Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I'd like your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Matthew
chapter 22. And reading from our text, verse
29. Verse 29, Jesus answered and
said unto them, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the
power of God. Matthew 22 and verse 29. In the portion that we read, this
chapter from verse 15, we have the Pharisees and the Sadducees
coming and posing three questions in a way to entrap our Lord Jesus
Christ. Many, when they are seeking the
Lord, may indeed have questions. We think of our children and
the way that they learn is all the time asking why. And certainly
the disciples of our Lord had many things that they asked of
him. But it is the motive and what
was their intentions that makes the real difference here. We read that they went about
and took counsel, in verse 15, how they might entangle him in
his talk. Their intention was not to learn,
not to be taught at all, but it was to entrap our Lord Jesus
Christ. May we truly have a right motive
when we come with any questions to the Lord, to his people, to
his servants, what is actually our motive in coming. Well, this wasn't just an off-the-cuff
thought, what they would do, they actually took counsel and
worked out what to do. And what is a solemn thing in
this first account? We read that they sent out, that
is the Pharisees, they sent out unto him, unto Jesus, their disciples. The Pharisees had disciples,
Pharisees who viewed themselves as above others. The picture
of our Lord speaking of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple,
the publican, God be merciful to me, a sinner, but the Pharisee
not at all pleading mercy, but telling the Lord all his good
points as he viewed them and despising the publican. Those Pharisees that were so
against the Lord, they had disciples, they had followers, And we must
really search our hearts. If we are following men, what
type of men are we following? Or are we just like the Pharisees'
disciples and we're following those that are seeking to entrap
the Lord's people and entrap the Lord and fight against the
truth? Well, in their counsel, And I
believe there's a joining together here. It was not only their disciples
that they sent, but they sent them with the Herodians. Now
there's many different thoughts about who those people actually
were. But the one thought that comes
is here they were representing the secular powers and those
that were able to issue with the taxes and tributes. And so that went along with the
question that they were going to ask concerning whether it
was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not. If they'd managed
to entrap our Lord, if he'd have said, no, it's not lawful, you
don't pay your taxes, don't have to do that. then the Herodians
would have been the ones in authority to be able to take that back
to Caesar, back to the authorities and say, Jesus of Nazareth is
teaching his disciples rebellion against us. And so in taking
their counsel, they planned not only the question that they were
going to ask, but have someone right on hand that if our Lord
answers wrong, they could take. the necessary steps to have him
brought before the law of the land. Most solemn planning and
scheming to try and entrap the Lord in that way. And what a
wonderful answer that the Lord gave, asking them when they had
asked, and really they flattered him first, didn't they? Flattered
him, and said, we know that thou art true, They called him master
and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for
any man. The things that they said were
true, but they were flattering him and really made their case
even worse to having said those things. It's like someone saying
to a minister of the gospel or to a church, oh, we know that
you're upright. We know that you preach the gospel.
We know that you preach the truth. And laying all of that and then
laying a trap. so that they're caught in it
and ensnared in it so that they can be accused. And this is what
they're trying to do with the Lord. And their question, tell
us therefore what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? What a beautiful answer. We read, the Lord perceived their
wickedness. What a solemn word against them. He perceived their wickedness.
their wickedness in coming, asking a question with this design. Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? What a solemn word against them.
No, they came with all flatteries to him and then posed their question.
Before the Lord answered their question, he didn't come with
flatteries to them. He told them exactly what they
were. They were wicked and they were
hypocrites. And then he told them their question.
He said, bring, bring me the tribute money. And we know what
it is. We can look at a penny. We can
see the queen's head on it in our currency. And there was Caesar's. And so our Lord says, render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, unto God
the things that are God's. Good answer to any who wouldn't
want to pay taxes that are lawfully imposed upon us in our land,
in our day. When they heard these things,
they marveled, left him and went their way. Then we have the Sadducees,
which say there is no resurrection, they come. Now I'm going to just
leave for a moment from the verses 23 through to 33, because that's
where our text is. We'll come back to that word
in a moment. But our Lord dealt with them,
and we read that the Pharisees then, when they realised that
the Sadducees had been put to silence, that they gathered again. And they had one that was with
them again. We read that they were coming
actually tempting him, but they had one that was skilled in the
law of God, one that was a lawyer, in verse 35, asking him a question,
tempting him, Master, which is the great commandment in the
law? Now they may have been referring
to the law of Moses, which one of those ten commandments, which
is the greatest one, They may have been referring to the whole
of the law as the five books of Moses, or they may have been
referring to specifically the ceremonial law. Whatever it was,
the Lord answered them really in Deuteronomy 6, where he gives
them the summary of the law, the summary of the two tables
of the law. The first part, which deals with
toward God, and the second, towards man. So they asked him, what
is the great commandment? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,
and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. Now sometimes we can be, I say,
railroaded into an answer just by the question. They might have
turned around and said, Lord, we ask thee for one great commandment. You've answered with two. But our Lord was right in not
just following what they were dictating, but telling what was
the greatest and what was like There's good lessons for us in
that. But what a solemn thing to have those that were the religious
leaders of his day, and their intention was that they would
entrap him. Well, when the Lord had dealt
with these three questions, he had a question for them. When
the Pharisees were gathered together, we read in verse 41 that Jesus
asked them, What think ye of Christ? Now remember, they did
not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. So what the Lord
is saying, the Christ, the Messiah, as prophesied through the scriptures,
what do you think about him? Not what do you think about me,
Jesus of Nazareth, but the Christ, when he shall come, when he shall
appear, what do you think about him? And they answer, they say,
the son of David. So then the Lord has a question
for them, and he goes back to David's psalm, Psalm 110, verse
one, how is it? The Lord says, unto my Lord,
sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. And the Lord asked them, if David
then call him Lord, how is he his son? Remember when they,
Had the Lord say to them that before Abraham was, I am? And they said, Thou art not yet
fifty years of age. How canst thou be older than
Abraham? The idea that Christ, that Jesus
Christ, was the eternal Son of God, and that was with the Father
before the world was. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. that they
could not grasp that idea. They did not understand that
idea. And here is David, who his descendants
is going to be the Christ, and yet David is speaking as if he
already exists. He already is alive. He still
is calling him Lord, and yet he is to be his son. How is that?
How can it be reconciled? God manifest in the flesh, Emmanuel
God with us, a body hast thou prepared me, the eternal Son
of God made flesh and dwelt among us. This was the truth that our
Lord was setting before them. They accused him that he being
a man had made himself God, but the truth was that he being God
made himself man. And this religious leaders as
they were, they could not grasp. So we have those here that are
prepared to lay traps and ensnare the Lord, while at the same time
they cannot answer his questions. They're ignorant even of the
most essential thing concerning the coming of the Son of God,
the seed of the woman. They could not even enter with
Job and say, I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. Job knew more than they did. But are we the same? Are we ignorant
personally of the Saviour, of the way of salvation, of the
precious truths of God? And yet at the same time, we're
really seeking to entrap the people of God, find out things
that shall discredit the Bible or undermine that which is being
taught. Instead of realising that the
Word of God and the Gospel sets forth hope for us as sinners,
it's like a Drowning man being thrown a rope, but instead of
taking the rope, he takes his knife and he cuts it in pieces.
Or like the wicked king who takes the word of God and cuts it with
his pen knife and throws it in the fire rather than bowing before
it. May we never be like that. May
we be as those that though we may not understand things, yet
we come like the disciples asking to be taught, asking that the
Lord will show us. There's a beautiful promise concerning
that. And that is, all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace
of thy children. They shall not teach every man
his neighbor, saying, know the Lord. They shall all know me
from the least, even unto the greatest. And we have even in
our text, Though it is a word that is a reproof, their Lord
telling them that the reason why they erred, the reason why
they were making a mistake was that they did not know the Scriptures
nor the power of God. The other side of that is that
in knowing the Scriptures and the power of God is salvation
and is blessing and is a knowing of those things that they were
stumbling at. Well, what was it that they were
stumbling back? To go back now to the context
where our text is, returning to the Sadducees, we read that
the Sadducees, they say that there is no resurrection. There's no resurrection of the
dead. As if man is just like the beasts that perish, and there's
no afterlife at all. But they come with a question
that they thought a situation, a life situation, that discredited
this doctrine that there should be a resurrection of the dead. And they base their question
upon the law of Moses, a right law, a good law, that if a man
had a wife and that man died, then his brother should take
that man's wife and raise up seed to him. That is, if he died
without having a son. If he had a son, then that man's
name would pass on that son, the son would provide for his
mother, and that family would still have their lot in Israel. But if he died without a son,
then the wife then would take the brother. And so they supposed
here that there was the seven brethren, and they all had in
turn this one lady to wife. And then she died. So they're
saying, well, on earth, there were seven marriages. One wife,
but seven husbands. What shall it be? What shall
it be in the resurrection? Therefore, in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her. And really, the very principle
of their asking, so many times I've had these type of questions
that have been put to me. People will think that there's
some scenario, something that discredits the Word of God, that
actually proves that it is not true, or some doctrine or some
teaching is not true. The very idea of how they came
is one that's used again and again by the adversary. And really there will be for
not only unbelievers but for believers. There will be those
things that we do not understand and we do not know how they will
come to pass or what shall happen. We do not know. God is the eternal
God, the great God. We are but sinners, puny of the
earth, having but such limited knowledge and all that we truly
know is that which God has revealed to us and taught to us. You know,
sometimes I've thought when I've gone through the, walking through
the woods near us, and we have these ant mounds, and they'll
be a foot and a half high or so, and several foot diameter,
and just this mound teeming with ants, and I'll stand and I'll
look at these ants, and I think, what do these ants know about
my life? Their whole life probably just
surrounds for several hundred metres or so around their ant
nest. And there they are, so busy and
so diligent. But what do they know about my
life? What do they know about the world
in general? Could they, with their little
minds, comprehend that something a mile away, or I can get into
a car and drive 100 miles away and then back in a day, or of
living as I did for 31 years over in Australia, 12,000 miles
away, what does that ant be able to comprehend that? Or to be
able to make things, understand things, all what God has given
man to be able to do. And we see such a contrast. between
what a insect or what a beast or even in our lives and we can
understand that. And if God looking upon man,
what is man? What does man know? But what
only is revealed to him. If we go out past the earth and
past the moon and the sun and the furthest planets and we keep
going Where do we stop? On Earth, we're used to time,
a beginning, an end. We're used to having a destination
and something that goes on and on and on and on and never ever
stops. We cannot think of that. When
we think of eternity, we try and measure eternity in years
as if there's time, but time is created. Eternity is not like
time. We cannot equate eternity with
time. and we just can't get our heads
around those things, may be delivered from the spirit of these Sadducees,
that cease to come to the very right of hope and blessing and
revelation of God to man, and unpick it and pull it apart to
our own destruction. There are many, many things that
are not revealed to us in the Word that our inquisitive minds
would think, I'd like to know about that. But we're told in
the end of the Gospel according to John that there are many things
even that the Lord did that are not recorded in this Book. But
these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ
and that in believing he might have life through his name. And
we imply that to all the word of God. There are many things
that could be written, many inquisitive minds satisfied, but what good
would that be if it does not lead to the saviour and to the
salvation of our souls as sinners? And so, the Lord in kindness,
he's not given us a whole room full of books and said, look,
you've got to pick your way through all of that to learn. He's given
us one book, the Holy Word of God. May we know that very well
and how big our library might be of other books written about
the Word of God. They are not the Word of God.
I hear the Lord brings them to the reason why they did err. He says, and he gives the answer
to their question, but he says, the reason why they erred and
made the mistake was that they did not know the scriptures or
the power of God. For in the resurrection, they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels
of God in heaven. Now I want to look, with the
Lord's help this evening, at two points. Firstly, I want to
look at the reality of the resurrection of the dead. The very thing that
they were coming and that they were questioned with, I want
to reaffirm that precious truth, the reality of the resurrection
of the dead. And secondly, a twofold reason
for the error in doctrine that they had. There's two reasons. One, that they did not know the
scriptures, and the other they did not know the power of God. And this will not just apply
to their error, but really to every error. And as we mentioned
before, we turn it about the other way, there's a blessing
in it. When we do know the scriptures
and we do know the power of God, then we shall know the truth.
I want to then look first at the reality of the resurrection
of the dead. Now, the Lord himself gives an
example, or he gives a reason, and he's going back, of course,
to what these Sadducees already knew and already would acknowledge
as being true. He refers to the time when God
appeared, really a time of Lord, before he came to this world,
appeared to Moses in the burning bush. And God said to Moses,
I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now at that time, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob were dead. They died. They died hundreds
of years before, 200 years before in Jacob's case. God is not the
God of the dead, but of the living. What a word. God could not say,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
if they were dead and not alive. And he is joining together here. They not only died and their
souls returned to God, but that their bodies would also
be raised again. There is joined in scripture
not only the eternal existence of the soul, but the eternal
existence of the body, that the body shall be reunited with the
soul. And this then is taught right
through the scriptures. We mentioned that concerning
Job, what Job knew, and how that he spake this in Job 19 and verse
25. He says, for I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin, that's after my life I've lived here,
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God,
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and
not another, although my reins be consumed within me." So he's
saying, although My body shall return unto the dust, yet it
shall be raised again, not another person, but a body that is recognised
as Job, that it shall be then my eyes that see him. I shall
see him for myself. I shall not be another person.
I shall be myself, but with another tabernacle. You know, when we
change our clothes, we don't change who we are. We might look
completely different by wearing different clothes, but we're
the same person in them. And so the apostle, when he writes
to the Corinthians in his first epistle to the Corinthians, makes
it very, very clear of the resurrection of the dead. That was an error
in the Corinthian church that there is no resurrection of the
dead. But he said, if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then is not Christ risen? If Christ is not risen,
then your faith is vain. Our preaching is vain. And we
are liars. We are saying that he's risen
from the dead, and he hasn't. And those that have died, they've
then perished. And he draws all of those Things
that are bound together, there must be the resurrection of the
dead. He says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we have all men, most miserable, we need a hope in Christ beyond
the grave. And so he answers the questions
then. Some will say, what form do they
come? And he makes it very clear that
there is a terrestrial body, there's a body that we have now,
and there's a celestial body. This mortal must put on immortality. This corruption must be laid
in the grave, and we must be then given an eternal, a celestial
body. The resurrection, he clearly
teaches and sets forth. But our Lord was speaking here
is that these Jews, they should already have known this. They should have known it from
Daniel's prophecy, Daniel 12 and verse 2. And many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. The resurrection is
spoken of by Daniel, who's also spoken of, and it's a beautiful
word in Isaiah. Isaiah 26 and verse 19. Thy dead men shall live, together
with my dead bodies shall they arise. Awake and sing ye that
dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead. is very clearly setting forth
the resurrection of the dead. When Paul, he writes to, and
I believe it is Paul, writes to the Hebrews, he speaks of
Abraham and that Abraham in his day, that he saw Christ, he knew
Christ, when he offered up his son Isaac
on the altar in Genesis 22 and God showed him a ram at the last
moment that was offered in the place of his son. And we read then in Hebrews 11
and verse 19 that he accounted that God was able to raise him
up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure."
And so with Isaac being taken off the altar and the ram put
in his place, God is saying that Abraham, he saw the resurrection
of the dead of Christ. Abraham, the Lord said that Abraham
saw my day and he rejoiced at it. We think of how Martha knew
this. Martha, when her brother Lazarus
was sick, then the Lord told her that he should rise again. And she said, I know that he
shall rise at the last day. But the Lord wasn't speaking
then about the last day. He was saying he was going to
raise him from the dead, and yes, he would die again later,
but he was going to work this miracle. But Martha, she already
knew about the resurrection of the dead. The Apostle Paul had
to contend with those again and again regarding the resurrection
of the dead, and especially those who thought it was most strange
and an incredible thing. When he gives his account in
Acts chapter 26 before Agrippa, King Agrippa, then he says to
him in verse 7 and 8 about the promise unto the 12 tribes, for
which hopes say, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why
should it be thought a thing incredible with you? that God
should raise the dead. And this is what the Sadducees
were thinking, this incredible thing, how could God raise the
dead? Well, we know that this is the
teaching of God, there shall be a resurrection of the dead. That's one of the most well-known
passages and often at funerals we read it because We are told,
wherefore comfort one another with these words. Well, what
are these words? These words are in 1 Thessalonians
chapter four, and beginning at verse 13. But I would not have
you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord, the Lord shall come at the last
day with power and great glory, when the earth shall be finished
and rolled up as a scroll. And we shall not then prevent
or go before them that are asleep, go before those that are dead,
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, a voice
of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ
shall be raised first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we be. forever be ever
with the Lord. And these are the words then,
he said, wherefore comfort one another with these words. These
are words to comfort those that have died in the Lord, a comfort
of eternal life, of arising again, of being forever with the Lord. It's a great blessing that a
believer has to look forward to and to expect. So this is a Most precious truth,
the truth of the resurrection of the dead, that man shall not
have his being forever here below, that God has prepared a new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness for those that
are called here below and brought to believe and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ here below, those who Sins are put away through
his precious blood and the sign of that is the gift of repentance
and remission of sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. That blessing is given here below
by God's grace and they have this comfort. But the most solemn
thing is that those that are wicked, those that do not believe,
those that die in their own sin, shall also be raised, the resurrection
of the just and unjust, to stand before God's judgment throne,
and then to be banished forever from him into the eternal torments
of hell. This is why the gospel is so
vital. It's so necessary that this word
be preached, not only as a pointing to those that shall be saved
as to the way of salvation, but also as a solemn witness to those
that reject the word, that they shall never say they have not
heard the gospel, nor had the outward call of it, or heard
the warning of it. Man is so dead in trespasses
and sins. He can be just like these Sadducees
who have the way of escape set before them and the blessings
of the gospel. And yet, instead of embracing
it, of seeing that hope in that, they seek to unpick it and pull
it apart and rile against it, instead of seeing in that a hope
for their own poor souls. Well, why did they make the error? Where did they go wrong? And
I want to look at that in our second point. There's a twofold
reason why. The first was that they did not
know the scriptures. The Apostle Paul, he says of
his son in the faith, Timothy, that from a child that he had
known the scriptures, which is able to make him wise unto salvation. And it is a great blessing to
know in a literal way, the Scriptures. You know, the Apostle Paul himself,
he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. He was ignorant
of Jesus as the Saviour, as the Christ, but he did know the Scriptures. And as soon as he had the key,
as soon as he had his eyes open to know that Jesus was the Christ,
immediately he preached that Jesus was the Christ. And he
could draw on all of his knowledge of the Scriptures. to clearly
set before his hearers the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Christ,
reasoning, opening, and alleging from morning until evening that
Christ must need suffer and enter into his glory. These scriptures
are the eternal word of God, the inspired word of God. It
is only revelation of God to man, and they are those that
the Lord uses. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. We exhorted in Deuteronomy the
Jews, and we are, to diligently teach them unto our children. We are to know them not just
in isolation, but as a whole, comparing scripture with scripture,
to know the true message of God. We have here the Sadducees coming,
tempting our Lord. But our Lord had already been
tempted by Satan, and Satan had taken the Scriptures. He brought
the Lord to the pinnacle of the temple. He says, cast thyself
down from hence, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge
over thee, lest thou dash thy foot upon a stone. And the Lord
said, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God. And the two things are to be
balanced. We do pray for the Lord's preserving
and keeping and believe that the Lord does preserve and keep
his people, whether it be with the virus, whether it be on the
roads or wherever it is. But we don't tempt the Lord by
not taking the necessary means or precautions to avoid danger. to ourselves. We don't drive
on the wrong side of the road. We don't just leave off our seatbelts. We do that which is a precaution
and a keeping. We don't tempt God. And so Satan
will try to take one part of the scripture in isolation and
cause the people of God to go along that track rather than
balancing it together. Our Lord then brought that word
We think of the solemn time of the children of Israel in the
days of Josiah the king, and the word of God had been lost,
as it were. The temple was almost in ruins,
and the word of God was hidden in it. And when they cleansed
the temple, and they found the book, they found the law. And
those that found it, they read it before the king. The king
rent his clothes. If these things be true, We are
in great trouble. The wrath of God is upon us.
How could it be that the word of God to Israel, God's ancient
people, to whom he gave that word, had lost the word? It had
not been heard. It had not been even known by
the king. But how many in this land do
not have the Bible, do not have the word of God, do not know
what is in it, do not know what God requires of them, do not
know about the gospel do not know about the warnings that
God gives to sinners, but how many even that are brought up
under the sound of the truth. And the Bible remains on the
shelf at home, and even if they go to the house of God, well,
thankfully the words will be on the screen up on the back
wall, and it'll be one version of the Bible, one service, another
version, another service, and they just take that which the
minister gives them on the wall and they sit there in their pew
with no Bible and no word and they go home and they don't search
the scriptures, they don't look through the word of God. You
know the Bereans, it was said to the Bereans when they heard
Paul preach that they searched the scriptures daily whether
these things were so. How many of our hearers, those
of us who preach the word and those of you that are here, do
you go home and you take the things that we say and you compare
them with the Word of God, you see whether they really are true
or not. We read with these Bereans, because
they did that, many of them believed. You should be able to test everything
that a preacher says by the Word of God. And if it's not according
to that, you don't follow it. You follow the Word of God. Peter, when he writes his epistles
and he anticipates soon he's going to put off his tabernacle,
as God has shown him, he says, I will have these things that
ye may have them always in remembrance. And so he writes the word of
God, the inspired word of God. But he says, referring to the
wonderful mount of transfiguration that they had experienced, We're
not to look for such visions and such wonderful things like
that. He says, you have a more sure word of prophecy where unto
you do well to take heed as a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day star rise in your hearts. That is the word of God.
Our Lord identified this is the reason why these Sadducees were
erring. They did not know the scriptures,
the word of God. Do we know the Scriptures? The eunuch, he was reading the
Scriptures, but when Philip was sent to him and asked him, understandest
thou what thou readest? He says, how can I except some
man guide me? And Philip, he began and he preached
Jesus to him from the very place where he was reading. Join prayer with each inspection. Attend upon the word preached
where ministers will open up the word of God and explain the
meaning of it and to preach the word in your hearing. Ask the
Holy Spirit that he will guide you into the truth, that which
I see not, teach thou me. Join prayer. with each inspection
and searching of it. Our Lord said to these that were
questioning himself, search the scriptures for in them you think
you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. May we be delivered from this
reason of erring in doctrine, not just in this doctrine, but
all doctrine and teaching. Ignorance of the Scriptures.
I remember one of the things that the Jews erred in. They'd
made the commandments of men or their traditions to be above
the Word of God, making the Word of God of none effect. There is none other book like
the Word of God. The Holy Bible is unique. It
is inspired from Genesis to Revelation. The Word of God, not the Word
of man. And that is the Word that we
are to know and seek that the Lord would interpret it to us
and give us a true understanding of Him. Well, the second reason
is that they did not know the power of God. They did not know
the power of God. Referring to what Paul said,
those that thought it was incredible, you might think, well, where
is the dust of the Old Testament saints? Where is the dust of
Abel and those that were before the flood? What about those that
have eaten with animals? But did not the Lord create the
heavens and the earth out of nothing? Did not he form man
of the dust of the earth? Is not man grown up from, as
it were, a sea that cannot be seen? We have no idea, really, of the
power of God. When we think of the creation,
when we think of Noah and the destruction of the whole earth
by a flood and Noah preserved, when we think of the power of
God and God said, of Pharaoh in Egypt for this cause have
I raised thee up to show forth my power in thee and nine great
signs. And the Pharaoh's servants, they
said, knowest thou not that Egypt is destroyed? And God was bringing
one after another. Dear friends, we know something
of the power of God in this pandemic and this virus that should go
through the world and that God through that and through the
laws of man bring the nations of the earth humble down. We look past man, we look to
God's hand, God's almighty power. We know not whether we were at
the beginning of this. Many think we may be at the end
of it. We may indeed be, but may not. Did Pharaoh, after he'd
had the first signs, think that that was the end of it, or the
second, or the third? Would he thought that when one
was taken away, that another would be given, and another would
be given, and nine signs, and at last all the firstborn were
slain? These things are recorded in
the Word of God. Then when the children of Israel
went through the Red Sea, God divided that sea. A wall on one
side, a wall on the other of water, nothing physically holding
it up. And he brought the children of
Israel through that. They went through safely, the
Egyptians went through, and in the middle of it, the Lord closed
up the water and destroyed them. 40 years later, when the children
of Israel went into Canaan and Rahab, she said, we heard what
the Lord did in bringing you through the Red Sea. 40 years
ago, they hadn't forgotten it, they remembered it, and they
were going to see Jordan stopped up in a very similar way. The
power of God. is not just in these physical
things. In Ephesians chapter one, the
apostle tells the Ephesians of what the power of God was in
converting them, in bringing them to a saving knowledge of
himself. He says in chapter one in verse
19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward
who believe according to the working of his mighty power which
he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. It is
the power of God that makes a believer. May we remember this, if God
brings a revival in this land, a spiritual revival, it won't
be by man, it'll be by God's power and God's might. Yes, you'll
use, as in Elijah's day, famine. Three and a half years it was
there to bring men's hearts humbled down, ready to hear the word
of God. But it will be God's work and
God's power. Power belongeth unto God and
is that which makes a believer, that brings him from spiritual
death to spiritual life. It brings him to conversion,
real conversion. how we need that power. And dear
friends, as some of us, we know the desperate wickedness of our
heart. We know how the nothing moves
it, but the power of God, the hymn writer says, my heart will
move at thy command. And we value, we know the power,
we need the power of God, not only to quicken us, but to keep
our souls alive. Remember, kept by the power of
God unto Salvation ready to be revealed at the last day. Dear
poor sinner, you cannot keep your own soul. It is God that
keeps it, the power of God that keeps it. He keeps us naturally. He will keep us safe. He'll keep
us, if it is his will, with the virus. We need not fear inordinately
of these things. It may be the Lord's will, it
has been in some cases, that the Lord takes his dear people
home through this means. that these things are not outside
of God's power. One way or other, he'll bring
his dear people home to himself. We believe in a living saviour,
one who is able to do exceeding far above than all we can ask
or think. In all our prayers for ourselves,
for our loved ones, for our churches, May we never forget the power
of God that bring us salvation. May we never fall into the error
of these Sadducees, whose error, whose mistakes in doctrine was
because they did not know the scriptures, nor know the power
of God. And I trust that those of us,
some of us here, or some of us joining with us online this evening,
that can say before God, I do know that power of God. I am
a living witness to the converting power and work that has changed
my heart, renewed my will, and turned my feet to Zion's hill.
And that I look for that power to revive my soul again and again,
and to bring me at last to be with him in heaven. It shall
not be my way, but my God. who is able to do exceeding far
above all that we can ask or think. May this word then, the
word that is given in reproof and showing where one made error,
be a word of hope for us that we might know the Scriptures,
a word of direction to search the Scriptures and to look for,
pray for, ask for the power of God that he would appear for
us, that he would bless us, that he would grant us that faith
that triumphs over death and gives joys like those above. May the Lord bless this word
to us. Amen.