The Rule of Heaven Will Divide Between the Evil and the Good, Between the Leaven and the Unleavened
Anything that results in divisions and breaking up - disintegration is evil. Do not let us excuse our divisions. Do not let us look favorably upon the divisions among the Lord's people. If there are only two of us who are divided, let us not make excuses for that, let us say, "This is wrong, this is evil, this ought not to be there is some evil at work to divide us." And what may be true between just two people, is true among all the Lord's people. We must not look upon divisions as being good, they are bad. And we must know that God is against divisions. He does not accept this working of leaven.
Then what about this leaven that makes things appeal to our natural taste? Paul said to Timothy, "The time will come when they will not endure sound teaching; and they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." And he goes on to say that they will believe the lie instead of the truth. Why is that? Because these teachers appeal to the natural life. These teachers cover over evil. Indeed, they will sometimes call evil good. People do not like the teachers who tell them what is wrong, that this thing and that thing are contrary to God. They like leavened bread, it pleases the flesh!
Well, these are the effects of leaven. And I am quite sure that there is no one here who will argue that any of those things are good. You see, it is all bad. Now, let us look at the symbolism of leaven. We will listen to the Lord Jesus and then to the Apostle Paul on this matter. Jesus gave three warnings to His disciples. First, He said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." And what did He say was the leaven of the Pharisees? He said, it is hypocrisy - pretending to be something that you are not, something that is quite artificial and unreal. You have only got to watch those Pharisees to see it. They make long payers in public. They look at a poor sinner and they say, "O God, I thank thee that I am not like that man." They send somebody in front of them to blow a trumpet and say this wonderful righteous man is coming along. Jesus says, it is all hypocrisy. It is all false and unreal. And if there was one thing that Jesus hated more than another, it was unreality - pretending to be something that you are not, making a lot of noise among the people of God with nothing behind it. Indeed, the life behind is quite a contradiction.
Well, that is capable of a very wide application, but that is the principle of the Pharisees. Jesus said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." I do not know what the word means in your language, but in the Bible language, it means "acting a part." It is the picture of an actor on the stage. He may be dressed up to represent a great king, but he is not a great king. It is only his dress. Or he may be there acting the part of something else, but he is not that something else. He is just pretending to be that. And that is the real meaning of the word "hypocrisy". Jesus said, "Beware of play-acting in the things of God.
The second warning was, "Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees." Now we are told that the Sadducees did not believe in angels or spirit, or resurrection. They said, "There are no such things as angels, there is no such thing as spirit, there is no such thing as resurrection." What did that mean? They ruled out the whole reality of the supernatural. They set aside everything that was spiritual. Therefore, they were pure materialists. They lived only for the present time because they did not believe there was anything afterward. They lived only for this world because they did not believe there is another one. For them, there was nothing supernatural, all was now - just material - in this life on the earth.
You see, that is a very convenient philosophy of life. It is very convenient for this reason, that it will not accept future judgment. If there is no resurrection, if there is no life after this one, if there is no other world after this one, then there is no such thing as judgment. Judgment goes, that is a very convenient doctrine. Jesus says, "Beware of that"; there is such a thing as the supernatural. God Himself is Spirit. He is the greatest reality in this universe. There is a life after this, for we shall all be raised: "Those that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation, and those that have done good, unto the resurrection of life." Jesus says, "Beware of anything that contradicts those great realities."
Then He gave a third warning. He said to His disciples, "Beware of the leaven of Herod." What kind of leaven is the leaven of Herod? Herod was a man who believed in great worldly splendor. He rules his world by a great show of magnificence. Everything that looked wonderful was Herod's idea. His was a reign of earthly glory. But this other thing also comes to life with regard to Herod; behind all that outward show, was a life which was absolutely corrupt. John the Baptist told Herod of his corrupt life, and Herod beheaded John the Baptist. Here is a life of outward show, with the inward life absolutely corrupt. Jesus says, "Beware of anything like that. That is leaven. It must not come into touch with any of the things of God."
The scribes and the Pharisees came to Jesus one day, and they said to Him, 'Be gone, get away, Herod will kill You.' Of course, they wanted to get rid of Jesus. What did Jesus say? "Go and tell that fox that I work today and tomorrow, and the third day I am perfected." God and tell that fox. You know what a fox is? Well, he is one who makes a great show, a great pretense. He looks like a very nice animal. But you let him get in among your chickens and see what he will do. His nature is a contradiction to his appearance. Jesus says, "Beware of that leaven."
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 11)
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