Refuting Satan’s Logic
Matthew 22:23-33
July 15, 2012
As you know we are smack in the middle of Jesus’ passion week.
• Monday He entered the city
• Tuesday He cleared the temple
• Now on Wednesday He has returned to assume His rightful role as teacher in God’s temple.
However, this teaching has been met with much opposition.
• The chief priests and the elders first questioned His authority, and Jesus rebuked them with three parables.
• The disciples of the Pharisees then sought to trap Him by asking Him if it was lawful to give taxes to Caesar and Jesus escaped their snare.
But as we learned last week, Satan doesn’t give up easily.
As we learned in the text about Job, Satan checked him, his house,
And all that he had on every side.
Satan is thorough, looking for an opportunity to deceive and destroy.
And so certainly he has more up his sleeve
Than simply to try and trap Jesus with bait.
Last week we talked about spotting Satan’s snares,
This morning we learn about “Refuting Satan’s Logic”
In case you didn’t know, Satan is a very logical enemy.
His logic even has a name, it is called “The Wisdom of this World”
James said:
James 3:14-15 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”
Worldly wisdom is Satan’s wisdom.
If you have ever been fortunate enough to have been confronted with it,
You know how frustrating it can be.
We in the church are continually confronted with Satan’s wisdom.
Let me give you some examples of Satan’s logic that the world is buying
Hook line and sinker.
EVOLUTION – “From goo to you, by way of the zoo”
Satan actually tells people they came from monkeys and they believe it, they even fight for it.
JUDGMENT – Satan gets people to believe it isn’t real, we’ve all heard the logical argument, “A loving God wouldn’t send anybody to hell.”
EXCLUSIVITY OF JESUS – Satan spreads his logic that Jesus can’t be the only way to get to heaven. He talks about the many roads that all lead up the same mountain.
AUTHORITY AND RELEVANCE OF SCRIPTURE – I even recently had a preacher tell me he didn’t think the bible was true and that you couldn’t go to this book for your answers.
SALVATION THROUGH THE CROSS – Satan has instead spread his more logical approach that if you are really going to get to heaven, then you had better earn it yourself. (It really sounds logical)
RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD – Satan says it isn’t real, and this morning you will hear his logical approach.
The point is we all know what it is to be confronted
By some sort of logical approach to the truth
That poses a difficult dilemma to answer.
And when we think about this fact, it often times causes us anxiety.
“What if I can’t answer all their questions..?”
“What if I can’t refute evolution or Islam..?”
“What if I can’t prove the Bible is true to a skeptic..?”
If you’ve ever found yourself worried about facing such dilemmas,
Let me set your mind at ease and remind you of something.
YOU CAN’T CONVINCE A PIG THAT THE MUD ISN’T FUN.
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
You cannot argue people into the kingdom of heaven.
And most of the time you can’t even win the argument.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
In other words, regardless of the brilliance of your argument,
Those skeptics will not see, they are deceived by Satan’s logic.
The only possible way is if God grants that their eyes be opened.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
They are ensnared by the devil, quarreling with them is useless.
Gently proclaim the truth and hope God grants them repentance.
You cannot convince a pig that the mud isn’t fun.
Beyond that, if you’ve ever become worried about arguing with the wisdom of this world, let me remind you of something else.
OUR GOAL IS NOT TO WIN, OUR GOAL IS TO DEFEND
Jude 3-4 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Jude knew he couldn’t get those who had crept in to change their view,
He merely wanted to protect the purity of the gospel for everyone else.
He didn’t set out to win the argument, he set out to defend the faith.
I tell you that, because that is precisely what Jesus does here.
After escaping one of Satan’s snares in our text last week,
This week Jesus is confronted with Satan’s logic.
Jesus finds Himself in the midst of one of those logical battles
That is meant to baffle the mind and humiliate the believer.
Let’s look at how Jesus deals with the situation and learn from Him.
Two things
#1 THE ATTACK
Matthew 22:23-28
Well now instantly you will notice we have a new group attacking Jesus.
“On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,”
• Earlier it was the “chief priests and the elder”
• Then it was “the disciples” of the Pharisees
Now it is the “Sadducees”
Matthew even tells you about them they “say there is no resurrection”
That is why they are “Sad – you see”
BUT WHO ARE THESE GUYS?
Commonly we try to throw them and the Pharisees together,
But don’t do that, they most certainly were not allies.
The Pharisees were blue collar working guys.
• They were patriots who loved Israel and hated Greek or Roman influence.
• They were legalists from the word go, who not only sought to enforce the Law, but also all of their oral traditions.
The Pharisees looked outwardly to be the most zealous
And religious people on the planet.
The Sadducees were very different.
• They were white collar, they were wealthy
• And they weren’t opposed to Rome, Rome actually benefited them greatly.
• Rome gave them power and helped them financially.
• The Sadducees held the office of high priest and made up the Sanhedrin, they were the big-wigs.
They are portrayed as the liberals and that is true, but not totally true.
They were liberal in the sense that
They rejected most of the Scripture as untrue.
However in what they accepted
They were very much fundamentalist.
We aren’t really sure why, but they only believed
The first 5 books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch.
And so the only thing that mattered to them was what Moses said,
Nothing else mattered.
And because Moses didn’t speak on the resurrection or about angels,
The Sadducees didn’t believe in it.
But none the less it is these guys who are now attacking Jesus.
• Incidentally this is Annas’ and Caiaphas’ group.
• This is the group that would try Jesus before handing Him over to Pilate.
• This is the group that would also try the apostles after Pentecost.
And perhaps more important than all of that;
This is the group that Jesus offended most by clearing the temple.
They had control of the temple,
And that flea market Jesus interrupted directly hit their income.
They are angry.
But that is not the only reason.
They saw in Jesus a threat to their allegiance with Rome.
After Jesus raised Lazarus
John 11:47-53 “Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.”
Those guys only got together in order to kill Jesus,
They were enemies otherwise.
Their concern was that people would follow Him, that Rome would catch wind
And take away their comfortable spots and their authority.
They hated Jesus because He threatened their cushy way of life.
And so they are here to attack.
NOT WITH A TRAP, BUT WITH LOGIC.
Look at the attack.
READ 24-28
You will first recognize that they brought a Scripture to Jesus’ attention.
They quoted Deuteronomy 25:5 about the law of levirate marriage.
And you are familiar with the command.
Because family heritage was important and the passing on of a seed mattered, it was actually commanded by Moses that if your brother died, you had to go and sleep with his wife and provide a seed for your brother.
Now this didn’t even begin with Moses.
We find Judah doing this with Tamar far before even the days of Moses.
But Moses commanded it.
Then comes the logic.
What if this woman actually goes through 7 brothers who marry her and none of them produce an offspring and then she dies.
Wouldn’t that make for an awful mess during the resurrection?
(28) “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”
Now understand, they are not really curious,
They don’t believe in the resurrection.
Rather, this is their logical attack on the resurrection.
By their reasoning, the resurrection can’t be real,
Because it would totally mess up what Moses commanded.
And so you see what they are doing.
• They are trying to make Jesus look dumb.
• They are trying to make Jesus look ignorant.
They are seeking to discredit Him before this crowd
That is hanging on every word He says.
But you also need to understand what is under attack.
• First, they are attacking Jesus.
• But they are also attacking the resurrection.
• And they are also attacking Scripture.
They are saying the Scriptures that teach resurrection don’t matter.
They are saying the resurrection isn’t real.
They are saying Jesus isn’t a true teacher.
They are attacking all three.
And by the way, an attack on 1 is an attack on all three.
You can’t deny one without denying the others as well.
In one of our pastor meetings one of the pastors said he didn’t believe the Bible was true, and as I was talking to him another in the group jumped in and said, “If they proved the Bible untrue today it wouldn’t affect my faith in the least.”
I asked him what his faith rested on, he said,
“Jesus Christ and Him crucified”
(That sounds good)
BUT WHO IS JESUS APART FROM THE BIBLE?
Furthermore which Jesus would you believe in?
• The Mormon Jesus – who say He was a son to God and brother to Satan?
• The Islamic Jesus – who say He was a good moral teacher?
• The Jewish Jesus – who say He was a blasphemer rightly crucified?
• The Jehovah’s Witness Jesus – who say He was man and not God?
• The Liberal’s Jesus – who think Jesus was a soft pushover?
WE MUST BELIEVE IN THE BIBLICAL JESUS
And the same is true for the resurrection.
Why do you believe in the resurrection?
Because Scripture said it happened.
And by the same token if you deny the resurrection then you deny the Scripture that teaches it and you deny Jesus who did rise.
See, all three are interlocked and all three are under attack here.
If it was just about making me look dumb, who cares.
I don’t mind looking dumb.
(I’ve got a doctorate in looking dumb)
But that isn’t it.
They are also attacking Scripture and the Resurrection,
And Jesus cannot let that go.
And they are attacking Jesus with a logical argument.
And if you’ve ever been there, it can be intimidating.
Well, let’s see how Jesus responds.
The Attack
#2 THE ANSWER
Matthew 22:29-33
Don’t you love how Jesus starts the answer.
“But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken…”
In other words, “That is a stupid question”
Don’t let anyone tell you dumb questions don’t exist, they do.
Had a person ask once, “Don’t you think it’s possible for God to save someone apart from faith in Jesus?”
It doesn’t matter if it’s possible, God won’t do it.
That’s a hypothetical that doesn’t benefit anyone.
Listen, mankind loves his own intellect,
Sometimes he likes to ask questions he really has no business asking.
In case you didn’t know it, God did not tell us everything,
Nor did He intend to.
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
There are some things that God purposely kept secret,
He only told you all that you needed to know to be obedient to Him.
See, the Sadducees are working in hypothetical’s here.
They are discussing things they don’t know anything about.
And Jesus calls them on it.
In fact He gets specific about what they don’t understand.
“You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
The only reason you give Me such a question is because you are ignorant.
And then Jesus goes to explain.
First He explains “the power of God.”
(30) “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
See the Sadducees thought they had accounted for every possible scenario in their question, but they hadn’t.
They hadn’t accounted for the power of God and most specifically His power to change the nature of man so that marriage wouldn’t matter.
Remember when Paul defends the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?
1 Corinthians 15:35-41 “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.”
The heretics at Corinth had some of the same problem.
They wanted to know, “How are the dead raised” “And with what kind of body..?”
How is it possible, and if it was possible, what would they look like?
(Makings of the first zombie show)
Paul answers by saying you overlook two key facts.
1) GOD IS CREATOR
“God gives it a body”
2) GOD IS CREATIVE
“There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies…”
In Corinth they denied the resurrection because they didn’t understand it.
That is what Jesus reveals is the problem of the Sadducees.
You don’t understand that nothing is impossible with God.
What you see as limitations aren’t limitations to God.
He’ll just change the nature of man to no longer desire marriage.
Now admit it, that sounds crazy to you doesn’t it?
Some read that truth and go into a panic,
Others are pretty pumped about it.
Carrie can’t imagine not being able to be married to me for all eternity!
And that is why the Sadducees denied the resurrection,
They didn’t understand God’s ability to change humanity.
Now don’t panic, in heaven it doesn’t get worse, it only gets better.
The intimacy you share with your spouse won’t be limited to your spouse. You’ll have that kind of intimacy with everyone, including Jesus.
The Sadducees also didn’t understand the Scriptures.
(31) “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.”
God spoke that to Moses from the burning bush,
At least 430 years after those men were dead.
And yet God didn’t say, “I was the God of Abraham…Isaac…and Jacob”
God said, “I Am the God of Abraham…Isaac…and Jacob.”
In other words, I am still their God.
They are still with Me.
They are still alive.
So Jesus took their own Pentateuch
And revealed to them the most obvious of statements
And then said, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
If they had understood the Scriptures they would have known that.
But they were ignorant.
So we have Jesus here attacked by the logic of this world.
HOW DID HE DEFEAT IT?
1) He was still on the alert (just as last week)
When people who don’t believe in the resurrection
Start asking about the resurrection, that is a pretty good clue.
2) He trusted the power of God and the perfection of the Scriptures.
Jesus did not get down and answer their logic,
He merely answered with Scripture.
BUT IN HIS ANSWER HE DID FOUR THINGS.
1) HE VERIFIED THEIR IGNORANCE
“You are mistaken…”
They displayed their ignorance in their question,
He verified it in His answer.
When people come to you questioning God, that is the simple answer.
“The reason you question me is because you don’t know the power of God or the perfection of the Scriptures. If you did we could talk, but you don’t.”
Jesus verified their ignorance
2) HE VALIDATED THE RESURRECTION
“He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
He merely quoted Scripture as true and authoritative.
He didn’t go into a long lecture as to why Scripture was true,
He merely quoted it and left it at that.
I’ve shared the story about the atheist and the young preacher.
“It is appointed man once to die and then comes judgment”
3) HE VENERATED THE SCRIPTURES
“have you not read what was spoken to you by God:”
Jesus was clear that the Scriptures are God speaking to you.
He didn’t even say what God said to Moses,
Jesus referenced that the Scripture is alive
By revealing that God spoke to you through the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:19-21 “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Jesus just defended the fact that God was speaking through the Bible.
4) HE VINDICATED HIMSELF
(33) “When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.”
And this is where we get back to the point.
I told you earlier that when the logical come to attack us,
We are not trying to win the argument.
We are merely trying to defend the truth.
WHY ARE WE DEFENDING TRUTH?
For everyone else who is listening.
DID JESUS CONVINCE THESE SADDUCEES THAT THE RESURRECTION WAS REAL?
No
Did He convince them that all of the Old Testament was Scripture?
No
Did He convince them that He really was from God?
No.
But by defending the truth
He did convince those standing around who were listening in.
We don’t argue with the pigs
Holding out any hope that we will win the argument.
We merely stand our ground and defend the truth.
Listen to what Paul told Timothy.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”
Guard the gospel, preserve it for future generations.
Again:
2 Timothy 1:8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”
Suffer for the gospel, not because you win the argument.
Again
2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”
Guard the treasure of the gospel, defend it.
Again
2 Timothy 2:10 “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”
Paul endured for the chosen, not the skeptic.
It isn’t about winning.
We are not trying to win against Satan’s logic.
Scripture is not logical.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
There was no logical answer for the Sadducees question.
There was only a theological one.
When Satan attacks you with his logic,
Just know you will never convince him and look like you won the debate.
Just be true to the Scripture.
Trust in the power of God and the perfection of His word
And let Him accomplish what He intended by putting you in that situation.
Simply contend for the faith.
Jude 3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”
