Matthew 16:6–12: “‘Watch out,’ Jesus said to them, ‘beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ So they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, ‘It is because we brought no bread.’ When Jesus learned of this, He said, ‘You who have such little faith, why are you arguing among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you took up? How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread, but beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ Then they understood that He had not told them to be on guard against the yeast in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Look at the powerful words Jesus uses: “Watch out… beware.” That means it is tricky. It means you may not know it and you will be sucked in. It means it may be difficult to recognize. He is telling you: this is danger. Some teachings are dangerous. That is what we are hearing from Jesus.
And He is not saying, “Pray.” He is saying: there is risk. You are at risk of falling into false teaching. You are at risk of being swallowed up by lies. It is a risky thing.
John writes, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). And he also says not to welcome into your house, or even greet, those who do not bring true teaching about Christ (2 John 9–11).
Jesus says in another place, “Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation,” speaking of the spirit being willing but the flesh weak (Matthew 26:41). But here, this is not about the flesh; it is about the mind. This is your thinking now. This is you hungry and thirsty for truth, and then someone puts poison in front of you. You will consume the poison eagerly, and you will not know the damage it will do.
I just want to draw your attention to these words of Jesus: “Watch out.” There is no “watch and pray” here; this one is just “watch out.” This one is: be on guard. Make sure you have nothing to do with it.
When He talks about false prophets, He says they will arise and “deceive many,” and that, if possible, they would deceive even the elect (Matthew 24:11, 24). “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15). He does not say, “Pray.” He says, “Beware.”
And when Paul wrote to the Galatians, he wrote vigorously against the development of false teaching in the churches of Galatia: “Who has bewitched you…?” (Galatians 3:1). He is putting it this way: you were not on guard, and now you are bewitched, under a spell. They embraced the wrong thing; for Paul, it was an emergency.
“Watch out.” It is serious stuff. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The point is that it is insidious. It does not shout at you. The false teaching does not shout, “I am false teaching.” That is why you have to beware. It is not shouting; it is yeast—almost like “nothing,” but when it comes in, its ongoing impact —its continuous spread —means the endpoint is not going to land well.
Jude says he wanted to write about “our common salvation,” but instead had to urge them to contend for the faith because “certain men have crept in unnoticed” (Jude 3–4)—men pushing perverse teaching. Paul says the same: “From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30).
Remember: Christ taught the truth, and we use Paul as a legitimate interpretive lens into the truth of Christ. We take the words of Jesus as our foundation and use the words of Paul to help us see different angles of that truth.
Do not say, “Is it not just Paul? Someone else can now come.” Do not talk like that. The moment you talk like that, you are already in error.
God bless you. See you later.