Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees
Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, Matthew 16:5-12 ERV “Jesus and his followers went across the lake. But the followers forgot to bring bread. Jesus said to the followers, “Be careful! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” The followers discussed the meaning of this. They said, “Did Jesus say this because we forgot to bring bread?” Jesus knew that they were talking about this. So he asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Your faith is small. Do you still not understand? Remember the five loaves of bread that fed the 5000 people and the many baskets you filled with the bread that was left? And remember the seven loaves of bread that fed the 4000 people and the many baskets you filled that time? So how could you think that I am concerned about bread? I am telling you to be careful and guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Then the followers understood what Jesus meant. He was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread. He was telling them to guard against the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
Now ‘Yeast’ in scripture is invariably and primarily always connected directly to “Sin.” Now just for some fun, in this instance, let us postulate that Yeast=Jesus. 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:” What Paul here was advising is for us to dump the yeast of sin, and be full of the Yeast of Heaven? That would mean that if you placed a Christian within a bunch of unbelievers, then very quickly the yeast would be yeasty, and leaven the whole lump, all the lump would quickly become believers. Maybe we are a bit more like Peter at Jesus’ trial, Mark 14:71-72 “But he began to curse and to swear, [saying], I know not this man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.” Peter in this case was not very yeasty for God, for he had gone off the boil.
In this situation, the yeast had lost its yeastiness, the salt had lost its savor, the light of the Gospel had dimmed and faded, Matthew 5:14-15 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house,” here the light had gone out leaving all in deep darkness, maybe ‘Outer Darkness’ even. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” we all have lost our light, we are sometimes no longer salty, our yeast is not very yeasty and could not permeate anything nor bring about any change, but hide real yeasty Christians in a lump, though it is secret at first, but then the whole lump of bread dough starts to rise and to double in size, getting bigger and better with every passing moment, the texture is changing, we are almost at “Bread,” and Jesus gave us this in John 6:48 “I am that bread of life.” But if Jesus is ‘Yeast,’ why do we not see evidence of it, though hid in a lump of flour, yeast needs to be yeasty, to do its yeasty thing, to permeate the whole lump, to leaven it, to make it rise, or has the yeast lost its yeastiness, has the salt gone and lost its savor, and has the light gone out, and you are no longer Christ’s but some clone of something else, 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away, they are not yeasty, salty or illuminating. John 6:48 “I am that bread of life,” But bread has lots of flour, but yeastiness is critical, without yeastiness doing its job of leavening the whole lump, you get some disgusting yuck that is tossed outside as bird food, like un-salty salt, fit for no other purpose at all.
Now to look at this from the other side, yeast=Sin, 1 Corinthians 5:6 “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” Therefore, you cannot hide sin, a little immorality and a pregnancy bump will reveal the truth, a little sin will reveal, it cannot be hidden for long, the truth will be revealed, either in this life or at the ‘Judgement Hour’ when all secret things will be openly revealed. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 ERV “Your proud talk is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” Take out all the old yeast, so that you will be a new batch of dough. You really are bread without yeast—Passover bread. Yes, Christ our Passover Lamb has already been killed. So let us eat our Passover meal, but not with the bread that has the old yeast, the yeast of sin and wrongdoing. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.”
Matthew 16:6 ERV “Jesus said to the followers, “Be careful! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Corrupted, false, adapted, blended, anything but pure doctrine, that which is based on the sure word of God, is probably very ‘Yeasty,’ it will become obvious, it cannot be hid, the proof is in the pudding and when a pure life of ‘Unleavened Bread’ is sought by God, as sin free, corruption free, will one get a “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord,” or will you miss out because you feasted or yeasted on anything but “Thus saith The Lord,” the warning still stands, “Be careful! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
