Matthew 2024

Matthew chapter 22, reading from verse 23.

That same day, the sadducees who say there is no resurrection came to him with a question. Teacher, they said, Moses told that us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were 7 brothers among us. The first 1 married and died. And since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.

The same thing happened to the second and third brother right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the 7 since all of them were married to her? Jesus replied, you are in error because you do not know the scriptures nor the power of god. At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage.

They will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead, you have not read what god said to you. I'm sorry. Have you not read what god said to you? I am the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the god Jacob.

He is not the god of the dead, but of the living. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. This is the word of god. Thank you, Kim. Good evening.

Let me add my welcome to Steve. My name is Tom. Really good to see you, and it's such a privilege to, to be open up opening up god's word, for us this evening. This morning, I was at, What what's it called? Eeling Road Baptist Church in Brentford.

And, yeah, I think it was. And, yeah, it was just, I mean, it was it was an encouraging time. We'll pray for them in a second, but, you know, there was there was 12 people there. They've got this amazing building, in Brentford, and they've got such a heart for the gospel. And they would love to have a room packed like this.

And, yeah, that just really came across meeting some of them. There was there was a bloke there who, came to know the lord last year, was baptized in in March, which is a a great encouragement. You know, they're faithfully holding out the word of god. So, we'll we'll we'll commit them to prayer shortly. But before that, do you want a brain teaser?

Yeah. You ready? How many months have 28 days? All of them. Alright.

A father and a son are in an accident. A car accident. Yeah. Yeah. You know this 1.

Alright. If you know it, don't shout it out. Okay? A father and a son are in a car accident. The father dies.

The boy is rushed to hospital. The doctor says, I can't operate on this boy. He's my son. How did this happen? Bunch of misogynists.

The doctor's his mother. There you go. Okay. Oof. Alright.

Here's the next 1. Next 1. Final 1. You ready? Yeah.

There were 7 brothers. The first 1, Marvin died. Since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother. Right on down to the seventh.

Finally, the woman died. Now then at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the 7 since all of them were married to her. That's the question. The sadducees asked Jesus that was just read to us by Kim. And, we need god's spirit to to help us understand it.

So let's come to him now together. Heavenly father, we thank you that, this is, your word your word is truth. We thank you that, Christ is king and Christ will build his church. We lift up our brothers and sisters at Eiling Road Baptist. We do pray for revitalization law.

We pray that you would bring families to to that church that you would, bless the the faithful ministry of the gospel being preached there. And we we pray for us now, as we come to your word, we pray that you would work in the fullness of power. We pray that, for I I ask for your power to speak, and I and we ask for your power to listen. We pray that you would be glorified. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, keep keep that passage out, open. The the I wanna start by by, thinking about the human heart longings for life after life. Had a song on the radio this week, with a singer, was mourning the loss of of his friend, and he talks about how he he looks up in the sky at night, and he connects the dots, and he looks the stars and he talks to his friends, and I was just really sad listening to her. We don't want death to be the end, do we? In school, we wrote best friends forever, b f f, or love you forever.

Our stories end with They lived happily ever after. Sometimes, we may hear when someone dies. It's it's people use this language, don't they? They've gone to a better place. Or we say rip.

Why wish peace on the dead if they're dead? For most of history, it's been almost impossible not to believe in life after death. Egyptians filled their tombs and and pyramids didn't aid with all kinds of things to take them through to eternity. The Greeks, I think, placed coins in their hands, in the mouth to pay the ferryman, to, to take them through to the underworld. Chinese emperors built terracotta armies to protect them in eternity.

And when I was reading reading up the use of the term, RIP, the the Latin, Free. I I can't remember what the words are. I know we say rest in peace for something else. I I was reading about at the same time there was a movement where people had on the gravestones Memento mori, which is a Latin phrase. You might know it, which means remember you must die.

Remember you must die. And and the idea behind that was saying that life is short, re remember you must die, but the soul is eternal. It was it was it was Christians who used this. Life is short, the soul is eternal, is immortal. And in today's era, the theme has shifted, or rather the meme has shifted.

And we went from, remember, you must die to you only live once. The longing is there, of course. God set eternity in the human heart, and we see that longing, don't we in movies and in songs, and in art, but confidence in life after life, I think it's fair to say, has faded. And so the coping mechanism so how how do we cope with that lack of confidence in life after life? Is to double down on the here and now.

This life is all there is. This is your main character moments that if you saw last week in Beijing, world leaders, spoke openly about potentially living to a hundred and 50 or more in our lifetime. The rich and powerful are pouring millions and millions into longevity science, and and they're on a quest to push death back through organ transplants and biotechnology, and death has become to them an engineering problem to solve to get more life, and the sadducees were the Yolo believers of the first century. They were the rich and powerful. They would be quietly investing in longevity science.

Today. They weren't atheists. They believed in god. They honored the temple traditions, but verse 23, they denied the resurrection. For the sadducees, All of god's blessings and judgments happened here and now.

And in their world view, you only live once. So they wanted to secure their place in society. And enjoy god's rewards in this life. They they didn't believe in a heaven. They believed in heaven on earth.

And it's from this worldview that they want to discredit Jesus because Jesus threatening their comfort and their lives. By this point in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says, he he's entered Jerusalem. He's cleanser Temple. He's challenged the religious establishments So the sadducees are happy, you see, to try and catch him out. We're going to see how Jesus responds.

That he's not just a nice guy. And it'll deal with the sadducees in a masterful way, full of wisdom and truth wisdom to refute the error and truth to teach what is right about. The resurrection. And we're gonna see that this evening in 3 sections, the riddle, the reply, and the response. Firstly, the riddle, and then we've got 3 points of application.

Firstly, the riddle, the sadducees tried to expose Jesus's character by attacking his teaching. Versus 23 to 28, our passage begins with that same day, that same day as when the varices and the herodians are who are also part of the religious establishments wanted to get rid of Jesus and so sent their interns to trap him in the eyes of the public and the Roman officials with this curve ball question. Remember it if you were here last week, it is it right to pay the imperial tax to seize it or not? And we saw, didn't we? That Jesus repack responds masterly to this dizzy of a question by showing that the nature of his kingdom is different.

Give back to Caesar his coins. Give to god what is god's. Jesus is concerned about souls. He's concerned about the posture of the heart. His kingdom is not of this world.

And so the fact parasies and the herodians, they went away. They were amazed. And if that was a doozy, then we've got a googly. It's the same day, the same day with a different group, or are they really just the same? Next up comes the sadducees.

And the sadducees, as I was saying, are they're they're the priestly class. They're the aristocracy in Israel. They ruled the Jews and made the Sanhedron with the pharisees. So these were serious dudes, and And, but but the sadducees hated the pharisees. It's a little confusing.

So bear with me. The pharisees believed that scripture was made up of all of the law and the prophets. They believed in the resurrection. And and they saw it as it was shown in Daniel 12, where the prophecy says this, multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake. Some to everlasting life, some to everlasting contempt.

They saw the resurrection also spoken in lots of different texts, Job 19, Isaiah 26, ezekiel 37, and lots of psalms. The sadducees, however, they hated the pharisees. They only believed in the pentateuch. They only believed in the first 5 books of the Bible, the law of Moses, the Torah. They thought that any hint of the supernatural and scripture was was mythical to illustrate a point They they didn't take it literally.

And so not believing in the resurrection, they wanna use it as a weapon to undermine Jesus and his claims. But they don't really care about his answer. I was interviewing someone this week, and, and lee leaving time for, him to ask me questions in in interviews as usual. And he was asking me these questions, and I was answering him thinking you don't care about my answer. You just wanna demonstrate how intelligent you are by asking the question.

And I think there's a similar thing going on here. Teacher, they said. They're they're obviously addressing his teaching verse 24, teacher Moses told us that if a man dies out having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. This was a levirite rule. K?

So it's a rule that was established early on in Israel's history and it was a rule to keep the line of a family and you see that in your re in, as a reference in your bible to deuteronomy 25, that's where we get it. And it so so that's in the pen suit. That's what in the part of scripture that the sadducees believed. And it it basically says if a man dies without children, his brother or the nearest male relative was expected to marry his widow. The first son from that union, from that new union, the first son would be considered the heir of the deceased, the heir of the dead brother.

And that would be to preserve his name and keep the inheritance of, in in the family. It's interesting, isn't it? The sadducees don't believe in life after life. To them, the only life after life was was an offspring. It was a name.

It was a legacy. And, and and within this rule, within this custom, if The relative refused to practice it. It was considered shameful because it meant abandoning the responsibility of protecting the widow and family lines. So so really, this was a loving rule. Graciously given by god, and we see in it god's heart being gentle towards the vulnerable.

Because if a widow wasn't spoken for, if a widow was left to herself It probably would have meant that she end she would end up poor abandoned. And so this rule meant that women would have a chance of a future if their husband, it's a beautiful rule. And we see that, of course, lived out wonderfully in the life of Ruth, don't we? Her widowhood leaves her marginalized, but Boa's acts as her kinsman redeemer. And preserves the family name.

And their son becomes grandfather to King David from whom comes the lord Jesus. What a beautiful story It's a beautiful law. And, of course, we don't practice this law today. We've been thinking about in Hebrews. Aren't we?

How we are in the new covenant? It's no longer necessary for us to preserve this tribe, this line because we were in the we were on the tribe of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, And but but you understand this logic here. You understand this rule, this custom. Yeah? So here comes the soap opera.

Verse 25. Now there were 7 brothers among us, the first 1, married and died. And since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother, And the same thing happened to the second and third brother right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. This this woman's obviously bad news.

I was trying to look at this as something like this has actually happened in history. And in America, believe it or not, there's a woman who married, didn't have kids, married again, didn't have kids that the husband died 5 times she was married, and it turns out her husband's all died from very mysterious ways. But but this is just a huge joke to the sadducees. These people were so the scriptura, and and they used this magnificent number, significant number 7. They really wants to show how smart they wear.

If she's married for all these blokes to users, which one's she gonna be married to in the resurrection? To them, there is a logical flaw. They thought this showed the resurrection didn't stack up, and so they concluded that it was impossible. Belief in the resurrection undermined and threatened the sadducees system, and therefore their power and their status and their wealth. That's why they want to discredit Jesus in front of the Jews to get them to turn on him.

And as we'll see, they don't meet their match. They meet their maker. The reply verse 29 and 32 The scriptures reveal the resurrection power of god. Best 29, Jesus replied, or it could be thoughtfully answered. Not just a reactive flippant emotional response.

Jesus thoughtfully answered, you are in error because you do not understand the scriptures or the power of god. Or the translation say you And the word for for air in in Greek is Plano. And I remember see and the reason why I say is I remember seeing that word in Matthew 18 when Jesus describes, tells the parable of the wandering sheep It's the same idea. It's where we kept the word planet from. He's saying, you plan it away.

You stray away. You're lost. You're lost in a lost world. You are fundamentally off the right track. It's an awful thing to lose your bearings, isn't it?

And he says there's 2 reasons you're lost. There's 2 reasons you're in error. You do not know the scriptures. They had studied the Pentagon, but they were deprived of scripture. They'd veered from truth and from god, they had head knowledge, but no heart knowledge.

You do not know the scriptures or the power of god. It's a 2 fold rebuke. Jesus says, you can't know scripture or god's power because you're limiting god to your own understanding. Scripture is about the power of god, which Paul tells us is the gospel that brings salvation to everyone who believes. And when Jesus says you don't know, It's that word no.

He isn't just talking about cognition. He's talking about knowing experientially. It's like if you like if you like watching sports, usually there's 2 commentators. 1 commentator really knows the the the domain. They really know the statistics and the history and they know the percentages and they know the records.

And the other commentator is an ex professional who's played the game and knows it experientially. 1 knows the what? They can tell you all the the the what happened in history, how many times this has happened in this game, can tell you all the technical information. The other knows the why behind the whats. Why a player made that decision on the pressure?

Or if if that doesn't work for you, it's like reading a review of a a restaurants or a film or an album written by a critic and then reading the same, a a review by someone who was a chef or a a review by someone who was a director or a musician who knows why they made the decisions they made. And in a similar way, the sadducees know the words of scripture, but they didn't know scripture. They didn't know the power of god. And you can only know scripture. You can only know the power of god through a personal experience of resurrection, losing your life, dying to yourself, trusting in Christ for salvation and being born again.

That's what the kingdom involves. Not ritual obedience or morality, sadducees, they're an error. They don't see this. Friends, could that be said of us? You are an error.

Because you do not know the scriptures or the power of god. Moving on to verse 30 in this masterful reply from Jesus. He says, at the resurrection, People will be will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven. Jesus is saying the way that you're thinking about resurrection life is off because People will neither marry nor be given in marriage.

It won't be an earthly existence. The new creation, the mark of the resurrection is about newness, new life, new heaven, new earth, new bodies, the whole universe will be regenerated at the return of Jesus Christ, what no eye has seen, the apostle Paul says, what no ear has heard, what no human mind has conceived, the things god has prepared. For those who love him. Everything will be transformed including marriage. Marriage is a wonderful gift.

Wonderful. I love my wife. They might 5 years have been amazing. I love my wife. But in the resurrection world, Marrick's functions will no longer be needed because there will be something infinitely more glorious, the marriage of Christ and the church, the bridegroom, and his bride.

A wedding banquet that Jesus talks about in this very chapter. And also, Jesus says we will be like angels. A few chapters before this in Matthew, Jesus says angels always see the far the face of my father in heaven. How precious to see the face of god? Moses, when he encountered the the holiness of god at the banning bush hid his face from god.

And yet we will commune with god. We will serve him perfectly without weariness and without sin. It's worth considering that glory for a moment. The intimacy of heaven will be 1 of knowing god. And nothing is compared to the glory that is to be revealed.

No more death. No more tears, no more loneliness, no more sin, no more jealousy, no more injustice for eternity to foolish thing to devote our lives to finite things. It's a foolish thing. This life is fleeting. Remember, you must die.

The reply isn't finished. Jesus could have demonstrated resurrection from scripture in a in a number of ways as as as we've said. But remember, the sadducees only recognize the law of Moses as scripture. And that's why they think, you know, they don't believe in resurrection. So where does Jesus go?

The Laura Moses. Jesus chooses a passage. They would never have imagined, and he goes to x this 3 to prove the resurrection, the encounter with the burning bush, Moses meets the holy god verse 31 and and and 33 here. But about the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what god said to you? 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. I love that. There's so much here. There is so much here, and everywhere is significant. Remember, I I love that he says did you not read what god said to you?

He's saying scripture, sir, it speaks to you even though what is quoted is what god says to Moses. Abraham, Isaac, Isaac, and Jacob, with a patriarch to Israel, who god made covenants with. And these promises that god made with these men were about a people, an offspring, a place, a land, and his presence. His blessing through them, he would bless all the nations of the earth. And this is significant.

This is really important. This is significant because the scriptures teach that god is a covenantal god. And at the heart of the covenant is the promise of a real and living and lasting relationship between god and his people. That's what these covenants are all about. That's the heart of these covenants.

And so it's inconceivable that these promises and blessings that god gives to Abraham, Azick, and Jacob suddenly stop when they die. The sadducees and the standing of debt of of death is extinction. Without any hope of the resurrection would suggest that god is a god of the dead. That death is the final word. But god said, I am the god of Abraham.

I am the god of Isaac. I am the god of Jacob. There was no I was the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Only I am, meaning they're still alive. These men live today.

And they're enjoying the covenantal blessings of god because god is true to his promises. And then we've got Jesus' commentary. God is not the god of the dead, but of the living. He's the god of resurrection. Through the scriptures, we see his resurrection power to secure for himself a people.

That death cannot overcome this promise and this is a great comfort to us. Safron's grandad George, he's a widower of 2 at 95, and at his birthday party last month, He talked about when his first wife, Sheila, and then his second wife, Melissa, died, there was real, real sadness. But then he talked about the joy he has because he knows they are safe in the arms of the lord Jesus Christ. And then he said, and I cannot wait to see him. He'd have thought he'd have said, I cannot wait to see them.

He said, I cannot wait to see him. And then he said, and then, but that's the joy of his heart. And I think that's the thrust of this text. Scrip just showing us the power of god is that god would secure a people for himself for eternity. That the 1 who came to die, came so that we might live.

Paul says about the resurrection, when we will rise to meet the lord, we will be with him forever. We will be with the lord forever. That's the reply. Finally, the response verse 33. The crowds are astonished by Jesus' teaching.

The crowds were astonished. This brief commentary from Jesus was so striking to them that they were speechless. First 34 says that they were silenced. That's the way to silence people you disagree with. Fortunately, answer them with truth.

In Luke's accounts, describes are recorded to say, well done teacher, and that no 1 dared to ask him any more questions that the sadducees are outwitted. They're astonished. But being astonished by Jesus' teaching isn't enough. I remember before I was a Christian, I met people who were astonished that Jesus, and they spoke of him and the way that they spoke about the scriptures, I couldn't understand or relate, and that's because I didn't know him, I didn't love him. And then, I had some head knowledge but I had no heart knowledge.

But when I started reading the Bible for myself and started asking god for his help to, to understand it, it was like he came alive. And I finally saw Jesus by faith. Friends, would we not just be astonished by the teaching of Jesus, but would we be astonished by the Jesus who teaches astonished by his word, astonished by his power, astonished by his resurrection. The sadducees thought they knew the word. They didn't know the word was standing right in front of him.

The sadducees thought they knew the power of god. They didn't know the power and wisdom of god was standing right in front of them. The sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't know the resurrection and the life was standing right in front of them. We'll come to, 3 points of application in a moment, but that's the riddle, the reply, and the response.

And, of course, it's all about the redeemer. The redeemer who skew who secures the resurrection, the 1 who would fulfill that levereate law, the sadducees reference. The lord Jesus Christ is the is the true and final kinsman redeemer who saw our lowly desperate state and took on human flesh to redeem his bride from slavery to sin and death and secures for her an inheritance that will not perish spoil or fade, and that's for people of every tribe tongue and nation. The word and power of god was himself silenced at the cross. And that's not the end of the story.

Because 3 days later he resurrected because the god of the living is a living god. So that we who deserve death may live. And our longing for life after life can be satisfied in him, and that we would be glorified like angels and be with god the living god forever. 3 points of application. Firstly, do you know the scriptures and the power of god?

That was the reason the sadducees erred and strayed away. If you feel lost in a lost world, go to the scriptures and see the power of god. Know them experientially, not intellectually, and in them find action life. Secondly, is resurrection life your living reality? We thought about at the start how the sadducees in our culture today who say that you only live once And I think in many ways we can be functional sadducees.

We build up our lives now. We love our lives more than we love Jesus. And just as belief in the resurrection threatened the sadducees way of life and their system and their power and their wealth. So it does with us. There's just the the the resurrection challenges how we live.

It changes your perspective on everything this morning. I met this, this this this man. And 4 years ago, he was going to another church, a thriving church, a 1 that was faithful to to the gospel, preaching, buzzing, lots of people, lots of people coming to Christ. And he was convicted that Eiling Road was his local church, and so he moved there. And he's the only only man of of of his age here, there.

He's, you know, 1 of 2 men on the 70 probably there. And he said to me as, as as we left, he said we we won't give up. Won't give up preaching the gospel. And I love you, brother. I don't know him, but I love you.

You know, what a sacrifice? That's a man. Whose life is a living reality of resurrection life, whose life shows that this life isn't all there is. It's a man who's living for something eternal. Do the decisions that we make reflect the reality of resurrection life?

Those the way we spend our money reflect the reality of resurrection life. Does the way we spend our time reflect the reality of resurrection life? Is resurrection life your living reality? And finally, are you longing for Jesus? Are you longing for Jesus?

Because god is not the god of the dead, but the god of the living. Because of that, we have an an unrivaled hope and comfort in whatever we experience today, and there are hardships. There's there's there's there's no doubt there's hardships. 1 day we will be with him. 1 day, we will see him.

That is a great comfort. And if we're sad about our earthly marriages not continuing in glory, then Maybe we don't really understand what glory is about. But when we do when we do understand what glory is about, we can say with John at the end of Revelation after the glorious picture of the new heaven and the new earth, come lord Jesus. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, we thank you that you are not a god of the dead, but the god of the living.

We thank you for the love of Christ, for his bride, the church. We pray that we would know the scriptures, that we would know the power of god in our lives experientially. We pray your spirit would and lighten the eyes of our hearts to know you're incomparably great power for us who believe. We pray that resurrection life would be our living reality until you come. Oh, Jesus.

We can't wait to see you. So we pray, come. In your name, amen.