Today we are going to talk about getting the leaven out. Get the leaven out!
God tells us in the Old Testament about unleavened bread, and we are going to learn a couple of things. We are going to touch on a couple of things, but the passage that we want to look at is in Matthew 16. In Matthew 16, God tells us exactly how He uses the word “leaven.” Matthew 16:1-12 reads as follows:
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show 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 lowering. 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. 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.
Now here, the Lord Jesus is not only warning His disciples but He is also warning us—also today, in our day. So now, let us go back in the Old Testament. Now that we see how God is using this word “leaven,” let us go back in the Old Testament and see if we can pick up some things, just looking at this word “leaven.”
Let us turn to Exodus 12. Let us start there. I just have a few passages here, but in Exodus 12:15-20, it says:
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
God is commanding them not to eat leavened bread. Now, I would have to say they probably did not know why they had to do that. It was just something that God told them. But we here, we have all of His Word now.
This was instituted when they came out of Egypt, and we know that the word “leaven” has to do with doctrine. So any doctrine that they had when they were in Egypt, they had to get rid of that. They could not have that anywhere around because of the penalty for that. If they had leavened bread in their house, that soul was going to be cut off. They could not eat it; they could not even have it in their house.
I believe that this is the time of the year when they were kind of celebrating that—that Feast day, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But this is what He is talking about here. They had all kinds of doctrines and things like this that they more or less kind of picked up when they were in Egypt because they were there for so long. I am not going to say all of them, but God is making a distinction here. Do not keep it around. Do not even eat it. Do not even have it in your house.
He is saying this back then, but even today, when we read our Bible and the Lord opens our eyes to the true Gospel, the true Gospel, we will not hesitate to get rid of the leaven or the doctrines that we came out of. Maybe we came out of the churches. Maybe we came out of a congregation somewhere. Whatever it is, we will not hesitate to get rid of it because we put the Word of God over anything else we have been taught—anything else. So this is what He is emphasizing here.
Let us take another look. Turn over to Exodus 13. He says this again. He says in Exodus 13:6-7:
Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
You see how He zeroes in on this leaven? For those that may not know, I will try to simplify it. Leaven is yeast; we call it “yeast” today. We call it “yeast” because of what it does. You use it when you make bread. What happens is that you put a little bit of it in some dough and it permeates through the whole lump of dough that you have, and it only takes a little teeny bit to go through it.
We begin to see now how He is using this word “leaven.” It is like yeast that you might see mommy make bread with, and then the bread rises. She just puts a little bit in there and then the bread rises, but it permeates all through the dough. So that is what He means when He is talking about “leaven.”
So now let us take another look—one more—in Leviticus 2. In Leviticus 2:11, He has something else to say. He says:
No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.
So here, this leaven, the Lord wants to make sure it is not mingled with the sacrifice. At this particular time, He is zeroing in on this word “leaven.” With that zeroing in, He is warning not only them, but He is warning us also.
So now, let us take a look at the New Testament and look at a few other Scriptures that deal with that. Let us look at Matthew 13:33. Here He uses it in a parable. He says:
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Here, He is using the word “leaven” as a good thing, because the doctrine of Christ is going to permeate through all the world. It is going to go into all the world. Remember He says to His disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” So He is likening it now to the Kingdom of Heaven, because this is the kind of doctrine that we should have. This is the doctrine that should be going out. This is the doctrine that should be permeating through all of the world, you see? And we would be this “woman” here. The Bride of Christ will take it out into the world and give it to the people.
So let us look at another place here. Let us look at Galatians 5. But before we go to Galatians 5, stop at Galatians 1 first. We will just make a point here and then we will move to Galatians 5. Starting at Galatians 1:6, He says in Galatians 1:6-9:
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
He does not want us to miss this point. First of all, the Gospel was given to the Galatians, but it was perverted. Later on, it was perverted. They received the truth, but then He is telling them now, “What happened to you? What happened? I gave you the Gospel and now somebody else came along and gave you another gospel, and it is so close to the Gospel that you can not really tell that it is another gospel!” He said that it was “not another” but that it was perverted, and what it was perverted with is “doctrines of men.” “Doctrines of men,” that is what it is perverted with.
The Gospel, the true Gospel, is the Gospel of Grace. The precepts of men or the “doctrines of men,” what they do is that they mix in a little bit of work with the Gospel of Grace. It is so close to the true Gospel that it is hard to tell.
But the child of God will not be drawn. As soon as the works come in to the salvation process, a red light will go off in your head and right away you will know that it is not the true Gospel. But if you do not have the Spirit of Christ in you, you could be drawn.
You see, the Spirit of Christ will not allow us to get pulled into that. He will not do it. He does this for us because it is so close—so close. “All you have to do is just say this prayer.” “You are still saved by grace;” oh, they will tell you that. “Oh, I am saved by grace!” “But all you have to do is just say this prayer and God will do this for you. He has to do it. It is in His Word.”
Oh, it sounds good; but it is so deadly. It is so subtle and it is so deadly—and that is only one of hundreds of subtle gospels that will draw an individual into thinking that he is saved when in actuality he is not saved. So this is why God warns us here.
So now let us go over to Galatians 5. In Galatians 5, He picks up on a statement that we are talking about. The leaven—actually that is in Corinthians and I will get back to that. But on this same note about another gospel or what happened, let us start in Galatians 5:1. We read in Galatians 5:1-3:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
You see, they thought that circumcision would make them saved. Galatians 5:4-9:
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
“A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Remember the yeast I was telling you about that you just can put a little bit in the lump of dough and then it permeates through the dough? Well, “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” so this leaven is this doctrine. Even though it might just be a tiny piece of a false doctrine, it will permeate through the whole congregation.
But now, we have the Bible in front of us and we try to compare Scripture with Scripture. So one way you can look at the Bible—sometimes I explain it like this—it is like a gear. If you know how a gear works, each gear goes right inside of the other gear. Now if there is a lie in there, the gear will stop. It will stop. It will run as long as everything is true, but if you put something in there—we will just call it a “lie;” it could be a bolt or something like that—if it is an untruth, the gear is going to stop. The “gears” of the Bible will stop. They will lock up on that, and now you have a problem with this particular lie, or whatever you are trying to incorporate into what the Bible is saying, and so it causes you to go here and go there but you have to get it out in order to continue with the truth that you are doing. You see? The Bible is organized like that. That is the way I see it sometimes—like a gear—and so if you have an untruth, it is going to lock up.
You have talked to people before. You give them a verse and they say, “I am not worried about that.” You are not worried about it! I mean, what are you saying? We are having a conversation, and you have to check this verse out. This is the “bolt” that is in the “gear,” and you have to get around that verse. You can not just push it aside and act like you do not see it and act like it is not there.
I used to say, “Well, why do I not just tear it out?” It is a sarcastic way of saying, “That is what you are doing! I might as well tear the page out and then the verse will be gone because, basically, that is what you are doing.”
You can not do that to the Bible. The Bible is there and it is for us to search out the truth that is in the Bible. But if you do not have the attitude that you want to search out the truth of the Bible, then you are going to think like that. “Well, I will just tear it out and I am not going to worry about it,” or “I am just not going to read it,” or “I do not want to hear that.”
I know that you have heard that before. You have told people this and told them that and whatever; but you see, it is only because God has not opened their eyes as of yet. But believe me; it is still in their heads, even if they may say something like that.
Guys used to laugh at me. When I used to work for the Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station, they used to laugh at me. But the same guy that was laughing would come back and say, “You know, I have a problem. Can you pray for my wife?” Do you know what I am saying? They would laugh at you on one end, and then on the other end, they would come to you privately, so that no one else would see or hear, and then they would say, “Look, can you pray for me or for a loved one, or for whatever?”
But these kinds of things, they happen, so let us get back to the text now. We are getting away from the text. So now, we know that this “leaven” is doctrine. It is doctrine. It is wrong doctrine, but it can be the right doctrine because we read that in Matthew 13—and that is the true Gospel.
So let us pick up on some more of these warnings that God gives us. Let us look at Matthew 7:28-29. It says:
And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
So when the Lord Jesus was teaching, the doctrine that He was giving them was the doctrine of grace, but they were not used to hearing the doctrine of grace. That is why they were astonished. They were accustomed to hearing the doctrine of works. It may have had a little grace mixed in with it; but, basically, they were in the sense of doing things. “Okay; yes, I was circumcised on the 8th day, because the Word says that this is what I was supposed to do.” You know? And then when the Lord Jesus came along and He started teaching, they were astonished at “His doctrine,” but it was the doctrine of the Bible. It was hidden in the Old Testament, but the Lord Jesus was revealing these things to them.
They did not know about the leaven, more than likely, in the Old Testament, what it was referring to and why they did not have to eat it, they just did not eat it and they did not put it in their house. They tried to follow all of the instructions that were given to them that were in the Scriptures. But the Lord Jesus was bringing these things out and it says that the people were “astonished at His doctrine.” So the Lord Jesus is bringing them the doctrine of grace, but it astonishes them.
Let us go to John 7, and I will start reading in verse 16. John 7:16-17:
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
The Lord Jesus is telling us that the doctrine that He is speaking—now you have to understand that these people were astonished, as He was teaching before, when we were looking at that in Matthew—so now He is saying, “My doctrine is not Mine.” It is not like He made it up—it is not like that—but it is “His that sent Me,” which is the Father. He kept telling them, “The Father hath sent Me; the Father hath sent Me.”
So the Bible that you have, the doctrine that I am teaching, that is what I am teaching you. It is the same doctrine. But you see, they did not understand it as being the doctrine of grace. They understood it as being a doctrine of works...works...works. It was everything that they had to do—they had to do it—they had to do this, that, and the other, as long as they kept all of the commandments.
Remember when Jesus asked the young ruler and he said, “All these things have I kept from my youth up.” But there was one more thing that he had to do. Jesus said, “Go and sell that thou hast...and come and follow Me.” But he did not do that. Instead, “He went away sorrowful.” But when you study this, that rich young ruler became saved! He became a saved individual, because the Lord loved him! The Lord loved him! He was not saved because he was keeping all of the commandments, you see. He was saved because he was chosen “before the foundation of the world.” You see, he did not know that he was chosen, but the Lord Jesus knew who he was.
Let us look at one more. Let us go to 2 John, and we are going to start at verse 9. It says in 2 John 1:9-11:
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
God makes it pretty plain right here. This is a warning. There is only one doctrine that saves, and that is the doctrine of Christ. It is just one! And if you have the doctrine of Christ, you have the Father. You have Christ and you have the Father. But if you do not have that, then you do not have Christ or the Father.
So anyone who is in a doctrine or teaching that is not the doctrine of Christ or the doctrine of the Bible—you can not separate Christ from the Bible—then you do not have Him or the Father. There is no salvation in whatever it is that you are in! That is what He is saying here. There is no middle ground! It is not like I am halfway here or that I am halfway there or I that I can have a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
If you mix in a little bit of work with the doctrine of grace, “ye are fallen from grace,” like He says in Galatians 5, and then there is no grace! A little bit of work will erase out the grace. It will erase it out completely. So these are solemn warnings that God has given us.
Now we are going to take a short look at a doctrine that is being taught. There are a whole lot of them, but we are just going to take a short look at one. This doctrine is called “the doctrine of rewards.” The first thing that they would say is that we are saved by grace—by grace and grace alone—but after you become saved—this is a false doctrine, but it is very subtle—after you become saved, then you can earn rewards in Heaven, not down here, but you will be given this when you get to Heaven for the work that you have done down here.
So let us take a look at one of these “crowns” in 1 Thessalonians 2 that they talk about. They use this in the wrong sense; so, therefore, you get the wrong sense. But if you are in a freewill gospel, then this fits right in to what you are into. In 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, He says:
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.
Is there anybody, anybody who is a true believer, who is not going to be rejoicing when we get to see the Lord? This covers all of the believers! It is only the unbelievers who are not going to be rejoicing. It is like an individual who has done some sort of work, then they are going to get this “crown.”
They have another crown that they call the “crown of righteousness.” So let us take a look at 2 Timothy 4:7-8. He says:
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
First of all, we know that we are only righteous because Christ makes us righteous. It is His righteousness, because “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” But once we are in Heaven, yes, we do not have our same bodies and all, but what about this “crown”? Oh, now I see. He crowns us with His righteousness, but it is not a literal crown because you have been righteous while you were down here. You see? It is not like that.
They twist it around and they point the finger back to you. Yes, because you were righteous—yes, you will get a “crown of righteousness.” But that is not what it is talking about. It is talking about “love His appearing,” and not only him, but everybody who is a believer who loves His appearing. Do you see? It gets twisted around.
We could go through all of them. There is a “crown of life.” But He is talking about eternal life! He is not talking about giving you a particular crown that deals with life. It is not that! There are a whole lot of inconsistencies with the doctrine that is being taught there, and it is things like that. To top it off, there is a “crown of glory,” there is an “incorruptible” crown, there is a “crown of joy.” The “crown of life” is in James 1:12. 1 Peter 5:4 is the “crown of glory.” 1 Corinthians 9:25 is the “incorruptible” crown, because our bodies will be “incorruptible.”
But in closing, we want to take a look at Luke 17, and this puts the cap on this particular doctrine. This is one of the “bolts” that clogs up the “gear” of this particular doctrine. It starts in verse 7. He says in Luke 17:7-10:
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
You see, this is the attitude of the child of God. Regardless of whatever he does for the service of the Lord, “I am an unprofitable servant. I have done that which was my duty to do.” What else can I give? I have done all that I can, but I am not expecting anything for it. Just like anyone, we do not expect to get anything. I mean, look at what He has given us—eternal life! What more can He give us?
There can be no greater gift that God can do for us than to bestow His grace upon us, after a long, long—I do not know about your list—but a long list of sins, and they have all been erased by His grace. What else can you do? What more can you do? How can you say, “Thank You”? How can you pay a back payment on an un-payable debt, because the Lord Jesus paid it all?
Let us pray. Thank You again, Lord. Father, we thank You for Your Word, Lord, that we can glean a little bit here and a little bit there, Lord. It is only when You show us a little here and little there. But Lord we just can chew on those things all week long, Father. We just thank You, Lord. We thank You again for Your Word, and we thank You that You do all things according to the counsel of Your will, for it is in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. Amen.