Welcome to Compass Bible Church. It is great to have you all here. And after the last service, I met a couple that was here for the first time. Can we give anybody who's here for the first time a warm welcome? Thank you for joining us. And in your bulletin, I invite everybody to open your bulletin back up. There's a handout in there, and on that handout, we have printed up Mark 12:13-27. That's our next text from the Gospel of Mark. That's the book of the Bible we're going through together right now. And in this text, they're going to ask Jesus two questions. The first question is about paying taxes, and the second question is about Levirate marriage from the law of Moses. And if I told you those are the two things we're going to talk about this morning, you might not be very excited for the rest of this sermon, right? But what we are going to see as they ask these questions is the wisdom of God in Jesus. So, on your handout, I'd love for you to write that down for number one if you are taking notes. The goal today is to observe. Let's put number one up here on the screen: “Observe the wisdom of God in Jesus.” Wisdom is a theme for our church right now because we are reading through the book of Proverbs.
Who's been reading some Proverbs, everybody? And the men had a breakfast where we talked about Proverbs. I'm pretty sure the women were here Friday night and yesterday having a conference about Proverbs, and we're going to be talking about that at our fellowship groups this week. And so, we are in a prime time right now to learn wisdom. You know King Solomon, who wrote most of the Proverbs, is known as the wisest man who ever lived. And you want to know why he became the wisest man who ever lived because he asked God for wisdom. God came to him and said, because you're the son of my servant, David, ask what you want, and I'll give it to you. And what did Solomon ask for? A discerning heart that he might lead God's people well? And so, God made Solomon the wisest man who ever lived.
And maybe you've heard some stories of the wisdom of Solomon. Maybe you've heard the story about the two prostitutes and the one baby. Have you heard this one where both of these ladies were blessed with a child, and then one of their children tragically died, and so now it was two moms, but only one baby, and both mothers claimed that the living baby was their child? And this dispute came all the way up before the king, and when they were both saying, this is my child, what did Solomon do? Do you know the story? In his wisdom, he said, “Bring me a sword.” And as soon as he said that, he had everybody's attention, and he knew there was no baby that was going to be harmed by that sword, but he brought in the sword and said, Let's cut the baby in half, and then both of you can have half the baby. And of course, that brought out the real mother to say, no, let her have the child, as long as the child can live. And the other lady was like, you can cut it in half. It'll be fine. And that's when everyone saw the wisdom of Solomon to identify the real mother. And here was the response in 1 Kings, chapter 3, verse 28, it says, “All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice today as we go through Mark, chapter 12, two different groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they're going to try to come and catch Jesus in a controversy. They're going to try to come and stump Jesus. And if you pay attention today, you will see the wisdom of God in how Jesus answers them.
And so, I want everybody to be looking not we're going to learn some textual context of why are they saying this, and what's their thought behind this? But I hope you won't get caught up in the details. I hope that you will see something that should cause you to marvel at the wisdom of God, revealed in Jesus. Turn with me to a couple of passages before we even get to mark 12, let's go to the book of Proverbs. Let's all turn there together. I want you to see that Jesus is in the book of Proverbs for sure; he's in at least two different passages in this book. One is in Proverbs 8, verse 22, the other is in Proverbs 30, verses 4, 5 and 6. But for sure, yeah, I want you to take you to Proverbs 8, verse 22 and this is where it's talking about wisdom. But here it says, “The Lord possessed me,” as in wisdom, “Yahweh possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.” So, the Hebrew word there beginning is the same word in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
And so, the idea here is wisdom was there with God before creation. And look at what it says, If you jump down to verse 29 about this “wisdom that God used to create the world when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command. When he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was beside him, like a master Workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him, always rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.” So, wisdom is claiming to be with God when the world is being created and that when they are creating the world God and wisdom. God is delighting in wisdom. Who is this wisdom? This is the Lord Jesus.
So, let's get that down for Proverbs, chapter 8, “The father delighted in the wisdom of Jesus before creation.” We know from John, chapter 1, in Colossians, chapter 1, and Hebrews, chapter 1, that nothing has been made that Jesus did not make. When God created the heavens and the earth, Jesus was there with him. Jesus actually was doing the work of creation. And look at the wisdom of God in the heavens. Look at the wisdom of God and creating all the earth and the things that go on the earth, that live on the earth. Yes, that was the father delighting in his Son, Jesus, as “together they created all things.” So, this wisdom of God is eternal. It goes beyond, before space and time as we know it.
Now go to Isaiah, chapter 11, another passage about the wisdom of Jesus, before we even get to him and holding court in the temple in Mark 12. Look at Isaiah, chapter 11. Because not only did Jesus have wisdom with God before creation, before space and time, but then Jesus entered into the creation. Jesus humbled himself to be born as a baby, the glory of God put on the flesh of mankind. And it says about when Jesus was born, he was born at a particular place at a particular time. And it says here in Isaiah, chapter 11, verse 1, about the incarnation of Jesus, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Does anybody know who Jesse is? Jesse is the father of David, King David of Israel, who's the father of Solomon, who becomes the wisest man ever. And so, in the line of David is going to come someone. And verse 2, “the Spirit of the Lord,” or the Spirit of Yahweh, “shall rest upon him. It's a spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”
Now, if you think about Jesus being born, growing up as a man, he's born of the line of David, through Joseph, through Mary, in the city of David, in Bethlehem. And when Jesus begins his ministry at the beginning of the gospel of Mark, when he gets baptized by John the Baptist, and he comes up out of the water, who descends upon him like a dove? It is the Spirit. Let's get that down. For Isaiah 11, “The spirit of wisdom and understanding came upon Jesus at his baptism,” and that kicks off the ministry the mighty works of Jesus that we have been studying now for over a year at our church, going from Mark one all the way to where we are in the temple today. In Mark, chapter 12, Jesus had wisdom before creation, and Jesus was now given this unique wisdom of the Spirit of God coming upon him. And what did God the Father say about his son when he came up out of the waters of baptism when the Spirit came upon him? “This is my son with whom I am well pleased.” God, the Father, delights in the wisdom of his Son, Jesus. And today, if you pay attention, you will delight in the wisdom of Jesus, as well.
And so, with that introduction, I invite everyone to open your Bible and turn with me to Mark, chapter 12, and we are going to read two questions, one about taxes and one about Levirate marriage. And you might not even know what that is, and I hope you won't walk away talking about taxes and the Law of Moses. I hope you will walk away today thinking, say, I need that wisdom of Jesus. Out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and please give this your full and undivided attention. This is the very wisdom of God. I will begin reading in Mark, chapter 12, verse 13.
And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him. And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man[e] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And if you’ve got that handout out, can you circle the word “trap” there in verse 13? Okay, has anyone ever said the question, is there is no such a thing as dumb questions? Have you ever heard that before? Let me just tell you definitively, from the Word of God today, yes, there are dumb questions. In fact, we're studying two dumb questions here today. And what makes a question dumb is when it's not even a sincere question. We're asking questions not to acquire information, not to get wisdom, not to try to attain knowledge or figure something out. The point of these questions is we are on the hunt to get Jesus. That's what you should write next to that word “trap,” that word “trap” equals “hunt”. Jesus is the prey. The Pharisees and Sadducees are the hunters, and they have come to destroy Jesus today. They want to catch him in a controversy that will turn the people against Jesus and back to them. They want to prove that they're right and Jesus is wrong. So, these questions are loaded questions. These questions are some kind of snare that the hunters want to catch the prey of Jesus in now. Next to that idea of hunt, you could write down Proverbs 6:25, because when they translated Proverbs, which is written in Hebrew, and they translated it into Greek, in Proverbs 6:25, they use this same word for trap here as they did for the forbidden woman. I'm pretty sure, if you went to the Woman's Conference, you heard about this “Forbidden Woman.” I'm pretty sure if you went to the Men's Breakfast, you heard about this strange woman, this adulterous, immoral woman who's looking for people to trap. She is hunting them. Proverbs 6:25 says, “With her eyelashes and trying to capture them with her beauties.” That is what is happening here. They have come on a mission to seek out Jesus, to destroy him.
In fact, turn back to chapter 3, verse 6. If you go all the way back to Mark, chapter 3, verse 6, I don't know if you can remember back to the study of the earlier chapters of Mark, but in chapter 2, there were a lot of controversies about things in the Law of Moses, or better said, things that the Pharisees and scribes thought we should do based on the law of Moses, things that maybe weren't even actually in the Law of Moses, traditions that they had come up with over time. And there's a lot of controversy between the religious leaders of the Jews and Jesus, and at the end of it, in chapter 3, verse 6, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to what everybody? How to destroy him. From chapter 3, verse 6 to when they approach him. Now, in chapter 12, verse 13, they have been scheming. They have been plotting. They have been thinking, how do we bring Jesus down? We need to ruin Jesus. Now, what's really interesting is the Pharisees and the Herodians don't even agree with each other. They don't even like each other.
Okay, if you study this, and you'll see that the Jewish Sanhedrin has 70 different people in it. It's kind of like Congress is what we would think of, right? We would understand today, not everybody in Congress gets along, right? Well, in the Sanhedrin, even though they were all religious leaders of the Jews, they didn't all see eye to eye, and there were 70 of them, and then also the chief priests. And so, the Pharisees, they're like zealots for the Jewish people. Like they don't like that the Romans are over the Jews. They want a messiah to come and overthrow the Romans. So, the Pharisees, they're very pro the Jewish nation, whereas the Herodians, even by their name. We don't know as much about the Herodians as the Pharisees, but we know the Herodians, based on their name, are pro the Herods who are the governors, representing the Roman authority. So, you see how the Pharisees, who are really all about the Jews getting rid of the Romans and then the Herodians, who like the benefit of being ruled by the Herods. They don't even agree politically. They're not even on the same page. Here's what they have in common. We got to get rid of this guy, Jesus, and so now they're working together to get rid of Jesus, and now they're coming with a question, and it's a trap, and they think that they will catch Jesus in a controversy and win the day.
So, with that, go back to Mark, chapter 12, and look when it says they're trying to trap him in his talk. Then look at what they say to him in verse 14. They say, “Teacher, we know that you are true. Now let me ask you all a question. ‘Do they really believe that Jesus is teaching the truth? Are they really trying to learn the truth from Jesus?’” In fact, they go on to say you're not. You don't care about what people think; you are truly teaching the way of God. Are they coming to Jesus to learn the way of God? No, they are not. This is what I think some of the ladies learned about here at the conference. This is what we would call flattery. This is when they're always smiling in your face, but they really just want to take your place. They're backstabbers. That's what this is, right here. Everybody I've heard so much flattery here at this church, being one of the pastors here, oh, that's the best sermon I've ever heard in my life, and I'm the guy who gave the sermon, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the best sermon you ever heard in your life. Usually, the person who wants to tell me how great the sermon is, that's the last time I'm ever going to see that person in my life. They're gone. They aren’t coming back, right? Because they're a flatterer, and they think if I just tell you what you want to hear, then you'll listen to what I have to say.
So, this is not genuine. This is not sincere. They're saying fake things to Jesus, and Jesus, he knows what they're already up to. And the question they get to is, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” And they ask it twice, should we pay them or should we not? And they're pretty sure that this question they're asking is a lose, lose scenario that they've just put Jesus in, because they don't even agree. The people asking this question don't even agree about the question, because obviously the Herodians, they would be more pro paying taxes to the Romans and the Pharisees, they would be more like against paying taxes, because we should just be our own nation of Israel. And so, their disagreement. Let's put Jesus in a place where he has to pick a side, and if he picks the side of paying taxes to Caesar, well, the people will turn against him, because they don't like paying taxes to Caesar. But if he says you don't have to pay taxes to Caesar, then we can go tell the Roman authorities that this guy is guilty of sedition and he's going to start an insurrection, because he's telling the people not to pay taxes. So what? Either way he answers this, we’ve got him this time for sure. That's what they're thinking.
Now you’ve got to see the masterclass that Jesus puts on in the temple on this day. It starts here in verse 15. And here's what we start with, knowing their what, everybody? Hypocrisy. You know, I wonder how many people think they're doing Jesus a favor by coming to church on a Sunday morning, and Jesus already knows they're putting on a mask. He already knows they're just showing face. He already knows they're just doing what they think is good. But inside, in their heart, they really have their own secret agenda. Jesus is not fooled by any hypocrite. Which is why, when people try to say, well, I don't like Christianity because there's so many hypocrites, let me tell you who's the biggest person against the hypocrites in Christianity. It's the Lord Jesus himself. Jesus hates hypocrisy. He wants to vomit it out of his mouth. In fact, turn with me real quick, back a few pages to the left, to Matthew 23. Matthew 23 is a whole chapter of the Bible where Jesus tells us how he really feels about hypocrisy, and he goes off on the Pharisees. So, in the Gospel of Mark, we don't get as much of Jesus speaking. Matthew really highlights the actual teaching the discourses of Jesus and in Matthew 23 he gives seven woes, saying that the Pharisees will be judged, and exposing their hypocrisy in seven different ways. Let me just give you a little taste of this rant that Jesus gives against the hypocrisy there at that time, start with me in verse 27 of Matthew 23 where he says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, But within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. Remember, when Jesus says uncleanness, he's not just saying you need to take a shower or you need to wash your hands. He's saying you're defiled. If you're unclean, you can't go to the temple. If you're unclean, you're not supposed to be around other people. That's what he's saying about the religious leaders, look at verse 28, “so you also outwardly, you appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy,” same word there as Mark 12:15, “full of hypocrisy and lawlessness or sin. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets. You decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. Thus, you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets,” and Jesus has already prophesied multiple times, including to their face in the temple, that they are going to kill him, just like they killed the prophets before him. So, Jesus, he understands right away, if you if you ever think you're fooling other people, and then you can go pray to God, and things will be fine between you and God, even though, in your heart you're still in your sin.
Jesus is not fooled by anyone's hypocrisy. He sees it for what it is. He calls it out. And so go back now to mark 12, and you can see Jesus, he doesn't think they want to learn the truth. He doesn't think they're trying to find the way of God. He knows that they have come to stump him. He already knows they're fake. They're wearing a mask, “and he said to them, ‘Why put me to the test?’” He calls it what it is. See, there's a lot of fake niceness at churches these days. There's a lot of people saying the right thing, because that's what we're supposed to say. Jesus isn't like that. Have you ever heard the phrase calling a spade a spade? That's who Jesus is. He already knows what it is, but now he says it so that everybody there in the temple can. This is a test, and Jesus has already been tested multiple times in the Gospel of Mark, if you want to write down some of the times you could write down Mark 1:13, when the Spirit came upon him in wisdom, the Spirit took him out into the wilderness where he was tested by who in the wilderness, everybody? Satan tested him. And you can read about the ways that Satan tried to get to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew or the Gospel of Luke. And every single time Jesus was tested by Satan, he answered with what, everybody? He answered with Scripture. You could also write down Mark 8:11, where these same Pharisees came and tested him, saying, “Give us a sign in the heavens.” Give us a miracle on demand, if you want us to believe and you prove it to us right now, they demanded of Jesus, and he said, an evil and adulterous generation is seeking a sign. He's already done all these miracles, and now you're asking for more.
Or how about Mark chapter 10, verse 2, maybe you were here on Valentine's Day weekend back in February, we looked at Mark, chapter 10, where they tried to test him about divorce and marriage, knowing that's a controversial subject, what do you have to say about divorce? Jesus trying to get him in trouble with the crowd. So, Jesus says, hey, this isn't real. You're not trying to figure out what we should do about the Romans, or should we pay taxes to Caesar? This is a test, and then Jesus does what Solomon did when he said, bring out the sword. Jesus says, let's bring out the coin. And see, you’ve got to understand Jesus. Does Jesus already know what's on the coin? Does Jesus already know his answer that he's going to give to these guys? Does Jesus already see the trap coming, and he already knows how he's going to transform it into a teaching moment that people will think about literally, for thousands of years. The coin is for you. The coin is for the theatrics. The coin is for the moment to get everybody's attention. Hey, what's on the coin? Oh, well, they all know already, even if they can't see it. Everybody in the temple can relate to seeing the coin, the Denarius. It's like a day's wage. Oh yeah. Well, whose likeness is on the coin? Oh yeah. Well, that's Caesar's coin. And so, what does Jesus say? They think they've got him trapped. Should we pay the taxes or not pay the taxes. What does Jesus say? He says, well, “we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and we should render to God the things that are God's.” And what does it say? After he says that they marveled at him in the context here, who is the “they”? The Pharisees and the Herodians, who don't even agree with each other, but he just answered a question that they thought would trap him, but he answered it in a way that both of them can even agree with, because the Herodians are really satisfied with him saying we should render to Caesar. And the Pharisees are really happy with him saying we should render to God. And he's actually just said it's not one way or the other.
See Jesus, if you can see the wisdom that Jesus is showing us here, this could change your life if you haven't learned this already, because when you and I look at problems, we usually, typically, the way people think is, we say, well, there's option A or there's option B, and then we go to God and we say, hey, I don't know which one to do. Should I do a or should I do B? And really, a and b are both ideas that we came up with, and now we're asking God's wisdom, almost like on which one of those should I do? But Jesus shows us it's not about a choice between two options. It's about obeying all of God's commands.
Let's get that down for number two: “Wisdom is not choosing between options but living by God's commands.” The wisdom that Jesus gives here, maybe you've heard this line, render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's. It's such an amazing line that even his enemies are like, well-played Jesus. Even his enemies are marveling. They are in awe at the wisdom Jesus gives. Because Jesus doesn't get pigeonholed or bottleneck down into, I have this way or I have this way. No, Jesus, let me ask you, this, is it a command of God that we should submit to the governing authorities and pay our taxes. Yes, in Romans 13:1-7, if you want to write that down, we have a clear command where Paul says that governing authorities are appointed by God himself. And it even says to pay your taxes, to owe, to give what you owe to the governing authorities. The scripture is clear. This is one of the commands of Christ. But then also, does the Scripture say that, out of all that God provides for us financially, that we should give to God? In response is that something the Bible teaches us to do? In fact, you could write down 1 Corinthians 16, verse 1 talks about them taking a collection on the Lord's day, Sunday, the first day of the week, the resurrection day that the church gathers in the name of Jesus. You take a collection. You take an offering. You could write down 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 and 9, two whole chapters about why you should give if God's given to you. If God's provided for you and your family, be generous with others, because God loves a cheerful giver, and you can't out give the giver himself.
And so, the Scripture teaches that the under the authority of God, there are other authorities that we might even have to pay taxes to, but ultimately, all the good things that you have, all the money that you have, all the things you bought with the money you have, your possessions, they have all been provided for you by your Father in heaven. And if you know that he's given to you, you should give to him, to thank him. In fact, you should give generously, showing that you have faith he will continue to provide for you and your family. See, Jesus isn't like how do I answer this question? Jesus already knows what God has commanded, and that is the way of wisdom.
There are people in this room right now, people watching this right now, and you are making a decision, and you think it's this or this. Man, if you could leave here today and your mind could be freed from that. I don't know how many times in my life I acted like God, which way is it? And I was like putting God's wisdom on my opinions, and I've talked about that now with so many people here. I remember one time, specifically, when this happened at our church. Me and the elders were praying. When we went, all we had was that kids ministry building and the kids were growing in number, and the young people, the high schoolers and the junior highers, were growing in number. And we're running out of room in this building, and it's like, well, if we stay here in this building, how do we keep welcoming in more families? Because we're running out of room, maybe we need to go over here and get a bigger box and start afresh in a bigger building. And so, I remember praying God, should we stay or should we go? And I'm like thinking, it's one or the other. And then one day, as we're praying and asking God for wisdom. The owner of all these buildings, he comes up to me, and he says, hey, I see you guys are filling up this building. How about if we spilled over into these other buildings over here? And I was like, How come you're coming up with this idea? I'm supposed to be the pastor around here. You know, the way of wisdom that God had for our church was way better than either choice A or B that I was putting God into. Can we take a moment to praise the Lord for the way he has provided for our church?
I'm sure that many of you, could look back now on a moment in your life where you thought it would be this way or that way, and what God actually did was so much better than anything you were thinking. God's wisdom is higher than our ways. His understanding surpasses our human limitations. When you go and ask God for wisdom, and I hope everybody here does pray and ask God for wisdom. James 1:5-8 promises you that if you ask God for wisdom, He will give it to you unless you ask him, doubting him, but if you ask him with faith, God will always give you wisdom when you ask for it, and make sure when you ask for wisdom, you're not asking God about your options, but you're open to his ways, because his ways will be better than your choices that you can see with your eyes. And really, this is what I think so many Christians today don't really understand, is we act like God's will is a mystery out there that we don't know. When God's will has been revealed throughout hundreds of years. It has been written down for us, the things that God wants you to do have been made clear the commands of God. Oh man, that's what we're supposed to be teaching at church. We're supposed to be making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them how to observe all the commands of Christ, how to keep all the things that Jesus taught us to do.
And we act like, well, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. No, actually, there's a whole list of things that you already know God wants you to do, and we spend so much time thinking about what the future could be that we don't know, rather than seeking wisdom in the things we already do know. One that comes up over and over, as students are figuring out what college they're going to go to, or as people are looking to move maybe to get a better job and have a better situation for their family. Should I go to this school? Should I take this job? Well, one of the things I'm always happy to remind people about is, well, one thing I know is that wherever you go, God wants you to be a part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he wants you to hear teaching from his word. And he wants you to be a part of the fellowship of the believers.
And so, you're telling me you're going to move five states away, and you don't even know if there's a church there that you can be a part of. How could that be God's will for your life? To take a job when you don't even have a church, to go to a school where they're going to indoctrinate you with who knows what kind of wisdom, when you don't even have a place to hear the Word of the living God. See, so many people are seeking this mysterious God's will and not seeking the wisdom that God has already given to us, a wisdom that is flowing freely right now in the book of Proverbs, but many people won't take a look in his book, and then they'll wonder, what should I do in my life? No, the wisdom of God, it's a path. The wisdom of God, it's like a fountain of life. It's like a flowing river, like a stream, like once you understand God's already told me how to live, you will know the way of truth, and you will walk in the way of God.
See wisdom, it's right here in front of you, if you would only seek it. This is what I've seen over and over in my life is, I don't know what to do tomorrow, but I know God wants me to do this. I also know that God wants me to do this, and in keeping the commands of God, he shows me very clearly what I should do tomorrow, and I come to a conclusion I would have never come to by myself, but the commands took me all the way there, till there was no other place I could go. Are you studying the commands of God? Commands have become like a bad name at church. I don't want to be told what to do. Yes, you do. You want the wisdom of God, because if it's up to you, and it's choice A or B, you will find yourself in a lose scenario, not just because of yourself, but because you will be tested. The hunters will come for you, and they will try to trap you. The evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms are looking for people to destroy. And if you don't have God's wisdom, if you're like, well, I don't know which one to choose, and you just choose one of them, you're not going to like. How that turns out you need the wisdom of God. And Jesus just said, let's bring out a coin just to show everybody. Yeah, God commanded we give to the governing authorities, and God commanded we give to him, and we don't go by your questions. We go by the Word of God.
And so, this wisdom, you need this wisdom. The worst thing that you can do as a person who goes to church is be wise in your own eyes. The worst thing that you can do is think, well, I know what's right, and I'm going to stick to my way of thinking, no, then you're going to be like the Sadducees who show up in verse 18. Look at these guys. “The Sadducees came to him,” and here's what the Sadducees are known for. Okay? It says, “The Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection.” The Sadducees, the distinctive thing about them is they don't believe in life after death. That's why they're so sad, you see, right? That's how you can remember what the Sadducees are all about is their distinct doctrine, their kind of teaching that they held to, is this life is it. Nothing happens after death. And so, Sadducees now they just saw Jesus dismantle the argument of the Pharisees and the Herodians and the Pharisees and the Sadducees are like rival street gangs, right? I mean, they don't like each other at all. And in fact, next to the Sadducees, you could write down Acts 23:6-10, where Paul is on trial in front of the Jewish leaders at that time, and he says, I'm on trial for the resurrection of the dead. And as soon as he says that, all the Pharisees are like, yes, we agree with you, and all the Sadducees are like, we don't agree with that. And the Pharisees and Sadducees start having such a violent altercation right there in front of Paul that they remove him from the premises and he's no longer on trial, just because he started them fighting amongst themselves.
So, the Sadducees, right there you see this space between verses 17 and 18, that little empty space right there in between the verses, that is the peak existence of the Sadducees in all of history right there. Jesus just defeated their archrivals, and now here they come with their impenetrable question that is going to prove they are right and defy Jesus in front of everyone in Jerusalem. They actually think that is going to happen when they bust this question out and they have become a kind of person that is very common among religious people, where they now look at everything based on their particular viewpoint. They have a lens. They have a filter. You can't just open up the Bible and read it with the Sadducees. They already have a certain way of thinking about it, and everything is viewed through this lens that there is no resurrection. And so they bring up here an example about Levirate marriage, where Moses says that if a man dies and he has no kids, he has no heir, he has no one to pass the inheritance on to, one of his brothers should come, and his brother should marry his wife, and the first child will be his brother's child. And that might seem very foreign and weird to us, but that's there in the Law of Moses. And so, they want to present this crazy, twisted version of the Law of Moses, some kind of has anybody ever seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers that that musical. This is some twisted version of it right here, where all the brothers get the same bride. I don't even want to know the songs from that musical. You know what I mean? They've come up with this ridiculous scenario that will prove there can't be a resurrection. Because if this woman was married to seven brothers, who would she be married to in heaven stumped him. That's what they're thinking. Look what Jesus says in response. In verse 25. Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong?” That's a great introduction. That's like an early Mother's Day gift to all the moms out there, dads, you should memorize this verse right here. Next time your kid is throwing out some ridiculous scenario of life, you should just start with is this not the reason you are wrong, son. I'm definitely going to be using this one maybe later today. I'm looking forward to it. You know what I mean? Is this not the reason you are wrong? These guys are just out there with what they've come up with. Jesus doesn't even accept the premise of what they're saying.
Notice again, in verse 27 he says, “You are quite wrong.” So, he begins and ends his answer with, you guys don't even know what you're talking about. Okay, so their question comes from Deuteronomy, 25:5. So, if you’ve got a Bible, let's all turn back to the law of Moses. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 25 if you can find it, let's go to verse 5, and let's all look at this together, and let's see how off the Sadducees got. And I was at a fellowship group at this church this week, and there was a man who said something in that group that I marveled at. I thought it was amazing, because this man who lives in Southern California at our time, I mean, this happened on Thursday night, he came and he said, You know, I realized something going through the Gospel of Mark, that Jesus, in answer to all the questions, is always quoting Scripture specifically, he's always quoting the Old Testament. And so, I realized whenever I hear a verse of Scripture referred to, I should probably turn there in my Bible, read those scriptures and find out what it's all about. God bless that man. Can you believe someone said that at church in Southern California, like they're not afraid to open up the pages of the Old Testament and find out what's going on, like it might help the Scripture make more sense. Oh, I hope God blesses the children of that man, right? Look at this, Deuteronomy 25:5, yes, we should always be looking up the Scripture that is referred to. It says here, “If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger.” Don't go marry somebody else. “Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.” Now that might sound weird to everybody who just heard that verse. It's called Levirate marriage. Levirate is a Latin phrase that means brother-in-law marriage. Okay, now, from my perspective, as somebody who's grown up in Orange County, California, right? You hear this idea that a wife is now a widow, and so she's supposed to marry the brother, one of the brothers of the guy she was married to. I'm thinking that makes me feel uncomfortable just hearing about that. Okay, here's what we all need to keep in mind as we read the pages of Scripture, these people aren't Americans. They don't speak English. They don't live at a time of Tesla and internet. Okay, if you’ve ever gone to a foreign country and you realize when you're in that country, these people don't think what I think. They don't think the way that I think. They don't speak the way that I think. There's a whole different mindset. I've got to adapt to their mindset. I can't expect their mindset to adapt to me. That's what's happening. You are reading ancient Hebrew documents from times like over 3000 years ago on planet Earth, across the other side of the world, they didn't even know our side of the world existed when this was written.
So, for you as an American to read Scripture and expect it just all to be the way that you think we like to call that chronological snobbery. That's what that is. No, see back at this time, and you can get this if you have ever read Genesis, and you know the genealogies, so and so is the son of so and so, the son of so and so, if you have ever walked with Abraham Isaac and Jacob, you get this idea that what mattered to these people, in fact, one of the most important values that they had in life was the father needed to have a son and heir, because the whole point of life, it seems, was to pass the inheritance from the father to the son. That's what was a value to them. And so, if your brother died and he didn't have an heir, well, your if your brother had land, if your brother had, had had like herds, whatever your brother had done with his life, who would that get passed on to who would continue your brother's name without it, without anyone representing him in the next generation? It's like your brother's line would not continue. It's like your brother would be erased from existence. That's how they would think. And so, if you really love your brother and he ends up dying suddenly or tragically without any offspring to continue his name on to the next generation, well then, you could lovingly come in and marry his wife. And if God blessed the two of you with a child, that first child, that first son, that would be your brother's son, and that would be the name of your brother going on to the next generation. That's what this was about. It was a way that a brother could love his brother by keeping his name and inheritance being passed on to the next generation. Because they thought about that with a value system that we don't think like that today. That may not be the biggest priority for many of us is thinking about, how will my name continue to the next generation? That's what mattered to them. And so, this is an option that is given, and it says in verse 6 that “the first son whom she bears shall succeed the name of his dead brother.” So, it's like the dead brother lives through the child, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. But then in verses 7 to 10, there's a whole way, if you don't want to do that, if you don't want to marry your brother's wife, there's a way out of it where you don't have to do that. You're just going to be known that you passed up on that opportunity, that you refused to do it.
Now there are some examples of this playing out. One of them is in Genesis 38, verses 8 to 10. Has anybody ever read Genesis 38, verses, 8 to 10? Disturbing. Reader discretion advised on that passage because a guy has an opportunity to do this, decides he doesn't want to do it in his heart, and God kills him for not doing this. And then there's also a beautiful example of this playing out in the entire Book of Ruth, particularly Ruth, chapter 4, if you know the story of Ruth, her husband died, but she decided to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi, because she wanted to be a part of the people of Yahweh. My God will be your God. Where you go, I will go. And her and Naomi, they were in a tough spot without men to help work the field and provide and so they began to find benefit from this man named Boaz. And as the story develops in the book of Ruth, it's very short, four chapters, you could go read it later today, Boaz not only helps provide food and things for them, turns out Boaz is a relative of theirs. Boaz could be one of these who would come in and do this Levirate marriage, and then it could be passed down, and they wouldn't lose their land in their name to the future generations. And Boaz, when he hears about this, he's interested in this idea, but he knows there's a closer relative. And so, in Ruth for Boaz goes where that other relative is, and there are other witnesses around, and he says, Would you like Naomi's land? They're going to sell it, and the guy is very interested in buying the land. Well, guess what? Along with the land comes Levirate marriage to Ruth. Do you want to do that? No, he's not interested in doing that. And because he declines it, that gives Boaz the opportunity to come in and marry Ruth as her kinsman redeemer, which is really just kind of a symbol pointing to our ultimate Redeemer, Christ. And we are all considered brothers and sisters in Christ, because he comes to redeem us. It's actually this beautiful picture that God writes a whole book of the Bible about.
But see these Sadducees because they're so zeroed in on there's no resurrection, they want to twist this into some kind of worst case scenario, proof that see if this really happened, then it can't be that there would be a resurrection, because whose wife would she be in the future if she was the wives of seven brothers, and now there's only one of her in heaven, but there's all seven brothers. See, that doesn't make sense. We got you busted right now. Go back to Mark 12 now that we understand the twisted thinking of the Sadducees and notice how they even say it in verse 23 in the resurrection. See, there are people that are so focused on this one point, this one teaching, this one thing that they think is the key to unlocking all the other understanding in the resurrection. Notice how they say it here, when they rise again, they don't even believe in a resurrection. They don't even believe in arise again. This is not a sincere question. It's a dumb question.
Dumb Questions are the ones that are meant to disprove God. No one's ever done that. And so, Jesus starts with that great line I already said, “Is this not the reason you are wrong?” And what he means by wrong here, look over at chapter 13, verses 5 and 6, because it uses the same Greek in chapter 13, verses 5 and 6, what's translated wrong in our passage. Look at how it's translated here in Mark 13, verse 5, “And Jesus began to say to them, ‘See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and they will lead many astray.’” So, Jesus is saying that the whole framework of the Sadducees, they've already been led astray. Their whole doctrine, their theology, the way they're thinking about the resurrection, is wrong. And so, Jesus, he doesn't even really before he answers their question, he doesn't even accept the premise of the question. He just says, you guys are so wrong in your thinking. The Sadducees, when he destroyed the argument of the Pharisees, they must have been on top of the world when he starts talking to them and just destroys what they're thinking, Oh, I hope they were so humbled. In fact, look at what Jesus says to them. “Think about this, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
Can you imagine people someday seeing Jesus, running up to Jesus? Jesus, there you are. I've heard so much about you, now I'm meeting you, and Jesus says to them, you don't even know what the Bible says, and you don't even know the power of God. That's what Jesus says to these men that are so focused on what they believe about the resurrection that they don't even compare it to the rest of the scriptures. They don't even know God's work in their own life, God's power. Romans 1:16 says that “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.” The power of God is that he sent his one, only son, who died on the cross for your sins. And on the third day, they went to the tomb, and it was empty, because he wasn't there. He had risen from the dead, just as he said.
And the power of God is when you experience a new life, when you become dead to your old life of sins, and you now walk in newness of life. They don't know that. Yeah, they don't believe in resurrection after death, they don't know any kind of resurrection power in this life. Can you imagine people who are so focused on Scripture and teaching being told that they don't even know what the Scripture says, or the power of God? The Sadducees aren't the only ones who are going to hear that from Jesus, the world is full of religious people who have been led astray. And if you ask those people to tell you what they believe, here's the problem, they're not going to open you up to chapter and verse.
I’ve got to say this very clearly to our church, because I've seen this happen to people who used to go to this church. Over the last year, it has happened a bunch where people are going to take you, not to the Scriptures to tell you who God is. They want to take you to church history to tell you who God is. There are people they want to take you well, this is the work the Spirit's doing in my life, as if the Spirit is going to do a work in somebody's life that is different. Different than the scripture that the spirit already inspired in the wisdom of God. When somebody talks to you and you can tell that their basis for what they believe is something that happened to them, their personal experience. And you say, well, I'm not sure about that, because this verse right here says this. And they say, well, I know that this is true, because this is what happened to me. Then you can see that this person is looking at everything through a particular lens. They're not open anymore to what the Scripture says. They're not open anymore to the power of God working in their life through the gospel of Jesus. They have found in their mind a way that God is going to work, and they have zeroed in so much on that, that you can't even talk to them about what the Bible says anymore, and you can't even show them the power of God through his Word. That's what the Spirit works through. That's what changes your life. That's what's been happening for 2000 years in the history of the church. It's the power of God working through his Word. But they won't hear that anymore, because they know this. There are many people who are wise in their own eyes, and the Sadducees are getting exposed, so that maybe if you've become wise in your own eyes, you can see that if what you're thinking is not based on God's Word and God's power, what you're thinking is quite wrong, and you're being led astray. Many are led astray. Don't be one of those people.
And so, wow, there's something very powerful that Jesus is exposing here. He's not just answering a question of the Sadducees. He's warning us about how religious people get for all time. Look at what he says. Two parts to his answer to them. First in verse 25 he says, “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. They're like angels in heaven.” What does Jesus mean by that? He doesn't mean that people become angels in heaven. What he means is that angels aren't having baby angels in heaven. Okay, there's no kind of procreation going on in the spiritual realm. So, when we die, and then we are in the presence of God, there won't be marriage for the purpose of procreation, for the purpose of having a family. No, that's how things that's very important here in this life. That's not how it's going to work in heaven when you get married, which is a very important part of our life, it's a covenant that you make before God and these witnesses, that's your companion, that's the other part of your pair. You are to be together until what everybody until death. Do us part, and there is a parting in death, and it's not the same in heaven, if anybody tries to sell you that you can be married forever in heaven, that's not what Jesus is teaching here. Jesus is saying, you guys don't even know what you're talking about, what it's like in heaven. When people try to compare the life that we have experienced and can see with our eyes now to the things we haven't seen or haven't fully experienced in heaven. There's no way you could make an accurate comparison. In fact, when people try to nitpick the things to compare Life now to the life that is to come, you notice in most of those conversations, they usually leave out the main point of difference between life now and life to come is in the life to come, you get to be in the actual presence of God.
That's kind of the whole thing that matters about the life to come. I'm sure there are many other benefits to the future life, the fact that there is no sin, the fact that there is no death, the fact that there is no division. I'm sure there's going to be many awesome things about it. But how about seeing the glory of God? How about being right there in his presence? How about hearing him speak and being overwhelmed with wonder at his splendor? See, they're not thinking about that, they're thinking about all these things and these little details that prove that we're right, and they make the point that they want to make. Watch out. A lot of people aren't really reading the Bible. They're just trying to prove their own point. Make sure you don't become like that.
And then he says this, “And as for the dead being raised,” now he wants to go back to the whole premise of their mistaken thinking, as for the dead being raised, how about have you not read? Like you could almost hear Jesus saying that before we got to it right, it's either going to have you not read? Do you not know? Have you not already heard like we should get “Have you not read” on a t-shirt around here. Because that's how Jesus keeps saying it. Have you not read? Here's what he's saying to the Sadducees. The Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Law of Moses. They were out on the prophets. They were out on the writings, which is what they had to do, because if you read the prophets and you read the writings, you're going to hear a whole lot of resurrection going on. Like Psalm 16:11, like Daniel 12:1-2. Like, how about the prophets, all talking about this future kingdom that's coming? Like, I'm sorry, but you can't. They only could read so much Scripture and not be obviously corrected about the resurrection, so they only stuck to the law of Moses. But look at what Jesus does. He goes to something they know. “Have you not read in the book of Moses,” in the passage about the bush?
Haven't you guys read the passage about the bush before you know the bush that's on fire, but it doesn't get burned up. Everybody, if you've got a Bible, let's be like that blessed man and turn to Exodus, chapter 3. And let's go back to the story that Jesus wants to take them back to, one of the most famous stories in all of the Scripture, Moses encountering Yahweh at the burning bush. And let's just go back and let me just read to us what Jesus is referring to. That shows that these guys who are trying to use some Scripture to make their point have completely missed the point of what the Scripture is actually saying. In Exodus, chapter 3, I'll start in verse 1. “Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness. And he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and, behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight. Why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord Yahweh saw that, he turned aside to see God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses,’ and he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.” And Moses, he encounters the true and living God. And God says, you're going to go tell Pharaoh to let my people go. You're going to go lead the people of Israel. And Moses, he's like, well, what am I going to say if they ask me who you are? So, jump ahead to verse 13. “Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they asked me, What is his name? What shall I say to them?’” How should I introduce you? “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am,’” which is the basis for the name Yahweh. “And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, the Lord Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’”
See, Jesus takes these led astray Sadducees back to this passage, and notice it doesn't say that he was the God of Abraham when Abraham was alive. It doesn't say that he was the God of Isaac, and then was the God of Jacob. No, he claims to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even after they have died. In fact, if you know the story that Jesus tells in Luke 16, there's a rich man who dies and he goes to Hades, and there's a poor man named Lazarus. And when he dies, he gets to go up by the side of who, everybody? By the side of Abraham. But see, I don't even think the point that Jesus is making to the Sadducees is about the fact that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive even after they have died. I think the point that Jesus is making to these Sadducees is you don't even really know who God is, because he's the I Am, he's the one who always was, is and always will be in the point of life is that the people who have been created would know the God who made them. And it doesn't matter what generation you're born in. Doesn't matter when you walk this earth, God made when you hear the story of his Son, Jesus, that He sent to save us, it doesn't matter what nation you grow up in or what language you speak. Yahweh, is the God of all people. He's the eternal God. You can't get away from him. You can't deny him. You can't think that life just ends. And you don't have to face God. There will come a moment when every single knee will hit the ground and every single mouth will open up, and the people in hell and the people on earth and the people in heaven, they will all agree together with one voice that him, the one who rides on the clouds, Jesus, he is the Lord. And when all of creation cries out who Jesus is, guess who will delight in hearing that the Father who gives all things as an inheritance to his Son, the wisdom of God is way beyond your level of thinking. Don't be led astray, thinking you know something better than knowing God. The point of wisdom is to know God. That is the beginning of wisdom is when you begin to fear Yahweh.
Let's get it down like this for point number three: “Don't be led astray.” Knowing Yahweh is the purpose of why you're arguing with someone, is the purpose of your theological debate, is the purpose of what you believe in your strong conviction. Is the point of it to help people know God? Or is the point of it to prove that you are right. Like so many religious people have been before, you always trying to prove that your take on it is the best, but never really knowing the Scripture or the power of God. That's why they're really so sad, you see is they don't really know God.
God has given us a way to know him. You should be searching the Scripture like silver. You should be seeking out wisdom like it's greater than treasure. Jesus says he rebukes the Pharisees in John 5:39, he says, “You search the scriptures because you think you're going to find life, but the scriptures testify about me.” There is only one way, there is only one truth, there is only one life, and his name is Jesus Christ. And no one knows God except through Jesus and the Sadducees think they know God when he's right in front of their face and they can't even see him.
If you find yourself arguing a point, and you're no longer listening to Scripture, and you're no longer knowing the power of God in your life, you might be led astray. And you’ve got to humble yourself. You’ve got to stop being wise in your own eyes, and you’ve got to get back to what does God say? What is his wisdom? Because his ways are higher than ours. We have right now as a church, we're only halfway through reading the Proverbs. We have wisdom right in front of us every day, if we will only open the book and take a look. Wisdom is right there in front of you. Seize it while you can. Seek to know God today. Do not harden your heart if you can hear God's voice today.
And they asked Jesus about taxes; they asked him about this old law about marriage. But Jesus didn't just answer their questions. He didn't just tear down their arguments. Jesus was speaking to you. He was showing you the way of wisdom. Can you hear what Jesus is saying? Let me pray for us right now.
Father in heaven, I just pray for everybody here that you brought to this service, that we could see what happened in the temple in Jerusalem, that the religious people did their best to prove Jesus wrong. They came to hunt him. They came to trap him. They thought we're going to catch him in a controversy. And Jesus was not limited to their options of A or B. Jesus is not limited to our human choices. Jesus spoke from your commands, he spoke from your wisdom, I pray that we could see that. I pray that everyone here could hear that. I pray for those who don't know what to do, that they would leave here today to spend time in prayer and ask you for wisdom. I pray for those who are trying to figure out tomorrow, that they would stop focusing on what they don't know about tomorrow, and they would study what is God telling me I need to be doing today so that it will lead to tomorrow. God, please give us your wisdom. I pray for people in here who get so caught up on particular points of doctrine, particular points of experience. Or the work of the Spirit, or church history, or whatever it may be. They're so focused on this that they're moving away from the Scriptures. They're moving away from your power. God, please don't let anybody at this church think I know a lot of theology when they don't know you. The whole point of this Scripture is to bring us to you. The whole point of you sending Jesus is so that we could have eternal life, to know you, the one true God. Can I pray that you would open up everybody's eyes here to see that the way of wisdom is in knowing you, and there's only one way to know you, and it's through your Son, Jesus, whom you've sent? And he's speaking to us today. He's saying, look at the coin. Saying, look at these Sadducees. They don't know the Scripture. They don't know the power of God. Can you see how high and mighty the religious people think they are when they are so wrong? He's warning all of us not to be wise in our own eyes. God, please help us to see that the wisest thing any of us will ever do is to get over ourselves, to stop thinking we know it all. It's to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow Jesus. That is the epitome of wisdom, to die to this life and to gain Christ. So, please don't let us be known for anything else than the Bible at this church. Don't let us be known for anything else but the power of the gospel. Don't let us be known for following anything but following Jesus. We pray this in his name. Amen.