Three Leavens That Jesus Warned About | Mark 8:11-21 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark)

Well, Mimi, please, in your Bibles in Mark chapter eight beginning in verse 11. Mark eight eleven. The word of God reads in verse 11. The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him, And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.

And he left them, got into the boat again and went to the other side. Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them saying, watch out. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?

And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, 12. And the seven for the 4,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, seven. And he said to them, do you not yet understand?

The latter portion of this text we'll deal with at another time. The focus of our time together will be one verse, and that is the verse that we see here in verse 15. And he cautioned them saying, watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. Now turn with me briefly to Matthew sixteen six at the parallel account of this very same scene, and notice with me a difference that Matthew emphasizes on that will help make this message more complete. Matthew 16 verse six.

Jesus said to them, watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Lord, we pray again. Open our eyes to your word. Help us behold the wondrous things out of your law. Lord, may this message not just win our attention, may it win our affections for Christ.

May there be a special grace upon the delivery of this word. May there be a special grace upon our hearts to receive it with obedience and joy, and may you be glorified in it all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

What I wanna speak to you today about is very simple. When combining Mark eight fifteen with Matthew sixteen six, it is clear that Jesus issues a warning to his disciples about three different groups of people. The first, the Pharisees. The second, the Sadducees. And lastly, Herod himself.

And this exhortation was not random. This was something that was given immediately after the Pharisees themselves encountered Jesus yet again, aggressively seeking to argue with him, demanding a miraculous sign in order for him to prove his claim. And so after Jesus feeds the 4,000, there was a challenge, a challenge from his enemies. Jesus, after that, just dismisses them, leaves, and then he speaks to the disciples about the Pharisees and others. But what was it that he was warning about exactly?

Was he asking his disciples not to retaliate with antagonism? Was he cautioning his disciples not to overlook the fact that there are these people who are after us. After me and perhaps you being my closest followers, remember that they are scheming for my death. Nothing of the sort. What Jesus was warning about concerning the Pharisees and these other groups of people was about their leaven.

Now, the Lord here is not giving some kind of instruction about ingredients for food. You know that very well. Jesus looks at these people and he understands something more influential about them. And so he looks to his own and he tells them that there is something that they need to be aware of and it's spiritual. Though they interpret it materially.

Right? They're after he talked about the leaven, they start speaking about bread. It opened up the subject. And the and the Lord gives them this rebuke. How are you guys even talking about bread?

He says, no. You have to be aware of the leaven of these three groups. And leaven, as you know, is a fermenting agent that is largely used for what? For dough to rise. And it is a consistent biblical metaphor from beginning to end to describe corrupting spiritual influence.

Whether that influence is immorality or doctrinal error. And so that's what we know concerning Jesus. He's cautioning and communicating that these three parties believed and behaved in a manner that could subtly impact the spiritual health, not just of others, but of his own followers. These are not three specific sins. Instead, they are three types of false teachings.

They are twisted ideas to cause you to think something that would warp your testimony. And now one could say that the major and the main influence of this coalition of groups is is unbelief in the person of Jesus Christ. And you would be right in a general sense because that's what the context communicates. But we have to remember that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod were distinct in their ideas. They each emphasized a certain shade on the spectrum of leaven.

And what we will seek to do today is to understand these leavens individually since they are prevailing threats today. If you think that this is just a danger and a peril for the disciples, then you have to understand that this is the Holy Spirit's warning to us as well. This is a warning to disciples. Jesus didn't turn to the world and say, beware of the leaven of these groups of people. He looks to his own.

He and he says with urgency and sobriety both in Mark and in Matthew, what? Watch out. Watch and be aware. This is not a distant danger. This is an ever present problem.

And it seeks to be sprinkled on you without you even realizing it. It seeks to seep in and to cause things to rise in you that you don't want to rise in you. And so to you I say with the same urgency and unction as the Lord Jesus, watch out, be aware, and realize that these threats are still alive and well today. And praying into this message, my prayer is that the word of God would expose any of these leavens living in the home of your heart because it's possible. It's possible for even disciples of Jesus to know the corrupting factors of what these parties represent.

And if you see that there is some of this in you, that you would go beyond that and say, okay, Lord, now purge me, cleanse me, wash me, and make me unleavened. In fact, that's the language of the apostle Paul to the Christian church. In first Corinthians five seven, he speaks to this church because there was contamination in the midst. There was sin that was tolerated by an individual, and it had the ability to cause others to also not just tolerate it, but to imitate it. And so what does Paul use?

He uses old testament language, and he says in this verse, 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. Here's what this verse tells me. It tells me that it's possible for you and I to be unleavened. Free from corruption, whether that is sexual immorality or any other debauchery or even doctrinal error, it's possible for you and I, because of the grace of Christ, to be cleansed from top to bottom.

That's encouraging to me. And yet, it's a reality that must be pursued. It's something that you and I have to engage in. It's something that we must be watchful and on guard about to ask the Lord, Lord, if there's any of this leavened in me, help me remove it. And this is not optional in the Christian life.

Actually, it's so fascinating when you study the Old Testament and you see in Exodus 12 the introduction of the Passover feast. Passover points to justification. Right? The blood of Christ that helps us escape the wrath of God. But immediately after the Passover feast, you and I are instructed about the feast of what?

Unleavened bread. Where there was a series of days that the Jews who also observed the Passover would cleanse their house from any of this fermenting agents in their own home, because leaven represents sin. And what's amazing about that is when you come to the New Testament, these two feasts are so closely connected. They overlap even in the days that they are celebrated that they were seen as almost one feast. And you see that I can show it to you in the new testament how even the disciples in preparing for the feast of the Passover, they interchangeably use the the words Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.

And that is that is not a contradiction. That is not poor writing. That is Holy Spirit strategy. Do you know why? Because if Passover represents the justification that we have in Christ, then the unleavened bread feast speaks of our sanctification.

Where you and I are called following Passover to cleanse ourselves from sin, and the fact that even the New Testament brings these two feasts together as an inseparable thing, proves that you and I also in the salvation of Jesus Christ cannot separate the reality of you being cleansed from sin. Do you understand that? You cannot claim to plead the blood over your life and yet not actively remove leaven from your life. And that that's just another point to make against those who claim that you can believe on Christ and not need to repent from your sin. You have so many points to to argue against such a thought.

You can't separate the feast of unleavened bread with Passover, and you can't separate practical sanctification from justification by faith. There are many types of leaven, and Jesus here speaks of three. Three that are embodied and exemplified by different parties. And so let's deal with each of these individually. Number one, the leaven of the Pharisees.

What is the leaven of the Pharisees? What about their way of life and their teachings that must be rejected and on guard for? The Pharisees, we've talked about them enough to know that they they exemplify self righteousness. And many other marks do they have that describe them, but one of them is not just self righteousness, but personal hypocrisy. And those two tend tend to go hand in hand.

Personal hypocrisy, the practice of being an actor in the realm of spirituality and religion. That is confirmed by the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 12 verse one. That is the emphasis that he wants to put on the leaven concerning the leaven of the Pharisees. Here's what he says in Luke twelve one in the second part of that verse. If you're taking notes, this is a great reference to confirm this truth.

He began to say to his disciples first, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is what? Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. The first thing that Jesus warns about to his own disciples is this, beware of being infected with the influence of living as a hypocrite. As a hypocrite.

Now most of you know why hypocrisy is wrong. Most of us in here despise hypocrisy. Even the unregenerate criticize hypocrites, especially from those who are in powers, position of powers, whether that's ecclesiastical power, positions, or political. Everybody hates hypocrisy. Everybody knows what it is.

Even hypocrites hate hypocrisy. They don't think they're hypocrites, but they can point out everybody else. And so it's generally understood what it means to be a hypocrite. It's a word that was anciently used for an actor. You would wear one mask and then you would take that mask off on the stage because that's how they did plays and and acts, and then you would put on another mask, and then you were somebody else, and you acted and sounded differently.

That is precisely what the Lord is alluding to. Beware of the leaven of hypocrisy. And what's so fascinating about this warning is because it's it's more subtle than we might think. We might all say amen. Yeah.

Okay. I don't wanna be a hypocrite, but it looks much more subtle than you might perceive. Its influence is much more discreet than you might imagine. And I wanna just briefly show you a couple examples through the Pharisees of how hypocrisy can live in us and we don't even realize it. How hypocrisy might be dominating us, how this leaven might be infiltrating our blood, our testimony, our practical Christian walk, and we may not even see it.

Turn with me for one example in Luke chapter 14 verse five. Luke fourteen five. Jesus is gonna ask a very direct question to the Pharisees in the context of him healing a man with dropsy. Here's Jesus invited at a dinner, and there are many distinguished guests, namely Pharisees and others like them. And in the presence of this dinner is a man with a disease and Jesus wants to, in his compassion, heal this man and he does heal this man.

Not just at dinner, dinner on the Sabbath. And you know what the Pharisees believe about the Sabbath? They had such overpowering man made tradition that even somebody being healed could not be permitted. That was a work. And so Jesus, disregarding their oral law, takes advantage of the situation, heals this man, and makes a statement.

I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Right? But in this specific context, he brings a question to these to these men who were stunned by the audacity of this this figure with such authority. And here was the question after healing. In verse five of Luke 14, and he said to them, which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out, and they could not reply to these things.

If your son or an ox fell on a into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you, even you Pharisees, make it top priority to save and rescue? And they had nothing to say. What's the Lord getting at with this? Is there something deeper here than just a record of conversation? There's a principle here.

It reveals something about the leaven of the Pharisees, at least one component of it. And it is this, Pharisees and the leaven of the Pharisees encourages people to apply strict standards on others while being lenient on their preferred persons or property. This unfortunately happens even in Christian circles today. Right? Where you apply, you preach, you teach, you even disciple others with a standard of spirituality that you are unwilling to apply on yourself or on even those that are closely related to you in some way.

Parents are in danger of doing this. Pastors are in danger of doing this. They may preach or demand a set of convictions on others, but don't expect the same level of commitment from their own spouses or from their own children. Or certain individuals are very vocal, very vocal about what other Christians should do pertaining to gray areas in our faith, not black and white gray areas, matters of personal conviction and conscience. I've met people like that.

But the moment someone related to them does the opposite of what they expect, what happens? Their whole value system shifts, doesn't it? Their whole belief system changes because now it hits home. Now now it's something that deals with you. That is the leaven of the Pharisees.

So discreet. Willing to criticize others, whether that be their family, their marriage, their churches, their ministries, but don't apply the same rules to themselves. Or when in their own world those rules are not honored the way they probably thought they should be. Oh, well, All for a sudden now you're open minded. All of a sudden now you're lenient and and you're merciful and you're gracious.

What changed? Well, it's your ox now. It's your son now that fell into the well. And so Jesus exposes here that part of the leaven of the Pharisees is partiality. Partiality is a major ingredient of this leaven and so beware of that.

Beware of being black and white with others, but when the same issue arises in your own ministry or home, you are different and you shift and you change and you pivot. This is something that marked the Pharisees. There There's another example I would like to show you and since we're in Luke, let's go a couple chapters later in Luke 16. Luke sixteen fourteen. The Pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. What a powerful statement. What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God, but we're not touching on that part. Jesus looks at the same group of people and he says, you are those who justify yourselves before men. Now where is that coming from?

What does that mean? And the best way to get clarity is to connect it with the previous verse. The Holy Spirit gives us commentary about the hearts of these Pharisees. And what was it? They loved money.

That's another mark of a Pharisee. They loved money. They adored it. They accumulated it through unjust means, through lies. They loved money.

And Jesus knowing this about their hearts makes a link. They loved money, and Jesus makes this charge in light of that commentary to say that these religious leaders were masters at rationalizing their idolatry and their covetousness. So follow with me here. They were lovers of money and then Jesus says, you are those who justify yourselves before men. The connection is in their love for money, in serving mammon, they were still capable and very good at trying to make excuses for their love for money.

Is love of money wrong? Yes. According to the bible, money is not wrong, savings is not wrong, spending is not wrong, hobbies and leisure is not wrong, but loving money. And these Pharisees understood that to a degree, but at the same time, they were good at making excuses for their wrong. That's part of the leaven of the Pharisees.

Jesus shows that the Pharisees are notorious for refusing to admit that they are in error, but instead campaign to continually justify themselves before men. So what does it look like? Despite your sin, despite your mistake, this leaven convinces you that you are always in the right. Always. Like, you sinned, evidence, plain and clear, witnesses, all conscience, word of God, but you're still in the right.

You're always a victim, always. In every situation, you are always the victim. You justify yourself. And even when there is a display or demonstration of sinful behavior or attitudes, you justify it. Still, even in that justify, how?

Well, perhaps through the idea of the pretense of righteous motivation. Right? It's not clear but I wonder and it wouldn't surprise me the Pharisees ungodly pursuit and gain of wealth was explained as a sign of God's blessing. God God has blessed us. This is why we have what we have.

Or like Corbron. Right? When they would refuse to honor their father and mother and claim that it was devoted to God, they also probably in their love of money explained that this was something for the purposes of God, though it was selfishly enjoyed. They they were experts at always justifying themselves before men. That is what the leaven of the Pharisees can do to Christians.

It can inflate their ego like it inflates bread and make them think I'm right always. Perpetually unbroken perfection, and I'm always able to find a reason to why even if what it is is wrong, it's in fact justified. When I when I thought about this, when I meditate on this, it proved further the absolute treasure and value of humility. If you wanna know the absence of this leaven in your own heart, if you wanna know the absence of this leaven in another's hearts, and I wouldn't be too worried about another's heart as much as your own in mind. Do you wanna know how it's missing?

You wanna know how by the Holy Spirit's grace, by the word of God, by your watchfulness, that leaven has no place in you? You can say I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Amen. Thank you.

I made a wrong. I was in the flesh when I did that. I was operating in my own wisdom when I did that. I reacted in anger unrighteously. I wasn't thinking.

I was selfish. If you can say that, I can tell you confidently, my brother, my sister, that's a good healthy sign that this leaven is not in you. But for the Pharisees, they justified themselves always. Regardless of their hypocrisy, they were able to justify their hypocrisy. I read something.

You know what book I read recently in the bible? Zephaniah. And I read something in Zephaniah that that I perhaps never saw before, and it deals with one of my favorite doctrines, the fear of the Lord. And when I saw this, it added yet another component about the fear of the Lord that blessed me, and I hope it blesses you. And so go to Zephaniah.

If you don't know where it is, ask your neighbor, where's Zephaniah? They will help you. Hint, it's on the left side. You go to Zephaniah, I want you to see something in chapter three. There is always something to learn in the scriptures.

I'm telling you, if you wanna grow in Revelation, this might blow your mind. You ready? Read your bible. Read it cover to cover. Don't skip any parts.

Don't you dare. Should make that a quality, or condition for membership. Yeah? You can't skip any parts of the Bible. You gotta read it cover to cover.

Zephaniah three verse seven. Look what it said here. The Lord speaks, I said, surely you will fear me. You will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you, but all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt.

Do you see the parallelism? Do you see the truths connected in the first two lines? I said, surely you will fear me. You will accept correction. Do you wanna know if you fear God?

You are able to accept correction. It's hitting home. Right? I told you. It's much more subtle.

All the Pharisees, they're crazy. They were such religious filthy rebels. Yeah. But Jesus warned his own, beware of their leaven. I saw this and I thought to myself, Lord, I hope to believe I fear you.

I hope to believe that I honor you. And yes, this correction comes from God if you accept God's correction, but God's correction could come through God's people who love you enough to bring God's word to you, to be the eyes and the blind spots of your life. And so if you really fear God, which means to stand in awe of God, when correction comes your way, you are more willing to analyze it, consider it, and if it is legitimate to accept it, I'm sorry. Yes. Perhaps the parties you've offended, but ultimately, at the end of the day, the god fearing person will find a place in his home, find a corner, take a ride, go on a walk, and say, Lord, because I fear you, ultimately I offended you.

I'm sorry, Lord. I'm sorry, Lord. And you talk to your father. You talk to your father, not to your boss, your father. You know, that's why I heard from others, and I try by the grace of God to make this a discipline.

You'd be amazed to know how people who don't even know you are willing to offer you correction through different means these days, messages and letters and people that don't even put their names in the correction that they're trying to give. But I've heard from wise men to say that even your enemies, even those who seek to persecute you and discourage you and what they say to you, be willing to look deeper and ask, is there any truth in this? Is there any truth in what my enemies are saying about me? Though their motives might be wrong, though they wanna hurt me and bring me down, is there anything in this that might be true that I can I can bring to the Lord and say, Lord, if this is true, remove it from me? Surely, you will fear me.

You will accept correction. Pharisees justifying themselves always, even when they're wrong. There are times where you are justified, so don't take it to the other extreme where every time somebody says something to you, oh, I'm a sinner. No. There are legitimate cases where you're standing in the right, and people would still try to blame you.

But this is different. This is clear, blatant, open sin, inexcusable, and yet you are able because that's what the leaven of the Pharisees does. It encourages, it strengthens hypocrisy and self righteousness. And Jesus looks at his own and he says, be careful. This can sneak in and you might not even realize it.

There's much more to say. We can make this whole message about the Pharisees alone, the leaven of the Pharisees, but let me make this concluding thought before we move on. Jesus had the most conflict and issues with the Pharisees out of the three groups. Yeah. He dealt with the Sadducees and he dealt with Herod, but the Pharisees were a constant threat.

And I argue that so is the leaven of the Pharisees. Hypocrisy is the most prevalent among the followers of Jesus Christ. You know, in Mark, he says, the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. In Matthew, he says, the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of the Sadducees. Which one did he repeat?

Which one is brought forth in both gospels? Not Sadducees, not Herod, Pharisees. That emphasis says something. I must be extra alert concerning this particular leaven. May God help us.

The leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven of the Sadducees. Now we we we studied Mark long enough to know who the Pharisees are, but who are the Sadducees? Well, they were an influential Jewish political and religious party in Jesus' day. Affluent men, elite class, wealthy, great pedigree, and they operate in places of power as well.

And they they express this party, the San Jesus, they they had faith in God and they would confess that, though they were liberal in their theology. They only held to the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah. The Pentateuch was something that they held, not the extra books like the Pharisees, and so they were very limited in their view. They were very conservative in a sense that they just held to these books and these books alone. And the proof of their looseness in their spirituality is even shown in their interaction with Jesus.

The Sadducees don't show up like the Pharisees do early on in Jesus' ministry. They come later. Why do they come later? Because they're not interested in this rabbi that's going around teaching things. The moment they became concerned is when they saw how this message and movement might get them in trouble with Rome.

And these Sadducees love to interact with Rome and to be in good standing with Rome, and and so this is who we're dealing with in. These people were more involved with in politics than they were in worship to the true God. And not much is written about the Sadducees within scripture, but what we have is enough to understand what Jesus was referring to when he warned about their leaven. And it's found in Acts of all places. In Acts 23 verse eight, here is an ingredient concerning the leaven of the Sadducees, and beware of this leaven.

The Holy Spirit says in Acts 23, for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. This is a difference between these two parties, and with this we can decipher the essence of their leaven, their false teaching that produces false living. And here's how we summarize it. The leaven of the Sadducees is not if you don't believe in the resurrection, or don't believe in angels, or don't believe in life after death. The leaven of the Sadducees is the belief and practice that you have the authority to subtract from God's word instead of honoring the whole counsel of God.

It is the spiritual disease that encourages selective interpretation and subjective application of the scriptures. These high minded educated men could not get themselves to believe in these supernatural aspects, at least to this extent. Yes. You saw miracles take place in the first five books of Moses, but what they really had issue with is this idea of eternal life. This idea that there is a spiritual realm that parallels with this physical world.

And so to their liking, they dismissed these things. They ignored these things. They chose what they wanted to believe and how many, you know, ministers and ministries are doing the very same thing. How many are infected with this leaven in our very day? It's everywhere.

May not be the same doctrines, but with clear doctrines nonetheless. And yet, just like the leaven of the Pharisees, there is a subtlety about the leaven of the Sadducees that you and I must be concerned with. We can miss it. We can miss how we can slip in and begin to cause things to arise within us that we don't want to arise. There is the outright denial.

Right? There's the outright denial of theology, whether that's the resurrection, the spiritual realm, life after death, which some unashamedly confess. And then there are those who may claim to believe core tenants of the faith, but practically deny them. Practically deny them because they they don't have a grip about how these truths that they might believe actually shape your day to day, actually have any influence. In other words, it's not a subtraction of God's word and what it says, but a subtraction of how God's word should shape should shape your life, your living.

And the fruit of the Sadducees proves that. It's clear. It's so obvious. As I said earlier, they didn't even show any interest in the person of Jesus until in the latter portion of his three year ministry. They weren't too concerned.

They weren't as confrontational until near the end. You remember that question that they asked about the resurrection. Hey, here's this woman, she got married and that husband's gone and she gets married again and who whose husband will she have in in the resurrection? Right? That's near the end of Jesus' ministry.

And so these people were entangled in the here and now. They were consumed and preoccupied with politics and the social spheres of life. They weren't concerned as much with religion, with spirituality. And none of us would be able to argue against the possibility of those who confess belief in eternity in the spiritual world, but live the same. And that's the reality that I'm trying to point to.

There are some who might verbally say I believe these things, but at the core of their being, they don't really believe these things. And it shows. It shows. I told you, what book was I reading? Zephaniah?

Zephaniah, again, showed something to me that, that I believe helps us understand this truth a little bit more. So if you're still there in Zephaniah, go to not chapter three, but chapter one. I want you to see something in chapter one of the prophet Zephaniah. What I'm trying to say is, are those who confess to believe these things any better than the Sadducees if they live in the same way that the Sadducees lived, if they had a worldview in the same way that the Sadducees lived in their worldview? My answer is no.

They're not any better. Look what Zephaniah says in chapter one verse 12. God says, at that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent. Complacent, those who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good nor will he do ill. And so the Lord says through the prophet that there is a a searching that's gonna go out in the land and the holy city of Jerusalem, and my target for my discipline are those who are complacent.

The n a the NASB uses the phrase, those who are stagnant in spirit. Those who are inactive. Those who have no life. Those who are not interacting with the truths that they claim to believe in. And the characteristic of the complacent, this is what blew my mind away because it really offered an answer that that I wrestled with for many years.

What are one of the characteristics of those who are in in a perpetual rut spiritually? You know those people. You know who I'm talking about. Those who just they're complacent. It's like no matter no matter what you preach, no matter what you do, no matter what you say, nothing can get them out of that place.

It's just and if it if it does, it's just like a little second and then it just like a little like a little wick on a candle just disappears. How? I've always wondered like, how? And here's what Zephaniah says. Here's a characteristic of those kind of people who are complacent, stagnant in spirit.

They say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good nor will he do ill. What does that mean? Here's what it means. It's not a denial of the existence of God, but the lack of belief of how he can intervene in the affairs of men. This insight shows that people who become spiritually dull, self sufficient, consume with the materialism of this life, is because down down deep inside, they don't really believe God can be known and can be made known.

He won't do ill, he won't do good. He doesn't interact with us. He's there, but we can't we shouldn't expect him to do things here and now. You know what's so amazing? Read your bible closely.

They didn't say that with their mouths, did they? It says who say in their hearts, down deep inside, you really don't believe it. That's the leaven that Jesus is warning about. Unbelief. Unbelief that contaminates and corrupts your zeal and your passion and your dedication.

Could that be the reason why people don't pray? Could it? I'm just offering it. I'm just it's a suggestion. Based on what Zephaniah say, could that be the reason why people don't take the commands of Jesus seriously?

Could that be the reason why people don't devour the scriptures? Could that be the reason why people don't orient their life around serving the great commission and loving him and honoring him and making him known? Could it be because truth be told they don't really believe how God can manifest his blessings if they do? Zephaniah, you know what he would say? Yeah.

The complacent are those who say in their hearts, God really won't do anything. He's there. Yeah. I praise God. I saw this.

I said, that makes sense. That makes sense. These people claim to believe, but did they really believe? So this is where I I wanna encourage you because if you resonate with this, if you resonate with constant and consistent complacency, perhaps perhaps you have a little bit of this leaven in you. Maybe.

And if you ever might become complacent, I hope that you never forget what Zephaniah says here. Search deeper. Ask more honestly if you lost sight of the God who is always on the move. If you lost sight of the God who is working behind the scenes, if you lost sight of the God who is fulfilling his will on the earth and willing to use you to make a portion of that a reality, ask yourself, did I lose sight of that? And if you did, it's because that leaven got in there.

The same idea that the Sadducees had, this God, there is nothing to expect here as much. There's nothing to expect after this. And in Zephaniah's case and context, that bred complacency among the people of God. So you see, lukewarmness and indifference is not always because you're familiar with things. Sometimes it's a faith issue.

I don't believe. I really don't believe. That's why I don't get excited about the thing like I don't get excited. Why? Because you really don't believe.

That's why I don't participate. Why? Because you really don't believe. Not just because you're busy. That can be one because down deep inside, there are crumbs of the leaven of the Sadducees.

And Jesus, his grace, his mercy is willing to help us cleanse that even out. Let's come to the last leaven that Jesus warns about, the leaven of Herod. If you remember in our original text, Jesus not only warned about the Pharisees, but about Herod. Now, this is probably the most interesting of all three. And the reason why it's the most interesting is because the Pharisees and the Sadducees had some kind of tie to the religion of the Jewish people.

They had some kind of relationship between the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But when we come to Herod, Herod is a secularist. Herod is just this public figure that had no overlap with the religious life of the Jewish people, at least we might think so. And so we think to ourselves, what does this figure have to do with my spirituality? What is this man at this time, what kind of threat does he propose?

What kind of danger does he offer? There is something about him. Obviously, Jesus knew something about Herod as distant as he was away from Israel's worship and God's commands, that was noteworthy. And if you stay within the boundaries of the gospel of Mark, you have enough to work with to see and to understand what it is that Jesus Jesus is cautioning. Do you remember the last mention of Herod before this?

The very last mention of Herod by name is in Mark chapter six. In Mark six verse 22, this is the last time Herod was mentioned before he warned about the leaven of Herod. In Mark six twenty two, for when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod. She pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, ask me whatever you wish and I will give it to you.

The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. The leaven of the Sadducees is a level of unbelief, whether it's outright unbelief or subtle unbelief. The leaven of Herod is worldliness. It's worldliness. You can say that it is blatant, hedonistic enjoyment of the things of this life, but it's more complicated than that.

Remember, what I'm trying to make a point about is that how each of these leaven, they're much more subtle than you might think. The worldliness that Herod was living in was much more deceptive and dangerous than the plain old atheistic sinning. So Mark six twenty two, he was he was pleased by the dancing of his stepdaughter, which is sensual and inappropriate and perverted. But then two verses earlier, we read in Mark six twenty, for Herod feared John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed and yet he heard him gladly.

That word gladly in the original is with pleasure. So Herod was able to watch the show of his stepdaughter with his guest with pleasure and he was able to a few days earlier sit under the powerful convicting preaching of John the Baptist and also enjoy it with pleasure. This makes sense now. The danger that I believe the Lord is alluding to is not just adopting an inappropriate relationship with the world, but with it a distorted relationship with the word of God. Herod's problem was not that he enjoyed John's preaching.

That wasn't the problem. His problem was that the reason why he enjoyed it. When he heard John preach, it was as though it was another form of entertainment like anything else. And so the value that John offered Herod was no greater than it being an emotionally stirring and intellectually stimulating experience. That's it.

It was a sight to see. Right? I mean think about the outfit he wore. Camel's hair, leather belt, crazy man, locusts in his teeth, cheeks stained with honey, and just rebuking Pharisees, calling them vipers, and calling even Roman soldiers to repentance. Like, that's a sight to see.

It's not the crazy guy that's holding out evil signs out there in the name of Christianity. This guy was getting the attention of the government. This guy was causing politicians to be scared. This guy was causing law enforcement and the oppressive government to bend the knee in some way. This guy was causing the whole nation to leave their homes and their cities and their markets into the desert to hear him preach.

Like this was a national spectacle. So it's not a surprise that Herod is like, I wanna see this guy. Who's this guy? Like, just just imagine imagine a local church, no bigger than this. Right?

And lineups down the street, traffic, people coming to hear a man with a prophetic voice. So Herod comes. This is not any indication that he was yearning to be changed, yearning to come in preparation for the Messiah. It was entertainment. He enjoyed it.

It moved him on the soul level, but not in the spirit. And this is a problem not just in Herod's life, this is a problem in 11 that even from the days of old was present and is still present today. You know, God spoke to his prophet Ezekiel, and he gave Ezekiel an insight to how the people of his day heard his preaching. Can I show it to you? It's in Ezekiel 33.

Here's our final text before we pray. Ezekiel 33. Look at verse 30 of Ezekiel 33. As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to his brother, come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord. That sounds good.

So you have guys gathering together like, let's go hear the word of the Lord. Okay. Amen. Let's go do it. And they come to you as a people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

For with lustful talk in their mouths they act, their heart is set on their gain. Does that sound like Herod? Come let us hear the word of the Lord, but their heart is set on gain. Verse 32, and this this part, this description, oh, it's it's a a beautiful description for this point. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

When this comes and come at will, then they will know that a prophet has been among them. Here's the translation. Ezekiel, when you preach, the reason why people come to hear you preach is because you are like to them a concert. You are like to them a show. You're a gifted speaker.

You're bold. You do these strange acts to demonstrate truth and to convey these illustrations laying on one side, doing another thing, cutting your hair, throwing it up in the air. And so you are to them a form of entertainment. Because though they say they wanna hear the word of the Lord, their heart is set on gain. That's Herod.

That's the leaven of Herod. The leaven of Herod gets into you and convinces you and I that we're spiritual because we like hearing men of God. We like hearing music about God. You know, even the heathen enjoy some of the contemporary Christian stuff. I was actually just listening.

I don't know how I stumbled upon it, just two guys on a podcast talking and they were talking about, I won't name the group, a contemporary Christian group that's been in a lot of heat lately. And they're expressing how powerful the music was and they're throwing out cuss words while they're talking about it. I won't I won't entertain your imagination of ages. I couldn't hear I couldn't even imagine. I was like, they're they're just the language was unbelievable and yet they're they're trying to express the powerful music in the name of God.

Because that's all it is. It stirs the emotion. It gets them to another place was the language of another, but they're still in sin. And that's what the leaven of Herod does. It convinces you and I that we are spiritual just because we enjoy things about God.

The delivery of God's word. The music that sounds heavenly and edifying and pure. And yet, we can enjoy the world just as much if not more. And so if I hear the word, if I sing the word, but there isn't a sense in which I'm desiring to be conformed to the word, then maybe there's a little bit of this leaven in me. Jesus said, watch and beware of the leaven of hypocrisy, the leaven of unbelief, the level leaven of worldliness, but a worldliness that deceives you because you can still say, I enjoy the things of God, the people of God, but I am still not of God.

I'm still not walking with God. Heavy message, a message nonetheless, and here's the call to action. Let's not be like the Pharisees and attempt to justify ourselves without examination, but may we together come before the presence of God and say, Lord, if there is any of this alive in me, I pray that you cleanse it. You know your heart. God knows your heart.

Is it the leaven of the Pharisees? Is it the leaven of the Sadducees? Do you really, really, really, really come on. Listen. Do you really believe God?

One way to know is how I interpret his commands, his promises, how I view the problems that come my way. Where's God in my thinking when that comes? When it seems like an unsolvable thing, when it seems like an overwhelming situation. Is God here? Is God here?

Lastly, the leaven of Herod. I pray that every person who's sitting here today doesn't just enjoy hearing God's word, but enjoys hearing God's word because you want to be like God and live for God and walk in his ways. Lord, we ask that this afternoon with these warnings that have been given to us, we would humble ourselves before you, and we would hear the words of Jesus who said, watch out and beware. Lord, if we are free from this leaven, we praise you, but we do not boast in anything. We just ask that you keep us safe from these ever present dangers and perils.

We ask, Lord, that we would be what Paul said we could be unleavened, totally clear, free from it all. Lord, we do not feel condemned this afternoon. We rejoice in knowing that you are for us, not against us. That if you did not love us, you would not have warned us. And so, Lord, with this message, we sit back, we think, we do what the nation of Israel was called to do and to go into the homes and cleanse it all out whatever is there.

We open the cupboards. We go down the quarters of our conscience. We examine our ways. And like that feast, by your power and mercy, we cleanse it all out today. And so, Lord, if anything needs to be cleansed, let it be cleansed now, let it be brought to the altar, let it be consumed.

And may we celebrate what that feast points to, that through the Passover, we are able to know sanctification. We are able to know freedom, not just from the penalty, but from the presence and the power of sin in our hearts. We love you with all that's within us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

The music team will come in a moment, but I encourage you I encourage you as they come, come. Don't worry. Just pray. Just meditate on the words of the Lord. Meditate on Zephaniah one.

If there's complacency, Lord, is it because I believe you won't do ill or won't do good? Meditate on Zephaniah three where surely you will fear me for you will accept correction. Ask the Lord for the strength that when rebuke comes, and it will come at some point, if correction comes even from those who are not for you, that you in wanting to honor God with your life saying, Lord, is there any truth in this? Because ultimately you're my motivation, and and so help me perceive what is in me that needs to be changed and altered. Lord, please ask God for that.

We're here to meet with God. We're not the Sadducees. Somebody jokingly said, no wonder they're called Sadducees. Sad, you see. They don't believe in the resurrection.

They don't believe in life. You're not as sad, you see. So believe God. Believe that he hears you and he sees you and that he can impart something into you now, and then we will sing. So if you'd like to just play softly, you know, you can play softly.

But at this time, just pray, seek the Lord. We will stand and sing, and we will go our own way.