To teach that churches and governments should be kept separate insofar as their support of or control of each other is concerned.

To teach the fallacy of modernism and the importance of scripture study.

To impress upon the students that there is a life after death and that there will be a judgement. Vs. 26,40.

To show that we should obey the Ten Commandments and that this is most easily done by a proper motivation which is love for God and neighbors.

To teach of God's displeasure with hypocritical piousness and formality.

To teach the principle of giving that pleases God and which will be most amply rewarded.

INTRODUCTION: When a man who is or has been a great public servant comes to town to speak on great issues, a large crowd usually attends and they listen attentively to his speech. Jesus, the greatest of all public servants, speaks on great issues in our lesson today.

Vs. 13 -- Pharisees were the patriotic party. They hated being under a foreign government. The Herodians favored Roman rule. The Pharisees hated the Herodians but they hated Jesus more. They both sought to entangle Him in His words.

Vs. 14 -- They flattered Him and then asked a question on separation of church and state which is a great issue today. Beware of flatterers. Proverbs 20:19; 26:28; 28:23; 29:5. If Jesus answered "yes" and told them to pay tribute, many Jews would assail Him and think less of Him. If He said "no" and repudiated paying taxes to Caesar, the Romans might arrest Him.

Vs. 15-17 -- The solution: The believer is a citizen of two kingdoms. He has civic as well as spiritual responsibilities. It is proper to support governments by paying taxes. It is proper to serve God and His work. It is proper that churches and governments be supported by their respective constituents and for neither to receive aid from the other.

Vs. 18 -- The Sadducees were modernists. They didn't believe in a resurrection of the dead, in angels or spirits. Acts 23:8.

Vs. 19-23 -- The question was purely academic. The relative impossibility of the marriage situation presented, and the fact that the Sadducees scoffed at the doctrine of resurrection prove the question to be a mere logical trap. They wanted to prove that the resurrection of the dead was impossible.

Vs. 24 -- The Sadducees erred on two counts. First, they did not know the Old Testament scriptures for they taught a resurrection. CF. Job 19:25-27; Psalm 16:9,10; Genesis 50:25; Luke 24:44-46; Hebrews 11:17-19,22. The second mistake was in not knowing the power of God. Thus they could not imagine the resurrection life without marriage and the frailties of our poor human bodies. Modernists today do not know the scriptures. They discredit the Bible and only believe certain portions. Some do not believe in Hell. Some do not believe in the Virgin birth of Christ. They believe and teach a social gospel or a doctrine of salvation by works. They do not know the power of God, which saved, regenerates, transforms, and makes new creatures of those who trust Christ as Saviour. John 3:1-6 and II Corinthians 5:17.

Vs.25-27 -- Jesus argues that they would know that the Bible taught a resurrection if they knew the scriptures, that they could believe if they knew the power of God. Here He argues, if God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob after they had died; then their spirits are still alive and if alive we may expect their bodies to rise from the dead. In Heaven, people will be as the angels (sexless) and they will not have the ability to reproduce. Marriage will have no place in heaven.

This scribe may have been sincere and earnest, for Jesus answered him frankly and the scribe was pleased with Christ's answer and understood it. Note Christ's appeal to the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 6:4,5; Leviticus 19:18.

This scribe manifested real spiritual discernment. Nothing in the sacrificial ritual of the law was of any value in the sight of God if love were lacking. To love Him and one's neighbor whole-heartedly was that which pleased God above all else and we should strive ourselves to do this. Love can be cultivated. If we love God properly we will have little trouble keeping the first four commandments (verse 30 and Exodus 20) and if we love our neighbor properly we will have little trouble keeping the last six commandments (verse 31). This man was not far from the kingdom of God and being saved. For all his understanding he was still not saved but was just outside the door. To step in would mean to receive Christ for himself, to trust Him as Saviour and own Him as Lord. To live right -- obey the Ten Commandments. To obey the Ten Commandments -- love God and thy neighbor whole-heartedly.

God is not pleased with religious piousness when it is not genuine and in this passage Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and scribes (learned, religious men) for hypocritical religious piousness and formality.

Vs. 35-37 -- With this question Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and put a stop to their questioning. Matthew 22:46. The scribes acknowledged that Christ or the Messiah when he came would humanly be of the lineage of David for the Old Testament plainly taught this. II Samuel 7:10-14; Isaiah 9:6,7; 11:1. They did not understand about the virgin birth and that He would be conceived of the Holy Ghost and would therefore be God. They should have because this was also taught in the Old Testament. Isaiah 7:14 and Psalm 110:1.

So Jesus poses the question, "Why should David call Him Lord if He was actually his Son?" We know the answer. They did not and were afraid to attempt an explanation. Jesus is both Son of David as to humanity and Son of God as to His Divine nature. The common people seemed to enjoy the scribes discomfort.

Vs. 38-40 -- Jesus used this occasion to denounce these pious men and hypocritical religious activity.

Vs. 41 -- Jesus even today watches the amount we give to His church.

Vs. 42 -- A farthing was about one-third of one cent.

Vs. 43&44 -- Heaven's method of computing values is altogether different to that of earth's. We are accustomed to judge the amount given. The Lord estimates the value of the gift by the amount one has left. The rich had cast in of their abundance but the widow cast in all she had earned. Such is Heaven's way of recognizing gifts for the work of the Lord.

CONCLUSION: The truths we have learned today we should realize are for our benefit for the greatest of all public servants has given them to us. Let us apply them to our lives and we will be richer, better and more worthwhile persons because of them.