by Kevin Swartz

Gospel: Matthew 16:5-12

In the past few weeks, in this section that we have called "The Revelation of the King," we have seen Jesus performing miracles. We've seen him walking on water and feeding both 5000 people and 4000 people with only a small amount of food. We've seen him traveling all around the region from Galilee to Gennesaraet to Tyre and Sidon back to the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus has been preaching to a lot of people in a lot of different places, opening up their eyes and their hearts to Kingdom of Heaven.

It really is Jesus who enables our eyes to see. It really is Jesus who sets our hearts on things from God. Because we, as NT believers, could never understand God's will apart from Jesus. He is the one who sets us on the right path and gives us the ability to see the things of God.

This text that we are going over today really demonstrates that concept quite well. So let's read Matthew, chapter 16, verses 5-12.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread." 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 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.

This is God's word.

Jesus' ministry right now is really on the move. If you were to look at the beginning of most of the passages that we have been going over in Matthew recently, you will see that Jesus is constantly leaving one place and going to another. Back and forth he goes, bringing the gospel to different people in different areas with his disciples.

And when we are traveling, we always need to make sure we bring provisions with us, right?

When we go on a vacation we always make a list of items to bring: clothes, socks, toothbrush and soap, to name a few. But food might be the most important one, this was especially important back in the first century, and the disciples, it says in verse 5, forgot to bring bread.

Forgetting to bring bread on a journey is a problem because Jesus and the disciples didn't have Taco Bell back in those days to swing by and grab chicken soft taco to eat before heading off to preach at the Sea of Galilee.

Which might be why the disciples' minds are on food when Jesus mentioned "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Because their minds were on earthly problems and not on spiritual problems.

Their minds didn't perceive that Jesus is trying to warn them about something and that he is not telling them something about food. They were blind, in that moment, to what Jesus was trying to tell them.

Why would Jesus, who miraculously fed both 4 and 5 thousand people, with just a few baskets of food just in the last 2 chapters of Matthew, worry about bread? The disciples were not exactly understanding what Jesus was saying here at all here. They are too focused in on the things of this world and not on things from God.

Now, it is easy to be judgmental of the spiritual absentmindedness of the disciples, it's easy to be critical of them here and think "How could they not see what Jesus is talking about? It's so obvious," it's easy until we take an honest look at our own selves.

They were only seeing the physical, much like we would do. And not the real, underlying matter of Jesus' words. This is how we can easily misunderstand or even misinterpret what God is saying to us.

Just to give a quick illustration of what I mean by this, when my son was 4 or 5 years old, around Halloween time we went to Haggen's to get some groceries. While there, they were passing out little candy bars. They gave him a dark chocolate Hershey bar and he fell in love!

So I said, "Good, I'd rather you eat those than regular milk chocolate because dark chocolate has some good things in it, it's much better for you than regular chocolate." Fast forward a week or so and we were sitting down eating dinner. I asked him what he wants with his dinner: an apple, banana or carrot. And he said, "I think I'll just have a dark chocolate candy bar."

I said, "What?!" He said, "Well you said it was healthy." No, that's not exactly what I said. I said it had good things in it, but I never said it was health food. He heard what I said but did not listen to what I said. He misinterpreted something I said to mean something totally different. Dark chocolate does not equal broccoli.

Much in the same way that my son misinterpreted something I said, the disciples misinterpret something Jesus said. You would think after all this time of following him and listening to his preaching, they would have actually picked up on what he was saying. Which might be why Jesus was a little indignant when he said, "What made you think I was talking about bread?"

They weren't exactly paying close attention. Which is why Jesus asked them, in verse 9, "Do you not yet perceive?" That sentence is key…"Do you not yet perceive?" Jesus is implying that they should be able to perceive by now. But for some reason, they do not…

We have a name for the condition in which we focus too much on things of this world and not of things from God, and that's called Spiritual Blindness.

Spiritual blindness is defined as the inability to see God's truth when presented to you. Its right in front of us but for some reason we can't see it.

Now, there are 2 kinds of spiritual blindness that are in scripture. One is with the unbelievers who can't see and will not see. They are the ones apart from God, the unsaved and the ones resistant to the gospel.

Then there is the other kind, which we are looking at today that is modeled for us with the disciples. That is the people who are followers of Christ but yet still struggle with hearing him clearly sometimes. Hint: that's just about all of us!

It's something we all struggle with. It's not like we have a direct hotline to God and after talking to him once we all of the sudden understand him completely. Sometimes it's a real struggle for us to hear him and figure out his will for our lives.

Or maybe it's just me that struggles with that.

The disciples, in this passage, quickly forget all the events that recently transpired. Just in the last few chapters, like I talked about earlier, they are with Jesus when he feeds the 5000. And then again when he feeds the 4000. The disciples even pick up baskets of leftovers.

How quickly we forget. How quickly we forget just exactly what God has done already for us.

We have a very short memory, don't we? Instead, we tend to focus too much on the "right here, right now" and forget the many, many years that God blessed us tremendously.

We see that concept displayed in scripture all the time. God blesses his people. People forget. People sin against God. It's a recurring theme and it hasn't exactly stopped yet, either.

Because we can't see. We don't yet perceive.

So, just like Israel before Jesus' time, the people quickly forgot God's provision. The disciples quickly forget Jesus' work. They forgot Jesus feeding the 4 and 5 thousand right in front of them. They became spiritual blind for a moment. And because of that, Jesus had to correct them and explain it to them plainly.

What causes spiritual blindness? What causes us to not perceive Christ properly?

One of the fastest ways to spiritual blindness is ignorance. Ignorance to his word. This is probably the greatest cause of spiritual blindness, actually. Ignorance can also be described as: unaware, unfamiliar, oblivious, lack of knowledge, you get the point. It's kind of hard to know what someone is trying to tell you if you are not paying attention.

It means you are not focused on something so you can't concentrate on it, and in turn, understand it. Like, for example, I am completely ignorant in Politics. That's because I don't like politics and I have no desire to follow them whatsoever.

Now, maybe I should follow them to know what's going on in our world, but the point is I have no idea what I'm talking about in regards to politics because I'm not putting any effort into them. I'm not willing to read up on it and study it.

Becoming ignorant to something is usually from our desire to not want to know more about it. Ignorance can also come from a type of "casualness." This, it seems, is what the disciples are suffering from.

Just a casual listening to Jesus talk is not enough for us to hear him, much less perceive him.

Just last week, my wife and I went out on a date to go see Handel's Messiah at the Seattle Symphony. You've heard of that right? It's a very popular Christmas musical that comes around every December.

Anyway, we knew of that famous chorus singing: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! That's what we thought we were going to see. Unfortunately, that just was not the case. It was an opera.

A 2 ½ hour opera! A long, slow, drawn out 2 ½ hour opera! Now, neither of us are big fans of opera, so I hope I'm not offending any opera fans here…

But we had no idea what we were getting into. We heard one single line from the concert and decided to go. If we would have done our research, we would have known it was…a…long…opera!

And that's where ignorance comes from. Not putting forth the effort. You could say the disciples might be a little bit ignorant here, in this passage. Why is that?

They just heard what Jesus said and instantly associated it with physical bread.

After all this time of following Jesus and listening to his preaching, they still can't tell that Jesus talks in parables and metaphors?

Don't you think by now they would have picked up on how Jesus talks?

Jesus already has a reputation of speaking in parables. In fact, back in Matthew 13:10, which we preached on a few months ago, the disciples even asked Jesus why he spoke in parables. So how come they couldn't tell what Jesus was talking about here?

Well, Jesus gives us the answer as to why they couldn't understand what he was talking about, in verse 8: "O you of little faith," It all boils down to our faith doesn't it?

Having little faith, produces ignorance. Having little faith causes us to not hear God's word clearly, blinding us to his spirit.

Having little faith produces spiritual blindness.

Another way we can become spiritually blind is by sheer laziness, which I think is probably the most common way.

This is a condition, which I think I can safely assume, affects us all. I know it does to me. I can't tell you how many times I put off reading or praying or doing something good for people out of my total laziness.

There is something good on TV, a different book to read, a movie to watch or someone to talk to…there's always going to be an excuse. Always a reason to put off spending time with God. "I'll do it later" seems to be the common thought process.

And we always rationalize it our own head's don't we? We somehow think, "God won't mind, he understands, he'll forgive me." Those are words I have said, even recently.

And it comes from our "me first" type of mentality. We just naturally think of ourselves first, don't we?

Being lazy actually leads to ignorance also.

These two are linked together and work in unison to blind us to things of God, which can be dangerous. Spiritual blindness can be dangerous because we can't see or hear Jesus at that moment. What are we missing by not listening to him?

Is he trying to tell us somewhere to go? Something to do? Or maybe he's trying to reveal our sin to us so we can repent of it.

Because we can't see our sin if we are spiritually blind and that is dangerous because if we don't see it then how can we effectively deal with it.

The enemy would love nothing more than to keep us in the dark. If we can't see our sin and can't kill it then it's gonna hang around and stay with us. It's gonna continue to grow and fester until it starts to negatively affect us.

This is why recognizing our sin is an absolute must. It may not be fun, nobody said it would be. But it very important to our spiritual health.

Have you ever thought about exactly what your sins are? Can you list out your sins and try to recognize them? Can you name them?

If we can't even begin to name our sins then chances are we are blind to it because I promise you we all have sin. Lots of it. And if we can't name it or see it then you can bet we are blind to it.

This is important because sin's natural result is guilt and separation from God. Just like in the garden. Adam was guilty and he hid from God. Sin is really good at separating us from God.

This is why spiritual blindness can be so destructive. We want and need a personal relationship with God and sin prevents that from happening. It puts a barrier between us and God. Sin blinds us to the things of God. Blinds us, to Jesus' words.

But a good eye, one that can see well, is one that is fixed on Jesus and his word. A good eye is one that stops and pays attention to Jesus. A good eye seeks out God's word.

We can do this by spending intentional and purposeful time with God.

I know just about every sermon can be summed up by saying, "Pray and read your Bible more." But I'm not talking about praying more or reading more. In fact, I might even say to read your bible less.

Now, before you all get up and walk out on me, hear me out.

I used to be about more. Just read more. Just pray more. If I do it more then everything will be OK. And I did, I read a lot…but never really heard God.

Because I was so focused in on how much I was reading. I talked about this briefly in my last sermon, but I used to have a number of chapters I HAD to read that day. I always had to read 3 chapters.

No matter what, read 3. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. If I read 3 a day then I can read the whole Bible in about a year. That was my goal. And I spent a lot of time doing this. But I rarely heard from God. Rarely got any direction because I spent my time to check a box that I spent time with him.

My heart was set on knowing the bible and the bible stories, and not really set on knowing God's word and what he wanted for my life.

Just like the disciples, we can easily misunderstand what Jesus is trying to tell us by just casually reading his word. If we just gloss over it quickly then we can simply think he is saying something that in reality, he is not.

I would just cruise over passages I didn't understand. Didn't apply scripture to my life. I mostly just read for informational purposes. I wanted to learn a lot of facts and know the Bible inside out. I tried to use my intelligence to guide me in spiritual matters.

Just glossing over something doesn't imprint it on our hearts. We can't internalize God's words if we just skim over scripture.

But if we were to slow down, be intentional in our prayer life and be intentional and focus on his word…I wonder how much his word would transform us and transform our hearts? And not only us, but those around us, as well. It's kind of like a "ripple effect."

For example, instead of instead of reading 3 chapters a day. Try one verse. Repeatedly. Read it over and over again. Let it sink into you. Let it change your heart, then you will see the transforming power of God's word.

This is how he speaks to us. Not in how much we know or how much time we spend reading or praying.

In the book of Daniel, King Darius was tricked, by his servants, into signing a document saying that nobody can bow down and worship a god other than him (the King) for the next 30 days. When Daniel heard of this, he did the first thing that came to his mind.

Daniel 6:10 describes what happened next: "When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously."

Now, most people will look at this verse and think the solution is to pray more. Now, there is a great benefit in praying more, yes! But if our motivation is just "more" then we are going to start focusing in on how much time we are spending and not actually focusing on God himself.

We can say something like, "Wow, 20 minutes of prayer today…I'm pretty spiritual." All the while our hearts are somewhere else. Our hearts are focused in on things of this world and not on things of God.

Instead of focusing in on "more" we should really be focusing in on being deliberate and seeking out God's will and getting our hearts in the right place. And when we can do that, then our prayer life will naturally grow and increase because our desire will be to know the will of God instead of our desire being just longer devotional times.

You see the difference?

Daniel knew what he needed to do. He was so desiring the will of God that he wanted to pray 3 times a day. He kept going back to pray so he could figure out what God wanted him to do. Daniel kept going back to prayer because he knew he needed to know the will of God. Even if it meant something like leading him to the Lion's den.

He went home. He went upstairs. He got down on his knees and then he prayed and gave thanks. This is intentional and this is what God desires for us. Not how many minutes we can spend praying, not how many chapters we can read a day.

Nowhere in scripture does it say a certain amount of time we should pray. How many hours or how many minutes. There is no litmus test for time spent with God.

But it does say that it's highly important. In fact, Jesus even gives us instructions on how and when to pray in Matthew 6:6, in it he says: "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Being intentional about going into your room and shutting your door is what God truly wants from you. Not just "trying to fit it in" whenever we can.

Or just praying as we drive down the road. Now, it's a good thing to pray while driving but if that is our only time we spend with God then we are missing the purpose of prayer. Trust me, we can't hear God properly if we are paying attention to the road and signs instead of his word.

Because being intentional about something shows how desperately serious you are about it.

Guys, if you were to be intentional about spending time with your wife, how do you think she would react? It doesn't even have to be big thing like planning a date night with babysitting and dinner and a movie, although, that might be a good thing as well.

But if you were to just sit down and talk to her, check in on her, see how she's doing and if there is anything you can do for her…how do you think she'd react to that? I'm willing to bet she might actually appreciate it.

Why? Because that would show you are thinking about her. It would show that you are intentional about wanting to develop your relationship with her, no matter how long you two have been married. It would show that you care about her and you want to know how she is doing.

It would demonstrate to her where your heart belongs.

If that's the case, how much more, would our Father in Heaven, appreciate it and love it if we set aside time for him? How much would God love it if we set aside a certain time of day just for him and nothing else?

And it doesn't have to be the first thing in the morning, although if you can, I highly recommend that. But let's not get legalistic about having to do it in the morning. I know some Boeing guys here that have to wake up at 4 am. I'm not asking them to get up even earlier. They might not like it.

But what if some of them said to themselves, "When I get home, that's when I talk to God." Or even after dinner, or whatever. The point is not what time of day it is, it's about setting aside intentional time to spend with him.

We set aside time for many other things, don't we? How many people set an alarm on their phone to remind them of their favorite TV show? You know exactly what day and what time that show is coming on TV and you won't miss it, will you?

We know exactly what time the Seahawks play at and we usually plan our whole day around the game, don't we?

The point is, we make plans for a lot of things but we just try to "fit in" our time with God.

We are rarely intentional about our time with Him. Again, it's not about more praying or more reading. It's not about more time. It's about setting aside more purposeful time with him on a regular and constant basis.

What is the purpose of spending time in prayer with God? Why is this so important? Prayer is not a "laundry list" of things you want. It's not about what God can do for you, it's about bending your own will to God's will.

That's why in the Lord's Prayer it says: "Your will be done." That's what we desire. We desire for God to impart his will onto ours.

John 14:13 says, "Whatever you ask for in my name, this I will do."

This does not mean that if you ask for a nicer car or a bigger house in Jesus' name he will give it to you automatically. No, the purpose of prayer is to know the will of God and then if we know the will of God, then that is what we are going to ask for and that is what he will give us.

What does this have to do with spiritual blindness?

Spiritual blindness will cause us to not see or hear God's will for our lives. It will cause us to see prayer in a different way. It will cause us to list off things we want from God. You are to come to him with prayer requests, yes! But seek out God's will for those requests, don't just ask to get stuff.

Spiritual blindness will also cause us to be susceptible to false teachings or highly destructive theology, which is exactly what Jesus is telling his disciples in this passage.

"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," which was really, "Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees."

But because the disciples were so focused in on things of this world they couldn't quite understand what Jesus was trying to tell them. They were thinking about food when Jesus was talking to them, trying to warn them about spiritual matters. They were blind to it for a time.

Jesus was saying, "Don't be concerned about bread; be concerned about false teaching."

Because there really is a "correct" teaching of the things of God and there really is a "wrong" teaching of the things of God. And Jesus is trying to warn them here.

Jesus referred to the teaching of the Pharisees as "leaven" of the Pharisees and warned the disciples of it. Why is that? Because if you are a baker you know, only a little tiny bit of leaven affects the whole batch. If the teaching of the Pharisees is leaven, only a little bit of their teaching will affect the whole person. And not in the positive way, either.

And a little bit of false teaching will affect your whole being. Because false teaching leads you into a "me" first theology instead of a God first theology. This is backwards of what it should be and it's dangerous. And this is exactly what Jesus was trying to warn the disciples of.

The Pharisees and Sadducees believed you could do things to get right with God. They believed you could earn your way into God's good grace by performing a certain amount of rituals. By doing something good.

This is not the case at all. We see continually throughout scripture that it is a heart issue and not a "works" issue. So Jesus warns the disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees.

To contrast though, Jesus says, in John 6:35, "Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

Jesus is our bread, Jesus is our leaven and where our heart should be at.

We need to put God first, in our hearts, above everything so that we can clearly hear and understand him.

Of course we are all going to agree on that statement, right? But how many of us are really doing that? How many of us can say we are putting God before ourselves? I know I'm not and it's a constant battle. But we need to be aware of it. We need to know that our sight isn't good.

And when we recognize how much we need his help, then we are on the right road to making some changes in our walk.

In fact, the name of our church, Damascus Road, is the road where the apostle Paul received his sight. This is where he met Jesus. This is where he was brought into the light out of the darkness, by the grace of God, this is where he received his vision.

Acts 9:3-4 says this. "Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Notice the direct connection here between seeing and hearing Jesus. There was a light that shone from Heaven and when he fell to the ground he heard Jesus for the first time. This was Saul's turning point from accuser and persecutor of the Christians into a man after God's own heart.

This is when he saw and heard Jesus.

There is that line in the old hymn Amazing Grace, that says: "I was blind but now I see." This is where Paul is at.

This was his pivot point. This was the time he finally repented and turned to Jesus because he saw the light. If we continue on in the narrative to verse 17, there was a disciple named Ananias, who was told from Jesus about this incident and what he should do.

Acts 9:17-18 says this,

17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

Now Saul could see. The scales on his eyes represent his old life. His old habits, his old way of doing things. No more would he persecute the Christians, instead he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen.

Because he had his eyes opened to things of Christ and not to the things of man. He was able to see clearly now because the grace of Jesus shone upon him. So now this is Paul's task. Now that his eyes are opened, he wants to open the eyes of others.

This is clearly illustrated, again, by Paul when he was talking to King Agrippa in Acts 26:18 when he writes of the mission he has received he says to the King, in verse 18 he says of his mission: to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

That was Paul's mission, to take spiritually blind people and give them spiritual sight. So that they could turn from the dark into the light, from sin and bondage to a life of forgiveness and repentance in Christ.

We can turn from our old ways of doing things, like Paul. We can begin to see the light more clearly the more we intentionally turn ourselves towards the cross.

We need to seek the light because we can't see on our own. We need help. We need to be able to see the things of God. We need Jesus' help to see and perceive the things of God or we may miss it.

And it is through repentance that we have this gift of sight. The word repentance literally means "to change your mind or change your ways." This is how we see Jesus more clearly. Through repentance. This is how we get our sight, through repentance.

But repentance is a constant thing. This is not just a one-time thing we do at conversion. It is a constant, continuous action that we must practice all the time if want to continue to walk in the light.

Because sin keeps us in the dark and repenting of it and bringing it out into the light will kill our sin.

Bringing sin out into the light then, not only destroys sin, but destroys that separation between us and God so we can be in spiritual union with him. So that we can properly understand him when he speaks to us.

But what about those times we don't desire God? We all have them. We all have times when our hearts just aren't into it…so don't despair. Because this is where the grace of Jesus comes in. The grace of Jesus Christ gives us rest in him who already accomplished everything.

He's already done all the work and we need to rest knowing that the bread of life has finished it all already.

Just imagine. Imagine what we could do, what we could accomplish, if we put our time with God first, over and above anything. Imagine if all of us spent intentional time with God, what could we do? What lives could we change?

Imagine what we could do if we knew the will of God.

And not just in our own lives, but in the lives of others around us?

Imagine if we practiced repentance on a continual basis. Our ways would then become God's ways, and what could we do for the mission of Christ then?

JESUS

There is where the cross comes in. The cross of Jesus gives us forgiveness of our sins. The cross is where we go to, to admit we have been selfish, prideful, arrogant and sinful. We get to lay our sins before the cross of Christ and admit that we don't have it all together.

The cross is where we go to, to be able to discern the will of God.

And in so doing, coming into a right relationship with our Savior, through repentance.

This is how we see the things of God and not see the things of man.

And in coming to the cross, we take communion here at Damascus Road every week. Communion is just one of 3 main ways we worship Christ. Communion is a reminder of the blood shed by Christ on the cross and of the body that was broken, when he was crucified.

We also worship by our giving, of our tithes and offerings. There are offering earns up front here and one in the back. Because everything we have, we recognize that it comes from God and giving back to God and his church is one other way that we worship him.

We also sing songs of Worship. In a moment, the band will come up here and play 4 songs. And during that time of worship is when we come up, as individuals, to the table and take the elements, the bread and the juice, and we participate in communion with the Spirit's prompting to remind of us of why we worship Christ our Savior.

Let's pray.

As we continue reading the life story of Jesus, we'll learn that He faced a growing opposition from the Pharisees and other religious leaders. Those men, who were supposed to be servants of God, hated God's Son with a passion, and wanted to ruin Him. Ultimately they succeeded in killing Him, but that only lasted for three days!

Today we read about the Pharisees and Sadducees asking Jesus for a miraculous sign in order to prove His claims. This was at least the second time they'd made such a request (see Matthew 12:38). They had no doubt heard the reports of the many people who were healed; in fact, some of them actually had been present to see Jesus heal (see Luke 5:17-25). So they were probably asking for something really spectacular, like fire falling from heaven.

Their request revealed how evil they were, and Jesus responded by saying so. The Pharisees and Sadducees could read the weather signs in the sky, but they couldn't read the obvious signs that proved Jesus was their promised Messiah. He had already provided more than sufficient proof that He was God in the form of a human being. Their request of a sign was an indication of the hardness of their hearts, and Jesus promised them only one sign on the magnitude of what they were seeking, calling it "the sign of the prophet Jonah." Of course, Jonah's expulsion from the fish's stomach after three days foreshadowed Jesus' own resurrection.

Obviously, anyone who followed the teaching of the Pharisees or Sadducees was doomed, as Jesus later warned His disciples as they once again crossed the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately, they completely misunderstood what He meant when He said, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6). They thought He said that because they had forgotten to bring any bread with them in their boat, since yeast is a primary ingredient in bread. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus rebuked them. Why would they have ever thought that He, having recently multiplied bread twice, would be the least bit concerned about having no bread in the boat? Their thoughts revealed their lack of faith in Him, and He told them so.

However, in the final part of today's reading, we learn that Jesus' disciples weren't entirely lacking in faith. Peter, likely speaking as a representative for most of the twelve, confessed that he believed Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Thus in one section of Scripture we have examples of the faith and doubts of the same followers of Christ. This clearly shows us that we may well believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but doubt that He will provide for our other needs, as is the case with too many of us. Sometimes we need to be reminded, like the disciples, of what God has done in the past to provide for our needs.

Like the disciples, all of us have faltered in our faith and failed. That, however, is not a reason to be discouraged, give up, or feel condemned. Jesus kept on working with His disciples, and He will keep on working with us!

Q. What did Jesus mean when He promised Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven?

A. Keys represent the means of opening something that is locked. In this case, Jesus promised to give Peter the means to unlock heaven while he was still on the earth. Heaven, in a sense, is locked to all sinners. But it can be opened to sinners if they are made righteous. The key that opens it to them is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus was promising Peter that He would entrust him with the gospel, so that he could open the entrance to heaven for people. Likewise, Peter could boldly declare that heaven was shut to anyone who refused to believe the gospel.

Application:

Like Peter, we're blessed to know and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, because so many people don't know or believe it. We're now part of a worldwide church that, as Jesus said, the powers of hell will not conquer. We're on a winning team!

by Dr. Jeffrey F. Evans

Gospel: Matthew 16:1-4 / Luke 12:54-59

I can never read either of these two passages without thinking of my grandfather. He was the weatherman of all weathermen! In fact, when my family wanted to go to the beach, or make other weather-dependent plans, we would always go to him to get the definitive forecast (even after listening to the weather man on TV)!

And I kid you not, he was never wrong! The weatherman on TV was good, but sometimes wrong. My grandfather, to the best of my memory, was NEVER wrong!

He'd lick his finger and hold it up to determine the direction of the wind (even if so slight) / he'd look a the sky / and examine the cloud formations (even the height or the type of clouds) / he'd point out sun dogs / or rings around the moon / or look at the low lying fog / or take note of the rustling of the leaves on the trees / and even smell the air! And after examining everything come out with his forecast (which was never wrong)!

In fact, inscribed in pencil, on the boards of the milk house (which I later accidentally burned down ) were written the dates of record temperatures, snow accumulations and rainfall amounts, dating back to the late 1800's (he was born in 1882 and died in 1981).

As a farmer (and the son of a farmer) he had nearly 100 years of experience interpreting the earth and the sky, which as Jesus suggests in this passage - is pretty darn dependable! In fact, Darrell Bock points out in relation to Palestine:

"People could predict the weather in Palestine by making a few simple observations. A westerly wind meant that moisture from the Mediterranean was riding in and clouds and rain would follow."

(R. Kent Hughes even points out that "rain always comes from the West," and uses I Kings 18 as an example, where after Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal, he prays for rain, and it comes - from the West!) Likewise, "Southwesterly breezes meant that heat from the desert was on the way and a rise in temperature could be expected."

"No Jew," Hughes adds, "needed NBC weatherman Willard Scott, or any other local forecaster to tell him what was coming. They all understood the weather patterns."

Yet, like the people in this text, my grandfather also would have fallen into the category of what Jesus refers to as "Hypocrites!" Not actors or deceivers (in this case), but people wise enough to discern and identify recurring weather patterns and thus know enough to predict that rain or heat was coming, but not wise enough to apply those same principles to recurring sin patterns and thus know when the storm of God's wrath against it was coming.

Considering all he saw in his lifetime, he should have known such signs well!

He went from riding in horse drawn wagons, to seeing cars and airplanes invented, to the Spanish American War and the Boxer Rebellion in China and the Industrial Revolution / He lived through WWI, and the Communist takeover in Russia, and the Roaring 20's, and The Great Depression, and Prohibition, and the Rise of the Third Reich. / He saw his oldest son (my dad) enter WWII and followed the news as the Atomic Bombs were dropped on Japan. / He witnessed the re-establishment of the nation of Israel, the Cold War, the Korean Conflict, and Desegregation.

He saw Castro take over Cuba, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the assassination of the Kennedy brothers, Woodstock, the racial riots, drugs and sexual revolution of the 1960's and even the Beatles - when they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show! (His favorite was the Lawrence Welk Show). He watched the Apollo 11 moon landing (I watched it with him!), the end of the Vietnam Conflict, the Fall of Saigon, the gas crisis, Watergate, and so much more!

He saw sin, and what it led to, for nearly 100 years! Yet, he NEVER learned (or simply refused to interpret and apply it to his own life) what was so obvious about human nature, patterns of sin, and what it led to in regard to evil, conflict, the need for repentance and personal salvation in light of God's impending judgment on it all.

And don't get me wrong! He was a VERY moral man. As honorable as they come. Loved and trusted by nearly everyone. But in many ways that was his downfall! Because like so many "good" people, he didn't see himself as a sinner in need of God's grace or any need to get right with God before he was, as this passage says, sentenced by the Judge to pay the fine for his wrongdoings.
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So, let's look at the passage and see the THREE things Jesus is telling us through it.

And FIRST, I'd like to have us consider the term "Hypocrites!"

Because, honestly, at first glance, it doesn't seem to fit the context. To call them dull, or dumb, or unwise, or unwilling to apply natural patterns and principles to the spiritual life, yes.

But "Hypocrites??" Hypocrites are actors. Hypocrites play the part of someone they're not. How, then, does that concept of being a hypocrite fit with these verses?

And the answer is simple. Hypocrite can mean one other thing - it can refer to people who pretend. Hypocrites are people who pretend that something is one way, when they know it's really another.

Which means Jesus doesn't see them as dull, ignorant or unwise. He sees them as people who are pretending to be dull / or pretending to be unwise / or pretending they don't see or can't read all the signs or sin patterns developing all around them which would indicate to any person with any religious common sense at all, that a storm of divine judgment is imminent!

They have signs staring them in the face (signs as undeniably clear as the wind blowing up from he Arabian desert and clouds rolling in from the West). Yet they pretend they do not see them. What are they? These signs they are hypocritically pretending not to see?

1.) The sign of Jesus Himself! The witness of a man who was righteous, blameless, sinless, truthful, trustworthy, loving, humble and full of wisdom. A man who spoke with divine authority and exercised divine power - casting out demons, and healing the sick, and making the lame to walk and the blind to see! One who walked on water, and turned water into wine, and stilled the storm, and calmed the sea, and raised the dead! What more could they have possibly needed to see? What more could people TODAY possibly need to hear, in regard to Jesus, to know He was the Christ or Son of God?

2.) Then there was the repeated or recurring witness of Israel's history which told them that: Nearly every time a prophet would come preaching the need for righteousness and repentance, the people would reject his message, refuse to repent and often kill that prophet to silence him. And that, after they did, divine judgment would fall as a result. This recurring pattern happened so often throughout Israel's history, that everyone was aware of it. Yet as Jesus suggests, they hypocritically pretended they didn't see the same scenario or storm clouds brewing in regard to Him!

3.) There was the sign of the mounting opposition to Jesus among the religious leaders. The handwriting was on the wall, so to speak, and everyone should have known where it would all end - with a rejection of His message, His death, and then God's judgment on Israel as a result. Anyone who knew the repeated patterns that occurred throughout history should have seen it coming.

And if they KNEW God's judgment was coming (as it did indeed come in 70 A.D., which Jesus said was God's judgment on them for their rejection of Him - or not recognizing the time of God's coming to them in Him – Luke 19:44) there was only one thing to do - use the time remaining to get themselves right with God!

That's Jesus word to us as well!
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Which brings us to our SECOND point. Jesus calls us to apply to the moral and spiritual realms, the same principles of observation we apply to weather patterns. When we see dark storm clouds moving in, accompanied by heavy gusts of wind, we get ready for rain, and possibly thunder and lightning, and thus take the clothes in off the line, and put things that could get damaged by the wind and rain under cover.

And what Jesus wants us to do is the same thing in regard to the spiritual realms. When we see the darkness of immorality and moral depravity growing all around us, we should know that it is usually followed by expressions of God's wrath (Rom. 1:18-32) and that we should take (in the spiritual sense) whatever steps are necessary to avert the impending disaster and protect ourselves from the coming exercise of God's judgment. "You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky," says Jesus, "but you do not know how to interpret this present time."

You see, the deceiving thing about sin is that the progression toward immorality and ethical depravity happens so slowly and so gradually, over a lengthy period of time that we're often unaware of how bad it's actually gotten.

When dark storm clouds roll in rapidly, accompanied by high gust of wind, and trees swaying and old dead branches falling from them onto the road as a result, the severity of the approaching storm can't be ignored. Because the change is so immediate and drastic, it calls forth an immediate response.

But when you wake up in the morning, and the sky is red, with a mixture of sun and clouds, and then by noon is slightly overcast, and gradually darkens with clouds as evening approaches, and starts to drizzle overnight, and turns to rain the next day, it can end up being just as bad, but our response to it is less drastic, because it came on so slowly.
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The same thing happens in the moral realms all the time!

I remember a debate on TV when I was 10, 11, 12 years old (in the late 1960's) on the issue of loosening the moral restrictions for TV programs. One man was for it and the other against it. And the man who was against it asked where it would stop if they did relax the restrictions. And after bantering back and forth for a while, the man in favor of lifting the restrictions assured his more morally conservative and hesitant opponent that he never had to worry: "There will never be x-rated shows on TV." I can remember him promising it!

Yet here we stand 50 years later and his words of assurance have long since been negated. Because the push toward immorality will always move in the direction of greater immorality! Not rapidly, but so slowly that by the time it happens you barely remember what it used to be like.

You used to have to go to the red light districts in the raunchy parts of town if you wanted to see porn. But now (50 years later) you can easily access even the worst of it on the TV, where we were promised it would never be! And not just after midnight, when the kids are asleep, but any time, making it necessary to put locks and filters on your TV to block regular movie channels that have it there. (Not to mention that what was once x-rated, would now receive an R-rating, with the language as equally obscene and offensive and needlessly filthy as the visual content.)

You've surely all heard of the experiment where the frog was placed in a beaker of water which was raised one degree each day, and ended up boiling to death before he even realized it was getting hot. The change in temperature happened so slowly that it killed him without him being aware he was dying!

The same is true of societal shifts toward greater sin and immorality. People who push for it know that the best way to bring about change and avoid the moral backlash, is to do it so slowly that people barely notice its changing (or know its changing but like the frog, feel the change is so slow it's no big deal).

For instance: Perversion used to be considered wrong, but now it's those who think its wrong that are seen as being perverse! In some places you can't even suggest it and keep your job!
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Steve Turner put it well when he wrote his insightful "Creed of Modern Society:"

• "We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin.
• We believe everything is ok, as long as you don't hurt anyone, to the best of your definition of hurt, and the best of your knowledge.
• We believe in sex - before, during and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun, sodomy is OK, and taboos are taboo.
• We believe everything is getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated and as you know you can prove anything with evidence.
• We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons. That Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammed and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher, although we think His good morals are bad!
• We believe that all religions are basically the same - at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation.
• We believe that after death comes nothing - because when you ask the dead what happens, they say nothing. If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all - except perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.
• We believe in Masters and Johnson. What's selected is average. What's average is normal, and what's normal is good… (If most do it, it must be right.)
• We believe that man is essentially good. It's only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.
• We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adjust accordingly. The universe will readjust. History will alter.
• We believe there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth! We believe in the rejection of creeds, and the flowering of individual thought.
• And if Chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear: "State of Emergency! Sniper kills ten! Troops on rampage! Whites go looting! Bomb blasts school!" It is but the sound of man worshipping (his newly created) maker."

Likewise, as Pastor Joe Wright pointed out when he prayed his prayer for repentance to open the Kansas State Senate:

• "We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it pluralism.
• We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
• We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle
• We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
• We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
• We have killed our unborn and called it choice (birth control or pre-natal care)
• We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
• We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
• We have abused power and called it political maneuvering or savvy.
• We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
• We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

And we could add:

• We have rewarded corporate irresponsibility, greed and stealing and called it a bailout.
• Ridiculed those who advocate conservative moral values and called it political correctness.
• Endorsed the sin of coveting and selfishness and called it a Bull Market.
• Endorsed lying and called it salesmanship (deception and called it misinformation.)
• Endorsed promiscuity and called it "friends with benefits." Adultery and called it a fling.
• We've endorsed evil by calling it good while trouncing good by calling it evil - something upon which the Prophet Jeremiah pronounces a "woe" of impending judgment.

Stop the slaughter of the unborn or else I will have to intervene on their behalf by judging the society that permits it! (Three every minute - in the U.S. alone - 180 since you walked through those doors this morning!)

Restore moral sanity to society, says God, or else I will have to act in judgment. / Turn from the sins you have embraced as being normal or I will need to show you how abnormal they are! / Stop putting on the blinders and swallowing the lie of relativism and pretending all is well when you know full well it's not!
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Which brings us to our LAST point. Jesus says to these people (and to us through them), in verse 57, that "we need to judge for ourselves what is right." (That is, what is right according to God's Word!) In their case the Pharisees were telling them what was right and wrong, or their peers. And in our case He could say: "Why let Hollywood define what's acceptable and what's not? Why let the media dictate right and wrong?"

"Why let your mind be swayed by public opinion polls? Why let society or the government (which refuses to even acknowledge God in the public sphere) dictate morality?" Has GOD not spoken in His Word? Has He not made known what's right and wrong? Is there anything or anyone that trumps the revelation of God?!

You see, Jesus' advice to us in this mini-parable in verses 58-59 is this:

"As you are going with your adversary (who in this case is either JESUS, since He's the one pointing out their sin in this passage, or the HOLY SPIRIT who convicts all of their sin) try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge (who in this case refers to GOD), and the judge turn you over to the officer (possibly a reference to angels) and the officer throw you into prison (or hell in this case). I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny."

It's Jesus' way of assuring each one of us that we ALL stand guilty before God (the Judge)! The guilt of the accused in this parable is never in question! That's why Jesus says: "As you are going… be reconciled to him on the way." In other words, you ARE guilty, so you'd better do all you can to be reconciled, because if you don't you WILL get thrown into prison!

It's not a parable about an innocent man whose wrongly accused, but a guilty man, who knows he's guilty (he's judged for himself what is right)! He knows he's done wrong! That's why he's encouraged by Jesus to use the time he has before appearing in front of the Judge, to make things right with his accuser!

It's Jesus' way of saying: Be wise my friends! We ALL stand guilty before God! "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 6:23). / We have ALL done wrong! / And there is therefore no chance of getting off scot free based on your behavior! / You must get right with your accuser before you stand before God on the Day of Judgment!

R. Kent Hughes is right when he says:

"Those who heed Jesus little parable know they are guilty sinners - they have judged for themselves "what is right." They know the wrath of God abides on their souls (John 3:18, 36). So as they are going to court, where they will surely be found guilty, they wisely seek to settle out of court. Jesus call for us is to settle things in this life, so that our lives will not come to the court of final judgment, where it will be too late to find salvation."

Too late to be reconciled to God.

The author of Hebrews says "It is appointed unto man once to die, and then comes the judgment" (9:27). There are no second chances after we die! No chance to "reconcile with our adversary" once our eyes close in death.

The time to repent is now!

The time to turn from our sin and be reconciled to God is now! "As you go… on your way" (and he means through this life), "try hard to be reconciled to your accuser." Settle your accounts NOW!

You see, that's why Jesus accuses us of sin, or the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. To prompt us to see our need to be reconciled to God! Which means they are both expressions of the grace of God!

Without Jesus pointing out our sin we would see no need to be reconciled to our accuser, and without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we might become comfortable in our sin, even when it is pointed out to us.

So the Holy Spirit bears down on the conscience that we might know our guilt, sense the divine displeasure, see our need for Christ, trust in His atoning death on our behalf and thus be reconciled to God! It's all an expression of God's grace in leading us to salvation!

You see, Jesus' point is this: The Day of Judgment is coming. And what He wants you to know (what you would know if you judged for yourself what was right) is that: "You're guilty. You have sinned against God. And therefore you need to be reconciled to Him before you die, because by the time you stand before Him in the judgment it will be too late."

Jesus doesn't want you thrown into prison. He doesn't want you to have to pay the price for your sin.