God Of The Living

Let's start by looking at the group that had confronted Jesus to begin with. Look at verse 18,

and Sadducees came to him who say there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question.

So Mark, for the first time and only time in his book, brings up this particular group called the

Sadducees, and if you grew up in Sunday school like me, you were told they were sad, you see,

because they did not believe in the resurrection. They're a small group, a small sect within Judaism,

but they had considerable influence, actually. They were the wealthy aristocrats of the day,

of Jewish society. They had many powerful positions within the priesthood, but then also

in the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jews. Many Sanhedrins involved in that,

and it was through this power that they had that they controlled the happenings and the procedures

around the temple and temple worship, including those franchises of merchants, the greediness of

the money changers. It was the Sadducees that oversaw all of those processes. Remember in chapter 11,

Jesus comes in and chases them all out. Well, it's the Sadducees that are the ones that are benefiting

the most from that. Their teaching varied greatly from the Pharisees and from the dominant position

of Judaism. They contended that only the first five books of the Bible were divinely inspired.

The Pentateuch or the Book of Moses is how it's referred to here in this passage. They thought that

everything else that we would consider as necessary and inspired in the Old Testament was not actually

inspired. And so they completely dismissed any notions that could not be directly proven in

those first five books. It's a common position that people even hold today. The argument is based

on denial, that I can deny your argument just by denying the basis of your argument. So if someone

were to say, well, we believe that there's a resurrection, they'd say, well, no, you have to go to these other

books to prove that. And since we don't believe those other books are valid, then of course,

we don't believe that your argument about the resurrection is valid. And it's a terrible way

to argue, but it's the way that they positioned themselves when it came to this particular topic.

Acts tells us that they also denied the existence of spiritual beings. They didn't believe in angels,

they didn't believe in demons, and they didn't believe in a resurrection or an afterlife.

They believed that the soul dies with the body, and therefore we face neither rewards for our good,

neither do we face destruction or punishment for our evil, which naturally made them social and political

opportunists whose loyalty lay with whoever benefited them the most at the time. So since they believe that

it's only this life, this world is all that there is, what they pursued in this world was power and wealth

and pleasure. So they were friendly to the Romans. They were friendly to whoever would allow them to

have the authority and control over the temple, whoever was going to allow them to benefit from people.

That's the way that they live their life. And it's in this way that the Sadducees are very much like

modern people. Because modern Western thought refuses to believe that there's any purpose to

this life or existence after this life. It denies that there is actually a holy God who will judge the

world and everything in it so people live their lives for themselves. Because why not? If I'm going to

deny that there is a God and I'm going to deny that he cares about me and I'm going to deny that he will

judge me, then I am my own God. I'll live my life the way I want to live it and no one can tell me

otherwise. So our loyalties typically lie with those who benefit us the most. And our pursuits are consumed

with personal fulfillment and with power and with wealth. And the tragedy of all of this is the error of it.

Because every one of these people will indeed face the judgment of their creator.

And our only hope of vindication in that judgment is the death and resurrection of Christ.

So the Pharisees and the Herodians in the last section, they had failed in their attempt to derail the Lord's influence.

It's the Sadducees' turn now. They're going to give it their best effort. But as we read through,

we find that the cleverness of men is no match for the Son of God. And Jesus' wisdom once again

silences his enemies and leaves them speechless. But it's not the confrontation that is the main point here.

It only serves as the context for a series of critical truths from Jesus. And here's what we learn. Here's the

general thought of what we learn in this passage. God's covenant with Israel's patriarchs promises

that there is life after death. And Jesus' resurrection secures eternal life for whoever

will believe and follow him. All right? That's where we're going to go. Okay? But we're going to go

verse by verse to get there. All right? Listen, I'm going to follow the same format that we did last

week. And we'll do it with the scribe next Sunday as well. We're going to look at the challenge from the

Sadducees. Then we're going to look at Jesus' counter argument here as well. So let's look at the

challenge first. Verse 19. Here was the question that they asked. 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,

he left no offspring. 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 then, Jesus,

when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her.

So their question is really, the motivation behind it is no different than the Pharisees and the

Herodians. This was not an honest inquiry on the part of the Sadducees. This was meant,

as an intellectual trap. And the challenge here is pretty straightforward. It was probably a common

one. Sinclair Ferguson said this is the type of question that every son of a Sadducee would have

asked every son of a Pharisee in primary school. You know, we have those intellectual bullets in our

holsters that we pull out. Just when we get someone at the right moment, we have this one question or

this one statement that we believe is unanswerable. And this was one of those questions. This probably

wasn't, they probably didn't come up with this in this moment. This was probably an argument that

was necessary for every card carrying Sadducee in Israel. And so I'm certain that people had heard

this before, but no one else apparently had been able to answer it adequately or satisfactorily.

So they bring it to the Lord. And the hypothetical situation that they present

is based on the laws of the law of marriage, which you can find described in Deuteronomy chapter 25.

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

We're not going to read that today, but let me just give you the synopsis of how it worked.

God commanded that if a married man died without children,

then his widow was to be married by the next relative who was unmarried. Okay, so the next

brother, or maybe if he didn't have any brothers, maybe it would be a cousin or whatever the closest

relative was who was unmarried was then to take the widow of this man and raise up children in his

name. So their first child, their first son would be named after the man who died. And what that did

was it secured the family name in Israel. It secured wealth for that family, their land. It stayed in the

family instead of passing on to other people. But then it also served as a protection for the widow.

It was a protection for her who otherwise might have been rejected by any other suitors,

would have been rejected by anyone else who didn't want to marry someone who wasn't a virgin.

She would have been destitute. She would have no one who could provide for her and protect her.

So God, in his grace, provides this law that the people were to follow. Now, I don't know how many of

you have good relationships with your sister-in-laws, but you can imagine this could be problematic in

some instances. But it was of God's will that they had this in Israel. And if someone didn't follow

this law of leveret marriage, Deuteronomy 25 says that they were to be dishonored. And there was this

whole procedure that you can read about that's somewhat humorous. But basically, it comes down to

dishonor forever. For the rest of the man's life, he would be known as the man who abandoned his

sister-in-law and who disobeyed the Lord's command. And of course, probably the most famous or well-known

of these situations is in Ruth and Boaz. And you can go and read that and how that worked out.

Well, the Sadducees' point here is not to discuss leveret marriage, but they were using it as a weapon

to suggest that the notion of a resurrection or an afterlife was actually absurd. That's what they

were trying to say to the Lord. And the reasoning went something like this. Why would God insist on

leveret marriage knowing how complicated that's going to make things if there is an afterlife?

Do you see the argument that they're trying to make? Why would God do that? He insisted on leveret

marriage. If there's multiple men that have one wife and in eternity, what's that going to be? It's

going to be a big mess. So clearly there's no such thing as a resurrection. Otherwise, God would not

have instituted this law. And they really just made a mockery of the Lord's position. And their argument

was reflective of common Jewish thought that the afterlife was really nothing more than a continuation

of this life. And we're going to get to that more in just a moment. But the famous Jewish historian,

Josephus, he wrote that the Sadducees were notoriously arrogant. They were dismissive of others who had

differing views. And undoubtedly, their objective here with the Lord was to make a mockery of him

and to treat him as a fool rather than a rabbi and messianic figure. But before we move on to Jesus's

response, we need to think for just a moment about what it was that motivated the Sadducees' aggression.

What is it that makes them want to come after Jesus at this moment? It doesn't seem like they're trying

to accomplish the same thing as the Pharisees and the Herodians who were actually seeking for his death.

The Sadducees, this whole thing wouldn't actually contribute to the death of Jesus.

What is it that they're trying to do? Remember, these men are fundamentally opportunists.

And they use their power to corrupt the temple procedures. They sold the franchises to the

merchants. They sold the franchises to the money changers. They were the ones taking the cut

off the top of whatever was made. They were the ones that were getting rich off of the superficial

worship of the people. But when Jesus came to town, what did he do? He interfered with all of that.

He chased out the merchants. He turned over the money changing stations. He refused to let that

continue in the temple, which meant that their wallets are the ones that took the hit.

They've lost their extra source of income here. And obviously, you hit someone in their wallet.

They don't like that very much. And the Sadducees didn't appreciate that either. But on top of all of that,

Jesus humiliated them by ignoring and denying their authority over the people.

And they knew as long as Jesus and the people were following Jesus, they weren't going to listen

to the Sadducees anymore. So what are they actually trying to do here? They're trying to make him look

like a fool in order to diminish his influence over the people so that they might regain their influence

over the people. They might regain their power and authority. And here we find this theme of authority

coming to the surface once again here in this chapter. It's just everywhere here. We all want to do things

our own way. None of us want someone else ruling over our lives or telling us what to do.

But you cannot be a disciple of Jesus without submitting to his lordship over your life.

And think about this. Israel's conflict with Jesus was not ultimately about religious ideas.

It was ultimately about personal authority. And that's the case for us as well. Our issues with Jesus

are far less about what he says and more to do with the fact that he says them to us.

It's less about his commands and more about the fact that he actually commands us. We don't like

that. We're fine for someone to be different. We're fine for someone to have different ideas as long as

they stay over there and leave me alone about it. But as soon as someone comes in and begins to

exercise authority in our own lives, we start to get defensive and we get upset about that. We don't want

to give up our own personal autonomy. And that's exactly what people do with Jesus. He comes in as

the Lord of all and he begins to command us and he begins to teach us. And the problem isn't so much

with what he's saying. It's the fact that he's saying it and that he's saying it to us, expecting us

to follow it. And so this issue of authority comes up again. Well, let's look at how Jesus countered

the men in verses 24 to 27. Of course, one of our favorite things about this section

is Jesus just has a mic drop moment after mic drop moment, doesn't he? He silenced the Pharisees.

He silences the Sadducees here as well. No matter how clever they got, they could not find a way to trap

him. And so Jesus in this response is simple. He gives some reasons for their error. He gives some

realities of the resurrection, some realities of what life will be like in eternity. And then he affirms

the resurrection itself. I want to deal just quickly with the reasons for their error. And then I want to

jump in and give us some time to be encouraged by what Jesus is saying about heaven here and about

eternity. Let's look first at the reasons for their error. Verse 24, Jesus said to them,

is this not the reason you are wrong? Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

And don't you love how straightforward Jesus is here? He doesn't say, well, you know what? That's an

interesting thought that you have there. And I value your opinion. He does know what he says.

He says, you're wrong.

Different from the politically correct compromise of the modern church, Jesus had no problem saying

they were plainly wrong. Now here's what's interesting about it. We know Jesus. We've studied his life here.

We know that there was no person to have ever lived or has ever lived since that is more loving than Jesus.

We have all experienced that he truly is, as he said, gentle and lowly.

That when we come to him, he gives us, he takes off the burden of religion and he takes off the burden of

works and he takes off the burden of our sin and he replaces it with his light and easy load and he gives us

rest. That's who Jesus is, right? He's gentle and he's lowly and he's loving.

Modern thought asserts that to love someone is to agree with them. But Jesus proves that true love does

not capitulate to error. True love exposes error. But here's where we go wrong sometimes.

Jesus' aim in exposing their error was not to insult them. His aim was not to win an argument.

His aim was to lead them to the truth. And that's where we go wrong sometimes, isn't it?

We forget that the ultimate aim of standing on the truth and exposing error is to lead other people to that truth.

But sometimes, man, you know, just get, if you're on social media, you can get so irritated, right?

Or you're in that one conversation. Now it becomes less about leading these people to truth

and it becomes more about embarrassing them for having such a foolish opinion. Or it becomes more

about just destroying them and their character. It's not really about truth anymore. Well, Jesus never

went there, but he was plain. And still, we need disciples who will lovingly and unashamedly stand

for truth and righteousness in the world. Otherwise, we are salt that has lost its seasoning and we have

become utterly worthless and useless in the plan of God. And so we see right in God's example,

Jesus' example here, he just plainly tells them, you're wrong. And here's why. He gives two reasons.

They were ignorant of the scriptures and they were ignorant of God's power. They dismissed the Bible

and they ignored the fact that the God who created ex nihilo out of nothing, all that is, also has the

power to create and transform life in the next life. They just ignored all of that. Jesus says,

that's your problem, which was a particular blow to their egos because the Sadducees would have

prided themselves on being experts in both categories. And the truth is, without fail,

the root of our sin, the root of our false doctrine, ultimately comes down to a low view of God's word

and a low view of God. A low view of God and a low view of God's word is going to lead us to sin

and it's going to lead us to false doctrine and it's going to lead us to carnality. And if we're going

to win people for Christ, we can't rely on our intellect for that. What do we do? We endeavor to

show them the beauty and holiness of God along with the inerrant authority of the Bible.

So Jesus points out right away, here's your problem. You don't know the Bible and you don't know God.

Okay. Those are the reasons for their error. Secondly, here's where I want to park for a minute.

The realities of the eternal state, the realities of the eternal state. Look at verse 25.

Jesus says, for when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage,

but are like angels in heaven.

So before dealing with the central issue of the resurrection,

Jesus made a statement here about the reality of what life is like in eternity. And of course,

this is not exhaustive. He just points to one particular thing that related to their question.

Now, remember what I said about Jewish thought. They believed that any afterlife was just a

continuation of this life. There wasn't really anything more grand about it. It was just that

we get to continue on how things are. And that was the context of the Sadducees' question.

They assumed that the afterlife would mimic the current one, which was evidence that even the

Pharisees didn't really know the power of God. Says Sinclair Ferguson, they had so small a view of God

that they seemed to think the world to come would simply be a continuation of the world as it is.

But if they had known the power of God to transform human life, they would have already known what

Jesus was about to tell them. Now, here's where I want to pause for a second. Be honest.

Does it bother you when Jesus says,

there will be no marriage in heaven?

You're neither married, nor are you given in marriage.

Because if I'm honest, that bugs me a little bit when I first get to it, right?

I love Julie so much.

It's almost painful to consider that

in heaven, I might not be as close to her

or have the intimacy with her that I enjoy now

on earth. But is that what Jesus is saying here?

In eternity, will Julie and I be

like strangers?

I don't think so.

There won't be marriage in heaven

because there will be no need for marriage

in heaven.

Now, think about it.

God instituted marriage

to provide companionship

on earth. Remember in Genesis,

is it chapter two?

He said, it is not good that man be alone.

Therefore, he will make a helper that is suitable

for him and he creates Eve.

And together, he provides something in marriage

that would cause the family on earth

to flourish in the complementary roles

of men and women.

It was all a part of God's plan.

It was necessary for life here.

Necessary for this life.

Marriage is also

to be a shadow

pointing us toward the intimacy

that we will experience

with God

and Christ

in eternity.

Marriage was never meant to be

eternal.

If you spoke of an eternal bond

at your wedding ceremony,

you misspoke

because Jesus says

there is no marriage there.

It was never meant to be eternal.

It's meant to be a foretaste

of the immeasurable glory

of perfect union

with God.

Do you understand that?

As wonderful

as a companion

as Julie is to me,

Christ is far better.

As wonderful

as marriage is

in this life,

as much of a blessing

as it is for us

in this life

to have someone

to be with,

someone to love,

someone to continue on

in life with,

someone to bear

your burdens with,

someone to enjoy intimacy with,

as much,

as wonderful

as a thing marriage

is in this life,

it cannot compare

to the glory

of being with God

and being in personal

and perfect union

with Him

in eternity.

It doesn't compare.

It's only meant

to give us a foretaste

of what will be

far greater

in heaven.

James Edwards said,

the glorious realities

of the life to come

can no more

be accommodated

to the pedestrian

routines of earthly life

than can butterflies

be compared

to caterpillars.

Present earthly experience

is entirely insufficient

to forecast

divine heavenly realities.

We can no more

imagine heavenly existence

than an infant

in utero

can imagine

a Beethoven piano concerto

or the Grand Canyon

at sunset.

And we need

to be careful.

We don't think

that what God has

for us in eternity

will be a disappointment

if it doesn't include

what we have

now.

You've heard of people

that are so heavenly minded

that they're no earthly good.

I think for most of us,

we're probably

so earthly minded

that we're no heavenly good.

And we understand, right?

Why do we feel that way?

When we find goodness

in this life,

we cling to it.

Why?

Because this life

is saturated

with evil

and suffering

and destruction.

and we find glimpses

of goodness

and glimpses

of grace.

We grab on

and we don't want

to let go

even if it means

that we might get

something better.

I want to encourage you

to think for just a moment.

Think about all the things

that you love

in this life.

Think about all the things

that you enjoy

in this world.

Your family,

the beauty of creation,

the blessings of God,

the things that we love,

just bring them

to the forefront

of your mind

for just a moment.

The things that you love

the most in this life.

And now I want you

to recognize

that the things

that just came

to the forefront

of your mind,

you enjoy

in a fallen state.

You enjoy them

in the midst

of a sin-cursed world.

And think about

the goodness

and the grace

and the beauty

that God has provided

in the midst of sin

and in the midst

of devastation.

Now can you imagine now

what awaits us

in heaven

where there is no sin,

where there is no decay,

where there is no disease,

where there is no death,

where there is no war,

where there is no suffering.

All the things

that you love here now.

Imagine if God

can give you

that kind of grace

in this life,

what can he give to us

in the next life

which is removed

from all hardship

and trial

and tribulation.

What a wonderful thought.

You don't have to dread heaven.

It will be far greater

than this earth.

That doesn't really answer

the question I posed

which is what will

my relationship

with Julie

be like in heaven?

Will we be like strangers

to one another?

No, I don't think so.

And I'm going to read

to you a quote.

It's a long one.

It's just,

it's written much better

than what I could write it.

It's by a man named

Edward Donnelly.

And I want you to consider

this for a moment.

He writes,

we will certainly

know one another

in heaven.

King David

looked forward

to being reunited

with his dead son there.

I shall go to him,

he said.

Paul urges

bereaved Christians

not to sorrow

as others

who have no hope

for God will bring

with him

those who sleep

in Jesus.

The reason

for not grieving

like unbelievers

is that their parting

is not permanent.

They will meet again.

And then he says this,

we cannot know

less in heaven

than we did on earth.

And so we will

recognize there

those known to us.

And surely

that is comforting.

We're also told

that many aspects

of marriage

will no longer

be appropriate

in glory

where there will

be no reproduction.

The husband

will not need

a helper

nor the wife

someone to cherish

her protectively.

children

will not require

parental care.

The relationship

between Christ

and his church

will be so obvious

as to render

unnecessary

a human illustration.

But does this

mean then

that your husband

or my best friend

will be no more

to us

than anyone else

among the multitudes

of the redeemed?

I don't think so.

For every good

thing

will be better

in heaven

than on earth.

If God

has given you

a Christian husband

or wife

parent

or child

brother

or friend

you can be sure

that whatever

the parameters

of your future

relationship

with them may be

the friendship

will be closer

there

than it is now.

you will know

them more

intimately

love them

more intensely

delight in them

more fully.

It is impossible

that we should

lose

anything good

in that place

where good

abounds.

We can look

at Christians

whom we

love especially

and praise God

that we will

continue to love

them more

and more

forever

and

ever.

Is that not

awesome?

Yeah Jesus

says

there's no need

for marriage

in heaven

we won't be

given in marriage

in heaven

but that doesn't

mean I won't

know Julie

that means I

will know

her better.

I will love

her more

she'll love

me more

our intimacy

will be

greater there

than it's

ever been

before in

this life

why?

Because

we have

stripped away

all the sin

all the decay

all the

destruction

we are in

the place

of God's

perfection

where he

pours out

blessing

after blessing

after blessing

can you

imagine

loving your

wife more

than you

love her

now?

Don't answer

that.

Grandparents

can you

imagine

loving those

grandbabies

more than

you love

them now?

Mark

can you

imagine

loving Adeline

more than

you love

her now?

Can you

imagine

that?

You

will

you

will

be

greater

it

won't

be

the

same

but

it

will

be

greater

it

will

be

better

and

the

testimony

of

the

church

in

history

is

that

Christians

have

longed

for

heaven

they've

longed

for

eternity

and

we

could

use

a

revival

of

that

longing

today

because

we

find

all

the

things

that

we

love

most

and

cherish

most

on

this

earth

and

we

think

if

this

isn't

in

heaven

I

don't

want

to

go

we

wouldn't

say

it

out

loud

but

we

live

that

way

that's

why

it's

so

easy

for

us

to

give

up

worship

for

a

family

day

because

we

love

our

family

more

than

we

love

worship

it's

why

it's

so

easy

for

us

to

give

up

the

things

of

God

in

order

to

have

the

things

of

this

earth

because

we're

clinging

to

things

that

will

pass

away

and

we're

failing

to

recognize

the

beauty

!

that

will

be

heaven

the

beauty

that

will

be

eternity

and

it

will

be

real

and

it

will

be

glorious

and

we

need

to

pray

that

the

Lord

would

give

us

a

fresh

longing

for

heaven

finally

let's

look at

resurrection

affirmations

here

resurrection

affirmations

verse

26

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

and

then

he

reiterates

you

are

quite

wrong

the

Sadducees

assumed

that

one

would

have

to

cite

books

outside

of

the

book

of

Moses

to

prove

any

form

of

future

resurrection

so

Jesus

proved

it

from

Exodus

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

chapter

3

a

passage

that

they

would

have

affirmed

as

divinely

inspired

two

ways

that

this

little

verse

in

Exodus

3

affirms

life

after

death

and

they're

simple

the

first

is

this

God

uses

the

present

tense

rather

than

the

past

tense

he

didn't

say

I

was

the

God

of

Abraham

I

was

the

God

of

Isaac

and

I

was

the

God

of

Jacob

no

he

says

I

am

the

God

of

Abraham

I

am

the

God

of

Isaac

I

am

the

God

of

Jacob

simple

yeah I

know

but

there's

a

second

reason

Jesus

used

this

text

to

emphasize

the

eternal

!

nature

of

God's

covenant

with

Abraham

and

Isaac

and

Jacob

now think

about this

for a

moment

what

would

be

the

purpose

in

those

glorious

covenants

made

with

the

patriarchs

those

extravagant

promises

of

progeny

and

prosperity

and

land

and

peace

what

would

be

the

purpose

of

giving

all

of

those

promises

extravagantly

to

these

three

men

knowing

that

they

would

utterly

cease

to

exist

in

only

a

few

years

it

wouldn't

make

sense

if

there

was

no

existence

after

this

life

why

would

God

be

so

concerned

about

the

lives

we

live

here

and

now

and

the

answer

is

he

wouldn't

William

Lane

said

this

it's

inconceivable

!

God

would

provide

for

the

patriarchs

some

partial

tokens

of

deliverance

and

leave

the

final

word

to

death

if

the

death

of

the

patriarchs

is

the

last

word

of

their

history

!

There

has

been

a

breach

of

the

promises

of

God

guaranteed

by

the

covenant

it

is

in

faithfulness

to

his

covenant

that

God

will

resurrect

the

dead

he

says

still

not

convinced

Sadducees

wouldn't

have been

either

not

because

the

evidence

is

weak

but

because

their

hearts

were

so

hard

they

didn't

believe

Jesus

words

because

they

didn't

want

to

but

this

argument

is

not

just

Jesus

opinion

on

Exodus

3

so

how

can

we

know

that

it's

true

how

can

we

trust

what

Jesus

says

and

think

that

the

Sadducees

are

wrong

or

anyone

else

for

that

matter

the

ultimate

guarantee

of our

resurrection

is

Jesus

his

own

resurrection

that's

it

his

resurrection

not only

proves

that

eternity

is a

reality

but

only

Jesus

has

the

authority

to

provide

eternal

life

to

us

the

resurrection

of

Jesus

changes

everything

you

say

how

do

we

know

that

the

Bible

is

true

our

first

answer

is

because

Jesus

rose

from

the

dead

and

Jesus

affirmed

it

he

affirmed

the

scriptures

he

was

testified

to

by

the

scriptures

they're

true

because

he

rose

and

he

lives

again

how

do

we

know

that

we

can

have

life

after

death

because

Jesus

has

proven

himself

that

he

has

life

after

death

and

he

has

power

over

death

and

he

has

authority

over

life

now

I

want

you

to

turn

with

me

as

we

finish

to

I

would

encourage

you

to

do

that

on

your

own

the

whole

chapter

is

about

this

same

subject

it's

the

resurrection

of

saints

because

of

the

resurrection

of

Jesus

and

I

want

you

to

read

with

me

beginning

at

verse

20

we'll

go

verse

20

to

verse

26

1

1 Corinthians 15:20

Corinthians

15

verse

20

but

in fact

Christ

has

been

raised

from

the

dead

the

first

fruits

of

those

who

have

fallen

asleep

for

as

by

a

man

came

death

by

a

man

comes

also

the

resurrection

of

the

dead

for

as

in

Adam

all

die

so

also

in

Christ

shall

all

be

made

alive

but

each

in

his

own

order

Christ

the

first

fruit

then

at

his

coming

those

who

belong

to

Christ

then

comes

the

end

when

he

delivers

the

kingdom

to

God

the

father

after

destroying

every

rule

and

every

authority

and

every

power

for

he

must

reign

until

he

has

put

all

enemies

under

his

feet

and

the

last

enemy

to

be

destroyed

is

death

what's

Paul's

point

we

will

live

on

because

Christ

lives

on

we

will

have

life

because

Christ

has

life

we

will

conquer

death

because

Christ

has

conquered

death

for

us

his

resurrection

changes

everything

it guarantees

ours

notice

why

stay

there

in

1st

Corinthians

15

we're

going

to

come

back

to

it

but

remember

what

Jesus

said

at the

very

end

to

the

Sadducees

he

is

God

of

the

living

not

God

of

the

dead

which

begs

the

question

as

we

close

are

you

living

or

are

you

dead

and

of

course

we

don't

mean

physically

we

mean

spiritually

do

you

have

life

or

are

you

in

the

category

that

Paul

talked

about

in

Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter

2

that

you

are

dead

in

your

trespasses

and

in

your

sins

because

if

you're

dead

you

receive

no

blessing

from

the

God

of

the

living

to

receive

his

blessing

to

receive

his

life

you

must

be

alive

Daniel

Daniel 12 · chapter mention

chapter

12

reminds

us

that

not

just

Christians

will

be

raised

but

so

will

unbelievers

Daniel

said

many

of

those

who

sleep

in

the

dust

of

the

earth

shall

wake

some

to

everlasting

life

some

to

shame

and

everlasting

content

the

truth

is

that

we'll

all

spend

eternity

somewhere

but

not

everyone

will

spend

it

in

the

perfect

beauty

and

goodness

of

heaven

some

will

be

raised

to

eternal

death

separated

from

God

in

hell

so

how

can

we

know

where

we

go

if

there

is

an

afterlife

and

if

there's

only

one

of

two

places

that

we

can

spend

that

time

in

eternity

how

can

we

guarantee

that

we

go

to

the

good

place

and

not

to

the

bad

place

Jesus

said

in

John

11

I

am

the

resurrection

and

the

life

whoever

believes

in me

though

he

die

yet

shall

he

live

and

everyone

who

lives

and

believes

in

me

shall

never

die

Jesus

is

the

answer

he

is

the

answer

the

bible

says

that

it's

appointed

unto

man

once

to

die

and

then

after

this

comes

the

judgment

do

you

understand

what

that

judgment

is

it

is

when

the

creator

of

all

the

creator

of

you

judges

you

on

the

basis

of

whether

or

not

you

fulfilled

the

purpose

for

which

he

created

you

to

fulfill

you

have

a

purpose

given

to

you

by

your

creator

that

purpose

is

his

own

glory

and

how

do

we

glorify

God

kids

by

loving

him

and

obeying

his

commands

and

laws

the

problem

is

none

of us

have

done

that

none

of us

have

loved

him

perfectly

none

of us

have

obeyed

him

perfectly

so

when

we

stand

before

him

in

that

judgment

we

cannot

possibly

hope

to

receive

blessing

on the

basis

of the

good

that

we

have

done

Isaiah

said

our

goodness

to

God

is like

a

filthy

rag

it's

worthless

because