Matthew 16

The Holiness Of GOD Will Not Be Snubbed

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And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.  And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
Numbers 25:6-9

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.
Matthew 16:27

Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Acts 16:29-31

An Offense to Jesus Christ

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From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.” But He turned, and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  Matthew 16:21-23

If your opinion or view of who Jesus Christ is and His work He came to do does not agree with Scripture then you are an offense to Him.

The Revelation

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He saith unto them,
“But whom say ye that I am?”
And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said unto him,
“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”   Matthew 16:15-19

What Is It Worth?

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Then said Jesus unto His disciples,
“If any will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”  Matthew 16:24-28

Teaching and Yeast

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The Pharisees and Sadducees were a constant heartache to our Lord. As they were supposed to be the religious leaders of Israel during this time they were filled with doubts, unbelief, jealousy, and condemnation of any and all; including our Lord; who were not “letter for letter” correct to their own understanding. Many of these men hated Jesus, very few loved Him.

After dealing with the Pharisees concerning signs (vv. 1-4) Jesus will deal with the disciples concerning their faith, give them warning concerning evil doctrine, and hypocrisy.

“And when His disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them,
‘Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.’
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘It is because we have taken no bread.’ Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them,
‘O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Matthew 16:5-12

The disciples must have had their attention diverted by physical need concerning Jesus’s caveat concerning the “leaven of the Pharisees”. It had not been so long ago that they had witnessed the power of the Lord when He took 5 loaves of bread and two small fish, and fed a multitude of 5000 men, plus women and children (14:13-21), then later fed 4000 men, plus women and children with seven loaves a “a few little fishes” (15:32-38). They had forgotten to bring food with them, except for one loaf (Mark 8:14), and they assume that Jesus is speaking of bread.

He speaks of “Leaven”. Of course, leaven is used in bread. It is, however, used to puff up, fluff up, and stuff up. It gives baked goods a fuller appearance than they would have without it. It is my belief that every time there is mention of “leaven” in Scripture, it is as a symbol of hindrance, sin, or evil. Hindrance because when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt they were commanded to prepare bread without leaven (Exodus 12:15-20). They were going to be leaving Egypt very quickly, therefore no time could be taken to allow bread to rise, thus they would have been in rebellion to even have it in their homes. Leaven also represents false doctrine, and hypocrisy (clouds without rain in a time of drought).

There are many professing Christians in our day who do not believe we need to be concerned about doctrine; whether it be right or wrong; just believe something. Anything is okay as long as you sincerely believe something; even if it is that your dog is the reincarnation of Geronimo. Jesus, however, gives an earnest warning to His disciples to “Take heed and beware of the leaven [doctrine] of the Pharisees. It is also a warning of hypocrisy. There is glaring hypocrisy in the Pharisees; requiring things of the people they lead, and give themselves loopholes around their own laws. False doctrine, and hypocrisy seem to go together.

Jesus’s warning is for all Christians of all ages, because we fall into a gross pit of oozing manure when we fall into false teaching and hypocrisy. Very often a pit that is very hard to get out of, or be rescued from.

It is not all about bread. It is not all about physical needs; Jesus meets those needs daily. It is a warning of being sure the doctrine is right and they life is right with God. This means much of the responsibility for remaining correct in what we believe and how we live lays on our own shoulders, and the Spirit of God within us. We can do this by staying true to the Lord in the reading, study, and meditation upon His Word; spending time with Him in prayer – walking with Him daily; faithful attendance to our local church as often as the door is open; and to faithfully serve the Lord by loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves by giving of ourselves in serving others when possible, and sometimes when it gets in our way.

Prayer for January 8, 2021

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“Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.” WISDOM Proverbs 8:34
“‘A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.’ And He left them, and departed.”  Matthew 16:4

Lord GOD and Father, all worship and praise belongs to You. There is none other who is worthy. You are holy, holy, holy, Just, Righteous and wise. You are the Creator of all that is; the seen and the unseen, and Your Son Jesus the Living Word is the One in whom it all consist.

You, Lord, have blessed us beyond what we deserve and I thank You for the multitude of blessings; many for which we are even unaware. Thank You

We ask for wisdom today. We ask for the wisdom that is from You and pray for ignorance of the doing of evil ways of men in the earth. Always, may we hear the words of godly wisdom, heavenly wisdom, and never the wisdom that is of this world; and may we live wisely according to the commandments of Your word.

We pray that You will keep us in Your hands; and You do. We ask that You will always help us  to keep our eyes on You, not hoping for signs of guidance and direction, but looking at You always and the work of Your blessed, holy Son Jesus who bled and died on the cross for our sins and the sins of the world, He was buried carrying away all our sin, shame, guilt and condemnation, and He bodily arose and is forever seated at Your right hand. In You, O Lord, do we trust and not in any sign. We do ask Lord Jesus, that You will come quickly.

We ask, Lord, also that You make Your word come alive in us to better serve, honor, and glorify Your name; and that others might come to a saving faith of Jesus Christ. Lift up that name that is above every name – the name of Jesus. Amen.

Words Of Jesus; Son Of God, God The Son – 072620

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“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired Him that He would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them,
‘When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.’
And He left them, and departed.” Matthew 16:1-4

Missing The Sign

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“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired Him that He would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.” Matthew 16:1-4

The Sign of all signs was standing in front of them. The Sign was the One whom they was challenging, confronting; and so rudely. These were men who should have known – the Pharisees and Sadducees; men of the Bible, the Law and the Prophets, and they could quote it. That only proves that being able to quote the Bible does not guarantee you a spot in heaven.

These were men who had seen Jesus do many mighty things.  He had made the lame to walk, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised a dead girl to life; just to name a few.  Yet they wanted a sign from heaven.

Would they have believed if He had given them one?  NO!  Jesus knew that.  They would not believe even though one would rise from the dead (Luke 16:31).

What about you?  What will it take to convince you that Jesus Himself is the Sign sent from God; that He is the gift of God for eternal life?  The sign is that He went to the cross to die for the sins of the world, made atonement for us; He was buried, and He arose from that grave, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

Do not Miss The Sign.