It may sound good, but it's not.
It's malice and it is Wickedness the only true unleavened bread
first of all is truth Truth that's simple enough isn't it thy word
is truth Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth the
truth the whole truth and nothing, but the truth Anything that is
not the truth is leaven, and it will end up leavening itself
throughout the whole lump. And the next thing he mentions
in verse eight is the unleavened bread of sincerity, sincerity
and truth, sincerity. Now that's taken from the word
that means pure or unmixed, the pure or unmixed leaven. If you are pure sin, not a mixture of good and bad,
but pure sin, you know what you need? Pure grace. Boy, I believe that with all
my heart. The word means genuine. Only if you're a genuine sinner,
not a pretend sinner, but a genuine sinner. That means all you do
is sin. You would never sin again, but
that's all you do. That's a genuine sinner. If you're
a genuine sinner, you need genuine grace, don't you? And you genuinely need Christ
to save you. And you genuinely need Him to
do it all. Now that's the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth. Now beware of the doctrine of
the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. The Pharisees,
add something. It's a deadly addition. The Sadducees
subtract something. It's a deadly subtraction. And the Herodians are just trying
to make the world a better place, trying to change the culture,
and it is deadly. Beware. And if the Lord says
beware, me and you ought to beware, shouldn't we? Beware of the leaven,
of the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Herodians. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would deliver us because this would be our natural way.
We ask that you would deliver us from the doctrine of the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Herodians. We ask that you would deliver
us from that leaven that will leaven its way throughout the
whole lump. Lord, how we thank you for Christ, our Passover,
who has sacrificed for us. And we ask that we might have
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Bless this message
for your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.