Pastor Babij examines the Sadducces questioning of Jesus and the devious conundrum used against Jesus to make Him look ridiculous. Pastor Babij teaches how Jesus turned the tables on the Sadducces and used Moses’ writings, which the Sadducces revered, to prove that there is a resurrection and that God is the God of the living, not the dead.
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to the gospel of Mark chapter 12 Gospel of Mark chap 12 as you’re turning let’s have a word pray Lord this morning as we look at the word of God pray Lord that you would uh help us to again understand it and I pray Lord Jesus that you would just in our hearts be able to apply it so we can use it in our lives pray Lord that again we would get a glimpse of you that we have not yet received and as we consider this passage of scripture please Lord build in us an understanding of the importance of knowing the word of God and accurately dividing the scriptures so we can be workmen who need not to be ashamed and I pray this in Christ name amen now as we look at this passage before I get there we’re going to start in verse number 18 of chapter 12 uh I have already uh it’s already been a long day for Jesus uh in our passage today it is still Tuesday of the passion week uh and it has been one wave after another slamming against Jesus with each wave Jesus is showing his knowledge his wisdom his uh his AU Authority that his those things about him cannot be RI rivaled by Men by any High political or religious bodies of his day or of any day uh and so now we come to a different religious group uh that has another question for Jesus in our passage and the question they come to ask seem to have been used against the Pharisees the religious group is called the Sadducees look at verse number 18 it says some Sadducees a different kind of uh religious group this was a group that was uh very wealthy they were connected uh both politically to Herod and religiously to the Sanhedrin they had a lot of say a lot of power and so this group is going to take their chance now against Jesus and um they were considered actually Sadducees were considered to be theological conservatives while the Pharisees are considered to be theological progressives now the reason for this distinction is that the Sadducees believe differently than the Pharisees for example the Sadducees affirmed the Free Will of man alone and this and the Pharisees did not the S the Sadducees accepted only the Torah that’s the first five books of Moses of our Bible the Pharisees also accepted the Torah the Psalms the writings and the prophets and they also used the mishna or the oral tradition as a reliable source to guide in their spiritual life the Sadducees did not believe in angels and demons the Pharisees affirmed both angels and demons and the Sadducees outright denied the resurrection while the Pharisees affirmed the resurrection now this Lord’s Day consider this that a person or a group of people can be very very religious very zealous about the truth and what they believe and yet be completely wrong with the truth and that’s what we see in our passage here we see this group of people of course their motives are wrong for coming to Jesus the reason why they wanted to come to him is to trip them off but nonetheless how Jesus deals with them and how the the narrative breaks down this morning so the first thing I want you to see about these theological conservatives called the Sadducees is that they had a wrong idea specifically about the life to come they had a wrong idea about the life to come now if you notice in verse number 18 it says some Sadducees who say that there is no Resurrection so right in the beginning of the narrative we get the sense of what’s Happening Here the the doctrine of Resurrection is the main issue In this passage the her the historical book of Acts is pretty explicit when describing the belief system of this influential religious group it simply says this in Acts 23:8 for the Sadducees say that there is no Resurrection nor an angel nor a spirit so that’s what they believed and of course they were the opponents of not only Jesus they were the opponents of the Pharisees see the Sadducees believed that at death the soul perished along with the body and that there was no future Rewards or punishments they concluded this way because the the Torah the first five books of the Bible so they believed uh was what they believe is that it didn’t teach the B the resurrection because the Torah was shadowy and not explicit about any of those things and so they believe that the doctrine of Resurrection contradicted actually the teaching of the Torah now on a funny note some would say this group did not believe in the res because this group did not believe in the resurrection that is why they were sad you see oh boy anyway this group had their own bag of tricks which which really uh included devious questions uh and of course this is what this uh this is what our passage says they did verse number 18 it says some the some Sadducees who say there’s no erection came to Jesus and began questioning him saying something and I’ll pick that up again just a minute see they believed that their question was based on the teach ing of the Torah remember first five books of the Bible and that in regard especially in regard to the resurrection and they believed that it could only be answered in their favor they were so convinced about that see they presented Jesus with a tricky conundrum a conundrum is a confusing and difficult problem or a question a question asked for either amusement or to trick someone it could be used as a pun or it could be used as a riddle so some say that the Sadducees created what is called a reductio ad absurdum now that is an argument reducing things to the Absurd or to the ridiculous in other words they were trying to get Jesus to look ridiculous that this whole talk about the afterlife and about the spiritual realm and about miracles and about something like Resurrection is absolutely absurd and they do it by proving it from scripture so the Sadducees kind have asked the question to Jesus in the form of a riddle they based their question in the Mosaic law concerning the leverate marriage leverate meaning brother-in-law specifically the responsibility of a brother to take the childless wife of his deceased brother and make sure his brother’s line does not die out now look at verse number 19 it says this in Mark teacher this is Mark 12: 19 Moses wrote for us that if a man Man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother all right so the Sadducees address Jesus here in a very SM with a very smug attitude and called him teacher thinking we will see what kind of teacher you are after you are presented this complex question this riddle if you’re able to answer it and if you’re not or if you answer it e in either way it’s going to show that you’re an inept teacher now was this thought of the leverate marriage based in the first five books of Moses well yes it was and to show you I want you to turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 25 and just look at a few passages there right also it’s it’s taught in Genesis and it’s taught in Deuteronomy Deuteronomy is more of deuteron deuteron means second this is more of an explanation of the details of the law how it’s worked out practically it says this in Genesis 38 it says then Judah said to Onan go into your brother’s wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her and raise up Offspring for your brother so let’s look at it in Deuteronomy chter 25 verse number five and six it says this when Brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man her husband’s brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her it shall be that the firstborn whom she bear shall assume the name of his dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel now of course that’s based on also if a person’s willing to do that so the thought again is that the purpose of this practice was to raise up a seed in the name of the deceased and enable the family name and line to continue also though to make certain that he had a legal Heir so that the ancestral lands would be passed down to that son that was born uh and carry on of course from one generation to the next preserving the name preserving the inheritance was the main thing that was important there all right so that’s the bottom line it was based in uh the five books of Moses uh and so that’s now let’s look at the riddle let’s look at how it breaks down in verses 20 to 23 see the story if you as soon as you read the story you’ll find that the story is is filled with a lot of information it’s almost Overkill well look what it says there in verse number 20 all right here now here it is there were seven brothers and the first took a wife and died leaving no children so here we have number one brother number one all right dies uh the first brother married a wife died and left no children secondly the second brother verse 21 and the second one married her died leaving behind no children again of course the second brother married a wife died left no children and then verse 21 also it says a third and likewise a third all right the third brother married a wife died and left no children and this of course went on four more times saying the same thing that the fourth brother married a wife died and left no children the fifth brother married a wife died and left no children the sixth brother married wife the wife died and uh left no children the seventh brother married the wife uh and left no Offspring it says in verse 22 and so all seven left no children now so this is the Riddle That is placed before Jesus um as I said the Sadducees have had figured this out they had used this against the Pharisees the phes es had no answer nobody had an answer for this question so they thought um I’m we’re just going to use it against Jesus in verse number 22 notice what it says and last of all the woman died also now here comes the trickiness and the force of the question verse 23 it says in the resurrection when they rise again which one’s wife will she be for all seven had married her do you remember marriage involves bodies and Resurrection brings back the bodies again to life all seven brothers had her as a wife will all seven brothers be her husband or will only one be her husband and if so which one of course that is a very difficult question to answer nobody could answer that question why we don’t know what happens in the afterlife all right and in fact the Sadducees didn’t believe there was an afterlife so see definitely was tricky and after making the Pharisees a laughing stock with the story Jesus of course is their victim it was suggested that the use of Seven Brothers could have reference to the completeness or their perfection of the story The Sadducees really thought they had Jesus cornered with this riddle they really did the riddle tried to show that some basic belief like Resurrection cannot be true because of its implications its implications would be ridiculous see the woman in the riddle dies having no children from all seven husbands and according to the Sadducees she couldn’t claim one of the Seven Brothers as her husband in eternity especially if they had no children he couldn’t carry on his name he couldn’t claim his inheritance there was no claim to it so then of course according to Moses the resurrection to the Sadducees in this regard would be absurd it would be absolutely ridiculous to think that of course their conclusion is see there’s no Resurrection there’s no afterlife this is the end this is it’s over when you die so the point would be that if one of the brothers would have produced children in the leverate marriage that would that means the whole thing would cease as far as the resurrection is concerned and the claim could be set up that she was the brother’s wife in the Hereafter if one of them have children because then the name would be preserved and The Inheritance could be claimed so the Sadducees had presented an impossible situation they are certain there is no resurrection and they think they have proved it by using Moses teaching from the Torah as scriptural proof they had surmised that whichever answer given either you deny Den the Torah and the teaching of Moses or you deny the doctrine of Resurrection see there’s the conundrum they’re caught they’re caught in a situ the person trying to answer the question is caught so the Pharisees couldn’t answer nobody else could answer it so they thought neither is Jesus going to answer it well how wrong they were because you know what Jesus does he always takes wrong ideas about things things and corrects them right and how does he do it he corrects them with truth in fact he’s going to correct them with the law of Moses see the second thing that we would consider is that the wrong idea about the life to come is going to be challenged by the word of God by scripture and that’s exactly what takes place the challenge is toward their ignorant Folly and their self-deception I love when Jesus just smacks them right between the eyes when they think they’re smug and they have him cornered he is not cornered at all what jesus’ opponents did not realize is that they have made a grave mistake the Sadducees committed logical fallacy by assuming something to be true when it is in fact false this is what our lord Jesus very abruptly brings to the attention of his opponents look at verse number 24 it says Jesus said to them is this not the reason you are mistaken what we don’t make mistakes we’re fares we proved it from the scriptures see this is where all our problems usually start we fail to understand what is written in the word of God and we come to wrong conclusions see what the Sadducees claim to know best the five books of Moses and that’s it they knew least and Jesus brings it to their attention he throws it right in their face because the Sadducees accepted only the Torah the first five books of the of Moses and did not accept the Fuller revelation of God found in the Psalms and the writings and the prophets they remained deceived about the s Supernatural realm they remain deceived about angels about demons about the afterlife about resurrection and it goes to say that if a person goes wrong in Scripture that person will also go astray in the heart and center of their belief about God it goes together you get scpt scripture wrong you get God wrong you get God wrong you get all wrong so what does Jesus do he of course says listen you are not only ignorant and self-deceived and so draw false conclusions concerning the spiritual but you are also ignorant and self deceived so draw conclusions concerning God’s concerning scripture verse 24 notice what it says Jesus said to them is this not the reason you are mistaken that you do not understand the scriptures see again they didn’t understand really the word of God because they didn’t really receive the whole of divine revelation but also they were ignorant concerning the power of God notice again in vers ver number 24 not only do they not understand the scriptures the last part of the verse or the power of God see they had a small view of God so they think God would and could actually their view of God was so small to even think that God would or could raise the dead is inconceivable to them and so their view of God is distorted understanding of scripture is wrong and so Jesus now takes their wrong idea about the afterlife and now he corrects it and how does he do that well he does it also by exposing their ignorant and self-deceived conclusions about heaven see they fail to correctly understand so assume in the afterlife the same conditions Prevail that are used on the Earth today they mistakenly assume that there will be marriage in the afterlife and what is interesting about the next passage in verse number 25 is this it completely shows that Jesus him self has knowledge that only God could have he has knowledge that only one could have if they were in heaven look what he says to them in verse number 25 he says for when they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage so he’s saying sorry guys sex marriage reproduction childbirth and any mosaic laws pertaining to these are not valid in the life to come why because Children of the Resurrection in verse 25 notice what it says they are like angels in heaven Who would know that this is new information that’s coming from Jesus for the first time and blows these guys guys right out of the water right we’re going to be like Angels see our bodies will not be discarded and there will be a great difference in the life to come from this present Earthly life Resurrection bodies will be like Angels what does that mean it means that the children of the Resurrection never die so they no longer need to marry in order to replenish the race also Children of the Resurrection will be a fixed in a complete number like Angels so they there’s no need for the succession of children so Jesus answers the question that no one else could answer he answers it as actually someone who has knowledge that no one else has knowledge of and Jesus shuts their mouth but you know what they really didn’t ask that question but Jesus gave information to us that is very very important for us to know what’s going to happen when we die what’s going to be on the other side he’s giving us he’s he’s he’s he’s opening up the curtain allowing us to look in it’s not going to be like now it’s going to be different yeah we’re going to have bodies but they’re going to be resurrected uh and we will never die again and we we won’t have to reproduce because we’ll be like the Angels who don’t have to reproduce there’s they’re a fixed number there’s going to be a fix number no more reproduction in the Eternal state with the Lord with our resurrected bodies but of course Jesus is not done with them yet he says therefore you’re you’re ignorant and you’re self deceived and you draw false conclusions now I’ll get to it about the resurrection so Jesus could have gone to many passages of scripture to prove the doctrine of Resurrection from the Old Testament he could have gone to Daniel 12 verse two where it says many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake these to everlasting life but the others to disgrace an everlasting contempt but of course the Sadducees didn’t believe the prophet so didn’t use that passage or Jesus could have used passages from the Torah like genesis 5:24 it’s where it says Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him remember Enoch didn’t die he was translated of course this is not language of Resurrection here but Rapture and the power of God that takes a person from from One Life to another life without going through the door of death or Jesus could have gone through Genesis chapter 22 and verse number five when God told Abraham go offer your only son as a sacrifice on the Altar and of course it tells us that Abraham said to the young men who went with him stay here with the donkey and I and the lad will go over there and we will worship and we will return to you meaning that it implies that Abraham’s belief in the power of God and either the resuscitation or the resurrection of his only son Isaac would happen of course in that case the Lord supplied a substitute a lamb that would die in the place of Isaac or Jesus could have mentioned the three times already in his three-year Ministry in which he talked about the resurrection in Matthew 8:31 931 and 10:34 and be killed and after three days rise again but Jesus does not go to any of those passage of scriptures instead he goes to the part of scripture which the Sadducees themselves should have been familiar with and held as divinely inspired where does he go to he goes to Genesis chapter 3 verse number five and six all right now look what it says in your right here in Matthew it’s a quote from that passage in Matthew CH 12 look at verse 26 it says but regarding the fact that the dead rise again have you not read in the book of Moses in the passage about the burning bush let me go to you to one of the most basic passages matter of fact the first time Moses actually hears the voice of God he stands there with sandals on his feet and God says take off your sandals for the ground that you stand on is Holy Ground and God begins to speak to Moses from a bush that burned but was not consumed this is this is the most basic and Central passage of scripture in the Torah about what God Said to Moses and that’s where Jesus goes to he goes to that particular passage of scripture actually in a in a way the Lord’s very being very kind with his opponents he’s being very gentle with them he’s saying this listen okay you guys whole five first five books of Moses all right let’s go to let’s go to what Moses how God spoke to Moses at the burning bush but notice what he says in verse number 26 he says have you not ready hey you guys have you read your Bibles do you read your Bibles could the Lord say the same thing to us on issues of in our own life haven’t you read you have the Bible in your hand no one’s stopping you from reading and studying the word of God from hearing the truth no one’s stopping you no one’s stopping you at all no one’s coming to your house and taking your Bibles from you no one’s preventing you from doing that haven’t you you read you say you’re a Christian you say you believe the Bible you say that you love the word of God have you read it are you reading it are you thinking about it are you properly handling it and interpreting it see that’s the question not only for these guys for all of us have you read what you said that you know this is what it says in Exodus chapter 3 don’t turn there it says this then he said do not come near here remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is Holy Ground he said also I am the god of your father the god of Abraham the god of Isaac the god of Jacob then Moses hid his face or he was afraid to look at God see the Patriarchs were long dead when God spoke to Moses at the burning bush and what does Jesus specific specifically draw our attention to he draws our attention to the way in which God speaks of himself notice in our passage right here in Mark verse 26 it says but regarding the fact that the Dead rise again have you not read in the book of Moses in the passage about the burning bush how God spoke to him saying I am the god of Abraham the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob and then he says this very specifically I am not the god of the dead but the god of the living you are greatly mistaken by what you believe that’s what he tells them so God said during the time of Moses the Patriarchs were very much alive God had to have raised them from the dead with resurrection power raised to spiritual Resurrection by believing in God and that was accounted to them for righteousness and then of course awaiting the resurrection of the body we’re all awaiting the resurrection of the body so Abraham Isaac and Jacob enjoyed a special Covenant relationship with God which demanded a continual living relationship with God after death see God does not make an Everlasting Covenant or a promise to save his people if it were or his people were overcome by the devastation of death that’s why on the cross Jesus not only defeated Satan but he defeated death our greatest enemy so death could never have a hold on us so death can never take away our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life so death could never Rob us of The Inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus death cannot do that so Jesus says to them he is not the god of the dead he is the god of the living you are greatly mistaken see God must be the god of living people he is not the god of dead people see he’s saying to them you got scripture wrong you got God wrong there will be a resurrection it will happen and so for you and I if we think of that for a moment Jesus just opened the door for us to peek into heaven that your body and my body will be resurrected not just our soul but our bodies will and that of course your individuality will PR be preserved in eternity see we will be more recognizable more lovable in heaven than we ever were before here on Earth arent ‘s had said that there will be no marriage in heaven and no concern about past husbands and wives but that does not suggest in the slightest a reduction and love we will be ourselves at our ultimate best we will be more delightful more capable of loving than ever before when we are resurrected by IES we can’t even imagine in in our state right now how it’s going to be but Jesus wants us to imagine he wants us to give us a sense that no listen this the life in heaven with with God and you and your new bodies will be completely different and God by his power is able to pull it off see we will recognize each other some people always was ask me that you know will we know each other in heaven yeah but everything will be perfect you will be perfect in heaven you may not like some things about yourself right now and that’s probably true uh you may not like some things about each other right now but and that is true too but in heaven we will be perfect see our bodies will be glorious grown to their Eternal potential our personalities will be at their fullest and finest our wits will be endowed with a deep understanding of the knowledge of God our charm and love will be pure and Noble and beautiful and Splendid in other words we’ll be like Jesus we’ll be like Jesus see those who died in Christ before our Lord’s return will be resurrected at his coming their bodies which have been buried decayed and returned to the dust will be resurrected to life does not matter how long they have been dead and gone God will create their bodies out of nothing out of whatever he does when that happens their body bodies will be changed our bodies will be changed Christians who have died will have a body like Jesus resurrection body a body that will not age a body that will not Decay a body that has no pain or sorrow a body that does not cry a body that will never die it will be a body fit for the presence of God and fit for all eternity see Jesus when he rose from the grave he ate he walked with his disciples his body was fit for Earth as well as it is fit for heaven so will ours be we there will be a new Heaven and new earth and our bodies will be fit for both and there will be no separation between us and God we will have complete access to him we will have inheritances that we couldn’t even dream of obtaining on our own and it’s all because we have believed believed in Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior we believed in the one who died in our place who paid the full price for our sin who satisfied the Justice of the father who turned his wrath away from us and who of course shed his blood to wash away our sin so the thing that we need to can be concerned about and think about is that Jesus not only announces the resurrection to the these guys he is the resurrection for Jesus says it says in John 11 Jesus said to her speaking to Mary and Martha I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live even if he dies everyone who lives and Believes In Me will never die and of course here’s the question do you believe this have you read the scripture do you believe this all right if you don’t believe it well then the consequences are evident that you will spend eternity yes in a resurrected body but away from God in a place an eternal place called the Lake of Fire but remember we’re getting there in Mark the empty tomb proves it also for it says in Mark 166 and he said to themo not be amazed you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified he has risen he is not here behold here is the place where they laid him see Jesus we know did rise from the grave and he is the first fruits of all those who will be raised from the grave and given a resurrected body to live in his glorious presence for all eternity see that is the hope that we have that’s why we don’t need to be in despair that we don’t need to fret about everything that’s going on in the world we don’t even need to fret about the day in which we will die that is in God’s hands right but to be ready in our minds with this truth is is is vitally important this is true this will take place but there are still those people say well I don’t really know if there’s a resurrection I don’t really know see Jesus is the resurrected god of the living when we believe him for Eternal salvation that leads to following him and learning his word which leads to serving him with all our heart mind soul and strength which leads to living with him forever see the taste of Heaven we’re going to receive we we receive it now on Earth just a taste and when you get a little taste of something that’s really good you know what you want you want more so the more you get scripture in your mind to transform you the greater appetite you have for heaven and the more you want to go there to be with the Lord and the more you want to spend eternity with him but that means also too that we need to live for him while we’re here and I pray that you are doing that I pray that you are reading the scripture with understanding I pray that you do believe this I pray that you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior and that’s the only way to be saved be right be be made right with God and I pray that you’re living for him and you are moving forward to the day when we’ll be with the Lord forever I pray that for us I really do that’s the great concern let’s pray Lord this morning I do ask you and and pray that Lord you would take these scriptures and that you would really nail them to our minds so Lord that we would be very conscious of what we believe and then I pray Lord that our our belief would come out of a sound understanding of scripture I pray Lord our conclusions would be conclusions that come about because we rightly divided the word of God but I pray Lord that when we come to those conclusions we not only just believe that we have the truth but I pray Lord that they would uh change our Liv lifestyle they would change our thinking they would change everything about what we do and I pray Lord Jesus especially this truth that this life is not the end that there is a life to come and that life to come will be completely different than what we know now but the same person we believed in here will be the same person who will be there leading the way being the Lord and Savior that he always has been and that we will worship Him and praise him and enjoy presence with him forever I pray that would be on our minds Lord day in and day out so Lord Comfort us today with these truths and change Us by them and I pray this in Christ’s name amen