Matthew Pt. 85 - Sadducees and the Resurrection

Alright, turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 23, No 22.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

The Bible is awesome because the Bible is living and active.

The Bible is God's word. This is part 85 and I have not

and I have not gotten bored with Matthew.

If you have, then you're boring. God's not boring.

The Bible's not boring. Matthew 22.

Remember, we're in the last days of Jesus life.

So it's hard every week to give that context again.

But we need to, we need to say it once more.

This is the moment he's been building up for three years.

His ministry. He is the centerpiece of

everything that's happening in Jerusalem.

There's not like 17 people hovering around looking into

what this rabbi named Jesus is up to.

Thousands upon thousands upon many, many thousands have heard

him preach. You know somebody who knows

somebody who's been healed by Jesus at this point.

They have heard about the miracles.

I heard he raised Lazarus from the dead.

I heard he raised somebody else from the dead.

But they all know they weren't dead.

They'd only fallen asleep. There's all confusion.

No, Lazarus was dead 4 days, bro.

He actually came back. And right, for sure, that guy

was raised from the dead. All these stories have expanded

and swelled. He's fed thousands and they know

that he didn't have the resources to do so, but he is

the resource to do so. So he's fed many people.

All this is expanded. The Pharisees are mad at him.

The Sadducees are mad at him. The Herodians are mad at him.

The Romans aren't quite sure. They're not totally clued into

what's going on. They're just going.

The Jews are doing Jew stuff. We don't really care that much

because we have the sword and we still are going to rule over

them. But of course, what they don't

realize is that Jesus has all the while been been building up

His Kingdom to subverse the entire world.

He's not going to. He has not yet come to rule with

the sword. He will, but at this point he

did not come to rule with the sword.

He came to rule the hearts of men.

The thing that no sword can affect.

The sword can kill people and it can force people to do things

that they don't want to do. Only Jesus has the power to

change you wanting to do something different.

Jesus can change your wonder. Jesus reforms and completely

transforms your desires so that the thing I wanted to do, I

don't need to be forced by the sword to do it.

I am drawn by the grace and the love of God to go.

He has changed me. He's made me new.

This is how Jesus is changing the world.

He's stronger and He's better. He does what no man can do.

Men can force people with intimidation.

Jesus can change a man's heart. So Jesus has been building

popularity. People are jealous of him, but

now he's coming this week and he came into the temple and he

overturned the tables. The Sadducees are the ruling

group who ruled the temple. They are the chief priests, not

the Pharisees. So the Pharisees would be

considered. They would be more looked up to

as religious leaders. The people looked at the

Sadducees, although they were in positions of power, they were

not adored. They were not really admired

because they were very clearly political and they were very

wealthy men and they did not love all of the Scriptures.

They only adhere to the first five books of the Old Testament,

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and yet

still they were even blind to those books that they claimed

that they believed. So Jesus comes into the temple

and overturns the money changers and throws out everyone who's

carrying furniture through 100,000 people in the temple

court. When he's doing this and he

establishes his authority over the temple and they're going,

what are you doing? But what authority do you do

this? They're challenging him.

They don't just grab him. They don't just arrest him

because they said no one's ever spoken like him before.

They sent people to go arrest them, like go get him.

And they're like, we tried, but we couldn't bring ourselves to

because his power. He's just sorry, boss, I came

back because I didn't know what else to do.

So they're stumped, but they're determined to kill him.

But this is His purpose. He came to die.

He's not the victim of the Pharisees.

He's not the victim of the Sadducees.

He's not the victim of the Romans.

He's not a hostage to anybody. As he makes clear.

You have no power over me except that was given to you from

above. Nobody takes my life from me.

I lay it down. Jesus is the one marching to the

cross. They are the pawns in His game,

and they are fulfilling their ordained purpose.

Because of their hard hearts, because of their unbelief, Jesus

is going to accomplish Jesus's mission.

So they've been testing him. Remember, the Passover lambs are

being tested this week. They're being scammed.

They're being inspected. Will this be ready for the

Passover? Can this lamb be sacrificed for

the Passover? When Thursday night comes,

whenever it's time for the Passover meal, will this lamb be

ready? Jesus is the greater Passover

lamb who has been brought into Jerusalem, and he's being

inspected all week. They test him, they try to trick

him, they try to confuse him, and he humiliates them and

rebukes them over and over and over.

Now we pick up here chapter 22 and verse 23.

The same day Sadducees came to him who say that there is no

resurrection. And they asked him a question,

saying, Teacher Moses said if a man dies having no children, his

brother must marry the widow and he must raise up offspring for

his brother. So they are quoting the Old

Testament, the first five books that they believe from.

And there was a law, and this was for two purposes.

This was to care for the widow, and this was to keep the wealth

within the family. So whatever that brother had

accumulated, whatever he had acquired, those resources stay

within the family. So if your brother, if you're

not married and your brother's wife dies, you are now required

to marry her. This is to care for this widow,

and this is also to keep the wealth and the resources in the

family. So they're saying this was the

law that Moses gave us, and now they're going to present their

very complex situation that they think they have now.

There were seven brothers among us.

They were pretending that this was a real story.

The first married and died and having no offspring, left his

wife to his brother. So to the 2nd and the 3rd down

to the 7th, I don't know. You would think one of these

brothers eventually would be like, please, I don't want to

marry her. Everybody dies and marries her,

but they go, you know, with this made-up false story, this guy

marries is like, well, hey bro, you got to die.

God said you got to marry this girl.

She's the Black Widow, as it's been called before.

Whenever people have been preaching this text, the third

down to the seventh verse 27 after them all, the woman died

in the resurrection. Therefore of the seven, whose

wife shall she be? For they all had her.

But Jesus answered them. You are wrong, because you know

neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in

marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.

And As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what

was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, and the

God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his

teaching. God, help us to be astonished

with you and help us to be drawn to worship by you.

Help us to be drawn to deeper surrender to you and to help us

to avoid the the foolishness of the Sadducees, the unbelief of

the Sadducees. Lord, I pray that you would

drive unbelief out from us as we submit to you today, as we come

humbly. Lord, when we come to you with

questions, help us to come with sincerity.

When we come to you with questions, help us to come to

you with humility. When we come to you with

questions, help us to come to you with childlike faith, always

tender and always eager to receive what you would instruct

and what you would give. We receive your blessing this

morning of Your Word. We thank You for the Word that's

living and active, that can divide and clarify between our

soul and our spirits. God, I thank you for breaking

bondages off of people this morning.

I thank You for setting people free from unbelief.

God, I pray that you would raise hope for the resurrection and

the life, not just the the life that will never end without any

time limit, but also the life that is of great value and worth

here and now. In Jesus name we thank you.

Amen. So the Pharisees are your

traveling rabbis who are going around.

They would be your more conservative theologians.

The problem is they also created boundaries around God's law that

God didn't put around God's law. They said God says this, you're

not supposed to do this. So we're going to put this big

fence around this thing and we're going to say, don't do

that. And if you do that thing, we're

going to say that that's wrong and we're going to shame you and

continue for that. And God saying, I didn't say

that. I only said this.

My law is enough. My law is perfect.

My law is right. Now you might have personal

preferences for personal wisdom. Well, it's my conviction to do

this. Well, you're free in Christ, my

brother, my sister, you can do that.

But you need to be careful not to impose that on others as

though it's Scripture and to say this is the standard and this is

the only way. Now, on the other hand, we have

the Sadducees. These are the wealthy temple

elite. They are the priesthood.

They only believe the first five books of Moses, and they deny

the supernatural. They do not believe in angels,

which are in the first five books of the Old Testament.

They do not believe in any sort of supernatural life whatsoever.

They don't believe in life after death.

They are a strange group. They are the liberal theologians

who say whenever you show them the scriptures and they go,

well, that's like an allegory. And they say, well, that was

kind of like just a metaphor. Like what about the Angel of the

Lord here? And what about the Lord speaking

with him here? And what about this?

And what about God appearing to him and all these things?

Like they have ways of of writing these things off,

downplaying, reinterpreting, or allegorizing them.

So since they denied angels and spirits and life after death,

they were forced to twist or ignore parts of Scripture that

clearly affirmed those realities.

So miracles like the burning Bush, like the plagues, the

parting of the sea, they treated these as unique historical

events, not evidence of an ongoing supernatural God who

still intervenes in the lives of his people.

Appearances of angels like the Angel who stopped Abraham from

sacrificing Isaac or who led Israel through the wilderness.

These things were dismissed as figurative language or poetic

storytelling. Does that sound familiar?

That's what modern lying false teachers do today.

They say, well, you know, that's kind of like, which is a

dangerous ground to step on because it sounds an awful lot

like what Satan whispered in the garden.

Did God really say that's Satan's line?

You read your Bible and you think man seems like God's

saying what God is saying here. And then the snake will come in

and go. Did God really say, is it?

Is that really what he meant? So we don't want to encourage

bad interpretation and bad study habits and misunderstanding of

Scripture. There's context to be considered

and there's things to be learned.

And yet we want to be humble to the Scripture and be default

believers, not cynics, not unbelievers.

Occasions of God appearing to men were reduced to symbolic

visions or moral lessons rather than real encounters with the

living God, References to the soul and the afterlife.

Like when God says he's going to gather his people to their

fathers, this was interpreted as a metaphor for a legacy or a

memory, not a continued existence.

So these guys say they also believe that their that their

wealth was evidence of God blessing, God's blessing on

their lives. These are disobedient men.

These are the men who are mostly in charge of the money changing

operation. Like we've talked about, you

can't take your water bottle through TSA.

They stop your water bottle and then you go through TSA and now

you have to buy a $15 dollar bottle of water.

This is the Sadducees who built that system.

These were the guys who were doing that in the temple.

My family and I, we, we picked out of our flock, we found the

best land we could find. He's the most perfect one.

We, he's beloved, my children love him.

We've given him a name. He's the most precious thing to

us. And we want to offer him to the

Lord because it's going to cost us.

It cost me money and it's costing our hearts.

And we offer him up to the Lord. And the Sadducees would inspect

and go, no, we found a defect in this one.

You're going to have to buy one of our lambs here from the

temple courts, a pre approved temple lamb.

Jesus hated him. It was disgusting.

It was wicked. So he caused an uproar and he

said this is my father's house. It's a House of prayer.

You have turned it into a den of thieves.

Nobody talked to these guys like that.

Nobody, nobody would ever dare speak to them this way.

He doesn't care because he has authority over them.

And they're breathing his breath.

That's his air that they're borrowing.

Everything that they enjoy they have manipulated.

They revered Moses as a lawgiver, but they rejected the

God of power who parted the seas and raised the dead.

Their religion had ritual, but it had no life.

It had the ritual, it had the To Do List, but no real

supernatural power, no real life, and no real fruit.

So when they come here, This is why Matthew prepares his

readers. And remember, Matthew is a tax

collecting Jew. He's betrayed the Jewish people.

Jesus calls him and says, Matthew, come follow me.

Matthew repents and now he becomes a disciple of Jesus.

Years later, he's writing this gospel and he wrote this to the

Jews. So Matthew keeps pointing out

the context for the Jews and he says, remember the Sadducees who

say there is no resurrection? Now bring their sarcastic

question. We don't even believe in the

resurrection, but we're going to put this trick question to you.

Hey, Jesus, this guy who claims there's a resurrection, Here's

our story. Among us there was a guy.

And because we want to obey the law of Moses, so they present

this stupid hypothetical question with.

They come with their mockery. They come with no sincerity.

They ask their question. They're trap.

They invent this story about this woman who marries seven

brothers, each after another, each dying childless in the

resurrection. Whose wife will she be?

They think they make the whole idea of a resurrection look

ridiculous. That's their motive.

That's what they think they're doing.

They think that they got some big gotcha moment.

We have similar things like this in our day.

This is like abortionists who say, what if a 12 year old girl

has cancer and she's paralyzed and she's raped by a family

member. They're creating the most

horrific, wicked, extreme, devastating evil scenario they

can think of. And then they say, are you going

to make her have the baby? Simultaneously, these hypocrites

who asked this question, they would approve of abortion even

if a woman just didn't feel like losing her Friday night

freedoms. But they have put on you this

devastating, chronically evil scenario.

And they're like, will you force her to have a child?

Meanwhile, this person would approve if she's like, I just

feel like I want to go out with the girls more.

And they go, well, then you can abort your child as well.

You can murder your baby. That would be also be

acceptable. But they act as though they have

presented a common moral dilemma when it is neither common nor is

it actually a moral dilemma. Why?

Because the rapist can be legally executed by the

government, the girls should be cared for, cherished and

restored, and the baby should be protected by everyone in

principle. It's also similar to the moronic

mocking question that we talked about last week.

Can God make a rock so big that even he can't move it?

Oh no, we're totally stumped. What a what a brilliant

philosophical problem you've created for us.

It's just stupid. It's just stupid.

It's not coming from a humble heart.

How am I supposed to answer it? You're not, You're not.

You don't give your pearls to dogs and to pigs.

You pray for them and you love your enemies.

But you need to recognize when someone has identified

themselves as your enemy so you can pray for them appropriately

and keep your heart pure towards them so that they would come to

a saving faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They would receive His grace because but for the grace of

God, we would be that ignorant, prideful, stupid, foolish jerk

who is rebelling against God. It's only by his grace that

we're not Jesus answered them. Verse 29 You are wrong because

you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

That is a giant slap in the face to them.

I love it so much because they in fact intellectually knew the

Scriptures. They knew what the scriptures

said. That's why they brought that

scenario to him, said hey, there's this one law of this

thing, let's make fun of Jesus about it.

But Jesus is saying you don't know the Scriptures.

Isn't that an interesting point? Jesus does not equate knowledge

of what the Bible says with knowing the Scriptures.

There's a different kind of knowing according to Jesus.

Oh, I know the word, I know the word.

Oh, I know the word. I've been in the word for a long

time. I know the word.

Would Jesus say you know the word?

Because Jesus explanation of you knowing the word means there is

fruit of that word in your life. There are lots of people who

have brains full of the word. They have brains full of

Scripture, the Pharisees and the Sadducees included.

Jesus was not pleased with them. They were pleased with

themselves though, because they thought that that knowledge was

equal to their maturity. Knowledge does not equal

maturity. Passage of time does not equal

maturity. Maturity equals maturity.

Fruit equals maturity. That's what the Lord's judging.

That's what the Lord's looking for.

Remember Jesus rebuked a tree because it had all the leaves,

but it did not have the fruit. And he said, Israel is just like

that. Look at all of our leaves.

Look at all of our religious rituals.

We are a tree with full of leaves.

And Jesus said, I don't see any fruit, so I'm cursing you and

you're dying. That tree.

It really did happen. It was an actual thing that

happened, but it was also a representation of what was

happening with Israel. You have been false and your

time is up. And now there's going to be the

true Jew. The true Israel is going to be

whoever puts faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and bears fruit

because they're actually loving him and following him.

So if you're a genetic descendant of Abraham, you're

welcome in through the blood. If you're not a genetic

descendant of Abraham, you're welcome in through the blood.

That's it. And you'll bear fruit.

You will not just be a tree. I have leaves.

What are leaves? I read my Bible, I go to church,

I pray. These are leaves, He says, What

about the fruit? How does it show up?

What does it look like? You're wrong.

Nobody's ever told them that before.

You don't know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Public rebuke. These guys are supposed to be

the teachers of Israel, yet Jesus exposes them as ignorant

of both the Bible and of God himself.

But let's not just pick on the Sadducees.

They're easy to pick on, right? We could just have fun.

I could just teach you and say look at these idiots and we move

on. But this applies to you as well.

You are wrong if you do not know the scriptures and the power of

God as well. Know the scriptures that deeper

knowing that fruitful knowing Jesus does not count

intellectual knowing of the scriptures as knowing the

scriptures. They knew the Scriptures with

their minds, but they didn't actually understand them and

they didn't want to obey them with their hearts.

When people don't know the Scriptures and God's intent,

they invent false beliefs and they think that they are

correct. This leads to false doctrine.

This leads to misplaced priorities.

This leads to moral compromise. This leads to a redefining of

sin. I've got a verse.

We have the word of God. Remember, when you're reading

your Bible, you do not build your entire existence, entire

theology around a verse. The Bible interprets the Bible.

The Bible clarifies the Bible. We need the whole counsel of

God's Word for us to ask the question.

It's not, do you have a verse for that?

When we're thinking through things or we're discussing

things or even debating with someone, our questions should

not be hostile towards one another.

We should say, brother, show me that.

Where does the Word really teach that?

And they bring you a verse. You go, wow, that really seems

to say exactly what they're saying.

Let's look into that more. What's going on here?

What's the kind? Oh, wow.

That is what the Word of God teaches.

That is what the Word of God reveals.

I'm, I've changed myself to the word.

I keep changing and repenting to what the word says.

Or you realize, my brother in Christ, my sister in Christ, I

don't think this verse is communicating what you think

it's communicating. We have to take into account

this, then this and this. The Word of God is good and

safe. I don't want you to think the

Word of God is top shelf and it's not something you're

supposed to get to. The Word of God is for the

common man. It's safe to pick it up, to read

it, believe it, apply it, and you will be safe to do so.

Why? Because a humble heart.

God will help. The Holy Spirit will lead the

humble heart. Who doesn't know anything.

How do you know Jim Michael? Because I am that guy.

I don't have any education and I've been that guy and I've come

to my Bible years after year after year after year.

And I humble myself before the Lord and my pastor, I'm quoting

him. Doctor Ken Kramer has said to me

before John Michael, the things that you've seen, like a lot of

guys had to go to seminary to learn, like I'll ask him

questions. Pastor, what about this?

What's going on here? You know, I say, all right,

doctor, I'm stumped on something.

You know, what's what's up with this and what's up with that?

And it seems to me like this, this, this and that, that, that.

And he's like, yeah, he's like, yeah, that's like you're 3 of

seminary. So please, I think I have enough

context with you all. I don't think you that you think

I'm bragging. I think that's probably the

first time I've ever referenced something like that.

But what's the what's the moral of that story?

Joe Michael's awesome. No, that would be the wrong take

away. The moral of the story is your

Bible is safe and humility when walking with the Lord will get

you wherever you need to go. If you will humbly walk with the

Lord and you just go. Lord, I love your word, but I'm

not a smart man, to quote Forrest Gump, but I know how to

read. So with that approach, I can, I

can say, Lord, show me. Lord, reveal to me.

That doesn't mean I know all the things, but it's been enough for

me to make it through the day. It's given me my daily bread and

it's given me enough bread to share with you, and it's given

us enough bread to walk in faithfulness and fruitfulness

and to be pleasing to the Lord. Amen.

When people don't believe the power of God, when they don't

really believe the word of God, they think that God is like

them. That is our default belief.

Whenever we don't really believe the scriptures, when we don't

really know the Lord, we assume God is like us.

It's our default setting, the way that I think, well, it seems

to me that you know, somebody's about to, you know, whatever is

about to come out of this person's mouth, they're really

not walking closely with the Lord.

I think the Lord ought to have done it this way.

Spoken like somebody who doesn't know the Lord and know that he's

actually different from us and he's on another level.

We're made in his image or his thoughts aren't our thoughts,

and He wants our thoughts to be His thoughts.

But if we'll humble ourselves, He will lead us there.

People think that God is as weak as they are.

They think that He is as fickle as they are, that He is as

unforgiving as they are, that He is as unfaithful as they are,

that He is tempted like they are, that He is limited like

they are. The supernatural is often quick

to be eliminated from people's lives, and they rely only on

human wisdom, psychology, and systems.

Why? Because it is predictable.

I like predictability. You like predictability.

I like a formula. I want to do this and I get this

outcome every time. And the Lord says, well, faith

isn't going to look and work that way.

As you read your Gospels, you won't see Jesus heal anybody the

same way twice may have happened because he healed thousands upon

thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people.

But the occasions that the that the Holy Spirit chose to give us

through the Gospel writers one day Jesus went and he made mud

with his spit in the dirt. It's pretty gross.

Pastor Jim Michael, I didn't do it.

Jesus did, and he rubbed it in a man's eyes.

That's weird. Take it up with Jesus.

I didn't do it. And then another time he does it

a different way, and another time he does it a different way.

He says go show yourself to the priest.

He says it's done according to your faith.

It's looked like different things in different ways.

Well, I want a formula for the way things work and I want a

formula. He's like, well, I want you to

actually listen to me and I want to give you instruction and that

will require that you walk with me.

I want to give you the right thing at the right time.

And that will require that we're actually in fellowship because

if you'll remember correctly, that was all he always wanted

anyway. Rewind to Genesis.

He wanted his people, he wanted him to multiply and he wanted to

walk with us in the cold of the day.

We're in the middle of a massive and beautiful detour because of

the cross now, but we're, he's going to restore all things and

we're going to be the bride with the groom and we're going to

have the marriage supper of the lamb and we are going to live

together happily ever after. Even though the Sadducees

foolishly believed otherwise. But people are quick to

eliminate the Holy Spirit and his work.

They're they're quick to focus on their systems and they're the

things that they believe are predictable so that they

actually don't have to grow and learn and walk with God.

And things that might be more mysterious to them and things

that might not be as formulaic. Ignorance of God's word is what

Jesus accuses them of. And unbelief.

Those are the accusations. Well, we've been guilty of all

that. Do you know the word of God?

Well, like if you were to ask me and I'd be like, well, I'm

progressing, right? Like I don't think anybody would

do you know the word like, yes. And I want to know it more.

I want to know him more. Do you have unbelief?

Yes and no. And I want to grow.

Lord, increase my faith. Lord, help me to actually trust.

Help me to actually be childlike.

If we knew the Scriptures and if we trusted God's power, we would

not stray into false thinking, and we would not despair when

facing troubles. Knowing the Word of God protects

you from bad thinking. Knowing the Word of God and

believing in God's power keeps us from despair.

When troubles come. You're going to experience

troubles, Saints. It's not a bad confession, it's

not a bad prophecy. It's just saying life gets a

vote and you have an enemy. You are in a war.

I love Psalm 23, but it stands out as an exception for most of

the Psalms because most of the Psalms have a setting of

warfare. Most of the Psalms have to do

with extreme war going on. Psalm 23 we go, what a relief

from the battle. But even then, he's talking

about the presence of our enemies, even though he's

talking about walking through the valley of the shadow of

death. But the rest of your Psalms are

largely warfare and combat. It's been said that we are in

the middle of a love story, but the love story is taking place

in the middle of a war. So yes, God loves us, but if we

deny the realities of the war around us, the spiritual war,

the enemy who hates us, and we don't recognize that we have

pain and difficulties to experience because of sin, we'll

be ignorant. But if we don't actually lean on

the power of God and believe in his supernatural impartations

for our lives, we'll despair when these things come against

us, and we'll be surprised every time.

How could this happen? How could this happen?

Well, the world is broken, You've made mistakes, and you

still make mistakes, and the devil hates you.

That's why bad things happen. Why does anything good happen?

Because God is so good and he loves you and you.

And that's why you've also seen what the enemy meant for evil in

your life. You've seen the Lord restore it

and turn it for your good. You've seen evil and

devastation, and still you've seen the Lord pour oil and wine

in. It's not saying that the injury

didn't happen, but you see the Lord bring a resurrection out of

it. Why?

Because God is good. So what are the things, what are

the consequences when we live this way, when we don't know the

word of God, and when we don't believe in the really in the

power of God? What are the things that keep us

from true understanding of God's word?

What are the things that keep us from the power of God?

One of these we've already referenced Pride.

Pride, assuming you already know.

I cannot learn when I think I know.

I have to deal with this all the time.

I make a point to put myself in rooms where I'm the small fish

in a big pond. I make a point to put myself

around men who I believe outrank me and when I'm around them and

they start to share something, the first thing a lot of times I

feel when they start to talk about a category I think I'm

familiar with as I start to go, I already know that.

I want him to know that. I know that so that he thinks I

know that. And I have to say shut up flesh.

Be small and listen and learn. Be nobody.

Take the small seat at the table.

John Michael. He starts to talk about some

things he does in his marriage and some things he does in his

family and immediately I feel I, I do that too.

I know a lot of good stuff about marriage and family.

I'm actually, I actually teach a lot of people.

That's what my flesh, my flesh is like.

Look at me, encourage me, give me information instead of shut

up. Get on the cross.

You already know what you know, stupid.

You don't know what he knows. Humble yourself.

Take pride in letting him not know anything about you.

Take pride and let him find out. Let another boast for you.

That's good. I've got to do that all the time

because you can't learn when you think you already know.

Pride will keep you from knowing God's Word.

You go to the Scriptures. Yeah, I've been here, done that.

There is gold. It is living.

It's active. There is a life source that will

flow to you from God's Word, whether you're you're reading it

with your eyes or listening to it with your ears or saying it

to yourself or meditating upon it in your mind.

There's more power there. It's not a history lesson.

It has tons of history in it, but it's not exclusively a

history lesson. It's really living.

And if you believe in that supernatural power, you'll

humble. You have to humble yourself to

receive it. What's another thing that keeps

us from understanding God's Word and His power?

Unbelief. It's just refusing to accept

supernatural truth. This is the cynic.

This is the well, I don't know about that.

That is a choice that is not a debilitating, chronic issue

that's come from the outside. That is something that's coming

from the inside, and that is a choice that is something that

you can renounce and that you can repent of.

Lord, I repent of my own belief. I turn from my cynicism.

I come, as Jesus demanded, with childlike faith.

If you do not have the faith of a child, Jesus said, you will

never even enter the Kingdom of heaven.

They said, who's going to be the greatest in the Kingdom?

Lord, it's me, right? Is it me?

They're talking about rank in the Kingdom, Who's going to have

the most glory in the Kingdom? And Jesus said, hey, let's take

away the whole rank in the Kingdom conversation and let me

slap you in the face with this one.

You'll never even enter the Kingdom.

What we're talking about how high we're going to rank.

We're obviously going to enter the Kingdom.

Lord, I'm trying to consider how how great I'll be, how much

prominence I'll have. Will I be over Peter?

I hope I'm going to be over Peter because he kind of gets on

my nerves. What's my rank going to be?

Jesus said you'll have no rank. You won't even enter the Kingdom

unless you come like a little child.

And you're not coming like a little child right now because

the little child's not thinking about that.

The little child knows they're small.

I'm just here. Little children, they just run

around in the world of adults and they don't think much of

themselves. They're controlled, they're LED,

they're directed, and they're submissive.

Jesus said that's how you should be in the Kingdom.

You won't even enter the Kingdom unless you come in that way.

What are other things that keep us from understanding God's Word

truly, deeply in our hearts? Love of sin.

Holding on to what God condemns will blind your heart to truth.

I surrender this thing over here.

I'll surrender that thing right there.

But the Lord not this thing. Don't look at that thing.

I'll surrender these other things over here if I love my

sin. That is a massive blockage,

Lord, breakthrough in this area. Lord, come on, I need the

breakthrough. I'm claiming it.

I'm standing on the promise. Give me the breakthrough in

Jesus name and I'm holding on to this sin.

It's a supernatural thing. I don't, it's out of my

jurisdiction. It's out of my league to explain

the details of how it works. That's his area of expertise.

But it's something, there's something there.

Your heart's really not hungry and humble, and there's too much

weeds, there's too much blockage, there's too much

demonic influence. If I love my sin and I'm holding

on to my sin, that's going to blind me from really seeing the

word of God, really receiving God's supernatural power.

What else keeps me from this? Just the neglect of Scripture.

Neglect of Scripture. Rarely reading the Scripture

leaves you spiritually malnourished.

So if I'm just not coming to the Scripture with enough frequency,

frankly, frankly, then I can't be well nourished eating a meal

once a month. Like we're going to be

malnourished in our physical bodies.

So what do our what do our spiritual lives need?

What do our mental lives need? What kind of cadence would

actually be nourishing to your life, which is not coming with

enough frequency, even enough humility to really be changed by

it? What else keeps us?

What else makes us look like Sadducees?

Men who deny the Scripture, don't know the Scriptures, and

deny the power of God? A lack of the Holy Spirit's

revelation. This is when you're trying to

understand divine truth without actually being submissive and

prayerful for understanding. Pray when you're seeking God in

His word. Lord, show me, Lord, show me.

And you keep coming back to that thing.

You can come back again tomorrow and come back again tomorrow,

and you keep reading your Bible. There have been times where

there are things I didn't understand and then years later

in a place in my Bible, I wasn't expecting it on a night I did

not see coming. And I thought, I'm just going to

read the word for a few minutes. And the Lord and His kindness

and His blessing, this breakthrough, this light, and

this revelation going, wow, never seen that before.

Didn't realize that before. That answered my question from

years ago, and it built me up and edified me and strengthened

me and encouraged me and answered something for me.

Worldly influence. This is whenever we've absorbed

all these cultural ideas and philosophies that contradicts

God's Word, those have become our normal operating system that

has to be driven out. Do not be conformed to this

world. It's a mold like this box.

You pour mold into it and you've conformed to it, he says, But

instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The renewing of our mind happens through the Word of God.

What else stops us from receiving God's truth deeply

within us? Impatience, expecting quick

insights instead of slow, humble meditation that leads to

revelation. The Internet has rewired our

brains. Doctors have continually been

learning about this. It's still pretty daggone new.

The internet's like, what, 20 years?

25 years? And it feels like it's been here

forever now. But it's rewiring our brains.

It's making us dopamine addicts. We are, most all of us, dopamine

addicted. Grab it, check, grab it, check.

It's doing a little something in your brain and it's changing

things. And we're expecting

instantaneous things. We thought the microwave spoiled

us when the Internet came, You know, I tapped something.

I asked ChatGPT if it takes like 2 seconds, I'm like this stupid

robot. Like my boys will tell you, I'm

like, come on. It's like it's got to go to

space. It's got to go to the server.

It's got to get all this information.

I still have like the answer to basically anything that at my

fingertips, but 2 seconds is too long impatience when we come to

the scriptures expecting our insights.

Come on. Hey, Lord, I want to know this,

I want to know this and he's saying let's walk together.

Walk with me, walk with me, son. Well, I got AI just got a quick

question. Walk with me, son.

I want to walk with you and I want you to actually know me

because what you think you need is knowledge and what you need

is maturity. What you need is me.

We want knowledge. And in our impatience, Lord, if

you could give me like the four points to this thing of the four

points to that thing, ah, knowledge.

So you can be puffed up, right? Because that's what knowledge

does. Puffs me up.

I'm somebody because I know some stuff.

Wow, quite impressive. So impatience can ruin us.

Expecting quick insights instead of slow humble meditation that

leads to real revelation. And then the last one,

unforgiveness, the older I've gotten and the more I've been in

ministry, the more I believe that unforgiveness is a massive,

massive blockage. And just like all the things,

all the things. I was with some brothers this

weekend at a conference get together thing and a brother had

shared something that he had he had experienced.

I don't think he would mind me sharing the story.

His one of his children had experienced A demonic attack

months back. And we prayed together, me and

the men in this group, we prayed together over this man and and

rebuked and dealt with this thing.

And I think whenever a demonic attack happens on a one off

occasion, I kind of can sometimes chalk that up to OK,

like we, we, we saw, we see you devil.

We and we addressed it and we kicked it out.

But it's weird. It's weird because the devil

really shouldn't have access to children, and if he does, it's

because there's a doorway open. The Lord does not just give

Satan just full direct access like you can do whatever you

want to kids. No, because they have a

covering. They have their mother and they

have their father. And in this case, I know this is

a godly man. So I'm saying, OK, we deal with

it, knock it out, no big deal. We move on.

Well, he said, hey, while we're at this event together, he said

my wife is texted and my youngest son is experiencing

this thing going on again. And I was going, all right,

right now this doesn't add up. Like the one time he comes in,

we kick him out. Like that was a one off weird

thing. You know, I think different

parents have experienced different things.

I think there was times where we probably experienced like, what

is this dark presence in my house?

What is this about? And we stand up in faith and in

prayer. We say, you get out, you return

to hell. I don't know what's going on

here, but we plead the blood of Jesus.

And it was a one off occasion. We've experienced things like

that and a little like, and that and that's it.

And I've met others who experienced.

But for it to come back again, I'm going, brother, something's

up, something's off. This isn't right.

This doesn't add up. This doesn't make sense.

Is there anything going on? He's like, I don't think so.

I was like, you know, there's not like some hidden sin or

anything. He's like, no man, no, that

there's definitely not. I was like, you have any

unforgiveness? I was like, that's the other go

to and you just pause. And I was like, so yes.

And he said, yeah. He said this person, I was like,

man, let's renounce that right now.

So we prayed together, but then even after that, after this

conversation, after we all prayed over him, he said the

words out loud. I forgive so and so and he

blessed so and so with his mouth.

But afterwards we got talking. He's like, man, I'm not feeling

free. Like I still feel burdened.

I still feel bondage. He's like, but I said it.

I was like, brother, a lot of people said a lot of things with

their mouths that do not come out of their hearts.

A lot of people are going to hell who said I believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. I receive him as my Lord and

Savior because their mouths at it, but they didn't believe in

their heart. And I said, so you said you

forgive him, but you didn't forgive him.

And he's like, I don't know. You think it's really connected?

Well, his son had imagined a particular thing for their

family, for their household. His son imagined their family

burning in their house, their house burning and their whole

family burning up with it. And as his brother was talking,

he was sharing. He's like, man, yeah, I do have

unforgiveness towards this guy. And I think maybe that's what's

going on. He said.

I honestly. I I imagined before like burning

his house down with him in it and he didn't even make that

connection that y'all just made and I said, tell me again what

you've imagined. He's I would never I was like I

know he said, but I imagine I said, what's your little boy

imagine for your household and he goes you think they're

connected? I go, you think I think so my

brother. So you know, I prayed for him

again. I said, you need to call him.

He's like he's, he's a narcissist.

He's like, he's not going to receive any of us.

It's not your problem, not your business.

He's like he's going to laugh whenever I say I've forgiven

you. He's going to go was what am I?

I said then get off the phone and move on.

So he did. So he called him, and then he

calls me back and he says I'm free.

I'm totally free. He said I can breathe again.

He didn't even know that it was impacting him.

He'd experienced paralysis in his face months back whenever he

was going to an event that he knew this other guy was going to

be at. In the weeks leading up to it,

the stress was building. But he told his little boy,

we're going to go do this thing. And now he's like, Oh my

goodness, freedom. Why'd you tell that, pastor?

Because I want to encourage you to forgive, Pastor.

Doesn't everybody have unforgiveness?

We're not supposed to. We're supposed to have 0.0%

forgiveness in US. Did he really have to call him?

That's what it took. What will it take to be free?

Do that thing that feels like cutting off my hand.

That feels like gouging out my eye.

Jesus said it's worth it. It's better to do that than to

enter into the Kingdom and going to hell with your hands and your

eyes intact. It's better enter into heaven

missing a hand and missing an eye.

Which of course was hyperbole. You won't actually be missing a

hand. You won't actually be missing an

eye in the eternal Kingdom. Unforgiveness is massive and you

should be afraid of it. When you sense unforgiveness in

your heart, not in in your life, it should scare you like it.

It should be your new enemy instead of the cat that you've

been petting. Like the evil villain just

stroking your cat and like, yes, yes, they wronged us.

I use cats, of course, because cats are evil.

We all know this. I'm just seizing.

Not really. So instead of stroking your

unforgiveness and just holding on to it, holding on to it, to

actually forgive, why should I? Good question, fair question.

You're not saying that what they did was good or right or OK.

We're not saying that at all. To forgive is actually to say

what you did was wrong. And I release you of the penalty

and the burden of it. You now owe me nothing and

you're free and they're free. It's often been taught that

you're doing it for yourself. Well, that's actually still kind

of a selfish way to view, to view forgiving people.

And yet you also are doing it for yourself.

It's a both and it's a win win. They're free.

But in this case, this guy didn't even care that he was

apologizing to he's like, well, come on, man, wouldn't it kind

of your fault? Like he like went in right away,

like full narcissist mode like, well, I really think it was you.

And he's like, and I just like, I bless you and your wife and

your children and I hope that good things come for you and I

hope the Lord just blesses your household.

And he's like, I just had to get up because he was starting to

ramp up against me. He's like, I'm free.

So. So maybe they receive it and

maybe they weep in tears and apologize, or maybe they double

down and go, yeah, you're dumb, but thanks for the forgiveness,

I guess. But you should be free.

That was a whole sermon on unforgiveness there.

Forgiveness. Unforgiveness can block us,

Lord. Lord hasn't done anything in

your life in years. You, you feel like there's no

supernatural happening in your life at all.

Is there any unforgiveness? Sniff that thing out.

If there's not, there's not. You don't have to go hunting for

something that's not there. But if there is, if something

came up when you've heard any of this talked about, then you need

to take a next step on that thing.

I didn't tell you what it was. Maybe it is the phone call.

Maybe it is the text. He was like man to Michael, even

though as I was like dialing the phone, he's like my blood

pressure. He's like, my heart was pumped.

Like, oh, it's all the angst of it.

And now he's gone. What a relief.

What a relief. Holiness brings relief.

It brings freedom. You had this rock in your shoe,

you didn't even know it was there and now you get the thing

out. You're like, Oh my goodness, is

this what walking feels like? I didn't know my shoes could

feel so good. Those are the things that keep

us and cause us to wander. When Jesus said you are wrong,

that word wrong that he used had connotation and context around

it that would have been understood.

It was a used, It was a word they used whenever we would talk

about stars or constellations that seemed to wander across the

night sky and seemed to wander from season to season.

It was a it was a really, really awesome and deep insight and

deep insightful insult that Jesus deliberately used.

He said, you're wandering. Christians, we even wander when

we get away from the truth of God's word.

When we get away from believing and trusting in the

supernatural, we wander. But if you're if you're

experiencing lack of freedom in any area of your life and if

you're experiencing these blockages and if it feels as

though I've wandered in my walk, these are the things that you

would want to watch for. We're going to start closing

now. I'm going to clarify something

for you in verse 30 when Jesus answers, he says for in the

resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

And he's right. That's true.

That means exactly what it says and it is exactly what it sounds

like. We will not be married in

heaven. Marriage on earth is a picture.

It is a beautiful picture. It is a wonderful picture.

And honestly, with my limited earthly brain, I experience a

wonderful and beautiful and godly marriage.

So that's a strange thing for me to think like I'm not going to

be married to this girl. That seems like I'm taking a

loss. Honestly, it seems like that's

like a step back for me. That's what my mind thinks.

But I know better. I know that there will be no

demotions in heaven. I know that nothing will be

downgraded in heaven. I know that everything is only

going to be upgraded in the eternal Kingdom.

So I believe God, I believe that He has something better.

I believe that He has something greater.

I believe that He has something holier and more fulfilling

because this earthly marriage was always a picture of Christ

and the church. Christ in the church comes first

and he goes, I need to teach them.

I need to give them something so they can see what Christ in the

church looks like. That is why he creates marriage.

Yes, Adam and Eve came before Christ came to the earth, but

the Lord in his wisdom and sovereignty knew what he was

doing. So he said, I'm going to make

marriage so they'll have this picture of Christ in the church.

That's what our marriages should be.

People should be able to look into Christian marriages and go,

wow, He's like Jesus and she's like the church.

He leads her with strength and he provides for her and protects

her and loves her. She submits to him, she respects

him, she defers to him. She helps him accomplish his

mission. They're united.

They're in love. If that's Jesus in his church,

sign me up. Our marriages are supposed to be

a picture that sanctify us, that bring us joy and bring babies in

the earth. That's a that's a primary

purpose of our marriages is for multiplication.

And that's not going to have to happen in heaven.

So when Jesus says you're going to be like the angels, he

doesn't mean we're going to be angels.

We're not going to sprout wings. This is where bad doctrine and

misunderstandings have come from.

He says you're going to be like the angels in that there's a set

number of angels and there's they're not multiplying at that

point. Once we enter into the eternal

Kingdom, we're not multiplying anymore.

This was where we multiplied and then we go into heaven.

He says now that season is finished and we're going into

something higher, something new and something better.

They're neither given nor they're neither married nor

given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.

And As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what

was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, the God

of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is the this is the nail in

the coffin. He's quoting the scriptures that

they claim to believe. And God didn't say I was the God

of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, because when

that verse was written, they had been dead for hundreds of years.

So God is saying I am still their God today.

I'm still their God right now. And Jesus, the perfect

interpreter of all scripture, the author of all scripture,

says that scripture proves the resurrection of the dead.

Meaning when you die, you don't really die if you're in Christ,

If you have faith in God, you will never actually really taste

death. Our body will, but that body

will actually be raised up again.

So when we die, to be absent from the body is to be present

with the Lord. We are carried safely into the

eternal Kingdom to be with the Lord, to be with all the Saints

who have gone before us. And then at the last day there

will be a resurrection where our bodies will actually come out of

our coffins, or bodies that have been burned, or bodies that were

lost at sea, or bodies, all the things.

The Lord, that's his jurisdiction, not yours, not

mine. He will glorify those very

bodies. He will bring them back together

and make all things work together for His good.

A Sadducee, a fool and ignorant person, would ask a stupid

question. Wait a second, what if somebody

died like 1000 years ago and the molecules of their body went

into the grass? If the cow ate the grass and

then somebody ate the cow, the molecules of that person's body

are now in the person who ate the cow.

This is a fool who does not understand the scriptures nor

the power of God. Don't get caught up in stupidity

and foolish argumentation. Believe in the power of God.

Be a child and say God knows. God knows.

I don't have to know. I'm just a sheep in his pasture.

God knows. God sorts these things out.

So Jesus is proving, he's explaining I am the God of

Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. This was dunking on their heads

like they're on his poster and he's the Michael Jordan slamming

it down on him in front of everybody because they didn't

understand the Scripture. But as Jesus preached the Word,

the anointing was on the Word and every, all the hearers of

the Word said there is a resurrection and people got New

Hope that day. They got encouraged that day

because they're like the Sadducees say this and Pharisees

say that. Jesus clarifies.

Jesus tells the truth. He is not the God of the dead,

but of the God of the living. Whatever Jesus says the Bible

means, that's what the Bible means because He is the Word.

So for those in Christ, your body will be raised, your body

will be glorified, your body will be perfected, you will live

forever with God. Death is not the end.

It is an enemy. It wasn't supposed to be here,

but thankfully it is temporary. DL Moody, the great evangelist

and theologian, said someday you will read in the papers that DL

Moody of East Northfield is dead.

Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more

alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher,

that is all, going out of this old clay tent into a house that

is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot

taint. A body like unto who?

His own glorious body. I was born of the flesh out of

my mother in 1837. I was born of the spirit in

1856. That which is born of the flesh

may die. That which is born of the spirit

will live forever. Our brother Vodi Bakkam, did you

see that he passed this past week?

Great man of God, preacher. He, he, he has said something

similar in quoting in his own version.

He said you're going to hear us someday.

The Vodibakam has died. Don't you believe a word of it.

I've changed my address and I'm thriving and I'm doing well.

Charlie Kirk is conscious right now.

Vodibakam is conscious right now.

You're Saints, your loved ones who walked with Jesus.

They are neither old. They're neither hurting.

They are neither sad. You're sad.

I'm sad. We miss them, but we will

actually be reunited with them again.

We will sit together. Like actually us.

Are we going to remember us? Yeah.

It's going to be us. Us not, not forgetful.

Us. Us.

Us. Better US.

Glorified us. Sanctified us.

Purified us. It's really going to happen.

It's really going to happen. Saints.

We're really going to live forever with God.

Man, it seems too good to be true.

It's not, it's not too good to be true.

The reason your heart wants to latch onto it so bad is because

it's what you were actually made for.

That's the reason that you're like this.

This stirs me. Something's coming alive in me

as you're saying this pastor. Yeah.

It's God's promise to you. He wants you to receive the

blessing of it. He wants you to live with that

hope. He wants you to live with that

focus. It makes us realize that what is

this, 80 years? Dang, we got to get to work.

We got to tell everybody. We got to tell everybody what

Jesus has done for us. We're going to focus on His

work, on His Kingdom, on his glory.

Who am I to hold on forgiveness when Jesus, my Savior, forgave

those who are murdering him on the cross?

Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're

doing. Tombstones sometimes say rest in

peace, but we will not just rest in peace, we will be rejoicing

in glory because Jesus has beaten death and he promised us.

If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

And he said he who believes in me has eternal life.

So can God make a rock so big that even he can't move it?

Yes, but only for three days. And then the stone was rolled

away, and the one who is called the resurrection and the life

rose to life victoriously and beat death.

If Jesus beat death and you put faith in Jesus, you will beat

death. You will never really die.

The flawless Lamb goes to the cross, bearing our sins, dying

in our place, and rising. So we too will rise.

He doesn't just go to the cross, He comes out of that tomb.

Jesus is alive today and He is coming back.

He is coming back and He's going to establish the eternal Kingdom

and He's going to make a new heaven and a new earth, and He

is going to join them together, and we will rule and reign with

Him forever back to the Garden of Eden.

Except no snake can enter and nothing can ever be lost.

We're going to take communion now if Chris and Caleb would

serve us. Jesus said in John 14 verse 19.

John 14:19

Because I live, you also will live.

Good enough for me. I am the resurrection and the

life. Whoever believes in me, though

he dies, yet shall he live. Whoever drinks the blood of

Jesus and eats the blood of Christ will never really die.

We've already done it by faith. We're going to take the elements

together. Now.

What I want you to do is I want you to bow your heads and close

your eyes, not so much for the privacy factor, but just to help

you focus, to help you go inward in your own heart to pray and

seek the Lord. Lord.

Is there anything you would have me lay down?

Is there anything I should turn over?

Is there anything I should repent of so that I can be free,

so that you can receive glory, so that I can be more holy and

so that I can understand Your Word better?

Is there anything in my life that's keeping me from

understanding Your word? Does the Bible seem dead to you,

friend? Does the Bible seem boring to

you? I promise you, it's you and good

news that can change. God's Word is alive and active,

but that just means there's a veil in front of your eyes.

There's something in front of you right now, and the Lord

wants that thing gone. He will burn that thing away.

He will RIP that thing away if you'll give that thing to him.

Are you, are you missing out on the supernatural power of God in

your life? Are you not seeing it or

experiencing it? Does it seem like it's always

afar off? It seemed like somebody else

lives that kind of life. Somebody else enjoys that kind

of blessing. It seems like you don't.

You can't really relate when people talk about the power of

God, my friend, good news, there is a blockage.

There is a blockage and the Lord wants to remove it right now.

And if you've never called upon the name of the Lord in faith,

my friend said I forgive so and so, but he didn't forgive so and

so. And maybe you've even prayed.

I trust the Lord Jesus, but you didn't trust the Lord Jesus with

your heart and with your mouth. I want to lead all of you in a

prayer. Whoever would want to pray with

their heart and say with their mouth, repeat after me, Heavenly

Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus.

Lord, if there are any blockages, anything between you

and me, anything between you and me, anything stopping me from

seeing your word, anything stopping me from receiving your

power, stopping me from receiving your power, I turn it

over to you now. Turn it over to you now.

I lay down unforgiveness and I forgive.

I lay down sin and I pursue holiness, but I need strength.

I need power from you. I can't do this.

I've tried to do this. So I surrender under the scalpel

of the Holy Spirit. Take out this Stony heart.

Give me a heart of flesh. I call upon the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ. Call upon the name of the Lord

Jesus, who suffered for my sins and who was raised on the third

day, Who was raised on the third day, Who is alive today, The

only King, the only God, the only one worthy of my life, the

only one worthy of my life. I give you my everything right

now. I give you my everything right

now. Help me to walk with you.

Help me to walk with and love you more.

Thank you for saving me. Thank you for saving, not just

for eternity, not just for eternity, but for today so I can

walk with you and be changed in Jesus name.

Chris and Kayla are going to bring the elf.