Well, good morning. If you care
to open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter
22. Before we begin, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, how thankful we are
that you've given us another opportunity to meet together,
to worship your matchless name, to open your Word, to read and
study it, Have Christ preach to us. Father, how can we ever
thank you? What a blessed privilege that
you've given to us. Father, we're so thankful. We
pray that you send your spirit upon us and enable us to worship
you this morning in spirit and in truth. We pray that you'd
send your spirit to enable us to both preach and to hear, believe
the gospel. Who is sufficient for these things,
both in preaching and in hearing? Who's sufficient for these things?
Don't let us just go through the motions of religion, just
hear a religious talk, but Father, send your spirit upon us, enable
us to worship. Reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
to each heart here this morning, I pray. Father, we thank you
for the many blessings of this life, how richly you have blessed
this congregation. And Father, we're thankful, knowing
everything we have has come from thy hand, because of our goodness
or merit in us at all. It's all your mercy and your
grace, your provision. And Father, we're thankful. We're
thankful for this place that you've given to us. And Father,
I pray you'd preserve it as a place where Christ is preached, where
our goal, our soul desires to hear Christ preached, to worship
Him, to hear of Him, to learn more of Him. Father, we pray
for the sick and the afflicted of our number. Those, Father,
who are sick and bereaved, heartbroken and in need especially. Father,
we pray that you'd be with your people, that you'd heal, that
you'd comfort, that you'd deliver according to thy will. All these
things we ask in that name, which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, I've titled
our lesson this morning, The Resurrection. And our lesson
begins in verse 23, of Matthew chapter 22. The same day came
to him the Sadducees would say, there is no resurrection and
ask him saying, master, Moses said, if a man die having no
children, his brother should marry his wife and raise up seed
unto his brother. Now there were with us seven
brethren and the first when he had married a wife deceased and
having no issue left his wife into his brother. Likewise, the
second also and the third under the seventh, And last of all,
the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her.
Now the Sadducees kind of understand what's going on here were the
religious liberals of the day. They were very religious, but
they believed that this flesh and this world is all there is,
that there's no resurrection, there's no afterlife, there's
no heaven. They did not believe that man had a soul or that that
soul was eternal. They thought the only spirit
that there was is God. So as a result of that, they
didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead. I mean, if you don't
have a soul and you know, this world is all there is, you die and
that's the end. They did not believe in the resurrection of
the dead. The Sadducees just could not understand how a body
could die, decay back to the dust from, from whence it was
made and they'd never be raised again in a new body. They just
didn't understand how that could be. They just, they refused to
believe it. Now the Sadducees and the Pharisees were real enemies
of each other. The Sadducees were the liberals,
the Pharisees were the conservatives, the, you know, very orthodox
in everything that they believe. And the Sadducees and Pharisees
disagreed on everything. I mean, they really disliked
each other. They disagreed on everything with the exception
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They agreed they didn't like
him. They agreed this man has got to go. Now, if you remember
last week's lesson, earlier in this same day, the disciples
of the Pharisees and the Herodians, they came and tried to trip up
the Lord and they failed. So now the Sadducees are gonna
give it a go. Later in the day, they found out that first attempt
failed, so here's our second one. And they come to the Lord
posing this hypothetical question about these seven brethren and
this wife. I think it's an interesting note
from Matthew Henry. He said that that seventh brother
He must have been a very bold man after the first six died. Who thought Matthew Henry had
such a sense of humor? But he's right, that seventh
brother had to be a pretty bold fella, didn't he? This didn't
happen, it's a hypothetical. And I would warn you to beware
of people using hypothetical questions and hypothetical situations
to either prove or disprove the scriptures. The scriptures don't
need to be proven. by any human logic, the scriptures
are just true, they're just so. Beware of somebody posing hypothetical
questions to either prove or disprove, either way. The error
the Sadducees are making here, and I point this out because
I don't want us to fall into this trap. They're trying to
make the resurrection fit into their belief system instead of
taking what the word of God says and believing it. Even if it
crosses what you think, even if it crosses what you understand,
The Word of God says it, so I just believe it. They're trying to
make the truth fit their doctrine instead of having their doctrine
fit the Word of God. Say what the Word of God says.
We would just be so much better off if we just say what the Word
of God says, believe what the Word of God says, but they're
trying to make it fit their, you know, their doctrinal stance.
So they pose this absurd hypothetical question thinking, Well, if the
Lord can't answer this question, you can't figure out who the
woman's going to be married to in eternity, then you have to
agree there is no eternity and there is no resurrection of the
dead. And they just use this to absurd hypothetical to try
to trip the Lord up. And what I want us to notice,
and hopefully if we ever find ourselves in situations like
this, we could copy the Lord's wisdom here. The Lord answers
them, not in a hypothetical, but with the word of God. He
stuck to what the word of God said. He didn't get into this
hypothetical at all. He just, he just sticks to the
word of God and his answer to this absurd hypothetical. The
Lord gives us three good lessons on the resurrection. Number one
is this. If you don't believe in the resurrection,
you don't know the scriptures. You just look at verse 29, Jesus
answered and said to them, you do air not knowing the scriptures
or the power of God. Now look back at Job chapter
19. The book of Job, I'm told, is the oldest book in the Bible. It was written, Job lived before
Moses. It was written before Moses.
Job is considered to be one of the oldest recorded believers
that we have. And Job knew there was gonna
be a resurrection. Job knew that. Look at Job 19
verse 23. He said, oh, my words were now
written Oh, that they were printed in a book. They were graven with
an iron pen and led in the rock forever. He said, this is what
I want you to carve in my tombstone. For I know that my redeemer liveth.
And 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 eyes shall behold and not another. Though my reigns be
consumed within me. Now Job knew he was going to
die and his body would return to the dust. And probably when
he's saying this, he thought that was going to happen real
soon, didn't he? The horrible trial that he was in. But Job
also knew this, his body is going to be raised again. He said,
I'm going to see the Lord with my own eyes. That's what he says
in verse 26, in my flesh shall I see God. Now that's going to
be glorified flesh, but it's going to be me in my flesh. I'm
going to see God. And he knew he's, when he's resurrected,
he's going to see the Lord face to face. He'd never seen him
in this life, but he knows I'm going to see him face to face.
Cause he says here, he won't, it won't be another, that word
should be translated stranger. The Savior, when I see him, it's
not going to be a stranger to me. I'm going to know him. I'm
going to see him. Now, Job prophesied of the resurrection. He prophesied of the second coming
of Christ. He talks about Christ coming
and standing on the earth in his second coming thousands of
years before Christ first came into flesh. Job knew there was
going to be a resurrection. He knew about the second coming
of Christ. And when I read this about the old Testament scriptures
teaching there, yes, there is a resurrection. This passage
in job is the first thing I thought of, but you'll notice the Lord
didn't reference that. He didn't talk about this passage
in job, did he? And he's going to teach us that
the Old Testament scriptures tell us there is going to be
a resurrection of the dead, but he didn't use this passage in
Job, which is so plain. I believe I can tell you why
he did that. He's beaten the Sadducees at their own game.
He's taken their own weapon and beaten them with it. The Sadducees
only believed in the first five books of the Bible. And they
probably didn't believe everything in those five books of the Bible.
They did not believe the Holy Spirit ever inspired men to write
the word of God. They didn't believe the prophets.
Whatever the prophets wrote, they did not believe that that
was inspired. The only scripture that they
recognized as the inspired word of God is the direct words of
God from Sinai. That's the only thing that they
recognized as the word of God. God had to speak it. or else
they did not think it was scripture. They thought the only scripture
there was is what God directly spoke. Now that's just crazy. I mean that denies the power
of the Holy Spirit, but the Lord leaves that alone. He leaves
the, that error in their belief alone and he beats them at their
own game by showing them from the first five books of the Bible,
from the direct words of spoken words of God on earth, that the
old Testament scriptures teach there's a resurrection of the
dead. Look at it here back in our text. Matthew 22 verse 31,
but it's touching the resurrection of the dead. Have you never read
that which was spoken unto you by God? So you make sure you
this, he deals right in the scriptures that they, things that they think
are scriptures, what was spoken by God saying, I'm the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God's not
the God of the dead, but of the living. Now God spoke to Moses
from the burning bush and he told Moses, I am. I'm the God
of Abraham. I'm the God of Isaac. I'm the
God of Jacob. And he said that years after Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob had all died, right? And the Lord says, I'm the God
of the living, not the dead. Well, if he's the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, they got to be living, don't they? Their
bodies have died, but they got to be living somewhere. They're
living in glory. They're waiting in glory till
they can be joined to the resurrection of their body. Now the Lord,
in later on in his ministry and over in the book of John, when
he's talking there to Martha, he tells her, Martha, I am the
resurrection. Christ is the resurrection. We
always need to remember this. The resurrection is not an event.
The resurrection is a person. It's a person. And the Lord said,
whosoever believes on me shall never die. Well, this is what
we know from scripture. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed
God, didn't they? They believed God, then they were living. Even
though their bodies were dead, they're living. And one day God's
going to raise their bodies from the grave, unite their bodies
in a perfect body to a perfect soul and a glorified flesh in
a perfect soul forever to be with the Lord. That's what the
scriptures teach. That was taught at the burning
bush. I'm the God of the living. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they're
not dead. They're living. Now the Sadducee said the resurrection
can't be proven, you know, by the law, by the first five books
of the Bible. And in one verse, in one statement, the Lord showed
him the error of that. Well, here's the second thing.
If you don't believe in the resurrection, you err concerning the power
of God. Our Lord says it answered on
them. You do err not knowing the scriptures and you err not
knowing the power of God. I thought about that, not knowing
the power of God. So much of our doctrinal error
comes from thinking too little of God. It really does. We err greatly thinking that
God is like us. And when we think God's like
us, we're underestimating, if that's the right word, God's
character. We're thinking too little of
his character. You and I can ignore sin. because we're sinners. We can especially ignore the
sin of our children. I mean, just, oh, you know, our
children are so great. We love them so much. We can
ignore the sin of our children, and we make a grave error bringing
God down to our level and thinking, God just can't stand. He can
ignore my sin. No, he can't. He can't ignore
it. God's holy. And we see when we think God
just can ignore my sin, we're thinking too little of his character.
You know, we don't want to see our loved ones punished. Believe
it, believe it or not, Jane and I had to spank our children.
We did. I never enjoyed, did you? I never enjoyed it. And we think,
well, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't want to punish my children,
my loved ones. It's just, it's not fun. And
God just doesn't want to punish me. Oh yes, he does. God's just. He must punish our
sins. See, if we think that God's like
us, see how we think too little of his character, it leads us
to so much doctrinal error. You know, thinking that God is
just all merciful and just God is all love and so he just, he's
not going to display his wrath against sin on me because God's,
now wait a minute. That's thinking too little of
the holy character of God. It leads us to grave error in
doctrine. Well, same thing's true when
we think about God's power. We err greatly thinking that
God's power is limited to the power that we have or what we've
already seen God do, you know? And we display it all the time.
We think we've got to help God out. I mean, Sarah's not alone
in that, was she? Thinking we've got to help God
out, you know, keep his covenant. You better go into Hagar and
have a child, you know? We're all the time trying to
help God out, help God accomplish his purpose, aren't we? That's
underestimating the power of God. infinitely greater in power
than we are. I mean, we ought to just build
a rest in him, shouldn't we? He got the power. He has the
power of creation. He just spoke all of this into
existence. He just spoke and it was all
created. I'm just real sure he can govern it. I mean, don't
you think? Don't think God doesn't have
the power to do something just because he's never done it. Or
if God's not pleased to do something, don't think he can't do it. Now,
if God's promised to do something, you can bet he's got the power
to do it. And he is going to do it. So the Lord uses the same
scripture to teach the Sadducees and us by underestimating the
power of God. He said, I am the God of Abraham,
of Isaac, and of Jacob. Now, everybody knows he said
that to Moses at the burning bush. God did. I am that I am. That's who said
that. The self-existent one. I am. The one who exists by his own
power. The one who holds everything
together by his own power. The one who creates everything
by his own power. Everything exists and moves and
is governed by just his will. I am. I am has the power to do
as he will. There can't be any doubt about
that, can there? And I am is the one who never changes. He didn't say I was. He didn't
say I will be. He said, I am that I am. Whatever God is now, he's always
been, and he always will be. God doesn't change. He never
changes in his purpose. If God promised it, he'll do
it. If God promised that there's going to be a resurrection of
the dead, there's going to be a resurrection of the dead. Whatever
it is God promises is going to happen because nobody has the
power to stop I am from accomplishing his will. And God has promised
the resurrection. And I don't know why on earth
anybody would doubt his power to do it. A body dies, decays
back to the dust. Is it hard for you to believe
God could take that dust and raise it back in a glorified
body, in a glorified flesh? Is it hard to believe? God made
Adam from the dust of the ground to start with. I reckon he can
do it again. And if it's pleased to do it,
and he said he is, then he'll do it because that's his will. All right. Now that brings me
to the third thing. I had to go through that to get
to this. This is the blessing for God's
people. There is a glorious resurrection waiting for God's people. Verse
30, the Lord says, for in the resurrection, they should neither
marry nor given in marriage, but there as the angels of God
in heaven. And I read a lot about this being
the age being as the angels of God in heaven. Now I'm just sure
nobody really knows what that means, but I can tell you this,
that is far more glorious than you and I can imagine right now
being made as the angels in heaven. Look at first John chapter three, first John chapter three. Verse two. Beloved, now, right
now, everyone, all you who believe, now, are we the sons of God? And it does not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Now when the Lord
returns, his people are gonna appear. When he appears, we're
gonna be made like him. Those who have already died are
going to be raised in bodies made just like him. Those who
are alive and remain and the twinkling of eye are going to
be changed into glorified flesh, changed into a body just like
the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's no more seeing him
by faith. There's no more seeing him in the scriptures. We'll
see him as he is, as he is face to face. Wow, I just, try to imagine that. And as wonderful as we think
that moment will be, I'm telling you, it's far more soul ravishing
than we can begin to imagine. To appear just like the Lord
Jesus Christ, to see him as he is, the glory of that, the wonderfulness
of that is so glorious We will never get over it throughout
eternity. And just so we remember, eternity
never ends. You'd never be able to get over it. Just his glory. And the Lord says your error
here is thinking that heaven is going to be an extension of
this life. You know, it's an error to think that heaven is
just going to be like now. except without work, and without
sickness, and without tears, and without heartache. It's just
going to be enjoying just whatever your hobby is. It's just doing
that all the time, without ever having to bother go to work,
or having a headache, or whatever. It's the happy hunting ground
in the sky. As Wayne, you always get big
game, and you never break your ankle in trying to do it. You
just catch fish. You go out to the lake, catch fish. I mean,
just no limit. That's not heaven. And the Lord
is saying, you fellows here are asking who this woman is going
to be married to in glory. And there's not even going to
be anybody married. There's not going to be any marriages in
heaven. Heaven is not an extension of this life. It's with Christ. It's being made like him. It's
worshiping him and seeing him face to face. It's not an extension
of this world. In heaven, Listen, I'm a huge,
huge fan of marriage, but now there's not gonna be any need
of marriage in heaven. Why do we have marriage? Well, it's
for producing children. Well, we're not gonna need to
produce children there. There ain't gonna be need for marriages. We have marriages, God gave the
first marriage, so man would have to help me. Men need some
help, you know, need to help me. Women, they need a provider. They need a comforter. They need
a protector. Both men and women, we need companionship. That's why God gave us marriage.
We're not gonna need any of that in heaven. Not gonna need any
of that in glory. We'll have Christ face to face.
We'll have companionship with him. He'll be our comforter.
We'll have him. And being perfectly honest with
you, you know, when I think about that, quite honestly, it's hard
for me to imagine not being married to Janet. I mean, we've been
one flesh for so long, I just, you know, when I think about
my life beginning, honestly, I don't think about being born,
I don't think about being a little boy, but my life began when I
married her, when I was with her. We're just, it's just, it's
very special. So it's hard for me not to imagine
being married to her. But a dear preacher friend of
mine made this statement about his beloved, beloved wife. He
said, in heaven, she's not gonna be married to me, because she's
gonna be married to someone far better. She'll be married to
Christ, the bridegroom. And while that might be hard
for us to think about right now, there, we're gonna be right happy
with it. I promise you we will. And the glory, you think about
the glory of what awaits God's people, to be able to worship
Christ face to face, without the restraints of this flesh. without the restraints of this
sinful flesh, without, you just got to be careful how long you
preach. I mean, you know, listen, I mean,
I study all week and then I've got to really pare down because
I got like three hours worth of material, you know, and it
might all be interesting to you, but your butt can't take it.
You just can't sit there that long. You know, imagine not having
the restraint of that body. Imagine not having the restraint
of a sinful nature that just, even though you don't want it
to, goes off into left field while Christ is being preached.
And you love him, you want to hear him, and yet your mind still
doesn't. Stop it! Imagine being able to
worship without that hindrance, without a sin nature, seeing
Christ face to face. The apostle Paul saw it. He was
taken to the third heaven, and he said, fellas, I can't tell
you, When he said it's not lawful, it doesn't mean he wasn't allowed
to tell what he saw. He said, it's not possible. Human language
can not explain the glory that I saw in the third heaven. Now
look at first Corinthians chapter 15. The Lord on purpose does not tell
us a great deal about heaven. It doesn't tell us a great deal
about life in heaven. It doesn't tell us a great deal
about life after the resurrection. And I'm sure that, I mean, I
know that's on purpose. I guess that we don't, we kind
of focus more on what we're supposed to do now. I reckon, I don't
know. But I also know this, the Lord in scripture has also given
us plenty of information on the resurrection and life in heaven
and life after the resurrection so that God's people, Now, in
the midst of this veil of tears, we'll be comforted at the thought
of it and be excited at the thought of it. You know, if you take
away the resurrection, you take away so much joy and comfort
for the believer. And here, and we can't read this
whole chapter, maybe this afternoon, if you want to read this whole
chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, but I'm gonna begin in verse 35. But some man will say, How are
the dead raised up? These are the Sadducees that
just think that's not possible. How are the dead raised up? And
with what body do they come? Well, thou fool, that which thou
sowest is not quickened except to die. And that which thou sowest,
thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. You don't sow a, you don't plant
a whole stalk of corn, you know, six, seven, eight feet long.
You just plant a little old dry seed. You're not planting what
shall be, but just the bare grain. It may chance of weed or some
other grain, but God giveth it a body as it pleased him, and
to every seed his own body. What's going to grow is not what
you planted. It's going to be something far
better than what you planted. All flesh is not the same flesh,
but there's one kind of flesh of man, another flesh of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial
bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial
is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another. There's one glory
of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the
stars. One star differ from another star in glory. So also is the
resurrection of the dead. It's sown in corruption, but
that's not what's raised. It's raised in incorruption.
It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown
in weakness. It's raised in power. It's sown
a natural body. We bury a dead natural body,
but what's going to be raised as a spiritual body. There is
a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it's written. The
first man, Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. How be it that was, was not first,
which is spiritual, but that which is natural and afterward
that which is spiritual for the first man is of the earth. He's
earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven as is the earthy such as they also that are earthy.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we born the image of the earthy, thank God we shall also
bear the image of the heavenly. This I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. we shall
be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that's written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, seeing all this is
true of the resurrection, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as
much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now that you, if you take away
the resurrection, you take away all that comfort. all that joy,
all that, what the believer has to look forward to. And the Lord
taught all that with one statement of God, with one verse of scripture
that I am told Moses at the burning bush. Now quickly look back here
at our text, verse 33. And when the multitude heard
this, they were astonished at his doctrine. They were, they
were so astonished at this. They never heard this before.
They never thought of this before. Nobody had ever taught them this
before. And now they see it. They were
astonished, like, well, that's so obvious. How come I didn't
see that before? Well, now they see it because
the Lord revealed it to them. And that's what I pray for you
and me this morning, that the Lord will take that and he'll
teach that to us, that we might not just be doctrinally straight
on the resurrection. I mean, it's pretty simple, pretty
straightforward, but that our hearts would be comforted. and
we'd be excited looking forward to that prospect of the resurrection. All right, the Lord bless you.