A Full and Informed Devotion

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Shayne Poirier on Mark 12:13-27.

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.
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We're going to pick up this week exactly where we left off last week in the
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Gospel of Mark in chapter 12. And the last time that we were here together, we heard about Christ's parable of the tenants, at least in chapter 12 as we were in there in verses 1 to 12.
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And if we remember back to last week, we might recall that in that exchange, our
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Lord had gravely offended the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.
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In fact, he compared them to a group of rebellious vineyard workers who were guilty not only of rejecting the owner of the vineyard,
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Israel as the vineyard, rejecting the God of Israel, but rejecting his servants, the prophets, and looking ahead to even the rejection of his only beloved son.
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And at the end of last week's passage in Mark chapter 12 and verse 12, we came to those words right at the beginning.
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It said, and they were seeking to arrest him in the present tense.
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They were looking for any opportunity to get a hold of him and to deliver him over even unto death.
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The Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, they were enraged at Christ's statement.
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And where we pick up today is right where we left off with that enraged group of the
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Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. And as we pick up this week, I want to place us back in the narrative.
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You might wonder why I keep doing this, but I keep giving us the day of the week in that Passion Week.
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What day are we on and how much longer until we get to the cross?
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Well, in this case, in verse 13, where we find ourselves today, it is still
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Tuesday. It is Christ's final Passion Week. In just a few short days, we're almost at the hump day.
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In just a few short days, God the Son, Jesus Christ, will be going to that cross for sinners at the hands of sinners.
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And as we will see over the next few weeks, on this last Tuesday of Christ's earthly life and ministry, he's going to endure a round of tests, of trials, of traps that the religious leaders are going to set for him.
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The most powerful people in Jerusalem. See, when Christ had his ministry in Galilee, that was tolerable.
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He was far enough away from the nation's capital and the center for religion and power in Israel.
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But now that Christ is in Jerusalem, he has stirred up the hornet's nest. And they're going to come for him.
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And for today's purposes, what we're going to look at, we find a total of three attacks or tests that they'll bring to him.
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We're going to look at the first two, in reference to paying taxes to Caesar and the resurrection, as we have just heard.
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And as we look at those first two trials, those first two tests, this is what we're going to find.
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Here is these sanctimonious leaders seek to trap
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Christ in his word. Christ not only teaches about taxation, we're going to hear about taxation.
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I think I was preparing this week, and I often verbalize as I prepare.
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It's kind of embarrassing, and I leave my office door closed, but every once in a while people hear me. And I think my wife commented, taxes,
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I don't like paying taxes. Well Christ not only teaches us about taxation, and not only about the resurrection.
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Certainly important topics, and we'll give some time to that. But he reveals the foundational truths of what it means to be the true people of God.
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In these brief exchanges, we get some very helpful information for us as Christians.
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You see, as these religious leaders fixated on the tangential and the peripheral matters of their own nuanced views.
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They had lost sight of the core realities of what it meant to be the very people of God. In their sin hardened hearts, they could no longer see the forest for the trees, as we would say.
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And so in this passage, not only do we get to see Christ masterfully deal with them. And hopefully we can appreciate that.
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Just how masterfully he deals with these cowardly religious leaders.
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But this passage is going to give us some timely reminders for the Christian life. Like, what does it mean to be image bearers of the living
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God? What does it mean that you were created in the image and likeness of God? And what does God require of you as one of his image bearers?
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Or even more, how are we to know what to believe about God, and how to live in light of who he is?
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Christ answers those questions in this account. And so we're going to begin, at least for today's purposes,
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I've broken up our text into four expositional points. And they really are more narrative based than application based.
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I often give application based points. You'll see that this is more narrative based in nature.
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But we will look at application. And the first point that I want to look at, we find in verses 13 and 14.
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So it's Mark chapter 12, 13 and 14. I will read them. And here we will see what
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I'm calling a cunning trap. A cunning trap. It says this.
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And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the
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Herodians to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances.
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But truly teach the word of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
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Should we pay them or should we not? The very first thing we might notice if we're looking carefully in verse 13.
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Is that the passage begins with these words. And they sent them. Or and they sent to him.
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Who are the they in this passage? It's very likely that this was the Sanhedrin. The very men who
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Christ interacted with last week in the first 12 verses. And they sent to him the
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Pharisees and the Herodians. As we see. And what we need to appreciate.
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If you know anything about biblical history, redemptive history. Is that this is a very unlikely alliance between these two particular groups.
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They were two groups that were indeed diametrically opposed to each other in terms of their worldview and agenda.
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So it's really helpful I think for us to hone in for a moment on who these particular groups were. The Pharisees.
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Now we've already heard a great deal about them. We're not going to go into it at great length. But they were the religious zealots of the day in Israel.
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Today if we were to use maybe some derogatory modern media terms. They were the
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Jewish nationalists. Not quite as nationalistic as the zealots. But leading in that direction.
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They longed for a liberated Israel. That was free from bondage to the Romans. They loved and promoted
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Jewish religious life and culture. And despised anything and everything that interfered with that.
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Including Roman taxation. So like the vast majority of Jews in Christ's day.
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They saw the Roman taxation system as a burdensome yoke to be cast off.
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They didn't want Rome. They didn't want to be taxed by Rome. Now on the other hand.
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Standing next to these Pharisees were the Herodians. And the Herodians in stark contrast to the
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Pharisees. Were far more sympathetic to Roman rule. They were called Herodians because they backed the
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Herodian dynasty. You'll remember when Christ was a babe in the manger. There was
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Herod the Great who sought to kill him. Well Herod had a number of sons. Three of which took over ruling his kingdom.
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And the Herodians in particular were champions for the puppet king.
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That was Herod Antipas. Now Herod Antipas was the same one who imprisoned
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John the Baptist. Beheaded him. He was the same one that we're going to read about in a short time. When Christ went to him before the crucifixion.
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And the Herodians in stark contrast to the Pharisees. Supported Roman taxation.
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Not only because it enriched Herod. But because it brought them favor with the nation of Rome.
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And so what we immediately see is these two groups come. Sent to Christ together. Is what we would maybe call the common enemy effect.
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There's that saying nothing unites humanity like a common enemy. Nothing in this case unites fallen humanity like a common enemy.
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And in this case that common enemy is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it says that they came to Christ and set a trap.
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Mark says to trap him in his words. And there Mark uses a hunting term.
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You guys know for some of you that do know that I love hunting. And here this is a hunting term.
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To catch or to ensnare. And what it does is it uses this word to paint a picture of the violent pursuit of Christ.
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It conjures up an image of a hunter. Who camouflages themselves in order to ensnare and kill their prey.
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And these men while they appeared meek on the outside. Approached Christ with violence in their hearts.
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And verse 14 tells us that they baited the trap with flattery.
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Now kids I want you to think about this for a second. Why would they bait the trap with flattery?
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We'll get back to that in a second. They called him teacher. They called him true.
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They said he was true. That he wasn't swayed by human opinions or appearances. That he truly taught the way of God.
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What's interesting about those sayings if you read them. As I read them earlier I found myself saying amen.
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Amen. Amen. It is exactly true of Christ. That he was true.
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Not swayed by human appearances. That he truly indeed in stark contrast to these men.
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Taught the way of God. Truly. And yet these men were saying this for exactly the wrong reason.
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In Proverbs 29 .5. Kids I want you to think about this. How people might use flattery to deceive.
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To trick. To trap us. Proverbs 29 .5 says a man who flatters his neighbor.
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Spreads a net for his feet. And that is what these men were up to. They're digging a pit.
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They're covering it. They're calling on Christ to walk right into it. And they ask him about the imperial poll tax.
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This was an imperial tax that was implemented in AD 6. Which required that every individual in Rome pay a denarius.
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That was the equivalent of one day's wages for a laborer. As a head tax to the
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Roman government. And this question that they pose to Christ. These two diametrically opposed groups.
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This unlikely alliance. Is asked. Is posed to put
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Christ in an impossible situation. Because what Christ is faced with is this. It's two groups of people.
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That believe and think the exact opposite thing about taxation. And they're saying either you must side with the
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Herodians. And advocate for taxation. Which would have been repulsive to the contemporary
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Jewish mind. Or you can side with the Pharisees. And denounce taxation.
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And when you do you can count on it. The Herodians are going to go to Rome. And Christ is going to bring upon himself the swift justice of the
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Roman Imperium. So as far as the Herodians and the Pharisees were concerned. This wasn't a sincere question.
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It was a duplicitous trap. A brilliant and a cunning scheme. To force
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Christ into some kind of compromising position. Now kids you've heard the passage read.
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What is Christ going to do? Is he going to side with the Herodians? Or is he going to side with the
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Pharisees? You have your guess in mind?
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He's going to side with neither of them. Okay let's see what happens. Now it's worth noting here.
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Before we get to the answer. Kids this is supposed to keep you hooked in a little bit. It's worth noting that this is not the first or the last time.
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That God's enemies will seek to entrap his people. Brothers and sisters as Christians in this world.
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We must be wise to the schemes of the enemy. People will flatter us. They will come to us with feigned sincerity.
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Some will even appear to be Christians. As our brother Sam, I was speaking to him a few weeks ago.
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He reminded me some people who seem like close friends today. Will be the Judas's of tomorrow.
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And this is what we see here. That people are going to come against Christians. That we have a real enemy in a real war.
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Against that which is good and holy and true. And of God and that which is of darkness.
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And of the devil. And we must be prepared for that. In my early
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Christian life I had an obsession. Or an obsessive interest in the persecuted church.
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As a new believer I think I've shared this story before. The very first thing the Lord did was he gave me an insatiable appetite for his word.
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I praise God for that. That is of his grace to his glory. The other thing he gave me an insatiable appetite for was to read
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Christian books. And so my one friend bought me a Christian book. It was called, I still have it on my bookshelf,
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Your God is Too Small. By Mark Buchanan who now lives I think in Three Hills or Two Hills, Alberta.
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Whichever the Christian town is. And so called Christian town anyways. And after I finished reading that book
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I wanted to read other Christian books. And my wife had The Voice of the Martyrs. DC Talk, The Voice of the
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Martyrs book one and two. On modern and ancient Christian martyrs.
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And so I remember just reading my Bible. Voraciously. And reading the book of the martyrs.
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And one of the things that I saw over and over again in these stories. Was how frequently the Chinese secret police would infiltrate the underground churches.
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They would befriend believers. They would attend Bible studies. They would try to make as many relationships as they could with the
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Christians around them. And then once they had all the intelligence that they needed. They would swiftly move in.
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And all the Christians in that location would disappear. And would go to some undisclosed jail or work camp or whatever it was.
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Sometimes for years on end. And as Christians we need to be wise to these things.
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And we must be prepared to count the cost of following Christ. Jesus said in John 15 20.
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Remember the word that I send to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me they will persecute you.
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Peter later wrote to a dispersion of persecuted Christians. In what is modern day
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Turkey. In 1 Peter chapter 4. And starting in verse 12 he said. Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.
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As though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share
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Christ's sufferings. That you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
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If you are insulted for the name of Christ. You are blessed. Because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
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But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief. Or as an evildoer or as a meddler.
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Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian. Let him not be ashamed. But let him glorify
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God in that name. So the very first thing we see in this image.
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Is this cunning trap that is set against Christ. And the same cunning traps will be set against the
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Christian in this life. And we must walk circumspectly. Walk wisely.
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Walk carefully. Walk diligently according to scripture. As I said. Even for you kids as you grow up.
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In our prayer to God. Is that you would believe in Christ. That you would be right with him.
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You must be prepared to be at odds with the world. I think it was C .T.
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Studd who said. That a living fish swims upstream. And a dead fish floats downstream.
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Well the Christian is a living fish. And we are always going to be moving against the waves of this world.
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I found an interesting story. It came to mind as I was preparing this week. The story of John Wesley that I once heard.
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If you know anything about John Wesley. John Wesley. I hope on our book table at some point.
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We'll get some John Wesley books. As well as some George Whitfield books. John Wesley and George Whitfield. I've shared this a number of years ago.
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So most of you weren't here when I shared it. But they would go. Especially George Whitfield.
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Would stand outside of the mine shafts. As the workers would come out of the mine shafts.
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And they would preach the gospel in the open air. And as the miners would stand there after a long day's work.
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They knew that the miners were really becoming affected by the gospel. When they would see that their blackened faces.
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Would have streams of skin color beneath their blackened faces.
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And John Wesley who was a contemporary of George Whitfield. He was once riding his horse along a dusty road.
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And it dawned on him that he had not been persecuted for three days. No one had thrown rocks or bricks or eggs at him.
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He had gone completely unscathed for the last three days. And it alarmed him so much that he said.
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Can it be that I have sinned? Can it be that I have backslidden? That the world is now that favorable towards me?
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And so he got down. That experience of suffering had been so normative for him.
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He got down on the ground. On his knees. And he began praying to God. And he asked God. What was going on?
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And why no one was persecuting him anymore? And as he sat there on the ground praying.
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A man. A farmer. A rough farmer on the other side of the hedge. Heard a man praying. And looked over the hedge and saw.
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This is John Wesley. And he said to himself. I will fix that Methodist preacher.
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And he picked up a rock. And tried to throw it at John Wesley's head. And it narrowly missed John Wesley.
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And as he got up from his praying. He rejoiced. He said. Thank God. It is alright. I still have his presence.
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Such is the experience of the Christian. And if you're not experiencing that. Woe to those.
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Who that all the world think favorably of them. We will experience opposition just as Christ did.
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Now. Getting back to our text. And answering the kids question. How will Christ respond to this cunning trap?
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We're going to see in verses 15 through 17. But knowing their hypocrisy.
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He said to them. Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius. And let me look at it.
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And they brought one. He said to them. Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him.
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Caesar's. Jesus said to them. Render to Caesar. The things that are
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Caesar's. And to God. The things that are God's. So we see a cunning trap.
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Here I want us to see. An uncompromising answer. Coming from Christ.
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An uncompromising answer. Verse 15 tells us that Christ. As very
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God incarnate. Immediately. Recognized the scheme. Mark tells us that Christ was aware of.
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He uses the word hypocrisy. And what this word means. What it meant then. Was to play a part.
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To pretend. It was used idiomatically. Like we might call someone. Who is two faced.
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Or double minded. And Christ recognized. These Pharisees were exactly that.
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They were compromised. Pretenders. And what they were asking. Wasn't true.
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And the way they were behaving. Wasn't reflective of who they were. And so asking for a denarius.
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In verse 16. Christ put it to the people. And said. Whose likeness. And inscription.
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Is on this denarius. Now you can. I found this interesting.
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Nicole and I once had a pastor. Who had a denarius. Coin ring.
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On his finger. And he often. Reasoned and said. Perhaps this was the denarius.
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That Christ held up in his hand. I'm not sure. But I was curious. You can still find these.
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Denarius online. If anyone wants to go in with me. On eBay. They are about $600. That's by my estimation.
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That's maybe depending on. How much you make. Two, three, four days wages. Not one days wage.
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But a denarius. At least in Christ's day. Was a silver Roman coin.
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Bearing the image. Of Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius Caesar was the Caesar. At that particular time.
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And on it. Had the Latin inscription. Tiberius Caesar. Divi. Augusti.
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Filius. Augustus. Which means. Tiberius Caesar. Augustus. Son of the divine.
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Augustus. If you were to hold that coin. In your hand. And then. Flip it over. You would see an image.
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Of Tiberius Caesar's mother. Livia. And the Latin phrase. Pontifex Maximus.
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Which means. High priest. Now just a look. At that denarius coin.
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Would give us some. Major insight. Into the. The pagan. Roman beliefs.
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Of Christ's day. And even. At that time. As he held that coin. This was a reflection.
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Of the Roman. Imperial cult. Which insisted. On. Caesar worship.
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The worship of. Roman emperors. And their families. As divine beings. This. This first began.
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When Julius Caesar was killed. In AD 44. And Rome declared him.
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To be divine. And then in the. Years that followed. This. Roman imperial cult. Only escalated.
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In it's godly. Godless. Worship. The worship of fallen man. And it's demands.
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This is an important detail. It's demands. Of allegiance. To these.
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False gods. And so. In Christ's day. Augustus Caesar. Was worshipped. As deity. That was.
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Tiberius Caesar's father. And his. Stepson now. Tiberius Caesar. Was understood. As the pontifex.
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Maximus. The. The high priest. Of Rome's. Royal religion. And his mother.
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Olivia. Would soon be recognized. As the. Roman deity. Of peace. The goddess. Of the
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Pax. Romana. So. This is what this. Small. Silver.
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Roman coin. Represented. If you'll let me go on. A brief tangent. I think there's.
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Some really important. And helpful information. That. Looks ahead. At what is to come.
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History tells us. That. The worship of the Roman emperor. And the subsequent. Persecution.
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Of Christ's people. Would. Ramp up. And up. And up. And up. Eventually. We see
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Domitian. Around the. The end. Of the first century. And then up to. 250. A .D. 250.
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When the Roman emperor. Decius. Would decree. That all people. In the Roman empire.
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All people. For the exclusion. Of the Jews. Who had a special. Pardon. You could say.
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Were required to participate. In what was called. The supplicatio. And what the supplicatio.
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Was was this. It was. The offering. Of a sacrificial. Pinch. Of incense.
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To the Roman deities. This pinch of incense. Was to be offered. On an open fire.
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To the Roman gods. In an effort. Both to seek. Their favor. And to strengthen. The national resolve.
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Of the Roman people. And so what would happen. Is this. This. Convoy. Would come.
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Into your town. If you lived. In ancient Rome. Perhaps you're. A Christian. Working.
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In a carpenter shop. Or something like that. And you hear that. The Roman magistrates.
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Are in town. So that everyone. Can conduct. Their supplicatio. What would you do.
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As a Christian. In ancient Rome. Do you offer. A pinch of incense. To Caesar. As a worship.
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As an act of worship. To their god. Or gods. The emperors. Or do you remain.
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Faithful. As a Christian. What would happen. Is these. These convoys.
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Would come through. And to ensure. That every single. Participated. In this pagan practice.
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A Roman magistrate. Would carefully. Supervise. Each. Sacrifice.
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An issue. What was called. Libla. Libla. TC. A certificate.
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Of compliance. And the certificate. Granted. A person. Safety. And allowed them to continue.
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To live. To work. And to provide. For their families. But what this did.
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For the Christian. Children. Think about this. Think about this. What you would do. In ancient Rome. Adults.
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Think about what you would do. In ancient Rome. This created a massive. Dilemma. For those faithful men.
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And women. Who were. Unwilling to compromise. And to offer. A pinch. Of incense.
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Of worship. To these false gods. They were charged with. Sedition. And sentenced. To death.
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And this declaration. Was so demanding. On Christians. In particular. That some historians.
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Looking back. Have even wondered. If Decius. Instituted. The supplicatio. Specifically.
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To torment. Christians. These Christians. Were. By biblical standards. A peace loving people.
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They were content. To pay. Their denarius. To Caesar. They wanted. To live. Quiet.
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And faithful lives. In the fear of God. They were happy. To render to Caesar. That which was Caesar's.
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But they refused. To give. To Caesar. That which was God's. And so.
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What happened. Is this. W .A. Criswell writes. He said. When the Romans. Invited. The Christians.
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To place. Jesus. In their pantheon. Beside. Jupiter. And Juno.
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And Neptune. And Isis. And Osiris. The Christians. Flatly.
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Refused. Praise God. It was. He says. It was.
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And is. Christ. Alone. When the Christians were invited. To just.
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To just. Bow down. Before the Roman image. And their lives could be spared.
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When they were invited. To merely take a pinch of incense. And to put it on the fire.
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In the presence of the image of the Roman Caesar. The Christians. Many of them.
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Insisted on dying. Rather than compromising. And W .A.
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Criswell writes. I think with tremendous force. He is. He says. I am telling you. That what is the faith.
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Sorry. I am telling you. What is the faith. Of the New Testament. The faith of the martyrs.
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The faith. Of the true. Men. Of God. Through the centuries. That kind of faith.
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Is. Uncompromising. And there is salvation. In no other. There's a story in Fox's book of martyrs.
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That. Or a number of stories. During this particular period in history. That provides examples.
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It's replete with examples. Of this kind of Christian faith. And it's uncompromising nature.
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There was one particular story of a man named Nicomachus. Who was arrested by the authorities.
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And ordered to provide his pinch of incense as a sacrifice. And he said to them.
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He said. I cannot pay that respect to devils. Which is only due to the Almighty.
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And with that. The Roman magistrates lifted him onto the rack. If you know what the rack looked like.
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One was fastened by their wrists and their ankles. And you were stretched until every joint. Even your hip joints were pulled out of the socket.
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And as he was on the rack. He cried out and recanted of his faith in Christ.
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And they unloaded him off the rack. And he was so grieved by his recanting of his faith.
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That he fell down and died right there. Before the magistrates. And there was a young girl.
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Sixteen years of age. Just a little bit older. Just a little bit younger. Than some of the young people here. And she said this.
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She said. Oh unhappy wretch. Why would you buy a moment's ease. At the expense of a miserable eternity.
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And the Romans hearing this. They asked her. If she would offer her sacrifice of incense.
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And she avowed herself to be a Christian. And immediately she was beheaded for her faith. Andrew and Paul.
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Two companions of Nicomachus were stoned to death. And Faulk says. As they died. They called out to their blessed redeemer.
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He says. Many were apprehended for being Christians. And confessing the accusation true.
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They were beat with staves. Torn with hooks. And at length burned with fire. So as Jesus held up this
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Roman coin. In his divine nature. Right? Christ had two natures.
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A human nature. And a divine nature. In his divine nature. He knew what this coin represented.
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He knew what Pontifex Maximus was going to lead to. And yet without a pinch of compromise.
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Christ responded to this cunning trap. With his own brilliant and better answer.
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He navigated the minefield. He said. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And render to God the things that are
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God's. And so Christ acknowledges the legitimacy of Christian government.
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Even of taxation. Much to our woe. That we should pay taxes.
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Romans 13 teaches why we should. First Timothy 2 verses 1 to 6.
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First Peter 2. 13 to 17. One man said. Whatever makes men good
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Christians. Makes them good citizens. To the extent that they are asked to violate their faith.
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And disobey the word of God. So Christ legitimizes human government.
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At least to the extent that it doesn't interfere with Christian faithfulness. But then he makes an even more profound statement.
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When Christ speaks about the likeness of the Roman Denarius. He said. Whose likeness is on this
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Denarius? It's the same word. The Greek word icon. That if we go back into our
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Greek translations of the Old Testament. The Septuagint. It's the same word that's found in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26.
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I don't know if anybody remembers that. Genesis 1. 26. And God said.
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Let us make man in our image. After our likeness.
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The exact same word. And so what is Christ getting at in all of this? If the coin was made in the likeness of Caesar.
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By all means. Give it to Caesar. But if man is made in the likeness of God. Then all of that man should be given to God.
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He's going above and beyond. What the Pharisees and the Herodians have in mind. If Caesar wants his godless coin.
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A token of the Roman idolatrous and pagan system of government religion. Let him have it.
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But even more. Not only should people fully pay their taxes. But as image bearers of God.
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They should give themselves fully, completely and unreservedly to God. Jesus takes their puny question about silver trinkets and turns it into an opportunity to teach about the great and unswerving allegiance that is required of the people of God to the eternal
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God. And verse 17 rightly says that they marveled at Christ's answer.
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They were speechless. Now what is this whole encounter about?
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Is it really about taxes? I think for us as Christians what we take home from this is that this is a call for uncompromising devotion to God.
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This is what it means to be a Christian dear friends. It is not a lackadaisical affair.
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It's not a tentative approach to the living God. It is giving all that belongs to God and that bears the image of God.
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Our very persons back to God. It is taking that which belongs to Him.
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Our very lives and giving it in service to Him. Some people want here and I think here in this room even.
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Some of you want to give a pinch of your life to God. God doesn't want a pinch of your life.
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He wants and commands and demands all of your life. Every bit of it.
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Jesus called these men hypocrites, pretenders. That is what they are. But let us also put off pretending.
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Put off double mindedness and give ourselves wholly to the task of living unto
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Christ. Titus 2 verses 11 to 14 says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great
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God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works.
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Men, we've been talking about it in our men's group, how God wants our sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
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That's what Christ is teaching here. And I ask you, I ask you plainly, does he have it?
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Does God have your sincere and pure devotion? Does he have your will?
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Does he have your life? Does he have everything? Now that in and of itself was not enough to scare away
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Christ's detractors. And so what we read in verse 18 is this, verses 18 to 23,
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And the Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question saying,
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Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man dies, sorry, if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
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There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and when he died, left no offspring. And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring.
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And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman also died.
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In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For she had seven, sorry, for the seven had her as a wife.
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So we've seen a cunning trap. We've seen this uncompromising answer. And now I struggle with the title of this.
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It doesn't so much matter. But here we see an ignorant elite, an ignorant elite. This is the only instance where Christ has a one -on -one, personal, exclusive encounter with the
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Sadducees. And what we see here is that they come with their own foolish question, laced in flattery.
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Teacher, Moses wrote to us about this. And so we've talked about the
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Pharisees. We've talked about the Herodians. I want us to talk about the Sadducees for a moment. The Pharisees, it's interesting, you can still see some of these contrasts in our theological debates today.
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Maybe you can pick some of them out. But the Pharisees believed in divine sovereignty. And the Sadducees affirmed human free will.
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So the Calvinist Armenian controversy has gone on a lot longer than the Apostle Paul. The Pharisees believed in angels and demons, where the
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Sadducees did not. The Pharisees accepted a broader canon of Scripture. The Torah, the first five books of the
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Old Testament, the history books, the prophets, the writings, and even some oral traditions.
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Whereas the Sadducees only received and believed in the Torah, that first five books.
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And because of this, the Pharisees affirmed the resurrection of the dead, while the Sadducees expressly denied it.
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And we see Paul bringing that about when he was arrested in Jerusalem near the end of the book of Acts.
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When he said, I am here because of my claim in the resurrection of the dead. And immediately, you see the line draw between the two groups, the
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Pharisees and the Sadducees. What Josephus tells us is that of all of the religious elites in Christ's day,
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Sadducees occupied the highest seat in the Jewish upper echelon.
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They were the high society men of wealth and of rank. It was the high priest who came from the
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Sadducees. And depending on how you look at it, it was the Sadducees who were the theological liberals of Christ's day.
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Save their basic interest in the Torah or the Pentateuch, they were quick to reject supernatural and spiritual realities, all those that surrounded them and that awaited them after death.
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They believed that at death, the human soul was annihilated because they refused to accept the whole host of scriptures, the scriptural proofs from the prophets and the wisdom literature.
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They denied any suggestion that men would receive future, eternal rewards or punishments after death.
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And so to reach this conclusion, they couldn't accept anything other than the first five books of the
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Old Testament. And so they glossed over passages like Isaiah 26 verse 19, your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise.
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There's more there, but I'll leave it there. Daniel 12 in verse 2 is another example. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt, to shame and everlasting contempt.
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So not only was this view contrary to the scriptures, but it was contrary to the popular understanding of the resurrection in Christ's day.
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The Jewish Mishnah is an example, the written form of the oral writings that would have been in play in Christ's day, says that whoever denies the resurrection of the dead has no share in the world to come.
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And so Christ speaks about this resurrection. See, the Jews, the Pharisees, the larger group, they would have believed in a place called
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Sheol, which literally means no land. We see it 65 times in the
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Old Testament. And it's most commonly referred to as simply the place of the dead.
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In that Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, it's called Hades.
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And it was generally understood as a neutral place. But over time, what began to happen is the development of this understanding to the point that many of the
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Jews then began to refer to another place called Abraham's lap, or Abraham's bosom, which was a place removed from or positive, more separated from the general place of Sheol.
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But what was the general understanding, again, was that there was a resurrection of the dead.
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Nevertheless, the Sadducees rejected both of these concepts. And this appears in their questionnaire.
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And so they introduced this far -fetched, what I would say is an incredible scenario, where one man and his six brothers marry this woman one after the other after the other.
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And here, what they're doing is appealing to the Levirate marriage laws. I'm not going to get into it, but Genesis 38, we might remember
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Judah's sons and Tamar. We see that in Genesis 38, verses 8 to 10.
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In Deuteronomy 25, verses 5 and 6, it says, If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside of the family to a stranger.
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Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
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And the first son whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
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And so while this may have seemed like a strange practice in the nation of Israel, it was actually a very merciful practice.
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It allowed that deceased man's name and progeny or a family heritage to carry on through the firstborn son of his brother.
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And it also was a great mercy and a grace to the widow who was cared for, not neglected or abandoned.
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But what the Sadducees do here is they manipulate this gracious and this kind law in order to condemn
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Christ. Now one commentator summarizes it quite neatly. He says,
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The Sadducees' question is a brilliant artifice designed to explode what they consider the superstition of life after death.
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In the minds of the Sadducees, simple wit and common sense are sufficient to reduce the idea of the resurrection to an absurdity.
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In the Sadducees' mind, this forced Christ into an impossible scenario. Agree with them and deny the resurrection or affirm resurrection and suggest that the woman must now live in a sinful, eternal, polygamist marriage in the afterlife with her seven husbands.
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And as we've already seen, Christ is more than able to sufficiently navigate these seemingly impossible questions.
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But what this reflects is this. Not only are those who defy and who resist
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Christ, not only are they going to defy and resist God's people, but they're going to defy, they're going to resist, and they're going to be ignorant of God's word.
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So we should not be surprised when those same ones who accuse us and oppose us and resist us are the same ones who twist
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God's word to their own benefit, who take what they want, like the Thomas Jefferson Bible, to take the parts of the
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Bible they want and to cut out the rest. We should not be surprised by that.
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But now what Christ responds with in these last three verses, it's what I've entitled an informed devotion.
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What's Christ going to do with these ignorant elite who reject most of God's word? It says this, but knowing their hypocrisy.
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Oh no, wrong section. I said verse 24. Jesus said to them, is this not the reason you are wrong?
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Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
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And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the books of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him saying,
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I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but the
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God of the living. You are quite wrong. So in verse 24, this informed devotion,
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Christ points out that the Sadducees are wrong. That word for wrong means actually that they are deceived, that they are led astray.
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In modern language, you might say they are lost. They don't know up from down.
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They claim to see, but they are blind. They claim to be wise, but they are fools. And the reason why they are lost,
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Jesus tells us, is because they know neither two things, neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
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Now this was a bold condemnation of the Sadducees. If you can put yourself in their shoes for a moment.
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This was after all, for the Sadducees, their calling and their office to be experts of God, and to be experts in God's word.
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They were to be the teachers of the teachers, but Christ is unflinching in calling out their error.
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The way I picture this today, imagine the boldness it would take. I remember when
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President Trump was diagnosed with COVID, and they had his team of doctors in their white lab coats, all standing for press conferences every day to give an update.
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It would be like walking up to the president's team of doctors and say, move aside, I've got this covered man.
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I know more medicine than you. I know what he needs. I'll deal with this. Experts, the best doctors probably in the whole country, caring for the doctor.
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And in this case, Christ goes up and says, you're wrong. You're an error.
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You do not know medicine. It would be like going into the Pentagon, if they let me in through the front door, and speaking to the five -star generals in the war room, where the lights are off, and you've got the video screens everywhere, and schooling them on war theory and battlefield strategy.
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Who was this man? And what he says is this, there is a resurrection.
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And when believers are raised from the dead, their new existence is going to transcend every human relationship.
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Like the angels, only not angels. Believers will not marry or be given in marriage, but the nature of their relationships will be altogether different.
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They're going to be spiritual and eternal beings. And what's really interesting actually is that Christ adopts the books that they recommend, or that they would acknowledge as being canonical, is a better way of putting it.
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So when Christ goes to make a case, he doesn't go to the passages that I just read in Isaiah, or in Daniel.
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He says, you're an expert in the Torah, let's go to the Torah. And he takes them to Exodus chapter 3, in verse 6, when
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Moses stood before the burning bush, and God said to Moses, I am the God of your father, the
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God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, men that had long since died. And what
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Christ appeals to here, we're not going to get to dig into it too much, is the present and ongoing relationship that God has with these three ancestors of Israel.
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John MacArthur says, John was underscoring the personal and perpetual covenantal relationship that God established with these three patriarchs.
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Even though all three were dead when God spoke to Moses, God was still their
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God, just as much as when they were alive on earth, and more so in that they were experiencing eternal fellowship with him in heaven.
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And what I want to focus on here, for just our last few minutes together, is this idea of having informed devotion.
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God wants us to be wholly devoted to him. Devoted without compromise.
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And yet at the same time, he also wants us to be devoted in an informed way.
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When we look at Christ's words to the Sadducees, where he said, this is your problem, you know neither the power of God, sorry, not the scriptures, nor the power of God, in verse 24.
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It made me think, what a condemnation. What would it be like if Christ were to come here for an hour and give each of us one minute of his time?
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Based on the number, maybe he could give us two minutes of his time. The first one -on -one, just as the
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Sadducees are having with him now. And he said to you, you know neither the word of God, nor the power of God.
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What a condemnation. Would he say that about us? Would he say that about you?
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As I was thinking and praying on this week, I thought about the proverb, Proverbs 6 verses 6 to 8.
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The writer says, go to the ant, O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.
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Without having any chief officer or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer, her food, and gathers her food in harvest.
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I just think that for so many of us, we are like ants today. We're busy, we're busy.
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We're going here, we're going there. We're coming, we're doing everything under the sun, but we're not gathering food.
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And we're not gathering food for our own souls. There's a famine in the land.
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A famine of biblical truth in the land. And for many of us, there's a famine for biblical truth in our souls.
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Christ said that the Sadducees did not know the scriptures. What an indictment. And it makes me think, if someone were to follow us around carefully, how many would have a difficult time saying that our life reflects this truth that man does not live by bread alone, but every word, excuse me, that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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We have our Bibles. We have more Bibles than ever. We have better translations of the Bible than ever.
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But oftentimes, these Bibles sit on our bookshelves like expensive decorations. The Bible has, for some, become a leather -bound paperweight with gold -gilded pages.
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Brothers and sisters, do we know our Bibles? Would Christ say of us, the best thing about you is that you know scripture and you know the power of God as a result.
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But most of us do not know the word of God. And so we are famished, even in our understanding of the power of God.
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We don't pray much because we don't read much. We don't read much because we don't know God much. Here, Christ gives us some of the, what you might call the attributes of scripture.
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We've heard about the attributes of God. What are the attributes of scripture? I use an acronym, SCAN. The sufficiency, the clarity, the authority, and the necessity of scripture.
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E .J. Ironside said about this passage, she said, Surely nothing should have a more solemnizing effect on us as we remain in this world than the knowledge that this life is only a prelude for that which is to come.
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Life after death will last forever. And not only that, I'm going to hop over that a little bit, but to be prepared for that life by the word of God.
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I used John Wesley before, a quote from him briefly. I love John Wesley's love for scripture.
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He says this, I want to know one thing, the way to heaven, how to land on that safe and happy shore.
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God himself has condescended to teach us the way. For this and he came from heaven.
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He hath written it down in a book. I love this expression.
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It comes to my mind frequently. He says this, he's written it down in that book.
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And he says, Oh, give me that book. Oh, give me that book of God.
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John Piper said, God wrote a book that changes everything. And he has. Charles Spurgeon said,
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Oh, that I might get it into my, the very heart, get into the very heart of the word of God.
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And that that word would get into ourselves. As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf and consume it.
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So we ought to do with the word of the Lord, not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it until we have taken it into our inmost parts.
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He says, until at last you come to talk in scriptural language and your very fashion is styled upon scriptures models.
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And what is better still, your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord. I'm sure we've met people like that.
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And it's such a challenge to us. It's just as if every word that comes out of their mouth is some paraphrase of scripture.
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I think I want to be like that man where the wisdom of God is just pouring out of me.
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When people spend time with you, do they say that man, I love spending time with that man because he is saturated with God's word.
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It is just coming out of every pore and it challenges me to be a better Christian. When people spend time with you young ladies, do they say,
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I love being with that sister. She is full to the brim with the word of God and it comes out of every part of her speech.
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I'm often challenged by Martin Lloyd -Jones. One of his closest friends said that whenever he spent time with Lloyd -Jones, after going away, he had a profound sense that he was in the very presence of God.
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Not that Lloyd -Jones was God himself, but that Lloyd -Jones was so near to God that to be with Martin Lloyd -Jones was to be with God.
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Some of us might accuse me, not anyone else, but accuse me of quoting Charles Spurgeon too often.
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One thing I'm grateful for is how frequently Charles Spurgeon quoted John Bunyan. About John Bunyan he writes this, he said,
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I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean, speaking about the silkworm eating up the leaf as we ought to eat the word of God.
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He says, read anything of his and you will see that it is almost like reading the
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Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with scripture and though his writings were charmingly poetic or full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his pilgrim's progress, the sweetest of all prose poems, without continually making us feel why this man is a living
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Bible. Prick him anywhere, his blood is Bibline. The very essence of the
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Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text for his very soul is full of the word of God.
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Dear friends, would that we would be devoted to God and would that we would be devoted to God in an informed way according to the scriptures.
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That we would be rich in the word of God and that each of us would be rich in the word of Christ.
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Rich, that's what it says in Colossians 3 .16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another.
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That's not just one man teaching the group, one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your heart to God.
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It's through the word of God that we are made wise for this life. It's through the word of God, children and those of you who do not believe in Christ, that we are made wise for salvation.
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So that is my exhortation to you. Let us be devoted to God wholly and fully and to be devoted to him wholly and fully in an informed way.