The King s Warnings Matthew 16:1-12. Beware Of Those Who Would Discredit Christ (v.1)

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1 INTRODUCTION Chapter 16 begins in conflict (vv.1-12); continues in confusion (vv.13-20) and concludes with Peter s confession that Jesus is the Son of the living God (vv.13-20). The conflict centers around the Pharisees and the Scribes who once again unite and ask for a sign from heaven to validate Christ s claims. What exactly were they looking for? Fire from heaven like Elijah? Or bread from heaven like Moses? Jesus will answer their request by revealing their spiritual condition. The Lord Jesus notes their ability to discern and interpret physical things but their utter inability to discern spiritual circumstances and conditions. Jesus also notes their wickedness manifested in their willingness to tempt or test God. Another clue to their spiritual condition could be found in the religious leaders willingness to embrace empty religion and forsake the true and the living God of their fathers. Jesus will point to His own death and burial and resurrection and to His ministry to the Gentiles by referencing the Prophet Jonah. What do you believe about Jesus? What do you think about His claims about Himself? Who is Jesus? In order to answer those questions we must ask a most penetrating question. What is your spiritual condition? Can you interpret spiritual things? Are you able to discern the signs of the times? What worldview have you embraced in order to explain the world in which you live? How has the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus informed your thinking? The Lord Jesus issues a series of warnings; declarations of danger for those who would discredit Jesus and seek to degrade and then destroy the message of Jesus. What are those warnings? Beware of those who would discredit Christ and God s revelation (v.1). Beware of being blind to the signs (vv.2-4). Beware of false teaching (vv.5-12). Beware Of Those Who Would Discredit Christ (v.1) Matthew 16:1 (NKJV)1Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. What is the purpose of a sign? To provide direction. The confrontation continues. Do the religious leaders believe in Jesus? No. Do they want to believe in Jesus? No. What you are witnessing is a growing and deepening hostility to Jesus. Remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees were quite different from one another. The Pharisees believed and embraced the oral traditions that developed during the Babylonian captivity. The Pharisees believed in a Biblical resurrection and read the law and practiced the law and read the prophets and incorporated the prophetic writings into their worldview. The Pharisees believed in angels and the supernatural and miracles. The Pharisees believed that a Messiah would come. The Pharisees believed the human soul survived death and would either face reward or punishment. The Sadducees were a part of an inherited priesthood religious rulers descendants of priests who held power in Jerusalem. They were a priestly royalty who ruled in Jerusalem and exercised powerful control in the Temple. The Sadducees embraced the first five books of Moses but denied the existence of miracles or a future resurrection or even the survival of the soul. They were for all intents and purposes rationalists and nationalists. The Sadducees were political 1

2 collaborators, working with the Roman occupying government to insure peace, safety and opportunity opportunity to control the people and retain power over the Jewish people. Two different groups committed to the demise of Jesus. William Barclay says: It would have been well-nigh impossible to find two more different sects and parties; and yet they came together in their envenomed desire to eliminate Jesus. All error has this in common it is hostile to Christ (p. 129). In a recent posting Joel C. Rosenberg quotes DABIQ the ISIS propaganda journal and brings to our attention some of their stated goals on the cover of the magazine it simply reads; BREAK THE CROSS. Joel writes: 1 ISIS leaders make clear they want to bring about the End of Days. 2 ISIS leaders vow to "break the cross" -- that is, to slaughter Christians in the Middle East, in the West, and around the world, and to annihilate Christianity from the Earth. 3 ISIS leaders lay out the six reasons they hate us, they state their ultimate objective, and they explain why they will never stop killing until they achieve total victory. The religious leaders ask for a sign from heaven! Think about what has already happened in Matthew s Gospel; Jesus is baptized by John and the voice of God reveals this is my beloved Son (3:17). Jesus has cast out demons in Gergasa (8:28-34); healed a paralytic in Capernaum (9:1-8); raised a little girl from the dead (9:18); healed a woman who had been hemorrhaging blood for 12 years (9:20-21); healed two men (9:27); feed 5,000 plus people in chapter 14; walked on water (14:22); healed hundreds in chapter 15; and then fed 4,000 plus more people. But this is not good enough. Some Rabbi s taught that demons could perform miracles. Supernatural events could come from God or Satan, angels or demons. They didn t dispute the miracle. They disputed the source. The religious leaders are asking for a sign a proof that only God could provide. In effect they are saying provide proof that we deem acceptable. But no amount of proof will satisfy a person committed to unbelief. The Apostle Paul writes (2 Corinthians 3:14-15) But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. (15) But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. (16) Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Like a blanket over the head in a dark room people remain blind. People who knowingly embrace darkness must of necessity recoil at the light. I read the story of a French woman who lived some 50 plus years ago. She was born blind at birth. One day, someone gave her the Gospel of Mark in Braille. She was so blessed by the story of Jesus that she read it over and over until her fingertips became callused and they lost their sensitivity. To regain feeling in her 2

3 fingertips she literally cut away the calluses. With bloody fingertips she began to read Mark s gospel again. The more she cut away the calluses the more damage she did to her fingers until she permanently damaged the nerve endings in her fingertips. Devastated, she held her copy of Mark s gospel in her hands one last time and tenderly kissed the book with her lips. She discovered her lips were more sensitive than her fingertips! She continued to study the Scriptures with her lips and went on to become a gifted Bible teacher (see Jon Courson p.54). Beware Of Those Unable To Discern The Signs Of The Times (vv.2-4) 2He answered and said to them, When it is evening you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red ; 3and in the morning, It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. The Lord s response begins at first indirect. He points out to the religious leaders that if they see a red sky in the evening they would immediately think It s going to be a good day; fair weather or even fine weather. And when people wake up if they see the clouds gathering and darkening they can expect foul weather. In one sense Jesus is saying if you want to know what kind of a day it will be look up! Face the sky! People in rural areas have a saying; A red sky at night is the shepherd s delight: A red sky in the morning is the shepherd s warning. And what were the signs of the times they sought to ignore? There are references in the New Testament to times. 1. A time to repent (Mark 1:15). 2. A time of refreshing (Acts 3:19). 3. A time of restitution (Acts 3:21). 4. A time for results (Matthew 13:30; Mark 11:13). 5. A time of reformation (Hebrews 9:10). 6. A time of redemption (2 Corinthians 6:2). The word in the Greek language is Kronos and is sometimes translated time (Matt.2:7) or while (John 12:35); space (Rev.2:21) and seasons (Acts 20:18). It can mean a set time or a limited time or a designated period of time. The religious leaders could discern or understand certain physical signs but were utterly unable to comprehend the spiritual revelation of God in Christ. How could they be so utterly naive or unaware of God s dealings with His people in the person of Jesus? The miracles of Jesus did not soften their hearts but hardened their hearts! 3

4 W.H. Griffith Thomas: Where willing heart is there is spiritual vision, and where there is no vision there is for people neither life (cf. Prov. 29:18) nor warmth of heart; Pharisees dullness came from their spiritual deadness, for if they had cared they would have seen (cf. 1 Chron. 12:32,38). 4A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And He left them and departed. Once again Jesus gives His answer; the only sign will be that of the prophet Jonah (see 12:39-40). Jesus provides no further explanation as though his former statement is sufficient and final (see again W.H. Griffin Thomas; p.240). What has happened? The religious leaders have been given repeated invitations to repent of sin and to hear understand and accept Christ s message. Yet the religious leaders persist in their rejection thus revealing that they are spiritually blind. The spiritually blind are not only in darkness they seek darkness crave darkness curse light sink deeper into darkness until they are finally abandoned by God! The spiritually blind seek to discredit Jesus. The spiritually blind reject repeated warnings. The spiritually blind are characterized by hypocrisy. The spiritually blind fail to discern the times. And what is the sign of the prophet Jonah? The passages are recorded in Luke 11:29-32 and again in Matthew 12:38-40 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah: and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. Once again Jesus leaves His foes behind. He will cross the other side of the lake (v.5) and wind up on the north-eastern shore of the Galilee. The spiritually blind will struggle with the basic doctrines of the meaning and the importance of the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Beware Of False Teaching (vv.5-12) 4

5 5Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6Then Jesus said to them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 7And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. 8But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? How do the disciples repeatedly get it wrong? How is it that they constantly confuse the physical the spiritual? 10Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How could they forget the most obvious lessons of both feedings? How could they have concluded that the most important thing in their lives was to pack meals for the journey and forget that they are on the journey with Jesus? What do you need if you are with Jesus? 11How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 12Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Lord points out that the issue isn t whether or not Jesus can make a physical provision but rather to be on guard of being influenced by the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus warns of their leadership, their teaching, their doctrine! What exactly was the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees? In broad terms we might think of the bigotry of the Pharisees and the essential worldliness or carnality of the Sadducees. They are in the world and of the world. The religious leaders were willing to embrace worldliness and wrap themselves in the robes of rationalism, materialism all the while pretending to be religious. What dangers did the leaven of the false teachers bring to the disciples? The dangers of legalism and secularism. Why the metaphor of leaven? Because once leaven penetrates the dough it influences the entire loaf. 5

6 Conclusion Do you understand basic Biblical truths? Are you able to recognize and refute errors in doctrine as well as conduct? Are you spiritually blind? Are you able to discern the times you are living in? How do you deal with the spiritually blind? What do you do with a person who seems committed to discrediting Christ and the gospel? What do you do with a person in persists in darkness loves darkness craves darkness and cringes when you turn on the light? 6