Mark 12/18 and I will wait for you.
And Sadducees came to him who say that there is no
resurrection, and they asked him a question saying, Teacher.
Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a
wife but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and
raise up offspring for his brother.
There were seven brothers. The first took a wife and when
he died left no offspring, and the second took her and died
leaving no offspring, and the third likewise, and the seven
left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died
in the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she
be, for the seven had her as wife.
Jesus said to them, is this not the reason you are wrong because
you know neither the scriptures know the power of God, for when
they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in
marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
And As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the
book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how God spoke to
him saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead, but
of the living. You are quite wrong, Lord, We
thank you that we are in the truth, and we can know the truth
because of this precious book. But Lord, apart from the
Spirit's help, we can be left in error.
And so we ask for His grace and bring us closer to the truth,
give us greater clarity, understanding that we may
worship you with greater accuracy and affection.
We ask these things with a genuine heart, with desperation.
O Lord, we long to meet with you and hear your voice.
Now in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Well, two weeks ago we were in mark together in this very same
chapter and I hope you didn't forget.
But just in case before our stand alone message last week,
Jesus and being confronted by different groups of people
reminds us of the nature of spiritual warfare.
Because in the opening of that message 2 weeks ago, we
discussed the nature of spiritual warfare.
And one of the things that we brought up was how we can expect
challenges and oppositions as we follow Christ wholeheartedly.
And sometimes those spiritual incursions are more fierce on
some days than on others, and that is what we have before us.
In this chapter, Jesus illustrates that by way of
example, because this is not the first group that approached him
with animosity. Christ is ready now, at the
final moments, approaching his fulfillment of his mission on
earth. But it wasn't a smooth ride.
You had one group after the other coming against him, to try
to expose him, to try to condemn him in one way or another.
And last time in Mark we witnessed the Lord effortlessly.
He just sidestep so smoothly the trap that was laid before him by
the Pharisees and the Herodians. But it didn't take much time for
another enemy to make their move.
They stepped up to the plate and they took their own shot at a
crafty question, hoping to entangle Christ in another way.
And let me remind you, when the Sadducees came before it was the
Pharisees and the Herodians. But in the Gospel of Matthew,
you don't have to turn there. But listen to this verse in
chapter 22, verse 23, The same day Matthew 2223 says the same
day Sadducees came to him. So it wasn't a week later.
It wasn't a few few days later. It was the very same day after
the Pharisees came and the Herodians came, that the
Sadducees now arrived on the scene.
Sometimes when you're walking with the Lord and it rains, it
pours, and you can expect those days.
And you can be assured that though you may not anticipate
what day things come like a flood.
You can stand tall, and you can be prepared by the word of God
and by prayer and by His promises, being in the forefront
of your mind. So the Sadducees come now on the
same day, giving no breath to Christ.
They, wanting to suffocate him, approach him at this critical
point. What are they going to do?
What are they going to try? What lure are they going to
attempt? Are they going to try to cause
Christ to stumble by flattering Him?
Are they going to try to cause his judgement to be impaired by
their smooth words? Or are they going to try to
cause him to be trapped by a discourse about politics so he
can tarnish his testimony? It's none of those things.
The Pharisees and the Herodians tried that, and to no avail.
But this time you have the Sadducees who come, and this is
their plan, to expose the weaknesses of what Jesus
preached publicly. They're coming after his belief
system, namely the hope of the resurrection.
They want to try to dismantle it.
They want to try to put him in a corner.
They want to try to have him stumble over his words.
And I thought to myself, well, what's the point of that?
I mean, I can see the trouble you can get yourself into by
having a conversation about paying taxes to Caesar, but what
kind of damage does this theological jab cause?
Well, the worst that this conundrum can do is that by
Jesus not being able to answer this question adequately, it
would cause him to be embarrassed.
And in the sight of the crowds, they would be able to now have a
reason to question if he was really the Messiah, if he was
really the teacher of teachers, if he was really the one that
the Spirit anointed and appointed to be the saviour of
this people. So in essence, they just want to
try to vandalize his reputation, They want to try to wound his
credibility by bringing this difficult question, I guess, in
their minds, and make him fumble.
And so this is what is happening in this part of the Bible.
But you remember from the Pharisees and the Herodians that
when witnessing them trying to trap Jesus, we're not just
looking at a scene with no relation to us, we're looking at
things that we can adopt in our own lives.
They set a trap for Christ, and they're traps for us as well.
And it's no different with the Sadducees.
In the same way that the Sadducees try to corner Christ,
be mindful of this trap on this day.
There are people who skillfully aim to instill in your heart
doubt, confusion, insecurity concerning the validity of the
Bible, truths that you believe, truths that you hold to with
your heart, with your life. Like the Sadducees, you have
some who want to create in you, doubt about the soundness of
what the word has to say, and that has been the strategy of
Satan from the beginning. The very question that served as
the doorway for sin to enter into our universe was what did
God really say? That is the question that
brought us into this mess thousands of years later.
And it is the question that causes people to remain in sin
and not find liberty in the truth of God's word.
And it's even a question that causes genuine believers who
believe the right truths to be saved, but not some truths to
know greater peace and greater joy.
Did God really say you think Satan just whisper that once in
the beginning of creation and they never utilize that again?
You're dead wrong. And let me remind you that in
Genesis 3, one that before Satan asked that question, we were
told and we were given a description of the instrument
that he used to ask it a serpent.
I don't want to get into the discussion about that too much,
but I want to say this. The Bible describes the serpent
as the most crafty of all the creatures that the Lord had
made. That's an interesting
description, don't you think? And it's there to inform you of
how Satan works. Satan uses crafty things to
convey his lies in your life and mine.
He's very clever. He uses crafty people.
He uses crafty means. He uses crafty packages and so
whether that be through politicians, the arts,
philosophy, science, and the same way he used the craftiest
things of them all back then, he uses them today as well.
Be very careful. He packages his lies in a very
convincing way and people think like, how did Eve fall for the
serpent? You remember the serpent, He, he
was the one that came to Eve and we're looking at a serpent, most
of us in here. I don't know anybody who likes
snakes. I guess they're they're out
there. But this is pre fall.
I I'm under the persuasion that that serpent was beautiful.
That serpent looked harmless. The snake was Slytherin.
Through here we'd all be jumping on our pews and running for the
doors. But when this serpent came to
Eve, she was disarmed. I'm sure there was something
about that serpent was very attractive, very alluring, very
winsome, maybe even comforting. Remember pre fall?
I know you can't imagine it now. Beware, Satan uses crafty
things, and sometimes he'll use unfair, crafty questions to make
your faith wobble about the Bible that you love and believe
in. And so I want us to look at this
portion of Scripture because it provides insights about how you
and I also can evade the web of doubting what the Bible has to
say and live in the Glee, the Glee and the confidence of God's
word. But before we do that, let's
think about who the Sadducees are.
So if the Pharisees were exclusively religious and the
Herodians were predominantly political, the Sadducees were
hybrid of the two. They were religious, but they
were also politically involved. And the Sadducees were different
in that they made-up of the elite of their day.
They actually occupied the most seats of the Supreme Court of
Israel's time, the Sanhedrin. So they were men of prominence,
they were men of influence, they were wealthy, they had great
pedigree, and their main responsible, because they
occupied the majority of the Sanhedrin, was to have oversight
over the activity of the Temple in Jerusalem.
And so that implies that they had some obvious religious
belief and convictions. And they did, though they
differed from the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed in the
entirety of the Hebrew scriptures.
The Pharisees had oral traditions that were passed
down, and unfortunately they held up those traditions even
above the word of God. This the the Sadducees were
different, though, and I'll show you why they're different
because we're told the main difference in Acts 23, verse 8.
It's a brief verse worth looking at if we're going to understand
why the Sadducees are asking this question and why Jesus
answered in the way that he answered in Acts 23 eight.
We're told for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
nor Angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
So the main difference between the Sadducees and their school
of thought with the Pharisees is that they did not believe in a
spiritual world. There are no angels.
There are no demons that parallel our universe, that
interact with our world. They denied an afterlife, which
means that there are no eternal rewards that await, nor there
anything to worry about concerning eternal punishment.
They were annihilationist, meaning when your body died,
your soul died with it, you cease to exist.
And so in some great sense these are kind of like the modern
liberal theologians. They really dismissed a lot of
the supernatural, though not entirely, but strangely these
guys prided themselves in being devoted to the writings of Moses
exclusively. They didn't acknowledge the
prophets, They didn't look to any other writings except for
the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures.
So they were Moses only kind of believer.
So they did have some tie to the Bible, but not like the
Pharisees. And there's no way you can catch
a Sadducee take seriously any of the oral traditions that were
passed down by their opposing school of thought.
So these guys were at odds with one another, but they found a
common enemy in Jesus. And understanding the Sadducees
theological framework helps us understand their way of life.
Because yes, they were theological, but they're also
political, actually more political than they were
spiritual, if you can call it that.
And it makes sense, doesn't it? Why were they so invested with
Rome? Why were they so preoccupied
with those things? Because they believe that this
world is all that there is to life.
There's no world to expect. There's no investment to make in
the world to come. And So what do they want to do?
They want to pursue, and they want to secure positions of
power and wealth and influence. That's their ultimate ambition,
because that's the fruit of their belief.
And the worldview here of the Sadducees made them appease the
Romans in a very heavy way. And they wanted to, in that
maintain their places of control and honor.
And with that, it's no surprise that they abuse their positions
of power and honor. If the Sadducees made-up the
majority of the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin in great part were
responsible for the temple, then even what we saw with the
merchants in the temple makes sense.
They made the place of God a business.
Why? Because, again, what are we
worried about? This is all there is to life.
There's no judgment. There's no hell.
There's no heaven. This is it.
So eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
That's how these men lived, and This is why they weren't even
like the Pharisees, persistent opposers of Christ.
Because they're not concerned about a Messiah, they could care
less about the anointed 1 to come and deliver us all.
Right, Rome is here, and so let's do the best with Rome and
try to make the most of this life.
But the Sadducees appear on the scene when they realized, like
the Herodians who are completely political, that this Jesus and
his movement can now ruffle our ambitions.
And so they're going to step up to the plate, not wanting there
to be any potential risk of losing what they price so much
by having Rome invade by being provoked by Jesus.
So they're going to approach Christ now, and they're going to
do their best to give a shot at his reputation so that it would
at least give a blow to the momentum in Jerusalem.
And in looking at this interaction, I want us to see 3
insights of how you and I can avoid the trap of doubting God's
word. Let's read it again, verse 18.
And Sadducees came to him who say that there is no
resurrection and they asked him a question saying Teacher Moses
wrote for us that if a man, brother, man's brother dies and
leaves a wife but leaves no child, the man must take the
widow and raise up Austin for his brother.
Pause. That's in the Bible.
You're going to find that in Deuteronomy chapter 25,
specifically in verse five and six, and you don't have to turn
there. But it's a law concerning
marriage, at least one law in the context of marriage.
And what this law did is it provided for a family line, that
if a man died leaving no offspring, then that man's
brother was responsible to marry that wife, give her a child, and
then the deceased husband's name and property and land will
remain with that family. And so this was a way to
protecting widows. It was a way of protecting also
the inheritance of that family, of those tribes.
And we may think that's unfair. What if that brother doesn't
want to marry that woman for whatever reason?
Well, there's a way out of it. It wasn't completely binding,
but it was a thing of honor more than anything else.
And so the the Sadducees are taking that law concerning
marriage of the old covenant under the old covenant, and
they're applying it in a very strange way.
They create this ridiculous hypothetical situation.
And you know the rest. Look at verse 20.
There were seven brothers. And then they go on to describe
the first took a wife and when he died left no offspring.
The second also and in verse 22 and the seven left no offspring.
Last of all, the woman also died.
So they're saying now in connection to the resurrection,
all right, if there is life after this life, then what's
going to happen to these seven guys who are going to appear in
the world to come? And they all married the same
gal. Figure that one out, Lord, and
you get the impression that if this is the question that they
asked Jesus, then it was probably like the best thing
that they had in the chamber. It probably was.
In fact, I will take it further. I don't want to speculate too
much, but it could be that they've used this against the
Pharisees, and the Pharisees were not able to answer the
question for themselves. So it was like their go to
question in a debate and they thought themselves we got
nobody's been able to answer this, nobody's been able to
let's do it, let's try. So they come up and they say,
what do you say Lord? And you see in thinking that the
scriptures were silent on this issue, namely marriage in the
afterlife, these men thought that they had a valid
refutation. And here's the point that I want
to make. Similarly, there are some
believers who argue in like manner.
They tried to discredit the Word of God as being insufficient or
contradictory by looking and pointing out realities that are
not mentioned or barely emphasized in the scriptures.
And so here's the thing to keep in mind.
Keep in mind of if you are going to be 1, to avoid the trap of
doubting God's Word #1, some skeptics of the Bible entangle
others with speculation, speculation.
And what that means is they try to bring to people's attentions
things that are not highlighted or underscored directly in the
Word of God. Or they they they they make
these arguments and they they produce these unfair kind of
hypotheticals to try to cause you to rethink the soundness,
the validity, the accuracy, the sensibility of some of the
things that you believe. But here's the thing that you
and I have to do as believers. You have to be willing to humble
yourself and be content with the truth that not every question
given there is a direct answer provided in the Bible.
I know that sounds shocking, but it really isn't because the
Bible was not designed to answer every single question that one
can come up with. You don't find a cupcake recipe
at a math book, do you? And we don't criticize that math
book, do we? Oh, the Bible doesn't tell me
how to make frosted cupcakes. Or excuse me, The Bible doesn't
tell me to do this or do that. Here's the thing.
The Bible wasn't designed to answer absolutely everything.
People have trouble reading the Bible as it is now.
You want to answer every single question in the Bible in the
world. The idea of the Bible is that it
has been given to us specifically to disclose
redemptive history and how mankind can be saved.
That is, the design and every detail provided orbits around
that central theme. And so you and I, even as
believers, have to step back and apply Deuteronomy 2929, which
says this. The secret things belong to the
Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us
and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of
this law. There is a category of truth and
information and data that's under the filing of secrets, and
the only one who has the passcode to it is the Lord.
That frustrates people, that makes people flustered, but
that's something that we as creatures have to be willing to
comply with. There are just some things that
we will not know in great detail, some things that we
might not know at all. There are secrets that belong to
the Lord our God, and the Bible tells us that in the book.
But what has been given to us, according to this verse, is
sufficient, Sufficient for what it says.
But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children
forever. That we may do all the words of
this law. What has been granted is
sufficient for us to obey God in the way that he wants us to obey
him, to respond to God in the way that He wants us to, that
that is given, that is laid out for us, we have no reason to
doubt or question. Are we exactly where God wants
us to be? In our faith, in our practice
and the way that we interact with Him and one another?
Everything pertaining to that has been disclosed, and there
are other things that we will never know, and we should be OK
with that. But in this case with the
Sadducees, they're trying to create something that wasn't
intended to connect this law about what a man should do for
his brother if he dies concerning his wife and his
family line. What does that have to do with
the resurrection to come? Instead, we have to see here
that His revelation intends to renew us and change the way we
live. And that's how we approach the
word of God. And your response with that is
to rest. Just rest in that truth and
resist the enchantment of endless questions and irrelevant
disputes. You know the Bible more than one
occasions tells Christians Be careful and the kind of
theological debates and battles you get yourself into.
Let me remind you in First Timothy 1/4 what we're told
First Timothy 14. Nor devote themselves to myths
and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than
the stewardship from God. That is by faith.
There are some people who just they just love talking about
things that there aren't really answers for philosophying and
theological sparring. And you can devote yourself in
such conversations where it becomes actually unfruitful.
And instead of spending your energy and your focus on what
has been revealed, becoming more godly and more accurate and your
understanding of God, you're giving yourself to what ifs and
what abouts and why nots. And that can drain you of the
limited things that you do have to give yourself over to what
has been known. So Paul, not not just here in
many in many places. Tell your people, Pastor Tim,
not to devote themselves to these things, because it's
dangerous and it can actually lead to strange conclusions and
theological beliefs. So how do I avoid the trap of
doubting God's Word? Well, don't have conversations
and don't entertain things that only lead to speculations.
But here's the thing that's interesting about the Sadducees,
because their argument didn't just prove that they were not
engaging with the Word as they should.
They proved that they didn't really know the Bible to begin
with. Look what Jesus says in verse
24. Jesus said to them, is this not
the reason you are wrong? Is this not the reason you are
wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of
God? The Lord impresses me.
I mean, he tells the people that should know the Bible the most,
that they don't know the Bible. He told the Pharisees, have you
not read? It's like, excuse me, that's
what we do. And now he tells this other
group of religious people, you don't know the Bible.
You don't know the Scriptures. So before dismantling this
apparent dilemma, the Lord deals with the underlying issue of
their question, which is their outright denial, their outright
denial of the resurrection. And the reason why they denied
the resurrection was not because they came to the Bible and they
were not persuaded by the argument.
It was because they failed to see it.
And he's going to point that out later.
They thought it had nothing to do with where they stood
concerning the Scriptures. They thought it was a silly
idea. This man made perhaps concept.
And so they mocked it and they scorned it, and they were
ultimately ignorant of it. And because they were ignorant
of this thing called the resurrection, they ended up
what? Becoming ignorant of what God
can do, namely, raise people from the dead.
So you don't know the Scriptures, and because you
don't know the Scriptures, you don't know the power of God.
And so this is the indictment that he makes against them.
And so the second insight and overcoming the traps that are
laid before you by others who want to cause you to doubt God's
word is this. Some critics of the Bible are
critics because they don't know the Bible.
Some critics of the Bible are critics because they don't know
the Bible to begin with. And when you match that up with
somebody who claims to be a Christian, who also doesn't know
the Bible, then you got problems.
I've discovered in my conversations with people from
different faiths, different cults, even philosophies, that a
majority, if not all of them, who reject the truth, that is
the truth, have not personally made an examination of the
foundations of our faith. Have you ever discovered that
talk to people long enough from this sect, or talk to people
long enough from that expression of religion?
And what you discover is those people who represent that camp
say the same things a majority of the time because they have a
shared script. And what they receive a majority
of the times, the things that they read from all the authors
who think like them or blogs that they found or some guy with
a podcast. And they adopt these things.
And then when they find a Christian, they just shoot off
thinking that it will trip them up.
And it often does because of the Third Point that I'm going to
get to in a moment. So a lot of people just receive
and repeat from talking points and other writings that they've
discovered. But they haven't made a personal
ambition to come to this holy book and discover the harmony of
it. And how even with the basics of
the faith, even a child can understand they haven't made
that effort. Because with presuppositions
already, Because of their guard, because they're already set on
wanting to disprove this truth. They haven't made the first step
and effort to discover if it's true to begin with.
And if you've engaged with people from different places and
beliefs long enough, you'll discover that they parrot the
same things in the same ways. And so that should comfort you.
That that should comfort you because some people are
intimidated by what others say. But you shouldn't because of the
Third Point. If you want to overcome the trap
of doubting God's Word, and this is where I want to stay for the
majority in the rest of this time, is that you must be
thoroughly equipped with what God has said.
The more familiar you are with your faith, the more you have a
grasp on this truth. The less doubt will torment you.
People often ask, How can I grow my knowledge of the Word?
How can I increase in this believe?
How? Where do I start?
Can I tell you something? In my at least experience in the
first few months of walking with the Lord being very eager and
anxious to tell people about Jesus Christ, I've been
presented questions that I could not answer on the spot.
And I'm so thankful for those moments.
You know why? Because in those moments where I
was, it gave me enough motivation to lock myself in my
basement apartment and discover that truth that I could not
answer. And when I've come to this word
of my personal study over the years and I've stumbled upon
something in one account and then I compare it to another
account 1 description, I compare it to another description, my
heart begins to race a little bit because I'm like, did I just
find a contradiction in the Bible And I wrestle with the
text and I examine the text and I research about the text.
I can't tell you the relief that comes over me when I realized
no, no, no, the Bible knows exactly what it is describing.
God knows exactly how he authored this book.
And I am more concrete in my faith than I was when I found a
thing to begin with. Look what Jesus does in verse
25. For when they rise from the dead
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels
in heaven. And As for the dead being
raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage
about the Bush, how God spoke to him saying, I am the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are quite wrong. In verse 25.
You're dealing with the one who descended from heaven.
You're dealing with the one who will be the king of the world to
come. You're dealing with the one who
knows all things. And he clarifies first the
symptom of the bedrock of their faulty view.
And he says, you guys don't know what you're talking about
because you think that the resurrection is going to be a
continuation of the life as we know it.
And it's not. It's not.
There will no be no marriage in heaven.
I know the Mormon say otherwise, but it's not true because of
what Jesus says and some are conflicted by this.
May just pause your to even just meditate on the life to come.
Some are conflicted by this because they can't imagine a
world void of the deep bond that one can know in the place of
marriage. Some are baffled by this because
they can't imagine a world where they can't have access to the
ecstasy of a physical, intimate relationship with another person
that they've made a covenant with.
Right, Some of you who are in love with your spouse and I pray
that every person here is madly in love with their wives and
their husbands. You've probably even thought to
yourself and had conversations with your spouse we're not going
to be married in heaven. That would be strange.
How am I going to see you? How are you going to see me?
And some might be disappointed by Jesus.
Brief description of the world to come.
But be comforted to know that what this meant to describe is
that there will be a bliss so intense that it will make even
the joys of marital covenant relationships seem shallow.
There will be such an intense enjoyment of the things of God,
the glory of God, the people of God.
And if we're enjoying this now and we're still in this flesh,
what's it going to be like when we're all perfect?
I know you're trying to find a perfect church.
You ain't going to find a friend.
You got to wait till heaven for that.
But all a day where we get along all the time.
No wonderful thought, A oneness in the presence of God.
That will be something that your body now would not be able to
handle. It would combust if you even
sipped of what the glory that awaits is going to do to you.
So Jesus talks about indirectly of something that is not going
to be known, something that's really sometimes even the chief
goal of people, just to find that one person that I can walk
hand in hand with and that's going to be non existent.
For some it's not even that, for some it's gold and money and
jewels and possessions. May I remind you, the goal that
people are killing and cheating about is going to become
pavement in heaven. We're going to step on that
stuff, and I can assure you that as awesome as the sight of
Golden streets will be, it's going to be the glory of Jesus
Christ that's going to apprehend you and take your breath away
for thousands upon thousands of years.
So though the Scriptures does not in the Old Covenant, at
least in the Old Testament, disclose every single activity
that will take place in heaven, it does over and over provide
this truth, that the theme of heaven will be the absolute
glory of God that you and I will know and enjoy.
Let me read to you Psalm 17, verse 15.
This is a verse about the resurrection right here in Psalm
17, verse 15. As for me, I shall behold your
face in righteousness when I awake.
I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Like awake from what? Awake from death, Psalm 1715.
As for me and the verses proceeding that he's talking
about the wicked and what they toil after he goes, never mind
that. As for me, when I awake, I will
be satisfied with your likeness. Satisfied like real eternal
satisfaction, one might say. Well, of course the Lord can be
confident about this world to come, because he's the king of
the world and He created that world.
But wait, he's also our example. He's not just flexing his
omniscience by answering the Sadducees.
He wants to provide us a principle, because in this
moment he's about to point to the Bible, and that's what he
does in verse 26. As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the book of Moses?
And then he goes to Exodus chapter 3, and he speaks about
the moment of the burning Bush. And he This is fascinating
because he could have gone to Daniel.
There's great verses in Daniel about the resurrection.
Could have gone to Isaiah, plenty in there about the
resurrection, could have gone to the Psalms, could have gone to
some of the minor prophets. But instead he goes to the book
of Moses. You know why?
Right. Because you heard about the
Sadducees. That's all they adhered to.
And so he, he's going to in some way, I don't think entirely, but
in in one way he's going to, he's going to show them how they
missed it even and what they exclusively believed in.
OK, you hold to only the books of Moses.
Did you realize what God said to Moses in Exodus chapter 3?
And here's the thing, the Lord who is the Word shows me here of
how much he knew the Word, because who would have pulled a
resurrection truth out of the burning Bush?
And Moses having a conversation because we right here in that
passage how God spoke to him saying, I am the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Can I ask you something? When you read that in Exodus
chapter 3, did you think, oh OK, there is a resurrection?
How the Lord saw the scriptures, the depth that the Lord had and
not just seeing things at face value?
Yes, we should take the simplicity of the scriptures
with joy, but also the implications of it, the
implications of some of these truths that I want to see with
that kind of depth. Because here's what the
resurrection hinges on God telling Moses I am the God of
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, not I was.
I am implying that though even in Exodus 3 Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob were long gone, God could still say to his current servant
I am the God of these men. God is not the God of dead
worshippers. God is the God of living
worshippers. And for him to say I am the God
of these men shows that they were alive, though their bodies
were in a cave. Did you not realize that you
Sadducees? No wonder you're always sad.
You didn't realize that what God was saying there was showing
that he is the God of a living people.
And at the patriarchs and your Father's are alive, and they're
alive today. And so the Lord, many would say
in his brilliance, accommodates to the Sadducees by meeting them
where they were at in the books of Moses.
But I don't think he does. But not entirely.
Can I show you why? You have some people who say,
you know, if people don't believe the Bible, don't try to
prove the Bible. With the Bible.
You know, if people don't use the scriptures, you got to use
other methods and means to try to get their conscious alarmed
and awakened. Jesus doesn't do that, even with
these Sadducees who didn't believe in many things.
So we read in Acts 23 that they didn't believe in the
resurrection. They didn't believe in angels.
Remember, they didn't believe in spirits.
But go back to what Jesus said in his opening explanation,
verse 25, for when they rise from the dead, they neither
marry nor are given a marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
You're talking about angels with people who don't believe in
angels. Guess what?
Jesus doesn't care what I mean by that.
Just because these men didn't uphold these truths, didn't make
them untrue. Listen, Don't doubt the power of
the word of God. Don't doubt the power of the God
with people who vehemently stand against the word of God.
This word is God's word, and when it touches the conscience,
you never know what can happen. It can awaken even the skeptic
of all skeptics. It can convict even the most
hardened of sinners. Here's Jesus, Florida State.
Answering yes, but not being intimidated by their skepticism,
still presenting the truth as it is.
Not bending, not tiptoeing, not being cautious.
Yes, be wise. Yes, be careful.
It all depends on who your audience is, but I love how the
Lord here speaks about it being true, whether they acknowledge
it or not. I've had some conversation with
them, Asus, who obviously don't believe in the Bible, but in
those conversations I would say, but the Bible says this, the
Bible says this. And you can sometimes see the
conviction on their faces because even the Scripture talks
about how the law shuts the mouths of every person so that
they're not, they're not justified in the sight of God.
This book has been meant to be heralded in the declare to all
men, all creatures. And so I love how the Lord here
with these people who don't even believe in angels, talks about
it so casually they will be like the angels in heaven.
So yes, be wise, yes, be strategic and how you present
the truth. But don't ever doubt what the
truth can do to those who don't even believe in it.
Share it, declare it, counsel with it, and people can be
changed by it. I'm not sure if it did happen
with these Sadducees, but I want you to see that in the pursuit
of knowing the Scripture, knowing the truth, being able to
defend it, being able to deflect every objection that comes your
way, that you never forget the personal ambition of the word of
God in your life. So in this account he talks
about the burning Bush and that passage.
But I want you to see how the Lord describes it in Matthew 22.
Let's go to Matthew 22 verse 31. But in verse 29 of Matthew 22.
Let's read from there. But Jesus answered them.
You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the
power of God. For in the resurrection and
neither Mary nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in
heaven. And As for the resurrection of
the dead, have you not read what was said to you?
He didn't say that in Mark. Have you not read what was said
to you by God? I am the God of Abraham and the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
He is not the God of dead, but of the living.
And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his
teaching. But notice that phrase, what was
said to you? And you've heard me talk about
this not too far back, but I think it's worth mentioning
again since we're here, Moses hearing a voice from a burning
Bush, God commissioning him, though that is a historical
event not to be repeated. That is something to be examined
as a past event. Still, Jesus says in that
moment, God still has something to desire to speak to you.
There's a truth even in that historical component of
redemptive history that is meant tailor made to edify, convict,
challenge you. So when I come to the
scriptures, when you come to the scriptures, don't just treat it
as a collection of things that you should believe and be able
to memorize and say and defend and argue and debate.
You know people like that. That doesn't change that.
That that might make you more confident in the place of back
and forth dialogue concerning what true religion is there, But
that won't change you. I love how Jesus sets the
present here. This is something meant for you
when you come to the Word, no matter where you're at.
Even in Exodus, you used to believe that God wants to speak
to me. God wants to challenge me.
God wants to comfort me. What is it?
And then with the eyes and the help of Christ as he was able to
find a resurrection truth and God declaring that he is the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, only the Lord opened our eyes to
see deeper things in his truth. And so that is something that
you have to constantly remember that I'm not just coming to this
word to defend my faith, though that's important.
I'm coming to this word to hear God's voice for me and to speak
to me. And when you come with that
expectation, hunger, you'd be amazed on how these eternal
truths that have been set by God's promise that nothing will
ever overtake or demolish or delete this truth, it can speak
into your life in profound ways, in profound ways.
And so Jesus was able to again divert what these Sadducees came
up with. But it's not going to be the
only trap. There's going to be another one
that we're going to discover next week, but for now, let's
pray and ask God's help to find great courage in His word once
again. We do ask, Lord, that you would
help us believe that you have provided exactly what is
necessary for us to be exactly who you want us to be.
We pray, Lord, that this Word through this message would
ignite a fresh desire to know what you would say to us through
it. And so we pray for that desire
to awaken again. Lord, we pray for those who
might be frustrated in their ability to grasp the truth.
We pray for those who might be shy, maybe even tempted to be
embarrassed about what the Bible has to say.
But, Lord, we pray that, like the sun exemplified, that we
would discuss these things, knowing that they are binding on
all men. It is God's truth whether people
believe it or not. We asked, Lord, that if we are
tempted to get into speculative thoughts and arguments, rescue
us from that. And when it comes our way, Lord,
may we be prepared by what your word has to say to be able to
stand strong. And so, Lord, we just pray that
as a people of the Book, you would reinforce that conviction
that we would indeed be people of the book.
We look to you in Thanksgiving for giving us the example in
this text. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Amen.