Beware of False Teaching

Let me ask you to open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16. We're going through the Gospel of Matthew consecutively, so in a sense I don't choose what I preach each Sunday. It is chosen for me and we're going to be looking at this passage in Matthew chapter 16. It is possible to have eyes and not to see.

It is possible, spiritually speaking, to have ears and not to hear. And in our study of Matthew, I thought of this during the week, that we have been listening to the words of Jesus. We have been seeing Jesus in action. And I ask myself, as I ask you now, are we understanding? Has it made any difference in our lives? Are our attitudes being changed? Is our faith being strengthened? Is our hearts being softened? Are we basing our lives on the truths of the Word of God as we're learning?

What is your response? How important it is that our lives conform to the Word of God. I began by reading Psalm 1. How easy it is for our lives to conform to our culture, to our contemporaries, rather than our very lives being conformed to the Word of God. And throughout Scripture, as we're going to learn in this passage, throughout Scripture there are many warnings against false teachers. The Apostle Paul speaks of deceitful spirits and teaching of demons in 1 Timothy 4 verse 1. Jesus described the enemy as a liar and the father of lies.

Think of any lies we hear almost every day in our culture, in our media. Yes, from our own hearts. We are, we must admit, difficult although it is, that we are rather easily misled, easily deceived.

Where there is truth, there is always error. And so we're praying, I trust as we read the Word of God that our eyes will be opened, that our ears will be opened, that our hearts will not be hardened, and that we will respond to the Word of God with humble obedience. Humility is key.

Obedience is key. And in our passage, as we're going to read now, the Lord Jesus gives a very stern warning against false teaching. Matthew chapter 16 then, and I'm going to read the first 12 verses. Matthew 16 verse 1, the Pharisees and Sadducees came and to test him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, when it is evening you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

So he left them and departed. When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And they began discussing it among themselves saying, we brought no bread. But Jesus aware of this said, O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not yet remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you gathered?

Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that they did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now that's an intriguing portion of Scripture, isn't it? I want us to learn first of all from this passage that sinful and stubborn attitudes prevent spiritual understanding. That it's all too possible to hear the truth, the accurate truth, to hear the Word of God. But because of our attitudes, because of sin in our life, we fail to understand.

We hear at one level, but we totally miss the spiritual truth. Here in this passage, and we've seen it before, the hypocrisy of the religious establishment, the Pharisees and the Sadducees blind them as to the true identity of Jesus. Here they are again in conflict. Here they are again confronting Jesus.

We saw in chapter 12 verse 14 that the Pharisees, these evil men, had been conspiring to put Jesus to death, conspiring to destroy him. Faced with the very miracles of Jesus, faced with his brilliant, gracious teaching, their hearts are hardened. The irrefutable evidence is right before them, but they don't see it. The truth is presented to them, but they don't hear it. In fact, the greater the evidence, the more outstanding the miracles, and the more brilliant the teaching, the harder and harder their hearts become until eventually they're going to crucify him.

Spiritually blind, spiritually deaf. They are, as Jesus taught in chapter 12, they are in danger of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin. And so Jesus gives this very stern warning to the disciples. Verse 6, watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Again, the end of verse 11, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Verse 12, they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He's warning them against false teaching.

Leaven, yeast, small is the point and it quickly spreads. Be exposed to a little false teaching, it quickly spreads. The leaven of the Pharisees is their hypocritical attitude and their unbelief. Look in Luke chapter 12, verse 1 says, in the meantime when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to the disciples, here it is, first, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

He spells it out. What is this, this evil that so quickly spreads? It is hypocrisy, it's unbelief. They, like many religious people, can I say that we are tempted to be like this, they honor the Lord with their lips, but their heart is far from him.

This morning as we were singing, you were singing very, very well, and as anyone may look at you, it would seem that you're a very spiritual person. You're honoring the Lord with your lips, you're worshiping God with your lips, but your heart is hard and your mind is far away from God. That's it, that's the Pharisees. You see, the Pharisees added their legalistic traditions to the Word of God.

The Pharisees add to the Word of God with their traditions, with their legalistic regulations. The Sadducees, on the other hand, reject part of the Word of God. They don't believe in the supernatural. In particular, they don't believe in the resurrection. That's why we call them Sad-u-C's. Did you get that, Gary? They are Sad-u-C. Bad joke, but you'll help to remember you.

Don't ever forget that one. They reject the resurrection. A group adds to the Word of God, a group takes away from the Word of God. By the way, always, always beware of those who add to Scripture, of those who go to beyond Scripture with their special visions and dreams, but always beware of those, of course, who selectively hold to Scripture. They take this part, but they reject that part.

That's leaven, and it quickly spreads. A wrong view of Scripture, adding to Scripture or taking away the parts of Scripture that we don't like, that we don't think are very cool, that don't conform to our unbelieving culture, we reject that. False teaching quickly spreads, doesn't it? I was thinking, do we have an example of this today of false teaching quickly spreading? I thought, you know, I mentioned this before, there are the arise of these prophets and apostles, they call themselves, and some of you want me to listen to them.

I'm not going to listen to them. We have one false prophet claiming that God told him not to take the vaccine, and whether he takes the vaccine or not, who cares? But he's actually claiming, think of it, think of the blaspheme area, that God told him, and he says, I'm a prophet. And the sad thing is that so many people, yes, so many Christians lack the discernment because some person says something like that and puts it on YouTube and goes so far to say, if you take the vaccine, in fact, this is the mark of the beast, this is the mark of the anti-Christ, that in the vaccine there is the mark of the beast. And people think, oh, that could be true.

Listen, it's nonsense, absolute nonsense. That's a false prophet. Clearly hasn't read Revelation 13, which says the mark of the beast is going to be in the right hand, a tattoo in the right hand or on the forehead.

When I got my vaccine, I wasn't tattooed. Furthermore, the anti-Christ is going to come during the tribulation, not before it. I'm just giving a rather bizarre example of what is out there about people who claim to be prophets, who claim to be apostles, and thousands of people listen to that nonsense on YouTube rather than reading the Word of God and say, oh, I wonder if it's true. It's not true. You don't need to email me about it.

You don't need to call me about it. It's not true. And it's very, very, I think very, very discouraging to me, a pastor at Calvary Church, to think there are people at Calvary Church that are swallowing that nonsense. It is false teaching.

Am I talking strongly enough this morning? You know what the Pharisees want? Like many people, they want a sign from heaven.

Did you notice that? They ignore the miracles, but they want something spectacular, perhaps like Elijah who brought down the fire from heaven. Show us a sign from heaven, they say. They're there to test Jesus. They're there to discredit Jesus. They're there to trap Jesus.

This is not a good question asked in good faith. Jesus says, how is it you can interpret the weather, but you can't interpret the signs of the time? I was brought up with the saying, red sky at night shepherds delight. Red sky in the morning shepherds warning. Pharisees were brought up with something else.

They could interpret the weather, very good to interpret the weather, but you can't interpret the signs of the times. You're asking me, Jesus is saying, for a sign from heaven and He is the sign. Right in front of them is the Messiah, the Son of God. And they cannot see, they cannot understand that right in front of their eyes is the Christ as we're going to see next week, the Christ, the Son of the living God. You've got the Scriptures, Jesus is saying. You've got the sign of Noah, of Jonah.

You've got all the evidence you need. Your problem is not that they're not signs, your problem is that your hearts are hardened, that you're rejecting the very evidence in front of you. Can I say to you, my dear brothers and sisters at Calvary, don't add to or reject the Word of God. I ask you, I ask you as I ask myself, when faced with God's truth, how are you responding?

You've got a hard heart. You become quite argumentative sometimes about spiritual things, but you ignore the evidence around you. I had the privilege this morning of watching the sunrise, absolutely incredible, beautiful, beautiful sunrise. The beauty of creation. The evidence of changed lives, did you hear these baptisms on Easter Sunday, the testimonies of these young people that God, a living God is at work in the lives of young men and women. The very voice of your conscience, the power of the Word of God. Are you really committed to pursuing the truth, or are you like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, you're argumentative, you're hostile, you're hardened, you're testing God, and you're covering up your sin in your own life. For all of us, stubborn and sinful attitudes keep us from humbly trusting Jesus. Isn't that true in your own life? You know that.

I know that. That attitude will keep you from growing in Christ. Lord Jesus is going to tell us we're to become like little children, not naïve, no, but trusting. And the leaven of unbelief, the leaven of hypocrisy, of playing a part so easily creeps into our lives, doesn't it? And so Jesus is saying, watch and beware.

And I'm saying it to you today, watch and beware. Yes, there is false teaching. A couple of months ago after a message, a dear lady, I'm sure she's well meaning, she may not have come back, but she said to me, I can't believe that you are saying that some doctrine is wrong. She's got the view, I guess, that all doctrine is right.

She said, are you being judgmental? I said, no, I'm declaring the truth of God. And where there is truth, there is error. And here the Lord Jesus Christ, the most loving and caring of people is saying to His followers, watch and beware.

Don't fall for the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And did you notice at the end of verse 4 that He left them and departed. There's a time when dialogue comes to an end.

There's a time as we're talking to people that there's a time just to stop and to say, OK, we're going to leave it there. And the Lord Jesus turns from them and speaks to the disciples. The disciples are like us, do you identify with them? The disciples see, but they don't fully see. The disciples hear, but they don't fully hear. The disciples understand, but they don't fully understand. And even as Jesus said in these verses, the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 and you were there, I used you in the distribution of the fish and the loaves.

You still haven't yet got it. You see the miracles. You hear my teaching, but they have not yet fully grasped who Jesus is.

We're going to see that next week. Also, they have all they need to do God's will. But what are they worrying about? Verse 7, we brought no bread. You've got the supreme bread maker right with you. And you're worrying about no bread? Were you not there when we fed the 5,000? Were you not there when we fed the 4,000?

I mean, how many baskets were there? You're worrying about something? Worrying about your bread and the supreme bread maker is there. You're worrying about your health when the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who made you, the one who says you're fearfully and wonderfully made is there with you. That's the disciples. And sometimes our eyes are closed to what the Lord Jesus is doing in our lives. The disciples were there, but they haven't yet grasped the wonder of who in their midst is doing the miracles and that's like us sometimes, isn't it? God is at work in our very lives. God is at work in the lives of other people around us here at Calvary Church and sometimes we can hardly see it. Again I ask you, are your ears open?

Is there a humility? Is your ears open to hear Jesus? Are you trusting in Jesus to accomplish His purposes through you? Could it be that Jesus is saying to us this morning at Calvary Church, verse 8, oh you of little faith, do you not perceive, do you not remember, do you not remember what God did to you last year? Do you not remember how God acted in your life? Did you not hear that testimony of that individual?

How is it that you fail to understand verse 11 that I didn't speak about Brett? Sinful and stubborn attitudes prevent spiritual understanding. But you say, what's the real point? What do we really have to understand? Coming to the cross of Christ is essential for spiritual understanding. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples, and we'll think of this in detail next week Lord willing, the disciples now are going to begin to understand who Jesus is. Here they are at Caesarea Philippi in verse 13. And the disciples are going to begin to realize that Jesus is more than a prophet. They've seen the miracles, they've heard the teaching. And Jesus is now calling for a personal response from them, who do you say that I am? And Peter is going to respond with divine revelation, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, verse 16. But although they recognize that He's the Christ, He's the Messiah. Although they recognize that He's the Son of the living God, they still do not understand what kind of Messiah, what kind of Christ He is. And in particular, they don't understand that He comes as the suffering Messiah. Read with me from verse 21. From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. But Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him saying, far be it from you Lord, this shall never happen to you.

But He turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan, for you're a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. They understand that Jesus is the Christ, but they don't understand what kind of Christ He is. They think of the Messiah in political and social and economic liberation.

They think of the Messiah coming, who's going to deliver them from Rome. That's why He said, incidentally, verse 20, Jesus strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ. He didn't come primarily to heal. He didn't come primarily to release people from prison. He comes as the Savior. He comes, as Matthew told us in chapter 1 verse 21, He comes as Jesus who's going to die for the sins of His people. He comes as the suffering Messiah. Now notice verse 21, from that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. He must go to Jerusalem.

His suffering, His killing are divine necessities as prophesied in the Old Testament. This, incidentally, is the first direct announcement of the cross in Matthew's Gospel. And did you notice that Jesus rebukes Peter, or rather Peter rebukes Jesus. Verse 24, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him saying, far be it from you Lord, this will never happen. Peter, a few moments ago, you said that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and now you're rebuking Him?

Peter is still not seeing clearly. In particular, Peter doesn't want the cross. He doesn't want to follow Jesus, but he wants to follow in his own terms. He wants the Christ, but he doesn't want the cross of Christ.

In a sense, he's saying to Jesus, I know better. There's another way. You don't need to be killed. You don't need to be crucified.

There is a better way. And Jesus has to correct the disciples' misunderstanding of His true identity. Notice what He says in verse 23, get behind me, Satan. You're a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Now this is absolutely essential.

It's absolutely essential we get this point. The cross is central to the mission of Jesus. It's very interesting that as Jesus in chapter 4, verse 7, Matthew 4, verse 17, it says, from that time, same expression as we have in verse 21 of chapter 16, from that time. The context in chapter 4 is Jesus has been baptized, He's gone into the wilderness, He's been tempted by Satan, and now He begins from that time, He begins to announce the kingdom of God.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And as He does that, Satan is trying to stop Him. Here, as He announces that He's going to die, that He must go to Jerusalem, again the devil, get you behind me Satan, the devil is trying to stop Him going to the cross. Have you noticed?

You have, haven't you? But when God is at work in your life, the devil's there as well. When God does great things at Calvary Church, the devil is never far away.

He tries to divide, He tries to hinder us, He tries to harass us. The devil, the world, unbelievers are quite happy with a Christianity without a cross. But the cross and the resurrection, notice verse 21, that Jesus says He must be killed and on the third day be raised.

The cross and the resurrection are essential to the Christian faith. And Jesus is now going to teach the twelve rather than the crowd what it means to follow Him. He's going to teach them from now on the way of discipleship. And He's going to do that by teaching them that the way of discipleship is the way of the cross. We're going to see that particularly in verse 24 through 28 in a couple of weeks when Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

The shadow of the cross is now over the rest of Matthew. But why must he suffer? Why must he be killed on the cross? It was very, very important that we at Calvary understand that the top of the agenda of Calvary Church is not political action, it's not social justice, it's not self-help techniques, it's not inspirational storytelling, it is the cross of Christ. That is of supreme importance. Isn't that what Jesus is saying?

You say, why is that so important? Because the cross, and Satan does all he can to distract us from this, the cross is essential for the salvation of sinners. Without the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no authentic Christianity. And the message of the cross that Satan wanted to stamp out and still wants to stamp out, the message of the cross was the message that the apostles preach. Look over in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 1 and 1 Corinthians 2. I'm saying that the message of the cross is of supreme importance.

Nothing, nothing can put that into a secondary position. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, here's the Paul, for the word of the cross, logos is it, for the word, the preaching of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified.

Verse 2 of chapter 2, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The apostles of Jesus Christ did not preach a message of self-help. They did not preach a message of human potential. They did not preach a message of prosperity.

They did not preach a message of politics. They preached the message of the cross. It was a message of the cross and Paul is saying God uses the folly, the foolishness of preaching to bring people to saving faith. Christ crucified and the cross of Christ then must be central.

Have you noticed in so many of our churches and so much of Christianity that the cross of Christ, while not being actively denied, is being put in a subordinate position. Notice what happens, verse 22 of 1 Corinthians 1, for Jews demand signs. There we have it again, same word as in Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees say, come and show us a sign, that is a spectacular sign. Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. You've got one group seeking signs.

You've got another group seeking wisdom. And what does the apostle do? Could he do signs? Yes, he's an apostle. Could he preach with words of man's wisdom? Yes. His training, his intellect are beyond peer.

Of course, he could have debated the Greeks at their own level with all their philosophy and speculative philosophy and ideas. He doesn't do that. One seeks signs, one seeks wisdom. Paul says, we preach Christ crucified.

I love that. The Pharisees and the Sadducees demand a sign. There's still those here, there's still those who want that today, don't they? They want something sensational. When they come to church, it seems as if the top of their agenda is excitement, is something that is sensational. You know, that's an indication of immaturity, at best and unbelief at worst.

That's the Jews, they seek signs. What does Paul do? He does what his Savior is instructing us to do, is to preach Christ. Paul doesn't preach traditions. The Jews' problem was pride of their religion.

He doesn't preach speculative wisdom. The Greek problem was pride of intellect. He preaches Christ crucified. Instead of Paul presenting a message of human power and of human wisdom, he preaches to Jews and Greeks a message and it's the same message, the message of the cross, which they both regard as weak, foolish and offensive.

And that's still the case today. But the cross of Christ is God's only way of salvation. The cross of Christ is the only way of being saved. Again, verse 18, 1 Corinthians 1, the word of the cross is followed to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

It's the only way of salvation. In the Gospel, in the preaching of Christ crucified, there is a power of God and the wisdom of God. Have you noticed that unbelievers will happily discuss and even accept an uncrucified Jesus? A Jesus who's a moral teacher, a Jesus who's a prophet of love, a Jesus who's a guru who leads us into more enlightenment, a Jesus who's an inspiring example of love. Oh, they'll happily embrace that kind of Jesus. You see, an uncrucified Jesus rarely offends anyone. An uncrucified Jesus is politically correct. An uncrucified Jesus is tolerant of the most bizarre of conduct. But an uncrucified Jesus is false teaching. An uncrucified Jesus never saves.

An uncrucified Jesus is not the Gospel. And so, we stand, I trust as Calvary Church has always stood, that we preach Christ and Him crucified. What does our Lord Jesus say in John 3 verse 14? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.

He must, He says, go to Jerusalem. He must be lifted up referring to His crucifixion. Paul says in Romans 5, 8, but God shows His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Central to Paul's teaching is Christ crucified. What does Peter say in 1 Peter 3, 18? But Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, they might bring us to God. What does the writer of Hebrews say in Hebrews 10 verse 12? But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, how magnificently. Our blessed Savior makes one single sacrifice for all time for sinners.

His work is complete. He sits down at the Father's right hand. Have you grasped that? The Pharisees couldn't. The disciples are finding it difficult. It is very, very important that we understand at the very center of our faith and no one can divert us from this or should divert us so that we spend our time in other things that's central to the Gospel is Christ crucified. There's a boy going to school, we used to sing, there is a green hill far away without a city wall where the dear Lord was crucified who died to save us all. There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin.

He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. My dear friend, if you're going to be in heaven, it's going to be through the way of the cross. It's going to be through you humbly coming as millions and millions have done down through the centuries that you come humbly to the cross of Christ.

That's why we have a cross on the ceiling, not just something that looks good, something that reminds us that this is the very center of our faith and the way to begin to follow Christ is to come the way of the cross. Peter is saying, no, no, no, you don't need to be killed, you don't need the cross, we can just follow you, you can keep on doing the miracles, we can get rid of the Romans and we'll be right with you Jesus. Jesus says, no, I must go to Jerusalem. I must be killed and on the third day I will rise again.

Of course that was prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures. What's your personal response to Jesus? You're either perishing or you're being saved.

There's no middle ground. See, the cross deals not just with the symptoms of sin or felt needs and our selfish desires, but rather the root problem, our sinful heart. In the false gospel, Jesus is presented in all kinds of ways, perhaps as a guru to enlighten us through life, as a kind of business partner to help us be successful in life, as a kind of therapist to give us psychological help in tough times and all of that, and absolutely not at the center of our faith, the very center of the Christian faith is Jesus crucified, buried, risen, seated at the Father's right hand and soon coming for His bride, the church. And without the cross, there is no salvation of sinners. The cross always humbles us and exalts our Savior.

False religion, false teaching always exalts the individual. Oh, here's an individual who's got these wonderful insights. He had this vision. He had this vision from God. God told him this. What a wonderful person.

Notice how the glory goes to the individual. But with the cross, we're all on the same level, sinners, saved by grace. Are you saved? Have you received Christ as your Savior? Or do you only have a partial understanding of who Jesus is? You see, but you don't see clearly.

You hear, but you don't hear plainly. As we close we ask God to soften your heart, to open your eyes, and perhaps if you're a following Christ, you've had your eyes off Christ and you've been following yourself and your sinful desires, and you're going a false way. I'm saying today there is no authentic Christianity without the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comes to forgive our sins, to transform our lives, and through His Spirit to empower us to do God's will for our lives. What are we to do? We're to trust Him. Will you trust Him for salvation? Will you trust Him with that problem? You're worrying about bread, as it were, like the disciples and the supreme bread maker is with you.

You're worried, let me remind you, that Christ is with you, the all powerful Christ. So trust Him. Love Him.

Follow Him. Follow Him the way of the cross. Eternal God and our Father, we thank you for our magnificent Savior. We thank you that He was undeterred and went on to the cross.

Yes, there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. We thank you that He's the one who unlocks the gate of heaven to let us in. May some weary sinner today come to the cross and trust Christ. May those who are following Christ, may we keep our eyes on Him. May we keep in your word. May we follow with humble obedience, having our ears open, having our hearts sensitive to His call, having our minds focused on His Word. We ask it in His precious name. Amen.