As we continue our exposition of the Gospel of Luke, we find ourselves this morning in Luke chapter 20, verse 27. So please turn there with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 20. And our sermon text is going to be verses 27 through 40. Luke chapter 20. Verses 27 through 40. Please pay attention now. What you're about to hear is the very word of God. Luke 20, beginning at verse 27. Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to him and asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children. The second took her as wife and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also, and they left no children and died. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife. Jesus answered and said to them, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he's not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. Then some of the scribes answered and said, Teacher, you have spoken well. But after that, they dared not ask, they dared not question Him anymore. Amen. Thus far the reading of God's holy, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Amen. Now children, there are so many different religions in the world, right? Each of those religions claims to be true. Each of those religions claims to show the right way. Yet all these religions of the world have one thing in common. They have many things in common, but they have this one thing in common. They all have dead saviors and dead teachers, right? Their religious leaders have all died or will die because the wages of sin is death. And the soul that sins, it shall die. By the way, all false religions also have this in common. They all teach that salvation is by good works, by our merits. This is how we earn our way into heaven. Only the Christian faith teaches that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous. It is a gift for the guilty. Salvation belongs to the Lord. We cannot save ourselves, we cannot help ourselves, but God helps the helpless. For God demonstrates His love toward us in this while we were still sinners. rebels, terrorists, Christ died for us. Our Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross and satisfied divine justice. We broke the law of God and Jesus obeyed God's law perfectly in his life, during his entire life in our behalf, and then he bore our punishment upon him on the cross. All religions say, do good, try to be the best you can, and save yourself. The gospel says, Jesus paid it all. Trust him. Now, what makes Christianity unique and what makes Christianity the only true religion is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it. For what good is a dead savior? If Jesus had died on the cross for our sins and had remained in the grave, there would be no salvation, right? Because a Savior who remained in the grave would mean that our sins remain in us. A dead Savior is no good. But after His death and His burial, He rose again from the dead. And His resurrection authenticates His person and His work. His resurrection proves that God's justice was satisfied, that God was pleased with the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in our behalf. His resurrection proves that Jesus was just and innocent. He didn't die for His own sins. He had none, but that He died for our sins and that God accepted that sacrifice so that now He can forgive sinners and be just and at the same time justify those who put their trust in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we do not worship a dead God. We do not worship a statue that has eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, mouth but cannot speak. We worship the risen Lord, the resurrected Messiah. Jesus is no longer dead. He's risen. And therefore, only the gospel can give hope to the hopeless and life to the dead. Those who repent of their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will not perish, but have eternal life. In Christ, we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Those who take refuge in the Son are blessed. Those who reject Him will perish. People of God, you don't have to wonder if your sins are truly forgiven. Think about it. You don't have to wonder if it's wishful thinking on your part that your sins are forgiven. Look to the cross and then look to the empty tomb. Your sins are forgiven because Jesus is risen from the dead. The tomb is empty and the grave is conquered. And our risen Lord, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, will soon return to judge the living and the dead. And when he comes, people of God, he'll do something with you. He will Redeem your bodies so that you will be raised imperishable, never to die again. We will be clothed with resurrection bodies. There is a resurrection of the dead. He has saved our souls, but he will also redeem our bodies. Listen to Philippians chapter three. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies, that it might be conformed, that our bodies might be conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. So when Jesus comes back, he will transform our lowly bodies, our bodies with the effects of sin, our bodies with sickness and disease, and the process of death. The Lord will transform our bodies. Only those who trust in Jesus can truly say, as we recite in the Nicene Creed, don't we? I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. That's our hope as Christians. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. It changes everything because death has lost its sting. What a blessed hope we have. And this is the same hope that Job had. Yes, children, Job as well. Listen to what Job says in the midst of his affliction, with sores all over his body, with his family members being lost, and his wife who tells him to curse God and die. That Job. Listen to what he says in the midst of his great affliction. Job chapter 19, verses 25 and 26. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God. After my skin is destroyed, after I die and return to the dust, I know that one day in my flesh I shall see God. For when He comes back, He will raise me to life imperishable. Our bodies will be restored, will be redeemed. Praise God for the hope that the gospel gives us. Our God is not a dead God, nor is he the God of the dead. He is the living God and the God of the living. The theme of our sermon this morning is this. The true and living God calls you to believe in the risen Christ, who is able to save you to the uttermost. The living and true God, from his word this morning, is calling you to trust in the risen Christ, who is able to save you to the uttermost. Not just your souls, but also your bodies, so that one day we'll be glorified with him. Trust Him, He's mighty to save. And He's able to save you all the way to the end, to the uttermost. Trust Him. As we consider that theme of the risen Christ, who is mighty to save. we'll consider four points. Firstly, the vanity of false religion. Secondly, the absurdity of false religion. Thirdly, the authority of the scriptures. And finally, the hope of the gospel. The vanity of false religion, the absurdity of false religion, the authority of the scriptures, and the hope of the gospel. So firstly, the vanity of false religion. False religions are vain, they're worthless and empty. They cannot give hope. Look at verse 27. Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to him and asked him. Now let's remember the context. What's happening here? Jesus is now where, children? He's in Jerusalem. just a few days short of the cross. He has entered Jerusalem as the Messiah riding on a donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of the Old Testament. He went into the temple and exercised His divine authority, cleansed the temple, and called people to repentance and true worship, which is in Him, because He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Him. He calls people to trust in Him. He says, my father's house is meant to be the house of prayer for the nations. How dare you turn it into a den of thieves? Worship is not something that we innovate or that we invent. Worship is regulated by the word of God. And that made the Pharisees, the scribes, the high priests really mad. How dare you do that, Jesus? And so they challenged him. By what authority do you do these things? Tell us. And then Jesus gives that parable of the wicked tenants, right? Who persecuted and killed the servants and ultimately the son of the Lord of the vineyard. And so the vineyard will be taken away from them and will be given to others. And that was a pronouncement of judgment upon these unbelieving leaders of Israel who rejected the Messiah. Jesus again and again called these leaders to repent and trust in Him, but they did not want Christ. Their desire to murder the Son of God kept becoming more and more intense, and they were so restless to shed innocent blood. They were bloodthirsty, and they wanted whatever they could to get ahold of Jesus and kill him, get rid of him. They couldn't take the gospel anymore. How deceptive. false religion is. They wanted to hold on to their own self-righteousness instead of looking to the Messiah, who alone can save sinners. Jesus had given them irrefutable proof that He's the Messiah, that He's the God-man, and yet they rejected Him. They counseled together like the rulers in Psalm 2, saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us." They did not want God, nor did they want His Messiah. So what are they doing? Remember the context? They begin to send spies to Jesus, who pretended to be righteous men, and who would ask Him questions. But their purpose in asking those questions was not to get help, get understanding, grow in their understanding of God's Word. Their purpose of asking questions was to trap Jesus in His words so that they can have Him arrested. And so we saw last Lord's Day that those spies asked Him the question about paying taxes, right? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? And they were hoping that Jesus would say something that would get him in trouble so that they could accuse Jesus of insurrection and get him arrested, but Jesus gave that wise and penetrating answer that we saw last Lord's Day. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. After their failed attempt, to get Jesus in trouble. Now we find another group of people called the Sadducees, who come to Jesus with a theological question, and they're hoping that by asking this question, they would make Jesus look like a fool, because he wouldn't have an answer to their trick question that they have concocted. So they thought. Now, who are these Sadducees? Well, Sadducees, as verse 27 tells us, was a religious group, and they denied that there is a resurrection, okay? So the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection of the dead. In fact, they also rejected most of the scriptures, and they only considered the first five books of Moses as as inspired Word of God. They were the liberals of their day. They rejected the power of God. They rejected the authority of the Word of God. They denied the supernatural. They didn't believe in angels or afterlife or miracles. They were the liberals. This is what liberalism is, isn't it? This is what liberalism is. Liberalism denies the authority of the Bible, and liberalism denies the supernatural. Christianity is a supernatural religion, because Christianity begins with this triumphant indicative, as J. Gresham Machen says in his book, Christianity and Liberalism. We begin with a triumphant indicative that Jesus is risen. He was born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. He lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and he rose again. We believe in the supernatural because we believe in the one true and living God. Liberalism denies that. Liberalism denies miracles, it denies the power of God, it denies the virgin birth of Christ, it denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and therefore it denies the gospel. Liberalism is not a branch of Christianity. Liberalism is a false religion altogether. It's a false religion. And here we see the Sadducees coming to Jesus, trying to trick him. over the question of resurrection by presenting him with an absurd story. They were hoping that as Jesus hears this story, this hypothetical situation, he wouldn't have an answer to give them. And thereby, they could show Jesus in the crowd how absurd it is to believe in the resurrection. That was their scheme. False religions cannot give hope and comfort. They are vain, they're empty. How do we identify true religion, people of God? How do we identify true religion? True religion looks to Jesus Christ. True religion looks to Christ alone for salvation. Now, although the Sadducees and the Pharisees were on the two extreme views, They were extreme opposites. They joined hands together at this instance, the Sadducees and Pharisees, to get rid of Jesus. Now we learn a little bit more about the Sadducees in Acts 23, verse eight. Listen to this. The Sadducees say, there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. So the Sadducees didn't believe in the Bible. They didn't come to Jesus with humility, but with pride, presenting Jesus with what they thought was an impossible dilemma. And so, they come up with an absurd story. But in presenting that story and asking Jesus that question, they show themselves as utterly illogical, irrational, and absurd. They themselves cannot stand on their foundation because it's so shaky. And Jesus exposes their folly and their absurdity. And that brings us to our second point, the absurdity of false religion. Not only is false religion vain and empty and worthless, it's absurd, it's foolish to have any other worldview than the Christian worldview. Every other worldview that contradicts the Christian worldview is a false worldview. The Christian faith is the only true faith, and the Christian worldview is the only consistent worldview. Nothing else would make sense without the triune God of the Bible. And so let's see how they approach Jesus. Look at verse 27. Then some of the Sadducees who deny that there is a resurrection came to him and asked him, saying, verse 28, teacher. Now remember, this is mere flattery, right? They're just trying to say nice things about Jesus. They don't mean any of that. But after saying teacher, Here's the background they present. Moses wrote to us, this is verse 28, that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring. for his brother. Now, the Sadducees here were referring to Deuteronomy 25, where God gave this instruction through Moses as a merciful provision to provide for, to care and shelter and protect the widow, as well as for the continuation of the dead man, the husband who had just died. Listen to Deuteronomy 25, verses five and six. If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother shall go into her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel." This was a gracious provision by the Lord. God used this practice to ensure the continuation of family lineage, tribes, and therefore the continuation of the nation of Israel. There is a similar principle in the book of Ruth. You remember Ruth and Boaz? Boaz marries the widow, Ruth, and God, in his covenant faithfulness, uses their marriage, their union, to preserve and sustain the messianic line, so that Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of David, of whom came according to the flesh the Lord Jesus Christ, David's son and David's Lord. So here's the teaching, the principle from the word of God. Now notice how the Sadducees twist it to promote their heresy. So here comes the absurd story. Look at verse 29. Now there were seven brothers. So they're talking to Jesus. There are seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children. The second took her as wife and he died childless. Then the third took her and in like manner the seven also. They all died, right? They left no children, they died. Verse 32, last of all, the woman herself died. Therefore, verse 33, here's their trick question. Therefore, in the resurrection, now remember, they don't believe in the resurrection, right? So they're saying, answer us, Jesus, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven brothers had her as wife. Interesting story, by the way, isn't it? This woman in the story had seven husbands, right? One at a time, but she had seven husbands. All the seven brothers married her, one after the other, from the oldest to the youngest. And in this story, a sure way to die is to marry this woman. Because whoever marries this woman just dies, right? Last of all, the woman also died. So question is, whose wife will she be in the resurrection, Jesus? You can almost hear the scoffing in their voice. We got you, Jesus. You're cornered now. You got no answer. Your mouth is shut. Whose wife will she be? Since you believe Jesus in the afterlife, since you believe in the resurrection of the dead, solve this difficulty for us. where our Lord Jesus, from the word of God, exposes their folly and the absurdity of their question and calls them graciously to repent and trust in the living God, because the God that we worship is not the God of the dead, but he's the God of the living. Jesus calls them to repentance by appealing to the scriptures. And that brings us to our third point, the authority of the scriptures, the authority of the scriptures. Now, our Lord Jesus shows their error in two ways. Firstly, the Sadducees didn't understand the power of God. Secondly, the Sadducees didn't understand the word of God. They didn't understand the power of God. They didn't understand the word of God. Isn't that the essence of liberalism, by the way? Liberalism denies the word of God and liberalism denies the power of God. And liberalism exalts men as God and tries to bring God down. They were wrong in their thinking, their first error. They rejected God's resurrection power. In their theology, there was no room for the resurrection, that God is able to raise the dead. They denied the power of God. Look at verse 34. Jesus answered and said to them, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Verse 36, nor can they die anymore for they're equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. So Jesus says to them, don't equate this age in which we live with the age that is to come. It's not the same. Human marriages end in this age, in this life. That's what we say in the vows, don't we? Till death do us part. Death does separate the husband and the wife, and death brings the human marriage to an end. In the age to come, Jesus says, in the resurrection, there will be no more marriages, but we will all be worshiping the triune God together. We'll be enjoying His communion, and we will be enjoying in the sweetness of the communion of the saints. We'll all be together as brothers and sisters worshiping God. and enjoying him for all eternity. In verse 36, then Jesus says, nor will we die anymore. Why not? In the age to come, there will be no more death. Isn't that amazing? There will be no more death in the age to come. Revelation 20 says that the last enemy, death itself, will be cast in the lake of fire. No more sickness, no more death, no more separation from God, no hindrance whatsoever in our enjoyment of God. And then Jesus says, we will be equal to the angels. We'll be the sons of the resurrection. This means that since there will be no more death, there is no more need for marriage and reproduction because we will live forever in joyful communion with God. All human marriages will fade away and will give way to the one marriage that we will celebrate for all eternity, the marriage of Christ with his bride, the church. We will rejoice in the faithfulness of Jesus, who has purchased his bride with his own blood, who laid down his life for the church, and who is faithful to present his bride as perfect. That's what we will be celebrating. People of God, we can't even begin to imagine the sweetness and the depth of our fellowship with one another in heaven as we treasure Christ together. It'll be glorious. Let me tell you, it'll be glorious. Now, to believe and teach that after death there's nothing out there, there's no afterlife, and that we simply cease to exist after we die is utterly absurd. And it's a denial of the God of the Bible. To believe that in what some people call the soul sleep, you die, you cease to exist, or you go into some kind of a soul sleep, is to go against the plain teaching of the Word of God, right? The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So there is a continuity of personal self-consciousness after death. Children, our souls will last forever. And one day, even our bodies will be redeemed. So firstly, Christ corrects their wrong understanding of the power of God, and then Jesus points them to the Bible, and he takes them right to Exodus chapter three, which they supposedly, being the first five books of Moses, accepted as the word of God, right? So Jesus points them to Exodus chapter three and shows them the authority of God's word. Jesus is the divine teacher. He's the prophet par excellence, the final prophet. He brings to us God's plan for salvation for us. He reveals that to us. So Jesus here affirms the authority of the scriptures as the very word of God. And he goes to Exodus, as I said, to correct their error and to bring clarity. The Lord shows them from Exodus chapter three that there is resurrection from the dead. Okay, now before we look at Christ's explanation here, I want us to briefly consider Christ's view of the Bible. What did Jesus think about the Bible? And I pray that we as a congregation would have the same view of the Bible that Jesus had, right? Listen to what Jesus says in verse 37. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now listen to the parallel passage in Matthew 22. Jesus answered and said to the Sadducees, You're mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Let me repeat what Jesus just said. Have you not read, right? Read your Bible, open your Bible, go to Exodus 3. You don't have to do that right now, but Jesus is saying that to the Sadducees. Have you not read in Exodus 3, What was spoken to you? To you, to you by God. Think about what Jesus is saying about the Bible. When the scriptures speak, God speaks. So when you read the Bible, something that happened 1,500 years earlier from that time, God was speaking to them from his word. The Bible is the living word of God. When the scriptures speak, God speaks. In fact, God is speaking to you right now. He's, the God of the Bible is talking to you through the ministry of the word. Therefore, now listen to, think about the view that Jesus had of the Bible. Since when the Bible speaks, God speaks, therefore it is impossible for the Bible to have any errors. It is impossible for the Bible to err. Because if the Bible could have errors, that would make God a liar. Because God is the author of the scriptures. Since when the Bible speaks, God speaks, for the Bible to be fallible and erroneous would make God a liar. May it never be. Let God be true and every man a liar. The Bible is inerrant. It is infallible. It cannot fail and it is without errors because the God who gave us his word is truth itself, right? He is God. In Him there is no lie, there is no darkness at all. So people of God, it is impossible for the Bible to fail you. It is impossible for the Bible to deceive you. You can trust the Bible and build your life, your family, your marriage upon the sure foundation of the Word of God. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is breathed out by God. From Genesis to Revelation, all scripture is God-breathed. Imagine standing so close to someone that when they're speaking to you, you could feel the breath coming out of their mouth. Think about how intimate that is. And the Bible claims to be the breath of God. As God is talking, children, you put your hand in front of your mouth when you're talking, what would you feel? The breath coming out of your mouth. It's impossible for you to talk without that, without the breath coming out of your mouth. And the Bible is God-breathed. It is the Word of God. That's why liberalism is so destructive. Because liberalism, attacking the authority of the Scriptures, attack the character of God. And that's the first thing liberalism does, right? Whenever a church begins to go toward liberalism, the first thing that's gonna happen is attack on the authority of the Scriptures. Let's make sure we have the same view of the Bible that Jesus had. He believed in jot and tittle inspiration of the Bible. In Matthew 5, 18, Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled. So our Lord Jesus taught and believed that the dots, the smallest letters, the dots, like a tiny stroke or part of the letter, were all inspired by God. They were all God-breathed. This is everything. I began this sermon by pointing you to the hope that we have in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But let me ask you, how do we know that Jesus is raised? How do we know that Christ is our risen Savior? Here's the answer, because the Bible tells us so, right? Children, how do you know that Jesus loves you? Because the Bible tells us so. If you reject the Bible, there is no hope, and there is no gospel. The Bible gives us the good news of the gospel, the hope that we have for our souls. And that brings us to our final point, briefly, the hope of the gospel. Now let's consider Christ's explanation of this passage, Exodus 3, right? The passage of the burning bush where God appears to Moses and God reveals himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Verse 38. Here's the explanation of Jesus, His exposition of this passage. Verse 38, listen. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For all live to Him. So here's what Jesus is saying. What does God say in Exodus 3? I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not, I was, right? God is their God, not was their God. Now when God spoke that to Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already what? They were already dead. And yet God says, I am their God, not I was their God. This is amazing. Jesus is appealing to the grammar of the text, to the tense of the verb. This is why we're committed to expository preaching, because the word of God must be proclaimed, must be expounded in its context. And Jesus is saying that God is the God of the living. Now, how can the dead have any fellowship with God, right? When God says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that would imply that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive when God said that to Moses, even though their bodies had died. You see? So here's the argument of Jesus. Since only the living can have God as their God and know and enjoy Him, that means Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive. And one day, the bodies, their bodies that are in the graves, will be raised imperishable as well. The living God calls His saints to a living and eternal relationship with Him, which implies also that all of you who are in a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you will continue to live in the presence of God even after you die. Death does not have the last word. God has the last word, and He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Jesus says in John 17, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ from you have sent. Jesus says in John 5 24, Verily, verily, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. This is amazing. Jesus doesn't give us temporary life. He gives us eternal life. So that even after you die, when you are 20 or 80 or 90, you immediately go in the presence of God. And you have joy unspeakable and full of glory. And when he comes back, your bodies will also be raised. Congregation, Funeral homes are a temporary business. One day, death itself will be cast in the lake of fire. This is why only the Christian faith can give us hope. We have a living God. We have a risen Savior. Every Christian who has ever died is alive and well right now. Think about that. You're believing grandparents, Your believing parents who have died in the Lord, John the Baptist, the thief on the cross, J. Gresham Machen, Moses, David, all believers who have died are still alive. They're alive and they're happy with Jesus. Their bodies are in the ground and have seen corruption. But when Jesus comes back, those bodies are coming out of the graves. and we'll be united with the souls of believers, and we will receive resurrection bodies. When the Son of God returns, the dead will hear His voice and will be raised. Those who have trusted in Jesus will be raised to the resurrection of life. And those who have rejected Christ, those who have done evil, will be raised to the resurrection of condemnation. Even the wicked will be raised. Even the wicked will be raised, but they will be raised to eternal corruption, and they will receive eternal punishment of body and soul in hell. But the righteous will live forever in joy unspeakable and full of glory. Job, the good old Job, will one day see God in his flesh. And that's true of all those who trust in Jesus Christ. Wow, what an answer our Lord gives to these Sadducees. These vain attempts of the leaders of Israel to trap Jesus in His words only cause the divine wisdom and authority of Jesus to shine brighter, right? So that we get to hear these amazing answers that our Lord Jesus gives. Look at verse 39. Then some of the scribes answered and said, teacher, you've spoken well, verse 40. But after that, they dared not question him anymore. Their mouths were shut. They could not trap Jesus. But what they heard was the very wisdom of God. Jesus is the great teacher, amen? But he is more than a mere teacher. He is the God-man, truly God and truly man, the only Redeemer of God's elect. To conclude, children, adults, have you ever wondered if your prayers matter? Have you ever wondered if God hears them? Well, the answer is yes. Your prayers matter and God hears them because there is an empty tomb. God hears your prayers because Jesus is risen. And because of the resurrection, your tears are not wasted. Your prayers are not wasted. The one you're praying to is the living God. And he is the God, not of the dead. He's the God of the living. So that you will live because Jesus lives. Trust Him. Find rest in Christ. Listen to what Jesus said to Martha in John 11. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Trust in Jesus, the resurrection and life, and look to him alone by faith, for he is the author and the perfecter of our faith. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we are so thankful for Your Word. We pray that You would help us to look to You, the living God, and hope in Christ, the one who died and rose again. And help us, O Lord, even in our afflictions, to find comfort in Christ, and to rejoice in knowing that He is risen, and that You are the God of the living.