HF112 - Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees

To:  Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From:  "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Fri, February 6, 2004
Subject:  Bible Study HF112 - Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees

Hebraics,

In this study we want to consider what Jesus meant in his warning to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." You may be surprised to learn that the issue of leaven isn't merely a Pharisee problem. It is an issue that has plagued the church from the beginning. Let's look into this problem area.

This is Bible Study HF112 - Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees.

We recently completed a series entitled, "Struggles in Israel." In that series I shared quotes from the Talmudic writings. In this study we will draw but little from the Talmud. It should be understood that when the Lord speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees, this is what He is referring to - that "the traditions of the fathers" evolved into the vast library of Talmudic teachings.

However, it must also be understood that the issue of leaven extends far beyond Talmudism. There are Christian groups today who have leavened teachings. Leaven represents any form of teaching that corrupts the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as the Pharisees had corrupted the teachings of Moses, there are Christian groups today who corrupt the true message of the cross. They do this by adding things to the message that do not belong.

Here is where a point must be made. A person can be truly born of heaven and yet have his or her understanding filled with leavened teachings. This is the primary reason that believers begin to feel a loss of their liberty in Christ. A new believer begins with a great sense of joy and liberty, but something happens over time. They began to lose their sense of freedom in Christ.

Paul deals with this quite extensively in his letter to the Galatian believers.

He said, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith." He also said, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."

The yoke Paul was speaking of was not simply the Law of Moses. It had to do with all the additions that the Pharisees had appended to the Law. Just as there was a Pharisee element in the early Church, there is also a Pharisee element in many churches today. In this case the new covenant is being marred with leavened doctrines.

Now back to the warning itself. Jesus often drew attention to the corruptible teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. Sometimes He would include the teachings of the Sadducees, but it was the Pharisees who became the primary distorters of the writings of Moses and of the prophets, and it was this same group that infiltrated the early Church.

Let's trace the Pharisee issue just a bit. The disciples came to Jesus and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?" Jesus responded, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit." (Cf. Matt15:10-14)

What was it that so offended the Pharisees? It was when Jesus undermined their teaching on what defiles a person. In the traditions of the elders, every minuscule of life was regulated - you can't do this, you can't eat that, etc... The list is endless. The Lord had said, "It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." The Pharisees considered themselves to be experts of the Law. When He said this to the multitude, the Pharisees became incensed.

It is a little later that Jesus tells the disciples, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." After some discussion among themselves, the disciples finally figured it out. It says, "Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Since we've discussed the Talmudic writings in the prior series of studies, let's see if we can bring this closer home. Keep in mind that with a view to the gospel, leaven would represent any form corrupted teaching, thus anything that takes away from or adds to the finished work of the cross can be considered leavened teaching. (This is where members need a good grasp on the work of the cross and on the new covenant.)

For the sake of this study I'll call attention again to an experience I had as a young preacher. This took place some 35 years ago. --- When I first came to the Lord, my life was filled with joy and peace. My passion for Jesus overflowed - it does to this day - but over time something began to happen. I still loved the Lord passionately, but I begin to feel something was amiss. I just didn't know what it was.

One day I said to my wife, "Honey, I feel like I'm caught in a net and I don't know what it is." Of course she didn't know either. Never for a moment would either of us had identified the net with bad doctrine, but that is exactly what it was. Though I was truly born of God's Spirit, the group that I was associated with had a number of teachings that did not accord with the truth of the gospel.

One of this group's major teachings was that a person had to speak in tongues to be saved. That was only a beginning. If a woman cut her hair, she was lost. If you had a television in your home, you were lost. The list was endless. While their regulations did not approximate that of the Pharisees, many of their standards were of the same nature. The people were kept in a moment of tension. The burden was heavy and the net kept tightening - no divine assurance. To be saved you had to belong to that group. They alone had the truth.

In my case I had a couple of advantages that perhaps some of the others did not have. For one thing, my mom had been raised in the strictest sect of Pentecostalism. When she escaped she never looked back. She instilled in me that I had a good mind, and that the future held good things for me. My mom never wanted me to get caught in the net of religion. In fact I did not know what a church was until I was about 10 years old, yet I prayed to the Lord in heaven every night.

The other advantage I had was that I had a true "born-from-above" experience. It happened to me in spite of the Pentecostal dogma. When I was around my Pentecostal friends, I was always puzzled why most of them didn't know if they were saved or not. It was difficult for me to understand that. For me that was never a question. Jesus personally invited me into His kingdom. I was saved and knew it - but I still had the net to deal with.

Looking back, I can now see the trail of deliverance. The Lord weaved into my life those I needed to hear from at the right time. As my eyes were opened to the truths of the cross, the net began to rip. The moment I saw the net tearing, I swam through it as fast as I could. Ever since that time, I've been trying to cut the net for others.

Let's come back to the Galatian believers for a moment. They were free! They enjoyed the awesomeness of the Lord's presence in their lives. They were overflowing with peace and grace, then something began to happen. Their liberty was eroding. The net was coming into place. Who was putting the net over them? It was the same spirit that Jesus had to deal with - the spirit of the Pharisee.

If you recall this is what the Acts 15 council of the church was about. Peoples from the nations were being born of God's Spirit, but a group kept coming behind Paul and Barnabas teaching a doctrine that did not belong to the covenant of Christ. It says, "Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.'" (Acts 15)

Isn't that amazing? Here you have a people who are already saved, who have the Spirit of Christ indwelling them, but someone comes along and says they aren't saved? As young believers, their steadiness in Christ was being shaken. Boy did this ever anger Paul! The apostle wished the deceivers would castrate themselves. (Don't you feel a little like that when you see young believers being mislead?)

Out of this came the council of the apostles and elders. Everyone gathered in Jerusalem to see what needed to be done. This was a serious moment. Paul and Barnabas began sharing the wonderful news of their travels and of the salvation of the Gentiles. Then it says, "But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, 'It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Law of Moses.'"

The battle lines were set. The debate swung back and forth. Finally the man of Pentecost stood up to speak. Everyone got silent. Peter said, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith." No one spoke. Peter's words were settling upon the gathering.

Then comes the clincher. What Peter says next brings us back to the warning Jesus gave concerning the leaven of the Pharisees. He continues, "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the necks of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

Did you catch it? Everyone is saved the same way. We are all saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is no yoke of the law in the new covenant. We have been yoked to Christ alone. His Spirit is within us to guide us in the paths of truth and righteousness.

Of course the outcome in all this was the silencing of the Pharisee party, but that was only temporary. The battle was far from over. In fact, every generation of God's people have to battle against the leaven of deceitful doctrines. The wonderful side in this is that the Lord is always present in the lives of His people to help them process life as He intends. He weaves us together. He opens our understanding. He breaks the nets with the power of truth.

There is so much more to be said about the leaven of the Pharisees, but I want to stop at this point and leave things open for discussion among members. Just keep in mind what the main thought is behind this aspect of leaven. The leaven of the Pharisees had to do with teachings that actually nullified or took away from the truths of God.

Think about it. The study is open.

Blessings,

Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host 
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org

Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/

"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)

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