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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16, I'll just 
begin reading at verse 1. Then the Pharisees and Sadducees 
came, and testing him, asked that he would show them a sign 
from heaven. He answered and said to them, when it is evening, 
you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the 
morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and 
threatening. Hypocrites, you know how to discern 
the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the 
times. A wicked and adulterous generation 
seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the 
sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed. 
Now when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten 
to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, take 
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have 
taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, 
said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among 
yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand 
or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many 
baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four 
thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do 
not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, 
but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? 
Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of 
the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and 
Sadducees. When Jesus came into the region 
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do 
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Some say John 
the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the 
prophets. He said to them, But who do you 
say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, 
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered 
and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. For flesh 
and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is 
in heaven. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates 
of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will 
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed 
in heaven." Then he commanded his disciples that they should 
tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time, Jesus 
began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem 
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and 
scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter 
took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, 
Lord! This shall not happen to you. 
But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are 
an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of 
God, but the things of men. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 
if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and 
take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save 
his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my 
sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man 
if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? For what 
will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come 
in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will 
reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, 
there are some standing here who shall not taste death till 
they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Amen. Let us 
pray. Father, thank you for the written 
Word of God. Thank you that you've given us 
the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. We pray that 
even now they would profit our souls, that you would encourage 
our hearts as believers. And God, we pray that by the 
power of your Holy Spirit you would save to the uttermost those 
who are outside of Jesus Christ. We know your Word is powerful. 
We know that it cuts deep. We know that it is able to show 
men and women and boys and girls their own sinfulness, and their 
rebellion against a holy God. We as well know it's able to 
set forth the truth concerning our Lord Jesus Christ as that 
one alone who saves sinners. We ask that you would forgive 
us now for our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
We pray that the Holy Spirit would be in our midst, that he 
would illumine our minds and our hearts, that he would lead 
us and guide us and teach us and that, Father, we would see 
the glory of Jesus Christ as it's so clearly set forth in 
the Holy Scripture. As well, Father, as a local church 
and as individual believers, help us to take heed to the leaven 
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Help us to recognize false teaching. Help us to realize, Lord God, 
that a little heresy can bring shipwreck to the soul. We ask 
that you would just inoculate us, we ask that you would guard 
us, we ask that you would cause us to buy the truth and sell 
it not. And we pray these things through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as we noted last 
week, there is a shift coming in the Gospel narrative, specifically 
in chapter 16 at verse 21. From 1621 to the very end of 
the book, that's the third major section in Matthew's Gospel, 
and it highlights the climax of his ministry. And so what 
we have here in chapter 16 at the beginning part is a bit of 
a transition period. What we have found, or what we 
observed last week, is that the ministry in Galilee is now over. From this particular point, when 
Jesus travels north to Caesarea Philippi, ultimately he will 
travel back southward to Judah, specifically to Jerusalem, and 
there the events concerning his passion will be taken up. Certainly 
they visit some cities along the way back down to Jerusalem 
in Galilee, but the Galilean ministry is now over. And so 
as we come to the passage this morning, we're looking at verses 
5 to 12, where Jesus warns His disciples against heresy. This is absolutely crucial, it 
is absolutely necessary for us in the Church to take heed of 
this as well, because a little heresy, a little leaven leavens 
the whole lump. You would certainly not eat a 
salad if there was a little slug in it. You would certainly not 
eat a piece of chicken if there was a little salmonella in it. You certainly wouldn't eat a 
piece of pie if it had a little botulism in it. We understand 
the effects of something little that can wreak havoc upon the 
entirety, and so Jesus' caution here is absolutely crucial for 
the church today. A small departure in theology 
can lead to major ruin, and we need to appreciate that in this 
particular passage. So we'll look at, or we'll unpack 
this section in three considerations. First, the warning given by Christ. Secondly, the misunderstanding 
by the Apostles. And thirdly, the clarification 
given by Christ. Note first the warning in verses 
5 and 6. and six, their location. It says, 
"...now when his disciples had come to the other side, they 
had forgotten to take bread." Currently, according to chapter 
15 and verse 39, they are in Magdala, that is on the western 
shore of the Sea of Galilee. Now they cross the sea in a northerly 
direction. They end up in Bethsaida, according 
to Mark's parallel account. And basically what we find is 
that when they arrive at Bethsaida, then they make this track northward, 
about 23 to 25 miles to Caesarea Philippi. And so along the way, 
when they get to the other side, when they arrive at Bethsaida, 
they recognize the problem, or the disciples, rather, recognize 
their problem. When his disciples had come to 
the other side, Jesus being with them, they had forgotten to take 
bread. And then notice specifically 
the warning given by Christ in verse 6. Now both these verses 
set us up for the conversation that follows. But we ought to spend some time 
and unpack this statement in verse 6, because this is the 
primary theme in this section 5 to 12. There is a secondary 
theme. The disciples do not realize, 
they have not recognized, they have not come to grips with the 
reality that Christ is their sustainer, that Christ does make 
provision, and that if they are with Christ without food, nevertheless 
they are with the Creator of food. And that's a theme that's 
picked up in the following verses. But let's look first at this 
warning given in verse 6. Before we do, I want to read 
a quote by Carson. He tells us that this conversation 
reveals the contrasting attitudes of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was just confronted by 
the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They had come to him testing 
him. They want to see a sign from heaven. They want to validate. 
They want to confirm. They want to affirm. Actually, 
they don't. They want to show that he is 
a fraud. Jesus has this heavy on his mind, 
realizing the fact that these men are heretical in their outlook, 
Jesus wants to caution his disciples. But as is often the case, our 
minds, instead of adding to spiritual things, are often tied to temporal 
matters. They're hungry. Their food, their 
bellies are empty. So Carson says, the conversation 
reveals the contrasting attitudes of Jesus and his disciples. He 
is still thinking about the malignity of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, 
and the disciples are thinking about food which they forgot 
to bring. He wants to prepare them to plant 
churches and to make disciples and plant churches. They simply 
want to make sure their next meal is secured. With reference 
to this warning, we ought to observe the strong verbs that 
are implied here. You know, oftentimes, if a church 
warns against heresy, we are called judgmental. We are called 
harsh. We are called unkind. We are 
called vicious. We are called unloving. Don't 
you realize that there's a whole bunch of ways out there to get 
to heaven? Well, that's not what the Bible 
says. And if we have to imbibe that particular identifier of 
being judgmental, then certainly our Lord does. The Lord Jesus 
Christ doesn't play games. He announces specifically the 
groups in view. He says, take heed and beware 
of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He isn't afraid 
to offend them, he isn't afraid to step on their toes, he isn't 
afraid to bring discredit to these particular groups. He is 
more concerned with the advancement of the kingdom of God and the 
propagation of the truth of his gospel. That is paramount, that 
is crucial, that is absolutely requisite. So the strong verbs 
indicate a strong warning. Take heed and beware. There are 
two of them. Take heed and beware. They're 
both present active imperatives, which means that this is to be 
habitual and this is to be continual. This isn't something you do on 
Thursday morning. This is something you do every 
single moment of your day. You need to be on your guard. You need to be aware. You need 
to realize that false doctrine is out there, that heresy is 
there, and that it can and does make shipwreck of the faith. 
We need to realize the analogy or understand something of the 
analogy that Jesus uses. Take heed and beware of the leaven. Leaven is used positively in 
Matthew chapter 13, specifically at verse 33, where the emphasis 
is upon a small amount of leaven, leavening or pervading the entirety 
of the lump. There positively. In much of 
scripture, leaven has a negative connotation, but the idea is 
consistent. A small amount of leaven, a small 
bit of that agent affects the entirety of the loaf. And so 
Jesus says to his disciples that a small amount of heresy can 
affect the entirety of a man's religious conviction. Do not 
entertain for a moment the doctrine of the Pharisees. Do not entertain 
for a moment the doctrine of the Sadducees, because it will 
make shipwreck of your faith. 1 Corinthians 5.6, Paul says, 
"...do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" 
There, ethically. When sin is entertained in the 
camp, a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump. But the 
same idea is present here, "...take heed and beware of the leaven." 
The analogy employed highlights that a small amount of something 
can affect the entirety. J.C. Ryle says it this way, "...like 
leaven, they might seem a small thing compared to the whole body 
of truth." Like Levin, once admitted, they would work secretly and 
noiselessly. Like Levin, they would gradually 
change the whole character of the religion with which they 
were mixed. Not sure if you've ever been 
in the ocean. I'm sure that you have. There 
was a particular part of the ocean I used to go to as a child. 
It's called Huntington Beach, and you'd go out there in the 
morning on a cloudy day or a foggy day, and you'd be swimming and 
body surfing and doing your thing, and then once the fog lifted, 
you'd realize that you were about two or three lighthouse stations 
away from where you started. There was an undercurrent, there 
was a riptide, there was an undertow that would take you from one 
place to the other imperceptibly. You didn't realize it, you didn't 
recognize it, you didn't understand it while it was occurring. And 
such is the case with theology. You entertain a little bit of 
heresy. You wrap your minds or your hearts around a little bad 
doctrine. You entertain the smallest departure 
from Christianity and the end result might be utter shipwreck 
and ruin. The analogy is powerful. We need to understand in terms 
of a qualification. Jesus isn't condemning everything 
these men ever say. In Matthew 23, He is going to 
pronounce woes against the scribes and the Pharisees. He is going 
to call them hypocrites, but He is going to alert His disciples, 
insofar as they accurately reflect and teach the Law of Moses, do 
what they say! Jesus certainly could side with 
the Pharisees in opposition to the Sadducees' rejection of the 
supernatural. There might be things that Jesus 
could side with the Sadducees, though that escapes me at this 
particular moment, where He could oppose the Pharisees. It's not 
a universal statement concerning everything they say. A Pharisee 
might get 2 plus 2 equals 4, right? Even in theology, he might 
get something right. The Pharisees do affirm the supernatural. They affirm the resurrection 
of the dead. There's an instance where the Apostle Paul is on 
trial, and he perceives that one part of the audience or one 
part of the group is Pharisees, and the other part is Sadducees. And he makes this very calculated 
and very tactical move. He says, I'm on trial for the 
hope of the resurrection of the dead! What happens? The Pharisees 
say, well, he's not a bad guy after all. The Sadducees say, 
well, he's terrible. He's a wretched human being. 
And it turns these men into arguing against themselves. You see, 
Paul could affirm along with the Pharisees resurrection from 
the dead. So could Jesus. But I think the underlying point 
that I want to highlight here is that this makes them more 
dangerous. This makes them more difficult to deal with. You see, 
the Satanist, the avowed Antichrist, the man who hates everything 
about religion, the man who despises God and Christ and all that is 
holy is easy to identify, isn't he? But a Pharisee, he's holy. A Pharisee attends synagogue. A Pharisee carries the Bible. 
A Pharisee recites the Bible. A Pharisee rehearses biblical 
truth. He's tougher to identify. He's 
tougher to nail down. He's tougher to discover. And 
he's tougher to resist. So in many respects we need to 
be all the more on the alert with those within the church, 
those who profess the saving religion. Tonight in our study 
in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 20 and 21, Paul is dealing with 
the same sort of thing. It's not the threat from without, 
it's the threat from within. Those are the ones that we need 
to take heed of and to beware of the leaven of because they 
can sneak in unawares and throw that leaven down and people say, 
well, that is an interesting point of view. I think I will 
look into that. And before long, you know it, 
they're denying the faith as we understand it. And then the 
meaning, specifically explained, take heed and beware of the leaven 
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. If you look at Mark's Gospel, 
you note the parable, a parallel passage, in Mark chapter 8, Jesus 
there, recorded by the Evangelist, says, take heed of the Pharisees 
and of Herod. You say, well, what does Herod 
have to do with the Sadducees? Well, the Herodians were affiliated 
with the Sadducees politically, religiously, and economically. So there's no contradiction between 
the two evangelists. Let's just get that out of our 
heads. But who were these Pharisees and who were these Sadducees 
and what is the leaven that we ought to be aware of so that 
we don't fall prey to it? So that we don't swallow bad 
doctrine? So that we don't eat a slug with 
our salad? Or we don't ingest some salmonella 
with our chicken breast? Or we don't eat a piece of botulism 
pie? What is it that we ought to be 
on the lookout for? John Gill summarizes the doctrines 
of these men, probably referencing Josephus, the Jewish historian. 
Gill says, the doctrines the Pharisees taught were the commandments 
and inventions of men. That shouldn't surprise any of 
us. That's how Matthew 15 begins, verses 1 to 9. The Pharisees 
there insist upon washing with hands before one eats. And Jesus 
then launches into their vanity, into their folly, insisting as 
commandments upon the doctrines of men. He'll says the traditions 
of the elders, free will. Isn't that interesting? The Pharisees believed in free 
will. That's a common thread often 
times that unite the enemies of Christ, free will. He says, 
and justification by the works of the law. The doctrine of the 
Sadducees was that there was no resurrection of the dead, 
nor angels, nor spirits. C.H. Spurgeon refers to these 
two groups this way. He says the Pharisees engaged 
in ritualism and the Sadducees engaged in rationalism. Good descriptors. I cited Ryle 
last week concerning the Sadducees. I think we know more about Pharisaic 
doctrine than we know about the Sadducees. The Sadducees were 
skeptics, free thinkers, half infidels. They would be the theological 
liberals. They would be those who probably 
wanted to see in Jesus teaching, not that they did, but I'm saying 
the types of people that follow in their train, they like the 
ethics of Jesus. They like the niceness of Jesus. They like the kindness of Jesus. 
But when it comes to Jesus' insistence that apart from Him you'll die 
in your sins, not so much. These were the rationalists, 
the skeptics. They might even be atheists today. So that's the warning itself 
given by Christ. As well, we need to make an assumption 
here. Why does Jesus warn them? These 
are, after all, the apostles, aren't they? Shouldn't these 
men of twelve on the earth not have need to be warned against 
heresy? I think the assumption we ought 
to make with reference to verse six is, one, the power of heresy. The power of heresy. There is 
something in us that gravitates to that which is not God. There 
is something in us that gravitates, actually militates, against doctrines 
like sovereignty, against predestination, against blood atonement, against 
justification by faith alone. There is something in the heart 
of man that has a downward tendency to always side against God. We 
need to make that assumption, brethren. Take heed lest you 
fall. The man who thinks he will not 
fall is probably on his way down. How many men have ever said, 
oh, they'll never get me with their heresy? How many men have 
ever said or asserted or declared that they will never corrupt 
me with their false teaching? I typically, with new Christians, 
I encourage them not to throw down with the Jehovah's Witness 
at your door. You get a 20-year-old, a 20-year-season 
Jehovah's Witness that knows enough of their propaganda and 
their rhetoric, and you've got a six-month-old baby Christian 
who doesn't know enough but to get himself in trouble. Trying 
to throw down? What happens? They get tripped 
up. You see, it is a battle out there. We don't look at it that way. 
It's not only a battle against the flesh and the sins that we 
specifically associate with the flesh. We need to resist sexual 
temptation. We need to resist pride. We need 
to resist covetousness. We need to resist heresy. That 
leavening agent gets into the heart, gets into the mind, and 
men who at one time espoused sound doctrine end up apostates. Do you know what gets you into 
heaven? It's the blood of Jesus Christ. You know what the instrument 
is that brings you into connection with that blood? It is faith. 
Do you know that faith is operative based on what we know and not 
how we live? The things that differentiate 
us from the pagan are the things that we believe. You see, it's 
here that we need to be jealous. It's here that we need to be 
guarded. It's here that we need to make sure we're alert. The 
assumption of our text is the power of heresy. A second assumption 
is the susceptibility of men. The apostles themselves needed 
to be on guard against such things. If them, how much us? Some of 
you children, and some of you young people, you might meet 
people outside of our church, or you might have friends, and 
you tell them, yeah, we went to church twice on Sunday. Oh, 
really? What was that like? Well, you know, the pastor went 
on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. What 
do you mean an hour? Are you crazy? At our church, we go, 
we bang a little tambourine, we sing a little kumbaya, we 
have a cup of latte, and then off we go. What's the matter 
with you? We're trying to inoculate you. 
We're trying to advise and inform and instruct so that you don't 
end up in hell. I'd rather sit through an hour-long 
boring sermon and be strengthened so that I'm heaven-bound than 
drink my latte right into the pit. Now don't go from here and 
say Butler thinks anybody who drinks a latte is going to the 
pit. That's not my point. Kids, children, why do we spend 
the time? Because you need truth. Why do we have a Wednesday night 
Bible study? Why do we have a Sunday morning 
confession study? Why do we have a Sunday morning 
sermon? Why do we have a Sunday evening sermon? Is it to go through 
a ritual? Is it a rite? Is it something we do because 
we think we're better than everybody else? No, because we see the 
importance of this book, the hardness of our hearts. And we, 
by God's grace, want to see these things instilled. Ryle said this, 
the best of men are only men, and at any time they may fall 
into temptation. If you say, I don't know about 
that, I've never had a problem, take heed lest you fall. Do you 
think men who at one time confessed saving faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ and end up as rank atheists thought that it was going to 
go that way? Listen to Calvin, this is perceptive. In the midst 
of these dangers it was very necessary to warn his disciples 
to be on their guard for since the human mind has a natural 
inclination towards vanity and errors. It doesn't take long 
to teach vanity and error, does it? It doesn't take long to embrace 
vanity and error. We come from the womb already 
grasping at that sort of thing. It takes long to teach on impassibility. It takes time to teach on predestination. It takes some time to develop 
the sound foundation of biblical doctrine. You know, there's this 
idea that as soon as we're born again, wow, we just know everything. 
No, there's a lot that you need to study. Calvin says, since 
the human mind has a natural inclination towards vanity and 
errors, when we are surrounded by wicked inventions, spurious 
doctrines, and other plagues of the same sort, nothing is 
more easy than to depart from the true and simple purity of 
the Word of God. He says this, and if we once 
become entangled in these things, it will never be possible for 
the true religion to hold an entire sway over us. Take heed 
and beware. Pay attention. There's probably 
people in this world that would love the fact that there are 
two Lord's Day services on the Sabbath. That would value and 
prize the opportunity to get a seminary education from 930 
to 1030 under the faithful ministry of Pastor Porter. People that 
would look at going through Old Testament books as something 
to be prized and to enjoy, and to delight in, rather than a 
burden, rather than a hardship. Attendance upon the means of 
grace isn't the cross for you to bear in your Christian life. 
That's how it's perceived. Oh, we've got to go to church. 
That's my cross to bear. No, your cross to bear is to 
suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Your privilege and your joy and 
your blessing is to attend the means that God's ordained for 
your good. Why do we do these simple things? 
Because God says to do these simple things and He has calculated, 
He has decreed, He has made it such that these simple things 
promote growth in grace. Now notice the misunderstanding 
by the Apostles, verses 7 to 10. And they reasoned among themselves, 
saying, it is because we have taken no bread. It's an interesting 
statement, isn't it? He says, beware, take heed, watch 
out for, be on the alert for the 11th Pharisees and Sadducees. 
And they said, wait a minute, it's because we have no bread. 
That's an odd response, isn't it? Come on, just be honest. If you have the New King James, 
you'll see those two words, it is, is supply. Perhaps they're 
not in the text. It's a supplied statement. Sometimes when you translate 
from Hebrew or Greek into English, it's not always as smooth, so 
the translators supply words. That's why it is, if you have 
the New King James, is in italics, because it's not in the original 
Greek, and it's supplied there to make sense of the passage. 
Always understand that those are interpretive calls on the 
part of the translators. But let's just suppose for a 
moment it isn't really there. That indicates they didn't even 
hear him. They weren't even paying attention. He says, take heed 
and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, 
and they don't even internalize it for a moment. They're still 
caught up in this reality that we don't have any bread. If it is ought to be there, then 
that indicates they grossly misunderstood the Lord Jesus Christ. What does 
the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees have to do with 
no bread in the boat so that we can eat when we get to Bethsaida? 
Isn't that interesting? I sort of think it's probably 
not supposed to be there and the idea is that they missed 
the point completely. Now notice, Jesus knows what's 
going on. Jesus always knows what's going 
on, doesn't He? Jesus is our great God and Savior. Of course He knows what's going 
on. But it is interesting, they reason among themselves, verse 
8, but Jesus being aware of it. It doesn't say Jesus heard them. 
It doesn't say that Jesus was part of the conversation. Jesus 
rather knows it. He's aware of it. might be a 
subtle hint to our blessed Redeemer in His divinity. Either way, 
look at what Jesus now does with that. Jesus being aware of it, 
the fact that they have no bread, and this is causing them consternation 
because they don't want to starve to death, Jesus says, O you of 
little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you 
have brought no bread? The Lord rebukes little faith. 
He's done this several times in this gospel. He does it in 
630 in a very similar context. Do not have little faith, but 
rather trust in God to give provision to you. He does it in chapter 
8, verse 26. He does it again in 1431. And 
here he does it for the fourth time. He rebukes their little 
faith. You know, this probably stung the ears of apostles who 
had just heard him in chapter 15 say to the Syrophoenician 
woman, say to the Canaanite woman, woman, your faith is great. What 
do you think these men thought at this point? Our faith is little, 
but the Syrophoenician lady's is great. Who does he think he 
is? No, I don't think they thought 
that. They probably did what dogs do when they get rebuked. 
They kind of, you know, turn inward, lower their tail, they 
submit, they humble themselves. The Lord knows they missed the 
point in verse 6. The Lord knows they missed his 
warning concerning doctrine. The Lord knows this all too well, 
so for just a moment He is going to pursue this sub-theme to teach 
them something about His provision and His presence and His care 
and concern for them in their lives. The Lord indicts the doctrine 
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He says to beware of that leaven. 
Here He indicts His own disciples because they misunderstand Him. 
Oh you of little faith! Notice the reminder he gives 
them in verses 9 and 10. I think that it goes sort of 
like this. Why in the world would I be speaking to you about physical 
bread in light of what just happened? It's a rebuke! Why would I spend 
time to warn you about something having to do with physical bread 
when I just fed 5,000 people with five loaves? And I just 
fed 4,000 people with seven loaves? Now, Jesus isn't Jim. He's saying 
this probably nicer than I am. But we need to feel the essence 
of this rebuke. Would I be talking about earthly 
bread when I have just fed multitudes? If you are still confused as 
to temporal sustenance, if you're still confused as to what's going 
to go in your belly, let me remind you. And that's what he does 
in verses 9 and 10. Do you not yet understand or 
remember the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets you 
took up? That was chapter 14. or in verse 
10, nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large 
baskets you took up, that was chapter 15, the other was 14. 
So in the small compass of the evangelist's writing, we are 
not to forget this particular lesson. They're asking about 
earthly food when they're standing with the creator of earthly food. 
They are sluggish. They miss the warning concerning 
spiritual reality. The necessity to take heed and 
to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 
And they have forgotten the great spiritual lesson that God will 
provide. You don't need to worry what 
you're going to eat when Jesus is with you. You say, well that's 
true if Jesus is with you. Jesus is with His church. That's 
the point of Matthew 6. Do not worry. Do not be anxious. Do not fret. Do not give up. It was as if these two miraculous 
things weren't enough for the disciples. They're still paralyzed 
with fear. What are we going to eat? There's 
no Costco. There's no Walmart. We forgot 
to take bread with us. We're doomed. We're hooped. We're 
ruined. And this is where the reminder 
comes. I think we need to move from little faith to, if not 
great faith, at least decent faith. Don't worry about these 
things. Christ has promised that if, 
Matthew 6, 33, we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 
all these things will be given unto us. We don't fret for bread, 
we don't fret for clothes. We pursue God and His kingdom 
and trust in His provision and in His power to meet the needs 
of His people. These disciples forgot this close 
to the actual reality of it. So you see, the theme is a warning 
against heresy. But a sub-theme is, since you 
guys don't get that, I want to educate you on something else 
you need to understand. That I am with you, that I will 
provide for you, that I will sustain you, that I will be your 
portion and your lot. When Jesus says, remember, he's 
not just saying, recall this miracle. He is saying, move it 
around in your head so that there's present benefit concerning it. 
This is the way we need to read our Bibles. We don't just remember 
the Exodus. We don't just remember the cross 
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we roll it around in our 
heads. We roll it around in such a way that there's present benefit 
from the implications of those realities. See, that's where 
we fail. We say, well yeah, we know what 
the Bible says, but I have a mess of a time. I know what the Bible 
says, but you don't know my situation. I know what the Bible says, so 
I need to submit unto God. That's what we need to be about. 
We don't need every step of the way a new word, a new sign, a 
new miracle. In many respects, as if the disciples 
have thrown themselves in the camp of the Pharisees and the 
Sadducees. They want a sign from heaven. These men have seen signs 
from heaven, and they're still asking for assurance that they're 
not going to die of starvation. When you're with the Master, 
you're not going to die of starvation. Vis-a-vis verses 9 and 10. Now notice finally the clarification 
given by Christ. Verse 11. How is it you do not 
understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? What's 
the implication? I'm sorry. How is it that you 
do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? 
The implication is that they should have understood. They 
should have tracked. They should have known. But know 
what Jesus graciously does, He repeats Himself. You see, it 
would be great in the church if everybody acted on what they 
always know. But they don't. It would be great 
if we didn't have to say to our children, I've told you 5,843 
times It's the reckoning of Cam. When 
you get real precise and detailed. How come you don't know these 
things? Jesus assumes that they should 
have understand. Brethren, it will do you well 
to understand that within the church people oftentimes don't 
do what they know better. Sometimes people Sometimes people 
engage in folly. Sometimes people don't make the 
right implications. Sometimes people do things that 
you slap your head and say, how in the world could they do such 
a thing? There's a bit of that with him. How is it that you 
do not understand that I did not speak to you, nor understand 
that I did not speak to you concerning Brett? What does he do? He repeats 
himself. This is gracious. What's the 
admonition for young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4? Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of 
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort. Oh yeah, that's the way Timothy 
is supposed to preach. He's supposed to preach the Word. 
Not supposed to preach his ideas. He's not supposed to preach his 
newest novel. He's not supposed to preach his 
agenda. He's supposed to preach the Word. And he's going to do 
it in a specific way. He's going to convince people. 
He's not going to set it out there for something that they 
can just sort of pick and choose. No, he's going to convince them 
with rigorous argument, with the comparison of Scripture with 
Scripture. He's going to set it before them in such a way 
that they'll be convinced. He's going to rebuke man because 
they sin. They don't do what they're supposed 
to do. We don't act upon the knowledge that we have. So you 
convince them, you rebuke them, you exhort them. They ought to 
leave from your church with a new purpose, to go out and serve 
God in full purpose of mind and heart and resolution to do His 
will. What else does Paul say? With all long suffering and teaching. Timothy didn't have to say, why 
do you mean long-suffering, Paul? Because he had ministered long 
enough to know. But you've got to tell some people the same 
thing over and over and over and over again. One of the greatest instances 
of this is when you've ministered the Word of God in a particular 
place for several years. And you know that in that ministry 
you have said the same things a hundred, nay, two hundred times. And then somebody reads their 
Bible or somebody hears another preacher and they say, wow, I 
never knew that this was true. You say, but I've told you 200 
times. No, you don't do that. You say, 
praise God, brother. I'm glad you understand that. 
Isn't it beautiful? You don't whine and frown and, 
you know, get all down because they didn't receive your word. 
Long suffering and teaching. This is God's project. We are 
God's sheep. The Spirit leads us according 
to His will. The task of faithful ministry 
is to preach the truth. It is the role of the Holy Spirit 
to take those things, to screw it into the conscience, and to 
affect men and women in such a way that they resolve to live 
in a manner that is consistent with God's Word. Jesus is gracious 
to these men. He repeats himself, and as I've 
said, repetition in religious instruction is necessary. And 
then notice in verse 12, then they understood that he did not 
tell them to beware of the leaven of bread. He rebuked them for 
little faith, not no faith. He rebuked them for little faith, 
not no faith. No faith would still not understand. No faith would still not get 
it. No faith would be scratching 
its head at this point saying, but what are we going to eat? 
They have little faith. They need to grow, they need 
to mature, they need to thrive. This, interestingly as well, 
sets the stage for what is going to follow in the next section 
of the narrative, when Jesus begins to ask, who do men say 
that I, the Son of Man, am? Then he asks very specifically, 
but who do you say that I am? And Peter makes this lofty confession 
of faith. Just by way of a bit of foreshadowing, 
notice Jesus doesn't say, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because 
these signs and miracles convinced you. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, 
because your rational pursuit of truth convinced you. Blessed 
are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal 
this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." It's an emphasis 
upon the revealed truth, the revealed Word, the revealed power 
of God that comes by His Spirit through the vehicle of Holy Scripture. 
You see, what we have in verse 12 is an encouraging statement 
that these are not men of no faith, these are men of little 
faith, but we will see, step by step, place by place, there 
will be growth, there will be maturation, there will be pursuit 
in these things, such that when Jesus ascends on high, and He 
leads captivity captive, and He gives gifts to men, He can 
dispatch these twelve men that will go out and preach the gospel, 
to make disciples and to plant churches. This is part of their 
maturity process. This is their seminary education. 
This is what the Lord would have for them to learn. And it truly 
is a beautiful lesson. First, take heed. Second, make 
sure you remember that I am the one who provides provision. I 
want to close with just a couple of observations. First, as we 
have seen throughout this Gospel, there are varying responses to 
the Lord Christ. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, 
they come to Him and they test Him and they want to see a sign 
from heaven. Actually, not because they want 
to validate he is the Messiah, but they don't want him to deliver 
so they can show him out to be a fraud. You would think, well, 
things must be better in his own camp. Certainly among his 
disciples, they always respond favorably. They always respond 
dutifully. They always do what the Master 
says. That's just not the case. He's 
misunderstood. How much clearer could take heed 
and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees be? 
Were they bakers? Did they have a new recipe? Was 
there something they put in their bread? No. He had just come from combat 
with these men. He's fresh in his mind. So he 
warns his disciples. And he's misunderstood. As I 
said, on a real practical pastoral level, the more and the quicker 
that you learn that not everybody is as mature as you, not everybody 
has grown in grace as far as you, and not everybody exhibits 
the same spiritual savvy that you have, the better off you're 
going to be. The church is a collection of 
messed up people. who in the face of simple, direct 
statements will go, huh? What? I don't understand. And there's 
some of us, what don't you understand? It's right there. How do you 
not get that? What's the matter with you? Gotta 
be patient. These men didn't understand. 
Jesus reproves them. But he says, beware of the Levant, 
the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Secondly, the powerful influence 
of a little heresy. We need to understand that the 
Pharisees and the Sadducees were the religious leaders of the 
time. These were the men. These were the polished. These 
were the pure. These were the holy. These are 
the ones who made up the Sanhedrin, the highest religious council 
in all of Israel. And there is a supposition in 
the minds of men at times that based on where a man is, we ought 
to respect everything he says. No. No. Calvin again. As Christ expressly charges his 
followers to beware their doctrine, it follows that all who mingle 
their own inventions with the Word of God, or who advance anything 
that does not belong to it, must be rejected. How honorable soever 
may be their rank, or whatever proud titles they may wear. Just 
because a guy's a doctor of theology doesn't mean he's necessarily 
right. Perhaps you have gone to the 
thrift stores before and you look for books in the used section. It's been my observation that 
not every book that says the biblical doctrine of such and 
such actually is the biblical doctrine of such and such. Just 
because a man says it's the biblical doctrine, doesn't necessarily 
mean it is the biblical doctrine. That is the case here. That is 
why you're encouraged to bring your Bibles, to examine the Scriptures, 
and to make sure what is being taught is true. Because a pastor 
says it, or a doctor of theology says it, or the right reverend 
whoever utters it, it doesn't matter. These Pharisees and these 
Sadducees were wrong. They were corrupt. They were 
perverse. They were foul. They were polluted. 
Jesus says, take heed and beware of their leaven. Thirdly, the 
contemporary versions of Phariseeism and Sadduceeism. What is the 
leaven of the Pharisees? Working with Gill's definition. 
First, men who insisted upon the commandments of man and the 
traditions of the elders." Does this exist today? You should be smiling right now because 
absolutely! Is there a pharisaic tendency 
out there? Yes! There's also a pharisaic 
tendency right here. We get a bee in our bonnet and 
we think we're right on a particular preference and therefore everybody 
else has to do it. You know, we have found this 
in our home, and therefore, you must do it. You know, we can see the tradition 
of men when it's the Pharisees on the pages of Scripture. But 
man, how we miss the traditions of men that we inculcate, that 
we initiate, and that we propagate. Be careful, brethren. The Bible 
is very specific. Equally condemned is the man 
who removes from the Word of God, and the man who adds to 
the Word of God. You have no right to add to Scripture. You have no warrant whatsoever 
to buttress the truth a bit. You have no calling from God 
to develop Scriptures to condemn others because they fail to meet 
your requirements. To the law and to the testimony, 
if they don't jive there, get rid of them. Get rid of them. What about the doctrine of free 
will? as Gill, referencing Josephus, tells us concerning these Pharisees. Does the doctrine of free will 
exist today? Absolutely, outside of Reformed 
and Calvinistic churches. Its ancient form was called Pelagianism. Arminianism is a semi-Pelagianism. Whenever I think about this, 
well I shouldn't say whenever I think about this because there's 
probably times I don't, but I think about John Gill's treatment on 
this subject on a display of Arminianism. The subtitle itself 
is telling. The book entitled A Display of 
Arminianism has this as its subtitle. These Puritans were great for 
subtitles. beating a discovery of the old 
Pelagian idol, free will, with the new goddess contingency advancing 
themselves into the throne of the God of heaven to the prejudice 
of his grace, providence, and supreme dominion over the children 
of men." There's more theology in that subtitle than there is 
in some Christian bookstores today. You see, Gil understood 
something. Calvin understood something. Luther understood something. 
Paul understood something. The Bible expresses this clearly. There is no harmony between predestination 
and free will. It's one or the other. If the 
God of heaven and earth hath predestined and decreed all things 
according to his own most holy, wise, and powerful will, There's 
no place for us to decide for or against Jesus. Free will is 
wrong. Now, I understand saying that 
there is a nuance where we could put on free will to define our 
terms such to mean that when I leave here, if I sin, it's 
not God putting a gun to my head or somebody doing that. In that 
sense, we have a free agency. But the idea that a sinner dead 
in his trespasses and sins can make himself alive together with 
Christ Jesus has no foundation in the Scripture. Has not. You say, well, there's not a 
clear text. Paul doesn't say it as candidly as Galvin. It does not depend upon him who 
wills or upon him who runs, but upon God who shows mercy. Doesn't 
that answer the question? Romans 9.16. You say, well, you 
know, we got to look at what men are all about. Yeah, let's 
take Jacob and Esau, who before they were born God had already 
laid upon them. Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. 
Before the twins had done anything, Paul says. You see brethren, 
this isn't just some peculiar oddity that makes us Reformed 
or Calvinistic. This was pretty much the traditional 
report among the church. With some deviations along the 
way. And those deviations along the way have now become pervasive 
in evangelicalism. And then what about the doctrine 
of justification by the works of the law? Has that survived the Pharisees? 
Yes, it has. Vis-a-vis Roman Catholicism, 
the new perspective on Paul, and the federal vision theology. 
You say, well, they teach grace and works. So did the Judaizers 
that Paul was combating in Galatia. As far as I know, there's not 
been a strict sect of people that have just said, it's only 
works by which we maintain favor with God. The Judaizers said 
it's good to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's good to 
take Him as Lord and Savior, as Messiah. But you also have 
to subscribe to the Mosaic ceremonies in order to present yourself 
to God. That'd make any medieval monk jump for joy. Because that's 
what medieval monkery taught and lives on in Roman Catholicism. We come to God by His grace. 
Find me a Roman Catholic who doesn't say that, but we stay 
with God by our works. Find me any decent Protestant 
theologian that says that. There's no mediating position. 
It's either grace through faith or it's works. It's not a bastardized 
mingling of the two that gets us to God. Fisher says it this 
way, so that if you desire to be justified before God, you 
must either bring to Him a perfect righteousness of your own and 
wholly renounce Christ, or else you must bring the perfect righteousness 
of Christ and wholly renounce your own. Christ Jesus will either 
be a whole Savior or no Savior. He will either save you alone 
or not save you at all. You see, this idea that a bit 
of our works ultimately lands us into heaven militates against 
the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It's not by faith 
alone if some of our works are taken into consideration in terms 
of our faithfulness in presenting ourselves unto God. It's the 
Roman heresy. It's a new perspective on Paul. 
They should forget it and go to the old perspective on Paul. So the Pharisee spirit is alive 
and well today, and may I say to you, beware of the leaven 
of the Pharisees. Beware of thinking for a moment 
that your works mingled with faith somehow brings you to God. It's grace alone through faith 
alone in Christ alone. That's justification. Inevitably 
there will be sanctification which follows. You will pursue 
holiness, you will put to death the deeds of the body, you will 
be spirit-filled, you will pursue those things which are pleasing 
to God, but on the Day of Judgment, you don't cross that threshold 
because of those things you did in your sanctification. You cross 
the threshold because of the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, 
which cleanses us from all sin and that imputation of His righteousness 
that is spotless, holy, and pure, that God looks upon favorably. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of this idea that you 
have it in yourself. to believe the gospel, that you 
can live in absolute disregard of the truth of the gospel, and 
then when you're good and willing, you'll say, well, now I'm going 
to believe. When I'm 89 and I'm on my deathbed, 
well, 109, I don't want to put it close to anybody's age here. 
When I'm 109 and I'm on my deathbed, I'm going to make my peace with 
Christ. Do not live that way. Do not delude yourself. I've 
often wondered how many people were affected in a worship service 
by the power of the Spirit, and right after the fact, because 
they didn't get alone with God, and I'm speaking as a man, they 
didn't meditate upon these things, they didn't run them around in 
their heads, that influence was lost. If you are not a believer 
here this morning, you are not sovereign, you do not have ability, 
you do not have the competency, you do not have the power to 
save yourself. If anything that I am saying 
makes any sense whatsoever, if the idea of Christ alone being 
Savior alone makes any sense whatsoever, come, flee, believe. He said, but you just said I 
can't believe. God by His grace can make you believe, and that 
is what we trust in. He is able in the day of His 
power to make men willing to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware, as I've already mentioned, 
the desire to add to the Word of God. You know, there might 
be something that is a preferential treatment in your home. I've 
mentioned before, I think every shoe area ought to have a horn. 
You come to my home, you're going to see two shoehorns. I preached 
that. I got a new shoehorn. David Stare brought me a black 
one. I have a white one and a black one sitting like twin serpents. 
I don't know why they make these shoehorns look like serpents, 
but they're standing there right by my shoes to tell me every 
time, use me, horn me, put me in there so that you don't mess 
with your delicate finger. be wicked and pharisaic for me 
to say, you don't have a shoehorn in your shoe area and therefore, 
so that's an odd illustration. There's some odd illustrations 
going on in the church today. What we do, where we go, how 
we do it, how we go there, what we wear, what we don't wear. 
God hasn't given it in his word. God hasn't spoken, thus saith 
the Lord. You better be very careful trying 
to stand in his throne room and tell others, thus saith the Lord. Pharisaism is alive and well. 
Beware, beloved, of the Pharisees. Sadduceeism, denial of the supernatural, 
rationalism, skepticism, atheism, those things we would typically 
identify outside of the church, unfortunately, have sway within 
the church. I read a story a few months ago 
about pastors in churches that had embraced atheism and kept 
their jobs as pastors. That's just bad on every level, 
right? I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to say, that's 
bad. That's terrible. It used to just 
be out there that we had to battle with skepticism and atheism. 
We have to battle with it in the church. How do we know the 
Bible is the Word of God? How do we know that this is true? 
Well, ask the right people and they'll instruct you. Do you 
realize that every objection that is offered against Christianity 
has been answered and very successfully? It really bugs me when people, 
and I'm going to pick on the young people for a time. You 
know, how do we know the Bible is the Word of God? Here, read 
what I tell you to read. Listen to what I tell you to 
listen to. At least give it a fair hearing. We get around our peers 
and suddenly we're biblical scholars. And we know that the Bible can't 
be the Word of God. Oh, really? You know that? You've 
tested that hypothesis? You know there's no God? Because 
you and your buddies have talked? At least be honest and investigate 
these things. Skepticism and atheism is alive 
and well. Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. We've got men in high places 
today teaching theology who deny cardinal truths of the Christian 
faith. There's a whole movement of scholars today that deny that 
there was a real Adam and Eve. There wasn't a real Adam and 
Eve. There was no real Jesus. There was no real Jesus. We're 
dead in our trespasses and sins. There's scholars out there today 
that deny everything. It used to be the oddity to find 
a biblical scholar, a teacher, or an instructor of others and 
say, I can't believe he has messed up in that many places. Now they're 
tenured professors. One man has well said, if you 
go to a conservative seminary today, you come out a liberal. 
You go to a liberal seminary today, you come out an apostate. 
It's not good. What's happened? We haven't taken 
heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." Ryle makes 
that statement clear. I thought I had written it down, 
but I didn't. He said, it would have been good for the church 
to take seriously this admonition to take heed and beware of the 
leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The final observation, 
and then we close, My apologies to the nursery workers. You see 
here how Christ values and Christ prizes the truth. That's why 
the warning is here. Because it can distort, it can 
pervert, it can corrupt the truth of his word. When the chef prepares 
that beautiful salad, he does not, or she, want the introduction 
of a slug in it. She knows that the diner, the 
recipient, is going to go digging down and find a big, fat, juicy 
slug and say, I don't want anything to do with this, or ingest it 
and then say, wow, that was the worst salad I've ever had. Christ 
protects the truth. It's interesting how sermons 
sometimes go right along with each other. Tonight we're going 
to see the same thing in Paul's final charge to Timothy in the 
first epistle. He says to guard the deposit. 
Guard it. Play games with it. Don't twist 
it, change it, tamper it. Guard it. What's true of a deposit? If I deposit money at the bank, 
it doesn't become theirs, it's mine. And when God tells Paul 
to tell Timothy to guard the deposit, that means it's his 
prized possession and Timothy is to fight to make sure it stays 
pure. Christ is saying the same thing. Take heed and beware of the leaven 
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And this to protect his truth 
so that those who are dead in their trespasses and sins can, 
by God's grace, believe in a crucified and risen Savior to be saved 
from their sins, and so that the people of God will be nourished, 
protected, and matured in the faith, so that they may be fortified, 
and strengthened, and persevere to the very end, without wavering, 
without detraction, without tripping up. It is the truth that will 
preserve you, brothers and sisters. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for this section of Holy Scripture and for the 
emphasis of our Lord on the importance of the truth of God Most High. 
I pray for sinners here this morning that you'd open their 
eyes and their hearts to the truth, that they by your grace 
would believe and repent, that Father you would be pleased to 
save today, that you would get glory for your name in the salvation 
of souls. As Jesus taught us to pray, may 
your kingdom come, may that kingdom of grace come in the hearts and 
in the minds of men and women and boys and girls. Strengthen 
your people. Strengthen this church. Help 
us to be faithful to the very end. And we pray these things 
through Christ our Lord. Amen.