I'm back to Matthew 22. Title
of this message, The Root of All Error, which is not knowing the Scriptures
or the power of God. You can trace all error right
back to this. Not knowing the Scriptures or
the power of God. Our Lord gives the, and I'm glad
He allowed these men to come and ask these questions. We find
out something about what it's going to be like in the resurrection.
He says they're like the angels of God. They're neither married
or given in marriage. He allows them to ask questions
that settles any question we might have. And I'm glad he allowed
them to do that. But he gives us here the source
the very root of all error concerning God, who God is, concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, what He did, who He did it for,
where He is now, concerning man, his sinful condition, concerning
sin, the very root of it, the very root of all error, And all
this is not knowing the Scriptures, not knowing what they are saying,
not knowing what they are teaching, not hearing God's voice in the
message or the power of God in these things. That's what Nicodemus
said. How can these things be? Our Lord said, are you a teacher
in Israel and you don't know these things? You read the word
of God, you instruct every Sabbath, you're an instructor and you
don't know these things? When he came to question him,
the Lord told him he must be born again. He said, you don't
understand these things? Nicodemus is saying, how can
these things be? See, he didn't understand the
scriptures even though he was a teacher. Nor did he understand
the power of God. He didn't understand it. Quoting scripture is not the
same as knowing the scriptures. You know, Jack Van Impen can
just stand all day and quote scriptures to you. That doesn't
mean he knows them. Quoting them is not the same
as knowing them. It's not the same. Believe in
there is a God. and believing some things about
God that is, is not knowing God. That is not knowing God. Not at all. The scribes and the
Pharisees read the Scriptures daily, and they claimed to know
God. They claimed that God was their
Father, and He was not their Father. Christ said, you're of
your father, the devil. That's who your father is. They
were the religious leaders. They were the ones that everyone
looked up to in town. They were the ones everyone listened
to. And their father, and how sobering this is, their father
was the devil. That's what our Lord said to
them. He said, ye search the scriptures.
You read the scriptures. You do read the scriptures. And there they would testify
of me. But you don't know me. You do not recognize me. The
Scriptures speak of me. All right. Verse 15. Then went the Pharisees, and
they took counsel. They called it counsel. How they
might entangle him in his talk. Not how they might be instructed. Or they might find out the truth
from this man or who this man is. They wanted to entangle him,
trap him, trip him up in his talk, in his doctrine, in his
teaching. They're going to take him to
task. But notice these cowards. Notice
these cowards. They sent out unto him their
disciples. They didn't go. They didn't go. Lest he embarrass
them. So what they do, they send their
disciples with the Herodians saying, Master, see, they're
laying a trap. They are laying a trap here for infinite wisdom. They're going to stand before
infinite wisdom, and I want you to notice through this whole
thing how simple wisdom is. how uncomplicated wisdom is through
this whole thing. And they said, Master, we know
that thou art true, that you're sincere, genuine, and that you
teach the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man,
for thou regardest not the person of men. You see, they send their
disciples so that they would appear as learners And not instigators. Not instigators. Not troublemakers. So they sent their disciples,
though it would appear, and the disciples here, they act like
they they act like they have some respect for him. They do
not have any respect. Don't be fooled. Don't be fooled
by this. And they sent with them the Herodians.
Who are these Herodians? Now, look at this. This is the
trap here. This is the trap that they are
trying to lay. Who are these Herodians? They
are the Jews that sided with the Romans. They sided with the
Roman government, the Herodians. They were Jews, but they sided
with the Roman government. So they come here, the disciples,
with these Herodians, and they hypocritically call him master.
They never counted him as their master. In the last day, they're
going to say, Lord, Lord, who never submitted to his lordship.
We preached in your name. We cast out devils in your name. And he's going to say, depart
from me. I never knew you. Never knew you. You never submitted
to my lordship. You never followed me. They hypocritically
call him master. And then they flatter him. Satan
is so subtle. He's so subtle. He doesn't come
in as a tyrant. He comes in as a friend. As a
friend. Remember this. Christ was betrayed
with a kiss. One writer said this. Beware
when the world smiles at you. Beware of it. When the world
smiles at you. And they said, tell us therefore. What thinkest thou? Interpret
this for us. Is it lawful to pay taxes? That's
what a gift tribute is, pay taxes. Unto Caesar or not? Is it lawful
for the elect of God? Here's what they're asking. Is
it lawful for the elect of God, the children of David, to pay
taxes to a heathen government? Is that lawful? You see, if he says yes, then
he's an enemy to the freedom of the Jews. He's an enemy to
the house of David if he says yes. And if he says no, he's
an enemy to Caesar. And the Herodians are going to
go to Caesar and say, this man is going to cause you a lot of
trouble. He's teaching a revolt. And they think they've got him.
They think they've got here. Either way, either way, they
think they've got this one trapped. You know, they set up all night
thinking about this. I mean, they really put their heads together
to come up with this one, this counsel that they took together
against the Lord and against his Christ. I want you to notice
over in Psalm 2, here's what's going on. They are fulfilling
the Scriptures and don't even know it. Let's go over in Psalm. Psalm chapter 2. They do not
even realize that they are fulfilling the Scriptures. Why do the heathen
rage? The Romans. And the people imagine
a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves.
And the rulers, the Pharisees and the scribes, they take counsel
together. Isn't that what it just said? They took counsel
together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. Let
us break their bands and cast their cords from us. They do not realize they are
fulfilling the Scriptures in what they are doing. But Jesus,
our Lord, perceived their wickedness. He saw their wickedness. You
see, they're looking into His face and He's looking into their
hearts. He looks into the heart. You and I look at what's going
on outwardly. God looks at what's going on inwardly. He sees the
heart. He perceived their wickedness
and said, why tempt ye me, you hypocrites? Call them just what
they were. Our Lord knows all things. He
knows all thoughts of the hearts. Now, there's over six billion
people living in this world right now. See, God is far above us,
a God that we can comprehend we don't need. But God is so
high above us that he comprehends and knows I mean, nose to the
detail. Every thought of six billion,
over six billion hearts. That's staggering, isn't it?
He knows it. He knows it. David said this,
no thought can be withholding from thee. You've never told
everybody what's on your mind. You ever say, I'd like to give
them a piece of my mind, and you don't? You get enough wisdom
about to shut up? He knows, he said, no thought,
no thought can be withholding from thee. Not even a thought. That's why the Apostle Paul said,
bring every thought into subjection to Christ. Every thought, because
that's where it starts. And he calls them what they are,
hypocrites, pretenders to know God. Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he said unto them, Whose is the image and inscription?
Whose stamp is on this money, this coin, this penny? Whose stamp is on it? Whose image
does it bear? And they say to him, Caesar's.
Caesar's. It has his face stamped on that
penny. Then said he to them, Well, give.
If you're going to use it, give some of it back. That's what
he's saying. If you're using his money to
buy bread, if you're using his money to enjoy the things that
you have, then pay some of it back. Render therefore unto Caesar
the things which are Caesar's. And then here's the kicker. Unto
God the things that are God's, everything's his. Everything's
his. You give a portion of that to
Caesar, which is his, and then a portion to God, which is his.
All things are his. You give to Caesar that which
bears his image. In other words, you pay taxes. You pay taxes. You give back to Caesar that
which has his image on it. And at the same time, you give
unto God that which belongs to God. Now, I know that government
wastes a lot of money. I know that. We live in a sinful
world. There's no perfect government
in this world. There's not one. There's not one. But that does
not excuse us from being obedient to civil government that's set
up by God Almighty. We've seen this, what, a couple
Sundays ago in 1 Peter. Well, our Lord is teaching the
same thing. He's teaching the same thing, civil obedience.
Look over in Romans chapter 13. This is where Peter got it from. He got it from the Lord. He's
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let me read you the first seven
verses of Romans 13. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers
that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resists the
power, he resists the ordinance of God. He is in rebellion against
God. And they that resist shall receive
to themselves damnation or judgment. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good." That officer, that policeman is the minister
to thee for good. That's right. You drive 70, 80 miles an hour
in a 50-mile-an-hour zone, he's stopping you for good. You're
going to run over somebody at that kind of speed. It's for
good. It's for good. Be afraid, for
he bears not the sword in vain, for he's the minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore,
you must need be subject, not only for wrath, but for good
conscience. She said, the Pharisees obeyed
the law because they didn't want to get in trouble. Really, they
thought they were working their way to heaven and they didn't
want to get in trouble. That's why most people obey the law.
They don't want to get in trouble. But he said, you do it not just for
that reason, but for a good conscience toward God. For this cause pay
ye taxes also, for they are God's ministers. Take care of them,
attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore
to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes is due. Custom to whom
custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Our Lord taught
that. Our Lord was not teaching anarchy.
The gospel is not anarchy. It's not. And so he says, you
give to him, you give to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's.
And when they heard these words, they marveled. They left him
and they went their way. They'd never heard such wisdom.
They were dumbfounded. They actually didn't expect an
answer, not one that made sense. Our Lord is able to put to silence
the foolishness of ignorant men. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
embodiment of wisdom. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. All right, a new group now comes
to Him. See, they're all lined up here. They're all lined up
taking a shot at him. The same day came to him the
Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection. They asked him
a question. And they're going to ask him
this question only to try and ridicule him because they don't
even believe what they're asking. They don't believe. They don't believe
in the resurrection. And they say, Master, Moses said,
and Moses did say this. But Moses in the law did not
deal with the resurrection. Now, there's something you need
to understand about Sadducees. They only held to the five books
of the Bible, the first five books, Moses. They only held
to the five books that Moses wrote. They only held to the
law. They gave no credit to the other prophets. And this is when
the Lord quoted, you do err not knowing the scriptures. Daniel,
Isaiah, Jeremiah. You ignore these other men, these
other prophets, these other scriptures. You totally ignore them. All
they held to was the first five books of the Bible, the law.
And they were really pretty strict on their interpretation of the
law. They were not like the Pharisees who introduced the tradition
of the elders. And they didn't hope they didn't
they didn't have anything to do with the tradition of the
elders. They just strictly held to the law. That's the Sadducees.
That's who they are. They said Moses said, if a man
died, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife
and raise up seed unto his brother. And that is over in Deuteronomy
25.5. That's where Moses said that. Now, suppose, this is a
suppose. Now, there were with us seven
brethren. They're going to get ridiculous
with this, as religious people usually do when they're trying
to prove a point that's not a point. And the first, when he had married
a wife, he died. And having no issue, no children,
he left his wife unto his brother. That's what they did. Now, likewise,
the second also, and the third, all the way to the seventh. He
had seven brothers. And last of all, the woman finally
died. Now, in the resurrection, whose wife is she going to be? Here's what they are trying to
introduce. If there is a resurrection, there's
going to be trouble in heaven. There's going to be trouble because
you've got seven husbands and you've got one woman here. All
of them were married to her. Now you've got a problem on your
hands. If there's a resurrection, there's a problem. And this is when our Lord said
to them, ye do err. Here's where your error comes
from. You don't know the Scriptures,
nor do you know the power of God. The Scriptures, and when
he said the Scriptures, he's talking about the Old Testament
Scriptures. Look over in Daniel, chapter
12. Daniel chapter 12 and verse 2. I'll just read a couple of these.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting
content. But you see, they did not recognize
Daniel. They only recognize Moses. But
that's their problem. That's their problem. Look over
in Job. Let's see, Job chapter 19. Job is supposed to be one of
the oldest books of the Bible. In Job 19, in verse 25, For I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin were destroyed this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,
and not another, though my reins be consumed within me." The resurrection. Our Lord is saying to them, the
resurrection. has been taught throughout the scriptures, throughout
the scriptures. It's taught. But they only received
the first five books. And Moses didn't deal with the
resurrection in the law. And the Lord's saying, your problem
is your rejection of the scriptures, your ignorance of the scriptures,
and the power of God. Power of God. Your first problem is your ignorance. He didn't deal lightly with these
men, did he? Your first problem is your ignorance. It's taught in the Scriptures.
And then secondly, God's power. They believed in creation. They
believed God created the heavens and the earth. They believed
one God created the heavens and the earth. They believed that.
Well, can He not create another earth? Can he not create, can
he not make a new creation? Can he not do that? You know,
I was thinking this morning as I was going over, this is one
of the problems with this situation of the new birth going on. Not knowing the scriptures or
the power of God Almighty. Not knowing the scriptures. Not
understanding what the scriptures, that's what our Lord said to
Nicodemus. You must be born again. He said, well, how can it be? Well, I tell you, you don't know
the scriptures, you don't understand the scriptures, nor do you understand
the power of God to create a new, create a new heaven and earth, create a new nature. You don't
understand it. He said, you don't understand it. But he says here,
he's dealing with the resurrection. In the resurrection, in verse
30, for in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels of God. Perfect as the angels
of God? They do God's bidding as the
angels of God? In heaven, there's not husband
and wife and children like we have here. That's not so. And see, that was their imagination. They thought, when in the resurrection,
we're going to be a fight. No. He said, they're going to
be like the angels of God. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. We will be like them. in perfection, in obedience. Brothers and sisters in Christ. They're not going to be in reproduction. You know, when God created Adam
and Eve, He told them to replenish the earth. Christ is going to
replenish. He's not going to replenish.
He's going to replenish heaven and new earth. We don't need
any reproduction. We don't need husband and wife.
the situation we have now. He tells those Sadducees who
did not believe in angels, they did not believe in spirit, they
did not believe in life after death. All they believed was
just to keep the law and keep civility. That was their whole
interpretation of it. He said, you're ignorant.
You're ignorant of the Word of God. You don't receive the whole
Word of God. You know, this whole Bible is inspired This whole
Bible from Genesis to Revelation is inspired of God. Not just
certain books of it, all of it. And he's telling them all fleshly
relationships will be dissolved. Sooner or later they will. Sooner
or later. They'll be dissolved. As we know
them. And we'll be with the Lord. Perfect. Perfect as the angels of God
in need of nothing. But as touching the resurrection
of the dead, and what he's going to show them here is that the
resurrection is taught. The resurrection is taught even
in the first five books of the Bible. As touching the resurrection
of the dead, have you not read where God spake to Moses? God
spoke this to Moses. I think that's what's over in
Exodus. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. When He spoke this to Moses,
our Lord is telling them this. When He spoke this to Moses,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as far as you and I are concerned,
were dead. I think Moses came along two
or three hundred years after Jacob had finally died. He's
saying this, yet God says to Moses, I am the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. They're not dead. He's not the
God of the dead or of the living. God does not say to Moses, I
was the God of Abraham. I was the God of Isaac. I was
the God of Jacob, and now I'm your God." No, he says, I am
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They're still alive. That's
what he's saying to these Sadducees who didn't believe in the resurrection.
These men are still alive. These men are alive right now.
Didn't you read that? He said, haven't you read it?
I know you've read the law. They knew the first five books.
I know you read where God said, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. So there is a resurrection. And
in the resurrection, everyone is like, and he's speaking of
the resurrection of the just. You know, the Lord doesn't deal
with the resurrection of the unjust. He's talking here of the resurrection
of the just. He said they're all like the angels of God. And when the multitude heard
this, they were astonished at his doctrine. They'd never heard such a thing.
Have you ever had people be astonished at what you had to say? Have
you ever talked to someone out in the workplace? Out in the
community? About the gospel? The doctrines
of the gospel? How God saves sinners? How God
shows the people and they're astonished? What do you mean?
What do you mean? I've never heard such a thing.
They were astonished at what they heard. They had never heard
such wisdom. You remember I said, Notice how
simple, how uncomplicated his answers are. Notice how simple
his wisdom. Wisdom is always simple. The
more complicated it is, the less wisdom there is in it. You can
mark that down. Well, after this, Satan comes
with his motley crew again. He never gives up. When the Pharisees
had heard how he put the Sadducees to silence, They gathered together
and they thought, well, we'll take a shot at him. We'll get
to wear this badge of defeating him, of entangling him. They're
going to show off now. And one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, saying, Master. They all call him Master, hypocritically. Which is a great
commandment in the law? Well, first of all, all the law
is great. The whole law of God is great.
But they want to know from Him, tell us, which is the great commandment? And Jesus said to him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul
and all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Because I tell you this, if you
do not love God with all your heart, your soul and your mind
and your neighbor as yourself, you've already failed. You have
already failed. No sense even going further.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Have you done that? Have you loved God with all your
heart, soul, mind and strength? I mean, have you loved Him with
all your heart? No. Now, those self-righteous Pharisees
would say, yes. I kept all these, what else you
got for me to do? Come on, throw something else
at me. No, we haven't. We sit right
here. We can't even listen to the whole
message with our whole mind, heart, soul. We can't do it.
My mind wonders even when I'm standing here preaching. And
yours does too. No. To love God with all my heart
and my neighbor as myself? Nobody's done that, except one. There is one man who loved God
with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind. He said, my meat is to do the
will of my Father which has sent me. There is one. who fulfilled this
law perfectly. I tell you this, this one commandment,
this one commandment that he gave here, this, he said, this
is the greatest. We don't need to go any further than this.
This is the greatest. And if he failed this, all else
is lost. And this one commandment shows
me how far short I fall of God's glory. How far short I fall of
pleasing God. And it reveals to me my need
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness, His obedience,
and His blood for cleansing. I need Him. When I read that,
I thought, boy, I need Him. I need Him. And they were dumbfounded. There
was another group. Here's another group goes away.
But before they go away, he says, let me ask you a question. Let
me ask you a question. And this really is a message
in and of itself, but I need to tie this in here. What think
ye of Christ? What think ye of the Messiah,
the promised Messiah, the promised Savior? What do you think of
him? Whose son is he? They say unto him, the son of
David. The son of David. Now, listen. That's all they
thought of him. The Jews were looking for a man, not the God-man,
not deity, not the Son of God. The Jews as a whole, they were
looking for just a natural man born from the tribe or seed of
David to come and take the throne again. And the Lord is going
to expose their ignorance of the Scriptures. You do err not
knowing the Scriptures. If that's so, If he's the son
of David, and that is so, he is of the lineage of David, then how then does David in spirit
call him Lord? Over in the Psalms, David said,
the Lord said unto my Lord, sit on my right hand, so I'll make
your enemies your footstools. That's what it says there in
verse 44. Now, if this is so, if all he is, is a man, if all
the Messiah is, is a man, Then how in the world is it that David
calls him Lord if he's his son? He never calls Solomon Lord. Why does he call this one Lord?
And no man was able to answer if they knew the word of God,
if they knew the scriptures and the power of God to become incarnate,
to send his son into this world. And he became incarnate. He became
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh by the power of God.
If they had known that by the power of God a virgin would conceive
and bear a son and call His name Immanuel, call His name Jesus,
they would understand who this man is. But they missed Him. Of course, they erred, not knowing
the Scriptures nor the power of God Almighty. They erred. And I pray God that we will not
err not knowing the Scriptures when we read them every day.
We have them from the pulpit every week. We have it in our
home. Nor the power of God. How did David call him Lord if
he's David's son? By the power of God. The Son
of God became David's lineage. His son by lineage. but also
His Lord by deity. He's God. And no man was able
to answer Him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth
ask Him any more questions. Court adjourned.