Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter number 12. We'll take our reading from verse number 18 down through verse number 27. Mark 12, 18 through 27. Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection. And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, if a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were seven brethren. The first took a wife, and dying, left no seed. The second took her, and died, neither left he any seed. And the third likewise. And the seven had her, and left no seed. Last of all, the woman died also. In the resurrection, therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife. Jesus answering said unto them do ye not therefore err because ye know not the scriptures either the power of God For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven, and as touching the dead that they rise. Have you not read in the book of Moses how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, 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 the God of the living. Ye, therefore, do greatly. Let's pray together and we'll walk through this passage slowly. Father, we thank you for your love and your rich blessings. We thank you for the word of God that we hold in our hands today. We thank you, Lord, for giving it to us. in such a handy fashion, Lord. It's hand-sized, Lord. It is in our own language. We thank you for it so much. Help us this day as we glean from the Scriptures by the help of the Holy Spirit. In Christ's name we ask. Amen. Now on Wednesday evening we talked about the question of tribute about paying taxes and the possibility of serving God while serving a pagan government Jesus Christ is in the temple he's facing these waves after wave of of questions from the leaders of the area they're trying to catch him in his words trying to get him it tried to get him to defy the law of God or the law of Rome so that they might justly put him to death. It seems like almost immediately after the Pharisees and the Herodians leave that the next wave of conspirators come and these men are the Sadducees. Now in our text of Scripture it says the Sadducees say there is no resurrection. These men are a part of a cultic group of stoic Jews who believe in no afterlife at all. But yet they don't believe in a resurrection and they come and they ask him his feelings about the resurrection. It's a very interesting concept to me. Now, everybody probably knows this little poem about the Sadducees. It's always easy to remember. what they believe they don't believe in a resurrection so they're sad you see sad you see I thought that was just something the kids said but I heard John MacArthur use the very same thing in his sermon one time he said the sad you see just remember they're sad you see no resurrection and so even the greatest of people to rely on nursery rhymes children's things from time to time. I was telling one of the kids I was remembering me seeing Valerie when I was a teenager when the first times that I saw her sing with a group It was a group of girls and they were singing this song. I don't want to be as sad you see Because they're so sad you see I just wanted to be a sheep. I can still remember her taking her fingers going back back back back and they were They all were wearing sunglasses. All these girls were in sunglasses. And they're singing, I don't want to be a Pharisee, because they're not fair, you see. I don't want to be a Pharisee. I just want to be a sheep. Bah, bah. I can't remember which section of the kids I was telling about it. But I can still remember the dress you were wearing when you sang it, of all things. Same one you got on. You know how it goes. Anyway, so they come and they ask this question about the resurrection. Whose wife is she going to be? Now I want you to think of this. This is a purely hypothetical situation. What are the chances of seven brothers all marrying the same woman? That's pretty slim. I'll guarantee that after the third brother she probably would have said no way. No way I'm tired of this family. Now these people come in. Now this sect of Jews was probably the outcome of the influence of Grecian customs and philosophy during the period of Greek domination. This is this is some things that affected them. They were Stoics. They believed in in rigid order. Robert Hawker his little concordance of Bible fact says they were rigid to a degree for the law because denying any future state of reward or punishment they denied the existence of angels or of the spirits they made the chief good in life to consist in an attention to the observance of order in this life they were totally consumed with the here and now and feel like that the greatest happiness could come from having this life ordered properly Now these men they come to Christ and they they mention an Old Testament laws from Deuteronomy 25 verses 5 to 6 if brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger. She shouldn't go outside the family her husband's brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her and she'll be at their firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead It is name be not put out of Israel this is about keeping the families going this is a familial society a patriarchal community and keeping the family names going keeping the lineages going down through history was very important to them and the Lord said this is what I think this should be done this also this also has a connection to the inheritances that people were to see if you look into the Old Testament Book of Ruth you'll see there the bow as is able to legally take Ruth as his wife and also receive the properties that belong to her husband because he was not a brother to Chile on or mail on he was a cousin and the cousin performed the duty because the other brother was also dead and so Jesus Christ hears these things and and they've created this hypothetical situation and it's really to illustrate the foolishness of the idea of the resurrection seven brothers all dying in the span of a few years and all able to marry this woman but no child is conceived so that after all the men die she dies and the question they come up with is Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? What they're doing is pointing out that the idea of a resurrection makes the law of God look silly. Because if they are going to be resurrected, who will she belong to in the resurrected world? Christ, of course, is well able to answer this question. And he says, do ye not therefore err because ye know not the Scriptures? This tells us that the Old Testament has the answer to this question. Christ knows that these men only accept the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. They only accept those words as the words of Jehovah, and they err because they neglect the rest of the sacred writings. Now, that's not uncommon. You may hear people say sometimes that they are red letter Christians. I'm a red letter Christian, which means they only want to observe the words of Christ. That's pretty wild thing to say because I got a lot of Bibles in my office and guess what they don't have? They don't have any red letters at all. So in that regard, I guess I disregard everything. There are people like that they want to say I like this part of the Bible more than that part of the Bible you can't dismiss the parts the Bible the Bible is one book the scriptures cannot be broken they reject these things the books of wisdom the books of history and the prophetical books they all tell us about the resurrection My friends, how often we err because we do not study the words of God. We study our phones and our computers and the almanacs and the news. And we know the histories of our families and the states. But we are ignorant of the word of God. Now, I know. I know that some of you here today are diligent Bible students and to you, I have an exhortation. Use your amassed knowledge of the Bible to teach others. By that I mean be a teacher in the church. We have classes for all ages all kinds of people. And some of those ages some of those classes need you to teach them. You have all that knowledge poked away into your brain. You've read all the books you've done all the work you've you've got a you've got a systematic theology that is that is tried and trustworthy and proven. Don't be stingy with all that information. Don't be stingy with what you know. Be a servant in the Lord's churches. Be a teacher of God's word to others. You say, well, I don't want to do it all the time. Hey, nobody wants to do it all the time, except for me. It's my job. I like doing it. But there are going to be times in our church's life where we're going to need you to teach a class. You know, there are some people who don't want to hear a word I got to say because of my age. You may say, that's me. If Mitchell came up to you and he said, I want to tell you something, what are you going to do? You're going to go, shut up, kid. Go away, boy. You're bothering me. Don't mess with me. Now, there are some people in this room, you have the proper hair color, the proper seasoning, and people will listen to what you say over what I say seven times in a day. God will use you. God put us together in this congregation in the way we are so we could all use our gifts together for the glory of God. We are going to need you in the future. We're going to need you to be a teacher of the Bible in classes. You could have you could teach the Bible. At your own home. You can invite neighbors to come and you could teach people to set a school lessons you could teach people you could proclaim the truths of the scriptures. Don't keep all that knowledge to yourself share it with other people. The Bible says in Proverbs is the thing I think is worth pondering that counsel in a man's heart is like deep water. You have to go down in there and pull it out and sometimes people have to be prompted to use what they have learned for the glory of God. Now I want you to consider this morning Christ's words. Christ says to these men, He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You see, God's servants, God's children never die. Never die. They were dead But once they are resurrected by his oral call to live they live and never die You see my friend at one point you were dead in trespasses and sins and God the Father Passed by you and he said live just like Jesus said to Lazarus come forth and you began to live and in that moment. God's children, once they have been given eternal, everlasting, unending life, that life never ends. in the Old Testament the Bible talks about the resurrection of the body in many places if you take your Bible turn with me to Daniel chapter number twelve verses one and two I remember when I discovered these verses in the Bible begin to see how the resurrection was throughout the Old Testament I was very excited about it they know chapter twelve verse number one and at that time Michael And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to the same time. people shall be delivered everyone shall be found written in the book and many of them which sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt resurrection in the Old Testament take your Bible turn to Job chapter number 19 Job chapter number 19 Verse number 25. The word of the Lord says for I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself and mine I shall behold and not another though my reigns be consumed within me he will live in his flesh after the worms have destroyed his physical body resurrection from the dead. Psalm 1610 tells us about it. Psalms 4915, Isaiah 2619, and Hosea 13 and 14. These all speak to the resurrection of God's people, the resurrection of the saints. Now, those who are resurrected The Bible says, are as the angels. Now this is a real sting to these Sadducees because Christ not only tells them that there is a resurrection. He goes further and tells them that the resurrected people will be like angels and these are beings that they don't believe exist at all. And this is really Christ poking it in their eye, how wrong they are. Now the question comes, what is an angel? Psalms 104 verse 4 says that they are ministering spirits, that they are a spirit who does the bidding of the Lord. Psalms 103 20 tells us that these angels have great strength, great strength. Now the service of angels is throughout the Old Testament. In first Kings 19 five the angel come and tends to tired prophets he comes and speaks to Elijah and says I have come to help you and guide you in here for the angels in the Old Testament they turn back the foolish remember that it was in Genesis chapter three where Adam and Eve after they had been expelled from the garden who did what did God put at the entrance to Eden to keep them from going back in. An angel. Balaam, as he went on a journey, riding his mule to go and curse Israel. Who is it that's standing in the path to stop Balaam from doing what he's not supposed to do? It's an angel. An angel. Daniel chapter 6 verses 18 to 20 the king has come today Daniel's been thrown in the lion's den and The king comes the next morning and cries to Daniel Daniel Are you alive or have the lions consumed you and Daniel says fear not my king the Lord has sent his angel to touch the mouths of hungry lions the service of angels is throughout the Old Testament and Daniel 9 three times Daniel prays and an angel comes with the answer to his prayer if you look throughout the Bible even more you'll see the angels have the ability to appear as men and have substance to that appearance to touch people now we're talking about the resurrected persons resurrected people who are like angels this is what our future state will be a Genesis 18 one angels come to visit Abraham and the Bible says Abraham washes their feet they have the ability to be both spirit and to have Substance so the people can be felt by them and they can touch people Genesis 18 1 Abraham washes their feet Verse 8 they eat the food that Abraham has prepared the next chapter 19 3 they eat again In chapter 19, verse 10, these angels, they grab Lot. In verse 16, they drag Lot and Mrs. Lot and the girls from the city. So while they are spirits, they may act as men, but they are not men. They have a unique form and fashion. Now Christ deals with them about this marriage thing. He says, When they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven. No marriage in heaven? Why not? Is marriage a good thing? Miss Glenda is the only one who said yes. But Gerald's not here to give his side of it, is he? Is marriage a good thing? We all gotta say yes. Overall, marriage is a good thing. Marriage is good. Now, in heaven, why wouldn't there be marriage? A few reasons, from my perspective. Number one, there's only one covenantal relationship in heaven. Christ and the elect. One covenantal relationship. One relationship of promise, of mutual agreement, and that is between Christ and his elect people. Number two, marriage is a source of joy outside of Christ. And the product of marriage, children are yet another source of joy. And in heaven, all joy is because we have him. My friends, lost people in this world are getting joy today from their marriages. They enjoy their relationship. There is a there's blessings to them, even outside of Christ. And marriage is a source of joy outside of Christ. And so our children in heaven, all joy is because we have him. Number three, the natural needs of the flesh will be absent. We won't need to eat or to drink or to feel the physical expressions of love. So marriage is absent. the pulpit commentary tells us that the risen life is not is no mere reproduction of the present but a regeneration new life added to the old with new powers acting under new laws ranged in a new community on earth men are mortal and marriages necessary to perpetuate the race no such necessity obtains in the other life where men are immortal. As an old father says, where the law of death is abolished, the cause of birth is abolished. Likewise, this seems to be one reason why we probably don't understand what heaven will be like is because we think of heaven in terms of the of the highest form of earth. When in reality, the glory of heaven is not the form or fashion of it. It's not the structures or the streets. It's not the absence of sin and its results. The glory of heaven is the presence of the Godhead, the triune God, present there and we with Him. And my friends, when we are with God in His presence, exalting in His glory, basking in the light of sovereign love, at that moment, surroundings won't matter. Have you experienced that in your life? Do you remember when you first got married, and all you had was her, and you didn't have nothing else? All you had was love, because that's all you need. Two, you thought that two could live cheaper than one, didn't you? You can't. You didn't need much. When me and Valerie came home to our palatial mansion, we first got married. I used to know it was on River Street. What was the number? Do you remember? 807? I think it was 807 River Street. That place was a rat trap. But we came home, just the two of us. We were happy. She had me. She was happy as she could be. And I had her. We had no pictures on the walls. We had no air conditioning. We couldn't have more than four people come eat with us because all we had was four plates and four forks and four spoons and four knives. Four cups. I don't even think we owned a coffee pot. I mean we had nothing but we had each other. My friends when you have the Lord when we're with him we won't worry about any of those other things. Now when I was a kid and I thought of heaven I knew that I would worship the Lord for a while. but that I would get tired of worshiping him. And I figured that God knew that, and that's why he made a physical heaven for me to enjoy when I got tired of worshiping him. And this idea of heaven lasted me all the way into my mid-20s. Because when I would talk about going to heaven, I would think about how heaven would please me. Because if you've ever done it. Imagine how heaven would be for you. I would picture my my dream house in heaven. The place I'd always want to live. Cold water trout streams everywhere. Full of trout and no trees growing too close to water to mess up my fly fishing. I mean I just pictured it how I wanted to be. In junior church I would tell the kids that in heaven peaches don't have any hair on them. When I was a kid, I took my dad's razor one time and tried to shave all the hair off a peach because I didn't like that fuzzy feel in my mouth. I've since gotten over it. I don't care anymore. but that I viewed heaven as how it would please me." And my friends, that is immaturity, spiritual immaturity speaking. Because now, after studying the Bible and contemplating the scope of His love for me and His unwavering devotion to me, I am now fully convinced that I will never tire of worshiping Him in heaven. That I will never grow weary of bowing at His feet and saying, glory to God. Praising Him. The resurrection for us will bring to us the highest form of life and the highest form of joy. Neither of those will ever end in the resurrection. But not all people will enjoy this second resurrection. Now there are two resurrections that a saved person experiences. And both are done by sovereign decree. And briefly, I don't want to get into a whole theology of resurrection. But briefly this morning, I'll direct you to John 5, 24 to 25. Jesus says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. What a blessing it is to know that when we hear that word of salvation, we hear the voice of the master. We hear the Savior calling us to him, that he saves us and we pass from condemnation. No longer are we condemned. We are justified. We are declared innocent by the father. Jesus tells us how this is done. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is. when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. This is the first resurrection that you ever experience. This first resurrection saves you. You can see it in Ephesians and Colossians and Romans that God calls us forth from the dead into everlasting life. And there is another resurrection for the sake. This is the first resurrection of the apocalypse. It's the first resurrection of the believer's body. You can see it in Revelation 20 verses 4 to 6. John writes I saw thrones and they set upon them and judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus into the word of God which had not worshiped the beast either his image either had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. but the rest of the dead. This rest of the dead here, in my opinion, is the unsaved dead. They live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Now, some will say that the Old Testament saints aren't resurrected after the thousand years. I think that's wrong. The Bible says that all the saved are gathered together. Verse six says, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priest of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. The resurrection that you may wonder this morning, if you have been involved in the first resurrection, the new birth, you may wonder, can I know if I have been called forth into life? Oh, you can. Those who have been quickened by God believe that Christ is their Savior. They believe it with all their heart. They believe that they have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. They know that the Spirit of the Lord bears witness with their spirit that they are God's child. These believers they have a deep awareness of their own persistent sinfulness and God's absolute holiness. We are keenly aware of that. Keenly aware of our sinfulness. You know I didn't know how sinful I was until after I got saved. And now, I marvel that God saved me at all, and that God would keep me saved, because I know my sin. I know myself better than I've ever known. The presence of the Holy Spirit makes me very aware of my own sinfulness, and of God's absolute holiness. Believers are genuinely drawn to his word. They're drawn to his church They're drawn to praising him my friends. What is it that would make? hard-working people drag out on a Sunday morning year after year And assemble with God's people assemble with people who are sometimes difficult to be around assemble with people who sometimes aren't as kind as they should be and What is it that brings God's people together? It's the inner working of the Spirit. It's this new life. It's this new nature that draws people to Him. Those who've been quickened by God tend to be devoted to His gospel even if it means death. Devoted to it. Those who've been quickened by God, they can feel it. I wish I could say I felt my salvation all the time. I don't feel it all the time. There are some times when I do feel it. And I do feel it. And I'm glad. I'm so happy to know that I'm saved. The psalmist said, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Feel it. You know that he is yours. You're his. You know you're connected to him. Thanks be to God for salvation. Thanks be to God for a life of faith that sometimes I can feel, and fills me not only with joy, but fills me with happiness. I wonder, do you have that today? Have you the new life? Has the new birth taken place in you? Are you alive in Christ? Are you trusting in Christ as your Savior? Do you have the assurances of the Holy Spirit? Are you saved today? Do you know Him? Do you know the One? who died for you. Let's pray together. Steve is going to come and lead us in a hymn. If you're here this morning, and you've been saved, and you know you're saved, but you've never been baptized, the Bible says the next step