WATCH OUT FOR THE YEAST OF THE EVIL ONE

Sunday 17 January 2021

WATCH OUT FOR THE YEAST OF THE EVIL ONE

BY: Pastor Marilyn Musandiwa

His Will Worship Centre

Key Scriptures:

Matthew 4:1-11 and Mark 8:14-15 

Watch out for the yeast of the evil one. As we can all see we are living at a time when things are not the way they should be. Our freedom to interact socially with one another is gone. We had it before, but now it is gone. Many people have lost their lives and others are battling with this terrible disease. Some of us have lost our jobs, our businesses, our properties, and other valuable items. At this moment many of us have unanswered questions. We have questions, questions; questions we do not have answers to. 

Children of God, in times such as these we need to be vigilant and guard ourselves against the yeast of the evil one. Jesus warned His disciples to guard themselves against the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Harold. As children of God who are walking on this path of faith we should know that there is yeast from the evil one which he is aiming to plant in our lives. As we walk the path of faith we should guard ourselves against the yeast of the evil one. We should watch out for the yeast of the evil one. 

The word yeast in its literal meaning refers to a baking agent which is normally used when baking bread. The amount of yeast that is added to the dough might appear to be little and of no significance, but the change it brings to the final outcome of the dough is huge. The amount that is added is little and insignificant, but the change it brings to the dough is huge. Similarly; the yeast or the influence of the evil one in our lives might appear to be small and insignificant, but the change it brings is huge and is devastating. That change that you would see later when the yeast of the evil one has been planted and has taken root in a child of God, is huge and devastating.

Difficult times such as the present moment are a good opportunity for the evil one to plant his yeast in the children of God. It is for that reason that the word of God is telling us to be vigilant and watch out for the yeast of the evil one. The Bible says in the scripture reference we read that Jesus fasted for fourty days and fourty nights. He then began to feel hungry because at that time He was living in a body of a human being, a body that could feel hungry. Satan approached Him because He was hungry. Satan took advantage of the fact that Jesus was hungry at that time and he thought he would achieve his aim using the circumstances that Jesus was faced with at that moment which is the hunger that He was feeling. The enemy thought that he would take that circumstance and use it as an opportunity to plant his yeast in Jesus Christ. 

Do you not remember that Esau sold his birth right when he was hungry? What is our birth right as born again Christians? What is our inheritance as born again children of God? The evil one will take advantage of the present circumstance that we are faced with and make us to sell our birth right. He will make us sell our inheritance because of the suffering we are going through at that moment. The evil one will ride on it and take advantage of it and plant his yeast in our lives so that we can sell our birth rights, so that we can exchange our inheritance for something that he would promise to offer. 

Note that Satan did not accidentally meet Jesus on that day. He did not aimlessly appear before Jesus on that particular day. He planned it in advance, and took advantage of the fact that Jesus was hungry at that time. Jesus had not eaten for fourty days and fourty nights. Satan took advantage of that and appeared to him and said, “if you are the Son of God tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus was publically known as the Son of God which would mean whatever He would ask from God would be granted to Him. You and I are known in our community publically as Christians; sons and daughters of God. It is well known; we do not hide it. Now the evil one can take advantage of the situation we are faced with and say to each one of us individually, “if you are sons and daughters of God, tell this situation to go for it is written if you ask anything in the name of Jesus He will do it. Now since you call yourselves sons and daughters of God and whatever you ask in the name of Jesus, He promised to do for you. Tell this situation to go.” Now here is the deception; Satan will say that to us knowing very well that you have been praying for a long time to God asking Him to deliver us and to deliver the whole world from this situation but have not seen any change physically up to this far. 

Whilst this question might appear to be innocent the intention behind the question is not. The intention of the question is to bring uncertainty in our lives. That question would be placed before us so that we can begin to ask ourselves if truly we are sons and daughters of God. Why is there a scripture that says if you ask anything in the name of Jesus He will do it? Why is it that we have been praying asking in the name of Jesus, but the situation is still here? That question innocent as it might appear to be is brought to us to bring uncertainty in our lives. That question will turn somebody’s way of thinking completely. It will shake our minds and turn our way of thinking to another way. The way the evil one wants us to become. That kind of question can plant some kind of doubt in a child of God. That kind of question is yeast that can plant doubt in our lives and it is not innocent. 

The evil one can approach you and I with a question, and even quote a scripture. You and I can be fooled that his question is innocent or he is feeling pity for us. He can never feel pity for you and I. As a matter of fact, he is responsible for most of our sufferings here on earth. Now he will pretend as if he is feeling pity for you and I, and even remind us of some of the scriptures. Those scriptures will not be quoted in the right way. As a child of God we should not entertain him. If a child of God happens to entertain the yeast of the evil one, or the questions he might bring to us using whomever he might have chosen to use. In that case a child of God will begin to question scriptures, something that he has never done before, but when the yeast of the evil one has been planted and has taken root, in a believer’s life, that child of God will begin to question scriptures, he will begin to doubt God. He will begin to doubt the authenticity of the word of God because of a question that will have been posed to him. 

A question which will sometimes be posed with a quote from the scriptures but with a wrong intention. Children of God, when that happens, you and I should know that the evil one has taken advantage of the present circumstance in our lives, the present circumstance that we are faced with as a nation or the whole world, or even any circumstance that you are faced with as an individual. He can take advantage of it, and come and say whatever he wants to say and plant his yeast in your life or in my life. So that we can begin to be uncertain and doubt the scriptures, doubt the very word that is supposed to give us life. Child of God, once you begin to doubt the very word that is meant to give you and I life it means there will be no life in us. Our eternal life that has been promised to us might be taken away because we will move away from believing our God, because of the yeast of the evil one. It might appear innocent. The question might appear innocent, it is yeast. It is not innocent. 

Once it has taken root, it will change a person completely. It will bring a huge change, a devastating one that can even rob us of our inheritance, our birth right. In Judges Six; the Bible speaks about the suffering which the nation of Israel went through at that time. The Medianites were oppressing the children of God to the point where the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in caves and strongholds, hiding themselves and hiding whatever they had, from the Medianites. Median impoverished Israel to the point where the children of God began to cry out for help. 

Now the angel came to Gideon while Gideon was threshing wheat at the winepress. He was hiding it from the Medianite. God sent His angel because He heard the cry of his children. When the angel came to Gideon he said, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” Let’s hear what Gideon said in reply. That is in Judges 6:11 – 13. God had sent His angel to help His people though Gideon. Now the angel is telling him the good news. The angel is saying; “The Lord is with you mighty warrior,” but Gideon answers to say “pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why all this, why has all this happened?” Some of us children of God, might begin to think this way, even when we read the scriptures, and the scripture is telling us that the Lord is with us, some of us might begin to think; if that were true, why is all this happening to us, why is this pandemic hitting both believers and non-believers? If truly the Lord is on our side, or the Lord is with us just as his word is saying, why is all this happening to us? 

Some of us may begin to question the scriptures and not believe it. Last Sunday we encouraged one another to believe that many are those who are on our side than those who are against us. Or if you want, you can put it this way: greater is He who is in us that he who is in this world. Now the evil one can visit us one by one at our own spaces, in our own different homes and say, “if truly many are on your side, then why all this? Why?” He will plant his yeast in our lives, which will produce uncertainty and bring about doubt. Instead of us standing on the word of God, instead of us believing what the word of God is saying, we will begin to question the scriptures, we will begin to doubt the scriptures, and satan will achieve what he wants to achieve. 

Children of God, in times such as these it is important that we guard ourselves against the yeast of the evil one. Somebody might ask; how will I guard myself against the yeast of the evil one? Remember that yeast will be planted in your mind and in my mind, which means we need to guard our minds or our hearts. Then the question is: how do we do it? We guard our minds and our hearts by keeping our minds occupied all the time, meditating on the Word of God, reading the Word of God. That will give the devil no chance to plant his yeast. When he comes, he will find our minds occupied, mediating on the word of God and he will not find an opportunity to whisper to us, or to plant his yeast, which can yield many things of which for today we are speaking only about doubt. That yeast of the evil one can yield different things. Children of God, an idle mind is a breeding ground for the evil one to plant his yeast. 

An idle mind, a mind that is doing nothing is a breeding ground for the evil one to plant his yeast and that yeast will raise or take root and set just like in bread when we bake, we put yeast, and within a few hours or that time that is given, the dough will rise and it will set. Once it is set, it is difficult to turn it back to its original size. Have you not seen how bread is made? A small thing as yeast will be added together with the other ingredients to make dough for bread. That dough will be given some time to rise or to raise and it will be put in the oven where it will continue and set. When it is taken out of the oven, it will have set, and it will be difficult to take it back to its original size. Although with us that will not be possible, it will not be impossible because all things are possible with God. There is power in the blood of Jesus. Whatever we might be, it is possible to return to what God intends us to be. I mean if we happen to stray because of the yeast of the evil one we should not despair, but we are not encouraged to stray because it is difficult to return to your normal size, but with God there is nothing which is difficult. 

All things are possible, when we call on the Name of Jesus all knees must bow, even that of the yeast of doubt which has been planted by the evil one. When the Name of Jesus is called, that knee must bow as well, but we should not allow ourselves to reach that point. Now I had said we keep ourselves free from the influence of the evil one by keeping our minds occupied, meditating on the Word of God, reading His Word, as well as praying. Now should he happen to visit you and I and ask us a question, children of God, we should not try to answer him with our own wisdom. We should emulate what Jesus did and answer him with the Word of God. 

The Word of God will put him where he belongs. We keep ourselves free from the influence of the evil one by keeping our minds occupied, meditating on the word of God, reading His word and praying. Should he happen to pose a question to you in order to bring uncertainty to you and I, we should never attempt to answer him with our own wisdom, using our own wisdom. We should emulate what Jesus did, and answer him with the word of God, because he is roaming around trying to get whomever he can devour, riding on the circumstance that we are faced with at the present moment. It has been his strategy to plant doubt in children of God even from the beginning. 

When we search scriptures, we will find that it had always been his strategy. It is not something that is new and he can do it when man is not suffering. He can take advantage of our suffering and he can also take advantage of our plenty, in times of plenty or in times when we have everything he can still take advantage. It is only that it is worse when we are facing difficult times, but he can still take advantage of the plenty that God has given you and I and ride on it and plant his yeast. We see it in the life of Eve. Eve knew very well what God had commanded them concerning not eating fruit from the tree that was in the middle of the garden. 

Eve knew very well that God had said that when they eat from that tree, they will certainly die, but the serpent came and planted doubt in her in the form of a question which may appear to be innocent. He said, “did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden.” You see his strategy by asking a question which might appear to be innocent. This question although it might appear to be innocent as if he wanted to know if God had said that regarding the fruit. The intention behind that question was to bring uncertainty in Eve. 

Before the serpent went to her, Eve believed what God had said. She believed that if they happen to eat the fruit from that tree they will certainly die. After the yeast had been planted in the form of a question she began to doubt if really they will die from eating that fruit. She ate and gave some to her husband and death entered the human race. The questions of the evil one are not innocent, they are meant to bring doubt in our lives. They are meant to bring uncertainty. They are meant to make us doubt what God has said in His word. We should watch out for the yeast of the evil one in times of difficulties, as well as in times when all is well. 

The Bible does not indicate that Eve was facing any challenge. The Bible does not indicate that Eve was hungry and for that reason she went and ate of the tree. As a matter of fact, Eve and Adam had the whole garden in front of them. They had plenty of fruit to eat and be satisfied from. Why go and eat the fruit that was forbidden? The evil one took advantage of the plenty that they had, and planted doubt in her. The evil one can take advantage of the plenty that we have and make us desire more than what we already have. The evil one made Eve desire more than what God had given them. They had plenty, the whole garden was theirs, but he went and made her to desire more than what God had already given them. 

This is telling you and I that it is important to watch out for the yeast of the evil one at all times. In times of plenty as well as in times of suffering or in hard times. We are encouraged to watch out for the yeast of the evil one.