Transcription downloaded from https://sermon-library.fbcmustang.org/sermons/103703/is-resurrection-real/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. One of the great gifts and joys we have as believers is to be able to gather, to worship, to worship, to sing together.

[0:21] It really is an amazing gift the Lord gives us to lift our voices and declare the same thing that we have. We have the same truths at the same time, in the same way.

[0:33] There is a tremendous blessing to God's people when we lift our voices and sing together. I want to encourage you in a couple of ways of things that are happening.

[0:46] One, for all of you, we continue on as a church in our read through the Bible. We have made a pretty good journey so far as we are more now than 25% finished through the Bible this year.

[1:04] If you started that and are behind, as I've said a number of times this year, let me just encourage you to pick up this week. You can always go back and read what you missed.

[1:17] You can always go back and complete that. But don't let the fact that you got behind keep you from daily being in God's Word.

[1:27] We are in the book of Joshua right now. And I want to encourage you to pick up a reading guide, either a physical copy here at our Ministry Connection, or online you can download that or print that off.

[1:40] And if you've gotten behind, just pick up with where we are today and jump in there with us. If you never started and you're needing a Bible reading plan, something to help you every day when you wake up to know, here's what I'm reading today, jump in there today.

[1:57] It's okay that you didn't start January 1st. Just start with us today and be a part of that. And just as a reminder, I'm making those videos every morning that go along with our reading, and those are available a number of places on my Facebook page.

[2:14] It's available on our church website. It's available on our podcast for that. And if that is a help to you, I encourage you to follow along with that as you have time or as it's helpful for you.

[2:27] A number of families have told me they continue to use that as a part of their family devotion time. And so as a family, they gather around and read the Scripture and then use those videos I put out each day to help them to have things to think about and talk about as a family.

[2:40] However, the Lord may use that. As always, though, the most important part is that you're reading the Bible. If you're listening to what I'm doing each day, I'm glad that you are, but don't let that be a substitute for the Bible.

[2:55] Never listen to what men say about the Bible instead of the Bible. Let teachers be a supplement, be encouragement, be a help, but never listen to what anyone, including me, what we would say about the Bible instead of reading the Bible.

[3:13] So one encourages a church just to be in the Word every day. And then also for men, this month we have our registration open for the Institute.

[3:23] That is available through May the 1st. We'll have our information meeting about that coming up two weeks from today. Our gentlemen who are in the Institute this afternoon at 3.30 have their final exam on New Testament 2.

[3:41] They've got 250 questions on their New Testament 2 exam. The guys who are graduating get a bonus section of a cumulative part from their two years.

[3:54] So they'll have about 300 questions in total to navigate through. And it really is an amazing thing to watch how much these men know. Men of all ages. And I'm so thankful for them.

[4:07] But if you've thought about being a part of the Institute, or if you haven't thought about it, and now you think, I ought to do that, let me encourage you to sign up out here to our ministry connection for our interest meeting.

[4:20] That will be April 21st at 4 o'clock. That interest meeting is not any commitment. You just come and we'll teach you what we're doing. I'll give you a sample syllabus, give you a feel for what we do, how much time it takes.

[4:37] I cannot tell you how proud I am of the men who complete that. Men who devote hours for a two-year period of their life to the study and knowledge of God's Word and become husbands and fathers and Sunday school teachers and leaders in our church.

[4:56] And so if you feel like this is a good time for you to jump in, I would encourage you to prayerfully consider doing that. Mark chapter 12, we continue in this very long day in the life of Jesus.

[5:14] Just a couple of days before the events of the crucifixion, He has taught on prayer. He has been questioned about His authority.

[5:26] He has taught on the parable of the tenants, along with a couple of other parables that are recorded in other Gospels. He has been questioned about paying taxes.

[5:40] That's something they have to do. And now we come here in the middle part of chapter 12, verses 18 to 27, and we deal today with this question of, is resurrection real?

[5:53] Is it real? Verse 18, The Sadducees came to Him, who say there is no resurrection. And they asked Him a question, saying, 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.

[6:18] There were seven brothers, and the first took a wife, and when he died, left no offspring.

[6:30] And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring.

[6:42] Last of all, the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be?

[6:55] For the seven had her as a wife. At first, this may seem like just an interesting dilemma.

[7:10] And maybe, you may think to yourself, these are just men thinking through the elements of real life, and real things that happen, and how in the world is God going to reconcile this in eternity?

[7:27] But you have to understand that the people asking this question really tells us all we need to know. I want you to notice first the opponents that are present.

[7:43] We're in this barrage, in this day, just a couple days out from the crucifixion, where it's just this barrage of people coming at Jesus. The scribes, and the Pharisees, the Herodians, now the Sadducees, it's just group after group after group coming after Jesus, trying to catch him, trip him up, trying to set the bait, trying to find reason to discredit and destroy him.

[8:13] The opponents now is a group known as the Sadducees. Again, verse 18, the Sadducees came to him. And Mark helps us to understand these are they who say there is no resurrection.

[8:30] Now you might be wondering, if they don't believe in a resurrection, why the question in verse 23, in the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be?

[8:44] It seems a bit confusing. They don't believe in the resurrection, but they're trying to ask Jesus a question about the resurrection. That's what you need to know.

[8:56] This is not a sincere thing. These are not truth seekers. This is another group of opponents of Jesus who oppose him, who have disdained for his life and ministry, and are trying to discredit him, trying to ask him questions to show in their mind that what Jesus teaches is false.

[9:18] False. We don't know a whole lot about the Sadducees. We know they're one of four major groups at that time.

[9:28] You've got the Pharisees, you've got the Sadducees, you have a group known as the Essenes and the Zealots. Of those four, the Pharisees and the Sadducees are the most influential.

[9:42] The Sadducees are small in number, but they are very powerful. They were the aristocrats. They were the high priestly party.

[9:54] They cooperated with the Romans. And by cooperating with the Romans, it allowed them to keep their position of power. Now, they only believed in this life, not the life to come.

[10:10] So, if you've got to make a little compromise along the way to keep your power, why not? Because after all, you're just living for this life, not eternity.

[10:23] They comprised most of that 71-member Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the day, by tradition, it was one of their members of the Sadducees that would be the high priest.

[10:40] This is a group that ran the temple business, the selling of animals, the exchanging of currency that Jesus drove out when He cleansed the temple.

[10:50] This was their work, their thievery that He broke up. The Sadducees only accepted the Pentateuch.

[11:01] The first five books of the Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They accepted those five books as authoritative and things to hold to, but not the rest of the Old Testament.

[11:16] They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in demons. And as Mark mentions, they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead. Exclusively focused on just this life.

[11:33] This is repeated in Acts chapter 23, verse 8. For the Sadducees say, there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit.

[11:45] They denied any life after death, whether for judgment or reward. They believed the body and the soul ceased to exist at death.

[12:01] And so they asked this question. It's not a sincere question. It's a trap in their mind.

[12:12] If they can prove in their mind that what Jesus believes about a resurrection is so unbelievable and so impossible, then they can discredit the very teaching and ministry of Jesus.

[12:33] If they are correct, and there is no resurrection, then not only would it render his promise of a resurrection as completely null and void, it would strip his entire preaching and ministry of any purpose at all.

[12:52] Jesus has been clear that he is going to die and rise again. He has been clear that though you die, if you belong to Christ, yet you live.

[13:10] He has been clear that you will stand before the Lord and not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will be entered in on that day.

[13:21] He's been very clear about resurrection, about judgment, about heaven, and about eternal life.

[13:33] The opponents that are present now don't believe that. And in their mind, they think they're ready to go toe-to-toe with him.

[13:45] That's the opponent that's present. Verses 19 to 23, we get into their debate, their question, and we see the dilemma they proposed.

[13:58] Look at this dilemma that they proposed. Verse 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.

[14:12] Just a quick note, the reason why they appealed to Moses is the Sadducees did accept the first five books of the Old Testament, though only those five. And the question they're asking here comes from Deuteronomy 25, what's known as a kinsman redeemer or a leverite marriage.

[14:35] A woman that was childless could marry her husband's brother for the sake of extending the family name. This comes into play, for example, in the book of Ruth.

[14:50] When you read about Boaz and Ruth, it's coming from this same idea of a leverite marriage, a kinsman redeemer. And so here is the situation they come up.

[15:01] Here's the dilemma they give to Jesus. Verse 20, Jesus say there's seven brothers. And the first one took a wife and he died, had no kids. And you're thinking, okay, that makes it, that can happen.

[15:15] We're with you so far. And the second brother then took her and he died, leaving no offspring.

[15:27] And you think, well, that could happen. Couple marries, husband dies, marries a brother, brother dies, all right. And then the third likewise.

[15:41] Now at this point, someone ought to be saying to the brothers, you might stay away from this lady. I don't know what she's serving or what she's cooking or what's going on over there, but wisdom may say, let's keep looking.

[15:56] Well, it happens for brother one and brother two and brother three and brother four and brother five and brother six, verse 22, and even the seventh died and left no offspring.

[16:14] Last of all, the woman also died. She ate her own cooking. I don't know. They create this extreme example all for the sake of this dilemma.

[16:31] Verse 23, in the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be?

[16:44] For the seven, meaning the brothers, had her as wife. Their hope, their aim here is to try to show in their mind how nonsensical the hope of resurrection is.

[17:05] how the teaching of Jesus is to be avoided. After all, in their mind, how in the world is God going to resolve this?

[17:22] Imagine the scene. You got brothers one to seven, all married this lady, all died. Now the lady dies.

[17:34] In their mind, she gets to heaven and the question is, God says to her, are you excited to be reunited with your husband? And she says, I don't know what to do.

[17:47] I had seven husbands. Is she going to have seven husbands in eternity? Does it go to the first one?

[17:59] Does it go to the one that was maybe last? Does it go to the one she was married to the longest? Maybe she'll be married to the one that she was closest to or got along with best.

[18:17] Jesus, how are you going to solve this dilemma? this dilemma? You teach there's a resurrection. If this event happens, what happens to your heaven?

[18:35] That's the dilemma. It leads us to verse 24 where we see the rebuke pronounced. The rebuke pronounced.

[18:45] Jesus said to them, I can't even read this without just laughing as I try to envision the picture. He says, is this not the reason you are wrong?

[18:58] He hears this question they've asked that in their mind is brilliant, that in their thinking has just backed Jesus into a corner, thinking Jesus is about to say, I quit, I quit.

[19:11] You're too smart for me. And his response is, is this why you're so wrong? Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?

[19:23] Is this why you've missed it so much? Because you don't read the Bible? Is it because you don't understand the power of God? This is a stinging rebuke.

[19:36] Remember, the priest would do the work of sacrifice, but most of the time what the priests were doing, they were explaining the scriptures.

[19:51] And Jesus calls these men out who are supposed to be teachers of the scripture to say, is the reason that you are so wrong that you just haven't read?

[20:10] Is that why you missed it so much? He says, is it why you are wrong?

[20:22] It comes from a form of the word planeo. Planeo in its noun form is where we eventually in English get our word for planet.

[20:34] It means something that's, that's wandering away, something that's way out there, like a planet from us is way out there from the sun.

[20:44] Is this why you are so out there? Is this why your words are so far away from the truth, like a planet that's just wandering around the solar system?

[21:06] He calls them out for neither knowing the scriptures nor understanding the power of God. In other words, for these Sadducees, if Jesus teaches a resurrection and if they come up with a scenario that they think is going to be confusing or a problem, then the answer must be they've proven their point, Jesus is wrong, there is no resurrection because if their mind can't figure it out, then there must not be an explanation.

[21:36] In other words, the Sadducees had a God no bigger and no greater than their finite minds. See also your world today where people think if they can't understand, explain, or wrap their mind fully around it, then something must not be true.

[22:01] The opponents present were the Sadducees. The dilemma proposed was what do you do in the resurrection with the lady who was married to seven brothers?

[22:17] The rebuke pronounced was that they were wrong and did not know the scriptures nor the power of God. In verses 25 and 26, let me show you a fourth thing.

[22:30] The answer professed. The answer professed. Jesus is going to affirm three things in his answer here.

[22:41] Verse 25. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

[22:53] So I want you to make note of three things here. Number one, Jesus affirms the reality of resurrection. He is not intimidated by their question nor is he impressed by it.

[23:06] He just simply corrects them and says when they rise from the dead. Yes, resurrection is real.

[23:19] The believer neither will cease to exist at the time of their earthly death.

[23:33] There is heaven and there is hell. when they rise from the dead. It gets no more clear.

[23:45] It gets no more plain than that. Is resurrection real? Absolutely. From the very lips of Christ himself, you cannot wonder what Jesus believes about this question.

[24:02] It's crystal clear. When they rise from the dead. Jesus affirms what the Sadducees deny.

[24:17] Jesus corrects where the Sadducees were wrong. So the answer that Jesus professes, number one, is he affirms the reality of the resurrection.

[24:28] Now, the next part of what Jesus says just makes me smile as well. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, look at the end of verse 25, but are like angels in heaven.

[24:47] Why does that make me smile? Because the Sadducees didn't believe there were angels. They didn't ask about angels. He just threw it in there. You're wrong about resurrection.

[24:59] Well, I have you here. Let me also help you with this one. You're wrong about angels too. Yes, they will rise again. And in this sense that they will not be married in the resurrection, in that sense, they are like angels in heaven.

[25:18] So Jesus affirms the reality of resurrection. He also affirms the reality of angels. Now, I want to be really clear here.

[25:30] When believers die, they do not become angels. angels. No matter what movie you watched, or what book you read, or what poor theology you heard at a funeral one day, people do not die and become angels.

[25:59] With respect to marriage in heaven, they become like the angels, meaning angels aren't married and in the resurrection, neither are we.

[26:13] So Jesus just kind of slips this one in. You're wrong on resurrection. You're wrong on the angels. And then thirdly, Jesus affirms the teaching of the Old Testament.

[26:28] Verse 26, And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of, what's the word?

[26:41] Say it out loud. Moses. Have you not read from the book of Moses? Now, why does Jesus specifically refer to the book of Moses?

[26:53] Well, it's because this is the part of the Old Testament that the Sadducees affirmed. Lord. Jesus could have gone to the book of Job, for example.

[27:06] For I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.

[27:18] The Old Testament affirms resurrection. He could have gone to Isaiah 26. Your dead shall live, their body shall rise. He could have gone to Daniel 12.

[27:32] The Old Testament affirms resurrection, but Jesus doesn't even mention those things. Instead, he says, have you not read in the book of Moses?

[27:43] Because they themselves would say they believe the book of Moses. Moses. So, Jesus corrects their wrong thinking on the resurrection.

[27:54] He corrects their wrong thinking on the angels, and now he affirms what he believes, the truthfulness of the Old Testament, even taking them to the very section of the Old Testament that they themselves would affirm.

[28:08] Have you not read in the book of Moses? In the passage about the bush? Just a question for fun.

[28:19] Why did Jesus not refer to the chapter? Why did he say the book of Moses in the passage? Why does he not refer to the chapter and verse? And the answer is they didn't write chapter and verses.

[28:33] That comes much, much later. The Bible is not originally written with chapters and verses. That's added way, way, way later, so that when I say, for example, turn to Mark 12 verse 18, you can easily open your Bible and find chapter 12 verse 18.

[28:53] Chapters and verses are very helpful, but that's not a part of the original text. So, Jesus says, 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.

[29:16] This is Exodus 3. That's what Joy read to you a few moments ago. It's the time of Israel's slavery in Egypt. The people have been crying out for deliverance.

[29:27] After 40 years, Moses meets the Lord on the mountainside. In Exodus 3 verse 6, God identifies himself, not as I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[29:42] I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'm currently, presently, their God. Abraham lives around 2000 BC, Moses around 1500 BC, 500 years later, he is still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[30:11] Jesus affirms resurrection, he affirms the reality of angels, and he affirms the Old Testament's teaching that those who are the people of God, though they have died, yet they live, God is still their God.

[30:40] Which brings us to verse 27, the summary proclaimed. At the end of this brief exchange, the summary is proclaimed, verse 27, he is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

[31:03] Those who belong to him live, even though they die. One day, their bodies will be reunited with their spirit, and they live forever.

[31:16] So the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection, make up this story to try to confuse Jesus, to show the incongruity of real life and eternity, and instead, Jesus just says to them, is this why you've missed it so badly?

[31:35] Have you just not read? Do you just not understand the power of God? Even in the Pentateuch, the book of Moses, which you say you affirm, it shows you that God is still the God, even of those who have died, they haven't ceased to exist, he is still their God, to say nothing of various other Old Testament accounts that proclaim resurrection, and then he just gives this summary, he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[32:10] And then he ends one final statement, you are quite wrong. What a frightening thing to hear.

[32:23] You are quite wrong. To be wrong on some things is not fatal. To be wrong on the reality of eternity is disastrous.

[32:43] You are quite wrong. What does all this mean for us?

[32:57] There's no Sadducees among us today. What do we do with this? Let me give you two or three implications of this text that you need to understand.

[33:12] Number one, marriage has a great purpose, but is a shadow of an even greater reality.

[33:26] marriage marriage has a great purpose, but is a shadow of an even greater reality.

[33:41] Marriage is a high and holy institution. It should be revered in society. reality, it has a great purpose, but marriage is for this life only.

[33:57] Why? Because it's a shadow of an even greater reality. Ultimately, it's a shadow of, it's a picture of Christ and his bride.

[34:12] We understand a bit about Christ and the bride of Christ because we understand a groom and a bride. We understand the imagery behind the marriage supper of the Lamb because we understand about marriage.

[34:27] Marriage is a high and holy thing. It's a wonderful gift. If God asked me to be married, it's a wonderful thing, but it's not ultimate. It's a shadow.

[34:41] It's a metaphor. It's a picture of something that is even greater and lasts forever, namely Christ and his bride.

[34:54] Which means as great as marriage is, your marriage is not for eternity. Now, don't amen too loudly.

[35:07] You're going to get yourself in trouble. Some of you sit there and think, oh my goodness, this is heartbreak. Others think, thank goodness, there's an out. Now, we take this by faith because I'm 50 years old.

[35:26] I've been married almost 28 years. So, more than half of my life I've been married. Virtually all of my adult life I've been married.

[35:42] I mean, everything I know, every meaningful decision I've made has been as a married man. My greatest joys in life have come as a married man.

[36:01] My greatest blessings in life have come as a married man. When I am my happiest, I'm with my wife.

[36:15] And if I were to be at my lowest, I would want my wife. I don't need a lot of things in life to be happy. I'm a fairly simple man.

[36:31] But I do want my wife. Don't need much money, don't need a lot of stuff. But I sure do like having Marcy around.

[36:46] That makes my life happy. That's all I've known as an adult. I have memories, of course, before I was married, but somebody else was making decisions for me.

[37:01] Somebody else was outlining what I do. My life, my decisions, my choices, the events of my life have come as a result of being married.

[37:13] And so, you've got to take it by faith a little bit to say, how in the world can heaven be heaven if your spouse isn't there? Now, understand, not everybody's marriage has lasted, not everybody's marriage, had people that were faithful to the vows.

[37:27] I understand that. But if things are as they should be, it can be kind of hard to think about how is heaven going to be heaven if I don't have my spouse?

[37:46] And what I would say to you is remember that you will know them, you will love them, and you will even love them even more than you do today. Because today, as much as you may love them, it still is limited by sin and selfishness and things of this world.

[38:07] But marriage is going to be superseded by something even better, even greater. And I can't explain all of how that happens because none of us in this room have experienced sinned or lived through it.

[38:22] But we can understand that God's gifts are always for our good, His ways are always best, and when Jesus said, I'm going away and going to send a helper to you, His apostles thought, that's going to make it worse, but it didn't.

[38:37] It made it better. And if you ever tend to think, if I don't, if I'm not married in heaven, then surely I'm not going to like it, just understand this, there was a time when you thought the greatest transportation of your life was your tricycle.

[38:59] Remember a tricycle? There was a time when you thought, I've got that, that's all I need. I got my tricycle, I got a quarter, I need nothing else.

[39:13] Until your tricycle became a bicycle. With a bicycle, you could take a playing card and tie it to your spoke and make really cool noises.

[39:27] If you guys don't know what I'm talking about, you're too young. That's what we did for fun in the olden days. With your bicycle, you could pop a wheelie, you can't do that with a tricycle.

[39:40] With your bicycle, you could have meaningful races. You ever watched people have a race on a tricycle? It's not fun. And that bicycle was the best until you turned 16.

[39:59] And no 16-year-old dreams of a brand new bicycle. Dad, I'm turning 16. You have a new Huffy bike for me?

[40:11] No. You don't want a tricycle. It was good for a season. But it was a shadow of something better, a bicycle.

[40:23] And that bicycle was good for a season. But it gave way to something better, a car. And now you can drive.

[40:36] You know what's better than driving? having somebody drive you. That's even better. It's all just a shadow of something that's better and better and better.

[40:53] Well, that's true for heaven. You're not going to know people less. You're not going to be less happy. You're not going to have less joy. You're not going to have less reason to celebrate.

[41:05] You're not going to have less reason to worship. You're not going to have less be enthralled with the beauty of Christ. There's a second implication. By the way, let me just back up for just a minute.

[41:19] And there are things that happen, and there are people who sin and do the wrong things, and sometimes people's sin creates real problems for somebody else, and life is very imperfect.

[41:34] I understand that. It's a different sermon for a different day. Okay? All things being equal, this is why, this is why when you get married we say, how long is this?

[41:46] Until death parts us. Which affirms two things. One, this is just a picture of something that's even greater that will last forever.

[41:57] This won't, but something greater will. But till death parts us also reminds us the reason why we're faithful to our vows until we die is because marriage is a holy thing.

[42:10] It may not be eternal, but it pictures that which is. So we stay with each other until death parts us. For better, for worse.

[42:23] I'm aware that if the Lord gives Marcy and I 28 more years, He may not.

[42:35] If He does, I fully expect those 28 years to be the sweetest. I don't expect them to be easy.

[42:47] Life doesn't seem to get easier the more the body breaks down. But my wife never has to wonder one day when she wakes up, is Michael going to come home today?

[43:01] I'm coming home until death parts us. And I never have to wonder if life gets really difficult and challenging, is Marcy going to say enough's enough?

[43:15] No. She's in this until death parts us. that's the marriages that we want. Imperfect, flawed, in desperate need of daily grace and patience and forgiveness, absolutely.

[43:35] But until death parts us. Affirming both our commitment to each other on this earth until death parts us, and affirming that when death does part us, it will give way to something even greater that this marriage was a picture of, but that that is the real thing.

[43:55] Second, those in heaven can never die. The quality of life in heaven is such that death cannot touch us.

[44:09] Death does not end a person's existence, Jesus affirms that, the Old Testament affirms that. John 11, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

[44:26] You say, wait a minute, what about funerals? Don't people die? In one sense, yes. In a truer sense, no.

[44:39] To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If there's one thing I can say with 100% confidence on the authority and the clarity and the veracity of scripture, it is this, I have never done a funeral for a truly dead person.

[45:02] Their body gave way and perished. The real who they are lives forever.

[45:15] And for those in heaven, we rest knowing that we are not only with the Lord, at home with the Lord, but at home with the Lord and can never be touched by death.

[45:29] Which leads to one final implication from this conversation with the Sadducees, and that's this. let the hope of resurrection comfort you when you think of your own mortality.

[45:51] Let the hope of resurrection comfort you when you think of your own mortality. mortality. None of us know how many days we are going to have.

[46:09] Our days are numbered. I don't know if I'm going to live to be 51 or 101.

[46:20] I'm not promised tomorrow. I have a great grandfather made to 105. If I made it to 105, I wouldn't be the first in my family.

[46:40] Maybe I've got 55 more years. Maybe I've got 55 more minutes. I don't have any idea. Neither do you.

[46:54] But the hope that we have as Christians is not how long in this life do we live. I mean, I would recommend you get some exercise.

[47:11] It's good for you. Drink some water. I think once a year you ought to have some vegetables. eat as healthy as you want.

[47:26] It's good. Take care of your body. I'm for it. But I don't care how many vitamins you take. I don't care how many trips to the gym you make.

[47:42] Your body's going to break down. selfishly, I'd like to be healthy as long as I'm alive.

[47:56] I'd like to be as physically independent as I can be as long as I'm alive. I don't have much control over that though. And one of these days as we've sung about today, you'll be near the end.

[48:17] You've heard me say before, it's interesting, if I were to ask you to picture the end of your life, every one of you in this room would picture yourself as being very, very old. You're not promised that.

[48:33] The end of your life may not come when you're 85 or 95 or 105. 95. You don't know. But what you can know is that everything you've known and enjoyed here on this earth is nothing more than a picture, a taste of that which is infinitely greater.

[49:07] And when you get to heaven as a believer, there will be nothing on this earth that you will have missed that you regret.

[49:22] Heaven is that great. I'm glad the Lord let me be married. I'm glad the Lord gave me two sons.

[49:37] I'm really glad the Lord gave me two daughters-in-law. The sons were just necessary to get the daughters-in-law. I can't hardly stand myself.

[49:50] I'm so excited to have two grandkids in the next six months. But I'm not promised six months. And if my life were to end before and I go to be with the Lord, I won't have one regret.

[50:13] Heaven is that great. I will enjoy every blessing the Lord chooses to give me on this earth and I'll be grateful for it. But I don't need something else of this earth to make my eternity good.

[50:31] I have Jesus. You have Jesus. You have heaven. You'll be with the Lord. And you're not going to be with the Lord in heaven and look back and say, if only I would have gotten married, if only I would have had children, if only I would have had grandchildren, if only I would have had a bigger house, if only I would have made more money, if only I would have had that dream vacation.

[50:58] Listen, every joy of this life is just a tricycle. It's just something for the moment to enjoy, but it gives way to that which is infinitely and eternally greater that will never lose its value or its joy.

[51:17] There is nothing of this earth you will regret having missed with one second in the presence of the Lord in heaven. And so we lift our eyes up and we're not distracted by the silly, trivial attacks on our faith like the Sadducees gave to Jesus.

[51:41] Instead, we say this, as believers, we will be with the Lord. We have nothing to fear, nothing to dread, and nothing to envy.

[51:55] Amen? Absent from the body, present with the Lord. God, we do thank you for your word today.

[52:08] I can never in a thousand sermons do justice to any one text of Scripture. I pray, though, that through the work of your spirit, I pray that at least the heart of what you have taught here, I've been able to make clear.

[52:27] I pray, Lord, that we would be encouraged by your word, convicted by it, challenged by it, sustained by it, upheld by it, and comforted by it.

[52:40] We ask it in the name of your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[52:52] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[53:02]  Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.