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Man, Luke chapter number 20, the Bible reads, And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders, and spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things, or who is he that gave thee this authority? Now, this chapter, pretty much from start to finish, is Jesus sort of sparring with these people verbally, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders. Throughout this chapter, he goes back and forth with them, and they keep trying to catch him and trip him up, and he always outsmarts them, he always gets the better of them, and then he ends the chapter in those last two verses by basically just directly preaching against them. After he's just kind of shown them to be fools or false teachers or wrong, then he just comes out in verse 46 and says, Beware of the scribes, you know, those exact people that have been challenging him throughout the chapter, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts, which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers, the same shall receive greater damnation. Even though these guys at various times throughout the chapter are sort of pretending to be righteous men and feigning themselves to just be people who want to know what the Bible says or just want to hear what Christ has to say, Jesus knew what they were really like. They're very wicked people, and at the end of the chapter he calls them out publicly and says, Look, these people shall receive greater damnation. They're wicked people. Beware of them. Watch out for them. And all throughout the Bible there's a warning of false religion, a warning of false prophets, false teachers. All throughout the Old Testament there are false prophets, even who would prophesy in the name of the Lord, but they would lie and say, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. And God constantly tells us in books like Jeremiah and Ezekiel that they were prophets, that he did not send, and they're claiming to be prophesying in the name of the Lord, but they're prophesying out of their own heart. And then in the New Testament we have all kinds of warnings about false teachers, Phygelus, Hermogenes, Hymenaeus, Alexander. Paul warns about them. John warns about them in his epistles. So there are false preachers that teach in the name of the Lord, even in the name of Jesus. Other false teachers of other religions, just Baal or whatever, the false god. And so there's a lot of false religion out there today, and it's no different today than it was back then. The devil is transformed into an angel of light, and the Bible says his ministers are transformed into the ministers of light. And so make no mistake that these men, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, they're bad people. They're false teachers, and they're part of a false religion. They claim to be worshipping the Lord, but they've corrupted the truth of the Lord, and that goes for both the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the two different main factions of their Jewish religion. So the first thing that happens in verse number two, it says that they spake unto him, saying, Tell us by what authority doest thou these things, or who is he that gave thee this authority? Now this is a question that Jesus could have easily answered, and in fact he answers this question elsewhere. Especially if you read in the book of John, this question sort of comes up a lot in the book of John, where he's constantly talking about, This is not my own doctrine, but it's what the Father which sent me gave unto me, and how he's teaching what the Father sent him to teach, and the Father is the one who gave him the authority. He goes on and on in the book of John about how God the Father sent him and gave him all this authority. But instead of answering this question, he just turns it around on them, and that is simply because the people who are asking the question are not sincere. And you can kind of tell sometimes when people ask you a question, are they really trying to learn? Or are they just trying to play games with you and mess with you? Now if somebody asks you a question and they're really trying to learn, then of course you just answer the question. But sometimes people just want to waste your time and play games, and that's where the Bible says avoid foolish questions. Avoid contentions. Avoid strivings about the law. They're unprofitable and vain. So we don't want to get sucked into arguments and playing games with people. And so because these people aren't even worth answering, he doesn't respect these people. He rebukes these people. He says unto them here, well, I will ask you one thing and answer me. So he says, well, let me ask you something. And elsewhere he says that if they answer him, then he'll answer their question in another account of this same story. If you can answer my question, I'll answer yours. And so he says the baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? Now this is a pretty simple question. John the Baptist is a preacher that had come on the scene, and pretty much everybody in the whole nation heard about him. His fame went throughout the whole land of Israel and even beyond Israel. His fame was huge. He baptized great multitudes. Everybody heard about him. Everybody knew about him. The question is, was this guy a prophet of God or not? Did God send him or not? Was he a false prophet or was he the real thing? That's what Jesus is asking. And they reasoned with themselves saying, well, if we shall say from heaven, then he'll say, why believe ye him not? You know, I mean, if this guy is a true prophet of God, you guys didn't listen to him. You didn't get baptized to him. You didn't respond to the preaching. Baptized by him, I should say. And then he says, but if we say of men, all the people will stone us, for they be persuaded that John was a prophet. So here's the thing. They don't believe in John the Baptist. So if they were to tell the truth, their answer would be, it was of men. John the Baptist is a false prophet, if they actually told the truth. But they're afraid to say that because they know that John the Baptist is pretty popular, and they don't want to get stoned by the people for blaspheming John the Baptist. So they answered that they couldn't tell whence it was. We don't know, which is a stupid answer because these guys are claiming to be experts. I mean, these are the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the leaders. And it's a pretty straightforward question. And Jesus makes them look pretty stupid here because they can't answer the most basic question here. And they're like, well, we don't know. He couldn't really tell whence it was. And this is the way false teachers are. They talk out of both sides of their mouth. They don't give you always a clear answer on what they believe. Verse 8, and Jesus said to them, neither tell I you, by what authority I do these things. So he pretty much just tells them, well, I don't have to tell you anything. You won't even answer the most basic question about John the Baptist. Well, then I'm not going to tell you by what authority I do these things. Then began he to speak to the people this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard and led it forth to husbandmen and went into a far country for a long time. Now, here's the thing about this. If you jump down to, we're going to read this parable. But if you jump down, it says in verse number 19, this is right at the end of the parable. And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him. And they feared the people, for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. Now, the reason I point this out is because I want you to understand that the events in this chapter are all connected. This isn't just switching from one story to another. But Jesus, confronted by these big name preachers and leaders of Judaism, he shuts them down. And then he begins to tell a parable. But what we need to understand is that the parable is what? Against them. Isn't that what it says in verse 19? So that'll help us understand the parable when we realize he's speaking against them. OK, so let's go through this parable. This is pretty similar to the parable last week. But if you remember last week, the parable had the man going into a far country. And that man was actually Jesus, after he rose from the dead, ascending to heaven, and then returning. This is a totally different parable, where this time, the man represents God the Father. And you'll see that in the parable. So it's pretty interesting. And you have to differentiate between these two parables. In chapter 19, the man who leaves and comes back is Christ leaves. And then he comes back at his second coming. This is a totally different parable, where the guy in the parable is God the Father. So it says in verse 9, then began he to speak to the people of this parable. A certain man, and this man represents God the Father, planted a vineyard, and let it forth the husbandman, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season, he sent a servant to the husbandman, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard. But the husbandman beat him, and sent him away empty. And again, he sent another servant. And they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again, he sent a third. And they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the Lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandman saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So all of these servants that were sent leading up to this, are the prophets that God kept sending to them. And the Jews would mistreat, beat, and imprison God's prophets. Last of all, he sends his son saying, they will reverence my son. When they see the son, they say, this is the heir. What does it mean to be an heir? It means this is the one who will inherit all things. He says, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. Now that's pretty interesting. They want to take the place of Christ. Christ is the heir. They want to take his place. Now here's what's interesting. We have two religions today. One of them is called Judaism. And one of them is called Christianity. What's the first part of the name of our religion? Christ. Because who do we worship? Christ. Who do we follow? Christ. Who's our savior? Christ. Who's our messiah? Jesus Christ. Christianity. What's their religion called? Judaism. So the religion is not named after their god or their savior. It's named after themselves. Why? Because they worship themselves. That's why. We worship Jesus. We reference Christ. We consider him the one who will inherit all things. But actually, the Jewish religion is a worship of the Jews. Why, it's called Judaism. And they said, well, we'll kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. If you actually talk to a lot of Jews to figure out what they believe, and when you talk to them about the messiah that's coming, when they describe to you the messiah, often they'll paint a perfect picture of the anti-Christ. I'll talk about this great warrior that's going to come. And he's going to defeat all the enemies of the Jews through warfare. And he's going to bring the whole world to a worship of Judaism. And that basically, he'll unite the world's religions. He'll put the Jews in power of the world. He's going to be believed on by all, accepted by all as the messiah. He's going to bring world peace. That's what a lot of them will describe. But what's interesting is that if you talk to a lot of Jews, a lot of different rabbis will tell you this. They'll say, well, we don't necessarily believe that the messiah is one person. But many of them will literally say this, that the Jews themselves will collectively be their own messiah. I mean, a lot of them believe that. That's one of the mainstream views. One of the mainstream views is, yeah, there's going to be a literal messiah. And then they go on to describe the anti-Christ, a guy who brings the whole world together and fights a big war and whatever. But then many of them will say, well, the Jews themselves will rise up and collectively be their own messiah. Isn't that kind of what it says here? Hey, let's seize on the inheritance ourselves. Let's kill Jesus, and let's be our own messiah. Let's take over ourselves. Pretty interesting. So then it says here that they want to seize upon the inheritance. Verse 15, so they cast him out of the vineyard. That's Jesus that they did that to. And killed him. What therefore shall the Lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid that that would happen. And then it says, and he beheld them, meaning he looked at them, and said, what is this then that is written? The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. What's he saying? Look, the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's God going to do? He's going to destroy them and give the vineyard unto others. In another gospel, it words it as, he'll miserably destroy those murderers. And he'll let out the vineyard unto others that will bring the fruits in their season. And then he says in Matthew 21, when he tells this parable, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So to sit there and say the Jews are still God's chosen people, that's still where God's blessing is on the Jews, is just deny scripture over and over again. Because God said, no, he's going to miserably destroy those murderers and give the vineyard to somebody else. And you know who that somebody else is? It's Christians. He took it away from the Jews, and he gave it to a new nation. And that new nation is not a physical nation, but a spiritual nation that in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God. And that's a group of people that believe in Jesus Christ. And they come from all nations, red, yellow, black, white. They come from Jew, Gentile. They come from the Greeks, from the barbarians. They come from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America. It's just all saved Christians that make up the people of God. We are the chosen people in the New Testament. We are the royal priesthood, the chosen generation. We're God's people. You say, well, they're still God's people, too. He didn't say, hey, I'm going to bring in some other workers of the vineyard, and they're going to work together. Is that what he said? No, he's going to get rid of them. It says in verse number 16, he shall come and destroy those husbandmen. Now, did God do that? Did God come and destroy those husbandmen? Absolutely. That's why in 70 AD, Jerusalem was burned, and the temple was destroyed. And then again, in 135 AD, the Romans evaded, and they destroyed the temple. That one stone was not left upon another of the temple, just as Christ says in Luke 21. And not only that, but they were scattered to the point where literally, after 135 AD, not even one Jew was left in Jerusalem. Not even one, because they made a law that said it's illegal for a Jew to set foot within Jerusalem. Just so that God's word might be fully fulfilled when he said, look, I'm going to scatter you abroad. He meant everybody. And when he said he's going to destroy that temple, he meant that not one stone's going to be left upon another. And he did it. It happened. And the Jews were scattered into all nations, where they remained for literally almost 2,000 years, right? For 1,800 some odd years, scattered. And by the way, everywhere that they were scattered, they were persecuted, hated, treated badly. Why, because God's blessing them? No, because they're under the curse of God for having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. They became fugitives and vagabonds like Cain himself for centuries. That's what actually happened. This is what the Bible teaches. And so we need to get rid of this idea that most of Christianity has that says, hey, you know, the Jews, they're still God's people. It's like now that they've created this state in the Middle East called Israel, it's like people just have this idea like, well, yeah. And people act like it's just been there all along. Like preachers are now saying like, well, you know, Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Jerusalem's always been the capital of Israel. Oh really, was it the capital of Israel in the 1300s? How about the 1400s? How about the 1500s? How about the 1600s? How about the 1700s? How about the 1800s? How about the 1900s? And in fact, even if you read the Bible, it wasn't always the capital of Israel because the capital of Israel was Tirzah. And then the capital of Israel was Samaria. And that's all after Jerusalem had been chosen by God. So, you know, people perish for lack of knowledge. You know, we need to actually read the Bible and not just follow a soundbite salesman on Fox News or whatever the TV preacher wants to tell us about Jerusalem and Israel and buy my book on the end times and the blood moon and the Jews and the haklem, you know. We need to just get in the Bible and see and it'll cut through all that deception when you actually study what the Bible teaches. Okay, and this is a great chapter that teaches that. But you know, isn't it funny? We kinda talked about this last week in chapter 19 and we kinda talked about it a couple weeks before that. Why? It keeps coming up. Because it's a theme of the New Testament, that's why. Okay, and boy, chapter 21, you say, why are you preaching against the Jews? Well, don't come back next Wednesday night because next Wednesday night, God's wrath is on the Jews even more. Because Luke 21, one of the most famous chapters in the New Testament, the Olivet Discourse, in Luke 21, Jerusalem's getting destroyed and the Jews have God's wrath on them. They're being wiped out. I mean, it just keeps coming. But I'm not the one who wrote the Bible. So, you know, oh, you're anti-Semitic. I'm just preaching what the Bible says. So call me whatever you want. So Luke chapter 20, the Bible says in verse 18, whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken. Who's the stone? The stone is Jesus. He's the cornerstone. Anybody who tries to attack Jesus or fight Jesus is gonna be broken. And on anybody whom that stone falls, it's gonna grind him to powder. What's it saying? Look, you better be on the right side of Jesus because if you fight Jesus, you get wiped out. And if Jesus decides to go after you, you get wiped out. And who is he preaching this against? Well, in verse 19, they figured it out. It's funny how today, Christians can't interpret the parable, but it's funny how the chief priest got it right away. He's talking about us, the elders. I mean, the Jews, they wanted to kill him because they knew how hard he was preaching against the Jews but then today people don't get it that he's preaching against the Jews. Unbelievable, isn't it? Verse 19, and the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him and they feared the people for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. So, you know, I've kind of misread this verse over the years. You know, sometimes you read the Bible and you just kind of blow through things. When you slow down on a Wednesday night Bible study like this, you notice things sometimes. He doesn't say, but they feared the people because that would be a little different, wouldn't it? Because if he said, hey, you know, they sought to lay hands on him, but they feared the people. That would mean like, hey, they wanted to arrest him, but they didn't do it because they feared the people. But it doesn't really say that. It says they sought to lay hands on him and they feared the people for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. So I think what he's actually saying there is that not only did they want to lay hands on him because they were mad about the parable, but they also feared the people because of the fact that he's preaching so hard against them, they're afraid that the people are gonna start attacking them. Think about that because it says, you know, we're laying hands, they're gonna lay hands on him because they realized that he preached against them and they also feared the people as a result. Why? Because they're afraid that the people are gonna start maybe calling them out as false teachers, maybe even get physical with them, or at least just stop listening to them, you know, expose them for what they are. So that's pretty interesting. Verse 20, and they watched him, the chief priests and scribes that is, they watched him and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him under the power and authority of the governor. Now look, I guarantee you, there's nothing new under the sun, I guarantee you the same thing's going on right now, where the enemy will send spies. Now, you say that would never happen in 2018, but it would happen in 2018. The enemy will send spies. And what are these spies gonna do? It says they're gonna feign themselves just men, so they're gonna pretend to be godly Christians, they're gonna pretend to be righteous people, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him under the power and authority of the governor. So they wanna get him to say something that's gonna get him arrested. Now this is sometimes known as what? An agen provocateur, right? Who's ever heard that term? I'm pardon my French, but anyway. You know, the provocateurs, and I remember various times throughout my ministry where I think I was probably faced with some of these provocateur types, where you'll get somebody who will show up at the church as a visitor and feign themselves to be a just man, and oh yeah, you know, they're a big time fundamental Baptist, Christian, whatever, and they'll show up and they'll start saying these really radical things about how, yeah, you know, let's go kill police, or let's go, you know, you're just like, whoa, buddy. But they're trying to provoke you to get on board with them about, yeah, we need to overthrow the government, we're gonna fight the police, we're gonna do this, you know, let's go do this, let's go break into this. And you're like, whoa, buddy, you know, we're not gonna do that stuff. But they're trying to get you to do that kind of stuff. There was a church in California a few years ago where there was actually a guy in the church, and this was a Baptist church, I believe it was Bakersfield, California, maybe Fresno, but it was somewhere in Central Valley. There was a guy in this Baptist church and he was always talking all this radical stuff like that, political stuff, trying to get people to fight against flesh and blood instead of, you know, fighting the spiritual fight, amen. But he would try to get people riled up to do that, and it turned out the guy was an FBI agent, they blew his cover. Somebody recognized him and figured it out. Of course, the mainstream media doesn't really cover the stuff I got, but it was in the local news, hey, this guy who was posing as a Baptist church member turns out he's an FBI agent. Now, what kind of a weird government do we have that would send in agents to try to radicalize people and put the ideas into their heads? They're not even talking about being violent or being radical or doing anything. This provocateur comes in and he starts putting those ideas in their head, and then if they say, yeah, let's do it, he's like, oh, you're under arrest. It's like an entrapment. Okay, and look, the government does this all the time. There's been evidence of this. Like, if you remember the World Trade Center, not 9-11, but do you remember the World Trade Center bombing before that, right? What was it, 1993, something like that? FBI agents are the ones making the bombs, talking to people, yeah, we're gonna do this, rallying people, getting them all into it, and then it's like, but then it went a little too far and they ended up blowing up some of the bombs or something, right? The story's not fresh in my mind. Sorry I'm not up to date on it. It wasn't part of my sermon tonight. But anyway, they basically were the ones who had the whole idea, put it in people's heads, and they got busted doing it, and then they entrap people, and then they, oh, you're under arrest. You know, it's sort of like the bait car that they put out at the mall, where they put a car in the mall, they leave valuables out, and then they just kind of watch, it's like a trap that they set, like a mousetrap with cheese in it. They basically put a purse with some money hanging out, and then they just watch, and then somebody breaks in, they're like, yeah, you're under arrest, you know. But it's even worse, because they're even like, it'd be like if they took the bait car and then had a cop that came up to you and said like, hey, man, you know, did you see this, let's go do this. Here's a hammer. And then he, oh, you're under arrest. So anyway, that's kind of what this reminded me of, these spies. And so you say, why are you telling us about this, Pastor Anderson? Because I guarantee you that a church like Faithful Word Baptist that's winning a lot of people to Christ, making big waves, you know, the gospel's being heard by just thousands of people on a weekly basis through our door-to-door soul winning, and our YouTube channel gets millions of views every year, tens of millions of views. You know, obviously, there are going to be times when the enemy sends people like this to us. Whether the government were to send them, or whether just the devil would send people that would try to get us to do something weird or say something weird. So just beware of people like this. It's a red flag when people start just coming up to you and talking all this crazy stuff and trying to put these ideas into your head. Often what you're dealing with is some undercover cop or FBI agent or whatever. And I know you're like, oh, you're some crazy conspiracy. They were busted doing it in Bakersfield. It's on the record that it's happened, okay. And even if the government doesn't do it, you know the devil's going to do it anyway. So beware of just these kind of radicalists that come in and want to get you violent and get you radicalized and stuff like that. Don't fall for it. So he says, you know, they're going to feign themselves just men that they might take hold of his words and their goal is to get him arrested, to get him in trouble with the governor, right? Verse 21, and they asked him saying, master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly. Now right away, flattery. This is the first thing you watch out for from bad people, whether it's an adulterous or an adulterer, whether it's some kind of a con artist, just wicked people in general, provocateurs, anybody. When people use flattery, it's a huge red flag. Now it makes sense to give people a compliment in certain situations, but sometimes the compliments are over the top. That's when you know it's flattery. Or people that you barely know. They don't even know anything about you and they're telling you how great that you are. And so beware anytime somebody flatters you. Don't be gullible. And I have seen this so many times over the years where false prophets suck people in just through flattery alone. And it's like you cannot convince them that the guy's a false prophet because he was so nice to them and he told them how great they were. And he, you know, they got up and preached a sermon in the preaching class, or they got up and preached a five minute devotional and he, oh man, that was the greatest sermon I've ever heard, you know. And then it's like, boom, that person's just on the hook. Don't fall for it. Beware of flattery. So they come up and they flatter him. We know that thou sayest and teacheth rightly. Neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teacheth the way of God truly. Now Jesus isn't gonna fall for this, but that's what they're trying to do. Get him off guard. And they asked him saying, master, verse 22, is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar or no? Verse 23, but he perceived their craftiness and said unto them, why tempt ye me? So he's like, come on guys, I'm not stupid. Why tempt ye me? Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's and unto God the things which be God's. And they could not take hold of his words before the people and they marveled at his answer and held their peace. So one of the things that these provocateurs are gonna try to get you on is taxes. There's nothing new under the sun. They'd love to come in and flatter you and get you to get involved in some kind of a tax protesting or some kind of a not paying taxes or whatever because of the fact that they wanna get you arrested. They want you to go get in Ken Hovind's old cell. You know what I mean? Where Ken Hovind's name is carved. That's where they want you to go next. Okay, so beware, just render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar and unto the gods. Look, and I'm all for paying as little as possible. Amen? I'm all for the write offs. But look, I'm just here to tell you and these radical provocateurs, they tell us we're wrong. But honestly, our church, when it comes to IRS, crosses every T and dots every I. Because you know that they would love to go after us. We pay the tax, our employees, I mean, the taxes are deducted and we take out the FICA and the federal and we send it in and we pay. Our church pays taxes every month. You sit there and say, oh, you know, a bunch of churches are tax free. Isn't that a liberal talking point? Yeah, they're tax free. Yeah, I wish. We're all paying. Yeah, it must be nice being a pastor, tax free. I'm paying taxes. I pay, as pastor, I pay double the FICA tax because I pay 15.3% self-employment tax. Whereas the employee, like yourself, pays 7.65%. I'm paying the full 15.3%. Our employees, they're paying 7.65%. The church is paying the other 7.65% and we pay, oh, you know, you guys are, you're sold out to the government. No, we just don't care. You know what, they can take that money and take it to Hades with them for all I care, right? Like, is it worth fighting over that money and going to prison? No, you know, we need to choose our battles, folks. And Jesus Christ didn't think it was worth it. And he explains elsewhere in another passage that they shouldn't have to pay the tribute to Caesar. Jesus was philosophically and ideologically against this tax. But he basically said, hey, if Alexander Hamilton's on that $10 bill, the guy who tried so hard to get a central bank, the guy who was totally in bed with all the banksters and corrupt Jew bankers of his day, you know, let's just render it to the Federal Reserve where it came from. They printed it, give it back to them. And you know what, they can't take it to hell with them. And we can't take it to heaven with us. So, you know, we need to not get sucked in by these type of provocateurs and get into the wrong battle. You know, let's just pay the tax and just go on with our lives and preach the gospel and fight the spiritual battle. And it doesn't mean that we are statist or that we love the government and we love high taxes and big government. It just means that even though we're philosophically opposed to the high taxes, we pay them to stay out of prison. The same reason why Jesus paid them. Just let's not offend them, he said elsewhere. So render it to Caesar and render unto God the things that be God's. And they couldn't catch him up. They couldn't trip him up. And we need to make sure that they don't trip us up either, amen. Verse 27, then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection. So, I mean, they're just trying to get him again and again. And they asked him saying, master Moses wrote unto us, if any man's brother die having a wife and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren and the first took a wife and died without children. And the second took her to wife and he died childless. And the third took her and then like man of the seven also. And they left no children and died. Last of all, the woman died also. Let me just stop right there and say, these kind of stupid hypotheticals are what people always wanna bring up. Just these really radical stories that could never happen. Well, what about this situation? Well, what about this? And often you tell them like, hey, the exception proves the rule when they're bringing up these really radical scenarios. And I'm talking about in other areas. So just another red flag, when somebody comes up to you with a hypothetical, a lot of times it ends up being a dumb question. It ends up being something silly. So they come up with this hypothetical. And they think they're so smart. Like we've got him now. Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife of them is she? For seven had it a wife. What's he gonna say to this? Like they think they really got him now. And Jesus answering said to them, the children of this world marry and are given in marriage. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die anymore for they're equal unto the angels and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection. So he just says, well, you're just wrong. You don't know the Bible. You don't understand the power of God. You don't realize that in the resurrection, nobody's married. They don't marry, they're not given in marriage. They're as the angels in heaven. So when we get to heaven, we're not gonna be married anymore. That's why we say till death do us part. Cause guess what? It's over at that point. Now the Mormons believe, this is a great scripture to debunk Mormonism because Mormonism heavily rests on this doctrine that you're gonna be married forever. That marriage never ends is eternal. And they get married in the temple and they're sealed to one another. And in fact, even in their tracks, when we go on the Indian reservation that we find the Mormon tracks on the door, they talk about how like, did you know that you could spend eternity with your family? Does death end marriage? And some people are kind of like, you mean it's never gonna end? Some people that's bad news. That could either be good news or bad news, right? Now I remember I talked to this one lady, I'm giving her the gospel and somehow the subject of marriage came up and I was talking about marriage and divorce and how we shouldn't get divorced, everything like that. And I said, hey, it's till death, do us part. And she said, well, I'm Mormon. And for us it's eternal, so that's even worse. And I'm thinking to myself like, worse? Why is it bad that it's till death? Don't you love your husband? Don't you love your wife? I mean, so look, of course we love our wife, we love our husband, but it's gonna end folks. It will come to an end. Now, don't go home and cry, I don't wanna be together forever. Are you ever gonna see me at all in the millennium? You're gonna look me up? Obviously, you know, obviously like the way that we feel right now, it's, you know, forever, right? But obviously we don't really know what it's gonna be like when we get to heaven and we've been resurrected and we're in the millennium and everything like that. You know, I'm sure we're gonna be happy being single at that time, you know. You know, right now we don't wanna be single, but I think we're gonna be happy being, whatever God has for us, I'm sure it's better than what we have right now. It's not like, well, sorry, there's one catch to heaven. You know, you're single forever, you're single for eternity. You know, so obviously when we get there, we're gonna be happy to be in that situation. So, you know, it sounds really romantic and all, how we're just gonna be married in heaven and married throughout eternity, but alas, it's not true. The Bible says no. Now what can we learn from that? You know, I mean, marriage is a super important relationship and I'm all for putting a lot of work into your marriage and effort into your marriage. And I think marriage is the most important human relationship that we have, but I think that the takeaway from this is that there's one relationship that's more important. And that's our relationship with the Lord. And so we need to understand that is important and I'm not downgrading marriage. You know, marriage is super important, but there's one thing that supersedes that and that's our walk with the Lord. So that's what's gonna last forever. So the Bible says here in verse number 37, because first he answers their question and kind of shows their ignorance on that point, but then now he's gonna up the ante and really shut them down on this whole there's no resurrection doctrine, okay? He says, now that the dead are raised, verse 37, even Moses showed at the bush. So he's saying you can figure out the resurrection even just from Genesis through Deuteronomy, even just from the books of Moses, even just from the Pentateuch. Now the Jews today still in many cases, many denominations of the Jews will deny the resurrection as the Sadducees did. Now, most of them seem to confess some kind of a resurrection, but some of them don't. Now the Sadducees were the ones who denied, that's why they're sad, you see, because they denied the resurrection. They thought when you die, that's it. Okay, so basically the Sadducees had this doctrine and he shuts them down saying, well, even Moses showed at the bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, for he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him. So what he's saying is that if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead, then it wouldn't make any sense to say, well, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you're the God of a bunch of dead people. He's not the God of the dead, but of the living, that's what the Bible says, okay. Now what does that tell you? That means that when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had physically died, they're still alive. That's why Jesus said what? Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad. Now that's important. Abraham saw Christ's day. You know what that means? He wasn't in a jail cell in the center of the earth called Abraham's bosom. Okay, he was in heaven and he saw Christ's day and was glad. So if you think about it, when Jesus died on the cross and his body was buried, where did his soul go? Did his soul go to heaven or did his soul go to hell? Well, here's the thing. If his soul went to heaven, or even if his soul went anywhere that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were, then he was alive. Because Abraham's alive, Isaac's alive, even though they're physically dead, they were still alive. Because God's the God of the living. Jesus Christ said I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus Christ was dead for three days and three nights. He was dead. He was not alive, he was dead. Not just his physical body either because his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption, Acts 2.31. So he was, and hell is known as the place of the dead. It's known as death. The Bible says in Ezekiel 31, they're all delivered unto death unto the nether parts of the earth. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. So the people who were in hell, even though they're in conscious torment, they are classified as being dead. That's why when they come up out of hell in Revelation 20, he says I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were opened. So the dead, small and great, stand before God. Where did they come from? They came from hell and they're still dead. They're not alive, they're dead. The people in heaven are alive. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, everybody else who's in heaven. The people in hell are considered dead. Jesus was dead for three days and three nights. Then he came back to life, he rose again from the dead and he ever liveth to make intercession for us and he shall never die again. So that's another important point here about death versus life, okay. And not only that, but the lake of fire, which no one's in the lake of fire yet because the lake of fire is the new location of hell after the great white throne judgment, okay. Right now, hell is located in the lower parts of the earth. It's located in the center of the earth. That place is known as death or hell and it is a place of fire. It is known as the bottomless pit which makes sense because if it's in the center of the earth it makes sense that it'd be called a bottomless pit since that's the middle. So there's nowhere to go, there's nowhere to fall to beyond that, you know. So it's a bottomless pit. It's a place of fire, brimstone, darkness and it's in the heart of the earth. That's hell. Down into hell, the Bible tells us. Lower parts of the earth, hell. In the heart of the earth, in the core of the earth. That's where hell is. But after the great white throne of judgment, death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And the lake of fire is located in outer darkness. Whereas hell, you couldn't call it outer darkness if it's in the center of the earth, right. That's why the Bible says death and hell were cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Now, some people claim that the act of death and hell being cast in the lake of fire is the second death. But they're wrong. The place itself is called the second death because Revelation 21 eight says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So it's the lake of fire itself that is the second death. What's the first death? Hell, the place right now. So there's death number one and death number two. Hell and the lake of fire. And also the lake of fire is also called hell in the Bible simply because of the fact that it's the final location of hell. So let me jump back in and finish the chapter quickly. It says here that God's not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him. Then certain of the scribes answered saying, master, thou is well said. And after that, they durst not ask him any question at all. So they're still kind of playing the part of pretending to be righteous but they don't have any more questions because he stumped them. And they dared not. Durst is a past tense of dared because they're just afraid they're just going to look stupid. They've looked stupid how many times so far in this chapter? About three or four times. They don't want to look stupid a fifth time. So then it says that he said unto them, so they're afraid to ask him anymore because they don't want to look dumb. So he's like, hey, I got a question for you guys. He's just like, boom, boom. I mean, he just keeps us taking them to task, right? He says, hey, so how say they that Christ is David's son? And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore calleth him Lord. How is he then his son? Now that's a pretty good question. What do we learn from this? We learn that Mary is not the mother of God. You see, when the Bible says here that David calls him Lord so he's not really his son, what that's teaching is that Jesus Christ actually was before David. That's why John the Baptist said, he that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me. Why? Even though John the Baptist was three months older than Jesus, even though John the Baptist started his ministry months before Jesus did, he said, no, Jesus was before me. Why? Because Jesus was in the beginning with God and he was God. Okay, so therefore David was not in the beginning with God. So even though Jesus is physically the son of David, would it make sense to say, David is the father of God. Hail David, father of God. Pray for us. Well, you know what? It also makes just as little sense to say, Hail Mary, mother of God, pray for us. That makes no sense. Why? Because even though Mary was the physical mother of Jesus, okay, guess what? God was already around before Mary. Jesus himself, who is God, was around before Mary. And so even though she gave birth to Christ, that does not make her the mother. Because people use this stupid logic. This is how their Catholic logic works. The same logic that tells them that bowing down to a carved statue is not worshiping it, right? We're just venerating it, okay? Here's how their Catholic logic works. Well, Jesus is God, and Mary's the mother of Jesus, therefore Mary's the mother of God. Look, that is stupid logic. Bad, bad, bad logic. It's like, no, wrong. Because Jesus being the son of Mary is just he's physically born of Mary, then yeah, he's the son of Mary in that sense, right? But how can you then just say, oh, Mary's the mother of God? You know what that implies is that Mary was before God or above God on the totem poles of the mountain. And that's what Jesus is saying. Well, if Christ is the son of David, why is David calling him Lord? How is he then his son? Because he's physically his son. But he's not his son in a spiritual sense, okay? So saying that Mary is the mother of God would go against the spirit of this scripture. And by the way, when somebody tried to worship Mary in the Bible, Jesus shut it down right away. This woman came up to him in Luke earlier and said, blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou has sucked. That was the original hail Mary. Now they've changed the words a little bit. Hail the paps that Jesus sucked. It just doesn't have the same ring to it. But you know, the original hail Mary was like, blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou has sucked. And Jesus said, yea rather. He immediately corrected it and said, no. You know who's more blessed, who is rather blessed is he that hears the word of God and does it. And when Jesus' mother Mary tried to interrupt him when he's preaching one time, they said, oh, your mother standeth without desiring to speak with thee. He said, well, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of the father in heaven, the same as my mother and sister and brother. Notice he didn't say the same as my father. Why? Because God the father is spiritually his father in every sense of the word. Because he is in subjection to the father. But he's not subjection to the mother Mary. That's a false doctrine. And you know, the Catholics literally worship Mary and give her divine status. They believe that she never sinned. And you know what the Bible says, there's none good but one and that's God. And that includes Mary. She was a sinner. There's none good but one and that's God. That's what Jesus said. And not only that, but they teach that she ascended to heaven. There's a new teaching that was made by the pope in the 20th century. He spoke ex cathedra and said, there's revealed to him how Mary ascended to heaven. She never died a physical death. She ascended to heaven. Not in the Bible. And so that's a great scripture on that. Let me just finish on this last point. Beware of the scribes, verse 46, which love, they desire to walk in long robes. Now let me ask you something. Why would Jesus consistently preach against religious leaders who wore long robes and long clothing if he himself wore long clothing? Can you explain that to me? But yet every Sunday school material, every painting shows Jesus with long hair, even though the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair. And then they show him with what? Long clothing. They show him with a robe that goes all the way down. He said, well, you know, in Revelation one, he's clothed with a garment down the foot. Here's the thing. In Revelation one, he's glorified. He's totally glorified, glowing white, glowing like the sun. When John saw him, he fell at his feet and is dead. That's the only time Jesus ever was wearing a robe and a garment that went all the way down to the foot was when he's enthroned as king. And he's in Revelation chapter one, glorified. But while he walked this earth, he never wore a robe. Well, Jesus wore a robe. Never. The only time you'll find Jesus in a robe is when they're beating him up and spitting in his face, they put him in a purple robe and said, hail king of the Jews and made fun of him. Jesus walked on this earth in humble clothing. Humble clothing like everybody else wore. He wore sandals and humble garments. He did not go around dressed like a king in long robes and long clothing. And he commands against going in long clothing. He says, beware of the scribes that go in the law. Beware of the scribes that love to be called rabbi and they love the greetings in the market. They love the long robes. This is not the only verse. There are three different scriptures where he rebukes the long robes and the long clothing. And you know what? That's why I don't wear long clothing. And when you see today a preacher wearing long clothing, that's a sign of a false teacher. I'm talking about the Catholics today. Might as well kick that dog one more time. What do they do? You say, oh, you don't love Catholics. Oh, really? Because I spent day one and day two of 2018 witnessing to Catholics all day down on the Tohono O'odham reservation. How many Catholics have you been given the gospel to lately? So it's not that we don't love Catholics, it's that we don't love Catholicism. It's that we want to win them to Christ and get them out of that pagan false religion of worshiping their mother goddess, Mary. What do they wear? Long clothing. What do the Orthodox priests wear? Long clothing. What's the Jewish rabbi wear? Long clothing. Well, don't judge them by his clothes. Well, Jesus told us to judge them by their clothes. He says, hey, beware of the scribes that wear the long clothing. That's the one you gotta watch out for. You know, and we could say, hey, beware of the one that has his collar turned around backwards. Beware of the one that goes in the long clothing. Beware of the one that wears the Armani suit. Right? I mean, that would be the updated version. So, you know, the Jews, the Orthodox, the Catholics, other, you know, when they wear these long, flowing robes and everything. What's that? The Muslims. Yeah, beware of the imam. He goes in the long clothes. You know what? There's nothing new under the sun. It was wrong then, it's wrong now. That's why when I wear a coat, it stops right about here. On Sunday morning, I got my coat on, it stops like right here. And even when I put on my big, long wool coat, it stops right around my knee right here. I don't wear some long, flowing garment all the way down, right? I dress like a normal, working person. Not like I'm the king of England or something in some like red robe with like a white furry collar with black dots on it, right? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter in your word, Lord, and so many great things we can learn from it. Lord, you really took those people to task, and so we praise you and give you honor for your perfect wisdom and perfect answers to all challenges. Lord, please give us some of that wisdom, Lord, as we read your word. Help us to know how to give an answer to every man that asketh us, Lord. And help us to grow in wisdom and knowledge in this coming year, and to study to show ourselves and to prove, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.