Something I like to do when addressing a topic is to Google it and see what our culture says about it. But for this particular topic, I thought, let's go and look at what different songs have said. So there's many songs about heaven, and as I walk through those different songs from our culture, well, they brought me down memory lane, many songs I knew from the past. But there was one song that really stood out, and as always, it was a country song that was a little more honest than the others. Kenny Chesney sings the lyrics, the chorus, everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to go now. That's pretty profound and heart-probing. Everybody wants to go to heaven, But nobody wants to go now. Just fantastically, bluntly honest. I want the things of the kingdom of God. I would love to see the pearly gates. I would love to see God in peace. But first, I would like to complete my bucket list. First, I want to accomplish these goals. First, I want to enjoy these things. I believe this song is helpful because it probably reflects our own disposition. It reflects our posture. And it helps us to see how opposite we are from the teaching of Christ, that we are to seek first and foremost the kingdom of God. This morning, Jesus is still in the midst of a number of confrontations, just to make sure we understand where we are in the gospel of Mark. We've seen him baptized. We've seen him tested. We've seen him performing miracles. We've seen him teaching the truth of the kingdom of God. And we've seen him now in chapter 11, the triumphal entry. He's coming into Jerusalem for the last time. After predicting over and over again, I will suffer, I will die, I will rise again, he's entered into Jerusalem where he will be crucified. And the first thing he does when he comes into Jerusalem is begin a confrontation. He cleanses out the temple, and there's a beginning of an encounter with a Sanhedrin. That's the religious rulers of Jerusalem and the temple. And after this confrontation, we see there's numerous little groups from the Sanhedrin since the last time we were together. Look at verse 13 of chapter 12. You can see the Pharisees came and they wanted to ask, with the Herodians, what about taxes? How do we relate to our government? They were trying to trick him. And each time a different group comes, they come and they say, teacher. Now here we have the Sadducees, verse 18. Things that stand up with the Sadducees, as Mark already tells us in verse 18, they deny the resurrection. This is one of the things that stands out about the Sadducees over against the Pharisees. The Sadducees were not in the countryside, so throughout Mark and the Gospel really up to this point, we don't hear a lot of the Sadducees. They have very little influence in the countryside. They're a city people. They're really the powerful, influential, wealthy aristocrats. They're very much tied to the temple. And there's something else about them. They could be considered the most theologically conservative. They only hold to the Torah. That is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, what Moses has given. So we see a few things are unique about them and we can kind of see, all right, they don't hold to the resurrection. Because the Old Testament overall, all 39 books, is pretty vague about eternal life. Sheol is used for heaven and hell. It is more vague than the clarity we have in the New Testament. But they also deny angels. That's really odd because if you read the first five books of the Bible, angels are kind of everywhere. But here we are, the Sadducees are the next group up. They deny the resurrection. They only hold to the Torah, the books of Moses, and that's gonna be very important for how Jesus approaches them, responds to them. And they're the very powerful aristocrats. And what's interesting about the very wealthy and powerful, they're oftentimes the people who deny life is better after death because their life is so good now. Notice, they appear and they approach him as others have. Teacher, Sadducee's come to him, there is no resurrection. They have a question. It's a question that begins with a, it's a question that's really in the form of, it's an argument in the form of a question. Teacher, there's no flattery this time. They begin with a very basic premise. Again, they hold to the Torah, what Moses wrote. Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Okay, there's a principle given, and this is based upon Deuteronomy 25. You can look that later. There's actually a law given for the nation of Israel so that the proper inheritance distribution would take place for all sons, and really protecting other sons from trying to hinder the inheritance or take other's inheritance. We saw this play out in Genesis 38. Remember Tamar? Her husband dies. Then the brother is given, he dies, and then Judah won't give the next brother because he's afraid he might die as well. You see a practice there, the Levite marriage. So the principle is clear, it's taught by Moses, and this is for the nation of Israel, not something that continues today. But we see the principle presented, Moses taught us this, and then the situation. There were seven brothers, verse 20. The first took a wife and he died, leaving no offspring. And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise, and all the way to the seventh. Okay, so here's a circumstance. We've got the principle for Moses. You're supposed to provide an offspring for the deceased first brother, but this woman ends up marrying seven different men based upon the law of Moses. Here's the twist. The seven left offspring, last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife shall she be? For the seven had her as a wife. Now this is meant to be a trick. This is meant to show how illogical and how irrational the resurrection is because in the very law of Moses, if we think this world is going to compute just like the next world, there's a problem. Will she have seven husbands? Or will she only be given to the first man? And one pastor, commentator, he pointed out that this seems like the kind of thing that a Sadducee's son would pick on the Pharisee's sons with. Like really trying to show how silly the resurrection is. It's kind of a schoolyard game trick that they would do. This is probably not uncommon for a question from the Sadducees. They would always pose this question to show how silly the resurrection is. Notice Jesus' response. Is this not the reason you're wrong? That sounds fairly confrontational. In case we miss it, look at verse 27. He bookends the entire teaching with the emphasis that they're wrong. Now, verse 24, is this not the reason you are wrong? Verse 27, you're quite wrong. Right, so Jesus has made it very clear to them, he's going to emphasize the error of the Sadducees, and now we get to unpack that error. You're wrong, two reasons, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. Now, in case they wouldn't be offended enough by being told they're wrong, he just said, what you're most confident in, you're most wrong about. They're the powerful people. They're the people that have it all together. They're the people who are masters of Moses' law, which is why they're speaking of Moses and showing the ridiculousness of resurrection in their mind. But he's telling them where you feel most competent and confident is where you are most in error. Let's look at these two errors. You were wrong first because you do not understand the power of God. You do not understand the power of God. And he just goes ahead and makes it very clear. You don't understand the power of God because when they rise, When the dead rise again, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They'll be like the angels in heaven. There's no procreation in heaven. There's no marriage in heaven. They're wrong because they don't understand first that God is the one who is powerful to give life. He is the life giver. He is the God of life. And whenever He brings us into a new life, it's gonna be different. You see, the problem the Sadducees is they think the next life is gonna be just like this life. She's saying, no, it's gonna be remarkably different. The second way in which they're wrong is they do not understand the scriptures. Verse 26, as for the dead being raised, have you not read? He's pouring salt in the wound of being an error here. Have you not read the book of Moses? In the passage about the bush, How God spoke to him? Now, there's something very important about this passage. You can look there later, turn there now, it's Exodus 3. This is God's first words to Moses. Pretty important words, right? Moses has fled Egypt because of fear. He's walking alongside, he sees an unusual burning bush. That's Jesus' reference in the passage about the bush. God spoke to him. First words, Moses, Moses. Moses responds, here I am. God says, take off your shoes for where you are is holy ground, and then God identifies himself. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now, at the first glance, this seems to be very clear that God is making sure Abraham knows, I am the God who has covenanted with your fathers. I am the God who has made promises to your people, and here I am speaking to you now. But what Jesus is pointing out is that in the emphasis of this passage is the present tense declaration, I am the God of Abraham. Not I was, as if he's dead. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of life. I'm the God who's given him promises, and I've kept those promises, and Abraham is with me now because he's risen. I am the God of Abraham. God is not the God of the dead. He is a God of the living. Abraham's current state is that he is still alive, and God is with him. Now, there's a few things that we want to walk away from this passage with. There's three basic points I believe we need to understand from this passage where they've come trying to trick the author of scripture himself, right? Moses was led along by the Holy Spirit to write what Jesus' words meant to be. So we have the authoritative interpretation of the passage. And he's showing them their error, and there's three things we can really learn from this passage. The first, taking notes, here's the outline. Marriage is not forever. That's the first thing we really see. And that's not the main point of the passage, but it's something very significant that we need to understand from this passage. Marriage is not forever. Marriage is good. We have to remember, Genesis 2, the very first wedding happens in Genesis 2 before the fall. Marriage is part of God's good creation. He created us male and female in his image. He looks at Adam, he says, you need help? I will make a helper fit for you. He designs her specifically from his rib. He brings her to man. And the very first words of man is celebrating God has given him a wife. It is created as a good gift. Let's be very clear here, though. Marriage is not ultimate. It is temporary. It's good, but it's not ultimate. We sometimes have a hard time holding that tension. Good things that aren't ultimate things. There's a tension there because we want to hold on to what's most ultimate, most strongly, and when we see something that's good, we sometimes want to make it more than it really is. Marriage has a very important role. It helps male and female fulfill their creation mandate, fill the earth by procreation of image bearers. America has a very important role in that it designs an intimate unity between two others. They become one flesh. There's a unique, intimate relationship between two people who were strangers that really reflects the true ultimate, our intimate, loving relationship with God. See, we really only understand and appreciate marriage when we understand its reflection of something. It's not the ultimate. It's a reflection of a greater relationship, the relationship every human being was created for, and that is being united with God. Marriage is good. It's ordained by God. It's something the church must seek to uphold. Let me make it very clear. Marriage does not make you more human or a better Christian. Marriage does not improve your status as a human or improve your ability to be a faithful Christian. Now, that seems odd to have to say that, but I feel like I really have to say that. I had a lady once tell me that she knew the love of Christ better than me because she was a bride and she knew what it was like to be loved by a bridegroom. All right, well, I hope that might be true, but I don't think that makes sense. Because really what makes us understand the love of Christ more is, based upon Luke 7, the more we see our sin, the more we see how unworthy we are of love, is what helps us see the greatness and power of the love of God. How unworthy we are. Not the roles we fill on this earth, the offices we have, but when we come seeing how sinful we are, and yet Christ still loved us. I'll be very clear, if you're single, you're not incomplete. In Christ, every spiritual blessing is yours. That's Ephesians 1.4. There's no qualification there. Marriage is a this-worldly institution that has many advantages and challenges. Being single is a this-worldly state that has many advantages and challenges. I want to make a public apology because it seems like the church has given this idea that I've heard that makes it sound like you're not really mature yet unless you've gotten married, and that's just false. The only thing marriage does is really reveal how immature we are. It cannot be so that marriage makes you a better human or a more faithful Christian because Jesus was not married. Paul personally endorses singleness in 1 Corinthians 7. Every believer is called to find satisfaction and completion only in Christ. If you're married and you're depending upon your spouse to find your ultimate satisfaction or completion, you're putting a burden on them that's going to leave you frustrated and leaving them feel like a constant failure. If you're single and you think seeking a spouse is what's going to finally give you satisfaction and happiness, you're going to be really disappointed. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Marriage teaches us to long for the perfect union. If you're married, you probably should know it's not a perfect marriage. Awkward laughter. And it's designed that way. It's two sinners trying to unite together, and it leaves us wanting to be united with Him who's perfect in love, and that's Christ only. I mean, praise God, there's good marriages and there's healthy marriages, but there's no perfect marriage until you come to the point of seeing Christ the perfect bridegroom at the wedding supper. Marriage is meant to teach you there's something better. Husbands and wives, your spouse is not meant to complete you. In many ways, it's meant to make you a more faithful Christian. Because it does what we all should be doing, is seeing we must forgive one another. We must learn to love the stranger. It is a way of sanctification, just like singleness is. And then there's the church here. I do not believe it would be healthy or wise for us to be a family-centric church. I do not believe it would be healthy or wise for us to be a family-centric church. I don't believe the end goal of the church should be to make sure you have a healthy marriage and know how to parent. Now, I want to be very clear, those are things that Scripture teaches, and I want to make sure we're teaching what Scripture teaches, but that's not the ultimate goal of the church. Nobody goes to churches to make sure you have a healthy, growing, vibrant relationship with Christ. We can't be a family-centric church. We have to be a gospel-centric church. We teach what Christ says about marriage, but we must teach Him first. There is no marriage in heaven. I've had a difficult time with this. It's actually interesting because it's one of the joyful relationships you have on earth. I mean, sex is one of the most interesting and greatest gifts of God, and that's not going to be in heaven? And C.S. Lewis comments on it, there's no room for it. The greatest delights God has given us in this earth, there's no room for it in heaven because of what is so much better. The second thing, and now leading into this, the second point we want to look at that this passage teaches us, The resurrected life will be different than this life. The resurrected life will be different than this life. This is the key to the question of the Sadducees. This is really why they're quite wrong. They believe that this world is going to transform and compute directly into the next world, the resurrected world, if there is one. And Jesus is very clear, no, there's no marriage. Your question doesn't make any sense in heaven because you don't understand anything of what Moses actually wrote. You know, one of the ways to describe what seems unknowable is to say what it's not. Like dads, how hard has it been for you at times to explain what you do at work to your young children? Right? It's hard to sometimes explain exactly what it is. And sometimes it's just best to explain what it's not. And that's really the best descriptions we have of heaven, declaring what it's not. So we can look in scripture, there's no sun or moon. Why? There's no need because the glory of God is the light. There's no temple, why? Because God's presence is everywhere, fully experienced. There's no sea, which seems to be a reference to there's no chaos. There's no killing animals for food. I didn't hear a groan, I kind of thought I would. Even though Jesus says that's good now, he tells Peter, take and eat, kill, take and eat, but in heaven there is no killing animals for food. In heaven there is no death, no sickness, no sweat. Now that's pretty meaningful to me because I was literally laid up in bed for about 36 hours, it was a cold this week, and yesterday I sweat for about three hours in my garden pulling weeds, just frustrated I'll get out, longing for heaven. Most importantly, in heaven there is no sin, There's no temptation. There's no sickness. There's no death. There's no enemies. The victory is complete. Heaven is not a place on earth that is remarkably different. Grace fully embraced, glory fully seen because the heart has been fully transformed. Grace fully embraced and glory fully seen because the heart has been fully transformed. Notice what changes us. God is consistent. He holds out his hands all day long to be known by a contrite and contrary people. A contrary people, not a contrite people. What we see dimly, we will see clearly. Faith becomes sight because we are changed. Let me just give you a very brief history of man. This is the most basic brief history of man. Adam, as originally created, was able not to sin. He actually could say no when tempted. After sin, all of humanity can do nothing but sin. We cannot help but to sin. When Christ returns and we receive our glorified bodies, we cannot sin. That history helps us understand why there's so much goodness, because we do have that image of God. We're not as sinful as we could be. It helps understand the frustration we have as we try to live a life honoring to God, but sin is always lurking. Every desire tainted by sin. What Jesus tells us corrupts us. It's our own hearts where sin comes from. We long for that redeemed, incorruptible state where we cannot sin because we're in new completely. That's what we say regularly. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. To be human is not to be married. To be human is not to err. To be human is not to find happiness here. To be human is to delight in God. The most human thing you can do is love the Lord your God with all your heart. That's next week. But that is the most human thing you can do. To delight in your Creator, your Savior, your Redeemer. But I want to be very clear, God doesn't intend for us just to kind of wait for that. He wants us to pursue the heavenly joys now. He has set it up so we can taste what is coming now. The unique, ultimate joys of heaven should be our priority. Let me ask you, church, how often do you think about death? How often do you think about making sure every moment, every precious, perishable moment today is going to be used for the glory of God versus my own selfish purposes? How much are we thinking about what we should be prioritizing and promoting with each precious, perishable moment? Are we doing as Jesus taught us during the offering? Storing up treasures in heaven? Are we storing up our own delights? Christian as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, If there is no resurrection, we're to be pitied. And the reason we would be pitied is that we're committed so much of our time and energy to things that depend upon the resurrection that people will look at us and think we're wasting our lives. Time in prayer. Time in sacrificial service. Time investing in others rather than ourselves. These are evidences of a resurrection, hope-filled life. If someone looked at our lives, would they think if there's no resurrection, we're really wasting our lives? What are we to lie to? I want to make it very clear. I think what matters most to God is actually the second great commandment. Love your neighbor as yourself, or the way Jesus says it elsewhere. Love your brother as Christ has loved you. Investing in others is that eternal reward that continues and multiplies. Investing in other believers. I'm so thankful there's always a warm greeting here, but to be hospitable according to Scripture means inviting the stranger into your lives. The person not like you. The person who's different in so many ways. But as Christians, we have the one thing in common that we all believe in Christ. Let me make sure I present this very strong challenge. Heaven's joys are meant to be tasted today. It means we have to put off our desire and our pursuit of earthly attractions and pursue the things of heaven. Too often it seems like God has prepared for us a heavenly feast. It's the equivalent of killing the fattened lamb, the fattened calf, the firstborn, and providing a great feast. And it's all laid out for us there. And God says, come and partake. And we show up having just finished off a six-pack of Dr. Pepper and a bag of Cheetos and say, I'm kind of bloated and full. Maybe later, God. You know, if you've ever provided a meal for someone where you're trying to show them how much you love them, you just can't wait to see them enjoy it. The Father sent His Son to be crushed for our iniquity, to show us how much He loves us. The Father has sent the Holy Spirit to seal in us the redemption and the guarantee we have, to stir with us, eyes to see, to be enlightened, to know the love of God. And what the Father wants to see is for us to truly enjoy what's most enjoyable, and that is the love He has for us. and we're just sitting there licking the fake cheese dust off our fingers? Instead of really delighting in the love feast that Christ has provided for us? What is it that we're pursuing that's so much better than the love of Christ? Seek ye first the kingdom of God. two practical things I would like to present to you, to think about this week, to become more heavenly minded so that you are more earthly good. Every day, read Revelation 21. It's one chapter. Every day, read Revelation 21 to capture a vision for what is waiting for you and long a desire to have that be your hope, your love, and your treasure. Revelation 21. And secondly, Re-evaluate. Are you confidently hoping in the resurrection? 1 John 3, 2. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. That's the hope set before us. We're not yet transformed fully, but when he appears, we will become like him because he has come to fully transform us. And hear how the application works from 1 John 3. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. The final thing we walk away from in this passage, the third point, Marriage is not final. The resurrected life is not like this life. And finally, this passage is a warning about being overconfident. That's really the main thrust of the passage. You are wrong. You are quite wrong. That's meant to be, I believe, a warning. How terrifying would that be? To be there with our cheese dust all over our palate and our face and our fingers To hear Jesus say, you were wrong. You were quite wrong. The Sadducees were powerful. They had it all figured out. They had a whole system. They disappear after the temple's destroyed in AD 70. But here, you just hear this judgment. You're wrong. You're quite wrong. Really? Should challenge us ask? What am I most sure of? And is it what's most clear in Scripture? What am I most sure of? And is it so clear from Scripture? You know, it's funny to watch Christians pick fights and have disagreements. We usually do so after our little hobby horses. And they're usually not things of real importance in Scripture. We're supposed to be people of the book. We're supposed to be a people who submitted to God's word, seeking what he has said with authority and clarity. It's too easy to be confident where we're competent, and that's not being a Christian. It's too easy to mope and complain about all my failures. That's not really being a Christian. Clinging to Christ, who's died for our sin, who's risen again, who sits at the right hand of the Father, and is coming back, that's the confidence. Is our confidence, is it practically laid out there for us? Is that what we're most confident in? If you're not a Christian, where is your confidence? Have you out-reasoned God to think you've got something figured out beyond what He's actually revealed? If you're not a Christian, do you think you're gonna be able to come to God and say, look at all the good things I did, surely you're going to reward me? As if he's not seen the motivations of your heart. As if he's not seen what you've done in private and even in public. The warning here is a misplaced confidence. If you're not a Christian this morning, wherever your confidence is, it is misplaced. The only confidence you can have that is sure is to trust in Jesus Christ, who is the only way you can be forgiven for your sin, because He died for your sin, and He's risen again to give you new life. Place your confidence in Him. Christian, let me charge you. You should want to go to heaven, and you should want to go right now. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. There should be a confidence that this life and the great joys we can know here, they're supposed to just show us how much better things are for us in heaven. Confident in what God has promised is true. I want to close by quoting from Jonathan Edwards' sermon, heaven is a world of love. Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, to be the place of his glorious presence, and as his abode forever, and here will he dwell and gloriously manifest himself to all eternity. And this renders heaven a world of love. For God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore, the glorious presence of God in heaven fills the heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light. The apostles tell us that God is love. And therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing and inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that, he is unchangeable and eternal being. He is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love. There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yes, every drop, that is, wherever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one in infinitely dear and incomprehensible and mutual and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the Father of mercies and so the Father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace and of Love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood and poured out his soul unto death for men. There dwells the great Mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, and by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom is imparted to the hearts of all God's people. There dwells Christ in both his natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There in heaven, this infinite fountain of love, this eternal three-in-one, is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it as it flows forever. There, this glorious God is manifested and shines forth in full glory in beams of love. And there, this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yes, in rivers of love and delight. These rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love. in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be overwhelmed with love. That's a small glimpse of what we have to look forward to. Two of the five ways Jonathan Edwards applies this. Let not your heart go after earthly treasure. Fix your eyes on Christ, our forerunner. Will you pray with me?