22nd chapter of Matthew. If you
have a few Bible and you would like to follow along, it's on
page 1065. I'm going to begin this morning
and look at some questions some people ask the Lord. And then
this afternoon I want to finish this chapter up by looking at
verses 41 and following. What thank you of Christ. But I want to keep your Bibles
handy this morning. I'm not going to read the chapter. I'm going to read it as we look
at it. But I do want to read verses
beginning in verse 15 and read the first question that was asked
to our Lord. But verse 15, Then went the Pharisees
and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And
they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians,
said, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way
of God in truth, neither curest thou for any man, for thou regardest
not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? And Jesus perceived their wickedness,
and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute
money.' And they brought unto him a penny. And he said unto
them, Whose is this image and inscription? And they said unto
him, Caesar's. Then said he unto them, Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God
the things which are God's. When they heard these words,
they marveled, and left him, and went their way. Now let's
deal with this first question, but when I read verse 15, almost
always I have to chuckle. If I don't chuckle out loud,
I'll chuckle in my heart. It says here, Then went the Pharisees
and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. Now isn't that amazing? Trying
to entangle the Son of God in His talk. They called a meeting. Can you just see them? Can you
imagine? A few of these Pharisees in a meeting. And some chief
Pharisee got up and opened up the meeting and said, we've got
something urgent to discuss. We need to figure out how to
entangle Jesus Christ in His speech. That was the purpose. It's laughable, isn't it? It's
damn right laughable. I can't hardly keep from laughing
when I read this. They assumed they were wise enough
to do this? How they might entangle Him in
His speech? If I got up here to you this
morning and I made this announcement, this afternoon you and I are
going to meet and take counsel together and figure out how we
can keep the sun from coming up in the morning. Wouldn't that
be amazing? Wouldn't some of you think, Bruce,
you're getting awful presumptuous? To think that you have the wisdom
and the power to keep the sun from rising in the morning? Well,
I think we might as well do that than for them to entangle the
Son of God in His speech. But if we had the ability, if
we had the means, to call all the scientists together and the
mathematicians, the brightest that this world has known. And
we called all of them together, and we took counsel with them,
and they came up with their best proposition. I tell you, brothers
and sisters, they couldn't keep the sun from coming up in the
morning either. It's utterly ridiculous to think about such
a thing, isn't it? How can we entangle Him in His
speech? And you know these were the brilliant
men of the day. These were the brilliant thinkers
of their day. Here's what Paul called them.
He called them the princes of this world. He said if they had
known who Jesus Christ was, the princes would not have crucified
the Lord of glory. The princes of this world. I
don't care who you are. I don't care who they were. You
can't entangle the Son of God with His Word. He made the mouth,
didn't He? He made man's mouth. And the
mouth is going to entangle Him in His Word. How presumptuous!
You know what the Master called these men? He called them the
wise and the prudent. Look over here what He says about
them. Hold our text and just look back to your left just a
few chapters in chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. The Lord
Jesus had been speaking and been preaching here and been doing
all sorts of miracles. He had been raising the dead
and cleansing the leopard and giving sight to the blind. And
then He began to upgrade these cities, rebuke them, because
they gave no credit to His miracles that He did. Their hearts were
filled with unbelief, so He began to rebuke them. But notice what
He says in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 25. He is speaking
to these very people. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hath
revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight." The wise and the prudent, and revealed
them unto babes. God looks upon the wisdom of
this world, and you know what He says about it? That's foolishness. That's foolishness. He takes
the wise in their wisdom, and He puts them down off their throne. And He says, you fellows are
foolish. Here's what He said about it.
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputers of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Some wonder
why our Lord, when He was here upon this earth, didn't stoop
to giving us a book of wisdom and knowledge to teach us the
wisdom of this world. Boy, couldn't He have did that?
Man, what a book! He could have gave us on every
subject all the sciences of this world. People study the stars
and wonder what's going on there and the order of this universe.
Don't you think He could have gave us an in-depth, detailed
book of this universe? My goodness, the biology Couldn't
He give us a book on biology? All about the animals? What about
the study of our bodies? Medical science? And some people
say and wonder, why He didn't do that? Why He didn't give us
a book that taught us about the wisdom of this world? You know
He's left that to man, hasn't He? He's left it to man to study
the sciences of this world, and that's fine, and I'm grateful
for it. I'm grateful for all the advancements we've made in
science and the technology. I love the things that we have
today and what man, by God's help, has figured out. But you
know why the Lord, when He was here, never gave us a book on
all of this wisdom of this world? There's something more important.
All of that wisdom is coming to naught, is it not? All the
advancements and all the sciences we've made, it's coming to naught. It's going to end. But there
is a wisdom that's not coming to naught. There's a wisdom that's
eternal. And that's the wisdom of God
in saving poor sinners in Jesus Christ the Lord. That's the wisdom
of God in Christ. We preach Christ, the power of
God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. That's what He's called. And that's what makes this funny
to me when we read that Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God,
and they said, let's go figure out how we can confound Him in
His speech. That's wonderful, isn't it? Moses
was standing before the burning bush, And he was trying to outmaneuver
the Lord. Remember that? He was trying
to outmaneuver and out-argue the Lord. The Lord said, you're
going back to Egypt and you're going to deliver My people. And
Moses said, Lord, I can't even talk. How am I going to deliver
those stiff-necked and rebellious people? Send Aaron. He can talk, he said. Remember
that? I'm a stammering man with stammering lips. And that's when
the Lord said this to him, Moses, who made man's mouth? Who made the dumb? Who made the
deaf? Who made the seeing? Who made
the blind? Have not I the Lord? And here
these fellows got together and said, let's entangle him in his
talk. and they were presumptuous enough
to think that they could do it. What did they think they were
going to do? How were they going to do that? It's amazing. How
presumptuous! How presumptuous! And you know,
brothers and sisters, there are still people who think that today.
There are people who say, well, I can't wait for the judgment.
I'm going to tell him a thing or two. I'm going to straighten
him out. Oh, you know the best way to
come to the Lord, brothers and sisters, the best way to come
to the Lord is not seeking an argument with Him. Don't come
seeking a controversy with the Lord of glory. He'll out-argue
you. He'll twist you up in knots.
You'll think you'll have the argument won and one little word
will put you in your place. You cannot argue with the Lord.
The best way to come to Him is asking Him this question. Depths
of mercy? Can there be? Mercy still reserved
for me? That's the way to come to Him,
isn't it? A man's presumptuous if he thinks he's going to straighten
the Lord of glory out. You can't do it. These wise men
couldn't do it and nobody else could do it. He made them out. And he's never been confounded,
has he? He's never been confused. Oh, I want Him to say this to
me. I will be thou clean. That's what I want to hear. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. I want to hear this. Be
of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee. Listen to what He says. Oh, take
with you words and turn to the Lord, not to debate with Him. Not to argue with Him, but take
with you words and turn to Him and say, Lord, take away all
iniquity and receive me graciously. And I'll render the praise of
my lips." Oh, these men, these poor men,
let us take Him in His Word, how presumptuous that is. But
let's look now how they tried to do it. You're in our text
in chapter 22. Here's how they tried to do it. They were going to seek to get
the advantage of him. The people were liking him and
they sought different ways that they would cast a dispersion
upon him. And so they asked him about taxes. Is it lawful to give taxes to
the Roman government, to Caesar or not? And they said, well,
if he says, Yes, we should pay our taxes. Rome's going to love
him, but the Jews are going to hate him. If he says, well, no,
we shouldn't pay taxes. We should be a free people. Then
Rome is going to hate him. They're going to seek his life,
and the common people's going to love him. How's he going to
give a just answer that will leave them without any argument
that this man has spoken the truth? What's he going to say?
What would you have said? What would you have said if they
had sprang this question upon you? Well, here's what He said. Here's what He said. In chapter
22 and verse 16, look at this. Here's something else. Here's
how they came to Him. Notice this. And they sent unto Him
their disciples with their rodents, saying, Master, we know that
Thou art true. Man, you're preaching the truth.
You never lied. You won't lie. You teach the
way of God in truth. And you cure not for any man.
You're not afraid of man. You're going to preach the truth
no matter what. For thou regardest not the person of men. Now boy,
that's a compliment, ain't it? You talk about flattery. And
it was all true. If that had come to me and that
had said something like that, you know what I'd have done?
I'd have just mailed it. Oh, I appreciate it. I appreciate
you folks telling me that. God bless you. Wasn't that what
we would do? That wasn't what he did. I tell
you, he was a difficult man to flatter, wasn't he? When people come to him, no matter
if they said things that was true of him, he went right to
the heart. And he said, watch your motives
here. What do you really think of me in your heart? Nicodemus
came to him and said, we know that God has sent you. Nobody
can do these miracles that you're doing except God be with him.
And he said, Nicodemus, you're a lost man. You're not in the
kingdom of God. And if you're not born again,
you'll never see the kingdom. You must be born again. Boy,
I tell you what, when you come to Him, you better be honest.
It's not just speaking the truth with your mouth, but Buddy hits
drawing near to Him with an honest and sincere heart. That's what
He looks for, isn't it? If I regard iniquity in my heart,
He's going to know it. You can't come to Him and deal
with Him and flatter Him and tempt Him to get something from
Him. Man, he sees through it because
he sees the very motives of a man's heart. And that's what he saw
here. Oh, and he said here in verse
18, Why tempt you me, you hypocrites? Why tempt you me, you hypocrites? Oh, I tell you, we can come to
the Lord. We can come to the Lord with any question that we
have. David came to the Lord and his
heart was full of unbelief. He was so burdened. And he said,
Lord, how long are you going to forsake me? How long are you
going to hide your face from me, having sorrow in my heart
daily?" But you know, the Lord never rebuked him for that, because
he saw the heart. David was in trouble, and he
wanted to know these things, and the Lord answered him. And
if we go to him with an honest heart, I tell you what, he'll
listen to us. But when we come to him trying
to tempt him and deceive him and out-argue him, boy, he just
won't listen, will he? He just won't listen to us. And
that's what He said here, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? And all they were attempting
to do was get the Lord Jesus in trouble. In trouble with the
Roman government or in trouble with the people of Israel. And
notice here how He handled them. It's amazing. He said, Show me
a penny. He didn't even have a penny,
did He? Anybody got a penny? Boy, He was in poverty, wasn't
He? He was truly in poverty. He gave up all His riches and
became poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich. They had to bring Him a penny.
And He looked at the inscription, and there was Caesar's inscription
on it. And here's what He said. Whose
picture is that on that coin? They said, that's Caesar's. And
He said, then you give to Caesar. What's Caesar's? And you give
to God what's God's. And they said, my goodness, we
never thought of that. What an answer. What a simple
answer. And they took off. These princes,
these wise and prudent, skedaddled. They went home with their tails
between their legs, ashamed and embarrassed. You can't out-argue
the Son of God. You can't do it. Let's look at
the next question. Look in verse 23. The same day
came to him Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection.
And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die having
no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed
unto his brother. You'll find this in Deuteronomy
25. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first, when he
had married a wife, he died. deceased. And having no issue,
no sons, no offspring, he left his wife unto his brother. Likewise,
the second also, and the third unto the seventh. And last of
all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her.
And Jesus said unto them, You do error. You are mistaken, not
knowing the Scriptures, nor 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. But as touching the resurrection
of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you
by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac,
the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. And when the multitude heard
this, they were astonished. at His doctrine. Let's look at
this just for a minute. This is worthy to look at. You
just never cease to be thankful when these things happen to the
Lord Jesus because we learn so much from it. They meant it for
evil, but it's profitable to you and I. Now hold this again,
and I want to show you what these Sadducees believe. Look over
in the book of Acts, chapter 23, in verse 6 through verse
8. This is what the Sadducees believed. They didn't believe in the resurrection
of the body. One man said that's the way he
always remembered their names. If you don't believe in the resurrection,
you're sad, you see. You're sad, you see. So look
in Acts chapter 23 and here's what they believed. Look in verse
6. But when Paul perceived that
the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried
out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee. Of the hope and resurrection
of the dead am I called into question. And when he had so
said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees
say there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the
Pharisees confessed both. Now here's what we see. They
denied a physical resurrection. They didn't believe in it. They
denied holy angels or evil angels. There's no spiritual world. And
they denied the spirit. This word here means soul. They didn't believe in an unseen
world where the soul, when it departed its body, went. Josephus,
who lived in this very day, and often wrote what the Pharisees
believed, and the Herodians believed, and the Sadducees believed. He
was a Jewish historian. And here's what he said about
these Sadducees. He said, the Sadducees take away
the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and of punishments
and rewards in another life. They believe the soul dies with
the body. You know, we've always had people.
You look back in the history of some of our ancient fathers,
and they believed this too. And even in our day, there's
philosophers, there's atheists that believe that all we are
is a material being. We don't have a soul that will
Live forever. All this universe is just something
material. And when it ceases to be, that's
it. They think man is like a star
in the heaven. And when it dies, it comes flying
down and it burns out and it's gone forever. And when a man's
body dies, that's it. He burns out and he ceases to
be. That's what these Pharisees believed. It's amazing that they read the
Scripture, isn't it? It's amazing they were religious
people. All the good that they hoped for was in this present
world. That's what they prayed for. They didn't believe in a
world to come. Any blessings of God was confined
to this present world because that's all it was. All the evil
that they feared was confined to this present world. When they
died, that was it. I wonder if this is not who the
Apostle Paul was writing to when he said, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. He
said, I have fought with beasts like men. I have suffered for
the sake of Christ. And he said, if there is no world
to come, Then let us eat and drink and just be merry about
it all, for tomorrow we die and that's it. But that's not it,
is it? That's not it, is it? That's
not it at all. And the Lord Jesus, boy, He got
under the skin and He went right to the heart of the matter when
He talked to them here. He said, You fellows are mistaken.
You fellows are badly mistaken. Here in verse 29, He said, You
do error. And here, He said, is your problem. Number one, there's two things.
You don't know the Scriptures. They read it all the time. They
were religious people. And they didn't know it. You
think you can't read the Scriptures and be ignorant of the Scriptures?
We see that all around us, don't we? They didn't know what Daniel
said. Daniel preached a resurrection. Many that sleep in the dust of
the earth shall come forth, some to everlasting life and some
to shame and everlasting contempt. Had they never read that? Were
they ignorant of scriptures? Listen to Isaiah 26 and 19. Thy
dead men shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell
in the dust. For thy dew is come as the dew
of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead." Have they
never read that? And listen to Job. All of us
are familiar with this. If a man die, shall he live again? All My appointed days will I
wait till My change come. And He shall call, and I will
answer Him, and He shall have a desire to the work of His hand."
And listen at him when he says this, "...I know My Redeemer
liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth,
and throw after My skin, worms shall devour this body, yet in
My flesh My resurrected flesh, my glorified flesh, I shall see
God. And this fellow says there is
no such thing as a resurrection. My goodness! Don't you know the
Scriptures he said? No, they didn't. No, they sure
didn't. But David even goes farther.
He goes farther than this when he speaks of the resurrection.
He not only talks about the resurrection of the body, he told us in what
likeness and image it would be. In Psalms chapter 17, he was
talking about the wicked having their portion in this life, what
they have left they give to their children. And then he said, But
as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." That sounds a
lot like the New Testament teaching of the resurrection, doesn't
it? It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him, like Him, like Him. You talk about some things in
an almost unbelievable way. I tell you, these are wonderful
mysteries, aren't they, that's revealed, and we just can't hardly
get a hold of them, they're so wonderful. To be raised like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is. You know, in the Kingdom
of God, all these distinctions are done away. In Christ, there's
no such thing as a Jew or a Gentile, or a bond or a free, or a male
or a female. We are all one in Christ. I think that's why the Lord Jesus
went on here to tell these people that when you're in heaven, when
this resurrection takes place, it's not going to be like it
is down here. You're not going to be thinking about the opposite
sex. You're not going to be marrying
as they marry down here because we're all going to be one in
Christ, no males and no females. Now that's a mystery, brothers
and sisters, I don't know much about. I'll be honest with you.
But I just know there in heaven it's going to be different, isn't
it? All these distinctions are going to be manifested and when
the ladies are raised in the image of Christ and the men are
raised in the image of Christ, they're going to be one in these
earthly distinctions. They're going to be done away
with. And they're going to be like the angels of God in heaven. That's the first thing they were
ignorant of, Scripture. And you know if you're ignorant
of Scriptures, you ought to keep your mouth shut, shouldn't you? They ought to keep their mouth
shut. Ain't no resurrection. Ain't no resurrection. Have you
read the Scriptures? That's the first thing. But something
else He said here to them. He said not only are you ignorant
of the Scriptures, of the power of God. The power of God. Now, when you read the Scriptures
and you are ignorant of the power of God, you need to go back and
read them again. Because from Genesis to Revelation,
that is one of the themes of the Bible, is the power of God. Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
Who has created these things? that brings out their hosts by
number. He calls them all by their names,
by the greatness of His power. If a man didn't have his Bible
when he looks up into the heavens, that reveals something of God's
eternal power in death, doesn't it? How could a man be ignorant
of God's power? But they were. They were like those in the book
in the Corinthian church. They had people in the Corinthian
church. And Paul said, You're ignorant of the knowledge of
God. I speak this to your shame. Some of you will say this, How
are the dead raised? How can it be possible that the
dead are raised? My goodness, brothers and sisters,
when we look back, y'all, at the beginning, Our Lord, our
God, our Triune God created everything out of nothing? The things which
are made were not made of things which do appear? He just spake,
didn't He? And it was done. Let there be
and there was. And He formed man out of the
dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. The power of God. And He said, you know nothing
about that. He that did all of this in the beginning? You think
He's limited now? He don't know where the decayed
body is? And He don't have the power to
raise it up? You know, as you and I get closer
to the end of time, you just look out for this. There's going
to be more and more professing Christians denying more of the
aspect of God's power in salvation. Paul said it would be like that,
didn't he? Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof
from creation to redemption to regeneration to glorification. This is all about the power of
God. And if you eliminate the power of God, then eliminate
everything else. This world is it. And when we
die, that's it. And go eat and drink and be merry,
for tomorrow we die. if there is no power of God. All you do error, knowing nothing
of the power of God. And he tells you in our text
in verses 31 and verse 32, but as touching the resurrection
of the dead. Have you not read what God said
to Moses? And I love Luke's account in
this. Let me read Luke's account for
you in Luke chapter 20 verse 37. Now that the dead are raised,
even Moses showed at the bush, the burning bush, when he called
God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living,
for all lives unto Him." And what the Lord is saying here,
you remember Abraham, your father Abraham? You know Abraham, when
the Lord told that to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, you
know Abraham had been dead for over 300 years. And he said,
I am the God of Abraham. Isaac had been dead for over
200 years. Jacob had been dead for about
198 years. And yet he said, I am the God
of the living. Abraham is alive! He's living
before God. Isaac and Jacob are living before
God. And the Lord Jesus said, God
is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And here He deducted
this from them. If their souls are yet alive
to God and with God in that unseen world, God is the God of the
living and it won't belong to their bodies. are going to live
before Him. God is the God of the whole man,
is He not? He didn't just make a soul, He
made a body. He didn't just redeem the soul,
He redeemed the body. And when the body dies, the soul
lives with God. And someday that body is going
to raise and live with Him for all eternity. That's what the
Lord Jesus is telling them here. And when the multitude heard
this, they were astounded at His And lastly, it's this. And quickly,
it's this. Verses 34 through 35. Here was
a lawyer, a scribe. He was the one that had the most
knowledge in the law. If you wanted to know anything
about the law of Moses, you went to these lawyers. They were the
scribes. And look here what he said in
verse 34. When the Pharisees had heard that he put the Sadducees
to silence, they were gathered together. Oh, they liked that,
didn't they? Because they believed the resurrection,
the Sadducees didn't. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto
him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart,
all your mind, all your soul. This is the first and great commandment. The second is likened to it.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. What better answer could anybody
have given of the law? Here's when you get right down
to where the rubber meets the road of what the law demands
of us. It's just two simple things. Love God with all your heart,
your mind, your soul. That's it, isn't it? That's it. If a man loves God that way,
is he not going to worship Him? Is he not going to serve God
if he loves Him with all of his heart? He's not going to set
up any idols. Man, that's it, isn't it? And
our Lord Jesus knew it. Love God with all your heart. I tell you, if a man loved God
with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength, I tell you
what, he'd die before he sinned against this God. He'd resist unto blood before
he yielded to a temptation if he loved God this way. and love
your neighbor as himself. I tell you, if we loved our neighbor
as ourself, we wouldn't owe him anything, would we? But to love
him. We'd never commit adultery against him. We'd never covet
anything that he had. We'd never kill him. We'd never
hate him. We'd never steal anything from him. We'd never falsely
accuse him. If we loved our neighbor as ourself,
it would be a heaven upon this earth. And our Lord knew it. And here this lawyer was thinking
to himself, this guy's never been to our schools. He's so
ignorant about the law. And I'm going to show him up.
I'm going to ask him a question, and he's not going to have an
answer for it. I'm going to embarrass him to death. I'm so smart. And
what an answer he gave. And finally all of them threw
up their hands and they said, we've never heard it on this
wise. Let's go home and shut her mouth. And all brothers and
sisters, dear lost friend, if you're here this morning, you
want Him to save you, shut your mouth. Come to Him and put your
mouth in the dirt and say, Lord, I'm guilty. I've got no way to
plead my cause. Have mercy upon me. Have mercy
upon me. Don't send me away confused and
confounded. Have mercy upon me. We'll come back in a few minutes
and we'll look at this wonderful passage here of what thank you
of Christ.