How to Escape The Stress of Confusion
Matthew 16:6 NKJV “Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
1/ leaven is fermenting matter, in a state of putrefaction, atoms in motion creating heat.
2/ zume’ – usually represents evil in the scripture
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
3/ significance = leaven always destructive
– what does not belong to life, but disturbs and penetrates = sin, what disgraces a Christian, and distracts from walking with God
4/ represents false doctrine
Galatians 5:7-10 NKJV
You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
– deceptive doctrine, makes void the commands of God
/ trying to mix God’s ways with our opinions
/ trying to mix God’s ways with our preferences
/ follow any direction but God’s, leads into sin
Titus 2:6-8
Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.
4/ Pharisees and Sadducees doctrines mixed God’s truth and man’s traditions
– the effect was voiding out God’s ways and Laws
– teaching motivation = secret sin and hypocrisy
– Why transgress traditions?
Matthew 15:1-7a
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”—then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites!
5/ Their error…
– majoring on minor points
– while violating major Law with their greedy traditions
6/ The danger of leaven is it spreads quickly
– permeates the thought process of a person or group
– corrupts hearts and minds to the true meaning of God’s Law and Christ’s commands
– leaders tried to keep minor points and violate major points produced a tragic type of hypocrisy
7 “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Matthew 23:13-23 GW
“How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter it yourselves, and you don’t permit others to enter when they try.
“How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You cross land and sea to recruit a single follower, and when you do, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.
“How horrible it will be for you, you blind guides! You say, ‘To swear an oath by the temple doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gold in the temple means a person must keep his oath.’ You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the temple that made the gold holy? Again you say, ‘To swear an oath by the altar doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gift on the altar means a person must keep his oath.’ You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? To swear an oath by the altar is to swear by it and by everything on it. To swear an oath by the temple is to swear by it and by the one who lives there. And to swear an oath by heaven is to swear by God’s throne and the one who sits on it. “How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give {God} one-tenth of your mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the most important things in Moses’ Teachings. You should have done these things without neglecting the others.
7/ Confusion is created when we fail to see the major teaching of Jesus
– with hundreds of pages in the Bible, pressure and guilt are added without proper perspective
– Five purposes
Matthew 22:34-40
But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 28:18-20
When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. [20] Teach them to do everything I have commanded you.
“And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.”
– Four practices
Acts 2:42, 44-46
The disciples were devoted to the teachings of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer… All the believers kept meeting together, and they shared everything with each other. From time to time, they sold their property and other possessions and distributed the money to anyone who needed it. [46] The believers had a single purpose and went to the temple every day. They were joyful and humble as they ate at each other’s homes and shared their food.
8/ Whatever hinders us in loving God and others is leaven
– this will destroy our lives
– virtue is purity in heart
-leaven is assimilation of evil
9/ A lack of love for God and others VOIDS all efforts to keep His commandments
1 Corinthians 13:2
“I may have the gift to speak what God has revealed, and I may understand all mysteries and have all knowledge. I may even have enough faith to move mountains. But if I don’t have love, I am nothing.”
10/ If you do not root out hypocrisy it will spread like leaven
Revelation 2:14-16
But I have a few things against you: You have among you those who follow what Balaam taught Balak. Balak trapped the people of Israel by {encouraging} them to eat food sacrificed to idols and to sin sexually. You also have some who follow what the Nicolaitans teach. So return to me and change the way you think and act, or I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword from my mouth.
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