The Danger in False Doctrine

Introduction

There are many in the Christian world who are involved in what is called an ‘ecumenical’ movement. ecumenical (def) general / universal. In other words - if it has the label ‘Christian’ then you are included in the group, and lock arms and ‘work together’ for the ‘greater good’.

There’s a lot of people who don’t understand why I will mention the doctrines, practices and beliefs of other churches & denominations. They have the mindset that ‘we should just go along to get along’, and ‘the things we agree on are more than what separates us’. So when I bring up false doctrines & teachings, some recoil. Some don’t understand why I would do that.

The simple answer is because it’s the ‘non-denominational, ecumenical movement’ that has propelled America to where it stands Spiritually today.

The more complex answer that I will break down is found in Mat. 16 to which I will break down tonight.

I say it’s more complex not because it’s hard to understand - but because it’s oftentimes breezed over when reading this passage (and others) as though it’s not part of the Scripture, but rather ‘filler’. Just someone to move from one story to another.

So today we’re going to look at ‘The Danger in False Doctrine’. And make no mistake - there’s a danger there. But to many it’s a danger in the same vein as the Danger that Eve faced some 6,000 years ago when Satan - the subtile one - came and said ‘Yea, hath God said…?’.

The Bible has much to say in the way of Doctrine, especially in the pastoral epistles:

A warning in Paul’s introduction: 1 Timothy 1:1–3 “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,”

1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”

1 Timothy 4:6 “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”

1 Timothy 4:13 “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”

1 Timothy 4:16 “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

2 Timothy 4:2–3 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

Titus 2:1 “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:”

Doctrine is important - and God spoke much to the preachers to make sure that they were teaching & preaching sound doctrine & warning of false doctrine.

So in this Scripture, the first thing that we notice is the Directive

I. The Directive (v6)

Matthew 16:6 “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

The Caution

Two things mentioned:

‘Take heed’

Jesus said - ‘He guys, listen here’.

Notice that this wasn’t prompted. They didn’t ask Jesus what He thought - this is Jesus looking at them and saying “Listen to me boys…”

He said ‘Take Heed’, secondly He said ‘beware’

Beware

Beware (def) guard oneself, regard with caution. <compound word from ‘be’ & ‘wary’.

So Jesus - unprompted says to them ‘listen guys - you need to guard yourself. You need to be cautious

So we see the Caution - but beware of what? Next we see the ‘Corruption’

The Corruption

Jesus says ‘leaven’. Now it’s important to consider the illustration that Jesus used, as He used it for a reason.

There’s really two ways to examine leaven and the effects thereof:

Leaven (def) ferment (as if boiling up)

One way is the classic picture which is the the effect of yeast, baking soda & such when it’s introduced to flour & heat it causes the dough to swell up.

Consider what that looks like when dough rises: It swells up, but there’s nothing of substance because it’s simply hot air. THUS IS THE CORRUPTION OF THE PHARISEES IN A NUTSHELL!

The second way to consider this is the fermentation and that is when fresh wine (i.e. grape juice) becomes spoiled, it ferments and become intoxicating.

So when we consider leaven and what it does, it spoils and makes it empty. That’s what Jesus was saying about the doctrine of the Pharisees & Sadducees. Their doctrine was all swollen but with very little substance and it stunk!

There’s another aspect that we’ll examine later.

The Corruption

The Crux

Now it took the Disciples a minute to get it - and not till after the rebuke of Christ - but the ‘Crux of the Matter’ is that Jesus was talking about the doctrine - which is the teachings of the Pharisees & Sadducees.

Doctrine is a set of beliefs and teachings that form the foundational beliefs of someone.

So what Jesus is saying is “Listen boys, BEWARE - be cautious about their teachings”.

We See the Crux of what Jesus is talking about - their teachings. He’s not talking about trivial things - but THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS: About what they teach to be right and wrong!

The Crux is their doctrines - what they teach as truth

The Crowd

The other thing that I wanted to draw your attention to is the crowd.

What I mean by that is - there was more than one.

There was actually three mentioned throughout - Pharisees, Sadducees & the Scribes.

When we consider false doctrines, we need to understand that we don’t need to be wary about ONE group, but several. There’s a many that corrupt, just in different ways.

We see the Crowd

We see the Directive. Secondly, the Disciples

II. The Disciples (v7)

They were Ignorant (v7)

When Jesus said what He said in v6, the disciples - HIS DISCIPLES - didn’t have a CLUE what He was talking about.

This is the same mindset that I mentioned earlier with the ecumenical movement. They have NO CLUE of the dangers false doctrine has on an individual, or a society.

Mind you church, I’m not interested in bashing false beliefs, but rather correcting them!

The disciples were ignorant of Christ’s warning - but there’s a reason Christ warned them… because they were influenceable

They were Influenceable

As we consider the apostles, we must consider the fact that they were - like us - impressionable. They were in the flesh and our flesh has the ability to be influenced both positively and negatively.

If they couldn’t be led astray, Christ would have saved His breath. But they could be: Let me give you a couple examples:

Judas - sold the LORD of Glory for a slave’s ransom

Peter - let’s look at the next few things concerning him

He spoke Inspired of God in Mat. 16:16

He spoke the words of Satan in Mat. 16:23

He spoke the words of fools in Mat. 17:4

He spoke out of turn in Mat. 17:24-25

This was late in the ministry of Christ - yet we see just how easily they could be influenced, manipulated and led astray - AND THESE WERE GUYS THAT WALKED WITH JESUS 24/7!

They were Influenceable - and you are too! That’s why we must beware!

Christ’s Instructions

Jesus’ response tells us a few things:

The Disciples were carnally minded

Jesus blamed their little faith

These might look like they are unrelated, but they couldn’t be MORE related.

You see the reason they were carnally minded, IS BECAUSE of their little faith. They’re minds were not thinking of Jesus’ speech as Spiritual, because of their carnal mindset.

This leads me to this: The more faith we place in God’s Word, the more Spiritual we become. And when we are looking to, and trusting in God’s Word.

Paul admonished the church at Ephesus Ephesians 4:14–15 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”

We see Christ’s Instructions

We see the Directive. The Disciples. Next the Disguised

III. The Disguised

I’m talking about the Pharisees & Sadducees.

Jesus spoke well concerning them and others in Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

The Pharisees (most of them) and the Sadducees were wolves in sheeps clothing. They were disguised. Let’s look at how:

Their Religiosity

These men dressed the part of the righteous religious people. They appeared religious.

Jesus in His great condemnation of them said: Matthew 23:24–28 “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

The Pharisees were religious people.

So the danger that Jesus was warning about wasn’t the publicans, who didn’t claim to be religious - it was from within organized religion.

Their Religiosity

Their Reputation

They not only looked the part, but they were regarded as Godly people.

There’s no indication in Scripture where Jesus’ disciples had any indication of the great wickedness of the Pharisees. They thought they were righteous people!

This is the same for most denominations and churches - they are regarded as being godly just different. Let me ask you this: Is that the way Jesus saw it? Did Jesus look at the Pharisees and say ‘You guys are ok - different, but ‘no harm, no foul’. No! He rebuked them, and warned his disciples about them!

Their Reputation was godly

Their Rule

What I mean by that is that they were influential.

Many think that they can spot false doctrine - ‘harmful’ false doctrine a mile away, but Jesus Himself called out their hypocrisy & wickedness, yet at Pilates Judgment seat, what did we see?

Matthew 27:16–21 “And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.”

False Doctrine and those that purvey it are sly, and influential, just like the Pharisees. (We know the wickedness of the Pharisees, but we have the benefit of the Word of God and looking from the outside in)

Their Rule

Their Righteousness

So what was the big deal with the Pharisees doctrine? Much. And much could be said, but I think that it’s best summed up in (TURN) Romans 10:1–3 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

They were self-righteous! WHICH IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE DOCTRINE FROM MOST DENOMINATIONS!

Note the big difference in v3 - you have ‘God’s righteousness’ and ‘their own righteousness’.

If you read this, you’ll understand the difference between the two: Romans 3:20–22 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

Most denominational doctrines teach that Salvation is by Jesus + _______.

And if you don’t understand how dangerous that is, go door knocking with me sometime, and see how many people are trusting in water to get them to Heaven.

God’s Righteousness can’t be earned, it can only be recieved.

Their Righteousness

We see the Directive. The Disciples. Next the Disguised

IV. The Doctrine

A Perversion of Truth, not the Absence of It

I say that to say this: Most Christians don’t buck up when I speak against Islam or Buddha - but they do denominational teachings. But consider this: The most dangerous religion to the doctrine of Christ wasn’t the Roman religions - it was the Pharisees. It was perversion of God’s truth, not some foreign entity. (Ill.) When Satan beguiled Eve, did he just make up a lie out of think air, or was he attempting to pervert the truth?

In like manner - the greatest threat to the Cause of Christ is not Islam, Buddhism - or even the unbelievers, it’s false Doctrine that LOOKS like it’s just a little different.

REMEMBER LEAVEN CORRUPTS something pure. It does NOTHING on it’s own.

And when it corrupts - it corrupts it totally!

1 Corinthians 5:6–7 “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”

Galatians 5:9 “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”

Exodus 12:15 “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.”

Their doctrine was a perversion of the truth, not the absence of it

Conclusion

False Doctrine is dangerous - and it’s my job to make sure that I do what I can to protect the sheep in my care.