0:04 If you have your Bibles, open up to first Corinthians chapter five beginning in verse six. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
0:31 Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In addressing an unrepentant Corinthian church that was tolerating sexual sin in the assembly, the apostle Paul chooses by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, yes, to address this matter and to bring him into a place of realizing that they are in willful ignorance. And he does this by pointing to a very familiar theme in the Bible. He does this by reaching all the way back into the Old Testament where this idea, this picture is sprinkled throughout the Bible. And it is this concept of leaven.
1:21 It is this concept of the believer of the old covenant, yes, and the new covenant cleansing himself from compromising and cleansing himself rather from compromising sin of anything that would enter in and corrupt his Christian character. And as we are speaking of hands that want to be dedicated to the things of God, You may not see it immediately, but we're gonna come to a point where you realize that leaven can weaken the hands of a believer. And we're gonna speak of specific type of leaven here. But what Paul is trying to show here is that there is this idea from the old covenant that is totally relevant to you and I today as new covenant believers. And he he goes back to this idea of the Passover.
2:03 He go who goes back to this feast that was instituted in Exodus chapter 12. And if you grew up in the church, you know what the Passover is. God, through this feast, is proclaiming the gospel that thousands of years ago when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, he was about to bring his final plague to this wicked nation. And what does he do? He uses this as an opportunity to declare of the Passover lamb.
2:30 And what were the Israelites to do? They were to take this Passover lamb. They were to slaughter it, take that blood, and put it on the doorpost and hide in that house of theirs, and wait for the wrath of God, the angel of death, to pass over. And if that passed over a house that was sprinkled with that blood, it would not affect them. Nobody would die.
2:55 And we so know this feast. We we so understand it, but there's another feast that follows it almost immediately. That as God has put it on the religious calendar of the Jews of when to celebrate the Passover, he put another one right after, almost as though it overlaps with this feast. And it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a practice that the Israelites had to take the effort to go into their homes and their dwelling place and remove anything that was leavened.
3:24 Yeast that would come into dough and that would ferment it and and make it puff up. It's a picture of sin that creeps in. A little bit of sin can creep in and puff up your character and pride could come in. And so it's a practice that they were to keep for generations to come. But what I want us to understand is the fact that the timing of these feasts are almost inseparable.
3:47 The timing of these two feasts almost make them as one experience. Just Just listen to these verses. You don't have to turn there. In Matthew twenty six seventeen, this is New Testament. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?
4:07 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they asked Jesus, where will you have us prepare the Passover? So they saw it as one event. This is true in Luke 20 two:one. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near which is called the Passover. Which is called the Passover.
4:29 The Passover, the feast of unleavened bread conjoined almost as one experience. And that's a that's a message. God in his wisdom allowed the last day of the Passover and the first day of unleavened bread to almost seem like they are overlapping because he wants to declare something to you and I. If Passover is symbolic of our justification in the blood of Christ, our deliverance from the wrath of God, that is an experience that cannot be separated from a believer that continually lives a life in which he identifies and cleanses himself from sin. In other words, you can't have gospel without you being and being changed continually, daily, lifelong cleansing of leaven.
5:27 This is his wisdom. This is his message in the Old Testament that this gospel will provoke you to live a life free from compromise. Leaven is a picture of sin, but there is another idea of leaven in which the true Passover lamb teaches us. Jesus Christ himself takes it upon his own time to teach believers for all ages about this idea of leaven. And he's not speaking necessarily about sin as much he is speaking about false teaching.
6:02 If you read the gospels carefully, you will see that Jesus, more than once, warns about leaven, specific type of yeast that can come in and corrupt. And he doesn't speak to the world. Oh, no. If you read these verses carefully, he is speaking to his disciples. He's speaking to the very followers of him, and he says, beware of these types of leaven.
6:28 The first one, if you have your bibles, is in Matthew sixteen six. Matthew sixteen six. Keep in mind that every type of leaven he warns about is addressed to his people. Keep in mind that the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthian Christians, did he not call them saints, of the leaven that they've allowed into the congregation. Matthew sixteen six, Jesus said to them, watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
7:04 Scroll down to verse 12. Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Today, we're gonna speak about three types of leaven to be aware of. And the first type of leaven that Jesus wants us to be aware of is the leaven of the Sadducees. The leaven of the Sadducees.
7:32 Who are the Sadducees? They were a political religious group in ancient Israel that had high status in dictating certain religious laws and implementing different things. They they made up the the the most of the Sanhedrin, which is the Supreme Court of that day. They were aristocrats. They were high profile people.
7:54 And we don't know in scripture, we know a lot through history, but we don't know in scripture much about the Sadducees concerning who they were specifically or what they believe specifically, but the Bible gives us enough insight to know what the leaven of the Pharisees, the Sadducees rather, is. In acts 20 three:eight, it tells us something about these Sadducees. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. So these Sadducees, though they were religious figures, though they implemented religious laws, they did not believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe that there was a judgment.
8:38 They didn't believe that there was gonna be rewards for those who were faithful and those who are unfaithful. They did not believe that there was even a spiritual realm. And from this, we can draw a very strong conclusion of what the leaven of the Sadducees were, and what it is. The leaven of the Sadducees is a person who has convinced themselves and allowed themselves to be corrupted to interpret the scriptures by their own subjective reasoning. The leaven of the Sadducees is a person who has been selective in their interpretation of the word of God.
9:10 History tells us that the Sadducees only believed and acknowledged the first five books of the Old Testament. They only kept themselves to the Pentateuch. And Jesus tells not only his disciples two thousand years ago, he tells his disciples today, beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. Beware of allowing something into your life in which you feel like you have the right to choose and to reject what parts of scripture you think are applicable to you and to the rest of the church. The Sadducees rejected certain truths, and you know this more than anything that today we are doing that.
9:52 People have this ungodly confidence to take spiritual scissors and cut out pages of the Bible to tell us what is relevant, tell us what is a part of our culture, and tell us what is appropriate for our context. And for some, it's the idea of a specific sin. For others, it might be some concept that they are not comfortable with. Perhaps the wrath of God, perhaps the eternality of hell. All these different things that people have convinced themselves of to remove from the scriptures, and it's different for every single person.
10:28 And you know what it was for the Pharisees or the Sadducees rather? It was the idea of the supernatural. It was the idea of this thing that was out of reason. Things that didn't make sense, they didn't believe in, to the natural. And there are people even today, even in our seminaries, that are trying to teach people that there are certain things in the Bible, especially the supernatural things that are not true.
11:00 But there are believers that would never dare to say that there is no resurrection. There are those who name the name of Christ that would never never dare to say that there's no supernatural realm. But I would tell you that there is a way in which this leaven of the Sadducees can even affect those who confess with their mouth all these things to be true. They may say it, but they live like it doesn't exist. They live as though it doesn't exist.
11:27 They live as though there is no eternity that we are entering to. The Sadducees were materialists. They lived for everything in the here and the now. History even tells us that in seventy AD when the temple was eventually destroyed by Rome, at the same time, it literally brought the Sadducees to extinction. All their activity was in the temple.
11:48 They had no sense of spirituality. There's no reproduction. It was all in the now, it was in here. And this leaven has crept into the lives of many even today. That they don't see beyond the natural.
11:59 They don't see beyond their clothes. They don't see beyond their pleasures. They don't see beyond their their appetites. They don't realize that even now as this session is going on, the Arabic session is going on, that there is a spiritual war happening. They don't realize that day after day, that as you go to work and as you come with your families and spend time and enjoy those all wonderful things, that there is a battle going on over souls.
12:22 No. Let's just dismiss that. I don't want that leaven. I don't want that truth. I'm gonna I'm gonna indulge this leaven of the Sadducees.
12:30 That my life will be lived and there will be nothing, no consequence after. And this is where the the Sadducees and the Pharisees, they they conflicted. This is where they butted heads, and you see that even in the New Testament. The leaven of the Sadducees. But we see another type of leaven that Jesus warns about here in Matthew 16.
12:50 The leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Who are the Pharisees? They were another religious party in Israel's day, but they were more conservative in their views. They observed the entirety of the Old Testament.
13:08 They were a religious sect that emphasized strict observance of the law. They they put fences around the law. The Pharisees really, really, really believed that the reason why they were under Roman oppression was because of their compromise. The Pharisees grew out of that intertestamental period when they came back from Babylon into Israel, and they they grew from the sense of, let's let's let's live holy, and let's live with the sense of piety. And they had good intentions in the beginning, so that God would make us independent again.
13:41 And the Pharisees here on the outward were praised. They were laymen. They were not special people. They they spent their times in the synagogue. They spent their times amongst the crowd, and people applauded the Pharisees.
13:54 But I want to tell you something. Out of all the three leavens, one that we're gonna speak of after this, out of all the three leavens, out of all the three types of people that Jesus confronted, the Pharisees were the ones in which he had the most problems with. Jesus had the most conflict and had more things to say about the Pharisees than the two other groups. Jesus himself, arguably, arguably, he had the most shocking, sharp, cutting sermon declared from the holiest lips that ever uttered a word. Not towards the prostitutes, not towards the tax collectors, not towards the Romans, not towards the Herodians, not towards the the sinner, but towards the most pious men of the day, the Pharisees.
14:44 And you think about these men that emphasize obedience and emphasize a holy life. You would think that Jesus would come down on earth and buddy buddy with the Pharisees. No. He had the most problem with them. The leaven of the Pharisees.
15:00 What is the leaven of the Pharisees? What is the teaching? Teaching that leads to practice, and practice that leads to lifestyle that that Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Luke twelve one says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
15:30 In fact, the Holy Spirit has given us one entire chapter of Jesus's sermon filled with warnings and woeings towards these men. An entire chapter. And you have to see it for yourself to realize that he was not even speaking to the Pharisees when he declared it. In Matthew 23, and I would encourage you to turn your Bibles there, in Matthew 23 verse one, then Jesus said to the crowds and his disciples. He was not addressing the Pharisees directly.
16:18 He was speaking to the crowds, the multitudes, and his own followers. He's speaking to them, and look what he says. The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses's seat, So do not so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do for they preach, but do not practice. For they preach, but do not practice. Jesus in his perfect wisdom found it necessary to take along his disciples and to even preach to the crowds of the dangers of hypocrisy.
16:53 He took the time to preach on hypocrisy to a people in general. Why? Now here we come to the application of weak hands. Because the hypocrisy of others can affect how these hands serve God. Oh yes, the hypocrisy of an individual obviously affects their service before God, but the hypocrisy of others can affect the faithful one.
17:20 The compromise of others can influence the one that wants to serve God. And so he takes it upon himself to say, beware. Beware of the scribes and the Pharisees for two reasons. One, for the non believer, obviously. For the non believer that wants to reach out his hand to the Lord, hypocrisy, the hypocrisy of those who name the name of Christ can hinder that hand, can hinder that hand from reaching out to saving faith.
17:48 And for the hands that are already on the plow and have dedicated themselves to serving God, full throttle, hypocrisy can weaken. The hypocrisy of others can weaken the hands of that person. What is hypocrisy? We better we better define this carefully. Even people jokingly might say, oh, not sometimes not jokingly, oh, that person's a Pharisee.
18:10 What do we mean by that? What do I mean all that person's acting like? What does that mean? I love how Jesus makes things so simple concerning these things. I believe it's right there in Matthew 23.
18:23 Hypocrisy can be defined in the most simplest terms, but they preach and do not practice. They preach but do not practice. And this sin can be summarized in that simple phrase, but we see in that entire chapter in Matthew 23 what hypocrisy looks like in detail. They lay a standard of righteousness before others so great, so great, and expect them to be fulfilled by those that are under his influence. But they themselves do not invest an iota of energy to fulfill those same standards.
19:02 It is a person who appears to live for the glory of God by modifying dress, even attitude. You know like the super spiritual people. Speech even in the display of their scriptural knowledge, not for the glory of God, not so that he can be lifted high, not so that others can be attracted to the God that they serve. No. Because they want to recruit the praise of man.
19:36 It is the art, if you would call it that. The deceptive art of being able to display an outward piety. All the while your unseen life is in direct contradiction to what you show to the public and what they applaud. It is someone who is so quick to condemn the shortcomings hypocrite. Jesus used a very specific word.
20:18 It's the word in the root that's that speaks of an actor. An actor that would come on stage and he would put on a mask and he would he would he would do a show, but when the stage was gone, when the audience went back home, he had a different substance. He was a different person. And Jesus Christ is not so concerned about you wearing a mask in a play, but he does, he does, he does have an issue of one doing so in their Christian life. And so he says, beware.
20:49 Why? Why? Because the hypocrisy, the hypocrisy of the one who names the name of Christ can hinder the believer and the non believer. Jeremiah twenty three fourteen. But in the prophets of Jerusalem, I've seen a horrible thing.
21:09 The prophets, the prophets of Jerusalem, I've seen a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen. They strengthen the hands of evildoers. They strengthen the hand of evildoers so that no one turns from his evil.
21:28 Do you know what the secular world is craving? Do you know what the media is always looking for? Do you know what every news station, every newspaper, every tabloid will pounce upon without hesitation? They're just drooling and waiting for another scandal in the church. They are waiting for another pastor to fall.
21:56 They're waiting for another group of Christians. They're waiting for a church to live outside of what this book says. Why? So the prince of the power of the air can show the world this is what Christianity looks like. This is what it really is.
22:13 And the prophets, those in ministry especially, because of their hypocrisy, walking in lies, they strengthened the hand of evildoers. They gave them a reason why they can still stay in their sin. They gave them a reason why they should not repent and turn unto God. They gave them all the reason to harden their hearts. Why?
22:40 Because I see it in you. I see it in you. And why would I want what you have when you're just like me? At least I'm honest about my sin. At least I'm upfront with it.
22:53 At least I'm not trying to hide it. At least I'm not trying to play a game. Why? They strengthen the hand of evil doers. If you're in here and you have the leaven of hypocrisy in your life, I beg of you.
23:07 I beg of you. You're not fooling anybody. You're not fooling anybody. Be real. Be true.
23:16 Hypocrisy is not a person that is stumbling in their sin in the sense of where they are striving for holiness and they trip. No, that's not hypocrisy. It's a person. It's a person that covers it. It's a person that lives in two different worlds.
23:29 It's a person that lives with two different attitudes. It's a person that's like a chameleon. They adapt to their environment and they know how to put on the right color. No, please don't. Don't do it.
23:39 Because not only do you have an effect on the non believer, but the believer. Let me just read this to you in Galatians two eleven. And if you do not believe that this can affect even the most spiritual, remember the one that we are speaking of here. This is not Peter the Apostle post Holy Spirit. This is Peter the rather pre Holy Spirit, this is Peter the Apostle post Holy Spirit.
24:03 When he received that inheritance and that boldness and everything else to stand up against those religious figures, this same one in a moment, in just a moment allowed that leaven to come in and to infect him in Galatians two eleven. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him.
24:38 So that even, oh, even, even Barnabas, even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. If you have the right personality, if you have the right personality and you mix it with 11 of the Pharisees, it's a dangerous thing. Peter had that leadership personality. It's like whatever Peter said, the other guys were like, yeah, we're doing the same thing. I'm going fishing.
25:12 We're coming with you. I'm not gonna eat with them. I'm gonna separate myself. And Barnabas, the son of encouragement went along with them. You have no idea, sir, if you have the right personality.
25:28 Your personality, that God given personality of yours, can have either a powerful influence or a negative consequence. You can draw people to greater godliness. You can draw people to greater consecration, but if you allow this leaven to creep in, you can pull people away. It can go either way. It can go either way.
25:49 And Peter allowed it for a moment to go the other way. And Paul saw the danger of this leaven that it could affect. It starts small that it can spread so quickly, so he came with a sharp word to cut it right at the root. Listen, remember who you represent, Peter. Remember what you saw with your own eyes concerning the Gentiles.
26:09 Don't live like this. Now if there's any moment where I would encourage you to pay attention, it's at this moment right here. Because there is the ability, yes, for this leaven to bring another person into compromise and hypocrisy, but there's another type of effect that hypocrisy can have on a fellow believer, And both are just as damaging. And I need you to pay attention to this next few sections because some of you might hear, hear might be victims of hypocrisy, and you're still dealing with the wound of it. There's an interesting character in the Bible that perhaps you may or may not heard of, by the name of Ahithophel.
26:56 Ahithophel. He's a character found in the Old Testament, and in fact, more specifically in second Samuel. This man was a trusted counselor for David. So weighty were his words, the scripture tells us that every time he spoke, it was as though it were the oracles of God. And he would advise King David concerning various matters.
27:26 But something interesting happens with this man's life very quickly. That when Absalom, David's son, starts a rebellion and wants to overthrow his father from the throne, It was told that Absalom had gathered hundreds of people to come and push David out his own father from the palace. And David in his wisdom knew that he would not fight this fight. That it would not go well. So he took his faithful men and they left into the wilderness.
27:56 And as they pursued the wilderness, as they exited out from where God had placed them, he was told news that Ahithophel is with Absalom. Ahithophel stayed back and is in rebellion with Absalom. And the scriptures on the surface do not tell us why. It doesn't show us why Ahithophel betrayed David, but it gets even stranger. When David is finally exiled, and Ahithophel, and Absalom, and everybody else have come into that place where they took over, Absalom, almost immediately, seeks the counsel of Ahithophel.
28:42 And Ahithophel gives strange advice, very, very questioning advice, obviously, Devilish advice. He looks at Absalom and says, Let me tell you the first thing you need to do. The first thing that you need to do is take all of your father's concubines and sleep with them out in the open, so that all of Israel will know that you have become a stench to your father. And it says that Absalom took that advice and he placed the tent on the roof and he did that. He defiled his father.
29:23 And almost right after seeing that, the mind of Absalom was like a sponge. He gave his next word of instruction. Here's the next thing you need to do. Here's the next thing that you need to do. You need to, right now, gather troops and attack David while he is in transition.
29:42 You need to take take an army and go while he is weak, and he will he will he will frantic, you'll be in panic, and you'll be able to completely eradicate him from the face of the earth. But for some reason, for some reason, Absalom does not take the advice right away, but he calls another man by the name of Hushai. And Hushai comes, and he says, this was the council of Ahithophel. What do you say? Now, Hoshaai, the Bible tells us, was a man who was a friend to David.
30:13 And in fact, he was a spy to David when he he wanted to follow David into the wilderness to show his faithfulness. But David said, no. No. No. No.
30:20 Listen. You stay back. You stay back in the palace, and you give me word of what's going on in there. And Hishai agreed. And Hishai now comes to the place in which he has the opportunity to turn the tables.
30:31 And so when Absalom says, this is the word of Ahithophel. What what do you say? Hishai says, no, no, no. This time the word of Ahithophel is not good. It's not good.
30:44 And he begins to instruct him and tell him why that if he goes now that he will be overthrown by David. And he says, just give it some time. Gather. Gather an army and then go, but don't do it now. And scripture goes on to describe some events, but then Ahithopo, his his behavior gets even more strange.
31:08 And you're wondering what's happening? Now let me read what Ahithophel does in light of this in second Samuel seventeen twenty three. You don't have to turn there, but let me read it. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself.
31:33 And he died and was buried in the tomb of his father. What is going on? Here's a man who had the wisdom as though he was speaking the oracles of God. He betrays David, we have no idea why. He gives counsel for his son to defile the concubines.
31:57 He stirs his son to go and completely destroy David. And when that counsel was not received, he kills himself. And if you read on the surface level, you just think that I hate filth has some self esteem issues. Oh, he didn't take my advice, so let me kill myself. I present to you a great possibility of why Ahifofa has come to this point, And you would be surprised where you'll find this answer, and this is where I would encourage you to turn your bibles.
32:29 In second Samuel 23. Second Samuel 23. This chapter speaks of the mighty men that David recruited and that stood by him. And it goes on to describe some of these men, but at one point it just names them. Name after name after name after name after name.
32:55 And from verse 24 down you see that. It begins to describe these different fellows and name, and then you come here to verse 34 and you see an interesting insight. Eliphaleth the son of Ahasbaai of Macca, Eliam the son of Ahithophel of Gilo. And we read down, we go, what's the answer? Ahithophel's name is mentioned there, and it tells us that he's the father of someone.
33:31 Elaiem. And we go, why is that important? We have to turn back to second Samuel 11 to find out. Second Samuel 11 verse two. It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful.
34:03 And David sent and inquired about the woman, and one said, is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam? The wife of Uriah, the Hittite. Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather. Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather. Does it make sense now?
34:38 What did Ahithophel suffer with? The bite of bitterness. The bite of bitterness. It's a whole different story when hypocrisy, when hypocrisy is something on the outside, and you hear and see stories, but it's a whole different story when hypocrisy directly influences your life. Is it not?
35:12 In my estimation was a man that saw another man who was known as a man after God's own heart. That wrote songs. That praised God. That danced in the public sphere for the glory of God. And all for a sudden, he hears a story.
35:45 All for a sudden he gets news that his granddaughter was taken to some degree, and her husband was murdered, and David tried to cover it up. And this man allowed the falling of one individual. This man allowed the failure of a man of God to so corrupt his heart, to so poison him, that even though he had the wisdom, the wisdom so great that it was like the oracles of God. Bitterness clouded all of that. Bitterness can do that.
36:37 Literally, it can cloud your judgment. To the point where now he was so possessed with this pain, that he found glee and joy and delight in inflicting pain on the one that inflicted pain on him. And so he recruited Absalom to sleep with his concubines. And he couldn't even hold himself to build up to that point of killing him. He said, now go get rid of him.
37:06 This is my word of encouragement and warning to you. If you have been a victim of hypocrisy, even if it was one action by a person that lived in such contradiction to his confession, please please please please guard your heart. Don't allow, don't allow that bitterness to come in. Some of you in here might have parents that live completely different at church and at home. And there's pain in that and there's bitterness almost from that.
37:37 To the point where it stunts your growth and you want nothing to do with the things of God. To the point where you even like Ahithophel, find some kind of delight in knowing that because they put pain on your life from specific behavior that has directly influenced you, you wanna see them experience pain. Don't allow it to happen. Maybe you know of a spiritual leader that has done something that would disqualify him as being a leader, and now you have this bitter taste in your mouth, not just for that person, but for the things of God in general. Don't let it happen.
38:21 Don't be an Ahithophel. Don't let whatever God has deposited in you like what God had deposited in this man bring you to a place of being paralyzed. Not only paralyzed, but going into a direction that you never thought you would go into. If there's any instruction about how you and I as fellow believers are to deal with the hypocrisy of other other believers that named the name of Christ, know this, know this, simple instruction, we are human. We are human.
38:49 People make mistakes. Even if it's a long periods of time, we are human. David made a mistake. Peter made a mistake. But don't let your heart guard it the moment you see it.
39:02 Keep yourself. Don't let that leaven affect you. It happens. Pray for them. Be a Samuel, the same Samuel, the prophet that so often came before Saul, that dodo head.
39:21 I said, when are you gonna get it together? That same Samuel wept in private. Wept in private for that man. Wept. So let me say this again.
39:41 If you are sampling the leaven of the Pharisees, You have no idea what you can do with your life. You have no idea of the collateral damage. Please, please, just pick a side. Pick a side. For the sake of the non believers, for the sake of the believer, just pick a side.
40:02 And for those who have seen it and for those who have been hurt by it, know that they're human. And know this second truth to that reality, vengeance belongs to God. Vengeance belongs to don't be like Ahithopo and try to bring it upon yourself. Ahithophel, with all that wisdom, forgot this truth that vengeance belongs to God, that God is the one who disciplines his children. Don't you try to bring that upon yourself.
40:26 Don't seek revenge. Don't seek to make that person's testimony worse by spreading rumors about him. No. Keep it shut. Keep your heart guarded and give it to God.
40:36 This will happen if you've not seen it yet in Christendom. You will see it. Just stay in the faith long enough where you will see the behavior of those, even those that preach the gospel full time. And you will be affected, but you have to be careful. The leaven of the Pharisees.
40:54 And then there's a final leaven that Jesus speaks about. It's not found in Matthew 16, but it's found in Mark eight fifteen. And this is the last leaven that Jesus here speaks of in the in the gospels. And he cautioned them saying, watch out. Jesus says, watch out.
41:27 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Seems like he really wants to warn about the Pharisees. And the leaven of Herod. Herod. There was a group of people in this day that were known as the Herodians.
41:44 They were not a religious group. They were a political group. They were those who found allegiance to Herod who is placed by Rome to dictate certain areas. And if the leaven of Herod speaks of anything, it speaks of worldliness. Why?
42:09 The Herodians had no affiliation with the Pharisees, even the Sadducees per se. They were completely dismissed from their affairs, not totally as we're about to find out, but they were more concerned about Rome and the way Rome's laws work and the Roman lifestyle. So they were drawn to Herod. They were these followers of Herod called the Herodians. But I wanna present to you today that though these people were worldly and not hypocritically, they were not those that were trying to live with piety before other believers and then live worldly on the side.
42:42 No. They live with openness towards the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. They they just they just whatever. And it looks like the world, but not completely. Because Herod shows us something, I believe, that speaks about this type of leaven.
42:58 It is so dangerous. No wonder Jesus says watch out. We see a snapshot of Herod in the gospel of Mark that I believe that we see all over, especially in the West. For you to see, you have to turn to Mark chapter six. Mark chapter six.
43:30 Verse 18, for John the Baptist had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. This guy would not get invited to conferences by the way. John the Baptist? Nah. And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, but she could not.
43:55 For Herod feared John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. Now look what it says about Herod. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. He heard him gladly. Herod loved preaching.
44:20 He loved to hear John the Baptist preach especially. There was something about John the Baptist that was so new and fresh on the scene. He was not like the other teachers. They were boring and dull, and they had no authority. And they had a lot of knowledge, but it was just like, nah.
44:39 But when John the Baptist came on the scene, there was a fire. There was a zeal. There was a passion. There was authority. Things were happening whenever he preached.
44:50 Roman soldiers would come and say, what do we have to do? Tax collectors come and say, what do we have to do? Everybody was flocking to this man. There was something strange about him. He he he was not like all the other preachers in the day.
45:02 And he was so unique, and he was so powerful. I mean, come on. Think about hearing John the Baptist preach. And if John the Baptist lived today, I wouldn't invite him. He had the spirit and power of Elijah in his life.
45:18 And so when he spoke, it was as though fire as one preacher said, John the Baptist did no miracle. John the Baptist never raised the dead, but he raised a dead nation. When he preached, there was something about it. And guess what? It even drew Herod.
45:33 And Herod loved to hear him. If he was invited to a conference, Herod was there. He came Thursday night. Didn't wanna miss a night of Herod of John the Baptist. He loved to hear his sermons.
45:46 Even though they were so convicting, even though it would call out his own sin, he could sit through it because there was just something entertaining about it. Do you know it's possible to love preaching and hate Christ? Let me say that again. It is strongly possible to love preaching, and at the same time, hate Jesus Christ. How do you know?
46:20 Verse 21. But an opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guest. I just read two verses ago that he heard John the Baptist gladly. In just a matter of a few verses, it tells us that he was pleased with the dancing of this young lady.
46:50 And this denotes a sensual type of dancing. So Herod is a man that shows us. You can love conferences. You can love sermons, even the convicting ones. You can love those sermon jams that get you all wild up, you know, with the right music and the right preaching of these men that are dead today, but they they had punched in them when they preach.
47:18 Right? These guys. And I believe that the leaven of Herod has something to do with that kind of mentality. The leaven of Herod is a person that can sit through meetings, and that same night, indulge in the things that offend God. The leaven of Herod, and you know a person that's been affected by it and is eating of that leaven, is a person that can sit through a meeting like this, and on their way home, plug in music that defiles the character of God, that can enjoy the filth of the world that blasphemes the name of Christ and entertains the flesh and sin and have no problem with it.
48:01 They love sermons. But they can, with their eyes, watch what Christ would never dare sit through. They can watch with their eyes the things that breaks the heart of the Holy Spirit. And that same day, they could have heard a convicting message. No problem.
48:17 The leaven of Herod is a dangerous thing because it convinces a person that just because he enjoys listening to things and messages concerning holiness and being set apart and all those that that's enough. They find pleasure in preaching and they find just as much delight in the things of the world. And Jesus says, watch out for the leaven of Herod. Watch out for the leaven of Herod. Be careful that you would not come to a place in which you can hear sermons, and at the same time, enjoy the things that you just heard break the heart of God.
48:59 And this is a person here that I believe has affected many. The leaven of the Sadducees, the leaven of the Pharisees, the leaven of Herod. Would you be surprised to know that out of all those three, the most attention that Jesus gave to was the leaven of the Pharisees? It's a dangerous thing because it does something to these hands. Just the other day, I heard something in light of that, that provoked so many type of emotions in me.
49:37 It was a short clip on YouTube of a of a modern day, I guess you can say, philosopher. If I were to say his name, you probably all would know it. He claims to be a believer but he's very liberal in his understanding of Christianity and there's no sign of regeneration. He wouldn't even admit to that. But he he has this series in which he's teaching from a secular point of view of the bible.
50:07 And he's a clinical psychologist. And the short little clip of the psychologist, non believer brothers and sisters, He's not in the faith. And he came to the part, I guess, in the scriptures where it came to the law and he showed a picture. I guess it was just a painting or something of of Moses receiving the law and bringing it down and seeing all the people laying prostrate and being terrified of the of the law being exposed upon them. And he said this, he said that there is this universal moral law that we should abide by.
50:44 This is a secular psychologist. And he said this, in all of my years, in all of my years as a clinical psychologist, I have to tell you one thing that I've never failed to see. When I've heard people's stories and I've heard about the decisions that they made, this one truth has never failed me. And this is it. Nobody gets away with anything.
51:12 That whatever a person does, whether in private, especially in secret, will come out. I was hearing this, I was saying, you gotta be kidding me. This guy has more boldness than a lot of people today. This is a clinical psychologist and I believe that's saying, be sure your sin will find you out. He was pretty much saying that a person's life, whether even if he tries to hide it, it will come out somehow.
51:40 After all the interviews and after all the sessions, he says, I've never failed to see it. And he says, that's why he said this. That's why the Bible tells us My goodness, when I heard this, I couldn't believe it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
52:06 And he was using psychology talk, but you knew where he was coming from. He's not using biblical language, but he was saying this, that you and I, we must we must walk with this unwavering commitment to the universal moral law because if you break it, God will. God will make sure that if you're trying to hide something, it will come out. Are you kidding me? And he says, I walk with this.
52:33 I'm like, oh, you got come on. How is it that a secular clinical psychologist gets it? And most people are afraid to say it on this, and most people in Christendom don't even believe it. I was shocked. Says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
52:59 I want to bang my head against the wall. Why do I say that? In light of this leaven, be careful. When Jesus warned in Luke twelve one, about the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, in that same context, he says, whatever is hidden in the dark will come out into the light. Whatever is said in secret will be exposed in public.
53:21 Don't try to fake it. Don't try to live two types of lifestyles. Don't be somebody different at home than somebody at church. No, don't do it. Please don't do it.
53:28 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Take it from a clinical psychologist. Beware of these leavens brothers and sisters, and let's go back and make this full circle and go to first Corinthians five. Let us cleanse ourselves from this. For the Passover lamb has been sacrificed.
53:48 Let's cleanse ourselves. You know what? He's willing to cleanse us from all leaven. So I need to ask you this question as we close. What type of leaven have you allowed into your life?
53:58 Is it the leaven of the Sadducees in which you choose and pick what you're comfortable with in scripture? There's no resurrection. There's no angels. Now, you might not even say it, but you live like it. You live in the now.
54:07 You don't live for the after. Is it the leaven of the Pharisees? When you don't realize the hands that you can strengthen concerning the non believer, strengthen the hands of the wicked to do more evil and weaken the hand of the believer that wants to live faithfully, but seeing compromise that's making them discouraged. Or is it the leaven of Herod in which you've convinced yourself that you can sit through a meeting and you can listen to sermons and even post them on your Facebook page, yet at the same time you entertain yourself with the things that breaks the hearts of God? What is it?
54:36 Whatever it is, know this. Know this, that God is willing to cleanse you from it. He's willing. This isn't to just identify sin. This is God.
54:46 God is saying, I'm I'm showing you so I can cleanse you from it. That's what God wants to do. No matter what it is, even the hypocrite, even the hypocrite. There is no sin too great. There is no pit too low for the arm of God and his salvation to deliver you out of.
55:05 I can testify to that because before I was saved I named the name of Christ, but I lived like a hypocrite. That's what convicted me. That's what convicted me. When I realized my whole life I was telling people I was a Christian, I was living that college lifestyle, I realized my goodness, the leaven of the Pharisees. And he's willing to cleanse you.
55:27 I can testify to that, no matter what it is. And so I say this because I know there's a giant clock behind me. Don't just beware now. Don't just be cleansed now. Beware in the future how this can come in.
55:45 Never forget, how he let pain possess him, and bitterness to literally drive him to death because of the failing of another. You will see failures in other people. You will see I'm telling you, you will see it. If you haven't seen it, please tell me where you go. You will see shortcomings.
56:10 But you know what I've seen with that? I've seen people get so caught up in the failures of others that they themselves have failed in the end. Don't let that happen. Don't. Let's pray.
