Transcript

Strong Characters With Weak Faith

Matthew 16:1-12
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Pastor Randy Smith

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A party of visitors at the national mint were told by a workman in the smelting department that if the hand is dipped in water, the molten metal might be poured from the ladle over the palm without burning it. "Perhaps you would like to try it?" he asked the gentleman in the party. "No, thank you," was the reply, "I prefer to accept your word for it." Then addressing the man's wife, "Perhaps, madam, you will make the experiment." "Certainly," she replied while she bared her arm and thrust it into a bucket of water, then held it out calmly while the metal was poured on it. "You see," said the workman to the gentleman, You believed, but your wife trusted" (2,400…for Sermons, Baker, p. 239).

Our topic is faith. Even among us with believing faith there are different degrees of trust. As I mentioned to you last week, God often categorizes people based on the extent of their faith. The New Testament speaks of those with weak and strong faith (Rom. 4:19-20); of growing faith (2 Thes. 1:3), sincere faith (2 Tim. 1:5) and the full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22); of all faith (1 Cor. 13:2) and of shipwrecked faith (1 Tim. 1:9). But in the course of our study in Matthew recently, we have focused on those with little faith and those with great faith.

To our surprise, the disciples, men who witnessed our Lord's miracles and sat under His teaching are frequently castigated as having "little faith" (Mt. 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20). Also to our surprise we learned about a Canaanite woman last week. Birthed in a pagan environment with little information about the true God, yet based upon her devotion to Jesus, humility, persistence in prayer, and grateful heart, Jesus commends her as having "great faith" (Mt. 15:28; cf. 8:10).

We dare not idolize our faith. Faith is not our god. Yet our faith connects us to the true God and allows us to benefit from all His resources. While God, the object of our faith is already perfect, our faith has the capacity to deepen as we grow in our relationship with Him. Not a reckless faith that binds God to any of our whims as if He were some big Genie up in the sky, but a confident faith that trusts His character and His promises as they are revealed in Scripture. Only this faith pleases the Lord and only this faith enables us to live the abundant life we desire.

So how would Jesus categorize your faith based solely on your adherence to biblical principles?

This morning with the short time we have remaining I would like to continue our focus on topic of faith as we enter chapter 16. Today we will observe two accounts of weak faith. Let's analyze them and see how they contradict with the great faith our Lord desires.

1. STRONG FAITH IS CONTENT WITH GOD'S WORD

The first of two points stated from the positive: Strong faith is content with God's Word.

It was not long before the attacks resumed. Just after returning to Jewish territory, verse 1 informs us that "the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus." As far as faith goes, these spiritual leaders were as bad as it gets. They were blinded to the truth. The One who is the truth (Jn. 14:6) stood in their midst, and their only response was one of "testing" Him. A clear sign of faith deficiency.

In the wilderness Satan tried to test God. We remember the divine response: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test" (Mt. 4:7; cf. Dt. 6:16). The Pharisees and Sadducees were operating in the spirit of Satan. As Jesus said in John 8, they were of their father, the devil (Jn. 8:44). Their goal was to trap Jesus, to somehow embarrass, shame and discredit Him. You had to know their motives were not pure as the Pharisees and Sadducees enemies with one another teamed-up in this "unholy alliance" (J.C. Ryle) to do away with a common enemy. As the saying goes, "My friend is anyone who opposes my enemy" (cf. Lk. 23:12). Just like me as a Chicago sports fan. I root for the Bears and anyone who's playing the Packers. What an indication of their hard hearts. What an indication of their propensity toward the darkness. What a clear indication of their faithlessness which prompted their adversarial response.

They already had sufficient revelation, yet they asked in verse 1 for just one more "sign from heaven." Earlier in 12:38 they asked for a sign, and then in 27:42 they still tested the Savior, this time when He hung on the cross. "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him." "Prove Yourself, Jesus. Then we'll believe."

This attitude of faithlessness has always existed. This expectation from the creature that the Creator must meet us on our terms. To these folks Scripture is not sufficient revelation (2 Tim. 3:16-17). To these folks creation is not sufficient revelation (Psm. 19:1-2; Rom. 1:20). Just one more sign. Just one more of the miraculous and then maybe you will get my vote of confidence, God.

Recently this attitude has permeated the church. The quest for signs and wonders has reached epidemic proportions, yet received like a drug user never satisfied, always craving something more of the spectacular. No surprise Jesus said in verse 4, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign."

Strong faith comes with humble reverence not prideful demanding. Strong faith can see God in the revelation He has already provided, like Nicodemus who said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him" (Jn. 3:2). According to Luke 2:34, Jesus is a sign Himself. Strong faith does not need more. Strong faith trusts what God has already provided. Furthermore, strong faith even trusts that God knows what to provide.

To which someone retorts, "If God does something really miraculous, then people will believe! He needs to give us more than the Bible! Really?

"And [the man] said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house - For I have five brothers - in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!' But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead'" (Lk. 16:27-31).

We have received the Word of God. Is that enough? It was for the apostle Peter. After explaining his experience with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration he said, "We have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts" (2 Pet. 1:19).

Back to the Pharisees and Sadducees. In verse 2 and 3 Jesus replies, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?"

Obviously the mariner's saying: "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning" goes back long before the time of Columbus. Our Lord's point is simple. "You guys are able to understand the weather because of the signs in the sky. How much more should you be able to discern Me through the signs I have already shown you, you faithless ones? You claim to be theologians but you are better meteorologists. You are evil and adulterous. You have the sign of Jonah and that is sufficient." As a result of their faithlessness verse 4 informs us that Jesus "left them and went away." That is a frightening statement.

The same is true for us. The testimonies throughout the Bible are clear. Additional signs do not increase faith. But Romans 10:17 tells us how to increase our faith. "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." I wonder how many people are out there who are begging for a sign and have never even read through their Bibles! Faith grows as we study God's Word and as God gives us a greater heart of trust which is naturally measured by our obedience to the Word. If we believe it, we will do it!

You see faith comes to the sign of Jonah and accepts it. As Jesus said previously in 12:40, "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Jonah was a sign. As He was confined in the belly of a fish, Jesus was confined in the belly of the earth. Yet as Jonah was delivered, so was Jesus as He resurrected on the third day. And if the people of Nineveh repented at the sign of Jonah, how much more should the people repent at the sign of Jesus. Yet how did these Jews respond to the resurrection? They bribed the guards to say the disciples stole the body (Mt. 28:11-15). It just goes to show that those who wanted more signs missed the greatest one of them all.

2. STRONG FAITH COMPREHENDS GOD'S WORD

So strong faith is content with God's Word as He has revealed Himself. Second, strong faith comprehends God's Word. Simply put, strong faith is on the same wavelength and frequency as Jesus. As our Lord said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (Jn. 10:27).

The disciples had already witnessed Jesus feeding the 5,000 (Mt. 14:13-21) and now they had just witnessed Him feeding the 4,000 (Mt. 15:32-39). Counting women and children scholars have estimated that over 25,000 people were miraculously fed.

In verse 5 we read that the disciples reunited with Jesus on the other side of the sea. Yet the verse also indicates their concern is not on Jesus, but rather on the base things of life. "But they had forgotten to bring any bread" (cf. Mk. 8:14). Nothing wrong with wanting food, especially when you live in the desert and fast food restaurants are nowhere to be found. But there is a disconnect with the concern of lacking bread when Jesus, the miraculous supplier of bread, was again in their presence. Where is their faith?

So Jesus as the patient master teacher takes advantage of the opportunity to teach a divine truth. He picks up on their conversation and seeks to take their minds from the physical to the spiritual. We saw this in the parables. He says to them in verse 6, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." His mind is still focused on ingesting the poison of these false teachers. Their minds are locked on ingesting something to feed their faces.

Their lack of spiritual discernment is revealed. Verse 7, "They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, 'He said that because we did not bring any bread.'"

Jesus responds beginning in verse 8, "But Jesus, aware of this, said, 'You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.' [Now the light bulb goes off.] Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Mt. 16:8-12).

We already saw how the Pharisees and Sadducees were heavily rebuked because they wanted more than the sufficient revelation already provided. Now the disciples miss the significance of Jesus' miracles and were coming very close to the same unbelief themselves. Our Lord is forever seeking to get our minds off the temporary to the eternal, off the earthly things to the things above (Col. 3:1-2). But because the disciples had "little faith" (Mt. 16:8), they were unable to process with Jesus. They were unable to comprehend God's Word. They didn't get it. And they were easy prey for any false teaching that might come down the pike.

Unfortunately the warnings regarding false teachers are often missed by more than the disciples. Too often professing Christians are led by experience, circumstance, emotion and reason. Too often we fail to comprehend God's message especially as it relates to this particular topic. In our quest for great faith, false teachers have the subtle and deceptive capacity to shipwreck our well-intended pursuits. Often our faith is so weak we are not even aware of the battle.

The doctrinal errors of the Pharisees and Sadducees are well-documented throughout Scripture. We know how these men resisted Jesus and taught things contrary to Scripture. But when Jesus says to watch out for the "leaven" of these men I believe He has something deeper in mind.

Leaven, old dough, was placed in a fresh batch of dough to cause significant rising. It came to symbolize something held over from the past that will influence the future. Often it meant an evil influence, specifically an evil permeating influence (Lk. 12:1; 1 Cor. 5:6-8).

The Pharisees and Sadducees had several doctrinal errors. They also taught a few things correctly. But what I believe concerned Jesus about these false teachers was not the outright heresy, but their ability to influence people in a subtle way secretly and gradually like leaven until the whole is corrupt.

The Pharisees in particular were conservative legalists. We learned how their man-made traditions were held with greater reverence than the Holy Scriptures. Many of their traditions are gone, but the spirit of adding to the Word of God remains. Churches that uphold mandated rules pertaining to dress and alcohol and schooling and music have been affected by their leaven. Legalism is a faith killer. It pulls a person away from the sufficiency of Scripture and guidance of the Holy Spirit to develop personal convictions. Focus is taken off of our Lord and placed on checklists, externals and self-righteousness.

The Sadducees were at the opposite end of the spectrum. They were the theological liberals of the day. They took away from the Word of God. Their spirit is seen today in denying the Bible's miracles and ignoring sin and repentance and overemphasizing the social gospel to the exclusion of preaching salvation in Christ alone.

One group added to the Word of God. The other group took away from it. And in the process both groups missed their Messiah when He was directly in their presence.

The solution to avoid being affected by the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees is to abide in Christ through faithful time in prayer and reading the Word of God. This is the only way to examine your life as to whether you are walking in the light or influenced by false teaching. This is the only way you can protect and increase and measure your faith.

So let me ask you, (point 1) are you content with God's Word? And (point 2) are you able to comprehend God's Word? Put another way: Do you believe God is holding something back or has He given you all you need to know for a successful spiritual life? And, do you carefully process what He has given you in His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit are you able to understand it? Yet I need to ask you one more question: Are you living it out? The mark of a true believer is the application of God's Word. The mark of great faith is complete trust in God as it relates to following the Scriptures.

So when it comes to degrees of faith, how would Jesus categorize you?