Matthew 16:6
Then Jesus said unto them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
It can be noted that Jesus spent a lot of time dealing with those who wouldn’t believe that He was who He said He was. There were many skeptics and false teachers lurking wherever He went. The Pharisees and Sadducees were two of the main groups to oppose Jesus and to ultimately succeed in having Him crucified. The reason they fought Jesus so vehemently was that to accept Him for who He was, would mean that they would lose their cherished role as the spiritual fathers and leaders of the time. Instead of wanting the truth and the doctrines of God, they were content to save their position and instead, teach the doctrines of man. Jesus warned that all should beware of the teachings of these and others like them.
Times have not changed all that much over the centuries, it seems these days that there is always someone trying to change the simple message of the Bible to fit their own personal preferences. Therefore, the exhortation of Jesus is still true today. We need to beware of the leaven, the permeating sinful effect, of the ones who would distort and dilute to message of the gospel.
How do these accomplish this feat today. The technique is simple, it has not changed much over the years. In fact, it is still the same one used by Satan in the Garden of Eden. They question whether or not God has really said thus and so. You have heard them, they say things like, “Well the Bible was changed in the translation, you cannot really believe all that today,” or,” that doesn’t really say that.” Another popular lie is that those things have all passed away, God doesn’t do it that way anymore. All of these are of course lies that the devil uses to try to take away the power and reality of the Christian life. It is a deadly poison, the traditions of man being taught as the doctrines of God and it causes the gospel to be of no effect in the individual lives of believers. Beware this poison, don’t be deceived and accept it.