to accuse him, but the people were still amazed at him, they were with him and honored him. The more the Pharisees tried to drive people away from Christ, the bigger the crowd that flocked to him. He said to his disciple first af all. These were his special responsibility, and so he warned them particularly as his beloved sons(1Co 4:14); they made a greater profession of religious faith than the others, and hyprocrisy in that was the sin they were most in danger of. Hypocrisy would be worse
in them than in others. Christ disciples were, for all we know, the best men in the world, but even they needed to be warned against hypocrisy.
The discription of the sin that he warned them against: It is the leaven of the Pharisees.
- It is leaven (yeast); it spread like yeast, insinuating itself into the whole being, into all that a person does; it swells and sour like leaven, puffing people up with pride and thereby making them with malice and making their service unacceptable to God.
- It is the leaven of the Pharisees:" It is the sin that most of them fall into. Be on your guard about imitating them"
- A good reason against it;" For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed(v2-3). Sooner or later the truth will come out. If you speak in darkness what does not benefit you and your public profession, it shall be heard in the light; some way or other it will be made manifest." If people's religious faith is not effective in conquering and healing the evil of their hearts, nonetheless, it will not serve as a cloak forever. The day is coming when hypocrites will be stripped of their fig leaves( Gene 3;7).
Have a blessed week.
