Clarifying Confusion

[0:00] Go ahead and take your Bibles over to Mark chapter 12 this morning. Mark chapter 12 as we continue on in our series here through the Gospel of Mark. And, you know, the one thing that you'll see today is that, you know, we talk a lot today about misinformation.

[0:14] There's always a lot of misinformation throughout history. And you're going to see here as they bring some misinformation to Jesus, and Jesus clarifies their confusion.

[0:24] And clarifies those things as a full gamut of leaders, as you remember, have come to Jesus. And asked Him questions as He's there in the temple on Tuesday of that final week.

[0:40] There, and we find that He'd been addressed by the priests and the scribes and the elders, the Pharisees, along with the Herodians and all those that began questioning His authority.

[0:52] Both that physical authority and even His spiritual authority of the things that He spoke. And their desire, though, we need to understand, because people ask questions. You always got to remember, people ask questions for two reasons.

[1:06] Some people ask questions for information that they might grow and learn and understand. And other people ask questions oftentimes to try to manipulate or divide.

[1:18] And we're going to see here that they had come to Jesus with that idea in mind. It was not to learn or understand, but it was to discredit Jesus before the people.

[1:32] And we find here that Jesus answered all of them well, revealing either their evil intent to their heart or their lack of understanding of Scripture.

[1:43] And Jesus clearly answered the question just earlier that we had looked at, this question of church and state, you know, what belongs our obligation to the state and which to God.

[1:57] And I encourage you to stick around for Sunday school, because we're going to talk about that some more in Sunday school with the things coming up. And so that's my 30-second commercial for you to stick around for Sunday school, okay?

[2:08] And because we're going to be talking about some things that are important there. But also we find here the next group that presented themselves were a very powerful religious and political group called the Sadducees.

[2:23] They came with an absurd question that is interesting. As you're going to see here, they didn't even believe their own question to be true. You know, that's interesting.

[2:36] Somebody asks a question based on something that they don't even believe to be true. And so we're going to see how this comes together here this morning. So if you've found in your Bible Mark chapter 12, let's stand together in the honor of reading of the Word of God.

[2:51] If you can stand with us here as we read. And we notice here, it tells us in verse 18, It says, And the seven had her and left no seed.

[3:29] Last of all, the woman died also. In the resurrection, therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her to wife.

[3:40] And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God. For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven.

[3:58] And as touching the dead, that they arise, that they have not, have ye not read in the book of Moses, how that in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

[4:11] He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Ye therefore do greatly err. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, Lord, we're thankful for your word.

[4:24] We're thankful for the opportunity as we have this morning to know the truth, Lord, that we don't have to err when it comes to things about the Scripture, Lord, that you have those things laid out.

[4:36] You have the things that we need from day to day, and even to understand not only the present, but to have an understanding and grasp of the future and the responsibility that is contained in it.

[4:48] And Lord, we pray just have your hand upon each one today, Lord, you know each soul here this morning, Lord, you know each one of the things in their heart, even here today, Lord, you might just challenge, encourage, convict, Lord, you know the need of each one this morning, Lord, if there's one that's not sure about where they stand with you today, Lord, that that might be the day that they would call upon you and have that settled before you.

[5:12] And Lord, we just give you all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen. May be seated. You know, as we see here this morning, most questions about spiritual things are oftentimes built or based in ignorant presuppositions or false assumptions.

[5:28] You know, many of the questions you face spiritually today, people come with false assumptions attached to them. Things that they've heard, things that they assume, or things that, you know, today it's, I Googled it, and this is what it said.

[5:42] You know, it's like, it's written someplace or somebody said it, so they take it as fact and they begin to operate on that information. And that, you know, I want you to know that that gets us in a lot of trouble when we operate with information that's not true.

[6:00] Whether intentionally or unintentionally. We need to make sure what we're doing is true and has a standard behind it. and we find here that even, even many empty and wicked arguments that just lead to fruitless discussions are built on the same case that we're going to see here today as the Sadducees, because you, I want you to understand, the Sadducees came for an argument and to discredit Jesus.

[6:26] They didn't come to get their question answered. They really didn't care how Jesus answered the question. Their goal was to cause a disagreement.

[6:36] Their goal was to discredit Jesus by maybe something that he said. And we can learn a lot when it comes to this from Jesus, but I want you to see how Jesus responds here as the Sadducees come with this question and I want you to understand it's built upon something that they did not even believe.

[6:57] Because the Bible reveals to us and history reveals to us something interesting about the Sadducees. This group of people didn't even believe in the resurrection. So why are they asking a question about the outcome of the resurrection when they don't even believe in it?

[7:11] Makes you start wondering, doesn't it? But it reveals their intent, reveals their heart behind it of what they were doing because they didn't want a conversation.

[7:24] They wanted an argument. They wanted to entangle Jesus in his words. And we find here the conjecture of the Sadducees. You know, they conjectured some things here. They conjured up was something that contained some misunderstandings, some conclusions that were not correct.

[7:41] You know, today we call that misinformation. They came to Jesus with a lot of things mangled in there that they were trying to promote as what was true.

[7:51] And the worst part about it, like any misinformation, and the devil's a master of misinformation. information. Because the best deceiving information is built upon something that has some truth contained in it.

[8:07] Because we grab a hold of what we hear of the truth and assume the rest of it to be so. We need to be careful that the truth that we grab a hold of is actually being expressed correctly.

[8:20] Being presented correctly to those things. And we find here that what they're doing is they're combining a command with a truth that was absurd in their mind because we're going to see here, take a look with me what they say here.

[8:34] Look at verse 19 in our text. It says, Master, Moses wrote unto us, if a man's brother die and leave his wife behind and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother.

[8:50] Now there were seven brethren. Do you see how this builds? Because I want you to understand what they're talking about here is something God had commanded the children of Israel.

[9:02] Deuteronomy chapter 25, you can go back and read it later because this isn't really dealing with leveret marriage. This is just the thing that they brought into this equation.

[9:13] But I'll summarize leveret marriage for you. It's simply this, that because the children of Israel were all going to be given a specific heritage a specific inheritance in the land that family was to raise up an heir.

[9:30] And so what God did with leveret marriage, and I want you to understand, it wasn't just something that the children of Israel were doing. It's recorded that other customs and other cultures practiced this same thing.

[9:41] What the brother would do, another brother would come and redeem that man's wife if he died without an heir. And he would take her as a wife to do what?

[9:52] To raise up an heir unto his brother. The child born, the first born child would not be considered his, it would be considered his brother's to inherit his brother's inheritance.

[10:04] In other words, it was a way of preservation among the lineage and the heritage. You know? Now that's not something we practice today, but I want you to understand what they're talking about was something God had told Israel for a specific purpose and had merit and some teeth behind it because God had instructed it to the children of Israel.

[10:24] So they're taking something there and so simply, this dynamic was there and the Sadducees used this law and the expectation of the resurrection to invent an absurd situation in a thinly veiled attempt to trap Jesus.

[10:42] Because we see here as it goes on down through, it says, what, that they went through all seven brothers and all seven brothers died and they had no heir and then they look at Jesus, I can just imagine, the more I read this, the more I can just see the smug look on their face thinking we got him.

[11:00] Have you ever noticed that when sometimes when people are trying to trick you and try to get over on you, it's like they have to get that smugness to them to say, this one will trap and there's no way out. In the resurrection, whose wife is she?

[11:14] They're like, oh, we got him. Now I want you to understand in that little tidbit of history that's important here, the Pharisees had promoted among the people that the wife would belong back to the resurrected first husband.

[11:28] but you know what? It's interesting here, Jesus deflates all of them because he reveals them. He says, you guys greatly err, you don't even understand what's happening.

[11:43] You don't understand the scripture. You don't understand how these things are happening and what the word of God says and this is a very extreme story but yet we see here this dynamic and the point of it is the resurrection of the dead and the conflict that was going to be caused.

[12:03] You know, over in Acts chapter 23, you'll find that this was a conflict amongst the Jews about resurrection. Because remember in Acts chapter 23, you'll find over there in verse 6 that the apostle Paul was being addressed.

[12:19] Both the Sadducees and the Pharisees wanted Paul arrested. So what does Paul do? Notice what he says and Paul perceived that in one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees he cried out in the council, Ben and brother I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee, of the hope of the resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

[12:37] Now notice this, and when he had so said there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the multitude was divided. Now that happened later but I wanted to bring that out so you realize what were the Sadducees trying to do?

[12:54] They were not trying to get their question answered, they were trying to cause division. Their question was built to be deceptive. And so when we see here their goal was that division among those listening to Jesus and to understand the story that they had conjured up was intertwined with misunderstandings and outright errors from the scripture.

[13:17] Even though, I want you to understand, the Sadducees were highly educated. They controlled the priesthood. They were political leaders. I mean, I want you to understand they were wealthy, they were a fluent group of individuals.

[13:32] They were actually one of the smaller political parties of groups in Israel but they maintained a large chunk of power. And they were there trying to disrupt this because Jesus was a threat to their power.

[13:47] Now let me give you a little bit of history why they might have been so upset because you remember just a few days before what did Jesus do when he went into the temple? He overturned all the tables and ran all the people in the market out.

[14:03] History tells us that the Sadducees were the ones who owned the marketplace. Interesting how that happens, isn't it? You know? So I want you to understand what was going on here and even though they had all these things, they were educated in Scripture, they knew what things had been said, they wanted to promote though their own ideology and authority and they came thinking that they knew and understood the Scripture better than Jesus.

[14:32] Now that's pretty tough. That'd be like going down to the bookstore where an author's there promoting their book. Can you imagine somebody walking up to the author of the book, I want to tell you what you wrote and what you meant.

[14:47] Now if you saw somebody do that, what would you do? You'd probably just shake your head going, what are you thinking? But literally, that's what the Sadducees did that day. They literally, not even knowing it, they went up to the author of the book and said, let me tell you how to interpret what you wrote.

[15:05] Not a good chance or a good look, is it? Because I want you to see here what takes place. Because when we understand that the Sadducees were like many today, they rejected anything from Scripture that didn't align with their concept of life.

[15:24] You know, this life was their primary focus as they didn't believe in anything different about the future. They thought everything was about today. Therefore, they lived for today.

[15:36] You know, similar ideas are held by many today as they reject the Bible as God's standard and direction for life, resulting in the absence of hope and no fear of a future judgment.

[15:49] You know, today we understand that people reject the Word of God. They talk about the Word of God. You know, we have presidential candidates who quote the Word of God and do a good job of taking it out of context.

[16:02] You can know what it says, but you better understand what it says. Because if we make our own assumptions, we'll get in trouble and you might say, well, why do people make false assumptions about the Scripture?

[16:14] Look over to John chapter 3 for a moment. John chapter 3, you'll find over here in John chapter 3, the problem is the core of the issue is the heart of the individual.

[16:26] Now notice what it says, and this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because what? Their deeds were evil.

[16:38] Why were the Sadducees upset? Because Jesus had confronted their evil choices. The choices they were making that were contrary to the things of God, Jesus had directly conflicted with what they thought.

[16:55] He had disrupted what they were doing. Now notice it says here in verse 20, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

[17:07] So here they come with this totally conjured up story, totally absurd situation that's like, okay, we'll get him on this one. We're going to use the Word of God to trap him.

[17:18] But notice what Jesus tells them here because they thought the first words out of Jesus' mouth was probably going to be to address their question. Look down at verse 24.

[17:29] Notice what Jesus says here in verse 24. Do ye not therefore what? Err. In other words, Jesus has replied to him, he says, guys, before we answer the question, we need to correct the false assumptions.

[17:49] We need to correct the core issue of your question that's not accurate because you have a lack of understanding. so we see Jesus here is going to correct the suppositions that they brought.

[18:01] You know, Jesus' response focuses on the error and the misapplication of Scripture. If you wanted to put it in today's vernacular, you might put it this way.

[18:12] Jesus looked at him and shook his head and said, you guys don't have a clue what you're talking about. You know? Oftentimes, we can understand, people ask questions trying to stir something up and you'll look at them and say, you have no idea what you're talking about.

[18:28] The Sadducees received that same type look, I think, from Jesus that day where Jesus is like, you did greatly error. You have no idea what you're really asking because you have no understanding of how this fits together.

[18:41] Why things were put that way. The suppositions they brought were both about marriage and the resurrection. Both of them were incorrect. Yes, leverage was the proper thing that they were to do as the children of Israel but their real question had to do with marriage and eternity and marriage and the resurrection.

[19:05] He tells them that they misunderstood those things about the word of God because first, they were ignorant of the word of God. Now, I want you to know here the Sadducees only believed the first five books, the books of Moses.

[19:20] All the other law and the prophets, all the other prophets, all the others that were there, they didn't take that as scripture. That's already a presupposition on their part and I want you to notice as we're going to look a little later, it's interesting that Jesus proves this point out of the portion of scripture that they believed because he talks about Moses at the burning bush.

[19:44] Jesus says, well, we can play this game and we'll just go to where you guys say you already believe so we'll skip the argument and just say this is what's going to be but we'll look at this because notice here they rejected the rest of the Old Testament.

[19:57] Now, I want you to understand Isaiah chapter 8 tells us this, it says, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word is because there is no light in them.

[20:09] Isaiah the prophet pinned these people directly. He says, if you don't accept the word of God, there's error already in everything that you say.

[20:24] That is an understanding, we need to understand the importance of the word of God because rejecting part of the scripture will cause confusion about the message that God has given to us.

[20:36] You know, oftentimes people will say, well, I don't like that part of scripture so I'll just ignore that or I'll spiritualize it or I'll make it, you know, they'll just kind of say, well, I don't really think that was accurate or that's not for today.

[20:50] Instead of saying, instead of asking is it for today, what's the context and what's the application and how does it fit in the whole scheme and realm of what God is doing?

[21:02] How does it fit together to understand the word of God? To understand the big picture? You know, because we know here that throughout the Old Testament, the resurrection is spoken of very clearly yet they didn't believe it.

[21:16] You know, consider Isaiah chapter 26. Notice what it says, thy dead shall live together with my dead body shall they what? Arise, awake and sing, ye that dwell in where?

[21:31] In dust. You know, I think this is just one example you can find that the earth, God is going to resurrect physically people.

[21:44] The resurrection was spoken of in the Old Testament. Notice, and the earth shall cast out the dead. That's an interesting statement. We could have to study that some other time.

[21:55] We don't have time to get into all that, but I want you to understand the emphasis here with this verse and many others. It's clear in the Old Testament that resurrection was taught and that God said there's going to be a resurrection.

[22:08] That was not the question. When we don't know the Scriptures, that is to, the only way to know the Scripture is to study them to know how to rightly divide them.

[22:20] When you rightly divide the Word of God means you put things and understand them in context. How does it fit? What's the big picture?

[22:31] You know, understand, you know, one of the things that gets people in a lot of trouble is what I call soundbite theology. I believe something and then I find a verse that makes it sound like I know what I'm saying.

[22:45] Then I use that verse to beat everybody up and when you study it, there's a lot of false doctrines built on soundbite theology. Because when you study out, oftentimes you'll find 99% of the time that has absolutely nothing to do with what they're trying to push it to be.

[23:04] It's a misunderstanding, it's a falsehood of those things and we understand that we'll believe many things that are either misunderstandings or even old wives tales about the Scripture that are not in the Scripture.

[23:20] You know, this is why we encourage you to study the Word of God. You know, coming to church on Sunday is good, but you know, you ought to read your Bible. I want to give you a little clue.

[23:33] It's not the preacher's job to teach you everything. Look over in 2 Timothy for a moment. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Notice what the Word of God tells us here in verse 15.

[23:43] It says what? Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, doing what? Rightly dividing the Word of truth.

[23:54] Now I want you to notice the verse that follows. It says, rightly divide the Word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase more, increase unto more ungodliness.

[24:09] I want you to understand that sometimes you can waste a lot of time arguing about things that are irrelevant. There's been a lot of misconceptions put out that people grab a hold of. Because when you understand the Scriptures where you're going to find your answer, consider what Jesus said over in John chapter 5.

[24:29] Look at John chapter 5 in verse 38. The Word of God says this, and ye have not the Word abiding in you for whom He has sent Him ye believe not.

[24:41] Search the Scriptures for in them ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of Me. In other words, Jesus said that the very things you guys are lacking the thing you err in, you're erring because you don't see what the Word of God has said, what is declared because if they did, they would have been like others that turned to Jesus.

[25:06] You know, oftentimes when we read through we say, well all these people were against Jesus, not all of them, there were a lot. You have men like Nicodemus. He was a high-ranking Pharisee but yet he realized that there's something different about Jesus and he came to Jesus.

[25:26] And we find that he was one that had understood who Jesus is and what Christ had done. You'll see him mentioned throughout Scripture. You say, well he's in the background but you know what, there's a lot of people that are believers that might be in the background of what we consider history that are key players in God's eyes.

[25:45] Because they were where God had them to be at that point. Doing what God would have them to do. They were ignorant of the Word of God.

[25:56] You know, many misconceptions come because of ignorance of the Word of God. The second thing we find here, they were ignorant that he tells them of God's power.

[26:07] You know, notice in verse 24 he says, do ye not therefore err because ye know not the Scriptures neither the power of God. In other words, they negated God downward to say God can do only what I think He can do.

[26:27] That I can know what God's limits are. Now I find it kind of ironic when you consider that they, this group, remember, the Sadducees, what portion of Scripture did they accept?

[26:38] the first five books. The books of Moses. Now the first book Moses wrote that we have in the Scripture for us in order anyways is the book of Genesis.

[26:50] When you open up to the first few chapters of the book of Genesis, you have to understand the power of God. When it says, in the beginning, God created.

[27:03] God spoke the universe into existence from nothing. In other words, I want you to understand He spoke the universe into existence.

[27:18] The Bible tells us He formed Adam from the dust of the earth. The special this morning was pretty appropriate. I want you to understand that God says He formed man out of the dust of the earth.

[27:28] Now a few minutes ago we read in Isaiah, where was God going to raise up people from in the resurrection? From the dust.

[27:40] So when you think about it, if He did it at the beginning, how hard is it for Him to do it again? I mean, it's really not that, and not to downgrade it, but I want you to understand it's really not that spectacular for God.

[27:51] God says, I've already done it. You know? He says, this is nothing that you ought to consider outrageous or out of scope of things. Because God says, I've already showed you that I've done it.

[28:03] If in question, pinch yourself. You're here because He formed man out of the dust of the ground. You're a walking testimony to God's power.

[28:19] And the Bible says He breathed into Him the breath of life. And here we have a group that said, we're going to believe in the literal creation that God had the power to speak the universe into existence, but we don't believe He has the power to resurrect people.

[28:36] You know what that is? That's a big misunderstanding and a misconception. You know not the power of God. You've read about it. You've heard about it, but you haven't understood it and applied what it is.

[28:50] Because if God could make man out of the dust of the ground, it's no big deal for Him to raise the dead physically in the resurrection.

[29:02] You know, I want you to understand, you might look at it this way, that God said it's not a problem. Think about Jeremiah the prophet. Look over to Jeremiah chapter 32.

[29:13] Jeremiah 32. We see here in Jeremiah 32 in verse 17, Jeremiah says, Ah, Lord God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched Thou art arm and there is nothing, what?

[29:31] Too hard for Thee. In other words, Jesus looked at the Sadducees that day and said, Guys, you err not knowing the Scripture. You don't understand what's going on and you don't understand the power of God.

[29:48] You don't understand what God can do. But now Jesus, after He clarifies and helps them understand that, hey, the question you asked, the question you conjured up is not accurate.

[30:05] Let me correct your assumptions. Let me correct the things that you've said in this. Because look down at verse 25 and it says, For when they shall rise from the dead, notice this, they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

[30:23] Neither marry nor are given in marriage. Now I want you to understand the first part of the question centered around marriage. Now marriage, you know, we've talked about it.

[30:35] Marriage is ordained. It's a wonderful divine institution that God has given to us. But I want you to understand marriage is an earthly institution that God's given.

[30:47] When you are in heaven, you are no longer married. Now that's a hard pill for some to swallow. Now I want you to understand it doesn't mean you might not still like the person or even want to hang out with them.

[31:00] I hope that's the case. Yeah, I hope who you married you want to hang out with. We talked about that a few weeks ago talking about marriage. You know, you ought to want to hang out with them but I want you to understand that that is absolved at death.

[31:20] That's what the Bible teaches us. It might make you feel good to consider other things but I want you to understand that God gives us marriage here for legitimate reasons in God's design and God's plan.

[31:31] We understand some of that is just for companionship. God says it's not good for man to be alone. You know, two is always better than one.

[31:41] We're designed that way. God gave us marriage for a place that family could be made and family could grow and to have those things and it's a place to fulfill legitimate desires that God gives to us.

[31:55] But I want you to understand that in heaven it's no longer neither marry or given in marriage. Now, that's one of those things that you start to preach or you're talking about things that I have in my mind the way I think it's going to be.

[32:07] Well, I'm sorry. God's word makes it clear of this is how it's going to operate and notice the next part of what he says because simply Jesus tells them your question is mute because there's nobody going to be married in heaven.

[32:23] So in other words Jesus said all seven brothers that married this gal when they come to the resurrection what? It's all irrelevant. It doesn't matter.

[32:35] You're misunderstanding. You're arguing about something that is irrelevant because it has no substance. There's no marriage in the resurrection. Take a look over into Luke chapter 20 for a moment.

[32:47] Luke chapter 20 because Luke gives us a little more insight into these things. In verse 35 of Luke chapter 20 it says but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die anymore for they are equal unto the angels and are the children of God being children of the resurrection.

[33:13] Now, I want you to understand because he talks here about another false and a bunch of misinformation that people say and you hear people say this all the time. But when your loved one dies they do not become an angel.

[33:29] The word of God compares them like or as. In other words there's some similarities but they are not. The similarities are that spiritual dynamic that number one angels don't die and that once you're resurrected you're never going to die again.

[33:45] Jesus makes it clear some very foundational things here because he says that you're not you're equal unto the angels but notice here he says you are the children of God. When a saved individual dies and goes to glory they don't become an angel they become and sit as part of the family.

[34:04] Now how many of you heard that misconception well they're now an angel? You hear that a lot don't you? It makes people feel good but you know what?

[34:14] The devil loves to twist false things that make us feel good to counteract what God has actually said. Because I want you to understand to be a child of God is far better than being an angel.

[34:25] You might say it's a greater status. When you look in the scripture an angel was just a servant.

[34:37] They're a messenger they're a servant of God. Now if you were to be a part of a household and the picture we see is of an ancient household would you rather be the child of the king or the servant of the king?

[34:50] I don't know about you but it sounds a lot better being his kid. Not that a servant would be bad but the child of the king is way better status. And God says that if you've trusted him as savior when you rose again you're risen again and declared you're placed as one of the family.

[35:11] Similar but different. Instead we're as distinct children of God. Think about here 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2 tells us this it says Beloved now we are what?

[35:23] The sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.

[35:36] Jesus is correcting a misconception not only to the Sadducees or the Pharisees but to all the people that were listening. He says let me put things in context.

[35:50] Had the question there of the second question was the question of the resurrection. Jesus knew the Sadducees denied the resurrection. You know there's many people today deny the resurrection.

[36:03] They deny the resurrection of Jesus they deny the fact that they're going to be resurrected one day. And you say well why do people reject the resurrection because you can't separate the resurrection from accountability.

[36:16] accountability. In the scripture resurrection and accountability go hand in hand. You find throughout the scripture those two are tied together.

[36:30] You know notice what Jesus tells them here though when he reminds them about Moses before the burning bush where it says there in verse 25 he says I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob.

[36:43] Now this is one of those things I think we miss you know we just got done with our conference on the Bible and this is one of those things sometimes get lost in translation a little bit but the words used there are present tense in other words God looks when God was speaking to Moses out of the bush Moses understood that he was being spoken to about Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the present tense in other words Moses understood that when he heard that that he was talking about them being physically present with Jesus being present in heaven not the God of the dead they'd long been eaten up by the worms but he spoke of them as being alive he said I'm the God of the living it's not open for debate notice when they shall rise notice in verse 25 for when they shall rise from the dead you know that's another powerful dynamic you know when we understand he's not the God of the dead but he's

[37:49] God of the living look there in verse 27 as he concludes he do therefore greatly Jesus answered their question by saying you guys need to get your facts straight let me put those things in context Jesus reminded them that the resurrection is foundational to everything today I want you to understand the resurrection is foundational to your very salvation the gospel is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ he is the first fruits he is the reason that we can be alive he is the one that has dealt with all that notice understand look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 for a moment 1 Corinthians chapter 15 notice here in verse 20 it says but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept for since by man came death by man came also resurrection of the dead for in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order

[38:54] Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christ that is coming I want you to understand because Jesus rose from the dead those who have their faith in him for salvation have passed from death unto life John chapter 5 makes it clear that we have passed from death the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is what eternal life he is the one that is brought forth that salvation that person is made alive from that spiritual death Ephesians chapter 2 he makes them alive in himself he gives them his life this is why salvation is referred to as a new birth in John chapter 3 because we're now a new creature in Christ when a person receives Christ they become partaker of an everlasting life you know John 3 16 and 6 47 reveal that he has given us his abundant life in John 10 10 everything about Jesus has to do with life death might be part of where we are but

[40:00] Jesus is life he is the one but I want you to understand that resurrection even if you don't believe in Christ you will be resurrected for a purpose look over in John chapter 5 for a moment Jesus declared this it shall come forth that they have done good under the resurrection of life and they have done evil under the resurrection of damnation you know what that means it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done but it does matter what you've done with Christ in this life how you responded to the truth of the gospel makes a difference because one day you will be resurrected you'll either be resurrected to reward through Christ Jesus or you will be condemned to eternity because you have rejected it because of your sin because you have rejected the gift of God I want you to understand God doesn't choose to or want or desire to send an individual to hell the Bible says he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but he doesn't force anybody into heaven you know it's kind of logical

[41:10] I don't know about you but people get upset have you ever tried to capture somebody and make them come to your house in the same token why would God force you into heaven if you don't want to be there he offers freely to all that will come he turns none away that come think about what first John tells us in chapter 5 it says he that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you might know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God what Jesus pointed to them was the reality of the resurrection and the reality of accountability because when it comes to who Jesus is what he's done for you what you do with it I hope you don't stand before the Lord one day and he says I'm sorry you were in error you had the truth and chose to do otherwise what a sad day because Jesus is a dividing line between life and death between heaven and hell this morning the big question is which side of the line are you on are you on the side with

[42:14] Jesus or on the side that rejected him his heads are bowed and eyes are closed this morning what about you today maybe you're here today and you're dealing with some falsehoods that you've been told there's many falsehoods about even salvation you know things like people attach baptism to it they attach just mantras and words to say but salvation comes when we understand that we're a sinner in what Christ has done for us and we acknowledge to him what we've done and acknowledge who he is if you're here this morning and you're not sure that you have eternal life I encourage you to come we'll have somebody show you from God's word how you can know that you have eternal life what about you today heavenly fathers we come before you today Lord we just thank you we thank you for that we have your word Lord that we don't have to be in error

[43:14] Lord that we can study to show ourselves approved rightly dividing rightly putting those things in Lord not of how we want but how you have put it Lord we pray just have your hand upon each one today Lord you know each heart each life Lord you know what heart your spirit is working upon today Lord today they might come and call upon you say I want that resurrection of life as a child of God Lord we just turn this time to you and Lord give you all the praise in Jesus name Amen