Matthew 16:1-12: “The Pharisees And Saducees Come Together To
Ask Jesus To Show Them A Sign From Heaven, Then Jesus Tells His Disciples To
Beware Of The Leaven Of The Pharisees”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section of the gospel of Matthew, we see
that the Pharisees and Saducees were becoming united in the only cause that
could unite two groups who were so different and loathsome to each other, the
murder of Jesus
1.2.
Some Scribes and Pharisees come asking Jesus for a
‘sign from heaven’, but only to test Him
1.3.
After the Scribes and Pharisees leave, Jesus tells His
disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, but they think that He is
saying this because they had forgotten to buy bread before their journey across
the Sea of Galilee
1.4.
We will look at how that it is important to not listen
to the teachings of those who are in real doctrinal error, for what we allow
ourselves to be exposed to has an effect on us:
garbage in garbage out
2.
16:1-4 - “16:1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up,
and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But He answered
and said to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for
the sky is red.’ 3 “And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the
sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the
sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? 4 “An evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign
of Jonah.” And He left them, and went away”
- The Pharisees again come up to Jesus
requesting Him to show them a sign, this time one ‘from heaven’
2.1.
In these verses we begin to see an evil partnership forming, one between
the Pharisees and the Saducees. These
two parties hated each other and did not have anything to do with each other,
being always at odds, however the one thing that unites them together is their
hatred of and commitment to eradicate Jesus and His followers
2.1.1.
The Saducees were comprised of the most wealthy and influential people of
the land, and thus most of the high leadership in
2.1.2.
The Pharisees were the most prevelant party by far in
2.2.
This group of Pharisees and Saducees were not seeking Jesus with open and
sincere hearts, for they did not want to know the truth about Him, rather they
had a distinct motive only of trying to put Jesus to the test, for they sought
to find some sort of way to disprove that He was the Messiah, or even just a
legitimate prophet.
2.2.1.
Had these men sincerely wanted to know the truth about Jesus they would
have come to know Him for who He really was, for that is all that is required,
however because they loved their sin and fleshly life they sought Jesus out
here only because of their murderous motive of finding any kind of a way to put
Him to death.
2.3.
This group asked Jesus to perform a ‘sign from heaven’, for they
discounted the many signs which they knew He was already performing (having probably
personally witnessed some of them), signs that brought healing and restoration
to people, wonderful acts revealing His kindness and love
2.3.1.
Perhaps these men wanted Jesus to command fire to come down out of heaven
and devour something as God had done through Elijah
2.3.2.
Or, perhaps they wanted Jesus to stop the sun from moving as God had done
through Joshua so that he could pursue his enemies and put them to death
2.3.3.
Etc., etc.
2.4.
Jesus could not perform this sign for them for they had no faith in Him
and thus to do so would have been inappropriate, plus He could not do anything
that was contrary to the will of God
2.4.1.
God doesn’t reveal His marvelous works to those who would not appreciate
them, for this would be to cast pearls before swine
2.5.
Jesus chides the people for not being able to discern the signs of the
times of His coming, for there were abundant signs around them, both from the
works that He was performing, as well as from what the scriptures had
prophesied about the Messiah’s coming, which should have caused them to
seriously consider whether He might indeed be the prophesied Messiah
2.5.1.
Jesus chides them for being able to predict that a storm was approaching
because of seeing a red and threatening sky in the morning, and yet not being
able to see the signs of His being the Messiah, that which should have been
ever so obvious to one of God’s people in that day
2.5.2.
They should have been expecting the Messiah to come because of the
timetable clearly layed out by Daniel in his prophesy of the 70 weeks, Dan.
9:24-27, “24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and
your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up
vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. 25 “So you are to know
and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will
be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 “Then after
the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the
people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war;
desolations are determined. 27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many
for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and
grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes
desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out
on the one who makes desolate.””
2.6.
Many people today are equally blind to the signs that are everywhere that
Jesus is soon to come to the earth for His church and to judge the nations
2.7.
Jesus tells them that they are an evil and adulterous generation in
seeking a sign from Him at this point in time.
By calling them ‘an adulterous generation’, Jesus is refering to
‘spiritual adutery’, for they were creating their own gods and actually seeking
to be ‘God’ themselves
2.8.
Jesus again brings up the fact that He was willing to give them a sign,
the ‘sign of Jonah’, which in chapter 12, verse 40 He explained to be, “40 for
just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth”
3.
16:5-12 - “5 And the disciples came
to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. 6 And Jesus said to them,
“Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they
began to discuss among themselves, saying, “It is because we took no bread.” 8
But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss
among yourselves that you have no bread? 9 “Do you not yet understand or
remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took
up? 10 “Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets
you took up? 11 “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to
you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread,
but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” - Jesus tells the disciples to beware of the
‘leaven of the Pharisees’, and they think that He is referring to ‘bread’
3.1.
This verse is one which reveals to us how that the apostles were so slow
to understand spiritual principles, and that they were in many ways not even
spiritual minded, even at this point in time, for they think that Jesus is refering
to loaves of bread for their hunger when He told them to ‘beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees’
3.1.1.
But, if we Christians were honest, we would all have to admit how that we
too are very slow to learn spiritual truth and understand the things of God. For many of us our growth is often one step
forward and two steps backward. However,
just as there was hope for these slow-to-learn apostles, there is also hope for
us that we will grow up into the likeness and image of Jesus, and become mature
and fruitful Christians one day
3.2.
We see implied here that the reason why ‘bread’ came to the apostles’
minds when He asked this is that they were now worried how they were going to
be able to eat, for they had had a mental error and forgotten to buy some bread
before crossing over the
3.2.1.
We see this because Jesus marvels that they had so soon forgotten about
how God had so miraculously feed the 4,000 previously
3.2.2.
Jesus is saying to them here then in effect, “The feeding of the 4,000
was meant to be a life lesson for the apostles so that they would always
realize that they did not need to worry about tomarrow and how their many needs
might be met, for all they had to do was to look to the Lord and trust that He
would provide for them
3.3.
Interestingly, Jesus tells them that the ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees which
He had been refering to was actually, ‘their teaching’
3.3.1.
Previously, in Luke 12:1, Jesus had refered to the ‘leaven of the
Pharisees’ as being ‘hypocrisy’, “…Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”
3.3.2.
In the
scriptures, leaven typically referred to ‘sin’
3.3.3.
The Kingdom
Parable of Matt. 13 about the ‘leaven in the meal’ reveals the purpose of God’s
use of the metaphor of ‘leaven’ in the scriptures, for it shows that the
important characteristic of leaven is that it just continues to spread in and
corrupt whatever it is found in, and it makes the element it is found in into
something else. In the same way, the
‘teaching of the Pharisees’ was leaven which if believed and followed would not
lead to God, spirituality, and holiness, rather it would actually just bring a
person to utter ruin and alienate him from God.
3.3.3.1.Thus, the disciples would be wise if they were to stay
completely away from the teaching of the Pharisees
3.3.3.2.This teaching should naturally lead us to the
conclusion that we Christians should always beware of teaching that has ‘false doctrine’, for
doctrine which is false cannot be healthy for a Christian’s consumption as it
can only lead to spiritual bondage and eventually ruin if not eventually
rejected form our lives
3.3.3.2.1.1.It is just a fact of life,
that what we believe effects our life radically, and therefore Christians
should do as Paul exhorted Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:15, ‘study to
show yourselves approved, as a good workman that does not need to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of truth’
3.3.3.2.1.2.It is sad that so many in
the mainstream church today are saying that we should not judge the teachings
of another Christian leader or teacher, for to do so would be unspiritual,
un-Christian, or not of love, for we Christians can be so greatly effected by
the doctrines that we believe
3.3.3.3.I have several times in the
course of pasturing told people in my flock that if they wanted to grow
spiritually that they were going to have to quit reading some books, listening
to some tapes, watching some videos, etc. if those teachers in those sermons
and presentations are teaching off-the-wall stuff.
3.3.3.3.1.It’s foolish to think that
you can always pick out all of the error in the teaching of a false teacher, for
satan is subtle in the trickery that does through those who are teaching the
bad stuff