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| Matthew 16:6-7 |
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Lesson # Matt. 16:6-7 Study Material - Matt. 16:6-7 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Matt. 16:6-7 6 Then [de] Jesus [Iesous] said [epo] unto them [autos] , Take heed [horao] and [kai] beware [prosecho] of [apo] the leaven [zume] of the Pharisees [Pharisaios] and [kai] of the Sadducees [Saddoukaios] . 7 And [de] they reasoned [dialogizomai] among [en] themselves [heautou] , saying [lego] , It is because [hoti] we have taken [lambano] no [ou] bread [artos] . KJV-Interlinear Matt. 16:6-7 6 And Jesus said to them, 'Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.' 7 And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, 'It is because we took no bread.' NAS Leaven is an agent, a little lump, that when added to a larger batch of dough will begin the fermentation process such that the entire batch will eventually be influenced and overcome by the process causing the entire batch of dough to rise. The 'influence' process is the key word here. What we listen to or focus our attention on from this world will eventually influence our thoughts and therefore affect the direction of the growth of our soul. That is, when we focus our attentions on the world while excluding a spiritual application, then we will most likely be led to the wrong conclusions. Navigation in total darkness and without a compass or reference map will lead to disaster. The great danger of growing up spiritually is that if you get away form your Bible study, then you open the door to all manner of wrong philosophies. Without the frame of reference which Bible doctrine provides, then ones orientation to reality and therefore life will be distorted, and from distorted orientation comes wrong conclusions, which lead to bad decisions, and bad decisions lead to suffering for ones self and others. A very good example of this is found in our current news. I heard an interview of the President of Latvia today. She seemed to be a very wise woman. When asked to comment on the current events surrounding Iraq, and the suggestion by France that the smaller countries of Eastern Europe be silent on the issue, she made this statement something to this effect - 'Appeasement in the past has never accomplished anything. All it has ever done in th past is to allow tyranny to continue uninterrupted and without opposition. My country (Latvia) knows all too well the repercussions of appeasement, in that we have suffered many decades of tyranny because of it.' I noticed over the weekend many marches against war with Iraq, but I wonder why there were no marches against the regimes that have brought unbelievable tyranny and suffering to many hundreds of millions of peoples by leaders from countries like Kim Jong of North Korea, Charles Tayler of Liberia, Than Shwe of Burma, Teodoro Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Saparmurad Niyazov of Turkmenistan, Qaddafi of Libya, Hu Jintao of China and Tibet, Lukashenko of Belarus, Bashir of Sudan, Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Assad of Syria, the leaders of Laos,and you could add probably another dozen bad countries to this list. As for those inspectors??? If I ruled a region the size of California and I wanted to hide a thousand automobiles, then I could and no number of inspectors would ever find them - especially if I disassembled them and shipped parts to other states. How then could you ever find anything? An evil leader is not to be expected to act in an honorable fashion. Quite the contrary, an evil leader who has even demonstrated his willingness to execute his evil policies against his own citizens and neighbors, cannot be trusted. Why do you have locks on your car doors, on your home? To serve as a prevention to crime against you. Why do we have police and courts? To have a system in place to protect society against crime and tyranny. We don't eliminate the locks and justice system just because it has flaws within the system. Likewise when crime is elevated to a national level and an entire country or even a region becomes a threat against civilization, then we have a military and therefore a method for defending our freedom and liberties against large scale tyranny and oppression. On the small scale fighting crime is called law and order. On the larger scale, fighting crime is called war. Doing nothing or attempting to reason with one who cares nothing for your point of view, is a fools solution. Greater misery and suffering results. The 1930's is a good historical example of appeasement which brought suffering to tens of millions. Now what does this all have to do with leaven? No, we did not get distracted from our Bible study. The world will attempt to influence you away from reason and truth. Often times your knowledge is limited to just what you see and hear on the news. When is the last time you heard news concerning Burma? And yet there is a great deal of suffering there, now, even as you read these words. There is a lot of opposition to war because it seems to be the popular thing to do. Nobody wants it, of course, but the alternative may be far worse. The Pharisees and Sadducees represent the popular thinking of the day in Jesus' time. Their thinking was wrong, yet if that was all a person heard, then their thinking would be led astray, and their destiny for all of eternity would be placed in jeopardy - serious jeopardy. One needs Bible doctrine in ones soul, in order to have a solid foundation of truth, with which to compare worldly information. This comparison reveals the false concepts of the world, allows discernment for the individual, and provides for good decisions and therefore gives one greater opportunities in life. The disciples focused on the worldly - bread. They did not lack spiritual truth. They had already seen the miracles of the bread and heard Jesus teach regarding beware the false teachings of the Pharisees. But they did lack spiritual focus. They had a short spiritual attention span. Like a puppy, their attention was always shifting away from what they should have been focusing on (spiritual doctrines and its application to life), and they were ever going back to their worldly orientation (their stomachs, bread, eating). Sooner or later, with persistent and continued spiritual growth, any believer can arrive at and begin to compare all that surrounds him in the world with the spiritual implications for ones personal life, for ones family life, for ones regional and national and international implications, and so forth. Remember that all that happens in history, is not by accident, but by design. Jesus Christ controls history. History is driving toward the next great event which is the Rapture. During that trip, the nations are forming into the pattern that we see represented in Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelation and other books. Likewise, the leadership of those Tribulational nations will have all of history (tactics, technology, everything others have done before them) prior to their existence, to teach them and lead them in their decisions and actions during the Tribulation. We have already studied the tremendous suffering and oppression and violence that will occur during that time. The events of our current time will either serve to form or lead to the formation of, the power centers that will exist at the time of the Rapture, or, these events will serve to postpone those formations of power centers, because it is not yet time for those power centers. Jesus constantly went away and avoided crowds and confrontations because it was not yet time for the Cross. God does things on Gods timetable. Likewise simultaneously during our current age, the Royal Family (that is you and me) is being assembled. Nothing in history can prevent our formation, nothing can cut it short, nothing can alter that which God has intended for the Royal Family. In fact, our Church Age will not end, until the Royal Family is fully assembled. When the last person whom God has assigned for this age, believes in Christ, then in that moment and without delay, the Rapture will occur. So beware the leaven of the world. Get your head on straight and prepare yourself for greater things. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
