You may be seated. Turn back in your Bibles, if
you want to, to the book of Mark. This particular account is recorded
for us in Matthew chapter 22 as well, and in Luke. And so
we will focus on the account in Mark. But also, if you get
a chance, turn to Exodus chapter 3, because I'm going to be taking
you there in the course of the sermon. amongst other places. Before we begin, though, I'd
like to ask the Lord to be with us. Let's pray. Our dear Heavenly
Father, we thank you that you have translated us from the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of your dear Son. When we think
about what it took for you to do that, it sets our minds reeling. We don't know what to say or
think. We are amazed that you could do what you have done.
Help us, dear Lord, not to be ignorant, willfully ignorant
of the scriptures, and help us not to limit the power of God,
because we don't know Him, and we don't know the great power
it requires to raise us from the dead. But Lord, we pray that
you would reveal to us in your word who you are, and what you've
done for your people, and we would believe you. In Jesus'
name we pray, amen. Now, looking back at the book
of Mark, you'll notice that the Sadducees came to Jesus with
an evil intent. Their purpose in coming was not
to find out the truth. They thought they had it, and
their intention was to embarrass and tangle Jesus up in the words.
They thought that they knew Scripture, and therefore they thought they
could unravel His doctrine with their knowledge of Scripture.
But He absolutely silences them in His answer with a wisdom that... is, if it hadn't been revealed,
we would never have seen it in Scripture. I'm convinced that
if Jesus had not given the correct meaning of Exodus chapter 3 and
verse 6, we would never have seen it. And even though He gave
that meaning, it still sits us down, as it were, amazed that
he, that scripture would be so intricate and wise and that he
himself would understand it in this way to be able to explain
scripture so clearly and see in it what obviously required
the wisdom of God. And so the Sadducees were silenced
by coming to Jesus They did not understand spiritual things.
In 1 Corinthians 2.14 it says, The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. In ourselves, naturally, we're
no different than the Sadducees in this sense. We cannot know
the things of God. We cannot understand the things
of the Spirit of God. And Jesus also told Nicodemus
in John 3 that unless he was born again he couldn't even see
the kingdom of God. And here was a master of Israel.
And so the Sadducees came to Him like this because they, and
Jesus tells them, there were two problems that they had. The
first one was they didn't understand the Scriptures, and the second
one was is that they didn't know the power of God. They didn't
know the Scriptures, and they didn't know the power of God.
And there's a couple of things that we should point out quickly
about the Sadducees. I don't want to study them today,
but the first thing is this, is that the doctrine of the resurrection
is a fundamental truth. If we don't understand the Resurrection,
then we don't understand the power of God. We don't know God. And that sounds like a bold statement,
but this is the way God reveals Himself in Scripture. He says
in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3-4, that the Gospel is how that Christ
died, according to the Scriptures. How that He was buried, and how
He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
That's the gospel. And Paul said before, verse 3
in 1 Corinthians 15, that if we hold the gospel, if we believe
the gospel and hold it in memory, then we're saved by it. God has
to give it to us. We cannot generate, we cannot
work up this faith, this understanding. God has to open our hearts and
minds to it. But it's revealed in Scripture
and that's where it starts. We have to understand what God
says in Scripture. Because the Gospel is recorded
in Scripture and it is through the Word of God that we come
to faith. Now the Sadducees exhibited something that is the most blinding
thing that we have naturally. human pride blinds us more quickly
and more solidly than anything else. It says in Proverbs chapter
23, I'm sorry, chapter 26. In fact, let me turn you there
since I can't find it readily in my notes. I know I wrote it
down, but I'm going to turn to Proverbs chapter 26 and read
this to you. You don't have to turn there
if you don't want to, but this is one of those Proverbs that
when you read it, always remember the Word of God speaks to us.
We generally like to take it and think how it speaks about
others. Oh, I know someone like that. But it's meant to speak
directly to us. In Proverbs 26, did I say 23? I meant 26. In verse 12, he says,
"...seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?" Do you see
someone who's wise in their own conceit? There's more hope of
a fool than of him. Wise in our own conceits means
we think we know something and we don't know it. We're blinded
by our pride and that's the way the Sadducees were. They were
blinded by their pride. They didn't know the God who
raises from the dead and they didn't know His power. And so
they came to Jesus with this arrogant attitude of trying to
disprove what He was teaching about the resurrection. And then
what Jesus does for us is He opens to us the truth of Scripture
in a way that, as I said before, would just astound us. Astound is too small a word.
I can't think of words to describe the truth that the Lord Jesus
Christ revealed here. And I want to focus on what He
said in response to the Sadducees with you this morning. Because
there are certain things in scripture, when you read them, they just
seem to go back and forth in your mind. It's like you go over
them again and again, because you can't believe your ears.
You can't believe what was said there. And this is one of those.
And it just intrigues you and captures your attention. But
look at verse 24 of Mark 12 again. He says, "...Jesus answering
them said to them, Do you not therefore err?" You make a big
mistake here. "...because you know not the
Scriptures, neither the power of God." This is what we are
naturally, as I said. We don't know the Scriptures,
we don't know the power of God. And what we're going to see this
morning is the power of God. The power of God. And we're going to see that in
the resurrection. But listen to what Jesus goes
on. He says in verse 25. First, He tells them they were
mistaken because they thought that what happens on earth is
what happens in heaven. He says, "...for when they shall
rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage."
We're not going to be married to our husbands and our wives
when we rise from the dead. When Denise and I got married,
we took our vows and we didn't want to say, until death do you
part. We wanted to say forever. There's nothing wrong with wanting
to be together forever. But the problem is that God is
not going to... There's only going to be one
marriage in heaven. It's the marriage between the Lord Jesus
Christ and His people. He is the husband, and all of
His people collectively are the bride. And so it says here, they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels
which are in heaven. There's no procreation going
on in heaven. There's no need for marriage.
Which is the only legitimate, biblical way for families to
be brought into, for people to be born. But that's another subject. In verse 26 he says, "...as touching
the dead that they rise." He says, "...have you not read in
the book of Moses?" Now, what Jesus quotes here is from Exodus
chapter 3 and verse 6. So go back there and let's take
a look at that together and read what God said to Moses out of
the bush. It's amazing. I would never,
never have, and perhaps nobody else would have either, unless
the Lord explained it, I would never have seen the resurrection
in this verse of Scripture. Exodus chapter 3. It says, I'll
just read to you a few verses here. It says in verse 1, Moses
kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of
Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert
and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel
of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the
midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses
said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the
bush is not burnt." So here's a bush, a bramble bush, some
kind of a bush, dried up bush. It's burning, but it's not being
consumed. And there's a lesson in that,
but rather than getting into that lesson, I'm just going to
plow ahead here. When the Lord saw that he turned aside, God
called unto him out of the midst of the bush." Who called to Moses
out of the midst of the bush? God did. "...and said to him,
Moses..." And, in fact, Jesus said God spoke to Moses in the
New Testament, where we just read. But this is what God said.
He said, Moses, Moses. And He said, here am I. In verse
5 it says, And God said, Draw not nigh hither. Don't come near
here. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground. Why? Because God is there. And
then in verse 6, listen. Moreover, God said to him, I
am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he
was afraid to look upon God. Now, there's two things I want
you to see here. From this quotation of what God said to Moses. What
did God say to him? I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob. Three times! He didn't just say,
I'm the God of Abraham, did he? If he would have said, I'm the
God of Abraham, then there's a couple of conclusions we might
have drawn. He's only the God of Abraham.
Or... He's the God of Abraham and all
of his descendants. But he didn't say that. He said,
I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. He bypassed all
those who lived in the land of Ur of the Chaldees out of which
Abraham came. And then he says, I'm the God
of Isaac. And he skipped over Ishmael. And he said, and I'm
the God of Jacob. And he skipped over Esau. Do
you see that? I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob." Now when he says this, he's pointing out something here
that's phenomenal. Look at verse 15 of Exodus 3. Look at this, verse 15. He says,
"...and God said moreover to Moses, Thou shalt say unto the
children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, same thing
repeated, has sent me to you. But notice what he says next.
This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations. And this is the first thing I
want to bring your attention to. When the Lord Jesus Christ
told the Sadducees, haven't you read what Moses said? When he
spoke to Moses out of the bush, he said, I am the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. That was the first
thing. Haven't you heard what he said?
God identifies Himself. Who He is. And this is phenomenal. How does God make Himself known?
Who is God? He says, I'm the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God identifies Himself
in His relation to His people. That's the first thing. We need
to understand that. Who is God? You cannot know God
apart from how He is in relation to His people. This is the way
God Himself has revealed Himself. He hasn't revealed Himself in
another way. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. You see that? This is my name forever. And
this is phenomenal if you think about it. The God of glory created
us, created a man out of dirt, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. And then, later in time, He identifies
Himself, reveals Himself, makes Himself known in no other way,
at this point in time at least, except by saying, I'm the God
of these people. What is God? Who is He? He's the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. But what does that mean? The rest of the Bible reveals
to us the significance of what the Lord says here. Because how
do we know God? Well, throughout the Old Testament,
it turns out, there are several names God gives, reveals Himself. He doesn't make Himself by these
names, but He reveals Himself by these names. One of them is,
The Lord, My Banner. We heard about this when Todd
was here preaching last week. Jehovah Nisi is the word. The
Lord, My Banner. Remember what it says in Galatians
6.14? Paul the Apostle says, cannot
glory in anything except the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. His banner was the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And yet in the Old Testament,
the Lord reveals himself, I am the Lord. And he doesn't just
say, leave it there, he says, speaking from the mouth of Moses,
he tells Moses, write it down, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord, my banner. And so you can see, even in that,
he says, I'm the Lord, but I'm the Lord, your banner. And Moses
wrote it down. Another one, God says, Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord my peace. He's my peace. Who is the Lord? He's my banner. He's my peace.
He's the one I know by these things that He is to me. Another
one, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Tzidkenu. And so you
see in these different names of God, we see that God identifies
Himself. He reveals Himself. Who is He?
He's what He is to His people. He says, the Lord my shepherd,
the Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23. Or the Lord that healeth
thee, the Lord my provider, which is Jehovah Jireh. All these things
reveal God as He is in relation to His people. And then in the
New Testament, what is amazing is that the Lord Jesus Christ
identifies Himself in the same way. What He is to His people. Remember the very first name
given to Him in the New Testament? Jesus. Which means what? He shall save His people from
their sins. That's who He is. And in the
New Covenant, God promises, I'll make myself known to them. They'll
know the Lord. How will we know Him? By who
He is. By His name. And what are His names? His name
is what He is to us, in relation to us. He has made Himself, has
put Himself, put us in relation to Him. As the Lord our Shepherd,
the Lord our Righteousness, the One who heals us, who reveals
Himself unceasingly to us. Jesus said, I am the way, I am
the truth, I'm the bread of life, I'm the light of the world, I'm
the true vine. He's the Savior, He's the one
mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
King of His people. All that Christ is. All that
God is, He is to us in Christ. In relation to us as His people. What are His names? My Redeemer. My Shepherd. My Creator. Look
at Isaiah. Just one verse. Through all these I'm giving
you are just names. I'm not giving you the text.
But I'd be happy to do that if you're interested. Isaiah chapter
54. Look at this one. He says in verse 5, "...for thy
Maker is thine Husband." Who is our Maker? The Creator. Our
Creator is our Husband. The Lord of hosts is His name.
"...and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the
whole earth, shall He be called." The God of the whole earth is
the Redeemer of His people. He created them and He has brought
them in relation to Himself. He's the Husband and they are
His Bride. Isn't that amazing? Doesn't that
astound us? That the God of glory, who doesn't
change, He is what He is. I am that I am. He doesn't change. He has always been. Whatever
He is now, that's what He was before. And what He will be some
day, that's what He is now. He's always the same. He doesn't
change. And He's eternal. And yet, In
His eternal existence as God, who He is in His nature, in His
name, He has eternally related Himself to His people as their
Savior, their Redeemer, their High Priest, their Shepherd,
their Healer, their Provider, all these things. That's what
God is to His people. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ
tells the Sadducees, don't you remember what God spoke to Moses
out of the bush? He says, I am the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He's saying he's the covenant
God. He has brought his people into
relation with himself as the God of the covenant, the one
who would fulfill all the promises for them, give them to them,
give his promises to them, on conditions that He would fulfill.
Everything required for God to give what He promised to His
people, He would fulfill it. This is the God that the Lord
Jesus Christ is speaking of. Haven't you read about Him? Don't
you know His name? Because you don't know Him, you
don't know about the resurrection. And so that's the first thing
we want to see here, is that what the Lord Jesus tells us
and what God says about Himself to Moses, is that He is what
He is in relation to His people. And then the second thing I want
you to see here in Mark chapter 12, where Jesus says this, after
He tells them who God is, And the importance of that? He says,
He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. There
you have it again. The relationship He has to His
people is brought out. He's the God of the living. God
is not the God of the dead. You would think if I said to
you, I knew your father, And as we're
talking you would get the sense that when I said, I knew your
father, I meant by that that I knew him while he was living.
He's no longer living, but we're living and I'm telling you about
someone that I used to know. Your father. And I can tell you
about him because I knew him. But when you say, I know Him,
or when God says, I am the God, He's saying that relationship
is a present relationship that God has with His people. You
see, God's relationship to His people is an ever-present relationship. We think about it in time. Abraham
lived, Abraham died. No doubt about it. He was buried
in the cave of Machpelah with Sarah, and so was Isaac. And
then Jacob eventually was buried there too. And on down the line. But they all died in their bodies. But when God speaks to Moses,
which was several hundred years after they had died, He says,
I am the God of these men. I am the God of these men. So
we see something about the fact that because God is in relationship
to His people as their Savior, their Healer. We see something
else here. Is that God is the God of the living, not the dead.
So if God is your God, what does that mean? Think about this now
carefully. What did Jesus say? He's not
the God of the dead, but of the living. If God is your God, then
you cannot not live. You must live to God. Because
if He's your God, and He's the God of the living, then He's
not going to have people in relationship to Him that are dead. They live
to God. And this is where the resurrection
comes in. God is the God of the living.
He's not the God of the dead. And if you think about this,
why is that significant? Because we hear about the resurrection
frequently. But the impact of what it is
doesn't really strike us. The force of it doesn't come
into our minds because it would just be astounding. If you saw
someone actually rise, who was dead, rise from the dead, you'd
be shocked, wouldn't you? That would be so amazing. Just
go out on the road, you see a dead dog or an animal, out on the
road you see that dog and all of a sudden they just get up,
take off and go... You know that you were seeing things. It just
doesn't happen. People and things don't rise
from the dead. God created the world by His
word, didn't He? Psalm 33, verse 6 says, "...by
the word of the Lord were the heavens made." And all the host
of them by the breath of His mouth. The Lord created everything
out of nothing by His word. How hard is it then for God to
raise someone from the dead? You would think, if He can create
man out of the dust, it's no problem, just recreate him. Right?
What's so big about the resurrection? With God, He just has to speak
and make it happen, right? It's not the case. For God to
raise the dead, something significant has to happen. And it really
gets us back to the question, what is death? What is death? Because resurrection is taking
the dead and giving them life. So what is death? And I think
about death. When you see that someone has
died, what's the first thing you notice? There's no function
there of life. There's no function of life.
There's no sign of life. Their eyes don't see. They don't
breathe. Their heart isn't pumping. And
if you hook them up to a machine, you'll see that there's no brain
activity. There's nothing going on. They can perform no functions
of life and they have no signs of life in them that people who
are alive have. And the other thing about death
is that it leaves them without the light of life. When you're
dead you can't think. Your mind just doesn't work anymore.
Your mind is dead. And the other thing about death
is that you can't communicate with the dead, can you? Have
you ever tried talking to a dead person? You don't even think
about it. You know that they can't hear
you. And they can't talk to you either. And another thing you
realize about death is that when you've died, there's a separation
between you and the person who has died. Like I said, you can't
talk to them, and they can't talk to you. All these things
about death are true, not only on a physical level, but much
more true on a spiritual level. Look at Ephesians chapter 2.
He says, you who were dead in trespasses and sins, in verse
1. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Remember what God told
Adam in Genesis chapter 2? In the day that you eat of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what's going to happen?
The very day you eat of it, you're going to die. Okay, so why did he die? Because
he disobeyed God. And here in Ephesians 2 he says,
you were dead in trespasses and sins. So death is the result
of what? Sin. There is no death unless
there's sin. Death is the wages of sin. It's
the payback God gives. God in justice gives to sinners. And so, when you think about
raising someone from the dead, you have to think about why are
they dead? They're dead because of sin.
And therefore to raise them from the death, something has to be
done about the sin. Doesn't it? And who is that sin
against? It's against God. Sin is against
God. Sin is breaking God's law. All
the souls are mine, God says in Ezekiel 18. He says all the
souls are mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. We have to give an answer to
God. God ultimately is the one we
sin against. David said in Psalm 51, after
he had murdered Uriah, the wife of Bathsheba, committed adultery
with her, and murdered her husband, Uriah, a faithful servant, he
confesses in his prayer, against Thee, Lord, Thee only have I
sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. Sin is against God
and God holds us accountable for it. That's what death is. God taking from us life. We no longer have light. We no
longer can communicate. We're separated from God. We're
separated from all life. We have no signs of life. We
have no signs of spiritual life. We can't perform the functions
of spiritually alive people. We have no power to do what a
spiritual person can do. Because we're dead in trespasses
and sin. God has removed from us life. And so resurrection starts with
this. God has to do something about
sin. And who is the sin against? God.
Well, why would God do something about it? You're the one who
messed up, you fix the problem. No, that's not the way God worked.
He himself saw the issue, and he reconciled his people to himself
by the death of his son. They were at enemies with him,
and his justice therefore was against them. And God laid aside
His wrath by satisfying His justice in the death of His Son for His
people. And He took away from them their sin. He blotted it
out. So this is called reconciliation. Another word that God uses in
scripture is redemption. And redemption is the same thing
from a different angle. Redemption means a payment made
to pay off the debt of someone who was a complete impoverished
and they couldn't pay their debt. Or it was a ransom paid in order
to free someone from captivity in prison. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ offered Himself to God, and when He did, He obtained
for His people an eternal redemption. The redemption price was paid,
and the result of that redemption price is that the ones redeemed
were set at liberty. And what is that liberty? Well,
in Ephesians 1-7 He says, "...we have received redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Redemption was the
setting at liberty of God's people by the blood of Christ from their
sins. And that because they were forgiven of their sins, because
their sins were taken away before God, something now can happen. The result of that redemption
is that the prisoner is set free. The indebted prisoner who's lawfully
captive, their debts have been cleared. Remission has been made.
A redemption price has been paid. And therefore they're set free.
And that freedom is the resurrection from the dead. The reconciliation
means is that God has removed the cause of his wrath, satisfying
his justice, and he's made peace between his enemies and himself.
This is what God has done. This is the way. So resurrection
is not just say, well, I need to undo this problem here. Get
him out from the dead. No, no. Resurrection is the removal
of the cause of death. And then it is recovery from
the prison of death. And death, as I said, is corruption. Remember what Martha told Jesus
in John 11? Lord, he's been dead four days.
He stinks. Because he's corrupt. Shame and
reproach is already set into his body. We don't want to take
away the stone. There's no reason bringing shame
on my brother. When the Lord raises us from
the dead, He takes away all the consequences of sin. He takes
away the darkness. That's what hell is. Outer darkness.
He takes away the darkness. He gives us light. And He takes
away the corruption. He undoes what death has done
by removing sin. And not only removing sin, but
there has to be an obedience there in order for God to justify.
Look at Galatians 3.21. He says this in Galatians 3.21.
For if, is the law then against the promise of God? Is the law against God's promise?
God made a promise and then there's the law. We can't be justified
by God. We don't receive promises by
the law. Well, is the law then at odds with? Is it opposed to
God's promise? He says no. No. God forbid. For if there had been a law which
could have given life, Verily, righteousness should have been
by that law. If there was a law that God could have given to
us, and we could have kept that law, and on keeping that law
God would give us life, Well, that's the end of it. We don't
need the Lord Jesus Christ to come from heaven, He who is equal
with God and take on the nature of His people. We don't need
that. We don't need Him to live and suffer and die under their
sins and the wrath of God. We don't need that. We'll just
have them, by their own personal obedience, keep the law. And
if they do what I've said, then they get life. Remember the rich
man who came to Jesus, the young ruler, he came to Jesus, he says,
good master, what good thing must I do to have eternal life? Do you know what Jesus said?
He didn't say, there's nothing you can do. No, he said, keep
the commandments. Keep the commandments. In other
words, if you could keep the commandments, then you would
have eternal life. But here, In Galatians 3.21,
God's saying, no, there's no way that by your own personal
obedience that you can do what's necessary to receive eternal
life. So not only does God have to
take away your sins, He has to redeem you, but He has to give
you an actual obedience. A righteousness that when God
looks at, He can say, that man is righteous. He's kept the whole
law. And He's not broken one thing.
He has no sin. And therefore, He is life. Life. Now look at Romans chapter
4. Because this is exactly what
happened. This is exactly what happened. Romans chapter 4, it
says that the Lord Jesus, verse 25,
it says, He was delivered for our offenses. That means that
God laid our sins on Him and He was taken to death because
God's law found Him guilty. He felt the guilt in his own
conscience of the sins that were laid upon him. And he felt the
shame of it, and the filth of it. And he suffered because of
that. And God himself forsook him. Remember? My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? That's death, God forsaking.
But here he says he was delivered for our offenses, but he was
raised again for our justification. And justification means that
God in His justice, in the court of heaven, the judge examines
the law and compares what Christ is and has done to that law.
And he finds perfect satisfaction to his justice, a full fulfillment,
perfect keeping of the law all the time. So that when God says
in Daniel 9.24, He established an everlasting righteousness.
And therefore God says, death. There's no death here. There's
no sin here. It's perfect righteousness. And He raised Him from the dead.
He's justified. Justified by God. God pronounced
Him just and holy and good and raised Him from the dead. Even
though... His sins were put on us. He put those sins away in
His suffering and in His obedience to God. He fulfilled all that
God required of Him for us. Now, what was the first point?
God reveals Himself, who He is, by His relation to His people.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ did what He did, He did it not
for Himself. He didn't need to be saved from
sin. But His people were sinners. So all that Christ did, He acted
on behalf of His people. He did what He did in their name,
in their place. So that when He obeyed God, when
He offered Himself to God, He was doing it for them. Their
sins were His and His obedience became theirs. That's what it
says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. God hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. So these things teach us that
the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is who He is in relation to
His people, He did what He did for them to God. All that God
is. All that God is, He is to His
people in the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Jesus says in John 11,
and turn there with me if you want to. John 11 verse 25 and
26, He says this. He says Martha was wringing her
hands because her brother Lazarus had died. And Jesus had failed
to come on time to heal him from his sickness. And now that he
was dead, it seemed to her too late. And Jesus said to Martha
in verse 25 of John 11, Thy brother shall rise again. And she thought
she understood the resurrection. So she said, I know that he shall
rise again in the resurrection at the last day. So I know he's
going to rise in his body at the last day, which is true.
And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? I'm thankful
to God that He took people who were ignorant and didn't understand
the scripture and asked them questions and then revealed the
truth to them, like He did here to Martha, for us. What is the
resurrection? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
what He says? I'm the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He's not the God of the dead,
but of the living. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is God of His people, they cannot die. They must live. Because
He Himself rose from the dead. He Himself paid for their sins. He took the cause of death away
in Himself. And not only that, but He's the
life. Their living is because they are in union with Him. They're in Him. They're not separated
from Him. And this is the thing that we
have a hard time understanding because we can't get it. We think
about life as like this. God breathed into Adam's nostrils
the breath of life. And there, like a balloon, when
you blow it up, you blow it up tight and let it go. And there,
the balloon is there. It's got air in it. It's floating.
It's off. It's independent now. It's got its own air. God doesn't
give His people life like that. When God gives us life, He gives
us Himself. Remember, He is what He is in
relation to His people. And all that God is, He is to
us in what He has done for His people. What God is in Himself
is all that we need. So look at Galatians chapter
2. This is stated there by the Apostle Paul. So we can see this
more clearly. He says in Galatians 2 verse
20, Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Really? How could you have been crucified
with Christ? Because, remember, what he did, he did not for himself,
but for his people. The Lord Jesus Christ took all
their obligations and fulfilled them all in their place. And
Paul says, I am, I have been crucified with Christ. And you
would think, well if you're crucified then you're dead. No, he says,
nevertheless I live. Okay, so somehow you're living
after you've been crucified. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. You see, it's not so much that
I live, Paul's saying. It's that Christ lives. His life
is my life. Do you have a life apart from
Him? No. I can't live independently from
Him. His life is my life. he lives in me therefore I live
and it's not I that live but him living in me and then he
says further he says and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me in my living with Christ as my life
how do I live what is what is the What is the activity, the
spiritual activity, the signs of life? How do I know I'm alive? What does Christ's life in me
produce? And he says, it does this. When
the Spirit of God gives us life, He produces this in us, and this
is unfailingly true of everyone to whom God is their God. He gives them faith in the Son
of God who loved us and gave himself for us. You see, when
Jesus spoke to Nicodemus and said, Nicodemus, unless you're
born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you're
born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. I've told
you, I've told you the truth that I know, and you haven't
believed it. And Nicodemus goes on and he says, how then can
these things be? How can I be born? How can a
man be born when he's old? I don't understand. How can these
things be? And Jesus says this in John chapter
3 and verse 14. I'll read this to you. John 3,
14. Because I said, how do you know you have life? What is the
life of Christ in me produce? What does it do? How do I see
that life? I mean, if I was alive physically,
I'd have a heartbeat and some brain activity. And here it is.
John 3. He says, When Nicodemus asked
him this, he says, "...as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up." Jesus
had to die on the cross. Just like the serpent represented
God cursing the people for their sin, the Lord Jesus Christ was
cursed for His people. "...that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." What is that? Eternal life is the result of
the resurrection, isn't it? And that life is given to us
not just for a short time, not just a puff of air, but eternally.
Because it's Christ in us. Christ is our life. Jesus says
in John 14, 19, He says, Because I live, because I live, you shall
live also. Just because I live, you shall
live also. And here He's saying that our
life The life of Christ in us is producing something, and it's
called faith. Now what was death? Death is
not seeing, it's not thinking, it's not feeling, it's not sensing.
But now I'm alive because I can see. What do I see? I see the
Lord Jesus Christ. I see beauty in Him. I see that
all my sins, which are loathsome to me, have been placed on Him
by God. And I see that He is my life,
and I trust Him. He's my hope, He's my Savior,
He's my all. That's what faith is. It sees,
I can do nothing to save myself. I cannot produce this spiritual
life. Everything I need, I see in Him. And it's only in Him.
It's not in me. But in Him, Him in me, I have
the life of Christ in me. And so we see this. Look at John
chapter 5, verse 24. He says, How do we know we have life? What is the function and the
sign of that life? How do I know that God is my
God? If He's my God, I live, right? God is not the God of the dead,
He's the God of the living. Therefore, if God is my God,
I must live. And where do I live? What is
the resurrection? First of all, it's a resurrection
in our soul, in our spirit. John 5, 24 says this, He that heareth my word, not
just hearing it with our ears, but hearing it with God-given
faith, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life."
He has it. He already has everlasting life. And he shall not come into condemnation,
but is what? Passed from death to life. That's resurrection, isn't it?
Who has that life? Who is the one who has this eternal
life? He says, He that believeth on
me. The one who sees that the Lord Jesus Christ is everything
in His salvation. He's my peace. He's my shepherd. He's my provider. He's the Lamb
of God. He's my Redeemer. He's the one
who reconciles. He's my righteousness. He's everything. Paul sums it up, he says, "...the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, and you are complete
in him." That's our life. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
life. Jesus said, "...on the resurrection and the life, he
that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
Though we are dead in sins, in believing Christ, we know that
we shall live again. because the life of Christ. There's
many places in scripture that teach us the resurrection of
our souls. When we live in this life, our
body is dead because of sin. The body is dead because of sin.
Look at this in Romans 8, verse 10. He says, in Romans 8, verse
10, very, very important verse. If Christ be in you, The body
is dead because of sin. This body is already dead. God
said, in the day you eat, you're going to surely die. As soon
as Adam ate, his body died. He had in his body a sinful nature
so intricately tied to his body that the whole thing was just
a mass of corruption and death. That's what we are. In ourselves,
we're a mass of corruption and death. Paul says, wretched man
that I am." He's thinking about his body. The body is dead because
of sin. But, he says, the spirit is life
because of righteousness. What Spirit? The Spirit of Christ
in us is life. Christ is our life. And why is
the Lord Jesus Christ life in us? Because of righteousness. Because God has fulfilled His
law. He's done everything for His
people. He's made them perfect in Christ
by His one offering. He's made us righteous. And because
we're righteous, look at the next verse. But if the Spirit
of Him that's, because the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in us by
His Spirit, because He's fulfilled righteousness for us, He says,
if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, Christ Himself dwelling in us, guess what? He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken, what? Your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. What's going to happen
when Christ appears? Colossians 3.4 says that Christ,
who is our life, when He appears, we shall also appear with Him
in glory. In Colossians 2.15 and in Ephesians
2.5 and 6, He says, we're risen together with Christ. Risen with
Christ. Have you ever wondered about
that? I'm risen with Christ. What does that mean? It means
that because Christ is the resurrection of the life, and He is our life,
it means that when God at the appointed time gives faith to
us, opens our eyes and gives life in our souls, His Spirit
comes to dwell in us, we live. He lives in us. He is our life. And not only then, but because
His Spirit dwells in us, our bodies, though dead, when they
die, God is going to resurrect our bodies on the last day. Corruption
is going to be undone. Everything is going to be fixed.
We're going to be restored because the redemption price has been
paid. We're going to be set at liberty. And resurrection and
life are going to be ours. in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
in Him. Because He lives, we can no more die than Christ can
die. We cannot die. We cannot die. Jesus says, "...whosoever
liveth and believeth in Me, believeth in Him, he shall never die." John 11, 26. "...whoever liveth
and believeth in Me, shall never die. How can that happen? Even
though our bodies are already dead, we're going to be separated.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
One more verse in 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 4. The resurrection is
a huge thing. If God is your God, He's the
God of the living, it means you are going to live. And if you
live, what does it also mean? It means that He has provided
a righteousness for you. And if He's provided a righteousness
for you, He's also taken away your sins. And if He's done all
that, He's given you eternal life in your soul. And if He's
given you eternal life in your soul, His Spirit lives in you
and you cannot, in your body, see eternal death. You're only
going to live. Yes, your body will go into the
grave, and then as soon as it's in the grave, as soon as you
die, you will be with the Lord. But in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse
14, He says, if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also, which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. You see the connection between
the two? If Christ rose, if He died and
rose again, and He really did die and He really did rise again
in His body, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him for this we say to you by the word of the Lord
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent shall not go ahead of them that are asleep those
who have already died in their bodies Their spirits are with
the Lord. The souls of those in heaven
are seen, even though their bodies are still on earth. But when
the Lord appears, the Lord Jesus Christ comes on the last day.
When He appears from heaven, all the bodies of all His people
will be raised up together and they will be joined together
with their spirits. which are already redeemed and
perfect. The spirits of just men made
perfect. Hebrews 12, 23. But here he says, "...for the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the
voice of the archangel." That's what Jesus said in John chapter
5. He says, "...the day is coming when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." And
don't be amazed at that, because on the last day the Lord's going
to send forth His command and all the dead, small and great,
will be raised. He says, "...the Lord Himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first." Those who have already died, they'll rise first. Then
we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord." Wherefore? Comfort one another with these
words. That's comforting, isn't it? I need a resurrection. The Lord has promised life to
sinners. Sinners who are dead in sin can
do nothing to bring that life about. And so we're entirely
dependent on Christ to give us life. It says in John 5, verse
39, he says, "...search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." The scriptures
speak of Christ. He is eternal life. And then
he says in the next verse, and you will not come to me that
you might have life. What is it to come to Christ?
It's to believe on Him. To believe on Him. To come to
God through Him. When we come to God, we come
to God through the blood of Christ. We come looking to Him. We say,
Lord, I am what I am and I can do nothing to bring to You what
You require of me. I can't produce spiritual life.
I can't produce any spiritual exercises. I'm dead. I can do
no more spiritual things than a dead man can do. And when God gives us life, what
he does is he points us to Christ and he says, do you see my son?
Do you see him? Look on him and be saved. Look on what he has done. He
has removed sin, reconciled us to God, redeemed us from the
grave. He's done everything. Look to
Him. All the work, all the conditions
of the covenant, so that God could say, He is the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, have been fulfilled in
Him. The blood of the everlasting covenant. That's His blood. He's
done it. He's done it all. And when you
come to God by Him, you're saying, Lord, I see everything you require
from sinners in Him. I can bring nothing. I have nothing
except my sin. And we look to Him and we say,
Lord, receive me for Christ's sake. Receive me for His sake.
And guess what? That faith that God gives you
To look to Christ only. It causes us to always look to
Christ. We say, Lord, I can't leave you.
I have no other hope but the Lord Jesus. He's everything to
God. He's everything to me. And God
has made Himself to us in Christ all that we need. Let's pray.