And we'll see, it's still working
right now, Paul. Turn to Mark chapter 12 if you
want to follow along. I want to read verses 18 to 27. Mark chapter 12, beginning in
verse 18. Then come unto him the Sadducees,
which say there is no resurrection. And they asked him, saying, Master,
Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife
behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take
his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were seven
brethren, and they first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed,
and the third likewise. And the seven had her, and left
no seed. Last of all, the woman died also.
In the resurrection, therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife
shall she be of them? For the seven had her two wife. And Jesus answering, said unto
them, Do ye not therefore err? Because ye know not the Scriptures,
neither the power of God. For when they shall rise from
the dead, they shall neither marry nor given in marriage,
but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the
dead that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses
how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not
the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Ye therefore
do greatly err." Now, what I want to speak to
today, I've entitled it, Two Reasons for Error. Two Reasons
for Error. Now, it starts off, this is actually
the second part. of this account. It says in verse
13, and they sent unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians
to catch him in their words. Now the Herodians, that's where
the Sadducees belong. The Herodians did not believe
in the resurrection. Neither did the Sadducees. Didn't
believe it at all. The Pharisees were the ones that
asked him, is it lawful to play tribute unto Caesar? And he answered
that question and said, whose superscription, whose picture's
on this coin? And he says, it's Caesar's coin.
It's his picture. He said, well, render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are
God's. This is the version, the Sadducees
version, the gotcha question that's what they call it today
that is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar was the Pharisees version
of the gotcha question because it says in verse 13 they send
unto him certain of the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch him
in his words they were trying to trip up the Lord of glory
needless to say actually is my great pleasure to say it didn't
work These people, these religious
leaders, these secular leaders, had no idea who they were dealing
with. And guess what? Man today still
doesn't know, even with the written word here. But the Sadducees
didn't believe in the resurrection. And in this, actually, they were
in line with the rest of pretty much the religious and secular
world of that time. The resurrection of the dead
was an odd thing to believe in in that time. You had the Greeks
and the Romans, who basically the Romans stole the Greek religion
and the Greek gods. They renamed them, but it's still
the same bunch of people. Have you ever studied Roman and
Greek mythology? And the reason they call it mythology
is because it is a myth. But they believed in if you were
bad, you went to Hades. If you were good, you went to
the Elysian fields. and were rewarded. Norse mythology
had Valhalla for the valiant warriors, but they also had a
place called Hel, H-E-L, for those who weren't so valiant.
But the key thing there was when you died, you went to the underworld
or you went somewhere else. No other religion had ever talked
about resurrection from the dead other than the religion of this
book. And this was their gotcha question.
They were asking Christ a trick question, what they thought was
a trick question, about the resurrection. He answered them. And he answered them clearly
and plainly. But first, before he answered
the question, he told them their problem. Because the answer to the question
wasn't going to help these people. But he wanted to make clear to
us and to all that heard him what the problem of these Sadducees
actually were. He answered unto them and said,
do ye not therefore err? That's a nice negative way of
saying you have erred. You are in error. You have made
a mistake. He phrased it as a question,
do you not therefore err? But it's a statement. It's a
statement of, guess what? You're wrong. Our Lord was not
shy, not humble, not meek in the fact that, like you said,
Matt, He told the truth, the absolute truth, and nothing but
the truth. He's the only one who can. He's
the only one who could on this earth. We try, but we fail miserably. They had erred. And there are two reasons for
error. That's what I've got here. And they were the words of Christ.
Now the word, I will tell you this, I look for the word because,
because I like that word. I like the word because. It tells
you the reason for things, OK? The word is actually not in the
Greek, but it is there by implication. He says, do ye not therefore
err? Ye know not the scriptures, neither
the power of God. That first part is a question.
Do ye not therefore err? This second part, with these
two reasons, is a flat statement. statement of fact You don't know
the scriptures You don't know the power of God, and that's
the two reasons for error that I want to talk about today Not knowing the scriptures. I
think I read it the other day 2nd Timothy 3 15 and 16 He's right and Paul wrote to
Timothy and says and that from a child thou hast known the holy
scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus Then he states this Paul
wrote this all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and
is profitable Profitable for doctrine for reproof for for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of
God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. There is no error in the scriptures. None. None. There's plenty enough in men
to make up for it. These Sadducees Christ said aired
because they did not know the scripture Neither the power of God By the scriptures the truth is
revealed and the scriptures are profitable If they're not profitable, that's
your problem. That's my problem That's man's
problem, not the scripture's problem, not anyone else's problem. Our Lord Jesus Christ quoted
scripture. He quoted scripture in instruction.
He quoted scripture in rebuke. He quoted scripture in everything. Why? Because all scripture is
profitable. If it is scripture. If it is
scripture. The second thing, quickly, I
just want to kind of get into this because it's, you know,
it's not knowing the power of God, not knowing the scriptures,
and not knowing the power of God. Because my title, actually,
Two Reasons for Error, is a bit of a misnomer. Because you can't
separate these two things. You cannot separate not knowing
the scripture and not knowing the power of God. They go together
completely. They are inextricably linked.
They are tied together totally and completely. This is the way
Jesus answered it. He did answer it in two statements,
but these two statements can never be separated. Because if
you know the scriptures, you're going to know the power of God. If you know the power of God,
you're going to know the scriptures. It works both ways. And the opposite
is also true. If you don't know the scriptures,
you don't know the power of God. And if you don't know the power
of God, you won't know the scriptures. Both of these things come from
our Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit. These two are
intricately related. And how can I say that? Well,
let me look at Luke 24 just for a moment, if you don't mind. Went the wrong way wonder didn't
come up Luke chapter 24 Verse 45 This is Jesus Christ speaking
to his disciples after they've gathered together in a room When he ate with the disciples
he asked me have any fish Have you any meat? verse 45 Verse
44 and then and he said unto them These are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things
must be fulfilled Which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms? Concerning me what are those? Those are the scriptures Everything
written in the scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Christ
And everything written in these scriptures up to this moment
in time have been fulfilled. There is still more to come,
but it will be fulfilled. Why? Christ said so. Then in
verse 45, then opened he their understanding that they might
understand the scriptures. Now these disciples had the scriptures.
They didn't have it in a book like this, but they had the scrolls. But so did the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. So did the scribes. But those
were the ones that were after our Lord Jesus Christ. They had
the scriptures, but they didn't know the scriptures. And here,
he opened their understanding. And the word, basically, is mind. They're thinking that they might,
what? Understand the scriptures. It takes the power of Christ
to have the scriptures opened unto you that you might know
them. That's the only way to know the
scriptures truly. That's the only way. He opened
their understanding. And I preached on this a while
back, and I remember going to revelations because it uses the
same sort of language. It says, once he opens, no man
shuts. But the opposite is also true.
If he shuts, no man opens. Knowing the scriptures is a gift
of God. It's a gift of Christ to his
people. Because knowing the scriptures,
understanding the scriptures, takes the power of God. Paul told Timothy that the scriptures,
what I read in verse 2nd timothy 315 and that from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation What? through faith Through faith
in Christ Jesus The scriptures are wise and able to make you
wise unto salvation the scriptures are true but and only through
faith in Jesus Christ. The scriptures are given by God.
The scriptures are applied by God. They are fulfilled by God. And they are given to his people. Faith is the gift of God. What does Ephesians say? Takes
the power of God to believe Christ I Remember looking at the greek
says his forceful force is how we believe Forceful force is
pretty forceful sounding Then if you look at first corinthians
chapter 1 Just for a couple of minutes here Verses 21 to 24, for after that
in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. Even though they had the scriptures. It pleased God what by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, didn't
matter which, Christ, the power of God." Jesus Christ is the
power of God. and the wisdom of God. These Sadducees did not know
the scriptures, and they did not know who they were talking
to. Because they were talking to the power of God incarnate
in the flesh on this planet standing right in front of them. They
did not get it. They did not know the scriptures,
and they did not know the power of God. Christ said, you didn't
know me. That's what he told some Pharisees later. If you
believe Moses' writing, what? Moses wrote a me. If you heard
Moses' words, you'd hear mine because they're the same words.
God is all. He's sovereign. He is the great
what I am. He always is. Christ told these
Sadducees, you don't know me, and you don't know the scriptures.
Because if you don't know Christ, you won't see anything in these
scriptures of him, and these scriptures are all about our
Lord Jesus Christ. This is his book. This book is
about him, and this is the book that is him. It is written by
him for us and given to his people. And if He opens your understanding
of the Scriptures, that is a greater blessing than this world will
ever know. It is something He does personally. Like I said, these two are inextricably
linked. Knowing the Scriptures and knowing
the power of God. You can't have one without the
other. It's not possible. You might be a theologian, Mac.
You might know all kind of knowledge, and you might be able to read
Greek and read it backwards and forwards and quote it. But that's
not the same thing as knowing the scriptures, because knowing
the scriptures means you know Christ. You know the power of
God. And that's where these Sadducees
erred. Now, from that error, guess what? You have results. And this is
something never to be forgotten. This is why we preach against
error. This is why we don't like error. This is why we don't want
to be in error. Because error leads to other
things. He does explain. He says, for
when they shall rise from the dead, this is back in Mark again. Verse 25 for when they shall
rise from the dead they neither marry nor given in marriage but
are as the angels which are in heaven as Touching and is touching
the dead that they rise have you not read in the book of Moses?
How in the bush God spake unto him saying I am the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob And he is He is But what he told
these Pharisees was, you don't know what you're talking about.
That's what it is. For when they shall rise from
the dead, they neither marry nor given in marriage, but are
as the angels which are in heaven. Your question is wrong because
you don't know the scriptures. You're asking the wrong questions
if you don't know the power of God. That's how depraved man
is. We don't even know the right
question to ask when we're talking to the Lord of Glory standing
right in front of us. That's pretty depraved. That's
pretty dead. The Pharisees asked him, should
we pay taxes to Caesar? Nobody wants to pay taxes. Nobody wants to pay taxes. Guess
what? 2,000 years later, guess what
we're still fighting over? Taxes. Christ said, pay your taxes.
Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar. But he didn't
stop there. He says, render unto God the
things that are God's. You ought not to do one and leave
the other undone, is what he told one bunch. Render unto Caesar,
but render to God. They didn't ask him about that.
Then the Sadducees come up wanting to talk about the resurrection,
which they don't believe in. They had their straw man ready
to beat. They had their little argument. Well, this woman married
seven people, seven brothers. And by the law, and that's what
it says in the law, a brother is to marry. If a brother dies,
his brother is to marry his wife and raise up seed to his brother.
That's what they were supposed to do. Because God is a great
believer and a great proponent of family. But they took it to the idiot
extreme and they are thinking there is no resurrection so how's
he going to get around this because the only answer they could think
of was the fact that there is no resurrection no the resurrection
is going to happen it's just not going to happen the way you
thinking about your thoughts are not God's thoughts that's
what he told these Sadducees you do err not knowing the scriptures and
not knowing the power of God. The Sadducees were rebuked for
using their own imagination instead of the Scriptures. Life after the resurrection,
this is what Christ is saying, life after the resurrection is
not going to be like life before the resurrection. It's going to be better. It's
going to be better. We have been promised. We have
been given now. We have it now. We're waiting
for it to come. But we have been given now eternal
life. Eternal life. Now how much is
eternal life worth if there is no resurrection from the dead?
Christ told them later told Martha and Mary He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die Believest thou this That's not talking
about physical death the body's going in the grave But you if you believe you will
never die Do you believe that? Why that's what the scriptures
teach That's what Christ taught. Those were his words. But the Sadducees didn't know
him and didn't know the scriptures. Paul said, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If
this life is all we got, come on. I want something better. I mean, I get by in this life
and I have a good time partially, sometimes, but my goodness, I'm
looking for the world to come. He's promised. It's coming. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth. Here you go. This is the kicker.
Wherein dwelleth righteousness. It's going to be able wherein
dwells righteousness with me there That's a shocker Mac That's
a surprise And if you believe it you're going to be there wherein
dwells righteousness The resurrection is nothing like
this life The resurrection is going to be better This mortal shall put on immortality. This corruption will put on incorruption. And then that saying will come
to pass that death is swallowed up in victory. The resurrection
was proven by our Lord resurrecting from the dead. And we all resurrected
in him. We're going to resurrect one
day in a body But he told him he said You don't
know me, and you don't know the scriptures You don't know what
the resurrection is going to be like and says and here's this
have you haven't you read the book of Moses and How in the bush God spoke unto
him saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob I am That ain't never I was Okay, it's never
I was it's never I used to be the God of Abraham So I am the
God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob error only
resolved by the scriptures Error is to be confronted by the scriptures
That's what he's teaching here The scriptures are given here
by Christ himself as the Word of God given to men to refute
error the scriptures are what profitable and Rebuke and for
instruction in righteousness You think Paul made that stuff
up? Christ is teaching it right here Look back at when he was tempted
in the wilderness of the devil Three times he was tempted of
the devil three times Christ said it is written One time One
time, Satan said, it is written. Or is it not written? I think
that's the way he put it. But Christ answered with another,
it is written. Don't be surprised when somebody
wants to use the scriptures against you or against Christ. Don't be amazed. Satan appears
as an angel of light. Don't be surprised with his ministers
and Satan has ministers They appear as ministers of righteousness
Now not the righteousness of God. I remember Henry saying
that Whose righteousness? Well Satan's ministers won't
talk about your righteousness God's ministers won't talk about
his righteousness Jesus Christ is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
He is our all in all. He is made unto us by God. He is made unto us all those
things. He's made unto us everything. But the error is to be confronted
with the word of God. Christ did it here himself The scriptures are given here
by Christ himself as the Word of God given to men Because the
scriptures are the book of Jesus Christ Because they are given the scriptures
are given by him there about him and therefore him You know there's a several other
versions of the Bible and myself being born and raised Catholic,
there's a little thing that they kind of fit sometimes in some
Bibles you'll see in between the New Testament and the Old
Testament. It's called the Book of Apocrypha. I will say it right now, I have
never read it. I have glanced at it, but it's not high on my
list of things to do. Perhaps one day I will. But I
can tell you this. The reason, one of the reasons,
if not the major reason, I think, that you will not find the Apocrypha
in the King James Version and in a lot of other versions is
because our Lord Jesus Christ never quoted once from any book
in the Apocrypha. But he quotes from Isaiah. You
understand? He quotes from Isaiah. He quotes
from Genesis. He quotes Moses in Exodus. Right
here he's quoting Exodus. Moses in the burning bush. He
quotes Daniel. He quotes others. He is establishing,
validating, validating these scriptures as his word. And they are profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness. Now, I will tell you this. The
scriptures won't fix errors. unless they're accompanied by
the power of God. You gotta have both. You gotta
have both. Jesus Christ did not fix the
Sadducees here. These Sadducees, you know, there's
one thing smart people hate more than anything else, and that's
to be told they're ignorant. It's the truth. I hate it myself.
Everybody hates to be told they're ignorant. But when you really
think you know something and you've got a position of authority,
you're a scientist, a professor, a doctor of theology, wanting
that hundred grand a year, or I won't go to your church. You
want to hear from some carpenter in Nazareth saying, you don't
even know what you're talking about, boy. You don't know nothing about
the resurrection. You're asking the wrong question. And here's why you're asking
the wrong question. You don't know the scriptures
and you don't know the power of God. Error is to be confronted by
scripture. It won't fix it except in the
child of God. And you want to fix it because
you don't want to start going way off and start saying that the
resurrection hadn't happened. Some people were doing that in
Thessalonians. They're saying it already passed. And overthrew
the faith of some, Paul was talking. He said, no, no, no, no. The resurrection hadn't happened
yet. And I tell you, it still hasn't happened yet here. We're
waiting for it. I'll skip that, because I just
did it. But the answer to error, if you
want to know, if you really want to know about error, The answer
to error is found in the scriptures. That's where it is. That's what
Christ is telling us here. Because he validated the scriptures
as uses. He could have said something
in his own words and just as quickly knocked them into dirt. You understand? He was having
a battle of wits with unarmed opponents. Compared to Christ,
we're all unarmed opponents. But he used the scriptures. Why? That's why he gave them to us. Why did he open the disciples
in that upper room when they were gathered together? Then
opened he their understanding of the scriptures. Why? Because they're profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, rebuke, and for instruction in righteousness.
He's given us the scripture so that we might actually recognize
error and confront it if need be, rebuke
it if necessary, and instruct in righteousness against error. Because there's a problem with error that people really
do not grasp. And sometimes I think the people
of God don't really have a hold of it. And that's the other thing
he teaches us here. Error is not only an affront
to the scriptures. Error is an affront, an offense,
against the power of God. What it led to in these Sadducees
was rejecting the resurrection. Now, the resurrection of His people
is near and dear to the Father. Because it took the life of His
Son, the blood of His Son being shed, His life being given to
purchase that resurrection, our resurrection from the dead. He
promised it. Christ calls it eternal life. Now how eternal can it be if
you die and there is no resurrection? The Sadducees were calling God
a liar. They were calling Jesus Christ
a liar. Affront to the power of God is
an affront to the power of God Jesus Christ Christ the power
of God Christ the wisdom of God Christ response to these Sadducees
is clear This is what your error has led you to You're not knowing
the scriptures, and you're not knowing the power of God. You
don't know anything about the resurrection You don't know it,
and God is glorified in the salvation of his people. His grace is magnified. His mercy
is extolled. You're trying to rob God of some
glory, and it ain't gonna happen by saying that the resurrection
is not gonna come. That's how serious this is. That's
what error leads to. That's why Christ talked to these
people. You don't know the scriptures or the power of God. God is glorified in the complete
salvation of his people. Peter said there was more to
come. We are kept by the power of God through faith. unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last day now we have been saved if you believe Christ we
are being saved and we shall be saved to wit the redemption of the
body you're not going to be able to
take away anything from the glory of God the wrath of man is going
to praise him and it does right now I don't care whether it's
the wrath against the resurrection or it's the wrath against paying
you taxes. It don't matter. This life in this world is not
all there is. I know it's all we know. By physical
and mental experience this is all we know. I always get nervous whenever
I read about Paul talking about the spiritual world. Because
mostly all I know is the physical. But there is a spiritual world. And we have been blessed with
all things in the heavenly places, what? In Christ. The life we have been given is
in Christ and it's either eternal or it's not. Now he said it was
eternal. I'll take his word over any Sadducees
any day of the week. I'll take his word over any Baptist
any day of the week. I'll take his word over any Pentecostal
any day of the week, any Catholic. It's either eternal life or it's
not life at all. Because he said it's eternal
life. And I can tell you this, when you look back in the Old
Testament, he says, I came upon thee when thou wast polluted
in thine own blood, and I sat unto thee, live. Guess what? That's eternal life. God don't
give temporary life. God gives eternal life. The resurrection is not a new
doctrine. These Sadducees thought it was. The resurrection has been promised
to those chosen from before the foundation of the world. And
it has been given to them. It's going to be given to them
by Christ. It's going to happen one day.
There is going to be a resurrection day. We shall not all sleep, but we're
all going to be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an
eye. Paul wrote it out in wonderful detail. That's the day I'm looking
for. These Sadducees erred and tried
to take away some of the glory of the Father of Lights. It ain't
gonna happen. But that's what error does. Error
leads to denying the glory of God's grace. It leads to the
denying of the sovereign God. It leads to the denying of our
Lord and Savior, our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. To know the Scriptures, you have
to know the power of God, who is Christ. And if you know Christ,
the power of God, He will open your understanding of the Scriptures. He hadn't done that for these
Sadducees. But He does it for each and every one of His sheep. And I thank God for it. Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. But most of all thankful
for You, our Lord. Father, thank You for sending
Your Son. For sending Him to be a propitiation,
a mercy seat, for forgiveness of sins, for a walk in newness
of life. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
everything you do. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.