We notice warning signs in many places. Driving carefully, we see signs for danger and accident-prone areas—Go Slow. Generally, many don’t take these seriously. Then, there are warnings about mosquito/cockroach poison: a down-turned red color, indicating Danger. There are also warnings on electrical transformers or equipment: High Voltage. Parents warn children to study properly; otherwise, they will not prosper. Companies warn employees, government warns citizens, and pastors warn church members.
What happens when we don’t listen to a warning? There are often terrible consequences. Once we face those consequences, we think, “Oh, I should have listened to my parents or pastors,” but we didn’t take their warning to heart, and now we are suffering so much. But all those consequences are temporary and end with this world.
But the Word of God, which is filled with words of eternal life, gives us some warnings. If we are careless of those warnings, they have terrible, not only temporary, but eternal consequences. Psalm 19:11 says, “By your word your servant is warned; when I heed and keep them there is great reward.” In Matthew 16, we are not looking at a warning from a man, a prophet, or even an apostle, but from the eternal Son of God Himself, who cares so much for our soul. He gives a warning. We are looking at one of the greatest warnings given by our Lord Jesus anywhere in the New Testament. It is a warning about false teaching.
The structure and language of the text make the warning very serious and solemn. We saw the way He strictly orders/charges them, not once, but repeatedly. Then, He adds two strong words: “watch out,” which calls for mental alertness, and “beware,” which means keenly and deeply studying the object and avoiding all means by which the danger comes. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” and Mark notes, “and Herod.” The disciples were initially blind, but the Lord, through His spiritual operation, made them realize it. We have seen the explanation of the text.
Today is the day of application of these verses. I want to structure my applications in two parts:
- How to externally identify the PSH (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians) in the 21st century. (This morning’s focus)
- Important principles from the text to internally guard myself from the leaven of the PSH. (For the evening meeting)
Part One: Identifying the PSH in the 21st Century
The descendants of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians are living in every generation; they are alive today. What are their traits, and how do I identify them, so I can obey this command to watch out and beware?
1. Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees: Hypocrisy and Externalism
The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. Traditionalism was their primary authoritative framework. Externalism marked their religious motive—an outward show in the temple, prayer, and alms. All their concern was about how they looked to people, with no care for their heart condition.
Who are the Pharisees today?
The first prize for the 21st Century Pharisees goes to the Roman Catholic (RC) Church. If you cannot see that, you don’t know the RC Church. Officially, they hold to the Bible and confess, without doubt, belief in the Trinity, the humanity and deity of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and His death and resurrection—all doctrines they claim to believe.
But at the same time, they nullify all these Christian foundational truths by the tradition of their church. In reality, they negate the practical application and implementation of truths by their followers. They follow tradition more than the Bible, just like the Pharisees. Most of us know little about Catholicism, but if you look at their dogma and doctrines, you will see they are doing exactly what the Pharisees did.
Look at one of their latest documents, the Question and Answer Catholic Catechism, approved by the Vatican in Rome:
- Where did we get the Bible? We have the Bible by the authority of the early councils of the Catholic Church which decided which writings were truly inspired by God. Therefore the Bible may rightly be said to be a Catholic book.
- What is the Word of God? Both sacred scripture and sacred tradition are inspired word of God and are forms of divine revelation. Sacred scripture is divinely written; tradition is unwritten word, orally.
- In what degree must we accept the Bible? In what degree Tradition? One must accept the Bible and Tradition completely and equally because both are revealed by God.
If Jesus were standing in our day and saw the massive system of the RC Church developing over centuries, would He not say to His disciples, “Watch out and beware the leaven of the RC Church“? They set the Word of God alongside human tradition. They nullify and invalidate the Word of God by tradition.
They negate the Law of God. Apart from removing the second commandment, take the first commandment: “Thou shall have no other God.” Only one Being is to be recognized as God, the God of the Bible: God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They have turned the Trinity into a quaternary—four persons in the Godhead. Only God should be prayed to, but how millions of prayers are made to Mary all over the world? Read some of their prayer books. If Mary knows all this in heaven, how much she must be grieved at how perverted they have made her.
The second commandment, not to make idols, they removed. So, their churches are full of statues, prayers to saints, crosses, the rosary, and so many things—a direct violation.
The third commandment, do not take the Lord’s name in vain, teaches people not to repeat prayers mindlessly. The rosary prayer includes the Lord’s Prayer, “Hail Mary,” and “Glory to God.” Reciting a thousand “Hail Marys” is believed to bring much grace. This is like the heathen who think they shall be heard for much speaking.
They are making the Word of God void.
Jesus commanded, “Do not call anyone Father in a religious way.” The RC Church breaks the law exactly by calling the Pope “Holy Father” and “Vicar of Christ,” or representative of heaven.
How it attacks the central truths of saving faith! Its doctrines of Mass cancel the once-and-for-all perfected sacrifice of Christ for sinners. They claim the sacrifice of Christ is continued on earth by the sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is “the true and proper act of sacrifice” in which Christ is offered under the species of bread and wine. “It is not an empty memorial, but a true and proper act of sacrifice. Christ, the eternal High Priest, in an unbloody manner, offers Himself as a sacrifice to the eternal Father as He did upon the cross.” How horrible! Hebrews says He has by one sacrifice perfected all. He offered Himself once and for all.
The Bible says Christ is the High Priest, and by His work, He has made all believers priests; no other priests are recognized. What are all these people with dresses calling themselves priests doing? All this kind of priestcraft is apostasy. Sacraments and penance/fasting, prayers for saints—all cancel justification by faith alone.
So many Catholics don’t believe these things, but then they are ignorant. “Oh, I am a RC, I don’t believe all the church says.” Then you are not a RC according to their church, if you don’t believe all they say. As an RC, they don’t allow anyone to make individual judgments on dogmas. Only the church alone decides. You have no choice.
Do you see the Pharisaic spirit embodied in the RC Church? Adding to the Bible: prayers to the dead, celibacy, purgatory, auricular confession, and a host of other practices.
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees! Just like those Pharisees persecuted our Lord and His disciples, the RC Church has done horrible things to stop the Reformation. In the past, they called Protestants “damnable heretics” and would burn them at the stake, cut out their eyeballs, cut the breasts of women, and cut women with children and pull out the child. You doubt it? Read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
Now, the RC Church, in democracy and the civilized world, cannot accuse us and kill us. So now it calls us not damnable heretics, but separated brothers, separated from the Mother Church. It thinks of itself as the mother church on which Christ embraces all believers. It considers it an irregularity that you and I are not in that church.
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, with all his sweet smiles, wants to bring us back together in the fold in the present ecumenical climate. He wants to bring everyone together as a great peace maker. This open approach to the RC Church is an attempt to break the idea in your mind that it is harmful. Oh, beware! They are a pit of the leaven of the Pharisees! If you allow it, it will damn you.
“Oh Pastor, we are reformed; your warning is unnecessary. No way will we turn RC.” Oh, if that happens, I will be most happy. But history shows, and even today, if you read Christian magazines, one of the top headlines is men or women who were taught Biblical truths so strongly from childhood, even some missionaries and pastors, were not careful of the leaven and converted to the RC Church with their entire family. They do it not at 20 or 25, but at 45, 50, or 60, when they have more wisdom and understanding. It is an amazing mystery how! Beware of it!
We do not hate them, but we must love them, having a burden for them. Never assume anyone in that group is saved. We must pray, “Lord, they are a horrible, hellish religion. Open their eyes from the blindness and darkness of the RC Church and bring them to the light of the gospel,” and we must share the gospel.
If it were only the RC Church, and if we had other good churches in our country that are watchful and aware, how good that would be. Oh, how do I explain the situation we are in? Rome may be fully leavened, but there are millions and millions of churches that are partially leavened—some 50%, 70%, 100%—with a mix of man-made traditional teaching of Pharisaism and a mix of Sadducee’s rationalism. We see a sea of the leaven of Arminianism, which is again man’s traditional teaching mixed with the externalism of Pharisaism and Sadducee’s rationalism—so fully against the Bible.
“Oh, we don’t understand how can God be sovereign and man be responsible? No, no.” So salvation is dependent not on God, but on man’s free will. Man can save himself. That is rationalism. It leads to external religion, right? It doesn’t care about man’s sinful depravity and need for his total regeneration, but just outward free will. “You come to Christ by the power of your free will, and then live by your own free will, and then put up a show.” No heart religion; all depends on how you live outwardly. “If you become bad, you will lose salvation.” This is deadly Arminianism.
Ninety-nine percent of churches, from liberal CSI to Pentecostal churches, are all leavened with Arminian teaching. Spurgeon said in the 18th century, “Down grade,” meaning you leave the historical truth of the Doctrines of Grace that our forefathers believed, as written in the 1689 confession, and we go down and down. Now, churches are all going down the path of becoming the synagogue of Satan, as it says in the confession, with the leaven of Arminianism.
The whole Christian system is so corrupted, like a pile of dead, ignorant people loving to live in darkness. There is so much pitch darkness all over the land. They hate the light like those PS men. Oh, what sadness to see in our country! You see that when someone who, through simple, honest prayer, reading of the Bible, and help of the Holy Spirit, understands any Biblical truth properly—any of the Doctrines of Grace—whether it is total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, effectual calling, or the eternal security of the believer/perseverance of the saints. They begin to understand. What do pastors and churches do? They are repeatedly bombarded with doubts, asked to avoid such thoughts, and sometimes even warned and rebuked, saying, “You are going in the direction of false teaching,” while they are in complete false teaching. You talk to the Pastor, and he never listens. The church is like the blind following the blind, all going to fall into a pit. So sad to see that. People who come to our church face that. In our church, Vinod and Asha have all gone through this.
One brother prayerfully read and understood that the teaching of Jesus will come secretly, seven years prior to seven years of great tribulation, during which Jews will be saved. At the end of which Christ will come and re-establish all the temple worship and again start a show of rituals and sacrifices and priesthood, which He fulfilled in the second coming. As they studied the Bible with an open mind, they began to see this as utterly nonsense, and the Bible nowhere says this. The full text weight shows it is wrong. They went with a humble heart and asked a few questions, and they are treated as if they have denounced Christ, denounced the gospel, and the deity of Christ, as a heretic, while all they were doing was giving up a dogma—a man-made teaching that was a recent, modern teaching, starting only 100 years ago. The church never believed in a secret coming, the supremacy of Jews in God’s plan, or God again rebuilding Israel. Because they question something man-made that spread like leaven through the whole of Christianity and now is considered to be equal to God’s word truths. It may have begun with the prophecies of a woman in the 18th century, dreams and imagination, or a Jesuit priest who introduced it. Darby and the Scofield Bible spread this false teaching. It spread, spread. Oh, do you see? The whole of Christianity is blinded and very eager. Even I was like that. I shook when I was told it is all lies, not in the Bible. So powerful is the false teaching.
Then some brother/sister see the sovereignty of God clearly in the Bible. “Oh, this is God who is sovereign, not a helpless God of the Arminians, dependent on man to do something, who plans everything based on man’s free will.” They begin to accept in childlike faith the teaching of God’s sovereignty in Romans 8-11 and other passages. They begin to understand and the joy it brings: “God is on the throne! He rules over all! Everything is under His control!” They rejoice and feel so much joy. They are treated as if they are some kind of theology leper—”Don’t open your mouth.” Why? Because the traditional teaching is that man is big, Satan is big, and God is helpless and not sovereign. How many hundreds of people are struggling in such churches, knowing these truths and learning them? When they come to a church like ours, oh, what joy their heart feels, so much joy to hear pure teaching preached!
Do we realize that is the atmosphere we are living in? If any of you find it easy to take things for granted and not grow deeply in truth, if you don’t strongly grow in these reformed teachings and realize and appreciate how blessed we are—”Blessed are your ears that they hear pure truth”—and are not thanking God, beware! Soon, the leaven outside of Christianity will affect you. Beware of the Pharisees!
Beware of the Leaven of the Sadducees: Rationalism and Liberalism
The Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural miracles in the Bible. Crucially, they did not believe in the resurrection. They denied the existence of angels and the immortality of souls. They were the priestly group, and the High Priest was a Sadducee. Their strong opposition to the Pharisees centered mainly on the resurrection, as we see in the book of Acts.
The Lord tells all generations to “watch out and beware of the Sadducees,” so we must be careful about the perspectives and thoughts of these groups.
We can summarize them as the rationalistic, anti-supernaturalists. They controlled the rituals of the temple and maintained a religion while denying anything they could not reasonably agree with, such as the resurrection and angels. Yet, they claimed to believe the Old Testament.
If the leaven of the Pharisees was traditionalism and hypocrisy, the teaching of the Sadducees is best understood as skepticism (doubting truth/free thinking) and rationalism.
Where do we see these manifestations in our day? To obey this command, the Lord expects us to discern who the Sadducees are in our time, living with these principles and perspectives. They are leaven.
We find the Sadducees not in Rome, but in most denominations and churches that call themselves religious liberals. Liberalism is becoming loose in theological convictions and accepting anything liberally. Remember, in Christian truth, liberalism is the lowest level. A church at that level has already become a Synagogue of Satan. Atheism is only a few steps, one step, above that liberalism.
Churches have been step-by-step downgraded since the 18th century, reaching the lowest level of liberalism. It all starts with a doubt in what the Bible says. You doubt there could be some error in the Bible, you cannot agree, or you cannot understand. You allow that leaven, and you doubt one foundational truth in the Bible; it will bring you to liberalism, step by step.
Liberalism today has an outward attachment to the Bible, to the Scriptures, but it rejects the Scripture as infallible and authoritative. In the 18th century, science, man’s thinking, and Darwinism all became famous. “Man came from a monkey”—many started believing that. That is where it started. “Man may not be created in God’s image, so no Creator, no accountability as creatures, so no judgment.”
Then they don’t believe in miracles because you cannot prove them scientifically. No miracles. By that, they deny just the first two verses of the Bible. “God created the world out of nothing” is looked at skeptically. “The world was not created in six days,” they say, citing science and “billions of years.” Even Adam and Eve are not historical characters; they laugh at the story. No plagues, no parted sea, no manna. No virgin birth. He was not born pure without sin, so His death cannot be an atonement to remove the wrath of God; no substitutionary death, no resurrection. Christ rose in body, ascended to heaven in body, and lives in heaven in body. Oh, they don’t believe all that.
Then, to speak of regeneration, the work of the Holy Spirit making a sinner a new man—they don’t believe that. They don’t believe in judgment, eternal heaven, or hell, or the eternal soul.
Yet, wonder of wonders, if you don’t believe all this, why do you still want to be in Christianity? It is a mystery. They outwardly attach themselves to the Bible. Why bother with the temple and rituals? Yet they maintain an outward religion. “We cannot believe everything the Bible says,” but they outwardly attach themselves to the Bible, but as skeptics. “If it is not reasonable, it is not feasible.” Skepticism: if it doesn’t meet their predetermined standards or is not scientifically explained, then it is not truth. But still, they maintain an external religion. They have big robes and are “free thinkers.” “I cannot accept that as truth; I am a free thinker. My mind knows what is right and wrong.”
In our day, there are men and women who deny all these wonders—what Christ has done—and the eternal truths of coming hell and heaven, but there is an outward attachment to the Bible. It comfortably allows their soul to live in terrible secret sin and outwardly be religious.
You may not know, but why do you think so many churches in our country don’t give importance to authoritative Bible preaching? Every church that doesn’t preach the Bible properly and authoritatively are all liberals. You know they have pastors who are trained in Bible colleges filled with liberal, scientific professors. If you have any little faith in the Bible and go to such a college, they will make sure to remove all faith in the Bible. Such colleges and churches—what are they? Societies of Sadducees, liberalists.
Amazing! Supernaturalism and the miraculous are the essence and heart of the Bible. From the first two verses of Genesis 1 to the last verses of Revelation, redemptive history is supernatural history. Salvation is a supernatural work. Christian life is a supernatural life.
But these Sadducees, having rejected the heart of the Bible, but maintaining an outward religion—just rituals, forms, and religion—what must they do to keep their religion going? If you remove the heart of the Christian religion, well, they must replace the careful, authoritative proclamation of the infallible Word of God preaching. They must replace theology and doctrines.
They must replace it with relational religion—man-to-man relational religion, social religion, or the social gospel and the prosperity gospel. They are concerned that people are psychologically comfortable. They don’t believe in man’s total depravity and fall, nor in atonement for such sinners by a miraculously born Savior, nor in providing an effectual call and supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. What do they have? Natural religion—human psychology dressed up in religious terminology and show.
Secular psychology dressed up in religious terminology—all their teaching comes from psychology. So, what do you get in a Sadducee’s pulpit? There may be a verse read, but it is used as a springboard to talk about modern psychology. They may sing Christian hymns with the language of the Bible. He may wear robes and use a reverent name. In place of the authoritative preaching of the Bible—”Thus says the Lord”—you get some pious platitudes, experiences of good feeling, quotes from secular religion, testimonies of someone who was sick and healed, or a testimony of a drunkard or cigarette smoker quitting. You get tips to live a good life: on Father’s Day, how to be a good father without hitting children, or a good husband. For Christmas, they talk not about a virgin birth or a miraculous Savior atoning for depraved sinners, but that Christ came to bring peace, so we don’t fight wars. “Be at peace with Hindus and Muslims; give food to the poor; that is why Christ came: to bring peace in a fighting world.” Some exhortations to social activism as the expression of true Christian religion.
Oh, all these priests who come out of these colleges are trained to teach only this, not the Bible, yet they use names like “Bishop” and “Reverend.” It is very important to have that name because that makes people think they are connected to the Bible, religion, and church—noble, sacred. But the whole perspective is skepticism, rationalism, and liberalism. They practically deny all the Bible, leaving a lot of things unsaid.
Beware of the current leaven! Our constant duty is to be vigilant regarding their teaching. The Lord, sitting in heaven, is saying, “Oh, GRBC church, beware of the leaven of the Sadducees!” This is how He protects His church and nurtures them—by His Word. By keeping His Word.
Be on your alert; beware of the teaching of these Sadducees; avoid it. Don’t think you will never become liberal. These people come from great, true churches.
It all starts with any slightest question that comes to your mind over anything that is clearly revealed in this Book, the Word of God. Jesus said, “beware of the leaven of the Sadducees.” Beware of rationalism that will take a puny little man’s mind, infected with sin and depravity and limited in all its creatureliness and createdness, and begins to make it the standard and determiner of what is true and what is not true. The moment your spirit begins to move from any posture other than humble, believing submission to all that God has said, simply because God has said it, beware of the leaven of rationalism!
If you get to a place where you cannot believe something unless you fully understand it, and it leads you to doubt the supernaturalism of the Bible, and that doubt of leaven grows and spreads slowly and settles and brings Sadducee skepticism—if you cannot believe what you cannot fully understand because it falls outside your experience—a day will come when you will understand by your experience what you refused to believe. When we ignore a warning, a day will come when we will experience what we refused to believe and take warning.
Think of the Sadducees. They never believed in resurrection, judgment, or the soul. One day, the trumpet will sound, Jesus will come, and all the dead are raised. Can you imagine the shock of the Sadducee when he is raised, mumbling, “No resurrection, no…” but he is resurrected, and Jesus summons him to stand before the throne. “Ah, I said there is no judgment!” Can you think of the shock? “This cannot be!” Woe! What will he do? Revelation says, to all unbelieving, “Depart to everlasting fire,” weeping and gnashing of teeth with demons. He falls into hell. “Oh, I don’t believe in the immortality of the soul!” But his soul lives one day—1,000, 1 million, for all eternity. He groans and cries. He suffers the wrath of God. He will be made to experience what he refused to believe. In that way, every man will be made a believer at last.
Oh, young people! You are in a technology world, the age of information. Now, social media, with all its fake news, has made it the age of misinformation. All lies, and even the educational framework makes you doubt and question sacred things: the science of evolution, man coming from a monkey, the world created billions of years ago, not six days. Don’t for a moment allow these educated doubts on the truths of the Word of God.
Beware, beware! Don’t allow anyone to question any of the Bible truths. Your never-dying soul is at risk if you allow this little leaven. Your whole mind will be corrupted. Understand that ideas are very powerful. A small idea planted by education, entertainment, movies, friends, or the world can cause great damage. Then, once you allow it to grow, because of your upbringing and practice, you want to come to church, but inwardly, you live in skeptic doubt—”That is not truth; I cannot accept that.” Oh, you become a 21st-century Sadducee.
Yes, there are many things we don’t understand. In fact, the Godhead itself is a mystery. How can God be one and three persons? We don’t understand, but we believe because the Bible reveals it. How do the sovereignty of God and man’s responsibility connect? We don’t understand, but we believe. That is the humble attitude. “Lord, though I don’t understand, I believe Your Word.” We have seen what doubting leads to. We need to have childlike faith. Beware of the leaven of doubting God’s truth.
Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. Treat those question marks as steps that lead to hell. He that believes not shall be damned. Believe the Word of God like a child. Whatever God’s Word says, like Martin Luther: “My conscience is bound to the Word of God. Whatever the Pope, priests, bishops, or the entire kingdom of Rome may say, I believe the Bible.”
I said Christianity is declining in Western countries, very barren. Why? Oh, millions of churches, Bible colleges, and schools that were once full of faith in the Bible, that had men of God with true faith who believed every word of God and preached in the power of God, now are full of Sadducees. You know how it all started? Doubting the creation, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth—listening to some critics teaching, “That is not believable. Science has proved that; how can you believe the Bible? Oh, let us learn both sides so we know the full understanding.” You allowed leaven; beware!
Schools of higher learning, even those that started after World War II in Germany, known as “Higher Criticism” schools and colleges—when people join them, they come out as the worst unbelievers, having lost all faith in God’s faith. I am not holding up a scarecrow; this is reality.
We allow people to preach. Someone comes to us and says, “I love Jesus Christ. When I studied some books, I had a question whether Christ was truly God and man. I have my doubts.” When you hear that kind of talk, don’t allow that serpent to speak more; immediately chase him out of the pulpit. Oh, that is why we need to be fully thorough with the Confession of Faith (COF) to be discerning. Beware! Just a little leaven you allow, and soon this will become the Synagogue of Satan.
“Okay, Pastor, I have my doubts. Sometimes when people talk, I get doubts. How do I avoid becoming a Sadducee in the future?” Matthew 22:23-33 shows the Sadducees coming and questioning the Lord about the resurrection. To show how stupid it was, they brought the example of a woman marrying seven brothers, all of whom died: “Who will be her husband in the resurrection?” Verse 29: “But Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.'”
You don’t understand the Scriptures. They had a selective, surface knowledge of the Bible that confirmed them in skepticism. You don’t have a comprehensive, working, believing grasp of the truth—that is the first reason, your ignorance. Secondly, You have no experience of the power of God; it never worked in your lives.
What are the two great preservatives against becoming a Sadducee?
- A growing, heartfelt, comprehensive knowledge of the whole counsel of the Word of God—not reading one verse here and there, but a comprehensive understanding of the Bible.
- An ongoing, inward experience of the power of God almighty God.
Why don’t I have a problem with God creating the world out of nothing in six days? Because if Almighty God can recreate a heart so wicked like mine, that loved sin like I did, and make it love righteousness and love Christ, whom I have never seen—if God’s power can do that—what is the big problem if He opens His mouth and creates innumerable galaxies? If He opens the sea, why is it so big?
You know something of the power of God in your own experience. You experienced Him rising to life by His power when you were dead in sins, and now He sustains your faith even though you have terrible remaining sin. His supernatural grace and power continue to work. You have no question about the resurrection. Oh, how can God pick up all the scattered atoms from thousands of years? Come on, we are talking about a God who made all the atoms in the first place, and from that made the universe! He can track them for billions of years; He can call them together without any sweat in His body. That is Almighty God, infinite in power.
Oh, may we hear the warning. Keep your antennae open; keep your spiritual insights sharp. Catch the signals if there is any unbelief coming. Be careful not to doubt God’s Word—an unbelieving heart.
Brothers, is this Sadducee spirit of doubt and limiting God a big hindrance in inheriting the promises of God? Why don’t you believe God to fulfill His promises? Could you be a Sadducee? You allowed the leaven of doubt to spread in your soul. Why don’t you believe when God says, “Seek My kingdom and righteousness; I will take care”? No, you don’t believe in miracles, the supernatural work of God, or the power of God. How can seeking the Kingdom solve my needs? So you don’t seek, because of doubts. God says, “Be faithful in tithing; I will take care.” In you is the Sadducee spirit; you don’t see how tithing will solve your financial problem, so you don’t believe. Oh, it can affect every part of our life! So what is left? Just coming like a Sadducee to church, without any supernatural work of the Spirit in your life.
The greatest preservative is constant interaction with this Book. Do you see why we continuously read this Bible? No ritual. Do you think it is easy? Sometimes, some verses—oh, we struggle. “What will I say from this passage? This looks like a museum piece; nobody has spoken. How can I preach on this?” Hours of study, and the Word opens. We are committed to that. We don’t want the leaven of the Sadducees to find roots in this place. You have to personally grow, grow in the knowledge of the Bible. You notice, people who don’t do that, this leaven of the Sadducees—doubts, unbelief in the miracles and power of God—continues.
Know the power of God. Have an experiential acquaintance with the power of God, spiritual realities, and the new birth. We need to believe and experience the power of God in the fulfilled promises. Pray that the Holy Spirit may come upon us in power as His Word is preached every week. Experience the power of God like Abraham, by trusting His promises and inheriting them. That is what I am teaching in the Promises of God (POS) study. Oh, that is the preservative.
Beware of the Leaven of the Herodians: Secularism and Pragmatism
Mark, writing with a Roman mindset for Roman Gentiles, mentions Herod. Herod’s rule, through puppet governors, would have carried tremendous force to Roman Christians, who would understand the religious principles of a follower of Herod—those called Herodians.
What was the leaven of Herod? I have already taught that Herod’s family was politically horrible, marked by all kinds of sins and immorality, including marrying sisters, aunts, and mothers. His line started with Herod the Great, the man who killed all the children when Jesus was born. He ruled Judea on behalf of Rome, and his main leaven was political opportunism—he was very greedy to protect his position as king. He even rebuilt the Temple for the Jews, but for what godly reasons? No, it was a political move.
After he died, he assigned his sons. He appointed one son to rule Galilee, Herod Antipas. This is the man who held John the Baptist and killed him. He was a sinful, immoral man whom Jesus called a fox—sly and cunning. He was the man to whom Jesus was sent by Pilate before His crucifixion.
This family created a group of people called Herodians. They were followers of Herod. Matthew 22:15-16 mentions them joining leaders to kill Jesus.
They were most likely Jews who, in their younger days, had been influenced by Herod. Herod taught these young men the Roman lifestyle that came into Palestine. This man rebuilt the Temple to promote his glory and satisfy the Jews, making it so glorious that even the disciples asked the Lord to look at it. He wanted to make it more glorious than Solomon’s Temple.
His achievements were substantial. The young Jews who saw him and his family, and his political intrigue, were fascinated by the liberty that the Romans had, being fed up with the oppression of the Pharisees’ strict religion. Herod imported much of the sports of Rome and built amphitheaters in Palestine, bringing Roman idolatry, where Caesar was considered a god. Herod Antipas brought Roman immorality, such as living with his brother’s wife. At his birthday celebration, the Roman sensual dance of the daughter, which led to John losing his head, was a sample of Roman culture. The guests who came were all Herodian followers.
Some young Jews, growing up during the glorious and seemingly generous reign of Herod, became attracted to the Roman lifestyle and paganism while maintaining their identity as Jews with temple worship. They maintained their Jewishness while accepting Herod’s influence as beneficial and desirable. They became completely insensitive and uninterested in any Messianic hope. They did not long for a righteous Messianic reign; Herod was giving them all the sinful liberties and luxury. All they wanted was to establish a peaceful reign by adjusting with Rome. They did not want any Messiah to come and deliver them from Rome, as they were perfectly happy with Rome and what it gave them. This could be why, in Matthew 2, when the Magi came and asked where the King of the Jews was, verse 3 says, “When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” Why should all Jerusalem be disturbed? Perhaps they were all so sinfully influenced by Herod’s lifestyle that it disturbed them to hear about a righteous Messianic reign.
They lacked any religious convictions. They had two faces—a Roman face and a Jewish face—and they used them pragmatically according to the situation. They were political devotees of Herod and Rome. They loved Roman rule.
They had no heart for the pure teaching of Jesus. Can you imagine a Herodian who lived that high standard of immorality, dance, and luxury, listening to Jesus say, “If you lust after a woman, you have already committed adultery,” and that “You need to be pure in heart,” or “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away”? They hated that kind of teaching—the radical holiness of life, just like the teaching of John the Baptist.
They were religious pragmatists and opportunists. The great Herod didn’t build the Temple to glorify God or to make it a house of prayer; it was a sop he threw to promote his political position. This is how politicians now help the building of a church or temple or engage in social service—not to glorify God, but for political reasons. The Herodians’ pragmatism kept religion alive just enough to live in the religious land of the Jews, but with no heartfelt hatred for idolatry. They were religious pragmatists. They joined the Pharisees and Sadducees for one reason: to kill Jesus, because He was a threat to their political stability.
Modern Herodian Manifestations
How are the Herods manifested in our generation? This spirit finds expression in those who want just enough religion as is necessary to promote their political and earthly ambitions and relations, but not so much as to make them radically holy or heavenly minded. This includes most of the politicians today, right? Our country is filled with that. Just enough religion to serve political and earthly ambitions. Beware of such Herods today!
When Jesus’ teaching brings division and a sword, His pure teaching of righteousness will divide and make us stand separate in a way that rebukes the political people. Their sinful compromise, bribes, robbery, their lifestyle of cheating people and government, and living without a conscience—our lifestyle and teaching should prick their conscience. Or, we keep away from them so their leaven doesn’t affect us. Keep away from them, just like Jesus kept away from Herod. Though Herod wanted to see Him, Jesus never gave him an opportunity.
When a believer takes seriously what Jesus teaches about God, eternity, the soul, the purity of the soul, and the way of life we need to live on earth in a way that leads to eternal life, that will bring the sword between him and all political and earthly ambitions. When the Word of Jesus takes supreme control, it divides us from these earthly political people. We are called to live in a way that pricks their conscience.
Yes, the Herods will willingly want to help the church and church causes for their political reasons. How many politicians build churches? How many good things are done? For what? To glorify God? Oh no, it’s for political mileage and ambition. They advertise and impress people so they think, “Oh, they are doing such great work.” It is a big thing in men’s eyes, but what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before God.
The church can never join them and achieve any purposes of God with them. Our Lord’s word is supreme in the church; it calls for radical holiness. But the Herodian mindset and spirit cannot be comfortable with Jesus.
Herodians will join the Pharisees and Sadducees, and temple leaders, and together they will aim to do only one thing: crucifying Christ and bringing utter shame to His name. That is what this association will always aim to do. Satan always uses them that way to spoil the church.
Beware of their leaven! “Oh no, Pastor, it’s just a little.” That leaven influence will spread and completely poison your soul. They will offer a comfortable life and a lot of money. They will teach you a way to be comfortable in this world and the next world, but not make you radically holy or radically heavenly minded. Oh no, just enough of God to float in this world.
The modern Herodian spirit is seen today in those who use the name of God, the church, the Bible, and the truth of God to keep their political and earthly ambitions secure—all with a worldly perspective.
Oh, if Jesus needed to warn His own disciples of Herod and his followers, if that warning needed to be told then, how much more now? We must beware and be alert, not only of externalism and hypocrisy (Pharisees) and rationalism and skepticism (Sadducees), but we need to be aware of being infected with the Herodian spirit, allowing ourselves to have just enough of God and association with the world to promote worldly goals, not enough to make us radically different, holy, separate, and heavenly minded people.
What is common to these three groups? They all saw the miracles of Jesus, heard the truth of God, and lived in the time when the Son of God was on earth. They heard all He had been doing. You know, they were out to get rid of Jesus. Together, they wanted to kill Him. Why? Because they wanted to destroy His teaching and His truth.
What bound them together was the desire to get rid of Jesus because of His truth. Their aim was to stop Him from teaching what He was teaching, because if everyone believed this truth, their eyes would be opened. The Pharisees and Sadducees could not continue their hypocritical religious temple drama; their business would be ruined. The Herods could not run their political drama. People would repent of their sins, political opportunism, and immorality, and would not be attracted by the money they offered, because people would come to know the truth and reject these leaders and not vote for them—no people’s support. The truth of Jesus would destroy the economic framework, turn the table of the current system. He is a disturber; He will turn the world upside down. So, “Get rid of Jesus!”
They feared that. So what did they do? They tried to influence the disciples of Jesus with their leaven. But the disciples took these warnings seriously and never allowed them to affect them, but grew in the pure religion of Jesus. What did that do? Instead of them getting influenced by the PSH, the Kingdom of God, also like a leaven, spread and spread, and made the temple drama fall. In Acts, many, many Jews and even priests believed. Herod’s dynasty is gone, and a few hundred years later, Rome itself fell because of the power and spread of Christianity. The Kingdom of God, though small like leaven, spread and destroyed all these men and spread through all the world.
So here we are today. Jesus is warning, “You as a church, I have called you out of the world to be My disciples, to spread My pure heavenly religion as I have commanded.” Though we are small like a mustard seed/leaven, it can spread and bring great revival. He warns, “Only be careful of the leaven of the PSH.” But you know what many churches are doing? Instead of growing in truth and holiness and living a Spirit-filled life, guarding themselves from this leaven, they join the externalists, rationalists, and these political opportunists’ leaven. Instead of the Church converting them with powerful truth and the Holy Spirit, the Church is joining them for social, worldly causes and forgetting her spiritual calling. The result is what? The external religious drama goes on, and the political drama goes on. A church fully leavened with the PSH is dead, yet saying, “We are joining all these people, living as one.” Oh, beware! We can become a Synagogue of Satan!
You think we don’t have temptation? So much! They want to show generosity, give us big land, and money. “We have a registered trust.” Beware, beware!
To the extent that we live out in obedience and proclaim with conviction the true religious principles of Jesus and His apostles, when the church today lives the life of Jesus, we can expect the combined opposition of every modern Pharisee, Sadducee, and Herodian.
We are called to be a disturber of these categories of people and their deviation from God’s truth. Didn’t Jesus say, if they persecute Me, if you are a true disciple, they will persecute you? “Blessed are you when men revile you and say all kinds of wrong things. You are blessed; you have a great reward in heaven.” If your attachment to Me is real—an attachment of enlightened faith, heightened devotion, and practical obedience—you will be hated by all men.
To the extent we live in faith in all the Word of God, these groups will hate us. But to the extent we adjust with them and their lies and sell the truth, we can become closer to them, leavened by them. So, beware!
When we insist on heart religion, saying true worship is not carrying your body into this building as a corpse and going out as you came—no, you should come to worship God in heart, your soul engaged in heart—when we teach that, every Pharisee and Sadducee will run away. You will be an offense to Herod because you are determined to have a heavenly religion, to seek the things above, not the things on earth.
The Lord said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” “Oh, why is GRBC not involved in that activity, this social cause? People go for the March, this Pastor’s association, that social service, that trust, that cause and this cause.” Because that is not the mandate of the church. If you, as an individual Christian, want to follow some cause, go ahead, as long as it is biblical.
But the day the Church goes off for any unbiblical causes and spends its energy and money for that, we are infected. “My kingdom is not of this world.” We have no dreams of this world. We will not create a “Christian world” in this world. We need to be light and salt in the place God has placed us. We look for a new heaven and a new earth. The Herodian focus is the now kingdom, but the Christian’s focus is, “This world is not my home.”
Get it in your head: we will not be a famous church.
Okay, we have seen the method of how the Lord specifically rebukes the false teachers. Secondly, we covered the broad application of how practically we can identify the PSH in the 21st century and be careful about them.
Today evening, we will learn the important principles from this passage, which will cover the internal ways we can guard ourselves.
We are picking up the great warning of our Lord from Matthew 16. This is one of the greatest warnings from our Lord. He raises a red flag, a red board with a danger signal: undertow awaits them if they venture into the influence of the Pharisees or Sadducees; they will face great harm.
The whole sad story of church history and the decline of the church in the Middle Ages, and even this century’s dead Christianity, shows that if you can point out one main reason, it is that this warning of the Lord has been neglected. He who spoke it saw with a prophetic eye the future history of Christianity. The Great Physician knew well that Pharisee-doctrines and Sadducee-doctrines would prove the two great wasting diseases of His Church until the end of the world.
This morning, we saw the 21st-century leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. These are external threats we must be careful of.
The passage also teaches very important principles we should never forget in guarding our heart against the leaven of the PSH. These help us to internally guard ourselves from the leaven of the PSH.
1. The Method of Warning: Be Direct and Specific
The Lord is very concerned about the false teaching influence on His disciples: the influence of traditionalism and ritualism (Pharisees), rationalism (Sadducees), and political opportunism (Herod). He warns His disciples in language so strong, and the tension is for all His disciples in all ages.
Notice the method of His warning: He is very specific about whom they should be careful of. When we talk about false teaching, a common objection today is, “Oh, we shouldn’t be talking about anyone specifically with names or group names directly and tell them they preach false teaching. You will offend them. We have to be loving, nice, and uphold an offenseless Christianity. We shouldn’t be talking in a merciless way. You see, Jesus was so compassionate.” The thinking is, “You will offend and drive them away. You will never bring people into an ecumenical moment.”
The question is, was Christ like that? Yes, He was compassionate with poor sinners, but He was very offensive to self-righteous false teachers. In fact, remember when the disciples themselves brought that objection to Jesus in the last chapter, Matthew 15:12? “You know the Pharisees were offended.” What did the Lord answer? “Oh, sorry?” No. “Every plant My Father did not plant will be uprooted… Let them alone. They are blind guides guiding the blind, and both will fall into a pit.” When hearing the truth, if they get offended, by that offense, they prove they are not planted by God to be saved, but to be sent to hell. They prove that by getting offended at the truth, they love darkness. They will follow only false teachers, and both will fall into a pit. This is the response of the Bible’s Jesus. Do you see how the Lord did ministry? We shouldn’t have our own idea of Jesus and Christianity as “nice” and “offenseless.”
Do you see how wrong it is to avoid offending people for truth’s sake, thinking we have to be nice and agree to all the wrong things they say? We have to understand that God never uses Offenseless Christianity to save and bring people to repentance. The message of the cross was what God used mightily in the first century, even though it was an offense to the Jews. It is not worthy of spreading or preaching an offenseless religion. When we try to be nice when the truth is attacked and maintain an offenseless posture, that is traitorous. May God save us from the thinking that it is wrong to offend people.
We have to be ready to offend people for truth’s sake and use the method the Lord used to warn people against false prophets.
Look at the method: He doesn’t warn them against generic evil. He warns them against present, visible, contemporary embodiments of those evils—specific, discernible classes and groups of people. Do you see that? “Beware of the leaven of [the] specific identifiable entity called PSH,” clearly identified.
He doesn’t generally say “false teaching”; He specifically mentions that. Some come and tell us, “Pastor, you shouldn’t take specific names, but speak generally.” But the Lord didn’t do that; He was very specific. His warning was not abstract, but about concrete manifestations of false teaching, because false teaching is so subtle and dangerous; people need to be given clear guidance to avoid it.
Oh, He gets so specific in Matthew 23. He warns the crowd, “Don’t follow them,” and then turns to them directly and pours out seven woes: “Woe unto you, Pharisees and scribes, hypocrites…” and describes their false teaching. He continues to do that seven times. He takes false teaching out of the generic and puts it in a specific, concrete way, so the disciples understand. In Luke 13:31, He calls the political leader Herod a fox. He is unafraid to expose him. There is a fox-like character.
You know the Lord did this not only when He was on earth, but when He went to heaven and walks in the midst of the church. See what He does to the seven churches. He specifically mentions names where evil has taken concrete expression in men, women, and institutions/movements. The ascended Lord in Revelation 2 and 3 doesn’t speak generally; He is specific. To Ephesus (verse 6): “You hate the work of the Nicolaitans,” who had false teaching. He didn’t speak generically. To Pergamum (verse 15): “You have some who hold to the teaching of Balaam… and in like manner, the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” You see the specific concreteness of evil practice and false teaching, which makes it very clear to people. To Thyatira (verse 20): “You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess…” He didn’t generally say, “You have a woman who leads you to adultery”; no, “You have a woman called Jezebel you are allowing; repent of it.”
Do you see the method? Specific identification of error in association with specific men, women, and groups. But that was not the only thing He kept doing. There was a pastor whose every sermon was just rebuking false teachers. That’s the whole of his preaching. No, no. In due balance, our Lord taught the beauty of truth and made men realize how stupid false teaching is, but to some measure, He did directly refer to false teaching, even in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not pray like the Pharisees, but do this way.”
Look at the way the apostles warned us against false influence. Even the apostle’s example in Galatians 2: Paul didn’t hesitate to accuse the leader of the apostles, Peter, who tried to allow the leaven of the Pharisees, and even Barnabas also followed the hypocrisy. He rebuked an apostle in the presence of all. Then he writes in Galatians with specific names and says this happened. “Oh, I shouldn’t mention or insult Peter. What will Galatians think about Peter?” No, no. When false teaching comes, or sin influences, warn people specifically. Deal with error in concrete specifics, even when the leader of the apostles was infected.
Even within the church, 1 Timothy 1: “Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.” If you give up a pure heart, good conscience, and faith, and go after other useless talk and arguments, watch out, you will shipwreck your faith.
2 Timothy 2:16-18: “Avoid godless chatter… babbling… it is godless babbling with no words of faith, only worldly words, ideas, and thinking that do not have God or faith in them, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” Why? Because when you engage in those words, unknowingly, ideas and thoughts that come to you from someone who talks are like a leaven. He doesn’t use the image of leaven here; He uses another image: “Their word will spread like gangrene… if you don’t cut the toe, cut the leg, or it will spread.” There were some who allowed that, and it spread and became completely worldly and ungodly. Again, he says (verse 17): “Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus.” He uses live examples with names of what will happen to people in the church if, instead of growing in a pure heart, good conscience, and truth, they allow worldly influence.
3 John 1: “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first…” He will not welcome us because we rebuke his attitude of pride. “So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us.”
The point is, as with our Lord so with the apostles, there is a time and place we need to warn people about religious error and wrong influence and ask people to be careful. Even within the church, when men don’t continue in faith, but in continual unbelief, harden their heart, and sear their conscience, and even attack the truth to justify themselves, and God blinds them, they become embodiments of the false teaching of leaven. What is so scary is that can happen even within the church. He calls the names of some who were earlier believers but were removed from the church so they don’t leaven the whole church.
Oh, watchful and beware we must be! Even in the church, purge the leaven (1 Corinthians). Not that the Lord liked to call names, but as the true Shepherd concerned about His sheep, He warned in this method. The apostles did the same, and surely, it is the duty of all true shepherds of souls to follow the pattern of the Lord and the apostles. Believing truth alone saves and sanctifies, and believing error, even a small leaven, damns and cripples our faith, leading to the shipwreck of faith. We should be willing to warn people whenever the need arises. This is an integral part of pastoral duty. Sometimes, frankly, people go on, and I say once or twice and then leave it: “Let them face it and come.” But we want to continue. What else can I do? I pray and plead, but I cannot hit you. That is my task, people. Please understand when I warn you, take it seriously. Why should you hurt yourself, waste your life, and risk your faith and soul? I used to be careless and wasted so many years of my life, running after false men, doing this and that. Now, I always ensure I check with my overseeing pastors and take their advice when they warn me of something, and I am very careful about that. So, we see the Lord’s warning is direct.
2. Quality of Experience is Tied to Belief (Theology Determines Biology)
The quality and reality of our spiritual experience is directly related to what we believe. Our theology determines our biology. What we believe determines our heart condition, our experience, and our life. Why is the Lord so concerned? Not only the strict order, “watch out and beware,” but not even of a big PSH influence, but just a leaven—”Be alert, take heed, watch out even for leaven.” Why? Because Jesus didn’t believe the lie that “it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere”—just an idea—because ideas are very powerful. Even a little idea you allow into your mind and heart, like one virus, if you allow it, it will multiply like leaven and infect the whole being. Watch out and beware!
Jesus believed that if these men were infected with the religious perspective, thoughts, and beliefs of the PSH, it would affect their heart, experience, and entire life. The whole idea of sincerity being enough is wrong. It is truth that saves and sanctifies. Without truth, you can be so sincere in a false religion, and you will go to hell.
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisee with their external religion and tradition. They know nothing of heart religion and what God’s Word does to the heart, how it humbles and transforms. He knows nothing of the grace of God in the heart, a heart grieving for sin, a heart seeking God. It is all external, a whitewashed tomb. Beware of his teaching.
Beware of the Sadducee with his rationalism, with his mind always determining truth, only believing what he can put in a test tube and prove scientifically. Beware of the Sadducee.
Beware of the Herodians, political opportunists and pragmatists who use God, the Bible, and the church for political or selfish, worldly ambitions.
Why? Because of this universal principle: The quality and reality of our spiritual experience is directly related to what we believe. Our theology determines our biology. What we believe determines our heart condition, our experience, and our life. That is why all true Christianity is rigorous, doctrinal Christianity.
If you want to grow in truth, as we grow in truth, avoid the association of these three influences. Keep away from them; just discussing is how it starts.
Jude says, “When you go over to take somebody out of it, snatch them like a brand from the burning. Don’t even stand around or you’ll singe your own garments.” Stay away. You avoid that.
3. No One is Safe from This Danger
No one is safe from the danger of this leaven. See, here are twelve men immediately in the presence of the Son of God, to whom the Holy Spirit is given without measure. He is Truth Incarnate: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” No man spoke like Him. He is the greatest prophet, teacher of truth, perfect master, and perfect example of all He taught. These men are second in line to Jesus. In that setting and context, if He warns His own apostles that they are in danger of being infected with the leaven of the PSH, that they are vulnerable to the sticking, rotten principles of the Pharisees, how much more are we in danger now? Who among us can think, “Oh, I don’t need this warning; no need to be so alert in mind and beware”?
They were in danger, and we are also in danger because of our fallenness and remaining sin. We have an innate, subtle, secret attraction to this leaven. The religion of the PSH is nothing but an expression of subtle sin. We have a great affinity for the religion of the PSH. It can entice us so much that even being in the immediate presence of Jesus was not a guarantee not to be infected with the teaching of the PSH. That is why He soberly charged and warned them: “Keep your eyes open, not just nodding. Gaze continually, be alert, be careful, be watchful, be alive.” The assumption is that the most favorable circumstance to know and absorb truth does not negate the possibility of error’s influence.
Oh, do you understand why we warn so much about false teaching and expose errors?
Don’t be naive, thinking, “If I love God and the Bible, everything will be alright. I believe election, TULIP, and reformed truths; nothing will affect me.” No, no. Error is so insidious and subtle, and powerful in its influence, as is yeast. Beware of it and be on your guard.
“Oh no, we have known so much reformed truth for years.” But it has no power to immunize you. If the presence of Jesus couldn’t do it, no one can do it.
4. Discerning is a Continual Christian Duty
It is an important Christian duty to continually be discerning so we can recognize false teaching.
He wants the disciples to be discerning, but also watchful against imbibing any form of error. What a duty this is—the recognition of religious error and being watchful so we don’t imbibe any error. We can so easily imbibe it. Once we admit it, one gram, into a little corner of the soul, it works like leaven—silently, a small leaven—before the whole person is leavened with the false teaching. That is the power of false teaching.
We have to continually grow to guard you from error and give you the ability to discern between the truth and falsehood. Often it can be so subtle; the difference can never be found unless you are sharply discerning.
Oh, may God help us!
5. Preservatives Against Leaven: Word and Power
Principle 5: A growing, comprehensive, heart knowledge of God’s Word and experiencing God’s power in our lives is the great preservative against the leaven of the PSH.
What is the best way to avoid being influenced by leaven? Our Lord implies the answer in Matthew 22:23-33. The Sadducees came to question the Lord about the resurrection, which they didn’t believe, bringing the stupid example of a woman who marries seven brothers: “Who will be her husband?” Verse 29: “But Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.'”
“You don’t understand the Scriptures.” They had a selective, surface knowledge of the Bible, picking verses here and there. That confirmed them in their skepticism. They didn’t have a comprehensive, growing, working, believing grasp of the truth—that is the first reason, their ignorance. Secondly, “You have no experience of the power of God;” it never worked in your lives.
What are the two great preservatives against becoming a Sadducee? A growing, heartfelt, comprehensive knowledge of the whole counsel of God’s Word (not reading one verse here and there, but a comprehensive understanding of the Bible), and secondly, an ongoing, inward experience of the power of Almighty God.
The greatest preservative is constant interaction with this Book. Do you see why we continuously read the Bible? We are committed to expository preaching. We don’t want the leaven of the Sadducees to find roots in this place. This is why we teach the Bible verse by verse, soaking your mind in God’s Word continuously, week on week. You have to personally grow in the knowledge of the Bible. You notice that people who don’t do that continue to be susceptible to the leaven of the Sadducees: doubts, unbelief in the miracles, and the power of God.
It has to be comprehensive, not picking here and there. Why do you think week on week we are going through the Confession of Faith (COF)? God gave us the wisdom to adapt a new method: not the pastor teaching, but you study and explain what you understand in the call to the Pastor. This way, you know the truth. You don’t grow in a selective way like the Sadducees, picking up verses you like, but it gives you a comprehensive understanding of the truth. It’s the same with the young people’s meeting and the catechism we finished.
I notice people who don’t attend those calls continue to remain where they are. I am really concerned; they are easy targets for Satan to leaven them. Some of them are already leavened. Oh, how can I make each of you understand how important it is for you to continually grow and attend these calls so you comprehensively grow in truth? How long will you continue in ignorance and remain where you are?
Then, it is not only objective knowledge of truth, but an experiential knowledge of the power of God. Jesus says, “You neither know the Word nor the power of God.” Do you have the experience of effectual calling? How the power of God called you from sin and gave you new life?
Like the Sadducees, why don’t I have a problem with God creating the world out of nothing in six days? Because if Almighty God can recreate a heart so wicked like mine, that loved sin like I did, and make it love righteousness and love Christ, whom I have never seen—if God’s power can do that—what is the big problem if He opens His mouth and creates innumerable galaxies? If He opens the sea, why is it so big?
You know something of the power of God in your own experience. You experienced Him raising you to life by His power when you were dead in sins, and now He sustains your faith even though you have terrible remaining sin. His supernatural grace and power continue to work. You have no question about the resurrection.
I have been teaching you that you have to experience the power of God through believing the power of God. When you are growing in that, you know how great and powerful God is. When the Sadducee devil comes and whispers in your ears, “Oh, how can God pick up all the atoms scattered across thousands of years?”
If you are experiencing the power of God in life, your immediate reflex is, “Begone, Satan!” “My God is so big! He is strong and mighty; there is nothing that He cannot do.” What atoms are you talking about? It is He who made all the atoms in the first place, and from that made the universe! He can track them for billions of years; He can call them together without any sweat in His body. That is Almighty God, infinite in power.
So the principle is: A growing, comprehensive, heartfelt knowledge of God’s Word and experiencing God’s power in our lives is the great preservative against the leaven of the PSH.
6. Guarding Against Hypocrisy
Final Principle 6: The way to live a victorious Christian life and be a powerful gospel witness to the world is only by guarding our heart with all diligence to avoid hypocrisy.
Look at Luke 12:1. This is the place where the Lord, after training the disciples for some time, is sending them out for preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you know what the first instruction He gives them is?
Luke 12:1: He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Why do we have so many struggles and failures in the Christian life? Are we happy with our gospel witness and Christian living? If there is one sin that grieves the Holy Spirit and hinders His work in our hearts and in our midst—the reason God doesn’t use us powerfully for the gospel and growing His kingdom—what can that be? It is not our lack of skill; it is because of this hypocrisy, just trying to play external hypocrisy with no concern for the heart, which is so easy and spoils the blessing and grace in all spiritual activities. It spoils our witness for the gospel.
The Lord says, “I want to use you for My glorious kingdom. I have called us to be more than conquerors, to have victory in the spiritual life, to live in assurance and victory.” But unless you are careful of this leaven, you may even end up denying Him. It will spoil your influence and witness.
Interestingly, the first thing He says before sending them is this warning. If you really want to be successful in this mission, if you really want to enjoy My blessing in your ministry, at all costs, guard your heart with the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
What is hypocrisy? We all tend to think we know what it is, and that is our problem. We call others hypocrites but don’t realize how hypocritical we are. We need to understand it a little deeper. It is not simple. The basic definition is a man pretending to be what he is not, but it is more than that.
Hypocrisy is a desire to have the best of both worlds—wanting to enjoy the sinful pleasures of the world and heaven. It’s the attitude of wanting to be Christian and non-Christian at both times, an attitude that believes in doing just the minimum for the Kingdom. It is not just a deliberate, conscious act; it is a man who has decided he doesn’t want to go to hell, so he will do the bare minimum to get to heaven.
What is the cause? It is a state of self-deception. We may not know we are hypocrites. Look at the Pharisee in Luke’s parable: he goes to the temple and says, “I fast twice a week, go to the temple daily.” That is the essence of hypocrisy: self-satisfaction, feeling everything is alright, perfectly content with what he is and what he is doing, with not a clue that there is anything wrong in him. Our Lord says that is a terrible state; they become unsavable in that state. He pronounces woes upon them. The Lord warns His disciples.
What produces this kind of self-satisfaction and hypocrisy? It is primarily due to a lack of honesty. A man who is not honestly looking at his heart. A man who deceives himself is not honest with himself. He never examines his heart. So, in other words, the Lord was saying, “Be careful about your heart,” because Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things. It can deceive you.
The problem with hypocrisy is essential dishonesty at the center of his life, which leads to self-deception.
It works like this: the hypocrite is a man who doesn’t expose himself to the truth. He doesn’t open his heart to the truth. He is always shielding or hiding something. When truth is preached, he puts up a shutter instead of allowing the truth to search him, try him, and examine him. The opposite of hypocrisy is “Lord, search me, examine me.” The hypocrite tries to avoid brushing aside some sin he likes, and he doesn’t allow the truth to work in him. A fundamental lack of openness and honesty in the heart. He protects himself against the truth. He says, “I love the truth.” But when the truth begins to touch the area where he is most fond of some sin, he doesn’t allow the truth. From that moment onwards, he is a hypocrite, deceitful.
That is the thing the Lord warns us about above everything else. David said, “Thou desirest truth in the inmost parts.” “If I hide iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
Hypocrites are those who don’t meditate deeply on God’s truth. Dishonesty in their life comes because of a lack of deep thinking. A hypocrite is a man who uses Christian phrases and words, but he never deeply feels or thinks about those phrases. He knows all the words and uses them a lot, but you can tell by the way he uses them that he has never thought them out, never realized what they mean.
What do we mean when we say “total depravity”? People casually say it. The Pharisee uses words and truths but never thinks of the implications. They say, “Do not murder,” but never thought that it also means getting angry. “Adultery,” but looking and lusting—they never thought about that. Think deeply about God’s commandments; draw the conclusions for practical life. Hypocrites are those who don’t meditate deeply on God’s truth.
The man lacks honesty and fundamental, deep, meditative thinking about what he says with his mouth. He has never drawn the conclusion of his own profession. Beware of hypocrisy; there is nothing more dangerous to the soul.
The hypocrite is someone who never applies the truth to the whole of one’s life. There are emotional hypocrites, intellectual hypocrites, and practical hypocrites.
- Intellectual hypocrites are happy with an intellectual understanding of the truth. They read the Bible, study books, and are well-versed in doctrine, but they stop there. They do not allow the truth to impact their heart through meditation. It is just academic knowledge. “I believe in total depravity,” but have they felt so much of their depravity to fall prostrate before God? No, it is academic knowledge.
- Emotional hypocrites say, “I don’t need much doctrine,” sneering at people who read. This man is after experience. He wants to feel. He finds himself weeping when listening to a sermon, singing, or hearing a story. As long as he can cry and have warm feelings, he thinks he is alright. “I love God, but I don’t read the Bible, don’t know much truth, but I feel so much God.” His mind and understanding are not at work, and practical applications don’t come in at all. He thinks he is alright because he has feelings and emotional reactions.
- Practical hypocrites say, “I am not interested in theology, doctrines, or these emotions. What is Christianity? It is keeping your word and walking a disciplined life, walking properly, and helping others enough.” “What use is so much learning? No use of reading, reading the Bible and feelings, but life is not disciplined and straight. But look at the way I am living. I fast twice a week, give tithes, go to the temple, and do so much social service. What a wonderful man I am!” He never imagines he is a hypocrite; he thinks everyone else is.
We confine one part of our life to Christian life. We keep God in one compartment and shut Him and His truth in all other parts. That is the essence of hypocrisy.
As long as we have this hypocritical heart, He warns we will never overcome the fear of men (Luke 12:4-5). We fear the opinions of men. We are pretending before men because of hypocrisy and fear. We are not honest in our witness, right?
How to avoid being a hypocrite? Through utter honesty and sincerity in truth. The main trait of any great saint is honesty.
7. The Blessing of Heeding the Warning
Principle 7: To the extent we heed this warning of Jesus, we shall know the reality of the continued and increased blessing of Christ’s presence among us and upon us.
The Lord says now, “Take heed of these who bind you with traditionalism, externalism, rationalism, political opportunism, pragmatism, sensuality, and worldly-mindedness.” To the extent we heed this warning and kill any tendency to join them, we will know the presence of Christ more and more, because Christ dwells where there is heart religion, not an external religion—not just saying the right words and prayers. Heart religion is where the Word of God speaks to our heart and transforms our heart. Oh Lord, may our church never become anything other than the heartfelt, biblical religion! May the PSH roots never come into us. Lord, deliver us from this!
To the extent we live in faith in all the Word of God, and live out in obedience and proclaim with conviction the true religious principles of Jesus and His apostles, these groups will hate us, and we must expect their opposition. But the Lord will manifest Himself more and more.
But to the extent we adjust with them and their lies, and sell the truth, and allow their leaven, we can become closer to them, leavened by them, and the Lord will leave us with His glory. So beware! The choice is whose side you are on.
It is because of being careless with this warning that we see the sad story in church history. Lord, save us from these leavens. These Pharisees, who are great pretenders to devotion, and Sadducees, who pretend to a free and impartial search after truth—”We should freely think, not strictly believe what the Bible says; we also have a mind”—they come in sheep’s clothing, so be careful. The corrupt teaching, thoughts, and practices are very appealing to our flesh, like when leaven is added to bread, how tasty, fluffy, swelling, and soft it becomes.
This will make us blind, even to “the signs of the times,” blind like them at the eventful moment in which you are living. The PSH had a great opportunity. They did not see what was happening at that eventful time in their lives—Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah for whom all kings and prophets yearned, was in their midst! The desire of the nations! The Pharisees and Sadducees did not discern the signs of the times. And they were playing a spiritual game while eternity was at stake.
Accepting Herod’s influence was very beneficial and desirable; he brought great prosperity. The Herodians had so much money, but it did not make them radically holy and righteous. They became completely insensitive and not interested in any Messianic hope. They didn’t want to long for a righteous Messianic reign. Herod was giving them all sinful liberties and luxury. All they needed to do was establish a peaceful reign by adjusting with Rome. They did not want any Messiah to come and deliver them from Rome, being perfectly happy with Rome and what it gave them.
The same thing can happen to us. We get so comfortable in this world that we have no desire for heaven or the coming of Christ. We are not looking on things above, but are filled with the world.
The truth of Jesus will destroy the economic framework, turn the table of the current system. He is a disturber; He will turn the world upside down. So, the PSH said, “Get rid of Jesus!”
They feared that, so what did they do? They tried to influence the disciples of Jesus with their leaven. But the disciples took these warnings seriously and never allowed them to affect them, but grew in the pure religion of Jesus. What did that do? Instead of them getting influenced by the PSH, the Kingdom of God, also like a leaven, spread and spread, and made the temple drama fall. In Acts, many, many Jews and even priests believed. Herod’s dynasty is gone, and a few hundred years later, Rome itself fell because of the power and spread of Christianity. The Kingdom of God, though small like leaven, spread and destroyed all these men and spread through all the world.
So here we are today. Jesus is warning: “You as a church, I have called you out of the world to be My disciples, to spread My pure heavenly religion as I have commanded.” Though we are small like a mustard seed/leaven, it can spread and bring great revival. He warns, “Only be careful of the leaven of the PSH.” But you know what many churches are doing? Instead of growing in truth and holiness and living a Spirit-filled life, guarding themselves from this leaven, they join the externalists, rationalists, and these political opportunists’ leaven. Instead of the Church converting them with powerful truth and the Holy Spirit, the Church is joining them for social, worldly causes and forgetting her spiritual calling. The result is what? The external religious drama goes on, and the political drama goes on. A church fully leavened with the PSH is dead, yet saying, “We are joining all these people, living as one.” Oh, beware! We can become a Synagogue of Satan!
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 