We want to give our attention now to the study of God's Word. And if you'll take your Bibles with me and turn to Matthew chapter 22, we do indeed want to look at verses 15 to 46. This is 31 verses. I have bounced back and forth a number of times over the last couple of weeks on whether to take it all as one chunk or to break it into three or four pieces. And because of the biblical literacy of this church and the fact that we've gone through a lot of this same type of material multiple times. I just thought it better to cover it in one shot and to look at it from the perspective primarily of the Gospel of Matthew as opposed to getting into the details of what God expects of us as far as paying our taxes, the reality of the resurrection, the greatest commandment, etc. And I just thought for our sake and for the sake of this morning I just want to give you this from the perspective of Matthew's gospel, and we'll do all 31 verses. And when we get done, if some of you would like to go back and revisit some of it, just let me know. And we'll see about maybe going back in the next weeks and addressing some of the specific subjects. But we're in the context of Matthew's gospel, where Jesus has presented himself to Israel as their Messiah. And in the past weeks, you saw that when what is normally referred to as the triumphal entry, Jesus rides in and fulfillment of Scripture on a colt, the fall of a donkey. And he is presenting himself to Israel in the fulfillment of Scripture as their Messiah. He has presented himself to the nation of Israel as their Messiah. He then went into the temple, took stock of the things that were going on, came in the next day and cleansed the temple and reclaimed it for use for the worship of God. When he takes station in the temple the next day, he is doing miracles, he is teaching, and when they come and challenge his authority to do that, he in essence demonstrates that he has that authority and silences the religious leaders and the critics yet again. As you come to Matthew 22, verse 15 now, You see that the religious leaders are going to come after Jesus and try to undermine him in his credibility, and if at all possible, find some fault in something that he says, either to undermine his credibility with the populace or to secure some kind of a charge they can level against him. And the reason that Matthew records all this, where it is in the context of his gospel, is he is setting the stage to explain why Jesus in Matthew 23 will declare the woes against the scribes and the Pharisees and pronounce judgment against them. This demonstrates that when Jesus judges the religious leaders and condemns them, it's because they deserve it and they are fixed in their rebellion. Having been given all that evidence, all those miracles, all that fulfillment of Scripture, demonstrated right in front of them, and they are committed to killing him. This is why he pronounces the woes in chapter 23. OK, and as we take a look at Matthew 20 through 22, verses 15 to 46, you're going to see there are four key questions that are asked and answered. that help us, number one, to understand as you step back as a Christian and evaluate the the instruction that's being given. It helps us to understand who God is and what he expects of us. And from the immediate context, it demonstrates that Jesus absolutely is the Messiah, not only because he has the answer. for every question with regard to who is God and what does He expect of us, but also because He can present from Scripture a proof in His question that He is, unequivocally, not just the Messiah, the Son of David, but God incarnate in human flesh. So as we take a look at the text this morning, we're just going to kind of hang our thoughts on the four questions that are asked in this text. And we're going to go through each of them, and I'll give you the answer to them. I remind you, we're going to be taking a look at quite a bit of text, and we're not going to do a lot of cross-referencing. So if you want to have your Bible open, sitting on your lap, we're going to look at verses 15 to 46 at a run. So put on your crash helmet and your safety harnesses, and hopefully we won't need parachutes, Steve, but everything else, buckle up because we're going to go on a run. And this will be a good time as you see the way that Jesus definitively answers even the most controversial theological and political questions, not just of his day, but of our day. Now, it starts with the question, do we have to pay taxes? That's a question I think we would all like to know, wouldn't it? And we hope the answer is no. And that's a question that the religious leaders ask Jesus. But again, remember, the historical context here is not just this being a question that is asked off the cuff. I want you to see there's a motivation behind the question when they asked Jesus this. This is during Passion Week. This is probably on Tuesday. And all of the events we're going to look at this morning happened on the same day. Verse 15. Then, after Jesus has spoken about the parables to the religious leaders, etc., now he's in the temple, he's teaching, and the Pharisees went and they plotted together how they might trap him in what he said. When it says here the Pharisees went and plotted together, the expression there in the Greek literally is that they had an official council meeting. They had a council meeting together in order to discuss how to trap Jesus. And the word trap here is a hunting term. It can be used to refer to an animal trap or a snare. And what it basically means is that they got together and they had an elders meeting, so to speak. They had a business meeting where they said, OK, Jesus is a real problem. He's very popular with the people. He's taken over the temple. What are we going to do to find we're going to have to find something wrong with what he's saying or what he's doing? We got to trap him somehow. We got to catch him in what he says. And so they sent their disciples to Jesus, along with the Herodians, saying, teacher, We know that you are a you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one for you are not partial to any. So tell us, then, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar or not? Now, there's their question, but let me just unpack some of the context here. Notice they don't come themselves. The Pharisees, the religious leaders, they get together, they have a powwow. How do we what are we going to do to catch Jesus in something that he's saying? And they don't come themselves to exercise their plan. What do they do? They send whom? They send their disciples, they send their lackeys, they send their young guys. Right. That way, if they catch Jesus in something, oh, well, we weren't actually party to it. You see that you see the setup. And they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. Now, who are the Herodians? Well, you know who Herod is, right? Herod's the client king. And it's his sons that are on various thrones now. Once Herod, King Herod the Great dies, his his sons are on many kingdoms in the area. They're all underneath Rome. It is Rome that appointed Herod the Great as the client king over Judea. over the whole of the land. Herodians are not a religious group. They're a political party. The disciples of the Pharisees are a religious group. They're good Jews. They're scribes. They're lawyers. They're the Bible scholars or the young Bible students growing up to be keepers of the law and teachers of the law. That's the disciples of the Pharisees, the Herodians. These are the guys that And some of them would have even been members of the temple, probably even Sadducees, et cetera. These are the people that approve of Roman rule. These are the these are the guys that agree with with Rome and military might and paying the tax. OK, so when these two groups come together, listen, these two groups are antithetical to each other. They're contrary to each other. This is this is like Planned Parenthood and anti-abortion activists getting together. and going and talking to somebody and asking a question with regard to abortion to see where you're going to land, because no matter what you say, you're going to disagree with what one group or the other. So when you have the disciples of the Pharisees asking about paying the poll tax and the Herodians asking about paying the poll tax, this is the perfect setup, because if they if Jesus says, don't pay the poll tax, Well, then the Herodians are going to go, oh, he's teaching treason. That's sedition. We need to bring him up on charges. They march him straight before Pilate and have him executed. If he says pay the tax, then he's going to estrange himself from not just the Pharisees, but most of the people who disagree with it. Now, what's disagreeable about a poll tax? Well, just so we're clear here, a poll tax is You know what taking a poll is? You're doing a count of people. So a poll tax is an annual tax. In those days, it was an annual one denarius tax levied. Every single person in the province owed Rome a denarius every year. I don't care who you don't care how much you make, how wealthy you are, how prominent you are. Everybody owes one denarius, one day's wage. And you remember what a denarius is, right? A denarius is just a silver coin minted in those days. It would have an image of Caesar on both sides of it. We'll talk about that in a minute. But it was just the equivalent of one day's wage. So everybody owed the equivalent of one day's wage from a common day laborer as the poll tax. And you know what that money was used for? To support the Roman government there, to continue to propagate it. You know what the Jews didn't like? having the Gentiles over them, having the Roman government there. So what the big argument was, should we pay the poll tax? And see, the extra rub here is that the poll tax was instituted and was very much like the temple tax. The temple tax was instituted by God in the law of Moses. That was a head count tax, and it was to support the ministry in the temple. And now here comes along Rome and Rome says, well, you can pay that if you want, but you will pay us one denarius. Now this is over and above any taxes that are tariffs or trade laws or, or, uh, travel taxes, any of the, any of the other kinds of taxes. This was the, and this was the big argument. We don't owe our allegiance to Caesar. We owe our allegiance to God. We shouldn't, we are God's people, not Caesar's people. We shouldn't have to pay him. And you'll notice the way that they even come to Jesus and the way they present their question. Notice again, in verse 16, they sent their disciples to him as opposed to coming themselves. And they came along with the Herodians. So you got both groups there so they can argue with him and testify against him no matter what he says. They're trying to catch him in what he says, and they address him in a very formal and hypocritical way. Teacher. We know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth. See the little word. No, we know that you are truthful. The word no is the is the Greek word that refers to knowing with certainty, knowing with confidence, with assurance, with conviction. We know absolutely that you are a teacher of truth. Well, the whole reason they're coming is to catch him in something, he says, that's an outright lie. And yet they come and they present themselves as those who are asking him this question honestly because they really want to know the answer. And they set it up in such a lovely way. Ever had somebody come and before they ask you a favor or ask you a question or ask you what you think, they kind of set you up with a bunch of flattery. That's this. That's this right here. We know that you are truthful. that you teach the way of God and truth and that you defer to nobody, for you are not partial to any. We know you're going to give us a straight answer, definitive answer and the answer that you don't care what Caesar thinks and you don't care what the the high priest thinks and you don't care what Herod or anybody thinks. You'll just tell us what God says. And that's why we're coming to you. So then tell us, what do you think? Is it lawful, lawful, meaning biblical? Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar or not. Notice in verse 18, you have the beginning of Jesus's answer. We're told Jesus perceived their malice. Malice just means evil intention. He saw right through what their plot was and what they were trying to do and why they were asking. That's why he says to them, why are you testing me, you hypocrites? And just so we're clear, hypocrite is not what we normally think of as a hypocrite. We think of a hypocrite as somebody who says one thing and does another. The term hypocrite in Greek literally refers to an actor, somebody who is putting on a show. It's not just that you say one thing and you do another. I mean, that could be included in the group. It's it's literally that you're what you're doing is an act. It's for show. That's what he says. Why are you putting on the show? Why are you testing me? You play actors, you pretenders. You know, if you just stop here for a second and think about this, the very fact that Jesus saw through their plot and called him on it should have led them to start evaluating their own heart, shouldn't it? Why are you doing this? Why are you testing me? Why are you trying to trap me? Why why are you opposing me? Then he says, show me the coin. Show me the coin used for the poll tax, and they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this on a denarius in those days, Tiberius was Caesar at that time. So the coin minute during that era would have had his face on one side. and a likeness of him seated on his throne in the high priestly robes on the backside. And the inscription on the front would have read Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus. And on the backside with him seated, the picture of him seated on the throne, the inscription beneath it would read Pontifex Maximus, which is Latin, which means the maximum priest or the high priest. So on the front, you got a picture of his face. And it says, Son of the Divine Augustus. Well, what does divine mean? It means God. And on the back, it says High Priest. So you can see why good, true Jews who are faithful to God and to the law of God would have an objection to the coin, to paying the tax, to acknowledging a ruler who thinks he's God and thinks he's the High Priest of his own religion. You can see all of that mix, right? But he says, show me a coin whose pictures on it and whose inscription is on it. And they said to him, Caesars, and he says to them, now notice this, and if you underline keywords in your Bible, underline the word render right here in verse 21 and then go back to verse 17. I think it is. Yes, go back to verse 17 and underline the word give. These are two different terms. Jesus says, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. Now, what has Jesus just said here? You need to give Caesar his due and you need to give God his due. You need to do what is right and submit to the governing authority over you And that includes ultimately the governing authority of God himself. Now, there are a number of ways in which the details of Jesus's answer have been interpreted through the years. The classic interpretation of the two kingdom view by Martin Luther is that when Jesus says render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's. He's saying that there is a secular kingdom and a sacred kingdom. There's the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom. So the things that are in the earthly realm you give to those who have earthly authority. But the things that are pertaining to God, the spiritual things, that's what you give to God. Others have come up with the idea that ties more to the idea of the likeness in verse 20. When he says, show me the coin and says, whose likeness is this? And they say Caesar's say, yeah, you give the coin to Caesar because his likeness is on it. But you give yourself to whom? To God, because his likeness is on you. In Genesis chapter two, God made us in his image and likeness. Now, both of these are are kind of creative and interesting, I think, if you just step back and you recognize, number one, that Jesus's answer is going to be in agreement with the rest of Scripture as opposed to unique and novel and different from the rest of Scripture. And number two, that that what he's saying very simply is this. They asked if he needed to give Caesar the poll tax. He says render to Caesar the poll tax. The word give is actually meaning to give like as in a gift. The word render is actually to pay back or render something that is owed. In other words, what Jesus is saying here is you render to Caesar what is due. Yes, you give him the poll tax because he is sovereign over you. Rome is sovereign over you. You are subordinated nationally underneath that empire. So you need to submit to those governing authorities. Whoever they are. And you do that. As an act of worship to God in submission to him and his authority. I think you will see this matches not only what's taught in the Old Testament, but also what's taught in the New Testament. If you are, if you are familiar with even the history of Israel, God makes it clear from the time he calls them from bondage in Egypt and establishes them as a nation. He makes it very clear to them that they owe him everything, right? And he also makes it very clear to them that he is sovereign, not only over them, but over all nations. And then when he, when they are sent into captivity, you're familiar with Daniel, remember Daniel and his three buddies, Rackshack and Benny, right? Maybe I had a little too much veggie tales as the kids were growing up, but remember Daniel, remember Daniel chapter four, the title on that chapter and a lot of Bibles is cow king. Because that's exactly what God did to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar looks around at his great empire and he says, look at all that I have done with my own hands. And God reduces him to a madman to eat grass like an ox for seven years and then restores him to his throne in order to make it very clear to him and to everyone forever. You want to know how Nebuchadnezzar wound up king of the greatest empire of the day? Because God put him there. He didn't put himself there. You want to know who's sovereign over every king, secular and sacred. You want to know who's sovereign over every nation. God is. And that's precisely what you see in Romans chapter 13. You don't need to turn there. Let me just remind you of a couple of key verses in Romans chapter 13. Paul says that every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities because there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. There is no king. There is no prime minister. There is no emperor. There is there is no queen. There is no empress. There is no president. There is no Congress. There is no ruling body. That exists that is not underneath the sovereign authority of God. And what God expects people to do is to recognize that authority, that authority including paying taxes. In fact, Paul goes on to say that rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but only for evil. And you are to do what is good in submission to those rules and you will get praise from the same because that governing authority is established as a minister of God to you for good. Now, yes, There are many governments which are evil. There are many governments which are unfaithful. There are many governments and governing officials who are corrupt. They will answer to God for themselves and for their exercise of authority. You will exercise to your submission to that authority and you will answer to God for it. So should you pay the poll tax? Yes. Yes. Why? Because paying that tax is not only rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's, it is rendering to God what is God's. It's recognizing the authority he has established over you. You look at verse 22, notice the way that they responded hearing this, they were amazed. The word amazed literally means to be astonished. They were blown away. They marveled. What do you say to that? So leaving him, they went away. He has given a definitive answer. You know, it's it's interesting if have you ever have you ever? I mean, there's been a couple of times where I've been in a situation where somebody wants to question you about something and you can really tell they want to get something on you. They got their agenda and they want to get something on you. And you recognize it. And so they ask the question and you go, you know what? I know what you're trying to do. I'm just not answering that question. Moving on. You can see politicians doing this all the time. You can see athletes doing this all the time. And if you've ever been in any kind of a position of authority, there are times when you wind up here. And you could think that Jesus would have said, I know what you guys are trying to do. Go away. He doesn't. He says, I know what you're trying to do. Why are you doing this? You know, that's a measure of grace to challenge them on that and give them an opportunity to think about what they're doing. But then he goes ahead and he answers and he gives a definitive answer. You know what the definitive answer is? Should you pay the poll tax? Yes. Why? Because it's it's a duty you owe to God. You need to render not just to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, you need to render to God the things that are God's. Yes, you need to pay the poll tax because God expects it of you. Not because Caesar expects it of you. Moving on to the second question. Having answered the question with regard to whether or not we have to pay taxes, the Sadducees come along now with their religious question, will there be a resurrection now for us? That's kind of a no brainer, isn't it? Will there be a resurrection? Yes. Moving on, we can just skip ahead a paragraph, right? Well, why would they ask that? I'll tell you why. Because this was the chief issue of distinction theologically, spiritually between Sadducees and Pharisees. And it's very clear the Pharisees cannot handle the situation. Jesus keeps silencing them. So we're going to take our best argument to him and undo him that way. So verse 23, on that day, that same day, some Sadducees and notice in parentheses, These are guys who say there is no resurrection, which explains what their basic beliefs are and why they came. They come to Jesus to question him. Now, in Acts 23, in verse 8, you see in Acts a further elaboration on the beliefs of the Pharisees, their theological beliefs. Acts 23, in verse 8. You can just listen as I read. The Sadducees say there's no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit. But the Pharisees acknowledge them all. OK, so this is the fundamental doctrinal difference between Pharisees and Sadducees, between the teachers of the law and basically most of the high priesthood. The Sadducees say there's no resurrection, there's no spiritual beings, etc. When you die, that's it. And they base this on the fact that in the law of Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy, there's no direct absolute reference to resurrection, at least according to the way they're reading it. And historically, the argument between Pharisees and Sadducees would go something like this. The Sadducees would say there's no reference to resurrection in the Bible. And then the Pharisees will say, well, have you not read Daniel 12 to where God promises Daniel that he will stand in his lot, his his place here on this earth? He will get his inheritance. Have you have you not read Isaiah 29 or Psalm 16 where David talks about it or Hosea 6 or Hosea 13 or even Job 29 where he speaks of a confidence of resurrection? And they say, well, none of that's in the law of Moses. And the law of Moses is the law, that's what we go by. So they come to Jesus with the best of their theological argumentation. And they are ready to debate with Jesus along the same lines they've been debating with Pharisees for decades. At least if he gives the same answer, the Pharisees always give. Verse 24, so they ask him, teacher, Moses said, if a man dies having no children, His brother, as next of kin, shall marry his wife and raise up children for his brother. This is the law of leverage marriage. You will find it in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 25, verses five to 10. And the argument basically goes like this. If a man takes a wife and he doesn't have a son as an heir, Then it is his brother's responsibility to take his wife, and the first son is to be the heir of the older brother, so that you can maintain the inheritance in Israel. And that's the point of the law. Notice the example they give in verse 25. There were seven brothers with us. Notice it says with us. So they're saying this is a real situation. So the question we have has to do with something that really happened. Now, whether they're lying or exaggerating or whatever, who knows? And frankly, it doesn't matter. They say there were seven brothers with us, the first married and died, having no children, left his wife to his brother. So also the second and the third down to the seventh. So you can imagine this poor woman. Right. She marries the oldest. They don't have any kids. He dies. So she winds up with the second brother. No kids and he dies, winds up with the third brother all the way through the seventh. No kids the whole time. I think if I'm the fourth brother, I'm moving, but anyways. Anyways, this is the whole point and the reason for their illustration. They say that last of all, the woman died. So in the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? Because she excuse me, because they all had her. They all married her. They all slept with her. They were all had relations with her. And now we're in the resurrection. All eight of them are resurrected. So are you telling me there's polygamy in the in the in the resurrection? Is that because that's contrary to what scripture teaches? And if you're not telling me there's polygamy, that none of them actually fathered a child by her. So who has the rightful claim to her? Whose who is her husband? And the whole reason for their illustration is because it reduces the idea in their mind on the basis of their doctrine, it reduces the idea of a resurrection to absurdity. Moses would never write a law like this if in the resurrection it created This kind of chaos, that's just that's ridiculous. This is absurd. That's the whole point of their argument. And they're ready for Jesus, no matter what he answers, if he starts to argue for the first brother or the last brother or for any other reason, anybody else, like the Pharisees always did. Then they've got him. If if he argues all of them, they got him. There's no way out of this. Well, unless you're God. And that's the point that you see in verses 29 and 30. Jesus answered and said to them. You're mistaken, you know what that means, you know, mistaken means literally in the Greek means you're wrong. You're wrong. You are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures or the power of God. You don't understand the Bible. and you don't understand God. That's where you're off. Because in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. You know what that is? That's just both sides of the equation. That's the husband and the wife. Okay? They neither marry, husband side, nor are given away in marriage, the wife side. Marriage doesn't happen in heaven. That's his point. They are like angels in heaven. Now, just as a footnote here, Being like angels does not mean that angels have no gender or that angels are sexless. What it says is angels don't marry. And there is no procreation. All the angels that exist today are all the angels that have existed from the time God created them to begin with, and he made them all perfectly by divine fiat, by a personal act of creation. People exist as a result of what, apart from Adam and Eve, people exist as a result of what procreation. Do you want to know what Jesus is saying here? You don't understand your Bible. In the resurrection, there's not going to be marriage anymore. Now, some of you are pleased, some of you are concerned, but but but I love my husband. I love my wife. I want to be with him forever. Well, if you're both believers, you will be with them forever. But believe it or not, you'll have the same perfect relationship with all the rest of us, too. See, that's Jesus's point. You don't understand either what the Bible teaches or what God is able to accomplish. See, in the resurrection, There isn't marriage anymore. That's why we teach and practice regularly in every marriage, do you promise to love, honor, cherish in sickness and in health until what? Death do you part. Marriage ends at death. Marriage ends at death. The marriage commitment ends at death. That's why you're free to get remarried, because marriage is a is a not an ordinance. Marriage is a I just forgot the technical term. Marriage is for this life. Marriage is for this existence. And a primary function of marriage is procreation. You understand there will be no procreation in a new creation, there won't be. There will be no little baby saints running around. God be praised that there will be no little baby Saint diapers to change in the kingdom. Can I get a man from the cross section? Right there? It won't be like that. That's not what the resurrection is like in the resurrection. Saints will be like the angels. doesn't make any statement with regard to continuation of gender or not. It simply says there won't be marriage and procreation. And that's Jesus's point. You don't know the Bible. You don't understand your Bible, nor do you understand the power of God. Notice in verses 31 and 32, Jesus says regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God? And here he quotes from the Pentateuch. It's the one place the Sadducees would never expect him to go. He quotes right from Exodus, right from Moses's call when God calls Moses. And he says, go and tell Pharaoh, let my people go. This is God's introduction of himself to Moses. Right out of Exodus three and verse six, have you not read what was spoken to you by God? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You know something? Abraham has been dead not just for generations, but for centuries. And God is still the God of Abraham. Jacob has been dead for centuries, and God is still the God of Jacob. And he is now the God of Moses and the God of Job and the God of Daniel and the God of Paul and the God of Barnabas and the God of Peter and James and John. And you and me. When you breathe your last, you will not go out of existence. And that is his point. And you can see that the way that God describes himself as the God of even those who have dead, as though they are still living, but not living in this life. And that's what you don't understand. Is there a resurrection? Yes. Why? Because of the scriptures say so. And because God has described himself so. You know, it's so cool here. And by the way, yes, the rest of the new to the New Testament explains this very clearly as well, but but just look at verse thirty three when the crowds heard this. They were what? Astonished at his teaching. You know that's the same word that is used to describe the crowds reaction to his miracles. Now you think about this for a minute. That means that Jesus was just as impressive. In teaching as he was in. Doing miracles. That's who Jesus is. These are the kinds of pictures that the Bible gives us of Jesus. Don't read past this. When it says the crowds were astonished at his teaching, don't don't miss the fact that that doesn't just mean they were impressed that, oh, he put them in their place. That means they were blown away on the same level when they listened to him answer definitively the hottest and most controversial issues of the day, political and theological alike. When he gave answers, his answers were definitive, and they were given in a way that blew people away, just like when he said to a demon, get out, or to a lame man to stand up and walk, or a dead man to rise from the grave. Jesus' teaching was as impressive as his miracles. Third question. And you can and this is really gets to the heart of it. So what does God expect of us? Does he expect us to pay taxes? Yes. Will there be a resurrection? Yes. Well, what does he desire of us most of all? Verse 34, this is the final challenge that is brought to Jesus during this week. After this, they realize they can't trap him. They're going to have to conspire some way to get him betrayed and do it all in the dark because they can't beat him toe to toe in public. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. Oh, we we we got it. We we got to keep trying. We got to come up with a way to discredit him. We got to come up with a way to to find some fault with him, either to undermine his popularity with the people or to bring some charge against him that we can level against him before Rome. Somehow we got to do something, guys. And one of their number, a lawyer, meaning an official teacher of the law. So this isn't a disciple anymore. This is one of the teachers of the law that's a member of the Pharisees. He goes and he asks Jesus a question. Notice it says testing him. This is this is this is not asked because you want to know the answer. This is asked to try to get Jesus to say something that they can use against him. Verse 36 teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? This guy is going to try the the ordination question examination type of approach. I'll just start firing the the real questions and we'll just look for any kind of a weakness here. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And and for the record here, I did a little research this week that's just as a little refresher. The law refers to the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch. And if you sit down and I have not done this and I have no intention in doing this, but if you sit down and you count up all the commands that are in those five books of the law. According to the rabbis, you will come up with 613 commands. There are 248 positive commands and 365 negative ones. So you got 248 commands, 365 prohibitions. You add them together, that's 613 commands. So if you really are overly monkish with regard to your theology and your legalism, you go through and you count them all up and you list, you come up with your list. Now, when you come up with your list of 613 do's and don'ts, of those 613 do's and don'ts, what's the first question you're going to ask? Which are the biggest hitters? Which are the ones that are most important? Right now, where do you think most people are going to land? Out of all the, if I just ask you of all the commandments that God has given the Old Testament, what do you think that, that if you're going to do your, what is a David Letterman top 10 list? What would you pick? The 10 commandments. That's a perfect top 10 list. And God even says, here's the 10 commandments, right? Have no other God, don't commit murder, don't covet and everything else in between. Right? So so those are the 10 most because he gave him in on tablets and they brought him down from from Sinai. Oh, no, it's got to have to do with the sacrificial laws. I mean, think of Ananias, not Ananias and Sapphira. Think of Nadab and Abihu, how they were struck down in the way they approach. Those got to be the most because he strikes people dead for those. You go through and you can imagine all the argumentation. So here's the lawyer asked him, teacher, which is the great commandment, the chief commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him, verse 37, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. You want to know the one that you can pull out and put above everything else that God has said. It's this one that you are commanded to love God with the totality of your being. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love the Lord your God with all your soul. Love the Lord your God with all your mind. And there's a couple of different versions of this and iterations of this, even as you go through Deuteronomy. It's it's stated a couple of different ways. But it's always the same with your intentions, with your thinking. with your goals, with your values and with your time, with the totality of your person. You love God. You put him first in what? Everything. You really want to know what God expects. It starts right there. He has to be first in everything you think, say, do, want, intend, etc. That's what God expects. And then Jesus goes on and says, and the second is like unto it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You will love God above all others. And second unto that, the caveat is that will be evident in the love you have for others. And when it says you will love your neighbor as yourself, just so we're clear here, There is no suggestion here that you need to love yourself before you can love others. That's an that that's an absolute fallacy. You already love you. I can tell that sitting here. You know how I know, because I can see how you're dressed. Some of you are dressed a little bit on the warm side. We just got back from Ohio, so we're having a heat wave. But but some of you are. Some of you took some great attention to drawing your eyebrows this morning and to brush your teeth and to put on clean clothes. And most of you combed your hair. Looks nice, right? Tell me something. When you cut yourself and you notice it, what do you do? You stop the bleeding and you put a band-aid on it. When you're hungry, what do you do? Well, I'm on a diet, so I don't. And why do you deny yourself that? Because you're on a diet and you care about yourself and you want to lose weight for yourself. We already love ourselves. That's Jesus's point. You want to know what God expects? You love God more than anything else. And out of that love for God, you manifest that love for God in the way you love others, the way you already love yourself. That that is the heart of what God expects of us. That's why he says he says this is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like unto it. Love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments. Love God and love your neighbor. Depend the whole law and prophets. The word depend is literally the word for hang. It's like the it's like the idea of a hook on the wall. There are two hooks that God has put on the wall. And if the law and the prophets and, you know, the law and the prophets is just a technical way to refer to the whole Bible, the whole the Old Testament. Right. You can refer to the Old Testament in those days. They didn't just use the term Bible. They use the term scripture or scriptures. And they use the term the law to refer to Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy. And they use the term prophets either to refer to the prophetic texts. or the whole rest of the Old Testament. And they used Psalms as a reference to primarily the Psalms and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. So it's either the law, the Psalms and the prophets or the law, the prophets and the writings or the law and the prophets. It's just a way to refer to the whole Old Testament. So when he says. What's the chief commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments. Hang everything God has revealed to us in the scriptures. This is these are the two linchpins. These are the two hooks that the whole of scripture hang on. And if you think about it, that's that's a perfect summation of what God expects. He expects us to put him first in everything. And if he really is first in everything, how are you going to treat others? Like he's first and you recognize them as fellow bearers of God's image. In fact, you can look at every other commandment, every single other commandment in the whole of the Bible, and you can see every sin as a violation of those two commandments. You can think, think about, think about murder. Have you commit murder? Okay. Is if I murder Denver, is, is that a sin against Denver? Yes. Okay. Is it also a sin against God? Yes. It's a demonstration of a lack of love for God because Denver has been created in God's image. And it's also a lack of love for Denver because I just did harm for him, harm to him. The same thing of stealing. I can steal Lance's lawnmower. Do you have a lawnmower? Yes, I could steal Lance's lawnmower. That's a sin, not just against God. That's not just a violation of a lack of love for God. That's a lack of love for my brother. Coveting, lying, any sin, not being God's kind of husband, any sin. Fall short of those two fundamental principles, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That's the heart of what God expects. Upon those two principles, everything God has written, everything God has revealed, everything God expects can be summarized in those two commands. Now, it's interesting, I do want you to take your Bible and turn with me to Mark 12 right now. Because in Mark 12, in the parallel text, something that Matthew doesn't mention takes place. In Matthew chapter 12, skip down to verse 32. This is that scribes reaction to Jesus's answer. Now, Matthew doesn't bother to point it out because it's it's outside of the content. Matthew's just trying to prove the case that the religious leaders are committed against Jesus and they deserve the the condemnation he gives them in the next chapter. But notice Mark reveals. That Scribes reaction to Jesus's answer verse 32 the scribe said to Jesus You're a right teacher You have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him and to love him with all the heart and with all the Understanding with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices This guy comes to Jesus to put Jesus in his place, and he's part of the Pharisees and part of this whole council and all these meetings to find something wrong with what Jesus is doing and teaching. And when Jesus gives this answer, he goes, that's absolutely right. Notice Jesus' response, verse 34, when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. After that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions. You want to know why? Not just because they couldn't stump the preacher. Because when the preacher gives the answers, he's converting his opponents. Now you go back to Matthew, Chapter 22. And now we get to the capstone that Matthew wants to focus on now that Now that the challenges to Jesus have run their course, and we've seen their three questions, now it's time for Jesus to ask a question. Are you ready? Notice that verse 41, while the Pharisees were gathered together, this is one of the rare uses of a perfect participle. They've just watched all this take place, and they're all standing together on the temple grounds, and they're all getting together in a powwow, looking at each other. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do? While they're gathered together, Jesus looks at them and asks them a question. He says, what do you think about the Christ, whose son is he? And they said to him, the son of David. You know, that's a softball. You could like to have that question asked you when you're in a theology exam or a Bible exam or an ordination. Whose son is the Messiah? Son of David. How do you know? Second Samuel seven, et cetera. It's all over the place. Isaiah nine, Isaiah 11. whose son. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? Son of David? Yes, he is, because he has to have a rightful claim to David's throne. So then he says to him, verse 43, then how does David in the spirit call him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. If David calls him Lord. How can he be his son? Now, take your Bibles one last time. as we wrap this up and look at someone 10 with me. Someone 10 we'll just look at verse 1. Someone 10. Above verse 1 you'll notice it says a song of David. That means that David wrote this song that's part of the scripture and it tells us David was the author of the song definitively. Verse 1 the Lord notice it's an all capital letter so it's a reference to the covenant name for God. The Lord or God says to my Lord, who's writing it, David. So David is calling whoever this person is that that God is talking to. David calls him his Lord. So David says, God said to my master, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And from then on, it becomes very clear it's a messianic song. Jesus In Matthew 22 says. How is it that David in the spirit under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writing scripture? How can he call the Messiah Lord? When he says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. If David calls him Lord, how is he a son? You know what the only answer is? The Messiah is a son of David. The Messiah is also what? Son of God. The Messiah is the one that God will subordinate all of the enemy, all of his enemies underneath his feet. And you know something? They don't have an answer. Look at verse 46. No one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him any other question. Why? Because every time they try to come at him, He doesn't duck it. He's not made of Teflon. He's made of iron. When He is assaulted, He crushes His enemies. And even in the way in which He crushes, those that are open to instruction are being changed. You want to know what God expects? He expects us to pay our taxes. He expects us to believe his word and the promises he's made with regard to resurrection. He expects us to love him supremely and to manifest that love in the way we treat other people. And he expects us to recognize his son for who he really is. God in human flesh, not just the son of David with a rightful claim to the throne of Israel, but the son of God. whom God will subordinate all people under his feet. You know something? The real question for today is, who do you say Jesus is? You will one day, I don't care who you are, you will one day bow before Jesus and acknowledge him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I know that as sure as I'm standing here. Paul says, that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Revelation 20 tells us that the one who is seated on the great white throne who will determine the eternal destiny of every single person ever born is none other than the Lamb of God who died to take away our sins. You will stand before Jesus So you have a choice. Are you going to submit to him in this life or in the next? That choice is yours. But I'll tell you, there are just so many texts like this one that sits right in front of us that makes it so clear that Jesus is not just a good teacher. Jesus is not just a truth teller. He's not just a prophet. He is Lord. From the perspective of the study of Matthew, it is important for us to see that Jesus was able to respond to these questions in such a way as to silence his critics and to challenge them with the ultimate question with regard to his identity. And their reaction proves that they are fully deserving of the woes he's going to bring upon them, starting in Matthew 23. But for us today, the real question is, who do you say Jesus is? And if you're a Christian, And he's your Lord. May I remind you as we start a new year that that means that loving him and manifesting that love for him and love for others ought to be your primary objective and goal for this year. And if he's not your Lord and Savior. Then understand. One day you will bow. Father, thank you so very much for this day and for your kindness to us in so many ways. Thanks for last year and the new year you've given to us. And thanks for your absolute answers to what, from a human perspective, oftentimes seems to be the most challenging of questions. And thanks for your word, which definitively does answer all the questions pertaining to life and godliness that we need to know the answers to. I pray you will fill us with an appreciation of who you are and of what you expect and help us to live for you and for your glory until you return for us or call us home. In Jesus' name, amen.