1. People always ask me, "How come there are so many different churches? Baptist, Roman Catholic, SDA, JW, Mormon, Anglican, Pentecostal, Methodist, etc."
2. This is nothing new. There have always been true Christians preaching the true Gospel, and there have always been false churches preaching a false Gospel (Matt.15:12-14; 16:18).
3. Jesus called the Pharisees "blind leaders of the blind" (Matt.15:14). He will call them much more than that in Matthew 23.
4. In addition to the Pharisees, there were the Sadducees and the Herodians, and many other groups as well. So this religious confusion we see today is nothing new. The devil is very religious and the devil loves to confuse people (cf. II Cor.4:3,4; 11:3,4,13-15).
5. Today we will see how our Lord dealt with the false religionists of His day. We will see today how our Lord dealt with religious hypocrites: the Pharisees (22:15,34), the Herodians (22:16), and the Sadducees (22:23).
6. You will notice many similarities when you study this passage. All three groups tried to trick our Lord (22:15,23-28,34,35).
7. And all three were put to silence by our Lord (22:22,33,34,46).

I. JESUS ANSWERS THE HERODIANS (22:15-22).

1. The parable of the marriage feast was directed at the religious hypocrites. In fact all three of the parables in Matthew 21 and 22 were directed at them (21:23,,28,45,46; 22:1).
2. The Pharisees, like the man not having a wedding garment, were speechless before the Lord (22:12-15).
3. So what they did was go out and join forces with the Herodians (22:16). The Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees did not have very much in common. But one thing they had in common was their deep hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. The forces of Satan combined to entrap our Lord (22:16,17). If the Lord should answer "No," then the Herodians (a politic group that backed Herod) would accuse Him of treason against Rome.
5. If Jesus answered "Yes," then the Pharisees would have claimed He favored subjection to Rome and therefore could not be the Messiah.
6. The Bible says, "But Jesus perceived their wickedness" (22:18). He called them what they were – hypocrites (22:18; cf. 23:13,14,15,23,25,27,29).
7. Our Lord gave them an amazing answer (22:19-22). Our Lord was saying that they did indeed owe something to Caesar and Christians should pay taxes. The government protects us with police and an army and a navy. We use government roads, etc. Therefore we should render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
8. And "unto God the things that are God’s" (tithes and offerings). By the way, this affirms the doctrine of separation of church and state.
9. The Herodians "marvelled, and left Him, and went their way" (22:22). Next, came the Sadducees.

II. JESUS ANSWERS THE SADDUCEES (22:23-33).

1. The Sadducees were different in many ways from the Pharisees who were traditionalists and legalists. They differed from the Herodians who were worldly and political. The Sadducees were the religious liberals, the freethinkers who did not take the Bible literally but yet were still religious. Most Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and so on are basically Sadducees.
2. The Sadducees "say that there is no resurrection" (22:23). And so it is today. The vast majority of ministers today deny the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. The big seminaries teach nothing but liberal hogwash and so they produce a steady flow of infidels, heretics, perverts and socialists.
3. These unregenerate ministers then pass these errors on to the people in the pews and churches fill up with unconverted members. As I go house to house I can testify that over 95% of the people I meet are not saved and yet most of them are affiliated with some church.
4. Not only did the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, they also denied the spiritual realm altogether (Acts 23:8). Since they denied the existence of angels, our Lord affirmed the existence of angels (Matt.22:30).
5. Just like the Pharisees and the Herodians, the Sadducees tried to trick our Lord (22:23-28; cf. Deut.25:5). Their question is ridiculous and our Lord answered by telling them, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" (22:29).
6. And so it is today. Religious unbelievers do not know the Scriptures. Bro. Knight said he never saw a Bible growing up even though his dad was a pastor. Religious liberals do not know the power of God. They do not understand what it means to be born again. They are spiritually blind. Just yesterday Bro. Arturo and I met a lady who used to be a Presbyterian pastor’s secretary but she knew nothing about the Bible.
7. Their carnal imaginations – seven brothers marrying the same woman (cf. 22:28) – came from their carnal, unregenerate hearts. Earthly relationships will not be continued in heaven. Religions, such as the Muslims and the Mormons, which teach marriage up in heaven attract carnal men who hope to spend eternity fulfilling their lustful desires. In reality they will spend eternity in hell.
8. Our Lord was not saying that we will become angels in heaven (many people believe this). He is saying we will be like angels in that we will not marry in heaven (22:30). In heaven there will not be any need to reproduce.
9. Of course, husbands and wives will still see each other up in heaven. Spurgeon used to talk about how he looked forward to spending eternity in heaven with his wife. J. Vernon McGee said: "This (22:30) does not mean that a husband and wife who were very close down here cannot be together in heaven. If they want to be together, of course they can be together. But, my friend, think of the ones who wouldn’t want to be together. They won’t have to be together. However, they both will have new dispositions, and probably they will get along lots better up there than they did down here!"
10. Our Lord told the Sadducees they erred because they did not know the Bible. Then He asked, "Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God…?" (22:31; cf. Ex.3:6).
11. "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (22:32). Not "I was the God…" but "I am the God." Abraham is still alive. Remember our Lord said Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom. So Abraham is alive. So is Isaac. And so is Jacob. "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (22:32).
12. Matthew tells us that the Sadducees were "astonished at His doctrine" (22:33; cf. 22:22).

III. JESUS ANSWERS THE PHARISEES (22:34-46).

1. Here is the third trick question (22:34-36). Remember back in Matthew 4, when our Lord was in the wilderness, He was tempted by Satan three times. Here He we see He was tempted again three times, but this time it was by Satan’s messengers.
2. The (religious) lawyer addressed our Lord as "Master" (teacher), not as Lord. To the Pharisees Jesus was not Lord, not the Son of God, and not the Messiah. To them He was only a teacher, and not just any teacher but a teacher they wanted to get rid of once and for all (cf. 21:45,46).
3. No one is able to love the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind apart from the grace of God (22:37-40).
4. Matthew does not record the lawyer’s response but Mark does (Mark 12:32-34). He was "not far from the kingdom of God" but he wasn’t in yet. Many people are in that situation. "Almost saved" is still lost.
5. Our Lord answered all their questions and now it was His turn to ask a question (Matt.22:41,42). The Pharisees thought this an easy question – The Christ (Messiah) would be the son of David (22:42).
6. "He saith unto them, How then doth David in (Holy) Spirit call him Lord?" (22:43). "If David then call him Lord, how is he his son" (22:45). In other words, how could David call his son "Lord"?
7. How could David speak of the expected Messiah as both human (the Messiah would be the son of David) and divine (Lord)?
8. The only logical answer to this question is the virgin birth. But the Pharisees would not accept this. They called Him illegitimate (John 8:41,48). So this ended the verbal clash between our Lord and the religious leaders. W. Graham Scroggie said: "Nothing is so contemptible as proud ignorance."
9. The religious hypocrites were proud, and they were ignorant, and therefore they were contemptible. They made no more verbal attacks after this point. They were already determined to have Him killed. They could not answer Him so they quietly went forward with their plans to have Him killed (22:46; 26:3-5).

CONCLUSION:

1. Few chapters in the Bible give us a better glimpse of the Lord’s wisdom than Matthew 22.
2. We can study it over and over and still marvel at how our Lord deftly handled His adversaries.
3. When the lawyer asked Jesus , "Which is the great commandment in the law?" (22:36), note that our Lord did not give one of the ten commandments (22:37,38).
4. Do you love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind?
5. If not, then maybe today you can get things right with God.