The Sadducees - People Jesus Met Part 32

You know, not too long ago, Newsweek magazine ran an article. In fact, it was the cover story that week entitled, The Religious Case for Gay Marriage.

And in a prelude to the article, the editor of Newsweek, a gentleman named Mr. John Meacham, said this, and I quote. He said, on the campus of Wheaton College last Wednesday, Christian leaders declared that their opposition to the ordination and marriage of gays was irrevocably rooted in the Bible, which they regard as the final authority and unchangeable standard of faith and life. Mr. Meacham went on to say, no matter what one thinks about gay rights, this resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. He went on also to say, to argue that something is so simply because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt. It is unserious and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition, end of quote. Now, do we all understand what Mr. Meacham is saying here?

He's saying that anyone who believes in the integrity of the Bible, anybody who believes in the authority of the Bible, anybody who takes the Bible at face value is so moronic and so empty-headed that they don't even deserve a place at the table when it comes to discussing serious topics. Now, most Americans wouldn't go as far as John Meacham. Most Americans would grant some level of authority, some level of credibility to the Bible. Most Americans would probably say, for example, that the Ten Commandments are right.

Most Americans would say that Jesus' teaching on love and forgiveness in the Bible and what he said in the Sermon on the Mount is probably right. But what about all the other things that the Bible says? I mean, what about the Bible's clear statements about the world being created in six literal days? Or about God's direct creation of mankind apart from evolution? What about the Bible's clear statements about the fall of man in the Garden of Eden or Noah's flood or the virgin birth or the resurrection of Jesus? What about the Bible's clear statement that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to get into heaven? Or the Bible's statement that life begins at conception? Or the Bible's clear statement that homosexual behavior is not a natural alternate lifestyle, but that it is sinful and unacceptable in the sight of Almighty God? All these things that the Bible says, are they right too?

Well, this is what we want to talk about today. We want to talk about just how deep does the integrity and the authority and the correctness of the Bible really go. We want to talk about should the Bible be taken literally in everything that it says. Remember, we're in a series of messages entitled People Jesus Met. And today, Jesus is going to meet a religious party in Israel called the Sadducees where this very issue comes up. We want to go back and see what Jesus said to them.

And then we want to bring all that forward and talk about, well, what difference does that make for you and me today? Our passage is Matthew chapter 22 and we begin at verse 23. The Bible says, that same day, the Sadducees who teach that there is no resurrection came to Jesus and asked him a question. Now, what do we know about this Jewish religious party called the Sadducees? Well, we know, number one, that they began around 300 B.C. We know, number two, that they were the patricians of ancient Israel.

They were the priests and the nobles and the aristocrats, the muckamucks of Israel. And number three, we know that they loved to pose mind-bending questions to other rabbis in the hopes that they could stump them so that they could embarrass them and demean them. And in light of this, we should assume that the question the Sadducees are about to ask Jesus was one of these questions that they had already used to stump all the other rabbis and they were confident that it was going to stump Jesus as well. And what was the theological issue at heart when it came to this question? Well, friends, the issue was the afterlife. The issue was life after death.

Remember what verse 23 said. It said the Sadducees teach that there is no resurrection. There is no afterlife, no other world, no heaven, no hell, no living on someplace else after you die. When you die, you just fade to black. All right, here we go.

Here comes the question. Verse 24, Teacher, they said, Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and give her children for his dead brother's sake. Now, the Sadducees here are referring to Deuteronomy 25 in the Old Testament where this is precisely what God commanded. Verse 25, Now there were seven brothers among us, the Sadducees say. The first one married and died and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to brother number two and brother number three right down to brother number seven.

You understand what they're saying. They're saying all seven brothers married this woman. All seven of them died and never gave the woman any children. Verse 27, Then at last the woman died also. Man, you talk about a woman with some bad karma. This is her. I mean, how would you like to be brother number seven and see this deal heading your way? I don't think so.

All right. Now, here comes the actual question. Verse 28, Now then, the Sadducees say, in the resurrection, that is in the afterlife, which, oh, by the way, we don't even believe exists in the afterlife, whose wife of the seven will she be since all seven were married to her? Verse 29, But Jesus answered and said to them, You are in error because you do not understand the scriptures or the power of God. For in the resurrection, in the afterlife, Jesus said, People neither marry nor are they given in marriage, but rather they are like the angels in heaven.

Okay, so do we understand Jesus's answer? Jesus says, Hey, down here on Earth, people are living under God's curse for sin, handed out in Genesis Chapter three in the Garden of Eden. Part of that curse involves people dying, and therefore there is a need here on Earth for people to procreate.

There is a need for people to produce more people. As a result, God created sex and God created romance and God created marriage. But Jesus said the afterlife heaven is radically different in heaven. People no longer die. They live forever like the angels do now, friends, because the angels never die. The angels don't need to procreate, and therefore the angels are sexless beings. They have no sexuality at all, Jesus says. So therefore, since in heaven we will be like the angels, therefore we will not have any sexuality either. In heaven, Jesus says, there is no sex, there is no romance, there is no dating, and there is no marriage. Whoa, won't that make life a lot simpler, huh? Yeah. Now, let's summarize in answer to the Sadducees question, whose wife will she be in heaven?

Jesus said, in heaven she won't be anybody's wife. You say, voila, that's great. Man, the Lord really took care of those guys, man.

He hammered them. Well, wait a minute, he's not done yet. No, no. Now Jesus turns to them and says, OK, fellas, I answered the question that you did ask. But now I'm going to answer the question you didn't ask, but that you should have asked because it lies at the heart of the question you did ask. Did you follow that?

Yes? OK. And namely, Jesus says, here's the question I'm going to answer. Is there really an afterlife? Is it really just fade to black after this life like you guys think?

Or do people actually live on somewhere after this world? Verse 31, Jesus said, but regarding the resurrection of the dead, regarding the afterlife, have you never read what God said? Where did God say what Jesus is about to quote? Well, he said it in Exodus chapter three to Moses from the burning bush.

And here's what he said. He said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Verse 32. Jesus says God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

He said, Lon, stop. I don't get it. I mean, how in the world does that prove anything about the afterlife? Well, great question.

Let's answer it. We already said, right, that Jesus quotes, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He quotes from Exodus chapter three from the burning bush. Correct?

Hello, class. Yes, right. OK, now, when did Exodus chapter three happen in time and space? Well, it happened in fourteen hundred and fifty B.C., give or take a year.

You say, well, why is that important? It's important because, friends, in fourteen hundred and fifty B.C., Abraham had been dead for over six hundred years. Isaac had been dead for over five hundred years and Jacob had been dead for over four hundred years. Yet notice what God said to Moses. He said, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God did not say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or I have been the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The point that we must see is that God used the present tense. I am their God, not the past tense. I was their God. So what God was really saying from the bush is this. Four hundred years after these men died on earth. God says, I still am present tense. They're God. Why? Because they're still alive. Where? In the afterlife, in heaven with me.

Very interesting. And therefore, Jesus says to the Sadducees, fellas, unless God made a mistake in what he said to Moses. And of course, the Sadducees would never admit that.

And God didn't make a mistake in what he said to Moses. Then there is an afterlife. An afterlife where people live on after they leave here. An afterlife where in 1450 BC, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still alive. And an afterlife in heaven with God where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive to this very day.

Verse 33, and when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at Jesus's teaching. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage because we're going to stop and we're going to ask now our most important question for us today. And I want all of you folks at our campuses and down in the edge and around the world and all of us here at Tysons, I want you to really make this worthwhile. Will you make this worthwhile?

I hope. All right, here we go. Ready? Nice and loud.

One, two, three. Oh, that's great. You say, Lon, so what? Say, that's great. I understand the story. I think that's really cool.

I've never met a Sadducee. What difference does any of this make to me? Okay. Well, let's talk about it. Many of us here, of course, will remember the famous astronomer and author, Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan died in 1996 at the age of 62, but for the last 10 years of his life, he engaged in a ferocious debate with religious leaders of all kinds arguing that science, once and for all, proves that God does not exist. When he died, his wife said, and I quote, there was no deathbed conversion. No appeals to God. No hope for an afterlife.

No pretending that he and I, who had been inseparable for 20 years, were not saying goodbye forever. End of quote. Now, our question here is this. Why didn't Carl Sagan believe in Jesus Christ?

Why, knowing that his life was coming to an end, why couldn't he bring himself to believe in Jesus Christ? Well, Time magazine actually gives us a great insight into the answer. Time says, and I quote, Sagan was fascinated by the fact that educated adults with all the wonders of science all around them, that educated adults could cling to beliefs based on unverifiable testimony of observers dead for 2000 years. What's Time magazine talking about? The testimony of observers dead for over 2000 years.

Well, it's talking about the B-I-B-L-E, my friends. The point is that what kept Carl Sagan from coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ was his doubts about the veracity and the integrity and the trustworthiness and the truthfulness of the Bible. Now what I want us to see today is that the Lord Jesus Christ did not see the Bible the way Carl Sagan saw it.

To the contrary, the Lord Jesus Christ, in fact, saw the Bible exactly opposite of the way Carl Sagan saw the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ saw the Bible as being utterly true, utterly credible, utterly trustworthy and utterly reliable in all its parts. And in this regard, I want to show you three very important things about how the Lord Jesus Christ saw the Bible, all of which come right out of the passage we just studied in Matthew chapter 22.

Here we go. Number one, how did Jesus see the Bible? Number one, Jesus saw the Bible as a book whose statements can be and whose statements should be accepted at face value. Look in Matthew 22, in verse 24, Jesus accepted at face value the Bible's claim that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. Right here in verse 24, the Sadducees quoting Deuteronomy 25, one of those first five books, they say to Jesus, Moses told us and Jesus not only never disputes this, he in fact validates and affirms it. In Matthew 22, in verse 31, Jesus accepted at face value the Bible's claim that God himself literally and personally spoke to Moses from the burning bush. Jesus said in verse 31, have you never read what God said?

And then quotes what the Bible says God said from the bush. Hey, in this chapter, verse 32, Jesus accepted at face value the Bible's claim that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were real people who really lived here on earth, that they were not as so-called scholars want us to believe, mythical, legendary people that the Jews made up to justify their existence. And finally, in this chapter, verse 30, Jesus accepted at face value the Bible's claim that there is a real place called heaven where real creatures called angels live.

He said in verse 30 that people in heaven are like the angels in heaven. The point is that Jesus believed that the statements of the Bible just the way they were at face value can be and should be accepted just as they are. Jesus believed that the Bible means what it says and it says what it means. Jesus believed that we don't need a bunch of gobbledygook speaking theologians to reinterpret for us the plain statements of the Bible, but rather Jesus believed that a straightforward reading of the Bible yields a straightforward truth.

And that's it. Number two, Jesus believed second of all, Jesus saw the Bible second of all as a book whose miraculous events happened just the way the Bible says they happen. Remember, we said that Jesus in verse 31 of Matthew 22 referred to God speaking from the burning bush. By doing so, he validated one of the greatest miraculous events in the Bible. Exodus chapter three, verse two, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush.

And Moses looked and behold, even though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. A number of years ago, I was cooking steaks on the grill and on my back deck one day. And I came in the house for something else and I got distracted.

I'm sure you've done this. And I forgot all about the fact that those steaks were out there on the grill and suddenly I went, oh no, and went running out, lifted the top of the grill and it was one solid wall of fire across this grill. And I remember literally I put my arms out over the steaks and I said to the steaks, I said, you are now the burning bush.

Be on fire, but don't burn up. Well, guess what? It didn't happen. Guess what?

When I got them off, they looked like little link sausages. And why was that? Because the burning bush was a miracle, friends. The burning bush was a suspension of the natural laws of the universe, which I didn't have the power to command those steaks to do. And yet it's clear Jesus believed that that miracle, that suspension of natural law happened exactly the way the Bible says. In the New Testament, we find that Jesus believed all the great miracles of the Bible happened just the way the Bible said.

For example, Jesus believed that Noah's flood took place. Matthew, chapter 24, verse 38. Jesus said, for in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came and took them all away. Jesus believed in the direct divine creation of Adam and Eve apart from evolution. Matthew, chapter 19, verse 4.

Jesus said, haven't you read that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female and said, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Hey, Jesus believed the events of Sodom and Gomorrah and that the city was destroyed supernaturally from heaven with fire and brimstone. Luke, chapter 17, verse 29. Jesus said, but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Hey, Jesus believed that Jonah was swallowed by a fish for three days. Matthew, chapter 12, verse 40.

Jesus said, for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Hey, the point here is that Jesus saw all the miraculous events of the Bible to be utterly true and to be utterly factual. Number three, Jesus, third of all, saw the Bible as a book that is inspired and theologically dependable down to its deepest level. Let's define this word inspired before we go on. Inspiration means that God caused the exact words he wanted to be written down in the Bible. Wait, here in Matthew, chapter 22, friends, Jesus even went beyond this definition.

Here in Matthew, chapter 22, Jesus based his entire theological teaching, his entire theological position on the afterlife. Listen, not on a word in the Bible, but on the tense of a word in the Bible. The fact that the verb was present tense instead of past tense, the point is that Jesus believed that the Bible was not only inspired down to the level of every word in the Bible, Jesus believed the Bible was inspired down to every tense of every word in the Bible.

So, let's summarize. What have we learned today? Well, we've learned that Jesus staked his entire reputation as the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world on three cardinal facts about the Bible. Number one, that the Bible is true and trustworthy just as it stands at face value. Number two, that the most outrageous, miraculous events in the Bible, that they happened precisely the way the Bible says they happen. And third, that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant revelation of God to mankind down to the very tenses of its verbs.

And so what's the so what today for you and me? Well, it's simply this, that if we believe as followers of Christ, that Jesus was God himself wrapped in human flesh, and we do. And if as a result, we believe that Jesus therefore knows everything about everything in the universe, and we do, then friends, if Jesus saw the Bible this way, according to these cardinal three facts, then I maintain the so what here is that you and I as his followers, there is no room for us to see the Bible any other way.

That's it. Several weeks ago, actually, several months ago, I had a gentleman come up to me in the lobby. And he said, so he said, I wanted to ask, he said, about what you think about Genesis chapters one, two and three. He said, Do you believe that they happen the way the Bible says?

And I said, Well, what do we mean in particular here? Well, he said, like, Do you believe the Bible was made in six literal days? I said, Yes, I do. Do you believe that God made Adam and Eve without any evolution? Yes, I do.

Do you believe that the world is only a few 1000 years old, the way the Bible describes it? I said, Yes, I do. And I said, In fact, I've got a six CD set on Genesis one, two and three that I want to give you a few to listen to that will explain to you why I believe this and what the Bible says. So I gave it to him. Several months later, I got a letter back from him asking if we could meet so that he after listening to those six CDs could show me the problems with the information that I was holding to. And he made it clear in his letter that his agenda was not for us to maybe meet explain somebody his agenda was to change my position.

Here's what I wrote back to him or sent back to him this message. I said, I have made my position clear in the CDs that you listen to, and I am not open to changing it. Therefore, a discussion would be pointless.

Now, you say, Well, long, wait a minute. Aren't you being just a little bit close minded here? I mean, don't you think maybe you're being just a little bit? Well, close minded.

Yeah, that's the right word. Well, no, I don't. Friends, I'm simply refusing to exceed my pay grade. You see, in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my savior, the resurrected, risen Christ of the universe and God in the flesh.

In the New Testament, he made it clear that he believed the straightforward narrative of Genesis chapters one, two and three. And folks, for me to question it in any way is above my pay grade. You understand what I'm saying to you? And I want to tell you something else. It's above your pay grade, too.

I wasn't interested in having this discussion with this gentleman because I can't go anywhere. I know what I believe and I know why I believe it. And to think anything else is way above where I can go. God said it. I believe it.

That settles it for me. This is the attitude Jesus had towards the Bible. This is the attitude that, okay, this is the attitude that I have towards the Bible. And let me just say, if you're smart, this is the attitude that you will have towards the Bible.

I love what Jesus said. He said heaven and earth will pass away. Friend, if you're taking your stand on the heavens or you're taking your stand on the earth, I got bad news for you. You're on a shaky foundation, but my word will never pass away. Listen, friends, I'm planning to take my stand on the word of God that will never pass away, the words of the Bible, and I'm planning to ride them like a surfboard right into eternity. And if you've got any sense, forgive me for being crass, but if you've got any sense at all, you'll do exactly the same thing. You'll take your stand on the word of God and you'll ride it right into eternity. And when the smoke clears, I promise you, you will be eternally glad that you did this.

Listen, the people in our world, if they don't like it, well, that's not my problem. If John Meacham doesn't like my position, you know what? I'm not serving John Meacham, and I'm not standing in eternity in front of John Meacham, and what John Meacham thinks of me in eternity is going to make absolutely no difference. I'm standing in front of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So are you. Friends, we better stand on His word and not the words of John Meacham or anybody else. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for reminding us today how you see the Bible. It's pretty simple. It's pretty straightforward.

There's no confusing it. And Lord Jesus, I pray that you would give us the wisdom and that you would give us the courage to stand right where you stand, knowing, Lord Jesus, that heaven and earth may pass away, but your word, the written word of God, will never pass away. Dear Father, make it the foundation stone with which we face life and make it the foundation stone on which we face eternity. And thank you, Lord Jesus, that as I said, when the dust clears on the other side of the grave, we will be so glad we did. Inspire us today, Lord Jesus, to see the Bible the way you saw it, to have confidence in it the way you do. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And what do God's people say? Amen. Amen.