Confronting Religion Pt 3: Answering Their Questions

only kidding sorry about that there's no way i was gonna make it through without water uh if you guys want to go ahead and stand with us we'll pray and we'll get started father thank you for the day lord just thank you for this time that we're able to come and uh spend some time in in worship lord and in your word lord i just pray that we lay everything aside today lord and just focus focus completely on you lord and just help us to lift a joyful noise of praise to you lord this morning god we love you lord we praise you and we thank you in jesus name amen breaks the power of sin and darkness whose love is mighty is so much stronger and we'll continue on without you i fall this is more this is foul my song to rise when temptation comes my way

does your might and i'll stand i'll fall on jesus you're my hope and moment that away i will sing of the goodness of god been so so with every breath that i am able i will sing of the goodness most like no other known you as a father i play down i'm surrendered now it's running after it's running after me this is running after it's running after where my life laid down and surrendered now all my life you have been so so good i will sing of the goodness i will sing of the goodness father god you've been so good to us lord lord you sent your son to die on the cross for us lord lord god we just thank you sing that chorus with me one more time all my life you have been

faithful all my life you have been so so good every breath that i am able i will sing of the goodness of god i will sing of the goodness of god and i see it now i'm laying it down and i know that i run to the father reason to wait to search for the father and i know that i run to the father again but so needs a friend so i'll run to the father again and again and again but so needs a friend so i'll run to the father again and so i'll run to the father father forgive me if i've ever tried to make things happen on my own lord when i know that i should have been taking these things to you all along i should have been running to you each and every day lord lord because the truth

is that i cannot make it on my own i can't make it through a single day on my own lord without you i need you lord each and every day each and every hour lord run to the father i'll fall into grace i'm done with the hiding no reason to wait my heart found a surgeon my soul found a friend so i'll run to the father again and again father god we thank you for your grace we thank you for your grace we thank you for your grace god we just want to come to you this morning lord god just help us to focus solely on you this morning god help us to set everything else aside god and to focus completely and wholly on you this morning father god has prayed that this morning as pastor ryan comes that you uh would speak

mightily through him god do your mighty work in our hearts father we love you father we thank you we praise you jesus name you guys go ahead and take some time and fellowship with one another this morning good morning good morning good morning good morning good morning good morning

you could begin to locate your seats grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over some announcements glad you could be here this morning over on the left hand side are the places to get plugged into during the week so locate one of those places and get yourself plugged in that actually brings me to the first announcement in the middle section of your bulletin and that's the next sunday we're going to do something just a little bit different we're going to have a small group sunday so the goal is to have a small group sunday and we're going to have a small group sunday is that all of the small groups that we have here at the church everybody that leads one of those

is going to get up and share a little bit about that so that we can get all of you plugged into some places we're also adding a couple of new small groups this fall so all of that's going to take place next sunday and then those small group leaders will be available in the back after the service for you to come visit with them get get plugged in so that we can get everybody included

so that's going to be next sunday and then also next sunday i was just informed that our operation christmas child people are going to be kicking things off for us and sharing with us uh about operation christmas child and uh is it seven weeks you said that we've got and seven weeks until uh christmas boxes are due uh which i can't imagine why it's only june but that's what we're going to do so um so that will also happen next week and then coming up next sunday we're going to have a on october the 8th we have wiffle ball and potluck it goes together like ham and beans ice cream and chocolate brownies and anything so there will be a a potluck that starts at 5 p.m

so bring a dish to share we'll have all the other stuff like uh drinks and plates and forks and and spoons and for some reason always an incredible number of knives that we won't use we'll have all that stuff available for you right we'll have all that stuff available for you uh so you bring a dish to share and then after we eat we'll play uh wiffle ball now somebody made a comment on the facebook feed on wednesday is there going to be an over 50 game like a game for those who are over 50 the answer is no there's just going to be one really big game but hey listen here's what you need to know we have a lot of medical uh people in this church we have we have doctors we have nurses we have uh emergency medical workers so listen just i don't care how

old you are just come play we're going to have a lot of people in this church we're going to have we'll get you taken care of if you fall and get hurt okay you won't even need the little medical alert thing we'll be right there so come join us it's going to be fun we'll we'll play until dark and uh it should be a good time so those are the things that are going on if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning we're going to be in psalm 138 psalm 138 we'll be looking at the new american standard just so we all sound the same and then after that you can go back to using whatever you're using and we'll be right back

you brought if you need one should be one in a row and as you're turning to psalm 138 if you would stand uh in the honor of the reading of god's word psalm 138 i will read the odd verses if you will follow along with pastor allen in the even verses psalm 138 a psalm of david i will give you thanks with all my heart i will sing praises to you before the gods i will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to you and i will sing praises to you before the gods before the gods thanks to your name for your loving kindness and your truth for you have magnified your word according to all your name on the day i called you answered me you made me bold with strength

in my soul all the kings of the earth will give thanks to you oh lord when they have heard the words of your mouth and they will sing of the ways of the lord for great is the glory of the lord for though the lord is exalted yet he regards the lowly but the haughty he knows from afar though i walk in the midst of trouble you will revive me you will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies and your right hand will save me the lord will accomplish what concerns me your loving kindness oh lord is everlasting do not forsake the works of your hands and lord we do give thanks to you with all of our hearts for everything that you are and lord that you take time to regard the lowly

so lord we come to you now prayerfully with humble hearts that simply want to hear from you that simply want to learn from you and to meet with you this morning and so i pray that that's what would happen here lord that we would meet with you right now through the study of your word that by the power of your holy spirit you would make it not just words on a page but the very breath that we breathe we just thank you father in jesus name amen you may be seated and if you would open up in your bibles to the of matthew chapter 22 matthew chapter 22 good to be back this morning we went up to a wedding last weekend uh in the kansas city area uh to see my wife's cousin get married had a great time up

there uh and i thought lewis did a fantastic job filling in for me last sunday uh so he really enjoyed that but it's always good to uh to come back home and be with family so uh today we are looking at part three of our series on confronting religion jesus has been if you will standing test uh before the religious leaders of the day and as he's been standing test they've each been coming at him with different things and so the first thing that we saw in the aspect of confronting religion is that he uh revealed the heart of dead religion the second thing that we saw is he illustrated the heart of dead religion and what we'll see today in part three of him confronting the religious leaders confronting religion as well

we will see him answer their questions because three different groups are going to come to jesus and ask him a question and we'll see him masterfully answer the questions that they have and again prove himself to be the son of god with power so there's three things three aspects of things that he will answer questions about he's going to answer questions about taxes he's going to answer questions about the resurrection and he's going to answer questions about the greatest commandment and so we start off with taxes then verse 15 of chapter 22 then the pharisees went together how they might trap him in what he said and they sent their disciples to him along with

the herodians saying teacher we know that you are truthful and that the truth of god and that you teach the way of god in truth and you defer to no one for you are not partial to any tell us then what do you think is it lawful to give a poll tax to caesar or not but jesus perceived their malice why are you testing me you hypocrites 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 they said to him caesar's then he said to him then render to caesar the things that are caesar's and to god the things that are god's and hearing this they were amazed and leaving him they went away so the first

question that they're going to present to him is going to come from the pharisees and they're going to come from really two different groups of people but essentially it's going to come from one the pharisees have a question that they have for jesus but i want you to notice how matthew puts this question he says the pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him in what he said they wanted to ensnare him they wanted to find some way that they could accuse jesus because they knew that if they didn't come up with something to accuse him either before the roman government or before the jewish people that he would continue more of their disciples away from them and continue to threaten their religious power that

they had over the nation so they come up with a question and of course the question that they decided to ask jesus about was about taxes because if there's anything that's going to cause controversy among the people for the last 6 000 years it's taxes and so that's exactly what they decide to talk to him about so when they come to him they actually come to him with two different groups of people and i think it's important to point out who these two groups of people are it says in verse 16 that they sent their disciples to him meaning disciples of the pharisees along with a second group of people known as the herodians now the pharisees as we have described

before are what we would refer to as the religious conservatives they held the word of god in very high regard they took the word of god very literally and they were also incredibly conservative in their understanding of politics of the day they were like a lot of us except the problem that they had is that they of course took the law in a very legalistic sort of way and completely missed the point of it all that to say that if you really want to challenge someone who is a conservative you bring up a question about taxes right because the same debate that was amongst the political and religious conservatives of jesus day about taxes inflamed the conservatives in jesus's day about taxes inflames the same conservative people today

i would venture to say that of all of the people sitting in here almost every one of you has at some point in time complained about your need to pay taxes now probably probably you haven't done that because you're really good christians who respect your government and respect your governing authorities and you would never find yourself questioning anything that they do along those lines but maybe it slipped out a couple of times and so they think we have a really good question for jesus and so these pharisees these religious conservatives come with a lot of money and they're they came with a group of people known as the herodians of course at its root you find the word

herod meaning that these people were not only sympathetic to herod the one whom the romans had put in charge of the land of israel but they were actually quite supportive of herod that would make them enemies of the pharisees because remember the pharisees found themselves in a place where they absolutely hated roman rule whereas the herodians supported the roman rule they if you will came together for the purpose of hating jesus these people that normally would have hated each other came together for the one express purpose of the fact that they absolutely hated jesus now i think that there's something here for us to pay attention to because in our culture christians who truly stand up for

what the word of god has to say who stand on the truth of the word of god are going to find that we continue to be the one that multiple groups will come together against to hate because you know that there's conservative people out there but they still aren't christians and you know that there's liberal people out there that definitely aren't christians and they would be willing to come together for one thing and one thing only and that's if there was one particular group who stood against certain things that both of them agreed with we're finding this to be more and more the case in the culture that we live in i referenced a book on a wednesday night here a few

weeks ago and i purchased it and have started reading it and it's called being the bad guys and the entire book is talking about the fact that christians who at one point in time were the standard that a lot of people look to for things like good and love and kindness and even charity have now become those who the entire world is opposed to not because we don't still stand for those things but because we also stand for things like morality and traditional marriage and traditional views about transgenderism views about what the bible says about who men and women are and because of that we're now being labeled hate groups and those kinds of statements are being labeled hate speech if you will multiple

people are coming together against the truth of god in the same way they did in jesus's day and we're now becoming the bad guys but that doesn't mean we should stop doing what we're doing in love it just simply means that the enemies will become greater that's what's going on with jesus here and so these two enemies come together with one common foe and that's jesus and they come to ask him a question but i'd like for you to take note of how they started off their question teacher middle of verse 16 we know that you're truthful and that you teach the way of god and truth and you defer to no one and you're not partial to any they come to him in a complimentary sort of way but i would propose to you that they come to him with what i would refer

to as insincere flattery they come to him in a way where they are appealing to if there is a fleshly of jesus because they hope to soften what they're about to say by flattering him with who he is now may i say the things that they've said of jesus are absolutely true it's just that the mouths that spoke the words were insincere in what they spoke but i believe that there is a little bit of a warning that we could pull out of this for each and every one of us and that's that we should be aware of the flattery of people matter of fact it says somewhere in the proverbs the exact same thing that you should be aware of flattering words because oftentimes you're going to find that when people say the nicest things to you it's because they want the most

from you let me give you a little bit of an example i have two daughters i don't think i need to say too much else besides that but i can always tell when they want something from me because they begin to talk really really nice to me and they begin to tell me what an amazing human being a great dad that i am my oldest daughter went so far one time as to say dad your hair looks really really good today at that point in time i knew that whatever came next i was not going to be in agreement with but she was doing everything that she could to find a way to flatter me with her words so that she could butter me up to hopefully earn my favor and get me on her side well unfortunately many who at one point in time maybe stood for the truth of god have found

themselves giving in to flattering words and as those flattering words are spoken they find that what comes next is some form of compromise some sort of soft peddling of the truth something that they would normally have not done because simply they found themselves in the good graces of an individual who now asked them to do the same thing and they did it and they did it and they do something that was compromising and we must beware of flattering words and what might go along with it and so that's what they do with jesus they start off to try to butter him up and then they come to him with what they feel like is the whammo sort of question tell us then what do you think

is it lawful to give a poll tax to caesar or not they ask him what can be construed as a yes or no question where there's going to be no good answer let me give you another example of a question kind of like this fellas if i were to come to you and say have you stopped beating your wife yes or no there's no good answer to that question right because if you answer yes it meant that at one point in time you were beating your wife if you answer no then we're going to go to fists because you're still beating your wife there's no good way out of that question is there that's what they feel like they've done with jesus here they've brought him to a place where there's no good answer because on one side you have the roman

government and if jesus says it's not lawful to pay taxes to the roman government then it means that at this point in time jesus will be referred to as an insurrection and he will be put on trial by the roman government for an insurrection however if jesus tells them yes you should pay the poll tax and he's going to make himself very unpopular with the jewish people who much like us absolutely hated taxes now jesus has a decision that he's going to make so they look at him they ask the question the life of jesus is not lawful to pay taxes to the roman government and he's going to take note of how jesus responds but jesus perceived their malice and he said why are you

testing me you hypocrites i love the way that jesus responds to him because he responds to them in the exact way that he should respond to them by boldly calling them out for their sin by boldly calling them out for their hypocrisy we had a great discussion yesterday morning in men's breakfast and we had a great discussion yesterday morning in men's breakfast and we had a we were talking about the right way to handle some of the things that are going on in culture today how do you address some of these things what's the proper way to handle it and as we were talking we determined that doing so in love is the correct way to do it and one of the guys said so you're telling me i shouldn't tell a school board leader who is about to do something

heinous as far as a decision with kids goes i shouldn't tell him that he's corrupting the morals of the next generation you're saying maybe i shouldn't tell him that i said i don't even know that i would go that far as to say you can't say something like that because jesus does something really similar here as a matter of fact if we look back and when we look forward into what jesus is going to do he's going to refer to the religious leaders of the day not only as hypocrites but as whitewashed tombs as those who would deceive their brothers he's going to refer to them in very harsh sort of ways but we have to remember what was the tone that jesus would have used in doing this was it because he wanted to prove himself right no was it because

he wanted to prove his point no it's because he wanted to see repentance on the part of the church of the religious leaders and you know how i know that because we read in the book of acts that many of these religious leaders found themselves following the gospel the most noteworthy of course is a guy named saul who we all know as paul i believe that when jesus does this he does so with a desire not to prove himself right and them wrong he's doing it with a desire to reveal their sin so that he can come to a place of repentance and brothers and sisters we live in a culture where we need to be willing to tell the truth where we need to be willing to tell the truth and we need to be willing to tell the truth

we need to be willing to stand on what the truth of god's word has to say but as we stand on the truth of what god's word has to say it always has to be with the heart to see people come to repentance not simply to prove our point because if all i do is prove my point then that's all i've done but if i speak the truth with a desire for repentance then maybe just maybe god's holy spirit will take that truth and work on the heart of that individual or on the heart of that school board and bring about a true heart of repentance and so he looks at him and says why are you testing me you hypocrites and then he says show me the coin used for the poll tax now before we get into this let's talk just a little bit about

taxes of the day there's a couple of quotes that i'd like to read for you both of them came out of david guzik's commentaries but both are from different individuals the first one is from william barkley it says barkley claims there are three there were three regular taxes that the romans required there was the ground tax which was the tax that the romans required and there was the was a 10% tax on grain and production, a 20% tax on oil and wine. And then there was an income tax, which was 1% of a man's income. That's one I can get behind. There was a poll tax paid by every man from the age of 14 to 65 years and of every woman from the age of 12 to 65. This tax was a denarius

per year. Now for a little more color on this, I want to read a quote from D.A. Carson. It says, paying the poll tax was the most obvious sign of submission to Rome. Zealots claimed the poll tax was a God dishonoring badge of slavery to the pagans. Jesus has found himself in a precarious position right now. And so he looks at these Pharisees and he says, show me a coin and tell

me whose inscription and whose likeness is on it. So that's just a complete aside that has nothing to do with anything else that I'm going to talk about. He says, why don't you show me a coin? And so they pulled out the denarius, they pulled out a coin and he looked at it and he said, whose likeness is on that coin and whose inscription is it? And of course they answered logically with what was on it. They said, Caesar's because

much like today, Caesar was on the coin of the day. For us, it's not Caesar. It's a bunch of dead presidents, but still the leader is who was on the coin. And then Jesus responds in this masterful way. He says, therefore then, render to Caesar that which is Caesar's, but render to God that which is God's. You see, he looked at that coin and he said, that coin, which by the way,

is very temporary in nature and has the picture of Caesar on it. He said, why don't you give that which is temporary to the temporary king? And this brings up a really good point for us because we are reminded that scripture has much to say about the way that we respect our government and the way that we act towards our government. We are told that all authority is given by God. We are told that we are to respect the governing authorities. We're told

that we are to obey the governing authorities. We are told that we are to pray for the governing authorities. It feels like this particular time in culture is a good time to bring that up again because that's what scripture says. And this tax that they were to pay is no different. And so he says, render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, this coin, which is temporary, give it

back to a temporary government. And there's only one time that scripture seems to indicate to us that we can disobey what the governing authorities have to say. And that's when the governing authorities tell us to do something that is opposed to the government. And that's when the authority is opposed to God's word. Let me give you an example. In the book of Acts, the disciples

were arrested for preaching the gospel. And so after they were beaten, they were told, preach no longer in this name. And this is how Peter responded. Whether or not we obey you is between us and God, but we will not stop preaching in the name of God. And so at that point in time, disobeying the governing authority is okay because what the governing authority has told

you to do is opposed to the principles and the truth of what God's word has to say. It's opposed to a direct command of God. It would be like, I'm sure for some of you as employers that own businesses, if you were told you had to provide abortion services for somebody that worked for you, you would have to say, I can't do that. And I will disobey the governing authorities.

Same kind of thing. That's the only time when it's okay to do so. Other than that, we are to respect the governing authorities. And so he says, render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. But then second step, which kind of deals with the nation and the heart of the nation at that point in time, he says, but render to God that which belongs to God. What does he mean? Well, he's talking about

your life because your life has been made in the likeness of God. Everyone has been created in the image and the likeness of God and everything about you bears his inscription. Therefore honor God who is eternal with you, which is eternal. I think sometimes in the culture we're living in, especially now, we still can have this tendency to get way too focused on the temporary things. We fight way

too many temporary battles, forgetting that the world that we live in is very temporary. And the world that we're looking to is very eternal because all of the physical battles that we see going on right now actually have their heart, something very spiritual. And what Jesus is trying to say is, we're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. We're not going to

Jesus was facing as these religious leaders were coming to him with this question was not just a question about taxes. It was a question about the heart. And so he dealt with it on that very spiritual plane. And so, of course, as he tells them to do this, I want you to notice how the Pharisees respond. It says, and hearing this, they were amazed or awestruck. And leaving him,

they went away. Jesus had survived the first test, kept himself out of trouble, and hopefully brought a little bit of conviction to the hearts of the religious leaders. But there's going to be a second question that comes up, a question about the resurrection. We come to verse 23. On that day, some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned him,

asking, 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. Now there were seven brothers with us. The first married and died. And having no children left, left his wife to his brother. So also the second and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection,

therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her. But Jesus answered and said to them, you are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures, nor the power of God. In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, 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. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. Of course, the next group that comes to him are the Sadducees. And we're given a little bit of a commentary in that parenthetical statement that says that they don't believe in the resurrection,

of the dead. Again, the Sadducees are what we refer to as the religious liberals of the day. They didn't necessarily take God's word as literally as they could have, nor did they believe in anything miraculous. They didn't believe miracles took place. They didn't believe in the resurrection. They were, well, they were sad. You see, that's like my favorite cheesy biblical joke. It's just, well, it's in my top five. Anyway,

so this is how they feel about this. And so they now come to Jesus. It's almost like they stood back and watched the Pharisees. They couldn't handle him. That's okay. We can. In steps the Sadducees. They had this question for him. It's the most ridiculous question in the world, but most believe this was probably a talking point amongst the Sadducees as they mocked

the idea of the resurrection. And so what they do is they bring up this verse about what's known as the Leveret marriage right or law. It comes out of the book of Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses five through 10. If you want to mark, make a little mark in your mind, make a little mark in your mind. Your Bible, that that's where that came from. They actually do quote scripture on this. And they

said, Hey, Moses told us, he gave us this right. That said, if a man dies and has no children, his brother and next of kin will take the wife to carry on the name. Absolutely exactly what took place. As a matter of fact, if you read the book of Ruth, that's exactly what the book of Ruth is about is that Leveret marriage act or that, that right or that law. And so they said, so there were

seven brothers. This time there was only one. There were seven brothers and the oldest one took a wife. He marries her and then the brother dies, passes the wife down to the next, and then the next brother dies and on down to where all seven brothers die. Whose wife shall she be in the resurrection? Now, if I was Jesus, praise God, I'm not. If I was Jesus, you know what the first question I ask is,

has anyone investigated the woman? Because at some point in time, that feels a little bit sketchy, right? Like that's, you make it through three or four. That's one thing. Seven. I mean, that's starting to be a serial killer at that point in time, right? She's made it through seven guys. And so makes it all the way down through there. And, and now she comes

to the last one, but I'm not Jesus. Thank God. And so he didn't answer it that way. But in the Sadducees mind, this was the stumper of a question. You can picture nerdy high fives all around. We got them on this one, right? Because they think this is it. He can't answer this question. And so Jesus answers. And I love it because the first thing he does once again is he, he calls them out. He says,

you're mistaken. Not, not understanding what the scripture says and not understanding the power of God. Three statements he makes them. I think they're three very important statements as he answers them. The first thing he says is you're mistaken. Now this should tell us all something because if there's ever a question between which is right, me or the word of God,

I'm always going to have to go with the word of God. Because I will always be the one that's wrong in that argument. But too many people find themselves to be the authority on what God's word has to say. And if God's word doesn't agree with them, well, then God's word must be wrong. Have you ever heard people say that? Well, the Bible must be wrong there. I just want to be like, no, that's not the case. You're wrong there. Listen,

God's word corrects me all the time. It ticks me off. Okay. Like I hate when I'm reading through the Bible and I'm like, that's not the case. I'm like, that's not the case. I'm like, that's not what it used to say. Have you ever, you ever done that where you had something in mind about what God's word has? Well, that's not what it used to say. Well, huh. This must be a wrong translation.

No, I was wrong. And that's okay. It's okay to admit that. He says, you're mistaken. Funny thing is these are, these are experts in the law. These are the religious leaders of the day. And yet they found themselves mistaken. And then the second thing he says is you don't know the scriptures. You don't understand what the scripture has to say. You see, the old Testament had examples of

resurrection. It spoke of resurrection. I'm reminded of a, if I remember correctly at Psalm 18, it says, you will not allow your Holy one to see corruption, but you will reveal to him the path of life. The resurrection spoke of in the old Testament. Not only is the resurrection spoken of in the old Testament, but they don't understand scriptures because the resurrection is going to

look completely different. We'll talk about that in just a minute. But the third thing that they didn't understand, and I think that this is a big thing is he says, you don't know the scriptures. You don't know the scriptures. You don't know the scriptures. You don't know the scriptures. You don't know the power of God. You don't understand the power of God. See, the Sadducees had the same

issue that a lot of us had. Their God was very small, which is why they didn't believe in miracles, which is why they didn't believe in a resurrection. Because sometimes we struggle with having a really big God, because whether we want to admit it or not, we just think some things are a little bit too hard for God. I love my youngest daughter because she's just so honest. She's so

honest. She's so honest. She's so honest. She's so honest. She's so honest. She's so honest. She's so honest and real about everything that she says. We've been doing the Our Daily Bread devotions with our girls in the evenings. Not every night, like three or four nights a week. I'm not that holy. I try, but it is what it is. So three or four nights a week, we do the Our Daily Bread. And the one

a few days ago was on Jonah. So we read the little story about Jonah and we got done and I said, okay, girls, well, what do you think? And Nora goes, dad, that's a hard story. Do you really think there's a fish big enough to swallow a man? That's just really hard to believe. And I appreciated that. There was a time in my walk where I would have gotten really insecure about

that. What do you mean you don't believe it? You have to believe it. It says it right there in the Bible. I sense have somewhat matured in that way. At least I think so. To where I wasn't insecure about it. I was like, now, wait a second, Nora, what don't you believe? And she said, well, that's really hard to think that there's a fish that's big enough to swallow a guy.

Now, I don't know if y'all have ever thought about the story of Jonah, but it's almost like, yeah, she's kind of right. Like that's a pretty hard one to believe. I don't know how you've ever pictured that story, but the way I always picture that story, which if you don't know the story of Jonah, story of Jonah is this. Jonah was supposed to go preach the gospel to the people of Nineveh. And instead of going to Nineveh, he went literally the opposite

direction in a boat. The boat got in a really big storm. And finally Jonah was like, I'm the reason there's a storm. Throw me overboard. God prepared a big fish. The big fish swallowed Jonah and he stayed there until he repented. And then the fish vomited him out. See why that's a little hard for her to grasp, why that's a little hard for her to believe. I said, well, what's, what's hard to believe? She goes, well, it's hard to believe that story. And

you know, I always had the picture. Remember that Disney movie where the guy gets swallowed by the whale and he makes it inside the whale. Remember what he does? He lights a candle because somehow a candle and a match made it through him being swallowed by the whale. But we have a hard time believing Jonah, whatever. Anyway, so he lights the match and he's like, there's all kinds of

rooms. He's like in a big dome. He's like, finally, the whale is swallowed by the whale. The whale vomits him out because the smoke gets to the whale's nostrils or something like that. Like, that's how I used to always picture Jonah. Dude, this is a belly of a fish. Jonah's probably like, sorry. Right? Like that had to have been a really interesting situation for him to be in.

And I told her, I said, here's, here's what you need to know. First of all, Jesus confirmed this story for us. She said, he did? I'm like, yeah. Jesus referred to the story as if it was actual history. So we know from the new Testament that Jesus confirms the story. So, but the other thing you got to know, Nora, is this. Do you know what it says in Genesis chapter

one, verse one? She goes, uh, I said in the beginning, and then she quoted the rest of it with me. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I said, Nora, if you can believe Genesis chapter one, verse one, she said, I do. I said, then you shouldn't have a problem with anything else that the Bible says. Because if God is big enough to speak the world into existence,

then he is big enough to do anything else that you can do. You can imagine because everything else is under his power. How big is your God? Are you kind of like the Sadducees where you don't believe in those miracles anymore, where you don't really believe in a very big God anymore? He said, your problem is that you're mistaken because you don't know the scriptures and you don't understand the power of God. He then goes on to talk about the

fact that in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. In other words, the resurrection, is going to look completely different than what we look like right now. It's going to be a completely different situation. I have a very good friend who has mentioned to me before, he said, I just can't imagine heaven being as exciting as it's supposed to be without being able to hunt and fish there. Because I just love the outdoors. Listen, I can appreciate that. I was out mowing

a yard yesterday, believe it or not. And as I'm mowing this yard yesterday and inhaling 6,000 pounds of dust, all I can think, was I bet there's not going to be droughts in heaven. I bet there will only be green grass in heaven. Really cool green grass that stripes up perfect. Every time I mow, it will look like Wrigley Field and it's going to be the most amazing thing ever. And then I read this later that night

and I'm like, probably not going to be lawn mowers in heaven. Right? I mean, who knows? What's eternity going to be like? It's going to be different than what we know right now. Paul puts it like this. He says, how's the body resurrected in 1 Corinthians 15? He says, what you have to understand is there's when you put a seed into the ground, you don't expect it to grow up looking like a much bigger

seed. No, it dies in the ground and then turns into a tree. The resurrection, eternity is going to look way different than whatever you can think, than whatever you can understand. That's why scripture says, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor has even come into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. Because the resurrection is going to look way different than

that. But you know what? Continues to give me an incredible amount of hope. And my line of work is that there is a resurrection. Is that there is life beyond here. Because I couldn't do what I do. And I don't mean standing up here in front of you. I mean the other portion of my job that deals with death. I couldn't do what I do if I didn't believe that there was a

resurrection. If I couldn't offer people hope beyond this earth. After all, Paul said, if there's no resurrection, then we of all men are the most to be pitied. We may as well eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But there is something beyond here. There is something beyond this place. And it instills our heart with a hope, not only for me, but for all of the people that I have loved

that have gone before me. So he says, you have to understand it just looks completely different. But, verse 13, Verse 31, He goes, but if you really want me to answer this resurrection question, I'm going to do it with one quotation from the Old Testament. He actually quotes a statement when God is speaking with Moses, as Moses is being called into ministry there at the burning bush. Because when God shows

up to talk to Moses and tells him, hey, I've heard the cries of the people. I know what's going on. I've seen it. I'm going to act. Because I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. It's those first two words that are really, really important. I am. Because notice he doesn't say, I was the God of Jacob. That would indicate that Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob are dead, buried, and completely gone, never to be heard from again. But that's not the case. Because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are more alive today than they ever have been in history. He said, because I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Because he is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. Brothers and sisters, that hope is a firm foundation

for our souls in a time where I know that loss continues to be something, that a lot of people face. And so, as he answers this question about the resurrection, it says, when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. Of course, the Sadducees go away and the Pharisees have gone away. But then there's going to be one more question. One more question

that arises, and it has to do with the greatest commandment. It says, but when the Pharisees heard that Jesus, verse 34, had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said, 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. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. Now, for this third question, the Pharisees have once again gathered themselves going, man, we just can't stump this guy. And one guy rises from the ranks of the Pharisees. He's only simply given a

title, a lawyer. In other words, a man who is an expert in the law, a man who is an expert in understanding what God's law has to say, and probably one that many people would come to to interpret the law, especially when it came to, civil or judicial sort of cases. And he comes to Jesus with a question. I would venture to say that this is a question that was often debated amongst the lawyers of the day. One that they found

themselves discussing quite a bit. Which is the greatest of the commandments? Which one seems to encapsulate God's heart the most? Which is the one that if there's nothing else you can do, as long as you continue to keep this commandment, everything's going to be okay because this encapsulates everything that's been trying to, that God is trying to say in the commandments.

Which one's actually the greatest? And probably this debate had gone on for a very long time. And a lawyer rises from the ranks of the Pharisees and says, I have a question that I want to test him with. Now, I think that there's something very different about this question. And I think that there's something very different about this questioner. Because in each of the other cases,

each of the first two cases, Jesus responds first by rebuking them for their question. And then he says, I have a question that I want to test him with. And I think that this is a very different question. Jesus doesn't respond that way to this lawyer. As a matter of fact, if you were to look at Mark's account, you would find that Jesus actually compliments him at

the end. So I think this is a very different question that comes from the heart of a very different questioner. Because as we know, a sincere question, Jesus always loves to answer. And so this lawyer steps up and says, I have a question for you. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? You can picture the scene, right? They ask Jesus the question, and perhaps the lawyer folds his arms. Perhaps everybody else simply looks with a sly

grin, knowing that Jesus may or may not be able to answer this question. Because once he denigrates one of the other laws, they can have a reason to accuse him. And I think that Jesus had a little bit of a heartwarming smile on his face as he took a moment and began to answer. And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God, verse 37, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. Now, the first thing that

he says, the first great commandment is, you shall love the Lord your God. And that comes to us directly out of Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 5. I want you to write that down because it's really important. Because both of these quotes are very important. And I want you to write that down because it's really important. Because both of these quotes are very important. And I want you to write that

out. The two quotations that Jesus gives us are both out of the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 5 follows immediately what we would refer to as the great Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and the gospel of Mark adds, and all of your strength.

That's what he tells him is the greatest commandment. He said, this is the greatest and the foremost. Why does he tell them this? Well, he tells them this because if you go back to the book of Deuteronomy and you jump ahead one chapter to chapter 5, you find that what Moses does is he begins to rehearse the law for the people. He's telling them what God expects of them. And so he

goes back through all of the 10 commandments. He goes back and explains all of the 10 commandments to them again. And then as he moves into chapter 6, he starts talking about this greatest commandment. Moses doesn't refer to it as the greatest commandment, but it does seem to put in context everything that was just said in those 10 commandments. And Moses says,

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. Why? Because if my heart is completely given over to God in love, I am never going to put another God before him. I'm never going to put another God in his face and say, it's you, God, and this. Why?

Because I love God with all of my heart, and he is my only focus in life. If I love God with all of my heart, I'm never going to create a graven image. I'm never going to create some idol that not only do I share my attention and focus with, but I share my worship with. I'm not going to create that idol because my one focus is on God. If I love the Lord with all of my heart, then I'm going

to keep the Sabbath day because I'm going to find my absolute rest in him. Not by keeping one particular day of the week. But by finding every day that my rest is in Christ, that my rest is in God. And if I love God with all of my heart, then I'm never going to take his name in vain. I'm never going to bring his name down to the level of a swear word because I'm very angry that I just smashed my

finger. I'm never going to use his name frivolously, and I'm never going to use his name in a way that brings dishonor to him. Because while I've claimed it with my lips, I've denied it with my lifestyle. Why? I love God with all of my heart, with all of my soul, with all of my mind, and with all of my strength. I think it's a great reminder that that's all that God wants from us. Everything

else is going to take care of itself if I give him 100% of me. Because that's what God wants. 100% of my heart. He says that's the first and foremost commandment. But then Jesus goes, but you know what? There's a second one that looks a whole lot like it. The second one's sort of like it. And this is what it says. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. This one, of course, comes to us out of my favorite book,

Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 18. Kind of fun that the two commandments about love came to us out of the Old Testament, isn't it? It's kind of interesting that in the Old Testament, God actually gave us the exact same commandments that he's going to reinforce for us in the New Testament. Which is why when Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, he didn't mean new in category like it had never been said before. He

meant new in nature because it's now going to be empowered by the Holy Spirit as it's been exampled by their Savior. He says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Why? Because if I love my neighbor, then as I'm loving my neighbor, I'm always going to make sure that I'm not stealing from them. If I love my neighbor, I'm not going to lie to them. If I love my neighbor, I'm not

going to sleep with their wife. If I love my neighbor, I'm not going to sleep with their wife. If I love my neighbor, I'm not going to covet the things that they own. And if I'm truly loving my neighbor, which by the way, sometimes are my mom and dad, then I'm also going to obey my parents in everything that I do. That's why Jesus says, on these two commandments depend all of the law

and the prophets. Because they can all be summed up like that. They can all be summed up with those two commandments. And so ultimately, we should ask ourselves the question constantly, do I love my Savior? And do I love my neighbor? Do the things that I do reflect the fact that I say that I love my God and I love my neighbor? Now, again, if we were to look at Mark's account of this, it's kind

of interesting because the lawyer who has just questioned Jesus says, you're right. Because to love God and to love your neighbor is greater than all of the sacrifices and offerings. And then Jesus says something to the lawyer in that passage of scripture. He says, you are almost into the kingdom. You're almost there. It's pretty cool, right? Because this guy

gets it. This is why I say, I think this guy's question came from a much different heart than everybody else's. Because rather than rebuking him, Jesus actually commends him because he's on the right track. My question is this, what did Jesus mean you're almost in the kingdom? He's almost in the kingdom because he hasn't quite realized he can't do those things on

his own just yet. He hasn't quite realized that even though all of the commands can be summed up with those two things, love God and love your neighbor, I still fail in those two things. Because you see, there's only one way that I can enter the kingdom of God, and that's through the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ that washes away all of my past failures and the ways of loving God and loving my neighbor. The love of God that teaches

me what it looks like to love my neighbor and to love my God, the same blood that gives me the power to do so. When I taught this in first service, I was talking about the fact that sometimes that's just all that we want, but it's the thing that we fall so short of. I don't know about you, but ever since I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, that's all I want to do. I want to love him with all my heart, and I want to love all the people that are around me. And yet,

I find those two things to be the hardest thing in the world to do. So how can we ever come to a place where we are those people that love the way that God calls us to? Well, it requires us, first of all, coming with that distinct understanding that I don't have it in me. And then the second thing that it requires is for me to respond to the love that God has given me.

We're told in scripture, we're told in the book of 1 John that we love because he first loved us. That means that I cannot have any love to give both back to God or to my neighbor if I don't first receive that love from God. And the thing I continue to challenge people to do is ask God to show you just how much he loves you. Ask God to reveal the great love that he has for you. As a matter of fact, there's a prayer

in the book of Ephesians that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints the height and the depth and the width and the length that you might know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. That's a prayer that Paul prays for the Ephesian believers. And I think it's a prayer that we should be praying for each other and for ourselves, that God would reveal that to us. Because it will then give us what we need, not only to return love to him, but to show love to the people that are right here in this fellowship right now. That will give us what we need, not only to love him, but to love the people

that you come in contact with every day at your place of work. To not only love God, but to love your family. Not only to love God, but to love the most unlovable people that you can be around in your life. But it can only happen as God pours that love into us and sheds it abroad into our hearts. And so he answers that third question. But now we come to verse 41. And Jesus begins to ask

some questions of his own. And he comes to them with a little bit of a stumper. Now that he's silenced all of their mouths, look at what it says in verse 41. When the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. He said to them, 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 is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question. I love this because Jesus turns the tables on them. And Jesus does what he's so masterful at doing. And he asked a really good question. Now that they had stopped all of their talking, they were quiet enough to finally listen. And he looked at him and says,

I have a question for you. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? Now he knew that their answer would both be accurate and quick. Because they were looking for the Christ, the Messiah, the chosen one. He said, whose son is the Messiah? And of course they answered exactly like he thought they would. They said, David's. He's like, that's right. But here's my question. If the Messiah is David's son,

then how does David in the spirit call him Lord? Saying the Lord said to my Lord, meaning the Messiah, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies underneath your feet. If he's his son, then why does David call him Lord? Now we live in a very different culture than they did at that point in time. For a father to call his son Lord would have been absolutely unheard of because the generations were very much respected. And those of the younger

generations were under the authority of the older generations. And so a father would never call his son Lord. That would be not only unheard of, but it would be unheard of. And so the father would never call his son Lord. That would be unheard of. And so the father would never call his son Lord. But ridiculous at best. And so he says, so so why would that be the case? You see,

they didn't understand that while the Messiah would be of the line of David, because that's absolutely true, he would also be the very son of God. And Jesus was of the line of David. But he was also the very son of God. And they don't understand how that works because they don't know the scriptures and they don't know the power of God. And so as he lays this out to them, of course, they respond in the only way that they could.

can. And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question. Now, I believe that there's a little bit of a word in this for us as believers in Jesus Christ. Again, we talked about this a little bit yesterday in men's breakfast. When did we as the church stop asking hard questions? When did we start fearing the

questions of unbelievers and stop asking hard questions of unbelievers? You know, anytime somebody says, I want to talk to somebody about my faith, but I'm scared that they're going to ask me a question that I can't answer. And I said, well, just decide now they will. They'll probably ask you a question that you can't answer. The two best ways you can be prepared for that is number

one, be in the word. So you know what the word of God has to say for yourself. That way it's a library that's available in your mind that you can pull from, or better yet, that the Holy Spirit can pull from. And then the second thing is to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. Because remember how Jesus began his earthly ministry? He began his earthly ministry by being baptized. What happened

when he was baptized? He was baptized. He was baptized. He was baptized. He was baptized. He was baptized. The Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. That in his humanity, he would be empowered by the Spirit to do everything that God called for him to do. You want to be able to answer hard questions? Know the word, be empowered by the Holy Spirit. You'll have everything that you need

to answer the hardest questions out there. And if you don't, say, I'll get back with you and then get back with them. But here's the other thing that we need to start doing as believers in Jesus Christ. We need to start asking people some hard questions because believe it or not, you have hard questions for people to answer. How on earth would this entire earth have just arrived here with some big bang? Well, you

understand there was a big bang and then a bunch of particles broke into a million pieces. Well, where'd those particles come from? Well, they came from other particles. Where'd those particles come from? You know what they'll always end up saying? Uh, well, they were just there. Well, that's not a very good answer now, is it? So you start asking some hard questions. What are you going to do with

the fact that you're guilty of all of this sin? Well, only God can judge. That's right. And he will. What are you going to do when God judges you for your sin? I saw somebody post that on social media the other day again. Only one person can judge. And I really had to fight back saying, and he will, don't worry. Right? Because that's the case. What are you going to do when you stand before God? Well, I don't believe in God. That doesn't matter.

You don't have to believe in traffic for it to be real. What are you going to do? I want to share with you two stories that I found kind of interesting when it comes to asking these hard questions. First one comes from David Jeremiah. I think I've shared this before, but what the heck, let's share it again. Talked about getting on an airplane and they messed up his ticket. So he ended up in first

class. That never happens to me, by the way. I must not be good enough yet. Anyway, so he ended up in first class. He said, I sat next to somebody famous. He said, if I told you who they were, you'd know exactly who it was, but I agreed that I wouldn't. So we got into a discussion about religion because they knew I was a pastor or it came up that I was a pastor and they had questions for me. And so I

started asking questions of them. The question I asked of them was only one and I asked it over and over again. But what are you going to do with Jesus? And then they would justify themselves a little bit more. And then I would ask it again. But what are you going to do with Jesus? He said, finally, after they asked that question again, or after I asked that question again, they said, I don't know. He said, I gave them the gospel.

We got off the plane, parted ways. As far as I know, they haven't gotten saved. But that was all I knew to do is just keep asking that really hard question. What are you going to do with Jesus? Because eventually people are going to have to answer it, whether they want to or not. But the other story I want to share with you is this. There's a guy that was a part of a little

singing group called Stuart and Stuart. Their names were Larry and Kathy Stuart. That's why they were called Stuart and Stuart. And they would come sing up in Johnson County all the time. They'd come sing here every now and then to sing old 70s songs and stuff like that. And Larry Stuart was a pastor down in Oklahoma City, if I remember correctly. He said, I lived in a

really rough neighborhood, and I used to get into religious conversations with people all the time. But the way that I would get into these conversations is I would just simply ask them, what do you believe about God? He said, it was fascinating what people had to say. He said, I had one neighbor, kind of a crazy lady, and I asked her, so what do you believe about God?

He said, she started talking. By the time she was done, she was six different religions because she didn't know what she believed about God. He said, so then I said, well, can I tell you what I believe about God? And he told her what he believed about God, which is what the Bible says about God. She got saved. All because he started by asking a hard question. Brothers and sisters, Jesus was faced with very

hard questions. How did he respond to those questions? He knew the word of God, and he was empowered by the Holy Spirit. That's who you should be. But then Jesus didn't mind asking a hard question. We live in a world that is so desperately lost, I can't even believe it. I was talking to one of the police officers the other day, and he said, you would not believe the crisis that we

are in right now. The mental health crisis, the depression crisis. He said, because the entire world feels hopeless. He's not the first person I've talked to that said that exact same thing. And friends, the entire world feels hopeless right now, and they need somebody to start asking the hard questions. God wants you to be that somebody. You don't have to be a theologian. You just have to know Jesus. Spend time in the word and be empowered by the Holy

Spirit to start asking the hard questions. God wants you to be that somebody. You don't have to be asking some really hard questions, because who knows how God wants to use you. Amen? Let's all stand, and if you'd bow with me. Father, we praise you for your word. We praise you for your power. We praise you for your grace, for your patience, for your loving kindness,

for your goodness that you continue to show towards us. Lord, we praise you that you give us the ability to come to you and to love you. We praise you that you give us the ability to come to you and to love you. We praise you that you give us the ability to come before you, to know you, and to worship you, all because of the cross of Jesus. Lord, may that message resonate within our hearts.

May the truth of your love and the power of your nature resonate deeply within our hearts. And then may that message of who you are be the thing that exudes to the world that is around us. Fill us with your hope that we can be messengers of hope. Fill us with your love that we can be your instruments of love. Lord, continue to use only what your Holy Spirit wants to use from the word this morning.

Anything of me, make it go away. And Lord, may we find ourselves drawn near to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Father God, what an awesome day that's going to be, Lord, when we can stand before you, God, face to face and just sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord. God, we long for that day, Lord. And in the meantime, Lord, just give us the strength and courage, Lord, just to go out and to further your kingdom, Father. God, in a world that is hopeless, that is hurting and dying, Lord, we need hope. You are that hope,

Lord. Father God, I just pray that as we leave here today, Lord, I pray that you go with us and strengthen us and encourage us in you, Lord. We love you, Father. We thank you and we praise you. And all God's people said, amen. You guys have a wonderful week.