I invite you to turn this morning to the Gospel of Mark, the second book of the New Testament. The Gospel of Mark as we consider the section here where the Sadducees come to Jesus about the resurrection. Remember last time the Pharisees and the Herodians came to Jesus over the taxes issue and we looked at that and now we're considering verses 18 through 27 of Mark chapter 12. this is the word of the Lord beginning at verse 18. And Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that 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. There were seven brothers. First took a wife, when he died, left no offspring. And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman also died in the resurrection. When they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife. Jesus said to them, Is this not the reason you're wrong? Because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong. There is the reading of God's Word. It's been a remarkable study to look at in this entire section, to look at this particular section before Jesus goes to the cross of what people do when they do not want to believe and they do not want to receive forgiveness and eternal life. I mean, just madness, isn't it? What's He offering here? And they just won't receive it. they just won't do it and this is not given to say that these people were different than people living today mark has been a book of tactics in some ways uh where you look at the tactics of people and last week we studied what they did to him the pharisees tried to drag him into the greatest political fight over paying of taxes to drag him into an arena outside that for which he came. And that was a complete flop for them. They tried to sideline him. They tried to drag him into the great political fight that they had for the day. There had been many of these guys that Rome had to deal with for some time. And if they could pitch Jesus as a revolutionary, as an insurrectionist in subordination to Rome, well, I mean, they had just dealt with somebody like Judas of Galilee, who was a revolutionary man and who Rome had to deal with. And if they could put him there, if they could box him in there, the goal would be to have Rome deal with him. And that's essentially the charge that they brought at his trial when they said this guy refuses to pay taxes to Caesar. And by the time it was done, Jesus had them all marveling, didn't he? He had them all marveling because he wasn't leading a revolution as they understood a revolution. He clearly was not in support of separation and rebellion from the Roman government. Corrupt even as it may have been. He said, render to Caesar what's his. Well, he has a coin in his hand that says, son of the divine Augustus. Think about that. Caesar Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus, the high priest. So there's a coin saying, that this Caesar is Lord and that he's divine and that this is his son in his hand and a high priest. And here's the son of God, our high priest. Think about the moment here. And in his hand, he says, give it to him. It's his. Whose image is on it? It's his. Give it to him. But here's a king without a coin. Remarkable, isn't it? Here's a king without a coin. and when he said render to god the things that are god's well his kingdom and his rule would be shown in an entirely different way wouldn't it made in the image of god those little coins that he was talking about were not coins that you put into a box they were made in the image of god and they should render to God the things that are God's. And that's why this passage raises in the next section the issue of love, the great commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You're made in His image. You owe that love, and you're not given it. This was all hypocrisy to drag him into the political issue, a secondary issue, when he had come to die to pay for sinners. Well, essentially, we have the same thing happening again and they are throwing all that they can at him with the goal of stumbling him it's really really a fascinating section to study of human nature and tactics as i've been saying trying to make him in this particular circumstance now look stupid look ridiculous if they can't get him politically then they are going to get him theologically we're going to get him theologically well that continues this morning and what we have here is a sort of barrage of attacks that are coming from these major religious divisions of the day and if you think things weren't divided it's always been divided in religion you have all the groups you've got them all lining up taking their shot at jesus and here are the scribes the pharisees the the sadducees the pharisees of course had lined up with the herodians which was ridiculous their enemies hellenists the sanctimonious and the sacrilegious lining up and we looked at the implications of that last time well here comes the second delegation now now this one's different switching tactics they come now to draw him into one of the the most well-known theological fights of the day it had to do with the resurrection this is going to have a great benefit for helping us understand more clearly what christ taught about the resurrection what's going to happen in the resurrection but it also and i think what is primary here is that our Lord is teaching us something about what is at stake when truth is not fought for. Jesus was constantly taking people back to the Word of God in all of these answers about the truth. And it's so important to say because as we open up this particular section this morning, what our Lord is doing for us is simply saying what you are doing with the Word of God is a matter of life and death so now we're back into the real issue aren't we the political issue they tried to drag him into and we saw how he answered that but he is he's strong here in absolute matter of factness of what is true and what is false so what they're trying to do then is marginalize him and assault him, and he is unwavering in his stance on the Word of God. So should we. We see this in the Sadducees' test, Jesus' rebuke, and then Jesus' answer to their test. They are throwing everything they can at him. He went, of course, into the temple and had cleansed it and was assaulted by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Well, who was in charge of that temple? It was the Sadducees. The first attempt came after that cleansing event and the parable was the Pharisees and the Herodians. Here come the Sadducees and in verse 18, they came to him and up front, Mark tells us what their position was on an issue so that we understand right up front what they're doing. The Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection. Big deal? Not a big deal? That's what Mark is telling us. This is their position. The Sadducees were the upper social and economic, in a sense, leaders of the Judean society. They were the elites. They were wealthy. They were the aristocrats. They were the notable guys in Israel. They were remarkable men. They were big names. They were socially dined by everyone. Rome, when they wanted to get anywhere with the people, went to the Sadducees. In fact, they looked at the Pharisees as sort of low-class, low-level leaders. They fulfilled all kinds of various political and social and religious roles in Israel. but the most important for our emphasis this morning is that they maintain the temple that's why we don't hear anything more about the Sadducees after AD 70 they were eliminated when that thing went down they were fastidious in in keeping the law and they only believed in the Pentateuch the first five books of the Old Testament they did not accept any of the rest of the scriptures just the first five books which is really important for what jesus does but there was one defining issue that set them apart from all the other religious groups and they had a massive disagreement and you can imagine when you have the money the prestige the fame the social ties the economic ties the rome ties the government ties how influential their views were you could imagine now they're running around and fighting with everyone over the issue of the resurrection they denied the afterlife they denied that even um the belief in angels they did not believe in angels which is interesting because jesus raises that so it's their turn i have no doubt because uh verse 13 said they sent to him some of the pharisees and the herodians that these guys have all lined up and are going now in their own groups delegation after delegation to get them. It's their turn. Their tactic is entirely different though, and here it comes. Here it comes. And they asked him a question saying, teacher, Moses wrote for us that 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. This was a well-known practice in Israel. The Leverite marriage laws had to do with preserving the name and the inheritance of the man who died. So it's been important all throughout the Old Testament. We saw it in Genesis when the Lord struck down Onan for not fulfilling this particular obligation, remember, in Genesis. But I want you to listen to, and you're welcome to turn there. I do think it's a fascinating verse and if anyone's sleeping, it keeps you awake. Deuteronomy 25. Just a few verses here. This is at verse 5. It's worth seeing this. This is where they are in their question to our Lord. Deuteronomy 25, verse 5. If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his wife's brother, then his wife's brother shall go up to the gate of the elders and say, My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. And if he persists, saying, I do not wish to take her. Then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders. and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And they shall answer and say, so shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. And the name of his house shall be called in Israel the house of him who had his sandal pulled off. Who says the Bible's not interesting? I mean, that is just remarkable. Some of you put clogs in your front door. You should say, if you ever put a sandal in your front door, you were a bad person in Israel, let me tell you. Now, that's the scenario. That's where it comes from. There were seven brothers. Here's the scenario. Seven of them. The first took a wife. When he died, left no offspring. The second took her and died, leaving no offspring. Happened again, a third time. And the seven happened all seven times, left no offspring. Last of all, the woman dies. Here it is. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife. How do you think that was said? In the resurrection, when they rise again. Who do you think? You feel what's happening here? It's not hard to discern. That's the most extreme story you could ever make up, of course, isn't it? I mean, we're 2016, and who has had seven husbands die and been married seven times? Well, I guess that's possible. Notice that this is what people do when they want to undermine something they don't believe, right? And then they produce the most abnormal, the most extreme, the strangest of circumstances with the goal of ridiculing it. That's what you do. You don't really believe this, do you? Let me give you a circumstance. You don't really believe this, do you? So here's how it went. Jesus, you believe in this resurrection idea. What do you do with this? Moses wrote that if that's true, that if a brother of one who has died raises up offspring, what if that never happens? And there are seven brothers who all marry her and have no child in the resurrection when they all rise up that stupid thing that you believe. Whose wife is she going to be? Gotcha. Gotcha. Feel it? You look so stupid with this view. You see how ridiculous this all is? I always like to think about tactics and what's going on here. What is the goal of this? Well, you could say it's just to make him look stupid, but I don't think that's totally it. It's definitely one of the great purposes here. but it has a greater goal here. When people are ridiculing faith and ridiculing your faith, they back you into corners with the most ridiculous of things, trying to shame you before everyone, but the goal is always to get you to do what? Compromise. Compromise your position. That's the goal. When you're being ridiculed by those who hold something that's rationally easier to hold a mainstream view that our minds can easily accept by social elites. What is the tendency? Well, faith issues are difficult to defend, aren't they? They're just that. They're faith issues. And who can be sure? Who can be sure of the resurrection? You have empirical evidence for that? Now, Jesus did say that even if one rises from the dead, they won't believe. But just go with a tactic for a moment, and you see exactly what's going on in this particular passage. What people do under this kind of pressure, what do people do when backed into corners and under this kind of pressure? You become embarrassed. The goal is to get you to soften your view. The goal is to get you to start doubting your view. If they can inject some doubts into the mind, if they can do this to question your view, what begins to happen? You soften. And you move away from the truth. This is a really big moment for Jesus, isn't it? And His humanity. Think about the test of this. With the political issue, He would say, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Could he say, in this particular situation, well, you have your view. I've got my view. We'll just agree to disagree. What does Jesus do? Did you notice twice how strong he is here? Verse 24. Is this not the reason you're wrong? And then, he ends this abruptly, and I don't think the ESV captures it very strongly here. You've made a serious error. You're quite wrong. You're quite wrong. You're really wrong. You're dead wrong. If you think Christianity is a religion where there should never be any disagreements, arguing and reasoning shouldn't happen, saying views of people are wrong if you think none of that ever should go on or doesn't or shouldn't happen you don't understand christian warfare number one you're not even close to understanding what we're involved in and you're not really listening to the jesus of the bible we live in a day where we're afraid to tell anyone they're wrong so it makes a passage like this really stand out, how many people have you said, you're wrong about your theological position? Period. Why? Well, I suppose that if you say that, you're afraid you're going to sound arrogant. And I'm sure Jesus got called everything. When you're 30 years old telling these old Sadducees that they're wrong, he got called a lot worse than that, I guarantee it. Our approach is, you have your viewpoint, I have my viewpoint, I recognize I could be wrong, maybe you're right, and we're wrong on this. Jesus doesn't do any of that. You're wrong. I wonder, if this were our day, wouldn't He say something like, well, you're wrong, but I'm really concerned that saying that you might think that I think I'm better than you. so I better tone it down. You notice what's happening with police right now? You know what they have to do? I've been watching all the videos of policemen now, and they're having to take cookies to cars. And they're having to give away gift cars and milkshakes and ice creams. You know what that's doing, of course, don't you? It's losing their authority. The consequence is that is not good for a society when all authority is gone. It's not good when we treat truth claims that way, is it? Think about the situation here. The willingness to soften your position has the effect of losing the authority with which he came with. We can't say you're wrong today. If I say that, I was reading a biography of Donald Gray Barnhouse and the writer said when she first heard him preach, he went through and he started going through all the lists of the Mormons, the Jehovah's, saying they're all wrong and she was so offended. And then she realized after time, this man really cares about the truth. That was her walk away. That was her takeaway. But if I did that today and I criticized some group and said, you know we get bent out of shape. But I think it's important to recognize this morning that it was the authority of Christ that won over the people. He spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes and the Pharisees who sat around and debated and debated and debated. And when you soften, you lose that authority of what is true. It opens the door for anything and everything else to be true. If they can't get Him by making Him look stupid, Think about it. If they get him there, he'll lose the people. And if they get him to make him look stupid by softening his view, not only does he lose the people, he then loses all influence and that's his fault. That's their tactic. Do you think we face this challenge today with different ideas out there? We've had convictions that have been held and confessed for hundreds of years. And when the reformers put them down, They weren't just believing that these were something they invented. They believed their views were very apostolic. They were recovering stuff that was lost. When you have a people who know the truth, believe the truth, stand on the truth, hold the truth, watch out. They are a force in that community. this is so important, beloved. But Satan is constantly assaulting fortresses of truth. And how? Well, we have convictions on what we do. We have convictions about worship. We have convictions about discipline. We have things that we say mark what is true and what is false. What would Satan love to do to a people who believe the truth, who've been handed the truth, who'd been given the deposit of truth, you know what he would love to do? You guys don't really believe what you're doing, do you? Why are you here? Do you really believe there's anything happening sitting in this old church? Do you really think confessing this old stuff is doing anything? Do you think singing old psalms? Come on. You guys look stupid. Feel it? Listening to sermons? You guys are a bunch of fuddy-duddy old traditionalists. Can't you see it? Stop being so rigid on your positions. Feel the constant ridicule and assault? Jesus, remember how the Pharisees came? Teacher, verse 14, we know you're true, and you don't care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Well, they are hypocrites. But they knew that about Him. They knew that about Him. He didn't put His finger up and they can do this in order to the theological popularity thing of the day. What is the popular thing to do of the day? Let's put it in the wind. Let's figure it out. See what works. You don't do that, Jesus. They knew that about Him. jesus was cast this way he spoke with authority what's right what's true you can't really have confidence in what's true right if you have confidence in what's true if he can get you pressure to begin to doubt that what you're doing and what you've been doing and what's been confessed and what's been done for thousands of years. If you can get you to doubt that, guess what happens? You fall. You lose your witness. Churches who do this are completely trying to be relevant, irrelevant. If you can't have the confidence in what you believe in Christianity to tell people that views against the truth of what we confess are wrong, you don't have a grounding to believe anything's true. And that's the path to unbelief. In fact, I remind you that before Jesus comes, He says there will be a great apostasy. Do you know what apostasy means? It means an abandonment and falling away of the truth. Think of the consequences. Look at those not standing for anything today. Where are they headed? Out. Out. Out of Christianity. Think of the consequences for a minute of no defense of God-honoring worship launches people into idolatry. No defense of doctrine and no willingness to say that views against the Trinity are wrong. Do we even know? Do we even study these things anymore? That leads people into heresy if you don't defend it. No defense of the gospel will lead people to hell. No stance on the resurrection. Well, how about Paul? Hymenaeus and Philetus swerved from the truth saying that the resurrection already happened. They were seriously wrong on the doctrine of the resurrection. And this is what Paul said. They're overturning the faith of people. Doesn't that break your heart? Overturning the faith of people. I spend time on this this morning because when the door is open to downgrade conviction, people don't turn to more conviction. If I saw that, that would be interesting, but that's not what they do. When you downgrade from conviction, you don't go in the direction of more conviction and knowing what is true and what is right and loving the Word of God. It's a slow process of exiting belief all together. That's what I want to tell the generations. When you're downgrading, when you're losing, you're losing the next generation. you're exiting them. That's why I'm not surprised that a steady approach in life of taking no stand on anything is landing you and those who you are infecting with that view in unbelief. I remember when I was a kid, my two grandmothers would argue well into the night. One was a pre-mill dispensationalist and the other was a reformed amillennialist. And they would, every Thanksgiving, it was a knockdown drag out. I mean, it was great. I would sit there for hours and listen to these two old saints fight they loved each other but they would argue and then and then and then of course the parents would come in okay okay chris don't get them started don't get them started they cared they cared they cared enough to talk about it it was rc sproul who said people who stand for nothing and argue, right? Refuse to argue about anything. Take that approach for one of two reasons. Either they don't know or they don't care. Jesus constantly got the charge of being rigid and extreme. And part of your standing for something in life right now will get you that. It will get you that. But you're not resulting, as Hebrews says, in the shedding of blood in your defense of your convictions yet in this country. You're just not. So you're called a few names. You're called a little rigid. Is that your persecution right now? Take it. You're really wrong, says Jesus. In fact, verse 28, one of the scribes was moved by this argument, listening to it. Notice what verse 28 says. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing. That's Jesus. Heard Jesus and the Pharisees disputing. The guy almost enters the kingdom off this. You're wrong. You have a choice. Either the resurrection will happen or it won't. Both are not true. Why could he say that? I love his answer. Is not the reason you're wrong because you don't know the Scriptures nor the power of God? Do you know who he just said that to? You don't know your Bibles. You don't study your Bibles. Why are you testing me with this? It's clear that you don't believe and all of your compromise as evidence of no belief and you don't really study your Bibles. Don't play up like you're studying your Bibles and you have some great conviction. You're not studying them. I know that. The Word of God, he says, has no place in your life. And therefore, you don't even know it and because there's no faith in the Word, you have no ability to accept the power of God. That's the consequence of not knowing the Word. You can't accept the faith claims of Scripture. You can't accept what is the power of God and declared that there is the resurrection. He has the power to raise the dead. All unbelief has at its root the problem that people don't love the Word and don't open the Word. What place do the Scriptures have in your life? What value do you give them? Are they God's Word to you? Believing the claims of Scripture and the Word of God is directly denied to how you will accept the power that's declared there and the promises of the Gospel. When the Antichrist comes, whatever shape that will take, when the man of lawlessness comes, you know what 2 Thessalonians 2 says? The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception and for those who are perishing. Listen, how did they get there? Because right now, in their lives, they refuse to accept, they refuse to love the truth and be saved. Your direct commitment and love for the truth right now is telling you where you'll be when these things happen. Well, you've presented these scenarios to me, says Jesus. Let's deal with it. When they rise, listen, do you see that? When they rise, they're getting up. They're getting up. When they rise, they will neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels. Sadducees didn't believe in the angels, so it's a shot. Angels enjoy the bliss of heaven, of no one. They are enjoying something beyond what we could ever, ever imagine. But you see, you err not knowing the scriptures. The scriptures teach this everywhere. you don't need marriage in heaven. There won't be marriage in heaven. Why? Well, you could go this route. I'm the husband. The bride is redeemed by my blood. You don't need something that belongs to the companionship of this existence. That's all met in complete fulfillment and glory by me. I love what R.C. Sproul says. If you use your imagination and try to think of the greatest possible experience that you will have in heaven, then 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. Our existence will be filled with so much joy, so much satisfaction, far exceeding that which the marriage relationship provides in a fallen world. If you believe the Scriptures, you'd know the whole story. And I interject this. I don't believe it was in his mind, but it might be. The story of Ruth is all about sandals, remember? Removal of sandals. Boaz would fulfill the responsibility with Ruth and that would bring forth the Christ, remember? Boaz was the distant relative that redeemed his bride. Behind this thought is, I'm the kinsman redeemer. I'm the husband of my risen bride. It's the responsibility to redeem that name, to bring them the inheritance that is promised to them. Why would you need marriage when you have the fullness of my love? But that's not how Jesus finally answers this. He wants to get to their wrong view of the resurrection. As for the dead being raised, I know you reject that. I know you think that's stupid because you don't know God's power or the Scriptures. But since you appealed to Moses, let's go there. Remember that passage about the bush? You're going to love this. How did God speak? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. When He said that to Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for a long time. If they just expired and became nothing, annihilationists, whatever they believed, if they just expired and became nothing, did you hear how God spoke, you guys? And by the way, he was the one speaking out of the bush. We looked at that. He presently spoke to them, to him. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. There most certainly will be a resurrection because God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. That means it's impossible they're dead. It's impossible they're dead. that is the most encouraging thing I've read in the Scriptures. They're alive right now. He just said they're living and their bodies are getting out of the ground. Remember that cave? Jesus would say this constantly in His ministry. He who believes in Me, even though he dies, he'll live. And whoever believes in Me, will never die. He who is the resurrection and the life was standing there. You're most certainly wrong. You're dead wrong. Aren't you glad he was willing to say that? Aren't you glad he didn't compromise the truth? Aren't you glad he passed the test? Aren't you glad he didn't take our very casual, complacent, loose approach to the truth, throw his arms around everyone and hug and say, let's just all get along. The consequence of not standing on the truth gives people a reason to believe nothing. That's why truth matters. Not just because it's true, but because people need it to be saved. What kind of people and what kind of church refuses to stand on it? A synagogue of Satan who rob people every week of the hope in the gospel. I passed by a church the other day who I know denies that Jesus is fully God. And here were all these nice people dressed up. You know what we do when we see that? Oh, who are we to say they're wrong? Are you zealous enough to love them? And to be righteously angry that false teachers have robbed them of a Savior? That's how I see it. False teachers have robbed them of a Savior. His message was one of absolute comfort and hope and assurance and the announcement of the forgiveness of sins and the everlasting life forever and ever where we'll never know any of this sorrow anymore. Here's your champion fighting the whole way for you. Look at what they're doing to him. Look at what they're doing to him. Imagine if he compromised. Drag him into a political fight to marginalize him. Drag him into a theological fight to ridicule him. What a rock he is. What a man he is. not the least bit of compromise. Either you believe the Scriptures or know the power of God or the Scriptures have no place in you and Jesus said that was the case in many. And your whole view of this thing is ridiculous. Made up by men. If it were made up by me, I wouldn't have chose any of this. But what a deadly mistake. What a deadly wrong position. There's a day of resurrection coming. And though not mentioned here, you either are going to rise to the resurrection of life or to the resurrection of condemnation. One of those two things is going to happen to you. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that I've set before you death. The blessing and the curse, so choose life that you may live. Our Lord is so wonderful. He'll not refuse anyone who comes to Him. And anyone who believes in Him, what does He say? Out of His heart will flow rivers of living water. Believe in His promises. Believe His truth. Nobody says be a jerk with it. But love people enough to tell it. And thank your Savior today that He did that for you. So that you have a place in glory already prepared for you. and He's going to come back one day to take you to be with Him. Shouldn't we thank Him for that? Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the truth of the Scriptures. And we know that it takes the working of Your Spirit to understand these things and believe these things, to bear witness with our spirit that we are sons of God. And to bear witness of Christ so that we believe these words. Give us faith, Lord. Give us strong faith. Strong commitment to the truth. We know that that's how people will be saved. In all humility may we do it. Remembering, Lord, the salvation that You give. But to have a hope and a confidence that because Your Word is true and You've given us Your Spirit as a down payment, we can know and believe these things are indeed true. This is what John said in the Scriptures, that we can know and believe. Thank You, Father, for such a gift. May we believe Your Scriptures and go out today and in love tell Your truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.