The God of the Living
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talk about the opposition that Jesus has faced from the leaders; they are trying to catch him and trick him into contradicting himself; this passage is no different
Title is The God of the Living; pointing us to the future and the promises that God has made for us with the resurrection and new heavens and new earth
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,
19 “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.
20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring.
21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.
22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died.
23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
Prayer
importance of understand God’s word the way he intended it; need to know the meaning of God’s word for God’s people in the time it was written and need to know the meaning of God’s word for God’s people now
Misunderstanding God’s word with lead to a misunderstanding of God
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
people like to stop at verse 1; passage is really about us dealing with our own struggles so that we can help others through the same things
Go back to OT and read about God dealing with people; dealt with the Egyptians, dealt with the Canaanites, dealt with his own people the Israelites; When you look at certain places in scripture, you may come away with the understanding that God is not a loving God but is a judgmental and punishing God
But that would be a misunderstanding of who God is; read more in the OT and learn that God is merciful and loving; the same people he was harsh to, he was also merciful to and gave them a way for salvation
Must have good doctrine(right understanding and right belief of God and who he is)
SBC 2025; reminded that we are part of a group of churches who truly look to God’s word for instruction and belief because we believe in the inerrancy, infallibility, and sufficiency of scripture
brings us to text; opens our eyes that false doctrine and understanding has always been around; Jesus even deals with things that we deal with today
Main Point: We are surrounded by False Doctrine but we have the truth of God in Jesus
Main Point: We are surrounded by False Doctrine but we have the truth of God in Jesus
truth matters; truth is real and truth is found in Christ; the world(deceived by the lies of Satan)will try to convince you that truth does not exist
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
look to Jesus for truth
Do you fully look to Jesus for truth or is he the last option?
take the main point and break it up into 2 sub points
We are Surrounded by False Doctrine
We are Surrounded by False Doctrine
people wonder why we have so many different denominations; comes down to interpretation of scriptures; but many have left the scriptures altogether; outside of protestantism, we have Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, and Seventh-day Adventist; even the ones who claim to believe the bible pull from other sources as authoritative truth which actually contradict scripture.
this is just a few of which we could encounter right where we live; this ideology is not new; Jesus dealt with people who claimed to follow God’s teaching yet believed other things
Sadducees
wealthy with both political and temple power
held only the pentateuch as authoritative(book of Moses), therefore did not believe in a messiah from the Davidic lineage
did not believe in angels and demons
believed when you die, both body and soul die; therefore do not believe in resurrection
all of this is important to understanding their question and Jesus words
Jesus had been approached and tried to be tricked already; Pharisees, scribes, elders, Herodians; now it is the Sadducees
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,
they believe that when you die, that is it; no punishment or judgement or soul sleep, just the end; 7th day adventist believe this half way, when someone dies who is not a believer, they are annihilated(punishment and judgement won’t happen); at least they are halfway right on what happens with believers
Sadducees just didn’t believe in resurrection at all; would have been different than their colleagues interested in taking out Jesus; but this difference would not stop cooperation
the goal was defamation; so they asked a question
19 “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.
20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring.
21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.
22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died.
go to the word of Moses; this question is referencing what would be known as the “brother-in-law marriage”; not something that is used today; more of a cultural issue that is going on
Deut 25:5-6
to summarize it, if your family lived together and your brother died and left a wife with no children, it would be your job to marry her and have a kid with her. The first born son though would not take your name but would take the name of the dead brother so that his name would be continued in Israel
What they are asking deals with something that had happened and was dealt with; but they didn’t stop there; they took it as far as they could to make it some kind of question that would be hard to answer; “what if this happens with 7 brothers and they never had a son?”
we deal with crazy questions; apologist - answering questions to soften someone to the truth of God; there are good apologists out there that you can find videos on Youtube
the question they are asking would be almost an unserious question that is being used to bait Jesus; i.e. if aliens showed up today, would that disprove the existence of God?; of course not, he is still the god of the universe, even the aliens; their question is absurd
23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
they deny resurrection; Jesus foretold his resurrection 3 times to disciples; the Sadducees would have known this more than likely; so they attempt to catch him
not just dealing with lineage, but also marriage; monogamy would have been assumed; marriage between one man and one woman; so they try to catch Jesus with this “who is considered her husband in the resurrection”
problems with what might be logical answers; pick one, what about the others; all of them, polygamy; none of them, desertion
they took only a direction given in the book of Moses, applied their anti-resurrection theology to it, twisted and multiplied it, and attempt to catch Jesus with it; this happens to us at times; “why do you believe…, how can you think…, you mean to tell me that God…”
charge to Timothy is intended for a pastor but should be well thought of by all believers
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
be ready; we are ready by knowing and believing the word of God; God’s word is to be implanted in us; Why? because people will not endure sound teaching but will be swayed by whatever teaching sounds good to them
just because something sounds good does not mean that it is true; search for truth; where can truth be found?
We have the Truth of God in Jesus
We have the Truth of God in Jesus
view of God; small or large?; how we read scripture and understand scripture is part of how this is determined; when we read scripture, we must look at it as one story with one main character and many supporting; the main character is God; don’t read it as though you are the main character; Jesus is God in the form of man; When we read it as a book about God, we see that Jesus is where we find truth.
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
You have no idea what you are talking about. You don’t know the scriptures and you don’t know the power of God; bold claims towards powerful people; they did not scare Jesus because he knew that all of this was leading him to the cross which led him to the resurrection
I like to imagine often what it might be like to be in the room sometimes; to hear Jesus call out the teachers and leaders about their lack of knowledge
he teaches them
25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
proclaiming the coming resurrection; describing the new heavens and the new earth; he answers their question
1) there will be a resurrection 2) there will be no marriage in heaven 3) they will be like angels
declaration of the resurrection by Jesus is not new
they will be like angels; we won’t be angels; angels are lesser beings in heaven; they have not had earthly bodies; when someone dies, they don’t become an angel; you don’t want to be an angel
the thought of no marriage in heaven may be discouraging; when you get to heaven you will not be disappointed with anything; you won’t be missing something that is essential to your utmost joy
Exalting Jesus in Mark The Perfect Plan for Heaven (Mark 12:24–25)
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) says it so well: “[In heaven] the glorified spiritual bodies of the saints shall be filled with pleasures of the most exquisite kind that such refined bodies are capable of.… The sweetness and pleasure that shall be in the mind, shall put the spirits of the body into such a motion as shall cause a sweet sensation throughout the body, infinitely excelling any sensual pleasure here”
heaven is going to be a very sweet place for us as believers; you won’t be burdened by the need for someone else there because you will have the thing that you have searched for your entire life, the perfect love of a savior
Jesus goes on to teach the Sadducees from their own scriptures
26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
What Jesus is referring to it the story of Moses and the burning bush. Back in the book of Exodus in chapter 2, Moses was born. The Pharaoh of Egypts daughter found him floating down the river and took him in and raised him. He knew that he was one of the Hebrew people and not the Egyptians, so when he saw one of the Egyptians beating a Hebrew, he went and killed him. He knew that he would be in trouble so he fled. When he fled, he went to the land of Midian. There, he helped the daughters of a priest and he took one to be his wife and had a son with her.
The people of Israel, who were still under the oppression of the Pharaoh, called out to God to be saved. So God appeared to Moses one day on the road in the form of a bush that was burning. It was there, in Exodus 3, that God declared to Moses that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
what does this mean for the Sadducees concerning the resurrection?; the resurrection has to do with life, eternal life; if death was it, then the statement that God made to Moses and what Jesus is saying to them would be insignificant; but it isn’t
I AM the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; not I was; death is not it; your spirit continues even when your body stops; for the believer, this is our hope; he didn’t say I WAS, he says I AM; what a promise to hold onto
the resurrection is the crux of christianity; without the resurrection of Jesus, we worship a good teacher who did some really cool things, but ultimately he would have been a liar; without the resurrection of Jesus, we worship a really crazy lunatic as well; the things that he say were outlandish; but because of the resurrection, he is Lord
As part of the trinity, Jesus is God; therefore he is worthy of glory and honor and praise; why?
27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
there is a resurrection; he is not the god of the dead, but the god of the living;
Jesus points out there false doctrine; we continue to battle against false doctrine; there are times when people say that it is not loving to point out false teachers and false doctrine; it is more unloving to let them continue in their false belief that it is to correct them; Jesus corrects and we should too
believers, be encouraged by this last verse; you will one day experience a resurrection because you have been made alive in Christ by salvation; you are living and not dead
if you are not alive in Christ, then what is the opposite; dead; dead in our trespasses(sins)
the way that we are made alive is by grace through faith in Jesus; Jesus does not make you jump through hoops to get to him; the only thing that he requires is faith
gospel presentation; God, man, Christ, response; the response that leads to salvation is faith in Jesus as Lord and savior
what about those who believe already; you are saved, walking in a growing relationship with Jesus, what should you do with this text?
Application
1) Just as any scripture, be in awe of God; specifically in who Jesus is; he is confident in his role as savior; he is confident in his father who will raise him from the grave when he goes to the cross to die; and he is confident in the word of God; be in awe of God
2) Know God’s word so that you can see false doctrine; it is out there folks; the sure fire way to know it when you hear it is to know God’s word; I want to challenge you to open up and study(not just read) God’s word 1 more day this week than you did last week; set that goal; if you need help(a bible, where to start, material to aid with study), let me know
3) Be confident in the resurrection; I know that you are reading things on a daily basis that talks about the things that are to come (Israel and Iran); what we may believe about the end times can be up in the air; but what is certain to each of us is the resurrection; so look towards the resurrection with the hope of victory that Jesus provides us
Closing - Jesus takes another step closer to the cross with this encounter here in the book of Mark. Be encouraged by God’s word, be challenged by God’s word; I am going to close in prayer and we are going to sing a song together. Behold our God. I said the first thing that we should get out of any passage of scripture is to be in awe of God, so that is what we are going to sing.
