There's a general tendency, we notice, of the Jewish leaders to try to seek to entrap Jesus in his words. so as to trip him up, to try to catch him out. And the first part of our text, we definitely see that happening as part of the general pattern. They try to outwit Jesus and their failure is principally because, of course, they don't know the Scriptures, certainly not by way of understanding them. However, in the second part of our reading, we find a rather different questioner. He's also from the Jewish leadership. That best inquiry seems more genuine rather than an attempt to entrap the Lord. Sort of similar to Nicodemus, who did not try to entrap Jesus but to learn from Him. Only this scribe does so openly in front of all the people. Although, sadly, there's no indication that he actually ultimately followed the Lord. But we'll come to more of that in our second point. Keep in mind the context. Jesus has been hitting hard against false religion of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and even confounding the political Herodians, as we saw last week. But soon his critics will be silenced for a season, at least a season until the trial of our Lord when once again they will speak. So our text is Mark chapter 12, verses 18 to 34. Our theme is love God. And we have two points, resurrection and commandment. It might only be two points, but they're both a bit longer than normal, so it's not necessarily going to be a shorter sermon. Our first point is resurrection, that is from verse 18 to 27. So, after silencing the Pharisees and the Herodians, the Sadducees come to see if the liberalism would try to catch the Lord out. Of course, it fails. And they started by following the law. That is, when you look at the beginning of this text in verse 18, what they say is quite accurate. Oh, sorry, verse 19, "'Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children, the brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother, and that way the name of the brother wouldn't perish in amongst the children of Israel. Although they used the word must, the actual wording in Deuteronomy is the word shall, because of course it's not an absolute command as the Sadducees portray it. For one thing, the other brothers might be married, so therefore they wouldn't be able to fulfill this. And even if they're not married, they're not absolutely obliged to. I mean, for one thing, the wife might not like the brothers, so it might not work out anyway. However, that as and by, the point of why they're doing this is because remember, the Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection. They don't believe in life after death and so on. They would, in that sense, be your annihilationist of the day. That would be for everybody, basically. And their argument's simple enough. How can there be a resurrection if it will lead to multiple men being married to one woman after the resurrection? I mean, the example's clearly an overblown one. I mean, if you think about it, you have to have all of these men dying so suddenly and so quickly in succession that they're able to marry the one woman before the woman dies. Beware of the excess examples people will use. When people are trying to argue against things of God, they'll often take something that's an extreme example and try to use that as if it's, A, true and, B, normal. So I don't think we can say this is an actual example, this is just something they've made up to try to entrap them. One of these hypothetical questions, And remember, our Lord in other places is clear that it was to be one man and one woman, so there was, of course, not to be any kind of polygamy. Remember, they're suggesting there'd be polygamy in heaven. not on earth, because they're saying, all these people would be married potentially to this one woman. So, Allah has made clear there's no such thing as to be polygamy, although despite the inordinate appetites and disobedience of the godly men in the Old Testament, it was to be one man and one woman, no more, no less. So our Lord sets out an answer for them, and He does it in three parts. Firstly, verse 24, "'Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God?' He says, "'You do not know the Scriptures, the power of God.'" The Old Testament is quite clear regarding the the actual whole point of being raised from the dead. Now remember, this is the key of what they're getting to. Our Lord is getting to the real heart of it, and taking that, we are going to note what it says in Ecclesiastes 12, chapter 12, verse 7. then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." Or in Daniel 12, verse 2, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. If they knew the Scriptures, they would know there was life after death. So they wouldn't form a question trying to say, well, if you look at this example, this surely shows there can't be life after death. They can't be a resurrection. But they not only are faulty in their Scripture, they also do not know the power of God. God is all-powerful. Consider Jeremiah chapter 32, verse 17, "'Ah, Yahweh God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you. So why on earth would there be a problem with resurrection? Why come out with this story to try to refute that there could be a resurrection and show there's no resurrection if you believe in a God where there was nothing too hard for God and where it was quite clear that there is a resurrection? But then it goes on, he goes on, because not only are they wrong about the power of God and knowing the Scriptures, he goes on about the fact that they also don't understand what heaven is like. Verse 25, "'For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.'" You see, the problem for the Sadducees, the problem for many people, it's the same problem for the Muslims, it's the same problem for the Jehovah's Witnesses. Their idea of heaven is a sensual one. That is, one where they can carry on what they're like here, fulfilling their appetites. So the Sadducees' illustration is one of the earthly appetite of getting married. Well, therefore, because we do that here, Therefore, that's what we're going to do in heaven. In other words, they're looking for heaven to be just the same as what it really is on earth, but better. However, it's not like that. Now, it's true we don't have a huge amount of information in heaven. Most of it's given in the negative. shall not be tears, you shall not be hurt, you shall no longer die, and so on. And there are some parts which are in the positive, because you'll know joy and so on, but it's not given in the greatest of detail. However, there is one thing that's clearly given here. There is no marriage in heaven. Now that makes sense. If the church is the bride of Christ, and it is, then why would there be any other marriage in heaven other than the church to her Savior? We, as the church of Christ, are the bride of Christ. When we get to heaven, that'll be the consummation, when we're finally, as it were, married to our Lord. There is no need for any other marriage in heaven. So therefore, the example they give is null and void, because the answer is, which one of these seven brothers will be married to this woman? The answer is, none of them. And therefore, their entire point is just kill stone dead. And our Lord illustrates this with regard to the angels. Matthew chapter 22 and verse 30, which covers the same question, spells it out. For when the resurrection, they, that is the angels, sorry, they, as in the people going to heaven, neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven. Thus the angels do not marry, they are not given in marriage, and of course therefore they do not reproduce. I mean, obviously they can't be reproducing if they're not given in marriage. God doesn't allow humans to have sex outside of marriage. Obviously, He's not going to allow those who are in His personal presence, the angels, to do that outside of marriage either. But they don't marry, so their number was a set number. And just as an aside, this is one reason why if you look at Genesis chapter 6. And the reference to the sons of God and the daughters of men, the sons of God are not angels, because angels don't give or take in marriage. If they don't give and take in marriage to each other, they certainly aren't going to come down to earth and do it with humans, which would be impossible anyway. And remember, in Luke chapter 3, verse 38, Adam is referred to as the Son of God. So the sons of God in Genesis 6 are the sons of Adam, who is the Son of God. But here the point is, the angels don't marry, we'll be like the angels, therefore the seven brothers, even if he's exampling Jesus Christ, their Savior. And then there was a third scapegoat, he is not the God of the dead but the God of the living, you are therefore greatly mistaken. In other words, all these, well, Enoch and Elijah accepted, of course, we don't know exactly what happened. Have a look at Hebrews chapter 12 and the first couple of verses, that host in heaven, that who's God, 15 to 16. If the Sadducees knew their Scriptures, they would have thought the first five books of the Bible. But the Lord is refuting them from the first five books of the Bible. So much fun. And as our Lord ends, it says, therefore you're greatly mistaken by not knowing the Scriptures. They erred because they did not understand the basics of God's Word, and therefore they didn't perceive the power of God, and they didn't even We also need to have care we don't go down the unbiblical, the large sections who deny, for example, Jesus rose bodily. They say it's a spiritual resurrection. Some will come up with all sorts of odd stuff. Some will speak about when there was a separation of the sheep and the goats. We need to know that for believers that resurrection will take them to heaven. We need to know that if we're not believers, that resurrection is flawed. Now, they came to Jesus with clear ungodly motives to try to entrap Jesus, and failed. But now we're going to come across a tribe who comes with, I think, probably something of a different motive, possibly not to entrap Jesus, but more to learn. So we come to our second point, which is commandment, verses 28 to 34. Now in Mark, this man's called a scribe, and in Matthew 22, 35, he's called a lawyer. Both descriptions hold true. The scribes were not just copious. You know, they weren't just like a typist sitting down typing out. The scribes did copy, of course, but they were interpreters of the law. which of course is what lawyer means in Matthew. Don't confuse the use of the word lawyer as we use it today. There weren't lawyers in the sense of the way we use lawyers today. There were lawyers in the sense of these were the ones who would sit down and seek to interpret the law, the Word of God. And the scribes and lawyers are the same thing. Now verse 28 says, So our Lord, this scribe is impressed with our Lord's answer. He sees that he answers well. So therefore, I think it's fair to say that he wasn't necessarily coming to try to entrap our Lord. We don't know his initial motive, because he may just have been with the other scribes and the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Herodians, all conspiring together to try to entrap our Lord. He may have been part of that. He may have been one of those that we see the reference to now and then who are more interested in what our Lord would say. But it is also possible, when he asks this question, he's kind of thinking more of a ceremonial answer. We don't know. Jesus answers him that first of all, the commandment says here, Israel, our Lord God, the Lord is one. In the original Hebrew, obviously this is in Greek, but in the Hebrew, the original, the Lord, It wouldn't have been the Lord, it'd be Yahweh. Oh, Israel, Yahweh, our God, the Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, and so on. So, our Lord gives the answer that includes what was asked. He says, this is the greatest. But then He goes on from that, because He doesn't just leave it at that point. Because he came more with a genuine question, our Lord, in a sense, actually gave him more of an answer. He expounded what the law really is a little bit more. So the answer includes the summary of who God is by using both tables of the law. So in other words, we're told to love the law of our God in the first table, and in the second table, we're still learning of God, because what we're learning is, if you love God and you're following God, then this is the effect it will have on your life. Although the second table of the law has more to do with our duties, it still tells us something of God, because it tells us what God wants us to do. So when it says not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to be covetousness, that tells you something of the nature of the holiness of God. Although it's telling you in the sense of by telling you what not to do, that tells you what the opposite of that is obviously what God likes. Not to be covetousness, not to have anger in your heart, and so on. But a more genuine question deserved a more fuller answer. He asked this question. I think it's fair to say there wasn't a trap here to be avoided. He was asking a proper question, a hard question in one sense, but in another sense, easy. But then the scribe gives quite a remarkable answer. And remember, this is in public in front of his own sect of the scribes and lawyers, with the Herodians, with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So, he's saying this answer when quite a bunch of people who would be pretty hostile to say anything good. "'Teacher, you have spoken the truth. "'For there was one God and there was no other but He, "'and to love Him with all the heart, "'and with all the understanding, "'with all the soul, and with all the strength, "'and to love one's neighbor as oneself, "'is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.'" Now remember, for one of the groups that this would have been in front of would have been the Pharisees. And even the Zoneset, the lawyers and the scribes, they too would be similar to the Pharisees in that they would be rather heavily involved in the whole salvation by works. They weren't like the Sadducees, the liberals who may have taken things more loosely, and the Herodians who were just politicians who didn't care much for the law and were more interested in their politics and being able to do whatever they wanted. So to answer that is actually going against what the Pharisees and even his own group would say. So it does stand out. And I would say this doesn't have the appearance of pretend praise, because remember when you go back, when they say to our Lord, remember when they're asking Him about taxes, they say, oh, you don't take any note of any man, you're not guided by what people think, you're not trying to flatter people. You know, they're trying to flatter Him with what they obviously don't believe, because they're trying to entrap Him. I think His praise here is genuine, because He says, you've spoken the truth. And then he expounds that truth actually rather well, because our Lord, of course, commends his answer. So, therefore, he did answer well. Now, when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, I said to him, you're not far from the kingdom of God. We can see the truth is drawing, as it were, him in, and we have some hope that we may meet this scribe in gloving. However, there's a strong cautionary point to this. In the Gospels, when someone followed our Lord, God's Word either directly says so, you know, like Barnabas, he went up and he followed. or Zacharias, where you see the change of life and obviously turn into the Lord, or Nicodemus, the evidence is seen in his life. That's lacking here. We're never actually told whether he said he's near the kingdom of God, didn't say he's in the kingdom of God. Don't let that be lacking in your life. Don't leave your Christianity as mere head knowledge. or just with good answers. Make sure you've turned to the Lord and fully trust in Him and repent of your sins. Head knowledge needs heart change, which will be seen in our lives. Nevertheless, this passage is a very refreshing change in the gospel. Ample of the ordinary people came to the Lord with great and many needs, and there's Nicodemus and others who are quietly coming to trust the Lord. But here there's a touch of boldness from an unexpected quarter, even if its end is unknown. Remember the refrain we had during the series of what is man? It was a quote from John Calvin, the knowledge of oneself is dependent upon the true knowledge of God. This holds here. The scribe had the knowledge of God in such a way to understand that God is pleased with us loving him, with our whole person, and to love our neighbor. And that the scribe saw his need. And therefore, he was close to the kingdom of God. But never forget, while being close is good. We need to remember, close is never enough. We need to be in the kingdom of God, not close to it. And that only happens when we repent and turn to Jesus for salvation, trusting in Him and only in Him to turn away from God's wrath that is rightly upon everyone, which is why we all need to love God and repent and believe the gospel. In conclusion then, remember our Lord in various places tells us, as we're told in the epistles, to beware of false teachers. On one side, there are the legalists seeking to work their way to heaven. On the other side, there's the liberals that don't really see the need of getting to heaven because they don't really believe in it. That's the whole point of the Sadducees question. They're trying to basically show heaven is absurd. That's the whole idea. Look, look at this example they say, you have this man, this woman who's married seven different people, what a mess it will be in heaven. Therefore, it is absurd. And of course, our Lord just takes that false theology, poor understanding of Scripture, lack of belief in the power of God, and as it were, pins it down with His foot and takes the twelve-bore shotgun and blows it away. Not literally the shotgun, that was invented sometime later, but you get my point, I'm sure. You leave nothing left of it. And there are those who understand enough of the Bible to be close to the kingdom of God. Our Lord encountered the first examples more often than the last example. And we have seen in the passage the contrast and even the manner of questioning between those who disregard God's Word and the one who clearly has a better understanding of it. The Sadducees disregard it under the guise of faithfulness to it. But as I said, they only really actually held to the first five books of the Bible, and they didn't even understand that. Because, of course, if you take a portion of God's Word and you say, oh, no, I'll understand that, but I'll disregard the rest. Well, without the rest, you can't really understand. You know, if you don't have the Old Testament, you can never really understand the New Testament. If you don't have the New Testament, you can never really understand the Old Testament. Yet the scribe who came to the Lord clearly knew God's Word and respected it, but was still needing to come to his Savior for salvation. That's why I say you need to make sure we don't stop there. We don't want to just fit into that camp. We want to make sure, as the saying goes, we are all in, not just standing in the periphery. But also be encouraged. You'll meet people like the Sadducees often enough, and perhaps in our day and age, you're more likely to meet the Sadducees who don't believe, or the Herodians who are just political, and so on. But in amongst that, you'll meet those who also got something of an understanding. In both cases, our Lord has the same solution. In both cases, He went to God's Word and gave an answer from God's Word, and the week before He pointed out, and again it was rendered unto God, what is God's? Well, that is going back to the principles of God's Word and rendered unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, which is also going to that principle. So even to the politicians of the Herodians still went effectively to God's Word here by directly quoting it. And remember, when we are dealing with God's Word, whether people believe it or not, we God will make use of His Word in people's heart. We don't know what happened to this scribe. We hold out some hope, but we don't know. But we do know the Lord's answer, and we do know how much we need to turn to Him and seek to understand God's Word as much as we're able. And it's through that that we learn to love God.