Stamped For Eternity

Secular -

There was a man who was a bit of a skeptic, much like the Sadducees. He lived his life convinced that if he just followed the right "rules" and used enough "logic," he could avoid any unpleasant surprises—including the ones at the end of life.

One day, he met a man who claimed to be 150 years old.

The skeptic was amazed. He asked, "Sir, what is your secret to such a long, healthy life?"

The old man whispered, "It’s simple. I never argue with anyone. If someone says something crazy, I just agree with them and move on."

The skeptic scoffed and said, "That’s ridiculous! That can’t be the secret! There has to be a biological reason, a dietary habit, or a medical explanation. Logic dictates that simply avoiding arguments wouldn't affect your cellular aging or your longevity at all! You're just being superstitious!"

The old man looked at him, smiled peacefully, and said, "You know what? You’re absolutely right."

we see three groups of people today who are desperately trying to be 'right.' The Pharisees want to be right about politics, the Herodians want to be right about power, and the Sadducees want to be right about their theories. They aren't looking for the Truth; they are looking for a win.

Jesus, however, isn't interested in winning their arguments. He’s interested in winning their lives. He doesn't just 'agree and move on' to keep the peace; He speaks the truth and it leaves them speechless. Today, we’re going to see that you can win every argument in the world and still lose your soul because you do not recognize the King of Kings.

Historical/Cultural Context -

This Gospel is written by Matthew, also known as Levi who was a former tax collector. It was most likely written between AD 50-60. Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus. Matthew wrote primarily to Jewish believers—people who knew the Old Testament well. Matthew had one goal: to prove that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Kings, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Connecting the Old Testament prophecies to the life of Christ, proving that every word God spoke was coming true in Jesus. The key themes of the Gospel include Jesus as King, The Kingdom of Heaven, Fulfillment of Prophecy and discipleship.

Biblical Text -

Matthew 22:1–33 NKJV

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.” Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - Total Surrender: We Must Recognize God’s Authority over our Invitation, our Identity, and our Eternity.

Life Point- Will The Invitation Be Ignored?

Exegetical -

Matthew 22:1–14 BSB

Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Homiletical -

In The old testament when you brought a lamb for sacrifice it would be inspected to make sure it is without blemish. This is about to happen with Jesus. He has spoken to them and they perceived he was talking to them, as we found out last week. Well Jesus here fires one more off.

He states that the kingdom of heaven is like. So we know He is about to talk about spiritual things.

He sends his slaves to call those whom he invited to the banquet to come. These are the chosen. The ones the king wants to be there. The leaders of the community.

Their response is apathetic and downright rebellious. They refuse to come the wedding feast.

He send more people to let them know all is prepared now ya’ll come on and eat. But do they? No, they don’t.

As a matter-of-fact they seize the slaves and mistreat and kill them.

This reminds me a lot of what Jesus said just a little bit ago about the vinedressers. Who did the same thing and the religious leaders knew He was talking about them in the first story and now they have caught on that He is talking about them in this story.

So the king says you know what, bring all people now. Bring the evil and the good. So his slaves go and do that. They bring everyone they can find.

How did these people respond? Well, they came and wore the proper attire.

You see the chosen ones, the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah. So Jesus opens up the church to everyone from all aspects of society. These represent the Gentiles. Also they are given the proper wedding garments to come to the feast. Jesus makes us new even when we don’t deserve it. So-called evil or so-called good doesn’t matter. He is opened it up to all nations.

You know I can probably see the Jews seething about now, but Jesus isn’t done.

There is one guy here without wedding clothes, which means he didn’t come in the right manner. The right way. He is a party crasher and the king is having none of it and casts him out to outer darkness. He is cast out to everlasting torment where there is weeping or gnashing of teeth.

There are people all across America today that they and God have their own things worked out but have never surrendered to the love of Christ, never just said I need a saviour. Even though they are sitting in a church pew. Jesus has warned people earlier of this in

Matthew 7:21–23 BSB

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

I remember that years ago my mother was complaining about someone being a hypocrite and another lady said something that stuck with me. You don’t think everyone that is sitting in that church on Sunday is going to heaven do you?

Now that is a sobering thought. This is why we must preach the Gospel. This is why we must share our faith with others, no matter where we find ourselves.

If you want to grow as an individual and indeed grow the church, universally not just locally although that will happen too, then you must share your faith with people around you.

Will you do that?

Because I promise you, this church will always have an opportunity for someone to come to Jesus every Sunday service. I don’t want people to not have the proper wedding garments on when the king comes.

This scripture should also remind you to look inside and see if there is any progression as a Christian, like we talked about last week. If there isn’t any, then my friend you may not be saved. You may not be known by Him.

Will you take a moment today and make sure you belong to Jesus?

Life Point - Whose Image Are Your Bearing?

Exegetical -

Matthew 22:15–22 BSB

Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words. They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance. So tell us what You think: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus knew their evil intent and said, “You hypocrites, why are you testing Me? Show Me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. “Whose image is this,” He asked, “and whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And when they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.

Homiletical -

So now he went and did it. He made the pharisees mad. So they went out and conspired how to trap Him.

So the pharisees sent their disciples, so little pharisees, out with the Herodians (who by the way is a political party). These two groups don’t normally have anything to do with each other but when it came to Jesus they teamed up. Why? Because the Pharisees represented the religious leaders and the Herodians the Roman government.

There are a few things you have to understand when coming to this passage. 1) Jews didn’t like to use coins with images on them because to them they felt like it was worship. Especially if they used one of Caesar as Caesar proclaimed himself a god. So they tried to avoid coins with people’s pictures altogether. 2) They knew this would put Jesus in a precarious position. You see if He said to pay the taxes then He would lose favor with the Jews because of the image thing and also, who wants to pay taxes, right? 3) If he said do not pay the taxes then they could accuse of rebellion against the government and he could be arrested.

But Jesus, after calling them hypocrites, makes them think about things differently. He says whose image is on it? Well that particular coin had Caesar’s image on it, so that means it belongs to Caesar. So give it to him.

What belongs to God? You do, give yourselves to God fully. You are one who bares the image of God. You are made in His image. You are His coin.

Remember to flat out refuse to do the will of God is rebellion and according to 1 Samuel 15:23 rebellion is as witchcraft. Witchcraft was despicable in the eyes of God and was punishable by death.

If I am the image of God and I am all of God someone might see, if they are going to hell. Then do I want them to see all the bad? Or do I want them to see only Jesus?

Shouldn’t I be sharing Jesus if that is what I want them to see? To not do so would be rebellion.

Actions have consequences. We know that. What we forget is that inaction has consequences too.

Inventory your life today. Are you giving God the "spare change" of your time, talents, and money, while giving the "gold" to your career, your politics, or your hobbies?

God deserves your best, not your best left-overs. What will you give Him?

Also, think of it this way. If people around us are going to hell, then our "inaction" is a form of spiritual tax evasion. We owe it to the Image-Maker to share His love with other Image-Bearers.

Life Point - Where Will You Wake Up In Eternity?

Exegetical -

Matthew 22:23–33 BSB

That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died without having children. So he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brothers, down to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For all of them were married to her.” Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. In the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

Homiletical -

The Pharisees on examining Him couldn’t stump Him, neither could the Herodians. So the Sadduccees, who didn’t believe in the resurrection, that is why they were sad-you-see. Well, they decided to give it a try. But they were as about as successful as a cow flying an airplane.

So the practice at the time is that if a man dies with no heir his brother takes care of his wife and in his brother’s name he produces an heir and all that belonged to the dead man is then transferred to the heir when he becomes of age.

So the Sadducees, who don’t believe in the resurrection, gives Him their best question.

He tells them you are thinking about this all wrong. In the resurrection there will be no giving in marriage. That part is over with. Your resurrected life will be different than the one you are used to.

Then he tackles their disbelief in the resurrection by points out that the scriptures say that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not the God of the dead. These guys are alive.

When we leave this body we will end up in heaven or hell ultimately. For eternity. There is no waiting period.

2 Corinthians 5:8 BSB

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Folks there is good news here for the Christian. To be with the Lord. But for the unsaved individual this should be a dire warning. You see the unsaved will be raised too in the same body and be tossed into the Lake of Fire.

If we truly believe that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive right now, then we must live knowing heaven and hell are real places, not just mental constructs.

It surprises me how many people today will say that heaven is real, but hell is not. Folks Jesus talked more about Hell than He did heaven. Did you know that? They are both real places and the second we close our eyes we are going to wake up in eternity in one of these two places.

This should motivate us to share Jesus. The problem, I think, is that we have become complacent. We have heard and been saved for years and the familiarity of that can breed apathy. Let us come back to our first love and ask God for eyes to see and ears to hear.

I think sometimes God need to give us a glimpse of eternity to motivate us.

Illustration -

A missionary told a story about an encounter with a sinner who, upon facing death, admitted he had rejected Christ all his life. In his final moments, he claimed to see visions of hell; the flames, the torment, and the realization of what could have been. This shows the seriousness of of the spiritual reality and should also motivate believers to share the gospel and seek the lost before it’s too late.

Life Principle– If God has the authority to invite us, own us, and raise us from the dead, then "apathy" is the most dangerous response we can have. If we truly recognize His authority in these areas, we cannot help but share Him with others. To stay silent is to deny the very Authority we claim to follow.

Call to Action – altar call….