We continue our verse-by-verse exposition through the Gospel according to Mark.
! We find ourselves in the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry.
! This is the week most often called Passion Week.
!
He leaves, comes back, cleanses the temple.
And now he's back in the temple.
He's established some authority in this place.
And he's now being questioned.
The Sadducees, the Pharisees, etc. are coming to him
and wondering how it is that he has this authority.
And they're now beginning to work on discrediting him.
As we come to this text, I was really thankful this morning
to hear the song on Jordan's stormy banks.
As we live in this life, a life full of trouble,
and we stand on the banks, so to speak, metaphorically of the Jordan,
looking to the promise of God in Christ.
I feel that way a bit in our text together.
I want to rush to the great work of Jesus on our behalf on the cross
and then his resurrection.
It's going to take us some months to get to that point.
And I feel in my own soul kind of attention for this
as we preach through it.
The last couple of weeks, we've been in Wednesday of Passion Week
and we'll be there a bit longer still.
I hope that you feel that way this morning.
We've now experienced the redemptive work of Christ on our behalf.
He has accomplished this thing, this great climax of redemptive history.
And we're waiting for the next great event in redemptive history.
And that is his return where he's brought in the kingdom of God.
He's now going to bring it to a full culmination one day.
And there should be a longing in our hearts for such a thing to come to pass.
But in the midst of that, we come to these small stories.
These, at first glance, maybe even insignificant stories
in light of the thing that's going to happen in just a few days
in the life of Christ, which has such a massive effect
on the world and on us as well.
But it's important that we pause
and we take a careful look at these things.
We saw last week in verses 13 through 17
an interaction that he has with the Pharisees and the Herodians
with a religious group and a political group.
They've come together and they worked a question in such a way
they believed it was so incredibly brilliant
that they would trap him with both this political and theological question.
And today we're going to see the Sadducees,
another group, another religious group,
and they're going to take a turn and take a stab
at discrediting Jesus Christ.
So I'm going to read to you in Mark 12, beginning in verse 18.
So follow along as I read.
And Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection.
And they asked him a question, saying,
Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies
and leaves a wife, but leaves no child,
the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
There were seven brothers.
The first took a wife and when he died left no offspring.
And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring.
And the third likewise.
And the seven left no offspring.
Last of all, the woman also died.
In the resurrection, when they rise again,
whose wife will she be?
For the seven had her as wife.
Jesus said to them,
Is this not the reason you are wrong?
Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
For when they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are like angels in heaven.
And as for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush,
how God spoke to him, saying,
I am the God of Abraham,
and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
He is not God of the dead,
but of the living.
You are quite wrong.
This is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it
in order to believe its promises
and obey its commands.
Let's pray together.
Father God,
for the preaching of your gospel,
who is sufficient for such a thing?
Surely not I.
And none of us are sufficient
for the proper application of these words
to our minds and our hearts.
And so we would pray this morning,
by your Spirit,
that you would illuminate our minds and our hearts,
that you would help us to rightly understand
and rightly apply these words of truth.
We recognize that your word is authoritative,
that it is inerrant,
that it is sufficient,
that it has something to say to us in this day,
and we expect that, Lord,
for your name's sake.
So use me as a vessel.
Surely you can accomplish good things
in my speaking.
Work to the great end of your people
looking more like Christ,
proclaiming your name in greater
and more radical ways
to your glory.
And we pray all this in Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
So we have this new group that comes to Jesus,
a group that's not mentioned
all that often in the Scriptures,
and so we must first ask the question,
who were these Sadducees?
Who are they?
They're not so much a religious party,
an established religious party,
but this is rather a label given them,
a people with a particular
Judaic theological viewpoint.
Now, it contained within it
a number of variances,
a number of discrepancies
between what they and the Pharisees believed,
and in fact,
we could spend the entire time together
just talking about that,
the things that they believed
versus what the Pharisees believed.
In fact, this text has a lot of things
we could spend a lot of time on,
and it doesn't it?
The nature of resurrection,
we could talk about angels
and our relation to them,
but we're going to focus primarily
on this question and this challenge, right?
The context is driving us to Friday,
to Jesus' judgment,
his death,
and then his subsequent resurrection.
So we're going to stay in that realm.
So these Sadduceean views
were espoused by most
of the priestly families in this day,
so that most of the ruling class,
those in the temple,
the Sanhedrin,
the court that was held,
most of them were Sadducees, right?
This belief system was held
by most of those in power, right?
Now, in one sense,
and you've heard me say this
over and over again,
they were liberals.
The Pharisees tended to be
the more fundamental,
the more conservative in that regard,
in their practice of the law,
their strict adherence to the law.
It was the Pharisees
that had added to the law of God,
the hedge laws.
They had heaped upon the law of God
extra laws to keep you from ever breaking.
So you might break the hedge laws,
but to ever keep from breaking
the law of God,
which of course they all did,
and they just didn't recognize it.
They were hypocrites,
whitewashed tombs,
very unaware of their inability
to keep the law.
The Sadducees were a bit more liberal
in that case,
a little less concerned
about strict adherence to the law.
But in another,
they were very conservative,
and that was that they did not
accept oral tradition.
In this day,
there was something called
oral tradition.
It exists in some denominations today,
which was a passing down of teaching.
They would listen to the teachings
of a rabbi,
rabbinical teachings,
and they would apply those teachings
and understand the scriptures
by them,
in many cases,
elevating them even to the degree
of scripture.
The Sadducees did not do this.
They totally rejected
the oral tradition,
and they held just to the scriptures.
Now,
interestingly,
they held almost exclusively
to the Pentateuch,
to the books of Moses,
Genesis, Exodus,
Levitas,
Numbers,
Deuteronomy.
They highly elevated
the writings of Moses.
They didn't deny the rest
of the Jewish scriptures,
which we would have
as our Old Testament.
They didn't deny them
as the word of God,
but those were always
subservient to the Pentateuch.
So,
if something was taught
in the rest of our Old Testament
and their scriptures of the day
that they couldn't find proof for
in the Pentateuch
and the writings of Moses,
they would disregard it altogether.
And the resurrection
is one of those cases,
right?
In fact,
it was a rather major one
in this day.
This was a common theological debate
that took place
between the Sadducees
and the Pharisees.
It was something
that was talked about often.
Is there a resurrection?
Is there an afterlife?
It would seem,
and it's my belief,
that the Sadducees
were what we would call
annihilationists.
They believed that
at the end of your life,
you died
and nothing happened beyond.
You just were gone.
There was no eternal joy.
There was no eternal punishment.
You were simply gone.
Now, the Old Testament
does teach about resurrection,
but in some of these,
in their minds,
lesser books,
like in Isaiah 26, 19.
Your dead shall live,
their body shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust,
awake and sing for joy.
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth
to the dead.
Daniel 12, 2 also.
Possibly, with some hindsight,
knowing what we know now,
you can look back at some other texts
and see this idea of resurrection,
although in their day
it would have been challenging.
For further study,
Psalm 16, 9-11,
Psalm 49, 15, 73, 23-26,
Job 19, 25-26.
There are some places
that it's spoken of,
but it wasn't so explicit
in this case.
So the only two explicit examples
we have is Isaiah 26, 19
and Daniel 12, 2.
Now the Pharisees tried,
although they failed,
to make a case from the Pentateuch
for the resurrection,
and the Sadducees just
were not convinced of this.
Now Jesus believed in resurrection.
Praise God.
I'm really glad that He did.
We see some examples of that
in the Gospel of Mark already.
So turn back a few chapters
to Mark 8, verse 31.
Chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10,
we see predictions
of what's about to happen.
He's teaching the disciples
what's coming.
We're headed on a journey.
We're going towards Jerusalem.
Let me tell you what's going to happen
in this Passion Week.
Verse 31 says,
And He began to teach them
that the Son of Man
must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders
and the chief priests
and the scribes.
Isn't that what's happening
on this Wednesday
in this interaction?
And be killed.
And after three days,
rise again.
Chapter 9, verse 31,
For He was teaching His disciples,
saying to them,
The Son of Man is going to be delivered
into the hands of men,
and they will kill Him.
And when He is killed,
after three days,
He will rise.
Chapter 10, verse 33 and 34,
See, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be delivered
over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn Him to death
and deliver Him over to the Gentiles,
and they will mock Him
and spit on Him
and flog Him
and kill Him.
And after three days,
He will rise.
This is the great hope
and the suffering
that Jesus was going to experience
is that He would, in fact,
one day,
three days, in fact,
after His death,
rise again.
Jesus certainly believed
in raising from the dead
as He had raised Lazarus
from the dead.
It's not recorded
in the Gospel of Mark,
but it is elsewhere
that Lazarus
had come back to life
by the words of Jesus Christ.
So, the Sadducees come to Him
with this question
knowing this of Him.
They have placed Him
in this category
with the Pharisees,
and they mean to humiliate Him
by this question.
Because this question,
by their attempt,
is a reductio ad absurdum,
which is Latin for
reduction to absurdity.
They're essentially saying to Him,
how can you possibly believe
in such a thing
as a resurrection from the dead?
Let us give you this
insane situation
that makes it just seem
that it would be impossible.
It's not a genuine question.
They're not coming to Him
with teachable hearts,
wanting to know
from the Lord of Lords
what the answer
to this question is.
They're coming to Him
to trick Him,
to humiliate Him,
as He, they suppose,
would not be able
to give an answer
to such a question.
They obviously didn't know
who they were talking to.
So they set up
this scenario for Him.
You see in verse 19,
they say,
Teacher, Moses wrote for us.
And they're quoting directly
after this from Deuteronomy 25,
5, and 6.
Let me read that to you.
If brothers dwell together,
and one of them dies
and has no son,
the wife of the dead man
shall not be married
outside the family
to a stranger.
Her husband's brother
shall go into her
and take her as his wife
and perform the duty
of a husband's brother
to her.
And the first son
who she bears
shall succeed
to the name
of his dead brother
that his name
may not be blotted out
of Israel.
So this was a command,
a way in which
the brother's lineage
was maintained
that an unmarried brother
living in the home
would step into the role
of the husband,
would become the husband,
and the first son
would carry on
the name of his brother.
And there's some
extreme examples
and some severe punishments
that go on beyond that
you're welcome to read
in Deuteronomy 25
at a later time.
So they set up
a scenario for him
where there are
seven brothers
living in a house together.
The first one's married
and they go through
this process
of death and remarriage
and death and remarriage
and none of them have
a child.
There's never a child.
There's never a child
to carry on the posterity
and they finally wrap
all this up
in the resurrection.
So if this thing
called resurrection is true,
if it happens,
if there's life after this,
whose wife will she be?
Oh, what are you going
to do with that, Jesus?
Whose wife is she going to be?
She had seven husbands.
What are we going to do?
And Jesus answers
in the great wisdom
that he always does.
Right?
A double indictment.
And you see that he says
in verse 24,
you are wrong.
And at the end of verse 27,
he says again,
you are quite wrong
because you know
neither the scriptures
nor the power
of God.
You do not know
the scriptures.
This would have been
an incredible statement
to say to these men
in this day.
These were the leaders.
These were the guys
that knew the scriptures.
These were the guys
in positions
of religious authority.
These are the guys
that spent their days
studying the scriptures.
In fact,
this particular group
were the guys
that said,
we're not even going
to listen to oral traditions.
We're going to stay
honed in on the scriptures.
More than that,
Moses is our great father.
We're going to really,
really apply ourselves
to those books,
to the Pentateuch,
to those five.
Right?
This would have been
shocking to them.
You do not know
the scriptures.
They had no clear
understanding
of the scriptures at all.
In fact,
if they had,
they would be leading Israel
in a much different way.
Jesus is going to continue
to establish this for us
and show us the way of God
rather than the way
of apostate Judaism.
Right?
Jews in this day,
by and large,
didn't follow the ways of God.
They followed some set-up religion
that they had formed.
It had kind of come out
of the law of God.
But they had formulated it
and thought that they were
in right standing with Him
because of the things
that they did
rather than the condition
of their heart.
Right?
You do not know
the scriptures.
And this God
that they claimed
to worship,
they apparently
had no real understanding
of His character
because He also says
nor the power of God,
the God that can,
in fact,
raise someone
from the dead.
You don't understand
either of these things.
And we see so often
it would seem
with the Pharisees
that they worshipped
the right God
wrongly.
In the case of the Sadducees,
it seems that they were
worshipping the wrong God
wrongly altogether.
Jesus goes on
to explain what He means.
Verse 25,
For when they rise
from the dead,
they neither marry
nor are given in marriage
but are like angels
in heaven.
Now here He's introducing
some additional
theological information
to the scene of this day.
I looked and looked.
I thought for sure
He had to have been
quoting something
in the Old Testament.
Showing these men
how they really
should have known
and really should have
understood their Scriptures
and known this.
That there was no marriage
after.
There's not.
That I could tell.
Someone please tell me
if I'm wrong about that
later.
Not at this moment.
But He's introducing
some new theological
information to the scene.
But we know now
what marriage is for.
What is marriage
meant to do?
Why marriage?
Marriage.
We find out from
Ephesians chapter 5
that marriage is
prefigurative.
It's a shadow.
It's something meant
to point to a greater thing.
And that is our union
with Christ.
Imperfect people
joining together
to be made more perfect,
to procreate.
There are certainly
some other,
some subservient purposes
for marriage.
But the major purpose,
the major reason
that we are joined
in union with one another
is to show this picture
of this relationship
between Christ
and the church.
Let me read to you
Ephesians 5
beginning in verse 31.
Therefore a man
shall leave his father
and mother
and hold fast to his wife
and the two
shall become one flesh.
This mystery is profound
and I am saying
that it refers
to Christ
and the church.
We get to have
a very clear understanding
of this on this side.
There's no need
for marriage anymore
once we're raised
from the dead
because we don't need
it any longer.
It's meant to be
a picture,
a snapshot
of the real thing.
Once we have
the real thing,
it's no longer
necessary
to be married.
Now let's read
a little bit more
about resurrection.
I mentioned
Daniel 12, 2 to you.
Let me read to you
Daniel 12, 2
and verse 3.
And many of those
who sleep
in the dust of the earth
shall awake,
some to everlasting life
and some to shame
and everlasting contempt.
And those who are wise
shall shine
like the brightness
of the sky above.
And those who turn
many to righteousness
like the stars
forever and ever.
So catch here
the connection
he's making
as he's drawing
this out for us.
What marriage
is meant for
and that we are going
to be like angels
in heaven.
From Daniel 12, 2 there,
when we rise
from the dead,
we shall shine
like the brightness
of the sky above
and those who turn
many to righteousness
like the stars
forever and ever.
And in the Old Testament
when brightness
is talked about,
it's speaking of,
it's referring to,
it's referencing
the glory of God.
So when we rise,
we'll be made perfect
and glorify God
forever.
This is how we will be
like the angels
in heaven.
The angels in heaven
versus the angels
not in heaven,
those who were
cast down,
which are actually
mentioned as stars,
a third of the stars
being cast down
out of heaven.
But the angels
in heaven
worship God
perfectly forever.
And this will be
us.
Nehemiah 9, 6
says,
You are the Lord,
you alone.
This is Israel's
prayer of repentance
found right in the
middle of it.
You have made heaven
the heavens of heaven
with all their host,
the earth and all
that is on it,
the seas and all
that is in them.
And you preserve
all of them
and the host of heaven
worships you,
the angels in heaven
forever and ever
and ever.
So there's this new
theological information
introduced to the scene
to help us better
understand.
And Jesus is saying
to them,
you don't understand
the scriptures
and you don't know
the power of God
for resurrection.
He more explicitly
addresses it
and brilliantly
now uses
their very text
to make his points.
And so now he quotes
from the Pentateuch.
And as for the dead
being raised,
have you not read
in the book of Moses
in the passage
about the bush
how God spoke to him
saying,
this is from Exodus
chapter 3,
I am the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob.
Verse 27,
He is not God of the dead
but of the living.
You see,
as God is saying this
to Moses,
He's saying,
I am and they are.
I'm not worshipped
by corpses.
I am God.
I am the God of Abraham.
Abraham worships me.
Abraham lives
and he worships me.
I am the God of Isaac.
Isaac lives
and he worships me.
And I am the God of Jacob
who lives
and he worships me.
I am and they are.
Not that they were
but that they are.
So he is the God
not of the dead
but of the living.
He totally deconstructs
their entire idea
of resurrection
and what that means now
for their lives.
Totally destroys it.
They come to humiliate him
and he flips it around
this double indictment
and humiliates them
in return.
So what do we gain
from a little story
like this?
A pericope.
I have learned
I was mispronouncing that
as of recent.
Not a pericope.
A pericope.
This little story.
What is the application?
What does it mean
for us today?
If the scriptures
were written
for this day
and for us
in this day
what does this story
mean for us?
Three things
I want to address.
Firstly
do not be
like the Sadducees.
Do not be
like the Sadducees.
Not knowing
your scriptures
or the power
of God.
We live in a very
scripture rich
environment.
I don't know
all of you in the room.
In fact we have a number
of guests with us today.
I don't know
if you have ever
placed believing faith
in Jesus Christ
but it is likely
it is most likely
that you have heard
the gospel.
That you have
had a copy
of the scriptures.
That you may have
actually read
the scriptures
themselves.
Don't be like
the Sadducees.
God himself
has spoken.
He has given us
a book
that we might
know him
and know the way
of holiness.
That we might
turn from sin
and pursue him.
Do not be
like the Sadducees.
Having some degree
of mental assent.
Some understanding
of it.
And not allowing
it to work
into your heart.
The Sadducees
misunderstood
the resurrection
altogether.
Christians understand
it.
We understand
it to be
true.
And in fact
if it's not true
as the Sadducees
believed
we are people
to be
most
pitied.
Paul says this
in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15
For if the dead
are not raised
not even Christ
has been raised.
The Sadducees
were right.
If the dead
aren't raised
not even Christ
has been raised.
And if Christ
has not been raised
your faith
is futile
and you are still
in your sins.
Then those also
who have fallen
asleep in Christ
have perished.
The Sadducees
were right.
They're gone.
If in Christ
we have hope
in this life
only
we are of all
people
most
to be pitied.
If our faith
only means
something for us
now in this life
and it does
certainly
but if that's
it for us
we are to be
pitied
as Christians
if the resurrection
is not true.
Don't be like
the Sadducees.
Place believing
faith in Christ.
Believe in the
resurrection.
Believe that
in Him
there is
life.
Secondly
if you have
been saved
if you have
placed
saving faith
in Christ
you have
been saved
by grace
alone
through faith
alone
do not
be like
the Sadducees.
If you are
a Christian
do not
be
like the
Sadducees.
I'm afraid
that we
live in a
biblically
illiterate
time.
Copies of
God's Word
everywhere.
I've got a
hard copy of it
here in front
of me.
I can
pull up
on my
iPad
every
single
translation
imaginable
in a
matter
of
moments.
I've
got so
many
tools
practical
tools
at my
fingertips.
So
much
is
access
to
us.
We have
so
much
of the
Word
of
God
but
it
seems
that
so
many
of
us
know
it
very
little.
Just
really
don't
understand
the
scriptures.
It's
a
travesty
as
Christians
that we
wouldn't
know
the
Word
of
God.
We're
a
people
of
the
Word.
We
came
to
saving
faith
by
the
Word
of
God
preached
to
us.
This
is
the
way
in which
God
has
chosen
to
communicate
to
us.
Why
would
we
not
pour
over
this?
Why
would
we
not
know
every
bit
of
it?
So
that
we
can
be
obedient
to
it.
It's
a
massive
travesty.
On
Facebook
the
other
day,
a
very
good
friend
of
mine
from
the
past
and
been
around
him
that
much
as
of
late
attends
one
of
the
monolithic
places
south
of
us
wrote
a
little
thing
he
realized
and
learned
about
prayer
and
I
was
glad
that
he
did
I
praised
God
for
the
fact
that
he
realized
the
fact
that
he
came
to
some
understanding
of
what
prayer
is
and
what
it
does
in
the
life
of
a
Christian
glad
that
he
had
but
this
young
guy
had
grown
up
in
the
church
this
young
guy
volunteers
to
a
high
degree
in
the
place
that
he
currently
attends
and
had
totally
missed
it
had
not
been
taught
these
things
at
all
and
it
just
saddened
me
for
the
state
of
the
church
that
a
Christian
of
his
age
as
long
as
he
had
been
a
believer
was
just
now
understanding
how
it
was
that
prayer
works
in
the
life
of
a
Christian
just
made
me
sad
how
has
he
functioned
in
this
world
how
has
he
had
any
hope
at
all
that
God
hears
him
and
uses
his
prayers
to
accomplish
anything
whatsoever
I
don't
know
what
a
travesty
what
a
travesty
that
is
my
wife
was
at
a
yard
sale
yesterday
and
took
a
photo
of
a
little
knick
knack
you
know
older
people
like
knick
knacks
in
their
house
things
that
have
to
be
dusted
and
it
was
one
of
those
like
a
little
placard
thing
like
a
rock
that
had
words
engraved
into
it
and
said
this
God
could
not
be
everywhere
so
he
created
grandfathers
oh
that's
so sweet
right
it's
heresy
right
it's
absolute
heresy
this
is
not
a
thing
in
fact
in
retrospect
I
kind
of
wish
I
had
gotten
her
to
buy
it
so
we
could
have
gotten
away
from
anybody
else
and
destroyed
such
a
thing
God
could
not
be
everywhere
God
poor
little
God
little
pitiful
God
had
to
get
the
grandpas
to
help
him
out
in
this
thing
this
item
was
produced
and
it
was
sold
and
given
as
a
gift
and
hung
around
somebody
actually
had
this
thing
and
had
kept
this
thing
right
biblical
illiteracy
right
we live
in a
culture
of
consumption
we live
in a
day
and age
where we
just
want to
sit
back
and be
fed
information
just
give me
what I
need
to
know
just
tell
me
what
I
need
to
know
and
I'll
tell
you
right
now
beloved
Sunday
mornings
are
not
enough
for
you
know
God
and
know
him
by
his
word
it
is
not
enough
for
you
to
come
and
hear
a
sermon
on
Sunday
morning
as
much
as
I
like
to
pack
in
on
a
Sunday
morning
if
you
guys
would
permit
me
to
preach
for
hours
on
a
Sunday
morning
it
still
wouldn't
be
enough
for
me
to
give
to
you
everything
from
the
word
of
God
you
need
to
live
a
holy
life
you
need
it
daily
you
need
to
be
enriched
by
it
constantly
this
is
called
the
bread
of
life
right
feast
upon
it
right
you
need
to
be
taking
it
in
all
the
time
so
many
of
you
are
famished
because
you
have
a
meal
of
some
sort
I
hope
you're
even
paying
attention
and
taking
it
in
and
then
you
go
away
and
you
come
back
a
week
later
and
you
do
it
again
and
it's
not
having
any
real
effect
in
your
life
because
you're
!
you're
!
some
of
you
might
listen
to
some
supplemental
sermons
in
between
that's
not
enough
either
open
the
word
of
God
get
on
your
knees
and
ask
the
Lord
to
work
in
you
if
you're
a
Christian
you have
the
spirit
of
God
which
can
illuminate
the
scriptures
to
you
can
make
it
clear
to
you
it's
an
important
biblical
doctrine
the
clarity
of
scripture
you
can
understand
this
part
of
the
reason
that
I
out
loud
about
how
I
arrived
at
the
position
that
I
hold
is
because
I
want
you
to
see
that
it's
not
that
hard
I'm
not
brilliant
look
at
the
context
I go
isn't that
an interesting
statement
seems
confusing
at first
you hear
me say
things
like
that
because
I
know
that
happens
to
you
when
you
open
up
the
scriptures
you
go
what
in
the
world
I
do
it
all
the
time
often
the
things
many
times
but
I
never
had
to
preach
I
never
had
to
stand
up
with
any
authority
and
tell
you
what
it
means
and
I
just
honestly
can't
say
you
need
to be
doing
the
same
you
need
to be
constantly
in
the
Bible
consuming
it
2
Timothy
3
16
17
Paul
writes
all
scripture
is
breathed
out
by
God
and
profitable
it's
profitable
it's
good
for
us
for
teaching
for
reproof
for
correction
and
for
training
and
righteousness
that
the
man
of
God
or
woman
of
God
may
be
complete
equipped
for
every
good
work
if
you're
finding
that
there's
not
fruit
in
your
life
and
you
desire
that
you
want
to
see
God
use
your
efforts
in
this
world
you
need
to
be
equipped
by
the
word
of
God
to
that
great
end
be
equipped
for
every
good
work
it's
my
great
task
on
faithful
and
you
come
every
Sunday
that's
only
52
chances
I get
to do
that
it's
not
enough
and
most
of
you
don't
make
it
that
often
to
our
meetings
together
so
don't
be
like
the
Pharisees
as
a
Christian
know
the
scriptures
you
can
do
it
start
now
I'm
still
working
it
out
right
I'm
never
going
to
arrive
at
a
complete
understanding
of
them
but
you
can
begin
to
let
God
by
the
father
to
speak
to
people
in
terms
they
will
understand
it's
really
important
for us
to
remember
every
time
we
behold
the
brilliance
of
Jesus
Christ
that
it
was
ultimately
the
brilliance
of
God
Jesus
did
not
stop
being
God
when
he
came
to
earth
and
became
a
man
he
didn't
lay
aside
his
deity
he
was
still
fully
God
fully
man
but
he
submitted
!
And in
John
20
21
he
says
as
the
father
has
sent
me
even
so
I
am
sending
you
so
Jesus
as a
man
he
knew
his
scriptures
he
had
studied
his
scriptures
we
find
him
at
the
age
of
12
in
the
synagogue
teaching
the
teachers
of
the
synagogue
he
is
actually
telling
them
what
the
scriptures
mean
because
he
understood
them
we
can
do
this
we
can
gain
a
knowledge
of
the
scriptures
and
by
his
spirit
we
can
speak
we
can
submit
our
authority
to
his
authority
and
speak
well
to
people
and
we
have
to
understand
Jesus
was
a
master
of
this
and
we
should
take
example
from
him
he
understood
who
the
Sadducees
were
he
got
it
right
when
they
came
!
asking
!
the
question
that
they
quote
from
the
very
writings
that
they
esteemed
so
highly
to
make
his
point
and
we
should
do
the
same
doesn't
mean
that
we
become
these
master
tacticians
these
wonderful
orders
that we
study
and
study
and
we
pour
ourselves
into
apologetics
and
all
these
things
although
they
have
their
place
and
their
value
but
simply
that
we
empty
ourselves
or
fill
with
spirit
we
ask
that
he
would
work
through
us
ask
that
he
would
help
us
to
understand
people
and
where
they're
coming
from
their
viewpoints
so
that
we
can
speak
to
their
viewpoints
I
would
love
to
see
that
the
summation
of
this
story
is
that
all
the
Sadducees
that
came
to
him
realized
they're
wrong
repented
turned
to
him
that's
not
the
case
in
fact
it
was
the
Sadducees
that
were
part
of
!
We
have
such
a
precious
gift
in
the
scriptures
if
you're
not
a
believer
the
gospel
is
in
the
scriptures
the
power
of
God
unto
salvation
if
you
are
a
believer
oh
how
we
need
to
hear
that
story
over
and
over
and
over
again
many
of the
songs
we
sing
on
Sunday
morning
if
you're
not
very
familiar
with
the
scriptures
you
wouldn't
know
this
but
many
of
them
are
saturated
with
Old
Testament
and
New
Testament
quotations
just
carried
through
I
so
often
want
to
preach
little
sermons
in
between
songs
just
to
tie
it
all
together
for
you
and
they
talk
about
our
pre-Christ
experience
the
actual
conversion
and beyond
that
it's
why
most
hymns
we
should
sing
the
verses
because
it's
a
complete
gospel
presentation
in
those
things
oftentimes
first
third
and
fifth
just
doesn't
quite
cover
it
for
us
and
sometimes
I go
man
this
song
feels
like
it's
getting
really
long
but
if
you're
really
paying
attention
to
the
words
are
so
necessary
and
Wes
is
so
careful
to
do
that
for
us
that
we
see
this
entire
expression
of that
in
our
songs
together
beloved
we need
the
gospel
we need
it
every
day
we
need
to
be
reminded
of
God's
goodness
to
us
in
Christ
let's
pray
!