Mark 12:18-27

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.

Mark 8:31

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 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

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

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

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

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