Matthew chapter 16. I looked over these 12 verses,
and I'm always looking for a title to take, a title to put to the
message, and I'm taking the title for the message today from what
is said in verse 6. The Lord said to them, and He's
saying to us right now, take heed, that means pay attention,
Take heed, and then he says, beware. Take heed and beware
of the leaven. And we know he's talking about,
because he says this in verse 12, beware of the leaven or the
doctrine of these Pharisees and the scribes. So take heed, pay
attention, and then beware. There's a warning, a double warning. Take heed and beware of false
doctrine. And the Lord gives us here a
double, a double portion, a double caution. And what the Lord said
in his day, in that day, is still true in our day. We need to be
very cautious and watchful of the doctrines and religion and
traditions of men. You remember, we had this back
before. Turn over here to Matthew 15,
verse 7. Matthew 15 verse 7, you hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, His people draw nigh
unto me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips,
but their hearts far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. So beware, we should
always reject that which is contrary to the word of God. Now this
is why we need to be rooted and grounded in the Scripture. If
you're rooted and grounded in the Scripture, when you hear
something that is contrary to the Word of God, you can identify
it and then avoid it. We should always reject that
which is contrary to the Word of God. Our Lord said, sanctify
them through thy truth, thy Word is truth. He prayed that in John
17, 17. Sanctify them by thy truth, Thy word is truth. Our Lord said this in John chapter
8, it's the truth that sets us free. The truth of who God is
is found in the word of God. The truth of who we are as described
in the word of God, none righteous, no not one. The truth of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. You shall know the truth, Christ
the truth, and that sets us free. And we know this, no lie is the
truth, right? No lie can be the truth. True
faith can never be the fruit of lies. True faith can never
be the fruit of lies. The faith of God's elect acknowledges
the truth. The faith of God's elect believes
the truth. Now the Lord always hedges his
church about with warnings, I've said this to you for 30 years.
The Lord hedges his people about with warnings lest we presume
and promises lest we despair. We have the exceeding great and
precious promises that he gives us in his word, but how many
warnings does God give us throughout his word? Oh, he warns us again
and again to be careful, be careful. We should always beware of that
teaching and the doctrines of men that's contrary to the scripture
and those that are in conflict with the word of God and the
gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We know that salvation is all
of grace, all of grace. Now sometime when you want something
to study, and I've prepared an article in the bulletin for next
week, but as I was waking up the other morning, I started
thinking about this Word and this truth of salvation by the
grace of God. And I started going over in my
mind, I started recalling about what the Word of God says about
the grace of God and how salvation is by the grace of God. Because
of His fullness have we all received grace for grace. We believe through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved as others.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We could go on and on and on
talking about the grace of God. Salvation is by the grace of
God to the exclusion of any human, creature, merit, or works. Grace,
grace, grace. Sovereign grace is the only kind
of grace there is. He said, I will have mercy. I
will be gracious to whom I will. So we know as believers, because
this is what the lesson is in the word of God, salvation is
by the grace of God, the grace of God. Now look at verse one,
these enemies who hated each other, the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, they were enemies, but they came together with Pilate
and the Romans and the Gentiles to do against the Lord Jesus
Christ as God determined before. The Pharisees and the Sadducees,
they came tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign. Give us a sign from heaven. Give
us a sign from heaven and we'll believe you. Now that's what
lost religious men always want. I was reading just before the
service here, I was thinking about a scripture. When the Lord
was nailed on the cross, nailed to the tree, and those Pharisees
standing there, and they said to Him, come down from the cross
and we'll believe You. He did. He did come down from
the cross. And God raised Him from the dead.
Did they believe Him? No. Believers don't seek signs. Believers
seek the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look for signs.
Don't look for feelings and emotions. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
viciously attacked again by these self-righteous religious men
by way of tempting Him or testing Him. This was a test. We're going
to see how you react to our test. tempting him, who, like most
religious folks, need to see some evidence, some special sign
from heaven, before they will believe God. You know, if you
ask for a sign, or a miracle, or a wonder, the devil just might
send you one. God, by using Satan, might just
send you a sign from heaven. I know a 14 year old boy, that
lived in Palmyra, New York, that said he had a sign from heaven
and started a whole religious denomination that now is 14,
15 million people who are trusting that sign that that 14-year-old
boy had. You know the name of the religion?
Mormons. I know a lot about them because
I was one of them. I grew up with them. Was born into that. The design of these men was to
tempt Him. They didn't come to be taught
by Him, did they? They didn't come to be taught.
They didn't come seeking salvation, did they? They came with an evil
intent. They came with a malicious intent.
Now think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
with sin of God, stood right in their face, the light of the
world. And their heart was so dead,
so darkened, they could not see. The Lord, the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who done so many mighty miracles
among the people, yet they said, we need more. What could the
Lord do more than he had already done? He healed their sick. He
fed the multitudes, preached the gospel unto him, and they
refused to trust him as the Messiah. Now, we've seen this repeated
over and over. Turn back to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9. And it's no
different today. The self-righteous religious
people are no different in our day. Matthew chapter 9. Matthew
chapter 9, look at verse 32. Matthew 9, 32. And as they went
out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with
the devil. And when the devil was cast out,
the dumb spake and the multitudes marveled, saying, it was never
so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, he cast
out devils through the prince of devils. Here was a man that
was healed. right in front of them, and they
still refused to believe. Now, turn to one other example.
Look at Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, verse 10. The man who had the withered
hand, you remember it was on the Sabbath day, verse 13 of
Matthew Matthew 12, verse 13. He said,
unto the man, stretch forth thy hand, and it was restored whole
like the others. Oh, that was a sign, wasn't it?
The man had a withered hand, and the Lord said, stretch forth
your hand. That was a sign. Look what happened. The Pharisees went out and held
a council against him, how they might destroy him. They had signs,
didn't they? They had signs. True faith is
not born of signs. True faith is born of the Word
of God. One other example we've seen here just recently, let's
turn to Matthew 12. Matthew 12 verse 22. Matthew
12, 22. Matthew 12, 22. Then was brought
unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he
healed him. And so much as the blind both
saw, and all the people were amazed and said, is not this
the Messiah, the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard
it, they said, this fellow doth cast out devils by Beelzebub,
the prince of devils. They had all kind of signs and
miracles right before them. But that didn't bring faith,
did it? That didn't bring faith. You see, true faith does not
need signs and wonders from heaven. True faith is based upon the
Word of God alone, not signs or feelings. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. Faith is based upon signs, vision,
feelings, and miracles of men is false faith. False faith. Faith that's based
upon signs and feelings and miracles is a false faith that cannot
save. Believers don't need miracles. Believers don't need signs. Believers don't seek signs. Believers
seek the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're seeking Him. The
Lord said, come to me and I'll give you life. We read a moment
ago in 1 Corinthians 1, the Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek
after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling
block, under the Greeks foolishness, but under them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, Christ the
wisdom of God. Christ is the wisdom of God.
In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Would
you have wisdom? But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Remember the words of the old
reformer Martin Luther, feelings come, feelings go. Feelings are
deceiving. My warrant is the word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel
condemned for one to some sweet token, I know one greater than
my heart whose word cannot be broken. So I'll trust God's unchanging
word till soul and body sever. The words of men will pass away.
The feelings of men will pass away. God's word abides forever. He said heaven and earth's going
to pass away. My word will never pass away. Signs and wonders
do not create faith in the heart. Signs and wonders do not create
love for the true gospel or make us new creatures in Christ. Faith
is a precious gift of God. Faith is a precious gift of God.
For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourself,
it's the gift of God. Faith is a precious gift of God. Faith in Christ is a result of
the new birth, not the cause. Did you get that? So important.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, he's born of God. Our Lord said, except a man born
from above, born again, he cannot see. He cannot understand. So we believe the Gospel because
God's given us life. He's raised us up from the dead.
He's quickened us and made us new creatures in Christ. The
believer, those who are made regenerated by the Spirit of
God, they cannot but believe. I have no choice but to believe
what He's revealed to me. He is the Christ. He is the Christ
of God. You see, faith is a matter of
divine revelation. We're going to see that next
week. Look right across the column in your page. In Matthew 16,
verse 15, the Lord said, Whom do you say that I am? You see
that? Matthew 16, 15. Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Well,
Peter, you're so smart. How'd you figure that out? The Lord answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Salvation comes by the revelation
of God revealing Christ unto our heart, born of the word of
God, the word of truth. Now, boy, I spent a lot of time
on verse one, didn't I? How are we going to get to verse
12? I don't know. You may be here a while. Look
what he said. The Lord answered and said unto
them, he said, you guys are good weather forecasters. I'll give
it to you. You say, when it's fair weather,
when you say in the evening, It'll be fair weather for the
sky is red. And in the morning, it'll be
foul weather for the sky is red and gloomy. He said, you hypocrites,
you can discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the
signs, all the miracles he had done of your time, your time,
your day, your day. These men claimed to be weather
forecasters. but they were totally in the
dark about the obvious sign of the day when the Lord was fulfilling
the Scripture in their midst. The Lord treats them with utter
contempt, doesn't He? Look at verse 4. He said, An
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no
sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. What
is that? The word of God. And he left
them there. Now notice a marginal reference
on verse four. Matthew 12, verse 39. So let's
turn back to that. Matthew 12, verse 39. If you look at Matthew chapter
12 verse 38, you got it? Matthew 12, 38. Then certain
of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we
would see a sign from thee. Boy, they just won't get away
from that, will they? He answered and said unto them,
same thing, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.
There shall no sign be given up but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For Jonah was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly. So shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of
Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and condemn
it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. Behold, a
greater than Jonah is here. a greater than Solomon is here.
They would not have the Lord Jesus Christ. There shall be
no sign given them. but that which they had already
in their hand, and that is the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to fulfill the word of God, and he did. We read in John chapter
5 that same crowd of pharisees said, you are they which search
the scriptures. They had the scriptures. They
knew the story of Jonah. They knew what had happened,
but they didn't see the gospel. You are they which search the
Scriptures. In them you think you have eternal life, but they
are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. That's our problem. That's our
problem. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
fulfill the scripture, didn't he? He came to fulfill all scripture. He said all things that are written
in the Psalms, in the law, in the Psalms and prophets, all
things that are written there are concerning me. They're all
about me, the Lord Jesus Christ. All about him. All about him. The Lord said I didn't come to
Destroy the law and the prophets, I came to honor the law and prophets.
We studied that in Matthew chapter five, didn't we? He came to honor
the law of God. Now the one story the Lord gives
is that of the prophet Jonah, and we've seen that before, as
we just read. Jonah's story is a type and picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Jonah took that
ship, and the Lord sent a storm. And Jonah told those men, you
throw me overboard, and the storm will die down. Well, the Lord,
they did. They threw him over in the ship,
overboard, and there was a great calm. And the Lord prepared a
great fish and swallowed up Jonah. Jonah spent three days in the
whale's belly, and then was delivered on that third day. And that is
a type and picture of Christ. He sacrificed himself for our
sin. He went. and died for our sin
according to Scripture. He was buried for three days,
and on the third day, the Lord raised him from the dead. What
was Jonah's message when the fish vomited out Jonah on dry
ground? You remember what he said? Ah, salvation to the Lord, right?
You reckon he would say, boy, I'm sure glad I fought my way
out of that fish. No, he knew that his deliverance
was of the Lord. That was Jonah's message then,
and that's what the Lord is telling these men. Salvation's of the
Lord. Salvation's all of the Lord. And that's our message
today. It's God who saved us and called us on a holy calling,
not according to our work, but according to God's own purpose
and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Now, a sad note. The last sentence of verse 4,
He left them and departed. He left them and departed. The
Lord left these men alone in their false refuge of lies and
departed from them. Turn back one page. You remember
Matthew 15? Matthew 15, when the Lord said,
it's not that which goes into the mouth that defiles a man,
but that which comes out of the mouth that defiles a man. Matthew 15, verse 11. Now look
at verse 12. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended? They
were offended when they heard this. He answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone. They be blind, leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into
the ditch. Leave them alone. I tell you
what, my prayer for us is, Lord, don't leave us to ourselves. Don't leave us alone. All the
Lord has to do for us to miss saving faith and salvation in
Christ is simply leave us alone. Leave us to perish in our own
willful unbelief and rebellion against God. I pray that God
makes us willing in the day of his power to bow and submit unto
his will. Don't leave me to myself. Lord,
reveal the gospel unto me. Now, look at verse 5 and 6. And when his disciples were come
to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Now, this is all
by the providence of God. They were so busy with other
things that they just didn't take any supplies. And the Lord
said to them, you need to beware of these Pharisees. Beware of
the Sadducees, beware of the leaven they have. Verse seven,
they reason among themselves saying, is it because we have
no bread? They totally missed the message. When Jesus perceived,
he said to them, O ye of little faith, why do you reason among
yourselves because you have no bread? Don't you understand I
fed thousands and thousands and thousands of people? How is it
that you don't understand that I speak unto you not concerning
the bread, but beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, the
doctrine of the Pharisees, as it says in verse 12. Take heed and beware. I can't stress that too much
for us today. Take heed and beware. We need
to constantly be cautious what goes on in the name of God, in
the name of religion. We have many warnings. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirit whether they are
of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. There's many false prophets,
many false prophets. Hold your place there and turn
back. You remember in Matthew chapter 7 when the Lord says
this? Matthew 7 verse 15. If you don't
want to turn, let me just read it to you. But if you want to
turn, Matthew 7 verse 15. Beware of false prophets which
come unto you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening
wolves. So beware. Take heed. Take heed and beware. There's nothing more dangerous
to your soul more deadly to your soul than the doctrine of self-righteousness,
self-glory. The doctrine that says God done
everything He can do, and the rest is really up to you. That's
leaven. That's not truth. That's leaven. Nothing more dangerous. Beware
of the doctrine. He said, they teach, but in vain
they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments
of men. Now, I've said this to you more
than once, and I'm going to tell you again, and then I hope to
repeat it to you again. There's just two religions in
this world. I don't care what color it is or what name it goes
by. There's just two religions in this world, one of Cain and
that of Abel. One is true, the other is false.
One of works and one of free grace. One of Christ alone and
the other of Christ plus something you add or something you bring.
All false religion is a religion of free will works. And I mean
by that, they say salvation depends upon you. Your choice, your will,
rather than what God has done and what God has said. Our Lord plainly said, you didn't
choose me, but I've chosen you and ordained you to salvation.
Salvation is not our choice. It's God's choice. He chose us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Let me give this
scripture to you. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, or until He called you by our Gospel. No matter what
denominational name it wears, free willism, And it can be Hinduism,
Muhammadism, this ism, that ism, other isms, it doesn't matter
what ism it is, but it always traces the sinner's salvation
back to the sinner rather than the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And I stress alone. His work
alone, justified freely by His grace through the redeeming blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness alone. Blessed
is the man whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works.
His blood atonement alone is the only sacrifice for sin that
God will accept. Justified by His blood alone. That's our message. That's our
message. He finished salvation. Didn't He say that? Didn't He
say it's finished? He didn't say, I started the
work, now you have to finish it. No, He said it's done. Saving
faith receives Christ who finished the work. Saving faith doesn't
finish the work. Saving faith receives Christ
who finished the work. Paul had a lot of tolerance for
different things. Let's turn over here to, I'm
almost through. I got a few minutes. But let's
turn to the book of Galatians. The Apostle Paul, the Apostle
Paul, remember who he was? He was Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a top-dog Pharisee. But when he met the Lord, you
remember what he said? He counted everything else lost,
dung and ruined, that he may win Christ and be found in Him.
And Paul could tolerate a lot of things. Turn to Galatians
6, verse 1. He tolerated a lot of things,
but one thing he would not tolerate? False doctrine. False teaching.
Galatians 6 verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest you also be tempted. Bury
one another's burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ. If
a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives
himself. So he was tolerant of brethren
who erred, who were in trouble. But he had no tolerance for a
false message. Turn back to Galatians chapter
5. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1, stand fast therefore in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not tangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Well,
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is
a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you've
departed from the grace of God. For we Through the spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith
that works by love. You did run well. Who hindered
you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh
not of him that calleth you, Look at verse 9, a little leaven
leavens a whole lump. It gets back to leaven again,
doesn't it? Turn to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter 3, Christ has redeemed us, verse 13. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 21, I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Not by
the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified. Galatians chapter 1, I'm kind
of going backwards here, aren't I? Galatians chapter 1. Verse 6, I marvel that you are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be
some that trouble you and would pervert, corrupt the gospel of
Christ. Though we or an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed. That word means damned. For we
say, as we said before, so say I, now again, if any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that which you have received,
let him be accursed. Now what is that gospel? Galatians
chapter 1. Look at verse 3, 4, and 5. Grace
be unto you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver
us from this present evil world, according to the will of God.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. So, he gave himself for our sins,
he delivered us from this present evil world, and it's all according
to the will of God, to whom be glory. forever and ever and ever
and ever. Amen. Paul said this, if any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Matthew 16, go back over there. How is it, verse 11, you don't
understand that I speak it not to you concerning bread, that
you should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?
Then they understood that He bade them not be aware of the
leaven of bread, but the doctrine, the doctrine, the doctrine of
the Pharisees. What was the doctrine of the
Pharisees? You remember the Pharisee prayed in the temple, Lord, I
thank You I'm not like other men. I didn't do this, I didn't
do that, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. The Sadducees and Pharisees,
they trusted themselves that they were righteous and they
despised everybody else. Even the Lord Jesus Christ, they
despised him, didn't they? So take heed, beware, look to
the Lord Jesus Christ alone for all salvation.