As we turn our attention now to the preaching of God's Word, I ask you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew. This morning we'll be looking at chapter 22, verses 23 through 33. If you're using your pew Bibles, you can find today's passage on page 1,052. We hear now the Word of God, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 23-33. The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children, left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, and down to the seventh. After them all the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her. But Jesus answered them, You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. Let us bow in prayer. Our gracious and almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for this teaching that we have before us this morning. Lord, as we look at these verses in the Gospel of Matthew, we do pray that by your spirit you would be working in each of our hearts, that you would be guiding and directing our hearts and minds to you, that you would be inscribing your truth upon our innermost being. And Lord, we do pray that by Your grace, by the work of Your Spirit, You would bless my mind and my mouth, that I may think and speak clearly this morning. It is in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we do pray. Amen. The Apostle Paul, throughout his earthly ministry, was at various times and in various ways persecuted. rather severely. He was stoned. He was whipped. He was beaten. He was left for dead. He went through hunger and starving. In all of this, he says, the weight of the well-being of the churches and his brothers and sisters in Christ was weighing upon him far more. But in all of the afflictions that he endured, he also says that he considers the sufferings in this life, a momentary and light affliction. And even Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we all know as He, the night that He was betrayed, He asked His Father, and He was under such distress that He sweat like great drops of blood, asking the Father, Lord, if there is any way for this cup to be taken from Me. Please do it, but not My will, but Your will be done. And we also know, as Scripture tells us, that the reason Christ went through the agony of the cross, the reason why He suffered the full weight of the Father's wrath that was due to us, was for the joy set before Him. Now, what is a common theme here in Jesus and Paul's lives that enabled them to endure such horrendous torture, such difficult circumstances, Some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are going through throughout the world, but even we here in the United States of America, we experience to a certain extent, but if we're honest with ourselves, we do not suffer physically like Paul suffered for the gospel or even the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the reason why Paul could say it was a momentary and light affliction, because he had his reward in view. He had eternity in view. And we consider eternity and what we experience here in this life is far less than anything we could ever measure. Sure, all difficulties and trials and tribulations that we face seem like large mountains to overcome here and now as we are in the midst of it. But as Christ set his eyes on the joy that was to come as he was glorified once again in the Father's presence and the joy of receiving his church to himself when all time came to an end, so too has Paul looked forward to the great reward. It is built upon the foundation of the truth, the resurrection of the dead. Without the resurrection of the dead, As Paul says elsewhere, we are above all people to be pitied, because our faith is useless. And through Christ's resurrection, we have the proof and the undeniable certainty of our resurrection. And what I want us to look at, brothers and sisters, is for us to take away this morning the truth that if we belong to Jesus, if we belong to Jesus, that we can have peace in every difficulty. In the face of any difficulty, we can actually have real and lasting peace. Now, it doesn't mean that the difficulty will be easy. It doesn't mean that the difficulty will go away. But in the midst of that difficulty, if we keep our eyes on the truth of the resurrection, we, brothers and sisters, if we belong to Christ, can have peace in the face of any difficulty. So as we consider this theme, we'll be looking at the text before us in Matthew chapter 22 verses 23 to 33 in three points this morning. First of all, rest assured there will be a resurrection. Secondly, let us grow in our knowledge of the truth. And thirdly, let us grow in our understanding of the power of God. And so first of all, rest assured, there will be a resurrection. Now as we begin this text this morning, it's the same day in Matthew's account as Jesus has just been put to the test and his authority has been challenged, and he has taught them the basis of his authority is the fact that he is divine, and his authority is divine authority. He then is approached by another group of the leadership called the Sadducees. And they are a group, just to remind you, that as Matthew even reminds us here, that they say that there is no resurrection. They also denied the existence of angels, and they limited the word of God to what we call the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses. That was their scripture, and anything outside of that, they rejected. So what we have in our Old Testament, all that they would hold to would be Genesis to Deuteronomy. Everything else after that, in between, they would reject as not being authoritative scripture of God. So they're a group that denied the resurrection, they denied the existence of angels, and they only held to the books of Moses. Now as they come to Jesus to test him, They give up, really it's a hypothetical situation. They say that there were seven brothers among us, but we don't necessarily need to take that as being literable. This was a literal situation that happened among them, but it's a way of trying to trap Jesus and to ensnare him in a trick. And they bring this hypothetical situation to Jesus of seven brothers. And as they say there, the first one married a woman and died without having any children. So according to the law of Moses, the brothers went down the line, each dying, not providing children, until the seventh had died, and then the wife had died. And so since they deny the resurrection, they pose Jesus with this question of, well then, whose wife will she be? Now if we consider that question of the Sadducees to Jesus, it's not that hard to understand why they would ask this question. Like, after all, we marry our spouses, and as Elisha and I, and I think I've shared before here, after we were married in a short time, we were sitting and talking, and I said to her, like, well, I at least hope that the Lord provides us a couple of rooms close to each other in the great age and the glory to come, so that, or I said to her, feel free to look me up from time to time and say hi at some point in eternity. But scripture teaches us that our marriages, once death separates us, or Christ returns, that basically our marriages are over. They're done. It is for the here and now. And in some instances, it's kind of hard to understand. Like, but Lord, I thought love was eternal. I mean, we see it in movies all the time. It's, well, I'll love you for eternity. It'll never fade. It'll never die. Well, that's true. We'll love each other. our relationship will change. And this is a question that was posed by the Sadducees of, well, what's gonna happen in the resurrection, Jesus? All these people are, this woman's married these seven brothers. Who will she belong to in the resurrection? Now, what they quote here is from the book of Deuteronomy. And feel free to turn there with me if you would like. Deuteronomy chapter 25, verses five to 10. In Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 5 to 10, we read these words. 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 into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And this first son whom she bears shall succeed to 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 brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to 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 she 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." Now, why this law? Why was this in the mind of God to instruct His people that something like this should happen? that a brother who dies and doesn't leave a generation to follow, that his brothers should then come and marry his wife and provide an heir for him. I mean, we all know that, well, genetically speaking, that child is not the dead brother's. It can't be. But in the eyes of God, that child was considered an heir and declared to be an heir of the deceased brother. It was a declaration that the Lord would have made. And the reason why is to show the perpetual nature of the inheritance. I mean, that was why this was to be done so that that deceased brother's name would not be lost in the tribes of Israel, that his name would continue and be preserved. It was to show the perpetual nature of the inheritance of God's people. Now, as the types and shadows, as we've talked about, of the Old Testament, as they point to the real truth to come, as the promised land points to the great day when Christ comes again, and points to the new heavens and the new earth, a law like this is a subtle way of showing that our inheritance is perpetual. It is to be perpetual. It is not to be lost. And so that is the background of this question. that Moses commanded Deuteronomy. Consider also Genesis 38, verses 6 and following. Now this is the story of Judah and Tamar, about how Judah took Tamar as a wife for his oldest son, but the oldest son died, not leaving a child, and the second son then was given to her, basically along these lines, and he also died, not leaving an heir, The third son wasn't yet old enough to get married, so he told Tamar to wait, but Judah failed and was fearful of giving his third son to her. He didn't want to lose him. But also consider the entire book of Ruth, as Ruth comes and dwells in the land of Israel. It's that principle, that is that discussion there in the book of Ruth, of providing an heir, that the name of her husband's family might continue on in Israel. Now as we then come to the question that the Sadducees ask, they say, whose wife will she be? For they all had her. Well, Jesus very clearly and simply says, you are wrong. And another way that this could be translated would be, you are deceived. You are deceived, Sadducees. You are wrong. You are deceived. The verb there is a passive verb. It's something that has been done to them. You are deceived. And then the rest of the verse, Jesus goes on to explain why they were deceived. Because of their lack of understanding. They did not know the Scriptures. They did not know the power of God. He's really attacking them. at the very core of their beliefs. I mean, they prided themselves in the fact that they held to the law of Moses. We know these five books in and out. He says, you are deceived. You don't know the very scriptures that you hold to. And then in denying the fact that there would be a resurrection, Jesus is saying, you don't understand the power of God and what he is capable of doing. And so that brings us then to our second point, as the next two points will really kind of unpack those two aspects of Jesus' answer. And each point is a challenge to us, for us to grow first in our knowledge of the truth, and then to grow in our understanding of the power of God. So in Matthew chapter 22, verses 29 and then 31 through 33, is what we will look at in this second point. Let us grow in our knowledge of the truth. The answer that Jesus gives, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God, are then explained and broken out in kind of reverse order. That's why we're skipping over verse 30 and going right to verse 31 and 32. This is where Jesus attacks them and points out how they don't understand the Scriptures, and they don't know the very word that they claim to hold to. And he says to them in verse 31, as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? Now, as we consider here, you know, the resurrection of the dead here, or as for the resurrection, you know, this is the actual event of people being raised from the dead. But as he says to them, have you not read what it was said to you by God?" Now the scripture that Jesus then quotes in verse 32 is from Exodus chapter 3 verse 6. That is where Moses is at the burning bush and God speaks out of the burning bush and says to him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And what Jesus is pointing out here, and what we must not lose sight of, is what the Bible actually is. I mean, the Sadducees held to what was considered the written word of God, these five books of Moses, and they were rejecting everything else. But we must keep in mind that these scriptures are not simply just words on a page that have been written long ago. But the very words of the Bible are what God is speaking to us. You know, as Jesus quotes Exodus 3, verse 6, God said those words to Moses. That is who God actually spoke those words to. But Jesus points out rightly, you know, have you not read what God said to you? So when we read the scriptures, brothers and sisters, let us not think that we are just reading some book. Let us understand and keep in mind that we are actually being spoken to by the living God, the creator of heaven and earth. He is actually speaking to us. And so, in short, brothers and sisters, if we fall into the trap of ignoring the Word of God, what we are doing is we are ignoring God Himself. We are ignoring God Himself. Now, as I said, Jesus quotes here Exodus 3, verse 6. And I'm sure it's a familiar phrase. It's a familiar text. We see it actually not only in that reference, but in other scriptures as well. Where I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's how God introduces himself at times in scripture. But it's the interpretation that is unusual that Jesus brings to light. How often have we read that phrase, but never really considered the impact of what God is saying? And Jesus here is pointing us to this truth, the full weight and impact of what that small little phrase says. And notice that as the Sadducees only consider the first five books as the authoritative word of God, Jesus is using their very scriptures to point out the truth that they are rejecting. Now, as Jesus says that God is not the God of the dead, but he is the God of the living. Now, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have long since died and been buried. So physically, their bodies were dead and in the grave quite a while before Jesus said this, decomposing. But he says that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And what this shows is the reminder of the eternal nature of the covenant that God has made with us. that when we die here in this life, though our bodies are laid in the grave and do rest, as the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it, our souls do pass immediately into the presence of God, and are perfected and glorified in His presence. See, death, although it cuts off the relationship between husband and wife, We will never sever the relationship between God and His people. We continue in His presence. God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. In this way, Jesus shows them that they don't even understand their own scriptures. They don't understand and have a proper knowledge of the very Word of God that they hold to. So what are we called to do in Jesus confronting the Sadducees in their error? We are called, brothers and sisters, not to ignore what God is saying to us in His Word. Not to set it aside and not pick up its pages and to read and to hear God speak to us in these words. And I'm not saying that in the sense of You know, as we read it, we'll get some secret message that God will then verbally speak into us. No. What I'm saying is, as we actually read these words, that these words are actually God speaking to us. And by His Spirit, He will apply these precious words to our hearts and mold us more into His image. So let us not ignore what God says to us and His part of the conversation to us. But let us seek to grow in our knowledge and understanding of this precious book, of these precious words, so that unlike the Sadducees, we will not be deceived. We will know them, and we will know what God says. And when Satan comes to us and whispers and tempts us, did God really say? We'll be able to look back and say, yes, he actually did. This is what he said. So let us grow, brothers and sisters, in our knowledge of God's truth. And lastly, let us grow in our understanding of the power of God. The second phrase here of Jesus' answer is addressed in verse 30. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as he says, for in the resurrection, here, Whereas verses 31 and 32 deal with the fact of the event of the resurrection, here verse 30 doesn't deal with the event of the resurrection, but deals with the state after the fact. Like, what will life be like when we are raised from the dead? And Jesus here in his answer says that we will be like angels. Now, it does not mean that we become angels. It means that we will be like them in a specific sense, that we will not be married or given in marriage. Now, again, as we consider types and then the fulfillment of those types, marriage itself is given to us by God as a type of the relationship that we have with Him. It's the relationship between God and His people, that closest and most intimate bond between a husband and wife, pictures for us the closeness and the intimacy of the relationship between God and His people. Now, as we consider, well, what does it mean? Are we not going to see our spouse that we love for all of eternity, even though they're in glory with us? Are we not gonna have any type of relationship with them at all? Well, it makes sense, although that maybe brings a little bit of sadness to us, thinking that this relationship has been severed for all of eternity. But I think it makes sense we consider that this type that God has given us of that relationship between He and His people will, in the next age to come, be completely fulfilled. And as when everything that pointed to Christ, when He came, all of the types and the shadows were done away with and fell away, what we have in reality and now is far greater than what the saints of old had. And so too, as we consider the type of marriage between a husband and wife, picturing for us that unity to come between God and His people, when the reality comes that the type is pointing to, the type will fade away. But, brothers and sisters, this isn't a moment of sadness. It's a moment of rejoicing. Because what the type points to is always far greater than the type itself. The union between God and His people that is pictured in marriage will be perfected. perfected without any wrinkle or shade or shadow, it will be perfected. And that is a glorious and wonderful truth to look forward to. But also consider another union that we will enjoy in heaven is not only our union to God, but brothers and sisters, our union to one another. We are the body of Christ. And here and now, the union that we have together is marred by personality differences, or differences of opinion, or I don't like how that is done, or this is done to me, or that. Sin gets in the way of the union that we can have in Christ. And it will always get in the way until the great and glorious day when Christ comes again. So not only will the union between God and His people be perfected so the tithe falls away, but in that union also, our union as brothers and sisters in Christ will be also perfected in glory. And so although marriage between husband and wife is the most intimate and closest human relationship that we can have here and now, I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, the relationship that you and I will have together as brothers and sisters in heaven will be far closer and far more unified than the greatest of marriages here and now. So we don't have to worry about, well, will I see my spouse that I love so much at all during... Of course you will. But we need to keep in mind that our relationship to them, our love for them, our union with them, will be perfected just as it is perfected with every other brother and sister in Christ. The type falls away while the reality is made manifest. So Jesus says, in this way we are like angels. Angels don't have babies. They don't procreate. They don't get married. In that way, we will be like them in the age to come. We will not procreate. We will not get married. We will be perfectly united to Christ and to our God and our union as brothers and sisters in Christ will be perfected for all of eternity. This, brothers and sisters, this resurrection is all based upon the resurrection of Christ. And when Jesus confronts them, he says, you don't understand the power of God. The one who created heaven and earth. The one who has saved us from our sins. The one who resurrected Jesus from the dead is the same one who is fully capable of resurrecting His people from the dead. Not only His people, but all of humanity. Some to judgment for rejecting Christ, and us to glory who have received Him. So brothers and sisters, be assured of the certainty of the power of God, revealed in the resurrection of Jesus. And as we close today, we've looked at, if we belong to Jesus, we can have peace in the face of every difficulty. This assurance of the resurrection of the dead is what gives us the hope. It's the prize that we're to keep our eyes upon. And as Paul says it in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 to 23, and I'll close by reading this passage to you. I hear the Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of him. having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you. What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe? According to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all rule and authority in power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And so, brothers and sisters, let us grow in our knowledge of the truth. Let us grow in our understanding of the power of God. And so not be deceived and be assured of the glorious resurrection that is to come. And so have comfort and peace, regardless of any difficulty we should suffer in this life. Amen. Our gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the wonderful reality of the resurrection. Lord, we thank you for your clear teaching, even in the scriptures of old, of the resurrection that is to come. You are not the God of the dead, but of the living. We praise you, Lord, that death will never separate us from you. And Father, we look forward to the day when all of the types and shadows will fall away and and we will be perfected in your presence. We will be perfected in our union with you and through union with one another. We thank you, Lord, for the great and wonderful truth that you give us in your word. May we grow in the knowledge of your truth. May we grow, Lord, in the understanding of your great and awesome power. In the name of Jesus Christ, we do pray. Amen.