Well, I invite you to turn this morning in the Gospel, the Matthew, to chapter 22. We're working through this book, and today we come to Matthew chapter 22. Last time we looked at paying taxes to Caesar, and this time we have a conflict with the Sadducees over the resurrection. This is found on page 984 in the Bibles that are in front of you. We'll be looking at verses 23 through 33 of Matthew chapter 22. This is the word of the Lord.
The same day, Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her."
But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: i am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of jacob He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
There will end the reading of God's Word.
Well, beloved in the Lord, the Gospels are remarkable in how they capture the many ways that Jesus combated unbelief of the peoples that were before him. And I think what you find is that as you read these accounts and as you study them carefully and closely, you find that not much is different in our day. A lot of the same arguments and same things that Jesus faced are were set in front of him are set in front of us. And probably one of the greatest attacks that Jesus faced in his ministry was by people who removed the whole idea of the afterlife. I want us to think about this today: who denied the whole notion of an afterlife? And it's important because if one can convince himself that there's there's no hereafter, they can profoundly take away and that can profoundly have an impression on what Christianity means and whether they have to take it seriously, its claims, and what this is all about, and what the message of Christianity is to people.
This is the issue before us this morning. The issue being raised with Jesus has to do with the resurrection from the dead. It's no small surprise that at the very end of his ministry as we are here nearing the end of his earthly ministry that this particular issue would come up. And I think you will see today: Jesus's answer is so profound in its simplicity. You think, "Did I miss something here?" It's a beautiful answer. It's a powerful answer that he gives that it really doesn't take too much from him to refute its denial, the resurrection's denial. It's easy for Jesus. This is so ridiculous a denial that's what you get reading the passage. But there are major implications as we walk through this, and I hope that you see by the end of this the wonderful answer of our Lord to the challenge of the resurrection. For we have hear such confidence expressed by him, such confidence about the afterlife, such knowledge of the afterlife, such knowledge as he is true and eternal God. He has full knowledge and understanding of what the next world will be. And for the believer, this is intended to be a great source of comfort. This passage it's intended to really comfort us in seeing the confidence of our Lord in explaining, with just a little bit of detail, what we can expect and what it will be like of this glorious resurrection glory that's coming.
We have here if you're a note taker we have it very simply: the plot against him, the question to stumble him, and the answer that silences him, than them, right? So that's sort of similar to the very uh outline that we had last time with the political issue that the Pharisees had raised. But we have this plot that is against him, the question to stumble him, and then the answer that silences them.
I want us to recall just for a minute where we are in this particular section of Matthew 22. I've slowed down a bit because I think it's important to capture and see the development of what Matthew is doing here. We are in Passion weak He is soon to die. He is going to the cross. We've already been through the triumphal entry, and he himself will rise from the dead. What we have here, I believe, our last arguments made against jesus he said this is the best they're going to throw at him at the end. This is their last attempt before taking up sword or handing him over to the Romans. This is their last attempt to catch him with certain things. And that's what this this captures.
You'll remember that there were three parables that preceded this parables that had just been spoken about them and to them. Pharisees knew that. And in each one of those parables that we looked at, Jesus captured the hardness of their hearts that they would not respond all throughout history to all of these efforts by God himself throughout history to call them to enter the kingdom. You think of uh the end of Romans 9 and 10: "All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and a contrary people." All these calls came: "Enter the kingdom. Enter the kingdom. Come." And Jesus was calling people to himself: "Come to me for eternal life." But they would not come. And in that one parable of the vineyard, they ended up as Jesus captured they would do to him: casting out the owner of the vineyard's son and killing him. All beforehand capturing his own story.
But Jesus had aims. Jesus had aims. It was, in a sense, last call through these parables for them to come before the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a nation bearing the fruits. Remember, we looked at all that. But they weren't listening. They weren't listening to Jesus.
So what we have then following the three parables are strategically three attacks. And they correlate three attacks: one from the Pharisees, one from the scribes, and then one from a lawyer. And those three attacks came in the form of a political attack to engage him in the politics of the day to catch him in a trap, a theological attack which is where we are today and then next time, a moral attack. So Jesus is dealing with these three assaults on him. And the first, remember, was political. They tried to elevate the political over the important issues that Jesus was addressing of them to enter the kingdom. And of course, to catch him in a trap with Caesar. And we looked at that last time. But now we come to the theological.
We read in verse 23: "The same day you can't help but to think this is all in correlation. They're working together, right? Same day. The Sadducees came to him who say there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question. What an insertion to begin this: a religious group in Israel, one of the religious known leaders of Israel, was known for the fact that they denied the resurrection. What a thing to be known for! What a thing to try to defend! Of all things to be known for this was where they hung their hat: on the resurrection. there is no resurrection
We don't know a lot about the Sadducees. Josephus gives us some indication about them. But here's what we do know: the Sadducees were indeed a sort of upper and economic echelon of Judean society meaning they were the elites. They were extremely wealthy. They looked down on the Pharisees as not as great because of their wealth that they had acquired. They were the nobles in Israel, if you will. They were the big names. They were the ones who courted.
And unlike the Pharisees, the separate ones, these guys would spend time with the political leaders. They would use the political leaders. They would work with the political leaders of the day, infuriating the Pharisees because they were tidy with Rome. But they had a massive theological disagreement with the Pharisees over the resurrection of the dead and angels. They denied the afterlife. They said there is no afterlife. This is it. This is it.
This is what I said last time. It's helpful to get into some of the psychology of unbelief. There's way more to this. There's way more to this. The reason Jesus was hated by them. Now think of our day as we sort of work through some of this the reason that Jesus was hated by them had everything to do with his popularity with the people. But especially as he pressed people on the afterlife. He pressed people on the afterlife. he talked frequently about the afterlife. and that's not all he talked about in the afterlife you'll remember the shocking ending of the last parable, and I've tried to draw out and say: notice what people do. Jesus gives the absolute most important issue of life for people to wrestle through and to think through. And there they are coming at him, raising and elevating politics, and then denying this thing and trying to catch him with the law.
Here's the end of the last parable: "There was one who tried to enter the great marriage feast of the son without a wedding garment on. Jesus said, when the king came in to look at the guests This is a big picture of the grand feast, the marriage feast of the Lamb. he comes in and He looks at the guests he saw there a man who had on no wedding garment. And he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? Clearly this was capturing the consummated kingdom, the end of history. And he was speechless. Then the king said to his attendants, "Bind him, hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
Now, I can't get away from that: was the end of the third parable. And this is what they're coming to him with. That's the most important issue of life. That's what everyone has to think through: Where are you going? How are you going to make it into the kingdom on that day before this righteous king? Jesus said there will be people outside on the last day suffering eternal punishment because they have on no garment.
Now, that would have infuriated the Sadducee. What was the message that Christ brought? If there is indeed an afterlife, and that is the only way to escape what he just described was to come to him for eternal life, to find truth and light and life through him. And receiving him as the Messiah meant then that that has a direct bearing on where one goes in that afterlife. And with that comes the message that there is one of two places where people go in the afterlife.
If there is anything that repulses people to the message of Christianity, it's right here. You could imagine the effect on a religious group of people who lived for wealth, who lived for the pleasures of this age: "Why would I want to have an afterlife when I can achieve it all now?" Now, that's about as important for our day as it was for them.
Imagine if you could convince yourself that none of this is true. Think about that. Imagine if you could come to a belief system and in your own mind simply say, "You know, I just believe this thing away. And therefore, automatically, it's canceled." That's quite a denial, isn't it?
He's put eternity in all of our hearts. You can suppress that in unrighteousness, but it's written there. We all know it: there's more to come, there's more to come.
Now in our day, it's a little bit different than the Sadducees on this point. Very rare is the person you know, I go to street evangelism, and very rare, even among the afflicted and the poor and the homeless very rare do I find people who say, "You know, i'm i'm not I don't believe in this judgment thing, but I do believe I'm going to heaven when I die." I find that all the time. I rarely meet anyone who thinks they're not going to heaven. What Hollywood star thinks they're not going to heaven?
And this is where I think you have to get behind the reasoning of the Sadducees for denying the resurrection just for a moment. You have to get behind it. A core teaching of the Sadducees was that the soul is not immortal and there is no afterlife. And quoting Josephus: "They denied the whole idea of punishment and rewards of the underworld," end of quote, "saying they're all done away with." Now, that's a big issue for our day, for Christianity. It's one of the, I think, great difficulties for people to simply listen to what's being said about what the claims of Christ are and why Jesus is pushing us on this point.
If you can actually get somebody to just sit down and listen to what's being said and what is really good news in the midst of this, instead of automatically out of the gates denying it and walking away saying, "I'm done with this, you still end up with the problem. It's either true or it's not. And our sort of intellectual denial of it doesn't cancel it.
This smacks of the sort of late postmodernism of our times that simply says, "Whatever I believe is the truth of the matter." And like them, if we can remove from the thought process that there are consequences for the life that we live in the here and now in the afterlife, then if you can remove that, You can go on with your way, you can go do whatever you want to do. And you can live and do whatever you want to do, and that means absolutely nothing. You're just some sort of annihilationist.
And that's where a lot of people are functionally living. Most people live with the mindset: "I will it, therefore it's not." And then I say, "Do you will that you will not die? Not one of you can do that." So we put it out of our minds, even make a doctrine that such a dreadful idea is not true.
And so the reasoning is, for the Sadducees, that I can justify my life in the present. And you see, both tactics remove the reality of Jesus' teaching in the scriptures on the matter: sin has caused great separation from God, and a resurrection's coming. But their denial of the resurrection was a farce. It was a smokescreen to deny the real truth of what Jesus taught: that a judgment day is coming. And that you will either rise to eternal life or, John 5, Jesus said, eternal condemnation.
And you're not going to hear that today much, because this is where people think that offense will drive people away. And I say, "No, no, no. If they'll just sit and listen, they're going to hear the best news ever coming. resurrection, if there's a resurrection, it requires people to ask: What am I rising to? Where am I going? Eternal life or eternal judgment?"
And you see, if you come to Jesus, I've got really good news. He'll forgive your sins, and he promises you eternal life. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father who makes it to heaven except through me." But let's look at them for a minute. Let's listen to them for a minute and see what people do.
This is, this is just what people do right now. Uh, those truths have been presented to us. And here's where we get with people. And they asked him a question: "Teacher, saying, teacher Moses said, "If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother." Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. So to the second and third down to the seventh all of them after them all the woman died. You can hear him zero it in. the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her
Now the Sadducees were conservatives. They weren't the Pharisees would been viewed by them as more progressive because they had their traditions. The Sadducee says, "We just listened to Moses." So they relied on Moses. And they go to Deuteronomy 25 in the Old Testament, and which said, "If a woman has a husband who dies, she must not marry outside the family. And his brother must marry her to carry forward the name." If he refuses to do that, the brother the woman, and I quote Deuteronomy 25, "could come to the elders and quote, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face, and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line." That man's line shall be known in Israel as the family of the unsandled I don't think you'd ever want to have that name. You are the family of the unsandled
Now they take that, and they present this scenario: seven brothers. First took a wife, he dies, left no offspring. Second took her, he dies, leaving no offspring. The third does likewise. Get all the way to the seventh, no offspring. Last all of all the woman dies. Here it is: in the resurrection, when they all rise again, whose wife will she be? For the all seven had her.
To which you say, "Give me a break! They're making this thing up! When have you ever heard of a scenario like that?" I mean, it's like saying, "The law says I shouldn't work on the Sabbath, and I take that to mean I shouldn't change a tire on the Sabbath. Then, pastor, right? And if it happens on the way to church, when I see someone out on the side of the road, that I see one tire pop. No, no, I don't see one tire. I see two tires popped. I see three tires popped. No, I see all four tires popped. Does that mean I should get out and change the tire and miss church?" The issue is not the tire or the neighbor. The issue is the Sabbath. You've attacked it. You've attacked the Sabbath.
They don't care about the neighbor. "If all seven brothers marries her and has no children, in the resurrection when they rise up, that stupid thing you believe, the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her. Gotcha." This is what he's dealing with. They're ridiculing the resurrection.
Now, at this point, I think it's important to see how Jesus handles this. How do you handle that kind of unbelief, right? The issue is not even, for them, the resurrection. Notice they didn't raise: why these men didn't raise children for her? Seems pretty disobedient. Remember Onan? You can read the story. They don't want to think that any of their actions of marrying or divorcing or anything in this life have any consequences. So Jesus' first words:
You ready for the rocket science answer to all this? "You're wrong."
Maybe that's just where we need to start with people today. That's the last thing we refuse to tell anyone anymore. You're wrong. Period. That's the kind of courage, I think, that's first needed. You're wrong about this. You have a choice here: either the resurrection will happen or it won't. Both cannot be true. And the claim of Jesus is the resurrection's coming. So I love his answer. It's not the reason you're wrong. As he takes it further: "Is because you don't know the scriptures or the power of God?"
What a response! To these educated elite, to the doctors, to the great theologians of the time: "You don't know your Bibles. Nor do you believe God even has the power to do this."
And beloved, that right there is what unbelief comes down to those two things: you don't know your Bibles, and you don't believe in the power of God. What you're testing me with is this: "It's clearly because you don't believe." And let me tell you, the source of all unbelief is no understanding of the scriptures and no ability to accept that God has the power to raise the dead. Did he not constitute us from dust? How did that happen? And Moses explained this perfectly.
If you look at the confidence here, notice he says, "When they rise, is the emphasis here, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels." That's a dig, for sure. They didn't even believe in the angels. Oh, the angels exist! They're doing very well up there, by the way, completely fulfilled. There's nothing in what in heaven. There's nothing in what in resurrection glory. There's nothing that needs completed in resurrection glory.
Marriage was given, as you all know, because it was not good for man to be alone, so he created a helper suitable for him. But in the afterlife, you don't need that. Did not the Old Testament always make clear: "Whom have I in heaven but you? None that I desire on earth except you." Desire is fulfilled in glory. The angels enjoy the bliss of glory and resurrection glory. They enjoy that glory. They know that understanding of it. They are enjoying something far beyond you could ever ask or imagine.
I love what R.C. Sproul once said: "If you could use your imagination and try to think of the greatest possible experience that you will have in heaven and multiply the joy you will feel in that moment by a million times, you still will not have begun to appreciate what God is preparing for people in heaven." This is awesome. Our existence will be completely fulfilled with joy, far exceeding that which the marriage relationship provides in a fallen world for us as a good blessing of God. So don't miss it.
They are so worldly. They're so living for this life. They don't want the resurrection. They're so unbelieving. They don't believe God has the power to do it. And then Jesus drives it home with this: "Since you appeal to Moses, I'm going to do that too. Have you not read what was said at the burning bush?" This is where he takes it. You're going to love this.
How did God speak to Moses at the burning bush? "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses, they've been dead for hundreds of years by that point. If they just expired and became nothing, how could God say that? Is that what you believe? You do, because you have no understanding of what we call a satiety of God" or the self-existence of God. I am who I am. I am eternal. I'm the unchanging one who has no beginning or end. I am the source of life, all life. And he speaks to Moses, presently, saying, "I still am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Now, what does that mean? This is the most beautiful truth for all of you today. They're still living. They're alive. They're not dead.
What a comfort. I see many of you mourn, and I know many of you are still mourning the sudden loss of loved ones. And it's painful. And he says the same to you today: "I am their God. I am their God. I am who I am."
Remember at the death of Lazarus? "Whoever believes in me, though he dies, he lives. And whoever believes in me shall never die." You stop and you say, "That is either a liar or lunatic, right?" He just said they don't die. They're immediately with Him, awaiting resurrection glory. The children of God are never truly dead, beloved. Your loved ones who've died in the Lord. They're with the Lord. They're alive. He's the God of them too. They're fulfilled. For in death, there's no remembrance of you. And Sheol, who will give you praise? But he does not leave our souls in Sheol." If that's true, they're alive. And that will most certainly be in the final resurrection as he returns and gives us resurrected bodies because he is the God of the living.
And he's making everything new. And why does that matter? Because, well, death can't hold him. He is about to die by their hands. And he is about to rise triumphant. And if he rises triumphant, then everything is put under his feet. And everyone has to do with him. And good news he publishes from the throne today since he's risen indeed. That's why we celebrate the resurrection. And that good news is: "Death, where is your sting? Death, where is your victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus our Lord."
When you are united to him and you believe in him, you don't remain in the state of death. It's impossible. That's what he's saying. It's impossible because of the aseity of God and because he loves us. By his power, when our bodies go into the grave, he is saying the resurrection, They get up. They get up. They are getting out of those graves. The bones will rattle, and they will get up.
And Jesus ends by saying, "You're most certainly wrong." And I'm glad he's willing to say it. What a tragic thing to live this life this way, as the Sadducees, living for the pleasures of this life, and to think that this is it, right? What a foolish existence!
If that's the basis of anyone's belief, then you have to say what the scriptures say: we all rise on the last day, everybody. Some to the resurrection of eternal life, and some to the resurrection of condemnation. How sad to go through a life denying what's coming when God has said it is so, only to rise on the last day to find that the thing you rejected your whole life, you were wrong. That's what Jesus said: "You're wrong." Correct it now, right?
And what a thought. Because you want to convince yourself you could live any way you want. You're not the master of your fate. Well, what a thought. What then? "I plan to do this. I plan to make lots of money in this life. I plan to seek for the good life. What then? Well, I hope to move to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, make a profit. What then? Plan to buy my dream home in Timbuktu, play golf the rest of my life. What then? Plan to hit that little ball with, you know, on the golf course with my friends. What then? It all expires."
Jesus never let anyone out of addressing the most important issues of life. And aren't you glad? We need him. And the good news is, in the resurrection, he is the resurrection and the life. And you're still living. And the good news is, beloved, if you've come to him today and you've believed in him today and you've trusted in him and turned to him by faith alone, you will know the power of God that will raise your mortal body from the grave. And even now, to be absent from the body is immediately to be in the presence of the Lord. So, as our Heidelberg says, "Our own deaths are not a punishment for our sins, but it puts an end to our sinning and is an entrance into eternal life." You have nothing to fear. Don't be like these fools. Come to Jesus today and receive grace and glory. And he promises to raise you up on the last day.
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. So choose life in order that you may live."
And that's what Jesus was saying.
Amen.
Heavenly Father, thank you for such a gift of your Son. And thank you for showing us the way. This is not it, and we're so glad. For it's such a life full of fallen sin and misery. And even along the way, you've blessed us and helped us. But eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Encourage our hearts with this. And we plead today that if any have not come, come, rest in Christ, and know the joy of forgiveness of sins and the promise of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
Amen.