Okay, no, that's a little some, yeah, not so much. I think MC Hammer said that. Yeah, no, you can't touch it. Yeah, no. All right, let's focus. Let's come back, or I'm gonna start juggling here in a minute. If I get you laughing, I'll just keep going. Maybe you'll like this one. No, not so much. All right, well, we're grateful that you're here with us, even though it's kind of, I hope you know, I hope you weren't radically impacted by the high waters. If you were, I'm praying for you. Man, if there's anything that we can do, let us know. But beyond that, we're grateful to have a little bit of a recession in the rain. Did it back off a little bit out there this morning? Good, and I think it's supposed to be done for a day or two here, and then maybe it'll kick back up. Let's go ahead and take our Bibles, or you technologically with it folks, your iPad or your phone. It's just not gonna die, I can't let it die. And let's click in them or turn in them to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 22. We're gonna finish it today, so we have a little ways to go, so stay buckled in with me. We're gonna look at verses 23 through 46 in a message that I've called The Spotless Lamb of God. And so to that end, Lord, we're just praying that you would regather our hearts and minds and put them and place them collectively upon you and your word. God, we're asking, would you please just edify us, glorify yourself, build up and bless this body in a way that only you can. Just wash over us, Lord. The rains have washed over the community in a certain respect. We're asking that you would wash over us with the waters of your word. Cleanse us fresh and we'll give you praise in Jesus name, amen. A few days prior to Passover, the people's sacrifices would be subjected to inspection. There they were, seemingly countless lambs being scrutinized in order to ensure that they were free from any disease inwardly or defect outwardly, nothing inward or outward that would disqualify them from their purpose. There could be no flaw. There could be no fault. If the lamb was to be put forth as a sacrifice, it had to be found perfect. without blemish and I find it interesting as we enter back into the context of Matthew chapter 22 we're only a few days out from the cross of Jesus Christ and we find him being scrutinized, searched out, examined if you will by the religious leaders and oh they're looking for some fault some Disqualifying flaw or defect in our Lord and they are failing. Oh, they're inspecting him meticulously They're going over him with a fine-tooth comb Doctrinally or politically and theologically and And they're failing miserably. There is no sin, no fault to be found in Him. He is, in fact, the spotless Lamb of God, ready to lay down His life for the sin of the world. As the Apostle Peter has said, you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. In other words, all things have been as they've been since the beginning. From the fall of man, sin has just been going on and on and on. And you weren't redeemed from this sinful position with another corruptible thing, silver or gold. No, he says, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, there it is, without blemish and without spot. And if you were with us last week, maybe you remember it was the Herodians who stepped up to the interrogation table first, the political party, and they wanted to divide the people against Jesus, and they asked Him a seemingly impossible kind of question as it pertained to His position, and they said, is it lawful that we should pay taxes to Caesar? And you remember the situation, they were, well, you know, if Jesus was to say yes, then he would instantly ostracize and separate and segregate himself. He would isolate himself from the mainstream of the Jewish populace who hated everything about Roman oppression and Roman occupation. And if he said, yeah, you should really support what's going on there, then they would instantly turn a deaf ear to him. Yet, if he said no, then they could easily just accused him of treason to Rome and Rome would have him arrested and put in prison either way. However it happens, one group or the other would be divided against him and that was good enough for them. So you remember what happened, Jesus said, show me a coin. And so they handed him a denarius and he looked at the coin and he holds it out and he says, whose image and whose inscription is on this coin? And he said, well, it's Caesar's. And he said, render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. In other words, this coin has been stamped, it's been formed, it's been fashioned with the the image of Caesar on it, that testifies to the fact that it belongs to him, therefore, give it back, give it to him, it's his. It rightfully belongs to him. However, you have been formed and fashioned, you have been stamped with the image of God upon you. You rightfully belong to him. And so give the coin to Caesar, but give your life to God. And we read in verse 22 that when they heard that they, well the word is marveled. It means that they were mesmerized, they were dumbfounded by what they had heard. They're contemplating it, they're meditating upon it. His answer blew their minds. So simple, yet so unarguably correct. This complicated situation brought to nothing in a very simple way. And unable to trip him up, they left him, they went their way. Look at verse 23, Matthew 22. We read here, then the same day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for Okay, let's stop right there for just a minute. We wanna note exactly who these guys are and what it is that they're trying to do. Now, we read that after the Herodians attempted, you know, they took a swing, swing and a miss, that now the Sadducees step up to the plate. Now the Sadducees were a religious sect, the Herodians were a political group, the Sadducees were a religious group, and they were what we might liken unto the religious liberal theologians of their day. They were liberal in their theology. They denied basically anything of a supernatural type of substance. So they didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in demons, they didn't believe in the existence of the soul, and they definitely didn't believe in the resurrection. They considered the idea of life after death to just be ludicrous. Now, there are, you should know, there are all kinds, your Old Testament is laced with all kinds of scriptures that point to and clearly acknowledge the resurrection and life beyond the physical. However, the Sadducees, they, well, they didn't acknowledge the entirety of the Old Testament to be inspired of God. They only adhered to what we call what? The Torah, which is what? That's the Hebrew word. The Greek word is the Pentateuch. It means the first five books of your Bible, the books that Moses penned, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, okay? These are the books that they said that were inspired of God, and they maintained that in those books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there was nothing in those books Nothing written in those narratives that in any way advocated for life beyond this world it just it isn't there and so They didn't believe in the resurrection. And like the Herodians, they came to Jesus with a setup. You remember the Herodians were all, now Jesus, we know, we know that you're a straight shooter. We know that you speak the truth. We know that you're not a respecter of persons. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks about what you say. You're gonna say the truth. You're gonna lay it on the line. And they were trying to, so that when he said, they were undergirding his position so that when he said what he said, and in their mind, ostracized and divided the room, there was no recourse, because they've already affirmed what you say you really mean, and it's the truth. So when you say this and you divide the room, there's no recourse, there's no coming back from that. It was a bait and switch. They were kind of building him up, and then they were gonna take the carpet out from under him, so to speak. Well, here, the Sadducees come to Him, and they've got a similar approach. They're affirming what the Scripture says before they plead their case before Him. It's like, now, we agree, don't we, that this is what the Bible says. It does say this, right? And so they're getting him to affirm, in fact, what the scripture does say. And they draw his attention to a passage found in the 25th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy that basically states that if a married man dies and doesn't have any offspring, no son, that if he has a brother, his brother is to then marry the widow, and the firstborn son will be acknowledged as the son of the man who had deceased, and that way his name would carry on, and his inheritance would be insured in the family, okay? So they're all, now we agree that God's word says this, right? Right, okay. Now look at verse 25. They say, now there were with us seven brothers, and the first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise, the second also, and the third even to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her. Well now we see, don't we, what they're doing here. They've dreamt up, now I suppose, I suppose it is possible that seven brothers could marry the same woman and all seven of them die before any child is born. I suppose it's possible, but can we say it's not probable? So, it would seem as though these guys have dreamt up this elaborate, complicated scenario. More than likely, it's their go-to argument to try and frustrate The doctrine of the resurrection with their would-be religious opposites in the Pharisees, right? They're trying to ridicule the idea of the resurrection. A man had a wife. So let's say a man has a wife. He dies. He doesn't have a son. his brother does his duty, he takes her to himself, he dies and doesn't have a son, and Lord, this happened again and again and again until all seven brothers had her as the same wife. And ultimately, the woman herself died, and so in the resurrection, whose wife is she gonna be? Now truthfully, if I was brother number three or four, I mean not to mention five, six, or seven, I might be a little suspicious, I mean what's she putting in her soup? You know what I'm talking about? I mean it's like everyone who marries this woman dies and so I mean maybe we're asking the wrong questions here. Be that as it may, they envisioned this impossible to solve dilemma whereby all seven brothers, there they are in the resurrection, they're arguing over the woman, tugging back and forth on her, she's my wife, no, she's my wife, and how is it truly decided whose wife she's gonna be? And honestly, upon the surface of the question, it seems like a pretty good one, doesn't it? I mean, that seems like a legitimate problem. I mean, would you know how to answer that? I wouldn't know how to answer that. My answer to that would be something like, well, let's worry about what we do know and trust God for what we don't know, right? Because that's an answer that we have to give quite a bit, isn't it? Because there are things in life that we don't know, we don't understand. They're beyond our finding out and we have to revert to, you know, let's worry about what we do know. There's a lot of things in here that we do know, amen? And we don't have them all down, do we? Do you got them all down? I don't have them all down. There's plenty to worry about with what I do know. much less what I don't know. And so, you know, hey, let's worry about what we do know, let's trust God for what we don't know. However, Jesus takes this complicated question and he gives us a little insight into the resurrection with a very simple answer. Notice verse 29. Jesus answered and said to them, you are mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. Listen family, underline that verse in your Bible. Jesus denounces these religious leaders, these theologians, these Bible scholars on two counts. Number one, you don't know the scriptures. And number two, you don't know the power of God. And those two things, when you add them up, they equal error. Listen, if anyone should have known both the scripture and the power of God, it should have been them, yeah? I mean, listen, if there is anyone who should know both the scriptures and the power of God, Surely we would agree that it should be those who are leading the people of God. We would agree? And the scriptures taught the resurrection. And to say that they did not would be to expose your own ignorance and to ridicule its reality is to mock the power of God. Listen, you can get past Genesis 1-1. You remember that verse, don't you? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the enormity of everything that's implied within those few short words, that single sentence, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And you can get past that, but the resurrection, Is too big? Is too problematic? Hey listen, God asks the question right there in the book of Genesis, in the Torah, there received scripture, is anything too hard for the Lord? That's a rhetorical question. It's a question asked with the answer obviously implied. Is there anything that's too hard for the Lord? And it's interesting to me that he asked that question within the context of bringing life out of the deadness of Sarah's womb, her being past the age of childbearing. And she was struggling with this. Could it really happen? I mean, I just don't see it. I'm 90 years old, or whatever the case may be. And God said, is there anything too hard for the Lord? And Paul picked up on that notion in Romans chapter four. And he elaborates on the fact that giving life to the dead is exactly what God does. whether it's spiritually, bringing you from dead in sin to alive to God in Christ, or materially, physically, in the resurrection, nothing is too hard for God. Even, or might we say especially, the resurrection. But listen, listen, this is why it's so important, listen to me, this is why it's so important that you know your Bible. These guys, man, they had, now follow, these guys had connected their thoughts to a biblical passage. They had done that much, right? There they were in the Deuteronomy passage, and they were connecting their thoughts to a biblical passage, but they were taking that passage in a direction that it was never intended to go. Okay, and people do this all the time. They were not, well Paul would tell Timothy that he is to what? Rightly, he said study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, one who rightly divides the word of truth. What does that mean? That means there's a wrong way to divide it, right? And if I don't know how to rightly divide the word of truth, well, according to what Paul said, I should be ashamed of myself. A workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Well, how do I come to this point? Well, he tells you, study. Study the word of God. Be a, hey man, it's work. You gotta be a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You guys, do you realize it's completely possible for a person to know a bunch of Bible verses and yet not really fundamentally know the scriptures? Again, Paul told Timothy, he said, hold fast the pattern, this is important, hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. Listen, what that suggests, what that word pattern of sound, what that phrase suggests is that solid, sound, biblical truth has a pattern to it. that can be picked up and detected by the discerning heart. Now it also suggests something else, doesn't it? It suggests that that pattern can be lost. You can lose that. That's why we're told to hold fast to it. you've gotta hang on to, you've gotta anchor yourself to it, because you can have vast, hear me now, you can have vast Bible knowledge that's just not sound. It's not healthy, it's not solid, and believe me, there are many like that today. Many people who have vast amounts of Bible knowledge, there's simply no pattern of soundness to it. And what does it result in? I mean, you know the person who's out there, man, they can quote that Bible, but they're leading a life that's completely reprobate. It doesn't result in obedience, it results in error. Right? I mean, you are, Jesus said, you are mistaken. The word in verse 29 where he says you are mistaken literally is the word deceived. You are deceived, why? Because you don't know the scripture. That's so important. Family, if we don't know the truth, we will buy into and believe the lie. There's no other alternative, is there? You either believe the truth, what's left? A lie. No matter how elaborate or subtle or seemingly rational it may seem, You either believe the truth or you believe the lie. And so, spend time in God's word consistently. Seek to grow in your understanding of the Bible contextually. It's so important. Let the word of God spill the heart and mind of God into your life. And Jesus here is in essence saying, if you knew God, the power of God, you would know that he can raise the dead. And if you really knew the word of God, you would know that he will raise the dead. Now look at verse 30. He says, for in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. but concerning the resurrection of the dead have you not read? There's a little slap in the face for him. what was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. Yeah, I'll bet. Who would not be astonished at the teaching of Jesus Christ? Back in verse 30, Jesus gives us a little bit of insight into resurrection life. And I'm gonna be honest with you, there are all kinds of things that we don't know when it comes to life in the resurrection. God has left many surprises for us to discover and be blessed by. However, the Bible does give us a glimmer. It does give us a glimpse or two here and there to sort of wet our appetite and maybe stir up our intrigue, our curiosity as to what resurrection life will be like. You see, the Sadducees had envisioned the resurrection to be nothing more really than a continuation of a glorified order or extension of this life. And Jesus tells them, look, that was your first mistake, to presume that resurrection life is just a glorified extension of life as you know it. Don't presume upon it that way. Relationships, he says, in the resurrection will not be like they are now. I mean, people won't be married and being given in marriage. Death will be a thing of the past. There's no longer a need to procreate in order to sustain life or anything like that. Now, I know, okay, instantly this invokes a question, doesn't it? You say, what do you mean there won't be, there's no procreation? And oftentimes, people have this question, they wonder, well, if there's not marriage, does that mean that there will be a cessation, if you will, of marriage kind of relationships? And they're thinking, oh my goodness, I can't imagine. Listen, the truth is, I have no idea. Where the Bible is silent, we must be silent. And let's worry about what we do know and trust God for what we don't know. And truthfully, anyone's input on that matter is pure speculation, it's conjecture. What I do know, okay, what I do know is that whatever joy, whatever pleasures that we experience on earth will be swallowed up and comparatively non-existent compared to the joys and pleasures of heaven. that much I can assure you of. You remember what David wrote in the 16th Psalm? He said, in your presence is fullness of joy. That is so important. Guys, you've had some incredible experiences in this life, but I promise you, you've never experienced the fullness of joy. But in God's presence, there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand, pleasures forevermore. So trust me when I tell you that nothing will be lacking in the joy slash pleasure department of heaven. But the resurrection isn't merely an extension of life as we know it in kind of a glorified manner. It's life, Jesus is trying to communicate the resurrection life is a life on a different plane than we can even begin to fathom. Now Paul touched on the resurrection a little bit as well when he wrote to the Corinthians and he said, you know what, there will be certain things that remain the same. There will be things about the resurrection that are familiar to you. Number one, you will always be you, okay? You're not going to sprout wings and become an angel. You remember, like, back in the day, I don't know if, kids, I don't know if cartoons do this these days, but back when I was a kid, you know, there'd be a cartoon and smack, maybe one of them would get ran over by a car and all of a sudden, like, this little angel would come out and flutter away with, like, a harp and a halo. Anyone remember that type of a thing? Okay, thank you. Some of you are like, what in the world? How did you turn out okay? I don't know that I did, but, well, you know, hey, man, people blame a lot of stuff on what people see, don't they? I think that we're kind of responsible for ourselves, that's what the Bible teaches, but be that as it may, not advocating or condoning, putting things in front of you that you shouldn't. But you know, there they would be, and they would sprout these little wings and fly off to heaven. That's not the way it happens. You don't become an angel, you don't earn your wings. As a matter of fact, to become an angel would be a bit of a demotion. The Bible says you're gonna judge the angels, so I mean, you don't want to be demoted, do you? I sure don't. but he just says that we'll be like angels. He makes the comparison in that we won't marry or be given in marriage. So he doesn't say we'll become angels, but like angels with this respect, okay? The people that you know now, you'll know then. Paul said, look, you're gonna know even as you're known. We even get the impression that there will be some, in some way, we'll still know the familial, the family kind of relationship. You remember in Luke chapter 16 when the rich man and lifted up his eyes being found in Hades. And remember he was concerned for, he called out and was talking to Abraham about his brothers who were still alive and was wanting Lazarus or someone to go and minister to them. So there was still a familial kind of awareness there. But there will be some things that are different. So some things will be familiar to you, but other things, you know, having been sown a natural body, the Bible says we will be raised a spiritual body. Now, not a spirit. That's important, okay? We won't be unembodied spirits. The Bible's very clear about that. You remember when the ladies and the disciples went to the tomb on resurrection morning? Did they find Jesus' body? No, he had resurrected, it was his resurrection body, his glorified body. Matter of fact, remember when he appeared to them and he was like, hey, you got any fish around here? And they're all like freaking out. They're like, give me a piece of fish. And he said, go ahead and touch me, a spirit doesn't have flesh and bone as I do. So being sown a physical or a natural body, we will be raised a spiritual body. This body is fit for the earth. Your resurrection body will be fit for the heavens. The Bible says we're sown in corruption, we'll be raised in incorruption. When we see him, we'll be like him. for we'll see him as he is. We're sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power. All these things are in 1 Corinthians 15. Think of it like this. The substance of the oak tree is found in an acorn. but that thing has to be planted in order for that oak tree to spring into existence, if you will. Think of the beauty of a flower, maybe a tulip or something. The beauty of that tulip, the substance of that is in that bulb, but in order to see the fullness of its beauty, it has to be planted. And Paul would say so too with the resurrection. Your body right now, if you can receive it, is like in seed form, okay? But when you're planted, you will be raised in full bloom, all right? Now something else I want to point out is that Jesus doesn't say that angels are genderless. Some people would purport that. Of the names that we know in scripture, they're identified with a masculine gender. He only likens us to angels with respect to marriage relationships. Plus, I think this was kind of a two-for-one kind of a dig, because you remember the Sadducees don't believe in angels, and so he's like, well, in the resurrection, we'll be like angels. And so it's like a two-for-one dig. It's like he validates the resurrection and the reality of angelic beings in a single sentence. And so the first thing that Jesus deals with is their lack of understanding when it comes to the power of God. He says, listen, the resurrection poses no problems for God. Or with God, nothing will be impossible, okay? Now he didn't answer every question about the eternal state, he just addressed specifically their with the marriage state. So he dealt with that. The second thing he tackles is their lack of understanding concerning the word of God. He says, but concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read? Don't you guys read your Bibles? He says, have you not read what was spoken to you by God? Now, I love that. He quotes from the Burning Bush passage. Exodus chapter three is where he's quoting from or culling out of, and I love that for a couple of reasons. Number one, when they quote, they quote Moses. When Jesus quotes, he quoted God. And so they're like, well, teacher, Moses said, and he said, well, that's neat. God said, and drops the mic, right? And since Jesus, the second reason that I love this is because since Jesus is quoting from this passage in Exodus, the Torah, the section of scripture they receive and deem as inspired of God, they can't combat it. What are they gonna say? They have to receive it. They acknowledge this as the word of God. But you remember when God was calling to Moses from the burning bush, he identified himself in this way, he said, I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob. Now, how does that testify or point to life after death? this way in that if those guys were dead that is no longer existing he'd have had to say I was the God of Abraham I was the God of Isaac I was the God of Jacob when those guys were alive I was their God but they're no longer or they're no longer in existence, and so, but when they were, I was their God. But he didn't say that. He said, I am their God. What that translates is that they're still alive, and that death did not end their existence, and I am still their God. And the use of the present tense, I am, implied that the patriarchs are still alive, and that God is still, listen, The living God is the God of living men. Again, Abraham was still Abraham. Isaac was still Isaac. Jacob was still Jacob. But guys, I want you to notice something here, and this is a big deal, kind of. I mean, I want you to notice that Jesus established this doctrinal point, the reality of the resurrection, on a single tense of the verb. And though on one hand, we don't wanna make mountains out of molehills and whatever, but on the other hand, we need to recognize that Jesus demonstrates the enormous depth and accuracy of the scriptures to make this observation, number one, they're still alive, you observe that, I am the God, and then the application, that means there's a resurrection or life beyond the grave out of a verb tense. You see that? What a demonstration of the enormous depth and accuracy of the scriptures. Now, you ever been tracking along, there you are, you're sitting there, and you're tracking along with the Bible study, the preacher's up there, pastor's up there, he's doing his thing, and he may be going over a passage and suddenly he points something out in the passage and it's like, a light bulb comes on for you. It's like, man, I have read through that a thousand times and I haven't seen that, but when he said it, it seemed so obvious. How could I have ever missed that before? It's right there, I see it now. Anyone ever have something like that happen? Yeah, it happens to us, doesn't it? As the Holy Spirit illuminates the word for us. Well, that's... Verse 33 in a nutshell. Jesus points this out. Well have you not read that in the burning bush passage where God has said I am the God of Abraham and I am the God of Isaac and I am the God of Jacob. God's not the God of the dead but of the living. In verse 33 the multitudes blew their minds. They were astonished at his teachings. Like wow, how did I not see that before? Now look at verse 34, but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And then one of them, a lawyer, now when you read of a lawyer in the scripture, don't think of an attorney like you would, you know, law firm of so and so and so and so. It's not legal law with regard to, how do you say, civil matter, he's talking about the law of God. He's talking about the law of Moses, okay? So these guys are scribes, they're experts in the law of Moses. They weren't going to represent you for getting a speeding ticket or something, all right? Though we appreciate those guys. Then, one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, teacher, which is the great commandment Maybe let me reflect that a little bit better. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? So the Herodians sought to trap him. The Sadducees tried to ensnare him, find some flaw in his doctrine. Now the Pharisees are testing him. Again, to no avail. It's three up, three down. They will find no fault, no flaw. He is the sinless and spotless Lamb of God. But the rabbis of Jesus' day were always debating a question, and that was, which law of God, you know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all these, the books of Moses, which command of God is the greatest law? And again, it was nothing new. It was a centuries-old debate. And they had broken the law down in a couple of different ways. They perceived the law as having 248 positive or affirmative precepts, and 365 negative. Thou shalt not, or don't do this. So 248 what you need to do, 365 what you ought not to do, making for a total of 613, which by the way is the number of letters in the Decalogue, so it's kind of a cool thing. 613 things or precepts, commandments in the law of Moses and they sought to kind of categorize them in the heavy section and the light section. Now these are like big deals and these are important but they're not like you know this. And so, we really wanna know, if you could narrow it down, which commandment is the biggest deal? Which is the one we really need to be paying attention to? Now, of course, the fundamental flaw with that philosophy, as Jane pointed out, is that to break an infraction of any part of the law, we have any police officers in here? I know we do, we got at least one, maybe two. If someone breaks the law, just a little bit, They still break the law? Yeah, they're trying to justify it. Well, it was just a, and so there's what we might call major infractions or major violations and then minor violations, right? But the key word is violation. You still broke it. And so you either break the law or you don't. There's no little break. Well, there is, but the little break is a break, okay? But be that as it may, this man asks, Jesus obliges him with an answer. Look at verse 37. Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first or the preeminent and great commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, and on these two hang all of the law and the prophets, or the sum total of the scriptures. Now I want you to notice that Jesus doesn't quote from one of the Ten Commandments, like maybe they thought he might. He doesn't elevate one precept over the other, but instead he quotes from Deuteronomy chapter six and verse five, Really, he uses that verse to define the sum total of the law in its core principles. He says, listen, the greatest command that you could ever look to fulfill is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, and with all of your soul, which is another way of saying love God with everything you are and with everything you have. Our love for God is to be a complete and comprehensive love. It should involve our entire being. Your love for God should not be a one-dimensional kind of love. In other words, it shouldn't be something that's wrapped up in only your emotions. You know, your love for God is equated to the music you sing at church, the lifting of your hands, maybe the getting excited, jumping up and down, whatever the case. Now, are those things wrong? No, not necessarily. But that's just one aspect. Your love for God should be way more than one dimensional. It should involve not only your emotions, but your mind as well. We're to be growing in our knowledge of God, who he is, what he does, how he works, because that will deepen your love for him as well. And our love for God, listen to me, your love for God should involve your body. You know, you should honor God with your body. We're to lead lives of holiness, keep ourselves sanctified, set apart from the corruption that's found in the world. We're to be honoring Him in what we do. With all of our strength, with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul, all that we are. God, listen to me, God wants the total package of who you are. and who I am, and to love him is to honor him and obey him. Where there is love for God, there will be obedience and service to God. You know what Jesus said? If you love me, then keep my commands. So first and foremost, the vertical, right? The vertical should be tended to and taken care of. Our relationship with God is first and foremost. We're to love the Lord our God with all that we are. Heart, mind, soul, strength, every fiber of our being. But Jesus also says that a right relationship with God will be, how do you say, integrally connected to and woven throughout our relationships with others as well. So a right relationship with God on the vertical axis, if you will, will translate into a right relationship with others on the horizontal axis, or axis. And the vertical will feed the horizontal. And so he quotes from Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18, and he sets it on par with the first, love your neighbor as yourself. So love God, and love others who are created in the image of God. And on these two. Hang, right, what does love look like? On these two hang all of the law and the prophets. In other words, you do these two things, you love God with all that you are and you love others like you love yourself. You know how you take care of yourself and you wanna pamper yourself and you don't wanna be uncomfortable yourself, you wanna make sure yourself is fed and well tended to and taken care of. You love God first, you love others like that, you will fulfill the sum total of the scripture. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Verse 41. So love God and love those created in his image, which is everyone else. And while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? So, let's stop right there. While they're still there, in other words, they haven't had a chance to scatter. Herodians ask the questions, the Sadducees ask their question, the Pharisees ask their question, now Jesus is like, now I got a question. And he says, the son of, what do you say of the Christ? Whose son is he? Now this is reminiscent, isn't it, of another question that he asked his disciples when he said, who do men say that I the Son of Man am? He said, who do you say that I am? And it's a very important question. Jesus always puts people, all of us, he puts us in a place whereby we have to decide who he is. And it's a topic of such radical importance that eternity hinges on the answer to that question. All of eternity weighs in the balance of how we respond to that question. Notice how they respond. Look, verse 42. They say, the son of David. Okay, so these guys were Bible scholars, weren't they? They knew the promise given to David. You can find it in the seventh chapter of 2 Samuel, where God promised to David that the Messiah would come forth from his lineage. So in one respect, top 10 answers on the board survey says, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, it's like number two, right? They got the right answer, at least partly right. And Jesus was gonna point that out to them because it's true that Messiah would be fully human, that is the son of David. The part that they couldn't connect the dots or refuse to acknowledge was that the Messiah would also be fully God, the son of God. And that was the problem that these guys had with Jesus. Not that he was a man or a good man, not that he was a miracle worker, not that he was a great teacher. They didn't have a problem with any of that stuff. Their problem was that he claimed to be God. Now there are some people who say, well Jesus never claimed to be God. Listen to me. You have to be 2,000 years continents and cultures removed to draw that conclusion. because they didn't see it that way at all. As a matter of fact, you can recall, if you recall in your mind, you can write it down and look it up later. It's in the Gospel of John, chapter 10, when they all gathered around and they picked up stones and they were gonna stone our Lord. They wanted to stone Jesus, and he said, hey, hey, hey. He said, listen, I've done a lot of good works around here. He said, for which of these works are you wanting to stone me? What have I done that's caused you to want to stone me? And you remember what they said? They said, for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you being a man, make yourself, what's the word? What's the word? God. They weren't confused at all about his claims. And so Jesus points out to them that the Messiah would not merely be a man, but God as well. Notice verse 43. So they say the son of David. And so he says to them, how then does David, notice this is important, in the spirit call him Lord Adonai, saying the Lord Yahweh said to my Lord Adonai, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. If David calls him Lord, how is he his son? Okay, couple things here and then we'll wrap up and wind down. We wanna note that Jesus affirms the inspiration of scripture. I think it's important to note that. He says David in the spirit or by the spirit calls him Lord. And he's quoting from the 110th Psalm, okay? So he's saying it's inspired by the spirit of God. Secondly, if Messiah was the son of David, yet by the spirit or inspired by the spirit, David says he's the Lord of David. Well, how is that possible? Okay, let me bring this into focus a little bit. How many of you dads, you've got sons out there or son or whatever, how many of you dads have a notion to call or consider your son or grandson Lord? How's that sound? That you would see them as over you and you subservient to them. What, no? You guys are looking at me like, no? And this really isn't even a patriarchal society. Not really, not like in ancient Israel. Here's the short, okay? And we could go into this a little bit, but I'm just gonna give you the short, and I'm sure you guys are appreciative for that. You're like, why didn't you start with the short? Be that as it may. To be David's son speaks of his humanity. To be David's Lord speaks of and points to his deity, okay? He is the root and the offspring of David. He came before David and is found after David. So the scriptures acknowledge that the Messiah, they acknowledge the Messiah's humanity and his deity. Clearly, there's no other rational explanation, and that's what Jesus is drawing their attention to, but they weren't, and the author of Hebrews quotes from the Psalms about how God calls the Messiah God, and why would God call another man God? He doesn't, only God, there is no other God. And so they aren't willing to admit or acknowledge that. He's not only the son of David, he's also the son of God. He preceded David and proceeded from David. He's his son and his Lord, okay? Now look at verse 40. And the only way that can happen is if he's both man and God. And that's what he's drawing his attention to. But see, they won't respond, will they? They're just like, I don't know. Look at verse 46. And no one was able to answer him a word. I would say they, They were able, but they were not willing. You know what I mean? They knew what Jesus was drawing. They knew what Jesus was pointing them to, but they wouldn't answer. nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore. They were like, man, this guy's out of our league. I mean, you know, the Lamb of God put through every inspection and found faultless, a worthy sacrifice, amen, for the sin of the world. Guys, all the evidence is there, really, truly, concerning who Jesus is. and we can examine it openly and honestly, and through that, believe, acknowledge the truth and be saved, or we can examine it defensively and miss the truth altogether. And I wanna encourage you with this too, and then we're done. I do appreciate y'all's patience. I know we ran a little long today, but these guys, brilliant-minded guys, The Herodians, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, these guys were scholars in their day. And they worked very hard to place Jesus in a position in the midst of a problem that he couldn't solve. And none of them succeeded. Can I just say that you will not succeed on that level either? You say, well what do you mean? Well, you are not gonna put Jesus into a problem or present Jesus with a problem that He cannot solve, that He cannot work through. There is no problem in your life so great that He cannot solve it, see you through it. Look to Him, trust in Him, and be blessed by Him, amen? All right, let's bow our hearts and let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have perfect wisdom. and that you truly have the answer to all of our problems. And so I pray that you would help us to trust you more. God, that you would increase our faith and that you would help us to love you appropriately with the whole of who we are, with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul and all of our strength. God, that we would love you and that love would be displayed in our obedience and service to you. Help us, Lord, to see the need, to meet the need, that you'd be glorified in our lives. Guys, we're finished here, but I just wanna say while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, that Jesus was put through the interrogation process only to be found blameless, faultless, without spot, without sin, and yet he was slaughtered as the Lamb of God, bearing our sin. that we might be robed in his righteousness. So I just wanna encourage you that if you don't know the Lord and man, you need to turn from your sin, then do so today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And I wanna pray for you if that's you. I just wanna give a quick second here. And if you need the Lord to come into your heart and forgive you of your sin, regardless of where you've been or what you've done, God loves you. It's not the righteous he came to call, but the sinner to repentance. It's not the healthy that need the physician, but the sick. So if you sin, then you qualify for salvation. Is God dealing with you on that level today? If you'd say, yeah, I need Christ to come into my life. Can I pray for you? Just show me who you are. Just raise your hand. If I see your hand, I'll say so, and you can put it back down. But I just wanna give you a quick second to say, yeah, would you pray for me? God bless you. Who else? The Lord just speaking to your heart. Okay, okay. God, we thank you for the work that you're doing in hearts and minds and lives here today. And Father, I just pray for your child, God, who's just got a heart that's turning to you and wanting to be right with you, that you would just bless her, God. Lord, pour your spirit out. Strengthen and resolve that decision to wanna honor you, to follow you, and to lead a life that's pleasing to you, God. And that's really the cry of all of our hearts. that you would strengthen our resolve to honor you with our lives. Have your way in us, pour your spirit out upon us, and we'll give you praise in Jesus' name, amen, amen.