Blind Made to see!

Matthew 16:5-12

Matthew 16:5-12, Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. ⁶ Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ⁷ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? ¹⁰ Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? ¹¹ How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Everyone in the world is blind to spiritual reality. She read it again and again. Until she had developed such calluses on her fingers that they no longer could sense the Whether you are a non-Christian or a Christian, letters.

Whether you’re a Christ-rejecter or a Christ-receiver, Whether you know God or don’t know God, In a desire to have the hunger of her heart fulfilled, to read it Our humanness traps us in a world that is blind to spiritual again, she peeled the skin back off her fingertips that she might reality. unbare a more sensitive tissue to begin again to feel.

All of us are blind, but we fall into two categories: In so doing, the doctor said she damaged the nerves and would The blind who will never see never feel again with her fingers. The blind who will be made to see. Broken-hearted with tears in her eyes, one day she picked up The blind who will never see are those who reject the only One that Braille Bible and put it to her lips as if to kiss it farewell, who can give them spiritual sight, the Lord Jesus Christ. only to discover that her lips were far more sensitive than her fingers had ever been. Spent the rest of her days reading it with The blind who will be made to see are the ones who, embracing her lips.

Jesus Christ, have Him as their eyes, their sight, their truth teacher. How hungry is your heart? To be in that Word illumined by the resident Spirit of God? Jesus, having crossed the Sea of Galilee, arriving at a place called Magadan, is confronted immediately in verse 1 by the Pharisees What about that one who is blind and will never see?

and the Sadducees. To plunge into eternal darkness. Tragic thought. They come to test Him, and they really don’t want answers. They merely want to publicly discredit Him by asking Him to do Story of a Businessmen who wrote an atheist book and his a sign in the heavens, believing that He is unable to do it and wife and daughter.

thus will be discredited publicly. You can choose the light, or you can choose the darkness. 2 31

Conclusion. He said to them you are hypocrites, and you can discern the face of the sky, but can you not discern the signs of the times. Jesus on Emmaus Road. He said to them only the sign of Jonah will be given to you Jesus opened the Scriptures and taught them, and as He had nothing else.

departed from them after revealing Himself to them. The resurrection of Jesus.

Luke 24:32, And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He Four things that are characteristic of the blind who never see. opened the Scriptures to us?”

The burning heart that comes as the Word of God is opened. Seek fellowship with darkness. The Pharisees suddenly brought the Sadducees with them. The

Only two kinds of people in the world

blind gathering with the blind and neither able to help the Ø The blind who will never see, other. Ø The blind who are made to see. People who will never see always seek the darkness. The blind Those of us who pass from darkness to light, from the kingdom will seek darkness rather than light.

of darkness to the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, and coming to the light would expose the evil of their I trust that you know Christ and that if you know Him, you have deeds.

a hunger to know His Word is taught by His Spirit. They trouble the light. A little girl in France, and she was blind, and she was given a Gospel of Mark in Braille. She, with her fingers, began to read The Pharisees and Sadducees coming to Jesus Christ was to that gospel and came to know Christ and embraced Him as her discredit, shame, embarrass, and to mock Him.

Savior. Gospel became infinitely more precious to her. They sought no proof. They sought no genuine evidence. 30 3

They plunge into deeper darkness. ¹⁰ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the They were not bad at the weather, but when it comes to Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. discerning spiritual reality, they were blind.

Nothing gets me more excited than the deep things of God, and They just plunged deeper and deeper into their darkness. the Spirit reveals them to us, to me. Abandoned by the Lord. 1 Corinthians 2:12, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the The only sign that did come, the sign of Jonah, which was the things that have been freely given to us by God.

resurrection of Christ. It didn’t convince them. They bribed the soldiers to lie about it. You have in your hand this tremendous treasure. He abandoned them. You have in your life as a believer the resident truth Teacher, the Spirit of God.

We see the other group in V5-12, who will be made to see. Equally blind because humanness is a legacy of blindness to As you open the pages of this Book and the Spirit of God teaches spiritual reality. you, you find yourself plunging into the depths of the deep things of God.

These are dependent on the sight given to them by One who comes alongside to help. Profound and exciting reality that we who know nothing, we who are stone blind can see the deep things of God. We find there are four characteristics of the blind who are made to see. They are the reverse of the others.

1. Seek the light, 2. Trouble the darkness, 3. Receive greater light, 4. Taught by the Lord. 4 29

Stay away. 1. Seek the light. Stay away from the leaven that influences you from legalism, or ritualism or ceremonialism, or rationalism, or liberalism, or V 5, Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they secularism. had forgotten to take bread.

You avoid that. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ has been around the Sea of Galilee. Isn’t it wonderful how patient the Lord was? We know from this particular portion of Matthew, and He keeps Jesus teaches them so patiently until they finally understood He going back and forth across the lake. He has just gone across, was talking about the doctrine that the Pharisees and the after feeding four thousand men plus women and children in Sadducees taught which corrupt their faith. Decapolis.

Colossian church was being threatened by liberalism, He got in a ship and went across to Magadan. rationalism. Arriving at Magadan, He is confronted immediately by the The churches at the Revelation, were literally put out of Pharisees and the Sadducees.

existence by secularism, materialism, ambition. Then He gets right back in the boat and goes back to the eastern The Lord pleads that it not be so. shore again. The great truth in all this passage, and the thing that touches your heart with such profound reality is the ministry that Christ His disciples also came to the other side.

has to those who are His own. The disciples pursued the light. That even in our blindness, They were standing at the crossroads in V 1 -4 because they had He takes patiently the time and effort needed to teach. been raised in a Jewish society. Having been raised there, they had learned to respect basically two groups of people, the

1 Corinthians 2:9-10, But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor Pharisees and the Sadducees. ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 28 5

It was out of the family of the Sadducees that the high priest neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break came. in and steal.

• They were the aristocracy.
• They were the brain trust. Philippians 3:20, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we
• They were the leadership. also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
• They were the rulership.
• They were to be respected and revered for that. Colossians 3:2, Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

There was the Pharisee group.

• They were the ones who were the interpreters of the Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. law.
• They were the religious traditionalists. We get so earthbound because we are earth creatures.
• They were the legalists. This is the reason we have to have the illuminating work of the
• They were the ones mingling among the people. Spirit because it’s what lifts us out of this earthly thing.
• They, too, demanded the respect of people. Christian must be exposed to the Word of God regularly, Because as you feed on it, the Spirit of God teaches you, and as

So, these disciples had been reared in an environment where feeding on it. they had learned to respect these particular groups of individuals. Why? When Jesus came along, He was the exact opposite to He teaches you, He elevates you out of the physical dimension everything they taught. where you begin to take God seriously.

Jesus talked about freedom, not law, and all the things the Sadducees denied, Jesus affirmed. V 12, Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and It was very clear to see that Jesus was the very opposite of Sadducees.

them, and that is why they were so totally threatened by Him. 6 27

Matthew 6:33, But seek first the kingdom of God and His The disciples stood at a real crossroads. righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. They stood at a point where they either were to decide that they were going to hang onto the system in which they were If God takes care of the grass of the field, God takes care of the reared. birds He will take care of you. O ye of little faith.

They were going to identify with the darkness, or to follow the If you just get up on the spiritual level, God will take care of the light. physical dimension. They too left Magadan, left the Pharisees and the Sadducees for Don’t you remember that God provides physical needs? the purpose of following the light.

Just get on that spiritual level. When Jesus came to the other shore, they were there!

4. Taught by the Lord to see. This is always marks out someone who will be made to see!

V 11, How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you The Scripture is replete with statements to this effect, Old concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Testament and New Testament. Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Jeremiah 29:13-14, And you will seek Me and find Me, when Jesus took them where they were, and He taught them. you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, He comes right back and repeats the same lesson. says the Lord, I am talking about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Here is the seeking heart. I am trying to get your focus on the spiritual dimension.

The word disciple, mathētēs, basically means learner.

Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on They were learners. earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in They were following to be taught. and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where They sought to know the truth. ²⁶ 7

The disciples had followed Him. So, if that was a real problem to the Lord, He didn’t want them They had followed Him to the light of life. to go do that, He would just create more bread. He was not a light to be seen, He was a light to be followed! That is the best that their human reason could do.

They knew well what the Old Testament prophets had said that Jesus gives them this lesson. the Messiah will come and bring light to the nations. V 8, But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little

Psalms 27:1, The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be brought no bread? afraid? Why are you stuck on the physical level?

They knew well that, and they saw in Jesus Christ the light in their darkness. They sought to follow it. V 9-10, Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? ¹⁰ Nor Not all of them who originally were interested in the light were the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large faithful to follow. baskets you took up?

In John chapter 6, there were many disciples there. Jesus began Have you forgotten those two occasions? to speak of the real commitment which He required for a The two words for baskets are different, and they are consistent disciple, eating His flesh, drinking His blood. with each account.

John 6:66-69, From that time many of His disciples went back First was a Jewish word, a small basket. and walked with Him no more. ⁶⁷ Then Jesus said to the Second was a gentile basket, which was larger. twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” ⁶⁸ But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words Have you forgotten that if it was a physical bread problem, I of eternal life. ⁶⁹ Also we have come to believe and know that could take care of that? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Why are you still on that? 8 25

If the Pharisees got the best price, buy it, as far as bread goes. These were the ones who sought the light. They followed the If the Mormons have a store that sells cheap bread, buy it light. cheap. They knew they needed help in seeing.

Who you buy the bread from isn’t the issue, but they are on the physical level. They knew that the psalm expressed their own situation,

Psalm 119:18, Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things

They are way down there. from Your law. All they can think about is that Jesus is afraid we will buy some kind of defiled bread. Psalms 119:33, Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall keep it to the end. This misses the major point.

Because the major point in all of Jesus’ teaching is it isn’t on the Psalms 119:36, Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not outside what defiles you. to covetousness. It’s not what goes into a man that defiles him. Psalms 119:73, Your hands have made me and fashioned me; It’s what comes out from the inside because religion is internal, Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.

not external. You are the One that put me together. How could Jesus be upset and concerned that they not run off You know what I need, now give it to me. and buy bread from some Pharisee when if He didn’t want that to happen? They knew they didn’t know on their own and couldn’t know, and so they sought the light!

He could just create bread like He just created enough for fifty thousand people. They turned their back on the incorrigible Pharisees and Both times that He created enough for the feeding the feeding Sadducees. of the twelve.

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2. Trouble the darkness. They were raised under the dominion of the Herodian dynasty, which included Herod, who ruled in Galilee. They turned their back on those who brought them only deeper They needed to make sure they cut that stuff off.

darkness.

• Don’t let the world influence you.

They are the hungry hearts. • Don’t let legalistic religion influence you. They are the eager learners. • Don’t let liberal religion influence you. They are the ones who, when asked, “Will you go away?” said, Those are the extremes of false systems.

“No, there is nowhere to go. You have the words of eternal life that we must hear.” Stay pure. It isn’t that they, by some inherent ability, are able to see on What was their reaction? their own. V 7, And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It It isn’t that they are any better or any different than the rest. is because we have taken no bread.”

It is that they will pursue the light and curse the darkness This is the best that human reason can do. instead of pursue the darkness and curse the light. They had a little meeting, got all their brains together. Jesus calls them many times oh you little faith. Because they lived on the physical level, they said that our Matthew 8. Matthew 14. Matthew 15. conclusion is He said this because we have taken no bread.

Again, in Matthew 16. They thought that Jesus is afraid we will buy bread baked by a They needed help in seeing. Pharisee or Sadducee. That would be defiled bread. They were dull. They seemed unable, on many occasions, to receive the things Jesus is worried that because we don’t have any bread, we are the Lord was saying. liable to run out, and we will buy bread from a Pharisee.

Sad, isn’t it? 10 23

Beware of legalism. Matthew 13:10-17, And the disciples came and said to Him, Beware of ritualism, ceremonialism, externalism, where there’s “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered and no heart for God. said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees which is no been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and resurrection. he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them The leaven of Herod was political ambition, materialism, and in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they secularism. do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear Lord is saying to the disciples now that you follow me and you and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and pursue the light and you curse the darkness, make sure you not perceive; ¹⁵ For the hearts of this people have grown dull.

don’t drag any of that stuff with you. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Don’t take any of that leaven to leaven your new lump. Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that Avoid the legalism, the ritualism, ceremonialism, the I should heal them.’ ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes for they see, externalism. Avoid the liberalism, the scepticism, the and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷ for assuredly, I say to you that rationalism, and avoid the secularism. many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not In other words, He wants a pure loaf! hear it.

He was teaching them a profound spiritual lesson in very What is amazing about that? graphic terms. The fact of the matter is, they didn’t understand the parable any better than the Pharisees did or the other people who were Cut the cord! there.

Have nothing to do with that former life. The disciples were raised to respect the Pharisees and the Then in verse 18. He says, “Hear therefore the parable of the Sadducees. Sower” and He explains it to them. 22 11

The difference between the blind who will never see and the From the bread of Egypt, don’t take a piece to start the bread blind who are made to see is not that the blind who are made of the of the new people of God in their new land. Don’t do that.

to see suddenly get some natural ability to see in their Cut that thing off. humanness, the difference is the Lord teaches those that His. The unleavened bread symbolized that. Leaven came to mean influence. The doctrine of illumination. It mostly means evil influence.

When you want to know Jesus Christ go to the Word of God, you not only have the Word of God, but you have the God of Although, in some cases, could mean a good influence. A the Word resident in you who opens to you the Scripture. permeating influence.

While the disciples were on the earth, Jesus taught them. You need to beware of the permeating influence of the He taught them! Pharisees and the Sadducees.

3. Receive greater light. Mark 8:15, Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware

of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” Jesus taught them and He knew they were dependent on that teaching. What is the leaven of the Pharisees?

Luke 12:1, In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of Repeatedly Jesus told them, “Don’t you yet understand? Have I people had gathered together, so that they trampled one been so long with you, and you still don’t know who I am?” another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Jesus patiently taught them. That’s the difference. The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy.

We were all blind, but those who are made to see are made to It is phony religion, externalism without the heart, legalism, see because sovereignly, graciously, the Savior teaches. ritualism, ceremonialism. Everything on the outside, nothing on the inside.

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What you really need to be concerned about is not whether you When the Lord anticipated leaving, He wanted to teach them so have physical bread, but whether you are being influenced by much, and so He taught them. the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Even after His resurrection He was with them for forty days and What is this idea? taught them. Leaven, when you made bread, you took a piece out of the lump of dough before it was baked, and you put it aside. It fermented Acts 1:3, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His and became sour, and then you put it into the next lump. It suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during fermented or caused a yeast reaction, and it causes the bread forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom to be large and so forth. of God.

We know how it works. Jesus just kept opening their eyes, letting them see. Yeast or a leavening. Jesus kept opening their ears, letting them hear. Jesus kept opening their heart and letting them understand. Leaven then came to mean influence, something held over from the past applied to the present. Because it was so important that they have all this truth.

That is why, when Israel left Egypt, they were not allowed to John 14:26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father have leavened bread. will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

God was saying to them. Don’t take anything that you knew in Egypt out and put it into When Jesus goes away the Father will send Him, and the your new lifestyle. That’s in the past. Cut the cord. There is process will continue unbroken.

nothing of that that you need. Don’t bring any influence from that part of your life. Because we are dependent on that.

John 16:12-13, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak 20 13

on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and The Lord’s encounter with the Pharisees and Sadducees is fresh He will tell you things to come. in His mind, and he wants to warn these men. Jesus was saying that I am going to teach you until I am gone. Why?

When I go, the Father will send the Spirit, and He will take it up. Because Jesus is going to be gone, and they are going to be on their own. A great promise. The promise is given to the one who seeks the light, that he will For a period of time between His death and resurrection when be given greater light because not only will he be given the they scattered and flew all over the place. They are going to Word of God, but he will be given the Spirit of God, indwelling, have to go out and bear the message.

to teach. He warns them about the leaven of the Pharisees and A marvellous intimacy in that concept that we are not sort of Sadducees, trying to get them off the physical level onto the real taught in a big classroom. We are not a big gang of people. issue, which is the bread that they are dispensing, not the physical bread.

As I am articulating to all of us, the Spirit of God is working in and applying and elucidating in the heart of each one of us in Worry about the church today because it’s so physical. the most marvellous intimacy of commitment as He is our We worry about what we wear, what we look like, our hair looks resident teacher. like, kind of car we drive, and we worry about all the clothing, and we worry about the shape of our bodies.

1 John 2:20, But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. We look at people and judge them by how they appear.

1 John 2:27, But the anointing which you have received from The disciples were down on that physical level where most of Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; us live most of the time, and Jesus wanted to lift them. but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 14 19

We can tell a mature disciple because he is one whose reactions We are all wrapped up with the resident truth Teacher, the and whose interactions, perceptions, and perspectives are on Spirit of God. that divine level.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5, And my speech and my preaching were not

The Lord just takes this opportunity with their preoccupation with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration with not having bread as a point to teach them profound truth. of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

V 6, Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” We see that not only does the resident truth Teacher speak to us in our hearts, but He speaks to us through the voice of His What is Jesus saying? spokesmen.

They were worried about bread. The Lord uses that as an opportunity. 1 Thessalonians 1:5, For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much Don’t be concerned about bread but be concerned about the assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. for your sake.

Get up on a spiritual level. We are facing a tremendous crisis. We are taught by the teachers whom God has empowered with Christ now is months from the cross only, and He wants them His Spirit uniquely to teach and by the resident truth Teacher educated spiritually. dwelling within us.

One day without food isn’t a major problem. We are led to greater understanding and greater light. Most of us live on physical realm all the time. We can pursue the riches of the truth of God as we open His We are very physically oriented. Word because of the Spirit’s ministry.

We tend only to see the physical things. We don’t have that spiritual sight, even though we are redeemed people. 18 15

Let us see how the Lord used this occasion to teach these dull They are in the presence of God Himself, who has just created disciples’ greater truth. enough food to feed fifty thousand people in the last few weeks. V 5, Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. • Five thousand men plus women and children in the in the Jewish area.

They forgot to take bread. • Four thousand men plus women and children in the This is important because in those days, there were no fast-food gentile area of Decapolis. restaurants. It’s not easy in the wilderness to get the right kind of thing to eat. They have just had massive miracles of reproduction of food.

They get to the other side, and they say, “we don’t have any So, they needed to plan ahead on that. bread.” They had failed to do that. Really on the physical level and seeing only the physical need. They may have left a little hurriedly after the confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Lord takes every one of their extremities as a divine opportunity to teach truth.

Mark 8:14, Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Do you want to know how you make a disciple? That would be like one flat cracker. You reproduce a disciple. That would not be enough to handle these twelve apostles and You build someone to maturity by getting alongside of them. the Lord Himself. Walking through life. Interpreting life in terms of its spiritual significance.

They were very concerned because they had forgotten to take bread. Taking the struggles, the anxieties, the situations, the They functioned only on basic physical level. They are just like happenings of life on a day-to-day basis and interpreting them us. on a divine level.

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