Matthew 16:1-12 - Beware Bad Yeast

[00:00:02] Good morning. [00:00:06] Can always count on Adam for a loud. Good morning. [00:00:15] All right, if you don't know me, my name is Jesse. One of the pastors here today. We're going to be in Matthew, chapter 16. [00:00:25] If you want to, go ahead and turn there in your bibles. [00:00:28] We say this every week. If you don't have a Bible, feel free to use one of the copies that we have. They should be under each row. And if you don't own a copy of the Bible, please take that home. It's very important to own and be interacting with a copy of God's word. [00:00:46] All right, so we have been back in Matthew after taking a summer break to go through our roman series. And in chapter 15, we saw Jesus once again being questioned by the Pharisees. About his disciples not following the rules on ritual cleanliness that the Pharisees have been teaching. [00:01:08] Jesus responds pretty harshly to them, calling them hypocrites and blind guides. [00:01:15] The Pharisees were criticizing Jesus followers. For not following this manmade understanding of the cleanliness laws. And Jesus tells them that they are ignoring God's actual laws. In order to make up their own. And then he said that nothing that goes into you can make you unclean. It's what comes out of your heart that makes you unclean. [00:01:39] This was a pretty revolutionary teaching from Jesus. For their understanding. At this time. The entire concept of their understanding of the cleanliness laws. Was focused around what you can touch or not touch, what you eat or not eat, what you do or don't do. And Jesus turned it all on its head. By saying that people are unclean. Because of their evil and sinful hearts. [00:02:03] Which, of course, means that there's nothing that you can do, no ritual purity that you can have that will make you clean. [00:02:13] Jesus then went north into a gentile region. Where he interacted with this gentile woman. He did many different miraculous healings. And he fed another. Another massive crowd of people. This time gentiles. And now he's now come back south to the north side of the Sea of Galilee. Where he's back among the jewish people. And the Pharisees show up again. This time with the sadducees in tow. So let's go ahead and jump into our passage. This is Matthew, chapter 16, verses one through twelve. [00:02:50] The Pharisees and Sadducees approached and. And tested him. Asking him to show them a sign from heaven. [00:02:57] He replied, when evening comes, you say, it will be good weather because the sky is red. And in the morning today will be stormy. Because the sky is red and threatening. You know how to read the appearance of the sky. But you can't read the signs of the times. [00:03:11] An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign. But no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Then he left them and went away. [00:03:22] The disciples reached the other shore. And they had forgotten to take bread. Then jesus told them, watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [00:03:33] They were discussing among themselves. We didn't bring any bread. [00:03:38] Aware of this, Jesus said, you of little faith. Why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? Don't you understand yet? Don't you remember the five loaves for the 5000. And how many baskets you collected? Or the seven loaves for the 4000. And how many large baskets you collected? Why is it you don't understand that when I told you. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It wasn't about bread? [00:04:04] Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread. But of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [00:04:12] All right. This is the word of God for us this morning. Let me go ahead and pray for us. And then we can get into it. [00:04:20] Jesus, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you for your warning. I pray that you would give us open ears and open hearts. To hear and receive your word for us this morning. That you would change our lives. [00:04:38] Jesus, I pray that you would just allow me to clearly and steadfastly preach the gospel for us this morning. That we would receive it and be changed. [00:04:53] Thank you, Jesus. Amen. [00:04:57] All right. [00:04:59] So jesus comes back to the area of the sea of Galilee. Which is where he's done the primary portion of his ministry. And here the Pharisees are still there. Waiting to question him once again. This time they've brought along these sadducees. Now, I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about these two different groups. I think it's just fair to say that these two groups. Are both different types of religious leaders in Israel at this time. And they don't get along. They don't like each other. So it would be very odd for them to be working together. [00:05:31] I think it's also much more surprising to see the Sadducees here in Galilee. Because their religious group primarily stayed in Jerusalem. While the Pharisees tended to travel around and teach. [00:05:46] So anyway, these two groups of religious leaders. Come together to test Jesus once again, and they ask him for a sign from heaven. This is an interesting request. Jesus has been doing miracle after miracle, these incredible works. He's healing the sick, he's casting out demons, he's feeding large crowds of people. [00:06:06] But this question makes it clear that not only were these signs not enough for these religious leaders, they were actually demeaning the things that Jesus has been doing as earthly signs, most likely as part of their long term strategy to show him to be a false messiah and possibly even possessed by a demon. They wanted something bigger. They wanted something more miraculous. They wanted a sign from heaven, which isn't all that strange of a request, because these signs from heaven are scattered throughout scripture. [00:06:44] Think about God showing up in a pillar of fire and cloud, Elijah calling down fire from heaven, God making the sun stand still, and many others. [00:06:54] These are things that are so miraculous, no one could possibly question them as earthly. [00:07:02] Now, Jesus responds pretty harshly to them, but I think it's worth us spending a minute to understand why. Because I don't think it's because they ask for a sign from heaven. In fact, God is clear throughout scripture that it's actually wise to test a person before believing they're a prophet. [00:07:19] In one John four one, it says, dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. [00:07:32] God, even throughout scripture, tells people to ask for a sign from him. Think of Moses or Gideon receiving a sign from God. Or in Isaiah, chapter seven, we have this story starting in verse ten. It says, then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, ask for a sign from the Lord your God. It can be as deep as sheol or as high as heaven. But Ahaz replied, I will not ask. I will not test the Lord. [00:07:57] Isaiah said, listen, house of David, is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. See, the virgin will conceive, have a son and name him Emmanuel. [00:08:12] So we have this story from Isaiah, where God himself approaches Ahaz and said, go ahead, test me. Ask me for a sign. And Ahaz refuses. So Isaiah says, why are you trying the patience of God? And then tells him that the ultimate sign will come, that a virgin will conceive and have a son and name him Emmanuel. So we see this sign that God gives is Jesus himself. [00:08:43] So if Jesus isn't mad at the Pharisees for asking for a sign and testing him, why is he so dismissive? Of them first. I think it's partially because this isn't even the first time they've had this interaction. In Matthew, chapter twelve, the Pharisees asked the exact same thing from him, and Jesus gave them the same answer, which they obviously didn't like, because now they're back asking again. [00:09:10] But I think the primary reason is Jesus knows their hearts, he knows their motivations. He knows they aren't genuine in their asking or their testing. They aren't actually trying to find out if he's the messiah. They've already written him off. They've already decided that he's a threat to their power. And they are looking for ways to trap and kill him. [00:09:31] These religious leaders didn't actually want Jesus. [00:09:35] They didn't accept him as the true messiah. I think we talk pretty often about the desperate situation that the jewish people were in, how much that they were longing for their savior to come. [00:09:48] But these religious leaders didn't like who Jesus was. They were upset that Jesus was in Galilee, spending the majority of his time ministering in the boonies of Israel directly to the common people and doing these incredible things that they couldn't do. [00:10:05] They were jealous of their own power, their own authority. They didn't want Jesus to be their king or their savior. [00:10:14] They only wanted someone who would come and help them to have power, help them to restore their position. [00:10:23] So Jesus sees them as the representatives of what he calls an evil and adulterous generation. Here, the people of Israel, including their spiritual leaders, in fact, led by their spiritual leaders, were considered evil and adulterous by Jesus. [00:10:42] Adulterous in this context means the same thing that it does in any context. They're unfaithful, they're idolaters. God sees his relationship with his people very much like a marriage, and they are being unfaithful to him. These teachings that the people have followed are not his teachings. They have crafted their own manmade system of rules and regulations that is leading people away. And they can't even see God right there in front of them. [00:11:12] These religious leaders weren't going to accept any sign that Jesus would give. [00:11:17] The things that he was doing were incredible, and they only made them more determined to kill him. They just didn't want a sign from Jesus. They just wanted to trap him. And that's the context for Jesus response to them. Here, let's look again at what he says starting in verse two. He replied, when evening comes, you say, it will be good weather because the sky is red. And in the morning today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening. You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can't read the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. [00:11:59] So Jesus says to these religious leaders, you can look at the sky and see what the weather is going to be, but you're blind to what's right in front of you. You are completely missing the signs of the messiah that have been given to you. Jesus isn't scared of these leaders and their vague put downs of what he's been doing. [00:12:21] He accuses them of being blind to what's happening. He calls them wicked and adulterous. Then he promises them the sign of Jonah. [00:12:30] Now, we talked about this a long time ago when we were in Matthew, chapter twelve. I think it's worth making sure we understand what Jesus is talking about with the sign of Jonah. If you aren't familiar with the story of Jonah, he was a prophet of God who God commanded to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them that God was going to destroy their city. [00:12:51] Nineveh was an evil city who was the primary adversaries of the people of God at that time. Now, Jonah hated the Ninevites, so he decided to disobey God and run away. He got on a boat and went the exact opposite direction. So God brings up a storm, and as Jonah is on this boat, everyone is afraid for their lives, and they end up throwing him overboard to save themselves. [00:13:19] Jonah is then swallowed by a big fish. [00:13:22] He stays inside the fish for three days and three nights until eventually he repents and the fish vomits him up onto dry land. [00:13:32] He then decides to follow the command of God. He goes to Nineveh, and he speaks seven words to the people of Nineveh, telling them that they're going to be destroyed, and the entire city repents. [00:13:46] Jonah knew that God was merciful, and he was angry about it. He wanted God to destroy the Ninevites. [00:13:56] He was so angry about it, he went and sat outside the city holding a vigil, waiting for their destruction. [00:14:05] God comes and talks to Jonah after sparing the city of Nineveh, and he teaches Jonah a lesson about repentance and mercy. And then the story ends. [00:14:16] The story of Jonah is this incredible look at the dangers of religious hatred and the incredible mercy of God. [00:14:25] Jonah was so lost in what he wanted to happen, in the hatred that he had for the people that he saw as his enemies, that he purposely ignored the calling of goddess. To go and give this message of repentance to sinners. [00:14:40] Jesus compares the Pharisees here to the evil and wicked generation of the Ninevites. And in fact, they end up coming off worse than the Ninevites, because the Ninevites repented of their evil. [00:14:53] It only took seven words from God's prophet for Nineveh to turn away and repent. But the Pharisees had seen sign after sign from Jesus. They'd heard his sermons, and they were still stuck in their hard hearted religion, ignoring his call to repentance. [00:15:13] The evil and wicked generation that Jesus said the Pharisees represented continued to receive chance after chance, and still they demanded more. [00:15:24] So Jesus repeated again what he had said in Matthew, chapter twelve, that the sign they would receive would be the sign of Jonah. [00:15:33] In Matthew 1240, Jesus says, for as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. [00:15:44] So what is the sign of Jonah that Jesus says? [00:15:48] He says it's the spending time in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. He's comparing it to his own death, burial and resurrection. That was the sign that they would receive the only sign they needed. It's the most important sign, the one that could actually provide salvation if they chose to receive it. [00:16:10] See, in response to the religious leaders asking for this incredible, miraculous sign from heaven, Jesus tells them, yes, you will receive the most important sign of all time, the message of the gospel, his own death, burial and resurrection. [00:16:27] This is incredibly important, and we see it throughout scripture. In Isaiah, we saw the same response from God. He says that he will give the sign of Jesus coming time and time again. In scripture, we see God showing that this gospel message of Jesus Christ's life, death and resurrection is the most important and most miraculous sign that could ever possibly be given. [00:16:53] The Pharisees want to see a sign from heaven that showcases gods awesome and ultimate power. [00:17:00] Jesus says, yes, I will give that to you. Its the gospel. [00:17:06] Nothing is more important than the message of the gospel. Nothing showcases gods power more than the message of the gospel. [00:17:14] Throughout all of the incredible things that Jesus did, when he's asked for something more impressive, his response is the gospel message. [00:17:25] I think people always have a tendency to look for signs of the miraculous, to hope for something big and showy, to almost wish for magic. And God's response is always that the most important and most powerful experience that any of us could ever have is our changed hearts, our salvation through the gospel message, I'm sure we all know Romans, chapter one, verse 16. But the apostle Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. Because it is the power of God for salvation. To everyone who believes first to the jew and also to the Greek. [00:18:03] The gospel is God's response to an evil and wicked generation. The gospel call to repentance works. [00:18:11] It worked for Nineveh. It worked for the explosion of the church that we see in acts. And it's what has worked for every single one of us who are Christians in this room. [00:18:25] Okay, let's put a pin in that for a minute. Because we need to keep going with what Jesus teaches here. But we're going to return to it. [00:18:33] So after Jesus has this mic drop moment with the Pharisees and the sadducees, he leaves with his disciples. So let's read 512 again. [00:18:43] It says, the disciples reached the other shore and they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus told them, watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [00:18:54] They were discussing among themselves, we didn't bring any bread. [00:18:58] Aware of this, Jesus said, you of little faith. Why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? Don't you understand yet? Dont you remember the five loaves for the 5000. And how many baskets you collected? Or the seven loaves for the 4000. And how many large baskets you collected? [00:19:16] Why is it you dont understand that when I told you, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It wasnt about bread? [00:19:24] Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread. But of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [00:19:33] So they go again to the other side of the sea of Galilee. And Jesus warns his disciples to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now the disciples, showing the exact same keen ability. To understand Jesus teaching that they normally have. Start talking among themselves about how they're hungry and they want bread, but they didn't have any. [00:20:01] Jesus calls out their small amount of faith. And he asks them why they don't understand what's right in front of their faces. [00:20:09] Just a short time ago, he had created enough food to feed thousands of people. [00:20:14] Yet they're still ignoring the point of his teaching and worrying about food. He tells them his teaching wasn't about bread. And then they finally begin to understand. [00:20:25] I think the situation serves to remind us. That the disciples. Weren't really all that different than the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus had criticized the religious leaders. For missing what was right in front of their faces. And clearly, the disciples are doing exactly the same thing here. [00:20:41] They had little faith. They struggled to hear and understand Jesus teaching. They were easily distracted by things like hunger and worry. Over where they were going to find their next meal. [00:20:52] It's not that different than us. I think, if we're honest. [00:20:56] We need to talk about Jesus teaching here for a couple of minutes. Because it's incredibly relevant for us. Jesus had just finished harshly rebuking. The Pharisees and the Sadducees. And he warns his disciples about the teaching of these religious leaders. And he compares it to leaven. Now, leaven is like yeast. You put it in bread. And it causes the bread to rise. [00:21:20] Leaven is pervasive. Even a small amount spreads throughout the whole loaf. And causes it to rise up. [00:21:28] God often uses leaven as an example in scripture for sin. And the way that sin can spread quickly. [00:21:37] But in this case, Jesus is comparing the teaching of the Pharisees and the sadducees to leaven. [00:21:43] A couple weeks ago, Pastor Sam talked about the teaching of the Pharisees. And the way that they had formed this series of manmade rules and teachings. Around the laws of scripture. [00:21:56] Originally, their teachings had started as a way to interpret and understand. What God had said in scripture. But then it began to balloon out into this entire new framework of laws. That were, in many cases, even more rigid than God's law. [00:22:15] And they did this as a way to try to return the people. To a standard of behavior. That they felt would be good enough for God to give them back his blessing. [00:22:29] The original intentions of their teachings may have been good. But the eventual result was a dangerous mixing of man made teaching. Into the belief system of the people. [00:22:41] The Pharisees and sadducees were the religious leaders. People listened to them. But what they were teaching was their own manmade traditions, not the truths of scripture. [00:22:53] Combined together with these manmade teachings. And the hard hearted nature of the Pharisees, their leaders. It had an influence on the people. [00:23:03] I think this becomes more and more obvious. As we continue throughout the story of Jesus. As his teaching continues to butt up against the teaching of their religious leaders. And eventually results in an entire crowd of people screaming out, crucify him. [00:23:23] I think Jesus warning here to the disciples. Serves as a very relevant and important warning for us as well. I think we can take it in a couple of different ways. First, we have to be incredibly careful not to add manmade teachings to the truth of the gospel. [00:23:41] And second, we must be incredibly careful about what the people we listen to are teaching and adding to the truth of the gospel. [00:23:50] The teachers of Israel were adding their own understanding to God's truth, which caused them to completely miss the truth when it arrived and stood right in front of them. [00:24:02] They used their position and their power to influence the people in an attempt to gain more power and more influence instead of directing them toward the messiah. [00:24:14] The danger that Jesus was warning the disciples about was that the teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees was in many ways teaching that made sense, teaching that felt close enough to the truth to almost be the truth, teaching that started out as an attempt to interpret the truth and eventually then ballooned out into an entirely new set of rules and laws that weren't given to them by God. [00:24:40] A little leaven spreads quickly throughout the whole loaf of bread, and a little bit of man centered teaching can spread quickly and corrupt. [00:24:49] And haven't we seen this in our own day and age? [00:24:53] We live in a time and place where there are entire religions that claim to be Christianity and yet have completely abandoned the gospel message. [00:25:03] We live in a time and place where people claim Christ and have massive followings and don't teach the gospel. [00:25:13] Our country, both of our major political parties, claim that they are the more christian party and use that to try to sway people to join their political platform. [00:25:24] I think the truth is we live in a time and place that is very similar to the one that Jesus ministered in. [00:25:32] I don't know about you, but I think the phrase an evil and adulterous generation definitely describes our time too. [00:25:42] The apostle Paul wrote about this in his second letter to Timothy in chapter four, verses three and four. He said, for the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. [00:26:03] So what is the solution? What do we do in the midst of an evil and adulterous generation? [00:26:10] Jesus clearly gives us the answer. He said the only sign given to an evil and adulterous generation would be the sign of Jonah. [00:26:18] The gospel is the teaching that is given. The gospel is the only teaching with the power for salvation. [00:26:26] In response to this generation that would want to hear what they want to hear and seek after their own desires. Paul told Timothy to preach the word, to do the work of an evangelist. [00:26:41] Jesus is very clear in his warnings and in our response to his warnings. We have to be careful not to add to the truth of the gospel, not to water it down with the leaven of our own man made teachings. [00:26:57] We have to be careful not to listen to others who would try to add to the truth of the gospel. [00:27:04] And we must hold fast to the gospel because it alone has the power for salvation. [00:27:11] There's no self help book, no X, Y and Z guide to change your life, no financial policy, no practical common sense, no popular personality, no celebrity, no political leader, no law, no company, no teacher. Nothing else has the power for salvation. [00:27:30] And salvation is the only way for us to see real change in those around us, in ourselves. [00:27:38] Church. It's the gospel message of Jesus Christ, and only the gospel message of Jesus Christ that can change people's hearts. [00:27:47] The gospel is the only method to save people. [00:27:51] It's the gospel, and only the gospel that Jesus says should be our response to our generation. We are called to teach, to preach, to go and tell people that message, the gospel, just like Jesus, our response to the needs that we see around us should be the gospel message. [00:28:17] Are we, like the disciples, struggling to understand what Jesus has put right in front of our faces? [00:28:23] Are we easily distracted by thoughts of our next meal? [00:28:28] Probably. [00:28:29] I know that describes me pretty well sometimes. [00:28:33] The good news is that Jesus has grace, even for us, just like the disciples. He's willing to tell us again. He understands that we have little faith, but he is truly good and generous. He will provide your next meal. You don't need to worry. You can focus on the gospel message he reminds us and teaches it to us again and again so that we will understand its importance and tell it to others. [00:29:01] That's the foundation of what we're trying to build here with this church. As Christ pours into us, he pours out of us. He is pouring the gospel into you, and it should pour out of you to others. [00:29:16] So, church and band, you can come back up. [00:29:20] My challenge for us this morning is to consider the truth of the gospel and how firmly we hold fast to it. [00:29:30] Do we allow things to be added to it? [00:29:34] When we see a problem or people in need around us, how quick are we to respond with some other form of truth or some other attempts to help? [00:29:47] Do we allow other things to creep into our religion and our understanding of truth? [00:29:54] When we think about the evil and adulterous generation that we live in, is our response, like Jonah, to run away, or even worse, to stand in judgment and hatred, hoping that God's righteousness and wrath will be poured out on the wicked? [00:30:11] Or is our response to follow in the footsteps of our savior and bring the gospel as the source of change and salvation for our world? [00:30:24] We're going to spend a couple of minutes in reflection of these questions this morning. [00:30:30] I would encourage you to think about them. Think about your heart. Ask Jesus if he has change that he wants to make in your heart with the truth of his gospel, to then pour out of you into others. [00:30:44] If you're in here and you haven't ever actually experienced the saving power of the gospel, I encourage you to think about it. Think about Jesus. Think about what else you've tried or done for your life to fix what's broken. How well has it worked for you? [00:31:04] Jesus is good. His way is true, and his way is the only one that can actually change people's hearts and bring real salvation. [00:31:15] Church let's spend a couple of minutes in reflection before we continue.